LINES OF THE DAY

". . . But the past does not exist independently from the present. Indeed, the past is only past because there is a present, just as I can point to something over there only because I am here. But nothing is inherently over there or here. In that sense, the past has no content. The past -- or more accurately, pastness -- is a position. Thus, in no way can we identify the past as past." p. 15

". . . But we may want to keep in mind that deeds and words are not as distinguishable as often we presume. History does not belong only to its narrators, professional or amateur. While some of us debate what history is or was, others take it into their own hands." p. 153

Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History (1995) by Michel-Rolph Trouillot

Sunday, July 18, 2010

"Kiss You Down South" 8

Unsurprisingly, the MIXmixmixmixmix process is not finished.  Thus the activities originally scheduled for today such as photo shoot and dinner are canceled.

Gads, the stuff is gorgeous!

More rain and thunder, but not any of the crackers that announce the coming of god or the devil and the end of all things.

Spent most of yesterday working on the Maryland project while Turner Classics played.  The theme last night was Morocco.  Bing and Bob's Road to Morocco.  It's the first one of these I've ever seen.  This may be the fourth time I've seen, so to speak, as I'm not really watching carefully, The Wind and the Lion (1975) down here in New Orleans. Guess Turner Classics really likes this one. The Gary Cooper - Dietrich Morocco (1930), followed, as preposterous as it could possibly be, except for that terrific scene close  to the beginning in which Dietrich takes a flower from a giggling audience member's hair, kisses her in gratitude, and then throws the flower to Cooper.  I have seen this before and the ending annoyed me as much then as now.  But I was wrong!  There is something even more preposterous to follow -- The Desert Song (1953), a musical, starring Gordon MacRae who, an American mild-mannered wimpy anthropologist by day, leads the 'Rifters' tribe on raids upon the evile and stupid Legion and a sheikh plotting to Rule It All by night, while breaking into song and rebuffing the native nomad princess.  Somehow he's gonna hook up with the daughhter of an American general stationed in Tangier.  Or something. All while breaking into the most ridiculous 1950's American movie music. Is he Zorro? The Scarlet Pimpernel?  Robin Hood?  Not even Avatar - Airbender fail Hollywood would dare such a preposterous set up these days.

I do enjoy The Wind and the Lion as a strongly made romantic historical adventure movie drama, even though Sean Connery plays the courtly Berber, the great warrior, Raisuli, who kidnaps Candace Bergen and her children. Intentionally or not, the film presents a fine portrait of the perpetuated Teddy Roosevelt mythology of American Big Stickness, engineering and military unstoppableness and how we can do anything colonial empire building. I should sometime keep count of how often "Big Stick" is referred to in the film, and by whom. The movie paired very nicely with reading Vidal's Hollywood, which refers back to this era constantly during the Wilsonian administrations. When TRoosevelt suddenly dies, and Harding comes in people feel finally of him and his American abroad masculine adventurism of imperial colonialism. Now they can relax into the orgiastic '20's and make money, which is the actual point of the nation.

5 comments:

K. said...

Didn't that scene from Morocco make it into The Celluloid Closet.

Brian Keith does a wonderful turn as Senator Thomas Hart Benton on the old TV series based on Profiles in Courage. Speaking to a journalist: "A low cur dog were my exact words, sir...that's l-o-w c-u-r..."

Foxessa said...

It was indeed quoted in The Celluloid Closet.

We're back in rainy steamy NYC with the a/c cranked. We had a preggers woman, her husband, their 4 month old twins and their 4 year old daughter behind us. The twins screamed the whole time. Whew. Who are these people???????? Breeders, for certain ... probably on their way to a gathering to plan how to recognize and shoot on sight commie socialist libwhack femnazi public school supoorters pro contraceptive-family planners. Really. Coz who else would voluntarily take 4 month old twins on a plane trip if they didn't have to?

Love, C.

Foxessa said...

Of course el V's playing back the mixes now while rustling us up something to eat.

Gorgeous, gorgeous stuff.

Love, C.

K. said...

Is there a hoped-for release date? I just sent a copy of Cowboy Rumba to an old friend. It's my favorite CD to gift.

I have an AC but rarely use it. No need.

Foxessa said...

No release date or even mastering date yet.

Next priority is Haiti and moving.

But it shouldn't be too long.

This July is turning out to be the hottest month ever on record for NYC. Far hotter than last year -- last summer was actually cool for NYC, as was the summer before that.

Fortunately it's been raining here while we were gone and continues to rain. We had a soaked March, but it hadn't rained since sometime in May, with one of the hottest Junes on record, and then July even more so.

So we left a steamy 92 + degree environment, went to another steamy 92 + degree location, and returned to the same thing. Yet, they are so different. Plus now I have welts all over my feet, legs and arms from mosquito bites.

Love, C.