![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eerietomNote
This blog entry is one of two parts; this part deals with various media I watched on August 3, 2023; the other part deals with some thoughts (from the same day) about how I hear music the way I do while stoned.
I took my tincture at home, then went out for lunch, then headed to the OHSU Wellness Center. My plan was to ride the tram and shoot some footage for a music video, but the tincture hit me pretty hard and standing in a rocking tram while shoulder to shoulder with others didn’t seem like a very smart idea, so I sat in the Wellness Center lobby (with a coffee and a pastry) to chill for a while. As you may read in the other part, I really tripped on the ambient sounds and dictated many notes into my phone. After a while I was ready to do something else, but still felt too uneven on my feet to jump on the tram. I decided to watch some comedy—something familiar—and chose this:
Are You Being Served?, dir. Gordon Elsbury, 1979
Episode: “Mrs. Slocombe, Senior Person”
As I had neglected to bring my earbuds, I kept the sound very low, not wishing to disturb anyone else. I was only able to catch the occasional bit of dialogue now and then, as if heavy tremolo had been randomly applied. The audience laughter was easier to hear, but it was surreal having the audience laugh at seemingly nothing. I then noticed the ambient noises of the lobby provided some interesting (and often comical) juxtapositions ...
☆ Mrs. Slocombe said something to Mr. Humphries, and when he opened his mouth to reply, there was the sound of a baby crying.
☆ When Mrs. Slocombe began eating the meringues, someone nearby began rustling some paper rather noisily, as if Mrs. Slocombe was really grinding her food.
☆ Mrs. Slocombe opened her mouth to say something, and the baby that had been crying earlier was now babbling, like “Goo goo ... gaa!”
☆ In another scene, when she opened her mouth to speak, a shrill whine (from a cart with squeaky wheels, I believe) came out, like she was some demented bird squawking.
Although I had seen this episode many times before, I still wish I could catch some of the dialogue. I turned on auto-captioning, which is not always the most reliable. For example:
☆ Mrs. Slocombe referred to Mr. Grace as “Mr. Grizz” ... that in itself is not particularly funny, but I imagined she suddenly had a strange Southern accent.
☆ She actually said “Oh, how nasty!” but the captioning read, “Oh, I’m nasty!”
☆ She actually said, “Hello, Cosmetics? Miss Comlozi, please.” but the captioning read, “Hello, Cosmetics? Miss Come Loser, please.” What on earth is a come loser? Is that like the opposite of bukkake?
☆ While lying on a stretcher after succumbing to food poisoning, she actually said, “I want to go to the loo!” but the captioning read, “I want to go to the Louvre!”
☆ Half the time she was addressed as Mrs. Slocombe, and the other half as Mr. Slocombe. What made it funny was imagining the staff were not sure what her gender was, and so made guesses, but never did she take offense or correct them, like she was happy to respond to either.
☆ Miss Brahms was referred to as “Miss Brown”, “Miss Bronze”, and the one that made me laugh the hardest, “Miss Burns”, because I pictured her married to Montgomery Burns from The Simpsons.
Why I thought this, I don’t know, but I felt like I was watching the most fucked up French comedy film ever made. And strangest of all, when Mrs. Slocombe finds out the meringues she’s been eating are going to give her food poisoning, she looks at Mr. Humphries and looks quite ill. However, the way I saw it made me imagine she was Greta Garbo! Ages ago, I read a review of a Garbo film where the critic complained that Garbo’s idea of emoting was to look like she had a headache. And for whatever reason, that’s what popped into my head when watching Mrs. Slocombe—it was as if Garbo had gotten older and plumper but had never retired.
I reached the bus stop and waited for my bus. Two #17 buses pulled up at same time, one right behind the other. Nearly everyone was getting on the first bus but a few headed for the second one. One woman stopped a few feet from the second bus’s door and looked questioningly at the driver. The driver gave her a cheerful thumbs up. The woman took a step towards the door then reared back, as if she’d seen a snake. She looked again at the bus driver, as if re-confirming permission to board. The driver gave her a more sarcastic, trenchant thumbs up. Finally assured it was safe, the woman got on board.
My bus arrived and we took off. A couple of blocks away there was a man on the sidewalk who looked like the love child of Henry Rollins and Seth MacFarlane. About thirty, on the thin side. He was hunched over almost at a 90° angle, gingerly stepping his way down the street. He was a heron, searching for prey, trying to disturb the water as little as possible.
With music by jazz musician Don Ellis. This was an interesting bit of synchronicity, considering what I wrote in the companion blog about complex time signatures, for Wikipedia had this to say:
This is definitely someone whose music I will have to explore!
Fish Tales, dir. Jack King, 1936
Porky in Wackyland, dir. Robert Clampett, 1938
Gesang der Jünglige, Karlheinz Stockhausen, 1955-1956
A 2001 performance at the Polar Music Prize Ceremony. Besides the really avant-garde music, I was amazed by the staging: a screen showed what looked like animated energy tendrils, which were also superimposed over the video. Spotlights played back and forth over the audience, many of whom sat with their eyes closed, in rapt attention—no selfies, no chatter.
Nu, pogodi! (2 episodes), dir. Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin, 1969-1970
The New Avengers, dir. Sidney Hayers, 1979
Episode: “The Last of the Cybernauts...??” I was a fan of The New Avengers when I lived in England as a kid. This episode was a little surreal, particularly the bad guy’s lair, which had life-size cutouts of the New Avengers, and much larger than life cutouts of their faces. It was like some kind of obsessive art gallery installation.
This blog entry is one of two parts; this part deals with various media I watched on August 3, 2023; the other part deals with some thoughts (from the same day) about how I hear music the way I do while stoned.
I took my tincture at home, then went out for lunch, then headed to the OHSU Wellness Center. My plan was to ride the tram and shoot some footage for a music video, but the tincture hit me pretty hard and standing in a rocking tram while shoulder to shoulder with others didn’t seem like a very smart idea, so I sat in the Wellness Center lobby (with a coffee and a pastry) to chill for a while. As you may read in the other part, I really tripped on the ambient sounds and dictated many notes into my phone. After a while I was ready to do something else, but still felt too uneven on my feet to jump on the tram. I decided to watch some comedy—something familiar—and chose this:
Are You Being Served?, dir. Gordon Elsbury, 1979
Episode: “Mrs. Slocombe, Senior Person”
As I had neglected to bring my earbuds, I kept the sound very low, not wishing to disturb anyone else. I was only able to catch the occasional bit of dialogue now and then, as if heavy tremolo had been randomly applied. The audience laughter was easier to hear, but it was surreal having the audience laugh at seemingly nothing. I then noticed the ambient noises of the lobby provided some interesting (and often comical) juxtapositions ...
☆ Mrs. Slocombe said something to Mr. Humphries, and when he opened his mouth to reply, there was the sound of a baby crying.
☆ When Mrs. Slocombe began eating the meringues, someone nearby began rustling some paper rather noisily, as if Mrs. Slocombe was really grinding her food.
☆ Mrs. Slocombe opened her mouth to say something, and the baby that had been crying earlier was now babbling, like “Goo goo ... gaa!”
☆ In another scene, when she opened her mouth to speak, a shrill whine (from a cart with squeaky wheels, I believe) came out, like she was some demented bird squawking.
Although I had seen this episode many times before, I still wish I could catch some of the dialogue. I turned on auto-captioning, which is not always the most reliable. For example:
☆ Mrs. Slocombe referred to Mr. Grace as “Mr. Grizz” ... that in itself is not particularly funny, but I imagined she suddenly had a strange Southern accent.
☆ She actually said “Oh, how nasty!” but the captioning read, “Oh, I’m nasty!”
☆ She actually said, “Hello, Cosmetics? Miss Comlozi, please.” but the captioning read, “Hello, Cosmetics? Miss Come Loser, please.” What on earth is a come loser? Is that like the opposite of bukkake?
☆ While lying on a stretcher after succumbing to food poisoning, she actually said, “I want to go to the loo!” but the captioning read, “I want to go to the Louvre!”
☆ Half the time she was addressed as Mrs. Slocombe, and the other half as Mr. Slocombe. What made it funny was imagining the staff were not sure what her gender was, and so made guesses, but never did she take offense or correct them, like she was happy to respond to either.
☆ Miss Brahms was referred to as “Miss Brown”, “Miss Bronze”, and the one that made me laugh the hardest, “Miss Burns”, because I pictured her married to Montgomery Burns from The Simpsons.
Why I thought this, I don’t know, but I felt like I was watching the most fucked up French comedy film ever made. And strangest of all, when Mrs. Slocombe finds out the meringues she’s been eating are going to give her food poisoning, she looks at Mr. Humphries and looks quite ill. However, the way I saw it made me imagine she was Greta Garbo! Ages ago, I read a review of a Garbo film where the critic complained that Garbo’s idea of emoting was to look like she had a headache. And for whatever reason, that’s what popped into my head when watching Mrs. Slocombe—it was as if Garbo had gotten older and plumper but had never retired.
The tram and the bus
Eventually, I felt clear-headed enough to ride the tram. I went to the top and walked around a little. While riding the tram down, I was checking out this nurse standing directly in front of me. I didn’t get a good look at his face but he seemed a Mediterranean type, attractive, three day growth of beard, built nicely. But what was hypnotizing me was his hair. Absolute jet black, almost iridescent as it caught the rays of the sun. It was as if his hair had been fashioned from the feathers of a raven.I reached the bus stop and waited for my bus. Two #17 buses pulled up at same time, one right behind the other. Nearly everyone was getting on the first bus but a few headed for the second one. One woman stopped a few feet from the second bus’s door and looked questioningly at the driver. The driver gave her a cheerful thumbs up. The woman took a step towards the door then reared back, as if she’d seen a snake. She looked again at the bus driver, as if re-confirming permission to board. The driver gave her a more sarcastic, trenchant thumbs up. Finally assured it was safe, the woman got on board.
My bus arrived and we took off. A couple of blocks away there was a man on the sidewalk who looked like the love child of Henry Rollins and Seth MacFarlane. About thirty, on the thin side. He was hunched over almost at a 90° angle, gingerly stepping his way down the street. He was a heron, searching for prey, trying to disturb the water as little as possible.
Evening
Moon Zero Two (MST3K version), dir. Roy Ward Baker, 1969With music by jazz musician Don Ellis. This was an interesting bit of synchronicity, considering what I wrote in the companion blog about complex time signatures, for Wikipedia had this to say:
| Drawing from his compositional and arranging experience, as well as from his studies of Indian music, Ellis began to write jazz-based music with the time signatures he had studied with [Harihar] Rao. These included not only 5/4, 7/8, and 9/4, but also more complex rhythmic cycles like 19/8 and 27/16. In the future, Ellis would use many more complex meters, as well as complex subdivisions of more standard meters. ... and ... Ellis also had a customized trumpet made for him by the Holton company, which he received in September 1965. Its additional (fourth) valve enabled it to produce quarter tones. Some claim that the inspiration for this may have been due to his studies of Indian music, which includes bent pitches that some ethnomusicologists refer to as “microtones”. However, it was probably more the result of Ellis’s previous involvement with avant-garde classical music, in which many composers were experimenting with Western tonality and intervals ... |
This is definitely someone whose music I will have to explore!
Fish Tales, dir. Jack King, 1936
Porky in Wackyland, dir. Robert Clampett, 1938
Gesang der Jünglige, Karlheinz Stockhausen, 1955-1956
A 2001 performance at the Polar Music Prize Ceremony. Besides the really avant-garde music, I was amazed by the staging: a screen showed what looked like animated energy tendrils, which were also superimposed over the video. Spotlights played back and forth over the audience, many of whom sat with their eyes closed, in rapt attention—no selfies, no chatter.
Nu, pogodi! (2 episodes), dir. Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin, 1969-1970
The New Avengers, dir. Sidney Hayers, 1979
Episode: “The Last of the Cybernauts...??” I was a fan of The New Avengers when I lived in England as a kid. This episode was a little surreal, particularly the bad guy’s lair, which had life-size cutouts of the New Avengers, and much larger than life cutouts of their faces. It was like some kind of obsessive art gallery installation.
