My favorite subjects include LBJ, Sergio Leone, and Ennio Morricone. In some weird way they seem to go together.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is in my top ten favorite movies and the scene you referenced is where Tuco and Blondie are getting ready to dynamite the bridge - great scene. I almost stop breathing from the time Ecstasy of Gold starts and Tuco goes running into the grave yard through the end of the best gunfight ever filmed. I've seen it fifty times and I never get tired of it.

When I was reading the second Robert Caro book on LBJ, Means of Ascent, the soundtrack to The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly was playing in my head when they're in the courtroom ready to open Box 13 which would have revealed that Johnson had stolen his election to the senate from Stevenson when a messenger delivers the news that Justice Black issued a stay in the case effectively ending the election in Johnson's favor.

If Stevenson, a big states rights guy, had won who knows who or when civil rights legislation would have been championed? If Stevenson had won would there have been an escalation in the Vietnam War?

We have over 200 Morricone soundtracks and I would be hard-pressed to pick a favorite.

The song I hear in my head when I see Palin sounds like Pop Goes the Weasle.

I love Danger Diabolik. I was so sad when John Phillilp Law died a several months ago - he was so much fun to watch and I had a mad crush on him when I was a teenager.

Yeah, the Morricone stuff from the 60's is so cool - Cinecitta Beat, Beretta '70 - I've decided I'm taking it to heaven with me.

Did you see where he finally received an Academy Award a couple of years ago?

I agree with you on the Oscars, although I think it meant something to Morricone to finally be recognized for his body of work. He wasn't smiling and he held the Oscar straight out in front of him kind of defiantly.

Did you ever see the movie CQ?

I read a few months ago that China is holding $700 billion in American mortgage backed securities. Is there a connection?

If they discount and dump on the open market, how screwed are we?

I'm down for the bailout and was surprised when it didn't pass on Monday. Although not as surprised as House Republicans who thought they could get away with hoisting the blame on the Democrats. Ooops. I'm also assuming these buyers bought AAA rated securities. Ooops again.

That said, I'd like to see more bottom up action and I'm happy with the added incentive for alternative energy in the senate bill.

Bush should have told Americans why we were supposed to go shopping. This might be less of a mystery to everyone now.

Thanks for the response - I'm busy going to school and looking for a job so I haven't had time to do the research.

Damn! Wars are expensive...

Yup. Yup.

Yes, she married Jeffery Koons then they had a rather nasty divorce.

I think Italy has had somewhere between 50 - 60 governments since WWII. They'll tell you the Fascists always win because the left can't form enough coalitions to get power.

Sound familiar?

;-)

Watch CQ if you get the chance, it's a lot of fun.

I'm a big Spaghetti Western fan. It's funny to read reviews of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly from when it was first released in the US. You would think it was the most deranged, violent work imaginable. Fortunately, my parents didn't read reviews so I saw it when I was in Jr. High.

We have a fairly decent collection of Spaghetti Westerns, but I've been trying to track down a copy of Blindman for several years.

Without a doubt, one of the best beginnings to any movie in the history of movies. I think it's also the only time Leone was able to afford to shoot any footage in the US - in John Ford country - it was a dream come true for him.

And, yes, Jason Robards is fabulous!

But now that we have become more acquainted with her, Sarah Palin more closely resembles Nicole Kidman's character in the film To Die For.

I'm not suggesting that Palin has killed anyone - although allowing wolves to be shot at from planes requires a special kind of contemptible mindlessness for nature and hunting.

As I've posted before, I don't think Sarah believes most of what she says. What Sarah wants is to be famous and glamorous, so I imagine those Tina Fey impressions have hurt more than any criticism from pundits or the press. Her philosophy is less of the Voltaire, Kant, Socrates variety, and more along the lines of homilies like "stick-to-itiveness", "good-old-fashioned (fill in the blank)", and Chicken Soup for the Soul anecdotes, wrapped in a three times a week gym workout, Toastmasters, and lipstick.

Her nonsensical rambling should not and cannot be mistaken for over handling by the McCain campaign. She simply doesn't possess the desire to learn the things essential to governing the United States. She has spent her time focused on how to manipulate the process - something she shares with Karl Rove.

The fact that Sarah Palin can't name a single Supreme Court case isn't surprising, although I'll bet she can describe in detail what Anna Nicole Smith wore to the Supreme Court.