Friday, April 28, 2017

134 over 70


 




The ... Mascara?





I undergo pulmonary rehab three times a week.  Consists of getting wired up and doing treadmill, bicycle, etc at controlled levels. The machines have a place for an iPad.  I've settled on watching silent movies because I don't want to broadcast Rush Limbaugh at a level (it's noisy in there) that might cause others to stroke out.  Earphones are out, because an attendant will periodically come over to take BP and Oxy readings,  and I need to be able to hear  her. Today I dialed up a YouTube silent move,  "The Massacre (1912) .  Here's the thing; I actually got caught up with it.  The restored film is crisp as new; the action fast moving.  Anyway, when the monitor girl (I'm guessing 22-23 yrs, and quite perky, came by, she said "Why do you used closed captions? Do you know how to (she reached to turn them on).   She was slacked jawed amazed. 

"No, there are no captions.  This film is over 100 years old. Any dialog is displayed on the screen—and right now on did.
Wow!  What's it about
 I think its based on the Little Big Horn.  I could feel her puzzlement.  Custer's Last Stand?
Blank.
Little Big Horn?
Wow I suspect she had not a clue, and went to another "customer."

Only then did I calculate that this film was made a scant 36 years after the Big Horn.  Which means that the wagons, uniforms, rifles, etc. were all likely period. Real.  As were the sensibilities about fighting injins.  Now I notice that this was a  D.W. Griffith film.  I'll say no more.  Except, I marvel at the cinematography. 

4/28/2017 08:53:00 PM 7 Comments

"If the number of Islamic terror attacks continues at the current rate, candlelight vigils will soon be the number-one cause of global warming. "
Argus Hamilton


Posted by at
Labels: ,

This will be the comment box

7 comments:

Tom said...

Ben-Hur:A Tale of the Christ (1925)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0016641/?ref_=nv_sr_3

This movie amazed me. The 1959 version copied many of the scenes directly from it. The chariot race may be even more exciting.

4/28/17, 9:11 PM
Anonymous said...

Ah, nostalgia. Did you know Paul McCartney was in a band before 'Wings'?
Tim

4/29/17, 7:39 AM
Unknown said...

I can relate to the blank looks you got at your references to Little Big Horn and Custer's Last Stand. The other day I was picking up a prescription, and I had to sign on a screen to acknowledge that I had been advised of the side effects and wouldn't abuse the drug (it's not a drug that even can be abused, but never mind that). Anyway, there was no stylus, and the young lady said "Just use your finger."

So, as I signed my name with my fingertip, I quipped, "The moving finger writes and, having writ, moves on." I got a blank look. I said, "It's from 'The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam", and got another blank look. I asked "Have you ever heard the phrase '…A loaf of bread, a jug of wine…'? No? The line is actually 'A book of verses underneath the bough, a jug of wine, a loaf of bread, and thou beside me singing in the wilderness -- Ah, wilderness were paradise enow!'" Still a blank. I wanted to say "Eugene O'Neill wrote a play called 'Ah, Wilderness', and the title relates to that line from Omar Khayyam", but I knew she'd probably say "Eugene Who?" I wanted to complete the "moving finger" verse: "Nor all your piety nor wit shall lure it back to cancel half a line, nor all your tears wash out a word of it," but I knew it would be futile. Even though I hadn't had occasion to speak those words in close to a half-century, they were still etched in my brain and still rolled off my tongue. I wanted to ask if she'd ever heard the expression, "There's many a slip twixt the cup and the lip", but she'd probably say, "Twix! I love those!"

And I wanted to tell her that there was once a time when a women would actually enjoy listening to a man reciting poetry, but i bit my tongue. And anyway, those days are gone. As Donald Rumsfeld would say, "They don't even know what they don't know!"

4/29/17, 11:14 PM
toadold said...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lbK2luG1Do

Cinematography: It seems to me that current TV and Movies are losing their edge, formulatic writing and production values, the lack of knowledge about symbols, and etc.

4/30/17, 1:21 AM
Eskyman said...

@Stu Tarlowe:

Very well said, and alas! all too true.

It's sad when a witty comment is smothered by a lackwit, whose dull gaze reflects no comprehension. Even sadder is my suspicion that simply removing Common Core will not solve this problem.

But then, I was too soon old, and too late wise, myself; so I'll hush now.

4/30/17, 2:21 PM
pdwalker said...

Stu, I love Twix!

And the movie? 2/10. Roger, the sound quality was terrible. I turned it all the way up, but could only hear static. Oh, and I was taught this is all a lie and that the savages were all noble and shit.

5/1/17, 12:06 PM
Scott said...

As we slowly slide into the New Dark Ages...

5/1/17, 4:07 PM

Post a Comment

Post a Comment

Just type your name and post as anonymous if you don't have a Blogger profile.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)