I do not believe that that idea "with reason as it turns out" is correct. I do not think the movie let's the observer discover if the facts as rumored actually took place.

I suppose we'd have to ask the writer, but I thought Father Flynn's guilt was clinched by his response to Sister Aloysius's lie. And also, his earlier denials were brilliantly, subtly unconvincing—one respect in which Hoffman's acting was so skillful.

I was revolted by this film. I think in as much as the theme of child molestation is utterly enraging and replusive there was something worse in the ethos of the film: the sour anti-joy anti-sexual-expression mood of Old Catholicism.

Cripes! I was riveted by it. I don't like Catholicism either, Old or New. (Neither do I like the Deification of Doubt.) But I didn't take either to constitute the "ethos" of the movie; rather the contest between the two. With the did-he/didn't-he pedophile thing providing the battleground, I couldn't put it down, so to speak. And again I say, the acting! That cup-of-tea scene, for instance, really sets my teeth on edge.

... was the best moment for me. Except that Webster gets told to "loosen up" by one of his own. "Give it a rest." If there were Brandroids on that truck they would have called his "outburst" "inappropriate." As I pondered this moral inversion anew I sank into a black misanthropy. If a few more folk had had a few more inappropriate outbursts before the bloody thing started it never *would* have started. But cowardice and appeasement ruled, and still rule. Anyway ...

Interesting.

I've done a bit of Googling, and it was composed by Kamen.

Here's Katherine Jenkins version of it, called Requiem for a Soldier. I have to say her CD version is better as it has more instrumentation, and it is that I really like (as I said, this is not as good as the score leading the program).

I can't find anything about who penned the words of this.

As far as I know Kamen wrote it specifically for Band of Brothers. He lost a relative in the war and stated this was in memoriam. Mr. Kamen began his career as a classical composer of ballets. He died in 2003 at the age of 55.

If you have knowledge of someone singing it prior to 2003 that would be of interest.

I actually have an irritation with the use of this theme for anything outside the Band of Brothers series. It just seems....wrong. Sacred ground.I heard it floating in the air at the ice skating in the Olympics so it was surely used for someone's program. I did not like that.

Warning: geekish analysis ahead. Close your eyes if you just want to stay in the mood...

This theme is interesting. It is firmly in the key of F with the subdominant (C) important. It consists of two parts of what I label "call and pause" followed by an answering counter. The counter then spins and elevates into a gently surging upward melody that balances on the subdominant, falls, then dramatically breaks into three slow, powerful upward steps, the last of which is in D-minor. The surge/pause at that minor -- the only minor harmony in the entire piece -- breaks your heart. The actual melody note in the d-minor chord is its third, which is F! All it takes in the listener's ear to allow the beautifully piercing sadness of that note to 'come home' is: emotional release. You don't have to move to a different note! You are already back at the root, F. There is a small coda to settle everything deeper into F-major and remove the traces of the minor in the 'ear's eye'. Then the whole thing repeats (chorus louder), descending in the end to a deep, broad final F of peace.

Genius.

Agree about the theme music of Band of Brothers John, that opening score is superb. It must be a recognised piece though, is it? I only ask because I've got ... um.

No, I'll be brave and carry on.

I only ask because I've got Katherine Jenkins on her last CD singing a version of it. (Although the BofB's musical version is far superior to hers. Last year I watched the whole series on DVD, and played the opening most times a couple of times at the end of each program.)

I do not believe that that idea "with reason as it turns out" is correct. I do not think the movie let's the observer discover if the facts as rumored actually took place.

Also, I did not believe in the performance of either Streep or Adams, and I am fans of both. I could not suspend disbelief with them. Hoffman was great. I was revolted by this film. I think in as much as the theme of child molestation is utterly enraging and replusive there was something worse in the ethos of the film: the sour anti-joy anti-sexual-expression mood of Old Catholicism.

As for Band of Brothers, I have been watching again. The finest episode for me is the "Day of Days" in which Easy Company jumps into Normandy and then gets the assignment to take that 4-gun entrenchment. At the end Winters tells Garnier "I am not a Quaker."

The theme music by Michael Kamen, tops my list of film themes that successfully achieve the most with simplicity.

Agree about Band of Brothers. In my viewing lifetime I think that is the best TV series that I have seen - certainly in terms of production values. I can't wait to see the new Pacific series that will be following - and I'll be on holiday so will be able to actually watch it.

And must get round to seeing Inglorious Basterds (misspelling intentional).

Never heard of Doubts. But don't get SM1.

Anyone else seen Doubt on SM1? Excruciatingly excellent acting (and I mean exactly that—the deliberate awkwardness in the tense scenes is excruciatingly well done), dialogue that doesn't have to compete with headbanging, a theme that is rather current, and an epistemology that an Objectivist must hate but nonetheless likes hearing brought out in the open: "I don't have proof but I have certainty" (with reason, as it turns out).

... Band of Brothers on TV1. Tonight's episode highlighting the silence of locals about the concentration camps they knew were in their midst. Reinforced me in my view that the scummiest of the scum are the silent ones.

...is a Labour supporter and contributor. You may have seen him schmoozing with Clark & Co. during the 2008 campaign. I can only assume a fair proportion of this massive taxpayer subsidy has gone to Jackson's Weta Workshop since all the movies named below have a large digital component.

Never forget that Clark appointed herself Minister of Arts and then instituted much higher funding for that portfolio. She also had a penchant for signing the works of others and for drawing stick figures. A second-hander mentality if ever there was one.

The Prime Minister was later found by police to have committed a prima facie case of forgery although no charges were laid. She has since confessed to signing at least six other works of art done by others over the past 20 years.

Forget it. Disjointed, poorly written and contrived crap.

AND the US and UK soldiers in it acted in a transparently stupid fashion. At one point, the SAS patrol is immobilized because they blow a tire and have lost their tire-iron. The excuse? One of the troopers threw it at someone and presumably didn't pick it back up again... Well of course this is the sort of thing you expect from desert trained, experienced soldiers loosing a tire iron while they are on patrol...

I can't even describe how fucking idiotic you'd have to be to invent that plot device.

Ugh! I rented the movie for free with a coupon and I still feel ripped off!

I knew of the Avatar NZ connection an age ago. You're a bit behind the times Linz: I, the Bokke and Ross have been discussing this via private messaging for a long time

... the NZ connection either. This this morning from Comrade Gerry Brownlee:

 
Hon Gerry Brownlee
Minister for Economic Development

24 January 2010

 Media Statement

Avatar delivers $307m to New Zealand economy
 
Economic Development Minister Gerry Brownlee says the filming of the Golden Globe Award winning movie Avatar in New Zealand delivered more than $307 million expenditure to the economy.
 
Avatar is on track to be the biggest grossing movie of all time, having overtaken “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” and sold over US$1.6 billion worth of tickets at the box office.
 
"Attracting large budget film productions here offers wider benefits to the economy, including increased opportunities for New Zealanders as well as tourism benefits from having New Zealand locations shown to an international audience," he said. “Avatar has set a new standard for visual effects and this showcases our capability in what is a high value, high technology sector of our economy.”
 
Mr Brownlee said this expenditure was made possible through the incentive of the Large Budget Screen Production Grant (LBSPG), which offers a 15 percent rebate on production expenditure over a certain value within New Zealand. Based on Avatar's qualifying production expenditure of $307m in New Zealand, it received a grant of around $45 million from the LBSPG.
 
Since the inception of the LBSPG in 2003, overseas movie and television productions have spent more than $1.42 billion in New Zealand, which has resulted in grant payments of $189.4 million.
 
Mr Brownlee says it is unlikely these productions would have decided to film in New Zealand if this grant had not been available as most locations offered an incentive to film in their territory or country.
 
"New Zealand's connection to the success of Avatar will continue to deliver huge benefits to the country and will help to attract more large budget productions here in the future."
 
 
ENDS
 
Media Contact: Tim Hurdle 021 659 857
 
 
Q&A on the Large Budget Screen Production Grant
 
How much has Avatar received from the Large Budget Screen Production Grant?
 
To date, Avatar has received a total of $44.69 million from the Large Budget Screen Production Grant.  This is based on qualifying expenditure in New Zealand of $307 million.
 
What other productions have received support recently?
 
Aside from Avatar, other films receiving grants in the year to 30 June 2009 included the films Wolverine, Jumper, The Day the Earth Stood Still, They Came From Upstairs, Underworld 3  and Prince Caspian, as well as the latest in the Power Rangers children’s TV series.  In total, $47.87 million was paid in grants in that year, with qualifying expenditure by those productions totaling $319.49 million. 
 
What productions have been supported in the past ?
 
These include “King Kong”, which got $48.7 million based on qualifying expenditure of $389 million. “The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe” got $16.7 million based on qualifying expenditure of $133.8 million and “Prince Caspian” got $9.5 million based on qualifying expenditure of $71.2 million.

What is the rationale for the grant?
 
The grant aims to increase economic growth by providing a financial incentive to attract large scale screen production to New Zealand, which would be unlikely to come in the absence of such incentives.  The LBSPG provides a comparable incentive to that being offered by other jurisdictions, in particular the Australian Government.
 
Attracting large budget film productions here offers wider benefits to the economy in the form of increased opportunities for New Zealand crew, more use of our digital capabilities (including driving new innovations such as digital effects), the chance to learn from international crew, and the associated tourism benefits from having New Zealand locations shown to an international audience.  These benefits are consistent with the government’s Economic Growth Agenda focus on growing high value services.
As a result the government is committed to the development of a sustainable and vibrant screen production industry in New Zealand, and is keen to promote New Zealand as a film-friendly and competitive location.
How do large screen productions benefit our high tech sector?
 
Films made in New Zealand not only showcase New Zealand’s landscapes, but also our innovative and technological capabilities in ways and on a scale few other projects or products can achieve.
 
There is a specific post-production, digital and visual effects incentive that recognises New Zealand’s strengths in digital and visual effects.  This is intended to act as a catalyst for growth in this sector, to enable New Zealand to attract more of the total international post-production digital and visual effects market.

How well is New Zealand doing in the screen sector?
Very well. The sector received gross revenues of $542 million from overseas sources in the 2008 year. This puts us at number 3 in the world for foreign exchange expenditure behind Canada and the UK.

Do New Zealand crew and actors benefit from the grant?
 
Yes. Recent exit surveys completed by productions applying for the grant have shown approximately 97% employment of New Zealand crew and 93% of New Zealand cast, which is a marked increase over past figures.

How does the Large Budget Screen Production Grant work?

The grant provides a 15 per cent rebate on total qualifying production expenditure where the New Zealand expenditure is more than $15 million.

Applicants must either be:
 
A New Zealand resident company, or
A foreign corporation with a fixed establishment in New Zealand for the purposes of lodging an income tax return (both when it lodges the grant application and when the grant is paid)

 
There is a robust audit process to assess each application for the grant.  All applications received are audited by an independent auditor and compared with Inland Revenue Department receipts. The final decision on the grant payment is made by a panel (led by the New Zealand Film Commission, which takes the lead on administering the grant, and includes industry and government representatives).
 
 
Further Information on LBSPG Criteria
 
http://nzfilm.co.nz/Regulatory...
 
 
 

... the NZ connection either. This this morning from Comrade Gerry Brownlee:

 
Hon Gerry Brownlee
Minister for Economic Development

24 January 2010

 Media Statement

Avatar delivers $307m to New Zealand economy
 
Economic Development Minister Gerry Brownlee says the filming of the Golden Globe Award winning movie Avatar in New Zealand delivered more than $307 million expenditure to the economy.
 
Avatar is on track to be the biggest grossing movie of all time, having overtaken “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” and sold over US$1.6 billion worth of tickets at the box office.
 
"Attracting large budget film productions here offers wider benefits to the economy, including increased opportunities for New Zealanders as well as tourism benefits from having New Zealand locations shown to an international audience," he said. “Avatar has set a new standard for visual effects and this showcases our capability in what is a high value, high technology sector of our economy.”
 
Mr Brownlee said this expenditure was made possible through the incentive of the Large Budget Screen Production Grant (LBSPG), which offers a 15 percent rebate on production expenditure over a certain value within New Zealand. Based on Avatar's qualifying production expenditure of $307m in New Zealand, it received a grant of around $45 million from the LBSPG.
 
Since the inception of the LBSPG in 2003, overseas movie and television productions have spent more than $1.42 billion in New Zealand, which has resulted in grant payments of $189.4 million.
 
Mr Brownlee says it is unlikely these productions would have decided to film in New Zealand if this grant had not been available as most locations offered an incentive to film in their territory or country.
 
"New Zealand's connection to the success of Avatar will continue to deliver huge benefits to the country and will help to attract more large budget productions here in the future."
 
 
ENDS
 
Media Contact: Tim Hurdle 021 659 857
 
 
Q&A on the Large Budget Screen Production Grant
 
How much has Avatar received from the Large Budget Screen Production Grant?
 
To date, Avatar has received a total of $44.69 million from the Large Budget Screen Production Grant.  This is based on qualifying expenditure in New Zealand of $307 million.
 
What other productions have received support recently?
 
Aside from Avatar, other films receiving grants in the year to 30 June 2009 included the films Wolverine, Jumper, The Day the Earth Stood Still, They Came From Upstairs, Underworld 3  and Prince Caspian, as well as the latest in the Power Rangers children’s TV series.  In total, $47.87 million was paid in grants in that year, with qualifying expenditure by those productions totaling $319.49 million. 
 
What productions have been supported in the past ?
 
These include “King Kong”, which got $48.7 million based on qualifying expenditure of $389 million. “The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe” got $16.7 million based on qualifying expenditure of $133.8 million and “Prince Caspian” got $9.5 million based on qualifying expenditure of $71.2 million.

What is the rationale for the grant?
 
The grant aims to increase economic growth by providing a financial incentive to attract large scale screen production to New Zealand, which would be unlikely to come in the absence of such incentives.  The LBSPG provides a comparable incentive to that being offered by other jurisdictions, in particular the Australian Government.
 
Attracting large budget film productions here offers wider benefits to the economy in the form of increased opportunities for New Zealand crew, more use of our digital capabilities (including driving new innovations such as digital effects), the chance to learn from international crew, and the associated tourism benefits from having New Zealand locations shown to an international audience.  These benefits are consistent with the government’s Economic Growth Agenda focus on growing high value services.
As a result the government is committed to the development of a sustainable and vibrant screen production industry in New Zealand, and is keen to promote New Zealand as a film-friendly and competitive location.
How do large screen productions benefit our high tech sector?
 
Films made in New Zealand not only showcase New Zealand’s landscapes, but also our innovative and technological capabilities in ways and on a scale few other projects or products can achieve.
 
There is a specific post-production, digital and visual effects incentive that recognises New Zealand’s strengths in digital and visual effects.  This is intended to act as a catalyst for growth in this sector, to enable New Zealand to attract more of the total international post-production digital and visual effects market.

How well is New Zealand doing in the screen sector?
Very well. The sector received gross revenues of $542 million from overseas sources in the 2008 year. This puts us at number 3 in the world for foreign exchange expenditure behind Canada and the UK.

Do New Zealand crew and actors benefit from the grant?
 
Yes. Recent exit surveys completed by productions applying for the grant have shown approximately 97% employment of New Zealand crew and 93% of New Zealand cast, which is a marked increase over past figures.

How does the Large Budget Screen Production Grant work?

The grant provides a 15 per cent rebate on total qualifying production expenditure where the New Zealand expenditure is more than $15 million.

Applicants must either be:
 
A New Zealand resident company, or
A foreign corporation with a fixed establishment in New Zealand for the purposes of lodging an income tax return (both when it lodges the grant application and when the grant is paid)

 
There is a robust audit process to assess each application for the grant.  All applications received are audited by an independent auditor and compared with Inland Revenue Department receipts. The final decision on the grant payment is made by a panel (led by the New Zealand Film Commission, which takes the lead on administering the grant, and includes industry and government representatives).
 
 
Further Information on LBSPG Criteria
 
http://nzfilm.co.nz/Regulatory...
 
 
 

Kasper: I don't know how NZ tax and film specifically work as I've never had to know, but I do 'know' it is one of those 'darling' industries that gets 'special treatment' under the Income Tax Act. Indeed, shysters like Peter Jackson - who should know much better, but he is obviously politically and philosophically an illiterate - are constantly in the press making the 'special case' for the movie industry, it being 'culture' don't you know, thus more equal than plumbing, building, retailing, etc the latter of which are obviously only conducted by cultural Philistines ...

Umm, lost my track (Jackson annoys me so much).

In this case a lot of Avatar was created in Weta Workshops, so I assume they must have had tax credits fenced to them under some provision or other, no doubt penned by Judith Tizard and Helen over fish and chips and a dainty little Rose.

I wonder if Jackson will ever realise that his case for not taxing the film industry - being more films will be created - works for the entire economy? But he wouldn't know a freedom principle even if he was staked to the fiery mountain of Mordor and forced to watch Paul Holmes and Millie campaign for more and more and more and more laws after every court case.

What subsidy for Avatar? What on earth has our government got upto? What has it to do with Avatar?

The Hubbard/Holder/Elliot Axis!

...I *know* that NBN had been discussed. I chose to discuss it anew.

Call me a contrarian if you like, but don't ever lump me in with Hubbard or Holder.

Oh, tennis, of course

I love sport but can't watch golf or tennis.

Meanwhile back to movies, here's a worrying thing: I agree with Green Co-Leader Russel Norman:

Green Party co-leader Russel Norman, is unhappy at the size of the taxpayer subsidy which went to the Hollywood movie Avatar.

The film has already grossed more than $2 billion US at the box office.

'Excessive!'.

1 cent of my money taken by force to give to this, or any movie, is obscene.

If you want to test tolerance for the Older Man fits with Young Woman, a good one is "Love in the Afternoon." Billy Wilder directs Audrey Hepburn with a massive crush on Gary Cooper.

I buy it hook line and sinker but have not found anyone else who does!

It's the Australian tennis Open, dear.

And I gave Pleasantville a plug ages ago.

Keep up!

Carry on!

I'm adding you to the list, currently comprising Hilton Holder and Mark Hubbard, of those whom I need to admonish to read more than just the last post on a thread before jumping on, ...

Well I've not read much of this thread but re movies, I'd put in a vote for Pleasantville.

I'm afraid the Australian Open is diverting me from TCM right now.

Oh God, golf, hand me the brandy, I can't stand it. (A friend took me out to a golf course a couple of months ago: 22 shots, I hadn't made the first hole. Stupid game, although I'd probably beat that bloody Bokke.)

I'm adding you to the list, currently comprising Hilton Holder and Mark Hubbard, of those whom I need to admonish to read more than just the last post on a thread before jumping on, and to keep up and pay attention. We were discussing North by North-West a few posts back.

You see, it's important to keep up and pay attention because that's what lean, handsome and animated men do. If one *doesn't* keep up and pay attention, what are we to conclude about one?

Talking of lean, handsome and animated men, I'm afraid the Australian Open is diverting me from TCM right now.

...to be older. I guess the culture and the Hollywood system had something to do with that.

North By Northwest has been on TCM recently with Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint in the leading roles. Grant at 45 was easily the equal in screen appeal of Saint 20 years his junior.

Grant is thoroughly in his element as the hero and lover, and it's hard to see any modern actor in such a role regardless of age. He's lean, handsome and animated and the perfect match for the younger woman.

I can't help but feel that this is a reflection of real romantic life. But, as a man in his forties, I would say that.

Yes, Crisis was on twice. And they're trailering Executive Suite now for next month. Looks great.

I often wonder who should have done Roark. Quite apart from anything else, Cooper was just too old, though it's notable from watching all these classics that leading men back then tended to be forty-ish and older.

Michael if you liked Executive Suite you may like "Patterns" which I liked a couple of posts back.

Crisis was on? That movie is extremely hard to find and not at all well-known. A mind forced to (literally) operate at the point of a gun. Totalitarians forced to rely on men of the mind, and the incompatibility between force and reason. Really a fantastic movie.

Another I've seen again recently is Executive Suite (from the Cameron Hawley novel). William Holden is brilliant and would have made an excellent Howard Roark (in contrast to the wooden Cooper).

The Kern movie ended with Sinatra singing Ol' Man River ... very well! Smooth rather than sleazy, voice beautifully liquid and supple, on pitch for the most part, and looking extremely handsome. I almost fell for him. Pulled myself together in the nick of time. Such a shame he went on to become so slovenly.

... life story (yeah, right, as usual) on TCM right now.

With all the fuss about "patterns" in the IP thread, has anyone see the film "Patterns?"

This short, brilliant film is a creature of Rod Sterling and is in my mind one of the most honest and incisive glimpses into the boardroom of a real company during transition.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt00...

Avail on netficks and rotates in on TCM once in a blue moon.

I'll investigate The Blindside and Taking Chance, with no great hope of satisfaction.

Has anyone else been wallowing in the Cary Grant-fest on TCM today? Arsenic and Old Lace, North by North-West (on right now), and another brilliant one I hadn't seen before: Crisis. Catch it if you can. An excellent anti-tyranny message with some great lines you'd think had been written by Our Lady.

Oooo, I just checked and it's on again next, at 18.45.

For a second there I thought you were loosing your mind Linz! Then I read that you were watching that poor excuse for a soft porn movie with the sound down. That's probably the only way TO watch it! It was god awful!

If you are looking for a 2009 movie worth watching, I'd recommend The Blindside with Sandra Bullock.

If you want a tear jerker, I'd suggest Taking Chance with Kevin Bacon. The latter is an HBO movie and never made it to theaters.

Other than that 2009 was a crap year for movies. Only these two ever had a shot of making my top 200ish of all time list.

Sure, I enjoyed Transformers 2, but that isn't really a movie so much as a sound and light extravaganza.

The only other 2009 movie that might have a chance is Hurt Locker. Apparently it is the one and only Hollywood-made movie about the Iraq war (I can think of at least a half-dozen) that doesn't take the side of the Islamo-fascists. That in and of itself should warrant watching it -- but I'm not holding my breath.

Welcome to Mooseport, starring Gene Hackman, apparently his last movie before he retired.

Nothing deep, just one of those solid movies that American cinema turns out with such professional ease.

...was on yesterday. David Mamet adapting his play for a stellar cast.

You don't have to agree with the morality, but the acting was sublime.

Now I'm being serious. I've had the sound down and music playing and was just occasionally glancing at the screen. I just saw someone's finger getting chopped off. Sick filth. Needless to say I've switched channels, even though the movie options are only Elvis or Keanu and History is playing that Life After People crap.

A good night for music!

This is much more explicit. I should have said tits, tongues and twots everywhere. I think it'll turn me gay.

Just a minute ...

It's called Bound.

S&M as well apparently. I haven't caught that part yet.

Women in Love, Glenda Jackson?

There's some disgusting lesbian movie on MGM right now. Tits everywhere. I don't know which way to turn or whom to complain to. Nor where I left the smelling salts.

is a nihilist nirvana. However it is very well done.

... the lure of buff Brad bare could induce me to watch Fight Club.

The Great Waltz is on TCM in a few minutes—"bio" of Johann Strauss. That I will be watching!

He's versatile but I think at his best as a bit of a psycho - Kalifornia, or especially Fight Club.

...has matured as an actor.

But Kalifornia is silly.

Check out Ocean's Eleven where he's at his best. Sassy, sexy and quite the star.

Saw this one today—didn't think I'd enjoy it, but I did. Brad Pitt as the psycho is brilliant.

Some people (we uppity Objectivists who don't know our place, apparently) are being accused of over-intellectizing the theme of AVATAR. But in this case, A is A, and Avatar is B.S. Apparently, Ed Hudgins over-intellectualizes, too, because he just wrote a critical piece of AVATAR:

AVATAR'S SAVAGE MESSAGE

"If you want great special effects and an action-packed popcorn thriller, you'll certainly enjoy Avatar. But hopefully Cameron has so overplayed his hand with his politically correct plot that audiences will leave the comfort of the theater with an appreciation for technology and no desire to flee to a jungle or support the sort of public policies that would reduce our civilization to savagery."
------------

Thanks, Ed. I do have to add that I heard a bit of quiet laughter during the movie...in all the wrong spots. There certainly wasn't any outbreaks of applause or "hell yeah!" moments.

That's called tribalism informed by snobbery.

And the Prince's having to marry the Princess and not Kathy is called Kantianism. Just don't tell Fred Seddon.

A beautiful movie regardless.

I have the long player soundtrack of Mario and thought he would appear.

My terminology isn't clear. I mean throughout the movie each person had his station. Manners, norms, status, behaviour. As when the other fraternity discovered he was royalty it demanded his joining them, instead of hanging with the more common bunch of drinkers cum singers he had fallen in with.

I think that's clear, I'm surprised you didn't.

Submitted by Jmaurone on Mon, 2009-12-21 16:49.

"Don't be fooled by mixed premises. The left has often claimed to defend civil liberties and other issues that converge with libertarian politics. If you've read Riggenbach's IN PRAISE OF DECADENCE, you can even see the libertarian strain among hippies that broke off into the Libertarian Party. Rock musicians are a notorious mix of liberty and socialism. Hell, even Obama denies he's a socialist. Doesn't make him Libertarian."

Paraphrasing the chapter "Efficient Thinking" in The Vision of Ayn Rand:

Suppose you're watching a movie in which the hero seems to be an individualist, and you have been starved for such a movie. In the first chapter, the hero turns down a very good job, rather than conform to the ideas of others. You feel a strong emotion of admiration and pleasure, and this emotion, quite validly, is important to you. It's the kind of emotion you do want to feel.

Well, at this point, you can do one of two things. You can continue to perceive, to see what the movie is about, to judge what you're viewing — or you can lose yourself in the pleasure you feel, focus only on it, look only for ways to maintain it, ignoring and evading any evidence that might contradict it.

Then, as you continue watching, the hero is shown establishing an socialist [environmentalist] cooperative, which, he says, will once and for all solve the problem of jobs [preserving nature] for everyone. Well, if your mind is functioning rationally, you will perceive that you have made a mistake — that is, that whatever this movie is preaching it isn't individualism. But, if you've focused on maintaining your emotion at any price, then you'll rationalize it by any means possible. You'll tell yourself that the hero really believes in his ideal, and this makes him an individualist; or that he's fighting for his idea, and this makes him an individualist, so that he's still a hero, et cetera, etc., etc. And you can watch the whole movie this way, reading into it what you want to see, explaining away what doesn't fit your desires, blinding yourself, destroying your perception for the sake of your emotion. A year later you might see the same movie in a different mood and ask yourself, in helpless amazement: "Why did I think what I thought?"

I always assume too much and forget how old I am. I assume people know The Student Prince features Mario's voice only. He walked out after the director told him his singing was too emotional. (The regime of Louis B. Mayer had been supplanted by that of Dore Schary, a pomowanker who hated musicals and hated Lanza with a ... well, something almost resembling passion! ) They still used his pre-records on the soundtrack, and of course, his singing was the best thing about the movie.

What is a "manners piece"?

I was disappointed that Mario wasn't in it. What a manners piece that was. Haven't quite got to the end, it was getting late. Fair bit of drinking involved, which was good.

...was sniping before the film came out that James Cameron spent so much money just to make 'the squashed Smurfs'.

I suppose that was a comment on the look of the aliens rather than the story-line, or is there something else in that description?

If it really does have Hippy values they should all be cooing now that it has been released.

Haven't heard much excitement about it over here in the UK though.
......................................................................................................................

Update: UK leftie Blogger calls the film racist!!!

"James Cameron has been very open about the politics behind Avatar. It’s about how “greed and imperialism tend to destroy the environment,” he said in a recent interview. “It’s a way of looking back on ourselves from this other world.”

But that,

"If we look at his version of our planet, however, the view is overwhelmingly repellent. Pandora is to Cameron what Africa was to Joseph Conrad – it’s another, fictional ‘Heart of Darkness’, a place where a cruel imperial power subjects what is (perhaps unwittingly) depicted as a lesser race."

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/n...

Turns out that when Jefferson paid Boneparte 15 million dollars for all that land West of the Mississippi, doubling the size of his country in one hit, it equated to 3 cents per acre!

... does that mean land is worth more now, or our money less? Yikes...

Apply that to the stock market: in a period when the value of the dollar as a value-proxy is dropping faster than the value in the marketplace, the stock market still goes 'up' ... when measured in units of value-proxies.

Is that good economic news? It is if we can sell it as good economic news...

So, the Na'vi are really the anti - Ivan.

But, it's not clear if 'Ivan' is Ivan Boesky, or Ivan Ivanovitch.

Well, then, I'll just have to rent it.

Thanks Hilton and Joe. Yes, that is pretty much as I had surmised before the Mises post (that site really is patchy).

Just a pity with great technology like this, it can't be applied to great cinema, rather than kiddies stuff. And the glasses, I hate them.

I hope someone is still working on holographic cinema.

by mixed premises. The left has often claimed to defend civil liberties and other issues that converge with libertarian politics. If you've read Riggenbach's IN PRAISE OF DECADENCE, you can even see the libertarian strain among hippies that broke off into the Libertarian Party. Rock musicians are a notorious mix of liberty and socialism.

Hell, even Obama denies he's a socialist. Doesn't make him Libertarian.

Normally, for something like this, I'd have seen this by now and posted my review. But with this Christmas Eve Health Care Stocking Stuff coming up, my focus is currently on the real-time fight. Pencil's down, turn in your papers now...we're all about to be graded.

I've actually seen it twice now Mark, and yes, The Na'vi obviously do defend their property rights, but do you think the agressors may be any other than "Big business" in tandem with a bunch of "Atilla-esque" mercenaries...'fraid not.

The Na'vi are obviously portrayed as noble savages, completely in tune with the vibes of Gaya (they even come complete with organic USB connectivity straight into the memory banks of "Eya" herself), whereas the callous selfish greedy bastard of a CEO has no appreciation for the subtleties of the relationship between the Na'vi and Eya, the one "God" who is made up of all living things. The "allmighty Dollar" is his only concern. Yawn Yawn

In reality the plot is a leftie cum hippie wankfest, but please dont let it put you off, the visual experience is beyond belief.

Before I start, I've not seen it yet - I'm doing so Thursday morning.

However, from the story line as I've heard it I was expecting to hate it, that is, anti-big business, pushing the environmentalism (= communism) line, etc. That is, I am only going to see how good the special effects are.

But then I see this article in Mises (recognising that Mises.org can be hit and miss from post to post):

http://blog.mises.org/archives...

'Avatar is Great and Libertarian'.

And at its core it was very libertarian: it was about a group of people (the Na'vi) defending their property rights on ...

the plot is about property rights. In particular, the property rights of the Na'vi, in an established tree-city that they have clearly homesteaded. The Na'vi are not just some uncivilized savages as some curmudgeonly reviewers imply; they live they way they do because of the wondrous bounty of their strange world and some unique features it has--which, again, I can say little of without spoiling, but suffice to say it's grounded in reality and extrapolative science fiction, not some quasi-mystical nonsense.

Anybody seen it yet? Thoughts?

... of young Adam Rickitt in last night's edition I'd say this is an old series. Still a propos though.

I love it when Donald Sinden does one of his blustery cameos. Haven't seen him in a couple of weeks.

Good cop show.

...is a thoroughly good show, featuring Martin Shaw as the judge.

Combines the right mix of legal and human drama.

Shaw's a wonderful actor.

... of Judge John Deed on Prime tonight. He excoriated the cult of celebrity as "the mindless in pursuit of the talentless" and the press for being so wantonly beholden to it. Unfortunately one suspects the Judge's solution might be some kind of regulation, but as far as they went, his comments were spot on.

I even loved that as a teenager!

The 1936 version with Paul Robeson, now showing, TCM.

...the History Channel has a 7-parter in the form of essays on Christianity. I caught the last one on the history of Antisemitism in the Church. Tremendous, edifying stuff.

You know, these twats who rail against the Jews would do well to see where their Gothic, inane views come from. If it wasn't so vicious and cruel, it would be laughable.

..the L&C thing is pretty well done. Stephen Ambrose is featured, who wrote Undaunted Courage, one of my fave L&C books. Get it.

He also wrote the D-Day book upon which Saving Private Ryan was resourced, and Band of Brothers. Tremendous history writing. Anal retentives would call it popular history, but I call it heroic.

Good two-part history of Eisenhower. Also Nixon. He's dead just now.

Pay attention! I said a plague on *all* such savagery and superstition.

But it's time for a major assault on Catholicism in particular. Those evil bastards should all have been done for when Pope Paul IV's image was despatched to the bottom of the Tiber.

...doing such things.

Look up the history of 'Vlad the Impaler' or 'Ivan the Terrible' for example.

You mean the Catholic Church are a bunch of hypocrites? We knew that.

There is modern gruesome torture too, Pol Pot in Cambodia for example.

And similar things are still occurring to this day in North Korea!

Of course the Catholic Church spends so much time preaching against the evils of consumerism and global warming, they don't even worry about such things still happening in the world.

I've just been looking this Inquisition series up. Evidently last night's was Pt 3, not Pt 2. Obviously I missed Pt 1. Pt 3 focussed on the Roman Inquisition. It told the story, among many others, of a Venetian heretic, a young law student who was sympathetic to Luther, who was boiled in a mixture of oil, tar and turpentine. It took him 15 minutes to die.

In looking up the TV series I came across this. I'd long ago, as a child in fact, read Ingersoll's horrific account of the methods of torture used during the Inquisition, but something like this really brings the unforgivable and beyond-evil nature of it home. Unless reminded, one forgets just what filth the Catholic Church, the Church of Pedophilia, is. And of course, you get ostensibly secular Inquisitionists like speaker-banner Robert Campbell blanching at my description. Funny that.

A plague on all such savagery and superstition, including Protestant:

1. Mamma Mia!

2. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Why buy the last two films, but not the first one? Must be the Obama groupies!)

3. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (ditto)

4. Planet Earth (BBC TV series by Attenbother)

5. The Dark Knight (over-hyped crap)

6. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

7. The Bourne Ultimatum (over-hyped crap)

8. Star Wars Trilogy

9. Band Of Brothers

10. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (over-hyped crap)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tec...

Pt 2 at 9.30 tonight, History Channel, Secrets of the Inquisition. Last week we were told how, when the torturing was done in church, veils would be placed over crucifixes so that Jesus wouldn't see what was being done in his name.

Makes one burn, so to speak, anew with revulsion at Catholicism and all superstition.

I'll have the recorder set.

Just caught Arsenic and Old Lace on TCM. It's in my private collection but there's something extra about seeing one's faves on TV. It's a combo of Rocky Horror and Fawlty Towers long before either of them and with better lines. Beyond hilarious.

In looking to see if it were on tomorrow I discovered that it isn't, but The Student Prince is, featuring some of Mario Lanza's most beautiful singing, including Drink! Drink! Drink!, Serenade and I'll Walk with God. 8.30 pm, prime time!

on Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and the Corps of Discovery is playing on the History Channel. First one was last night. Made by Ken Burns and Florentine Productions. Beautifully narrated.

Turns out that when Jefferson paid Boneparte 15 million dollars for all that land West of the Mississippi, doubling the size of his country in one hit, it equated to 3 cents per acre!

... on TCM right now.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programme...

However, it may well not be available outside the UK.

Anyway, if that is the case or not, here is a youtube clip edited together of his scientology documentary, showing how he came to his TV famous 'tomato explosion' interview.

Here is his review of Valkyrie in which he does he does a piss-take of his interview...

Brandroids would fault Mr. Sweeney for shouting at the Scientologists and the Stalinists. They would have nothing to say about Scientology or Stalinism. Babs would write a bio of Mr. Sweeney fixating on the fact that he shouted.

Let's have more exploding tomato moments, I say.

...the BBC journalist.

Tonight he presented a BBC documentary, called 'Stalin's Return', whereby he went to the former Soviet Union and faced down Stalin apologists.

He politely questioned them and then reminded them that Stalin was a mass-murderer - he got quite angry and passionate about it at times.

I'm thankful that a journalist does not mind reminding the public that left-wing dictators like Stalin were just as evil as Hitler and that we should not tolerate those who still try to glorify or venerate them.

John Sweeney is famous for having been filmed by scientologists angrily screaming at them in a very shrill voice - while making a documentary about how crocked they were. He called it his 'exploding Tomato' moment.

Look out for this documentary when it comes to you on the History Channel or elsewhere.

Here is a news clip which gives the idea of some of the subject matter of the documentary.

Rhapsody, 4.40 pm today, TCM. Lotsa Rach, melodrama, twists & turns, great ending, and Elisabeth Taylor. Even a Randian theme. Ross ... worth switching from the cricket for.

... damn good movie. Bummer, albeit effective, ending. How Thelma looked like you, Lady Slapper!

when Brad Pitt does a sensual pelvic thrust whilst eyeballing Thelma's bastard of a husband and says "I like your wife..." - just absolutely kills me every time.

... 6.20 tonight, SMG. Worth the price of admission for Brad's butt.

...... believe it or not, I'm not keeping a diary of your viewing habits.

I do believe it. But I had ventured to imagine you'd been paying attention. It seemed bizarre when, after I'd made a slew of recommendations based on what's on TCM, you said you hoped I had TCM ... and recommended something that, as best I can tell, is not on there right now. Do you mean MGM? I can't see it there either.

Finch is Beck.

No doubt. But he reminds me of me, which was your question. Beck, whom I can no longer bear to watch, cannot complete a sentence and yells all the time. I can at least complete the sentence "I'm mad as hell and not going to take it any more," and frequently did on the PI Show, with due acknowledgment to Finch. And I know what pianissimo is.

But enough point-scoring. Camille (Greta Garbo/Robert Taylor/La Traviata) *is* rotating on TCM currently, and I highly recommend it.

...believe it or not, I'm not keeping a diary of your viewing habits.

Finch is Beck.

Most of my posts here have been about movies I've caught on TCM.

Then someone says to me "I hope you've got TCM."

I've been getting a lot of this lately. What am I missing?! Is the rest of the world on drugs?

Network is not on right now. I'm watching the History Channel. More wall-to-wall Hitler and Churchill. Camille is on TCM later, though, and I'll be switching back.

I expect Peter Finch reminds me of me.

...I hope you've got TCM and are checking out Network.

Remind you of anyone?

... I came in part way through a Clark Gable movie on TCM where he played an oil tycoon charged with something or other under the Anti-Trust laws. He gave a Roark-like courtroom speech defending entrepreneurs and lauding all the things oil exploitation had made possible. He was acquitted. It hasn't been on again since. Anyone know it?

Edit—Got it: Boom Town. Spencer Tracy and Heddy Lamarr star as well.

...the real story:

http://blogs.america.gov/rumor...

Tim Fleming
13 February 2009 at 19:13 EST
Permalink
I just got finished watching Discovery Channel’s re-staging of the JFK Assassination, ghoulishly titled “Inside the Death Car,” and it’s filled with so much illogic, distortion, and one-sidedness that its evidentiary value is minimal. It left me wondering what is the purpose of such a program, who really funds it, and why is it being broadcast? If its purpose is to sway the uninformed and uncritical to the “lone-assassin” side, it may have succeeded, but why is this of value? Whose purpose does this serve? Certainly not history’s, because the program left out a ton of known facts and happenstances that, if included, would have contradicted the show’s obviously preconstrued premise. In other words, in 2008, who is still so avidly invested in covering up the truth?

I perused the credits for funding information, but found nothing. Apparently, it’s a Discovery Channel production all the way. I leave it for others to divine why TDC wants so desperately to finger Oswald as the lone assassin, when 80% of America believes he was not.

Anyway, the funny stuff began right away when somebody who contracts with the Australian (did TDC have to go all the way to Australia find an idiot who would agree to do this?) defense industry recreated what was claimed to be an exact replica of JFK’s neck and head. Just one problem with that–the fake head swivels and bounces like one of those bobbleheads they give away at baseball games. The brain matter? Oh, they injected that right before the test firing. That’s right, TDC hired a world-class marksman to shoot at the replica. But get this, they did not do it in Dealey Plaza, though they had Dallas police close down the Plaza for a limousine run-through; they “re-created” the shooting out in the wilderness somewhere, claiming that it was exact duplicate of Dealey Plaza’s dimensions. While the participants admitted it was clear that a shot could have come from behind the picket fence (the most logical locale for the head shot given all the facts) in the Plaza, they had the marksman shoot from what appeared to be a burm in an open field at some undisclosed place. And instead of shooting from the front-right position from which the actual picket fence shooter fired, the marksman shot from a right angle, virtually perpendicular to the JFK dummy. The shot blew a hole through the through the left side of the president’s fake head, and the narrator (one Gary Mack, I’ll get to him later) gleefully exclaimed, “…this does not correspond to any known wound on the president.” Of course it did not, because the marksman shot from the wrong position. Interestingly though, the wound had the exact size and shape as the one Dallas Parkland doctors described the president as having in the back of his head on Nov. 22, 1963! Without realizing it, the TDC bunglers provided substantion for a shot from the front and, thus, a conspiracy.

Other little tidbits that unintentionally prove conspiracy are included. One is the Secret Service agent who wiped off the back seat of the death car at Parkland Hospital. Against all logic, the TDC show tries to convince us that this proves there was only one gunman because the agent wiped away only evidence which would prove that JFK’s brain matter flew forward. The agent inexplicably left only the blood, skull and brain matter which indicated a frontal shot. I guess the Secret Service just wanted to make it harder for the Warren Commission to hang it on Oswald? Wow, not even Arlen Specter would lay claim to that one.

To assimilate the 15-20-mile-an-hour winds in Dallas that day, TDC wheeled out a huge fan to blow on the limousine. That one made me howl. An electrical fan duplicating the winds of a city…how scientific!

But the best was Bobby Hargis, the motorcycle cop who was riding to the left rear of the limousine on November 22. Apparently, he is still alive and still breathlessly exclaiming how he was covered in JFK’s blood, skull and brains when the fatal shot hit. I guess the producers never considered that this is some of the best evidence of a shot from the front right. The exit wound made by a picket-fence shot would have splattered anyone to the immediate left rear of the death car.

Presiding over this whole mess was Gary Mack, curator of the Sixth Floor Museum in the old Book Depository Building. Mack was once sure that he saw a rifleman wearing a badge shoot from the shadows on the grassy knoll. Now he’s certain that the kill shot could only have come from behind. I suppose he’ll sway with any wind, even one from a giant electrical fan in the middle of nowhere, to drum up ticket sales for his museum.

Tim

Having been to Dallas and having stood on the grassy knoll and the place where Kennedy was shot (dodging cars is so much fun) I can only conclude that Oswald did it.

The grassy knoll is a piss poor place to hide and then bring out a long rifle IMHO. More than that, there is a large open car-park behind it. Ditching the rifle and attempting to leg it through that car-park after cutting loose with several rounds of large calibre ammunition would have been bloody difficult to do without looking out of place. That's assuming that you can remain undetected waiting for the shot when you are only concealed from the front and one side.

Lying up in a building with concealment from all sides (including from police and several hundred civilian observers in tall buildings that ring the Plaza) is a far better idea.

If this was a 'professional' job, then the professional would have wanted to make a clean get-away. The grassy knoll IMHO is a shitty place to snipe at someone and then make a get away.

Also, it's an easier shot from behind and above than it is perpendicular to the direction of the motorcade. From the book depository you have a larger panorama. From the grassy knoll, you have to swing the rifle in order to draw a bead on the target so that you can judge how much to lead it. Movement is not a snipers friend.

One more thing, IMHO, a professional would not have wanted to be within range of the Secret Service agents and their side-arms in case the whole thing went to shit. The knoll is well within pistol range of the motorcade.

The second shooter theory, and the rush to link Timothy McVeigh to a larger conspiracy, just strikes me as part of the anti-individual sentiment, in an odd way: just as individual achievement is discounted, it seems people can't accept individual acts of destruction or assasinations, as if only a group or collective is capable of important assasinations. It's wierd, but consistent, at least.

Kennedy assassination doco on History, Inside the Target Car. Purports to replicate the conditions exactly. I always thought the Zapruder film of Kennedy's head exploding indicated a shot from the right front. Here they've fired two shots from two likely spots on the grassy knoll (right front). One would have destroyed JFK's head utterly, the other would have gone right through him and hit Jackie. The shot from the equivalent of the book depository (behind and above right) however, caused the exact same effects observed in the Zapruder film and by eye-witnesses: part of the head flying every which-way. Conclusion: it was Oswald, and only Oswald, after all.