For your Sunday viewing pleasure

We may be dating ourselves a bit but though we've been informed that movies such as Anchorman and Hangover are the new comedy classics, we'll stick with Mel Brooks circa 1975 - 1983 and...



It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World






And The Great Race




Natalie Woods.... Yikes!

Video clip of the day

At last, after over a half-century... Atlas Shrugged, the movie.

We had our doubts that a book like Atlas Shrugged could be made into an entertaining movie and the trailer doesn't do much to dispel that notion. Check out the trailer below.





Exit question: Are libertarians and conservatives of a certain stripe under any obligation to see this movie to demonstrate that we're all, you know, down for the cause?

We believe we know what Ms. Rand's answer would be.

Operational pause

Growing up in the 70s and attending California public schools, Thursday afternoon meant one thing and one thing only: Movies!

It was the lesson plan equivalent of mailing it in for the teachers and gave us kids an opportunity to unwind after a stressful 3-1/2 days with Disney shorts, though, unfortunately, also that stupid French flick about a red balloon.

But this is Friday afternoon and where the heck is Radio KBwD? you are saying. Well, we weren't pressed for time yesterday and we're working on something for KBwD for a little later.

In the meantime chill out to this feel-good feature on the real unemployment rate in the country.

And stacked next to all those films about George Washington...

Headline:

Chinese film on 1960 labor camps cheered in Venice

A powerful Chinese film on the plight of political prisoners condemned to forced labor camps in the late 1950s wooed critics in Venice on Monday, with some tipping it as a strong contender for the festival's top prize.

"The Ditch" tells the little-known story of some 3,000 people deported for "re-education" to labor camps on the edge of the Gobi desert, in western China, and struggling to survive extreme climate and acute food shortages.

Billed as right-wing enemies by the government for even mildly criticizing the Communist party or simply because of their background, many died of starvation, disease and exhaustion in the ditches that served as dormitories.

For a set of people that become giddy over the prospects of a "docu-drama" on Che' Guevara, we're at a loss to determine in what context this "cheering" was er, executed.

Video clip of the day

53 years in the making... on the set of Atlas Shrugged, the movie.

What I like about this book is the individual... the responsibility of the individual. That you are responsible for your own life, you are responsible for your own decisions. There is no sense of entitlement. Even if you are married or your brother is a wealthy or successful man - he doesn't owe you shit. Take responsibility. Make sure whatever you do, you own it. Own it!

Director, Paul Johansson was brought in at the last minute to salvage this $5 million production.

It does have a whiff of desperation about it. It's a shame but count us among those that are skeptical that Atlas Shrugged can be made into a movie let alone an entertaining one.

Some friendly advice

Courtesy the L.A. Times totally rockin’ blogs...

Does one have to be a knuckle-dragging reactionary to be repulsed by Roman Polanski and his whole sordid namesake ordeal or does the Tinsel town literati just make it seem that way?

For the Times, the drugging and forced sodomy of a 13 yr. old = long-ago personal transgression.

The mere mention of Polanski is bordering on Hitler territory where any rationalization of anything even as benign as say his interpersonal management style (I am against everything Hitler ever did or stood for, however, he did….) makes one look like a complete imbecile.

The current tack of the Hollywood liberati is to defend Polanski by attacking the right-wingers for their attacks on Polanski, reminiscent of Cold War anti-anti-communists: Though we are somewhat troubled regarding what he did to an underaged girl over 30 years ago… he’s like a really good director or something.

Memo to Hollywood: Stop it. The man and everything about him is toxic. You stumble right into the briar patch with your righteous indignation concerning conservatives’ treatment of the man, looking the fool while doing it while re-enforcing the image of Hollywood as a relativistic cesspool.

We hereby declare this site as a Polanski-free zone.

Befuddled question of the day

Wait a minute.

Laszlo was a commie?

We’ve watched Casablanca probably 7 or 8 times in its entirety and the thought never occurred to us. In fact, we were puzzled that the movie didn’t make National Review’s top 25 conservative movies of all-time.

Or maybe Michael Moriarty's sarcasm is just lost on us.

Commenters, the floor is yours.

P.S. Whether or not Victor Laszlo was a commie is decoupled from the principles put on display in the movie which we felt warranted inclusion on NR’s list.

Quote of the day...

... and some not-so-random thoughts

"People are receptive to this message of anti-corporate imperialism," Thompson says. "But they're receptive to it precisely because of a big corporation's brilliant marketing machine."

Is the irony of preaching anti-corporate imperialism from Hollywood’s seat of power of cultural-corporate imperialism lost on directors like "Avatar’s" James Cameron? Maybe. Maybe not.

We haven’t decided on whether or not to go and see “Avatar” but whether we do or not won’t be informed by any political slant the movie may have.

If politics guided our music listening, a scarce collection of CDs, err, iPod selections it would be. Some Kinks, some Rush, maybe some George Harrison and that would be about it. No Dylan, no open border lefties like Calexico and certainly no straight-up commies like Rage Against the Machine… which is having its own bout with irony as we have heard/seen their music tied-in with a Tea Party video.

After the Presidential innauguration last January, we joked with an ultra-liberal friend of ours when would be the best time to perform a bumper sticker swap.

It just seems that politics in pop culture or on the back of a car tends to be amorphous enough to be used by either side given the context and some message-tweaking.

Nope. The biggest thing “Avatar” has going against it at this point is actually having to submit ourselves to the abjectly dehumanizing experience of going to the multi-plex.

We're ready for your closeup, Mr. Del Toro

With the Oscars this evening we’re wondering if any of the assembled will provide us with any blog fodder. Reason.tv shares our fascination with Hollywood’s fascination with Che.

Dig this:



If embed no worky, click here.

And the band heard in the backround? It's The Clap, of course, performing "Che Guevara T-shirt wearer"

Indy!

Just a few more days until the opening of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the fourth installment of the Indiana Jones franchise and the reviews are rolling in. A recap:

The good.

... the bad.

... and the ugly.