Ahh! Rubbish Never Smelled So Sweet!

Wow. I love that picture...

So, yeah, what's up, eh? It's Monday as I write this. I hit the "New Post" button out of sheer, uninspired boredom. Now I'm going to see what happens. It's an experiment, of sorts... you'll need to be the judge of how successful it is... of course, if you're a return reader, you have a lot of other examples of seat-of-the-pants blogging to use as a baseline.

The four-day holiday weekend is over. Time for Real Life to begin again.

OK, so, in honor of Real Life beginning, watch this clip from Born Yesterday (1950) starring the great Judy Holliday, and Broderick Crawford and William Holden, of course. Note that it's one shot from 0:36 to 3:37.



I know, awesome, right?

OK, while we're on One-Take Scenes, watch this next one... it's from Old Boy, and from 0:32 to 3:10 it's one take...



Dang, he fought half that scene with a knife in his back!

I'm always impressed by the long shots... I try to imagine the amount of rehearsal time needed to create shots like that. In fact, here, let's go to the Grand Daddy of all one-shot fight scenes... it's from The Protector (2005) starring the amazing Tony Jaa... the entire 3:48 is one shot.



Can you imagine the stamina you'd have to have? Not to mention trying to remember all your cues... plus, choreographing all of that, with the extras and stuntmen, etc.

Of course, the most amazing use of Single Shot I've ever seen was in a foreign film called Eternity and a Day (1998). The entire film is created using a series of (very) extended shots, one after the other. Each is like a skit unto itself. I cannot imagine the rehearsal time involved. Unfortunately, I can't find the best clip examples on You Tube to post here, but I did find this one.

My favorite stretch in this 10 minute clip if from 7:43 to 9:07.



Man, if I could find them, there are some much more amazing clips in this film. Maybe I'll buy it and pull clips from it. It would be worth your attention, methinks.

By the way, the man there is Bruno Ganz, who you may remember from his staggering performance as Hitler in the film Downfall. In fact, what the heck, here's the most famous scene from that gem...



Man, what an actor. That guy acts with strength. If I ever make something out of my acting ambitions, I hope to carry weight like that. Anyway, if you haven't seen that film, you can watch it on YouTube in its entirety (albeit in black and white) at this link. If you have Netflix Watch Instantly, you could watch this and Eternity and a Day as well.

Man, that was quite a diversion. One-Shot scenes, eh? Too bad I didn't mention Paper Moon in that litany, eh? Tons of great extended shot scenes in that one... and then there's the film Russian Ark (2002), which is a 96 minute movie, all one long take, believe it or not. A monumental accomplishment... but boring as heck...

OK, so, where was I before I got excessively diverted?

OK, well, Christmas approacheth, and, yes, it feels odd not having a play to tend to. We've been doing Christmas plays since, oh, 1998 I think... I have to be honest, I always wondered what it would be like to not have the stress of the annual Christmas play all throughout the build-up to Christmas... and now I get to find out. Yeah, it's strange.

I've got my 22nd Anniversary coming up on the 15th of next month. 22 years. Dang. So much I'd like to say that would not quite be appropriate. So much history. Expectations. Disappointments. Whining. Embarrassing admissions. That sort of thing. Things better left unsaid in this forum.

I better post a funny picture to change the topic...

So much for changing the subject. Here, lemme try again...

OK, third time's a charm...

Steeeee-rike three! You're out!

Bah, I have nothing to complain about. Life is good, let's leave it at that.

I am, however, a man without something solid to read. I'm doing the Free Sample Shuffle of late. If I settle on anything good, I'll let you know.

Yeah, you know what? I'm going to end this post here. I had more to say, but I shall save it for another time.

Until we meet again!

Dave the Flatulent Goof