Orson Welles vs. Edward G. Robinson in “The Stranger” (1946)

Edward G Robinson (Soylent Green) releases Konstantin Shayne from prison so he can inadvertently lead Robinson to a former Nazi officer now living in America under a different identity. The former Nazi is played by Orson Welles (Touch of Evil), who’s posing as a college professor and has married Mary (Loretta Young), the daughter of a prominent judge in town, played by Phillip Merivale (Mr. and Mrs. SMith). Richard Long (House on Haunted Hill) also shows up as Mary’s brother Noah. Continue reading »

Aretha’s hat…oh yeah, and equal pay!

This totally isn’t going to be a post about her hat, but I have to ask: how much did you LOVE it? I’m its fan on Facebook.

Moving on…Obama is already proving himself a strong proponent for women; last Thursday, he signed his first bill, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, that relaxes the current statute of limitations on suing on grounds of pay discrimination. The Act itself is named for Lilly Ledbetter, who worked at a Goodyear Tire plant in Alabama for 19 years and then sued as she approached retirement and  realized she was making less than her male co-workers.

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Newest Newbery Announced!

It’s official, author Neil Gaiman has won the most prestigious writing award in American children’s literature for “The Graveyard Book,” the story of an orphan raised by ghosts…

Let me say, in all my blogging, he’s likely the most talked about author I’ve heard about. Everyone who reads, everyone who comments, is constantly tossing his name into the stew. I had several surprised blogosphere friends hear that I didn’t chose to interview him during last summer’s Library of Congress Book Fair, and now BOY do I wish I had!

Ah well, lesson learned… and hoorah, Neil, and what a dream come true!

Grindhouse Experience

Years ago, before everything became so sanitized, the grindhouse was a place where the theater would literally grind out one film after another. Usually the quality of these films were lacking, with titles and posters which were far better than the movies themselves. Interest in grindhouse theaters and the films they’d show has picked up over the last two years after the release of Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s double feature Planet Terror and Death Proof. DVD companies are releasing related boxsets left and right, such as the one I’m reviewing today, Fortune 5 DVD’s 20 film set, Grindhouse Experience. Continue reading »

25 Things About Myself That I Probably Shouldn’t Share.

This was passed to me by some friends and I figured it’s a nice easy way to introduce myself to you.

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The Fog (1980)

As the people of Antonio Bay prepare to celebrate the town’s centennial anniversary, a preacher (Hal Holbrook-Creep Show) learns the awful truth about what really happened 100 years earlier. This is very convenient since we need someone to explain why there are a bunch of dead pirates murdering all of director John Carpenter’s buddies under a shroud of……..yep, fog! Bwhahahahaha! Continue reading »

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin

This is a review of the film in Mandarin with English subtitles.

Suffering an injury while escaping a hostile invasion of his village, Gordon Liu (Heroes of the East) seeks refuge in the Shaolin Temple. Eventually he becomes a student there and masters the thirty five chambers before returning to his village to seek revenge. I hate spoilers, so I won’t get into why the film is titled The 36th Chamber of Shaolin when there are only thirty five chambers, but they do explain it. It sound simple but there is so much more to this excellent film from the Shaw Brothers, who knew how to do Kung Fu movies better than anyone. Continue reading »

From the shelves to your hearts- DVD releases for Jan. 13th

Mirrors- Kiefer Sutherland plays disgraced ex cop Ben Carson forced to take a job as a night watchman at a fire ravaged department store. Soon enough Ben starts seeing things in the mirrors both in the store and at home. He’s also dealing with an estranged wife, kids and alcohol dependency. Continue reading »

Good Songs and Bad Memories

Regardless of how you feel about Gwen Stefani, her song “Early Winter” is pretty damn good. Except for the fact that it reminds me a lot of some pretty horrible times, mostly because I listened to it on repeat for the duration of that era in my life. I listened to it the other day and it made my tummy feel like it had spikes in it. Any suggestions on how to hitch that great song to something that doesn’t suck quite so much? I mean… the song is sort of about sad things in and of itself, but maybe, just maybe, I can reclaim it for the forces of good. Just sayin’.

Songs You May Have Missed: “Die Tonight Live Forever” - InnerPartySystem

This is a song I almost missed. Thankfully, my friend Faith asked me last month if I would be interested in seeing Innerpartysystem, which led them to a slot in my car’s CD changer. I had never heard of them (or hadn’t paid enough attention for them to register on my radar).  Now I’m pretty smitten, and not just because they’re local.  Plus, in a matter of hours, I will be seeing them, so I figured I would take this opportunity to share them with you.

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