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Every few months, we clear the decks of guests and open the floor to you, our faithful Ricochet members. This week, we cover what the boys wanted to be at age 12 (hint: Daniel Day Robinson is Abraham Lincoln), their best meal, who’d they most like to have on the show, are there any issues that can unite the Republican base and the donor, and many, many, more. Did your question get asked? Tune in to find out.
Music from this week’s’ episode:
96 Tears by ? and The Mysterians
EJHill has all the answers.
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Why is Peter depicted as Stephen Hawking?
;-)
You, sir, may now go stand in a corner.
OK Rob, throw in a Mug and the Trick Ricochet
Green Grocery Bag and I will upgrade my membership.
A Baltimore boy who doesn’t choose Maryland crab as favorite meal? Heresy!
(But I must admit, I was getting a little hungry after the descriptions …)
Going back to 1939 Carvel… What America carved up. Innocence lost. Just good fun and it still stands the test of time.
And what a tragic end to Judge Hardy..
On the evening of Saturday, September 12, 1953, Stone and his third wife Hazel, were watching television at their home at 455 S. Lorraine Boulevard when they heard a racket in the back yard. When he investigated, Stone found lawn furniture once again floating in the pool and glimpsed three or perhaps four teenage boys running towards the street. Stone gave chase despite his wife’s warning not to exert himself.
Upon reaching the sidewalk, Stone suddenly collapsed. A gardener, Juan Vergara witnessed the chase and summoned aid. Sadly the actor died of a heart attack on the sidewalk without regaining consciousness. Lewis Stone was 73.
RE: Indiana Jones, there are quite a number of things that would have changed without his presence:
Whiskey, that was such a through refutation I could either concede the point and slink away or roll my eyes and accuse you of the sort of niggling pedantry that misses my larger issue. STOP BEING RIGHT ON THE INTERNET, please.
Following
Peter – Eat a sandwich!!!
So you want more members then you threaten to give us interviews with Elizabeth Warren, Harry, Reid, and Bob Beckel.
You see this is how there is a divide between the grassroots member side and the establishment.
We said “liberals” like say John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Lamar Alexander, Lindsey Graham, John Cornyn — people I would have liked to have seen knocked off in a primary, but you can still talk to if I really don’t have any other choice.
But then we wouldn’t have gotten this scene.
Question: A rabbi, a giraffe and a libertarian walk into a bar… no wait, that’s not it….
Real Question: What is the Vision Thing for the Right? The mere absence of malignant lefty morons in positions of power, while a delicious prospect, is not a Vision. The government doing slightly less and the trajectory of fiscal doom slightly flattened is not a Vision. What does real reform actually look like? What is the technology and organizational structure of the new America? And who is They Guy who can articulate that, preferably with Occam-like clarity and brevity?
James Lileks doesn’t yell: Get off my lawn!!!
He yells: Get out of my skyscraper!!!
Peter,
I recall, on an episode of Charlie Rose, painter Chuck Close saying “Limitations free up intuition.” He was discussing the fact that he did not flourish as an artist until he began to limit and control himself as an artist.
Is this something like what you were referring to in the Hays Office discussion? That the limitations, by rule or culture, are what allowed Hollywood to blossom in that era?
Exactly. Bill Buckley once said, “Deadlines are liberating,” and that’s another way of getting at it. Even as an artist needs a canvas, which has limits, writers, including screenwriters, need rules–including rules about unacceptable material.
Or so I’d argue.
And thanks for giving me the chance to try to explain!
Regarding public profanity: I have an autobiographical essay my father wrote for an english class he took while based at Clark field in the Philippines in the autumn of 1945. A part of the essay is a “what are you doing in the army and what are your plans when you get out” kind of thing, to which my dad confesses to having “acquired a vocabulary unsuited to civilian life”. He must have gotten over it though, because at least until I reached adulthood I really can’t recall him swearing at all.
To further assist Peter and Casey: one of my heroes, Orson Welles, said “The enemy of art is the absence of limitations.”
Not to mention that there was some great art created precisely by artists thumbing their noses at the Production Code. One of the most famous instances was in Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious (fabulous film, by the way), where, in order to get around the Production Code’s rule against kisses lasting longer than three seconds, Hitch had Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman kiss for three seconds, disengage and murmur to each other, and start right back up again. The entire two-and-a-half minute scene was shot in such a way the Hays Office couldn’t cut a single bit of it.
On Peter’s question about bourbon…
It does not have to be distilled in Kentucky to be bourbon. Bourbon is made in many states where it’s legal to distill spirits. (Over 90% is made in KY though.) It is, however, only made in the USA. As Rob said, the mash must be at least 51% corn. It must be aged in NEW charred oak barrels– the barrels are not used again for aging bourbon. Bourbon can not be more than 160 proof at distillation, no more than 125 proof as it goes in the barrel, and not more than 80 proof at bottling.
I am preparing to sample a totally legal bourbon made in Greenville, SC by Dark Corner Distillers tonight. I’m not saying it will be better than bourbon from KY but I’m willing to take that chance.
Some of the best ideas and products come from limits: SUV, Cell phone, and NASCAR just to name a few. We are a nation of problem solvers. But it would still be better to not to have limits come from government. Private entities will do it just fine.
I would like to take a crack at defending Hays office. I think it is hard to separate private and public spheres when it comes to coursening of the culture. If what you are exposed to entertainment wise is constantly raunchy, hard to believe it won’t have effect on public behavior. I think that if there were not limitations in the 1940’s, someone would have pushed the envelope. That person’s work would generate controversy then publicity then someone else would do it, then it would spiral. I think once match lit, hard to contain fire. Also think it takes more creativity to create a sex scene by suggestion than overtly. Same with violence. Hitchcock was master of this.
I absolutely love Audible.com and I learned about it from this podcast ages ago. Thanks! One of you even recommended a series that I’ve been eating up since: SPQR by John Maddox Roberts. It’s about the world’s first real homicide detective at work in ancient Rome. As a companion piece I picked up The Great Courses lecture series “The History of Ancient Rome” to fill in some background stuff. To my great delight many of the characters and events in the SPQR series are based on actual people and events. These books make my work commutes and other driving a LOT more interesting and productive.
But what’s to be done now that private citizens have opened Pandora’ s box, swallowed the contents whole, and are barfing it all over the city streets?
What is interesting is to compare Frenzy, Hitch’s major post Code film, to his prior work. The violence is more intense, the rape and murders more graphic…and it doesn’t work as well as his earlier films. In fact, much of it feels gratuitous, like it was done simply because he could with no Code in place. A Clockwork Orange and Straw Dogs (from the same period) suffer from the same problem.
I love the opening with Spiro saying ‘nattering nabobs of negativism’, at the time, for those of us who hated the MSM (and still do) the whole speech including also ‘effete snobs’ was a stand up and cheer moment. The left’s collective head exploded with outrage, it was just great! Even today they and ‘journalists’ who weren’t even born at the time are still ticked off , referring to the speech as ‘notorious’. Before Rush, before the internet when we had no voice it was a rare call out of the leftist media. Another similar call out was when Nixon called the hippie protesters ‘bums’ , all of this was 45 years ago and the left is still angry about it, it really hit a nerve. Move on , indeed!
I personally love the Howard Dean scream followed by Reagan’s “There you go again”. Hilarious!
The opening was produced by some dude named James Lileks.
Would JAWS have been as great a movie if Bruce (the shark) hadn’t broken down?
Would STAR WARS have been as great a movie if George Lucas had been given more than $9 million to make it?
Look at all the movies where the director was given no limits that turned out pretty bad: Intolerance. Freaks. Heaven’s Gate. Ishtar. The Phantom Menace. Avatar. Etc.
So, what, we’re saying that the movies of the 1920 and 1930s were crapola compared to what came afterwards?
Who else thought, during James Lileks ‘ rant on skyscrapers, that it was going to turn into a segue about Audible?