Records about June Cobb, an American spy in Cuba during the early 1960s, are to be released soon (Politico) and apparently have some bearing on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. She worked in Cuba and Mexico, apparently fairly close to Castro.
I am taking this with a grain of salt, but more information is always good. It was easy then for a female employee to be ignored. As you can see in the article, her attractiveness was part of the discussion. Looking forward to seeing what the documents have to say.
What we know about Cobb so far comes largely from millions of pages of other documents from the CIA, FBI and other federal agencies that were declassified years ago under the 1992 law. Within those documents are dozens of files that identified Cobb as a paid CIA operative when she worked on Castro’s staff in Havana and later when she moved to Mexico. Some of the documents tie her to a lingering questions about Oswald’s trip to Mexico City in late September 1963, not long before Kennedy’s November assassination. In Mexico, Oswald came under CIA surveillance when he met there with both Soviet and Cuban spies. Previously released documents also show Cobb’s involvement in CIA surveillance of a U.S.-based pro-Castro group, the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, which Oswald championed in the months before Kennedy’s murder.
There is one document about Cobb that has remained completely off-limits to the public all these years: the 221-page file identified as “FOLDER ON COBB, VIOLA JUNE (VOL VII)” on a skeletal index released by the Archives last year. It is one of the 3,600 documents that were withheld from public view entirely in the 1990s at the request of the agencies that originally produced them—in Cobb’s case, the CIA. The index prepared by the Archives shows that, as of 1998, when her file was last officially reviewed, the spy agency said the document was “not believed relevant” to the Kennedy assassination but could do unspecified harm if made public before the October 2017 deadline.
And open thread!
TenguPhule
Cue the conspiracy theorists.
efgoldman
It’s only been 54 years. Why shouldn’t the conspiracy theorists have something else to bleat about besides HRC running a white slave/child p0rn ring out of a DC pizza place.
Is Jim Garrison still alive? Marina?
different-church-lady
Maybe in 2071 we’ll know who hacked the election for Trump.
different-church-lady
@efgoldman:
Of course not: Hillary killed him too.
efgoldman
@different-church-lady:
Sorry. All these years, so many conspiracy theories, who could keep them straight?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@efgoldman:
No, but would Kevin Costner work?
?BillinGlendaleCA
Wait, I thought Rafael Cruz killed Kennedy.
Baud
@different-church-lady: I almost wish I had a “Hillary killed me too” bumper sticker for my car.
efgoldman
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Dunno’. Depends how well he can stay on script.
bmoak
Maybe the file will have mash notes from Cruz Sr. It would be irresponsible not to speculate!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Obviously, Hillary killed Roger Moore.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA: She is the real Octopussy.
piratedan
maybe they’ll be some new leads on the missing mustard….
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA: She is the real Octopussy.
lamh36
@Baud: Aww…that reminds me…I forgot to say RIP Roger Moore…
efgoldman
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Maybe he killed Cortez Kennedy, who died today
?BillinGlendaleCA
@piratedan: I thought I was out of Grey Poupon, but I found a bottle yesterday. Costco stopped carrying it, I blame Trump since Obama liked it.
trollhattan
@efgoldman:
Really? Whoa, he was young. Awesome player…RIP Tez. :-(
efgoldman
@lamh36:
Sean Connery, the one, true Bond James Bond, will outlive them all.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@efgoldman: There are Mexican Kennedys? Damn those Kennedys really reproduce.
Iowa Old Lady
11/22/63 is my favorite Stephen King book.
TenguPhule
@efgoldman:
There can be only one!
Baud
@efgoldman: Al Capone disagrees.
efgoldman
@trollhattan:
48. From the NYT story today
Adam L Silverman
@Baud: Actually if you look at her picture at Politico, despite it being a bit fuzzy, she bears a striking resemblance to:
http://wwwcdn.impact-books.com/wp-content/uploads/CA-TFA_PeggyCarter.jpg
Adam L Silverman
@efgoldman: There can be only one…
trollhattan
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
When I read Rafael Cruz I always think of the “Rafael outtake” from Being There.
Villago Delenda Est
@efgoldman: Oh, now that sucks, too. He was a fine Seahawk.
lamh36
Alright, I’ll take advantage of the open thread (I can’t stand JFK conspiracy theories…).
So, apparently, there IS a TOP GUN sequel that will start filming within the next year.
Um…ok…True Confessions…I’ve NEVER seen the original…so…grain of salt, but how old would that make these people…and have ya’ll seen Val Kilmer or Kelly McGillis? I mean…Tom may have gotten Scientology to slow down the aging process, but not all the originals can say the same..
Admission: since I never saw the original, I don’t really know which characters, if any, died onscreen…hmmm
Baud
@lamh36: I saw the original only a few years ago.
lamh36
debbie
@lamh36:
Good. He seems worried.
ruemara
@lamh36: I predict Kilmer & McGillis’ characters will have died in a terrible horrible shaving accident and replaced by Tom’s dueling 25 year old love interests.
Morzer
@TenguPhule:
Cue Trump announcing that not many people know this, but he was June Cobb.
Adam L Silverman
@lamh36: That’s the senior partner at Lieberman’s law firm.
dmsilev
@lamh36: Word of advice for Mr. Trump’s new attorney: Get paid in advance. In cash.
Roger Moore
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Still posting on Balloon Juice, thank you.
different-church-lady
@efgoldman: I think the EON folks missed a golden opportunity: they should have brought Connery back as a… (wait for it) Bond villain!
TenguPhule
@lamh36:
Correct that forthwith.
different-church-lady
@Roger Moore: I hear you died today. Any truth to the matter?
Miss Bianca
@lamh36: damn…my image of Kelly McGillis is definitely stuck in the 80s…
TenguPhule
@Roger Moore:
Although you are actually a shadow projection in a simulation designed by evil aliens plotting to take over the real world.
Roger Moore
@Adam L Silverman:
There should have been only one Highlander.
Morzer
@different-church-lady:
There could be – how you shay – SHPECTRE haunting Europe. Call him Vladimir. Ish good name for villain.
different-church-lady
@lamh36:
Maybe we’ll finally get the pie fight Kubrick was going to end Dr. Strangelove with.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Probable violation of Hatch Act.
Can’t use government assets (office, employees) for political acts.
lamh36
@Roger Moore: Bite your tongue…I love me some Highlander…the films and the tv show…
TenguPhule
@Roger Moore:
There is only one Highlander.
TenguPhule
@lamh36:
Film. Singular.
Morzer
@lamh36:
John McCain plans to have plastic surgery to upgrade his furrowed brow to nine different possible settings, none of which will result in actual activity.
Roger Moore
@dmsilev:
He’s not a new attorney; trump has a long-standing relationship with the firm. That’s why it would be so inappropriate for Lieberman to be made FBI director.
Roger Moore
@different-church-lady:
I’m not dead, but some guy who stole my name is.
Smiling Mortician
@Adam L Silverman: Welp, nothin’ suspicious about that.
TenguPhule
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
Like that would stop Donald Duck from doing it anyway.
Who’s going to hold him accountable? Congress?
SFBayAreaGal
@Roger Moore: Which Highlander is the true Highlander? The television series or the movie series?
lamh36
@TenguPhule: naw…I like the first one, the one with Mario Van Peeples, and the one with Connor and Duncan McCleod
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@ruemara:
Cruise is incredibly unconvincing in romantic scenarios. In general, he’s a very stiff actor, lacking screen charisma. The only 2 roles he’s been good at are as a stiff emotionless hitman in “Collateral” and as an over the top film executive in “Tropic Thunder”.
different-church-lady
@Roger Moore: Couldn’t you have just asked him to give it back?
Mnemosyne
Meh. Unless it turns out that MLK had the Black Panthers kill JFK, I could not care less.
TenguPhule
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
Like to live recklessly, do ya?
/Steps back to avoid the mob of female Cruise fans
lamh36
And….now I’m somehow watching Double Jeopardy with Ashley Judd…remember that run of films when Judd played all them BAMF women!!
It is ALSO confirmed that Tommy Lee Jones has been OLD forever.
TenguPhule
@SFBayAreaGal:
The movie. Just one movie.
Morzer
@TenguPhule:
I was once described as the thinking woman’s Tom Cruise. I took it as a compliment at the time, but now… well…
different-church-lady
@SFBayAreaGal:
“Highlander: The Highlanding”
p.a.
Hillary killed JFK Jr. too.
Roger Moore
@TenguPhule:
There are several other real person Balloon Juice posters (Mnemosyne, BillInGlendaleCA, Ruckus, etc.) who have met me in the flesh. There were even pictures on the blog of the meetups. Of course that’s just the kind of thing a shadow projection in a simulation designed by evil aliens plotting to take over the real world would say.
different-church-lady
@p.a.: Duh! That’s why they needed to keep the file sealed until 2017. Then Trump fucked it all up.
Morzer
@Roger Moore:
#fakenews
Sad!
different-church-lady
@Roger Moore: Joke’s on you: Mnemosyne, BillInGlendaleCA, and Ruckus are all shadow projections.
dmsilev
@Roger Moore: Or it means that they’re all in on the conspiracy.
TenguPhule
@Roger Moore:
The Veritas is Truth. And the truth will drive you mad.
efgoldman
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
By the time it’s all done, that will be waaayyyyyy down the list.
TenguPhule
FYWP.
Admin help, Another post eaten alive.
different-church-lady
Well, it’s pretty much official at this point…
TenguPhule
@Roger Moore: Didn’t keep up on your Dr. Who episodes?
SiubhanDuinne
@TenguPhule:
I’ve never seen it either. And even more shocking, I’ve never seen The Godfather (any of them). But Fathom/TCM Big Screen Classics are screening the first in the series next weekend (June 4), and I am going to see it. It just looms too hugely in American pop culture for me to stay ignorant of it any longer.
Morzer
@different-church-lady:
Trump would never say: “The details of my life are quite inconsequential.”
different-church-lady
@SiubhanDuinne:
It’s amazing: Rosebud is a sled.
lamh36
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: agreed. I was never a fan of Cruise’s “romantic” work…I mean maybe that film he Kidman where they were Irish or something? Otherwise, even when he has a love interest, it’s def NOT convincing…but his action work, I begrudingly admit, I like.
SiubhanDuinne
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
Yeah, haha, like he’ll give an actual fuck about the Hatch Act.
TenguPhule
And a hearty FY to Flynn by the Democrats.
Do you smell what the Warner is cooking? And he’s cooking with gas!
TenguPhule
@SiubhanDuinne: It has F-15s and MIGS. Stuff blows up. Why haven’t you seen it yet?!
ByRookorbyCrook
@TenguPhule: Perhaps she has never felt the need for speed?
Shana
@efgoldman: I think Daniel Craig is terrific as Bond and I look forward to more movies with him in the role. My mom, on the other hand, would have left my father for Sean Connery.
SiubhanDuinne
@different-church-lady:
Well shit, I might as well not even bother now.
hovercraft
@TenguPhule:
You’re going Highlander now?
efgoldman
@Adam L Silverman: Apparently the Ottawa Senators are so awful to watch, they can’t even sell out a potential elimination game….
Mnemosyne
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
Third role: he’s great in Edge of Tomorrow, sometimes known on video as Live, Die, Repeat.
And a fourth: Minority Report.
Really, I only like Cruise where his character starts off as an asshole.
SiubhanDuinne
@TenguPhule:
I’m more worried about the horse’s head scene. I will probably just have to avert my eyes for a few minutes.
I really don’t enjoy watching any kind of violence on screen. I know that’s kept me from seeing a number of great films, but I’d just as soon not. But I will grit my teeth and go see The Godfather despite my qualms.
Cheryl Rofer
@TenguPhule: Done
Steeplejack (phone)
@lamh36:
The Highlander TV show was oddly satisfying in a shaggy, low-budget way. Maybe because I saw it very late at night and it was the least bad thing on.
TenguPhule
@Cheryl Rofer: Thank you.
TenguPhule
@Mnemosyne:
And if you hate him, you get to cheer as he’s killed multiple times. And gets his ass kicked repeatedly by a woman in powered armor.
efgoldman
@Shana:
Oh, hell, mrs efg would have (still would) done it in a nanosecond.
GregB
Good news from NH. House special election flips a deep red seat to blue.
PaulWartenberg
there’s a possibility Cobb has a connection to one of the more loose threads on the JFK conspiracy weave (to one of the operations attempting to assassinate Castro using hair removal products (I AM NOT JOKING)), but one that would make the fringe guys all freak out.
hovercraft
@SFBayAreaGal:
All of them Katie ; )
What can I say, yes they were cheesy, but I was a fan.
PaulWartenberg
@GregB:
PICS OR IT DIDN’T HAPPEN.
PaulWartenberg
@SFBayAreaGal:
don’t forget the bad cartoon series that screwed with the continuity even more.
Baud
@GregB: Yay!
amk
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@Mnemosyne: I’ve been meaning to see Edge of Tomorrow, I’ve always heard great reviews of Emily Blunt’s performance.
I could only watch Minority Report in small bites, not because of Cruise, but because of Colin Ferrell.
Steeplejack (phone)
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
He also was good (in the stiff, emotionless zone) in Jack Reacher, which was a surprisingly good movie, although it had fuck-all to do with the Reacher character in the novels.
(I haven’t seen the second Reacher movie.)
efgoldman
@PaulWartenberg:
A cloudy day when the forecast called for sun makes the fringe guys freak out.
Adam L Silverman
@efgoldman: I don’t have any issues watching them. Doesn’t look as empty as the duck pond did back at the beginning of the series.
lamh36
@TenguPhule: An added benefit of the movie for sure…lol
hovercraft
@TenguPhule:
Relax, he does absolutely nothing for me, I’d take Brad Pitt over him and I don’t even like blonds. Give me some George Clooney, Denzel, umm!
TenguPhule
@PaulWartenberg:
No, forget it. Please forget it.
PaulWartenberg
@efgoldman:
Patton Oswalt was classifying the Bonds on Twitter earlier:
https://twitter.com/pattonoswalt/status/867049435443871745
Connery: classic 007
Dalton: brutal 007
Brosnan: stylish 007
Craig: sexy 007
Moore: charming, “have a drink with me & hash it out” 007
I would have it as:
Connery: Charming 007
Lazenby: Stoic 007
Moore: Suave 007
Dalton: Serious 007
Bronson: Stylish 007
Craig: Brutal 007
Hiddleston: ??? 007
Steeplejack (phone)
@lamh36:
Man, I watched Jason Bourne over the weekend, and Tommy Lee Jones looked about 200 years old. Way beyond his usual “grizzled old guy.”
schrodingers_cat
@lamh36: Tom Cruise was hawt in that movie, don’t remember anything else. I am saying this as not a big fan of Cruise.
PaulWartenberg
@TenguPhule:
Highlander taught me two things:
1) Never fight on Holy Ground
2) Some people have no idea what Continuity means
schrodingers_cat
@PaulWartenberg: Bond is B for boring.
Roger Moore
@SFBayAreaGal:
The original movie. What part of “there should have been only one” is so hard to understand?
PaulWartenberg
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
My only problem with Minority Report was the unnecessary narration as coda. We didn’t need a voiceover during the final scenes.
TenguPhule
@PaulWartenberg:
3) If you’re gonna cut someone’s head off, make sure you do the job right.
lamh36
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: I can def recommend Edge of Tomorrow.
I saw the first Jack Reacher…didn’t hate it.
As I said, I’ve begrudgingly found myself enjoying his action films cause of his willingness to do his own crazy ass stunts
hovercraft
@p.a.:
I always knew she was an overachiever, I just didn’t realize she started so young. Or did she borrow Barracks time machine?
PaulWartenberg
@schrodingers_cat:
I am going to keep hitting you with the Blu Ray deluxe special edition 007 Series with Life-Size Aston Martin In A Box until you apologize.
TenguPhule
@schrodingers_cat: Are you just trying to start a flamewar?
geg6
@TenguPhule:
I can’t imagine that you are right about that. Don’t know a single woman who isn’t repelled by him.
PaulWartenberg
@TenguPhule:
No, I learned that from Eddard Stark.
Steeplejack (phone)
@SiubhanDuinne:
It really is a stunning film. And then you’ll definitely have to see Part 2. Of Part 3 we shall agree not to speak.
SiubhanDuinne
@efgoldman:
I have a friend, former co-worker, Brit by birth, who lived in Edinburgh for a while in the late 1950s. They used to have what they called “milk floats” (dairy delivery guys), and the fellow who delivered milk and cream to my friend’s landlady every day was a young and unheralded Sean Connery. My friend Richard used to chat with him occasionally; I believe he saw him at the local pub now and then. Not friends exactly, but affable acquaintances.
TenguPhule
@geg6: Cocktail and Top Gun made him instant heartthrob material for the female demographic. He lost some due to Scientology, but he’s still got enough of a following that speaking ill of him in public is not conductive to one’s health or interactions with the fairer sex.
Roger Moore
@TenguPhule:
It has F-14s, and the “Migs” are actually F-5s.
Adam L Silverman
@PaulWartenberg: Everyone forgets David Niven.
geg6
@SiubhanDuinne:
Ugh. I hated it. Both I and II. Didn’t even bother with III. Turned me off Pacino for a long time. Always hated Brando, so no harm, no foul there.
lamh36
@Steeplejack (phone): IKR…he face just keeps getting grizzlier and grizzlier…smh.
I mean, can he get ANY grizzlier?
TenguPhule
@Roger Moore: Stop shattering my childhood memories.
Ladyraxterinok
I will never forget JFK’s assassination. Ì was in 3rd year of grad school, studying for Ph.D orals. Friend came bursting into campus study lounge. She had heard it on radio while getting asprin at drug store. The campus memoriel had all the faculty in academic regalia marching into the large, crowded courtyard in front of Mem Chu. It was the first time I had ever seen grown men cry in public.
p.a.
@hovercraft: Hillary transcends spacetime in some ‘minds’.
SiubhanDuinne
@Adam L Silverman:
I mentioned David Niven in an early thread today, right after the news broke, and was told I’d better run away!!
Adam L Silverman
@SiubhanDuinne: My housemate when I lived in Scotland is from the village right next to the one Connery was from. If I remember correctly one of his cousins went to school with Connery when they were kids.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@different-church-lady: No, but I do glow according to commenter jl.
Adam L Silverman
@SiubhanDuinne: This is why we can’t have nice things.
Steeplejack (phone)
@lamh36:
There were a couple of scenes in Jason Bourne where he looked like the Red Skull playing Tommy Lee Jones’s grandfather.
geg6
@TenguPhule:
Um, I’m a female of the correct age demo and, no, he was not a chick magnet. Then or now. Lots of men seem to think so but that just goes to show how little men understand women.
SiubhanDuinne
@geg6:
I admired Brando in On the Waterfront, but can’t remember anything else I actually saw him in. Well, Last Tango, but that was so disgusting I walked out. I’m sure that memory is a large part of why I’ve never bothered to see any of the Godfather movies. But at this point in my life, I do feel the need to find out what all the fuss is about.
ETA: Just looked at a list of his films and realise I’ve actually seen perhaps half a dozen of them. For some reason, not all that memorable.
p.a.
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Is there much of a market for that? I’m looking for a little extra scratch, but 30 years at a public utility means I have no marketable (or apparent) skills.
trollhattan
@Mnemosyne:
His role in “Magnolia” seemed so close to the actual Cruise I was surprised he took it. Perfect fit.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@Steeplejack (phone): I wanted to like Jack Reacher and Rosamund Pike is very pretty/likable, but in the action-paranoia-deep-state genre ( ie “Parallax View” with explosions), Reacher is a shadow in acting and plot of “Shooter”
I know, I’m a film snob.
different-church-lady
@?BillinGlendaleCA: That’s just what a shadow projection would say.
SFAW
@SiubhanDuinne:
Not by me, you weren’t!! I’ll fight all them bastids what was giving youse a hard time.
geg6
@SiubhanDuinne:
If you’re like me, you’ll leave still wondering.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@SiubhanDuinne: Brando was delightfully charming in “The Freshman”
eta: also very good in “The Young Lions” and “One Eyed Jacks”
lamh36
@geg6: I agree. Since the Kidman divorce and “i love Katie” couch jumping oh and the shaming of Brooke Shields for admitting to using chemical help for her post partum depression or calling psychology a crazy pseudo science…
basically since the exposure of just blue crazy and deep he is into scientology def dimmed his hotness if NOT his star power
p.a.
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Speaking of One Eyed Jacks, has Twin Peaks 2 begun? If yes, any reviews?
amk
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@SiubhanDuinne: There’s a really terrible Disney movie from 1959 called Darby O’Gill and the Little People with young Sean Connery doing an Irish accent (I’m not able to judge how good or bad it is, but I suspect not great), and singing.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@p.a.: Ya know, it premiered Sunday night, but I haven’t seen any buzz about it on my twitter feeds.
holaitsmonica
@Steeplejack (phone):
I can’t stand him as Jack Reacher, Tom Cruise is no Jack Reacher. I mean, he is not even close to how Lee Child describes him.
mainmata
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Costco in MD still carries it. Sorry, left coast/right coast problem I like both coasts.
Steeplejack
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
Eh, I liked Jack Reacher, but Shooter is a great little movie. Very tight. If you like that, you’d probably also like Four Brothers (if you haven’t seen it already).
amk
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Liked the shooter despite over the top depiction of Wahlberg character. Ned Beatty was mcturtle hisself.
George Spiggott
@Adam L Silverman:
I’ve never forgotten his fridge.
Steeplejack
@holaitsmonica:
After my initial outrage at the trailers, I tried to think of it as just a Tom Cruise action movie and ignore the fact that the character was named Jack Reacher.
Gin & Tonic
Coming in late from an evening with old friends, but man oh man, does this thread need some BiP. Too lazy to read if that’s already come up.
Felonius Monk
@SiubhanDuinne:
What???? No Stanley Kowalski in Streetcar Named Desire? No Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now?
ETA: Missouri Breaks along with Jack Nicholson?
frosty
@Steeplejack (phone):
Tom Cruise as a tall, blond, 220 lb badass. Ugh. Worst casting since Frank Sinatra in Von Ryan’s Express. A short, dark-haired Italian playing an Aryan-type (hence the von in von Ryan).
50 years later and I’m still pissed off by it. Way to ruin a good book.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: We don’t forget. We ignore. And some of us really like Niven.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@different-church-lady: Remember the source is commenter jl, I hear he dabbles in the Dismal Science.
lamh36
Since we mentioned Roger Moore…found something to share from the twitterverse.
A guy on twitter last night shared his story of meeting Mr Rogers and how nice and kind Mr Rogers was to him, and now here’s a different guy telling his story of the time he met Roger Moore and how kind and nice Roger Moore was.
It will make you smile from ear to ear!
https://twitter.com/MattMackowiak/status/867184472504094722
p.a.
@Felonius Monk:
Really fine movie. Tom McGuane, Robert Towne screenplay. Been a while since I’ve read McGuane. Probably donated the books somewhere… worth a revisit.
zhena gogolia
@geg6:
I do not get Brando at all.
Steeplejack
@frosty:
That’s what Hollywood does all too often.
I’m still amazed at how good the movie version of Get Shorty turned out. Apparently John Travolta saved it. He really liked the book and agreed to do the movie. He hated the first script, because they had jettisoned almost all of the book, so he wielded his star power to get them to go back and strictly follow the novel and keep Elmore Leonard’s dialogue.
I suddenly realize that I have absolutely no provenance for this anecdote or where I read it.
Steve in the ATL
@SiubhanDuinne:
That’s why you’re the Fredo of Balloon Juice, but you don’t even know what that means. Sad!
SiubhanDuinne
@lamh36:
Great story, but it’s the follow-up that sends it right into the stratosphere.
Gin & Tonic
@Steeplejack:
Which makes it perfect for B-J.
SiubhanDuinne
@Steve in the ATL:
But I do seem to recall that Dubya nicknamed one of his cabinet members “Fredo.” Can’t remember which one, though, or why it was appropriate/funny.
frosty
@Steeplejack: I loved Get Shorty, both book and movie, and if that’s how it got made, kudos to Travolta. The whole concept — that the best training for being an executive producer is skip tracing for a loan shark* — it was Elmore Leonard paying back Hollywood for all the grief they’d ever put him through.
* IIRC
Morzer
@Steeplejack:
And now we have Ray Barboni in the White House.
SiubhanDuinne
@Felonius Monk:
Yeah, Streetcar. Never saw Apocalypse Now.
Morzer
@SiubhanDuinne:
Alberto Gonzalez
Steve in the ATL
@frosty:
I’m far, far too young to know this “Frank Sinatra” person, but I’m with you on Cruise. He’s the anti-Jack Reacher.
Omnes Omnibus
@SiubhanDuinne: Watch I and II and all will be clear. DeNiro absolutely owns II – brilliant.
Steeplejack
@Morzer:
Srsly.
Another Scott
@GregB: Excellent!
WMUR:
“80% of life is showing up!” Let’s keep showing up.
Cheers,
Scott.
Morzer
@Steeplejack:
Alas, yes.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@Mnemosyne:
That’s great insight. That’s why he was so good in Collateral and Tropic Thunder.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@Steeplejack: I liked “Four Brothers” – it’s a modern-urban adaptation of “The Sons of Katie Elder”
Это курам на смех
You haven’t seen Sean Connery if you haven’t seen Zardoz.
p.a.
@Mnemosyne:
Art imitates life.
Omnes Omnibus
@Это курам на смех: I’ve seen Zardoz.
Steeplejack
@Another Scott:
That seems wrong.
SFBayAreaGal
@hovercraft: I did too hovercraft. I enjoyed most of the movies and enjoyed the television series.
rikyrah
SATIRE?
PHUCK.OUTTA.HERE.
Mike HellgrenVerified account @HellgrenWJZ
NYT spoke to administrator & founder of Alt Reich Nation FB group Collins’ accused killer belonged to. They claim it’s satire @cbsbaltimore
p.a.
@Это курам на смех: stoned.
double feature stoner night: Zardoz, Eraserhead.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: Agreed.
efgoldman
@Omnes Omnibus:
Oh, you’re the one
??? Martin
@Mnemosyne: Agreed on Edge of Tomorrow. Unfortunately as much as I want to dislike him, more often than not I like his movies and him in them. I tried.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
God, I paid money to see that in the theater.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
As long as we’re talking about movies, one of my favorite film interets is how “The Big Sleep” was adapted and remade into so many good/great films:
Chinatown
Night Moves
Bullet
The Long Goodbye
The Big Lebowski
The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (even Dice Clay couldn’t kill the plot)
Who’ll Stop the Rain
p.a.
Who plays Trump in the movie? A yellow ottoman?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Steve in the ATL:
I think he was a singer, saw him and Sammy Davis Jr. at the Greek.
SiubhanDuinne
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
He was good in a very early film, might have been his first, called “Taps.” Also had Timothy Hutton and Sean Penn at the very start of their careers. Film also had George C. Scott playing George C. Scott.
Omnes Omnibus
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I’ve seen Tony Bennett live. In an old school theater.
SiubhanDuinne
@p.a.:
Can we get Dick van Dyke to trip over him?
Omnes Omnibus
@SiubhanDuinne: I like George C. Scott.
efgoldman
@p.a.:
An Afghan Hound with a bad dye job
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: I saw The Clash open for The Who.
SiubhanDuinne
@Omnes Omnibus:
Tony Bennett and I (and you!) share a birthday. I met him on one such August 3rd many years ago when he was guest artist with a symphony orchestra I managed at the time. It was the Grand Opening for a shopping mall :-)
Heard him several years later, here in Atlanta, doing a concert with Diana Krall. That was cool.
rikyrah
Kyle GriffinVerified account @kylegriffin1
Trouble for House GOP: Tom MacArthur resigns as co-chairman of ‘clearly divided’ Tuesday Group, cites AHCA struggles
SiubhanDuinne
@Omnes Omnibus:
Me too.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@SiubhanDuinne: Yes, he was good as a heavy in “Taps”, much better thne Hutton (the angst idealist ) and Penn (the conscience)
Morzer
@p.a.:
A gibbering mouther.
SiubhanDuinne
@rikyrah:
Awww, poor House GOP. (BRB, looking in emoji file for sad face with tears.)
????
sigaba
@George Spiggott: Why does his fridge sound like a dalek?
p.a.
@Morzer:
I would say Trump = Hackman’s character. Barboni = Bannon.
SiubhanDuinne
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
Actually, I thought they were all good for the parts they played. But my fave of every character in the movie was the little kid who played Charlie.
Steeplejack
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
Okay, we’re going to need some documentation on this, because it seems like about 40-70% bullshit.
Who’ll Stop the Rain is a very good movie that also follows its source novel very well (Dog Soldiers by Robert Stone).
Night Moves is good too, although it wasn’t quite as good as I remembered when I saw it on TBS recently.
Another Scott
@Steve in the ATL: Sinatra was great in the (original) Manchurian Candidate (as was Lansbury and Leigh and Harvey).
Cheers,
Scott.
Omnes Omnibus
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I can’t beat that.
Another Scott
@Steeplejack: Yeah, that stuck out for me, too. I assume some words like “in 2017 since Trump’s election” were elided.
Cheers,
Scott.
Immanentize
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I saw T-Rex open for Three Dog Night. I saw The E Street Band open for Chicago. I saw Bad Brains open for the Psychedelic Furs. I saw U2 play in a bar in Syracuse NY and I sat on a Foosball table to see the Talking Heads in a bar in Vestal. Etc etc etc.
ETA. But I’m losing my edge….
Gin & Tonic
@Omnes Omnibus:
Better than seeing him dead, I guess.
Steeplejack
@SiubhanDuinne:
You reminded me that Cruise also was very good in All the Right Moves (1983) as a high school football prospect trying to get out of his Rust Belt town. Even Craig T. Nelson was good as the obnoxious coach.
Another Scott
@Immanentize: In the ’80s saw Rod Stewart quickly walking through LAX with a couple of far too pretty 20-somethings on his arms, followed about 30 seconds latter with a couple of teenagers running after them (apparently hoping to get pictures or autographs)…
:-/
Cheers,
Scott.
Alain the site fixer
On the movie front, any fans here of Unbreakable? Seen Split? Heard about the sequel to both coming next year? One movie, sequel to both, there is. Glorious!
Immanentize
@Another Scott: Rod Stewart is a short fellow. I sat with the drummer of the Mothers of Invention and another fellow in Austin Texas while they waited for Arthur Brown to get some cancer treatment. Also too, speaking of Rod Stewart, Ronnie Lane used to be in Austin all the time in the early 90’s then (Oo la la). He had MS I think….
Smiling Mortician
@Steeplejack (phone): 2 is better than 1. But 1 is good. And yes, we shall not speak of 3.
Kayla Rudbek
I found author Jean Johnson’s great takedown of Pence the Dense herehere
Shalimar
@SiubhanDuinne: Brando was great in The Freshman, playing a parody of his Godfather role. Other than that, meh. He’s clearly a great actor, and yet I don’t really engage with the roles he played.
Shalimar
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: The Long Goodbye was adapted from the Chandler novel of the same name, not The Big Sleep.
Another Scott
Don’t want to mess up the Buddy thread upstairs (you’ve donated, right?), so here.
WaPo:
They’ll try to take everything that’s part of the commonweal and sell it off to their cronies. If it costs $200B to convince states to sell off stuff, it’s “investing in infrastructure” so it’s all good and Democrats should sign on because they keep saying they want infrastructure spending, right?!?
:-/
An Australian company owns toll lanes for the NoVA beltway and part of I-95. It can lead to things like this:
See, it’s just the market working as it’s supposed to. It’s “not price gouging”, it’s an “alternative”. You get to pay much, much more while you sit backed-up in traffic also too!
:-/
Cheers,
Scott.
Suffragette City
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
I saw James Brown open for the Monkeys. Seriously!
manyakitty
@Immanentize: And yet, LCD Soundsystem. LOVE IT
manyakitty
@Immanentize: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xG4oFny2Pk
KS in MA
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: And Jerry What’s his name–uh, Maguire.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@Shalimar: I know that. I didn’t read the books, so I can’t comment on that, but the movie plots are siblings – same DNA, slightly different traits (like the NCAA’s Samuelson Sisters)
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@Steeplejack: the source material is different, but it is undeniably rooted on Chandler’s work.
Steeplejack
@Suffragette City:
Yeah, that was a thing. One of my friends saw Hendrix open for the Monkees.
Another Scott
@Immanentize: [Mitch] McConnell is short, too. I saw him walking alone through DCA a few years ago.
Walter Mondale, though, is tall. I saw him walking in a parade in Chicago in the early ’80s and he was at least a head above everyone else around him.
Cheers,
Scott.
(Who enjoys free association sometimes.)
Ruckus
@different-church-lady:
Sure feels like it some days.
Ruckus
@Mnemosyne:
Does make him a lot more believable. To act as himself.
Death Panel Truck
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
Lemme just stop you right there. Dude can’t act his way out of a wet paper bag.