With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.
The good life, as I conceive it, is a happy life. I do not mean that if you are good you will be happy - I mean that if you are happy you will be good.
Too much sanity may be madness and the maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be.
I enjoy paying taxes. With them I buy civilization.
2002-05-19 - 10:56 a.m.
Not much happened after I updated yesterday. I didn't have any plans for the evening and there were no concerts that I really wanted to go to so I decided to check out the Chocolate Bar. While I was deciding what to get they gave me a sample of a chocolate potato candy. I know it doesn't sound good but it actually was. I decided to get an iced hot chocolate, which of course sounds like an oxymoron. It was really good though. A running theme of all their drinks is that they aren't as sweet as most chocolate. They don't go out of their way to add sugar. My drink was great; I'll be back again to try out more of the products.
While I was in the city I did some chatchka shopping. I found a new store with some fun stuff in it. If I weren't short of money now I'd have bought some nice fossils for myself. As it is I just got a few gifts.
I then went to Village Comics looking for Buffy Action figures. I actually found someone there who knew what he was talking about. He told me that they didn't have any but the Drusilla but he made a note to check to see if they can get more. He isn't sure they are still being sold.
I got home in time to watch the Met game. After a bad streak they seem to be back on track. They have actually scored a few runs the last couple of games. The pitching has been brilliant.
Today I'm going to Montclair for the Festival where I'm meeting the Engles. It should be fun
It's Sunday so it's time for my second weekly update on what's on TV this week.
Sunday, May 19:
2:00 PM TCM - Casablanca: The perfect film. If it isn't on your short list of favorites it should be.6:00 PM TCM - A Perfect World: Clint Eastwood showed that Unforgiving wasn't a fluke with this his next film. A brilliant character study of a fugitive with soft spot for a young boy and the lawman trying to catch him. He brought out the best in Kevin Costner, a fine actor who too often seems to miss the point of the films he's in. His character is complex and he shows all the facets of it.
8:00 PM Cartoon Network: I'm breaking my rule by including regularly scheduled programs here. The Simpsons and Malcolm aren't on this week so check these shows out. Toonhead, Tex Avery, and Chuck Jones. I wrote an Obituary for Chuck when he died earlier this year. Tex Avery was the one who really invented what we now think of as the Warner Brothers Cartoon Style. Toonhead is dedicated to weird pre-war animation, often in black and white. It is usually worth a look-see.
8:00 PM TCM: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: Another of the funnies movies ever made. Zero Mostel is brilliant as always. Other comic geniuses in the cast are Jack Gilford, Phil Silvers, and silent film icon Buster Keaton. If you look fast you'll see Jon Pertwee, Dr Who #3, telling about the plague in Crete. Stephen Sondheim wrote the songs and Richard Lester directed. Larry Gelbert the creator of the TV show M*A*S*H co wrote it. The talent shows.
10 PM TCM The Producers: I'm running out of superlatives. I'll not pull any punches, The Producers is THE funniest film ever made. You'll be earwormed with Springtime for Hitler no matter how many times you've seen it. Mel Brooks Directed, Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder star. It is the best film that each of them made.
Tuesday, May 21:
9:00 PM USA - The Third Man:Classic Carol Reed thriller from a Graham Greene story. This tale of intrigue in postwar Vienna works as both a suspense story and a character study. The film stars Joseph Cotton but Orson Welles steals the show as Harry Lime. There are so many classic scenes, Welles standing in the doorway, the flight through the sewers, the Ferris wheel, and one of the greatest fadeouts ever.1:30 PM Sundance - Absolute Beginners: This is the movie that made me decide to write these recommendations. It is on my list of movies for my never started book project You Probably Haven't Seen. The book will push movies that never reached their proper audience. They can range from totally obscure movies that should have found a cult following to movies that should have been hits. Absolute Beginners is about the birth of the separate teenage culture in Britain in the early 60s. It's a Rock Musical featuring David Bowie, Ray Davies, and Sade, singing and acting. The movie has a distinctive look and sound and works as a musical and as a drama. It has the energy level of a rebellious teen and takes as much joy in puncturing pretension. I will have to miss it this time around as I don't get Sundance.
2:30 USA - The Silence of the Lambs See Tuesday.
Thursday, May 24:
2:30 AM TCM (technically it is Friday, May25) - Jaws:This is really a monster movie, the monster just happens to be real. It's known for its action and thrills but it is the acting that makes this film special. The best scene is Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw swapping shark stories leading up to Robert Shaw telling the story of the USS Indianapolis.
Friday, May 25:
9:00 AM Sci Fi - Director George Romero redefined the horror genre. It was made on a shoestring budget outside of Pittsburgh. The film turned its limited budget into a virtue as it gives it a cinema verite feel. The cannibalism scenes are not as shocking now as they were then but this is still a film that can really scare you. How many people have scared their friends with "There coming to get you Barbara?"Midnight (really May 26) TCM - Beau Geste: A classic adventure story from the vintage year 1939. It's the story of three brothers in the foreign legion. The ending with the dead bodies doing their part defending the Fort and the Viking Funeral will haunt me for life.
I have to go now and there are still a few films I have to write about. I'll update again tonight.
The International Jewish Banking Conspiracy - October 07, 2008
On the Road to Westchester County - October 06, 2008
Inside the Madison Square Studio - October 05, 2008
I'm a Bosniac and I'm debating like I've never debated before - October 03, 2008
Islands in the Stream of Consciousness - October 02, 2008
Email me: GordonLew at gmail
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. Horvendile 2002-05-19
