Posted: December 26th, 2007 | Filed under: Ruminations, Sports | No Comments »
Where’s the M*A*S*H unit when we really need it? The homies are wounded, hardly walking for heaven’s sake, let alone ballin’ like they should.
Oh, that’s right, Hawkeye and Trapper John are off playing golf, those scoundrels. Well, here’s hoping they get back quick. They’d better. Hot Lips needs help. Send a copter for them.
Otherwise March Madness be March Sadness ‘round here. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: December 21st, 2007 | Filed under: Personalities, Ruminations, Sports | No Comments »
Robert, we’ve been sitting here 20 minutes. Besides mumbling about “crossing patterns,” all you’ve done is doodle on a pad and write down names. Would you like to share?
It’s Bobby, not Robert. Nobody calls me Robert. Nobody has ever called me Robert. Understand? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: December 21st, 2007 | Filed under: Community, Features, Personalities, Politics | 1 Comment »
For a moment let’s simply suppose we’ve never seen the photo before. For this exercise’s sake, let’s forget what we’ve read about Robbie Hawkins.
Erase from memory how he walked into an Omaha mall the week before last. How he took the escalator to the third floor of the tony department store Von Maur filled with holiday shoppers being serenaded by the store’s signature live pianist. How he then pulled out an AK47 and started spraying bullets around the room. How he killed eight very innocent people and then aimed the rifle’s nozzle at himself, ending the carnage and his own misery. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: December 17th, 2007 | Filed under: Cinema, Culture, Politics | 1 Comment »
Stanley Kubrick is not especially known for his sense of humor. In fact, his resume is replete with ponderous works delving into the BIG issues without much dimming perspective. All of which makes Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb more remarkable.
It is at once one of the great films ever made, one of the funniest comedies ever made, one of the most incisive political indictments ever made, a satire most incisive and one of the more visually compelling films ever made. Black and white has never been more resonant. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: December 4th, 2007 | Filed under: Cinema, Ruminations | No Comments »
In Brazil, Katherine Helmond plays Jonathan Pryce’s mother. In one of the more incisive (and insightful) running gags in the film, she gets more and more plastic surgery as the movie progresses. Until her face falls off. Literally.
While that isn’t really what this invigorating film is about, it does underscore the cockamamie brilliance of Terry Gilliam’s vision of the future. Which, truth be told, is now. And that whole time warp is also part of the trip. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: December 4th, 2007 | Filed under: Cinema, Culture, Personalities, Ruminations | 1 Comment »
Even having lived it, it’s hard to describe the genesis of the Bob Dylan mythos in a way that could explain such obsessive observations as Todd Haynes’ I’m Not There.
I first heard Dylan — literally — while hauling my foot locker down the hall as I entered my freshman dorm in the fall of ‘63. My dorm counselor in the next room had that first eponymous album on the box. Being young, impressionable, inclined toward rebellion, ready to break out of my prepster malaise, I grabbed hold of the guy who was to be the bard of my generation.
I wasn’t alone. Far from it. Read the rest of this entry »
