Here’s another Guest DVD Review by Dan Schneider, who has this popular website and whose reviews for TMV are highly popular. DVD Review Of Japan’s War In Colour Copyright © 2007 by Dan Schneider Recently, the PBS network ran Ken Burns’ 15 hour magnum opus, The War, about America’s involvement in World War Two, and while it was a passable effort, detailing the war from our point of...

When Spanish dictator Francisco Franco died in the fall of 1975 there was one immediate consequence: Charles Chaplin’s movie that poked fun at fascism and German dictator Adolph Hitler was FINALLY shown in Spain. I was writing in Spain for The Christian Science Monitor and also a slew of other publications. I saw the Spanish-dubbed version of this Chaplin classic 13 times and did a news feature about...

Classic song parodies and satire from the superb group The Capitol Steps. Their take on “Tap Three Times” sung by Senator Larry Craig: And their take on Arizona Senator John McCain’s campaign meltdown: You can get information on their CDs HERE.

I don’t get it. I don’t understand why Ezra Klein would challenge Michelle Malkin to a reasoned debate about SCHIP knowing what he was going to get. And I don’t understand why Michelle Malkin would even reply to Ezra’s challenge knowing that she wouldn’t debate him in, well, I’ll just let her words speak for themself: But I’d just as soon share a stage, physical...

I just got finished watching one of my favorite musicals entitled Stormy Weather (circa 1943). I’m a big fan of the “back in the day” big band. Cab Calloway has always been one of my favorite performers. So vibrant and alive. Those performers “back in the day” flat out entertained regularly. Sadly that is a lost art among a sizable number of performers these days. Notice I...

Some readers emailed that they really enjoyed the You Tube here a few weeks ago that showed a key show-stopper from Mel Brooks’ Musical “The Producers” and asked for another. So here is a key scene: where producer Max (Nathan Lane) seeks to sign up the very worst director to direct the pro-Hitler play “Springtime for Hitler” to ensure that it’ll flop. He goes to infamous...

NOTE: The Moderate Voice runs guest voice posts from time to time. One of the most popular guest voices is Dan Schneider, who does guest reviews for us. TMV coblogger Shaun Mullen loved Ken Burns’ The War…but as you’ll see below, Dan Schneider had a different reaction and he tells you exactly why. DVD Review Of Ken Burns’ The War Copyright © by Dan Schneider In regards to art, greatness...

That’s the amount a Jammie Thomas, a 30-year old single mother has to pay total to various music companies for sharing music and more music: Record companies win music sharing trial By JOSHUA FREED Associated Press Writer Fri Oct 5, 6:15 AM ET DULUTH, Minn. – The recording industry hopes $222,000 will be enough to dissuade music lovers from downloading songs from the Internet without paying for...

Before Vietnam, war movies were either gung-ho patriotic starring John Wayne or philosophically anti-war, starting with “All Quiet on the Western Front.” This week the Los Angeles Times has been OpEding an argument prompted by a conservative’s contention that today’s Hollywood “stakes out an anti-victory position on the current war in Iraq, continuing its deplorable 40-year streak...

BBC: French mime artist Marceau dies The French mime artist Marcel Marceau has died at the age of 84, his family has announced. The performer was known around the world for his portrayal of a white-faced clown with battered hat. Born in Strasbourg in 1923, Marceau studied under mime master Etienne Decroux in Paris. His daughter Camille said he died on Saturday evening, adding that details of the burial at Paris’s...

Mike Lester, The Rome News-Tribune

Former journalist still finding his voice

What’s seemingly spreading faster in America than obesity, people sharing their private secrets as they talk loudly on cell phones in supermarkets or restroom stalls (perhaps even while tapping their foot three times), or than the critical need for Viagra? It’s the idea — oh, please Lord SAVE US — that if you’re around someone who has a different idea, perspective or take on events...

In 1985 actress Sally Field won an Oscar and bubbled to millions of TV viewers and the Academy: “You like me, you really like me!” She wasn’t as well liked last night — when she was censored at the Emmys which cut off part of her anti-war comments. Who’s to blame? Some news reports specify it is Fox, Rupert Murdoch’s company which includes Fox News, the administration and...

THIS JUST IN from investigative reporter Andy Borowitz: O.J. Authors “If I Robbed Them” New Book Explores Hypothetical Armed Robbery Just days after being arrested for armed robbery of sports memorabilia, former football great O.J. Simpson announced today that he was the author of a new book entitled, “If I Robbed Them.” Speaking at a press conference in Las Vegas, Mr. Simpson described...

Senator John McCain is changing the famous name of “The Straight Talk Express” which he has used since his unsuccessful 2000 campaign to “No Surrender” for his 2008 campaign. And Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart had some suggestions for the good-natured and telegenic Senator, who was on his show. See the Stewart/McCain video here. Is this a smart move? Some will say it’s dumb...

Twenty-five years ago today, Princess Grace of Monaco, just as Diana of Wales would 15 years later, died in a car crash, another victim of a Cinderella marriage that ended with shattered glass slippers. Born Grace Kelly of Philadelphia, she was glowingly beautiful, as movies on TCM still show, and talented enough to win an Academy Award at the age of 25. Yet she gave it all up to marry a man she hardly knew...

Not a happy camper: This explains his objections.

…but without the talent. Britney Spears bombed bigtime on MTV. Click on those links but here’s a full quote from Times Online: At least she should have plenty of spare time to look after the kids. Britney Spears’s long-awaited career relaunch at last night’s MTV Video Music Awards produced some excruciating car-crash television when the fallen superstar opened the show with her new single,...

Yesterday I noted that Time Magazine’s website that lists and shows embeds from TV’s all-time top 100 shows included the classic Abbott & Costello Show which inspired Jerry Seinfeld’s show. Some readers emailed and asked to see a classic A&C bit. So here is one. The famous “Sloooooooowly I turned…” vaudeville bit that the Three Stooges and many other entertainers...

Time Magazine offers this GREAT LIST complete with embedded videos. This is TMV’s MUST VISIT site of the day — and you’ll have hours of fun and enjoyment going through the list. Lo and behold, yours truly who is a student, fan and practitioner of comedy (some say especially in the posts I try to write seriously on TMV) went to this site and found one of my FAVORITE shows. For years I have told...

Osama bin Laden resurfaced in a video last week with a new message that suggested he yearns to be an op-ed writer or start a blog — and with a new look. But Manolo, Pajamas Media’s vigilant and outspoken fashion expert, thinks the merciless terrorist’s new look is a bomb and that he needs a makeover: One of the Manolo’s internet friends has asked the Manolo what he thinks of the new...

One of the FUNNIEST moments in motion picture musical comedy is from the 2005 film version of Mel Brook’s Broadway Smash “The Producers.” If you’re a younger reader who has never seen it make SURE you watch this. If you don’t know about the film, the earlier version in the 60s wasn’t a musical. It was about two producers who try and put on a show so awful, so crass, so tasteless...

…but he’s not forgotten:

Bob Englehart, The Hartford Courant