Thursday, June 11, 2009

Recommended Reading

My buddy Robert Elisberg writes about his view of Sarah Palin and her daughter Bristol. I agree with Bob.

• Posted at 5:28 PM · LINK

Recommended Reading

Fred Kaplan writes an article entitled, "Obama Couldn't Sway the Iranian Election Even if He Wanted To." Apparently, Fred thinks that Obama couldn't sway the Iranian election even if he wanted to.

• Posted at 4:44 PM · LINK

Today's Video Link

Hey, it's been eleven days since we had a video clip here of someone singing the theme from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Time to rectify that glaring oversight...

• Posted at 1:01 PM · LINK

Insurance Scam

For a long time, the argument against government-sponsored health care was that...well, you know. It's the government so it has to be worse and inefficient and it can't possibly be as good as what free enterprise can offer.

Suddenly now, the argument against a "public option" in health care is that hundreds of thousands of people would prefer it so they'd transfer away from private insurers and cost Aetna and Blue Shield and the others a lot of business. In other words, the problem with government-run health care is that it would probably be better. And we can't have that.

• Posted at 12:30 PM · LINK

The Unseen ('til now)

The great mystery novelist Raymond Chandler wrote the screenplay for the 1944 movie Double Indemnity, which was directed by Billy Wilder and which starred Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck. We all know that.

But did you know that Mr. Chandler had a brief silent cameo role in the movie? I didn't. But some eagle-eyed folks noticed it.

• Posted at 12:50 AM · LINK

We Get Results

The other day here, we linked to a video of clips from the print of Li'l Abner that runs on Turner Classic Movies. As any fool can plainly see, it's improperly cropped so you see a lot of stuff — like boom microphones and the tops of backdrops — that you aren't supposed to see.

I'm pleased to report that several dedicated TCM staffers keep an eye on this site and every time I've complained about something on their fine network, it gets fixed, a.s.a.p. Sure enough: Tom Brown, V.P. of Original Productions at TCM writes to inform me that they've arranged for Paramount to make a new master in 4x3 letterbox format with a matte covering that which should not be on the screen. Now, that's service!

Tom told me to let him know if I'd spotted anything else that needs tweaking. This isn't exactly a tweak...but it's been quite a while since they reran Role Model, which is an original special they did. It's an hour-long conversation that Alec Baldwin conducted with Gene Wilder and it's one of the best interviews I've ever seen about an actor's work.

I'm not asking for me. I still have it on my TiVo and I rewatch it every month or three...but I'd like to be able to recommend it to folks who read this blog and haven't seen it. Mr. Wilder is an extraordinary man.

• Posted at 12:36 AM · LINK