If you get the urge to check out some anime TV shows on the ol' Netflix instant view, here's a couple I can recommend:
*Last Exile (2003) - a steam punk type story with cool naval warfare type battles taking place in the sky. The real meat of the story is the coming-of-age experience shared by a pair of best friends. You'll have to hang in there for the long haul in order for the confusing elements of the story arc to make sense. And, as always, "suspend thy disbelief."
*Gunslinger Girl (2003) - this is some of the most brilliantly twisted cyber punk fiction ever. Throw "La Femme Nikita", "Little Orphan Annie" and "Ghost In The Shell" in a Cuisinart and you get this show.
...believe it or not, there are plot points that are absolutely poignant.
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Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
The Incomparable Myrna Loy
You know us men… there’s always an actress or two (okay, or three or four) that make us go “gaga” – which is to say, “get all hot and bothered.”
A couple of weeks ago, one of my dear friends asked me who my favorite actresses are – as in, which ones make me go “gaga”. I suspect she was expecting me to list names from the current crop of Hollywood starlets. I didn’t.
One of the first names that flew off my tongue is Myrna Loy. The heyday of her film career was in Hollywood’s golden era: 1930s-1940s (her last screen appearance was in 1981). When I view her films, it’s not the characters she plays that “sends” me; it’s how she chooses to play those characters that moves right into me: the intelligence, craft, inspiration and creativity at work there.
Myrna took that intelligence, craft, inspiration and creativity into her life outside of acting as a social activist. Yes, it is true that there are contemporary Hollywood folks who are socially conscious and are activist in one form or another. But never forget that, as the film industry goes, it was people like Myrna, and her like-spirited contemporaries, that paved the way for celebrities actively giving back to the world.
What was her internal motivation for doing this? I’ll let her explain it in her own words (which also provide a clue about her perspective on acting):
“Life, is not a having and a getting, but a being and a becoming.” - Myrna Loy
So, the next time August 2nd rolls around (Myrna’s birthday), join me in toasting a wonderful person who exemplified “being and becoming.”
P.S. And yes, I think Myrna is absolutely beautiful!!
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A couple of weeks ago, one of my dear friends asked me who my favorite actresses are – as in, which ones make me go “gaga”. I suspect she was expecting me to list names from the current crop of Hollywood starlets. I didn’t.
One of the first names that flew off my tongue is Myrna Loy. The heyday of her film career was in Hollywood’s golden era: 1930s-1940s (her last screen appearance was in 1981). When I view her films, it’s not the characters she plays that “sends” me; it’s how she chooses to play those characters that moves right into me: the intelligence, craft, inspiration and creativity at work there.
Myrna took that intelligence, craft, inspiration and creativity into her life outside of acting as a social activist. Yes, it is true that there are contemporary Hollywood folks who are socially conscious and are activist in one form or another. But never forget that, as the film industry goes, it was people like Myrna, and her like-spirited contemporaries, that paved the way for celebrities actively giving back to the world.
What was her internal motivation for doing this? I’ll let her explain it in her own words (which also provide a clue about her perspective on acting):
“Life, is not a having and a getting, but a being and a becoming.” - Myrna Loy
So, the next time August 2nd rolls around (Myrna’s birthday), join me in toasting a wonderful person who exemplified “being and becoming.”
P.S. And yes, I think Myrna is absolutely beautiful!!
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Monday, March 21, 2011
Hyperdrive (2006 - 2007)
The 1999 SciFi-comedy, Galaxy Quest, was heralded as the flick that nailed parodying the mighty Star Trek franchise itself. As an ardent fan of all things Trek, I thoroughly enjoyed that film and was in full agreement with the aforementioned assessment of its significance.
...until I recently watched Hyperdrive.
This little Brit TV comedy show gives Galaxy Quest a run for its money.
In the tradition of the best moments of comic story telling - i.e. not the hijinks's perpetrated by Jerry Lewis and then taken to a disgustingly nauseating extreme by Jim Carrey - the cast of Hyperdrive do what the best comedic actors do: portray seemingly normal, everyday people (meaning "normal" and "everyday" within the context of the universe they're inhabiting) doing their best to cope with the circumstances that come there way - circumstances that, from the audience's point of view, are absurd.
What makes the (mis)adventures of the crew of the HMS Camden Lock such a great parody of Star Trek has nothing to do with references, obvious or otherwise (any one can do that), nor becasue of specific characterizations (anyone can do that, too). It has to do with the fact that the ship's mission is basically the same as that given to the various incarnations of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701.
...and how well they do (or don't) carry out that mission is for you to watch and decide!
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...until I recently watched Hyperdrive.
This little Brit TV comedy show gives Galaxy Quest a run for its money.
In the tradition of the best moments of comic story telling - i.e. not the hijinks's perpetrated by Jerry Lewis and then taken to a disgustingly nauseating extreme by Jim Carrey - the cast of Hyperdrive do what the best comedic actors do: portray seemingly normal, everyday people (meaning "normal" and "everyday" within the context of the universe they're inhabiting) doing their best to cope with the circumstances that come there way - circumstances that, from the audience's point of view, are absurd.
What makes the (mis)adventures of the crew of the HMS Camden Lock such a great parody of Star Trek has nothing to do with references, obvious or otherwise (any one can do that), nor becasue of specific characterizations (anyone can do that, too). It has to do with the fact that the ship's mission is basically the same as that given to the various incarnations of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701.
...and how well they do (or don't) carry out that mission is for you to watch and decide!
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Saturday, March 19, 2011
Wire in the Blood (2002 - 2008)
When Chris Carter created the the main characters for The X-Files, he gave Fox William Mulder the nickname "Spooky".
Forget that.
Sans UFOs, aliens or behind-the-scenes government conspiracies, the world of Dr. Anthony "Tony" Hill puts the spooky in SPOOKY... and into the CREEPY, TWISTED horrifying-train-wreck-that's-too-unpleasant-to-watch-and-yet-I-can't-avert-my-eyes ballet dance of it all.
Professor, practicing clinical psychologist, and consultant with the local police, Tony Hill can't help himself - for better or worse, no matter where it may take him, he is perpetually compelled to strive to understand.
Robson Green's portrayal of Dr. Hill is very vivid. Being only part way through the first series (what we refer to as a "season") was enough to inspire in me one of those rare moments where I blurted out loud to myself, "This guy's a really intelligent actor!"
By the way, the show's title is derived from a line in the poem "Burnt Norton", by T. S. Eliot.
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Forget that.
Sans UFOs, aliens or behind-the-scenes government conspiracies, the world of Dr. Anthony "Tony" Hill puts the spooky in SPOOKY... and into the CREEPY, TWISTED horrifying-train-wreck-that's-too-unpleasant-to-watch-and-yet-I-can't-avert-my-eyes ballet dance of it all.
Professor, practicing clinical psychologist, and consultant with the local police, Tony Hill can't help himself - for better or worse, no matter where it may take him, he is perpetually compelled to strive to understand.
Robson Green's portrayal of Dr. Hill is very vivid. Being only part way through the first series (what we refer to as a "season") was enough to inspire in me one of those rare moments where I blurted out loud to myself, "This guy's a really intelligent actor!"
By the way, the show's title is derived from a line in the poem "Burnt Norton", by T. S. Eliot.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
A Touch of Frost (1992 - 2010)
A British cop drama with bits of humor shaken in (somewhat like those iced donuts that have the multicolored sprinkles on top).
Take the scruffiness, intelligence, affability, and keen skills of Peter Falk's Columbo, stir in the bull-dogged stubbornness, and piss & vinegar, of a politically incorrect working-class-hero, and you'll have the show's main character: Detective Inspector Jack Frost.
Portrayed by David Jason (who, until this show, was known as a comic actor - skills which I believe contributed hugely to his success in this role), one sees that what makes this character work is his not being a shiny hero. He is, in fact, a rather rusty-crusty-barnaclely hero... a gray haired, grizzled veteran who knows too much because he's seen too much, and wishes the world would change for the better. Yet, he knows no other way to live.
By the way, be sure to have your "deciphering UK colloquialisms" hearing-ears on. You'll pick up some interesting idioms, such as the use of the word "porkies".
Oh, and I can't help but think that The Thin Blue Line (Brit TV comedy starring Rowan Atkinson) intentionally parodies aspects of A Touch of Frost.
Take the scruffiness, intelligence, affability, and keen skills of Peter Falk's Columbo, stir in the bull-dogged stubbornness, and piss & vinegar, of a politically incorrect working-class-hero, and you'll have the show's main character: Detective Inspector Jack Frost.
Portrayed by David Jason (who, until this show, was known as a comic actor - skills which I believe contributed hugely to his success in this role), one sees that what makes this character work is his not being a shiny hero. He is, in fact, a rather rusty-crusty-barnaclely hero... a gray haired, grizzled veteran who knows too much because he's seen too much, and wishes the world would change for the better. Yet, he knows no other way to live.
By the way, be sure to have your "deciphering UK colloquialisms" hearing-ears on. You'll pick up some interesting idioms, such as the use of the word "porkies".
Oh, and I can't help but think that The Thin Blue Line (Brit TV comedy starring Rowan Atkinson) intentionally parodies aspects of A Touch of Frost.
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