My Man Godfrey

One of my favorite comedies is a movie from 1936, My Man Godfrey. It is definitely a depression era movie. Part of the opening dialog is - One denizen (Powell): "Prosperity is just around the corner." Another denizen: "Been there a long time." I guess they weren't having a Recovery Summer then either.

My favorite line from the film? "She's not having a spell. That's old stuff."

The movie is all about the misbehavior of a rich family. William Powell is the "street person" from the city dump turned butler and Carole Lombard is the daughter of the rich businessman.

Watch the movie or download it for free at Internet Archive. Which is definitely cheaper than NetFlix. Kind of important if you are trying to keep out of the dumps.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Palin X-Rated

The producers of the Palin Campaign (not yet) bio film “The Undefeated,” plan to release an X-rated version.

The director of “The Undefeated,” a glowing new film about Sarah Palin, said he plans to release an “X-rated” version of the film to better convey “vile” comments about her from sources including celebrities and obscure Twitter users.

Dang. I was hoping for a teachable moment. Her and Todd giving baby making lessons. In my dreams. I guess.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Why "Everyone" In India Is An Engineer.

Did you ever wonder why India produces so many engineers? Well there is an answer. It is the culture. But not in a way you would imagine.

India is perhaps the only country in the world where parents decide the career of their children a few moments after birth.

This has famously been captured in the classic Bollywood movie 3 Idiots where the character of Farhan Qureshi played by R.Madhavan says "I was born at 5:15 am and at 5:16 am my father said: My son will be an engineer ".

The film which stars Aamir Khan (one of the most intellgent and biggest bollywood superstars) is an excellent depiction of what engineering education is like in India and how parents force their kids to pursue careers that are only meant to create a good standing in society for themselves (instead of pursuing what they love) . The movie was such an outrageous success that it is one of the highest grossing bollywood films of all time and is a treat to watch over and over again.

No wonder, because India produces 600,000 engineers from colleges across the country every year (read here for more) and in many families it is trait that has been passed on for generations. It is not uncommon to see three to four generations of one family ranging from immediate brothers, cousins, uncles and distant relatives all having an engineering background.

In my engineering career I have met more than a few engineers who were not in love with their work. They were piss poor engineers. I preferred to shunt them off into more important work like sorting resistors by color code. Work which could be double checked with an ohm meter. Just to keep them from mass producing a disaster by design.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

The Problem With Socialists And Socialist Conservatives

Bill Whittle explains "The Problem With Socialists And Socialist Conservatives" in his review of the movie Forbidden Planet.

Forbidden Planet (Two-Disc 50th Anniversary DVD Edition)

This book is a further exposition on the subject:

God's Executioner: Oliver Cromwell and the Conquest of Ireland

And if that isn't enough for you I have a C.S. Lewis quote:

"Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber barons cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." - Clive Staples "CS" Lewis

Me? I'd rather not live under any form of socialism. As a wag once said of the "problem": "If you tell people what to do they will do the opposite. If you leave them alone they will do as they damn well please."

Short version: leaving people alone causes fewer problems.

H/T Instapundit

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Plan 9 From Outer Space

You can download a free legal copy of Plan 9 From Outer Space at Moving Image Archive. They have quite a few downloads available including the hilarious His Girl Friday which shows the popular press in quite an unflattering light. They seem no different from the press of today except that today there are citizen controlled alternatives. If you watch "Friday" you might want to look up Production For Use before getting into the movie.

Cross Posted at Classical Values