Rambling -- Nothing About The Bakken -- July 28, 2017

The TCM Page

Psycho ... North by Northwest ... Vertigo ...

I'm really hooked on TCM. A couple of nights ago, TCM had a Hitchcock extravaganza -- the three movies noted.

The host Ben Mankiewicz shared the introduction with Hitchcock "expert," Alexandre Philippe. I have seen all three movies but, except for Psycho, really do not remember much about them. And my hunch is that I don't remember Psycho all that well either.

I watched the first two (Vertigo and North by Northwest) but simply was unable to stay awake to watch all of Psycho. 

It is so much fun seeing these movies again late in life.

Alexandre Philippe considers Vertigo Hitchcock's best film; and, after watching it the other night I understand why. It was a psychological thriller and it clicked: Hitchcock loved human psychology.

But the "thing" that I realized when I saw these three movies the other night was that Hitchcock handed the baton off to the Coen Brothers. Like the Coen Brothers, Hitchcock loved to base his films in various locales:

• Vertigo: beautiful San Francisco
• North by Northwest: Rapid City, SD (and its environs) -- think the Coen Bros Fargo
• Psycho: opens in Phoenix, AZ

North by Northwest, I would argue was as much a comedy as the Coen Bros dark comedies.

*************************

Speaking of Mankiewicz

The Barefoot Contessa: a review. 

*****************************

Vulgarity

I occasionally watch VEEP on DVD. We have the entire library, minus the current season, obviously, but I have not gotten past Season Four. I watch it so intermittently that I forget episodes and don't want to move to a new season if I can't recall the previous season. So, like Groundhog Day, I keep re-watching Season Four. Pretty funny.

Last night I was somewhat shocked at the amount of vulgarity in an episode in Season Four. I wondered if the writers had not gone a bit too far.

But today I read the actual "transcription" of President Trump's director of communications, Anthony Scaramucci, and realize that VEEP appears to be incredibly accurate.

Pretty sad.

****************************

Umlauts

Torsten Müller-Ötvös ("Pat, I would like to buy an umlaut"), CEO of Rolls-Royce, announces the first new Phantom in 13 years.

And just think, Rolls-Royce will be making EVs for Great Britain. LOL.

*******************
What Happened?

One decade, the '60s:

• an incredibly expensive (blood and money) war half way around the world
• in less than a decade from idea to execution: American to the moon and safely back
• Civil Rights movement --> Civil Rights Act signed by a southern Democrat
• Voting Rights Act
• Free Speech Movement
• some of the best music ever -- perhaps the decade of best music ever
• creation of Medicare and Medicaid
• birth control pill first approved for contraceptive use in the United States in 1960
• several tax cuts during that decade 
• by the end of the decade, median family income had risen from $8,540 in 1963 to $10,770 by 1969
• first heart transplant
• AstroTurf introduced (don't laugh --> NFL success) 
• muscle cars; Mustang introduced in 1964
• first working laser

Two lost decades, 2000 - 2020:

• iPhone
• Tesla

 *****************************

The Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon