Musings from the Bunker 8/4/20

Good morning!

First things first. It’s Andrea’s birthday! Happy birthday to the woman who puts up with me (and these musings!). This week I will be sharing movies from Andrea’s favorite genres—rom-com and legal.

---

THE “DEFINITIVE” LIST OF “ROM COMS”

It’s been a while since a list of “movie greats.” One of Andrea’s two favorite movie genres is rom-coms. Since it’s Andrea’s birthday this week, I’ll share my favorites in both. Here is the definitive list of great romantic comedies that I love and I think have broad appeal (thanks, Dave Swartz, for the help):

When Harry Met Sally—The classic with Billy Crystal. “You are a human afront to all women,” “how do you know I know?” and “I’ll have what she’s having”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNEX0fbGePg

My Best Friend’s Wedding—“I’ve got four days to break up a wedding.”

Wedding Crashers—“Hey Ma, can we get some meatloaf? Hey Ma, the meatloaf! We want it now!”

Jerry Maguire—At least he left with the fish… And “you had me at hello…”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyrP-pwDayE

The Big Sick—Falls in love with the whole family. Couldn’t be sweeter.

As Good As It Gets—Nicholson playing a curmudgeon, as only he can. Helen Hunt the single mother. I think Greg Kinnear is the heart of the movie. Nicholson’s Academy Award winning character study is classic (“People who talk in metaphors oughta shampoo my crotch.”)

Forgetting Sarah Marshall—romantic, funny, Dracula puppets, great on various levels. Oh, and Mila Kunis…

Yesterday—Recent, the Beatles, crazy sci-fi conceit…

Love Actually—I can watch this 100 times (and have!)

Notting Hill—Hugh Grant again. The king of rom coms. Rhys Ifans, the goofy roommate, steals the show (check 0:45 in): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2DyTJiMCRM

Groundhog Day—Because it belongs on every list. Arguably one of the best movies ever—comedy, romance, profundity, redemption, sci-fi time loop conceit—everything. Palm Springs, now on Netflix, is a cute differently constructed rip-off, worth a couple of shelter-in-place hours…

Moonstruck—Cher, always great, and Nicholas Cage, playing himself, which he has made a career of doing. Plus, “I’m confused…”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVmwqKY9BX0

Annie Hall—Perhaps politically incorrect because of Woody Allen, but wonderful

Knocked Up—Wrong, but funny and cute…

People love these also, I but not at the top of my list:

While You Were Sleeping

You’ve Got Mail—Hard not to like Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan (and the writing of Nora Ephron), yet goofy and predictable

Sleepless in Seattle—cute but a little weird

Pretty Woman—yes, I know, politically incorrect

Something’s Gotta Give—Keaton and Nicholson are great.

And for old time’s sake: His Girl Friday and It Happened One Night. Because I’m a sucker for old sappy comedies…

Andrea’s other preferred genre—lawyer and courtroom stories—is coming soon…

And if you’ve missed the gang from Love Actually, here’s a 15 minute “sequel” that supports the British charity, “Red Nose Day”: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5ge6ui. Sure it’s silly, but cute.

---

THROW THE BUMS OUT

From the Facebook postings of the Rt. Rev. John H. Taylor, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles:

#throwthebumsout With the $600 unemployment benefit supplement expiring tomorrow for millions of Americans, I was astonished to hear politicians on the radio justifying it.

These are the same folks who let COVID-19 devastate the United States. At the federal, state, and local levels, the same leaders who failed the American people at each turn.

All in all, governments in the U.S. spend $7.3 trillion a year. But when the pandemic hit, nobody was ready.

Nobody. Government has never done worse.

How dare any of them even show their faces, masks or not? How dare they lecture people about how they should lose their houses and apartments and jobs and let their power bills go unpaid and their families suffer because of some newly rediscovered belief in fiscal probity?

Remember that this is the federal government that was running a trillion-dollar deficit before the pandemic. These are the politicians with $7,300,000,000,000 a year of our money.

Unlike countries with competent leaders, these characters let this pandemic overwhelm us, killing 154,000 so far and throwing tens of millions out of work, making life especially miserable for people of color and the working poor, ultimately threatening everyone's lives and livelihoods, depriving us even of the joys of family and companionship.

No White House occupant, governor, or mayor, no chair or member of a legislative oversight or health and human service committee, no incumbent who hadn't planned ahead for this, no officeholder who wasn't on the phone to Taiwan by Jan. 15 to ask what they learned battling SARS in 2002 -- none deserves to keep their jobs.

There's only one way to get their attention.

The Reverend is an amazing guy whom I had the pleasure of meeting last year. Before some dismiss him as some radical liberal, remember that early in his career he was the Chief of Staff to former President Richard Nixon: https://episcopalchurch.org/bishop/rt-rev-john-harvey-taylor

---

DANCE

This is a great dance video retrospective provided by Toby Waldorf: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-rSdt0aFuw&feature=youtu.be

With best wishes to you all and love to my bride,

Glenn