2001: A Space Odyssey

that definitely blew my mind when i first saw it as a kid

The only time I've used the noun "monolith" has been in reference to this film

I've been completely smitten with this film since I was a small kid, probably like a lot of people I guess.

A big "thank you" to my parents for letting me watch this since age 4 or so, aside from the political discussions it's an easy film for a kid to grasp

Love this blog:

http://typesetinthefuture.com/2001-a-space-odyssey/

http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/photos/2001-kubrick-s-space-epic-among-new-movie-stamps-copyright-royal-mail-photo-1399976903111.html

Did i fuck that up? i am hopeless at these things. One more try (it is the new 2001 first class stamp)

https://uk.movies.yahoo.com/photos/2001-kubrick-s-space-epic-among-new-movie-stamps-copyright-royal-mail-photo-1399976903111.html

fuckit

(also first response hall of fame)

http://www.designweek.co.uk/pictures/464x350fitpad%5B238%5D/0/1/9/2079019_2001-A-Space-Odyssey-Stamp-.JPG

thank you, it's nice isn't it (also slightly contentious entry as a 'british film')

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqOOZux5sPE

I saw Jodorowsky's "Dune" and there is a clip from this in it, it's from the Blue Danube section, and even just as an isolated 20-second movie clip w people occasionally talking over it, it is still the most brilliant and beautiful alignment of imagery and music I may ever witness. Everything about it is perfect, from the snail pacing to the color timing (those faded blues OMG heaven must be that color).

finally getting to see this on the big screen next weekend, pretty stoked

"2001 should be played in a temple 24 hours a day" — John Lennon

that's super expensive to have an empty flight for just heywood and they still make him sit in business class.

this film is an incredible thing. have loved it since i was 15 but seeing it in a theatre somehow makes everything fall into place in a way it never did before. and yeah definitely the best opening/credit sequence in all of film history -- i was tearing up a bit.

dominique's post upthread about how the pacing is "like giant gears of a celestial rollercoaster unlocking" is so otm. feel like i've been searching for that phrase for years to explain to ppl why this film isn't "boring."

I saw this for the first time* on bluray the other night

*I attempted to watch it twice before but I always fell asleep somewhere between the apes and HAL

Now I'm really mad at myself for not giving more attention earlier, and I'm suuuuuuuuuuper jealous of Mr Veg who first saw it in a big cinerama dome when he was 10

I can't imagine anything more awesome than seeing this as a kid, seriously anyone itt who has that memory congratulations you win at life.

There's so much I love about it that it's kinda hard to even say in detail because you guys all know but thank fuck he worked so hard to NOT do what was expected, and god love everyone who worked on that movie for committing to the sheer level of detail needed to pull it off. Those space scenes are fucking immaculate

I cried when HAL got shut down ;_; ...and I didn't even know about the whole 'Daisy' song being a real thing (ie Bell labs) until I watched the special features

Can anyone recommend a good 'making of' book that I should read? I would love to know more.

the worst part about it taking me so long to see 2001 is that I've loved so many of his other movies, saw Eyes Wide Shut in the theater ffs, like WWWWHAAAAT IS WRONG WITH ME lol

it just always seemed intimidating I think. and I always exhausted myself going 'ok what does this mean, why is the ape doing that, what's that for, what's it represent blahahaahha' and this time I was like fuck it, I'm just gonnna watch the bloody thing like a bloody movie the way Kubrick intended ppl to watch it and not get all nerded out until afterwards

^^ learning recently that that attitude pretty key to tackling any big cultural object.

this movie remains a miraculous thing.

Good book: The Making of Kubrick's 2001 - Edited by Jerome Angel. Mentioned upthread I think (probably by me). Contains tons of details about the movie, the story, the novel, lots of theories and suchlike, reprints of reviews etc that came out at the time.

Can anyone recommend a good 'making of' book that I should read? I would love to know more.

'The Lost Worlds of 2001' by Arthur C. Clarke is a mixed bag of early screenplay bits, the original short story that the film was partly based on ('The Sentinel'), and recollections about working with Kubrick.

'2001: Filming the Future' by Piers Bizony is more a conventional 'making of' with a lot of technical detail but it also goes into the people behind the scenes, not just Clarke and Kubrick. There's also a chapter in the book summarising Kubrick's other films, which really helps put '2001' into context.

The Jerome Agel book is pretty good.

this is a great essay going around a while back about the fonts
http://typesetinthefuture.com/2001-a-space-odyssey/

totally didn't know those were IBM spacesuits

I started watching 2010 the other night -- I don't mind it but god is there anything in the original that isn't a) driven into the ground and/or b) completely over-explained, sheesh

haha that movie is so bad

i feel bad for them re the space scenes.

A lot of '2010' is a huge expo-dump. The only way it could avoid feeling clunky is for people who haven't seen '2001'. Having said that, I like '2010' a lot.

it's much more a sequel to clarke's '2001' than it is kubrick's

I can't imagine anything more awesome than seeing this as a kid, seriously anyone itt who has that memory congratulations you win at life.

:D

So happy to hear about your first 2001 screening! I would give anything to see it again for the first time!

and the bluray is legit gorgeous

I didn't see it as a kid, but I did see it (as I've probably already mentioned upthread and am too lazy to check) several years ago in an AMAZING 70mm print at the AFI Silver Theater in Maryland. It was absolutely mind-blowing.

I didn't even know about the whole 'Daisy' song being a real thing (ie Bell labs)

OK, I don't think I know what this means. Wha?

I'm suuuuuuuuuuper jealous of Mr Veg who first saw it in a big cinerama dome when he was 10

I can't imagine anything more awesome than seeing this as a kid, seriously anyone itt who has that memory congratulations you win at life.

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, June 13, 2014 11:45 AM (9 hours ago)

me too! saw the theatrical re-release w/ my stepdad in 1980, when i was 13. completely mind bowling. loved the "white room" section towards the end best of all, has long stayed in my mind as one of the most breathtaking sequences i've ever seen onscreen. remember sitting in the theater afterwards, after the credits had finished with the music still playing. wasn't sure we were supposed to leave or what. my stepdad explained that the extra music was there so people on drugs could re-orient themselves.

xpost: (from Wiki)

In 1961 an IBM 704 became the first computer to sing, in a demonstration of Bell Labs' newly invented speech synthesis – and the song was "Daisy Bell".[3] Vocals were programmed by John Kelly and Carol Lochbaum and the accompaniment was programmed by Max Mathews. In a famous scene in the 1968 science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey, the intelligent HAL 9000 computer during its deactivation loses its mind and degenerates to singing "Daisy Bell", which was one of the first things HAL learned when it was originally programmed. The author of the story, Arthur C. Clarke, had seen the 1961 demo.[4]

http://youtu.be/41U78QP8nBk

neat, huh?

thx VG, def hadn't heard that.

:D

I liked this when I saw it - someone has reverse engineered the images used for the slitscan sequence

http://seriss.com/people/erco/2001/

Fun fact: in the French dubbed version, HAL sings Au clair de la lune. Makes it a whole different movie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdi5PqMm4jQ

2001 Space Odyssey. Dave turn off HAL

In a nice coincidence, my wife gave me a copy of the Taschen SK Archives for Father's Day this morning.

wait, is father's day on a saturday this year or something??

No, they gave me presents and fixed breakfast and all that a day early because my daughter has to work tomorrow morning.

I didn't see it as a kid, but I did see it (as I've probably already mentioned upthread and am too lazy to check) several years ago in an AMAZING 70mm print at the AFI Silver Theater in Maryland. It was absolutely mind-blowing.

Ha. I caught a 70mm screening at that AFI a few years ago too.

An unfortunate thing about 2001 is that it seems to devalue with each viewing. Realized this a few years ago when I saw it maybe four times in a span of a few months. It just doesn't have the return value as other favorites.

Seeing this as a teenager was monumental though. I could probably credit that moment as what really got me interested in film.

Yeah, I've only watched 2001 maybe 2 or 3 times ever. It's not a movie that you want to go back to on an annual basis.

My favourite thing about this movie (along with the soundtrack, the ending, the moon sequence... pretty much everything except the monkeys, and even the monkey are great) my favourite thing is the unique style of editing, super rhythmic. It feels like every shot is too long or too short, the editing is obtrusive, like its own character. It never feels zany like a Godard film, it just feels weirdly musical or something.

otm

re: re-watchability, I agree. but it's certainly not a fault of the film. there's something like a conscious lack of depth or nuance (in a very good way). it's like the Iliad or something mythological.

?? do you mean everyone's lack of affect and frank's stepford parents?