Pop Song of the Week: "Boobs"

Eat your heart out, Seth MacFarlane.

Quote of the Week

I’m a mixed breed and hope to live longer because of it.
--Charisma Carpenter

Movie Quote of the Week

Beauty killed the beast, my ass. It was all them reporters.
--Pamela Sue Martin, The Lady in Red (1979)

TV Quote of the Week

Be gentle. It's not a one-way street, you know. How you feel and that's all. It's how the girl feels, too.
--William Shatner, Star Trek, "Charlie X"

R.I.P. Maya Angelou

African-American poet and writer Maya Angelou -- best known for her 1969 novel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings -- finished the last of her autobiographies yesterday at age 86.

She will be missed.

R.I.P. Bunny Yeager

American photographer and pin-up model Bunny Yeager -- also known as Linnea Eleanor "Bunny" Yeager and best known for having taken some of the most famous pictures of the late Bettie Page -- put the lens cap on her camera for the last time on May 25 at age 85.

She will be missed.

Movie Song of the Week: "Title Theme from Glory"

In honor of Memorial Day.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Christopher Lee!

AKA Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee.

Born May 27, 1922.

Everyone's favorite living Dracula turns 92 today. He just might be the last of the old-fashioned horror movie stars but hopefully, he will still be with us for many years to come.

Movie Quote of the Week

Waving the flag with one hand and picking pockets with the other, that's your "patriotism."
--Ingrid Bergman, Notorious (1946)

TV Quote of the Week

Damn, I'm so tired of this "I'm an American" bull! Where was all that patriotism when it counted? Where was that willingness to sacrifice? Nobody wanted to join the damn army to defend the country unless they got paid well! Nobody wanted to give any time to public service unless they could make a career out of it! And I didn't notice a lot of us giving up our lives in the last 10 years!
--Robert Urich, Amerika (TV Mini-Series)

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Lisa Edelstein!

Born May 21, 1966.

She is a Jewish American actress who is most famous for playing the character of Lisa Cuddy, everyone's favorite doctor-turned-hospital-adminstrator on the now-deceased TV series House M.D..

She is also very good-looking though you won't catch me admitting that in front of my current girlfriend. However, that might explain all the J-Date spam that keeps getting sent to me.

Quote of the Week

Seldom do people see themselves in the words of others.
--Tom Miller, The Panama Hat Trail: A Journey from South America

Pop Song of the Week: "The Way of Love"

In honor of today's birthday lady.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Cher!

AKA Cherilyn Sarkisian.

Born May 20, 1946.

She is one of my all-time favorite singers though ironically, I like her early solo work much better than her more recent tunes.

I often suspect that my siblings and I got into the habit of calling ourselves "half breeds" because of her. For that matter, I probably played the heck of my "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves" single because of her as well.

Movie Song of the Week: "Main Theme from Gojira (1954)

This week I post the original theme from the 1954 Japanese monster movie that started it all. I am referring, of course, to Gojira, a film which is better known to Americans as Godzilla.

The theme was composed by Akira Ifukube, who, like all too many composers of movie music, deserves to be a lot more well-known than he actually is. After all, you can't deny that his music creates a certain mood, and I can think of a lot of movie themes that are far less memorable.

Trailer of the Week: Gojira (1954)

You say Gojira, I say Godzilla. Let's call the whole thing off...

But, seriously, folks...

This is the trailer for the original Japanese version of the movie that we Americans call Godzilla.

Hey, I Remember This Show: Valley of the Dinosaurs

I remember loving this show when it first came out in 1974 even though it was basically little more than an animated version of Land of the Lost. Then again I was very young at the time and generally relished anything having to do with dinosaurs. However, dinosaurs and cave men seemed like a very unscientific mix for a TV show even back then and I don't remember how I resolved that rather obvious conflict or even if I acknowledged such a conflict at the time. I suspect I treated it the same way I treated many animated TV shows at that time -- interesting to watch but not if you are looking for scientific accuracy.

It would be nice to blame this TV series for the recent backlash against evolution but I somehow doubt that many future creationists watched this TV show. Besides, Land of the Lost debuted the same year and it was a lot more popular.

Hey, I Don't Remember This Show: Godzilla (1978)

I used to love Godzilla films when I was a child but I don't remember seeing this animated series. Then again I am not sure I would want to remember doing so given the fact that supporting character Godzooky looks like the Toho mashup of Scrappy-Doo and Jar Jar Binks. After all, it is not like the original Godzilla movie ever needed that type of comic relief.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Rick Trevino!

AKA Ricardo Treviño, Jr.*

Born May 16, 1971.

He is just about everyone's favorite Mexican-American country music singer -- or at least he was my favorite -- and his debut song, "Just Enough Rope," was the first mainstream country song to feature both English and Spanish versions. He is also famous for such songs as "She Can't Say I Didn't Cry" and "Bobbie Ann Mason." For that matter, he was also a part of the Mexican-American supergroup Los Super Seven.

* Birth name.

Movie Poster of the Week

As a Latino, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to think about this movie because it's obviously not about Latinos. Nor about any other predominantly dark-skinned ethnic group that I can think of.

I'm guessing the title is supposed to be about more than just missing one's weekly appointment at the tanning salon. And please don't ask me why the Spanish title for this film has a masculine ending to its adjective when its protagonist is obviously a female.

Movie Quote of the Week

Ogata, humans are weak animals. Even if I burn my notes, the secret will still be in my head. Until I die, how can I be sure I won't be forced by someone to make the device again?
--Akihiko Hirata, Godzilla (1954)

TV Quote of the Week

You know, if all the film that I’ve shot that’s been confiscated by the cops were laid end to end, I’d have enough film to shoot War and Peace -– including a travelogue and a cartoon.
--Darren McGavin, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, "The Sentry"

A Plum Role Is Not So Peachy in One for the Money

The good news about the 2012 movie One for the Money? It is about as accurate an adaptation of Janet Evanovich's novel of the same name as one can expect.

The bad news? Janet Evanovich's novel is kinda meh for a mystery novel.

Granted, my taste in mystery novels is a bit eclectic, if not eccentric. I have read only one Agatha Christie novel in all my life, never finished the various Sherlock Holmes novels and stories until just last year and yet found time to read every mystery novel written by Charlaine Harris prior to completing the Arthur Conan Doyle stories. (I know. Shocking.)

That said, the original novel One for the Money was still kinda meh, even accounting for the fact that it was written at a time when lady bounty hunters were still considered a novelty and that not every mystery reader necessarily identifies with female protagonists who are near perfect. Granted, I don't expect every mystery novel to be my cup of tea but I have run across books in the mystery genre that I have liked better.

Anyway, the movie itself was okay once I got over the fact that Stephanie Plum -- the main character -- was a throwback to the days when women were generally expected to know little about guns or self-defense or well, anything. It did not help that Jennifer Morrison had played a more convincing bounty hunter in the first episode of the TV series Once Upon a Time. However, actress Katherine Heigl -- who played Ms. Plum -- was likeable enough to at least play a convincing amateur bounty hunter though her allegedly "lovable" clumsiness got old fast. I did not mind the constant examples of her lousy marksmanship; after all, I know from experience that it is not always as easy to shoot a gun as it looks on television. But the fact that she never gained the common sense to put her gun somewhere other than her purse just did not seem very realistic to me.

Indeed, in the age of Veronica Mars and Rizzoli & Isles, Ms. Plum's amateurishness seemed especially exasperating. And apparently the box office agreed since there appears to be no sign of a sequel.

It is probably just as well. As nice as it was to see the likes of Debbie Reynolds and John Leguizamo earning a paycheck in supporting roles, I must admit that there are better movies out there. Fortunately for me, this was just a library rental. And some might argue that this movie was worth about as much as I paid for it...

Pop Song of the Week: "Godzilla"

It's that time again.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Amber Tamblyn!

AKA Amber Rose Tamblyn.*

Born May 14, 1983.

She is an American actress who went from playing the title role in the TV series Joan of Arcadia to Jenny Harper in the TV series Two and a Half Men. She also co-starred with Hugh Laurie on the next-to-last season of House M.D..

She also appeared in movies as well but since most of the movies in which I have seen her have been awful ones like The Grudge 2, I prefer to remember her for her TV work. Even then, I am not quite sure I would recommend watching Two and a Half Men just to see her in it.

She is also famous for being the daughter of West Side Story star Russ Tamblyn so hopefully she got a heck of a birthday present from her father today.

* Birth name.

R.I.P. H. R. Giger

Swiss surrealist, sculptor, painter and set designer Hans Rudolf "Ruedi" Giger -- more commonly known as H. R. Giger and most famous for his part in the design work for the 1979 science fiction film Alien -- finished his last piece yesterday at the age of 71.

He will be missed.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Emilio Estevez!

Born May 12, 1962.

He is an American actor who is best known for being the son of actor Martin Sheen, an actor of Spanish and Irish descent, and the oldest brother of Charlie Sheen. He is also famous for such movies as Repo Man, The Breakfast Club and Stakeout. He has also done quite a bit of writing and directing.

Quote of the Week

There is no art without anger, but anger alone doesn't make good art.
--Ilan Stavans, Art & Anger: Essays on Politics and the Imagination

¡Feliz Día de la Madre!

Happy Mother's Day to all my loyal readers. I hope you all enjoy a pleasant day with your own mothers.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Ruben Navarrette, Jr.!

Born May 11, 1967.

He is a nationally syndicated columnist best known for his non-fiction book A Darker Shade of Crimson, a book written about his years as a Mexican-American student at Harvard.

He has also become notorious with liberals for being an apologist for former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and the Bush Administration. For that matter, he is not very popular with many conservatives because of his sympathy for Mexican illegal immigrants even though he is often quite conservative on the issue compared to most Mexican-American journalists.

I was a big fan of his book when it first came out but I have not been too crazy about his more recent work. And yet I find his book more provocative than more politically correct books I have read about Mexican Americans -- perhaps because it was one of the few books I have read about Mexican Americans that do not portray us as a social problem.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Martha Quinn!

Born May 11, 1959.

She was one of the first video jockeys to appear on MTV and to this day, she is still my favorite. She also had a short-lived career as an actress, but the less said about that, the better.

Movie Song of the Week: "Mother Knows Best"

I must admit that my mother was never like the mother in this song from the 2010 film Tangled. And neither are most mothers I have met.

However, I have met some mothers who are not much different than this. And for me, the saddest part of the video is when Rapunzel goes to hug the woman she believes to be her mother because she wants so much to be loved that she will almost put up with anything for sake of her mother's love. And unfortunately, I have known women in real life who are much like that too.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Ellen Ochoa!

AKA Ellen Lauri Ochoa* or Dr. Ellen Ochoa.

Born May 10, 1958.

She is a former astronaut and current Director of the Johnson Space Center. She became the first Hispanic woman to go into space when she went on a nine-day mission aboard the shuttle Discovery in 1993. For what it's worth, she is also half Mexican on her father's side. It is a shame she is not more famous but then most nativists like to pretend that Hispanics like her are the exception to the rule, not the rule itself.

And of course, the presence of real-life astronauts like her make it a lot easier to bear the relative scarcity of Latinos in films like Star Wars. After all, who needs fictional Latin space travelers when we already have real ones we can look up to?

* Birth name.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Ariel Durant!

Born May 10, 1898. Died October 25, 1981.

She is best known as the late spouse of historian William Durant although she helped him so much with his work that she deserves to be recognized as a historian in her own right.

Ironically, her work and her husband's are frequently passed over as old-fashioned by modern liberals who would be shocked by how young Ms. Durant was when she got married. She was fourteen when she and her husband tied the knot and the two of them had met when she was a student of his. In fact, Durant resigned his post as her teacher in order to marry her. Of course, most historians would argue that the Durant's relationship was more the exception to the rule than the rule itself. But, hey, it worked for the Durants. And thus far history has judged them less harshly than their critics.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Billy Joel!

AKA William Martin "Billy" Joel.

Born May 9, 1949.

One of my all-time favorite singers and composers turns 65 today.

It would be nice to say that I have liked him ever since the release of this record:

However, it would be more accurate to say I first discovered him with the release of this record:

I also remember liking his 1973 single "Piano Man" but I did not really associate him with that song until after The Stranger had made him famous.

And yes, he has changed a bit over the years.

Movie Quote of the Week

I think your mother was right. I think Frankenstein ought to be required-reading for all scientists.
--Eric Braeden, Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)

TV Quote of the Week

Earth. Mother of the most beautiful of woman in the universe. That at least has not changed.
--Michael Forest, Star Trek, "Who Mourns for Adonais?"

Comic Book Image of the Week

What can I possibly add to this?

R.I.P. Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.

American actor Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., best known for his starring roles in such TV series as 77 Sunset Strip and The F.B.I. -- closed his last case on May 2 at age 95.

He will be missed.

R.I.P. Bob Hoskins

English actor Bob Hoskins -- most famous for his starring roles in the 1980 film The Long Good Friday and the 1988 comedy Who Framed Roger Rabbit -- took the last rabbit out of his pocket on April 29 at age 71.

He will be missed.

Pop Song of the Week: "Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad"

In honor of the late Tammy Wynette, who celebrates her birthday today. I know it is not the most appropriate song for Cinco de Mayo, but my Mexican-born father always liked listening to Ms. Wynette's songs when he was alive so that's good enough for me. Plus I do like the way this song begins.

¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

I hope all my loyal readers enjoy the holiday today -- but not in such a way as to prevent them from witnessing next year's holiday. Good luck!

Quote of the Week

Anyone, of any race, of any ethnicity, of any species will think poorly of themselves if they look to Hollywood for existential sustenance.
--San Diego State University Professor William Nericcio, as quoted by Gustavo Arellano in his "¡Ask a Mexican!" column in the February 27th issue of The Dallas Observer

Paris When It Sizzles Is Still a Tad Underdone

Movie comedies don't always age well. For every such comedy that manages to provoke just as many laughs out of today's audiences as it did from yesterday's, there are many which are lucky if they elicit as much as a smile.

Movie parodies especially tend to not age well because the material they parody changes so rapidly. Yes, there are rare exceptions but such exceptions tend to work because they aim at universal foibles: the greed of the rich, the stupidity of authority figures, the hypocrisy of religious people and so forth. Thus Life of Brian still elicits yuks by both focusing on human shortcomings and parodying Biblical epics while Wholly Moses! has managed to disappear into comic oblivion by focusing on just the parody part.

It would be nice to say that the 1964 Audrey Hepburn film Paris When It Sizzles was an exception to this rule because Ms. Hepburn has such a way with a comic line, but unfortunately, even the best actress can only spin gold out of dross for so long. And though her co-star William Holden is no stranger to good movies, it is difficult to think of anything worth watching in this movie which does not ultimately involve Ms. Hepburn.

Oh, well. The idea of Ms. Hepburn playing a typist who ultimately plays both muse and assistant to middle-aged screenwriter William Holden sounds like a good idea on paper. But the execution left much to be desired and a lot of scenes that had the potential to be very funny more often than not came across as just being very silly without being especially funny.

I will admit that Paris When It Sizzles is hardly the worst movie I have ever seen. But Ms. Hepburn has done better and deserves better. And quite frankly, it says something about the script that the inevitable parody of Hammer vampire films seems more realistic than the film's happy ending. Though I must admit that it has been a long time since I have seen a movie in which actor Tony Curtis was famous for being anything apart from Jamie Lee's father.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Audrey Hepburn!

Born May 4, 1929.

Today is the birthday of one of my girlfriend's favorite movie stars. Of course, Ms. Hepburn is one of my favorite movie stars as well -- and not just because my girlfriend likes her or because she probably inspired the first name of Audrey Hugo, who just happens to be one of my favorite movie characters.

Anyway, I hope Ms. Hepburn is having a happy celebration, wherever she is.

Pensamientos Acerca de Televisión

Davey and Goliath: “Good Neighbor”

Davey and Goliath is a much-ridiculed stop-action animated Christian children's TV series which used to be shown here in the Dallas / Fort Worth area on Sunday morning. For many years I was embarrassed to admit to having watched the show. Then I grew up and realized that the show's messages were not that bad.

Granted, from an adult perspective, it is very easy to find fault with the series. The characters were almost always white, the men and women rarely strayed outside of traditional gender roles and the show had the nerve to promote Christianity as a good thing. (Then again it was produced by the Lutheran Church in America so how can one realistically expect the show to do otherwise?) Moreover, the title character Davey had a talking dog named Goliath whose scenes have not exactly improved with age. (Though I can't help but wonder if that poor much-ridiculed mutt helped inspire the creation of Scooby-Doo or for that matter, the talking tiger in Calvin and Hobbes. After all, stranger things have happened.)

Anyway, the one episode I find myself remembering most often is the “Good Neighbor” episode, perhaps because it is one of the few episodes that does not end happily for Davey. The whole episode revolves around a local celebration of neighborliness in which free balloons declaring their owner to be a good neighbor are passed out on a first-come, first-served basis. Davey wants to get such a balloon but on the way to the celebration, he comes across a young girl who has gotten separated from her mother and he chooses to help her first. He is not the first person to pass the little girl in question but he is the first person who stops to help her out. In the process of trying to track down the girl's mother, Davey loses more and more time until when he finally does manage to reunite the girl with her mother, he is too late to get a balloon.

The irony of the episode? In proving himself to be a good neighbor, Davey loses his chance at any material reward while those people who were selfish enough to ignore the little girl's plight end up receiving all the balloons. And of course, the one such person who is most proud of his rep as a “good neighbor” ends up seeing his balloon burst.

The moral of the episode? We can't always expect to be materially rewarded for our good deeds. Indeed, doing good deeds in hope of a material reward is not what Christianity is supposed to be all about. Moreover, there will be times when in order to do a good deed, a sacrifice will be expected of you. It could be a sacrifice of time or a sacrifice of effort or a sacrifice of money or so forth. But there will be a sacrifice. In other words, you should perform a good deed because it needs to be done, not because you expect to get something out of it.

I know that sounds like an obvious lesson but when I first saw this episode, it did not seem so obvious. Even as an adult, I find myself having to remind myself of this lesson. After all, it is not the type of lesson most American TV shows and movies preach and it is certainly not the type of lesson promoted by many American politicians. Indeed, even many Christian adults seem to forget such a message -- which is why it is a good thing that TV shows like Davey and Goliath exist in the first place.

Pensamientos Acerca de Televisión

Davey and Goliath: “The Polka Dot Tie”

It has become so hip nowadays to make fun of the old stop-motion animated children's TV series Davey and Goliath that I sometimes forget how progressive this show could be. For example, this series once devoted an episode to a 1962 parable about racism which never quite mentions racism yet comes closer to mentioning it than most other animated shows of the era. Yet today hardly anyone remembers it.

Granted, messages of racial tolerance were not rare in 1962 when the African-American civil rights movement was in full swing, but they certainly were not very common in most American cartoon shows. And given the fact that Davey and Goliath is usually considered a conservative show because of its emphasis on overt Christian messages, the anti-racism message in this episode seems especially astounding.

To be fair, the episode never comes out and overtly argues on behalf of racial tolerance. But it was one of the first episodes to feature a black character and it is not very hard to connect the dots between the fuss title character Davey makes over said character's polka dot tie and the fuss many real-life adults in 1962 would have made about said character's skin color.

Of course, this being a positive show, Davey eventually comes around and accepts the friendship of the black character after his sister Sally spends the entire episode treating Davey as a fool for initially doing otherwise. And no one thinks anything of it.

It would be nice to believe that all racial conflicts were so easily settled back in 1962, but alas, I suspect otherwise. However, it is nice to see that even back then, some people's hearts were in the right place.

Comic Book Image of the Week

It is depressing how often this has to be said about certain women. Even women who are nowhere near as intimidating as the Valkyrie.

I guess that it is good to know that so little has changed since Steve Englehart wrote this back in February 1973.

Working for the Osterman Weekend

It would be nice to think that there was no way a poster like the above image could be used to advertise a dull movie like the 1983 film The Osterman Weekend, but alas, such a thought would be in vain. Indeed, that poster is most than a little misleading. After all, most of the film has little to do with any Soviet plot -- indeed, the film itself has little to do with anything mentioned in the Robert Ludlum novel which allegedly inspired it -- and though that female archer on the poster does eventually appear, she does so in such an anticlimactic way that all but the most desperate action movie buffs are bound to be disappointed by her appearance.

It is even more disappointing to realize that The Osterman Weekend was directed by the great Sam Peckinpah, the director of the Western classic The Wild Bunch. This was the last movie Peckinpah directed before his death and it would be nice to say that it was a classic for just that reason. But it is not. For that matter, it would be nice to blame the whole mess on studio interference since Peckinpah had a reputation for ticking off producers. However, that still does not change the fact that the final film is so tedious as to be almost unwatchable.

It is a shame, really. You do not exactly see actors like Burt Lancaster, Dennis Hopper, John Hurt and Rutger Hauer appear in the same movie every day. Then again, even the best actors need good material to work with, and the screenplay for this flick is not exactly a classic. Moreover, The Osterman Weekend aspired to be yet another movie about evil CIA agents despite its being made at a time when such movies were already a drug on the market.

Oh, well. At least the poster is nice to look at. Indeed, the poster is a lot more memorable than anything that happens in the movie. ¡Qué lástima!

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Julie Benz!

AKA Julie M. Benz.*

Born May 1, 1972.

She is an American actress who played a vampire in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, a serial killer's girlfriend/wife in Dexter and a superheroine in No Ordinary Family. Plus she played a stripper in Desperate Housewives but I really doubt she wants to remember that part.

* Birth name.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Judy Collins!

AKA Judith Marjorie Collins.

Born May 1, 1939.

She is an American folk singer best known for such songs as "Both Sides Now" and "Amazing Grace". She is also famous for being the inspiration for the Crosby, Stills and Nash song "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes", which described the relationship between her and her former boyfriend Stephen Stills. For that matter, her song "Chelsea Morning" allegedly inspired the name of Bill and Hillary Clinton's daughter Chelsea.

Movie Quote of the Week

Do you want Detroit to... to tear itself apart, so that you can raid it like you would any other corporation? Do you know how many people are dying out there? You're murderers.
--Willard E. Pugh, RoboCop 2 (1990)

TV Quote of the Week

With my DNA I’m pretty much a blood relative to everybody who’s been anybody, ever. Winston Churchill... Einstein... Pocahontas.
--Jessica Alba, Dark Angel, "Art Attack"