Friday, July 31, 2009

ജ CHEERS

Cheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for eleven seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association with Paramount Television for NBC, having been created by the team of James Burrows,Glen Charles, and Les Charles. The show is set in the Cheers bar (named for the toast "Cheers") in Boston, Massachusetts, where a group of locals meet to drink and have fun. The show's theme song was written by Judy Hart Angelo and Gary Portnoy and performed by Portnoy; its famous refrain, "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" also became the show's tagline.

After premiering on September 30, 1982, it was nearly cancelled during its first season when it ranked last in ratings for its premiere (77th out of 77 shows). However, Cheers eventually became a highly rated television show in the United States, earning a top-ten rating during eight of its eleven seasons, including one season at #1, and spending the bulk of its run on NBC's "Must See Thursday" lineup. Its widely watchedseries finale was broadcast on May 20, 1993. The show's 273 episodes have been successfully syndicated worldwide, and have earned 26 Emmy Awards from a record 111 nominations. The character Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) was featured in his own successful spin-off, Frasier, which included guest appearances by most of the major Cheers characters. [wikipedia]



Making your way in the world today
Takes everything you've got;
Taking a break from all your worries
Sure would help a lot.
Wouldn't you like to get away?

Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody knows your name,
And they're always glad you came;
You want to be where you can see,
Our troubles are all the same;
You want to be where everybody knows your name.

You want to go where people know,
People are all the same;
You want to go where everybody knows your name.


Can remember vividly while watching this TV series with Tony Tan back in the 80s that this would be our future venture when we are about to semi retire to run this kind of business but as we eventually grow older and more spiritually inclined the thought vanished, got chilled and frozen and *poof*. Three C:H:E:E:R:S to you Tony!!!

Thursday, July 30, 2009

ജ GILLIGAN'S ISLAND

Gilligan's Island was an American TV sitcom originally produced by United Artists Television. It aired for three seasons on the CBS network, from September 26, 1964 to September 4, 1967. It was originally sponsored by Philip Morris & Company and Procter & Gamble. The show followed the comic adventures of seven castaways as they attempted to survive and ultimately escape from a previously uninhabited island where they were shipwrecked. In 2002, Gilligan's Island came back as a reality show, similar to Survivor, where seven contestants were shipwrecked on an island. They then had to recreate the original Gilligan's Island sitcom with costumes and props.



Gilligan's Island ran for a total of 98 episodes. The first season (consisting of 36 episodes) was filmed in black-and-white, though colorized in later syndication. However, the next two seasons (62 episodes) and three TV movie sequels were filmed in color. Enjoying solid ratings during its original run, the show grew in popularity during decades of syndication. Today, the title character of Gilligan is widely recognized as a comedic American popular culture icon. [wikipedia]

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

ജ L.A. LAW

L.A. Law is an American television legal drama that ran from 1986 to 1994. L.A. Law reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s and many of the cases on the show dealt with hot topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay rights, homophobia, sexual harassment, AIDS, and domestic violence. The series was set in and around the fictitious Los Angeles law firm McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney and Kuzak, located in the 444 Flower Building, and featured attorneys at the firm and various members of the support staff.



The show won numerous awards, including the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series in 1987, 1989, 1990, and 1991. Some of the actors, such as Larry Drake, also received Emmys for their performances. The series shares the Emmy Award record for most acting nominations by regular cast members (excluding the guest performer category) for a single series in one year with Hill Street Blues and The West Wing.

For the 1988-1989 season, nine cast members were nominated for Emmys. Larry Drake was the only one to win (for Supporting Actor). The others nominated were Michael Tucker (Lead Actor), Jill Eikenberry and Susan Dey (for Lead Actress), Richard Dysart and Jimmy Smits (Supporting Actor), Amanda Plummer, Susan Ruttan and Michele Greene (for Supporting Actress).

It was listed as #42 on Entertainment Weekly's list of The New Classics in the July 4, 2008 issue. [wikipedia]

Sunday, July 26, 2009

ജ Yasmin Ahmad 1958-2009 R.I.P.

Yasmin Ahmad (July 1, 1958 - July 25, 2009) was a critically-acclaimed multi-award winning film director, writer and scriptwriter from Muar, Johor Malaysia. Gone too soon another great person who shared the same breaking barriers of colors and race as MJ has left us. Yasmin Ahmad has died from massive bleeding in the brain after a three day battle in hospital. A great loss to Malaysians and the film industry. Thank you so much for being different, for the love of mankind, for racial harmony and for being yourself. (picture courtesy of The Star)


Sepet - Won the Grand Prix at Creteil Women's Film Festival, France and Best Asian Film Award at Tokyo International Film Festival. Malaysian Film Festival awards for Most Original Story and Best Film (2005) Sepet


Mukhsin - Won the Grand Prix from Kinderfilmfest International Jury and a Generation K-Plus Crystal Bear Special Mention at the 57th International Film Festival.


Malaysia Film Festival awards for Best Screenplay and Best Film (2006) Gubra.


Talentime - Selected for this year's Tokyo International Film Festival in Oct 2009. Last November, Yasmin Ahmad was inducted into the inaugural Malaysian Advertising Hall of Fame by the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia.

Filmography

Films
Rabun (My Failing Eyesight) (2003)
Sepet (Chinese Eye) (2004)
Gubra (Anxiety) (2006)
Mukhsin (2007)
Muallaf (The Convert) (2008)
Talentime (2009)

Commercials
Petronas TV Commercial (for Chinese New Year, Hari Raya, Deepavali & National Day)
Yuzy (2000) Petronas Road Safety Campaign
Vas Dentures (2000) Celcom
Tan Hong Ming In Love (2007) Petronas Merdeka Day commercial
Family (2008) for the Singaporean Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports
Funeral (2009) for the Singaporean Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports

Awards and nominations
ö Malaysia Video Awards for Best Director (1999) - 'Forgiving' Petronas commercial
ö Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia's Golden Kancil Award for Best Advertising Agency (1999/2000)
ö Malaysia Video Awards silver award for Best Scriptwriting (2000)'Yuzy' Petronas Road Safety Campaign
ö Malaysia Video Awards bronze award for Best Scriptwriting (2000)'Vas Dentures' Celcom
ö Malaysia Film Festival awards for Most Original Story and Best Film (2005) 'Sepet'
ö Malaysia Film Festival awards for Best Screenplay and Best Film (2006) 'Gubra'
ö Berlin International Film Festival Grand Prix award by the Kinderfilmfest International Jury and Generation K-Plus Crystal Bear Special Mention (2007) 'Mukhsin'
[wikipedia]


We sure gonna miss all those lovely, touching and meaningful Petronas TV commercial during the festive seasons.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

ജ JAMES B007ND

James Bond 007 is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelvenovels and two short story collections. The character has also been used in the longest running and most financially successful English language film franchise to date, starting in 1962 with Dr. No. After Fleming's death in 1964, subsequent James Bond novels were written by Kingsley Amis (as Robert Markham), John Pearson, John Gardner, Raymond Benson and Sebastian Faulks. Moreover, Christopher Wood novelised two screenplays, Charlie Higson wrote a series on a young James Bond while other writers have authored unofficial versions of the character.



Commander Sir James Bond, *(KCMG, RNVR) is an officer of the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) (commonly known as MI6). He was created in January 1952 by British journalist Ian Fleming while on holiday at his Jamaican estate, Goldeneye. The hero, James Bond, was named after an American ornithologist, a Caribbean bird expert and author of the definitive field guide book Birds of the West Indies. Fleming, a keen birdwatcher, had a copy of Bond's field guide at Goldeneye. Of the name, Fleming once said in a Reader's Digest interview, "I wanted the simplest, dullest, plainest-sounding name I could find, 'James Bond' was much better than something more interesting, like 'Peregrine Carruthers.' Exotic things would happen to and around him, but he would be a neutral figure — an anonymous, blunt instrument wielded by a government department."
*KCMG~Order of St Michael & St George, RNVR~Royal Naval Vounteer Reserve



James Bond 007 is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. The character has also been used in the longest running and most financially successful English language film franchise to date, starting in 1962 with Dr. No. After Fleming's death in 1964, subsequent James Bond novels were written by Kingsley Amis (as Robert Markham), John Pearson, John Gardner, Raymond Benson and Sebastian Faulks. Moreover, Christopher Wood novelised two screenplays, Charlie Higson wrote a series on a young James Bond while other writers have authored unofficial versions of the character.



In the late 1950s, EON Productions guaranteed the film adaptation rights for every 007 novel except for Casino Royale (those rights were recovered in 1999). In 1962, the first adaptation Dr. No was made, which featured Sean Connery as 007. Connery starred in six more films after his initial portrayal (including 1983's Never Say Never Again, which was not part of the EON series). George Lazenby replaced Connery (for one film) before the latter's last EON film, after which the part was played by Roger Moore (for seven films), Timothy Dalton (for two films), Pierce Brosnan (for four films) and Daniel Craig (two films to 2008). As of 2008, there have been 22 films in the EON series. The 21st film, Casino Royale, with Daniel Craig as James Bond, premiered on 14 November 2006, with the film going on general release in Asia and the Middle East the following day. Notably, it is the first Bond film to have been released in China. The second James Bond film to feature Daniel Craig is Quantum of Solace, which gets its title from a short story of the same name by Ian Fleming (For Your Eyes Only, 1960), but shares no similarities with the plot. Daniel Craig is expected to return as James Bond for a third movie in the as yet unnamed "Bond 23."

The film series has grossed over $4 billion (£2 Billion) (nearly $11 billion when adjusted for inflation) worldwide, making it the highest grossing film series ever. The 22nd and newest movie in the series, Quantum of Solace, was released in the UK on 31 October 2008. As of 9 November 2008, global box office totals for Quantum of Solace were almost $161 million (£ 103 million), placing the Bond series ahead of the Harry Potter film series even when not adjusting for inflation.



The "James Bond Theme" was written by Monty Norman and was first orchestrated by the John Barry Orchestra for 1962's Dr. No, although the actual authorship of the music has been a matter of controversy for many years. In 2001, Norman won £30,000 in libel damages from the British paper The Sunday Times, which suggested that Barry was entirely responsible for the composition.

Barry did go on to compose the scores for eleven Bond films in addition to his uncredited contribution to Dr. No, and is credited with the creation of "007", used as an alternate Bond theme in several films, as well as the popular orchestrated theme "On Her Majesty's Secret Service." Both the "James Bond Theme" and "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" have been remixed a number of times by popular artists, including Art of Noise, Moby, Paul Oakenfold, and the Propellerheads. The Beatles used a portion of the "Bond theme" in the introduction of their song "Help" as released on the American version of the "Help" LP. The British/Australian string quartet also named bond (purposely in lower case) recorded their own version of the theme, entitled "Bond on Bond." [wikipedia]

James Bond Junk Bond Yankee Bond Loger Bond Conering Bond whatever Bond, I'm bonded never missed any Bond movie :)

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

ജ DALLAS

Dallas is an American prime-time television soap opera that originally ran from 1978 to 1991. It revolved around the Ewings, a wealthy Texas family in the oil and cattle-ranching industries. The show debuted in April 1978 as a five-part miniseries on the CBS network, and then was broadcast on that network for 13 seasons from 1978 to 1991. Dallas was one of the most successful and longest-running shows in American prime-time television history, and was also hugely successful across the world. The show was known for its wealth, sex, intrigue, and power struggles. When the series began, the founder of Ewing Oil and patriarch of the Ewing family was Jock (veteran movie actor Jim Davis), an oil tycoon and also his only love, Elleanor "Ellie" Southworth (veteran stage/movie actress Barbara Bel Geddes). Together, Jock and Miss Ellie raised three sons, J.R. (played by Larry Hagman), Gary (David Ackroyd and later Ted Shackelford) and Bobby (Patrick Duffy). J.R., the eldest Ewing son, totally unscrupulous and unhappily married to a former Miss Texas, Sue Ellen Shepard Ewing (Linda Gray), was frequently at-odds with his youngest brother, Bobby, who displayed the morals and integrity that his eldest brother lacked. Bobby is married to Pamela Barnes (Victoria Principal). J.R., who loathed the Barnes family, was not happy with Pam living at Southfork and tried to constantly undermine her marriage to his brother Bobby.



Creator David Jacobs originally came up with an idea for a drama series about four married couples (which would later become the spin-off series Knots Landing), but CBS wanted a glitzy "saga-like" show. Jacobs therefore created Dallas, a series about a wealthy family in the oil business. When Dallas proved to be a hit, CBS reconsidered Jacobs' original idea and turned Knots Landing into a spin-off of Dallas in late 1979. The Dallas miniseries that started in April 1978 was shot entirely on location in Dallas, Texas. Later, most interiors for the show were shot at the MGM studios in Hollywood. Exteriors were shot at the Southfork Ranch in Parker, Texas, and other parts of Dallas, until 1989, when rising production costs led to all filming being relocated in California. [wikipedia]





Wow! Time really flies like the saying goes "time and tide wait for no man"...

Monday, July 20, 2009

ജ JAWS

Jaws is a 1975 American horror/thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's best-selling novel. The police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant great white shark by closing the beach, only to be overruled by the town council, which wants the beach to remain open to draw a profit from tourists during the summer season. After several attacks, the police chief enlists the help of a marine biologist and a professional shark hunter. Roy Scheider stars as police chief Martin Brody, Richard Dreyfuss as marine biologist Matt Hooper, Robert Shaw as shark hunter Quint, Lorraine Gary as Brody's wife Ellen, and Murray Hamilton as Mayor Larry Vaughn.



Jaws eventually grossed more than $470 million worldwide and was the highest grossing box office film until Star Wars debuted two years later. John Williams contributed the Academy-Award winning film score, which was ranked sixth on the American Film Institute's 100 Years of Film Scores. The main "shark" theme, a simple alternating pattern of two notes, E and F, became a classic piece of suspense music, synonymous with approaching danger. The soundtrack piece was performed by tuba player Tommy Johnson.



When asked by Johnson why the melody was written in such a high register and not played by the more appropriate French horn, Williams responded that he wanted it to sound "a little more threatening". [wikipedia]

{Yes John Williams, you did it! Not a "little more threatening" but it's certainly terrifying. After seeing the movie a few days later the gang of 6, the late Alain, Canny, Peter, Ringo, William and yours truly settled for a swim at Shamrock Beach, Penang and guess what? The sound of the tuba and the vision of fins seriously distorted our minds with wild imagination which curtailed our swim.}S@n

Sunday, July 19, 2009

ജ MISSION IMPOSSIBLE

Mission:Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force (IMF). The leader of the team for all but the first season was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves. A hallmark of the series shows Phelps receiving his instructions on a tape that then self destructs, accompanied by the theme music composed by Lalo Schifrin, which is widely considered to be one of the most iconic television themes.



This 7-year series chronicled the adventures of the Impossible Missions Force (IMF), a team of government spies and specialists who were offered "impossible missions" (should they decide to accept them) by the unseen "Secretary". Although the cast varied over the years, the main characters included The Team Leader (Dan Briggs the first season, then Jim Phelps the other six), The Techno-Wizard (Barney Collier), The Strongman (Willy Armitage), The Master of Disguise (first Rollin Hand, then The Amazing Paris), and The Femme Fatale (Cinnamon Carter, Dana Lambert, Casey, Mimi Davis). The series is best known for its standard (but not invariable) opening mission contact (conducted by a pre-recorded message), the theme composed by Lalo Schifrin, the leader's selection of mission agents from a dossier, the opening briefing, the intricate use of disguises and a typical "mask pulloff" scene near the end of most episodes, and the relative lack of characterization of the characters.



The series aired on the CBS network from September 1966 to March 1973. It returned to television, as a revival, for two seasons on ABC, from 1988 to 1990 and later inspired a popular trio of theatrical motion pictures starring Tom Cruise in the 1990s and 2000s, with the role of Phelps played by Jon Voight. [wikipedia]


Starring : Peter Graves|Thaad Penghlis|Tony Hamilton|Phil Morris|Terry Markwell

Paramount Pictures~Starring : Tom Cruise

Saturday, July 18, 2009

ജ THE TWILIGHT ZONE

The Twilight Zone is an American television anthology series created by Rod Serling. Each episode (156 in the original series) is a mixture of self-contained fantasy, science fiction, suspense, or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist. A popular and critical success, it introduced many Americans to serious science fiction and abstract ideas through television and also through a wide variety of Twilight Zone literature. The program followed in the tradition of earlier radio programs such as The Weird Circle and X Minus One and the radio work of Serling's hero, dramatist Norman Corwin.
The success of the original series led to the creation of two revival series: a cult hit series that ran for several seasons on CBS and in syndication in the 1980s, and a short-lived UPN series that ran from 2002 to 2003. It would also lead to a feature film, a radio series, a comic book, a magazine and various other spin-offs that would span five decades.
Aside from Serling himself, who crafted nearly two-thirds of the series' total episodes, writers for The Twilight Zone included leading genre authorities such as Charles Beaumont, Richard Matheson, Jerry Sohl, George Clayton Johnson, Earl Hamner, Jr., Reginald Rose, Harlan Ellison and Ray Bradbury. Many episodes also featured adaptations of classic stories by such writers as Ambrose Bierce, Lewis Padgett, Jerome Bixby and Damon Knight.
Rod Serling coined the title himself, but only after the series aired did he discover that the "twilight zone" was a term applied by the US Air Force to the terminator, the imaginary border between "night" and "day" on a planetary body.



Music
The original moody title theme for The Twilight Zone was composed by Bernard Herrmann.
The well known Twilight Zone theme that began in the second season was written by avant garde composer Marius Constant.
Other contributors to the music for the original television show are Jerry Goldsmith, Nathan Van Cleave, Leonard Rosenman, Fred Steiner, and Franz Waxman.
Marty Manning released an album inspired by the series in 1961.
The music for Twilight Zone: The Movie was composed by Jerry Goldsmith.
The theme for the 1985 The Twilight Zone television series was performed by The Grateful Dead.
Canadian rock band Rush recorded "The Twilight Zone" on their epic 1976 album 2112 and released it as a single. [wikipedia]

Thursday, July 16, 2009

ജ THE SAINT

The Saint was a long-running ITC mystery spy thriller, airing in Britain on ITV between 1962 and 1969. It centered on the Leslie Charteris literary character, Simon Templar—a Robin Hood-like adventurer with a penchant for disguise. Because of the strong American performance of the initial black-and-white seasons in first-run syndication, NBC picked up the show as a summer replacement on its evening schedule in 1966. Thus, the programme ended its run with both trans-Atlantic prime time scheduling and colour episodes. It also proved popular beyond America and Britain, eventually premiering in over 60 countries. With almost 120 episodes, the programme is exceeded only by The Avengers as the most productive show of its genre produced in Britain.



The Saint starred Roger Moore as Simon Templar, The first series was in black and white. The fictional detective was created by Leslie Charteris in the 1920s and featured in many novels and novellas over the years. Moore drove a white Volvo P1800 during the series. Moore's portrayal of Templar was considered a training ground for his later work as James Bond. He was reportedly offered the role of 007 at least twice during the run of the series, but had to turn it down both times due to his television commitments. In one early episode of the series, a character actually mistakes Templar for James Bond. [wikipedia]

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

ജ THE FLINTSTONES

The Flintstones is an animated American television sitcom that ran from 1960 to 1966 on ABC. Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions (H-B), The Flintstones is about a working class Stone Age man's life with his family and his next door neighbor and best friend. This show played like a prehistoric Honeymooners and its popularity rested heavily on its juxtaposition of modern-day concerns in the Stone Age setting. The first prime-time animated series geared for adults, the show originally aired from 1960 to 1966 on the ABC network. [wikipedia]





Yabba-Dabba-Dooooooo.. that's Frederick Joseph "Fred" Flintstone's catchphrase, voiced by actor Alan Reed. Oh sure missed Wilma, Pebbles & Dino and the Rubbles - Barney, Betty and Bamm-Bamm.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

ജ TECHNORATI

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ജ TOP GUN

Top Gun is a 1986 American film directed by Tony Scott and produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer in association with Paramount Pictures. The screenplay was written by Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr., and was inspired by an article written by Ehud Yonay for California Magazine entitled "Top Guns." The film stars Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, Anthony Edwards, Val Kilmer and Tom Skerritt.

The film follows LT Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, a young Naval aviator who aspires to be a top fighter pilot in the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School, which trains the top 1% of all Naval aviators. Maverick gets his chance to attend the school after one of the pilots drop out, allowing him and his RIO (Radar Intercept Officer, the "back seater" in the two-man F-14 Tomcat) LTJG Nick "Goose" Bradshaw to train with the best. The film opened in America on May 16, 1986 to good reviews, the aerial scenes being most notably praised. Similar praise followed soon afterwards when the film broke records at the box office, becoming a mega hit. The film accumulated over $350 million worldwide, and broke home-video sales records.



"Top Gun Anthem" is an instrumental rock song played on guitar by Steve Stevens. It was the theme for the 1986 film Top Gun and was featured on the soundtrack. Many people have confused "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins, also featured on the soundtrack, as the theme song. "Top Gun Anthem" won a 1987 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance. The song's music video, directed by Dominic Sena, shows Harold Faltermeyer playing the piano and Stevens on electric guitar in a hangar with Naval aircraft. This video was re-released within the 2004 Top Gun Collector's Edition DVD. Since the advent of peer-to-peer filesharing networks, the song is often misattributed to Joe Satriani or Eddie Van Halen.



"Take My Breath Away" is the name of a love song from the film Top Gun (1986). The song was written by Giorgio Moroder and Tom Whitlock, performed by the band Berlin. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song in 1987. [wikipedia]

Monday, July 13, 2009

ജ THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Italian: il Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo) is a 1966 Italian epic spaghetti western film directed by Sergio Leone, starring Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach in the title roles. The screenplay was written by Age & Scarpelli, Luciano Vincenzoni and Leone, based on a story by Vincenzoni and Leone. Director of photography Tonino Delli Colli was responsible for the film's sweeping widescreen cinematography and Ennio Morricone composed the famous film score, including its main theme. It is the third and final film in the Dollars trilogy following A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and For a Few Dollars More (1965). The plot centers around three gunslingers competing to find a fortune in buried Confederate gold amid the violent chaos of gunfights, hangings, and Civil War battles and prison camps.



Opening on December 15, 1966 in Italy and in the U.S. on December 23, 1967, the film grossed $6.1 million, but was criticized for its depiction of violence. Leone explains that "the killings in my films are exaggerated because I wanted to make a tongue-in-cheek satire on run-of-the-mill westerns... The west was made by violent, uncomplicated men, and it is this strength and simplicity that I try to recapture in my pictures." To this day, Leone's effort to reinvigorate the timeworn Western is widely acknowledged: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly has been described as European cinema's best representative of the Western genre film, and Quentin Tarantino has called it "the best-directed film of all time." [wikipedia]




Ennio Morricone, OMRI (born November 10, 1928) is an Italian Academy Award-winning composer. He has composed and arranged scores for more than 500 film and television productions. Morricone wrote the characteristic soundtracks of Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) as well as The Great Silence (1968), and My Name Is Nobody (1973). His more recent compositions include the scores for The Thing (1982), Once Upon A Time In America (1984), The Mission (1986), The Untouchables (1987), Cinema Paradiso (1988), Lolita (1997),The Legend of 1900 (1998), Malèna (2000), Mission to Mars (2000) and Fateless (2005). Ennio Morricone has won five Anthony Asquith Awards for Film Music by BAFTA in 1979–1992. He has been nominated for five Academy Awards for Best Music, Original Score in 1979–2001, winning none of them. Morricone received the Honorary Academy Award in 2007 "for his magnificent and multifaceted contributions to the art of film music". He was the second composer to receive this award after its introduction.



Morricone was born in Rome, the son of Libera and Mario Morricone, a jazz trumpeter. He was educated at the National Academy of Santa Cecilia in the trumpet, composition, choral music and choral direction under Goffredo Petrassi, who deeply influenced him and to whom Morricone has dedicated concert pieces. Impelled by his father to take up the trumpet, he had first gone to Santa Cecilia to take lessons on the instrument at the age of 9. Ennio formally entered the conservatory in 1940 at the age of 12, enrolling in a four-year harmony program. According to various reports, he completed it in two years or six months (date approximate). These were the difficult years of World War II in the heavily bombed "Open City": the composer remarked that what he mostly remembered of those years was the hunger. Many years were spent in study, giving him the extraordinary level of technical ability that his music exhibits. His wartime experiences influenced many of his scores for films set in that period. [wikipedia]

Sunday, July 12, 2009

ജ AIRWOLF

Airwolf is an American television series that ran from 1984 through 1987. The program concerned a high-tech military helicopter, code named Airwolf, and her crew as they undertook various missions, many involving espionage, with a Cold War theme. The show was created by Donald Bellisario. The first three seasons starred Jan-Michael Vincent, Ernest Borgnine, Alex Cord, and Jean Bruce Scott. The final season, for the USA network, was recast. The show had a musical score (orchestral-based in the first and early second season episodes; synthesizer-based thereafter) composed and performed by Sylvester Levay.



The flying Airwolf helicopter was actually a Bell 222, sometimes unofficially called a Bell 222A, whose serial number was 47085. During filming of the series, the helicopter was owned by Peter J. McKernan Sr.'s JetCopters Inc. of Van Nuys, CA. The helicopter was eventually sold after the show ended and became an ambulance helicopter in Germany, where it crashed and was destroyed in a thunderstorm on June 6, 1992. The concept behind Airwolf was a supersonic and armed helicopter that could blend in by appearing to be civilian and non-military in origin – "a wolf in sheep's clothing."


Jan-Michael Vincent (born July 15, 1944) is an American actor best-known for his role as helicopter pilot Stringfellow Hawke on the 1980s U.S. television series Airwolf (1984–1986), which continues to enjoy a large cult fanbase. Vincent had an extensive television and film career that began in the late 1960s and lasted until the early 2000s. [wikipedia]


Have been using this Airwolf theme as ringing tone for my mobile phone since the day I got hold of my first mobile phone until today, phew almost 20 years. One of my fave TV show back then when I was a kid. Jan-Michael Vincent is pretty cool...