Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

This blog will pay for itself.

Let’s finish the job.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

President Biden is doing good where he can, and getting it done.

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

“Joe Biden deserved better than he got from some folks in his own party.”

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

I’m just a talker, trying to find a channel!

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Why Didn’t I Think of This 10 Years Ago? (Open Thread)

Why Didn’t I Think of This 10 Years Ago? (Open Thread)

by | 170 Comments

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I work at home, and during holiday and summer breaks, I have to deal with screeching children and people who are inconsiderate with the TV volume. I have a home office, but I don’t like to be confined to it, and besides, the noise carries in there as well. The solution? White noise.

I can’t believe I didn’t think of this sooner…so much easier (and less contradictory) than screaming, “STOP SCREAMING!” or “TURN THAT DOWN!” every two minutes.

Please feel free to discuss whatever…

Reader Interactions

170Comments

  1. 1.

    Jewish Steel

    As a lifelong 2nd shifter I don’t think I could sleep without a fan running in my bedroom.

  4. 4.

    jeffreyw

    Been having wifi fun. All the tablets I have now make the dead spots moar irksome. If I shout my complaints about this my definition of white noise is funnier.

  6. 6.

    gogol's wife

    Bose noise-canceling headphones during the day, white noise at night. Life savers. And be sure to have a portable white-noise machine to take to hotels.

  8. 8.

    Felinious Wench

    @gogol’s wife:

    Bose noise-canceling headphones during the day, white noise at night. Life savers.

    Yep, I wear the headphones in the office when I need to concentrate, with just white noise. An introvert’s best friend.

  9. 9.

    aimai

    If this is an open thread the Mother Jones piece on lead poisoning and crime is fascinating.

    aimai

  10. 10.

    Betty Cracker

    @amorphous: I like the sound of brown noise better, but the white seems to block out daughter’s Screechy Friend more effectively. I have it up to Niagara Falls levels right now.

  12. 12.

    bemused

    Does this really help to sleep? And what type of white noise is best? Listening to babbling brook would just make me have to get up much sooner to pee!

    OT but Megan Mcardle is on Alex Witt msnbc show. Does her hair always look this bad?

  15. 15.

    TooManyJens

    @Felinious Wench:

    Yep, I wear the headphones in the office when I need to concentrate, with just white noise. An introvert’s best friend.

    Same here, except with the brown noise. Great for when people just won’t shut up.

  25. 25.

    Dracula

    but the white seems to block out daughter’s Screechy Friend more effectively

    What’s most effective at blocking out the kid’s fire truck siren, ABC-singing tea pot, and her remote control barking dog?

  26. 26.

    Yutsano

    I am having a completely relaxed, unhurried, chill Friday morning. This may be the last one like this for awhile. I have a temporary schedule change starting next week for a rather important training plus working some extra hours. So I’m soaking in the relaxation right now. Plus lots of coffee.

  27. 27.

    J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford

    @bemused:

    White noise helps me sleep. When I go to bed in the evening I usually don’t fall asleep until the central air kicks on. The sound of forced air is a sleep inducer for me.

  28. 28.

    MattF

    The real trick is to learn to regard all those things– screeching, TV volume, etc.– as ‘noise’. Once you’ve done that, you can zone out without buying an artificial noise generator, reality generates noise all by itself. A little chemical assist can help too, fwiw.

  29. 29.

    Cassidy

    I might be downloading these apps. My wife had a similiar app on her Ipad, but it has since fallen out of favor.

  30. 30.

    J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford

    @Yutsano:

    So I’m soaking in the relaxation right now. Plus lots of coffee.

    Nothing promotes “relaxation” like lots of coffee.

  32. 32.

    handsmile

    @aimai:

    FYI, DougJ’s post yesterday, “The Lead and How to Swing It” addressed that Mother Jones article. If you have the time/inclination, the commentary thread has some merit, but there is some gun rights trolling and righteous pushback to wade through.

    ETA: Ah, Omnes @#23 with the faster fingers. (should have read through first)

  33. 33.

    Amir Khalid

    I’ve been on something of a Les Miserables bender for the past couple of weeks. Saw the movie musical twice. Starting on Hugo’s book; it’s massive, but I trust it will reward my effort. I’ve been comparing various stage performances of some of the big numbers with those from the movie. The latter generally hold their own quite well. There’s been no stage version of I Dreamed A Dream that matches the raw pain in Anne Hathaway’s, but even she doesn’t blow Susan Boyle’s version away.

  34. 34.

    Steeplejack

    @gogol’s wife:

    Since this is an open thread, I will answer your question about Elementary from last night. I tried to answer multiple times in that thread, but FYWP ate all my replies. Not even moderation!

    Like you, I wanted to hate Elementary, because the concept is a complete ripoff of Sherlock. But, after a shaky start, it has improved a lot. It’s not groundbreaking TV, but it’s much better than I expected it to be. Worth a look, anyway.

  35. 35.

    Capt. Seaweed

    For a tinnitus sufferer like myself white noise at night is what makes sleeping possible. For some variety I go here.

  37. 37.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    Thanks to everyone for their support — I wanted to let everyone know that my dad passed away peacefully last night. I wasn’t there because I had taken my mom home to get some rest, and we all strongly suspect that he waited for her to leave before he let himself go because he knew it would be too upsetting for her to see.

    We wanted more time with him, but we’re also glad his suffering is over.

  39. 39.

    Scout211

    I have used a white noise machine in my office at work for decades. It screens out hallway noises and also masks conversation from within my office from being overheard in the hallways.

    My grown daughter and her husband were having sleep problems a few years back and I sent them one. Now my son-in-law cannot sleep without it and packs it in his suitcase on all his business trips and vacations.

  42. 42.

    Yutsano

    @J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford: In Seattle this is literally true. We already have a high suicide rate that is possibly weather related. Odds are it would be rather higher without the massive java culture up here.

    (Also too: FYWP.)

  43. 43.

    Cris (without an H)

    The white noise just sounds like somebody left the radio tuned to a dead frequency, which is kind of agitating to me, due to a lifetime of listening to the radio.

    I imagine the next generation will not have that experience. The movie Poltergeist, where the ghosts communicate with little Carol-Anne via the after-hours TV static, must already look like a quaint relic of a bygone era.

  44. 44.

    The Other Chuck

    @Steeplejack: Elementary is a pretty decent show because of Johnny Lee Miller. Aidan Quinn is a decent enough supporting character, but the rest of the cast are useless lumps of wandering carbon, except for Lucy Liu who manages to sink to the level of awful. I don’t see a long future for a one-man procedural crime drama, really.

  50. 50.

    handsmile

    @Mnemosyne (iPhone):

    My deep condolences to you and your family.

    I am sure that your loving attention and companionship by his bedside brought your father (and your mother) real comfort during these difficult weeks. I hope that understanding your father’s suffering is over will help ease your own mourning.

  53. 53.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Amir Khalid: It had a reason. The reason may not have been apparent to you, but you obviously are not an initiate in the deepest secrets of FYWP.

  56. 56.

    Suffern ACE

    @Amir Khalid: I thought screen version of the musical did a few things differently. They start Javert’s crisis earlier – at the death of Gavroche (sniffle, sniffle). They actually are able to highlight the religious roots of Valjean’s change more clearly than the stage musical could. Empty Chairs is more moving than I remember, but unfortunately, I think that is done to make Marius more sympathetic than he deserves to be. (I’ve never understood why Eponine can’t get over him, although she probably doesn’t have any of options to begin with. And who is Marius to be sending Valjean away in the book, anyway. Its not as if he doesn’t have his own past at the barricade that would ruin his social standing if it came out).

  57. 57.

    The Red Pen

    Speaking of noise:

    1) Yesterday all the Freepers denounced the Republican Party (until 2014 when they’ll all vote Republican because soshulism).

    2) CurrentTV being sold to Al Jazeera netting Al Gore $100mm was a topic of great outrage yesterday. Apparently, starting a business and selling it for a lot of money is a bad thing on Free Republic if and only if there are any “Al” parties involved and this had two: Al Gore and Al Jazeera. Also Muslims.

    3) Lots of birther stuff today. Apparently, a judge made fun of Orly Taitz. Hilarity ensued. Link to some (comments start to get good near the end of the page).

    Money quote from the AP story:

    Taitz appeared to be upset after the hearing as supporters filed past her to thank her for pursuing the case, some calling her a “hero,” and others saying the judge’s decision was evidence of socialism.

    Evidence of socialism. Additional satire is rendered moot.

  58. 58.

    cleek

    we had white-noise generators in the ceilings at an old job of mine. they put out a just-audible hiss – a bit like distant TV static. and, yep, they worked.

  59. 59.

    Schlemizel

    @SatanicPanic:

    Ah, you stole my answer.

    The office I work in installed white noise generators but they couldn’t agree what was right. At the moment it sounds like I am working in a wind tunnel, its loud enough to be distracting.

  62. 62.

    trollhattan

    @catclub:
    Back when I dabbled in radio and teebee production we used a pink noise generator to set audio levels. I no longer recall why it was preferred to white noise.

  66. 66.

    Scout211

    @bemused:

    I hope this works, I am fairly useless when it comes to posting links.
    edit: didn’t work, added this:

    At Amazon.com, it is listed as Dohm-DS Dual Speed Sound Conditioner by Marpac (formerly known as the Sleepmate/Sound Screen 980A)

  68. 68.

    bemused

    @Scout211:

    Ok, that was one I was looking at. And it’s small enough to take traveling?

    I’m glad I’m not the only linkie impaired one left on the planet, : ).

  69. 69.

    Face

    Anyone know if Ted Nugent is dead or incarcerated yet? What about that guy (name?) who swore off all interactions with liberals, and who contemplated but poo-pooed pooing on his neighbor’s lawn? Is he still blogging?

  70. 70.

    Amir Khalid

    @The Red Pen:
    You have to hope, for the sake of those in her care, that Orly Taitz is better at her other professions. In particular, one would not want an obsessed kook digging around inside one’s mouth.

  71. 71.

    catclub

    @trollhattan: I have also had tear-your-hair-out kinds of fun with 1/f noise.

    It does not average down to a stable mean as sqrt(n), as gaussian noise does. Instead it just goes along at about the same level. Any system that depends of averaging is pretty well screwed by 1/f noise.

  73. 73.

    bemused

    @The Red Pen:

    I read but can’t remember where that Glenn Beck tried to buy Current or at least, he claimed he tried to.

    I hope Al Jazeera will keep the Stephanie Miller Show. I can listen on the internet or xmradio but it’s more fun for me to watch the radio show crew.

  75. 75.

    aimai

    The system seems to have swallowed my long post about elementary.

    I’ll try again:As for elementary I like it but I don’t love it. It has a great credits sequence, great music, great actors, cool idea but, but, but Lucy Liu and Johnny Lee have zero chemistry–there’s no more heat there than is generated by two icecubes rattling in a swimming pool. They don’t act together, they act in the same scenes but their gazes and their emotions never really meet. When you compare it to the bBC sherlock, with its souped up and winking homoeroticism there’s no comparison. You can’t bring yourself to care about either Miller or Liu because they are just so chilly. I don’t find Liu’s backstory at all convincing, either–her trauma isn’t traumatic enough for a person who seems to have few emotions to start with. Its impossible to believe that she would make so many mistakes–including her imaginary love interest–or take them so much to heart.

  78. 78.

    Brachiator

    The solution? White noise.

    Have played with apps that have such sounds as a waterfall, a babbling brook, a campfire, rain on a roof. I find them more relaxing than white or brown noise.

    Although there is something willfully perverse about being inside and creating sounds of a forest or beach.

  79. 79.

    Suffern ACE

    @bemused: On CNN yesterday afternoon, whatever vacuous blonde nitwit they have reading the news “thought” it was odd that Al Gore wouldn’t sell to Glenn Beck and instead sold to al Jazeera because they really were the same thing. Then she and the bald business analyst with the foreign name (who I think got his job because he was an art history major but probably at some good school so shut up) had a good chuckle. That Al Gore is still funny!

  82. 82.

    Amir Khalid

    @Face:
    As an NRA board member, Ted Nugent has written an open letter to Vice-President Biden with advice on ending gun violence. The contents of the letter are about what you might guess.

  84. 84.

    bemused

    @Suffern ACE:

    It’s always something with these loonies. I am skeptical that Beck actually did try to buy Current. The poor guy just can’t get noticed these days so I wouldn’t put it past him to make up the story knowing at least Fox would talk about it.

  86. 86.

    Ash Can

    @Mnemosyne (iPhone): Very sorry for your loss, and kudos to you for keeping us posted here at a time when you obviously had far more pressing things on your mind. All the very best to you and your family through this ordeal.

  89. 89.

    jibeaux

    @Brachiator: You know, if there was something that could actually duplicate the warmth, light, crackle, and even smoke of a campfire that I could put next to my bed I think I’d sleep like a baby.

  91. 91.

    trollhattan

    @catclub:

    Thanks for the refresher! I wish Dr. Seuss would have written a companion to “Oh the Places You’ll Go!” titled “Oh, the Stuff You’ll Forget!” I’d be better prepared for a nearly continual state of humility.

  92. 92.

    ET

    I have just come across with a piece of news that I honestly don’t know what to think about it. Former Louisiana governor Edwin “Vote for the Crook its Important” Edwards (age 85) and his wife (age 34) are starring in an A&E reality TV show. It’s called The Governors Wife.

  94. 94.

    Schlemizel

    @Mnemosyne (iPhone):

    So sorry for your loss.

    My mom did that to us, we had been with her for a couple of days and the staff told us to go home & get some rest. I don’t think we were gone 20 minutes. It hurt to think she was along but maybe you are right, that was the way they wanted it so we wouldn’t have to watch.

    Hope you all can find peace and remember the good times

  95. 95.

    Ruckus

    I have my own noise generator in my head. Industrial accident left me with one frequency tinnitus 24/7. Never stops, never gets quieter(or louder thank dog). Just over 9 yrs now. It’s not an anniversary I’m likely to forget.

    White noise is not all it’s cracked up to be, especially when there is no off switch.

  96. 96.

    Suffern ACE

    @bemused: Every time I’ve watched CNN in the afternoons I get the impression that that shift is for half-wits. The bald business guy is not only often wrong, he’s so glib that it appears that he doesn’t care if he is right or not. Rip Taylor and Chuck Berris could provide a better quality newscast. Thank god I only have to watch it when I’m buying a coke or warming up my lunch.

  97. 97.

    Amir Khalid

    @bemused:
    I also remember reading somewhere about Glenn Beck’s designer jeans business, which he started as a reaction to the liberal values being shamelessly promoted in Levi Strauss & Co’s advertising. I wonder how well that’s going.

  99. 99.

    bemused

    @Suffern ACE:

    My parents have been gone quite awhile now. I can’t imagine what they would think of what passes for “news” today compared to Cronkite, etc. I think they would be stunned and bewildered.

  101. 101.

    Violet

    @Schlemizel: A friend’s grandfather did that as well. She’d just left his bedside and he died maybe five or ten minutes later. His wife, my friend’s grandmother, was home resting.

    The nurses told my friend that it’s common for people in the hospital to pick a time when no one is there to finally let go. They were not sure why, but speculated that it could be because they didn’t want to upset loved ones by leaving them while they were in the room.

  103. 103.

    bemused senior

    @Dracula: Put the noisy toys in timeout (toy timeout is much better than child timeout) and send him/her outside to play.

  104. 104.

    bemused

    @Amir Khalid:

    I don’t remember the jeans biz..just reading Glenn Beck Designer Jeans is cracking me up. Isn’t he selling survivalist seed packs? I wonder how well those are selling.

  107. 107.

    ranchandsyrup

    @The Red Pen: They sure are angry with that fed judge. The army reservist who was appointed by Dubya and was recently named chief of the eastern District of CA judge. But he is a blah man so he’s probably “in on it”.

  112. 112.

    Rich Webb

    One that I’ve been using for years is Chatterblocker. It includes the usual colored noise sources but also quite a library of additional sounds: a creek, birds, goats, …

    One group that it has that is useful for office environments are “chatter” sounds, male or female (or a combination) of random phonemes. Sounds like unintelligible speech and quite effective at covering up neighboring phone conversations, etc.

    Disclaimer: just a happy customer who’s now less likely to go postal on the guy who always listens to his voice mail on speaker-phone.

  113. 113.

    Suffern ACE

    @Amir Khalid: The only way to advertise jeans is to use cowboys. Those commercials that levi’s have where members of every ethnic group living in an urban setting are wearing jeans, being cool, and getting along with their independent lives are just unamerican.

  115. 115.

    Another Halocene Human

    Went to cbs.com and fired up the most recent episode of Elementary. It’s kind of charmingly awful. *sigh*

    I guess put me on team Cumberbatch. :P

  116. 116.

    Schlemizel

    @MattR:

    That just goes to show how deep the conspiracy is!

    These guys are good enough to go back in time and plant a fake birth announcement in the Honolulu paper so something as small as fixing every single judge in America is easy-peasy

  117. 117.

    cckids

    @Amir Khalid:

    I also remember reading somewhere about Glenn Beck’s designer jeans business, which he started as a reaction to the liberal values being shamelessly promoted in Levi Strauss & Co’s advertising. I wonder how well that’s going

    Wasn’t he also going to start some sort of “entertainment” venture to try to counteract the gay-friendlyness of Glee? I remember reading an article in which he & his wife were watching Glee & were STUNNED by how fab it was & realized that “conservative values” could not compete with such an awesome force, so Beck was going to do something about it.

    I mean, my daughter loves Glee & I think its ok, but truly?You watch it & think “this is a force that can end civilization as we know it”. Wow, just wow.

  118. 118.

    Another Halocene Human

    @Suffern ACE: The only way to advertise jeans is to use cowboys.

    Well, you could hardly use electrical workers. Nobody would want to wear jeans then. ;-)

  121. 121.

    Brachiator

    Let the filmgoer’s gnashing of teeth begin.

    The Writer’s Guild of America has announced its nominees for Best Original, Adapted, and Documentary screenplays of 2012.
    __
    The notable omissions of the ineligible “Django Unchained” and “Les Miserables” aside made way for some less-touted scripts, such as John Gatins’ for “Flight” and Paul Thomas Anderson’s for the surprising awards underdog “The Master.”
    __
    The nominations for Rian Johnson’s “Looper” and Steven Chbosky’s “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” can only help those films’ chances at Oscar nominations in their respective categories. In Original, longtime locks “Moonrise Kingdom” and “Zero Dark Thirty” unsurprisingly received nods from the guild, as did prohibitive Oscar favorite “Lincoln” and almost certain nominees “Argo” and “Silver Linings Playbook” in Adapted.

    Django Unchained wuz robbed. Good to see Argo and Looper get a nod.

  123. 123.

    ranchandsyrup

    @MattR: Grifters gonna grift. Orly’s got some work to do after dick Morris just pulled off a retirement caper, but she’s starting the year off strong. @Face: Dondero’s blogger profile lists Ayn rand as his favorite “non-fiction” writer.

  124. 124.

    scav

    Another American remake bites the dust. It does suffer from the comparison to Cumberbatch, Freeman, Moffet and Gatis.

  127. 127.

    tesslibrarian

    @Mnemosyne (iPhone): I’m so sorry–I hope you are able to find peace in the coming days.

    My grandmother waited until my uncle left her bedside, too. He’d spent the whole day talking to her, and had not even made it the two miles home when the hospital called him back. He was her youngest boy, and we think she wanted to spare him. Such kindness in the last moment of life is wonderous.

  131. 131.

    Amir Khalid

    @Yutsano:
    Actually “100% Made in the USA”, per the ad copy. But for what VF calls “seemingly generic takes on dad jeans”, $130 sounds like a steep price.

  132. 132.

    Kristine

    Thank you, Betty Cracker. I have a deadline on Monday and a long weekend ahead, and I noticed that the solutions and ideas came to me when I washed dishes, brushed my teeth, or did something else that involved running water. Babbling Brook app, here I come.

  133. 133.

    Yutsano

    @Amir Khalid: No Pair of jeans in existence is worth $130, regardless of where they are made. Oh and there is an Usa, Japan. That was exploited by the Japanese for awhile until the US bitched to the WTO. It wouldn’t shock me if dry drunk Mormon Glenn expolited that loophole though.

  135. 135.

    Brachiator

    @Cassidy:

    Oh hell. There are people here who are beside themselves that Wes Anderson doesn’t sweep the Oscars every year.

    I’ve heard very good things about Moonrise Kingdom, but didn’t get a chance to see it when it was in the theaters.

    And I do think that Rushmore was a thing of beauty.

    And oh, yes, Season 3 of Downton Abbey begins this Sunday on most PBS stations.

  137. 137.

    freelancer

    @Brachiator:

    I like most of Anderson’s films. Hated Bottle Rocket. Like Rushmore, and his other movies were okay, but his last two films, Fantastic Mr Fox and Moonrise Kingdom are flat out his best.

  138. 138.

    Kristine

    @Mnemosyne (iPhone): I am so sorry. I think my mom did the same thing–waiting until I left the room to pass. I wish she hadn’t done it, but, nothing else to say, really. According to hospice workers I spoke with, it happens all the time.

    Heartfelt sympathies.

  139. 139.

    Amir Khalid

    @Yutsano:
    It might shock you to learn that here in Malaysia, the equivalent of US$130 is right in the middle of Levi’s price range for its 501 jeans. (Back in 1995, while in San Diego, I bought white 501s out of a remainder bin for just US$27. I still have them.)

  140. 140.

    Cassidy

    @Brachiator: I can’t stand the movies. I’ve really tried, knowing that he does have a unique vision and way of managing the camera, but I just can’t do it.

    @freelancer: Pretty sure Bottle Rocket was an Owen Wilson production. It used to be that his acting was just a way to finance his indie movies.

    ETA: And I’d be wrong. Okay , so one Wes Anderson movie I’ve liked.

  142. 142.

    PurpleGirl

    @Schlemizel: A former work colleague’s husband had been in a home fire (the house didn’t completely burn but he sustained 3rd degree burns over 90% of his body). The burn unit had him in an induced coma. About a month after the fire, she told him that it was alright to go, to find his rest, that he didn’t have to worry about her or the family. She left the hospital room for an errand and when she returned he had passed. They were never able to find out how the fire started or how he sustained the burn because of the induced coma. The nursing staff told her what she did was the right thing to do.

  146. 146.

    Brachiator

    @Cassidy:

    ETA: And I’d be wrong. Okay , so one Wes Anderson movie I’ve liked.

    Well, there’s no law that says that you have to like all a director’s movies.

    Except for Kubrick, Kurosawa, Truffaut, Billy Wilder and Alfred Hitchcock.

  149. 149.

    Brachiator

    @Cassidy:

    Didn’t Kurosawa make that movie that ripped off The Magnificnet Seven?

    And the movie that ripped off Macbeth (Throne of Blood) and the movie that ripped off King Lear (Ran).

    And the movie that ripped off Star Wars (Hidden Fortress).

    The film begins with two bedraggled peasants, Tahei and Matashichi (Minoru Chiaki and Kamatari Fujiwara). Through conversation, they reveal that they had intended to fight with the Yamana clan, but turned up too late, were taken for soldiers of the defeated Akizuki clan, and forced to bury dead. After quarreling and splitting up, the two are both captured again and forced to dig for gold in the Akizuki castle with other prisoners….
    __
    George Lucas has acknowledged influence of The Hidden Fortress on Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, particularly in the technique of telling the story from the perspective of the film’s lowliest characters, C-3PO and R2-D2. Kurosawa’s use of frame wipes (sometimes cleverly hidden by motion within the frame) as a transition device also influenced Star Wars. Lucas’ original plot outline for Star Wars also had a strong resemblance to the plot of The Hidden Fortress.

    And also the movie that ripped off a A Fistful of Dollars (Yojimbo), via Dash Hammet’s “The Glass Key.”

    What an inspired thief.

  154. 154.

    The Pale Scot

    Let me know if you would like the rest.

    The Environments series is really cool, if someone has the Intonations recording it would be cool to get it. These are all out of print for the last 30 years.

  157. 157.

    Brachiator

    @freelancer:

    What are your thoughts on Barry Lyndon?

    Been a while since I’ve seen it. I may have some of my admiration for the film mixed with my admiration for The Duellists, which has a similar look and feel.

    Much has rightly been made about the cinematography and production design of the film (best seen on the big screen), but I also think that the deliberate coolness of the film works. It’s like the movie Tom Jones stripped of its false jocularity, revealing the desperation behind the bravado of the characters. It’s more true to the spirit of the novel, which as Roger Ebert notes,

    The novel by Thackeray, called the first novel without a hero, observes a man without morals, character or judgment, unrepentant, unredeemed. Born in Ireland in modest circumstances, he rises through two armies and the British aristocracy with cold calculation.

    I understand people who might admire, rather than love the film, and those who are entirely put off by it. Kubrick juggles a combination of detachment and deep observational clarity of the characters, and this just does not work for some people.

    A more emotionally engaging, but equally deft demolition of vanity and decadence masquerading as upper class civility can be found in the French film Ridicule, from 1996.

    Barry Lyndon reminds me of what a cinematic biography of Mitt Romney might be like. A moral cipher rises to the top of society.

  159. 159.

    gogol's wife

    @Brachiator:

    You probably won’t see this, but I think Frenzy is brilliant! But then I’m a Hitchcock freak and even like Topaz and Torn Curtain.

    I’ve recently started worshipping Billy Wilder, but cannot warm to The Fortune Cookie.

  160. 160.

    Lojasmo

    After last night’s polysomnography (sleep) study, I’ve found out a few things.

    My snoring volume is 4 on a 0-4 scale.

    I wake myself from sleep by snoring 3 times an hour.

    I stop breathing for at least ten seconds (mean time ninteen seconds) sixteen times an hour.

    CPAP stops both my apnea and my snoring. There will be a HAPPY WIFE TONIGHT!

  161. 161.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Brachiator:

    Been a while since I’ve seen it. I may have some of my admiration for the film mixed with my admiration for The Duellists, which has a similar look and feel.

    Interesting. I can’t get through Barry Lyndon, but I will watch The Duellists any time I have a chance.

  162. 162.

    Brachiator

    @gogol’s wife:

    You probably won’t see this, but I think Frenzy is brilliant! But then I’m a Hitchcock freak and even like Topaz and Torn Curtain.

    I’m curious as to why you think Frenzy is brilliant. Agree that Topaz and Torn Curtain have their virtues.

    I’ve recently started worshipping Billy Wilder, but cannot warm to The Fortune Cookie.

    The first pairing of Matthau and Lemon? Oh, well.

  163. 163.

    gogol's wife

    @Brachiator:

    I can’t offer technical reasons, but I find it gripping from beginning to end. The use of the scenery of Covent Garden is fantastic. I even think that Jon Finch’s performance is very fine, not to mention Barbara Leigh-Hunt and Jean Marsh. The scene of the murder of Barbara Leigh-Hunt is so terrifying, but not in an exploitative way. Like the murder of Gromek in Torn Curtain, it forces the viewer to see murder as ugly, not titillating.

  164. 164.

    Brachiator

    @gogol’s wife:

    I can’t offer technical reasons, but I find it gripping from beginning to end. The use of the scenery of Covent Garden is fantastic. I even think that Jon Finch’s performance is very fine, not to mention Barbara Leigh-Hunt and Jean Marsh. The scene of the murder of Barbara Leigh-Hunt is so terrifying, but not in an exploitative way. Like the murder of Gromek in Torn Curtain, it forces the viewer to see murder as ugly, not titillating.

    Makes sense. The murder was more explicit than one usually sees in a Hitchcock film. I have mixed feelings about how he did it. This was also the first Hitchcock film to actually feature nudity.

    I appreciate that he tried to move beyond his old habits, but for me there is something off about the film. Finch seems to young to be a WWII vet (I think).

    I agree with you about the use of scenery. I forgot that Hitch was coming home. There are a lot of details in his British films that I like.

  167. 167.

    PurpleGirl

    @The Pale Scot: If you come by the thread again:

    I have several of the Environments albums. I was introduced to them by a boyfriend — we’d set up the turntable for continuous play and then let them play through the night. I liked Tintabulations for background while doing things like cleaning. I went looking for them on-line a few years ago and was disappointed to find out they were out-of-print. I’d love CDs of them.

  168. 168.

    gogol's wife

    @Brachiator:

    His father was a grocer, so I think it was not just “coming home” in the sense of being in England, but really revisiting the scenes of his childhood.

  170. 170.

    The Pale Scot

    @PurpleGirl: Yes it seems only vinyl is available what a shame. The Intonation is separate groups of singers chanting Ohm and then mixed on a sound board. It was a strong tool for meditating back in the day.

    I don’t have a turntable at the moment, but I have a friend up north who does vinyl to digital transfers, if I get the bug to buy the albums and ship to him I’ll remember to give you a ring.

    I do have the the surf sounds on digital, though now I’m questioning whether it’s not another recording, I’ll email to you if you like.

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