scream-of-consciousness;
"If you're trying to change minds and influence people it's probably not a good idea to say that virtually all elected Democrats are liars, but what the hell."
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Tuesday, April 14, 2015
SHORT AND SWEET
cinema à la carte
Credit Credits
That's it. The entire
credits. One screen.
This
is the credit roll in its entirety for the 1939 movie The
Great Man Votes.
First, a preface. I have this Mobile Verizon; App on
my iPAD that
lets you see
what's playing; even watch and record. That's how I happened upon this flick on TMC.
Something
struck a chord so I scheduled it
to record later in the day. Got around to watching it a week
later
(Friday).
Brief Synopsis
A drunk fighting to
hold on to his family discovers he has the deciding vote in a local
election.
It turned out to be a great "feel good" film,
even by today's standards; or maybe in spite of. In fact, it's
stuck in my mind yet. But that's not what I wanted to tell you;
although there will be very few of you who haven't made the same
observation about movie credit length before. That's it.
The entire
credits. Films like Kill Bill
Vol.2 and Aliens
Verses Predator run for 12 minutes! There was a period where
credits included pictures on the cast along with names. Love
that.
So what does this portend about us, if anything? Well, something
profound. So profound that it's like the meaning of the
universe. I
completely understand it, but cannot put it into words. You're on
your
own.
On a stage or movie set a gaffer works mostly with lights, but in general a gaffer cobbles together, Okie-rigs, jury-rigs or ni***er-rigs stuff together, often using gaffers' tape or other field expedients.
In the Pitch Biz, to gaff up something is to make it appear or perform far better as demonstrated than it ever would once purchased and taken home. There are any number of products that were designed to be demonstrated and sold but never actually used.
There are also products that do exactly what they claim to do, e.g. the Ginsu Knife and the Sham-Wow.
It's a point of pride for a Pitchman to say "There's no geuzaff in my peuzitch!"
The Pitch Biz usage comes from the Carny usage in which a game is gaffed or rigged to let the mark win or make him lose. Most games are gaffed. A gaff joint is any place (on or off the lot) where business is not K (for Kosher) or on the up-and-up.
Unions. Gotta recognize everyone down to the guy delivering extra creamer to the canteen truck.
ReplyDeleteTim
AND their second and third assistants as well.
ReplyDeleteMythology 101 tells us it was the first Star Wars IV that started the trend.
If you can find it, there is a Barrymore film called "Sweepings" that you might enjoy and it strikes me as relevant to today.
ReplyDeletejim
They re-made it with Kevin Costner. It sucked.
ReplyDeleteThe original was awesome!
Back when the Asst Gaffer was a nobody.
ReplyDeleteI don't know (nor want to) what a gaffer does but my mental image is always some guy with a big hook.
ReplyDeleteGaffers get lights and such positioned around the set. For years, I called it "gaffers' tape", until I learned the civilian term is duct (duck) tape.
ReplyDeleteOK, I give up. What was the Costner remake titled?
ReplyDeletejim
On a stage or movie set a gaffer works mostly with lights, but in general a gaffer cobbles together, Okie-rigs, jury-rigs or ni***er-rigs stuff together, often using gaffers' tape or other field expedients.
ReplyDeleteIn the Pitch Biz, to gaff up something is to make it appear or perform far better as demonstrated than it ever would once purchased and taken home. There are any number of products that were designed to be demonstrated and sold but never actually used.
There are also products that do exactly what they claim to do, e.g. the Ginsu Knife and the Sham-Wow.
It's a point of pride for a Pitchman to say "There's no geuzaff in my peuzitch!"
The Pitch Biz usage comes from the Carny usage in which a game is gaffed or rigged to let the mark win or make him lose. Most games are gaffed. A gaff joint is any place (on or off the lot) where business is not K (for Kosher) or on the up-and-up.
GOL Stu!
ReplyDelete