links for 2008-08-03

Ian Jones of the Digi-Cream Times offers his take on what the Olympic theme should sound like.
"naturally, in your best Vangelis/Paddy Kingsland/Simon May style." Too right. Love the choice of samples.

Star Trek Restoration History
I watched the Motion Picture for the first time in over a decade the other night. There's barely enough plot for one of the animated episodes, yet it manages to spin the action out for over two hours based on the good will of the viewer, luscious visuals and half-decent character moments. Not bad, just not as spectacular as it could have been. Thank goodness for The Wrath of KHAAAAAN!

Milo’s Musical Education
"The classical-music world desperately needs Milo. He belongs to a generation of kids who look at a violin and see a strange, archaic object, who think of opera as a faintly embarrassing pastime of the upper crust, rather like riding to hounds. The good people at Carnegie Hall have erected a costly and wonderful educational apparatus to nurture audiences of the future. But bequeathing musical taste—like cultivating a penchant for good food, or ethical behavior—is a parent’s job, and it can only be done with conviction."

It really does.

Stupid Plotting Tricks
Collection of the kind of idiocy and cliche which you can find all over fiction, not just in the sci-fi genre. Then again: "If an attractive young couple enters my realm, I will carefully monitor their activities. If I find they are happy and affectionate, I will ignore them. However if circumstances have forced them together against their will and they spend all their time bickering and criticizing each other except during the intermittent occasions when they are saving each others' lives at which point there are hints of sexual tension, I will immediately order their execution."

Large Hadron Collider nearly ready
Another fabulous collection from The Big Picture. I'm very excited about this -- and not just because of the accompanying radio episode of Torchwood. Slightly worried it might turn this part of space into an even bigger black hole than it is already though.

imdb: Hamlet A.D.D. (2009)
"Shot entirely in front of a green screen, HAMLET A.D.D. features live-action characters in an animated world." Which could either turn out to be really fun, or ruddy awful. The actor playing the dane is both producing and directing and has William Shatner's Gonzo Ballet under his tunic. Biggest star seems to be Majel Barrett off of Star Trek as a Queen Robot who appears, I'm guessing, during The Mousetrap.

The Shirk of the New
An old AV Club essay from Noel Murray that wonders if it's possible to miss the film landmarks of the present because we're looking in the wrong direction. With the amount of product being produced these days, it's entirely possible. I think there's a fair few missed masterpieces listed in my Forgotten Films doing interesting things with performance, genre and narrative which might have had a profound effect on how we view cinema collectively had they been distributed properly and seen by the right people.

Northmoor
An Edge of Darkness fan site.

Woody Allen's new film to be called Whatever Works
Even if you don't love his films anymore, you have to admit he's never stopped choosing great titles. Though he does say something odd: "a slightly different one for me. It's a blackish comedy." As opposed to Deconstructing Harry?

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