Closeup Blog-A-Thon: The Necessary Entry --

Tim Lucas at Video Watchblog often indulges various movie-related 'blogathons,' in which many bloggers create a virtual-community event; the latest Tim is participating in is a "Closeup Blogathon," and his posts start here (and continue afterward),

springboarding from Matt Zoller Seitz's The House Next Door blog post, " The Eyes Have It: Close-Up Blog-a-thon, Oct. 12-21," which explains all.

I usually don't participate, but this one was irresistible -- because there is one film that forever altered my understanding of the human face in cinema; one film that forever changed the function and importance and language of the closeup for this (then teenage) viewer; one film --




Sergio Leone's Il Buono, il brutto, il cattivo/The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (1966; US release December 29, 1967, so I saw it in the fateful year of 1968, the year of 2001: A Space Odyssey and so much more) transformed what movies were, are and could be.

From it's opening shot, in which a desolate western landscape was suddenly eclipsed by Albert Mulock's face, without a cut (Mulock loomed up into the frame from below, left, placing him between the viewer and the blistering vista), Leone's masterpiece literally transmuted landscape into face, face into landscape, as no previous film or filmmaker ever had.


Was there ever a western hero -- excuse me, anti-hero; the "good" moniker is pointedly ironic in the context of Leone's moral universe -- who filled the screen the way Clint Eastwood did? To my impressionable 13-year-old eyes, there wasn't, and to my 52-year-old eyes, there hasn't been a contender since.


Before Eastwood's Blondie (The Man With No Name, named at last, though he was of course dubbed "Joe" by the undertaker in A Fistful of Dollars) dominated the film, the first iconic face -- moving with unnerving feline grace from full-figure framing in a darkened doorway, stepping into that door frame and locking-and-loading the convoluted tale with his first interrogation (over a noisy meal of beans) of a very nervous fellow about one "Bill Carson" -- was none other than the man who shot The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Lee Van Cleef.

Since that monster movie had been the first powerful movie experience of my childhood, my earliest movie memory, Van Cleef was already hard-wired into my brain. Seen in this new context (though I'd seen Van Cleef in many westerns as a boy, those had been experienced on TV -- and he'd never been engraved on my retina in the way Leone was doing so here), synapses fired and exploded in my head.

This lean face, hawk-like nose and narrowed eyes were those of human raptor: "The Bad" indeed. I can hear the Ennio Morricone guitar riff in my head whenever I recall this image:


But greatest of all, my all-time favorite character in any film from any era, was and remains Eli Wallach as Tuco, "The Ugly." If Blondie was what we wished we could be in a dog-eat-dog world, Tuco is what we know ourselves to be. He is everything we fear we appear to be, and know in our hearts we are, however hard we try to transcend this sweaty shell of meat we're locked into. Tuco is appetite, hunger, need, desire, avarice, greed, passion, impulse, that which drives us all, a survivor above all, scraping out whatever he can from the dirt and stupidity of others. Tuco is a ruthlessly Catholic vision of man -- Tuco crosses himself constantly, though he wallows in the mud and dust far from whatever image of God he harbors.

I fell in love with Tuco, this feral mirror image of myself and every man I've ever known, and the love is undimmed from then to now, the fans flamed whenever I re-experience this most magnificent of all westerns.


I could go on and on, but there's really nothing more to say. Leone says it all in the film -- see it, for the first time (oh, how I envy those of you in that place of cinematic virginity!) or again and again and again, as I have and do and will this week.

There's nothing more to say, ah, but to show -- I must to share the final images of Leone's cast of characters, their final closeups. Morricone's blessed score -- amplifying the bird-call I once heard in New Mexico, outside of Cerillos, a cry I laughed aloud at in recognition -- shrieks anew in my head:

AAAAH-EEEEE-AHHH-EEEE-AH!

WAAAHHHHHHH --

WAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH ---

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!

Have a great Sunday, and safe drive back from SPX, all you CCSers -- hope you all did well and have many fond memories and great tales (and sales!) to share...

Friday Flibadejibbit

Howdy, all. Spent the last two days primarily tending to our ill kitty Tuco and sweating my way through a major house chore I had to complete before the school year began. Having to stick close to home, I ended up cleaning up/setting up the garage, which I could do easily in one hour shifts while checking in on Tuco between the workload.

Tuco's been fighting a respiratory illness all week, which had Marge pretty worried. Having had cats for 26 years, I had a trick or two up my sleeve. At the point there was desperate talk about "hydrating" Tuco via a trip to the vet and intravenous feed (yow!), I was able to coax a reluctant Tuco into taking water via a plate of shredded cooked chicken, just hot enough to tease the smell of the meat past his mucous-clogged nostrils (cats open their mouths a bit when they can't breathe easily through their nose, so I tipped a bit of broth onto his upper lip: that did the trick), soaked in warm water. He was at least hydrating then while eating a wee bit, so I didn't worry much. By yesterday noontime, he was willing to lick up Beechnut (low sodium) babyfood -- turkey and broth -- again, with mucho water mixed about it, which he did lick up -- and by later this afternoon he was out of the funk and acting a bit of his old self. Once he stole a jaunt down the basement when I was lugging boxes down there, I knew he was on the mend.

Anyhoot, the garage workload including finally setting up two sets of standing 8'+ shelving units I had cut and removed from our Marlboro home (sigh -- my basement studio). It was an arduous but overdue task, but I had all the necessary tools in place and two sunny enough days to see to it.

Laying ten concrete bricks down to mount the shelving units (which will eventually rack backstock) was easy, once the measurements were down to ensure our cars a comfy fit. It was a bit of a trick jimmy-jamming the two shelving units into place by my lonesome (especially adjusting the blocks afterward, just a hair, to ensure a neat fit), but I got it done. Those are now in place, and the rest was time-consuming but easy-pie, really. Sweep up, some washing up of old wooden palettes etc., giving 'em time to bake and dry in the sun afterwards, then lots of lugging about of boxes and sorting through 15+ years of odd bags, boxes and whatnot of tools, wires, nails, etc. to dispose of what's crap and keep and organize what's worth keeping -- anyhoot, it's done. So there ya go.

In between bouts, I've been emailing back-and-forth with Center for Cartoon Studies folks to organize classes, schedules, trips etc. for the coming fall semester, which is right 'round the corner. We're getting there.

Afterwords, I showered and relaxed a bit, wrapping up two great vintage reads I'll be posting about down the road. We're having guests (Mike and Mary Dobbs) tomorrow, so I'm not going to do much of anything this weekend, save CCS prep work.

I also did a bunch of other shyte, including syllabus writing, working on a gig for Rick Veitch, writing a bunch for the website (the gallery section is a bit more up and operational, BTW), wrapping up a deadline job, fucking about with Marvel Comics, and happily taking in no less than five movies this week, but who cares about that. Tuco, the garage -- that's what matters, right?

Have a great weekend!

Looooooooooooong Puss

Tuco, relaxed as we now are
(Photo by Marjory Bissette)

Tomorrow:
The Short Puss
(aka Beneath the Lounge Chair of the Loooooooooooong Puss)

Cool Cat

Tuco lovin' the sun (photo by G. Michael Dobbs)

Cool Daddy: I was on local TV -- WCAX-TV (Burlington, VT's primary TV station) -- in a story about the Center for Cartoon Studies.

Check it out; scroll down to the "Top Stories- Drawn Here Parts 1 and 2."

Note that one CCSer (hey, Emily!) says, "I was watching it on Windows Media Player on my PC at work and it went right to the part about the school but apparently if you try to watch it on a Mac it plays the whole newscast from the beginning which is a pain."

Full day of CCS duties today; I'll write something more tomorrow. Have a great Wednesday...

Another Day, Another Load --

-- and at last, the end is in sight for this move!

Yesterday, three of the CCS crew still here during vacation break -- Jon-Mikel, Bryan and Joe -- accepted some cash, lunch, beverages and dedicated their day to helping me pack books and comics and zines down in Marlboro.

This utterly bizarre winter weather meant we drove to Marlboro in almost 70 degree comfort and arrived to find -- mud season. I'm a seasoned vet mud driver, but we still scraped bottom for a stretch and the mire almost sucked the Toyota to a dead halt at one point, but we got through and to the old hacienda. I think it threw the trio with me, but better this muck then three feet of snow, drifts and below-zero weather for the move. This completely screwy winter thus far is unnerving and scary, but has been an unexpected and unpredictable boon for Marge and I and the demands of the move. I'm counting our blessings, folks.

We got a lot done, and I think with the additional time I put in later this week and one more push with three more folks next weekend, we'll at last be done. (I'm pretty fried, though, so likely I'll scrape up the dough for professional movers to move the boxes in one shot thereafter -- I have to complete this process, and soon.)

Still, the new owners-to-be are excited and have been great to work with. They've enjoyed popping in at the house, which we encourage, and are already measuring and making their plans for their soon-to-be new home. We close the sale before the last week in January, and they're eager to move in -- just as eager as I am to be out! Marge, bless her, is done with her part of the move, and has made our new Windsor home just that -- a home.

When Jon, Joe, Bryan and I got back to Windsor last night, Bryan and Joe's wives Amanda and Becca were here, and Marge had a delicious supper waiting for one and all.

It was a great way to cap a busy day, and a real treat to entertain in our new digs. Good food, great company, good conversation and the highly entertaining feline hi-jinks of Tuco and Lizzie (Amanda had 'em both leaping like they were in a circus arena, playing with the cats and their new toys) made for a memorable evening. Thanks, one and all!

I finally fell down around 10:30, after everyone had headed back to White River Jct., and slept soundly till 6:30 this morning, which is late for me these days. Then I was up and out for one more packing stretch and carload haul -- before the weather turns nasty tonight. Sigh.

Time to get back to painting the viewing room -- hopefully, sometime soon, I can begin my own process of "nesting" (as Marge calls it). I'm looking forward to it -- maybe soon...

Have a great Sunday, all.