Posted 5/22/2004 06:11:59 PM by Edward Driscoll
ANOTHER CASABLANCA REMAKE: In addition to the David Soul/Hector Elizondo TV series from 1983, Hollywood also remade Casablanca 13 years later...with Pamela Anderson. And as Richard Rostrum emailed to tell me:

if the thought of Pamela Anderson standing in for Ingrid Bergman turns your stomach, well, don't be too alarmed--her character is not the Ilsa Lund equivalent.

Posted 5/22/2004 05:29:20 PM by Edward Driscoll
THX-1138 STREETS ON DVD ON 9/14: It will also have a limited run in major city theaters as well, around that same time. Like the first three Star Wars films, George Lucas is tinkering with it though, "opening up" the film with new digital special effects, and showing more of the film's underground city. The Digital Bits has the details and additional links, including the film's promotional Website.

Posted 5/22/2004 05:11:35 PM by Edward Driscoll
CATS AND DOGS LIVING TOGETHER: National Review's Dave Kopel praises Al Franken's radio show in his column for the Rocky Mountain News. However, he's not very fond of The Randi Rhodes Show, which follows it:

On the radio, hyperbole and invective usually succeed only if they're funny - as they sometimes are on Franken and Limbaugh. With Rhodes, however, all you get is the same kind of flat pronouncements you could hear from a seventh-grader in Boulder: George Bush is "deaf, dumb and blind" and "stupid" and "an idiot" and people who vote for Bush are "morons" and "pathological." For someone with such a smug sense of intellectual superiority, Rhodes is remarkably ignorant. Monday, for example, brought the bizarre claim that United States bombed Dresden after the Germans had surrendered in World War II. Actually, the bombing was three months before the Germans surrendered.

Posted 5/22/2004 03:30:06 PM by Edward Driscoll
THERE'S A NEW WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL IN ESTONIA: There's just one problem though: It honors the SS.

Posted 5/22/2004 03:16:52 PM by Edward Driscoll
GOT $2.7 MILLION UNDER YOUR MATTRESS? Then the birthplace of Bilbo Baggins could be yours, as JRR Tolkien's home in north Oxford is now on the market. And you can decorate it with this!

Posted 5/22/2004 02:20:11 PM by Edward Driscoll
THE OIL-FOR-FOOD SCAM: Claudia Rosett asks, "What Did Kofi Annan know, and when did he know it?"

Posted 5/22/2004 12:50:22 AM by Edward Driscoll
S-21: James Bowman reviews a new documentary called S-21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine:

Vann Nath reflects on the Party’s favoring the word "destruction" for its enemies, rather than "killing." He says: "If you think about the word ‘destruction’ it’s more than cruel. In the word ‘kill’ there still seems to be a moral aspect, but in ‘destruction’ there’s nothing human left. We become dust, just particles blowing in the wind." From the now-empty site of a mass grave where one of the guards explains how he killed the prisoners — by striking them from behind with an iron bar then cutting their throats and pushing them into the already-prepared grave where they died — to the final scene of the empty prison with the wind sweeping through it and blowing the dust about, the film dramatizes this observation. It never does answer the question, "Why?" No one ever really can. But it is hypnotically watchable.

Posted 5/21/2004 07:23:55 PM by Edward Driscoll
THE COLD WAR BEGAN HERE: "Once Stalin had got away with [the Katyn massacre], he realized he could get away with anything".

Posted 5/21/2004 07:11:52 PM by Edward Driscoll
2004: THE YEAR OF BLOGGERS AND FRIDGES: Not too long ago, I wrote about my experiences focus-testing refrigerators. Today, the fruits of my labor and vast refrigerator knowledge paid off, as James Lileks (I know he's not, but he's close enough to make the headline work) visits the appliance story to inspect the latest in Freon-cooled goodness.

Posted 5/21/2004 03:07:25 PM by Edward Driscoll
WHAT GOES UP OFTEN MUST COME DOWN, but that doesn't mean that both events get the same amount of coverage from the press. Especially when it's the rise and decent of Air America.

Posted 5/21/2004 02:38:11 PM by Edward Driscoll
GIVE AP A HAND: Remember the story we linked to on Tuesday about the seven Iraqi men fitted with new prosthetic right hands by a Houston hospital after they were chopped off by Saddam Hussein? Stefan Sharkansky writes that AP left off two details, one relatively minor, the other not-so-minor. First, it was originally nine men, but two have since died. Second, Saddam's butchery occurred at Abu Ghraib. As one of Sharkansky's readers says, "gosh, that wouldn't have any relevance to current events now, would it?

Posted 5/21/2004 02:02:09 PM by Edward Driscoll
STRANGE BEDFELLOWS: Why is Steve Largent donating money to fund Tom Daschle's re-election campaign? (Via The Corner.)

Posted 5/21/2004 01:55:17 PM by Edward Driscoll
DID BILL GATES SHAKE THE BLOGOSPHERE? Bill Gates told Warren Buffett about blogging on Thursday. CNN could not be reached for comment. UPDATE: As Dandy Don Meredith would sing, "Turn out the lights, the party's over"....

Posted 5/21/2004 01:43:51 PM by Edward Driscoll
INTO HOME RECORDING? If you're like me, and not the world's greatest singer, it helps to use technology creatively for better vocals. That's the subject of my latest (long) post at Blogcritics.

Posted 5/21/2004 12:47:13 PM by Edward Driscoll
DAVID OGILVY WOULD APPROVE: Jeff Goldstein has a terrific new advertising slogan for Emory University.

Posted 5/20/2004 05:03:39 PM by Edward Driscoll
NANCY PELOSI, MILITARY GENIUS: Patton, Bradley and Schwarzkopf all pale next to the all-powerful strategist from San Francisco. Jeane Kirkpatrick, call your office. UPDATE: More here.

Posted 5/20/2004 04:16:56 PM by Edward Driscoll
HAS "JUMPING THE SHARK" JUMPED THE SHARK? Patterico writes that the oft-used phrase "jumped the shark when it was used by the Shark." (The Shark himself replies, "Maybe so, but at least I don't go around using phrases after they've jumped the shark ... ;) )

Posted 5/20/2004 03:23:03 PM by Edward Driscoll
MORE FROM THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF NIXON: Yassar Arafat says he'll protect the Olympics from terrorism. Just as he did in 1972. (Via Betsy Newmark.) UPDATE: Following the same theme, since Paul Ehrlich's freshness-date expired right around the same time, Ronald Bailey comments that "Ehrlich has never been right. Why does anyone still listen to him?"

Posted 5/20/2004 01:30:23 PM by Edward Driscoll
THE SECRET PLAN: Roger L. Simon looks at how John Kerry is channeling Richard Nixon. UPDATE: Glenn Reynolds picks up the Kerry-as-Nixon theme on his MSNBC page.

Posted 5/20/2004 01:31:17 AM by Edward Driscoll
NEWSWEEK EDITOR CALLS BUSH ADMINISTRATION "CLOWNS": as noticed--appropriately enough--by Oh, That Liberal Media, who has some interesting comments on the matter. The editor in question is Jonathan Alter, who has been predisposed against the president even before he took office.

Posted 5/20/2004 12:00:16 AM by Edward Driscoll
GOOD NEWS FROM IRAQ: You may very well have read this already, thanks to Glenn Reynolds and Andrew Sullivan. If not, click here.

Posted 5/19/2004 11:52:00 PM by Edward Driscoll
FOR COMMON SENSE, PLEASE PRESS #1: Michelle Malkin looks at one Democratic ex-governor's anger at multiculturalism.

Posted 5/19/2004 09:43:40 PM by Edward Driscoll
QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Kofi? Your move."

Posted 5/19/2004 02:55:13 PM by Edward Driscoll
US DISPUTES STRIKE REPORT ON IRAQI WEDDING PARTY: Two questions: What sort wedding finishes at 2:45 in the morning? And even if it was actually a wedding, while I know old customs die hard, isn't rather stupid to be firing weapons to celebrate in a war zone? I thought the tradition in the Middle East was to fire weapons after a military victory. Do they unload a clip at the end of a wedding as well? Why not just break a wine glass? It's so much more civilized. UPDATE: More here. ANOTHER UPDATE: More here as well.

Posted 5/19/2004 02:26:47 PM by Edward Driscoll
ANOTHER JOURNALIST COMES CLEAN: On The Today Show this morning, Katie Couric had this to say to David Brock:

Couric contended that “most people, I think, on the street would say the media it tends, tend to be more liberal than conservative" and she proposed: “Aren't most people in journalism, primarily, except for say on Fox, and in certain conservative publications, aren't they for the most part, and of course the media is, are not monolithic, but pro-choice, you know, against prayer in school, probably favor affirmative action? I mean don't you think that's, that's fairly typical? And if so is it, why isn't it fair to say that liberals, sort of, are controlling the mainstream media?"

Posted 5/19/2004 01:43:54 PM by Edward Driscoll
THE GREAT ELVIN JONES, drummer for John Coltrane's quintet died, at age 76. For our take on one of the Coltrane quintet's finest hours, click here and here. Sadly, I never got to see Jones live. But I did see McCoy Tyner, Coltrane's pianist, a couple of years ago at the Iridium Club in Manhattan. Not surprisingly, his playing is still world class.

Posted 5/19/2004 01:41:13 PM by Edward Driscoll
THE KINGS OF QUOTATION MARKS: Reuters has never met a terrorist it didn't like. Which is why, I suppose the word "heroes" is in quotation marks in this headline, as it refers to those who tried to save innocent lives, as opposed to kill them:

Posted 5/19/2004 01:24:37 PM by Edward Driscoll
LEFT EYE'S VIEW: John O'Sullivan, Glenn Reynolds and Neal Boortz have harsh words for the media. UPDATE: More from Reynolds here, including a particularly damning photo.

Posted 5/19/2004 12:50:27 PM by Edward Driscoll
FRITZ HOLLINGS: ANTI-SEMITE? AP is reporting that a column he wrote is being "labeled 'anti-Jewish' by some". Jonah Goldberg has a couple of posts on the topic, as does John J. Miller.

Posted 5/18/2004 10:24:12 PM by Edward Driscoll
THE BATTLE FOR YOUR LIVING ROOM*: My article on LCD versus Plasma TVs from the debut issue of TechLiving Magazine is now online. *It's the subhead of the article. And yes, I realize how incongruous it sounds at the end of a day's worth of posts on rocket launchers, sarin, amputating limbs, Saddam, Castro, Nader, and Dukakis. Have one of these, and it'll take your mind off whatever ails you. But remember! It "does not contain any drug that depresses the heart, or dopes the mind: a fact quickly noticed, for it is exhilarating instead of stupefying".

Posted 5/18/2004 07:29:24 PM by Edward Driscoll
ROCKET LAUNCHER FOUND NEAR ATLANTA RAILROAD STATION: Love the tone of this Ledger-Enquirer piece: rocket launcher found near train station and eight miles northwest of Atlanta International Airport--ho-hum, you can go about your business. Nothing to see here, move along.

Posted 5/18/2004 06:51:09 PM by Edward Driscoll
THE SIGNIFIGANCE OF SARIN: Joe Carter has a two part look at just how deadly even a single drop of that nerve gas could be. Keep the numbers that Carter posted in mind as the media spins this discovery. (Via Hugh Hewitt.)

Posted 5/18/2004 03:50:49 PM by Edward Driscoll
SPEAKING OF THE MEDIA'S TEMPLATE, Betsy Newmark has a couple of interesting links on the subject.

Posted 5/18/2004 02:55:02 PM by Edward Driscoll
CASTRO CAN LIVE TO 140? Of couuuuurse he can. But hey, if I was the personal physician to a murdering communist dictator and had a wife or family I wanted to protect, I'd probably say stuff like that, too. UPDATE: Via James Lileks, this is a great piece of writing on Castro's dissidents, as well as his useful idiots in the US.

Posted 5/18/2004 02:49:28 PM by Edward Driscoll
AMERICA LENDS A HAND: Seven of them actually, to men who were once Iraqi small business owners who had their right hands cut off nine years ago when Saddam Hussein punished them for Iraq's collapsing economy. (Nevermind the UN embargo after the invasion of Kuwait and Desert Storm. When in doubt--punish your shopkeepers.) There are many, many more stories like this, involving Americans both here and in Iraq, and yet they're published so infrequently, because they don't fit the media's template. UPDATE: And of course, CNN ran few stories of Saddam's torture while he was in power, because they were in his pocket. Surprisingly though, ESPN did run a piece or two on how brutally Uday Hussein treated Iraq's Olympic athletes. ANOTHER UPDATE: A.M. Rosenthal has harsh words for the paper he used to edit.

Posted 5/18/2004 02:38:25 PM by Edward Driscoll
ME AND MY RED CORVAIR: Jim Geraghty looks at how Ralph Nader might do in November. UPDATE: Orrin Judd looks at Nader's net worth, and quips, "As Jesse Jackson knows, there's good money to be made shaking down corporate types". As somebody once said, heh.

Posted 5/18/2004 01:55:50 PM by Edward Driscoll
THE SPIN DOCTORS: James Taranto looks at how the media is spinning the sarin story. Meanwhile, Glenn Reynolds looks at how the media have become a weapon of war themselves.

Posted 5/18/2004 10:44:16 AM by Edward Driscoll
I GUESS OSCAR HAS THE APARTMENT TO HIMSELF NOW: Tony Randall died on Monday, at age 84.

Posted 5/18/2004 02:32:51 AM by Edward Driscoll
WE'RE GONNA PARTY LIKE IT'S 1988: Or, maybe we won't. When it comes to the presidential election, James Pinkerton asks, "Is It 1988 Again"?

Posted 5/17/2004 06:56:38 PM by Edward Driscoll
AND IT WAS RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEIR NOSES: Sometimes when you're too close to something, you lose objectivity. Rod Dreher looks at how the Democrats became "The Godless Party", and why the press never even saw it coming. (Via The Brothers Judd.)

Posted 5/17/2004 03:50:02 PM by Edward Driscoll
BLESSED BY THE GODS DEPARTMENT: We've been permalinked by "Armavirumque", The New Criterion's Weblog. Thank you!

Posted 5/17/2004 01:38:25 PM by Edward Driscoll
"TOO SMALL BY HOLLYWOOD STANDARDS": The New Criterion is blogging about a Hollywood remake of Brideshead Revisited:

Jude Law will play Sebastian. Notice how this report claims that Castle Howard, the setting of the 1981 series, "was considered too small by Hollywood standards." Nice.

I asked James Bowman if it is a Hollywood imperative that all great films be remade as bad films. Even 'Psycho,' he pointed out, was redone--but not yet "Casablanca." Which leads me to wonder, is it only a matter of time before we get "Casablanca, The Reckoning... because, this time, it's personal"?

Posted 5/17/2004 11:38:07 AM by Edward Driscoll
CHEMICAL WEAPONS IN IRAQ: Glenn Reynolds notes that the spin as already started. UPDATE: Brian Crouch looks at how Reuters, those kings of quotation marks, are spinning things.

Posted 5/17/2004 11:36:48 AM by Edward Driscoll
FIFTY YEARS AFTER BROWN VS BOARD OF EDUCATION, segregation remains a serious problem, writes Arnold Kling, in Tech Central Station.

Posted 5/17/2004 12:53:11 AM by Edward Driscoll
FEAR AND LOATHING IN MINNEAPOLIS: James Lileks runs roughshod over Hunter S. Thompson, a man for whom the freshness dating on his writing expired about twenty years ago. Thompson and William S. Burroughs are the prime examples that sooner or later, decades of pharmaceutical excess catch up with a writer--and the results are not pretty.

Posted 5/16/2004 05:50:35 PM by Edward Driscoll
PUTTING OUT THE FIRE WITH GASOLINE: John Fund writes that Democrats have started to realize that a campaign of hate won't beat President Bush. I'm not sure if a majority of the left has realized this yet, but Fund makes some great points nonetheless. (Via Betsy Newmark.)