Immoral Tales (1974) **

Explicit art house anthology from a definitely male gaze perspective. Watchable but fails to make a point.

The Beast (1975) **

When a film opens on a shot of a stallion in flagrante delicto you know you're in for something a little different. On that score, this flick does not disappoint. However, this black comedy/social diatribe is shocking at times but feels overlong/stretched out at just 92 minutes and ultimately IS disappointing.

The quantum source of space-time : Nature News & Comment

Einstein loathed the idea of entanglement, and famously derided it as “spooky action at a distance”. But it is central to quantum theory. And Van Raamsdonk, drawing on work by like-minded physicists going back more than a decade, argued for the ultimate irony — that, despite Einstein’s objections, entanglement might be the basis of geometry, and thus of Einstein’s geometric theory of gravity. “Space-time,” he says, “is just a geometrical picture of how stuff in the quantum system is entangled.”

Nuclear Waste Deep Storage Plans Approved - IEEE Spectrum

To provide safer and more permanent storage, Posiva proposes to bury electrically-welded iron-and-copper capsules 400 meters underground. The capsules would be surrounded by clay barriers and capped with rubble and cement. The facility, which would have a 6,500 metric ton capacity, could likely hold Finland and Sweden's projected future nuclear waste. But that capacity doesn’t come close to the volume required by larger nations such as the United States, which has over 70,000 metric tons of waste piled up, and produces an additional 2,200 tons a year.

Though tunneling has been going on for over a decade, Posiva had to wait for the Finnish government to approve its 2012 construction permit application before it could begin the trickier task of loading radioactive waste into its metal coffins. That task may begin as soon as 2023, continue for up to a century, and end when operators fill in the access tunnels with rubble and cap them off with cement. Posiva estimates that installation and operating costs for the first century will be around €3 billion (US $3.21 billion).

Spectre (2015) **

Gets 2 stars for a spectacular opening action sequence, the presence of Ms. Bellucci, Ms. Seydoux and Ms. Harris and some nice cinematography. The rest of the film sadly under-utilizes the aforementioned actresses and is content to be an undistinguished actioner.

Infection causes Cardinals great Lou Brock to lose part of leg : Sports

An infection relative to a diabetic condition has necessitated the amputation of Brock's left leg just below the knee. But the Brock family has sent a message that the Base Burglar is recovering well and, according to a source, Brock already is taking steps with a walker and will be fitted for a prosthetic device.

Brock was visited in the hospital last weekend by former teammate Bob Gibson, who was able to make Brock laugh with one of his remarks, and former manager Red Schoendienst, another Hall of Famer who also lifted Brock's morale.

Jeff Lynne Discusses the Rebirth of ELO and New Album, 'Alone in the Universe' | Guitar World

"But writing the words is like torture, really. Because I just love music so much, the words seem kind of unnecessary to me. I just like the tune and the chords. In fact, I never even listen to the words of a song for probably the first 10 listens. I don't even know what they are on some of the songs that are my favorites, because all I listen to is the melody and the chords and the bass line."

Crimson Peak (2015) **

It wears its many inspirations on its sleeve, has impeccable production design, costumes, technical prowess (the ghosts are especially well done) but everything is a bit too hyper-realized, obscuring the humanity. That and the violence is far too realistically rendered and detailed for the overall tone. Imagine the "cheek repair" scene in Pan's Labyrinth done 10 times.

Undernews: How the Manhattan Project all killed in St Louis as well - Linkis.com

By the mid 1940s, Mallinckrodt Chemical Works had run out of space to store the radioactive waste left behind, so in 1946 they began to ship the leftovers to a relatively underpopulated area north of St Louis, next to a creek by the name of Coldwater. It was here that approximately 250,000 barrels of radioactive material were dumped in shallow pits and exposed to the elements.
...
According to a 1990 article in the New York Times, the toxic waste was dumped secretly with the approval of the federal government.

<irony>Conspiracy theory! To believe this you would have to believe that this has remained a secret for 69 years, involving dozens of people across government and industry! We all know that cannot happen!</irony>

Fat: The New Health Paradigm - Credit Suisse

This report is based on more than 400 medical research papers and books written by academics and industry experts, as well as two in-house surveys of doctors, nutritionists and consumers. Eating cholesterol, for instance, has basically no impact on the level of cholesterol in the blood or on potential heart diseases, and the link between saturated fat intake and cardiovascular risk has not been proved. "But we found that 40 percent of nutritionists and 70 percent of general practitioners surveyed believe that eating cholesterol-rich foods has damaging cardiovascular effects. This is not true, according to the extensive research that has become available in recent years," said Giles Keating, Vice Chairman of Investment Strategy & Research and Deputy Global Chief Investment Officer for Private Banking & Wealth Management. A high intake of vegetable oils (containing omega-6 polyunsaturated fats) has not been proved to be as beneficial as earlier thought, and trans-fats have been shown to have negative effects on our health. In short, saturated fats and monounsaturated fats are not behind the high rates of obesity and metabolic syndrome in the US. The two leading culprits are the higher intakes of vegetable oils and the increase in carbohydrate consumption.

The Strangers in Your Brain - The New Yorker

If transposons were tampering with the DNA of every future neuron, then they were endowing each one with a slightly different genome. Even neurons that budded from the same mother would behave differently. This phenomenon, which is known as genetic mosaicism, doesn’t happen much in other tissues. The cilia that guard our lungs are genetically identical to the blood cells that circulate in our arteries, even though one looks like a sea anemone and the other looks like a cough drop. The two appear different only because they express various genes differently, in developmentally predetermined ways. Although neurons are similarly programmed, the Salk study suggested that transposons were giving them the ability to ad-lib. Several years after the initial discovery, members of Gage’s lab sequenced hundreds of individual neurons from human cadavers and found this to be true. Cells in the same brain are, indeed, genetically distinct from one another.

The tantalizing links between gut microbes and the brain : Nature News & Comment

In humans, the data are more limited. Researchers have drawn links between gastrointestinal pathology and psychiatric neurological conditions such as anxiety, depression, autism, schizophrenia and neurodegenerative disorders — but they are just links.

“In general, the problem of causality in microbiome studies is substantial,” says Rob Knight, a microbiologist at the University of California, San Diego. “It's very difficult to tell if microbial differences you see associated with diseases are causes or consequences.” There are many outstanding questions. Clues about the mechanisms by which gut bacteria might interact with the brain are starting to emerge, but no one knows how important these processes are in human development and health.

I would tend to think that the links would almost HAVE to be causal because the gut microbiome develops independently of us. Our genetic makeup has nothing to do with those organisms as far as I understand it. Wouldn't that imply that it is the microbiome influencing the body/brain?

St. Louis Landfill Fire Near Radioactive Waste | Al Jazeera America

A fire smoldering underneath a landfill north of St. Louis since 2010 could reach radioactive waste from the Manhattan Project in as little as three months, according to a report released by Missouri’s attorney general.

Much of the uranium used to make the first nuclear weapons was processed in downtown St. Louis, and the waste was moved around the region for decades. In 1973 a private company that bought some of the waste from the U.S. government illegally dumped it at the West Lake Landfill in Bridgeton, Missouri, a northern suburb of St. Louis.

Stellan Skarsgård: 'I've never gone to a shrink. Maybe I should' - Telegraph

He is not optimistic that Sweden will continue to punch above its weight culturally. "I'm happy to be in that little corner of the world that so much talent comes out of. And of course it’s the pay-off from having had very good education for everybody… And now, of course, this will change because for eight years we had one of David Cameron's best friends as the prime minister [Fredrik Reinfeldt], dismantling what was so successful. As with England as well, culture will be reduced to children from a wealthy background. And then you're f----- as a nation. Good luck, Sweden."

Heavenly Creatures (1994) **

Tries to show the inner workings of the adolescent mind as it conflates fantasy with reality in the course of an intense friendship and how it can spiral out of control. Admirable attempt, doesn't quite succeed.

What Neuroscience’s Newest ‘Genius’ Discovered -- Science of Us

You have fewer synapses in your brain now than a 2-year-old. That may sound like an insult, but it’s a scientific fact. We’re all born with heads full of lonely, isolated neurons. But as our baby brains are inundated with sensory information over the first two years of life, those neurons rapidly form connections, or synapses. A toddlers’ brain teems with more than 100 trillion of them. By the time that toddler becomes an adult, though, the brain will have pared back roughly half of them — synapses that are used frequently become stronger, while those that aren’t wither away.

This process of overproduction followed by winnowing allows the brain to shape itself to its environment. As neuroscientist David Eagleman writes, “You become who you are not because of what grows in your brain, but because of what’s removed.”

Hedge fund manager buys drug company, raises price of pill from $13.50 to $750 / Boing Boing

In August Shkreli bought a drug called Daraprim. It's been around for 62 years and is used to treat toxoplasmosis, a life-threatening parasitic infection. "Turing immediately raised the price to $750 a tablet from $13.50, bringing the annual cost of treatment for some patients to hundreds of thousands of dollars," reports the New York Times...Watch Bloomberg's interview with Shkreli about his decision to raise the price. He admits it costs less than $1 a pill to manufacture Daraprim, yet insists at $750 a pill, "Daraprim is still underpriced relative to its peers."

Don't worry. The "market" will sort that all out. No need for any big government socialistic communistic death panels making our health care decisions for us. "Consumers" just need to shop around more.

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) ****

Thoroughly entertaining WWII action epic from David Lean featuring standout performances, photography and script. A little heavy-handed with the score at times, otherwise nearly flawless.

Shaun the Sheep Movie (2015) ***

Not up to the heights of other films from Aardman Animations but quite enjoyable with superb stop-motion work. No dialogue, just one sight gag after another. A disappointingly heavier reliance on potty humor unfortunately.

Book review: ‘Notes on the Death of Culture’ by Mario Vargas Llosa

Eliot too saw culture decaying around him and foresaw a time in which there would be no culture. This time, Vargas Llosa argues, is ours. Eliot has since been under attack for what his critics often describe as his elitist attitudes – as well as much else – and Vargas Llosa will probably also be tarred with the same brush for his pains.

There you go again. Every couple of years we get another round of "the death of culture" books/essays about how stupid we've all become because of the internet or comic books or movies or pop music or anything not in The Canon. It's the rantings of elites out of touch with current trends and pissed about it.

The Brotherhood (1968) **

If you can accept Kirk as an Italian (let alone a Sicilian) this tough Mafia tale has a lot to offer. Years before Tony Soprano this flick had the guts to show the devotion to family and brutality that goes with being in The Mob. Very similar to The Godfather and suffers by comparison since it is not nearly as well directed.

Survivor (2015) **

Pierce does a fine job as the villain in this comically absurd non-stop spy chaser.

Nightfall (1957) **

It's a well made and well cast noir, but the script is a little too self-consciously quirky. Nice Fargo-esque ending though.

Irrational Man (2015) **

Enjoyable and beautifully filmed, as nearly all Woody movies are, but not well cast and not especially well written.

Criss Cross (1949) **

Burt Lancaster's performance and a logical but unusually downbeat ending are the highlights of this slowly paced and rather lackluster noir.

kottke.org: Procrastination vs. impatience

In one ingenious experiment, Oettingen had some of the participants rendered mildly dehydrated. They were then taken through an exercise that involved visualising drinking a refreshing, icy glass of water, while others took part in a different exercise. The dehydrated water-visualisers -- contrary to the self-help doctrine of motivation through visualisation -- experienced a significant reduction in their energy levels, as measured by blood pressure. Far from becoming more motivated to hydrate themselves, their bodies relaxed, as if their thirst were already quenched. In experiment after experiment, people responded to positive visualisation by relaxing. They seemed, subconsciously, to have confused visualising success with having already achieved it.

Teacher of the Year (2014) **

A talented cast makes up for an amateurish production and a less than compelling script in this earnest and sincere look at modern educators and some of the problems they face.

Maggie (2015) *

Tries extremely hard to be a film about how we come to grips with our mortality but it is so slowly paced and so poorly lit that all you can see are the plot holes.

Trainwreck (2015) ***

Funny flip on standard rom-com gender roles and an auspicious debut for lead/writer Amy Schumer.

The Third Man (1949) ***

Orson's great, the cinematography is great, the direction top-notch and the script has something to say beyond the plot, but the two lead roles and actors are so dull the film really suffers. Still, worth seeing.

blog.richardroeper.com: Blog Archive: RR talks with Woody Allen about new film, “Irrational Man”

Not that Allen looks down on those of us who “Twitter,” or become preoccupied with reading the gossip provided by the TMZ’s and Perez Hilton’s of the world.

“You know, you’re born and you mark time until you die. And people have got to fill their lives with things, and some people fill it with very noble things, but most people need stuff to fill their lives with. They go to work in the morning, they’ve got to earn a living. In their free time they play golf, they go on their boat, they go to the movies … it livens up their life.

Given Allen’s upbeat mood during our talk, I had to ask: Has he found something approaching contentment?

“You know, given the tremendous nightmare that life is, then I’m OK. Then I’ve had a lucky life. But life is a difficult, meaningless, tragic, suffering proposition, and really for many, many people, [it’s] awful. So you know by the standards of what life is, I’ve been blessed. I’m very lucky.”

Eye of the Needle (1981) ***

Terrific, 3 dimensional spy thriller. Hitch would have enjoyed this.

Sandra Bland Was Murdered | Rolling Stone

That's why the issue isn't how Sandra Bland died, but why she was stopped and detained in the first place. It's profiling, sure, but it's even worse than that. It's a systematic campaign to harass people using misdemeanors and violations as battering ram that's been going on forever, and against which there's little defense. When the law can be stretched to mean almost anything, obeying it is no magic bullet.

The Mystery of ISIS by Anonymous | The New York Review of Books

The thinkers, tacticians, soldiers, and leaders of the movement we know as ISIS are not great strategists; their policies are often haphazard, reckless, even preposterous; regardless of whether their government is, as some argue, skillful, or as others imply, hapless, it is not delivering genuine economic growth or sustainable social justice. The theology, principles, and ethics of the ISIS leaders are neither robust nor defensible. Our analytical spade hits bedrock very fast.

I have often been tempted to argue that we simply need more and better information. But that is to underestimate the alien and bewildering nature of this phenomenon. To take only one example, five years ago not even the most austere Salafi theorists advocated the reintroduction of slavery; but ISIS has in fact imposed it. Nothing since the triumph of the Vandals in Roman North Africa has seemed so sudden, incomprehensible, and difficult to reverse as the rise of ISIS. None of our analysts, soldiers, diplomats, intelligence officers, politicians, or journalists has yet produced an explanation rich enough—even in hindsight—to have predicted the movement’s rise.

Newly Released Dashcam Video Shows Sandra Bland Traffic Stop - NBC News

The video shows state trooper Brian Encinia stopping Bland in her silver Hyundai Azera after he says she failed to signal a lane change.

"You OK?" Encinia asks Bland.

"I'm waiting on you, this is your job," Bland responds. "I'm waiting on you."

"You seem very irritated," Encinia adds.

Failed to signal a lane change, refused to put out a cigarette and displayed noticeable irritation. Don't mess with Texas indeed.

Go Set A Watchman - An Opinion Piece | Brilliant Books

It is disappointing and frankly shameful to see our noble industry parade and celebrate this as “Harper Lee’s New Novel”. This is pure exploitation of both literary fans and a beloved American classic (which we hope has not been irrevocably tainted.) We therefore encourage you to view “Go Set A Watchman” with intellectual curiosity and careful consideration; a rough beginning for a classic, but only that.

via @KUSCGail.

Bicycling with Moliére (2013) **

Making Moliére accessible to modern audiences is the idea under the guise of a low-key comedy/character study as only the French can do. Pleasant and well acted, but so light it tends to flutter away.

Review: ‘Go Set a Watchman,’ by Harper Lee - SFGate

When Lee submitted the manuscript of “Watchman” to publisher J.B. Lippincott in 1957, her editor, Tay Hohoff, astutely saw the germ of a better book in the childhood passages and suggested Lee rewrite the novel from young Scout’s point of view, set 20 years earlier, during the Depression. Comparing “Mockingbird” — the result of two years of arduous revisions — with “Watchman” demonstrates clearly just how important a good editor can be. Put simply, where “Mockingbird” beguiles, dazzles and moves to tears as it conveys core values of empathy and human decency, “Watchman” horrifies with its ugly racism, even as it emotes and moralizes didactically, clunkily and shrilly.

It is hard not to wonder whether this manuscript made it into print after all these years because of a genuine late-life change of heart by its infirm, 89-year-old author, or because of the new gatekeeper who succeeded her sister (and longtime lawyer) Alice, who died in 2014.

Blade Runner (1982) ***

Influential and ground breaking sci-fi flick that unfortunately set the look for too many other 80's movies. It's a pretty good yarn with a few too many incongruent moments that look great but make no sense. Rutger Hauer steals the picture.

The military tested bacterial weapons in San Francisco - Business Insider

Over the next 20 years, the military would conduct 239 "germ-warfare" tests over populated areas, according to news reports from the 1970s (after the secret tests had been revealed) in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Associated Press, and other publications (via Lexis-Nexis), and also detailed in congressional testimony from the 1970s.

These tests included the large-scale releases of bacteria in the New York City subway system, on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and in National Airport just outside Washington, DC.

On the Beach (1959) **

Ultimately unconvincing doomsday tale thanks to heavy handed and plodding direction. It's also way too long. Still Misses Gardner and Anderson are easy on the eyes and Mr. Astaire turns in a fine performance in his straight dramatic debut although he's supposed to be British and has no accent whatsoever. Same goes for Gardner and Perkins who are supposed to be Australian.

The Mission (1986) ***

Full of lush and cinematic imagery, a handful of moving sequences and a terrific score, nevertheless the film fails to achieve the greatness to which is aspires. The symbolism is a little too overt, the earnestness a little too strong. Not enough of the characters, especially the native peoples, are fleshed out and remain caricatures. Still, entertaining and thought provoking.

Are Grocery Stores The Well Of Human Sadness? - The Awl

Is it truly possible that the general state of the species is to float through even the most banal of circumstances untroubled by minor annoyances? Let’s not go so far as to discuss whether you are able to get through a transaction at an automated teller machine without somehow secretly intuiting the sorrow and loneliness and lack of hope that hurts the hearts of everyone else around you—I realize that magic power of tragic transference is a special gift only few of us have been chosen to live with. All I want to know is if everyone else is really having a good time in our nation’s checkout lines. Because maybe that explains why none of you seem in any particular hurry to have your money or cards ready to go when your turn finally comes with the cashier. Sweet Christ, it’s like you’ve got the rest of your lives to bathe in that bad lighting next to the snack cake display and you’re pleased as punch to spend that time with the rest of us, regardless of what we’re trying desperately to rush off to. Or maybe you’re just so dispirited by the idea of going back your empty, loveless hole of heartbreak that you want to prolong the few seconds of contact you have with any other human being? God, I’m crying just thinking about it.

Alex Balk so gets me.

Jon Anderson, Rick Wakeman Remember Yes' Chris Squire | Rolling Stone

Anderson and Squire co-wrote many of Yes' greatest hits: "Yours Is No Disgrace," "Starship Trooper," "I've Seen All Good People" and "Owner of a Lonely Heart." "We travelled a road less travelled and I'm so thankful that he climbed the musical mountains with me," Anderson wrote. "Throughout everything, he was still my brother, and I'm so glad we were able to reconnect recently. I saw him in my meditation last night, and he was radiant. My heart goes out to his family and loved ones."

Probably THE most unique bass player ever in popular music, and one of the more innovative song writers. Tremendous talent.

Supertramp co-founder relishes role in 'service industry' - Yahoo News

"I wasn't the kind of songwriter who just sat down and said, 'What am I going to write about?'

"These songs came from a very pure place in me. They are me -- they express my questions, my joy, my longing for love, my longing to know God."

Before I Go to Sleep (2014) *

Quite unpleasant thriller directed without style, a waste of a good cast. Another "protagonist forgets everything each day" flick but nowhere near the artistry of Memento.

Inside Out (2015) ***

Smart, intelligent, original, cleverly designed and absolutely the topper-most in the animation game (particularly the depiction of "reality") yet when it's all over it seems like something is missing. Maybe that's to be expected when your movie is about the importance of sadness to being human.

Pastor of St. Louis' "New Cathedral" dies : Lifestyles

In a statement, Archbishop Robert J. Carlson praised Monsignor Pins and said, “His passing will leave a great pastoral void in the Archdiocese of St. Louis.”

Monsignor Pins attended the former St. Louis Preparatory South High School, Cardinal Glennon College and Kenrick Seminary. He was ordained a priest in 1970.

His first assignment was at St. Luke Parish in Richmond Heights.

What is life?
It is the flash of a firefly in the night.
It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.
It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.
-- last words of Crowfoot (Blackfoot warrior and orator, 1890)

Nightcrawler (2014) ***

Well made cross between Network and Taxi Driver doesn't quite come together as a complete film. Terrific Jake Gyllenhaal performance, nicely shot scenes of nighttime L.A.

Insidious: Chapter 3 (2015) **

Consisting mainly of a series of setups to jump scares, but done well for the genre.

Mirrormask (2005) **

Well made and all, but it boils down to whether you find the production design, based upon the artwork of director Dave McKean appealing or not. I did not and that made the rest of the film tiresome. Admirable, but tiresome.

Christopher Lee, 1922-2015 - Boing Boing

Lord Summerisle, Dracula, Saruman—all immortal. Alas, the legendary actor behind them, who created villains of imposing intelligence and dignity for generation after generation, is dead at 93.

The American Scholar: The Examined Lie - James McWilliams

If the prospect of humans routinely communicating through inaccurate, if innocent, recollections sounds like a sociobiological dystopia, it shouldn’t. In his book Why We Lie, the philosopher David Livingstone Smith contends that lying is not only normal but even necessary for maintaining psychological equilibrium and social stability. He hypothesizes that “far from being a sign of emotional disturbance,” self-deception exists “at the core of our humanity.” The evolutionary impulse to deceive, Smith contends, taps an ancient disposition—“the Machiavellian unconscious”—that enables us to mislead ourselves so that we can strategically mislead others. “The task of getting on in life,” he told me, “requires self-deception because too much honesty is antisocial,” not to mention detrimental to survival. In this respect, flawed memory isn’t an indication of flawed character. Instead, as Harvard psychologist Schacter puts it, it’s the “byproduct of otherwise desirable and adaptive features of the human mind,” the kind of adaptations that enable humans to communicate through implicitly agreed upon, if often factually inaccurate, narratives. The vices of memory, Schacter writes, “can also be its virtues.”

Undernews: Obama considering destruction of a New Deal gem: TVA

The TVA is a corporate agency of the United States, governed by a nine-person board appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Its operations have been self-financed since 1999, requiring no taxpayer money. The TVA operates one of the nation’s largest utility systems, accounting for about 3 percent of U.S. electricity capacity. .

Even though electric power generation and transmission is the TVA’s dominant function, it remains integral to and integrated with the TVA’s nonpower responsibilities, including river and land management, environmental stewardship, and economic development.

Another solution to a non-existent problem.

Disney to Adapt Iconic 'Fantasia' Sequence Into Live-Action Movie (Exclusive) - The Hollywood Reporter

Disney has been diving head first into its animated classics to remake them as live action versions. Following Maleficent, Cinderella was released earlier in 2015, and has earned a stellar $531.8 million worldwide. A live-action version of Beauty and the Beast will star Emma Watson; Mia Wasikowska and Johnny Depp are set to star in sequel Alice Through the Looking Glass for 2016; and the studio's live-action The Jungle Book, directed by Jon Favreau, will also be released in 2016. Disney is also working on live-action versions of Mulan, Dumbo (Tim Burton will direct) and a Tinker Bell story starring Reese Witherspoon.

This is what the copyright laws have wrought. What a waste.

The November Man (2014) *

Pierce and Olga try valiantly to keep it watchable but this unrelentingly violent and repetitive actioner folds in on itself 6 times too often. A waste.

Annabelle (2014) **

Some nifty scares in this quickly paced and somewhat inventive entry from James Wan's DP.

Denny Hastert is Contemptible, But His Indictment Exemplifies America's Over-Criminalization Pathology - The Intercept

When everything – even trivial transgressions – can become a serious felony, it empowers law enforcement to punish whomever they want. It’s a key reason they are able to basically use arrest and prosecution powers to control and punish minority populations in the U.S. The arrest and destruction of Eliot Spitzer for prostitution was accomplished through the same type of detection system and charges being used against Hastert.

Turning someone into a felon and putting them into prison for years, or even threatening to do so, is one of the most repressive things a government can do to its citizens. Only serious acts of wrongdoing should enable that. The “past misconduct” in which Hastert allegedly engaged may qualify, but that’s not part of his charges. The acts for which he has been charged – hiding withdrawals and lying to the FBI about why he wanted that money – do not qualify.

The Blue Room (2014) ***

Expertly directed by lead Mathieu Amalric this quintessentially French noir grabs the viewer from the get go and doesn't let up until the puzzle is solved 75 minutes later. Or is it?

r.i.p. blank slate (and what does “the environment” mean anyway?) | hbd chick

the authors looked at “17,804 traits from 2,748 publications including 14,558,903 partly dependent twin pairs, virtually all published twin studies of complex traits.” 14.5+ MILLION twin pairs! as james thompson said, this study pretty much represents “the mother of ‘F*** Off’ samples.” (~_^) in future, if someone says to you that twin studies were debunked a long time ago, blah, blah, blah, just point them to this paper.

and the upshot is: we are not blank slates. we never were.

Taxi Driver (1976) ****

Superb trip to Hell in the guise of NYC in the early '70's with a deranged Vietnam vet as guide. Every aspect of the production feels fresh and original even 40 years on.

The Birth of Eleanor Rigby

‘All our songs come out of our imagination. There was never an Eleanor Rigby. One of us might think of a song completely, and the other just adds a bit. Or we might write alternate lines. We never argue. If one of us says he doesn’t like a bit, the other agrees. It just doesn’t matter that much. I care about being a song writer. But I don’t care passionately about each song.

Art Garfunkel on Paul Simon: 'I created a monster' - Telegraph

“George came up to me at a party once and said “my Paul is to me what your Paul is to you.” He meant that psychologically they had the same effect on us. The Pauls sidelined us. I think George felt suppressed by Paul and I think that’s what he saw with me and my Paul. Here’s the truth: McCartney was a helluva music man who gave the band its energy, but he also ran away with a lot of the glory.”

Leap Year (2010) ***

Fascinating character study of a woman struggling to deal with deeply buried pain and willing to try one approach to its inevitable conclusion. Unflinchingly and realistically portrayed by Monica del Carmen and nicely directed by Michael Rowe on just one set with no closeups (yay!). Runs rings around films with much larger budgets and more "name" talent.

The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) **

Has not aged well. Most of the cast seem miscast which hampers the impact of the final scenes. Some decent Woody one-liners and his usual fine pacing, but it's not up to his impressive visual standards.

Nestle boss says he wants to bottle more water in California despite drought | US news | The Guardian

Brown admitted that Nestlé currently wastes about 30% of the 700m gallons of water a year it draws from the ground in California. On Tuesday, the company announced plans to reduce water waste at its bottling plants in Bakersfield and Tulare by 12%.

More than 82,000 people have signed a petition calling on Nestlé to stop bottling from a spring in southern California, and protesters armed with plastic pitchforks have blocked the entrance to a Nestlé plant in Sacramento.

Despite the protests, Brown said: “We feel good about what we’re doing delivering healthy hydrating to people throughout the state of California.”

Woody Allen at Cannes: Life Has No Meaning, and His Amazon Series Could Be a 'Cosmic Embarrassment'

“The bottom line is that life has its own agenda, and it runs right over you. We’re all going to end up in a very bad position sooner or later. The same position, but a bad one — and the only way out of it, the only thing you can do as an artist, is to explain to people how life is worth living and has a meaning.”
He shrugged. “Now, you can’t really do that without conning them. We’re living in a random universe with no meaning. Everything that Shakespeare or Michelangelo or Beethoven did will all be gone one day. It’s very hard to sell anyone a bill of goods that there’s any good to this.”
So his tactic, he insisted, is simple: “The only possible way you can beat this is through distraction. I distract myself by making these movies. I think, ‘Oh God, can I get Emma and Parker to get this scene right?’ Like it means something, like if I make a bad movie I’ll die.”

Factotum (2005) ****

Immensely perceptive and lyrical look at humanity through the misadventures of a not likable, not employable and barely tolerable would be writer. No happy endings, no growth arcs, just the bitter truth exposed with humor, cinematic imagery and excellent acting, directing, writing.

Seymour M. Hersh: The Killing of Osama bin Laden : LRB 21 May 2015

The remains, including his head, which had only a few bullet holes in it, were thrown into a body bag and, during the helicopter flight back to Jalalabad, some body parts were tossed out over the Hindu Kush mountains – or so the Seals claimed. At the time, the retired official said, the Seals did not think their mission would be made public by Obama within a few hours: ‘If the president had gone ahead with the cover story, there would have been no need to have a funeral within hours of the killing. Once the cover story was blown, and the death was made public, the White House had a serious “Where’s the body?” problem. The world knew US forces had killed bin Laden in Abbottabad. Panic city. What to do? We need a “functional body” because we have to be able to say we identified bin Laden via a DNA analysis. It would be navy officers who came up with the “burial at sea” idea. Perfect. No body. Honourable burial following sharia law. Burial is made public in great detail, but Freedom of Information documents confirming the burial are denied for reasons of “national security”. It’s the classic unravelling of a poorly constructed cover story – it solves an immediate problem but, given the slighest inspection, there is no back-up support. There never was a plan, initially, to take the body to sea, and no burial of bin Laden at sea took place.’ The retired official said that if the Seals’ first accounts are to be believed, there wouldn’t have been much left of bin Laden to put into the sea in any case.

I guess ZD30 really IS fiction then. Too bad it will still be treated as a doc by lots of people.

Ex Machina (2015) ***

Thought provoking, very well made sci-fi fable about man v. machine and WHAT a machine! Reminiscent of a Soderbergh flick in a good way.

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) **

Terrific first couple of reels, goes s-l-o-w-l-y downhill from there primarily due to the languorous pace and the lack of further story. Nice images, refreshing take on an old genre, often Coppola-esque.

Lady in the Lake (1947) *

Answers the question "Can you make a good picture showing only the main character's point of view?" with a resounding "NO!" The script is surprisingly faithful to the source, but the gimmick is terrible.

While We're Young (2014) ***

An intelligent and densely packed script is the highlight here. But Baumbach's insistence on casting Ben Stiller in the lead really hurts the film as well as his penchant for tight close-ups which hopefully is just an aberration. Reminiscent of parts of a certain Woody Allen film, although Baumbach would do better to imitate Allen's love of medium shots instead of his plots.

The Babadook (2014) **

Well put together parenting fable is hamstrung by the fact that the kid IS truly supremely annoying so the "twist" can't come soon enough. Outstanding job by Essie Davis in the lead.

The Imitation Game (2014) *

Another Hollywood-ized biopic (meaning characters/events invented, key characters/events ignored) using flashbacks seemingly willynilly to annoying effect especially when the real true story is more compelling. The only problem is real life is not an arc and people are not usually defined by one traumatic event in childhood. One more time, a simple thing to change names and/or completely invent a story and that way nobody gets hurt and we MAY end up with a decent film.

Across the Pacific (1942) *

Given the stellar pedigree this one's a big disappointment with very little style and not much to say other than WWII propaganda.

Kicking and Screaming (1995) ***

Pretty rough around the edges, but the actors sell it well especially the great Chris Eigeman. Early Noah Baumbach effort is strained at times but clearly shows the talent and the smarts.

SPIEGEL Interview with John Cleese - SPIEGEL ONLINE

SPIEGEL: Somewhere in your book you call Terry Jones a "swarthy, excitable, plump, Celtic demi-dwarf." Apart from that, is everything okay between the two of you?

Cleese: We always fought, Terry and I, and we don't understand each other. But there's a genuine affection. We were playing two old women in the reunion show last year, and I don't know why, but we started holding hands before the lights came on. We disagree a lot. And Terry Gilliam has only said two things in his life that I agree with but there's still an affection. We all went in completely different directions after Monty Python. Eric went into music, Terry Gilliam directs movies -- he is wonderful at images, but not very good at narrative. Terry Jones does all sorts of things. Michael does a lot of programs about travel and painting. I don't know what I've done.

Paul McCartney defends Kanye West over use of racial slur - Daily Dish

McCartney also revealed his wife Nancy Shevell was less charitable over the performance, adding, “It really shocked Nancy, because she’d been to school with a lot of black kids and been immersed in that experience.”

Paul, Paul, Paul. Just say "Some of her best friends are..." instead.

Still Life (2006) *

Incoherence, intentionally or not, is a tough sell in a film. You need a charismatic star, extremely breathtaking cinematography, art direction and maybe all 3. This film has none.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) **

Very well crafted film, good pacing, never felt too long, interesting art direction, fine actors. However, I was very familiar with the source material so that probably influences my opinion regarding the tempo and understand-ability of the complicated plot. Oldman is a liability in that he plays Smiley as fairly comatose and I never got the feeling he was a real person.

Bottling water without scrutiny

Even with California deep in drought, the federal agency hasn't assessed the impacts of the bottled water business on springs and streams in two watersheds that sustain sensitive habitats in the national forest. The lack of oversight is symptomatic of a Forest Service limited by tight budgets and focused on other issues, and of a regulatory system in California that allows the bottled water industry to operate with little independent tracking of the potential toll on the environment.

It seems incredible that the state IS tracking residential water use, and rightfully so, yet corporations' water usage is not?

Cosmopolis (2012) **

Interesting premise that starts well but peters out quickly despite some knockout star cameos especially Juliette Binoche. The actors are fine but the approach is too laid back for such a thin thread of a story.

Parents ask S.F. Archdiocese to remove school’s leaders - SFGate

Illo, who also didn’t speak during the hour-and-a-half meeting, said afterward that it’s a difficult situation and acknowledged that there is a lot of tension and anxiety between himself and the school parents. He said there have been misunderstandings, but now he’ll leave it to the archbishop to decide what happens next.
“It was a good forum,” Illo said. “It’s important to hear their perspective.”

'Yoga Pants are Ruining Women' and Other Style Advice From Fran Lebowitz

To me, the main difference between young people now and the people I was young with isn't so much style, it's the relationships they have with their parents. Their parents like them much more than ours liked us. Our parents weren't our friends. They disapproved of us. All our parents cared about was how we behaved, not how we felt, not what we wanted. But now I see my friends on the phones with their, what, 30-year-old kids? And they're talking about feelings. You would think this kind of relationship would make this adult children more relaxed, but instead they're more concerned. Parent-child relationships have become so collegiate. And so when these grown children go into the world, they expect a certain amount of attention. And they're very disappointed.

Kenneth Branagh "Hopeful" About Martin Scorsese Macbeth

Speaking about the possible Scorsese movie, Branagh revealed, “To some extent the invitation is for the maestro to do what he will with this, to be very impressionistic with it and very abstract.” That should help set it apart from the many other Macbeth adaptations that have hit stage and screen over the centuries — including one due out this year, with Justin Kurzel directing and Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard starring.

House of Strangers (1949) *

Bizarre saga of deranged Sicilian patriarch and his equally deranged offspring. Any resemblance to actual human beings is purely coincidental and minimal. A few nicely done tracking shots and Edward G. does a nice job.

Pickpocket (1959) *

A blank slate of a film, in which the actors give non-performances and the viewer supplies the emotion and motivation. This makes for an interesting movie but not an engaging or enjoyable one.

Clint Eastwood Describes His Near-Death Experience, Says 'American Sniper' Is Anti-War (Exclusive) - Hollywood Reporter

EASTWOOD: I did. Apocalypse Now, they… [Francis Ford] Coppola called me up and asked me if I wanted to do the young guy I think later played by Martin Sheen. And asked me if I wanted to play that and I said gee, I don't know I don’t understand this show too much. I did read Heart of Darkness when I was young and so I kind of knew where it was going but then I said no, I don’t think I can go off for that long a time. He was going to go 16 weeks in the Philippines. And then Steve McQueen called me and he says why don’t you come on and you come on and play this role? I said I thought you were going to play that role because I'd read somewhere that he was going to play.

EASTWOOD: He said no, no, he said I want to play the Kurtz role that [Marlon] Brando ended up playing. And I said well why do you want to play that? He says well, I get the same money but I only have to work two weeks. [LAUGHTER] I said well you've figured it out. I said I don't know about going to the Philippines and there’s a lot of unknown factors maybe over there and I'd just gotten through building a house and everything and I thought no I don’t want to go away that long.

The Big Combo (1955) *

Every cliche in the noir book is tried and found wanting in this bad but earnest flick. If the cinematography or acting or SOMETHING was exceptional it might have worked but this is very poorly written.

Biutiful (2010) **

Javier Bardem carries the picture as best he can but it's ultimately not enough despite some exceptional moments. Too long and too unrelentingly bleak, even if that is the point, to be entertaining or enjoyable.

A Doll's House (1973) ***

Top notch cast brings the classic Ibsen play to life. Doesn't look or feel like a filmed play, but some of the actors are disconcertingly old for their parts.

Fargo (1996) ****

Perfectly crafted combination noir and character study hits just the right tones using all the keys. Tremendous pacing, pitch perfect performances, nifty combination of subtlety and overt violence.

The Tale of The Princess Kaguya (2013) ****

Exquisitely and imaginatively animated Japanese folk tale shows Disney a thing or two about adapting "fairy tales" for the screen and intentionally or not blows away all their "Princess" movies. The impact of the final reel is profound.

Marlene (1984) **

Interesting document of how to make a film documentary about an individual who does not want to be photographed. Marlene Dietrich tries very hard not to reveal her true self but in her non-comments, denials and protestations as well as the subtle cinematic tricks of director Maximilian Schell we get a glimpse here and there.

Thérèse (2012) **

The difficulty of making a story which mainly takes place inside the characters' heads into compelling cinema is evident in this sumptuously filmed saga of between the wars Bordeaux families where individuality is irrelevant and only the family, and the pines, matter. It doesn't quite pull it off.

In a World... (2013) ***

Excellent writer-director debut for comic actress Lake Bell who shows a visual flair, a solid casting sense and a way with a one liner. Fred Melamed is terrific as usual.

A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014) *

Another violent revenge noir for Liam Neeson, this one even more sadistic and gratuitously brutal than the others. Artless and ugly.

Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) **

Watchable but oddly un-erotic and un-romantic depiction of what ostensibly should be an erotic romance. Uninspired casting.

Belle (2013) **

Bland period piece depicting sexist and racist English cultural rubrics of the 18th century. Film assumes its noble purpose is all that matters.