@PaulR said:

Although I suspect most of his writing would be to French films or films of that style. 

Why French films?  They are fully as bad as American films.  Maybe worse if such a thing is possible.  The days of Francois Truffaut, Goddard, Resnais, Jean Cocteau, Renoir, Robert Bresson are long gone.   Now in France the  "auteurs"  are a bunch of sellouts like any Americans, but they are PRETENTIOUS about it.  So which do you prefer?  A pretentious phony ass sellout or a shameless one?  That is the difference between French and American cinema now.   

What Herrmann would have to do today is independent films.  Those are the only possible artistic works worthy of his level of musical artistry.  And of course not one person on this forum wants to do them.  Because they don't pay.   You all want to do Hans Zimmer.  That stuff pays.   For some strange reason you weirdos want to make money. 

Besson has done American-like crap like The 5th Element, and I haven't watched his stuff since so I can't comment on his worth, but most of his early films like Nikita, Leon, The Big Blue are great and I "could have killed" to have scored the last two; and Subway is just one of my favourite movies of all time.

O.K., so he is probably another of the many filmmakers who do good work when they are struggling and independent and then are co-opted by the studios and destroyed.  i didn't see those good early films, but was disgusted by the later commercialized crap. 

Also, what does "American-like crap" mean?  Citizen Kane?   Vertigo?  City Lights?  The Gold Rush?  Sherlock Jr.?  2001? 

Crap is not an American invention.  It is international. 

@William said:

Why French films?  They are fully as bad as American films.  

I took my cue from you; yes, of course 'crap' is an international disease, and getting worse with every passing year. The only difference is in the style; America and Europe have different "flavours" of it, and most times I find that I prefer the American crap...

Leon is great. Another great story on a cursed life of an individual living in the shit I like to call "really existing capitalism" (pun intended).

@William said:

Crap is not an American invention.  It is international. 

Well, that's true, even if one is tempted to argue that the worst of the worst of its manifestations were (for a certain period) actually perfected and refined by Hollywood. Although, I think contemporary commercial German cinema is actually beyond the pale in this regard today - you get the complete Hollywwod crappines, but with a complete lack of Hollywood style. A god damn' nightmare...

@William said:

What Herrmann would have to do today is independent films.  Those are the only possible artistic works worthy of his level of musical artistry.  And of course not one person on this forum wants to do them.  Because they don't pay.   You all want to do Hans Zimmer.  That stuff pays.   For some strange reason you weirdos want to make money. 

Well, that's not exactly fair. Give me a steady monthly revenue of 1000 € from independent productions, and I'm all yours.

Not one of you will ever know the full stench of execrable cinema until you happen upon the majority of contemporary Greek films; there are frozen quasars at the end of the unknown universe because they dared a hubristic glance upon some celluloid Medusa of ours...

@Errikos said:

Not one of you will ever know the full stench of execrable cinema until you happen upon the majority of contemporary Greek films; there are frozen quasars at the end of the unknown universe because they dared a hubristic glance upon some celluloid Medusa of ours...

..apart from that - how are things in general in Greece Erik? [:'(]

Hi Paul, thanks for asking; things here are not exactly as the turmoil-loving media always loves to exaggerate. Some extremist turds have found an opportunity as always to create very localized havoc, because all they're facing is the most benign police force in the world. However, things are bad enough - not so much financially, although that is a big problem - as much as there is no access to outsiders to the Athenian hermetic "artistic" circles, which have become even more airtight since the financial crisis. To the understandable "dread" of UK forum members, I'm telling you I'm thinking of moving to England!

I'm still going to take a couple more days off I think before I return to that other post in the Instruments area, for some more collegial commentary...

@Errikos said:

 I'm telling you I'm thinking of moving to England!

Dont' do it Erik!!! England is a dream. It's full of dirty scum and filthy trash. It's all gone. It is a haven for unmarried obese fucking harridans that have 8 children from 9 different fathers that look like giant fetuses. They don't do child minding - they just kill them. It's become an artistic craphole. It's benefits central. Very low IQ's in England today Erik.

Not where I live, but that's different...AHEMMM.

Don't do it Erik.....don't do it Erik............don't do it Erik.............(fades away).

Sorry to hear that Paul... Maybe I'll try to salvage the remnants of my french skills and try Paris. Thoughts anyone?...[*-)]

The problem is this. If you chose England, you would not want to go anywhere near the northern area. That is like a nuclear fallout zone and just as an example, your IQ would need to be removed almost totally if you lived in or around Manchester or Liverpool. Newcastle and the north east is where the Vikings dumped their retarded children a thousand years ago.......and it still shows.

Fortunately, the south and south west is very expensive and they try to artificially keep it that way with, for instance, very little in the way of manufacturing and jobs, while retaining  high property prices and generally enormous council tax rates. They also take a dim view of benefits and anyone on benefits. This is simply a fail-safe mechanism to keep people from the north and  previously eastern bloc countries away....far away....from the area. These people are regarded as a plague.

I would seriously look at currency issues right now Erik. Is the euro safe. Is the pound safe. Is the dollar over valued. All these questions and no answers. HHAHHAHAHAH. France is a great place and the French are far more cultured than the British, but the French are sick to death of the euro and euro migrants just like anyone else and who can blame them.

Not great stuff, is it Paul? However, if those projected plans ever materialize I can contact you privately, but since this is an open discussion (which there's no need to continue), I'd just like to say that if I moved over, it's not that I would just turn up at the airport penny-less and looking for benefits from day one... It would more or less be a professional move on my part; it's just that I find this place stifling with its levantine nepotism, and beyond bad taste as far as music is concerned...

As far as currencies as concerned, I agree with you that nothing is sacred, it's just that I trust the ruthless British in that they have made not one serious political mistake in the last 200 years (colonialism is debatable). I somehow feel that they'll be the last to go in a global political/financial catastrophe.

Why can't I delete my own post?

Dual nationality is cool. I just renewed my french passport. Fingerprints and everything. The provencal people love an english gentlemen!

25 years ago I would have suggested coming to the states Errik and I would have welcomed you with open arms but today not so much the case I'm afraid but it's nothing you've done.  Artistically, it's all about the reality TV shows where anybody with absolutely no talent can become a superstar overnight.  It's enough to make a grown man cry like a girl. 

Unfrotunately, now Lady Liberty is saying, "Ya know on second thought, why don't you just keep your tired, your poor huddled masses because we're a little short on change right now."

I'm thinking of relocating to South America myself.  I studied Spanish in Buenos Aires when I was younger and I tell you I had the best time of my life down there.  Great food, great music great atmosphere.

Getting back to the matter at hand... Happy Birthday Mr. Herrmann.  

@jasensmith said:

I'm thinking of relocating to South America myself.  I studied Spanish in Buenos Aires when I was younger and I tell you I had the best time of my life down there.  Great food, great music great atmosphere.

Actually, I'm seriously considering buying some property in Ecuador and relocating.  It really doesn't matter how things are going down there.  The standard of living is so much lower you can live like a king for relatively pretty cheap.  It really wouldn't be too much of a culture shock either because I speak the language and I'm familiar with the customs (my wife is Peruvian). 

And since this is a music forum...  I must say that Andean Folk music is one of the most emotionally moving styles of music I've ever heard.  check out Los Kjarkas or any of the other music groups from that genre.  I don't suppose VSL has any plans to sample Quenas or Panpipes. 

So it's not that great anywhere these days is it, for non household-name artists? Myself, I'm not looking for a lower standard of living (I agree it would be great to be able to buy more with less), as much as I'm looking for a higher artistic standard; that is, people with whom to collaborate that share some of the same sensibilities, whose product is highly professional, and with access to professional funding! These conditions I feel can only be satisfied in certain milieux of the "expensive" nations of this world.