I couldn’t really have an A-Z list of music videos without mentioning Queen. The band practically invented the concept way back in 1975 with the video for Bohemian Rhapsody. However, it is not that video I have chosen today. Instead I have picked one from a later album and the track is called Save Me. It comes from the album The Game which was released in 1979 and for me really started the whole ball rolling in terms of their commercial success in the charts. Yes they had had one or two hits, but I think this album marked the start of their constant role in the make up of the UK music chart.
Save Me is a really good song and the video is a really nice blend of live action and animation. However, it is the way that the animated segments of the shoot merge back into the live shots as you will see from the video below. I find the whole thing quite moving in fact and the final shot when Freddie is reaching for the dove appears quite poignant in the whole Queen story.
Queen of course did many great music videos. The Miracle used mini members of Queen, I want To Break Free featured the band dressed in drag, and of course who can forget Radio Ga-Ga with the whole crowd clapping in unison, but I have always preferred the earlier side of Queen’s music and Save Me is one of the heights for me in terms of music and vision.
What is your favourite Queen video? There are so many to choose from, comment below with your opinions =)
When I signed up for the A-Z this year (being the second time I have participated), I was determined that I would be much more organised than I had been in my first year. I managed to do that this year and once I had decided on my chosen theme, writing the posts was actually relatively easy.
The subject matter was the hardest part for me to decide upon for this year’s challenge. Being the geek that I am, I knew it had to be something pretty nerdy and I finally came up with Modes of Transport in TV & Film. From the comments that have been left on my blog entries throughout this year’s challenge, I feel that I accomplished what I had sought out to do and have revisited some great shows and films, and indeed reminded a lot of people of some excellent memories from their childhood.
There were a few letters that I did struggle with for a short time, namely – Y & Z, but other than that, I think I covered pretty much every form of transport you can think of, and perhaps a few that were unexpected. I’d like to thanks everyone who visited my blog and posted comments, and for those of you that I didn’t get to visit, I hope to at some point in the future. Most of all though, I would like to thank once again the organisers of this great blog tour and I hope to participate again next year. Hopefully with something equally as fun as this year’s theme. I now officially announce that I am an A-Z April Challenge 2013 SURVIVOR! and here’s the badge to prove it! =)
Hello again and welcome to this year’s A-z Blogging Challenge for April 2013. As I mentioned yesterday, a slight change of theme this year as I sit down with you all and discuss Modes Of TransportationIn Television & Film. Now this can be anything from a car or spaceship to the likes of jumping through time and space via wormholes or even a phone booth! I hope you will enjoy reading my posts and feel free to comment on them with your memories and likes about each one, and its now time to move onto the letter “B”, which can only really mean one thing…
“B” is for “Batmobile” Batman has been a favourite comic book character since I was a little boy. Not my bestest favourite, but right up there 😉 Now, any rich vigilante with expensive gadgets will tell you (because Batman of course is NOT a superhero, owing to the fact that he has no super-powers) that they need some form of getting from A to B. The Dark Knight decided on a car as his main mode of transport for getting quickly to scenes of crime in Gotham City and his vehicle has seen many forms over the years in TV & Film. Now before the die-hard fans start nit-picking, I appreciate that there are more than these ones (video games and graphic novels etc) but I am focussing solely on TV & Film. Lets look at the evolution of the Batmobile.
The 1960s Original Batmobile (Adam West)
We start in the 1960s when Adam West and Burt Ward were rocking the Batcave with some “Holy Hotwheels” with their converted Lincoln Futura, painted in jet black with a red trim. Now not only does this car look great, it’s the nearest we get to an actual road car that the real caped crusader would have had access to at the time. I mainly remember watching the show and seeing the Batmobile firing up its jet thruster and racing out of the Batcave and heading off to aid Commissioner Gordon in his fight against crime in Gotham City, but I think that now I am growing older and have a more rounded appreciation for things of yester year, I realise now that this is the nicest of all the Batmobiles. It all goes a bit wild from here, but there is a 20 year wait for the next step in evolution’s great journey.
Michael Keaton’s 1989 Batmobile
The Batman franchise was resurrected in 1989 starring Michael Keaton as Batman and Jack Nicholson as The Joker. As this was a much bigger budget than the previous TV and film efforts, there was much more scope for coming up with something entirely new to help Batman in his fight against crime. The result is the above car. Resembling something like a rocket car and a huge phallus, this vehicle is certainly memorable in its design.
This version of the Batmobile has much more weaponry that its predecessor including machine guns, bombs, shields and an anchor for making extreme turns. For me, this was the last decent looking Batmobile on the silver screen. I loved the fact that everything was black, and it should be. Batman was never about being showy when it came to his equipment. Black is his colour and it makes everything simple and especially for night use it is the perfect disguise for hiding in the shadows. The following Batmobiles are my least favourite and they actually just don’t do that much for the character either.
Val Kilmer’s Car Used in Batman Forever
With its fancy silver trim and possibly one of the largest fins in automobile history, this car does nothing but draw attention to itself. It is shaped like something akin to a shark or an alien from the movie of the same name (which in itself is interesting because HR Giger was initially involved in its design), but look at those wheel arches, just hideous. Also, during the conversion of this car, they couldn’t have done something a little better with the headlights? Stuck on the front there like they were an afterthought. Uurgh, just horrible. Also, there is no way that thing is getting into an underground car park with the monstrosity sticking on the back of it. I can see the conversation at the car body shop now “I think I ordered the LARGE tail-fin? HELLO!”. Lets move on…
George Clooney’s Batmobile (1997)
This is slightly better, but still a little too extravagant for me. I think it is more like something Dracula would drive in a poor 1980s cartoon. There is also no way that thing is getting over speed bumps either, the ground clearance is ridiculous! Of course, by now the franchise was very tired and the movie Batman & Robin should have never been made anyway, it is truly awful and the car does nothing to redeem anything about the film in any way. And so the Batman franchise died with the box office disaster and so did the cars. The comics and graphic novels did continue to bring forth new incarnations of the Batmobile, but it wouldn’t be until 2005 that we see a much simpler, less fancy design of the Batmobile.
Christian Bale’s Batman “Tumbler”
When the Batman movie franchise was rebooted in 2005, Bruce Wayne was looking for a vehicle and his chief scientist Lucius Fox happened to have something in storage that he had been working on. The Tumbler is something like a cross between a sports car and a tank, with big tyres, big guns and plenty of shielding. It also has the added bonus of including a Batpod – a vehicle which is ejected from the front end of the Tumbler utilising its front wheels. Batman goes on to use the Batpod as his primary vehicle in the final film The Dark Knight Risesbefore going on to use The Bat, pretty much a flying version of the Tumbler. As to what I think of the Tumbler? Well its alright I guess, but its more of an attack vehicle than just a mode of transport and I think that’s why for me it didn’t hit the spot. Christian Bale’s Batman was more about using the big toys rather than the stuff on his utility belt and just having a good old punch up.
So Batman has many forms of transportation at his disposal, and they have ranged from the dull converted street car to the outright flashy, shiny and fancy flying Bat, but in the end, the original 1960’s version will always be my favourite one.Who knows what form the Batmobile will take when the franchise is next rebooted (which it will be in one guise or another). Lets just hope that it looks good, and doesn’t get blown up at every opportunity to have an explosion. =) And now, a small tribute – enjoy and thanks for reading.
Welcome along to another Tuesday Tunes. Each week I will post up a new subject involving music and all you have to do is post a comment in my blog or if you have your own blog, link back to my blog. I hope you enjoy it and join in. Leave your choices in the comments box below, thanks.
“You Know The Movie Song”
This week, I’d thought I open the floor to your favourite movies theme songs. Now I’m not talking classic scores like the Star Wars theme or Jaws here, I’m aiming more for the contemporary song that hits the charts and is associated with a particular movie. For example Bryan Adams‘ “Everything I Do (I Do It For You)“, this type of thing. So here we go with my choices for this week’s meme.
One of my favourite Arnie movies is Last Action Hero. I remember going to the cinema on my own TWICE to see it, not only for the story and the action but also for the great soundtrack that it had. The main song that was released as a single was a track by AC/DC called Big Gun, and I still like it today and every time I hear it, I am reminded that I really should watch that movie again. Check it out…
Next up is one of my favourite comedy/sci-fi films, Ghostbusters. The title track was performed by Ray Parker Jnr. and was a massive hit pretty much everywhere. It has been remixed to death but I still prefer the orignal version that was taken to court by Huey Lewis & The News for copyright infringement regarding his track I Want A New Drug. Yes they do sound the same. Here is the 80s classic track, Ghostbusters.
Last today before I steal all the good songs is Simon & Garfunkel’s 1968 track Mrs Robinson. A version of it appears on the film The Graduate. Its not the exact version that was released as a single, but it is always associated with the movie in any form. I grew up hearing this song and although I’m not a huge fan of the film, I do like the song, so here it is.
So lets here you favourite movie songs, there are literally thousands to choose from, and leave your comments here. Cheers folks.