Jack Palance Makes Everything Alright

Submitted by cobwebsandstrange on 12/15/08 5:15am

Elia Kazan is known for two things: making movies and ratting folks out to HUAC. We’re only gonna talk about the first thing here.

The 1950 film Panic in the Streets was Kazan’s first of many successes during the decade and also in some ways presaged On the Water Front which would be released a scant four years later. A character in Panic at one point even utters the phrase, “We’ve already combed the water front.” But both films involve the docks in various ways and here Kazan seemed to work out the scenery and different ways to play with the physical nature of that space.

Noir is generally dependent upon setting – which is why the docks work out as a location. But the Richard Widmark character, Dr. Clinton Reed, lives in the suburbs surrounded by family and all too friendly neighbors. Needless to say, there are portions of this flick that don’t fit seamlessly into the strictest definition of the genre. Yet, considering the frequency by which we see Widmark in noir related films, his presence does lend an air of suspense to the proceedings. And perhaps that’s a better way to categorize this flick, despite the DVD case clearly proclaiming “FOX FILM NOIR.”

Compounding that issue of setting in Panic is the fact that Widmark isn’t a cop, detective or criminal – he’s a federal employee working on public health. Here too Kazan’s stable of writers decide to differentiate their film from the general perception of what a noir film should be.

However, the presence of Jack Palance (as the villain of course) easily nullifies any deviation from the accepted mores of filmic definition. His scowl, being dressed in a black shirt constantly, towering over Zero Mostel – everything the man does in this film is intimidating in one way or another (as an aside though, there is a scene where Palance is eating with friends and manages to drop food all over the table – and no I don’t know why that shot was kept in).

With these basic characters in place, the police seek two men who murdered an anonymous immigrant that was carrying the plague. The cops need to find the perpetrators on two counts: the murder of this immigrant man and because Palance and his cohort may be carrying the disease. There’s a general sense of doom surrounding the pursuit of these men – there are time constraints after all.

Perhaps using time as a catalyst to work non-stop, the Widmark character goes two days without seeing his family, working at a hectic pace. After countless hours of canvassing any bar or restaurant that these men could have gone, and exhausting every interview prospect, the conclusion of the film comes down to a coincidence that occurs everyday in real life – sometimes you just run into somebody. That of course doesn’t inoculate the entire population of a major metropolitan city or actually put the criminals in custody.

You’ll just need to watch Jack Palance climb a rope as if he were in middle school gym class to find out what happens in the end.

3 and 13 ?

Submitted by jemanji on 12/15/08 4:55am
In preseason, my son John and I were wondering if it wasn't going to be a big year for the Seahawks. Lofa Tatupu thought so: towards the end of the exhibition year, he 'challenged' his teammates on defense to post -- wait for it -- five (5) shutouts. His teammates kind of laughed, by all accounts, but they were obviously brimming with confidence going into the season, also. Now, this is a team that shared with (IIRC) the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts the distinction of having made five consecutive playoff appearances. The 2007 team won 10 games, won huge against the Redskins by 35-14, and lost to the Packers mostly because their small, fast defense skidded around in the Green Bay snow. What was the difference between the 2008 Seahawks and the 2007 version? They got rid of Shaun "head for OB" Alexander and his 3.5 average, and supposedly added a little defense. Which of you amigos picked them for the worst season? What did you call, an 8-8 season? ...............

Cindy watched a game-and-a-half, declared "3 and 13," and never watched another minute of the season. (That's unusual for her. Eat your heart out, amigos.) Come on. It's pretty much the same roster.  I can see an explanation for a drop from "excellent team" to "mediocre team". But the Seahawks have been outplayed, badly, in one game right after another. How do you go from playoffs-every-year to ... this? They've had injuries.  Especially, early on, I thought that the loss of the starting WR's was big.  But the Seahawks have had serious injuries before.  They didn't go 4-and-12.  The 2008 Seahawks were a joke from first snap to last. .................... I went out to dinner with an ex-football player, a true champion, a guy who had played on champions, and asked him that. Instantly, without the slightest hesitation, he nodded with vigor and said, "what people who don't play, do not realize, is that EVERYBODY OUT THERE IS THE SAME SIZE AND SPEED." ... that the first thing we would notice on a football field, if we were on it, is that the other 11 guys look just like you do, run just like you do, hit just like you do and play just like you do. "The difference is mental," he said. One team scores 34 points to the other team's 13 points NOT because its wide receivers run the 100 in 0.2 seconds less. One team scores 34 because it thinks differently out there. .................. I asked about this being Holmgren's last year. "Picture it this way," he said. "You're a sophomore for the UW Huskies, and it's early in the season, and you do something that the coach doesn't like, and he glares at you. "If that coach is there for the next five years, all you need is to get a little bit on his bad side and your career is over. "But if you know he is playing out the string, and the defensive coordinator takes over next year, you don't care NEARLY as much whether the coach liked what you did on the last play. "It totally robs you of your mental aggressiveness, to be playing for a lame-duck coach." ............. What in the world the Seahawks were thinking, keeping Mike Holmgren on after they cut off his, er, thumbs, is anybody's guess. But they have been justly penalized. One thing that you like, going forward:  the hardest part of building a winner, is getting the quarterback who can see the field.  Hasselbeck has several good years left.  You give a LOT of coaches a top-notch West Coast quarterback, and they can figure out the rest. .............. I asked the guy whether he thought Mora Jr. could coach. "Don't know." BABVA, jemanji image:  http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0b6G5FS8iVe2D/610x.jpg

bycycle wheel shakes

Submitted by mous on 12/15/08 4:37am
my rear wheel shakes from side to side. the bolt holding it on the frame is tight and i cant seem find the problem

An Introduction Riding In On A White Horse

Submitted by msarko on 12/15/08 4:07am
Hello, bonjour, buenos dias, guten tag, zdrastuvoy, konichiwa, etc, etc. Welcome to Foreign Entertainment, a blog dedicated to importing the wide world of non-US art and media to audiences who may never have found it otherwise. Today, you can call me Mikhail Leonardovich. Put on your warmest coat because we're traveling to Russia, home of some of the finest art, music and cinema that doesn't get wide distribution in the Anglophone world. Yozhik v Tumane, aka "Hedgehog in the Fog" is a unique work of animation from 1975. Written by Sergei Kozlov and directed by Yuriy Norshteyn, it is a surreal and occasionally frightening take on the otherwise familiar modes of a children's story. Our protagonist, Yozhik (Hedgehog) is on his way to have tea with his friend, Bear Cub. The art and pacing encourage a feeling of panic and steadily creeping paranoia. In the first few seconds of the film, we see Yozhik running across hills rather than strolling along a well-lit road. It's fairly obvious that he belongs to a much more difficult world. He runs through a disorienting sequence while telling himself how calm his tea time with Bear Cub will be, though none of the visual clues are at all reassuring. As night falls, Yozhik stumbles into a foggy forest where he sees a beautiful white horse grazing. While this is ostensibly a children's cartoon, Yozhik v Tumane establishes its dark undertones early with lines like, "I wonder... if the horse lies down to sleep, will it choke in the fog?" It's easy to project a cautionary moral onto this film. Yozhik, however nervous, descends into the fog himself out of an infatuation with the horse. Depending on the viewer, this can be a story about lust, temptation, recklessness, curiosity, or the dangers of striking out on one's own into alluring but unfamiliar territory. Unlike most fables, Yozhik v Tumane is roundly ambiguous to the very end. The protagonist is accosted by a variety of creatures, none of which have clear motives. None of them harm him, though there's no guarantee that none of them have the intention of harming him. An owl occasionally pops up behind Yozhik, a dog stalks from far away before showing a hint of benevolence. Most disconcertingly, when it appears that all is lost and Yozhik will drown in a river, a creature hidden below the surface offers itself as a raft, never to reveal itself or its impetus. The murky visuals and shuddering protagonist keep Yozhik v Tumane far away from the all's-well conventions familiar to Western audiences who grew up with Disney. Yozhik never smiles, never gives a warranted sigh of relief. In the end, rather than interpreting his survival as proof that the world and all those in it are basically good, Yozhik sits wide-eyed by a fire, unable to fully engage in small talk. He has undergone a transformative experience that shook him at the outset and never quite left his thoughts thereafter. The dream-like feel of Yozhik v Tamane is the result of mixed-media stop motion animation. Using such diverse materials as glass and paper to create the desired effects, Norshteyn produced one of the most enduring, internationally beloved shorts in history. Though the darkness and complexity may have kept this gem away from some audiences in their early years, it's never too late to discover something unique and captivating.

Beaked Whales: First Marine Mammal to Use Secondary Sexual Selection in Mating

Submitted by hellenwyeth on 12/15/08 1:43am
The rarely seen beaked whales have scientists talking. Mostly found only as carcasses washed ashore leading to their discovery in the first place, researchers have been doing some testing pertaining to their teeth and the connection with breeding. Scientists presume that their teeth have evolved as secondary traits to help females select males of the right species. These whales are identical and the only difference in gender is teeth or tusks. Females can distinguish breed as well as gender since each breed of beaked whales has their own distinctive set of teeth and tusks.
 
Teeth in the beaked whales are something worth researching as it is since it is not known exactly why they have them in the first place which led to this study. A beaked whale's diet seems to mainly consist of squid making their particular tooth structure and tusks unnecessary for their survival. In some species of the beaked whale their teeth actually make it more difficult for them to eat since they can wrap around the upper jaw only allowing them to open their mouths slightly. Female beaked whales however do not show their teeth at all.
 
The research team on this project took DNA samples from 14 beaked whale species to create a family tree showing just how the various species had developed over time. The timeline closely showed how the female beaked whale was the deciding factor in who was going to continue family line, choosing only to mate with male beaked whales that met certain criteria. Studies showed that the female beaked whales used the shape of the teeth to select their males of the right species to mate with. It is speculated that they may also choose mates based on the size or shape of the individuals teeth or of the scars they bear.
 
Beaked whales, when choosing their females, will fight if needed. Through these mating battles, the males are left with massive scars marking them and giving them another distinguishing mark for females to tell them apart from the others. Scientists think that these scars are also a determining factor in the females choice in a mate as well as the shape and size of their tusks. Beaked whales that had a fair amount of scaring seemed to have a better chance at winning over the female. As most species go, only the strongest survives and the beaked whales prove no different when it comes to choosing the very best for reproduction in their line of species.
 
Once the family tree was laid out in a timeline for researchers to look at, the data showed that the more successful males were the ones with the shape of teeth most characteristic of that particular species ensuring that the shapes are preserved and even enhanced over evolutionary time making this a secondary sexual characteristic. This is amazing to researchers as this is the first time that secondary sexual selection has been shown to have shaped the evolution of any marine mammal on earth.

Got Cellulite? Try a Cellulite Cream!

Submitted by Michael Jon Lazar on 12/15/08 1:04am

If you are suffering from the appearances of cellulite on target areas of your body, you may want to try adding a cellulite cream to your efforts of eradicating this nuisance. Cellulite affects millions of people around the world every day. It starts to form during our youth, when it is covered up by supple and younger skin. But as time passes, the cellulite can become more plainly visible, and can really put a mental damper on the confidence of the many people who suffer from the appearances of cellulite on their body; namely women and their outfit selections.

Do Cellulite Creams Work?

The newer cellulite creams that are coming to the market are now using patented, and most often, clinically proven blends of proprietary ingredients that do work to get rid of cellulite on your body. They are able to accomplish this rather lofty goal by targeting the key areas—massaged into the skin—and increasing the burning of free fatty acids, as well as decreasing the production of fat in the area.

How fast do Cellulite Creams Work?

Most cellulite creams will promise results within the first three months. It does take some time for them to penetrate the skin and burn up the fat. The best way to see the best results is to use a cellulite cream in combination with your other efforts to get rid of cellulite. Balance your diet and eradicate unnecessary fat intake. Target cellulite areas during your workout and use a clinically proven cellulite cream, and you can erase cellulite in a matter of a few short months.

Spa Treatments are Amazing! But are They Worth the Cost Versus Results Seen?

Submitted by Michael Jon Lazar on 12/15/08 12:58am

I am sure that many of you who find yourselves reading this blog have experienced a trip to the spa before, and received a relaxing facial, or body wrap or massage. And if you have, or even if you have not, a trip to the spa is an amazing experience, lavish, decadent, relaxing, pampering, and simply awesome. Of course, you get what you pay for, most certainly. But many spa treatments promise that your skin will be amazing afterwards, and that by frequenting their spa your skin will always stay firm, elastic and supple, which is true, but can really become costly over time.  True this is, but at what costs? If you were to visit a spa once per week for a facial, you would spend nearly $400 per month assuring that your skin was youthful and glowing. My wife is a skin care professional—and has worked in the spa industry for years, so this is first hand information here—you don’t have to shell out hundreds per month on spa trips to make your skin look and feel amazing.

The more affordable substitute

Rather, use effective and more affordable, clinically proven wrinkle creams and eye creams to achieve the same results. The best eye creams and wrinkle treatments cost about the same as one trip to the spa for a full month supply. You can easily cut your skin care costs to 1/4th by substituting the frequency of your spa trips for proper facial hygiene, including using the right cleansers and sunscreens, and effective wrinkle and eye creams that show results within the first month.

Does your cat like to hang upside down?

Submitted by Michael Jon Lazar on 12/15/08 12:47am
Okay, this is a weird anomaly, at least I think so. I have a very eccentric, lovable and cuddly kitten that loves to curl up, snuggle, is very fond of laps and is indeed, a fantastically tempered cat. But he does one thing that I find to be very uncharacteristic of cats: he likes to hang upside down from my arms. Not once in a while, but all of the time. He will jump up into my arms for a cuddle, and then wiggle his butt and his body so he overhangs my arm. He even sleeps on his back most of time, looking up at the ceiling. Is this abnormal behavior for a cat? To sleep upside down, enjoy hanging upside down, and so on? The Upside-Down Loving Kitten It has gotten to be so frequent, in fact, that now he will jump up into my arms and immediately try to hang upside down. I will droop him over my arms and then support his head with my other hand and arm. He will do this several times per day, and likes for me to walk around with him like this, so he can view the entire world upside down. Is my cat a Regenerated Possum? Here is the conclusion that I have been so far able to digest: I think he was a possum or something similar in a former life; if cats have former lives, I know that they already have nine of them. But the upside down loving cat is a mystery to me. I have had plenty of cats during my life, but have had none that so loved this possum aperture to the extent that my kitten does.

The Difference Between a Good Landlord and Slum Lord

Submitted by Michael Jon Lazar on 12/15/08 12:41am
There are so many horror stories out there about renters who had the worst experience possible when renting a home. And not surprisingly, many of the bad stories tend to relate to horrible landlords, better know by most as slum lords. These are folks that will take your money, not maintain the property and evict you if you fail to pay or pay late. Nice people huh? So if you find yourself wondering if you have a good landlord or a bad landlord, there are some things that you can do to figure this out. The below paragraphs should help you determine what kind of rental situation that you are in. A Good Landlord A good landlord always makes sure that the home is maintained. The property looks great and if you have a problem you call them and they send somebody out to fix it. A good landlord makes sure that they take care of their renters. They assure that your experience while in their home is the best that it possibly can be. A good landlord will compensate you for problems by reducing your rents. A good landlord will even offer to replace the carpets and repaint the walls after a few years. A good landlord is hard to find indeed. A Bad Landlord A bad landlord does not care about the property or your problems while staying there; they care only about your monthly rent check. A bad landlord is hard to get a hold of. They do not return calls and they drag out problems. A bad landlord takes their sweet time to fix problems and typically is very cheap when it comes to fixing the problems so the problems usually occur again. A bad landlord, unfortunately, is easy to find. 

Is Man’s Best Friend Really a Dog?

Submitted by Michael Jon Lazar on 12/15/08 12:41am
Ah Dogs and cats, forever friends and equally enemies – in many cases that is. But is a dog man’s best friend, really? I actually happen to own a long haired tabby named Migs – because he is silver and streaks across the house faster than a Russian Mig Fighter Jet. But, I also own a full grown Timber wolf, yes wolf, and a full grown Lab, and mind you, my cat and my dog, and my wolf, are all the best of friends, so no worries, there. The wolf even lets the cat eat out of his dish and drink water out of his dish, and will even drop pieces of food for the cat to share. How cute. But the point that I am getting at is that cats are equally, if not more so, affectionate as dogs. My purpose with this blog is to plainly exclaim that dogs and cats are both men’s best friend. My cat will find me several times throughout the day (I work from home) he needs cuddles, he needs love, he gives me kisses aplenty on my hands. He likes to sleep under the covers with me at night, and he is always there. So are my dogs. But, the cat seems more affectionate than my dogs at some times. Cats are just as gently, more agile than and as sensitive as dogs. They learn as fast, sometimes faster. They are always checking up on us to make sure we are okay. When we are sad they cuddle us. When we are happy they play with us. They are indeed our best friends.

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