The feeling of 'love at first sight' captured on film

Nuit Blanche (2009)
Starring: Michael Coughlan and Megan Lindley
Director: Arev Manoukian
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

Stray glances during a chance encounter leads to love at first sight between a man (Coughlan) and a woman (Lindley) in the Big City.

"Nuit Blanche" is a film that's equal parts romantic, spooky, and startling. It's also the most beautiful and moving short film you're likely to see today, this week, or perhaps even the rest of this year. The music, the cinematography, and the astonishing amounts of visual effects are all perfect... and the only reason I'm not giving this great film a rating of Ten is that I feel like they didn't quite pull off the ending. Still--I am giving it the highest Nine Rating possible.

Click below to watch this mini masterpiece... and feel free to sound off in the comments if you think I steered you wrong. (Or, better yet, add your own praise for the film)

Trivia: The film's title is a French idiom that means "Sleepless Night", although a literal translation is "White Night" so the title could also be a pun on this being a black and white film.

Musical Monday with Sting

"Russians" is anti-war song recorded by Sting at the height of his solo career, which coincided with the final stages of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and its allies and the United States of America and its allies. It's a great song, with a great video... and it seems like it's got a theme that's coming back around.


Russians (1985)

Starring: Sting

Director: Jean-Baptiste Mondino

Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

Bones Coffee's Chocolate Orange

Sunday mornings are for relaxing in bed, drinking coffee,
and seeing what coffee Steve recommends for future Sundays!

I tried another wacky coffee flavor, and I wrote down some thoughts. 

BONES COFFEE COMPANY: CHOCOLATE ORANGE

This is one of those Bones Coffee offerings I didn't know what to expect from. Coffee and orange; those aren't exactly flavors I think offhand would go well together... and I'm a guy who likes mixing orange juice and Diet Cherry Coke. But, they've surprised and delighted me before, so I hoped they'd do so again.  

(The packaging on this one is another of their film-based cartoons, although it wasn't until I was looking at while the first pot was brewing that I recognized the reference to the chocolate river and Oompa Loompas, and Charlie from "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory".)

The Chocolate Orange blend is a medium roast, so that already provides a smooth foundation upon which to build... and one which the Bones roasters have shown time and again that they are capable of. Like most of the blends from them that I've reviewed (and will be reviewing), I brewed the coffee from a 4-oz. sample pack of pre-ground coffee.

The aroma from the bag when I opened it was a pleasing mix of coffee and orange and a hint of chocolate. As the coffee brewed, I thought I could smell a faint hint of orange in the kitchen, but the smell was not as strong as it had been with certain other Bones Coffee blends.

When I drank the first hot cup, there was no disearnable aroma from it, but there was a chocolaty taste from and center immediately. It was not overwhelming and it blended perfectly with the coffee flavor. I've previously spoken of my wimpy palate and how I more-often-than-not must cut the coffee I drink with almond milk or creamer. The Chocolate Orange blend has a coffee flavor that is just intense enough that I had to add some Unsweetened Almond Milk after a few sips, and that seemed to bring out the chocolate flavor more strongly while dialing back the coffee. The orange was present as as slight twang, barely noticeable. I didn't try it with the sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream, because I was out and the grocery store was out of stock on the day I ordered by groceries.

The tastes remained essentially the same when I tried this cold and over ice, but they were slightly more muted. I think this is a blend that is most enjoyable when it is hot.

 

It's a Sala Saturday!

Here's another early one-page comic from the great Richard Sala. Created in 1985, it's another prime example of how how easily Sala mixed the creepy and strange with the comedic. (Click on any panel for a larger, more readable version.)

Firearms Friday with Joan Blondell

 

"We can either afford to refit the costume or give you that additional money," the producer told Joan Blondell as "The Blonde and the Bullet" (1933) went into an extra week of filming.

"Fair enough," said Blondell.

Coming Soon...

... the exciting new series that exists at the intersection between art and hidden camera prank shows--DANCING WITH WALLS!

Each episode, some of the world's top ballerinas show off their talents by using walls as their dance partner... and the young lady who outlasts the rest (either through stamina and/or not being carted off to the local mental hospital for evaluation) wins $100,000!

Viewers will also get to participate, as they can vote for their favorite performers via text message or on the Dancing With Walls website!

Check your local listings for dates and times... but don't miss this exciting new frontier in reality television arts programming!

'The Non-Stop Kid' is non-stop funny

The Non-Stop Kid (1918)
Starring: Harold Lloyd, Bebe Daniels, Snub Pollard, William Blaisdell, Billy Fay, Lew Harvey, and Sammy Brooks
Director: Gilbert Pratt
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

Miss Wiggles (Daniels) is pursued by many suitors, including her true love, Harold (Lloyd). Her domineering father (Blaisdell) has arranged for her to marry Professor Noodle (Harvey), so a desperate Harold decides to impersonate Noodle and steal Miss Wiggles's hand in marriage.

"The Non-Stop Kid" is a swift-moving comedy where we, once again, see Harold Lloyd trying to dodge the domineering father of the lovely Bebe Daniels. There are some portions that feel like throwbacks to the rotten, trouble-making character that Lloyd began his career playing--rather than the tricky romantic that became his signature later on--and these drag the film down a bit for me. (As I've previously noted, I have a strong dislike for those early Lloyd pictures.) Thankfully, those moments are few... in addition to being more funny than anything in the early films they reminded me of.

With the negativity out of the way, let me praise this short film for its 12-minutes of non-stop action and gags. While some work better than others, the scene where Miss Wiggles ) plays a trick on a gang of nattily dressed suitors; the one where Harold is wiping away Miss Wiggles tears and her father interrupts their moment; and the entire afternoon tea sequence makes up for any shortcomings present elsewhere. 

My personal favorite part of the film is the opening bit. The hoard of dimwitted suitors pursuing Daniels' character feel like precursors to the Upperclass Twits that were mainstays in some of the greatest skits from "Monte Python's Flying Circus" and they are every bit as funny.

I strongly recommend you take a few minutes out of your day to check out this great little comedy. Click below... and enjoy! (I had to update the embedded version... and now the best available one has Russian subtitles...)

The Further Adventures of Gun Fury

Gun Fury #6-#10 (Aircel Comics/Malibu Graphics, June - Oct 1989)
Story and Layouts: Barry Blair
Art: Dave Cooper

Rating: Six of Ten Stars

The city needed a hero. What it got was Gun Fury and his sidekick Ammo. They were better than nothing at all. Well... most of the time...

"Gun Fury" was a series that poked fun at superheroes, the comics business and fandom, and mass-media trends of the late 1980s. The first five issues presented and complete storyline that introduced Gun Fury, Ammo (and Peter Pane, the replacement Ammo), and a supporting cast that served the double purpose of poking fun at superhero tropes and taking pot-shots at comic book industry figures. You can read a review of those issues by clicking here.

With the sixth issue of the series, there were a number of changes. First, Dave Cooper became both the penciller and inker of the title, while Barry Blair continued to be the writer and provided page layouts. The story-telling style also shifted from a serial that continued from issue to issue to each issue being self-contained. The supporting cast all but vanished, with Gun Fury and Ammo being the only recurring characters. (There's also a minor running gag revolving around Gun Fury and Ammo being couch potatoes, deciding what crimes need to be fought on what they see on television.)

Another big change is that beginning with these issues, the characterization of Gun Fury as an eccentric, mildly delusional blowhard into someone who is just one step shy of being a complete idiot who exists in a world that exists only in his mind. It leads to some funny one-liners, but, overall, I think it weakened the humor of the title, pushing from a series that made fun of the ultra-violent superheroes of the late 1980s to one that seemed contemptuous of superheroes in general.

The stories in the individual issues are hit-and-miss. The least interesting are in issues #6 and #9, mostly because they cover ground and recycle jokes that were already made in issues #1 through #5 and feature thin stories. 

Issue #6 has little noteworthy in it. It's mostly the above-referenced recycled jokes from earlier issues--pot-shots at comics dealers and collectors--along with setting up the "modern" method by which Gun Fury and Ammo find crime to fight. Gun Fury is also really, REALLY stupid here in ways that are more befuddling than funny. (I don't disagree with the commentary... it's just that the ground had already been covered.)

 Issue #9 makes fun of merchandising and, curiously, pedophiles. It's generally a badly executed mess--with a couple slapstick gags that rely on motion. The scenes could have worked, but Dave Cooper was just not up to the task, failing both to capture the motion and the timing of the gags. There's this iconic moment dropped into the middle of those sequences, but it's too little to save the issue:

In fact, the most interesting thing in #9 is the letters column. It gives insight into the lead-time when it comes to publishing and how plans can change: The editor makes reference to a coming "Gun Fury: Year One" story arc that would detail Our Hero's early adventures--and it would have most likely been a spoof of any and all "origin series" that were being pumped out by Marvel and DC Comics at the time. As it ultimately turned out, the only "Year One" type material we'd get was in issue #8, which revealed how Gun Fury was first set on the path to being a hero and how he got his costume. It's an amusing issue, but it also treads ground that was covered earlier in the series. (I wonder if this was a set-up for the storyline mentioned in #9, or if it was salvaged and slightly reworked and dropped into the mix when it became apparent that the series wasn't going to last much longer. It could explain the only truly lame part of the issue--a not-very-inventive fourth-wall-breaking gag that's drawn out longer than it should have been.)

The best issues in the second half of the "Gun Fury" series are #7 and #10. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they are also the ones that have most effectively survived the passage of time and could in some ways have been published a couple years ago, despite the fact they are firmly rooted in 1980s pop culture.

During the 1980s, there was an explosion of televangelism on cable TV; it didn't matter what time of day it was, you could find religious programming somewhere. There were even channels devoted to nothing but religious programming, such as the Christian Broadcasting Network (for the born-again, evangelical crowd) and the Eternal World Television Network (for the Catholics). 

Issue #7 of Gun Fury pokes fun at these flashy religious productions geared toward television and the, even in 1989, well-documented and laughable hypocrisy of many televangelists. The humor and themes in this issue are as fresh now as they were then, and the climax is perhaps the best of any issue in the series. Gun Fury is in full classic superhero caricature mode in this issue, but it's all very funny.

Meanwhile, issue #10 feels as fresh as the day it was published because it lampoons issues that seem to have exploded across the American cultural landscape over the past two or three years: Gang violence and petty crime of all sorts, and the appearance of casual police violence.

The issue also feels like it might have been published yesterday because there's a Donald Trump caricature that is central to the issue's story. While the character isn't involved in politics, it's an illustration of how long Donald Trump has been a big part of the American cultural landscape.

As hinted at throughout this article, issue #10 would be the  final issue of the "Gun Fury" ongoing series, with the last page seeing our heroes heading off to retirement and tropical climes--and offering up final, heavyhanded, double entendre joke.

 

This would not be fend of Gun Fury and Ammo, however. While "Gun Fury: Year One" would never materialize, Our Heroes would eventually return in a mini-series. Look for my opinions of it in this space at some future date!

(Meanwhile, if you have any memories or opinions about "Gun Fury" or any other Aircel Comics, that's what the comments section is for! Also, for an excellent exploration of the man behind the creation, Barry Blair, click here.)

Bones Coffe's Irish Cream

Ever since I've been writing commentaries and reviews, whether professionally or for fun, I have had one standard: I NEVER intentionally set out to review something that I do not expect to like. Few things in the A&E sphere are more obnoxious than the reviewer or critic who seeks out material in genres or from artists he knows he's going to hate, just so he can savage it. With that said, this review is a bit of a break from my personal standards as a commentator and reviewer... because I went into this expecting not to like the coffee I was tasking myself to drink and review.

BONES COFFEE COMPANY: IRISH CREAM

I am not a fan of Irish Cream coffee, be it the real thing or just a flavored creamer. Maybe it's because I'm not a big whiskey drinker. maybe it's because I've just never had Irish Cream done right, or maybe it's just not for me. Whatever the reason, I don't like it.

Still, as I am running out of Bones Coffee flavors to sample and write about--and with St. Patrick's Day is coming up--I am taking the opportunity to see if Bones can change my mind about Irish Cream via their Irish Cream-flavored coffee. They have surprised me many times since I began writing these articles, and maybe this would be another one of those times. (And even if it wasn't, it wouldn't be a terrible loss, as I ordered this as part of a sampler pack consisted of five flavors.)

Upon opening the package, I didn't notice any particular smell except that of coffee... and maybe a hint of chocolate. Why could I smell chocolate in an Irish Cream-flavored drink? I don't know, but as the coffee brewed, I didn't notice aromas rising from the coffeemaker other than the pleasant aroma of coffee.

Drinking this blend straight was about as I expected it to be. Bones seems to have captured the flavor of Irish Cream just fine with this one, so if you have a hankering for coffee with Bailey's liquor, but you're at work or driving the mini-van with the kids in the back, this is the drink for you. Also, the chocolate I thought I smelled when I first opened the package was nowhere in the flavor profile while I drank it hot and black. Also, the cream aspect of the drink was a little weak--far behind the coffee and whiskey flavors, but that should be easily fixed by not drinking it black, right?

Wrong. As is my habit when drinking these coffees for reviews, I first added Unsweetened Almond Milk to my cup, and I thought that might bring forth the creaminess, and perhaps even unveil the chocolate. It didn't. Instead, it caused the coffee to taste as if I had just poured spoiled milk into it. It was terrible. It was so terrible that I didn't even let the coffee cool to see what it might taste like at room temperature, but instead just dumped it immediately and rinsed out my cup. (I have found that these flavored coffees can taste differently depending on how hot or cold they are, but I wasn't going to subject myself to another mouthful of that terrible swill I had created.)

When I added sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer to a cup of Bones' Irish Cream, the result was far better. It didn't really improve all that much as far as bringing any additional flavors, and I didn't think it mixed all that well with those that were present when the coffee was black. It didn't taste like spoiled milk, but it still had a somewhat sour aftertaste. Maybe if I had some non-fat milk, or even a little whipping cream, to add it might have made it better, but I doubt it.

I then doubled back and tried it with the other kind of almond milk I test these coffees with--Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk. Surprisingly, this worked better with this Irish Cream blend than the sugar-free creamer had. It still didn't add much in the way of creaminess, but the addition of the vanilla made the chocolate undertones creep back out. (Unless... the chocolate flavor was there because I didn't adequately clean the coffeemaker after brewing some Signature Select Light Roast Double-Dutch Chocolate) Well, regardless, Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk was the addition to the Bones' Irish Cream that so far had worked the best!

As the cups with the creamer--and later the almond milk with vanilla--cooled, I found myself liking the flavor even better. This isn't surprising, since I imagine this may be a blend that's supposed to be consumed at room temperature or chilled and over ice; I mean, does anyone drink Irish Cream coffee hot, except for when you're adding those little cups of creamers to your gas station coffee? 

Unfortunately, I found myself unable to recommend this blend over ice. Whether I tried it black, with Unsweetened Almond Milk, or with the sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer, when consumed chilled and over ice, the dominant flavor of the Irish Cream blend was one of salty dirt. I've had Bones blends turn salty over ice before, but this dirt flavor is something new. The Irish Cream taste is there, in the distant background and as something of an aftertaste. The dirt flavor a little less prominent with the creamer, so maybe there's just something about the way Bones created this blend that doesn't mix with almond milk? (I confess that I didn't bother trying the blend iced with regular Unsweetened Almond Milk, because it had brought about such a horrible result previously.)

Mike and Buff dance with joy over Irish Cream coffee! Sadly, Steve does not.

I don't know... maybe I don't know what I'm talking about. In the end, I can only say that Bones' Irish Cream blend is not for me, and the only way I feel like even recommend anyone drink it is either balck and hot, or at room temperature. The best part about this product is the packaging--which features another cute and excellent cartoon of the Bones mascot in action. 

I am sorry I didn't like this blend more... but at least I can take this as proof that my typical attitude of not even considering something for review if I suspect I might not like it, is the right attitude to take. 

If you have a take on Irish Cream (Bones Coffee or otherwise), please leave a comment below!

The arrival of Betty Boop as we know her!

Mask-A-Raid (1931)
Starring: Ann Little (Betty Boop and various voices) and Bill Murray (Bimbo and various voices)
Directors: Dave Fleischer and Al Eugster
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

Betty Boop is the Queen of the Ball at a masquerade, and she becomes the object of love (and lust) by Bimbo the Bandleader and the dirty old man who's the King of the Ball. Although Betty is clearly more attracted to Bimbo, she declares they must duel tor her heart. Insane antics ensue.

 "Mask-A-Raid" is a turning point for the most famous original characters to come out of the Max Fleischer-operated animation studios, Bimbo and Betty Boop.

First, this is the moment when Bimbo was permanently reduced from the headlining character to supporting character status. While he would continue to be a presence in the series for a few more years, he had been replaced as the star by Betty Boop, who had originally been introduced as a nameless supporting character with appearances like this. In some, he'd be a co-star (like he is here), but in others he'd barely be present.

Secondly, this is the point at which Betty Boop's transformation from an anthropomorphic poodle into the big-headed sexpot we all know and love. The change had been taking place over several cartoons, but this is the first time when her floppy poodle ears have been fully replaced by hoop earrings and the last vestiges of her dog snout are completely gone. 

As for the content of "Mask-A-Raid", this is one of the most risque Betty Boop cartoons I've seen so far, with Betty leaving no confusion about her desire to get hot and sweaty with Bimbo, with the dirty old man leaving no confusion about his desire to get hot and sweaty with Betty, and there's no doubt that Bimbo is not particularly interested in defending Betty's virtue but rather his own desire to get hot and sweaty with her. I think it's clear that these cartoons were directed at an adult audience--or at least older teens.

All that said, there is a sense of fun about everything in this very charming cartoon. In some of the Betty Boop installments, Bimbo comes across a demented stalker (like this one) or the proceedings are tinged with horror (as illustrated here), but here Bimbo is just a horndog and Betty is willing to engage him. The sense of fun (and perhaps even joy) intensifies as the cartoon progresses and gets stranger and stranger as it goes, and the duel for Betty Boop's--um... companionship--escalates into a major brawl for no apparent reason. I think if you watch "Mask-A-Raid" without at cracking at least one smile, you're dead. Not just dead inside, but clinically dead.

In addition to lots of zany visuals and escalating craziness, "Mask-A-Raid", like many of the Boop cartoons from this period, is an animated mini-musical... and the music and songs are just as nutty as the animation. There are Betty Boop cartoons that feature better music but I've yet to see one that manages to be as completely chaotic and perfectly graceful at the same time as this one.

But don't just take my word for it. Why don't you take a few minutes to have some fun right now? Click below, sit back, and get ready to laugh! (And if I have steered you wrong, let me and the world know in the comments section.)