Discussion of the man and his work.

OK; I know this is my second post here in less than 24 hours, but, to tie in the lively discussion earlier on the new Star Trek film, I want to pass along the link for a listing of "Recommended alternatives to STAR TREK: INTO THE DARKNESS, as "The City on the Edge of Forever" was the first one listed.

Of the ones on the list, I would say, hands down, the best musical scores are the ones for STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN ("KHAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNN!!!) and STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (which Jerry Goldsmith seemed to have recycled for AIR FORCE ONE. The theme he wrote for STAR TREK: VOYAGER is so beautiful and majestic...full of that high-octane Richard Straussian/Wagnerian orchestration....)


http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/news/2013/may/15/recommended-alternatives-star-trek-darkness/


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

OFF TOPIC:

Alex Lifeson's (I love that man!) acceptance speech for Rush's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (not that I care diddly squat for that institution) was one of the greatest things ever...RUSH AND ROLL FOREVER!!!

Jarvis
I, on the other hand, would prefer a troll-free environment. Especially trolls who wear masks.

The hell with that shit.

Chuck

Don't You Lie To Me
In regards to Doug and Shadow and Frank's comments concerning Paul Jarvis:

My first thoughts were "That was a lot of fun" "I wonder if he is for real?"

Sharper minds than mine have answered that question.

Nobody wants to be made the fool, but despite that, I have to admit that I would enjoy hearing his voice again.

My two cents.

jimmy

Late to the game here, but if I may - Both seasons of the very great Harry O have been recently released on DVD by Warner Archives, and are available on Amazon. Highly recommended, as is the great TV movie that served as a pilot, "Smile Jenny, You're Dead," also available on DVD. Worth the money.

Good lookin out Douglas.

Regarding Doug's note about "Paul Jarvis"
I had the same, gut-level, reaction to that post myself. Not just the obvious mis-spellings as regards English versus American, and cliche's like "a fresh cup of tea", "a right pickle", "contraption called 'Twitter'", etc., but also the "passive-aggressive" comments about things like Gay rights.
And, of course, "Jarvis" -- the cliche name for a butler -- seemed bogus in light of all the other things.

Figured it was somebody pretending, again, with sophomoric or even more malicious intent. But after a few people did the welcome greetings, I figured it best not to make a big deal about it. After all, trolls are best ignored.

But I'm glad to learn someone else noticed the fishy smell. I second that olfactory notion.

OFF TOPIC : Hipster Dinosaurs!!!!!!!!!!!



I love the one with the two dinosaurs, where one tells the other, "Don't be an idiot--Vampire Weekend and RaRa Riot sound nothing alike!"

The other one I love shows one holding a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon and saying, "I only smoke American Spirits."

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ihatedinosaurs/hipster-dinosaurs-ppz

Paul Jarvis -- Not

I guess it's on me.

Paul Jarvis is a fabrication, a caricature of an Englishman, a troll's construct. A native of the UK would normally write "laboured," "colour," and "defence;" not "labored," "color," and "defense." As well, he would not face arrest for the sort of comments he claims to have posted online.

Even more telling is the provocation in this passage:

"I visited a page belonging to a person campaigning for gay marriage and posted a few harmless comments. You know, something about 'liberal decadence' and how 'the lady-garden must only be invaded by the trouser-snake'. You know, well-judged statements that all right-thinking people would surely agree with."

That is the work of a baiter and an asshole.

I apologize for any embarrassment caused by this revelation.

D.

Mornin' to ye Harlan,

I'm figuring if you do not find my mail by Thursday I will simply re-send. Let me know if there's another address that might be better.

Apart, I'll watch for your confirmation.

Thanks for the vigilance.

All you webheads should be worried about Tumblr being sold to Yahoo:

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/why_is_tumblr_worth_11_billion_to_yahoo_you_20130521/

Harry O was a classic! He had that boat he was building, named The Answer, outside his place on the beach, but it never got finished. Sort of the dream project we all tend to harbor. I taped every episode off the cable channel when it was rerun. It's my favorite Janssen, although I am also partial to the TV movie Golden Gate Murders(which I also have on tape), because it featured Rege Cordic, who had a very funny morning radio show on KDKA for years when I was a youth, with skits involving alien creatures and movie/TV takeoffs like The Magnificent Several and Gunstroke. Anybody else remember Rege? Maybe Harlan knew him??

Harry O
Janssen's secret service/treasury agent series was called O'Hara US Treasury; it was a Jack Webb production and came before Harry O.

Harry O was a private eye series created by the late great Howard Rodman, who wrote the two pilot films and a couple of the episodes; some of the episodes were written by Stephen Kandel, as I recall. The show was a joy, and is well worth the bucks the Warner Archive is asking for it (and don't skip the pilot film Smile, Jenny, You're Dead which is available separately from the series sets). Believe Anthony Zerbe took an Emmy for his work, and Janssen was never better than he was here.

And I believe Janssen's last tv-movie was called City in Fear with Robert Vaughn and Mickey Rourke. Also well worth digging up.

Thanks to John and Mark
JOHN P: That was "O'Hara" -- I had to look it up. Wrong show. "Harry O" came later.

MARK T: Thanks for the feed-back. I was thinking about buying it on DVD, but I wasn't sure I could trust my early teen memories (and sensibilities). I noticed it got good critical reviews, and was canceled only because the head of the network opted for things like "Charlie's Angels" instead of an aged P.I. with a limp, who often took the bus because he (if I remember right) didn't own a car.

Anyway, I just looking for feedback from folks who might've seen it way back when to see if it was as good as I "remember".

Cheers,
DTS (who will now go into whisper mode for a few days).

United States
DTS,

Sure, I remember Harry-O. I think it was the last or second-to-last thing Jansen did. Retired cop (due to injury---he walked with a limp) working as private detective. Lived near a beach. That was a decade of PI shows, I believe. I vaguely recall it being fairly good.

Harry O
I remember it David played a Secret Service/Treasury Agent I think it was right before his last movie Birds of Prey

Does Anybody Remember...?
Hey, ALL: The early discussions of "Star Trek", etc., got me to remember a few TV shows I kinda dug during the '70s ("Rockford Files", etc.) and I'm now wondering:
Does Anybody remember a show called "Harry O" which starred David Janssen and Anthony Zerbe? I used to enjoy that P.I. show, and I think it was pretty good, but maybe my memories are colored by time and my inexperience and younger age at the time they aired.

Anyway: Anybody remember "Harry O" -- Harlan, Josh Olson, anyone -- and, if so, what'd ya think of it? Better than most, just so-so, or godawful?

Color me curious in oz,
Cheers,
DTS

Harlan being shamelessly exploited...
I couldn't help myself.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1626567590/comicbook-babylon-the-real-villains-and-heroes-of

Rest up, Brutha Ray

Motel Money Murder Madness

TYPO


That would be Northampton with only one "h."

-he

WELCOME TO PAUL JARVIS


What a gracious lad you are. It is my hope that you'll find the plethora of sages and punsters hereabouts salutary. They have put up with me for some extended while now, and I am a stale doughnut to try to masticate. I've been to Northhampton--my wife being from Hereford--and it was charming when I knew it. I hope, for you, it remains so even today. Sit down, make yourself at home.

Yr. Pal, Harlan

"We waste precious resources on gossip and faulty logic."

Eyes a' rollin'.

Consider the source.

Jan,

I want to avoid having too big a discussion of the film out here on the Pavilion, and if you want to discuss further I'd be happy to meet up in the regular forum, but I simply believe that a plot in which Kirk and Spock use their wits to defeat a villain is a smarter and more elegant solution than the brutal beatdown approach. That's all.

Breaking the cycle of violence

Others can speak for the current Star Trek movie. I just want to say that one of (not the only, just one of) the themes you see in "Arena", "Spectre of the Gun", "Day of the Dove" and "Elan of Troyous" is the idea of taking risks or making sacrifices in order to end a cycle of violence. Can anyone imagine in a modern film someone doing what Kirk did in "The Empath", handing the weapon over to the Vians and saying "If it's death that you want, here are four lives for you." The idea was not to destroy your enemy, but to win them over if possible. Even Khan and McGivers aren't treated punitively--they're given a chance to start again.

Star Trek at its best was about imagining a better future wherein the worst of our human habits are curtailed. As Kirk said in "A Taste of Armageddon", we're a killer species, but we are not going to kill, today. That's all it takes, he says: I'm not going to kill, today. What frightens me is that audiences today confronted with the scene where Kirk uncocks his revolver and throws it away would be dissatisfied and annoyed by not seeing Wyatt Earp's brains blasted all over the screen in loving 3-D digital technicolor.

Paul Jarvus, you have a wonderful way about you, you also have the makings of a wonderful writer. Hope you are working in that realm, if not, do. I was shocked to hear about your misstep, but not surprised. In many countries you can get jail for speaking ill of someone. Obviously in the middle east you can get beheaded. Here in America you can not only speak ill of someone, you can defame someone and everybody yawns. Certainly bad manners and Twittercurses are bad for society but one great thing about this country is our level of free speech protection.

We are one of the few countries where you can actually look at the declassified records of the state. In many countries they don't have to release shit. Here it's public property, in keeping with common law ideals of the commons--public space. You can read about our crimes, get appalled and do something or do what most of us do and watch tv or jack off to Oprah or Deepak Chopra.

The thing that pains me is to see so many Americans take their freedoms for granted. We waste precious resources on gossip and faulty logic. Twitter is a wasteland of backstabbing and irate meanness. We do have great access to freedom, but we avoid it like a hornet's nest. Our culture tells us learning ideas is arrogant, elitist. It's what the ivory tower circle jerks too. We have uninformed boobs who vote when Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter say jump. We have a corporate/elite media who avoid major topics like the trial of Rios Montt and the Bangladesh fire. They glabber on about Watergate, but when you look at that minor mess, all you get is a bungling burglary, where one end of power went after another end. Power has the guns to fight back. Compare that bit to Cointelpro or the bombing of Cambodia. Watergate is Paris Hilton's shopping schedule compared to those stories, but we gave reporter's awards for that, while real reporters like IF Stone just went off and died.

Mr. Jarvus, don't thank the government for our freedoms, thank activism for centuries. Governments take away freedom, they do not bestow it. Any freedom we have now some unnamed person died or was hounded for us. We give medals to murdering soldiers, not to them. Without the activist there is no country. Ours and yours are demonized. Why? Crucifixion always follows truth tellers.

Obama is in a long line of leaders who hates both basic democratic principles and basic moral ones. The AP do good work, so they are went after. So does Wikileaks. England is colluding with us to butt rape Julian Assange. Bradley Manning is the real victim, as are Assata Shakur and Mumia Abu Jamal.

To be fair we need to thank Wilhelm Humboldt, a German, for anarchism. Left libertarianism starts with this gent:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_von_Humboldt

Think freely Jarvus and be easy on Tim Raven. He has a heart.

----------

Speaking of anarchists. The Reader's Digest did a poll of the 100 most trusted Americans and Noam Chomsky came in at number twenty! I have a smile from ear to ear. Tom Hanks is number one. Chomsky beat out Oprah, Obama, Jon Stewart, almost beat Michelle Obama, at number 19.

Reader's Digest is about as heartland as you get. How in fucks name do they even know Chomsky? I am utterly shocked.

All you folks who diss my Noamie, the people like him. Yessssss, I'm gonna gloat.

IMAX,3D,decibels,Art Deco
First of all thank you for that very entertaining response, Mr Ellison. The IMAX format can be very effective. While I've never seen a theatrical release in IMAX I have seen any number of presentations in the museums hereabouts. The secret is to sit as high up and as far back as possible.

The problem with 3D is that the processing involved tends to wash out the color of the film and causes the image to seem dim. And of course it allows the theaters to charge extra for the privilege. The most effective use of 3D I've seen was in Werner Herzog's recent film, CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS, where he used it to highlight the contours of prehistoric art in Chauvet cave. However after watching the film in 2D I can't say anything was really lost.

The Deep Purple concert level sound in most theaters these days is a response to people refusing to shut the fuck up during films. The last time I yelled at somebody in a theater to shut up they responded by saying "Well I bought a ticket." Nearest I can parse this out is that they purchased a ticket so they can do whatever they want in the movie. Fortunately enough people complained that the manager eventually came in and asked them to leave. Of course by that time the whole experience had been spoiled. For this I support the death penalty.

What has saved the movie going experience for me is the presence of the AFI Silver Theater just up the road here in Silver Spring, a fabulously restored old Art Deco movie house. They show first run, non-blockbuster, Art House movies and also screen old classic films. They're currently doing a Howard Hawks restrospective. It's been wonderful for me to see for the first time many of these old films projected in an actual theater. And the place is beautiful.

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