Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

In my day, never was longer.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

All your base are belong to Tunch.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

You are here: Home / TV & Movies / Movies / We Don’t Need Any Characters Around to Give the Joint Atmosphere

We Don’t Need Any Characters Around to Give the Joint Atmosphere

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Where Is Your God Now? Just got done watching the Pottersville segment of It’s a Wonderful Life, which is by far the best part of that movie, since it shows off Jimmy Stewart’s greatest acting talent, which was his ability to portray a truly lost and desperate man. Fuck Zuzu’s petals — just give me a hard drink for men who want to get drunk fast. Open thread.

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51Comments

  2. 2.

    FlipYrWhig

    I do like the noir quality of Pottersville, where Bedford Falls has suddenly become Bourbon Street.

    And I’m pretty sure that scene in “Nick’s” is supposed to play like everyone thinks George and Clarence are gay. Basically “angel” as a quasi-synonym for “fairy.”

  3. 3.

    PsiFighter37

    @tybee: Have definitely seen that quote outside of Blue Smoke BBQ in NYC – feel like I should know who said that

    PF37 +3

  7. 7.

    Karen in GA

    I love how no matter what the setting, the tough guy always sounds like he’s from Brooklyn — from the bartender in Bedford Falls to the angry supervisor in True Detective.

    Unless the story actually takes place in New York City — then they have flat American accents.

    I’m probably wrong, but let it go — I’m in a zone here.

  8. 8.

    Les Nessman

    He also recalled that after Schiavo’s death, Jeb Bush went after Michael Schiavo personally, asking the state’s attorney to investigate whether he had called 911 fast enough. “It was very odd, almost like a personal vendetta the governor had towards Michael Schaivo.” The state’s attorney found no evidence against him and closed the case. “The propriety of using your office to hunt and harass people, as the governor did to Mr. Schiavo after his wife’s death, I think raises significant questions about his judgment and his character,” Felos said.

  13. 13.

    Karen in GA

    @Phylllis: I think it’s because I’m from Brooklyn, the NOLA accent sounds nothing like New York to me. But the actor who played Leroy Salter in TD? Yep, from Brooklyn.

    By the way, Henry Hill is from Brooklyn, but Ray Liotta had a New Jersey accent in Goodfellas. Yeah, it bugged me.

    I should get out more, I bet.

  14. 14.

    rikyrah

    I love the part where George is so broken. It’s the heart of the movie for me. Stewart plays George so lost and so desperate..it breaks my heart. Odd that a Christmas movie has a suicide attempt in it, but I love this movie.

  17. 17.

    divF

    @Phylllis:

    “There is a New Orleans city accent . . . associated with downtown New Orleans, particularly with the German and Irish Third Ward, that is hard to distinguish from the accent of Hoboken, Jersey City, and Astoria, Long Island, where the Al Smith inflection, extinct in Manhattan, has taken refuge. The reason, as you might expect, is that the same stocks that brought the accent to Manhattan imposed it on New Orleans.” – A. J. Liebling

    This quote appears as an epigraph at the beginning of “A Confederacy of Dunces”.

    For further info, see the entry in Wikipedia on the Yat dialect.

  18. 18.

    WereBear

    @Karen in GA: We got the kitties two new rugs… well, they were for us, but once they arrived and got unrolled, the futility of our original plan was made clear to us.

    I think I can do sit-ups on the bedroom one. Maybe.

  19. 19.

    K488

    @rikyrah: That scene in his family living room, where he’s beside himself with rage is always cathartic for me. Reminds me of Christmases past (not present, thanks!). But that scene in Nick’s – “I don’t know you from Adam’s off ox!” – is a real hoot!

  20. 20.

    NotMax

    Hunk o’ roast taken out of fridge to sit on counter for 5 or 6 hours to get completely to room temp before seasoning and cooking.

    So far, avoiding temptation to lay on hands and massage a bit.

  22. 22.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @rikyrah:

    It simply isn’t the holiday season unless my husband watches that movie at least twice. He absolutely loves it. He is currently going through the Santa Clause series which I bought him the DVD boxed set last year. For an ex-marine he loves the cheesiest movies ever. I am watching the Dr. Who marathon on BBC America.

  23. 23.

    mellowjohn

    after watching “it’s a wonderful life” yet again last nite, it occurs to me that – even tho harry toasts his big brother george as “the richest man in town” – as far as we know, potter still ends up with the $8,000 uncle billy misplaces.
    very 1% behavior.

  25. 25.

    PsiFighter37

    Almost done with the following menu for my parents:

    -Jidori chicken (not actually the brand) with garden ragout (from the cookbook of Melisse’s executive chef, a 2-star Michelin restaurant in Santa Monica. Hope this turns out anywhere close)
    -Thai curry puffs with chicken and potatoes
    -Stir-fried broccoli
    -Baked wild rice with porcini mushrooms
    -Aforementioned stunted black raspberry sponge cake

  26. 26.

    Corner Stone

    @PsiFighter37:

    (from the cookbook of Melisse’s executive chef, a 2-star Michelin restaurant in Santa Monica. Hope this turns out anywhere close)

    It’s almost like you just can’t help yourself.

  29. 29.

    Chris

    @mellowjohn:

    You can only suspend your disbelief so much. The angel existing and coming down to earth and the alternate reality switcheroos are one thing, but a 1% actually paying for his crimes, that’s just a bridge too far.

  30. 30.

    Gin & Tonic

    As I said earlier – veal osso buco and butternut squash risotto with saffron. In the works. Drinking wine as the osso buco braises just to keep up.

  31. 31.

    Villago Delenda Est

    which was his ability to portray a truly lost and desperate man.

    Which is what made Vertigo so damn good.

  32. 32.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @The Pale Scot: It’s only religious persecution if a REAL religion is involved…which means biblethumping Mammon-worshiping Christianistanity only in this country. All other so-called “religions” are fair game.

  35. 35.

    NotMax

    Repeated for those who may not have seen it and are so inclined:

    The classic Jack Benny TV Christmas episode in which Mel Blanc pulls out all the stops to get Benny to break character, and succeeds.

    Jack’s Xmas shopping outing had been an annual running gag on his radio show.

    (Fair warning: The ending scene may require contextual explanation to youngsters of today.)

  36. 36.

    BBA

    I read somewhere that they filmed a scene of Potter dying that same night, but left it out of the final movie because it didn’t feel right to have a death scene in the middle of all the celebration.

  37. 37.

    Baud

    John McCain is not having a very merry Christmas.

    President Barack Obama says he doesn’t consider North Korea’s hack of Sony Pictures “an act of war.”
    “It was an act of cybervandalism,” Obama said in an interview with CNN’s Candy Crowley that aired Sunday on “State of the Union.”

  39. 39.

    Chris T.

    Interesting thing I heard on the radio last month or so, “It’s a Wonderful Life” was actually a box-office flop, doomed to irrelevancy. But then something odd happened: the copyright lapsed in 1974, and TV stations could show it royalty-free at Christmas. They showed it as often as possible, and by the 1980s, it was a huge hit.

    Magically, the copyright (and royalties) were re-established in 1993.

    In other words, CREAM :-)

    There’s more at the Wikipedia page, including this choice bit:

    On May 26, 1947, the FBI issued a memo stating “With regard to the picture “It’s a Wonderful Life”, [redacted] stated in substance that the film represented rather obvious attempts to discredit bankers by casting Lionel Barrymore as a ‘scrooge-type’ so that he would be the most hated man in the picture. This, according to these sources, is a common trick used by Communists. [In] addition, [redacted] stated that, in his opinion, this picture deliberately maligned the upper class, attempting to show the people who had money were mean and despicable characters.”[48][49]

  41. 41.

    Baud

    @The Pale Scot:

    Zombie Nativity Scene Gets Censored in Cincinnati

    Good. The last thing we need to see at Christmastime is a a tribute to people who rise from the dead.

  49. 49.

    Citizen Alan

    Maybe it’s the Grinch in me, but I loathe “It’s a Wonderful Life.” It’s personal. Something about a guy who has big dreams and the capacity to achieve them, but who gives up on them to stay in his little hick town because he’s continually guilt-tripped into it by his relatives.

  50. 50.

    PurpleGirl

    @efgoldman: There’s a TV show with Angie Harmon (Risolli and Isles) as a Boston Italian and she just does not sound like she grew up anywhere near Boston. She could get away with possible living in NYC in Law & Order since so many people move to NYC from elsewhere. But she’s supposed to have been raised in Boston. Can’t buy it, not at all. I’ve watched the show a few times but just can’t get into it.

  51. 51.

    Betsy

    @Citizen Alan: you are not watching the movie then.
    His dad encourages him to live his dreams,
    his fiancee begs him to keep going with her to the train station when the bank run is starting but he insists onstaying,
    and his brother and sister-in-law ask him to come to Florida with them,
    but in all cases he resists.

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