And don't forget June Marlowe ( bn. Gisela Valaria Goetten) as Mrs. Crabtree?!

Her Bacon Number is 3

-"June Marlowe's Bacon number is 3
June Marlowe and Jackie Cooper appeared in Teacher's Pet.
Jackie Cooper and Glenn Ford appeared in Superman.
Glenn Ford and Kevin Bacon appeared in The Gift."-Albright/Google nerds

Cal Thomas is a regular contributor to the "drive time" radio show I listen to daily (in Ireland) and its hosted by an actual "Journalist" (remember those?) who will call people (and Cal Thomas) on BS that may try to spout on the show. Thomas provides the U.S. right-wing analysis on whatever the issues of the day are, usually paired with someone like Lara Marlowe or Miriam Lord(? cant remember last name).

I've noticed Cal Thomas is so much more reasonable and his arguments so much more reasoned when talking to this different audience (compared to here or when I see him on Fox news) that I'm convinced guys like him are simply clever people playing a different character depending on their audience. They are getting paid for their contributions or appearances so the more agreeable he is to audiences the more he works.

So I see this simply as a syndicated columnist playing to the crowd with an eye on his bottom line. No one there is going to call him out on that remark I suspect.

http://videosift.com/video/Who-Wrote-Shakespeare-The-Christopher-Marlowe-Theory

i just watched this documentary this morning: Much Ado About Something about the claim that Christopher Marlowe (who in the theory fled in exile to Italy, rather than killed) being the real writer of Shakespeare's plays. It's quite an enjoyable documentary even if you don't come to the end anywhere near convinced by the Marlovian Theory.

as one of the critics put it "icon-bashing has never been so amusing."

You're right. I have about 15 or so that are floating around in my favorites list. My top movies are not neccesarily the best ones I've seen. Like you said, they are the ones that I have an emotional connection to.

Wes Anderson is awesome but I haven't seen all of his films yet. My favorite so far is also The Life Aquatic. I love those covers. The Mark Mothersbaugh numbers are awesome, too. The scene where Steve introduces his boat and crew, accompanied by Mothersbaugh's "Let Me Tell You About My Boat" is one of my favorite scenes. I also really liked The Royal Tenenbaums.

Oh, underappreciated and overrated actors. It is relatively easy for me to rattle off some of my favorite actors. Paul Newman, Marlon Brando, and Ingrid Bergman are definitely in the top 5. Other actors I love off of the top of my head: Gary Oldman, Anjelica Huston, Gregory Peck, Katharine Hepburn, Bruce Willis (most people love him for the wrong reasons), Bill Murray, Charlie Chaplin, Helena Bonham Carter (I love how much her older stuff contrasts with her more recent roles. She's great.), John Goodman (I have always had a thing for this guy. He is a pleasure to watch.), James Stewart, Topol (I've only seen him in Fiddler but it is one of my favorite performances EVAR), Henry Fonda, Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Oliver Reed. This list was about 5 times as long before I cut it down. You're welcome.

I'm sure you're the same way that I am with actors. Sometimes I love them because they are truly great actors and sometimes I love them because they are good actors and you just enjoy watching them for whatever reason. I admit that one of the reasons that I love Newman, Brando, and Bergman is because they are all incredibly sexy. They also happen to be exceptional actors. Who are your favorites?

Severely overrated: Meg Ryan, Diane Keaton (used to be okay, now I can't stand her), Nicolas Cage (liked him in Matchstick Men...which reminds me that I love Sam Rockwell), Keira Knightly, and there is something about Mel Gibson's acting that seems...is it insincere? Affected? All I know is that something is off with him and I'm not a fan.

I'll rent The Big Lebowski one of these days.

In reply to this comment by poolcleaner:
You probably already know your top movies, you just haven't declared so boldly what they are. Like I said though, most of my tops are in contention, I just happen to have an emotional connection to two films which may always reign supreme.

If there's anyone to be jealous of it's Wes Anderson and his siblings. Must be awesome to make films with your family and best friends. Loved and own every one of their movies. I think Life Aquatic is my favorite... yeah, definitely Steve Zissou. I mean, you can't go wrong: a movie starring Bill Murray, filled with brilliant sets and costumes, and a soundtrack comprised of David Bowie cover songs by Seu Jorge? Is it wrong that I'm salivating right now? I also really enjoyed Darjeeling Unlimited, despite it's lack of closure. I was hoping Murray would tie in at some point.

As far as people and their movie tastes... You didn't feel the gripping suspense of Armageddon?! Didn't it make you weep when -- I honestly, cannot remember a thing about that piece of trash, except Liv Tyler. (Typical.) I have a friend who once told me The Marine was his favorite film of all time. It was really obnoxious because he was interrupting my first viewing of The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover; kept complaining that he needed an explosive hook.

Now, Big Lebowski... is one of those movies you either love or hate. I've only known people who are one or the other. Probably due to over 200 f-bombs. If you can get over that, you'll realize it's a brilliant homage to Philip Marlowe and old screwball comedy. (And the soundtrack is amazing.)

(I completely agree about Goodman. Thank god for the Cohen Brothers. At least they recognize talent and put him in most of their films.)

In reply to this comment by thepinky
In reply to this comment by poolcleaner
In reply to this comment by thepinky

You probably already know your top movies, you just haven't declared so boldly what they are. Like I said though, most of my tops are in contention, I just happen to have an emotional connection to two films which may always reign supreme.

If there's anyone to be jealous of it's Wes Anderson and his siblings. Must be awesome to make films with your family and best friends. Loved and own every one of their movies. I think Life Aquatic is my favorite... yeah, definitely Steve Zissou. I mean, you can't go wrong: a movie starring Bill Murray, filled with brilliant sets and costumes, and a soundtrack comprised of David Bowie cover songs by Seu Jorge? Is it wrong that I'm salivating right now? I also really enjoyed Darjeeling Unlimited, despite it's lack of closure. I was hoping Murray would tie in at some point.

As far as people and their movie tastes... You didn't feel the gripping suspense of Armageddon?! Didn't it make you weep when -- I honestly, cannot remember a thing about that piece of trash, except Liv Tyler. (Typical.) I have a friend who once told me The Marine was his favorite film of all time. It was really obnoxious because he was interrupting my first viewing of The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover; kept complaining that he needed an explosive hook.

Now, Big Lebowski... is one of those movies you either love or hate. I've only known people who are one or the other. Probably due to over 200 f-bombs. If you can get over that, you'll realize it's a brilliant homage to Philip Marlowe and old screwball comedy. (And the soundtrack is amazing.)

(I completely agree about Goodman. Thank god for the Cohen Brothers. At least they recognize talent and put him in most of their films.)

In reply to this comment by thepinky:
I've seen North by Northwest and It Happened One Night and loved both of them, but I've never seen The Big Lebowski. I love John Goodman (underappreciated, in my opinion) and I really love Jeff Bridges, and I don't know why I haven't seen it. I watch lots and lots of movies and I think that I have above-average taste, although that is easy when the average person loves Armageddon and similar crap. You seem to have good taste. I'm sort of jealous that you have your top movies all figured out like that. I have a very vague idea of which movies are my favorites.

I love Hitchcock, too. And good old sweety-pie Frank Capra won my heart many, many years ago. Do you like Wes Anderson movies?

In reply to this comment by poolcleaner:
The Big Lebowski. I'm a bigger Cohen Brothers fan than I am Kubrick -- though, I am an even bigger Hitchcock fan, despite Hitchcock taking fourth with North By Northwest. (My third pick being Capra's It Happened One Night, starring Clark Gable.)

In reply to this comment by thepinky:
What is your first favorite?

A few winters ago I read the Raymond Chandler Philip Marlowe series. Then I'd find myself at the movies whenever there was an old noir classic. As a sort of offshoot I started looking in the uni library for books on grifters and confidence games. What I found was interesting but there's not a lot out there, unfortunately.

Confidence games fall into two categories; the "short con" and the "long con". What we see in these programs are mainly variations on short cons, (eg. the "pigeon drop" from the beginning of "The Sting") the practice of which often goes back more than a century.