Time:
Can Cannes Still Do It? “Long gone is the time when Americans felt required to have a pretense to culture, let alone the real thing.” *cough* *cough* ...
The Dutch …
retake Manhattan, courtesy Amstel Light and the Dutch Reclamation Society. Supporting establishments on, of course, Amsterdam Avenue.
Too bad I’m not in NYC ... though I’d probably be thoroughly harangued by a Stuyvesant look-alike for ordering a Guinness.
Variety:
Dumber demographic rules TV, D.C. “As the Democratic primaries slog onward, Harvard law alum Obama has been pilloried for elitism. While his oratorical eloquence has drawn comparisons to the bygone days of Robert Kennedy, opponents hammer at perceptions that he alienates key voting blocs. On CNN, Democratic strategist Paul Begala disparagingly described Obama’s coalition as ‘eggheads and African-Americans.’”
Yet we desire our children to be smarter: Guardian, Benefits of bedtime reading.
NY Times:
How to Deal With Midlife: Keep Dancing. Many probably haven’t seen Bill Irwin since McFerrin’s ”Don’t Worry Be Happy” vid. Monday is a good day for such a video ... enjoy.
NY Times Movie Review:
“Speed Racer” sounds like a rental. Whoah yeah ... a rental. Unless you’ve got very young kids.
Times Online.UK:
Calamity James: behind the scenes of the jinxed Bond film. “How I managed to get out I will never know. I do feel lucky to be alive. I have been told I was 150ft down.”
MSNBC:
Strike not to blame for drop in TV viewership. It’s all so formulaic, so predictable.
NY Times:
New DVDs: ‘La Roue’. “The complete version has long been lost, and in recent times “La Roue” has been seen only in the two-and-a-half-hour cut version Gance edited for wide distribution in 1924. The film has now been released on DVD by Flicker Alley in a print, assembled out of five different versions by the archivists Eric Lange and David Shepard, that runs for nearly four and a half hours.”
BBC:
“The last known survivor of a group of German army officers who tried to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944 has died aged 90 ...” I can’t help but think Cruise’s Valkyrie might have done for him later this year, if the rumors over the film are true. The range of accents in the previews remind me of the crazy ethnic mix in “The Magnificent Seven.” Maybe I’m wrong, and Valkyrie will rise above the range of accents, as TM7 did with Brynner and Buchholst. I should have more faith in the ability to suspend disbelief.
But I digress. Thank you for having the bravery to assist in the attempt. Rest in peace.
NY Times Movie Review:
They admire Iron Man. When the campiness of Batman peaked in the ‘60’s, many of us klunky kids found refuge in Tony Stark. Spiderman and Superman never appealed the same way ... they were not self-made superheroes.
Washington Post:
Isabella Rossellini playing bugs having sex to raise environmental awareness. I kid you not.
The website of
The Economist:the
Who leads on issues? The Economist looks at the presidential candidates, and verifies a clear fact: the Democrats have allowed their contest to drag on way too long, and a McCain win is going to be very, very difficult to prevent. As long as they’re defending against each other, Obama and Clinton can spend little time getting real discursive policy positions across to the populace. As the cameos on “American Idol” displayed last week, McCain’s had the time to regroup, relax, and become personable (though that immigration comment has a certain flavor of threat about it).
The renderings of the three were interesting. Hillary’s was ‘average.’ What were those bizarre lit bags on the right? McCain’s was inspired, the close shot, the leaning forward into the camera. Decisiveness, confidence. No need for the badly designed AI picture frame. The camera pulled back on Obama, in order to get his hand motions; I feel this was a bad choice, because it made him look slight compared to the other two. It split the attention between his face and his hands, and I’ll bet many couldn’t tell you what he said as a result. It felt like he was chromakeyed into a stock ‘US’ background, glommed off some free stock photo site.
NY Times, Other Sports:
Look! In the Sky. It’s a Rocket Racer. Que ”Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines.” I’d rather fly at a speed where I can keep an eye on what pops out of haystacks ... (grin) ...
LA Times:
Apparently, the late Charlton Heston was an avid newsreader, and wrote the LA Times regularly. They’ve posted some samples. I wonder why they only chose examples from his later, conservative years if he wrote to them for 40 years? The struggles I see the media going through, trying to reconcile civil rights marching with gun advocacy, liberal with conservative. Can noone be complex anymore? Must we all be easily identified, labelled ... able to be easily judged and prejudiced against? Defy categorization at all costs.
NY Times Technology:
“They work long hours, often to exhaustion. Many are paid by the piece — not garments, but blog posts.” Blogging may be hazardous to your health?
NY Times:
Charlton Carter has passed away. Better known to most as Judah Ben-Hur. Rest in peace.
Readers Digest:
“For several seconds, he loses voluntary control over most of his body. His legs, arms, back and chest tense. His facial muscles squeeze upward. His stomach muscles and diaphragm spasm. His heart races. His blood pressure spikes. Someone call 911; give the man a sedative ...”
NY Times Movie Review:
The Flight of the Red Balloon. I would be seeing it simply to enjoy watching La Binoche again ... be still my heart ... but the NY Times likes this one very much.
[sounds of wife wacking me in the back of the skull with a handy wad of recycled printer paper]
Daily Mail.UK:
Sean Connery wants to return to the Bond franchise ... as a bad guy. At least he’s thinking about acting again ... “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” broke his faith in the integrity of moviemaking.
CNN Entertainment:
McKellen hoping to play Gandalf in ‘The Hobbit’. Of course he should. The Istari arrived as ‘older men’, and did not age perceptibly.
YouTube:
1930’s film, Clothing of the Future (2,000 AD). A terrible lack of imagination, really.
Washington Post:
“Would you be willing, as a sign of compassion and empathy, to do the unthinkable and broadcast right now, as a Valentine to me, 20 seconds of blessed dead air?” If you’ve ever been a linkblogger, or ever aspired to be one, read this.
OC Register:
Why do we cry during solo shows? An analysis. I thank my lucky stars I got to see Spaulding Gray twice at McCarter Theatre in Princeton. I remain amazed at how fast he could get me to that place, walking my own landscape of imagination following his lead, nearly as fast as a good work of fiction. His table was everything and nothing at the same time.
NY Times:
Another star-child is born. Arthur C. Clarke passed away ‘early Wednesday’ in his beloved Sri Lanka.
