I Voted

"Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting." Franklin D. Roosevelt I Voted Like a good senior citizen, I voted early. Civic duty and all that. It felt good. Mess with health care and … Continue reading I Voted →

The College Blues

There's no excuse for the young people not knowing who the heroes and heroines are or were. Nina Simone The College Blues Here at the Profound Bartender, we know the value of music. It keeps the toes tapping and the glasses clinking. It is hard to listen to music now. Harder than ever before. One … Continue reading The College Blues →

Barbarella 1968

"The important thing in writing is the capacity to astonish. Not shock - shock is a worn-out word - but astonish." Terry Southern Barbarella 1968 Aware of this movie but never having seen it, lets take a chance now that it is on cable for free. I was delighted in many ways to see this … Continue reading Barbarella 1968 →

The Unfinished Man

"A young lady is a female child who has just done something dreadful." Judith Martin (Miss Manners) The Unfinished Man Being male, I would never have attended a Finishing School. One guesses that men must be impossibly boorish by nature and have no need to learn manners. The Finishing Schools were popular from the mid-1800s … Continue reading The Unfinished Man →

The Mix Tape

"You need music, I don’t know why. It’s probably one of those Joe Campbell questions, why we need ritual. We need magic, and bliss, and power, myth, and celebration and religion in our lives, and music is a good way to encapsulate a lot of it." Jerry Garcia The Mix Tape Taking songs off of … Continue reading The Mix Tape →

A Star is Born: The Glass Slipper

"Well, nobody's perfect." Some Like It Hot A Star is Born: The Glass Slipper A Star is Born, opening this week, is a remake. This means that we already know the story and we want to see how it plays out. Of interest to me is how will the movie end, how it takes the … Continue reading A Star is Born: The Glass Slipper →

A Star is Born: Anew

“The only “ism” Hollywood believes in is plagiarism.” Dorothy Parker A Star is Born: Anew! This weekend we'll be seeing the opening of the latest version of this story. Actually, it has opened early in New York and some early reviews are out. The machine is rolling forward with positive reviews and looks to be … Continue reading A Star is Born: Anew →

Anticipating Little Women

"Good books, like good friends, are few and chosen; the more select, the more enjoyable." Louisa May Alcott Anticipating Little Women Usually it takes something to pique my interest in the classic books. The New Yorker magazine printed How "Little Women" Got Big last month and I have to thank my brother for paying for … Continue reading Anticipating Little Women →

Madam Satan

"Every time I make a picture the critics' estimate of American public taste goes down ten percent." Cecil B. DeMille Madam Satan The title is not as scary as it seems. It was a film directed by Cecil B. DeMille in 1930. This means that it was a Pre Code movie. Sex, drinking and comedy … Continue reading Madam Satan →

To Revival or Not to Revival, Just A Suggestion

"I always think there's a band, kid." ~Harold Hill, in The Music Man I don’t know much about revivals. Most of my information comes from the movies, like Elmer Gantry, but also from movies like The Apostle with Robert Duvall and Leap of Faith with Steve Martin. These are great films, though Elmer Gantry, with Burt Lancaster … Continue reading To Revival or Not to Revival, Just A Suggestion →