Has anyone noticed that Dorothy lives on a farm with her aunt and uncle and 3 farm hands and a large number of hogs, and Toto too! So, not exactly a Depression era hard scrabble existence.

Of course, we’ve all noticed by now the foreshadowing with the farm hands, and Professor Marvel, right?

It was all a dream.

Poor Almira Gulch. She looks like she could use a friend. Thanks to Wicked we’re all aware of the UST between the Wicked Witch and Glinda but that doesn’t help poor Almira though I might have seen Dorothy/Almira femslash used to explain why she was so mean to Dorothy. ( Farmgirl + spinster teacher? Serious recipe for disaster.)

Ah… trivia. Margaret Hamilton (Gulch and the Wicked Witch) was the voice of Auntie Em in that mid 70′s Oz movie ( Journey to Oz) with Liza Minnelli as Dorothy (and a boat load of Hollywood has-beens as other characters.). She was also Morticia’s mother in The Addams Family. Have to wonder how she made a living on character parts – the Wiki says she refused to join a studio.

I have a Wizard of Oz movie poster calendar for 2011. The Witch isn’t on any of them surprisingly. Hmmm… not sure if Billy Burke ( Glinda ) is either.

(Ah… more spelunking in the trivia. Billie Burke was 18 years older than Margaret Hamilton, making her 55 when she played Glinda. (Have to wonder what she thought when someone else played her in a movie about her deceased husband Florenz Ziegfeld in ’37.) Hadn’t realized she was that old. Both of them lived into their mid 80′s.)

And… let’s watch “The Avengers” again. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve watched it. One doesn’t watch the movie for the plot/writing ( Uma Thurman as Emma Peel, Ralph Fiennes as Steed, and Sean Connery as the villain Sir August De Wynter) which is frankly atrocious. But the scenery and action isn’t bad in a subdued, pre-Matrix kind of way.

Granted, Uma Thurman isn’t Diana Rigg but she’s nice to look at. Too bad the humor in the movie feels a little forced. And our heroes have absolutely no chemistry.

I don’t think there’s a good reason to explain why I like to watch it. It’s not exactly a cult classic.

And then there’s “Streets of Fire” – a “Rock-n-Roll fable” which I first saw at a movie theater in the mid 80′s at a midnight showing (can’t remember where. One of three cities – Chicago, Orlando, or Ithaca (NY).) It has a certain charm, even if the worst of the “Glee” kids can sing better than the female lead ( Diane Lane as a pop singer (Ellen Aim) in the pseudo movie 50′s setting).  Of course, she lip-synched and they actually sing. And, actually, one of them did in a 1st season episode. Sing a song from the movie, that is. I think. Or at least another Jim Steinman song - ”Total Eclipse of the Heart” (He wrote the theme song for “Streets of Fire” and that’s what I think of whenever I hear that song)

A couple songs from the soundtrack are available from iTunes (I actually have it on cassette but haven’t had a working cassette player for almost a decade. ) but not the whole thing Amazon does have it though it’s been “out of print” for a LONG time.

1. Fire Inc. – “Nowhere Fast” 6:02
2. Marilyn Martin – “Sorcerer” 5:06
3. The Fixx – “Deeper and Deeper” 3:45 iTunes (long version)
4. Greg Phillinganes – “Countdown to Love” 3:00
5. The Blasters – “One Bad Stud” 2:28 - iTunes
6. Fire Inc. – “Tonight Is What It Means To Be Young” 6:58
7. Maria McKee – “Never Be You” 4:06
8. Dan Hartman – “I Can Dream About You” 4:07 (this version is not on iTunes)
9. Ry Cooder – “Hold That Snake” 2:36
10. The Blasters – Blue Shadows 3:17 - iTunes

How does on describe this movie? Long, multi-song Early 80′s music video? Happy Days + leather bars, motorcycle gangs in leather, and a bar band (The Blasters) and a stripper/dancer (played by Jennifer Beal’s uncredited dance double in Flashdance, according to IMDb)?

And actors – Willem Dafoe as the evil motorcycle gang leader (Raven) who kidnaps the singer; Michael Paré as the anti-hero (Tom Cody) who comes home to rescue her; Rick Moranis as the singer’s manager who pays the anti hero to rescue her; Amy Madigan as the butch lesbian sidekick (McKoy) ; Deborah Van Valkenburgh as the sister (Reva) who calls the anti-hero.

(Other actors with minor parts that people might recognize (or not): Bill Paxton, Robert Townsend,Lynne Thigpen, Ed Begley Jr., Elizabeth Daily (She mostly does voice work – she was Buttercup), Kathy Griffin (in the crowd at a concert))

I don’t have any plans to watch (Don’t even have the tv on right now). I haven’t seen any of the nominated films. Probably won’t see any of the nominated or winning films. Well… maybe I’ll eventually watch “True Grit” so I can compare it the original.

But really… what meaning do they have TO ME? Ordinary folks can’t vote for them. These are awards given by a select cadre of movie people to other movie people.

The glamour? Don’t care. Never going to run into any of these people in Real[tm] Life. Can’t see myself ever being within gawking distance of a red carpet (or movie premier for that matter.)

But if you like to watch that kind of spectacle… go ahead. Just don’t expect me to keep you company.

‘nuf said.

Must have deleted something vital to iTunes beeing able to see the Apple tv.

Oops!

The solution?

- break the link between the aTV and iTunes ( the menu option on the aTV that allows it to connect to computers running iTunes. )

- reconnect the aTV to that computer’s iTunes library

- wait while it REsyncs every bit of media , except pubs and PDFs, From the MacBook.

Fortunately, being a clever person, I knew enough to connect my MacBook , using a cat5 cable, to the same router that the Apple TV is connected to. So, instead of 10+ hours to sync over wifi it should take 1 hour or so. And that’s because my router at home is old.

(Yup. It’s the 70th Anniversary Edition of The Wizard of Oz. On Blu-Ray. A birthday present of sorts.)

Running commentary…

Glinda: “Only bad witches are ugly!” (She’s a bit judgemental!)

Why can’t the WWotW (Wicked Witch of the West) take the shoes from Dorothy right when they meet? Why is she powerless in Munchkin Land?

I don’t think Glinda (The Good Witch of the North) was really that powerful. All she could do is give Dorothy advice (Walk, girl! Walk to Oz.). She should have at least warned Dorothy about the Wizard. There was no way she didn’t know he was a fake.

And is that the Scarecrow copping a feel when he meets Dorothy? (He’s all over her.)

What’s with Toto constantly sniffing up Dorothy’s dress? Is he/she a pervi animagus?

That must be magic oil. It eats through a year’s worth of rust on the Tin Man in seconds.

What are the odds that all of Dorothy’s companions in Oz are escapees from a Broadway musical?

Boy the WWW is very green in this restored print.

Why is the Tin Man afraid of the Lion? He’s made of metal and has an axe! (Dorothy to the rescue!)

Dorothy and Co make it to Oz halfway through the movie. (Everybody/thing in the Emerald City is so green!)

Surrender Dorothy!

Guard at the Wizard’s palace: “I had an Aunt Em myself, once.”

WWotW: “It’s so kind of you to visit me in my loneliness.”

Trade? Slippers for the dog. That’s until she discovers the ruby slippers won’t come off while Dorothy is alive.

Run, Toto, Run!

How sweet. The WWotW’s endearment for Dorothy – “My Pretty.”

How does the WWotW know what Auntie Em looks like?

The Scarecrow has a plan! If I were Dorothy, and knew about it, I’d be worried.

Seize them!

The WWotW appears to have a serious Water allergy.

Dorothy: “Say Goodbye Toto!” & “There’s no place like home!” (Getting out of town before the ‘Good Towns People’ of Oz realize she murdered the WWotW as the Wizard’s assassin.

And…

It was all a dream!

]]> http://neocows.net/blog/2011/02/05/taking-a-break/feed/ 0