Music?Movies?Plays?Concerts? Whatcha Up To Lately?

[Rocky]

Last evening, I watched a Lee Marvin war movie called The Big Red One. Marvin's character had served in WWI and looked far too old to be a WWII squad leader. He was 56 in real life. But anyway, it was a decent war movie. I saw it before but not for many years.
I had to smile in a scene where a German soldier was walking up a small hill with a "potato masher" German grenade stuck down in his right boot. When he crested the hill in the next shot, the grenade was in his left boot

 

[DaveM]

I always smile when I see these movie mistakes.

 

[Rocky]

Last evening, I watched and old classic B & W crime movie from the 1950's.
In one chase scene the speedo of the crook's car kept being shown as his speed increased to over 100 mph.
It was shown several times, and was always the same style of speedo, but the face numbers changed back and forth from a maximum of 100 mph to 110 mph

 

[DaveM]

We busy watching the TV series Virgin River on Netflix. Not a bad show but more a women type soap story. I am also enjoying it so it is worth watching if your wife enjoys these types of shows.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9077530/
It is nice to see one of the main actors riding this Triumph in the show and you see it often and for a long period of time.

 

[DoorPosition]

Rugby World Cup yesterday at the pub. I follow S.Africa seeing how I married into that clan nearly 10 years ago. So RSA-IRE, 8-10 IRE. IMO the ref made some bad calls. We got either FR or NZ coming up depending upon who wins that match.

 

[DoorPosition]

Finally sat down over the weekend and watched the film “Control.” Biography about the latter years of Ian Curtis and Joy Division. For those who don’t know, Joy Division was an early English Post-Punk band in the late 70’s. They’re considered one of the early “Goth” bands(although they didn’t look “Goth” at all) and despite the tragically short time they were active, they are tremendously influential to many, many, many acts that came in their wake. In fact if you like any decent Rock band from the mid-80’s on, there’s a good chance they were inspired and/or influenced by Joy Division, whether you realize it or not.

For years I’d been extremely hesitant to sit through this for a couple/few reasons, mainly a sort of fear. If you know anything about Ian Curtis, you already know this story doesn’t end well. I’ve been a bit intimidated by the potential gravity of the circumstances surrounding this film’s inevitable end over the years. I was expecting a foreboding tale of profound, bleak sadness and existential loneliness. I was expecting uncontrollable tears as the credits rolled. To this end I wound up disappointed.

As to be expected, a pretty depressing story. Definitely well produced. Acting was superb, cinematography was spot-on, really presented a period vibe. It was filmed in B&W for a more gloomy feel, which was fairly effective. Sam Riley did an absolutely unbelievable job as Curtis. His imitation of Curtis’ signature stage antics were nothing short of breathtaking. The two practically look like clones.

SPOILER ALERT- After seeing it, I was simply dissatisfied with the facts. I wanted an incredibly deep, philosophical, even spiritual collapse of the protagonist. In the end, Curtis was just another young upcoming rocker who couldn’t handle the simple, albeit weighty circumstances that life handed him. He bitched out. I can’t describe it in any other terms.

But Sam Riley f—kin’ NAILED IT….

 

[DaveM]

I do remember some of the music but it never hit the spot for me. So it sort of faded and I never really took much note of what happened after that.

It does seem a lot of these artists ended in a bad way after some sort of recognition.

It is really sad when you see it all end in this way.
 

 

[DoorPosition]

I should’ve known better. Every time I look into an entertainer’s bio, mindset, personal philosophy, etc, esp. rock stars, I’m predictably disappointed. There’s rarely anything that profound about them. They’re usually just selfish, superficial faux-philosophers obsessed with themselves, their image, and their bullish-t ideology. Most of them have hardly worked a day in their lives.

 

[DaveM]

Unfortunately this does seem to be the case with most of them.

For the most part they very much all about themselves. Maybe this might be why some of the top groups end up parting ways at the top of their game.

 

[solomon]

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/oct/05/the-bikeriders-review-jodie-comer-tom-hardy

 

[DoorPosition]

Final today. RSA v NZ.

 

[DaveM]

We finished watching the series The Good Doctor. It was a sopie so the main story was not that strong with them focusing more on the individual episodes. It was not bad overall and a good family show. Watching something like this from start to finish does make it a bit boring after a while as they seem to rehash some of the story lines just altering it a bit each episodes.

The main plot - Shaun Murphy, a young surgeon with autism and Savant syndrome, is recruited into the surgical unit of a prestigious hospital.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6470478/

 

[Greyfell]

The main plot - Shaun Murphy, a young surgeon with autism and Savant syndrome, is recruited into the surgical unit of a prestigious hospital.

Sounds like the Korean series "Extraordinary Attorney Woo".

 

[DaveM]

Sounds like the Korean series "Extraordinary Attorney Woo".

I think it was based on that series.

 

[Greyfell]

I think it was based on that series.

Then it should be good!

 

[Greyfell]

I decided to "rent" this video from Amazon: "Bad Day at Black Rock", made in 1955. Here is the opening scene, which had to be filmed with the train going in reverse, so the helicopter could, with a margin of safely, film the "approaching" train and fly over it. Then the film was played in reverse, so the train is now coming toward the viewer.
The cast includes at least five well-known actors, and a sixth almost as well-known:
Spencer Tracy, Anne Francis, Walter Brennan, Ernest Borgnine, Lee Marvin, and Robert Ryan (quite a cast).


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs_Q5wmp74k


IMDB page: Bad Day at Black Rock

 

[DaveM]

I decided to "rent" this video from Amazon: "Bad Day at Black Rock", made in 1955. Here is the opening scene, which had to be filmed with the train going in reverse, so the helicopter could, with a margin of safely, film the "approaching" train and fly over it. Then the film was played in reverse, so the train is now coming toward the viewer.
The cast includes at least five well-known actors, and a sixth almost as well-known:
Spencer Tracy, Anne Francis, Walter Brennan, Ernest Borgnine, Lee Marvin, and Robert Ryan (quite a cast).


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs_Q5wmp74k


IMDB page: Bad Day at Black Rock

I remember watching this movie at a drive-in theater many years ago.

 

[DoorPosition]

The Mrs likes these craft competition shows like “Forged in Fire” and “Ink Master.” I’m not big on TV but I’ll occasionally sit through one. Lately it’s been “The Great British Bake Off.” It’s actually pretty entertaining. The contestants are all average Joe type bakers but some of them really know what they’re doing. It’s inspired me enough to start trying my hand an occasional fresh baked bread. You got to be careful with that stuff though, fresh bread can get addictive and it’ll start packing on the pounds with the quickness.

 

[Vector]

Home made shortcake for strawberry shortcake...yum

 

[DaveM]

The Mrs likes these craft competition shows like “Forged in Fire” and “Ink Master.” I’m not big on TV but I’ll occasionally sit through one. Lately it’s been “The Great British Bake Off.” It’s actually pretty entertaining. The contestants are all average Joe type bakers but some of them really know what they’re doing. It’s inspired me enough to start trying my hand an occasional fresh baked bread. You got to be careful with that stuff though, fresh bread can get addictive and it’ll start packing on the pounds with the quickness.

I am one that also enjoys watching these shows that are craft related.