Fascinating episode of Mad Men last night, with all sorts of intriguing subplots and performances and historical footnotes as well...
Which segues us into today's History Lesson, alluded to multiple times in last night's episode:
Richard Speck
In 1966, Speck, a 24-year old sailor with a long history of discontent, bad behavior (poor grades, alcohol abuse), trespassing, burglary, and stabbing, and other reputation-scouring delinquency (he was a suspect in a rape case and the disappearance of three women in Indiana), broke into a town home in Chicago's Jeffry Manor neighborhood. The home was used as a dormitory for female nurses.
He dragged each of eight nurses out of a common room and then proceeded to rape and strangle them one by one. A ninth woman escaped, waited until the coast was clear, climbed out a window, and called to a neighboring house for help.
Speck's fingerprints were everywhere, but police couldn't locate him. A few nights later, a desk clerk at Chicago's Starr Hotel (on W. Madison) called in a suicide attempt. The man was taken to the hospital and was identified as Speck.
Speck went to trial and was convicted in less than an hour. He was given a death sentence, a ruling that was overturned 23 days later by the U.S. Supreme Court; within those 23 days, Illinois outlawed the death penalty, thus overturning the original sentence. Therefore, he was convicted for 400 to 1200 years! He died in 1991 while being transported to a medical hospital.
In the ensuing years, his brain has been studied by medical experts and found to be abnormal - a result, perhaps, of alcohol abuse and abuse by his stepfather. Speck, born in Kirkwood, Illinois, grew up in Dallas, lost his father at the age of six; his mother married a hard man with an arrest record. Was Speck born evil? Or did he become evil over a period of hostile, alienating circumstances?
Thanks to: http://voices.yahoo.com/this-day-history-july-13th-1966-3794626.html?cat=72
Mike Leigh's tenth theatrical film, Another Year (2010), is certainly polarizing in the way the writer-director flirts, as ever, with condescension for the "other side" - in this case, single people. The main characters, our entry points, are Tom and Gerry (the great Jim Broadbent and fellow Leigh regular Ruth Sheen), truly salt of the earth people. The film follows a year in the life of Tom and Gerry (yes, they realize how that sounds) and the guests and friends they entertain. How much should we read into the fact that every single person they entertain is lost and alone, grieving or beyond hope? When Gerry or Tom role their eyes at characters like Mary (Lesley Manville), is it really the director - and the audience - who should be looking on these floundering souls with contempt? It's a tough call.
Leigh is master at details, casual conversation, and if the film rambles a bit, there certainly aren't any wasted minutes or scenes that I could locate. It's a warm yet penetrating film, but I started to wonder what the point of it all was. The acting is, as to be expected, superlative, with Manville (no Oscar nod? Come on, man!) giving one of the finest, most lived-in portraits of loneliness ever put on screen. It's a great performance, but I'm not entirely sure Leigh's haunting final shot - of Mary's face, sadly listening to a dinner conversation she has nothing to contribute to - does her any justice. (***)
Ansel Adams (#23)
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| Yosemite Valley |
Okay, most of us know about Adams, but here's a recap:
Born: San Francisco, 1902
Childhood: An only child, his adolescence saw his family fortune decline; he was a shy kid, solitary, given to periods of contemplation and silence; an avid piano player.
Where his interest in photography stemmed from: Walks in nature, all around the Golden Gate, hikes around the Bay City.
First success as a photographer: Photographs for one of the Sierra Club's bulletins; he took photos of the Club's monthly trips to the Sierra Nevadas.
Influential patron: San Francisco insurance magnate Albert Bender. Bender supported Adams as he spent summers photographing in the Sierra Nevadas.
Style of photography: Originally, it was a pictorial style; after the 1920s, he practiced more in the style of straight photography.
Characteristics of straight photography: the clarity of the lens is emphasized; the final print gave no appearance of darkroom manipulation; no tricks, no gum printing, scratching; often in black-and-white; as objective and realistic an interpretation as possible.
Why he's famous: Well, more so than anything else, his images were long seen (and still are) as the symbols of Wild America. Other photographer friends (Weston, Strand, even Stieglitz) saw him as a genius within his field. He campaigned vociferously and tirelessly for the national parks, including Yellowstone. Everyone has probably seen an image of one of the western landscapes he shot - from the Rockies to Big Sur. He was at the forefront of the conservation movement.
He just may be the most famous photographer of all time.
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| the Tetons and the Snake River |
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| Big Sur coast |
Personally, I find Adams' photos a little boring. You know, great but boring.
Thanks: http://www.anseladams.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=51
And because I was out of town last week, I forgot to list last week's new film releases.
American Reunion And the raunchy franchise, long surviving (gaspily) on direct-to-DVD spin-offs, returns with the original cast (Jason Biggs, Seann William Scott, Chris Klein, Eugene Levy, etc.) back in flush. Reviews have been so-so; ** 1/2 out of 4, etc. Looks pleasant enough. It came in second in the box office, earning a respectable $21.5million, unable to supplant the redoubtable earner The Hunger Games.
Damsels in Distress Writer-director Whit Stillman hasn't made a film since 1998's forgettable The Last Days of Disco (with Kate Beckinsale) and now he's back with this loopy, alluring, anachronistic comedy set at a male-dominated college campus. The film follows a group of girls who try to revolutionize life on campus. Because one of the girls is played by Greta Gerwig and another by Analeigh Tipton (the babysitter with the crush on Steve Carell in Crazy Stupid Love), I'm a little more interested. Good reviews. Adam Brody is getting some mention as one of the guys on campus.
In music news, I'm about a year late to the party, but I have to say that My Morning Jacket's Circuital is really, really good. "Wonderful" is a well... outstanding track. No clunkers on this album.
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