David Avallone - ProfilesArchive

About Me

I'm square. There it is. I like jazz and wearing a suit when I leave the house after dark. I'm a New Deal Democrat. I un-apologetically drive a really old car. Also, I walk upright, use an opposable thumb to operate various tools, and breathe a mixture of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide and various trace elements. I really only use the oxygen, though. You?

My Interests

My interests are probably best represented here: http://ednoon.blogspot.com/ and to see some of my films click here: http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmcollection/0/2064 For the rest, see below...

I'd like to meet:

George Bush, but only if I'm wearing my poison-dart cufflinks and have a viable exit strategy. Can you fly a helicopter?

Music:

Jazz. Good jazz. Coltrane and Davis and Ellington. Louis Jordan and Slim Gaillard. Ray Charles. Artie Shaw. Also that Beethoven cat has some swinging numbers. Also Aimee Mann, Stew, Jensen Bell, Candypants, Fountains of Wayne and The Magnetic Fields. I dig some of that modern music the kids like these days.Mostly John Barry. Who? Look him up. He's the swingingest.

Movies:

King Kong (1933), 8 1/2, Umberto D, The Incredibles, City of Lost Children, Naked Lunch, Raising Arizona, Vertigo, 2001: A Space Odyssey, You Only Live Twice, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, The Adventures of Amelie, The Adventures of Citizen Kane, The Adventures of The Manchurian Candidate, The Adventures of La Dolce Vita.

Television:

I love the Simpsons and the Daily Show, just like everybody else. And The Prisoner. And Twin Peaks, even when it wasn't good. But I love Crime Story. Remember Crime Story? And U.F.O. Not Project U.F.O. U.F.O. Nobody remembers that show.More importantly, I Hate Lucy. I think "I Love Lucy" is responsible for a lot of bad marriages, for demonstrating that lying to your husband and crushing your wife's dreams are perfectly normal and acceptable behavior. Now, Gomez and Morticia... THAT was a happy marriage.

Books:

Hammett, Chandler, Camus, Burroughs (William S. and Edgar Rice), Bowles, Dick (Philip K.), Fitzgerald, Kafka, Kundera, etc. And Avallone. Always Avallone.

Heroes:

Ulysses S. Grant.

My Blog

New York State Clearly Paying Eliot Spitzer Too Much

Yesterday I heard the phrase "Eliot Spitzer tied to prostitution ring" many, many times.Until I heard the whole story, I drew a completely different conclusion from that headline.To me, "tied to prost...
Posted by David Avallone on Tue, 11 Mar 2008 10:37:00 PST

deck chairs overboard

Karl Rove's resignation is a a rare example of the iceberg deserting the sinking ship.
Posted by David Avallone on Mon, 13 Aug 2007 01:36:00 PST

In the end, you can't escape Ice Nine

In his hundred-and-nineteenth Calypso, the prophet Bokonon invites us to sing along with him:"Where's my good old gang done gone?"I heard a sad man sayI whispered in that sad man's ear"Your gang's don...
Posted by David Avallone on Thu, 12 Apr 2007 11:17:00 PST

The Last Temptation of Christ 2: Christ Harder

Today we celebrate the Resurrection, when Jesus came out of the cave after three days, saw his own shadow, and went back inside for six more weeks of winter.After the ham and the turkey and the preten...
Posted by David Avallone on Sun, 08 Apr 2007 12:56:00 PST

A Quick Tip for Friend Requesters

If you have Dane Cook in your top eight, top sixteen, or top hundred, I'm going to have to deny you.Because you're an idiot.Hope I've saved you some time.
Posted by David Avallone on Tue, 27 Mar 2007 08:13:00 PST

Two important things about Sunday

One: set your clocks ahead. Congress decided to move the whole Daylight Savings Hoo-hah ahead to mid-March. If you don't believe me, just look at your celphone Sunday morning. It's smarter than you...
Posted by David Avallone on Thu, 08 Mar 2007 10:38:00 PST

Coffee Date opens in New York...

This weekend, "Coffee Date" opens in Manhattan, in the Village.We got a snooty, dismissive review in the NY Times, and a rave in the Village Voice. Win-win.For those of you just coming in... Coffee D...
Posted by David Avallone on Sat, 17 Feb 2007 04:42:00 PST

I watched "The Mod Squad" when I was a kid...

Now... guess which character I identified with. Hint: he's not the black one, the girl, or the punk.It's true. I thought their boss, with the short hair and the suits, was the cool one. He was in c...
Posted by David Avallone on Tue, 06 Feb 2007 08:46:00 PST

A lesson learned, at the expense of Alfonso Cuaron

A masterpiece set twenty years in the future hasn't a prayer against even the most slapdash contemporary film. So, if you want to be nominated for Best Picture or Best Director, do not under any circ...
Posted by David Avallone on Tue, 23 Jan 2007 10:07:00 PST

the most beautiful people in the world

They're gone now, but this is what they looked like a year or two before I was born. Dad is the sharp-looking character in profile, speaking. Mom is listening, or perhaps wishing Dad hadn't accepted...
Posted by David Avallone on Fri, 22 Dec 2006 05:33:00 PST