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Surf Stoppers!!

Posted by Scott Keys on Friday, March 28, 2008 8:57:49 PM
Surf Stoppers is a term I invented for movies that compel you stop channel-surfing and watch. Doesn't matter how many times you've seen 'em, you've just gotta' watch. They're that great. I'll start the list with a few of my favorites. If you haven't seen these, get to it!

Top Twenty-five Surf-Stoppers!!

1.The Godfather, parts I or II - most compelling cinematic car wreck of all time
2. Forrest Gump - CG stuff still looks convincing after 13 years
3. Ferris Buehler's Day Off - perhaps a controversial choice but always fun (to my wife's chagrine);
4. Say Anything - John Cusack's best role; Ione Skye is unreasonably pretty
5. Planes, Trains and Automobiles - maybe John Candy's best - Steve Martin, too
6. Young Frankenstein - Mel Brooks directed but this is really Gene Wilder's movie
7. Full Metal Jacket - at least the boot camp first half
8. Wizard of Oz - no explanation necessary
9. North By Northwest - Hitch, Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, Martin Landau - what's not to like?
10. The Sting - really fun to watch with a first-timer, singlehandedly (and anachronistically)re-popularized Scott Joplin and ragtime
11. Death Wish - just extremely gratifying; Jeff Goldblum as rapist/mugger; Christopher Guest as a cop
12. Uncle Buck - typical John Hughes pith disguised as a comedy, Macauley Culkin was never better
13. Major League - dumb but funny; worth it for Bob Uecker alone
14. The Freshman - Marlon Brando hilariously spoofs his godfather personna; Mathew Broderick's second best role
15.  Meatballs - no seriously! Bill Murray at his best and a great little story, too. Elmer Bernstein score!
16.  Blazing Saddles - I'll do a whole post someday on dialogue from this flick;
17. Air Force One - great Harrison Ford vehicle
18. Bull Durham - the best baseball movie ever made despite Tim Robbins throwing like a girl
19. Dirty Harry - as satisfying as Death Wish; great '60's 'Frisco scenes, Afros, dialogue: "Well, do ya'? PUNK!"
20. My Favorite Year - "Your Show of Shows" from the inside
21. Willy Wonka and the Cocolate Factory - the Gene Wilder version, not the depressing Johnny Depp  art house remake
22. Die Hard - one-of-a-kind coolness from B-Dog; best-ever evil terrorist guy from Alan Rickman
23. Ben Hur - epic grandeur and most succinct review ever: "Loved him, hated Hur"
24. Cast Away - is Tom Hanks gonna make it outa there?
25. As Good As It Gets -James Brooks's masterpiece; may be Nicholson's best role, definitely Greg Kinnear's

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Harry's Plotters

Posted by Scott Keys on Saturday, March 01, 2008 1:22:35 PM
So Drudge's report on Prince Harry being in Afghanistan forced the Brits to bring him home. Well, he's back and in addition to the veiled threats of his impending targetting by British Muslims (same article at Gateway Pundit) exiled imam Omar Bakri Mohammed has the whole thing figured out.  “He is just doing it for publicity – for him he has been on a picnic. I do not believe he is there to engage or fight. He is there for publicity for himself and for the Royal Family. I do not think he is a threat to Al Qaeda or the Taliban.” (Stunned silence here...) Um, Omar? Nobody knew that he was there. YOU didn't know he was there!! How could he have been over there for "publicity" when the British media had agreed NOT to PUBLICIZE the fact, you imbecile? You and Drudge are both morons in this affair, but you're an evil moron.

Within the BBC article on his return Harry makes the rather unfortunate statement, "I don't want to sit around Windsor, because I generally don't like England that much and it's nice to be away from all the press and the papers." What? I understand the sentiment about the press, dude, but you might want to soft-pedal that bit about but I'm not being that crazy about your future kingdom.


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William F Buckley, 1925-2008

Posted by Scott Keys on Thursday, February 28, 2008 1:22:09 PM
William F. Buckley, RIP. Buckley, a true Renaissance man, embodied the modern conservative movement.  Here, at National Review Online, for many tributes over the last two days. Here for a very nice personal anecdote. And a heart-felt good-bye from his good friend, Charlie Rose. As George Will once wrote, "Before Ronald Reagan there was Barry Goldwater. Before there was Barry Goldwater there was National Review. And before there was National Review there was Bill Buckley with a spark in his mind."
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When Discrimination Isn't

Posted by Scott Keys on Wednesday, February 27, 2008 10:10:25 PM
Here's a stunningly idiotic quote in a story about the gym at Harvard closing to men for six hours a week to accomodate Muslim female sensibilities. Harvard Islamic Society’s Islamic Knowledge Committee officer Ola Aljawhary said  that "she does not believe that the women-only gym hours discriminate against men." What?? Now I happen to understand why women might prefer to work out away from slobbering, idiot men leering at them (not that I think that prohibiting the use of a facility that's supposed to be available to the general student population is right either) but whether you agree or disagree with that one thing is certain: it is quite definitely and most assuredly discrimination, lady.
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Schmaturday Schmorgasbord

Posted by Scott Keys on Saturday, February 23, 2008 2:07:50 PM
This is big fun. All the posters from movies that won Best Picture Oscars, 1927-2006. Interesting to watch the graphic/visual styles change.

Here's another list. This one's 50 crime novel writers you must read before you die. Haven't read a lot of these. Better get started.

Nah, there's no media bias. Blatant flim-flammery at Time magazine online.

These cartoons, purportedly done by Adolf Hitler, were found recently. For many this will only confirm the ultimate evil of Disney. For others, further evidence that nobody's all bad. Look how cute the dwarves are!

Since it's Saturday, here's a great Colbert clip.

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Low-Priced Booze=Bad

Posted by Scott Keys on Friday, February 22, 2008 3:34:31 PM
Here's a link to a story on National Review Online about doings in France and Britain as relate to alchohol consumption. In Britain one government "health adviser"(Aahh!! The health police!!) bemoans the "disgracefully low" price of adult beverages. That's the funniest thing I've heard in a long time. I laughed a lot.
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Sins of the "Assassins"

Posted by Scott Keys on Friday, February 22, 2008 12:19:33 PM
So at Arkansas Tech University they've cancelled performances of a musical called Assassins because it utilizes guns as props. A little bit of an overreaction, I'd say. That's bad enough but then the university's spokewoman has the audacity to assert that this in no way inhibits artistic freedom. Why isn't it inhibiting artistic freedom, you might ask, if they are prohibiting the performance of this production? Well, just read the article! It says right there in the third paragraph of  ATU President Robert C. Brown's statement that he has a "healthy respect" for artistic expression. So it really can't be considered limiting expression, can it? Because even though they're not allowing the play to go on they still support artistic expression, understand? Yes, the performance has been shelved for now but no, there won't be limits placed on artistic expression. Once again, No you may not put on the play. And No, this isn't limiting artistic expression. Just to make this perfectly clear, why isn't canceling a theater production inhibiting artistic expression? Because, silly, all of us here in the Kommissar's office have a healthy respect for artistic expression. I see Re-Education Camp written all over your forehead, comrade, if you can't understand this simple  bit of double-speak.
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New Individualist on McCain

Posted by Scott Keys on Sunday, February 17, 2008 6:56:25 PM
Dear commenter Chris,
I read through your comments again and wish I'd had more time to reply and, in fact, go into more detail in my original post. As I think I said before, I understand and agree with all the theory you cited. Just didn't take the time I probably should have to impart it to my legion of loyal readers. I suppose I owe them no less. With great power comes great responsibility.
Here's a post on Robert Bidinotto's (editor of the Objectivist magazine The New Individualist) blog.
I do have a serious problem with this assertion of his:

"It is naively simplistic simply to match up McCain against Clinton or Obama point-by-point, and declare that because he takes positions superior to theirs on many or even a majority of issues, he would be the preferable candidate."

What other conclusion CAN you come to? It seems to me, in fact, it's the ONLY conclusion of any kind you can come to when you're comparing these candidates. Again, I don't disagree with his assessment of McCain's ridiculous anti-individualist positions on "profits" or on Gitmo or corporate "greed" but when you put even a squishy Republican like him up against two demonstrably egregiously socialist candidates it doesn't seem to me to be a difficult choice at all. It is EXACTLY a simple, but certainly not a "simplistic," choice.
But then again, that's only my opinion. I could be wrong. (Thanks to Dennis Miller for that)
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Keeping Your Nose Out of Things

Posted by Scott Keys on Sunday, February 17, 2008 12:42:54 PM
I was sorry to see that the federal government thought it needed to stick its big, fat nose (see below)into the baseball and steroids business under the guise of questioning Roger Clemens about his possible perjury in the case. According to House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform chairman Henry Waxman, “I’m sorry we had the hearing. I regret that we had the hearing. And the only reason we had the hearing was because Roger Clemens and his lawyers insisted on it.”
Are we to believe that Congressman Waxman was bullied into holding the hearing my Clemens and his lawyer or something? You must be joking. Can I "insist" on a Congressional hearing and get one? Do you suppose you can? Just what does it take to strong-arm Congress? Sheesh...
I wasn't going to repeat this since it's ad hominem but after that pitiful comment by Waxman I'm giving in to my dark side:
Listening to sports talk radio the other day as they discussed the Clemens thing, I heard one of the guys ask whether Waxman was a representative from California or from Whoville. I think it's the nose.

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Credit Cards - BAD! unless...

Posted by Scott Keys on Friday, February 15, 2008 11:30:00 AM
This morning I was listening to local Communist radio station KPFK-FM during the current pledge drive. Today's pledge premium give-aways are DVD's covering the subjects of debt, credit, managing your debt, the ruthless disingenuousness of lending institutions and, last but certainly not least, the Bush administration's culpability in this whole mortgage credit mess! Did you know, the hostess breathlessly related, that black people and Hispanics(they're not really concerned about any non-minorities it might have affected) stand to lose millions of dollars in this fiasco? Well, it seems for a moderst donation you can have all of these informational DVD's. How might I pay for my donation, you might ask? Why, CREDIT CARD, our earnest and  dedicated on-air personality suggested, but just this "one time," she said. And by all means you should not "go to the mall." That would be a bad use of your credit card, while making a donation with a card to receive DVD's telling you not to use them is good. And going to the mall, you see, is evidence of our indoctrination into the culture of "consumerism." Apparently we all had to be brain-washed into wanting to buy things.
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Are you a member of LA Raza?

Posted by Scott Keys on Saturday, February 02, 2008 2:24:05 PM
Here's a laughable bit of propaganda masquerading as news on the second page of the New York Times. It's the president of the National Council of La Raza, Janet Murguia, calling for the suspension of the first amendment so we can end "hate speech." Of course, she's really only concerned with speech that might denigrate the aims of La Raza which include support for "undocumented" immigrants and separatist advocacy groups (like MECHA) who work toward reclaiming the southwestern United States for Mexico. Forget about the implications of La Raza's name, which the Times (and the group itself) disingenuously translates as "the people." There are other words for people. La Raza means "the Race." I find that sort of hateful.
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Better All the Time

Posted by Scott Keys on Friday, February 01, 2008 10:07:25 PM
Michael Yon may have spent more time in Iraq than any other Western journalist, embedded with the troops. here's his blog. His latest dispatch includes this description of the change in conditions in the last year in South Baghdad from a platoon commander:

    One year ago, before we even got here,
    January 2007 there were 553 bodies found in Rashid District killed by sectarian violence.
    January 2008, there were just 16.
    January 2007 there were 33 rocket or mortar attacks
    January 2008 there were 7.

Read more here.

On the other hand, we could leave there pretty soon and allow everyone to be slaughtered by the same sort of people who plant and then detonate remote-control explosives on Down's-Syndrome women. Maybe we just need to  sit and reason with them.
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Focus Groups & Blazing Saddles

Posted by Scott Keys on Friday, February 01, 2008 2:05:19 PM
Sorry the previous post came out so disjointed, text-wise. It looked nice and neat when I finished it. Maybe I can fix it....Maybe no one noticed...Anybody out there?
Hello hello hello hello   

Here's something amazing: A group of seemingly sentient people sitting around being asked questions after the Democratic debate last night. Here's a response to "What did he[Obama] say in particular[that changed you from undecided to Obama]."
"He was more articulate...uplifting" and he's upfront that he "...will raise taxes."
"How many of you support it," moderator Frank Luntz asked, "when a Democrat says, 'I will raise taxes'"?
    Ten out of the sixteen people on camera at that moment raised their hands!
    WHAT? This is a selling point for that many people? This is a plus? They don't think they're paying ENOUGH taxes? Please, Mr. IRS man, I want more? What exactly is it that's been improved by financial assistance from the government that we need to throw even more money at? I'm stunned.
    One woman was voting for Obama because, "...he is phenomenal..." and "...there will be a very positive change in our country" if he's elected.  Well, that explains it. Can't get more specific than that. Wow.
    What kind of things will change, she might have been asked, and how will this be not just a change, but an improvement? Can anybody ask an intelligent question at these things? And forget about the debate questions.
    My friends know that I believe many (all right, MOST) of life's daily situations can be addressed with a line from Blazing Saddles. I can think of two for these focus group folks:
    The first is uttered by Slim Pickens' character, Mr. Taggart, when he finds out Bart, one of his black, former railroad workers has been made a sheriff. "I am dee-pressed," he groans.
    The other? After Bart is sworn at and called a racial epithet by one of the townsfolk his friend, Jim the Waco Kid, tries to soothe his feelings.
    "You've got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know... morons." I'd love to be proven wrong about this but when these kinds of comments pass for an intelligent decision-making process it's hard not to be pessimistic.

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Some of Life's Basic True-isms

Posted by Scott Keys on Thursday, January 31, 2008 12:45:53 PM
Obviously not original observations. Maybe cliches, but true, nonetheless. And too-rarely noted, in my opinion. 

1. What Have You Done For Me Lately?
               Notice how with some folks you have no trak record? Doesn't matter how you've acted in the past, what                      nice things you've done, your opinions and deeds, you're likely to be misinterpreted in some way, at                          some point, by some people in a way that completely goes contrary to anything you've ever said or done               before. Happens with remarkable frequency.
2. The Sky Is Falling!!
              Almost anything that happens can be, for a lot of people, a portent of some imminent disaster. Watch how               the world markets react to events. Comet on the way in 2027? OH MY GOD!!! WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!               Settle down. Sheesh.
3. People are Crappy Listeners
              Most people hear what they want to hear when someone speaks. If you listen to any talk radio you can                    witness this with remarkable frequency. This also requires that talk show hosts issue disclaimers and                         qualifiers ad nauseum for any opinion, e.g., "I'm not talking about ALL liberals," or "This doesn't apply to               the great majority of Muslims." If people just listened better these redundancies wouldn't be necessary.
4. To paraphrase Chesterton, When People Don't Have Anything Serious to Worry About, They Worry About     Relatively Trivial Things
              Do you have plenty to eat? A warm, dry place to sleep? Do you live someplace where your basic human               rights are guaranteed? As I used to say to my kids, Everything else is gravy. This allows people to obsess               about the plight of the spotted owl or peanut butter in kids' lunches or "man-made global warming." When               things are fixed to the point where people don't have worry about surviving from day to day they'll just find               something else to agonize over. It's an instinct that's evidently difficult to overcome.

If John McCain's your man and you're a free market advocate, you have to rationalize away many of his recent statements in order to vote for him. Last night's "for patriotism, not for profit" line and the remark about "greedy people on Wall Street who need to be punished" were pitiful and not consistent, in my opinion, with a small government, free market strategy. Where does the money come from, Mr. McCain, for the implementation of your patriotism? And maybe there are greedy people on Wall Street, but I'll bet a lot of people make a lot of money due to this greed and besides, why should the government get to decide who's "greedy" enough to be punished. As Mark Steyn observed today, let's start with some of the greed in the Senate and go from there.



         

    
    
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The Mysterious Disappearance of Rudy Giuliani

Posted by Scott Keys on Wednesday, January 30, 2008 8:39:35 PM
Very odd. Number one nationally just a short fcouple of months ago and today Rudi Rudy withdraws from the race. I haven't heard anyone else say this, and I have nothing concrete on which to base it, but I can't help wondering if someone has damaging personal information on him that they've threatened to reveal unless he pulled out of the contest. Or maybe he's having health problems again. Not saying that's what's going on. It just seems so inexplicable otherwise. Be interesting to see if something's up. Very, very odd.

Update: I don't know why I spelled it "Rudi" on this post. I must be thinking of the Oakland A's star, Joe Rudi from the 70's. Time for spring training to start, isn't it?



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