Kit's back

At least, he was 7 years ago.

Right now, you can't buy it on Amazon.

Funner Facts

More from David Letterman's "The Late Show"

- It takes eight and a half minutes for light to get from the sun to earth
- Frozen lobster an come back to life when thawed
- Tug of War was an Olympic event between 1900 and 1920
- The Dalai Lama’s birth name was Doug Reynolds, Junior
- Every day at 4, President Bush has a banjo lesson
- A 150-pound person weighs 165 pounds in Canada
- Many veterinarians in California now offer udder-enhancement surgery
- Due to a misprint, some Gideon Bibles list “the Gospel according to Mark” as “the Gospel according to Marv.”
- When it was first introduced, the Butterfinger candy bar was a chocolate-coated stick of butter
- Only 3% of American homes are equipped with a telegraph
- Ayman Al-Zawahiri once appeared in a threatening video with Cous Cous in his beard.
- Until 1970, the IRS taxed Monopoly winnings
- In 1998, a support group called “N.A.” was founded by people who are addicted to non-alcoholic beer
- 4% of people cry when slicing onions because they feel sorry for the onions
- To date, “Hee Haw” is the only TV show title based on a sound made by a donkey
- In Tempe, Arizona, it is illegal o yell ‘Yahtzee’ in a crowded theater
- Coincidentally, like the cartoon cat, former President James Garfield also loved lasagna and hated Mondays
- 65% of unmarried butchers admit to occasionally fondling cutlets

Kelly and Astaire

These guys are fantastic. Gene Kelly in "Singing in the Rain"


Fred Astaire in "Top Hat"


Kelly and Astaire together.

Satire

(This is the third in the series of "My Favorite Films," otherwise known as "Movies that Chastity G. will hate")

My Favorite Satirical Films.

I enjoy good satire. Good satire can expose the hypocrisy, illogicality, or inconsistency in parts of society. Though satire cannot tell us what to do, it can ofttimes tells us what not to do. Satire is often very funny, usually darkly funny. Much of what passes for satire presently is inane parody. It is sophomoric, junior-high-locker-room mockery. Seeing bad satire can help us appreciate so much more how difficult it is to create effective satire. So I highlight my favorite satirical films.

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. This is not only one of the best satires ever made, it is one of the funniest movies ever made. It takes place during the Cold War. An Air Force General goes "funny in the head" and orders a full-scale nuclear strike on Russia. It features one of the silver screen's greatest comedic performances, by the peerless Peter Sellers, who plays three different rolls. No other film makes the Cold War so silly. There are so many hilarious scenes in the film. The greatest and most famous line from the film is, "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here. This is the war room." I like the scene where General Mandrake (Peter Sellers) needs to call the president with the recall code, but can't as he doesn't have enough change for the pay phone. I also like the outrageous plan that Dr. Strangelove (again, Peter Sellers) has for repopulating the earth. Most people have seen the last scene in which General Kong (a perfectly cast Slim Pickens) rides the bomb like a rodeo bull. This is one film I can watch endlessly. The following clip is where there President (Peter Sellers) calls the Russian Premier to inform him of the strike. It is classic:


The Manchurian Candidate. I am speaking here of the original 1969 version, not the modern Denzel Washington remake (which I have not seen). Though this film was made over a decade after the "Red Scare" of the 1950s, it perfectly sums up the fears and anxieties of that time. In the film, the Communists kidnap a US soldier, and brainwash him, making him the perfect assassin. Though it relentlessly mocks and ridicules the idea of Communist subversion (which was not just an possibility but an actuality), it does it with such insight and finesse that I enjoyed it tremendously. Like many satires, I have to overlook the philosophy and politics of it, with which I disagree. Setting those aside, this is an entertaining and very suspenseful film. Frank Sinatra is very good in the lead role. This film is at times shocking and bit violent, which add to its effectiveness. Here is a scene with Angela Landsbury, more evil than you can imagine her to be:


Network. The screenplay for this film is considered one of the greatest ever. It was made in the 70s, but nearly everything it says is true of today. It is a piercing examination of the entire ratings-hungry media culture. It very plausibly prophesies what lengths producers will go through to obtain those ratings. It is difficult to pick a weak performance out of this film. Every actor is spot on in their rolls. In this clip, Howard Beale (Peter Finch in an Oscar-winning performance), the "Mad Prophet of the Airways," delivers one of his best monologues (Warning: There is foul language in this clip):


Sunset Boulevard. Almost every film by Billy Wilder is a classic. This is his best. Hollywood has almost always had a knack at satirizing itself, from All About Eve (though that is more about theater than film), to The Bad and the Beautiful and Sullivan's Travels (neither of which I have seen, though I plan to), to The Player, to most recently For Your Consideration. All except the last one a great films. Sunset Boulevard is the best. This is a dark, scathing picture that is also very witty and memorable. The characters are so well drawn. Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) is completely over the top. That is exactly how she should be. The final scene (clip below) has been parodied so many times, in-itself it seems like a parody. Yet, it fits perfectly at the end of the film, and is much more tragic in context:


Postscript: I have updated my two previous posts to include video clips. See them here and here.

Manhattan

My fourth favorite Woody Allen film is Manhattan. It is very similar to his other relationship films, namely Annie Hall and Hannah and Her Sisters. What sets it apart is its wonderful black and white cinematography and fantastic score, consisting of George Gershwin's music. The best and most famous shot in the whole film is this one, which would be great just as a still photo.
Allen's philosophy on love and relationships is very cynical, so many of his movies are rather depressing. But they are insightful, and often highly funny. A good line for the film is uttered by Allen's character named Issac, speaking to his ex-wife:
My analyst warned me about you. But you were so beautiful I hired a new analyst.

The Third Man

One of my favorite films is Carol Reed's The Third Man, starring Orson Welles and Joseph Cotton. It has a great screenplay, written by the English Novelist Graham Greene. It has a unique soundtrack, mostly zither music. The best part of the film is its terrific black and white cinematography. It has a stark, high-contrast noirish look, which I like. If you haven't seen the film, you should. If you have no interest in seeing the film, watch this clip, which has the best sequence of the film. Warning: This clip has major spoilers, so do not watch it if you have not seen the film but plan to.

Web Crash '07

This is worse than the MySpace crash.

Bach

I have listened to very little music of J.S. Bach. I would like to listen to more. He is unarguably one of the greatest composers. He is probably the greatest Christian composer. His work, what little I have heard, is quite sublime. Listening to it can be a throughly religious experience (I mean that in an entirely good way).
Glen Gould is one of the 20th century's best pianists. He is one of the better interpreters of Bach's music. He is famous for playing Bach's "Goldberg Variations" (which, contra YouTube, has nothing to do with Pro Wresting). Following is a clip of Gould playing the first seven variations. Do yourself a favor and give yourself over to the music for 10 minutes. It is divine.
(Note: Gould is as eccentric and idiosyncratic as an artist could be. He hums along to the music. He constantly sways. He sits with very unorthodox posture. Give him a chance, if you haven't already.)

Relatives

I have posted some new pictures to my Picasa Web Album. Last week we jumped over the divide to Grand Junction to visit my family. We were able to see cousins, and aunts, and uncles, and grandparents, and great grandparents, and even great-great grandparents. Here is a picture of my kids with their great-great grandmother (in the slide show, you will see a picture of five generations).

Not many people have such a picture. It is fascinating speaking with my great-grandmother, known very affectionately as Mouse. She grew up in Denver in the 1910s and 1920s. She has so many interesting stories to tell. It is very nice being close to family. Enjoy the slide show.

Dangerous job

Is being a news reporter the most dangerous job in America?

http://view.break.com/329276 - Watch more free videos

If women ruled the world

These pictures are great. The theme is, "If women ruled the world."

Underappreciated?

Everybody wants to feel useful.

cartoons

This was once voted the greatest cartoon of all time. I would definitely concur. (HT: Joe Carter)

Uprising Festival

This past weekend, my wife and I, along with various friends and family, went to Uprising Festival, a new Christian concert in Denver. It was held at Coors Amphitheater, which is a large outdoor music venue. It was a great time. We arrived at 2:30 and were there until 10:00. There were 10 different bands there: Future of Forestry, Joy Williams, Needtobreathe, Bebo Norman, Jars of Clay, Red, MercyMe, Sanctus Real, and Third Day. We enjoyed all the groups, with the lone exception of Red (a bit to hard and mascaraed for us). Each of the groups had a slightly different style, which made for a diverse concert.
We are really starting to like Sanctus Real. They have a good sound, and interesting lyrics. Several of the songs they sang were songs I did not realize were their songs, like "I'm Not Alright" and "Don't Give up on Love." Some of their songs, like "Benjamin," are very touching.
Jars of Clay is much fun. They guys walked on stage wearing colored T-shirts, tube socks, and Larry Bird shorts. They looked hilarious. I don't take their music too seriously. It isn't all that deep. I really like their sound, though.
MercyMe is very much a worship band. Though they did sing one "fun song" (So Long Self), they sang mostly praise and worship songs. The lead singer, Bart Millard, along with Mac Powell from Third Day, are our favorite male vocalists.
Speaking of Third Day, they were the last group of the day, and they were awesome. I have only recently started listening to their music, and I really enjoy it. As already mentioned, we really like Mac Powell's voice. He has such a deep, rustic, and mature sound. They were a good balance between fun, get-up-on-your-feet songs, and deep, thoughtful, Christ-exalting music. It was a great way to end a great day.
There was a lowdark to the day, however. It was the flabby, loosely clothed forty-something lady in front of us who insisted on dancing to every single song that was song, whether or not that song was dance-able. To paraphrase Roy Batty from Blade Runner, "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. Yet never I have seen anything as terrifying as that 'dancing' lady." We eventually moved and were able to see the concert, as opposed to her gyrating hips (these were not Elvis' hips). I don't know if I feel worse for her "dancing" technique (think Elaine from "Seinfeld"), or for the lack of love her friends and family showed her by not telling her she should stop.

Down goes Goliath

Armstrong, Woods, Federer, the Celtics, Kobayashi--the great ones eventually fall. Takeru Kobayashi is the Ken Jennings of the competitive-eating world. He has won the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contest for the last several years, since 2001 in fact. This year, however, he finally met his match, by an American of all people. Joey Chestnut bested Kobayashi by eating 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes, 2 1/2 more than Kobayashi. I am fairly certain I have not eaten 66 hot dogs in my entire life, much less in 12 minutes. This may not be on par with the Miracle on Ice of '82, or Villanova's win over Georgetown in the 1985 Men's D-1 NCAA basketball championship, but it is great underdog story. I imagine Disney already has optioned a screenplay for it. I wonder who will direct it?

A good conversation

(This is the second in the series of "My Favorite Films," otherwise known as "Movies that Chastity G. will hate")

My Favorite Conversation Films:

I enjoy a good conversation--a conversation about important spiritual and existential issues. I enjoy watching a good interview--one which is intellectual and philosophical. Every so often someone will make a film that is either one long conversation, or a series of long conversations. These are my favorites (and happen to be the only ones I have ever seen). You should watch at least one of them.

Before Sunset. I have not seen the prequel to this movie, Before Sunrise. In Sunrise, two people, played by Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, experience an evening long romance. In Sunset, they meet 9 years later and "rekindle" their affair. I normally hate "romance" movies. They are usually trite, sentimental, and idealized. I most certainly hate Nick Hornby movies, in which some young man, who is in some way connected to the music industry, cannot commit to a relationship because he is too immature and too insecure. Before Sunset is not like any of those. It involves two realistic individuals with realistic issues. Throughout the 80 minutes these two people spend together, they talk intelligently about many different issues, from politics to intimacy to memory. It is soon obvious that they are in love, and feel remiss that their relationship did not continue. The actors effectively give life to these rather ordinary individuals. It is a very interesting conversation, and a good film.

Waking Life. This film is directed by Richard Linklater, who also directed the two aforementioned films (He directs a vast style of films, from these ones, to A Scanner Darkly, which is a strange Sci-Fi movie, to the remake of Bad News Bears). WL is a very odd film. It uses an unusual animation style known as rotoscoping. The film is primarily about "lucid dreaming." The whole film is a dream in which the protagonist floats around in listens in on various conversations. These conversations are all highly philosophical and range in topic from existentialism to rebellion to film theory. They are all very interesting, even if you don't understand all of them. The two characters from Before Sunrise actually show up, discussiing what happens when we die. This is not a typical film, but it is fascinating. It can provide some interesting topics for your own conversations. The following is clip of a professor discussing existentialism:


My Dinner With Andre. In this film, playwright Andre Gregory and actor Wallace Shawn (most famous for Vincinni in The Princess Bride), sit down for dinner and have a long conversation. Some of the discussion is very strange. Andre talks about some "New Age" experiences he has had, including participating in a faux burial. They are very weird, and, much like Wallace, we are bit taken back by them. The conversation eventually turns to more more existential. Like Waking Life, much of the conversation is esoteric, and very humanistic. The interaction of the two men, though, is very interesting. Wallace doesn't agree with most of what Andre says at first, but eventually comes to some sort of an understanding. Not a picture for many people, but some will enjoy it. Here is a clip in which the men are talking about human interaction:


Scenes from a Marriage. This was originally a five-part miniseries made for Swedish television by master filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. He edited it down to a 167 minute theatrical version. I have not seen the "full" version, only the theatrical version. Even so, this is an honest, observant film. It chronicles several "scenes" that show a marriage slowly disintegrating. Bergman is a brilliant student of human behavior. He is fills the dialog with all the nuances and subtleties that conversations usually possess. Most of the time, what the characters say is far less than what they mean. At times, they are very cruel to one another; at other times they are very compassionate. Bergman's philosophy is, "Marriage is dead. Long live love." You can see that incarnate in this film. The actor's are incredible at portraying raw emotion (If you watch the film simply for the acting, you will be rewarded). You cringe at times at the bluntness and severity of each character. This is a film that can help most couples understand how, often times, we do treat each other, though not necessarily how we should treat each other. I don't know that I enjoyed this film, but I do think I benefited from it.