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The Sicilian

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SomeTorontoGirl

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Leonioid
...From the HAL (off by one letter IBM) computer ...

Hmmm...the old IBM rumour. HAL actually is an acronym for the type of programming used to create him - heuristically algorithmic. Don’t ever ask me anything else about computers though, that’s the extent of my tech knowledge.

While thinking of space walks, recently I happened upon a show on tv which showed an edge walk at the CN Tower in Toronto. I didn't realize you could do this. It is ridiculously crazy. Have you done this? I thought the ride on the outside elevator was nerve racking.

video: [www.youtube.com]

No, but it’s on my To Do list...soon! An early summer job ... 40 years ago... was driving elevators there. Getting stuck at 900 feet with a carload of people looking expectancy at me was fun. I did get to climb the antenna though, but that’s another story.

I can't remember if it was Mick or Keith who was asked in an interview at that time, maybe in CREEM magazine: "What do you think the monolith is?"
The answer was, "Probably a giant slab of hash."

That reply still makes me laugh 50 years later...

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The Sicilian
I'm a bigger fan of "2010: The Year We Made Contact" with wonderful actors Roy Scheider, John Lithgow, Helen Mirren, and Bob Balaban in the cast.

I just saw it (again) and if it's visually stunning the explanations given to complete the story of 2001 fall flat badly (imo).

Maybe warmth (made me think of late Mr Warmth...) is the right word for what's sometimes missing in Mr Kubrick's films. You get the impression of a cynical intellectual behind the camera.
So cerebral might be the word also? What I think is missing sometimes is scissors, or a more elaborated dramaturgy. Anyway, when it comes to attention to details and cinematography he is, maybe, unsurpassed.

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dcba
I just saw it (again) and if it's visually stunning the explanations given to complete the story of 2001 fall flat badly (imo).

I could see feeling that way if you went from Kubrick to Hyams. The sequel gets the right look but is much more of a traditional film and not Art. If you read Arthur C. Clarke's novel (written concurrently with the screenplay he and Kubrick collaborated on) you would find 2010 fits very well (as does Clarke's novel that Hyams' film is based on). Basically, he took the last page of the first book and used it as a story outline for the second book. The greater character detail in the early chapters with Heywood Floyd fit seamlessly. What's missing is Moon-Watcher and his tribe (who seem much less primate and much more primitive man in the book) to give the sequel the same sense of grandeur. The return to the dawn of man in the first TIME'S ODYSSEY gave me hope, but it just felt like someone else playing with concepts I loved. I can understand a Kubrick fan feeling similarly lost in Hyams' film, but Hyams at least had the right look even if his feel is deliberately different.

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buttons67
2001 was a classic and voted the best sci fi film ever, it is confusing though, but worth a couple of viewings although kubrik gets a lot of credit but never underestimate arthur c clarke role as he had a huge understanding of space and sci fi topics.

on the subject of sci fi i prefer the time machine or the day the earth caught fire.

I thought Blade Runner was voted the best ever...

I saw 2001 around the age of 10. I hated it... Didn't understand a word. It's definitely not a popcorn movie, neither is Blade Runner.

I couldn't have a movie on the top of my list that my mom wouldn't dig... And this movie is way too strange...

SK is obviously one of the all time greats.

The most haunting scene in any movie is 'the white room', especially when Bowman is lying in the bed as an old man and the monolith appears...

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Rocky Dijon

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dcba
I just saw it (again) and if it's visually stunning the explanations given to complete the story of 2001 fall flat badly (imo).

I could see feeling that way if you went from Kubrick to Hyams. The sequel gets the right look but is much more of a traditional film and not Art. If you read Arthur C. Clarke's novel (written concurrently with the screenplay he and Kubrick collaborated on) you would find 2010 fits very well (as does Clarke's novel that Hyams' film is based on). Basically, he took the last page of the first book and used it as a story outline for the second book. The greater character detail in the early chapters with Heywood Floyd fit seamlessly. What's missing is Moon-Watcher and his tribe (who seem much less primate and much more primitive man in the book) to give the sequel the same sense of grandeur. The return to the dawn of man in the first TIME'S ODYSSEY gave me hope, but it just felt like someone else playing with concepts I loved. I can understand a Kubrick fan feeling similarly lost in Hyams' film, but Hyams at least had the right look even if his feel is deliberately different.

Adore your posts always Rocky;
not sure about this stuff; sometimes admire some of the critical analyses
and personal anecdotes about him; but the bigger pictures, philosphically speaking; interesting as they are; are not matters I know very much about; but do find fascinating.
[www.youtube.com]
i mean there's a dozen amateur hour self-defined youtube critics haha,
but some some of em are interesting....
i know what you mean i think.
i think Eyes Wide Shut one of the most important movies ever;
but i hated it at first; and really would find it sort of an uncomfortable
choice for any nights particular entertainment haha...
but ...there Is something beyond the mystery; that is essential and very
important, and significantly unique; about his approach and accomplishments...
i think a LOT of the humor in Strangelove, just for arguments sake, cause you couildn't be more right considering James Mason in Lolita and etc....
......i got a 'warm' laughter from a whole hell of a lot of Peter Sellers in that one; it made it's 'point' while making you somehow laugh and cheer,
as nuclear annihlation of Planet Earth was in Happy Progress; cue some fantastic music baby.... ;-)

this ones cool:
[www.youtube.com]

as soon as i saw the new stage screens, i thought 'four monoliths' or 'four big cell phones' lol



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2018-04-02 00:54 by hopkins.

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ThePaleRider
I can't remember if it was Mick or Keith who was asked in an interview at that time, maybe in CREEM magazine: "What do you think the monolith is?"
The answer was, "Probably a giant slab of hash."

That reply still makes me laugh 50 years later...

I believe that was Mick, from his 1968 interview with Rolling Stone Magazine. The thing I remember about that interview is Mick saying he was reluctant to tour again because "The thought of playing "Paint It Black" and nine other songs to a bunch of screaming girls doesn't really appeal to me." Even when the interviewer tried to explain that it probably wouldn't be like that, that groups like Cream and Hendrix and completely changed the live concert experience and that the Stones would probably have a relatively quiet and respectful audience that just wanted to sit and listen to them, Mick still wasn't buying it. He really thought it was still going to be a bunch of screaming girls, as if the Stones were some kind of bubblegum teenybopper group. He seemed remarkably out of touch with what was going on at the time.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2018-04-02 16:05 by tatters.

Here's a bit more I came across about about HAL and the movie.

[www.nytimes.com]

[www.nytimes.com]

[www.nytimes.com]

any thoughts about the possible connection between the end of the 2001 movie and Pink Floyd´s Echoes ?

http://www.openculture.com/

The link between the two is very strong imho and maybe it goes beyond the simple urban legend ?

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djgab
any thoughts about the possible connection between the end of the 2001 movie and Pink Floyd´s Echoes ?

http://www.openculture.com/

The link between the two is very strong imho and maybe it goes beyond the simple urban legend ?

I posted this blog on page one which discusses the many connections between Kubrick and Floyd - here's the portion which discusses end of the 2001 movie and Pink Floyd´s Echoes.

Investigating the myths around the '2001'-Pink Floyd connection

"Schaffner's remark about the 'hallucinatory sequence sounding remarkably Floydian' hit the web in the the late 90's and remained alive ever since, creating another urban legend, that states that after Kubrick's purported refusal to let them score 2001 (or after their refusal to do it, depending on which version you prefer), Pink Floyd wrote the 1971 song Echoes (from the album Meddle) synching it on purpose to "Jupiter and beyond the infinite", the final sequence of 2001.There are many fan-made videos on the internet showing the (somewhat eerie) coincidence.

The link between Echoes and 2001 received a semi-official sanctioning when director Adrian Maben re-created the marriage of music and image, using CGI, for its 2003 Director's cut DVD of the movie Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii, a 1972 concert film featuring Pink Floyd playing at the ancient Roman amphitheatre in Pompeii, Italy (a place that, by the way, it's very close to the town I spend my summer holidays in.)
The fact that, by 1971, the band had already scored two movies (the aforementioned 1970 Zabriskie Point was preceded by french art film More in 1969), again gave some credibility to the claim; Pink Floyd also provided an instrumental piece called Moonhead to the BBC coverage of the Apollo 11 moon landing (July 1969). According to Wikipedia, (unfortunately there are no sources for this)

...the members of the band always denied that the synchronization was intentional. Furthermore, the technology necessary to the synchronization in a recording studio circa 1971 would have been expensive and difficult for the band to acquire.

Luckily, the creation and origins of Echoes are extremely well documented, as we learn from this Cinefantastique article:

The story behind the creation of this lengthy effort is detailed in ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL: The Stories Behind Every Pink Floyd Song by Cliff Jones.

The band gathered in the recording studio [Ed.note: late 1970-early 1971] with the goal of creating a song that would fill an entire side of a record. Playing to a metronome, they recorded thirty-six discrete pieces of music. These thirty-six pieces were then edited together, re-recorded and re-edited and redubbed until eight major sections remained.

At no point in Jones’ account is 2001 or Stanley Kubrick mentioned, and in fact the recording did not take its final shape until after the song had been played live on at least a few occasions, on the basis of which the group went back to further refine the album track. In other words, the final version was based on what worked best as a live concert performance, not on whether it synched up with a movie.

Also, Wikipedia is helpful in giving us more hints about the composition of 'Echoes':

The high-pitched electronic 'screams', resembling a distorted seagull song, were discovered by Gilmour when the cables were accidentally reversed to his wah pedal;
The second half of the song where Gilmour plays muted notes on the guitar over Wright's slowly building organ solo was inspired by The Beach Boys song "Good Vibrations" ;
In an interview in 2008 with Mojo, when asked who had composed Echoes, Wright stated he had composed the long piano intro and the main chord progression of the song, in the same interview he confirmed that Waters wrote the lyrics. Gilmour has also stated in interviews that musically the song came mainly from him and Wright.

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Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

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SomeTorontoGirl

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The Sicilian
While thinking of space walks, recently I happened upon a show on tv which showed an edge walk at the CN Tower in Toronto. I didn't realize you could do this. It is ridiculously crazy. Have you done this? I thought the ride on the outside elevator was nerve racking.

video: [www.youtube.com]

No, but it’s on my To Do list...soon! An early summer job ... 40 years ago... was driving elevators there. Getting stuck at 900 feet with a carload of people looking expectancy at me was fun. I did get to climb the antenna though, but that’s another story.

This I've got to hear, even offline if you prefer. I'll say this, the edge walk would be a trill of a lifetime, if you can handle it. I'd love to see the Stones do it if they return to Toronto. Charlie probably won't though.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2018-04-02 21:48 by The Sicilian.

thank you very much Hairball for your post.

There will be screenings in NYC with the NY Philharmonic performing the music live.

[nyphil.org]

Speaking of great films, without bad films would great films be as great?

I was watching (trying to watch) Paradox the other night... and...
it seems there is The Coen brothers writing/directing on one end of the film making spectrum... and...
then there is Daryl Hannah writing/directing on the other end of the spectrum.


Neil Young's/Bernard Shakey's Shakey Films movie Paradox


There is some cool tunes in the movie and there is some spectacular scenery filmed, but as a cohesive movie, Ms Hannah made... I guess it is a think piece, but I am not sure what to think. In the end, I guess the moral is if you are gonna be a balloon, ya better get a rope.

I saw this movie as a 12, maybe 13 year old. I didn`t understand the end of it, but then it became all the more alluring. The end was quite creepy when I think of it, but I didn`t get hurt. I understood as much as it was beyond life as we know it, and that some time/space stuff was involved. I`ve learned that this movie was part of the experimental will of the 60s. Such movies would soon come to an end as the 70s came along. This movie defined sci-fi to me, and I wouldn`t go for anything less, which meant that I haven`t seen anything under the sci-fi label since 1969.

I watched it quite young on the TV. I still remember the discovery on the moon of the "black stone" with the Ligeti's choir music. I do not know other movie which made feel the same.

NPR
a nice read !

50 Years Later, '2001: A Space Odyssey' Is Still A Cinematic Landmark