tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8220285230636101823.post7159403639831476607..comments2024-03-18T18:51:42.313-04:00Comments on Rip Jagger's Dojo: Falling To Earth!Rip Jaggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09936426877024852134noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8220285230636101823.post-80558002073943442202016-01-23T10:54:12.279-05:002016-01-23T10:54:12.279-05:00I could never really understand why people wanted ...I could never really understand why people wanted to relate to someone who came across as confused, and who tried to look like a girl. The best thing about The Man Who Fell To Earth is the two Jim Reeves songs on the soundtrack. Quite liked The Laughing Gnome, Space Oddity, and his intro to The Snowman. That's about it. Kidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07224781868125924337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8220285230636101823.post-25005305075329770192016-01-20T17:30:03.415-05:002016-01-20T17:30:03.415-05:00The influence on Steranko and others in comics is ...The influence on Steranko and others in comics is not documented anywhere; it's a personal observation of mine and no more than a theory. But Roeg's films were distinguished by staccato flash cuts in the midst of continuity that created a sort of warping of time between scenes or functioned as flash forwards. In the case of his most famous film Don't Look Now it sometimes functioned as prophesy. which was part of the plot. In Steranko's At the Stroke of Midnight, Steranko created a new kind of flashback that was a quick cut panel with the color washed out so that you had the effect of a literal flash. He played with this a bit more in the unpublished Dante's Inferno. I have no idea if he has ever mentioned Roeg as an inspiration.<br /><br />The rapid flash cut was also a part of the original Kung Fu television series. In the first Master of Kung Fu comic, Jim Starlin used a variation on the flash cut to go back in time by having little slivers of the past intercut with the present, gradually getting bigger until finally taking over the page. And in a later Issue involving a fight with Shockwave, Paul Gulacy experimented with a flash forward running in and out of the whole book so that you were seeing the beginning and end of the story simultaneously. There were similar continuity experiments in Alan Moore's Swamp Thing. I'm sure Moore, at least, was aware of Nicolas Roeg.<br /><br />There was a fascinating period where this sort of exploration was going on with younger comics creators who were also cinema buffs. I'd love to see more of it.Russhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04809592629762693427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8220285230636101823.post-25741792436840114602016-01-20T02:08:35.273-05:002016-01-20T02:08:35.273-05:00I think of Bowie as a consummate entertainer, howe...I think of Bowie as a consummate entertainer, however you want to parse that, a master craftsman. Artist seems to me to be pushing it, but I'll defer to those who have a greater affinity to his work. <br /><br />Rip OffRip Jaggerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09936426877024852134noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8220285230636101823.post-4413741253797978332016-01-20T02:06:05.506-05:002016-01-20T02:06:05.506-05:00The Steranko connection is a fascinating one. I...The Steranko connection is a fascinating one. I'll have to explore that. What Bowie had forty years ago, at least from my distant vantage point was shock, and I'll grant you that has been absorbed by others with increasingly less effect. <br /><br />Rip OffRip Jaggerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09936426877024852134noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8220285230636101823.post-3685299820395678132016-01-20T02:04:29.976-05:002016-01-20T02:04:29.976-05:00I think Bowie was successful because he was his ow...I think Bowie was successful because he was his own focus group and in control of his own marketing. That's the distinction I'd draw. <br /><br />Rip OffRip Jaggerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09936426877024852134noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8220285230636101823.post-87195719243007400852016-01-19T15:01:13.875-05:002016-01-19T15:01:13.875-05:00Bowie was an artist. Audio was his canvas and his ...Bowie was an artist. Audio was his canvas and his albums were his art exhibits. In this age of pop music and artists who are created by marketing campaigns, focus groups, and committees, I think Bowie was something remarkable. I don't always like all of his music either, but I always appreciate the mastery of it like I would a piece of artwork in a gallery or museum.Chimeradavehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14373236451090168388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8220285230636101823.post-29368723127184547052016-01-19T10:17:00.123-05:002016-01-19T10:17:00.123-05:00Really well said & excellent post on your part...Really well said & excellent post on your part here, Russ. I particularly liked and agree with this: “It’s hard to remember how revolutionary he was forty or more years ago, because so much of his approach was adapted and incorporated by every one from Punk Rock to Las Vegas acts to fashion designers to art directors.” I would not have guessed at the Steranko influence…Enlightening…RickMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09023383661211180321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8220285230636101823.post-59013899271056230432016-01-19T09:17:26.129-05:002016-01-19T09:17:26.129-05:00In the context of the times, The Man Who Fell to E...In the context of the times, The Man Who Fell to Earth and Nicolas Roeg's editing were cutting edge. I thought Bowie was really interesting in the vampire film The Hunger. A lot of his appeal may have been a fashionable veneer, but it was imagery that was original to him. Bowie came out of the Art Lab movement in the UK, which also nurtured Alan Moore early on. I think he took less of a rock and roll approach to his work and identified himself more as a creative artist, with himself as a part of his canvas. It's hard to remember how revolutionary he was forty or more years ago, because so much of his approach was adapted and incorporated by every one from Punk Rock to Las Vegas acts to fashion designers to art directors.<br /><br />I remember being really amazed when I encountered Nic Roeg's work on the film Performance, which starred Mick Jagger. His cutting techniques had an influence, I believe on the experimental storytelling of comics artists like Jim Steranko.Russhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04809592629762693427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8220285230636101823.post-36983060130569967792016-01-19T08:08:36.267-05:002016-01-19T08:08:36.267-05:00Bowie spoke to the Outsider in a lot of people who...Bowie spoke to the Outsider in a lot of people who grew up with his music. Too, his music changed, challenged and evolved depending on which period of his life he was working though (the adolescent angst of Hunky Dory for example is a quite a different listen than the synch-based, lyrically sparse Low album for example.) He did have a good eye for surrounding himself with talented people (Mick Ronson, Eno, Robert Fripp, Stevie Ray Vaughn, etc.) I suppose too, one should not lose sight of the fact that he was admittedly doing A LOT of cocaine over this period (including during the filming of The Man Who Fell To Earth.) Also, what he did with this near-posthumous recent release (“Black Star”) seems like it will have people scratching their heads over it for a good long while. Is this just more disposable pop music - or real art in its truest sense? I suppose that’s up to the listener to decide. (I was fortunate enough to see him live once in 2002 and it was a very tight, hit-laden show. . . musically and visually quite stunning.)RickMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09023383661211180321noreply@blogger.com