hey everyone
i was on the radio today, sort of. my complaint about referring to multiple protagonists warranted a reading on air (which you can listen to or download here) apparently. fascinatingly, the presenter who made the error of referring to "two protagonists" in an advert (of all things) chose to use a John Dryden quote in his defence. Alas, as i will get to, the quote used proved my point rather than make the host appear correct, but he appeared somewhat oblivious to this. as the broadcast veered towards something of a dig at your humble narrator (questioning my gender, suggesting i am bereft of friends), i suppose one would expect nothing less.....
to go back to my moans and groans, i have a quarrel with anyone that refers to a multiple of protagonists in any play, story, film or, as is the case with the well spoken host of the show Mr Andy Rice, 30 second advertisements. a simple literature rule for you - one cannot have more than one protagonist in a story! you can have many prominent, well defined characters, but fundamentally only one is the protagonist, which is to say the reason the story exists. Mr Rice, in his very posh, alluring tones, often mentions an advert as having 2 or 3 protagonists. i got rather fed up of hearing such drivel at times when traffic reports should have been on, and thus mailed him.
whilst i am flattered that he gave my comments some airtime (more or less in the same way that Mickey Mouse is presumably flattered when American news channels give airtime to his imaginary birthday), i was puzzled to learn that he believed his terminology was correct on the basis of a John Dryden quote. Dryden, some 400 years ago, made a comment along the lines of the "characters used to portray the protagonists in his plays". To Mr Rice, this was apparently a reference to multiple protagonists in a story and thus vindicated his vocabulary. to everyone else, of course, this is nothing more than John Dryden using the term correctly.
let's have a look at the quote again, shall we, with my emphasis placed on key letters : "characters used to portray the protagonists in his plays". There are two ways you can interpret the great Dryden. either he is talking about different characters in different plays (i.e. one protagonist per play), or he speaks of the characters as a collective in describing his plays as a whole, which is to say for the purposes of conversation it is one protagonist as a group. methinks Mr Dryden at no point referred to any of his works bearing two or three protagonists, i would be interested to be shown something that has me in the wrong in this respect.
the remainder of airtime given over to my concerns was, alas, used as some sort of dig at me. i had clearly irked the presenters, as they couldn't work out if i was of the male or female gender (most people clock this from my "kingmonkey" address), and then suggested that i should change my tone and approach somewhat if i wished to have any friends. well, if we ignore the former, the latter is interesting. i am blessed with a number of friends, whose company i appreciate and trust that the sentiment is reciprocated. i could not tell you how many friends i have as i do not see it as something to be counted; the quality of friendship strikes me as being more important than the volume or number of them.
in regards of why i bother with all of this, there are three reasons. firstly, i love the gift of the English language and it drives me up the wall when people in positions of influence (broadcasters, writers) abuse it, subliminally influence others to do the same and then see the very same people turn around and whinge about "dumbing down" and falls in standards. secondly, i loathe and detest anyone who tries to sound intelligent and superior to everyone else around them by incorrectly using long words and impressive sounding phrases that they clearly do not understand. thirdly, finally and most importantly, on the whole i was rather bored and it amused me a very great deal to fire of a mail at random to someone about the first subject that crossed my mind. that they chose to respond to it makes it all the more amusing!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
Sun City, February 2009
hey everyone
well, i probably should be getting some rest after the long journey back from our 4 day break in Sun City, but what the heck, i might as well do an update whilst the repeat of the Oscars is on. Michele is watching it, and i have an ear on it!
we have had, as usual, an ace time up at Sun City. James loves the place, and i think i have the right pictures here to show why! first up would be the thing that filled most of our days, which is swimming!
James is quite the water baby when it suits him (usually not bath time), and he loves the idea of all the different swimming areas up there. The one above, which Mummy went into with him, is at least heated and very pleasant. the kids swimming area ("Adventure Island), which Daddy gets to go in with him, is not!
Adventure Island features a massive castle / mountain (it's not sure what it wants to be, really - the pic makes it look like a mountain, but it also has castle-esque windows and what not) which James likes to go to the top of. James, however, does not particularly care for the walk up it. i then end up carrying him up the small, slippery steps, designed with the width of an average 8 or 9 year old in mind!
now James really doesn't like showers or any sort of water hitting his head. i was a bit surprised when he then asked me to take him under an ice cold waterfall. ho hum, Mummy at least captured the moment when we got out from under it, after all of two seconds i seem to recall!
Mummy also captured his exceptional dislike for being under the ice cold waterfall for two seconds, momentarily forgetting that it was all his idea in the first place. i think i am giving a hand up to say we are OK rather than waving hello!
the great discovery James made this holiday was how absolutely ace water slides are. the last time we were up there he had a bit of a look at them, but decided against going down. this time around many, many children were bombing down them, and so he decided to join in the fun. and, of course, loved it!!
honesty is a big thing for James at the moment. when we told him it was time to go, instead of saying something like "just one more go" he said "Daddy, i am going down five more times.". to his credit, he did indeed count going down another 5 times and then called it a day! the fact that he's doing this at 3 strikes me as being rather impressive; can't wait for those "know it all" teenage days. which i never, ever had, obviously....
...erm, moving on, here's a remarkable and quite accidental shot that makes James look like he has perfected the art of walking on water!
not quite a miracle, dear readers. this pic looks like it is taken at the paper thin shallow end of the rather shallow (and wisely so) kiddies pool! still, it does look rather impressive!
when not swimming, James was rather keen to practice his game skills which he has so diligently been working on with what used to be my Play Station. here he is navigating the woods of Endor with Mummy on the ace Star Wars Arcade machine, one that i would not object to getting rid of the bed in our house to accommodate.
sorry for the poor quality of the above, like the below one it was taken on my cell phone. i think i have, to put it technically, "knacked the lens" on it a bit.
and here i am with a gift from THE KING
it's one of those "coin waterfall" thingies, sorry, i am not sure what the right name is for them. you put coins in with the hope of pushing others over and into your tray. all i know is that it is an official signature product of THE KING and is thus to be revered. i tried to encourage James to play it, but he was having none of it. except for one instance where he started to do an Elvis dance near it; a quite poignant and beautiful moment!
Jungle Gyms are another big favourite for James, and the one near the class breakfast buffet area proved to be a winner for the young man. here he is emerging from the slide with a block that he insisted on carrying all the way to the top. some 6 - 7 metres up!
and here he is in front of some bizarre European architecture tribute they have put up near the kids area!
why on earth they have selected these three from Europe is a mystery. sure, they are probably the three most easily recognized land marks from the continent (sorry, Germany), but why have them where they do? methinks they are left over props from some exhibition or conference, but never mind, they look rather good!
now then, some would balk at the warning at the most excellent crocodile park / reserve they have at Sun City....
....but not Daddy and James!
as James loves the crocodiles, there's no way that we wouldn't take him along to see them again. this time, however, there was the added bonus of being able to feed the baby crocodiles!
now crocodiles, strictly speaking, are not vegetarians, and thus it was chicken feet that we were given to feed them. James was somewhat wary of handling them, even with the gloves on, but soon threw some over the wall for them!
and my, were the baby crocs happy to get them! for the most part, the crocodiles tend to just lay in the water or on the bank, but blimey did they shift and grab the food we gave them!
well done James, you have done your bit to help them grow up big and strong, rather like this one has....
well, i think that will do it for pics from our holiday, especially as i am sat here yawning away!
a very big thank you indeed to Grandma and Grandad for arranging the weekend away for us, we loved just about every minute of it! fingers crossed the world class Post Office delivers your card from there at some point this year!!
now, if you have skipped over my Trev and Simon post below, go and read it, and go and visit their site!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
well, i probably should be getting some rest after the long journey back from our 4 day break in Sun City, but what the heck, i might as well do an update whilst the repeat of the Oscars is on. Michele is watching it, and i have an ear on it!
we have had, as usual, an ace time up at Sun City. James loves the place, and i think i have the right pictures here to show why! first up would be the thing that filled most of our days, which is swimming!
James is quite the water baby when it suits him (usually not bath time), and he loves the idea of all the different swimming areas up there. The one above, which Mummy went into with him, is at least heated and very pleasant. the kids swimming area ("Adventure Island), which Daddy gets to go in with him, is not!
Adventure Island features a massive castle / mountain (it's not sure what it wants to be, really - the pic makes it look like a mountain, but it also has castle-esque windows and what not) which James likes to go to the top of. James, however, does not particularly care for the walk up it. i then end up carrying him up the small, slippery steps, designed with the width of an average 8 or 9 year old in mind!
now James really doesn't like showers or any sort of water hitting his head. i was a bit surprised when he then asked me to take him under an ice cold waterfall. ho hum, Mummy at least captured the moment when we got out from under it, after all of two seconds i seem to recall!
Mummy also captured his exceptional dislike for being under the ice cold waterfall for two seconds, momentarily forgetting that it was all his idea in the first place. i think i am giving a hand up to say we are OK rather than waving hello!
the great discovery James made this holiday was how absolutely ace water slides are. the last time we were up there he had a bit of a look at them, but decided against going down. this time around many, many children were bombing down them, and so he decided to join in the fun. and, of course, loved it!!
honesty is a big thing for James at the moment. when we told him it was time to go, instead of saying something like "just one more go" he said "Daddy, i am going down five more times.". to his credit, he did indeed count going down another 5 times and then called it a day! the fact that he's doing this at 3 strikes me as being rather impressive; can't wait for those "know it all" teenage days. which i never, ever had, obviously....
...erm, moving on, here's a remarkable and quite accidental shot that makes James look like he has perfected the art of walking on water!
not quite a miracle, dear readers. this pic looks like it is taken at the paper thin shallow end of the rather shallow (and wisely so) kiddies pool! still, it does look rather impressive!
when not swimming, James was rather keen to practice his game skills which he has so diligently been working on with what used to be my Play Station. here he is navigating the woods of Endor with Mummy on the ace Star Wars Arcade machine, one that i would not object to getting rid of the bed in our house to accommodate.
sorry for the poor quality of the above, like the below one it was taken on my cell phone. i think i have, to put it technically, "knacked the lens" on it a bit.
and here i am with a gift from THE KING
it's one of those "coin waterfall" thingies, sorry, i am not sure what the right name is for them. you put coins in with the hope of pushing others over and into your tray. all i know is that it is an official signature product of THE KING and is thus to be revered. i tried to encourage James to play it, but he was having none of it. except for one instance where he started to do an Elvis dance near it; a quite poignant and beautiful moment!
Jungle Gyms are another big favourite for James, and the one near the class breakfast buffet area proved to be a winner for the young man. here he is emerging from the slide with a block that he insisted on carrying all the way to the top. some 6 - 7 metres up!
and here he is in front of some bizarre European architecture tribute they have put up near the kids area!
why on earth they have selected these three from Europe is a mystery. sure, they are probably the three most easily recognized land marks from the continent (sorry, Germany), but why have them where they do? methinks they are left over props from some exhibition or conference, but never mind, they look rather good!
now then, some would balk at the warning at the most excellent crocodile park / reserve they have at Sun City....
....but not Daddy and James!
as James loves the crocodiles, there's no way that we wouldn't take him along to see them again. this time, however, there was the added bonus of being able to feed the baby crocodiles!
now crocodiles, strictly speaking, are not vegetarians, and thus it was chicken feet that we were given to feed them. James was somewhat wary of handling them, even with the gloves on, but soon threw some over the wall for them!
and my, were the baby crocs happy to get them! for the most part, the crocodiles tend to just lay in the water or on the bank, but blimey did they shift and grab the food we gave them!
well done James, you have done your bit to help them grow up big and strong, rather like this one has....
well, i think that will do it for pics from our holiday, especially as i am sat here yawning away!
a very big thank you indeed to Grandma and Grandad for arranging the weekend away for us, we loved just about every minute of it! fingers crossed the world class Post Office delivers your card from there at some point this year!!
now, if you have skipped over my Trev and Simon post below, go and read it, and go and visit their site!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Return Of The Kings
woo-hoo! Trev and Simon are back in business! Swing Your Pants!
for those of you who have no idea whatsoever what this is about, your ignorance is to be forgiven, as short-sighted, greedy TV bosses seem to have canned Saturday morning kids shows like the fabulous Going Live on which the above two appeared. i suggest you click on the title of this post as soon as possible and check them out!
Trev and Simon are two wonderfully talented chaps, although the warnings on the site suggest that their "pod cast" thing are not suitable for children! please go and support them by checking out their site and downloading their musings - it doesn't cost you anything!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
for those of you who have no idea whatsoever what this is about, your ignorance is to be forgiven, as short-sighted, greedy TV bosses seem to have canned Saturday morning kids shows like the fabulous Going Live on which the above two appeared. i suggest you click on the title of this post as soon as possible and check them out!
Trev and Simon are two wonderfully talented chaps, although the warnings on the site suggest that their "pod cast" thing are not suitable for children! please go and support them by checking out their site and downloading their musings - it doesn't cost you anything!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
dream into being
hey everyone
Sylvester Stallone's next film, The Expendables, was looking pretty good. with the latest addition to the cast, however, it looks somewhat better than just pretty good...............
ladies and gentleman in general, us 80's fanatics in particular, Arnie and Sly in the same film at last.
The Expendables the features Sly, Arnie, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, Jet Li and Sir Ben Kingsley. the only down side i am seeing here is that it's not due for release until 2010.....
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sylvester Stallone's next film, The Expendables, was looking pretty good. with the latest addition to the cast, however, it looks somewhat better than just pretty good...............
ladies and gentleman in general, us 80's fanatics in particular, Arnie and Sly in the same film at last.
The Expendables the features Sly, Arnie, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, Jet Li and Sir Ben Kingsley. the only down side i am seeing here is that it's not due for release until 2010.....
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
moans and groans
hey everyone
this is one of those "me, me, me" posts that blogger types are apparently guilty of on a frequent basis, so feel free to skip over if you are not interested!
first off, yet again a victory in the war against the English language by a certain radio station. there's a link there, but i am not naming them. you see, in recent times, despite the fact that they like to think they are the bastion of free speech, open-mindedness and consider themselves to be "independent", they are not half getting their knickers in a twist about a certain site that no one takes too seriously anyway publishing things about them. it's not that there is any malice or harm intended by what is posted, it's just that the darling, sensitive hosts of the station don't like it when they are the subject of conversation. as far as i can work out one of these immensely talented and gifted radio presenters got all upset when it was mentioned, as simply as this, that at one stage she worked as a waitress. go figure.
moving back to the point of the moan and groan, on a Wednesday between 3:30pm - 4:00pm this station hosts a "review" of sorts of advertising from the last week or so. the specialist brought in speaks with a terribly posh voice (think Henry Blofeld)and uses many elongated, interesting sounding words. he sounds rather good when he uses them; oh if only he used them correctly.
today he delivered a masterpiece. on air, presumably with a straight face, he delivered the sentence "the two protagonists of the conversation". dear me! never mind the fact that using the term "protagonist" to describe anyone in a conversation is somewhat dodgy ground, it's fairly early on in your studies of the English Language that you learn that any story or scenario can only have one protagonist. the only time one could use the plural "protagonists" would be if the protagonist of the story was a group or collective, such as in the novel Lord Of The Flies.
whilst it's astonishing that the gentleman concerned seems oblivious to the possibility that a large number of his listeners (presumably like me hearing him by accident whilst awaiting often incorrect traffic information) are well aware of the folly of his flashy flexing of words incorrectly, it shouldn't really be that surprising. the host of the show on which he appears revels in telling all her listeners just how many books she has read, but kindly doesn't show off how much intellectual capacity she has gained from digesting so much literature by making presumably deliberate errors with the English language, using terms like "revert back" and bewildering degrees of "unique" such as "quite unique", "very unique" and so forth.
otherwise, it seems that the ever popular and reliable South African Post Office just might be reading my site or at least have sections being sent to them. a mere two days after commenting that they appeared not to have bothered to deliver the latest edition of my magazine subscription, whoomp! there it is in my post! if they are reading this, thank you, and do you think you could now deliver the one or two birthday cards i was expecting?
if you read this, thanks for sticking with me!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
this is one of those "me, me, me" posts that blogger types are apparently guilty of on a frequent basis, so feel free to skip over if you are not interested!
first off, yet again a victory in the war against the English language by a certain radio station. there's a link there, but i am not naming them. you see, in recent times, despite the fact that they like to think they are the bastion of free speech, open-mindedness and consider themselves to be "independent", they are not half getting their knickers in a twist about a certain site that no one takes too seriously anyway publishing things about them. it's not that there is any malice or harm intended by what is posted, it's just that the darling, sensitive hosts of the station don't like it when they are the subject of conversation. as far as i can work out one of these immensely talented and gifted radio presenters got all upset when it was mentioned, as simply as this, that at one stage she worked as a waitress. go figure.
moving back to the point of the moan and groan, on a Wednesday between 3:30pm - 4:00pm this station hosts a "review" of sorts of advertising from the last week or so. the specialist brought in speaks with a terribly posh voice (think Henry Blofeld)and uses many elongated, interesting sounding words. he sounds rather good when he uses them; oh if only he used them correctly.
today he delivered a masterpiece. on air, presumably with a straight face, he delivered the sentence "the two protagonists of the conversation". dear me! never mind the fact that using the term "protagonist" to describe anyone in a conversation is somewhat dodgy ground, it's fairly early on in your studies of the English Language that you learn that any story or scenario can only have one protagonist. the only time one could use the plural "protagonists" would be if the protagonist of the story was a group or collective, such as in the novel Lord Of The Flies.
whilst it's astonishing that the gentleman concerned seems oblivious to the possibility that a large number of his listeners (presumably like me hearing him by accident whilst awaiting often incorrect traffic information) are well aware of the folly of his flashy flexing of words incorrectly, it shouldn't really be that surprising. the host of the show on which he appears revels in telling all her listeners just how many books she has read, but kindly doesn't show off how much intellectual capacity she has gained from digesting so much literature by making presumably deliberate errors with the English language, using terms like "revert back" and bewildering degrees of "unique" such as "quite unique", "very unique" and so forth.
otherwise, it seems that the ever popular and reliable South African Post Office just might be reading my site or at least have sections being sent to them. a mere two days after commenting that they appeared not to have bothered to deliver the latest edition of my magazine subscription, whoomp! there it is in my post! if they are reading this, thank you, and do you think you could now deliver the one or two birthday cards i was expecting?
if you read this, thanks for sticking with me!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
birthday wishes
hey everyone
many thanks indeed to friends and family around the globe who sent their birthday wishes on to me today. it was all very kind of you indeed and made for a most excellent day!
needless to say, James really loves birthdays. not content with kindly opening all my cards and presents for me, he expected some birthday cake at 6am!
James had to wait for the more appropriate hour of 6pm for this, but my word the wait was worth his time! have a look at a detail of the most excellent cake that James and his Mummy put together for me!
sadly there seems to be no picture of the most excellent figurine of a construction worker dressed all in black wielding a chainsaw, but at least he sat on top of my piece of cake!
my good friend Spiros celebrates his birthday soon. he will also have a construction worker on his cake. and, if i recall his top band correctly, there will also be a Californian motorcycle copper, a Native American (or whatever the current correct term is), a sailor and, of course, his favourite a leather man with a macho mustache.
in the mean time, guess who helped me blow the candles out.....
i trust that you have all had as good a day as i had today! for those reading this at verk, once again thank you all for your very kind good wishes!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
many thanks indeed to friends and family around the globe who sent their birthday wishes on to me today. it was all very kind of you indeed and made for a most excellent day!
needless to say, James really loves birthdays. not content with kindly opening all my cards and presents for me, he expected some birthday cake at 6am!
James had to wait for the more appropriate hour of 6pm for this, but my word the wait was worth his time! have a look at a detail of the most excellent cake that James and his Mummy put together for me!
sadly there seems to be no picture of the most excellent figurine of a construction worker dressed all in black wielding a chainsaw, but at least he sat on top of my piece of cake!
my good friend Spiros celebrates his birthday soon. he will also have a construction worker on his cake. and, if i recall his top band correctly, there will also be a Californian motorcycle copper, a Native American (or whatever the current correct term is), a sailor and, of course, his favourite a leather man with a macho mustache.
in the mean time, guess who helped me blow the candles out.....
i trust that you have all had as good a day as i had today! for those reading this at verk, once again thank you all for your very kind good wishes!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Monday, February 16, 2009
Morrissey Revealed.............
hey everyone
well, those ace chaps at record store have excelled themselves, as today i received my copy of Morrissey's new single, Throwing My Arms Around Paris, within a week of its release in the UK! nice one!
i suppose i should give some credit to those erratic people at the South African Post Office (who now claim to wish to be "in the Top 10" of world postal systems) for the safe delivery of this. i would, but the latest edition of my magazine subscription, due two weeks ago, still hasn't arrived.
as for the single package, well, it was a bit disappointing that Moz had opted for 2 CD's and 1 7" single instead of the usual 1 CD and 2 7" singles this time around, but there you go. there are certainly no complaints about the content. we've all heard the single Paris already of course, but the b-sides are well worth getting. the 7" comes with a rough live reading of Death Of A Disco Dancer which makes the collection worthwhile in itself, and the one CD single has Shame Is The Name on it, featuring no less than Chrissie Hynde.
the artwork, as you can see, is first class Morrissey - a stylish picture of the man himself on the front, and some 19th Century painting details on the inside...
erm, also on the inside are some pictures of Morrissey and his merry musicians. one of the CD singles features the band being forced to hold a copy of what is, unless i am mistaken, the latest Greatest Hits Morrissey CD, the other featuring just the band holding albums of their own choice. as for the 7" single picture, well.....
rather interesting, Moz! all good fun, and at least the ego factor didn't get in the way, since they have not used 12" singles or albums! i must say i did not expect this picture, but there you go!
yes, dear sister Gillian, i know you probably want a closer look for "artistic reasons". here you go!
what can i say? the new Morrissey single offers you a glimpse at Morrissey's new attire and some great music. go and buy it!!!!!!!!!!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
well, those ace chaps at record store have excelled themselves, as today i received my copy of Morrissey's new single, Throwing My Arms Around Paris, within a week of its release in the UK! nice one!
i suppose i should give some credit to those erratic people at the South African Post Office (who now claim to wish to be "in the Top 10" of world postal systems) for the safe delivery of this. i would, but the latest edition of my magazine subscription, due two weeks ago, still hasn't arrived.
as for the single package, well, it was a bit disappointing that Moz had opted for 2 CD's and 1 7" single instead of the usual 1 CD and 2 7" singles this time around, but there you go. there are certainly no complaints about the content. we've all heard the single Paris already of course, but the b-sides are well worth getting. the 7" comes with a rough live reading of Death Of A Disco Dancer which makes the collection worthwhile in itself, and the one CD single has Shame Is The Name on it, featuring no less than Chrissie Hynde.
the artwork, as you can see, is first class Morrissey - a stylish picture of the man himself on the front, and some 19th Century painting details on the inside...
erm, also on the inside are some pictures of Morrissey and his merry musicians. one of the CD singles features the band being forced to hold a copy of what is, unless i am mistaken, the latest Greatest Hits Morrissey CD, the other featuring just the band holding albums of their own choice. as for the 7" single picture, well.....
rather interesting, Moz! all good fun, and at least the ego factor didn't get in the way, since they have not used 12" singles or albums! i must say i did not expect this picture, but there you go!
yes, dear sister Gillian, i know you probably want a closer look for "artistic reasons". here you go!
what can i say? the new Morrissey single offers you a glimpse at Morrissey's new attire and some great music. go and buy it!!!!!!!!!!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Friday, February 13, 2009
Lost In (Visual) Translation
hey everyone
well, i found a rather interesting and quality article on the interwebnet about odd film posters from around the world. i've decided to pilfer some of the images to post here and, for good measure, include the better know USA / UK posters for the same films. there are some odd ones, happy looking!
first up is Star Wars. this has to be as an iconic poster as you could wish to find, and everyone remembers it well.
the Russians, however, appeared none too happy with this poster to promote the film (was it even shown in the USSR?) and thus came up with some of their own for it. the first one is rather curious - behold, if you will, "Darth Lion" with some sort of pretty birthday lights in his head....
i would hope that the plan for this was some sort of avant garde, post-modernist combination of Darth Vader and Chewbacca, but i doubt it was as intelligent as that.
Russia understanding Star Wars seems to be a bit of a problem going on this next one. now, a wise and dear friend once described science-fiction films as being "westerns in space". someone in Russia clearly saw this whole Star Wars business as being a western with some sort of abstract technology used to make cowboys and horses.
Okay, moving right along, who doesn't know and love the Ghostbusters poster? easily one of the strongest images to remain in memory for those of us who were there in the 80's, and a brilliant form of simplistic yet effective imagery.
those who spent the 80's in what is now the Czech Republic, however, were not quite so lucky in what they got to represent this fine film....
what the artist actually intended with the poster above is a bit of a mystery, really. even if you were polite enough to see it as some sort of "absract Picasso tribute work", well, what exactly is it an abstract of in relation to the film?
now then, Chinatown is on the list of most serious film fanatics' top 10 or 20 films of all time, and certainly the elegant, film noir inspired poster for it is one of the all time great movie posters.
there are many memorable moments in the film. for the Polish artist commissioned to create a poster for the release of the film in, well, Poland i guess, it seems that the whole film revolved around the bit where Jack Nicholson gets his nose cut by Roman Polanski....
now this could have been much worse. if the artist had taken a shine to the dark, devastating twist ending to the film, well, you really don't want to wonder what the poster would have been! i do like the "film Amerykanski" at the top of the poster, though, that's ace that is!
since we are in the world of Jack Nicholson, how about One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest? this is not an easy film to promote by any means, but the image of Jack on the poster does a fair enough job.
the distributors of the film in Turkey hit upon a novel approach to the difficult task of promoting this film, it has to be said. going on the poster, it seems that they decided to just splice the film with The Shining and take it as a given that no one would notice the curious plot discrepancies in the cut...
Shelley Duvall cropping up on the poster is a rather odd decision, is it not? oh well, perhaps the poster for The Shining in Turkey features Louise Fletcher dispensing medicine! meanwhile, as for in the other corner, well, what's going on there? for those of us who have seen this fine film i suppose the interpretation could be the memorable scene of Chief at the end of the film, but then again he did that alone. it looks like in Turkey the film One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest either ended with or at least features some sort of wild zombie assault!
ladies and gentlemen, i give you Bullitt...
what a poster - Steve McQueen at his coolest, with the only flaw in the design and appearance of the poster being the lack of the car.
i don't think anyone in Germany actually saw Bullitt before creating a poster for this magnificent film. have a look at it, but i really do not want to say anything at all about it....
finally, Ridley Scott's masterpiece of suspense cinema, Alien we all remember this dark, brooding poster for the film...
but this poster was not good enough for cinemagoers in Poland. oh no, instead they got a rather curious looking thing which, at the least, does not reveal the look of the alien!
if you think the above one is strange, have a look at how our friends the Czechs got this film promoted to them!
i confess, i have no idea at all what's going on in the above poster - if anything is indeed going on in it! well honestly, if you went to go and buy a ticket for a film on the basis of that poster, just what sort of film would you be expecting to see?
well, i hope you have found these as entertaining as i have!!! i think, overall, whereas Hollywood doesn't always get the films right, i think we can say that they at least do the posters better!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
well, i found a rather interesting and quality article on the interwebnet about odd film posters from around the world. i've decided to pilfer some of the images to post here and, for good measure, include the better know USA / UK posters for the same films. there are some odd ones, happy looking!
first up is Star Wars. this has to be as an iconic poster as you could wish to find, and everyone remembers it well.
the Russians, however, appeared none too happy with this poster to promote the film (was it even shown in the USSR?) and thus came up with some of their own for it. the first one is rather curious - behold, if you will, "Darth Lion" with some sort of pretty birthday lights in his head....
i would hope that the plan for this was some sort of avant garde, post-modernist combination of Darth Vader and Chewbacca, but i doubt it was as intelligent as that.
Russia understanding Star Wars seems to be a bit of a problem going on this next one. now, a wise and dear friend once described science-fiction films as being "westerns in space". someone in Russia clearly saw this whole Star Wars business as being a western with some sort of abstract technology used to make cowboys and horses.
Okay, moving right along, who doesn't know and love the Ghostbusters poster? easily one of the strongest images to remain in memory for those of us who were there in the 80's, and a brilliant form of simplistic yet effective imagery.
those who spent the 80's in what is now the Czech Republic, however, were not quite so lucky in what they got to represent this fine film....
what the artist actually intended with the poster above is a bit of a mystery, really. even if you were polite enough to see it as some sort of "absract Picasso tribute work", well, what exactly is it an abstract of in relation to the film?
now then, Chinatown is on the list of most serious film fanatics' top 10 or 20 films of all time, and certainly the elegant, film noir inspired poster for it is one of the all time great movie posters.
there are many memorable moments in the film. for the Polish artist commissioned to create a poster for the release of the film in, well, Poland i guess, it seems that the whole film revolved around the bit where Jack Nicholson gets his nose cut by Roman Polanski....
now this could have been much worse. if the artist had taken a shine to the dark, devastating twist ending to the film, well, you really don't want to wonder what the poster would have been! i do like the "film Amerykanski" at the top of the poster, though, that's ace that is!
since we are in the world of Jack Nicholson, how about One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest? this is not an easy film to promote by any means, but the image of Jack on the poster does a fair enough job.
the distributors of the film in Turkey hit upon a novel approach to the difficult task of promoting this film, it has to be said. going on the poster, it seems that they decided to just splice the film with The Shining and take it as a given that no one would notice the curious plot discrepancies in the cut...
Shelley Duvall cropping up on the poster is a rather odd decision, is it not? oh well, perhaps the poster for The Shining in Turkey features Louise Fletcher dispensing medicine! meanwhile, as for in the other corner, well, what's going on there? for those of us who have seen this fine film i suppose the interpretation could be the memorable scene of Chief at the end of the film, but then again he did that alone. it looks like in Turkey the film One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest either ended with or at least features some sort of wild zombie assault!
ladies and gentlemen, i give you Bullitt...
what a poster - Steve McQueen at his coolest, with the only flaw in the design and appearance of the poster being the lack of the car.
i don't think anyone in Germany actually saw Bullitt before creating a poster for this magnificent film. have a look at it, but i really do not want to say anything at all about it....
finally, Ridley Scott's masterpiece of suspense cinema, Alien we all remember this dark, brooding poster for the film...
but this poster was not good enough for cinemagoers in Poland. oh no, instead they got a rather curious looking thing which, at the least, does not reveal the look of the alien!
if you think the above one is strange, have a look at how our friends the Czechs got this film promoted to them!
i confess, i have no idea at all what's going on in the above poster - if anything is indeed going on in it! well honestly, if you went to go and buy a ticket for a film on the basis of that poster, just what sort of film would you be expecting to see?
well, i hope you have found these as entertaining as i have!!! i think, overall, whereas Hollywood doesn't always get the films right, i think we can say that they at least do the posters better!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
photography by James!
hey everyone
well, this post started out with the intention of being one of some class pictures of James eating an absolutely massive bowl of strawberry jelly and custard. this idea was somewhat surpassed when James decided that he would in fact quite like to have a go with the camera!
ladies and gents, here is the first ever picture taken by James!
not a bad first effort, since he managed to slightly listen to the advice and guidance i gave him on how the camera works! we did manage to persuade him that it would probably be better if all of Mummy and Daddy were in the viewfinder when he pressed the button to take the picture. this he did indeed take on-board, with the result being this pic!
we had a serious case of the giggles when he took this pic, i am delighted to report. his face was a picture of dedication to his art and craft, i dare say not even the great Kubrick looked as determined as he as he "lensed" the frame, or whatever the right term is!
taking pictures of Mummy and Daddy soon, as you would expect, got rather tiresome for James, so off he went around the house snapping away. here are a few selected works from his shooting session today.
first up would be my CD stand, which has been beautified with images of Brandon Whatsisname from Superman Returns. needless to say, i had little to do with this beautification of the CD stand; James had a very great deal indeed to do with it.
next up is a picture of one of our cats, Caremon.
Caremon on the whole is a good deal more passive than our other cat, Gizelle. yes, i know it is supposed to be "Giselle", but it's Michele's way! anyway, whilst Gizelle ran off at the sight of James and the camera, Caremon was most happy to remain sitting still for a snap or two!
artists are often faced with challenges for the form, and James is no exception. how does one combine the majesty of a big dinosaur in a picture with perennial favourite Noddy? James hit upon an interesting resolution to this great artistic question!
we have one or two Noddy books, but thus far i have not found a copy of Noddy Gets Eaten Off A Big Massive Dinosaur Whilst Eating A Sweetie. if such a volume exists, i doubt very much indeed that it would be better than this pic! i do rather like the velociraptor in the background, either trying to wave hello or have a little nibble himself!
and finally, Mummy was called on again to prostrate herself before the lens of James, but this time only to hold up a picture that James wished to take a picture of. nothing like a bit of avant garde, post modernist art, hey, son? anyway, some of you might appreciate the picture for this coming Saturday!
there are many (trust me, many, many) more pictures that James took this afternoon. i am, however, not particularly inclined to show off his admittedly well framed images of the inside of our bin or the cat food bowls, and i would suggest that you are unlikely to be of a mind to wish to see them anyway!
i would imagine that James will be keen to have another go with the camera sooner rather than later. if he does, i will do my best to post what he sees up here!!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
well, this post started out with the intention of being one of some class pictures of James eating an absolutely massive bowl of strawberry jelly and custard. this idea was somewhat surpassed when James decided that he would in fact quite like to have a go with the camera!
ladies and gents, here is the first ever picture taken by James!
not a bad first effort, since he managed to slightly listen to the advice and guidance i gave him on how the camera works! we did manage to persuade him that it would probably be better if all of Mummy and Daddy were in the viewfinder when he pressed the button to take the picture. this he did indeed take on-board, with the result being this pic!
we had a serious case of the giggles when he took this pic, i am delighted to report. his face was a picture of dedication to his art and craft, i dare say not even the great Kubrick looked as determined as he as he "lensed" the frame, or whatever the right term is!
taking pictures of Mummy and Daddy soon, as you would expect, got rather tiresome for James, so off he went around the house snapping away. here are a few selected works from his shooting session today.
first up would be my CD stand, which has been beautified with images of Brandon Whatsisname from Superman Returns. needless to say, i had little to do with this beautification of the CD stand; James had a very great deal indeed to do with it.
next up is a picture of one of our cats, Caremon.
Caremon on the whole is a good deal more passive than our other cat, Gizelle. yes, i know it is supposed to be "Giselle", but it's Michele's way! anyway, whilst Gizelle ran off at the sight of James and the camera, Caremon was most happy to remain sitting still for a snap or two!
artists are often faced with challenges for the form, and James is no exception. how does one combine the majesty of a big dinosaur in a picture with perennial favourite Noddy? James hit upon an interesting resolution to this great artistic question!
we have one or two Noddy books, but thus far i have not found a copy of Noddy Gets Eaten Off A Big Massive Dinosaur Whilst Eating A Sweetie. if such a volume exists, i doubt very much indeed that it would be better than this pic! i do rather like the velociraptor in the background, either trying to wave hello or have a little nibble himself!
and finally, Mummy was called on again to prostrate herself before the lens of James, but this time only to hold up a picture that James wished to take a picture of. nothing like a bit of avant garde, post modernist art, hey, son? anyway, some of you might appreciate the picture for this coming Saturday!
there are many (trust me, many, many) more pictures that James took this afternoon. i am, however, not particularly inclined to show off his admittedly well framed images of the inside of our bin or the cat food bowls, and i would suggest that you are unlikely to be of a mind to wish to see them anyway!
i would imagine that James will be keen to have another go with the camera sooner rather than later. if he does, i will do my best to post what he sees up here!!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
a disturbance in the force.....
hey everyone
i am delighted to report that James' recently found love of Star Wars continues nicely. he seems to be rather enjoying what bits of the films we let him see, and he certainly likes playing with my ace Darth Vader, Obi-Wan and Anakin toys. yes, my toys, and yes i know i hit 36 (!) next week.
with a distinct lack of variety in Star Wars things to show him (there is no way we are letting him near Episodes II & III for many a year), i opted to hunt down the one Star Wars related 'feature' that i was confident he could play from start to finish.......
now i vaguely recall watching this epic when we were all rather young in Australia. and, for the purposes of this post, let us assume that we videotaped this spectacle at the time, shall we?
my memories of it were vague at best - i didn't remember much of it, except that it was all about some sort of party or festival on Chewbaccas' home planet. the reviews across the whole wide interwebnetthingie suggest that few, if any, care for it - George "Mr Star Wars" Lucas, who had little to do with the making of it, has expressed a desire to "smash every copy of it", i believe. nonetheless, i decided to put it on for James. if nothing else, it would be a test of his new found love of all things Star Wars, i figured. and a test it was.
on the off chance that you have not seen this "lost work" and want to, well then, be warned, for there are *** SPOILERS AHEAD ***....
whilst not exactly saying "make it stop" at any point, James did look at me somewhat concerned, asking if we couldn't perhaps skip past one or two parts. oddly, the intergalactic, far out uber-funk of one Jefferson Starship was not one of the bits he wished to skip...
.....but the other song and dance numbers inexplicably spliced into the film certainly feature on his "i do not want to watch that again" list. i, having a flashback, clocked when Princess Leia was about to start singing along to the Star Wars theme and promptly left the room. i therefore have no idea exactly how James took to it, but when i went back to it all he didn't seem entirely disappointed that it was all finished. i suspect that part won't get played all that often in the future.
so, what else does the Holiday Special hold for the intrepid viewer? well, starting at the end, there's the curious Wookie life day celebration itself.
the reasons for "Life Day" are never made all that clear, nor are the motivations for the ceremony which takes place. i wouldn't want to spoil too much of this event, but if i mention that it features red robes and an inexplicable wander into the stratosphere to visit a star or something, you should get the idea.
then there's the return to the Cantina bar. there may well have been a reason given for this, but i missed it.
how to describe this one? well, it features most of the characters from the Cantina Bar in the original Star Wars film, only now they look rather more like bad actors in worse costumes than they look like convincing alien lifeforms. one or two of the characters from the original also seem to have there arms magically reattached, and Greedo, all back in one piece, for no apparent reason seems to have 30cm long floppy, string like fingers. and, believe me, the less said about the song intended to clear the bar the better.
it's not all doom, gloom and bewilderment, however. the Holiday Special is routinely thanked and applauded for the 12 minute animated sequence, a sequence which introduced the much loved Boba Fett to us all. as a rough sketch of the character, he's very cool indeed - not quite the awesome character from Empire Strikes Back who dared speak back to AND make demands of Darth Vader AND live to tell the tale, but he's pretty close. well, the fact that he seems to be a bit of a wandering shepherd with some nice toys rather than the most feared bounty hunter in the galaxy isn't ideal, but it's also easy to ignore.
that said, the animated cartoon isn't as great as some would have you believe. the picture here should give you a clue as to why. what's wrong with this picture? Han Solo seems to have some sort of deformity that has stretched his face out of proportion, Chewbacca looks like some bizarre Care Bear prototype, C-3PO's neck would appear to have been replaced by a broomstick, and Luke Skywalker looks like a draft version of the blonde boy out of Scooby Doo.
and finally, on the note of Luke, a round of applause please for Mark Hammil's appearance in this one! in this Holiday Special, Luke is seen with an odd orange-blond pastel hair colour and curious crop. the next time this look was seen was when David "Derek" Bowie unveiled it on the Serious Moonlight tour of 1983. one can only assume that Mr Bowie saw this television spectacle somewhere along the way, clocked that the look was, shall we say, somewhat ahead of its time and decided to wait until the New Romantic revolution of the early 80's to pass it off as his own. shame on you Mr Bowie, for it looked no better on you than it did on Luke!
so, does the Star Wars Holiday Special fall into that "it's so bad it's good" category? sort of. overall, the desire of George Lucas to destroy every copy of it is one that you cannot help agree with - ardent Star Wars junkies that take it all far too seriously probably weep and go into a rage at the though of it, whereas even the most casual and unassuming television watcher would be hard pressed to be entertained by it.
as bad as it is, though, it's because this is something that has been all but buried whilst carrying a name as big as Star Wars that you wish to see it. this really is as bad and dismal as you have heard, but there's no way that's going to let you stop finding your copy and watching it, right?
on that note, i bet you too also made a wise recording of this onto some sort of videotape, but have since misplaced the video cassette. not to worry, i think you will have left your copy in a place called "the internet", have a look, you will find yours there.....
so, will James wish to watch this again? i will be taken aback if he selected this over his top film, A New Hope or his current favourite, The Phantom Menace, to be honest. he might want to watch some of the bits with Lumpy, the odd child Wookie that seems to be Chewbacca's son, but that would be about it. other than the two films mentioned, i would imagine that the Star Wars edition of The Muppet Show will get watched more often. er, yeah, that's also one that i managed to catch on video at the time and save......
if you seek out the Holiday Special, all i can do is remind you of the warning that Yoda gave Luke before he went into that particular cave in The Empire Strikes Back. best of luck, be careful what you wish for, and happy viewing! sorry, i know i should end with "may the force be with you", but if you are in the know, you would be reluctant to mention that phrase in association with this.....
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i am delighted to report that James' recently found love of Star Wars continues nicely. he seems to be rather enjoying what bits of the films we let him see, and he certainly likes playing with my ace Darth Vader, Obi-Wan and Anakin toys. yes, my toys, and yes i know i hit 36 (!) next week.
with a distinct lack of variety in Star Wars things to show him (there is no way we are letting him near Episodes II & III for many a year), i opted to hunt down the one Star Wars related 'feature' that i was confident he could play from start to finish.......
now i vaguely recall watching this epic when we were all rather young in Australia. and, for the purposes of this post, let us assume that we videotaped this spectacle at the time, shall we?
my memories of it were vague at best - i didn't remember much of it, except that it was all about some sort of party or festival on Chewbaccas' home planet. the reviews across the whole wide interwebnetthingie suggest that few, if any, care for it - George "Mr Star Wars" Lucas, who had little to do with the making of it, has expressed a desire to "smash every copy of it", i believe. nonetheless, i decided to put it on for James. if nothing else, it would be a test of his new found love of all things Star Wars, i figured. and a test it was.
on the off chance that you have not seen this "lost work" and want to, well then, be warned, for there are *** SPOILERS AHEAD ***....
whilst not exactly saying "make it stop" at any point, James did look at me somewhat concerned, asking if we couldn't perhaps skip past one or two parts. oddly, the intergalactic, far out uber-funk of one Jefferson Starship was not one of the bits he wished to skip...
.....but the other song and dance numbers inexplicably spliced into the film certainly feature on his "i do not want to watch that again" list. i, having a flashback, clocked when Princess Leia was about to start singing along to the Star Wars theme and promptly left the room. i therefore have no idea exactly how James took to it, but when i went back to it all he didn't seem entirely disappointed that it was all finished. i suspect that part won't get played all that often in the future.so, what else does the Holiday Special hold for the intrepid viewer? well, starting at the end, there's the curious Wookie life day celebration itself.
the reasons for "Life Day" are never made all that clear, nor are the motivations for the ceremony which takes place. i wouldn't want to spoil too much of this event, but if i mention that it features red robes and an inexplicable wander into the stratosphere to visit a star or something, you should get the idea.
then there's the return to the Cantina bar. there may well have been a reason given for this, but i missed it.
how to describe this one? well, it features most of the characters from the Cantina Bar in the original Star Wars film, only now they look rather more like bad actors in worse costumes than they look like convincing alien lifeforms. one or two of the characters from the original also seem to have there arms magically reattached, and Greedo, all back in one piece, for no apparent reason seems to have 30cm long floppy, string like fingers. and, believe me, the less said about the song intended to clear the bar the better.
it's not all doom, gloom and bewilderment, however. the Holiday Special is routinely thanked and applauded for the 12 minute animated sequence, a sequence which introduced the much loved Boba Fett to us all. as a rough sketch of the character, he's very cool indeed - not quite the awesome character from Empire Strikes Back who dared speak back to AND make demands of Darth Vader AND live to tell the tale, but he's pretty close. well, the fact that he seems to be a bit of a wandering shepherd with some nice toys rather than the most feared bounty hunter in the galaxy isn't ideal, but it's also easy to ignore. 
that said, the animated cartoon isn't as great as some would have you believe. the picture here should give you a clue as to why. what's wrong with this picture? Han Solo seems to have some sort of deformity that has stretched his face out of proportion, Chewbacca looks like some bizarre Care Bear prototype, C-3PO's neck would appear to have been replaced by a broomstick, and Luke Skywalker looks like a draft version of the blonde boy out of Scooby Doo.
and finally, on the note of Luke, a round of applause please for Mark Hammil's appearance in this one! in this Holiday Special, Luke is seen with an odd orange-blond pastel hair colour and curious crop. the next time this look was seen was when David "Derek" Bowie unveiled it on the Serious Moonlight tour of 1983. one can only assume that Mr Bowie saw this television spectacle somewhere along the way, clocked that the look was, shall we say, somewhat ahead of its time and decided to wait until the New Romantic revolution of the early 80's to pass it off as his own. shame on you Mr Bowie, for it looked no better on you than it did on Luke!so, does the Star Wars Holiday Special fall into that "it's so bad it's good" category? sort of. overall, the desire of George Lucas to destroy every copy of it is one that you cannot help agree with - ardent Star Wars junkies that take it all far too seriously probably weep and go into a rage at the though of it, whereas even the most casual and unassuming television watcher would be hard pressed to be entertained by it.
as bad as it is, though, it's because this is something that has been all but buried whilst carrying a name as big as Star Wars that you wish to see it. this really is as bad and dismal as you have heard, but there's no way that's going to let you stop finding your copy and watching it, right?
on that note, i bet you too also made a wise recording of this onto some sort of videotape, but have since misplaced the video cassette. not to worry, i think you will have left your copy in a place called "the internet", have a look, you will find yours there.....
so, will James wish to watch this again? i will be taken aback if he selected this over his top film, A New Hope or his current favourite, The Phantom Menace, to be honest. he might want to watch some of the bits with Lumpy, the odd child Wookie that seems to be Chewbacca's son, but that would be about it. other than the two films mentioned, i would imagine that the Star Wars edition of The Muppet Show will get watched more often. er, yeah, that's also one that i managed to catch on video at the time and save......
if you seek out the Holiday Special, all i can do is remind you of the warning that Yoda gave Luke before he went into that particular cave in The Empire Strikes Back. best of luck, be careful what you wish for, and happy viewing! sorry, i know i should end with "may the force be with you", but if you are in the know, you would be reluctant to mention that phrase in association with this.....
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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