Category Archives: Movies
Dogsled Teams Reached Warp Speed in 1925
Dogsled teams rushed antitoxin serum across the Alaskan wilderness to reach Nome in record time in 1925. They made a trip that normally takes 25 days in less than six and saved the town from a diphtheria epidemic.
America went ape over the dogs. A statue of Balto, a lead dog, still stands in New York’s Central Park. Balto also played the lead in a 1995 animated feature.
But it turns out Balto may be the Rosie Ruiz of the sled dog set. Another dog, Togo, led the team through the most treacherous stretch while Balto led the last leg to the finish.
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Robert De Niro Hollywood Wit
Robert De Niro is a wit sandwich.
He was preceded in wit recently by Sammantha Bee. She called Ivanka a feckless c__t. And he was followed by Peter Fonda’s plea for Barron Trump to be kidnapped by pedophiles.
Hollywood Wit
But on the Radio City Music Hall stage for the Tony Awards, De Niro offered a simpler call to political action. F__k Trump.
And he got a standing ovation.
You’re Fired
The Fired So Far:
Bill O’Reilly – sure. Harvey Weinstein – absolutely. Louis C.K. – of course. Kevin Spacey – makes sense. Mark Halperin – why not? Charlie Rose – check. Matt Later – believable. Garrison Keillor – !?
“I think the country is in the grip of a mania — the whole Franken business is an absurdity — and I wish someone [would] resist it,” he wrote, “but I expect MPR to look out for itself, and meanwhile I feel awfully lucky to have hung on for so long.”
Al Franken Reflection
Senator Al Franken says he won’t resign. Instead, he’s spending Thanksgiving in reflection.
Actually, I thought his staged grope gag was kind of funny. In a stupid 12 year old kind of way. True, Franken was 55 at the time. But maybe the joke is he’s not grabbing boobs. He’s grabbing a flak jacket.
Not that that makes it ok.
Nice flak jacket
And the snoozing Leeann Tweeden didn’t sign up to be a straight gal for a photo gag. No doubt it was humiliating.
Franken Reflection
Maybe Al is reflecting on Hot Lips Houlihan. A gag proving her natural blondeness was the big scene in Robert Altman’s iconic movie M*A*S*H. (Here’s the scene.) Now that would be humiliating.
But not so humiliating that feminist Alan Alda wouldn’t go on to star in the popular tv series based on the same movie.
As Harvey Weinstein said in his non-apology apology, you have to understand it was a different time:
I came of age in the ’60s and ’70s, when all the rules about behavior and workplaces were different. That was the culture then.
Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving!
