Paul Mazursky

Paul Mazursky in 2008

A comedy icon died on Monday but few people noticed primarily because we don't pay much attention to the past these days. Still, the passing of Paul Mazursky should matter, He was a master at making entertaining and instructive sense out of life by linking divergent characters, situations, and behaviors in his quirky films. If you're a child of the 1960's you likely know his writing and directorial work well:

I Love You, Alice B. Toklas (1968)
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969)
Harry and Tonto (1974)
An Unmarried Woman (1978)
Down and Out In Beverley Hills (1986)
Scenes From A Mall (1991)

Of course this is only part of Mazursky's filmography. He directed and/or wrote over a dozen additional films, performed in even more, and appeared in several television roles well into this century.

Mazursky's unique approach to interpreting the smiles and sorrows of the human condition deserves to be enjoyed today and I would appeal especially to younger audiences to view his work. Although the settings may change over time, the human calls and responses remain very much the same. 

Photo credit: Petr Novak, Wikimedia

Pajama Boy: Fashions By The Krell

You science fiction movie buffs out there know all about "monsters from the id." Those creatures are always very telling. Sometimes they're dangerous not only to others, but to the very people who created them. We may have a case in point with Pajama Boy.

It seems one of the latest Obamacare promotional ads from Organizing for Action features Pajama Boy.  The ad may be revealing much about the perception of the liberal minds running the show regardless of whether or not it attract clients. The usual lefty media suspects are running interference for "PB" and his sponsors but I doubt much can be done to disperse the creepiness. National Review Online's Charles Cooke has some humorous commentary about Pajama Boy and what he represents to the great minds responsible for managing our national government until January 2017. Do enjoy the comments as well.

"I'm Waiting For The Second Coming ... Of John Dean"

Those who remember Watergate know that the story smoked for a long time until it reached the flash point known as John Dean. Once linked to the Watergate crime, he was the insider who did "the right thing" by cooperating with prosecutors thus helping to bring down Richard Nixon. President Nixon had been cultivating the attribute "tricky" since 1950. Fast forward to the unpleasantness surrounding the White House today and we have this from psychiatrist, Jory Goodman:

Notwithstanding the political bent, or bent politics of the MSM, Fox, talk radio, the internet and Drudge, most of what we have now is speculative and circumstantial. So I await the second coming. Will it happen? That's an absolute maybe. But, I'll betcha, among Benghazi, the IRS, Justice, the White House, et. al., there are many people who know the truth and can prove what they know. Will there be one, or a few, with the the cojones to come out, for any of the above reasons, or others (maybe just because they know right from wrong and care about America), and take the savage attacks and accusations they will face?

Thanks to William Katz/Urgent Agenda we have his always astute commentary as well as a link to the rest of Goodman's brief but powerful statement on tipping points and the cost of moral behavior in a hostile world.

Favorite Scenes From A Century Of Cinema - 15

Coincidences are always interesting. Sometimes they're downright creepy.

At the very hour I was considering posting the scene to follow, my nephew - 400 miles away -  posted a brief comment on Facebook about its compelling significance in the film. I'll be thinking about this one a long time.

Apocalypse Now (1979) is both a landmark cinematic study of human behavior and an essential film for a very wide audience. If you want to explore the theme without the potential conflicts arising from the Vietnam War controversy, read the source for the screenplay, Joseph Conrad's novella, Heart of Darkness.

The Dark Knight Rises As Something Very Real

We've come a long way from the Batman experience of the '60s. Here is part of Jenny McCartney's review of the 2008 version.

...the greatest surprise of all – even for me, after eight years spent working as a film critic – has been the sustained level of intensely sadistic brutality throughout the film.

 I will attempt to confine my plot spoilers to the opening: the film begins with a heist carried out by men in sinister clown masks. As each clown completes a task, another shoots him point-blank in the head. The scene ends with a clown – The Joker – stuffing a bomb into a wounded bank employee's mouth.

After the murderous clown heist, things slip downhill. A man's face is filleted by a knife, and another's is burned half off. A man's eye is slammed into a pencil. A bomb can be seen crudely stitched inside another man's stomach, which subsequently explodes. A trussed-up man is bound to a chair and set alight atop a pile of banknotes.

A plainly terrorised child is threatened at gunpoint by a man with a melted face. It is all intensely realistic. Oh but don't worry, folks: there isn't any nudity.

Read the rest of it here.

Most readers will be living the cultural impact of this event as it unfolds. For now, let us mourn for those we lost and for their loved ones and friends they left behind.

Hat tip: The Drudge Report

Nathan Bedford Forrest Loved Waffle Cones So Much

Any psychiatrist worth his or her sheepskin will tell you that political correctness carried to its logical conclusion leads to insanity. OTR would have said "nuts" instead of insanity, but even a bad pun can't make up for the absurdity of this story coming out of Ocala. This is nothing short of mind rot at its best. God help us!

H/T The Drudge Report

Finding Happiness

The pursuit of happiness is a universal goal. Who wants to be unhappy? Unfortunately, defining happiness is akin to defining what's valuable in your neighbor's yard sale: one person's trash is another person's treasure. Glen Reynolds has posted an interesting Atlantic article by Tony Woodlief that assesses children as a source of happiness. The article includes a few references readers may want to pursue. The comments contribute significantly, as well, and are an essential read.

As an experienced participant, I must agree that raising three children to adulthood - into adulthood in this economy - has been costly on many fronts. In terms of happiness, my "investment" in parenthood has returned handsome rewards. Though my wife and I would do some things differently in child rearing, I think there is no question we would do it all over again given the chance. In fact, we're almost thankful we didn't marry before our 30s; otherwise, we could easily have ended up with a football team of wee bairns, a book advance, and a series on The Learning Channel.

The Female Academy

With 57% of college students being female, the "boy gap" in education has produced great odds for successful dating in higher education. On the other hand, it doesn't speak well for a system of public education founded on the equality of opportunity. Something's a bit out of adjustment. Today, Joanne Jacobs addresses this situation in a PajamasMedia post that's worth your time and attention. As is often the case, there are a host of revealing comments following the article. My source: Instapundit.

Negotiating With Madness Is Not An Option

This commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day left me speechless. WARNING: Graphic Holocaust footage



Hat tip to Dr. Sanity and Little Green Footballs