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As soon as we finish recording the vocals and the guys producing the track give me the go-ahead I'll post a shameless promo.
Tongue and Groove Lyric Construction
So there's this lyric in this Lady Gaga song. (I know, I know! Time for an intervention!) And it uses a pair of words as a sort of pivot. They function as both the end of one sentence and the beginning of the next. And I'm wondering, is this a new technique? I want to call it "tongue and groo...
Yes, it's a WOF staple. "Eggs Benedict Arnold" or "Darryl Strawberry Fields Forever" or puzzles like that.
Tongue and Groove Lyric Construction
So there's this lyric in this Lady Gaga song. (I know, I know! Time for an intervention!) And it uses a pair of words as a sort of pivot. They function as both the end of one sentence and the beginning of the next. And I'm wondering, is this a new technique? I want to call it "tongue and groo...
Roland, it's not a new technique. I'm not the familiar with the Gaga track, but I used the "before and after" technique recently in a lyric of a new song I'm working on and I didn't think it was anything special. Effective, but not special.
Tongue and Groove Lyric Construction
So there's this lyric in this Lady Gaga song. (I know, I know! Time for an intervention!) And it uses a pair of words as a sort of pivot. They function as both the end of one sentence and the beginning of the next. And I'm wondering, is this a new technique? I want to call it "tongue and groo...
Since when?
Any doubt that she (Lady Gaga) is a serious songwriter ends here
Speechless, by Lady Gaga. Listen here, kids! 04 Speechless
"Brown Eyes" is better (and even Bowie-esquer).
Any doubt that she (Lady Gaga) is a serious songwriter ends here
Speechless, by Lady Gaga. Listen here, kids! 04 Speechless
She's an okay singer/songwriter/producer (I prefer the ballads to the uptempo stuff) with a great sense of style and presentation, but I think I would have to see her live and up close to get really excited. Not completely sold on the Lady.
From Bach to Gaga. One more cerebral music nerd falls head over heels for the Lady Gaga
Who'da thunk it? After 20 years of writing serious "art" music, nearly a decade teaching music composition in the halls of such venerable institutions as Harvard and Brandeis, this over-educated music nerd-cum-opera-impresario has a new life soundtrack: Lady Gaga. I am officially confessing ...
13. They dissed New York, New York in the Marty Montage!
Twelve things I'm left with, three days after the Golden Globes
I’ve had a few days to digest the Golden Globes and these are the things that have stayed with me (even though I tried intense therapy to remove them from my consciousness) 1. Robert Downey Jr has a wife? 2. Avatar won Best Picture. You mean that a film about blue aliens is better t...
#2 or #5 and definitely none of the ones after #10. ;-)
It's All About the Ensemble: Which Law & Order Cast Worked Best?
One major key to the success of the original Law & Order series is the intangible known as "ensemble." Which of the following combinations of core actors do you think resulted in the best chemistry? Register your vote (with explanations, please) in the COMMENTS section below. 1. Steven Hill,...
Forgot to ask a pertinent question: How many FB friends does he already have? If less than 100, I stand by my advice above. If more than 400, go ahead. He's a FB whore like so many of us.
A New Documentary Dilemma
Two things you may not know about me. One, I’m making a documentary and two, I’m addicted to Facebook. I imagined when I finished the documentary, sometime before 2525, I’d use FB as another promotion tool. If I thought about it at all, this was how I thought these two things in my life would ...
Now I'm thinking about Charles Foster Kane (Citizen Kane)/Michael O'Hara (The Lady from Shanghai)/Harry Lime (The Third Man)/Hank Quinlan (Touch of Evil)...
Top 10 Movie Characters
Nathaniel R. over at the ever delightful Film Experience got tagged in a meme asking for a list of one's ten favorite movie characters, a daunting task but one that immediately had my wheels turning. With so many characters in so many films to choose from, how does one even begin to narrow it do...
Another great list, BHay. But seriously? Not a single female character? ;-)
Top 10 Movie Characters
Nathaniel R. over at the ever delightful Film Experience got tagged in a meme asking for a list of one's ten favorite movie characters, a daunting task but one that immediately had my wheels turning. With so many characters in so many films to choose from, how does one even begin to narrow it do...
Don't do it, David.
At least be surreptitious about it and collect a few mutual friends before you do. And then, as mrp says, filter has access to you and yours. ;-)
A New Documentary Dilemma
Two things you may not know about me. One, I’m making a documentary and two, I’m addicted to Facebook. I imagined when I finished the documentary, sometime before 2525, I’d use FB as another promotion tool. If I thought about it at all, this was how I thought these two things in my life would ...
Wow, David, incredible list. It really is an impossible task, when you think about all the characters in film history. I could come up with a completely different list if I started again now. It pained me to leave off Matthew Poncelet (Dead Man Walking), Susan Vance (Bringing Up Baby), Beetlejuice (Beetle Juice) and Bugs Bunny.
Top 10 Movie Characters
Nathaniel R. over at the ever delightful Film Experience got tagged in a meme asking for a list of one's ten favorite movie characters, a daunting task but one that immediately had my wheels turning. With so many characters in so many films to choose from, how does one even begin to narrow it do...
I actually started to get nervous reading the first paragraphs of this post. So glad it went the other way.
The whole time, though, I had this exchange in my head:
- Why can't you give me the respect that I'm entitled to? Why can't you treat me like I would be treated by any stranger on the street?
- Because I am NOT one of your fans.
Praise from a Stranger on the Street
Yesterday afternoon, as I was turning to walk home after having greeted some friends of one of my producer's under the Cinema Village marquee, I heard a sound every filmmaker longs to hear. A man had just approached the box office window to announce: "One ticket for 'We Pedal Uphill,' please."...
And amazingly, Nathaniel, I wasn't alone in singling out this shot today!
Happy Belated Birthday, Bessie Mae
While it's snowing in the Northeast, we're getting spring showers here in Los Angeles. All of which makes me think about cross-pollination, something I'm very much in favor of. Nathaniel R at the sensational Film Experience Blog has thrown down another gauntlet: "Blog challenge! If you have a bl...
David, I must strongly disagree with you: I'm Not There was my favorite film of 2007 and is one of the only "biopics" that has not been a disappointment. Others include Milk, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Bonnie and Clyde, The Story of Adèle H., Hilary and Jackie, Shine and Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows.
When You Make a Biopic of My Life, Focus on This Moment
As a rule, I dislike biopics. There are two reasons for this. One, I often ask myself would I be interested in this film if it weren't about someone famous and the answer is usually no. [ed note: for related post, see: Savage Race - our endless obsession with wealth and power] Two, they are of...
Thanks for playing, Rolando - you get a drink for participation and an A for effort.
NAME OF SHOW: Waiting for Godot
NAME OF CHARACTER: Vladimir
YEAR: 1985
LOCATION: Berlin
SCENE: The hat exchange in Act 2
Snapshot Guessing Game
Left, a publicity photo from a theater production. The first person who correctly guesses a) the name of the play and b) the name of the character in the play will be my guest for a drink next week when I am performing in Manhattan (or anytime you're in Los Angeles). Now, if you can also guess...
I'm not going to say if you have guessed correctly or not until we get a few more people playing the game.
[Cue crickets chirping.]
It's alarmingly quiet in here.
Snapshot Guessing Game
Left, a publicity photo from a theater production. The first person who correctly guesses a) the name of the play and b) the name of the character in the play will be my guest for a drink next week when I am performing in Manhattan (or anytime you're in Los Angeles). Now, if you can also guess...
Is that your final answer, Roland?
Snapshot Guessing Game
Left, a publicity photo from a theater production. The first person who correctly guesses a) the name of the play and b) the name of the character in the play will be my guest for a drink next week when I am performing in Manhattan (or anytime you're in Los Angeles). Now, if you can also guess...
How's that for a spirograph drawing, David?
10 Best American Movies? Really?
A friend of mine sent me an e-mail last night, subject field: “blog fodder?” In the e-mail, a link to a New York Times blog. Here it is. When you open this page, make sure to hold your breath, because it stinks. http://fish.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/the-10-best-american-movies/?em It stinks...
Flirting with Disaster, with Ben Stiller, Patricia Arquette, Téa Leoni, Alan Alda, Mary Tyler Moore, George Segal, Lily Tomlin, Josh Brolin, Richard Jenkins, Celia Weston, Glenn Fitzgerald, Cynthia Lamontagne, David Patrick Kelly and John Ford Noonan. Written and directed by David O. Russell.
Come on now, David!
10 Best American Movies? Really?
A friend of mine sent me an e-mail last night, subject field: “blog fodder?” In the e-mail, a link to a New York Times blog. Here it is. When you open this page, make sure to hold your breath, because it stinks. http://fish.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/the-10-best-american-movies/?em It stinks...
A lot of people I know name Groundhog Day as one of their favorite all-time movies. I can see why, but if a movie with Andie MacDowell succeeds it is in spite of her presence.
That said, it's impossible to have a list of Ten Best American Movies without All About Eve. I may love six of the movies on Fish's list, but without Eve and at least one Orson Welles film I just can't take it seriously.
10 Best American Movies? Really?
A friend of mine sent me an e-mail last night, subject field: “blog fodder?” In the e-mail, a link to a New York Times blog. Here it is. When you open this page, make sure to hold your breath, because it stinks. http://fish.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/the-10-best-american-movies/?em It stinks...
Of the nine shows that closed on Sunday, five (Grease, Hairspray, Young Frankenstein, Boeing-Boeing and White Christmas) were revivals or adaptations; two (Slava'a Snowshow, Liza's at the Palace) were "special events"; and just two (13 and Dividing the Estate) were new works. Ironically, the only new play in the whole bunch was written by a nonagenarian.
Also closing this month: All My Sons (1947), Gypsy (1959), Spamalot (based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 1975) and Spring Awakening (based on the 1891 play).
I did love Patti and Spring Awakening.
"New" Energy?
If Sunday night was a time to mourn shows, there was also ample reason for some producers and actors to see new creative prospects on the horizon, rather than just financial clouds. “There feels like a new energy or a new hope,” said the Broadway casting agent Bernard Telsey, who is involved ...
Intriguing and strangely old-fashioned, this photo...
By the way, how does one go about posting a snapshot?
Snapshots: Ah... the memories!
Just stumbled upon this promotional still from my play, Rapt, which played for a few weeks at The Culture Project in late 2002. I had forgotten about this shot, which I really like 'cause it really captures the spirit of that show. Got any favorite snapshots of your own? Share 'em here. [pict...
David Denby on Defiance:
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/cinema/2009/01/12/090112crci_cinema_denby
Defiance
Okay, I've been going to the movies a lot recently. It's that time of year when I get invited to what seems like almost every screening in Los Angeles. It's what I like to call the "Awards Season Film Festival," and I go to about five films a week, most of them pre-release. So bear with me whi...
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