“Even old New York was once New Amsterdam…” — we’re apparently celebrating the 400th anniversary of Hudson on the river, with the Dutch monarchy in town.
The president making a speech on telling kids to work hard in school and all that stuff — honestly, it’s either going to bore the kids or inspire them; it’s only the beginning of the school year – and it’s hardly indoctrination of ideology.
Meanwhile, Justice Sotomayor is formally taking her seat on the bench, plus the US Supreme Ct in general is about to face a difficult case with an all-star cast (Theodore Olson, Floyd Abrams, Seth Waxman, and even the new Solicitor General, Elena Kagan, in her first oral argument).
Dare we begin to write in italics, to have a more legible America? Hmm…
As Entertainment Weekly’s Ken Tucker notes: it’s the return of “At the Movies” – with movie critics! A.O. Scott of NY Times and Michael Phillips of Chicago Tribune – the new guys, since the two Bens were ousted (see here on my acknowledging the arrival of the two Bens). Not that there was anything wrong with Ben Mankiewicz (as Tucker noted), but Ben Lyons bore the brunt of the (bad) criticism of his movie criticism ability (he’s not quite like his dad, Jeffrey, apparently; I didn’t hate him, but I didn’t watch the show at all while the Bens were on, so…).
So, thankfully, A.O. Scott and Michael Phillips are At the Movies (considering that they’ve filled in for Ebert when it was the Ebert and Roeper show, they’ve shown they are able folks). I love that the embedded video that Tucker included in his blog, previewing the new show, is all about how Scott and Phillips are Serious Journalists and Longtime Film Critics (totally trying to make up for the whole Ben Lyons thing, no offense intended for the kid, but guess it’s time to find other things to do; I do miss Jeffrey Lyons though).
I watched it an episode this past weekend and it was pretty good, although I’m not sure of their “see it/rent it/skip it” rating (Ebert has the rights to the thumbs up/down thing, so it wasn’t as if they could use it). But, it is great to see Scott and Phillips talking serious (joy or hate) about movies.
I did see “The Time Traveler’s Wife” this weekend; could’ve been a better movie, but was ok. I’ve heard the book was better, but it’s an adaptation; it does what it can do.
Saw “Adam” last week – that was kind of sweet and sad; I think this one and “(500) Days of Summer” are the dark romantic movies of the summer – can’t really say anti-romantic, since they both suggest that it’s better to have loved than to have never loved at all, but they were both bittersweet movies.