What dies when famous people die?

The past days have been really sad here, in the most southern country in the world. Last Friday, a plane with 21 passengers aboard went from the continent to an island. When they tried to land, something happened, and the plane crashed in the sea. 21 people missing.

And you know why they were trying to get to Juan Fernández island? 

Because they were in a social campaign to rebuild Chile after the 2010 earthquake. They had been there before and the small population living there was grateful. Some of the passengers were part of the Air Force, some of them were part of the Ministry of Culture, some of them were part of a social movement dedicated to rebuild the country, and some of them were part of a popular TV morning show.

By now, they have found 14 victims. Some of them were not even the complete bodies. The accident was too violent, the plane was smashed to smithereens.

One of the most famous passengers, 44 years old TV show presenter, Felipe Camiroaga was identified yesterday (I think he looked a bit like Clark Gable). TV viewers have felt his death in a very deep way, like he was a relative or something.  Hundreds of people have visited the TV station building and lit candles, left flowers and letters. I've seen women and men crying for him: for more than 20 years Felipe was part of their lives, bringing good vibes, humor and a natural presence to their daily routines.

That's the power of TV and cinema.

In the way I see things, when you die, your existence just stops. No more emotions, no more worries, no more happiness, no more sadness, no more nothing. So, the people that stays is really crying for something they have lost. For something they're missing. For something they fear. A sense of impotence and injustice is also there.

And when famous people perish, you also feel that death is something real, that it can reach everybody, no matter how ubiquitous the screens seem to make them.

This accident has made me think in Carole Lombard's death, who died in a mission, fighting for her beliefs and what she thought it was correct and right. Death was waiting for her too, in the heights, in the mountains. 

When famous people die, a bit of hope dies with them. But we, the survivors, can extend their existence with the memory. And, in the end, famous people are lucky: the screens help us to make them somehow immortal.

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PS: In the last show Felipe did, a few hours before his death, he interviewed Nick Vujicic, an Australian guy that was born without arms and legs and now he travels the world giving a message of hope. You can watch the interview here: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4.

Sometimes I feel like Jacqueline Bisset...

...in Two For the Road.

Yeah, not because I got chickenpox and can't run away with Albert Finney, allowing Audrey Hepburn to make her move and finally marry the guy.....

....but because I just got a very mediocre grade in a work for which I spent days researching and designing. 

ARRRRGHHHHH!

That's all, mean universe.

PS: Stay tuned, this Friday we have another very special guest picking her favorite movie items in If I had to keep 4. Very cool items indeed :)

PPS: I'm really sorry for the randomness of this post.

PPPS: Did you know that Jacqueline Bisset was partially dubbed in Two for the road?

"I love Lucy": breaking Language & Cultural Barriers

(This post is part of the Loving Lucy Blogathon hosted by True Classics)

One of the things from I love Lucy that stand out for me, is the fact they included speaking another language, español in this case, as a recurrent situation. The fact that Ricky Ricardo is Cuban means that there's a cultural barrier between him and Lucy. But I like the way they approached to these barriers throughout the series: it was a problem for both of them, not just for one of them; it meant that Lucy wasn't able to speak a second language and that she didn't know much about her husband's country, and it meant that Ricky had to struggle to improve his English.

Many hilarious scenes were born from this subject. Remember when Lucy recreates "Cuba" for Ricky to feel at home? It's obvious that she mixed a lot of the general ideas about what Latin America is: ponchos, donkeys, Brazilian songs, lots of kids...

This is a common problem in a lot of American movies: the portray of different cultures is based on prejudice, stereotype and lack of research. Why I don't mind this in the case of I love Lucy? Because the screenwriters decided to make it evident by exaggerating the elements and turning it into something positive by showing that Lucy is making an effort to help her foreign husband.

Another of my favorite scenes is when Lucy meets her mother-in-law and then when she tries to explain her what they're having for supper. Here, both women are in the same situation, trying to help each other, because both have a lack of knowledge:

Another recurrent situation is Lucy making fun of Ricky's accent and difficulty to express correctly what he's trying to say (from 00.00 to 01.26):

But at the same time, there are many times where Lucy simply cannot follow her husband or his friends and she's equally lost and depends only on him to understand what the heck is going on:

In one episode they discuss their language problem. Lucy says she wants her child to speak perfect English; Ricky says his English is good, so Lucy tests him. Even when things start bad for poor Ricky, in the end, there's no winning figure: English's rules are weird sometimes.

In another episode, the Ricardos visit Cuba and the roles are reversed. Lucy meets her husband's family for the first time, but because she doesn't speak Spanish she feels uncomfortable and nervous. Little Ricky, on the other hand, enjoys the advantages of speaking more than a language:

So, at the end of the day what matters the most in this show, are those elements that bring people together, no matter where are they from. Another example of this is when Ricky tells the child The Little Red Riding Hood (La Caperucita Roja) and we all understand what he's saying, even when it's in Spanglish.

There are universal things that go beyond any language/cultural barrier. I love Lucy understands that and work on that with respect and fairness (and a great sense of humour), and I think that's one of  things that made it so successful around the globe.

Childhood memories: "Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken" (1991)

(Today I'll make an exception and I'll talk about a more recent film).

I think we all had a movie obsession when we were children. My youngest brother used to watch every.single.day Disney's Robin Hood after kindergarten. Even when they're cool, the rest of my brothers and I couldn't stand the songs anymore. But he arrived with his little backpack, kneeled down in front of the TV and put the famous VHS. 

I had a movie obsession too. I think I was 7 or 8 and I did the same: arrived home from school and watched Disney's Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken over and over. The problem was I didn't own the VHS; my mom rented it from Errol's (I feel so old). To me that was the perfect movie: it had horses and a main character I admired. It's the (very fictionalized) story of Sonora Webster Carver, a famous horse diver in the 20s, 30s and 40s:

Basically, the horses ran through a ramp, the girls waited on top and then mounted the horses and jumped from the heights into a pool. I've read that the horses didn't suffer, but the girls could easily suffer accidents.

The movie starts when young Sonora (awesomely played by Gabrielle Anwar, the actress from the most famous tango scene in movie history) wants to leave her bossy aunt and find something exciting to do with her life. She finds an ad in the newspaper asking for a girl to ride diving horses in Atlantic City. She leaves and in her journey she finds love, a great passion, meets interesting people and suffers a tragedy.

I remember I loved the scenes that showed the Atlantic City fair; with all those attractions and food and nice music. I loved how Sonora tried once and again to learn how to properly mount the horses, to convince people that she was adequate for the job, that stubbornness was so cool to watch when you were a kid: if you think you could do it, try, try, try...Here's the opening scene:

Even when it's a Disney movie, the tone very adult. People suffer, people make mistakes, there's an important character that dies, there's jealousy and pain. They also did a wonderful work portraying the times of the Depression and the settings and the horse diving show look very real. If you don't know about Sonora or how it exactly ends, I recommend you to check the movie to find out.

It's a very engaging movie and even when the real Sonora didn't like it because it was too fictionalized, the 8 years old me really recommends it :)  You can watch it on Youtube.

Did you have a movie obsession as a kid?

Enjoying in the new projector: "The Apartment" (1960)

A week ago my dad arrived home saying he just needed to have a projector. We got one and, guys, it's awesome! I mean, it's really like going to the movies, but in your living room. I thought that maybe the image wouldn't be great, but it's perfect.

We first saw The Beauty and the Beast (by the way, did you know that the diamond edition or gold or whatever includes Human Again a song that was cut in the original version??...for a Disney VHS girl like me, it was quite a surprise), then The Barefoot Contessa (like I said over Twitter, ironically Bogie never looked shorter :) ) and today I picked The Apartment. Take a look:

I was watching from that angle because it's chilly in Chile and I needed to be close to the chimney. I would write a review of the movie but I won't because everybody knows it and loves it and I couldn't possibly say something new...well, maybe I could but I bombarded you with reviews this week (5 here and 5 more here) and I don't want you to hate me :)

The important thing is that if you're thinking in buying a new device to watch movies, I really recommend a projector. Or you all could visit me and we could watch some classics. You bring the pop corn (and don't forget your coat).

Caught a cold: sick people in classic films

Guys, just a quick post to apologize! The day of THE auction of the century I stayed up late and caught a cold. I was in bed since then, today is the first day I'm feeling a bit better. So, I decided to make a post of classic movies showing sick people...but people that recovers, not dying people like Camille or Beth in Little Women.

Just press play to go to the interesting part!

The Apartment: poor C. C. Baxter caught a cold!



The Shop Around the Corner: Mr. Kralik (James Stewart) visits sick Klara...


The Nun's Story: Audrey has TB and a cute monkey + Peter Finch to take care of her...

Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison: Drunk Mr. Allison scared Sister Angela and now he needs to save her...

I remember mama: One of the kids of a poor Norwegian family is sick and the hospital doesn't allow visitors...Mama Irene Dunne won't take no for an answer...


Sullivan's Travels: Joel McCrea caught a cold and is pissed off...

Which scene featuring sick people do you remember the most?

How a burglar prevented me from finishing "The Dark Corner"

THIS happened last night, just a few hours ago...

1 AM or so. We had heard an alarm ten minutes ago somewhere near. I though "somebody forgot to shut it down".

My house was in silence. I was watching The Dark Corner with one of my brothers, the younger one. Mark Stevens and Lucille Ball were in the scene of a crime: a guy was lying there, dead, after a fight.

The bedrooms in my house face the backyard: there there's a pool (with green water right now) and between the pool and the wall, a very small garden and a narrow corridor.

The movie continued. Mark was desperate because he couldn't figure it out who was after him.

Suddenly...CRASH! We hear a window breaking next door. My very first thought was: "maybe the neighbors are fighting and someone threw an object to the window" (so stupid).

But then someone stepped in the broken window, very loudly. My brother paused the film and opened the curtains of the large window. It was very dark outside.

And this is what happened next: I heard someone shooting and then...I saw someone jumping over our wall and landing in the narrow corridor!

I thought: "Oh no, this guy is armed!"

So I said to my brother: "Get down, get down, they're shooting!!"

From the floor I could see the figure of the intruder: he was tall and he was wearing large sized white tennis shoes.

I started shouting: "There's a guy in the backyard! There's a guy in the backyard!". The guy moved to the corner, which was darker so I couldn't see him very well.

I was waiting for our window to break any minute with a shot.

I heard the rest of my family moving. My dad stepped out and shot, aiming a tall tree, so the guy would freeze. 

But the guy, from the corner, jumped to the next house. My dad went after him and reached the wall. I still didn't know if there were more armed burglars or what, so I said "Dad, come down, they can shoot you!". 

Then we heard (trembling) voices. The neighbor from the first house was asking where the guy went. He explained that this guy broke his window to escape. Then other neighbor said they saw someone running from his backyard through the pub they own and reach the main street (our block is next to the main square of the city).

Seconds later the police was there asking us what had we seen. The policeman said they had captured a tall guy, he knew who he was and that one of the things that stood out in him was the large sized tennis shoes. I confirmed what I had seen. 

It seems that there were two, unarmed guys. They were stealing in the house next door when the alarm sounded. They ran but nobody came, so they went back. The only thing they could take was a radio and then the neighbor shot. That's why one of the guys broke the window. A woman had seen the guys entering the house, so she called the police. That's why they where here so fast.

This whole episode was unusual, but for some reason, I had always thought about what would happen if someone used our house as a way to escape, like in the movies.

So, that's it. Then I couldn't finish The Dark Corner, I saw a couple of episodes of The Jetsons instead to relax a bit. 

I'll make this week menu of "Lovely things from Tumblr" later. 

My old movie chat with my grandparents

I live in a very small city here in Chile, that's near our capital, Santiago. Visiting Santiago it's like a normal 1-hour trip for us; I study there, etc. 

That's Santiago...in the forties...in case you were wondering :)

Yesterday my grandparents went to the doctor for a checkup, so I asked them to bring me in their car. We talked about different things until I realized I hadn't told them about my blog nor my love for old movies, so when we had like 20 minutes to go, our old movie chat started. 

My grandpa was driving, my grandma was in the passenger's seat and I was in the back seat. I had to raise my voice, because my grandma doesn't hear perfectly....

Me: Hey, grandparents, did you know that about a year ago I started watching an awful lot of old movies and I have my own site where I write about them??? 

Grandparents: Nooo... 

Me: Well, yeah. I have a blast watching them. They're so good!! ...I see a movie and then I write a bit about them...in English! And people from all over the world visit my site and leave comments... 

Grandpa: Oh, how interesting! And do you know how many people read what you write? 

Me: Well, yes, there's a tool you can install, and *** people visit my blog everyday. 

Grandpa: Wow! 

Me: And the best thing is that I really enjoy old films. You know, from the 30s and 40s and 50s.  Like movies from Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant...and Olivia de Havilland...And I've also read biographies from these stars...like the one written by Ginger Rogers: very funny! And recently I read one about Marlene Dietrich.

Grandma: Oh, yes, she was really beautiful! (Thinks a bit trying to remember more stars)...Ava Gardner! 

Me: Oh, she's awesome. So beautiful and such a great actress... 

Grandma: And...Clark Gable, so handsome.... 

Me: I know! I read somewhere that Vivien Leigh and him visited Chile and people went crazy! 

Grandma: Yes, that's right...and Bette Davis! 

Me: Terrific! Did you know that Joan Crawford and Bette hated each other? Like all their lives and when the finally got to work together Bette used to drink Cokes just to annoy Joan...you know, she was like the president of Pepsi or something... 

Grandma: LOL. I had no idea....AND Robert Taylor! 

Me: Yeah, I know him. He's great but I prefer Gary Cooper. 

Grandma: And the other actor...the one from the famous westerns.... 

Me: John Wayne! 

Grandma: Yes, John Wayne. And the other girl, that suffered so much... 

Me: Marilyn Monroe? I know! I mean she's so famous because she was labeled as "sex bomb" and all that jazz but she really was a great actress...and she was so interested in learning about art and philosophy... 

Grandparents nod. 

Grandpa: Did you know that when I was a kid I could buy one ticket and sit there all afternoon watching movies? 

Me: I've heard about that. You could stay as much as you wanted! So cool! 

Grandpa: And there were people in charge of going around with the movies because cinemas didn't have a lot of copies. 

Me: I saw that in a movie from Hitchcock. And I remember because the boy was carrying the movie like...in a can... 

Grandpa: That's right, they used cans... 

Me:...yeah...and well, the boy was important in the movie because he was really carrying a bomb! 

Grandparents gasp. 

Me:... and Hitchcock made him explode.... 

Grandparents say 'oooh'. Then... 

Grandma: I really, really liked Anthony Quinn...one of my favorite movies was Zorba The Greek... 

Me: I've seen it! But, grandma, it's so dramatic...I mean that poor woman being beaten by a crowd... 

Grandma: I liked that movie. Also, the one from Akira Kurosawa... 

Me: Ikiru?  

Grandpa: Ikiru! Marvelous film... 

Grandma: No, not that one...Dreams! 

Grandpa and I smile. It's a great film. 

Me: And I remember you really loved Rebecca with Joan Fontaine.... 

Grandma: Oh, yes, Rebecca! 

Me: Did you know that Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland are sisters? And they hate each other. And both are alive, but haven't forgive whatever they had to forgive... 

Grandma: Is Olivia really alive? She's way older than me!

Me: Yeah, she's like the only surviving actress from Gone With the Wind!

We talked a bit more. Then, we arrived home, I said goodbye and waved to them. 

My dad says I'll never forget this trip.

"The land before time": childhood memories and non-stop crying

purecreation

My brothers and I usually watch old cartoons and movies from our childhood. Yesterday we saw a bunch of clips related with the next holidays in Youtube, like The Flintstones Save Christmas, Disney's A Christmas Carol & Baby Smurf's First Christmas. Then I suggested we saw The land before time (1988).

I don't know if you ever saw this one, but it's like the predecessor of Bambi and the antecedent of The Lion King (totally ripped off several scenes ideas) in terms of making you cry out of killing the parent of the little, helpless protagonist.

I remember being a kindergarten kid and watching this movie from a rented vhs, in a winter afternoon at my old house. I remember the baby dinosaur Little Foot (Piecito in Spanish), his cherished star leaf, his mom dying after battling with a ferocious, dark "Sharptooth". And the voices and their personalities and attitudes were all in my mind, only I had forgotten about them. You cry in the dramatic parts because of a mixture of things: it's like seeing suffer an old friend and also it's connecting with a part of a period of time that is irremediably gone.

thisishowilive

Littlefoot's mother: Dear, sweet, Littlefoot, do you remember the way to the Great Valley?

Littlefoot: I guess so. But why do I have to know if you're going to be with me?

Littlefoot's mother: I'll be with you. Even if you can't see me.

Littlefoot: What do you mean I can't see you? I can always see you.

After the death of some of their relatives and the physical changes on Earth that separated them from the surviving adults, Little foot and his new dinosaurs friends (adorably awkward most of them) have to continue their journey in the search of The Great Valley, a place where there's still vegetation and water to survive.  This film is treated in a very adult way: the terrible loss of Little Foot it's not a reason for everyone to be nice to him or to sing Hakuna Matata (there's no singing in this movie). It's real because attitudes of his friends (like not believing in the path Little Foot learned from his mom) or childish comments from the irritable triceratops Cera ("she was stupid") can be devastating to the poor orphan (and the audience).

Now I know that three important names stand out in the making of this film: prestigious animator Don Bluth, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. The marvelous music (that doesn't make it easy for you to stop crying) was composed by James Horner. I leave you with "Whispering Winds" theme.

Random post about why sometimes I feel like Dory

Two years ago. Elective Cinema class @ university. Final exam. The teacher explains that the test is really easy: you just have to see a scene on the screen and write down the title of the movie. Simple. He presses play. This is the English version of what happened in my mind:

Neuron 1: Uhhh, I think we saw this movie...

Neuron 2: Yes, it was in the class about...

Neuron 1: Italian Neorealism!

Neuron 2: No...uhm...how can you tell?

Neuron 1: Black and white? Depressive atmosphere?

Neuron 2: Yeah, but why not German Expressionism? 

Neuron 1: Do you see any Nosferatu or Doctor Caligari around?

Neuron 3: Stop you two! We need the title, that's the name of the movie not the style! OMG, the clip is ending and we have like 12 more questions to go... we'll never gonna make it...

Neuron 1: Let's try identifying the actors... 

Neuron 2: OK...

Neuron 1: ....

Neuron 2: .... 

Neuron 3: OMG, why are they silent??? The teacher is so mean, he chose a silent scene just to confuse us!!

Neuron 1: Maybe this film is from the class from Silent Films?

Neuron 2: Oh, just shut up, you're just giving stupid ideas! Does this clip have crappy quality? No. Is the people wearing creepy make-up? No! Do they act like in a freaking theater in Ancient Greece? No! Does it have titles everywhere? No! And hear that, the silent guy just puffed out...with sound, you moron! 

Neuron 3: OMG, I think that everyone around already answered, they are smiling conceitedly, they all are gonna have great grades and we're gonna fail the class...Oh, I think the teacher is going to show the next clip...OMG, I think I'm going to faint...

Neuron 1: Let's write anything, maybe we get it right...

Neuron 2: What should we write?

Neuron 3: ANYTHING, just hurry, hurry, HURRY!

Neuron 1: OK, OK, let's write...uh...Stromboli!

Neuron 2: But that's Italian Neorealism! Rossellini! AND Ingrid Bergman stars in it!! Do you see any Ingrid Bergman around?

Neuron 3 [thinking to herself in a lethargic state after being so hysterical]: Wasn't Stromboli the bad guy from Pinocchio?

Neuron 2 [interested]: Haha, yeah! That guy was so creepy!! He locked Pinocchio and wanted to exploit him and then use him to light the fire...

Neuron 3: OK.

Neuron 1: Or maybe this is a Nouvelle Vague film? After all, it's in black and white and is very depressing...

Neuron 4 [waking up]: What are we watching?

Epilogue: Multiply this for 12. Strangely, I passed that exam. Anyway, at some point the teacher did show a clip from Stromboli. Oh and I still don't know what movie was that.

My trip to the mountains

If I have something in common with Carole Lombard is the love for nature. My city is very close to the country and my family and I make trips since I'm a child. We like climbing a wild mountain 15 kilometers|4900 feet high, which means walking for 5 hours through very sloping and rocky paths, but surrounded just by the sound of nature and your own steps.

We --my parents, my youngest brother and I-- started the trip on Friday at 2 pm. It was very hot (it's spring down here) and our bags were terribly heavy (I was carrying one of the tents, plus my sleeping bag, marshmallows, clothes to change on the top of the mountain and water). This was like the first time we were tired on the first hour of walking and we had to make more stops than usual to drink and rest.

The path is very diverse environmentally speaking: one minute you have to pass a lovely stream surrounded by trees and the next you are in the middle of a desert, with cactus and all. I noticed that I hadn't seen a butterfly since ages, they were flitting around us, orange, white and black the most of them. You walk and walk, very concentrated, trying to forget that your heels and shoulders are aching. The sound of different kind of birds and tons of lizards hiding distract you from your own thoughts, so do some flies in a less pleasant way.

After the earthquake earlier this year, the mountain changed in some points. Big rocks fell down the hills, pushing vegetation and smashing in smaller pieces. So you have to be very carefully, because you could fell down the ravine. I usually use sticks that help me not to fall.

It was dark when we finally arrived to our usual camp near the top. When I say this mountain is wild, is because it is, we've never seen more people there and the paths were made by huasos (Chilean peasants) and their horses. We were exhausted; luckily my dad is the most energetic man I know, so he made fire and installed the tents. My brother and I ate something (marshmallows melted on bonfire!) and we went right to our tent to sleep.

Did I say sleep? Well, we tried. The ground wasn't exactly soft and we didn't have proper pillows. So, in addition to all the aches above mentioned, add back ache.

I got up at 11 am on Saturday (always the last, thank you very much) and my mom was kind of sick (then we knew that she was sick before we started the trip and she didn't say anything). We decided to go down that same day in the afternoon, after she slept a little (now over all the sleeping bags).

I accompanied my dad to the top of the mountain, 30 minutes walking. There there's a oak forest. You can found digueñes, a kind of mushrooms that looks like brains and taste awful, but my dad loves to carry down.

I saw an aguilucho flying near us, showing its beautiful white chest, plus lovely flowers.

Then, we reached the top. It's always so peaceful there and you feel a real respect for nature and its majesty.

We went back to the camp, ate some beans...

...and we were ready to go back. If your heels ache on the way up, your toes suffer on the way down. We walked slow and I don't know how, but we made it. Four hours later we were finally sitting on the jeep and dreaming with our comfy beds. I bet Miss Lombard would love this trip.

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PS.- I'm sorry for the delay; I replied to all the comments from the seven preceding posts (is there a better way to say that?). I really appreciate every one of them :)

Classic stars names used as pun names in Spanish

Well, I think is not like in Spanish in general but here in Chile there are two old phrases that sometimes you can hear in common conversations.

The first one is related to the actress with the violet eyes: listo (click to hear the pronunciation) in Spanish means "ready" and also "ok". The cool thing is that sometimes people replace it for LizTaylor :)

Example:

A: Hey, when are you finishing using the pc?

B: All right, all right, let me send this e-mail...[sends it]....Liztaylor!

The second one includes a western star: tranquilo (click to hear the pronunciation) means "quiet" and also "relax!", so sometimes people changes its pronunciation and make it rhyme with the actor's name: "tranquilein, John Wayne"

Example:

A: Oh my god, oh my god, I accidentally erased my blog...it's all gone!

B: Hey, I know a guy working for Blogger, I'm gonna call him to ask him for a solution...So, tranquilein John Wayne....

 Do you have something like this in English (or the language you speak)?

10 types of annoying people to watch a movie with

I don't know about you, but for me, the moment when I watch Classic films or good modern movies is kind of sacred. I HATE when I get distracted by people around and I always make them quiet and usually get very angry if they don't shut up. That's why I love to watch movies at night, alone in my room, when everybody is sleeping. So here's the list of the 10 most annoying people to see a movie with (if you speak Spanish, you can read my original article here):

1. The one who saw it already: This kind of people won't be quiet for a minute. They anticipate everything to you and they really feel very cool doing this. They say things like: "Hey, hey, look at this scene" or "Is he really the bad guy?" while mysteriously smile. They also love to watch your reactions in the sad or scary part, with some superiority expression in their faces.

2. The guesser: REALLY annoying. These people are trying to guess the plot every minute. The problem is they talk about their predictions. "Oh, ok, this character will probably help this one at the end of the movie and this machine will be very important in their success" or "The movie obviously would end when these two get together". If they are finally right they would probably smile conceitedly; if they don't, they a) are gonna stay in silence b) are gonna say that the movie wasn't very well developed. 

3. The indifferent: these people are not very interested in the movie from the beginning. Some of them will even talk to you during the movie about a subject that has nothing to do with the film; others will watch it with this face : | all the time and when you ask them if they liked the movie they would shrug and emit some kind of sound like "hmmm". 

4. The inquisitive: but it's worst when the indifferent people all of the sudden get interested in the movie...AND START ASKING questions about the previous scenes..."Hey, why Cary Grant is being chased by an airplane???" or "Oh, why did Mufasa die??". You could get revenge by telling some lies, like "Don't worry, Mufasa is just playing dead". MWWAHAHAHA!

5. The bellicose: they argue with the characters ("Oh, please, would you just shut up Bridget Jones?!"), with the actors ("Argh, why does this guy always play the same characters?") or even with the director ("Cameron really spent 10 years doing this???? Pocahontas 2.0?").

6. The hysteric: these people get so involved with the fictional world that they start taking part of the action. Suddenly they will shut: "Watch out James Bond, behind you!!". Oh my, you shouldn't see suspense or scary movies with them, because they almost panicky. 

7. The historically correct: we all know that not all the movies are very precise historically talking. Sometimes they have wrong costumes for the time they're supposed to be, sometimes they change important events to make the movie more interesting, sometimes it's just loosely based in something that really happened. But is it really necessary to argue about this during the movie? I mean, why don't you emit a short comment and after "The End" can be read on screen you discuss all you want about it?

8. The pause fan: obviously this just happen when you are watching a movie at home. The pause fan uses the button of the two bars all the time: to get something to eat, to go to the bathroom, to answer the phone...even when the movie is in the best part!!

9. The one who is just not a classic film lover: if you dare to invite these people to see a movie released before 1980, especially if it's in black and white, they would yawn exaggeratedly, laugh about how corny is everything, say who knows these actors every minute, and of course complain about the fact Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart are not appearing in the movie.

10. The sleepy: 

A: How cool does Gene Tierney look with those sunglasses on the boat, uh? Uh?

B: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.  

Which are you? Sometimes I'm 5. 

Sense of time, passage of time, nostalgia & movies

(Warning: post written in a nostalgic mood).

According to Gloria Swanson' father, life is 95% anticipation. She developed her dad's idea (1) saying that you work, you try hard in everything, you dream with your first car. The next month you want another, bigger, faster. According to her, romance, flirting is gone, you want to get everything soon. Gloria was talking about the post war youth, but her diagnosis, I think, is still right.

But incomplete.

I think about time too much. I waste time thinking about time. I've always wondered why when you were a kid a day was a eternity. You didn't know what was going to happen next. Everything surprised you and there were no strict routines. Life waited for you.

But now tempus fugit. Time flies.

You don't remember clearly what happened each year, Christmas goes one after the other, birthdays, all the celebrations. People around you evolve, get older. The day you left school is far behind.

Is it because when you grow up your mental map becomes clearer, schematized? Is it because now, with all the technology, you're always connected, always anticipating events, avoiding waits, therefore living faster?

Yes, Gloria's dad had a point. Anticipation is a great part of life.

But I would say it's a 50%.

Or isn't it also true that most people spent time thinking about the good old days with nostalgia (and sorrow)? Isn't it true that when people talk about past times the tone of their voices change? Because time steals youth and moments. Time steals the way people were. When you appreciate old films, when you watch old videos and see old pictures, you worsen this feeling (2), adding a yearning for a past that is not really yours. Because you see these faces, these smiles, these beauties, these talents, these moments, these ways to live...and the next moment you realize they're gone. They're gone because they died, they're gone because they aged, they're gone because the world evolved and they no longer truly fit. It's Lauren Bacall receiving her Honorary Oscar earlier this year. It's Norma Desmond —Gloria Swanson, what an irony— trying to revive her glorious past. It's a Nat King Cole song. It's Elli Wallach's character in "The Holiday". It's the couple in the movie "Make way for tomorrow".

It is nostalgia. The old houses you see on the road, falling apart, once embraced laughs, lively lunches, brightness, dreams. It's a part of what you feel when you see old magazine adds, old objects. And if you think about it, you don't really want to live in a time when these objects where new. You find them interesting because they're just a reflection of former times.

Life is 30% yearning for the past.

And you don't really live the rest. You witness great moments through a camera lens, you take everything for granted, you forget that you have to appreciate every moment. Our society imposes that you must study and then have a career or a job in order to make money and survive. Obligations and habits make you forget what's really important, what life should be: to live the present. Now.

--------------- 

(1) Interview included in "People will talk" by John Kobal. 
(2) I have to add that films, as recordings of image/audio, are a way to preserve moments, so they work as a double vehicle of time: they combat the passage of time by stopping it, freezing it, but they also become a trigger of memories, making clear that what you're watching is gone, that there was a past before your present. I don't know if I explained myself.

PS. Your thoughts on the matter are welcome.  

Saw "The night of the iguana" on the big screen last night

...and it was amazing. Yesterday morning I noticed that my university movie theater was showing John Huston's movies, and the one selected for last night was "The night of the iguana" (as you can see, it is one of my favorite movies). Called a friend that I hadn't seen like in months and invited her. The movie started at 19 pm and I finish my work like at the same hour, but it didn't matter, I had to see this film. But when I left the office I took a taxi (because the subway station is always really crowded, and I usually spend like 30 minutes just to get in) and we got stuck in the usual traffic jam. I arrived like 15 minutes later. We entered to the theater room and there was a lot of people (which makes me happy: I remember when I saw "Funny face" at the same theater...alone) so we just relaxed and enjoyed the movie. 

And my gosh, Richard Burton, Deborah Kerr and Ava Gardner looked great and people laughed constantly at the guys with maracas, Richard's lines and Ava's playful mood. If you haven't seen this movie, please watch it. It's great: profound, dark and deals with people's strongest and deepest emotions just like the rest of Tennessee Williams' plays and also has excellent photography.
When the lights came on I noticed that all the assistants were old people, and there was an adorable old lady with white hair and a bun. Aww.

I'm copying and embedding a nice poem that is recited near the end by an old man, Deborah's character's grandpa (if you haven't seen the film, maybe you shouldn't read/watch it yet):

How calmly does the olive branch
observe the sky begin to blanch:
without a cry, without a prayer;
with no betrayal of despair.


Sometime while light obscures the tree,
the zenith of its life will be:
gone, past, forever.
And from thence, a second history will commence:


a chronicle no longer gold,
of bargaining with mist and mold;
and finally the broken stem,
the plummeting to earth, and then


An intercourse not well designed
for beings of a golden kind
whose native green must arch above
the Earth's obscene, corrupting love.


And still the ripe fruit and the branch
observe the sky begin to blanch:
without a cry, without a prayer;
with no betrayal of despair.


Oh, courage! Could you not as well
select a second place to dwell?
Not only in that golden tree
but in the frightened heart of me?

AND www.deborahkerr.es has the writings from Deborah while filming the picture, "The Days and Nights of the Iguana". Very interesting.

Ingrid Bergman's handwriting font + how I met her daughter

So, KC unlocked the prize and as I promised I'm sharing it with you. Let me tell you that creating these fonts is just a hobby, so I'm obviously not a professional. This is version 1.0. because there are some characters I couldn't find in Ingrid's letters, like $, & and q, so I just had to invent them based in other characters. I hope someday I can find new letters and update the file.

What can I say about the way Ingrid wrote? Well, her handwriting was classy and elegant, her characters were thin and long, and cursive...very cursive. 

Here's a sample of the font being used on Microsof Word:

Download + Terms of use + Instructions?:  

Click HERE.

So play with it and have fun. I'm just going to add a little story. The closest I've been to a classic star is when I met Isabella Rossellini, Ingrid's daughter. She came to Chile like 4 years ago the present a documentary about her dad.

At the time I wasn't a crazy classic film fan, but my dad loved Ingrid and I thought she was a great actress (plus I had seen Isabella in "Friends" and "Alias"). So I cut out a little picture of her that appeared on the newspaper with a quote and put it in my bag. After my classes at university, I went with a friend to the place Isabella was supposed to be (a "cultural room" near our presidential palace) with little hopes.

But we waited like 20 minutes and Isabella arrived with a bunch of people (our Minister of Culture among them) and there were no fans besides us. So I stepped forward, showed the little piece of paper and my Sharpie to her. She smiled (I never noticed how much she looked like her mother until that moment) and signed it. I mumbled something and she kept walking with the bunch of guys. My friend took a picture of that moment (I know, it's not very clear, but we were so star struck that a better image was impossible to get):

And her autograph:

Well, this is all for now. Hope you had a swell time. Please let me know what you think of the font. 

Today I saw Bette Davis in the subway

Just a quick post to say that the girl was like my age (23) and looked like a young Bette Davis. Had blond hair, the same body built, the same shape of face and most importantly, same eyes (just green),  and the train was so crowded that I was expecting her to say "What a dump!" :)

What a good day!

Me today: happy as Shirley Temple Yesterday I started a whiny post complaining about the lack of good journalism internship offers and the fact that I missed a workshop on Classic directors that was given in a movie theater. I decided to go to play tennis and forgot to publish it. And today was a great day. It started with me going to the capital (Santiago) to check the "sacred folder of internships for journalism students" at university. I found a new one! And it's very good, so I already sent my CV to the guy in charge. If they accept me, I'm gonna be on time to enter to the next film appreciation workshop, "Movie Genres". Yay. Then I had to buy a brand new video game to my youngest brother, "Read Dead Redemption". It was sold out everywhere. I was visiting store after store, and I passed next to a used book store (as I told you, I'm crazy about them). So I took a break and entered. Went to the Biography section, and found books about Katharine Hepburn and... Zelda Fitzgerald! I think her life with Francis was so interesting and dramatic, but until today I just had found one book about them (the lovely Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda). The one I bought today — Zelda by Nancy Mildorf— was veeery cheap, in English and with hard cover. And I found the play Picnic (yeah, the one that inspired the movie) like for half a dollar. I kept looking for the game and I saw it in a showcase. It was the last available! Arrived home to lunch, checked my Reading List on Blogger, and saw a post called "And the winner is..." from Another Old Movie Blog. And guess what? I won the new restoration of Doctor Zhivago on DVD!! And that's very weird because I almost never win contests. AND tomorrow is a national holiday :) So, I'm gonna make another post for my Happy Old Songs series just to celebrate.

Rear Window's Guide to Properly Spying on your Neighbors

There are probably a lot of grammar mistakes, sorry for that. Anyway, it was fun to make :)

Book shopping morning

 Don't you just love going from book shop to book shop trying to find a treasure (or at least something interesting)? 

Well, I love to do that. In fact, when I have time I prefer don't get any help from the salesclerk, and just get myself lost in the old stores, searching for something special. And if I found it that way, that means I have to buy it.

Today I went to our capital (I have to travel 1 hour to get there) to re-validate my student card used for transportation, and I decided to go to San Diego street, which is full of bookshops. 

I visited one that had some discounts. I found an old "Rin Tin Tin" book, but I preferred not to buy it. Like half an hour later, I went to the next shop, they had the same discounts, but the used books were all uninteresting. When I was leaving, I read something like "Harrison Ford" in a book from a shelf that was near the floor. I squatted and started reading the titles. Shirley Maclaine, My Lucky Stars (I have that one), one about James Dean, another about Rodolfo Valentino (I just found out that he had a Chilean lover, Blanca Errázuriz), Katharine Hepburn...and one about Grace by James Spada. I had heard of that one, so I decided to buy it. It wasn't veeeeery cheap, but it was in good conditions.

Then, I entered to an old vinyl store. It was great. I saw the soundtracks of "My fair lady", "Les parapluies de Cherbourg", "West Side Story" and...(damn, I so have Doris' memory right now). Well, of course I didn't buy anything there, because first, I don't have a turntable, and second, I didn't have enough money.

It was kind of late, and I had to be back at home for lunch, so I decided to enter to the last used books store. And this time I asked to the salesclerk 'do you have something about classic stars or cinema?'. And he said yeah. He started looking for them in his small store, and passed me the bio of Marlon, Marylin, Greta (the only problem with this one is that it was in German), Samuel Goldwyn, and one called La gente hablará (People will talk by John Kobal) which included interviews with Gloria Swanson, Ingrid Bergman, Howard Hawks, Mae West and some more. I noticed I didn't have much money left (LOL) so I just decided to buy the later. The man noticed my money issues, and gave me the book for half of price. I promised I'd go back to buy the one about Goldywn. He said he will save it for me. 

Oh, one more thing. Near the exit of the subway station they had installed a huge and beautiful carousel; it was so lovely and unexpected I wished I had my sketchbook and watercolor set with me.