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Saturday, May 30, 2009

ShopWiki Kitchen Appliances Buying Guide

This one kind of blows me away.

Most of us know what it's like to go shopping for a major appliance, and to be faced with an enormous number of brands and styles. This is the first online buying guide I've seen (though, granted, I've never looked for one), and it's impressive.

It covers the big ones - ranges, stoves, refrigerators, freezers, trash compactors - and even things that (in the States, anyway) aren't commonly found in kitchens, such as washers and dryers. As I scrolled down, the list became even more detailed.

If you're looking for a buying guide for soy milk makers, well, here you go. Related products are given at the bottom of the page (yogurt makers, ice cream makers, juicers, etc.). I was rather amused at the spice rack buying guide. I can only assume that enough people have shown an interest in them that the company has decided to provide this guide.

At the bottom of the page, there is an eye-popping list of related searches, underneath the list of major manufacturers, studded with familiar names.

I wonder what other buying guides they have?

Pordenone '09

Some of the films to be shown are already on the Giornate's site. The opening event will be Erich von Stroheim's The Merry Widow, starring John Gilbert and Mae Murray.

An article about the making of the film, written by Kevin Brownlow, accompanies the listing. It seems that the movie encountered enormous problems almost every step of the way, with Stroheim disappointed in the leading man who was foisted upon him (according to Gilbert, they eventually became friends after a little drinking session), and wonder boy Irving Thalberg calling the shots.

You can see a short clip of the waltz scene on YouTube, with the lovely melody "Love Unspoken" on the soundtrack. The video is scratchy, and I hope that the print they show at Pordenone will be better; the good people at the Giornate have a real genius for finding the best existing prints of the films they present.

That's the main news from the Giornate. Not much else to report.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

ShopWiki

So, there’s this new site. Or maybe it’s not new. Anyway, it’s new to me.

It’s a site called ShopWiki UK, and just as the name suggests, it’s a searchable site for stores throughout the UK – more than 30,000, evidently. On a whim, I did a search for “silent film”. I came up with a lot of matches – too many, really, so I narrowed it down to “classic silent film”. That was better, and gave a pretty good variety; not just DVDs, which was what I wanted to find, but also books on the subjects, Kevin Brownlow’s fabulous documentaries, and movie posters.

Then I thought of looking for this. It was a good idea. Only three pages, but if you’re looking for Griffith DVDs, this is a good place to start. It also provides (as mentioned above) other Griffith-related products. If you have a strong urge to buy a poster of The Birth of a Nation, you can find it here. One little gem offered is a DVD containing a Henry B. Walthall double feature – The Avenging Conscience (influenced by the works of Poe) and, appropriately enough, Edgar Allan Poe. I also found some short Christmas films by Griffith on DVD. They even have some movies available on VHS!

If you’re not into that, you can check out the 2009 Women's Summer Style Guide – jewelry, shoes, and clothing. And, for those of you who want to hit the water, they have something for you, too. I think I’ll be searching the little nooks and crannies of this site.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Unexpected treasure

I don't remember what I was looking for today, but on YouTube, I stumbled across a series of short silent films from the Library of Congress.

They're all, as far as I can tell, from the Edison studio, and all from the 1890s. One of them shows a man taking snuff and sneezing, which I'd seen before. The others, though... One shows a group of Sioux doing the Ghost Dance, one shows three Japanese women doing the Imperial Dance, one has Annie Oakley shooting through coins thrown into the air by her assistant.

Each little movie is less than a minute long, and some are jumpy, but overall, the quality is very good, and a fascinating look at the way people used to be, and the things that people wanted to watch in the new medium. Edison's people were turning the motion-picture camera on anything they wanted, and cranking away; the result is a series of short documentaries of a life long gone. (One of the films shows several stablehands rescuing four horses and a burning wagon from a barn.)

One thing that's rather annoying is that each film has an announcement that the film comes from the Library of Congress, and after it ends, there's another, similar announcement. I muted the sound, which made it much easier to concentrate on what I was seeing on the little screen of YouTube.

One film shows two men dancing, an image of which was used to publicize the documentary The Celluloid Closet, about homosexuality in film, onscreen and off. The little film on YouTube shows that the two of them aren't very graceful in their dancing efforts, with a lone violinist playing in the background, and another man appearing several seconds into the film.

This is the kind of thing we need - short silents available to the public. The LoC has a rather staggering number of films from the silent era in its collection, and very few of them can be seen. Is there no way that, similar to Warner Brothers, they can create an online ordering system so that those who want a certain film can order it on DVD?

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

John Gilbert - where is his tribute?

I've seen documentaries of other stars - Mary Pickford, most notably, Greta Garbo, Theda Bara, and even a lesser-known name to modern audiences, Olive Thomas.

Why haven't I seen a John Gilbert documentary?

If there is one, I haven't heard of it. John Gilbert certainly deserves one; I'd be willing to bet that his daughter, Leatrice Gilbert Fountain (author of the Gilbert biography Dark Star - would help with it.

As I mentioned in my post about John Gilbert, he was one of THE stars of the silent era, especially in his teamings with Garbo; I don't think I've ever seen her heat up the screen except when paired with her one-time fiance. He become the leading Hollywood heartthrob after Valentino's death, made film after film in the '20s, and then fell into a decline that ended with his sudden, tragic death.

Let's see this man get the tribute he so richly deserves.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Silent Movie Theatre

I love this idea. Why don’t more people do it?

There’s a business in Los Angeles known as the Silent Movie Theatre. According to the website, it was built by husband-and-wife team John and Dorothy Hampton in 1942. It was (so the website claims) the only silent movie theatre in the country.
On January 17, 1997, then-owner Laurence Austin was shot and killed in what was purported to be an attempted robbery. The truth came out, though, that Austin’s partner paid a hit man to murder him (said partner hoped to inherit Austin’s estate).
In March of the following year, the Theatre closed and was put on sale. Fortunately for all lovers of silent film, the building was bought (on a whim) by Charles Lustig, who reopened it in November of 1999. The renovation, which cost almost a million dollars, included new paint, floors, Art Deco marquee, screen, projection booth, and a digital keyboard donated by Yamaha. A café was added, along with a movie gallery.

The sad thing is, showings of silent films became less frequent as the years went on. In June of 2006, Lustig sold the Theatre to brothers Sammy and Dan Harkman, and Hadrian Belove. The new owners still show silents, but not exclusively; one advantage is that they show silents that aren’t as well-known to modern audiences. A look at the website shows “Silent Wednesdays” on the bill. The program gives an enticing offer of “orphan films” – something I’d like to see!

The Theatre is also available to rent for private parties. The projection capacity includes 35mm, 16mm, and hi-def digital.

The Theatre is located at 611 N. Fairfax Avenue, north of the Farmers Market.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

More on the Bowl

It seems that the Bowl has quite the lineup these days:
Hollywood Bowl Tickets
The home page shows a staggering aerial view of the Bowl, with the seats rising in a dizzying slant above it. It also contains some history of this entertainment venue.
Hollywood Bowl Tickets
Not bad, not bad... Quite a difference from the early days, when the stage was a small, almost ramshackle construction.
Hollywood Bowl Tickets
Take a look.

Monday, May 4, 2009

The Hollywood Bowl

HOLLYWOOD BOWL

I regard it as one of Hollywood’s icons, along with the “Hollywood” sign straggling along the hills. An old postcard shows the Bowl, not yet surrounded by urban development, standing small in the hills, with simple wooden benches facing it. According to the website, the Bowl (not yet with its famous shell design) opened in July of 1922, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic giving the opening concert. An aerial photo from circa 1922 gives an idea of how sparsely settled the area was back then, which would have made it perfect for outdoor entertainment.
Allstate Arena Tickets
Pageant Of Masters Tickets
Hollywood Bowl Tickets
A 1926 photo shows the Bowl with its now-iconic shell. The seats are arranged in a semicircle, replacing the earlier benches in a square outlay. A 1927 postcard gives an idea of a concert in those times; the view is from far in the back, with the Bowl not easily visible (though, I would imagine, audible) some distance away.
The years go on; the images show not only the growth of the Bowl itself, but of the neighborhood around it. By 1951, the hills are no longer bare, but filled with streets and houses. The photograph also shows that Southern California curse, air pollution; it hangs heavily along the horizon, unlike the clear scenes of the 1920s.
1972? The Bowl is now right in the center of the action; no more building can be done in the area, because all the land has been taken. A major freeway runs nearby, and it seems that the image from 1927, which showed such a huge audience, would no longer fit into the Bowl's vicinity now, when the seats are well-established in a fixed range. The most recent photo on the website comes from 2007, showing this landmark illuminated by fireworks.
D.W. Griffith’s stunningly beautiful set from Intolerance, the Babylonian construction, is long gone. The wide-open streets of a clear Southern California are choked with traffic. Horses no longer pull carts; streetcars do not run. But the Bowl is still there.
Some things do last.