Despite its shadowy milieu, film noir is the cinema of heat: the heat between a man and a woman, the friction between men on collision courses, the burning need for vengeance or justice or just getting a little distance from your circumstances. It's the perfect kind of film to relax with during the summer, when nerves and patience already run short - preferably with a whirring ceiling fan overhead and a tall glass of something chilled.

We're kind of used to Warner Brothers releasing their Film Noir Classic Collection box sets each July, but it looks like they're not going through with that again this year. So, we've put together our own five-pack of classic and semi-classic films to get you through the night.

1. Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950) This ain't the storybook you had as a kid. When a hard-boiled detective with one too many brutality complaints accidentally kills a murder witness, he must frame an innocent man for the crime - even as he falls in love with the man's daughter. One of several noirs and neo-noirs by writer-director Otto Preminger and starring Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney (the others include the classic Laura), the film is noir at its most primal, yet it still remains nuanced and memorable long after viewing thanks to deeply emotional scenes and compelling acting from every cast member. Though Mitchum and Bogart are most commonly considered noir's reigning heavyweights, Andrews' incredible reserve and depth of portrayal make him the thinking man's noir anti-hero. DVD: Part of Fox's "Fox Film Noir" library.

2. Odds Against Tomorrow (1959) Though many count 1955's Atomic Age-themed Kiss Me Deadly as the last great noir of the classic period, Odds Against Tomorrow better deserves that title, looking ahead as it does to the Civil Rights Movement while retaining noir's classic themes and motifs. Harry Belafonte, Ed Begley Sr. and film noir titan Robert Ryan conspire to rob a small town bank. But Ryan's ex-con is a hardbitten racist, and the tension between him and Belafonte's gambling addict simmers into a twist ending that M. Night Shyamalan only wishes he could concoct. Noir siren Gloria Grahame and Shelley Winters appear as women drawn into Ryan's self-destructive orbit. DVD: Available from MGM.

3. Black Angel (1946) When a gadabout is falsely convicted for the murder of a blackmailing nightclub singer, his loyal wife (June Vincent) teams with the singer's alcoholic ex-husband (the underrated Dan Duryea) to prove his innocence. Together they infiltrate a nightclub run by a powerful gangster (Peter Lorre), even as the ex-husband's alcohol-racked memory begins to reveal the killer's true identity. Haunting and memorable, especially for the lush cinematography and the fine performance by the all-but-forgotten Vincent. DVD: from Universal.

4. The Blue Dahlia (1946) Not to be confused with Brian De Palma's 2006 flop The Black Dahlia, this glittering bit of noir reunites frequent co-stars Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake in Raymond Chandler's original screenplay about a returning fighter pilot investigating the murder of his dissipated wife. Chandler's script is reflective of his Philip Marlowe novels' serpentine plots and crisp dialogue, while Ladd and Lake's chemistry lights up the screen as usual. In real life, a bartender gave Hollywood starlet Elizabeth Short the nickname "The Black Dahlia" because the movie was playing at a theatre down the street. Short liked the name, keeping it until her gruesome murder the following year. DVD: Somehow, The Blue Dahlia is yet to come to DVD. Just the same, it's still widely available on VHS.

5. Kiss of Death (1947) An imprisoned jewel thief (Victor Mature) testifies against his cohorts to get early release after his wife's suicide leaves their children indigent. Once on the outside, he works undercover to help the District Attorney (Brian Donlevy) bring down psychopathic killer Tommy Udo (Richard Widmark). Basically, the film belongs to Widmark, who plays the well-named Udo with such wide-eyed glee that Mature's straight-jawed line delivery is almost completely overshadowed. You probably won't ever forget the scene where Udo throws the handicapped woman down the stairs, either. DVD: Also part of Fox's "Fox Film Noir" library.

- Michael Kabel

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

Cazale's talent, as often happens, can be overlooked because Al Pacino is so great. Earlier in the film we had a scene which is often called the "kiss of death" in Havana, when Michael says, "You broke my heart, Fredo." I call the scene below the "look of death" when Michael, while embracing Fredo in seeming forgiveness, gives Neri a look that says "OK, our mother's dead, you can take care of Fredo now." With all that going on, one might miss the look on Fredo's face when he sees his brother, the way he puts the cigarette in the ashtray and the gut-wrenching embrace.

Maybe Ipecac will get it for U.S. release? Their last one, Julian Curwin's The Tango Saloon, was wicked good... spaghetti western, tango, jazz, off-kilter goodness. A song from it showed up on a fancy Mix CD I made a few years back...

http://www.myspace.com/manwiththebongos (Tango Saloon's MySpace)
http://www.myspace.com/thefantasticterrificmunkle (precursor to Tango Saloon)

~Dan - np: Tango Saloon "Kiss of Death" on MySpace

NETFLIX SYNOPSIS:  Richard Widmark nabbed an Oscar nod for his memorable debut role as a sadistic mobster in this classic crime noir. Caught red-handed during a heist, two-bit hood Nick Bianco (Victor Mature, in a stellar turn) refuses to rat out his underworld pals but turns stoolie after they renege on a promise. Coerced by the prosecutor to get the goods on hit man Tommy Udo (Widmark), Bianco gets chummy with him but becomes Udo's mark when he beats the rap.

REVIEW:  Kiss of Death is a fun little noir piece.  Victor Mature plays Nick Bianco, a bad guy with a heart of gold who rats on his fellow crooks to get out of prison and rescue his daughters from an orphanage.  Richard Widmark nabbed an Oscar for his over-the-top portrayal of the giggling, neurotic tough-guy Tommy Udo, with whom Bianco eventually finds himself at odds.  Mature is his usual stiff self, but Widmark set the bar for all modern-day, over-the-top bad- guy performances.  The 1995 remake with Nicholas Cage and David Caruso is fun too, but doesn't have a lot of similarities with the superior original.

4 stars
HAWK

It's Lemmy The Movie!

www.imotorhead.com announced 2009 will bring us "Lemmy The Movie", like that title says, the movie will be about the God-Father of heavy music, Lemmy Kilmister.

This is what the website wrote:

Lemmy's story is about to move from the concert hall to the big screen.  Tentatively titled "Lemmy", the documentary movie promises fans more access than ever before to Kilmister's life, and includes interviews with past and present bandmates and such peers/admirers as Slash, Dave Grohl, the Clash's Mick Jones, Alice Cooper, Steve Vai and wrestling superstar Triple H.

Directors/producers Greg Olliver and Wes Orshoski are shooting the movie on a combination of HD video and super 16 mm film. "Lemmy" is planned for release in 2009 and a teaser clip is already available at http://www.lemmymovie.com/

Some other Motörhead news, the band started the recording of the "Kiss of Death" follow up earlier this year. Drum tracks have been recorded in Dave Grohl's studio.

The idea that the Bush team prefers "public" appeareances is a real joke. All those attending any Bush event are hand picked. Apparently, even in Arizona, the GOP can't hand pick all the protesters who want to call them on their evil ways.

--RikkiTikki

-----

Mike Sunnucks, The Phoenix Business Journal, May 23, 2008

A Tuesday fundraiser headlined by President Bush for U.S. Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign is being moved out of the Phoenix Convention Center.

Sources familiar with the situation said the Bush-McCain event was not selling enough tickets to fill the Convention Center space, and that there were concerns about more anti-war protesters showing up outside the venue than attending the fundraiser inside.

Another source said there were concerns about the media covering the event.

Bush's Arizona fundraising effort for McCain is being moved to private residences in the Phoenix area. A White House official said the event was being moved because the McCain campaign prefers private fundraisers and it is Bush administration policy to have events in public venues open to the media. The White House official said to reconcile that the Tuesday event will be held at a private venue and not the Convention Center.

Convention Center personnel confirmed the event has been canceled at their venue.

Read More Here

If you like crime drama, are a fan of Waking the Dead, or enjoyed Barbara Machin's BAFTA-winning Christmas POV Special of Casualty, Killing me Softly, do not miss this. 

"Louise Lombard (CSI, House of Elliott), Lyndsey Marshal (Rome) and Danny Dyer (Severance) star in Kiss Of Death, an exciting, gritty new one-off crime drama by awarding-winning writer Barbara Machin (Waking the Dead).

This compelling story is told from the point of view of every character involved - those investigating the crime, as well as the killer and his victims.

Michael Bovery has killed once and kidnapped another victim, challenging the team to work out why. Suddenly everyone's past comes under scrutiny, and everyone's version of the truth comes under suspicion.

Following the death of her child, Kay Rousseau returns to work to head up the crime team. Suspicion about her involvement in this death, however, remains - not least from her own husband. Only Matt Costello, Kay's second-in-command and a dedicated, impassioned copper, is loyal to the core.

Dr George Austen is the team's forensic scientist and worked on Kay's case. She knows things Kay wished she didn't, and this isn't helped by her own fast spiralling addiction to alcohol - which puts her evidential work under unwelcome scrutiny.

Louise Lombard plays Kay Rousseau, Danny Dyer plays Matt Costello and Lyndsey Marshal plays Dr George Austen. The cast also includes: Shaun Parkes (The Inspector Lynley Mysteries), who plays Dr Clive Morrell, whose own mood swings and strange behaviour cause concern within the team; Lenora Chrichlow (Sugar Rush), who plays young, fresh rookie cop Jude Whiley, who has an energy and passion for the job that verges on obsession; Ace Bhatti (New Street Law), who plays Kay's husband, Miles Trueman, and the lawyer attached to the case; and Brian McCardie (Lilies), who plays killer Bovery, a man obsessed with one of the team."

"Every point of view tells a different story," says Machin. "In fact, there's always more than one perspective to a crime. Each time you think you understand the truth, immediately afterwards we will take you somewhere new."

So there we have it.  A shiny new crime drama from the woman who bought you Britain's shoutiest detective and the world's most patient psychological profiler.  BAFTA Award-winning, Emmy Award-winning, and one of the top 5 writers working in the UK today according to Broadcast, she's also the most enthusiastic and passionate writer I've ever had the good fortune to work with and a jolly nice person to boot. 

This will be very special indeed, miss it at your peril.     

Jada doing his retrospective 1-2 thing over a tranced out Alchemist beat
For audio CLICK [HERE]

technorati tags:richard widmark, entertainment,movies, against all odds, don't bother to knock, film, film noir, kiss of death, night and the city, out of the past, pickup on south street, video, youtube

Un claro ejemplo es que en 2004 los investigadores Aaron Ciechanover, Avram Hershko e Irwin Rose fueron galardonados con el Premio Nobel en Química por el descubrimiento del mecanismo que bautizaron como El Beso de la Muerte, por el que las proteínas se degradan tras recibir una "marca molecular", la Ubiquitina.

Una célula produce una cantidad ingente de proteínas para cubrir las necesidades estructurales y funcionales de la misma. De todas las proteínas que se producen, como se puede esperar, no todas "salen bien" del proceso de producción, y han de ser degradadas. Otras es posible que se tengan que eliminar porque la célula sólo necesita que estén activas durante un tiempo, y un mantenimiento de su actividad puede generar desórdenes indeseados.

Todas estas proteínas se degradan en una estructura en forma de barril llamada proteasoma, un "triturador" de proteínas cuya alta conservación a lo largo de la evolución, resalta su importancia en la homeostasis celular. Esta eliminación de proteínas debe estar correctamente regulada, de forma que solo se degraden las proteínas que interesa degradar. Para ello, proteínas que regulan este sistema marcan con ubiquitina, y condenan a la proteína marcada a su fragmentación en el proteasoma.

Pero en biología molecular otro mecanismo ha sido bautizado como beso de la muerte, y es la destrucción de células infectadas por patógenos por parte de los linfocitos TCD8 o Citotóxicos.

Todas nuestras células están constantemente enseñando fragmentos de moléculas de su interior. De forma que regularmente se muestran fragmentos de todos los tipos de moléculas, en su mayoría fragmentos de proteínas degradadas en el proteasoma. Pues bien, si una célula se infecta por un virus, éste producirá sus proteínas que también se mostraran en superficie. Los linfocitos CD8 van por el medio extracelular "viendo" o reconociendo lo que enseñan las células. Lo normal es ver fragmentos de moléculas propias, y si ven fragmentos de algo reconocido como "extraño" se activan y destruyen la célula. Podría valer el ejemplo de un tendedero exterior de una casa. En él normalmente se muestran las vestimentas por las que podemos reconocer a las personas que viven dentro. Si por ejemplo de repente entrara a vivir un militar, lo sabríamos al ver su uniforme.

Los linfocitos cuando reconocen la célula infectada se unen íntimamente a ella, de forma que en el mínimo espacio entre ellas "suelta" sustancias que van a provocar poros en su membrana, así como sustancias que van a atravesar los poros para provocar la muerte de la célula desde dentro. Estas proteínas llamadas perforinas y granzimas, son las que forman los poros y la muerte respectivamente.

Esta unión estrecha que termina en muerte se bautizó también como beso de la muerte.

Aquí os muestro un vídeo que ilustra el evento:

Cuidad con que intención os besan...

This might seem an odd way to celebrate Mother's Day, but what can I say? My Mum likes Richard Widmark. And there's no way you can avoid smiling when he does THAT LAUGH.

Director Henry Hathaway had to be forced to use Widmark in this film. Hard to judge without seeing H.H.'s preferred choice, but it looks to me like Hathaway was Dead Wrong. Widmark -- doing his own laugh -- is a force of nature in this. What's even more remarkable and wonderful is that very quickly he was able to break out of playing bad guys and give us some great tortured heroes and anti-heroes.

From Tommy Udo to Harry Fabian.

Though it shames me as a crime/noir fan to say it, it took me until just this week to see Kiss of Death.  Admittedly, there is a plot: Victor Mature turns stoolie to protect his family and inadvertently puts them in danger when the man he testified against is acquitted.  But you’ll be too busy revelling in the awesomeness that is Richard Widmark to care.

Widmark makes his feature film debut as Tommy Udo, an all-time great psycho who Mature sees lurking in every shadow.  The performance is unforgettable, and not just for the classic moment in which Udo pushes a wheelchair-bound old woman down the stairs.

Udo crackles with insanity. The skin of his face hangs loose, a thin veneer covering the stark white skull beneath. An invisible string pulls the corners of his  mouth wider and wider until once-pursed lips have blossomed into a terrible rictus. His eyes glisten, brimming with the emotion of a consciousness on the verge of collapse. Seemingly innocuous statements are punctuated with bursts of nasal laughter that trail off into silence, ellipses that leave the worst part unsaid. And through it all, Widmark adds little touches to put things over the top: he’ll lick his hand as if it were a paw, throw a body part to the side in an inexplicable spasm, let one eyeball roll back in its socket.

As if it wasn’t apparent from the preceding paragraph, I highly recommend that you check this one out. Widmark’s performance undoubtedly influenced the generations of actors that followed. Watch closely and you’ll pick out Nicolas Cage’s twitchy swagger, Willem Dafoe’s piercing gaze, and, when it comes right down to it, probably some tic or expression displayed by any decent thespian who’s made a solid living by coming unglued onscreen.

Robert Mitchum wouldn’t bring his frog-eyed, deadpan fanatic to the big screen for quite a while yet—Night of the Hunter was 1955, Cape Fear 1962—and Anthony Perkins (as Norman Bates) waited thirteen more years before donning his momma’s skivvies. In 1947, Richard Widmark's Tommy Udo was indisputably the coolest, craziest villain around. 

(Posted by Julian on 1/31) 

[audio http://www.musicwebtown.com/dethan/playlists/59823/1280168.mp3]

LA Guns is one of my favorite band that I listen to. Enjoy this beautiful slow rock song by them as this song is rare on the net. If you enjoy the song, this song is among many others great songs inside their Vicious Circle album. Please buy the original.

Kiss of Death

I watched you burn your hand in my flame
Tempting fate again and again
Faith is not enough something's gotta change
Where is the love without pain

Riding on a homebound train
Ticket to a place in the sun
Like a villain on the run train ain't got going home
Don't turn your back on a loaded gun

Well I'm sorry darling I must confess
And as much as I need your caress
You'll keep taking till your very last breath
So put your arms around me
Leave me with your kiss of death

Crying out your heart in the rain
Pouring it all down the drain
When the pain takes control
Touch leaves you cold
It's better sometimes not to prey

Well I guess that's just the way that it goes
Why love dies nobody knows
But I love you till my very last breath
Don't say a word
Just leave me with your kiss of death

Well they told me that you left yesterday
Death is just a heartbeat away
And they both reached the end
Together ascend
Never to be parted again

Well I'm sorry darling I must confess
And as much as I need your caress
You'll keep taking till your very last breath
So put your arms around me
Leave me with your kiss of death

Well I guess that's just the way that it goes
Why love dies no one knows
But I love you till my very last breath
Don't say a word...just leave me with your kiss of death

Uh-Huh...Real life shit
Feel me - Matter fact, still feel me

Aiyyo, the past few years
Shit got so ill, it was kinda hard for the god the laugh through tears
I went through something wit mama, no drama
Something that came and went, real life Karma
My pops think his son is desertin' him, it's hurtin' him
Guess I got to be the man and sit down and work wit him
My little boy seven, he the sequel to the thug
So I told him the money will never equal to the love
Listen, I'm grown y'all
When comes to my family, it ain't never a problem, it's only a phone call
I tend to take that and run wit it
So every other month, I be on some new phone, new number shit
The Violators stay again
Gus totaled the Beamer and broke K's leg again
SHHHHHH!! Let us pray again
And I ain't get enough of hangin' in the local bars yet
Had to let the thang off cross town in the projects
All these rumors and shit and I ain't get robbed yet
Bitch ass niggas ain't stop actin' like broads yet
In arm reach of a gun and a mask
Somebody clipped me for a hundred in cash
Still feel me
I hit the road and tried to get more grip
It was cool till a muthafuckin' tour bus flip
No charge was brought up
Vick popped up wit a kid and got caught up
Now the road to the riches is takin' me longer
It ain't kill me yet so it's makin' me stronger
I don't know if it's the hate, frustration or hunger
That keep a nigga goin', rappin for a reason
Shit don't just happen, Shit happen for a reason
I'm that dude, like it or love it
I do my thing in the hood and get right wit a budget
Ain't afraid to give my life to the public
And when you see me next time maybe we can further discuss
How my sixteens give you a visual
I know you thinkin he ain't really sellin', how he live off residuals
But right now, the game is pitiful
And niggas is lonely, they ned company cuz they miserable

Yeah, Uh-huh...Shit is still real B
That's why I want you to still feel me

Shouts to Jadakiss for inking with Def Jam/Roc-A-Fella. Whatever the deal is, people online need to stop thinking they are A&R's and let the artists get their shit on without so much fucking speculation. Hopefully, Jadakiss will settle in right and be back to spitting some venom... it's obvious he'd been focused on getting this deal right and stepped away from the studio for a minute. We'll see what the future has in store for him.

Not everything needs to come with a tape/giveaway per say, but packaging that is representative of the brand, product and company is a plus.

Examples (l-r): The Story, Adicolors, Stones Throw x Kid Robot, J-Dilla (R.I.P x infinity), House Industries, Michael Lau, Clot x Nike Kiss of Death (Too bad the box wasn't available for all sizes!)