Movie Quote of the Week

You see, Porfirio, when a monarch misrules, he changes the people, but when a presidente misrules, the people change him.
--Paul Muni, Juarez (1939)

TV Quote of the Week

Unbelievable! "Do you like my mask? Isn't it pretty? It raises the dead!" Americans!
--Anthony Stewart Head, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, “Dead Man’s Party”

Quote of the Week

Because if I am not what I’ve been told I am, then it means that you’re not what you thought you were either!
--James Baldwin, “The Negro Child – His Self-Image”, originally published in The Saturday Review, December 21, 1963

The New Movie Normal

Due to various health and economic issues, I had pretty much resigned myself to not seeing any movies in the conventional fashion weeks before the current Corona virus crisis. What happened since then has only confirmed the idea that I was right to do so.

In a way, it's a shame. After all, some of the best memories of my life involve movie theatres.

On the other hand, I really don't see anyone with as many breathing issues as I have being all that comfortable wearing a mask for two hours just to watch a movie that I could see far more safely at home. Add to that the fact that movie theatres seem to be charging me more and more while providing me with less and less and suddenly cable TV and DVDs don't seem like bad alternatives.

Besides, the only real change I see on the horizon is an end to library rentals. My local library is finally allowing patrons to check out and check in books but the check out process is by appointment only and while I don't mind going through all that to read a book, going through all that to rent a movie is another story.

Pensamientos Acerca de Televisión

The Twilight Zone (TOS): “The Mirror”

Actor Peter Falk -- of all people -- got cast as a Latin American dictator who looked and talked like Fidel Castro. Unfortunately, the ending of the story -- as philosophically appropriate as it may be -- seems in retrospect to be more like wishful thinking on Rod Serling's part than anything else. After all, the real-life Fidel Castro lived to be an old man and ultimately died of natural causes. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of his many real-life victims.

Pensamientos Acerca de Televisión

The Twilight Zone (TOS): “The Old Man in the Cave”

In the far-off year of 1974(!), a small group of people who somehow managed to survive a nuclear war were dependent on the word of a mysterious old man in a cave who had never been seen by anyone. The old man gave them advice that permitted the people to survive but not necessarily thrive.

One day a self-styled military man who claimed to represent a new central government came by and persuaded the people to ignore the old man's advice. As a result, everyone save the one holdout who still obeyed the old man ended up dying horribly as a result of ingesting contaminated food.

As usual, it can be assumed that the morale of this story is in no way applicable to today's events. In no way, I say. And not just because none of our current authority figures look anything like James Coburn...

R.I.P. Tony Horwitz

American writer and journalist Tony Horwitz -- best known for such books as Confederates in the Attic and A Voyage Long and Strange -- turned in the last draft of his autobiography on May 27, 2019, at age 60.

He will be missed.

R.I.P. Robert Conquest

Writer and historian Robert Conquest -- best known for such books as The Great Terror: Stalin's Purges of the 1930s -- finished his last chapter on August 3, 2015 at age 98.

He has been missed.

El 4 de Julio

July 4th means many things to many people, but to me, it will always mean first and foremost my late father's birthday.

My father was not born in the United States but he eventually became a citizen here, and had he not come to this country, the chances are my siblings and I would not exist.

He was not a perfect man but he was a good man who always tried to do his best, and by his example alone, he taught me more about true virtue than a hundred sermons ever could. He was not always wise but he was one of the smartest men I knew. He always encouraged me to be a better person than I thought I could be, and for that alone, I'll always treasure him.

I don't know the words to truly do him justice. But I like to think I'm following his path every time I go out of my way to help someone or I speak out against injustice.

He was my father.

There's little more I can say apart from that.

(A repost.)

The Times, They Are A-Changing

This blogging site is being changed to a less user-friendly format by the end of July so I may have to move to a new location. Of course, I'm becoming more and more interested in writing stories than film reviews anyway so maybe it's just as well. Even writing fanfic teaches me a lot more about how to analyse a story than most film reviews so I'll probably be concentrating more on that. Plus I find myself becoming more and more obsessed with writing down the stories that I write in my head than writing long essays about how I feel about the latest new movie.

Anyway, if this site changes unexpectedly and I'm no longer able to update it, you all will know what happened. Good luck and thank you for all the years of support.