I Humbly Accept This Award...

Christianne Benedict (aka Vulnavia Morbius) passed a 7x7 Award to 21 Essays several weeks ago.  My first obligation is to thank her.  Chris, I’m not sure which I appreciate more—your being a steadfast friend for the past dozen years or your being the best writer on film currently working on the internet.  Either way, you’re an inspiration.  Thank you, Chris!

Visit Krell Labs to understand what I mean when I say she’s the best writer on film.  You’ll see.

Now the 7x7 Award rules are as follows:

1. Thank the person who gave it to you.  (Check!)

2. Share seven random facts about yourself.

3. Share seven of your worthy posts under the following headers: Most Beautiful Piece, Most Helpful, Most Popular, Most Controversial, Most Surprisingly Successful, Most Underrated and Most Pride Worthy.

4. Nominate seven other bloggers and notify them.

Seven random facts:

1.  I don’t eat sandwiches. 

2.  I love shoofly pie. 

3.  On the Dawkins belief scale, I fall between Agnostic and Weak Pacifist. 

4.  And yet I choose to be a Christian. 

5.  I don’t understand how airplanes fly.  I honestly don’t think they can.

6.  My right eye is so weak that tears run down my face when I attempt to watch 3-D movies. 

7.  My Myers Briggs type is INTJ.

Seven worthy posts:

Most Beautiful Piece

“A Deeply Moving Song” is the last entry in my series on Christina Rossetti’s “In the Bleak Midwinter.”  Very little in this world is as beautiful as the concluding video featuring Rufus and Martha Wainwright and the last public appearance of Kate McGarrigle.

Most Helpful

“Science Fiction Maps and Martians” is my helpful version of MapQuest directions to Planet X.

Most Popular

“24 1/2th Things I Love About Duck Dodgers”:  The internet sure does love lists!

Most Controversial

I’m still awaiting the day when one of my posts provokes controversy, but “Deconstructing Daffy Duck” generated a little heat on the IMDb Classic Film Board when it was suggested that I was getting too high-falutin’ pretentious about Looney Tunes.

Most Surprisingly Successful

My son Terry and I collaborated on a poetry series based on our unpublished novel The Poem Beasts.  The entry “Pegasus” proved to be surprisingly popular.  Terry deserves nearly all the credit for this one.

Most Underrated

“King Kong in Doré Land” matches up 1933 Kong landscapes with prints by Gustav Doré.  The influence of Doré imagery upon Kong is well known but I thought this post was unusually successful in creating a visual comparison.

Most Pride Worthy

“Kong and My Dad”:  The most intensely personal essay that I’ve written to date.

Seven Excellent Blogs

I hesitated over my choices for a long time because I was unsure if I was supposed to restrict myself to film blogs.  Judging from some Google searches, it looks like all blogs are eligible.  Therefore, I’m taking the liberty of freely ranging across the blogging landscape with my selections.

And dear winners:  Please feel under no obligation to continue spreading this meme.  It’s all just for fun and promotion.

Caftan Woman is a dear friend from the IMDb Classic Film board.  Her love of old movies always clearly shines through her delightful blog.

Memories of the Future is Jesse Ataide’s film blog.  Jesse’s an old friend (in internet years) and we share many film loves in common (Agnes Varda for starters!).  His posting schedule has been rather lazy recently, but when he does post, it’s guaranteed quality reading.

It’s About Time surveys the entire world, looking for grace notes from art, history, and nature.  It’s a joy.  And Barbara’s other blogs are joys as well, so be sure to check out her more specialized forays into history and gardening.

Here and There connects with my professional interest in archives and special collections.  I love it when author Debra Schiff takes her readers along on personal behind-the-scenes tours led by knowledgeable curators, archivists, and librarians.

Wynken de Worde is named for an important English printer of the late 15th and early 16th centuries.  Usually Sarah Werner’s blog lovingly examines old books, but sometimes it veers into unexpected territory.  My favorite post was “Traces of My Dad,” a lovely meditation on the newspaper columns of her deceased father.  

The Muted Trumpet courageously tackles issues of theology, philosophy, and literature.  Author Sam Buntz doesn’t post often but I always slow down to carefully read his pieces when he does.  It’s one of the most thoughtful blogs on the internet.

Sexy Archaeology lives up to its title.  Or at least it does for those of us who think that archaeology is a singularly passionate field of work!  Through this blog, author Kurt Thomas Hunt keeps me up-to-date on breaking news from the field.

I promise to return to regular blogging very soon.  Next year up on the random year generator:  1963.

Next blog series:  6 essays on Alfred Hitchcock’s Blackmail (1929)
as part of the  “For the Love of Film”
Film Preservation Blogathon
May 13-18, 2012

© 2012 Lee Price

1955 Bonus List: Some Great Movies

1955 blogging, bonus list!

31 Great Movies from 1955

To conclude our festival of 1955, I’m sharing a list of recommended movies.  This mini-list excerpts the 1955 films from the “Doubling the Canon” list (as compiled by participants on the IMDb Classic Film message board) combined with the They Shoot Pictures Don’t They? list of 1,000 great films.

The They Shoot Pictures list is a 1,000-movie canon of great films;  the “Doubling the Canon” list adds an additional 1,000 movies to the canon.  From the combined list, I’ve selected the 1955 movies.

31 Great Movies from 1955

(Combined list, with They Shoot Pictures picks in caps and  “Doubling the Canon” picks in lower case, all presented in alphabetical order.)

ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS / Douglas Sirk 

CRIMINAL LIFE OF ARCHIBALDO DE LA CRUZ, THE (ENSAYO DE UN CRIMEN) / Luis Buñuel 

Death of a Cyclist (Muerte de un ciclista) / Juan Antonio Bardem 

DIABOLIQUE (LES DIABOLIQUES) / Henri-Georges Clouzot 

EAST OF EDEN / Elia Kazan 

FLOATING CLOUDS (UKIGUMO) / Mikio Naruse 

IL BIDONE / Federico Fellini 

It's Always Fair Weather / Stanley Donen 

KISS ME DEADLY / Robert Aldrich 

LADYKILLERS, THE / Alexander Mackendrick 

LES MAITRES FOUS / Jean Rouch 

LOLA MONTES / Max Ophüls 

MAN FROM LARAMIE, THE / Anthony Mann 

Marty / Delbert Mann 

MOONFLEET / Fritz Lang 

NIGHT AND FOG (NUIT ET BROUILLARD) / Alain Resnais 

NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, THE / Charles Laughton 

One Froggy Evening / Chuck Jones 

ORDET / Carl T. Dreyer 

PATHER PANCHALI / Satyajit Ray 

Phenix City Story, The / Phil Karlson 

PRINCESS YANG KWEI FEI  (YOKIHI) / Kenji Mizoguchi 

REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE / Nicholas Ray 

Richard III / Laurence Olivier 

RIFIFI (DU RIFIFI CHEZ LES HOMMES) / Jules Dassin 

Rio 40 Graus / Nelson Pereira dos Santos 

Run for Cover / Nicholas Ray 

SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT (SOMMARNATTENS LEENDE) / Ingmar Bergman 

Summertime / David Lean 

Tales of the Taira Clan (Shin heike monogatari) / Kenji Mizoguchi 

Wichita / Jacques Tourneur 

Here’s the full They Shoot Pictures list.  And here’s the  “Doubling the Canon” list.  Special thanks to the two masterminds behind these lists: Bill Georgaris who manages They Shoot Pictures and Angel Gonzalez Garcia who now leads the "Doubling the Canon" project.

I created and launched  “Doubling the Canon” project around half a dozen years ago, ran it for a few years, and then handed it off to Angel’s capable hands where it’s flourished since.

Next year up on the random year generator:  1963.  (Coming soon…)

Next blog series:  6 essays on Alfred Hitchcock’s Blackmail (1929)
as part of the  “For the Love of Film”
Film Preservation Blogathon
May 13-18, 2012

© 2012 Lee Price

Inexhaustible Moments of 1955, Part 5

1955 blogging, part 5 of 5

Inexhaustible Secrets of 1955

In these long breaks between the signature 21 Essays series, I thought I might try a new feature focused on possibilities for future series.  I’ll spin the roulette wheel to pick a year (or set of years) and then brainstorm on some potential essay topics.

So... first up on the random year generator:  1955.  And here’s my fifth and final 1955 series possibility:  21 essays on “Sestina,” a poem by Elizabeth Bishop.

It’s time for tea now;  but the child
is watching the teakettle’s small hard tears
dance like mad on the hot black stove,
the way the rain must dance on the house…

                                      excerpt from “Sestina”

                                      by Elizabeth Bishop

In 1955, Elizabeth Bishop published Poems: North and South—A Cold Spring, which collected a remarkable group of her poems.  “Sestina” is far from the best known, but I find it bewitching.  Everything in the grandmother’s house has secrets to communicate.  I’ve known and loved houses like that.   I think each item merits an essay:  the stove, the almanac, the iron kettle, the teacup, the picture, and, of course, the inscrutable house itself.

This is the last of my official 1955 ideas (with no promises that I’ll necessarily be getting to any of them…) but I’ve got one more bonus entry of additional classic 1955 movies that I’ve saved for last.  I’ll post it tomorrow.

Next year up on the random year generator:  1963.  (Coming soon…)

Next blog series:  6 essays on Alfred Hitchcock’s Blackmail (1929)
as part of the  “For the Love of Film”
Film Preservation Blogathon
May 13-18, 2012

© 2012 Lee Price

Inexhaustible Moments of 1955, Part 4

1955 blogging, part 4 of 5

Down the river of time in 1955

In these long breaks between the signature 21 Essays series, I thought I might try a new feature focused on possibilities for future series.  I’ll spin the roulette wheel to pick a year (or set of years) and then brainstorm on some potential essay topics.

So... first up on the random year generator:  1955.  And here’s my fourth 1955 series possibility:  21 essays on Cesta du praveku.

Okay… actually I’ve never seen the film Cesta du praveku.  Not all of it, at least.  But it’s got scenes in it that are permanently embedded in my dreams.  When I was a young boy, I saw Journey to the Beginning of Time at a matinee.  In the movie, four boys in a rowboat take a trip backward in time, observing mammoths and dinosaurs on the shores as they pass.  Journey to the Beginning of Time is a 1966 American re-edit (with some new material) of Cesta du praveku, a 1955 movie by Czech animation virtuoso Karel Zeman.  At some point, I know I’ll need to pay homage to something by Zeman and I’d be very happy if it could be this movie.  Zeman deserves much more attention—21 essays at the very least.

With tomorrow’s entry, I’ll post the last of my 1955 ideas (with no promises that I’ll necessarily be getting to any of them…) and then I’ll finish with a bonus entry of additional classic 1955 movies.  But I remain open to other suggestions.  Any ideas for 1955 movies, books, short stories, poems, songs, or other cultural artifacts that might inspire a good 21 Essays series?

Next blog series:  6 essays on Alfred Hitchcock’s Blackmail (1929)
as part of the  “For the Love of Film”
Film Preservation Blogathon
May 13-18, 2012

© 2012 Lee Price

Inexhaustible Moments of 1955, Part 3

1955 blogging, part 3 of 5

Humbert/Quilty, 1955

In these long breaks between the signature 21 Essays series, I thought I might try a new feature focused on possibilities for future series.  I’ll spin the roulette wheel to pick a year (or set of years) and then brainstorm on some potential essay topics.

So... first up on the random year generator:  1955.  And here’s my third 1955 series possibility:  21 essays on Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita.

“Where the devil did you get her?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I said: the weather is getting better.”

“Seems so.”

“Who’s the lassie?”

“My daughter.”

“You lie—she’s not.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I said:  July was hot…”

                                   Lolita, Chapter 28

                                   Vladimir Nabokov

Lolita is still the yardstick that I measure novels by.  The timing was right, I guess.  I read it during the summer between high school and college, a time when I was particularly susceptible to the intoxicating swirl of voluptuous language and forbidden subject matter.  It made me want to be a writer.  Maybe I could repay the favor with essays on some focused item in Lolita, for instance 21 essays on the ever-enigmatic Clare Quilty (who comments on the weather in the prose poem above).

Thanks to Dan Kocher who suggested Lolita!  The book was published in Paris in 1955, but still had to overcome some hurdles before making it to American bookstores.  Paris publication counts, so I happily recognize it here.

Over the next two days, I’ll be proposing some more 1955 ideas (with no promises that I’ll necessarily be getting to any of them…)  But I’m wide open to other suggestions.  Any ideas for 1955 movies, books, short stories, poems, songs, or other cultural artifacts that might inspire a good 21 Essays series?

Next blog series:  6 essays on Alfred Hitchcock’s Blackmail (1929)
as part of the  “For the Love of Film”
Film Preservation Blogathon
May 13-18, 2012

© 2012 Lee Price

Inexhaustible Moments of 1955, Part 2

1955 blogging, part 2 of 5

Blues and Rags of 1955

In these long breaks between the signature 21 Essays series, I thought I might try a new feature focused on possibilities for future series.  I’ll spin the roulette wheel to pick a year (or set of years) and then brainstorm on some potential essay topics.

So... first up on the random year generator:  1955.  And here’s my second 1955 series possibility:  11 essays on “Folsom Prison Blues.”

“I shot a man in Reno/Just to watch him die.”  On his 1955 debut album, 23-year-old Johnny Cash nails an iconic lyric.  All it takes is just eleven words and a chugging acoustic rhythm.  So simple you’d think anyone could do it… How about 11 essays for these two lines, one essay for each terse word?

Leaving Reno for Termite Terrace (Hollywood home of Chuck Jones), my friend Dan Kocher reminds me that 1955 was the year of One Froggy Evening, with the debut performance of Michigan J. Frog:

The Fred Astaire of the frog world well deserves a spate of essays.

Over the next three days, I’ll be proposing some more 1955 ideas (with no promises that I’ll necessarily be getting to any of them…)  But I’m wide open to other suggestions.  Any ideas for 1955 movies, books, short stories, poems, songs, or other cultural artifacts that might inspire a good 21 Essays series?

Next blog series:  6 essays on Alfred Hitchcock’s Blackmail (1929)
as part of the  “For the Love of Film”
Film Preservation Blogathon
May 13-18, 2012

© 2012 Lee Price

Inexhaustible Moments of 1955, Part 1

1955 blogging, part 1 of 5

Love/Hate in 1955

In these long breaks between the signature 21 Essays series, I thought I might try a new feature focused on possibilities for future series.  I’ll spin the roulette wheel to pick a year (or set of years) and then brainstorm on some potential essay topics.

So... first up on the random year generator:  1955.  And here’s my first 1955 series possibility:  21 essays on The Night of the Hunter.

This single two-minute scene alone could fuel at least 21 essays.  Robert Mitchum in the dark, singing “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.”  Lillian Gish cradling a shotgun, offering counterpoint on the choruses.  Meanwhile, the children are snuggled in their expressionist beds.  Oh, yeah.  I could definitely do 21 essays on this.

Over the next four days, I’ll be proposing some more 1955 ideas (with no promises that I’ll necessarily be getting to any of them…).  But I’m wide open to other suggestions.  Any ideas for 1955 movies, books, short stories, poems, songs, or other cultural artifacts that might inspire a good 21 Essays series?

Next blog series:  6 essays on Alfred Hitchcock’s Blackmail (1929)
as part of the  “For the Love of Film”
Film Preservation Blogathon
May 13-18, 2012

© 2012 Lee Price

The Griffin

Bestiary-blogging, entry 9 of 9

Three years ago, my son Terry and I wrote a young adult fantasy novel called The Poem Beasts.  It is currently submitted for consideration at a major publisher.  In honor of the opening of the movie of The Hunger Games, a major work in the young adult genre, we offer a taste of our work—nine days of the poems of The Poem Beasts.

The Griffin

"Griffin" woodblock print by Terry Price.

Transcription:

Oh, bringer of justice!  Burst from these barren walls

I summon a griffin, great in growth and might

Eagle and lion linked in royal loyalty

Crested with eagle head, crushing beak, crimson eyes

Its wings whisper with the speech of the warrior eagle race

Great feathered wings tipped with ferocity and fearlessness

Eagle emblem of justice supported by lion eminence

A judge of justice with commanding jaws and fearsome claws

The eagle roars, a reminder of its raging lion soul

Frighten the foes of the friendless child

And soar with him skyward over city and clouds

Anglo-Saxon Poetry:

As we conclude this bestiary series, I’d like to share a brief note about the writing of these nine poems.  Terry wrote most of the poetry following my guidelines.  I asked him to use alliterative verses loosely based on the Anglo-Saxon model of Beowulf.  In most cases, each line is composed of two half-lines and contains three stressed alliterations.  For example, in the above poem, a line like “The eagle roars, a reminder of its raging lion soul” has its half-line split at the comma and employs the “r” sound for its alliteration. An equivalent line from Beowulf would be:

“God-cursed Grendel came greedily loping…”

In this Beowulf line (as translated by Seamus Heaney), the half-line break occurs after “came” and the “g” sound is used for the three stressed alliterations.

Terry and I adapted this form for our poetry because the young protagonist of The Poem Beasts, our young adult fantasy novel, comes from the Anglo-Saxon culture.

Historical Background:

Large predatory fusions of eagles and lions with a taste for horse-meat and a liking for gold, griffins have mythic roots that extend deep into ancient times. Much of this creature’s fame, however, stems from medieval European folklore.  According to these later tales, griffins mate for life and possess healing properties in different parts of their bodies.  Griffins became popular in heraldry as symbols of courage, boldness, intelligence, and military might. In British heraldry, only the females have wings—the rarer depictions of male griffins are shown with spikes instead.

Griffin mosaic from the Acropolis in Rhodes, circa 250-150 BC,
now in the Archaeological Museum of Rhodes.
Source: Wikimedia Commons.

© 2012 Lee and Terry Price