I think I saw that kind of lettering in a classroom inside of a one horse town school named Chular, in California (basically a suburb of Salinas, except Salinas itself isn't exactly big enough to have suburbs; just like Fruitland, Missouri is a would-be suburb of Jackson, but Jackson isn't even half the size of Cape Girardeau and Cape doesn't even have what it takes to have its own suburb(s)), and since Chular was a 1horse-town, not even big enough to warrant its own school, IMO, I think the decorations were probably manufactured in the late 70s and acquired from yard sales by the teachers who probably were taking a very huge paycut to work in Chular. I don't know what I was doing in the big kids class, I must have been on my way to the bathroom or trying to get back to class and ended up lost, idk...although I do remember my teacher made me apologize to a cop for saying something directed toward him regarding TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY (even though I was just a kid! -- with a very stubbornly exubrent lust for imagination and those things that it creates!!!!!??), but I don't know if that was when I saw the big kids' class or not. Maybe I saw enough movies to get an idea of what college was like in 1970-ish. But for some reason, maybe this missing piece of my memory regarding the font of the image above had something to do with it, but I started thinking about a book I read like, uh, 70?(yeah right) pages of, I can't remember what it was called. It MIGHT have been titled THE MANHATTAN PROJECT, but anyway, it was about the creation of the first atomic bomb. I was reading the book and looking back, something seems rather odd. The people - all of 'em - in that book were SMART. They were well versed in physics, biology, the whole 9 yards. This military general or someone like that was discussing the logistics of creating an atomic bomb with a group of scientists, and he actually understood enough to have some non-dumbfoundingly stupid questions/insights on the matter. I don't know if the town I live in is just meant for less brain-intensive matters, but I have got the impression from going to school with stupid people, living in a neighborhood filled with stupid people, and living in another neighborhood filled with people that I really don't know anything about other than things that don't suggest they are particularly smart...yeah; no need to figure out how to say "Girardeau", just say "Rich stupids! Yeah; you!" the tough part is figuring out if it's any different anywhere else. Do smart people all go on to big cities? Is St. Louis where all the smart people are? Or do they even consider stepping foot in Missouri at all?
I think the people have simply lost enthusiasm for public education. I mean, it's hard to argue with that. We have color TV for crying out loud, who needs to bother learning?! Thankfully a lot of Asian and other cultures are still cracking so now we have not just color TV, but we've gone from there to LCD/Plasma, then LED and now we have the new 4K Ultra-HD TVs from Sony! I wonder if the Japanese even have time to watch TV as hard as they work...
The font that is used to announce the "Dawn Of Man" sequence, after the mini-credit roll at the beginning is identical to the lettering that is used on both the title font on the cover and inside GHOSTBUSTERS and the entirety of the end-credits. What's odd is that even though by 1984 Hollywood was spending more money than in previous decades on movies so they could incorporate different outrageous visuals, that textbook/classroom air of sophisticated elegance remained intact 16 years after 2001: ASO was unleashed to the public. The only thing that really had changed between the late '60s and early '80s was that films were becoming faster paced and the music was less organic. The good movies that come out nowadays are almost always utilizing just about everything they can to make their case. David Fincher's movies are good examples of this; I think that may be a sign that the audience is losing its ability or willingness to notice the beauty of little details and needs something exotic to clinch the deal, OR it may mean that the fast faced mode of the 80's has simply progressed naturaly. I guess it depends on one's outlook. the TRANSFORMERS movies are definitely not a progression. But I guess that's coming from a guy who firmly belives that BAD BOYS, MIAMI VICE and every other fake asassSS cop film/show is a headfull of wasted time.
FILMS I LOVE FROM THE 1970S
BEING THERE
CARRIE
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE
THE EXORCIST
MEAN STREETS
TAXI DRIVER
THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE
FILMS I LOVE FROM THE 1980S
THE FLY
GHOSTBUSTERS
THE GOLDEN CHILD
HEATHERS
HELLRAISER
THE LAST UNICORN
ORDINARY PEOPLE
FILMS I LOVE FROM THE 1990S
BATMAN RETURNS
BRINGING OUT THE DEAD
CANDYMAN
CLOCKERS
DOLORES CLAIBORNE
8MM
FRANKIE & JOHNNY
THE GREEN MILE
NOWHERE
A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT
WHAT'S EATING GILBERT GRAPE?
FILMS I LOVE FROM THE DECADE WITH NO NAME (2000-2009)
THE DEPARTED
HARD CANDY
I HEART HUCKABEES
MYSTERIOUS SKIN
FILMS I LOVE FROM THIS DECADE:
SUPER
Seems increasingly bleak as time has gone on. I might be missing something from each of the decades. This decade only has one film on it, but it's only 3 years into it. And I haven't seen all there is to see (yet?).
Christopher Nolan's BATMAN trilogy was really good, but it spans two decades and I can't put THE DARK KNIGHT on that list as it's own movie b/c the film on its own is really not that entertaining; it's too depressing to be particularly enjoyable, IMO. But it's worth seeing to appreciate the true meaning of the follow up and its predecesser.
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