Monday, December 29, 2008

The So How Was It For You? Post.

It wasn't the best of Christmases for me, due to arguments and the news (Woolworth's et al on one side, Prince's painfully accurate summary re death rates on the other). So let's think positive.

1.

Um... man, this is tough. It's still glum. Er...

Oh, I know!
1. Less than a month to go until the world's most high-profile case of denial finally leaves the White House.

2. Monica Bellucci topless.
3. Cindy Crawford, unfortunately not topless.

That's a start.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

The Two Friends Discussing Hayden Panettiere And Vanessa Hudgens Post.

Cindylover1969: At last I can Google Hayden Panettiere again! I was holding off until I saw the end of volume 3... :)
Wrestlingmonkeyz: oh?
Me: Searching for her tends to bring up Heroes spoilers.
Him: aah. how do you know Chapter 4 spoilers wont come up
Me: Shit. Good point... (turns off bold). I didn't think of that. That's a bridge I'll cross when I come to it. Besides, it's not until February.
Him: my roommate met Hayden a couple weeks ago
Me: WHAT?!? Go on!
Him: she was doing a Kohl's event and he was her bodyguard
Me: Oh yeah, I saw the pictures... how was she?
Him: from what he says she was every bit as nice of a girl as we believe she is
Me: That goes with most accounts, thankfully. :) : I don't even mind her tattoo or the fact that she smokes (allegedly).
Him: well the tattoo is no prob, but I havent seen her smoking so I cant verify. unlike Vanessa Hudgens
Me: That's not a dealbreaker in her case either.
Him: its close though
Me: It's not like they're Republicans. Or Catden.
Him: lol. I'd still fuck Vanessa hard, but the smokes will have to go
Me: Smart man... I'd happily let Hayden spank me, by the way. As long as I can return the favour.
Him: yeah
Wrestlingmonkeyz signed off at 03:59

I signed off not long after posting this. (Catden is a poster on CSSA with whom I have various differences of opinion, and that's all you need to know.)

Sunday, December 21, 2008

The Your Licence Fee Supports Philistines Post.

When Peter Jackson's stunning redo of King Kong came out, an IMDb user (who liked the movie, mind) said that he/she wished that the movie could have included the theme song from the Rankin/Bass cartoon at the end. Presumably this wasn't done in the movie on the grounds of it being a stupid and out-of-place notion, although the show's theme song is actually pretty good.

But still not as stupid and out-of-place as this.

Thanks to BBC Radio 1's Rob da Bank, BBC Four viewers have the chance to listen to an alternative soundtrack for the classic 1933 film King Kong when it is shown on the channel over Christmas.
King Kong airs on BBC Four on Saturday 27 December at 11.30pm and viewers can press the Red button to hear Rob da Bank's personal choice of tracks to go alongside the film.
Rob has dug through his crates to put together a tracklisting of weird and wonderful gems from Sigur Ros, Flaming Lips, Radiohead, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Black Sabbath and Portishead to The Ho'Op'I Brothers, Harry Connick Junior, Bon Iver, Laurie Anderson and Tunng.
The music for the opening and closing credits will be Hudson Mohawke's "Star Crackout" and Pixies' "Monkey Gone To Heaven" respectively.
The score will also be broadcast on the Rob da Bank and Friends show on Radio 1, Sunday 21 December, from 2.00 to 4.00am.

The complete press release and tracklisting can be found here. The point of chucking a whole load of anachronistic material onto a movie which already has a perfectly fine score cannot be found anywhere - writing music to accompany silent movies is one thing, but this smacks of clever-clever arrogance. Or thickness.

Rumours that Max Steiner is digging his way out of his grave with murder in mind are unconfirmed at press time - I nearly took Edith Bowman off staff for suggesting that this (Mr. Bank's "rescoring," not Max Steiner coming back to life) is a good idea... at least when James Newton Howard replaced Howard Shore's music Jackson kept Shore's cameo in the movie. He's the bloke conducting the pit orchestra in New York, if you were wondering.

Anyway, YouTube seems to lack videos featuring Steiner's original music but luckily Radio 1 DJs have been kept far away from the other two versions. So here is SoundtrackGeek's preview video of John Barry's score from the version with Jeff Bridges and Jessica Lange:




And one of my favourite cues from Howard's replacement score for the newest one, "Tooth And Claw":

Friday, December 19, 2008

The Beware Comic-Book Movies Released In December/January Post.

Variety's review of the long-awaited re-teaming of Eva Mendes and Scarlett Johansson, The Spirit (hitting American screens on Christmas Day and opening in the UK on New Year's Day, as British cinemas aren't open on December 25th), as well as adding more fuel to the fire re this being a stinker and doomed to be added to the long list of Lionsgate box-office bombs - where would they be without Weeds and Mad Men? - contains two nuggets worth singling out:

1. Scarlett Johansson looks bored as the Octopus' icy sidekick, Silken Floss.

This worries me, because this calls up memories of The Black Dahlia (wherein the husky pouting one also looked like she wanted to be doing something else, a feeling yours truly certainly sympathised with while sitting through that rubbish).

2. When a man falls to the ground, his body covered with white bloodstains, it's unclear whether he's been felled by bullets or by incontinent birds.

This, on the other hand, just makes me laugh.

Roll on David Newman's music (if the movie really is bad, it won't be the first time he's done a score that's better than it deserves), which at least is getting a physical release. Even if it's on a CD-R.

Monday, December 15, 2008

The Just When I Needed Something To Cheer Me Up... Post.

I woke up late (for me, 3 am is late). I had a further argument with Zeusaphone at CSSA over the merits of Beyonce vs. Britney. (See if you can guess whose side I'm on.) I had to battle a slow computer. And then... the first 2009 issue of Maxim. The link does not take you to the magazine's site, only to a blog with low HQ scans of the cover and the cover subject. But it's the least I can do because being alerted to Blake Lively, Katy Perry, Scarlett Johansson, the lovely Hayden and covergirl Hilary Duff in the same place is never a bad thing. Blogger, thank you. Zeusaphone.... well, never mind.

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

The Come Back Soon, Mike Post.

That's Michael Kerr, not Mike Post. :) His blog's been shut down, but he'll be back. He'll be welcome. (Unlike The Playlist, which as far as I'm concerned no longer exists - I have little time for any site that actually rates Clint Eastwood as a film composer, and no time for any site that uses the words "Danny Elfman" and "vastly overrated" in close proximity. Yes, I am that petty. So sue me. At least it reduces the number of blogs I visit...)

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

The Twenty-Seven Candles Post.

Happy birthday, Britney Jean Spears! And I hope everyone who denied you the number one spot you should have had with "Womanizer" gets terminal crotch rash...