With the beginning of the new month, I've changed my Sidebar Art Gallery for my September show. So far I've had nine shows: Winter, The Kiss, Green, Rebirth, Women, Men, Children and Roses.
I've called this newest show Autumn.
Fall is my favorite season of all. When you scroll along the art work, you'll see why.
Guitarist Les Paul helped to change the musical landscape when he designed a solid-body electric guitar in the mid-1940's.
Last week at the age of 94, Les Paul passed away. But his legacy is so enormous and his influence so great, you are assured of hearing his guitars wherever rock music is played.
Photo Michael Ochs Archives/Corbis
Les Paul was what psychologist George Swede refers to as a Universal 2 Creator. In Creativity: A New Psychology, Swede defines Universal 2 creativity as "any collaborative works that affect large numbers, being unique and having value."
Without Les Paul's risk-taking innovation - before his solid-body design, all guitars were hollow-body - how would the crucial sound of the electric rock guitar have developed? Though Les Paul is sometimes referred to as the celebrity endorser of the Gibson guitar company's design, Les Paul had already built a solid-body prototype called The Log in his own workshop. In true Universal 2 Creator style, Les Paul collaborated with Gibson guitar makers to fashion an electric guitar he could passionately stand behind, push its physical limits and make personal modifications on.
Paul also experimented with early versions of laying tracks in the recording process - again by himself in his own workshop.
Here is just a sampling of guitarists who use Les Pauls as their instruments of choice:
Geraldine over at My Poetic Path has a monthly prompt inspired by film titles.
"I’ve always been intrigued by movie titles," she writes. "Obviously, Hollywood and other film-makers work hard to weave their magic with the teaser that is the title. But what other roads could be explored with that very same phrase or word?"
This is actually a movie I haven't seen. There are a lot of those, which tends to confuse people who know that I went to film school. I wrote about this phenomenon over at my group blog, Popculturedivas:
It Could Happen to You follows the story of a Queens, New York cop (Nicolas Cage) who tips a diner waitress (Bridget Fonda) with the promise of half his lottery winnings - which turns out to be $4,000,000.00.
Could happen.
For Through the Opera Glasses today, I thought I'd take Geraldine's prompt and share with you some favorite TV shows and films that put my kind of quirky twist on the premise: It could happen to you...
It could happen to you...you're sent to live in the British countryside during the Blitz, and a game of hide-and-seek finds you hiding in a wardrobe that empties out into a land called Narnia. And the first person that you meet is a faun carrying an umbrella and an assortment of packages.
It could happen to you...your boss sends you to a small coastal Scottish town to convince the residents to sell out for Houston oil interests, and oh yes, to watch the sky for a comet which the boss wants named for himself. And a hot marine research scientist seems not only interested in you, but may be a mermaid.
It could happen to you...a respectable fruit and vegetable retailer should be able to find love in the Big City, but your heart belongs to the mermaid who saved you from drowning when you were a kid. And the naked woman who shows up at the Statue of Liberty reminds you of that haunting connection you once felt, but isn't this woman an obvious human, a frustrating one that you discover you finally can't live without?
It could happen to you...one night your trip home from downtown gets sidetracked, until you are seriously caught in the surreal zone between the last train and the first one for the next day. Will anything ever resemble normality again?
It could happen to you...you waitress in the diner of your small Louisiana town, trying not to hear the thoughts in other people's minds - because you're a telepath. Finally the most attractive man you've ever met enters the diner. You can't hear a thought from him at all. Because he's a vampire...who could ask for a more perfect boyfriend?
It could happen to you...your mysterious music teacher suddenly reveals himself when you show interest in a former suitor. Not only is your mentor irresistably hot, but he's also a homicidal stalker who retreats to his wind-up monkey music box when he gets upset.
It could happen to you...you seek the counsel of an old woman whom you've been told can get your unfaithful wife to return to you. When she casts a spell, you can see the sudden raid on her apartment by shapeshifters and officials arresting her for unauthorized use of magic. You discover you're a Light Other, and go to work for a secret service organization dedicated to watching over the activities of the Dark Others in an uneasy Cold War-like truce.
It could happen to you...you packpack across the Yorkshire moors with your college buddy, stumbling upon the creepiest pub in all of England. A nightmarish attack by a werewolf turns out not to be a nightmare at all, and your romantic chances with the hot nurse who tended you in hospital get seriously jeopardized every time the moon comes out.
It could happen to you...you find things heating up between yourself and a former fellow journalist, but you've hit on a monster story about British spy shop MI-5 and have to follow it. Arms-length objectivity flies out the window when you're pulled into a deadly hostage situation at a TV station and you end up working alongside MI-5 agents to sort things out. Why report on the news when you can make the stories that must be covered up yourself?
It could happen to you...you can't remember who you are or why high-powered killers are after you. Or why you are capable of dispatching an attacker with your bare hands. Or why these killers appear to be government officials.
As some of you may know by now, when it comes to Gerard Butler, I react to him on a cellular level.
This may skew my reaction to a film like The Ugly Truth, which is getting stinkeroo reviews from critics - and enthusiastic endorsement from filmgoers.
Katherine Heigl plays Abby, a successful TV producer but unsuccessful dater.
She inherits Mike (Gerard Butler,) a low-rent shock jock who tells The Ugly Truth on his call-in show. The truth as he sees it regarding the battle of the sexes, that is.
Abby's boss wants the ratings Mike is guaranteed to pull in.
Abby wants to date her new neighbor, hunky doctor Colin (Eric Winter) without destroying her chances before they even begin.
Mike offers to coach her past her own dismal track record if she'll give his show a chance.
Here's the thing. Even though we follow Abby more than we follow Mike, the film is really presented from Mike's male point of view. This is a how-to-find-true-love romantic comedy told through a jaded man's focus - an outlook that is raunchy, obnoxious and unrepentent.
What I find really strange is the derision handed out to The Ugly Truth by critics, when I laughed throughout the movie - and so did everyone in the theatre.
So here's a battle of the critics versus the filmgoers.
Peter Travers from Rolling Stone gives it half a star out of four stars.
"Katherine Heigl once complained that Judd Apatow's Knocked Up, in which she starred, was way too guy-centric and made the women humorless shrews. Heigl owes Apatow an apology. The Ugly Truth, Heigl's new romcom, is the real sexist swill."
Internet Movie Data Base user michelem3 says, "I saw this movie at a preview event last Friday night and it was hilarious. The sold out cinema was laughing hysterically throughout the movie. Butler has great comedic timing complimenting his tough guy persona. If you are expecting to see a typical romantic comedy you will be surprised, because this R rated film is geared toward the men in the audience as well as the ladies. Grab your significant other and be prepared to laugh and enjoy the movie together."
Jason Anderson for The Toronto Star gives it one and a half stars out of four.
"These reluctant co-workers declare a truce when a hunky surgeon moves into Abby's apartment complex and she solicits Mike's advice on how to land him. Imagine what follows as George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion except with a potty-mouthed Henry Higgins instructing Eliza Doolittle on how to dress more like a stripper."
From IMDB user LadyMacbeth75:
"I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. My husband was happy to watch a romantic comedy from the male perspective as well as the female for a change. The typical fairy tale elements seem to go by the wayside here and we're left with a harsher but very funny battle-of-the-sexes comedy for the times in which we now live."
"That tap-tap-tapping sound you hear is another nail being driven into the coffin of the romantic comedy. Which leads to The Ugly Truth, a cynical, clumsy, aptly titled attempt to cross the female-oriented romantic comedy with the male-oriented gross-out comedy that is interesting on several levels, none having to do with cinema."
IMDB user tomjanjess says:
"I have not laughed so much over a movie as I did watching The Ugly Truth. This film was hysterical. It is a must see movie for both men and women. The scene in the restaurant just about sent me into a fit. I could not stop laughing. The baseball scene was just as funny. Guys would relate to a lot of the scenes in this movie. I cannot understand how the critics rate a movie poorly when the audience was roaring with laughter from beginning to end."
Liam Lacey from the Globe and Mail gives it one star out of four:
"If Doris Day and Rock Hudson had made jokes about vibrating panties and fellatio at the ballpark, just think how much funnier their romantic comedies would have been. That appears to have been the brainwave behind The Ugly Truth. The script was written by three women. They try desperately to copy Judd Apatow's recipe for romantic raunch but succeed only in reversing his snigger-to-flinch ratio."
IMDB user tabuno says:
"This romantic comedy had two gut wrenching belly laugh scenes, along with a more in-your-face sexist look at the differences between men and women which in some ways could be closer to the truth than more 'enlightened' people may want to admit. It is understandable why most critics didn't have much positive to say, but these politically-incorrect sexist comments have at their core some resonance in how men and women actually feel and think. This is a movie that says what many of us want to say, but are afraid to admit, but also enlightens the mass audience with some actual relationship truths by the end of the movie. Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler do have their own chemistry and there is a hidden playfulness that comes out that for some critics might seem childishly crude, but in many respects is so real."
As for myself...well...I could watch Gerry on the dance floor for hours but had to settle for a mere few minutes...sigh...
Michelle Johnson over at Poefusion takes part in Manic Monday, hosted by Fleur de Lisa - and for today's Through the Opera Glasses I thought I'd focus my sights on her prompt.
As you may recall, I'm taking part in Kim's Blog Improvement Project, and the latest challenge is to once again shake up our normal offerings. We're encouraged to post as many different types of blog posts as we can by July 24th.
"It’s easy to get into a pattern of writing the same kinds of posts over and over again," Kim reminds us. "But sometimes it can be fun to spice it up."
Here are Michelle's prompts:
When and with whom was your first kiss?
Do you believe that everything happens for a reason?
What would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
I'm going to put an arts twist on this prompt, since this is my arts feature.
First kiss - My own first kiss was with my first boyfriend, Philip. For more details, check out my story in my Naughty Meme of Firsts.
When I think of a perfect depiction of a first kiss, I can't help but think of the final scene in 1995's Persuasion.
It occurs at the 5:50 mark in the clip below.
But of course, I can't rule out the kiss in North & South.
Warning ladies - watching this scene may turn you into a puddle of goo...
Does everything happen for a reason? - Well, let's see. When I first moved to Toronto 23 years ago, I worked as a live-in nanny in the west end of the city. I went over to a movie theatre to fill out an application for evening and weekend work - at the Humber theatre - and began walking east along Bloor Street. Not west. East.
I wanted to start meeting people with similar interests to mine. I figured movie theatre people would be a good start.
Not too far along I saw a sign for psychic readings. I thought, what the heck? So I went up. I didn't keep going along the storefronts as I normally did.
The young woman read my palm, and among her observations she was adamant that my soul mate was very near. She mentioned that he wore a uniform. Since I was brand new to the city with only two friends from home also in Toronto, plus the family for whom I worked, I thought, don't know how that can be.
When I was done, I went down the stairs to the street. I kept walking east along Bloor Street until I got to another movie theater I hadn't even known about. It was the Runnymede Theatre. So I went in and applied.
I was called to start work there not long after. One of my co-workers was a very handsome usher named Brad Smith. To whom I'm now married.
I absolutely think everything does happen for a reason. In the same way that thousands of people gather for a performance at the same place at the same time, the universe arranges significant events in order to facilitate each person's potential for growth. The universe has the ticket with the date and time. It's our job to sense when the curtain is about to go up.
A wonderful film with this outlook is Serendipity.
What would I like to hear God say when I cross over? - I would like to hear: Rest, now.
A truly chills-inspiring meeting-up-with-God scene for me is the ending of The Fountain. The music really thrills me.
Did you ever wonder why blue screens seem to have turned into green screens for film effects?
The reason is the simple march of time - and technology.
Blue screen continues to be used in film, as we can see in these composite shots from 300.
"Until the the 1990s most blue screen for films was done optically, and all television composites were done using analog real time hardware." - Bob Kertesz
Optical effects are expensive, exacting and have to be done in post-production, which is the time used by the production after the principal photography is completed. This is the time when music is recorded for the soundtrack, dialogue is replaced through looping, and sound and visual effects are created.
Before the advance of digital technology, the only way to get a realistic-looking visual effect was through blue screen optical matting, which replaced a background component - the blue screen - with a second visual component - usually a risky location such as a cliff.
The process of traditional travelling matte optics is time consuming. Each frame of the actor has to be made into a negative. The blue background is replaced by the new location footage, then photographed again with the negative of the actor superimposed, then the images photographed once again replacing the negative of the actor with the actual actor.
The television industry has always opted for green screen technology, due to the way TV cameras work to a basic three-color spectrum: Blue, Green and Red. Often the superimposed images are created on the spot in the studio at the mixing console by the video switcher.
"Chroma-Key is a television process only, based on the luminance key. Video cameras are usually most sensitive in the green channel, and often have the best resolution and detail in that channel. Green paint has greater reflectance than blue paint, which can make matting easier." - Bob Kertesz
Because cameras have gradually moved over to digital, even for full-length motion pictures, the effects have moved with them. The green background works best in digital format and has the added benefit of not interfering with actors' blue eyes or blue clothing.
The trick with green screen is knowing how your other colors will behave when you shoot them. Notice how on-set for Sin City, Marv's bandages are red, but in the finished effect shot, the red becomes white. Also notice how a slight blue tinge on Marv's white T-shirt turns the shirt into a truer white in the effect shot.
Actors today can be assured of having to act in front of either a blue or a green screen at some point in their careers. A major challenge for them, but green screen has changed the way film and television is shot. I personally love this technology, especially when it brings me back through time to ancient Rome or to Middle Earth.
Champion of the Arts - I write historical and paranormal fiction, as well as poetry. I love to showcase creative works by artists of all stripes. Blogging from Nova Scotia, Canada
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