Pakistan’s top military spy agency has arrested five CIA informants who fed information to U.S. intelligence before the raid last month which killed Osama bin Laden, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.
One of the detainees was reported to be a Pakistani Army major whom officials said copied license plates of cars visiting the al Qaeda leader’s compound 30 miles northwest of Islamabad.
The fate of the CIA informants arrested in Pakistan was unclear, the newspaper reported, citing American officials.
Outgoing CIA Director Leon Panetta raised the issue of the informants’ detention during a trip to Islamabad last week where he met Pakistani military and intelligence officers, the newspaper said.
The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate, Pakistan’s main military spy agency, declined to comment, but the army denied that any army major was among those arrested in connection with the May 2 raid by U.S. special forces in the garrison town of Abbottabad.
“There is no truth in NYT story with regards to involvement and arrest of army major in connection with the OBL (Osama bin Laden) incident,” military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas said in a statement.
A senior Pakistani security official said some people were detained in connection with the Abbottabad raid and they were still being investigated.
Asked whether those arrested were CIA informants as mentioned in the NYT report, he said: “Investigations are under way and after completion of investigation one cay say which category they belonged to.”
Some in Washington see the arrest as another sign of the deep disconnect between U.S. and Pakistani priorities in the fight against extremists, the Times reported.
The United States kept Islamabad in the dark about the May 2 raid by Navy SEALs until after it was completed, humiliating Pakistan’s armed forces and putting U.S. military and intelligence ties under serious strain.
Last week, at a closed Senate Intelligence Committee briefing, Deputy CIA Director Michael Morell rated Pakistan’s cooperation with the United States on counterterrorism operations a “three” on a scale of 1 to 10, the Times reported, citing officials familiar with the exchange.
Other officials cautioned that his comments did not represent the administration’s overall assessment, the newspaper said. “We have a strong relationship with our Pakistani counterparts and work through issues when they arise,” CIA spokesman Marie Harf told the newspaper.
“Director Panetta had productive meetings last week in Islamabad. It’s a crucial partnership, and we will continue to work together in the fight against Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups who threaten our country and theirs.”
Asked about the Times report, a CIA spokeswoman neither confirmed nor denied it and said she had no further comment.
Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani, was quoted as saying that the CIA and the Pakistani spy agency “are working out mutually agreeable terms for their cooperation in fighting the menace of terrorism. It is not appropriate for us to get into the details at this stage.”
(Reporting by JoAnne Allen; additional reporting by Zeeshan Haider in Islamabad; Editing by Chris Allbritton and Alex Richardson)
I am going through the famous characters that Woody Allen presents in his excellent movie “Midnight in Paris.” By the way, I know that some of you are wondering how many posts I will have before I am finished. Right now I have plans to look at Fitzgerald, Heminingway, Juan Belmonte,Gertrude Stein, Gauguin, Lautrec, Geores Brague, Dali, Rodin,Coco Chanel, Modigliani, Matisse, Luis Bunuel, Josephine Baker, Van Gogh, Picasso, Man Ray, T.S. Elliot and several more.
Died:October 15, 1964, Santa Monica, California, AmericaNationality:AmericanEra:Twentieth CenturyMain genre:Broadway and Popular MusicMain works:
Broadway Musicals:
Gay Divorce (1932)
Anything Goes (1934)
Kiss Me, Kate (1948)
Can Can (1953)
Silk Stockings (1954)
Popular Songs:
Let’s Do It, Let’s Fall In Love (1928)
Love For Sale (1930)
Night and Day (1932)
You’re The Top (1934)
Don’t Fence Me In (1934)
I Concentrate On You (1935)
Begin The Beguine (1935)
It’s De-Lovely (1936)
I’ve Got You Under My Skin (1936)
I Get A Kick Out Of You (1940)
I Love Paris (1953)
What Is This Thing Called Love? (1929)
A tender homage to Cole Porter.
Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 October 15, 1964)
written by JX Bell
Cole Porter’s name derives from the surnames of his parents, Kate Cole and Sam Porter. Kate’s father, James Omar (known as J. O.), was an influential man both in the community and in Cole’s early life. J.O. started from humble beginnings as son of a shoemaker, but his business savvy and strong work ethic made him the richest man in Indiana. Despite J.O.’s obsessive drive for making money, he took time off to marry Rachel Henton, who had several children with him.
Kate Cole was born in 1862, and was spoiled during her youth as she was throughout her life. Kate always had the best clothes, the best education, and the best training in dancing and music. Kate’s father expected to marry her off to a man with a strong business background, a strong personality, and the potential for a good career. As it is for many filial presumptions and expectations, Kate married someone who was quite the opposite — a shy druggist from their small town of Peru, Indiana.
The couple married without the full consent of J.O., but he financially supported their wedding and subsidized the couple. As one of the richest men in Indiana, he thought his daughter should be seen doing and wearing the right things without financial fears. These subsidies from J.O. financed the rest of Sam and Kate’s life, as well as that of their son born on June 9th, 1891: Cole Porter.
Cole’s Early Years
Cole learned piano and violin at age six. He became very good at both, but he disliked the violin’s harsh sound and so his energy turned to the piano. During his formative years, he played piano two hours per day. While Cole practiced, he and his mother would parody popular tunes on the piano in order to increase Cole’s patience with such long practice sessions. ( http://www.coleporter.org/bio.html )
The film revolves around a modern American abroad who revisits Allen’s idealized Paris of the 1920s, when the city was host to a remarkable segment of the American cultural elite: Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald. In fact, for a movie set in Paris, Midnight in Paris sounds like a very US-centered affair. Apart from Marion Cotillard, the only French stars featured in Allen’s ode to the French capital are Léa Seydoux and Gad Elmaleh.
Midnight in Paris opened in France today. It opens in the United States on May 20.
Midnight in Paris, also, is helped by its unashamed sense of fairytale fantasy. Owen Wilson, playing the Allen alter-ego Gil Pender, is indulging in a dream-life of literary American expats in 1920s Paris. (Allen even gets a reference in to the utterly obscure lesbian novelist Djuna Barnes.) Allen, with his unswerving adoration of old-time showtunes and unfettered veneration of Manhattan’s interwar nightclub scene, has always seemed a man out of time. Maybe he’s finally found his place. (Andrew Pulver in The Guardian.)
The film is good. Not a radical change in direction or form. But good. It rides on a familiar but clever and expansive central idea that sustains Allen’s interest, and ours. And that’s something that can’t be said of more than two or three Allen pictures from the last 20 years. (Michael Phillips in the Chicago Tribune.)
As beguiling as a stroll around Paris on a warm spring evening something which Owen Wilson’s character here becomes very fond of himself Midnight in Paris represents Woody Allen’s companion piece to his The Purple Rose of Cairo, a fanciful time machine that allows him to indulge playfully in the artistic Paris of his, and many other people’s, dreams. A sure-fire source of gentle amusement to Allen’s core audience but unlikely to connect with those with no knowledge of or feel for the Paris of the Fitzgeralds, Hemingway, Gertrude Stein and Picasso… (Todd McCarthy in The Hollywood Reporter.)
From this movie’s opening postcard-view montage of Paris — familiar in a number of ways — it’s clear the French capital is to be added to the list of cities that Woody Allen adores, and idolises all out of proportion. His new movie was an amiable amuse-bouche to begin the Cannes festival feast: sporadically entertaining, light, shallow, self-plagiarising. It’s a romantic fantasy adventure to be compared with the vastly superior ideas of his comparative youth, such as the 1985 movie The Purple Rose of Cairo, in which it was possible to step through the silver screen, or his 1977 short story “The Kugelmass Episode,” in which it was possible to enter the world of Madame Bovary. (Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian.)
Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris — for my money, the best Allen movie in 10 years, or maybe even close to 20 — is all about that idea: Reckoning with the past as a real place, but also worrying about the limits of nostalgia. Allen, as an artist and as a person, has always liked old stuff: Old movies, old books, old jazz recordings — you could even say that it’s often been hard for him to live in the present. But instead of just reaffirming how great the old days were, Midnight in Paris — in ways that are sometimes delightfully silly and other times strangely, deeply moving — grapples with something more complicated and elusive. (Stephanie Zacharek in Movie Line.)
Woody Allen explores fantasy world with “Midnight in Paris” 2011 Roger Arpajou / Sony Pictures Classics Corey Stoll as Ernest Hemingway in “Midnight in Paris.” The New York Times Ernest Hemingway, around 1937 I love the movie “Midnight in Paris” by Woody Allen and I am going through the whole list of famous writers […]
What The Flick?!: Midnight In Paris – Review by What The Flick?! 2011 Roger Arpajou / Sony Pictures Classics Alison Pill as Zelda Fitzgerald and Tom Hiddleston as F. Scott Fitzgerald in “Midnight in Paris.” 2011 Roger Arpajou / Sony Pictures Classics Owen Wilson as Gil in “Midnight in Paris.” 2011 Roger Arpajou / Sony […]
The song used in “Midnight in Paris” I am going through the famous characters that Woody Allen presents in his excellent movie “Midnight in Paris.” This series may be a long one since there are so many great characters. De-Lovely – Movie Trailer De-Lovely – So in Love – Kevin Kline, Ashley Judd & Others […]
Photo by Phill Mullen The only known photograph of William Faulkner (right) with his eldest brother, John, was taken in 1949. Like his brother, John Faulkner was also a writer, though their writing styles differed considerably. My grandfather, John Murphey, (born 1910) grew up in Oxford, Mississippi and knew both Johncy and “Bill” Faulkner. He […]
I love the movie “Midnight in Paris” was so good that I will be doing a series on it. My favorite Woody Allen movie is Crimes and Misdemeanors and I will provide links to my earlier posts on that great movie. Movie Guide the Christian website had the following review: MIDNIGHT IN PARIS is the […]
The Associated Press reported today: The signature under the typewritten words on yellowing sheets of nearly century-old paper is unmistakable: Adolf Hitler, with the last few scribbled letters drooping downward. The date is 1919 and, decades before the Holocaust, the 30-year-old German soldier — born in Austria — penned what are believed to be […]
Here is an article I wrote a couple of years ago: Solomon, Woody Allen, Coldplay and Kansas What does King Solomon, the movie director Woody Allen and the modern rock bands Coldplay and Kansas have in common? All four took on the issues surrounding death, the meaning of life and a possible afterlife, although they all came up with their own conclusions on […]
Coldplay seeks to corner the market on earnest and expressive rock music that currently appeals to wide audiences Here is an article I wrote a couple of years ago about Chris Martin’s view of hell. He says he does not believe in it but for some reason he writes a song that teaches that it […]
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Shriver and family – “The Longest Yard” Los Angeles premiere, May 19, 2005
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California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, his son Christopher, 9, and his wife Maria Shriver hold hands as they walk to their vehicle after voting inthe U.S. midterm elections at the Crestwood Hills Recreation Center in Los Angeles, California, in this November 7, 2006 file photo. Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has acknowledged that he fathered a child more than ten years ago with a member of his household staff, the Los Angeles Times reported on May 17, 2011. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok/Files
Schwarzenegger fathers a love child
Maria Shriver Asks – How Do You Handle Transitions in Your Life?
Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted to his wife several months ago that he had fathered a child about 10 years ago with a member of their household staff. Maria moved out, but has not filed for divorce. In the you tube clip above she comments:
“Like a lot of you I’m in transition: people come up to me all the time, asking, what are you doing next?” she said, adding: “It’s so stressful to not know what you are doing next when people ask what you are doing and they can’t believe you don’t know what you are doing.”
“I’d like to hear from other people who are in transition,” she said. “How did you find your transition: Personal, professional, emotional, spiritual, financial? How did you get through it?”
Mrs. Shriver has asked for spiritual input and I personally think that unless she gets the spiritual help that she needs then she will end up in the divorce court. I am starting a series on how a marriage can survive an infidelity. My first suggestion would be to attend a “Weekend to Remember” put on by the organization “Family Life” out of Little Rock, Arkansas. I actually posted this as a response to Mrs. Shriver’s request on you tube.
Dr. Bill Maier addresses the issues of forgiveness and restoration
What if I Can’t Forgive?
Dear Dr. Bill: I’ve heard you talking about forgiveness on this program and I wonder if you can help me. I’m having trouble forgiving my husband for his adultery. I discovered the truth back in February and kicked him out of the house. Now he wants to reconcile but how can I stay married without losing my self-respect? Maybe I can forgive my husband, but I don’t think I can love him like before. And if I divorce him and lose my house, it would feel like I was being punished for something I didn’t do. What do you think?
Kendra, I’m very sorry to hear about your husband’s affair. I’m sure the past 10 months have been very difficult for you, and that you’ve experienced feelings of shock, anger, sadness, and betrayal.
If your husband is truly repentant, I believe you should give reconciliation a chance. You may find it hard to believe, but many couples whose marriages were devastated by adultery have been able to put the pieces back together and go on to have a fulfilling, loving relationship again.
Every one of those couples will tell you the process involved a lot of hard work, and that the feelings of love didn’t return overnight. But some would tell you that their marriage is healthier now than it was prior to the affair.
If you are willing to at least consider reconciliation, I’d encourage you to find a Christian therapist who is experienced in working with marriages impacted by adultery. Our Focus on the Family counseling department may be able to help you locate a therapist in your area.
In a sit-downwith Hello! magazine, Mildred Baena said that when she first told her now-13-year-old son that his real dad was none other than Schwarzenegger, his response was short and sweet: “Cool!”
You get the feeling there’s a part for him in the next Terminatorfilm?
The Guatemalan-born domestic worker also set the record straight about when she first realized Schwarzenegger was the father and how estranged wifeMaria Shriver found out about thei extramarital affair.
“It was as [my son] grew and I started to see the resemblance that I wondered—but it became more apparent as time went on,” said Baena, a mother of three who was married at the time she and Schwarzenegger were getting it on. She divorced shortly after her son’s birth.
Baena, who worked in the Schwarzenegger household for 20 years and had a close relationship with the family, said that when she brought her son to the Schwarzenegger home one summer, a number of people commented on his resemblance to Arnold, but it was finally Shriver who broached the subject of her betrayal and her hubby pumping a little more than iron.
“She would say things like, ‘I’m here if you need to talk.’ I sensed something was up. I have so much love and respect for Maria,” Baena said. “Finally, she asked point blank.”
At that point, Baena broke down and confessed, but to her shock and amazement, instead of anger, she recalled that her boss was surprisingly compassionate—especially given Shriver was pregnant with her and Schwarzenegger’s son Christopher at the same time Mildred was pregnant (the two boys were born three weeks apart).
“She was so strong. She cried with me and told me to get off my knees. We held each other and I told her it wasn’t Arnie’s fault, that it takes two,” Baena said.
Schwarzenegger has since taken responsibility, buying Baena and her son a housein Bakersfield and helping them financially.
After the scandal broke, the illegitimate baby mama remained tight-lipped about their affair and went into hiding. But now that their secret is out, a contrite Baena has nothing but sympathy for Schwarzenegger.
“He’s a good man and I know he’s suffering too. He loves Maria. I hope with time they work things out,” she said.
The mother of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s lovechild has spoken out about the scandal for the first time, confirming her son was fathered by the actor.
The Terminator star stunned fans by splitting from his wife of 25 years, Maria Shriver, last month and subsequently revealing he has a son with a member of their household staff from a tryst 13 years ago.
The housekeeper was named as the star’s longtime help Mildred Baena, who went into hiding when the news broke, but she has now opened up about the affair, insisting Schwarzenegger was unaware her son, Joseph, was his because she kept the news a secret.
Baena tells Britain’s Hello! magazine, “I never told him. I never told anyone except my mother. So much has been written about how he kept this secret of betrayal from his wife all these years – and how he kept me in the house with his family knowing Joseph was his. That is not true. Never have I told him Joseph was his son, never did he ask me, and never did we talk about it.”
Baena reveals she got pregnant with Joseph around the same time that she also became intimate with her ex-husband Rogelio, and initially believed he was the boy’s father.
She adds, “So at the time, I lived life as if Rogelio was the father and he abandoned me. That’s what I believed. It wasn’t until later as Joseph grew and I started to see the resemblance that I wondered – but it became more apparent as time went on. I knew Arnold was the father, and maybe as Joseph got older and began to look like him, he (Arnold) wondered. But he never said anything to me.
“The truth is we were intimate many years ago and it was me who kept the secret, not him.”
Baena reveals the real identity of Joseph’s father only emerged after Shriver became suspicious at the boy’s likeness to her husband.
With over four million copies of his bestseller “The Five Love Languages” under his belt, Dr. Gary Chapman went on to write other popular books as well, and one of them can help “Terminator” action star Arnold Schwarzenegger and his politically-connected wife Maria Shriver to find some measure of hope in what appears by most media accounts to be a hopeless situation. In fact, Chapman’s books could help you or someone you know who is in a similar troubled marriage.
“Maria hasn’t decided if she wants to end her marriage,” CBS reported, citing a source quoted in People Magazine. That means the Schwarzeneggers may still reconcile. Given Arnold’s penchant for beating odds few other men have mastered, it wouldn’t be prudent to write him off at this stage.
Arnold and Maria Shriver’s current marital problems highlight a recurring theme in Hollywood, politics and everyday life: a cheating spouse. So what’s the situation to this universal problem? Do you chuck a marriage when it hits rough spots like this or do you stay for the long haul?
Fox News medical A-team member Dr. Keith Ablow, a New York Times bestselling author too and psychiatrist concurs with Dr. Gary Chapman regarding cases of infidelity like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver:
Ablow emphasizes that “Marriage is a terrifically difficult journey for the vast majority of those who commit to it. Passion wanes, often ending entirely.” Most Americans can emphatize with those words and attest to their validity.
This famous couple, like others around the country, stand on a precipice right now that threatens their marriage and the relationships they share with their children. And odds are you know someone who has betrayed a spouse or been the one betrayed within your circle of family and friends or business associates, too.
According to Reuters, as the cheating spouse, Arnold continues to take a bashing in the media for his fall from grace, including being the butt of comedienne’s jokes. A cheating spouse tends to get that response, and few question it. But the fact remains that while Maria Shriver has hired a divorce attorney, she is still undecided about whether this infidelity will end her marriage or not.
Chapman’s book offers hope to the average couple as well, and it even broaches the topic of divorce, since there will be some marital situations that go in that direction, regardless of efforts made to resurrect it (Sandra Bullock and Jesse James come to mind).
Biblically, since Chapman is a Christian author, advice from the nationally-recognized marriage therapist adheres to reconcilation if at all possible. And CBS says that Maria hasn’t ruled out reconciliation as an option. But scripture does teach that instances of infidelity can be grounds biblically for the termination of a marriage, and Maria has hired an attorney who specializes in that.
It remains to be seen whether Maria Shriver will consider her marriage worth saving or go the way of Sandra Bullock and Elin Nordegren by seeking divorce from her husband. But for those in Georgia who are experiencing the same difficulty, or fear your marriage is heading in that direction, you might want to check out Dr. Gary Chapman’s The Four Seasons of Marriage to see what you can do about it before it ends up in divorce court.
Pitt is originally from Springfield, Missouri and was quick to react through the Joli-Pitt foundation, providing his half a million dollar donation to the Community Foundation of the Ozarks a foundation focused on rebuilding the Joplin community.
Pitt told a local reporter in Joplin:
“With the devastating loss of 30% of the city, the Joplin community faces great challenges ahead. Having spent much of my childhood there, I know these people to be hard working, humble and especially resilient.”
Charitable organizations all over the country have been working continuously to help the residents of Joplin and Pitts donation will go a long way in those efforts.
A passing motorist volunteers his time to the search efforts in a wooded area where two fatalities were confirmed after a tornado swept cars off of I-40 west of El Reno, Tuesday, May 24, 2011. Photo by Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman A half-mile-wide tornado moves north in Canadian County having just crossed SH […]
May 24, 2011 Oklahoma tornado outbreak! TVN storm chasers document multiple tornadoes in Central Oklahoma! Near Shawnee, OK… May 24, 2011… Very nice tornado Storm chasers Matt Gingery, Jason Blum, and Bryant Burough capture a tornado just north of Shawnee, OK. Wedge tornado near El Reno, Oklahoma! During the May 24, 2011 high risk outbreak, […]
Oklahoma Tornado 5-24-2011 – Devastating AERIEL Damage View A half a mile wide went through a suburb of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on May 24th 2011. Truck marked, lies on its side A truck marked with an ‘x’, lies on its side in a field following a tornado in Piedmont, Okla., Tuesday, May 24, 2011. The […]
First Person video of Joplin MO tornado 5/22/11 The video i took while at Fastrip on east 20th street. We huddled in the back of the store until the glass got sucked out , then ran into the walk in storage fridge. Sorry for the lack of visuals but the audio is pretty telling of […]
Destructive Joplin Missouri Torando On May 22, 2011 a destructive and sadly a deadly tornado tore through the town of Joplin, MO. Here is video of the tornado entering the southwest side of town. Filmed by TornadoVideos.net Basehunters Colt Forney, Isaac Pato, Kevin Rolfs, and Scott Peake. Missouri tornado filmed by storm chasers At least […]
Destroyed helicopter lies on its side A destroyed helicopter lies on its side in the parking lot of the Joplin Regional Medical Center in Joplin, Mo., Sunday, May 22, 2011. A large tornadomoved through much of the city, damaging the hospital and hundreds of homes and businesses Emergency personnel walk Emergency personnel walk through […]
The last video listed does not have very good pictures but you hear when the tornado hits a building where people inside are filming. The sounds are just horrible and a cold feeling went through my body just listening to it. Joplin, Missouri tornado damage from the air Tornado damage of Joplin, Missouri. Aerial coverage […]
Volunteer firefighters William Jackson Volunteer firefighters William Jackson, left, and Ashley Martin, center, from Oklahoma, and Johnny Ward of Joplin look through the wreckage of a home whereit was feared a pregnant woman as feared to be trapped following a tornado in Joplin, Mo., Sunday, May 22, 2011. A large tornado moved through […]
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, flanked by bridesmaids and a page boy, watch the Royal Air Force flypast over Buckingham Palace, following their marriage at Westminster Abbey, 29 April 2011.
The Royal Wedding Ceremony of William and Kate Live part 1/4
I really do wish Kate and William success in their marriage. I hope they truly are committed to each other, and if they are then the result will be a marriage that lasts their whole lifetime. Nevertheless, I do not think it is best to live together before marriage like they did, and I am writing this series to help couples see how best to prepare for marriage.
• Three quarters of all family breakdowns affecting young children now involve unmarried parents, new research suggests. The findings indicate that family breakdown is no longer driven by divorce, but by the collapse of unmarried partnerships. …The findings show that it is no longer plausible to argue that all relationship types were equal, researchers said. “The evidence is irrefutable. Unmarried parents are five times more likely to break up than married parents. Divorce is not the major problem any more.” Penny Mansfield, director of One Plus One, said that Britain appeared to have reached a watershed in the way families were forming. Whereas couples in previous generations did their courting, got married and had children in that order, nowadays growing numbers were having children first and only then deciding whether to remain in a couple relationship.
“The problem with this approach is that having children generally destabilizes a relationship. If you are trying to figure out whether to form a partnership in the early years after having a child, it’s a bit like pedaling uphill,” she said. “What we have lost is the idea thatat the heart of marriage there is a link between parents which is of value of itself. That link would then cradle the upbringing of children. Maybe we need to rediscover this link in this new world of equality,” Ms Mansfield said. (From article: Unmarried Families are More Likely to Fall Apart, The London Times, as reviewed in Marriage for Life Newsletter, 10/10/2006.)
The Wild Cousins
Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice went out on a royal limb with the two most “interesting” looks of the day.
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Weekend To Remember Conference Testimony
Here’s a couple who went to a FamilyLife Conference and how it made a difference in their marriage.
The only known photograph of William Faulkner (right) with his eldest brother, John, was taken in 1949. Like his brother, John Faulkner was also a writer, though their writing styles differed considerably.
My grandfather, John Murphey, (born 1910) grew up in Oxford, Mississippi and knew both Johncy and “Bill” Faulkner. He told me that Bill was a very bashful shy man. Johncy was outgoing and would be very friendly and would love to stop and visit.
My grandfather was in the moving business and he had moved Johncy several times, but Johncy still had several outstanding bills. Then one day Johncy told my grandfather to take the bills to his brother and he would pay them in full. I don’t know the exact date, but my grandfather was told that Faulkner had got his first big check from a publisher and I am guessing that it was in the early 1930’s.
I just got finished watching Woody Allen’s latest movie “Midnight in Paris” and I loved it. In that movie there are several famous writers and artists that appear in the film. I am doing a series of posts that takes a look at this great writers and artists.
By the way, I know that some of you are wondering how many posts I will have before I am finished. Right now I have plans to look at Cole Porter, Fitzgerald, Heminingway, Juan Belmonte,Gertrude Stein, Gauguin, Lautrec, Geores Brague, Dali, Rodin,Coco Chanel, Modigliani, Matisse, Luis Bunuel, Josephine Baker, Van Gogh, Picasso, Man Ray, T.S. Elliot and several more.
Midnight in Paris is not only Woody Allen’s best movie in decades, it is also one of the most joyous, warm-hearted and magical movies of his entire career. A sumptuous love letter to both the city of Paris and its rich history, Allen’s romantic fantasy is also a touching ode to art and the artist that has (or had) created it. Above all that, though, the film is a look at the perils of trying to escape from an imperfect present into a mythically “perfect” era of the past.
Self-described hack Hollywood screenwriter Gil (Owen Wilson) has come to Paris with his fiance Inez (Rachel McAdams) to both help plan their upcoming wedding and to finish his first attempt at a literary novel. While Gil adores Paris and its history, Inez is contemptuous of both the city and Gil’s love for it. Inez’s mother (Mimi Kennedy) and father (Kurt Fuller) are even less supportive. The already stressed relationship between Gil and Inez cracks all the more when the couple meets the pedantic Paul (Michael Sheen), a former flame of Inez’s, and Carol (Nina Arianda).
While Inez spends more and more time with Paul, Gil just wanders Paris at night. For when the clock strikes midnight, that is when the true magic of the City of Light is revealed.
Ah, to be in 1920s Paris and to be able to rub shoulders with the likes of Ernest Hemingway (a hilarious Corey Stoll), Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald (Allison Pill and Tom Hiddleston, respectively), and Salvador Dali (an even more hilarious Adrien Brody). How cool would it be able to have Gertrude Stein (Kathy Bates) herself critique your first novel? Being a reader of Hemingway and Fitzgerald and a huge fan of William Faulkner (who is only mentioned in the film and not seen) I so wanted to be able to experience Owen Wilson’s lost-in-his-own-generation character’s time hoping adventure for myself. My first words to my wife after the movie ended were, “Now I want to go to Paris!”
In my review of Woody Allen’s 1987 drama September, I made note of his penchant for cynicism and pessimism, especially in his dramas. That penchant made Allen’s supposed “light” drama from last year, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, an almost soul crushing viewing experience for me. That film not only left me feeling depressed and unfulfilled, but it also had me questioning whether or not my recent career change had been the right one to make. I am guessing that, since I was struggling with a writing project of my own, I projected far too much of myself onto Josh Brolin’s washed up writer character. I wanted him to succeed in his own writing project because I wanted to succeed in my own writing project. When he did not and, in a Secret Window, Secret Garden styled plot development, the man stole another writer’s work and claimed it as his own, I was devastated.
Owen Wilson’s struggling writer character, however, is far more sympathetic and, even more important, a more honest character than Brolin’s scheming loser had been. I was rooting for him to find his way to happiness and fulfillment, which are things that Allen routinely denies his more sympathetic characters. Remembering the fate of the struggling writer in You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, I spent most of the running of Midnight in Paris dreading Gil’s eventual fate. What bitter truth and/or horrible disappointment would come down on him and threaten to crush his hopes and dreams?
I will not answer that question in this review, but I will say that I left the move theater with a smile on my face and a glow in my heart.
Four stars out of four and one of the year’s best films.
After he wrote his first novel, Soldiers’ Pay, Faulkner traveled to Europe in the manner of many other young writers of the day. While in France, he adopted the look and air of a Bohemian poet by growing a beard and absorbing the art and culture of Paris’ Left Bank. One of his favorite places was in the Luxembourg Gardens, where he was photographed by William C. Odiorne. He wrote a long description of the Gardens, which he would later revise and incorporate into his novel Sanctuary.
Jimmy heard many family stories growing up and he too loved to tell stories. One of Jimmy Faulkner’s favorite stories was about how his famous uncle went to see the film Gone With The Wind seven times when it came out in 1939. “Brother Will (Faulkner was Jimmy’s uncle, but Jimmy called him Brother Will), never saw the ending,” Jimmy Faulkner said. “He always walked out the first time a Yankee came on the screen.” Jimmy also takes great pride in the often quoted description of Jimmy as “the only person who likes me (William Faulkner) for who I am.”
Jimmy Faulkner describes his taking Brother Will to the hospital the night before he died in the new introduction to his father’s book My Brother Bill . He writes, “I checked him in, and stayed with him until about 10 that night. When I was ready to leave, I went to his bedside, reached down and took his hand. I told him, ‘Brother Will, when you’re ready to come home, let me know and I’ll come get you. He said “Yes, Jim, I will.’” He never got home alive. He died around 2 in the morning on July 6, 1962.
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From left, Murry “Jack” Falkner, age eight; Sallie Murry Wilkins, age eight, the boys’ first cousin; William Faulkner, age ten; seated, John “Johncy” Falkner, age six. The picture was taken in September 1907.
1925: Faulkner travels to New Orleans. His goal is to book a freighter to Europe, hoping the expatriate experience will boost his career as it has those of writers such as Ernest Hemingway and Robert Frost. The New Orleans French Quarter is so congenial that he remains there six months, becoming friends with the writer Sherwood Anderson and launching his own career in fiction. Faulkner’s first novel, Soldiers’ Pay, receives Anderson’s blessing and is accepted by Anderson’s New York publisher, Boni and Liveright. Faulkner and his New Orleans roommate, the artist William Spratling, sail for Genoa in July, and Faulkner makes his way to Paris, his base for three months. He writes portions of two novels and several sketches, but he runs out of money and returns to Oxford, Mississippi, by Christmas.
My Great-Grandfather Murry was a kind and gentle man, to us children anyway. That is, although he was a Scot, he was (to us) neither especially pious nor stern either: he was simply a man of inflexible principles. One of them was everybody, children on up through all adults present, had to have a verse from the Bible ready and glib at tongue-tip when we gathered at the table for breakfast each morning; if you didn’t have your scripture verse ready, you didn’t have any breakfast; you would be excused long enough to leave the room and swot one up (there was a maiden aunt, a kind of sergeant-major for this duty, who retired with the culprit and gave him a brisk breezing which carried him over the jump next time).
It had to be an authentic, correct verse. While we were little, it could be the same one, once you had it down good, morning after morning, until you got a little older and bigger, when one morning (by this time you would be pretty glib at it, galloping through without even listening to yourself since you were already five or ten minutes ahead, already among the ham and steak and fried chicken and grits and sweet potatoes and two or three kinds of hot bread) you would suddenly find his eyes on you—very blue, very kind and gentle, and even now not stern so much as inflexible—and next morning you had a new verse. In a way, that was when you discovered that your childhood was over; you had outgrown it and entered the world.
An article from Biography.com below. I am currently going through all the personalities mentioned in Woody Allen’s movie “Midnight in Paris.” Today I am spending time on Coco Chanel. Coco Chanel Biography popular name of Gabrielle Chanel ( 1883 – 1971 ) Fashion designer. Born on August 19, 1883, in Saumur, France. With […]
Artists and bohemians inspired Woody Allen for ‘Midnight in Paris I love the movie “Midnight in Paris” by Woody Allen and I am going through the whole list of famous writers and artists that he included in the movie. Today we will look at Salvador Dali. In this clip below you will see when Picasso […]
2011 Roger Arpajou / Sony Pictures Classics Lea Seydoux as Gabrielle in “Midnight in Paris.” Adriana and Gil are seen above walking together in the movie “Midnight in Paris.” Adriana was a fictional character who was Picasso’s mistress in the film. Earlier she had been Georges Braque’s mistress before moving on to Picasso according to […]
How Should We Then Live 7#3 2011 Roger Arpajou / Sony Pictures Classics Owen Wilson as Gil in “Midnight in Paris.” Paul Gauguin and Henri Toulouse Lautrec were the greatest painters of the post-impressionists. They are pictured together in 1890 in Paris in Woody Allen’s new movie “Midnight in Paris.” My favorite philosopher Francis Schaeffer […]
How Should We Then Live 7#1 Dr. Francis Schaeffer examines the Age of Non-Reason and he mentions the work of Paul Gauguin. 2011 Roger Arpajou / Sony Pictures Classics Kurt Fuller as John and Mimi Kennedy as Helen in “Midnight in Paris.” I love the movie “Midnight in Paris” by Woody Allen and I am […]
Midnight In Paris – SPOILER Discussion by What The Flick?! Associated Press Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas in 1934 This video clip below discusses Gertrude Stein’s friendship with Pablo Picasso: I love the movie “Midnight in Paris” by Woody Allen and I am going through the whole list of famous writers and artists that […]
2011 Roger Arpajou / Sony Pictures Classics Gad Elmaleh as Detective Tisserant in “Midnight in Paris.” I love the movie “Midnight in Paris” by Woody Allen and I am going through the whole list of famous writers and artists that he included in the movie. Juan Belmonte was the most famous bullfighter of the time […]
Woody Allen explores fantasy world with “Midnight in Paris” 2011 Roger Arpajou / Sony Pictures Classics Corey Stoll as Ernest Hemingway in “Midnight in Paris.” The New York Times Ernest Hemingway, around 1937 I love the movie “Midnight in Paris” by Woody Allen and I am going through the whole list of famous writers […]
What The Flick?!: Midnight In Paris – Review by What The Flick?! 2011 Roger Arpajou / Sony Pictures Classics Alison Pill as Zelda Fitzgerald and Tom Hiddleston as F. Scott Fitzgerald in “Midnight in Paris.” 2011 Roger Arpajou / Sony Pictures Classics Owen Wilson as Gil in “Midnight in Paris.” 2011 Roger Arpajou / Sony […]
The song used in “Midnight in Paris” I am going through the famous characters that Woody Allen presents in his excellent movie “Midnight in Paris.” This series may be a long one since there are so many great characters. De-Lovely – Movie Trailer De-Lovely – So in Love – Kevin Kline, Ashley Judd & Others […]
Photo by Phill Mullen The only known photograph of William Faulkner (right) with his eldest brother, John, was taken in 1949. Like his brother, John Faulkner was also a writer, though their writing styles differed considerably. My grandfather, John Murphey, (born 1910) grew up in Oxford, Mississippi and knew both Johncy and “Bill” Faulkner. He […]
I love the movie “Midnight in Paris” was so good that I will be doing a series on it. My favorite Woody Allen movie is Crimes and Misdemeanors and I will provide links to my earlier posts on that great movie. Movie Guide the Christian website had the following review: MIDNIGHT IN PARIS is the […]
The Associated Press reported today: The signature under the typewritten words on yellowing sheets of nearly century-old paper is unmistakable: Adolf Hitler, with the last few scribbled letters drooping downward. The date is 1919 and, decades before the Holocaust, the 30-year-old German soldier — born in Austria — penned what are believed to be […]
Here is an article I wrote a couple of years ago: Solomon, Woody Allen, Coldplay and Kansas What does King Solomon, the movie director Woody Allen and the modern rock bands Coldplay and Kansas have in common? All four took on the issues surrounding death, the meaning of life and a possible afterlife, although they all came up with their own conclusions on […]
Coldplay seeks to corner the market on earnest and expressive rock music that currently appeals to wide audiences Here is an article I wrote a couple of years ago about Chris Martin’s view of hell. He says he does not believe in it but for some reason he writes a song that teaches that it […]
Less than 24 hours after a history-making loss, the United States men’s national soccer team landed in Kansas City bloody, but unbowed.
Not only did a 2-1 defeat against Panama on Saturday night mark the Americans’ first group-play loss in the 20-year history of the Gold Cup, it also made their next game, an 8 p.m. showdown on Tuesday against Guadeloupe at Livestrong Sporting Park, a must-win if they want to advance to the quarterfinals of the 12-team tournament, which determines the best team in North America, Central America and the Caribbean.
“We have everything to play for,” said defender Clarence Goodson, who scored the United States’ only goal against Panama. “It was a little speed bump.”
But it might be more than that if the U.S. doesn’t find a way to beat Guadeloupe. The top two teams from each of the three groups advance to the quarterfinals, along with the two teams with the next best records — wild cards, if you will.
Panama, 2-0-0, is currently first in Group C, while the United States and Canada are tied for second at 1-1-0 and Guadeloupe is last at 0-2-0. A win for the U.S. practically guarantees a spot in the next round, while a loss would make things much murkier.
The good news is that the U.S. would seem to have a favorable matchup against Guadeloupe, a team that didn’t even qualify for seven of the past 11 Gold Cups. But Panama, which was winless against the U.S. in eight previous Gold Cup matches, showed how much history matters on Saturday when it outplayed the sluggish Americans and took a 2-0 first-half lead.
Afterward, U.S. captain Landon Donovan admitted that his team “came out flat.” But Goodson insisted Sunday they didn’t underestimate Panama.
“We all said leading up to the game they were a team that was dangerous,” Goodson said. “We made some bad mistakes and they punished us for it like any good team would.”
Goodson scored a goal in the 68th minute, lifting the United States’ comeback hopes, but it turned out to be too little, too late.
“We improved in the second half and had plenty of chances to score,” Goodson continued. “We just couldn’t put it in the back of net. That’s how it goes some days.”
Goodson, of course, was optimistic that Tuesday’s game would present a more favorable result. A big reason for that is the team’s continuity; this is a group that has played together for a while.
“We have 17 of 23 guys from the World Cup team, guys who have been around and know each other pretty well,” he said. “We’ve had some times where we looked very good, other times we haven’t. That’s how the game goes.”
The other reason for his optimism is the sellout crowd that’s expected to pack Livestrong Sporting Park, one that’s expected to be extremely pro-American.
And Goodson, who said he watched some of Sporting KC’s home opener against Chicago on Thursday, remains hopeful that raucous environment will carry over to their game, too.
“I know this is one of the premier stadiums in MLS and from what I hear, the best in the world,” Goodson said. “We’re certainly looking forward to it.
Members of the anti-terrorism squad are seen surrounding the compound where al Qaeda …
, I made note of his penchant for cynicism and pessimism, especially in his dramas. That penchant made Allen’s supposed “light” drama from last year, 
, an almost soul crushing viewing experience for me. That film not only left me feeling depressed and unfulfilled, but it also had me questioning whether or not my recent career change had been the right one to make. I am guessing that, since I was struggling with a writing project of my own, I projected far too much of myself onto Josh Brolin’s washed up writer character. I wanted him to succeed in his own writing project because I wanted to succeed in my own writing project. When he did not and, in a 
styled plot development, the man stole another writer’s work and claimed it as his own, I was devastated.
The Daily Hatch 