newcritics » Steve Gilliard http://newcritics.com/blog1 culture blogging for the good of the planet Sun, 23 Nov 2008 09:05:23 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 en The Cold War’s Movie http://newcritics.com/blog1/2007/02/14/the-cold-wars-movie/ http://newcritics.com/blog1/2007/02/14/the-cold-wars-movie/#comments Wed, 14 Feb 2007 05:31:01 +0000 Steve Gilliard http://newcritics.com/blog1/2007/02/14/the-cold-wars-movie/ Steve McQueenIt starts in a dusty border town, two strangers finishing up work in distant parts, see a group of men refuse to bury a drunk indian. The men, professionals, at which it isn’t quite clear, but pros, drive the hearst up to Boot Hill. When a crowd of men try to stop them, a single gunshot proves they are more than a match for the crowd.

When we talk of Cold War movies, we talk of The Manchurian Candidate, Dr. Strangelove and Seven Days in May.

But none of those movies ever served as an example of what young men could do.

The Magnificent Seven came from Japan, the Seven Samurai, but its ethos could have been developed at the Kennedy School of Special Warfare. Seven men, misfits, wander South of the border to help a Mexican village. After difficulties, they make an alliance……

I mean, you’ve seen the movie by now, but the point I want to make is that the movie embodied everything Special Forces taught, made it noble and worthy, even if the men saving their lives weren’t. What better depicts the American mentality of the Kennedy years than that.

]]> http://newcritics.com/blog1/2007/02/14/the-cold-wars-movie/feed/ The Album of No Return http://newcritics.com/blog1/2007/02/14/the-album-of-no-return/ http://newcritics.com/blog1/2007/02/14/the-album-of-no-return/#comments Wed, 14 Feb 2007 05:02:27 +0000 Steve Gilliard http://newcritics.com/blog1/2007/02/14/the-album-of-no-return/ Revolver - BeatlesHi, I’m Steve Gilliard of The NewsBlog.net. I’ll be posting here when I have time.

Tomorrow Never Knows from Revolver is like looking at a sonic explorer, ready to cast off into the unknown. The song is trippy, but the album changed what rock could be. It wasn’t pop, it certainly wasn’t the blues fueled rock of the Animals and Yardbirds, and it wasn’t the rock and roll of the Stones.

Everyone talks about Sgt. Pepper as the ground breaker, but by that time Pet Sounds was done, and new bands had picked up the sound. It was Revolver which kicked off the journey.

Why?

Because the Beatles had nowhere else to go. The pop was strangling them. They had no public life. They needed to make changes and this was the start

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