The "Fort Dix 5" — five Philadelphia-area men accused of plotting an implausible attack on the South Jersey Army base — were convicted of conspiring to commit murder. This was a murky case involving what the defense characterized as virtual entrapment by the FBI informant who seems to have masterminded the scheme. But what really troubled me throughout this trial was that in addition to the conspiracy charge — which accurately described what prosecutors said the men did — the... Read more
(Here's the video link if the embedded video above won't play in your browser.) Rayford Steele figures he owes Buck a favor for helping to subdue Mr. Panic on the airplane, so he offers to give him the name of a charter pilot who might be able to fly Buck to New York. The charter pilot is, of course, based right there at the airport. Instead of just giving Buck the name and wishing him good luck, though, Rayford brings... Read more
Harold has disappeared. He seems to have gone off naked. He doesn't have a name here in the movie, but those of us who read the book remember him as Harold. Like most of the characters in the novel, we have no idea what he looked like — short or tall, thin or fat, gray-haired or bald. We don't even know what he had been wearing, even though his clothes figure prominently in this section of the narrative. Here is... Read more
Scientists have demonstrated that dogs can feel envy. So says The New York Times and so says National Geographic. But scientists have not, in fact, done any such thing. What they actually seem to have demonstrated about dogs is far more interesting. The experiment in question actually had little to do with the deadly sin of envy and quite a bit to do with the cardinal virtue of justice. Here is the Times’ description of the experiment in question: The... Read more
Right, so, Part 3 … CamCam and the Girl With the Smudge are watching the video of Prophet Guy. The tape has him speaking in Hebrew, but CamCam remembers hearing him speak in English. This ought to be worth a second look. CamCam after all, doesn't understand Hebrew, yet he remembers exactly what the man told him. It would be a simple matter to translate the Hebrew on the tape and to confirm that it was the same message CamCam... Read more
Comcast. Read more
A bit of housekeeping: Since the most recent LBFriday installment was three days late and wound up getting derailed by a long Aristotelian tangent about acting, ethics and Mike Seaver, I intend to revisit Part 3 of LBTM tomorrow. From what I've seen of the comments thread in the previous entry, many of you have already begun responding to that part of the movie. I'll try to catch up with you tomorrow. * * * Here's a bit more from... Read more
I was halfway to work one night in a bona fide blizzard, fishtailing along in my old Civic, when they announced on the radio that roads were officially closed. Any non-essential non-emergency personnel crazy enough to be out driving would be ticketed. So I called my then-boss — an old-school newspaperman named Dave Hale — and asked him if the First Amendment qualified us as essential personnel. "Sure," Dave said, "you just show 'em your newspaper ID and they'll give... Read more
As we begin Part 3 of the movie, CamCam is back at GNN space command central, editing his footage of the mysterious man in the prophet costume. But this time, Mr. Fake Beard and Bathrobe is speaking in Hebrew. "What's he saying?" CamCam asks. "I don't know, it sounds like Hebrew," the mystery girl from Part 1 says. Several days have passed since we first saw her (I think), and she's wearing a different outfit, but she still has that... Read more
We cut to Chicago, a series of fades beginning with an aerial shot of downtown and ending in the interior of the Steele's suburban bathroom, where Rayford is looking at himself in the mirror. The soundtrack blares the title song, "Left Behind," by Bryan Duncan, which is worth mention here since it's a near-perfect introduction to the frustrating Mr. Duncan: great pipes, capably derivative but dated musical style, insipid lyrics. This song, recorded in 2000, is not intentionally retro or... Read more
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