IntenseDebate - mackinney29

14 years ago @ Big Hollywood - Battle for Oscar Gold:... · 1 reply · +1 points

*chuckle* I agree with your assessment for the most part, but there ARE good movies and if you didn't see last year's big Oscar winner "The King's Speech" (Best Picture, Actor, Director, etc.), I strongly suggest you find it and watch before issuing any more blanket condemnations. I saw it in the theatre, on DVD, and every time it pops up on Uverse, I watch bits of it again. Still brilliant, moving, funny and worthy of every award given. Only gripe? Where was a nomination for Geoffrey Rush?

14 years ago @ Big Government - Higher Education Bubbl... · 0 replies · +2 points

Thank you. I do have great memories. And I'm proud of her roomie with the new Ph.D., too. (She's on the right, in their dorm room at Centre.) http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g100/Mackinney/...

14 years ago @ Big Government - Higher Education Bubbl... · 1 reply · +3 points

Thank you. I'm trying to make sure that Erin isn't forgotten and so far, Facebook is a big help. Also sharing like this: http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g100/Mackinney/...

14 years ago @ Big Hollywood - Bin Laden Film: Hollyw... · 0 replies · +2 points

Shame? SHAME??? From the LEFT? I think you're asking the impossible, hon. *sigh*

14 years ago @ Big Government - Higher Education Bubbl... · 7 replies · +8 points

I faced the college dilemma 16 years ago when my brilliant younger daughter insisted on a classic liberal arts college, with small classes taught by real professors and a strong core curriculum, along with an emphasis on western culture, philosophy and history because as she often said, "How can I understand other cultures if I don't first understand my own?"

She'd have loved this survey, but back then we depended on National Review's Guide To Liberal Arts Colleges. Following its recommendations, Erin was accepted at University of Dallas, Rhodes College, Suwanee, and Centre College, all offering the kid of college experience she demanded. (I lobbied hard for St. John, the Great Books school, but Erin insisted her HS background - all AP classes - just wasn't rigorous enough!) Her final choice was Centre College in Danville, KY, and it was perfect!

Sadly, I'll never know if her love of medieval history would have translated into that Ph.D. and gainful employment because Erin was killed in an accident midway through her freshman year, but her roomie recently completed HER Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins, so Centre was definitely doing things right.

15 years ago @ Big Hollywood - Twenty Most Overrated ... · 0 replies · +3 points

Possibly because unlike you, hon, they've actually read the book and know all that "not a remake" stuff from the Stupid Brothers was just a lot of hot air.

As a historian, I love primary sources and PROOF. So after reading the Coens' self-aggrandizing comment for the umpteenth time, I went upstairs (I work in a library, isn't that handy?) and picked up the Portis book (yeah, you mis-spelled the author's name, too) and re-read it and guess what? The book IS the first movie! It's almost like reading a script. Everything is there - even the cat and the Chinese cook and "little sister" and the infamous line, "Fill yore hands, you son of a bitch!" (Also the snake pit. Ick.)

So you might want to check your OWN assumptions - knowing what they make you. Heh.

15 years ago @ Big Hollywood - This Week's 'Castle' E... · 0 replies · +1 points

Okay, I read thru the comments really quickly, and may have missed it - but I'm surprised no one has mentioned the irony of Adrian Pasdar playing the Homeland Security dude who lost his wife on 9/11. If I recall correctly, he's married to the Dixie Chick who was the most outspoken against America a while back. Wonder what his wife thouight of his role?

15 years ago @ Big Hollywood - Spellbinding 'The Rite... · 1 reply · +10 points

Hmm...saw the trailer and mentally assigned it to the category of "bad movie dumped in January by studio."

BUT -- I (accidentally) caught a bit of the Charlie Rose show last night and Sir Anthony Hopkins was explaining his personal journey from atheism to agnosticism to faith. Mr. Rose seemed so bemused by the spectacle of an actor actually admitting such things that I simply HAD to keep watching. (I enjoy seeing liberals lose their cool!) Sir Anthony went on to speak so simply and movingly of surviving alcoholism and of his newfound sense of peace and contentment that Mr. Rose was quite silenced and I found myself admiring the actor more than ever.

And yeah, now I think I'll have to break all my personal rules about scary movies and see this one.

15 years ago @ Big Hollywood - Why John Wayne Still M... · 0 replies · 0 points

Hee! Thanks, Cowboy - I wasn't planning to see the film but then I have a VERY low opinion of the Coen boys, unlike the "crtics" who seen to think that if you don't care for the Coen films, you can't be in the "cool club.' (I still think No Country for Old Men is the worst film ever to get an Oscar - much less 4 of 'em. It was bad AND boring - quite a combo.)

15 years ago @ Big Hollywood - 'Black Swan' Review: F... · 0 replies · +2 points

Well, heck. I was hoping for a good movie about ballet. I guess I'll have to re-watch "The Turning Point" for the umpteenth time. Classic catfight in that one, btw - Shirley McLaine vs. Anne Bancroft - plus a messed-up ballerina daughter and plenty of family conflict. But it also has Baryshnikov at the height of his powers, dancing the glorious pas de deux from "Romeo and Juliet" with Leslie Browne in a deserted rehearsal studio. Talk about sexy! (No lesbian porn needed. Peh.)

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