What kind of America does Springsteen want to see? Why, an America that looks more like Sweden, of course... “Exactly! That’s my dream! It’s written between the lines. But you have to listen very closely,” he told a Swedish newspaper.

Meanwhile:

After Germany and Austria, Sweden has the highest rate of antisemitic incidents in Europe, although the Netherlands reports a higher rate of antisemitism in some years.[5] A government study in 2006 estimated that 15% of Swedes agree with the statement: "The Jews have too much influence in the world today".

Mr. Springsteen has odd friends...

Agreed. The ending was nothing to sneeze at.

Targeted for being "Older and Female"? No. Whoring around while being older (regardliess of gender) that's the problem. In extremis, see Mae West in Sextette, wherein the octogenarian star was still playing an elemental force of sexuality with lines like "I'm just a girl who works for Warner Bros. all day and Fox all night." I've never met a straight man who can sit through this without groaning in horror. (Those of you who are not straight men, we do not expect you to get this.) And every day and in every way, Madonna reminds me of West....

PennBDS? Who knew there was an actual named organization for Bush Derangement Syndrome? It's like they say: the first step to recovery is admitting the problem lies within one's self.

"Practical effects, of course, aren’t really the intent of BDS,...."

Yeah, I didn't quite get "The Howling may rely on old-school movie make-up" in the article. At the time it came out, the effects were very much not old school. (Paul Naschy at the time -- that would've been old school.)

(Personal note: I took my mom to see The Howling when it came out. We were both old school supernatural horror fans, so we really got into this. By the end it seemed like all kinds of people were turning into werewolves. While we were reading the end credits, I finished the last of my Coke and popcorn and let out a low, long belch. It sounded like a growl. Mom lightly slapped me. "Don't you start, too!" she exclaimed with a giggle...)

The wife and I watched B:LA last night. First time we'd seen it. I'm ex military and got all white-knuckly watching the first half hour. (Going into a fight is always an adrenaline rush.) I sure as hell liked it better than Independence Day, which bored me silly with its predictable cliches. Yeah, there were cliches in B:LA, but there was something fresh about how they were presented.

I don't bother with new movies very often anymore because I usually don't feel rewarded for the effort. B:LA worked. And I figure it worked for others, too. In the end, it's not so much that B:LA was underrated; it's more like the old guard journalist/critics are overrated.

Generally agree. As an old B movie fan, I am very fond of craftsman-like filmmakers who could get inventive entertainment out of small bucks. (e.g., John Carpenter, Rodriguez, Sam Raimi, Peter Jackson, James Cameron...) Some mature with bigger budgets; some don't.

I think I can stand behind what I said about BC last week.

Meanwhile, for offbeat I would suggest Bernard and the Genie (1991). That's "would." Can't really. It's warmly awesome but nowadays its pop references are so distractingly dated...

BLACK CHRISTMAS is one of the most influential horror movies ever made but sadly few even know about it.

I often hear about how influential BC is/was. I saw it not long after it came out, and what I certainly recall was: it was pretty much like every other horror movie at the time, only with a dumber ending. I think the bulk of other horror movies out there at the time were more influential. (For example: Bob Clark did not invent "killer's POV" in BC. I wish I had a dime for every time some sophomoric kid fan tried to convince me that Carpenter was doing an homage to BC in Halloween because it also had a killer POV.)

(checking calendar) Funny, didn't know it was 1 Apr already. Where does the time fly?