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bigyack-com · 5 years

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Oscars 2020: From Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn to Angelina Jolie - The best in fashion, ranked - fashion and trends

The red carpet is all about being green and dressing responsibly now with Hollywood taking their efforts to reduce carbon footprints a notch higher this awards season. For the recently concluded 2020 BAFTAs, guests were invited to consider wearing a sustainable design or repeat an outfit they’d already worn before at the award ceremony. The Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild and Critics’ Choice Awards galas all served plant-based menus, instead of steak dinners that are typical of celebrity-packed events. The Oscars too will be serving a 70 per cent plant-based menu this time. While sustainability is a widespread discussion in fashion, questions have been raised towards the ‘greenism’ phenomena in the fashion industry. Speaking of the expected fashion tonight at the Oscars, a stylist predicts that this year will be a return to extravagance in terms of colour, shapes, sequins on the red carpet. Before the 1990s, several celebrities chose their red carpet dresses. Oscars fashion history is often remembered for the extraordinary and eccentric outfit choices that included torn denim, sequinned jumpsuits and even Indian headdresses on some actors. Also read: Oscar’s 2020: The much-coveted 24-karat gold-plated knight is worth only Rs 72 The New York Times asked in 2004, “Does the glamour of the Golden Globes steal the scene from Oscar?”, observing that the potential winners and nominees offered designers more opportunity to have their work featured on the red carpet. One of the most-talked-about red carpet gowns was the green Versace gown J.Lo wore to the Grammy Awards in 2000 (and was seen in again a short while ago, not to mention the debate about how Priyanka Chopra Jonas’ Ralph and Russo gown at the 2020 Grammys was inspired from Jennifer Lopez’s look). Interestingly the red carpet has turned green on several notable occasions when stars shone in vintage or custom-made gowns that have a history of their own and a narrative attached to them. Here’s our choice of the best from the red carpet, ranked according to the year of appearance. Marilyn Monroe, 1951: was never awarded or nominated for an Academy Award, but she managed to be a head-turner on the red carpet in 1951 when she was asked to present an award. The actress chose a black tulle dress with a deep neckline for the do. Audrey Hepburn, 1954: This exquisite gown made by Givenchy for Audrey Hepburn is all about style and elegance. The dress even has its own Wikipedia page! An icon on and off the screen, Audrey Hepburn often worked with the house of Givenchy for her red carpet appearances and her films. Audrey Hepburn’s little black dress designed by Hubert de Givenchy that she’s seen wearing in the opening scene of the 1961 romantic comedy film Breakfast at Tiffany’s is cited as one of the most iconic items of clothing in the history of twentieth-century fashion and probably the most famous little black dress (LBD) of all time. Elizabeth Taylor, 1961: The actress opted for a Dior dress that enhanced her slim waist for the 1961 Oscars when she won the Best Actress award for her role in A Venus in Mink. Also read| Oscar’s 2020: Lesser known interesting facts about the Academy Awards 2020 Barbra Streisand, 1969: Barbra Streisand took a slight detour for owning fashion on the Oscar red carpet in 1969. It was a trouser suit by Arnold Scaasi instead of a traditional gown that has been highly debated as both the best and worst outfit since. What’s more, the outfit turned out to be completely transparent which the actress later confessed that she had no idea the lights on stage would shine through. Farrah Fawcett, 1978: The actress’ gilded Stephen Burrows gown has spawned a million replicas for the disco set after it was first seen on her at the coveted awards ceremony. The same year, Goldie Hawn too exuded effortless glamour girl in a metallic wrap dress. Elizabeth Hurley, 1995: The model, actress and the quintessential Versace girl must have rained on everyone’s fashion parade that evening back in 1995 in a sparkling curve-hugging dress. Sharon Stone, 1998: The actor’s identified by her offbeat roles but she even chose to wear something entirely different at the 1998 Oscars. She walked down the Oscars red carpet in a lavender satin Vera Wang skirt with a men’s button-down shirt. Halle Berry, 2002: She became the first African-American woman to win an Academy Award for Best Actress but her partially sheer floral gown by Elie Saab is one we love to look back on. Kate Hudson, 2003: Her champagne Atelier Versace gown is no less than the stuff Hollywood royalty is made of. Michelle Williams, 2006: In a saffron Vera Wang dress, Michelle Williams created one of the most memorable fashion moments. The actress had attended the ceremony with her then-boyfriend, the late Heath Ledger, who was nominated for his role in Brokeback Mountain. Reese Witherspoon, 2006: The actress chose the vintage route which proved to be a sartorial success on the red carpet. It was a vintage (1955) Christian Dior gown for the evening. Nicole Kidman, 2007: The actress’s red Balenciaga gown was the style equivalent of businesswoman meets party girl with its bow draping from her neck into a train behind her. Marion Cotillard, 2008: French actress Marion Cotillard stood out in her Jean Paul Gaultier dress that looked as though it was made of fish scales. Penélope Cruz, 2009: The actress went vintage in a 1950 Pierre Balmain couture for her Oscars 2009 look. Anne Hathaway, 2011: The actor’s hosting gig with James Franco must not have gone down well in Oscars history but her Valentino dress from the fall 2002 couture collection surely became a talking point. Meryl Streep, 2012: The powerhouse talent had always stayed safe in the fashion department until 2012 when she wore a bold Lanvin number for the ceremony. She was awarded Best Actress for playing Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady that year. Michelle Williams, 2012: The cutesy peplum made a comeback on Michelle Williams’ red tulle Louis Vuitton gown. Angelina Jolie, 2012: If there’s the one dress we will always remember from the Oscars red carpet, it will be this one Angelina Jolie wore that also spawned a million memes. Angeline Jolie’s Atelier Versace black gown with a thigh-high slit came to be called “Angie leg” since this appearance. Gwyneth Paltrow, 2012: Another trend that started the same night was Gwyneth Paltrow’s caped trend for Tom Ford. The dress gave way to popular looks since from cocktail dresses to outerwear. Jennifer Aniston, 2013: Jennifer Aniston presented an award in this crimson Valentino Haute Couture gown. Jennifer Lawrence, 2013: J Law signed up as the face of Dior in 2012 and the French brand has dressed this gifted actor for all important moments since, including this classy gown she wore for her Oscar 2013 win. Remember her graceful fall as she went up on stage to accept the award? Loved the confidence with which she owned this moment! Lupita Nyong’o, 2015: A style icon in her own right, Lupita Nyong’o wore a baby-blue Prada dress, followed by an intricate pearl-covered Calvin Klein Collection gown. Lady Gaga, 2016: It’s difficult to not appreciate a sea of beautiful gowns on the Oscars red carpet but Lady Gaga has always done it differently. This Brandon Maxwell jumpsuit looked like an haute couture gown that Lady Gaga carried with much aplomb. In 2019 however, Lady Gaga channelled Audrey Hepburn in a custom, sculptural black gown by Alexander McQueen that she paired with a 128-carat Tiffany diamond necklace elbow-length black leather gloves. Her live performance with Bradley Cooper too became one of the talking points that year. The Oscars are not only about awarding great roles, hearing inspiring speeches or enjoying the musical presentations. Fashion, style and glamour is an important part of Hollywood’s most important evening. The fascination with Oscar outfits is eventually what stays with us once the awards wrap up. Dressing for the Academy Awards is serious business because the choice of an Oscar-worthy dress is almost as imperative as an Oscar-worthy role. Follow more stories on Facebook and Twitter Read the full article

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lonniekafka · 5 years

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21 questions tag

tagged by @kizzycannon (also, I'm writing this for the second time, because Tumblr deleted the first one.)

Nicknames: Lonnie (because it isn't my real name) Lori, and some weird puns about my real last name. Seriously, you don't wanna hear them xD

Zodiac Sign: Scorpio

Height: 1,61m/around 5'34"

Hogwarts House: Gryffindor

The last thing I googled: Heinrich Heine Wikipedia (I have to make a presentation about him. Save me please.)

Favorite musician: MISSIO, Casper (German rapper), Skillet, and some other (Punk)Rock bands, like Hollywood Undead, Starset, Three Days Grace... But Jeff & Casey Lee Williams are also very talented people (Fight me if you dare)

Some song stuck in my head: (slowed down) pokerface by Lady Gaga xD

Following: 71

Followers: 38

Do you get asks: Not really

Amount of sleep: During the week 6-8 hours per day, on the weekend 8-9 hours per day

Lucky number: 4

What are you wearing: It's fcking Summer time baby: Bullet necklace, two grey bandanas tied around my wrists, dark blue tanktop, black harem pants, white sneakers and a dark green Zelda: Twilight Princess Snapback

Dream Job: Author. Definietly.

Dream Trip: Sweden (again), USA, Canada, Great Britain, maybe Japan, idk yet

Instruments: I usually sing more than I play instruments, but I learned to play the flute in 5th grade and somehow some songs are still stuck in my head, I'm learning to play the guitar, and I want to start playing the drums next year ^^

Languages: German is my mother tongue, I'm learning to speak English for about 7 years now, I've had to learn French for 3 years now (but I suck at it tbh), and I have to start of with Latin next year ;-;

Favorite song:

Random fact: I have many scars on my body, mostly cuts. I was in an abusive and toxic relationship twice, I was stabbed twice because of one of my ex girlfriends, the other one cutted a symbol onto my body, which started from my back and ended on my stomach, and some other scars because of different reason. That's why I learned how to kickbox. (I can also do a post about my story, but only if you are interested in hearing it)

Tag 21 people: Since I don't really have friends on Tumblr, I'll most likely tag people I want to know better and who seem like interesting individuals 🤷🏻‍♀️

But you don't have to do it if you don't want to :)

____

@mikotyzini @gillfish123 @milkandcookieshero @nellawashere @littlecrazypsychome @singingintrovert @bipolaryangxiaolong @lonelywolf35 @millykerr @yeehawsenpai @bianxue @bmblbs @i-need-friends-im-sad @color2wheel @rwby-rambles @michael-h-art @tehultimatefreakrobot

#21questions #tag game #tag #21questionstag

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jonathanbogart · 7 years

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Magnitizdat: Soviet Aligned Pop and New Wave

Mix seven of seven. The previous mixes can be found here. The YouTube playlist for this mix can be found here. Below this paragraph is the tracklisting for this mix; below that are my notes on it. It’s been a gas.

Bravo, “Koshki”

Klaus Mitffoch, “Jezu jak się cieszę”

Spenót, “Szamba”

Tango, “Na šikmé ploše”

Forum, “Davayte sozvonimsya”

Urszula, “Wielki odlot”

Pankow, “Rock ‘n’ Roll im Stadtpark”

Florian din Transilvania, “Mă simt minunat”

Trick, “Elektronnoto kuche”

Dzeltenie Pastnieki, “Sliekutēva vaļasprieks”

Marika Gombitová, “Prekážky dní”

Grazhdanskaya Oborona, “Zoopark”

Gigi, “Divat a fontos”

Maanam, “Lucciola”

Silly, “Die Gräfin”

Kino, “Posledniy geroy”

Sfinx, “An după an”

Első Emelet, “Amerika”

Aya RL, “Skóra”

OK Band, “Žižkovská zeď”

Nastya, “Tatsu”

Magnitizdat: soviet aligned pop and new wave

In a just world, just about every nation represented here would get its own mix: Poland, Hungary, Czechia, and Russia, to name just the largest pop scenes, were (and are) too capacious to be summed up in the paltry handful of songs I’ve allotted them. But I’m already teetering on the furthest outside edge of my understanding. My grasp of Europe is comparable to Saul Steinberg’s legendary view from 9th Avenue: the further East of the Pyrenees I get the more featureless and notional everything is.

To make things more complicated, although the seven nations (at the time; now 13½) represented in this mix were formally Soviet-aligned in terms of foreign policy and general economic structure, they all pursued different approaches to cultural policy, and those policies changed radically over the decades, and even from year to year. At the beginning of the 1980s, the Soviet Union was perhaps the most officially censorious in terms of rejecting Western influence, whereas places like Poland, Hungary, East Germany, and Czechoslovakia were relatively open to current trends in Western European culture, especially following the Prague Spring of 1968. Then too, one of the necessary preconditions for good pop is money (which doesn’t necessarily mean pure capitalism: state-funded arts education and broadcast media, e.g., made British pop the envy of the world), and many of the Eastern Bloc nations, whether or not they were eager to support international-style pop, were among the poorest in Europe.

Still, life finds a way. Electronic music in particular was taken up enthusiastically by many Warsaw Pact composers in the 1970s, both as a technical challenge and as a path forward into a Communist musical future that owed nothing to the dead traditions of the West. Young musicians in Warsaw, Riga, and Leningrad got hold of contraband records or reel-to-reel tapes (called magnitizdat in Russian, in parallel with printed samizdat, according to Wikipedia) of new and innovative forms of rock and pop, imitated them, and added their own perspectives. And Eastern European nations held their own national and international versions of Eurovision, and broadcast local singers in a variety of traditions, both as light entertainment and as a way to reinforce cultural nationalism.

So although Eastern Bloc pop in the 1980s was often cheaper and perhaps chintzier (or at least dedicated to different notions of cool) than its Western counterparts, there was still plenty of it; but it was also unevenly distributed. My division below is less about population size or global importance (either today or historically) than about what would fit into a single mix. There are six Soviet songs (five Russian, one Latvian), four Polish, three Hungarian, two East German, two Czech, one Slovak, two Romanian, and one Bulgarian. Linguistically, it’s my most diverse mix by far, with six Slavic languages, one Germanic, one Uralic, and one Romance language represented (the runner-up, Melodier, had five Germanic languages and one Uralic). Google Translate is my everything.

All of them are great songs, and most of them are great records as well (we’ll get to the exception), although I doubt anyone actually living in Eastern Europe, either at the time or presently, would group together these precise performers in this way: some were defiantly underground, some boringly mainstream, and most somewhere in the middle.

Most of these mixes have taken 1981 and 1987 as the boundary years: while this one ends with a longish 1987 track as per tradition, the rest of the songs are mostly clustered between 1983 and 1985. Due to protectionist policies (both Eastern and Western), inefficiencies of resource allocation, and the slow-to-arrive effects of glasnost, the new wave (if that’s even a useful term to describe a shift towards 1980s-era modernity in the diverse Communist scenes) rolled over Eastern Europe several years after it had blanketed the West. My early investigations all centered on 1984, and further research still marks that as a pivotal year.

Anyway, here’s what I’ve fallen in love with. I hope you dig it too.

1. Bravo Koshki no label | Moscow, 1985

WIth all apologies to Long Island’s Stray Cats, Southern California’s Blasters, England’s Shakin’ Stevens, West Germany’s Ace Cats, and Barcelona’s Loquillo, the greatest rockabilly revival act of the 1980s was the Russian Браво (Bravo). Formed in 1983 by guitarist Evgeny Havtan, with singer Zhanna Aguzarova signing on later that year, they played 1950s rock and roll with a side order of 1960s ska, with lyrics simple and catchy enough to be universal but subversive enough to get them into trouble. “Кошки” (Cats) could be a children’s song: “Cats don’t look like people, cats are cats,” is the opening lyric. But when Aguzarova adds that cats don’t talk nonsense or care about bits of paper, that’s questionable, and when she launches into some of the most thrilling scatting ever heard in rock & roll it’s downright revolutionary. After the band had self-released their first recordings on magnetic tape, she was arrested for using forged identity papers in 1984, and didn’t release a proper record until 1987. She left the band in 1989 for a solo career, and is beloved throughout Russia as a sort of Lady Gaga avant la lettre, while Bravo under Havtan and a succession of singers has continued to plow their rockabilly furrow to slightly diminished success.

2. Klaus Mitffoch Jezu jak się cieszę Tonpress | Wrocław, 1983

One of the most important Polish new wave bands, Klaus Mitffoch combined punk energy, two-tone nimbleness, and post-punk solemnity in a compulsively listenable and sometimes danceable mix. Their first single, Jezu jak si�� cieszę (Jesus, I’m Happy; the name is an interjection rather than an address) is a mordant portrait of callow youth that doesn’t think past the next payday, fight, or fuck, and of the system that keeps them that way: the shouty chorus translates as “Get up and be busy and own things/I can’t really do it/I don’t really want to.” A Polish “I prefer not to,” it’s a critique of the capitalist contract which worked just as well as a critique of Communist expectations: the lack of real difference between the oppressiveness of East and West will be an ongoing theme.

3. Spenót Szamba Start | Budapest, 1983

Although I’ve been attaching the tag “new wave” to these mixes, one of the signature sounds of the US new wave has been entirely unrepresented: the beachy kitsch of the B-52’s. Until now. Spenót (Spinach) was a Budapest arts collective founded in the early 80s which only released one single on the rock imprint of the Hungarian state label: “Szamba” (Samba) b/w “Hová tűntek a szőke nőket” (Where Did the Blondes Go). Casio, bass, guitar, and disaffected vocals from Kriszta Berzsenyi (now a costumer in the Hungarian film industry) make for a minimal-funk tribute to proletarian hero Popeye, as the refrain “Everything’s perfectly fine, I’ve got spinach flowing in my veins” makes clear. A late entrance from a mariachi trumpet only adds to the delightful kitsch effect, and makes me grin ear to ear every time I listen.

4. Tango Na šikmé ploše Supraphon | Prague, 1984

Although the island-borrowed rhythms and frontman Miroslav Imrich’s vocal qualities in this early song are rather heavily reminiscent of the Police, in terms of cultural positioning Tango were rather closer to Madness: a ska-pop band that could be goofy or heartfelt depending on the song, and burrowed deep into Czech working-class cultural identity, in part thanks to their inventive and prolific videos. Their first single, “Na šikmé ploše” (On the Slope) is a heartfelt and rather poetic love song on skis. Even after Tango’s dissolution, Imrich has been a consistently popular singer and songwriter in the years since, his work, both solo and in collaboration, ranging from ballads to techno.

5. Forum Davayte sozvonimsya no label | Moscow, 1984

A Russian synthpop band who owed nothing to such English decadents as Human League or Depeche Mode, Форум was fronted by singer Viktor Saltykov, who had previously sung with rock band Manufactura, and anchored by synth wizard Alexander Morozov. The video for Давайте созвонимся (Let’s Call Each Other), from an early television appearance, has become a minor internet classic of kitschy Soviet aesthetics, but a google of the lyrics reveals as thoughtful and sensitive a song about love under modern technological conditions as anything Gary Numan or Scritti Politti ever recorded. Forum’s debut album wouldn’t see official release until 1987, by which time a lot of Russian pop had caught up to them.

6. Urszula Wielki odlot Polton | Lublin, 1984

Perhaps Poland’s most prominent female rock star for the last forty years, Urszula Kasprzak has recorded in a variety of styles, from hard rock to dance-pop; but her 1984 album Malinowy król (Raspberry King), recorded with members of prog band Budka Suflera, is a minor masterpiece of cool, reflective synthpop. “Wielki odlot” (The Great Departure) was the leadoff track and the album’s lowest-charting single, but I love its stately swell and the apocalyptic lyrics (or maybe it’s just about emigration, which is another form of apocalypse). I’m looking forward into digging around into the rest of Urszula’s discography.

7. Pankow Rock ’n’ Roll im Stadtpark AMIGA | Berlin, 1983

East Germany probably had the most thoroughly Westernized and extensive pop scene in the whole Eastern Bloc — only natural, given its proximity and exposure to West German media. But child star Nina Hagen had to leave East Berlin to help found the Neue Deutsche Welle: East Germany preferred shaggy 70s rock even as icy synths overran the NATO countries. Pankow, formed in the eponymous suburb of East Berlin, was a case in point: definitely a new wave band, they still clearly adored old-fashioned boogie rock. “Rock ’n’ Roll im Stadtpark” (Rock ’n’ Roll in the City Park) is an anthem of Communist rock (even the shouted refrains are collectivized): dancing to rock & roll in the park is better than bourgeois disco or high-priced cinema, because it’s free. Of the people, by the people, for the people, oh yeah.

8. Florian din Transilvania Mă simt minunat Electrecord | Bucharest, 1986

The hermetic and impoverished Romanian scene, tightly controlled by Nicolae Ceaușescu’s Maoist-modeled authoritarian government, was the slowest of the European Communist nations to catch up to the present of the 1980s: officially supported music tended to be folkloric, balladic, and at its most up-to-date, hippie-era hard rock. Mircea Florian was one of the grand exceptions: beginning as a mid-60s folk-rocker in the mold of Dylan and Cohen, and maintaining a parallel interest in electronics and modern composers like Stockhausen and Nono, he moved through many progressive, electric, and Eastern-influenced musical phases over the next twenty years, often butting heads with the regime. His last great record, 1986’s Tainicul vîrtej (The Secret Swirl), released just before his defection to West Germany, was a summation of his folk- and art-rock past and his new-wave present. This opening track “I Feel Great,” is a statement of gleeful modernism, the lyrics an expression of bucolic alienation while the synthesizers and drum machines wander off on prog-rock solos before being recalled to robot rhythms.

9. Trick Elektronnoto kuche Balkanton | Sofia, 1985

If the Romanian rock scene was impoverished, its Bulgarian counterpart was even more so. Trick was a vocal group — two women, one man — put together out of music school in frank imitation of Western acts like ABBA, Boney M, or even (if the record sleeves are any indication) Tony Orlando and Dawn. But this cut from their first LP, “Electronic Dog,” was produced by the young, ambitious Kristian Boyadzhiev to a hypermodern sheen: if the girls are still essentially singing disco harmonies, at least the music has heard of ZTT. After release, the song was suppressed by Bulgarian state media on the grounds that the goofy lyrics and synthesized dog barks were making a mockery of Bulgarian electronics. But today, it sounds like it might predict Eastern European trance.

10. Dzeltenie Pastnieki Sliekutēva vaļasprieks no label | Riga, 1984

The underground new-wave scene in Latvia was apparently the most active and prolific in the Soviet Union outside Mother Russia: the Baltic seaport of Riga, as one of the USSR’s few access points to global culture, saw bands like Pērkons, NSRD, and Dzeltenie Pastnieki making waves even as their magnetic-tape recordings were suppressed by the Soviet authorities and not released for decades. I chose this song by Dzeltenie Pastnieki (Yellow Postmen) not because it’s exceptionally better than the rest of their material, which is all pretty great, but because its combination of electronic loops and sensitive guitar sounded surprisingly to me like the Postal Service. The pitch-shifted vocals, sure, sound more like “The Laughing Gnome,” but that’s no deal-breaker.

11. Marika Gombitová Prekážky dní Opus | Bratislava, 1984

Probably the biggest Slovak pop star of the era, Marika Gombitová had been well-known in the eastern half of Czechoslovakia since 1977, when she sang leads for the popular rock band Modus. This synthpop gem (Daily Obstacles) from her fifth album, the unselfconsciously-titled No. 5 (it was her first stab at singing to synthesizers), uses sporting metaphors to talk about desires that slip forever out of reach, the evocativeness of which imagery would not have been lost on a contemporary television-watching audience: Gombitová had been confined to a wheelchair, paralyzed from the shoulders down, following a car crash in 1981. Her marvelous voice, thin but strong, reminds me of Cyndi Lauper’s: and the gorgeous production, with its slippery bass and a haunting electronic solo in the middle eight, makes this maybe my favorite song in this mix.

12. Grazhdanskaya Oborona Zoopark no label | Omsk, 1985

Here’s that not-great record, meaning only that it’s extremely lo-fi, so much so that the tape hiss and room tone plays practically an aesthetic role, turning a simple rock ballad into a fuzz-pop gem that could sit side-by-side with contemporary work by the Beat Happening or Hüsker Dü. Гражданская Оборона (Civil Defense) was the psych-rock project of Siberian-born Yegor Letov; after their first magnetic tape, containing “зоопарк,” was recorded, band members were institutionalized, their subversive attitudes having been dutifully reported to the authorities by the guitarist's mother. That subversiveness isn’t hard to detect in this song, in which Letov dreams of finding other crazy people (like him) with whom he can plot an escape from the zoo of contemporary life.

13. Gigi Divat a fontos Start | Budapest, 1985

Nobody on the Internet seems to know anything about Gigi, not even whether the name is of a performer or a group. The writing credit on the Hungarian compilation LP where “Divat a fontos” (Fashion Matters) appeared is to “Gigi Együttes,” which latter word just means Ensemble. But a bunch of people on the Internet, some in Hungarian, some in English, and some in Polish, have warmly praised this song, an aerobic synthpop jam that combines the best of Kim Wilde and Olivia Newton-John. It’s apparently all that this Gigi (the thirty-first entity of that name on Discogs) ever recorded, but it’s enough.

14. Maanam Lucciola Polskie Nagrania Muza | Kraków, 1984

The post-punk band Maanam, on the other hand, are legends of Polish rock, with dozens of records and a rabid fanbase: one of the most successful and important Eastern European bands of the decade. Lead singer Kora (Olga Jackowska)’s vocal style owed little to Anglophone precedent, digging deep into Slavic and Polish modernism, even when, as here, the most frequent word in the song is the Italian woman’s name of the title. In “Lucciola,” Kora dispassionately portrays a man searching for the titular woman in the night wind, while the band’s brawny Gang of Four funk motorvates right along regardless.

15. Silly Die Gräfin AMIGA | Berlin, 1982

Probably the most interesting East German rock band of the 1980s, Silly was centered around the vocal performances of Tamara Danz, who could be kabarett-outrageous in one song and luminously synthpop-tender in the next. “Die Gräfin” (lit. The Countess, but also slang for any stuck-up woman) is a funk-rock vehicle for her gift for satirical vocal caricature, as she mocks the decayed German aristocracy from a victorious proletarian point of view. Not that Danz was a strict ideologue: in 1989, she joined other East German musicians in demanding greater freedom, in protests that helped lead to the collapse of the Communist consensus. She died in 1996 of breast cancer, far too young.

16. Kino Posledniy geroy AnTrop | Leningrad, 1984

The only Russian band represented on this mix whose music was officially released within the era under consideration, Кино (Cinema) were no less skeptical about the Soviet system than their peers, just luckier in that they hooked up with the independent Leningrad-based AnTrop label, which gave them cover for sarcastic, despairing songs like Последний герой (Last of the Heroes), in which the familiar 80s theme of nuclear annihilation gets another airing, and East and West turn out to be not so different after all.

17. Sfinx An după an Electrecord | Bucharest, 1984

When Mircea Florian was one of the leading lights of Romanian prog in the 1970s, one of his few competitors in the field was the band Sfinx (Sphinx), formed in the mid-60s to play Western-style pop/rock. In the following decade, they grew more ambitious, taking cues from Yes, King Crimson, and Genesis, the last of whom, in their 80s incarnation, is a reference point here. “An după an” means Year After Year, and even though it was only their second LP (they were constantly running afoul of the Romanian censors), it was occasion for a wistful look back over the last twenty years.

18. Első Emelet ‎Amerika Start | Budapest, 1983

Perhaps the most popular Hungarian rock band of the early 80s, Első Emelet (First Floor) was formed from the remnants of several less fortunate acts which imploded around 1982. With a bright, energetic sound, witty lyrics by songwriter Péter Geszti, and an irreverent comic sensibility to their visual presentation, they were just the kind of band that would have been a lock to appear on MTV if they weren’t from a Communist nation. In fact, they did anyway — one of the television screens in Dire Straits’ “Money for Nothing” is playing an Első Emelet video. Their first single, “Amerika” is a terrific satire of that consumerist paradise, rendered with all the plastic pomp the subject deserve.

19. Aya RL Skóra Tonpress | Warsaw, 1984

One of the greatest long-running European indie-rock bands, Aya RL (for Red Love) formed when Russian keyboardist Igor Czerniawski and Polish singer Paweł Kukiz met in Warsaw. “Skóra” (Skin), their biggest hit and most well-loved song (I dare you to get that wordless chorus out of your head), is somewhat unrepresentative of their more psychedelic and intellectual work — but it’s a great song, a portrait of love despite the turmoil and violence of the heavily politicized street culture of Warsaw in the 1980s.

20. OK Band Žižkovská zeď Supraphon | Prague, 1982

If you didn’t know anything about Eastern Bloc music in the 1980s and relied only on what the Western media of the time showed you, you might expect it all to sound like this: icy, measured, foreboding. In fact, “Žižkovská zeď” (The Zizkov Wall) is just about the slowest and coldest song in Czech synthpop act OK Band’s repertoire: most of it is much cheerier and romantic. But I really dig its coldwave vibes and the sound of Marcela Březinová’s voice singing about the awful feeling of seeing your name written in graffiti by an unknown hand.

21. Nastya Tatsu no label | Sverdlovsk, 1987

Thanks no doubt to my own global position — in the (allegedly) democratic West — I’ve been focused throughout this mix on how the music of Communist Europe responds to or relates to or recalls its Western counterparts. But with “Tatsu,” the gaze shifts not West, but East. Nastya, a band formed on the border of Europe and Asia, and named after its frontwoman, singer, composer and poet Anastasia Polova, was fascinated with Japanese folklore, history, and mythology. The Tatsu of the title is both a Japanese child left for dead in World War II (that’s where the bits in English come in), and a mythological dragon-god protecting islands in the Pacific. It’s an amazing song, the centerpiece of an amazing album, and the fact that it only circulated as a bootleg tape for a decade before being officially issued in the mid-90s is the strongest indictment of late-Soviet cultural policy I know. I say that as a Communist.

That’s it, that’s all the mixes. For now, anyway. Thanks for reading and listening and sharing and liking. I’ve got other projects to keep me busy; I’ll try to mention them here from time to time.

#my mixology career

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astrongjazzhand-blog · 7 years

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Hello! I suppose I should explain what this blog is for. Well, it’s my goal to listen to at least one musical cast album per day, more if I can. I’m making this blog so I have a more permanent trace of how I felt about these musicals at this time. so let’s start.

29.06.2017

OKAY GUYS. BRING IT ON THE MUSICAL IS INCREDIBLE AND I LOVE IT. Lin-Manuel Miranda, Amanda Green and Tom Kitt did a really incredible job with this one. As for most of Lin-Manuel Miranda compositions I found myself really loving the songs that were truly musical theatre, they were incredible. The girl who sings Legendary I stg could be a Lady Gaga impersonator, but moreso when she was younger. SO GOOD. Now, I Got You is really great too. I actually performed it in a Show Choir. I LOVE THIS MUSICAL. Also jsyk go read the Wikipedia summary it’s a gem.

#Lin-Manuel Miranda #Amanda Green #Tom Kitt #Show choir #musical theatre #musicals #theatre #drama #Bring It On #Bring It on The musical

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mikemortgage · 6 years

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Forget Netflix – The real joy of movies is still in theatres

NEW YORK — Sure, it’s easy to Netflix and chill these days. Or Prime and recline. Or Hulu and … well, whatever. But if you really want to savour a film, there’s still no substitute for a movie theatre.

Turns out that there are few better ways to rediscover the joy of heading to the theatre than a year of free movie tickets, courtesy of MoviePass. Among the greatest attractions: no distractions from Facebook, online chats, household chores and what not.

I was a regular moviegoer until ticket prices rocketed past $10 several years ago. In New York, $15 is now common; some theatres can charge $18 or $19, even before 3D and other surcharges. Streaming at home became far more affordable — and convenient. Who has time to go to the movies when you’re already behind on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and everything else?

But then came a too-good-to-be-true subscription deal from MoviePass, offering a daily movie for a year for just $94. With ticket prices no longer an issue, I ended up seeing 181 movies that would have cost me $2,747 without MoviePass. That’s 52 cents per film, a 97 per cent discount from $15. The deal was so good that MoviePass no longer offers it.

That MoviePass subscription has expired, but I’ve already seen 42 movies on other subscriptions this year — a mix of Sinemia, AMC A-List and memberships with individual theatres. It’s costing about $60 a month in all, far more than the $8 a month with MoviePass — but all worth it.

I confess I have it easier than many people. Having no kids means no worries about babysitters and bedtime. I can squeeze in a 10 p.m. showing after a night out with friends.

Once the lights dim, it’s just the movie and me.

When watching Netflix, you need discipline to put your phone or laptop away. I’ve sometimes had to consult Wikipedia for a plot point I missed because I was responding to a text or reading about the next movie to watch. Even folding laundry takes your eyes off the screen.

And while it’s convenient to be able to stream movies in bits and pieces, as time permits, that detracts from their rhythm and pacing. Some movies, such as the Netflix drama “Roma,” are meant to feel slow and deliberate, but you lose that feeling if you multitask on Facebook. The Netflix thriller “Bird Box” just doesn’t feel right without the proper buildup of suspense.

Costumes and landscapes come to life on the theatre’s big screen. Rock climber Alex Honnold’s nerve-wracking, rope-free ascent of the gigantic Yosemite rock formation El Capitan in “Free Solo” wouldn’t have been the same on a phone. This documentary was even worth watching a second time, in the mega-size Imax format.

Then there was “Cold War,” a Polish drama on romance in the Eastern Bloc. It was filmed in black and white in the boxy, 4-by-3 frame used by TV screens of that era. That gives the movie a nostalgic feel, even though it just came out. With streaming, video sometimes gets squeezed or stretched to match the dimensions of the TV or phone.

Sound quality at many theatres far exceeds what I could get at home. That became clear watching — and hearing — “Bohemian Rhapsody,” about the rock band Queen, and “A Star is Born,” a Lady Gaga-led drama on a singer’s rise to fame.

True, theatres can still be a hassle. You have to be there at showtime — and then big theatre chains show nearly a half-hour of trailers. (I typically read an e-book at low brightness or catch up on podcasts.) Coordinating schedules with friends can also be complicated, though if you’re OK watching movies alone, that doesn’t have to be a problem.

Spending all that time at the multiplex has changed how I watch movies and shows at home. I try harder to pay attention; my phone’s screen-time controls, which block message notifications and the like, help me focus. But it still takes willpower, like avoiding the chocolate cake that’s right in front of you.

For that reason, I choose theatres when I can, even when streaming is available right away. Some movies never make it to theatres outside big cities. I don’t have that problem in New York, where several theatres show more than just the latest mega-blockbuster sequels.

So instead of asking, “Who has time to go the movies?,” I ask myself, “Who has time for streaming?” And Netflix just raised its prices yet again. Hmmm.

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#IFTTT #Financial Post

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