The King's Speech

Hmmm. British period film concerned with royalty and starring the usual suspects (Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter, Geoffrey Rush and Michael Gambon). Yes, I think Mrs. Mosley and I now have something to look forward to in November (Well, aside from HP7, obviously).

Am I Blue?

Yes, yes. New template and new subtitle.

Maybe I'll have some actual content to go along with the new look later this week. "till then.

Goldline makes the world go 'round

A little nugget of joy from dcist (via Metafilter):

At Safeway:

A couple, both wearing "Palin for President AND Vice President 2008" shirts, are buying a 12 pack of Budweiser.

The clerk tells them it's $9.50. The couple then starts complaining that they're gouging people in town for the rallies, demands to speak to the manager, and that it's un-American.

Cashier: "No sir, that is capitalism."

Truly Trivial Trivia

From the IMDb trivia section for Inception:

The third Christopher Nolan movie in five years in which Cillian Murphy's character spends a significant portion of his on-screen time with a cloth bag over his head.

Don't worry, Cillian. I don't think Nolan is trying to drop any hints or anything.

Yes, heaven forbid the show look distinctive from every other cop show on TV.

Since I last mentioned the Rockford Files revamp last February, the studio shot a pilot and decided against it. However, it would appear that they are thinking of trying it again by replacing Dermot Mulroney with Lost's Josh Holloway.

On the one hand, I like the idea, and I think that Holloway deserves another steady paycheck and a place on TV every week to charm the heck out of us. On the other, I was rather disappointed on this revelation on why the Mulroney pilot was shelved.

"[It] looked like it was shot in the '70s," one source bemoaned to NYMag.com's Joe Adalian. "You didn't even know it was the current day until Jim pulled out his cell phone. It looked like Stephen J. Cannell directed it himself."

And my question is... SO?!?!?

"Send in the Clowns."

It being a slow day, I watched the Salon slide show about movie fan art. The last selection pointed to a site called Fake Movie Posters and allowed you to create your own, so I did so.



In regards to the website in general, I would have appreciated more generic templates. One can hardly do a convincing poster when confined to the distinctive fonts of The Terminator and The Godfather (the later coming complete with hovering marionette strings). Furthermore, the templates provided only allow you to substitute just enough letters as the placeholder title had.

Which is why my theoretical adaptation of "Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates" was shortened to simply Fierce Invalids. I think the final result looks good, though I had a bit of trouble with the casting. The supporting players (Bellucci as Sister Domino, Rowlands as Maestra and Mos Def as Bobbby Case) were easy enough to decide on, but the man who would be Switters confounded me. Ten years ago, I would have said Robert Downey Jr., but I think he's a little too old to play Switters now. Then I thought of Franco, who is known as a bit of an eccentric himself (and is a damn good actor to boot), so he got the coveted role.

This is all just for fun, of course. I hope this book never gets made into a movie. Fortunately, I've got history on my side. The last and only time a Robbins book got adapted for the screen was Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. I don't think executives are going back to that well any time soon.

No more Great Space Coaster.

Boy, the things you learn when you have a kid and start watching morning cartoons.

First off, they're not as obnoxious as I would have imagined. I really enjoy Bob the Builder, though part of my enjoyment is marveling at the stop animation. Sid the Science Kid is also fun, and it tickles me how they throw in some pop-culture humor in there for the adults once in a while. And then there are the old stand-bys like Sesame Street, which remains sublimely silly.


One interesting thing I picked up on yesterday morning upon watching Maya & Miguel for the first time was how one of the child characters (Andy Arlington) doesn't have a whole right arm. This was striking to me, as I had seen handicapped people in cartoons before (usually in wheelchairs), but never an amputee. I really respected the show for that sort of inclusion, and I'm glad little C.C. is being exposed to that.

Of course, Maya & Miguel also features main characters who speak Spanish, and are therefore subverting American English. Damn PBS and it's quest to teach our children about tolerance and respect for people of all walks of life!

True Grit: First Pic

Hooray!


Looking good so far, and Hailee Steinfeld really looks like Kim Darby in the original.

The C.C. abides

I missed this photo when Mrs. Mosley first took it last month. Such a lovely baby we have.

I'd settle for getting all the phone jacks to work.

Wondermark clearly knows too much about Mrs. Mosley and I:

"You better run, mojito!"

Long story short: We moved into our new house on Wednesday, but we are a looooong way from settled in.

In the grand tradition of Acrentropy "bear with me" posts, here's a trailer for the upcoming film Rango. I came for Johnny Depp as bug-eyed lizard, I stayed for the awesome spaghetti western cinematography and use of shadows in an animated film. Have a gander:

Please, please give Spike a call.

OK, Denzel, what the hell?

You made a fifth movie with Tony Scott? What on earth for?!?

Alright, Crimson Tide was pretty good, and that was your first, so that's OK. Your second with him came nine years later, and although I can buy that you trusted the man from your previous experience together, had you not seen his work lately? And as dark and gritty as it is, Man on Fire just isn't very good, so your second collaboration should have been your last. No hard feelings.

But there you are again only two years later with Deja Vu, and three years after that with a remake of The Taking of Pelham 123. Why? Is it some kind of "I make the crappy films so I can afford to make the good ones" approach to Hollywood? If so, I don't think even The Great Debaters was worth shaming the memory of Walter Matthau.

But you have continued on and will be starring in Unstoppable later on this year. I watched the trailer, Denzel, and I could barely tell what was going on for the noise (which is par for the course in a Tony Scott film). I'm hoping that maybe this last film is truly the last film. I'd much rather see The Inside Man 2 than another one of these.

Goodbye, Mrs. 2-E

Patricia Neal 1926-2010

Everyone's "Sunny"

The great Bobby Hebb died yesterday at the age of 72. Here are a couple of "Sunny's" (first the original, then a couple of covers) to brighten your day:

"In rushing into those burning buildings, not one of them asked 'What God do you pray to?' 'What beliefs do you hold?'"

If Palin is really looking for cojones (not to mention integrity and a true love in what this country stands for), she needs to look here:

"The government has no right whatsoever to deny that right – and if it were tried, the courts would almost certainly strike it down as a violation of the U.S. Constitution. Whatever you may think of the proposed mosque and community center, lost in the heat of the debate has been a basic question – should government attempt to deny private citizens the right to build a house of worship on private property based on their particular religion? That may happen in other countries, but we should never allow it to happen here. This nation was founded on the principle that the government must never choose between religions, or favor one over another."

Go read the whole thing. Bravo, Mr. Bloomberg.

Tom Clancy PREDICTS!

The Hunt for Red October is a favorite of Mrs. Mosley's, and I started thinking about one of her favorite scenes as I read the news this morning. The conversation takes place between Captain Borodin (Sam Neil) and Captain Ramius (Sean Connery) as they discuss what their lives will be like when they defect to the United States.

Borodin: "I will live in Montana. And I will marry a round American woman and raise rabbits, and she will cook them for me. And I will have a pickup truck... maybe even a 'recreational vehicle.' And drive from state to state. Do they let you do that?"

Ramius: "I suppose."

Borodin: "No papers?"

Ramius: "No papers, state to state."

Borodin: "Well then, in winter I will live in... Arizona. Actually, I think I will need two wives."

Ramius: "Oh, at least."

Borodin, I've got good news and bad news for ya. The bad news is that, if you winter Arizona, you're probably gonna need papers. The good news is that, the way things are going in the courts in that neck of the woods, you still might be able to swing the two wives.

Samuel L. Jackson Quote of the Month: August 2010

It's gotta be nice for an actor to be a point in their career where a brief cameo in a film will immediately put a smile on the audience's collective face. And with this introductory sentence, you would think I'm speaking of 2008's Iron Man, but you'd be wrong. No, I'm speaking of the Samuel L. Jackson end-of-movie surprise cameo ten years previous to that.

At the end of 1998's Out Of Sight, George Clooney's character Jack Foley finds himself (SPOILER!) in the back of a prison van with a cool looking guy named Hejira (Played by an uncredited Samuel L. Jackson). What results is an awesome scene to top off an awesome movie:

Jack Foley: "What kind of name is Hejira?"

Hejira: "It's Islamic."

Jack Foley: "What's it mean?"

Hejira: "The Hejira was Mohammed's flight from Mecca in 632. Brothers in Leavenworth gave me that name."

Jack Foley: "You were in Leavenworth?"

Hejira: "For a time."

Jack Foley: "What's that mean?"

Hejira: "Means, when the time came, I left."

Jack Foley: "You broke out?"

Hejira: "I prefer to think of it as an exodus from an undesirable place."