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Our Morning Roundup: Potentates Like Their Beef
*The President and Vice President supped at Ray's Hell Burger in Arlington yesterday. According to the Post, they went dutch.
*THIS WEEK IN CAL THOMAS: The Washington Times commemorates the 30th anniversary of Margaret Thatcher's election as Prime Minister with a fawning piece whose best moment is its opening anecdote:
The newly elected Mrs. Thatcher takes her all-male Cabinet to dinner. The waiter asks her what she would like to order.
"I'll have the beef," says she.
"What about the vegetables?" asks the waiter.
"They'll have the same."
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Where are the Hearsts of Yesteryear?
ON THIS DAY IN 1863 William Randolph Hearst was born. Please enjoy the following clip, in which Hearst Charles Foster Kane defends his decision to pour millions into a cash-hemorrhaging newspaper because the people deserve the truth, dammit! And 'cuz it's fun to start wars.
Perhaps the Orson Welles estate would consider making an offer on City Paper et. al.? I bet they could beat $13.3 mill.
Our Morning Roundup: Cloning Bin Laden
*THE BLOGOSPHERE REACTS: Arlen Specter (R-PA D-PA), facing a strong 2010 primary push from Republican congressman Pat Toomey, switches parties, giving the Dems a quasi-60-seat presence in the Senate. This has the 'sphere all riled up. For some spirited commentary, visit Robert Stacey McCain's blog ("Specter reminds me of the high-school slut trying to sleep her way to popularity") or Gateway Pundit, where RNC Chair Michael Steele is quoted as saying "Republicans look forward to beating Sen. Specter in 2010, assuming the Democrats don't do it first." President Obama, meanwhile, pledges his "full support" to Specter. Which could include campaigning for him in a Democratic primary.
*Obama's "no-news press conference doesn't impress" the Washington Times. Snap!
Tonight at Filmfest: Small Crime, Rain, and More
Plus: Weekend Picks!
Highly recommended: Small Crime
Our guide to Friday's selections; weekend picks below the jump.
YAY!:
I.O.U.S.A., a documentary on the Federal Reserve that, according to Jule Banville, "does for our economic crisis what An Inconvenient Truth did for global warming," only "with a lot more humor and a lot less PowerPoint." 6:30 p.m. at Goethe-Institut.
Small Crime, a comedy about a mysterious death on a bumptious Greek island. I said: "Servetalis steals the show as an expressionless but compassionate protag, and a lo-fi but sweeping soundtrack underscores innocuous moped chases. Come for the atmosphere, stay for the love affair—and by the end, you won’t really mind that Zacharias’ death might not have been all that mysterious, after all."
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Plus: Weekend Picks!" »
Tonight at Filmfest: Dancers, Four Nights With Anna, and More
Bleak by Jowl: Dancers is dark and gripping.
Only four nights of cinematic splendor left, folks. Here's this evening's wheat and chaff:
YAY!:
Dancers, a romantic thriller about a lovesick Swedish woman obsessed with her boyfriend's dark past. "Heavy-handed" at times, write Sarah Godfrey, but "fascinating" where it counts. 8:30 p.m. at E Street Cinema.
Four Nights With Anna, a stalker flick about lonely Leon, who drugs a young lady and then enacts a series of creepy-ass fantasies. Jeff Winkler: "In the hands of a torture-porn hack, Leon would be just another psycho, but famed Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski’s deliberate and precise storytelling reveals a weirdo who is both disturbing and sweet." 6:30 p.m. at Regal Gallery Place.
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Why Is Today Different From All Other Days?
Because it's Food Day, people. And we're blogging like mad on Young & Hungry.
Get into it.
Photograph by Darrow Montgomery
Tonight at Filmfest: Sparrow, The Witch of the West Is Dead, and More
In witchcraft and wildflowers, Granny knows best.
YAY!:
The Witch of the West Is Dead, about a timorous Japanese girl who thrives under Granny's tutelage. Jule Banville says it's full of "lush shots" and filmed with a "Zen-like approach...land[ing] an emotional punch." 6:30 p.m. at the Avalon.
Sparrow, about Hong Kong gangsters who lose their mojo when an attractive lady starts fuckin' with their heads. "Smart thieves make great protagonists in any well-directed film," says Tricia Olszewski,
"and Sparrow is no exception." 6:30 p.m. at E Street Cinema.
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Our Morning Roundup: Torture, Guns, and Susan Boyle
*The Post leads with a piece on how the Bush administration had already prepped their ghastly, torture-like tactics "long before they were granted legal approval to use such methods," ignoring the advice of an Army lieutenant colonel who pointed out that a strong-arm approach "usually decreases the reliability of the information because the person will say whatever he believes will stop the pain." The New York Times takes a different angle: why didn't administration officials do their homework on the origins of those techniques?
*Maureen Dowd visits Twitter HQ to find out "if the inventors of Twitter were as annoying as their invention. (They’re not. They’re charming.)" (The real question: Is Maureen Dowd as annoying as this column?) In her umpteenth use of the screenplay gimmick (at least she wrote it herself this time!), Dowd confesses her own Twitterific ambition: "When newsprint blows away, I want a second career as a Twitter ghostwriter." Someone sign this woman up!
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Tonight at Filmfest: Café de los Maestros, Un-Natural State, and More
35 Shots of Rum: Your recommended apéritif before watching 35 Shots of Rum
Tonights highlight's include steamy tango, Sri Lankan handballers, and Eleanor Holmes Norton. (What a film that would make!) Plus, in case you missed yesterday's showing, Cruzando. Check it, people:
YAY!:
Machan, based on the true story of the Sri Lankan National Handball Federation. Think Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, except without the dick jokes. Aaron Wiener says Machan "leaves the viewer refreshed and petrified of large German handballers." 8:15 p.m. at E Street Cinema.
Un-Natural State, a documentary on D.C.'s woeful lack of congressional representation. Jule Banville gives it a thumbs-up: "The cinematography will make you both recognize your city and see it in a new, flattering light. Deft, fun edits move what might be a Beltway-only interest into one that might actually hold the attention of the 'real America.'" That means you, Virginia! 6:30 p.m. at the E Street Cinema.
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Robin 1, Squirrel 0
Hell hath no fury like a robin whose eggs have been tampered with.
I learned that early this morning. Exiting my Petworth abode, I spotted a squirrel scampering pell-mell down a tree across the street. Was he fleeing a jealous mate? Had my roommate's snakes gotten loose?
Neither, it turned out. The squirrel had merely trespassed on a robin's nest, and the robin was not amused. It pursued the frantic rodent down the tree, up the street, through gutters, under cars, and finally onto my lawn, before the squirrel sought asylum within the wooden latticework of my porch.
Home free? Not a whit. Sounds of scuffling indicated that the robin, unflappable, had broken through and was now tormenting a beast three times its size. By the time the ragged combatants emerged, the robin had clamped his beak to the squirrel's tail. A great general flailing ensued; then, mutual retreat. Peace, or something like it, had been restored.
Are the robins particularly mean this year? Do they have ancestral beef with the squirrels? Has anyone seen anything like this before?
Photograph above by photoholic1
Tonight at Filmfest: Bonecrusher, Cruzando, Megane, and More
In Cruzando, Manny has daddy issues.
More goodies tonight, including two strong docs, a poignant and hilarious border-crossing flick, and a lapidary, Chaplin-meets-Coen bros. film from Japan. Get off your couch and over to E Street!
YAY!:
Bonecrusher, a documentary about black lung and the Appalachian coal industry. Hilary Crowe calls it a "dust-covered love story...[that] tugs at the heart as much as at the conscience." 6:30 p.m. at Regal Gallery Place
Cruzando, about a grown son who crosses from Mexico to Texas to visit his absentee dad, now on death row in Huntsville. "[F]irst-rate camera-work and incredible pacing," writes Mike Riggs. "Every scene in Cruzando is either comically tragic or tragically comic, thanks to a fine balance between deadpan humor, strife, and creeping magical realism." 8:30 p.m. at E Street Cinema.
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Tonight at Filmfest: Ciao Bella, A Pain in the Ass, and more
Sophie Okonedo in Skin, which you should maybe see
Filmfest D.C. kicked off last night with a showing of Departures, the 2008 Oscar-Winner for Best Foreign Film, at the Harman Center for the Arts. The sushi went quickly, the movie did not, and the audience was easily amused. (To my mind, the film was fine but overlong, drawn out in an emotionally obvious way and not really Oscar material. But what a soundtrack! Good noodles, too.)
Below the jump, our picks for tonight's screenings—what to see and what to skip. Happy festing!
Read More "Tonight at Filmfest: Ciao Bella, A Pain in the Ass, and more" »
Clement Freud Dies at 84
Sir Clement Freud, grandson of Sigmund, Liberal Member of Parliament, chef, scribe, and deadpannist extraordinaire, has died at 84, reports the BBC, the Guardian, and everybody else.
To me and to many of my British classmates, Freud was that disembodied, side-splitting monotone that punctuated the best moments of the hit radio show, "Just a Minute." The show's format was simple: four celebrities ("panelists") would take turns trying to speak for 60 seconds on a subject suggested by host Nicholas Parsons; instances of "repetition, hesitation, or deviation" from the subject were penalized when opposing panelists buzzed in. This basic framework allowed for a genial and droll parry-thrust between panelists (I don't know if wit is still in such currency on British radio, not having listened to the Home Service in over a decade), and Freud was the show's guru; in one episode my sixth-form year, he spoke for 90 seconds without interruption from Parsons or anyone else (frequent panelists included Paul Merton, Stephen Fry, Graham Norton, Derek Nimmo, and a host of others nobody in the U.S. cares much about). Sure, it sounds like tying one's shoelaces. Until you try ad-libbing a monologue on the word "critic" without pausing for breath, switching subjects mid-riff, or saying the same word twice.
The show lives on, but Freud does not. Among today's eulogies, check out the BBC's phone interview with Stephen Fry, who recalls Freud's uncanny intelligence, his Soho indiscretions, and the one time he was "outgrandfathered." The Guardian, meanwhile, has compiled an abbreviated greatest hits from "Just a Minute" (clip below). Freud was a man of infinite resource, the rare public intellectual who balanced the roles of media personality, aristocrat, and libertine, all without breaking a sweat or spilling his martini. One imagines him trading barbs with Oscar Wilde somewhere in that great salon in the sky.
Our Morning Roundup: First Dog Edition
*INDOGURATION UPDATE: Yesterday afternoon, following the President's latest round of cautious optimism, Ted Kennedy presented the Obama famiy with Bo, a six-month-old Portugese water dog . The Post has video, a bombastic lede, and some Us Weekly-worthy niceties:
About 10 minutes later the First Family emerged again, racing up the hill, with the president doing a nifty maneuver to switch the leash from one hand to another to avoid getting tangled and tripping.
"Pshew! Close call," the episode concludes.
