Holy shit Franko, your astuteness dazzles me. Night Shift was possibly the first film we kids chose to rent in 1982 when we got a VCR. I think I would cringe now, though there was a lot of charm. "Hey! Hey, we got teenage girls in here!" I recall Keaton shouting from some ugly 1982 car with tinted windows at cops. …

I panned Atomic Blonde (too much on the nose music; Charlize was fine),

Thanks for the link, appreciated. But it doesn't really explain, no offense. Nightclubs are a tiny business, often associated with a shady underworld. Plunking millions into a trendy nightclub in a UK second tier city doesn't really explain where all that money went. And why New Order were such a huge act since…

Weirdo Zone: From Joan Crawford's enjoyably batshit 1971 memoir/advice book, My Way of Life, there was apparently a five-volume audiobook on LP. I listened to it like a podcast for a while as a browsed other sites, until it drove me further insane. The boys at Guantanamo could learn a trick, just play this over and…

Still reading Peter Hook's Substance: Inside New Order, and it's rollicking fun and a good read if you're a fan. Groupies and drugs and touring the world, all the good rock n roll stuff. But what's never explained is why New order, who were an international act who drew huge huge crowds by 1985, kept being bound…

Been on a Eurythmics tear tonight, wine optional, and fascinated anew at how beautiful Annie Lennox is, and what a supreme and stylish actress she is, performing her songs in the dominant and maximally artificial style of 80s music videos. When the ones with style did it brilliantly. Like, voice and beauty and…

….and a woman.

Which reminds me, did Steve Jobs' estate ever give away anything of substance to charity after he died? Did he have anything in his will or directives towards charitable giving or not? I remember when he died, and in discussion elsewhere, I said something like, "I'm sure he must have somehow, or I'll eat my hat." …

If they're any good, hell yes.

Zadie Smith is so wildly over-praised and over-rewarded (fellowships and awards out the wazoo her whole career), when so so many people like you and me are not that impressed.. I can only wonder what her career would be like if she were not beautiful and stylish and "multicultural" in a way that hits all the right…

Spy Magazine had a running feature "Logrolling In Our Day", where they'd note and quote one author giving lavish blurbs to a book, and the receiving author returning the favor. I guess "logrolling" once meant something like, "you scratch my back..". Mutual appreciation society.

My favorite part of that story is that a Times staffer found the book by chance; some Manhattan drugstore employee put them out not knowing there was an embargo for a few days, and the Times staffer zipped with it to Michiko's desk. It's a funny thing, a cool anecdote.

Wings really is fantastic. Dazzling cinematography, and so engaging.

Sounds great, thanks for the rec! Agree about old menus and the like, fascinating. And often imagining myself a time traveller and having to say, "Uh, thanks, but i'm not eating that."

Weird that I actually didn't like that song when it was new. But.. wow Annie Lennox in the video is so beautiful. Stevie Wonder harmonica solo. Over the top 80s video. I'll take it!

Generally they tape at 5 or 6pm, to be aired at 11:30. The ideal is to keep it as "live" as possible as they film- as in, a 2 minute ad break will be 2 minutes in filming for the live studio audience. There is editing, but they try to keep it minimal.
Tickets are free, lots of tourists, anyone to fill the theatre…

Yes. Because "conservative humor" is an oxymoron and they suck badly at comedy. Trump voters aren't from outer space; they watch the same things we do, including the late-night shows. (There is no comparable "conservative" alternative that isn't drastically mean and unfunny and dull, actually.) Mainstream…

Love your fun fact. If I may, a few others I have read:

It is amazing but also so fucking typical that the many crimes and wars and deceit and character assassinations (of journalists, activists, former CIA agents) have have been flushed down the memory hole as if they never happened. This thing were Trump is "worse", but so far Trump hasn't destroyed a country and set…

On her plush velvet settee, the soothing Malibu waves crashing in the background, Susan Sarandon watches and is vexed that the Revolution will be postponed for yet another day. She was really looking forward to the Ordinaries taking to the streets and clashing with militia for their health care.