Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Bryan Thomas

@munkiman.bsky.social

2.3K followers 1.6K following 7.4K posts

Here for posts on: Music. Films. TV Shows. Writing. 20th Century Fiction/Poetry. Art. History. Science. Humor. Progressive Politics. Photography. Nature. Ecology. Hippies. Navel-Gazing Existentialism. Baseball. Not sure if I'm even in the right place, tbh.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Bryan Thomas @munkiman.bsky.social · 11h

Good riddance & tough titties to the Parents Television and Media Council (PTMC), the "watchdog" group ("Won’t someone think of the children?") who apparently had a problem w/ nipples. They've now filed for bankruptcy. They can go fuck themselves for all I care about them.

The sworn nipple-fighters of the Parents Television Council have filed for bankruptcy

The sworn nipple-fighters of the Parents Television Council have filed for bankruptcy

Bryan Thomas @munkiman.bsky.social · 14h

Ron Dean, beloved Chicago actor for over four decades, has died

Ron Dean, the tough-as-nails character actor in some of Chicago’s most iconic films and television series, has died.

reelchicago.com

Bryan Thomas @munkiman.bsky.social · 14h

R.I.P. tough-as-nails character actor Ron Dean, 87, a former ex-con who appeared in many iconic films and TV series, usually playing cops, detectives & crooks, or basic blue-collar working class Chicagoans of one type or another. I'll list some of his film & TV resume roles in the alt text.

Noteworthy film roles:

The Breakfast Club (1985): Played the father of jock "Andy Clark" (played by Emilio Estevez).

Cocktail (1988): Appeared as Tom Cruise's "Uncle Pat."

The Fugitive (1993): Portrayed "Detective Kelly" in the Harrison Ford film, one of several collaborations with director Andrew Davis.

The Dark Knight (2008): Played "Detective Wuertz," one of his later prominent roles.

Risky Business (1983): Had a part as a detective with a bullhorn in the Tom Cruise breakout film.

Rudy (1993): Played "Coach Yonto."

The Client (1994): Appeared as "Johnny 'Uncle Johnny' Sulari."

Notable television & Chicago-area theatre appearances"

"Early Edition" (1996–2000): Recurred as "Detective Marion 'Zeke' Crumb."

"Frasier" (1994–1998): Recurred as "Frank," a poker buddy of "Martin Crane."

"Crime Story" (1986–1987): Had a recurring role as "Chief Kramer."

"Chicago Fire" (2012–2013) and "Chicago P.D." (2016): Played roles in both Chicago-based television series.

"NYPD Blue" (1994–2004): Appeared in several episodes over the course of the series.

Chicago roots and theater work:

Born and raised in Chicago, Dean was closely associated with the city throughout his career. He was nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award for his work with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 1996. Dean also performed in the Goodman Theatre's 1982 production of David Mamet's Lakeboat.

Bryan Thomas @munkiman.bsky.social · 15h

*known for playing

(DAMN, wish I had an EDIT BUTTON)

Bryan Thomas @munkiman.bsky.social · 15h

I hope Yoshi Yamamoto has a good day on the mound today and gives the Phillies a good whiff of his Linda Ronstadt.

The baseball slang for a fastball that "blew by you" is a "Linda Ronstadt," referencing her 1977 hit song "Blue Bayou."

The term was coined by baseball sportswriter Dave Scheiber in the mid-1980s. He connected the phrase "blew by you" with the soundalike song title "Blue Bayou."

Other sources credit Mets broadcaster Tim McCarver with coining the term.

Bryan Thomas @munkiman.bsky.social · 15h

Comme les deux doigts de la main

YouTube video by Gabriel Yared - Topic

www.youtube.com

Bryan Thomas @munkiman.bsky.social · 15h

YouTube video by Gabriel Yared - Topic

www.youtube.com

Bryan Thomas @munkiman.bsky.social · 15h

C'est le vent, Betty

YouTube video by Gabriel Yared - Topic

www.youtube.com

Bryan Thomas @munkiman.bsky.social · 15h

#OneAlbumADay; Lebanese-French composer Gabriel Yared’s breakthrough came in 1986 with his soundtrack & score music for French director Jean-Jacques Beineix’s Betty Blue. It's notable for fusing jazz & pop, an intuitive "work of love" creation, w/ a significant Brazilian influence. More: alt text

Gabriel Yared's soundtrack music for Betty Blue (Virgin, 1986) is notable for its fusion of jazz and pop, its intuitive "work of love" creation, and a significant Brazilian influence. The score cost around $20,000 to produce.

This music helped launch Yared's international career and earned him a César Award nomination.

Here are three interesting things I read about the score:

1. The soundtrack fuses diverse influences into an intuitive sound. The soundtrack blends a variety of musical styles, including jazz, pop, and classical, with Yared himself playing the electric piano.

The score features an eclectic mix of instruments, such as saxophones, harmonica, synthesizers, and even a calliope. This diverse instrumentation creates a sound that is both complex and cohesive.

Yared's Lebanese and French background, combined with a formative two-year stint playing in Rio de Janeiro, brought a distinct Brazilian rhythmic and harmonic flavor to the music.

2. The music became a collaborative "work of love." Yared had a close working relationship with director Jean-Jacques Beineix and the cast, which fostered an intimate creative process. Working on a small budget with only three other musicians, Yared recalled making demos that he shared with the cast and crew. They enjoyed the music so much that they would hum along with it during filming. This creative synergy made the score a "work of love" that was truly integrated into the film's production.

3. It contrasts the film's intense and manic romance
The score plays a crucial role in capturing the turbulent yet beautiful relationship between the protagonists, "Zorg" and "Betty." In contrast to the film's escalating passions and madness, the music often has a melancholic and nostalgic undertone.

Pieces like "Betty et Zorg" and "Des Orages Pour La Nuit" evoke both the freedom and the sadness of their bond, complementing the movie's mix of poetic atmosphere and unsettling chaos.

Bryan Thomas @munkiman.bsky.social · 15h

Remembering French film director, producer, and screenwriter Jean-Jacques Beineix, born October 8, 1946, in Paris, France (d. January 13, 2022), known for films Diva (1981), Moon in the Gutter (1983, w/ Nastassja Kinski), and Betty Blue (1986), and also for his 1990s documentaries.

Jean-Jacques Beineix's work is considered a prime example of the cinéma du look movement, a post-New Wave style of filmmaking prominent in France during the 1980s.

This visually flamboyant and highly stylized aesthetic often featured protagonists who were alienated and marginalized. The style drew comparisons to music videos and advertising due to its polished and spectacular surface imagery, which was embraced by younger audiences.

Diva (1981): His first feature film, this cult classic psychological thriller helped establish the cinéma du look style. The film follows a young Parisian postman obsessed with a famous American opera singer. His bootleg recording of her performance gets entangled with an incriminating audiotape involving a corrupt police chief.

Diva was noted for its striking visuals, a vivid pop-art sensibility, and its rejection of traditional French filmmaking. Despite a slow initial start in France, word-of-mouth success in the U.S. propelled it to international acclaim. It won four César Awards, including Best First Film.

Betty Blue (1986): This erotically charged film was Beineix's biggest international success. The story follows the intense and destructive romance between Zorg, a handyman and aspiring writer, and Betty, a volatile and passionate young woman. The film is known for Béatrice Dalle's powerful performance in the title role.

Betty Blue received both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Film.

In 1984, Beineix established his own production company to maintain artistic independence. Through Cargo Films, he produced his own feature films and documentaries.

Bryan Thomas @munkiman.bsky.social · 15h

I don't really join clubs anymore (insert the Groucho Marx joke here too), but if there *was* an Antifa organization, I'd probably join, just to get the t-shirt and hat, which I would proudly wear to ICE protests, if I was able to get to those easily (no car these days).

Bryan Thomas @munkiman.bsky.social · 15h

I loved French film director Jean-Jacques Beineix's film 37.2 Le Matin (aka Betty Blue, 1986), and especially the breakout performance by Béatrice Dalle, described variously as "a walking grenade," "one-woman Vietnam," "the patron saint of the abyss," and "Joan of Arc: the suicide bomber version"...

Bryan Thomas @munkiman.bsky.social · 17h

This is funny: "Pitchers who are shaped like cops."

Mize, shaped like a cop

Bryan Thomas @munkiman.bsky.social · 19h

The riderless horse is meant to be David Crosby's, naturally. What a terrific album, and, like so many other great LPs, it was created during recording sessions fraught with tension & infighting, particularly between Roger McGuinn and Crosby. Read Ric Menck's 33 1/3 book about the album for details.

Aquarium Drunkard @aquariumdrunkard.com · 20h

The Byrds :: The Notorious Byrd Brothers

aquariumdrunkard.com/2025/10/08/t...

The many vantage points in which one can dissect the legacy of the Byrds can feel simply boundless. Despite the inner turmoil the record’s spacey psychedelic folk is a time and place never to be replicated.

Bryan Thomas @munkiman.bsky.social · 20h

Love this film!

Bryan Thomas @munkiman.bsky.social · 20h

My posts on Facebook led to a friend of a friend recommending me to someone for a (paying) job writing blogs, which I was able to do from home for about four years.

Bryan Thomas @munkiman.bsky.social · 20h

Talking Heads’ fourth studio LP 'Remain In Light' was released on October 8, 1980. Brian Eno and the band used a Lexicon 224 Digital Reverberator, Lexicon Prime Time delay, a Roland guitar synthesizer & an Eventide H910 Harmonizer to create its distinct, dense polyrhythmic grooves.

(more: alt text)

Talking Heads’ fourth studio album 'Remain in Light' was released on October 8, 1980.

Drummer Chris Frantz and bassist Tina Weymouth had talked about leaving the band in late 1979 (unhappy with David Byrne’s dominating control) and went on vacation in the Bahamas, where they bought an apartment. Byrne visited them in early 1980, and they were able to determine how to best move forward as a group, by composing more collaboratively.

Inspired by African music (especially Fela Kuti) and working with producer Brian Eno to develop songs from instrumental jams, the group brought in guitarist Adrian Belew, singer Nona Hendryx, and engineer/producer Steven Stanley (who Frantz credits with helping to create “Once in a Lifetime”).

Since computer-based sampling was not yet available, the band created loops manually. They would record long jam sessions, isolate the best parts, and commit them to long stretches of magnetic tape. As drummer Chris Frantz recalled, the band acted as "human samplers," learning to play the isolated rhythmic passages repetitively.

The instrumental sections were built up in a discontinuous process, with musicians adding layers one at a time. Eno would turn different instrumental tracks "on and off endlessly" during the mixing process to vary the dense, interlocking grooves.

Engineer Dave Jerden revealed that tape speed was manipulated to create unique sounds. For one instance of "sonic trickery," he and Eno would hit a reel can and a glass, run the recording through a sped-up tape machine, and then play it back at normal speed to create a low, distorted overtone. Speeding up and slowing down the tape was a major part of the experimental process.

In addition to the hands-on tape techniques, the production made bold use of a Lexicon 224 Digital Reverberator, Lexicon Prime Time delay, a Roland guitar synthesizer, and an Eventide H910 Harmonizer (a pitch-shifting and delay unit, named to follow the Eventide H909).

Bryan Thomas @munkiman.bsky.social · 21h

*her character

Bryan Thomas @munkiman.bsky.social · 21h

Happy Birthday to award-winning actress Sigourney Weaver, born October 8, 1949, in Manhattan, NYC! I'm a big fan of the Ang Lee film The Ice Storm (1997), a tale of suburban ennui. He character "Janey Carver" is quite different from all of the sci-fi heroines she's know for playing. More: alt text

Here's an interesting fact about the 1997 film The Ice Storm:

Although the film was critically-acclaimed, it was a box office disappointment, grossing only about $8 million against an $18 million budget. Despite this, the movie performed well at the Cannes Film Festival, where screenwriter James Schamus won the award for Best Screenplay.

Sigourney Weaver's "Janey" is a sophisticated and deeply dissatisfied suburban housewife in 1970s New Canaan, Connecticut. Trapped in an unfulfilling marriage, she has an emotionless affair with her neighbor, "Ben Hood" (Kevin Kline), to escape the ennui of her life.

In one scene, Janey discovers her son "Sandy" playing with explosives. While she confiscates them, she is more annoyed than genuinely concerned, displaying her apathy toward her children.

Here's another interesting factoid or two:

While most of the ice effects were created artificially using hair gel and other materials, director Ang Lee's crew was able to capture footage of a real ice storm. A second-unit team drove through Connecticut at night with a water truck to create ice, and happened to encounter the area's first real ice storm in 30 years.

Instead of relying on nostalgia, director Ang Lee and composer Mychael Danna created a "70s-type" score using unconventional instruments, such as Indonesian Gamelan and Native American flutes. The 1973 hit song "The Morning After" also appears in the movie as an instrumental piece performed by a school orchestra.

Back to Janey: As a stylish, post-hippie-era figure, Janey embodies the sexual liberation of the 1970s, but it provides no real fulfillment for her. She is seen as an early symbol of the discontented, suburban housewife.

The climax of the film comes during a "key party," a symbol of suburban hedonism. Janey's involvement in the event, and her subsequent departure, further highlights her emotional disconnection.

For her role in The Ice Storm, Sigourney Weaver won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. She won the award in 1998.

Weaver said she found Janey to be a "puzzling character" and focused on portraying her quiet, deep dissatisfaction. She presents a hardened, icy exterior, using apathy as a defense mechanism against her own unhappiness.

She treats her affair with Ben as a purely physical transaction, telling him, "You're boring me. I have a husband. I don't particularly feel the need for another."

Bryan Thomas @munkiman.bsky.social · 23h

Jeff Bridges says he's going to start selling this "mu" (not mumu) he's wearing. I think I might need to buy one.

Jeff in his mu

Bryan Thomas @munkiman.bsky.social · 23h

So, 1966?

Bryan Thomas @munkiman.bsky.social · 1d

I’m This Old

Etch A Sketch, the classic drawing toy, was introduced to the U.S. market in 1960, providing endless hours of drawing and erasing fun.

Bryan was also introduced in 1960, providing endless hours of something

Bryan Thomas @munkiman.bsky.social · 1d

@robbierist.bsky.social !!

Bryan Thomas @munkiman.bsky.social · 1d

YouTube video by Dino Valente - Topic

www.youtube.com

Bryan Thomas @munkiman.bsky.social · 1d

Children of the Sun

YouTube video by Dino Valente - Topic

www.youtube.com