By the time Stanley Kubrick came to direct "Full Metal Jacket" in the mid-1980s, his legendary status had been well and truly established. At that point, most of his filmography was behind him. "Full Metal Jacket," released in 1987, would be his penultimate film, followed by "Eyes Wide Shut" in 1999 — the same year the director passed away. But Kubrick had long since ascended to a status in Hollywood that few other directors ever had or would reach. Naturally, actors were eager to be a part of his Vietnam War epic.Kubrick, ever the informed and calculating artist, was well-aware of his reputation and took a characteristically unique approach to casting "Full Metal Jacket" by playing on that reputation. The...
It's New Year's Eve. Another year has passed, and what do I have to show for it? There are lots, but I tend NOT to keep track of what I accomplish in a year. Well, that's not entirely true -- I know how many KMs I've walked/ridden my bike or spin class, I know how many novels I've read, and I know how many quilts I donated (more or less) and well, I'm so highly motivated that I don't really need to know how much else I got done. It was a lot, and let's leave it at that! But to respond to those comments from yesterday, it shocks me in no uncertain terms that the little ground women have gained...
Some celebrities feel larger than life, as if they’ll always be with us. Angela Lansbury had not only been performing long before I came into the world, and through my entire life so far, but it also felt like she’d just always be here. Which is why I was incredibly surprised, and saddened, when I heard about her passing recently. I was already planning this post, inspired by a new YA release added into the Murder, She Wrote universe: By the Time You Read This I’ll Be Gone by Stephanie Kuehn. Of course, I do not expect people to live forever, but some people feel like they have and they will. And in many ways Angela Lansbury will through so...
As I do at this time every year, I'm taking the week off to ski and play with my kids, shovel snow, and generally not think about work. I have some of the most popular posts of the year scheduled to republish this week. New posts will resume in the new year. MapPuzzle is a simple online geography game that I recently learned about through the Maps Mania blog. The game is based on the premise of political boundaries being the lines in a jigsaw puzzle. You have to drag the countries, states, or provinces into their proper places on the map. MapPuzzle offers a dozen puzzles to complete. You can complete a puzzle of the whole world, puzzles of...
ShutterstockHave you played the puzzle game Tangram? I remember, as a child, being fascinated by how just seven simple wooden triangles and other shapes could offer endless entertainment. Unlike LEGO, the Tangram pieces do not snap together, and unlike the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, they do not form a painted picture. Instead, Tangram invites you to fit all the pieces together to form countless varieties of shapes. You can make your own shapes or you can try to form shapes that others have created. For instance, here’s one way to form a swan shape using Tangram pieces: This is one of several ways to make a swan shape using Tangram. Can you find another? Shutterstock But it’s not the...
