I've been trying to watch all American Film Institute's 100 best movies
. Here are some fresh, intellectual takes I penned as I watched a few of them. I call it my Learning Log.
I can't believe I went 30 years without seeing this. Nice to start out with a 4-hour one. I loved Scarlett! I never realized the movie was really all centered on her character. I also never knew that they didn't end up together. Scarlett was one plucky, sassy gal, wasn't she. Melanie was all sorts of lame. I was surprised at what a forward-thinking movie this was for the times; Scarlett was definitely not the picture of what a woman in the 1860s, or even 1939, was supposed to be. She rocked!
Another four hours, this time stuck in the desert with not ONE woman in sight throughout the entire picture, unless you count Florence herself, flouncing around in her fancy Arab dresses. I read that Lawrence was more asexual than homosexual, a trait which probably was exacerbated by the very slightly inferred rape in prison. We're two for two with rapes in the 100 best movies! Whee.
Ooo, Montgomery Clift certainly was the Lone Wolf, the Hardhead, the one who Goes His Own Way, wasn't he. Just like Scarlett and Florence. Hmmm…beginning to see a very obvious trend even in three very disparate movies. Did NOT follow that Burt Lancaster was a good guy in the beginning. I thought he was just a perv. Hey, another possible implied prison rape! (Of Frank Sinatra, a long way from High Society.) Was disturbed by Donna Reed as a hooker. That's MARY, dammit.
I am so clever! There really is an "outsider/loner" trend. I bet no one else has noticed this. Anyway, difficult to watch this without thinking of my mom telling me about how she went on a double date with Natalie Wood over and over. I think she (my mom, not Natalie Wood) took me to the Observatory once. Pretty impressive that all that stuff happened in one day, by the way.
I remembered being bored by it, but I thought it was great this time around. Cannot understand why everyone swooned about Bogie, though. I personally thought Victor Laszlo was the cat's pajamas. If he lived today, he would so be a more telegenic Michael Moore.
How does anyone find that man attractive? I don't know much about Woody Allen, but I found him unbelievably unappealing. Maybe that's the point, or something. And Diane Keaton was kind of annoying as well.
Oh, my god. Where do I BEGIN. This is the most ridiculous movie ever. Let's just spend 25 MINUTES showing the apes running around, yes, I get it, they're discovering tools and evolving a brain or whatever, GREAT. Now I do love Hal, because my mother always used to speak to me in his voice. But he wasn't even in more than 15 minutes of the damn movie! Kubrick condenses the actual PLOT, which was pretty cool, into what, a third of the movie and then spends a freaking hour showing us a laser light show. I think this is a good example of when to announce The Emperor is wearing a Boring Movie.
More to come…
Megan T
"One's mind must not be so open that one's brain falls out." --Richard Dawkins
Amanda Marcotte: Lending money to people who actually need it (makethemaccountable.com)
This is super-interesting-the Nobel Peace Prize this year was awarded to Muhammad Yunus, the founder of the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh. I'm sorry to say that I hadn't heard of Yunus before, but he's getting the award for his innovation of something called "microcredit", which is basically lending money to the very poor without collateral. Or, really, what he uses as collateral is social collateral.
Elana Berkowitz: Five Minutes With: Christiane Amanpour (campusprogress.org)
When we were in Iraq, and I was there during and after the war, we reported that there was looting-debilitating looting-and we were told by the administration, oh, no, this wasn't really a problem. We were told, and this is a quote, that "stuff happens." This was Donald Rumsfeld. They said that we were selectively editing the pictures to make it look as if there was looting. "Isn't that the same old vase that is being taken out over and over again?" Look, we know now too late that it was a real problem. Then we talked about insurgents and we were told, "Oh, no, these are just a bunch of dead-enders, just a handful." And now look where we are in Iraq. If you don't deal with reality, then you get into the kind of mess we are in now. It's a crying shame.
Beth Quinn: Better late than never: Let's clean House together (recordonline.com)
I hear that my Conservative friend and colleague, Douglas Cunningham, is announcing today that he's voting Democrat next month. ... Here's what I have to say to Douglas and any others who have finally had enough of the Republican corruption, depravity and villainy in Washington: Welcome! We're happy to have you.
I was abducted at gunpoint (guardian.co.uk)
Nicola Rayner made a split-second decision to take a taxi. Then the driver thrust a gun in her belly ... and her life was changed for ever.
ANTHONY GRAFTON: THE NUTTY PROFESSORS: The history of academic charisma (newyorker.com)
Anyone who has ever taught at a college or university must have had this experience You're in the middle of something that you do every day: standing at a lectern in a dust room, for example, lecturing to a roomful of teen-agers above whom hang almost visible clouds of hormones ...
Ashley Luther: A rapper's OU homecoming (athensnews.com)
"I wanted to come back to Athens but I didn't know what time would be the right time," he said. "Too early would seem like I wasn't doing all right (in the music industry) and too late would seem like I didn't care (about the fans), which I do."
David Bruce: Wise Up: Husbands and Wives (athensnews.com)
While conductor Leopold Stokowski was in his sixties, he married Gloria Vanderbilt, who was in her twenties. Ms. Vanderbilt was at the time a drama student. One morning, a classmate dropped by to pick her up, but she had already gone. It was early in the morning, so when Maestro Stokowski explained the situation to the student from a balcony, he was wearing a bathrobe and his famous long white hair was rumpled. Later, Ms. Vanderbilt started to apologize to her classmate, but the classmate told her not to apologize, because "your grandmother explained everything."
The front pages of newspapers are filled with horror stories. Then you turn to the business pages and find stock markets soaring. What's wrong with this picture?
World Reality, Market Dreams
Kim's N-bombs in Korea erupt, Stock markets shrug, and then go up.
We're quagmired in Iraq's deep muck, Stock markets shrug, rise higher up.
We blithly nature's plans disrupt, Stock markets shrug, their path is up.
The congress viewed, inept, corrupt, Stock markets shrug, and still go up.
On what strange fruits investors sup, In what cloud dreaming are they stuck, That they think present market luck Will last - let them the dark side duck.
CBS starts the night with a FRESH'Jericho', followed by a FRESH'Criminal Minds', then a FRESH'CSI: The 3rd One'.
On a RERUNDave (from 9/11/06) are Maria Sharapova, Martha Stewart, and Justin Timberlake.
On a RERUNCraig (from 9/29/06) are Billy Bob Thornton, Duane Martin, and Starsailor.
NBC opens the night with a FRESH'30 Rock', followed by a FRESH'20 Good Years', then a FRESH'Biggest Loser', followed by 'Dateline'.
Scheduled on a FRESHLeno are Annette Bening, mad scientist David Willey, and Sarah McLachlan.
Scheduled on a FRESHConan are Kirsten Dunst, Harry Shearer, and Corinne Bailey Rae.
On a RERUNCarson Daly (from 9/27/06) are Krista Allen and Alexi Murdoch.
ABC begins the night with a FRESH'Dancing With The Stars', followed by a FRESH'Lost', then a FRESH'The Nine'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Kimmel are Anne Heche and Matt Davis.
The CW offers a FRESH'America's Next Top Model', followed by a FRESH'One Tree Hill'.
Faux has a RERUN'Bones', followed by another RERUN'Bones'.
MY has a FRESH'Desire', followed by a FRESH'Fashion House'.
A&E has 'CSI: The 2nd One', another 'CSI: The 2nd One', 'Dog The Bounty Hunter', another 'Dog The Bounty Hunter', 'Criss Angel', and another 'Criss Angel'.
AMC offers the movie 'Blues Brothers 2000', followed by the movie 'National Lampoon's Vacation', then 'Hustle', followed by the movie 'National Lampoon's Vacation', again.
BBC -
[2:00 pm] As Time Goes By - Episode 7;
[2:40 pm] Are You Being Served - Diamond's Are a Man's Best Friend;
[3:20 pm] Keeping Up Appearances - Episode 6;
[4:00 pm] The Avengers - Stay Tuned;
[5:00 pm] Footballers Wives - Episode 2;
[6:00 pm] BBC World News;
[6:30 pm] Everything Must Go - Episode 13;
[7:00 pm] The Benny Hill Show - Episode 18;
[8:00 pm] Whose Line Is It Anyway? - Episode 9;
[8:30 pm] Masterchef Goes Large - Episode 13;
[9:00 pm] Cash in the Attic;
[10:00 pm] What Not To Wear;
[11:00 pm] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 2 D-Place;
[12:00 am] Whose Line Is It Anyway? - Episode 2;
[12:30 am] Whose Line Is It Anyway? - Episode 9;
[1:00 am] What Not To Wear;
[2:00 am] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares;
[3:00 am] Bad Girls - Episode 1;
[4:00 am] Bad Girls - Episode 2;
[5:00 am] Bad Girls - Episode 3;
[6:00 am] BBC World News. (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has 'Project Runway', another 'Project Runway', yet another 'Project Runway', and a FRESH'Project Runway'.
Comedy Central has 'Scrubs', another 'Scrubs', last night's 'Jon Stewart', last night's 'Colbert Report', 'Chappelle's Show', 'South Park', another 'South Park', and 'Freak Show'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJon Stewart is John Ashcroft.
Scheduled on a FRESHColbert Report is Deepak Chopra.
History has 'Modern Marvels', another 'Modern Marvels', 'Machines 3', and yet another 'Modern Marvels'.
IFC -
[07:20 AM] Dinner For Five #39;
[07:50 AM] Blind Swordsman #4: Zatoichi, The Fugitive;
[09:20 AM] The Sweet Hereafter;
[11:15 AM] Pandora's Box;
[01:00 PM] Viridiana;
[02:35 PM] Fists in the Pocket;
[04:25 PM] The Sweet Hereafter;
[06:20 PM] Shadow of China;
[08:00 PM] The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman #3;
[08:30 PM] The Business: Episode 3;
[09:00 PM] Shattered Glass;
[10:35 PM] Velvet Goldmine;
[12:40 AM] Short: Pretty Dead Girl: A Musical Necromance;
[01:05 AM] Shattered Glass;
[02:40 AM] Velvet Goldmine;
[04:45 AM] The Flats. (ALL TIMES EDT)
SciFi has 'Dark Side', another 'Dark Side', 'Ghost Hunters', followed by a FRESH'Ghost Hunters', then a FRESH'SCI FI Investigates'.
Sundance -
[06:05 AM] Southern Belles;
[07:45 AM] Bollywood/Hollywood;
[09:30 AM] In the Sun: Michael Stipe and Special Guests (Long Version);
[10:15 AM] The Grass Harp;
[12:15 PM] In Short: Jan Svankmajer;
[01:05 PM] El Cielito;
[02:45 PM] I Am NOT an ANIMAL: Home;
[03:15 PM] Dark Water;
[05:00 PM] Imagining Argentina;
[07:00 PM] The Staircase: Chapter 5. A weak case;
[07:50 PM] The Staircase: Chapter 6. The prosecution's revenge;
[08:45 PM] Belly Button;
[09:00 PM] The Hill: Episode 3: Putting In My Two Cents;
[09:30 PM] Bed Scenes;
[10:00 PM] La Vie Promise;
[11:30 PM] I Am NOT an ANIMAL: Home;
[12:00 AM] House of Boateng: Episode 1;
[12:30 AM] Adam & Paul;
[02:00 AM] City of Men - Season 2: Episode 5: Hot Spot;
[02:35 AM] The Hill: Episode 3: Putting In My Two Cents;
[03:05 AM] Kika;
[05:00 AM] Dark Water. (ALL TIMES EDT)
Country music singer Tim McGraw poses with wife, singer Faith Hill (L) , before his star was unveiled on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood October 17, 2006.
Photo by Fred Prouser
He might be persona non grata in Kazakhstan, but Borat -- the crazed Central Asian TV reporter created by British comic Sacha Baron Cohen -- is a hero to the German comedy scene.
Baron Cohen, in his Borat guise, won the best international comedian prize at the sixth annual German Comedy Awards on Friday in Cologne.
"Good evening gentlemen and prostitutes," Baron Cohen said to the crowd. "I love Germany. I love sex."
"I will put this prize next to the only other one I won," Baron Cohen said. "From Central Asian Olympic Committee. For hitting gypsy with rock at 50 meters."
Pablo Picasso's "dream" painting has turned into a $139 million nightmare for Steve Wynn.
In an accident witnessed by a group that included Barbara Walters and screenwriters Nora Ephron and Nicholas Pileggi, Wynn accidentally poked a hole in Picasso's 74-year-old painting, "Le Reve," French for "The Dream."
The accident occurred as a gesturing Wynn, who suffers from retinitis pigmentosa, an eye disease that affects peripheral vision, struck the painting with his right elbow, leaving a hole the size of a silver dollar in the left forearm of Marie-Theresa Walter, Picasso's 21-year-old mistress.
"Oh shit, look what I've done," Wynn said, according to Ephron, who gave her account in a blog published on Monday.
Eric Idle, left background, Terry Gilliam, right background, Michael Palin left, and Terry Jones of the Monty Python comedy group, arrive at the opening night of the musical 'Spamalot' in London, Tuesday Oct. 17, 2006. The musical is based on the motion picture 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail'.
Photo by Max Nash
Martha Stewart has pledged to donate $1 million to the hospital where doctors stitched up her hand last December.
Stewart said she received excellent care and wants to "ensure that the region in which I live and the community, which has been so welcoming to me, has access to a superior medical facility," according to a news release issued Tuesday by Northern Westchester Hospital.
The 65-year-old lifestyle guru visited the hospital's emergency department after slicing her hand while carving a turkey in her home about four miles away.
Leonardo DiCaprio is helping to develop a reality TV series focusing on the environment.
"E-topia" will chronicle the eco-friendly reconstruction of an American town as it is transformed into a "'green' utopia of tomorrow." The project, being shopped to broadcast networks, will document the monthslong endeavor in a town yet to be determined as teams of construction workers and laborers unaccustomed to the demands of a "green" lifestyle work with passionate eco-idealists, planners and architects.
In addition, each episode is designed to have a "call to action," directing viewers to a Web site where they can learn more about ecology and find out how to participate in environmental initiatives.
Kiss rocker Gene Simmons appeared at a North Carolina Army base Monday to promote a new line of cosmetic fragrances.
Those buying Kiss Him cologne or Kiss Her perfume for $39 got an autograph or photo taken with Simmons, the flamboyant Kiss bass player famous for wearing black and white makeup and sticking out his long tongue.
The line of people waiting to meet Simmons snaked out the door at the Fort Bragg post exchange where the fragrances are sold.
Tennis greats Billie Jean King (L) and Martina Navratilova pose for photographers at the 'Salute to Women in Sports' awards dinner in New York October 16, 2006.
Photo by Keith Bedford
Topping a list of "The 101 most influential people who never lived" in a book released on Tuesday is the Marlboro Man -- a macho American cowboy who emerged in the 1950s and helped boost sales of Marlboro cigarettes.
Coming in at number two on the list is Big Brother of George Orwell's 1984, followed by King Arthur, who the authors say embodies for many the ideal monarch, and Santa Claus comes in at number four.
Barbie "the bodacious plastic babe who became a role model for millions of little girls, setting an impossible standard for beauty and style" makes the list at number 43.
But Rosie the Riveter, the buff, blue-collar factory worker who the authors say helped jump-start the women's liberation movement comes in at 28.
The music industry has launched a fresh wave of 8,000 lawsuits against alleged file-sharers around the world, escalating its drive to stamp out online piracy and encourage the use of legal download services.
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), which represents the world's music companies, said on Tuesday the new cases were brought in 17 countries, including the first ones ever in Brazil, Mexico and Poland.
The industry has now filed about 18,000 lawsuits in the United States, the largest market for music sales, and 13,000 in the rest of the world.
The rapper Fabolous was shot early Tuesday as he stood at a Manhattan parking garage, spurring a sequence of events that left him hospitalized and then under arrest.
The 28-year-old rapper, whose legal name is John Jackson, had just left Justin's, a restaurant owned by Sean "Diddy" Combs, with three friends when a gunman approached and opened fire, police spokesman Sgt. Mike Wysokowski said.
Fabolous was hit in the thigh. He and his entourage jumped into a 2005 Dodge Magnum and fled, attracting the attention of police when they ran a red light. Officers stopped them and discovered two loaded guns in the vehicle, both of which were apparently unlicensed, Wysokowski said. All four men were arrested, and charges were pending.
Former President Bill Clinton covers his face and laughs during his introduction at an event in Providence, R.I., Monday, Oct. 16, 2006, to benefit the state Democratic Party and its candidates in the November elections, including Senate candidate Sheldon Whitehouse.
Photo by Elise Amendola
Bobby Brown has paid up $11,000 in delinquent child support, after being threatened with arrest if he stepped back into Massachusetts.
A family judge had issued an arrest warrant two weeks ago after Brown failed to show up at a hearing over two months' worth of payments he owed to Kim Ward, of Stoughton, the mother of his two teenage children.
Patrick McDermott, the registrar of probate for the Norfolk Probate and Family Court, said Tuesday both sides have assured him Brown has since made his payments, though no paperwork had been filed with the court.
Actress Carol Leifer, who directed the short film 'Blinders,' attends the Glamour Reel Moments event held at the Directors Guild of America Monday, Oct. 16, 2006, in Los Angeles.
Photo by Phil McCarten
Bono testified once again Tuesday that an ex-stylist for U2 stole and tried to sell band memorabilia, including his iconic Stetson cowboy hat from the cover of the "Rattle and Hum" album.
Bono was testifying at the start of an Irish High Court appeal over the band's 2002 lawsuit against fashion consultant Lola Cashman, who insists she received a range of gifts while advising U2 during the group's "Joshua Tree" world tour in 1987-88.
"It's our stuff, she has it, and a lot more beside. We want out stuff back. We want her to stop selling it," he said.
US actor Dustin Hoffman, left, and British actress Emma Thompson jpose before a press conference to promote their latest movie ' Stranger than Fiction', in Paris, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2006.
Photo by Christophe Ena
Actor Wesley Snipes was indicted Tuesday on eight counts of tax fraud for allegedly failing to pay nearly $12 million in taxes and failing to file returns for six years.
Federal prosecutors in Tampa said Snipes fraudulently claimed refunds in 1996 and 1997 on taxes already paid, and then failed to file returns from 1999 and 2004. If convicted, he could be sentenced to 16 years in prison.
The actor, who starred in the "Blade" trilogy and in Spike Lee's "Jungle Fever" and the 1992 blockbuster "White Men Can't Jump," has not been arrested because authorities don't know where he is, the IRS said. Snipes, 44, had a home in Windermere.
Actress Sandra Bernhard gestures as she presents an award during the Conde Nast Traveler's annual reader's choice award show in New York City October 16, 2006.
Photo by Lucas Jackson
Christopher Glenn, a longtime CBS news correspondent who anchored coverage of the space shuttle Challenger explosion and was the voice of the children's program "In the News" in 1970s and 80s, has died. He was 68.
Glenn died Tuesday of liver cancer in Norwalk Hospital less than three weeks before his induction into the Radio Hall of Fame, the network said.
The award-winning newsman retired in February after 35 years with CBS. His distinctive voice was familiar to those who remember the Emmy-award winning "In the News." The 2 1/2-minute feature on one topic was broadcast every half hour during Saturday children's programming on CBS. It debuted in September 1971 and ran for 5,000 episodes over 13 seasons.
It was Glenn who anchored the Jan. 28, 1986, launch of the doomed shuttle Challenger and delivered an anguished commentary as the spacecraft exploded shortly after lift off.
He also became the anchor for the CBS "World New Roundup" in 1999 after spending 11 years in a similar capacity for "The World Tonight."
Born in New York City, Glenn was raised in Irvington, N.Y. He received a bachelors degree in English from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1959.
He is survived by his wife, Dianne, two daughters and a sister.
A two-month-old lion cub enjoys for the first time the outdoor enclosure in the Tierpark Hagenbek Zoo in the northern German city of Hamburg October 12, 2006.
Photo by Morris Mac Matzen
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