Note on the U.S. Constitution

From Robert A. Dahl's How Democratic Is the American Constitution?, a sampling of the book's Introduction:

"And if our constitution is as good as most Americans think it is, why haven't other democratic countries copied it? As we'll see . . . every other advanced democratic country has adopted a constitutional system very different from ours. Why?"

That's one heck of a hook.

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First posted as "From the Bookshelf: On the U.S. Constitution" on January 22, 2019.

I Painted This in January of 2019 for the Year 2020

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First posted as "Artwork: Shakin' Life's 'Stuff'" on January 8, 2019.

Film for Musique Concrète

In late 1987 I was commissioned by American-Canadian composer Michael Horwood to make an experimental film to run with his musique concrète piece, "Motility".

The following April a dual performance took place at Music Gallery on Queen Street West, here in Toronto, as part of a series titled "Electro Village".

Soon I hope to undertake a restoration of the 44 minute film, and possibly do a George Lucas: add layers and elements that weren't there before. (The difference being that I will offer a high-quality original version along with the new.)

"Simon St. Laurent was born in Barrie [sic], and met Horwood while taking the latter's music elective during his film studies at Humber College. What clicked between the two was St. Laurent's intense interest in the importance of the music/sound relationship to film. St. Laurent studied film and video techniques with Robert Bocking and Patrick Kearney. Besides directing and art directing TV commercials, St. Laurent has recently done set design for Graveyard Shift (released in the U.S. and England) and art direction for Dark Side, both independently produced films. Motility marks his first collaboration with Horwood."

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First posted as "My Bio for a Music Gallery Programme" on January 5, 2019.

There Was a Guy Named Vader at Lucas' High School

Above, the Ballantine's Illustrated History of World War II book, "Spitfire". Authored by John Vader, the book fell into my lap in or around the year 1973. At the time I no doubt thought that "Vader" had an interesting ring to it. (It sounded mean. "Viper." "Adder.")

When Star Wars came along in 1977, a gentleman by the name of Darth Vader hit the marketplace.

Darth piloted a TIE fighter; John flew a "Spit".

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First posted as "Vader Was a Known Surname Before Darth" on January 4, 2019.

Film & Television Designers Club

Over the next few weeks I plan to render three sets of designs in the style of three film and television designers whose works I admire.

They are:

Jack Shampan
Keith Wilson
Walter M. Jefferies

Each had a unique style. I will try to imitate all three, but, of course, whatever I come up with will remain my own. I have my own style, as I should.

These gents I learned of through their work on:

Jack Shampan -- The Prisoner (1967 - 1968)
Keith Wilson -- Space: 1999 (1975 - 1977)
Walter "Matt" Jefferies -- Star Trek (1966 - 1969)

All three designers are deceased but their respective works survive in cinematographic form. Mr Shampan art directed several feature films in addition to working in television; Wilson was employed mainly in television; and "Uncle Matt" started with the big screen but enjoyed a long career on the small, including a relative lifetime on Little House on the Prairie.

I smell paint....

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First posted as "Film/TV Designers Times Three" on December 29, 2018.

In Search of: Found!

After I posted last Sunday's "Sunday Fun" piece, "in Search of..." (1977 - 1982) Titles, I got the urge to check out the series I hardly watched.

Picked Three:

"Bigfoot"
"Haunted Palaces"
"Ghosts"

What impressed me most was the difference in styles between subject matters. "Bigfoot" was the way I remember the show being; a bit of this and a bit of that. The other two episodes took approaches befitting the material: "Haunted Palaces", lots of atmosphere; "Ghosts", a ghost hunter investigates, and this becomes the episode's narrative drive.

The question I ask myself is this: Why did I ignore in Search of... when it originally aired? Did it have to become a piece of nostalgia though reputation for me to become intrigued?...something to search for?...

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First posted as "Searching for 'In Search of...'" on December 22, 2018.

Time Warp Back to CKVR TV Schedule

CKVR was a progressive television station.

("was")

The summer of 1979 was late night excitement in Barrie, Ontario, and surrounding area as "VR" ran old television series' discarded by the passage of time: Boston Blackie (1951 - 1952); Biff Baker, U.S.A. (1952 - 1954); The Outer Limits (1963 - 1965); and many more. The framework for these programs was titled "Summer Cine".

Unfortunately I have no promotional material from "Summer Cine", but I do have some from CKVR's 1992 programming year. The summer framework read as must-see: "Time Warp Television." Sparkling from within the schedule were shows of note: Perry Mason; Addams Family; Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea; I Love Lucy; Star Trek; Mary Tyler Moore; and on....

Into the Fall of 1992....

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First posted as "CKVR 'Time Warp Television' & Fall Schedule 1992" on December 22, 2018.

A Forever Question: Fuel Cells

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

Sir. Are hatred and anger perpetual motion machines?

Film: My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea

We've heard it said before: "When I see a movie, I want to be entertained."

One man's entertainment is another man's trip to the beer fridge.

This past weekend I watched a film which entertained me: much of its entertainment value came from the fact that it was different. I enjoyed its differences. My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea was it for 75 minutes.

What is the premise of this animated film from 2016? Besides homages to Irwin Allen's 1972 adventure film The Poseidon Adventure, which is a big part of Sinking's vertical drive, and William Golding's classic novel "Lord of the Flies", it's a potpourri of colour, texture, pop culture, psychology, and sociology. That might be the premise.

The characters were voiced by several name actors (like Jason Schwartzman, Susan Sarandon, and Maya Rudolph) but that was not important. After I got immersed into the story I didn't really care that Ms Sarandon spoke for "Lunch Lady Lorraine".

I just cared to be entertained.

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First posted as "My Entire High School Sinking is Entertainment" on December 18, 2018.

Toronto Star Film Critic Peter Howell on 2001 in 50

Peter Howell is one of Toronto's finer film critics. I sense he's also a film nerd, something I've long felt isn't necessary when reviewing the motion picture form -- film to film. A more reasonable approach might be to have your average newspaper's food and art critics team up and decide what does and what doesn't work on the silver screen.

2001: A Space Odyssey is, to this food and art critic, one of the great pieces of cinema. Mr Howell feels the same way, as he's noted a few times in his column over the years. "50 things you probably didn't know about 2001: A Space Odyssey", his latest piece about Stanley Kubrick's space and humanity opus, is something to behold.

Ranking "the top films" from 1 to 10 feels goofy to me. While it's fun to list what you think are cinema's greatest, the idea of picking an exact order from such a large litter is ultimately an exercise in futility. I have a hard enough time ordering a burger and fries.

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First posted as "Toronto Star Film Critic Peter Howell's 2001 in 50" on December 16, 2018.

Dope Sheet for Optical Effects (Photographic Effects)

I've posted a few times on this blog about my unfinished symphony: a 35mm short film titled Hyper-Reality. Above is a optical printing layout sheet I made in order to shoot some test sections for the film's opening title sequence.

At Film Opticals of Canada Ltd I worked as an optical printer/camera operator. For most jobs the standard procedure was the layout guys would draw up the "dope sheets" (a blueprint of sorts), but for my own film I did the pencil work myself.

The film print (struck from the camera negative) would be laced-up on the front projector, with the raw stock loaded into the Oxberry camera.

Date: don't look too closely.
Camera #: the Oxberry model 1200 optical printer
Lab: Deluxe; formerly on Adelaide Street West, here in Toronto
Stock: Eastman Kodak emulsion 5248 (perfect for shooting a test sequence, as that stock produces a negative with a resulting positive print)

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First posted as "'Hyper-Reality' Optical Printing Dope Sheet" on December 15, 2018.

A Throne Room Set Starts With a Sketch

The above sketch came about after discussing a script I was in the process of writing with a friend. I designed the set with a tight budget in mind; the walls are modular in concept, with the flats interchangeable. The idea is the set would not be built as a complete structure but would be assembled as a portion to suit a given scene, with the rest filled out on the computer. Technology allows one to do more set and scenery for a lot less money. A good example is the current television series Game of Thrones.

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First posted as "Film Design: Throne Room Concept Thumbnails" on December 14, 2018.

Beauty Is....

What is beauty but a mirror outside?

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First posted as "What is Beauty?" on December 7, 2018.

On Coronation Street

That television devil made me turn on the "tube" last evening.

CBC: On it was old dependable itself, Coronation Street.

A courtroom scene. Another bleedin' courtroom scene.

Every time I pop on "The Street", which isn't very often, but often enough to provide me with core samples, there is a hospital, a courtroom, or a police scene. Are the show's producers and writers that short of ideas? (Reminder: "Working class folk.")

I had to get that out of my system. My bacon, bangers, and eggs are ready....

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First posted as "Yesterday's News on Coronation Street" on December 4, 2018.

A Soyuz Way Up

Early today rose Soyuz MS-11.

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First posted as "Soyuz Brilliance Up and Away" on December 3, 2018.

Plato's Stepchildren Out of Control

Much has been made of television's "first interracial kiss": the 1968 Star Trek episode "Plato's Stepchildren" featured a memorable moment with Captain James T. Kirk and Lt. Uhura locked in an embrace ending in an intergalactic kiss. This non regulation act was forced by the planet's inhabitants, the Platonians (cool name), and was not voluntary in the traditional sense.

In all archival honesty, "it" was not exactly television's first example of an interracial smooch; several others preceded it, but those instances have been lost to time and space.

Here's the breakdown....

The Platonians force some match-ups: While Kirk and Uhura dance into position, Chapel and Spock are seated and ready to interact. "Interspecies Kiss"?

The lull before the storm.

"Plato's Stepchildren" is not a good episode of Star Trek. "Bad"? As a friend said to me years ago: "It's like they had a cool set and came up with a story to use it."

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First posted as "Fifty Years Ago There Was a Kiss...." on December 1, 2018.

Canadian Television Commercials, Bad

Television commercials I generally tune out, much like the programs that frame them, but here's something I noticed a long time ago: TV adverts made in the States seem, at least to this non-believer, to be far superior to those made here in (Toronto) Canada. Why is that?

A few years ago I got a first hand polling result while sitting in a diner. I faced away from the wall-mounted television set but two gentlemen, who sat apart and apparently did not know one another, enjoyed their respective plates while taking in programming from an American network: Commotion, commotion from the CRT; laughter; I looked over to the two viewers; one guy said to the other, "American commercials are so much better", to which the other readily agreed.

We Canadians do not produce stupid people who cannot tell an entertaining story -- look at James Cameron, for one -- but we just cannot make good television commercials. (I exempt Public Service Announcements, and the like.)

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First posted as "U.S. Television Commercials Far Superior" on November 28, 2018.

Avatar / Ratava

James Cameron has finished principal photography on two of his long-awaited Avatar sequels? This I learned from an article in today's edition of The Guardian:

Steve Rose on film - Avatar
Break out the blue paint! Will James Cameron’s Avatar sequel tank?


Avatar did not impress me when I saw it in underwhelming and dim 3D at the Scotiabank Theatre here in Toronto, so my anticipation for more Avatar is 1D.

James Cameron's highly successful first in a now chain gang is the most recent narrative film I've seen in a movie house. Did he take the popcorn out of my movies? Perhaps not, but he took the money out of my wallet and gave back to me 162 minutes that I'll never get back.

Thanks for your enlightening piece, Mr Rose.

Good honest cynicism. Very refreshing.

But you're right. We cannot count Cameron out.

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First posted as "Avatar, I Call You Over" on November 26, 2018.

Bunch Up!

Riders of mass transit systems know about "bunching". No bus for many minutes; then two or more buses all at once; then another multi-minute wait. Fine. It's the big city, after all. Traffic jams are worse; which, of course, can contribute to transit bus bunching.

There's another kind of bunching, which is avoidable: buses that speed and tailgate a lead bus so they don't have to pick up riders. Same goes for streetcars. A few years ago I found myself standing beside a TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) inspector while I stirred my coffee in a King Street coffee shop. While chatting with the gentleman I mentioned this curious transit malady. He said: "(The drivers) are supposed to be self-governing." I asked if they all do. He just shook his head gently from side to side.

We think we might have bad bunching at times here in Toronto. As I read this morning in the Boston Globe, it's a big problem in that town.

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First posted as "Thanks a Bunch" on November 26, 2018.

Those Pesky Status Liberals Live On

In today's Toronto Sun: A headline to a letter to the editor reads as follows....

REMEMBER YOUR STATUS LIBERALS

I had "Status Liberals"? Did you, dear reader?

Remember the Status Liberals. May they live on in our memories....

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First posted as "Status Liberals, In Memoriam" on November 25, 2018.