a blog about ratiocinations out of thin air and elsewhere
ESSAYS AND REVIEWS of movies and recent television series. My favorite directors are Woody Allen (who didn’t do it, but she’ll probably go to her grave “remembering” it) and Clint Eastwood (who should probably stop speaking about politics in public).
My tastes are catholic and include horror and chick-flicks and everything in between. Favorite movies remain King Kong (1933) and Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (1937).
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I FINALLY SAW IT—Dr. Strange, the movie. I say “finally” as I am one of the dying breed of guys who bought and collected Marvel comic books in the ’60s as the magic was happening. (And by the Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth, face facts: it was almost exclusively guys who read superhero comics at the time.) And Dr. READ MORE
BLOCKBUSTER VIDEO opened its first stores in the 1980s, renting movies as both Beta and VHS cassette tapes. Standard procedure then was to remove the cassette from the original cardboard box and insert the tape into a black plastic box. Blockbuster then wrapped their own covers around the box: the company name was on the front, the movie title on the spine, and a brief synopsis of the movie on the back. READ MORE
ALIAS was a super-spy/CIA adventure series for ABC that ran five seasons (2001-2006) and was nominated for more than seventy awards—although not a single important nomination was made for the final season. Alias made Jennifer Garner a star, for which we should all be grateful. The first few seasons were loads of fun with good scripts, good characters, and good acting. READ MORE
I LOGGED INTO my library account and in the Search field typed “alias.” I wanted to place a hold on the fourth and fifth seasons of the ABC television series Alias from earlier in this century, starring Jennifer Garner. Aside from the five DVDs for the series and perhaps a few books about the show, I wasn’t expecting a large number of entries under that word. READ MORE
WHO RECOMMENDED “WILD HOGS”? This furshlugginer film is poorly conceived and predictably pointless! It’s a biker-comedy (?) with an impressive if motley cast. There are four male leads, two roles filled by a couple of serious actors that I enjoy seeing in just about anything. Unfortunately, a pair of supposedly funny actors that I rarely enjoy in anything occupies the other two roles. READ MORE
FOLLOWING MY POST on being bullied for merely being believed to be gay in high school with a nice bit of musing on attractive women seemed appropriate to reaffirm my status as a heterosexual of manly man. So, here I introduce the term Eminently Beddable (EB) and explain its origins and then very briefly discuss a movie star who I believe fits the description perfectly. READ MORE
“WOODY ALLEN IS A PREDATOR.” Or so screams out from the Salon website posted on March 26, 2015. The sub-title is “Why Mariel Hemingway’s new revelation matters,” and it is meant to grab my attention—and it has. It also send chills up my spine and should yours also, whether you’re in the “I knew it!” READ MORE
WHAT’S WITH THE DVD PACKAGING? A simple question, right? Why so many different boxes jackets sleeves whatever? Why no uniformity or user friendliness? And I don’t even want to start on the way DVDs begin: the various way-too-clever manners in which bored techs find to align the chapters or choices in the opening minutes of the video is often confusing and frustrating! READ MORE
LAST NIGHT we watched Lee Daniels’ The Butler. It is based on the life of Eugene Allen, a butler in the White House for decades, where butlers are historically black. It stars Forest Whitaker as Cecil Gaines, who witnesses the changing of the guard in the Oval Office through thirty-four years of service.
It was a good movie, addressing some of the realities of racism in these here United States. READ MORE