'Best of TBH Politoons'
Ralph Cuts The Classics #8
Uneasy Rider
One of the movies I am constantly told I must love is Easy Rider. It's about freedom, the 60's and standing up to authority. Not only do I not like it, I don't like the French for awarding Dennis Hopper the "Best New Director" prize at Cannes for filming what is, essentially, an acid trip. This movie, which comes from a genre which celebrates putting acid trips on film, is a dawg.
Full disclosure: I've met Dennis Hopper and he strikes me as a decent enough human being, for a Republican. We're even related in a bizarre, Kevin Bacon kinda way. Nevertheless, I think most of his movies are crap, with the notable exception of True Grit, which I asked him about and he only responded that John Wayne was a prick. Note: Hopper was also in Rebel without a Cause, which is a solid, if overrated movie.
Easy Rider is the story of two drug dealers who make their way from LA to Mississippi, where their journey abruptly ends. Described as "the best biker movie ever made," this is a bit like saying that you have a can of Old Style from the best batch of Old Style ever made. The movie begins with them picking up drugs (cocaine) in Los Angeles for delivery in New Orleans. Along the way they encounter a hippie commune and stay just long enough to get laid (and then restless). Their most notable encounter is with Jack Nicholson, a Texas ACLU lawyer who delivers the classic line:
This used to be a helluva good country. I can't understand what's gone wrong with it.
They deliver their drugs, drop acid and engage two prostitutes. No spoilers, you can't spoil a story the director admits ain't there. Easy Rider is a character study, which is OK, I suppose, except that the characters are drug pushers and low lives that treat women like objects for their pleasure. The entire acid trip scene, much like all filmmaking experiments with acid, is fabulous...
In fact, the horrible acid trip scene is emblematic of what's wrong with Easy Rider. It's supposed to show what the 60s were about, but it ends up championing, or at least showcasing, everything that was WRONG about the sixties: The free love that was supposed to liberate women but became a sad excuse for male juvenile behavior, the rampant drug use that kept people from living up to the potential and focusing on what was important (ending the war and establishing social justice). Am I the ONLY one who watches what goes on in Easy Rider and finds it repulsive?
In fact, Brando's The Wild One is clearly a better biker movie, if only because it has an understandable plot. Personally, I like Erich von Zipper from Pajama Party. While other classics I reviewed (and ripped) I would still recommend watching (maybe), Easy Rider is probably best viewed only by acid fiends who can't score any acid that weekend. Most other people should avoid it.
Happy Birthday
Frodo & Bilbo
Today is September 22 and the birthday of those two esteemed hobbits, Frodo and Bilbo Baggins. Many happy returns! I'll be opening a bottle of Old Winyards tonight and drinking to their health.
This also heralds the beginning of the tracking of the events of Lord of the Rings, in real time, on this blog. Not the movie - the book. I'll post a daily blog entry devoted to Frodo's quest to the Cracks of Doom, along with a pertinent picture if I can find one. The reason I do this is because for many years before Peter Jackson began making LotR, I worked hard getting ready to write the screenplay. I know the story well, and it is dear to my heart like no other, except perhaps a few of my own stories. And this is a fortuitous occurence of the 22nd of September, as it falls on a Thursday, and it was a Thursday the 22nd when Frodo celebrated his birthday before leaving the Shire.
And so, to the first entry!
On this day: Bilbo Baggins throws a party to celebrate his eleventy-first birthday, bequeaths the One Ring for Frodo, and leaves the Shire. Also on this day, many years later, Frodo throws a small birthday party on his last day in Bag End before heading out on his epic journey. The Black Riders cross Sarn Ford. Gandalf and Shadowfax reach an agreement.
Jeff Crook
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Molly Ivins: 'Happy Media Accountability Day!' (smirkingchimp.com)
Most journalists manage to find a quibble or two with Project Censored's list every year, but mostly we just stand there and nod, yep, missed that one, and that one and... But here's a wonderful fact about daily journalism -- we don't ever have to get it all right, because we get a new chance every day.
Joshua Holland: It's the Governance, Stupid! (AlterNet)
Katrina may well put an end to the culture wars in Washington and move the political debate back to the issue of governance.
ROGER EBERT: No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (4 stars)
It has taken me all this time to accept Bob Dylan as the extraordinary artist he clearly is, but because of a new documentary by Martin Scorsese, I can finally see him freed from my disenchantment. I am Dylan's age, and his albums were the soundtrack of my college years. I never got involved in the war his fans fought over his acoustic and electric styles: I liked them all, every one.
Figure Skating TV Schedule
Weekend Nights
Erin Hart Show
Please join
Erin Hart Saturday and Sunday night from 9pm - 1am (pdt) on 710 KIRO.
Saturday we have a
plethora of topics planned. We hope to talk to Ann Rising of Pasado about
animal rescue. And we have Brad Friedman (Deibthroat) of Bradblog about the
backdoors to electronic voting machines we MUST challenge.
On Sunday, Rabbi Daniel Weiner and Dean Robert Taylor check in about their
recent trip to Israel and the Palestinian Territories--avail yourselves of
their fresh perspective.
And Marty
(or is it Martha G.?) checks in from
Bartcop.com
with all the news too fierce to
mention from the blogosphere. Join us!
Please check out erinhartshow.com and
710KIRO.com for further details.
Reader Responds
Re: Identify The Hawk
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still on the cool side.
Honorary Citizen of Rio de Janeiro
Jimmy Page
Former Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page has been made an honorary citizen of Rio de Janeiro for his work with underprivileged kids in the Brazilian city.
Page was presented with the honor at a ceremony on Tuesday at Casa Jimmy (Jimmy's House), a facility set up in 1997 in the Rio district of Santa Teresa with funds from the veteran rocker.
Run by the British charity Task Brasil, Casa Jimmy offers medical and psychological support for street kids and pregnant teenagers as well as food, clothing and help in job training. More than 300 children have benefited from it.
Page's interest in the plight of Rio's poor children started in 1994 when he visited the city to promote an album and fighting broke out between street gangs. He then became involved with Task Brasil (Abandoned Street Kids of Brazil Trust).
Jimmy Page
New Orleans Survivors
Preservation Hall Jazz Band
John Brunious flew in from an evacuation center in Arkansas, wearing donated clothes and carrying a borrowed trumpet, his voice shot from swallowing polluted floodwater.
The 64-year-old leader of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band went straight from the plane to a Manhattan TV studio for a reunion with the world's ambassadors of New Orleans jazz. The musicians could play only one tune that night. Everyone agreed it should be "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?"
Four of the band's eight musicians had their homes destroyed in the deluge. Three of them - Brunious, pianist Rickie Monie and drummer Joseph Lastie, Jr. - also lost their prized instruments.
Preservation Hall Jazz Band
Bridge School Benefit
Neil Young
Dave Matthews, Norah Jones and Bright Eyes lead the lineup for Neil Young's 19th annual Bridge School Benefit concerts, to be held October 29-30 at Shoreline Amphitheatre outside San Francisco.
Young will also perform with his CSNY bandmates David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash.
Among the other acts set to appear are Jerry Lee Lewis, Emmylou Harris, Good Charlotte and Los Lobos, as well as guests to be announced. Tickets go on sale Sunday (September 25), according to the show's official Web site.
Neil Young
Making Amends in Detroit
Jimmy Kimmel
Jimmy Kimmel, the late-night TV host who said Detroit would burn if the Pistons won the 2004 NBA championship, is bringing his show to the Michigan city.
ABC plans to broadcast "Jimmy Kimmel Live" from downtown Detroit's Gem Theater during the week before the Super Bowl, set for Feb. 5 at Ford Field, said theater General Manager Jim Forbes.
Kimmel apologized soon after making the remark in a TV interview during halftime of Game 2 of the 2004 NBA Finals between the Pistons and the Los Angeles Lakers.
In his apology, Kimmel said, "What I said about Pistons fans during halftime was a joke, nothing more. If I offended anyone, I'm sorry. Clearly, over the past 10 years, we in L.A. have taken a commanding lead in post-game riots. If the Lakers win, I plan to overturn my own car."
Jimmy Kimmel
Rare Memorabilia To Auction
Beatles
A first draft of Beatles song "I'm Only Sleeping" leads a flurry of pop memorabilia up for grabs at Christie's in London next week.
Christie's is auctioning more than 230 lots of rare recordings, instruments and clothes on Wednesday, with John Lennon's draft lyrics for "I'm Only Sleeping" expected to fetch in excess of 200,000 pounds (295,000 euros, 360,000 dollars).
Other items in the pop memorabilia auction include guitars once belonging to Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend of The Who, and a catsuit worn by flamboyant Queen singer Freddie Mercury.
Beatles
Replacing 'A Current Affair'
'Geraldo'
Move over, "A Current Affair," here comes Geraldo Rivera.
The syndicated newsmagazine, which debuted in March on the Fox-owned stations, is being scrapped come October to make way for "Geraldo at Large," a live half-hour news program hosted by Fox News' Rivera, the shows' distributor Twentieth Television said Wednesday.
'Geraldo'
Name of New Book Unveiled
Asterix & Obelix
The latest in the Asterix and Obelix comic book series, published next month, is "The Sky Falls on his Head," the Gallic hero's 78-year-old illustrator Albert Uderzo revealed.
But at a press conference in the Belgian capital, Uderzo refused to give anything away about the plot. "I want to keep the element of surprise for the readers -- the pleasure of personal discovery," he said.
"The Sky Falls on his Head" -- which goes on sale in 27 countries and ten languages on October 14 -- is the 33rd in the series which Uderzo launched with author Rene Goscinny in 1961.
Asterix & Obelix
Florida Wranglers Pull Out
Reggie The Gator
Florida gator wranglers pulled out of town Monday, furious over the public ridicule they said they were forced to endure over the weekend when Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn brought in a big-talking Katrina evacuee to help catch a loose alligator in Harbor City.
Introduced through a Los Angeles Times reporter, Thomas "T-Bone" Quinn was escorted by Hahn to Ken Malloy Harbor Regional Park on Saturday for introductions to the media. The councilwoman said she was "completely won over" when she first talked to the Louisiana evacuee staying temporarily at the Dream Center in Los Angeles. He said he wanted to "give back" to the city for giving him temporary housing and had a lifetime of experience catching alligators.
Heavily tattooed and boasting of his gator-wrangling abilities, Quinn showed up with camping gear and a movie agent in tow. He didn't waste any time hurling insults aimed at the Gatorland crew.
"I just hope I can keep Gatorland off my back," he was quoted as saying in the Los Angeles Times. "I ain't telling them nothing. That pontoon boat (they're using) is retarded."
Reggie The Gator
Harvest Dwindling
Peyote
In the heart of Rio Grande brush country, Salvador Johnson works a patch of land just east of the Mexican border that is sacred to Native Americans.
One of the last remaining "peyoteros," Johnson, 58, has been harvesting the small round plant in and around this tiny community for 47 years - long before the hallucinogenic Lophophora williamsii cactus was classified as a narcotic and outlawed by federal and state governments. Then as now, it is for use by Native Americans as the main sacrament in their religious ceremonies.
Johnson is part of a nearly extinct trade of licensed peyote harvesters and distributors, at a time when the supply of the cactus and access to it is dwindling. The plant grows wild only in portions of four southern Texas counties and in the northern Mexico desert just across the Rio Grande.
For a lot more, Peyote
Pizza & Propaganda
Chuck E. Cheese
Members of the Park Slope Parents Association were alerted to a new threat: Republicans bearing pizza. The mother of a 3-year-old reported that she was shocked to see "promo films for military recruitment" playing at her local Chuck E. Cheese's. The 500 franchises of the amusement-park-like pizzeria were screening a two-minute montage of smiling soldiers handing out toys and candy to Iraqi kids (set to "America the Beautiful").
According to Chuck E. Cheese's VP of marketing Dick Huston, this segment, created from footage donated by the Defense Department, began showing at the chain around July 4. "There was no firing of weapons," notes Huston. "It was meant to honor our troops and the humanness of what is occurring. It is a nice, innocent piece. It's pretty warm." Still, customers complained that this was inappropriate for a child's birthday party. "I guess people could interpret it as prowar, but we support what our troops are doing over there-helping kids." So is Chuck Republican? "We don't know what he is."
Chuck E. Cheese
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