The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Taking advantage of my newly-licensed status, I went to the Tivoli and saw the new release of GBU.

Stopped at Vintage Vinyl. Got Skip James cd, also the new Kraftwerk (used). Kraftwerk is not filed with electronica for some strange reason. The blues section, in St. Louis, mind you, is all of 4 feet wide. I need to go record hunting with my license.

The flick was shown on a small screen, but it was nice to see it in the theater anyway. The 24 frame flicker is nice, especially at the end, when Tuco is running around the cemetary. All the passing tombstones blur quite attractively, setting the relatively motionless Tuco in relief.

The updated footage was not major, but still nice. This extended cut of GBU is essentially the international version of the film. There's a scene with Angel Eyes in a confederate hospital, which helps develop the war theme. The film is very much a war movie masquerading as a western.

The new dialogue was noticeable. Eli Wallach and Clint Eastwood are still alive and did the adr work, though their voices have aged. Lee van Cleef is dead, and the fellow who did his voice was fine. As the whole movie is dubbed, it doesn't really detract from the film.

I listened to Skip James on the way home. This is the new release called "Hard Time Killing Floor Blues," and features selections from his first session following his rediscovery in the 60's. These versions are new to my ear, and interesting in that they are quite different arrangements of the stuff I know. For Skip Jamesage, I recommend first the compilation Blues from the Delta followed by the complete 30's recordings, which is one disc of the 18 surviving James tracks from that era. This includes Devil Got My Woman as featured in Ghost World. The former disc consists of 60's recordings of Skip. The guitar work isn't as good, it's been calmed down considerably and made much more regular, but the audio quality is miles beyond the transfers from often sketchy 78's.

• I found out today that I would be offered the consulting job in 3-4 weeks.
• I fucking love lists.
• Upon telling my parents that I would be looking at SF jobs in this time, they were none too enthusiastic. Why give up such a great opportunity? It took me a long time to make that kind of money.
• In my awkward preteen years, I would obsessively rent and watch Heathers whilst devouring an Imo's pizza. I did this so often that the two are linked in my mind. It also makes it very hard for me to watch Heathers.
• No problem with the pizza, but then I am a big fucking pig.
• Mein hottie! I can walk!

Posted by mattb at August 29, 2003 12:13 AM