December 8

If you are a Chomsky-ite, you might not have been impressed with yesterday's entry.I admit, not very elaborate on explaining his greatness. (he's a complicated man, what can I say?) Besides, I'm a pop culturist; I'm a creation of the modern idioms. For example, today is Maximillian Schell's birthday. Am I writing about him because he was nominated for 5 Academy Awards? No, I'm writing about him because he was the evil genius in Disney's "The Black Hole."



Am I going to show a scene from his 1961 Oscar-winning performance in Judgement of Nurenberg? Or a clip from his 1984 award-winning documentary on Marlene Dietrich? Something from the 1973 Foreign Oscar nominee The Pedestrian? No, I'm going to show you the trailer from The Brothers Bloom:



-even though he's not even in the trailer, because he's in the movie, as the Diamond Dog, and I've seen that movie, and he rocks...

But it's true that this may not be the best representation of a man who has brought to life the great works of Shakespeare, Kafka, Pinter, and Arthur Miller for the last six decades. So, let's wrap up with his 1961 performance as Prince Hamlet in a German-language teleplay version of same, with commentary from the team of Nelson, Murphy, and Corbett:



Gotcha...

December 7

There's plenty of contrarians born today, but I'll use the blog to talk about one particular fellow that walks to the beat of his own drummer. Today is Noam Chomsky's birthday; you know the name, but why? Are you a linguistics major? Do you have to write a psychology paper? Or are you just a Rage Against the Machine fan?
Before he got famous for being quoted by anti-capitalism punk bands, Chomsky got famous to challenging the theories on how children learn languages. His theories required some change in the theories of brain function, and psychology itself. As for his politics, he makes Ralph Nader look lke a sellout.
Here's Billordo, an Argentinian rocker, with "Noam Chomsky for President"

December 6

Here's another quick one, which seems like a fitting tribute to Craig Newmark, creator of Craigslist. Craigslist is the biggest classified ads source in the world; it's also how I found an apartment, some furniture for my kid, and my current job. So, Happy Birthday, Craig, and thanks.
Here's a musical tribute from Weird Al:

December 5

Okay, I'm going to be on the road for a while, so these posts are going to be pretty short. But I have today's post at least, about Frankie Muniz; You know him as Malcolm in the Middle, probably. If you know his as Cody Banks, I'm sorry. And if you only know him from that teen sex movie, you need some guidance in your viewing habits.
Frankie played a repressed genius in a lovably screwball family, and I always had the feeling he was more than the typical child star actor. Now that he's grown up, he's put acting aside to be a professional racecar driver. Before the show wrapped up, Frankie considered investing some of that Malcolm money on a racing team; instead, he signed up as a driver, and he's been professionally ranked since the 2006 season in the Atlantic Championship league.
Meanwhile, let's reminisce about a funny TV show, and one of the last catchy TV theme songs to come along in a while. Here's "Boss of Me," the theme to Malcolm in the Middle:

December 4

Today's Fred Armisen Day, who's pretty much locked in his job on Saturday Night Live for the next three seasons when he became the official Barack Obama impersonater for the show. And that's why I picked him to talk about today, because I wonder what it means that there's a white guy that basically performs in blackface every week on national TV, and there aren't riots in the streets. Is it a step forward for America, or backward? Is Armisen's impersonation that good? Is Obama really black? Is anybody still watching SNL? Besides the Digital Shorts?
Seriously, this was a pretty good political skit that opened SNL a few Saturdays ago, although Jon Stewart would have made the same point in 20 seconds on the Daily Show.



Maybe the reason it hasn't raised any ire is because the joke about Obama is that he's always the straight man in the joke, the sane guy in the room that stands there and takes it as the universe keeps throwing pies in his face.

Anyway, while I was digging up stuff about Armisen, I found this video for the band Man Man. I was going to dig up a video of one of the bands he's drummed in, but I like this little film too much



You know what today's blog needs? PORCELAIN FOUNTAINS!!!



Now that's class...

December 3

Another birthday dedication for a friend, but they're not much for answering e-mails. But here's a Christmas tip: if you can't give somebody a present that you know they really want, you can give them something they really need. So, today's birthday celebrant is French film director Jean-Luc Godard, the guy who showed everybody the right way to break the rules.
I can try to do what books and books have been doing convince the world what a genius Godard is, or I can just show you two movies:
Here's Roger Corman's 1960 opus, The Wasp Woman, and indicative of what people expected in the drive-thrus and matinees of 1960.

This year, it was 'celebrated' by the cast of Cinematic Titanic.

In 1960, construction worker and film critic Jean-Luc Godard presented his first feature-length film, Breathless. This film is considered the global announcement of the French New Wave's arrival.


That's how much things changed when Godard got behind the camera. He's approaching 80, and what is he doing with his time? A new movie:

December 2

On the days that happen to fall on a friend's birthday, I like to offer my column as a birthday gift - not just because I'm cheap, but because I hope they find somebody that they connect with. See, this blog is an informal litmus test to me, a chance to see if people born under the same day (and, therefore, the same horoscope sign) share any similar characteristics.
So, I called my friend, who shall remain nameless, and we went through the list of today's candidates, which feature a lot of crazy divas and hip rock bassists (which is a reason that my friend's remaining nameless; she doesn't play bass.)
Our choice for today: Lucy Liu, an actress whose roles come to her. For example, her "Ally McBeal" audition was for the role that went to Portia DeRossi; the producers created a role specifically for her. Same thing when she talked with the producers of "Sexy Dirty Money"; she said she was interested in the show, and they wrote a part for her. She's been set to produce and star in a relaunch of the Charlie Chan franchise, but her choices in recent films to star in (Code Name: The Cleaner, Rise: Blood Hunter, Ballistic: Ecks vs Sever) seems to have stalled those plans. (If a movie title has a colon in it, Lucy - don't do it!) Until then, she's keeping busy with UNICEF and voice-over work, in the animated franchises for Kung-Fu Panda (as Viper) and Tinkerbell (as Silvermist).

I'm an Asian-American who tried his hand at acting, so I got nothing but props for Lucy Liu, who's managed to play roles beyond her race (GridLock'd, Chicago), along with the roles that depend on her ethnicity (Kill Bill, Shanghai Noon) yet allow her to surpass stereotypes. She's not simply the go-to gal when you need to fill the role of a geisha, or balance the whiteness of a cast; she's a draw in her own right. Now if she could just pick better scripts...
And is it a step backward if I show movie clips of her using kung fu? Here's a fight montage, featuring Charlie's Angels and more Ecks vs Sever than you ever wanted to see...


It was either this, or that scene when she kissed Callista Flockhart...