Autumn has been in full swing here, the Shagbark Hickory is now golden yellow, the Sumac blazing red, and the various Maples golden yellow, orange, and the reds are just starting to come. The best time of the year.
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Those that have children can relate to this. My youngest boy has finally graduated to showering without assistance. Another victory to win back some time in my life, at the expense of water and gas bill. My oldest boy takes half-hour showers.
Small victories. Solid food, potty training, out of diapers, walk, bathroom by themselves, brush their own teeth, dressed by themselves, tie their own shoes, then shower by themselves. I guess you have to have kids to appreciate the momentousness of these little occasions.
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Related with my last post, as I was leaving Chicago last Sunday, for a number of reasons I decided to take the surface streets, and on top of the normal crazy downtown Chicago driving, I got trapped by the Chicago Marathon. But that's not the point, in traffic it was too dangerous for me to root for my iPod, so I searched through to the first acceptable radio station I could find. It was a classic rock station, but not only that it was a 70's station, think WKRP in Cincinnati, complete with a cheesy DJ. The songs weren't too bad, and I was trying not to get in an accident, or run over a pedestrian, so I was only half listening. So halfway through a song I realized, WTF! I'm listening to ABBA "Momma Mia". LOL -- Hat's off to ABBADAD whereever you are!
Then when I get home, my wife is watching the movie ...... "Momma Mia". So I watch for about 10 minutes near the end of the movie, unimpressed, and asked her how the movie is, she says "The plot is kind of cute and the movie itself is kind of interesting, but all the singing is kind of getting annoying." Haha. What! Ironic. I thought plenty of people loved that movie! Now, I realized Merle Streep, Pierce Brosnan, and all the actors are known for being actors and not singers, so I can imagine that their singing skills, while way above mine, may not be the best. I imagine that the theatrical version is much better and that the stage actors are much more talented.
But this all got me thinking about musicals. Besides Rocky Horror (maybe Grease), I don't think I enjoyed any musical movies that were made later than the 60's. As a kid I watched a lot of old movies, which included musicals. Some of my favorites that I watched again as an adult were "Seven Brides for Seven Brother", "Robin and the 7 Hoods", and "The Seven Little Foys". Besides most being in Black and White, the sets, the characters, the feel, all seemed more interesting. And definitely the musical numbers and dance choreography all seemed to flow better with the plots then the current movies.
Plus "Seven Brides for Seven Brother", Bad Ass! Story about the 6 younger brothers stealing away the girls that they were sweet on, into the mountains until after the spring thaw and the women fell in love with them by that time (definitely not recommended dating behavior! LOL) But a song and dance number at a barn raising which includes a brawl with axes, how awesome. Way before Michael Jackson's "Beat It".
That brings me to another item, there were two types of musicals from the day. There were those that told a story that flowed with music and dancing (think Oklahoma), and then there were dozens of films that were about the golden age of Broadway and Vaudeville where the whole movie was about show business and people who are in musical acts, and the musical numbers where just them on stage doing their number. Now these had wonderful music and dance numbers, but can you really call these musicals?
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Finally, our small town has been going through a revitalization the last year, and instead of a downtown entirely of antique shops (which are cool, don't get me wrong), we have been getting some good shops, restaurants, and bars. Our Historic Downtown Business area is pretty small. But we have a mini-theatre moving into one of the old store fronts. It will sit something like 50 people and will show classic movies. The premier will be next Friday for one day, a double feature: Abbot & Costello "Frankenstein" and the Cary Grant "Arsenic and Old Lace", which is a brilliant movie, and one of my favorites. The next night in a flat above a store front, they will be playing two showings of Rocky Horror for free. Sounds like it will be a great weekend.
****
Those that have children can relate to this. My youngest boy has finally graduated to showering without assistance. Another victory to win back some time in my life, at the expense of water and gas bill. My oldest boy takes half-hour showers.
Small victories. Solid food, potty training, out of diapers, walk, bathroom by themselves, brush their own teeth, dressed by themselves, tie their own shoes, then shower by themselves. I guess you have to have kids to appreciate the momentousness of these little occasions.****
Related with my last post, as I was leaving Chicago last Sunday, for a number of reasons I decided to take the surface streets, and on top of the normal crazy downtown Chicago driving, I got trapped by the Chicago Marathon. But that's not the point, in traffic it was too dangerous for me to root for my iPod, so I searched through to the first acceptable radio station I could find. It was a classic rock station, but not only that it was a 70's station, think WKRP in Cincinnati, complete with a cheesy DJ. The songs weren't too bad, and I was trying not to get in an accident, or run over a pedestrian, so I was only half listening. So halfway through a song I realized, WTF! I'm listening to ABBA "Momma Mia". LOL -- Hat's off to ABBADAD whereever you are!
Then when I get home, my wife is watching the movie ...... "Momma Mia". So I watch for about 10 minutes near the end of the movie, unimpressed, and asked her how the movie is, she says "The plot is kind of cute and the movie itself is kind of interesting, but all the singing is kind of getting annoying." Haha. What! Ironic. I thought plenty of people loved that movie! Now, I realized Merle Streep, Pierce Brosnan, and all the actors are known for being actors and not singers, so I can imagine that their singing skills, while way above mine, may not be the best. I imagine that the theatrical version is much better and that the stage actors are much more talented.
But this all got me thinking about musicals. Besides Rocky Horror (maybe Grease), I don't think I enjoyed any musical movies that were made later than the 60's. As a kid I watched a lot of old movies, which included musicals. Some of my favorites that I watched again as an adult were "Seven Brides for Seven Brother", "Robin and the 7 Hoods", and "The Seven Little Foys". Besides most being in Black and White, the sets, the characters, the feel, all seemed more interesting. And definitely the musical numbers and dance choreography all seemed to flow better with the plots then the current movies.
Plus "Seven Brides for Seven Brother", Bad Ass! Story about the 6 younger brothers stealing away the girls that they were sweet on, into the mountains until after the spring thaw and the women fell in love with them by that time (definitely not recommended dating behavior! LOL) But a song and dance number at a barn raising which includes a brawl with axes, how awesome. Way before Michael Jackson's "Beat It".
That brings me to another item, there were two types of musicals from the day. There were those that told a story that flowed with music and dancing (think Oklahoma), and then there were dozens of films that were about the golden age of Broadway and Vaudeville where the whole movie was about show business and people who are in musical acts, and the musical numbers where just them on stage doing their number. Now these had wonderful music and dance numbers, but can you really call these musicals?
****
Finally, our small town has been going through a revitalization the last year, and instead of a downtown entirely of antique shops (which are cool, don't get me wrong), we have been getting some good shops, restaurants, and bars. Our Historic Downtown Business area is pretty small. But we have a mini-theatre moving into one of the old store fronts. It will sit something like 50 people and will show classic movies. The premier will be next Friday for one day, a double feature: Abbot & Costello "Frankenstein" and the Cary Grant "Arsenic and Old Lace", which is a brilliant movie, and one of my favorites. The next night in a flat above a store front, they will be playing two showings of Rocky Horror for free. Sounds like it will be a great weekend.
VIEW 5 of 5 COMMENTS
As to yours - - I didn't notice anything. Of course, Spouse is from Wisconsin so I'm sort of enured to the upper Mid-West thing.
Each package will target the company I work for's target audience basically of bankruptcy attorneys, credit repair companies, and mortgage brokers. Basically we design their multi-media mediums for them, plug in their information then maintain it after initial design.
I can design any images I want to within each theme as long as they stay within the (boring) conservative business appropriate feel. I am trying some new designs that push the conservative a bit and seeing how they will go over with the owner.... we'll see!