As like every year past, this year’s crop of commercials appearing during the 2010 Super Bowl have quite a few standouts. Usually it has been the Pepsi/Coke or beer commercials that were the talk of the office the next day. That may be so for most people but for me this year’s best commercial came from E-Trade with their baby spokespeople. There is something about that last line that makes it one for the ages.
The following video is perhaps one of the most compelling videos I ever seen, let alone one of the more though provoking public service announcements. I like the approach it takes in using visuals to reinforce a positive message on wearing your seatbelt rather than hitting you over the head with it.
Quiet weekend for the most part. Hot weather and low funds meant few options for the family. I managed to finish up the painting the boy’s room even though I thought I had finished it a few weeks back but some splotches on one wall aggravated Andrea too much so I used up the rest of the paint I had reserved and redid the wall. She is now satisfied with the wall so she can move forward with the rest of her plans of decorating the room.
One highlight of the weekend was viewing the funeral procession of Hell’s Angels motorcyclists accompanying the hearse of the local chapter president who was murdered in his home two weeks. Over a 1000 people and 500 bikes came into town for the Saturday funeral. As can be expected, the police were out in force to keep order, direct traffic and separate locals from the motorcyclists. A large of onlookers viewed the procession opposite the Parklawn cemetery where he was laid to rest. Definitely something you will not see again anytime soon.
Just finished a biography of Nikola Tesla. While many people know of such inventors and scientists like Thomas Edison an Albert Einstein, Tesla truly was a giant whose inventions and discoveries made him at least their equal if not more. But he lived in a country where it is always good to have a favorable press or your own publicist. He was noted during his lifetime but seemingly forgotten in the years past but of his contributions enable us to enjoy the life we have today like electricity, motors, radar, and radio. He was a man with exceptional intelligence who lived in an age where one man’s endeavours can be recognized. Today it is extremely difficult for one person to do anything that can match his productivity given the way corporations make scientists virtually anonymous now. Still, his fame has seemingly been rehabilitated and he is receiving the fame now that should have been his since his passing.
Finally, here is a good video on the best 100 lines from many films in all sort of genres in 200 seconds of video. Most of them have entered the popular culture as very recognizable so no explanation is necessary for most of them though there are a few that I need to figure where they came from.
Enjoy…
… and that is all I wrote.
Now I admit to my age, 42, but I will not admit that I am middle aged. On the contrary, I like to think of myself at least as aware of what is happening on the scene in regards to television, film and music.
I have been always eclectic in my choice of music. Jazz, rock, classical and so on have filled my listening choices since my teenage years. At various times, I have lingered on a particular genre for a while then move onto something else that strikes my fancy.
One genre I keep returning to is dance/electronica/trance. I first started listening to this music when I lived in Toronto back in the early 90s and had access to music that I never had before living in Newfoundland. The club scene was terrific as well. One thing about living Toronto was that it was then and remains so today, a very cosmopolitan city, where the world is represented in some part of the greater metro area. So I had access through the record stores (remember those?) to all sort of imported music especially dance music from Europe. When I lived in Europe later on, it was like gaining access to a mother lode of incredible music. Plenty of bass beats, great hooks, very danceable.
So it remains to this day that listening to dance/electronica/trance remains a favorite choice of mine. In this genre, most of the acts are relatively anonymous. All that really matters is the beat. Very few superstars per se especially considering that much of the music is derived from sampling other peoples’ music. The artists are called DJs for a reason: they spin up tracks and start layering sound upon sound without touching a keyboard or a guitar.
The top acts come and go but one artist that is showing some longevity is DJ Tiesto. A Dutch DJ, he has had many hits in the past several years and his albums have consistently good. Like many others, he is not above doing collaborations with other DJs or recording artists. In the Dark with Christian Burns was a hit last year over seas. He was part of the opening ceremonies for the Athens Olympics in 2004 and has been voted top DJ in the world several times now.
One thing that he has been able to do like no other act in trance has done before or rarely even now, is to performed solo concerts in front of thousands of people. His popularity and great music are more than enough to carry an audience. So it is with this track Elements of Life with the video taken in front of 25,000 people in a concert in Copenhagen Denmark.
There are very few expressions of pure joy and fun than what world traveler, Matt Harding, has done through his dancing videos, Where the Hell is Matt?
The latest one is particularly noteworthy as he traveled to more places than ever before but this time he has company. In many cases, it is just local children but for many locations he is joined by people who saw his first video and wanted to participate in the fun.
It is just pure fun to watch and in these troubled times, something like this is like a tonic for the spirit.
There is a HD version that is much better to watch.
The song for the soundtrack is ‘Praan’ and can be downloaded from Amazon or iTunes.
This year, we made it out to the current edition of the Dixie Classic Fair. It has been several years since we last went; I think the last time was when Madeleine was not even one year old. So we were overdue for a return visit though frankly, given the state of our finances and the higher costs of the fair, I might have given the fair a pass this year if it was not for the entries I submitted to the photo contest.
A cheap day for the family it is not for the fair. Even tightly controlling the expenditures, it still came out to $80 for parking ($7), admission($24),rides($22) and food($27). Definitely an indulgence for us these days.
Still, we made the most of our time there. Arriving in the late afternoon, we avoided the heat of the day and by lingering for several hours, we managed to take in the fair at evening when the midway and rides are all lighted up. Good size crowd too at the fair.
We wandered around the fair. It seems that nearly half of the vendors there were selling food, way over priced ($7 for a turkey leg? $5 for funnel cake?) and seemingly the same vendor in multiple locations. We checked out the exhibits at the Education building. Some really nice crafts there in wreathes, quilts and the like. We checked out to see if I won a prize for photography (I did).
Wandered around the Midway to see the rides and I was surprised to see the quality of the rides they now have at the fair. Much better than it was before with the Top Spin ride, two ferris wheels, and a beautiful carousel. Plenty of rides for Madeleine to go on for a change.
We checked out the prize winning animals at the stables. There were some poultry there that look amazing.
We did not get a chance to see any shows; limited seating at those places make it hard to see what is going on from behind the crowd. That was a bit disappointing as the theme this year was Wild West Shows which I thought were potentially quite interesting.
So all in all, a decent outing for the family. I am a bit lighter in the pocket book but at least the family is happy. As for me, I am just waiting for the time when we head up to the mountains to see the fall colours.
Love this video as I loved that musical it is derived from. So much so, I went out and got a few more videos from the musical.
Yes We Can!
When I think about my favorite movies, I realised that there are no easy top ten list for me to pick from. My film watching habits over the years has transverse every genre, over many countries and different film eras. It is rare for me to view a film repeatedly. Actually, my problem is that i do not watch enough films anymore considering the demands on my time these days. Still, I think it is worth a shot to try to pin down the films that I felt most entertained, most moved and most deeply affected.
- Citizen Kane – a classic of traditional American film making showing the rise and fall of a William Randolph Hearst type character shot, for its time, in a radical way of film making and cinematography that stands up today
- Excalibur – John Boorman beautiful looking retelling of the King Arthur legend where Camelot dazzles and man’s honor soars, falls and soars once more.
- Charge of the Light Brigade – The first eighty percent of the film is standard 1930’s Hollywood fare of stories of the British Empire but whenever the DVD version comes out, I will replay that glorious charge lead by Errol Flynn over and over again.
- Last of the Mohicans – the version starring Daniel Day Lewis, this adventure story set in a lush wilderness barely touched by man has strong performance by Wes Studi, Lewis and Madeleine Stowe.
- Lord of the Rings trilogy – adventure, magic, an altogether different world, I looked forward to December each year for three years in seeing the new released part. Decembers are not the same anymore. It is a triumph of film making where the personal stories are never overcome by the special effects.
- Farewell to my Concubine – an epic tragedy set during the turmoil within China in the mid 20th century, it is a masterpiece by Kaige Chen with the luminous Gong Li in the starring role.
- Ran – from a director noted for several masterpieces (Seven Samurai, Rashmon, Dreams), Akira Kurosawa retelling of Shakespeare King Lear set in medieval Japan is his greatest film. Battle scenes set against the human drama contained within a family, it should be a must see by anyone who appreciates film.
- Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – western panoramas, humorous dialogue and strong performances by Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, and Lee van Cleef set against the familiar soaring Enrico Morricone’s score, this film defined the western for good against Hollywood’s sanitized version at that time. It must always be seen in the original widescreen for nothing else would do.
- Metropolis -Lang’s futuristic vision still haunts us with its depiction of a society tearing itself apart over class.
- Lawrence of Arabia – brilliant cinematography, a reluctant hero and a nearly true story that needs to be seen in its restored glory. David Lean’s finest
- Zulu – starring Michael Caine and Stanley Baker, this last stand film is a thriller set at the original location of the historical battle of 120 British soldiers holding off three thousand Zulu warriors.
- Raging Bull- in a long line of performances that have diminished in quality lately, this is Robert de Niro’s finest and deserving of an Academy Award of the boxer who can not control his demons
- Tora,Tora,Tora – shot in a documentary style, this is a superior film to the recent Pearl Harbor film. Using real planes and ships and shot on location, you feel that you are seeing a real-life enactment of that day in December
Undoubtly there are other films of a more personal nature and more obscure that I should put on this list but these films should be recognized by most people. Naturally, they lean to the epic and spectacle genre of film but I do a softness for the grandiose visions.
As can be seen from the list, there has not been much in the past few years that really have captured my imagination. Like I said, I have not been able to view many films in the past few years and what I have seen tend to be more escapist fare to pass away the time. I miss the days especially back in the early nineties when I lived in Toronto and I watch films all of the time whether in the theatre or on video. It is was a golden age for me in many respects when it came to film. I do wish I could watch as many films now as I did then but family and work life takes precedence now.
Even though I do have a DVD player, it is virtually unused. Cable television is what I use the television for these days. I even gave up my Netflix membership this past year because I was not watching any films. I would rent them and then they would be sitting there for weeks unwatched and sometimes returned unwatched.
Then again, life changes. Back then, I did not have the Internet or photography to distract me. Now, my free time is seemingly consumed by them. But I do not regret it and if perchance, a film comes on one of the cable television stations that I always desired to see but never took the opportunity to do so, then I may just be able to update my list.