People in America who oppose big government may often feel as though they might want to “get out.” However, where can one go?

Not Australia.

First, they killed the real Crocodile Dundee, now they hound Paul Hogan.

I searched for this film on the web a few years ago, along with a few other shorts that I loved from filler spots on cable; but I found nothing at the time. Before Juno and Thank You for Smoking, Jason Reitman made this short film. It stars Richard Speight Jr., an actor who played a small role in Thank You for Smoking, as its protagonist; and Jeff Witzke, a contributor to Juno, as his main antagonist.

I recommend it not for its view of “metaphysics” or cosmology, but for its attitude. If you liked Juno or Thank You for Smoking (fairly different films), or even if you attempt to catch all of Shelley Berman’s performances, then you might like this. At any rate it only runs a little over 16 minutes.

Enjoy your independence, but most importantly: Beat the System!!!!

Another big loss . . .

Good bye, Hippy Dippy Weatherman.

Although I often watched Harvey on the old Carol Burnett show, I remember him best as Hedley Lamarr, the “villain” in Mel Brooks’ classic comedy Blazing Saddles:

In The Know: Are Politicians Failing Our Lobbyists?

Paddy Chayefsky wrote screenplays — some original writing, some screen adaptations — for some of my favorite films, that I have already reviewed, e.g. Paint Your Wagon and The Americanization of Emily.

I offer this segment from another Chayefsky favorite, which I have not yet reviewed.

A true classic has lasting relevance.

Howard Beale’s short speech alone still qualifies this movie as a classic.

When I return to writing movie reviews, I will cover Network and recommend it highly.

I often enjoy Annalee Newitz’s commentary at io9. It makes its way into Ender’s Review often. While browsing through the postings at io9 this week I came upon this.

Of course, like with The Matrix — which used AI constructs to portray agents of the power elite — Hollywood wouldn’t go for a more explicit form. Even V for Vendetta was set in England, and not the current seat of empire on the Potomac. However, They Live, in parodying the Reagan/Bush years, captures much of the ideological milieu of today’s Republican regime. Here’s a different clip than the one at the link above:

The outlook given in They Live maintains an attitude of skepticism about “free enterprise.” Of course, looking around at the world in the movie, or the one today, ought to make people skeptical about the ruling elite. However, truly free markets have little to do with either the movie’s or today’s actual world. I agree with Annalee: They Live merits a full viewing.

Onion News Network panelists discussion….

In The Know: How Can We Make The War In Iraq More Eco-Friendly?

No, not the Etta James song . . .

I suppose it makes sense now that the media giants have a new contract with writers and fairly thorough penetration for the DVD sets containing many of their most popular old TV series, that they would start to stream some of them on the ‘net.

All of you ST:TOS fans can find the complete selection of episodes available. Of course, unlike the DVD sets these have commercials, and unfortunately not those originally aired with the episodes.

I liked ST:TOS quite a bit when it was first run. We own copies of the DVD sets. However, my latest gift requests have been for Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone on DVD. So far, I have the first three seasons, but I suspect more will appear as I watch what I already have.

The advantage of having them available online lies in being able to recommend particular episodes, such as this one, which stars the great Burgess Meredith in perhaps the best of his many Twilight Zone appearances.

Please enjoy!

Almost a month has passed since I put up an entry last. I have several excuses, but I want to post a short explanation today and get to some better posts in the next few days. About the time of my last post Wally Conger tagged me with a “meme” and I will post a response to that before long. I’ve been thinking about it the entire time.

Besides making substantive changes in how I gather the items which go into Ender’s Review — which has been fun, but also took time — we have been in the midst of one of the early projects in our house remodeling.

As Wally recently went through something similar, he should understand. We now have a new hardwood stairway and upstairs hall as a result of that project, but other house projects remain for later this year.

I shall post more soon.