Food For Thought

I’m not the first one to imagine this, but I really do wonder what Edward Murrow would have to say today.

I deeply miss Edward Murrow, and I wasn’t even alive during his lifetime.

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The A-Team Will Probably Be Good Only For One Thing

Not to sound like a broken record, but the only thing I’m getting out of The A-Team is some gratuitous shameless objectification of a Hot Old Man.

No Mr. T?   Wrong, wrong, wrong.   Can someone tell me why, all of a sudden, Bradley Cooper is in everything?

Damn you, Hollywood.  This looks like a hot mess of Chernobyl proportions, but all you had to do was give Liam Neeson a cigar and some gray hair and I’m thinking about pre-ordering tickets.   Damn my predictability!   Damn it all to hell.

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Happy New Year!

Thank GOD 2009 is almost here!

I’ll be spending tonight attending a hockey game (Stars vs. Devils, in case you’re interested), but since I’ll probably be laying low the next couple of days, a bit early – here is your hot old man of the month for January:

Oh yes, it’s Alan Rickman.   And if you have the audacity to wonder why?

Any man who is tapped to play the voice of God must have one hell of a set of vocal cords, yes?

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Endings Blog-a-Thon: Clue

Oh, that sneaky little dude we all love named J.D. He nearly snuck his Endings Blog-a-Thon by me but he wasn’t quick enough!

When I think of endings, I think of the only movie that has multiple endings.  Actually, it has multiple justified endings (Lord of the Rings:  Return of the King, I shan’t say anything at all.  Much) that make sense within the story, which is essentially a variant on playing the actual board game.

Given the fact that the premise of Clue is, as above, based on a board game, there was a lot for the writers to create.

Just as you played the board game with different endings, so ends Clue.    Each ending retains certain similarities; the quote “Communism was just a red herring” is used in each, as is the chandelier crashing to the floor of the foyer.

That’s what could have happened, right?   But here’s what really happened…

The final ending is just the icing on the cake.  Instead of leaving anyone out, every character is guilty of something.

Mr. Green: “They all did it!  But if you want to know who killed Mr. Boddy, I did.  In the Hall, with the revolver.   Take ’em away, chief…I’m going to go home and sleep with my wife.”

For a movie based on a board game, Clue is sharply written even withstanding that fact.    Such wittiness is reflected right there in the distinct endings portrayed, with the final being a well-intentioned wink and a nod to the game.   Every character commits a crime with every weapon in every room.   No viewer is left out, not even the lame guy in the back who was picked last for dodgeball and could never figure out that it was Professor Plum in the conservatory with the candlestick.    Clue manages some incisively snarky humor throughout the film, directed more at ’50’s Americana than the game itself, but it returns to its humble roots in the end and that…that is where it really shines.

In this age of the forgettable adaptation of everything (I am looking at you, whoever is making Monopoly into a movie), you have to wonder…why don’t people look back as a guidepost to Clue?   It’s a solid movie with a stunner series of endings – endings that can only work because of its pedestrian but unique inspiration.

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The Four Things Meme

I was tagged by J.D., so I guess I have to do this, huh?

FOUR JOBS YOU’VE HAD IN YOUR LIFE
Waitress; hostess; video store clerk; cashier.   I thankfully do none of those jobs currently.

FOUR MOVIES YOU COULD WATCH OVER AND OVER AGAIN
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Hot Fuzz, Speed, Die Hard

FOUR PLACES YOU’VE LIVED
Several towns in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex.  (Mysterious!)

FOUR TV SHOWS YOU LOVE TO WATCH
Hell, I never watch TV, but Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations is good, Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares (the British version is really the best, not the crap he airs over here on NBC or whatever), generally whatever’s on Food Network and Holmes on Homes is a good one too.  Why yes, I am sad and middle-aged.  (When I watch HGTV more than network television, I feel a little…lame.)

FOUR PLACES YOU’VE BEEN ON VACATION

Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., New Mexico, Louisiana

FOUR WEBSITES YOU VISIT DAILY
Dooce, Slashfilm, Smitten Kitchen, Puck Daddy

FOUR OF YOUR FAVORITE FOODS
Brussels sprouts (yes, I know), steak, fried okra (healthy!), and butterbeans.

FOUR PLACES YOU’D RATHER BE RIGHT NOW
New York, London, Paris, Rome

FOUR BLOGGERS YOU’RE TAGGING

Kevin, Scott, Allison, and whoever else wants to do it

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Am I Dead? No, Not So Much! …I Think.

I know it’s been forever and eight days since I’ve updated, but I promise there’s some good stuff coming. I have been working on real-life stuff, shockingly enough, and hopefully I can get some good stuff up tonight.

In the next few days, you’ll probably see a few changes to the blog in the sidebar and the header, but nothing too major. Just some late spring cleaning going on.

What I want to know is content-wise, is there anything you’re just clamoring for that I’m not giving you? Tell me, my sweets, so I can get on it posthaste.

Sorry for the delay, dearest visitors – apologies all around.

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