Random Thoughts 10/22/10

• How does M. Night Shyamalan keep getting work?  By my count he hasn't made a good movie in 11 years.
• I used to listen to NPR on my radio through the night, every night, growing up.  I haven't listened to it much as an adult but I'm done for sure now.  Firing the liberal but honest Juan Williams was the worst kind of censorship and attack on free speech that I can think of.  What mindless politically correct fools they are; NPR deserves to be de-funded.
• Way to go unions!  Apparently, the Hobbit films have a green light (and a $500 million budget) but the stupid strike and black-listing by the actor's union have soured the studios on New Zealand, where the Lord of the Rings movies were made.  For fans, New Zealand is Middle Earth but now the studio heads have all but pulled the plug on making the movie in that country.  Peter Jackson is desperately trying to fix it and went on New Zealand television to call out the head of the union for sticking a finger in the eye of the studio which has other attractive options on the table.  Hope that strike was worth it, when thousands of New Zealand film workers end up unemployed!
• Some movies I've seen recently:  Mildred Pierce (1945) – This was a great film noir murder mystery revolving around a mother (Joan Crawford) who can't please her spoiled daughter.  Worth watching, for sure.  Cats (1998) – The show was half over before I "got it."  There's barely five minutes of plot in Cats, and the first act is entirely introducing various characters, which–follow me here–is the whole point.  The show is an anthology of observations, giving commentary on both real life cats and us humans.  Cute, a little lot weird, very artsy, but enjoyable as long as you weren't looking for one of those plot-thingies.   Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) – This movie wasn't half as offensive or un-Biblical as I expected it to be.  The movie's dialog is a bit censored compared to the more blasphemous stage version but the show is deliberately unfinished, dodging the answer to its most famous questions:  "Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ; Who are you? What have you sacrificed?"  If the movie didn't end before getting to the Resurrection, the song would have its answer.
• The X-37B is a top-secret military unmanned miniature space shuttle.  It stays in space for months at a time and can change orbits to deploy, fix, or possibly destroy satellites.  There's been one in orbit for about six months now and is proving difficult to track.  Fascinating bit of tech right there.