8/10 – 14/10/19 Minimalism, Scholars, Depression and The Milky Way

news on the march

Welcome to Monday’s News on the March – The week that was in my digital world.

Article by Aaron at Unscripted:

I have been reading, and writing about minimalism for a few years, and it just never gets old. The more I pare back seemingly anything; it just gets better. What gets better? Everything, my mind, body, and my soul. My enjoyment of the most simple things has blossomed, and my appreciation for all things grown prolifically.… (read more).

Article by Shannon E. Williams:

It happens several times a year. A student is struggling in her graduate program. A grade on an assignment or exam has tipped the balance so she comes to my office. She describes difficulty connecting with a professor, failing to engage committee members, or unwelcome feedback on writing projects. Not too far into the conversation, the student discloses what she perceives as the true insult at the heart of the matter.

“But I’m an A student!” …Read more

Article by Mia at The Grizzly Grist Mill:

Speaking truth into someone’s life, especially, someone who is in trouble and may even become dangerous to themselves or someone else, is not being cruel and heartless. Sometimes, it can be a lifesaver!

If I am standing in the street, and a Mack truck is flying down the road, and I am just too sad, too depressed or even too blind to see it, please, someone scream, yell, or run over to me and yank me out of that street!!  (Read More).

Poem by River Dixon at The Stories in Between:

I grow tired of the reflection
How it always stares back at me
Like an old friend I’ve watched over the years
Condescending, knowing, judging
Eliciting each imperfection, accentuating
Ensuring I never forget, anything
(Read All)

You tube presentation by David Butler:

We start with a high-level description of the three main components: the galactic center with its black hole, the galactic disk with its spiral arms, and the galactic halo stretching far out in all directions using the European Space Agency spacecraft Gaia’s findings. We also show how full images of the Milky Way can be created from within the galaxy. (Watch video)

news on the march the end

Posted in News

Another Day of Sun (La La Land) – Justin Hurwitz

Another day in the sun

I concur with Pamela Lowe Saldana at All Things Thriller who wrote in my post – A Lovely Night (La La Land), ‘I think the opening sequence, with all the dancers, entertainers, etc., making the best of the horrid traffic jam…Wow! It is one of the best choreographed scenes in cinematic history.‘
The opening number really does encapsulate the originality, vivacity and enthusiasm of the entire film.

According to wikipedia: The ensemble number portrays drivers in a Los Angeles traffic jam on a highway ramp singing and dancing about their aspirations to succeed in Hollywood. The song was filmed on location on a 130-foot-high express ramp of the Judge Harry Pregerson Interchange in three shots, edited with hidden cuts to give the illusion of a single six-minute take.
Hurwitz noted the tension in the song between the aspirations of the singers and the uncertain outcome of their efforts, noting “It’s an optimistic song, but it’s also about unfulfilled dreams.”

Judge Harry Pregerson Interchange
The Judge Harry Pregerson Interchange, where the scene with the song was filmed.

La La Land’s director Chazelle likened the number to the Yellow Brick Road in The Wizard of Oz. What’s remarkable is it was filmed over just 2 days in temperatures over 101 degrees. I cannot imagine what the organisation on set was like to complete all that choreography in such a small time frame in such conditions.  Mandy Moore the choreographer spent between three and four months preparing for the shoot, which involved over 60 cars, 30 dancers, and 100 extras.

The other aspect of Another Day in the Sun I love apart from its choreography and its aesthetic attraction is that it’s just such a damn good tune. You would think something so catchy would lose its appeal over time, but for me the experience has been the contrary. The more I hear it, the more I grow fond of it. And that goes with the whole movie and why I consider I La La Land a masterpiece.

So that’s enough of me harping on about the greatness of La La land; let’s just enjoy for another time shall we this terrific opening track which Pam and I at least consider one of the best choreographed scenes in cinematic history:

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Posted in Movies and TV, Music

The Secret in Their Eyes (Argentina 2009) – Juan José Campanella

the Secret in their Eyes

There is no other movie I recommend more to people than The Secret in Their Eyes (2009). Not to be confused with the abysmal Hollywood rehash starring Julia Roberts, this Argentinian Oscar award Best Foreign Language Film is my favourite Latin movie and currently sits at No 12 on my all time favourite list. If I was compelled to attach a genre to it – it would be crime / suspense, but it contains a whole lot. There are few other movies I have seen which has as much romantic chemistry between its two leads than Secret. The connection between them is electric. It also has extremely funny dialogue and the acting by all ensemble is impeccable. The music score is breathtaking and cinematography is spectacular.

There is also no other movie which comes to mind which has a more impactful twist than Secret. I can’t think of another movie that possesses everything great about cinema in one package. If this movie had been done by Hollywood originally and its output attaining the same level of excellence as this Argentine movie, I am in no doubt it would be regarded in the western world as one of the greatest movies of all time.

Wikipedia (Paraphrased): The Secret in Their Eyes (Spanish: El secreto de sus ojos) is based on the novel La pregunta de sus ojos (The Question in Their Eyes) by Eduardo Sacheri, who also co-wrote the screenplay. Using a nonlinear narrative, the film depicts a judiciary employee and his boss, a law clerk, in 1974, played by Ricardo Darín and Soledad Villamil, as they investigate a rape and murder case, while also following the characters 25 years later reminiscing over the case and unearthing the buried romance between them. At the time of its release, it became the second highest-grossing film in Argentine history, surpassed only by 1975’s Nazareno Cruz and the Wolf. In a 2016 poll of international critics for the BBC’s 100 Greatest Films of the 21st Century this was voted one of the 100 greatest motion pictures since 2000.

Football stadium secretoIt’s worth mentioning that Secret has one of the greatest single-shot tracking scenes in film history which has to be seen to be believed. It’s continuous 5 minute shot was filmed in the stadium of football club Huracán. It’s a sequence of such heart-stopping bravura, and worth the price of admission alone. It took three months of pre-production, three days of shooting and nine months of post-production. Two hundred extras took part in the shooting, and visual effects created a fully packed stadium with nearly fifty thousand fans.

I prefer not to get specific about what happens. If there’s any justice, a lot of people will end up knowing about it having seen it. No other movie maintained my attention as much as this movie on first viewing, and very few other movies feel and look as good when you see them again. The story line, the direction, the acting, editing, background music etc. simply sublime. It’s technically flawless as far as I can tell. Do yourself a big favour and see this movie if you haven’t.

Interesting movie trivia from IMDB Trivia:

  • In 2010 it became the second Argentine film to win an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The previous one was The Official Story (1985).
  • As of June 2010, this is the first Argentinian movie to reach the IMDb Top 250.
  • This is the second movie directed by Juan José Campanella to receive an Oscar nomination. The first one was Son of the Bride (2001).
  • The soccer team seen scoring a goal in the stadium scene is called Racing Club. Guillermo Francella, who plays Pablo Sandoval in the movie, is a huge fan of theirs. Director Juan José Campanella is also a fan of Racing. Eduardo Sacheri, one of the writers and author of the novel on which this movie is based, prefers their rivals, Independiente.
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Posted in Movies and TV

Animal (1994) – Pearl Jam

Animal - Pearl Jam

I nearly wore out the CD single of Animal released in 1994 by Pearl Jam. I haven’t grown tired of it at all. This is one of my all-time favourite Pearl Jam tracks. It was released as the third single from their second album Vs.; an album rawer and more aggressive than their classic debut album Ten. No other song for mine embraced that grunge Seattle guitar sound better than Animal and secured their status as one of the biggest rock bands in the world. Rolling Stone hit the nail on the head when they described Animal in their review of Vs. – “of a kind of ritual passion, tapping into something truly wild“. It’s a song for me at least where I feel compelled to play it ‘F%&king loud’!

Wikipedia: Upon its release, Vs. set the record for most copies of an album sold in its first week, a record it held for five years. Vs. occupied the number one spot on the Billboard 200 chart for five weeks, the longest duration for a Pearl Jam album.

Animal was written by Eddie Vedder and the music was primarily written by guitarist Stone Gossard. The song peaked at number 21 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The song was performed at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1993, a rare occurrence for a song without a music video.
While there does seem to be some conjecture among fans over the song’s meaning some spouting it’s about the media’s abuse and invasion of privacy of the band and the other interpretation it depicting a ‘gang rape’; Gossard had a different take – he said: ‘You might have five great artists in the band, but if they can’t compromise and work together, you don’t have a great band. It might mean something completely different to Eddie. But when I heard that lyric, it made a lot of sense to me‘

One, two, three, four, five against one
Five, five, five against one
Said one, two, three, four, five against one
Five, five, five, five, five against one

Torture from you to me, yeah
Abducted from the street

I’d rather be
I’d rather be with
I’d rather be with an animal

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Posted in Music

‘I Overtipped Him. That Made Him Happy’ – The Sun Also Rises

Hemingway and F Scott Fitzgerald
Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald met in 1925

“How does one eat inside?” I asked the waiter. Inside the café was a restaurant.

“Well. Very well. One eats very well.”

“Good.”

The last time we visited our motley crue of the ‘Lost Generation’ in Paris we amused ourselves reading (as one follower – Stacey described) ‘snappy and engaging’ dialogue between protagonist Jake Barnes and Robert Cohn discussing Lady Brett Ashley. The book The Sun Also Rises is basically Hemingway’s account of the week’s experiences he shared with his friends on vacation watching the running of the bulls in Spain. Today we fast forward to the days after the fiesta where life has returned to normal for Jake Barnes as he is reunited with France. The following excerpt offers an intriguing glimpse into his reflections on what it is like to be back in France after the tumultuous week that was in Spain. It once again illustrates his powerful use of short declarative sentences and terse prose, illuminated by his amusing dry wit which courses through lots of his writing.

At a newspaper kiosque I bought a copy of the New York Herald and sat in a café to read it. It felt strange to be in France again. There was a safe, suburban feeling. I wished I had gone up to Paris with Bill, except that Paris would have meant more fiesta-ing. I was through with fiestas for a while. It would be quiet in San Sebastian. The season does not open there until August. I could get a good hotel room and read and swim. There was a fine beach there. There were wonderful trees along the promenade above the beach, and there were many children sent down with their nurses before the season opened. In the evening there would be band concerts under the trees across from the Café Marinas. I could sit in the Marinas and listen.

“How does one eat inside?” I asked the waiter. Inside the café was a restaurant.

“Well. Very well. One eats very well.”

“Good.”

I went in and ate dinner. It was a big meal for France but it seemed very carefully apportioned after Spain. I drank a bottle of wine for company. It was a Château Margaux. It was pleasant to be drinking slowly and to be tasting the wine and to be drinking alone. A bottle of wine was good company. Afterward I had coffee. The waiter recommended a Basque liqueur called Izzarra. He brought in the bottle and poured a liqueur-glass full. He said Izzarra was made of the flowers of the Pyrenees. The veritable flowers of the Pyrenees. It looked like hair-oil and smelled like Italian strega. I told him to take the flowers of the Pyrenees away and bring me a vieux marc. The marc was good. I had a second marc after the coffee.

The waiter seemed a little offended about the flowers of the Pyrenees, so I overtipped him. That made him happy. It felt comfortable to be in a country where it is so simple to make people happy. You can never tell whether a Spanish waiter will thank you. Everything is on such a clear financial basis in France. It is the simplest country to live in. No one makes things complicated by becoming your friend for any obscure reason. If you want people to like you you have only to spend a little money. I spent a little money and the waiter liked me. He appreciated my valuable qualities. He would be glad to see me back. I would dine there again some time and he would be glad to see me, and would want me at his table. It would be a sincere liking because it would have a sound basis. I was back in France.

Next morning I tipped every one a little too much at the hotel to make more friends, and left on the morning train for San Sebastian. At the station I did not tip the porter more than I should because I did not think I would ever see him again. I only wanted a few good French friends in Bayonne to make me welcome in case I should come back there again. I knew that if they remembered me their friendship would be loyal.

At Irun we had to change trains and show passports. I hated to leave France. Life was so simple in France. I felt I was a fool to be going back into Spain. In Spain you could not tell about anything. I felt like a fool to be going back into it, but I stood in line with my passport, opened my bags for the customs, bought a ticket, went through a gate, climbed onto the train, and after forty minutes and eight tunnels I was at San Sebastian.

Even on a hot day San Sebastian has a certain early-morning quality. The trees seem as though their leaves were never quite dry. The streets feel as though they had just been sprinkled. It is always cool and shady on certain streets on the hottest day. I went to a hotel in the town where I had stopped before, and they gave me a room with a balcony that opened out above the roofs of the town. There was a green mountainside beyond the roofs.

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Posted in Reading

No Filter Boxing – Wilder vs Fury Fight

wilder fury fight

This is the best heavyweight fight I have seen in my lifetime. How Fury resurrected after that last round knockdown is anyone’s guess after decimating Wilder with pure boxing for most of the rounds. I think the video below recaptures the spirit of the fight and essence of the aftermath (from a biased Fury perspective) but it isn’t a highlights package by any means.

I remember my old man telling me about seeing Ali and Foreman’s Rumble in the Jungle and Thrilla in Manila live on TV and I have since watched all those fights including the Ali documentary ‘When We Were Kings‘ multiple times. In fact the song from that academy award winning documentary When We Were Kings is in my music library. If you haven’t heard this song put to Ali’s most timeless images then switch off everything you’re doing right now and watch this!

The best middle weight clash I ever saw was recent – Golovkin versus Canelo II. I scored it like the judges – a very slight margin towards Canelo although I’m a big GGG fan. Who would have thought Canelo would come out the aggressor? Both fighters have the strongest chins in the business seemingly made of granite. I hope one day to see number 3.

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Posted in Movies and TV, Sport and Adventure

1/10 – 7/10/19 Spanish-Language Movies, Paul Rudd and Upstream

news on the march

Welcome to Monday’s News on the March – The week that was in my digital world.

Poem by the  Intellectual Shaman:

We get ambitious

until we can’t give things up

even though we realize

they aren’t for us.

We have a brain that cries

“I need this…I want that”

But if we stay

in the emptiness

and wait… (read more).

You Tube Video presentation by Netflix is a Joke:

Paul Rudd sat down with Zach Galifianakis to discuss the Me Too Movement, having looks with no talent, and being in Marvel movies vs movies no one has ever heard of.
(Watch full episode)

Article by Rotten Tomatoes:

As we head into Hispanic Heritage month, Monica Castillo and Rotten Tomatoes bring together the best Spanish-language movies, from recent instant classics like Roma and The Heiresses to Tristana and Sin Nombre.

Spanish is the second most spoken language in the United States, and the recent boom in streaming services has made it easier than ever for audiences looking for Spanish-language movies to find them. Earlier this year, Alfonso Cuarón’s landmark film Roma earned an impressive 10 Oscar nominations, and the director took home three statuettess for Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Foreign Language Film.… (Read More).

Article by Richard Williams at thebluemoment.com:

Upstream, a new half-hour television film written by Robert Macfarlane and directed by Rob Petit, puts the viewer in the realm of that very different perception of time. It’s the result of half a dozen trips over three years to the Cairngorms, where Petit guided a camera-bearing drone over the River Dee from its floodplain to its source high in the mountains. Macfarlane, our greatest contemporary observer of landscape,  contributes an accompanying prose-poem, its spare, evocative lines murmured by the Scottish singer Julie Fowlis. (Read All)

Article by Bruce Goodman at Weave a Web:

This is the third time we’ve dropped grandma deep in the forest and the third time she’s found her way home. Goodness knows how she does that. She’s a bit of a Houdini. Last time we tied an oily rag from the trunk of the car around her mouth so no one would hear the screams, then we tied her to the tree with a tow rope. (Read More)

news on the march the end
Posted in Movies and TV, News

Angels (1997) – Robbie Williams

Robbie Williams 1997
Robbie Williams 1997

Unless you have been living under a rock somewhere for the last quarter century, it is unlikely you will not be familiar with this tune. If I were to take a guess, ‘Angels’ by Robbie Williams would be in the top five 5 songs which have received the most amount of airplay in the western world since its release in 1997. Both his original and his Spanish recorded version I even hear played in Colombia regularly.

Angels by Robbie Williams is one my music project’s most commercially mainstream hits. I hopped onboard the Robbie bandwagon when he broke through as a solo artist. I bought his Live at Knebsworth dvd and played this song to death. Although I am less infatuated with it these these days I still enjoy Angels a heck of a lot.

The following is paraphrased from Wikipedia:

“Angels” was included on Williams’s debut solo album Life thru a Lens (1997), and released as a single in December 1997. “Angels” was written by Williams and Guy Chambers, based on an earlier song written by Ray Heffernan. It is Williams’ bestselling single and was voted the best song of the previous 25 years at the 2005 Brit Awards. 

In 2011, Robbie Williams said he wrote “Angels” with collaborator Guy Chambers in 25 minutes about his aunt and uncle. By his account, he and Chambers were sitting outside a cafe watching a water fountain, which inspired them to write the chorus.

I’m afraid I haven’t listened to much of Robbie’s discography after his first few breakout years. Angels and Feel remain my favourite songs of his. Robbie is just one month shy younger than me born on February 13, 1974 which makes him Aquarius. We could have been good friends..I get along very well with Water Bearers.

And through it all she offers me protection
A lot of love and affection
Whether I’m right or wrong
And down the waterfall
Wherever it may take me
I know that life won’t break me
When I come to call, she won’t forsake me
I’m loving angels instead

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Posted in Music

Waterland (1992) – Stephen Gyllenhaal (Friday’s Finest)

Waterland

Waterland (1992) starring Jeremy Irons is based on Graham Swift’s 1982 book of the same name (shortlisted for the booker award).  I’m perplexed why Waterland is so underappreciated (6.6 IMDB, 53% RT) and why it failed at the box office (cumulative worldwide gross: $1,100,218 and Budget 10,000,000). It is beautifully shot, haunting and nostalgic. It contains my favourite acting from Jeremy Irons and it showcases Ethan Hawke in the prime of his youth. The director Stephen Gyllenhaal is the father of Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal.

IMDB Movie Description: Tom Crick (Jeremy Irons), a high school history teacher, is having trouble connecting – with his class, with his wife. He ventures into telling his class stories about his young adulthood in the Fens district in England. The emotional wounds from his younger life wash over him in present day, affecting his work and his relationships with his students and his wife.

Tom Crick in a sense reflects the underwhelming reception of Waterland.  No-one is interested in what he has to say including his wife, history class, society at large and the public audience as it turns out. Talk about ‘art imitating life’. This washed up history professor is left clueless about he can engage with people.  Crick pleads with the rebellious student Matthew Price played by Ethan Hawke “Bloody Hell Price! Why do you make all that extra effort for mathematics and nothing for history?” Price replies “Cuz math makes sense.”
So one day in class he decides to make sense of history- ‘to hell with the curriculum‘ and recounts the history of his life. He is of course opening himself up to all kinds of ridicule but this cathartic exercise allows him to reassess his life and reengage with the class who had given up on him.

Waterland is one of the most moving films I have ever seen. It is very melancholic and contains some disturbing scenes which could alienate some viewers. The film touches the taboo of early sexual longing (male and female) and leaves us to look at the costs of opening Pandora’s box. I remember the first time I saw it, I wasn’t too sure what to think. I’ve seen it countless times since and I am completely in awe.

The movie addresses universal and important questions: How do you forgive yourself after you may have contributed to the death of someone you loved? How do you forgive your past selves? How can you stop the cycle of abandonment after you’ve been abandoned? How do you not abandon yourself? The whole movie is now available on you tube, but I have linked the poignant ending below.

Interesting Movie Trivia about Waterland from IMDB and Wiki:

  • Maggie Gyllenhaal’s motion picture debut
  • Mr Irons and Ms Cusack are real-life husband and wife.
  • Part of the film was filmed at Doddington Place Gardens, near Faversham. The Victorian mansion was used as the ancestral home to Tom Crick
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Posted in Movies and TV

Angeles – Enya

Enya Shepherd Moons
Angeles
is the second song of Enya presented in this music library. It is the 5th song on Enya’s 3rd album Shepherd Moons released in 1991. The following is paraphrased from Wikipedia:
Although her music could be described as celtic and new-age music Enya never believed her music belonged in the latter genre. The album peaked at 17 on the US Billboard charts and she won a Grammy Award for Best New Age Album. She would pick up four Grammys in her career for this category.

When her previous album Watermark became an unexpected success and touring worldwide she returned to the studio to prepare her next album. She said “It felt like Watermark was a dream. It felt like it hadn’t happened. And in a way it’s nice because you can concentrate only on the music. You can forget about charts, how much you sold. You forget that…When I was composing new melodies I kept thinking “Would this have gone on Watermark? Is it as good?”

Enya picked “Angeles” and “Caribbean Blue” as highlight tracks along with her singing in Irish. I can see why she liked Angeles; it is a very mellow yet seductive piece which can induce in the listener a feeling of floating and lucid abandon.

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Posted in Music

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