Park Life

Chinatown ain't gritty realism sweetie. Well it ain't Singin In The Rain. It's more film noir updated. Yes, and what was it about the updating that made it fit in the 70's so well? Don't get your knickers in a twist now. "Chinatown’s dark theme is one of the elements that places it in the category of neo-noir, the second generation of the genre known as film noir. Though the precise history of film noir is difficult to define (the term was coined in the journal Cahiers du Cinéma by Nino Frank in 1946), this genre evolved through a combination of German expressionistic drama (such as F. W. Murnau’s 1922 Nosferatu), American gangster film (Mervyn LeRoy’s 1931 Little Caesar), and popular British mystery novels (by Dorothy Sayers, H. C. Bailey, Agatha Christie, and the like). Several common features characterized film noir pictures, which were popular in the United States during the 1940s and early 1950s: the presence of a beautiful but dangerous woman (known as the femme fatale), gritty and generally urban settings, compositional tension (highly contrasting light and dark colors or oblique camera angles, for example), and themes of moral ambiguity and alienation. To prepare for the making of Chinatown, Polanski studied John Huston’s The Maltese Falcon (1941), which is accepted as the first full embodiment of film noir. (Huston himself plays Noah Cross, Chinatown’s most despicable villain). Polanski also read Raymond Chandler’s mystery novels, several of which had been made into film noir classics, such as Murder, My Sweet (1944; originally titled Farewell, My Lovely) and The Big Sleep (1946)." We're both kinda right. I generally see Chinatown primarily reinforcing the claustrophobic elements of noir and using reality altering (unbalancing) camerawork and high color as a distancing device. I would say 'gritty' is an element, but the city is kind of nightmarish and labyrinthian rather than realist.

The old "too drunk to know what they were doing" lark.

End of term party becomes village square orgy By Laura Clout A school was forced to help girls get emergency contraception after an end of term party saw under-age pupils having unprotected sex in a village square. The event is said to have involved "a disturbingly high number of girls" having sex while they were too drunk to know what they were doing, and also left one boy hospitalised. Witnesses described how "all hell let loose" at the party in a picturesque Lancashire village, and said that two youths tried to break into an ambulance that was called for the collapsed boy. Alison Hughes, the deputy head of the Queen Elizabeth School in Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria, was so concerned that she detailed the "catalogue of disasters" in a two-page letter to parents, warning them about the sexual activity, violent behaviour and alleged drug abuse that took place. She wrote: "We have had to help a disturbingly high number of girls through the aftermath of having unprotected sex that evening, most of whom have told us they were too drunk to be in control of themselves. The risks are real. Assume the worst." In the letter, sent out at the end of term on Thursday, Mrs Hughes said that around 70 pupils from the school had attended the event, along with a large number of gatecrashers. She added that the school was dismayed to discover that many of the pupils had been taken to the party by parents who "must have known" their children were carrying alcohol. Mrs Hughes added: "A lot of the children who came to us needed sexual health care. These are children we have to protect. Thankfully there is a great deal of trust between ourselves and the children so they felt they could talk to us." Witnesses said that around 200 youths gathered in and around the village hall in Wray, Lancashire, which is a few miles from the school. The event, to celebrate the end of Year 11, had been organised by pupils, although the village hall committee had understood that an adult had taken responsibility for the booking. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml...22/norgy122.xml

I've upgraded tp the two teabags recently. One normal black tea and one "wellness" (silly German usage). As someone who lives in northern Germany, you shouldn't use teabags. Vile stuff. Pure leaves and a sieve tbh. I have other more 'fussy' teas up my sieve you know.

Makes Taylor look like Baresi. Would that make him Stefan Taylor then?

Chinatown ain't gritty realism sweetie. Well it ain't Singin In The Rain. It's more film noir updated.

Makes Taylor look like Baresi. Someone always goes too far. I reckon it's bullshit anyway. Hopefully.

Chinatown ain't gritty realism sweetie.

Makes Taylor look like Baresi.

Oh my fucking Christ!

I really thought SA would have knocked some sense into him. Too scatty to defend.

"I Brings the Ruckus to the ladies"

Leon Blade Runner

He's on Myspace and creeping around pensioners houses. The man is dangerous I tell thee!

Sit up straight and resist looking out the window when he's talking.

Schnelsen or Moorfleet? I've never known the former be anything but hellish. And I used to need about four U-Bahns and buses to get there from my old haunt. Should have just got a cab really. Cracking meatballs though. Mancy knows I'm a fan. Moorfleet. Meatballs. Tick Good Vodka Tick Buy plants I don't really want. Tick

I've upgraded tp the two teabags recently. One normal black tea and one "wellness" (silly German usage).

Sell the can, the kids and the car, get into the jungle and survive.

fair point, but I tend to go a bit lavender and get a vodka with a little bit of flavour added The flavoured stuff is alright - Absolut and Stoli. I like the vanilla Stoli the best. But if it had a decent taste it wouldn't need the flavouring, would it? Tbf to the world of vodka it has always been about a clean crisp finish rather than a taste as such. An acquaintance has recently been in Moskova and was drinking this milk filtered stuff...They drank it every night and proper 12 hr Russina type sessions. No hangover he reckons.

fair point, but I tend to go a bit lavender and get a vodka with a little bit of flavour added It's all coming out now.

I miss him.

Had nearly a whole bottle last weekend at a party. Very pure and almost no alcoholic bite to it although it is normal vodka proofage. You'll recognise it cause it has a long grass stem steeped in the bottle. Fantastic stuff....But beware cause you forget you're drinking alcohol.

Spread the love man.

I was very tea and now mainly coffee. The tea has been further sullied by the use of honey and there has been known incidents of the use of lemon or orange peel.

your own fault for putting sensitive information on there in the first place iyam I've never been on it Ringo. One of my mates was moaning about it. "Ringo"? It's a term of affection ie gunlslinger, wild west.....etc...