In response to The wheel of history turns:

Sorry, John, most of this is just general and not really directed to you.  You just stepped on my Bugaboo.  Well, you didn't step on it.  You sort of looked like you might step on it, so of course I must overreact.

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In response to I Don't Think People Can Be Reduced That Much to Political Stereotypes:

I don't think "pining for a bygone era" is quite the right way to put it, Ace.  I think it's more like the recognition that it's not entirely bygone - that the wheel of history turns, and everything old comes back again.  The alien nature of the setting, in either a historical drama or the sci-fi you mentioned, also highlights the things we recognize.

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In response to The "Downton Abbey" phenomenon:

I don't watch Downton Abbey so I am really out of my depth here, but I imagine conservatives watch it for almost the same reasons liberals watch it: It's an interesting situation and the characters seem real.

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I overheard Rush blurting out some big "Downton Abbey" spoilers on the air today.  I'm not sure if the Spoiler Statute of Limitations has expired yet, as it hasn't been a full week since the finale for American viewers.  I have never made so much as a Twitter reference to a plot twist from a TV show less than one month old without someone angrily shouting "SPOILERS!"  I guess that's a consequence of the VCR-DVR-Video On Demand era.  In the old days, pretty much everyone who was going to see Sunday night's season finale of a TV show saw it on Sunday night

I once joked that Jonah Goldberg of National Review and I were going to become the founders, and pretty much sole members, of the conservative "Downton Abbey" fan club, but boy were we wrong.  Fellow righties came flying in from all around to declare they were fans of the show too, and not just because their Significant Others made them watch it.  I detected a bit of that girlfriend-loves-this-show sheepishness at first, but it's now completely evaporated.

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Been a fan of Brian Regan's forever, and have been waiting for just as long for him to breakthrough in the same way Jerry Seinfeld and Ray Romano did. The guy's absolutely hilarious, swears as little as Bill Cosby, and as far as I know, stays away from divisive political and social stuff.

Pure talent and his own singular style.

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Blurays arrived today: "The Robe" (1953), "The Passion of the Christ" (2004), "Quo Vadis" (1951), and "Ben-Hur" (1925 & 1959). I already own the DVDs, but find that older titles -- especially filmed in Technicolor -- look magnificent on Bluray. "The Robe" (the first feature filmed in widescreen  Cinemascope) should look amazing.  (The DVDs are donated to my church library.)

It might seem shallow watching Hollywood blockbusters during the holy season of Lent, especially fictional ones (all but "The Passion" are fictions set against religious and secular history), but isn't it the themes that matter?

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That's the title of a movie streaming on Netflix.

I've never seen it.

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In what can only be described as the greatest news ever, Kristin Wiig will appear in the (very) long awaited new season of Arrested Development.  Wiig will play a young Lucille Bluth (does it get any better!?!?) 

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In response to Washington DC: Hollywood for Ugly People:

I also wonder if filmmakers have realized that simply having a good movie is no longer enough for an Oscar nod.  The Academy has become so liberal that a movie must have a political message or spark some sort of political action in order to get their attention.

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The campaign for an Oscar is taking on a new meaning, as stops in D.C. are becoming the norm.  The Hill is reporting that "stars and directors from at least four Oscar-nominated films have stopped in the nation’s capital to tout a cause, mention their movie and get some free publicity in the process."

As the media continually mocks the right for being idiots, this phenomena seems to have escaped their attention:

Bradley Cooper of “Silver Linings Playbook” and director David O. Russell met with Vice President Biden earlier this month — to discuss mental illness. The cast of “Beasts of the Southern Wild” visited the White House last week — for a discussion with students. Both films are up for Best Picture.

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