Official Great Works Draft (3 Viewers)

[Big Rocks]

Put me on autoskip for the afternoon. I'll make my picks up later.

 

[timschochet]

Some interesting tidbits regarding the film version of My Fair Lady: The stage version featured Rex Harrison, who was a movie star, and introduced Julie Andrews as Eliza, who was unknown to the general public. This caused the film producers to reject her for the lead role and cast Audrey Hepburn instead. However, Hepburn did not have a good enough singing voice for film, so Marnie Nixon dubbed for her, as she had done brilliantly in several other musical films.

Julie Andrews got her revenge by signing up with Disney for a movie musical that defeated My Fair Lady at the box office...

 

[Yankee23Fan]

I wasn't even going to get his Les Mis position. To me, there is no question that Les Mis is #1. Of all the shows I have seen on broadway and off, and I've seen a ton of them including every one in his list, Les Mis is the only one that just blew me away every time, no matter how many times I saw it and the same thing with the music as well.As for Phantom, if I had to rank all time shows it would be in the top 5, so I have a hard time coming close to 10th let alone out of 10th. No, that show had way way too much power and perfection to not be in a top 10.

You're like a football fan who just started watching the sport three years ago insisting that Tom Brady is the greatest QB of all time, because the best QB today has to be the best ever. It doesn't work that way.

:X

 

[timschochet]

sorry, i didn't realize we were up.

You still have a makeup pick from the previous round. Misfit Blondes' selection was not accepted.

 

[Yankee23Fan]

The Music Man is a great piece of Americana. It is not, IMO, a great musical.

I have to say I find your opinions on this category to be mind numbing. Not in a good, Pink Floyd-esque kinda way.

 

[Chiwawa]

MisfitBlondes' Pick

44.07 Hoover Dam (Structure)

Hoover Dam

In 1935

From Above

Hoover Dam, originally known as Boulder Dam, is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Arizona and Nevada. When completed in 1936, it was both the world's largest electric-power generating station and the world's largest concrete structure.

The first concrete was placed into the dam on June 6, 1933. Since no structure of the magnitude of the Hoover Dam had been constructed, many of the procedures used in construction of the dam were untried. Since concrete heats up and contracts as it cures, uneven cooling and contraction of the concrete posed a serious problem. The Bureau of Reclamation engineers calculated that if the dam were built in a single continuous pour, the concrete would have taken 125 years to cool to ambient temperature. The resulting stresses would have caused the dam to crack and crumble. To solve this problem the dam was built in a series of interlocking trapezoidal columns. Each pour was no more than six inches (152 mm) deep. Because of this depth it is extremely unlikely that construction workers were accidentally buried alive in the concrete, contrary to popular folklore (cf "Highwayman", by Jimmy Webb). To further cool the concrete each form contained cooling coils of 1 inch (25 mm) thin-walled steel pipe. River water was circulated through these pipes to help dissipate the heat from the curing concrete. After this, chilled water from a refrigeration plant on the lower cofferdam was circulated through the coils to further cool the concrete. After each layer had sufficiently cooled, the cooling coils were cut off and pressure grouted by pneumatic grout guns. The concrete is still curing and gaining in strength as time goes on.

There is enough concrete in the dam to pave a two-lane highway from San Francisco to New York.

 

[Chiwawa]

sorry, i didn't realize we were up.

You still have a makeup pick from the previous round. Misfit Blondes' selection was not accepted.

Thanks for the update. The pick I just made was for round 44 though.

 

[timschochet]

sorry, i didn't realize we were up.

You still have a makeup pick from the previous round. Misfit Blondes' selection was not accepted.

Thanks for the update. The pick I just made was for round 44 though.

That's fine. Your round 43 pick will be left blank.

 

[timschochet]

Actually Chiwawa, I can't do that, because it's not fair to the other drafters to allow you to skip a pick. If you want the Hoover Dam pick, it goes as pick 43 and you still owe a pick for 44. If you choose not do this, then I can't allow you to make any more picks until your 43 pick has been made.

Rodg, MisfitBlondes is on autoskip until his team has supplied us a pick for both 43 and 44.

 

[El Floppo]

Please let me know if this isn't fitting the category... I think it does.

 

[Trey]

A Chorus Line- simply a brilliant musical, and #7 on my all time list.

1.

2. Oklahoma!

3. South Pacific

4.

5.

6.

7. A Chorus Line

8. Fiddler On The Roof

9. West Side Story

10. Les Miserables

Please keep in mind that at the moment I have no idea how any of these will rank in the overall play rankings. Comparing them to the great dramas, comedies and tragedies will be difficult, and I'm afraid all but the very best musicals may suffer in the overall comparison; that remains to be seen. Right now I'm just comparing them to each other.

You really ought to reconsider these rankings. Les Mis at 10 is criminal.

 

[Yankee23Fan]

A Chorus Line- simply a brilliant musical, and #7 on my all time list.

1.

2. Oklahoma!

3. South Pacific

4.

5.

6.

7. A Chorus Line

8. Fiddler On The Roof

9. West Side Story

10. Les Miserables

Please keep in mind that at the moment I have no idea how any of these will rank in the overall play rankings. Comparing them to the great dramas, comedies and tragedies will be difficult, and I'm afraid all but the very best musicals may suffer in the overall comparison; that remains to be seen. Right now I'm just comparing them to each other.

You really ought to reconsider these rankings. Les Mis at 10 is criminal.

tim has said that he suffers from the delusion that if something is relatively new then, by definition, it can't be that great.

 

[timschochet]

tim has said that he suffers from the delusion that if something is relatively new then, by definition, it can't be that great.

Yep. I think I wrote that in an earlier post. Wait, here it is:I suffer from the delusion that if something is relatively new, then by definition, it can't be that great.

What a memory you have Yankee! You quoted me exactly.

 

[thatguy]

tim has said that he suffers from the delusion that if something is relatively new then, by definition, it can't be that great.

Yep. I think I wrote that in an earlier post. Wait, here it is:I suffer from the delusion that if something is relatively new, then by definition, it can't be that great.

What a memory you have Yankee! You quoted me exactly.

Wrong. He misplaced a comma.

 

[Yankee23Fan]

tim has said that he suffers from the delusion that if something is relatively new then, by definition, it can't be that great.

Yep. I think I wrote that in an earlier post. Wait, here it is:I suffer from the delusion that if something is relatively new, then by definition, it can't be that great.

What a memory you have Yankee! You quoted me exactly.

I'm not the one that typed that ridiculous Tom Brady analogy.

 

[El Floppo]

Musical theater fight! Musical theater fight!

 

[Fennis]

ETA: Oklahoma is a horrible play. Some people might enjoy it as a musical, but as a play it is horrible. West Side Story and Les Mes are clearly far and away better plays.

If I understand your argument correctly, you're suggesting that when I rank the musicals as compared to the other plays, I should rank them as merely plays minus the music? If so, I reject this. My consideration of these plays is based on the following factors:

1. Literary merit

2. Influence

3. Theatrical production

4. In the case of musicals, musical composition, integrity, structure, etc.

5. In the case of comedy, how funny is it?

I can't say at the current time how much weight goes into each of these factors, and there may even be more factors that I'm not considering here. In the case of musicals, there is no way to separate out the music. For example, you claim that Les Miserables is a better "play" than Oklahoma! The former is very nearly an opera. There is hardly a spoken line in the entire production. How can it then be considered a "play" at all under your definition? (Not mine.)

I am suggesting you judge them as plays, music and all. Plays should be judged on plots, themes, complexities of characters, among many other characteristics. Of course you should include music and songs, but there is much more that makes up whether a play is great or not. You should use the same criteria to judge all plays.

 

[Fennis]

Musical theater fight! Musical theater fight!

 

[Chiwawa]

Actually Chiwawa, I can't do that, because it's not fair to the other drafters to allow you to skip a pick. If you want the Hoover Dam pick, it goes as pick 43 and you still owe a pick for 44. If you choose not do this, then I can't allow you to make any more picks until your 43 pick has been made.Rodg, MisfitBlondes is on autoskip until his team has supplied us a pick for both 43 and 44.

You allowed me to do this last time there was an issue. Have some consistency, man!

 

[Chiwawa]

Musical theater fight! Musical theater fight!

anybody got a donkey?

 

[timschochet]

Actually Chiwawa, I can't do that, because it's not fair to the other drafters to allow you to skip a pick. If you want the Hoover Dam pick, it goes as pick 43 and you still owe a pick for 44. If you choose not do this, then I can't allow you to make any more picks until your 43 pick has been made.Rodg, MisfitBlondes is on autoskip until his team has supplied us a pick for both 43 and 44.

You allowed me to do this last time there was an issue. Have some consistency, man!

It was a mistake, I shouldn't have done it. Besides, there is now a pattern emerging: Your team makes three or four very good picks in a row, followed by a ridiculous choice which you know beforehand is going to be thrown out, followed by a bunch of insults made to me personally by both Misfit Blondes and outsiders (I'm a bit surprised those haven't come up yet.) Frankly, what I really should have done is kicked you guys out of the draft a long time ago. I haven't done so because I've tried to be tolerant, and because part of me finds the whole thing amusing at this point. But please don't go trying to tell me now what I can and can't do. If you have a problem with it, appeal and be done with it. My ruling stands.

 

[Yankee23Fan]

Musical theater fight! Musical theater fight!

I wouldn't consider this a fight. He's wrong and I am ilaughing at him. That isn't a fight, that's a comedy to me and a tragedy to him.

 

[Thorn]

A Chorus Line- simply a brilliant musical, and #7 on my all time list.

1.

2. Oklahoma!

3. South Pacific

4.

5.

6.

7. A Chorus Line

8. Fiddler On The Roof

9. West Side Story

10. Les Miserables

Please keep in mind that at the moment I have no idea how any of these will rank in the overall play rankings. Comparing them to the great dramas, comedies and tragedies will be difficult, and I'm afraid all but the very best musicals may suffer in the overall comparison; that remains to be seen. Right now I'm just comparing them to each other.

Thanks for the update, Thorn.I think I figured out your #1 some time back; if I am correct, there is NFW I would ever draft it. But the guys who wrote the score and choreography loom pretty large, so I understand why you put it there. Before I took mine, I surmised what #2 and #3 were, and I just wanted to draft something I liked. Sounds like Yankee got the one he wanted as well, so its all good.

 

[Postradamus]

wow- I guess I really am the only who's not a fan of musicals.

You are not alone my friend.Musicals are an embarrassment to good music. Plays shouldn't need singing parts for their characters, it slows down the action, doesn't allow for anything significant to happen and pretty much takes any serious subject matter and reduces it to toe tapping and chorus lines.

 

[Big Rocks]

You can take me off autoskip now. So who's up?

 

[Chiwawa]

Actually Chiwawa, I can't do that, because it's not fair to the other drafters to allow you to skip a pick. If you want the Hoover Dam pick, it goes as pick 43 and you still owe a pick for 44. If you choose not do this, then I can't allow you to make any more picks until your 43 pick has been made.Rodg, MisfitBlondes is on autoskip until his team has supplied us a pick for both 43 and 44.

You allowed me to do this last time there was an issue. Have some consistency, man!

It was a mistake, I shouldn't have done it. Besides, there is now a pattern emerging: Your team makes three or four very good picks in a row, followed by a ridiculous choice which you know beforehand is going to be thrown out, followed by a bunch of insults made to me personally by both Misfit Blondes and outsiders (I'm a bit surprised those haven't come up yet.) Frankly, what I really should have done is kicked you guys out of the draft a long time ago. I haven't done so because I've tried to be tolerant, and because part of me finds the whole thing amusing at this point. But please don't go trying to tell me now what I can and can't do. If you have a problem with it, appeal and be done with it. My ruling stands.

So out of 44 rounds we have made 10 ridiculous picks? I would like you to point out which 10 are ridiculous please if there is really a pattern here. Also please tell me what exactly is ridiculous about the Industrial Revolution. If you don't think it fits the category well, then that is fine, but does that mean we have to agree with you? I don't think sn what grounds would you have to kick us out? We have made excellent selections and participated in discussions, not to mention making our picks in a very timely matter much more often than not.

 

[Uncle Humuna]

Musical theater fight! Musical theater fight!

:X

 

[Thorn]

I have to say I am shocked that this many musicals have been selected.

 

[Yankee23Fan]

Actually Chiwawa, I can't do that, because it's not fair to the other drafters to allow you to skip a pick. If you want the Hoover Dam pick, it goes as pick 43 and you still owe a pick for 44. If you choose not do this, then I can't allow you to make any more picks until your 43 pick has been made.Rodg, MisfitBlondes is on autoskip until his team has supplied us a pick for both 43 and 44.

You allowed me to do this last time there was an issue. Have some consistency, man!

It was a mistake, I shouldn't have done it. Besides, there is now a pattern emerging: Your team makes three or four very good picks in a row, followed by a ridiculous choice which you know beforehand is going to be thrown out, followed by a bunch of insults made to me personally by both Misfit Blondes and outsiders (I'm a bit surprised those haven't come up yet.) Frankly, what I really should have done is kicked you guys out of the draft a long time ago. I haven't done so because I've tried to be tolerant, and because part of me finds the whole thing amusing at this point. But please don't go trying to tell me now what I can and can't do. If you have a problem with it, appeal and be done with it. My ruling stands.

So out of 44 rounds we have made 10 ridiculous picks? I would like you to point out which 10 are ridiculous please if there is really a pattern here. Also please tell me what exactly is ridiculous about the Industrial Revolution. If you don't think it fits the category well, then that is fine, but does that mean we have to agree with you? I don't think sn what grounds would you have to kick us out? We have made excellent selections and participated in discussions, not to mention making our picks in a very timely matter much more often than not.

Not to get involved in this because it was tired long ago and because I really don't care - but the Industrial Revolution doesn't fit into the category by any stretch and it will likely have the worst rating when I am judging. So, if that sways you at all....... if not........

 

[Yankee23Fan]

I have to say I am shocked that this many musicals have been selected.

I have to say I am shocked that more haven't been. I would never go to broadway for a drama play if I had the choice. Granted, I am limiting that statement to broadway, but I can guess you understand my meaning.

 

[Big Rocks]

A lot of people in this thread must have sand in their ######s.

 

[Thorn]

I have to say I am shocked that this many musicals have been selected.

I have to say I am shocked that more haven't been. I would never go to broadway for a drama play if I had the choice. Granted, I am limiting that statement to broadway, but I can guess you understand my meaning.

Interesting. I wonder how much of it has to do with me not having seen many professional productions.

 

[timschochet]

On what grounds would you have to kick us out? We have made excellent selections and participated in discussions, not to mention making our picks in a very timely matter much more often than not.

Hmm, I'll have to think of a good idea to kick you out. Let's see... how about World War II? Oh wait, I have a better idea- how about the Spanish Inquisition?

 

[krista4]

I hope this doesn't come off as rude, but any top 10 that doesn't have The Phantom of the Opera on it is questionable at best.

As I explained when it was selected, I love Phantom. I saw it with Michael Crawford at the Schubert Theatre in Los Angeles the year it premiered. It definitely makes my top 20 plays. But as to top ten, wait till the list is filled out and then tell me which of those you think are not as good. Difficult, difficult decisions.

Am I really the only person drafting who didn't like Les Mis, or just about anything else ALW did? I mean- I get a kick out of Jeebus Christ Superstar, but the rest of it I find pretty horrible. I walked out of seeing Les Mis in its original run on Broadway with the same feeling I had after watching Gorrest Fump.

I'm hippling so I'd imagine this has been pointed out already, but Les Mis is not from ALW. And I love Les Mis.

 

[krista4]

I know I'm going to break Yankee's heart with this pick (he's already called me a rude name in a PM) but I am going to take the quintesential Americana musical. A musical that beat West Side Story for the Tony for Best Musical in 1957 and a musical where the music, lyrics and story, were all written by the same man, Meredith Willson of Mason City, Iowa.

44.04--The Music Man-Meredith Willson-Play

From Seventy Six Trombones, to Trouble in River City, to The Wells Fargo Wagon or Gary, Indiana, this musical is chock full of great songs. This musical about a con man who comes to a small Iowa town and tries to con them into investing in a boys band only to be undone by the town librarian who he falls in love with is a classic story from a simpler time. Starring Robert Preston and Barbara Cook, the Music Man was a hit from the start, as I said winning 5 Tony awards and beating the Sharks and Jets for the top musical that year. It's songs were covered by many artists, including one "Till There Was You" by the Beatles. Willson's widow later said that they made more money on royalties from the Beatles version of "Till There Was You" than they did on the entire musical play.

The 1962 movie is also a classic and y'all should watch it sometime.

I absolutely love this movie. NOTE TO DRAFTERS: That doesn't mean it would be ranked highly if you take it.

 

[krista4]

MisfitBlondes' Pick

44.07 Hoover Dam (Structure)

Hoover Dam

In 1935

From Above

Hoover Dam, originally known as Boulder Dam, is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Arizona and Nevada. When completed in 1936, it was both the world's largest electric-power generating station and the world's largest concrete structure.

The first concrete was placed into the dam on June 6, 1933. Since no structure of the magnitude of the Hoover Dam had been constructed, many of the procedures used in construction of the dam were untried. Since concrete heats up and contracts as it cures, uneven cooling and contraction of the concrete posed a serious problem. The Bureau of Reclamation engineers calculated that if the dam were built in a single continuous pour, the concrete would have taken 125 years to cool to ambient temperature. The resulting stresses would have caused the dam to crack and crumble. To solve this problem the dam was built in a series of interlocking trapezoidal columns. Each pour was no more than six inches (152 mm) deep. Because of this depth it is extremely unlikely that construction workers were accidentally buried alive in the concrete, contrary to popular folklore (cf "Highwayman", by Jimmy Webb). To further cool the concrete each form contained cooling coils of 1 inch (25 mm) thin-walled steel pipe. River water was circulated through these pipes to help dissipate the heat from the curing concrete. After this, chilled water from a refrigeration plant on the lower cofferdam was circulated through the coils to further cool the concrete. After each layer had sufficiently cooled, the cooling coils were cut off and pressure grouted by pneumatic grout guns. The concrete is still curing and gaining in strength as time goes on.

There is enough concrete in the dam to pave a two-lane highway from San Francisco to New York.

Nice picl.

 

[Yankee23Fan]

I have to say I am shocked that this many musicals have been selected.

I have to say I am shocked that more haven't been. I would never go to broadway for a drama play if I had the choice. Granted, I am limiting that statement to broadway, but I can guess you understand my meaning.

Interesting. I wonder how much of it has to do with me not having seen many professional productions.

It could just be me. In the end, the musical as an art form can't be read like drama can be, and so I have two outlets for good drama - books and television/movies. Add to that the fact that I find most stage drama to be of Lifetime channel subject matter and overall it's usually to me a boring genre that is enhanced by being able to read at my leisure or watch on the screen.With a musical, I can watch the stage performace, or in some cases the movie. My Fair Lady is a perfect example. It's one of my favorite movies. Not just musicals, but overall movies. The music, which is fantasic, just adds to the entertainment value to me. Les Mis was a phenomenal stage production that is head and shoulders above everything I seen on broadway, and the cast concert recording is equally amazing. When they did the anniversary TV special of the show it didn't lose anything to me except maybe the power of the voices bouncing off the theatre walls. But on stage these shows are truly remarkable to me.Beyond the greats already drafted, my personal favorite musical was Jekyl & Hyde which stopped it's run about 7 years ago or so. It didn't last very very long, but it was a great show. The guy that played J % H was the original Javert from Les Mis, whom I also saw in Les Mis. Now, I believe Javert to be one of, if not the, best stage characters I have ever seen. The entire role was breathtaking, the music was amazing, and his suicide was still to me the most powerful moment I've ever seen on stage. But the way the guy played J & H was almost equally powerful to me. It was a great performance, and the music was great as well.I grant that there was a time when the play was a better art form. In Shakespeares time. And therefore, the drama of the matter is hard to question. I don't dare argue that the best musical equals the best Shakespeare for the purposes of judging because it doesn't. But, my personal preference? Give me Les Mis on stage over any Shakespeare any day of the week. It's more entertaining and appeals to more of my senses.

 

[timschochet]

MisfitBlondes' Pick

44.07 Hoover Dam (Structure)

Hoover Dam

In 1935

From Above

Hoover Dam, originally known as Boulder Dam, is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Arizona and Nevada. When completed in 1936, it was both the world's largest electric-power generating station and the world's largest concrete structure.

The first concrete was placed into the dam on June 6, 1933. Since no structure of the magnitude of the Hoover Dam had been constructed, many of the procedures used in construction of the dam were untried. Since concrete heats up and contracts as it cures, uneven cooling and contraction of the concrete posed a serious problem. The Bureau of Reclamation engineers calculated that if the dam were built in a single continuous pour, the concrete would have taken 125 years to cool to ambient temperature. The resulting stresses would have caused the dam to crack and crumble. To solve this problem the dam was built in a series of interlocking trapezoidal columns. Each pour was no more than six inches (152 mm) deep. Because of this depth it is extremely unlikely that construction workers were accidentally buried alive in the concrete, contrary to popular folklore (cf "Highwayman", by Jimmy Webb). To further cool the concrete each form contained cooling coils of 1 inch (25 mm) thin-walled steel pipe. River water was circulated through these pipes to help dissipate the heat from the curing concrete. After this, chilled water from a refrigeration plant on the lower cofferdam was circulated through the coils to further cool the concrete. After each layer had sufficiently cooled, the cooling coils were cut off and pressure grouted by pneumatic grout guns. The concrete is still curing and gaining in strength as time goes on.

There is enough concrete in the dam to pave a two-lane highway from San Francisco to New York.

Nice picl.

It will be. When they offer it to us in the right slot.

 

[rodg12]

43.14 - Misfit Blondes (repick needed)

Skipped

39.19 - Tirnan (autoskip if not around)

40.02 - Tirnan (autoskip if not around)

41.06 - Abrantes (autoskip)

41.10 - thatguy (autoskip)

41.19 - Tirnan (autoskip if not around - Get Better GB)

42.02 - Tirnan (autoskip)

42.11 - Thatguy (autoskip)

42.15 - Abrantes (autoskip)

42.16 - Doug B (autoskip)

43.05 - Doug B (autoskip)

43.06 - Abrantes (autoskip)

43.10 - thatguy (autoskip after time out)

43.12 - Mister CIA (autoskip)

43.15 - Bob Lee Swagger (autoskip after 15)

43.16 - Scott Norwood/Anborn (timed out)

43.19 - Tirnan (autoskip)

44.02 - Tirnan (autoskip)

44.05 - Scott Norwood/Anborn (autoskip after time out)

44.06 - Bob Lee Swagger (autoskip)

44.08 - Uncle Humuna - OTC until :00

44.09 - Team CIA (autoskip)

44.10 - El Floppo (autoskip if not here)

44.11 - Thatguy (autoskip)

44.12 - Big Rocks

44.13 - Tides of War (autoskip)

44.14 - BobbyLayne

44.15 - Abrantes (autoskip)

44.16 - Doug B (autoskip)

44.17 - Timschochet

44.18 - Postradamus

44.19 - Rodg

44.20 - Krista

 

[PatsWillWin]

It will be. When they offer it to us in the right slot.

Do you honestly not make yourself laugh at yourself?

 

[krista4]

I have to say I am shocked that this many musicals have been selected.

 

[Chiwawa]

A lot of people in this thread must have sand in their ######s.

i don't, but not a terrible idea. Can humans make pearls?

 

[Yankee23Fan]

I have to say I am shocked that this many musicals have been selected.

 

[krista4]

Bunny el Floppo, I regret to inform that I called the judge to inquire on The Giving Tree, and he says it doesn't fit the category.

 

[El Floppo]

Am I really the only person drafting who didn't like Les Mis, or just about anything else ALW did? I mean- I get a kick out of Jeebus Christ Superstar, but the rest of it I find pretty horrible. I walked out of seeing Les Mis in its original run on Broadway with the same feeling I had after watching Gorrest Fump.

I'm hippling so I'd imagine this has been pointed out already, but Les Mis is not from ALW. And I love Les Mis.

lol... Same difference.

 

[Uncle Humuna]

Timmay and Rodg, please move my 37.13 selection - CERN Large Hadron Collider to Wildcard.

TIA

UH

 

[El Floppo]

Bunny el Floppo, I regret to inform that I called the judge to inquire on The Giving Tree, and he says it doesn't fit the category.

Really? What does Mr knowitall think it is?I've got a poem spot to fill... does it work there?

 

[Bob Lee Swagger]

43.15 - Harlan County, USA - Documentary - Barbara Kopple

Harlan County, USA is a 1976 documentary film covering the efforts of 180 coal miners on strike against the Duke Power Company in Harlan County, Kentucky in 1973. It was directed by Barbara Kopple, who has long been an advocate of workers' rights. Harlan County, U.S.A. is less ambivalent in its attitude toward unions than her later American Dream, the account of the Hormel Foods strike in Austin, Minnesota in 1985-86.

[edit] Overview

Kopple initially intended to make a film about Arnold Miller, Miners for Democracy and the attempt to unseat Tony Boyle. When miners at the Brookside Mine in Harlan County, Kentucky, struck in June 1972, Kopple went there to film the strike against Duke Power Company and UMWA's response (or lack thereof). The strike proved to be a more interesting subject, so Kopple switched the focus of her film.

Kopple and her crew spent years with the families depicted in the film, documenting the dire straits they find themselves in while striking for safer working conditions, fair labor practices, and decent wages: following them to picket in front of the stock exchange in New York, filming interviews with people affected by black lung disease, and even catching an attempted murder on film.

The most significant point of disagreement in the Harlan County strike was the company's insistence on including a no-strike clause in the contract.[1] The miners were concerned that accepting such a provision in the agreement would limit their influence over local working conditions. The sticking point was mooted when, a few years after this strike, the UMWA folded the agreement that was eventually won by this group of workers into a global contract.

Rather than using narration to tell the story, Barbara Kopple chose to let the words and actions of these people speak for themselves. For example, when the company goons show up early in the film — the strikers call them "gun thugs" — the goons try to keep their guns hidden from the camera. However as the strike drags on for nearly a year, both sides are more than willing to openly brandish their weapons.

Kopple also produces some interesting facts about the strike, such as the fact that Duke Power Company's profits increased more than 100 percent in a single year. Meanwhile, the striking miners, many of whom are living in squalid conditions without even the basics like running water, only received a 4 percent pay increase despite a 7 percent cost of living increase for that same year.

Another key element in this movie is the country and bluegrass music which is so central to the lives of these miners. There are songs by Merle Travis, Hazel Dickens and Florence Reece, who makes a key appearance in this movie. Old as she is — she remembers when Harlan County was known as "Bloody Harlan" in the days of the Great Depression — Florence delivers a touching, throaty rendition of her most famous labor song, "Which Side Are You On?"

For those who may not understand the importance of the strike, the specter of death always seems to loom large in this movie. A good case in point is the story of Joseph Yablonski, a passionate, populist union representative who was loved by many of the miners. In fact, many of them wanted to see Yablonski oust the indifferent and corrupt Tony Boyle. But sadly, Yablonski and his family were found murdered in their home. The police eventually caught the hired goons responsible for the killings and in one of the film's most devastating moments Tony Boyle is shown, frail, sickly and confined to a wheelchair, being carried up the courthouse steps to face a conviction for those murders.

Almost a full year into the strike a striking miner named Lawrence Jones is fatally shot during a scuffle. Jones was well-liked, quite young and had a 16-year-old wife and a baby. His mother was so overcome with grief at the funeral that she collapsed. It is this tragic moment more than anything else that finally forces the strikers and the management to come to the bargaining table.

A central figure in the documentary is Lois Scott, a firebrand who plays a major role in galvanizing the community in support of the strike. Several times she is seen publicly chastising those whom she feels have been absent from the picket lines. In one scene, Scott pulls a pistol from her bra and earns a comparison to Women's Liberation activists by associate director Anne Lewis in the film's 2004 Criterion Collection special feature The Making of Harlan County, USA.

The film won the 1976 Academy Award for Documentary Feature.[1] In 1990, Harlan County, USA was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." The events were dramatized in the 2000 TV movie Harlan County War.

I'll chime in with some personal comments later tonight. I love this movie, and I'm very happy to nab it this late. I knew waiting on docs would pay off I don't think my next pick has been taken yet. Couldn't find it in the spreadsheet, so just let me know if it's taken already and I'll re-pick.

44.06 - The Astrolabe - Invention

An astrolabe is a historical astronomical instrument used by classical astronomers, navigators, and astrologers. Its many uses include locating and predicting the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars; determining local time given local latitude and vice-versa; surveying; and triangulation.

In the medieval Islamic world, they were used primarily for astronomical studies, as well as in other areas as diverse as astrology, navigation, surveying, timekeeping, Salah prayers, and Qibla. Astrologers of the European nations used astrolabes to construct horoscopes.

There is often confusion between the astrolabe and the mariner's astrolabe. While the astrolabe could be useful for determining latitude on land, it was an awkward instrument for use on the heaving deck of a ship or in wind. The mariner's astrolabe was developed to address these issues.

A Brief History

An early rudimentary astrolabe was invented in the Hellenistic world in either the first or second centuries BC and is often attributed to Hipparchus. A marriage of the planisphere and dioptra, the astrolabe was effectively an analog calculator capable of working out several different kinds of problems in spherical astronomy. Theon of Alexandria wrote a detailed treatise on the astrolabe, and Lewis (2001) argues that Ptolemy used an astrolabe to make the astronomical observations recorded in the Tetrabiblos.[1]

Brass astrolabes (Arabic: اسطرلاب asterlab, ostorlab‎) were developed in the medieval Islamic world, chiefly as an aid to navigation and as a way of finding the qibla, the direction of Mecca. The first person credited with building the astrolabe in the Islamic world is reportedly the eighth century mathematician, Muhammad al-Fazari.[2] The mathematical background was established by the Arab astronomer, Muhammad ibn Jābir al-Harrānī al-Battānī (Albatenius), in his treatise Kitab az-Zij (ca. 920 AD), which was translated into Latin by Plato Tiburtinus (De Motu Stellarum). The earliest surviving astrolabe is dated AH 315 (927/8 AD). In the Islamic world, astrolabes were used to find the times of sunrise and the rising of fixed stars, to help schedule morning prayers (salat). In the 10th century, al-Sufi first described over 1,000 different uses of an astrolabe, in areas as diverse as astronomy, astrology, horoscopes, navigation, surveying, timekeeping, prayer, Salah, Qibla, etc.[3]

Abū Ishāq Ibrāhīm al-Zarqālī (Arzachel) of Al-Andalus constructed the first universal astrolabe instrument which, unlike its predecessors, did not depend on the latitude of the observer, and could be used from anywhere on the Earth. This instrument became known in Europe as the "Saphaea". The astrolabe was introduced to other parts of Europe via Al-Andalus in the 11th century.[4] Early Christian recipients of Arab astronomy included Gerbert of Aurillac and Hermannus Contractus.

The spherical astrolabe, a variation of both the astrolabe and the armillary sphere, was invented during the Middle Ages by astronomers and inventors in the Islamic world.[5] The earliest description of the spherical astrolabe dates back to Al-Nayrizi (fl. 892-902). In the 12th century, Sharaf al-Dīn al-Tūsī invented the linear astrolabe, sometimes called the "staff of al-Tusi", which was "a simple wooden rod with graduated markings but without sights. It was furnished with a plumb line and a double chord for making angular measurements and bore a perforated pointer."[6] The first geared mechanical astrolabe was later invented by Abi Bakr of Isfahan in 1235.[7]

Peter of Maricourt in the last half of the thirteenth century also wrote a treatise on the construction and use of a universal astrolabe (Nova compositio astrolabii particularis). However, given the complicated nature of the instrument, it is highly unlikely that any were actually constructed; at least none survive.

The English author Geoffrey Chaucer (ca. 1343–1400) compiled a treatise on the astrolabe for his son, mainly based on Messahalla. The same source was translated by the French astronomer and astrologer Pelerin de Prusse and others. The first printed book on the astrolabe was Composition and Use of Astrolabe by Cristannus de Prachaticz, also using Messahalla, but relatively original.

In 1370, the first Indian treatise on the astrolabe was written by the Jain astronomer Mahendra Suri.[8]

The first known European metal astrolabe was developed in the fifteenth century by Rabbi Abraham Zacuto in Lisbon. Metal astrolabes improved on the accuracy of their wooden precursors. In the fifteenth century, the French instrument-maker Jean Fusoris (ca. 1365–1436) also started selling astrolabes in his shop in Paris, along with portable sundials and other popular scientific gadgets of the day.

In the 16th century, Johannes Stöffler published Elucidatio fabricae ususque astrolabii, a manual of the construction and use of the astrolabe. Four identical 16th century astrolabes made by Georg Hartmann provide some of the earliest evidence for batch production by division of labor.

Astrolabes and clocks

At first mechanical astronomical clocks were influenced by the astrolabe; in many ways they could be seen as clockwork astrolabes designed to produce a continual display of the current position of the sun, stars, and planets. Ibn al-Shatir constructed the earliest astrolabic clock in the early 14th century.[9] At around the same time, Richard of Wallingford's clock (c. 1330) consisted essentially of a star map rotating behind a fixed rete, similar to that of an astrolabe.[10]

Many astronomical clocks, such as the famous clock at Prague, use an astrolabe-style display, adopting a stereographic projection (see below) of the ecliptic plane.

In 1985 Swiss watchmaker Dr. Ludwig Oechslin designed and built an astrolabe wristwatch in conjunction with Ulysse Nardin.

 

[Uncle Humuna]

Musical theater fight! Musical theater fight!

You're a naughty oneSaucy Jack

 

[krista4]

Bunny el Floppo, I regret to inform that I called the judge to inquire on The Giving Tree, and he says it doesn't fit the category.

Really? What does Mr knowitall think it is?I've got a poem spot to fill... does it work there?

It's a children's book that relies heavily on illustrations. If you really want to get into it, I can have him post. The poem judge would have to tell you whether it's a poem. Not everything fits into a category, you know.