Current Watching

[WOM]

I'm not much for sci-fi, but Mandalorian was excellent and I loved Wandavison. Wandavison suffered the usual comic-book 'epic battle' segments, which go on far too long and are rooted in nothingness, but i suppose that's the genre.

[Cal Alamein]

Attention Discordant Resonance The Awesome Berbaslug!!! Lang Spoon elguapo4

Just finished the 3-episode Sophie: A Murder in West Cork on Netflix. Murder took place around xmas 1996. The series presents damning, but circumstantial evidence towards one individual. Dunno if it is of any interest to you, but if so, I'm curious what your takes are on the case and suspect.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

There's two of these series at the moment. One comes to the conclusion that Ian Bailey probably did it, and the other comes to the conclusion that he probably didn't. He himself seems to be an empathy free sociopath at best and is undoubtedly a nasty piece of work with a lot of questions to answer.

On the other hand there is essentially no evidence against him and when the gardai sent the file to the dpp, he sent it back with a note that said that the only way this stinking pile of dogshit was going to see the inside of a court was if he decided to prosecute the gardai involved.

So they sent it to france, and they tried him there on essentially fabricated and coerced evidence that has mostly been withdrawn. It's a case that says as much about the irish state in the late 90's, and the French state as it does about Ian Bailey

[Hot Pepsi]

Finished Parallax View and moved onto Klute. Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland in their prime.

[elguapo4]

Attention Discordant Resonance The Awesome Berbaslug!!! Lang Spoon elguapo4

Just finished the 3-episode Sophie: A Murder in West Cork on Netflix. Murder took place around xmas 1996. The series presents damning, but circumstantial evidence towards one individual. Dunno if it is of any interest to you, but if so, I'm curious what your takes are on the case and suspect.

I didn't watch it, but Berba is pretty much spot on.

[Eggchaser]

I'm not much for sci-fi, but Mandalorian was excellent and I loved Wandavison. Wandavison suffered the usual comic-book 'epic battle' segments, which go on far too long and are rooted in nothingness, but i suppose that's the genre.

That was one if the good things about Equilibrium. Although Christian Bale has the usual showdown, it's not with the dragon, it's with the seemingly out of shape boss, who then reminds us why he's the boss. Bale just slices the dragon in two with one blow. I think the director said he was tired of extended fights with minions that you know the hero is going to win, so he wanted to show how far ahead Bale was from the guy who thinks he can take down the legend by having the fight over in seconds.

[WOM]

In Raiders of The Lost Ark, there was supposed to be a big, long swordfight in the crowded marketplace, which took weeks to rehearse. But Ford (and most of the cast) had dysentery, so they had him just whip out his pistol and shoot the guy instead so they could wrap for the day.

[Lang Spoon]

Watch the first part of the Wu-tang documentary Of Mics and Men. I've a feeling I'll be tearing up at the next ep.

[Benjm]

I watched John Wick 3 on Saturday. I had enjoyed the previous instalments, it looked great and the cast were all fine but, apropos the discussion above, most of the fight scenes were dragged out long past the point of diminishing returns setting in.

[Hot Pepsi]

Hulu now has The Summer of Soul, a doc by Questlove about the Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969. It was actually a series of free weekend concerts in Harlem. The line-up is just incredible and the footage and sound is outstanding. Stevie Wonder, Sly and the Family Stone, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Nina Simone...it's all just straight fire, as the kids might say. It also has current interviews with people who were there, both as fans and performers, and cuts in some bits about what was going on at the time in Harlem and so forth.

It's being released in some theaters, at least. I imagine seeing it in a theater would be impressive. But the downside of that is that it is he didn't do it as a miniseries.

It just leaves one wanting a lot more. It has plenty of music, but I'm sure a lot of great stuff was cut. apparently he had to cut out the whole section on Black comedians at the festival - Red Foxx, etc. Some viewers seemed to think it had too much documentary/talking bits, but I actually wanted more of that too. There were a bunch of little vignettes that could have been their own doc. I wanted to know more about how the shows came together, how they got Maxwell House to be a sponsor, how they convinced everyone to play the show (festivals are always tricky to pull off because nobody wants to commit until everyone else commits), how they got the Black Panthers to do security, how they kept the cops from causing trouble, why it was a one off, etc.

I forget the name of they guy who shot the footage, but he said he hoped somebody would want to produce it for film or TV but found no takers. By contrast, the Woodstock film did big business. The race angle is not hard to grasp there.

It also occurred to me that's also a window into how the media landscape in those days suppressed Black voices in a way that it just wouldn't now. If that festival had been in the 80s or later, some cable outlet or other would have picked it up and now, of course, it would be online or on a streamer and then it could pick up steam by word of mouth. But back then, if it wasn't sellable to a mass, mostly white audience and the conservative advertisers, it wouldn't be available to anyone.

That also raises the question of why Maxwell House didn't follow through to put it on TV, but I think I know the answer to that. They wanted to appeal to the Black middle class, but they didn't want the white middle class to know they were doing that.

[Amor de Cosmos]

I really want to see this. I'm guessing it'll show up here on Crave (most of Hulu's stuff does sooner or later.) I remember reading about the Harlem Cultural Festival at the time, but didn't realise it had been filmed.

[Hot Pepsi]

I'm not sure to what extent the footage has been "cleaned up" with modern technology, but it looks like it was shot last week.

Something that comes to mind...
I remember my own band director in high school using term "musical" to describe bits that required more skill, nuance and artistry. The music we played in marching band - a lot of arrangements of pop songs or movie themes and, of course, "marches" - usually did not. But some of the stuff we did in symphonic band did. Needless to say, I was not asked to play those parts. But the one white guy who now regularly sits in with The Roots on The Tonight Show, Ian Hedrickson-Smith, was in band with me in high school as were a few other real musicians. They were asked to play those bits. As in most things in life, I'm just smart enough to know how dumb I am. Even though I didn't have the skill or the ear to play the baritone horn like a proper musician, I knew what he meant by musical.

And when you listen to the popular Black music of the 60s and 70s, it's really obvious - and this has been remarked upon on Chart Music a lot - that this musicality or musicianship is a much bigger part of it than what one generally heard in "white" rock* of that time (or, perhaps, any time). Perhaps it's because so many of the musicians were formally trained in jazz, classical and gospel and there are a lot of snobs in those forms who will not tolerate anyone just messing about.

[ursus arctos]

Good interview with Questlove from Pitchfork
https://pitchfork.com/features/inter...music-history/

I remember this happening, but didn't go, in part because all of my time, attention and spending money that summer was devoted to the Cubs pursuit of the pennant (sigh)

[Hot Pepsi]

If you had gone, you'd be easy to spot in the big crowd shots. Especially if you'd worn a Cubs hat.

[ursus arctos]

Given that I was still very blond at that age, I imagine I would have stood out even more without a cap.

[Jon]

This sounds great, HP, and something I'd never heard of it. Never seen the Wattstax film either, although I do own the soundtrack. That was around the same time, wasn't it?

[Hot Pepsi]

I’m not sure, but I think the Wattstax was 72 or 73.

[Jon]

I’m not sure, but I think the Wattstax was 72 or 73.

You're right. Just checked and the concert was 72 and the film came out in 73. Thought for some reason it was a bit earlier than that.

[Hot Pepsi]

One detail from that interview not in the film is that the organizers didn’t want Hendrix. He was too outre.

[Incandenza]

Hacks is really promising after two episodes. Here’s a good intro.

I watched 3 or 4 episodes and it just didn't click with me. I found it kind of depressing also.

[Amor de Cosmos]

I really liked it. It grows a little warmer as it goes on, and the relationship between the two leads becomes clearer. It's turning into good year for Jean Smart, a first rate actor who's been a journeywoman for years but seems to have finally cracked the big time.

[Hot Pepsi]

That was my experience. I was almost ready to give up part way through but then was glad I persisted with it.

[WOM]

It's turning into good year for Jean Smart, a first rate actor who's been a journeywoman for years but seems to have finally cracked the big time.

Yeah, she's great in Mare of Easttown.

[Amor de Cosmos]

For sure. She's always been really versatile. I guess I clocked her in Fargo and then Watchmen, but very likely saw her in other things prior.

[hobbes]

She was very good in Legion too.