"It profits me but little that a vigilant authority always protects the tranquillity of my pleasures and constantly averts all dangers from my path, without my care or concern, if this same authority is the absolute master of my liberty and my life."

--Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Birthdays Today

Very weak birthdays today -- what's up with that?   All I've got is two character actors, Joe Mantegna, born in 1947, and Steve Zahn, born in 1967.   Mantegna has been very good in a number of David Mamet plays and films, including originating the role of Ricky Roma in Glengarry Glen Ross on Broadway, for which he won a Tony.  He also starred in a great movie about con men called House of Games.   Here's a cool scene about pulling a short con:


Zahn has been in a few good movies -- he was the funny guitar player in That Thing You Do -- but the role he was born for is in the new HBO series, Treme, set in New Orleans after Katrina.  Zahn plays a ne'er-do-well DJ and musician always on the edge of bankruptcy.   Here he is singing a song the character wrote about President Bush called "Shame, Shame, Shame": 



You have to ignore the politics a little (OK, maybe a lot), but it's a great, great show.  Can't wait until the second season premiere, hopefully in April 2011.  

No comments:

Post a Comment