The Hall of Fire

Funny that a picture of Elijah Wood as Frodo has the caption, "J.R.R. Tolkien was a well-regarded Beowulf scholar", implying that the picture is of Tolkien himself.

I disagree with Hannan about the verse he quotes ("The dwarves of yore"): it is not in alliterative meter.

Well, Phil Jones is in continually worse shape. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/feb/01/leaked-emails-climate-jones-chinese On the other hand, Michael Mann has been largely exonerated: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/04/science/earth/04climate.html?scp=2&sq=Michael%20Mann%20Penn%20Stat...

Darn. I was hoping for something to offset the increase in pirates.

Films do this from time to time. In the 1996 film, Chain Reaction ... They run up a staircase, emerge on another floor, and attempt to lose their pursuit by hiding inside an actual full-sized airplane which is on display at the Museum of Science and Industry some seven miles away across town. ... I...

Well, I'm sorry to learn that, and for any posts I made suggesting that Jones might be exonerated, I apologize.

Read this . Telling an industry that building a new dirty-coal plant will bankrupt them is not the same things as telling that industry that your intent is to bankrupt them regardless of their actions. Obama also said, "But this notion of no coal, I think, is an illusion. Because the fact of t...

1. Ah Real Climate, run by the people that made the mistake trying to explain it away as unimportant. 2. Are they actually claiming "the glaciers are all going to melt into nothing" has not been a major claim for all policy makers on this issue for a long time? 3. This is the global body ...

Oops. Fortunately : This claim did not make it into the summary for policy makers, nor the overall synthesis report, and so cannot be described as a ‘central claim’ of the IPCC. But unfortunately: It is therefore obvious that this error should be corrected (via some kind of corrigendum to the WG2 re...

Is it true, as I have read, that Massachusetts has a state health care plan that is very similar to the Congressional bill under consideration, and that the new Senator-elect voted for that state plan?

On the one hand, I would expect them to drive something through somehow, because that's just how out of touch with the rest of us they are. A majority of Americans want either the health care bill currently under consideration, or a more liberal bill. You are incorrect. What leads you to believe th...

Well, if a corporation can be a person, why not a dolphin?

halplm wrote:On the one hand, I would expect them to drive something through somehow, because that's just how out of touch with the rest of us they are.

A majority of Americans want either the health care bill currently under consideration, or a more liberal bill.

The House could still pass the Senate Bill as-is (although that's unlikely apparently), the Senate could pass a new bill with the aid of Olympia Snowe, the Republicans could back down on a fillibuster and allow cloture on a new Senate Bill, or reconcilliation between the two houses could be used. I...

The republicans have plenty of ideas, but they get no recognition whatsoever, I have not heard one Republican say anything positive or present any alternative plans. Please do not blame "the media." Limbaugh is "the media" -- is he coming out with positive, constructive ideas? O...

Stanley Kubrick's Spartacus, eh?

There's no escaping the auteur theory!

You do know who <wrote> the screenplay, right?

You stated this: He intended Rio Bravo to be taken as a (belated) response. (By the way, the snootier film critics today, whose political opinions generally skew left, seem to prefer the latter!) Based on its standing in the AFI poll of the 100 Best American Movies and other information already cit...

If you want to talk Academy Awards, Best Picture selections and politics, the ultimate example is what happened in 1952. It was the 25th annual Awards celebration. The winner of the Best Picture Award was The Greatest Show on Earth ... directed [and produced] by Cecil B. DeMille ... Rotten Tomatoes...

Much has been written about the days of Hollywood and the blacklist and the role it played in nearly every facet of the film business. Awards being no exception. One book that does an very thorough and excellent job of documenting this is by the Man From U.N.C.L.E. actor, Robert Vaughn. In 1972 he ...

Ah well, if we start thinking Awards go to the "best" movie, we're into a whole 'nother ball game. ;) How often has that been the case? I'll wager that you could go to every single Best Movie awarded in the last 30 years and make a case for some other movie that was "better". Th...

Which is better, District 9, or 9?

Or Nine?