'Best of TBH Politoons'
Ralph Cuts The Classics #10
Gunga Din, Mon
Ralph Cuts the Classics
I'm gonna burn one down…
Gunga Din
is not about Rastafarians. This is unfortunate, as blowing a
spliff probably makes for better movie watching-at least with regard to
Gunga Din.
There is no "kicking the gong" in Gunga Din.
Cutter, Ballantine and MacChesney are sergeants in the British Army in
India. Cutter, played by Cary Grant
, is a Cockney treasure seeker with a
number of get-rich-quick plans. Ballantine, played by
Douglas Fairbanks, Jr
., is ready to leave the Army, get married and go into the tea business.
MacChesney, played by Victor McLaglen
is a hard-bitten fighting man. We
meet them in the middle of a brawl with the Scots Guards.
When a series of murders rock nearby Tantrapur (which, unfortunately, is
linked with the murder cult of the Goddess Kali, rather than the ecstatic
sex practices implied by its name) our heroes are sent in to re-establish
order and communications. Tantrapur is completely vacant, except for a few
hiding cultists, including "Toadface." Tantrapur is shortly overrun, and of
the detachment sent, only the Sergeants and a few of their Indian troops
return.
I am the very model of a modern major general…
With Ballantine set to be discharged in a matter of days, Cutter and
MacChesney get drunk and Cutter winds up in the brig. Gunga Din
, an Indian
coolie who carries a water sack to the troops, busts him out with the help
of an elephant and takes him to a solid gold temple, which, unfortunately,
is the temple of Kali and is filled with murderous rascals. Fortunately for
Grant, however, they are, apparently, only rascals into torture at the
moment and content themselves with whipping him while Din (pronounced Dean)
goes back to headquarters to get the battalion.
Lost in translation, however, he only manages to bring the newly discharged
Ballantine, who is also captured and, still not on to actual
murdering, whipped by the cultists. In what has to be one of the longest
sequences in movies, the Scots come into the trap, only to be saved at the
last minute by Din.
What I don't like about Gunga Din is the treatment of Indian characters,
who, by wanting independence from England are some kind of murder cult. How
could an American filmmaker do this without the least touch of irony?
Anyone who can come up with a better reason than racism wins a confederate
flag lunch box.
I'll catch…you pitch.
Aside from that, this just isn't a great movie. The characters are
cartoonish and even Grant and Fairbanks can't pull this rabbit out of their
hat. Mrs. Ralph thought it was so cartoonish that it was like the Three
Stooges-a tragic indictment from a woman with no appreciation for the comedy
of knuckleheads. Grant's cockney accent isn't believable, even though I'm
pretty sure he grew up with one. The title character is so ridiculously and
appallingly stereotypical, they could set this in the south and called it
"Sambo." Din is a hero the way Mammy
is a hero in Gone with the Wind
, a
good "Colored."
I'll admit that some of this smacks of a better done Indiana Jones and the
Temple of Doom and it's hard not to like the Grant-Fairbanks team. But
Ganga Din could use a few bong hits and a Bob Marley soundtrack. It's that
bad.
Gunga Din (1939)
Directed by Geroge Stevens [
view trailer]
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Stephen Pizzo: A Doozie of a Recession (News for Real. Posted on alternet.org)
Recessions begin when consumers suddenly discover they can no longer keep pace with their bills. And this one has already begun.
Jan Frel: PETA: Whatever It Takes (AlterNet)
The progressive animal rights organization has a ruthless approach for getting coverage in the mass media -- with enviable results.
Jonathan Alter: Tom DeLay's House of Shame (Newsweek)
Oct. 10, 2005 issue - A decade ago, I paid a call on Tom DeLay in his ornate office in the Capitol. ... Thus began what historians will regard as the single most corrupt decade in the long and colorful history of the House of Representatives. ... These folks borrow like banana republics and spend like Tip O'Neill on speed.
Annalee Newitz: A Bugged Game (alternet.org)
Do videogame companies have the right to search your hard drive to prevent you from cheating? Apparently Blizzard thinks it does.
Carolyn Kay: The Preface to Her New Book
What is a born-in-a-red-state, transplanted-to-a-blue-state gal doing writing a book about politics? And what is a diagnosed obsessive-compulsive, alcoholic, manic-depressive doing writing a book about balance? My answer to both questions is, "Who better?"
and
Carolyn Kay
Video: Lies the Administration Told Us
Hubert's Poetry Corner
ARKANSAS DITTY BOPPER
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Another hot day - cooler weather is ahead.
Think I'm a guest on the Erin Hart
Show on 710KIRO some time this weekend.
Thanks to everyone who dropped by the Guest Map.
Level 3 and Cogent
The Internets
Yesterday I started getting notes from regular readers saying they couldn't access BartCop or the e-page.. Turns out there's a lot more to it.
Quoting Marc Perkel:
The Internet itself is broken. It appears as of today that the Internet
itself is now two separate networks and some parts of the Internet can
not talk to other parts. This is not a temporary outage. A major
communication company, Level 3 has cut all traffic with another major
communication company Cogent Communications.
The bottom line is that for now people who get their service from
providers using Level 3 can't go to the web sites who get their service
from Cogent and vice versa. This also affects peer to peer applications
like Chat and some kinds of voice over IP connections between Level 3 and Cogent customers.
The decision to disconnect is that of Level 3. There are no
laws governing this - yet.
Here are some places where you can read more on the topic:
Slashdot Article
Cogent Communication Statement
HardwareGeeks.com - Network Divorce
Goodwill Ambassador Visits HIV+ Vietnamese
Tea Leoni
Tea Leoni visited young Vietnamese at a support center for people who are HIV-positive, promoting AIDS awareness in a country where infection rates are rising.
The 39-year-old actress is on a weeklong visit as a UNICEF goodwill ambassador to help raise funds for the Global Campaign for Children and AIDS, which helps children orphaned or affected by the deadly disease.
Leoni will travel to Ha Long Bay in Quang Ninh province later in the week to visit community-based programs that support children and family members living with HIV.
Tea Leoni
Benefit in Asbury Park
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen chipped in for hurricane relief efforts, playing a benefit concert in the Jersey shore city famously associated with him.
Proceeds from the Tuesday night show at the Paramount Theatre, a boardwalk fixture, went to the Jersey Coast chapter of the American Red Cross.
Springsteen regaled concertgoers with samplings from his decades-long career, including selections from his latest album, "Devils & Dust."
Bruce Springsteen
NBC Plans Live Episode
'The West Wing'
NBC will air a live episode of "The West Wing" featuring a debate between presidential candidates Matt Santos and Arnold Vinick on Nov. 6.
The cast will run through two separate live versions, one for the East Coast and one of the West. The series' executive producer, John Wells, has experience with this: He was at the helm when "ER" opened its fourth season in 1997 with a live episode.
'The West Wing'
Sgt Pepper Wax Heads For Sale
Beatles
An original set of waxwork heads of the Beatles, which was used on the band's album "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", has been found and will be put up for sale this month.
The heads were unearthed in a store room at Madame Tussaud's waxwork museum in London earlier in the year after being presumed missing for nearly four decades.
Only the original heads of band members John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr have been discovered. But the waxwork house will use another vintage head of Paul McCartney to complete the set.
Beatles
Anchoring Last 'Nightline' Nov 22
Ted Koppel
Ted Koppel will anchor his last edition of "Nightline" on Nov. 22, with the first post-Koppel edition of the ABC newscast airing Nov. 28, the network said Thursday.
How the late-night news show will evolve following Koppel's departure remains a mystery less than two months before its debut. ABC has appointed James Goldston, who produced a British show similar to "Nightline," as the broadcast's new executive producer, and it has experimented with a multi-topic format on nights Koppel was off.
Ted Koppel
Baby News
Mateo Bravery Bratt
Mateo Bravery Bratt was born Monday in Los Angeles, weighing 7 pounds, 7 ounces, said publicist Craig Bankey.
Benjamin Bratt and his wife, Talisa Soto, have a daughter, Sophia Rosalinda, who will be 3 years old on Dec. 6.
Mateo Bravery Bratt
Did Not Burn In Pasadena Fire
Stately Wayne Manor
A Tudor style mansion in Pasadena that was used for a number of movie shoots has been destroyed by fire but the house nearby where the 1960s "Batman" TV series was shot escaped damage, fire officials said on Thursday.
Early news reports said the house that burned down on Wednesday night was the historic mansion on S. San Rafael Avenue, Pasadena, 15 miles north-east of downtown Los Angeles, that served as the "Wayne Manor" of Batman TV series fame. That house was reported to have been bought by former Beatle Paul McCartney in 2005.
But the 16,000 sq foot (1,500 sq meter) home that caught fire was actually further down the street. Some scenes from "Rocky V" and the Peter Sellers movie "Being There" were reportedly shot there. The owners were not at home when the fire started and the cause is unknown.
Stately Wayne Manor
Ex-Marine Denounces US Brutality in Iraq
Jimmy Massey
US military training has created troops so desensitized to violence that battleground brutality in Iraq is rampant -- and has helped fuel the bloody insurgency seen there today, a new book released in France by a former Marine says.
Jimmy Massey, a former staff sergeant, told AFP that the daily attacks now doled out to US-led forces and Iraqi civilians are "because of the brutality that the Iraqi people saw at the start of the invasion."
In his book, "Kill! Kill! Kill!", he says he and other Marines in his unit killed dozens of unarmed Iraqi civilians because of an exaggerated sense of threat, and that they often experienced sexual-type thrills doing so.
The book was being released first in France -- and in French -- because, he said, "I didn't find an American publisher."
For a lot more - Jimmy Massey
Author Expelled
Reverend Graham Taylor
A British cleric and top-selling author of children's books was thrown out of a school where he said Harry Potter was "gay" during a talk to 12-year-olds.
Reverend Graham Taylor, who penned the novel "Shadowmancer" which, like the tales of the famous boy wizard created by J.K. Rowling, centers on witchcraft and battling evil, got his marching orders after teachers accused him of homophobia.
"As for Harry Potter, well, he's not the only gay in the village," Taylor told children at Penair School in Truro, southwest England, referring to a catchphrase from the popular British comedy TV show "Little Britain."
Teachers stopped Taylor's talk and asked him to leave.
Reverend Graham Taylor
AOL To Buy
Weblogs
America Online on Thursday said it will buy Weblogs Inc., a network of Web sites focused on topics ranging from scuba diving to gadgets, marking the biggest bet on unfiltered online commentary.
Web logs adds 85 new Web sites, including the popular Engadget, Autoblog and Joystiq, with contributions from over 100 freelance bloggers to AOL's group of properties. The company will be managed separately from AOL, but will be featured throughout AOL and AOL.com's existing services.
Weblogs
New York Philharmonic Benefit Show
Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra
The New York Philharmonic is helping to bring back Beethoven to New Orleans by hosting a benefit concert for the Louisiana Philharmonic.
The Oct. 28 concert at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall will feature members of both orchestras, along with composer Randy Newman and singer Audra McDonald. Proceeds will benefit the Louisiana Philharmonic, which is working to rebuild itself in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
The concert, dubbed "bringing back the music," will be hosted by Beverly Sills. The musicians will be led by New York Philharmonic Music Director Lorin Maazel; Carlos Miguel Prieto, music director-designate of the Louisiana Philharmonic; and Leonard Slatkin, a former music director of the New Orleans Symphony.
Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra
Gets Canada Permit After All
Martha Stewart
It looks like Martha Stewart is going to get her chance to ride a giant pumpkin on a Canadian lake.
A disappointed Stewart had announced on her daytime show, "Martha," on Wednesday that Canadian immigration authorities had barred the ex-con from traveling to a Nova Scotia town to film a segment on its pumpkin festival.
But a Stewart spokeswoman said Thursday that a permit had been granted for her visit. This was confirmed by Canadian Immigration Minister Joe Volpe's office, according to the Canadian Press.
Martha Stewart
Hearing Voices
BBC Documentary
US resident George W. Bush allegedly said God told him to invade Iraq and Afghanistan, a new BBC documentary will reveal, according to details.
Bush made the claim when he met Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas and then foreign minister Nabil Shaath in June 2003, the ministers told the documentary series to be broadcast in Britain later this month.
Shaath, now the Palestinian information minister, said: " President Bush said to all of us: 'I'm driven with a mission from God.
'God would tell me, 'George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan'.'
"And I did, and then God would tell me, 'George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq...' And I did.
BBC Documentary
Denies Bush God Claim
White House
The White House has dismissed as "absurd" allegations made in a BBC TV series that President Bush claimed God told him to invade Iraq.
"He's never made such comments," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.
White House
In Memory
Harold Leventhal
Harold Leventhal, a renowned folk music promoter who worked with Woody Guthrie and introduced Bob Dylan in his first major concert hall show, has died. He was 86.
From the 1950s to the end of the 20th century, Leventhal was a champion of folk music who introduced audiences to both American and foreign artists.
He presented a 21-year-old Bob Dylan at Town Hall in New York in Dylan's first major concert hall appearance on April 12, 1963. He was also the longtime producer of the Thanksgiving folk concert at Carnegie Hall, which featured Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger.
He also produced several movies about the folk music world, including Alice's Restaurant in 1969; a 1976 biography of Woody Guthrie called Bound for Glory; and Wasn't That a Time! in 1982. Bound For Glory received two Academy Awards, for music and cinematography.
Besides Dylan and Guthrie, some of the artists Leventhal worked with included Harry Belafonte; Joan Baez; Johnny Cash; the Mamas and the Papas; Peter, Paul and Mary; Earl Scruggs; and Neil Young.
He is survived by his wife, the former Natalie Buxbaum; two daughters, Debra Leventhal-Nuyen and Judy Leventhal; and four grandchildren.
Harold Leventhal
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
