What are you watching?

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

I just thought you didn’t recognize Hwasa.

Haven't seen any for hair-color; how about eye-color?

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

 

[Olorgando]

I keep having comments that fit other threads better (this one would be the reading one - but it would rather have to be a "have read" thread …)
Anyway, I own several books about wolves by several authors; fascinating creatures, absolute top predators whose absence can really mess up some ecosystems. And it's no wonder that Canis lupus and Homo "sapiens" struck it off - after a long pre-adaptation on the canine side. Both are highly social creatures - with the wolves on average being far less antisocial.
Anyway, there were several black wolves shown in the video. This melanism seems to be restricted to North America (timber wolves), and must be caused by some inbreeding of some Canis (lupus) familiaris genes into the North American wolf gene-pool, as in a "pure" wolf genome the allele, or more likely mutation, is absent.

At the other end of the color spectrum are the white arctic wolves, who have gone the way of the arctic fox to a degree - fur color change included (which is something the polar bear dispenses with). But they definitely hang tough in some of the most adverse climate on the planet - north of natural Inuit habitation, even.

Size-wise, the smallest wolves are "Mowgli's family" from Rudyard Kipling's "Jungle Book." I believe I once saw a zoo pack in the Berlin zoo (one of the two - or is it three? - zoos there). Depending on which subspecies it was, these may be as small as weighing 25 kilograms, or 55 pounds. Back in the early 1970s, my family had a Boxer female (from a large breed strain, admittedly) who weighed 35 kilograms or 77 pounds full grown. We decided on a female after meeting dad, a strapping 50 kilograms or 110 pounds (as were our female's brothers). That said, C. lupus is, pound for pound, far and away the toughest and hardiest of the Canis "clan" (I'm not a cladistics or taxonomy nerd by anyone's definition). As Konrad Lorenz, the Austrian zoologist and 1973 Nobel Prize winner in Physiology or Medicine once put it, "the size of a Great Dane (actually a German breed, "Deutsche Dogge") combined with the hard muscles of a wire-haired Fox Terrier!"

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

Joan, being her bad self:

 

[Olorgando]

Joan, being her bad self:

Erm ...
which one is Joan, and, for that matter, Joan who??? (I did recognize Cagney, not to worry there …)

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

Joan Blondell, one of the most lovable actresses of 1930's Hollywood (IMO). That "Outside, Countess! As long as they have sidewalks, you've got a job!" line is on the list of famous -- or infamous -- pre-Code bits. Here are some more of her clips from the film (one of my favorites, BTW):

It's the one that featured Busby Berkeley's jaw-dropping water ballet sequence. You can see part of it here:

It's also where you'll see Cagney singing and dancing -- with Ruby Keeler in "yellow-face":

Despite what Warners says, neither of these are the "full scenes". Greedy #×&s. Fortunately for me, I own the Berkeley box set!

Might as well include a clip from the third major musical sequence in the film -- at least what Warners was willing to provide. Lots of sly commentary on "official" moral standards of the time:

"You're in Jersey City, and not in Hollywood!"

Warners deliberately thumbed their collective nose at the Hays Office, when the other majors were toeing the line. That only lasted a couple of years, though.

 

[Olorgando]

Joan Blondell, one of the most lovable actresses of 1930's Hollywood (IMO). That "Outside, Countess! As long as they have sidewalks, you've got a job!" line is on the list of famous -- or infamous -- pre-Code bits. Here are some more of her clips from the film (one of my favorites, BTW):
…..
It's also where you'll see Cagney singing and dancing -- with Ruby Keeler in "yellow-face":
…..
Might as well include a clip from the third major musical sequence in the film -- at least what Warners was willing to provide. Lots of sly commentary on "official" moral standards of the time:
…..
Warners deliberately thumbed their collective nose at the Hays Office, when the other majors were toeing the line. That only lasted a couple of years, though.

The name does ring a bell, and I'd guess it would have been one of the movies she was in with Cagney that I remember - I definitely remember 1931's "Public Enemy".
It also set me on the trail of the link to the article on the "Motion Picture Production Code", "popularly" known as the "Hays Code".
One of those articles that had me shaking my head a lot (though I'm decades beyond any disbelief …).

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

Joan was prolific in the 30's, working in 30 films by the end of the decade, but she had a long film career -- her last ones before her death being "Grease" and "The Champ" in the late 70's.

She also appeared in many TV shows, notably with a starring role in the series "Here Come the Brides" in the late 60's. I fell in love with her through the Berkeley films, but as said above, she always remained lovable.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

Then there was Toby Wing, the "cutest of the chorus cuties", whose career never really took off, despite being one of the most famous -- and chased after -- faces in 30's Hollywood. Here she is, playing (silently and uncredited) opposite Dick Powell, in one of the musical numbers from Berkeley's first for Warners, 42nd Street:

By the beginning of the decade, the musical was considered dead; the novelty of sound was wearing off, and the musicals were basically statically-filmed stage reviews. Berkley changed all that: moving the camera overhead, zooming in for tight closups, or between the chorus girls legs. Gold Diggers of 1933 was already in production when 42nd Street, a modestly budgeted film, became a surprise smash, and Berkeley was given more money and free rein to indulge his wild imagination.

Note: Toby was all of 17 years old in that scene.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

I've often thought that a successful Berkeley sequence is one that makes you begin to wonder if you're hallucinating!

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

For those who get the Movies! channel, they will be airing 42nd Street tonight at 8PM EST. Recommended.

 

[Halasían]

Crashing your party to say I'm watching my China Beach DVDs...

Ok, you can go back to your convo.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

Hey, it's an open forum! Everyone's welcome -- especially when they bring in a favorite of mine:

 

[Miguel]

Watch the movie like this:

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

 

[Halasían]

Hey, it's an open forum! Everyone's welcome

Yeh I know. it just looked like you two were having such a good bromane going.


Watched The Spy with Sacha Baron Cohen. So many think of him as the funny Borat, but he is a really good actor and really brought his A game to this six episide series!

 

[Miguel]

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

The one I watched: