RARA-AVIS: Re: RARA-AVIS Digest V2 #1018

Lars-ūe Frykholm (frykholm@algonet.se)
Mon, 27 Dec 1999 14:13:01 +0100

Check our Jonathan Lethem`s Gun with occasional music A gumshoe in a brave new world outstanding Lars-ūe Frykholm

RARA-AVIS Digest wrote:

> RARA-AVIS Digest Monday, December 27 1999 Volume 02 : Number 1018
>
> In this issue:
>
> RARA-AVIS: Jack O'Connell anybody?
> Re: RARA-AVIS: Re: RARA-AVIS Digest V2 #1014
> Re: RARA-AVIS: All Kinds of Things
> Re: RARA-AVIS: Ripley, the film
> Re: RARA-AVIS: Ripley, the film
> RARA-AVIS: Re: Voice-overs
> Re: RARA-AVIS: Ripley, the film
> RARA-AVIS: sf/crime
> Re: RARA-AVIS: Re: Voice-overs
> Re: RARA-AVIS: Ripley, the film
> Re: RARA-AVIS: Re: Harry O
> RARA-AVIS: TV Voice-overs
> RARA-AVIS: Readings List Reminder
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Date: Sun, 26 Dec 1999 17:17:10 +0200
> From: Daniel Sevitt <DANIELSE@Amdocs.com>
> Subject: RARA-AVIS: Jack O'Connell anybody?
>
> I know his name has come up a few times in the past. I read about The Skin
> Palace in London listings magazine Time Out about three years ago and on the
> strength of that very positive review went out and bought O'Connell's first
> two books - Box Nine and Wireless. Both of them left me a little
> disappointed. Nevertheless I did finally buy The Skin Palace when it
> appeared in paperback and now I'm pleased I did. It is streaks ahead of the
> earlier books, seedy, scary and riddled with unpleasantness - in other
> words, a delight. I am interested if anyone knows anything about O'Connell's
> background, future plans, etc.
>
> Daniel Sevitt
>
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>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Sun, 26 Dec 1999 09:01:21 -0800 (PST)
> From: btownley@sirius.com (Bruce Townley)
> Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: Re: RARA-AVIS Digest V2 #1014
>
> On Sun, 26 Dec 1999 at 04:17 Bob Toomey sent: Re: RARA-AVIS: Re: RARA-AVIS
> Digest V2 #1014
>
> >Other SF/fantasy more in the hardboiled vein include: Glen Cook's series about
> >a
> >PI named Garrett in a world of magic, starting with SWEET SILVER BLUES; similar
> >but better is Michael Reeves' DARKWORLD DETECTIVE; for a straight SF
> >extrapolation
> >of the mean streets gone meaner, the Carlucci novels by Richard Paul Russo, the
> >first of which is DESTROYING ANGEL; and William Gibson's famous NEUROMANCER,
> >the
> >book that coined the term cyberspace, owes more than a passing nod to Chandler.
>
> Another SF crime story series worth noting would be those collected in
> Larry Niven's THE LONG ARM OF GIL HAMILTON. Concerning the exploits of an
> ex-rocket jockey who also just happens to have developed telekinetic powers
> (which survive an arm-transplant). Despite how fantastical this brief
> description sounds, the stories strive for solidly grounded (yet
> futuristic) speculative realism that can be quite gritty and violent at
> times.
>
> Bruce T. = btownley@sirius.com
> """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
> "Memorize Lou Bega's "Mambo No. 5" now, so you can continue to enjoy it
> after there are no radio stations."
>
> - --from THE ONION's "Y2K Survival Tips"
>
> - --
> # To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to > # To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to majordomo@icomm.ca.
> # The web pages for the list are at http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/ .
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Sun, 26 Dec 1999 09:01:14 -0800 (PST)
> From: btownley@sirius.com (Bruce Townley)
> Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: All Kinds of Things
>
> On Sat, 25 Dec 1999 at 07:47 Jim Doherty sent: All Kinds of Things
>
> >IN CLOSING: Hope everyone on the list has a Merry Christmas. God Bless
> >You All.
>
> Thanks very kindly and let me express similar seasonal good wishes for all
> of the list members.
>
> I recieved an on-topic gift, coincidentally enough. It's a little art book
> by Peggy Thompson and Saeko Usukawa entitled HARD-BOILED, Great Lines from
> Classic Noir Films. While some of the titles they choose to quote from are
> just a little difficult to justify as being noirs (BODY AND SOUL? TO HAVE
> AND HAVE NOT? Huh?) it <is> a tasty little graphical package with
> well-chosen and placed stills and lobby cards to break up the the snippets
> of filmic deadpan dialog. It's hard <not> to like a book that blurbs itself
> with this line from THE BIG CARNIVAL: "I don't pray. Kneeling bags my
> nylons."
>
> Bruce T. = btownley@sirius.com
> """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
> "Memorize Lou Bega's "Mambo No. 5" now, so you can continue to enjoy it
> after there are no radio stations."
>
> - --from THE ONION's "Y2K Survival Tips"
>
> - --
> # To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to > # To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to majordomo@icomm.ca.
> # The web pages for the list are at http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/ .
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Sun, 26 Dec 1999 09:05:30 -0800 (PST)
> From: Mario Taboada <matrxtech@yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: Ripley, the film
>
> Bill Hagen:
>
> <<But perhaps it would've taken someone with the
> sensibility and clout of a Hitchcock to perserve
> Highsmith's Ripley in a major feature.>>
>
> Hitchcock could have done it well, I'm sure. He sure
> was cold-blooded enough. What I really would have
> liked is a Ripley directed by the ascetic genius
> Robert Bresson, without a single known actor and in
> black and white.
>
> Please indulge me by not throwing tomatoes: for quite
> a long time most new films I've seen have seemed like
> fast comfort food for TV addicts. Unbearably loud,
> too. I'm glad I don't review any more: it would be
> torture.
>
> Regards,
>
> =====
> Mario Taboada
>
> "To a mouse, cheese is cheese: that is why mousetraps work." (Unattributed)
> _________________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
> - --
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>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Sun, 26 Dec 1999 12:21:32 -0500 (EST)
> From: AnonymeInc@webtv.net (Mark Sullivan)
> Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: Ripley, the film
>
> Mario wrote:
>
> Please indulge me by not throwing tomatoes: for quite a long time most
> new films I've seen have seemed like fast comfort food for TV addicts.
> Unbearably loud, too. I'm glad I don't review any more: it would be
> torture.
>
> Although I am certainly addicted to the fast-paced movies that would
> fall in your category of Fast Food For TV Addicts (Wild Things, Face-Off
> and Hong Kong movies in general, etc.), I agree with you that films with
> slow builds have been left by the wayside and are alien to most
> contemporary viewers.
>
> My family traditionally watches a movie together on Christmas.
> Yesterday, we watched Spanish Prisoner. Several people (including my
> mother who loves "southern paced" movies like Cookie's Fortune, Ulee's
> Gold, Eve's Bayou, Slingblade, etc.) complained that it was slow, didn't
> seem to be going anywhere. Now it's not a perfect movie, but pacing is
> not a problem in Spanish Prisoner. I think its pace is one of the best
> things about it, as the con slowly unfolds.
>
> Somehow, I doubt I'll ever get them to watch a Tarkovsky, or even a
> Kurosawa.
>
> Mark
>
> - --
> # To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to > # To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to majordomo@icomm.ca.
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>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Sun, 26 Dec 1999 14:29:08 -0400
> From: Kevin Burton Smith <kvnsmith@colba.net>
> Subject: RARA-AVIS: Re: Voice-overs
>
> Okay, when they're done right, voice-overs are great. When they're
> not, they're pretty horrible. But one of perhaps the greatest uses of
> voice-overs wasn't in film at all, but in the 70's TV series,
> HARRY-O, starring David Janssen.
>
> Kevin Burton Smith
> The Thrilling Detective Web Site
> http://www.colba.net/~kvnsmith/thrillingdetective/
> It's Time for the 1999 Cheap Thrills P.I. Poll!
> Vote now! Vote often!
> - --
> # To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to > # To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to majordomo@icomm.ca.
> # The web pages for the list are at http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/ .
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Sun, 26 Dec 1999 12:35:40 -0800 (PST)
> From: Mario Taboada <matrxtech@yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: Ripley, the film
>
> Mark (who, politely, did not throw tomatoes):
>
> <<I agree with you that films with slow builds have
> been left by the wayside and are alien to most
> contemporary viewers.>>
>
> Yes, and besides, the viewer is no longer assumed to
> be able to fill in the blanks. Everything is
> underlined and overshouted. I am speaking in general,
> and mainly about Hollywood films, although Europe is
> rapidly adopting the same crass approach.
>
> I always watch films with total concentration on the
> visual, filing away certain images as landmarks. In
> many recent films, the images go by too fast for them
> to sink in. It's the opposite extreme of Tarkovsky or
> Bresson (some Bresson). Film is losing the power of
> the image, just when it's easier than ever to make
> great images. It's ironic. So many words and loud
> sounds, so little content.
>
> Rant over. I am reading Arthur Lyons's P.I.novel
> _False Pretenses_ (1994), an effective example of the
> traditional hardboiled novel, with a great plot and
> gritty L.A. atmosphere. It's a tightly written, nasty
> little package that does its job with precision and
> flair. This is one that, mysteriously, had been
> sitting in my shelf for four years. I recommend it, if
> it's still available (I doubt it).
>
> Regards and a great year to all raravians and their
> families.
>
> =====
> Mario Taboada
>
> "To a mouse, cheese is cheese: that is why mousetraps work." (Unattributed)
> _________________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
> - --
> # To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to > # To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to majordomo@icomm.ca.
> # The web pages for the list are at http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/ .
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Sun, 26 Dec 1999 15:18:43 -0600
> From: "Mark Blumenthal" <blumenidiot@21stcentury.net>
> Subject: RARA-AVIS: sf/crime
>
> > Another SF crime story series worth noting would be those collected in
> > Larry Niven's THE LONG ARM OF GIL HAMILTON.
>
> I think all genres touch at some point. There are certainly romance
> mysteries and something called romantic suspense. We've talked about how
> many westerns are mystery/suspense in another setting.
>
> My favorite sf author, Jack Vance, wrote conventional mysteries under his
> full name, John Holbrook Vance. A lot of his sf is basucally mystery mystery
> in an exotic setting. I'm particularly fond of his Demon Prince series
> telling of telling of Kirth Gerson's quest to uncover the real identities of
> five pirates or criminal chiefs who killed his parents when they combined to
> raid his home planet. At the end of the series Gerson has managed to kill
> all five.
> Mark
>
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>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Sun, 26 Dec 1999 21:22:39 +0000
> From: Bob Toomey <btoomey@javanet.com>
> Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: Re: Voice-overs
>
> Kevin Burton Smith wrote:
>
> > Okay, when they're done right, voice-overs are great. When they're
> > not, they're pretty horrible. But one of perhaps the greatest uses of
> > voice-overs wasn't in film at all, but in the 70's TV series,
> > HARRY-O, starring David Janssen.
>
> That makes two of us who are HARRY O fans. Is the show playing in reruns
> anywhere? I'd love to see it again. Not only was the voice-over beautifully
> written, but, as I mentioned in an earlier message, Janssen's wry delivery was
> perfect.
>
> BobT
>
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>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Sun, 26 Dec 1999 15:24:15 -0600
> From: "Mark Blumenthal" <blumenidiot@21stcentury.net>
> Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: Ripley, the film
>
> Mario begs,
>
> Please indulge me by not throwing tomatoes:
>
> I thought this group threw only hard boiiled eggs!
> Mark
>
> - --
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>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Sun, 26 Dec 1999 16:22:35 -0500 (EST)
> From: AnonymeInc@webtv.net (Mark Sullivan)
> Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: Re: Harry O
>
> Add another fan. Some may think it sacrilege, but I like Harry O even
> more than Rockford Files. I am such a sucker for weary PIs and few come
> wearier than Harry. I'd also like to know if they are in rerun. This
> time I would be sure to tape them all.
>
> Mark
>
> - --
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>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Sun, 26 Dec 1999 16:44:59 -0500
> From: Gerald So <gso@optonline.net>
> Subject: RARA-AVIS: TV Voice-overs
>
> Hello, all.
>
> The voice-over was intrusive in both "Magnum, P.I." and "Spenser: For
> Hire." On "Magnum," however, I think it was intentionally intrusive.
> (e.g. "I know what you're thinking, and you're right...") It was meant
> to reflect Magnum's laid-back everyman nature.
> On "Spenser," the voice-over was often used to quote poetry or show
> that Spenser was thinking "profound thoughts." In effect it made him
> sound pretentious, something Spenser of the books was not.
> Eliminating the voice-over was one of the most effective choices made
> for A&E's SMALL VICES.
>
> Gerald
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>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Mon, 27 Dec 1999 00:30:02 -0500 (EST)
> From: Reminder Cron <buff@pobox.com>
> Subject: RARA-AVIS: Readings List Reminder
>
> Last updated: 13 December 1999
>
> This is an automated reminder about The Readings.
>
> 01 Dec 1999 - _Never Street_, Loren D. Estleman
> 01 Jan 2000 - _Red Harvest_, Dashiell Hammett
>
> - -----
>
> For the newer subscribers: the readings are fairly informal, and meant to
> take you back to older books you may not have read in a while, and to
> introduce you to writers you may not know. Subscribers range from English
> professors and graduate students to people with a new interest in the
> sub-genre, so discussion ranges all over, and any comments are welcome.
> They are in no way meant to distract from the usual discussions.
>
> Suggestions for future selections are welcome.
>
> William Denton
> List-Owner
> - --
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>
> ------------------------------
>
> End of RARA-AVIS Digest V2 #1018
> ********************************
>
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