Two Greats from the Dark Side

Perhaps, it's because I'm listening to Jane Mayer's excellent non-fiction book, The Dark Side, but I feel the need to post on two of my favorite films by Frank Capra. Both were released within two years of each other. At first glance, they are very different from each other, but each have some very similar traits (like great direction, cast, screenplay, etc.)--including a central dark element. The first is the 1944 Arsenic and Old Lace (though it was filmed in 1941 before Capra went to work making movies for the WWII War Dept). For family movie night on the last weekend in November, my wife suggested this movie because she didn't want to get into any Christmas movie (the kids were clamoring for) before December arrived. The family's reaction to it, and critic's pick, caused the itch that this post intends to scratch it with.

This post has been moved and updated to my current blog, which can be found here.

It's the Cars, Stupid

I've been reading Robert X. Cringely's tech column for a number of years. Last week's column looked at Detroit and their woes, and possible cures. You can read it here, or listen to it via MP3. One commenter has the problem down pat with this one quote that includes a joke from the 70's:

I'm 52. I've felt this way since the 70s (except for the time I succumbed to the "buy American" drivel). Back then, the joke was that when fuel economy laws were being proposed, Japanese companies hired more engineers and American companies hired more lawyers.

Let the Argument Begin

Who Was Overlooked in the '100 Greatest Movie Character' List?

Any on Your List?

100 Notable Books of 2008

The N.Y. Times came out with their list of the most notable (for holiday gift giving) books for this year. For me, there was only one from the list in my queue for my reading/listening: The Dark Side: The Inside Story How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals by Jane Mayer. I'm interested to know how many on this list were read (or in queue) for you?

Whitewash!!!

Big News Orgs Help Bush Whitewash History of Iraq War

I hate to make this my first post of December, but what's happening in the major news outlets is beyond wrong. I'd say this is one of the most important posts from TPM and Greg Sargent. The, I was fooled by bad intel excuse is pathetic, stupid, and plain wrong (but, what else should I expect from the Worst...President...Ever). But, unfortunately, the likes of Washington Post, NY Times, CNN, Reuters, and others are blatantly attempting to sell this crap to their readers. I hope the bloggers, commenters, and alternate news sites pick this up and run with it because this is just propaganda (and evidence of one of the most corrupt U.S. administrations in history). And, it is helped by the years of conglomeration of the news media by corporations buying up most of those outlets.