According to wikipedia, which is never, ever wrong about anything, the German band Ahab:
is a German funeral doom metal band founded in 2004 by Midnattsol guitarists Christian Hector and Daniel Droste and former Endzeit guitarist Stephan Adolph. The band is named after Captain Ahab, a character in the novel Moby Dick by Herman Melville. Along with its name, the band also draws thematic and lyrical inspiration from Moby Dick – some songs even feature direct quotations from the book.
Funeral doom is a style of doom metal that takes influence from both the death/doom and dark ambient genres. It is played at a very slow tempo[7] and places an emphasis on evoking a sense of emptiness and despair. Typically, electric guitars are heavily distorted and keyboards or synthesizers are used to create a “dreamlike” atmosphere. Vocals consist of mournful chants or growls and are often in the background.
Anyways, now I know of at least two metal bands obsessed with Moby Dick, the other being Mastodon.
This cartoon was produced by Disney in 1946, and Nelson Eddy is credited with ALL the voices in the film. According to wikipedia, the short was originally part of a feature compilation film called “Make Mine Music.”
Make Mine Music is an animated feature produced by Walt Disney and released to theatres by RKO Radio Pictures on August 15, 1946. It is the eighth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon.
During the Second World War, much of Walt Disney’s staff was drafted into the army, and those that remained were called upon by the U.S. government to make training and propaganda films. As a result, the studio was littered with unfinished story ideas. In order to keep the feature film division alive during this difficult time, the studio released four package films including this one, made up of various unrelated segments set to music.
MOMA means “Museum of Modern Art,” of which I am a member in good standing, and according to their web sheet:
Ben–Ner’s Moby Dick is a sly, improvisational retelling of Herman Melville’s novel in the form of a short, silent video punctuated with intertitles and magic-trick asides. Turning the kitchen of his family home into an impromptu set, Ben-Ner and his young daughter reenact the novel from the time Ishmael (Ben-Ner) arrives at the Spouter Inn until the denouement of the story, when Captain Ahab (also played by Ben-Ner) meets his demise at sea. His daughter Elia plays the landlord of the Spouter Inn and later Pip, the deck boy of the whaling ship Pequod.
Ben–Ner’s rendition of Moby Dick is reminiscent of early silent cinema’s melodrama and slapstick comedy routines. The props that turn the kitchen into a theatrical set are entirely homemade and are wildly inventive. Cabinets and sink first stand in as the bar at the Spouter Inn, then with a wooden mast added they become the Pequod floating atop the sea (the kitchen floor). Simple cinematic illusions using magic tricks, animation, and sight gags abound, making reference to the comedic ploys of Buster Keaton and the magical trickery of Georges Méliès. The playful antics of father and daughter are fun to watch, but the work is not simply a parody. It is, rather, an investigation of creativity and innocence, the father/child relationship, and the home as a site for wayward adult and adolescent fantasies.
I’m going to be honest here; this re-imagination of Moby Dick is not self indulgent, weird, and/or inaccessible (all right, maybe a bit…)…but it really is playful, funny, inventive and engaging. Check it out:
Ryan, who is attempting to watch and review all Disney theatrical releases, both long and short, has posted a nice recap and review of “Alice The Whaler” at his Disney Film Project blog.
“Alice The Whaler” is from the rudimentary “Steamboat Itchy”-era of Disney animation, and features a whole lot of dancing around and slapstick. As for whaling, according to Ryan, there’s this “The finale of the series comes when a monkey first mate shoots a harpoon into the whale that Julius spotted, and the whale drags the boat over the waves. As far as story goes, it’s terrible. There’s no real flow to the story, no conflict or resolution of any kind.”
I promise to be the only person to avoid “Living on a prayer” references to the dolphin that was found dead in the river near Bon Jovi’s house (Yahoo!/AP)
British Scientist believes he’s fixin’ to create a device that will allow him to talk to dolphins (Sky)
There’s an iPhone app for everything! Including listening to live whale songs under the waters near Maui (iPhone application list)
The Women of Fishing Familes (WOFF) has created a legal defense fund for the Mass. fisherman accused of harassing a whale (Cape Cod Online)
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