“Midnight, And The Stars And…Who?”

Here’s an interesting little piece of movie trivia from Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining“:

“The 1921 photograph at the end of the film was a genuine 1920’s photo, with Jack Nicholson’s head airbrushed onto the body of another man. Stanley Kubrick originally planned to use extras and shoot the photo himself, but he realized he couldn’t make it look any better than the real thing.”

I’ve always (ALWAYS) known that a real photo was used for the film and I’ve always been fascinated with it and the faces in it for that very reason. As a matter of fact, I even have a framed copy of it in my living room which is always good for creeping visitors out.

But who was removed from the photograph as Jack Nicholson was airbrushed in and what did he look like? Whose arm and body is that doubling for Ol’ Jacky Boy there?

Well, so far as I can tell, history doesn’t seem to have recorded his name but here’s the elusive devil right here:

I’ve spent YEARS trying to track this photo down and it was only recently that I found it on a very informative website dedicated to all things SHINING…

Courtesy of  The Overlook Hotel…

The original, unaltered period photo into which actor Jack Nicholson was composited to create the iconic photograph seen in the final shots of The Shining.

These images were found in a book entitled The Complete Airbrush and Photo-Retouching Manual, which was originally published in 1985. The book also identifies the retouching artist responsible for this work, Joan Honour Smith.

The original photographs of Jack Nicholson are located in the Stanley Kubrick Archive in London, and inspection of them reveals that only Nicholson’s head, collar, and bowtie were used; the rest of the figure is the anonymous man in the original 1923 photograph.

Interestingly, close examination of images from the film reveals that two different photo-composites were used: one for the long tracking shot which pushes down the hall towards the photo, and a different one for the extreme close-up. Nicholson’s composited head rotates from one photo to the next, and his shoulder shifts, partially obscuring the woman holding the cigarette behind him.

You May Also Be Interested In…
* REDRUM
* The Doors Of “The Shining” Cake
* What You May (Or May Not) Have Seen Hidden In The Shining

Gorgeous Portraits Of Movie Characters & Classic Shots.

I’d like to tell you all a little bit about the magnificent paintings of cinematic classics you’re about to see but unfortunately, I know almost nothing.

Here’s what I do know: The artist seems to be called Massimo Carnevale and…that’s it!

The Great Dictator (1940):

Some Like It Hot (1959):

The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967):

Serpico (1973):

JAWS (1975):

Taxi Driver (1976):

Saturday Night Fever (1977):

Alien !1979):

The Blues Brothers (1980):

The Elephant Man (1980):

The Shining (1980):

Back To the Future (1985):

Brazil (1985):

Full Metal Jacket (1987):

Point Break (1991):

The Silence Of The Lambs (1991):

True Romance (1993):

The Crow (1994):

The Green Mile (1999):

Death Proof (2007):

Bronson (2007):

Gran Torino (2008):

Machete (2010):

Django unchained (2012):

There are a HELLUVA lot more of these wonderful paintings and they can be viewed HERE.
The original artist seems to have a blog HERE.

You May Also Be Interested In…
* Trailer: “Drew: The Man Behind The Poster”
* “Death Proof” – Stuntman Mike’s Mix
* Keep The Meter Running

The Kronos Quartet: Hamilton Mausoleum.

A few days ago I had the pleasure of working at The Kronos Quartet Concert in Hamilton Mausoleum.
As you may know, I’m not very good when it comes to writing reviews.
That said, I got asked to write a short review for our staff newsletter.
Here’s what I managed to string together:

The Kronos Quartet.
Hamilton Mausoleum.
13/05/2011.

Well, I was pretty excited about working at The Kronos Quartet gig at Hamilton Mausoleum.
I used to play on the Mausoleum steps when I was a wee boy and the place was always closed.
I never got the chance to see inside but Hamilton Mausoleum is the ideal setting if you like to pretend you’re Indiana Jones.

Anyways,
Tickets for The Kronos Concert were allocated via a lottery system because of the limited amount of space inside the building.
The lucky golden ticket winners and ourselves arrived at the masoleum (which was lucky because I had to direct the bus driver and I don’t drive) and it’s even more impressive on the inside!

It was actually really misty and cold inside which only added to the eerie atmosphere and Kronos played in the centre of a candlelit circle in the middle of the mosiac floor making great use of the masoleum’s 15 second echo.
– Apparently the longest lasting echo of any man-made structure in the World…World…World…World…
Add to that the dome some 100 feet above us and instantly you got the feeling that something special was about to go down.

I’ll have to hold my hands up here and admit that I’d never even heard of The Kronos Quartet before this concert but already, I’m a big fan.

Additional sets were performed by:
The Alim Qasimov Ensemble,
Ritva Koistinen,
Chris Stout & Catriona Mckay,
Tanya Tagaq,
Donald Shaw & Karen Matheson.

Again, it’s hands in the air time as I’d never heard of an instrument called a Kantele before but Ritva Koistinen played it beautifully and I may just save all my wages up and buy myself one of those.

As great as all of the artists were I have to say that throat singer Tanya Tagaq stole the entire performance for me.
I don’t even know where to begin.

The lights were dimmed real low and Tanya performed barefoot surrounded by candles.
All of the artists really made great use of Hamilton’s Mausoleum’s echo but none so great as Tanya Tagaq.
She ran around in circles growling like a caged animal and AT THE SAME TIME sang above her own growls with the voice of an angel.
How can that be possible?
She built and built on top of her own voice and with the aid of the echo, you could close your eyes and be convinced that you were listening to 5 seperate people.

Halfway through her performance, and with the masoleum almost in complete darkness she….HOWLED LIKE A WOLF!
It was REALLY LOUD! (And unexpected!)
Actually, I don’t think an actual wolf could howl better.
When that happened, I looked at the stunned faces of the patrons, the circle of candles and the mist above me.

For a minute, I was convinced that the patrons were worshipers!
For a minute, I was convinced that I was gonna turn around to find my colleagues with fangs and capes!
For a minute, I thought that The Concert Hall I work for had decided to offer up some of its staff as some sort of sacrifice to the Hamilton Mausoleum Gods!

It’s easy to get carried away inside that Mausoleum.

What actually happened was:
Tanya became human again and after some stunned silence, there was thunderous echo drenched applause.
At the end of this great concert a patron beside me leaned across and said:
“What a great job you have! Can you get me one?”
He obviously didn’t realise that Daniel O’Donnell is scheduled to ‘perform’ later in the year.

The Kronos Quartet in Hamilton Mausoleum goes right into my Top 10 of amazing concerts.

Note:
All through the concert I was watching the TV Camera guy operate a Steadyicam.
Those things are very cool!

Look Who’s On Twitter…

And that’s all he says.
Every day of every month.

It’s easily my favourite thing on Twitter basically because it’s so fucking annoying.
I like that someone has went to the trouble of setting up a Jack Torrance Twitter account which constantly updates itself solely to annoy people 🙂
Follow it for a while and you’ll see what I mean.

Alternatively,
Follow me HERE or HERE.

Next Time On Al Cook’s “Necropolis”…

Hi dead body fans,
Just a note to say that this month’s Al Cook’s “Necropolis” special apperance by Jesus Of Nazareth has been postponed until next month due to stigmata related illness.

However!
There will be two new installments going up in a few days time featuring 2 of my good pals:
…Hammer and noose.

And y’never know,
Good ol’ industrial-sized staple gun may even show up!

Keep your eyes peeled on:

Al Cook’s “Necropolis”.