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The Politics of Laughter “What we should have been taught in our senior year of high school” Some NSFW language. [The Oatmeal] Those who are tall and skinny like me will completely understand this. [diagram] “Hey Dave, how do you close this thing again?” [gif] “If I ever assassinate a politician…” [Facebook] How would you make Melbourne a better place? [newspaper] I am fully in support of this. [Photoshop Troll]
New research shows that fatherhood actually decreases testosterone in men, making them more nurturing parents. [CNN] In Monday night’s Republican primary debate, candidate Michele Bachmann falsely alleged that the HPV vaccine causes mental retardation. [Time] Why does laughter feel so good? [NY Times] The five best weight-loss foods may surprise you. [Psychology Today] The movie “Contagion” is freaking out moviegoers all over the United States… but could such a large scale epidemic happen in real life? [Huffington Post] Baby will you divorce me? A new trend in couples divorcing, will it catch on? Would you wear a divorce ring? [Huffington Post] Maybe a television show is a good place to find love after all. Bachelor Pad’s Holly Durst and Blake Julian are engaged! Yes my friends, she may have won the show with another man, but her new ring shows where her true loyalties lie! [Us Weekly] Studies show that sexist men are warmly receipted by non-feminist women. Does this encourage their aggressive methods of approaching women? [US News] Will North Carolina continue to be a rebel? Currently the only southeastern state to not have a legalized ban on gay marriage, the North Carolina is going to put the issue to a citizen vote in May. [New York Times] Stress and strains caused by low income levels and reliance on government assistance are shown to cause tension in other areas of a couple’s life. This financial pressure has recently been linked to unhappy marriages and higher rates of divorce. [Science Daily] OK, so it’s not Oscar season. Not even close. But wandering this week through the back alley ways of Italy reminded me of the extraordinary contributions of Italian-Americans to our modern cinema: Scorsese, Coppola, Tarantino, Brando, De Niro, Pacino, Pesci, Travolta, Poppy from Seinfeld (seen at left with Italian-American (?) Cosmo Kramer), yaddio, yaddio, yaddio… Maybe it’s the Italian air — or my own conspiratorial fantasies — but I’ve concluded that too many of the above greats have something quite compelling in common: the tragedy of losing an Oscar award that they manifestly deserved, to a much inferior, non-Italian-American film/director/actor. So in the spirit of my consistent desire to provide the RP Nation with the most bellissimo Half-Letterman pop culture lists (Check out my past forays: Favorite Breakup Songs, Favorite Hoops Books, Most Jew-ish Gentiles, Favorite “Docs” who Weren’t Doctors, Pretty Boys I Begrudgingly Admire, Guilty Pleasures, Pop Music Lyrics, Awful TV Shows with Terrific Theme Songs and Most Romantic Screen Scenes in the Rain), I now present to you the Five Worst Oscar Robberies of Italian Americans: 5. 1974: Al Pacino (Godfather, Part II) loses to Art Carney (Harry and Tonto) Godfather II is my favorite movie, period. Probably because of the entry of politics into the narrative and the focus on the Jewish mafia’s powerful role (via Lee Strassberg’s portrayal of Meyer Lansky stand-in Hyman Roth), Part II ekes out Part I for the greatest movie of all time. And throughout the magnificent duology (I choose to forget the very good, but not closely comparable Part III), Al Pacino is simply sublime as the lead protagonist, Michael Corleone. His oh-so-subtle and delicate embodiment of the young idealist family man who transforms into a furious, violent mobster is to me the greatest acting of his generation. That the Best Actor nod went to Marlon Brando in Part I is forgivable if only due to the legend’s common ancestry. But losing to Art Carney because of the Academy’s sympathy for a long career and a signature role on The Honeymooners (of all shows!) is tragedia of the highest form. The only redemption came in 1992, when Pacino most undeservedly got the same career honorific Academy treatment when won his first Oscar for his strident over-acting in the forgettable Scent of a Woman.
While Robert DeNiro did pick up the Best Supporting Actor for his brilliant work in Godfather II (speaking almost entirely in Sicilian-Italian), two years later he was robbed of his first Best Actor statue for the finest acting of his long, incredible career — his portrayal of the deranged Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver. Deniro’s maniacal energy was palpable in every scene, yet his most indelible work was opposite the young Jodie Foster: DeNiro showed the romantic humanity deep inside a very disturbed man. DeNiro’s method in this movie has inspired a generation of actors — and, unfortunately, John Hinckley as well — but again, the overly-nostalgic Academy selected a guy whose death preceded the award ceremony by only a few months. When I remember this Oscar theft, I become as MAD AS HELL AND I JUST CAN’T TAKE IT ANY MORE! Sorry about that…You talkin’ to me?!? You talkin’ to me?!?
While DeNiro finally won the Best Actor nod that was rightfully his a few years earlier, the picture in which he starred, Raging Bull, was outrageously robbed of the Best Picture award by the maudlin, effete, and treacly Ordinary People, and worse: Martin Scorsese’s masterful directing was eclipsed by Robert Redford’s Hallmark special orchestration. I’ve made clear in an earlier post of my self-awareness toward an “anti-pretty boy bias,” but while Redford’s acting was always under-rated, and his film festival hosting and environmental activism are quite admirable; when it comes to direction, he does not belong in the same league as Scorsese. And worst of all, it would be precisely a decade later when another pretty boy with environmental inclinations would steal yet another Best Picture and Best Director nod from the much more deserving Scorsese… Read the rest of…
Okay, so just how many pages are there on the internet? That’s impossible to know, right? Or, is it? [CNN] Twitter launches a new web analytics service for websites [Forbes] According to a new report, mobile internet access will surpass wired internet access by 2015. [The Independent] The FCC’s new internet rules pass a preliminary review hurdle. [Reuters]
Sept. 11, 2001, 8:46 a.m. You remember where you were. You remember what you felt. American life would never be the same again — how we boarded a plane, how we viewed our neighbors. The images of hijacked planes slamming into skyscrapers, streets covered in ash, a scorched field in Pennsylvania, people running — but not knowing where to — are etched in our memories. Our friends, neighbors and family members — 2,977 of them — are gone. And within hours of realizing that a new enemy had emerged, defiant, we, too, became resolved: Never again. Ten years later we are wiser, smarter and safer; our homeland security is strengthened. The American people have adapted to the new normal, and life, as they say, goes on. But we have paid a price. From the streets of Baghdad to the caves of Afghanistan, America’s blood and treasure have been spilled. To date, 6,234 men and women in uniform have made the ultimate sacrifice to preserve the very freedoms and liberties that have defined this nation. The decade since 9/11, however, could have been very different if not for the leadership of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Often the answer to the question, “What happens next?” can be a heavy burden for leadership to bear. Every decision matters and carries with it consequences. So in those hours and days immediately following the attack, decisions were made that would define very clearly for America what happened next. Read the rest of… The Lockout is serious business–serious enough to make the NBA fine (Bobcats owner/best player ever) Michael Jordan $100,000 [Black Sports Online] In case you missed it (and you probably did) FIBA held its regional Olympic qualifying tournaments in Europe and the Americas last week. The John Calipari coached Dominican Republic team was competitive, but failed to make the Olympics after their starting point guard, former Louisville guard Edgar Sosa, went down with a nasty broken leg. Beware this footage. [Deadspin] Here is a sad story about a high school basketball player killed because of gang violence. [Wall Street Journal] Somebody calculated the fair market value of college athletes. They are worth more than 6 figures. Nobody should be surprised. [AP] Huffington Post is known for featuring unpaid writers and bloggers, but now the website is taking it to the next level: hiring middle school and high school students as contributors. [Time Techland] The Poynter Institute presents the 25 most moving 9/11 newspaper spreads of the weekend. [Poynter] Now there’s scientific proof to back it up. SpongeBob Squarepants makes your kids dumber and fatter. [NY Times] Talk about the perils of technology. Hackers accessed the Twitter account for NBC News on Friday and posted false messages about a fresh attack on New York’s ground zero. [CNN]
The Politics of Liberty Have you read Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand? If you haven’t, you absolutely should. Now, Ms. Rand and Atlas even have their own app. [The Wall Street Journal] Heavy hands at colleges and universities are policing students’ hookups. Nanny State much? [Philadelphia Magazine] I imagine most of us would agree that national service is important. But, should it be required? [National Review Online] From the other side: Give me Liberty and give me Death? That’s what some people believe about Rep. Ron Paul’s ideas. [The Daily Caller]
With over 60 percent of Americans supporting an end to the Bush tax cuts for the richest one percent, would you support going back to the Clinton tax rate for the richest one percent of Americans in exchange for cutting of the corporate income tax from 35 percent to 20 percent? (Cross-posted, with permission of the author, from Politico’s Arena) |
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