Haines His Way

Well, if one isn't well-rounded then one is well-squared and we can't have that.  I know that Shayne wasn't trying to be condescending, and I hope you know that I wasn't.  You're in for a treat.  And, please, don't judge films like Casablanca with Gone With the Wind - I'm one of the few, I think, who can't really get with Gone With the Wind, it just bores me to tears and has since I was a wee bairn.

Also, I don't believe we've ever had a Saturday with this many posts.

108 postings away from 19,000

Dr Michael Shayne, check out IMDB and Amazon.com for more detailed descriptions of MANJI.

According to the DVD insert the swastika-like character on the front of the DVD box is actually the Chinese (though this is a Japanese movie) character "Manji" which has something to do with Budda. So nope, no Nazis to be found in this film! Just four people who "slowly descend into a web of desire, deceit, blackmail, blood oathes and suicide pacts." LOL!

Jason, as I have admitted here before, I also have not seen CASABLANCA or THE MALTESE FALCON...or CITIZEN KANE. I do plan to watch all three someday, but for some reason I just never get around to it. A friend of mine has been trying to get me to watch CITIZEN KANE since we were in the 7th grade! And as I do consider myself a lover of movies (although some would suggest my choice of movies are...odd) I am actually ashamed to say that I have not seen those three movies listed above.

I have a friend who had never seen THE WIZARD OF OZ...and when he finally did see it, just recently, he hated it! I still don't speak to him! LOL!

Well, it's getting past midnight, so I will retire from the boards, and let you late nighters add another 250 posts to the total. I'll spend many entertaining hours tomorrow morning perusing them. Good night.

And you'd think someone named Pogue would want pancakes, but noooooooooo, there he sits in his mansion in the hills, counting his green envelopes and rewriting Hercules.

Gee, bk, if DR Pogue and the lovely missus came, I'd go for pancakes. I'm HUNGRY. I have Roy Orbison on PBS on in the bg. Great black and white concert. And not too much begging in between.

I just looked over at the TV set. Orbison has Elvis Costello and Bruce Springsteen playing backup!

Michael Shayne,  I do see where you're coming from.  Having actually taught a screenwriting course once, I was appalled by how many aspiring filmmakers had not seen certain iconic films.  I know how frustrating it is to work with executives in film who have no understanding  of the legacy or history of their business.  They should know things like CASABLANCA.  It's film 101. What's more, these young executives don't care that they don't know and don't think it matters if they don't know D.W. Griffith, Chaplin, Welles, Wilder, Wyler, Bogie, Coop, Gable, Harlow, etc..  I call it the arrogance of ignorance.  They're proud that they think film began with STAR WARS...now considered a venerable classic.

I know when I work in the theatre...if Williams or Miller or Ibsen or Chekov, The Lunts or Alfred Drake or Barrymores are invoked, those I am working will be familiar with them.  We will have a common lexicon and knowledge from which to work.  They will, of course, also usually know Casablanca.

I think anyone seriously pursuing a career in film  and/or theatre should be well-versed in a basic, well-rounded dramatic history of THEATRE (with a capital "T" which includes stage, film, and even some tV).  It behooves them to familiarize themselves with the linchpins and classic cornerstones of the trade they have chosen to follow.  I think accessibility is sometimes responsible for the indifference.  I know in my pre-video, DVD days, you set the alarm to see some classic movie at 3AM because you never knew when you might get the chance again, you read everything you could find out about this stuff.  I probably watched a dozen to twenty movies a week...pre-video, DVD.

I'd say not having seen Casablanca...which is arguably as perfect as a film gets...is a severe gap in anyone's cultural education that should be remedied as soon as possible...same can be said for not having seen Greg Peck in something like To Kill a Mockingbird or Hitchcock's Spellbound.

I think it's an even greater cultural setback in the education of someone embarking on a career in the performing arts, as classics like these will constantly be invoked as seminal artistic touchstones, even among the non-cognoscenti.

But even more, they should just be seen to be enjoyed as the amazing, moving entertainments they are.  One thing can be said for those who haven't seen them.  I'm envious of them, because they have such wonders yet to discover.

Oh...and, Jason, I'd give GONE WITH THE WIND another try.  

Of course, it may just be generational and Michael and I may just be un-with-it, old farts who don't know jack.  But  we damn well know movies, it seems.

I would like to say something about criticizing posters for not having seen certain movies.  I actually found it slightly insulting for MS to say that a DR should be "embarrassed" for not having seen certain films.  I don't like that term.  I get what he (and BK) mean.  But I think there are better ways to make the point.  I like how DRs encouraged DR Laura II to see the movies in question, by giving her encouragement.  And now she wants to see those movies.

Not everyone here is a film buff, and I think that is fine. I don't particularly think that those who admitted to not having seen Casablanca for example, were trying to brag (especially knowing the reactions it would get on this board).

I think maybe I have been a bit guilty of this same thing in regards to theatre (when some dear posters have said they have not seen very much theatre).  But I like the idea of encouragement rather than judging people.

And DR MS, I don't mean to criticize you. I think your intentions were probably good.

And now I will go to bed and wake up tomorrow to another 300+ posts

Good night all.

It was just when I was your age I had seen these movies, I had read Shakespeare and I had listen to Bach. This is why I just find it hard to believe that one has never seen a Bogart film or a Peck film.

I hope you can see where I am coming from.

There are many different types of people here on HHW.  Different backgrounds.  Different professions.  Different nationalities.  Different experiences.  Different ages.  Different generations.

We are all bound to cringe when the phrase, "When I was your age..." comes up.  -Come on, you know you did. ;-)

I've read a lot of books.  I've seen a lot of plays.  I've seen a lot of musicals.  I've played for a lot of musicals.  I've played a lot of classical music.  I've played a lot of popular music.

However, I still have a list of books I want to read.  I have a list of movies I want to see.  I have a list of plays I'd like to see - and will most like just have to settle for reading.  I have a list of scores I would like to play through - and, in my dream of dreams, even conduct one day.

Among all these lists are some "classics", "near classics", and just plain ole "fun" titles.  Will I ever get to read, watch all of them?  No.  Will I ever get to play/conduct everything?  No.  Simply because those piles will continue to grow... and grow.

I readily admit there are some "classics" from all fields that I have not experienced.  And there are some I'm just not inclined to experience.  At least right now.  My inclinations may change over time.  They may not.  Does that make me less well-rounded?  I hope not.  I think not.

Do I think someone who has never seen something like Sweeney Todd is not culturally aware?  Do I think someone who has never been to the Met has been "deprived"?  Do I think someone who has not read "One Hundred Years of Solitude" in the original language is "culturally stupid"?  (My quotes, not yours.)  Do I look down on someone who can't tell the difference between the melodies of Faure and the lieder of Brahms?  Will I write off someone simply because they have not seen Casablanca?  Breakfast at Tiffany's?  The French Connection?  E.T.?  Out of Africa?  Chocolat?  The Return of the King?

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. And No.

The world is an ever-changing thing.  Culture is an ever-changing thing.  The educational system is an every-changing thing - for better or worse.

And as DR Sarah pointed out a couple of days ago, some of us have others things to deal with in our lives.  There is school.  There are friends.  There is family.

We see different things.   Go to different places.  Meet different people.  And spend our time differently.

Who knows?  Maybe DR Jason has seen the same amount of movies, listened to a similar amount of music, attended the same amount of plays and musical that you had when you were his age?  And after talking and meeting with Jason - and even from his posts here on HHW - I would say the amount of experiences is comparable.  However, it would be impossible for him to have experienced the exact same films, music and theatre that you had when your were his age.  It's just the age difference, the different generation.

A quick for instance - Have you seen all the plays and musicals that Jason has seen the past year in NYC?  Heck, even in the past two months?  And when was the last time you were at The Met?

We are all the sum of our parts, our experiences, our contacts, our geography... And that's what makes all of us different.

Finally, we all even write differently.  And sometimes the "wink in they eye" and the "pat on the back" is hard to infer from time to time.  Just the nature of the printed word.

And that's what makes horse racing!

-Or something like that!  

I certainly look down on those who can't tell the difference between the melodies of Lieder and the Lieder of Hosen.  Brahms is a bull, isn't it?  Faure Ackerman was Famous Monsters of Filmland, that much I know.  I don't mind people looking at me askance if I haven't seen a Lubitsch film - I just take their advice and watch the thing.  Again, no one is putting anyone down.

It is 12:43am. I think I should go to bed! But for some reason I am not tired.  I was so exhausted earlier I dozed off.

Btw, it is still absolutely freezing here. And for some reason the thing to do in Montreal when it is freezing is go to the mall.  I kid you not.

I think it was as busy as Boxing Day (which is crazy wicked here).  I was stunned.

Well, I have just retuuuuuuuhned from the theatuh!

MAMMA MIA is such a fun show. Jose, you are going to have a GREAT TIME!

I wasn't sure if I'd like it, because I'm not a big ABBA fan at ALL, but I LOVED it! It's fluffy, not too complicated, and very flashy, but no one was there looking for a complicated show. They wanted to have a good time, and that's what they got.

The woman playing Sophie has a fantastic voice, the mother and her friends are hysterical, the men have fun roles and play them nicely, and the ensemble members are extremely talented!

The only "thing" I had was that the man who played "Sam" was singing STRAIGHT out of his nose, and it was apparent. I could hear the murmur of people around me when he began to sing, and by the end of his shpiel, the energy level had gone down. But it's a small part of the show, and doesn't affect the overall performance.

And when the curtain call started, don't you know I was up and dancing in a minute, all by myself. And, being the nice little trendsetter I was, got everyone else in the balcony to dance as well!

So yes...I would definitely go see it again. Especially if I can go to Occidental's for dinner again! YUM! I had a caesar salad, tender pork with pecan sauce, and mango sorbet. And I'm FULL! No food tomorrow, eghk.

*And I do realize that, yes, I loved ANOTHER show I saw. If this review is too positive for you, email me, and I'll give you a blow-by-blow of my negative thoughts during the show. Note that this email will be about 2 sentences long. I have a positive outlook on musicals, what can I say??*

I had a quote in front of my statement, but it's gone. I was referring to the comment about the absence of tone and nuance.