This is waiting at home for me. It looks like something you would like, Hec. Also, smonster.

Indeed, I'm all over that Southern Gothic death trip.

It opens with Lionel Barrymore playing a suave, banker-like Satan in his Art Deco hell.

Lionel Barrymore as Satan is an interesting casting choice. Though Laird Cregar in the first Heaven Can Wait owns that role.

70's paranoid cinema (yes - everyone IS out to get you) at it's most drive-in friendly,

I actually SAW Race with the Devil at a drive-in! It was on a crazy double bill with some musical at a theater in some small Vermont town, and we went just for the drive-in experience.

I actually SAW Race with the Devil at a drive-in! It was on a crazy double bill with some musical at a theater in some small Vermont town, and we went just for the drive-in experience.

Heh, so did my sister, which is how I heard about it. I think it was on a double-bill with Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry.

Lionel Barrymore as Satan is an interesting casting choice.

He's obviously playing it rather broadly for comic effect. There's more than a little Count Floyd in his performance.

Sorry, man! I wasn't trying to run you down.

No worries! I didn't read anything as hostile. Just regret that I wasn't around to take a stand for my side. And there was so much good discussion (including the sarcasm and smacktalk) that I wish I'd been around for that, too. Just for the record, I do think Kubrick's movies have philosophical content (as opposed to the idea that they're not about anything), even to the point of putting the story a little too far into service to the idea. I don't even think he buries his ideas in subtext. It's that other thing, the one that's above the subtext. What's the word for that?

I really was curious about your charge of "facile nihilism."

You wanted to know if I thought that there was room for well-considered nihilism, right? Easy answer: Sure, I guess. But I'm not going to take even the most philosophical nihilists all that seriously. I mean, it's one thing to go the Nietzche route and propound the deconstruction of a system one sees as failing - that's the destructive-as-creative act, a contrary position that makes most sense in the context of a few hundred years of German idealism. But it's quite another to suggest that removing one system negates all others. Is there a serious thinker with this position?

There's some cool stuff coming up on their [TCM's] schedule

They had A Bicycle Thief on in the wee hours this morning which I had my dvr pick up for viewing most likely this weekend. I still have Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The Third Man on the queue, as well as a basic-cable broadcast (and therefore edited) of Eastern Promises to watch at some point.

They had A Bicycle Thief on in the wee hours this morning which I had my dvr pick up for viewing most likely this weekend.

They've also got a batch of rarely shown cult films coming up including Robert Downey, Sr's Putney Swope.

Also, a night of films featuring one of the coolest actresses ever: Simone Signoret.

But I'm not going to take even the most philosophical nihilists all that seriously. I mean, it's one thing to go the Nietzche route and propound the deconstruction of a system one sees as failing - that's the destructive-as-creative act, a contrary position that makes most sense in the context of a few hundred years of German idealism.

I don't consider Nietzsche a nihilist. He's got an ethos, he just doesn't want the baggage that comes with the word.

But it's quite another to suggest that removing one system negates all others. Is there a serious thinker with this position?

I don't know any. But I'm not sure if the validity of nihilism rests with serious thinkers. I think it's a fairly simple proposition, and I think many people have had the kind of life experience that supports that conclusion.

One of my favorite quotes in Annie Dillard's A Tinker at Pilgrim's Creek is from the French entomologist who says, "The more you know about insects, the harder it is to believe in a rational god."

Sometimes I feel like the more I acquaint myself with human history, the harder it is to believe in our belief systems.

Speaking of classic films, I've got an extra paycheck in May which I was going to put towards new tires, but I think I'll also pick up the Criterion Collection dvd of The Passion of Joan of Arc. I saw it once on TCM and fell madly in love with it, especially Falconetti's title performance.