AnimaMundi

Harpo's "Gookie Face"

Harpo's "Gookie Face" is something I never tire of seeing. It never fails to make me and millions of other people laugh. Thank you Harpo forever.

Sydney Pollack

"We've been doing it forever and ever and ever and ever. He has a way of getting under the reality and making some kind of oddball connection with things. We have... there's a line in the... it's not nearly as interesting as 'that's a lover's word,' but Sean says to her 'you think not getting caught in a lie is the same thing as telling the truth.' And that's the fourth movie that that's been in. [laughter] I'm terribly embarrassed. And I get caught all the time...I think it has a lot to do with the political climate in the States  right now-really."   

Jude Ciccolella

I met Jude Ciccolella, who plays Mike Novik on the TV series 24, while working at the Albany NY County Department of Social Services in the early 70's. We hit off right away. He and I both loved music, literature, drinking, women and humor. Chick, the name he went by in those days, had passion and determination. Like me he was looking for someone and something. We both knew that we hadn't started to find it, but at least we knew that much, sort of. One Friday night we heard a knock on the door of our apartment. I opened the door and Dick walked in quite drunk and reeking of a onion-laced submarine sandwich that he had just devoured. I said Chick come in. Chick is about a foot taller than I and at least 2 feet wider. What could I say? Sorry Chick, no more room at the inn. He could have easily flattoned me into one of those stand up cardboard figures. Besides I liked him. He came into our apartment, uttered a few things and fell on the floor face down. We would have had to call for help to move him. Chick was/is not a featherweight. I got a blanket and covered him up. He was gone before we awoke the next morning. Chick loved Brando. He would always talk about Brando's style of acting. Brando was one of his archetypes. Not long after he told me that he was leaving for acting school. The next and last time that I saw him in person was in NYC in the early 80's. Kathy and I had gone down to the city for a weekend and we were staying near Madison Square Garden. After we checked in we went in search of lunch. Right around the corner from the hotel I spotted Chick on one end of a couch that he was being moving into someone's apartment. I walked up behind him and asked him for a quarter. He did a double take and then we both laughed. He told me that he had got advertisement gigs, living up in Morningside Heights and was still plugging for some acting jobs that he could get his teeth into. Then he started showing up in quite a few TV commercials. I knew then that he was going to make it. He did and I am happy for his success. He went after it, perservered and worked hard. He derserves it.

"Miracle at St. Anna"

Spike Lee's latest film "Miracle at St. Anna" (release date October 2008) was scored by Terence Blanchard, the New Orleans trumpet player who provided the music to "When The Levees Broke."

"The music in my films is part of the bedrock," Lee said. "It has a very integral part in what makes up a Spike Lee Joint, the same as the cinematography, the acting, the editing, the production design, the costume design. Music is one of those pillars that holds a movie up."

Brasil / Brazil

When we first saw Brazil in 1985, we were fascinated with the duct work and the version of Ary Barroso's classic "Aquarela Do Brazil", "Watercolor of Brazil", better known as "Brazil". The song has become of the 20 most covered-recorded songs in history. It is a phenomenal song, but in the hands of an artist it really shines. Xavier Cugat did a fine version in the 50's. I had a copy on beat up vinyl that my cousin gave me when he worked at a radio station in Fairfield, CT for a while and then I found it on cd. The version on the soundtrack haunted us for quite some time. Then I learned that the soundtrack was out of print, so I sort of gave up until I read this post of the always intriguing Maud Newton. Franz Kafka and "The Trial" led me to this nugget that ultimately led to me finding the remastered soundtrack. This disc contains a version of "Brazil" by Kate Bush that did not appear in the actual film and was not included in the original soundtrack. The music is very enjoyable on its own AND it includes three versions of the song "Brazil". Each version is quite different from the other two and each resounds with the remastered sonics. Actually, the entire soundtrack is a variation on the theme of the song "Brazil", which may sound boring but isn't.

Terry Gilliam on "Brazil":

"I'm dealing with what I think exists now. It has a lot to do with sensibilities of people. There is a feeling that things are out of control. It's as if the world were dreaming. Mind you, it's a terrible cheat in a way--writing a thing like "Brazil". We don't provide any answers. We just point out what is obvious...but the "obvious" that people don't think about half the time. Since we are at at our most vulnerable when we laugh or cry, I hope people will catch themsleves laughing and suddenly realize, 'I shouldn't be laughing at that, that's horrendous.' That is a nice thing to do to people. It helps us to see we are all in it together."

P.S.: "Because I dislike being quoted I find I lie almost constantly when talking about my work."

Thanks to Brasil, Ary Barroso, Terry Gilliam, Tuttle, Max, Maud, Franz Kafka, Kate Bush, Geoff Muldaur, Maria Muldaur.

Rats in the Kitchen Big

Ruhlman likes Ratatouille a lot. Tony Bourdain says it's probably the best food movie ever. I like animation and Pixar and food. So, I'm there.

La Vie En Rose

Since today is going to be muggy and buggy, we are going to see "La Vie En Rose". K. said early this morning that she wanted to see the movie about Edith Pilaf, instead of "Evening".

Update: This is an exceptional film that melodramatically portray's the famed singer's life. To describe the film as heart wrenching does not begin to do it any justice. It's cathartic and a tribute to her spirit of her song. Go and see it. You won't regret it. I don't know anyhting about her life, but I have heard some of her music. I'd like to pick up the biography co-authored with another person. The Song was always tinged with a bittersweet misty Parisian aura. I think after seeing the movie and reading about her, I might have to re-listen a lot more. All films have their pros and cons, especially biographies. A person on the Internet Movie Database makes this comment on a vital scene in the film:

"I couldn't add much to some of the excellent reviews of this excellent film presented on this site. I would just like to correct one impression left by the film that Cerdan's last trip to the US, when the plane he was in crashed, was to see Piaf. Of course, they would have met, but Cerdan was returning to the US for a return fight with Jake LaMotta. Cerdan had previously fought this American champion in Detroit. Cerdan had been knocked down in the first round, and dislocated his shoulder. As a result, in spite of showing immense courage, he had to abandon the fight after the tenth round due to his injury. Following the plane crash in the Azores, the French public was of the opinion that the American mafia had sabotaged the plane, because they knew that a healthy Cerdan would certainly had defeat LaMotta."

Hollywood?

"Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?"

Jonathan Demme has released a film that focuses on the lives of people from the Lower 9th Ward over the course of a year after the FEDERAL FLOOD destroyed their homes and neighborhood. The film, "Right to Return: New Home Movies from the Lower 9th Ward airs on Tavis Smiley's late night PBS program for five nights beginning Monday May 28.

From Blogging New Orleans comes this site. Thank you, Louis.

Oh, and Mr. Bill has a blog. Oh, Noooooo!

Today's Matinee

Since it's 451 Farenheit outside and with stifling humidity to boot, an afternoon matinee seemed right. So, we went to see Robert Altman's "A Prairie Home Companion". I'm not even an irregular listener of Lake Wobegon, the mythical idyllic place in the heartland of the USA. But, I am a fan of Altman's work. We were both immediately sucked in by the whole cast and the casual non-chalance pervading the whole mood of the film. There are a lot of laughs and some pathos too. All in all a good film that is full of characters and an angel. The death of Chuck Akers is very amusing. (Non-spoiler)

Lefty and Dusty are the tits. I like that expression a lot. It should be used more often.

Trivia: When Kevin Kline's character pops the cork off a bottle of champagne, the cork shoots off-camera and hits director Robert Altman in the forehead. A small cry of "OW!" can be heard and Kline says, "Sorry!" without breaking character.

 

Re-membering

I've been reading Sturtle for a few months after finding him through this site. The writing is great as is the black humor. The spirit of New Orleans is in him. Scroll down and read his piece on the calliope on one of the river steamboats that annoyed him earlier in life, but today...

Le Cineclub is somewhat conflicted about "Walk the Line". But the ladies do dissect it to bits with the usual mix of discretion and harsh truth.

Le Cineclub's First 5 Peonies

Lux Lotus' Le Cineclub has an exhaustive, incisive and thorough review of Steve Martin's "Shopgirl" and it earns their first 5 peonies rating. Le Cineclub doesn't dole out 5 peonies to just any old cinematic production. So, it's on my list.

Le Cineclub

My friend Lauren Cerand in NYC and her friend Emma review films weekly in dialogue form on Lux Lotus. They soon might become syndicated as Lauren and Emma on late night indie-TV. They provide excellent insightful reviews of the films that they've seen. Do check them out for their takes on films to see or not to see.

These are the hands that author Lux Lotus and publicize about 7,692 other people, places and events in NYC and around the planet. Lauren was last seen sleepwalking in Tribeca covered in stickems, except for her hands.