A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

In the fall of 1977, Arista Records (a now defunct label owned by Sony Music Entertainment) released Close Encounters of the Third Kind: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, a 10-track selection of cues and themes composed by John Williams for Steven Spielberg's eponymous "humans meet aliens" UFO film. Arista released the album as a single-disc vinyl LP, as well as on cassette and eight-track tape. It also released the disco version of "Theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind" on a 7-inch single, which was included as a bonus on the vinyl release. The theme, if memory serves, was incorporated into the tape editions as a bonus track; this was also done with the 1990 compact disc distributed by Varese Sarabande Records under license by the original label. Composer John Williams and director Steven Spielberg began working on Close Encounters of the Third Kind (CE3K) as early as 1975, shortly after Jaws (the duo's second collaboration) was completed.

Hi, there. Uh, okay. So today’s question is:  For those who didn’t vote for Trump, what would Trump have to do to get your vote in the 2020 election? First, you have to understand that the people who didn’t vote for Trump in ’16 don’t make up a huge monolithic bloc or live in a leftist, anti-American mythical land called Utopia. (Or, as the most aggressive of Trump supporters might put it, Libtardia.) I can’t speak for  every  anti-Trump voter, I can only speak for myself, although I’m sure that my reasons for not voting from the current President are not too different from other non-Trump voters. Photo by Michael Stewart/Getty Images Second, understand this: Donald J. Trump is 71 years old (as of December 12, 2017). As such, he is older than the late President Ronald W. Reagan at this point in his first term. People at that age simply  do not change  their personalities, philosophies of life, political views, or their agendas. These are pretty much set in stone and can’

How can we return American society to the 1950s, when people were more politically incorrect? You can’t. Time, societies, and history only go forward in time,  not  backward. The idealized 1950s Extreme conservatives who also happen to be white, religious (often Evangelical Protestants but, really, from any denomination) that miss the “good ol’ days” seem to be asking this, not just on Quora, but in other social media and in “real life” conversations. On the surface, asking “How can we return American society to the ‘50s, when people were more politically incorrect?” seems rather innocent enough, evoking nostalgia for an era where life seemed idyllic. Idyllic, that is, if you were a white person, especially a white male person, with strong religious beliefs and staunchly conservative political views. What the questioner is really asking, though, is this: Why can’t we return American society to a period of history when it was: Okay to discriminate against blacks (N

How did A&E Network's History, aka The History Channel, fall into disrepute with history buffs, historians, and TV critics? Essentially, History, which was originally named The History Channel, followed the same path as its parent network, A&E. It was seduced by television’s version of the dark side of the Force: “reality programming.”  And it was consumed by it. First, though, a little history about, well, History. Back in the 1990s, A&E started out as the Arts and Entertainment cable channel. I didn’t watch it much back then, but it used to be the “go to” channel for viewers who wanted to see programs about fine arts, music, travel to exotic places, and documentaries. Eventually, as it often happens with cable channels, the owners of A&E, which include ABC and Hearst, decided to create a separate channel devoted to historical content, primarily documentaries. And in an inspired burst of creativity, A&E named the spin-off “The History Channel.”

After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.  – Section One, Amendment 18 to the Constitution of the United States On October 3, 2011, the 300 or so member stations of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) aired A Nation of Drunkards, the first of three parts of Prohibition: A Film by Ken Burns & Lynn Novick. Written by Burns' long-time collaborator Geoffrey C. Ward and produced by Sarah Botstein, Lynn Novick, and Ken Burns, the series explored one of the most controversial - and least effective - experiments in social re-engineering in American history. Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits. Fanatics will never learn that, though it be written in letters of gold across the sky

(C) 1999 Bison Books Pros:  Very  readable. Written just 15 years after battle, the account is vivid. Cons:  Missing part of the overall story due to still-existing classification issues. Fog hung thick in the Schnee Eifel on the morning of December 16. The men of the Tank Artillery Regiment of the 1st SS Panzer Division, "Hitler's Own," were tense with excitement. "All batteries ready to fire!" came the report. On a nearby road, tanks of the division were lined up for the attack like a great winding dragon. A commander waved to the man standing in the turret of the next tank. "Goodbye, Lieutenant, see you in America!" The lieutenant laughed. Final checks were made on the range finders. Throats were dry, hands were poised at the lanyards, eyes fixed on watches. Up and down the line the arms of gunnery officers were raised. It was 5:30 A.M. "Fire!" An eruption of flame and smoke burst all along the Ghost Front. For eighty-

Inning 4: A National Heirloom (1920-1930) Written by: Geoffrey C. Ward & Ken Burns Directed by: Ken Burns The 1920s begin with America trying to recover from World War I and baseball trying to recover from the scandal of the 1919 World Series. America finds relief in the boom market and the Jazz Age. Baseball finds its own boom market in a player with a Jazz Age personality; a troubled youth from a Baltimore reformatory school who can hit the ball farther than anyone. George Herman "Babe" Ruth is one of the best pitchers in baseball. But he loves to hit even more. In 1919, he hits 29 homers for the Red Sox, more than any player has ever hit in a single season. On September 21, 1994, at the height of a long strike by Major League Baseball players, 300 member stations of America's Public Broadcasting System aired A National Heirloom (1920-1930), the fourth "inning" of  Baseball: A Film by Ken Burns. For many baseball-deprived fans, this