“As I wandered through the salon, I played a little game with myself. This man had written his first concerto at the age of four. His first symphony at seven, a full-scale opera at twelve! Did it show? Is talent like that written on the face?” –Salieri, in Amadeus “Take a good look, my dear.… Read More Brief Thoughts on Bob Jones III
Dir. Oliver Stone. Starring Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones, and Joe Pesci I was looking through the Wikipedia article for The Da Vinci Code recently, and I was surprised/not surprised to find that there’s a Wikipedia page for “Criticism of The Da Vinci Code.” Without really reading the article, one can guess at its contents… Read More JFK (1991)
Dir. Isao Takahata. Starring Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi, Akemo Yamaguchi When I heard that Ender’s Game was going to be adapted to film, I was hurt. This was not a, “Man, they’re not going to make it how I imagined it!” or a “Jeez, they’re going to really mess up Bean” or anything like that.… Read More Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
On December 1, 1963, Malcolm X gave one of his most famous interviews, in which he stated that the assassination of John F. Kennedy was an example of “chickens coming home to roost.” At the time, Malcolm was still the most visible member of the Nation of Islam, and it was this incident which signaled… Read More Blackfish (2013)
Yesterday, Alex Rodriguez’s suspension was, per ESPN, “cut down” to 162 games. Ian O’Connor, writing for ESPN, talked about Rodriguez’s “legacy” and how it would suffer in the years to come. Anyone with a finger on the pulse of the BBWAA knew already that Rodriguez would never make the Hall of Fame despite having all… Read More Snowden and A-Rod: Partners in “Crime”
There’s practically a mythology of alternate history stories. Newt Gingrich co-authored a series of books about what might have happened if the Army of the Potomac had lost a major battle (like Gettysburg, but different) above Washington. I’m linking to one Bill Simmons article about “what ifs” of the 2007 basketball season, but in sport… Read More Mad Men S2E11, “The Jet Set”
Last hour, we had our first Potter Lightning Round (which doesn’t really need to be in boldface, but I kinda like it that way), wondered why there are four Hogwarts houses instead of three, and celebrated the sinking of the good ‘ship Harmony. On with the show! Hour #4: p. 388 to p. 518 (“Xenophilius Lovegood” through… Read More Live Blogging Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Fourth Hour
Monsters University was greeted the same way that Brave was by critics and moviegoers alike: “It was cute. It would’ve been really good for a Disney movie, but it wasn’t what we expected from a Pixar movie.” The statement is, of course, doubly patronizing, and rather more unfair to one than the other. As hard as it is… Read More The Sorrows of Aging Pixar
Last hour, we covered among other things: telling the difference between Fred and George, why werewolves are HIV/AIDS patients, and why Harry would be utterly wretched without Hermione to whisper the answers in his ear. I’ll go ahead and say that this hour is probably the dullest one of the bunch, even though there’s a great… Read More Live Blogging Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Third Hour
Disclaimer: The People vs. George Lucas is one of my sources for quotes in this article, but I’m also leaning heavily on Peter Biskind’s absolutely masterful account of Hollywood from roughly 1965 to 1985, a book called Easy Riders, Raging Bulls. Seriously, if you haven’t read that before, stop reading this and read that instead. I’ve read it several… Read More The People vs. George Lucas (2010)
Seeing Things Secondhand 