Hot-Lanta

Word of the day :

Well, everyone in the Fischer household has pretty much recovered from their respective illnesses.  Gabriel is back at school, Julia is doling out exams, and Daisy and I are out on the golf course trying to spot red foxes.

Tomorrow, we're going to Atlanta.  We have free zoo passes and will stop (hopefully, assuming it's not too crowded) at a diner featured on Guy Fieri's triple-D show.

I hope you enjoyed yesterday's post.  Today, I'll keep it shorter.

First, a Soul Track:

 

How about a lost classic, like Ollie and the Nightingale's "Just a Little Overcome"? It's a 1971 track that can be found on the group's 1993 greatest-hits collection  

The group, led by singer Ollie Hoskins, started out as a Memphis gospel group; an early member, David Ruffin, later went on to be the lead singer of The Temptations.  In 1968, the group was signed by the Stax label - that Memphis titan that gave us so many great albums and artists, from Otis Redding to Booker T and the MGs, from Isaac Hayes to the Staple Singers, from Rufus Thomas to Wilson Pickett.  When the group joined Stax, they started making secular music, Deep Soul tracks.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWWLnj3RGPw

New Movies Opening This Week:

Dark Shadows    I'm not really sure why in the world this was remade, but judging by the previews, it seems like we've seen this Tim Burton-Johnny Depp brand of dark, campy, flakiness before.  For those like me who have no idea what the long-running (1966-1971) cult ABC soap opera was about - well, think vampires.  Depp plays a vampire who, after spending 200 years in a coffin, finds himself in a fishing village in Maine i 1972.  Cue the bloody silliness and 70s jokes: macrame, Karen Carpenter, lava lamps, Steve Miller Band.  I'm kinda thinking this one might bomb, but it has a good cast, which includes the always welcome Michelle Pfeiffer, Chloe Grace Moretz, Eva Green, and Burton spouse and regular Helena Bonham Carter; a reputed highlight involves Alice Cooper (well, it is 1972).  Critics seem indifferent.

Today is the 135th anniversary of Rutherford B. Hayes' installation of the first ever telephone in the White House.  Who, you might ask, is Rutherford B. Hayes?  Well, here are ten facts that might help you know more about this President with Cincinnati connections (all facts are from http://www.rbhayes.org/hayes/president/):

- He was the 19th president of the United States, serving from 1876-1870
- He was born in Delaware, Ohio.  His dad died when he was but a few months old.  He was raised by his mother and her younger bachelor brother. 
- He graduated from Kenyon College, studied for a year in a Columbus law office, and moved to Cincinnati where he became a successful lawyer.
- He was a Republican, opposed to slavery.
- His wife, Lucy, was the First Lady to graduate from college; the two had eight children.  She was also the first president's wife to be called "First Lady."   
- He was severely wounded in the Civil War at the Battle of South Mountain (in Maryland in September of 1862), a Union Victory.  In fact, he was wounded in the War four times. 
- He served two governorships in Ohio.
- As President, he tried to heal the wounds of the Civil War.  What else?  He sought and got the ball rolling on civil service reform, tried to protect freed African Americans' civil rights, appointed qualified men to government positions, preached the rights of the poor and lower classes, and signed a bill that allowed women attorneys to appear before the Supreme Court.
- He was the first president to travel to the west coast while in office.
- Finally, he was the president to initiate the still-held tradition of the post-Easter "Easter Egg Roll" on the lawn of the White House.

There was some talk on ESPN this morning about the dreaded "legacies," a common enough topic this time of year during playoff season.  If Duncan and the Spurs can win a title (Duncan's 5th!), where would that place Duncan all-time... If Kobe can get the Lakers to the Finals (for the 8th time!), if Lebron finally wins one, etc.  You get the drift.  Which got me thinking...

I've never made a list as far as the NBA is concerned, but here goes.  I will attempt to list the 25 Greatest Players of My Lifetime.  I didn't really start conscienitously watching the NBA until I was maybe 7 or 8, so this list will take into account the years 1987 or so to the present.  Some of the players (Magic, Bird, I saw towards the tail-end of their career, but I will still rank them as if I had watched them from their rookie season on, so indulge me).

I take into account the following: talent, skill sets (obviously, right?), wins, playoff success, titles, MVPs, scoring, rebounding titles, how well they defined their position, the teams they had around them, amongst others.

1. Michael Jordan
2. Magic Johnson
3. Kobe Bryant
4. Hakeem Olajuwon
5. Lebron James
6. Shaquille O'Neal
7. Tim Duncan
8. Dirk Nowitzki
9. Scottie Pippen
10. Larry Bird
11. Charles Barkley
12. John Stockton
13. Karl Malone
14. Dwayne Wade
15. Steve Nash
16. Kevin Garnett
17. Patrick Ewing
18. Reggie Miller
19. Clyde Drexler
20. Pau Gasol
21. Paul Pierce
22. Kevin Durant (he will obviously move up the list)
23. Dikembe Mutombo
24. Isaiah Thomas
25. (tie) Tony Parker, Allen Iverson
   
Honorable Mentions:  David Robinson, Jason Kidd, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, Dennis Rodman

Arguments? 

So you want Acting? I'll give you ACTING!

Word of the day : agog :  eager ; full of intense interest or excitement 

Poor Julia is a bit under the weather too, snagging whatever it was Gabriel had.  It's good to have her at home all day, that's for sure, though.

Soul Track of the Day:

"I Can't Stand the Rain," by Ann Peebles, from her 1974 album of the same name.  It went to #6 on the R&B charts, #38 on the U.S. pop charts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5Rjo_imHDE

Peebles, a St. Louis native, was a critically-esteemed performer who released, with producer Willie Mitchell (who worked with Al Green on some of Green's classic albums around the same time), a string of well-regarded albums in the mid-1970s.  Tina Turner, Little Feat's Lowell George, and Humble Pie, among others, have covered the song.  Her "I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down" is pretty wonderful too.

R.I.P. Maurice Sendak.  Where the Wild Things Are was my favorite book as a kid.



You know, hundreds of my readers come up to me every day and flood me with The Question.  It plays out like this:

Avid Reader: Charles, what's the best performance you've ever seen?
Charles: Oh, wow.  Good question.  I can't really say.
Avid Reader: Oh, come on!
Charles" Okay, okay, settle down.  Just back off.  Now - okay, are we talking about the post-Brando Method Revolution?
Avid Reader: When was that?
Charles: Early 1950.
Avid Reader: Sure.  Yeah, I don't wanna include silent film acting or anything like that.  None of that early theatrical acting, you know?
Charles: Sure.  So let's just say - what?  The last 50 years?  40 years?  Since 1970?
Avid Reader: Since 1970.  No, since 1962.  The last 50 years. 
Charles: Got it.  My very, very, very humble opinion about the 100 Must-See Performances of the last 50 years?  Since 1962, we'll say?
Avid Reader: Yep.  Give 'em to me.
Charles: Can we make it 200?  I find that I always end up leaving folks out.
Avid Reader: Yep.  Roll with it.  

And here they are (in no order)

Let me say, however, that this was an extremely difficult list to make.  For fairness' sake, I only included one performance apiece by an actor.  Or else, the list would have, like, 10 Jack Nicholson perfs, 3 or 5 by Julianne Moore, Streep, DuVall, etc.:

- Gene Hackman, The Conversation (1974) 
- Bill Murray, Lost in Translation (2003)  
- Charlize Theron, Young Adult (2011)
- Sean Penn, Mystic River (2003) 
- Susan Sarandon, Bull Durham (1988)
- Robert DuVall, The Apostle (1997)
- Vera Farmiga, Down to the Bone (2005)
- Melissa Leo, Frozen River (2008)
- Robert DeNiro, Taxi Driver (1976)
- Joe Pesci, Raging Bull (1980)

- Al Pacino, Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
- Marlon Brando, The Godfather (1972)
- John Cazale, The Godfather Part II
- Meryl Streep, Julie and Julia (2009) 
- Martin Landau, Ed Wood (1994)
- Nicolas Cage, Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
- Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart (2009)
- Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds (2009)
- Anthony Hopkins, The Silence of the Lambs (1991)     
- Emma Thompson, Howards End (1992)

- Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of Elah (2007)
- Javier Bardem, Before Night Falls (2000)
- Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler (2008)
- Glenn Close, Fatal Attraction (1987)
- Paul Newman, Nobody's Fool (1994)
- Jessica Tandy, Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
- Daniel Day-Lewis, My Left Foot (1989)
- Ralph Fiennes, Schindler's List (1993)
- Ben Kingsley, Gandhi (1982)
- Burt Lancaster, Atlantic City (1981)

- Kevin Spacey, L.A. Confidential (1997)
- Burt Reynolds, Boogie Nights (1997)
- Nick Nolte, Affliction (1998)
- Matt Damon, The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
- Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There (2007)
- George Clooney, Up in the Air (2009)
- Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder (2008)
- Annette Bening, The Kids are Alright (2010)
- Naomi Watts, Mulholland Drive (2001)
- Dennis Hopper, Blue Velvet (1986)

- Jeremy Irons, Reversal of Fortune (1990)
- Kathy Bates, Misery (1990)
- Jack Nicholson, Chinatown (1974)
- Paul Scofield, The Crucible (1996)
- Michael Caine, The Quiet American (2002)
- Albert Finney, Under the Volcano (1984)
- Samuel L. Jackson, Pulp Fiction (1994)
- Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote (2005)
- Julianne Moore, Safe (1995)
- Leonardo DiCaprio, Catch Me if You Can (2002)

 
- F. Murray Abraham, Amadeus (1984)
- Colin Firth, The King's Speech (2010)
- Edward Norton, American History X (1998)
- Tom Hanks, Big (1988)
- Emily Watson, Breaking the Waves (1996)
- Frances McDormand, Fargo (1996) 
- Christian Bale, American Psycho (2000)
- Michael Douglas, Wonder Boys (2000)
- Russell Crowe, The Insider (1999)
- Sissy Spacek, The Coal Miner's Daughter (1980)

- Diane Lane, Unfaithful (2002)
- Nicole Kidman, To Die For (1995)
- Dianne Wiest, Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
- Judi Dench, Notes From a Scandal (2006)
- Sigourney Weaver, Aliens (1986)
- Geoffrey Rush, Quills (2000)
- Woody Allen, Annie Hall (1977)
- Diane Keaton, Shoot the Moon (1982)
- Jack Lemmon, Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
- Holly Hunter, The Piano (1993) 

- Kate Winslet, The Reader (2008)
- Steve Carell, The 40-Year Old Virgin (2005)
- Paul Rudd, I Love You, Man (2009)
- Anjelica Huston, The Grifters (1990)
- John Cusack, Say Anything (1989)
- Jack Black, School of Rock (2003)
- Donald Sutherland, Eye of the Needle (1981)
- Ed Harris, Pollock (2000)
- Marcia Gay Harden, Mystic River (2003)
- Angelina Jolie, A Mighty Heart (2007)

- Julie Christie, Away From Her (2007)
- Billy Bob Thornton, A Simple Plan (1998)
- Dwight Yoakam, Sling Blade (1996)
- Maggie Gyllenhaal, Sherrybaby (2006)
- Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson (2006)
- Morgan Freeman, Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
- Jeff Daniels, The Squid and the Whale (2005)
- Laura Linney, You Can Count on Me (2005)
- Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)
- Paul Giamatti, Sideways (2004)

- William H. Macy, Fargo (1996)
- Gary Busey, The Buddy Holly Story (1978)
- Jessica Chastain, Take Shelter (2011)
- Michael Shannon, Take Shelter (2011)
- Brad Pitt, Moneyball (2011)
- Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine (2010)
- Sally Field, Norma Rae (1979)
- Michelle Pfeiffer, The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989)
- Kurt Russell, Miracle (2004)
- Helen Mirren, The Queen (2006)

  
- Chiwetel Ejiofor, Dirty Pretty Things (2003)
- Laura Dern, Inland Empire (2006)
- Christopher Plummer, Beginners (2011)
- Mo' Nique, Precious... (2009)
- Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker (2009)
- Natalie Portman, Black Swan (2010)
- Barbara Hershey, The Portrait of a Lady (1996)
- Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children (2006)
- Uma Thurman, Kill Bill Volumes 1-2 (2003-4)
- Clive Owen, Children of Men (2006)

- Dustin Hoffman, Midnight Cowboy (1979)
- Faye Dunaway, Chinatown (1974)
- John Travolta, Saturday Night Fever (1977)
- Amy Adams, Junebug (2005)
- Toni Collette, Japanese Story (2003)
- Hugh Grant, About a Boy (2002)
- Rachel Weisz, The Constant Gardener (2005)
- Woody Harrelson, The Messenger (2009)
- Joaquin Phoenix, Two Lovers (2009)
- Angela Bassett, Waiting to Exhale (1995)

- Jim Broadbent, Topsy-Turvy (1999)
- Louise Fletcher, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
- Ellen Burstyn, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)
- Willem Dafoe, Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
- Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
- Sergei Lopez, Pan's Labryinth (2006)
- Peter O'Toole, Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
- Albert Finney, Two for the Road (1967)
- Jessie Eisenberg, The Social Network (2010)
- Kevin Bacon, The Woodsman (2004)

- Benicio Del Toro, Traffic (2000)
- Renee Zellweger, Jerry Maguire (1996)
- Vincent D'Onofrio, The Whole Wide World (1996)
- Tom Cruise, Magnolia (1999)
- Clive Owen, Children of Men (2006)
- Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino (2008)
- Ulrich Muhe, The Lives of Others (2006)
- Vlad Ivanov, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
- Jane Fonda, Coming Home (1978)
- Jon Voight, Coming Home (1978)
- Robert Forster, Jackie Brown (1997)

- Debra Winger, Terms of Endearment (1983)
- Ian Holm, The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
- Tobey Maguire, Brothers (2009)
- Imelda Staunton, Vera Drake (2004)
- Bill Nighy, Love Actually (2003)
- Audrey Tautou, Amelie (2001)
- Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone (2010)
- Liam Neeson, Taken (2009)
- George C. Scott, Patton (1970)
- Richard Burton, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1965)

- Elizabeth Taylor, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
- Jamie Lee Curtis, Freaky Friday (2003)
- Denzel Washington, The Hurricane (1999)
- Maggie Smith, Gosford Park (2001)
- Gena Rowlands, A Woman Under the Influence (1974)
- Robert Shaw, Jaws (1975)
- Mia Farrow, Rosemary's Baby (1968)
- Alan Arkin, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1968)
- Cicely Tyson, Sounder (1972)
- Liv Ullmann, Scenes From a Marriage (1974)  

 

- Greg Kinnear,  Auto Focus (2002)
- Kristin Scott Thomas, I've Loved You So Long (2008)
- Columbus Short, Cadillac Records (2008)
- Courtney Love, The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996)
- Don Cheadle. Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
- Jim Carrey, The Truman Show (1998)
- Colin Farrell, In Bruges (2008)
- William Hurt, Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)
- Brendan Gleeson, The General (1998)
- Peter Sellers, Dr. Strangelove (1964)

- R. Lee Ermey, Full Metal Jacket (1987)
- Malcolm McDowell, A Clockwork Orange (1971)
- Emma Stone, Easy A (2010)
- Kristen Wiig, Bridesmaids (2011)
- Matt Dillon, Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
- Danny Aiello, Do the Right Thing (1989)
- Viola Davis, Doubt (2008)
- Greta Gerwig, Greenberg (2010)
- Vanessa Redgrave, Julia (1977)
- Jennifer Garner, 13 Going on 30 (2004)

- Richard Dreyfuss, Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
- Laurence Fishburne, What's Love Got to Do With It? (1993) 
- Patricia Neal, Hud (1963)
- Philippe Noiret, Cinema Paradiso (1989)
- Henry Fonda, Once Upon a Time in the West (1969)
- Peter Saarsgard, Shattered Glass (12003)
- Johnny Depp, Ed Wood (1994)
- Adrien Brody, The Pianist (2002)
- Keira Knightley, Pride and Prejudice (2005)
- Lesley Manville, Another Year (2010)

- Chloe Sevigny, Boys Don't Cry (1999)
- Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby (2004)
- Julie Andrews, Mary Poppins (1964)
- Anne Bancroft, The Graduate (1967)
- Ethan Hawke & Julie Delpy, Before Sunset (2004)
- Joanne Woodward, Rachel, Rachel (1968)
- Angela Lansbury, The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
- Klaus Kinski, Aguirre, Wrath of God (1972)
- Gunnar Bjornstrand, Winter Light (1963)
- Virginia Madsen, Sideways (2004) 

Thanks for hanging in there.  I might lean heavy towards more recent films, but that''s only because they are fresher in my mind....

I'm sure I've forgotten people, but, oh, well (sorry, Kevin Kline, Rod Steiger, Daniel Craig, Sean Connery, Christopher Walken, Bob Hoskins, Tilda Swinton...) This is as definitive list as I could think of on the spur of the moment.  And hopefully it will serve as a tribute to how rich and fertile an era this has been for world film acting.

Our next photographer...

Peter Lindbergh (#34)

The Polish-born Lindbergh (b. 1944) apprenticed in Duiburg, Germany as a window dresser and then went on to study design and painting in Berlin and Krefeld.  He began doing free-lance photography in 1973, built up his name in the 80s (after he had moved to Paris) working for almost every major photo outlet (Harper's Bazaar, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Vogue, Marie Claire, etc.) and is now of one of the most respected and influential fashion photographers in his field.

His style?  Bleak locations, grainy/realistic black-and-white, naturalistic, unfussy subjects, simple clothes ("a stylist's nightmare," according to Tina Turner).  All very minimalist.

His influences?  Early German cinema, German dance of the 1920s. pictorialism.  His idol is Vincent Van Gogh.

 

- If you know nothing of the work of actress Vera Farmiga, I suggest you catch up.  I just caught her directorial debut, Higher Ground (2011), in which she also stars as a woman who has spent her whole life in a tight-knit Fundamentalist community.  The film (adapted from Carolyn S. Briggs' memoir This Dark World) is a sensitive, sometimes funny account of a woman who begins to question the life she has found herself in.  As usual, Farmiga herself (in a strong outing all around) is terrific.

Here are some other notable turns by this fantastic actress:

- 2005's Down to the Bone, as a mother in the throes of drug addiction; she was unfairly snubbed of an Oscar nod, probably because the film (directed by the woman whose Winter's Bone was definitely noticed by Oscar) had so little hype:

- 2006's The Departed, the sole woman amongst a testosterone-y cast as the police psychiatrist drawn to Leonardo DiCaprio 's informer.

- 2007's Joshua, in which she was harrowing as a mother having a movie-long nervous postpartum breakdown; it didn't help that her kid was an evil, unholy, Damien-like child.

-  2008's The Boy in the Plastic Pajamas, in which she was miscast but effective as the German wife of a Nazi camp commander (David Thewlis) whose son is curious about a uniformed boy on the other side of the fence

- 2008's underrated, razor-sharp Nothing But the Truth in which she played the Valerie Plame-inspired role in director Rod Lurie's tense, fair, absorbing recounting of the Judith Miller affair; the whole ensemble was superb, from Kate Beckinsale to Matt Dillon to Alan Alda.

- 2009's Orphan in which, once again, she played the mother of a homicidal, crazed child.  The movie was fun, gory, goofy, but I think she has dipped into this well once too often.

- 2009's Up in the air where she earned a well-deserved Oscar nod as a businesswoman who has a fling with George Clooney's similarly-lifestyled bachelor.  The sparks between her and Clooney are tangible, crackly.  She is romantic, funny; the ending does come as a shock.

Other notable films (some of which might not be worth your time) include 2011's Source Code, this year's Safe House (with Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds), 2006's awful Running Scared, The Manchurian Candidate, and Autumn in New York. 

She seems to be an actress who can do just about anything, is what I'm saying. 

Higher Ground

Up in the Air

Guilty? Not Guilty?

Word of the day : torrid : parched with heat from the sun, hot ; giving off intense heat, scorching ; ardent, passionate

Today's soul track:

"Freddie's Dead," from Mayfield's legendary 1972 soundtrack.  This was one a few hits from this classic, smooth album.

Mayfield (1942-1999) was born in Chicago.  He was a talented songwriter ("He Will Break Our Heart" for Jerry Butler, among others) and member of the influential R&B/gospel group The Impressions ("Gypsy Woman," "It's Alright").  He went solo in the early 1970s and became a noted social activist.  He has been elected twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - for the Impressions (1991) and as a solo artist in 1999.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECgBXkil7YI

Book Review

Landay's legal thriller centers on an average suburban American family:  Dad Andy is an assistant DA;  mom Laurie is an ex-schoolteacher-turned housewife; son Jacob is a moody, aggressive loner.  When a classmate of Jacob's is brutally murdered in a public park abutting the school, there are no immediate suspects.  A lone fingerprint eventually incriminates Jacob.  It turns out that the victim, Ben, was a bit of a bully towards Jacob.  More and more evidence begins to pile up, but will it be enough to convict him?

The novel, which spans the aftermath of the murder, the endless pre-trial days, the trial itself, and the weeks after it, is more concerned with the effects Jacob's potential guilt has on the family than it is the actual nuts-and-bolts of the trail (which it nevertheless lays out clearly and ably for readers).  Andy is devoted to Jacob's innocence, certain of it (almost ridiculously so, I think readers will find.)  Laurie is not so sure.  All is muddled even more when Andy reveals that violence runs in his family - his line is dotted with criminal, murderous acts.  Laurie, shocked at this revelation, begins to wonder if these "murder genes" are in Jacob.  Jacob's past behavior is seen in a new light, and both parents begin to reconsider secrets that have been withheld.  Laurie can't get the doubt and self-condemnation out of her mind; Andy remains loyal to a fault.            

The book poses challenging questions.  Landay asks us to consider the old nature vs. nurture debate, but he also presents a challenging critique at how blindly we defend our kids.  Andy, as smart as he is, seems a bit blinkered about his son, not allowing any sort of blight to enter his mind.  He's frustrating, to be sure, but we get Landay's point.  Parents don't seem to appreciate how rough high school can be, how lonely and alienating a time it is for some.  Some parents are clueless too, purely inept, having no idea what their kids are up to.  Individual guilt doesn't exist in a vacuum - society as a whole plays a part in it.  The "murder genes" component adds a fascinating twist to the story.  Is Andy as guilt as Jacob?  What is it within a kid that makes him or her go so wrong?    

The obvious reference point here is Scott Turow's Presumed Innocent, but the novel stands on its own, as both a courtroom drama and a social critique.  As a thriller, it's a well-oiled, sinuous, finely-plotted affair.  Landay makes Jacob a strikingly ambiguous creation; because we're never sure if he's innocent or not, we're never really quite sure where we stand with him, which is fine.  There are plenty of twists and turns in the last act (including one that has a captivating inevitability).  It's a novel that stays with you, that's for sure, long after the haunting ending. 

(****)

History Lesson

I know, I know, Cinco de Mayo has come and gone.  Do you know what the day celebrates?

No, not Mexican Independence, silly - that's September 16.

May 5 is the day, 150 years ago (1862), that Mexico defeated France at the Battle of Puebla.  Mexico was already independent at that time, but the country was divided by Liberals and Conservatives; the Conservatives tended to side with the policies and ideas of Mexico's former European rulers; Liberals weren't keen on this, nor did they like the privileges given by Conservatives to the Catholic Church.

By mid-century, the Liberals were in power.  They began to restrict the power of the church and the clergy, and confiscated church land.  The Conservatives were furious.  Civil War broke out.

The war was paid for by European powers - Britain, France, Spain.  Mexican president Benito Juarez faulted on his loans, though, so European lenders came calling.  Britain and Spain muscled Mexico around, got their money back, and then left.

France hung around, though, sensing an opportunity to make a statement.  Again, war broke out.

On May 5, 1862, Mexico won an insignificant battle at San Puebla, the Liberals and Conservatives temporarily joining forces and believing they could win the war.   The date attained a great significance. 
   
The war went on for a year, and eventually France took Mexico City, and hoisted their own rule (and ruler) upon the city.  France controlled the city for three years - until Mexican resistance ousted him.

Footnote:
Because France was so involved in Mexico for half of the 1860s, the country was unable to give its attention to the U.S. Civil War.  France had made clear its sympathies with the Confederacy, so we can only ponder about what would have happened if its war with Mexico hadn't stretched out longer than planned and the Frenchies gave their aid and support to the South.

Thanks: http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2012/05/05/power-money-and-taxes-the-history-of-cinco-de-mayo/
 
- Egats, I find myself not caring about some new TV shows that I was watching and enjoying for a while: Revenge, Missing, Scandal.  Hate when that happens!   

- For all you music fans, for all you rock and roll fans,  try this quiz:
 I got 118 of them.  See how you do. 

http://www.sporcle.com/games/g/rockrollHOFinductees
 

Blah!

Word of the day :  satiety : the quality or state of being fed or gratified to or beyond capacity; surfeit, fullness ; the revulsion or disgust caused by overindulgence or excess

Well, it was a sad, droopy weekend.  Gabriel is in the midst of a stomach flu - he's in the home stretch, but, boy, has it been a rough one: vomiting, diarrhea, lack of appetite, lethargy.  It's been rough on Julia and I, especially Julia (who got puked on!), and we're keeping the boy at home from school for a few days. 

I originally intended an Author Profile to be a bi-weekly column, but I'm having a good time with it, so I'll make it a weekly thing.  Today's author...

Ruth Rendell

Born: London, 1930

Career: The daughter of schoolteachers, Rendell went to work as a reporter and sub-editor at local newspapers after high school.  For ten years, following the birth of her only child, she was a housewife (to a journalist) and an unpublished novelist for a decade before her first book was published, 1964's From Doon With Death.  In this book, she introduced Inspector Reginald Wexford, a character who has appeared 20-plus novels to date.  Her husband and her divorced in 1975, but then remarried two years later and lived in Suffolk until his death; Rendell still lives in London.

Since 1964, and particularly over the last couple decades, Rendell has been staggeringly prolific, usually churning out at least one, if not two, books per year.  In addition to the Wexford novels, she has written over 25 stand-alone novels, close to ten short story collections, two novellas, and, most prominently, 14 novels under the pseudonym Barbara Vine.  What is most striking is how acclaimed Rendell's body of work is; critics love her.  She almost never has an "off" book.  She has won almost every award given to mystery writers and is considered one of the grand dames of the profession.  She is a Baroness, long supporting the Labour party.  She is an obsessively punctual person, maintaining a strict writing regimen even today, a vegetarian, an exerciser, a cat lover.

Noted Books:  Rendell doesn't have that one iconic work - that one book the general reading public knows her by, a one stone-cold classic.  That's unfortunate, but a good thing, too, when you consider that all her work is worth a look.  She's consistently great, not a one- or two-hot wonder.  The first Barbara Vine novel, A Dark-Adapted Eye (1986), is reputedly the best of Vine's books.  1980's Lake of Darkness, An Unkindness of Ravens (1985), The Babes in the Wood (2002), Adam and Eve Pinch Me (2001), and The Rottweiler (2003) could maybe seen as standouts.  Her 62nd book, this year's St. Zita's Society, is out now.

Themes, Style, Etc:  Rendell is a crime writer, but she has often been seen as an auteur who saddles the line between crime writing and literary fiction.  Her works often penetrate various classes of English society, illustrating the strained, envious, symbiotic, often murderous relationships between different .  There's often a murder (or two).  Perversity, darkness, loneliness, obsession, human nature askew - these are common themes.  She doesn't like violence or torture in literature, she has often stated.   There is something chilly, amoral, voyeuristic, frightening in her work; she's more Patricia Highsmith than Agatha Christie (whose work she despises).         

Why You Should Read Her:  Because you would be reading one of the world's great writers.  By fellow writers and critics, she is regarded as one of the world's great practitioners of her craft.  Her Barbara Vine books are even more acclaimed than her Rendell books.

Books I'd Recommend:  Thirteen Steps Down (2004) and The Water's Lovely (2006), two cold, compelling, ingeniously-constructed tales of obsession.  Portobello, from 2008, was a captivating five-starrer (like the previous two) about a collection of modern Londoners living in a down-and-out, slow-to-gentrify neighborhood.  The two Vine books I've read, The Minotaur (2005) and The Birthday Present (2008) are pretty wonderful too.

Books I Want to Read:  A Judgement in Stone (1977) (adapted into a nasty Claude Chabrol film in 1995, La Cermonie), Vine's A Dark-Adapted Eye, The Keys to the Street (1996), A Sight for Sore Eyes (1998) and its follow-up, 2011's The Vault. 

There are multiple webpages dedicated to Rendell (even one centered on the series of British television films based on her Wexford novels), but no official Ruth Rendell website.      

And let's make May and June Soul Months.  One great Soul track a day for the next fifty-plus days,
Today, here's a track, "In the Rain," from the group The Dramatics, originally from their 1971 album Whatcha See is What You Get.  The song went to #1 on the R&B charts in 1972. 

The band was from Detroit, forming in 1962.  They still perform, but without, of course, any of the original members.  Enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRK4AwS3dh8

Today's photographer:

Steven Meisel (#33)

In a nutshell, here's what you should known about Meisel: 

Son of a singer and record company executive. 
Early obsession with drawing models. 
Early career included a post as an instructor at Parsons.  Also, worked at fashion design company Halston and Women's Wear Daily.  A shoot he did of actress Phoebe Cates got him noticed by Seventeen; soon after followed assignments for W, Self, and Mademoiselle. 
After joining Vogue in the late-1980s, he became friends with Madonna and shot some of her more provocative shoots.  He was an image-mentor (for a lack of a better title) for her.
Has worked for Calvin Klein and Vanity Fair.
Credited for discovering many models: Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, and Amber Valletta. 

Mambo Italiano

Word of the day : bon vivant : a person having cultivated, refined, and sociable tastes especially in respect to food and drink  (see: Hallie Borellis)

Well, it's the end of the week, y'all.  Julia has a long double faculty meeting today, so it'll be Gabriel Owen Fischer and me at the house all day today, licking our chops to go to Savannah tomorrow.

I am also happy to announce that Julia has been chosen to teach a 5-week class abroad next summer in Montepulciano, Italy in the heart of the Tuscan countryside.  And Gabriel and I will join her.   Two days a week, she will be teaching courses, and another two days a week, she will be leading students on excursions throughout Italy.  On weekends, the family will go on jaunts around the countryside - Ravenna, Rome, Pisa, Florence, Venice.  We're all looking forward to it tremendously.  Hopefully, this will be a yearly thing - Georgia Southern University offers study abroad programs in London, Madrid, Paris, Berlin, St. Petersburg, Waterford (Ireland), Chile, China.  The program director has also hinted to Julia that he would like her help in getting a program together for SE Asia, perhaps Vietnam or Cambodia.  (Julia's mom is already chomping at the bit to come and visit us.) 

Here are a few recent movie reviews:

Haywire

Don't let the mystifying 80% positive critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes fool you into thinking that a slumming Steven Soderbergh's vehicle for mixed martial arts star Gina Carano isn't the worst action film of the year.  It certainly is, hands down - and it's only May 3.  Soderbegh goes minimalist here - meaning, the camera angles are screwy, the lighting is bad, the dialogue is clipped and cool, everyone is granite-faced, the shots are endless.  And the script is incomprehensible when it's not just plain stingy with information; apparently it isn't cool to let the audience know what is going on or who any of the people are.  Why so many good actors signed up for small parts in this one (Michael Douglas, Bill Paxton, Michael Fassbender, Channing Tatum, Antonio Banderas, Ewan McGregor) is beyond me.  I wasn't even sure who Banderas - or Douglas, or Fassbender (who shares the movie's one interesting scene), if I'm being honest - was supposed to be playing.  Carano is strong and tough and quite a kicker, but she is dramatically woeful, and Soderbergh can't disguise it.  It's boring as hell, and for an action film, that's unforgivable.  And what kind of a turd are we dealing with when all is explained at the end and we still feel like we don't get it?  Why will be a constant audience response throughout.  Here's my why: Why was this film ever made?

(*)

The Innkeepers      

Another disappointing, supposed-to-be-good 2012 release, with critics praising writer-editor-director Ti West's old-school horror film for its classical compositions, elegant framing, understated maintenance of tension.  I guess.  He certainly has talent, but I kept wanting more from this film, though there are two really good scares.  Sara Paxton (in a charmingly tomboyish performance) and Pat Healy (too low-key for my taste) play a pair of employees at Connecticut's old Yankee Pedlar Inn during its last weekend before going out of business for good.  The hotel is reputedly haunted, and the two workers decide to do some ghostbusting.  West has an intriguing theme here - lives in transition - and he works carefully, slowly, in a manner many viewers will probably associate with the Paranormal Activity series, in which the audience just waits for something to appear.  There are two many unanswered questions; evidently the director is of that ilk of artists that thrusts on the audience the idea that ambiguity is challenging, a testament/by-product of art: Make your own answers.  I get so tired of that.  I think it's a cop-out, a sign that the filmmaker doesn't know how to answer any of the raised questions.  I wasn't bored exactly, just underwhelmed., and I have no idea what I was supposed to see or conclude about the last shot.  Kelly McGillis co-stars as an actress-turned-healer.  (On a side note, there really is a Yankee Pedlar Inn - in Torrington, Connecticut.  West was inspired to make this movie after a stay there.  The movie was filmed in the inn.) 

(**1/2)

Last Night

An intriguing drama from writer-director Massy Tadjedin about a married NYC couple (played by those iconic New Yorkers Keira Knightley and Sam Worthington) whose fidelity is put to the test when Michael (Worthington) goes away on an overnight business trip with a single, widowed colleague with a crush on him (Eva Mendes).  Joanna is tested too, when running errands, she encounters an old Parisian boyfriend (Patrick Dempsey lookalike Guillaume Canet) in town for a day or two.  A talky, dreamlike drama with good acting, particularly from Knightley, the film draws the audience in with an alluring what-would-you-do? tension.  The characters are pushed to the brink of temptation, and it's compelling to watch them react.

(***)

The #32 artist on our list of the 100 most Influential Photographers, the Queens-born Robert Mapplethorpe, is probably best-known, especially in Cincinnati, for his controversial dirty pictures showing sadomasochistic acts.

He was influenced by Joseph Cornell and Marcel Duchamp and he had a wonderful knack for tinkering, becoming an expert in mixed-media collage.  He came of age in photography in the mid to late-1970s shooting Polaroid pics of New York artists, musicians, and adult film stars.  He was drawn to the S & M underground.  His standards and compositions are those of a classical aesthete, despite how shocking and disturbing the images and content are: nudes, female bodybuilders.

He died of AIDS in 1989.

I'm not a big fan by any means of Mapplethorpe, but I encourage any one who's interested in him to read Patti Smith's 2010 National Book Award winner Just Kids, which documents Smith and and Mapplethorpe's relationship and lifelong friendship.  The book, poignantly and lovingly told by Smith, with a great recall for detail, is especially evocative of the period when Smith and Mapplethorpe lived together in the Chelsea Hotel in the early 1970s. Mapplethorpe even did the album cover of Smith's great 1975 breakthrough Horses.

In light of everyone's tastes, I won't post any of Mapplethorpe's more recognized work, because a lot of it isn't particularly pleasant.

   

And, finally, in response to a recent discussion I had with a fellow blogger and reader, I want to list 10 Classic Rock bands/artists and songs I never get tired of, that I will love eternally.

- The Kinks
- The Band
- Neil Young
- Led Zeppelin
- Traffic
- CCR
- The Mamas and the Papas
- The Rolling Stones
- Cream
- The Animals 

- "Waterloo Sunset," The Kinks
- "We Gotta Get Outta This Place," The Animals
- "Under My Thumb," The Stones
- "Amoreena," Elton John
- "People Are Strange," The Doors
- "The Kids Are All Right," The Who
- "Dixie Chicken," Little Feat
- "Expecting to Fly," Buffalo Springfield
- "Thunder Road," Bruce Springsteen
- "Tangled Up in Blue," Bob Dylan
 
(and 5 more...)

- "Crimson and Clover," Tommy James and the Shondells ("Draggin' the Line" too)
- "Ziggy Stardust," David Bowie
- "Who'll Stop the Rain?", CCR
- "Moving in Stereo," the Cars (an 80s song, but still)
- "Dear Mr. Fantasy," Traffic

But damn if I haven't at some point loved or admired the following too:

Gene Pitney, Joe Cocker, Bo Diddley, Curtis Mayfield, Paul Simon, Laura Nyro, almost anyone that recorded in Motown in the 1960s, Randy Newman, Dr. John, The Beach Boys, T. Rex, Phil Spector's Wall of Sound artists (the Ronettes, Shangri-Las, Crystals), Tooths and the Maytals, The Police, Larry Williams, both Elvises, Carl Perkins, Little Feat/Lowell George, the Allmans, Skynyrd, Joni Mitchell, the Beatles, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bill Withers, Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, Fleetwood Mac, Bob Marley, Bruce, John Lee Hooker, Percy Sledge, Chuck Willis, Aretha, Zappa, War, Sly and the Family Stone, Rod Stewart/Faces, Mitch Ryder, the Shirelles, the Contours, Mitch Ryder, Bowie, the Byrds, Ricky Nelson, Donovan, Jackie Wilson, the Velvettes, the Velvet Underground, Ike and Tina, Wicked Wilson Pickett, the Turtles, Paul Revere and the Raiders, LaVern Baker, Big Mama Thornton, Muddy Waters, the Monkees (love the Monkees), the Bee Gees, Stevie Wonder, the Coasters, Ruth Brown, Roxy Music, Chuck Berry, Stevie Wonder, Boston, Don Covay, the Moody Blues, the Drifters, Roy Orbison, the Talking Heads, the Grateful Dead (not their endless jams, but rather the songs like "Uncle John's Band") the Staples Singers, Cat Stevens, Bob Dylan (a thousand times over), Tony Joe White, Nick Lowe, and about a hundred more.  

(And that's just up through the end of the 1970s!)

I think I might even like Soul as much as I like Classic Rock - I find, and this is just my opinion, that it ages better.

My all-time favorite soundtrack is The Harder They Come (a film I haven't even seen), with its reggae and Jamaican artists led by the great Jimmy Cliff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRoJyaZW6SA 

My all-time favorite artist is Elvis Presley.  (Followed closely by The Band, CCR, Mary Wells, and Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Otis Redding.)

My all-time favorite songwriters are Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, and Randy Newman.

I think Mary Wells is an incredible artist, maybe the most underrated singer and artists to come out of Motown:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH62fCjr23g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD4EZOmYRh0

I also think Tony Joe White is incredibly underrated.  His 1972 album The Train I'm On is the greatest unsung great alum I can currently think of.  You might know him from songs others made more popular, like "Polk Salad Annie" and "Rainy Night in Georgia."  They call him the Swamp Fox.  He has a deep voice, a little country-blues-rock sound to him.  I would love to see him live, if that would ever be possible. 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9IgFr4Afc0

My all-time favorite album is either Neil Young's Harvest or Elvis Presley's From Elvis in Memphis, depending on what mood I'm in!

 

Get on the Bus!

Word of the day : lunette : something that has the figure or shape of a crescent or half moon ; an opening in a vault especially for a window

Exciting news today: Gabriel took his first-ever class field trip.  He and his class went to the Statesboro Public Library for a story time and puppet show.  How cute is that?

Well, he liked the bus ride but not the puppet show.  He was escorted from the room!

Oh, well.   

Also, Savannah is finally getting a Whole Foods!  Now if only Statesboro would get a Target.   

Let's get right to the new movies opening this week: 

The Avengers    The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Hawkeye (?) (Jeremy Renner).  Yep, they're all joining forces against evil in the team-up fanboys have been waiting for.  Directed by Joss Whedon, partially filmed in Cleveland, and getting some good, of tepid reviews.  No one thinks it's great.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel    The UK hit jumps over the pond.  John Madden (Shakespeare in Love, The Debt) directs this tale of a group of Britishers retirees who, for a variety of reasons, find themselves in India.  What a cast: Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy, Penelope Wilton, Dev Patel (well, it is India).  Critics like it, describing it as comfort food.  

A Little Bit of Heaven    Predictably dreadful reviews for this "cancer comedy" starring Kate Hudson (so you know it's a great movie, right?) as a young woman afraid to open up to love and commitment.  Well, so she come down with the Big C, a life-changing event - but also one that allows her to discover true intimacy with her doctor (Gael Garcia Bernal).  Naturally, Kathy Bates is around, and so are Treat Williams, Peter Dinklage, and Whoopi Goldberg, the latter appearing as God.  Yes, this is the kind of movie where Whoopi Goldberg plays God.

The Perfect Family    There's faint echoes of Serial Mom in this tale of a suburban mom (Kathleen Turner, where have you been?) who runs for Catholic Woman of the Year at her local church but is then forced to convince the selection board that her nonconformist family is up to snuff.  Co-starring Richard Chamberlain, Emily Deschanel, and Jason Ritter, this independent dramedy sounds decent.  Critics are split on it - some singling out Turner's work, others not quite on board with the handling of tone and the tidy resolution. 

I don't have much to write about today, but I will add that, once again, I think you should check out my wife's blog.  She has posted quite a bit recently, particularly in regards to the hoopla surrounding the $120 million dollar sale of Munch's The Scream.  

Here is her website again:

http://arthistorymusings.tumblr.com/ 

And happy would've-been-79th birthday to North Georgia's funkiest, the late James Brown (1933-2006).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1Qr8NMDtN8 

One of his better songs.

Next time, Julia and I are in Augusta, we'll try to find the riverfront statue dedicated to the hometown boy.
(That is, if we don't spend too long in 2nd and Charles!)

Glorious May

Word of the day : cachinnate : to laugh loudly or immoderately

Congrats to my beautiful wife, who gave a successful, brilliant talk the other night at Georgia Southern's Great Mind series.  She's so intelligent and learned!

And, yep, a new month means 10 more selections to Charles' 200 Essential Films.  Here's the latest crop:

About a Boy  (2002, Chris Weitz, Paul Weitz)

                            A movie impossible to dislike, a note-perfect adaptation of Nick Hornby's novel, with Hugh Grant ideally cast as the lazy lothario who becomes a father figure to the bullied son of a wristcutter (Toni Collette).  Funny, appealing as hell, with somber notes of truth, and a great climax involving a talent-show performance of Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly."  



E.T.  (1982, Steven Spielberg)
                            A great fable about friendship and the wonders of childhood, with timeless Spielbergian themes (absent parents, obsession, fantasy solace in wonder and fantasy) and indelible, eternal images (the bicycle across the moon, Reese's Pieces). 


Holiday  (1938, George Cukor)
                            From the play by Philip Barry comes the film version, and, as a vehicle for Kate Hepburn and Cary Grant, I think it's even better than the same year's Bringing Up Baby.  Priceless, intelligent dialogue is abundant throughout, but it's the touching give-and-take connection between Grant, as a man who wants to take time off from his career, from the rat race, and, as the sister of Grant's fiancee and the only one who really, truly believes in him, Hepburn.                                

Invasion of the Body Snatchers  (1956; Don Siegel
                                                                and
                                                        1978; Philip Kaufman)
                            My pick for the best film-and-remake tandem in sci-fi history.  The original was a dastardly good parable (from Jack Finney's story) about McCarthyism and the blandness of American relationships.  The equally sinister, terrifying remake was set in a free-love San Francisco, with Kaufman's rolling camerawork and a beautiful performance by Donald Sutherland as a Health Inspection bureaucrat who comes to the realization that his colleagues are acting very, very hollow.  Heck, even the 1994 and 2007 remakes were decent!   

    
Jaws  (1975, Steven Spielberg)
                             John Williams' ominous, foreboding score.  Robert Shaw's nearly on-the-spot tale of the fate of the USS Indianapolis sailors.  The woman clinging to the buoy in the opening moonlight.  Roy Scheider hanging onto the mast of the sinking ship.  Oh, yeah - "You're gonna need a bigger boat," too.  

Nashville  (1975, Robert Altman)
                             A one-of-a-kind Altman panorama of a group of hangers-on and others in the country music business: Lily Tomlin, Keith Carradine, Henry Gibson (in one of his only non-creepy-dwarf roles), Ned Beatty, Jeff Goldblum, Ronee Blakley, Scott Glenn - done in typical, influential Altman fashion - which means you'll either love it or hate it.

Short Cuts  (1993, Robert Altman)
                             Altman meets the stories of Raymond Carver - which means you're going to get a menagerie of rambunctious, boozy, dour, uniquely Californian denizens - Lily Tomlin, Tom Waits, Robert Downey Jr., Madeleine Stowe, Lyle Lovett, Chris Penn, Fred Ward, Matthew Modine, Jack Lemmon, Julianne Moore - in what I think is Altman's finest achievement.  It is very much a director's film all the way.

Taxi Driver  (1976, Martin Scorsese)    

                             "You talkin' to me?"    

Up  (2009, Pete Docter, Bob Peterson)
                             There's nothing as poignantly adult that has emerged from the Disney/Pixar wizards - perhaps outside of the death of the Bambi's momma - as the four-minute montage detailing the death of Carl's wife and the aftermath of his grief.      


Moving on in our quest for 100 influential photographers:

Chuck Close (#31)

The Wisconsin-born Close (b. 1940) attended the University of Washington and Yale.  He is a master photographer, painter, and printmaker.

Here's more about him:
http://www.artsconnected.org/artsnetmn/identity/close.html   (This is a better summary of his technique, style, influences than I could give.) 


His grid techniques are legendary in the field of Photorealism.  He suffers from face blindness, Prospoagnosia -  he is unable to recognize faces.

composer Philip Glass

Monsieur Pitt

History

Today, let's take a brief look at the Spanish-American War of 1898.

What started it?

Well, officially it began when 266 Americans were killed in an explosion on the battleship USS Maine in Havana Harbor.

What did Havana have to do with it?

At the time, Cuba was ruled by Spain.  Cubans, particularly the rebels within the country, wanted to be independent, free of Spain.  There were no conclusive results as to what caused the explosion.  Again: There is no evidence that Spain was actually behind this. 


So why war?

"Yellow journalism" was rampant in the U.S.  The American newspapers of Joseph Pulitzer (the New York World) and William Randolph Hearst (New York Journal) specialized in sensationalism,frenzied articles,  intrigue, drama - and they egged on a jingoistic, pro-war nationalism.  Readers started the cry "Remember the Maine!"   


Who was the U.S. president at the time?    

William McKinley.

When was war declared?  

By Spain, April 24, 1898.  By the U.S, one day later.  Spain wasn't crazy about the U.S. supporting Cuban independence.

Where was the war fought?