Althouse: At the Hearing Things Cafe...

December 29, 2017

At the Hearing Things Cafe...

... you can listen to each other talk all night.

56 comments:

ndspinelli said...: I heard "bundle up" at least a dozen times tonight on TV. I wish I could taser people every time they say that incredibly lame phrase.; 12/29/17, 9:10 PM
walter said...: Let's get this party started.
"But Truuuuummmmmp!"; 12/29/17, 9:13 PM
Greg Hlatky said...: It would be nice to have a thread without deranged lunatics insulting everyone in sight. It's no incentive to comment when some unhinged attention-seeking maniac can essentially highjack things.; 12/29/17, 9:13 PM
traditionalguy said...: Two thumbs up for The Darkest Hour.The wife said she got chill bumps from Churchill's human courage. And that is a once in a decade film review for her. She only went for me, she said. But the interpersonal nuances between Winston and Clemmie, and Winston and the King, and Winston and the Tube passengers, all with painful the truth of the history got to her.

The comparison to DJT's role today was stark. The Hollywood people will not dare to give it an Oscar. But it is film making at its best.; 12/29/17, 9:24 PM
madAsHell said...: Rose Marie has passed on.; 12/29/17, 9:31 PM
mockturtle said...: Tradguy, I can't wait to see The Darkest Hour. Thanks for the review. Churchill has always been my favorite historic personage. I had doubts that Gary Oldman could succeed at his portrayal, as he looks nothing like the great man, but my daughter has assured me that his performance is spot-on.; 12/29/17, 9:58 PM
Big Mike said...: @mockturtle, my sons visited wife and me for Christmas, and I took the four of us to see "Darkest Hour." I can't get over what a fabulous job Oldman did portraying an old and overweight man. There's an invented scene that never historically happened when Winston takes a right in the London Underground, but it works. Along with "Wind River" and "Dunkirk," it is one of the three best films I've seen this year.; 12/29/17, 10:08 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: don't=== know why byt I appreciate Althouses' locutions.

WIshi I were a better man and it menat something.

fClint black sng about leaving here a better man, loninwgk you this way; 12/29/17, 10:09 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: Definitely gonna see Darkest Hour! Also, that WaPost movie about the Pentagon Papers.; 12/29/17, 10:19 PM
Ralph L said...: We'd all better see the Post movie or Sally Quinn will put a hex on us.; 12/29/17, 10:34 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: I have an idea for Spielberg's next movie. It's called "The Brothers." It's set in the mid-1950s and centers on Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and his brother, CIA Director Allen Dulles, heroically fighting the international Communist Conspiracy with covert executive actions in Guatemala, Iran and Hungary, to save the world from nuclear confrontation with the Soviets, so that Christian capitalism can prosper.

Whaddya think? Mebbe a bit too soon? Heh.; 12/29/17, 10:36 PM
Ralph L said...: Victor Davis Hanson on Darkest Hour. SPOILER: Britain survives.; 12/29/17, 10:39 PM
Ralph L said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/29/17, 10:39 PM
Kathryn51 said...: Hubby and I are finally going to "Darkest Hour" on NYE. We toured the Churchill War Rooms last summer - truly inspiring on how the Brits held on during the blitz and planned out D-Day.

In other news, I just saw the trailer for "12 Strong" - Jerry Bruckheimer is finally, FINALLY (it's been over SIX YEARS) bringing the story of the Afghan Horse Soldiers to the silver screen. I've been looking forward to this for a very long time - these were amazing men doing amazing things in the aftermath of 9/11.; 12/29/17, 10:58 PM
narciso said...: No i don't think so, of course I kind of like David talbots great chessboard because even though he is the villain in this one. Has a cool one.

I wondered if oldmans physiognomy would suspend belief about the character.; 12/29/17, 11:04 PM
narciso said...: The company was a reasonably good representation of the period. Littell wee loath to give props to angleton for tracking Sasha. So he is undone by it.? The good shepherd is a horrible one. But then Matt Damon is supposed to be the protaginist, seriously; 12/29/17, 11:08 PM
walter said...: Bay Area Guy said... to save the world from nuclear confrontation with the Soviets, so that Christian capitalism can prosper.
--
No link to CAGW, alphabet gang issues, dick moves etc....; 12/29/17, 11:09 PM
bgates said...: Let's get this party started.

Fun Fact: "But Trump" has the same letters in the same order as "Butt rump".

SPOILER: Britain survives.

Too soon to tell.; 12/29/17, 11:10 PM
walter said...: Narcisco,
Are you of ESL or keyboard challenge?; 12/29/17, 11:10 PM
narciso said...: The latter, Littell had previously been particularly keen on the company, but he captures the ethos of the players from the 50s to the current day.; 12/29/17, 11:29 PM
walter said...: Then slow down..proof it.
Your posts can be headscratchers.; 12/29/17, 11:32 PM
narciso said...: The last two generations of perfidious Albion have not been taught about Churchill's virtues but his shortcoming, all the things that ate off snowflakes.; 12/29/17, 11:36 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: @narcisco,

"The Company" is one my favorites - well played. Michael Keaton as a sympathetic, dare I say, somewhat heroic James Jesus Angleton?

The book was good, too, but a little long. Also, the book makes Reagan seem like a dunce, which was incongruent with the overall theme.; 12/29/17, 11:39 PM
narciso said...: Specially since he looked more like the late John hurt, or William hickey, Sasha is portrayed a little like an analog to philby was to Nicholas elliot a contemporary in some ways betrayed by him, the argument angleton used against the bay of pigs doesn't wash because it resembled valuable Ajax and success.; 12/29/17, 11:46 PM
narciso said...: Angleton was a true believer, that's why they burner him. Dulls by contrast was ultimately a pragmatist who would sell you out in a heartbeat.; 12/29/17, 11:47 PM
Mark said...: Meanwhile there is a petition for Disney to remove The Last Jedi from the Star Wars canon and remake Episode VIII. This time doing it, you know . . . good.

Excellent idea. So what if it was just released? If they can do remakes and reboots of other movies within a couple of years, there is no reason not to re-do Episode VIII within a couple of months.; 12/29/17, 11:50 PM
narciso said...: I think the problem with the last Jedi is the filmmaker doesn't really understand heroism or that good must triumph over evil. In the dieppe like rogue one, they did sort of get it, because it was prologue to new hope. Now they don't really consider the consequences of a first order victory, were down to life boats off the yotktown after midway.; 12/29/17, 11:57 PM
walter said...: " there is a petition for Disney to remove The Last Jedi from the Star Wars canon and remake Episode VIII. This time doing it, you know . . . good."
Right..good luck with..that.; 12/30/17, 12:01 AM
narciso said...: I saw what looked the trailer for the han solo one, looks like they spliced in elements from serenity and galaxy quest.; 12/30/17, 12:05 AM
Mark said...: good luck with..that

Tell it to Pam Ewing.; 12/30/17, 12:08 AM
Mark said...: It wouldn't be any less absurd than Leia Poppins surviving getting blown up and then being able to live in the open vacuum of space without air and then flying through space.; 12/30/17, 12:13 AM
JML said...: My son and his fiancé are headed back to WI Sunday. They have a NEST thermostat and have it set at 58 while they are here in NM. He has it programmed to start to kick back up to 68 or 70 an hour before they are scheduled to get home from the airport. She looked at the forecast temp for their arrival and she told him he will start it up 6 hours prior and it will be warm when they get home. He started to try to negotiate with her, saw a look, and said, "OK." The boy is learning.; 12/30/17, 12:15 AM
walter said...: I will..if she's alive.; 12/30/17, 12:16 AM
walter said...: JML said...He started to try to negotiate with her, saw a look, and said, "OK." The boy is learning.
--
Fooking Matriarchy!!!; 12/30/17, 12:18 AM
walter said...: Happy wife, happy life etc, yadda yadda...; 12/30/17, 12:20 AM
narciso said...: Yes that was jar jar level of foolishness.; 12/30/17, 12:26 AM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: It wouldn't be any less absurd than Leia Poppins surviving getting blown up and then being able to live in the open vacuum of space without air and then flying through space.

Um, she was using the Force, probably at an instinctual level. Remember she is potentially as strong as Luke though she decided to go the become a general route rather than going the lone knight route. I suspect something would have been done with this in the next movie had she not died.

The movie is not as good as TFA or RO, but it is not bad. They actually used the fact that "Star Wars" is a genre now to play against our expectations efectively.

SPOILERS

For instance, we are primed for Finn & Rose's hare-brained scheme to work since that's the kind of thing that happens in Star Wars. Instead, not only does it fail, but it results in the death of thousands who would still be alive had the pair only stayed home. I did not see that coming. Similarly we expect the rogue to have a heart of gold, which he doesn't, and for Finn to take out the canon, which he doesnt..; 12/30/17, 1:13 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: It's fun to take pictures of one's house that make it look creepy.

I'd like to put up a little album of such amusing pictures on social media, but social media is a mostly conventional place, so it could weird people out. Will consider.; 12/30/17, 1:35 AM
Etienne said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/30/17, 3:06 AM
Big Mike said...: @Bay Area Guy, by all means go see “The Post,” but be aware that there’s a degree of history rewriting going on. When Dick Nixon attempted to suppress publication of the Pentagon Papers the reputations he was trying to protect were Kennedy’s and Johnson’s. The Papers were compuled at the behest of Robert McNamara, while Nixon was in the political wilderness and before he took office. Nixon believed that classified materials should not be summarized in daily newspapers.; 12/30/17, 5:08 AM
Will Cate said...: People who say, in the course of conversation, "What I'm hearing from you is..." absolutely drive me crazy.

What that person is saying, in essence, is: "Yes, I heard those words that you said, but I have my own personal interpretation of those words, which I'd like to share with you now."; 12/30/17, 5:33 AM
narciso said...: Yes and his judgment was not the mist solid, he had been an active supporter of the war, but like some officials who chose to surrender in the hardier period of the Iraq conflict like tom barnett; 12/30/17, 7:36 AM
narciso said...: https://mobile.twitter.com/ThomasWictor/status/947015874195611648?p=v; 12/30/17, 8:14 AM
Bay Area Guy said...: @Big Mike,

Yes, largely agree. Indeed, I would argue that the publication of The Pentagon Papers actually helped Nixon and the Supreme Court fight was largely kabuki theater. Look at a quick timeline:

1. 6/71: Pentagon Papers leak/NY Times
2. 9/71: Plumbers Hunt & Liddy burglarize Ellsberg's psychologist office in Beverly Hills
3. 11/72: Nixon wins 49 State landslide
4. 1/73: Nixon signs Paris Peace Accords, ending Vietnam War.

The PP was one large book report on the history of Vietnam, which mostly trashed Kennedy and Johnson, but not Nixon. And as for Daniel Ellsberg, well, his mentor in Vietnam was famed Col. Edward Lansdale, CIA operative "the Quiet Man", who ran Operation Mongoose under Kennedy to try and assassinate Castro.

Below the surface, there's a lotta intrigue there.; 12/30/17, 8:25 AM
Jaq said...: I had one of those thermostats that you could operate remotely from your phone. I powered it off of the circuit board that controlled the radiant heating because it had a handy 28V AC port. Well after three years it fried the board on a sub zero night because it drew just a hair too much power. Fortunately we had a wood stove in the basement, a fireplace, and a few small space heaters and were there at the time.; 12/30/17, 9:00 AM
Jaq said...: "but I have my own personal interpretation of those words, which I'd like to share with you now."

You must hate Scott Adams.; 12/30/17, 9:03 AM
Jaq said...: I just realized what I did wrong with the thermostat. I used a relay to isolate it from the actual control port on the board, and it was the relay that drew too much power. Slaps forehead.; 12/30/17, 9:06 AM
Rusty said...: It looks like the people of Iran have again finally had enough of their real theocratic regime.Unlike the last Whitehouse resident Trump has acknowledged to crisis and openly supports the people of Iran.; 12/30/17, 9:23 AM
Michael K said...: "Darkest Hour" is excellent and very true to the book, "Five Days in London: May 1940.

Winston and the Tube passengers, all with painful the truth of the history got to her.

The Underground scene is fiction but represents quite well the real part of the book that describes the primitive opinion polling of the day.

The wealthy and nobility were very frightened and wanted appeasement but the lower classes and less educated, such as you might meet on the Underground, were stoic and less worried.

Read the book. It is quite short and very readable. My wife got it out the next day and is reading it.; 12/30/17, 9:35 AM
Michael K said...: "Nixon believed that classified materials should not be summarized in daily newspapers."

Yes and that movie, I understand, continues the left's war on Nixon.

I won't see it.; 12/30/17, 9:37 AM
Big Mike said...: @Bay Area Guy, I doubt whether the Pentagon Papers had any effect on the 1972 election. When the North Vietnamese negotiators staged one of their patented "we're walking out" kabuki dramas Nixon forced them back to the bargaining table by mining Haiphong's harbor and carpet bombing Hanoi with B-52s. Suddenly everyone could see that the war was going to end on America's terms, as it did. Meanwhile George McGovern had effectively only one plank in his campaign platform, ending the Vietnam War. Once Nixon ended it himself, George was without any plank to stand on.

I voted for Dick Nixon in both elections, but I had been inducted into the army in January 1969 and I remember thinking that there was nothing Dick Nixon had done to end the war in 1972 that he couldn't have done in 1969, and let me go home.; 12/30/17, 10:38 AM
Big Mike said...: @Will Cate, if you're still around, you need to understand that language, in general, can have multiple interpretations, and English is worse than many other languages in that regard. Two people listening to the same words can reach two different conclusions about what was said -- and it's quite possible that neither is precisely what the speaker was intending. Back when I was trying to discover the wants and needs of the target user community for a system I was designing, I often resorted to saying back what the person I was interviewing told me, using different words. I was seldom that what I heard was exactly what the interviewee meant.; 12/30/17, 10:43 AM
mockturtle said...: I have no admiration for either Katharine Graham or Ben Bradlee and have no desire to see The Post. Are they trying to build media credibility by portraying The Post as brimming with courage and integrity? The 'crimes' and conspiracies of the Nixon administration were small potatoes compared to those of the DNC of 2016.; 12/30/17, 1:25 PM
mockturtle said...: Rusty reports: It looks like the people of Iran have again finally had enough of their real theocratic regime.Unlike the last Whitehouse resident Trump has acknowledged to crisis and openly supports the people of Iran.

Yes and good for them! A few women are even throwing off their hijabs. Freedom can break out in the unlikeliest of places.; 12/30/17, 2:36 PM
Will Cate said...: @BigMike -- That's all fine, and I don't deny that interpretations, and even re-interpretations, are part of those types of conversations. But on a more casual level, I really try to speak plainly and directly, and get a bit frustrated when I'm misinterpreted by the person to whom I'm speaking.

@Tim at large -- Actually I agree with Scott on most everything, so that doesn't tend to be a problem; 12/30/17, 7:36 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: Mark said...
Meanwhile there is a petition for Disney to remove The Last Jedi from the Star Wars canon and remake Episode VIII. This time doing it, you know . . . good.

Ooh, ooh, I know! This time, they can do it without that rat-faced girl.; 12/30/17, 10:04 PM