Six Damn Fine Degrees

Six Damn Fine Degrees #160: Hollywood Steps Out

Alan Kuhl Graham5 Comments

Welcome to Six Damn Fine Degrees. These instalments will be inspired by the idea of six degrees of separation in the loosest sense. The only rule: it connects – in some way – to the previous instalment. So come join us on our weekly foray into interconnectedness

When I was a kid the cartoons of Hollywood’s Golden Age were rarely off the television. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies were staples on the schedule, convenient filler for when the channel had five minutes they had to fill up between bigger shows.

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Six Damn Fine Degrees #159: The delightful anarchy of Gremlins 2 (1990)

samlinder4 Comments

Welcome to Six Damn Fine Degrees. These instalments will be inspired by the idea of six degrees of separation in the loosest sense. The only rule: it connects – in some way – to the previous instalment. So come join us on our weekly foray into interconnectedness

The perfect follow-up to the mixed media delight of Who Framed Roger Rabbit (so lovingly remembered in last week’s piece by Julie) for the pre-Christmas season, in my mind, is clearly the most insane, self-referential sequel of them all!

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Six Damn Fine Degrees #158: Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

Julie7 Comments

Welcome to Six Damn Fine Degrees. These instalments will be inspired by the idea of six degrees of separation in the loosest sense. The only rule: it connects – in some way – to the previous instalment. So come join us on our weekly foray into interconnectedness!

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Six Damn Fine Degrees #157: Horses, of courses

Mege3 Comments

Welcome to Six Damn Fine Degrees. These instalments will be inspired by the idea of six degrees of separation in the loosest sense. The only rule: it connects – in some way – to the previous instalment. So come join us on our weekly foray into interconnectedness!

I don’t cringe. There is nothing that makes me Fremdschämen. I have BoJack Horseman for that. He is the disgraced hero (or anti-hero) of his own story, a too rich, but mostly jobless actor in Hollywoo (yes, the d is missing for a reason). His behavior is a disgrace, he is a bumbling idiot, a bad friend and a hapless womanizer. His ex is a pink cat. Yes, you will see them having sex in the pilot. A horse and a cat. If you don’t cringe while watching that series, you never will. It’s a test.

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Six Damn Fine Degrees #156: The Disgrace of Gijón

Alan Kuhl Graham3 Comments

Welcome to Six Damn Fine Degrees. These instalments will be inspired by the idea of six degrees of separation in the loosest sense. The only rule: it connects – in some way – to the previous instalment. So come join us on our weekly foray into interconnectedness!

The Summer of 1982 means only one thing to me: the first Football World Cup I can remember. I’d never before experienced the idea that different countries could play each other at sport. Across the duration of the tournament, I learned about all these nations out there. I learned about their different cultures – especially as expressed through their football. I got to see their different flags, and discovered that I was fascinated about why they had the colours/designs they had. When rivals met on the pitch, I got my first taste of geopolitics.

I mean, I also got to watch some football matches, but its an interest in flags that’s the real legacy.

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Six Damn Fine Degrees #155: Best fiends and purely professional relationships

Matt2 Comments

Welcome to Six Damn Fine Degrees. These instalments will be inspired by the idea of six degrees of separation in the loosest sense. The only rule: it connects – in some way – to the previous instalment. So come join us on our weekly foray into interconnectedness!

So, apparently Alfred Hitchcock wasn’t a huge fan of Ivor Novello? One wonders what Novello thought of Hitchcock. It’s not exactly a secret that Hitch wasn’t always the easiest director to work with. He famously said that all actors should be treated like cattle, and when he said that he was correcting an allegation that he’d supposedly said that actors are cattle. Arguably, his correction didn’t exactly do much to make him look any better. Of course, being treated like cattle might still have been the better deal compared to other ways in which Hitchcock behaved towards his actors – and particularly his actresses. (It’s no accident that one of the sections in the Wikipedia entry on Tippi Hedren’s is titled “Allegations of sexual harrassment”.)

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Six Damn Fine Degrees #154: Ivor Novello – All Downhill From Here?

samlinder3 Comments

Welcome to Six Damn Fine Degrees. These instalments will be inspired by the idea of six degrees of separation in the loosest sense. The only rule: it connects – in some way – to the previous instalment. So come join us on our weekly foray into interconnectedness!

Julie’s wonderful reminder of silent film star Ivor Novello, whose most lasting screen appearance must indeed be Hitchcock’s The Lodger, but whose popular legacy was assured thanks to Robert Altman’s inclusion among the Gosford Park kaleidoscope of characters, reminded me of that other Hitchcock he made – and that’s why for my follow up post, it’s all Downhill from here!

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Six Damn Fine Degrees #153: Ivor Novello in Gosford Park

Julie3 Comments

Welcome to Six Damn Fine Degrees. These instalments will be inspired by the idea of six degrees of separation in the loosest sense. The only rule: it connects – in some way – to the previous instalment. So come join us on our weekly foray into interconnectedness!

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Six Damn Fine Degrees #152: Movies as rollercoaster rides

samlinder2 Comments

Welcome to Six Damn Fine Degrees. These instalments will be inspired by the idea of six degrees of separation in the loosest sense. The only rule: it connects – in some way – to the previous instalment. So come join us on our weekly foray into interconnectedness!

Among the many ways popular American blockbusters have been commercialised and marketed, the theme park ride at locations such as Disneyworld, Universal or Warner Studios literally made rollercoaster rides out of movies designed to shake and thrill their audiences at cinemas to begin with. Jaws (1975), considered by most to be the first true summer blockbuster, still has its legendary spot in Universal Studio City, which I was able to witness this summer going back to L.A.: somewhere along the studio tour and just after passing the original Bates Motel does one drive by remnants of Amity Island, mostly small houses and a pond, in which a scuba diver gets suddenly and unceremoniously eaten in front of visitors’ eyes, just before ‘Bruce’ the shark himself unexpectedly pokes up his mouth out of the water for a quick but intense fright.

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Six Damn Fine Degrees #151: A walk in the park without a dog

Mege2 Comments

Welcome to Six Damn Fine Degrees. These instalments will be inspired by the idea of six degrees of separation in the loosest sense. The only rule: it connects – in some way – to the previous instalment. So come join us on our weekly foray into interconnectedness!

I’ve been to the Europapark with my favourite daughter, and she had the good idea to go take the Valerian ride because she sort of liked Cara Delevigne in the Luc Besson movie. It’s with a virtual reality ride with a sturdy yellow helmet, but it is basically the Eurosat ride inside the silver globe, so that was a great ride for slightly nervous older geezers like me. It was also Luc Besson who co-wrote the series of Arthur and the Minimoys, and he was consulted for the park ride of the same name. It’s for the kids, but it was a pleasant change from the panic-inducing hellride called Blue Fire.

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