First Looks category archive

Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison.

We recorded it from TCM some while ago and watched it tonight, (I first watched it many years ago on Monday Night at the Movies and was looking forward to seeing it again.)

It is, in my opinion, Robert Mitchum’s finest movie. If you can find it on a streaming service, it is well worth your while.

If you have not done so, I highly recommend that you read Lena Horne’s autobiography.

Give me a break.

Via All Things Amazing, an image site (some images NSFW).

We watched Barbie on HBO tonight.

I probably would not have opted for it on my own, as I tend to go for mysteries, but my friend wanted to see it, and, I must say, it is quite well done; it tackles very serious issues with off-beat humor.

It is simultaneously absurd and serious, or, perhaps more accurately, absurdly serious, or maybe seriously absurd.

Also, it was fun to see Rhea Perlman in her role as Barbara Handlier’s ghost.

After watching it, I’m not surprised that it has been nominated for so many awards.

I have to wonder, though, whether its creators expected such a reaction or did they consider that they were creating a bit of entertaining (and extremely marketable) fluff?

Afterthought:

Also, it had some great dance numbers.

Afterthought, Reprise:

The scene with the construction workers brought back memories.

When I was working in Center City Philadelphia, there was construction site whose workers were so obnoxious that women would walk blocks out their way to avoid it.

And so would men.

The SPLC’s Hatewatch watches the hate sell.

Just three days after Elon Musk reinstated Alex Jones on X, his reboot of Twitter, the bigot and conspiracy propagandist has gained over 800,000 followers.

Twitter suspended Jones’s account on Sept. 6, 2018, and archives show Jones with roughly 900,000 followers at that time. Jones initially signed up for Twitter in 2010. It took Jones eight years to reach 900,000 – and in span of days, he nearly doubled it to 1.7 million.

One more time, “social” media isn’t.

Off to drink liberally.

AL.com’s John Archibald charts the regress.

Seth dissects Republicans’ pretense that Donald Trump is somehow not the person that he is.

AL.com’s Kyle Whitmire considers Vivek Ramaswamy’s behavior in the most recent Republican debate and concludes that we have a problem.

It’s still unclear to me what Ramaswamy did to get into a presidential debate. He likes to mention the books he’s written, and for some folks, I suppose that counts as enough experience to share a stage with three governors.

But let’s be clear. He wasn’t in Tuscaloosa Wednesday night because of legislation he’s passed or policies he has implemented.

He was there because he’s a jerk. And a certain portion of the American electorate has decided they like jerks and want more jerks to run things.

Follow the link for his evidence.

Marcos Bretón looks at the recent claim by Congressman Eugene McCarthy that “that the United States has never sought land after winning a war, except to bury its war dead.” Anyone who knows anything (well, anything factual) about American history knows this to be false. Indeed, a quick web search for “manifest destiny” might be a good place to start.

And McCarthy was roundly derided for his comments.

Breton, though, argues that, in this (self-)deception, McCarthy is hardly an outlier. Here’s a bit from his article:

McCarthy’s comment wasn’t ignorance and it wasn’t particularly partisan either. He was repeating political propaganda in the service of historical erasure, an American affliction that has been bipartisan for generations.

Follow the link for Breton’s reasoning.

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* With apologies to Maya Angelou.

Secrets of the Stones: Decoding Ireland’s Lost Past, a look at the archeology of Ireland’s from its earliest past through the early Christian era. Plus, the photography is stunning. I would recommend having Google Maps satellite view open as you watch it.

I saw it on Tubi, but I gather it’s available on other streaming services as well.

I don’t know exactly what happened yesterday. (My hosting provider’s most excellent tech support told me it wasn’t anything I did.)

But things seem to be working again.

Canals: The Making of a Nation, about how Britain’s canals, mostly created in the late 1700s and early 1800s, affected British economy and society.

I find it a fascinating watch.

You can find it on Tubi (tubitv.com) and likely elsewhere.

“Medicare Advantage” is little more than a Republican con to let insurance companies get their paws on money that belonged to the citizenry.

Ask me nicely, I’ll tell you what I really think.

(Syntax error fixed.)