The dvd sales of “Midnight in Paris” which went on sale in December have gone through the roof (look at the bottom of this post) and this summer we learned this fact below:

Paris: The Luminous Years

‘Midnight in Paris’ becomes Woody Allen’s all-time biggest hit. How the heck did that happen?

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Image Credit: Everett Collection; Roger Arpajou

It turns out that Owen Wilson, playing the last herringbone-jacketed screenwriter in Hollywood, wasn’t the only one who wanted to go back in time to meet the great expatriate writers and artists of the 1920s. This weekend, Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen’s time-machine-of-high-culchah trifle, crossed the line to become the filmmaker’s all-time biggest hit, surpassing the $40.1 million mark set 25 years ago by Hannah and Her Sisters. That movie made its money in two separate releases one year apart, so perhaps Allen’s real erstwhile biggest hit should be considered Manhattan. And, of course, if you factor in inflation, Midnight in Paris wouldn’t be number one by a long shot. That said, movie-land accountants don’t tend to do a lot of adjusting for inflation (they look at the raw numbers), and so the inescapable fact is that the top of Allen’s box-office track record will now look like this:

1. Midnight in Paris ($41.8 million, probably heading toward $50 million)

2. Hannah and Her Sisters ($40.1 million)

3. Manhattan ($39.9 million)

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4. Annie Hall ($38.2 million)

Quick, can you say: “One of these things just doesn’t belong here?”

I’m never one to begrudge anyone a hit, and certainly not Woody Allen, who has always found a way to make a movie a year (forget the couch — making movies is his therapy), though not, in recent years, without jumping through a few hoops. His movies, when viewed next to the clattering roller-coasters of Hollywood, are almost legendarily “small,” which is why he has been forced to go to Europe for financing, and to set most of his recent pictures there, a trend that began with Match Point (2005), the nimble, devious, midnight-dark, Woody-meets-Hitchcock thriller that, to me, should have become his new all-time biggest hit.

Creatively, it’s been a good run for him, even if the novelty of Allen’s Euro-movies, at least in my eyes, has begun to wear off. To get that novelty back, here’s a suggestion: He should now set a comedy in Berlin, starring Ryan Gosling as a visiting American professor of Holocaust Studies torn between his devoted French Jewish girlfriend, played by Mélanie Laurent, and the 18-year-old goth German temptress, played by Emma Stone with a Marlene Dietrich accent, who turns out to be the great-granddaughter of a member of the SS. Talk about having your Nazi jokes, love-vs.-lust triangle, and moral ambiguity at the same time.

But I digress. Up until now, the movies that crossed over from Woody Allen’s core audience to become his major hits were also his greatest films. (That’s true even if you go back to his Early, Funny Films. The cathartically hilarious Borscht Belt-surrealist comedies that planted Allen on the cultural map were crowd-pleasers that raked in substantial amounts of money, from Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex, at $18 million, to Love and Death, at $20 million.) I’m well aware that Midnight in Paris is a movie that a lot of people seem to love, or at least like a lot. But to me it’s a minor shock that this movie, with its one-note flippancy and its Great Artist caricatures who seem to have walked in out of an old Saturday Night Live sketch, has gotten such a hold on audiences. The movie may on some level be charming, and it’s got that Paris-in-the-rain, summer-travelogue-from-heaven factor, but, I’m sorry, its slightly daffy la vie de bohème nostalgia is so, so thin. Which is why its all-time-biggest-hit status for Woody looms as quite a paradox in his career.

All you have to do is to say the titles of the three movies in Woody’s neurotic-romantic New York trilogy — Annie Hall, Manhattan, Hannah and Her Sisters — to conjure a spirit of filmmaking that, in addition to being immortally funny, is richly observant and psychological and dramatic. Those movies may have come out a long time ago, but they have never left us, and it was largely because of them that the phrase “Woody Allen movie” came to symbolize something so special. They were some of the most soulful comedies ever made.

Over time, however, the phrase “Woody Allen movie” has undergone a chemical change. For decades, Allen griped about what he saw as the clanking superficiality of contemporary Hollywood movies. His inspiration always came from somewhere else — from the art-house giants (Bergman, Fellini) he famously revered, or from the winsome sublimity of the silent clowns. Yet I would argue that the Hollywood brand of moviemaking that Woody Allen has always looked askance at is defined, more than anything, by its psychological thinness. And in that light, Midnight in Paris, while it certainly has the pleading earnest hero, the opening credits with the white-on-black Windsor EF-Elongated lettering, and the name-dropping cultural-studies chitchat, is less a classic “Woody Allen movie” than a comedy that masquerades as highbrow while delivering high concept. It’s the rare Woody Allen movie that’s not so much great enough to be a smash as slender-and-lite enough to be a smash.

So what did you think of Midnight in Paris? Are you surprised that it’s such a big hit? Do you think it deserves to be Allen’s new number one?

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Below are the top dvd sales and you can see that “Midnight in Paris” is in the top ten.

US DVD Sales Chart for Week Ending Dec 25, 2011

Rank	Prev. Rank	Title	Units this Week	% Change	Total Units	Sales this Week	Total Sales	Weeks in Release
1	(4)	The Hangover Part II	756,287	11.6%	2,614,760	$7,555,307	$35,386,701	3
2	(3)	The Help	725,959	-15.2%	3,185,006	$12,384,861	$54,592,230	3
3	(-)	Dolphin Tale	715,371	-.-%	715,371	$10,723,411	$10,723,411	1
4	(2)	Kung Fu Panda 2	670,070	-24.4%	1,556,157	$9,374,279	$24,942,828	2
5	(1)	Rise of the Planet of the Apes	557,308	-39.5%	1,478,876	$9,708,305	$27,033,784	2
6	(5)	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2	480,242	10.1%	5,828,243	$4,797,618	$81,291,915	7
7	(-)	Straw Dogs	404,386	-.-%	404,386	$6,235,632	$6,235,632	1
8	(6)	The Smurfs	298,053	-7.1%	1,688,442	$5,063,920	$28,962,595	4
9	(20)	Harry Potter: The Complete 8-Film Collection	295,081	170.7%	891,380	$14,456,018	$43,864,439	7
10	(-)	Midnight in Paris	288,372	-.-%	288,372	$4,899,440	$4,899,440	1
11	(11)	Bridesmaids	279,902	56.1%	3,873,255	$3,955,015	$52,753,009	14
12	(9)	Mr. Popper’s Penguins	230,592	2.4%	974,854	$3,456,574	$16,295,205	3
13	(7)	Cowboys and Aliens	209,643	-23.7%	1,012,645	$3,742,128	$17,385,132	3
14	(21)	Super 8	193,761	96.7%	932,216	$2,613,836	$14,566,587	5
15	(-)	Colombiana	192,475	-.-%	192,475	$2,885,200	$2,885,200	1
16	(12)	Friends with Benefits	191,415	11.5%	764,804	$3,703,880	$13,919,240	4
17	(8)	Cars 2	188,920	-25.3%	4,405,462	$2,994,382	$73,121,010	8
18	(10)	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1	186,803	-3.2%	7,066,706	$864,898	$85,930,362	37
19	(22)	Crazy, Stupid, Love	178,966	94.4%	1,159,868	$1,698,387	$15,389,604	8
20	(13)	The Lion King	168,954	5.4%	–	$2,292,841	–	878
21	(-)	Warrior	152,392	-.-%	152,392	$1,979,572	$1,979,572	1
22	(-)	Horrible Bosses	147,098	-.-%	1,194,516	$1,416,554	$16,762,368	11
23	(19)	The Change-up	137,127	24.3%	754,747	$1,853,957	$12,448,104	7
24	(14)	Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides	121,989	-12.3%	1,009,722	$1,645,632	$17,862,153	10
25	(25)	Captain America: The First Avenger	100,284	25.5%	1,434,346	$1,503,257	$25,091,268	9
26	(-)	Love Actually	98,439	-.-%	–	$681,198	–	400
27	(23)	30 Minutes or Less	93,958	5.3%	421,308	$1,766,410	$7,607,485	4
28	(27)	Our Idiot Brother	93,676	47.1%	332,788	$1,444,484	$5,105,182	4
29	(-)	The Debt	89,393	-.-%	201,584	$1,518,787	$3,424,912	3
30	(-)	Green Lantern	81,981	-.-%	1,194,507	$818,990	$16,890,705	11

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Another great chart from the Heritage Foundation:

(The USA average is Red, UK is orange, Canada is blue and the World ave is black)

Rob Bluey

January 15, 2012 at 11:23 am

Uploaded by HeritageFoundation on Jan 6, 2012

Freedom abundant in the USA? I got this info below from the Heritage Foundation:

The Keith Green Story pt 1/7

Keith Green had a major impact on me when I first heard him in 1978. Here is his story below:

Keith Gordon Green (, 1953 ? , 1982) was an American gospel singer, songwriter, musician, and Contemporary Christian Music artist originally from Sheepshead Bay, New York. Green is best known for his strong devotion to Christian evangelism and encouraging others to the same. Notable songs written by Green and/or his wife, Melody Green, include “Your Love Broke Through,” “You Put This Love In My Heart,” and “Asleep In The Light,” as well as the popular modern hymns “O Lord, You’re Beautiful” and “There Is A Redeemer.”

Early life

Keith took to music at a young age, beginning with the ukulele at age three, the guitar at five, and the piano at seven years of age. His talents were noted by a major newspaper by the time he was only eight years old. Following a performance of Arthur Laurents’ The Time of the Cuckoo, a local review by the Los Angeles Times wrote that “roguish-looking, eight-year-old Keith Green gave a winning portrayal” as “the little Italian street urchin, Mauro”; another review commented that he “stole the show”. The show was Keith’s first appearance in live theater, which was held in Chatsworth, California, in September 1962. According to the LA Times, Keith had already “done a number of television commercials and…made a TV pilot.”

At 10 years old, Green went on to play the role of “Kurt von Trapp” in a local community theatre production of The Sound of Music at the Valley Music Theater in Woodland Hills, California.
Keith Green’s first disc release. The other side has the song The Way I Used To Be.

In February 1965, with forty original songs already under his belt, Green and his father Harvey signed a five-year contract with Decca Records with Harvey as business manager. The first song released on disc was The Way I Used to Be in May 1965 (produced by Gary Usher), which he had earlier composed and published before signing on with Decca. Upon publication of this song, Green became the youngest person ever to sign with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).

Decca Records planned to make Green a teen idol, regularly getting the young pre-teenager featured in fanzines like Teen Scene and on popular television shows like The Jack Benny Show and The Steve Allen Show. The television game show I’ve Got a Secret made an exception to his age of eleven and hosted him on the show (May 3, 1965) with his secret, “I just signed a five-year contract as a rock-‘n’-roll singer,” and ended his segment with a live performance of We’ll Do a Lot of Things Together.

By the time Green was twelve, he had written ten more songs, and Time magazine ran a short piece about Green in an article about aspiring young rock-‘n’-roll singers, referring to him as Decca Records’ “prepubescent dreamboat”. However, after national attention envisioned by Decca Records failed to materialize for Keith, Donny Osmond captured the attention of pre-teens and teenagers, eclipsing Keith’s newfound stardom, and Keith was quickly forgotten by the public.

Spiritual Conversion

Keith had a Jewish and Christian Science background, but grew up reading the New Testament. He called it “an odd combination” that left him open minded but deeply unsatisfied. His journey led him to drugs, South Asian mysticism, and “free love.” After experiencing what Green described as a “bad trip,” he abandoned drug use and became bitter towards philosophy and theology in general. Green would later state, however, that in the midst of his skepticism, he felt that God “broke through calloused heart,” and he became a born-again Christian. Soon afterward, Keith’s wife Melody (whom he had married on Christmas Day 1973) also became a born-again Christian. It was during this time that the newlyweds became involved with the Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Southern California.

The Keith Green Story pt 2/7

I really got a lot out of this article from the Cato Institute concerning Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream speech.”

The Constitutional Foundations of Martin Luther King’s Dream

By David Azerrad
January 14, 2011

Nearly 50 years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered one of the greatest speeches in American history. Standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial before thousands assembled, King, with his characteristic vigor, shared his dream for America.

While we all know King‘s dream – breaking “the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination” to transform “the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood” – many seem to have forgotten its source. It was, he said, “a dream deeply rooted in the American dream,” one embedded in “the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.”

That adds a note of irony to the storm that broke out two weeks ago over the GOP-led reading of the Constitution in the House of Representatives. “Certainly the Republican leadership is not trying to suggest that African-Americans still be counted as three-fifths of a person,” opined the New York Times, highlighting the contempt many elites harbor for our founding documents.

It’s a tired refrain – the Founders were racists, the Declaration didn’t really mean all men, the Constitution is pro-slavery. It’s also a gross distortion of our history – as King well knew when he invoked the promise that “all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” at the heart of the Founding.

The Constitution, contrary to what the New York Times would have you believe, does not classify people according to race. Free blacks in the North and the South were counted on par with whites for purposes of apportionment. As for enslaved blacks, it was the Southern states that wanted to count them as full persons, thereby inflating pro-slavery representation in the House. The three-fifths compromise was aimed at preventing Southern states from magnifying their own political power by holding slaves.

Yet this myth of a racist Founding has, unfortunately, become deeply entrenched in academia and among the chattering classes. It’s taught in high schools and colleges nationwide and has become unquestionable dogma for many.

Sadly, this pernicious tale fosters alienation and despair among those who most need to believe in the American dream. Armchair intellectuals may pontificate as they see fit at their East Hampton cocktail parties. But what hope can there be for blacks trapped in desolate inner cities and failing schools to lift themselves up from alienation and poverty if they are told that America has no place for them? Can anyone who believes that America is built on a foundation of racist ideas muster the courage necessary to solve the current black predicament?

If the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are indeed racist documents, then King‘s faith in America will appear misplaced. We will be led, as he put it, “to wallow in the valley of despair.”

Instead, we should draw inspiration, not only from King, but also from that other great black believer in America: the 19th-century abolitionist and indefatigable advocate of civic and political equality, Frederick Douglass.

A former slave who escaped to liberty, Douglass initially sided with the abolitionists of the day in rejecting America and its Constitution “for supporting and perpetuating” slavery, “this monstrous system of injustice and blood.” Yet through a careful study of the Founding, Douglass learned to love and identify with his country. He understood that America’s grounding in the natural-rights teaching of the Declaration held the promise of justice for all, regardless of skin color.

Today, as we honor Martin Luther King, we have a moral duty to reaffirm the soundness of the principles of the American Founding. We must make the case, as forcefully as we can and as vigorously as he and Douglass did, for the integrationist faith in America. King‘s dream should embolden all of us who believe in America and her dedication – shaky at times, but eventually triumphant – to the equality of men.

David Azerrad is assistant director of the Center for American Studies at the Heritage Foundation. 

 appeared in The Washington Times

Why do liberals ignore these core principles that Martin Luther King Jr believed in?

Martin Luther King Day has arrived once again, and like clockwork, liberals are invoking King’s name to support their causes.

In an e-mail to activists, Obama’s former “green czar,” Van Jones, calls King the “original Occupier.” He urges activists to use MLK day meet-ups to energize left-wing campaigning for 2012.

Despite these efforts, conservatives should not surrender King’s legacy to the left.

Conservatives, of course, have reservations about certain aspects of King’s legacy. For one, he became too close, later in his career, to the welfare state. He was enamored of the theology of the Social Gospel, the movement that undermined much of mainstream Protestantism in the 20th century. Later in life, he was a vocal opponent of American involvement in the Vietnam. And we now know that in his scholarship and personal life King was far from perfect.

Nevertheless, there are three ways in which King’s message is profoundly conservative and relevant.

First, of course, concerns the question of race. King dreamed of a nation for his children where they would be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. He dreamed of a color-blind society based on the equality of all Americans and their sharing of equal unalienable rights.

The American dream, King said at Lincoln University in 1961, “says that each individual has certain basic rights that are neither conferred by nor derived from the state. To discover where they came from it is necessary to move back behind the dim mist of eternity, for they are God-given.… The American dream reminds us that every man is heir to the legacy of worthiness.”

An agenda that advocates quotas, counting by race and set-asides, takes us away from King’s vision.

Second, King believed in the critical importance of faith and moral character. He spoke of self-improvement and self-help in both moral and practical terms. He believed in work ethic and thrift and spoke against crime and disorderly conduct. In stark contrast to modern liberalism’s militant secularism, King explicitly ground his efforts in the Christian tradition. King believed that churches and other faith-based associations were necessary for a grassroots revival of American culture.

He also stressed the importance of the family. Indeed, King’s fears about black family breakdown led him to become one of the few civil-rights leaders not to reject Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s controversial 1965 report that warned of rising illegitimacy rates among blacks.

This forgotten aspect of King’s thought is told expertly in an article entitled “Where Dr. King Went Wrong.” Joel Schwartz suggests that King turned to the welfare state when he became disheartened by the emergence of the black underclass.

Third, King firmly embraced the core principles of America’s founding. Unlike so many modern liberals beset with nihilistic multiculturalism, King did not talk about remaking America. His dream was one “deeply rooted in the American dream,” as he said, and one that hearkened back to America’s founding principles

Unlike so many modern liberals beset with nihilistic multiculturalism, King did not talk about remaking America. His dream was one “deeply rooted in the American dream,” as he said, and one that hearkened back to America’s founding principles. It was not a rejection of our past but a vision of hope based on the principles of our past.

“When these disinherited children of God sat down at lunch counters,” King wrote in his “Letter From a Birmingham Jail,” “they were in reality standing up for what is best in the American dream and for the most sacred values in our Judaeo-Christian heritage, thereby bringing our nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the founding fathers in their formulation of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s understanding of these things—equality, the importance of faith and morality, and America’s founding principles—has great implications for our politics and policies today. While all Americans recall his ringing words, honest liberals and discerning conservatives ought to remind us of King’s real legacy.