December 1, 2009

Portrait of an Activist

Here are excerpts from an article about some activist in the rich suburbs of Philadelphia whom the New York Times thought was worthy of 1200 words, as he relentlessly wages an endless war that was already won decades ago, using arguments that are as unanswerable under the reigning mindset as they are pointless. Even the poor NYT reporter seems to have picked up on how funny this story is, in an unmentionable kind of way.
Advocating for Girls' Sports With a Sharp Tongue
by Katie Thomas

HAVERFORD, Pa. — Few girls who play sports in suburban Philadelphia would recognize Robert H. Landau, but many coaches and athletic directors know that spotting him in the bleachers could spell trouble.

With a sharp tongue, a refusal to compromise and a well-honed sense of injustice, Landau is that familiar breed of community activist with a knack for pushing public officials over the edge. His specialty is girls’ sports, and his targets are usually wealthy public schools from the Main Line suburbs that pride themselves on being progressive and fair in offering a rich array of opportunities.

No slight to girls is too small for Landau to take on. His victories range from the momentous to the less obvious, like forcing his daughters’ school district to provide more athletic choices, pressuring leagues to showcase their title games and getting a school mascot to perform at their games.

Landau’s complaint against Haverford High School — over issues like publicity for and scheduling of boys’ and girls’ basketball games — has upset even those who would otherwise support him.

“I am like: ‘Buddy, you know what? You just threw the wrong punch,’ “ said Bobbi Morgan, the women’s basketball coach at Haverford College, who used to coach the girls’ team at Haverford High School. “I never worked anywhere where it was better.” ...

Landau, who owns a lighting business, started as a parent activist and never stopped. Now 63, he has two daughters who have been out of school about 20 years and four grandchildren. ...

Landau is a rabid fan of Cheltenham High School girls’ basketball, and his commentary during games often turns heads. The coach, Bob Schaefer, said, “He’s yelling things that you might be thinking, but he just belts it out.”

When it comes to speaking out about unfairness, Landau can be just as passionate. He boasts that athletic directors regularly hang up on him, and relishes the time he made a cheerleading coach cry. ...

Girls typically played basketball in the afternoons, and the boys in the evenings. Cheerleaders performed only at boys’ games. Boys played their title games at arenas like the Palestra at the University of Pennsylvania, and girls were relegated to school gyms. His complainted have helped eliminate those inequities. ...

Landau has never been paid for his advocacy, but it worked in his favor in 1996, when he faced federal charges of defrauding a commercial loan company as the owner of a janitorial supply business. Landau repaid the $120,000 he owed the loan company, and later pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. Although Landau was facing prison, the judge, citing his local involvement, sentenced him to time in a halfway house and under house arrest, according to news reports.

“I made a business mistake, I got snagged, and that was that,” Landau said. “I have no excuse. It makes me human. More human than most.”

That reminds me of when I was in the passport office waiting room back in May. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw an elegantly dressed elderly man sit down two chairs away. While I read my book, a younger man sat down between us, and started talking to the older man, calling him "Marty" and wheedling him to put in an appearance at his workshop, requests which Marty graciously sidestepped. The man then asked Marty what he was up to. In a cultured voice, Marty explained that he had to get his passport renewed so he could pick up a Lifetime Achievement Award at a film festival, and then he was hoping to make a small movie about an elderly couple, with Ellen Burstyn playing his wife.

I hadn't yet looked directly at Marty, but I had it figured out by now: Marty wasn't Martin Scorsese, as I'd first wondered, but Martin Landau, the master character actor. Then it occurred to me that about a decade ago, I had decided that Landau's portrayal of washed-up Dracula actor Bela Lugosi in Tim Burton's Ed Wood (with Johnny Depp as the world's worst movie director), was the best supporting performance I'd ever seen for comedy and pathos combined. Perhaps I can't fully justify that opinion, but it's not implausible: for that role, Landau finally won the Oscar at age 66.

How often, I asked myself, do you run into a person you've previously decided was Best.Whatever.Ever?

So, when my number was called, I stood up and said, "Mr. Landau, I just wanted to say that I've long thought your portrayal of Bela Lugosi" -- for about a quarter of a second he seemed uncertain as he mentally sorted through all the roles he's had (IMDB.com lists 158 different movies and television shows since 1956), then he smiled; yes, he remembered that role -- "was the best supporting performance I've ever seen." He thanked me very nicely, and I went and got my passport.

That reminded me that of the several dozen celebrities I've run into over the years, I can't think of anything I've observed more scandalous than that forty-something actresses aren't as glamorous-looking when they rush out to the store without their makeup on than when you see them in movies. It would be fun to have outrageous gossip to retail, but, in fact, most celebrities I've accidentally met have been superior in manners and comportment.

Most of the celebrities I've run into fall into that oxymoronic category of "famous supporting actors," so they are, almost by definition, good at acting gracious to civilians who, like I try to do, acknowledge them respectfully and unpresumptuously formally ... and then leave. But, it's also that to become a celebrity character actor like Martin Landau, somebody with a career distinguished enough that I'll finally attach a name to your face, you have to be a consummate professional over decades. To have Martin Landau's 53-year career, you can't be a mess like Bela Lugosi.

In summary, now that I think about it, Martin Landau isn't much like Robert H. Landau at all.

But, that's the point of having a blog, isn't it -- to be able to careen drunkenly from topic to topic without having to gin up a Deep Think justification tying together your randomness?

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer

84 comments:

Anonymous said...

These people again.

Alias said...

Re: girls in sports. In Little League one year a jerky coach replaced me at first base with his daughter - the only girl in the league (I don't know why this was allowed). I was a good first baseman and she was terrible. But there she stayed and I was demoted to the outfield. Pure humiliation. Never really connected this incident to feminism before since it was obviously a case of nepotism, but those two things can overlap in strange ways, as Steve has pointed out on previous occasions.

Anonymous said...

Landau, huh? A convicted financial fraud and a litigious progressive activist in one package. This is another one in the NY Times' apparent campaign to prove Kevin MacDonald right.

The Anti-Gnostic said...

Re: activist Landau

He's mentally ill. By the time he's in his 70's, he'll be completely batshit crazy.

In fact, that's what most activists are: mentally ill. Landau is also a gnostic. Despite reality, he tells himself and everybody he can bully into listening that there's no difference between young males and young females so they should be treated exactly alike. (You can add gnosticism to the list of common delusions.)

Which gets me thinking about mental disorders like transvestism. And yet, the government and its apparitchiks in media and the academy have come out totally in favor of accomodating an obvious pathology. In fact, failing to accomodate this pathology is now or will soon be punishable by civil damages.

Think about it: all the stigma society can muster, backed by the government's weapons, deployed in support of an obvious and particularly pathetic form of mental illness.

Wouldn't that be some form of Hell, a realm governed by the insane, so they can indulge their deviant impulses?

rightsaidfred said...

he faced federal charges of defrauding a commercial loan company

If only taxpayers could file such charges.

M. M. said...

Typo: an excerpts. Don't post this, it's on the house :-)

Anonymous said...

I have always thought that Martin Landau was a very underrated actor that should have gotten more roles.

Robert said...

Does any body ever question why they have sports in schools at all? It seems like a big drain on the school budget and a major distraction for the kids. High schools have become just expensive popularity contests. I remember when I was in high school there was a kid who, when we were seniors and were getting ready to graduate, didn't know that Ronald Reagan was the president. But the same kid was on all sorts of sport teams and did graduate with us. It made me feel like my diploma was just a piece of worthless paper.

Florida resident said...

Dear Mr. Sailer ! Nice post.
However, you do not necessarily have to show positive attitude towards one Landau, if you want to criticize another. We in Steveosphere know: you are harsh, but just.
Speaking of last name Landau (originating form the name of a small city in Germany), there was great theoretical physicist, Nobel Prize winner Lev Landau, also known for his encyclopedic 11-volume “Course of Theoretical Physics” by Landau and Lifshitz.
A quotation form Lev Landau (oral comment):
"It is OK to make an honest error. To err is human. But to overestimate the accuracy of your computations (i.e. to pretend that they are more accurate than they were meant to be) is SIN !!!"

Henry Canaday said...

“Remember, when the nuns tell you to beware of the deceptions of men who make love to you, that the mind of man is on the whole less tortuous when he is love-making than at any other time. It is when he speaks of governments and armies that he utters strange and dangerous nonsense to please the bats at the back of his soul.”

Rebecca West, “Black Lamb and Grey Falcon”

West’s long affair with H. G. Wells must have been a pretty complete education on male tendencies.

Anonymous said...

He'll always be the Mission: Impossible and Space: 1999 guy to me.

Hey, it's ten years after 1999... where the hell is our moonbase?

eh said...

Hopefully his 15 minutes are now up.

Anonymous said...

Hey man, are you okay? Take a break or something.

Anonymous said...

Your post reminded me of Landau's less showy but equally powerful performance in Crimes and Misdemeanors. I believe he was nominated for that role as well.

Anonymous said...

We need Robert Landaus on our side. But Landauism just ain't gentile style, per KMac. Those of us who aren't cut prefer to play phantasy phootball, get fat, and preach on the Rapture. It's all vaguely infuriating.

I admire the guy.

Anonymous said...

Have to agree with you on your appreciation of Landau's performance as Bela Lugosi as a wonderful combination of pathos and humor. Ed Wood was a sleeper, one of the best movies of its type!

Anonymous said...

from Anon47

I skimmed through the article, and it is simultaneously amusing and disgusting, but in an alarming way. It makes clear yet again that in the long run there can be NO compromise with the malign utopian/authoritarian mindset. They will either dominate completely or be repelled by main force. They can never leave any private spaces uncontrolled and unspoiled. The future will be a very interesting time indeed.

This article also made me notice that the NY Times is a true champion of equality in sports coverage. They clearly invest the same number, of millimeters, of column length to womyn’s sports as they allocate, in number of inches, to sports by those with the defective XY genotype. Once again, one set of rules for us peasants and another for the natural aristocracy.

Anonymous said...

You have to hand it to them. When it comes to activism and social change, pushiness and complaining, nobody does it better than the Scotch-Irish.

Bob said...

Most can't get away with drunkblogging, but you've earned it!

Some random good news:

Jason Chaffetz, who beat a pro-amnesty incumbent Republican congressman in a primary, is both anti-immigration and anti-war.

Here is more on him calling for a withdrawal from Afghanistan.

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?s=380031a38505180f4749da05218bef23&p=2430845#post2430845

In a hypothetic GOP primary between John McCain and amnesty opponent JD Hayworth, McCain by only 45-43, and Hayworth isn't even running yet.

He's also a buffoon, so if AZ amnesty opponents can find someone better, McCain is a sure goner.

I'd still be happy with Hayworth though, but he's not a very respectable spokesman for us.

Story here:

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/68825-trouble-for-mccain-in-2010

Mr. Anon said...

Let me take a shot at summarizing this post:

Martin Landau: Talented actor, and a real gentleman.

Robert Landau: Obnoxious D**k.

Mr. Anon said...

"Advocating for Girls' Sports With a Sharp Tongue"

Incidentally, when did the word "advocate" come to be used with a prepostion, as in:

"I advocate FOR change."

rather than:

I advocate change."

This new usage is ubiquitous, but it did not used to be that way. I never heard it twenty years ago. It sounds stupid.

Mr. Anon said...

"Advocating for Girls' Sports With a Sharp Tongue"

I hate the use of "advocate" with "for", as in:

"I advocate for change."

rather than (as it used to be):

"I advocate change."

You never used to hear it used that way, now it's ubiquitous.

It sounds stupid.

Anonymous said...

Pity the poor fools who has to live next to, work with or otherwise come in contact with the "Activist" Landau.

Big Dubya said...

Martin Landau also gave a hauntingly good performance in "Crimes and Misdemeanors" as an adulterer and murderer who in effect loses his soul. He plays a tragic figure well.

Anonymous said...

How can I get in touch with Mr. Landau? Thanks

SGOTI said...

The first guy sounds like "portrait of a pedophile" more than an activist.

His daughters have been out of high scholl twenty-odd years and he still has a dog in the fight? Yeeaahhhhhh. . . .

greenrivervalleyman said...

A friend once took me to a shareholders' meeting for Electronic Arts. As anyone with even an ounce of financial savvy soon realizes, the physical meeting is a mere formality as the important shareholders (i.e. fund managers and the odd heavily-vested billionaire) have already cast their ballots after having had face-time with the board. The type of person who shows up to such meetings almost always has no more than a few hundred shares (i.e. a 0.0000001% stake in the company) and invariably falls into one of two categories:

* crank
* retiree happy for an excuse to turn off Jag and leave the house

Needless to say the 2 categories are not mutually-exclusive, and I took a certain perverse pleasure in watching the officers of this multi-billion dollar corporation have to answer (for probably the umpteenth time) why they weren't making more "girl games", or (even better) answer a rant by a disheveled man convinced that employee stock options were bleeding the wealth from his princely sum of 50 shares.

So anyway, it sounds like this "sports activist" fits the bill on both counts: crank by personal nature, and with too much free time on his hands by social circumstance.

Anonymous said...

******Landau has never been paid for his advocacy, but it worked in his favor in 1996, when he faced federal charges of defrauding a commercial loan company as the owner of a janitorial supply business. Landau repaid the $120,000 he owed the loan company, and later pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. Although Landau was facing prison, the judge, citing his local involvement, sentenced him to time in a halfway house and under house arrest, according to news reports.

“I made a business mistake, I got snagged, and that was that,” Landau said. “I have no excuse. It makes me human. More human than most.”******

Ah yes, the infamous Animal Farm logic.

Anonymous said...

But, that's the point of having a blog, isn't it -- to be able to careen drunkenly from topic to topic without having to gin up a Deep Think justification tying together your randomness?




This particular train of thought ended up in a completely different destination than I was expecting.

ObamasMama said...

First of all, I’m relieved to read that you enjoy having a few drinks from time to time while you blog. Now I feel better about posting comments while buzzed… both Landau’s exhibit classic Ashkenazi stereotypes – In the case of Martin Landau a highly intelligent professional who is one of the best in his field; in the case of the lunatic “activist” Robert Landau the aggressive, self righteous jerkoff who can’t mind his own business and feels compelled to scream and wag their finger in everybody’s face like the ADL and the $PLC.

Anonymous said...

reading about this pathetic sanctimonious ass, i started thinking, "this sounds familiar....but who? WHO?"

then i got it. remember 'life of brian'? the 'people's front of judea'? stan, the one who always interrupted speeches referring to the Rights of Man ("or Women!") and secretly yearned to be a woman and have babies? ("you can't have *babies*, you're a man! "don't you oppress me! and call me 'loretta'.")

like that.

Dutch Boy said...

This guy could give cliches a bad name.

ben tillman said...

Incidentally, when did the word "advocate" come to be used with a prepostion....

It drives me crazy.

ben tillman said...

Most can't get away with drunkblogging, but you've earned it!

Hmm. I thought Steve was using the word figuratively. The juxtaposition with "gin up", I thought, was a nice touch.

Jim Baird said...

Apropos of nothing, (and in the spirit of this thread) , my Mom went to Cheltanham High back in the fifties. As Mr. Landau hadn't come along yet, she didn't play sports. I'm sure she was scarred for life.

ben tillman said...

Apropos of nothing, (and in the spirit of this thread), my Mom went to Cheltanham High back in the fifties. As Mr. Landau hadn't come along yet, she didn't play sports. I'm sure she was scarred for life.

If you drive up Broad Street/611 through Cheltenham, you get the impression that Cheltenham has the most synagogues per capita of any town in the US. What beautiful houses, though!

Baloo said...

Offhand, 'to advocate' seems to have become intransitive, necessitating the 'for.' And it had to become intransitive in order to be used to describe the sort of person who just wants to advocate, no matter what. It's like the adjective 'moderate' being used alone. Orwell would have something to say about it.

Dave R. said...

Girls' sports advocate: a wise hobby choice.

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/pictures/view/62184/

pat said...

Activist Landau sent his children to Cheltenham High, the same school Benjamin Netanyahu and Mr. October Reggie Jackson attended.

It seems he has moved from Cheltenham as the town has become more diverse and settled to Haverford. Haverford is very boring, no vibrancy.

Eric said...

Hey, it's ten years after 1999... where the hell is our moonbase?

Should be about at Alpha Centauri by now.

Whiskey said...

The one Landau is retired and has a hobby of annoying school officials because its easy. Simple as that.

Martin Landau has done a lot of stuff, he has to be disciplined, he's still working.

The NYT is of course slow-motion bankruptcy. They run the print equivalent of Daily Kos at much higher cost structures.

Anonymous said...

This article is utterly biased and unfair to employers. There is absolutely NOTHING about the supply side here -- are black and white college graduates equivalent in their skills, learning, ability, grades, achievement, preparation for jobs? There is no reason to think they are equivalent. Right now, there is a large black-white achievement gap. Blacks as a group lag over 200 points on their SATs. Every heard of affirmative action? Why do we think those differences disappear during college or after? To believe that the black college graduates are equivalent to white college graduates as a group is sheer fantasy.
Employers are NOT stupid. They know that not all college degrees are equivalent. There is nothing in the article about college grades, college majors, quality of college attended, performance on standardized tests after college (MCAT, LSAT, GRE) that reflect ability and what is learned in college. can we hear about these, please? Instead: silence.

It's simply unfair -- completely one-sided -- to ignore these facts. It produces the distorted picture that it's "all discrimination."

Gene Berman said...

Mr. Anon:

Have you been (a la Mr. Van Winkle) asleep for the past 20 (and more years)? The language has been steadily "stupidifying" for lo, at least that many. Some are so idiotic that they grate--you seem to have stumbled on one only minimally offensive.

Routinely now, we hear "multiple" to denote "several." It's actually astonishing, sometimes, to hear (or read) what passes for educated discourse (or writing).Even grammatical rules have been relaxed: instead of a comma after each element (or clause) in a series, it is "correct" now to omit following the penultimate (frequently introducing the very ambiguity commas were devised to avoid).

I'm more tolerant of regionalisms
or certain emphatic expressions, which, though technically incorrect, do a perfectly acceptable job of conveying the speaker's thought: nobody doubts what is meant when someone says "I could care less." or uses that other, also of military-group origin, "irregardless." Likewise regionalisms.

I will (only slightly) criticize the choice of expression you've chosen to illustrate exasperation. The problem seems to be that (because asleep in that cave), you think "I advocate for change." is a newer way of saying "I advocate change." Not true (at least usually).

The latter, more familiar to you, is a speaker's expression of opinion on a subject. The former, though it may, indeed, convey some body of opinion (like "where I'm at" or "where I'm coming from"), is, to a far greater extent, a description or announcement of the speaker's "identity." He's saying "I'm an activist for (insert here cause or goal of some specific and relativery narrowly-defined type such as "minority rights"); or, if stated a more general way, ("I advocate for social change.") the guy's merely engaging in a type of self-glorification.

Don't sweat the small stuff.

anony-mouse said...

Didn't some cars in the '70's have landau roofs?

Curvaceous Carbon-based Life Form said...

"It seems like a big drain on the school budget and a major distraction for the kids. High schools have become just expensive popularity contests."

Yah, see, since EVERYBODY MUST graduate from high school, dontchaknow, sports are used as a bribe to keep the delinquents attending (schools are paid by the number of kids with ass-in-seat each day, not by how much educating they do.)
Also, since expulsion is NOT ALLOWED, the threat of losing a spot on the team is the only stick they have to persuade delinquents to stop beating other kids up.

Homeschool curriculum: Teaching Textbooks for math are excellent.
http://www.teachingtextbooks.com/

David Davenport said...

Does any body ever question why they have sports in schools at all?

To put anti-sports nerds in their proper place on the status hierarcchy.

Darwin's Sh*tlist said...

My favorite Martin Landau role is the one he has as an Eastern bloc assassin in an episode of the Twilight Zone.

He also set a whole new standard for being creepy-looking in "North by Northwest."

Dartangnan19 said...

Martin Landau! I worked with him on a made for TV movie. I remember him very well because he had the best handshake I have ever witnessed. Sincere, fearless, welcoming, perfect pressure.
There were other well known character actors there and it was fascinating to see how they kept their energy up while waiting the long hours to speak their lines.

josh said...

I remeber him in Mission Impossible and I always thought he looked miserable,like,as one of my H.S. coaches said of another,"he always has to take a shit." he just looked pained. I dont know why,if he was married to Barbara Bain! he was a weird contrast to the big dumb weightlifter guy. Peter Graves was the man,tho. Loved seeing him as the hero in that movie about the giant grasshoppers invading Chicago.

Anonymous said...

Does any body ever question why they have sports in schools at all?

But... but... how will we determine who has the highest social status without sports? Without sports, the jocks and cheerleaders will be nothing but not particularly intelligent or remarkable students!

Steve Sailer said...

Damn, I should have worked the landau roof on my dad's 1973 Buick into the posting.

Anonymous said...

Whiskey said:

"The one Landau is retired and has a hobby of annoying school officials because its easy. Simple as that."

Yeah, it's simple alright. Not as that, though. Scotch-Irish simple.

Difference Maker said...

But... but... how will we determine who has the highest social status without sports? Without sports, the jocks and cheerleaders will be nothing but not particularly intelligent or remarkable students!

Uh.. I'm pretty tired and haven't followed the discussion but sports are a MUST for schools. I laugh at any notion of a nobility without prime physical specimens and military ability.

To put anti-sports nerds in their proper place on the status hierarcchy.

BAHAHAHA! Exactly. The physical and martial training of the nobility is something that would much improve our curriculum. I admire such systems as the ephebic training of the Hellenistic greeks. No homo of course

I'll take strong men and beautiful women, thank you very much.

Dahlia said...

Reactionary said:

"He's mentally ill. By the time he's in
In fact, that's what most activists are: mentally ill. Landau is also a gnostic. Despite reality, he tells himself and everybody he can bully into listening that there's no difference between young males and young females so they should be treated exactly alike. (You can add gnosticism to the list of common delusions.)"

I agree with all this. I know boys have it much harder in school with teachers holding them to the same behavioral standards as girls, but guys like this suck for most girls.
I hated everything having to do with sports from age 13 on as did most girls. I had a guy like this in P.E. as our coach and he ridiculed me once for running "like a fairy". I was a very feminine girl, what did he expect?! Any girl who was too girlie was mocked. "Don't be afraid of the ball! My Lord!"

Anonymous said...

Sounds like this guy is pissed that he had daughters instead of sons and wants his daugthers to have the same sort of status in things like sports that his sons would have had.

Udolpho.com said...

To put anti-sports nerds in their proper place on the status hierarcchy.
jesus yes...is there anything that id's a nerd faster than casually mentioning sports...even into middle age they are still pathetically licking their wounds because girls preferred some guy with a personality and the ability to speak normally over a socially awkward basket case who uses his vast intellect to play video games and read comic books

Anonymous said...

even into middle age they are still pathetically licking their wounds because girls preferred some guy with a personality and the ability to speak normally over a socially awkward basket case who uses his vast intellect to play video games and read comic books

Yep. Play video games and read comic books and watch and obsess over Whit Stillman movies.

Maam said...

The one Landau is retired and has a hobby of annoying school officials because its easy. Simple as that.

Whiskey/testing99 is seriously like the best "sayanim" ever. So subtle, too.

Udolpho.com said...

also the anon who pointed out the guy probably really wanted sons has read my mind, I have been thinking how modern parents seem to be trying to raise their daughters to be more like boys, down to giving them male names and otherwise pretending they aren't girls...it's sad because women cannot really measure up to that standard and men are deprived of the enjoyment of a truly feminine woman

Anonymous said...

I think "advocate FOR.." is a corruption of "agitate for ..."

ben tillman said...

jesus yes...is there anything that id's a nerd faster than casually mentioning sports...even into middle age they are still pathetically licking their wounds because girls preferred some guy with a personality and the ability to speak normally over a socially awkward basket case

An anecdote a propos. Several lawyers from my Dallas law firm were at lunch circa 1996 when one remarked that we had had three Heisman Trophy winners in the office that morning. (Staubach and two whom I can't recall; perhaps Doak Walker was one.) Three Heisman winners!

The follow-up question from another lawyer: "What sport did they win it in?"

ben tillman said...

...I have been thinking how modern parents seem to be trying to raise their daughters to be more like boys, down to giving them male names and otherwise pretending they aren't girls...

Like Stanley Ann Dunham?

Mr. Anon said...

"Darwin's Sh*tlist said...

He also set a whole new standard for being creepy-looking in "North by Northwest.""

He was very good in that. The villains (and the score by Bernard Herrmann) really made that movie (which in and of itself wasn't that good). He was also quite good in "Crimes and Misdemeanors", which may have been Woody Allen's last good movie.

And let us not forget one of his rare turns at comedy as the Indian "Chief Walks Stooped Over" in "The Hallelujah Trail"

Anonymous said...

Or, you know, maybe his daughters were actually interested in sports and wanted to get involved.

guest007 said...

A couple of nitpicks,

At most schools the worst students do not play sports. Look at the states that have no pass, no play type rules.

Second, girls should have the ability to play sports in school if there are sports of guys. Besides, upper class white girls play sports are a higher rate than upper class white males. Since Hispanics, Asian, and black females play sports at very low rates, girls sports are great affirmative action for the middle and upper middle class.

Anonymous said...

I saw Martin Landau on stage about six years ago in a production of "Sixteen Wounded" in New Haven. He plays a Jewish store owner who befriends a young Arab. He was terrific in that, too.

Robert said...

Just because I think that sports in school are a waste of time and taxpayer money doesn't mean that I am a pocket protector nerd! I am over 6 feet tall and since high school I have worked in steel mills and other jobs that required a lot of physical strength and agility. I am now a part time farmer and have to deal with things like cattle and hogs who need shots and do not like to be held down. Isn't this blog about not assuming that everything fits into some conventional wisdom, like the idea that every guy who thinks jocks are retarded and that there is too much emphasis on sports in schools must be a nerd? I just think that we would be better off in this country if we would treat sports as something extra-curricular and not the center of school life. Don't any of the people who commented on my post pay property taxes? Do I want to pay my property taxes, then drive over potholed steets, knowing that the money was spent so that some guy can get a phony sense of glory scoring the touchdown of the championship like some Al Bundy? Its a waste of time!

Superior Geek Syndrome said...

I don't know what is more pathetic: Udolpho denying his inner nerd or the people who post to this blog.

Udolpho has what I call "superior geek syndrome"-- A nerd who bullies lesser nerds for reading comic books and editing Wikipedia.

A guy who has a blog and knows about Linux is by definition a geek.

Superior Geek Syndrome said...

I just read some of Udolpho's blog. It is full of bitter projection as Freud called it. Clearly he sees himself in others and because he loathes his own worthless existence he lashes out with bitterness and rage at the human race. I've seen “Udolpho's” type before. They tend to be misanthropic, ugly, eccentric and mentally ill. They usually have something wrong with them and society rejected them as a result. Coworkers describe these types as “difficult”. They usually end up getting caught in undercover operations to nab pedophiles.

Anonymous said...

modern parents seem to be trying to raise their daughters to be more like boys, down to giving them male names and otherwise pretending they aren't girls...

And at the same time, the school system is treating all boys as if they were badly behaved girls with penises!

Anonymous said...

"it's sad because women cannot really measure up to that standard and men are deprived of the enjoyment of a truly feminine woman"

Women who try to be men are best avoided but a little bit of subliminal masculinity can be very interesting in a woman.

http://akinokure.blogspot.com/2009/01/recognizing-eternal-ingenue.html

Now they can be a handful, especially when very young but they're the best kind of women: feminine personality with masculine energy and libido. They're much more fun than ordinary feminine women and much sweeter and more respectful than mannish ones. I've known two that fit that description. One was a professional ballroom dancer and the other was, of all things, an FBI agent.

Jimmy Crackedcorn said...

The NYT is of course slow-motion bankruptcy. They run the print equivalent of Daily Kos at much higher cost structures.

Maybe in parts, but they still have Nicholas Wade.

I'm going with the creepy pedophile diagnosis of Landau. The man just likes to watch young athletic girls running around in near skivvies.

Udolpho.com said...

Just because I think that sports in school are a waste of time and taxpayer money doesn't mean that I am a pocket protector nerd! I am over 6 feet tall, fuck models, and chop down redwoods with my bare hands

Anyone who fails to see the connection between a physically active life and being a well-rounded person is usually a nerd (it is a very prominent nerd mentality, along with hating Christians and being told what to do by Mom). It is obvious why athletic programs are important in schools, as when they are well run they promote character, competition, and good sportsmanship, which are worthy values (yes, schools exist in part to impart values--and have done so since the dawn of education).

Being six feet tall or living the life of a hick do not mean you are not a nerd--although the hick part is certainly a novel twist. Having a bizarre hangup on school athletics is a sign that you are prone to nerd like "reasoning", however. If nerds had their way, there would be college tracks for Tolkien novels and Batman's greatest enemies--they seem to feel that the things they love are wonderful, and the things they don't love are useless to society.

Anonymous said...

This "Udolpho" guy sure seems weird. I bet he is the sort of eccentric who gets caught downloading kiddie porn. Twice.

This is the quote that made me laugh: Being six feet tall or living the life of a hick do not mean you are not a nerd...

To "udolpho", a guy who chops wood and works in steel mills is a geek.

Even though this dweeb Udolpho works in the computer industry and maintains a blog he thinks that there is no way he could be a nerd. Why, geek is something you can just turn on or turn off! Yeah, that's it! Nerd reasoning, he calls it. It's a mindset, not a condition. Burly woodsmen are the geeks, not bloggers who work in the computer biz! No way! Udolpho has escaped his own inner geek. He exercised it like a demon. All he has to do is change his "reasoning."

You see people, this is what I call Superior Geek syndrome. It's real, it exists and it's going to destroy our society unless we call these dorks out and force people to see them for what they really are.

Wallace said...

Even though this dweeb Udolpho works in the computer industry and maintains a blog he thinks that there is no way he could be a nerd.

[...]

You see people, this is what I call Superior Geek syndrome. It's real, it exists and it's going to destroy our society unless we call these dorks out and force people to see them for what they really are.

Works in computer industry: check

Maintains dorky blog: check

Obsessed with Whit Stillman movies: check

Constantly rails against other geeks: check

Sounds like a genuine "Superior Geek" to me.

James Kabala said...

Udolpho's definition of a nerd/geek does seem to be getting increasingly amporphous and defined as anyone Udolpho doesn't like, but I don't think Steve should have twice allowed comments accusing him of being likely to commit a serious crime.

Udolpho.com said...

Yes, I exercised it...like a demon.

Udolpho.com said...

I don't mind the kiddie porn accusations, but I get a kick out of the way he keeps bringing up Whit Stillman.

Anonymous said...

Udolpho quoted: Yes, I exercised it...like a demon.

Correcting other people's bad grammar.... that's geeky.

You remind me of that homophobic father from American Beauty, the one that turned out to be gay. It's as though you hate your own inner geek with such passion that you deny it and project it onto others. That's why you jumped in and called Robert a video game playing nerd even though he never said anything about playing games or reading comics.

The HBD world is full of eccentric oddballs. You have Half Sigma worried about prole status. You have Rosy or whatever gay name he calls himself selling you "game", or snake oil, as I call it. Then you have Al Fin talking like a little Hitler and Udolpho trying to rid the planet of "nerd reasoning". It's creepy how they all link to each other. HBD is a club for failures who hate their jobs and hate their life.

It's funny because if you tell a HBD follower that IQ can be increased, they flip out. Many HBD people already have a good enough IQ so they don't worry about IQ enhancement. But they are geeks, beta males, and lacking status. So that is all they talk about. How to overcome your inner geek and inner beta male. But that's impossible. You can't overcome what you were born to be. What next? A blog from Half Sigma or Udolpho about penis enlargement? I bet such a blog would be popular with the HDB crowd. You know it would catch on.

Udolpho.com said...

lol I don't link to any of those people what are you talking about

go see a therapist about your scarring experiences in gym class, it's kind of pathetic to snivel about it here

Anonymous said...

Udolpho spends a lot of time on the internet. He must live there.

Bob said...

Nerds hate nerds more than anybody says John Schwartz. Right, Udolpho????

Now crawl back down into your misery hole and resume seething.

Udolpho.com said...

I'm going to comment on another article, see you there!

Bob said...

"Nerds hate nerds more than anybody says John Schwartz." is a copy and paste error. That's not an actual quote from anybody.

To Udolpho:

Post called Tiger Woods and Steroids. Third comment from the top. Be there or be square. Wait.... you are square. Never mind. Be there anyway.