Here at Shades of Gray, we first became aware of John Legend during the "controversy" surrounding his "updated" cover of the classic tune "Baby, It's Cold Outside." Like so much during the Era of Outrage, we can't decide if Legend was doing a spoof or being serious, and whether any of the folks running for the fainting couch were really as hysterical as they came across, or just playing for their 15 seconds in the spotlight.
Holiday shananigans aside, Legend has a number of pretty songs in his catalog, and we're kicking off the week with one them. It also features a stylish video, which you can watch below.
If this pretty love song is new to you, as it was to us, we hope you enjoy it!
The Great Train Robbery (1903)
Starring: Justus Barnes, Gilbert 'Broncho Billy 'Anderson, George Barnes, Mary Snow, and Tom London
Director: Edwin S. Porter
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars
A gang of murderous outlaws successfully rob a train, but are later pursued by an equally blood-thirsty possee.
"The Great Train Robbery" is one of those "historically important" films that anyone but scholars and critics or the hardest of the hardcore film buffs "need" to see. While I have been aware of the film since at least my days as a wee film student in college, I don't recall actually watching it before now. So... have I missed much?
Well, yes and no.
In the "no" department, the film has all the exaggerated, hyped up gestures by the actors that make early silent movies (and bad late ones) so hilarious to watch. (There isn't a lot of that here, but there's enough to make me chuckle when I should be feeling shocked ) I am also not sure I accept the notion that this was the "first narrative film", but maybe years of writing roleplaying game scenarios has lowered the bar in mind as to what qualifies as a narrative; To my eye, there seems to be just as much of a structured plot in "The Astronomer's Dream" from 1898 as there is in this film.
On the "yes" side, I think it's safe to say that this is the first Western movie, and there are a number of tropes that we find here for the first time. From a pure entertainment perspective, the action is also very fluid and holds up nicely... and there's a level of violence that I found startling--shocking even--for a film of this age. In fact, the action--the prelude to and the train robbery itself, the posse chasing the bandits, and the climactic shoot-out--are all so well-staged and filmed that the ten minutes spent watching this movie seem a fraction of even that short time span.
If you are into silent movies--or just well-made films in general--I highly recommend you take ten minutes out of your day to watch "The Great Train Robbery. There are many versions it available for viewing on YouTube and elsewhere, but the one I've chosen to imbed in this post features an excellent original musical score by Andreas Brink.
By the way, you'll notice shocks of color while watching this. These have apparently been present on the film since the earliest releases. For me, some of these were very effective while others were more distracting than mood-enhancing for me.
Timeless (2013)
Starring: Joel Feitler and Candice Dayton
Director: Micah Mahaffey
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars
A young genius (Feitler) builds a time machine in order to prevent the death of his wife (Dayton).
"Timeless" is a silent short film that isn't a century or so old; as of this writing, it's not even a decade since it was made. Micah Mahaffey wrote and directed a small number of silent short films back in the early 2010s, and if any of the others are as good as this one, I'll probably write about and embed them in this space.
The most impressive thing about this film is that Mahaffey tells a complete story in under three minutes. I have watched a lot of short films over the past few years, and more often than not, filmmakers present vignettes rather than giving us something with a beginning, middle, and end. Here, we are treated to all the niceties you'd expect from a well-crated tale--including a denoument!
I was also impressed by the fact that Mahafferey clearly understood the limitations of his budget and resources, and he worked within them to pull off some nice special effects. He could have easily overreached and given us something that looked cheesy. Instead, he gave us something that looked just right.
The only negative points I can raise about the film is that I didn't quite buy the notion that the grieving widower seemed too young to build a time machine--it seemed like something that would have taken him a decade or more (at least), not just three years. Another thing I didn't quite like was the organ music score. It wasn't that the music was bad... it was that it was an organ. (I think I understand the reasons for both of these negatives. The first goes back to Mahaffey working with the resources he had available, and as a young filmmaker, it's natural he would a young cast to draw on so the time machine had to be invented within a short timespan. As for the second... well, it is a silent movie, so why use organ music? However, I think this story would have been better served by a grand piano.)
I recommend taking a few minutes to check out "Timeless" for yourself. I hope you like it as much as I did.
It's Monday, the beginning of another work week, or school week, or some other week that the majority of us probably would rather not let start. They Might Be Giants are here with the theme song for the day (like they have been since 1982).
Your Monday theme and music video: "Don't Let's Start"!
And when you're done with that pithy little ditty, They Might Be Giants wants to invite you to swing by their website and download a six song sampler of their latest effort! Click here to hop on over and get all the details!
John Flansburgh and John Linnell, Giants since 1982
Everything's better with Leo Moracchioli, even songs I disliked Back in the Day, when they were performed by the original band.
Until Leo's cover (and the goofy video), the only version of "Give It Away" that I could stand was Weird Al's spoof version, "Bedrock Anthem". Check it out below... but be careful! It opens with a little bit of color.
Here's another entry in the series spotlighting the cover tunes by Leo Moracchioli. Moracchioli is an extremely talented musician and producer of music videos from Norway who specializes in making metal-themed covers of... well, just about any type of song from any genre you care to mention. One of the great things about his work is the crazy sense of humor and wild fun that comes with it.
This cover of "The Final Countdown", and the video that comes with it, are fine examples of everything that makes Leo's presentations so enjoyable!
After accepting the George Polk Award, Gary Trudeau blamed the victims in the "Charlie Hebdo" murders, You can read his speech here. Apparently, he thinks that if you're "offended" or "feel pain" over something someone writes or draws that it's an appropriate response to murder the people who offended you.
The only appropriate response if someone threatens murder or commits murder over art is for anyone who cares about the freedom of expression to do MORE of the same. I don't describe myself as a "free speech absolutist" but I AM a fanatic when it comes to the position that it's never an appropriate response to commit violence over a drawing or a cartoon. In my mind, there should never be a "but" behind that sentiment... especially not when it's coming from someone who has made their living drawing cartoons, like Gary Trudeau
In honor of Gary Trudeau's fucked-up outlook are a trio cartoons I did a few years ago for the "Everybody Draw Mohammed" craze. I figured I'd practice what I preach.
And if you feel pain or feel like I should die because the cartoons are badly done or because they feature magical, soul-searing images of the Prophet Mohammed, I really don't care. I do suggest you seek the services of a good psychiatrist, however. You clearly have issues that need to be worked out, and that may only be treatable with anti-psychotic medications.
Trivia: The first image led to the idea that became the "Jihad Fairie Activity Page" cartoons.
While grabbing YouTube videos for my job application for the Department of Homeland Security, I came across this mostly black-and-white and occasionally clever video for a mash-up of classic 1980s pop tunes "Thriller" and "Somebody's Watching Me".
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