AVPreserve » Holidays

Things That Shouldn’t Be Archived #8 — Valentime’s Edition

Josh — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 15:39:07 +0000

Because “Love is in the Air” (1979)…

Portions To Be Archived: Skilled house bands
Portions To Not Be Archived: The idea that Tom Jones needs show girls to be interesting; Disinterested cover songs based on lazy, cliched selection process

Portions To Be Archived: Knowledge that if you take care of your body it will take care of you; Knowledge of the great electronics available in Argentina
Portions To Not Be Archived: Potentially world-destroying amount of sexy on one stage — remember the lessons of multiple copies in geographically separate locations

Portions To Be Archived: Crazy musical production numbers
Portions To Not Be Archived: Crazy musical production numbers; White jump suits and levers; Pirate shirts

Portions To Be Archived: Those moves!
Portions To Not Be Archived: My former memories of Mr. Jones in concert (circa mid-90s) as not so spry

— Joshua Ranger

Things That Shouldn’t Be Archived #7 — You Decide

Josh — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 16:16:39 +0000

Holiday traditions exist at the crossroads of cultural memory and personal memory (we’ll ignore the confusing cloverleaf interchange of invented memory for now — my holiday gift to you!). What I’ve always found interesting is how these traditions converge and conflict across national, regional, local, and idiosyncratic arenas. For example, my family always had corn at Thanksgiving, and I was surprisingly dismayed and unfulfilled when one year I had Thanksgiving with a friend’s family and they did not have corn, nor did they ever. Or there are Christmas trees which, where I grew up in Oregon could be had for a $5 permit and a thermos of hot chocolate. In New York I see trees starting at $20 per foot (not that an average apartment has all that much space for a very big one). Fake Christmas trees that are re-used every year start to make sense when one considers those kinds of costs.

Holiday songs follow this pattern to a high degree as well. We all had those small handfuls of LPs or cassettes (or CDs for you kids out there) that established the proper version of a song. Maybe this is why it seems that no new holiday songs are any good, but it also makes it very hard to really like a new version of a familiar song. Very much like re-makes of films or adaptations, the “original” (the version first established in our minds) almost always seems better. These kinds of arguments are convenient because of the quickness of a reaction tied to emotion or memory sense, but they are also difficult to articulate because they are often tied to memory. Corn is good and all, but there isn’t a really great reason why it is superior to peas and carrots and why peas and carrots leave a dark hole of sadness within me (but only on the fourth Thursday in November).

With that in mind, I offer up two more recent versions of The Waitresses’ holiday classic “Christmas Wrapping” for your judgement of which should not be archived in our collective memory.

First, the Spice Girls:

Then The Donnas:

You may have an immediate reaction even without listening to these songs based on which commercialized appropriation of feminism you most approve of, but give it a go. There seems to be a balance to successful remakes, covers, adaptations, and new traditions, a balance between capturing something essential about the original and with a creating a different take that opens up new meanings or a new understanding of the original or its contexts. Or maybe it’s just about what makes one shake one’s booty the most.

Happy Holidays!

— Joshua Ranger

Things That Shouldn’t Be Archived #6 — Thanksgiving Edition

Josh — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 13:27:14 +0000

This edition isn’t really in regards to the content of the below. I’ve enjoyed my share of blaxsploitation films and the 42nd Street Forever series. It’s just that watching this hits a little too close to home in reminding me of family holidays when I was growing up…and those hits actually do feel very similar to be whacked with high-heeled shoes.

Jive Turkey

aka Baby Needs a New Pair of Shoes “It’s a turf battle over the mean streets of Harlem between Italian mobsters and the black hoodlums living in the neighborhood run by “Big Tony” (Frank DeKove). The fighting becomes intense as each side tries to push the other out, with both groups bringing in their best hit men. Watch for a brutal transvestite mobster who kills with her high-heeled shoes.”

Happy Thanksgiving!

— Joshua Ranger

WEB on the Web on MLK

Josh — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 22:15:38 +0000

I’ve been happy today to see / hear all of the newly found or released recordings of Martin Luther King, Jr. I think it speaks a lot to the importance of audiovisual materials and archives to the formation and continuity of society. I also think Martin Luther King, Jr. would be the first to admit that his work and success was built upon the work of many others that came before him, and would need to be continued by many others after him. In that spirit, from the Dept of Special Collections and University Archives, UMass Amherst, a documentary of the dedication of W.E.B. Du Bois’ homesite in Great Barrington, Massachusetts in 1969:

One person can be an inspiration and symbolize much that is beyond his or her original reach, but history is built by the millions. Hopefully that singular inspiration will also create a desire to dig deeper and discover more that history has to offer. Happy researching, and Happy MLK Day!

— Joshua Ranger

Holiday Movies 2009

Josh — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:46:59 +0000

I reckon ’tis the season and all, but lots of people I run into are talking about their favorite holiday movies right around now. I’ve been noticing more and more the past few years that the pool of these favorites tends to be growing, and at a much faster rate than the production of new “holiday-themed” films.

I remember when films on television were singular events, especially when associated with a certain day. We watched The Wizard of Oz every year because that’s what was showing on Thanksgiving besides football and the Macy’s parade. However, with the expansion of cable and the growth in means of access to home viewing options like DVD and on-demand video there seem to be fewer and fewer points of common reference for such a topic. I don’t know if my nephew got his Oz on this year or if he watched something like Dragonball Z Saves Happy Turkey Day.

This reminds of the several literature professors I had in college who lamented the fact that there was no common reference for speaking about literature anymore, that they could not rely on their students having read any Jane Austen or Moby Dick or having any kind of Biblical literacy. They had to start from scratch in order to teach texts that relied on having knowledge of precedent or contemporary texts.

But culture moves on. Fashion has changed! Is this issue really a problem, or am I just being a Medieval fuddy-duddy? Can the non-canonical exist without reference to and knowledge of the canon? Or is that too limiting to free culture?

I have my own answers to these questions, but I feel they are topics best reserved for discussing over a pitcher of eggnog, for disagreeing just to be able to talk in depth about a topic one loves. And besides, I can’t complain because Hitchcock has always been my holiday/special event go to for movies.

Happy Holidays!

— Joshua Ranger

AVPS Releases Their 2009 Holiday Card

Josh — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 22:31:19 +0000

AudioVisual Preservation Solutions released its fourth annual original greeting card for the 2009 holiday season. The 2009 card features an illustration of the RCA TRK-12, the top of the line model of the first televisions made available to the public. The card commemorates the 70th anniversary of RCA’s public release as well as that of the 1939 World’s Fair in New York where the first televisions were on display.

The 2008 holiday card features a laser-cut illustration representing four frames of film in recognition of the significance of moving image film in our culture.

As in past years, the cards are inspired by the field that we work in and its history. As audiovisual media becomes a more ingrained part of society, we often forget the moments of origin or the amazing advancements they represented. The original art work is created by Stephanie Housley, a New York based artist/designer.

We are pleased to send these greetings to our clients and all of the other members of our community who are dedicated to the preservation of our audiovisual heritage. We are especially delighted to note that we often see the cards posted in the archives we work in long after the holiday season has ended.

To see the 2008 and 2009 holiday cards click here:
http://www.avpreserve.com/uncategorized/avps-holiday-cards-2008-09/

To see the 2006 and 2007 holiday cards click here:
http://www.avpreserve.com/uncategorized/avps-holiday-cards/

Things That Shouldn’t Be Archived #1

Josh — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:52:27 +0000

How can I say “Happy Holidays” with this song around? Orrin Hatch, what have you wrought?

Tablet Magazine has Orrin Hatch write Hanukkah song…

— Joshua Ranger