Friday, January 26, 2007

Recommended Reading

Tim Dickinson on why he thinks Al Gore should run for president in 2008 and why he thinks Gore can win. I still think it's too early to predict almost anything about the election but when I think of all the reasons some people gave in 2000 for thinking Gore would be a bad president, they sure seem trivial to me today.

• Posted at 9:28 PM · LINK

Happy Charles Lane Day!

That's Charles Lane in his (brief) scene in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World with Mickey Rooney and Buddy Hackett. It was only one of a couple hundred movies in which he appeared, usually playing a banker or a lawyer or some other officious presence. Every time I've seen Mad World with an audience, there's a laugh of recognition when Mr. Lane appears on the screen and you can hear people muttering, "That guy." They may not know his name but they know the face and voice from films as diverse as You Can't Take It With You (he played an I.R.S. agent), Arsenic and Old Lace (he played a snoopy reporter), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (he played another snoopy reporter), It's a Wonderful Life (he played a rent collector), The Big Store (he foreclosed on Groucho's car) and so many more.

Mr. Lane turned 102 today. I doubt he's spending it Googling himself so he probably won't see this. But maybe somebody he knows him will let him know that he has a lot of fans out here on the 'net and that we're thinking of him.

• Posted at 9:20 PM · LINK

Today's Video Link

This video is badly edited but there's enough good stuff in it to make it linkworthy. It's an appearance Mel Blanc made with Johnny Carson, demonstrating pretty much the same voices he did on every talk show appearance he ever made. Even the bit at the end where they pretend Johnny's throwing a curve at him is an old bit but, hey, it's Mel Blanc. There's a reason he was the top voice guy in the business.

• Posted at 10:03 AM · LINK

Recommended Reading

Michael Kinsley comes out in favor of partisan squabbles.

• Posted at 9:59 AM · LINK