Julie Pacino frightens police

A couple of New York's Finest, aka a pair of beat-walking New York City police officers, got the fright of their lives on Friday night when they stopped and arrested Julie Pacino, the 21-year old daughter of actor Al Pacino, for allegedly driving while intoxicated on West Houston Street, in Manhattan. The young Pacino began screaming loudly and overreacting to a point that was so over-the-top, the officers thought she was suffering some sort of coronary heart failure. "It was the most terrifying moment of my life, as well as possibly the most painfully awkward," said one of the officers.

The Change-Up

In theaters this week is a new film starring Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman. It is the story of an ears, nose, and throat, doctor (played by Reynolds) who meets a down-in-his-luck cub reporter named "Chicago" (played by Bateman). The two find out, through their unlikely friendship, that there exists a pitch which appears to be a fast ball, but actually arrives at a slower speed and throws off the hitter's timing. This film received the highest rating in the history of "Rotten Tomatoes".

Al Gore laughing now

Do you know who Al Gore is? He’s the one who tried to tell everyone about the climate change. But it was just too inconvenient for people to listen. Anyway, turns out it snowed heavily a few times so everybody said old Al was full of hot air, pun very much intended. So the story ends with Al Gore being correct and the city of Baltimore broiling to fare-thee-well with temps hitting the “you’ve got to be s******* me” range. It was a mere 107 at the Inner Harbor this afternoon. I would continue but it’s too hot to continue. While you also are roasting take time to check out what AG is up to these days:


http://climaterealityproject.org/about-us/

Midnight in Paris

Owen Wilson stands in admirably as Woody Allen’s avatar in “Midnight in Paris”, a film that treads down, what are, for Allen, familiar stylistic and thematic paths. The movie abounds in the sumptuous imagery of a city, and is, above all, a panegyric love letter to Paris, inasmuch as “Manhattan” was to Gotham. Like other films in Allen’s oeuvre, (such as “Purple Rose of Cairo”), the movie explores the bittersweet aspect of nostalgia and the longing to be anyplace but the place you are. The story here involves Wilson’s character, a vacationing American, stumbling into a time-warp, which brings him from current-day Paris to Paris of the '20’s "Lost Generation”. Here, the literary and artistic icons of that era appear and interact with Wilson, giving him insight into his art, his relationships, and his existential angst, back in the modern day. Fitzgerald, wife Zelda, Hemingway, Stein, Picasso, Dali, and others, come to life.  The characterizations connect, especially Corey Stoll’s portrayal of Hemingway; gentle satire is made of ‘Papa’s’ excessive machismo and overstated self-absorbed lust for life. Cinematographer Dairius Khonji captures the mesmerizing visual qualities of Paris, especially the chimerical nocturnal landscape, when the Wilson character is back in time. This all adds up to an enjoyable 94 minutes.  At some point, unfortunately, the soul and energy of the film dissipates. Not a great film-but one worth seeing.

Ravens set to begin work; meanwhile, back at the ranch....

The Baltimore Orioles have utterly collapsed after showing potential in the primordial stage of the season. At 39-56, they have more losses than all but three teams in major league baseball. A lack of production from the signed free-agents, the disappointment of the young starting pitchers, and a modicum of depth at all positions (both at the major league and triple-A levels), are considered to be the cause. The commonly understood remedy for the Orioles is to emulate the structure of AL east rival Tampa Rays, as a model of a successful AL east team that is not the juggernauts of market and money known as the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. The paradigm the Rays offer is patience for player development and a greater presence for scouting in Latin America, specifically the talent-rich nation of the Dominican Republic. How the Orioles play out the remainder of the schedule will be a testament to their character and a sign as to whether Showalter's presence is making a difference. 


The answer?

Scout Charm City

Here's this site we found, about a film location's scout here in Baltimore. Here's a screen shot from their site:


ABOUT
I work as a film location scout in Baltimore City. My day is spent combing the streets for interesting and unique locations for feature films. In my travels, I often stumble across some pretty incredible sights, most of which go ignored daily by thousands of Baltimoreans in too much of a rush to pay attention.

As it happens, it's my job to pay attention, and I've started this blog to keep a record of what I see.

Got an interesting or unusual location to submit? Looking for a location for a film shoot or event?

Location ideal for Merchant Ivory period piece

Ideal location for Medieval or fantasy type film

Location ideal for Western

The Decalogue by Krzysztof Kieślowski

Here is another recommendation for your film-viewing enjoyment. It was originally broadcast on Polish TV. Netflix has this, both the theatrical version and the TV version. Rent the TV version. Once again, going to use Wikipedia to describe it:

The Decalogue (Polish: Dekalog) is a 1989 Polish television drama series directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski^[1] and co-written by Kieślowski with Krzysztof Piesiewicz, with music by Zbigniew Preisner.^[2] It consists of ten one-hour films, each of which represents one of the Ten Commandments^[3] (according to their Roman Catholic division) and explores possible meanings of the commandment—often ambiguous or contradictory—within a fictional story set in modern Poland. The series is Kieślowski's most acclaimed work^{[citation needed]} and has won numerous international awards, though it was not widely released outside Europe until the late 1990s.^[4] Filmmaker Stanley Kubrick wrote an admiring foreword to the published screenplay in 1991.^[5]

Surprisingly Terrible Tarantino movie:

A new Quentin Tarantino film to be released next month: “Vainglorious Basterds". In a twist, they don't hunt Nazis. Instead, these five angry gasbags are in the US, fighting against logic and compassion. They bother people by getting in their face. A Quinn Martin production. The Basterds:

yeah, him too

Soaring heat in Baltimore

Sure has been hot over the last couple of days here in Charm city. Hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk. Don't eat that egg that you've fried on the sidewalk. I also saw on television a fellow frying a steak on his car's dashboard. It seems mainly proteins are used as far as foods frying in places that they shouldn't really be cooked. The forecasters are calling for even more heat to arrive Thursday and Friday. This will bring out more attempts to demonstrate the heat's intensity through frying food inside cars and on sidewalks. The weather guy will say "don't go outside if you don't have to." Who goes outside when they don't have to?

Murdoch undone by "hacking" scandal

Rupert Murdoch, Australian American media mogul and CEO of News Corporation, was arrested Sunday by the Metropolitan police for 47 years of an ongoing and consistent expulsion of air from the lungs without expectoration. This relentless dry cough finally wore out the patience of the Murdoch family, the stockholders of News Corporation, and the entire United Kingdom. “It was just too much,” said an executive of News Corp speaking on terms of anonymity, “Do you know what its like to hear this cough, day after day, year after year? I mean, sir, please, a cough drop?” Another News Corporation employee added, “It began as a minor irritation, a pet peeve. By the third decade, it had become unbearable by any measure within the realm of human understanding.”

Republicant ™ History of the United States: Andrew Jackson

It’s common knowledge that the Founding Fathers worked tirelessly to end slavery. And the final end of slavery would have come sooner than it did had it not been for Andrew Jackson, a vicious slave owner who was the founder of the Democrat Party and the first Democrat president.

The slaves freed by the Founding Fathers were starting to benefit from their new found liberty when Jackson became president (his election was marked by voter fraud and intimidation tactics used by Democrat operatives known as “community organizers”).  These freed African Americans were hard working, entrepreneurial, pious, patriotic, and family-oriented.

The remaining slave owners (all Democrats) knew they needed to find a way to undermine the freed African Americans’ increasing success.  Working with academics from elite East Coast colleges, they came up with a plan that would push these African Americans back into slavery by forcing them into something far worse. Under the guise of  “compassion,” Andrew Jackson pushed laws through the Democrat congress that forced African Americans to become dependent on government welfare. This dependency became known as “The Trail of Tears.”  Out of wedlock births, drug use, and crime, previously unknown in the African American community, became rampant. The formerly free African Americans realized that welfare was worse than slavery—at least, with slavery, they could keep their families together, as GOP leaders in Iowa reminded us just recently.

The former slaves sold themselves and their families back into slavery—exactly what Jackson and the Democrats wanted.  The abolition of slavery had to wait until the 1860’s, where it coincided with the Civil War (which had absolutely nothing to do with slavery).  It took men of courage and compassion, like General Robert E. Lee, to finally rid America of slavery without Democrat tricks, but that’s a story for another time.---SB

"All-Star" Game fans found

After months of scouring the country and employing several private investigation firms, Major League Baseball has finally located two people with interest in the summer event known as the “All-Star Game”. Doug Mitchfield of Cleveland, Ohio and Todd Jenkins, of Flagstaff, AZ were located within the last several days after an exhaustive search of local sports bars, online message boards, and radio sports-talk shows. Baseball commissioner Bud Selig announced the results prior to the “All-Star Game” being played on Tuesday night. 

Apple's newest Smartphone

Apple rolled out its newest smartphone today. Called the “telephone”, it is set to take the tech world by storm.  Apple promises no worries for the non-tech-savvy among us, as the “telephone’ is designed to be used by anyone, with its intuitive design and simple, yet effective, capabilities. “It allows the user to spin a rotary plate, and within seconds he/she will be able to hear a human voice from anywhere on the planet that also has phones,” explained an Apple executive.  Other ‘apps’ coming with this device include a part of the ‘headset’ where you can hear the person you have ‘called’ and the capability to end the call or, in Apple jargon, ‘hang up.’

Betty Ford Shocker

Betty Ford was an advocate for passage of Equal Rights Amendment. She was a champion in the struggle for equal rights for women. But her family admitted upon her passing that she was no addict. “She never did any drugs or sipped a bit of alcohol,” said a family member. “It was all a front.” The family realized the double-life of sobriety that the former first lady was leading when her son, Jack, accidently stumbled upon a bottle labeled “Percodan” that was actually filled with ‘Good-N-Plenty’ candy. “We confronted her,” said the son, “and she admitted that the closest thing she ever came to a pain-killer addiction was the time she took two aspirin instead of one once when she had a headache.” With her death, the family felt comfortable with letting the world in on what had been a heavily-guarded secret known only to immediate family members and a few very close friends. “Now we just have to admit that our mother led a life completely free of drugs and alcohol, “said daughter Susan.

Sherman Potter and the Deathly Gallows

An era comes to an end for fans of the Sherman Potter film and novel series as the final episode in the fantasy epic is released later this week. The saga of the adolescent wizard, who graduated from Hogwartz School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, while serving as an army physician in both world wars and the Korean conflict, comes to its conclusion at last. In the climactic film, Potter attempts to finally vanquish the evil wizard Lord Voldemort, while simultaneously refusing Corporal Klinger's latest request for a section 8 discharge.

Professors baffled by statistical anomaly

A team of Princeton professors from various disciplines held a symposium at the New Jersey University to discuss a baffling mathematical conundrum involving this blog. The statistical mathematical possibility that this blog only averages 70 page views a day ranks it as inexplicable an occurrence as any these academics have seen. "It is just amazing," said Professor Davis Van Edder, chair of the Princeton physics department. "Considering that millions of people surf the internet daily, one could assume that a blank screen would get more page views through sheer, random, chance." Philosophy professor Winston Searle agreed, adding, "Websites showing nothing but a paperweight received five times the views." Roger Barnabus, of the Math department, summed up the group's consensus: “They say that if given enough time, a monkey hitting a keyboard randomly would eventually type Shakespeare. A working site receiving so few page views is as unlikely as a goldfish, in one sitting, typing every novel Philip Roth ever wrote."

"Mercury" Morris reviews Palin film

Eugene Edward "Mercury Morris", former NFL running-back, cocaine aficionado, and 'de facto' spokesperson for the 'under-appreciated' 1972 unbeaten, untied, 17-0, Miami Dolphins NFL football team, is the guest movie reviewer this week. He will be reviewing the just -released Sarah Palin documentary titled "The Undefeated".

"The first thing I noticed about this movie was the title. W-What?! W-What?! Undefeated?? What happened in 2008, b****h? Are they trying to kid me?? The best I could see is she 2-1, with one withdrawal. I was just flabbergasted when they tried to say "undefeated". Yeah, she was only vice-president, but she still lost. On the other hand, our back-up quarterback at the time, Earl Morrall, he helped us win 11 games on our way to no losses. We actually were 'undefeated' in 1972. Next in this movie, they show clip after clip of stand-up comics taking shots at the governor. Lady, please. Do they know what it was like to win every game, yet the only moment from that year anyone remembers is when our kicker tried to throw a pass? Anyway this movie overall blows. To my parole officer, not that kind of blow. As always, Dolphins were 17 and 0. Thanks."

Ugetsu... gesundheit

Summertime and time for bad movies..but also time to watch a classic. My recommendation, if you haven't seen it, is "Ugestu". It is also my recommendation if you have seen it. (Netflix rents this.) Wikipedia describes it more succinctly than I could, here's what they say:

Ugetsu is a 1953 Japanese ghost story film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. Set in 16th century Japan, it stars Masayuki Mori and Machiko Kyō, and is inspired by short stories by Ueda Akinari andGuy de Maupassant. It is one of Mizoguchi's most celebrated films, regarded by critics as a masterwork of Japanese cinema, a definitive piece during Japan's Golden Age of Film.

Unemployment Blues

Unemployment has hit all sectors of society. You would think that someone as notable as Viggo Tablesetta, the inventor of the Italian restaurant tablecloth, would always be able to find a job. But no such luck for the renowned designer. “I can’t get hired anywhere’” said Viggo. “People say they would hire me but they can’t due to my checkered past.”

Somebody gets it.....

This piece was written (not by us) as a comment on another blog. Comments are often missed on those blogs- almost as much as this blog is missed by everything else. So, for the few people who might see it here, (which is likely less than those who will see it where it is usually thought unlikely to be seen) here it is....


"Let's say there's this person called America. Now, there's a person standing next to America named Gop. Gop is holding a loaded gun to the side of America's head, and is demanding that you hand over fifty puppies, or he's going to shoot America in the head.

Like any sensible person, you hand over fifty puppies, because you don't want to see America get shot in the head. Gop takes the puppies and America lives.

Now, a couple months later, Gop and America are at it again. I guess America is Gop's mistress or something, I don't really know. The difference is that this time, Gop has put all the puppies in a cage and wired it with explosives.

Gop is now demanding five hundred puppies. If Gop doesn't get five hundred puppies, he's going to shoot America in the head, and blow up the fifty puppies you already gave him.

Now let's say you get all five hundred puppies and deliver them to Gop, and tell Gop that in exchange for these five hundred puppies, you would really appreciate it if Gop would hand over the detonator for the fifty puppies wired with explosives, and the gun he's holding to the head of America.

Gop refuses. Gop now has a gun against America's temple, the hammer is cocked, and he has fifty puppies wired with explosives, with an offer for five hundred more if he'll just put down the gun and detonator.

The problem is that Gop can't do that, because Teaparty, his former partner, is holding his wife, Reelection, hostage too. If Gop doesn't get all the puppies, and keeps the gun and detonator, Teaparty is going to shoot Gop's wife Reelection in the head.

Now, for this to untangle itself, someone has to die. Either Gop blows up the puppies and shoots America in the head because you won't give in to their completely unreasonable demands, or America and the puppies live because Gop gave you the gun and detonator, but Teaparty killed Gop's wife, Reelection.

There is a third and fourth way. Gop turns around and shoots Teaparty, sparing his wife, mistress, and puppies, or Gop shoots himself, thus freeing America and the puppies and leaving Teaparty out in the cold.

So really, it's a double hostage situation. The Democrats are offering the world to the GOP to keep them from blowing it all up, but the GOP can't take the deal because if they do, the Tea Party will go fucking nuts and everyone that votes for it will face a primary challenge."

OJ Simpson shocked at Casey Anthony Verdict

From his cell in a Nevada state prison, OJ Simpson watched the verdict being read at the Casey Anthony trial on a small black-and-white TV set. Simpson was filled with nervous apprehension. When the "not guilty' verdict was read, all Simpson could do was sit quietly, allowing the profundity of the shock to set in. "It was an unbelievable miscarriagge of justice," said Simpson. "I mean, how stupid can a jury get? 'Beyond a reasonable doubt' doesn't mean no doubt at all. I was in disbelief when I heard the verdict, and just prayed silently to God to please not let this happen. It just makes one question their belief in our legal system."

The New Awful: Bad Teacher

There have been some awful films distributed to the American public and I have demonstrated an indecent level of poor judgment to partake in some of the worst. My most recent foray into the bile that passes for acceptable film entertainment these days was the movie "Bad Teacher" starring Cameron Diaz. It is a film about a teacher who cheats and performs extortion in order to procure a bonus so that she can buy breast implants. This may be the least morally objectionable aspect of the movie. There is a scene where a student runs across Diaz smoking what looks to be a crack pipe, but is "only" weed. Then there is the scene where Diaz rips off her bra and hands it to a middle school student so that he can be popular with his friends. It is a sick and cynical film, morally bankrupt, and beyond redemption. The entire film production crew, screenwriters, actors, director, and producers, need to go around their neighborhood and alert the neighbors that they live nearby. Of course, after 2 hours of this unadulterated rancid cinema, the movie-makers try to save themselves by having the main characters learn important lessons about the true intrinsic values needed for a fulfilling life. No one buys it. Can a movie be flushed?

White Noise by Don DeLillo

Reading Don DeLillo's "White Noise" was akin to taking a trip through time, to the mid 1980's. The plot concerns a professor of Hitler studies at a fictional mid-west college. A chemical spill from a rail car causes a toxic chemical cloud to send chaos in the town, in society in general, and to the family life of the professor. The themes deal with the power of media and the ubiquitous nature of consumerism, and its effect on the individual and family. I would say to give this acclaimed work a read.

Republi-cant History

Happy birthday America! Here is a quick historical wrap-up as seen by the Republican Party. The Founding Fathers, including the ones who owned slaves and argued for the continuation of slavery, fought tirelessly for the ending of slavery. The Revolutionary War began in New Hampshire with Paul Revere clanging bells and shooting guns to warn the British they wouldn't be taking away our guns. The heroic army of the Confederates fought off with courage the invaders from the North because of fighting for states’ rights. Franklin Roosevelt tried to make the US a communist country but Senator McCarthy heroically saved the nation and preserved our liberties. John F Kennedy, one of the greatest Republicans in history, served brilliantly until his assassination when he was replaced by the evil Jimmy Carter, who nearly brought the nation to it's knees. Then Ronald Reagan came in to restore the nation to its greatness. Reagan oversaw the moon landing and ushered in civil rights alongside his good friend Dr. Martin Luther King. Bill Clinton murdered Vince Foster to become President, and then helped orchestrate 9/11.  Al Gore tricked the world into worrying about the environment because he told everyone he invented the internet. George Bush was appointed by the Democrats until Obama came in to steal the election with the ACORN voting intimidation. 

Law and Order: SUV

Dick Wolfe, creator of the iconic "Law and Order" franchise, is producing another spin-off in an attempt to re-launch the brand..."Law and Order: SUV"....In the criminal justice system, there are those who investigate crimes and those who prosecute them. This is the type of vehicle they enjoy driving on their days off: Sport Utility Vehicles. These are their stories.