This movie stars James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Doris Day & Gordon MacRae (who were a fairly common duo). It's amazing how many people think James Cagney is ONLY a movie 'tough guy'. The man is great in other roles, including musicals. James plays a broadway director/producer who has gambled his career away. He takes a job he hates, offered by someone he hates, just to keep his girl (Virginia Mayo) from leaving him. The job is to lure a student (Gordon MacRae) at West Point away from the military while directing a musicial created by the students. (PROMO HERE)
It's a fun story, helped by a good supporting cast. Alan Hale Jr (the Skipper from "Gilligan's Island") & Gene Nelson being the most important of this group. Alan provides a number of funny moments with James, and Gene has an AMAZING dance routine that I can't find anywhere on the internet unfortunately. Honestly, I couldn't find most of the clips I wanted to share here. I strongly recommend this movie, and after watching this & other James Cagney films, I've come to think of him as the Prancing Tough Guy. In this role especially he seems to prance/dance as he moves. I'll share the videos I did find below, along with a few from other movies.
10,432 Sheep I thought this was a cute number from Doris Day.
She's Working Her Way Through College (1952) I decided to share this video because it features Virginia Mayo & Gene Nelson. The routine is called "I'll Be Loving You", and yes that is Ronald Reagan. Oh, and Mayo's voice was dubbed by Bonnie Lou Williams.
Lullaby Of Broadway (1951) Here's another clip featuring Doris Day & Gene Nelson. This number is called "Somebody Loves Me", and Gene's voice was dubbed by Hal Derwin.
Tea For Two (1950) Doris Day & Gordon MacRae singing in the finale....you'll also see Gene Nelson again.
I'm in a much better mood this week, although I will admit, I got rather sick about halfway into this review, so if it seems too "nice" or "easy going", I apologize. It's an unfortunate side effect of being sickly. But, with that out of the way, let's find out just WHY Peace is Rest.
Mister Mann
Aside from waiting for the lyrics to get more baffling every line, there was little to no reason to continue listening to this. The music was unimpressive, the vocals were...also unimpressive and the whole thing was pretty well boring. But, the consistently weak and therefore morbidly fascinating lyrics definitely kept one intrigued for the duration. Thank God, however, the duration has ended.
New Result
I cannot fathom why you put together things like this and offer them as entries in a songwriting competition. This is not a song; this is bad, bad techno music with the prompt phrase spoken over it. And the phrase isn't even cleverly mixed. This kind of thing is basically cheating, as much as one can cheat. Not that you're breaking any rules, per se, but you're putting forth zero effort and giving us redundant, bland crap that rave parties would be embarrassed to play.
The HATE Noise
What just happened? I can only make out about half of your lyrics, so I have no idea what this song is supposed to be about. And that's one thing, I mean, I've never met a rolling Stones song I could fully decipher, and those guys are billionaires. But your song just kinda starts playing Atari. And then it gets sucked into a jet engine. I, uh...I just don't get it.
Young Stroke
This might be the silliest rap I've ever heard. Not the worst, but the silliest. "I wanna go *poof*" is just wild. I will say this: your song appears to be moping about not being able to go home. That's fine, but emo rap is weird. Also, call me crazy, but a guy with a Carolinian accent calling himself a "thug" or a "pimp" strikes me as laughable. I simply cannot believe it when you try to depict yourself as a "gangsta". If you want to play up your street cred, that's fine, but you can't do it while moping. Or with twang.
The Idiot Kings
This sounds like it could open an Eddie Murphy cop movie in the early 90s. I can't hear anything you're saying, but the music is pretty ominous. Nothing much happened, but it wasn't something atrocious. Very mood-setting.
Ukulele Train and the Men
I hate ukuleles. But the song is musically better than my hatred. It's pleasant enough music, and makes for easy replays. And the vocals seem to have some great harmonization. But the lead vocal is pretty well indistinct, and I can't make out half of the words. And that weird line about saying "breasts" doesn't make any sense, because, like so many other words, I never heard "breasts" mentioned before that point. It's melodious, it's easy to listen to, and I have no clue what the vocalist is saying.
State Shirt
Well, this is certainly depressing as all hell. That said, I do believe it's the best thing I've ever heard from you. This is my first State Shirt download.
Manhattan Glutton
If anyone is ever in short supply of rock, I'm sure you could lend them a cup. And there are so many reasons this song is awesome. There are just so many great elements to this, and I'm not going to take the time to point them out. The song is so complex and intricate, without trying too hard and turning into a mess. I might even dare to say it's perfectly constructed.
Sh*tload Of Dolphins
This is not something to which I want to listen. I did. A few times. But there is absolutely nothing about it that makes me WANT to listen. The guitar is uninteresting, the vocals are flat, the story -- I guess you can call it a story -- is very much "so what?". There are worse songs, but even bad songs can be interesting.
Dunce
That organ loop is not exactly attractive. And it goes on so long, if I didn't have to hear the whole song, I'd turn it off before the lyrics started. As for the lyrics...eh. It's another rap song that just complained the whole way thru. It sounded better than Young Stroke's, but it's still a guy complaining about the end result of his personal choices. Not exactly entertaining.
Chekhov's Raygun
Lyrical rhythm. Lyrical rhythm, lyrical rhythm, lyrical rhythm. 50% of your words are spoken like you don't know how to talk. It's "bra-VA-do", not "bra-va-DO". And when you speak like you don't understand emphasis or syllables or natural tones, it makes you out to be one terrible rapper.
queef mcbeef
This sounds like the TV suffered a seizure. The greatest thing about this is how quickly it ends.
MC Who Izzy
The 8-bit intro had me intrigued. The vocal quality kicked my intrigue in its soft underbelly. Normally, I'd say a minute:thirty is too short, but since this was a bunch of static, I'm not too disheartened. Get a real mic and try again.
Just In Case
This...this really isn't all that bad. It's got an odd 60s funk kinda vibe. I think it could be polished, maybe tightened up, but it sounds pretty good as is.
Cock
I can't help but see people in neon leotards and legwarmers, running in place with a digital scene green screened in behind them. But that's just me, I guess. Also, you sound like Lemon Demon, if Lemon Demon was worth the hype. Your name is retarded, but the song is surprising. And yes, that's a compliment.
A Far Off Land
When this started, I thought it was a set-up for something big to happen. But...nothing does. This is the musical equivalent of the movie "Starfighters". This song has less activity than a forgotten graveyard. This is background music for a romantic scene in a Ben Stiller comedy -- but only if you take out the entirely pointless vocals.
******
So, there you have it: Peace is rest, and that is that. In my correct opinion, this prompt was found wanting, and the fact that any good songs came of it is a testament not to the contest but the songwriters. Hopefully, the upcoming prompt -- which looks like a great one -- will deliver even more.
The last challenge over at Song Fight was titled "Hard Landing", and Manhattan Glutton took the victory. I loved their song, and honestly couldn't pick a favorite between them & Lucky Spoon who came in second. So I guess I got lucky & pretty much called that fight. There's a whole new batch of songs over at Song Fight, so I suggest you go pick your favorite songs for the current fight. My picks are listed below:
Voted For: (Right Click "Save As" on the artist's name for a MP3 of their entry.)
Just In Case - This music is catchy as hell, and I struggled to pay attention to the lyrics because of the chair dancing fit the music put me in. It also reminds me of a song I can't place, but you've got my vote.
DUNCE - The ominous music really works for this track, and the rhymes are pretty slick. No question you're getting a vote, I like the entire package.
Cock - I didn't want to like this...but I did. Can't say why exactly...lyrically it's not the type of song I go for normally. Not a style I typically like...but the song was definately driving me somewhere, and I liked the trip.
Not Too Bad: (To download these songs head over to Song Fight)
Chekhov's Raygun - This isn't a bad entry, but it does touch on 2 pet peeves I have about song writing contest. When the guitar comes in I have trouble picking up on some of the lyrics, so it would be great if there was a place you can post the song lyrics.....oh wait...there IS. I wish people would use the "Ye Olde Lyric Archive" more often. The other thing I get a little tired of is; songs about writing songs. I hear a new one every month is seems. For what it's worth this one is better than most, but it just seems like a fall back topic for every single person who can't think of a good idea for the challenge/fight.
Just bcz - I'm glad you pointed out how stupid the music & beat was...saved me from having to. I can get behind the message of the song, but if you want people to listen to it more than once...you'll need music that's more inspired. Glad you sent this in....even late.
Peace Is Rest State Shirt made a VideoSong for his entry.
Side Notes: - I just finished watching the 2nd night of Song Fight Live 2010 on U-Stream. I watched the first day as well, and it was pretty awesome. Jonathan Mann ended up winning the live fight at the end of the night. He was my favorite of the show, so I guess I'm 3 for 3 today. Congrats Jonathan, and congrats to Song Fight as a group. I hope you've got at least another 10 years left in you.
A friend of mine ("Buckethat" Bobby Matheson) made a video about getting free YouTube business cards from MOO. I thought it was a pretty cool idea, and the cards looked pretty slick, so I planned on doing it as well. I ended up putting it off, and then forgetting about it.
Until...another friend (@RITmusic2k) tweeted that he just ordered his free cards & it was the last day of this special promotion. So I ended up rushing over to the site, and putting absolutely no effort into making a creative design, ordered some free business cards. It was really easy to customize the cards, and there were a lot of options.
The cards turned out very nice considering my lack of creativity in the design. I've included scans of the different versions below, and a copy of the back. My scanner sucks, so you'll have to trust me when I say the cards really do look nice.
I ended up giving one away for the first time yesterday. I just finished playing ball at the park, when a friend who recently moved back to the area stopped me and wanted my contact info. I told him my phone number hadn't changed, but then he also wanted my MySpace & Facebook info. I told him I don't really use those sites (despite having accounts on them), and handed him my card. Which has my blogs, Twitter & YouTube info on it. I got a kick out of it, and look forward to using the other 49 cards that I have.
PS: They were free, but you still had to pay like 6 buck for shipping...which still is a good deal.
This was done the same time I interviewed Mike for "Spintown Interviews". That was a long time ago, and I would have uploaded this sooner, but there were a couple technical problems with this part of the video. I decided to go ahead & upload it anyways.
Mike started a community (with Jeff MacDougall) called "Too Much Awesome". Each "Spintown 10" has a different theme. So I thought I'd find out some of Mike's favorite songs by the artists that are a part of that community. You may think there's no wrong or right answers when you're being asked an opinion, but you would be wrong.
The original website for TMA is now gone, but the primary hangout has become: ArtiFiction.spruz.com/
My back and my neck are in notable amounts of pain, there's sand in my shoe, and people are going to try to pressure me into going out tonight for fireworks. I am not in a great mood. But, who am I to waste a good bit of unhappiness? In fact, I can't think of anything better suited for my current state than sitting down with a pile of "Hard Landing".
The Dinnertime Boys
I do not accept the idea that you are serious. About half the arrangement isn't bad, but it sounds like an Atari parade. Now, whereas I love me some 8-bit synth, this music is 100% unrelated to the topic at hand. 100%. There is no arguing otherwise. A real person cannot tell me that, had they been unaware of the prompt and that horrid voice saying "hard landing" was stricken from the music, one would come to a conclusion anywhere near the notion of "hard landing". This music has nothing to do with anything, and I don't know why you did this.
Queef McBeef
At first glance, I dislike you because of your name. Nothing says "this will not be of good quality" like a name that appears to be thought up by stoned 6th graders. Then I played your entry.
At 1:04, I really wanted to shut this shit off. But I decided to suffer thru it. And suffer, I did. What the fuck is this? Is this something you're sincerely proud of? It's noise. Abrasive, aggravating noise. It holds no aesthetic value. This is not a song -- this isn't even art, and I have a VERY broad and structured concept of art. This is nothing but static and sound bytes, thrown together with no genuine effect whatsoever. It is failure; it is nothing.
David Ritter
Oh, look: a song. Looks like somebody actually tried. Your verses feel empty. Like the music is missing something. It's not bad, but the segments between chorus and verse feel fuller. As for the lyrics, I'm with you until the gargantuan monkey fist. I hope that's reference to something with which I'm not familiar, because otherwise...you're a nut. Also, why is there a camera in a "creepy doll" at a science lab? This all sounds like one of Jonathan Coulton's fever dreams. I guess that's not bad, but...it's certainly an odd concept.
Chekhov's Raygun
What is with these goofy fucking band names? Anyway...
This is a rap (I guess). You should not have such trouble with your lyrical rhythm in a rap song. It's astounding. And...wait...is this a rap song about orbit rent-a-cops? What the hell? The concept of mall cops rapping is kind of funny, but this doesn't even make sense. It just doesn't. Also, it's terrible.
New Result
The first thing in my mind was "Dear god, not another techno piece of crap." The second thing I thought of, when you started saying "Hard" over and over, was Strongbad. And, maybe it's just me, but when you started saying "Landing", I thought of Sesame Street. you know, the segments where a Muppet is trying to put a word together, and...well, I'll show you what I mean:
Anyway, as you can imagine, the most entertaining part of your song was looking up Sesame Street segments on YouTube. In fact, your song pretty much serves as a reminder of all the things in the world that really ARE entertaining. Your song is about as interesting as the color beige. There is nothing to it, and after a while I started to hear "Hard Blanding". There are no surprising twists or turns, and the only change-up is at the end, when the song gives up on itself and simply ceases to exist. Congratulations, you wrote a theme song for boredom.
Panna Cotta Army
Is that production value? I think my heart may have murmured with shock. This kind of thing blows my mind. It's like you're out walking your dog, and you happen to notice a it passing a diamond amongst the usual make. The frustrating part is, if I wasn't reviewing this stuff for Spintown, I'd never hear this song. Unless you're posting somewhere else. But if this is it, knowing what I know about the regular stock at Song Fight, I'd never be here without these reviews, and would most likely never come across this very high quality number. Please contribute more to Song Fight to make this gig easier to handle.
Manhattan Glutton
I'm not completely sold on the chorus, but everything else is pretty slick. And that's not to say the chorus is really even bad, I just think it's missing something. Unfortunately, I can't really say what. That's about all I can say in a negative way this time.
Pigfarmer Jr
Another very foreboding name...
But, there I go being proven wrong. I'd hesitate to call this the best song of the bunch, but it's definitely not bad. I don't really like having so little to say about the good songs, but in my case, you should take that as a good thing.
Noah McLaughlin
You sound like Eddie Vedder had a stroke. The music's not bad, but I can't get past your voice. Half of the things you say are words; half of it is Bob Dylan mumbling in his sleep. It's kind of funny, but it doesn't do your song any justice. Maybe rerecord it, and sing like a person.
Steve Durand
Not really a bad song, but more along the lines of something from a musical than I expected from a Durand. Then again, maybe the lesson there is not to expect anything and just enjoy the show. I thought the vocals were a bit shaky in the beginning, but seeing as how Steve's doing two competitions at once, I'm not going to be too critical. After all, that piece was rather complex, musically, and very well put together for a guy with such time constraints.
Lucky Spoon
Oh, man. Those sung hooks are cringe-worthy. Maybe that's supposed to be ironic? Since your entry is about how bad other Song Fighters are, I'm assuming your hooks are so awkward to make fun of the questionable singing of past entrants. Of course, a rapper making fun of people for not being able to sing doesn't make a WHOLE lot of sense. But, I also can't say that your general assessment is flawed, either.
Wages
This might be what Mr. Spoon was talking about. I keep getting about 2 minutes into your song, and realizing I haven't been listening. Let me try one more time.
Aw, sorry; there's paint drying on the wall across the room, and it keeps distracting me. This thing is just so damn musically redundant, not to mention slow and dull, that I sincerely can't focus on it. It's just...boring. Really, really boring.
Chopped Liver Meat God
"I wish I could avoid you, but you're still here". My sentiments, exactly.
The sounds don't seem to fit together at all, and that drum beat gets VERY annoying after two minutes. The tempo change at the chorus is interesting, but then we go right back into the incessant verses. And whereas the choruses seem to be creative with the topic at hand, the verses don't seem to be saying anything relevant at all. I really think this would have potential if another writer comes in and salvages what's left to work with. As is, though, it's clunky, muddled, and I'm never playing it again.
MC Sharks In The Swimming Pool
These fuckin' names. I need an aspirin.
Don't hear too many rappers backed up by a flock of robot geese. Interesting choice. I also love that after 30 seconds, you felt the need to remind the listeners that there really is a song coming. Good thinking, I'll bet a lot of people were wondering if they'd missed it.
As far as I can tell, the message of the song, itself, is that you aren't to blame for your hate crimes. That's quite remarkable. I don't even think I can make fun of this any worse than the fact that it exists already does.
Chthonic Youth
Interesting intro. And that's about it. There were drastically worse entries this round, but that's not supposed to be a complimentary argument. There's nothing catching or pleasing about the song once it starts. It happens, it sounds kinda like any given mid nineties sad band, and then it ends. Incredibly forgettable.
Well, that's that for "Hard Landing". I'm truly baffled that there were no songs about skydivers with the wrong backpack or professional wrestlers. Seems like easy material for such a prompt; but hey, at least we got a bunch of emo songs and two guys who didn't even BOTHER with ideas or lyrics. That's how you stand out in a competition, right? I mean, what do I know, anyway?
The last challenge over at Song Fight was titled "Dirt Nap", and Ross Durand had my favorite entry. The voters disagreed though, and Balance Lost got the victory by 2 votes. I didn't really care for their entry, but congrats to the winner. There's a whole new batch of songs over at Song Fight, so I suggest you go pick your favorite songs for the current fight. My picks are listed below:
Voted For: (Right Click "Save As" on the artist's name for a MP3 of their entry.)
Lucky Spoon - The first few seconds had me worried. I thought someone had the volume set WAY too low when they recorded, and I even started to jack up the volume. But then I heard the scratches, and sat back to listen a little relieved. Then I got worried all over again when I realized it was going to be a song about Song Fight. I'm so tired of songs about songs & about song contests. Fortunately I didn't just skip to the next track because I was pleasantly surprised with this track. It has a fun beat, humor, used the title well, had some trash talk, and it actually sounded like something from the late 80's or early 90's. The chorus sounded very familiar, but I couldn't place it. This will get countless plays on my MP3 player.
Manhattan Glutton - I don't think I can think of anything bad to say here. Just a great song. Something I'd love to use in one of my "Pain For Laughs" videos actually. Well done.
Panna Cotta Army - Dat's purdy. This sounds like something that would play on a television show or movie during a montage. This is just really tight.
Steve Durand - Not bad, I dig the piano man. I kept changing my mind on whether or not to vote for this. I finally did cast a vote your way, but it was close. If another fight you probably would have got it easy.
Not Too Bad: (To download these songs head over to Song Fight)
Pigfarmer Jr - I like the story, and I think everyone knows someone like that. I started to get a little bored toward the end, but I overall I liked it. In another fight this could have got a vote, but this one was just to tough.
MC Sharks In The Swimming Pool - If I was a fat woman I'd hate you...but since I'm not...I laughed my ass off. Not sure it'll have a lot of replay value (if any), a few of the lines were a little random. But it was definitely fun to listen to the first time.
Chekhov's Raygun - Music is weak, but the rhymes were interesting... I think this is 2 fights in a row where you haven't really impressed me, but again you've got my attention. Hope to hear more from you...again.
Side Notes: - I really enjoyed this fight overall. There's definitely a few tracks that'll be getting played on my MP3 player a lot.
- The Dinnertime Boys...if I had just beat "Stake Or Die" on the NES, and this music started to play while the credits were rolling I'd be very pleased. But I'm never fond of instrumentals in song writing competitions. I'm even less fond of 8-bit sounding tracks that have the words "Hard Landing" randomly thrown in once just so people know it was wrote for the challenge.
Ok, I've watched a few movies that inspired me to share some more of my favorite moments. First on the list is "The Great Race" (1965) staring Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis & Natalie Wood. Honestly I watched this movie for 2 reasons: 1. Jack Lemmon is always funny in a comedy. (and he was in this) 2. Natalie Wood is one of the hottest females to ever walk this planet.
Overall I didn't enjoy the movie much. Jack has his moments, and it's a beautiful movie. The production is top notch, it's just to silly for me to watch it for 2 1/2 hours. A younger Peter Faulk plays a major role in this film, and you'll see Arthur O'Connel & Vivian Vance (from "I Love Lucy") as well. BTW...I know I normally only talk about musicals here, and this is NOT a musical. There was one musical number that was just amazing though. It features Dorothy Provine performing music by Johnny Mercer & Henry Mancini.
He Shouldn't-a, Hadn't-a, Oughtn't-a Swang On Me! I've been singing this a lot lately...half of Middletown probably thinks I'm gay as I drive by.
I also watched the movie "Four Jacks And A Jill" (1942) recently. It's another not so great movie, but it does have a great dance routine featuring Ray Bolger. When Ray Bolger dances it's the most controled 'out of control' you will ever see. He looks as if he'll fall on his face at any moment; but he bounces, slides & taps his way flawlessly through any performance. The only other thing I can think to say about this movie (cause it sucks) is that you get to see a very young Desi Arnaz (another "I Love Lucy" connection), and Jack Carr has an uncredited appearance. Unfortunately I couldn't find a video of the routine I wanted to share. But I decided to share another Ray Bolger moment from a different film.
Who? "Look For The Silver Lining" (1949) is a film I've never seen, but would if I had the opportunity.
She's A Follies Girl I might have shared this clip before, it's from the film "The Great Ziegfeld" (1936). It's definately worth your time, and this is a classic Ray Bolger moment. PS: I assume people know, but Ray Bolger is the Scarecrow....in a little film called "The Wizard Of OZ".
