The Rules of the Game (1939)***
Some nifty camera work, sharp dialogue, and a very modern sensibility elevates this dramady of manners among the elites and their underlings in pre-war France. Compare and contrast with Gosford Park.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011)*
Also known as "Extremely Long & Incredibly Annoying". The epitome of "ham-fisted". Makes a Steven Spielberg flick look like "Last Year At Marienbad". Get the drift? If you like being hit over the head with a sledge hammer, repeatedly, this is your movie.

From Russia with Love (1963)**
Second Bond picture is an improvement over the first, but that's not saying much. Still, this one has Robert Shaw and a terrific, iconic score by John Barry.

Champagne for Caesar (1950)**
Starts out as broad satire, settles into a rom-com vibe and ends with a thud. Strange in a bad way.

Stage Fright (1950)***
Lots of interesting shots and sequences in this "minor" Hitchcock murder mystery. A fine cast, particularly Marlene Dietrich and Alistair Sim, with the notable exception of Jane Wyman, who sticks out like a sore thumb.

The Andromeda Strain (1971)****
The kind of sci-fi film they don't make any more, probably because it's not based on a comic book, I mean "graphic novel". Sharp direction from anti-auteur Robert Wise.

Dr. No (1962)**
More interesting as an historical artifact than film, this "action" flick is quite dull now with only Ursula Andress providing any spark. Too bad she arrives late in the picture.

Smile (1975)***
Not as sharp as The Candidate or The Bad News Bears, but still a fine portrait of American delusions from Michael Ritchie.

Barney Frank: Obama Rejected Bush Administration Concession to Write Down Mortgages | naked capitalism:
"I tried to get them to use the TARP to put some leverage on the banks to do more about mortgages, and Paulson at first resisted that, he just wanted to get the money out. And after he got the first chunk of money out, he would have had to ask for a second chunk, he said, all right, I’ll tell you what, I’ll ask for that second chunk and I’ll use some of that as leverage on mortgages, but I’m not going to do that unless Obama asks for it. This is now December, so we tried to get the Obama people to ask him and they wouldn’t do it."

Let's face it: Obama just does not give a shit about you.

Suddenly (1954)**
Cheap looking melodrama has a hackneyed script and a quite good performance by Sinatra as an assassin for hire.

A Bridge Too Far (1977)**
By the numbers direction hampers what could have been a terrific WWII flick. All star cast turns in fine, restrained performances. Needed about 45 minutes cut.

Lifeguard (1976)****
Terrific character study that resists cliches and sticks to realism. Exceptional, appealing actors, spare, truthful script, nicely restrained direction. Fascinating glimpse at 70's culture.

Spellbound (1945)**
At the time of its release perhaps not, but nowadays a pretty laughable blend of murder mystery and psycho-babble. It has some interesting moments, particularly the goofy Dali designed dream sequence, but not enough of them. I also don't believe there was a frame of film without music in it. Overbearing.

The Self Illusion: An Interview With Bruce Hood | Wired.com:
"LEHRER: If the self is an illusion, then why does it exist? Why do we bother telling a story about ourselves?

"HOOD: For the same reason that our brains create a highly abstracted version of the world around us. It is bad enough that our brain is metabolically hogging most of our energy requirements, but it does this to reduce the workload to act. That’s the original reason why the brain evolved in the first place – to plan and control movements and keep track of the environment. It’s why living creatures that do not act or navigate around their environments do not have brains. So the brain generates maps and models on which to base current and future behaviors. Now the value of a map or a model is the extent to which it provides the most relevant useful information without overburdening you with too much detail."

Dark Shadows (2012)**
Tim Burton lite. VERY lite. Actually quite shocking that such a script was actually produced and he put his name on it. 2 stars for Michelle Pfeiffer and Helena Bonham Carter, the only reasons to see this.

Tom Brokaw Doubles Down On WHCD: 'If You Go, It'll Steal Your Soul' (HUFFPO):
"'I do feel strongly that it's gone way too far,' he said. He added that the dinner, which has drawn more and more Hollywood celebrities ever year, gives off a 'let them eat cake' air to the rest of the country, and seemed to say that 'we're more interested in celebrities than we are in the concerns of real folks who are out there.'"

Oh please. Saint Tom is in a tizzy because there are too many celebrities spoiling his little soiree with politicos. Yeah I guess that could be an issue. But Tom fails to realize that the REAL problem with the WHCD is the schmoozing and inter-mingling of the "journalists" with the very people they are supposed to be having an adversarial relationship with. Yukking it up with the people they are supposed to be keeping a critical eye on concerns "real folks" much more than celebrities. Tell you what. Ditch the politicians and keep the celebs and we'll call it even.

Even Dwarfs Started Small (1970)*
Bad, even for Herzog. It's interesting to note how much he likes to film driver-less autos going around in a circle. And chickens. Oh there is also a pig, and then [spoiler alert!] at the end a camel shows up.

Stroszek (1977)***
A case of Werner Herzog's off-the-cuff film making style paying off. Shattering, unflinching look at the conflict of hopes and reality as played out in the bleak Wisconsin midwinter. Final sequence is unique and memorable.

Cactus Flower (1969)**
I realize the premise of the plot is preposterous and exists only to set up the "sophisticated" comedic situation, but it is appallingly misogynistic and distracting especially in a film rescued by the performances and appeal of its two leading ladies.

Bullying the Nuns by Garry Wills | The New York Review of Books:
"It is typical of the pope’s sense of priorities that, at the very time when he is quashing an independent spirit in the church’s women, he is negotiating a welcome back to priests who left the church in protest at the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. These men, with their own dissident bishop, Marcel Lefebvre, formed the Society of Saint Pius X—the Pius whose Secretariat of State had a monsignor (Umberto Benigni) who promoted the Protocols of the Elder of Zion. Pope Benedict has already lifted the excommunication of four bishops in the Society of Saint Pius X, including that of Richard Williamson, who is a holocaust denier. Now a return of the whole body is being negotiated."

Play Dirty (1969)***
Well done WWII actioner, sort of a British Dirty Half Dozen. Sharp script, enough eccentricities to push it above the average.

Rififi (1955)**
Nicely directed French noir and one of the first heist flicks.

George W. Bush and torture: America’s highest officials are responsible for the “enhanced interrogation” of prisoners. - Slate Magazine:
"That the United States operated secret prisons anywhere on earth just so we could place our prisoners and jailors outside the reach of U.S. laws prohibiting torture is outrageous, of course. But there’s something especially perverse about basing one of these facilities in a country whose 'bitter recent experiences' include first Nazi occupation and extermination camps and then four decades of communist oppression. Out of those experiences, the people of Poland created a state that embraces, without reservation, the absolute ban on torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, and the first thing the United States does is degrade that state by setting up and running a secret torture chamber on Polish soil."

And that in itself was illegal, right? Hello? Is this thing on? Anybody there? Anyone at all?

via @theharryshearer

I Do (2006)**
So-so French rom-com that plays like a Hollywood rom-com which is not a good thing. Watchable for the two leads, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Alain Chabat.

The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974)****
Werner Herzog makes serious films, there is no doubt about that, and that deserves respect and admiration. However, his style of direction is so minimal, so matter-of-fact, it tends to minimize the impact of the what is taking place on the screen. You can read the script and be very moved by the story but you watch the film and it lays there flat. Restraint is one thing, but overwhelming lifelessness is quite another.

UPDATE 11/09/15: Second viewing experience is much improved. The casting is superb, the images quite impressive and once you know the story and the "enigma", the nuances and subtleties in the film come to life and are quite moving.

Scoop (2006)**
Enjoyable "minor" Woody Allen comedy with the director performing as a magician who could have been in Broadway Danny Rose. Top notch cast, lots of good one-liners, light, breezy and fairly forgettable.

Metropolitan (1990)***
Enjoyable Jane Austen-meets-Woody Allen light comedy about modern Manhattan young elites. Another way to describe it would be "Pretty In Pink" among the 1%-ers. Literate script, concise direction, nicely shot, appealingly cast.

The Chase (1966)***
Bizarre flick about a small Texas town that apparently goes berserk every Saturday night, fueled by an unending flow of alcohol, sex and violence. All-star cast and crew undermined by an overzealous producer. Still the film holds interest and closes with some real power.

Office Space (1999)***
Hilariously accurate depiction of the life of a modern office drone with exceptional supporting characterizations. The lead character however is vacuous and not very interesting and this weakens the film a lot. A better actor as the lead may have helped.

My Best Fiend - Klaus Kinski (1999)**
Essential viewing for movie buffs, but the casual moviegoer will be nonplussed. At the start, Kinski seems to appear insane but by film's end it is clear Herzog has the real problems.

...And They Lived Happily Ever After (2004)**
French farce about, what else, marriage, fidelity, sex, etc. Light and playful, sometimes absurd.

The Hot Rock (1972)**
Breezy heist flick with an appealing cast and smart script. Ron Leibman is a hoot.

Age of Ignorance by Charles Simic | The New York Review of Books:
"Where else on earth would a president who rescued big banks from bankruptcy with taxpayers’ money and allowed the rest of us to lose $12 trillion in investment, retirement, and home values be called a socialist?"

Banks, debt creation, and the financial takeover | eats shoots 'n leaves:
"This is the clearest explanation we’ve heard yet of the mechanisms used by politically powerful financial institutions to capture both public and private wealth.

"The fundamental principle: Creation of money by banks in the form of debt allows banks to use compound interest as a mechanism to capture the commons, while government creation of money through investment in public infrastructure and services creates wealth."

Downhill Racer (1969)****
Stellar directorial debut for Michael Ritchie in this tale of a young man with a talent for skiing and little else. Best skiing sequences on film. Tight, spare script, no filler. Marred only by the occasional heavy handed soundtrack.

Cobra Verde (1987)**
Klaus Kinski is exceptional yet again, in another Werner Herzog tale of crazy men in South American. This time he's a ruthless bandit who manages to become a slave mogul. Interesting in parts, but as a whole it feels like we've been down this road before with Herzog/Kinski.

Jeremiah Johnson (1972)**
So-so direction mars this otherwise fine character driven tale of old time mountain men. Will Geer is terrific.

Anthony Zimmer (2005)**
Gorgeous Nice locations and Sophie Marceau are the highlights of this French thriller.

The Housemaid (2010)**
Impeccably photographed, well acted and visually interesting, but the film never seems to reach its full potential.

Neuroscience And Justice Edge Master Class 2011 | Edge:
"And so the whole notion, I think, there's a realization for me, that the whole notion of this free will and the brain and determinism has been miscast. We just accept the fact that we have this automatic brain, and we use this as our metaphor. So cars are automatic, and yet cars with all their determinism that we can specify, in no way tell us about traffic. So when the cars start interacting in a social setting, you get all of a sudden, incredible new capacities that cannot be described in any way by studying the individual cars.

"I would just say the same with brains. Brains are automatic. But our freedom and our sense of personal responsibility come from the interaction, the social interaction, the glue of the environment, of the social grouping. And that's where you look for responsibility, and that's why even though we are these finely tuned machines and narratives and all the rest of it, we hold people responsible because that is the nature of the social exchange between people, and that's how you should look upon responsibility."

The Skin I Live In (2011)**
Strange Frankenstein-ish tale of revenge attempts to serve as some sort of metaphor for gender identity. Compelling, but a misstep for Almodóvar.

The Candidate (1972)****
Still the best film about modern politics and still, unfortunately, relevant and topical. Redford is quite good, Karen Carlson is stunning, director Michael Ritchie at the top of his game. Smart, witty, spot on script.

Fitzcarraldo (1982)**
Like an opera it is far too long, but there are many fine moments as well as the lovely Claudia Cardinale.

They Might Be Giants (1971)**
Dated counter-culture fable in gritty NYC nevertheless watchable due to the performances of Scott and Woodward in the leads. Focus on them, ignore the supporting cast and shoddy direction.

Woyzeck (1979)*
Kinski is impressive again but, as usual, Herzog's off-the-cuff style undercuts him.

Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972)**
A film made off-the-cuff in difficult conditions and it shows. Klaus Kinski gives an interesting and potentially great performance, some remarkable river rafting scenes, some stunning photography but Herzog's bizarre seat-of-the-pants directing style fails to capitalize.

Elaine Pagels on the Book of Revelation : The New Yorker:
"You can’t help feeling, along with Pagels, a pang that the Gnostic poems, so much more affecting in their mystical, pantheistic rapture, got interred while Revelation lives on. But you also have to wonder if there ever was a likely alternative. Don’t squishy doctrines of transformation through personal illumination always get marginalized in mass movements? As Stephen Batchelor has recently shown, the open-minded, non-authoritarian side of Buddhism, too, quickly succumbed to its theocratic side, gasping under the weight of those heavy statues. The histories of faiths are all essentially the same: a vague and ambiguous millennial doctrine preached by a charismatic founder, Marx or Jesus; mystical variants held by the first generations of followers; and a militant consensus put firmly in place by the power-achieving generation. Bakunin, like the Essenes, never really had a chance. The truth is that punitive, hysterical religions thrive, while soft, mystical ones must hide their scriptures somewhere in the hot sand."

The Artist (2011)**
This picture was apparently made by and for fans of silent movies. It is made well enough, but the story is pedestrian at best, and the acting is not enough to overcome that. Dull.

Love Crime (2010)**
Kristin Scott Thomas is her usual compelling self but Ludivine Sagnier can't match her and looks perpetually in a state of shock in this circular tale of corporate back stabbing.

Hugo (2011)**
A nearly constant and distracting score, an extremely mobile camera for no other reason than 3d gimmicks, scenes that are oddly paced, a story that seems to be saying that movies are far better than books and none of the trademark Scorsese vitality. Technically superb but it's over-designed and cluttered.

The Monkees - DayDream Believer - YouTube
RIP Davy. :-(

Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)***
After seeing the picture a second time, I have a theory: Blake Edwards knew he could never film the actual novel in a realistic way and get away with it, so he decided to stylize and colorize the whole thing so he could pretend it was a satire. "It's just a cartoon." Yes, it's a silly cartoon with a buck-toothed Mickey Rooney as a Japanese landlord, ultra-colorful Manhattan scenes, odd dialogue and situations, a luminous Audrey Hepburn, a lovely, haunting theme song which she sings perfectly and an undercurrent of sadness and melancholy. I still, however, think George Peppard is all wrong.

Detour (1945)****
Extremely low budget proto-noir with one of the all time great femme fatale performances by Ann Savage. Director Edgar Ulmer keeps the pace brisk so you can't tell the film was shot in essentially two locations: a hotel room and a car. Great fun.

Ruthless (1948)**
Overwrought melodrama about a voracious power fiend whose only motivation seems to be because somebody else has it. Sidney Greenstreet does a good job but he is badly miscast as a rival.

Wait Until Dark (1967)**
Alan Arkin is having a blast but the movie gets tiresome pretty quickly. One of the first to employ the not-dead-yet villain trope.

How to Steal a Million (1966)**
You can't beat the pairing of Audrey Hepburn and Peter O'Toole in Paris. It's a shame the material is so woefully dull.

Grave of the Fireflies (1988)**
Bleak, horrific story of immediately post-war Japan and two siblings struggling to survive. Not an entertaining picture despite excellent realistic animation.

The Natural (1984)**
The picture is fine in the first half with nicely restrained yet stylish direction, but falters in the second when the score becomes obtrusive and the momentum slows considerably. Then the abrupt ending.

The Forgetting Pill Erases Painful Memories Forever | Wired.com:
"Once you start questioning the reality of memory, things fall apart pretty quickly. So many of our assumptions about the human mind—what it is, why it breaks, and how it can be healed—are rooted in a mistaken belief about how experience is stored in the brain. (According to a recent survey, 63 percent of Americans believe that human memory “works like a video camera, accurately recording the events we see and hear so that we can review and inspect them later.”) We want the past to persist, because the past gives us permanence. It tells us who we are and where we belong. But what if your most cherished recollections are also the most ephemeral thing in your head?"

Woody Allen, Exclusive Interview | OUT OF ORDER Magazine:
"That’s the easy part; the technical part is easy. Where you fail all the time in movies, or ninety-nine percent of the time, is in the script. That’s the problem. If you have a good script, a really good script, you can give it to a mediocre director and he’ll get, you know, not a bad movie. If you have a bad script and you give it to the best director in the world, it’ll look nice but you’ll never be interested in it. So it isn’t the cities or the technical part that ever trips you up. It’s always the script. Every country has good actors, every country has good cameramen and technicians but it’s hard to write something that works and that people enjoy and get interested in. That’s really the hard part."

The Descendants (2011)**
Disappointing follow-up to Sideways, this is NOT a comedy. This is a stark, raw and uncompromising look at the privileged classes and how utterly divorced from reality they can be. A bit too under directed by Alexander Payne, which makes it hard to determine exactly what he is going for with this material.

Amadeus (1984)**
Cut about 45 minutes and you have yourself a fine film. As it stands, unless you love Mozart's operas, you have something less. Prague fills in nicely for Vienna in the external shots.

Dick Tracy (1990)**
Stylish, colorful and technically impressive take on the comic cop ultimately cannot transcend its material.

The China Syndrome (1979)***
Extremely plausible and prophetic film about the dangers of unregulated corporations, played out in reality all too often, such as the 2010 San Bruno gas pipeline disaster. James Bridges directs with style, wit and extreme restraint eschewing a music soundtrack to great effect. Fine, understated performances.

Anthony Hopkins: I've never been really close to anyone | Film | The Guardian:
"What's your idea of a good night?

Staying in and watching Mob Wives on TV. I don't have many friends; I'm very much a loner. As a child I was very isolated and I've never been really close to anyone. Ask nothing, expect nothing. That's my creed. We're all just a bunch of sinners crashing around in the darkness."

Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain
"...Third, our brains are composed of vast, complex, and shifting collections of subparts, most of which we have no access to; this book was written over the course of a few years by several different people, all of whom were named David Eagleman, but who were somewhat different with each passing hour."

A succinct summary of the book from the afterword. Free will advocates will have to do some pretty fancy footwork to keep up.

The Remains of the Day (1993)****
One of Anthony Hopkins finest performances in a film of several layers, but ultimately about how the human need for meaning causes us to ignore what is right under our noses, and our despair when and if we finally realize it. Director James Ivory nails it.

Howards End (1992)***
Well deserved Oscar nom for Vanessa Redgrave and generally fine performances from the rest of the cast along with impeccable production by Merchant Ivory, but it's just a tad too long which tends to dissipate its impact.

Papillon (1973)**
Well-shot Hollywood bio-pic of French petty thief sentenced to Devil's Island in Guyana and his several escape attempts. Works ok as an action flick, but the acting is wildly uneven and it goes on for too long.

"Mike Martz Retires; The University of Miami Is Getting Tough on Boosters - Business - The Atlantic Wire:
"Mike Martz, engineer of the pass-happy offensive gameplans that helped the turn-of-the-millennium St. Louis Rams reach two Super Bowls in three years, says he's done with coaching at the age of 60. Martz was offensive coordinator of the 1999 Rams team that defeated the Tennessee Titans in Super Bowl XXXIV and scored 526 points during the regular season, which at the time was second most in NFL history. Two years later, he was the head coach of the Rams squad that lost to the 14-point underdog New England Patriots in the biggest upset Super Bowl history. Martz was bizarrely fired by the Rams in 2005 after taking a medical leave of absence, but resurfaced as offensive coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers, Detroit Lions, and Chicago Bears, improving each team's offense before departing on less-than-ideal terms. This was particularly true of his time in Chicago, which ended earlier in the month when head coach Lovie Smith -- his defensive coordinator during the Rams glory years -- helped to push Martz out the door after two seasons."

Refreshing to read a report about Martz free of hearsay, rumor and unfounded cliche. Sadly, those things keep following Martz and inhibit his ability to be even interviewed for head coaching and OC positions around the league. The fact of the matter is, for an OC whose team was in the NFC Championship game a year ago and, if not for 2 devastating injuries to key personnel, would have at least qualified for the playoffs this year to not be sought after is highly suspect. When someone like Brian Schottenheimer, who hasn't done a thing with the Jets, is coveted and Martz is shunned, something is wrong.

Of Gods and Men (2010)****
Great performances by the 8 leads makes this an absorbing drama of coming to terms with the inevitable.

The Spirit of St. Louis (1957) **
Decent Hollywood (i.e. rife with factual errors) biopic of the famous aviator's first transatlantic voyage, nicely shot by Billy Wilder.

The Freshman (1990) ***
Nifty screwball comedy with enough gimmicks to overcome a few traces of '80's movie cliches. Brando shows a deft comedic touch.

2011 In Review: Movies

**** Tree of Life
*** Midnight In Paris
*** Rango
** Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
** Melancholia
** Rio
* The Muppets

2011 In Review: Music

**** Army Navy - The Last Place
**** Dengue Fever - Cannibal Courtship
**** Dum Dum Girls - Only In Dreams
**** Lindsey Buckingham - Seeds We Sow
**** The Strokes - Angles
**** The Title Tracks - In Blank
**** Wild Flag - Wild Flag
*** Beirut - The Rip Tide
*** Blitzen Trapper - American Goldwing
*** Blondie - Panic of Girls
*** Brilliant Colors - Again and Again
*** Charlotte Gainsbourg - Stage Whisper
*** Everybody Else - Wanderlust
*** Fountains of Wayne - Sky Full of Holes
*** Kathryn Calder - Bright And Vivid
*** Mates of State - Mountaintops
*** Pugwash - The Olympus Sound
*** REM - Collapse Into Now
*** Ralph Covert & The Bad Examples - Smash Record
*** Raveonettes - Raven In the Grave
*** Rockpile - Live at Montreaux 1980
*** Scout - Pi
*** Stevie Nicks - In Your Dreams
*** Surfer Blood - Tarot Classics
*** The Wrong Words - The Wrong Words
*** Wilco - The Whole Love
** Alice Cooper - Welcome 2 My Nightmare
** Carole King - A Christmas Carole
** Cut Copy - Zonoscope
** Fruit Bats - Tripper
** Human League - Credo
** Kate Bush - 50 Words For Snow
** Ladytron - Gravity the Seducer
** She & Him - A Very She & Him Christmas
** Sloan - The Double Cross
** Spoons - Static In Transmission
** TV On The Radio - Nine Types of Light
** The Bangles - Sweetheart of the Sun
** The Cars - Move Like This
** The Decemberists - The King Is Dead
** The Ettes - Wicked Will
** The Feelies - Here Before
** The Joy Formidable - The Big Roar
** The Sounds - Something To Die For
** They Might Be Giants - Join Us
** Viva Voce - The Future Will Destroy You
** William Shatner - Seeking Major Tom
** Woods - Sun and Shade
** Yes - Fly From Here
** Young Galaxy - Shapeshifting
** Yuck - Yuck
* Destroyer - Kaputt
* Michael Bublé - Christmas
* Robyn Hitchcock - Tromso, Kaptein
* The New York Dolls - Dancing Backward In High Heels

Our Selves, Other Cells - Boing Boing:
"How many people have left their DNA in us? Any baby we’ve ever conceived, even ones we’ve miscarried unknowingly. Sons leave their Y chromosome genes in their mothers. The fetal cells from each pregnancy, flowing in a mother’s bloodstream, can be passed on to her successive kids. If we have an older sibling, that older sibling’s cells may be in us. The baby in a large family may harbor the genes of many brothers and sisters. My mother’s cells are in my body, and so are my daughter’s cells, and half my daughter’s DNA comes from her dad. Some of those cells may be in my brain. This is squirm-worthy."

We have to do better on inequality - FT.com
"Why has the top 1 per cent of the population done so well relative to the rest? The answer probably lies substantially in changing technology and globalisation. When George Eastman revolutionised photography, he did very well and, because he needed a large number of Americans to carry out his vision, the city of Rochester had a thriving middle class for two generations. By contrast, when Steve Jobs revolutionised personal computing, he and the shareholders in Apple (who are spread all over the world) did very well but a much smaller benefit flowed to middle-class American workers both because production was outsourced and because the production of computers and software was not terribly labour intensive."

This was written by Lawrence Summers. Either he is incompetent, or he is trying to delude us. Either way he is an idiot.

via @bittman

The Bishop's Wife (1947)**
Bizarre theology, even by Hollywood standards, and the original casting with Grant in the role of the bishop might have worked better. It just seems like it is all cobbled together just so we can have a tearful "I must go" scene. A Christmas perennial although the holiday has nothing at all to do with the story.

Duck Soup (1933)****
The Marx Brothers' best film. Consistently funny, briskly paced, wonderfully silly.

Obama and Geithner: Government, Enron-Style | Rolling Stone:
"In other words, Geithner and Obama are behaving like Lehman executives before the crash of Lehman, not disclosing the full extent of the internal problem in order to keep investors from fleeing and creditors from calling in their chits. It’s worth noting that this kind of behavior – knowingly hiding the derogatory truth from the outside world in order to prevent a run on the bank – is, itself, fraud!"

No War Crimes Trial for Bush/Cheney, While Chirac Convicted on minor Fraud | Informed Comment:
"Ironically, Chirac was the princpled one here. He opposed the Iraq War and castigated Bush for speaking of a ‘war on terror.’ He quite reasonably said that terrorism (with which the French had a great deal of experience) is a police matter. Bush militarized our heritage of democracy rooted in 1776, whereas Chirac declined to do that to his heritage, of 1789.
"The French don’t put their former presidents on a pedestal, beyond the reach of accountability, the way cult-of-personality prone Americans do."

John Lennon: "I was sick of White Christmas" | Music | guardian.co.uk:
"Then there's a song he and the Plastic Ono Band will be recording that very night, for their Christmas single. It's called Happy Christmas (War Is Over), and he says that when he first played it to Spector, the producer said that the first line is a direct crib from the Paris Sisters' I Love How You Love Me, which Phil produced back in the pre-Crystals days.

"'I like quoting from old songs,'" John says, "'but you get into such trouble with copyrights. It's a drag.'"

Scrooge (1951)**
Alastair Sim is fine as the iconic miser but the film is too heavy handed and boasts the tallest and healthiest looking Tiny Tim of any version of the oft-told tale.

Empire of the Sun (1987)**
Earnest, uneven account of a boy enduring a Japanese internment camp of British exiles in China during the end of WWII. First and last half hours are terrific, entire middle is sluggish and too long. Spielberg still can't lay off the overbearing music cues either.

Melancholia (2011)**
Wants to be a fable, but it is filmed with such realism and cinema-verité that you're never quite sure what the director is going for. Still, the opening montage is stunning, and if you have to watch the Earth be destroyed, you could do far worse than this group of actors. Pluses for originality and chutzpah.

Bernie Bytes: 5 takes on Pujols, Marlins:
"Sure, he could take the Cardinals' money even if the offer is inferior to Miami's. It's still a lot of money. And he could live happily ever after. But I'll repeat: Pujols is under no obligation to do that. This is his chance to determine his future on his terms. Sure, he has said he wanted to be a Cardinal for life. Sure, he has said he wanted to be like Musial. Sure, he has said that winning is the top priority. A move to Miami would obviously contradict all of those declarations."

It's always the player who is the bad guy. Miklasz pays lip service to Mr. Pujols saying he is not under "obligation" to sign with the Cardinals low-ball offer. But then in a thinly disguised way castigates him for not being Stan Musial. Mr. Musial was incredibly underpaid as a performer and never even had the opportunity to be a free agent so the comparison is ridiculous and erroneous. These sports romantics are always comparing current players' situations to those in the past but there can be no comparison. Yes Musial played his whole career with the Cardinals. HE HAD TO! Unless he was traded or cut by the owner, who of course would have been "obligated" to do so by the player's poor performance. Give me a break. I hope Mr. Pujols moves on from St. Louis. The smugness is getting even thicker than normal there.

The Evolved Self-management System | Edge:
"So now, where does the placebo effect fit in? Placebos work because they suggest to people that the picture is rosier than it really is. Just like the artificial summer light cycle for the hamster, placebos give people fake information that it's safe to cure them. Whereupon they do just that.

"This suggests we should see the placebo effect as part of a much larger picture of homeostasis and bodily self-control. But now I'm ready to expand on this much further still. If this is the way humans and animals manage their physical health, there must surely be a similar story to be told about mental health. And if mental health, then—at least with humans—it should apply topersonality and character as well. So I've come round to the idea that humans have in fact evolved a full-blown self management system, with the job of managing all their psychological resources put together, so as to optimise the persona they present to the world."

The Muppets (2011)*
Huge step down for the Muppets. Not funny, not original, and the tone is one of contempt for the audience. Even little tots will be affronted.

I Know Where I'm Going! (1945)***
How a romantic comedy is to be made. Take great actors, cast them well, construct a believable, interesting story, set it in a place and culture seldom scene on film and direct with style and wit. Treads close to the mawkish at times (hard to believe Scots are ALWAYS loving and kind to everyone) but chooses to remain bound to the real.

Mad Love (1935)***
Peter Lorre is sensational as the mad doctor and Karl Freund's direction is stylish and evocative. Only sore spots are Colin Clive and Ted Healy. Unfortunately they are in lead roles.

Timeline of a mass extinction - MIT News Office:
“'The rate of injection of CO2 into the late Permian system is probably similar to the anthropogenic rate of injection of CO2 now,' Rothman says. 'It’s just that it went on for … 10,000 years.

"Rothman says the total amount of CO2 pumped into Earth over this time period was so immense that it’s not immediately clear where it all came from.

"'It’s just not easy to imagine,' Rothman says. 'Even if you put all the world’s known coal deposits on top of a volcano, you still wouldn’t come close. So something unusual was going on.'”

Mimicking the brain, in silicon - MIT News Office:
"The MIT researchers plan to use their chip to build systems to model specific neural functions, such as the visual processing system. Such systems could be much faster than digital computers. Even on high-capacity computer systems, it takes hours or days to simulate a simple brain circuit. With the analog chip system, the simulation is even faster than the biological system itself.

"Another potential application is building chips that can interface with biological systems. This could be useful in enabling communication between neural prosthetic devices such as artificial retinas and the brain. Further down the road, these chips could also become building blocks for artificial intelligence devices, Poon says."

Go ahead, cling to your mind is more than the brain beliefs. You'll be able to argue about it with your robot soon.

Out of the Past (1947)***
Archetypal noir given something extra by the nascent star power of Mitchum and Douglas. Might seem cliched now, and some of the dialogue is a bit too cute but in its time this was thrilling.

The Shootist (1976)**
The Duke is fine, but the direction is 3rd rate, the supporting cast, except for Stewart and Bacall, is laughable, the writing is of the most cliched variety. Wayne's final film.

Penn State sex scandal engulfing revered Paterno:
"Sandusky was described by Keith 'Kip' Richeal, co-author of his autobiography 'Touched: The Jerry Sandusky Story,' as a loving father of six adopted children.

'I hope to God it's not true because I admire the man very much,' Richeal said. 'All I saw was Jerry was kind to kids of all ages, including the students he dealt with.'"

Jesus H. Christ! There are enough alarm bells in just those few sentences to alert a one-eyed deaf monkey to potential abuse. Paterno et al need to be up on criminal charges. At some point, as a nation, as a society, we have to get back to EVERYONE being held accountable. Not just people on the lowest economic strata of society, but everyone.

Six adopted children. Loves to hang around kids. His fucking autobiography is called "Touched" for crying out loud.

Sleeper (1973)**
More silly than funny as Woody Allen resorts to goofy sight gags too often. Not one of the better Allen comedies.

The Ghost Train (1941)**
Enjoyable comedy thriller from wartime England. Rather bland direction overcome by a good cast.

Neuroscience And Justice Edge Master Class 2011 | Conversation | Edge:
"We have this thing over here, in the left side, that we've called the interpreter. It's not in the right hemisphere, you can't get the right hemisphere to do this kind of thing. The interpreter is just weaving the story, the narrative that makes sense out of these modules that are constantly bombarding us with information, with actual behaviors, with felt states, with everything. We've got to tell a story about what's going on and that's what we think this narrative function does."

The Nutty Professor (1963)**
Silly riff on the Jekyll-Hyde legend is nonetheless a showcase for director Jerry Lewis' distinctive visual style, excellently rendered by his frequent cinematographer W. Wallace Kelley. Beautiful looking film.

The Men Behind The War On Women:
"When asked about the dissonance among Catholics and the leadership on abortion and contraception issues, Bishop Lori said that divisions were beside the point.

'It's not for a government to exploit fault lines within religious institutions,' he said. 'We recognize that not everybody shares that teaching; nevertheless, it is a fundamental right for the church to stand by their convictions.'"

Just as in the priest child rape cases, these bishops declare their religious liberty is at stake if they are not allowed to be above the law. This is an extremely disturbing and disgusting group of men.