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Author Topic: CLOSING NIGHT  (Read 22088 times)

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George

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Re:CLOSING NIGHT
« Reply #60 on: December 17, 2006, 10:37:01 AM »

Before I dash off to work, as I must, I have to admit that I've a problem with the term "documentary."

The problem is, at what point does a film change from being a documentary (meaning, a document about a set of facts) to being an editorial?

The International, which der B and I enjoyed very much, is clearly a documentary, tracing the evolution of a song.

But I have questions about some other films.  Carl Sagan's series Cosmos, as a non-confrontational example, is clearly non-fiction, but it is also the expousal of a singular point of view.  It's not "talking heads," since his is the only head talking.

And how is a viewer supposed to learn the difference?  Or is this a distinction we shouldn't expect people to make?

I know some people (a Sondheim reference) who think that ANY non-fiction movie is a documentary...no matter what it's about or the viewpoint it takes. :-\
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George

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Re:CLOSING NIGHT
« Reply #61 on: December 17, 2006, 10:41:26 AM »

DR George! Fantastic news.  My frst bit of advice is to keep the refrigerator power on and let everything in the freezer freeze so you can throw out chunks of ice not buckets of water.  

I did!  I'm guessing that my power came back on shortly after I left at 6:00pm last night and was on for at least six hours by the time I got home.  I didn't open either the fridge or the freezer until just a few minutes ago and fortunately, I pretty much only had pre-packaged frozen stuff in the freezer, so that was all still self-contained.  I also didn't have any ice, so there was no spilled water that refroze.  What really helped was that I just moved in and didn't have ANY time to create a big, giant glob of frozen stuff...even with the power being on, like my parents have. ::)  

 ;)

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Voldemort is basically a middle school girl: he has a locket, a diary, a tiara, a ring, and is completely obsessed with a teenage boy.

George

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Re:CLOSING NIGHT
« Reply #62 on: December 17, 2006, 10:42:02 AM »

I also don't think that my fridge stuff is going to be too bad, either.  I have a lot of unopened soy milk that doesn't need to be refrigerated anyway and a case of diet Pepsi and some other sealed stuff.  My sister's ex-sister-in-law and her husband just started Jenny Craig and they figure that they lost over $400 worth of Jenny Craig food! :o
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Voldemort is basically a middle school girl: he has a locket, a diary, a tiara, a ring, and is completely obsessed with a teenage boy.

George

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Re:CLOSING NIGHT
« Reply #63 on: December 17, 2006, 10:51:40 AM »

Well, now that my frenzy is out of the way, I need to take a shower, dress, eat and then go to the theater.  We have two shows today and a photo shoot in between the shows.  After the second show, we have to strike the set.  The show will end around 10pm and it's going to be a very, very, very (that's three verys) long day!

But then, it'll be all over!! :)
« Last Edit: December 17, 2006, 10:52:32 AM by George »
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Voldemort is basically a middle school girl: he has a locket, a diary, a tiara, a ring, and is completely obsessed with a teenage boy.

George

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Re:CLOSING NIGHT
« Reply #64 on: December 17, 2006, 10:53:04 AM »

Have a good day, all!
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Voldemort is basically a middle school girl: he has a locket, a diary, a tiara, a ring, and is completely obsessed with a teenage boy.

bk

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Re:CLOSING NIGHT
« Reply #65 on: December 17, 2006, 11:14:37 AM »

Went back to bed and slept for two more hours, always a nice thing on a Sunday morning.  I suppose I'll now try to get up the energy to jog, which I NEED to do, then it's on to plan tomorrow's session order, and then it's on to relaxing and watching DVDs.
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bk

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Re:CLOSING NIGHT
« Reply #66 on: December 17, 2006, 11:14:58 AM »

Now, where in tarnation IS everyone?  You'd think it was a Sunday or something.
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bk

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Re:CLOSING NIGHT
« Reply #67 on: December 17, 2006, 11:15:31 AM »

I'm in my jogging attire and yet I am not jogging.  A conundrum wrapped inside of an enigma, if you ask me.
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DERBRUCER

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Re:CLOSING NIGHT
« Reply #68 on: December 17, 2006, 11:51:53 AM »

Lovely....absolutely lovely.  8)



SISTERS, SISTERS....


der Brucer
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bk

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Re:CLOSING NIGHT
« Reply #69 on: December 17, 2006, 11:57:24 AM »

My, my, my, what an empty jernt this is.
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bk

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Re:CLOSING NIGHT
« Reply #70 on: December 17, 2006, 11:57:40 AM »

Let's fill this empty jernt up before I begin bitch-slapping.
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bk

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Re:CLOSING NIGHT
« Reply #71 on: December 17, 2006, 11:58:04 AM »

Had a very spirited jog, and shall now give a Kritzer tour.
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DERBRUCER

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Re:CLOSING NIGHT
« Reply #72 on: December 17, 2006, 12:10:00 PM »

This might last week at our place:



der Brucer
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DERBRUCER

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Re:CLOSING NIGHT
« Reply #73 on: December 17, 2006, 12:31:34 PM »

Favorite documentaries:

Victory at Sea
The Civil War (Ken Burns)

Perhaps "imperfect" as pure doumentary, I really liked James Burke's "Connections" and "The Day the Universe Changed" series (Both BBC-TV)

der Brucer
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Cillaliz

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Re:CLOSING NIGHT
« Reply #74 on: December 17, 2006, 12:33:26 PM »

I'm watching the news coverage of the attempt to get to a snow cave on Mt Hood where they are hoping to find one or more of the climbers who have been missing
« Last Edit: December 17, 2006, 12:34:15 PM by Cillaliz »
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JMK

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Re:CLOSING NIGHT
« Reply #75 on: December 17, 2006, 12:39:38 PM »

We're B+2 (day two post-Bloat).  Oy.

I have an Ask BK question:  for some unknown reason I decided to pull out the JAY complete 110 in the Shade the other night.  Like most of the JAY complete scores, I love having them documented, but always feel the tempi are waaaay too slow--maybe because I'm so imprinted with the OCR tempi, which may have been too fast to squeeze everything on the LP.  Anyhoo, in listening again, I was struck once more by how quasi R&H Oklahoma-esque the score is and I was wondering if in your long friendship with Harvey Schmidt he ever said that Merrick asked them to write the score in that milieu, or if it just happened.  I absolutely love, love, love the score--one of my all time favorites.  In fact, I love it a lot more than Oklahoma!  
« Last Edit: December 17, 2006, 12:47:55 PM by JMK »
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Cillaliz

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Re:CLOSING NIGHT
« Reply #76 on: December 17, 2006, 12:42:49 PM »

We're B+2 (day two post-Bloat).  Oy.


Sounds like something I go through every month  ;D
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Cillaliz

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Re:CLOSING NIGHT
« Reply #77 on: December 17, 2006, 12:44:03 PM »

I would guess every day post bloat is a good day and a day closer to surgery.   ADDITIONAL GOOD HEALTH VIBES TO BEEGEE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Edisaurus

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Re:CLOSING NIGHT
« Reply #78 on: December 17, 2006, 01:04:16 PM »

SISTERS, SISTERS....

Hah! I was thinking the very same thing!
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Matt H.

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Re:CLOSING NIGHT
« Reply #79 on: December 17, 2006, 01:06:19 PM »

I've had a full afternoon of DVD watching.

I began with BEAVER VALLEY, one of Disney's Oscar-winning True-Life Adventures. It had been many years since I had seen this, and it was just wonderful seeing it again after so long a time. As with the others in this series, they've done an amazing job of restoration on these films, and they are a great pleasure to watch.
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Matt H.

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Re:CLOSING NIGHT
« Reply #80 on: December 17, 2006, 01:10:51 PM »

To finish out the selections on that True-Life Adventure disc, I watched the last program about life in the Everglades. I don't think I had ever seen this one before (probably did on World of Disney but too long ago to remember), and it was deeply entertaining. How wonderful to know I'm going to have these around for a long time to enjoy again and again, and now they're more easily enjoyable because they look almost new.
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Matt H.

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Re:CLOSING NIGHT
« Reply #81 on: December 17, 2006, 01:15:50 PM »

Then, I opened the MEDIUM Season 2 box. For some reason (maybe because I watched the shows when originally aired but seldom the reruns), the set-ups for the shows I remembered but nothing about their resolutions, so each episode was ALMOST like seeing it initially.

The first one was the conclusion of a two parter began at the end of the first season. The Texas Ranger that Allison had become friendly with in the original pilot episode was helping her track down a serial killer but had through a set of circumstances gone into a coma. From his coma, he could communicate with Allison, and with his help, they did uncover the mystery.

Like so many episodes in the second season, the motifs for her dreams and visions were so unusual as to keep the viewer always off balance. There is nothing predictable about how Allison's "gifts" will help her arrive at solutions to the crimes (and sometimes, it does no good).
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Matt H.

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Re:CLOSING NIGHT
« Reply #82 on: December 17, 2006, 01:17:55 PM »

The second episode had to do with an abducted Mexican girl. The girl's priest took the confession of the killer but is helpless to say anything. Allison, meanwhile, is having nightmares about her family being killed in a plane crash right before they're slated to fly to Salt Lake City to attend a wedding. All worked out astonishingly well but in a very roundabout way.
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Matt H.

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Re:CLOSING NIGHT
« Reply #83 on: December 17, 2006, 01:19:00 PM »

And the third episode I watched dealt with a woman in a mental hospital in 1959 who claimed to be Allison DuBois! I really had very little memory of this one and the surprises caught me totally off guard.
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DERBRUCER

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Re:CLOSING NIGHT
« Reply #84 on: December 17, 2006, 01:19:03 PM »

I'm watching the news coverage of the attempt to get to a snow cave on Mt Hood where they are hoping to find one or more of the climbers who have been missing

Thanks-

It is riveting coverage!

der Brucer
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Matt H.

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Re:CLOSING NIGHT
« Reply #85 on: December 17, 2006, 01:21:20 PM »

I mentioned earlier today that there was nothing on network TV tonight of interest, but I neglected to mention the season finale of DEXTER which is sure to be riveting (as the entire series has been). Michael C. Hall definitely deserved the Golden Globe nomination he received for the show (I'm really hoping he wins in his category though there is killer competition), and I'm delighted Showtime has renewed the show for another season.

Currently, it is Showtime's highest rated show.
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Edisaurus

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Re:CLOSING NIGHT
« Reply #86 on: December 17, 2006, 01:31:58 PM »

I know some people (a Sondheim reference) who think that ANY non-fiction movie is a documentary...no matter what it's about or the viewpoint it takes. :-\

Hence "reality tv" that people think are documentaries when there's very little reality about it. And those "sensational" docs that HBO does are pretty ridiculous. ("Hookers at The Point"?)

I am often asked about what I consider to be real documentaries, and at what point do they cross over into propaganda. I jokingly say that a film becomes propaganda when it espouses a viewpoint that I don't agree with.

I don't look at Michael Moore's films as documentaries, but more as editorials. There are very few objective documentaries, because as soon as you make an edit, you are controlling the flow of information and imposing your viewpoint upon it. But I think that's one of the things that makes the film interesting... the viewpoint of the filmmaker, as opposed to just throwing out all the information and letting the viewer try to sort it out for themselves.

Thomas Edison's early films (some of which we used in Sacco and Vanzetti) were about as pure as you can get...just setting up a camera and recording everyday action as it happens. That was probably interesting back then but now people want stories, and many documentaries are constructed with a story arc in mind, similar to a scripted drama.

I like Alan Berliner, whom I mentioned earlier, because he has taken an experimental approach and since the film is about some aspect of his life, he can be as manipulative as he wants to be. I wouldn't call his films documentaries as much as essays.

The Internationale is pretty straightforward in that we weren't trying to hammer home an agenda, it really is just the history of the song and how it has impacted people's lives.

I liked the Al Gore film, but there's another documentary on global warming that is far more objective and very well done called "Too Hot Not To Handle". This aired on HBO (they do support good stuff, too!) and was a straightforward "just the facts, ma'am" approach to the topic. They used the song "Dear World", which I had never heard before, over their opening titles. An inspired choice!

Another film on global warming (Greg worked on this one) is called "Everything's Cool". This is about people's refusal to acknowledge that it's a very real threat, and is really well done. It will be going to Sundance and probably end up on HBO, too. Greg can be glimpsed in one scene, miking up Heidi the climatologist at the Weather Channel.

But now that distributors and filmmakers realize that there is a market for documentaries, I've noticed that there is much more crap to wade through to find the good stuff. And it seems that the people who win awards for their films are the ones that put themselves most at risk while shooting, not films that are particularly well-made.

I love working on documentaries, though. It's like continuing education for me, and I have learned so much about topics I never would have, otherwise.

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Matt H.

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Re:CLOSING NIGHT
« Reply #87 on: December 17, 2006, 02:15:17 PM »

I'm heading down now to complete today's chores and then settle in for more televised entertainment.
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Michael

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Re:CLOSING NIGHT
« Reply #88 on: December 17, 2006, 02:25:09 PM »

Hello All
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Cillaliz

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Re:CLOSING NIGHT
« Reply #89 on: December 17, 2006, 02:25:38 PM »

I love docuemtaries. I watched one the other day on the life of F Scott Fitzgerald.  I love the Ken Burns/Ric Burn/Peter and Amy style of documentaries with photos, letters etc.   My favorites are the ones that give you more than one perspective if there is more than one perspective.  In other words there are points of view not just a point of view. You are left to form your own opinion.  I guess you could say that's objective, but it does present some editorializing, just more than one side of the story.
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