Creating, collecting, and sharing thoughts and ideas. And learning along the way.
World-famous delicatessen downtown in a historic building that serves up the most amazing gourmet sandwiches with crunchy dill pickles. We had the Zingerman’s Reuben, the Wheat-Barley Soup, and a huge Latke that came w/ applesauce and sourcream. Mmmmm!
A most intense performance by Diane Lane in this horror-thriller of a movie will have you at the edge of your seat with your heart pounding so loud you will wonder if the utter depravity and cruelty of the human condition could possibly get any worse– so repulsed and frightened will be you be by the end of it. Or perhaps that was just me, but I’ll bet good money, that would be you too!
Very slick in the making, this is a story that is as tight and intense as the actors in it. The two themes of cyber-crime and cyber-voyeurism are explored for their many good and evil connotations, and for the most part, it is the latter that is dwelt upon. Needless to say, it is a wake-up call in this age of information technology as to what is humanly possible, and the fact that time, space and distance seem irrelevant in the grand scheme of wreaking death and destruction on an unsuspecting victim.
The irony, of course, is the fact that the movie itself is the very example of voyeurism that it makes a moral claim of condemning! Well, that’s how things go in Hollywood: how else to tell a realistic story without succumbing to the evils of realism?
Updated December 21, 2011, 1:28 pm
On Dec. 22, 1864, during the Civil War, Union Gen. William T. Sherman sent a message to President Lincoln from Georgia, saying, “I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah.”
On Dec. 22, 1907, Dame Peggy Ashcroft, the British stage actress , was born. Following her death on June 14, 1991, her obituary appeared in The Times.
Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »
On This Date
By The Associated Press
1858 Opera composer Giacomo Puccini was born in Lucca, Italy. 1864 During the Civil War, Union Gen. William T. Sherman sent a message to President Abraham Lincoln from Georgia, saying, “I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah.” 1894 French army officer Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of treason in a court-martial that triggered worldwide charges of anti-Semitism. (He was eventually vindicated.) 1912 Lady Bird Johnson, the wife of President Lyndon B. Johnson, was born Claudio Alta Taylor in Karnack, Texas. 1941 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrived in Washington, D.C., for a wartime conference with President Franklin D. Roosevelt. 1944 During the Battle of the Bulge, Germany demanded the surrender of American troops at Bastogne, Belgium; Brigadier Gen. Anthony C. McAuliffe reportedly replied: “Nuts!” 1984 New York City resident Bernhard Goetz shot four black youths on a Manhattan subway, claiming they were about to rob him. 1990 Lech Walesa took the oath of office as Poland’s first popularly elected president. 2000 Pop singer Madonna married film director Guy Ritchie in Scotland. (The couple divorced in 2008.) 2001 Richard C. Reid, a passenger on an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami, tried to ignite explosives in his shoes, but was subdued by flight attendants and fellow passengers. 2005 Astronomers announced the discovery of two more rings encircling the planet Uranus. 2010 President Barack Obama signed a law allowing gays for the first time in history to serve openly in America’s military. Current Birthdays
By The Associated Press
Actor Hector Elizondo turns 75 years old today.
AP Photo/Dan Steinberg
Actor Ralph Fiennes turns 49 years old today.
AP Photo/Evan Agostini
1922 Jim Wright, Former House speaker, turns 89 1943 Paul Wolfowitz, Former World Bank president, turns 68 1944 Steve Carlton, Baseball Hall of Famer, turns 67 1945 Diane Sawyer, Broadcast journalist (“Good Morning America”), turns 66 1946 Rick Nielsen, Rock musician (Cheap Trick), turns 65 1949 Robin Gibb, Singer (The Bee Gees), turns 62 1951 Jan Stephenson, Golfer, turns 60 1960 Luther Campbell, Rapper (2 Live Crew), turns 51 1973 Heather Donahue, Actress (“The Blair Witch Project”), turns 38 1989 Jordin Sparks, R&B singer (“American Idol”), turns 22 Historic Birthdays
Dame Peggy Ashcroft 12/22/1907 – 6/14/1991 English actress. Go to obituary »
88 James Oglethorpe 12/22/1696 – 6/30/1785
English founder of the British colony of Georgia91 Jean Henri Fabre 12/22/1823 – 10/11/1915
French entomologist87 Thomas Higginson 12/22/1823 – 5/9/1911
American abolitionist80 Frank Kellogg 12/22/1856 – 12/21/1937
American secretary of state65 Giacomo Puccini 12/22/1858 – 11/29/1924
Italian composer67 Filippo Tommaso Marinetti 12/22/1876 – 12/2/1944
Italian-born French novelist, poet, and dramatist; founded Futurist artistic movement82 Giacomo Manzu 12/22/1908 – 1/17/1991
Italian sculptor
