Althouse: At the Raptor's Nest Café...

March 29, 2014

At the Raptor's Nest Café...

... alight...

... on the road to Shambhala.

34 comments:

MadisonMan said...: The hawkcam won't be going on this year, again. Weeks Hall just isn't where it's at for Madison Raptors, I guess.; 3/29/14, 11:19 AM
gspencer said...: Alterhouse,

Seriously, you think that's a better picture (of yourself)?; 3/29/14, 11:21 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: Saw Dallas Buyers Club. Good.

Saw Don Jon because we were interested in how it would approach what is a significant cultural issue. It was fine. We wished we could have seen what Billy Wilder would have done with the same material!

Have been watching a lot of W.C. Fields. Reliably hilarious, of course.; 3/29/14, 11:23 AM
Saint Croix said...: I hate Candy Crush. I hate the stupid candy land, I hate the stupid music, I hate that I'm stuck at level 52, or when I was stuck at level 49, or level 44, or any of the other damn stupid idiotic Candy Crush levels.

I will crush you, you stupid candy game!

I cannot believe I am trapped in this Candy Crush hell. By god I will win! But I will be irritated the whole stupid, idiotic, pointless way. Although it is kinda fun.; 3/29/14, 11:25 AM
Saint Croix said...: I love W.C. Fields, Freeman. He is so awesome. He's built an entire comedy routine out of fear. Brilliant.

The coolest movie I've seen recently is American Hustle, which is fantastic. It's about Abscam, and the 1970's, and Jew-fros, and disco, magic microwaves, and ice fishing stories.

It's awesome. And I hate the 1970's. But this movie makes me love that decade.; 3/29/14, 11:28 AM
Wince said...: I was hoping Althouse would post about Leland Yee, the anti-gun state senator from California arrested by the FBI this week for running guns with gangs and mobs.

Anyway, down to his being nicknamed “Uncle Leland”, Leland Yee reminds me of the maniacal Uncle Wang character in Bruce Lee’s “Way of the Dragon” [aka “Enter the Dragon”].

Plot…

Tang Lung (Bruce Lee) is sent from Hong Kong to Rome to help Uncle Wang, and niece Chen Ching-hua, whose restaurant is being targeted by the local mafia. Tang fends off the gangsters and wins Chen's admiration…[But in the end] Uncle Wang kills Tony and Jimmy, blaming Tang for getting in his way, as he would receive a large sum of money if he persuaded Chen to sell the restaurant to the mob.

Which confused a lot of fans…

In Bruce Lee's movie Way of the Dragon, Uncle Wang, at the end of the movie, kills two of the waiters and said he wanted the restaurant to be sold all along. He then tries to kill Tang Lung. I don't understand this character. Why didn't he just try to convince Chen Ching Hua to sell the restaurant? He seems to be helpful around the restaurant and tries to increase business. This character doesn't make any sense to me.

Dialog…

Tony: [after being stabbed by Uncle Wang] Uncle Wang, why did you...?

'Uncle' Wang: Don't blame me for all of this. The blame is on Ah-Lung. He stirred up this trouble, the fool!

Tony: What does this... what does this mean?

'Uncle' Wang: What does this mean? You must know. I've worked hard all of my life. And I've got nothing at all to show for it! My own wife and children are waiting for me in Hong Kong. If the restaurant cooperates, they'll pay me well for all of this. After that I can go back to Hong Kong a rich man.

You understand, I have to do this. I have to do it! muahahahahahahahahahahaaaaa...; 3/29/14, 11:30 AM
Saint Croix said...: Candy Crush has so upset me, now I'm lying like Obama coming out of a meeting with the Pope. 42! Not 52. 42! I got 10 more levels of hell to get through before I can suffer at 52.

Bring it, you sugary evil. Bring it!; 3/29/14, 11:32 AM
Saint Croix said...: I got to stop using the word "awesome."; 3/29/14, 11:36 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: It's a Gift, which I haven't watched recently, has what may be the funniest scene ever in a movie.; 3/29/14, 11:37 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: The world needs a great comedy writer. We have lots of funny people but nobody with the comedy wordsmithing chops of the past. It's a different system now, so people don't get the same level of practice. It's like stunts. You can't run a school like the one Jackie Chan came out of because it was abusive, but you'll probably never see stunts like those of his early career again. No one can do them.; 3/29/14, 11:42 AM
Hagar said...: Too much green in that picture. looks like you got algae growing in your hair.; 3/29/14, 11:48 AM
madAsHell said...: The photo keeps staring at me. It says "Don't comment with that same old lame stuff....or else!!".

Obey!!; 3/29/14, 11:55 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "I was hoping Althouse would post about Leland Yee, the anti-gun state senator from California arrested by the FBI this week for running guns with gangs and mobs."

I have nothing to say about him. You just want me to copy stuff that's already everywhere?

I have some standards...; 3/29/14, 11:58 AM
Ann Althouse said...: He's a STATE SENATOR.

If I was going to blog about a state legislator, I'd blog about this guy because he's Wisconsin.; 3/29/14, 12:01 PM
madAsHell said...: Hmmm....I always thought that Shamabhala was a lyrical creation. You know....I need a poly-syllabic to cover the last few beats in the measure. Ram-a-dam-a-ding-dong just didn't fit.

Now, I find that there is a well established mythology in Buddhism about a place called Shamabhala.

I'm prolly the last one to know.; 3/29/14, 12:08 PM
SJ said...: @Ann, @EDH,
How many State-level legislators are arrested every week?

How many are charged with being involved with criminal gangs, Russian smugglers, and Muslim terrorists in the Philippines?; 3/29/14, 12:21 PM
Scott said...: I was in a meeting in a conference room on the 14th floor of a skyscraper in Jersey City. Outside the window was a 15 foot wide setback. The meeting was moving along when all of a sudden, a woman shouted "Oh my God!" We all looked out the window. A hawk was disemboweling a pigeon on the setback.; 3/29/14, 12:40 PM
Wince said...: The Yee sting was federal and the scope international. But more importantly, Althouse is my favorite venue to make inane b-movie parallels.

And isn't groping women what we really expect from "ultra-conservative" Republicans?

I was more fascinated by the human angle of hypocrisy, duplicity and betrayal in the paradoxical behavior of 'Uncle Leland' and 'Uncle Wang'.

Evincing the mythological archetype of the shapeshifter, the “wily” character who “never discloses […] the whole content of his wisdom” (Campbell, [1949] 1968: 381), Uncle Wang is appropriately lit in a fashion that signifies the dual nature of his ultimately back-stabbing character. It will be discovered at the end of the film that Wang was playing both sides after being corrupted by greed; in a foreshadowing effect, Wang is thus split here between having one side of his face lit normally while the other side catches the malevolently green flickering light emanating from the glass candle holder on the table.

Bruce Lee: Authorship, Ideology, and Film Studies– Part 2; 3/29/14, 12:44 PM
Jim said...: BTW, how does the light shine, in the halls of Shambala? I think CFLs would be a detriment to true enlightenment.; 3/29/14, 1:42 PM
heyboom said...: @Saint Croix

Watching an LPGA tournament last week and they mentioned one of the players is at level 419 or some such on Candy Crush.

I hope that doesn't crush your dreams, or should that be Candy Crush your dreams?; 3/29/14, 1:54 PM
Mike said...: Speaking of Shambala, I've gotten to the stage of life where I understand that Joy to the World (from Three Dog Night, not the Christmas carol) is a pretty silly song; my son, meanwhile, wants to listen to it every time he gets in my car.

Apropos of nothing, What's Up Doc? tops my short list of funniest movies ever.; 3/29/14, 2:57 PM
rhhardin said...: There's no LPGA seniors tour, somebody noticed on Imus long ago, I think in an argument about female sports reporters and eye candy.; 3/29/14, 3:06 PM
rhhardin said...: So, we don't nestle weightless
In each other's hearts! The soul,
Then, is a raptor -- eagle
Or falcon, and if the soul
Is a raptor some other
Soul must be prey. Is that it?

Betraying is letting loose.
The tamed caged fox is betrayed
To the hounds. Or: I betray
My heart to you. Give it up,
That is, into your keeping.
Your treachery and rapture.

.... - Vicki Hearne

a couple promising opening stanzas before she goes theoretical.; 3/29/14, 3:11 PM
Saint Croix said...: Apropos of nothing, What's Up Doc? tops my short list of funniest movies ever.

I love that movie. It's a remake of Bringing Up Baby.

I think Peter Bogdanovich is way, way, way better with comedy than drama. Check out Noises Off if you haven't seen it. Hysterical.; 3/29/14, 3:55 PM
ken in tx said...: Shambala was also part of Nazi mythology. Hitler tasked the SS with creating a new religion for the German people. It incorporated pre-Christian Aryan-Hindu stuff like the legion of the paradise of Shambala. Every thing old is new again.; 3/29/14, 3:55 PM
Saint Croix said...: Watching an LPGA tournament last week and they mentioned one of the players is at level 419 or some such on Candy Crush.

oh no; 3/29/14, 4:16 PM
Wince said...: Notice, as blogged by Instapundit, CNN is also claiming the reason for its lack of coverage of the Leland Yee arrest is his office of STATE senator (of course, one that was running for state-wide CA office and ardent gun control advocate).

But the arrest was federal, and the scope international with connection to terrorism.

Althouse is an individual blogger and can blog whatever interests her (I was only disappointed because I had the Uncle Wang comment ready).

For CNN, however, that STATE senator cop-out is completely ridiculous and transparent.; 3/29/14, 4:46 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "Notice, as blogged by Instapundit, CNN is also claiming the reason for its lack of coverage of the Leland Yee arrest is his office of STATE senator (of course, one that was running for state-wide CA office and ardent gun control advocate)."

Yeah, I just saw that, long after I made my point.

Is CNN writing about the Wisconsin guy? He's a Republican, so it would be a good test.; 3/29/14, 5:22 PM
Paddy O said...: "You just want me to copy stuff that's already everywhere?"

Maybe you could post his political party. I haven't seen that in any of the articles I read. Had to look on his ca.gov website (well, didn't have to, I knew by his committee chairmanships and the lack of any mention of his party that he was a Democrat).; 3/29/14, 6:53 PM
Paddy O said...: "CNN is also claiming the reason for its lack of coverage of the Leland Yee arrest is his office of STATE senator"

Yet, I'll bet the whole nation heard about our 5.1 earthquake last evening. The one that caused no injuries and very little damage, and even though I live 18 miles away, I didn't even feel because I was driving at the time.; 3/29/14, 6:54 PM
rhhardin said...: Psychic raptor.; 3/29/14, 9:36 PM
Mike said...: Check out Noises Off if you haven't seen it. Hysterical.
Have seen it. Love it (except for the VoiceOver framing device, which is kind of clunky). Christopher Reeve was never funnier.

And I just realized my mentioning What's Up Doc? didn't come out of left field after all. It's set in San Francisco and partly takes place in Chinatown, and includes gangsters, so it all ties nicely with the Leland Yee discussion.; 3/29/14, 11:05 PM
Douglas B. Levene said...: Yee is no big deal. What was he looking for, something under $100,000? You want a big deal, read about the latest anti-corruption bust in China - the former head of public security (roughly equivalent to DNI + FBI + DHS +NSA combined) was arrested (apparently) along with his family, friends, associates, proxies, minions and dopplegangers, and the Chinese government seized $14 billion in ill-gotten gains. That's billion, with a "b." http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/30/us-china-corruption-zhou-idUSBREA2T02S20140330.; 3/30/14, 1:32 AM
Saint Croix said...: Why is Obama's hair turning white?

Stress. Stress. A lot of stress.

What does he have to be stressed out about? He's the lamest lame duck ever!

Obama: "They all have to like me. I have to be liked. I have to be popular. They're all looking up to me! Pressure. Pressure. It's bulimia-in-the-girl's-bathroom pressure. You have no idea."

Journalist: "Did the Pope like you?"

Obama: "Ah. Very productive conversation with the Pope, with his Holiness. He's a big fan of my work, as you know. Economics."

Pope: "Stop killing babies. I want you to stop killing babies."

Obama: "We, we, we touched on many topics. Many, many, many fruitful topics. I didn't mean to say fruitful. I don't know why I said fruitful. We talked about the poor. There are so many poor people."

Pope: "I am little concerned about infanticide, decapitation and dismemberment of unwanted babies. I don't like it."

Obama: "We talked about, uh, well, there was a lot of agreement, basically. Just a lot of agreement and consensus and good, healthy, wonderful conversation about economics and universal health care for families. I didn't mean to say families. No, wait, families is fine. I can say that. We talked about families."

Journalist: "You talked about Sasha and Malia?"

Obama: "Not specifically. We talked about women. So Michelle and Sasha and Malia, in the broad, general sense. The Pope likes women, so we talked about women, and their rights, the rights of women, and health care. A lot of general, broad, very hard to specify discussion with the Pope, that was very helpful and I think I straightened him out on a few things. But I can't, you know, it's very private. It's very private and important. So, no discussion about that."; 3/30/14, 7:00 AM