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Tag: Stephen Spielberg

Against a background of blacks and tans, three photos illustrate villains mentioned in the blog post “When Music is the Villain” on The Weird Blog. At lower left, Miss Gulch rides her bicycle down a dusty Kansas road toward the Gales’ house in a still from “The Wizard of Oz.” Above center, Darth Vader stands on the bridge of his star destroyer in “The Empire Strikes Back.” And lower right, a behind-the-scenes production photo captures Bruce the Mechanical Shark, jaws agape, motoring through the water on one of the occasions when he actually worked. Photos courtesy of Cycleblaze.com, Ranker.com, and the Jaws Fandom.com wiki, respectively.
Music Becomes the Villain

Music Becomes the Villain

I want to talk about the ways music becomes the villain in some movies. In my last post I talked about music that monsters, witches, and demons dance to. But you know the kind of “villain” music I mean. After all, what is the 1960 movie Psycho without the screeching violins of the shower scene? How could Darth Vader make an entrance without John Williams’ Imperial March? (Although Williams didn’t introduce that character theme until The Empire Strikes Back). Simply…

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This design centers on a photo of a person on a gray couch with their back to us. They are all wrapped up in a throw blanket, wearing a maroon-colored hoodie. The quote says, “I hate to waste sick days actually being sick.” (unattributed). Photo courtesy of the Irish Independent.
Taking a Sick Day

Taking a Sick Day

By Jan S. Gephardt Americans give a hard side-eye to any talk of taking a sick day. The Pandemic has taught us a few chastening lessons recently, it’s true. Perhaps in today’s contagion-conscious workplaces, taking a sick day is less “suspect” than it has been in the past. But I’m dubious that will last. This is the country of rugged individuals, at least in our imaginations. We’re tough, we tell ourselves. We plead with the coach to “put me back…

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