theBCLMC The Long Island University Brooklyn Campus Library Media Center Newsletter  We love movies, among other things.
January 2011, issue 60		"These go to eleven." -- Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest), This is Spinal Tap (1984). Happy New Year! 2011: It's One Louder than 2010 At the risk of telling a joke that you've already heard and that may resurface all year, we're going to kick off the New Year with a look at the endlessly watchable, hugely influential, spontaneously combustible, heavy metal mockumentary This is Spinal Tap.  Why this movie?  Why this year?  Nigel Tufnel: The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleven and... Marty DiBergi: Oh, I see. And most amps go up to ten? Nigel Tufnel: Exactly. Marty DiBergi: Does that mean it's louder? Is it any louder? Nigel Tufnel: Well, it's one louder, isn't it? It's not ten. You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You're on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you're on ten on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where? Marty DiBergi: I don't know. Nigel Tufnel: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do? Marty DiBergi: Put it up to eleven. Nigel Tufnel: Eleven. Exactly. One louder. Marty DiBergi: Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder? Nigel Tufnel: [pause] These go to eleven. Directed by Rob Reiner, the film's influence is strongest in Spinal Tap alum Christopher Guest's films, like Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show.  Turn on your tv and you'll see the deadpan mockumentary style used brilliantly in The Office (both UK and US versions), and Modern Family. By the way, Spinal Tap is privileged to be one of the fifty or sixty films that make up my own personal Top Ten List.  If you've never seen it, you're in for a treat; if you've seen it before, it's a great excuse to have some friends over for a party.  Or check out one of the films noted above.  Rock on.  Here's hoping your year goes to eleven. "People say, You must have been the class clown. And I say, No, I wasn't. But I sat next to the class clown, and I studied him." --Dr. Pearl (Eugene Levy), Waiting for Guffman (1996). The LIU Brooklyn Campus Library Media Center Questions?  Comments?  Contact us.  Media Center Staff: Patrick Jewell,  Media Staff  (718) 488-3392 Patrick.Jewell@liu.edu Lisa Rivera,  Media Staff  (718) 780-4378 Lisa.Cotton@liu.edu
Past Issues of the BCLMC Library Homepage Media Center LIUCAT LIU Brooklyn Campus Other sites we like: BAM Rose Cinemas Film Forum Internet Movie Database Facets Multi-Media Open Source Shakespeare The Criterion Collection The Museum of the Moving Image  Women Make Movies California Newsreel American Film Institute Anthology Film Archives Brooklyn Information and Culture Sunset Gun Trailers from Hell The Movie Title Stills Collection This issue of  BCLMC is brought to you all the way from the back row by Media Assistant and wannabe haberdasher Patrick Jewell.  Tell your friends.