Friday Flowers: Lilac

Syringa Vulgaris: Common Lilac "Letha E. House"


Yeah, I have a whole bunch of flower photos to share with you all. This is one that I took last week while visiting the Descanso Gardens. There weren't many flowers in bloom, but this pretty little lilac was holding strong in the face of our California winter. ;-)

Purple is my favorite color. So, lilac has a special appeal for me.

Common Lilac


Very, very pretty.

Ecstasy of Gold

"Ecstasy of Gold" scene from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966)


The creative alchemy that turns an average movie into a good movie, a good movie into a great movie, a great movie into an all-time classic, is generally found in the music, the unvoiced sounds that capture the spirit of the most memorable of scenes.

There are many great cinematic score composers, but my favorite might be Ennio Morricone. There may be composers with greater technical skill. There may be films that have stronger scores. But I'd say that his music is the most distinctive, yet appropriate to the movie. His genius lies in merging his personal aesthetic into the subject matter, creating a work that expresses the cinematic premise in a musical articulation unique to his compositional voice.

Oftentimes, movie music is "incidental" or ornamental, not an integral part of the scene. That's the situation with much "soundtrack" based scores in contemporary films. Obviously, production companies want a nice set of singles to release on the side for added revenue. There's nothing wrong with that, but it loses the sense of authenticity and coherence that a real musical score brings to the movie.

Detail from a promotional poster for The Mission (1986)

So, let's wish Ennio Morricone a Happy 83rd Birthday and listen to some great music.

Bad Moon Rising

John Landis directed An American Werewolf in London, released on August 21, 1981.

Well, we have a nice cinema note to start our Spooky Sunday. Thirty years ago, An American Werewolf in London was released. Directed by John Landis, this horror comedy went on to become a box office hit and cult classic.

Werewolf films are notably horrible, but not in a good way. In general, they fail in terms of production quality and lack of talent. However, by taking these failures as a given and approaching the subject with humor, Landis creates a fun and exciting story. This movie is one of the few werewolf films that I can enjoy watching.

This movie had such an impact that Michael Jackson had Landis direct the Thriller video, including a classic werewolf bit.



Michael Jackson transforming into a werewolf in Thriller (1983)


Fun stuff!!!