In Heaven - And In Hell...

[ARCHINSTL]

Sparked by the note on German humor over in the Complete Cars For Sale Forum...

Heaven is where:
The police are British
The mechanics are German
The cooks are French
The lovers are Italian
The teenagers are Japanese
The movie makers are American
The musicians are Russian
The women are Swedish
And the whole thing is organized by the Swiss;

Hell is where:
The police are German
The mechanics are French
The cooks are British
The lovers are Swiss
The teenagers are American
The movie makers are Japanese
The musicians are Swedish
The women are Russian
And the whole thing is organized by the Italians.

I might disagree on the movie makers part of Hell...
Tom M.

[solarlord]

TOM- Ill have to give that some thought -i know some british bobbys that are complete b--tards,but i guess they are very polite to people visiting (mind i did not say tourists) i go with the film making (private ryan etc) and french/italian stuff -but the russains and music i,ll have to sleep on it-DEC- YES WE ARE SH-T COOKS

[Mattel]

Hell is "The movie makers are Japanese"

Quentin Tarantino and I disagree. Check out Akira Kurosawa's "Rashoman" and "seven samurai" (the film "Magnificent Seven" is based on this!). The 60's Yakaza movies of Seijun Suzuki have also influenced Taratino, Jarmusch amongst others. Also check out Takeshi Kitano's "Hana-Bi" and "Brother" and the amazing Studio Ghibli Anime.

[ARCHINSTL]

I have several of Kurosawa's films as well as the bio of him telecast on PBS a few years ago.
In fact, I just watched Seven Samurai two weeks ago, for the umpteenth time. Each time I watch it I catch some new subtlety. This time, it was the fact that all four of the deceased samurai were dispatched by muskets and not by swords or lances. Now, this was in the late 16th (Western) Century, so I took it to be a foreshadowing of the end of the traditional samurai warfare usage of bladed weapons and the beginning of "modern" methods.

Interesting - I'm sure Kurosawa intended this - otherwise, surely at least one of them would have been slain by blades (some of the villagers were killed by the bandits' blades as well as by musketry - more food for thought, I guess).

I also, unbelievably, just noticed the use of the drums to introduce the bandits, with the beats varying in intensity as they crept closer.

Many of his films were remade by the West, most notably, of course, The Magnificent Seven, as Mattel mentions. Another was The Outrage (Paul Newman and other stars), derived from Rashomon. A number of European films used his themes as well.
Tom M.

[dlb]

i can't handle kurosawa. i've tried several of his and get so bored. the one i liked the most was dersu usala but it too was agonizing and i kept looking at the time, feeling like i should go do something else. on the other hand, i think AKIRA is not just the greatest animated film, but one of the greatest films of all time.

i think hell would be american, or maybe north american, films. i hate how every plot twist or subtlety is beaten over our heads in slow motion flashback. it's like 'do you see? do you see how clever we were to throw this twist in there? you probably never saw it coming! now, with this new information, look at the replay of all these various scenes from throughout the movie! do you get it now??' when all i needed was the plot twist in the first place. i can extrapolate the data on my own without having my hand held.

[solarlord]

WOMEN ARE SWEDISH- has anybody seen "The girl with the dragon tattoo" its the best ive seen in the past 12months -i may be getting old but i really like Lizbeth
-What do you think-shes quite handy too -DEC
PS in hell you would get fish and chips(frys) for breakfast/lunch and diner----and as a nite cap - nice and greasy !!!

[solarlord]

lizbeth.jpg

LIZBETH

[Petros]

looks like that could be heaven, or it could be hell. Personally I could do without all the hardware.

[ARCHINSTL]

I wonder if her Granny is cute...?

Incidentally, that movie got rave reviews here in STL.
Tom M.