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[Ben]

I, of course, was way too young to have seen any movies in 1969.

Me too!

[George]

I Love that you have a blog for photos!

Me too!

Me three!

[George]

Did I share this here?

http://andthisiswhatisawtoday.blogspot.com/

Pretty darned cool, Laura!

[Jane]

from George:

That's the way our library system works, too.  Once a talking or e-book checked out, it's checked out for the full three weeks and it can't be checked in.  The only thing that can happen (from what I understand) is that if you've put in a request for the title and you get notified that it's now available, but you don't actually check it out, you can choose to not take it and it'll go to the next person.

Today I received a call from the library telling me how to "return" my e-book.  Silly clueless me, I had to do it through adobe, not the library. 

Apparently all of our e-books are shared throughout the state, not our local library systems.  Is it the same in Washington?

It's not the same for Timberland.  We're our own library system and we've chosen not to participate in the state-wide consortium for downloadables.  This way our selectors get to choose specifically what they want for our patrons.  We could've, if we wanted, but we didn't want.

I was surprised as we have a large library system.  On the other hand it wasn't that long ago the system was bankrupt & the libraries closed.  When they returned it was with limited hours which have increased some.  I expect going with the state, if there was an option not to, was cost effective.  It sure takes a LONG time for books to become available.

[TCB]

G'night!

[George]

Like George, I was a young'un back then. Certainly too young to see "Midnight Cowboy."

Here's a link to movies from 1969 from which I culled the list below: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_films_of_1969

They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Sweet Charity
The Reivers
That Cold Day in the Park
The Wild Bunch
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Thanks for the link, Michael...I'll check it out.

Topic of the Day...as far as I can remember, these are the only movies from Michael's link that I've seen:

Alice's Restaurant
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Hello, Dolly!
Midnight Cowboy
Paint Your Wagon
Sweet Charity
Take the Money and Run

But then there's IMDb's listing for the 2,938 most popular movies released in 1969.  Now that's a lot of movies!

[Laura]

Good night, TCB. I hope you have a good day tomorrow.

[George]

Ditto, TCB!  And it's time for me to leave, too....

[George]

...but before I go...Clint Eastwood's "A Star is Born" Remake, Starring Beyoncé, May Push Back Production

The musical remake of "A Star is Born," to be produced and directed by Clint Eastwood and feature Grammy winner Beyoncé, is now in talks to begin production later than scheduled, according to Deadline.com. The performer announced that she was pregnant at MTV's Video Music Awards Aug. 28.

Beyoncé has signed on to play the role of Esther Blodgett, the small-time nightclub singer who eventually achieves international stardom, previously played by Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand, among others. The Warner Bros. project was set to begin production as early as February 2012.

Discuss.

[John G.]

TOD:

BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID
THE WILD BUNCH
THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE
GOODBYE, MR.CHIPS
THE REIVERS*


*I did John Williams' Best Original Score Oscar campaign on this one.  We got the nomination, but did not win the statuette.

I always felt that we should have won.  Bacharach may have had the Best Song with "Raindrops," but Williams' music for THE REIVERS was magnificent.

That it was. Maybe my favorite of his outside of his song fro "The Long Goodbye."

[John G.]

I've just had a phone call from our DR vixmom: some flooding in the basement,  and they have no power and no ability to use their cell phones. She called me from work.

She sends her love and says they are all fine; dry ice is keeping the refrigerator food cold, and that the damage was far worse with Hurricane Gloria.

I'm off to run errands.

Glad she's OK, but isn't that the second time the basement flooded this year?

I haven't heard from my friend Carol today, but I have seen flooded areas in around her house.

[John G.]

FJL, are you working on a Viva Max project? Obviously, that movie holds some magic here in San Antonio.

[John G.]

Watching "It's a Pleasure!" with Sonja Henie, which is a laugh-riot about alcoholism with a few wife-beating jokes thrown in.

A pleasure it ain't.

[Charles Pogue]

Lest we forget, 1969 was also the release of Once Upon A Time In The West in the US, and it also gave us the supremely weird and egomaniacal Can Hieronymous Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe And Find True Happiness? starring Anthony Newley.

RE: Hieroymus Merkin, I think either of the songs, "I'm All I Need" or "Oooo, What a Son of Bitch I Am" would be good for the next Guy Haines album.

[John G.]

Got an offer today with my business partner to write the San Antonio dining guide book for Globe Pequot Press. They do a series called Food Lovers' Guides. I don't know if they'll except us to write the book (due in November) for $150, but it was certainly nice to be asked. And it should be fun, if I eat wisely.

[John G.]

Lest we forget, 1969 was also the release of Once Upon A Time In The West in the US, and it also gave us the supremely weird and egomaniacal Can Hieronymous Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe And Find True Happiness? starring Anthony Newley.

RE: Hieroymus Merkin, I think either of the songs, "I'm All I Need" or "Oooo, What a Son of Bitch I Am" would be good for the next Guy Haines album.

I agree.

[John G.]

Dialogue from "It's a Pleasure":

Man sees another man hitting a woman: Hey, stop that.
Woman: You keep it out of it. I'm his wife.
Man: Yeah, but he was hitting you.
Woman: He's got to have some fun, doesn't he?

[John G.]

The end of the movie features a snow scene with Sonja Henie and all the extras wearing Brazilian costumes, except they have big cockatoos are their heads, which are Australian birds. And "Tico Tico" plays in the background. I want whatever the director was smoking when he came up with that one.

It scared J.B.

[John G.]

I guess I scared everyone else away.

[John G.]

Well, vibes for the Vixfamily and all affected by Irene. (That name is supposed to mean peaceful. Ha!)

And vibes to TCB and all else in need.

[John G.]

Night, all.

[Jrand74]

I bookmarked DR LAURA's blog.

Like the boss vibes for DR GEORGE

I am watching Anne Francis movies on TCM tonight.

Rehearsal was okay....I shall say nothing more.

[bk]

I actually love the song I'm All I Need.

[bk]

Since JMK has decreed I am shameless, let me live up to my moniker and say that I have spent a rather deliriously delirious evening watching the Nudie Musical Blu and Ray check disc.  First off, the image looks absolutely amazing on my TV, so that made me very happy as every TV is different.  It looked great over at the authoring place, but even better on my TV.  Of course, if those who've had their TVs "professionally" calibrated by these people who seem to think films should have no color and be yellow view it then I have no idea how it will look.  But I now know that the color on MY TV (which is how it came out of the box) is perfect.  The disc looks exactly like it did at the lab and the authoring place.  I really went for the old saturated color look which is what all of us wanted - the theatrical prints never got it right - they were timed by the producer without my involvement, or the involvement of my co-director and the cameraman.  The color on this transfer is what it looked like when we were shooting - the sets of the film within a film stuff were purposely designed to be VERY colorful and garish and now they are. 

I went for a slightly stylized look for the beginning of The Lights and the Smiles - it's VERY golden/yellow as it's supposed to look like she's stepped out into bright sunshine so that the contrast of cutting from that to night in Hollywood would be extreme - and now it is.  The timing on the DVD is closer to the theatrical prints but I like this stylized look much better.

When watching the documentary, which has quite a few clips from the DVD, you can see just how much better the color is on the Blu and Ray - the color is so wonderful to have and you see it instantly right from the Paramount logo.  The main title drawings are unbelievably sharp.  And from my viewing distance the grain is very natural and not overt save for the shots that are opticals, and even those have been dramatically improved, which just goes to show if you take time dealing with the opticals you can make them at least look of a piece with what comes before and after.

[bk]

I watched everything.  One neat feature is if you shut the disc off mid-movie and then start it up again the next day you get a screen that says "you left off here, do you want to continue" - and you see a little frame from where you left off.  The menu is simple and easy to navigate.  We have to fix a few things - the Blu and Ray credit pages go by in about a half-second each - so I'll have them up on screen for five seconds each, with seven seconds for the Kickstarter angel page.  They'd already figured out one navigation fix in the chapter menu - that's an easy one.  But that's it - everything else is perfect.  I gather they used a high bit-rate and the lossless mono track sounds very good (HD Master Audio).  Another fun thing is our new Blu-Ray Kritzerland opening logo.

[FJL]

Did he say shameless or sleeveless?  (I must have read that fast.)

[FJL]

John G - It's based on the Jim Lehrer novel, though, not the movie. 

[Laura]

THanks, JRand.

[Laura]

It's hard to type with kittens on one's chest.

[FJL]

Laura - are you going to be able to go back and put up favorite old photos? 

The format and backdrop really works well for your already terrific work.