Spitball Army

Have you seen the Ally Bank commercials?  They kill me.  Take special notice of the faces on these kids during the long takes.  There are four of these spots – so far.

“Hide & Seek”

“Bike”

“Truck”

“Pony”

–  Warren Miller’s Higher Ground  (2005)
The skiing footage in this sports documentary was terrific, as was the soundtrack. The frequent Grand Marnier and Jeep product placement shills were somewhat annoying, however. I had recently watched Surfing Hollow Days by Bruce Brown, and was struck by how similar in format this Warren Miller film was to Brown’s film(s)…and wonder if Miller has ever stated how Brown’s movies have influenced him.

–  In Search of Peace: Part 1: 1948-1967  (2001)
This documentary about the formation and struggles of Israel contains some stunning archival footage which, alone, makes it worthwhile viewing. I did feel that the narration could have been fleshed out more coherently, particularly in the earliest segments.

–  Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell  (2008)
I have long been interested in the work and life of Arthur Russell, the avant-garde musical artist, but know little about him. Though this short film was lovingly made, it did little to fill in the missing details of this artist’s life.  He remains an enigma to me. The special feature showing current artists interpreting Russell’s music was fascinating.

–  Company  (2007)
A very enjoyable interpretation of the classic Sondheim musical, updated only slightly (there’s still that line about the Seagrams building) and with an intimate and elegantly simple set. Raul Esparza was on stage, front and center, for the duration of the play.  The performance seems to have been filmed in High Definition: I watched the Blu-ray disc (my first Blu-ray experience) and the picture detail and sound were astonishing!

–  The Innocents  (1961)
The Innocents maintains the languorous pace of Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw, its source material. Deborah Kerr carries the film, as she is in every scene. The black and white cinematography is lush and gothic – appropriate for what “may be” a ghost story. Be sure to watch the widescreen version instead of the standard 1.33:1 version – Director of Photography Freddie Francis makes full use of every inch of the frame.

(photo: spitballarmy.com)

Man and seal, staring out to sea. Oceanside, California. 18 December 2008.

In 1988, A&M Records released an album entitled Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films.  Popular musical artists of the day – the majority of them “independent” – covered songs from the early animated and live-action features of the Disney Studios, under the producer’s wand held by Hal Willner.  One of the tracks was “Castle in Spain,” performed by Buster Poindexter, and sandwiched in a medley that also contained Sleeping Beauty‘s “I Wonder,” sung by the legendary Yma Sumac.

[audio:Buster_Poindexter___Castle_in_Spain.mp3]
“Castle in Spain” (1988) by Buster Poindexter & The Banshees of Blue

Poindexter (an alter ego of punk band New York Dolls member David Johansen) introduces his version of the song by muttering “Ava Gardner, blah blah blah blah blah blah…,” giving some indication of his campy rendition to come, and the equally theatrical roots of the number.

“Castle in Spain” was featured in the Disney live-action film Babes in Toyland, released in 1961.  The film was based on an operetta of the same name by Victor Herbert, originally produced in the early 1900s.  There was also an earlier film version of Babes, produced in 1934 and featuring Laurel & Hardy.  In the Disney film version, Ray Bolger (who, in 1939, had played the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz) plays the scheming and miserly Barnaby, who has designs on Mary Contrary.  “Castle in Spain” is his attempt to woo Mary (played in the film by Annette Funicello), even though he has forced her into a situation from which she cannot refuse him.

Mary, looking quite contrary, while Barnaby overcompensates.

In our castle in Spain, you’ll be living rent-free
Every capital gain you’ll share with me
From this village below, every cent we will drain
And your fortune will grow in our castle in Spain

Every mortgage and lease I will re-valuate
And for you I’ll increase their interest rate
You’ll eat nothing but cake, you’ll drink naught but champagne
You’ll be in on the take in our castle in Spain

Surely, you must agree that it makes your head whirl
To be marrying me, you lucky girl
You have caught me today in a generous way
Come now, what do you say to our castle in Spain?

“You’ll eat nothing but cake…”

“Come now, what do you say to our castle in Spain?”

Three things that are making my world a better place:

• The Golden Age of American Popular Music: The Jazz Hits from the Hot 100 1958-1966 (CD)

  

  It is a sad fact that during my lifetime, the act of listening to music on the radio has become archaic, if not impractical and unenjoyable. I used to carry a little transistor radio around with me as a kid, and still recall the wide range of music that I was exposed to in those days. The really fun radio stations had an air of unpredictability about them; you never knew when a Beatles song might be followed by the theme to The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, or when you might hear the perky sounds of Hot Butter’s “Popcorn,” or “Love is Blue,” or something by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.  The common denominator between all of these songs (with the exception of the Beatles) is that they were all instrumentals.  The new Ace release, The Golden Age of American Popular Music: The Jazz Hits from the Hot 100 1958-1966, brings back memories of a time when jazz hits were played on popular radio stations and, for the most part, they were instrumentals.  It’s a fun listen, especially during these hot summer days, and an escape from the stench of homogeneity that is all current radio formats seem to be offering today.

  [audio:Mongo_Santamaria___Yeh_Yeh!.mp3]
  “Yeh, Yeh!” (1963) by Mongo Santamaria, from The Golden Age of American Popular Music: The Jazz Hits from the Hot 100 1958-1966

• Whale Rider (DVD)
  The performance by young Keisha Castle-Hughes, the music score by Lisa Gerrard, the cinematography, the lush New Zealand landscapes, the affecting story about legacy and destiny and family.  This 2002 film is outstanding in every way, and is written with sensitivity to all of the characters, even those to whom one might not care to feel sympathies. The story is the thing in Whale Rider, and its themes seem universal while being very specific to the Maori culture.

• readthewords.com (website)
  I received a tweet from “maddow” (that’s Rachel Maddow’s Twitter account) that read: “Whiling away the night having the Read The Words avatar read me the transcript of Sanford’s presser: http://www.readthewords.com/.”  Last night, on MSNBC, Keith Olbermann read – with dramatic flourish – some of South Carolina governor Mark Sanford’s intimate e-mails to his Argentinian mistress with the accompaniment of pan flutes.  During Rachel Maddow’s hour, she could not bring herself to read them aloud, instead just putting them on the TV screen for viewers to read for themselves.  I imagine that the readthewords.com synthesized voice adds a cold, ironic twist to those letters.  I haven’t tried it, but did visit the site and inserted some Bob Dylan lyrics into the “reader.”  The resulting reading had the unnatural cadences and emphases that I have come to know and love in a Bob Dylan recording.