20090227

In 1967 The Wind Cried Mary at the Summer of Love - OSF Sophomore Year

Sophomore year? Holy cow, I'm not sure I can remember that far back - let me see. . . .

Oh yeah, I was 15/16 years old, I was madly in love with an "older man" (19) and I was just beginning to move from surfer music to the music of "The Haight" - notably Jefferson Starship, The Grateful Dead - and a few more psychedelic minded groups like Cream, The Doors and Jimi to name a few. I wore long hair which I ironed to get straight, I defied my mother on a daily basis, I got my driver's license (!), I was young, the world was opening up to me and I had no idea what lay ahead of me in the tumultuous years that were to follow.

A few world/music/life events that occurred during my sophomore year (1966/1967) were:
  • Star Trek (the original series) debuted
  • The very first "electric kool-aid acid test" happened at the Fillmore in San Francisco
  • Grace Slick performs live for the first time with Jefferson Airplane
  • The Human Be-In takes place in Golden Gate Park on my birthday, January 14th, which sets the stage for the famous Summer of Love
  • Elvis marries Priscilla
  • The Beatles release Sgt. Pepper which becomes the unofficial "soundtrack" for The Summer of Love.
  • Jim Morrison and The Doors defy CBS censors on The Ed Sullivan Show by singing the word "higher" in the lyrics of Light My Fire, despite having been told not to
  • The musical Hair opens off-Broadway.
  • We are sending men and metal into space, aiming at the moon.
  • And, of course, a war rages on the other side of the world in a jungle called Viet Nam.
The music below is just a small part of the soundtrack of my sophomore year:

Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit

Jimi Hendrix - The Wind Cries Mary

Cream - Strange Brew

Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade of Pale

The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

The Doors - Light My Fire (Long Version - really, you listen to the short version??)


TURN ON, TUNE IN, DROP OUT and MAKE LOVE NOT WAR.
PEACE.
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This meme was developed by Marvalus View and Mrs. Grapevine
Click here to join in the fun!
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20090226

A little trip back to ALICE'S RESTAURANT, Arlo Guthrie Singing

Photo posted under GNU Free Documentation License
Photograph by John Kloepper, Guthrie Family Tour, Socorro NM, 2MAY07

One of my all time favorite songs EVER is Alice's Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie - the full version. This song has always made me smile and just feel good - it's really more of a story set to music and it's quite long - almost 20 minutes. I had the privilege of hearing Arlo perform this many decades ago - when his hair was still black and I was still wearing bell bottoms! What most people don't know or don't remember is the song's full title is "Alice's Restaurant Massacree".

The lyrics are just below but if you're too old, too near sighted or too lazy to read them the video for a "revisited" version is just below the lyrics (with clips from the movie and Arlo's performance 40 years later - enjoy! I've played the video 3 times already, lol.)

Lyrics for Full Version of Alice's Restaurant:

This song is called Alice's Restaurant, and it's about Alice, and the
restaurant, but Alice's Restaurant is not the name of the restaurant,
that's just the name of the song, and that's why I called the song Alice's
Restaurant.

You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant
You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant
Walk right in it's around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant

Now it all started two Thanksgivings ago, was on - two years ago on
Thanksgiving, when my friend and I went up to visit Alice at the
restaurant, but Alice doesn't live in the restaurant, she lives in the
church nearby the restaurant, in the bell-tower, with her husband Ray and
Fasha the dog. And livin' in the bell tower like that, they got a lot of
room downstairs where the pews used to be in. Havin' all that room,
seein' as how they took out all the pews, they decided that they didn't
have to take out their garbage for a long time.

We got up there, we found all the garbage in there, and we decided it'd be
a friendly gesture for us to take the garbage down to the city dump. So
we took the half a ton of garbage, put it in the back of a red VW
microbus, took shovels and rakes and implements of destruction and headed
on toward the city dump.

Well we got there and there was a big sign and a chain across across the
dump saying, "Closed on Thanksgiving." And we had never heard of a dump
closed on Thanksgiving before, and with tears in our eyes we drove off
into the sunset looking for another place to put the garbage.

We didn't find one. Until we came to a side road, and off the side of the
side road there was another fifteen foot cliff and at the bottom of the
cliff there was another pile of garbage. And we decided that one big pile
is better than two little piles, and rather than bring that one up we
decided to throw ours down.

That's what we did, and drove back to the church, had a thanksgiving
dinner that couldn't be beat, went to sleep and didn't get up until the
next morning, when we got a phone call from officer Obie. He said, "Kid,
we found your name on an envelope at the bottom of a half a ton of
garbage, and just wanted to know if you had any information about it." And
I said, "Yes, sir, Officer Obie, I cannot tell a lie, I put that envelope
under that garbage."

After speaking to Obie for about forty-five minutes on the telephone we
finally arrived at the truth of the matter and said that we had to go down
and pick up the garbage, and also had to go down and speak to him at the
police officer's station. So we got in the red VW microbus with the
shovels and rakes and implements of destruction and headed on toward the
police officer's station.

Now friends, there was only one or two things that Obie coulda done at
the police station, and the first was he could have given us a medal for
being so brave and honest on the telephone, which wasn't very likely, and
we didn't expect it, and the other thing was he could have bawled us out
and told us never to be seen driving garbage around the vicinity again,
which is what we expected, but when we got to the police officer's station
there was a third possibility that we hadn't even counted upon, and we was
both immediately arrested. Handcuffed. And I said "Obie, I don't think I
can pick up the garbage with these handcuffs on." He said, "Shut up, kid.
Get in the back of the patrol car."

And that's what we did, sat in the back of the patrol car and drove to the
quote Scene of the Crime unquote. I want tell you about the town of
Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where this happened here, they got three stop
signs, two police officers, and one police car, but when we got to the
Scene of the Crime there was five police officers and three police cars,
being the biggest crime of the last fifty years, and everybody wanted to
get in the newspaper story about it. And they was using up all kinds of
cop equipment that they had hanging around the police officer's station.
They was taking plaster tire tracks, foot prints, dog smelling prints, and
they took twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy photographs with circles
and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each
one was to be used as evidence against us. Took pictures of the approach,
the getaway, the northwest corner the southwest corner and that's not to
mention the aerial photography.

After the ordeal, we went back to the jail. Obie said he was going to put
us in the cell. Said, "Kid, I'm going to put you in the cell, I want your
wallet and your belt." And I said, "Obie, I can understand you wanting my
wallet so I don't have any money to spend in the cell, but what do you
want my belt for?" And he said, "Kid, we don't want any hangings." I
said, "Obie, did you think I was going to hang myself for littering?"
Obie said he was making sure, and friends Obie was, cause he took out the
toilet seat so I couldn't hit myself over the head and drown, and he took
out the toilet paper so I couldn't bend the bars roll out the - roll the
toilet paper out the window, slide down the roll and have an escape. Obie
was making sure, and it was about four or five hours later that Alice
(remember Alice? It's a song about Alice), Alice came by and with a few
nasty words to Obie on the side, bailed us out of jail, and we went back
to the church, had a another thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat,
and didn't get up until the next morning, when we all had to go to court.

We walked in, sat down, Obie came in with the twenty seven eight-by-ten
colour glossy pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back
of each one, sat down. Man came in said, "All rise." We all stood up,
and Obie stood up with the twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy
pictures, and the judge walked in sat down with a seeing eye dog, and he
sat down, we sat down. Obie looked at the seeing eye dog, and then at the
twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy pictures with circles and arrows
and a paragraph on the back of each one, and looked at the seeing eye dog.
And then at twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy pictures with circles
and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one and began to cry,
'cause Obie came to the realization that it was a typical case of American
blind justice, and there wasn't nothing he could do about it, and the
judge wasn't going to look at the twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy
pictures with the circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each
one explaining what each one was to be used as evidence against us. And
we was fined $50 and had to pick up the garbage in the snow, but that's not
what I came to tell you about.

Came to talk about the draft.

They got a building down New York City, it's called Whitehall Street,
where you walk in, you get injected, inspected, detected, infected,
neglected and selected. I went down to get my physical examination one
day, and I walked in, I sat down, got good and drunk the night before, so
I looked and felt my best when I went in that morning. `Cause I wanted to
look like the all-American kid from New York City, man, I wanted, I wanted
to feel like the all. . . I wanted to be the all American kid from New York,
and I walked in, sat down, I was hung down, brung down, hung up, and all
kinds o' mean nasty ugly things. And I walked in and sat down and they gave
me a piece of paper, said, "Kid, see the psychiatrist, room 604."

And I went up there, I said, "Shrink, I want to kill. I mean, I wanna, I
wanna, kill. Kill. I wanna, I wanna see, I wanna see blood and gore and
guts and veins in my teeth. Eat dead burnt bodies. I mean kill, Kill,
KILL, KILL." And I started jumpin' up and down yelling, "KILL, KILL," and
he started jumpin' up and down with me and we was both jumping up and down
yelling, "KILL, KILL." And the sergeant came over, pinned a medal on me,
sent me down the hall, said, "You're our boy."

Didn't feel too good about it.

Proceeded on down the hall gettin' more injections, inspections,
detections, neglections and all kinds of stuff that they was doin' to me
at the thing there, and I was there for two hours, three hours, four
hours, I was there for a long time going through all kinds of mean nasty
ugly things and I was just having a tough time there, and they was
inspecting, injecting every single part of me, and they was leaving no
part untouched. Proceeded through, and when I finally came to the see the
last man, I walked in, walked in sat down after a whole big thing there,
and I walked up and said, "What do you want?" He said, "Kid, we only got
one question. Have you ever been arrested?"

And I proceeded to tell him the story of the Alice's Restaurant Massacre,
with full orchestration and five part harmony and stuff like that and all
the phenome... - and he stopped me right there and said, "Kid, did you ever
go to court?"

And I proceeded to tell him the story of the twenty seven eight-by-ten
color glossy pictures with the circles and arrows and the paragraph on
the back of each one, and he stopped me right there and said, "Kid, I want
you to go and sit down on that bench that says Group W .... NOW kid!!"

And I, I walked over to the, to the bench there, and there is, Group W's
where they put you if you may not be moral enough to join the army after
committing your special crime, and there was all kinds of mean nasty ugly
looking people on the bench there. Mother rapers. Father stabbers. Father
rapers! Father rapers sitting right there on the bench next to me! And
they was mean and nasty and ugly and horrible crime-type guys sitting on the
bench next to me. And the meanest, ugliest, nastiest one, the meanest
father raper of them all, was coming over to me and he was mean 'n' ugly
'n' nasty 'n' horrible and all kind of things and he sat down next to me
and said, "Kid, whad'ya get?" I said, "I didn't get nothing, I had to pay
$50 and pick up the garbage." He said, "What were you arrested for, kid?"
And I said, "Littering." And they all moved away from me on the bench
there, and the hairy eyeball and all kinds of mean nasty things, till I
said, "And creating a nuisance." And they all came back, shook my hand,
and we had a great time on the bench, talkin' about crime, mother stabbing,
father raping, all kinds of groovy things that we was talking about on the
bench. And everything was fine, we was smoking cigarettes and all kinds of
things, until the sargent came over, had some paper in his hand, held it
up and said.

"Kids, this-piece-of-paper's-got-47-words-37-sentences-58-words-we-wanna-
know-details-of-the-crime-time-of-the-crime-and-any-other-kind-of-thing-
you-gotta-say-pertaining-to-and-about-the-crime-I-want-to-know-arresting-
officer's-name-and-any-other-kind-of-thing-you-gotta-say", and talked for
forty-five minutes and nobody understood a word that he said, but we had
fun filling out the forms and playing with the pencils on the bench there,
and I filled out the massacree with the four part harmony, and wrote it
down there, just like it was, and everything was fine and I put down the
pencil, and I turned over the piece of paper, and there, there on the
other side, in the middle of the other side, away from everything else on
the other side, in parentheses, capital letters, quotated, read the
following words:

("KID, HAVE YOU REHABILITATED YOURSELF?")

I went over to the sargent, said, "Sargent, you got a lot a damn gall to
ask me if I've rehabilitated myself, I mean, I mean, I mean that just, I'm
sittin' here on the bench, I mean I'm sittin' here on the Group W bench
'cause you want to know if I'm moral enough join the army, burn women,
kids, houses and villages after bein' a litterbug." He looked at me and
said, "Kid, we don't like your kind, and we're gonna send you fingerprints
off to Washington."

And friends, somewhere in Washington enshrined in some little folder, is a
study in black and white of my fingerprints. And the only reason I'm
singing you this song now is cause you may know somebody in a similar
situation, or you may be in a similar situation, and if you're in a
situation like that there's only one thing you can do and that's walk into
the shrink wherever you are - just walk in say "Shrink, You can get
anything you want, at Alice's restaurant" and walk out. You know, if
one person, just one person does it they may think he's really sick and
they won't take him. And if two people, two people do it, in harmony,
they may think they're both faggots and they won't take either of them.
And three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in
singin' a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. They may think it's an
organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day, I said,
fifty people a day walking in singin' a bar of Alice's Restaurant and
walking out - friends they may thinks it's a movement.

And that's what it is , the Alice's Restaurant Anti-Massacre Movement, and
all you got to do to join is sing it the next time it comes around on the
guitar.

With feeling. So we'll wait for it to come around on the guitar, here and
sing it when it does. Here it comes.

You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
Walk right in it's around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant

That was horrible. If you want to end war and stuff you got to sing loud.
I've been singing this song now for twenty five minutes. I could sing it
for another twenty five minutes. I'm not proud... or tired.

So we'll wait till it comes around again, and this time with four part
harmony and feeling.

We're just waitin' for it to come around is what we're doing.

All right now.

You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
Excepting Alice
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
Walk right in it's around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
Except Alice,

Da da da da da da da dum
At Alice's Restaurant



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Unless otherwise noted, all images and art on this site are © PopArtDiva.com 2002 - 2009. All Rights Reserved.

20090225

TV THEMES FROM THE 70s - Retro music with nostalgia

I'm feeling a little lazy today and I have to get upstairs to my graphics computer and get to work so I'm just going to post a few of my favorite TV Themes from the seventies:

Happy Days - rockin all week with you:


Laverne & Shirley - schlameel, schlamazel, hossenfef incorporated:


The Love Boat - love, exciting and new!:


The Six Million Dollar Man - we can rebuild him!:


WKRP in Cinncinnati - I'm livin' on the air in Cincinnati:


Have a great Wednesday - gotta get to work, see ya tomorrow for the Thursday Thirteen!


Unless otherwise noted, all images and art on this site are © PopArtDiva.com 2002 - 2009. All Rights Reserved.

Get my Retro Inspired Pop Culture Art on Cool Stuff like Cups, Tees, Cards, Aprons and more at the POP ART DIVA BOUTIQUE!

20090222

AGEISM and The BABY BOOM GENERATION

Last week I was invited to participate in an ongoing discussion on the problems facing those of us over 50. The discussion was hosted on Twitter by Growing Bolder (a great website for boomers, btw, these folks at GB really do care and are very proactive and involved with their members). The twitter location is AgeOfOpportunity-#ageop and the discussion occurs every Thursday @ 9pm Eastern.

One of the topics was ageism and I happened to comment that maybe we Boomers should start up protesting again. This idea simmered a bit in my mind and I decided to start a Boomer Power Crusade against all the preconceived B.S. that seems to persist about those of us nearing our retirement years. Note I didn't say retirement - I said retirement years because I suspect that the idea of "retirement" has all but disappeared from the American lifestyle for many of us.

Anyway, I hopped right on my graphics computer and designed "Down With Ageism™". (You can read more how I designed these images and what motivates my art at Life Is Like Art - It's All In How You Look At It.) Some are humorous, some are "in your face", and some are true (Thelma & Louise actually is what I call "my girls" - have for years!).

What I hope to accomplish with all this - the art in particular - is get some visuals out there that will bring a focus on this new generation of "retirees" - a group of people who have not gone gently into old age. (Hell No, We Won't Grow Old!™) I would like these graphics to help inform the world that just because we have a few gray hairs it doesn't mean that our brains and our spirits are growing dimmer along with hair color!

Why? Because I think the baby boom generation is still a group that questions the status quo. We did in the sixties and seventies and we are doing it again - we just forgot how to make the right amount of noise about it!

So grab your Protest Tees instead of a sign and Join The Boomer Power Crusade™ NOW.
We changed the world once before and we can do it again!

ART
ART


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Unless otherwise noted, all images and art on this site are © PopArtDiva.com 2002 - 2009. All Rights Reserved. All slogans are marked ™. No permission is given to use these phrases.

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20090220

Academy Award Winning Songs and Soundtracks - OSF just below!

One of the things I love most about movies are the sound tracks and the songs written for them. I think some of the best music written is done for movies and my very first record every purchased was the soundtrack for Breakfast at Tiffany's by Henry Mancini when I was ten (the second record was The Chipmunks, lol - I had eclectic tastes as a kid too). I continued throughout my life to buy soundtracks for movies and I love composers like Vangelis, Mancini, John Williams, Ennio Morricone and the like.

(To keep this post from scrolling until the next Oscar ceremonies in 2010, I'm only posting the actual video for my number one all time favorite movie song - I'll link to videos for the others.)

Here are my favorite top 15 Oscar winners for Best Original Song in order from one to fifteen:
When You Wish Upon A Star - Pinnochio, 1940, Music: Leigh Harline • Lyrics: Ned Washington

Over The Rainbow - The Wizard of Oz, 1939, Music: Harold Arlen • Lyrics: E. Y. Harburg
Moon River - Breakfast at Tiffany's, 1961, Music: Henry Mancini • Lyrics: Johnny Mercer
Let The River Run - Working Girl, 1988, Music and lyrics: Carly Simon
White Christmas - Holiday Inn, 1942, Music and Lyrics: Irving Berlin
Swinging On A Star - Going My Way, 1944, Music: James Van Heusen • Lyrics: Johnny Burke
Zip-a-DeeDoo-Dah - Song of the South, 1947, Music: Allie Wrubel • Lyrics: Ray Gilbert
Streets of Philadelphia - Philiadelphia, 1993, Music and lyrics: Bruce Springsteen
The Way We Were- The Way We Were, 1973, Music: Marvin Hamlisch • Lyrics: Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman
Evergreen - A Star Is Born, 1976, Music: Barbra Streisand • Lyrics: Paul Williams
Arthur's Theme - Best Than You Can Do, 1981, Music: Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager and Christopher Cross • lyrics: Peter Allen and Christopher Cross
Three Coins in the Fountain - Three Coins in the Fountain, 1954, Music: Jule Styne • Lyrics: Sammy Cahn
Days of Wine and Roses - Days of Wine and Roses, 1962, Music: Henry Mancini • Lyrics: Johnny Mercer
Can You Feel The Love Tonight - The Lion King, 1994, Music: Elton John • Lyrics: Tim Rice

Here are my favorite Oscar winners for Best Soundtracks:
  1. The Wizard of Oz, 1939, Herbert Stothart
  2. Breakfast at Tiffany's, 1961, Henry Mancini
  3. Dr. Zhivago, 1965, Maurice Jarre
  4. Dances with Wolves, 1990, John Barry
  5. Pinocchio, 1940, Leigh Harline, Paul J. Smith and Ned Washington
  6. The King and I, 1957, Alfred Newman and Ken Darby
  7. The Music Man, 1962, Ray Heindorf
  8. Star Wars, 1977, John Williams
  9. Out of Africa, 1985, John Barry
  10. My Fair Lady, 1964, André Previn and Ken Darby
  11. The Godfather II, 1975, Nino Rota and Carmine Coppola
  12. Aladdin, 1992, Alan Menken
  13. The Lion King, 1994, Hans Zimmer
  14. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, 1982, John Williams
  15. Chariots of Fire, 1981, Vangelis

Here's an interesting personal story about movie music that you might enjoy:
For over 20 years I made my living selling my original art at fine art fairs. I was participating in one near Scottsdale, Arizona some years ago and I happened to be humming the theme song for "The Godfather" when suddenly Hugh Downs walks into my booth. His wife was at the next booth buying some pottery and he was viewing my art as he waited. I said hello to him and then continued to hum the song. Mr. Downs turns to me and says something to the effect that he likes that song too and then he tells me an interesting fact about the music score for the movie The Godfather. He tells me that it was not eligible for Best Score because the music was not written originally for the film The Godfather - that movie scores must be written originally for the film they are nominated for.

This was a piece Oscar trivia that I had never heard before and I learned it from one of the most famous newsmen in American history! How cool is that? I had always wondered why such a great song and such a wonderful score never even got an Academy nod and it took Hugh Downs to tell me why.

The score was actually nominated in 1972 but was withdrawn as ineligible because it was written originally for the movie Fortunella by composer Nino Rota. Mr. Rota did go on to be nominated for and win the Oscar for Original Dramatic Score (along with Carmine Coppola) in 1975 for The Godfather II.

Nominees this year for Best Song:
Down to Earth - WALL-E
Jai Ho - Slumdog Millioniare
O Saya - Slumdog Millionaire

Nominees this year for Best Score:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Defiance
Milk
Slumdog Millioniare
WALL-E

List of all the Nominees and Winners, 1934 to 2008

Famous Movie Lines, Quotes & Sound Bytes

Academy Award Nostalgia, Videos, Music and Moments


Best Picture Awards - Classic film clips

My 13 Favorite Best Picture Winners (Thursday Thirteen)

VOTE NOW FOR YOUR FAVORITE NOMINEES

The Ballot boxes are on the right sidebar at The Martini Diva all week.

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OLD SCHOOL FRIDAY - THE JACKSON FIVE

This week's Old School Friday Theme is The Jacksons. Since I'm doing Oscar week here at the PopArtDiva Baby Boomer Nostalgia Blog I am going to post the one and only Jackson song to ever be nominated for an Oscar for Best Song - Ben. Ben did not win the Oscar but it has the distinction of being the first hit for Michael as a solo artist and it did win a Golden Globe. This one is a karaoke version of Ben complete with the lyrics - come on, let's all sing along:


Though Ben did not win an Oscar I though you might be interested in seeing a list of Michael Jackson's awards, the list is impressive. Whether or not he has become a stranger ranger in the last few years, he is definitely is a musical talent that contributed greatly to the music world and I will always think of him as that cute little boy who came bursting out of the Jackson Five with a huge voice and a huge talent.

As for my favorite Michael Jackson song - it has to be Thriller. Sorry, I loved it then, I love it now - great song, great video and it is a pop culture classic! Watch THRILLER in it's entirety here.

As for the Jackson Five I thought you might enjoy this rare video of them performing Rockin' Robin in 1972 on The Top of the Pops:


This meme was developed by Marvalus View and Mrs. Grapevine
Click here to join in the fun!


------------------
Unless otherwise noted, all images and art on this site are © PopArtDiva.com 2002 - 2009. All Rights Reserved.

Get my Retro Inspired Pop Culture Art on Cool Stuff like Cups, Tees, Cards, Aprons and more at the POP ART DIVA BOUTIQUE!

20090219

THURSDAY THIRTEEN - BEST PICTURE WINNERS

Below are film clips from my thirteen favorite Best Picture winners - not necessarily my favorite movies - just my favorites of the Oscar wins. Settle in to a comfy chair and grab a big cup o' joe - this post is chock full of movie trivia, history, film clips and fun. Please leave a comment at the end if you enjoyed this post - it took me several hours to make my choices and find the best clips I could for you.

A little Academy Award trivia:
  • Did you know that the Best Picture was originally awarded as Best Production?
  • Though the Awards were presentations started in 1927, the first awards ceremony was held in 1929.
  • The very first Outstanding Picture was awarded to two films, Wings for Best Production and Sunrise for Unique and Artistic Picture - a category that was dropped after the first year.
  • The very first Best Picture was awarded to Wings.
  • Titanic (1997) and All About Eve (1950) both hold the record for the most nominations (14) earned by a single film.
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), Titanic (1997), Ben-Hur (1959) are the three Best Picture winning films with the most Oscars wins (11).
Here are my top 13 favorite Best Pictures in order, starting with the one that is also my favorite movie of all time:

GONE WITH THE WIND, 1939 (13 nominations, 8 wins). I have seen this movie at least once a year for the last 40 years or so. I have the Golden Anniversary VHS edition and the DVD. I love this movie, I love Rhett, I love Scarlet, I love the Theme Song, I love the book. I'll bet you didn't know there were words to the theme song?


Forrest Gump, 1994 (13 Nominations, 6 wins) To this day this is still a film I feel totally connected to. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that Forrest Gump would be a baby boomer now too - he grew up and lived in the same decades and experienced the same history as I did and his nostalgia was mine too - Elvis, Viet Nam, Smiley Faces and Watergate. Plus I freakin' love the theme song:


Dances With Wolves, 1990 (12 Nominations, 7 wins) How can you not love a film where a wolf trips Kevin Costner? Besides I learned how to say Buffalo in Lakota Sioux - Tatanka. Seriously, this was a beautiful film from the cinematography to the music score and my second favorite western of all time (sorry Kevin, but Lonesome Dove will always have my western heart):


It Happened One Night, 1934 (5 Nominations, 5 wins including the top 5) Behold the walls of Jericho! I love this scene - "no two men do it alike". Clark Cable could deliver a line with a wink and a smile and some of the best double entendres in the movies.


Gladiator, 2000 (12 Nominations, 5 wins) My favorite historical eras were always the Egyptian and Roman dynasties so I'm a sucker for any movie set in those times - historically accurate or not. I think the thing I loved the most about Gladiator was the dignity of Maxiumus. There was truly something noble and courageous about him that represented the best of what the Roman Empire aspired to. Alas, this was a fictional character but I like to think that maybe there were a few ancient romans like him. "What we do in life echos in Eternity":


The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, 2003 (11 Nominations, 11 wins) Frankly,I never thought this series could ever be translated into film, let alone done well. I was wrong. One of the best film adaptations of one of my favorite book series ever. For those of us who have been Lord of the Ring fans for decades this was sort of like closure. Goodbye, Frodo, my old friend.


One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, 1975 (9 Nominations, 5 wins including the top 5) What can I say? Jack at his best. McMurphy is my hero.


All About Eve, 1950 (14 nominations, 6 wins) Here it is, one of the best lines ever uttered on film, "Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night!"


The Godfather, 1972 (10 Nominations, 3 wins) Gangsta greatness with great direction, great cinematography, great acting, great lines including this pop culture classic:


Terms of Endearment, 1983 (11 Nominations, 5 wins) Aurora, The Pig Stand, an astronaut lothario, driving a 'Vette on the beach and a tear jerking death scene - what more can you ask for?


My Fair Lady, 1964 (12 Nominations, 8 wins) My favorite musical ever made. My favorite scene is the racetrack, "Move yer bloomin' ass!"


Ben Hur, 1959, (12 Nominations, 11 wins) My favorite "epic". Funny how my two favorite epics both starred Charlton Heston (The Ten Commandments was my # 2 fav). Here's the chariot scene - this is like a horse version of the car chase in Bullitt.


Out of Africa, 1985 (11 Nominations, 7 wins) Okay, my very favorite "chick flick". Robert Redford, Meryl Streep and a great theme song by John Berry who won for Best Film Score.


Runners Up: Driving Miss Daisy (1989), Unforgiven (1992), Braveheart (1995), A Beautiful Mind (2001).

See you at the movies.
Unless otherwise noted, all images and art on this site are © PopArtDiva.com 2002 - 2009. All Rights Reserved.

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20090218

IT'S OSCAR WEEK - Classic Academy Award Moments on Video

Here are some Classic Oscar Moments of the Past. Though even I wasn't alive or was too young to see the original broadcasts of many of these they are still great nostalgia for classic film buffs and movie fans. I already posted my favorite Oscar moments (link below) but these are really retro and fun for baby boomers and anyone else into film and movie history.
(The embedding was disabled on most of these as they were taken directly from the Oscars official YouTube channel. The links to each video will open in another window for your convenience.)


Hattie McDaniel wins for Gone With The Wind, 1939:


Donald O'Connor and Gary Cooper announcing Audrey Hepburn's win for Roman Holiday, 1954

Frank Sinatra wins for From Here to Eternity, 1954

Betty Davis presenting Award to Marlon Brando for On The Waterfront, 1955

Marlon Brando sends up Sacheen Littlefeather to REFUSE his Best Actor Award for The Godfather, 1973

The Incomperable Betty Davis wins for Dangerous, 1935

Kathryn Hepburn's one and only Oscar appearance

and though I already posted it Monday, here is probably the most classic Oscar moment (and my very favorite) ever:

The Classy David Niven and The Streaker

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Famous Movie Lines, Quotes & Sound Bytes

Academy Award Nostalgia, Videos, Music and Moments


VOTE NOW FOR YOUR FAVORITE NOMINEES

The Ballot boxes are on the right sidebar at The Martini Diva all week.
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Unless otherwise noted, all images and art on this site are © PopArtDiva.com 2002 - 2009. All Rights Reserved.

Get my Retro Inspired Pop Culture Art on Cool Stuff like Cups, Tees, Cards, Aprons and more at the POP ART DIVA BOUTIQUE!

20090217

IT'S OSCAR WEEK - Classic Movie Lines, Quotes and Audio Clips

With the Academy Awards coming up this Sunday I thought you might enjoy some of my favorite classic movie lines today.

"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn" Gone With The Wind (1939)
"Have fun storming the castle." Princess Bride (1987)
"Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night" - All About Eve (1950)
"I'll make him an offer he can't refuse." - The Godfather (1972)
"Go, and never darken my towels again!" - Duck Soup (1933)
"Use the force, Luke." - Star Wars (1977)
"I love the smell of napalm in the morning." - Apocalypse Now (1979)
"Go ahead, make my day." - Sudden Impact (1983)
"He-e-e-e-re's Johnny!" - The Shining (1980)
"I'll have what she's having." - When Harry Met Sally (1989)
"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!" - Dr Strangelove (1964)
"Hasta la vista, baby." - Terminator 2 (1991)
"Insanity runs in my family. It practically gallops." - Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
"I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way." - Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
"Love means never having to say you're sorry." - Love Story (1970)

AFI's top 100 movie quotes which you can download as a PDF!

Some Famous Last Words at the Movies:

". . . .after all, tomorrow is another day." Scarlet O'Hara in Gone With The Wind (1939)
". . . ., there's no place like home" - Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz (1939)
"Oh no! It wasn't the airplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast." King Kong (1933)
". . . . .I'm having an old friend for dinner. . ." Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs (1991)
"Well, nobody's perfect!" Some Like It Hot (1959)
". . . .I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." Rick in Casablanca (1942)

Some of my all time favorite movie sound bytes, great classic movie quips:










My all time favorite movie speech is this one from Kevin Costner (Crash Davis) in Bull Durham- warning, a bit explicit:



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Unless otherwise noted, all images and art on this site are © PopArtDiva.com 2002 - 2009. All Rights Reserved.

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20090216

IT'S OSCAR WEEK - Academy Award Nostalgia, Videos, Music and Moments

The 81st Annual Academy Awards will air this coming Sunday, February 22nd. I love movies and I love the Oscars. So today I want to share some of my favorite Oscar moments with you:

My favorite host ever, Billy Crystal and his 2004 Academy Awards Introduction:

  1. The Classy David Niven and The Streaker
  2. Jack Palance wins and does one hand push up
  3. Billy Crystal - Prince of Tides Parody, 64th Annual Academy Awards
  4. Cuba Gooding's Joyful Acceptance
  5. Steven Spielberg finally wins for Schindler's List, 1994
  6. Clint Eastwood wins his first Oscar for Directing Unforgiven, 1993
  7. Jack Nicholson wins for One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, 1976
To this day this remains my most UNFAVORITE moment at the Oscars:

Marlon Brando sends up Sacheen Littlefeather to REFUSE his Best Actor Award for The Godfather, 1973

Don't touch that dial, stay tuned and dim the lights because:

Tomorrow I will be posting some of the most classic movie lines.
Wednesday I will be posting some classic moments in Oscar history.
Thursday I will be posting 13 of my Favorite Best Pictures
Friday I will be posting some of my Favorite Songs from the Movies

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Unless otherwise noted, all images and art on this site are © PopArtDiva.com 2002 - 2009. All Rights Reserved.

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20090213

OLD SCHOOL FRIDAY - It's the Valentine Blues Baby!

When I think blues I think of the great, the inimitable, the one and only Billy Holiday.
When I think Valentine's Day Blues I think My Funny Valentine by Etta James whose whiskey blues voice could turn any funny valentine a little sad.

Please enjoy these two women whose names are synonymous with the Blues and who could sing about love so well they brought tears to your eyes.



HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!
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This meme was developed by Marvalus View and Mrs. Grapevine The rules are simple: 1. Anyone can participate, any music genre 2. Old School is defined as music created before 1999 3. No offensive music allowed, please use the edited radio version 4. Post a video of your favorite songs to take us back down memory lane 5. Add your name to the meme so that others can check you out 6. Have fun and don't forget to leave comments for other participants Click here to join in the fun!
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Unless otherwise noted, all images and art on this site are © PopArtDiva.com 2002 - 2009. All Rights Reserved.

Get my Retro Inspired Pop Culture Art on Cool Stuff like Cups, Tees, Cards, Aprons and more at the POP ART DIVA BOUTIQUE!

20090212

THURSDAY THIRTEEN - 13 Vintage Valentine Art Images

Since Saturday is Valentine's Day I have decided to post 13 Vintage Romantic Images - all courtesy of Antique Clip Art. Yes, I am an artist too but my Valentine's images are more contemporary in nature as you will see by my three contemporary romantic/love style images below.

So I thought you might enjoy some really retro Valentine's Day images - we're talking Victorian Era Art here which is way older than even me!


From PopArtDiva.com

From PopArtDiva.com

From PopArtDiva.com

Vintage Valentine Art Courtesy of Antique Clip Art

Happy Valentine's Day!
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Unless otherwise noted, all images and art on this site are © PopArtDiva.com 2002 - 2009. All Rights Reserved.

Get my Retro Inspired Pop Culture Art on Cool Stuff like Cups, Tees, Cards, Aprons and more at the POP ART DIVA BOUTIQUE!

20090211

FAMOUS MOVIE-TV QUOTES - Remember these famous lines?

Sometimes a line from a TV show or movie just grabs the public's fancy and becomes entrenched in our Pop Culture. Phrases like these were once only lines of dialogue in a script writer's head:

Show Me The Money
A Martini, Shaken Not Stirred
Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.
We'll always have Paris.
What we've got here is a failure to communicate.
Stupid is as stupid does.

There's a million of them that pop up in our lives every day in one form or another. We quote them, paraphrase them and often misquote them. Here are some misquoted movie lines where the incorrect quote has become more pop culture than the original line:

For Instance - the line above from Cool Hand Luke was actually spoken without the "a" in front of the word "failure"!

MISQUOTE: Play it again, Sam.
The actual line: You played it for her, you can play it for me. If she can stand it, I can.

MISQUOTE: Do you feel lucky, punk?
The actual line: ....you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya punk?

MISQUOTE: Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy ride.
The actual line: Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night.

MISQUOTE: Beam me up, Scotty
Nope, Not once did Captain Kirk utter those exact words. Oh, please, Captain Picard? Scotty was long retired by then remember?

MISQUOTE: Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges!
The actual line from The Treasure of the Sierra Madre: Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges! I don't have to show you any stinkin' badges!
HOWEVER: Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges was a parody of the line in Blazing Saddles!

MISQUOTE: I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille
The actual line: All right, Mr. De Mille, I'm ready for my close-up.

Here's a few of my favorites sound bytes that have become part of today's pop culture:

From the A-Team



Robert DiNero's famous line from Taxi Driver:



Tom Hank's famous line from A League of Their Own:



The classic line from The Godfather:



And Ricardo Montalban's great line about Revenge in The Wrath of Khan:



My all time favorite Mae West quote:



And one of the best lines I've ever heard uttered, spoken by Kevin Spacey in The Usual Suspects:




Unless otherwise noted, all images and art on this site are © PopArtDiva.com 2002 - 2009. All Rights Reserved.

Get my Retro Inspired Pop Culture Art on Cool Stuff like Cups, Tees, Cards, Aprons and more at the POP ART DIVA BOUTIQUE!

20090209

RETRO COMMERCIALS MONDAY - Valentine Commercial Taking You Back

With Valentine's Day coming up I wanted to post a retro Valentine's Day Ad. This ad is not retro in itself, but it is about nostalgia and romance and speaks to us Boomers with some funny visuals. Do you remember where were you when you first fell in love - and exactly how stupid looking was your hair and clothing?

REO brings back the romance:


NEED A LAST MINUTE VALENTINE'S DAY CARD?
Print Your Own Valentines for Less - Right now at home!

CONVERSATION HEARTS VALENTINE CARD
POP ART LOVE VALENTINE CARD
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Unless otherwise noted, all images and art on this site are © PopArtDiva.com 2002 - 2009. All Rights Reserved.

Get my Retro Inspired Pop Culture Art on Cool Stuff like Cups, Tees, Cards, Aprons and more at the POP ART DIVA BOUTIQUE!

20090206

OLD SCHOOL FRIDAYS - EARTH ANGEL - Penguins, Elvis, New Edition

Today's theme for Old School Friday's is New Edition. I found a video of their version of Earth Angel which they recorded for the soundtrack for Karate Kid II.

I also found a video of the group that originally recorded the song - The Penquins. Originally released in 1954 as the B side of the single Hey Senorita, Earth Angel was the song that made it all the way to #1 on the Billboard charts.

During the fifties many radio stations commonly had segregated play lists - this particularly insidious form of discrimination actually ended up creating two simultaneous releases of Earth Angel during this time - the "white" version was done by the Crew Cuts. There is even a rare version of Elvis singing Earth Angel.

Who wrote the song?
Penguins baritone Curtis Williams along with Gaynel Hodge, and Jesse Belvin.

New Edition's Version of Earth Angel for Karate Kid II:


The Original Version of Earth Angel by the Penguins:


The Crew Cuts Version for segregated playlists. BTW, for those of you too young to recognize it - that record playing on this video is a 78!:


Rare Recording of Elvis singing Earth Angel at YouTube


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This meme was developed by Marvalus View and Mrs. Grapevine The rules are simple: 1. Anyone can participate, any music genre 2. Old School is defined as music created before 1999 3. No offensive music allowed, please use the edited radio version 4. Post a video of your favorite songs to take us back down memory lane 5. Add your name to the meme so that others can check you out 6. Have fun and don't forget to leave comments for other participants Click here to join in the fun!
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Need a Valentine's Day Card Quick?
Valentine Card that you print yourself from Easy Greeting Cards
:

CONVERSATION HEARTS VALENTINE CARD
POP ART LOVE VALENTINE CARD

Valentine's Gifts
POP ART LOVE on Tees, Home Decor and other Gifts!
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE on Tees, Home Decor and other Gifts!
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Unless otherwise noted, all images and art on this site are © PopArtDiva.com 2002 - 2009. All Rights Reserved.