Starbucks!!

Finally outing yourself as an authentic latte-sipping liberal!  :)

Just reading the title on the rec list broke me up laughing.  

Lieber, don't break my heart by telling me you stole that from somewhere.  That's brilliant!  Obama should steal that phrase for use in his debates.  I knew immediately where this diary was going before I even clicked on it.  Pure poetry.  Shit, I didn't even read your diary yet!  I'm sure it's good.

A New Leaf, starring Elaine May and Walter Matthau (one of the few films I can remember that starred Elaine May).  She also cowrote it.  Walter Matthau as a gold-digger marries clueless klutz heiress Elaine May and trys, Coyote and Roadrunner style, to kill her, not quite succeeding.  Cute ending, although predictable.

...Ishtar would have been a huge hit.

As for EXPERIENCE mattering, it DOESN'T if the ideas that the EXPERIENCED person is working off of are sound.

Some very EXPERIENCED people planned the Bay of Pigs.

James Buchanan was probably the most experienced man to become President.  Abraham Lincoln was probably the least.

The former allowed the Union to fall apart.  The latter put it back together.

Yes, experience is a factor, but it is one of many.

I don't think filmmaking requires all that much experience (it requires some experience, but not a whole lot).

David Gorgon Green made George Washington for $40,000 and had almost no experience, using amateur kid actors. It (justifiably) made dozens of top ten lists that year.

Neil Labute made his first film In the Company of Men for $25,000 without any real experience in film (he had directed some plays, but that's about it).

David Mamet's made his directorial debut House of Games without any experience, also using many amateur actors (including his wife). Another outstanding film.

There are many other examples (Easy Rider, Clerks, Slacker) as well. Now, I still think experience helps. Most of these directors have gotten better with experience, but what's interesting is that they new their limitations during early efforts and were able to to make the appropriate adjustment to excel despite such limitations.

The problem with experienced people, often, is that they have certain blind spots as a result of habit and confidence. Perhaps McCain has convinced himself that he's such an expert on foreign policy that the doesn't feel the need to ask questions or seek further counsel from other voices. Or maybe not. But, experience can be a liability in some instances.

I might be more amenable to your argument if we weren't living through ISHTAR at this very moment.

Imagine sitting in that theater and wishing you had bought tickets for Beetlejuice (same theater, same time, as I recall) while some asshole next to you droned on about how vastly experienced were all the people who worked on Ishtar.

We need somebody who can GET US OUT OF ISHTAR!!!!

He said it all with six words in the title.  Strunk and White couldn't have put it more concisely.

forgot to add - the difference between experience folks and one hit wonders is that experience folks can weather a flop or two and come back with a resounding hit again.  One hit wonders cannot.

just saying