Happy New Year in Six Languages

Yeni Yilin Kutlu Olsun! (Turkish)

Gluckiches Neujahr (German)

Bonne annee (French)

Anno nuovo felice (Italian)

Gelukkige Niewjar (Dutch)

Glad Nyt Ar (Norwegian)

True Confessions Quiz (3 of 11)

I have reluctantly decided to join the rest of the free world and start watching movies from Netflix on the internet, as of tonight.

The first film I'm watching this way is a cheesy early-80s 'classic.'

Is it?:

A) Caddyshack

B) Superman II

C) Clash of the Titans

D) Xanadu

E) Heavy Metal

The answer to last week's True Confessions Quiz is that I never worked for a funeral home!

1/06/09 HINT: This movie was made into a Broadway Show just last year.

Political Confusion Quiz (Entry 8 of 21)

In today's edition of what seems to be (I hope!) one of more popular series, we ask you the blog reader if you had a tv with only two channels_ Fox News and PBS, and it was a boring Friday night in which both your girlfriend and your bowling partners were preoccupied with other things, would you choose between Bill O'Reilly or Bill Moyers.

These two actually have a connection as O'Reilly producer Porter Barry ambushed Moyers at the National Conference for Media Reform this past summer in Minnesota. A Youtube video of the incident has received a lot of views.

Moyers is 74, and he served as White House press secretary for Lyndon B. Johnson from 1965-67 before turning to journalism. He is best known for being a CBS News commentator, but in recent years he has moved back to PBS.

He is currently the host of "Bill Moyers Journal" and recent interviews have included Sarah Chaves, a reporter who spent a lot of time in Afghanistan, and Gov. David Paterson (D) of New York.

Moyers has been heavily criticized by conservatives for expressing his liberal views with his segments and interviews.

O'Reilly, 59, was once a semi-pro pitcher for the New York Monarchs. Today he is known for being an over-the-top talk show host who tilts to the right_to put it mildly, though he claims to be a fair and objective talk show host.

The web site for his Fox News show did not seem to list any up-coming guests, but his hostile rants during an interview with Cong. Barney Frank (D-Mass) in October have received about as many hits on Youtube as the latest Shakira video.

There are some interesting tid bits I found out both men. O'Reilly was once a reporter for the alternative weekly "The Boston Phoenix," which is known for its progressive perspective!

Similarly, Moyers was born in Oklahoma, the same state that former action movie star Chuck Norris was born in.

From my perspective, Norris arguably makes O'Reilly look like a Greenpeace activist.

Songs of Our Youth (1 of 11)

"Overkill" by Men at Work

My Premature Top 10 Movies of the Year List

I don't live in New York or LA or even Bethesda, Md., and I definitely haven't seen enough films compared to most film critics, but since everyone else posts a top ten movies of the year list, my thinking is simply: "Well, gee, why can't I?"



























To show this is not merely an exercise in narcissism, I will post the respective top 10 lists of my friends Phil Nugent (who lives in New York) and Joe Scott (who doesn't!) on my other blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time."

I will post my Official Top Ten List some time right before the Oscars on Feb. 22 on one of my two blogs. For right now, this is what I have. I regret to inform my sister Lale Lovell that "Kung-Fu Panda" didn't make the cut:

1. "Taxi to the Dark Side" (doc)

2. "Edge of Heaven" (Germany/Turkey)

3. "Doubt"

4. "In Bruges"

5. "Elegy"

6. "The Visitor"

7. "Milk"

8. "The Dark Knight"

9. "The Counterfeiters" (Austria)

10. "Recount"*

*-Yes, I know it's an HBO movie, but it was great! And, this is a political year.

Honorable Mention:

"Brideshead Revisited," "Gonzo (doc)," "Stanley Kubrick's Boxes(doc)," "The Last Mistress (France),"Tell No One (France)," and "Vicky Christina Barcelona."

Facebook Friend of the Week- Shannon B. Sturgis

Since I am a partisan Democrat who favors separation of church and state and opposes capital punishment, there aren't many people in this world who can make me feel as conservative as Dick "Down Boy" Cheney. Amazingly enough, my own cousin Shannon Sturgis is one of them!

She goes by the name Shannon Babaganoush Sturgis on Facebook. The middle name is actually a Turkish eggplant dish, which is ironic because Shannon is not from the Turkish side of my family.

Apparently, a young lady also named Shannon Sturgis is some kind of local celebrity in Little Rock, Ark.

But, my cousin Shannon, who grew up in North Carolina, lives mostly in St. Louis and is involved with theatrical productions, such as "Frost/Nixon." And, she told me once that she actually met Woody Allen.

Shannon, who is a gay/lesbian rights activist, claims to be married to Marci Franklin, but that is apparently some kind of in-joke.

She is also the one who is closest to me in age as she will turn 38 on Jan. 19.

Shannon has 206 Facebook friends.

In addition to gay rights, she is interested in Jewish culture even though (to my knowledge) she is not Jewish herself. Shannon also considers herself a jazz diva and has watched "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" countless times.

She also voted for John McCain this past November......ok, that is a joke!

Cinema of the Week-The Tower Theatre in SLC, Utah

This week's Cinema of the Week is the very trendy Tower Theatre in Salt Lake City, Utah, which shows a host of foreign films, documentaries and independent films.

I caught a midnight screening of "Swiss Robinson Family" (of all films!) there while I was visiting SLC in 2007. Recently, their midnight screening slate has included the Korean film "The Host" as well as "The Fly," "Carrie" and "Rocky Horror Picture Show."

The Tower is currently showing "JCVD," which is actually an independent film starring aging action star Jean Clause Van Damme who sort of plays himself in this film (which I have yet to see as it hasn't opened anywhere around my region).

The second feature being screened at The Tower is the Swedish horror film "Let the Right One In" which my friend Joe Scott of Greensboro, NC, has been heavily promoting in his area.

The Tower is located at 876 East 900 South in Salt Lake City next to a coffee shop where everyone in Utah beat me at chess. Their phone number is 801-321-0310.


Previous Entries in This Series:

Grandin Theatre- Roanoke, Va.

Galaxy Cinema- Cary, NC (Raleigh)

Cine-Athens, Ga.