May 2011
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We watched The Next Three Days because we admired Paul Haggis's two previous films — Crash and In the Valley of Elah. This one is not quite as innovative, but it's worth watching and is definitely the second-best English teacher movie ever made in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Wonder Boys, based on the Michael Chabon novel, is more engaging and original). The story,…
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It's election season once again. I'm thinking of making a run for city council in our progressive western town. Here's my revised platform, voters. 1. NO LEAF BLOWERS. Rationale: it's a horrible noisy unecological machine that can easily be replaced with a broom. And everyone knows that single-stroke engines are major polluters. 2. ALL MALL PERFORMERS…
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A couple of years ago, when I had journeyed through roughly half of his writings, I made some preliminary observations about the fictional world invented by Philip Roth. In the course of discussion, I advanced two hypotheses. The first was that Roth hated children, whom he regarded as encumbrances to male freedom and pleasure. The second…
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I can't remember when I last read The Mystery of Edwin Drood, but I'm certain that it was before 1997. It was in that year that I passed the age that Dickens had attained when he left our planet, leaving Drood undone. This time, I read Drood with a sense of Impending Doom. I think it's because Dickens…
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The "neo-noir" film Shattered (1991) was directed by Wolfgang Petersen, who elicited a mumble-mouth performance by Tom Berenger and an incoherent one from Greta Scacchi. It's another in the endless parade of amnesia movies. In this variant, the central character, Dan Merrick, goes over the cliff in his Mercedes and emerges not only disfigured but, it seems, without the least knowledge of his own person or…
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"Phoebe," she calls herself, but in the script she's just "girl." It's the last scene of Joseph L. Mankiewicz's (Stuyvesant '24) All about Eve. "Phoebe" has sneaked into Eve Harrington's hotel room and has pretended to fall asleep. Eve accosts her and is about to call the police when the intruderess proclaims herself a fan of the actress. Here's their…
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Rajan Rondo is knocked down by Dwayne Wade and falls awkwardly dislocating his left elbow. Even though it's gruesome, the tape is repeated over and over again. We see Rondo's arm bend backwards and we see him writhe in pain. Jeff Van Gundy: "It's horrible. I can't watch." Mark Jackson (a Brooklynite who doesn't like Van Gundy): …
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The New York Times says that former employees of Wells Fargo admit that they "systematically singled out blacks in Baltimore and suburban Maryland for high-interest subprime mortgages." "These loans," Baltimore officials have claimed in a federal lawsuit against Wells Fargo, "tipped hundreds of homeowners into foreclosure and cost the city tens of millions of dollars in taxes and city…
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Why did the moron throw the clock out of the window? Because he wanted to see time fly. &&& How do you say "refrigerator" in Italian? Ice-a box. &&& Why do fireman wear read suspenders? To hold their pants up. &&& Knock-knock. Who's there? Anita. Anita who? Anita borrow a pencil. &&& "Over the Cliff" by Hugo Furst. 'The…