1. “The Chorus,” or “Les Choristes,” on DVD from OP Library and elsewhere, a marvelous story about teaching kids and being a human being. Cinematically, if I may be so bold, it’s very intelligent. For instance, we see someone beckoning another and are NOT given the face of the one beckoned. Rather, the camera remains on the beckoner as we wait for the other to heave into view. Small thing, but telling as the movie continues and you realize you are not going to be treated as a TV-viewer, with all spelled out for you. Neither is this film wantonly mysterious (read dumb). Nor is time spent on face shots nervously wondering when the damn camera goes to something interesting. See “Les Choristes.”
2. The Dennis Miller Show on WIND-AM in Chicago, also national. Mid-day, competing nicely with Rush Limbaugh on WLS-AM. Miller went all conservative after 9–11. He’s excellent with language and has decided it hurts only when you DON’T laugh. Rush laughs too, but I think Miller will wear better over a longer period. Of course, either one has its limits, when one is well advised to send them on mute, which is a killer on radio, of course, and pursue one’s Times Literary Supplement over lunch in the kitchen. A word to the wise is sufficient, I hope. In any case, it’s all I have to offer.
Blithe Spirit 