OK Go Does It Again

OK Go continues their string of clever YouTube videos with their newest song, "This Too Shall Pass".  Though their budget has clearly increased a bit since the days of backyard dance routines and synchronized exercise machines, the new video still has the same shaggy charm and catchy beat as their previous material.  Not to mention some incredible physics...

The Movies Of Wonskolaser Brothers

If that headline is puzzling, here's the explanation: Wonskolaser was the original family surname of four enterprising brothers whose parents came to the US from Poland in the late 1800's. Like many families, they simplified and Americanized their last name on arrival.  Thus, the Wonskolasers became the Warners and, a few decades later, an American institution was born with the founding of a motion picture distribution company called Warner Brothers Pictures.


Continuing my TCM habit, I found all this out watching a fascinating documentary called "The Brother's Warner", directed by one of the brother's granddaughters, Cass Warner.  The company got its start showing movies to coal miners in Pennsylvania and each brother played a role: Harry ran the business, Albert took tickets, Sam minded the equipment and the youngest Jack would sing terribly at the end of each screening to clear the house.  Their family business grew through the 20's with stars like Rin Tin Tin and John Barrymore. However, they were they were something like the Fox Network of their day, competing against the big three studios of Paramout, MGM and First National.


That all changed in 1927 when Sam, the tech guy, convinced the brother's Warner that sound was the future of movies.  So they bought the Vitgraph company, decided to make the first feature length sound film, and that film The Jazz Singer practically changed Hollywood overnight.  TCM showed that groundbreaking film after the doc and it was just as fascinating to watch.  The most surprising thing is how little synchronized sound is in the movie....only 2 minutes of dialogue and 6 musical numbers in a 90 minute movie.  But, even with all the title cards and hammy acting, the film tells a dramatically compelling, two-hander of a melodrama which is so effective it's been remade three times since.


The story of the Warner Bros. does not, however, have a happy ending.  Sam died the day before The Jazz Singer premiered. That left Albert, Jack and Harry to feud with each other until Jack basically stole the company right out from under his eldest brothers in the 1950s.  Jack was an infamous figure in Hollywood, a larger than life super-quotable, old school mogul who was known for meddling in the editing room.  He died in 1978.

Don't You Forget About Him--Oscars/Vanity Fair

The Oscar's tribute to John Hughes was, aside from Bigelow's double win, the most memorable moment of this year's show.  As the Brat Packers lined up on stage in their best adult prom wear, they gave some wonderfully moving and funny testimonials to the King of High School Comedy.  It's remarkable that Hughes high-school trio of films have survived not only more than 20 years but have become classics as well...all without one single Oscar nomination.


This month's "Vanity Fair" has an in-depth exploration of Hughes and his small but memorable body of work.  Mixing interviews with his own children as well as the stars of his films, there are some interesting revelations.  Most fascinating to me was that "The Breakfast Club" was supposed to be the first of the triology films but then Hughes dashed off a quickie comedy "Sixteen Candles", which got rushed into production before TBC.  There's also some good stories about his intense and mercurial relationships with his teen muses, notably how he didn't speak to Molly Ringwald after their 80's collaborations.  There's also the revelation that, until he died, Hughes was constantly writing and drawing in notebooks, the pages of which are shown in detail in the magazine.  


It's the best distillation of Hughes and his work that I've read in a while.  And a lovely complement to Sunday's well-earned Oscar tribute.  

The Story Behind AIRPLANE!

I think my favorite cable channel of all-time has to be TCM.  Not only are they commercial free (except for promos for TCM), but they show great movies, uncut and in their original screen formats.   

Over the weekend, TCM had a theme of air disaster movies....definitely not part of its "31 Days of Oscar" program.  Anyway, the double feature I caught was 1980's AIRPLANE! and the movie that it was based on, ZERO HOUR! (also with an exclamation point), a movie from the 1957.  I always saw AIRPLANE! as a spoof of 70s air disaster movies. While it definitely references those films, the basic storyline is lifted from this proto-disaster flick, written by Arthur Hailey who, as it turns out, penned AIRPORT and had a hand in all the subsequent AIRPORT movies.  


In ZERO HOUR! a former WWII pilot with a fear of flying is the only person who can land a commercial plane when the crew gets food poisoning.  That, of course, is the basic plot of AIRPLANE! except in the Zucker's movie, it's not taken seriously at all.  I loved watching the original AIRPLANE! for the umpteennth time .  The girl scout fight in the "Drambuie" nightclub is still hysterical.  As is Mrs. Cleaver speaking jive. And Maureen McCormick as a nun.   A fun fact about Kareem Abdul-Jabar's appearance in the movie...it's a direct homage to ZERO HOUR! which cast a pro football player by the name of Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch.   

Finally, ZERO HOUR! was actually remade in 1971 as a TV movie, TERROR IN THE SKY starring Roddy McDowell and written by that air disaster workhorse, Arthur Hailey.  He died in 2004 but left behind the legacy of his own genre....not to mention all the jokes he unwittingly inspired.

And The Winner Is....

Despite Kathryn Bigelow's breakthrough win, there was one subtle but historic change to the proceedings this year.  For the last 22 years, when the presenter opened the envelope the standard line was "and the Oscar goes to....".   Before that, it used to be the more honest statement "and the winner is...", a line that became a cultural catch-phrase.  But back in the 80's the Academy, in all their stuffy Academy-ness, decided that all the nominees are winners blah blah blah.  And the script was literally changed and that change has held.  Until last night....


Suddenly, the presenters were uttering the formerly dreaded winner line. It was a top secret change in the script, noted on Friday by the Wrap after rehearsal.  The only one who didn't toe the new company line was Kate Winslet who either didn't get the memo or, having won once but lost a few times, decided to keep the "everyone's a winner" feel.  Directors Adam Shankman and Bill Mechanic didn't have too much to say about the change, though they did hint at a big, "naughty" change in pre-show coverage.  That was it...though I'd hardly call it naughty.


One other notable imprint of Shankman's direction was the fact that just about every major star from the movie HAIRSPRAY (which he also directed) was presenting: Zac Efron, Queen Latifh, John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer. As they say in Hollyrock, it's who you know....

New York's Art-A-Palooza

On Wednesday, the Armory Show opened at Piers 92 & 94 on the westside highway, kicking off what has now become something of an unofficial Contemporary Art Festival--or, what I call the Art-A-Palooza.  This year there are now more than 6 auxiliary art fairs running concurrently with the Armory in locations all around town: 

• Pulse, at 330 West Street, at West Houston Street, South Village (pulse-art.com)
• Scope New York at Damrosch Park, in Lincoln Center (scope-art.com)
• the Fountain Art Fair on Pier 66 at 26th Street and the West Side Highway, Chelsea (fountainexhibit.com)
• Red Dot New York at 500 West 36th Street (reddotfair.com)
• Verge at the Dylan Hotel, 52 East 41st Street (vergeartfair.com)
• Volta at 7 West 34th Street (voltashow.com)

I attended opening night of the Armory and was overwhelmed to say the least.  There are roughly 300 galleries on the piers this year squeezed in to a labyrinth of cubicles and walkways. While there is some memorable work on display (notably the big silver pirate above), I found that after 3 hours of wandering around it all had a tendency to blend together.  One thing I did notice, however, was a striking lack of gay/lesbian content to the show. I mean, this is the art world right?  


Lately, I love going to these shows more for the people-watching than the art.  It was an endless parade of NY-hipsters and Euro-fancies with some serious fashion and hair/makeup going on Wednesday night.  Trends spotted: big owl glasses for the men, super asymmetrical haircuts for the ladies and ghostly white makeup for the boys.  It was seriously like art-world runway.  It almost makes me wonder if the whole show is actually some secret performance art project that some intrepid artist is discreetly videotaping.  If so, that would definitely be worth seeing.  

Billy Eichner Takes To The Streets For Oscar

Billy Eichner, who earlier this year did a great video parody song "Forest Hills State of Mind", is back with another video.  This one is more like his previous man on the street ambush "interviews" which are hysterical. The topic is the upcoming Oscars and the big question...Meryl vs. Sandra.  He also finds someone who, believe it or not, just doesn't know who Judi Dench is.  


If you're looking to make further sport of all things Oscar, check out his show this weekend at Joe's Pub, Saturday at 11:30pm.  I can guarantee that it will be a lot funnier than the Oscars....even with Alec and Steve.    

Marriage Equality Comes To Washington DC

Some big news out of DC this morning....gay couples are lined up at the District's courthouse on the first day of legal same-sex marriage in the nation's capital. The Washington Post has the full story (where this lovely picture came from, shot by Bill O'Leary) and there's also full background of the long road to marriage equality in DC over at  Towleroad.  


Of course, the haters tried to block it with a last ditch appeal to the US Supreme Court, but they had no luck there.  In a rare Justice Roberts ruling I agree with, he said the court had no business in local affairs. I love the irony of the haters having to beg for Supreme intervention when they are always screaming about activist judges destroying the nation. Sometimes they almost make me laugh....almost.


As locals know, Washington is a very conservative town regardless of whether Democrats or Republicans are in charge.  So I find it remarkable that today the District stands at the forefront of the marriage equality movement.  It is now the sixth place in the United States where gays can get married.  And, as Andy Towle pointed out, it's also a symbolic landmark in this struggle in that Washington is the now the first locality south of the Mason-Dixon line to endorse marriage equality.  

A Mansion Grows in Brooklyn

One of my newest blog discoveries is Scouting. It consists of pictures of unusual things found  by a very intrepid and curious NYC film location scout.  Last week, he posted about a beautiful historic mansion in a most unlikely place...Brooklyn's East River waterfront.  The Scouting blogger rightly describes it "like someone picked up an estate from Long Island’s Gold Coast and plunked it down in Vinegar Hill."  


The mansion is the former Commandant's House for what used to be the Brooklyn Naval Station, adjacent to the Brooklyn Navy Yard.  Built in 1805, the house, which looks to have some spectacular views of the East River and lower Manhattan, has been privately owned since the early 1960's and the current owner is Charles Gilbert, a neurobiologist with the Rockefeller Foundation.   There's a more 3-D view of the manse he found on Bing which I've reposted below.


Anyway, it's a fascinating little bit of way old New York tucked into an unlikely corner. Amazing what you will find in this city if you just look... 

The Biennial vs. The Brucennial

The Whitney Biennial (photo above) opens to the public today uptown. Meanwhile, tucked in amongst the 10K handbags and designer snowboots, something called the Brucennial is opening in Soho.  


Filling the walls of a bi-level space, the show (pictured below) is a hodgepodge of new work and old, including paintings by superstars like Julian Schnabel and David Salle.  As stated coyly in their press release, the show "brings together 420 artists from 911 countries working in 666 discrete disciplines to reclaim education as part of an artist's ongoing practice." This is the third Brucennial, put together by the Bruce High Quality Art Foundation, a loose collective of five artists.  The big difference from the Whitney is that Bruce is run by artists and for artists.  There is no selection committee.  


The TIMES review of this year's Whitney Biennial is favorable, commending the museum for halving the number of artists included to a spare 55 and putting on a cleaner show.  The Brucennial aims to be the opposite.  And unlike the Whitney, it is free.