Greg Mitchell's Blog, page 208

Raise High the Box Office, Carpenters

Weinstein company announces it will release this week an updated "special edition" of its not-so-special J.D. Salinger doc, adding detail about his relationship with very young women over the years.  Seems inspired by criticism from one of those women, who is featured in the doc, that the film downplays the emotional damage he did to the women.  Also, Weinstein now promises a drama also on Salinger, pre-Catcher.  Milking it.

Fly Like An Eagle

What you'd see if you could ride on the back of an eagle for a couple of minutes in the mountains.  Don't know back story, but Geek has some here, video below.  We'll presume no-eagles-were-harmed-in-the-making-of-this-film.  No claim yet that it's faked.   You do see a shadow on the ground near the end.  Also hear a couple of little "squawks."  (Note: John Ashcroft's classic tribute, h/t Tommy Vietor.)

Hot Commercial

This heartwarming-plus-noodles Thai TV spot, for a mobile company, is worldwide sensation, with 7.7 million hits in one YouTube version (with subtitles) alone.

Tom Friedman Goes Pink

There have been a lot of classic ledes for Tom Friedman over the year but today's may take the cake--or the Swiss chocolate in this case.  At least he didn't ask the cashier for his common man opinion on a big subject, his usual manner.  Here we go:

I was at a conference in Bern, Switzerland, last week and struggling with my column. News of Russia’s proposal for Syria to surrender its poison gas was just breaking and changing every hour, forcing me to rewrite my column every hour. To clear my head, I went for a walk along the Aare River, on Schifflaube Street. Along the way, I found a small grocery shop and stopped to buy some nectarines. As I went to pay, I was looking down, fishing for my Swiss francs, and when I looked up at the cashier, I was taken aback: He had pink hair. A huge shock of neon pink hair — very Euro-punk from the ’90s. While he was ringing me up, a young woman walked by, and he blew her a kiss through the window — not a care in the world.

Observing all this joie de vivre, I thought to myself: “Wow, wouldn’t it be nice to be a Swiss? Maybe even to sport some pink hair?” Though I can’t say for sure, I got the feeling that the man with pink hair was not agonizing over the proper use of force against Bashar al-Assad. Not his fault; his is a tiny country. I guess worrying about Syria is the tax you pay for being an American or an American president — and coming from the world’s strongest power that still believes, blessedly in my view, that it has to protect the global commons. Barack Obama once had black hair. But his is gray now, not pink. That’s also the tax you pay for thinking about the Middle East too much: It leads to either gray hair or no hair, but not pink hair. 

Why Didn't D.C. Shooter Buy That AR-15?

UPDATE: TPM talked to same lawyer I mentioned below and now he denies that Alexis tried to buy the AR-15.  We'll see if that holds up and NYT corrects story.

Earlier: Interesting media tussle now over the question:   Did Aaron Alexis try to buy an assault rifle at that Virginia shooting range and if he did why didn't he end up with one?   If he did have an AR-15 on MOnday--instead of the shotgun he did buy, with only 24 shells--the death toll almost certainly would have been much higher.

The NYT, as I noted last night, broke the story that he had fired off a few rounds from the assault rifle at the range but was prevented from buying it because Virginia state law restricts such sales to out-of-staters.  So he bought the shotgun.  They even feature the role of the law right in the headline ("State Law Prevented Sale.....")  But a Washington Times reporter, who has used the shooting range in the past, charged  that there is no such law in Virginia and her sources claim Aaron didn't even try to buy the AR-15, and she demanded the Times correct its story.   It has not.   This morning the CBS News site has a story that falls somewhere in-between, stating that he did try to buy weapon but was rebuffed--for an unknown reason.  NBC said a lawyer for the shooting range/gun store said he didn't know if Alexis did try to purchase the AR-15.

Surely the owner of the range will clear this up soon.

Fresh Air from Linda Ronstadt

She sat down with Terry Gross today--yes, she can still talk if not sing--and here's the audio.  Plus a lengthy group of excerpts.  On  men, drugs, sex, Emmylou, Hank Williams, more.  And one of my favorite Linda moments below--back in the days before auto-tuning and fake live singing.

Hipster Cop Returns

The NYT in new piece covers today's Occupy rallies in town, marking the 2nd anniversary, and I'm sure some will complain about the allegedly smallish crowds.  Getting the most attention, however, at the end is:  the return of the famous Hipster Cop, Rick Lee, who actually always just had the cool nickname without really looking like a hipster (left).  The Times offers a full report on what he wore today, down to the Brooks Brothers wingtips.

My book on Occupy was first one and still holds up as only day-by-day record (with hundreds of links) of early days: "40 Days That Shook the World."  

'Life of Brian'--The Blockbuster!

As I requested, the fellow who recently did the epic new trailer for Monty Python's silly Holy Grail as a modern action movie has now returned with a similar action film trailer for the Pythons' Jesus H. Christ masterpiece, Life of Brian!   No Biggus Dickus but still a stroke of genius! 

Men At Work (With Hats)

Interesting upcoming doc on iconic photo that captured immigrants taking lunch atop the skyscraper they were building in NYC in 1932--and the broader picture of such immigrants building 20th century New York.

The Shooting Photo That Wasn't

Yesterday about this time, or earlier, thousands were posting or linking to a photo of what was purported to be a victim of the Navy Yard shooting, prone on a nearby sidewalk.  It was the first image that most--nearly all--people saw.  There were actually two photos, via Tim Hogan, one of them at left.  Now it turns out--the photos captured a unrelated drama.  Not the shootings.  Apologies, including from AP, offered.