Favorite Real-life Films

[Jennifer]

The Vivaldi flower segment

My hands-down favorite was always the one with the close-ups of the droplets of water trickling over the stems and petal of a flower (sunflower? marigold?). The music always haunted me; I was pleased to discover, years later, that it was a classical piece, the Largo part of Vivaldi's Concerto for Lute in D Major (RV 93). At the end of the clip, the camera pulls back to show that the flower is growing in the sidewalk of a city street.

Unfortunately, the clip isn't on any of the Unpaved episodes I taped in the two weeks we had the Noggin preview. And now that I have my own place with digital cable, Noggin isn't showing Unpaved anymore.

Some people on the Sesame Street newsgroup have described this as a sad sketch. They interpret it as a statement on ecology...the flower is trying to survive in a polluted city. I never interpreted it that way. I saw it as a statement on how beauty can hide in the most unexpected places, so we must always be sure to look for it, and appreciate it when we do find it.

I also remember the lost dog one (I even remember the dog's name was Ace!), "Me And My Llama" (I remember my dad getting a kick out of the song), and the "Trying and Trying Again" song with the kitten making her slow but sure way up a flight of stairs.

 

[mikebennidict]

actually it's growing on what loos like either a roof top of a high rise apartment or maybe a roof top restaurant.

 

[Danimal]

Does anyone remeber the I Beam sketch? And if so, are there any pictures, quicktime flicks, any information at all on the web?

 

[CherryPizza]

4)Dustin Hoffman in clown makeup

That was Dustin Hoffman?! I remember the film, but haven't seen it since long before I knew who Dustin Hoffman was

Just to clarify, is it the one where he talks about where all his bits of make-up come from, and they show the reverse-film technique where the make-up goes back into the eyebrow pencil, make-up container until you see the man's naked face?

Ace the dog and the crayon factory always stood out for me... suprisingly enough tho, I was thinking about the Adventure playground film just this morning. I loved that one. Was amazed to come on here and have somebody else reminiscing about it

 

[Chris Von Count]

I remember the crayon factory film too. Here are some of my live film favorites from SS.

-the one where the guy does 18 back handsprings. I remember some kids were counting as he did them, also I really liked the music that was played during the film.

-another film I liked takes place in a resturant kitchen, and at the begining of the film two girls are talking what might be under the clothe that is resting on top of a bowl on the counter. Which is yeast rising, then they do time lapse photography and a quick jazzy guitar piece is played while the yeast is rising, as the girls talk about it.

-the guy that falls into the pool.

-the one with the lumberjack cutting down the match stick, and the tree. I always got a kick out of when they played the film backwards on the tree film, I loved that nifty sound effect it made when it hit the ground.

-the film with the girl making her own wooden stool.

-I absolutly loved this one. It involved people with horses in the "That's a Horse" film showing the different types of horses that people work with everyday. I also loved the catchy music to the film.

-any of the deep sea diver films.

-Joe Raposo's "Everybody Run"

 

[JLG]

I couldn't even start to name favorites, so I won't.

About "Somebody Come and Play". I'm thinking of the one where you see those mountain lions (at least I think they were mountain lions---haven't seen the durn thing in almost a decade) tumbling around in the snow. Does anyone know who that singer was on that track? Whoever it was, he also sang "Go Ahead And Touch", which has a very similar sound. I assume it was Raposo, as usual, devising the instrumentals. "Somebody Come and Play" has stuck with me over the years because it seems so unabashedly sad. It seems so melancholy and wistful. Especially the line "Somebody come and play before it gets too late to begin." For some reason that really gets me. It probably wasn't meant that way, but to me it suggests someone's life passing them by, without any friends to share it with. Add that to that sad-sounding music, the mournful singing, and the gray, snowy scenery, and yeowch.

(Seeing the much peppier remake of it in the late '90s with Susie Kabloozie really killed it fer me. )