Arkansas Democrat-Gazette On Film

https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2024/aug/29/popnotes-opinion-the-return-of-the-art-police/

POPNOTES | OPINION: The return of the Art Police concept column | Arkansas Democrat Gazette Hirayama (Koji Yakusho) is a toilet cleaner with a rich inner life in Wim Wenders' “Perfect Days.” About 40 years ago I was charged with creating a Sunday-magazine section for a newspaper that had no Sunday newspaper.That newspaper was the Shreveport Journal, an afternoon daily that published si...

https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2024/aug/29/review-opinion-city-of-dreams-passionate-but/

REVIEW | OPINION: ‘City of Dreams’ passionate but exploitative of serious subject | Arkansas Democrat Gazette Elena (Renata Vaca) slaves away in a moodily lit sweatshop somewhere in Los Angeles in Mohit Ramchandani's “City of Dreams.” Good intentions matter.We can certainly understand "City of Dreams" writer-director Mohit Ramchandani's motives for wanting to tell a story about human trafficking. Ramcha...

I have just finished writing a book. Now the work starts.

National Dog Day Afternoon

A follow-up on a post I made a couple of months ago. This is all technical golf equipment stuff so most of you can just scroll on. But some people wanted me to follow up after I threatened to give up my forged blade irons in favor of something easier to hit. I’ve tested clubs and this is what I’ve some up with.

To recap, I announced I was (probably) going to give up my Titleist muscleback irons with the DG x100 shafts for a set more befitting my, er, experience and the more casual brand of golf I play now. I don’t have the swing speed I had 20 years ago (my driver swing speed still tops 100 mph but not by much), and while I have enough speed to play blades — I played blades for decades — I finally figured I might be happier hitting clubs that were actually easy to hit, rather than tuning forks that harshed the vibe whenever i missed the center of the clubface.

I’d been thinking about going to easier-to-hit irons for quite a while; I hurt my right arm pretty badly a couple of years ago and this injury effected my swing. (Not in an entirely bad way — it shortened and tightened me up. I lost a little distance but probably gained a little accuracy. The downside is I still want to revert to my old, longer swing when I feel a little pressure but I can’t quiyte make that move anymore so I end up doing something goofy — usually blocking it right.)

I will admit that what ultimately convinced me is that I hit a Ping G730 seven iron on a whim and — according to the launch monitor — effortlessly carried it 190 yards. I hit my Titleist seven iron about 165 for comparison. But also for comparision, note that my Titleist 7-iron of 36 degrees; while the Ping has a lot of about 29 degrees, which makes it more like my old five iron than my seven iron. Still, it is intoxicating to hit a club 190 yards when it has a “7” on its sole. I can’t really explain why.

But what was really intriguing about the Ping G730 was how easy it was to hit. It felt like cheating. Point and swing. Boom. The ball went straight, in the general direction I meant it to. And at least 20 yards further than my old irons. With a set of G730s, I could miss greens with seven irons that I’d normally have to miss with five irons.

The only drawback of the 730s was — for me, anyway — the fact that they looked like the clubs the robo golfers of 2525 would use. They were chunky. Not unhandsome exactly, and to anyone who didn’t start playing golf in the early 1970s with a set of Ben Hogan Directors, they probably just look like golf clubs. But I’m a snob.

So I started testing a lot of so-called “game improvement” and “player’s distance” irons, with an emphasis on the ones I found aesthetically pleasing. I tried everything, but there were two sets I really liked — the new Cobra Darkspeed irons and the Callaway AI Smoke irons. And I eventually wound up with the Callaways because I liked their looks a little better.

I do not hit my Callaway AI Smoke seven iron 190 yards in the air. But I can hit it 185 yards in the air if I really step on it and it looks, to me, like a golf club. Like the Pings (and every other club in its category) the lofts are really strong (I think the seven iron loft is 29 degrees; I know the so-called pitching wedge in the set is really more like an eight iron) but I am a natural high ball hitter and the softer shafts — I went from an extra stiff (True Temper Dynamic Gold x100) to a gentleman’s stiff in True Temper Elevate 95s (which has some sort of vibration dampening technology I really like ) — help put back some of the green-holding spin that the lower lofts take out.

I also adjusted my woods and added a 46-degree Vokey SM-9 to my wedge assortment. So here’s the new bag, with notes:

Driver: Titleist TSR2, with the Autoflex 505x (pink) shaft.

Now the driver is new — I switched from the super-low spin Titleists TSR4 head with a VA Composites Drago shaft — and the shaft is a story unto itself. I was an Autoflex skeptic until I tried it. I don’t know if this buggy whip gives me any more distance (I am as long as I was with the old set-up, maybe a touch longer, but the club feels so good that I’m resisting subbing in the back-up, a Ping 430 10k Max with a five dot Newton shaft that is probably eight to 10 yards longer (and a little straighter) than the Titleist in general. I don’t care. It’s just more fun to hit my gamer.

And while this isn’t about distance — I don’t know how far I hit an average drive, I do know that 20 years ago I was pretty long and have a few hit-and-giggle “longest drive” victories to my credit — I am a threat to be on any par five that’s less than say 575 yards in two.

Three woods: I carry two. The first is a Titleist TSR 2+ , with a Tensei Blue stiff shaft, a 13.5 degree model knocked all the way down to as low as it will go, which I believe is 12.25 degrees. This is an off-the-tee club only, my version of a mini driver and I love it. It gives me a little draw and I can get it out there. I never hit it off the deck, not because it wouldn’t work, but because I also carry a Callaway AI Smoke Triple Diamond, a 15 degree model cranked up to 17 degrees. This is a monster off the fairway, essentailly a four wood with a three wood shaft. (A Project X Cypher Fifty, in stiff.)

The 2+ replaces an old (10 or 12 years) Taylor Made RBZ Tour Spoon and the Triple Diamond replaces a Cleveland Halo XL “hy-wood” which, while it sounds like a club a chop would use, is actually a really effective gap filler, more like a five-wood than a hybrid. (I could see putting the Cleveland back in the bag under certain circumstances.)

I’ve already discussed the irons; my highest club has a five on the sole, but I regularly hit it off the tee on a 210-yard par three I play. A good strike will fly it to the back of the green, a poor one will usually end up near the front edge. I have debated getting the four iron for this set but that would mean I have to lose either a wedge or a wood.

I’m carrying four wedges: a Vokey SM 9 at 46 degrees, a Vokey TVD 50 degree, a Vokey SM10 54 degree and an Edel 60 degree. All of them except the SM10 have the old DG “Spinner” shaft, which I guess they don’t make anymore; the SM10 has whatever stock wedge Titleist puts in them, I think it’s a “wedge” flex. (I’m too lazy to walk downstairs and look.)

The only thing interesting about my wedges is that the 50 degree is an inch longer than standard because it’s my primary chipping club (when I started playing this game, pitching wedges were 50 degrees and were what I chipped with exclusively) and I sometime want a little extra shaft and that the Edel is stamped “Chineserolex” in honor of a music project I completed seven years ago. I only put it in play this year because someone stole my Vokey 58 degree (and it was intentionally stolen, I didn’t leave it behind of the course, I know the circumstances of how it disappeared).

If you see anyone with a black Vokey M-grind 58 degree with “PM” snowflake-stamped all over the back, ask them how they came to acquire it.

Finally, I’m rotating putters depending on how I feel. The three on call right now are the old standby Scottie Cameron Newport center-shaftered protype; a Tour-built Cameron Golo Select 5 that is rumored to have once belonged to Glen Day and a lightweight Acushnet Bullseye from the ’70s that is identical to the one I used in high school. (But it is not the one I used in high school because a teammate threw that putter in a lake.)

https://edition.arkansasonline.com/arkansas-democrat-gazette/20240602/283996132387349/textview

Small repair to justice | Arkansas Democrat-Gazette I’ve talked to a few men who played in the Negro Leagues from 1920 to 1948: Riley Stew­art, a coach and vice prin­cipal at my high school; Buck O’Neill, whom Ken Burns made fam­ous; Ver­dell Mathis, from Craw­fords­ville in the Arkan­sas Delta; Joe B....

NOW SHOWING! Summer Camp! Get Your Tickets Now @ www.riverdale10.com

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WE ARE EXCITED ABOUT THIS NEWS! THE ‘VOUS is back in town at Riverdale 10 VIP Cinema from Friday through Tuesday - every night at 7pm! 🎬🎉🍿

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Celebrating its 70th year, the world-famous Memphis BBQ Institution and celebrity attraction The Rendezvous faces unprecedented change as the legendary waiters retire and the “family” business moves into a third generation. The film explores the culture, politics, music, and societal struggles that embody Memphis’ rich history.

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May 31st to June 4th at 7pm each night
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If you haven’t seen this film, don’t miss this opportunity! JOIN US this weekend at the movies!

FILM SCENE | OPINION: State’s festival season a treat | Arkansas Democrat Gazette It's that time of year once again. Temperatures are rising, pollen is wafting through the air, students are preparing to toss their graduation caps and local film festivals are starting to pop up like pimples on chocolate-addicted teenagers. Already a subscriber? Log in!

FILMSCENE | OPINION: Made In Arkansas Film Festival a crowd-pleaser | Arkansas Democrat Gazette Film festivals are odd creatures. Last year, there were a dozen or so in the state of Arkansas alone.

FILM NOTES: Sneak preview set for Disney movie | Arkansas Democrat Gazette The Arkansas Cinema Society is offering a free sneak preview of Disney's "Young Woman and the Sea," 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts.

POPNOTES | OPINION: ‘Sugarcane’ a witness to atrocities of genocide at mission schools | Arkansas Democrat Gazette Warm, elliptic and sad, Emily Kassie and Julian Brave NoiseCat's 2023 documentary "Sugarcane" is an artful film made in the shadow of genocide.

POPNOTES | OPINION: ‘Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior’ is pure spectacle and motion | Arkansas Democrat Gazette Wex (Vernon Wells) is a psychotic Vietnam war vet and the principal antagonist of George Miller's 1981 action thriller “The Road Warrior” (also known as Mad Max 2”) My life fades, my vision dims. All that remains are memories. I remember a time of chaos, ruined dreams, this wasted land. Most o...

I used to loathe this film. But I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now.

POPNOTES | OPINION: ‘Steel Magnolias’ not really a Southern movie, but it does have its moments | Arkansas Democrat Gazette The South is freighted territory, thick with ghosts and nonsense, and performative professional Southerners who regularly lie to strangers, friends and sometimes themselves.

Award-Winning Author to Speak at Arkansas Tech - Arkansas Tech University Juliet Grames, author of "The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna," will appear at Arkansas Tech University for a pair of events hosted by the ATU Department of English and World Languages. Grames will provide a visiting author reading at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 23, in Ross Pendergraft Library…

‘Ripley’: How many murderers? | Arkansas Democrat Gazette Researching the character of Tom Ripley, the banal antihero at the heart of Netflix series "Ripley," suggests a thought experiment. How many murderers will you encounter in your lifetime?

POPNOTES | OPINION: Patricia Highsmith’s classic thriller gets another go-round in Netflix series | Arkansas Democrat Gazette In 1955, Patricia Highsmith unleashed the character Tom Ripley on the world.

Human misery isnÆt my oidea of entertainment. But...

POPNOTES | OPINION: ‘Unlocked: A Jail Experiment’ is reality TV behind bars | Arkansas Democrat Gazette Inmate Daniel Gatlin gazes out of his locked cell just before the start of Sheriff Eric Higgins' experiment in the Netflix series “Unlocked: A Jail Experiment.” (Courtesy of Netflix) The pretext of Netflix series "Unlocked: A Jail Experiment" is that it is a look inside a bold experiment in Amer...

From Oct. 8, 1995:

Sometimes forget

One of the commonplaces of the American faith is that it is better to let criminals go free than to convict an "innocent." Before we commit a person to prison, we require that the government prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Accused defendants do not plead "innocent." Juries do not decide who among us is "innocent." "Not guilty" is the legal term, and it means merely that the government has failed to meet its burden of proof.

Certainly O.J. Simpson is not innocent. Few of us are. We know things we ought not know; we have seen things that have corrupted and spoiled us. We have done things that we would rather not become public knowledge; we have cause for shame. Innocence is not really an issue.

We ought to be satisfied with a jury's verdict, because we ought to be willing to live by the rules we've created. One of the things we allow juries to do is fly in the face of conventional interpretations of evidence, the law, reason and common sense. They are the ones we entrusted to decide these questions, it is up to them to apply whatever tests they deem appropriate.

We must trust them, we must accept that each juror followed heart and conscience and arrived where they arrived. It seems they felt the evidence offered by the prosecutors was unreliable; that there were too many compound lies, too much arrogance, too little earnest investigative industry. The man must be set free.

In the real world, it might be too much to expect the state to pursue a straightforward, unblinkered search for truth. Human beings are involved. Prosecutors are going to edit evidence and customize their theories to fit certain defendants; they are going to try to prove guilt and they will avail themselves of investigators and "experts" who are willing to say what they need to hear. There is no shortage of Fahmy Malaks; anyone who has watched a lot of criminal trials knows that witnesses sometimes lie in court.

Anyone who has spent much time watching trials knows that sometimes the police lie in court.

Yet if we cannot expect the state to uphold the ideal, we can at least require that it play by its own rules. And the rules provide for a jury, and proof beyond reasonable doubt, and the possibility that the jury will react to what it perceives as the state's overeagerness to convict.

Given what we know about the conduct of the police and the prosecution in the trial of O.J. Simpson, the jury's verdict was not outrageous.

It is unfortunate this most public trial has ended in triumphant cheering and angry muttering. Once again, it is easy to see America as a country divided into racial camps.

It is disingenuous to pretend this case had nothing to do with skin color; murder is murder but there is a great psychological gulf between America's black and white nations. All the polls showed whites more willing to trust the police, to believe the evidence, to doubt the existence of a labyrinthine conspiracy to frame O.J. Simpson.

Black people, many of whom have good reason not to trust the police, were much more likely to believe Simpson the victim of the state. They know such things happen, that most racists are not so overtly stupid as Mark Fuhrman. It is understandable when those who the state has declared the enemy celebrate the state's comeuppance. Black citizens have been treated badly in the past; the black community knows that police corruption exists.

O.J. Simpson's escape from criminal culpability is simply a convenient symbol--perhaps even a sign of progress. Now a rich black man can beat the system, just like a rich white man.

And the anger of those who think that a murderer has been set free seems as inappropriate--and less understandable--as the euphoria of O.J. partisans.

None of this means that O.J. Simpson did not kill two people. But even if he did, it does not mean that our criminal justice system is broken and that drastic remedial measures are necessary. (Maybe we should reconsider sequestration; it seems cruel to treat good citizens this way. After all, in the end, we must trust our jurors.)

It is important to remember that this was an extraordinary case, one that involved a famous, bulletproof defendant with the resources to nearly match the government lawyer for lawyer, expert for expert, dollar for dollar. Under normal circumstances, a Mark Fuhrman could have lied with impunity.

Letting the occasional murderer go free is part of the cost of living in our relatively free society. It is an unfortunate but necessary novelty; I can think of other cases where people I believe were probably guilty were set free, and even a few where people I believe innocent were convicted.

And what I believe--what you believe--is not the point. Whether or not we like the verdict, we ought to submit to it. The system worked, O.J. Simpson was not framed for murder.

Let him go, into whatever luxurious new life he can scrape together behind his gates. Let him fade into whatever marginal freakshow existence he can build from an influx of blood money and the indecent attention of voyeurs.

It is tragic that Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman were killed. But not every tragedy can be redressed in this world.

Maybe some civil action will pauperize O.J. Simpson, maybe he'll go on to cult star status. Charles Manson has a fan club. Maybe he'll wander alone through the rooms of his Brentwood manse, feeling the breath of ghosts on his skin. Perhaps we shouldn't care, we should just forget him.

Decent people will.

From the Before world.

POPNOTES | OPINION: Amiable and affable ‘Amélie’ gets Blu-ray release | Arkansas Democrat Gazette I've looked at clouds that way: Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet used computer-generated imagery deftly in his 2001 film “Amélie.” A Blu-ray of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's "Amélie" arrived the other day; the film has been re-released by Sony in a steelbook edition in advance of its 23rd anniversary. Alrea...

A remarkable collection from a quiet man.

POPNOTES | OPINION: Film connoisseur Michael Fitzgerald knew a lot about Hollywood and the people who worked there | Arkansas Democrat Gazette Curator Darren Riley with some of the Michael G. Fitzgerald's extensive collection of movie posters. “Night Wind” is a 1948 spy thriller that stars Michael Ftitzgerald's pen pal Gary Gray. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Philip Martin) EL DORADO -- All Darrin Riley really knew was that Michael Fitzge...

Not the greatest film of all time, but ...

FLASHBACK | OPINION: ‘Gone With the Wind’ at 85 | Arkansas Democrat Gazette Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O' Hara and Clark Gable as Rhett Butler in 1939's “Gone With the Wind,” which will be shown in theaters April 7-9. There is a story, perhaps too deliciously ironic to be true, that holds that when Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer chief Louis B. Mayer told Irving Thalberg he was plann...

Mark your calendars: FILMLAND RETURNS AUGUST 15-18, 2024, AT AMFA! 🎥

“ACS is excited to get back to our roots by moving Filmland to its original spot in August,” said Executive Director and Co-Founder Kathryn F. Tucker. “The Fall is jam-packed with so many fun festivals, not to mention Razorback football, so summer seems like the best spot to make sure audiences have an opportunity to see up-and-coming films and support Arkansas filmmakers before the busy fall season kicks off.”

+ Filmland: Arkansas Submissions are OPEN now through June 1st for short films and features.

For all the information and updates, please visit filmland.org!

Much like previous years, Filmland will showcase captivating independent films and riveting filmmaker conversations you can’t see anywhere else. LET ME COUNTDOWN BEGIN! 🎉🎬