Category Archives: Music

Music

Current Affairs, Film & Movies, Music, Television, Web & Technology

DoBlu.com – 4K UHD & Blu-ray Reviews | Deep Impact 4K UHD Review

By Matt Paprocki, May 4, 2023

From article…

A Somber Collision

Through all the times Irwin Allen destroyed cities in his ‘70s era disaster films, and as many times as Hollywood took out humanity through climate-based disasters or alien invasions, none did it better than Deep Impact.

Not for the destructive spectacle; Deep Impact has surprisingly little, and the visual effects lack the sizzle they once carried.

Instead, it’s because of Tea Leoni, standing in fear on the seashore with her previously disowned father, waiting for a cataclysmic tidal wave to end their lives.

Rarely does disaster claim the lead actor’s life. Here, she’s obliterated when humanity fails. There’s something inherently human about the acceptance, the defeat, and reality that drives Deep Impact’s drama to that moment (even if Leoni’s broadcast journalist shtick before lacks the same real world conviction).

Source: DoBlu.com – 4K UHD & Blu-ray Reviews | Deep Impact 4K UHD Review

Current Affairs, Film & Movies, Memories & History, Music, Pleasures, Web & Technology

YouTube, the jewel of the internet | Financial Times

By Janan Ganesh, April 21 2023


YouTube can provide everything from renowned old TV series such as Cosmos and Civilisation to talks by philosophers, documentaries on the Meiji restoration and scouting reports on Barcelona’s Gavi © FT montage

The retirement speech of General Douglas MacArthur. A talk on three Caravaggio paintings by a National Gallery curator. Several hours of woodland noise to fall asleep to. All 13 episodes of Civilisation. Clips of how Gavi is coming on at Barcelona. An interview with Saul Bellow on Swiss Italian TV. A review of the De’Longhi Dedica coffee machine. A Tame Impala gig I missed in Hackney last summer. Gore Vidal drawling his way through Venice for 90 minutes. A guide to the five tones in spoken Thai.

Carl Sagan’s Cosmos. Someone’s hour-long drive through my old neighbourhood in LA. A documentary about the Meiji Restoration in French. How to re-pressurise a boiler. The academic philosopher Anthony Quinton explaining Wittgenstein. Martha Nussbaum explaining Aristotle. An American expat eating bánh cuon in Hanoi. A British expat eating prawn pad kaprao in Bangkok. Versions of L’Orfeo from the Barcelona and Zurich opera houses. A discussion of how close China came to industrialising in the Song dynasty. Four parkour runners seemingly beating the Tube in a race from Moorgate to Farringdon stations. A 158-minute interview with Emmanuel Macron. How to use an Indesit washer-dryer. The above is a basket of goods from the great souk we call YouTube. I pay a tenner a month for these videos. I could put up with adverts and pay nothing.

Source: YouTube, the jewel of the internet | Financial Times

Arts & Humanities, Film & Movies, Memories & History, Music

Bob Dylan’s favourite cover of ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’

By Arun Starkey, Tue 2nd Nov 2021 16.15 GMT

Credit: Alamay

Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’ is one of Bob Dylan’s greatest moments. Written in 1973, the track features a glamorous, all-star band. Boasting The Byrds frontman Roger McGuinn on the six-string and Jim Keltner on the drums, it also utilised the talents of the iconic backing singers Carol Hunter, Donna Weiss and Brenda Patterson. Together, this stellar lineup created something spiritually driven and emotionally hard-hitting.

Out of all of Dylan’s post-1960s work, ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’ is one of his most loved. Described by Dylan biographer Clinton Heylin as “an exercise in splendid simplicity”, it discusses the notions of life and death, and through its glorious composition, it has earned legions of fans with an inter-generational appeal that is largely unseen in music.

YouTube video…

Source: Bob Dylan’s favourite cover of ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’

Current Affairs, Film & Movies, Music, Pleasures, Television, Web & Technology

Most User-Friendly Streaming Services: Netflix, Hulu And More – Variety

From ‘Glitchy’ HBO Max to ‘Overwhelming’ Amazon Prime Video, Hollywood Insiders Spill on Their (Least) Favorite Streaming Interfaces

By Selome Hailu, Jennifer Maas

Illustration by Zohar Lazar

Television viewing has never offered consumers more agency.

Though the streaming revolution has provided viewers with a dizzying array of TV and movie choices, it has also led to a free-for-all in how that content is accessed across various devices. Every streaming service has added custom touches to the overall user interface — the tabs, the rewind and fast-forward buttons and myriad other functions that viewers need in order to cue up their shows.

From the ability to speak into the Apple TV remote’s microphone instead of using a search bar to the fateful day when Netflix allowed users to shut off the bombardment of homepage autoplay, the interactions that fans have with streaming services have come a long way.

Source: Most User-Friendly Streaming Services: Netflix, Hulu And More – Variety

Arts & Humanities, Current Affairs, Film & Movies, Libraries, Music, Religion & Spirit, Times They Are A-Changing

Happy 50th: “Dark Side of the Moon” | Now See Hear! | Library of Congress

Posted by: Cary O’Dell, March 22, 2023

From article…

Fifty years ago this month, one of the most remarkable and deeply enduring albums ever made was released. Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side of the Moon” was added to the Library’s National Recording Registry in 2013. In the essay below, exclusive to the Library, Dr. Daniel J. Levitin examines the brutal beauty of this masterwork.

Angst.  Greed.  Alienation.  Questioning one’s own sanity.  Weird time signatures. Experimental sounds.  In 1973, Pink Floyd was a somewhat known progressive rock band, but it was this, their ninth album, that catapulted them into world class rock-star status.

“The Dark Side of the Moon” spent an astonishing 14 years on the “Billboard” album charts, and sold an estimated 45 million copies.  It is a work of outstanding artistry, skill, and craftsmanship that is popular in its reach and experimental in its grasp.

An engineering masterpiece, the album received a Grammy nomination for best engineered non-classical recording, based on beautifully captured instrumental tones and a warm, lush soundscape.  Engineer Alan Parsons and Mixing Supervisor Chris Thomas, who had worked extensively with The Beatles (the LP was mastered by engineer Wally Traugott), introduced a level of sonic beauty and clarity to the album that propelled the music off of any sound system to become an all-encompassing, immersive experience.

Source: Happy 50th: “Dark Side of the Moon” | Now See Hear!

Arts & Humanities, Current Affairs, Film & Movies, Libraries, Memories & History, Music, Pleasures, Television, Weblogs (Blogs)

Film Night at the Pickford Theater: “The Maltese Falcon” (1941) | Now See Hear! | Library of Congress

By Library of Congress, 15 March, 2023, Posted by: Matthew Barton

Every month, films from the Library of Congress’s collection are shown at the Mary Pickford Theater in the Library’s James Madison Building in Washington, DC. They range from titles newly preserved by the National Audio Visual Conservation Center film lab to classics from the National Film Registry to lesser known titles worthy of discovery.

Source: Film Night at the Pickford Theater: “The Maltese Falcon” (1941) | Now See Hear!

See Also: https://www.loc.gov/item/2021687678/?loclr-blognsh