Author: Neon Vincent

Happy Hump Day!  From now until July 11th, I’m taking over for Don Durito, spinning the tunes and serving drinks for everyone’s entertainment.

My love of movie music inspired me to choose My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult (TKK) as this week’s featured musical act.  Not only was the band itself named after a proposed film but never made film of the same name, the band itself incorporates spoken word samples from B-movies and television shows in its music.  Hollywood reciprocated, using music from 30 different song titles in 17 movies and 23 television showssince the band was founded 30 years ago.

Probably the best known of the band’s songs is also the one most frequently appearing in soundtracks, “Sex on Wheelz,” used in eight different movies and TV shows.  Its most famous appearance was in the movie “Cool World,” which earned it a second music video directed by Ralph Bakshi.

Arguably the next most famous use of a song by My Life with The Thrill Kill Kult in a movie was After the Flesh from “The Crow.”  The band appeared as itself in the film playing this song.

To finish off the music selections in the diary proper, I’m sharing a song by My Life with The Thrill Kill Kult that was not used in a movie or TV show, but whose title is too on the nose for me to pass up, Apollo 69.

With all my talk of sex and flesh, my readers should have figured out that the volume number of this installment of the series inspired me as well.
Once again, I’m concluding the diary proper by quoting Don Durito.

For those of you wondering how I and Neon Vincent are circumventing Sucuri to embed videos, here is an example of the embed code we use, so that you can replicate as wanted:

Just remember that each unique 11-digit video code in YouTube needs to be pasted in two separate locations within the embed code in order for your video to show up properly. So easy that I can do it!

With those instructions, feel free to post your favorite music videos in the comments.

May 31 was National Autonomous Vehicle Day, but I didn’t celebrating it.  Instead ABC’s cancellation of “Roseanne” prompted me to look at another technology, television — in particular, how television shapes our political opinions.  Seeker explains in TV Shows Are Changing Your Political Opinions Without You Knowing It.

We all know the news can be biased, but what about entertainment TV? Can mindless, seemingly-apolitical shows actually change our opinions?

The answer appears to be yes, as the description quoted a press release on EurekAlert: People who watch entertainment TV are more likely to vote for populist politicians.

People exposed to entertainment television are more likely to vote for populist politicians according to a new study co-authored by an economist at Queen Mary University of London.The researchers investigated the political impact of entertainment television in Italy over the last 30 years during the phased introduction of Silvio Berlusconi’s commercial TV network Mediaset.

The press release struck an even more relevant note in its conclusion.

Dr. [Andrea] Tesei said: “Our results suggest that entertainment content can influence political attitudes, creating a fertile ground for the spread of populist messages. It’s the first major study to investigate the political effect of exposure among voters to a diet of ‘light’ entertainment. The results are timely as the United States adjusts to the Presidency of Donald Trump.”

Hence the image I used to illustrate this entry — Trump isn’t the only person to learn a lot watching television.  All of us do, whether we’re aware of it or not.
Posted, as promised, when  Vox explains how Russian trolls weaponized social media.  Reposted with modifications from Crazy Eddie’s Motie News.

Three years ago, I posted Putin’s hackers and agents, an entry about Russia’s Internet Research Agency.  I knew it was significant, but I had no idea at the time how big a story that would become.  I also didn’t follow up on it.  It’s time to rectify that omission.  Watch as Vox explains How Russian trolls weaponized your social media feed

Russia spent billions on a troll army to meddle in American democracy. Here’s how you can stop them.
…
A recent federal indictment against 13 Russian individuals and three Russian companies gives us more information than ever about how exactly a Kremlin-linked organization went about meddling in the 2016 US election. Social media companies have begun to combat the problem. But the homegrown bitterness and hate that these Russian trolls are exploiting is a much harder phenomenon to cure.

This video proposes the same solution as Seeker did in yesterday’s post about television entertainment shaping our political opinions — consume a variety of news media in order to get a diversity of viewpoints instead of staying inside a partisan media bubble.  That’s good advice.*

Also, the Columbian Chemical hoax plays a starring role in Putin’s hackers and agents, so this is not news, just the apparent first time Russia tried to sow discord in the U.S. using social media.  As for calling the I.R.A. employees “trolls,” I don’t fully agree.  Instead, I consider them to be agents.

I first posted this image in Who’s hiding under the bridge of an online science article? along with the description from the now defunct Flame Warriors.†

Agent is a sinister and elusive opponent who usually works in concert with other Agents. Agent generally uses standard combat techniques, but differs from other Warriors in that he is in the employ of some organization. The organization may be political, commercial, or even criminal, and it’s Agent’s job to post messages that advance his employer’s interests.

That’s who the Internet Research Agency employs, not the standard troll, who is in it for his own entertainment.  Speaking of which, it’s time to be a good environmentalist and recycle.

Back in the days when I tangled with the Men’s Rights Movement and gave out awards for stupid net tricks on Usenet, my fellow posters to alt.usenet.kooks and I were regularly called “paid government disinformation agents.”  We weren’t; we were just hobbyists.  These guys are the real paid government disinformation agents.

Remember, “cyberwarfare doesn’t just involve manipulating machines, it also manipulates minds.  Welcome to 21st Century psyops and propaganda.”

*I’ll post that entry from my personal blog here when this one falls off the rec list.

†A Google search revealed that most copies of this image that still exist appear on Russian-language pages.  I find that both ironic and eerily apt.

Last March 18th, the volunteers of Coffee Party USA finished voting on the 2017 Coffee Party Entertainment Awards for Movies in four categories plus a special award.  Here are the nominees for Best Drama or Comedy about Politics or Government of 2017 (Best Political Scripted Movie for short).

Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
Molly’s Game
The Post
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

And the winner is “The Post.”

In lieu of an acceptance speech, here is its trailer.

Steven Spielberg directs Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks in The Post, a thrilling drama about the unlikely partnership between The Washington Post’s Katharine Graham (Streep), the first female publisher of a major American newspaper, and editor Ben Bradlee (Hanks), as they race to catch up with The New York Times to expose a massive cover-up of government secrets that spanned three decades and four U.S. Presidents. The two must overcome their differences as they risk their careers – and their very freedom – to help bring long-buried truths to light.

The Post marks the first time Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg have collaborated on a project. In addition to directing, Spielberg produces along with Amy Pascal and Kristie Macosko Krieger. The script was written by Liz Hannah and Josh Singer, and the film features an acclaimed ensemble cast including Alison Brie, Carrie Coon, David Cross, Bruce Greenwood, Tracy Letts, Bob Odenkirk, Sarah Paulson, Jesse Plemons, Matthew Rhys, Michael Stuhlbarg, Bradley Whitford and Zach Woods.

The American Film Institute had the following to say about the movie when the AFI awarded it Film of the Year for 2017.

THE POST demands America remember a time when heroism was the headline. Steven Spielberg’s inarguable place in the pantheon is further etched in granite by the mastery of craft exhibited in this heart-pounding ode to journalism. Guided by Liz Hannah and Josh Singer’s words in print and Tom Hanks’ embodiment of Ben Bradlee, Meryl Streep captures the insightful ferociousness of Katharine Graham, proving that the fight for truth, justice and the American way is not the purview of superheroes, but fearless women and men willing to do what is just – for without them, democracy dies in darkness.

Coffee Party USA and AFI were not the only organizations to award “The Post” some form of Best Picture.  It won The Most Valuable Movie of the Year from the Cinema for Peace Awards, National Board of Review, USA awarded it Best Film, and the Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Awards bestowed Best Portrayal of Washington, DC.  Its virtual award for Best Drama or Comedy about Politics or Government looks to be in good company.

Follow over the jump for the rest of the winners.
A funny thing happened to Best Portrayal of a Government Official in a Film during 2017 between the announcement of the nominations and today.  Because I accepted the nomination of Francis McDormand’s character Mildred in “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” the possibility existed that an activist, not a government official, would win the category, invalidating the title.  Consequently, the volunteers and I decided in the event of that happening, the award name would be changed to Best Performance by an Actor in a Political Film and the Best Portrayal of a Government Official become a special award.  Before I announce whether that happened, here are the nominees.

Ben Mendelsohn as King George VI in “Darkest Hour”
David Strathairn as FDR in “Darkest Hour”
Francis McDormand as Mildred in “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill in “Darkest Hour”
Judi Dench as Queen Victoria in “Victoria & Abdul”
Woody Harrelson as Chief Willoughby in “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

And the winners are…

…Francis McDormand as Mildred in “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” for Best Performance by an Actor in a Political Film and Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill in “Darkest Hour” for Best Portrayal of a Government Official.  These awards can join all of their accolades for Best Actress and Best Actor.  Let it be known, however, in a head-to-head contest between the two, the woman won.  There’s a moral in there, somewhere.  Also, when I wrote “Next year, there will be a separate category for activists in film,” it happened a year earlier than I expected.  There’s a lesson there, too.

Moving on to documentaries, the nominees for Best Documentary about Politics or Government of 2017 are:

Abacus: Small Enough to Jail
An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power
Chasing Coral
Icarus
LA 92
Last Men in Aleppo
Saving Capitalism
Strong Island

And the winner is “Saving Capitalism.”

This is the first award for “Saving Capitalism.”  It beat an Oscar winner (“Icarus“), two Oscar nominees (“Last Men in Aleppo” and “Strong Island”), an Emmy winner (“LA 92“), and the winner (“An Inconvenient Sequel“) and one of the nominees (“Chasing Coral“) of the Environmental Media Association Awards.  Congratulations!

Here is its trailer from Netflix on Youtube.

Robert Reich, the Former Secretary of Labor of the United States, examines America’s fragile democracy and its fight for survival; as income and wealth go to the top, more Americans are left behind. Now it’s up to those ordinary Americans to change the rules.

When I wrote about the strength of last year’s documentaries, “Saving Capitalism” was not among them.  Now, it is, thanks to the volunteers of Coffee Party USA, who nominated it and voted for it.

It’s time to be a good environmentalist and recycle for the last category.

Just as there is a category to recognize actors playing politicians and activists in scripted films, there is also one to recognize actual politicians and government officials in documentaries, Best Appearance of a Government Official in a Documentary during 2017.

Al Gore in “An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power”
Hillary Clinton in “Dolores”
Maxine Waters in “LA 92”
Robert Reich in “Saving Capitalism”
Ronald Reagan in “The Reagan Show”

And the winner is Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich.  Congratulations, Dr. Reich, you beat a president and two popular vote winners, to say nothing of a current U.S. Representative!  With that, “Saving Capitalism” has gone from no awards to two.

That’s it for the Coffee Party Entertainment Awards for movies.  The volunteers and I plan on doing this for television shows in August and September.  Stay tuned.

Happy Earth Day!  Over at my personal blog, Crazy Eddie’s Motie News, I observed the day by posting Vox on going green by reducing waste for Earth Day 2018.  Here, I want to celebrate with a lighter touch by sharing a song and a drink to honor the day.

For the song, watch Florence and the Machine turn “So Big, So Blue, So Beautiful” into an environmental anthem.

Live version of their song for a climate change event

For the drink, I’m sharing Nuptini Earth Day Cocktail.

For Earth Day, Nuptini teams up with Glass Dharma to bring you a cocktail that’s as eco-friendly as it is delicious!

Here’s to a sustainable celebration!

Happy Hump Day!  I’m continuing with the soundtrack theme from Midweek Cafe and Lounge, Vol. 59 by reusing one of the songs from the comments.  Hey, I’m an environmentalist; I recycle!  Watch and listen to Hans Zimmer Brings The ‘Planet Earth II’ Soundtrack To The Late Show.

10 years ago Planet Earth changed our view of the world. Now we take you closer than ever before.
This is life in all its wonder. This is Planet Earth II. A decade ago, the landmark television series Planet Earth redefined natural history filmmaking, giving us the ultimate portrait of life on Earth. Planet Earth II, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, will reveal our planet from a completely new perspective, using significant advances in both filming technology and our understanding of the natural world.
And if you are not excited enough already it features an original score by legendary composer Hans Zimmer.

Yes, this week will be all Hans Zimmer.

I have two directions I’m taking this.  The first is to another BBC nature series that Zimmer wrote music for, “Blue Planet II.”  Watch and listen to Radiohead & Hans Zimmer – (ocean) bloom.

Radiohead, one of the world’s most acclaimed rock bands, and Hans Zimmer, one of the planet’s most successful movie and TV composers, have joined forces to produce an exclusive track for BBC America’s upcoming natural history series, Planet Earth: Blue Planet II, coming to BBC America in early 2018.

Radiohead and Hans Zimmer’s orchestrally reimagined version of the Radiohead song `(ocean) bloom’ from their 2011 album sees Radiohead’s Thom Yorke rerecord the vocals and produced by Russell Emanuel of Bleeding Fingers Music, the company which also crafted the BAFTA & Emmy-nominated score to BBC America’s Planet Earth II.

Thom Yorke of Radiohead shares our excitement for the project: “Bloom was inspired by the original Blue Planet series so it’s great to be able to come full circle with the song and reimagine it for this incredible landmark’s sequel. Hans is a prodigious composer who effortlessly straddles several musical genres so it was liberating for us all to work with such a talent and see how he wove the sound of the series’ and Bloom together.”

In turn, Hans Zimmer says: “Bloom appears to have been written ahead of its time as it beautifully reflects the jaw-dropping lifeforms and seascapes viewers are introduced to in Blue Planet II. Working with Thom, Jonny and the boys has been a wonderful diversion and it’s given me an interesting peek into their musical world. They’ve been incredible to work with and I hope everyone likes the track.”

The other is to performances of Zimmer’s movie music from the live tour that Stephen Colbert mentioned in Hans Zimmer Brings The ‘Planet Earth II’ Soundtrack To The Late Show.  Here is Hans Zimmer Live 2017 – Pirates Of The Caribbean Medley – Leipzig – 24.05.2017.  The cello soloist is Tina Guo.

Hans Zimmer – Pirates Of The Caribbean Medley (Jack Sparrow, Love Suite, Up is Down, He’s a Pirate) – Hans Zimmer Live 2017 – Leipzig – 24.05.2017

I’ll have more from Hans Zimmer and Tina Guo in the comments.

Once again, I’m concluding the diary proper by quoting Don Durito.

For those of you wondering how I and Neon Vincent are circumventing Sucuri to embed videos, here is an example of the embed code we use, so that you can replicate as wanted:

Just remember that each unique 11-digit video code in YouTube needs to be pasted in two separate locations within the embed code in order for your video to show up properly. So easy that I can do it!

With those instructions, feel free to post your favorite music videos in the comments.

Happy Hump Day!  Yesterday was National Film Score Day.

On April 3, National Film Score Day recognizes the musical masterpieces called “Film Scores” and, more specifically, the very talented composers who create them.

It’s my kind of day, since I love movie music.  To celebrate, I’m posting music from the most recent Oscar, Grammy, and Emmy winners for film and TV scores and title songs.

First, the Academy Award winner for Original Score, the theme from “The Shape of Water” as performed at the BAFTA Awards this year.

Cirque du Soleil’s OVO inspired by the film ‘Shape of Water’.

Next, from this year’s Grammy winner, “Another Day of Sun” from “La La Land.”  This also happens  to be last year’s Oscar winner.

During the opening credits, the movie we are viewing is said to have been filmed in CINEMASCOPE (like the old-time musicals) and then the screen expands from box format to wide. We find ourselves on the 105/110 interchange in Los Angeles. People listen to various forms of music in their cars. Then one woman gets out of her vehicle and starts singing ANOTHER DAY OF SUN to the camera (à la a musical), a song about how great it is being in sunny California. Someone else exits his car and joins her. Pretty soon, everyone has left their car and is singing the song while dancing in the street or on the cars that are parked via the traffic jam, everything synchronized for the full-length musical number. Another Day of Sun
Music by Justin Hurwitz
Lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
Performed by Nicholai Baxter, Marius De Vries, Briana Lee, Angela Parrish, and Sam Stone

Now I want to watch the movie.

Follow over the jump for videos of Emmy winning TV music from last season.
The winner of Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music at last year’s Emmy Awards was “Stranger Things.”  It also won Outstanding Main Title Design.  Two for one!  Here is the winning title sequence and theme song.

The Emmy for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score) went to Jeff Beal, the only Emmy for “House of Cards” this year.  To celebrate, I’m sharing two selections from the fifth season of “House of Cards.”  First, House Of Cards, Chapter 63 “Saved My Life” by Jeff Beal.

Next, the fifth season’s version of the series theme song.

Once again, I’m concluding the diary proper by quoting Don Durito.

For those of you wondering how I and Neon Vincent are circumventing Sucuri to embed videos, here is an example of the embed code we use, so that you can replicate as wanted:

Just remember that each unique 11-digit video code in YouTube needs to be pasted in two separate locations within the embed code in order for your video to show up properly. So easy that I can do it!

With those instructions, feel free to post your favorite music videos in the comments.

Happy Hump Day!  I watched March For Our Lives Saturday and I was impressed with the pop stars who came out in support of the demonstration, providing their support through song.  So was Don Durito, who wondered what song to post in the comments to Midweek Cafe and Lounge, Vol. 57 at Booman Tribune.  I responded with “I’d try any of the songs performed by the singers at the rally in Washington, DC.  I would post ‘Be Alright’ by Ariana Grande, but I’m planning on using that for No. 58 this coming Wednesday.”  As promised, here is my favorite, Ariana Grande singing Be Alright.

This isn’t the first time she has performed this song at an event against violence.  She used as her entrance at One Love Manchester, a benefit concert for the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund in coordination with the Red Cross in response to the bombing of her previous concert in the U.K. city.

Following along with the image I used to illustrate this entry, I present Miley Cyrus singing The Climb.

Miley Cyrus performing singing The Climb Live At March For Our Lives.

Continuing along the image, the next singer is Demi Lovato performing Skyscraper.

Its time. Change is happening. Let’s go save our lives!

This was the first performance I saw and I was impressed.

I conclude with the other performance I mentioned in response to Don Durito.  “How about ‘The Times They are a Changin” by Bob Dylan?  Jennifer Hudson sang that today…I’ll have Jennifer Hudson’s rendition on Wednesday so long as it’s still up on YouTube, along with videos of the rest of the performers.”  Here it is, D.C. choir sings with Jennifer Hudson, ‘The Times They Are A Changin’ at March For Our Lives Rally.

Once again, I’m concluding the diary proper by quoting Don Durito.

For those of you wondering how I and Neon Vincent are circumventing Sucuri to embed videos, here is an example of the embed code we use, so that you can replicate as wanted:

Just remember that each unique 11-digit video code in YouTube needs to be pasted in two separate locations within the embed code in order for your video to show up properly. So easy that I can do it!

With those instructions, feel free to post your favorite music videos in the comments.

Happy Hump Day and Happy first day of astronomicalSpring!  To celebrate, I’m sharing Songs about Spring.

I begin with Ella Fitzgerald’s version of Rogers and Hart’s Spring Is Here.*

This was originally from the 1938 stage musical I Married an Angel, which became a 1942 film of the same name.  As I observed at Midweek Cafe and Lounge, Vol. 56, “I never get too far away from movie music,” a tendency I’ll indulge later in this post.

The next song is Lou Rawls Spring Again.

He talks about young love.  That’s a theme of the next song, Spring Fever by Elvis Presley from the movie “Girl Happy.”

As I wrote above, “I never get too far away from movie music.”
Once again, I’m concluding the diary proper by quoting Don Durito.

For those of you wondering how I and Neon Vincent are circumventing Sucuri to embed videos, here is an example of the embed code we use, so that you can replicate as wanted:

Just remember that each unique 11-digit video code in YouTube needs to be pasted in two separate locations within the embed code in order for your video to show up properly. So easy that I can do it!

With those instructions, feel free to post your favorite music videos in the comments.

*There are radically different versions by Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, Peter Nero, Frank Sinatra, and Carly Simon.  I’ll post those some other time.  After all, I’m an environmentalist; I not only recycle my ideas, I conserve my resources.

Happy Hump Day and Happy Pi Day!  To celebrate, I’m posting songs with a pie theme.  Yes, I’m a geek.

I begin with Madonna’s cover of Don McLean’s iconic American Pie.

Go get ’em, local girl!

Next, Jay & the Techniques with their 1967 hit Apples Peaches Pumpkin Pie.

That was a fun discovery on YouTube.

The final song on a pie theme is I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch) by The Four Tops.

I enjoyed working backwards in time with these songs.

Once again, I’m concluding the diary proper by quoting Don Durito.

For those of you wondering how I and Neon Vincent are circumventing Sucuri to embed videos, here is an example of the embed code we use, so that you can replicate as wanted:

Just remember that each unique 11-digit video code in YouTube needs to be pasted in two separate locations within the embed code in order for your video to show up properly. So easy that I can do it!

With those instructions, feel free to post your favorite music videos in the comments.

I’ll return tomorrow with songs and drinks inspired by the destruction of Pompeii.   Beware The Ides of March!

Modified from Three pie songs and a pie drink for Pi Day 2018 at Crazy Eddie’s Motie News.