Beltmann

It really is. Along with V: The Final Battle, that's one of the defining movies of my childhood. (I confess to owning both on DVD--as well as the entire weak TV series that followed--and my pleasure in watching them is totally unironic.) Even as a young kid, I recognized how the whole thing worked as an allegory for WWII, which, at the time, I thought was pretty cool.

I haven't seen it, but it sure looks like Robin Williams in his insufferably maudlin mode, coupled with some pretty lame slapstick. Good luck. Tomorrow is "movie with the wife" day, and her pick was Little Miss Sunshine, so that's cool. Her tastes are a little unpredictable: Typically her preference is for stuff like The Family Stone or Shopgirl, but at the same time, she's almost always game for documentaries or even foreign flicks.

One of my all-time favorite VC stories.

I loved the Beta Band, too, but the real question is whether those new lyrics are subpar.

While you glow in Dolphins potential, let me annex your Hootie song and say, "I'm such a baby, 'cause the Packers make me cry." I don't know if I can endure another season of watching Brett Favre pretend this team has "the most talent" of any team he's ever been part of.

No, but I like George Will.

Days when the Brewers are off, like today, leave me feeling lost, sad, and alone.

But his reply was obviously an extension of his hyperbole. Pretty weak, my friend--but it does lend itself to a good joke about irony. In all seriousness, though, you've let a little comic exaggeration get the best of you: I don't think anyone really believes that President Bush is incapable of reading a book, even a long one. I personally think he is a man of reasonable intelligence who holds deeply flawed ideas about policy and governance--if he were a true moron, he'd be a lot less scary.

Clicky

My mom is nearing 60, is the church secretary for a fundamentalist Bible church, self-identifies as a member of the Religious Right, and has voted Republican her entire adult life. And even she is fed up with W.

Bound to happen, I guess. Jackie Chan, too, has clearly lost a great deal of agility and strength over the last decade. 'Course, Chan is 52. Li is only a spry 43, so he's obviously a big wuss.

Gravel?

I read something like that somewhere, too. I know he's been threatening to stop making martial arts films for awhile now, but does that mean no more acting, period? (I'm not sure I'd be too interested in Jet Li, thespian, anyway.)

Well, I like it a lot. It seemed to kind of get lost in the glut of "urban dramas" that came out in the early Nineties. On the surface it resembles a whodunit, but its main concern is how drugs and violence contaminate entire communities, dramatized in the collapse of one African-American youth's life. (He chokes up blood the way some of us sweat.) This process is observed by a predominantly white police force that makes hollow attempts to keep order, and refuses to intervene with the community's gradual decline. Instead of characters with overt prejudices and plain racial allegiances, Le

Fair enough... four hours, too, is a big investment if the interest isn't quite there. To be honest, my main interest rests less with New Orleans than in the fact that it's a Spike Lee movie. I also really dig his earlier stuff like DTRT, but I'm probably most keen on Clockers and Malcolm X (which is one of my favorite movies ever).

I totally understand the time-crunch argument, too, but you're right: The only way for our tastes to grow and refine are to keep giving unfamiliar stuff a shot. I'd be less happy if I had allowed my tastes to stagnate right around the time Pseudo Echo and Mr. Mister were on my tape shelf. (Okay, bad example.) Generally speaking, most rap and hip-hop, even the more respectable, underground stuff, doesn't quite press my personal sensors the way certain other genres do, but if I had given up on it, I never would have found the rare exceptions that now mean a lot to me.

I remember really enjoying the movie, but for the life of me I can't recall how it ended... so I guess the ending left me a little cold, too. Eventually I'll pick up a used copy of the DVD--I'm a bit of a Spike Lee completist--so I'll be sure to check out that featurette. Since we don't have HBO any longer, I've got to find someone to tape When the Levees Broke, Lee's new doc about Katrina, tonight and tomorrow. He's a pretty skillful documentarian; I really liked 4 Little Girls and thought Jim Brown: All American was decent.

From my seat Snakes on a Plane wasn

I haven't seen it yet, but The Proposition is pretty high on my "must-see" list. Hopefully it'll show up here sometime soon.

I agree... While I'd give the movie a "C," I'd give the marketing campaign an "A."

Didn't Nikki Giovanni herself recite "Ego Trip" for a Blackalicious recording? That's some good stuff; I listen to it often.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Deltron 3030 is my main knowledge base for him... I haven't really delved too deeply.

I thought Snarks was about message board wiseacres who define themselves in terms of what they don't like. I'd pay to see a movie about Sam Jackson kicking that kind of ass.

Probably between 5% and 10%. My first vinyl ever purchased with my own money was Run DMC's Raising Hell, and my most recent purchase was Common's Be. El F - Everything I've heard by Del the Funkee Homosapien, I've really liked.