Going to bed with...
Aug. 23rd, 2006 10:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
clayhornikGoing to bed with David Skal. I do it two or three time a month.
What?
OH... no, not like THAT.
I figured out how to set the timer on my tv set, so I play a dvd before getting into bed and listen to it as I fall asleep.
Tod Browning's Freaks, with commentary by David J. Skal, has been the audio of choice for me lately.
Skal is one of THE experts on Universal Era horror, and even though MGM was the studio that released Freaks, a year after Browning's 1931 Dracula from Universal, it's still part of the Golden Age of Horror.
Skal knows his stuff.
He loves this movie. The warmth in his voice for the subject, the movie itself, and the subjects, the "freaks," shines through.
He speaks of the participants, the actors, like Olga Baclanova, and the freaks, like Schlitze, with equal respect.
There's a fannish enthusiasm to his commentary when he relates stories about cut footage, and when he discusses the historical aspects of the movie, an academicness creeps into his voice, but without the typical academic dryness.
Skal's voice is even and soothing- remember, I'm listening to this as I'm trying to fall asleep- and I wonder why, aside from the hours of recording time involved, he hasn't done any audio versions of his books.
Then only problem with this commentary is I'm hard pressed to find more commentary as good. I've got a couple of more GTBW's ready, going to try to get them out on Wednesdays, but neither of them are commentaries.
At least these days I'm not going to bed alone- I've got my dvd player.
.
What?
OH... no, not like THAT.
I figured out how to set the timer on my tv set, so I play a dvd before getting into bed and listen to it as I fall asleep.
Tod Browning's Freaks, with commentary by David J. Skal, has been the audio of choice for me lately.
Skal is one of THE experts on Universal Era horror, and even though MGM was the studio that released Freaks, a year after Browning's 1931 Dracula from Universal, it's still part of the Golden Age of Horror.
Skal knows his stuff.
He loves this movie. The warmth in his voice for the subject, the movie itself, and the subjects, the "freaks," shines through.
He speaks of the participants, the actors, like Olga Baclanova, and the freaks, like Schlitze, with equal respect.
There's a fannish enthusiasm to his commentary when he relates stories about cut footage, and when he discusses the historical aspects of the movie, an academicness creeps into his voice, but without the typical academic dryness.
Skal's voice is even and soothing- remember, I'm listening to this as I'm trying to fall asleep- and I wonder why, aside from the hours of recording time involved, he hasn't done any audio versions of his books.
Then only problem with this commentary is I'm hard pressed to find more commentary as good. I've got a couple of more GTBW's ready, going to try to get them out on Wednesdays, but neither of them are commentaries.
At least these days I'm not going to bed alone- I've got my dvd player.
.
