September 2, 2007 - September 8, 2007

From the moldy bookshelf of forgettable lore

"My Pamela would be the most beautiful mermaid of them all, and that was what mattered-- not that a fiend's fishhook would be torn from her lovely mouth, not that her lovely body would be split in two!" (From "Blood-Bait for Hungry Mermaids" by John Wallace (Terror is Cupid's Mate), from Mystery Tales, December 1939.

Posted by Steve Monaco at September 7, 2007 12:18 AM

Satan's best friend

Some things I found while searching Google images for the three words of the headline:

Posted by Steve Monaco at September 6, 2007 3:44 AM

Why I'm proud to be a Des Moinesian

Cheesy Attack Leads to Assault Charges Des Moines, IA (AP)

Patrick Hamman, 22, of Des Moines, was arrested on a charge of domestic assault after he threw a bag of Cheetos at his father, Michael Hamman, hitting him in the face Sunday night.

The bag hit his father's glasses, causing a cut to the bridge of his nose, police said.

The police report said "Michael's T-shirt was also covered in Cheeto dust."

Police said Patrick, who lives with his father, admitted that he was on methamphetamine at the time of the argument.

Posted by Steve Monaco at September 5, 2007 3:43 AM

Never talk to journalists!

From an old school paper written by one o' my brats:

Family Interview Assignment: History of Steve Monaco (father)

My father was nine years old when Kennedy was assassinated, but all it meant to him and many other kids is that they did not have cartoons or TV shows for three whole days. He graduated a year early from high school and was still not interested in politics. He did not become concerned about the Vietnam War until he was 19 and the draft was getting closer. One of the biggest events in his life was when Nixon called off the draft and ended Vietnam, although he still did not care about politics. He did not start paying attention until Ronald Reagan was elected. He could not believe that the American people could have become so ignorant that they elected this tired old TV star to be president, it was senseless and phony. He thought that when Reagan was president, he was not really president but just the master of ceremonies, or more like a game show host.

Posted by Steve Monaco at September 5, 2007 3:15 AM

Cool guys

Posted by Steve Monaco at September 3, 2007 2:26 PM

The Monday Movie Quiz #139

I hate to admit it, but this is one of my favorite movies:

I'm also a longtime fan of the guy in the last pic, and this is perhaps my favorite of his roles. Know who he is? How about the kid? He doesn't look like that today, does he? (At least not in his mug shots.) If you think you know the title of the film in question, send me an email by late Sunday (the 9th)-- if you're right, expect to see your name in next week's proud winner's circle.

Posted by Steve Monaco at September 3, 2007 12:18 AM

Last week's Movie Quiz winners

(At least the French knew which star to put front and center in the poster, and which one to shove to the side and the back.)

Usually when a movie is as mainstream and bland as last week's quiz choice, A Beautiful Mind (2001), I get all kinds of enjoyably snarky comments from winners along the lines of, "You didn't really like this, did you?" But this time I didn't get any at all, possibly because the regulars were either too bored or disgusted by this pick that they just didn't want to talk about it. For the most part, the crowd that reads this blog (and three's a crowd, right?) aren't big fans of new mass market movies, especially ones affiliated with either Oscar or Opie, and-- curse of curses-- this ridiculous thriller about mathematician John Nash's inner life of intrigue is both. (I thought Russell Crowe's tic-happy performance was basically "E = Rain Man2")

I want to talk about it, though, because I just saw it (for no good reason other than it was a long, boring night), and I was fascinated by how many of the things I hate about current American films were wrapped up in this one movie. Gross sentimentality, overwrought dialogue and characters, schtick substituting for acting, corny visuals (oh, the golden glow of college days!), and a simplistic and sanitized world-view. For starters.

An exception to the "corny visuals" part is the segment where Nash's "blonde" theory is illustrated. The simplistic approach to everything else taken by the script and direction (by grand homogenizers Akiva Goldsman and Ron Howard) illustrates the mathematical point quickly and nicely, like those old Bell Telephone science films made by Frank Capra. I don't think this could have ever been a good movie, but it would have been better with more of that approach to Nash's life and work in the movie and less of the imaginary G-Man antics.

Ironically, this segment was criticized at the time of the film's release for simplifying the Nash equilibrium, and the movie was criticized in general for its silly liberties with the truth about his life, including accusations that it concealed his (alleged) anti-Semitism. Considering the last point, it's probably a good thing that Howard picked Crowe to play the part, instead of another actor he'd worked with:

So congratulations and a midnight ride with Ed Harris to the following winners: Wayne Palmer, Jim Moomey, Michael Kelly, Michael Mattson, Thomas Miller, Evil Bobby, Joe Rosenberg, Robert Redwing, Bill Hearne, Nick Rupar, Nancy Louise Rutherford, and Donald Greene. And super-cerebral kudos to E. Yarber, who wins the Grand Prize: a DVD of Edgar G. Ulmer's Bluebeard!

P.S. Don't you love the way the title has since been used?

Posted by Steve Monaco at September 2, 2007 11:41 PM

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