Clouds in My Coffee

Carly Simon was born on June 25, 1945.

Music appeals to me on so many different levels. There are those pieces that I enjoy for their accessibility. For others, I appreciate them for intellectual reasons, compositional creativity or clever lyrics. And then there are those that bring back memories, regardless of whether or not I like the music.

For the most part, it is in the last category that I place Carly Simon. I've never been a great enthusiast of her music, but her voice and style comfort me. That warm and folksy quality, free-spirited and passionate, it echoes down through the decades, eternally young and full of the emotional intensity of youth. It takes me back in time, makes me reflect on where I was and where I am now going.

Although it is mainly her music from the 1970s that have this effect, her later works do, to a lesser extent, evoke the same nostalgia. And that's why I occasionally turn away from the classical music and the jazz, turning instead to Carly's introspective and vivacious songs.

Detail from Carly Simon's album, Anticipation (1971)

So, let's celebrate Carly Simon's birthday with some music.

And One for Your Dreams

Nancy Sinatra's recording of These Boots Are Made for Walkin' hit the top of the Billboard chart in February, 1966

Nancy Sinatra was born on June 8, 1940.

Well, go go boots never looked so good. ;-)

You all know that I adore the songbirds on the 1950s. Well, Nancy Sinatra may have been singing in the 1960s, but her classiness and sophisticated style of singing kept the tradition alive. She delivered her songs smooth and swingin'. Some people credit her fame to her father; there is some truth to that. However, her personal mark on the music leaves a sexy playfulness that Frankie could never match. ;-)

Nancy Sinatra was born on June 8, 1940.

And so we wish Nancy Sinatra a Happy Birthday. And keep on walkin'!!!

Sharks with Friggin' Laser Beams

Mike Myers as Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)

It's been a while since I've done a "cinema" post, but, with Blockbuster season starting off this weekend, I figured we could celebrate the fifteen year anniversary since the release of Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery on this date in 1997.

It's weird to think about how various phrases from this movie have become pop culture fixtures. From "Yeah, baby!" to "One million dollars!!!", the presence of this movie was hard to ignore in the late '90s. Two sequels later and another in the works, it's certainly become a cult classic.

"100 Billion Dollars!!!" Mike Myers as Dr. Evil

So, lets take the way back machine a couple decades back to the groovy days of the 1990s. ;-)

Architecture Strange Yet Familiar

Storm Crown Mechanism (2009) by David Trautrimas

At Bergamot Station, dnj Gallery is holding a group show featuring a number of artists that they represent, including Michael Eastman, Cynthia Grieg, Annie Seaton, and Bill Sosin. I can write at length about these excellent photographers, but today I feel like writing about David Trautrimas' futuristic architectural structures from his Spyfrost Project (2010), a few of which are on display in this show.

Trautrimas' works are based around household appliances imagined as architecture, specifically inspired by a techno-thriller Cold War militaristic aesthetic. Photographing numerous images of these vintage consumer goods and their component parts, Trautrimas reassembles them into fantastic military structures. They look like something out of a wild '50s era espionage comic book. Is the structure above a secret Soviet "Weather Control" facility or a mishmash of refrigerator parts? And how about this image?



Terra Thermal Inducer (2009) by David Trautrimas


Yeah, through the magic of a creative imagination and expert photomanipulation, Trautrimas has created a retro-futuristic Cold War environment out of the detritus of consumerist culture. The metal and chrome from the "House of the Future" has been reworked into military structures that never were. Yet, they feel so authentic. I can imagine a "Thermal Inducer" hidden in the Siberian wilderness.

Save Us, Erin Esurance!!!

A few years back, the auto insurance company, Esurance, had a promotional campaign centered around the animated exploits of a pink haired spy girl, Erin Esurance. Honestly, it was kind of stupid. Why was this "sexy" special agent running from nefarious criminals and killer robots while extolling the virtues of an on-line car insurance company? It made no sense, but at least it had fun mindless action and an animated cutie.

Eventually, the whole spy chase style got played out. Erin started playing in killer robot hockey games and daydreaming about baseball. Worse, she started escorting "average people" into Esurance cartoon land. What started out as incoherent action eye candy turned into just incoherent.

Clearly, something needed to change. Sadly, as bad as the later Erin Esurance ads were, the change was worse.

Shaken, Not Stirred

On this date in 1908, Ian Fleming was born. There is much to say about him, but the thing that for which he is most famous is his creation of James Bond, the protagonist of a series of Spy novels. Although the novels were very popular, it was their adaptation to the cinema that made them into pop culture icons.

There is so much that I can write about this topic. In my youth, I was crazy about Spy stories, developed out of my enthusiasm for the James Bond movies and novels. Yeah, there are better, more cohesive novels then Fleming's, but I give him a pass for being a primary inspiration of the genre.

Likewise, the movies can be a bit silly from time to time. But that's part of the Bond charm. ;-)


Live and Let Die


In regards to the movies, one of the things that I enjoy the most is the theme music.