Lucy (O’Donnell) Vodden, 1963-2009
Month: September 2009
This Side of Monte Schulz
Amazon.com says my copy of Monte Schulz’s new novel, “This Side of Jordan,” is on its way. Monte has been on a book tour, mostly making the rounds in California. I couldn’t catch him at one of his book signings, but here’s Monte in an audio interview with Mr. Media.
I really liked Jane in Monte’s novel, “Down by the River.” Jane is a good example of an idea that I’m fond of, which is the big external events of a story being window dressing for something deeper.
I was pleased when the TV series “The X-Files” had Mulder actually come out and say it, for those who were missing the point. I’m paraphrasing, but the point was, “Don’t you see, Scully? It’s not about aliens, and abductions and the government cover-up. It’s about you, Scully.” The same sort of theme was explored in Alan Moore’s “Watchmen,” relating to the character Laurie.
That’s what I took away from “Down by the River.” There was an assault, and a murder, and corruption in town, but the story really was about Jane. I don’t know if “This Side of Jordan” has a character as appealing as Jane, but I’m looking forward to reading it.
Beatles Widget
If you haven’t played with the Beatles Widget yet, give it a try. They could have called it the Ono Sideboard.
‘A Hard Day’s Night’ on CD-ROM
Way back in January 1994, I ordered my first “serious” desktop computer. It was MS-DOS 5 with Windows 3.1, on a 40 MHz AMD processor with 4 MB of memory, a 160 MB drive, generic Tseng ET4000 video card, and a 14″ SVGA CRT. I installed a Soundblaster 16 card with a proprietary SCSI interface for a Panasonic CD-ROM drive that used caddies.
One of the first CD-ROM’s I had (which, come to think of it, might have been a gift from Denro), was “The Beatles in A Hard Day’s Night, the complete uncut movie”. It was put out by the Voyager Company, known for its high quality Criterion label of LaserDisc videos. My LD copies of “A Hard Day’s Night” and “HELP!” are both from Criterion.
I was thrilled with this new technology! I could actually watch the movie on my computer, albeit in extremely compromised quality, with the script automatically following along. Here are some sample screens.
Enlarged, the screen caps show the actual video image size. I’ve scaled up one of the MOV files from the CD to 320×240. It runs at a measly 16 fps, but this was hot stuff in 1993, with online streaming video still a long way off. Note that even here, in this limited presentation, “I Should Have Known Better” sounds better than on the Miramax DVD!
[MEDIA=67]
A Hard Disc’s Night
There is supposed to be yet another video release coming of the Beatles movie, A Hard Day’s Night. That’s good, because the DVD is excessively cropped for widescreen format, it pushes the contrast too hard and, for the songs, the sound is terrible compared to the 1987 release on the defunct LaserDisc format. Here’s the comparison.
Prue Bury with Pattie Boyd on the AHDN LD…
[media id=63 width=512 height=408]
…and on the Miramax AHDN DVD.
[media id=64 width=512 height=312]
Here’s something you may not know. The scene in the baggage car wasn’t filmed on the train. Prue Bury told me…
All the singing on the train was shot in the studio,with someone shaking a carriage about!!
According to Mark Lewisohn in “The Complete Beatles Chronicles”…
Wednesday, March 11, 1964:
On this day, working from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm, the group filmed on a set resembling a train guard’s van, where they played cards and also mimed to ‘I Should Have Known Better’, later edited into the film’s train sequences.
Here is “I Should Have Known Better” as presented on LD…
[media id=65 width=512 height=408]
… and on DVD.
[media id=66 width=512 height=312]
Addendum: It seems the “new” AHDN DVD is only on Blu-Ray, and only in Canada, and it’s the same questionable video transfer from the Miramax DVD. But the sound is supposedly greatly improved.
I suppose the best all-around video version of “A Hard Day’s Night” is the original DVD release, which explains why it’s going for a premium on Amazon Marketplace.
“I know it’s America here… I’ve noticed.”
The Beatles flood continues. In a perfect world, when the Beatles arrived in the United States for the first time they would have been followed by a film crew. What’s that? They were?? Incredible!
[MEDIA=62]
There’s a lot more footage available on YouTube, but here are ten interesting minutes I’ve edited, starting with their arrival on Friday, and ending when they left the Plaza Hotel suite on Sunday for CBS studios, and their famous appearance on Ed Sullivan’s variety show.
- At the airport press conference John says “we need money first” before they can sing. Later, Paul and Ringo seem to have no recollection of John’s quip.
- The reporters took the Beatles as a joke. It seems silly now that their hair was such a big deal.
- The boys appeared excited seeing themselves on TV.
- Walter Cronkite can be heard closing his CBS broadcast with news of the Beatles’ visit. Cronkite was one of the first American newscasters to feature the Beatles in 1963.
- The boys seemed genuinely tired from jet lag, discussing the time difference and the prospect of going out later. A hard day’s night.
- John really was very cutting when he felt he was suffering fools. Murray “the K” Kaufman, with his toupee, had no idea that “wacker” meant “a stupid person.”
- “Cyn” is, of course, John’s wife Cynthia. She’s told to watch Channel 2 at 8.
- John plays around with a mouth organ. Three years later, the tune would become the opening to “Strawberry Fields Forever.”
- Love the Pepsi transistor radios.