Wednesday, January 31, 2007

24 Timeline


Okay, so here's the best I can figure out:

March 2004: Day 1

Early Fall 2005: Day 2

Early 2006: 24: The Game

September/October 2008: Day 3

January or Febuary 2009: Season 4 Prequel

Febuary 2010: Day 4

Febuary 2011: Season 5 Prequel

August 2011: Day 5

March 2012: Season 6 Prequel

April 2013: Day 6

Note: There is some evidence the first season to backdate events on Day 1 into an alternate version of the 2000 election (one minues Al Gore running). While this may have been the orignal intent of the shows creators, the occurance of the September 11th attacks seems to have pushed the show into a decidely post 9/11 world. For example, President David Palmer has a Department of Homeland Security early in first term, indicting the occurance of a previous 9/11 style War on Terror triggering event, prior to the nuclear explosion in the California desert that highlights season 2.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Sidney Sheldon Dead at 89


Sidney Sheldon, prolific mystry writer and I Dream of Jeannie creator has died at the age of 89.

I Love Wiki Random Artical

I recently became one of the legion of nerds who edit wikipedia, primarly by creating small stub entrys for semi-obscure movies I like, such as The Miracle Women and Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (my first entry). I also discoverd that I love Wiki's 'Random Artical' button, it's so truley random and informative. To demonstrate the randomness of 'random artical', I present to you the next seven random articals that button generates for me:

1. Actor Paul Provenza

2. The village of Florida de Liebana in western Spain.

3. Jefferson Township, Williams County, Ohio.

4. Klaus Junge, the German Chess Master who died to soon.

5. Tony Mundine, Australian Boxing Legend.

6. Noria, as in a water-wheel like device used in some aqueducts, not the Japanses singer.

7. 0-12-0, in Whyte notation.

I actully feel these seven could have been more random, I'm a little disapointed. I had no idea what the last two where though. Wait! Eight would have been The Asphalt Jungle, that almost makes up for the rest.

The 100 Greatest 24 Moments

The 100 Greatest 24 Moments

I've Been Ill

Well I put up a valient fight, but after about six weeks of various bugs, flus and coughs making the rounds at my residence, I finally got sick. So I've spent this past weekend doing the kind of stuff I do when I'm sick, watching lots of DVD's, including the entire first season of The 4400 (It wasn't aliens, it was people from the future), and reading low impact material such as Televison Without Pity's new 752 Things We Love to Hate (And Hate to Love) About TV (which runs from Willie Aames to Zoboomatoo). Watched the good humord western Rio Bravo, featuring an actor with the stereotypical sounding name of Pedro Gonzalez-Gonzalez, and a romance between then 52 year-old John Wayne and a 27ish Angie Dickinson (who's character is supose to be 22, which only makes the dynamics worse). Also watched O Henry's Full House, an early 50's compiliation film taken from the short stories of its titular author, and hosted by another author, John Steinbeck. Lastley caught part of the SAG awards and noticed that 24's Chloe, actress Mary-Lynn Rajskub, had short red hair. Short red hair! But she currently has long brunett hair on the show, and I'm pretty sure there still filming. With it highly unlikely that Chloe would decide to change her look mid-terrorist crises, I think this means she's dead! Wait, maybe she just had to go undercover, yeah that must be it. Alas I think no such luck, I just hope she goes out with more character consitancy then Curtis.

Before I got sick I watched the 1977 NBC mini-series Sybil, which features Sally Field giving one of the great all time performances of any medium (I'm serious).

Friday, January 26, 2007

Charles Lane is 102!

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

More Clearance

The complet 'The Visitors', Jack T. Chick anti-Mormon evanglizing tract.

A Mormon Wiki ran by Mormons.

Wikiality, the truthiness Encyclopedia.

The Bee Movie, one of the funnyest/ most inventive previews I've seen in a long time.

Play the suprior Ms. Pac-Man online.

Dr. Mario

Resume Examples

John Kerry won't run again, which is probably for the best.

Worlds oldest man dies.

About Time

Love Letters in the Sand


Saw Letters from Iwo Jima last night, the Japanese half of Clint Eastwoods two feature exploration of the battle of Iwo Jima. This was probably the better of the two films in many ways, and delt with issues of loss, authority, and futility that the American experiance best grapels with through tales of our civil war. It's a strong film but I don't think its the best picture of the year, and I even liked Flags of our Fathers better. Still it is worth seeing. Ken Watanabe forever.

I also watched a 1938 film called Alexander's Ragtime Band. This is the story of the rise of a small group of musicans from the backwater dives of turn of the century San Francisco, to Carniage Hall in New York. Staring the likes of Tyrone Power, Don Ameche and the unmistakable voice of Ethel Merman, this then inovative film is now mostly boaring. In fact I enjoyed the special feature biography of actress Alice Faye more then I enjoyed the movie. The World War One sequence in this film is largely replicated in 1943's This Is The Army, another Irving Berlin musical outing.

Happy 90th Ernest Borgnine

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Al Gore and the Oscars

Last night Fmr. Vice-President Al Gore spoke at the Taco Bell Arena on global warning, as part of the 23rd Annual Frank Church Confrence on Public Affairs. I was there. Gore's presentation was pretty much what he did in his now Academy Award nominated documentary An Inconvenient Truth, save an additional focus on Idaho in the presentation and a couple of Boise State Football refrences. I enjoyed it though I learned little new and whole thing went a bit long. The Mormons I attended it with where a little stingy on the clapping I felt. The vampire guy we listened to on 'Cost to Cost AM' on the drive back got a bigger response then the ex-presidental candidate, but then again the vampire guy was funnier, if not intentionaly so.

Back to the Oscars, the nominess were announced this morning, nothing to surprising but I'm going to wait awhile to formulate my picks. The State of the Union is also tonight, but I'm not going to watch it for a change, as I think I'm going to go see Letters From Iwo Jima this evening.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

R for Ridiculous

Ghost World is a 2001 indi film staring Thora Birch and Steve Buscemi. It is a rambling piece that felt like an amalgum of indies I've seen, with a suburban-type setting (like Welcome to the Dolls House), odd protaganist (Napoline Dynamite), themes of romantic fustration (You, And Me, And Everyone We Know) and comic style illustrations (American Splender).

V for Vendeta is a film my brother has been pushing me to see for some time, so I finally went home from a visit to his place with a barowed copy. It's an entertaning enough film, with a populist politicial psychology that is only 'surficley deep', however that's the Wachowski brothers for you, I mean look at their Christ metaphor in the Matrix films. That being said its still decent littel action flick.

Started a documentary class today, the second half will be in a couple of weeks. We watched The Road to Guantanamo, which is not a light Crosby and Hope comedy, but rather a look at the truely sucky experinace of three Pakastani Britians who where truely in the wrong place at the wrong time, when they where mistakenly picked up as terrorists in late 2001 Afghanistan. The film almost defies the documentary genra as it is about 90% reinactment, with the events real participents inserted as occasional talking heads. We also watched the movie Jesus Camp, followed by a panel discusion including a Presbyterian minister and Episcopal priest. I simply can not do justice to Jesus Camp, you need to see it to really understand it. I laughed, I cringed, I thought. I intend to see it again.

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Disney Rarities


I finally finished Disney Rarities, part of the Walt Disney Treasures DVD collection. I bought my copy of this 2-DVD set back around Christmas of 2005, but got sidtracked by other things and didn't finish viewing all of its contents until today. Basically its a collection of Disney theatrical shorts from the 1920's into the early sixties, highlights of which include The Little House, Ben and Me, Pigs Is Pigs, Paul Bunyan, Goliath II, A Symposium On Popular Songs, and The Saga Of Windwagon Smith. My favorite of the collection however has long been The Truth About Mother Goose, a cartoon that scared but fascinated me as a child. Among the motivations for my purchase was a brief conversation I had with Virginia Davis at the Hollywood celebrites show I visited in 2005. Davis was the star of Walt Disneys first series of film shorts, the silent Alice's adventures in the 1920's. Seven Alice shorts are included on disc one, along with an interview with the still living Ms. Davis.

Art Buchwald: 1925-2007


In Memory

Pulitzer Prize winning humorist Art Buchwald has passed away at the age of 81. The real surprise in his passing comes not from his death, but from his living so long. Months ago Buchwald had himself taken off dialysis and was given only weeks to live, he stretched that into the better part of a year. Buchwalds final project was writng a book about his own passing. Art Buchwald is also famous in the world of film for the lawsuit he leveld against Paramount Pictures, regarding compenisation for his work on the Eddie Murphy feature Coming to America.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

The Road From Awe



On the recomendation of Steve and the blog 'This Divided State' , on Teusday I saw the Darren Aronotsky film The Fountian, staring Rachel Weisz and Hugh Jackman. At first I really hated this movie, but later I was merly dissatisfyed with it. It's a very pertensious film, that interwins three story lines, each staring Jackman and two staring Weisz, but all centerd on the common themes of deep love and the search for eternal life. We have a 16th Century Spanird searching for a hidden temple in America on behalf of his queen, a 21st Century doctor trying to find a cure for his wifes brian tumor, and a man flying through a nebula in a giant crystal ball in the company of an ancient tree in the year 2500. The moment when the two most temporaly divergant story lines intersect should strike the viewer as either brillent, or one of the stupedist things they've ever seen, and I'm affriad that I lean towards the latter. As its often been called in reviews, the Fountian is an ambitious and visually dazzeling experiment, that largely fails. I was more impressed with the episodes of Buffy The Vampire Slayer I was introduced to later that evening.

Tonight Jesse Jackson was in town and spoke at Boise State University, and I got to see it. While needless to say I don't agree with Jackson on many things, he's a fairly charismatic man who came across better then I might have expected him too. I'm glade I went, especially since I got in free.

I picked up at the library today, and started reading, a book called Inside the Mormon Mind: The Social Psychology of Mormonism, by Elizabeth T. Tice, Ph.D. This book endevours to explore the relationship of the LDS Chruch to the internal psychology of its practicing members as well its larger role in the social conditioning and behavorial control of said membership. So far what Dr. Tice has had to say seems reasonable/right to me, i.e. I understand it. Infact I think this would probably be a great text for (particularly) secular people who want to understand something of the inner workings of there Mormon friends minds, and how the movment serves to construct reality and identity on a larger scale. At only about 80 pages, I think even Jeff probably could stomich it, and I recomend it to him. If I come across anything else in the text I feel like bloging about, you can probably expect me to do so.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Play Pac-Man


Play-Pac Man, and learn neat facts. For example Billy Mitchell of Florida (not to be confused with Billy Mitchell the Air Corp Pioner) was the first to achive a perfect Pac-Man score, a feet so difficult, that while the game had been around since the early 80's, it was not achived until 1999 (there are 256 levels of Pac-Man).

Clearance

Just trying to clear out a few littel iteams and links I'd like to get on this blog.

First off a couple of exploritory announcments have been made. Obama's filed, looks like he's going for it. Also Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo, noted for his strong stance against illegal imigration, has submited his paperwork as well, apperently try to fill the void of hard-right contenders for the big job in the Republican primary.

Dick Morris predicts the coming of a 'Civil War' within the Democratic Party, when leaders Pelosi and Reid fail to adaquitly oppose President Bush's troop surge in the eyes of Cindy Sheehan and the anti-war left.

Dinesh D'Souza has put out a book called The Enemy at Home: The Cultural Left and Its Responsilitity for 9/11, apperently he is trying to out Coulter Coulter.

The Golden Globe winners we anounced last night.

For some reason the Mormon Wiki is run by Evangelicals.

I made some comments on EightMinutesOnHigh, you should be able to find the entry I decided to coment upon.

A photographic image of Oliver Cowdrey, an important figure in the early history of the LDS movment, may have been found. Take a look at it.

This is just odd.

Anybody else remember Fred Newman from 1990ish version of 'the Micky Mouse Club' (he also did a program on Nickelodian in the 80's). Well he is now on a show called Reading Between the Lions, which my three year old nephew has been known to watch regularly.

Hey Ya, Charlie Brown.

Some 2006 Deaths in Review.

Also odd.

Loopy Goldfish.

Sunset Gun.

A History of Television.

Why Do We Fight?

Watched Why We Fight?, another in the large crop of leftist documentaries that have been a popular form of backlash in the Bush years. The movie takes as its focuse Eisenhowers (my favorite post WWII president) famed warning in his 1961 fairwell address about the dangers of the military-industiral complex. I'm not a big fan of the 'MI' as I'll call it, espically the excesis atributed to them during the cold war. However in a discusion of the film with a right-wing militerist friend of mine, I had a hard time coming up with a way for the U.S. to function without them during the War on Terror. All I could come up with was for better government oversight of their activites, but that probably wouldn't do too much. Anyway, if anyone out there knows of a better way to translate my vauge distaste for the MI into a pragmatic policy stance, I would love to hear it.

Also watched the 4 hour season primer for the 6th season of 24. It seemed to start out a little slower then the last few seasons (hard to bet season 5 on that front), and to be attempting slight experimitation in formate, such as having the President actully be in Washington D.C. for a change. I feel shades of the disapointing season 3 coming on here, and am a little worryed that the show may have 'jumped the shark'. While the suitcase nuke going off was supposed to be one of those 24, I can't belive they did that moments, the program on the whole feels like it is becoming a charictature (can't spell) of its self. You've got the work place feuds set up at CTU, Chloie going outside the system, Jack going dark, an untrustworthy advisor to the president (I'm affaird Wayne won't be able to fill Davids shoes), and making deals with terror leaders for the greater good. It feels like there is only so many combinations of this kind of thing that you can do, without getting really cliche. Finally I totally didn't buy the Curtis sub-plot, it was out of character and simply designed to get him off the program as quickly as possible. I personally am just hoping the my favorite character, Bill Buchanon, survives the season.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

"There are several resasons most of us don't feel comfortable speaking directly about our confusion. One is that we want greater certainty about life and our decisions than we often feel. We want to be abel to say that we are certain God has led us in such and such a direction and now is leading us in another direction. To articulate uncertanity seems to communicate lack of confidence in God.

"It might help us to remember that human beings (even Christian ones) are fallible and 'see through a glass darkly.' Surely there is plenty or biblical evidence of faithful people who misunderstood God's will or did not receive clear direction about every decision. Is it really impossible for us to say, 'I think I misunderstood what God was leading me to do'? Or even, 'I made a mistake in coming here'?"- David P. Gushee in Christianity Today, September 2006.

Friday, January 12, 2007

"My dream of politics all my life has been that it is the common business, that it is something we owe to each other to understand and... discuss with absolute frankness."- Woodrow Wilson

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Economist Artical on the Mormon Globel Push, and Then Some

Click here.

Also:

Katie Couric generic-type commentary on the 'Mormon question' in regards to the Romney campaign.

CNN's King & Beck

With Music by Orrin Hatch


Long time Utah Republican Senator Orrin Hatch is known, among other things, for his music. Mr. Hatch has been a composer for some time now, with I belive six albums to his credit, many of them joint projects with LDS music mavin Janice Kapp Perry. Anyway for a long time I've wanted to find a linkable online copy of Hatchs 'God Bless our Homes and Families', which has got to be the most Republican song of all time! Seriously, you've got to hear this song, if your of a more liberal persuasion you'll find it hilarious, if your more conservative you might find yourself oddly moved. Either way if you get the chance, you should listen to this song. You can listen to select other songs by Mr. Hatch at his music website.

De Carlo, Bolin Die

Yvonne De Carlo: 1922-2007

Jane Bolin: 1908-2007

Hepburn, Wayne & Stanwyck

To celebrate the centennial year for three of the biggest stars of classic Hollywood, I decided to netflix a new (for me) film of each of theirs. First off I watched Desk Set, a 1957 Hepburn/Tracy romantic comedy which is only fair as a movie, but had some periode set design I rather enjoyed. My John Wayne picture was the first for which he receved an Oscar nomination, as the tought but loving sargent Stricker in 1949's Sands of Iwo Jima, a war picture that strains under its Republic Pictures budget. Wayne lost the Oscar that year to Brodrick Crawford for All the Kings Men. Lastely Barbara Stanwyck sports an Irish accent for the sprawling railroad western Union Pacific, Cecil B. DeMills solid but largely forgotten entry from the crowded movie year of 1939. Also for those of you keeping track, I recently finished season 4 of Gilmore Girls.

Monday, January 08, 2007

Patriarch Eldred G. Smith turns 100


I'll be out of my house early Teusday and wanted to make sure I got mention in about the 100th birthday (January 9th) of Eldred G. Smith, the last Patriarch to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For those of you who are not aware, there was a time when the office of Church Patriach ( a postion historicaly kept within the family of Joseph Smith Sr.) was one of the highest regarded, and arguabley most important in the Church. Some viewed the offices purpose as largely to provide a Smith family counterwight in the LDS Church, to the leadership claims of the Smith family presidents of the RLDS Church. Since the late 1970's tha church has had no offical Patriach, though Elder Eldred G. Smith is regarded as having the same statues as an emeritus Generial Authority (which in fact he is). Anyway there is a book about this lost office that I've been wanting to read for some time, and with this topic on my mind again, I might just pick it up the next time a see a copy available. Besides Wikipedia needs an entry on this subject and maybe I could write it. I should also mention that Elder Smith came to Nampa round about two years ago to speak, and I do regret not having gone to see him (I couldn't get proper directions to the appropriate chapel). I belive this photo is from 1994.

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Movies with Friends

In contrast to my usual practice of communing alone with a movie, I've seen a couple of them in the company of friends over the last several days. First off on Thursday night I saw Babel, to best describe this film all I can say is to think Crash on a global scale. In fact for those of you who saw Crash you'll find a fun "hey it's that guy" moment from the Haggis films cast near the end of Babel (Kudos to Mandy for spoting it first). The plot concerns three seprate yet interconected stories, the conection between the first two, an American couple vactioning in Morocco and a Hispanic nanny and her charges from San Digeo, is rather esay to make, but the angry deaf teen and her father in Tokoyo dosen't really seem to make sense as part of an interlocking storyline until the end of the picture. Babel makes my unoffical top five list for best films of 2006.

Last night, after my first experince at Fudruckers, Jackson and Lisa finally got me to fill a rather large hole in my knowledge of this decades films, when I finally saw Gladiator, as culmination of the couples fairwell activites prior to shiping out for Japan. I liked Gladiator, real crowd (or should I say mob) pleaser, complet with a creepy Joaquin Phonenix and Russell Crowe choping peoples heads off. The film also features the lovely Dane Connie Nielson, who was Detective Bensons temporary replacment on Law & Order: SVU (that's where I'd seen her before Jackson!). My favorite Ridley Scott film is still Matchstick Men.

Friday, January 05, 2007

Richard Dutcher is Inactive!


The erstwhile Mormon filmaker opens up about his spiritual journy, refusal to be boxed, and how "the Mormon community just doesn't have reverence or respect for art" (I fear he may be right), in a reveling interview with Christianity Today.

''I think every good Christian ought to kick Falwell right in the ass.''- Barry Goldwater. I find the fact that he said this just fascinating.

Momofuku Ando: 1910-2007


Momofuku Ando, the father of Ramen Noodles has passed away at the age of 96.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Happy 98th J. R. Simplot


On this day that the Democrates take over congress, we (that's a royal we) wish a happy birthday to Idaho's richest man, and the nations oldest billionaire, J.R. Simplot.

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

January 2nd Stuff

Forgive the placement of these two items together but there all I was planing on writing about today.

First off former Jerusalem mayor Teddy Kolleck passed away yesterday at the age of 95. Kolleck was the mayor of the oft disputed city from 1965-1993, and wrote a book about his experinces. Teddy Kolleck worked in close partnership with then future LDS Church President Howard W. Hunter to get the Orsen Hyde Memorial Garden, and the BYU Jerusalmen center constricted in the 1970's and 80's. Kollecks comments following president Hunters passing in 1995, were featured in serveal Church publications.

Watched The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel, and that movie is a mess. Based on a non-fiction book by British officer Desmond Young, who was a prisoner of war under Rommel, the film is to structuraly loyal to its source material. It starts out with an exagerated account of an attempt to assasiante Rommel by the British, then tells a bit of Young's story, then tells a bit about the North Africa campagin, then jumps ahead a few years to tell the story of Erwins far to gradual disillusionment with Adolf Hitler. Rommel it should be rememberd is treated by many in a manner similar to Confederate General Robert E. Lee, meaning he has been largely rehabilitated and divorced from the oppresive regime which he served. That both men had honorific concepts of the soldier and were true to there conceptions of duty is largely undisputed, however depications I've scene of Lee's life have been much more fully realized and enjoyable to watch or read. Rommel's simply a difficult character, and while I like the work of James Mason, I'm not convinced that his portrial was anything like the real man. I was largely disapointed with this work, espically the screenplay by Graps of Wrath scrib Nunnally Johnson.

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Peanuts

I've been frequenting the blog of Ken Jennings lately. You might remember Ken as that guy who set the record for wins on Jepordy a couple of years back. Anyway a few years ago I read selections from an online interview with Ken that where published in Sunstone Magazine, and found him to be quite witty. So when I recently discoverd his blog I was sure to bookmark it. Currently Ken has a book out called 'Brainiac', that chronicals his experiances on Jepordy, as well as inisights into the larger world of trivia geekdom, I kind of want to read the thing. A couple of weeks back he posted an analysis of the dance movies in Merry Christmas Charlie Brown which I just found to be really funny. By-the-way I belive that 1965 Peanuts Christmas special to be one of the 20th Centurys great works of Christian art.

Fiesta & Funeral


What a game last night! Now I'm not much of a football fan, collage or pro, infact Mondays Fiesta Bowl was the first colloge football game I've ever watched striaght through, but I enjoyed it throughly. It was a movie, a tight fought contest that went back and forth between both teams, only to be settled by a two-point convergance (I think that's the right term) in overtime, final score Boise State 43, Oklahmoa U 42. What really energized me about this game before it began was the rude, arrogant and dismisive attitude of Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops. I really wanted to see that jerk humbeld, espically given what a class act Boise coah Chris Petersen is. In fact I think that coach Stoops should be played by either Dennis Hopper or Christopher Walken in the movie, though he dosen't look like either man both are good at playing evil/crazy. Anyway to finish off the movie analogy, this picture would also have a love story (Ian Johnson and cheerleader), and a redemption story (Jared Zabransky). If football is like this (which I'm told it usually isn't) I'm sold.

I planed to watch President Fords funeral today, as I'm the sort who actully tends to watch these things; however the online TV guide page I checked last night for the services time was set for the east coast and not the mountian west. Therefor I only caught the tale end of it, perhaps they will run it again today on the C-SPAN (I heart C-SPAN). Anyway I like President Ford, good man, and I like the asthetic of an old establishment churh funeral. I do however feel disapointed to learn the former Prez Jimmy Carter was not one of the speakers, for the funeral of a reconcilator such as Gerald Ford, having his old political rival speak would have been apropos. My local NBC affilate cut from the end of the funeral service directly to actor Orlando Bloom on some interview show, highly disrespectful in my opinion (not cutting to an actor, just cuting to Orlando Bloom).

Lastly, Chris Peterson is the first colloge coach since about 1888 to go undefeated his first year on the job.

Monday, January 01, 2007

Beards of the Prophits

Note: This post was inspired in part by Kyle's recent blog entry on the Mustcache.

Now an endangerd species the 'Great Mormon Beard' was a near ubiqutous presence in the Great Basin region of the 19th, and first half of the 20th Century. Nowhere was the Mormon beard more prominate then on the face of the LDS Church Presidents or Prophets. Here in we will briefly examine the history of the Mormon beard as it appeard on their Mugs.
Joseph Smith the first Mormon Prophet and Chruch President (served 1830-1844) did not sport a beard, as witnessed in this daguerreotype, the only known photographic image of Mr. Smith.
Jospeh's successor as leader of the main body of the church, Brigham Young (served 1844-1877) was likewise beardless at the start of his administration, favoring instead a roughly bell shaped hair cut.
Brigham eventully started to grow a beard that went through many stages, one of which is here pictured, before settling on the classic Brigham Young showen bellow.

The Classic Brigham Young

John Taylor who followed Young as head of the Church (1877-1887), favored a bushy and glorifyed Neard, or neck beard.
Successor Wilford Woodruffs (1887-1898) beard came in two types during his years in office, with both a relatively close cut version...
... and the classic 'Cotton'.
Lorenzo Snow (1898-1901) had 'The Icecycle', ...
... Joseph F. Smith (1901-1918) the 'Z.Z. Top',...
...and Heber J. Grant (1918-1945) the 'Sigmund Freud'.
George Albert Smith (1945-1951) was ahead of the beatnicks with his stylish 'Goatee' (my personal favorite).
Alas the era of 'The Great Mormon Beard' came to an end with the 1950's and the presidency of clean cut David O. McKay (1951-1970).

R.I.P the Bearded Mormon Prophet (mainline): 185?-1951.

The Future of The Dredge Report

Well I just can't seem to get to sleep tonight, so I thought I'd write a little on the future of this blog. I'm to be going through a lot of changes in my life over the next few months and will likely not be able to keep this blog as up to date as I have in the past. Previously I have writen a little something on every movie that I had seen in 2006, (which I had not seen before) and this may not happen in the future. I'd also like to experiment with a more casual tone on the blog, with entries less catagorized then previous. I did want to mention that 2007 will mark the 100th anniversury of the births of three of my favorite stars, Barbara Stanwyck, Kathrine Hepburn, and John Wayne, so I'll likely be watching a lot of there films over this year. Anyway I think that is all I have to say for now, so happy new year.