For Those of You Keeping Count...

...Chapter 27 is the fourth film this year to receive a grade of F from The AV Club.

Grim Reaper Update

Last week, I noticed that people who were involved in some of my favorite movies were dying at an alarming rate. That seems to have stopped for the time being. Judgment at Nuremberg, meanwhile, is not quite one of my favorite films; like most of the Stanley Kramer movies I've seen, it's well-done but fairly stagy and heavy on the speechifying, plus it's hard to get that taste of medicine out of your mouth once it's over. Still, I should mention that, in an odd coincidence, the film's screenwriter, Abby Mann, and one of its actors, Richard Widmark, died within a day of each other. I'm shamefully ignorant of the careers of these two men, but considering Mr. Widmark was best known as a noir heavy, I fully intend to get familiar with his filmography as soon as possible. In any case, I certainly hope that this is not the start of a trend; Shatner was in that movie, after all.

While I'm on the subject of obituaries, I should mention the death of Herb Peterson, inventor of the Egg McMuffin. This is as good a time as any to link to Wikipedia's hilariously deadpan overview of McDonaldland characters.

A Long Goodbye

Considering this blog's name, I don't really write about giraffes all that much. Therefore, I feel a sad obligation to mention the recent death of Puzzles, a 27-year-old giraffe who resided at the Philadelphia Zoo.

Justice's New Video is Something I Never Thought I'd See

80's nostalgia that's well-done, clever, and doesn't suck! Be sure to watch all the way to the end for the best part.

Via Drawn; see here for some source material.

Bad Week

So, yeah, last week was a pretty crappy one in the dead-famous-people department. First, director Anthony Minghella passed away at the age of 54. Minghella directed one of my favorite movies, The Talented Mr. Ripley. It's a bit overlong, but exceptionally well-cast and well-acted. I first saw it about a week before I left for college, and it made me want to totally reinvent myself when I moved into my dorm (without the murder, though).

The next day, science-fiction author Arthur C. Clarke passed away in Sri Lanka. Among other things, Clarke wrote the short story "The Sentinel," which was adapted by Stanley Kubrick as 2001: A Space Odyssey, which is one of my favorite movies. (Incidentally, since I'm not sure when I'll have another excuse to link to it, do check out Michael Berube's two-part essay on 2001, which is among the more useful things I've read on the film.)

To close out this particular trilogy, news came out the next day that Paul Scofield had died. Scofield won an Oscar for his role in A Man for All Seasons, and he also appeared in Quiz Show, which is (all together now!) one of my favorite movies.

Hopefully next week will be a little less mournful. But just in case, I'd like to urge Brian Cox, Seymour Cassell and Bill Murray to be extra careful in the near future.

Happy Equinox!

So yesterday was the first day of spring, which is really only a big deal if you're a Druid, an egg-balancing enthusiast, or you felt like braving the January-like temperatures for a free water ice. However, it was also the birthday of Rev. Fred McFeely Rogers, a day of much greater importance. I was planning to mark the day by wearing a cardigan, but I don't own such an item of clothing, and it's really hard to find one that doesn't scream "I'm a Giant Douche."

Anyways, I was doing some research into Mr. Rogers, and it turns out that he testified in the case of Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc., which went to the Supreme Court and established the legality of taping TV shows for private use.

So to review: Fred Rogers was an advocate for fair use who opposed a litigious movie studio, he was a musician and songwriter who composed all of the music for his show, he rocked a cardigan sweater, and he had a TV hanging on his wall. If Mr. Rogers had been born 50 years later, he'd be the coolest guy you know.

My Subconscious Is a Total Nerd

I went to bed the other night thinking I was a fairly cool guy. Then I fell asleep and had I dream that I had written a blog post (Strike One) in which I made a reference to the number of casualties at the first battle of Bull Run (or maybe it was Antietam). This provoked a series of comments telling me that I was unbelievably ignorant and had gotten my facts wrong, so I went to Wikipedia (Strike Two) to check my information. This series of events was apparently engrossing enough that I overslept and was late for work.

Of course, then I went to Wikipedia and read up on the two Civil War battles in question and am now writing a blog post about the first blog post which only existed in my imagination (Strike Three).