Cavaet Emptor
O"Toole is brilliant in this. But there's a lot more Steve Railsback than O'Toole on display here. And I find his acting stylings virtually unbearable.

The Famous and Horrible Marshall Dillon Bitch-Slap
A friend of mine turned me on to "Gunsmoke" a few years ago. A lot of episodes are really quite fun.

Bang Clown Car?

"My, how this local pasta dish pleases me."

Re: Kevin Spacey

What a Great Interview
Granted, you don't get to ask too many questions, but still…

Those of You Ripping Duvall A New Arsehole
There's a couple minutes of "Apocalypse Now" I'd like you to see.

No no no. It's "Waiting For Godot"—in space!

Duck Soup Ruined 20th Century Military History Documentaries For Me
Because anytime the narrator mentions tanks, I involuntarily say, "you're welcome."

I've never seen this television program—does everybody die?

I nominate the edit of MMM so kindly provided
as the new national anthem.

I'm a little surprised to see so little love for (or is it knowledge of?) the man's solo work. Yeah, maybe collectively it's the definition of uneven. But more than anyone else I can think of, he could hit the weird, sweet spot of a song where it sounds like a great pop tune AND a parody of a great pop tune.…

Samantha Liked This Book A Whole Hell of A Lot More Than I Did
One 20-30 page chapter per conspiracy isn't going to convince any nay-sayers and amounts to preaching to the choir. More time is spent debunking the authors of "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" (essentially the earlier "non-fiction" version of "The Da Vinci Code")…

B: Who played the Super Bowl halftime show?
L: Yes.
B: Yes did?
L: No.
B: Who?
L:Yes.
B:Yes?
L: No.
B: Who?
L: Yes.

It is my own personal and constitutionally protected belief that the music on Third Reich & Roll contains edges.

Vnrelated Mvsings
I'm smitten!

Roberto Rossellini's War Trilogy…
…is clearly the cream of the crop this week—where's the love? "Open City" is still a fist in the gut 65 years after the fact, and "Paisan" is making its US dvd debut. Both are featured prominently in Martin Scorcese's "My Voyage To Italy"—nuff said? And for the first time in the US…

Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast—he's no Ghandi!
Michael Caine in Get Carter—he's no Alfie!
Bruno Ganz in Downfall—he's no angel!
And wasn't Natural Born Killers Woody Harrelson's first movie after Cheers?
James Cromwell in LA Confidential—he's no gentleman Aussie farmer!

I didn't see it as name-dropping, I saw it as generosity. Everyone she mentions seems have helped her in an important way, or is at least someone she whose work she greatly admires. Just giving credit where she thought credit was due.

Yippee!!
More Thomas Mann on DVD!