Sunday, September 06, 2009

Atlas Life

Here's a story in the Tulsa World about a building with a nifty name.

It's being converted into a Marriott hotel.

Love the sign! Looks like they plan to keep it.

Monday, August 24, 2009

NetworkedBlogs

I'm experimenting with NetworkedBlogs on Facebook. This is a test entry to see how it looks.

Friday, August 21, 2009

A Colt Is My Passport

How could this not be one of the all-time great movie titles?

No, I haven't seen it. Yet. I just opened today's email from Criterion and there it was:
A Colt Is My Passport

Monday, July 06, 2009

Bruce Goff

Here's an article about Goff's Bavinger House in Norman.

It's one of Goff's most famous works and I was unsure of its status until I read this story.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Military tactics in Star Trek

OK, as much as I'm loving the new Star Trek movie - I've seen it twice already! - I also like this "analysis" of the military tactics depicted. Let's just say they could use some improvement!

If you haven't seen it yet, don't let this stop you! The new Star Trek is all kinds of fun - and more!

Thursday, April 30, 2009

7@7

One week to STAR TREK!!!!!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

WHAT THE FLAGNOG!

Monsters Versus Aliens. Hilarious!


Oh yeah! I'm seeing this when it comes out!

Friday, March 06, 2009

Doctor Who is coming! Doctor Who is coming!

Euros Lyn is on Wired.com NOW!

He's talking about the new season of Torchwood AND David Tennant's final episode as Doctor Who!

AND there's the new Torchwood trailer!

Director Euros Lyn Talks Torchwood, Tennant's Doctor Who Farewell

Friday, February 27, 2009

City of Ember

WHY did I wait so long to see this movie? City of Ember is magnificent, glorious, majestic, electrifying, stupendous - at times, physically overwhelming, and above all, very Romantic!

While the story can be seen as dealing with some of the same themes and situations as Anthem, in that it takes place in a rigidly-controlled future society that its protagonists seek to escape from, City of Ember is nowhere near as intellectual, but it soars with the spirit of the rebellious youths who are determined from the beginning to undermine the social system which determines their future by the luck of the draw.

The film is very deliberately paced and atmospheric, propelled by soaring music, aided by a huge, richly detailed set built in the same place as the original Titanic, City of Ember is a puzzle that rewards those who can get into its mood: a triumph for the film's creators and its audience alike!

Thursday, February 05, 2009

Torchwood

Yes, I had to resist using the title "Captain Jack is Back!"

Just caught the first trailer for the upcoming Torchwood mini-series (thank you, io9).

This series has been extremely uneven, to say the least. At first I was very disappointed in the dark direction it took after all the swashbuckling Captain Jack did on Doctor Who.

But the show has had some good spots.

And some pretty bad ones, too, unfortunately.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

I just wanna say . . .

. . . Nestor Carbonell is GORGEOUS!

(Yeah, I know, he's married, and all.

But, still . . . )

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Zaragoza Bridge Pavilion

Zaha Hadid's work can be uneven, in the quality of both design and construction, but I find her "Bridge Pavilion" for the Zaragoza Expo to be fascinating in terms of both form and texture. The skin of the structure possesses a porousness and openness that I have not seen in Hadid's work before, and I find her deployment of it in the context of her forms in this instance particularly sympathetic. It will be interesting to see if she explores this new porousness further.

Fernando Guerra's photography of the structure is also sympathetic, and has led me to an appreciation of contemporary Portuguese architecture - which can be both strikingly and subtlely sensual - in general.

(Hat tip: thecoolhunter.net)

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Patrick McGoohan

Wow. Here I am in the middle of watching all the episodes of The Prisoner - which I haven't seen since I was a child - and io9.com posts this report:
Patrick McGoohan, one of genre television's most innovative voices, just died at age 80.
I was fascinated by The Prisoner - and by McGoohan - back when it was first shown here in the States on CBS. Secret Agent Man was another early favorite of mine. As a child, I was drawn to the confidence he projected.

I'm quite astonished at how stimulating - genuinely intellectually stimulating - The Prisoner still is. The early episodes are tremendously exciting - the later ones not nearly so much, unfortunately. Yes, I have skipped ahead to the last two: "Once Upon a Time" is an incredible tour-de-force, with performances by McGoohan and Leo McKern that just blew me away. "Fall Out", the last episode, was a dissappointment on the first viewing - subsequent viewings may or may not change my opinion. "The Girl Who Was Death", however, has turned out to be a delightful romp - albeit more in keeping with the campy Bond parodies of the time.

Over the years, I've appreciated McGoohan in subsequent projects. Two in particlar stand out for me: Ice Station Zebra features him in secret agent mode, arrogance at full intensity, as well as unpredictability, as in the scene when the submarine has just recovered from an apparent sabotage attempt and McGoohan's character is actually ordering the sub's captain - Rock Hudson - to do whatever it takes to get him to his destination. McGoohan appears to be under complete self-control - subdued if not exactly calm - until the moment when his voice suddenly goes through the roof and his fist almost goes through the table: "AND GET ME THERE!"

Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend has acquired something of a legend as being something of a bad movie. Having seen it in a theater when it first came out, I thought it was extremely uneven, to say the least, but it did have Patrick McGoohan and cinematography by the legendary John Alcott, and there is one scene where they came together in what was, for me, a genuine epiphany. McGoohan is an out-and-out villian in this movie, and there is a scene in some tent sometime after we have seen just how evil McGoohan's character is, and McGoohan's face is so worn, and the look on his face is so sadly dissipated - defeated, even - and Alcott lights and photographs it to bring out every sad detail, every line and crack in the skin, making it look like McGoohan is disintegrating. As far as I can tell, the only special effects involved are McGoohan's acting and Alcott's camerawork. For me, it was more than just a face on a big screen. It was a perfect illustration of the ultimate impotence of evil.

Unfortunately, the last time I tried to watch the movie on TV, the effect did not come across. It's something that can only be seen on the big screen of a movie theater.