Happy New Year!
[guest post by Dana]
Well, it looks like 2020 is going to be quite the ride:
We know him. We’ve seen him like this before. Nothing new, but I’m buckling up just in case.
Thank you to all Patterico readers, commenters and lurkers for another year of debate, argument, and insight. Thanks to our host for opening up his place for us to meet. As considerate guests, let’s try not to spill on the carpet or on those sitting next to us. Put a coaster under your glass and don’t be sloppy. Let’s keep this place looking as nice as it was when we first arrived by making an effort to not interrupt the flow of conversation with a big, messy spill that needs to be cleaned up. Here’s to another year of hanging out in the best living room around.
(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)
–Dana
I don’t make New Year’s resolutions because I try to avoid setting myself up for failure. With that, if you do, please share. It’s always encouraging to hear about others’ goals and hopes.
Also, consider this an open thread to share anything you’ve watched or read this year that you can recommend to others. I’ll start: I just watched Bird Box and A Quiet Place, both of which I enjoyed. Bird Box less so. I loved the amazingly powerful economy of words used in A Quiet Place. It was mostly silent, and yet roared with ominous notes that had me um, maybe looking through my fingers at certain points… I’ve also recently finished a number of Masterpiece Theater pieces that were terrific: Victoria, The Crown, Unforgotten. I enjoyed them as well.
Dana (023079) — 1/1/2019 @ 10:13 amTrump’s alter ego expresses it better, as he does with many other Trump tweets.
Paul Montagu (c0e0d4) — 1/1/2019 @ 10:38 amMy resolutions this year are as follows:
* Gain 20 lbs
* Eat nothing but junk
* Read zero books
* Exercise pretty much never
I figure that for the past couple of decades I have resolved to do the exact opposite of this and have continually failed, so this year I’ll set these as goals and hopefully will once again fail miserably.
I saw They Shall Not Grow Old and I urge everyone to go out and see it, in 3-D if at all possible. I know it sounds gimmicky, but Peter Jackson and his team do a marvelous job with the 3-D imagery.
JVW (54fd0b) — 1/1/2019 @ 10:42 amOh, I was reading about the film this weekend, JVW. Some cinematographers were discussing the merits of it, and whether colorizing it was interfering with “art”. Unfortunately, it’s not playing near me, although I read that mid-January will see a wide release of it. The trailers were terrific.
Dana (023079) — 1/1/2019 @ 10:50 amPaul Montague,
I love hobbits!
Dana (023079) — 1/1/2019 @ 10:51 amWell I think it is fitting because even though it was caked in mud, the sounds the gunfire was in vivid color.
Narciso (1afc0f) — 1/1/2019 @ 11:25 amNew Year arrived with pops and booms that literally sounded like the muffled soundtrack from an old WW1 movie. Went on for about half an hour but fortunately, Kirk Douglas didn’t show up to order an assault on the Ant Hill.
My resolution: actually do the resolutions pledged from last year.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/1/2019 @ 12:03 pmCaps Lock is cruise-control for cool!
Dave (1bb933) — 1/1/2019 @ 12:14 pmWith the release of “Stan and Ollie,” I’ve discovered some of the old Laurel & Hardy classics including the 60+ minute features “Sons of the Desert” and “The Flying Deuces,” two of Stan and Ollie’s best pieces of work IMO.
The duo were brought together by the circumstances of their respective studio contracts, and emerged contemporaries of The Three Stooges. Indeed, they had the same roots as the stooges in vaudevillian slapstick, but Oliver Hardy’s untimely death left Stan Laurel absolutely heartbroken and unwilling to work with anyone else.
Gryph (08c844) — 1/1/2019 @ 12:34 pmIt looks like Netflix exaggerated their ratings over birdbox
narciso (d1f714) — 1/1/2019 @ 12:57 pmOliver Hardy died in 1957 – at least twenty years after their peak.
If I was asked to name my favorites I would include a great short, ‘Going Bye-Bye’ and also Babes In Toyland.
Im buckling up too for the wild ride leading to the next election. Liz Warren kicked it off rather nicely by declaring she’s in and then celebrating by drinking a beer in her kitchen…..with a black mammy figurine in the background.
https://mobile.twitter.com/mviser/status/1079892757265637376/photo/1
Ahhhh, if only it had been a Republican.
harkin (d82f96) — 1/1/2019 @ 1:04 pm11. Oliver Hardy died in 1957 twenty years past their professional peak. “Stan and Ollie” is a look at the last theater tour he and Stan Laurel did in Europe, out of sheer desperation for paying work.
If Ollie’s death was thought by anyone to be untimely, he wasn’t that old — a mere five months away from his 66th birthday. He was a year-and-a-half younger than Stan, although he didn’t really look it — hence Stan’s “Babe” nickname for Ollie.
Stan passed away at the age of 74 and kept right on writing material that he could have done with Ollie, had Ollie still been alive.
Gryph (08c844) — 1/1/2019 @ 1:16 pm“They shall not grow old” was a visually intriguing movie but I especially enjoyed the bonus 30 minutes of Peter Jackson describing how his team stabilized the film, colorized it, added sound, and how he down selected from the many hours of material — I would almost say that it would have been better having the 30 minutes up front of the movie.
The movie itself focuses exclusively on the dough boy, with the entire narration coming from interviews with veterans. So, you don’t hear anything about WWI at sea, in the air, or back at the home front in the factories. This is not an academic exercise focusing on specific battles and tactics but an especial gritty look at what the men endured (I guess this is the price of making a 90 minute movie versus a 16-hour mini-series). I think some professional narration would have added value…plus the fact that I missed some of the comments because of some of the thick New Zealand accents. It certainly complements the National WWI museum experience in Kansas City….and the technical work does much to humanize footage in ways that we are used to from WWII and beyond. No Orks….no seven endings….just a very moving cinematic experience…
AJ_Liberty (165d19) — 1/1/2019 @ 1:29 pmI think some professional narration would have added value…plus the fact that I missed some of the comments because of some of the thick New Zealand accents.
I am encouraging my 83-year-old father to see the movie, but I do worry that his diminished hearing will have trouble with the thick accents. There certainly are parts of the narration that could use subtitles.
JVW (54fd0b) — 1/1/2019 @ 1:44 pm“There certainly are parts of the narration that could use subtitles”
I went with two people in their 80’s….one snoozed for about 20 minutes. I think I commented afterwards about the value of subtitles…maybe Jackson thought they would be distracting. My love of loud rock music has now grown to my quiet appreciation of subtitles.
AJ_Liberty (165d19) — 1/1/2019 @ 2:02 pmEnjoy the grandkids,Exercise, eat in moderation, exceed expectations for my clients and make sure my family is safe.
mg (8cbc69) — 1/1/2019 @ 2:33 pmAnd Happy New Year Col.
@9/@11. What is a gift beyond the classic comedy of their films is the capture in background imagery of contemporary, day-to-day life, landscapes, properties; even consumer products… early automobiles, trains, planes and such- in use at the time of production. Often enjoy noting that as much as the comedy itself. It’s fascinating to observe these items at use in their time. Same w/early Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd and Fields flicks.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/1/2019 @ 3:46 pmEveryone has their favorite Laurel & Hardy. Mine are Helpmates (short) and Way Out West. But most any of them will do when I need a laugh.
By the way, S & O were not hurting financially. Laurel, in particular, had invested in annuities, and had his retirement funded. Laurel really just loved working with Hardy. It shows in the movies, and it’s one of the reasons the better L&H movies have a different feel than most slapstick.
Appalled (1a17de) — 1/1/2019 @ 4:40 pm18. I was left under the impression that their final theater tour in 1955 followed from their need for paying work. Perhaps it wasn’t the money they were hurting for, but simply their desire to do something together — anything.
One thing that I find amusing about Laurel and Hardy now that I’ve started watching their material, is what a comic fool Laurel played in many of their works. Many of the laughs “Sons of the Desert” got out of me were from his subtle-yet-unforgettable malapropisms. In reality, much of the material for their shorts was written by Stan Laurel himself, and he was definitely the business-savvy half.
Gryph (08c844) — 1/1/2019 @ 4:57 pmhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhkmB5OzvQ0&feature=youtu.be
mg (8cbc69) — 1/1/2019 @ 7:18 pmBy Gosh, but this looks like Mitt throwing down the, uh, gauntlet:
He then goes on to talk about the road forward. If he’s not running again, I’ll eat my hat.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mitt-romney-the-president-shapes-the-public-character-of-the-nation-trumps-character-falls-short/2019/01/01/37a3c8c2-0d1a-11e9-8938-5898adc28fa2_story.html
Kevin M (cb624b) — 1/1/2019 @ 7:34 pmStan passed away at the age of 74 and kept right on writing material that he could have done with Ollie, had Ollie still been alive.
Hard to believe that the skinny guy outlived the fat guy.
Kevin M (cb624b) — 1/1/2019 @ 7:38 pm“the skinny guy outlived the fat guy”
The fat guy actually lost 100lbs before he died….he finished at 138lbs
AJ_Liberty (165d19) — 1/1/2019 @ 8:37 pm23. About a year before Ollie had his ultimately debilitating stroke, Stan a stroke that looked like it might have derailed their partnership permanently. Well, Stan recovered. Then Ollie went down and never recovered fully. Before either of them had their cardiovascular issues, Stan expressed concern at Ollie’s rapid weight loss, even going as far as to say in public that it looked like he (Ollie) had terminal cancer, which he did not.
Gryph (08c844) — 1/2/2019 @ 7:46 amBreaking: the oldest person in modern times, Jeanne Calment — wasn’t.
She was really her suppoosedly dead daughter,
http://www.newser.com/story/269379/oldest-known-person-now-an-accused-fraud.html
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329773795_Jeanne_Calment_the_secret_of_longevity
Sammy Finkelman (102c75) — 1/2/2019 @ 1:18 pmhttps://www.leafscience.org/valery-novoselov-investigating-jeanne-calments-longevity-record
Sammy Finkelman (102c75) — 1/2/2019 @ 1:19 pm