Radicals for Happiness

[kiaer.ts]

Radicals for Happiness is my blog dedicated to spreading things of value amongst likeminded people. The blog is implicitly Objectivist. I accept the principles of Objectivism, but the site does not promote Objectivism per se or engage in philosophical argument - it just takes it for granted that you may have read Rand or have some familiarity with her. Neither are the subjects I address, ranging from music, books, painters, websites and web resources, among other things, necessarily Randian or of interest to all Randians. For example, check out the posts on Orson Welles' Mercury Theater and the website Strange Maps. I will update this thread occasionally to list my most recent posts. Please check out the site, and post your comments if you enjoy it. Thanks.

[kiaer.ts]

These are last week's posts at Radicals for Happiness: Rita Hayworth and the movie Gilda, Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Heinlein's Citizen of the Galaxy, 25 Articles by Christopher Hitchens and a Link to a three hour interview with the fiercely pro-Western writer Ralph Peters.

[Chris Grieb]

Ted; This sounds like a great web site and I will look at it.

Ralph Peters did three hours on Book TV this month. I think it is archived on the Book TV web site.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Ted,

Good luck with your enterprise. It is a worthy one and I wish you all the success in the world.

I will be stopping in from time to time.

Michael

[Mikee]

Ted,

Very nice. A mini-vacation. I like your factual yet enthusiastic reviews. Thanks.

[kiaer.ts]

Ted,

Very nice. A mini-vacation. I like your factual yet enthusiastic reviews. Thanks.

Thanks, I really like the mini-vacation analogy. My thanks for all the comments. I'll make periodic updtaes of new posts.

[Chris Grieb]

Ted; I wanted to note that Gilda is available ON Demand from TCM. I think I will watch it.

[kiaer.ts]

Ted; I wanted to note that Gilda is available ON Demand from TCM. I think I will watch it.

I didn't even know that there was an On Demand TCM. I love that channel! You will not, could not possibly - unless you are a misogynistic music-hating Nazi-sympathizing nihilist, , be dissapointed.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Ted,

Skimming through your blog, I see a place for Quigley Down Under even though it is a late Romantic Western (1990) not in the West. It has all the elements of a Rand kind of story, with larger than life characters, including the music. I think it is an under-appreciated gem, which seems to be one of the themes of your blog.

Michael

[kiaer.ts]

Ted,

Skimming through your blog, I see a place for Quigley Down Under even though it is a late Romantic Western (1990) not in the West. It has all the elements of a Rand kind of story, with larger than life characters, including the music. I think it is an under-appreciated gem, which seems to be one of the themes of your blog.

Michael

Well, it's certainly well reviewed on Amazon, but I haven't seen it yet. Anything with Laura San Giacomo can't be all that bad. I'll have to check it out.

[Chris Grieb]

Ted; I am taking a break from Gilda but it seems like a great movie.

Rita Hayward is luscious and then some.

[kiaer.ts]

Ted; I am taking a break from Gilda but it seems like a great movie.

Rita Hayward is luscious and then some.

Be sure to let us know how it ends!

[kiaer.ts]

Here are the most recent posts at Radicals for Happiness:

BBC Radio 4 "In Our Time" with Melvyn Bragg

Strange Maps

Servalan "There are no women like me."

Betraying Spinoza

Ilya Repin "Pictures at an Exhibition"

Simpsons "Citizen Kang" 1996

Ultraman Lives!

[kiaer.ts]

Chris, have you finished watching Gilda yet? My two latest posts at Radicals for Happiness are Kim Novak in Bell, Book and Candle and Umberto Eco The Name of the Rose.

[Chris Grieb]

Yes; I finished Gilda. You might look at my blog where I have a posting about another Rita Hayworth movie. BTW; Gilda was wonderful. I have only see Bell, Book and Candle once but I love Novak in Vertigo.

Edited September 3, 2008 by Chris Grieb

[kiaer.ts]

There are two problems I have with Vertigo - again, Jimmy Stewart (although he's much better here than in Bell, Book & Candle) he's just no match for Novak - and the ending. I could kill Hitchcock over the ending. But her performance is top notch. My father strongly recommended Picnic when he found out I love Novak. (She looks uncannily like my mother.) He said I had to see the dance seen. A rather bad trashy naturalistic movie, but the dance scene, for all the two minutes it lasts, was good. I'll check out your blog. Thanks.

[Dragonfly]

About Vertigo, see also here.

[kiaer.ts]

About Vertigo, see also here.

Yes, I largely agree with your criticisms. I did wonder how Stewart managed to get off the roof in the chase scene! I am no fan of Psycho, either. I think 39 Steps (well reviewed but rarely shown) and Marnie are undervalued. I'll review Marnie for Radicals for Happiness after I watch it again. I am keeping up with one post a day, so eventually I'll have to get to it.

[kiaer.ts]

Here are some of the most recent posts at Radicals for Happiness:

Experience Sergei Rachmaninoff, David Lean, Celia Johnson & Trevor Howard all together on one stage in Noels Coward's "Brief Encounter"

Also:

Michael Crichton "State of Fear"

Kerr Avon, Blake's 7's anti-Anti-Hero

Steven Pinker "http://radicalsforhappiness.blogspot.com/2008/09/steven-pinker-stuff-of-thought.html"

"The Morphodite" by M. A. Foster

Umberto Eco "The Name of the Rose"

Hew Strachan "The First World War" DVD Set

Ronald Reagan "A Time for Choosing"

Don Lafontaine "The Voice" 1940-2008

[sbeaulieu]

I dig the site. Got a good kick out of "The Voice" and the comedy clip.

~ Shane

[kiaer.ts]

Thanks, Shane.

I'm curious, what is your avatar image?

[sbeaulieu]

Thanks, Shane.

I'm curious, what is your avatar image?

Frank Frazetta's Death Dealer helmet. A writer by the name of James Silke gave life to a series of drawings by Frank Frazetta. Four books in all.

Death Dealer

If ever there was a man who lived by his own code and on his own terms, Gath of Baal was it. Of all the sword and sorcery stories I've read, watched or heard of, he is my favorite.

~ Shane

[kiaer.ts]

Thanks. I remember the painting of him mounted on the horse. I never did read the books - was more into sci-fi than fantasy.

[kiaer.ts]

I left these posts out of my last update on Radicals for Happiness:

The Loeb Classical Library: The Essential Stoics and Epicureans

Steven Pinker Stuff of Thought

Experience Sergei Rachmaninoff, David Lean, Celia Johnson & Trevor Howard all together on one stage in Noels Coward's "Brief Encounter"

[kiaer.ts]

The bailout blues got you down?

These are all the titles from the last three weeks at Radicals for Happiness

+ Star Trek "The Animated Series"

+ Frank Herbert "The White Plague"

+ Colin Wilson "The Mind Parasites"

+ Otters Holding Hands

+ Niven, Pournelle, "The Mote in God's Eye"

+ The Doctrines of Epicurus

+ Robert Heinlein "Starship Troopers" 1997

+ The Loeb Classical Library

+ Noels Coward's "Brief Encounter"

+ Michael Crichton "State of Fear"

+ Kerr Avon, Blake's 7's anti-Anti-Hero

+ Steven Pinker "The Stuff of Thought"

+ "The Morphodite" by M. A. Foster

+ Don La Fontaine "The Voice" 1940-2008

+ Ronald Reagan "A Time for Choosing"

+ Dune 1984 (Extended Edition)

+ Hew Strachan "The First World War" DVD Set

+ Umberto Eco "The Name of the Rose"

+ Kim Novak in "Bell, Book & Candle"

+ Servalan "There are no women like me."