en-us http://www.intensedebate.com/users/535837 Comments by tobytylersf http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/12/29/will-ben-mankiewicz-be-allowed-to-destroy-turner-classic-movies/#IDComment49514955 I hate to sound smug (well, perhaps "hate" isn't what I mean, I actually enjoy gloating), but I only watch TCM at other people's homes, because I don't have TV in my house. What I have is a huge collection of movies on DVD that probably rivals TCM's, and which I get to watch when I want to, and as often as I like. I'm very interested in movies, and love watching what I want when I want to. Leaving that discretion up to corporate shills will inevitably disappoint, which is why I don't do it that way. Independence and self-reliance, as many commentators here are no doubt aware, is a very good thing and has its benefits. Dependence on other people's choices means, inevitably, that you're going to be disappointed not only in their choices but in the reasons they made those choices, like the dim bulb referenced in the article. Of course, if you don't have the storage space for a large collection of DVDs, there's always Netflix, but my point is, why depend on TV to tell you about movies? I mean, there are other choices... Wed, 30 Dec 2009 01:50:17 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/12/29/will-ben-mankiewicz-be-allowed-to-destroy-turner-classic-movies/#IDComment49514955 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/kschlichter/2009/12/24/top-10-movies-that-take-place-during-christmas/#IDComment48923444 Jeeze, you young people... I haven't seen Die Hard hundreds of times, or even once, thank you. I liked your choice of Battleground, but you left out Stalag 17. Sleepless in Seattle??!! That used to be my litmus test for dates; if a woman admitted she liked it, that was enough for me to stop seeing her. God, sometimes reading this website makes me feel old, and I'm only in my mid 50s. It reminds me of when my kids' friends call movies like "Star Wars" classic movies, because they were made "way back in the '70s." Yeesh. Thu, 24 Dec 2009 18:44:24 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/kschlichter/2009/12/24/top-10-movies-that-take-place-during-christmas/#IDComment48923444 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/12/21/top-ten-greatest-christmas-specials-of-all-time/#IDComment48406555 Great choices! I recently found the entire Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol on Youtube, and was enchanted to finally see it in color. For some reason, I remember How the Grinch Stole Christmas being aired soon after Walt Disney died; I remember feeling very sad when I first saw it. I've recently ordered it from Netflix, so that, again, I can finally see it in color. Ah, those days when the world outside was all in black and white... Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:59:53 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/12/21/top-ten-greatest-christmas-specials-of-all-time/#IDComment48406555 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/12/21/25-greatest-christmas-films-5-going-my-way-1944the-bells-of-st-marys-1945/#IDComment48405524 Good choice; I recently saw Going My Way for the first time. The irony of using Carl Switzer in a choir was brilliant, I thought (everyone knows Alfalfa can't sing). I'm still looking forward to Bells of St. Mary's. Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:55:52 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/12/21/25-greatest-christmas-films-5-going-my-way-1944the-bells-of-st-marys-1945/#IDComment48405524 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mpatterson/2009/12/20/dear-hollywood-its-over-between-us/#IDComment48101373 Frankly, I haven't seen movies in the theater for so long I'd have a hard time remembering which was the last one I saw. Instead, I have a very large collection of DVDs, most of which are in black and white and made many decades ago, which I watch on a projection screen at home. That way, I can watch WC Fields and the Marx Brothers, Buster Keaton, John Ford's many masterpieces, Jean Renoir's epics, Orson Welles' gems, George Cukor's and Howard Hawks' brilliant comedies, etc. on a big screen, and enjoy real movies, starring real people. The only cartoons I own were all made in the 20s, 30s, and 40s by Warner Brothers or Walt Disney, and were made for real children, as opposed to the cartoons I hear about now which are made for 30 and 40 year old children. I get to see Gene Kelly musicals and REAL Christmas movies like Holiday Inn, or White Christmas, instead of snarky, politically correct "holiday movies" that make you think it's all about shopping. And I reckon I get real value for my money -- for about twice what the suckers pay each year for theater tickets, I get to see movies I actually enjoy, and can watch them as many times as I want. I'm still in love with Hollywood, but the one I'm in love with died years ago. She was great, and I still get to see her wonderful products every night, and can pause them when I need to get more popcorn. The real masterpieces are still there on DVD, thank God. Sun, 20 Dec 2009 18:14:30 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mpatterson/2009/12/20/dear-hollywood-its-over-between-us/#IDComment48101373 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dflynn/2009/12/11/howard-zinn-intellectual-moron/#IDComment46798804 Indeed, Hitler killed more than the 6 million Jews we all hear about, including some of my Catholic relatives in France! Those totalitarians -- to me, the most interesting fact about history is that governments kill more people than wars do. For example, the government ban on DDT has been responsible for more than 40 million deaths from malaria. That's nearly as many people as were killed in World War II. I don't know what Eddie and the Cruisers is, though. Was there a Toby Tyler in that one? My post name comes from the book (and later film) about the boy who ran away and joined the circus, just like I did many years ago. I'll have to look up Eddie, et al. and see what it's about. Thanks! Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:58:36 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dflynn/2009/12/11/howard-zinn-intellectual-moron/#IDComment46798804 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dflynn/2009/12/11/howard-zinn-intellectual-moron/#IDComment46783714 When I hear people talking about how wonderful Castro is, I always remind them: Castro killed my children's great-grandfather. He had him lined up against a wall and shot, along with a lot of other people. And while about 300 people died trying to cross the Berlin Wall, as many as 80,000 people have died trying to escape Castro's Cuba, either by drowning when their makeshift boats fell apart, or being eaten by sharks, or machine-gunned by guards. Facts are such troublesome things, aren't they? As for Mao's China being a truly people's government -- I can't count how many Chinese I've met over the years who have relatives who were murdered by that same "people's government." There are 60 million graves in China as a result of that people's government's actions, ten times more slaughter than Hitler committed in Europe. This Zinn sounds like a complete loon, frankly. But there's no shortage of loons here in America, is there? Freedom does indeed have its cost. Fri, 11 Dec 2009 17:45:31 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dflynn/2009/12/11/howard-zinn-intellectual-moron/#IDComment46783714 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mmoriarty/2009/12/09/dead-end-america/#IDComment46451424 Great to see you again on Big Hollywood, Mr. Moriarty! Keep those posts coming! My own take re: poverty and crime came from my own experiences with poverty. When I was a kid, my parents split up and my mom moved us into a housing project, which was all we could afford. Everyone there was, of course, poor, but I knew of no neighbors who were engaged in crime. If there was any common thread among the inhabitants, it was religion. People who were poor tended to be the most avid churchgoers, and all of our neighbors had pictures of Jesus and/or crucifixes hanging on their walls (since it was in the heart of Cajun Louisiana, most people were Catholics). One could argue that the values they held kept them honest, I suppose. Also, I recall most of my former neighbors going on to work their way through trade schools and/or local colleges, which in turn enabled them to become more successful and eventually move out of the projects. None of them stole their way out of it. The only poor people we saw engaging in crime were in the movies, like the one you listed (you've only seen Dead End a couple of weeks ago? What is it with people in the movie business not watching movies? I guess you're either in the movies or you go to the movies, eh?). The point is: movies are fiction. They're basically parables, used to grind whatever ax the writer/producer/director was into. I've seen other movies about poverty -- The Grapes of Wrath, Tobacco Road are two that come to mind -- which show people who are poor who do not "automatically" gravitate toward crime as a solution. But then, John Ford wasn't a socialist. I remember watching Dead End on television when I was a kid living in the projects, and I never thought that poverty led to crime. It just wasn't a message that made sense to me, because I didn't see any real people succeeding as criminals, nor did I think that just because my family was poor we were somehow failures, or even doomed to stay poor. Now, for example, I'm underemployed, and living in reduced circumstances, but it hasn't once entered into my mind that the solution would be to become a criminal. That's not something that poor people do, it's something that immoral people do. Assuming that poor people are also immoral smacks of class hatred to me. The other thing I learned from being poor is that the poor aren't socialists. Socialism was an idea born in the comfortable middle class, after all -- Karl Marx wasn't poor. People who are a few steps removed from reality, like millionaires and the petit-bourgeois, come up with some goofy ideas. But then, idle hands can be the devil's workshop, eh? Thanks again for a good post. And you should watch more old movies! Wed, 9 Dec 2009 23:08:05 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mmoriarty/2009/12/09/dead-end-america/#IDComment46451424 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/12/06/25-greatest-christmas-films-20-the-santa-clause-1994/#IDComment46068341 This website is starting to make me feel like an old curmudgeon. "The Santa Clause??!!" "Smokey and the Bandit!?!?!?" Jeeze, the taste of you youngsters... Sun, 6 Dec 2009 18:24:18 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/12/06/25-greatest-christmas-films-20-the-santa-clause-1994/#IDComment46068341 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/12/03/25-greatest-christmas-films-23-scrooge-1970/#IDComment45702249 While I generally never watch the Academy Awards, I do have one happy memory of the Oscars from, I assume, 1970. There was a musical number -- several movie stars sang "Thank You Very Much" in different languages, and I'll never forget Burt Lancaster lustily singing "molte, molte gracie!" A great movie! It's always been my favorite movie version of A Christmas Carol. I can't sit through the last ten minutes of the film without weeping for joy. I'll be curious to see the rest of the 25th best Christmas movies. My own favorites include We're No Angels (with Humphrey Bogart), Comfort and Joy, and the one you listed today, Scrooge. Merry Christmas! Thu, 3 Dec 2009 17:28:21 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/12/03/25-greatest-christmas-films-23-scrooge-1970/#IDComment45702249 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/lgrin/2009/11/28/for-conservative-movie-lovers-john-ford-john-wayne-and-they-were-expendable-part-7/#IDComment45065967 Excellent series! Thanks! I'm looking forward to your next movie. Sat, 28 Nov 2009 21:26:11 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/lgrin/2009/11/28/for-conservative-movie-lovers-john-ford-john-wayne-and-they-were-expendable-part-7/#IDComment45065967 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2009/11/24/ed-begley-jr-loses-it-on-fox-news/#IDComment44637270 This video clip reminds me of why I never trusted the "science" behind Global Warming, because it doesn't quack like science. Here's what I mean: I've known several scientists over the years. When I've questioned them about their respective fields, the response is always dispassionate, logical, and clear. For example, when I asked a research associate I knew about the relationship between tobacco use and cancer, he carefully and calmly answered my questions with facts and explanations of the techniques he and his colleagues used to study that relationship. He didn't jump up and down and foam at the mouth and call me names. And when I was talking to an astronomer I knew, and asking him how, exactly, they measured the approximate distance between the earth and the sun, he explained clearly and calmly what techniques were used, and what calculations were used, and how certain experiments could be repeated and/or refined, so that knowledge could be shared and refreshed as new information was discovered. He didn't shout at me and leap up and tell me to stop trying to destroy the planet, or tell me that I was part of the problem and not part of the solution, simply because I was asking a question. But when you ask a civil question about global warming, or climate change, of one of the believers (?) in AGW, they immediately get emotional and defensive and belligerent. That's not what science looks like, from my experience. That's what a political argument looks like. They sound more like people used to sound when they argued about the Vietnam war, or civil rights, back in the 60s. It's that passionate belligerence that gives them away as something other than calm, unemotional, scientific, rational thought. People don't get emotional about facts, they get emotional about their opinions and feelings. And that's why I've always been skeptical of this whole "let's save the planet" rubbish. Saving the planet is not a statement of science, it's a statement out of a comic book. It's a way of convincing yourself that you have the moral high ground over other people. What's that got to do with science? Oh, and if we should only trust peer-reviewed articles, then I presume that means we should ignore Al Gore and his movie. I'd definitely agree with M. Begley on that one. Wed, 25 Nov 2009 05:40:44 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2009/11/24/ed-begley-jr-loses-it-on-fox-news/#IDComment44637270 http://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/11/18/wednesday-open-thread-sarah-edition/#IDComment43867563 "Lagniappe?" "Laissez les bons temps rouler?" Poo yie, a fellow Cajun on one of my favorite websites! Well, now my heart has warm cockles, indeed. I don't understand all the hatred towards La Palin, frankly. She's smart, successful, has a happy family life and is very attractive to boot. Perhaps that's the reason -- look at the left these days. Is there a single woman among the Democrats who anyone in their right mind would WANT to see on the cover of a major news magazine wearing bicycle shorts? I shudder to think of the possibilities. I also think Ms. Palin serves as a distraction -- the Democrats are failing miserably in everything they try. The economy continues to collapse, all of the foreign policy moves they make are disastrous, and the laws they pass are expensive and pointless. So they get to go on television and bray that, well, at least they aren't good-looking, positive, and popular, like Sarah Palin. Yeah, that'll show us. Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:01:53 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/11/18/wednesday-open-thread-sarah-edition/#IDComment43867563 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jphillips/2009/11/16/health-care-and-the-moral-imperative/#IDComment43460048 The comment from EdSki about "banning smoking" points out the obvious hypocrisy of the left in mandating health care. To wit, if the government actually cared about your health, they wouldn't subsidize and tax tobacco production, sales and advertising as they presently do. Tobacco is the number one preventable cause of disease and death in the U.S. If the government actually cared about your health, why would they subsidize and tax the one thing that is most likely to adversely affect your health? As the author of this excellent article points out, this has nothing to do with government exercising some moral mandate, it has to do with taking more freedom from its citizens, period. Vote the swine out! Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:48:53 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jphillips/2009/11/16/health-care-and-the-moral-imperative/#IDComment43460048 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2009/11/15/open-thread-sunday-21/#IDComment43371101 And like so many other great Americans, he was born in Great Britain. Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:34:01 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2009/11/15/open-thread-sunday-21/#IDComment43371101 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/lgrin/2009/11/14/for-conservative-movie-lovers-john-ford-john-wayne-and-they-were-expendable-part-5/#IDComment43240149 As for John Wayne not serving in the military in WWII, I recall that my own grandfather was deferred because he was in his late 30's and had three children. John Wayne was the same age and had four children. I don't remember anyone calling my grandfather a coward for not serving, and in fact, he did volunteer work for the war effort (just like John Wayne), as well as working in the oilfields. There are many kinds of service, after all. This series has been great! Terrific work! Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:48:37 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/lgrin/2009/11/14/for-conservative-movie-lovers-john-ford-john-wayne-and-they-were-expendable-part-5/#IDComment43240149 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/11/13/obamavision-brace-yourselves-for-the-nbc-ge-green-week-push/#IDComment43100612 As Deep Throat used to say, follow the money. Instead of assuming that NBC and its affiliates are just liberal-leaning, you have to wonder why their owners are so in the bag for this guy. Do people really believe that Chris Matthews, et al, are simply concerned about people out of the goodness of their [alleged] hearts? I'm sure their hearts are bleeding all the way to the bank. Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:25:32 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/11/13/obamavision-brace-yourselves-for-the-nbc-ge-green-week-push/#IDComment43100612 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/stkarnick/2009/11/03/new-pbs-doc-embraces-big-govt-criticizes-individual-freedom/#IDComment41799690 The telling thing about these documentaries is that they completely ignore the recession of 1920, which was actually more severe than the 1929 crash. The reason everyone ignores it is because it was also ignored by the government. It started while Wilson was still president, and he was suffering the after-effects of a stroke, so he took no action. Then he was succeeded by Harding, who decided that the economy wasn't the business of the government, but the business of business. He let the market correct itself, and the end result was the recession lasted less than a year, followed by a sustained boom. Thanks to Hoover and Roosevelt's manipulations, the less severe recession of 1929 led to the greatest depression in our history. Sometimes doing nothing is better than doing something wrong. Wed, 4 Nov 2009 00:09:36 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/stkarnick/2009/11/03/new-pbs-doc-embraces-big-govt-criticizes-individual-freedom/#IDComment41799690 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ggraham/2009/10/29/pelosicare-liars-luddites-and-leprechauns/#IDComment41214182 The lower infant morality rate has much to do with how those rates are counted. For example, in most of those other first world countries, premature births are NOT counted as live births, as they are here in the U.S. Since preemies tend to die more, naturally their infant mortality rates are lower, as they simply ignore their premature births. And comparing longevity rates is also misleading, as we have higher accident rates than countries that don't have the same automobile culture as we do. It's called "fudging the numbers," something socialist countries are very adept at. Living in a country with no press censorship, we here in America have to live with the truth. What we do have are higher cancer survival rates than any of those countries that provide universal health care. In other words, the medical care we get is of higher quality than theirs, like our record-keeping. Would you prefer to live in a country with worse cancer treatments but better public relations? I wouldn't. Here's another statistic: in Britain, six percent of the people there practice do-it-yourself dentistry, including extracting their own teeth, because of a shortage of dentists. Sound like a better system to you? Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:25:43 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ggraham/2009/10/29/pelosicare-liars-luddites-and-leprechauns/#IDComment41214182 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ggraham/2009/10/29/pelosicare-liars-luddites-and-leprechauns/#IDComment41213562 If government and private sector get along just fine, why change it? Isn't that what the health care bill is intended to do, change that relationship? My point in my original comment was that American medical research, largely privately-funded, is the best in the world. As you pointed out in your example, the Polio vaccine was developed in America by a private institution. Show me the medical breakthroughs that came from the Soviet Union and its government-run medical research. Go ahead, we'll wait. Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:16:20 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ggraham/2009/10/29/pelosicare-liars-luddites-and-leprechauns/#IDComment41213562