RetroVox

My Friend Jack Yan

nobody@vox.com(Zak Klemmer) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 08:11:25 -0800

Megan & Angela are joined by Jack Yan, Judge of Cup Day 09, 11/11/09

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Tusen och en natt

nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 03:16:27 -0800

Above is Charlotte Nilsson (now Charlotte Perrelli) and her hit, ‘Tusen och en natt’ which, in English, won the 1999 Eurovision Song Contest. The original Swedish version has far deeper and less trivial lyrics, and it is a shame that they had to cheapen it in order to win the prize. (It took one minute to load this compose window despite no changes to my neighbourhood, except in order, from what I had during the 12-hour blackout period earlier today.)

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Chrysler goes all arty with Lancia-like Aung San Suu Kyi commercial

nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:34:46 -0800

Ah, remember the days when Chrysler rested on the words of another Italian guy, Chairman Lee?

1984 Lee Iacocca Chrysler commercial

Inspirational, and simple. Lido gave US audiences a direct appeal, even if it was hard to believe that the LeBaron GTS could take on BMWs and Mercedes-Benzes.
Now it has gone all arty. Under Fiat control, it is adapting some commercials from the Italian company. Here’s one that’s being used by its Lancia brand:

Lancia appelle à la libération d'Aung San Suu Kyi

Here’s the Americanized version:

ItaliaspeedTV - Chrysler film dedicated to Aung San Suu Kyi

which is a far cry from the straight-talk of Mr Iacocca. It’s a lot like that ad for Mr Plow on The Simpsons, when Lisa asks Homer, ‘Dad, was that our ad?’
   Homer replies, puzzled, ‘I … don’t … know!’
   We have a Chrysler 300 looking very dated in this commercial, even if I agree with the sentiment. I am not convinced it’ll hold Americans’ attention that this is a new Chrysler and a new beginning.
   I realize Chrysler needs to shift product now before new products arrive, and the quality, apparently, has been improved since the Daimler and Cerberus days. That message, which is pretty important to buyers, doesn’t come across that strongly.
   The aligning of Chrysler to Lancia is not a bad idea. About ten years ago, I wrote that Ford should reconceive Mercury as a sort of American Lancia, so it seems Fiat has a similar idea. It’s just that commercials need not be clones when American consumers have different tastes from European ones.
   Still, does this mean that some day we will see the First Lady of France, Carla Bruni, sell Chryslers?

Spot Lancia Musa with Carla Bruni

The only car that size that Chrysler has is the Dodge Caliber, and it just wouldn’t work (though a Chrysler-badged Lancia Delta might …).

Vox bug note: the compose window still took a quarter-hour to open. The editing window took one hour.

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Lalo Schifrin conducts his hits

nobody@vox.com(Lucire) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 20:52:53 -0800

Lalo Schifrin, composer of Mission: Impossible and Mannix, is still going strong at age 77. These were from a few years ago, and it shows that Mr Schifrin is as lively today as a pianist and conductor as he was in his prime.
One YouTuber described him as a ‘living legend’. The term seems very applicable here.

Lalo Schifrin & BBC Bigband - Mission: Impossible

Lalo Schifrin live Grand Rex Paris 23.04.07 Bis. Mannix

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Pablo Ferro’s best opening title is still Bullitt’s

nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 01:08:51 -0800

There’s still no rhyme or reason on when Vox allows me to access my blog here. This morning, I got in a private post, but clicking ‘Create’ again, nothing happened for the next hour.
I wanted to share this opening title from Bullitt, after posting another one from Pablo Ferro on my Tumblr blog. This remains my favourite Ferro design. Though set in Chicago, only the skyline scene was shot there; the rest was in San Francisco.

Opening Titles For Bullitt

There’s something great about US design in 1968. From there, as someone mentioned to me, it went downhill.
I see ’68 as a positive year for a lot of design there, while ’69 began to look garish, particularly in fashion and hairstyles.

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Hire The Protectors for $2

nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:57:04 -0800

I wonder if Vox has fixed things, because this compose screen took seconds to come up. It also took seconds after I clicked to edit the original post.
Another recent purchase, for $2 (really):

The Protectors - Vol. 3 - Series 1 - Episodes 17-26 [DVD] [1972]

   I know these weren’t that good to begin with, but for a couple of dollars, it was nice watching a few episodes from a series I enjoyed as a kid.
   There’s one more left at the Warehouse in Lyall Bay, last I looked. Strangely, it means I only have the first set to get to have the whole series—and the last one I bought set me back a grand $5. Imagine if I could get the the remaining one for another $2.
   Lew Grade has made plenty out of me, but not through Protectors DVDs.
   Incidentally, this post is worth a repeat of this cover of the theme tune from Rinaldi Sings:

Rinaldi sings ‘Avenues & Alleyways’

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Trading in at Real Groovy

nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:43:39 -0800

James Bond Ultimate Collection - Vol. 3 - From Russia With Love/On Her Majesty's Secret Service/Live

At least I no longer have to wait hours, but I do have to wait minutes and several reloads to begin composing on Vox.
   I have never traded DVDs before, but after buying that fancy Casino Royale set from Real Groovy, I didn’t need my old two-CD one any more. I also bought a five-movie James Bond set (left) a while back, which meant I had doubled up on one of my favourite Bond films, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. I took them in to Real Groovy.
   How it works: one goes to the trades’ counter at the store and hands them over. The store gives you an option of store credit or cash.
   The two DVD sets, which cost me around NZ$60 to buy to begin with, were worth NZ$12 used as store credit; NZ$6 if I wanted the money.
   As I buy from Real Groovy all the time, I opted for the former, to which they issue a credit note, redeemable on a future purchase.
   Sony has still done well out of me. While I only paid NZ$5 for the new Casino Royale boxed set—because of Real Groovy’s loyalty scheme—that’s still NZ$34 overall (NZ$35 purchase price for the first set, NZ$5 for the new one, minus NZ$6 for the trade). The five-movie set was NZ$39—let’s round it up to NZ$40 for easy calculation—which means each DVD was NZ$8. The original On Her Majesty’s Secret Service DVD was c. NZ$25, so that’s NZ$27 out of my pocket for the copy I have today.

James Bond Ultimate Edition - Vol. 4 - Dr. No/You Only Live Twice/Moonraker/Octopussy/Tomorrow Never Dies [DVD]

★★★★

Since I have all the Bonds I want out of the 22 Eon ones made, I am in no hurry to plug the gaps, but it seems these boxed sets are the way to go. I buy them when I see them on special, but I am not sure if I will buy the remaining two (I also have vol. 4), so Moonraker is the next to head to Real Groovy—I forgot to take it today. If it also nets NZ$6, then an NZ$18 credit on the sixth season of Mission: Impossible (below) will make it worth buying here rather than via Amazon.com. I await its arrival—we are somewhat behind the US when it comes to these sets’ release.

Mission Impossible: The Sixth TV Season

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Let’s get pissed

nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:20:49 -0800

Time elapsed for the compose window to load: four hours. I have just started another Vox account and the compose window comes up instantly (I will not blog from there as I refuse to use noms de plume). Someone at Vox does not want me blogging.
Here’s something I did want to share, now that I remember. However, my commentary is hardly going to be fresh since Vox never loads on demand any more. Enjoy it for what it is. It was, to me, the funniest scene in So I Married an Axe Murderer. Quite clearly, Mike Myers, who co-wrote the movie, based the parents in the movie on his real-life ones.

So I Married An Axe Murderer - LETS GET PISSED

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A tribute to Edward Woodward

nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:18:50 -0800

I wanted to find some clips to pay tribute to the late actor, Edward Woodward. Strangely, the day he died (at a time when I did not know he had passed away), my mind kept thinking back to a joke my friend Ann told me (‘If there were no ds in his name, he’d be called Ewar Woowar’). But here is Woodward in his prime, in shows such as The Baron and The Saint, decades before he became a household name in the US in The Equalizer.

Edward Woodward clips from The Baron, The Saint and Armchair Cinema - Tribute

Woodward won the Best Actor award in the UK in 1970 for Callan:

Callan Title Sequence

In 2000, Woodward, still looking quite healthy, recalled his time on the show:

Edward Woodward on Callan I

Edward Woodward on Callan II

Edward Woodward on Callan III

And who knew that he could sing? Here he is in Morecambe & Wise:

Edward Woodward sings

The last shows I saw Woodward in were CI5: the New Professionals, in which he was hampered by some terrible scripts that kept getting changed so his performances were never polished, and in the last La Femme Nikita season, where he is revealed as Peta Wilson’s character’s father. My heart goes out to Michele, his widow.

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Man on Fire (not the remake)

nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 02:32:46 -0800

TV3 just re-ran the 2004 remake of Man on Fire, but I thought it might be interesting to see some clips from the original version, in this preview:

Man on Fire film preview

I realize Scott Glenn is not as big a name as Denzel Washington (who, let’s face it, carries the remake), but the film has a de Palma style about it, and the Italian locales give it some polish. Watch out for Joe Pesci with hair, and Jonathan Pryce and Danny Aiello. And in 1987, people did not have to put up with all the pretentious modern look-at-me editing from Christian Wagner, which, to me, gets in the way of the story, rather than enhances it. But that’s Tony Scott for you: half-film, half-overly stylish advert.
The remake was still fine, and quite enjoyable in parts, but I wouldn’t mind seeing the original.

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