Bye-Bye Blogger - Enough is Enough.
Folks, this is the final post on this version of KQEK.com's Editor's Blog at Blogger because I've had it with the serious issues programmers create when they do an upgrade at Blogger. This time their bungling's created so much extra work for me, there's simply no point in posting things via Blogger anymore.
Here's the process I go through to place hyperlinked words on this page:
- text written in MS Word (or Notepad) is placed into Dreamweaver. Links are adjusted, and the *code* is pasted into a Word Press post
- further edits are finished, the intro image is added, and that version of the Editor's Blog goes live. Within Word Press, the only tweaks I have to do because of code issues is created double-line spaces with white-coloured dots, and delete within the code an unnecessary double-space Word Press adds between by byline.
- once the HTML code is pasted into a new template in Blogger, I have to backspace the byline to the last sentence in the blog, and add three fresh lines to create a similar-formatted gap as it appears in the Word Press version. Blogger will also not recognize any italicized text done in Word or Dreamweaver.
- the top image, as part of the imported code, is a mess, so I have to delete it, upload it to the Blogger archive, and then place it in the blog. Blogger allows me to centre at the top of the page, but it doesn't permit text-wrapping unless you manually add it into the code. If I want to use a prior image within the Blogger image archive - like a CD image, related to soundtrack reviews - I have to wait until ALL IMAGES are displayed before I can pick the one I need. They appear in no particular order, so it's a waiting game until I find what I need, and can place it in the blog. This is called "inefficient" and it's baffling why this system of archiving images was never fixed.
- I can create teaser text by adding a page break so the first few lines in a blog appear under the image when the main blog page opens. Problem: once you place that "jump break" icon, you have to flip once to HTML view and back to Compose view because Blogger will add an extra blank line that appears in the full body of the new blog - which I don't want.
They may have fixed some of these grating bugs (all CMS setups have their share), but as it stands, if I paste a hyperlinked blog from MS Word, there are no links; if I past a hyperlinked blog from Dreamweaver, there are no lines between paragraphs; and if I paste a blog in HTML code into Blogger in HTML view, it appears as one solid stream of text.
I have neither the time to deal with fixarounds, nor the patience anymore. Congrats, guys, you've lost me - unless you read this and fix the fuck-ups that currently reside in 'the new look.' The visual continuity with Google + makes sense, but your new coding is a disaster.
Why didn't you test it before forcing this change? Do you know how much time I spent finding a new blogger mobile-friendly template and making specific modifications so it would display properly?
Lastly, the entire publishing layout for bloggers is too lean & clean. Take the page where I can write a post: I see an orange Publish tab and several tabs for previewing, etc. the blog... but how can I see the damned thing? Where the View Post or View Blog tab? Why do I have to navigate through 2 unrelated pages? Who hired you guys? Or perhaps I should ask Who's your supervisor who signed off on the interface modifications? because I don't think he uses Blogger to blog.
Those who've enjoyed the Editor's Blog can still read further blather at www.mondomark.com, where it resides in a Word Press format that's mobile & main friendly. The Blogger version will remain for a while, because it contains a batch of older posts that I wasn't able to import into Word Press.
Because of a bug.
Sigh,
Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com ( Main Site / Mobile Site )
Bouchet-Tolo Double-Bill = Quadruple-Trouble!
Mademoiselles Bouchet et Tolo - très fierent de leurs cheveux magnifiques.
Yeah, the header's a cheap shot, but given the focus is two B-movies made between 1968-1969 - Stoney / Surabaya Conspiracy [M] (1969), and The Killer Likes Candy / Un killer per sua maestà [M] (1968) - which co-starred (respectively) Euro babes Barbara Bouchet and Marilu Tolo, why not highlight each film's most important actress?
The Titanic Legacy, Part I
I’ve no intention of revisiting James Cameron’s film anytime soon – it, er, hasn’t aged that well since I last watched the monster hit – and there’s frankly other more fascinating documentaries and dramatizations out there to see.
The Erotic Shades of Zalman King, Part I
Prior to his passing at the age of 69 in February, King seemed to be prepping an extension of his brand via a new website, zalmanking.com, which espoused “It’s not just a website. It’s a lifestyle.”
It’s a tagline that’s catchy, cheeky, but also saddening because it represents the final shift for a filmmaker who had creatively downsized from theatrical feature films to an interactive internet venture that’s plainly undistinguished. Whatever the site may have ultimately matured into, at least from the wan promo tease, it’s as indistinct as generic softcore fodder, with cheap reality-based, interactive extras ranging from ‘never before behind-the-scenes’ materials to “Amateur video submissions from the girls next door hoping to be discovered by Zalman.”
The promised site is neither interesting nor particularly creative, and it makes you wonder how the former TV actor, who successfully journeyed into writing and directing, lost his mojo as a brand supervisor.
Twisted Metal's Michael Wandmacher + Grant Kirkhope's Reckoning
This one's a quickie, due to a backlog of good stuff on the way.
Just uploaded are sound track reviews for two videogames: Grant Kirkhope's Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning [M] (Sumthing Else), featuring the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Nic Raine, and Michael Wandmacher's guitar-heavy Twisted Metal [M] (Sony, digital album).
Also uploaded: an interview [M] with Wandmacher discussing the minutia of scoring videogames, and some teaser details regarding his next horror score, The Haunting in Georgia.
Yes, I really am that busy today.
Darrell Wasyk's The Girl in the White Coat
A colleague wandered into the old Ammo Video store on College last fall and came across a VHS copy of something called H, and found the basic premise – two heroine-addicted characters attempt to kick the ugly habit – intriguing, but didn’t know much else about the film, hence the hesitation to purchase the tape. When he returned a few months ago, the store was locked, and most likely so went an easy chance to snap up some vintage Canadiana because H doesn’t exist on home video.
The Films of Frankie-Boy, Part I
'Pardon me: I'm lookin' for Vanessa the Undressa. Have you seen her?'
Whether or not Frank Sinatra knew it early into his acting career, he was a good dramatic actor, and while the studios recognized his name on the marquee sold tickets and soundtrack albums, Sinatra could carry a picture in almost any genre.
During the forties he was naturally cast in musicals, and that’s where he honed his affable persona, but in the early fifties he need to prove he could in fact tackle other roles besides being the A-side of a happy-go-lucky couple, or as a member of a bunch of good guys.
Genre Variations, & System Adjustments
"Mmm... the other white meat..."
Now then.
Now live are a quartet of horror-ish reviews for specific genre splinters, each done fairly recently:
We interrupt programming due to technical difficulties...
Whoops! At the present time, neither KQEK.com's main & mobile sites, nor the Editor's Blog at mondomark.com are working due to technical difficulties. Hopefully the problem(s) will be fixed for Tuesday. Stay tuned for further updates.
What to expect when regular programming is restored?
In the genre update department, reviews of Contagion, The Dead, Frat House Massacre, and Gurozuka. In the Frank Sinatra department, reviews of Assault on a Queen, Come Blow Your Horn, and Pal Joey.
More info to follow Tuesday. Hopefully a Shaman won't be necessary.
- MRH
What to expect when regular programming is restored?
In the genre update department, reviews of Contagion, The Dead, Frat House Massacre, and Gurozuka. In the Frank Sinatra department, reviews of Assault on a Queen, Come Blow Your Horn, and Pal Joey.
More info to follow Tuesday. Hopefully a Shaman won't be necessary.
- MRH
Festivals-a-Go-Go!
Swining' like you wouldn't ba-lieve!
Spring brings birds, colours, and warmth, and the un-merry, midnight clamor of raccoon sex (which sort of sounds like a cat being beaten to death with a baseball bat), but we also get the phenomenon known as ‘overlapping film festivals’ and special screenings. This isn’t to say there’s less to see & do in the winter, but certainly in the coming months, there will be no shortage of films from every culture in every genre in and around Toronto.
Before I get into the current & upcoming crop, this past Wednesday yielded a screening at the Gendai Station of Carl Michael von Hausswold and Thomas Nordanstad’s short film Hashima, Japan 2002.
Critical Thoughts: Gerald Peary on American Film Criticism
I’ve uploaded a review [M] of the film, which also includes details on the 40 mins. of bonus interviews on the DVD, available exclusively from the film’s website. Additionally, I’ve uploaded edited excerpts from both Peary’s pre-screening intro and post-screening audience Q&A, archived at my YouTube Channel Big Head Amusements.
Jean Renoir in America, Part 1
J'approve le Ray-de-Bleu, mes petites mignons cineastes!
Renoir would eventually return to more personal fare in 1951 (some filmed in English, most in French), and his American films (1941-1947) are more interesting for the way in which Renoir's own themes and interests transcended straight Hollywood genres, insofar as the studios under which he was contracted tried to render his films more palatable to average audiences.
Renoir purists may regard his U.S. period as less than stellar, but I think time's been rather kind to most of his works - each somewhat compromised, but still quite distinct from the generic southern dramas, anti-Nazi thrillers, and melodramas in production during that period.
‘Swell Welles’ Part II – Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane, The Battle Over Citizen Kane, and RKO 281
Citizen Gulliver stands proudly above the small farming community he led prior to beginning his quest for global media domination.
Flipping back to the beginning of Orson Welles’ film career (minus Hearts of Age, his 1934 sophomoric short film effort), Citizen Kane [M] which as been called the greatest most awesome untouchably perfect supremely brilliant most genius creation ever-ever.
I say this in jest, but it is a conundrum for anyone presenting this at a screening, in class, in a documentary, on home video, or even discussing it in writing: how do you not bring up that ‘greatest ever’ branding?
The alternative is ‘Here’s a little known film made by the guy who used to advise us that Paul Masson’s wines are never sold prior to their time’ on TV, or got very angry during the taping of a frozen peas advert.
Soundtrack Reviews + News
Just uploaded is a quartet of reviews for ongoing (and likely eternal) franchises:Doctor Who continues to steam through new seasons, and Silva Screen’s latest release features 2+ hours of Murray Gold’s music from Season 6 [M]. Also from Silva is music from Sherlock: Season 1 [M], composed by David Arnold and Michael Price, who do a pretty good job aurally linking the series with the current feature film franchise, scored by Hans Zimmer.
'Swell Welles' Part I: Orson Welles' Magnificent Ambersons (1939, 1942, and 2002) & More!
The Oscars, and the quiet emergence of the Standard International Edition
Due to a lack of contextual images, we're using the Random Actress Heliometer (RAH). Illustrated: Senta Berger. Happy, isn't she?
Well, Sunday’s show was pure Meh: familiar, bland, safe, non-threatening, blah, and as many viewers seemed to predict, er, predictable. Having seen none of the films so far (I have more matter to see, but I’ll get there in bits & pieces), I still had an inkling The Artist would win the major prizes, making Harvey Weinstein very, very happy. Not bad for a guy who started out in the business with The Burning in 1980 (and a film, quite frankly, that’s more fun that it deserves to be).
Picnic (1955), The Roots of Heaven (1958), and Twilight Time’s Julie Kirgo
"My... What big wet biceps you have... but how did you get all those wrinkles?"
Once upon a time during the peak years of DVD, studio and indie labels were packaging their DVDs with booklets bearing liner notes, mini posters, and stills, and the catalogue titles sometimes included commentary tracks, featurettes, and documentaries.
No this isn’t the beginning of another rant - I made the point tenfold in the Editor’s Blog for Part 1 of our Twilight Time label profile - but I raise the issue here a little differently. While Universal’s first DVDS – Waterworld, The Paper – were released full screen and in jewel cases, other labels like Criterion and Warner Home Video figured there was more than enough room to not only present a film widescreen (technically speaking, anamorphic transfers take up less space than full screen & non-anamorphic widescreen), but create new / port over laserdisc extras, and for a while this was the norm for many new and older films.
Festivals-a-Go-Go + Battle Royale
Suburban Tales IV: Durham County, Season 3
"For God's Sake, someone love me"
Festivals-a-Go-Go + Francis lets Napoleon return to the Big Screen
A swingin' week if there ever was one!
Running Wed. February 22 thru Sun. Feb. 26 is the Reel Artists Film Festival, with documentaries and assorted shorts practitioners in painting, photography, and other visuals arts. From a quick gleaning of the roster, most of the docs are about the artists, and several films come from Germany. A full listing of the intriguing programme is at the organization’s website, and the films are being screened at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.
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