Other Random Posts

Fiddler on the Roof

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I watched the first half of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF with my ten-year-old daughter tonight. It’s a magnificent movie —  tragic, exuberant, funny, heart-warming, provocative and ultimately life-affirming. It’s probably the 100th time I’ve seen the movie (not counting the times I’ve seen the play staged) and it never loses its power — and not just as a entertainment. I admire FIDDLER ON THE ROOF for the lessons it allows us to convey to our children, how it gets them thinking about things. Few movies today have that kind of impact.

I had to stop the movie several times to answer my daughter’s serious questions. We talked about what traditions are, why they are important, and why they change. We talked about our family history, about how her great-grandparents immigrated here from Russia…and why they had to. And we talked about racism and hatred and what freedom means.

She wanted to know why there are wars. Why people hate others for their beliefs or their skin color. And why we invaded Iraq. I wish I could say I had wise answers to all her questions. I didn’t. All I could do was tell her what I believed, and what I knew, and that she would have to come to her own conclusions. Tomorrow, we’ll watch the rest of the movie and she’ll ask me lots of questions. I’m looking forward to it.

TV: The Last Hope for Dying Franchises?

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The release of the flop WALKING TALL TV series on DVD got me wondering about something…maybe you can help me. 

Off the top of my head, I can’t think of an instance where a theatrical franchise (ie a series of films) that has played itself out on the big screen has successful re-invigorated itself on TV.  PLANET OF THE APES, SHAFT, WALKING TALL, GIDGET, and POLICE ACADEMY, for example, all failed as TV series, lasting a season or less (SHAFT and WALKING TALL even had the stars of the movies in the series). Even TV series based on busted franchises in name only, like  NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET and FRIDAY THE 13th, also tanked.  Can you think of a movie franchise that successfully made the transition to TV and found a second life?

The only one that comes to mind is INDIANA JONES, but even that doesn’t count. The INDIANA JONES franchise hadn’t played itself out and wasn’t going to TV for one, last-gasp chance at resurrection. THE SAINT, TARZAN, LASSIE and THE LONE RANGER were all a series of movies before jumping to TV, yet I don’t think they were really direct continuations of the theatrical franchises…though I could be wrong.

Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah

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It sure is convenient for us families of mixed religions when the holidays fall on the same day.  Our family got together a few days ago in La Quinta for an early holiday (for various logistical reasons) at my Mom’s house. But this morning it was just me, my wife Valerie, and my daughter Madison opening presents under the "Holiday" tree.

We got Maddie a kick-ass digital camera that makes ours look like a shoebox camera (and is about 1/4 the size and a 1/4 as expensive), the pair of Ugg boots she’s been wanting, and some DVDs and books that were on her list. She got us some chocolate bars, some home-made artwork, and a pack of one-of-a-kind gift certificates good for things like reading me a story, making diner, a week of doing dishes, and a night of "peace and quiet."

I hope your holiday was a nice as ours. I wish you, and your family, the very best in the new year.

Comment Spam

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Because I have been swamped with porn spam over the last few days, I am reluctantly forced into delaying the posting of comments pending review.  Have no fear — I will continue to allow posts that harshly criticize me, my opinions, and my general lack of talent. I’m only going to delete the spam.

Hopefully, Typepad will soon upgrade their "comments" feature to better filter out the spambots (though I understand that people posting comments through AOL hit a Typepad security filter).