papeetepatrick

Thanks for posting this, which includes info that I didn't know that is relevant to my friends I wrote about in the General Reading forum--who are also in the English expat community of Shanghai--and very much involved with Ballard and fictions which are quite a bit more sci-fi than I'm myself interested in (Lovecraft, etc., whom I've never gotten to). I read some of the more recent Ballard from the 90s and 00s--'Cocaine Nights' and 'Super-Cannes', and think they are both extremely good. He's quite the cult. Cronenberg's film of Ballard's 'Crash' I also think is excellent, with James Spader, Rosanna Arquette, Holly Hunter, Elias Koteas and Deborah Kara Unger. That's a more famous book, I think, but I haven't read it. Very hypnotic stuff, the business parks of 'Eden-Olympia' as in 'Super-Cannes', where people have to fight their tendency to overachieve, and always sinister. Not for everybody, and not that much of it for me, but they're special and original.

I loved some of them too. There was one in the Eunice Higgins series, in which Vicki Lawrence as 'Mama', startled rattling off this laundry list of Eunice's faults, ending with 'Eunice, you not playin' with fuhhhllll deck'. The look on Lawrence's face was itself so deadpan that that is probably why Burnett could not control herself. I can't say I liked all of the crackups, but in this case, with Carol (who was older than Lawrence but playing someone younger, and thoroughly Bible-belt hysterical), was herself hilarious when she completely lost it. I also thought Harvey Korman was funny when he cracked up. In 'The Player', there are some inside jokes that are left in, of a more subtle nature, as when Tim Robbins is being interrogated by Whoopi Goldberg and Lyle Lovett. Whoopi's uncanny delivery, short-circuiting the otherwise straightforward questioning, 'Did you ---- 'er?' and Tim tries to deliver his lines about 'What is this, ------' Iran?' and he does do it pretty well under the circumstances, but then Whoopi is in gales of laughter, and howling to Lyle 'Did you see his FACE!!!??? and Altman left all of it in, it is truly a hilarious thing, because Whoopi's delivery was indeed irresistible--mentioned this because that could have been easily edited out, but Altman left in lots of 'insider stuff', since he was always trotting out his big star-name friends.) I was talking about Joan Collins in 'Dynasty' with someone the other day, and sometimes her acting seemed dervied from Eileen Fulton's in 'As the World Turns.' Resembled her too. What bart said was interesting, but it would take an intellectual who also knew all the soaps, or at least some of them, to really see how they were socially mediated--and these would have to do with industry economics and probably difficult to research, though possible by the dedicated. The reason I don't like them for leaving out all current events is because they are not quite saying 'this is fantasy, not reality'. Of course, it's extremely mundane fantasy, but I suspect the only thing you'd find that was always contemporary was an adherence to whatever fashion was prevalent at any given time. While they do exist outside time and really outside any kind of economy, they pretend not to. I think the serial form improved probably from the daytime soaps, first into the nighttime ones like 'Dallas' and 'Dynasty', although I never liked those that much either, till the hour-long series like 'Hill Street Blues' and the other Bochco series had continuing plots, which previous crime shows did not, always circumscribed by the one hour. By the time of 'The Sopranos'. you were getting still a lot more, although the need to continue week after week does even then flatten the effect, e.g., I watched the old Gena Rowlands film 'Gloria', when I was finally catching up with about 30 episodes of 'The Sopranos', both about Mafia up this way, and the movie is light-years beyond even the best moments in the TV show IMO.

To the best that I can recall, Calegari danced that role exactly once, her first performance after the suicide of Joe Duell, to whom she had been romantically attached, and her only performance for the remainder of that season.She seemed angry (and who could blame her?), not filling the music, rushing to the next phrase, eager to get the ordeal over with. I thought that given a chance, she could have become a memorable interpreter of that movement. This reminds me of the performance, which I've mentioned a number of times before, of 'La Valse', that I saw Suzanne Farrell do one week after Duell's suicide, and two weeks after I saw her dance 'Slaughter on 10th Avenue' with him. She seemed grief-stricken and maybe even half-crazy, but the performance was easily the most memorable I ever saw her do. That performance was the reason I came to Ballet Talk, after telling someone in 2006 how I thought I finally understood what it was about. People react differently to suicide, I've always heard about 'anger at suicide', but never experienced it myself, even when very close friends have done it. I don't know whether I sympathize with it, since it seems to exclude the victim; I probably will never know about this. Which is not to say I didn't love a lot of Maria Calegari performances in 1985, I did. Not that I'd expect anybody to perform at the level of supernal after a tragedy, but that was why, even wth some of my other difficulties regarding some aspects of the 'Farrell Myth', I never forget that performance and how profound it was. She pulled out all the stops, but nothing was left 'not filled'. Both half-hysterical, but controlled enough while flirting with the abyss, as it were, so that you were a part of something that was anything but usual.

Oh, that is the best! It's sounds familiar, but I don't see how I could have forgotten it. I intend using it as frequently as possible.

Now I think the two 15-minute soaps come back: It was 'Brighter Day', now nearly forgotten, and then 'Search for Tomorrow', which were back-to-back 15-minute shows. Then I think 'Brither Day' was cancelled as far back as the 60s, and 'Search for Tomorrow' became 30 minutes. Probably 'Guiding Light' was always 30. Zaslow I may have watched to see him, because he was always at Suzuki School here, had a daughter or son in the program, I had horrible job there in 1990. But I don't remember if I saw him in it.

I now remember I did watch 'The Guiding Light' for a period in teenagehood. I think it was 15 minutes, and 'Search for Tomorrow' was 15 minutes, and they followed 'Love of Life', whose organ theme I learned to play on the piano, as I did that the 'As the World Turns' theme, which starts with A below Middle C and then goes up a D Major scale to D above High C. Stirring, oh yes... Is that correct, about the 15-minute version back in the 60s?

The only one I ever got into was 'As the World Turns', when Lisa Hughes (Eileen Fulton) was still young. I suppose she may be still on it (definitely a 'tentpole character', though; never heard the term either.) Lost interest in soaps when it began to bother me that they never (as I recal anyway) made reference to outside events, so they're weirdly opaque, more Twilight Zone than 'Twilight Zone'. I just can't suspend disbelief to that degree, since they're daily. The first regular programming to come back after 9/11 suspended all regular programming for a few days was a soap, probably 'All my Children' or 'Days of Our lives', first I'd seen for decades and last I've seen as well--and it really felt weird then to look at these funeral-home colour decors and slightly drugged discussions or internecine family wars. Things like 'The Sopranos' did often make reference to world events, of course, although not too heavily. But I remember thinking Fulton was especially skilled at this kind of acting, and there was a brief nighttime version called 'Our Private World', or in any case it starred Ms. Fulton. Visiting relatives once, I saw some of Erika for a few days, but Ms. Lucci never captivated me that much. I believe really early on I liked some of 'The Edge of Night', because more murder than just 'sitting around talkin'. Also loved the opening with the Brahms of 'Secret Storm'....although this makes me remember Carol Burnett's hilarious 'As the Stomach Turns', especially when Nanette Fabray guested as a pill-popper, and Carol would just put the baby on the table by the door so she could go do important melodrama. Nanette absolutely great in this, and those were the days when comics couldn't keep from laughing at each other, and they'd leave that part in. 'Love of Life' and 'Search for Tomorrow' also long-gone, I believe.

One other thought of some importance (to me, at least) comes out of my reading of leonid's review of ABT's Swan Lake. I think I don't really love the ABT production that much, but I never went to see it because I didn't like the way it looked on television. I could see fine dancing, but what I disliked in terms of colour in sets and costumes may have had something to do with television as I find it visually to be. I realize I NEVER find television beautiful, no matter how perfect the resolution. It is not like seeing something on stage, but it's not like a film either. I find television ugly for the most part, especially the hard colours one finds in newscasts, and the tacky decors in series. But this isn't very absolute, because I've seen many things on DVD and even cheesey VHS that I've loved--I've certainly never been able to see Sizova live, and I love the movies and clips I've seen. But perhaps I could see this ABT production with great dancers now and enjoy it in a way I never could on television (and I'm a big fan of Corella, less fo of Ms. Murphy). So that although leonid did not come down so hard on the ABT production itself, as he did the RB production recently, it may be that great dancing in a less-than-ideal production won't show up that well on television, whereas even if you don't like the production that much, in person the great dancers can make you forget about superficial details--when I saw Mackenzie's 'Swan Lake' on television, I was never transported and could not get beyond my superficial annoyance at the general look of the production. Anybody ever have these experiences? Because it's not all that cut-and-dried, as I said. Many things on film and video I have loved even though I know it's not the stage immediacy. But until now, I never even seriously considered wanting to see that ABT production live. Now, as for their even more controversially gaudy 'Sleeping Beauty', I'll have to wait for more convincing.

Leonid--that was a rare and inspiring pleasure to read, not only because of the detailed description of this particular Swan Lake, and this particular performance of it, but because it has about it some exemplary way ot looking at a work, never losing contact with its origins literally from its very beginning in the 19th century, but as if these new colorations and responses by Mackenzie and the others to the work slide into and through the very classicism that you have much of always in mind about the piece itself--there is the temporary of what is unique to this production and performance seen as it should properly be, superimposed and/or integrated into what is more timeless and always implicit in what a 'Swan Lake' must be. Somehow you have made it possible to see 'Swan Lake' afresh and anew--but not only what is literally new in this production, as well what has always been there. I know I'm sounding quite enthusiastic about this report, but I am; it seems to demonstrate the correct way to approach a work of classical art, and will make me less prone to make snap judgments about things in the future (I hope.).

Hidden Tahiti by Bob Stanley

Agree totally about the gorgeous score. Especially love that soaring figure that comes in with the the Woman in White as she swirls, so romantic, you can't even believe it--Dello Joio had it, and is barely remembered, dying a year or so ago very old. The whole piece is total enchantment with the Kali-like Woman in Red sharp and bladelike, and sometimes there's a girl in yellow who can throw her back with total abandon to be caught by her partner (I think the one I've seen on video from 1991 has one like this, at Paris Opera.) also, the music at the very end, after the Woman in Red makes her final sweep across and the woman in White is crowned. Amazing piece.

Agree that you can't bring genres back, but I don't think noir was really over till 'Mulholland Drive', that nailed it. Every time Lynch tries to do more versions of it, they don't have enough elements recognizable specifically to noir, and MD is not even literal, but it's there. I only saw BH once, but thought it worked, primarily because of K. Turner's use of her voice until she was ready for the business. Nothing compared to 'Double Indemnity', to be sure, but that ending living off the swag was pretty good, I thought. Agree also the LA Confidential has no obvious FF, but then I can't stand the film. Stage 'noir' I saw in NY in 2004 wasn't noir at all in my book, so bad the VV published a complaining letter I wrote about 'Splatter Pattern'. Nothing sinister in it, just a lot of noise and pushing sets around. She's a cult, but I find her always with a touch of waif, never once been convinced by her. That's very good IMO. Agree with all of it. Do you think Marlene in Blue Angel is a femme fatale? I think other posters have more specific understanding of what FF is than I do, but I guess I think of Lola as being one, until further elucidation. I wonder if one sees them in versions of Farewell My Lovely, whether Claire Trevor or Charlotte Rampling. Maybe there are touches of FF in characters, even if not full-blown, as Rachel Ward seems to start out being in 'Against All Odds', but that dissipates, because the film deepens, means more than a mere pulp, not to mention she's not the type. Deneuve in The Hunger, although the film betrays the superb Strieber novel inexcusably, letting Ms. Sarandon 'seem' to be a FF, which she is not equipped for, and whose character had never been meant to be one.

You know better by far how to explain why I like something than I do...I shall enjoy it even more upon next viewing. Although I found Patricia Neal very lovely too.

I don't find that to be campy. It's a fine film, and the sets are gorgeous, maybe even better than those in 'The Big Clock'. I think a 2011 Atlas Shrugged with Jolie will bear no resemblance, and I wouldn't see it.

I should hereby add that I do agree that Anita Ekberg is magnificent beyond all imagining in 'La Dolce Vita'. She would go on to gain enormous weight, but I remember the exact moment when I first saw the ad with the 'iconic image'. It is simply unforgettable, and she is everything the Marcello character imagines her to be (because such things can only be temporary.)

Pretty good article, thanks for posting it. I probably think so because I agree that it's the apotheosis of Fellini's work. 8 1/2 has that same spaciousness, but La Dolce Vita is the most singular. And I don't think they thought to mention Anouk Aimee. Anouk Aimee should always be mentioned! No, I looked back, Anouk is still there, one of the most beautiful women to ever grace the screen.

Good question. I think we've already mentioned Ava Gardner. "The Barefoot Contessa" comes to mind. I don't see Ava Gardner as vulgar at all, despite her love of obscene language. She is, rather, I think, earthy, but very classy by nature, very intelligent; and as long as this thread is replete with hair-splitting about all these terms, I shall join in with it as well, as we prove all of the terms relative. Lana, definitely vulgar, an unfit mother and all the rest, an absolute slut with men--nevertheless, thoroughly glamorous and dazzling. Joan Crawford is often thought to be glamorous, although I'm allergic, but she's definitely vulgar, if that's the combination you're looking for. And yes, Mae West, mentioned before, made a living on 'talkin' Brooklyn' and being vulgar, but it was always conscious, which is different from effortless vulgarity, which is how I perceive Joan Crawford. So there are these raffinements and cross-pollinations of these qualities.

Definitely, she's just so great, period.

Oh yes, she's like champagne for the ear.

I'm sure that Margot Fonteyn would be one of the great exceptions to this, although I can't for certain remember interviews. But in several films, and the old PBS special 'The Magic of Dance', she is simply entrancing to hear. No one else comes to mind to anywhere near that degree, although Allegra Kent is charming on the Charlie Rose segment we discussed a few months back; Farrell is pleasant and charming in the 'Elusive Muse' and Susan Jaffe equally so when she was hosting 'Dance in NY' (or whatever it's called), but they've none had the cultivated speech of Fonteyn. I'm sure someone can remember an interview--although it really can be no different from these television shows, since her speech was always so elegant.

Sorry, but other companies ARE often better than NYCB at Balanchine. That should come as no surprise. If they do a good job and if they are now doing a better job, that does not always mean they are always doing better Balanchine than other companies. I have seen NYCB a LOT, and they are not always better than other companies doing Balanchine. There are some things even in POB's DVD of Jewels alone, not to mention anything elsewhere, that are better than what you usually see at NYCB (excluding Diamonds, of course, which is horrible in POB DVD.) But it he's positive about NYCB, that most likely means that they really are better than they were last year and the year before, and I agree with Kathleen that that is something both unexpected and heartening. I can certainly understand why he might not be unctuous about Nilas Martins, who is serviceable, but hardly a star. That's just one example, but NYCB goes back and forth, and they can be very disappointing. To hear that they are being less so is something I really would take seriously especially from Macaulay, who has been scrutinizing them carefully for some years now.

Yes, the Kandinsky slash of red is talked about in the video filmed at Paris Opera in 1991, I believe it's 'five dances by martha graham'. And the Woman in Red always moves in very sharp, slashing ways, so different from the White and Yellow. I adore the piece, and would love to have seen Ms. Lang in it (and anything else.) The number of unique dancers that emerged from Graham's company over the many years and 'periods' it had is staggering.

I;ve never seen but one memorable number throughout the decades of Oscar shows I've watched--in 1983, when Ann Reinking danced to 'Take a Look at Me Now', Phil Collins's song for 'Against all Odds.' She was perfect.

She did not have that effect on me, and never does. She is glamorous, but I do not find her beautiful, and think her face has a coarseness and hardness to it. Therefore, I do not find her especially elegant. There is no accounting for tastes, but I do not buy her number, and she does have a way of insisting that one does buy it; it's possible that that may insinuate its way into her appearance. I watched no more than 5 miniutes of the show at odd moments I would glance at it, but was only happy to see Sophia Loren, although she didn't seem to belong there.

Oh, there was never the slightest disagreement on that part. Elegance is by far the higher, although they can co-exist.