Beltmann

No kidding. Those two shows were terrific. Perhaps they will make their way back before tour's end...

Rosemary's Baby.

ikol, you already know that isn't the argument. The point concerns only the hypocrisy of certain Republicans who are eager to paint the Obamas as elitist (despite their humble beginnings), but equally eager to overlook how the McCains are much more likely to fit the definition. As for me, I don't care how many houses John McCain has, nor how much money his wife is worth. Good for them, I say.

I caught Tell No One at last September's Milwaukee International Film Festival, and it was definitely one of the most purely entertaining movies I saw there. Terrific fun.

Do you remember the flatulent dinosaur in The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas? I laughed so hard.

I already know that Z and ISM were better-reviewed. That is irrelevant to my point, which is that EU has not, overall, been received negatively by the press. In fact, your Metacritic link confirms that Evil Urges has received largely positive (many glowing) notices--a fact that does not change just because Z got even better ones. (I posted that same link last week to make a similar point in another thread.) You can't point to the general critical reception as "proof" that the album sucks when, in truth, the general critical reception has been favorable to the album. (I'm not suggesting t

All of the reviewers are in agreement? I guess Rolling Stone, Spin, Paste, EW, Billboard, etc. failed to get the memo about how all music critics are supposed to find Evil Urges to be a disappointment. (There might not be consensus--is there ever consensus?--but as far as I can tell, most critics think the album is pretty darn good.)

Now watching TCM's 24-hour marathon of Laurel & Hardy. Except for two, I've seen them all before, but there are some genuine classics on the slate worth re-visiting.

Interesting concept for an ad.

If that's the pick, then I have serious reservations about it. But I suppose we can save all that talk for tomorrow...

I'd say benefits are neither a right nor a reward; they are part of an agreed-upon compensation package.

Went to the movies today, and the "pre-show entertainment" included this gag-inducing . The dude yanking on the phallic sculpture might make it worth it, though.

Well, sure, in terms of the content of the speech. But the jokes were clearly chosen because they were the worst kind of vaudeville puns, and Norm's "conviction" in telling them exposed how his real joke was about form, not content. The real joke was about delivery, expectations, and the meaning of cheesiness. That might not be Andy Kaufman, but it's more than merely recycling some corny old jokes.

I know there are some fellow Beulah fans around here, so I thought I'd mention that A Good Band Is Easy to Kill is available OnDemand. I'm watching now.

Today, two silent films by Hitchcock: Champagne (1928) and The Ring (1927). Both are marked by innovative visual flourishes, but both stories--in the first, a socialite angers her father by eloping, while in the second, a prizefighter's marriage crumbles as his career takes off--are light melodramas. The Ring has a tighter, more complete structure, while Champagne has a greater sense of humor.

My wife and I laughed. "What the H is that for?"

In Guy Maddin's Brand Upon the Brain!, a mad inventor dies, is buried under the tide, then exhumed and re-animated via jumper cables, then locked in a harp box for thirty years. Later, he's abducted and burned upside-down at the stake. And that's just for starters. Loved it.

I'm afraid TheMaker is correct. A few cherry-picked reviews from places like Pitchfork do not change the fact that, overall, the general critical response to Evil Urges has been quite positive, not negative.

The premise--Moore wants to ban the Fourth of July, but is then visited by three ghosts who show him what's great about America--could be a good starting point for biting satire, but it looks like the movie aims instead for the usual obvious, tired, broad slapstick. Is every joke in the movie about getting hit in the head? (Come to think of it, that was the same philosophy that made Zucker's Scary Movie 4 so unbearable.)

Has anyone seen the trailer for David Zucker's An American Carol? Normally I'd be plenty interested in a ZAZ-style spoof of the far-left, but this trailer doesn't offer much hope. The trailer makes the movie look like another witless parody in the vein of Epic Movie--Michael Moore is really fat! That's hysterical!!--and in the process makes the far-right look downright buffoonish, not to mention tone-deaf. The target audience appears to be 11-year-old boys, which begs the question: How many 11-year-old boys are longing for a parody of leftist politics? Who is this movie for?

Exactly. I felt a similar way this afternoon when I watched In Search of a Midnight Kiss. It was okay, but it reminded me of a Richard Linklater film, just not as good. (Nice soundtrack, though, filled with Okkervil River and Shearwater.)

I bought that mostly for the baseball, partially for McCaughey. I love that Ted Williams song!

Riviera - At the End of the American Century. Haven't listened to this for some time... it's still really good.