Ugetsu -Rashomon Renion?

Currently… Frank is working on a 1953 Kenji Mizoguchi film called Ugetsu monogatari. It has all kinds of troubles with the original subtitle layer – often washed in the lack of contrast, or in some cases jumpy text. Basically – lots of hard work.

As we began to so some background on this film, we found that several of the main characters were also stars in Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece, Rashomon. In Ugetsu, Machiko Kyô plays Lady Wakasa and in Rashomon she stars as Masako, Takehiro’s wife. Takehiro is played by Masayuki Mori. Meanwhile back to Ugetsu – Machiko Kyô’s love interest is named Genjurô played by Masayuki Mori. It’s a small world after all!

Also of note – director Kenji Mizoguchi has some really great films to his credit – especially 47 Ronin which is considered by many to be his best. In 1944 – Kenji Mizoguchi directed a film about Japan’s most legendary Samurai – Miyamoto Musashi. Not to be confused with Hiroshi Inagki’s Trilogy, which begins with Samurai One Musashi Miyamoto.

Here’s a few good tips if you are a fan of Samurai battle scenes. Three scenes come to mind immediately…

1) Seven Samurai, final battle scene

2) Throne of Blood – Arrows of Death Scene in part six

3) Samurai Two – Duel at Ichijoji Temple when Takezo takes on 80 guys!

Last Man On Earth Uncle Vinnie

Based on Richard Matheson’s 1964 Sci-Fi novel, The Last Man on Earth is a really cool, scary movie. Complete with killer virus strains, vampies, and one man who faced insurmountable odds to survive. And that man, Richard Morgan is played to the hilt by young man named Vincent Price. Originally released in Italy as L’Ultimo uomo della Terra, The Last Man on Earth is a great film you probably missed.

LTi All-Stars – Tasty House Music

It would be easy to miss out on a cool section offered at LikeTelevision called Zim Zum (watch a promo clip), a musical, comedy variety show we produced in 2000 for our growing base of subscribers with broadband connections. The show was of course, totally underfunded yet filled with a delusional zeal to make a funny and entertaining show all the same. The first episode featured Lite ‘n Lively, the first openly gay rap duo.

And who could ever forget Dodge Benson, best known for his Slim Whitmanesque late night infommercials peddling his latest release, Ooops i done done it again. Or for that matter, Brad Spivey – the Assattackin’ Guy?

And what about the LTi All-Stars, our talented house band of friends and families of LTi. I am afraid you might have missed that… which is a shame, cause the LTi All-Stars ROCKED! See for yourself.

LTi, Michael Jackson & Woody

Woo Woo…. LikeTelevision is featured as one “of the most entertaining and informative TV sites” by The National Enquirer, known for it’s thought provoking essays and high journalistic standards of moral conduct. Best of all, while rumors are swirling – we did not dangle any babies from a balcony to garner the favorable treatment. It didn’t even cost us anything, since by the time we heard about it, the issue had come and gone from magazine racks in our local grocery stores, so we never even got a copy to pass down for generations to come. Darn!

In any event…. it wasn’t a really deep and probing article anyway… but here is what they said about LTi – www.liketelevision.com — Contains thousands of video downloads covering all your favorite shows.

I guess I should send a link to my mom… she’d be so proud.

Felix Gets The Can

LikeTelevision offers a bunch of cool cartoons – but one of favorites has got to be, Felix Gets the Can. In this Klondike classic, Felix gets fed up with the local fishing conditions – and decides to head to Alaska, where the fish are bigger and more plentiful. He rides a dogsled of weinies to the frozen north in search of the big salmon, and gets Felix the Catstuck in the machinery of a canning factory instead. Really funny and also a cool period music score. From 1925 – this Felix rocks!

More New Movie Downloads

Sorry… forgot to post it in the blog – just added some MPG downloads for Francois Truffaut’s gangster classic – Shoot the Piano Player with Charles Aznavour. Also – as a special bonus – Frank pulled out 2 short clips from the movie. Clip One is TRUTH… if I say it, it’s true, and Clip Two proclaims – Television is so marvelous, and you can watch it in bed, move over!

I hope you find time to check this film out. It’s a pretty cool movie, trust me – if I say it, it’s true. After all, the people on tv never tell lies.

Weird Spanking Clips at LikeTelevision

In case you missed it – there’s a really funny toy commercial called Lazy Dazy – which was a doll you could spank, while the babies head rested on a little pillow. Just wait till your Daddy comes home…. we wonder, what then – the belt? Yikes.

A few more Spanking winners – check out John Wayne spanking Maureen O’Hara in McClintock or Tom Thumb getting spanked by an index finger.

Boby Lapointe’s Music Truffaut’s Film

Part of what makes Francois Truffaut’s classic, Shoot the Piano Player so cool is certainly the music, which comes from the wild man musical genius, Boby Lapointe. My favorite bio of Lapointe tells about how he painted a church lime green on Easter Sunday and shaved a tax collector’s dog, an expensive Pekinese Pedigree, clean as the Taco Bell puppy. Lots more to be found in a Boby Lapointe google search of course. One of the coolest songs from the the movie is called Framboise, which means Raspberry. I tried to do a translation via Babelfish after finding the lyrics to Framboise in French… but it came out looking like too much jibberish, which is actually part of Lapointe’s style – he was a lover the absurd… but the computer based translation jukebox took it over the cliff. oh well.

Here’s the update…. the film has been put to tape, encoded for downloads, re-encoded for streams, images… all set. So…. close, but i gotta run. Should be up by Friday… Frank Random is looking to make a preview, so please bear with us.

Roberto Rossellini’s War Epic

We added this terrific film, Open City a while back, but neglected to do a good job letting our users know how good it is. Well.. it is a very good movie. Made at the end of World War II for next to no money, this film is elegant and poignant, well acted and very professional. An amazing feat that Roberto Rossellini pulled off considering the dire times. Married to Ingrid Bergman, Roberto is Isabella Rosellinni’s Dad. And speaking of beautiful woman, Anna Magnani is very attractive in wonderful earthy kind of way. Finally, Aldo Fabrizi as Don Pietro Pelligrini delivers a remarkable and memorable performance. A fine vintage film – check it out.

Still Tweaking Truffaut

Sorry… wish we had it ready for this weekend, but we are still tweaking Truffaut’s classic – Shoot the Piano Player starring Charles Aznavour. We should have it to tape shortly… and then there’s a few days for all the encoding, ….coming soon. We are doing our best.

And after that – a 1953 Samurai classic – Ugetsu monogatari.