{"id":3174,"date":"2013-12-04T12:41:18","date_gmt":"2013-12-04T12:41:18","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2014-12-03T20:30:21","modified_gmt":"2014-12-04T04:30:21","slug":"the-one-ronnie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/franklycurious.com\/wp\/2013\/12\/04\/the-one-ronnie\/","title":{"rendered":"The One Ronnie"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RonnieOn this day in 1795, the great historian Thomas Carlyle<\/a> was born. His The French Revolution: A History<\/a><\/i> was the basis for Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities<\/a><\/i>. He was a fascinating man. He is probably best known today for coining the term “the dismal science” for economics. And the way most conservatives approach it, it is dismal. The general idea is, “We can do nothing to limit suffering because markets must be ‘free.'” By “free” they mean skewed as to enrich the rich and impoverish the poor.<\/p>\n

Paul O’Neill<\/a> is 78 today. He was Treasury Secretary under Bush Jr. He’s important because he was fired by the Bush administration. No level of incompetence or corruption could get you fired from that administration. But O’Neill did the one thing you just couldn’t do: he told the truth. I don’t actually agree with him. He’s a budget hawk. But he countered the Republicans’ totally unjustified claim that tax cuts pay for themselves. So he had to go. Logic and reason are not allowed when one is down the rabbit hole.<\/p>\n

Actor Jeff Bridges<\/a> is 64. I like him well enough as an actor. However, it’s an outrage that he received the Academy Award for Crazy Heart<\/a><\/i>. In that film, he played a tired cliche (the sympathetic drunk) in an entirely standard way. Steve Buscemi did a far better and more complex job in Trees Lounge<\/a><\/i>. But whatever; the Academy is made up of a bunch of fools anyway. What really bugs me about Jeff Bridges is his voice acting work for television commercials<\/a>. Bridges is worth something on the order of $30 million<\/a>. Does he really need to take work away from all the really talented voice actors who are struggling just to get by? I think it is unconscionable. He should be a social pariah for that behavior.<\/p>\n

Actor Marisa Tomei<\/a> is 49. I have liked her in just about everything I’ve seen. I thought her performance in Slums of Beverly Hills<\/a><\/i> was really subtle and wonderful. But I’ll always love her for My Cousin Vinny<\/a><\/i>. In particular, this scene:<\/p>\n