New places, new insight, new year.	1/6/2012
I love a good movie theatre when I can find one, and I'm not talking about ones with sound so loud that I develop tinnus ear. No, for me it's more about the ambiance, the history of the place, and the beauty of a 50 foot screen. Well, the Englewood theatre is absolutely the combination of all of that. I recently had the chance to go and see the movie "The Sound of Music" (which I had up until that day, NEVER seen). It was showing in it's original form, no updated re-coloration all in non-digital sound. In a word, it is a very, very good movie and I can see why it's been a classic for so many years now.
The interior of the theatre also had this incredibly cool poster for the sci-fi movie Rocketship X-M, and the feature poster outside was the original one used when The Sound of Music came out. The story I've heard about the owner of this wonderful place is that as a kid, around the age of 11 or so, he fell in love with cinema and consistently pleaded to get the movie posters of the films he would see. Finally as time when on, he got a job sweeping floors at the distribution center downtown here in KC. Years later, after decades of collecting and storing posters, props, memoribilia, and the original prints of many of these movies (evidently he owns thousands of them) he re-opened the Englewood and brought his life long love of the movies out for others to enjoy.
There is one fifty foot screen inside. But what a screen it is! The entire theatre is covered in velvet and the acoustics were utter perfect. I remember during intermission (it was a more than three hour movie...) that I could hear the people's conversations down in the front row, perfectly.
When it came time for the movie to begin, the huge curtains parted and an animated short featuring Tom & Jerry (the name of which escape me at the moment, if any of you know please feel free to let me know) came on. One of the things I noticed that of course is absent from most of the animation that graces the television today is that these shorts were developed for the cinema screen. I'd seen this particular short many times over the years since I was a child, and seeing it like this, I was just marveling at the background artistry, the clean design, the smoothness of the animation.
It reminds me of when Bill Waterson decided to stop doing Calvin and Hobbes because the papers, especially with the Sunday editions, had truncated the space that artists had to tell the comic strips in, that it was just a joke to create anything for them. Having seen this as it was originally intended, makes me understand what I have been missing out on watching them on television for so long.
I only took the one screenshot above, and I took none during the actual movie, out of respect for the venue and the film. But The Sound of Music is a resounding masterpeice. Yes, Family Guy and many others have lampooned it so much that I felt that I practically knew the movie (some might have to do with seeing a fantastic dinner theatre production of it last year), but the reason I held off watching it for so long was that I always thought it would not be something I would be all that interested in seeing. And honestly, maybe even up until a few years ago, I don't think I would have appreciated it as much as I did seeing it like this. There was film grain, scratches, and the warm glow of the screen that allowed me to transport back to 1965.
A miniature work of art.
I never pass up the chance to go to any gallery, and while I was in this one (that was also located in the Englewood art district, but as of last month, has now closed down), I noticed a small humorous work of art on the floor. I don't know who painted it, but my mind went into overdrive upon seeing it, and I imagined that a small family of framers and painters all of them mice, were living in the walls there. They were decendants of a line of mice that had been involved in the Salon des Refus�s of 1863, and after realizing that no one would take them seriously as artisans, moved to America and settled in the midwest to start life anew. It is also rumored that they had a hand in Walt Disney creating Mickey Mouse, but who truly knows? ;D
"Suessical" by the KC Coterie Theater Group
The Children's Coterie Theatre's production of Suessical was another amazingly well done bit of visual art, that in all honesty, was completely off my radar. It's also one that you should see if you get the chance. It will drag the kid out of you and that kid will smack you in the face for ignoring them so long.
There was practically only standing room in the performance I went to, and the floor out in front of the stage was piled with children of various ages all eager to experience (or were shoved up there by a parent) the magic of "Horton Hears A Who".
Often I've seen plays where you'll seen good individual performances, but this cast came together and you felt a true unified cleft of professionalism and comraderie that flavored the roles they took on. The costuming had a modern edge, and yet played a good homage to the art of the book. Stage design was minimal, but very powerful in the abstract way that it was put together.
It's all Greek to me.
It always takes me three or four times going to any museum before I see everything there is to be had. But sometimes museums will pull stuff out and display it out of the blue, just to change it up a bit. I swear last time I was at the Truman Museum that I had not seen this ancient helm!
At anyrate, this was a beautiful example of a Greek helmet, that had been worn by an Athenian citizen who was killed in the Persian Wars around 485 B.C.
A "hoplite", as the owner of this helm would have been known as, was primarily a free citizen who was usually individually responsible for procuring his armor and weapon. In most Greek city-states, citizens received at least basic military training, serving in the standing army for a certain amount of time. They were expected to take part in any military campaign when they would be called for duty. The Spartans were renowned for their lifelong combat training and almost mythical military prowess, while their greatest adversaries, the Athenians, were exempted from service only after the 60th year of their lives.
This came to be a part of the museum after Alexander Matsas, the Greek Ambassador in 1967, gave this artifact to President Truman to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of ththe Truman Doctorine.
The National Cartoonist Society at the White House
Ah there is so much I enjoy about the images above and below. On October 3, 1949, Truman posed for a group of forty cartoonists from the National Cartoonists Society, in the White House Rose Garden. There is a feeling of such sadness for me in the fact that something like this would never, and could never happen today.
Just to have been able to stand there and watch these masters work at it, would have been a rare privilege. Maybe the museum has these tucked away somewhere. One can always hope. :)
Other mediums creeping back to the forefront.
Ace might be the place for all my hardware needs, but when I want some serious paint to do some mural work with, I have to have good spray paint. When I was younger, you could do a lot with a can of Krylon (the original cans, not the one out now...). But like any good hobbie or medium, it evolves, and now there are a plethora of new options that I am becoming familiar with now. ALIEN and Montana Gold are some of the newest tools I've added to my toolbox of creation, so this summer, I hope to have some new work up in grafitti format.
And while idle hands can be the devil's playthings, far be it from me not to want to do some quick mini sculptures for the fun of it. I was inspired by the insanely popular Angry Birds game and so fifteen minutes after grabbing some super sculpey, I had these Kennedy half dollar sized mini sculpts. Certainly nothing I am planning on selling or marketing, but a fun exercise nonetheless when my pen and pencil habits are seeming futile.
Well, that was a fun update, and with a whole new year ahead, I hope to bring you more info, more places, and more of what I am up to in the world of comics, art, and travel.
Make the best you can of this year, and live life to the fullest. - Mario, the Artisan Rogue