The Daily Grand and Sundry

Today is the birthday of the Blogger, in celebration, this Blog has decided to gift female actors with two indelible scene, one of love and one of malice.

The idea for these gifts came from two sources; one, I got a testy email from a young lady who was angry at me for failing to attend a High School Workshop on that Classic film, THE NOTEBOOK. THE NOTEBOOK? THE NOTEBOOK teaches us nothing about love that a feminine hygiene TV commercial doesn’t do.

The love scene I have chosen does not have one word of dialogue, no one kissing each other in a downpour of rain, no F**** words. The word love is Never spoken.

The scene is one of the great love scenes in American film, it is short. But in it there is a lifetime of back story, subtext and the power of subtext.

The scene is from arguably the greatest American film ever made, THE SEARCHERS.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4P7fhcJIzA&feature=related

John Wayne is the renegade Confederate brother who returns to his family’s West Texas home. The Man with the coffee is Ward Bond, playing the Captain of the local unit of the Texas Rangers, who also happens to be the Reverend of the local Southern Baptist Church.

So the Ward Bond character is the moral, civil, spiritual and social authority in this West Texas community of Texicans.  The woman(Dorothy Jordan) is not John Wayne’s wife but his sister in law.

The time is right  before a small band of Rangers are about to ride out and do battle with a Comanche Raiding Party. 

The scene drips with Bond’s moral approbation of what is occurring behind him, he is the Pastor of this flock; but what the hell, they are about to fight Comanche and who knows if any will survive, so let the renegade have something.

In this one wordless scene, the audience knows the entire back story of the love affair, the depth of their love, and how no woman in her right mind, on the West Texas frontier would marry an Indian hating renegade. It is all there, all the subtext, all the back story without a word, without a curse, without nudity.

There is more passion, significance, meaning, loss in Ms. Jordan’s stroking of an inanimate object than any histrionics or TV commercial acting in THE NOTEBOOK. Dorothy Jordan’s aching embrace of John Wayne’s Great Coat has more power of love in it than anything layered on THE NOTEBOOK. Young female actors should embrace the emotional resonance and terrible scope  of love rather than the boundaries on love inflicted on this societyby Reality TV. Love is more than just a delicious, hopefully fat free, dessert; it is water in the desert.  Modern female actors embrace the dessert but not the necessity of love.

Reason Two, a scene of Malice.

This Blog has been to a ton of showcases lately, checking out female actors.

What an exercise in tedium; the majority of young female actors chose either the Meg Ryan scene from WHEN HARRY MET SALLY, when she faked an orgasm or  the Demi Moore scene in G.I. JANE when she shows off her penis.

Not one of them had the guts to show they could really act, to stretch their horizons, to do a quiet, passive aggressive scene, to showcase a mean, formidable role of danger, and subtle corruption.

I have not seen one female actor in any showcase, showcase a back story, or a subtext. They have forgotten acting is re-creative art, not re-creative Reality TV.

My gift to female actors is a scene in which the female actor does all her malice, by doing nothing. No Holly Hunter posturing, no karate, no cursing, noshooting, just an absence of action gives you all the malice in the world, with subtext and back story.

Female actors, I give you Bette Davis in THE LITLE FOXES.

“ The Little Foxes is a 1939 play by Lillian Hellman. Its title comes from Chapter 2, Verse 15 in the Song of Solomon in the King James version of the Bible, which reads, “Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.”

The 1941 film, nominated for NINE Academy Awards was Directed by William Wyler.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayXGM5TyRco

The lack of action makes the malice more evil than all the shouting and cursing in the world. 

SIDEBAR

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnsdJVMBQW4&feature=related

Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg on THE SEARCHERS

THE SEARCHERS is the best film about American racism ever made, it should be mandatory for all citizenship classes.

THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE was John Ford’s last great Western, and his last great film. It starred John Wayne, James Stewart(both too old for their respective  parts) Woody Strode and Lee Marvin as LIBERTY VALANCE.

I found it and still find it, a deeply disturbing film, made more so since this is Ford’s coda on America. It is the John Wayne character who does the deeds that made America both free and great  yet he is the character who,  at the end of life, is without love, without respect and without riches. The newcomers prosper, never knowing how great his achievements were, how painful his sacrifices were. It is a hauntingly sad fim.

Wayne’s mad scene ,burning down his house after his great love rejects him, is very powerful, and very affecting.

A friend of mine, in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban, took the time to send me this information. Thanks ANABASIS(his nom de guerre).

http://parallax-view.org/2009/05/21/john-fords-wilderness-the-man-who-shot-liberty-valance/

“The presence of that coffin may evoke much of the feeling in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, but the film’s universe is ultimately defined by the impersonal images that frame the film itself, the trains crossing the landscape they have done so much to transform. As Ranse and Hallie talk together on the train, in a single take, of Ranse’s plans for retirement, Hallie reminds him of his achievements: “Look at it. It was once a wilderness; now it’s a garden. Aren’t you proud?” Ranse responds with another question: “Hallie, who put the cactus roses on Tom’s coffin?” After Hallie acknowledges “’I did,” the two sit nearly motionless, in a suspended moment that ends with the only cut of the sequence, to a slightly longer shot during which the camera moves in closer. Ranse reverts to the role of fence-mending politician during an exchange with the conductor. Finally, the conductor speaks the film’s last, ironic words: “Nothing’s too good for the Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.” As he hears those words, Ranse pauses, blows out the match that has not yet lighted his pipe, bows his head, and sits unmoving as the “Ann Rutledge Theme”—now a meditation on his lost dreams—begins (to continue until the screen darkens). The cumulative effect of the sequence, the words, the gestures and the music, is overwhelmingly poignant. Ranse pauses to reflect on the falseness of his mythic identity, and the hollowness of a life spent in the service of the progress embodied in the object whose image supplants him and ends the film: the train receding across the landscape that has become its garden”

John Wayne, James Stewart,Lee Marvin and Woody Strode in THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE

Anabasis sent me this link because I am a great admirer of the great black actor, Woody Strode; in fact I tailored the character of the Black Gunfighter CAIRO GRANT in LOS PISTOLEROS to the Woody Strode persona. 

The essay about the film  made some comments about the relationship between the Woody Strode and John Wayne characters. Woody Strode’s son,Kalai Strode, answered those remarks: “It is true that Woody Strode’s visage at the beginning of the movie is rather cotton-haired. This was done, not out of any idea of an Uncle Remus characterization, but in order to make Woody look older. In 1962 he was already 48 years old, and with a bald head it was difficult to find ways to age him. My second point is that the image of Pompey “standing guard” and reverently solo by Tom’s casket was a flash-forward to the day when Woody held John Ford’s hand as he passed away. Only Woody and John Ford’s sister were present. They toasted John Ford and threw their glasses into the fireplace. Woody sat in the church by John Ford’s casket, solo, just as in Liberty Valance.

Tom was, in essence, John Ford – a relic of a past long gone, remembered faithfully by only a few. In an earlier John Ford movie, Stepin Fetchit faithfully stands guard on the porch as Judge Priest walks into the darkened room of death. These were not meant to be subservient images, but a homage to faithfulness and friendship.”

WOODY STRODE In His Own Words on JOHN FORD

“NEW YORK – You’re never too young to write a memoir.

Sixteen-year-old Justin Bieber’sbook comes out in October. HarperCollins announced the pop star’s memoir on Monday, saying “Justin Bieber: First Step 2 Forever: My Story” will reveal the teen sensation’s “amazing journey to stardom.”

The book also will include previously unseen photos for “fans afflicted with Bieber fever.”

In a statement released by the publisher, Bieber says he is “excited to share just a little bit more of my world.”

Coincidentally, a young female actor  at a Hollywood Party asked me what I thought of the 16 year old singer, who is worth an autobiography.

I did go home and listen to the young man’s music.

Now I am ready to reply to the young lady.

“Maybe there’s a God above
And all I ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrLk4vdY28Q

There is more life in these lyrics than Justin Bieber will ever live in his life.

“Hallelujah”
Hallelujah lyrics full version

Now I’ve heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don’t really care for music, do you?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you
To a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Baby I have been here before
I know this room, I’ve walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew you.
I’ve seen your flag on the marble arch
This is love not some kind of a victory march
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

There was a time you let me know
What’s really going on below
But now you never show it to me, do you?
And remember when I moved in you
The holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Maybe there’s a God above
And all I ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you
It’s not a cry you can hear at night
It’s not somebody who’s seen the light
it’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

You say I took the name in vain
I don’t even know the name
But if I did, well really, what’s it to you?
There’s a blaze of light
In every word
It doesn’t matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

I did my best, it wasn’t much
I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch
I’ve told the truth, I didn’t come to fool you
And even though
It all went wrong
I’ll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Yeah but it’s not a complaint that you hear tonight,
It’s not the laughter of someone who claims to have seen the light
No it’s a cold and it’s a very lonely Hallelujah.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah…
COPYRIGHTED Leonard Cohen

CYRUS is a new film starring John C. Reilly, Marisa Tomei and Jonah Hill.

This is the plot…”With John’s(John C. Reilly) social life at a standstill and his ex-wife about to get remarried, the down on his luck divorcée finally meets the woman of his dreams, only to discover she has another man in her life - her son. 

“At a party, John meets Molly(Marisa Tomei): the gorgeous and spirited Molly. Their chemistry is immediate. The relationship takes off quickly but Molly is oddly reluctant to take the relationship beyond John’s house. Perplexed, he follows her home and discovers the other man in Molly’s life: her son, Cyrus(Jonah Hill). A 21-year-old new age musician, Cyrus is his mom’s best friend and shares an unconventional relationship with her. Cyrus will go to any lengths to protect Molly and is definitely not ready to share her with anyone, especially John. Before long, the two are locked in a battle of wits for the woman they both love-and it appears only one man can be left standing when it’s over.” Written by Fox Searchlight“

So we have this film about the homely suitor battling the fat son for the attention of the hot MILF. CYRUS, in my humble opinion, is not a film on which to spend money at your local theater. But, if coupled with another film, it has cosmological social significance.

As I watched CYRUS, I thought about that very under rated classic, BABY BOY, written and Directed by John Singleton. It also explores the theme of a new suitor battling a mama’s boy for the attention of the hot Mom.

May I suggest this experiment to the Reader, when CYRUS comes out on DVD, rent it and rent BABY BOY and watch them back to back.

Both films deal with the same problem, the Oedipal complex. The sociological differences are enormous and worthy of some Sociological study, a la THE CHILDREN OF SANCHEZ.

BABY BOY ” revolves around Jody,(Tyrese Gibson) a young, unemployed, selfish, immature black man who won’t leave the nest of his mama’s home, even though he has a son and a daughter by two different women. Jody is a mama’s boy and when his mom’s(A.J. Johnson), new ex-con boyfriend(Ving Rhames) moves in the house, Jody becomes very defensive and is continually challenging him…..l one night, tensions finally boil over between he and Rhames. Rhames has been telling Jody there is nothing Jody has done that he hasn’t and more. Rhames tries explaining the way of life to Jody, but he won’t have it and Jody takes a swing at Rhames, who in turn lays him out. Jody leaves the house.”

In the Westside version of this Oedipal story, the Male Suitor leaves the House and the Mom to the weird son.

In the Watts version, the Alpha male beats the son up and takes the Mom.

I like the Watts version a lot better.

In the white version, there is just talk and the playing of  inane games of decadent wit , with a tussle thrown in; in the black version there is marking one’s territory and then physical confrontation. This Blog is damn sure Aeschylus would have liked the black version better.

Whereas the Westside version is weird and effete, the Watts version is virile and deadly.

Reader, please watch them back to back; that  coupling is a stunning insight into two world views.

As best I could tell, the John C. Reilly character in CYRUS, is in his forties. The character’s rank immaturity is striking; he is on the same plane as the 21 year old son. No wonder the hot Mom has a difficult choice; they are both kids.

In BABY BOY, the Rhames character is a man. The hot mom in BABY BOY dumps the immature son in a heartbeat for the Alpha.

CYRUS is a good movie to view if you are interested in the decline of the American male as a heroic figure;the John C. Reilly character does thngs a 21 year kid does in courting, like stalking his lover, following her home, peeking over the fence. Will we ever get mature male characters on the screen again?

JOHN’s best friend in the film is his ex wife, that is so cute,so Westside, so cuddly, so 21st Century, Who in the hell wants to be friends with their ex wife?

If there is friendship now there was never passion at the beginning; if it was a Romance at the beginning, a divorce should be a  field of passion burned and blackened for an eternity. No friendship can grow out of a burned field of passion.

When Rome conquered Carthage, they not only burned Carthage, they sowed the earth with salt, so nothing could ever grown there again. To a marriage founded on passion, Divorce is Rome. 

In CYRUS, JOHN’s love interest, the hot mother is played by Marisa Tomei and is named MOLLY. 

In 1946, there was a film, a Western, named THE VIRGINIAN starring Joel McCrea as the VIRGINIAN. His love interest was also named MOLLY, MOLLY WOOD, played by Barbara Britton.

In the film, the VIRGINIAN takes a liking to his MOLLY, but she is afraid of the rough morality of the West, and the men in it. The VIRGINIAN proposes, and she equivocates.

She tells him, she wants to be friends.

Fresh from defeating the Nazis, this is how the American male screen hero answered: he told her he did not want to be her friend, he wanted her.

If she did not want him fine, he would never see her again. But if she did want him, he was marrying her right then and forever.

We lived in a better world when films understood passions and not psychology.

Ving Rhames, A.J. Johnson and Tyrese Gibson getting their Oedipal On in BABY BOY

Tom Mankiewicz has died, son of a legendary film maker, Joe Mankiewicz(ALL ABOUT EVE), nephew of a legendary screenwriter, Herman Mankiewicz(CITIZEN KANE); Tom was a renowned screen writer and  script doctor in his own right.

I have a great respect for Tom Mankiewicz for one film that he wrote, THE EAGLE HAS LANDED, Directed by John Sturgis(THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN) and starring a swashbuckling Michael Caine at the apex of his virility and talent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddNYvUVCpjI

“In the 1976 WWII film The Eagle Has Landed, set during 1943, the character Max Radl (Robert Duvall) asks a subordinate if he is familiar with the works of Jung and then explains the theory of synchronicity.”

 “Synchronicity  is the experience of two or more events that are apparently causally unrelated occurring together in a meaningful manner. To count as synchronicity, the events should be unlikely to occur together by chance. The phenomenon of synchronicity was first described by Carl Gustav Jung in the 1920s.”

Tom graduated from Yale; to all my film maker friends who have graduated from Yale, never has a Yale education been put to better use in films, he explained synchronicity.

THE EAGLE HAS LANDED

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKqEzjZZf_8

http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/index.jsp?cid=243680

This Blog considers WARLOCK an interesting Western, some consider it a great Western. It has a plethora of acting talent,  Anthony Quinn, Richard Widmark, DeForest Kelly, Dorothy Malone, Dolores Michaels….and HENRY FONDA.

The story line is a variant on Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, versus the Clantons, with Fonda playing the Earp character(CLAY BLAISDELL) and Anthony Quinn doing a homoerotic version of  Doc Holliday (TOM MORGAN).

All Great Classical Westerns are steeped with the anticipation of violence more than violence itself. The actors in Classical Westerns were adept at conveying the anticipation of the violent moment, in HIGH NOON, Gary Cooper watching the clock,in RED RIVER, John Wayne walking through the cattle herd to kill Montgomery Clift, in THE WILD BUNCH, Ben Johnson, Warren Oates,William Holden and Ernest Borgnine taking that memorable Via Dolorosa to free their friend,in THE SEARCHERS,the EDWARDS family hunkering down their home right before the Comanche attack, with the brave little boy wishing for one thing, that UNCLE ETHAN was there(a Comanche attack never seen).

Classical Western actors conveyed the electricity of the approaching moment of violence, like a fourth and goal at the one inch line. That ability to master the  anticipation of violence seems to be a dying art form in modern actors. They rush to do violence, the ballet has been transformed into a video game.

WARLOCK is a ballet. 

What enthralls me about this blogged scene is the extensive choreography expended in anticipation of violence. It is obvious Sergio Leone watched WARLOCK a great deal.

At the apex of this anticipation is Henry Fonda’s brilliant, benchmark line reading right before DeForest Kelly draws his gun.

“But whose to do it?”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MYtI04vX7k

That line reading combines both the arrogance and the weariness which comes from being the best at a dangerous profession, in this case gunfighting.  The weariness of having to be perfect when imperfection means death. Dale Earnhardt could have said that line, Manolete could have said that line.

In this one line reading Fonda sums up the life, the back story, the hubris, the disappointment,the fatalism  that is being CLAY BLAISDELL.

In one line reading he did all that; that is ACTING.

This Western was Directed by Edward Dmytryk, who also Directed (among others), CROSSFIRE and THE YOUNG LIONS. The screenplay was by Robert Alan Arthur(ALL THAT JAZZ, EDGE OF THE CITY). So there is a lot of film noir and social realism lacing this Classical Western.

In the end,this film is all about Henry Fonda, and that damn line reading about the weariness of perfection; that line reading which  is the standard of perfection.

People agree about Fonda’s performance:’Henry Fonda was GREAT in this(WARLOCK). really a captivating performance. one of his better ones and that’s saying something!”

Some people even like this film more than this Blog:“”(WARLOCK) is one of those little known westerns that captivates you from the opening scene. It has everything you wantin this genre of film: a great story, excellent characters, excellent actors and beautiful scenery & music. I’d never seen this movie and came across it while checking out the cable guide and was attracted to the title because I’m a sci-fi/horror lover. I didn’t know it was a western. When I flipped it on, I noticed what kind of movie it was and almost changed the channel when I spotted DeForrest Kelly of Star Trek fame (I’m a devout Trekker). Then I saw Richard Widmark & Henry Fonda and just stayed tuned. I was taken my this flick and recommend it to anyone. I caught it in the middle so when it was over, I immediately went to the cable guide and searched for when it would be on again and made sure I watched it from beginning to end. WHAT A GREAT MOVIE! Definitely a MUST-SEE!!! “

This is the 500th Edition of THE DAILY GRAND and SUNDRY Blog.

This Blog  would like to honor this occasion by ruminating on the TEA PARTY, WILD RIVER and Ms. Jo Van Fleet, and the prescience of Elia Kazan. Fifty years ago, his film,  WILD RIVER was released; in it is the best explanation of TEA PARTY principles ever given, by Jo Van Fleet to Montgomery Clift. 

Over the  course of the last year, I have gotten quite a few emails from denizens of Europe asking me to explain the notorious TEA PARTY. 

To my European readers, The TEA PARTY is deeper than a slogan, or fecklessness, or cribbing glibness, or designer shallowness. It is Jo Van Fleet in WILD RIVER(1960). Fifty years ago, FIFTY YEARS AGO, 50 years ago, Jo Van Fleet laid it all out in the film WILD RIVER.  Jo Van Fleet gave birth to the TEA PARTY right then. 

BACK STORY

The Tennessee River was a killer, so the United States Government, under Franklin Delano Roosevelt, decided to tame the river, the wild river, by creating the Tennessee Valley Authority(TVA) and building a series of dams along the river.

The dams would flood out old homesteads, so Federal agents fanned out through the path of the floods to buy the land.  WILD RIVER is about the one woman who would not sell out to the Federal Government, the first Tea Partier.

WILD RIVER is one of the great American films EVER made. It starred Montgomery Clift as the young do gooder from Washington, brought in to convince the lady farmer to sell out, and a radiant Lee Remick as the young widow who falls for him.

It was Directed by the towering genius of American theater and film, Elia Kazan.

If you have ever wondered where the ideology of the TEA PARTY comes from, it comes from Jo Van Fleet articulating the rights of the people above the rights of the government, even above the rights of progress(something we should all remember concerning the situation in Afghanistan).

With great honor, and humility, in this 500th Edition, this Blog honors the 50th anniversary of WILD RIVER by sharing with you, Jo Van Fleet in WILD RIVER.   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mUepS6mhL4

 Elia Kazan

This  Greek, born in a country which no longer exists(the Ottoman Empire) came to America at the age of four. This immigrant knew more about America, and the Tea Party  than any living pundit or politician, including Mama Grizzlies.

Jo Van Fleet in WILD RIVER, The First Tea Partier

 Mel Gibson is one of the great artists of the Turn of The Century decades, BRAVEHEART is one of the great films of all time.

So it was with interest that I listened to his alleged taped conversations with ex-girlfriend, Russian singer Oksana Grigorieva, with whom he has a 9-month old daughter.

I will leave it to other people to judge the morality of his comments. Mr. Gibson is an actor, a great actor…….and actors in their private conversations have this quirk.

This dialog from THE GOODBYE GIRL by Neil Simon explains my point,

“Elliot Garfield: Look, I don’t want to get legal. Legal happens to be on my side, you know? Now I happen to have a lawyer acquaintance downtown, all I have to do is call this lawyer acquaintance of mine and…
[hears Paula groaning]
Elliot Garfield: What? What?
Paula McFadden: An actor. Another Goddamn actor. “I happen to have a lawyer aquaitance?” Right out of A Streetcar Named Desire. Stanley Kowalski in summer stock, right?
Elliot Garfield: Wrong. Chicago in the dead of winter. Three and a half months at the Drury Lane Theater.
Paula McFadden: Ask an actor a question and he gives you his credits.
Elliot Garfield: You want to hear the reviews? Elliot Garfield brings to Kowalski dimensions that even Brando had not investigated?
Paula McFadden: Terrific! You write beautifully. Aren’t you a little short to play Stanley?
Elliot Garfield: Nobody know that I stood on the poker table. What are you, a critic?
Paula McFadden: No, I love actors. As long as they stay up on the stage where they belong. But you put them down in real life and the whole world gets screwed up. …”

Actors have this problem, in private life, when they get excited or angry, they revert to great scripts. Great actors revert to great scripts.

The Mel Gibson tapes, intrigued me in that I have heard the dialogue before, or something very similar.

How does an angry Mel Gibson deal with a Russian mistress? by reverting to the great scripts of THE SOPRANOS.

Mel’s comments sounded eerily like the conversations between TONY SOPRANO and his Russian girlfriend, IRINA PELTSIN.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUhBk2-Rj-w (READER THIS IS A R RATED CLIP)

My sugestion to Mr Gibson, is when angry wth your ex girlfriend, always revert to Shakespeare rather than TONY SOPRANO.Nothing.

HAMLET:Ha, ha! Are you honest? ….  Are you fair?

HAMLET: Ay, truly; for the power of beauty will sooner transform(120) 
honesty from what it is to a bawd than the force of 
honesty can translate beauty into his likeness. This was 
sometime a paradox, but now the time gives it proof. I did 
love you once.

HAMLET:  You should not have believed me; for virtue cannot 
so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it. I 
loved you not.

HAMLET:  Get thee to a nunnery! Why wouldst thou be a(130) 
breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest, but yet 
I could accuse me of such things that it were better my 
mother had not borne me. I am very proud, revengeful, 
ambitious; with more offences at my beck than I have 
thoughts to put them in, imagination to give them shape,(135) 
or time to act them in. What should such fellows as I do, 
crawling between earth and heaven? We are arrant knaves 
all; believe none of us. Go thy ways to a nunnery. …

HAMLET: If thou dost marry, I’ll give thee this plague for thy 
             dowry: be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt(145) 
             not escape calumny. Get thee to a nunnery. Go, farewell. Or 
             if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool; for wise men know 
             well enough what monsters you make of them. To a nunnery, 
             go; and quickly too. Farewell.

 HAMLET: I have heard of your paintings too, well enough. God 
hath given you one face, and you make yourselves another. 
You jig, you amble, and you lisp; and nickname God’s creatures 
and make your wantonness your ignorance. Go to, I’ll 
no more on’t! it hath made me mad. ..To a nunnery,go

They can’t set you up if you revert to Shakespeare.

George Orwell was a genius, who fought the Fascists in Spain, and the Nazis during World War II. Samuel Beckett was a genius, who joined the French Resistance after the 1940 Nazi  occupation of France, working as a courier; he was almost captured by the Gestapo.Albert Camus was a genius who joined the French Resistance, taking the nom de guerre BEAUCHARD as he published the Resistance newspaper  COMBAT. JD Salinger was a genius,who saw terrible combat on D-DAY at Utah Beach with the 4thID, and at  the Battle of The Bulge. fighting Nazis.

One of the most influential artists in America is a coward, one of the reasons he picks on Jesus and Buddha is that their followers don’t threaten to kill him. MacFarlane is the schoolyard bully who only beats up  Amish, Quakers or Buddhists.  He kowtows to Muslims.
 
If you are going to attack religion, attack everyone equally. If you are afraid to attack one religion, don’t attack any religion.
 
How did MacFarlane become such a coward?
 
“On the morning of 9/11, MacFarlane was scheduled to return to Los Angeles on American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston, Massachusetts. Suffering from a hangover …. and with an incorrect departure time (8:15 a.m. instead of 7:45 a.m.) from his travel agent, he arrived at Logan International Airport sometime around 7:30 and was unable to board the flight as the gates had been closed. Fifteen minutes after departure, American Airlines Flight 11 was hijacked, and at 8:46 a.m. was flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, obliterating the airplane and destroying the building.” 

HARRIS: Right. But I –
 
KING: Let’s ask Mr. MacFarlane’s thoughts.
 
MACFARLANE: I mean, look, it’s no secret. I think any combination of angry plus deity equals nuts equals danger. You know, the question becomes: at what point is it — is it worth it? At what point is it worth it for them to, you know, put themselves at risk? Is the joke so hilarious that we want to risk our lives?
And that’s — I don’t know, if I were in that situation, honestly, I don’t know how I would react.
 
JILLETTE: They certainly have other ways. Trey and Matt can get laughs doing anything at all. They’re the best among us. So, it’s not a question of doing it for the laugh. There is a moral element to this.
 
MACFARLANE: There’s no way to tell. I mean, if — there’s no way to know. If it were me and I was in the situation, it was like, well, do I — again, is this — is this worth getting shot?”
 

This Blog has always recognized the timeless genius of MacFarlane. In the opinion of this Blog, the character he created STEWIE is an equal to FALSTAFF and DON QUIXOTE. It is the rank cowardice of the author which distresses this Blog; Mr. MacFarlane, those Islamic terrorists tried to kill you….they did kill 3,000 other Americans, for God sakes, FIGHT BACK.
  
 
http://gerrymaxeyworkshop.com/blogging/?p=2513
http://gerrymaxeyworkshop.com/blogging/?p=2327
http://gerrymaxeyworkshop.com/blogging/?p=2286
http://gerrymaxeyworkshop.com/blogging/?p=2092

Harvey Pekar died yesterday; I liked Harvey.

He was the subject of a really terrific film, AMERICAN SPLENDOR.

Soon, there won’t be one original eccentric left in this country; I am hoping that when God meets Harvey he will take an instant dislike to him, and toss him back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0akXKxbflM

Harvey Pekar was the only person who ever treated David Letterman like David Letterman treats other people.