tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post5800750523547926489..comments2023-10-17T08:19:58.196-04:00Comments on FreeThinke: FreeThinkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-61456584915124557482015-02-13T17:15:38.789-05:002015-02-13T17:15:38.789-05:00And a Happy St. Bimbo's Day to you to!
______...And a Happy St. Bimbo's Day to you to!<br /><br />______________ (•)(•) _______________<br /><br />§;-DFreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-89832712815383406732015-02-13T14:00:10.713-05:002015-02-13T14:00:10.713-05:00Something for the refined gentleman!Something for the <a href="http://suagmeab.blogspot.com/2015/02/nothing-beats-getting-six-pack-for.html" rel="nofollow">refined gentleman</a>!Stanley Kowalskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15129049636515227902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-9492123601897682482015-02-13T11:46:53.905-05:002015-02-13T11:46:53.905-05:00We were more advanced in he use of motorized trans...We were more advanced in he use of motorized transportation then, but aside from that -- and the vast difference in the background music chosen by the film editor ;-) -- the two cities -- Moscow and San Francisco -- show remarkable similarities in basic character.<br /><br />My grandpa was already thirty-six years old when this film was made, and many of my relatives were born before 1900, so I have had genuine contact with the now-distant past. In fact, those city streets -- especially San Francisco -- look exactly like many of the streets I was very familiar with in New York City as a child. The major difference is in the way women dressed, and the style of automobiles. When I was very young, however, the red trolley cars still ran on tracks embedded in cobblestone streets in New York, and there were sill a few horse-drawn vehicles to be found.<br /><br />Life may have been "simpler" but it was also much harder. My grandmothers and my great aunts were each worth a least TEN of today's "liberated" women roped together. And I'm to tell you that it was these poor, downtrodden slaves to child-bearing and dull domestic duty who invariably ruled the roost. They also gave the family most of the joy and conviviality we experienced in each other's nearly-constant company.<br /><br />I often wish they were still here, so I could do a better job of thanking them for the wonderful contributions they made to my existence, but I know they'd just laugh, and say, "Nonsense, child! I only did what needed to be done."FreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-9627810063445769522015-02-12T20:03:00.692-05:002015-02-12T20:03:00.692-05:00A simpler time. Contrast that with this 1906 San ...A simpler time. Contrast that with this 1906 San Francisco movie.<br /><br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdvRNdGlgzYFinntannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09234170229108668040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-58744299876468277832015-02-12T16:50:52.179-05:002015-02-12T16:50:52.179-05:00I'm so glad you appreciate it, Ducky. I first ...<br />I'm so glad you appreciate it, Ducky. I first encountered this during a bout with insomnia several years ago on Classic Arts Showcase, and found it touching and memorably beautiful. Finally -- after being reminded of it the other day at Farmer's Letters by footage from turn-of-the-century Berlin (possibly the Ruttman you mentioned?) -- I hunted for it on YouTube and found two versions -- this with the Borodin, which I agree suits it admirably, the other where some joker, who thought he knew better, removed the sound track and replaced it with some rather indifferent recordings of Russia Folk songs. A desecration in my opinion, event though I realize the silent film and the Borodin were "married" late in life.<br /><br />My only negative criticism of the editing is that the music is cut off abruptly in mid phrase -- another kind of desecration. It mars the beauty of he whole.<br /><br />Don't you just love the scene where the vendors are selling strings of mushrooms with fish displayed hanging from hooks?<br /><br />I agree about the beauty seen in the heavy city traffic involving horse-drawn sleighs.<br /><br />I agree also with Dame Myra Hess, who professed a hatred for machinery. How much more beautiful the world must have been before the invasion of all that NOISE and the TOXIC FUMES of Industrial Pollution took over!<br /><br />I wish I could experience the stillness of a cityscape like this portrait of pre-Revolutionary Moscow clad in snow just once!FreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-89354595136844707802015-02-12T14:15:58.965-05:002015-02-12T14:15:58.965-05:00That's a beautiful short. The cinematographer ...That's a beautiful short. The cinematographer went on to film Able Gance's "Napoleon". <br /><br />The score was grafted on much later but fits really well.<br />That scene of the sleighs navigating the intersection is pure poetry.<br /><br />1908, cinema was becoming a creative narrative medium and works<br />were being produced that really haven't lost any of their beauty to advancing technology. <br /><br />These city scenes evolved into the great cityscape features:<br /><br />Vigo - A propos de Nice<br />Ruttmann - Berlin: Symphony of a Great City<br />Vertov - Man with a Movie Camera<br /><br />Tremendous editing in all of them but they don't have the charm that is present in this short.<br />Ducky's herehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14608115001116619877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-5501135494900785622015-02-12T09:32:55.358-05:002015-02-12T09:32:55.358-05:00Such a beautiful city! Who knew?Such a beautiful city! Who knew?Thersiteshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15751286903359745316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-15037969380953493932015-02-12T05:36:58.962-05:002015-02-12T05:36:58.962-05:00Great find, FT!
In the Steppes of Central Asia is...Great find, FT!<br /><br /><i>In the Steppes of Central Asia</i> is a perfect accompaniment to this wonderful footage.Always On Watchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.com