The_Most_Casual_Observer
Tulsa City-County Library
The_Most_Casual_Observer's Completed Shelf
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God's Not DeadGod's Not Dead, DVDA Light in Darkness
DVDDVD
The_Most_Casual_Observer's rating:
Added Jan 10, 2021
Death of A NationDeath of A Nation, DVD
DVD - 2018DVD, 2018
The_Most_Casual_Observer's rating:
Added Jan 10, 2021
Comment:
🐩 Here's how most Americans pronounce "lapdog": "Dih-NESH Duh-SOO-zah."
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Defending President Trump's pronunciation of Thailand as "Thigh-land," Houston-based author Dinesh D'Souza—who was pardoned by Trump in 2018 for election law crimes—claimed that most Americans pronounce it wrong.
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WARNING: Only ten movies, in all time, have been given the dreaded 1/10 rating at Metacritic.com. This movie is one of them.🐩 Here's how most Americans pronounce "lapdog": "Dih-NESH Duh-SOO-zah."
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Defending President Trump's pronunciation of Thailand as "Thigh-land," Houston-based author Dinesh D'Souza—who was pardoned by Trump in 2018 for election law…
The Age of EntitlementThe Age of Entitlement, BookAmerica Since the Sixties
by Caldwell, ChristopherBook - 2020Book, 2020
Added Jan 10, 2021
Comment:
6️⃣0️⃣ All the guys who were too timid to participate during the sixties, now want to claim they were right all along.
The Flight of the PhoenixThe Flight of the Phoenix, DVD
DVD - 2003DVD, 2003
The_Most_Casual_Observer's rating:
Added Jan 10, 2021
Comment:
🛩 A wonderful movie from start to finish. It was later remade, but why would you remake a movie that was just about perfect to begin with?
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One hates to contradict akirakato below, but the German aerospace engineer was played by native German Hardy Krüger, not Dan Duryea.🛩 A wonderful movie from start to finish. It was later remade, but why would you remake a movie that was just about perfect to begin with?
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One hates to contradict akirakato below, but the German aerospace engineer was played by native German…
The Boy Who Came Back From HeavenThe Boy Who Came Back From Heaven, DVDAn Accident, A Miracle, and A Supernatural Encounter With Angels and Life Beyond This World
DVD - 2010DVD, 2010
Added Jan 10, 2021
Comment:
👼 And his name is actually Malarkey! Oh, the jokes just write themselves!
United States of SocialismUnited States of Socialism, BookWho's Behind It. Why It's Evil. How to Stop It
by D'Souza, DineshBook - 2020Book, 2020
The_Most_Casual_Observer's rating:
Added Jan 10, 2021
Comment:
🐩 Here's how most Americans pronounce "lapdog": "Dih-NESH Duh-SOO-zah."
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Defending President Trump's pronunciation of Thailand as "Thigh-land," Houston-based author Dinesh D'Souza—who was pardoned by Trump in 2018 for election law crimes—claimed that most Americans pronounce it wrong.🐩 Here's how most Americans pronounce "lapdog": "Dih-NESH Duh-SOO-zah."
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Defending President Trump's pronunciation of Thailand as "Thigh-land," Houston-based author Dinesh D'Souza—who was pardoned by Trump in 2018 for election law crimes—claimed…
Pervez MusharrafPervez Musharraf, DVD
DVD - 2008DVD, 2008
Added Jan 09, 2021
Comment:
🏅🎖Check out that getup he's wearing! When he leaves office he can always do a walk-on in "The Merry Widow"!
SuspenseSuspense, DVD
DVD - 2009DVD, 2009
The_Most_Casual_Observer's rating:
Added Jan 09, 2021
Comment:
⛸ A young Barry Sullivan plays Joe, who blows into LA broke, and gets a job selling peanuts at a nightclub where the main attraction is Ice Capades-type shows. Apparently this used to be a thing, and it gives an opportunity for the boss's younger wife, played by British skater Belita, to do three big ice skating numbers, like another Sonja Henie. Belita could skate, and read her lines, but acting was a little out of her comfort zone, if you catch my drift. Joe makes a suggestion for a skating act that wins him favor with the boss, and before long he's moving in on the boss's wife, uh oh! The boss perishes in an accident, but before long hints start turning up that maybe he's not as dead as they thought he was. This ground was gone over again in the French classic "Diabolique" to greater effect. To say more would be to give the game away, but a special tip of the Observer's fedora to Karl Struss, the cinematographer, whose lighting can make Barry Sullivan's face change from smooth and relaxed to craggy and threatening, with glowing eyes, in a moment. And it does live up to the title, getting pretty suspenseful at the end. Recommended heartily!⛸ A young Barry Sullivan plays Joe, who blows into LA broke, and gets a job selling peanuts at a nightclub where the main attraction is Ice Capades-type shows. Apparently this used to be a thing, and it gives an opportunity for the boss's younger…
Added Jan 08, 2021
Comment:
🤑 I'm surprised to see Ayn Rand questioned for taking advantage of Social Security benefits. Her philosophy said that there should be no Social Security, that you should stand on your own two feet and rely on your own resources. But, Social Security does exist, and therefore her philosophy, based on the sole principle of self-interest, would logically say you should take advantage of it. It wouldn't say that you should reject SS benefits, based on some other principle. There is no other principle, it's all about what's in it for you, and there can be no better example.🤑 I'm surprised to see Ayn Rand questioned for taking advantage of Social Security benefits. Her philosophy said that there should be no Social Security, that you should stand on your own two feet and rely on your own resources. But, Social…
The Strange Affair of Uncle HarryThe Strange Affair of Uncle Harry, DVD
DVD - 2015DVD, 2015
The_Most_Casual_Observer's rating:
Added Jan 08, 2021
Comment:
☕️ George Sanders, usually cast as a cad, bully, blackguard, and bounder, underplays wonderfully as Harry, a mild-mannered drone, scion of a formerly big-time family in New Hampshire, who now works 9 to 5 designing fabric at the town mill. He lives with (and supports) his sisters in the old family home, but when he gets engaged to a sophisticated New York City girl, it upsets sister Lettie's applecart, and she thwarts the wedding. When Harry figures it out, he plots to kill Lettie, but of course, things don't quite work out as he planned. Geraldine Fitzgerald is a standout as Lettie, in a subtle characterization. Plus, comedy relief from Harry von Zell! The ending, though, also isn't quite what could have been.☕️ George Sanders, usually cast as a cad, bully, blackguard, and bounder, underplays wonderfully as Harry, a mild-mannered drone, scion of a formerly big-time family in New Hampshire, who now works 9 to 5 designing fabric at the town mill. He lives…
The American MiracleThe American Miracle, BookDivine Providence in the Rise of the Republic
by Medved, MichaelBook - 2016Book, 2016
Added Jan 07, 2021
Comment:
🦃 Too bad Medved didn't stick to the career for which he showed so much promise, making fun of bad movies (The Golden Turkey Awards).
Death in VeniceDeath in Venice, DVD
DVD - 2019DVD, 2019
The_Most_Casual_Observer's rating:
Added Jan 05, 2021
Comment:
IT CAN'T BE POSSIBLE to do justice to Thomas Mann's richly textured, classic novella in a movie. However, Visconti has given it a good shot. Bogarde gives a very restrained performance as the tormented composer von Aschenbach, who travels to Venice in search of some west and wewaxation, as Elmer Fudd said, after a heart attack. He finds neither, as the city is full of pestilence and decay, and a doomed obsession with a Polish youth Tadzio, pronounced by his family as Tahd-zhieu, who looks just like me at that age. The obsession with young boys thing is actually just a red herring. That's not what the movie is about at all, and I would wager that if you came to it without having heard of the movie, you'd hardly notice it. Von Aschenbach is tortured by dreams and flashbacks and fantasies, many involving an obnoxious lout called Alfred, and the viewer wonders why he kept this total pain in the ass around. There is little dialog, and the acting is accomplished mainly with facial expression and body language.
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Note the scene in which von Aschenbach's hair dye runs down his face, just like Rudy Giuliani in the present day, and of course they both had Italian barbers. The styles of the early part of the century are depicted beautifully, although I suspect some of the ladies' headgear to be exaggerated. Note the governess' hat with a brim far wider than her shoulders. The music is drawn from Mahler, played at a slower tempo than I'm acquainted with, and sometimes seems as if the action on screen is choreographed to fit the music. I am somewhat flip in discussing the movie, but it's one of the saddest movies ever made. Not the saddest, but in the top ten. It depicts the sadness of ill health, aging, longing for beauty and artistic fulfillment, and I don't know what all else.
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If, like many commenters, you expect movies to hold up likable characters for your admiration, and stories to serve as an instruction manual for how to live your life, you should probably pass this one up. The rest of us, and we know who we are, will find it an engrossing masterpiece that helps you understand the struggles that people face in their own hearts.IT CAN'T BE POSSIBLE to do justice to Thomas Mann's richly textured, classic novella in a movie. However, Visconti has given it a good shot. Bogarde gives a very restrained performance as the tormented composer von Aschenbach, who travels to Venice…
MacArthurMacArthur, DVD
DVD - 2001DVD, 2001
The_Most_Casual_Observer's rating:
Added Jan 04, 2021
Comment:
🎖 Solid, interesting story about the flamboyant general. Eisenhower said he studied dramatics for three years under MacArthur. Peck is terrific, but the movie just doesn't grab you the way "Patton" does.
AnnaAnna, DVD
DVD - 2019DVD, 2019
Added Jan 04, 2021
Comment:
🔫 James Bond only posed with ONE long-barreled pistol!
The_Most_Casual_Observer's rating:
Added Jan 04, 2021
Comment:
🇺🇸 An admirable history, with emphasis on the oppression of some groups by others. Its flaw is the almost complete omission of oppression by private corporate power.
Walk, Don't RunWalk, Don't Run, DVD
DVD - 2003DVD, 2003
The_Most_Casual_Observer's rating:
Added Jan 02, 2021
Comment:
🎞 This disc is a great example of wide-screen vs. fullscreen versions. In the wide-screen presentation, as originally filmed, there's a scene with Eggar and Hutton in the back seat of a car, with Cary Grant in the middle. They're talking to each other, while Grant looks left and right at them, mugging shamelessly. In the "fullscreen" version, the camera shifts back and forth between closeups of Eggar and Hutton, and you don't get to see Grant at all!🎞 This disc is a great example of wide-screen vs. fullscreen versions. In the wide-screen presentation, as originally filmed, there's a scene with Eggar and Hutton in the back seat of a car, with Cary Grant in the middle. They're talking to each…
The FrightenersThe Frighteners, DVD
DVD - 1996DVD, 1996
The_Most_Casual_Observer's rating:
Added Jan 02, 2021
Comment:
👻 Peter "LOTR" Jackson followed some of his early hits with an underappreciated screwball ghost suspense thriller, with Michael J. Fox as an end-of-his-tether ghostbuster who brings his own ghosts along, just in case you haven't got any of your own. He gets in trouble with a ghost who's bumping off the citizens of his seaside town. Fine special effects on top of special effects, a funny script, no slack moments, and Jeffrey "Re-Animator" Combs is a standout as a psycho FBI agent. Plus, Jake Busey channels his old man, and R. Lee Ermey shows you can't get away from your drill instructor, even after he's dead. Recommended by the American Mothers' Horror Appreciation Society.👻 Peter "LOTR" Jackson followed some of his early hits with an underappreciated screwball ghost suspense thriller, with Michael J. Fox as an end-of-his-tether ghostbuster who brings his own ghosts along, just in case you haven't got any of your…
Never Say Never AgainNever Say Never Again, DVD
DVD - 1983DVD, 1983
The_Most_Casual_Observer's rating:
Added Jan 01, 2021
Comment:
🕵️♂️ Sean Connery returns as James Bond to this non-Eon production, which isn't part of the official series. It's a partial remake of "Thunderball," where 007 tries to stop supervillain Emelio Largo of SPECTRE, from setting off a couple of purloined US nuclear warheads, in another Pinky-and-the-Brain plot to take over the world. Plenty of gadgets, action, and lovely ladies in abundance, just as you expect in a JB thriller. Max Von Sydow is the first, but not the last, master villain to carry a cat around. Bond grows older.🕵️♂️ Sean Connery returns as James Bond to this non-Eon production, which isn't part of the official series. It's a partial remake of "Thunderball," where 007 tries to stop supervillain Emelio Largo of SPECTRE, from setting off a couple of…
MoonrakerMoonraker, Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc - 2008Blu-ray Disc, 2008
The_Most_Casual_Observer's rating:
Added Jan 01, 2021
Comment:
🌖 The eleventh 007 adventure, where James Bond attempts to stop supervillain Hugo Drax from starting an authoritarian space colony (Why?). There are motorboats, fist fights, sex, a space station shoot-em-up, and even a gondola chase in Venice. Richard Kiel reprises the role of Jaws. It's amusing to watch, but Roger Moore seems to be phoning it in.🌖 The eleventh 007 adventure, where James Bond attempts to stop supervillain Hugo Drax from starting an authoritarian space colony (Why?). There are motorboats, fist fights, sex, a space station shoot-em-up, and even a gondola chase in Venice.…
The Spy Who Loved MeThe Spy Who Loved Me, DVD
DVD - 2012DVD, 2012
The_Most_Casual_Observer's rating:
Added Jan 01, 2021
Comment:
🚁 Who said the women in Bond movies are incompetent sex objects? Barbara Bach is indispensable in Bond's mission. The tenth in the series of James Bond adventure fantasies, this is one of the best. The great German character actor Curt Jurgens has an underwater city, and intends to steal submarines and use their nuclear missiles to take over the world, another plot stolen from Pinky and the Brain. Richard Kiel is a standout as Jaws, the villain who can withstand any catastrophe without mussing his hair, and in fact turns up again in "Moonraker." There's plenty of smooth action, and junior high quality sex jokes, and you won't be bored. Strapping on the steel-belted radial bikini is Caroline Munro, chasing Bond down in her helicopter.🚁 Who said the women in Bond movies are incompetent sex objects? Barbara Bach is indispensable in Bond's mission. The tenth in the series of James Bond adventure fantasies, this is one of the best. The great German character actor Curt Jurgens has…
The Man With the Golden GunThe Man With the Golden Gun, Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray DiscBlu-ray Disc
The_Most_Casual_Observer's rating:
Added Jan 01, 2021
Comment:
9️⃣ Roger Moore seems bored and distracted in the ninth Bond flick. Scaramanga, the million-buck assassin, fights Bond over some kind of solar laser gismo in the Caribbean. Pretty dull stuff, even the southern sheriff makes a reappearance. Britt Ekland is wonderful to behold, and Peter Sellers agreed. The villainous henchman Nick Nack is played by Herve "De Plane" Villechaize.9️⃣ Roger Moore seems bored and distracted in the ninth Bond flick. Scaramanga, the million-buck assassin, fights Bond over some kind of solar laser gismo in the Caribbean. Pretty dull stuff, even the southern sheriff makes a reappearance. Britt…
The_Most_Casual_Observer's rating:
Added Dec 31, 2020
Comment:
🖼 The book is full of the wonderful short stories of Saki, with satire of British manners and mores galore. A special tip of the Observer's hat to the story of a boy, Conradin, and his ferret, Sredni Vashtar. And another to the novel, "The Unbearable Bassington," which has the most surprising surprise ending he's seen in a while. Notice, I didn't say it was a twist ending...just a surprise.🖼 The book is full of the wonderful short stories of Saki, with satire of British manners and mores galore. A special tip of the Observer's hat to the story of a boy, Conradin, and his ferret, Sredni Vashtar. And another to the novel, "The…
No Higher PowerNo Higher Power, BookObama's War on Religious Freedom
by Schlafly, PhyllisBook - 2012Book, 2012
Added Dec 31, 2020
Comment:
"Chronicles transgressions the authors claim Barack Obama has made as president against religious freedoms, addressing such topics as the Defense of Marriage Act, the abortion debate, and military chaplains."
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Note the misnomer the right uses here. The Defense of Marriage Act would restrict your freedom to marry whomever you want, in the name of a small group of people who think you would be committing a sin, if you married the wrong person. That's religious freedom for you! Freedom for the religious to dictate everything you do. You may need an abortion, but, oh no, that would be sinful. It used to be sinful to marry your deceased wife's sister, and it was actually against the law in many places, including England up until 1907, but sins change, and nobody minds now."Chronicles transgressions the authors claim Barack Obama has made as president against religious freedoms, addressing such topics as the Defense of Marriage Act, the abortion debate, and military chaplains."
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Note the misnomer the right uses…
TomatolandTomatoland, BookHow Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit
by Estabrook, BarryBook - 2011Book, 2011
Added Dec 30, 2020
Comment:
🍅 I blame Texas A&M.
Big Money EnergyBig Money Energy, BookHow to Rule at Work, Dominate at Life, and Make Millions
by Serhant, RyanBook - 2021Book, 2021
Added Dec 30, 2020
Comment:
🤑 I guess now that Trump is thoroughly discredited, the way is open for a new guy to take over the scam.
Comment: