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Growing up with a conservative father (who was particularly engrossed in that cable news/radio universe at that time, and thankfully not during this era), I can absolutely say that Colmes' being shouted down on a day in, day out basis was amusing to early teenage me until I began paying closer attention to what he was saying, and then it wasn't so amusing anymore. I feel like he was set up for failure at that network and in that role, but at least they were attempting to condescend to liberal viewpoints, or the blossoming of my personal political ideology might've never stood a chance.

I always see his last name in small type thanks to one of Al Franken's books. He was fairly moderate and was ridden over the rails by Hannity too much to ever be a true sparring partner, but any Democrat that can last as long as he did in that environment deserves a Purple Heart

Sean Hannity's Twitter mentions are surprisingly respectful right now. For Sean Hannity's Twitter mentions.

Sweden=Rape Capital wrote:He was as annoying as f*uck, but this is sad and RIP

domino harvey wrote:I always see his last name in small type thanks to one of Al Franken's books. He was fairly moderate and was ridden over the rails by Hannity too much to ever be a true sparring partner, but any Democrat that can last as long as he did in that environment deserves a Purple Heart

Same here re: Franken.

My impression of Colmes is less charitable though - he seemed like he willingly played the stereotype of the weak, ineffectual liberal. I have no idea what his personal feelings were about that show and his role on it, but to me it sure seemed like he knew his role there and went with the flow.

I definitely understand that impulse and I think it's admirable. But he was so damned meek in the way he challenged Hannity's bullshit. That's my issue.

The question then becomes if showing and being meek is a lesser form of meekness than working in MSNBC.

Well, that's not much of a question, since I have no use for any of the MSNBC personalities.

Besides which, MSNBC isn't a liberal network, as such. They've mostly gone after a liberal audience for the time being, but that's not the same thing - as far as I know, as an entity they are not driven by a liberal ideology the same way that Fox is driven by conservatism.

Use wasn't what I was talking about, but rather the quality of the meekness.

Brian C wrote:Well, that's not much of a question, since I have no use for any of the MSNBC personalities.

Besides which, MSNBC isn't a liberal network, as such. They've mostly gone after a liberal audience for the time being, but that's not the same thing - as far as I know, as an entity they are not driven by a liberal ideology the same way that Fox is driven by conservatism.

I think millions of people would disagree with you on that last statement. They're in business to trash Republicans and promote the Democratic party.

I always admired Colmes for having the guts to go on the air and spar with the likes of Hannity and O'Reilly. Monica Crowley, his sister-in-law said Thanksgiving was always fun!

R.I.P. Mr. S passed on yesterday.

He actually died Feb. 13. I'm not sure if the family waited to announce it, or it just took a while for the Western press to pick it up. In any event, he had a very long run indeed, with at least two comebacks—the last one in his late 70s.

whaleallright wrote:...he had a very long run indeed, with at least two comebacks—the last one in his late 70s.

Not his best known film, but if I were to revisit it again, I imagine Pistol Opera could come off as his best work. I only saw a good portion of it many years ago, but it was pretty stunning, enough that I thought it put Tarantino's Kill Bill films to shame.

I'd recommend Princess Raccoon, too, although it's probably even more of an acquired taste than your average Suzuki film. (In the U.S., Sony Pictures Classics purchased it and then declined to distribute it.) It's even more aggressively anti-illusionistic and theatrical than Pistol Opera, with its CGI "sets" and deliberate confounding of depth cues/coherent space. I even find the story kind of moving.

Princess Raccoon is my most loved Suzuki film -- but would definitely also very highly recommend Story of a Prostitutes and Gates of Flesh.

I still love Tokyo Drifter (and its funky theme song!) the most, though that is probably because it was one of the earliest Japanese (excluding Godzilla) films I saw! Something I'd love Arrow to do would be to release some of Suzuki's early films in the UK (particularly the evocatively titled Detective Bureau 2-3: Go To Hell, Bastards!)

Here's Mark Cousins' Moviedrome introduction to the first BBC screening of Branded To Kill back in 1999 (the last Seijun Suzuki film to air on UK TV to date. Tokyo Drifter was shown on the BBC back in 1994), which is the film that was apparently so wildly stylised that it got Suzuki fired from Nikkatsu. This happened only a few years before Nikkatsu itself moved into its Roman Porno era, in which wild experimentation seemed fine as long as there were the required sex scenes peppered throughout the film. I've always thought it was a shame that Suzuki wasn't involved in that era of filmmaking, as I think he would have flourished in that era (films like Gate of Flesh and Story of a Prostitute kind of anticipate that wholesale Nikkatsu shift almost a decade beforehand)

Drifting. Never saw it but I will over the weekend. Thanks for the reminder. Always felt that Branded To Kill is probably the film that comes closest to something that I might do. It's a totally irreverent and utterly fascinating wack job. That explains the style of the film and Jô Shishido's Hanada. He went further than Brando did with Vito Corleone by having cheeck (facial) injections for his mobster antihero. And, yeah... the face in the rice cooker habit? Guilty.

Larry Coryell, back on the 19th.

Neil Fingleton, aged 36, of heart failure. At 7'7" he was Britain's tallest man, and was an occasional actor in Doctor Who and Game of Thrones amongst others.

Bill Paxton discussion moved here

Alexei Petrenko (Elem Klimov's Agony is his most famous role outside Russia)