The Thing from Another World, X The Unknown, The Day The Earth Stood Still

Three black and white sci fi films with lots of military men from the fifties. X from 1956, and the others both 1951. I mixed them up. Every time an alien creature would appear, I would stop the movie and switch to another.

However, after watching all three opening credits, I would have preferred to play them all at once on three separate screens. They are all 80-90 minutes long. Lacking this ability, I continued with shuffling them on my one screen.

Right away I noticed that in The Thing, actors are stepping on each other’s lines, or, speaking over each other. The attitude is very casual, loose, and a little lazy perhaps, as if a lot of filming was done in one take. The dialogue in The Day, by contrast, is sharp, precise and clear.

X reminded me of an idea I had a while ago, to make a sci fi movie with no special effects. Have all of the actors reacting to things offscreen. X did have some special effects here and there, but they are very quick. Mostly you have people examining something and then screaming.

In The Day, lots of stock footage is used, or, a lot of things happened that could be from stock footage. Operators working switchboards, newspaper presses rolling, people in foreign lands listening to radio broadcasts. I would really like to see a sci fi movie with no special effects, any suggestions are welcome.

Sometimes there are long periods before a creature will make another appearance. So I changed the rules so that I would switch movies every time a military guy read some official correspondence about the situation. In all three films, it is refreshing to see the military forces stocked with youthful, handsome men.

Unfortunately that leaves the women with the “Hey, What’s Going On Here?” roles.

It is very interesting to observe the decreased level of security depicted in the films, from the view of our current time. The potentially dangerous site of the appearance of the alien is surrounded with a flimsy structure, in one case, a rope on sticks, and only one or two low ranking soldiers are sent to guard it. They hang out, thinking that nothing will happen but eventually something does happen and the men are easily knocked out. Whoever is the first to report something as suspicious, he is dismissed right away and told that he just imagined it.

Radioactivity was popular at the time. Geiger counters were hot. People were just learning about what all that meant. One scientist describes uranium as ‘mud’. How do you kill mud? What do you do if this radioactive mud becomes ‘smart’ and takes on a lifeforce of its own? Among the scientists, it was nice to have at least one guy say that the idea was ‘rubbish’. Aren’t those higher elements metals anyways, not just dirt.

Radioactivity was created at the same time as Theremin music. In a strange way, they were meant to go together. By far the best thing in any of the films is the fantastic music of Bernard Herrmann. I would think it a great movie night to have a trio of movies all with Bernard Hermann scores, and play them all at the same time.

Another close shave from Pukediddle

Finknottle meets his deadline again - or I should say his Assistant meets it for him. He seems a little unfocused to be giving our readers counsel and this latest effort seems to be done in haste - perhaps just for some tobacco money. When your advice columnist is preoccupied with getting more ale before addressing someone else's problem - well, that should ring the alarm bells.

I don't know...this is a little too much cat for me

The pictures with the catfish and chicken are quite charming. (via Geisha Asobi)

Close enough...Print!

CBS doesn't know the difference between a Japanese flag and Chinese flag. Then they got the proportion of the flag to the moon all wrong. And isn't the shadow from the flag going in the opposite way as the source of light? Where are the fact checkers? (via Instapundit)

Ice Station Zebra

Have you heard of it? Directed by John Sturges 1968, with Rock Hudson and Ernest Borgnine.

Most of the movie happens on a submarine, but before the MGM Lion roars, the film is preceded with a musical overture, accompanied by the big all caps word OVERTURE written across the screen. Maybe this created undue excitement and high expectations. The well designed stage sets do create a good sense of the close confinements inside a submarine. So Rock Hudson gets in this submarine with a lot of goodlooking guys in army and navy outfits, they even get wet, but at no time do they ever take off their shirts, and we never get a chance to see any good backside shots of Hudson. Instead, the plot involves someone supposedly sabotaging the submarine because it is trying to rescue some people or something. But then there is an INTERMISSION, with Intermission Music, and then, there is an ENTR'ACTE, with Music for that, too. I began to get excited again. But not only was there no skin in this movie there weren't any musical numbers, either. I don't know what to make of it. Rock Hudson is weird.

Here's a shout out to our freedom homies on the other side of the earth

As Koizumi announces the pullout of 600 Japanese troops from Iraq, we should toast the valuable work and sacrifice they've invested in Iraq. I move that we make Japan an honorary member of the anglosphere, with all the membership benefits that might include.

Finkpoodle has returned

We found him trapped somewhere in the last 500 years - his snuff box was empty and, quite frankly, he looked a little scared. The smell was quite bad. He's returned to fulfilling his obligation for Liverputty, but we're not entirely sure when he might be able to assist others with their issues. As always, if you have questions for Finknottle, email them to me. Eventually, he'll get to it, though at this rate, perhaps for the enjoyment of your grandchildren.

Thomas Cole - Take 3

Sunrise in the Catskill Mountains (1826)

Sunny Morning on the Hudson River (1827)

The Gardens of the Van Rensselaer Manor House (1840)

Finknottle misses second deadline in a week

Since fulfilling his contractual obligations on Monday, Augustus Finknottle seems to have absconded from his post and has not emerged from hiding in order to adhere to the agreed posting schedule of MWF. Efforts to contact Finknottle have failed, though he has apparently charged large sums to the business account from overseas. Rest assured that we have men on the case and once retrieved, our columnist will be back dispensing advice.

Rat Park, a study of addiction

The rat colony was built to examine Alexander's hypothesis that drug addiction is a myth and that continued drug use, particularly the use of heroin, is largely the product of unhappiness, not neurophysiological compulsion. Alexander hypothesized that the addiction to morphine commonly observed in laboratory rats exposed to it is attributable to the conditions in which they are normally kept, and not to any addictive property of the drug itself.

Better surroundings, Alexander believed, would reduce or eliminate the apparent dependence. To test his hypothesis, he built Rat Park. It was 200 times the square footage of a standard laboratory cage. There was companionship, with 16–20 rats of both sexes in residence, an abundance of food, empty tins for burrowing, balls and wheels for play, a special space for mating, shavings for nesting, and a private place for giving birth. The results of the experiment appeared to support Alexander's hypothesis. The control group housed in the usual laboratory conditions consumed up to 20 times more morphine than the rats in Rat Park, and even those already addicted weaned themselves off the drug once moved there. They wanted to play, eat, and mate, Alexander concluded, not be anesthetized. "Nothing that we tried," he wrote, "instilled a strong appetite for morphine or produced anything that looked like addiction in rats that were housed in a reasonably normal environment."

Rat Park shows, he believes, that the "belief in drug-induced addiction, at least with respect to heroin and cocaine, has no status as empirical science, although it has not been disproven. It is believed for some reason other than its empirical support." Chemicals do not cause addiction "in the way that the measles virus causes a rash of red spots".

The US economy isn't the only one kicking butt

Japan's economy grew better than expected (3.1%) for the first quarter.

Finknottle makes his Monday deadline

I'm glad to see my advice columnist put the snuff down long enough to answer his mailbag. Watch him rat out his readers and give them tips on whores.

Monkey Video Roundup

This monkey looks like a vaudeville comedian, sorta walks like George Burns.

A monkey, at one with the trees, messes with tigers

Monkey vs dog.

Cowmonkey - complete with local news commentary. The monkey riding the dog was always a highlight of the rodeo for me - especially with the little hat and little chaps.

Monkey hits soldier. Give a monkey an opportunity and he'll use it gosh darnit.

Self-sufficient monkey.

Swimming monkey.

Your daily dose of sarcasm

Tim Blair shoots fish in a barrel. But seriously, when discussing these political gatherings, I think you should always throw in a benchmark for perspective. Something, for instance, like the kind of numbers that attend your average car show in Detroit.

More Thomas Cole

because it cooks in five minutes and is ready to post. He's just such a swell landscape artist. Anyone who can paint distance (not just perspective) is topnotch in my book

Morning Mist Rising, Plymouth, New Hampshire (1830)

Mt. Etna (1842)

Mr. Cole has a ruin-fetish, but then again, so do I

Aqueduct Near Rome (1842)

And when necessary, he can get Middle Earth on your ass:

Expulsion from the Garden of Eden (1828)

Expulsion - Moon and Firelight (1828)

Monkeys like to mess with with things

Google video

Thomas Cole - The Course of the Empire

A five panel chronology from 1836 (more here) . Click to enlarge

The Savage State

The Arcadian or Pastoral State

The Consummation

Destruction

Desolation

Sword exhibit to open in Japanese art museum

This looks like a really kick-ass sword exhibit & the story is a nice overview of the Japanese blade. My experience at looking at a real samurai sword is that you can literally stare into the smooth steel finish. One can easily see how it was a warrior's soul.

Finknottle addresses his mail bag

How to keep your wife and mistress separately pacified? How to defeat your enemy? What to do about cat spray? The long awaited answers are over at the Frontal Lobe.

Indiana Jones, Double Suicide, The Jerk

It was interesting to watch the Indiana Jones movies, as I remember Raiders of the Lost Ark was one of the early films from my youth that truly left an impression. The opening sequence, Indiana’s taking of the statue riveted me to my seat. During some of the softer scenes with the girl, I thought about leaving the theater to look at another screen. Then something would happen that caught back up into it. The final scene, the opening of the Ark, could truly be described as wicked. Raiders of the Lost Ark is great, Harrison Ford is hot.

Temple of Doom lost it on me though. The girl in this one was not good or necessary comic relief. The opening sequence of this one, at the table in the lounge, had me questioning everything from the start. Everyone recognizes and knows Indiana Jones. Why would the villain bring the antidote along with the poison? Why did Indiana bring along the girl? The story seemed much more like the typical cartoon novella, and a lot of it fell flat for me, but having Mr. Ford on the screen brought me back into it.

I was in disbelief with the cure for Indy’s final challenge, escaping from the temple after having a potion poured down his throat, making him possessed. Somehow Indy’s sidekick figured it would be the touch of a torch, which would snap him out if it. A bipolar set, these two films make an interesting pair.

Then most enjoyable to see a youthful Steve Martin doing his thing in The Jerk. Quite well done, Mr. Martin, much like Mr. Ford, is an enchanting presence on the screen. A scene in a bathroom, with Steve taking a bubble bath in the tub, seemed shockingly realistic, as they actually had a tub full of hot water and soapy foam, Steve was glistening with sweat. We get to see more of him when he runs outside wearing only a dog. He cuts a nice figure for a comedian.

Double Suicide, which I was not at all familiar with, is now one of my favorites. It is a film that I would want to watch from time to time. A complex situation dramatized purely and simply, it captures storytelling in a most beautiful way. The minimalist images are of the same intensity as any modern photography. The characters are well spoken. The music used throughout is excellent, I would very much enjoy an audio recording of it, it has an attitude John Cage would appreciate, I think. I would for sure add this title to my own personal library. Another Japanese title I liked very much is Blind Beast.

The author appreciates the opportunity to have a variety of new movies on hand to view, and pleads that this commentary may provide meek compensation for the privilege.

Liverputty's new advice columnist

Oprah had Dr. Phil, so it's only fitting that Liverputty has Augustus Finknottle - a fellow skilled in the art of dispensing sound and unsound advice. Soon, there will be a method to forward your "issues" and "problems" directly to Augustus so that he may address them. Be sure to make the new advice webpage, The Frontal Lobe, (linked to the right) part of your routine stops in cyberspace.

The Dull Vinci Code

I had a hard time generating the wherewithal to post a comment or two about the Dull Vinci Code. What follows is not an academic argument, per se, or even a plebeian review, but the mind-thoughts of a bored audience member who is 15% glad he saw the picture, but 85% regretful of time lost that would have been better spent collecting stamps.

The opening scene immediately disabled my suspension of disbelief. Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), an esteemed something or other of symbology – the half-baked science of…symbology?... is speaking to an auditorium full of students. He flashes images up on a giant screen and asks the audience to guess what each one is so that he can show them that they are all wrong. And the audience participates!? I mean, what the hell?

And who knew the Holy Grail was Rosebud? I did - about halfway through the movie. So did most everyone in the audience. Why? Because the movie came out and said so. Yet, at the end of the picture, the same information was revealed as if it was not already known. If I was rating this picture with eyerolls, it would get a perfect 5 out of 5. Such was the movie: a jumbled mess where clues are scattered like bird shot, not in a way that invites the audience to make their own deductions/conclusions, but to lead them like sheep to the next scene – and the film didn’t bother to think more than a scene ahead or a scene behind.

Still, I did learn a little something.

The Louvre has a major graffiti problem. Renegade secret brotherhoods are going around at night marking up classic art with cryptic messages that can be seen in black light – and the penmanship ain’t pretty. Luckily, I'd brought my secret decoder ring.

About twenty minutes into the movie I took out my ticket stub and rearranged the letters and found that the Truth was in the men’s restroom, somewhere underneath the center urinal marked “American Standard”. I left the auditorium, grabbed a stanchion from the lobby and made haste to the men’s room. I had a hell of a time busting through the floor with the stanchion. Apparently, this wasn’t the shoddy work of the Masons that you see in so many movies, and though I hammered away, I couldn’t penetrate the floor. As hard as the floor was, it wasn't as hard as the manager, who didn't understand my explanation and left me little recourse but to return to the theater and watch the rest of the feature.

By the 35 minute mark the movie had so many surveillance devices in it that I was hoping the Super Secret Brotherhood of Exterminators would intervene and spray Paris down with some virtual DDT. Was I watching Dull Vinci Code or Mission Impossible to Understand 6?

For the folks worried that this huff and puff poses any sort of threat to the pillars of our Christian faith, your wasting your time. As Obi Wan once said: “This little one is not worth the effort.” I’m tempted to describe, in detail, all the fascinating characters – but I’m at a loss to find them. There’s Silas, the insanely pale acolyte with anger issues, whom I would hitherto call the Darth Monk, except that there won’t be a hitherto. Oh well, he was almost interesting. Jesus’ great grand (to the x power) daughter? Not hot enough, says this believer. Her legs were toothpicks, not shapely or round like you'd expect from the Son of God's non existent offspring. I'm looking for someone who's divinely hot. She may’ve been fine in Amelie (which I never saw), but if her character is the descendent of Christ…well, not only does the movie negate Christianity, but it negates evolution as well.

I’ve no malice against Opie or Buffy Wilson, but it would be a shame if this movie bombed for any other reason than disinterest.

Strangest video game controllers

I must admit that I've never been able to get into video games ever since they did away with the joy stick - so even the nintendo control thingy looks bizarre to me. The train control actually looked instructional.

For Shatner completists

Director Shohei Imamura died Tuesday

I just don't have enough time

I can't write much here today, hasn't the hurricane season already started. I am much more aware of this than ever before. I know I need to do something about it, but I don't know what exactly. I worry about this even though I do not live near that Atlantic.

I don't have time to prepare a decent meal for myself, I will have to go through one of those fast food drive through windows, what other choice do I have? I am too busy to exercise, I can't respond to every single email. Where does all of this time go? Modern conveniences were supposed to create more time for us to do other things, where did it all go wrong?

Thanks for listening, I feel better.

She's gorgeous!

Steve Wynn just paid over $10 million for this Ming vase. It is a lovely object - deserving of much affection, and I hope this is prominently on display in Vegas - but I guess I don't love it "$10 million dollars" much. Still, I'd be glad to ogle it like this fellow. You can tell, he likes his pottery.

Meanwhile, in a museum far far away, this hapless buckeroo helped increase the value of other vases:

"I snagged my shoelace, missed the step and 'crash bang wallop,' there was a million pieces of high-quality Qing ceramics lying around beneath me," Nick Flynn told BBC radio.

"There is no way my pocket will stretch to reimburse them for the damage that I have done".

The museum staff (The Fitzwilliam) vowed to glue the pieces together, and asked the patron to never come back, please.

The Dull Vinci Code story is coming apart

A town in Japan claims to be the burial place for Jesus - who learned Japanese before starting his ministry and returned after his brother took his place on the cross. I wonder if his descendants had to step on his image and renounce him during Tokugawa Iemitsu's ban on the faith.

Happy Memorial Day

Spanish American War Memorial in Austin, TX.

Steyn on China

Steyn always goes back to demography - or as he puts it, he's been a demography bore for the past several years. But, in so doing, he connects the Russian population problem with the results of an idiotic one child policy in China in a way that I hadn't considered.

His last line: "...Beijing is a threat to Washington not because of its strength but because of its weakness," could be expanded to include China's much touted economic future, too - citing their new false front that Steyn mentioned.

Happy Birthday Bob Dylan

65 years old and going on 130.

Japanese Transportation Museum to close doors

I happened to visit this small, unassuming museum sometime in 2003 and it turned out to be quite a treat. Though the museum was obviously kind of old, I had no idea that it had been around as long as it had. The place had lots of mechanical dioramas showing how draw bridges and train tracks work, along with train simulators and all kinds of stuff that fuel the imagination of the youngins. The lobby's centerpieces were two steam locomotives (shown above), one with cutaways to show the guts of the engine. My favorite exhibit was a series of model ships of varying classes and sizes, including a mammoth tanker that was about eight feet long. There were also some old cars and model airplanes and stuff of that nature, but the heart of the museum was based on railroad artifacts. According to the article, some of that stuff will be absorbed by a new museum in Saitama. Still, it's always a little sad when a neat place like that closes shop.

You can check out a few pictures from the museum, as well as a brief description of the place here.

Pro-US media?

Hardly. With friends like the Washington Post, who needs enemies? The headline reads: Afghanistan Rocked as 105 Die. Then you read the lead paragraph and it still sounds bad. It isn't until the second paragraph before you realize that 80 to 90 of the deaths were the enemy. Toss the hamhocks in their graves and call it what it is: a victory.

The Kremlin simply does not like freedom

They don't want the N. Korean abduction issue brought up at the G-8 summit, since it is not appropriate. Will they also urge that no mention be made of Yasukuni? When's the last time that the Kremlin has celebrated the liberation of a person or country?

Happy Birthday Cultural Revolution!

Just 40 years ago Mao's pet project made its painful destructive mark on one of the most impressive and awesome cultures ever. Good going Mao! That same People's Party seems intent to go through this milestone in silence with its hand over its face. A worthy gesture for this occasion? Take his portrait off the Forbidden City and hit it, Iraqi style, with a shoe.

Outside the Farting Man’s show at Asakusa

“Some fools survive a serious illness by taking ginseng and then go hang themselves when they can’t pay for it. Other men love potentially poisonous blowfish soup yet manage to reach old age.” (all quotes from “A Theory of Farting”, by Gennai in 1774)

The new show provoked much discussion among the onlookers.

“Opinion was divided between those who asserted the man was using medicine and those who argued he had some sort of hidden device.”

Author: “Yes, there is in fact a farting medicine on the market. A man in Osaka, Seiemon, who owns the Chigusaya Publishing House, also sells unusual herbal remedies. His signboard advertises both Argument Laxatives and Fart Starters. But when I asked about the ingredients of the farting formula, I discovered it’s only for nudging out stubborn farts, not for producing the artistic releases we saw today.

“...Yesterday’s new seems old today, and the old gets even older. But the Farting Man is different. True, you can find gifted fictional farters in old tales. But what that Farting Man actually does right in front of your eyes can’t be found in any old record or legend…. And you won’t find anyone like him in China, Korea, India, Holland, or any country on earth. What brilliant conception! And what execution!”

Military Man: “What we have just heard is truly shameless. The authorities permit plays and other public performances only as a means of harmonizing people and revealing the proper Way of ruler and ruled, father and child, husband and wife, older and younger brother, friend and friend…[cites puppet play examples]…Even freak shows teach audiences that their own children will be punished if they commit bad deeds….Freak shows urge constant vigilance and demonstrate the chilling truth that retribution for deeds comes swiftly and without mercy. In the last few years, however, the people who put on these shows have completely abandoned morality….And now the ‘farting man’ is on exhibit! It’s outrageous!

“One must absolutely never fart in public. For a warrior to fart during a formal meeting is an act so dishonorable in calls for suicide….Such people know what shame is. But for someone to put up a sign beside a main street and fart right in front of people’s eyes, why, it’s vulgar and impudent beyond words!…And those who watch him are dimwits.”

Author: “How different he is from our professional musicians who go to a certified master to receive secret instruction on the proper way to articulate and chant so they themselves can later charge high fees to their own students. These musicians caw and croak like crows or night herons, imitating old pieces without putting any feeling into the phrases….They simply slaughter the words of the new puppet plays. The profession as a whole is in decline. But look at the Farting Man. He’s invented everything by himself, without master or secret oral transmission. With an unspeaking rear end and uncomprehending farts…Call him one of a kind, call him a wonder. Truly he is the founder of the Way of Farting.

“But musicians aren’t the only ones these days who are, as they say, ‘shit bad.’ Scholars stare at thousand-year old wastepaper from China, and writers who use classical Chinese collect stray shavings from the works of Han Yu, Liu Zongyuan, and the middle-Tang poets, heaping them into what they think are great pillars. Waka poets just sit around, but rice grains manage to stick to the bottoms of their feet, and they make a good living….[but the Farting Man] has captured the imagination of the whole country.”

The open-border drinking game

For tonight's speech. The guidelines suggest 3 cases of beer for each person, but garsh, even if the speech ran an hour and the President said nothing but the keywords listed, that seems a bit excessive.

I guess it depends on what your definition of "perform" is

Shocker: Clinton polls higher than Bush. The irony is just dripping off this poll like grease off a roasted duck.

Toei Studios tax scandal

Film company Toei Co. hid about 290 million yen in taxable income over the five years to March 2005 and reported fictitious business expenses for birthday parties and other events, sources said Tuesday.

Rubbish! A little deduction and it's pretty clear where the money went. They're obviously paying extortion money to the Neptune Men. Duh!

Captured AQ Document shows how badly they're being beaten

This coincides with Zakaria's assessment from last week - basically that they've painted themselves in a corner and it's only getting worse. Al Qaeda's only success has been with the U.S. media. I know, I know, al Qaeda's merely a hack for the Bush smear machine...

Positive Iraqi news

Encouraging news in Iraq – tribal leaders agree to denounce terror and unite in fighting it. I would’ve cited the NYTimes coverage of this story but, you know, it doesn’t exist.

Meanwhile, discouraging news for Palestinians. The world just doesn’t want the U.S. to stand up to terror. All Hamas has to do to turn the money spigots back on is renounce terror, acknowledge Israel’s right to exist and uphold previous agreements. Are those unreasonable requests? If that’s so impossible, then maybe a Palestinian collapse is necessary. It sounds good to say that Palestinian teachers are going to be paid and all that – but what are they teaching? That America is a big meanie and withholding money because we don’t like democracy? That Jews are evil and self-whacking is honorable? You could toss in some arithmetic and it still won’t equal out to our favor – or theirs. But, I guess that’s one way we can get a bang for our buck.

Albright, still behind the curve….

My fear is that, in the process, a new conventional wisdom will emerge that promoting democracy in the Middle East is a mistake. It is not.

Even when she’s part right, she’s frustrating because it seems she’ll forever be at least part wrong. First, she wants to draw the line between the realist camp and the idealist camp, and then sides with the idealist camp though she thinks their main crime is over-promising the perks of democracy…oh yeah, and doing something about it. You may remember Albright as the Madame secretary that did little, if nothing, to promote democracy in the Middle East, but that’s water under the bridge, right? When she had the chance to shape our policy in the region, she chose stability over independence, which she now criticizes. Well that’s fine, welcome to the outskirts of the idealist camp, Madame. Don’t worry, nobody’s going to expect any leadership from you.

She concludes her article:

The time has come to start looking beyond the Bush administration to its successor. Our new leaders, of whichever party, will face daunting challenges, including that of redefining what America stands for in the world. Their "to do" list is sure to include winning the battle of ideas -- as we should have long ago -- against the likes of Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, halting nuclear proliferation, devising a sensible energy policy, and restoring America's reputation as a supporter (and observer) of international law and human rights. At the top of that list, however, must be a reaffirmation of America's commitment to liberty and respect for the dignity of every human being. Without such a commitment, all else will be in vain.

It would be nice of her to give credit where credit is due. Bush has redefined our stance in the world and restored our reputation and support of human rights, if not international law. And what is international law these days if not a tool for stability over freedom? And to suggest that Bush hasn’t reaffirmed our commitment to liberty and respect for the dignity of every human being? Sheesh!

Can you sculpt fire?

I wouldn't know where to start - yet, that's what we see here from this Heian era (ca 11th century) bronze. Fudo Myoo (see below) is a Buddhist/Shinto god of fire. He's supposed to have a flaming sword (sounds like a light saber to me).

Don't let his belly fool you, he may look a little out of shape, but he's fully prepared to slice you in twain. I'm not sure when curved swords came into widespread use in Japan though they would have been around during the Heian period. I guess if your sword is made of fire, then it really doesn't matter what shape it is.

Edward Copeland has the results for the Best Picture contest

Lots of good stuff to read through. Most of my choices made it - except for three: French Connection, Ben Hur, and You Can't Take It With You. Don't miss the following posts featuring those near the top, the unloved and a scorecard filmographic. Or just go here and keep scrolling.

Now that's what Willis was talking about!

Koreans develop a female android!

"Standing 1.6 meters tall and weighing about 50 kilograms, she can understand others, speak, blink with her eyes and makes several facial expressions."

It looks real enough that I assume they've also programmed her to never be wrong in an argument and say things like "I'm not going to talk to you."

A few quick notes about the past week:

Stephen Colbert:
Despite what many rightwing pundits may think, Stephen Colbert’s speech at the press club dinner was rude, but still very funny. He reminded me of that Russian comic who lambasted Stalin right in his face with a real “truth to power” skit. What was his name? PM42342ZQ45 (Gulag North)? Something like that. Boy was he funny! A real stitch! Or how about Saddam’s fool who made fun of Qusay’s small feet? Har-har-hardee-har-har. I bet it was worth the flattened cranium just to see Saddam’s lost expression.

Fareed Zakaria’s article on the dwindling appeal of al Qaeda:
As much as I pick on Zakaria – I think he’s a smart and likable fellow. After 3 years of nitpicking on the decision to strike Iraq, his most recent assessment of al Qaeda’s appeal to the Muslim masses seems to validate Bush’s preemption doctrine, though Zakaria doesn’t say so (in fact, he doesn’t mention Bush at all). Worth reading.

Biden’s Iraq proposal:
Is reason enough that he shouldn’t get his paws on the Oval Office. I’d rather have Hillary in there, so long as she promises to remain insincere. I like her best when she’s insincere. Anyway, back to Biden – a divided Iraq may or may not be in the Iraqi future (I tend to think it won’t be) & regardless, things will be better than they were under Hussein. Still, this poorly conceived and ill-timed plan seeks to serve but one interest: Biden’s. If he doesn’t see the reasons to strive for a unified Iraq, then perhaps he should re(?)read the Federalist Papers.

Liverputty resuming activity

That posting will begin again is certainly not a sign that things have returned to the way they were before. Hardly. Jennifer will never be forgotten. At best, things are back to an altered state of normal.

Mourning the loss of Jennifer

Liverputty will be on hiatus for awhile to honor the passing of a special friend. Jennifer made a positive and lasting impact on those who knew her. She was a wonderful, charming and inspiring person. Words cannot express how much she will be missed. Our thoughts and prayers go out to her husband and kids.

GOP senators want to give $100 tax rebates to us for gas prices

I'm all for tax rebates, but this is just stupid. Why not just limit the checks to battleground states? I think it would be better if we weaned the government off the gas tax teat.

Encouraging news in Iraq

Not exactly new news, but Iraqis seem to be saying no to civil war and yes unity. Still a ways to go – but at least they’re going. For all the details on good developments in Iraq, go to Edward Copeland’s site…..oops, my mistake….Gateway Pundit has a roundup.

Good job, Bolton!

He managed to get a resolution on Sudan. It should be clear that China only cares about war criminals if they are already dead and Japanese. Pretty pathetic. As usual, you’ll have to scroll past the usually lame cartoon on Captain Ed’s site to get to the post.

Government probes generally screw somebody

So it’s disappointing that Bush called for one on the oil companies. What a waste of tax dollars! Tony Blankley complains about it better than I can.

They’re not exactly “thinkers” are they?

“Peace protestors” hurl gas bombs against Condi Rice. Personally, I’m offended at their lack of concern for the environment.

Pretty clever anti-Bush video

where Bush sings "Imagine" and then lapses into "Give Oppression a Chance".

Vote for the Best of the Best Pictures

There's just a few days left to vote for the best Best Pictures in Edward Copelands survey. I sent my ballot in already. I've heard from several people who said they wouldn't vote because they hadn't seen enough of the movies or felt like they lacked the authority to decide. Fiddle Faddle! Pshaww! Nonsense! You guys should vote anyway. If nothing else, it will help represent the Best Pictures that people got off their duffs to actually watch. Click on Edward's link, and follow the easy instructions. And click here to see the results of Edward Copeland's worst Best Pictures survey. Now I will list my top five pics, the main ones that I care about.


1. Casablanca Try to imagine the Hollywood of today making a bigtime, major melodrama with A-list Stars and a plot ripped from the headlines that also serves as a righteous piece of propaganda, urging people to CHOOSE A SIDE on the major events of the day, and the right side too. Now imagine that every line of dialogue and every plot point quickly becomes a popular cliche, and I mean cliche in the good sense, as in originality with staying power. Can you imagine all this? Are you in the Twilight Zone yet? In an age when most Hollywood movies tend to reverse that famous speech, by having world events and moments of great import not amount to a hill of beans when compared to the problems of three little people, this is the movie that got it right the first time. Casablanca works on so many levels it is mind-blowing. I once watched it just for the continuity, paying attention to how far down Bogie's cigarettes were smoked, and whether the glass on the table was half-full or half-empty, and the movie still kicked ass. I see that imdb says I don't know what I'm talking about; Casablanca has several continuity errors. A couple of these are undeniable, but I would still challenge and beg to differ with most of them. No, I still say the movie kicks ass continuity-wise and all other wises too.
Caveats: None
Quotability Quotient: 100%
Double Featured with: Rossellini's neorealist melodrama Open City.

2. It Happened One Night This Capra movie is pure magic. I have nothing to add that hasn't already been said about the laughs, the romance, and the charisma of its stars. I will add that this ain't no studio bound production. This is a movie that gets out and sees some country. Much of it now works as docu-drama. I love its sketch of the roadside sleeping cabins, with weary travelers standing in line to use the bathhouse. Perfect. A funny, sexy gem that is very modern in its pacing.
Caveats: None. (Don't get suckered into looking for that always-filming-one-side-of-Ms. Colbert's-face thing.)
Quotability Quotient: 92%
Double Featured with: That Uncertain Feeling - very loosely our couple seven years later.

3. Lawrence of Arabia I never understood the critics who compained that after seeing Lawrence of Arabia they still didn't know much about the enigmatic T.E. Lawrence. Whatever. Those guys should try reading The Seven Pillars of Wisdom sometime. Lawrence of Arabia is the ultimate in cinematic teletransportation. I had already fallen in love with it on badly cropped video, but seeing it in glorious 70mm was a true revelation, and I count myself one lucky s.o.b. to have seen it on the big screen twice in Dallas, once at the Castro in San Fran, and a few more times while operating the only 70mm projector in Oklahoma City. Once upon a time, I had to tutor and watch after some preteens. To entertain them, I just ripped off Lawrence and told large chunks of the first half in the first person. Those kids were on the edge of their seats. The sensory experience of Lawrence was so strong that it was easy to tell it like it happened to me.
Caveats: Sure, it's super long, and the second half isn't as tight as the first, but I love the whole thing.
Quotability Quotient: 74%
Double Featured with: It's its own double-feature, so how about something short about Persians, not Arabs, but still nomads, like Merian C. Cooper's Grass.

4. All About Eve Who writes dialogue like this now? I'd say we're no longer worthy. Even today's best practitioners provide only a little fire or some music but never both the Fire and Music that Joseph L. Mankiewicz provided on a regular basis. This is one of the sharpest, most paradigmatic films about theater life, not that I'm in any position to know. And thank god these characters are in the theater, because if you made them all wear little Hitler mustaches and goose-stepped them through the plot, then the rest of the world had better watch out!
Caveats: A tad long.
Quotability Quotient: 99%
Double Featured with: Gregory Peck in The Gunfighter.

5. The Best Years of Our Lives As a kid, I fell in love with this movie right at the beginning, with its long takes of our returning heroes looking out the front of a B-17 as it flies over the home they've been homesick for: Boone City. The audience might get homesick for the movies' portrait of Anywhere, U.S.A. There's great deep-focus camerawork from Gregg Toland, and William Wyler stuffs the screen with wonderful details. I liked the folks in this movie, and the bottom line is I believed it. Sure, this wasn't the whole story after the war (and how could it be?) but with Best Years a whole swath of Americana comes to life.
Caveats: Long and soapy.
Quotability Quotient: 46% The same as its release year. Very weird.
Double Featured with: Let's start the evening with Raoul Walsh's WWII actioner Desperate Journey.

Of course there’s a double-standard!

With half-baked reporting like this, Pincus may be headed for next year’s Pulitzer Prize.

Here’s how the double-standard works: the President can’t “leak” information. He can only release it. The administration has that authority, regardless of any political implications that might exist. In contrast, CIA officials are not authorized to release classified information, unless ordered to do so. Why is that? Because the President is elected and CIA bureaucrats are not. It would be very dangerous for career CIA agents to determine policy. It’s a simple case of separation of powers (like civilian control over the military) – something that Democrats in Congress seem to be quick to cite though slow (if not incapable) to understand.

That’s the double standard - now on to the reporting:

The first thing that bugged me about Walter Pincus’s story is how he chose to describe the McCarthy leak and the release of Plame’s identity. Check it out:

Describing Plamegate –

Harman was referring to White House staff members disclosing the classified identity of CIA case officer Valerie Plame in 2003.

And later on, in describing McCarthy’s leak –

McCarthy, while working for CIA Inspector General John L. Helgerson, is alleged to have "knowingly and willfully shared classified intelligence, including operational information" to journalists including The Washington Post's Dana Priest.

Now I’m not a journalist and I would invite those Liverputty readers/contributors who have journalism experience to set me straight on the matter: How is it that Pincus makes sure to include “alleged” whenever addressing McCarthy’s leak, even though she reportedly admitted to leaking the information, yet, Pincus does not use “alleged” for the Plamegate accusations, even though 2 years of investigations have not turned up enough evidence for an indictment, let alone a conviction? Pincus’s presumption of innocence seems to be bass ackwards. Is it kosher to assume innocence on someone who has confessed guilt?

And then there’s the more minor matter of McCarthy’s political donations. Pincus does point out that McCarthy donated $2000 to Kerry, but does not mention the remaining $7K of donations she’s made in years past to other Democratic causes. By mentioning the Kerry donations, we do get the picture of her political leanings, but surely the other donations would’ve further hurt the claim that she “leaked” for our national security and not for partisan reasons. Of course, her political donations don’t prove one way or another what the real motives were for the leak, but that’s something a paper should report for the reader to decide, right?

I’ll refrain from criticizing Pincus for seriously reporting on John Kerry’s arguments, as it is hard enough for a person to describe how Kerry comes down on any particular topic without sounding utterly ridiculous, if at all coherent. That Kerry thinks “leaks” that are “true” are acceptable is pretty darn hilarious since it pretty much nullifies any belief that any administration can or should classify anything for any reason. Also, I find Kerry’s (and others’) comparisons between the leaking of black sites and the NSA program with Plamegate to be disingenuous at best - regardless of what the definition of is is. Whether Pincus agrees with Kerry’s rubric for what’s a good or bad leak is beside the point. For the record, I assume Pincus does agree that the NSA leak and black sites leak are good and the efforts to discredit Wilson are bad – but that’s just my assumption.

Damn you, 70's grit!

Why'd you have to go and make Will Penny so lonely?

Okay, so the movie was from 1968...but it brought to mind 70s grit. And those were my words when the credits rolled and I threw my wet hanky at the screen. Will Penny's got to be one of the best Charlton Heston performances I've seen. I was sad with him, nervous with him, embarrassed with him...hell, I even wanted to learn to read with him. Everyone should be able to read. The little button could read - and read real good.

Don't know what I'm gum flappin' about? Watch the movie.

Dog riding bicycle

Not to turn Liverputty into a Worlds Funniest Videos - and I know anyone can pilfer Video Google, but...a dog riding a bicycle.

Funny video

picked off from Ankle Biting Pundits. There's some foul language that may make it unsafe for work.

Nice!

Berlusconi goes out in song. (via Lucianne)

Dana Milbank exercises the bigotry of low expectations

It’s a shame that Hu’s visit sparked all those riots and brick throwings at the Chinese embassy. Wait. I’m reading from the wrong queue card. What were the outrages? Oh yeah, the national anthem was referred to as for the "Republic of China." SCANDAL! But the indignities didn’t stop there. Cheney wore sunglasses. SUNGLASSES! Bush tapped his foot during one of Hu’s answers during the Q & A. And when Hu was trying to crawl off stage, someone tackled him and kicked him in the gut and ripped his jacket off….though on camera it looked like they tugged on his jacket to show him the correct way to leave.

There were more atrocities. The absence of a Chinese flag from the lamp posts. A Falun Gong heckler, which the secret service took three minutes to silence and imprison for life. THREE MINUTES! Vice President Cheney could’ve sobered up and taken off his glasses and confessed to murdering his entourage in that time. Bush knew the gal was a Falun Gong crazy because five years ago she was up to the same heckling tricks - and we all know he scrupuously reads all the papers. Obviously, it was a plot to discredit Hu. When that newsfeed hits Chinese television airwaves, every Chinese subject is going to fetch their torch and will be looking for you know Hu.
Plus, Bush wouldn’t give Hu a dinner, only a lunch. And, to complete the indignities, Bush insisted that Hu wear floppy clown shoes and a rainbow colored wig at the press conference, which clashed with his “Free Tibet” lapel pin. Truly horrible. No wonder the man spent last night crying into his pillow - according to "senior administration officials"!

According to Milbank, this was all terribly costly, as it made Hu too upset to negotiate with later. As a result, Bush couldn’t get Hu to release all his political prisoners, free Tibet, let the KMT absorb the mainland, force N. Korea to give up on nukes, so on and so forth. If only we’d put a Chinese flag on the White House pole and given the man a dinner, we could’ve hade all that stuff! See, according to Milbank’s logic, Hu is too much of a wuss to suffer all those indignities and then turn around and negotiate like a man. By being so darned insensitive, we completely blew an opportunity to bring peace and harmony to the world.

Contrast that with Bush. No leader in the world today has been compared to Hitler more, respected less, called and idiot or a big meany as much, been heckled and shown the correct way off as many stages as him. Does it ever shake him? Does he ever not conduct himself in a professional manner? And if he did, would Milbank blame others and excuse Bush for not being in the mood to negotiate?

Nancy Pelosi is a piece of work

I commend her for being pretty consistent on China – though her trade deficit and China-owning-our-debt talking points are off the mark. How is it that she does not recognize that President Bush hardened the line on China, which was woefully soft under Clinton? Pelosi should not be confused by the pomp and ceremony; the kowtower is no longer in office.

Meanwhile, Reid blasts that unilateralist SOB President for not being unilateral enough. President Bush has been a dismal failure when it comes to winning Reid’s heart and mind. Notice how with Reid it cannot be done. Always. Can’t this, can’t that. He’s already removed the military option for Iran:

"We don't have the resources to do it " because of the ongoing war in Iraq."

Verily, An Epic Story Built Brick By Brick

Behold The Brick Testament! This is more compelling than a lot of epic Bible movies I've seen. Just Wow!

Dave at Garfield Ridge has a humorous post about early childhood crushes

I don't remember pre-Wonder Woman Linda Carter, but I do recall Wonder Woman, in all her lycra suit glory. Funny, her outfit gave me a curious sensation, but Daisy Duke's garb - similar in many ways - was somehow repulsive. Likewise, Lavern and Shirly probably delayed my interest in the opposite sex for a few years - ugh. But Erin Gray was all sorts of hot. That's right BUCK! (via Ace)

It's been several years, but I still miss Ari Fleischer

I never fully warmed up to Scott MClellan. Nothing personal, but he always looked nervous or fidgity. Fleischer gave the administration a face of confidence and strength, whereas McClellan seemed more on the defensive all the time. I couldn't complain about his performance beyond that since I wouldn't be able to handle the job of press secretary at all. I don't know how likely it is that Tony Snow might replace him, but I think he'd be a good pick.

The Peoples' organs

Gateway has a disturbing post on China harvesting organs from prisoners. A concentration camp in China is like a fish farm here. At this rate, China is a shoe in for the UN Human Rights Council.

Corrupting Our Bodily Fluids

Hey, maybe this is why I was never big on Gatorade. There is no regaining your innocence after this one. Probably NSFW. Via Garfield Ridge.

Who’s meeting Hu?

I’d like to see the complete guest list for Gate’s Hu dinner. Not to use it against those people or their companies, but for curiosity’s sake. Microsoft, Boeing, Starbucks – fine. Who else? The more business hands Hu shakes, the better.

Japanese soldier shows up 60 years after war

An Imperial Japanese Army soldier who vanished in what is now Russia's Far East after World War II has been found living in Ukraine, officials said Monday.

Ishinosuke Uwano, 83, was officially listed as dead in 2000. He is due to return to his native Hirono, Iwate Prefecture, on Wednesday for a visit through April 28 to meet with relatives and others.

Officials said Uwano married a Ukrainian woman. He lived in Sakhalin after the war and was last confirmed alive in 1958.

I'm not sure what that final paragraph means. He was confirmed alive in 1958. By whom?

UN elects Iran to be vice chair of the Disarmament Commission

Scroll below the Zinni positions.

"Iran, which is threatening the United States if it tries to block Iran's nuclear ambitions, has now been elected to — of all things — the leadership of United Nations' Disarmament Commission, which oversees international disarmament and security. At its annual meeting in New York, the Commission on Disarmament — part of the U.N.'s General Assembly — voted to make Iran a vice-chair of the commission, along with Uruguay and Chile."

So, to recap, President Bush didn’t lie about Iraq shopping for uranium in Niger but Joey Wilson did

Boy, am I glad that’s settled.

Something you don't see everyday...

A very big snake coughs up a hippo. No foolin'. (via Geisha asobi blog)

Happy Easter

Cat costumes

This dandy is ready to harmonize with his quartet.
When you dress a cat up in something silly, you always sense their dignity is still there somewhere, trapped beneath the farce - which, of course, is why its funny in the first place. Beware if you choose the Japanese schoolgirl outfit for your cat - as it tends to attract the middle aged Japanese male. This feline will be groped on the train for sure.

Horses

Here’s a list and pictures of famous cowboys and their horses. I didn’t realize that Jimmy Stewart rode Pie for seventeen features. In fact, I didn’t even know Stewart liked Pie. Some of the coolest names: William Boyd rode Topper; Hoot Gibson rode Mutt; and Tim Holt rode Shiek. Missing from the list was Kirk Douglas’s horse in Lonely Are the Brave, Whiskey. I guess Whiskey was only with Kirk once and, who knows, maybe that wasn’t his name…but I always loved that name. The list does include Jack Benny’s horse in Buck Benny Rides Again, Partner, and I doubt those two had a multipicture relationship.

I’m partial to paints, so I’d say that the most handsome horse was Scout or Rusty, though Champion had some classic good looks. If I had to be a horse, then it would certainly have been Buttermilk, Dale Evan’s mount – meow! Of course, Trigger is the type of horse you could introduce to mom.

King Kong - Skull Island is All

I finally finished watching King Kong last night and here are my thoughts. It's very long. The first night I only got through about 15 or 20 minutes before I fell asleep. It wasn't good and I was worried. I had something riding on this movie because when I was talking to my brother about my still unposted essay Do I Still Love the Movies? (yeah, yeah, it's coming soon) he kept giving me a hard time and wanted me to clarify what I meant by "love the movies." When I kept fumbling around he said "Look, if you like King Kong, then you still love the movies."
"Really," I said "You're just going to come right out and say that? You haven't even seen it."
"Yes, I'm just going to come right out and say that."
"Well, okay."

After that first night, I called him. "I don't know, man, I watched the first part, and whoa! it's gonna be a long one. I'm twenty minutes in and I haven't even seen Adrien Brody yet. There's way too much back story and the subject can't support it. I mean, the original was in and out in ninety minutes."
"What about CGI Manhattan?"
"Well, it looks pretty good on the hi-def monitor, but it's still boring somehow, and sloppy too. With all the effects, you'd think it would've forced them to plan it better, but instead it looks like an excess of footage. Jackson starts wide with all the buildings and taxis, then goes in for a two-shot conversation, and suddenly he widens out again in the middle of it for no reason. He just can't help showing it off. It's not done in blocks, like you'd think, and there's a kind of annoying montage that tries to convey the whole city during the depression. Just too much info."
"Too much, huh?"
"Yeah, let's just say we've already seen shanty town."
"Oh."

The next night, somehow the planets were in alignment and my wife and I were able to watch the movie together. We started at one in the morning and saw all the way till Kong was captured. By then, it was just too late and we were too tired to continue. Besides, my wife wanted to stop there anyway. She was already in love with Kong and didn't want to get sad watching the end. It turns out she did the smart thing, but I'll get to that. Once the movie gets on the boat it begins to pick up steam. Some supporting players help it along, especially Thomas Kretschmann as the captain, Evan Parke as the first mate, and Kyle Chandler as a full of himself ham actor. My wife recognized the last from the tv show Early Edition. I don't see very many new movies so these were all fresh faces to me ( I just looked them up on imdb) and I hope to see more from them in the future.

When the ship gets pulled into the fog of Skull Island, the movie really kicks into high gear. I wasn't expecting the islanders to be Orcs, but maybe I should have, it being Peter Jackson and all. They are a particularly savage bunch, with weird get-up and strange coloration. When it started to rain, I half expected their body paint to wash off. Some of the old crones were in bad need of a shave. Well, I admire their tenacity for survival on this nasty island, anyway. What would you look like if a giant gorilla did a scary monkey dance on your community for god knows how many generations. Kong takes the girl, and after that, it's predicament piled on predicament in Temple of Doom fashion, with just one damn thing after another. We get every manner of life-threatening creature popping up and saying "Boo!", a spooky gorge bottom that is not fit for humans, and a spectacular dino-pile-up that reminded me of the elephants crashing down in Dumbo. When King Kong does battle with a couple of T-Rexes while hanging on industrial strength vines over the gorge, the acrobatics are ludicrous, funny, exciting, and great. There are plenty of How-the-hell-are-they-gonna-get-out-of-this-one moments and I heard myself saying "sheesh, Jackson you dog" a lot. By the time this island stuff was over, I was pumped and ready for Peter Jackson's 5 and 1/2 hour Sinbad movie. I wonder how long it would take him to show all seven voyages.

The final night, I called my bro again. "Well, are you up for it?"
"Up for what?"
"King Kong. The kids down for a late nap, if we start now we might get through most of it."
"I don't know."
"C'mon, you need to see Skull Island. It's gotta be one of the most inhospitable islands I've ever seen."
He agreed and we watched the whole damn thing. I could lose everything once they get back to Manhattan and never miss any of it. The problem is that in the original, people didn't know what was going to happen, and the makers just told the story: top of the Empire State Building, great ape gunned down in his prime, 'twas Beauty killed the Beast. I still think it was biplanes with machine guns, but okay. Now, though, everyone knows the story by heart, so what can Peter Jackson do? He takes the same thing and drags it out in color and lyricizes it. Slo mo with falsetto singing. It's boring and it left a bad taste in my mouth. It turned into The Passion of Kong.

So, to sum up, I spent close to 8 hours watching this movie. Much of it is bad, but if you start when they're on the boat and stop when they chloroform Kong, then you will see a hell of a movie.

The New World to get Smell-o-vision treatment in Japan

The movie was so clear in so many ways that I thought I was already smelling it, since all my senses were alive. Some of the scents seem a little silly, but it could be fun. If the Japanese theater is intent on expanding their smell-o-vision program, my top candidate for a proboscis pleasing re-release would be Tampopo. Actually, that movie just needs to be shown in a ramen shop. The least desired smell-o-vision candidate would be Kanal. I'm just not convinced that we have the technology to get the fecal aerosols right. (via Drudge)

The Bright Center of the Universe?

Baseball Crank says something many of us have wondered about while watching an increasingly Tatooine-centric saga.

Thanks, but….

In an unusually forgiving piece about Bush’s position on WMDs, the reporter says the following.

In retrospect it is clear that the weapons did not exist, although they had in
the past, and Hussein had used them against his enemies.

Is it really clear? Later in the article, Mr. Hughes cites Tariq Aziz as saying that Saddam revealed the absence of WMDs to his generals in 2002, which sent morale plummeting. Still, there are several conflicting claims. It’s one thing to say we didn’t find any WMDs, but quite another to assume they never existed, especially when so many Iraqi documents about WMDs are to released over the coming months. It’s hard to tell whether these documents will add to the confusion or answer questions, but at this juncture, assuming with any certainty that WMDs did not exist is simply not a responsible conclusion to make. However, regardless of the actual status of WMDs, concluding that Bush didn't lie is perfectly reasonable.

UPDATE: In another unrelated WMD story, the Wash Post sends up a misleading headline. Captain Ed has the details.

"Where are my kumquats?!"

Bun-O-Vision

Famous movies re-enacted in 30 seconds by bunnies. I started with Jaws and was laughing so hard I had to watch all the rest. You will too. I especially liked The Big Chill and Pulp Fiction. The poster for The Exorcist is really funny. Somehow not so odd, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is just as creepy with bunnies. I can't wait for the coming attractions.

Where is Our Casablanca?

I guess I'm cleaning house today instead of writing. I'll throw in this post because it tackles one of my bugbears and quotes two of my favorites: Mark Steyn and James Lileks.

Man From The Future

I'm not really a big reader of science fiction, but this short story was going around the internets a few days ago, and since then it has lingered in my mind long enough that I thought I should post it. There is a bit of a tease at the end. I heard someone compare it to the words Bill Murray says at the end of Lost in Translation. Well, it is and it isn't. Read it yourself. What would the three words have to be for all this to make sense?

Hamas is having trouble finding a bank that will do business with them

If I was Hamas, I wouldn’t know who to bomb to get what I wanted.

"This is part of the announced economic war because we have chosen the path of democracy," said Palestinian Finance Minister Omar Abdel-Razeq.

Nothing is sadder than seeing the most comprehensively wrecked people in the world drawing the wrong conclusions.

'Carlos the Jackal' is Fined

China agrees to accept illegals being deported from the U.S.

There’s about 39,000 of them. I'm thinking fair is fair, the U.S. should agree to accept all the Americans who are illegal aliens in China.

This has been floating around

Pretty funny pro Bush rock song. via Ace.

The Man Who Sang "Liberty Valance", He Sang "Liberty Valance"

Passed away. Gene Pitney died at 65. Sounds like it was quite unexpected. Via Tim Blair.

Mudville Gazette notes more piss-poor reporting from the NYTimes

Doggone it! I liked him!

He wielded a feeding rod like nobody's business.

Two acts of stupidity don’t make a right.

The ABC producer who wrote the email saying he would puke the next time Bush said “mixed messages” was suspended without pay. ABC can do whatever it wants, of course, but suspending this fellow pretty much sends the message that you can’t express yourself freely. The most telling thing about the whole incident isn’t that the producer hates Bush, but that he felt comfortable sending his email to a number of his coworkers with the understanding that they felt the exact same way. Suspending the producer won’t change that, but it will make the email recipients feel restrained from voicing that opinion – which is bad any way you look at it. No doubt, those people will think it is part of the Bush-stifling-dissent-in-a-vast-rightwing-culture-of-corruption-and-fascism-world they believe they are living in. ABC seems more concerned about the embarrassment of the ordeal than it is about the free expression of ideas and opinions among its employees. It’s vitally important in a free society that jackasses feel free to show themselves as jackasses.

One part of the story that made me snicker was the producer’s supposed remorse:

"John would be the first to say this has been a real lesson to him. John is abjectly sorry for all the comments that have come to light, and that's appropriate."

Something tells me it’s the fact that the comments came to light that he regrets.

Human cultivation is beautiful

I'm not sure where I stumbled on this photo (I think the link is dead). It's from Indonesia, though. There's something marvelous about rice terraces. They reflect a fusion between human development and nature. I guess lots of farmland is glorious, but there's something special about rice terraces.

The Results Are In

for Edward Copeland's Worst Best Picture Survey. I'm sure a lively and interesting comments thread will ensue. Forest Gump is the second worst of all time? Rocky? Titanic? Well go look for yourself, because I'm spittin' mad. Maybe watching The Sound of Music tonight will help.