We saw “Lincoln” Sunday night, which wasn’t my first choice, until it was. I’d much rather see “Argo,” but OK, we’re all going, this is Important History, it’ll win Oscars, and I will ignore that voice in the back of my head that says, Steven Spieeeeeelberg, BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE, sucked it up and went.
And I’m 78 percent glad I did, which is saying something. More learned film critics than I can fill your ear with words upon words about this, that and the other thing, so let’s do this with bullet points:
* I have this little Steven Spielberg problem. We just don’t get along, and I’ve stopped worrying about it. I liked “Munich,” however, which was written by Tony Kushner. “Lincoln” was written by Tony Kushner, too. The 78 percent figure cited above is almost entirely due to him. But also because…
* Loved the cinematography and production design, the latter of which very deftly offered up a White House that’s sort of a dump in a smoky, cold, manure-smelling city. The former suggested dim corners and half-moon faces lit by candles and gaslights. (That this had the added benefit of hiding the prosthetic seams on Daniel Day-Lewis’ face had to be a big plus.)
* Daniel Day-Lewis. Whoa. I could watch him spin yarns, offer aphorisms, and tell his wife to hold the spending on the flub-dubs all day.
* Loved the character actors who filled the House of Representatives. Hey, it’s the guy from “A Serious Man!” And Gale from “Breaking Bad!” Is that…whazzisname, the “500 Days of Summer” guy, AND Boyd Crowder from “Justified!”
* A few things I hated. They included the John Williams score tapping you on the shoulder, saying “Pay attention to this scene, because it’s important.” Hated that expository dialogue, although I did my best to forget it, and mostly did, but come on, Tony: Why did Sally Field get all the clunky speeches?
* James Spader! You’ve put on weight, but you’re still my man.
Alan liked it, but Kate was bored out of her tree.
So. Here are some camels:
The big one in the foreground is a male, and he’s in rut. The slobber all over his face is a byproduct of his constant tooth-grinding. His spiky head hair is greasy from a scent gland on the back of his noggin. Every so often he would stretch his neck back and rub it on his hump to spread his sexy around. I was told that when he’s really getting his freak on, he squats, pees on his tail and then swings it around like a priest with an aspergillum. The female never got any closer because that male wasn’t going to allow his woman to get near another warm-blooded animal.
Men. Gotta love ’em. They know what they want, and they’re not afraid to slobber, exude oil, spray pee and grunt to get it.
Which seems about the only way to transition to this: Happy hump day. I’m out.
Dexter said on December 19, 2012 at 1:04 am
Lincoln saved the Union. Wouldn’t it have been a shame to see the world end less than a century later? It almost happened. Oliver Stone re-hashed the story on his mini-series Monday night; here’s PBS’s version of the Vasili Arkhipov story. Bone-chilling material indeed. We almost bought the farm in 1962. All of us.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/episodes/the-man-who-saved-the-world-watch-the-full-episode/905/
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Hattie said on December 19, 2012 at 2:41 am
You made me laugh. Thank you.
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davidkirk said on December 19, 2012 at 4:19 am
I wondered where you were going with the camel thing. Happy hump day indeed!
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on December 19, 2012 at 6:39 am
Aspergillum – nice.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on December 19, 2012 at 7:01 am
George Herbert, Anglican poet of the early 17th century, wrote a series of poems titled “The Temple” which is a tour through sacred meanings of the architecture starting with “The Church Porch” and continuing on to “The Altar” along with a number about events in the liturgical calendar and theological topics (like “Love” and “Mercy”).
The first poem is subtitled “Perirrhanterium,” which is the Anglican term for the Catholic aspergillum. If you have a Stanley Fish level of patience with metaphysical poetry (since it’s the longest single one in the collection), here you go: http://www.logoslibrary.org/herbert/temple/porch1.html
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Kristen said on December 19, 2012 at 7:06 am
Thanks. I needed the laugh, too. I work in an elementary school, and we live about an hour from Newtown. It feels like the planet has been knocked off its axis, never to regain its balance. Yesterday my fifth grader came home from school and reported that the principal and a “lady police officer” walked throughout his school, briefly visiting each classroom. I guess they want the kids to feel comfortable with a police presence. What a world. My sense is that most of the kids are fine; it’s the adults who are still reeling. My Dad grew up in the U.P., and he owned a few rifles. That’s about the extent of my experience with firearms. They were kept in a wood gun rack in the upstairs hallway, empty of ammunition. Occasionally he’d use the .22 to dispatch an unlucky rabbit or woodchuck from our vegetable garden. I don’t remember if he was able to take any of the guns to Michigan for his annual deer hunt visit. The appeal of owning a gun or guns is completely lost on me; I am constantly gobsmacked when I read statistics about the number of gun owners in this country. And the idea that you can easily get your hands on semi-automatic weaponry? I just don’t get it.
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Dorothy said on December 19, 2012 at 7:36 am
I’m keeping my distance from any and all camels next time I go to the zoo.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on December 19, 2012 at 8:01 am
Herbert is an acquired taste, but he has plenty of little gems buried in the pile of verbiage, and I can’t leave for the day without excavating this one, which I think I’ve heard Nancy quote if not quite verbatim:
Drink not the third glasse, which thou canst not tame,
When once it is within thee; but before
Mayst rule it, as thou list; and poure the shame,
Which it would poure on thee, upon the floore.
It is most just to throw that on the ground,
Which would throw me there, if I keep the round.
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beb said on December 19, 2012 at 8:28 am
Bassett (from yesterday) anyone who throws Ted Nugent to the Curb is a friend of mine.
I read a fascinating comment a day ago from a man who claims he used to babysit when Adam Lanza was 9 or 10. He said that Lanza’s mother warned him to never turn his back on her son. If true and not something said to get on TV, that is a provocative comment. I’ve often wondered if parents murdered by their children ever saw it coming. Did they know they were living with a ticking time bomb or did they just assume their child might hurt someone else but never them?
Except for their ability to cross deseerts, is there any excuse for a camel?
So is this a one hump or two hump day?
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Prospero said on December 19, 2012 at 9:18 am
At this point, I’d say Walter Goggins has surpassed character actor
http://www.tvguide.com/News/Sons-Anarchy-Walton-Goggins-Woman-1054456.aspx .
In olden days, he’d have made a steady living as a ne’er-do-well cowpoke on Bonanza, Big Valley and the Virginian, but Boyd Crowder on top of Shane makes him a star, I’d say.
I used to be friends with Dave TT Palmer, the drummer for Amboy Dukes, and a good guy, and I still really like this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN2VNFpiGWo
Ted is an asshole, and I saw him frequently trashed out of his mind at MC5 house on Gratiot, so his myth of never getting high is bullshit.
Bactrian or dromedary?
And beb, the excuse for camels may be Lawrence of Arabia the greatest movie ever not about gorgeous androids played by Sean Young.
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Mark P said on December 19, 2012 at 9:24 am
Peeing on things? So male camels and male cats have something in common other than the first letter of their names.
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Kim Ellis said on December 19, 2012 at 9:34 am
Goats are like that, too.
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coozledad said on December 19, 2012 at 10:17 am
Male goats can blow themselves without yoga.
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Bitter Scribe said on December 19, 2012 at 10:17 am
Daniel-Day Lewis is amazing in “Lincoln.” He made me believe that that’s what Lincoln actually could have looked and sounded like. That is the first time that’s happened in any depiction of Lincoln I’ve ever seen.
That said, the narrative focus of the movie (the passage of the 13th Amendment) didn’t quite work for me. I understand why it was done–an attempt to find ground that hadn’t been trodden a million times—but it just seemed off, considering what else was happening at the time.
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Judybusy said on December 19, 2012 at 10:21 am
And now I know a lot more about male camels than I did 5 minutes ago! Splendid! And it all apparently works, or these behaviors would eventually whither away under pressure of natural selection. Birds of paradise have evolved some beautiful plumage and interesting courtship rituals. So if I get reincarnated, can I please be a male BoP, please?
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coozledad said on December 19, 2012 at 10:24 am
A great man has been taking from us.
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/former-supreme-court-nominee-robert-bork-dies-at?ref=fpb
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MichaelG said on December 19, 2012 at 10:26 am
Here’s a very amusing TV ad for the FIAT 500L:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=eNVde5HPhYo
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brian stouder said on December 19, 2012 at 10:30 am
Bitter – agreed about DD Lewis. I think our 17 year old would have had a Kate-like reaction, except that his US history class was right in the middle of the Civil War when we went to the movie, and he was therefore all ears.
As a bonus, our 14 year old got pulled right in, and when she whispered a comment or two as we watched, he invariably “shushed” me when I whispered back to her. All in all, it was a surprisingly good time – a genuine ‘event’ kind of movie experience.
And Della – agreed about your Voice views yesterday, except for the Scottish rocker. He just never did it for me
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Basset said on December 19, 2012 at 10:34 am
Pros, tell us more about Ted back then. I’ve just met him once – did an interview with him for CREEM back in the mid 70s… and was not impressed. Seeing him on the same bill as Rush and Blue Oyster Cult at the fairgrounds arena in Indy was interesting though, might as well hit yourself upside the head with a brick as sit through that.
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del said on December 19, 2012 at 11:00 am
I never tire of saying it — Ted Nugent is guilty of crimes against humanity as evidenced by his entire music anthology. (I’d link to one of his more heinous works, but that would make a madman out of me, now wouldn’t it?) As Basset intimated, listening to his music gives fresh meaning to the old rocker refrain, “bang your head.”
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Basset said on December 19, 2012 at 11:07 am
Rush and BOC at least wrote halfway intelligent songs. Nothing wrong with loud and stupid though, I spent a lot of time listening to the “Ted Nugent” LP from about ’75… and Black Oak Arkansas… and Hawkwind…
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del said on December 19, 2012 at 11:14 am
Actually, I just found a non-criminal Nugent song on youtube and was about to acknowledge that fact but then Ted ruins it by screaming, “Do you fuckin’ feel it?” What a turdblossom.
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nancy said on December 19, 2012 at 11:19 am
I had a spin-class teacher who favored “Stranglehold” for the 8-minute climb section of the ride. It is the sole Nuge song that doesn’t make me puke, but after a few 8-minute climbs, that status was in jeopardy.
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adrianne said on December 19, 2012 at 11:33 am
The entire Reilly family gave Lincoln a big thumbs up, for many of the reasons that Nance stated in her post today. Sally Field did have a thankless job with her dialogue (blame Tony Kushner!), and agree on the John Williams score. Also, the solemn prologue where soldiers are reciting part of the Gettysburg Adress was unnecessary padding and not essential to the movie.
On Nance’s Stephen Spielberg aversion – I knew that Nance and I would become lifelong friends after discovering that she, too, hated “E.T.” for the manipulative emotional garbage that it was. Admittedly, we’re in the minority on this, but proud to fly those colors.
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Catherine said on December 19, 2012 at 11:50 am
David Strathairn as Seward actually had more expository dialogue than Sally Field as Mary. You notice it less because he is an incredible, self-effacing actor who never chews the scenery but just pulls you in through his intensity and genuine emotion. He is probably #2 behind Alan Rickman (shout-out to Sue!) on my list of actors I just flat-out love to watch.
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brian stouder said on December 19, 2012 at 11:57 am
adrianne, my current theory is that the cheesey beginning of that movie was a clever bit of Spielbergian insurance; it set my teeth on edge – and then all that followed was that much more pleasing; you can forgive a lot as they move away from that inanimate Lincoln of the Lincoln Memorial, and stay with Lincoln the fallible human being who likes dirty stories and who has strained relations with his son and intimacy issues with his wife. One could almost see Speilberg flirting with the cheese again, here and there (I liked when he had the president sitting in the telegraph office – very much in the pose of the Lincoln Memorial – and then he holds forth on Euclidean geometry, and asks questions with no definite answers. Of the two young men there)
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nancy said on December 19, 2012 at 12:01 pm
The telegraph-office scene was another where John Williams dragged his orchestra into the room to make sure we all understood BIG SPEECH COMIN’ UP HERE. And yes, I hated the opening, and thought the second-inaugural coda was unnecessary.
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Dorothy said on December 19, 2012 at 12:02 pm
I have been in love with Mr. Straitharn for aa long time, Catherine! Makes me a little weak in the knees – that voice! Those eyes! The smile! And he can act. He’s the real deal.
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Catherine said on December 19, 2012 at 12:19 pm
Moss!
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Bitter Scribe said on December 19, 2012 at 12:58 pm
One thing I didn’t like about “Lincoln” was the attention given to the entirely uninteresting Robert Lincoln. As far as I could ever tell, he was just a jerk who traded ruthlessly on his parents’ name and, when his mother refused to give him any more money to lose in real-estate speculation, had her clapped in an asylum so he could get control of her bank accounts.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on December 19, 2012 at 1:35 pm
I’d post the Louis CK bit on SNL of his proposed sitcom “Lincoln,” but NBC won’t let me do it. Too bad.
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coozledad said on December 19, 2012 at 1:52 pm
Feed your children well
so you can tell
that they can’t fly
And if
god forbid they do
they’ll bounce a time or two
when the eagle swoops by…
http://www.dependablerenegade.com/dependable_renegade/2012/12/the-lunch-that-got-away.html
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nancy said on December 19, 2012 at 1:54 pm
Good one, but the eagle attack’s already been called foul as CGI. I’m totally bummed.
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Catherine said on December 19, 2012 at 1:58 pm
But not before Patton Oswalt got to tweet, “Wait, which one of The Eagles flew off with a baby? Don Henley, right? I mean, that’s CLASSIC Henley right there.”
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Sue said on December 19, 2012 at 2:04 pm
I’m with you on D.S., Catherine. When I watch him, I always come back to one thing – how does he make an impact so quietly?
First time I saw him was in Home for the Holidays and I kept thinking, how is he doing that?
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brian stouder said on December 19, 2012 at 2:19 pm
Bitter, I hear you brother! It should be noted that, as far as I’ve ever read, Robert never spent any of his mother’s money; he seems to have genuinely been motivated by concern for her “irrational” behavior (so-called)…and indeed, there was no provision in law for a pension, or any other remuneration for the wife of the murdered president, and congress therefore revisited MTL’s case each year, and then granted a stipend. Robert was worried that congress would simply cut her off, at some point, if she kept getting bad press.
But that said, still – Robert was still a chauvinistic pig; a ‘man’s man’ in a man’s world – where even the widow of a martyred American hero could be railroaded right into an asylum. One of the most striking things I’ve ever read was a passage in Jean Baker’s marvelous book about Mary Todd Lincoln, where she describes the single day (the single day!!) where Mary returns to her Chicago residence from a morning shopping trip, and finds the sheriff and (maybe Leonard Swett?) awaiting her. They arrest her, and take her downtown to a courtroom, where a jury (all male, of course) is already convened; and the trial to determine her competence and sanity begins. They had already appointed her lawyer (who played his ‘potted plant’ part perfectly), and before sundown they had tried, convicted, and sentenced her, and sent her on to an asylum.
…she sometimes stashed money in her skirts, and she enjoyed shopping and buying things she didn’t need! Good God, that’s one American that was simply ahead of her time!
Mary is great; take her out of Abe’s life, and we lose President Lincoln (although Illinois would still have had a great prairie lawyer)
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Judybusy said on December 19, 2012 at 3:08 pm
I found A HREF=”http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/12/19/news/red-lake-shooting-survivors-to-newtown/”>this story about survivors of another school shooting in Red lake, MN travelling to Connecticut really touching. Some survivors of Columbine also travelled to Red lake to offer comfort.
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Judybusy said on December 19, 2012 at 3:09 pm
Damn. Missing that edit button right now–I see what went wrong. Here’s the link: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/12/19/news/red-lake-shooting-survivors-to-newtown/
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DellaDash said on December 19, 2012 at 3:11 pm
Didn’t know all that about Mary and Robert…good color commentary, brian.
Bitter Scribe, I’ve always thought you’re female…why is that?
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Bitter Scribe said on December 19, 2012 at 3:23 pm
DellaDash @38: I dunno. Maybe my manly essence just doesn’t come through the Intertoobz.
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brian stouder said on December 19, 2012 at 3:31 pm
See, if you were a camel, you could sy you cannot fling your sudsy spit that far…
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Prospero said on December 19, 2012 at 3:43 pm
David Strathairn’s Syfy series Alphas, that also stars the superb Malik Yoba (and a host of other talented actors) is don’t miss TV at our house:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1183865/
I first noticed him in episodes of old favorites, The Equalizer and The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, then realized he was the guy from Brother From Another Planet and Silkwood. He was also great in the widely ignored movie The River Wild, with Meryl Streep in one of her best roles. I think of David Strathairn in tandem with Chris Cooper, another great actor without star cachet. Both guys were in the excellent John Sayles’ movie Matewan.
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DellaDash said on December 19, 2012 at 4:09 pm
Maybe you have a particularly strong anima, Bitter…a good thing.
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crinoidgirl said on December 19, 2012 at 4:12 pm
A Slate article about the Bath school bombing, still the deadliest school massacre in the US. It’s worth clicking through to the first-person account. Incredibly moving. Evil has existed in every age.
Slate article
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Jolene said on December 19, 2012 at 4:29 pm
Prompted by a question from one of my Facebook friends, I googled “school shootings united states” last night and found an interesting set of results. The first listing involved Indians in the Pontiac Rebellion in 1764. The next was not until 1853, but after that there was a steady stream of listings revealing two themes. First, not much has changed in the realm of human behavior. The reported causes involved the same range of grudge-holders, disappointed lovers, and people who’d taken leave of their senses as we see in current reports of murder. My second–equally unsurprising–observation was that “improvements” in weapons have brought a considerable increase in the kill rate. Almost all the early listings involved a single victim.
I encourage you to scan the list. If we weren’t all so raw from recent events, it would almost be amusing to see what a poor excuse for a species we are and have been–taking to guns over rejections in love, workplace grievances, and schoolyard fights, not to mention the still common “fooling around and the gun went off.”
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Prospero said on December 19, 2012 at 4:45 pm
Anybody know anything about iRiver Astell and Kern AK100 digital audio player?
Matt Drudge spouts the Danny brand of proof Hollywood liberals are the true racists.
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alex said on December 19, 2012 at 5:01 pm
Matt Drudge spouts the Danny brand of proof Hollywood liberals are the true racists.
Now, now Pros. Danny’s been a flaming liberal all week and has apparently given the conservative Mr. Nitewatcher the week off. I wouldn’t believe my own eyes if I hadn’t seen it, but he hasn’t dropped a single Fox turd in the punchbowl all week. In fact, he’s been so suck-uppity agreeable that it’s almost boring.
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Dan B said on December 19, 2012 at 5:03 pm
A few thoughts on Lincoln:
-I will defend half of the prologue. The conversation with the black soldiers was critical in terms of setting up what was at stake in passing the amendment. It also gave us the only view of black people as anything more than observers. (I agree with some of the criticism that there was way too much black people looking on as white people worked to end slavery).
-Too many endings. Another Spielberg-ism, I think. They should have ended it with Lincoln walking down the corridor, silhouetted against the window. We all know he’s going to get shot; actually showing it was just cheap.
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Tom M said on December 19, 2012 at 5:04 pm
David Straithairn was a regular part of John Sayles’ movies like Matewan. Great actor.
While I understand a Spielberg antipathy, I do (and did) enjoy “Empire of the Sun” one of his (and Christian Bale’s first) early movies. To each his or her own.
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Bitter Scribe said on December 19, 2012 at 5:10 pm
Della: Better a strong anima than a strong enema.
We have a new candidate for Stupidest Sandy Hook Commentary. Apparently it’s the teachers’ fault for being female.
If you click through (warning—don’t do it if you have a weak stomach), note how she laments the lack of “a male janitor to heave his bucket at Adam Lanza’s knees.” It’s not clear if this should have happened before or after the six-year-olds gang-rushed him per Megan McArdle. I can see problems either way. Before, and the kids might slip on the spilled water; after, and they’d get in the way of the bucket.
How idiotic can these people get?
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Suzanne said on December 19, 2012 at 5:14 pm
I totally agree that Lincoln should have ended with the walk down the corridor. It was touching and real. The rest just seemed like filler and I don’t know if the younger Lincoln son was really at the opera when the announcement of the assassination was made, but that seemed contrived.
I love Spader’s character. So sleazy and played so well.
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Deborah said on December 19, 2012 at 5:40 pm
I love Spader. Way back when I lived in St. Louis he was in town for the filming of the movie “White Palace” also starring Suzanne Sarandin. While there he stayed in the same high-rise I lived in, The Park Plaza. I used to see him from time to time in the lobby or the elevator. He’s tiny as many Hollywood leading men are. At the time he was married to a woman who used to take their baby down to the lobby and walk around holding the kid completely upside down, claiming that it calmed him down. She wore a Navajo blanket wrapped around her when she did this and the door man swears she wore nothing under it. I have no idea if they are still married, or in fact if they ever were married, this would have been in the early 90s.
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Deborah said on December 19, 2012 at 5:43 pm
Sarandon
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jcburns said on December 19, 2012 at 5:45 pm
Susan Sarandon, yes. Strathairn is also an excellent Edward R. Murrow in ‘Good night and Good Luck.’
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paddyo' said on December 19, 2012 at 5:49 pm
Have yet to see Lincoln, but while you fellow/sister Strathairn lovers are at it, a huzzah for another of his how’d-he-do-THAT-with-so-few-scenes-and-lines performances: Mitch McDeere’s ex-con brother, Ray, opposite Holly Hunter’s firecracker Tammy, in The Firm. That guy is the god of less-is-more . . .
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Kirk said on December 19, 2012 at 5:58 pm
Strathairn also excellent at pitcher Eddie Cicotte in “Eight Men Out.”
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Prospero said on December 19, 2012 at 5:58 pm
Tom M, Empire of the Sun is in my all time top five. That was my introduction to John Malkovich, and Basie is one of the great characters in movie history, I think. And the death of Mrs. Victor is as heartbreaking as anything I’ve ever seen in a movie, as well as a spectaacular deployment of metaphor in a movie. Jim’s vision of the A-bombing as Mrs. Victor’s soul leaving her mortal coil is probably an example of what rubs people wrong about Spielberg, but I thought it was brilliant, and very moving:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drVoJ7bRyg8
More information about PGAD.
James Spader does sleazy better than almost anybody.
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Kirk said on December 19, 2012 at 5:59 pm
“as” pitcher Eddie Cicotte
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MaryRC said on December 19, 2012 at 6:10 pm
Catherine, thanks for reminding me about Patton Oswalt on Twitter. I do love that man. Re Newtown: “What’s the name of the disease where “raging assholes” mistake themselves for “devil’s advocates?”
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del said on December 19, 2012 at 6:17 pm
Crinoid girl, my grandmother was 12 when the Bath bombing happened. It was just 10 miles from her school in Lansing. She remembers it well, the mothers huddled on porches as she walked home from school.
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Deborah said on December 19, 2012 at 6:19 pm
Mr. Rogers is human http://mlkshk.com/p/MEHJ
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Deborah said on December 19, 2012 at 6:19 pm
Was human
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alex said on December 19, 2012 at 6:26 pm
“What’s the name of the disease where “raging assholes” mistake themselves for “devil’s advocates?”
Cerebral insufficiency syndrome with features of diarrhea of the mouth.
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Dorothy said on December 19, 2012 at 6:59 pm
…and the blind sound expert in one of my favorites, “Sneakers”, which also features Dan Akroyd, Ben Kingsley, Sidney Poitier, Bob Redford, River Phoenix and Mary Steenburgen.
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Bitter Scribe said on December 19, 2012 at 9:25 pm
Spader joins Humphrey Bogart and Jack Lemmon as famous actors who failed to get through Andover (my alma mater).
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elaine said on December 19, 2012 at 9:30 pm
Nice to see that so many of you enjoy David Strathairn’s work. His role as Renny in “Passion Fish” (another John Sayles film) is one of my favorites. Every time I hear him wish Alfre Woodard’s character, “Bonne chance”, I get a little weak in the knees.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on December 19, 2012 at 9:37 pm
“Empire of the Sun” is so good I tend to forget it’s Spielberg. Add in that it’s dangerously close to autobiography for Ballard, and it’s quite a document, let alone the performances from Bale, Malkovich, and so many others.
Slumped in a daze on the sofa, watching that movie about a Tyrolean haunted house yet again. The theatre, the theatre, what’s happened to the theatre?
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EllenT said on December 19, 2012 at 10:34 pm
Re “Argo” – I can’t recommend it highly enough. As far as Spielberg goes, “Munich” probably has more in common with Affleck’s “Argo” than it does with “Lincoln.” Definitely worth another trip to the cinema. And the Iran hostage crisis is pretty important history, too.
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Deborah said on December 19, 2012 at 11:46 pm
I had to look Srathairn up on Google images. I’ve seen him in a lot of stuff but never knew his name.
We just watched the last episode of season 1 of Breaking Bad. I’m hooked, now I’ll have to get all of the available seasons.
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Prospero said on December 20, 2012 at 7:39 am
Turner Classic showed Barbara Stanwyck movies last night, and we watched Double Indemnity and The Strange Loves of Martha Ivers. Great noir I’d never seen before. Great performances by Stanwyck, Kirk Douglas, Van Heflin and Lizabeth Scot (what a beauty) in the latter, and by Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray and Edward G. in the former. Martha Ivers was directed by Billy Wilder, based upon a very popular radio play from a 1942 anthology program.
The first half of Alex Pareene’s journo hack list was published yesterday, and it is hilarious. Second half today, I think.
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Prospero said on December 20, 2012 at 8:04 am
Avid Bookshop news. Clever contest.
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