Touring Test

If not for a little virus goin’ ’round, I would have returned by now to Ticonderoga, NY, to visit the Star Trek Original Series Set Tour. William Shatner has been a guest there quite a few times, and he loves the place.

Working from original blueprints, the attention to detail in recreating the sets is uncanny. I’ve added labels to this photo of a model showing the layout exactly as it was created for the original series. I think the only thing I missed is the ladder in the middle of the corridor.

Star Trek set model

Everything aboard the USS Enterprise happens somewhere in those areas. Seeing the sets exactly as the actors did is an experience that brings a new appreciation for the series.

Here’s a picture of the corridor. There’s the ladder.

Cheek-fil-A

It’s been exactly four years since a top Boston plastic surgeon closed up the huge hole in my scalp, resulting from the removal of melanoma skin cancer. I assume he makes more money from cosmetic surgery than reconstructive. I’ve stayed on his mailing list and I continue to receive promotional announcements. This one showed up today:

Cheek Filler

The late Jo Shishido was known for having cheek filler surgery, in an effort to have a more distinctive onscreen appearance. I became aware of Shishido only recently, from Eddie Muller’s “Noir Alley” series on TCM.

Shishido appeared in many Yakuza (gangster) movies. Regarded as one of the best is Seijun Suzuki’s Youth of the Beast. Click the “CC” icon if the subtitles don’t appear automatically.

https://youtu.be/IlDdkouwR14

HELP, I’m Down!

“Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane” is a 2-sided Beatles hit with both songs based upon childhood memories. But I think “Help!” and “I’m Down” can also been thought of as a single with both sides having related ideas.

Both songs are about feeling bad, but I think John’s is more heartfelt. It’s almost a follow-up to “I’m a Loser,” while Paul’s song seems more like the flip-side it is.

John’s sons were born to two different, and very different, mothers. They had different relationships with their father, and they have different memories of him, but with similar feelings.

https://youtu.be/Bh87SeH1y8g

DLC – Doug Loves Cuphead

If I keep posting about Cuphead this way, I’ll have to give him his own category. The “Delicious Last Course” title seemed curious to me, so I asked an expert, “Why DLC?” The answer is it’s stating exactly what the long-delayed game addendum will be — Downloadable Content.

Until the Netflix series premieres, here is the closest thing available to a Cuphead cartoon that’s independent of the gameplay. It starts with the first thing every new animator must master, a walk cycle.

Follow-up: Netflix has a preview of the cartoon series. It looks… okay… but it completely lacks the quirky charm of the work done by the original team. I’ve been told the animation shows the influence of the CalArts School of Film/Video.