The wonderful Sammi Cheng, singing “Forever Beauty” from the film Love On A Diet (check out her fat suit!):

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Post tags: forever beauty, love on a diet, music video, sammi cheng

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I got emailed this hilarious ad:

And it reminded me of the dirtiest ad Disney has ever put on TV (and also one of their best):

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Post tags: comedy, commercials, disney, Humor & Fun, sex, siblings

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Herself is 23 years young tomorrow (but today, her time).

And, rocky as things have been and are, I still love her.

What ever happens, I shall always wish her well.

Happy Birthday, my love.

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It is with a curious sense of schadenfreude that I make this post.

Just last night I was chatting online, when my interlocutor, amidst several dubious claims, said that America had not won in Iraq. She made the mistake of defining “victory” objectively in a way that was ridiculous — she said that there were still American soldiers in Iraq, therefore there was no victory. I’m afraid I rather mocked this notion, pointing out that American soldiers have been in Japan and in Germany continuously since 1945, and that therefore we had not won World War II in either theater by that definition.

But the fact is, as Michael Yon reported earlier this month, “The war is over and we won“. Unlike most journalists, Yon doesn’t “report” from his hotel room, he tends to get into the thick of things. Meaning he actually knows what he’s talking about.

In honor of this, Zombie declared 22 November 2008 VI Day. Go to his post to read the extensive, hard facts supporting that declaration.

Congratulations to our troops, for proving the world wrong and bringing freedom to millions who lived under tyranny.

If you get your news through the Mainstream Media, you’re getting fed a line of bull, and are no better off than if you’re getting no news at all. Despite the MSM’s best efforts to make Iraq another Vietnam, we’ve won. Sometime next year, they might even report it. Maybe. If it makes Obama look good.

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Here’s the poster I’m seeing everywhere for Jim Carrey’s new (irritating-looking) vehicle, Yes Man:

Every time I see it, I can’t shake the feeling that I’ve seen it before.

And recently.

Like this past summer.

As part of the promotional materials for Ben Stiller’s Tropic Thunder, there was this poster for one of his character’s previous Oscar-baiting films.

Is it just me, or is there more than a little similarity between, if nothing else, the expressions on Stiller’s and Carrey’s faces?

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Post tags: ben stiller, jim carrey, movie poster, separated at birth, simple jack, yes man

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Thanks to all of the various people who’ve ordered things from Amazon through the links on this site, I got a credit, and ordered a gift for myself.

It wasn’t supposed to arrive till tomorrow, but I got it today!

I’m going to have some fun this weekend. (I almost want to do a quick re-read of The Tempest just to appreciate it all the more.)

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(þDiana Hsieh)

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This is the movie Vincent Price made right after The House on Haunted Hill, it seems, and you can sort of see why he agreed to be in it. It’s another gimmicky story, set mostly in one location, that seems like it should be having fun bringing the audience in on the joke.

Except that the movie doesn’t understand that it is a ridiculous joke. And it utterly fails to have any fun at all. (Vincent Price, however, is having fun, at least a little.)

I’ve seen some bad Price movies. I’ve sat all the way through Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs. More than once. But this is possibly the worst he was ever involved in.

There are exactly two redeeming features here. First is the opening, cheesy as hell, bombastic jazz theme, which fits nothing in the movie even remotely.¹ In fact, here’s the theme for you:

[See post to listen to audio]

Atrocious, isn’t it?

And there is, of course, Vincent. Alas, his role is as a red herring, neither the protagonist nor the villain.

But overall, this one really isn’t worth anyone’s time.

1. But this was 1959 — you had to use jazz in the film score, it was a Hollywood Law, at least for the big studios and the ones that wanted to be big. Call it Preminger’s Dictat.

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Post tags: bad movie, film score, jazz, jazz theme, joke, red herring, vincent price

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More private theatrical melodrama sapped me of all energy for anything fun. But now, one way or another, the melodrama is over.

Look for posting to resume, starting later this afternoon.

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I’m sorry.

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If you think the following is brilliant, you are.

If you watch the following and say to yourself, “What a waste of time and effort,” you’re not.

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Post tags: a capella, close encounters of the third kind, e.t. the extra-terrestrial, harmony, Jaws, john williams, moosebutter, Music, raiders of the lost ark, star wars, superman

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A thought occurred to me this morning.

It has taken about sixty years for our political culture to catch up to our pop culture, more or less.

We have just now elected our first President who is not famous for any actual accomplishments, but is simply famous for being famous.

I, for one, welcome President-elect Zsa Zsa Gabor.

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Post tags: celebrity, political culture, pop culture, president elect, zsa zsa gabor

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Damn.

He was only 66.

Jurassic Park was the best of his novels that I read, and The Andromeda Strain was probably the best movie adapted from one of his books.

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Post tags: andromeda strain, Jurassic Park, michael crichton, RIP

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This is a silent movie (of course, given the year), and as such will be of limited interest to most people. However, it is worth seeing at least once.

The main reason to see it is John Barrymore’s performance as the two titular characters. While saying that he pulls off Hyde without benefit of makeup is absurd (the shape of his head changes, fer pete’s sake!), it is nevertheless a marvel of performance. And he does effect the first transformation in a single shot, using only ACTING! to transition from one to the other. It is a bit overwrought, but it is also impressive, because you have no trouble believing that there are two completely distinct characters.

The other reason, if you have a taste for ladies, and especially if you have a taste for ladies of this period, is Nita Naldi, who has a small role as the woman who tempts Dr. Jekyll to explore his evil side.

The copy of the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on the Mill Creek collections is slightly truncated and, from what I understand, some bits of the film are, in fact, considered lost completely. However, given that it is not only Public Domain, but also silent, the condition of what I watched was pretty good.

The story follows the book and adds to it. The additions are not as successful as they might be. They attempt to “explain” Jekyll a bit more. He is, you see, a totally self-sacrificing altruist, the very model of sainthood. And his motivation in devising the drug that effects the alteration is that he wants to give into temptation without “staining his soul”. (Oy.)

The moral theory of the film is about what you would expect from the time it was made, if you assumed that it was scripted by a temperance union or the like. “Good” is pure and unremitting self-denial, and any pleasure of the flesh is “evil”. The surrender to temptation in even the smallest degree is doom, and nothing else. Insofar as its premises, the film is a horror-show without any need of an on-screen monster.

However, taking that into consideration, Barrymore’s performance is excellent, particularly in the closing scenes, when his Jekyll works feverishly to isolate himself from everyone and everything he loves in order not to harm them. (And, as noted above, his Hyde is remarkable as a physical performance — the two characters are completely different.)

Worth seeing? Yes, at the very least simply for Barrymore. It’s not the best silent horror film (I would say that Nosferatu takes that prize if you watch it in context, or the Lon Chaney-starring Phantom of the Opera if you want something without experiments that failed the test of time), but it is definitely worth watching.

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Post tags: ACTING, altruist, distinct characters, dr jekyll and mr hyde, drug, horror, horror film, horror show, john barrymore, makeup, Mill Creek, nita naldi, performance, pleasure, premises, public domain, self denial, silent movie, soul, surrender, temperance, temptation, transformation, woman

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A comment from Quint’s A Movie A Day review of Flying Tigers:

Many years ago I had a friend who was a combat pilot in Vietnam. He would tell the story about his old fight commander (let’s call him Frank), who had been one of the pilot the military loaned to Republic for the production of “Flying Tigers”. During one of the flying sequences Frank’s plane developed engine trouble causing an emergency landing. After a very rough touchdown, Frank jumped out of the smoking plane, stumbled away as fast as possible and collapsed on the side of the landing field. Onlookers came running up to check on his condition. As Frank looked up a tall figure leaned down and said, “Are you all right, son?” Say the line with a John Wayne voice and you have the picture.

Twenty–five years or so later in Vietnam, Frank is returning to base, his plane develops engine trouble causing an emergency landing. After a very rough touchdown, Frank jumped out of the smoking plane, stumbled away as fast as possible and collapsed on the side of the landing field. Onlookers came running up to check on his condition. As Frank looked up a tall figure leaned down and said, “Are you all right, son?” Wayne was visiting the base as part of a USO tour or maybe prepping for Green Berets, I don’t recall. True story? I have no idea. But it makes for a good story.

(Edited lightly for punctuation, spelling, and clarity.)

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Post tags: combat pilot, emergency landing, engine trouble, flying tigers, green berets, John Wayne, touchdown, true story, twenty five years, uso tour, vietnam

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