Life imitates art, which surely imitated life:
Remember what happened to Flick?
In the 1983 film "A Christmas Story," based in the 1940s, Flick, a friend of the young protagonist, Ralphie, gets his tongue stuck to a flag pole when he tries tasting the frozen metal.
Who would DO that? Well, apparently, Flick is not alone.
Here's another one of those lists good for starting arguments, Stanley Fish's list of "The 10 Best American Movies." He offers no justification other than the fact that he likes the films, so his list is eccentric and idiosyncratic, as all good lists should be. His list includes a few movies I would include -- "The Best Years of Our Lives," "Red River" and "Groundhog Day" -- and misses a few of my favorites ("Casablanca," "Fargo," "Monster's Ball."
There are two movies out at the same time that I want to see enough that I might not wait for the video or cable release, pretty unusual. One is "Marley & Me" from the book by John Grogan. Many of my journalist aquaintances couldn't bear reading the book because the very idea seemed like such maudlin drivel. But I actually liked it.
After slicing up Kenau Reeves as well as it can be done ("He's the actor's equivalent of a black hole, a distant and mysterious cinematic negative space") , reviewer Peter Suderman zeroes in on the silliness of the remake of "The Day the Earth Stood Still":
Remember that "Twilight Zone" episode in which nobody realizes until too late that "To Serve Man" is a cookbook? Well, when Keanu Reeves says he is "a friend of the Earth" in the remake of "The Day the Earth Stood Still," that doesn't mean what people think it does, either, and it shows just one of the two ways the re-makers have screwed up a classic movie.
Criminal genius of the week:
Brian Russell, 31, is charged with being a habitual offender operating after suspension and violating his bail conditions.
Police said they tried to pull Russell over in New Gloucester, but he did not stop until entering the neighboring city of Auburn.
Police said Russell told them he took off because he did not think a Cumberland County sheriff's deputy could arrest him if he crossed into Androscoggin County.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBQyjrRgE4c]
YouTube is by far the world's biggest stage for online video. But in some ways Hulu is stealing the show.
With critical plaudits and advertising dollars flowing to Hulu, the popular online hub for television shows and feature films, YouTube finds itself in the unanticipated position of playing catch-up.
Another pervert bites the dust:
A former swim coach who admitted using hidden cameras to videotape girls in their locker rooms was sentenced today to more than 33 years in federal prison on child pornography charges.
[. . .]
Hindson hid videocameras in the locker rooms at Kokomo High School and Memorial Gym and secretly taped team members while they undressed over a 10-year period, court records said.
The planet has just gained a little in its supply of common sense:
There was a huge controversy when the silly burghers of Torbay in Devon slapped an X-rating on the Life Of Brian movie.
They accused the Python team of blasphemy and mocking the story of Christ.
