Knygatin Wrote:
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> They were not musically schooled, but grew into
> instruments and all manners of sound-making tools
> alongside their artwork. I think they musically
> belong among the giant geniuses of the other 1970s
> rock groups, but took a weird slant and therefore
> remained obscure. They have been accused of
> damaging pop/rock music development in the
> transition from the 70s into the future. I think
> their overall most typical and greatest record is
> probably Duck Stab / Buster & Glenn.

I'll second the nomination of Duck Stab/Buster & Glen as the Residents' greatest record. I first heard that record when I was in college, and its unique mix of the humorous and the bizarre really spoke to me, and I still love it decades later. Now I need to go listen to it again....

Oldjoe Wrote:
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> I'll second the nomination of Duck Stab/Buster &
> Glen as the Residents' greatest record. I first
> heard that record when I was in college, and its
> unique mix of the humorous and the bizarre really
> spoke to me, and I still love it decades later.
> Now I need to go listen to it again....

That is very nice to hear! Incredible record, that only gets better and better with each listen.

Sawfish Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Knygatin Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Sawfish Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> > > If you would ever like to get a pretty good
> > > rendering of central/western Appalachian
> > dialect,
> > > try out Cormac McCarthy's The Outer Dark, or
> > Child
> > > of God, if you haven't already.
> > >
> > He writes about pretty gritty matters, doesn't
> he?
>
> Pretty grim sometimes, yes.
> The first and only time I read The Road, I had to
> put the book down for a while, when I realized the
> reality ...
> I've never had that happen before or since, ....

Grim social realism makes me upset and depressed. I have to avoid such literature and film, although I have seen my share.


Sawfish Wrote:
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> Do you feel that they [The Residents] may well have affected David
> Lynch's visual sensibilities?
>
Knygatin Wrote:
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> I think Lynch
> is aware of them. Lynch is such a strong
> individual that he almost seems to stand
> independent all on his own.

I may add that DUNE is one of my very top favorite films. But I found BLUE VELVET and MULHOLLAND DRIVE too unpleasant (and could have done without them), and avoided TWIN PEAKS. I saw ERASERHEAD in my late teens, and it was curious; I may pay it a visit again.

Do you like David Lynch?

Knygatin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sawfish Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Knygatin Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > Sawfish Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > > > If you would ever like to get a pretty good
> > > > rendering of central/western Appalachian
> > > dialect,
> > > > try out Cormac McCarthy's The Outer Dark,
> or
> > > Child
> > > > of God, if you haven't already.
> > > >
> > > He writes about pretty gritty matters,
> doesn't
> > he?
> >
> > Pretty grim sometimes, yes.
> > The first and only time I read The Road, I had
> to
> > put the book down for a while, when I realized
> the
> > reality ...
> > I've never had that happen before or since,
> ....
>
> Grim social realism makes me upset and depressed.
> I have to avoid such literature and film, although
> I have seen my share.

Funny observation: when younger, this sort of observed threat/distress was fairly meaningless to me, and I would say that my assumed POV as an observer/reader was seldom the object of the threat, it was either the threat, itself, or much more often, a totally detached observer.

But as I got older, and no longer viewed myself as immortal, as young males tend to do (!), I found it more and more disturbing on a personal level, as if I was now sharing the threat.

Then, just about when I turned 50, we had our daughter. After that it seemed like *everything* was a threat, if not to me (but remember: as an older guy this was increasingly the case, anyhow), then to her and/or my wife.

Hmmm... Now that I think about it, before I was married I felt much less threatened, but afterwards then perceived sympathetic threat increased.

Interesting...

>
>
> Sawfish Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Do you feel that they [The Residents] may well
> have affected David
> > Lynch's visual sensibilities?
> >
> Knygatin Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I think Lynch
> > is aware of them. Lynch is such a strong
> > individual that he almost seems to stand
> > independent all on his own.
>
> I may add that DUNE is one of my very top favorite
> films.

Hah! Me, too.

But this puts us in a vanishingly small minority.

> But I found BLUE VELVET and MULHOLLAND
> DRIVE too unpleasant (and could have done without
> them),

I liked both quite a lot, but believe that MD is his best work. In particular, the combination of the narrative framing device (the shot at the beginning and the circumstance at the end) plus the revealed distortion of the central narrative due to the device of "unreliable POV" (like Oscar in The Tin Drum) was handled masterfully, and I'm waiting for it to return to Netflix or Amazon Prime so that I can see it again for no extra charge.

> and avoided TWIN PEAKS.


FWIW, I didn't think much of it. A Nancy Drew mystery adapted by the Marquis de Sade, with comic interludes concerning cops and doughnuts and the like.

> I saw ERASERHEAD in
> my late teens, and it was curious; I may pay it a
> visit again.
>
> Do you like David Lynch?

Oh, yeah....

The best balance of artistic vision and cinematic discipline we currently have, in my opinion.

Very, very consistent in this, and then you look at The Straight Story, and you realize he could easily be a first rate director of more conventional films, if he chose to.

You might compare this with Ridley Scott, who has zero narrative vision and the highest level of visual and cinematic discipline. He makes soooo many films that every now and then he stumbles--by blind luck, apparently--on strong material; he seems to treat both screenplays and actors as basically cogs in a visual machine. Mostly it's just visually excellent mush.

As always, my opinions, only.

--Sawfish

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks Sawfish for your thoughts, both about inner changes coming with age and marriage and children, and about David Lynch.

I thought THE ELEPHANT MAN was a very fine film (sentimental perhaps, ... tragic surely), but have not seen it again since its first premiere.

I think I shall have to see MULHOLLAND DRIVE again. Actually I am not sure I watched it all the way through. The Hollywood setting, of showy materialistic lifestyle and the confused people struggling from the bottom periphery to attain it, does not have appeal for me.

I have not seen many of Ridley Scott's films. ALIEN is one of my top three favorite films. BLADE RUNNER never interested me (but now that I have begun reading a few books by P. K. Dick, perhaps I should see it again). LEGEND was very bombastic, not the way I see fantasy (especially not with "Top Gun" Tom Cruise! of all possible picks in the lead), but still having a few fine fairy images.

Tobe Hooper was another great! SALEM'S LOT (1979, full television version) is my all-time favorite film. THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE is perhaps too horrible, but much better than its early banning reputation. Someone has called it "a backwoods masterpiece of fear and loathing", which seems very fitting.

Must mention John Carpenter. THE FOG (1980)! Say no more! Say no more! Oh, GOD! That atmosphere! The natural authority! One of my top three favorite films.

I'd like to think that I can see and judge objectively, but all my favorite films I happened to see at my most impressionable age, in my teens. That may have something to do with it. And nostalgia. But to me it was, and is, the Golden Age. I don't like the cynicism and commercial coldness that has entered film since, it has a false strain, even when pretending to be warm. That is how I feel, without intention to offend any younger members here.

I was too young to have the Hammer horror films, with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, closest to my heart. But I can see why others do.

Knygatin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks Sawfish for your thoughts, both about inner
> changes coming with age and marriage and children,
> and about David Lynch.
>
> I thought THE ELEPHANT MAN was a very fine film
> (sentimental perhaps, ... tragic surely), but have
> not seen it again since its first premiere.

I forgot about this. Fine effort but did not "click" for me.

>
> I think I shall have to see MULHOLLAND DRIVE
> again. Actually I am not sure I watched it all the
> way through. The Hollywood setting, of showy
> materialistic lifestyle and the confused people
> struggling from the bottom periphery to attain it,
> does not have appeal for me.

Definitely there's that, but those techniques I mentioned were irresistible.

It's a better "Day of the Locust".

>
> I have not seen many of Ridley Scott's films.
> ALIEN is one of my top three favorite films. BLADE
> RUNNER never interested me (but now that I have
> begun reading a few books by P. K. Dick, perhaps I
> should see it again). LEGEND was very bombastic,
> not the way I see fantasy (especially not with
> "Top Gun" Tom Cruise! of all possible picks in the
> lead), but still having a few fine fairy images.

Yes!

Some excellent visual imagery!

I liked especially the pirouetting black-clad figure dancing before the fire, near the end.

>
> Tobe Hooper was another great!

Yep!

> SALEM'S LOT (1979,
> full television version) is my all-time favorite
> film.

Saw it when it came out. Those little vampire kids outside the window scared the hell out of me.

> THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE is perhaps too
> horrible, but much better than its early banning
> reputation. Someone has called it "a backwoods
> masterpiece of fear and loathing", which seems
> very fitting.

Here's a fine minor teenage slasher film: Funhouse. Some tremendous imagery: the close up of a carnival barker, dead-eyed, cynically calling people to a freak show; a magician who purports to saw a woman in half, drinking from a silver hip flask, at first as if to project worldly conviviality, and later in the act, quickly, covertly, revealing it to be a deep and dark need rather than an urbane affectation; and horribly, the monster getting his clothes caught in the main horizontal drive gear beneath the merry-go-round, and being slowly and ineluctably dragged thru it.

Quite, quite grim, that last image.

>
> Must mention John Carpenter. THE FOG (1980)! Say
> no more! Say no more! Oh, GOD! That atmosphere!
> The natural authority! One of my top three
> favorite films.
>
> I'd like to think that I can see and judge
> objectively, but all my favorite films I happened
> to see at my most impressionable age, in my teens.
> That may have something to do with it. And
> nostalgia. But to me it was, and is, the Golden
> Age. I don't like the cynicism and commercial
> coldness that has entered film since, it has a
> false strain, even when pretending to be warm.
> That is how I feel, without intention to offend
> any younger members here.
>
> I was too young to have the Hammer horror films,
> with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, closest to
> my heart. But I can see why others do.

Hah! Those, and American International films were ones I used to take dates to at the local drive-in!

--Sawfish

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My apologies. I posted completely off topic again. Will post it elsewhere instead.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 23 Aug 20 | 08:52AM by Knygatin.