Toraichi Kono and Charlie Chaplin.

I attended two out of the three plays presented at EdgeFest's LA History Project at the Autry National Center last Sunday. Circle X's 1pm production of Tom Jacobson's "The Chinese Massacre" which "chronicles the first race riot in Los Angeles history, when 19 Chinese men and boys were lynched by a mob of 500 people from all nations" was a truly impressive debut even if still in the workshopping stage. The play generated many laughs while staying true to the hard facts. Or attempting to. Indeed, some of the funniest moments were born out of the playwright's desire to confess to us that all the research he did came from press clippings and studies that might or might not tell the absolute truth. Sometimes the playwright gave us two points of view on the same person or incident from two different sources with two very different agendas, which made the play very timely as we're dealing with two presidential candidates with two very different versions of our future, our past and our present. I highly recommend that you add your name to Circle X's e-mail list to stay informed about the future of this disturbing yet necessary play.

I stayed for the next presentation: the first act of Lodestone Theatre Ensemble's "My Man Kono" written by Philip W. Chung and directed by Jeff Liu about Toraichi Kono who was Charles Chaplin's valet for 17 years "before being arrested as a Japanese enemy spy on the eve of World War II." This first act was extremely moving and also enlightening - does anybody know that Charlies Chaplin was the subject of an attack on his life while visiting Japan? - thanks to a terrific cast all around and an outstanding Garrett Wang as Toraichi Kono, all impassive face and bottled up emotions against Donovan Oakleaf's Charlie Chaplin pirouetting around the stage with open arms and an overflowing heart. I must say when the play began I was embarrassed for whoever had the formidable task of bringing Charlie Chaplin to life but that's exactly what Donovan Oakleaf did and I'm still recovering from the shock of having been in the genius' presence. I also recommend that you go to Lodestone's website to get a chance one day in the near...distant... future, as Philip W. Chung promised us, to witness this intriguing pair who, ironically, ended up having more in common when they grew apart.

Here is Sunday's line-up for Part II of the festival:

11 AM
Watts Village Theater Company
At Risk
By Judy Soo Hoo
Directed by David Catanzarite
In a fictional middle school in South Los Angeles, every student is at risk, and so is every teacher. Watts Village Theater Company's offering to the festival explores the history of United Teachers of Los Angeles through the eyes of a rookie and the motley band of veterans who get him through his first year.

1PM
About Productions
Bleeding Through
Written by Teresa Chavez and Rose Portillo
Directed by Teresa Chavez
A multi-media work inspired by Norman Klein’s novella Bleeding Through Layers of Los Angeles, which uncovers the narrative ghosts, both fictional and non-fictional of Angelino Heights, and addresses historical forgetting and the erasure of memory.

3:30PM
Native Voices at the Autry
Serra Springs
By Larissa FastHorse
Music by Brian Joseph
Lyrics by Brian Joseph and Larissa FastHorse
Directed by Robert Vestal
Two teens, two adults and one strange dude deal with some major surprises during one magical night at a protest to save the last sacred site of the Tongva people in West Los Angeles.

What: EdgeFest Los Angeles History Project
When: Sunday, July 13, and Sunday, July 20, 11AM, 1PM, 3:30 PM
Where: Autry National Center of the American West, Griffith Park Campus, 4700 Western Heritage Way, Los Angeles, CA, 90027-1462
How Much: Free
Reservations: Not required.
More Info: lahp@edgeoftheworld.org

The fourth season premiere of TNT's "The Closer" on Monday night pulled in a total of 7.81 million viewers, according to Nielsen's live-plus-same-day figures. The episode reached 3.29 million viewers in the 25-to-54 demographic and 2.48 million 18- to 49-year-olds. Mediaweek (7/15)

Last Sunday's series premiere of Brooke Knows Best on VH1 at 10p posted a 1.3 rating and averaged 1.4 million viewers among A18-49. The opening episode also averaged 2.0 million total viewers. (Cynopsis 7/16)

Billy Crystal signed on to host the six-hour documentary series Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America produced by Thirteen/WNET New York and Ghost Light Films. The documentary, which is slated to air next January, will look at the various forms of American comedy and its evolution as it relates to social issues, political change and its commentary on American life. It will also look at some of the top comedic talents from the past and present such as Charlie Chaplin, Jack Benny, Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, George Carlin, Jon Stewart and more. (Cynopsis 7/16)

FX has ordered 19 new episodes of "Nip/Tuck" and announced that those would be the last new installments of the show, which will come to an end in 2011. Meanwhile, the network also announced plans for a second comedy -- "Testees" -- about two pals who become professional guinea pigs. Broadcasting & Cable (7/15) , The Hollywood Reporter (7/15)

Comcast will offer on its video-on-demand service exclusive content tied to the release of Warner Bros.' "The Dark Knight," the latest installment in the Batman movies. As part of the deal, Comcast customers will gain access to behind-the-scenes footage, cast interviews and movie trailers. World Screen News (7/15)

Thanks to the additions in 2007 of Fox Sports en Espanol and Mun2, ad revenue on Spanish-language cable networks soared 76%, to $220.7 million, last year, according to data just released by Nielsen. Excluding the two new networks, the sector still rose 32.3% from 2006 to 2007. Multichannel News (7/15)

The National Geographic Channel led all cable networks with 12 nominations in the 29th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards. Also receiving nods were cablers HBO/Cinemax (with 10); the History Channel (7); CNN (5); Current TV, Discovery Channel and Smithsonian Channel (3 each); HDNet, HDNet/PBS, MSNBC and VH1 (2 apiece); and Animal Planet, Discovery Times Channel and Oxygen (1 each). Reuters/The Hollywood Reporter (7/15) , Broadcasting & Cable (7/15)

In an example of Walt Disney Co.'s corporate synergy, ESPN has started offering short-form video clips to the Web sites of ABC's 10 owned-and-operated TV stations. Programming involved in the move includes "SportsCenter Right Now," "Mike and Mike in the Morning," "Pardon the Interruption" and "Around the Horn." Mediaweek (7/15)

A small group of leaders from SAG and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers will convene today for a "sidebar meeting" at the AMPTP headquarters in Sherman Oaks. AMPTP made it clear that they are willing to meet with SAG, but only to listen. AMPTP leaders continue to urge SAG to take its final offer from June 30, saying the deal cannot be negotiated further. If the studio's offer is ratified by August 15, the terms will be retroactive to July 1. (Cynopsis 7/16)

On Monday, the crew of an FM radio station in Bangalore got beaten up because someone didn't like the name of a show they were recording.

And what was the show called? Bendetthu Bengaluru.

If you are a Bangalorean, and if you have Kannadiga friends who don't mind a bit of slang, you will probably have come across the expression 'bendetthu'.

'Bendettu' is a mix of two words: 'bend' and 'etthu'. Bend is from English, and etthu is Kannada to take out, remove, lift. Bendetthu means to straighten up something, and I suspect it comes from the world of tinkering.

Cars that are dented need to be straightened up... they need the bendetthu treatment.

Get the drift?

'Bendetthu Bengaluru''s producer describes it as a show that tries to find solutions to Bangalore's civic problems.

Now why should this name upset anyone? Members of the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike went to Vijayanagar, where the crew was talking to passers-by, and asked them why they had chosen a name that was insulting to Bangalore.

The terrified jockeys had no answer, and so these custodians of Bangalore pride decided to teach them a lesson.

We all know the Rakshana Vedike is excitable when it comes to Kannada issues, but how do you explain them going and thrashing Kannada radio jockeys doing a Kannada show with what one would think is a witty Kannada name?

Anyone with any interest in Kannada movies will have heard of an actor called Jaggesh. If you want to enjoy Bangalore's street language, you should watch his movies. I am sure he makes up his own dialogue. His clowning is good fun, but he stands out for his linguistic brilliance.

I know of no actor who has been able to tap into the rich, iridescent world of Kannada slang the way Jaggesh has. Raj Kumar is too dignified an actor to mouth slang, and romantic heroes such as Vishnuvardhan don't ever try to break out of their middle-class monotony. Upendra talks a lot, and tries to shock you with his iconoclasm, but you can hardly accuse him of good taste.

You've heard of the expression 'would-be' to refer to a fiance? In one of his films, Jaggesh plays on this word, and refers to his girlfriend as his "Udupi wife". He can turn any word on its head!

Jaggesh acted in a film called Bundal Nan Maga some years ago. I suspect he thought up that name himself. It's again like 'Bendetthu Bengaluru'. Bundal is probably bundle, short for bundle of lies. Nan maga means my son.

If Jaggesh could get away with a title like that, there's no reason a radio team should be harassed for the title 'Bendetthu Bengaluru'.

Jaggesh is now an MLA, and could lose his wit trying to say the right things for the consumption of the media and his constituency. Just imagine the artistic suffocation he would experience if someone went to him and demanded that he explain his word play.

He hails from Srirampura, close to the city railway station, a neighbourhood of working class and poor Kannadigas and Tamils. It was at one time notorious as a haven for criminal gangs. Jaggesh's language draws on the brash, clever, and often dark humour of people forced to live in squalor.

In the hands of a great director, he could produce comedies of Chaplin's class.

Dr Siddalingaiah, the most famous Dalit poet around and now chairman of the Karnataka Book Authority, also hails from Srirampura. When a reporter called him yesterday, he suggested the Rakshana Vedike was hurt because of the title 'Bendetthu Bengaluru'.

In truth, Siddalingaiah is a sophisticated humorist, and can produce a great script for Jaggesh. If only he'd stop saying bendetthu is bad Kannada...

(S.R. Ramakrishna is the resident editor of Mid Day, Bangalore, where this piece first appeared)

Also read: From Pampa to Champa: what a fall, my countrymen

 Boosa, kuule, woost, matash: a short dictionary

Coming soon: Mission Impossible III in Kannada

Nimmoppan Experiments with untruths

Smile though your heart is aching
Smile even though its breaking
When there are clouds in the sky, youll get by
If you smile through your fear and sorrow
Smile and maybe tomorrow
Youll see the sun come shining through for you

Light up your face with gladness
Hide every trace of sadness
Although a tear may be ever so near
Thats the time you must keep on trying
Smile, whats the use of crying? 
Youll find that life is still worthwhile
If you just smile

<instrumental interlude>

Thats the time you must keep on trying
Smile, whats the use of crying? 
Youll find that life is still worthwhile
If you just smile

The lyrics are telling the listener to cheer up and there will be a bright tomorrow as long as you smile. It's such as simple notion but still moving. See, over the years I have heard all the versions and I've liked the song..but recently I heard Robert Downey Jr.'s version that he did for the movie CHAPLIN (which he also stared as Chaplin) and I fell in love with his version of the song. I never knew he even could sing until I heard this song. There is just something about it that sounds so sincere and it makes me happy. It has like a classic jazzy feel to it too which makes it really cool. If you want to check it out, which I think you should, its on his debut album called The Futurist. There is another version of the song by Robert Downey Jr. that i heard too but its like a weird remix and I didn't like it, so make sure you find the version he did for his cd or you will have no clue what I'm talking about lol.  So check it out!

Challenge: #1 July 15 11:00 pm

Het Thermae Palace Hotel was oorspronkelijk een “badenpaleis” dat in 1933 geopend werd door Koning Albert I en Koningin Elisabeth. Het unieke gebouw in Belle Epoquestijl, gelegen op de Oostendse zeedijk, is thans een hotel, wellnesscenter en vergader- en meetingcenter. De viering werd dan ook gehouden in de sfeer van de jaren 30 met oldtimers, Broadwaybands, sketches, volksspelen, enz.

Sympathieke man.

Het Hotel alternatief vastegelgd (en de fotograaf ook).

Ambiance.

Leuke sketches.

If you've been living under a rock your whole life and don't know much about Charlie Chaplin, or even who he is for that matter, then you should watch the movie CHAPLIN. This movie has a great cast with actors such as Robert Downey Jr, Dan Akroyd, David Duchovney, Kevin Kline, and a ton of others. Robert Downey Jr. plays the role of Chaplin and does an EXCELLENT job. In fact, this movie is the one that made me realize how great of an actor Robert Downey Jr. really is. If you didn't already know, Charlie Chaplin was a silent movie actor/director comedian from 1914 to the 1960's. The movie is pretty much a full biography of Chaplin, starting when he was a child in England to him telling his life story in the 70's. What makes this movie great is Robert Downey Jr.'s ability to not only capture who Chaplin was as a person, but also as an actor. If you have seen old Charlie Chaplin movies you will be in awe when you see Robert Downey Jr. do the same bits and skits Chaplin created. RDJ's acting while being Chaplin is almost identical to the original and at times you forget he is not the actual Charlie Chaplin. What also is a special touch to the movie is when they take the normal scenes in the movie, such as the Chaplin hiding from the police, and turn it into the typical Charlie Chaplin silent film. Parts like this in the movie keep it entertaining. While it may be a long movie, every bit is interesting and enjoyable, so if you like Charlie Chaplin or don't know much about him and think you might, you need to see this movie. 

Challenge: #6 July 12 3:48 pm

If this is not one incredible theater event!!! I just hope L.A. will come and support it.

"Edge of the World Theatre Festival, with generous support from the James Irvine Foundation, the Autry National Center and the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, has commissioned six new plays about our city and its rich history. These plays will be presented as workshops by six of Los Angeles’ most exciting and innovative theater companies as part of EdgeFest’s ongoing Los Angeles History Project.

The event will be held at the Autry National Center on Sunday, July 13 & Sunday, July 20, 2008. All presentations are free of charge.

The schedule of works to be presented is listed below.

Sunday, July 13

11AM
Son of Semele Ensemble
Record Storm Spreads Ruin!
By Aaron Henne
Devised by Son of Semele Ensemble
Directed by Edgar Landa
A corrupt administration. A leader clinging desperately to his power. A devastating flood.
In 1938, Los Angeles Mayor Frank Shaw, on the verge of being ousted from power, broadcasts over the radio airwaves to a drowning city. His citizens, some living and some dead, converge on City Hall to offer him one last chance at salvation from his past deeds, before he is overtaken by a record storm.

1PM
Circle X Theatre Company
The Chinese Massacre (Annotated)
By Tom Jacobson
Directed by Marya Mazor
Based on historical incident, the The Chinese Massacre (Annotated) chronicles the first race riot in Los Angeles history, when 19 Chinese men and boys were lynched by a mob of 500 of "people from all nations." Resonant with more recent racially motivated Los Angeles civil disturbances (the Zoot Suit Riots, the Watts Riots, the Rodney King insurrection), The Chinese Massacre (Annotated) brings to light the remarkable, culturally diverse 19th-century Wild West town that exploded into today's metropolis.
Note: If you'd like to make a reservation for The Chinese Massacre please call 323-667-2000 x354 and leave a message

3:30
Lodestone Theatre Ensemble
My Man Kono
(Act One: The Chaplin Years)
Written by Philip W. Chung
Directed by Jeff Liu
The story of Toraichi Kono, who worked as movie star Charlie Chaplin’s personal valet for 17 years before being arrested as a Japanese enemy spy on the eve of World War II. This is a presentation of Act One of the play which covers Kono's years with Chaplin.

What: EdgeFest Los Angeles History Project
When: Sunday, July 13, and Sunday, July 20, 11AM, 1PM, 3:30 PM
Where: Autry National Center of the American West, Griffith Park Campus, 4700 Western Heritage Way, Los Angeles, CA, 90027-1462
How Much: Free
Reservations: Not required.
More Info and July 20th schedule: www.edgeoftheworld.org.

Who knew that a Pixar film about a sentient trash compactor sent to clean up Earth after a mass evacuation would be so indebted to Charlie Chaplin? Indeed, the lovable robot WALL•E owes a great deal to Chaplin's tramp character, not only in his mannerisms, but in his desire to win over an unrequited love and the blunders that come along with it.

However, it isn't just Chaplin that WALL•E riffs on. There are elements of Jacques Tati's Playtime (a director equally indebted to the work of Chaplin) as seen in the film's portrayal of a society dependent on ridiculous gadgets to carryout every day activities for them. And, of course, another obvious parralell is 2001: A Space Odyssey, which has become a sort of standard for parody in light-hearted space adventures. And let's not forget, where there's Chaplin, there's also Keaton and some of the chase sequences in WALL•E have the same flair for the fortuitous accidents that made Keaton's pursuits so uproarious.

I say all this not to haphazardly throw around film references, but to illustrate just how smart a film WALL•E happens to be. Like all Pixar films, it plays to both sides of the audience. The children present will respond to the adorable cast of robots and the easy-to-understand plot. The adults will pick up on the not-so-subtle social satire that finds the future of humanity obese and unable to walk or do things for themselves other than lounge about on floating chairs and talk on futuristic phones. To toss out a few more references, the overbearing consumer culture is remeniscent of the overlooked Idiocracy and the rampant obesity echoes another fabulous animated film from 2003, The Triplets of Belleville, in which every American character resembled the Michelin Man.

The best scenes are also the boldest and they come early in the film when WALL•E is alone on Earth tending to the endless business of cleaning up trash. A near total absence of dialogue along with a lack of conflict give the story an eerie, ascetic structure that establishes it as Pixar's darkest and most experimental film yet. Part of me wanted these to extend forever, but knowing full well that this a commericial commodity aiming to appeal to a broad audience, I understood that it would have to come to an end. To the immense credit of Pixar and director Andrew Stanton, they manage to sustain the brooding, lonely tone for as long as possible, but ultimately it is shattered abruptly with the arrival of a second robot, Eve, for whom WALL•E falls head over heals (or treads). From here, the film takes a turn toward Chaplin-esque territory with WALL•E repeatedly attempting to woo the new arrival.

The visuals are simply stunning, and Pixar flexes its artisitc muscle yet again with another superbly realized world. If I have to fault the film slightly, the plot gets a little cluttered toward the end, and the portrayal of humanity in all their obese grandeur gets slightly heavy-handed, but these are minor qualms in relation to the film's overall success. While it may not be as superb as Finding Nemo, WALL•E easily ranks among the best work the Pixar studio has released, and deserves a place among the best films of the year so far.

Wall-E ponders a Rubik's Cube in the Pixar film "Wall-E."

Over the last decade, Pixar has become a byword for quality, combining cutting-edge digital animation with depth of character, slapstick comedy and rich, engrossing storytelling that appeals equally to kids and adults. "Wall-E" has all of that and more.

Written and directed by Andrew Stanton ("Finding Nemo"), it's Pixar's most ambitious movie and an instant classic.

Wall-E is a solar-powered garbage drone, the last one still operating on an abandoned toxic planet that looks an awful lot like -- well, is -- Earth. A rusty box sitting on caterpillar tracks, with a retractable binocular-shaped head, he compresses junk into building blocks and then piles them up into towers that are shadow-skyscrapers of waste in the ruins of an unidentified city.

Electronic billboards still plug defunct products and bring us up to speed handily: Having polluted the planet with more waste than it could handle, globo-corporation Buy N Large evacuated its customers on a five-year space cruise ("The final fun-tier," promises the president, played by Fred Willard), leaving the robots to clean up the mess. Only their calculations were a little off. It's been 700 years, and Wall-E is still at work. Watch the cast talk about the plucky robot »

The opening half-hour is a delectable demonstration of visual storytelling. Although his vocabulary is limited to a bare handful of words, Wall-E, we gather, has developed more than a trace of consciousness. He's a hoarder, curious enough to collect unusual bric-a-brac: a whisk, an electric light bulb, bubble wrap. His most treasured item is a VHS tape of "Hello, Dolly."

His systems are scrambled when he bumps into Eve, a gleaming research pod from the mother ship whose sleek, egg-like design and distinctive start-up chime must be a wink to Pixar (and Apple) boss Steve Jobs.

At any rate, Eve is the apple of Wall-E's eye. He's so smitten, he'd follow her anywhere -- even outer space.

There's something special about Wall-E and his pursuit. Robots have been routinely humanized in sci-fi movies: in "Blade Runner," "A.I." and "Metropolis," for example. And "Wall-E" also isn't alone in implying that human beings are becoming more mechanistic ourselves, though the obese overgrown babies Stanton imagines reclining in hover chairs -- pampered and cocooned from birth -- is a more scathing caricature of consumer over-dependency than we'd expect to find in a Hollywood family film. iReport.com: Share your view on 'Wall-E'

Indeed, Stanton's most obvious touchstones are Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film "2001: A Space Odyssey" (at one point he treats us to a parodic blast of "Also Sprach Zarathustra" to signal a small baby step for man that's also a huge leap for mankind) and Douglas Trumbull's 1972 eco-parable "Silent Running": philosophical sci-fi films made only four years apart at another point of environmental sensitivity.

But the animating spirit here goes back much further, to the sentimental reveries and delightful improvisatory dexterity of Charlie Chaplin. In "Modern Times," made more than 70 years ago, Chaplin made play with the degrading effects of industrialized society. In "Wall-E," Stanton pitches us between a post-industrial wasteland embalmed in smog and the sterile, artificial atmosphere of a giant floating life-support system.

These aren't attractive prospects, but they are transformed by the little lovelorn robot, a lonely soul who seeks companionship anywhere he can get it ... in a cockroach, an old movie and a trigger-happy search robot.

"Wall-E" isn't a perfect movie; some business involving a team of rogue robots is unduly scrappy. But, mostly, this is a film filled with remarkable moments: a pas de deux in front of the Milky Way (with Wall-E propelled by a fire extinguisher), Eve's maternal glow as she carries out her primary directive, the fleeting moment when first-time space traveler Wall-E turns back, sees the Earth and tries to share his joy in the discovery.

"Wall-E" is rated G and has a running time of 97 minutes. For Entertainment Weekly's take, click here

Ref :: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/06/27/review.walle/index.html

Critical Eye
By Michael Sragow
Sun movie critic
June 22, 2008

Even for Pixar, a company that thrives on new frontiers, WALL-E is a gutsy next move. It's the first dystopian parable that's actually ecstatic fun. It's also the closest Pixar has come to making a full-length silent movie.

The choice of hero is audacious: a beeping, whirring Waste Allocation Load Lifter, Earth class, or WALL-E. For long, unbroken, startlingly seductive stretches, we see him navigate an abandoned American city all by himself. (He does have a pet cockroach.) Thanks to him, towering ziggurats made of trash compacted into cubes have sprouted up among malls and skyscrapers.

WALL-E's director, Andrew Stanton says he didn't let the silence of these sections stymie him.

To Stanton, "WALL-E is not a silent movie that just happens to have sound, it's a regular movie that just happens to use unconventional dialogue. My methodology, from the script on, was no different than it was approaching any 'regular' movie. It's like I was dealing with a hero who spoke French all the time."

Squat and scrappy, with binocular-like eyes that are as warm and eloquent as Bambi's, WALL-E looks like a cross between R2D2 and a Cubist portrait of a geek. He's the sole and surprisingly spirited survivor of a mammoth cleanup operation.

After Earth grew clogged with trash, the all-consuming Buy N Large corporation sent the human population into outer space and left behind a mechanical janitorial super-service to make the globe inhabitable once again. But these plans went awry (if they ever were sincere at all), and the one trash-compactor left is WALL-E, who has developed curiosity, survival skills and surprising wells of emotion - and expresses them with little more than a crook of his articulated elbows or a shift of his bifurcated head.

Stanton's love for silent movies gave him confidence. "You just want to make sure the visuals and the acting carry as much information as possible because people's senses are going to be a little more focused on them without dialogue."

Stanton wrote the script with Jim Reardon, an old friend and college classmate who directed 35 episodes of The Simpsons.

"We put dialogue in brackets: We knew we would be swapping it out with something else to convey it. ... so I wrote what I expected them to 'say.' "

The influence of silent films on Pixar has been pronounced from the beginning. When I interviewed Stanton 13 years ago at Pixar's old Point Richmond headquarters in the San Francisco Bay Area (the company has since moved to nearby Emeryville), he told me, " Buster Keaton is God."

Despite Stanton's devotion to Keaton, Charlie Chaplin's Tramp may be the silent clown who hovers over the plucky and poignant WALL-E. Stanton agrees that in addition to "hundreds of other films," WALL-E has a touch of Chaplin's Modern Time:in content, as "an indirect comment on one possibility of the automation of humanity and losing your soul." And in style, too - Modern Times (1936) was a silent made in the sound era, with a music track, sound effects, gibberish and only a smattering of English.

And just as Modern Times, despite its mordant view of modern industry, became Chaplin's cheeriest film because of the Tramp's romance with "a gamin" ( Paulette Goddard), WALL-E became Pixar's most piquant and satisfying film because of WALL-E's courtship of EVE, the svelte Extra-terrestrial Vegetation Evaluator sent from the Buy N Large mother ship to see if plants have started growing again on Earth.

EVE helped Stanton locate the core of the movie and also simply added to the pantomimed fun: "I already had one 'person" who spoke a different language than I did, and now he'd fall in love with someone of a different nationality who spoke another language."

The influences he drew on went way beyond silent films. "I'm more of a moviegoer than a moviemaker," says Stanton; "I don't want to see the same thing twice." He must be one heck of a moviegoer, because, as a director, no one has a track record stronger than Stanton's. Not only has he been a member of John Lasseter's team since Pixar's creative mastermind began assembling his animation brain trust (Stanton shares screenplay and story credit on Lasseter's debut feature, Toy Story), he also co-directed A Bug's Life with Lasseter and directed Finding Nemo solo.

Still, you see what he means. After his first two pictures, Stanton was poised to become a modern-day Aesop on an epic scale, hatching fables about the seductiveness and perils of domesticity and adventure that use the virtual reality of computers to open up whole natural worlds. Instead, with WALL-E, he drew on different models, such as Alien.

"Usually, in a script, there's a regular-looking paragraph of description and then there's dialogue at the center of the page. What the Alien script did was break the description down into little five-to-eight-word phrases, and then put four or five of those phrases in a row .... and it looked like a haiku."

It "created a rhythm for the reader that made each of these little, quiet, completely visual moments major things to focus on. It actually put you in the pacing that you feel while you're watching. And I was so inspired by that! On the page, it made description just as important - if not more important - than the dialogue."

Pixar has always ignored the Disney-cartoon tradition of treating every cartoon feature as a Broadway musical comedy.

Paradoxically - and hilariously, and touchingly - this mostly silent sci-fi movie makes a musical comedy central to its story. WALL-E, having found a Betamax tape of Hello Dolly! , has grown addicted to the buoyant tune, "Put On Your Sunday Clothes (When You Feel Down and Out)."

"I knew when I thought of it, that it was the weirdest idea I ever had in my life," Stanton says . "It was literally one of those things that just came over me, and I couldn't explain it. I knew it was so crazy it just might work - I knew it could go out there in the beginning over these images of stars."

It took him a while to realize that it clicked in his head because "the song itself was about two naive guys who want to go out in the big town for a night and kiss a girl. That's my main character!"

E' possibile acquistare le t-shirt anche tramite internet aggiungendo all'offerta minima 10 euro di spedizione, per maggiori infromazioni vistate www.cbmitalia.org.

La t-shirt si ispira al film di Charlie Chaplin "Luci della città" e alla presentazione di stamattina presso lo store di Milano Elio Fiorucci e altri testimonial di cbm Italia, l'AD di Salmoiraghi & Viganò, Riccardo Perdomi, la modella venezuelana Keyla Espinoza, i comici di Zelig Leonardo Manera e Diego Parassole e Vic di Radio Dee Jay.

Autore: Sonia Grispo

At the end of the movie, one of the two characters Chaplin plays is standing up at a podium, about to make a speech. Here's the text of it, lifted from IMDB.com.

I'm sorry, but I don't want to be an emperor. That's not my business.

I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible; Jew, Gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone, and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone.

The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge as made us cynical; our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little.

More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost. The airplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men; cries out for universal brotherhood; for the unity of us all.

Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women, and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me, I say, do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.

Soldiers! Don't give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you, enslave you; who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel! Who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men - machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines, you are not cattle, you are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts! You don't hate! Only the unloved hate; the unloved and the unnatural.

Soldiers! Don't fight for slavery! Fight for liberty! In the seventeenth chapter of St. Luke, it is written that the kingdom of God is within man, not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people, have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure.

Then in the name of democracy, let us use that power. Let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfill that promise. They never will! Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people. Now let us fight to fulfill that promise. Let us fight to free the world! To do away with national barriers! To do away with greed, with hate and intolerance! Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness.

Soldiers, in the name of democracy, let us all unite! Hannah, can you hear me? Wherever you are, look up Hannah! The clouds are lifting! The sun is breaking through! We are coming out of the darkness into the light! We are coming into a new world; a kindlier world, where men will rise above their hate, their greed, and brutality.

Look up, Hannah! The soul of man has been given wings and at last he is beginning to fly. He is flying into the rainbow! Into the light of hope, into the future! The glorious future, that belongs to you, to me and to all of us. Look up, Hannah. Look up!

(Hannah, for those who haven't puzzled it out, is a character in the film. She's sort of the love interest for our hero, and is, at this point in the story, hiding out in another country)

Many movie fans and many critics don't like this speech. It's basically just Chaplin talking into the camera, lecturing us from on high about tolerance and acceptance; about peace and brotherhood.

Well, they're right, it is exactly that. On the other hand, as the shadows of war were engulfing Europe in 1940, what he said was something that needed to be said. The only real sad part about it is that it's still something that needs to be said now, constantly, over and over again, until we finally learn to accept the truth of these words and live together in peace.

Extraído de Site Quente por Taiguara Pires

Já fiz coisas por impulso,

Já me decepcionei com pessoas quando nunca pensei me decepcionar, mas também decepcionei alguém.

Já abracei pra proteger,

Já dei risada quando não podia,

Já fiz amigos eternos,

Já amei e fui amado, mas também já fui rejeitado,

Já fui amado e não soube amar.

Já gritei e pulei de tanta felicidade,

Já vivi de amor e fiz juras eternas, mas "quebrei a cara" muitas vezes!

Já chorei ouvindo música e vendo fotos,

Já liguei só pra escutar uma voz,

Já me apaixonei por um sorriso,

Já pensei que fosse morrer de tanta saudade e...

...tive medo de perder alguém especial (e acabei perdendo)! Mas sobrevivi!

E ainda vivo!

Não passo pela vida...

e você também não deveria passar. Viva!!!

Bom mesmo é ir a luta com determinação,

Abraçar a vida e viver com paixão,

Perder com classe e vencer com ousadia,

Porque o mundo pertence a quem se atreve

E
A VIDA É MUITO

para ser insignificante"

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Veja também:
O Lobo das Planícies

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This morning I heard an NPR reporter mention in a reverent tone that The Dark Knight features Heath Ledger in his last acting role. To that I say, "Big deal!" I resent feeling like an idiot for not knowing who Heath Ledger was before he died.

In order to cope with this resentment in a mature manner, I will dis' readers who would lionize the man. But first …

• I admit The Dark Knight sounds pretty cool. I'll probably see it (although not necessarily on the big screen).
• I know it's common courtesy when speaking in public about a dead person to employ a reverent tone. This goes double if said dead person was relatively young, like say 29 — and goes triple if the deceased shared a birthday with my son #1.
• I admit to often being out of it when it comes to certain aspects of popular culture. For example, I doubt I could name more than 20 recording artists who have achieved substantial commercial success post-1989. Steely Dan doesn't count.
• I know the authorities established it's not Ledger's fault his acting career was abruptly shortened.
• I know he was nominated for an Oscar for his role as Ennis Del Mar in the Oscar winner for best picture of 2005, Brokeback Mountain.
• I know, ladies, that he is — er, was — a hunk and his trademark was his deep voice.

But c'mon, Heath freakin' Ledger? Give me a break!

We're not talking about a Bogart or a Chaplin, DeNiro, Hoffman, Pacino, or even a Thomas Cruise Mapother IV. Not even close. Ledger's acting career spanned a mere 16 years. From what I've read, it doesn't sound like he was targeted for greatness on the levels of the guys I mentioned.

So can everyone please put a lid on the Heath Ledger obsession? A lid, you know, like the lid on the coffin that contains the man's body. (Actually, I don't know what was done with his body. But if it was put in a coffin, that coffin is no doubt a hunky one and if it could talk, it would have a deep voice.)

I think I feel a bit less like an idiot now— though some readers might argue I should feel more like one.

Despite the title of this post, I'm not barring commenters here from mentioning Heath Ledger (the title is, of course, a clever play on words I couldn't resist — precisely for its cleverness). But I will predict, with confidence: Heath Ledger will not be the subject of another post on this blog.

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A new documentary: http://www.thebootcake.com/

"6/09/2008
The books have finally arrived, so now journals and class discussions will include material from the text as well as class/film material we cover. Today’s topic is the coming of sound to motion pictures and the classical film narrative style.
By nature film is discontinuous. In contrast, music is continuous. Therefore using music in film helps to create continuity and help lead the viewer through the film. In 1927 Warner Brothers made The Jazz Singer (Crosland, 1927). This was the first major release of a motion picture with sound (called a talkie). Although only selected parts of the film included sound, this was a big risk to Warner Brothers as it was a brand new technology and not yet proven in mass markets. It was a success, and gradually other studios began releasing “talkies”.

By 1930 silent films only accounted for a fraction of new films being made (although they are still made, just in rare instances). Only a few artists held out like Charlie Chaplin, whose popularity and film styles were such that new technology was not necessarily an improvement for him. Eventually he did make a sound motion picture though (The Great Dictator, 1940).

Another example of artistic resistance to sound in motion pictures was Alfred Hitchcock. We screened a scene from his film The Lodger (1927). In the scene, Hitchcock used specially made ceilings to show ominous footsteps above a family eating dinner. It’s a good example of how good filming techniques can negate the need for sound (for instance, the sound of the footsteps on the floor above the family eating dinner). So the transition to sound films in Hollywood was not unanimous or immediate.

Like the rest eventually Hitchcock like Chaplin made the transition to sound motion pictures. Our film for today was Blackmail (Hitchcock, 1929), Hitchcock’s first sound film. In it Hitchcock uses something called contrapuntal sound, wherein the sound and image are made separately but go together. Also in the film Hitchcock uses the bird as symbol for loss of control and impeding chaos. Note that eventually he even made an entire film dealing with this symbolism called The Birds (1963) (which I screened in school when I was 13 consequently).

The text discusses some of the problems with early cinema. Most of the limitations were technical, but in Hitchcock’s case during Blackmail, his female star had a distinct accent (that was not a problem during silent films). He had to ask his star to lip-sync while another actress read the corresponding dialogue just off-screen. Other problems included poor recording quality microphones, necessitating that actors stand very close to recording devices (Dixon and Foster, 95).

Sergei Eisenstein, Vsevolod Pudovkin, an Grigori Alexandrov (all Soviet Montage filmmakers) wrote an essay on the use of sound in motion pictures (Statement on Sound, 1928). In it they talk about the potential problems and opportunities of using sound in films. They were worried that sound would increase the inertia of montage sequences (Soviet montage relied heavily on quick cuts between shots). If slowed down, montage sequences might not have the same meaning that directors intended. They did think that the contrapuntal use of sound vis-à-vis the visual fragmentation of montage would help the development of a more effective montage (Braudy and Cohen, 371).

In 1930s the Motion Picture Production Code was enforced more rigidly (it had been around since the 1920s). The leading figure in motion pictures censorship was Will H. Hays. This made crime stories, topical material, and sexuality very difficult to film. Studios began to tailor films to meet the moral limitations of the Hays Administration, whereas before studios did as they pleased.
Our other topic for the day was classical film style. There are a few characteristics of this style: Invisible editing, three point lighting, shallow focus, alternating dialogue, and centrality/frontality. The film we screened that depicted these characteristics (as well as sound in motion pictures) was Front Page (Milestone, 1931). An interesting fact is that Howard Hughes financed this film.

The film makes liberal use of dialogue, and while the story pace is slow, cuts between different character’s dialogue is quick.
Although the film wasn’t a class favorite and the sound transfer was bad, it was a very good example of an early sound motion picture and a film that made use of all the classical film style narrative techniques."

Pics: Nope, check back tomorrow

Альберт Эйнштейн однажды написал Чарли Чаплину:

— Ваш фильм «Золотая лихорадка» понятен во всём мире, и Вы непременно станете великим человеком.

На что Чаплин ответил:

— Я Вами восхищаюсь ещё больше. Вашу теорию относительности никто в мире не понимает, а Вы всё-таки стали великим человеком.

"Vincent D. Smith sees Bert Williams's act as art rendered through tortured self-mockery and his

stage routines as a passion.  Denied the opportunity to expand that clown's act as Charles Chaplin did meant Bert Williams every performance was loaded with..."

To read more of Armond White's take on the play Williams and Walker and his take on the life and art of Bert Williams, purchase a new or used copy of The Resistance: Ten Years of Pop Culture That Shook The World.

However, he is the most impressive, when he says that ideas come because of sheer patience - patience, until the stage of madness. Maintaining patience is painful. But an individual should be able to bear that pain as well as retain enthusiasm for something new for reasonably long period.

Well, most of what I have written here, we have heard elsewhere in one form or the other. The only reason, why I wanted to share this is because, it comes from one of the most creative geniuses of the human history. Economics tells us that access to unique information creates an advantage. But dvancement in technology has nullified this information advantage. It’s hard to retain unique information about anything. Hence, the only unique source of advantage are ideas and the ability to generate them. This is where most of us are struggling. Be it movies, literature or business, being original is the biggest challenge. The fastfood lifestyle has had a detrimental effect on our patience and attention spans. Hence, the reliance on sequels, imitations, copies, and adaptations. The key to victory is, patience, until madness.

g.m.f.

Un giorno senza un sorriso è un giorno perso
E' una tranquilla sera di giugno, quando le luci di Lisbona che si specchiano sull'acqua accolgono l'arrivo del nostro aereo.L'invito a questo viaggio è stato alla partecipazione ad una giornata di approfondimento e di scambio per l'FFI (Flour Fortification Initiative), il progetto a livello internazionale di fortificazione delle farine con acido folico.
E' certamente ormai noto a chiunque sia sensibile all'argomento, dell'importanza di questa vitamina del gruppo B nel prevenire la Spina Bifida. Per questo motivo sono stati ulteriormente approfondite dal dottor Joe Mulinare (Atlanta, USA) le evidenze scientifiche dell'efficacia di un apporto ottimale attraverso l'alimentazione.
L'obiettivo, in vera sintesi, è quello di sviluppare una strategia che spinga le autorità di tutto il mondo a supportare la fortificazione obbligatoria della farina con acido folico.
Ogni stato deve però valutare i propri vincoli economici e di efficacia nelle scelte da attuare e occorre certamente che le istituzioni, affiancate da tutti i settori della vita sociale, siano sensibili a questo progetto.
In questa giornata di lavori, ogni Paese ha inoltre raccontato la propria esperienza e presentato i futuri progetti in via di realizzazione. Per noi in Italia si svolgerà, all'interno della Settimana Nazionale per la Prevenzione della Spina Bifida (dal 4 al 12 ottobre 2008), l'incontro annuale del Network Italiano di Promozione Acido Folico per la Prevenzione Primaria di Difetti Congeniti.
Nel nostro Stato molti prodotti fortificati sono disponibili attraverso il commercio, ma la più grande possibilità è quella di assumere regolarmente Acido Folico 'puro' sottoforma di integratore alimentare.
Per questo, anche a termine di questo intenso scambio, sono convinta indubbiamente che serva una sinergia fra le varie istituzioni, ma che una vera e grande azione può realizzarsi solo a partire da un livello individuale.
L'opportunità grande di sentirsi 'donna italiana', e perchè no, possibile madre, potrebbe stimolare a cercare quali siano le risorse personali per una migliore salute nella vita di tutti i giorni.
L'abitudine e lo stile di vita di almeno 0,4 mg di acido folico al giorno per tutte, richiedibile gratuitamente, può essere il regalo non solo da un medico attento alla propria paziente, ma anche quello di una mamma per una figlia che diviene grande o da un'amica per un'altra a cui tiene veramente.
Una dimostrazione di affetto genuino, attraverso un gesto semplice e che dona salute.
Nelle giornate seguenti abbiamo poi partecipato al diciannovesimo Convegno Internazionale "Drawing Smiles - Towards Adulthood", "Disegnando sorrisi, verso l'età adulta" organizzato da IF.
Ho sempre pensato ad un'agenzia o ad una federazione internazionale come a qualcosa di astratto, come se si trattasse di un'idealizzazione o un concetto..Invece, quando mi sono ritrovata fra persone 'in carne ed ossa' provenienti da tutti continenti, ho capito che non è solo un bel sogno.
           Esperienze, testimonianze, storie, così diverse per le ragioni e gli accenti con cui sono narrate, ma così simili fra loro, non solo per gli eventi, ma per l'intensità e la consapevolezza con cui sono state vissute.

           Le difficoltà economiche del Guatemala che si intrecciano con una neurochirurgia all'avanguardia nello Zambia; un accuratissimo piano portoghese di accompagnamento nello sviluppo psico-motorio, con le tecniche di gestione dell'incontinenza urinaria; libri e atlanti di medicina, con fotografie seducenti di corpi con disabilità.  Sia le conferenze che gli spazi informali come i pranzi e le cene sono stati luoghi di confronto, uno specchiarsi l'un l'altro incontrando sorrisi.
         Quello di Pierre Mertens, presidente di IF che porta sempre nel cuore sua figlia Liesje o il  sorriso di Cristina Dieci, nostra presidente ASBI, che mi ha guidata in tutte le diverse riunioni, dando così all'Italia un ruolo importante anche a livello mondiale. Il sorriso di Hilde De Keyser, ragazza nata con Spina Bifida come me, che lavora per IF parlando correttamente cinque lingue straniere o quello di Luis Quaresma, presidente dell'Associazione Portoghese, che ha accolto fin dal primo giorno con entusiasmo tutti gli invitati al Convegno nella sua calda terra.
        Il sorriso stanco di una mamma che lotta per la propria integrazione a livello lavorativo o quello discreto del dottor Rob de Jong (Erasmus Medical CenterRotterdam, The Netherlands), neurochirurgo pediatrico, che lotta con successo contro le assurdità del Protocollo di Groninger, tutelando i diritti dei più piccoli.
         Ed il mio, in mezzo a tutto questo, che scaturisce così naturalmente pensando che "Towards Adulthood",in direzione dell'età adulta', possiamo veramente fare tanto. Con o senza Spina Bifida, 'uscire dal proprio guscio' senza paura, per dimostrare che tutte le difficoltà si possono affrontare e che tutti i successi si possono ancora migliorare.
Parlare, confrontarsi, ascoltare;
combattere, proporre, accogliere;
E sempre sorridere!
Perchè come Charlie Chaplin diceva: 'Un giorno senza un sorriso è un giorno perso'.
Sara

NOTA DI REDAZIONE.

Sara ci ha inviato una e-mail per comunicarci se qualcuno dei visitatori al Blog desidera maggiori spiegazioni su quanto ha scritto può contattarla direttamente al seguente indirizzo:

albertosara@libero.it

Oppure fare un commento a questo articolo direttamente sul Blog e noi provvederemo an inviarlo a Sara per la risposta.

this is my second charlie chaplin film-city lights was the first-and i see how they are, intellectually very similar, little tramp or no little tramp. monsieur verdoux is overtly didactic where city lights certainly has a politics, but it is just below the surface. of course, this may be a result of the speeches at the end of monsieur. i understand that chaplin was reluctant to move away from silent film, and perhaps we can see here why. language has given him the ability to curse.

i wonder if welles' involvement (hes credited with the original idea) added to these vocal politics? but welles' tone is different from chaplin's. chaplin takes a position, where welles tends only to insist on questioning, not settling on an answer.

does this sound like i am criticizing chaplin? i am not. i like that monsieur moves from what could be a lightly critical and humorous to directly critical--the audience is given the pleasure of the film, with its jokes, and that excellent gestural humor, and, oh my, could martha raye   be any better or funnier?, and then led to chaplin's criticism of world politics at the beginning of the second world war.

did this influence godard? must've.

i got stuck on the scene where chaplin sits on the sofa and his elbow slips off the arm, upsetting his balance and eventually sending him off the sofa. his grandson, james thierree, does an excellent extended version of this same movement, unable to prop his chin in his hand, in the larger context of trying to sit in a chair, cross his legs and prop his chin, in au revoir parapluie. in the new yorker, he apparently expresses reluctance to be compared to chaplin, but then why take chaplin's gesture and amplify it? (i think they're both excellent, but i also think they are different, or they do different things.) chaplin is making social criticism and thierree, from what i have seen, is more interested in fairytales.

j. hoberman wrote this on monsieur.

very disjointed of me. more again later, perhaps?