A few days ago, when talking about playwright and screenwriter/director Martin McDonagh -- whose recent film is Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, I mentioned how his first film work after his successful career on the stage was the short, Six Shooter, that won an Oscar as Best Short Subject. Here it is. The 2004 film stars Brendan Gleeson and is quintessential McDonagh -- very smart, often extremely funny and violent. Funny and offbeat as this appears to be as you begin watching, make no mistake there is a dark, Irish side to it. Gleeson is a favorite of McConagh's, having wonderfully starred in his first feature-length movie, In Bruges, as well as his next, Seven Psychopaths. This short runs 27 minutes. For some reason, it doesn't seem to want to embed properly on these pages, though click on the "Run" arrow and it should work. If it runs but starts mid-stream, just drag the slider back to the start. And if it doesn't play at all, you can see it here.
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I would like to state for the record that I have officially told Time Magazine in several public posts on social media NOT to consider me for Person of the Year. So if I don't get named (which is still an "if," by the way, since there's no guaranteed they will accede to my wishes...), that's the reason.
Not to worry, I still may take a cue from Trump and also make up fake covers to plaster around my home. I'm still in the midst of my convoluted schedule, but I should be back up to speed very soon. In the meantime, I'll pop in with another Piano Puzzler from the archives. Our contestant today is Kelly Furgits of Cleveland, Ohio. I found the hidden tune very-well hidden. But then there was a passage that, to me, leaped out so clearly and at that point became easy to hear. Oddly, the contestant guessed the composer of that hidden tune, but couldn't place the song itself. The composer style came down to two thoughts for me...but alas, I guessed the other one...
My schedule is a bit convoluted for the next day or two, so I don't know how often I'll get to the keyboard and post here. But at least for starters, this should fill up a good part of your time quite nicely.
The other day I mentioned how funny and well-done the Kennedy Center Prize to David Letterman was -- almost like a Best Of edition of his TV show. Not only did they use the old show's announcer Alan Kalter, but also the regular CBS Orchestra with Paul Shaffer as the band -- and they even did a Top Ten list. And I posted a funny fake-documentary they did that supposedly focused on two of Letterman's childhood friends. Well, thanks to PBS for making the show available online, here is the full broadcast. If you only watch the opening bit with Steve Martin and Martin Short, that ,might well be enough. But keep going because there are a lot of gems, most notably Bill Murray's appearance as last year's recipient talking about the end of his reign. And the documentary (if you missed it before). And some fun comments by Amy Schumer. And a terrific performance by Eddie Vedder. And...well, here it all is --
As I've said in the past, this isn't really a Thanksgiving song. In fact, it's as much a Chirstmas-related number as anything, given that it's from the movie Scrooge, based on Dickens' A Christmas Carol. But the song is about thanking others, so one is granted full dispensation to play something called "Thank You Very Much" on any Thanksgiving. And it's a fine way to close out the day. Written by Leslie Bricusse, the number got an Oscar nomination for Best Song. It's performed here by the wonderful, though little-known to American audiences, Anton Rodgers (who had a standout co-starring role as he charming con man Alfred Jingle in another Dickens-based British musical, my fave and oft-mentioned Pickwick), along with an assist here from Albert Finney. The scene takes place during the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. No one is able to see Scrooge, therefore, and he's unaware that the people are not cheering him for being such a hearty good fellow, but rather the street food vendor Tom Jenkins who's thankful to Scrooge for something very different. It's that time o' year, and I think it's near-impossible on Thanksgiving to not celebrate with this classic by Stan Freberg, from his great Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America. Here is his version of how Thanksgiving actually came about. It begins with the local mayor decided a bit of self-promotion would help him if he threw a big gala and invited some Indians to show what a great guy he was. Which leads to a Freberg gem, "Take an Indian to Lunch." And once the holiday event was decided upon, things didn't go as smoothly as plans would hope.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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