There's a new style of music that's slowly gaining in popularity right now. The most popular name for it is a 'Pogo Mix' or a 'Pogo Tribute' after the person who started them, a composer named Nick Bertke who calls himself Pogo.
What he and now so many other people are doing are taking some of the greatest movies, and using the voices as imstuments. Computers can do wonderful things, and instead of it just being a 'remix', small voice samples are taken and each little noise is used as an imstrument. I wanted to use this journal for you to find some of your favorite movies in this list, and hear the amazing 'Pogo Mixes' for that movies, all by different people.
I'll start with Movies.
Bing- Groundhog Day. Composed by Skye.
Wisperlude- A Little Princess. Composed by Pogo.
Ruby Shoes- The Wizard of Oz. Composed by Dainumo.
Aurora- Sleeping Beauty. Composed by RemixLuke.
Chihiro- Spirited Away. Composed by goldpikpikcarrots
Lov.E- WALL.E. Composed by D!tto.
I Want A Party- Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Composed by HappyLandfill.
Next, Television Shows.
Fanime- Full Metal Alchemist. Composed by D!tto.
Beautiful Comedy- Whose Line Is It Anyway? Composed by Skye.
"My Dad said 'Be an actor, my son, but be a comical one!'"
Any film historian will agree, some of the best film comedians came from America. True, I might have a bit of a biased opionion. I have no earthly idea what silent comedies were like in other countries, or if any other countries, well, had them. You know, outside of the early, early films by the Lumière brothers in which a comedy consisted of a man putting on several hats and making faces. But then again, I'm not even sure if that was made in France or not.
The French brothers are known for their hat tricks and amazing moustaches.
And can we just count A Trip To The Moon as a comedy? That was French, I'm certain of it. I mean, i realize this was at a time when people knew nothing out of nothing about the moon (Do the French even have a space program?) but either way, it's god damn hilarious to see an astronimer/magican stick his unbrella into the moon's crust and watch it turn into a mushroom and that still be considered top science.
Since it seems French comedy so far has ammounted to hats and a space shuttle being loged into the moon's eye, let's get back to American comedy (and my French friends are going to think I was insulting them, whoops.) Arguably, the three greatest silent comedy stars came from America, and since I've watched films from all three, my opinon isn't just going by what I think I know this time. (Seriously, I'm going to get like 50 e-mails telling me in complete detail the history of the French space program.)
Depending onwho you ask, the three greatest silent comedians of all time are in any combination of this order: Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, and Buster Keaton. And it's now 6:47 am, and since I've had a good ammount of caffene I'm going to talk about all three.
I guess I'll start with Buster Keaton, also known as 'The Great Stone Face.' That wasn't just a gimmick, either, the guy almost always looked like that.
As a kid, he travelled around with Harry Houdini (yeah, THAT Harry Houdini) and his name 'Buster Keaton' came from this kid's stone face. Can you imagine him coming out of his mother looking like that? No wonder he's a comedian, that's probably the funniest thing I've ever pictured in my head. Anyway, ol' Joseph Keaton was just 18 months old when he fell down a flight of stairs. Houdini was standing at the bottom of the stairs, and when Joseph just stood right back up with the same look on his face instead of crying like a one year old should,Harry Houdini said, "That was a real buster!"
As he got older, his father decided the best vaudville act to adopt would be child abuse, of course. Alright, Buster Keaton did come out and say his father wasn't hurting him on purpose, it was just part of their act. Aparently, the act would always go the same way: Buster and his father would be doing a sketch, and during the middle his charcter wouldmake his father's character angry. Theygot into the habit of picking upand throwing Buster on the stage, into the orchestra pit, and into the fucking audience. Buster never brokea bone or got a bruise, and since him laughing and squealing while being thrown over everyone's heads made it look fake, he adopted his stone face up there, and it stuck.
Buster then met the man who changed his life: Roscoe Arbuckle.
Buster's smiling! Call the police!
Already a film star, Arbuckle (a great comedian as well, I might add, I'll write about him some other time,) Arbuckle helped Buster get started in the film world, and let me say that whole stone face thing made his career.
I've only seen two Buster Keaton films all the way through, the one with Arbuckle where he's at the carnival and spends 45 minutes trying to get laid, and of course, The General. You can't say you like Buster Keaton unless you've seen The General. All through the movie (any of his movies) shit goes wrong. Cannons fire without him knowing, swords come flying off their handles, his own train leaves him without him being on it, stuff like that. And the best part about it is he shows no shock. No remorse, no emotion, this guy cares but he's not showing it. The best way I can explain is with this great clip from 'The College.'
Up next we have the man dubbed 'Too Handsome for Comedy,' but he did it anyway. That's why he wears the silly glasses and hat, because as Clark Kent as taught us, just a simple pair of glasses changes your who apperance. Here's Harold Lloyd.
Harold wasn't on the same page as Buster. Buster was more along the lines of "poor sap does something on purpose in which bad things happen but he's okay by the end." Harold, on the other hand was "poor sap gets pulled into something he does want to do in which bad things happen but he's okay by the end." Harold was a bit mroe sympethetic because he never wanted to be in the situation he was in. Someone else caused it, or he's just too nice to say no. Sure, he doesn't want to climb that clock tower, but his friend needs him to! He didn't want a bring that turkey on the trolley, but he won a raffle and he couldn't say no! Stuff like that. Buster was a bit more "I got myself in, now I have to get myself out." Lloyd was "I got myself in, now when will this be over?"
And if you think Buster had it bad, Harold suffered for his art, too. While rehersing for a movie, Lloyd was holding a small explosive in his hand. It was for a sunt, and it was really only suppoed to pop in his hand and mainly make a lot of smoke so you couldn't tell it wasn't really more than a party popper. It really was just supposed to be like telling a friend to hold out their hand and blow one of those party poppers into their palm. it'd hurt but not too bad. Well, someone who I guess holds a grudge against guys with funny glasses (Lex Luthor, I don't know) filled the popper with a lot more pop than it needed. While holding it in his hand it blew, resulting in Lloyd loosing three fingers.
Of course, that didn't stop him. Harold got three fake fingers and pulled it M.A.S.H. style, and would either hide his hand behind something, or he could move it in such a way you couldn't even tell it was fake. It's actually pretty amazing how he was able to pull it off, and in most movies you can't even tell if it's his real hand or if it's a fake.
Yes, I went out and watched youtube videos until I found this. I looked up 'Harold Lloyd fake hand.' You're welcome.
Alright, now here's a one more people will be firmillar with, the big man Charlie Chaplin. Most people know him as the silent era's 'Little Tramp,' but I really do wish he had been in more sound movies (he was in a few.) One thing you can't tell by looking at him: he's very very British. And if sound had been invented any sooner, I think he would have been bigger with the ladies than Valentino.
Hey, ladies dig British Nazis.
Alright, that's not him in the get up more people know him for. That's from one of his sound movies, The Great Dictator. I'll try to cover his silent works more, since Lloyd and Keaton I don't think ever made any sound movies. (Buster did say 'pass' twice in Sunset Boulevard, but that's all I know of.)
More people reconize Charlie of course as 'The Little Tramp.' Despite being a hobo, his humor isn't like that of the previous two in that we feel sorry for him because he's in a bad situation. Why? This guy loves being a freaking hobo. Well alright, he may not love it, but he can't think of a better way to live. Chaplin described him as "a champane drinker on a beer budget." The Tramp was fine with being homeless. Sure it could be better, but it's not bad for him. The Tramp's humor was more of modern day humor, a well placed title card, his incredible faces, just the little things he does. Here, let'suse an example from his greatest film, The Kid.
When we first meet Chaplin in the movie, he's found a baby lying in an ally way. Picks up the baby, decides he doesn't want itand proceeds to drop it in the trash can. Okay, he would have, but here comes a police officer. Takes the baby back and scurries away (hobos and cops don't usally mix, expecally the hobos who throw babies away.) Okay, what to do with this thing, I can't feed it, I can't take care of it...stroller! Charlie pulls the first ever we can assume stroller gag and plops the infant into the stroller. End of story, he wipes his hands and walks away- until the mother clobbers him in the head senseless with an umbrella. Okay, gotta find another way. He tries a lot of stuff, giving it to another hobo, just putting it back and hoping the mother comes back, he even briefly considers dropping it down a sewer. It's pretty obvious that he does eventually decide to keep the kid, and thus kicks off our movie. Needless to say, it's a treat. Here's another great scene showing how Charlie makes money to keep the kid fed.
So, I think if you need a laugh, I reccomend you check out some of these guys. I think you can find The General, Safety Last and The Kid in their entirety on YouTube, so go give them a watch if you're in a humorous mood.
Next time, I'll try to talk about Roscoe Arbuckle or my favorite sound comedians. I don't know, you guys tell me. You can DeviantART message me, my user name is color-her-world (you can see my colored vintage photos there,) or my e-mail is malina.shelbie@yahoo.com That's also my Windows Live screen name so you can add me on there if you ever want to chat.
