The 47th Minute Project 2: Electric Boogaloo

Not that the title of this post should be in any way an indication of the identity of this week’s screen-shot…

Since there was some confusion last week, we’ll start with this week’s mystery film:

You may recognize that man on the left—he’s done enough work for money (hint, hint), but gosh: who’s that Nixonian fellow to the right? And what’s with those Budweisers on the counter? Hmmmm…

So what film is this the 47th minute (that is to say, when the DVD counter read "47:00") to?
Leave your guesses in the comments section; thanks!


As For Last Week’s The 47th Minute Project…

Congratulations to “Tonya” and “Fred” (if those are your real names; The Secret Police of Ivanlandia will be checking up on you…) for their correct guesses: Yes, last week’s 47th Minute Project was The Beatles’ wonderful animated film Yellow Submarine.


A special no-prize to Darius Whiteplume for his great, very educated (albeit wrong) guess of Fantastic Planet, a flick that would be a perfect double feature with Yellow Submarine. Both are trippy, with visual styles that are distinctly un-Hollywood, more influenced by Germany and Eastern Europe graphic styles closer to Švankmajer than Disney.




Darius is the creator of a multitude of blogs, but I particularly like Adventures In Nerdliness, Sublime Depravity and Dirty & Nerdy.


Yellow Submarine in a flick I’ve loved since I was a kid. It was aired quite frequently on Metromedia Channel 5 (now a Fox affiliate) in NYC back in the day.

But after a recent viewing, I noticed (and I was surprised I missed this before) that despite Yellow Submarine’s message of love & peace, the flick’s structure is that of a war movie—specifically the “secret mission/behind enemy lines” subgenre that includes The Dirty Dozen, The Lord of the Rings films, The Secret Invasion (although it beat Dirty Dozen into the theaters with the “convicts on war-time suicide mission” plot, The Secret Invasion is a terrible movie that I only mention because of its very cool poster [below]), Guns of Navarone, Saving Private Ryan and even parts of John Wayne’s The Green Berets: Our heroes sneak into hostile territory to, well, you get the idea.

(And if you’ve read this far, I’ve just given you another hint as to the identity of this week’s entry into The 47th Minute Project.)

But it’s a smart movie for the Yellow Submarine creative team to use a simple plot that audiences would be familiar with—The visuals have the potential of overwhelming the uninitiated, so you gotta throw the audience a bone…

With a conventional structure, directors and designer George Dunning, John Coates and Heinz Edelmann could go bonkers in other ways. And they did. Whew, they sure did…
Which ties in with something I once heard about the Beatles: Either George Martin or Brian Epstein told the Fab Four that if you really want to be successful, pay attention to both what the mainstream is into as well as what the avant-garde (for lack of a better word) is doing. Then try and find the middle.

It’s a line that’s always changing, of course, something few people keep in mind. I think it’s a formula that David Bowie has used well. Maybe Radiohead, but time will tell. Others, like David Byrne, not so well. I think it certainly worked for The Beatles.




[I’ll be on a diplomatic mission to Chicagolandia next week, and therefore the next 47th Minute Project may be postponed. It’ll just given you more time to make an educated guess. Just don’t make me scream, “You’re late!” (final hint)]

The Warrior Enters Valhalla—or: If the whole world hadn’t ended in a shroud of radioactive dust, they would’ve named an AFB after Major T.J. Kong

Dr. Strangelove is a message of hope:

How the lone man, the simple man, the salt of the earth, someone whose name attests to a familiarity with the beasts—not just barnyard animals, though, oh no! But rather: the KING of the Jungle, the Eight Wonder of the World!—how this one man subverts the combined technological colossi of both the USA and USSR—through skill, guile, experience, pride, luck and just plain all-American fortitude.

Like Ulysses, Major T.J. Kong, pilot and captain of the B-52 bomber, The Leper Colony.

He is an inspiration.










Before General Ripper started only drinking rainwater and pure grain alcohol, life at Burpleson AFB was pretty mellow:

Vegas, Dallas: shoot, you could have a good time in either place


On Wednesdays, the mess hall serves a wicked pepper steak.
Two weeks ago, they showed movies in the gym: The Last Time I Saw Archie. High-larious! That Bob Mitchum, what a card! And Jack Webb, hmph! Who knew he was such a good director? First The D.I., now this! What will he come up with next?


Pilots aren’t supposed to have too much imagination—it interferes with command decisions—but they can still appreciate a nice sunset.


“When General LeMay addressed my graduating class at the Academy, he said, ‘If the Japanese had won the war, I would have been tried as a war criminal.’ So as we circle at our fail-safe, gentlemen, I want you to remember: This isn’t just about maintaining the balance of terror, it’s about writing the history books. Now saddle up, flyboys, we got some miles to hump!”


Tracking Santa is NORAD’s job; not SAC’s!


(BTW, go to the homepage of Strategic Air Command, and check out the quote they have at the top, and be prepared to have you mind blown.)




Goldie says Texas is like Brooklyn but with more sand. I think he’s crazy!

“Pssst! Major! Wake up!”

Bad Back Jack and Old Iron Ass, in happier times, reviewing the squadron before the Cuban Missile Crisis drove a wedge between them.


RED ALERT!!!
RED ALERT!!!
RED ALERT!!! ATTENTION ALL B-52 JET BOMBER FETISHISTS:
WARNING!!!
Recently released to DVD, the film Bombers B-52 (1957), starring Karl Malden and Natalie Wood, is not really about the creation of the Stratofortress.

There’s about 10 minutes of really beautiful footage of B-52s gliding through the skies in the flick—some definite high quality USAF-approved jet porn—and these are unceremoniously bolted on to a lamebrain quasi-Oedipal soap opera that’s dull as dishwater. Despite it’s being called Bombers B-52, the planes are almost coincidental to this clunky story.

And although Bombers B-52 is being released as part of The Natalie Wood Collection, perky young Natalie is only in the flick for about 30 minutes.

Bombers B-52 was recently released to video, but it really didn’t need to be. But it is funny to watch this and think that Stanley Kubrick must’ve had to sit through and screen a snoozer like Bombers B-52 while doing research on Dr. Strangelove.

Kubrick, the master, enjoying a stogie and a .50-calibre, like all good New Yorkers should.

And who am I not to jump on a bandwagon?

Gonna try and catch Watchmen this weekend. Like everybody else.

Hope it doesn't suck.

The trailers make it seem like something to watch while tripping.

Not sorry I don't take LSD, though.

Got enough problems.

(Click on the above image to make larger to read what they're saying; it's from a Watchmen spoof called Whatmen. Click on the image. Do it now!)

Cook back in anger?

The Top Chef Recap last night was fun, a good clip show with lots of never-before-seen behind-the-scenes footage and turbulent memories--and the requisite amounts of goofball, but entertaining, BS.

Who was picked as fan favorite? Chef Fabio, who once threatened to hack off his broken finger if it interfered with his cooking.

(Additionally, Fabio has scored a gig as a pitchman for frozen pizza. Which is more important than the fact that he’s being given his own TV show. )

And what about Ivanlandia’s fave chef from this season, Carla?

“In my own little world, I will continue to cater. I really want to start a sweet and savory petite cooking line and have a chef's table where people can taste my food. I'm teaching a couple of classes in DC. I would love to do more TV. I look at myself and am amazed that I'm able to be myself in front of the camera. My personality seems to have radiated with people. The biggest joy I can get is to inspire people by being myself, so yes I would love to do more television.”

Ahhhh....Television...Everybody wants to be on it...

For more on Carla’s delicious cooking, go HERE.

Serious Eats doesn't give a recap of Top Chef this week. Probably because there was no real cooking going on.
But elsewhere on their site they link to how to make homemade corn dogs.

Mmmmmmmmm...corndogs...

However, you can get your Top Chef Recap recap HERE via Buddy TV.

Hey! Those aren't corn dogs! What? They're delicious? Welllll, I'll just try one...