Donald Trump, Meet Archie Bunker

“Look, Archie Bunker ain’t no bigot! I’m the first to say it ain’t your fault you’re coloured.”

“This here’s a copy of the Apollo 14 insignia. That’s what separates the U.S. of A. from the Red Chinks and all them other losers.”

-- Archie Bunker
All in the Family (CBS, 1971 - 1979)

Best Film Scores Omissions

On Saturday I reposted a piece from two years ago about great film scores.


On October 27th of 2017 I posted a piece making up for some intolerable omissions:

How Could I Not List Benny?

Back on September 20th I listed some of my favourite film scores. It was a pop-up list, and because of that, I missed some titles.

What I realized recently is the fact I made a serious omission: Scores from the late great movie composer Bernard Herrmann.

Quick. In order of release:

1. The Day the Earth Stood Still
2. Vertigo
3. The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
4. Psycho
5. Taxi Driver

Try to imagine those films without their respective scores.

George Lucas on Young Filmmakers

“One of the biggest problems young filmmakers have is that they think everything [they make] is monumental.”

Too many think they're the next George Lucas, or Stanley Kubrick, but don't consider the 'environmental' factors important to the making of an artist.

A Forever Question: Of Olives

“Since before your sun burned hot in space and before your race was born, I have awaited a question.”

Sir. Who said olives are an acquired taste?

A List of CV Things: Reloaded July 2019

So you, the reader, know what it is you're getting into when you come here, I thought it was time I post my latest CV. And here it is, in "dust jacket bio" point form:

* hospital photographer (public relations, general, haematology, surgery)
* hospital A/V tech (live streaming, teleconferencing)
* brewery worker (Molson Brewery: line and maintenance)
* factory/warehouse worker
* lighting cameraman (short film, music video, video production)
* television studio camera operator
* designer (feature film, television commercial, short film, web-series, exhibit)
* optical camera operator (feature film, television film, television series)
* set construction & prop building (feature film, TV commercial, independent production)
* writer (print, short film, video production)
* consultant (television commercial, 'process' screen, historical aviation screenplay)
* researcher (film/television history, aviation, Soviet space program, general history, etc.)
* producer / director (independent film & video production)
* film programmer (Toronto Public Library)
* manager (self-storage; video duplication)
* projectionist (film, digital; T.I.F.F.)
* film festival technical director (R.P.F.F.)
* instructor (film & video production; L.I.F.T.)
* video tech (duplication, film-to-tape transfer)
* web design
* archivist (film/television)
* baseball umpire (Ontario Baseball Association)
* ice hockey player - forward & goaltender (B.B.M.H.A.)
* ice hockey coach - Bantam (Knights of Columbus)
* football (soccer) player (B.B.M.S.A.)
* siding installer & general construction
* sales agent / customer service

Re Movie Music of Memory

And I still do need more coffee....


From September 20, 2017:

Movie Music of Memory

Last month I posted several of my favourite movie endings; the last few feet of the final reel that stick with you; moving, sometimes disturbing, at times funny.

Looking through coffee-time notes I scratched on a film theme, I came across a partial listing of movies that, in my opinion, have the best scores. To simplify the list I stuck with "American" films.

In no particular order:

1. Bananas [Hamlisch]
2. Papillon [Goldsmith]
3. Star Wars [Williams]
4. Patton [Goldsmith]
5. King Kong (1933) [Steiner]
6. Ben Hur (1959) [Rózsa]
7. Planet of the Apes (1968) [Goldsmith]
8. Star Trek: The Motion Picture [Goldsmith]
9. Doctor Death: Seeker of Souls [LaSalle]
10. The Omen (1976) [Goldsmith]
11. On The Waterfront [L. Bernstein]
12. Bride of Frankenstein [Waxman]
13. Forbidden Planet [L. & B. Barron]
14. The Adventures of Robin Hood [Korngold]
15. Wild Rovers [Goldsmith]
16. The Searchers [Steiner]
17. Shaft (1971) [Hayes]
18. Gone With the Wind [Steiner]
19. Chinatown [Goldsmith]
20. Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) [Kaper]


I need more coffee....

Mister Wood Has Final Cut

It was a long distance telephone chat with an old friend….an editor by trade.

One brief discussion was about “fan edits”. These wishful versions of films always run at a deficit since the source footage is from a final cut. Unless one has access to raw footage such endeavours stay the domain of the hobbyist. If you're not a Kevin Brownlow, chances are you’re not going to get access to a movie’s original film/digital elements.

I asked my friend: “If there is only one film that needs not one frame changed, what would it be?” (It’s absolutely perfect the way it is.)

He missed not a beat: “Plan Nine from Outer Space.”

Only an editor would know the correct answer.

Re Film Design: Matte Painting Shot - Development

A couple of hours ago I posted a piece on a matte painting concept and shoot I did years ago (Film Design: Matte Painting Shot - Almost Final). Above are sketches as part of my search for the right look.

Tomorrow: More "Film Design", but a little flesh. It's been a week of towers, tanks, buildings and machines.

Re Film Design: Matte Painting Shot - Almost Final

There's an interesting place here in Toronto, north of the city's beautiful "Annex" area. "Sir Winston Churchill Park" surfaces one of the city's reservoirs and provides for an interesting filming location. Years ago, with a few friends, I took an Arriflex 35mm camera and shot some "plates". Our intention was to optically composite (on an optical printer) the live action footage with a matte painting. Due to the cost of hiring an optical house to composite the footage we did not finish the composite. By the way, to make the plate footage more interesting and to avoid a single "look-off" shot, my friends and I shot a little action scene.

Not long after this shoot I started working as an optical camera operator; I could have composited this bit of business for no charge. My respective bosses, George and John Furniotis at Film Effects Toronto, and Mike Smith at Film Opticals of Canada, no doubt would have let me do this by tagging it onto a "job" (rolls of 35mm motion picture film that were going to the lab as part of normal contracts).

My next posting will show the development of an idea: the optical matte painting and its composite.


Note for above concept illustration: The bottom quarter is the live action, and the rest, the matte painting.

___

The above article was first posted on November 29, 2017

Re Prop Design: Portable Cylinder Recorder

I designed the above prop for a low budget feature film titled Johnny Shortwave. The world depicted in the black and white epic has an almost steampunk aesthetic, with audio recording happening not on linear magnetic tape, but on cylinders; Edison style.

In addition to the above I designed two table-top models. The idea I had there was that those were older machines. The rationale for the portable recorder was that miniaturization was producing more compact devices -- like a cylinder recorder. A character in Shortwave carries the machine around by slinging the carrying strap over his shoulder.

John Gajdecki built the prop from my plans. I told him that he could run with the design. He did a beautiful job, I think.

Soon I will post the original plans.

___

The above piece was originally posted on November 5, 2017

Admiral Scheer Has No Ship

Conservative Party of Canada leader Andrew Scheer is almost unrelenting in his tweets attacking Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The worst part is the contents of his tweets, more often than not, are positively dishonest. For starters, Canada's economy is in pretty good shape, and unemployment numbers are the lowest they've been in decades. One doesn't have to like our PM, but criticize with factual information.

As the headline says: Admiral Scheer has no ship.

Simu Liu Is Shang-Chi

I've been critical in these pages about the CBC sitcom Kim's Convenience. I do feel the cast is fine even if the show's writers don't produce sufficiently fine material.

The news came in on Monday: Chinese-Canadian actor Simu Liu has been cast to play superhero Shang-Chi in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (scheduled for release in 2021). Mr Liu currently plays "Jung", the son in Kim's.

My first reaction after the "congratulations!" was "isn't he a little short to be playing a superhero?" (not short but not exactly tall). I admit I don't know much about such stuff, but, I do know it's about time we see more non-white comic book heroes on the big screen.

I'm sure Simu Liu will leap with aplomb into the role of Shang-Chi. Kim's Convenience will miss him.

Re Important Life Preservation Equipment

It's swimming and boating season, and there are lots of media stories about the importance of life preservers.


From May 21, 2018:

Missing Life Preservation

Sad news on the weekend about those two young women who fell into the waters of Lake Couchiching (in Orillia, Ontario) after their canoe capsized. One managed to swim to shore but the other did not make it. Neither was wearing a life jacket.

When I was twenty years of age I went canoeing with friends in an overloaded canoe -- four of us. And we were not wearing life jackets as we took the canoe up the Nottawasaga River here in Ontario. The trip was eventful enough in that there were a few portages to hop. The bad news came about when we paddled around a hairpin turn. We rolled like the SMS Blücher. The canoe's crew fell into the river. Instinct takes over during moments like that, as anyone could tell you who's been thrown into such distress.

My own instinct combined with my ability to swim -- my mother was a swim coach -- to guide me to that waiting marker on the river bank. Feet paddled as the rest of me front-crawled, propelling me to safety. All four of us thankfully made it to shore.

I'm not trying to impress anyone with my swimming skills. Really. More impressive: We got lucky. Any bad luck, like getting bonked on the head by a capsizing canoe, got swept down the river.

As an epidemiologist friend said to me a few years ago: "There's no such thing as an accident."

The Campgrounds Are Closed For the Season

Okay, folks. Of Ontario, Canada.

“For the People” was a big lie. And hardly one cloaked in the last provincial election. The mindless slogan even then reeked of barbecue sauce and belched of beer.

Pull out your buns!

A Forever Question: A Flour for Robin

“Since before your sun burned hot in space and before your race was born, I have awaited a question.”

Sir. If Robin Hood never existed then why was a flour named after him?

The Art of the Possible

Last evening I caught a documentary on TV Ontario with the enticing title, The Art of the Possible (1978). Filmmakers followed then Ontario Premier William "Bill" Davis as he prepared to make some big decisions: details in the province's budget, text of the throne speech, and demands to be made during the First Ministers Conference (with special guest stars including then Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau).

My biggest takeaway, which I formulated at about the one-minute mark of the documentary, was the overall balance of civility; even in the "question period" -- make no mistake, it was still fiery.

Mr Davis spoke at my high school when I was a "minor niner" (grade 9 student). I remember his gentlemanly manner and sharp articulation....which last night I compared to our current premier, Doug Ford (a bully and a simpleton).


"My approach has always been to listen to both sides of the discussion, because I discovered very early that once I stated a point of view, then others who held a contrary point of view would be reluctant to express it... you just see the heads go up and down, et cetera. And I've tried to avoid that because I want to get a very frank discussion of the views of my colleagues."

-- William Davis


The Art of the Possible is available for viewing on TVO's website, here.

Watch for: Then Toronto Sun "Queen's Park" columnist Claire Hoy is interviewed; he almost angrily criticizes Bill Davis and his Progressive Conservatives' out-of-control spending. (A twist in time and space.)

The Eagle Landed 50 Years Ago Today

Man's magnificent achievement: two astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, land and step foot on Earth's moon. (Command module pilot Michael Collins stayed in moon orbit.)

I remember the night very well. My family was living in then West Germany and we watched the Apollo 11 coverage on German television. The audio of Armstrong stating "the Eagle has landed" was all we had to hear to know that history had been made.

That was a special time.

The Toronto Sun's Clothes Line

Lorrie Goldstein, one of the many blitz-fibber columnists at the exemplary Toronto Sun 'newspaper', wrote this recently:

"The Liberals have always campaigned on the basis that the Conservatives are not only wrong, but evil."


As we all know, the Conservatives would never resort to that.

Blu-ray: "Space: 1999" Complete Series

An Ethical Question

Why did the chicken cross the road?

To escape the death camp.