Journalism vs. Commentary; and Remembering Maurice Jarre

A lot of huffing and puffing here about my last post. The reading comprehension here can be rather surprising at times.

I said I was a fan of both Keith and Rachel. Watch them all the time. I suppose I hold them to a higher standard as I feel that now is our time. A time for real change. I didn't vote for Obama to savor the thrill of having our first black president. I did so because I thought he was smart and tough. I want Obama to undo much of what was done these past eight years by the crypto-fascists in the Bush administration. And a good part of that would involve a press that was on the ball. On the case. Keeping an eye on what is going on. Making sure that Americans are properly informed about what our government is doing. Something that was scarce during the Bush years.

Journalism is what is required now. And, yes, some commentary. But more journalism than commentary. That's what a newspaper does. That's why newspapers are quoted so often as the sources of actual news on this very site. Newspapers are about journalism. The internet, and sites like this, are about commentary. People sign on and give their opinion. But that is not journalism. That is commentary, internet style, whereby most people are not trained as journalists and the comments of many posters here are anonymous. You can piss on anyone you want, say anything you want, and so long as it is within the boundaries of HuffPo politesse, you are in.

The sine qua non to understanding the garbage barge of the internet is the AOL home page. The AOL home page, which makes Us Weekly look like Paris Match, wants its readers to focus on the latest unflattering photos of stars or their DUIs. The AOL home page is where polls rated George W. Bush as one of the ten greatest presidents, even as late as last fall. The AOL home page is where they wrote that I had "picked a fight" with Maddow and Olberman.

Perhaps this comes as no surprise, but there are never, ever any names that appear as authors of the monstrously boring and mind-numbing content on the home page of this popular server. Never. Ever. AOL just keeps churning out all of that trash on their digital welcome mat, and you never find out who is responsible.

That's the Internet. Some great, serious, lofty thinking, one click away. The AOL home page, like a filthy dinner plate, just begging to be scraped and washed, another click away.

I'll take the Times any day. Judith Miller, or no. As for Keith and Rachel, I would never pick a fight with them. You think I want Keith Olbermann gnawing on me on national television? You haven't been gnawed till you've been gnawed by Keith. And Rachel? I love Rachel. Doesn't everyone? But just as I don't want root beer for dinner, I like my "news programming" a little straighter, at least during these times.

Now a quick note on something infinitely more interesting.

I wanted to acknowledge the passing of the great Maurice Jarre, the composer who died last month. Jarre was nominated nine times and won the Oscar three times for Best Score for Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, and A Passage to India.

Music has clearly played such an essential role in great movie-making. I once had the rare honor to present John Barry the Oscar for his score for Dances with Wolves. Barry was nominated seven times and won five Oscars. In addition to the Kevin Costner film, Barry won two Oscars (score and song) for Born Free and best score for Lion in Winter and, my personal favorite, Out of Africa.

Whether it is Oscar winning scores such as those for The Wizard of Oz, The High and the Mighty, The Sound of Music, Star Wars, or Jaws, or other memorable music that propels certain images of films straight into your brain, like Gone with the Wind, Psycho, The Godfather, or A Hard Day's Night, music can contribute to making the difference between a popular motion picture and a classic.

What are your favorite movie scores?

The sun is just rising over the burning desert. Cue the incredible music of Maurice Jarre. What could be better than that?

Comments

[JSaeger]

On a bad news day my favorite movie score piece (John Williams) is the famous two-note Jaws theme, an interjection of the first notes of Czech composer Antonín Dvořák's Ninth Symphony. On a good news day I crank up Van Halen's "Jump".

[Ed and Deb Shapiro - Huffpost Blogger]

you do have a great photo

[whitehawk]

Great article Alec; I love Steve and Rachel too, in fact, the entire network are professional's at the top of their business, which includes the truth. Unlike other media that crank like a terrorist threat in America.

[SharpDressedMan]

Going down memory lane.

Movie Scores or Soundtracks - Magnificent 7, Lawrence of Arabia, Godfather, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Saturday Night Fever, Pink Panther, FM (obscure movie but great soundtrack)

Movie Songs or Themes - Magnificent 7, Chariots of Fire, Live and Let Die, Born to Be Wild

[Madmac]

AOL is still in business?

[SharpDressedMan]

I wonder why people pay AOL $20+ per month for things they can get for free.

[ChillUpMyLeg]

Alec:

I agree on the Out of Africa soundtrack. Track #6 is one of my favorite all time pieces of music...ever, which is a huge compliment because it is holding a candle to Mozart's Sabat Mater.

The following are great soundtracks I highly recommend: The English Patient, Schindler's List, Hunt for Red October, Contact, Michael Collins, Munich - and the documentary films...New York, The Civil War and the Fog of War.

Regards -

[NHBill]

Great List Chill! "Michael Collins" is one of those great underrated films. For me anything by Bernie Herrmann. He is most famous for "Psycho", but that just scratches the surface. There's "Citizen Kane", "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951) with the eerie theremin, all the Hitchcock films from the 1950's including "North by Northwest" and "Vertigo", and his Saturday matinee classics such as "Journey to the Center of the Earth" and "Mysterious Island". Scorsese loved his work in the original "Cape Fear" so much he recreated it for his remake. One of his final moments on film was the powerful work he did for "Taxi Driver". They should name the music Oscar for him.

[StellaRay]

Henry Mancini's score for Breakfast at Tiffany's.

[SharpDressedMan]

Mr. Baldwin,

I agree with the need for more journalism and less commentary. The sooner the better. But who knows what the news media will be like in 5, 10, 20 years from now? So much is in flux.

I don't agree with your criticism of Keith or Rachel. Keith discusses Bush much less than before. Let's face it, Bush damaged our country for years to come. It's hard to avoid reports and commentary about him. Rachel's words are fine for me. Perhaps a bit on the theatrical side sometimes but not objectionable.

The days of Murrow, Cronkite, and monotonic unemotional straight talking news anchors are over but I wish they were still here. I also wish anchors' salaries were much lower, closer to wages of more people so news presenters and commentators don't lose touch with reality.

[Bunner]

Alex, you "rock" on 30 Rock but it's your political/social commentary that I admire you for most. I'm a huge fan of both Keith and Rachel but they both can be a tad "over-the-top" at times! But that's OK, right?! This is a democracy, correct? Or perhaps I should clarifiy that and say that this is once again a demcocracy...post January 20th, 2009. We're no longer in a "you're with us or you're against us" regime. Even though, as I mentioned, both Olbermann and Maddow can be a bit excessive at times they TELL THE TRUTH unlike the "fair-and-balanced-my-ass" Fox network or certain large, drug-addled neo-con talking heads who seem to feel the truth is never a priority thus feeling free to espouse all kinds of lies, spew hate and wish with all their black little hearts that Cheney, "Rummy" and that whole evil little cabal were still running the show...whilst running the country into the ground.
I, too, shall mourn the passing of Maurice Jarre. I've have to say my favourite of his has to be Doctor Zhivago. Other scores I've loved over the years have been "Chariots of Fire", "Life is Beautiful" and another you mentioned Alex, "Out of Africa".
Thanks, as always Alex for your thoughtful and though-provoking commentary. It's greatly appreciated.

[Bunner]

Alex, you "rock" on 30 Rock but my true admiration for you lies in your insightful political/social commentary. I, too, think that Keith O. and Rachel M. "rock" but they both can be a tad over the top at times......but, and this is important, they don't lie. Unlike "fair-and-balanced-my-ass" Fox and large, drug-addled neo-con talking heads. This is a demcocracy, right? Well, I should say it's a democracy again post January 20th, 2009. Even Rachel and Keith can at times be criticiized can they not? We're no longer in the "you're with us or you're against us" regime.
I, too, mourn the passing of the amaziing Maurice Jarre. I'd have to say my personal favourite of his was Doctor Zhivago. Other soundtracks/scores I've loved over the years..."Chariots of Fire", "Life is Beautiful", and another you mentioned Alex, "Out of Africa". Thanks Alex for your, as always, thoughtful, thought- provoking commentary...it's appreciated.

[Bunner]

My apologies, Mr. Baldwin. In my above post I twice referred to you as "Alex"!! D'uh! And to think I won my grade school Spelling Bee two years in a row!!! Sorry ALEC! Sentiments are the same...just wanted it on the record that I DO know how to spell your name correctly!

[PoliticalAmazon]

I still don't get it with Baldwin.

Both KO and RM have opinion, but it is always supported by facts. They will discuss scandals and news on their show that other hosts will not.

RM is, IMO, more straight-forward than KO. RM does not use hyperbole. She pokes fun, but she doesn't do hyperbole.

KO does use hyperbole. For some people, it is a relief to hear after being subjected to the hyperbole coming from CNN, Fox, et al. for years.

But KO and RM do not distort facts or make them up out of thin air. They have thieir opinions, and it's very easy to see when they are opining.

However, if Mr. Baldwin would feel better about, maybe KO can hold up an "OPINING" sign when he opines, just so we are sure Mr. Baldwin gets it.

That said, I still favor the LATimes out of all news sources. Internet news and TV news is good, but the LATimes goes in-depth in situations. What's really cool is that, you stick it out to the end of the article, there is often a little gem tucked in the last 6 paragraphs or so.

[NYLinda]

I agree with you Alec, more people should read the Times. Unfortunately, everyone relies on the internet these days and have forgotten what real journalism is about. I also enjoy the internet, however, the paper is delivered to my home everyday. My parents read the paper daily, especially growing up in NY where the newspaper was the link to the world. Nothing was better than the Sunday Times. Riding the subway everyone had a paper, perhaps not always the Times but a newspaper of their choice. The younger generation has no idea what a newspaper is and that is very sad indeed. They only know the computer. Perhaps they feel it is a faster way to get the news rather than waiting for the paper the next day. I too watch TV news, all of it, but nothing can take the place of that paper. The problem I find with the news channels is most of what they discuss is personal opinions not necessarily facts. I stopped watching during the election because I couldn't stand to listen to any of them anymore. Quite honestly, I'm not interested in their views or opinions I want them to report what is going on and keep their opinions to themselves. They are getting paid to report the news not give their opinion. Alec, don't stop commenting on these issues perhaps they will get the hint and start reporting news properly. There are many people out here who feel the same way you do.

[BannedFromCommenting]

Do not forget HuffPo itself added to the fake "attack" on Keith and Rachel by saying you "slammed" them.. in their headline for your last post.

2001: A Space Odessy
Superman The Movie
Star Wars

These 3 you hear the music and you know the movie. I have not seen the movies except A Passage to India (riding off the Gahndi film craze, which had its own great soundtrack), but if I heard the movie's soundtrack I would not know it came from that movie, unfortunately, having seen it in my teens.

[StellaRay]

Yes. The headline set people up to have an opinion before they read the piece.

[NHBill]

I envy you Banned. You have some great movies to watch. AB was talking about Jarre's work with the legendary David Lean. Try to find a revival theater and see all of the films AB mentioned. They demand the big screen. The bigger the better.
2001's soundtrack was a variety of music pieces composed by various people from ultra-classical to uber-modern all hand picked by Stanley Kubrick. The great Alex North had actually composed a complete score for the film (as he had for Kubrick's Spartacus) but it was rejected by the director.

[7snider7]

Some of the most beautiful and arresting film score music to my ears is Jarre's The Mosquito Coast. I've been surprised that the obits I've read haven't mentioned it. I would bet that it has sold well as a CD and as downloads.

[MrKnuckles]

Tangerine Dream's electronic music for the Michael Mann /James Caan 1980's film, Thief.
The musical score for Godfather Part II.
The music in Akira Kurosawa's 1961 Classic, Yojimbo.