'Best of TBH Politoons'
Ralph Reviews
La Dolce Vita
I'll have to admit that since switching from beer to wine, I'm a bit of a snob. Why not? I'm an intellectual. I read the New York Times (well, the food section, anyway). Yet, I have to admit that I don't get Fellini.
This is a source of considerable embarrassment for me, because since I have gone to great lengths to become cinematically literate. It is, of course, impossible to find Fellini films in the corner of suburban heck in the flyover state I live in, much less Kurosawa, Bergman, Eisenstein or Lange. So I splurged and got into Netflix. This enables me to get a wealth of foreign films as well as my personal favorite genre, Film Noir that are simply not available in my hometown.
So this week I got La Dolce Vita. I got La Dolce Vita because many consider it a vital part of cinematic history. Also, Fellini had a strong influence on Woody Allen, who is the Bill Clinton of films for me (love the result, hate the personal morality). The introduction to La Dolce Vita explained carefully that while the film is a series of stories surrounding Marcello that all tie together in the final minutes of the THREE FREAKING HOUR LONG film. I was excited to see it because it is, by all accounts, a cinematic masterpiece.
Marcello, played by Marcello Mastroianni
-who, it certainly must be admitted, is an excellent actor-is an Italian gossip columnist who has a girlfriend (
Yvonne Furneaux
) he doesn't appear to like very much, a, er, paramour (the strangely seductive
Anouk Aimee
) who is too much like him for a relationship to ever work out and a friend who he rarely sees and is despondent over his comfortable life. Glimpses of Marcello's life take place throughout the film. The bizarre tryst he spends with Maddelena (Aimee) in the flooded basement of an apartment of a woman they pick up driving around Rome late at night. The even more bizarre hard time he has finding a place to have a tryst with the American actress. Marcello also brief interlude with his estranged (and somewhat lecherous) father.
The movie is, essentially, about emptiness. Marcello lives an empty, hollow life. The film takes a poke at religion, in a scene where two children lead a bunch of believers around on a sacrilegious hide and go seek game with the Blessed Virgin and, at the end, the netting of a giant fish which lies on the beach casting judgmental glares at the revelers at the movie's end. This last poke at the Pope is, evidently, what go the movie banned in Catholic countries across the world, but it was too subtle for me. The look Marcello gives the fish, as if to say, "You ancient pathetic monster, who are you to judge me?" is precious. Marcello turns away from a stable relationship with a woman, eventually dumping his cloying girlfriend after she finds Jesus and presses him to commit. He prefers short term relationships, as with the American actress, with all their entanglements. He sees the simple, wholesome family life of his friend Steiner, but Fellini slams this door as well. Instead, we are left with a fleeting interlude with a young girl at a seaside inn to represent Marcello's chance at redemption. Again, Marcello prefers the drunken country girl he covers in chicken feathers.
But for a movie about emptiness, I have to admit this movie has a lot of rich scenes-splashing around in the Trevi Fountain and climbing up in the Vatican. I can see that Fellini is a first rate cinematographer. The scene in St. Peter cathedral is extraordinary.
The unique way of storytelling will annoy some viewers, but I'm OK with it. Three hours of cinema is a lot. Fellini was nominated for an Oscar for the screenplay, no small feat for a foreign language film, and I won't argue with that nomination. It is a story which, while long winded, is well-told.
But why? Why a three hour movie about someone who is, in my opinion, pretty loathsome. Why three hours covering someone who is evidently less worthy of redemption than Faust? For all his prowess as a cinematographer, Fellini is obviously a poor editor. Why the cheap shots at the Catholic Church? Hey, I'm as ambivalent about the mother church as the next guy, unless the next guy happens to be Bob Jones, but the big dead fish seems to be a little over the top. Why did the church ban this movie? It seems pretty innocuous to me and clearly Fellini couldn't buy publicity like having the church say they didn't like it. Why a movie where there are NO sympathetic or likable characters?
But there you go. I just don't get Fellini.
Reader Comment
What lies?
Marty:
I came across your editor's note in the "Phony Purple Heart" section of today's Bartcop E, "but it's okay if you're a Swift Boat liar or a delegate..."
What exactly did the Swift Boat Veterans lie about? All 256 of them were eyewitnesses to what they swore to. My recollection is that all the subsequent corrections to the record were made by Sen. Kerry, none by the Swiftees. This would include Kerry's own retraction of his oft-repeated story of having been in Cambodia/Laos during Christmas 1968 ("seared, seared into my memory"), etc. It was the SBVT that called on Kerry to release his entire military record, which he has since sorta' done. His record was released to the Navy, not directly to the two news media outlets that eventually ran lame stories of his having been a "D" student at Yale.
The only thing hung on the Swiftees that even came close to sticking was that a lawyer who did pro bono legal work for them was affiliated in some way with the GWB re-election effort. Much like Joseph Wilson IV was to Kerry.
Hope your heat wave breaks. Stay cool...
Best,
EJ2E
Seasonal Salutations, Ed -
Thank you for the eye exercise - complete circles followed by rolling up & back with your sardonic wit.
What exactly did the Swift Boat Veterans lie about?
Let's see - only 1 of the Swift Boat Liars actually served under Kerry.
Then, there was the claim that Kerry's medals (a Bronze Star, a Silver Star and three Purple Hearts) were earned under 'fishy' circumstances.
Oh, and they failed to acknowlege they were a politically partisan group, funded by the biggest republican campaign donor in Texas;
Limbaugh claimed Clintons are funding Swift Boat Veterans for Truth;
Scarborough lied about NY Times report to cover for GOP operative serving as Swift Boat Vet spokesperson;
Local Oregon veterans call for county prosecutor's resignation for signing misleading Swift Boat Vet affidavit;
Washington Post: Records undermine claims of anti-Kerry swift boat vet;
MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell exposed Ted Sampley's anti-McCain attacks;
AP: "McCain condemns anti-Kerry ads, calls on White House to follow suit";
LA Times commentary: Conservative media's handling of the Swift boat dispute is a case study in bias;
Swift Boat Smears - Press Corps Keeps Anti-Kerry Distortions Alive;
and
FOX exposed anti-Kerry vets' flip-flopping.
It was the SBVT that called on Kerry to release his entire military record, which he has since sorta' done.
Here is a page that compares & offers links to all service records released by both Kerry & Bush - or
you can find them here, too. Not that it's a case of Two candidates, two military records, two standards.
Where is Bush's DD214?
Much like Joseph Wilson IV was to Kerry
Why - is his wife a covert CIA agent about to be exposed for purely partisan politics? In time of war isn't that treason?
Remember this piece of partisan politics from not quite a year ago - the first phony Purple Heart campaign?
Yeah, the adults are in charge & they've brought lots & lots of honor & dignity back to the White House, in general & the country at large.
We surely have been blessed by this altruistic administration and its wholly benevolent actions.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Ruth Conniff: How the Left Can Win (progressive.org)
Democratic candidates won't please anyone so long as they preach populism in elections and then vote for atrocious legislation like the bankruptcy bill. The hypocrisy of trying to appeal to a base of workers, minorities, and the nonrich while serving the interests of corporate donors is killing the party.
Barbara Ehrenreich: Tiny Labor (progressive.org)
In the fifty years of the AFL-CIO's existence, Big Labor has shrunk to a third of its former size, but it's been clinging to its outsized clothes and outmoded habits.
Peter W. Galbraith: Iraq: Bush's Islamic Republic (NY Review of Books)
When President Bush spoke to the nation on June 28, he did not mention Iran's rising influence with the Shiite-led government in Baghdad. He did not point out that the two leading parties in the Shiite coalition are pursuing an Islamic state in which the rights of women and religious minorities will be sharply curtailed, and that this kind of regime is already being put into place in parts of Iraq controlled by these parties. Nor did he say anything about ....
Glenn Scherer: Planet of the Plants (Grist Magazine. Posted on Alternet)
In a world changed by global warming, crops may grow more abundantly, but be unable to nourish us.
Richard C. Paddock: Shots to the Heart of Iraq (LA Times)
Innocent civilians, including people who are considered vital to building democracy, are increasingly being killed by U.S. troops.
Dan Murphy: The Rise of Jihadi Suicide Culture (Christian Science Monitor. Posted on Alternet)
Saturday's bombings in Egypt come as more and more terrorists adopt a tactic that is now commonplace in Iraq.
Commentary: Mothers on their Soldier Sons (interventionmag.com)
"My son-in-law in Iraq said they are being pressured round the clock to re-enlist or face stop loss. They are being offering $30,000 tax free signing bonus, and told if they don't re-enlist they are going to be Stop Lossed and get zero dollars."
David Podvin: FORGING DISCORD (Make Them Accountable)
The Supreme Court nomination of John Roberts is a deathblow aimed directly at the liberal movement.
SHAWN BADGLEY: Zupan on Impact (Austin Chronicle)
'Murderball' and the making of a celebrity
David Bruce: Wise Up! Weight (www.athensnews.com)
When Erma Bombeck died, 10 men were pallbearers for her casket. One of the pallbearers was Bil Keane, cartoonist of "The Family Circle," who said, "I'm sure Erma would find it laughable that, after all her columns about losing weight, they needed 10 men to carry her casket."
Purple Gene Reviews
'Tammy Faye - Death Defying'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny & not quite as humid.
The hotter weather has spawned a fresh crop of fleas. Most of the cats were dosed today.
'Turd Blossom' Toilet Humor?
'Doonesbury'
About a dozen newspapers have objected to use of toilet humor in Tuesday's and Wednesday's "Doonesbury" comic strip, and some either pulled or edited the strip.
Kansas City-based Universal Press Syndicate, which distributes the strip to around 1,400 newspapers, said it had received some complaints from editors about a reference to presidential aide Karl Rove.
In the strip, a caricature of resident Bush refers to Rove as "turd blossom."
'Doonesbury'
Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Board of Governors Award
Jerry Lewis
Comic legend Jerry Lewis is getting the television academy's prestigious Governors Award in recognition for his more than half-century of work on behalf of Muscular Dystrophy.
Lewis, national chairman of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, was chosen for the prestigious award by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Board of Governors in recognition of his work for the Muscular Dystrophy Telethon.
The award will be presented to the 79-year-old entertainer and humanitarian during the 2005 Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards on Sept. 10. The 57th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards will be televised Sept. 18 on CBS.
Jerry Lewis
Previews French Revolution Opera
Roger Waters
It was a far cry from "we don't need no education" on Monday when Pink Floyd's Roger Waters presented excerpts for the first time from "Ca Ira," his new three-act opera about the French Revolution.
Rogers told an enthusiastic audience, which was to all appearances made up more of Pink Floyd fans than opera buffs, that the ambitious project first came to him back in 1989, when French songwriter Etienne Roda-Gil brought him a libretto for the French revolution-inspired piece.
In the face of the modern world's extremes of wealth and poverty, from America to Africa, Waters noted that "not a great deal has changed. But we stand at a crossroads. And I refuse to fall into this cloud of cynicism and accept that there's nothing we can do about it," he said to applause.
Roger Waters
Plot Twist
Jennifer Garner
Jennifer Garner is expecting a baby, so her "Alias" character will be too, even though she's a globe-trotting spy. "We are going to embrace the fact that she's pregnant," ABC programming chief Stephen McPherson said, referring to the character, Sydney Bristow.
But the show will focus on making the situation realistic and not "campy," he said.
"We also don't want to put her in situations where she's endangering herself and the baby," making it difficult for viewers to suspend disbelief, he said.
Jennifer Garner
Light Sabers On Auction Block
'Star Wars'
Light sabers used by Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker in the "Star Wars" movies are expected to fetch around $60,000 each at a Beverly Hills movie memorabilia auction on Friday.
The two light sabers from the original "Star Wars" and its 1980 sequel "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back" are among more than 75 "artifacts in an auction that also includes Harrison Ford's signature leather jacket from "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," estimated to fetch some $50,000.
The "Star Wars" treasures come from the collection of producer Gary Kurtz, who worked closely with director George Lucas from 1973-81, and many of them are expected to be snapped up by fans and collectors for well over their estimates.
'Star Wars'
Morphs Into Movie
'Voltron'
"Voltron: Defender of the Universe" is coming to the big screen.
Producer Mark Gordon ("The Day After Tomorrow") is developing a big-budget feature based on the 1980s giant robot kids TV series and toy sensation.
The "Voltron" animated TV series debuted in 1984, about the same time as Hasbro's Transformers toy line, igniting a morphing robot phenomenon. According to sources, Voltron has generated $750 million in worldwide licensing and nearly $200 million in toys and merchandising since 1984. The show, in its many incarnations, remains syndicated throughout the world.
'Voltron'
Booed At Bayreuth
'Tristan und Isolde'
Christoph Marthaler's new production of Richard Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde" that opened this year's Bayreuth Festival was roundly booed for its cold, clinical intellectualism.
Marthaler's basic premise is that Tristan and Isolde's ill-fated passion is the last desperate flaring up of a flame before it is snuffed out forever.
Japanese maestro Eiji Oue, appearing for the first time on Bayreuth's Green Hill and thereby becoming the first ever Asian to conduct in the legendary Festspielhaus, gave a concentrated, transparent reading of the score, giving the soloists ample time and space to sing their demanding roles.
But the diminutive conductor, who kissed the floorboards of the Festspielhaus in a gesture of reverance to the composer at the curtain call, never really left his mark on Wagner's magnum opus.
'Tristan und Isolde'
Song Benefits Pa. Charity
Gamble-Sigler
Kenny Gamble, half of the songwriting duo that wrote a slew of 1970s hits, and R&B singer Bunny Sigler have written a song to help raise money for Alex's Lemonade Stand, a charity benefiting cancer research.
The song, "Alex's Lemonade," details the life of Alex Scott, a girl from Wynnewood who was 8 when she died last August after fighting an aggressive form of childhood cancer almost since birth.
Gamble and Leon Huff were the songwriters behind the Sound of Philadelphia, and wrote the hits "Love Train," "For the Love of Money," "If You Don't Know Me by Now" and "Me and Mrs. Jones."
Gamble-Sigler
Killer Jailed
Theo van Gogh
A Dutch court sentenced the self-confessed killer of a Dutch filmmaker critical of Islam to life in jail on Tuesday, calling the murder which whipped up racial tensions in the Netherlands a terrorist attack.
Mohammed Bouyeri, an Amsterdam-born Muslim, was convicted of killing Theo van Gogh as he cycled to work on Nov. 2, 2004.
Theo van Gogh
Even Fewer Listings
TV Guide
TV Guide, an iconic magazine for two generations of Americans, is radically remaking itself into a title with a much smaller circulation, a larger, full-color format, fewer listings and more stories about TV shows and stars.
The revamp, which the company announced early Tuesday, calls for the magazine to slash the circulation it guarantees advertisers by nearly two-thirds, from 9 million to 3.2 million.
In another cost-cutting move, TV Guide will also streamline how it produces the magazine, eliminating its 140 localized editions in favor of a national edition, with either an Eastern or Pacific time zone designation.
Gemstar's struggles have been a sore point for media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, whose far-reaching media conglomerate News Corp. owns about 40 percent of the company. News Corp. took billions in write-downs in 2002 due related to its investment in Gemstar.
TV Guide
Hospital News
Mindy McCready
Mindy McCready apparently attempted suicide, and a man charged last spring with trying to kill her was with the country singer when police found her unconscious in a Florida hotel lobby, authorities said Tuesday.
William McKnight, 39, had been charged with attempted criminal homicide and aggravated burglary in an attack on the 28-year-old entertainer earlier this year. The couple had broken up about two weeks before the attack, which occurred at McCready's Nashville home.
McKnight, who described himself as McCready's fiance, told authorities at the Holiday Inn Harborside in Indian Rocks Beach that she had taken a large amount of two substances and drank a lot of alcohol, according to a Pinellas County Sheriff's Department report.
According to the report, McKnight told authorities that he "had been having some relationship problems" with McCready and gave them a four-page suicide note he said she had written.
Mindy McCready
Tourist Attraction
'Miracle'
Thousands of Italians have flocked to a small town outside Naples armed with mobile phones in the hopes of filming a statue of the Virgin Mary that residents say has miraculously moved her legs.
Parishioners at St. Peter's church in Acerra said they had witnessed the plaster statue's legs turn flesh coloured and move "as though she were walking toward us". One man told reporters last week that he had filmed the "miracle" on his mobile phone.
Monsignor Antonio Riboldi, the Bishop Emeritus of Acerra said he was sceptical. "In the past, the Madonna has made apparitions in a field or in a cave, but she has never appeared on a mobile phone or a video camera. She doesn't tend to make a spectacle of herself."
'Miracle'
Foul-Mouthed British Parrot
Barney
A foul-mouthed parrot previously owned by a lorry driver has been banished from public areas in a British animal sanctuary after repeatedly embarrassing his keepers, they said.
Barney, a five-year-old Macaw, is now kept indoors at Warwickshire Animal Sanctuary in Nuneaton, central England, when outsiders visit after abusing dignitaries with swearword-littered insults.
"He's told a lady mayoress to f..(expletive) off and he told a lady vicar: 'And you can f... off as well'," sanctuary worker Stacey Clark said.
"Two policemen came to have a look at the centre. He told them: 'And you can f... off you two wankers'."
Barney
Staying With MNF
Al Michaels
Al Michaels is staying with Monday Night Football when it moves from ABC to ESPN for the 2006 NFL season, parting with John Madden after four seasons in the booth together.
Michaels has been the play-by-play man on Monday Night Football since 1986, the last three with Madden as analyst. After this season, Madden is moving to NBC, which is taking over the Sunday night time slot in 2006 for what the NFL considers its main prime-time package.
Al Michaels
Canadian Lab To Test
'Sasquatch' Hair
The debate over the existence of sasquatch, aka Bigfoot, an ape-like creature said to haunt the wilderness of western Canada has entered the world of modern DNA testing.
A laboratory will test hair samples that several residents of Teslin, Yukon, say were left when the large, but so-far mythological creature made a late-night run through their community in early July.
University of Alberta wildlife geneticist David Coltman, who agreed to do the tests as a favor to a colleague, said on Monday that scientists have cataloged the DNA of nearly all large animals in the Yukon such as bears and bison.
Coltman expects to have his results on Thursday and said that even if the hair turns out not to be from a sasquatch, the process should serve as good way to get students interested in the field of DNA testing.
'Sasquatch' Hair
Prime-Time Nielsen
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for July 18-24. Listings include the week's ranking, with viewership for the week and season-to-date rankings in parentheses. An "X" in parentheses denotes a one-time-only presentation.
1. (3) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 14.6 million viewers.
2. (8) "Without a Trace," CBS, 12.7 million viewers.
3. (47) "So You Think You Can Dance," Fox, 10.3 million viewers.
4. (13) "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 9.8 million viewers.
5. (31) "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," NBC, 9.7 million viewers.
6. (20) "NCIS," CBS, 9.4 million viewers.
7. (44) "Brat Camp," ABC, 9.4 million viewers.
8. (17) "Law & Order: SVU," NBC, 9.2 million viewers.
9. (20) "Law & Order," NBC, 9 million viewers.
10.(6) "CSI: Miami," CBS, 8.9 million viewers.
11.(20) "60 Minutes," CBS, 8.7 million viewers.
12.(11) "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS, 8.5 million viewers.
13.(17) "Cold Case," CBS, 8.4 million viewers.
14.(73) "Law & Order" (Wednesday-9 p.m.)," NBC, 8.3 million viewers.
15.(24) "CSI: NY," CBS, 8.2 million viewers.
16.(73) "Big Brother 6," (Tuesday), CBS, 8.1 million viewers.
17.(114) "Most Outrageous Moments Live on TV," NBC, 8.1 million viewers.
18.(78) "Big Brother 6," (Thursday), CBS, 7.9 million viewers.
19.(181) "Crossing Jordan," NBC, 7.8 million viewers.
20.(191) "King Of Queens," CBS, 7.4 million viewers.
Ratings
In Memory
Kayo Hatta
Kayo Hatta, an independent filmmaker whose 1995 film "Picture Bride" won an audience award for best dramatic film at the Sundance Film Festival, has died. She was 47.
Hatta chronicled Hawaiian sugarcane plantation life in the early part of the 20th century in "Picture Bride." Hatta, who directed and co-wrote the movie, told the story of a poor Japanese woman who emigrates to Hawaii to enter a marriage with a plantation worker based on an exchange of photographs.
The film was recently released on DVD and has become part of the curriculum in some Hawaiian schools and universities.
She recently completed a 30-minute coming-of-age film called "Fishbowl" based on the writings of Hawaiian author Lois-Ann Yamanaka. Much of the film's dialogue is in the local pidgin language because Hatta insisted that it sound authentic, her sister said.
Lori Kayo Hatta, who was born in Honolulu, is survived by her mother, Jane Matano Hatta of Honolulu, sisters Julie and Mari Hatta of San Francisco and Carrie Hatta of Honolulu. She also is survived by half-sisters Eri Hatta of Alameda and Chika and Yuki Hatta of Las Vegas, and fiance Douglas Hetrick of Leucadia.
A memorial service will be held Sunday in Honolulu at the Moiliili Hongwanji Buddhist Temple.
Kayo Hatta
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