Quote of the day:
Man is no match for woman where mischief reigns.
—Honore de Balzac
Sometimes things pile up on me. Here are short takes on a few items, each one of which could have had a post of its own.
First up is the new Benoit Blanc movie from Rian Johnson called Wake Up Dead Man. It features Glenn Close along with another array of well known stars. When Johnson was a guest on the Scriptnotes podcast last year he mentioned that he was reading the John Dickson Carr mysteries and expected to base his next film on that writer’s novels. Carr, as I’m sure you know, was the master of the locked room mystery, or more generally the seemingly impossible murder, and he often set his stories in a gothic atmosphere. Given the title of Johnson’s film, it sounds as though he followed through on that promise. Wake Up Dead Man is in theaters now and will be on Netflix starting December 12, 2025.
Michael Shannon, who played President Garfield in the recent Netflix series Death by Lightning and the U.S. Supreme Court justice who organized the international tribunal to try Nazi leaders for war crimes in the film Nuremberg, was interviewed on Fresh Air recently. It’s worth a listen.
On the same episode David Bianculli reviewed the digitally remastered Beatles Anthology video and audio. I was going to buy the CDs, but then I realized that every time I buy the remastered CD sets of Beatles music, I listen once and begin to read the enclosed booklet and then forget about it. I think I’ll just enjoy the streaming version, thank you.
Meanwhile, over on Language Log there’s a post looking at words that are only used in one specific context. Like “inclement”, for example. Have you ever heard it modify a noun other than “weather”?
Then there’s the story of Sam in London who was robbed by eight men who demanded they give him everything that he had. Which he did.
What happened next was a surprise. With most of the gang already heading down the Old Kent Road, one turned around and handed Sam back his Android phone.
The thief bluntly told him why: “Don’t want no Samsung.”
Very picky thieves.
And finally here is A Critter Carol. It’s Apple’s holiday video and it’s a lot of fun. And after it is the Making of video which shows how it was made. It’s a lot of fun as well.