You know you are getting old when:

[3fingers]

... when they just announced that Peter Frampton will by playing the Ozark Empire Fair.

I'm always shocked when I see current pictures of Frampton. When he and I were both younger we were polar opposites in appearance. Long hair, shirt unbuttoned and whatever. He now looks like half the guys I work with.

 

[1mach1]

When donuts became a "culinary art".
Blah.

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[3fingers]

When donuts became a "culinary art".
Blah.

When every food item that has been touched by a human at any point in its manufacture becomes "artisan".
Blah again.

 

[1mach1]

When every food item that has been touched by a human at any point in its manufacture becomes "artisan".
Blah again.

That about covers it [emoji14]

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[Zombie_61]

I'm always shocked when I see current pictures of Frampton. When he and I were both younger we were polar opposites in appearance. Long hair, shirt unbuttoned and whatever. He now looks like half the guys I work with.

The last time I saw Peter Frampton he looked like the kind of guy who would strike up a casual conversation with you at an outdoor restaurant, steer the conversation towards whether or not you had enough life insurance, then try to sell you some regardless of your answer. Or a used car salesman.

 

[Fading Fast]

When donuts became a "culinary art".
Blah.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

I hear ya, from an early post http://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/vintage-neon-signs.78371/page-41#post-2383092

3fingers is spot on - the "foodie culture" will eventually cycle through and "artisan" up every edible category ever.

 

[Fading Fast]

I'm always shocked when I see current pictures of Frampton. When he and I were both younger we were polar opposites in appearance. Long hair, shirt unbuttoned and whatever. He now looks like half the guys I work with.

The last time I saw Peter Frampton he looked like the kind of guy who would strike up a casual conversation with you at an outdoor restaurant, steer the conversation towards whether or not you had enough life insurance, then try to sell you some regardless of your answer. Or a used car salesman.

I think part of why his look today, in particular, is so jarring is that if you were a kid when "Frampton Comes Alive" came out - the cover image of an androgynous man-child, stoned, with long fluffy hair and makeup is seared into your memory.

It wasn't an era of the over exposure of a billion pictures and video and 24/7 media (and social media) that we have today, so an image could become defining and, for a bunch of us of a certain age, that cover picture of Frampton defined him and (a to a lesser extent) the times.

I have no desire to see the old-man version of that elfinish rockstar look like a guy who would hawk me life insurance (great line Zombie).

 

[HudsonHawk]

I have no desire to see the old-man version of that elfinish rockstar look like a guy who would hawk me life insurance (great line Zombie).

Except that elfish old man can still pick. Personally, I've come to enjoy the old man version of many rock stars, as they're now more focused on the music. But yeah, the look is sometimes jarring.

I'm going to see Lynyrd Skynyrd on their farewell tour in May. My best friend from the sandbox is coming to visit, and we're going to make a whole weekend of it. I get that they're basically an oldies cover band now, but growing up in Florida in the 70s, they were the be all to end all. Kind of the soundtrack of my younger days.

 

[Edward]

Of course I know what you were referring to by "skid row," but my first thought when I was reading your post was of the 80s hair band Skid Row. I saw them in concert when they opened for Bon Jovi in the late 80s and I was in my late 20s. My first realization I was getting older was when I helped out at my dh's little brother's birthday party (dh is 19 years older), that also happened back in the 80s, and when I mentioned something about Donny Osmond to this group of 9 and 10 year olds, they all just stared at me like I was an alien until one of them said, "Who?"

I remember Skid Row - and Bon Jovi.

I wish I didn't.

For me, the immediate association with 'Skid Row', however, is the song Skid Row (Downtown) from Little Shop of Horrors (the musical version, not the original 1960 film).

There are certain films where color *is* better. When Douglas Fairbanks chose to make "The Black Pirate" in Technicolor in 1926, he did so with a very specific look in mind. Colors were carefully chosen to create an effect reminiscent of the illustrations of N. C. Wyeth and Howard Pyle. When the picture is seen today, on a big screen, the effect is spectactular.

A black and white version of the film also exists, but it's like eating pretzels with all the salt scraped off.

It's interesting to see B&W come round to being used to make an artistic point. About twenty years ago I was on a management trainee programme where we were shown a documentary about the making of Bob Hoskins flick, 24 7, and asked to comment on the analysis as to why the film "did not succeed". One firm conclusion was that it was because "they should have shot it in colour". While there was all the interview footage of mouth-breathers saying they "wouldn't go and see a black and white film, they're boring", I remember being saddened to think that here we were being taught that the sole measure of the film's success was financial.

More recently, I've seen adverts for cinema screenings of Mad Max Thunder Road in B&W, titled The Black and Chrome Edition. Apparently it's a whole different experience, though presumably not one that was thought of when filming.

A friend of mine's son, when he was little, thought the world was in black and white when his parents were growing up because all the TV shows he'd seen from that time were in black and white.

Didn't we all?

Ha, ha. Similar situation in our house. We didn't have a color TV until my Mom won one at a horse show when I was 14 (1974).

I do remember going to the neighbor's house in 1969 to watch the moon landing in color. Not sure what the point of that was -- I guess the flag and gold foil on the LM were pretty.

My parent had a colour TV from as far back as I remember - I think they got it in 1971, when they were married. I remember wanting to watch Wonderwoman one night; I think I must have been about three, around 1977 - certainly pre-school. Clear memory of Dad patiently explaining we couldn't because the TV wasn't working and needed a repairman the next day. 70s colour TVs were known for being temperamental; in those days, a TV Repair Man was still a real job. These days, they just keep on working - until suddenly one day they don't, and then it'
s time to buy new.

We never had a TV at all for the first 30 years of our marriage. Some see that as some sort of inverted snobbery so we just kept quiet about it. The reason was, in our early years together, we aspired to becoming professional ballroom dancers and to that end we were always out, whether it was training, choreographing, practising or even teaching. It was obvious to both of us that we just didn't have the talent to make it to the top grade so our dancing became a pleasurable past time, but still all consuming.
Our first TV was purchased for the benefit of my wife's mother, who, in her old age, enjoyed visiting us, but missed her regular soaps. That was back in 1998, and we have always had a television since, but it gets little use, we still prefer the ballroom. I have to say that I tried to get into daytime TV whilst recovering from my hip operation. The dross put out in the guise of entertainment is without parallel.

I remember a time when it was very unusual to not own a TV - only the very poor and the very pretentious for the most part did without. (You could always spot the pretentious ones; unlike yourself, they fell all over themselves to tell everyone that they didn't have a TV, and how it made them better people and on and on). These days, very few of my students (undergraduates and postgraduates) watch any traditional TV at all, and most don't even have a set. Once they graduate and set up home, they do aspire to the big screen home cinema type setup, but they watch hall their content online, which is fascinating. I do much the same myself; at Christmas, we switched on the TV for the first time in two years. Since then, we watch it a lot but only for specific things (favourites at the minute are Supervet, and reruns of Bullseye and The A Team). It's amazing how little that we actually want to watch is on, compared to Netflix. We're living through a seismic shift in how media is consumed these days, and I firmly believe that traditional, linear television broadcasting simply will not exist in a decade's time.

I have to say, though, that as someone who has been immersed in the popular culture of the Era, both personally and professionally, for a very long time, that the percentage of gold to dross even then was quite out of balance.

Absolutely. I remember when people used to rave about ho much better British pop music was in the 70s (this in the 1990s), how there was so much quality on Top of the Pops. Then the BBC went digital and started doing reruns of old TOTP. Nobody made that claim any longer.

One of my close friends grew up without a TV. I swore I'd never do that to my child... She never really felt like she fit in because of it. As an adult, she watches way more television than I do... and she has a 3 hour communte total each day and I have 10 minutes.

rowing up, I knew kids from a very traditional Brethren family who would not have TV in the house. They watched more tv than any of us - just went round their pals' to do it.

This'll make feel old -- the realisation that, except for Todd Bridges, the entire cast of '80s sitcom Diffren't Strokes are dead.

Jinkies. A lot of them did go young, didn't they? I'm still in shock that all four founding Ramones are now gone...

Much the same can be said about the French movie, La Cage aux Folles. Remaking it in English and calling it The Birdcage was an insult. You don't need to speak French to enjoy La Cage aux Folles, so much is nuance, gesture and body language. The original was brilliant, it really should have been left alone.

I don't know.... I thought the US remake, while less subtle, was clever enough. Particularly, the American re-setting of it allowed for an updating to the modern day that wouldn't have been credible with a French setting, imo. Nathan Lane's performance was wonderful. Not all remakes for an English-language /American market work so well, of course. Only Visiting, despite having the same two leads, is a very, very pale reflection of Les Visiteurs, with many of the best gags either absent, or dumbed down to a ridiculous level.

But as long as I'm here, it would sure be nice to have enough of that evil green stuff stashed away so that I wouldn't have to concern myself with whether or not I have enough of it to live out my remaining days in even a modest amount of comfort.

Absolutely. I used to look forward to retirement and having time to travel, do the theatres and museums... Alas, with recent changes being forced through on the pension scheme I'm on, I've had to give up all hope of actually retiring from the day job, as I simply won't be able to afford it.

 

[Edward]

Propaganda isn't necessarily a term with either a positive or negative connotation -- it didn't acquire a negative meaning until the world wars, and that use was itself propaganda: if "you" say it, it's propaganda, if "we" say it it's The Truth (TM).

The word itself, all propaganda aside, simply means "content" meant to promote a point of view. Medieval Christian art was not simply pictures of saints -- it was propaganda meant to promote the beliefs of the church to the illiterate. The colossi of the ancient worlds were not simply statues of historic figures -- they were propaganda meant to promote the religion and the political structure of their states. A Civil War statue in a park is not simply a depiction of a man on a horse -- it's propaganda meant to promote a certain view of that particular conflict. Giant heads carved into the side of Mount Rushmore are propaganda meant to convey a certain image of the United States, every bit as much as a pointing sculpture of Lenin was meant to convey a certain image in the USSR. The "charging bull" on Wall Street is every bit as much propaganda as is the "Fearless Girl."

You can even look at "fine art" that way. Much of it was created on commission by the aristocracy in order to promote a certain view of itself and its place in society. And certainly forces opposing the prevailing order of their times have used art the same way -- to promote its cause and its beliefs. And popular art is loaded with examples of this -- popular culture heroes and figures have been used to promote everything from colonialism to anarchy. "Saturday Evening Post" art was propaganda, WPA murals were propaganda, and Superman comic books were propaganda. No matter what the art, there's always something else going on that isn't on the surface.

The idea of "art = propaganda" isn't really a new one -- you can find it expressed in the works of a lot of twentieth-century social critics, from Orwell to W. E. B. DuBois. And in each case, I think the evidence shows them to be right.

The other word which has gone the same way is 'revisionism'. The study of history has long relied upon reinterpretation over time, but now reinterpretation that anyone doesn't like is dismissed as "revisionism".

I saw Eraserhead once at the urging of one of my brothers-in-law, and that single viewing was more than enough for me. In terms of entertainment value, I consider it one of the worst movies I've ever seen. But in terms of cinematography, editing, and capturing an atmosphere that is both beautiful and unsettling, all of which combine to tell one of the strangest stories ever committed to film, it's one of the best.

I saw it once, years ago, and really did not like it. I should watch it again, though.... I find Lynch can be hit and miss, of course - either genius or unwatchably tedious, rarely anything in the middle. Much like Kubrick or Kronenberg in that regard.

 

[Edward]

When we showed "The Darkest Hour" recently the scene that made the biggest impression on the audience was the bit where ol' WSC gets on the Underground and mingles with Mr. Riff and Mrs. Raff. I had to explain to several people that this, in fact, was a complete fabrication. Quite a few lillies were gilded in the making of that "faction" film.

Hardly any surprise. It's almost impossible to criticise Churchill in the UK today without howls of abuse and the occasional accusation of being a Nazi sympathiser (even though, ironically, one of the best ways to spot a far right politician in the modern UK is to look for their use of Churchill's image). It wasn't always this way, of course: the British people booted him out of office at the first opportunity in 1945, and he was only the leader of a party successfully returned to government the once, in 1951. Neither was his death universally mourned. Since then, however, he has become almost untouchable.

I've yet to see the latest film. My mother, a historian herself, has and she feels that it was not overly sanitised in its portrayal of the man. I'll probably watch it on a plane in a couple of months and see what I make of it then. Currently, the most ridiculous element of it I've heard is not only the going on the tub among the plebeians scene, but also that the gentleman whose advice he takes is portrayed by a black actor. I could almost swallow the tube nonsense, but given established historical facts about Churchill's attitudes on race....

The Office of War Information, the official US propaganda agency that controlled all news and public information about the war. Nothing was allowed in print or on the air that wasn't approved by the OWI. Can't have the troops going off-message.

Hard to imagine the media playing ball to the same extent nowadays. During one conflict in the early twenty-first century, the Royal Navy ordered that the BBC were not to be screened on any Britsh warship because they were giving an objective view of the conflict, and this was considered to be 'unpatriotic'.

Even when I was very young I'd watch a movie "based on actual events" and see a scene that was nothing more than two people in a room having a discussion about something, and I'd think, "Now, how do they know that's what they said to each other? Did they record the conversation?" And that sort of thinking often led to me doing the research to find out for myself how accurate the movie was...or wasn't. As such, I even learned to take documentaries with a grain of salt.

On the other hand, I came to realize long ago that a lot of people really don't care whether or not such a movie is accurate; they just want to watch a good movie. Sadly, when such people accept everything they see or read so easily, it only muddies the historical waters further.

And, of course, there are those people who are just clueless. My wife and I, and a couple of friends, went to see James Cameron's Titanic when it was released in 1997. As we were leaving the theater we were discussing the movie as we usually do, and I made some sort of wisecrack about the ship sinking. A woman who appeared to be in her early-20s was standing in line for the next showing, heard my joke, and angrily shouted at me, "Thanks for ruining it for us!" If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it.

I found it hard to get my head around there being people who just didn't know the basic Titanic story, but then I grew up twenty miles from the shipyard where it was built. One thing I'll say for that dreadful film: for the first time in eighty-five years, it made it acceptable to joke about the Titanic in Belfast - because the joke was on the film, and not the honour of the men who built it. Nowadays, in the newly touristy Belfast, you can buy a t-shirt which bears the legend "Titanic: built by Irishmen, Sunk by an Englishman". Not that most of the shipyards' workforce, given sectarian divisions, would have appreciated that in 1912 either!

I get an upset stomach just thinking about driving or riding in a DeLorean. It's a terrible vehicle that would surely have faded into oblivion if not for it's use in the Back to the Future movies.

I remember seeing one many years before BTTF. Growing up in Northern Ireland, they were a bit of a legend, having been built locally. I do sometimes wonder how different West Belfast could have been in the eighties had John D not stuck the money up his nose but instead managed the business better and kept it going.

No money changed hands during any of this, other than their paying for my plane ticket and hotel room, so I felt like my colleague should be getting *something* for his trouble.

The media business views those necessary to make documentaries a lot like central university organisations do those guests who come in and make our events successful.... Every year I run one event where I basically have to ask guests to give up an evening of their time for nothing. Well, I'm allowed to buy them a dinner, which is something, but the university perceives no value in their time, nor any reason why payment might be appropriate in some way. Some folks are lovely enough and in a position to agree; others simply don't have that luxury.

Few years ago, I, along with other members of the New Sheridan Club, appeared on a French television show as representatives of the Chappist movement. Started off - "We can't pay a fee, but we'll buy your drinks on the day...", on the day, we were told we could have one drink each. Course, as true Chaps, we proceeded to order the most expensive of our preferred tipples. The barman, known to us as the location was the place where we have our monthly club meetings, asked each of us in turn, with a twinkle in his eye, "Will that be a double, Sir?"

As we left at the end of the day, the producer of the show was trying to convince the bar to write up the receipt so it said it was for food....

The Great Escape
Steve McQueen was cool... but if I had my "druthers".... View attachment 110778
I would prefer James Garner who would've offered to help you if you were blind like the character in this film.

Mc Queen really adds to the film.... ironic, of course, as his is the only main character who is entirely fictional, the studio having demanded a Big Name be inserted in order to sell the picture to international audiences.

Christie Brinkley is not alone in defying age, but she is in a world of her own at being able to walk on water.
This is Carmen Dell'Orefays, she's a full time model, although these days she has cut back a little: She's 88.
View attachment 110785

Striking resemblance to Cate Blanchett.

Sophia is certainly wearing well, so too is Honor Blackman, not bad for 92.
View attachment 110875

I saw her in the 2006/7 West End Revival of Cabaret. I somewhat preferred Sheila Hancock (whom Blackman replaced) in the role, but she was still very good. Utterly charming at the stage door, even if she appeared not to be able to understand two words I said - I think she struggled with the accent.

 

[LizzieMaine]

When every food item that has been touched by a human at any point in its manufacture becomes "artisan".
Blah again.

In the Era, "Untouched by human hands!" was an actual selling point.

 

[2jakes]

Something that is taken for granted today.

But was a "selling point” at one time in theaters and hotels.

 

[3fingers]

Air conditioned along with "fire proof".
I wonder if anybody really thinks about that now. There were several horrible hotel fires with large loss of life years ago.

 

[Zombie_61]

...More recently, I've seen adverts for cinema screenings of Mad Max Thunder Road in B&W, titled The Black and Chrome Edition. Apparently it's a whole different experience, though presumably not one that was thought of when filming...

I've seen this done with a few movies in recent years, either through "special/limited" screenings in theaters, as a bonus feature on a Blu-Ray release, or both. In my opinion it's nothing more than a marketing "cash grab" gimmick like colorization of black-and-white movies and 3D conversion. It takes a different set of skills to film movies in black-and-white and/or 3D, and converting them after the fact doesn't yield the same results. Besides, a good movie is a good movie, and a bad movie is a bad movie; altering it's appearance won't change that.

 

[Edward]

Something that is taken for granted today.
View attachment 111104


But was a "selling point” at one time in theaters and hotels.
View attachment 111105

I think the name of the hotel might be somewhat more remarked upon nowadays, even if Lee was a complex enough character as to defy both those who would attack and those who would lionise him.

I've seen this done with a few movies in recent years, either through "special/limited" screenings in theaters, as a bonus feature on a Blu-Ray release, or both. In my opinion it's nothing more than a marketing "cash grab" gimmick like colorization of black-and-white movies and 3D conversion. It takes a different set of skills to film movies in black-and-white and/or 3D, and converting them after the fact doesn't yield the same results. Besides, a good movie is a good movie, and a bad movie is a bad movie; altering it's appearance won't change that.

Certainly can be. We seem to live in an era where almost every film has a scene or two added to the DVD just so we'll watch it again (twelve extra seconds, I hear it totally solved the submarine controversy....). I've heard a lot of reviews reviews about the experience with Max, though - enough it's probably worth checking out.

 

[2jakes]

I think the name of the hotel might be somewhat more remarked upon nowadays, even if Lee was a complex enough character as to defy both those who would attack and those who would lionise him.

Believe me, the topic has been more than just remarked upon.
A statue of a soldier from the Cival War that's been at a public park for 100 years was removed by the city last year.

 

[HanauMan]

That is pretty lame.

When I was a kid my favorite comic story (once I got past the Carl Barks Duck stories) was The Haunted Tank (I think the comic was G.I. Combat) which had a Stuart tank crewed by Lt. Jeb Stuart and three other guys, and protected by the ghost of the Confederate Army General Stuart. The Lt. was a southern boy and the Confederate flag was flown from the tank radio antenna.

I guess that comic would be deemed totally un-PC nowadays.

 

[Fading Fast]

I've seen this done with a few movies in recent years, either through "special/limited" screenings in theaters, as a bonus feature on a Blu-Ray release, or both. In my opinion it's nothing more than a marketing "cash grab" gimmick like colorization of black-and-white movies and 3D conversion. It takes a different set of skills to film movies in black-and-white and/or 3D, and converting them after the fact doesn't yield the same results. Besides, a good movie is a good movie, and a bad movie is a bad movie; altering it's appearance won't change that.

Lizzie's Boys from Marketing at it again. Oh, those rascals.

 

[LizzieMaine]

We haven't had any Civil War monuments removed here -- of course our side won.