Pophistory: music, movies, history, and life.
Jonathan Keogh put together a video based on Steven Jay Schneider’s book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
What are the top few films you tell friends they “must” see? Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)
Check out the new trailer for the upcoming Muppets Most Wanted (2014), where the Muppets pay homage to sequels with the musical number “We’re Doing a Sequel.” Reportedly, this number will open the movie.
Muppets Most Wanted will be in theaters starting March 21, 2014. The film also stars Ricky Gervais, Ty Burrell, and Tina Fey.
Are you looking forward to the Muppets sequel? Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)
Although bad weather may still be on the immediate horizon, I still feel relief every year getting through February and knowing that spring is not far away. Thus, there is the old saying about March coming in like a lion and going out like a lamb.
The song “March Winds Gonna Blow My Blues All Away,” as sung by The Carter Family, recognizes that March optimism. Although the song hints at heartbreak (“My mama told me long years ago/ Never to marry no girls that I know/ Spend all your money and wear out your clothes”), the song also recognizes the March winds and the warming of the winter sun: “Sun’s gonna shine in my back door some day.” So on this first day of March, we wish you nothing but sunshine and March winds to blow your blues away.
For a bonus version of “March Winds Gonna Blow My Blues All Away,” here is a live performance by the underrated Robbie Fulks. I have admired Fulks’s original works for some time, but here he does an excellent lively version of “March Winds,” showing off his guitar skills too. Check out this performance in Chicago from July 7, 2008.
Lion photo via public domain.
What is your favorite song about March? Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)
Country singer and America’s Got Talent performer Marty Brown recently appeared on Bowling Green, Kentucky television station WBKO. The video does not include Brown performing, but it is a nice interview for us fans. In the segment, Brown talks about his new single, “Whatever Makes You Smile,” which Brown wrote as a Valentine’s Day present for his wife. He also discusses how they made the video for the song, and explains how one can know all they need to know about him just by watching his mom and dad dance. Check out the interview.
Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)
Harold Ramis had a distinguished movie career as an actor, director, and writer. And he was also amazing for his work on Second City Television.
We were sad to hear when writer-director-actor Harold Ramis passed away from autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis. Only a day earlier, I had watched one of my favorite movies, Groundhog Day (1993), which Ramis directed and co-wrote. I first saw Groundhog Day in the movie theater when it came out in 1993. At the time, I liked the movie but it was with repeated viewings over the years that made it a classic for me. Some previous Chimesfreedom posts discuss Groundhog Day, and for other fans of the movie, make sure to check out this touching tribute to Ramis by Stephen Tobolowsky, who played Ned Ryerson in the movie.
Of course, Ramis also played a role in other classic films. For example, he co-wrote and starred in Stripes (1981) and Ghostbusters (1984). His role as Russell Ziskey in Stripes will always be one of the first things that comes to my mind when I think of him. He wrote and directed Caddyshack (1980), National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983), and other films. Before those movies, he was one of the screenwriters for National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978). I think of these movies when I think of Ramis, but reading his obituaries made me realize that I had forgot that I grew up watching him on a television show.
Prior to working on Animal House, Ramis appeared on (and became head writer of) the comedy television series Second City Television (SCTV) during its first years in the late 1970s. The Canadian television show, which started in 1976 and spun off from Toronto’s Second City stage show, centered around a fictional small TV network. In addition to Ramis, the series featured John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Catherine O’Hara, and Dave Thomas. Thomas recently talked to the Huffington Post about working with Ramis.
Ramis’ characters on SCTV included Mort Finkel, here advertising his “Do-It-Yourself-Dentistry” kit.
On the show, Ramis provided public service announcements as Officer Friendly.
Ramis also starred in SCTV‘s presentation of the western movie “A Fistful of Ugly.” And he accepted phone calls from “viewers” as SCTV station manager Maurice “Moe” Green.
In the days after he died, a number of colleagues (including Bill Murray who had a famous “feud” with Ramis) said wonderful things about Ramis as a director, screenwriter, actor, and human being. We wish he were still around to give us more great work, but we are happy we can watch these SCTV clips and the movies. And I will keep watching Groundhog Day every year too, even though next time it will be with a little extra sadness. RIP.
What is your favorite Harold Ramis movie or character? Leave your two cents in the comments.
