Around the Blogosphere This Week

Miscellaneous bits of news and fun stuff from the Internet...

...John Ford film fans in particular will want to read "Change Slowly Comes to Beautiful, Remote Monument Valley." Click the title of this post to read the article, published in Friday's USA Today.

...Here is a photo tour of the Ava Gardner Museum in Smithfield, North Carolina.

...Big new plans for Fantasyland in Orlando's Magic Kingdom?

...I enjoyed a profile of British actress Patricia Roc at Movietone News. A couple years ago I saw the lovely Roc in CANYON PASSAGE, an interesting 1946 Western starring Dana Andrews and Susan Hayward. It's available on VHS.

...Here's your dose of Steyn on Saturday, as Mark Steyn uses his trademark wit to take on President Obama acting "stupidly," borrowing an adjective which was unfortunately used by the President himself.

...Kate celebrates her discovery of the great film HISTORY IS MADE AT NIGHT (1937) at her blog Silents and Talkies. I first saw this movie about 18 months ago (reviewed here) and I think I'm ready to see it again...what an original and memorable film. It's available on video.

...Meg Cabot, author of THE PRINCESS DIARIES, blogged about speaking at the Betsy-Tacy Convention last weekend in Mankato, Minnesota. If you have a daughter who hasn't yet read the Betsy-Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace, get thee to a bookstore or library. The "high school" books in the series will be republished in attractive editions in late September.

...Mrs. Happy Housewife links to a YouTube recording of former President Reagan speaking against socialized medicine...back in 1961! Betsy McCaughey, who has actually read every word of both the House and Senate bills, writes that the program would constitute an "Assault on Seniors" greatly reducing the access of the elderly to medical care.

...Nigella Lawson's NIGELLA CHRISTMAS, which I first wrote about here last fall, finally has a U.S. release date: November 1, 2009.

...The Self-Styled Siren links to a clip of Fred Astaire's great "One For My Baby" number from THE SKY'S THE LIMIT (1943), reviewed here in January. The movie is available on video.

...Another title in the nifty series reproducing vintage Betty Crocker cookbooks has been published: BETTY CROCKER'S OUTDOOR COOK BOOK.

...DVD rentals are booming during the current economy...Netflix's rentals were up 20% in the second quarter. Unfortunately what correlates with that is there have been far fewer DVD releases this year, particularly of classic films.

...Live in the greater Chicago area? (Hey, Missy!) A Film Noir Festival heads your way for a week starting July 31st. Noir experts Eddie Muller (who has done some of my favorite DVD commentaries) and Foster Hirsch will be in attendance at the Music Box Theatre. More info is at the Film Noir Foundation.

Have a great weekend!