Seminar on Kubrick Exhibit at LACMA

Into the Archive: Re-Viewing Kubrick

Saturday, February 9, 2013 | 9:30 am

The symposium will be a daylong event exploring the ways
 in which LACMA's exhibition and the Stanley Kubrick
Archive throw light on debates over the practices that
underpin film production.
The conference will allow for presentations of both
 practice-related issues and more traditional historical-
and theoretical-based subjects to bring together
 industry practitioners and academics. 

View full schedule

Bing Theater l 9:30 am–5 pm | Free, tickets required: 
323 857-6010 or reserve online.

Presented by the University of the Arts London

I'm thinking this would be a good day to go see the Kubrick Exhibit. We can go between
panels and our own impressions of the exhibit. 

Everyone let me know if this date works for your calendar. 

MANDATORY FIELD TRIP WEDNESDAY

 MANDATORY field trip to the Margaret Herrick Academy Library is on the  afternoon of Wednesday February 9th. We meet there at 1:50. The link is here. Directions, maps, rules, etc are here. 
You need to be there for this one, and to be on time. They do us a very big favor by opening their doors to us on a day they are closed to the public and we cannot make them wait. Thanks.

Paley Fest - a required event

Okay, I have to order tickets at 9 on Friday. That means I need to know in advance what you are interested in. Each person gets to go once. We can do three events in total. The Freaks and Geeks reunion is going to sell out immediately but we'll try for that one. The ones at the end are during spring break so keep that in mind. In fact, I can't do community or raising hope so cross those off the list. I need to know who wants what before Friday. One Additional thing -- I can only buy four tickets per event under my membership so we can't all go to True Blood (which will also sell out really quickly).

Our night out with David Scott Milton

Anne, Tina, Emily and I are having dinner with writer David Scott Milton at Taylor's Steakhouse this Tuesday, meeting at 7:00. Valet park as I don't want you walking around this particular neighborhood.

Here's what you need to know about David. Wikipedia says: "David Scott Milton (born September 15, 1934) is an American author, playwright, screenwriter, and actor. His plays are known for their theatricality, wild humor, and poetic realism, while his novels and films are darker and more naturalistic. As a novelist, he has been compared to Graham Greene, John Steinbeck, and Nelson Algren. Ben Gazzara’s performance in Milton’s play, Duet, received a Tony nomination. Another play, Skin, won the Neil Simon Playwrights Award. His theater piece, Murderers Are My Life, was nominated as best one-man show by the Valley Theater League of Los Angeles. His second novel, Paradise Road, was given the Mark Twain Journal award "for significant contribution to American literature."
I would also suggest reading his interview here.

Here's what you need to know about Taylors Steakhouse:
3361 W 8th St
Los Angeles, CA 90005
(213) 382-8449
Read the LA Times review here. The steak pictured is a culotte -- their specialty.

Saturday Field Trip

If everyone is on board, I'd like to do field trip this Saturday to the Getty Center. We'll meet there at 12:30 and have lunch at the restaurant. There's a couple of good exhibits and then a film screening at 4:00 (Bad Day at Black Rock) -- we'll be out by 6.

Without a doubt the Getty is one of the most impressive sites in Los Angeles -- and the fact that it's showing a Western (or is it?) that I normally screen in class anyway doesn't hurt!

We're going to make this an official field trip

This is a very strange film, and a perfect compliment to our class topic of voyeurism so it seems like a good Friday to venture out for a night in Hollywood. Mark your calendars.

Friday, February 13 – 7:30 PM

FETISH FILM NIGHT

[Spielberg] THE BABY, 1973, 84 min. Dir. Ted Post (MAGNUM FORCE, BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES). You can’t get more cult than this original and odd film. The Wadsworths are a typical ordinary family: a strong-willed matriarchal mother (Ruth Roman, of STRANGERS ON A TRAIN), two lust-fueled daughters and a bouncing baby boy. Except the baby (David Mooney) is going on 30 years old, sits in a crib, wears diapers and sucks a bottle. When the family’s new social worker (Anjanette Comer, of THE LOVED ONE) arrives, she takes notice of the baby and decides to do something about this dysfunctional household. The 1970s-era brightly colored sets evoke a "Brady Bunch" suburbia, but one that is slightly off-balance. The decaying Victorian Wadsworth mansion, a cross between something out of WILLARD and "The Munsters," adds to the neglected aura of the family relations. Cinematographer Michael Margulies uses skewed camera angles bolster the unsettling nature of this film, and Gerald Fried's score creates an eerie atmosphere. Mooney is excellent as "Baby." One of the few films to present the subject of ABs (adult babies), Fetish Film Night’s presentation is an experience that won't be replicated at your local multiplex and is essential for fans of fetish cinema. "…deliciously insane…the definition of cult, completely avoiding mainstream appeal and totally original." – Jason Cook, The Spinning Image

Fetish Film Night is a once-monthly series hosted by Rick Castro of Antebellum Gallery- www.antebellum.us.ms. Each screening will be followed by an informal discussion and debate with the audience. All screenings for this series will have fetish as the main theme and subject matter. Rick Castro is an independent curator, filmmaker and photographer working and living in Los Angeles his entire life. Castro explores the worlds of fetish and subculture. Rick’s photography is in the permanent collection of the Alfred Kinsey Institute. His books and magazines are archived at the UCLA Library and the Leather Museum in Chicago. See www.antebellum.us.ms and www.rickcastro.com for more information.) (Screened from a digital source.) This series is for audiences 18 and over. Discussion following the film with the audience moderated by Rick Castro.

http://filmfanatic.org/reviews/?p=1834

Saturday field trip

So I promise I won't pack in future weekends to this degree, but I wanted to remind you that we are going to the Gene Autry Museum on Saturday and are seeing a film about Pancho Villa's film career. I want us to meet for lunch first in Los Feliz at Fred 62. Definitely check out its website.

I need everyone there by 11:30 so we can sit together. Check out the menu to decide if you want lunch or breakfast. Then we're off to Griffith Park to see the Gene Autry Western Museum, and specifically this exhibit. Then at 2 the museum screens the Pancho Villa film. We;ll be done by 4:30.

Friday Afternoon Field Trip

"Official VIP Studio Tour -Friday January 23 after class -- Warner Bros. Studios VIP Tour is an insider's look at one of Hollywood's busiest and most famous motion picture studios - past and present. It is an intimate, historical and educational behind-the-scenes view of an actual working studio. The VIP tour begins with a short film showcasing the movies and television shows created by Warner Bros. talent over the years. Guests are then escorted via tour carts to the Warner Bros. Museum - a true archive of filmed entertainment history. Exhibits include costumes, props, awards and actual scripts from renowned productions. From the Museum, guests will visit backlot sets, sound stages and craft/production shops - routes change from day to day to accommodate production on the lot, so no two tours are exactly alike. As you meander the studio on the VIP tour cart, anything can happen - perhaps a celebrity sighting, or a shoot just wrapping on an exterior set! You may pull into New York Street - location for such television hits as ER, but originally constructed in the 1930s for the film noir classics. Or visit Midwest Street - Warner Bros.' answer to "Any Town USA" - made famous in the musical A Music Man, but staying busy today with the hit television series Gilmore Girls. If the timing is right, guides will take you onto a sound stage to see the set of a current Warner Bros. show! Guests may also visit "The Mill", home to craft shops since the 1930's; the costume or prop warehouses; or maybe enter the Foley stage for a demonstration of how sounds are recreated for film."

First official field trip announcement

On Saturday January 24, we're headed over to the Autry National Center's Museum of the American West at Griffith Park to see their new exhibit and go to a special screening.

Here's some details:

BOLD CABALLEROS Y NOBLE BANDIDAS

"All over the world, stories and folktales are told about certain bandits who stand for social justice. Often, the popular mind converts real historical figures such as Tiburcio Vásquez and the leaders of the Mexican Revolution of 1910 into folk heroes. In other cases, popular culture shapes distinct and more satisfying characters out of historical composites, like Robin Hood or Joaquín Murrieta. Sometimes fictional bandit heroes, such as Zorro, the Cisco Kid, and the Bandit Queen, fill a social and cultural need. These characters assume a vitality that often penetrates all of popular media, including film, art, costume, radio, television, and the commercial world of children's products.

This exhibition focuses on the Latino experience and the interplay of fact and fantasy in the depiction of Latina and Latino "noble bandits."

And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself (2003) When Mexican Revolutionary Pancho Villa (Antonio Banderas) is unable to fund his war against the government, he enlists the help of Hollywood, sending emissaries to producers in hopes that one will pay to film his battles. D. W. Griffith (Colm Feore) obliges, sending filmmaker Frank Thayer (Eion Bailey), who forms a close relationship with the enigmatic Villa and goes on to produce the first feature-length movie based on his exploits.

Apatow's "Friends" Revealed

For those of us going to Apatow and "Friends" on Monday, I found a list of these mysterious, (not all that surprising but very exciting) associates on the Paley site:

March 17 | Monday | 7:00 pm
The Comedy World of Judd Apatow & Friends

In Person:

Judd Apatow
Tom Arnold
Andy Dick
Paul Feig
Jonah Hill
Busy Phillips
Paul Rudd
Jason Segal

Additional panelists to be announced.

Apparently, all of the Paley panels have moderators. Maybe they take audience questions in person also, but I see that they're soliciting questions for all of the events online:

http://paleyfest08.wordpress.com/

Mike

Class Fieldtrip March 7

Friday, March 7, after our 50s sci-fi/EC comics/Censorship lecture, we're headed to the
Griffith Observatory/Planetarium for the afternoon. There's no better view of the city and the planetarium show is pretty cool (we can see what planet the body snatchers invaded us from!)

Class Fieldtrip March 14 (after class)

This is perfect timing in terms of the course. We will be attending the Wizard World comic convention after class on March 14. It's at the LA convention center downtown. Here's more information on the day's events. Let me know if you really just can't bear to attend, but it will be very useful in light of the material we'll be covering that morning and food will be involved later that afternoon/evening.

Mandatory Wednesday Field Trip

See you all at Canter's Wednesday morning at 8:30 a.m. To learn more about the history of Canter's, click here and here. And don't miss their mySpace We meet at Canter's first for breakfast and then go to the library. We're under a tight schedule and the library will not tolerate us being late for the tour so please be at Canter's promptly at 8:30.


In terms of the Library tour -- be sure to bring your driver's license, and you might want to bring a pad to take notes.

Paley Fest

Based upon the limited input thus far, this is my strategy for tomorrow at 9. I can only buy 8 tickets total for any one event. (for most events, that means 6 student tickets). They have to be purchased in blocks of 4. I have to use my membership for 4 and my wife's for the other 4. I, and everyone else, start with the perceived "most in demand" show and work their way down. Cult faves sell out quicker than mainstream hits (Most Paleyfest people are not your average TV watcher) Therefore, for example, Buffy will likely be a quick sell-out as will Pushing Daisies.
My strategy is going to be as follows:
I'm going to try for 4 Buffy tickets, followed by 8 Apatow tickets, followed by 8 Damages, followed by some Madmen and Pushing Daisies attempts. This won't work. We won't get everything we want. It's very much worth going to even if we're all watching Chuck, but I'll do my best to get a good allotment. I will hand them out based upon who has posted. Many of you have not posted a request yet. If anyone has a radically different thought or objection to this approach, time's ticking away...

Today's play

Here's where we're meeting today at 1:30. There's parking garage parking in the immediate area.

Kirk Douglas Theatre
9820 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232

A Full Friday

Friday's going to be fun. As soon as class is over, we're jumping in our cars and are heading off to Burbank for lunch at Bob's Big Boy -- and not just any Bob's Big Boy. Read all about it here.
Here's a small taste: "This Bob's restaurant was built in 1949 by local residents Scott MacDonald and Ward Albert, and is the oldest remaining BOB'S BIG BOY in America. It was designed by respected architect Wayne McAllister, incorporating the 1940's transitional design of streamline modern style while anticiapting the freeform 50's coffee shop architecture. The towering BOB's sign is an integral part of the building design and its most prominent feature. The restaurant was honored in 1993, receiving the designation as a "STATE POINT OF HISTORICAL INTEREST" by the state of California. The current owner (the MacDonald Family) acquired control of the restaurant in 1993 and began to restore it to its past glory."

Anyone interested in how this relates to the writer's strike, celebrity sightings or Drew Carey should click here. It's a great story.

Part II -- As soon as we gobble up our double burgers, we're off to picket at NBC Studios for a half hour or so. Thanks to our Duke in LA special friend, Lisa Klink, we know this:

Friday, February 1

NBC BURBANK
Picketing Shifts: 2:30pm-5:30pm
3000 W Alameda Ave
Burbank, CA (MAP)
Meeting Point: Check-in table is located on Bob Hope Dr. (Johnny Carson park)
Parking Option: Street parking on Bob Hope and Riverside

Part III -- then we jump back in our cars and drive a few blocks over to The Warner lot for our tour.

It doesn't get much better than this! (Unless we were going to a rock and roll western musical the next day -- WHICH WE ARE!)

Warner Studio Tour this Friday

"Official VIP Studio Tour -Friday February 1 after class -- Warner Bros. Studios VIP Tour is an insider's look at one of Hollywood's busiest and most famous motion picture studios - past and present. It is an intimate, historical and educational behind-the-scenes view of an actual working studio. The VIP tour begins with a short film showcasing the movies and television shows created by Warner Bros. talent over the years. Guests are then escorted via tour carts to the Warner Bros. Museum - a true archive of filmed entertainment history. Exhibits include costumes, props, awards and actual scripts from renowned productions. From the Museum, guests will visit backlot sets, sound stages and craft/production shops - routes change from day to day to accommodate production on the lot, so no two tours are exactly alike. As you meander the studio on the VIP tour cart, anything can happen - perhaps a celebrity sighting, or a shoot just wrapping on an exterior set! You may pull into New York Street - location for such television hits as ER, but originally constructed in the 1930s for the film noir classics. Or visit Midwest Street - Warner Bros.' answer to "Any Town USA" - made famous in the musical A Music Man, but staying busy today with the hit television series Gilmore Girls. If the timing is right, guides will take you onto a sound stage to see the set of a current Warner Bros. show! Guests may also visit "The Mill", home to craft shops since the 1930's; the costume or prop warehouses; or maybe enter the Foley stage for a demonstration of how sounds are recreated for film."We go to this straight from class on Friday, so don't make any plans for the afternoon. We likely will be there until 6:30.

Valentine Day Field Trip

For those of you legally able to attend age 21 events, many of you will want to save room on Thursday February 14th for the following field trip/event. It is unlike anything else you will do out here. The location is just fantastic, at the Mayan Theatre downtown. These are sell-out events so let me know who is interested and can get thru the doors. I'll need to order the tickets soon. Read about Lucha Va Voom here.

On another note -- Why do we do this? Mexican Masked Wrestling is an amazing tradition and while this event has moved way to the camp side of the tradition, it's still an interesting introduction to the closest real world application of the super-hero genre. Before going to the show, I'd suggest people look at this resource to learn more about the concept of lucha libre.

Saturday 2/23 Downtown tour

This tour is currently sold out through May but they are making special room for us. Read the AAA piece on it here.
Details:

Tour: Broadway Historic Theatre District
Date: Saturday, 02/23/08
Start Time: 10 AM
Length of Tour: 2-3/4 hours
Meeting location: Tour meets at the Million Dollar Theatre, 307 S. Broadway at Third Street.
Parking: There are public parking lots one block west on Hill Street between Third and Fourth Streets.

The tour is sponsored by the LA Conservancy -- It is a walking tour so bring comfortable shoes -- "Broadway's National Register Historic Theater District encompasses the largest concentration of pre-World War II movie houses in America. This tour explores the unique architecture and history of this street. (Interior access may vary by tour.)" It's impossible to understand the history of the film industry without understanding the exhibition end just as well as production or distribution. This is where it all started.

For a preliminary virtual tour, you can go here.
After the tour, we will have lunch at Clifton's Cafeteria. Listen to the NPR story on this 1930s Depression era landmark here.