Happy Valentine's Day (3 of 4) for cynical anti-romantic pessimists

Yes, this is soooooo us!

Last Ten Films We've Seen: Trying to Catch up on Netflix....

What do Captain America, indie film queen Parker Posey (pict. center) and a silly Dudley Moore/Kirk Cameron movie from 1987 have in common? They all relate in one form or another to the last ten films we've seen.

"Like Father, Like Son," is also the English-language title of a Japanese art film which is more like Dustin Hoffman's "Kramer vs. Kramer" in nature as it deals with a family who learns that their son was switched at birth with another boy. Adding to the tensions is the fact that the families are in two vastly different economic classes.

We got this idea from "Film Comment" magazine.

Here are the last ten:

1. Like Father, Like Son. 2014. Japan. director: Hirokazu Koreeda

2. Goodbye to Language. 2014. France. dir: Jean-Luc Godard

3. The Babdook. 2014. Australia (in English). dir: Jennifer Kent

4. Wild Tales. 2014. Argentina. dir: Damian Szifron

5. Lovers and Other Strangers. 1970. dir: Cy Howard w/Diane Keaton

6. Price Check. 2012. dir: Michael Walker w/Parker Posey

7. Inside Out. 2011. dir: Artie Mandelberg w/Posey

8. Nothing Lasts Forever. 1984. dir: Tom Schiller w/Bill Murray

9. Avengers: Age of Ultron. 2015. dir: Joss Whedon

10. Far from the Madding Crowd. 2015. dir: Thomas Vinterberg w/Carey Mulligan

Our Top Sunday Washington Post Comics of the Week for Dec. 7th

Greetings to our blog readers in Lithuania, Ukraine and Georgia!

There are many comic strips which don't get into even the largest American newspapers, such as "The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee," Bleeker the Rechargeable Dog," "The Flying McCoys," "The Fusco Brothers" and "Strange Brew," but here is a sample of comic strips which are in the "Washington Post."

The large metropolitan newspaper serving the nation's capital as well as much of Virginia and Maryland has an eclectic mix of legacy comic strips like "Beetle Bailey" and "Hagar the Horrible" as well as nationally established comic strips such as "Zits" and "Pearls Before Swine" as well as some trendy comic strips with cult followings like "Prickly City" and "Reply All."

"WUMO," a single panel import from Denmark, is perhaps our most favorite comic strip in the Sunday edition, but this Sunday's comic strip featuring a failed effort by a teenager to leap from the moon to earth didn't work for us, but some of our usual favorites, like "Lio," "Brewster's Rockit" and "Sherman's Lagoon" once again made the proverbial cut.

"Lio" focused on the title character having a false sense of confidence with his new paint by the numbers (hence the reason why we have the late Bob Ross for our top image), "Doonesbury," which came in second, focused on panels dedicated to each of the strip's anchor characters, and "Brewster's Rockit" featured a major brewhaha over a workplace coffee maker aboard a spaceship (Captain Kirk would be proud).

"Dustin," which has nothing do with Dustin Hoffman (bottom image), examined a father and son debating if an older man and a younger woman were romantically involved like the late Cary Grant and Dyan Cannon were back in the day or if they were father and daughter.

Meanwhile, "Sherman's Lagoon" also focused on dating, but for this comic strip, Jim Toomey had Sherman the Shark and Mrs. Shark going out on a date as a married couple who know each other just a bit too well.

Here is our top ten:

1) Lio

2) Doonesbury

3) Brewster Rockit

4) Dustin

5) Pearls Before Swine

6) Knight Life

7) Sherman's Lagoon

8) The Argyle Sweater

9) Foxtrot

10) Judge Parker

http://www.gocomics.com/lio

http://www.washingtonpost.com/comics

Sunday Washington Post Comics Survey: Tell Jeff Bezos We Love "Dustin"

Yes, we have had distractions this week, but we are back with our weekly survey of our favorite comic strips in Sunday newspapers. It should be pointed out that we also love several comic strips not published in either "The Washington Post" nor "The Roanoke Times," the two newspapers' comic pages we survey; these include "Bleeker," about a robotic dog, "Pros and Cons," about the legal profession, and "The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee," about a slightly overeager science whiz kid.

Jeff Bezos who made his fortune in Amazon, we are referring to the e-purchase site not the river in Brazil, took over "The Washington Post" recently and on Sunday, there were noticeable changes to the paper as a whole, but thankfully, no changes, for the better or worse, were made to the comic strips pages. Nevertheless, we hope Bezos understands that we really enjoy "Dustin."

The comic strip about a single twenty-something bears a bit of a resemblance to Dustin Hoffman's title character in "The Graduate," as both are seeking out how to establish themselves in the world. One of the key differences is that there is no Mrs. Robinson in "Dustin" (the comic strip). In this week's strip, Dustin takes a selfie at the DMV, only to be told that is not allowed.

In "Brewster Rockit: Space Guy," a strange looking alien literally robs the title character of everything he owns. While in Keith Knight's "Knight Life," there is a funny tension between the title character, an African-American male modeled after Knight himself, and his German wife, over the subject of interracial marriage.

Here is the rest of our survey:

1) "Dustin" (see top image of Dustin Hoffman)

2) "Brewster Rockit: Space Guy" (see middle image of Gil Gerard and the cult '80s NBC sci-fi series "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century," Gerard is still alive at age 71).

3) "Pearls Before Swine"

4) "Knight Life" (see bottom image of "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner poster)

5) "Lio"

6) "Speed Bump"

7) "Reply All"

8) "Candorville"

9) "The Argyle Sweater"

10) "Foxtrot"

"Sherman's Lagoon" just barely missed out, but we're sure it will crack the top ten again soon! That was also the case with "WUMO."

"Brewster Rockit: Space Guy" is also available in the Sunday print edition of the "News and Record" (Greensboro, NC).

http://dustincomics.com/

http://www.gocomics.com/brewsterrockit/

http://www.gocomics.com/knightlife

http://www.washingtonpost.com/comics

http://www.news-record.com

What We Are Working On...

Since a lot has happened in the world since I last posted a blog entry on Thursday, and I have really had my fair share of distractions, I thought I would fill you in on what we are working on. I am also going to post an entry within an hour about some unique things going on in North Carolina this week.

I decided after seeing a startling news story about a blogger in Boulder, Colo., who became a victim of savage stalking last year not to say which town I actually live in, but I am a resident of the Tarheel State. Though I don't smoke, watch NASCAR races or eat much ham!

But, here are the four things we are working on for this particular blog (be sure to visit us and tell all your friends about our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time) and as indicated in the images we borrowed for this entry, be sure to brush your teeth so you don't end up like Dustin Hoffman in "Marathon Man."

1) Since May 1, May Day, is known as the day to recognize laborers around the world and is generally associated with far left-wing figures, we are going to quip such radicals who might be alive or deceased starting on Tuesday. I am not a fringe left-winger myself but I loved Jane Fonda in "Barbarella" and I haven't voted for a Republican since Calvin Coolidge (actually, he was a bit before my time). If you are wondering who will be quoted, you will have to tune in tomorrow. I will say that it will not be the late Fred Rogers (Mr. Rogers on PBS) whom Glenn Beck has probably cited for being subversive.

2) We are also going to be quoting famous novelists throughout the month, and we will quip a timely author who has been dead for quite some time on Wednesday.

3) On Thursday, I am hoping to find time to share my surreal story of how I found out about Osama bin Laden's killing at exactly midnight last night/this morning. Some interesting things about the incident include the fact that the city of Abbottabad, Pakistan, will probably be found in the next world map I get from Doctors Without Borders, an organization I firmly believe in (which means I should at some point donate money to them!). According to mentalfloss.com, Sohaib Athar, a regular 33-year-old Pakistani computer engineer who must have insomnia tweeted at 1:00 a.m. local time in Abbotabad the following: "Go away helicopter- before I take my giant swatter." At the time, Athar had no idea that a CIA operative to kill bin Laden was being carried out in his very own zip code.

4) On Friday, we are hoping to officially launch our "Things We Learned Today from Google" series, which we have experminted with. The idea stems from the book "The Googlization of Everything" by UVa professor Siva Vaidhyanathan who was number two on my people with difficult names list last week. For this blog, we are looking at exploring facts about a Latin American or European soccer team, which will hopefully help both Real Madrid and AC Milan fans, discover this blog that reportedly has a loyal following in Uzbekistan!

Special Quote of the Week- Magic Johnson

Today's special Quote of the Week in honor of Black History Month, in which we are focusing on famous African-American athletes, continues with a quip from Earvin "Magic" Johnson, the Los Angeles Lakers great known for his '80s showdowns with Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics.

We forgot to mention yesterday that Dustin Hoffman, himself an avid NBA fan (though not as much as Lakers fanatic and fellow film legend Jack Nicholson), won a second Oscar for "Rain Man" (1988).

Here is our quote from Johnson, which shows he is not slowing down even though he is now 51 years old:

"If you're a competitive person, that stays with you. You don't stop. You always look over your shoulder."

Oscar Quote of the Week- Dustin Hoffman

Since we are against capital punishment, this quote is quite poignant. Dustin Hoffman, who is now obviously a much older man (I think he is around 70) finally won a Best Actor Oscar for his performance (many people think he should have won earlier for "Midnight Cowboy" or "The Graduate) in the 1979 divorce drama "Kramer vs. Kramer."

Here is the quip:

"A good review from the critics is just another stay of execution."

The Last Ten Films I've Seen (As of Last Night)

I will do this a bit differently this time as I have in previous "Last Ten Films I've Seen" entries, by listing the films first and then commenting on (most of) them:

1. "Midnight Cowboy" (1969. d-John Schlesinger)
2. "My Best Girl (1927. d-Sam Taylor. Film starred Mary Pickford)
3. "To Be and To Have" (2002. doc. France. d-Nicolas Philibert)
4. "Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi" (2003. Israel. d-Shemi Zarhin)
5. "You Don't Know Jack" (2010. d-Barry Levinson. Film made for HBO).
6. "Greenberg" (2010. d-Noah Baumbach)
7. "Zatoichi: The Festival of Fire" (1970. Japan. d-Kenji Misumi).
8. "The Mouse on the Moon" (1963. d-Richard Lester).
9. "Panic in the Streets" (1950. d-Elia Kazan)
10. "His Girl Friday" (1940. d-Howard Hawks)

As one might have noticed, none of these films feature b-western star Hopalong Cassidy (pictured here), but I thought I would feature his image with this list because my friend Gary who runs a vintage small-town cinema near Greensboro, NC, once told me that folks came to the movie theatre to see "Midnight Cowboy" in 1969 thinking (by the title) that it was a western!

It is in fact a movie about a gay street hustler from Texas (played by Jon Voight) who comes to New York where he meets a city drifter (played by Dustin Hoffman) and befriends him. For many who have seen the iconic film, which is the only X-rated film to ever win a Best Picture Oscar, and were familiar with Voight's very left-of-center politics, it is indeed shocking that he is now a fringe right-winger who even speaks at Tea Party rallies.

But, what I found to be more startling while researching "Midnight Cowboy" for this piece was that the film's openly gay director John Schlesinger (1926-2003) himself reverted to political conservatism! He allegedly said that "Midnight Cowboy," which portrays homosexuality in a negative manner, would not get made today because of political correctness. Of course, one would also think that the rise of '80s Reagansim and the religious right in recent years would make it difficult for a major studio ("Midnight Cowboy" was made by MGM) to back such a film either.

"My Best Girl" is a delightful late-period silent film (by 1927, most films were incorporating sound) which is said to feature the best performance of screen darling Mary Pickford, once dubbed 'America's Sweetheart.' She won an Oscar the following year for "Coquette" and she lived into her eighties until her death in 1979.

"Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi" may sound like a French film from the title, but it is actually an Israeli film which has nothing to do with the Palestinian-Israeli political rift. It is actually a startling examanition of teenage sexuality which is surprisingly frank. The film comes across as a cross between John Hughes' "Sixteen Candles" and Larry Clark's highly controversial film "Kids."

"You Don't Know Jack" is about the famous (or infamous depending on your perspective) Armenian-American assisted suicide doctor Jack Kevorkian which features a stellar performance from Al Pacino in the lead role. The moving film is being shown just weeks after a controversial article about assisted suicide appeared in "The Atlantic."

"Greenberg" shows a very different side of lead actor Ben Stiller. It is a surprisingly sexually overt film, even by indy standards. Stiller is great, though I felt this film which I saw at the Grandin Theatre in Roanoke, Va., lacked a satisfying resolution.

"Zatoichi: The Festival of Fire" is a Japanese samurai-themed b-movie which has a cult following. It came out about the same time as the countless Godzilla-Mothra sequels did.

"The Mouse on the Moon" may seem slightly dated, but it is a biting Cold War satire from Richard Lester, who is one of my favorite directors, though I think it is unfortunate that he is best-known for his two Beatles films ("A Hard Day's Night" and "Help") when he made many other vintage films- my personal favorite being the 1965 film "The Knack--Or How to Get It). Lester is still alive and in his late seventies, but he no longer makes films.

"Panic in the Streets" is unique for being a film noir directed by Elia Kazan (not a genre he is known for) and a great performance from a very young Jack Palace.

"His Girl Friday" is said to be Howard Hawks' best comedy, and it is amazing that Rosalind Russell's amazing performance alongside Cary Grant was completely overlooked by the Academy Awards (she wasn't even nominated!).