Posts
Kristin Scott-Thomas is one of my favorite actors. She first came to my attention 14 or so years ago in the film "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and most recently I marveled again at her talents in the French film "Tell No One." Earlier this year she the Laurence Olivier award, considered the most prestigious award in British theater, for her peformance in Anton Chekov's "The Seagull." She will be bringing that performance to Broadway beginning Oct. 1, co-starring with another one of my favorite actors, Peter Sarsgaard, who first came to my attention in 1999 in "Boys Don't Cry" and who should have been nominated for an Oscar for his performance in "Shattered Glass."
The pairing of Scott-Thomas and Sarsgaard is to me the most attractive offering of the new Broadway season, but these two actors are not the only ones noted mostly for film work coming to Broadway this year. Katie Holmes will be making her Broadway debut, co-starring with John Lithgow, Dianne Wiest and Patrick Wilson in Arthur Miller's "All My Sons." Daniel Radcliffe will be exposing both his acting chops and his naked body in "Equus" (he received positive reviews for this performance in London).
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Wait until Clint Eastwood hears about this
That old farm standby, the barn, is apparently going the way of the covered bridges. The reason, apparently, is that there are fewer, albeit larger, farms in rural America and the standard barn just doesn't suit the new mega-farm. I dunno. I'm from the Lower East Side of New York and the closest I've ever come to being in a barn was recently when I visited the ranch of some friends up near Whitesboro and spent some time in their horse barn. I'm not sure that counts. But some of my favorite scenes from movies such as "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" and "Witness" involve barn raisings, so I did have a small wave of nostalgia over the news of the disappearing barn way of life.
New movies to be released this week on DVD
Baby Mama (2008) **½ This movie serves up plenty of smart, knowing laughs early on, but by the time it hits the third act (or would that be trimester?), it barely crawls to the finish line.
The Fall (2008) **½ This is what you’d get if you told a fiendishly gifted graphic illustrator the plot of "The Princess Bride" and sent him off to come up with his own version.
The Forbidden Kingdom (2008) **½ Although veteran choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping ("Kill Bill," "The Matrix") handles the wire action, the camera work is merely OK and the sequences are on the familiar side. Still, it’s fun to see Jackie Chan resurrect his loopy, staggering "drunken master" fighting style.
Sarah Landon and the Paranormal Hour (2007) * A dull little PG-rated spook story for tweener girls.
The Fall (2008) **½ This is what you’d get if you told a fiendishly gifted graphic illustrator the plot of "The Princess Bride" and sent him off to come up with his own version.
The Forbidden Kingdom (2008) **½ Although veteran choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping ("Kill Bill," "The Matrix") handles the wire action, the camera work is merely OK and the sequences are on the familiar side. Still, it’s fun to see Jackie Chan resurrect his loopy, staggering "drunken master" fighting style.
Sarah Landon and the Paranormal Hour (2007) * A dull little PG-rated spook story for tweener girls.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Oklahoma 52 Cincinnati 26
This just in: Oklahoma is good. Make that really good! Say what you want about Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel, but I'm saying Sam Bradford is the best quarterback in the Big 12 conference. Yes, he had two picks today, but he threw for five TDs and had an amazing 10.4 yards per attempt, which is the stat I always use to measure QBs.
Now take a look at OU's schedule. The Sooners play Texas on a neutral site but their only other tought contests, Oct. 18 against Kansas and Nov. 22 against Texas Tech, are both at home. Unless a major catastrophe occurs, expect OU to finish this regular season undefeated. Problem is, that could set them up to play Southern Cal in the BCS championship game and we all know what happened the last time those teams met.
Now take a look at OU's schedule. The Sooners play Texas on a neutral site but their only other tought contests, Oct. 18 against Kansas and Nov. 22 against Texas Tech, are both at home. Unless a major catastrophe occurs, expect OU to finish this regular season undefeated. Problem is, that could set them up to play Southern Cal in the BCS championship game and we all know what happened the last time those teams met.
Man, I hate to see this
What's the worst possible outcome of a college football game? When it's decided by a blown call by the officials. And that's exactly what happened in the Washington-BYU game. The Huskies drove 76 yards in 17 plays and Jake Locker scored from the 2-yard line with two seconds on the clock to pull Washington to within a point, 28-27. His teammates gathered around him in the end zone, jumping up and down, and the officials incorrectly threw a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct. C'mon. That conduct was as sportsmanlike as anything you'll see on a football field this year. No Washington players came off the bench to join in the celebration, which is usually the standard for calling that penalty. The referees penalized Washington 15 years on the PAT, which was then blocked.
Roger Ebert on "Citizen Kane" and "La Dolce Vita"
Film critic Roger Ebert has a great read today on his blog explaining why he considers "Citizen Kane" the most important film of all time (Two reasons, Ebert argues: "It consolidated the film language up until 1941 and broke new ground in such areas as deep focus, complex sound, and narrative structure. The other reason is that it demonstrated the auteur theory 25 years before it was being defined (of course that theory was already being demonstrated in silent days). It was 'a film by Orson Welles.' It dramatized that the controlling author of a film, especially a great film, is usually its director, not its studio, producers, writers or financial backers. A movie studio, Welles said, is the best toy train set a boy could ever hope for.") and why "La Dolce Vita" might be perhaps his favorite film or, at least, the "film I would most like to see again right now").
Who is this Rielle woman?
According to this profile in today's Los Angeles Times, the 44-year-old Rielle Hunter (pictured here) with whom former vice presidential candidate and Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards had an affair "has been a party girl, a minor (but working) actress (in the 1991 film "Ricochet," she's the reporter who sticks a microphone in Denzel Washington's face), a writer of oddly titled compositions, a yoga enthusiast and a spiritual seeker." She was born Lisa Jo Druck in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (her father was implicated in a 1982 Sports Illustrated article in a scheme to electrocute horses to collect insurance) and legally changer her name to Rielle Hunter in 1994, 14 years after she moved to Los Angeles. Jay McInerney, best known for his book "Bright Lights, Big City," says he based his 1988 novel "Story of My Life" on Rielle. Wickipedia says the book "is narrated in the first-person from the point of view of Alison Poole, 'an ostensibly jaded, cocaine-addled, sexually voracious 20-year old.' Alison is originally from Virginia and lives in Manhattan, where she is involved in several sexual relationships and is aspiring to become an actress. She falls in love with bond trader and Shakespeare expert Dean but soon they betray each other. The novel implies that the cause of protagonist Alison Poole's 'party girl' behavior is her father's abuse including the murder of her prize jumping horse." The Times profile is a good read. Check it out.
On this date in
1860 Social worker Jane Addams, the first American woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, was born.
1888 Businessman Joseph P. Kennedy, the father of John F, Robert and Edward Kennedy, was born.
1890 Military aviator Claire Chennault, the leader of the Flying Tigers, was born.
1899 Theatrical showman and impresario Billy Rose was born.
1901 Anarchist Leon Czolgosz shot and mortally wounded President William B. McKinley.
1909 Explorer Robert Peary claimed he had reached the North Pole five months earlier.
1941 Jews over the age of 6 in Nazi-occupied areas were ordered to wear yellow Stars of David on their clothing.
1943 English rock musician Roger Waters, best known as the bass player and lead singer for Pink Floyd for 21 years, was born.
1970 Palestinian guerillas hijacked four jetliners which were later blown up on the ground in Jordan following the evacuation of the passengers and crew.
1975 Czechoslovakian tennis player Martina Navratilova sought political asylum while in New York participating in the U.S. Open.
1997 Princess Diana's funeral.
1998 Film director Akira Kurosawa died.
2000 The Millennium Summit opened.
2007 Tenor Luciano Pavarotti died.
1888 Businessman Joseph P. Kennedy, the father of John F, Robert and Edward Kennedy, was born.
1890 Military aviator Claire Chennault, the leader of the Flying Tigers, was born.
1899 Theatrical showman and impresario Billy Rose was born.
1901 Anarchist Leon Czolgosz shot and mortally wounded President William B. McKinley.
1909 Explorer Robert Peary claimed he had reached the North Pole five months earlier.
1941 Jews over the age of 6 in Nazi-occupied areas were ordered to wear yellow Stars of David on their clothing.
1943 English rock musician Roger Waters, best known as the bass player and lead singer for Pink Floyd for 21 years, was born.
1970 Palestinian guerillas hijacked four jetliners which were later blown up on the ground in Jordan following the evacuation of the passengers and crew.
1975 Czechoslovakian tennis player Martina Navratilova sought political asylum while in New York participating in the U.S. Open.
1997 Princess Diana's funeral.
1998 Film director Akira Kurosawa died.
2000 The Millennium Summit opened.
2007 Tenor Luciano Pavarotti died.
College football game of the week
I know most eyes are focused on either Miami, Fla. and Florida or West Virginia and East Carolina, but I think the best game involving a Top 25 team this week will be the one between Oklahoma and Cincinnati. Oklahoma is a known football powerhouse and Cincinnati isn't. But the Bearcats of the Big East Conference were 10-3 last year and their quarterback, Dustin Grutza was named the Big East Offensive Player of the Week last week as he threw for four touchdowns in Cincinnati's 40-7 victory over Eastern Kentucky. The Bearcats piled up 557 total yards of offense.
Oklahoma could have easily equaled that output last week had not coach Bob Stoops benched his starters at halftime when the Sooners were ahead of Chattanooga 50-0. The Sooners' defense was even more impressive, giving up a ridiculous 16 yards rushing and 20 yards passing.
If I were a betting man, I would put my money on Stoops getting his 99th victory here. However, the oddsmakers have Oklahoma favored by 23 points. I think it will be a lot closer than that.
Oklahoma could have easily equaled that output last week had not coach Bob Stoops benched his starters at halftime when the Sooners were ahead of Chattanooga 50-0. The Sooners' defense was even more impressive, giving up a ridiculous 16 yards rushing and 20 yards passing.
If I were a betting man, I would put my money on Stoops getting his 99th victory here. However, the oddsmakers have Oklahoma favored by 23 points. I think it will be a lot closer than that.
Philadelphia has cheesesteaks, now it wants a Poe boy
Edgar Allan Poe is buried in Baltimore for the very simple reason that he died there in 1849. For a long time, the city didn't think that was a big deal. Apparently only a handful of folks showed up for his funeral and his grave didn't even have a headstone for more than 20 years. But all that has changed. Baltimore now has a Poe Museum only a few blocks from his grave and the city's NFL team is named after Poe's most famous poem.
But according to this story in today's New York Times, the city of Philadelphia says Poe's body belongs there. Why? Because apparently in the mid-19th century the City of Brotherly Love wasn't. In fact, the rampant crime and violence there at that time, according to Poe scholar Edward Pettit, inspired Poe's invention of the detective fiction genre. In an article in a Philadelphia paper, Pettit implored his fellow citizens of Philadephia to "hop in our cars, drive down I-95 and appropriate a body from a certain Baltimore cemetary. I'll bring the shovel."
No one has taken Pettit up on his offer and, in response, Jeff Jerome, the curator of Baltimore's Poe House, has said "If they want a body, they can have John Wilkes Booth."
But being the civilized men of letters that they are, Pettit and Jerome have decided they will settle their feud with a debate at 20 paces Jan. 13 at the Philadelphia Free Library. Jerome is already predicting victory: "I will argue the other guy down with grace and facts. Then I will walk over to him like a gentleman and punch him square in the nose."
But according to this story in today's New York Times, the city of Philadelphia says Poe's body belongs there. Why? Because apparently in the mid-19th century the City of Brotherly Love wasn't. In fact, the rampant crime and violence there at that time, according to Poe scholar Edward Pettit, inspired Poe's invention of the detective fiction genre. In an article in a Philadelphia paper, Pettit implored his fellow citizens of Philadephia to "hop in our cars, drive down I-95 and appropriate a body from a certain Baltimore cemetary. I'll bring the shovel."
No one has taken Pettit up on his offer and, in response, Jeff Jerome, the curator of Baltimore's Poe House, has said "If they want a body, they can have John Wilkes Booth."
But being the civilized men of letters that they are, Pettit and Jerome have decided they will settle their feud with a debate at 20 paces Jan. 13 at the Philadelphia Free Library. Jerome is already predicting victory: "I will argue the other guy down with grace and facts. Then I will walk over to him like a gentleman and punch him square in the nose."
World's oldest captive gorilla dies in Dallas Zoo
I really hope the animal rights folks don't go haywire over this, but, because the gorilla's name, unfortunately, was Jenny, I'm expecting the worst.
You gotta be kidding me
Friday, September 5, 2008
This ought to have them spellbound in front of the TV set
In case you missed it (and I'm betting most of you did), don't fret. Tom Leppert at the Back to School Fair was captured on video and has been added to the just announced weekly lineup of City of Dallas Cable Station 16 (that's only if you subscribe to Time-Warner Cable in Dallas; those with satellite dishes "Eat your hearts out!")
Now I know you'll want to print this out and clip it on the fridge, so here's when it will be telecast (it seems like more times than Sportscenter on ESPN):
Monday: 8:30 and 11 a.m.; 11 p.m.
Tuesday: 8:45 a.m.
Wednesday (a City Council agenda day): 8:15 a.m., noon (during council recess, I'm guessing; can't have too much Tom Leppert), and 11 p.m.
Thursday: No scintillating Back to School Fair Thursday but all the rest of the city council members, with the exceptions of Sheffie Kadane, Mitchell Rasansky and Angela Hunt, have their own TV shows that day.
Friday, Sept. 12: 8:15 a.m., and 12:15 and 11 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 13: Prime time, 7 p.m.
Now I know you'll want to print this out and clip it on the fridge, so here's when it will be telecast (it seems like more times than Sportscenter on ESPN):
Monday: 8:30 and 11 a.m.; 11 p.m.
Tuesday: 8:45 a.m.
Wednesday (a City Council agenda day): 8:15 a.m., noon (during council recess, I'm guessing; can't have too much Tom Leppert), and 11 p.m.
Thursday: No scintillating Back to School Fair Thursday but all the rest of the city council members, with the exceptions of Sheffie Kadane, Mitchell Rasansky and Angela Hunt, have their own TV shows that day.
Friday, Sept. 12: 8:15 a.m., and 12:15 and 11 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 13: Prime time, 7 p.m.
Sarah Palin has too much Heart
Apparently when GOP Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin took to the stage at the Republican National Convention, the folks in the soundbooth played Heart's 1970s hit "Barracuda." That apparently didn't sit so well with Heart's Ann and Nancy Wilson who issued the following statement right before their record label slapped the Palin campaign with a cease-and-desist order:
"Sarah Palin's views and values in NO WAY represent us as American women. We ask that our song 'Barracuda' no longer be used to promote her image. The song 'Barracuda' was written in the late 70s as a scathing rant against the soulless, corporate nature of the music business, particularly for women. (The 'barracuda' represented the business.) While Heart did not and would not authorize the use of their song at the RNC, there's irony in Republican strategists' choice to make use of it there."
"Sarah Palin's views and values in NO WAY represent us as American women. We ask that our song 'Barracuda' no longer be used to promote her image. The song 'Barracuda' was written in the late 70s as a scathing rant against the soulless, corporate nature of the music business, particularly for women. (The 'barracuda' represented the business.) While Heart did not and would not authorize the use of their song at the RNC, there's irony in Republican strategists' choice to make use of it there."
The real winner of the Redskins-Giants NFL opener was John McCain
Last week Barack Obama's acceptance speech was watched by more television viewers than any other political convention event ever. That record lasted exactly one week.
According to Nielsen Media Research, John McCain's acceptance speech last night was seen on television by 38.9 million viewers, that's a half a miillion more than watched Obama. And what makes McCain's viewership doubly impressive was that he was going up against the start of the NFL season and since that game featured the Super Bowl champion New York Giants going up against the Washington Redskins, I'm guessing McCain had problems drawing viewers in the nation's largest TV market. (And, besides, all those New Yorkers are Democrats anyway).
According to Nielsen Media Research, John McCain's acceptance speech last night was seen on television by 38.9 million viewers, that's a half a miillion more than watched Obama. And what makes McCain's viewership doubly impressive was that he was going up against the start of the NFL season and since that game featured the Super Bowl champion New York Giants going up against the Washington Redskins, I'm guessing McCain had problems drawing viewers in the nation's largest TV market. (And, besides, all those New Yorkers are Democrats anyway).
Good news on the Roger Ebert front
Roger Ebert has always been one of my favorite film critics, not because of his TV programs, but because of his reviews that have appeared on the Chicago Sun Times for more than 40 years now. In the last couple of years, Ebert has been battling cancer that sent him to the hospital twice for long periods of treatment. I feared the worst. But, from the looks of this, his health must be improving remarkably because he's in Toronto right now actively covering that city's 33rd film festival, which marks the official start of "Oscar Season."
More bad news on the newspaper front
Word is out that the Chicago Tribune will shrink its size to a three-section newspaper -- one section devoted to news, one to features and the third for sports -- within the next couple of weeks. The Tribune, like the Dallas Morning News, currently has separate business and local news sections. Those sections would be incoporated into the front section which will also contain national and international news and the editorial pages, according to sources inside the Tribune. Sam Zell, the chairman of Tribune Company, has ordered similar reductions in the company's newspapers due to steep declines in advertising. The advertising-to-news ratio at the Tribune is currently 50-50, so I've been told. When I was at the Dallas Morning News, the formula it strove to achieve ws 65 percent advertising (much of that classified ads) to 35 percent news. I have no idea what that ratio is today and if anyone out there does, I would appreciate it if you added that information as a comment.
Meanwhile, the Dallas Morning News announced yesterday that 270 additional employees of the paper had accepted a voluntary buyout offer.
Meanwhile, the Dallas Morning News announced yesterday that 270 additional employees of the paper had accepted a voluntary buyout offer.
On this date in
1735 Composer Johann Christian Bach, the youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach, was born.
1774 The First Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia.
1793 The Reign of Terror began in France.
1836 Sam Houston was elected president of the Republic of Texas.
1847 Outlaw Jesse James was born.
1902 Motion picture producer Darryl Zanuck was born.
1905 The Treaty of Portsmouth, so named because it was signed in a New Hampshire naval shipyard, ended the Russo-Japanese War.
1914 The First Battle of the Marne began.
1940 Actress Racquel Welch was born.
1945 Iva Toguri D'Aquino, the woman suspected of being "Tokyo Rose," was arrested.
1957 Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" was published.
1958 Boris Pasternak's "Doctor Zhivago" was published in the United States.
1972 Palestinian terrorists attacked the Israeli Olympic team in Munich resulting in the deaths of 11 Israeli athletes, five terrorists and a police officer.
1975 Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a follower of Charles Manson, attempted to assassinate President Ford.
1977 Voyager 1 was launched, two weeks after the launching of Voyager 2.
1997 Mother Teresa died.
2006 Felipe Calderon was declared the official winner of the disputed Mexican presidential elections.
1774 The First Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia.
1793 The Reign of Terror began in France.
1836 Sam Houston was elected president of the Republic of Texas.
1847 Outlaw Jesse James was born.
1902 Motion picture producer Darryl Zanuck was born.
1905 The Treaty of Portsmouth, so named because it was signed in a New Hampshire naval shipyard, ended the Russo-Japanese War.
1914 The First Battle of the Marne began.
1940 Actress Racquel Welch was born.
1945 Iva Toguri D'Aquino, the woman suspected of being "Tokyo Rose," was arrested.
1957 Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" was published.
1958 Boris Pasternak's "Doctor Zhivago" was published in the United States.
1972 Palestinian terrorists attacked the Israeli Olympic team in Munich resulting in the deaths of 11 Israeli athletes, five terrorists and a police officer.
1975 Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a follower of Charles Manson, attempted to assassinate President Ford.
1977 Voyager 1 was launched, two weeks after the launching of Voyager 2.
1997 Mother Teresa died.
2006 Felipe Calderon was declared the official winner of the disputed Mexican presidential elections.
Ian out
It's not like te Texas Rangers were in the thick of a pennant race or something, but it's still a shame when a team loses its second best hitter.
Too many fatal motorcycle accidents
OK, OK, although the phrase made me smile, I guess there is a reason for writer Jessica Meyers to shine a light on "catastrophic cheerleading accidents," but (and maybe I'm concerned because a close friend is thinking of buying a motorcycle) there just seems to be too many incidents of fatal motorcycle accidents of late.
And I saw an image of My Hero on my refigerator door
I'm afraid this Dallas Morning News story about the woman who saw the Virgin Mary in a rotten grape overshadowed this story.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Oh, how true it is
A week or so ago I wrote about filmmaker Ilana Trachtman and her documentary "Praying with Liore." Tonight the film was screened before a packed crowd at the Angelika Theater and after the showing, Ms. Trachtman made a short presentation about how she came to make the film and what she has learned traveling around the country presenting her picture. One of the things she said she learned really struck a responsive chord with me. She said: "There are really only two types of people in this world. Those who have special needs and those who will have special needs."
Got "Milk"
"Brokeback Mountain" was the favored picture in the 2005 Oscar race. It was nominated for more Oscars than any other picture that year and, indeed, won a bunch of them including ones for its adapted screenplay and its direction. But when it came time to give out the best picture award, however, that Oscar surprisingly went to "Crash," one of the least-deserving picture winners ever. Why? Some say it was because "Crash" made Los Angeles look and feel good and the majority of Oscar voters live in L.A. But then the homophobia emerged. Tony Curtis and Ernest Borgnine were among Academy voters who came out publicly and said no matter how good the picture was, they could not vote for a movie about gay cowboys.
Yesterday, I published my first poll on this years Oscar race and, lo and behold, the top voter getter in the picture category was "Milk." Will it do what "Brokeback Mountain" couldn't? Well, here's the trailer for the film and it looks like top Oscar quality material to me. And perhaps Hollywood will be more open to embracing a political film based on a true story starring the notoriously straight Sean Penn when it couldn't acknowledge a fictional film about someone spending a lifetime longing for his cowboy lover. We'll just have to see.
Yesterday, I published my first poll on this years Oscar race and, lo and behold, the top voter getter in the picture category was "Milk." Will it do what "Brokeback Mountain" couldn't? Well, here's the trailer for the film and it looks like top Oscar quality material to me. And perhaps Hollywood will be more open to embracing a political film based on a true story starring the notoriously straight Sean Penn when it couldn't acknowledge a fictional film about someone spending a lifetime longing for his cowboy lover. We'll just have to see.
If I never hear the term "hockey mom" again, it will be too soon
Even after her speech last night (which I thought reverted to typical neo-con strategies, namely "If you can't refute the message, then attack the messengers" in Sarah Palin's media bashing), I would still feel more comfortable if John McCain had chosen this woman to be his running mate. I guess he wants to divorce himself from all things Texan.
Free theater tickets
The City of Dallas, through its office of Cultural Affairs, is participating in a nationwide move to attract more patrons to live theater performances and it is doing it in the best way possible -- by handing out free theater tickets.
Beginning at noon, Wednesday, Oct. 1, you can go to this Web site, and reserve free tickets to any one of 26 Dallas area theaters. Three thousand tickets will be given away on a first-come, first-served basis. Once you have reserved your tickets, you can pick them up at the will-call window of the theater on the night of the performance. The tickets will be for performances between Oct. 16 and Nov. 10. Here are the theaters participating:
African American Repertory Theater
Charles W. Eisemann Center
The Company of Rowlett Performers
Contemporary Theatre of Dallas
Dallas Children's Theater
Dallas Hub Theater
Dallas Theater Center
Echo Theatre
Garland Civic Theatre
ICT MainStage
Jubilee Theatre
Lyric Stage
MBS Productions
One Thirty Productions
Pocket Sandwich Theatre
Repertory Company Theatre
Shakespeare Dallas
Teatro Dallas
TeCo Theatrical Productions
The Black Academy of Arts and Letters
The MET Theatre
Theatre Britain
Theatre Three
Uptown Players
WaterTower Theatre
WingSpan Theatre Company
Beginning at noon, Wednesday, Oct. 1, you can go to this Web site, and reserve free tickets to any one of 26 Dallas area theaters. Three thousand tickets will be given away on a first-come, first-served basis. Once you have reserved your tickets, you can pick them up at the will-call window of the theater on the night of the performance. The tickets will be for performances between Oct. 16 and Nov. 10. Here are the theaters participating:
African American Repertory Theater
Charles W. Eisemann Center
The Company of Rowlett Performers
Contemporary Theatre of Dallas
Dallas Children's Theater
Dallas Hub Theater
Dallas Theater Center
Echo Theatre
Garland Civic Theatre
ICT MainStage
Jubilee Theatre
Lyric Stage
MBS Productions
One Thirty Productions
Pocket Sandwich Theatre
Repertory Company Theatre
Shakespeare Dallas
Teatro Dallas
TeCo Theatrical Productions
The Black Academy of Arts and Letters
The MET Theatre
Theatre Britain
Theatre Three
Uptown Players
WaterTower Theatre
WingSpan Theatre Company
On this date in
1781 Los Angeles was founded.
1886 Geronimo, who fought the United States for 25 years for encroaching on Indian land, surrendered.
1888 George Eastman patented his roll-film camera under the registered name Kodak.
1908 Director Edward Dmytryk, one of the blacklisted Hollywood Ten, was born.
1951 President Harry Truman addressed the nation from a conference in San Francisco in the first live coast-to-coast television broadcast.
1957 Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus summoned the National Guard to prevent nine black students from entering Little Rock's Central High School; Ford Motor Company introduced the Edsel.
1972 Mark Spitz became the first person to win seven gold medals in a single Olympics.
2002 Kelly Clarkson was named the first "American Idol."
2006 Steve Irwin, popularly known as the "Crocodile Hunter," died from a stingray's barb that pierced his chest.
1886 Geronimo, who fought the United States for 25 years for encroaching on Indian land, surrendered.
1888 George Eastman patented his roll-film camera under the registered name Kodak.
1908 Director Edward Dmytryk, one of the blacklisted Hollywood Ten, was born.
1951 President Harry Truman addressed the nation from a conference in San Francisco in the first live coast-to-coast television broadcast.
1957 Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus summoned the National Guard to prevent nine black students from entering Little Rock's Central High School; Ford Motor Company introduced the Edsel.
1972 Mark Spitz became the first person to win seven gold medals in a single Olympics.
2002 Kelly Clarkson was named the first "American Idol."
2006 Steve Irwin, popularly known as the "Crocodile Hunter," died from a stingray's barb that pierced his chest.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
A first loook at this year's Oscar race
It's post-Labor Day which is the time I start forecasting the likely Oscar nomination picks for the year. My predictions are based on a poll I conduct of about 180 Oscar voters who have agreed to share their thoughts with me. What follows are the top five finishers in my most recent poll:
PICTURE
Milk
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Australia
Defiance
Frost/Nixon
DIRECTOR
Gus Van Sant, Milk
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon
Joe Wright, The Soloist
Edward Zwick, Defiance
ACTOR
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn, Milk
Leonardo DiCaprio, Revolutionary Road
Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Benicio DelToro, Guerilla
ACTRESS
Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road
Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Meryl Streep, Doubt
Nicole Kidman, Australia
Sally Hawkins, Happy Go Lucky
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Michael Sheen, Frost/Nixon
Robert Downey Jr., The Soloist
Josh Brolin, Milk
Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Road
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Kathy Bates, Revolutionary Road
Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Amy Adams, Doubt
Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Vera Farmiga, Nothing But the Truth
PICTURE
Milk
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Australia
Defiance
Frost/Nixon
DIRECTOR
Gus Van Sant, Milk
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon
Joe Wright, The Soloist
Edward Zwick, Defiance
ACTOR
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn, Milk
Leonardo DiCaprio, Revolutionary Road
Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Benicio DelToro, Guerilla
ACTRESS
Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road
Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Meryl Streep, Doubt
Nicole Kidman, Australia
Sally Hawkins, Happy Go Lucky
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Michael Sheen, Frost/Nixon
Robert Downey Jr., The Soloist
Josh Brolin, Milk
Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Road
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Kathy Bates, Revolutionary Road
Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Amy Adams, Doubt
Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Vera Farmiga, Nothing But the Truth
Eight reasons why Sarah Palin is more qualified than Barach Obama
I have hesitated jumping on the Sarah Palin dump truck in print (although My Hero and I had a "What was John McCain thinking?" conversation last night); however, this is just too funny to pass up.
Jamie Lee Curtis as political commentator
On this date in
301 San Marino, one of the world's smallest nations, was founded.
1189 King Richard I, commonly known as Richard the Lionhearted, was crowned.
1260 The Battle of Ain Jalut was fought between Egyptian Mamluks and Mongols, marking the first time the Mongols had ever been decisively defeated in battle.
1658 Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector of England, died.
1783 The United States and Great Britain signed the Treaty of Paris, effectively ending the Revolutionary War.
1875 Automotive engineer Ferdinand Porsche was born.
1939 Britain and France declared war on Germany.
1967 Nguyen Van Thieu was elected president of South Vietnam.
1970 Football coach Vince Lombardi died.
1976 Viking 2 landed on Mars and began taking the first close-up color pictures of the planet's surface.
1978 Pope John Paul I, whose 33-day reign was one of the shortest in history, was installed.
1991 A fire at the Imperial Foods chicken processing plant in Hamlet, N.C., killed 25 people and injured 54 others. In 11 years of operation, the plant had never received a safety inspection.
1997 Arizona Governor Fife Symington was convicted of bank fraud and forced to resign. The conviction was later overturned.
2004 The Beslan school hostage crisis ended when Russian forces stormed the school, killing 334 hostages, more than half of them children.
2005 Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist died.
2006 Tennis player Andre Agassi retired.
2007 Steve Fossett, the first person to fly solo nonstop around the world in a balloon, disappeared.
1189 King Richard I, commonly known as Richard the Lionhearted, was crowned.
1260 The Battle of Ain Jalut was fought between Egyptian Mamluks and Mongols, marking the first time the Mongols had ever been decisively defeated in battle.
1658 Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector of England, died.
1783 The United States and Great Britain signed the Treaty of Paris, effectively ending the Revolutionary War.
1875 Automotive engineer Ferdinand Porsche was born.
1939 Britain and France declared war on Germany.
1967 Nguyen Van Thieu was elected president of South Vietnam.
1970 Football coach Vince Lombardi died.
1976 Viking 2 landed on Mars and began taking the first close-up color pictures of the planet's surface.
1978 Pope John Paul I, whose 33-day reign was one of the shortest in history, was installed.
1991 A fire at the Imperial Foods chicken processing plant in Hamlet, N.C., killed 25 people and injured 54 others. In 11 years of operation, the plant had never received a safety inspection.
1997 Arizona Governor Fife Symington was convicted of bank fraud and forced to resign. The conviction was later overturned.
2004 The Beslan school hostage crisis ended when Russian forces stormed the school, killing 334 hostages, more than half of them children.
2005 Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist died.
2006 Tennis player Andre Agassi retired.
2007 Steve Fossett, the first person to fly solo nonstop around the world in a balloon, disappeared.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Hunt re-invigorates stale budget townhall meeting
If you've never been to a budget town hall meeting (and that's somewhere around 99.99999 percent of the adult Dallas population) what happens is one of the city's assistant city managers or, on a rare occasion, the city manager her own self, will narrate a city-staff-prepared slide presentation of the city manager's proposed budget. It gives all those special interest groups who feel they've been shortchanged the opportunity to jump up and proclaim "But what our little group does really enriches the entire fabric of the city's society so all 100 gazillion dollars should be restored to our efforts, but don't raise taxes and hooray to you for hiring all those extra police officers." Sometimes intelligent discussions do come up such as whether the city should go to a system of once-a-week garbage and recycling pickup and, if so, in what areas of the city should that switch be made and when and how can we get the residents in those dadgum apartment complexes to recycle.
But the centerpiece of the meeting is the slide presentation and, in a huge example of overkill and at the expense of way too many trees, this massive slide presentation is also handed out to everyone who shows up at the townhall meeting. That means, of course, you can jump to the section of the budget that most interests you and not even pay any attention to the assistant city manager who's trying to explain what debt service is and how come so much of the budget must be spent on it.
This year's City of Dallas budget is (and there really isn't any better word to describe it) dull and that makes the slide presentation even more monotonous than it ordinarily is. This not meant as a criticism to the City's staff because any slide presentation on a municipal budget is going to be dull. Let's face it, replacing the city's aging water infrastucture is necessary and important, but it's not exciting.
Which brings me to Tuesday night's townhall meeting at the Village Apartments' Country Club hosted by Angela Hunt, who said "No offense, city staff, but I think I can do this better all by myself." And you know what? By all accounts she did. She presented the budget, not an assistant city manager (although one, A.C. Gonzalez, was present) and she even made her own slide presentation to accompany it. Now, truth be told, tonight was draft night for the fantasy football league I'm in and our draft started at 6:15 p.m. So, by the time I arrived at the Country Club, Ms. Hunt had already made her presentation and was deftly handling comments from a couple of nut jobs, one railing about people with multiple DWIs who continue to drink (I guess he's never heard the term "alcoholic") and the other espousing his racist views on illegal immigrants and why Ms. Hunt doesn't singlehandedly ship them all back to northwest Arkansas where they came from.
It was only after the meeting that I learned Ms. Hunt flew solo. In a conversation with My Hero who has been to a couple hundred of these budget town hall meetings in the last few weeks and who saw the whole thing, she told me Ms. Hunt made the budget presentation and not an assistant city manager and that Ms. Hunt had made her own slides. "She really simplified it and presented it in a way that made sense," My Hero told me. "She did a great job of presenting the budget from the citizens' point of view and not the city's point of view."
For those who might want to see if she'll do it again, Ms. Hunt will have her final budget town hall meeting for this budget process Thursday evening at the Latino Cultural Center. Unfortunately, I will miss that as well because I will be attending a screening of this movie at the Angelika, and I know the rest of Dallas civilization will be at home watching the opening game of the NFL season and thinking "Those guys beat the Cowboys in the playoffs last year? How did they do that?", but just in case you're civic minded in the least, the Latino Cultural Center might be the place to be Thursday evening.
But the centerpiece of the meeting is the slide presentation and, in a huge example of overkill and at the expense of way too many trees, this massive slide presentation is also handed out to everyone who shows up at the townhall meeting. That means, of course, you can jump to the section of the budget that most interests you and not even pay any attention to the assistant city manager who's trying to explain what debt service is and how come so much of the budget must be spent on it.
This year's City of Dallas budget is (and there really isn't any better word to describe it) dull and that makes the slide presentation even more monotonous than it ordinarily is. This not meant as a criticism to the City's staff because any slide presentation on a municipal budget is going to be dull. Let's face it, replacing the city's aging water infrastucture is necessary and important, but it's not exciting.
Which brings me to Tuesday night's townhall meeting at the Village Apartments' Country Club hosted by Angela Hunt, who said "No offense, city staff, but I think I can do this better all by myself." And you know what? By all accounts she did. She presented the budget, not an assistant city manager (although one, A.C. Gonzalez, was present) and she even made her own slide presentation to accompany it. Now, truth be told, tonight was draft night for the fantasy football league I'm in and our draft started at 6:15 p.m. So, by the time I arrived at the Country Club, Ms. Hunt had already made her presentation and was deftly handling comments from a couple of nut jobs, one railing about people with multiple DWIs who continue to drink (I guess he's never heard the term "alcoholic") and the other espousing his racist views on illegal immigrants and why Ms. Hunt doesn't singlehandedly ship them all back to northwest Arkansas where they came from.
It was only after the meeting that I learned Ms. Hunt flew solo. In a conversation with My Hero who has been to a couple hundred of these budget town hall meetings in the last few weeks and who saw the whole thing, she told me Ms. Hunt made the budget presentation and not an assistant city manager and that Ms. Hunt had made her own slides. "She really simplified it and presented it in a way that made sense," My Hero told me. "She did a great job of presenting the budget from the citizens' point of view and not the city's point of view."
For those who might want to see if she'll do it again, Ms. Hunt will have her final budget town hall meeting for this budget process Thursday evening at the Latino Cultural Center. Unfortunately, I will miss that as well because I will be attending a screening of this movie at the Angelika, and I know the rest of Dallas civilization will be at home watching the opening game of the NFL season and thinking "Those guys beat the Cowboys in the playoffs last year? How did they do that?", but just in case you're civic minded in the least, the Latino Cultural Center might be the place to be Thursday evening.
On this date in
31 BCE The Battle of Actium, the decisive engagement between the forces of Octavian and the combined forces of Mark Anthony and Cleopatra, was fought.
1666 The Great Fire of London started.
1789 The U.S. Treasury Department was established.
1864 Union General William Tecumseh Sherman occupied Atlanta.
1898 A victory at The Battle of Omdurman allowed the British to take control of the Sudan.
1901 In a speech at the Minnesota State Fair, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt said "Speak softly and carry a big stick."
1944 Japanese forces shot down Navy Pilot George H.W. Bush as he completed a bombing run over the Bonin Islands. He was rescued by a U.S. submarine.
1945 Japan formally surrenders to end World War II; Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam an independent republic.
1948 Christa McAuliffe, the teacher killed in the 1986 space shuttle Challenger explosion, was born.
1963 "The CBS Evening News" became network television's first weeknight 30-minute newscast.
1969 Ho Chi Minh died.
1985 Wreckage of the Titanic located.
1998 Swissair Flight 111, bound from New York City to Geneva, Switzerland, crashed off Nova Scotia killing all 229 people aboard.
1666 The Great Fire of London started.
1789 The U.S. Treasury Department was established.
1864 Union General William Tecumseh Sherman occupied Atlanta.
1898 A victory at The Battle of Omdurman allowed the British to take control of the Sudan.
1901 In a speech at the Minnesota State Fair, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt said "Speak softly and carry a big stick."
1944 Japanese forces shot down Navy Pilot George H.W. Bush as he completed a bombing run over the Bonin Islands. He was rescued by a U.S. submarine.
1945 Japan formally surrenders to end World War II; Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam an independent republic.
1948 Christa McAuliffe, the teacher killed in the 1986 space shuttle Challenger explosion, was born.
1963 "The CBS Evening News" became network television's first weeknight 30-minute newscast.
1969 Ho Chi Minh died.
1985 Wreckage of the Titanic located.
1998 Swissair Flight 111, bound from New York City to Geneva, Switzerland, crashed off Nova Scotia killing all 229 people aboard.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Of all the bikes on all the streets in all the cities of the world...
...he had to run into this one. Some days it just doesn't pay to get behind the wheel of car.
On this date in
1807 Former Vice President Aaron Burr was acquitted of treason charges.
1854 German composer Engelbert Humperdinck was born.
1875 Author Edgar Rice Burroughs, known as the creator of the jungle hero Tarzan, was born.
1905 Alberta and Saskatchewan became the eighth and ninth provinces of Canada.
1907 Labor union leader Walter Reuther was born.
1923 An earthquake struck the Japanese cities of Tokyo and Yokohama, killing more than 100,000.
1932 New York Mayor James "Gentleman Jimmy" Walker resigned.
1939 Nazi Germany invaded Poland starting World War II.
1951 The United States, Australia and New Zealand signed a mutual defense teaty.
1969 Moammar Gadhafi seized power in Libya through a coup.
1972 Bobby Fischer defeated Boris Spassky in Reykjavik, Iceland, to win the World Chess Championship.
1981 Nazi Albert Speer died in a London hospital.
1983 A Soviet fighter plane shot down a Korean Air Lines Boeing 747 because it allegedly entered Soviet airspace, killing 269.
1854 German composer Engelbert Humperdinck was born.
1875 Author Edgar Rice Burroughs, known as the creator of the jungle hero Tarzan, was born.
1905 Alberta and Saskatchewan became the eighth and ninth provinces of Canada.
1907 Labor union leader Walter Reuther was born.
1923 An earthquake struck the Japanese cities of Tokyo and Yokohama, killing more than 100,000.
1932 New York Mayor James "Gentleman Jimmy" Walker resigned.
1939 Nazi Germany invaded Poland starting World War II.
1951 The United States, Australia and New Zealand signed a mutual defense teaty.
1969 Moammar Gadhafi seized power in Libya through a coup.
1972 Bobby Fischer defeated Boris Spassky in Reykjavik, Iceland, to win the World Chess Championship.
1981 Nazi Albert Speer died in a London hospital.
1983 A Soviet fighter plane shot down a Korean Air Lines Boeing 747 because it allegedly entered Soviet airspace, killing 269.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
New movies to be released this week on DVD
How to Rob a Bank (2008) ½* What's most disturbing about this movie is its lack of ambition. Maybe writer-director Andrew Jenkins will take more chances in the future. If he's lucky, this stinker will be quickly forgotten.
Married Life (2008) **½ The appeal of the cast (Pierce Brosnan, Chris Cooper, Patricia Clarkson, Rachel McAdams), the witty dialogue, the gorgeous costumes and production design, and the refreshingly grown-up subject matter can't be discounted. Maybe the film is about compromise, after all, because though it has its moments, it's bewildering as a whole.
Outsourced (2007) *** This is a sweet, good-natured surprise that takes the cliches out of an overworked genre and makes them seem almost fresh and entirely charming. Josh Hamilton gives a marvelously engaging performance in a fish-out-of-water comedy.
The Promotion (2008) ** This isn't quite as boring as it could have been, thanks to writer-director Steve Conrad's strong script and decent performances by John C. Reilly and Seann William Scott.
Reprise (2008) *** This film says many cogent things about success, what it does to people and how they define it. But it also indicts the mechanics of the culture in a way that is neither Danish nor American but globalized and all the more poignant for it.
Then She Found Me (2008) **½ The plot, as hinted, goes strictly by the "How April Got Her Groove Back" book, but it must be said that the performances push it a notch above pedestrian.
Married Life (2008) **½ The appeal of the cast (Pierce Brosnan, Chris Cooper, Patricia Clarkson, Rachel McAdams), the witty dialogue, the gorgeous costumes and production design, and the refreshingly grown-up subject matter can't be discounted. Maybe the film is about compromise, after all, because though it has its moments, it's bewildering as a whole.
Outsourced (2007) *** This is a sweet, good-natured surprise that takes the cliches out of an overworked genre and makes them seem almost fresh and entirely charming. Josh Hamilton gives a marvelously engaging performance in a fish-out-of-water comedy.
The Promotion (2008) ** This isn't quite as boring as it could have been, thanks to writer-director Steve Conrad's strong script and decent performances by John C. Reilly and Seann William Scott.
Reprise (2008) *** This film says many cogent things about success, what it does to people and how they define it. But it also indicts the mechanics of the culture in a way that is neither Danish nor American but globalized and all the more poignant for it.
Then She Found Me (2008) **½ The plot, as hinted, goes strictly by the "How April Got Her Groove Back" book, but it must be said that the performances push it a notch above pedestrian.
On this date in
1886 An earthquake killed 110 persons in Charleston, S.C.
1886 Mary Ann Nichols, generally believed to be the first victim of Jack the Ripper, was found murdered in London's West End.
1897 Actor Fredric March was born.
1903 Radio and television personality Arthur Godfrey was born.
1908 Author William Saroyan was born.
1918 Lyricist Alan Jay Lerner was born.
1954 Hurricane Carol struck the northeastern United States.
1962 Trinidad and Tobago became independent.
1969 Boxer Rocky Marciano was killed in a plane crash.
1980 Poland's Solidarity came into being.
1985 Serial killer, Richard Ramirez, dubbed "The Night Stalker," was captured.
1986 The Soviet passenger ship SS Admiral Nakhimov sunk.
1992 White separatist Randy Weaver surrendered, ending the siege at Ruby Ridge.
1997 Princess Diana died after an automobile accident in Paris.
2002 Jazz muscian Lionel Hampton died.
2005 1,000 people died in a stampede on a Baghdad bridge.
1886 Mary Ann Nichols, generally believed to be the first victim of Jack the Ripper, was found murdered in London's West End.
1897 Actor Fredric March was born.
1903 Radio and television personality Arthur Godfrey was born.
1908 Author William Saroyan was born.
1918 Lyricist Alan Jay Lerner was born.
1954 Hurricane Carol struck the northeastern United States.
1962 Trinidad and Tobago became independent.
1969 Boxer Rocky Marciano was killed in a plane crash.
1980 Poland's Solidarity came into being.
1985 Serial killer, Richard Ramirez, dubbed "The Night Stalker," was captured.
1986 The Soviet passenger ship SS Admiral Nakhimov sunk.
1992 White separatist Randy Weaver surrendered, ending the siege at Ruby Ridge.
1997 Princess Diana died after an automobile accident in Paris.
2002 Jazz muscian Lionel Hampton died.
2005 1,000 people died in a stampede on a Baghdad bridge.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
On this date in
1797 Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was born.
1791 The HMS Pandora sunk.
1835 European settlers founded the city of Melbourne.
1862 Confederate forces emerged victorious in the Second Battle of Bull Run.
1893 Huey P. Long was born.
1896 Raymond Massey was born.
1898 Shirley Booth was born.
1905 Ty Cobb made his major league debut.
1908 Fred MacMurray was born.
1918 Ted Williams was born.
1941 Nazi forces began a 2 1/2-year siege of Leningrad.
1945 General Douglas MacArthur set up Allied occupation headquarters in Japan.
1965 Bob Dylan's best album, "Highway 61 Revisited," was released.
1967 The Senate confirms Thurgood Marshall as the first African-American Supreme Court justice.
1989 Leona Helmsley is convicted of income tax invasion but acquitted of extortion.
1993 "The Late Show with David Letterman" premiered on CBS.
1791 The HMS Pandora sunk.
1835 European settlers founded the city of Melbourne.
1862 Confederate forces emerged victorious in the Second Battle of Bull Run.
1893 Huey P. Long was born.
1896 Raymond Massey was born.
1898 Shirley Booth was born.
1905 Ty Cobb made his major league debut.
1908 Fred MacMurray was born.
1918 Ted Williams was born.
1941 Nazi forces began a 2 1/2-year siege of Leningrad.
1945 General Douglas MacArthur set up Allied occupation headquarters in Japan.
1965 Bob Dylan's best album, "Highway 61 Revisited," was released.
1967 The Senate confirms Thurgood Marshall as the first African-American Supreme Court justice.
1989 Leona Helmsley is convicted of income tax invasion but acquitted of extortion.
1993 "The Late Show with David Letterman" premiered on CBS.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Does this make him a celebrity?
According to Nielsen Media Research, 38 million persons watched Barach Obama make his acceptance speech last night. That's more people than watched the opening ceremonies of the recent Olympics in Beijing or the final "American Idol" and twice the number that watched John Kerry accept the Democratic nomination four years ago. Actually, it's more like 38,000,003 because our household watched the convention on C-Span, which doesn't subscribe to Nielsen and whose viewers, therefore, are not tabulated in Nielsen's ratings.
On this date in
1526 The Battle of Mohacs resulted in, among other things, the partition of Hungary into the Ottoman Empire, the Habsburg Monarchy and Transylvania.
1632 John Locke was born.
1756 Frederick II of Prussia started the Seven Years War.
1809 Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. was born.
1842 The Treaty of Nanking was signed.
1877 Brigham Young died.
1898 Preston Sturges was born.
1907 The Quebec Bridge collapsed.
1915 Ingrid Bergman was born.
1920 Charlie Parker was born.
1924 Dinah Washington was born.
1936 John McCain was born.
1944 American troops marched down the Champs Elysees, in a ceremony liberating Paris from the Nazis.
1957 Sen. Strom Thurmond ended the longest filabuster in Senate history -- 24 hours and 18 minutes. He was filabustering a civil rights bill.
1965 Splashdown of Gemini 5.
1966 The Beatles performed their last full concert before paying fans, at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
1991 The Soviet Union's parliament suspended all actitivities of the Communist party, effectively eliminating it.
1996 Dick Morris resigned as President Clinton's chief of staff when it was learned he permitted a prostitute to listen in on telephone conversations he had with the President.
2000 Pope John Paul II endorsed organ donations and adult stem cell research, but condemned human cloning and embryo experiments.
2002 Michael Skakel was sentenced to 20 years to life for the 1975 murder of a neighbor.
2005 Hurricane Katrina made landfall at the Louisiana-Mississippi border, causing massive flooding in New Orleans, widespread damage along the Mississippi coast and killing 1,836 persons.
1632 John Locke was born.
1756 Frederick II of Prussia started the Seven Years War.
1809 Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. was born.
1842 The Treaty of Nanking was signed.
1877 Brigham Young died.
1898 Preston Sturges was born.
1907 The Quebec Bridge collapsed.
1915 Ingrid Bergman was born.
1920 Charlie Parker was born.
1924 Dinah Washington was born.
1936 John McCain was born.
1944 American troops marched down the Champs Elysees, in a ceremony liberating Paris from the Nazis.
1957 Sen. Strom Thurmond ended the longest filabuster in Senate history -- 24 hours and 18 minutes. He was filabustering a civil rights bill.
1965 Splashdown of Gemini 5.
1966 The Beatles performed their last full concert before paying fans, at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
1991 The Soviet Union's parliament suspended all actitivities of the Communist party, effectively eliminating it.
1996 Dick Morris resigned as President Clinton's chief of staff when it was learned he permitted a prostitute to listen in on telephone conversations he had with the President.
2000 Pope John Paul II endorsed organ donations and adult stem cell research, but condemned human cloning and embryo experiments.
2002 Michael Skakel was sentenced to 20 years to life for the 1975 murder of a neighbor.
2005 Hurricane Katrina made landfall at the Louisiana-Mississippi border, causing massive flooding in New Orleans, widespread damage along the Mississippi coast and killing 1,836 persons.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
On this date in
1749 Johann Wolfgang von Geothe was born.
1828 Leo Tolstoy was born.
1899 James Wong Howe, Charles Boyer were born.
1922 A 10-minute advertisement for Queensboro Realty Co., for which the company paid $100, became the first commercial to be aired on radio when it was broadcast on WEAF in New York City. (The station is now the sports radio station WFAN.)
1947 Manolete was fatally gored by a bull.
1955 My Hero was born; Emmit Till was abducted from his home and murdered.
1963 Martin Luther King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech.
1968 Police and anti-war protestors clashed at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
1981 John W. Hinckley Jr. pleaded innocent to charges he attempted to kill President Reagan.
1996 Democrats nominated Bill Clinton for a second term as President; Prince Charles and Princess Diana were divorced.
2005 Mayor Ray Nagin ordered the evacuation of New Orleans in advance of Hurricane Katrina.
1828 Leo Tolstoy was born.
1899 James Wong Howe, Charles Boyer were born.
1922 A 10-minute advertisement for Queensboro Realty Co., for which the company paid $100, became the first commercial to be aired on radio when it was broadcast on WEAF in New York City. (The station is now the sports radio station WFAN.)
1947 Manolete was fatally gored by a bull.
1955 My Hero was born; Emmit Till was abducted from his home and murdered.
1963 Martin Luther King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech.
1968 Police and anti-war protestors clashed at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
1981 John W. Hinckley Jr. pleaded innocent to charges he attempted to kill President Reagan.
1996 Democrats nominated Bill Clinton for a second term as President; Prince Charles and Princess Diana were divorced.
2005 Mayor Ray Nagin ordered the evacuation of New Orleans in advance of Hurricane Katrina.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Hillary + Bill (and Hillary's future)
Either he is one of the world's great actors or Bill Clinton really was proud of his wife's speech last night at the Democratic National Convention. Throughout her address, which you can see in its entirety here, the camera kept going to the former President to check his reaction. He seemed to be beaming throughout, except at one point where he looked close to tears. Judge for yourself.
Incidentally, last night I was having a discussion with My Hero who asked me what I thought of Hillary vis-a-vis the vice presidency or whether Barach Obama plans to name her to a significant cabinet post. I told her I thought Barach Obama has something more significant mind -- that he intends, if he wins the election, to name her to the first vacancy that occurs on the Supreme Court. I am also the personal opinion that she would make a superb Supreme Court justice.
Incidentally, last night I was having a discussion with My Hero who asked me what I thought of Hillary vis-a-vis the vice presidency or whether Barach Obama plans to name her to a significant cabinet post. I told her I thought Barach Obama has something more significant mind -- that he intends, if he wins the election, to name her to the first vacancy that occurs on the Supreme Court. I am also the personal opinion that she would make a superb Supreme Court justice.
On this date in
1770 Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was born.
1776 British forces defeated the Continental Army led by George Washington at the Battle of Long Island.
1859 Edwin L. Drake drilled the first well in the United States to strike oil in Titusville, Pa.
1871 Theodore Dreiser was born.
1883 A volcano erupted on the island of Krakatoa resulting in tidal waves that killed an estimated 36,000 on the islands of Java and Sumatra.
1896 The Anglo-Zanzibar War, the shortest war on record, started and ended.
1899 C.S. Forester was born.
1908 Lyndon B. Johnson was born.
1916 Martha Raye was born.
1928 the Kellogg-Briand Pact was signed in Paris.
1929 Ira Levin was born.
1937 Tommy Sands was born.
1943 Tuesday Weld was born.
1951 Mack Brown was born.
1962 the Mariner 2 space probe was launched.
1967 Brian Epstein was found dead.
1975 Haile Selassie died.
1979 Lord Louis Mountbatten was killed.
1990 Stevie Ray Vaughan died in a helicopter crash.
2007 Attorney General Alberto Gonzales resigned; Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick pleaded guilty to a federal dogfighting charge.
1776 British forces defeated the Continental Army led by George Washington at the Battle of Long Island.
1859 Edwin L. Drake drilled the first well in the United States to strike oil in Titusville, Pa.
1871 Theodore Dreiser was born.
1883 A volcano erupted on the island of Krakatoa resulting in tidal waves that killed an estimated 36,000 on the islands of Java and Sumatra.
1896 The Anglo-Zanzibar War, the shortest war on record, started and ended.
1899 C.S. Forester was born.
1908 Lyndon B. Johnson was born.
1916 Martha Raye was born.
1928 the Kellogg-Briand Pact was signed in Paris.
1929 Ira Levin was born.
1937 Tommy Sands was born.
1943 Tuesday Weld was born.
1951 Mack Brown was born.
1962 the Mariner 2 space probe was launched.
1967 Brian Epstein was found dead.
1975 Haile Selassie died.
1979 Lord Louis Mountbatten was killed.
1990 Stevie Ray Vaughan died in a helicopter crash.
2007 Attorney General Alberto Gonzales resigned; Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick pleaded guilty to a federal dogfighting charge.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Director Ilana Trachtman is still praying with Lior
A chance meeting at a Jewish retreat in upstate New York not only led to a multi award-winning documentary called "Praying with Lior," but a deep friendship between the film's protaganist, Lior Liebling, and its director, Ilana Trachtman (pictured here).
"Searching for spiritual inspiration outside the stale synagogue experience of my childhood, I attended a retreat for the Jewish New Year," Ms. Trachtman is quoted as saying on the film's Web site. "As I sat in the service, anxious, distracted, counting the pages until I’d be free, I heard Lior’s unabashed, off-key, ecstatic voice. When I turned to look at the source of this sound, I was struck to see a boy with Down syndrome. And I was surprised to find myself envious of this 'disabled' child, who could pray as I wished I could. Over the course of this retreat, I stalked Lior, looking for the secret to his prayer. When I heard he was having a Bar Mitzvah, I pictured the movie version. And then I realized that I could make it. "
Ms. Trachtman told me during a telephone conversation we had Monday that all this happened over a period of one day. The result is a documentary that I could argue is misnamed because we, as viewers, spend far more time actually "Living with Lior" then praying with him. We discover an earnest, passionate, fun-loving, humorous, intelligent young man, similar to many others with communications and learning disabilities I have come to know and be inspired by. It could also be called "Living with Lior's Family" because Ms. Trachtman gives viewers the opportunity to get to know Lior's father, stepmother, siblings and, most delicately of all, his mother who died before Ms. Trachtman met the family.
The film gets its title, as a matter of fact, from an essay with that same title that Devorah, Lior's mother wrote. She knew she was dying of cancer, but hoped she could live long enough to see her son, whom she believed had formed a special alliance with God, celebrate his bar mitzvah. It was not to be. Devorah died in 1997, when Lior was only 6 years 0ld. Her spirit, however, looms over the entire film, not only because of Lior's feelings about his mother but because of home movies Ms. Trachtman secured of Devorah and Lior.
"Initially, when I started working on the film, I wasn't that much in touch with (Devorah and her influence on Lior)," Ms. Trachtman told me. "I may have even actually tried to avoid it because it seemed so delicate and I didn't want to exploit the family's grief. I also wanted to be respectful of Lior's stepmother. But as I was working on the film I realized it was impossible to tell Lior's story in a real, whole way without also telling her story. And the truth is, Devorah's presence is something that is felt and is something that is connected to Lior."
But what's remarkable about Ms. Trachtman's treatment of Lior is that she expands on that person his mother talked about to show us a young man who not only prays fervently, but also plays air hockey with his brother, participates in Little League baseball, likes to exercise on the trampoline, watches TV and, yes, even throws a bit of a hissy fit when told he can't wear a white dress shirt to dinner. In other words, Lior is representative of just about any Jewish boy with Down Syndrome about to participate in his bar mitzvah.
The important question the film raises, however, is that how many Jewish boys with Down Syndrome will be able to participate in their bar mitzvahs. Because the true heroes of "Praying with Lior" are all those individuals in Lior's support network, who accept, love and encourage him. How many others in Lior's situation -- Jewish, Christian, Moslem, whatever -- have that kind of support network around them? That's one of the issues that will be explored Thursday, Sept. 4, when "Praying with Lior" has a special 7 p.m. screening at the Angelika Film Center at Mockingbird Station. Not only will Ms. Trachtman be present to discuss the movie and answer questions about it, immediately prior to the screening the Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas will offer an update on the progress of its Special Needs Initiative and others will explore how to create a more "whole" community which includes and accommodates everyone.
Ms. Trachtman's film has the courage to show that this kind of support doesn't come easily or without a price. One of the more interesting persons in the movie is Anna, Lior's younger sister, who seems to resent Lior for stealing familial affection that otherwise would have come to her.
"When I thought about putting together the film, I wanted to be kind to Anna because I knew what this protrayal was going to do to her," Ms. Trachtman told me. "I also thought about the fact that we were representing millions of siblings, siblings who are younger than the siblings with disabilities and how incredibly universal her experience is. So many people see the movie and say 'My older brother has autism, my older sister has cerebral palsy and I could never say those things about being frustrated and jealous. It's really a rlief to hear somebody else say them.' So where I do feel she felt sort of robbed, I think a lot of kids in her family system and that birth order feel robbed."
Ms. Trachtman also said that Anna was at a special age when the film was being shot.
"Being 11 years old is a really uncomfortable time for every single girl," the director said. "Any girl you film at that age is going to be painful to watch. Anna is on the other side of puberty now. I actually just finished follow-up interviews with the family because the educational DVD is going to come out in October and we're putting followups on there as bonus features. (Anna) talks about how she sort of dislikes herself in the film and herself in that moment in time. The way she talked about Lior in the film is not the way she thinks about Lior today.
"Their relationship took a very intense journey because they are only a year and a half apart. For a long time they were sort of equal in terms of their intellectual ability. They were almost in the same place. And they were each other's best friend. Before Lior could speak, which was about 4, Anna used to translate for him. So, to a certain degree, as she outpaced him a few years later, they both lost their best friends. Now Anna's in high school and has high school friends and high school interests and now sees Lior has less of a confusing burdon and more as a friend for what he is, not what he isn't."
And what is Lior like today?
"He's the same person you see in the movie except he is more mature and a lot more practiced speaking before audiences," Ms. Trachtman said. "He is maturing the way any kid goes from being a 13-year-old to a 17-year-old. He has a deeper sense of himself, a more focused idea of what the future might be. He's just more grown up, but at the same time, he's the same person. He still goes to services every Saturday morning. For his 17th birthday, the present his family got him was to lead the congregation services. He's doing extremely well in school. He's on the honor roll. He takes five academic classes with kids who have learning disabilities but do not necessarily have Down Syndrome or some other mental retardation. Last year he was a sophomore and was asked to the junior prom by a junior and went to the junior prom. Yeah, he's been good."
There is a moment in the film in which Lior says he is convinced that both his mother and the messiah will return for his bar mitzvah. Because the film doesn't follow up on this in the scenes shot after the bar mitzvah, I asked the director if she discussed this with Lior.
"When I talked to him about this, it became clear that he has a pretty complicated view of messiah, which is really a reflection of the complicated religion he is absorbing," Ms. Trachtman said. "The family is observant in a very liberal way. Both this father and his late mother were reconstructionist rabbis. But the school he goes to is an orthodox school. There's a real difference in the way the messiah is thought of and taught. In the orthodox school where he goes, the messiah really is a being that will come and resurrect the dead and usher in a new world, a new consciousness. In the reconstructionist world, the messiah is much more a concept of people self-actualization. So Lior could say quite accurately that his mother's spirit was present at that bar mitzvah because, of course, everyone was thinking about her. But I don't know that he was disappointed that a being didn't show up with his mother on the back of a horse."
Although Ms. Trachtman has "a couple of other films in development," including one about Mexican-American teenagers "through the lens of a competitive high school mariachi band," the director who got her start as a production assistant on the PBS television series "Reading Rainbows" still finds herself immersed with Lior.
"It's amazing to me that the response to the film has been so big that here it is, a year after the film opened at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, and most of my time is involved in the presentation of it. We're about to have the international premier of the film in Israel in October and then there will be the whole international run. I thought I would have moved on a long time ago, but I am still very much in the middle of this."
Tickets for the Sept. 4 screening are $9 and must be purchased in advance, either by going to the Web site of 3 Stars Cinema or by calling Melissa Bernstein at 214-239-7134. The screening is being coordinated by the Special Needs Initiative of the Jewish Federation in partnership with the Aaron Family Jewish Community Center, 3 Stars Cinema and the Down Syndrome Guild of Dallas.
"Searching for spiritual inspiration outside the stale synagogue experience of my childhood, I attended a retreat for the Jewish New Year," Ms. Trachtman is quoted as saying on the film's Web site. "As I sat in the service, anxious, distracted, counting the pages until I’d be free, I heard Lior’s unabashed, off-key, ecstatic voice. When I turned to look at the source of this sound, I was struck to see a boy with Down syndrome. And I was surprised to find myself envious of this 'disabled' child, who could pray as I wished I could. Over the course of this retreat, I stalked Lior, looking for the secret to his prayer. When I heard he was having a Bar Mitzvah, I pictured the movie version. And then I realized that I could make it. "
Ms. Trachtman told me during a telephone conversation we had Monday that all this happened over a period of one day. The result is a documentary that I could argue is misnamed because we, as viewers, spend far more time actually "Living with Lior" then praying with him. We discover an earnest, passionate, fun-loving, humorous, intelligent young man, similar to many others with communications and learning disabilities I have come to know and be inspired by. It could also be called "Living with Lior's Family" because Ms. Trachtman gives viewers the opportunity to get to know Lior's father, stepmother, siblings and, most delicately of all, his mother who died before Ms. Trachtman met the family.
The film gets its title, as a matter of fact, from an essay with that same title that Devorah, Lior's mother wrote. She knew she was dying of cancer, but hoped she could live long enough to see her son, whom she believed had formed a special alliance with God, celebrate his bar mitzvah. It was not to be. Devorah died in 1997, when Lior was only 6 years 0ld. Her spirit, however, looms over the entire film, not only because of Lior's feelings about his mother but because of home movies Ms. Trachtman secured of Devorah and Lior.
"Initially, when I started working on the film, I wasn't that much in touch with (Devorah and her influence on Lior)," Ms. Trachtman told me. "I may have even actually tried to avoid it because it seemed so delicate and I didn't want to exploit the family's grief. I also wanted to be respectful of Lior's stepmother. But as I was working on the film I realized it was impossible to tell Lior's story in a real, whole way without also telling her story. And the truth is, Devorah's presence is something that is felt and is something that is connected to Lior."
But what's remarkable about Ms. Trachtman's treatment of Lior is that she expands on that person his mother talked about to show us a young man who not only prays fervently, but also plays air hockey with his brother, participates in Little League baseball, likes to exercise on the trampoline, watches TV and, yes, even throws a bit of a hissy fit when told he can't wear a white dress shirt to dinner. In other words, Lior is representative of just about any Jewish boy with Down Syndrome about to participate in his bar mitzvah.
The important question the film raises, however, is that how many Jewish boys with Down Syndrome will be able to participate in their bar mitzvahs. Because the true heroes of "Praying with Lior" are all those individuals in Lior's support network, who accept, love and encourage him. How many others in Lior's situation -- Jewish, Christian, Moslem, whatever -- have that kind of support network around them? That's one of the issues that will be explored Thursday, Sept. 4, when "Praying with Lior" has a special 7 p.m. screening at the Angelika Film Center at Mockingbird Station. Not only will Ms. Trachtman be present to discuss the movie and answer questions about it, immediately prior to the screening the Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas will offer an update on the progress of its Special Needs Initiative and others will explore how to create a more "whole" community which includes and accommodates everyone.
Ms. Trachtman's film has the courage to show that this kind of support doesn't come easily or without a price. One of the more interesting persons in the movie is Anna, Lior's younger sister, who seems to resent Lior for stealing familial affection that otherwise would have come to her.
"When I thought about putting together the film, I wanted to be kind to Anna because I knew what this protrayal was going to do to her," Ms. Trachtman told me. "I also thought about the fact that we were representing millions of siblings, siblings who are younger than the siblings with disabilities and how incredibly universal her experience is. So many people see the movie and say 'My older brother has autism, my older sister has cerebral palsy and I could never say those things about being frustrated and jealous. It's really a rlief to hear somebody else say them.' So where I do feel she felt sort of robbed, I think a lot of kids in her family system and that birth order feel robbed."
Ms. Trachtman also said that Anna was at a special age when the film was being shot.
"Being 11 years old is a really uncomfortable time for every single girl," the director said. "Any girl you film at that age is going to be painful to watch. Anna is on the other side of puberty now. I actually just finished follow-up interviews with the family because the educational DVD is going to come out in October and we're putting followups on there as bonus features. (Anna) talks about how she sort of dislikes herself in the film and herself in that moment in time. The way she talked about Lior in the film is not the way she thinks about Lior today.
"Their relationship took a very intense journey because they are only a year and a half apart. For a long time they were sort of equal in terms of their intellectual ability. They were almost in the same place. And they were each other's best friend. Before Lior could speak, which was about 4, Anna used to translate for him. So, to a certain degree, as she outpaced him a few years later, they both lost their best friends. Now Anna's in high school and has high school friends and high school interests and now sees Lior has less of a confusing burdon and more as a friend for what he is, not what he isn't."
And what is Lior like today?
"He's the same person you see in the movie except he is more mature and a lot more practiced speaking before audiences," Ms. Trachtman said. "He is maturing the way any kid goes from being a 13-year-old to a 17-year-old. He has a deeper sense of himself, a more focused idea of what the future might be. He's just more grown up, but at the same time, he's the same person. He still goes to services every Saturday morning. For his 17th birthday, the present his family got him was to lead the congregation services. He's doing extremely well in school. He's on the honor roll. He takes five academic classes with kids who have learning disabilities but do not necessarily have Down Syndrome or some other mental retardation. Last year he was a sophomore and was asked to the junior prom by a junior and went to the junior prom. Yeah, he's been good."
There is a moment in the film in which Lior says he is convinced that both his mother and the messiah will return for his bar mitzvah. Because the film doesn't follow up on this in the scenes shot after the bar mitzvah, I asked the director if she discussed this with Lior.
"When I talked to him about this, it became clear that he has a pretty complicated view of messiah, which is really a reflection of the complicated religion he is absorbing," Ms. Trachtman said. "The family is observant in a very liberal way. Both this father and his late mother were reconstructionist rabbis. But the school he goes to is an orthodox school. There's a real difference in the way the messiah is thought of and taught. In the orthodox school where he goes, the messiah really is a being that will come and resurrect the dead and usher in a new world, a new consciousness. In the reconstructionist world, the messiah is much more a concept of people self-actualization. So Lior could say quite accurately that his mother's spirit was present at that bar mitzvah because, of course, everyone was thinking about her. But I don't know that he was disappointed that a being didn't show up with his mother on the back of a horse."
Although Ms. Trachtman has "a couple of other films in development," including one about Mexican-American teenagers "through the lens of a competitive high school mariachi band," the director who got her start as a production assistant on the PBS television series "Reading Rainbows" still finds herself immersed with Lior.
"It's amazing to me that the response to the film has been so big that here it is, a year after the film opened at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, and most of my time is involved in the presentation of it. We're about to have the international premier of the film in Israel in October and then there will be the whole international run. I thought I would have moved on a long time ago, but I am still very much in the middle of this."
Tickets for the Sept. 4 screening are $9 and must be purchased in advance, either by going to the Web site of 3 Stars Cinema or by calling Melissa Bernstein at 214-239-7134. The screening is being coordinated by the Special Needs Initiative of the Jewish Federation in partnership with the Aaron Family Jewish Community Center, 3 Stars Cinema and the Down Syndrome Guild of Dallas.
On this date in
1847 Liberia became an independent republic.
1910 Mother Teresa was born.
1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution went into effect. It's no coincidence that U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton will commemorate the occasion with her speech tonight at the Democratic National Convention.
1939 The doubleheader between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field became the first major league game to be televised.
1964 Lyndon B. Johnson became the Democratic Party's nominee for President (one day short of his 56th birthday).
1974 Charles Lindbergh died.
1978 Cardinal Albino Luciani was elected Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and took the name John Paul I.
1910 Mother Teresa was born.
1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution went into effect. It's no coincidence that U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton will commemorate the occasion with her speech tonight at the Democratic National Convention.
1939 The doubleheader between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field became the first major league game to be televised.
1964 Lyndon B. Johnson became the Democratic Party's nominee for President (one day short of his 56th birthday).
1974 Charles Lindbergh died.
1978 Cardinal Albino Luciani was elected Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and took the name John Paul I.
Monday, August 25, 2008
When will it ever end
The folks at City Hall were kind enough to send me a news release containing the information that folks from the Africam Safari, the place in Mexico where Dallas Zoo officials planned to send Jenny the Elephant until all hell broke loose, have trekked all the way up here to hold a news conference at 11 a.m. tomorrow in the City Hall's Flag Room (also known as the City Council's sixth floor lobby) to tell their side of the story.
It seems these folks feel their reputation was unfairly maligned by all the animal rights people who insisted (and still insist) Jenny should be shipped off to some sanctuary in Tennessee. (For those not keeping score, the Zoo has decided to keep Jenny here and expand her habitat.) Joining them at the ceremony will be council member Steve Salazar.
According to the release, the Safari people will "clarify the misconceptions" surrounding their joint in particular and the city in which the safari is located and "Mexican wildlife protection laws" in general. They will also "address how the collaborative relationship between the Dallas Zoo and the Africam Safari will be in the future."
Why, oh why is this saga continuing? Don't the folks at Africam know that the animal rights maniacs don't give a damn about Jenny or what's happening south of the border? They just constantly protest the ideas of zoos and circuses. The Dallas Zoo could build a habitat as big as the entire state of Tennessee and it wouldn't satisfy the animal rights people. So anything these people from Africam will be saying tomorrow will fall on deaf ears and I doubt they are going to convince that many Dallas residents to drive down to Puebla, Mexico, and visit their sanctuary. So why bother, especially at City Hall when the City Council (regardless of what council member Angela Hunt, who has become nothing more than a pawn in the anti-zoo campaign, says) should have absolutely no say in this matter whatsoever, according to the Dallas City Charter.
Please, can someone with some semblance of sanity put a lid on this thing.
It seems these folks feel their reputation was unfairly maligned by all the animal rights people who insisted (and still insist) Jenny should be shipped off to some sanctuary in Tennessee. (For those not keeping score, the Zoo has decided to keep Jenny here and expand her habitat.) Joining them at the ceremony will be council member Steve Salazar.
According to the release, the Safari people will "clarify the misconceptions" surrounding their joint in particular and the city in which the safari is located and "Mexican wildlife protection laws" in general. They will also "address how the collaborative relationship between the Dallas Zoo and the Africam Safari will be in the future."
Why, oh why is this saga continuing? Don't the folks at Africam know that the animal rights maniacs don't give a damn about Jenny or what's happening south of the border? They just constantly protest the ideas of zoos and circuses. The Dallas Zoo could build a habitat as big as the entire state of Tennessee and it wouldn't satisfy the animal rights people. So anything these people from Africam will be saying tomorrow will fall on deaf ears and I doubt they are going to convince that many Dallas residents to drive down to Puebla, Mexico, and visit their sanctuary. So why bother, especially at City Hall when the City Council (regardless of what council member Angela Hunt, who has become nothing more than a pawn in the anti-zoo campaign, says) should have absolutely no say in this matter whatsoever, according to the Dallas City Charter.
Please, can someone with some semblance of sanity put a lid on this thing.
SMU to sponsor, host Special Olympics basketball clinic
SMU basketball coaches and players will offer tips on ball handling, passing and shooting during a free basketball clinic for area Special Olympic athletes Saturday, Sept. 13, between 9 and 10:30 a.m. at the Crum Basketball Center on the SMU campus.
Although I have been inside Moody Coliseum, where the Mustangs play their home games, on many occasions for everything from athletic contests, to rock concerts to high school graduation ceremonies, the Crum Center is this $13 million, 43,000-square-foot state-of-the art practice and training facility adjacent to Moody designed, among other things, to attract a high-profile coach like Matt Doherty to SMU and to help him recruit athletes. It just opened its doors last year. It will be neat just to see this facility.
In addition, there will be a limited time after the clinic when the Special Olympians can get autographs from the instructors.
Although I have been inside Moody Coliseum, where the Mustangs play their home games, on many occasions for everything from athletic contests, to rock concerts to high school graduation ceremonies, the Crum Center is this $13 million, 43,000-square-foot state-of-the art practice and training facility adjacent to Moody designed, among other things, to attract a high-profile coach like Matt Doherty to SMU and to help him recruit athletes. It just opened its doors last year. It will be neat just to see this facility.
In addition, there will be a limited time after the clinic when the Special Olympians can get autographs from the instructors.
On this date in
1875 Matthew Webb became the first person to swim the English Channel.
1916 The National Park Service was created; Van Johnson was born.
1918 Leonard Bernstein was born.
1919 George Wallace was born.
1930 Sean Connery was born.
1944 Allied forces liberated Paris.
1975 Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run" was released
1981 Voyager 2 came within 63,000 miles of the planet Saturn.
1984 Truman Capote died.
1985 Samantha Smith was killed in airplane crash in Lewiston, Maine.
1998 Former Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell died.
2003 Pete Sampras retired.
1916 The National Park Service was created; Van Johnson was born.
1918 Leonard Bernstein was born.
1919 George Wallace was born.
1930 Sean Connery was born.
1944 Allied forces liberated Paris.
1975 Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run" was released
1981 Voyager 2 came within 63,000 miles of the planet Saturn.
1984 Truman Capote died.
1985 Samantha Smith was killed in airplane crash in Lewiston, Maine.
1998 Former Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell died.
2003 Pete Sampras retired.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
New movies to be released this week on DVD
August (2008) *1/2 Austin Chick’s underwhelming exploration of post-millennial angst is as empty and vacant as its protagonist’s inexpressive peepers.
Chicago 10 (2008) *** A vibrantly crafted evocation of a convulsive moment in 20th century American history, this film is far less interested in offering a fresh, probing look at what took place on the streets during the 1968 Democratic National Convention and the circus trial that followed than it is in celebrating the stars of the anti-war movement and rallying the current generation to follow their examples.
Gypsy Caravan (2007) *** Sounds great and if nothing else should help diminish the stereotype, blasted by the film’s subjects, of Gypsies as little more than pickpockets whom travelers need to be wary of.
Postal (2008) * Manages to be as toothless as director Uwe Boll is tasteless. Poorly framed, tone-deaf, and nonsensical, yet still Boll’s best!
Redbelt (2008) *** It’s a classic fight movie, with Chiwetel Ejiofor as an honorable martial arts instructor. But nesting inside is a sour little ‘70s-style David Mamet play about the lies, calculations, and ice-cold politics of Hollywood, as the fighter is befriended and then discarded by a callow movie star.
Son of Rambow (2008) *** A film that bristles with the anarchic energy of late childhood and a genuine respect for the life-changing power of movies — even (or especially) the schlocky ones.
What Happens in Vegas (2008) *1/2 As it is, this film is too restrained, too often — too eager to gallop toward postcard sunsets on the beach when tequila shooters and lap dances are what the moment calls for. You’d think the combination of Cameron Diaz, Ashton Kutcher and Las Vegas would be good for at least a little sexy, silly fun. But don’t bet on it.
Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden? (2008) ** Morgan Spurlock, of the "Super Size Me" phenom, serves up a rehash of others’ 9/11 reportage, bin Laden biography, Islamic theology and suicide-bomber psychology, in a tone so aghast you’d assume he knew nothing about the War on Terror — which should this movie very appealing for those who know nothing about the War on Terror.
Chicago 10 (2008) *** A vibrantly crafted evocation of a convulsive moment in 20th century American history, this film is far less interested in offering a fresh, probing look at what took place on the streets during the 1968 Democratic National Convention and the circus trial that followed than it is in celebrating the stars of the anti-war movement and rallying the current generation to follow their examples.
Gypsy Caravan (2007) *** Sounds great and if nothing else should help diminish the stereotype, blasted by the film’s subjects, of Gypsies as little more than pickpockets whom travelers need to be wary of.
Postal (2008) * Manages to be as toothless as director Uwe Boll is tasteless. Poorly framed, tone-deaf, and nonsensical, yet still Boll’s best!
Redbelt (2008) *** It’s a classic fight movie, with Chiwetel Ejiofor as an honorable martial arts instructor. But nesting inside is a sour little ‘70s-style David Mamet play about the lies, calculations, and ice-cold politics of Hollywood, as the fighter is befriended and then discarded by a callow movie star.
Son of Rambow (2008) *** A film that bristles with the anarchic energy of late childhood and a genuine respect for the life-changing power of movies — even (or especially) the schlocky ones.
What Happens in Vegas (2008) *1/2 As it is, this film is too restrained, too often — too eager to gallop toward postcard sunsets on the beach when tequila shooters and lap dances are what the moment calls for. You’d think the combination of Cameron Diaz, Ashton Kutcher and Las Vegas would be good for at least a little sexy, silly fun. But don’t bet on it.
Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden? (2008) ** Morgan Spurlock, of the "Super Size Me" phenom, serves up a rehash of others’ 9/11 reportage, bin Laden biography, Islamic theology and suicide-bomber psychology, in a tone so aghast you’d assume he knew nothing about the War on Terror — which should this movie very appealing for those who know nothing about the War on Terror.
On this date in
79 Mount Vesuvius erupted burying the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum and killing an estimated 20,000 persons.
1814 British forces invaded Washington, D.C., and set fire to the Capitol and the White House.
1932 Amelia Earhart flew from Los Angeles to Newark, N.J., in 19 hours, becoming the first woman to fly nonstop across the United States.
1981 Mark David Chapman was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for the murder of John Lennon.
1989 Pete Rose was banished from baseball for gambling.
1992 Hurricane Andrew, the second most destructive hurricane in U.S. history and the last Category 5 hurricane to hit the United States, struck Florida. In all, 65 deaths in were attributed to the storm.
1814 British forces invaded Washington, D.C., and set fire to the Capitol and the White House.
1932 Amelia Earhart flew from Los Angeles to Newark, N.J., in 19 hours, becoming the first woman to fly nonstop across the United States.
1981 Mark David Chapman was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for the murder of John Lennon.
1989 Pete Rose was banished from baseball for gambling.
1992 Hurricane Andrew, the second most destructive hurricane in U.S. history and the last Category 5 hurricane to hit the United States, struck Florida. In all, 65 deaths in were attributed to the storm.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)