So, I have a totally thing about American Presidents; from their living room curtains to the effect they have on the rest of the world, I find them fascinating. I don't know he first thing about politics, but I like reading up on them on Wikipedia and learning more about America through the years.
One of my favourites (or: one of the presidents I most admire) is Abraham Lincoln. Not only did he cause major change in America, he was he first president I really knew about (through an episode of 'The Simpsons', no less!). I admire what he did and appreciate all the bad puns on his name, especially the one from Wayne's World: "If she were a president she would be Baberaham Lincoln."
Anyways, this post was just an excuse to post this video:
One of the things my bestest work pal Peter and I first bonded over, was Ray Conniff. A couple of years ago my parents brought home Ray's 'World of Hits'-album from a Salvation Army store in Massachusetts. I think they tried to subtly imply that I have very little taste, because look at the cover:
How wrong they were! That album soon grew to become of my favourites, and 'Try To Remember' and 'I Will Wait For You' are among the most played tracks on my iPod.
Any man that can make the theme to Les Parapluies de Cherbourg sound like the jingle of an ice cream truck is okay in my book, and Peter once told me about this little controversy:
Once again turning this blog into one about celebrity death, one thing that made sit up and notice this week was the death of Tom O'Horgan, the director of the original Broadway run of the musical 'Hair'.
Sometimes I jokingly say my life is like an episode of 'the Simpsons', with too many pop culture references packed in, but I'm afraid that's true in part. When I look back on years past, one of my ways of telling one year from another, is to think of what bands or films I liked during that time.
One of my first popular culture obsessions was Hair, the film. I was a bit of a musical-nut when I was little -- I have no idea why. It probably started with watching the Sound of Music and West Side Story on telly with my Mum, and grew from there. I loved the music from Singin' in the Rain (I still hum 'Good Morning' when I'm feeling particularly perky in the morning). This love for musicals, combined with the fact that my oldest brother played a lot of sixties stuff at home, led me to watch Hair as a eight or nine-year-old.
I feel a bit embarrassed to admit this now, but when I was smaller, all I wanted to be was a hippie. I loved the music and the clothes and the fun they all seemed to have. I think I must have rented Hair numerous times, I absolutely loved it. I had the soundtrack of the musical (with Diane Keaton singing!) and pretty much cried every time 'The Flesh Failures/Let the Sun Shine In' came on, thinking of poor Berger.
Reading up on Wikipedia while watching the movie last night, it struck me that the writers of the musical didn't approve of the film, saying that Milos Forman completely missed the plot. I've never been to see the musical (or any musical, period) but apparently there's a lot of differences between the film and musical; obviously I can't judge properly, but this scene alone makes it unfair to dismiss the film like James Rado and Gerome Ragni did:
A bit heavy on the symbolism, eh? It's always struck me as really odd that 'Let the Sun Shine In' is used for commercials and crap techno remixes these days; I always associate it with the ending of the film, where 'Let the Sun Shine In' is prefaced by 'The Flesh Failures', one of the most sucker-punchiest of musical songs:
I didn't realise until Baz Luhrman's Romeo + Juliet came out that the song uses Romeo's farewell speech as a backing choir. The Vietnam war took place long before I was born, but somehow, just because of 'The Flesh Failures', those marching soldiers (and the 'Wonder Years' television series) have always made that war feel the closest to home. It's strange what power film, television and music have in that way.
Anyways, rest assured, my dreams of becoming a hippie are long gone; these days when I watch Woodstock, I can only notice the bandwagon-y nature of the whole subculture and the role drugs played in it all. Sitting in a field while having drugged-out, partially-clad people crowd surf all over you (like in Gimme Shelter)? No thanks, I think I'll pass.
IMDb reports that Gus Van Sant's next film, Milk will be out in the U.S. in December 2008. It will tell the story of Harvey Milk, "the first openly gay man elected to any substantial political office in the history of the planet" (according to Time-magazine), who was murdered, along with then-Mayor of San Fransisco, George Moscone, by their recently-resigned colleague Dan White.
Dan White only served seven years and some months for this double murder, and his trial became infamous for the Twinkie defense; despite having always been a health-nut, White had recently taken up eating Twinkies and drinking Coca-Cola, and White's attorney claimed he had murdered Harvey Milk and George Moscone because the junk food had worsened his depressed mental state.
If you have the time, I highly recommend the Academy Award-winning documentary The Times of Harvey Milk, which you can watch in parts on YouTube. It features a lot of archive footage of Milk, speaks with his campaign workers and it gives an insight into the emancipation of gay men and women in San Fransisco in the 1970s.
