The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    FurudeRikaChama's picture

    Happy Birthday to the king of Black-and White movies, Charlie Chaplin

    By FurudeRikaChama on Sat, 04/16/2011 - 2:44pm |

    Is it just me, or have many people forgotten how to laugh? With such serious things going on in the world today, can't we remember how to laugh? How to enjoy ourselves in the face of crisis like the uprising in Libya, the Japan crisis, and global warming?

     

    This is probably along the line of what Charlie Chaplin was thinking when he made the movie, "The Great Dictator." He wanted people to enjoy themselves despite hardship, and most of all, keep humanity intact, as shown in this movie.

    Today is his birthday.

    www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Tz0gGgpSM8

     

     

    Comments

    This was and is a great movie!

    Had no idea about Charlie and his birthday!

    Thanks


    by Richard Day on Sat, 04/16/2011 - 4:30pm

    Thanks for the remembrance.  It was also Jackie Robinson Day, the 64th anniversary of the day he made the Bigs, and every player in the Major Leagues took the field in a #42 Uniform!


    by we are stardust on Sat, 04/16/2011 - 8:23pm

    Jimmy Breslin just wrote about about this event--process really.

    Really an historical event; most likely left out of Texas textbooks!


    by Richard Day on Sat, 04/16/2011 - 8:32pm

    I don't know who Jimmy Breslin is, Dick.  The stuff that man survivied; Branch Rickey (sp?) got it right.  Lesser men would have broken or exploded, I think.  His wife, as I remember the story, really supported him. 


    by we are stardust on Sat, 04/16/2011 - 9:08pm

    http://www.amazon.com/Branch-Rickey-Penguin-Lives-Breslin/dp/0670022497

    Breslin is an old time writer and pundit and talked about his book on MSNBC recently.


    by Richard Day on Sat, 04/16/2011 - 10:32pm

    Thank you.  ;o)


    by we are stardust on Sat, 04/16/2011 - 10:48pm

    A political footnote Stardust; Jimmy Breslin, is a now retired legendary newspaper columnist here in NYC, and the author of "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight". In 1969, he ran for City Council President (on a ticket with Norman Mailer as candidate for NYC Mayor) on the platform of Secession for New York City from New York State, making NYC the 51st state. When asked what they would name the new state, Breslin said the City should keep New York and have Upstate New York be renamed "Buffalo".   Even after all these years, I still wish NYC would secede from NYS.


    by MrSmith1 on Sun, 04/17/2011 - 4:02am

    P.S. Love Charlie Chaplin, but love Buster Keaton even more. 


    by MrSmith1 on Sun, 04/17/2011 - 4:09am

    Thank you, Mr. Smith.  I have heard of The Gang Who Couldn't Shoot Straight; it's knocking on my memory door, but Breslin didn't.

    I'm tickled that you'd love NYC to secede; perhaps it could do so and DC could be admitted, and no one would have to buy a new Flag.  ;o)


    by we are stardust on Sun, 04/17/2011 - 7:39am

    Wouldn't that require 52 stars? One for NYC and one for DC? Here's 51 stars:

    * * * * * * * * *

     * * * * * * * *

    * * * * * * * * *

     * * * * * * * *

    * * * * * * * * *

     * * * * * * * *

    (6 by 9/8 or 3 times 17)

    Here's 52:

    (8 by 7/6 or 4 by 13)

    * * * * * * *

     * * * * * *

    * * * * * * *

     * * * * * *

    * * * * * * *

     * * * * * *

    * * * * * * *

     * * * * * *

    I don't know why, but I like thinking of how the stars would best be represented on the flag. (The current layout is 9 by 6/5 (or 4 * 11 + 6).


    by Verified Atheist on Sun, 04/17/2011 - 9:24am

    Well, smack me in the head and call me brain-dead!  I really and truly pictured the City becoming a nation-state (subtracting a star), even though Mr. Smith laid it all out right in front of me!

    Luckily, I have at least one of these moments every day of my life, so this one is just another slide along Senility Street.   ;o)

    p.s. I loved your flag graphics...


    by we are stardust on Sun, 04/17/2011 - 10:06am

    The problem is NYC gives the state approx. 11 billion dollars more than it gets back, so we are basically subsidizing the rest of the state.  Some bumpkins in Albany are making decisions for a city which had a gross metropolitan product of $1.13 trillion in 2005, making it the largest regional economy in the United States, and second largest city economy in the world. New York City controls about 40% of the world's finances, and yet, some asshats 150 miles away in Albany are making all our decisions for us AND screwing us by keeping more for themselves.  We get a return of about 67 cents on our tax dollars while upstate gets something like $1.50.  (Okay, I forget the exact figures, but that's not too far off.)

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secession_in_New_York


    by MrSmith1 on Sun, 04/17/2011 - 11:43am