On Objectivism

A film version of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged opens this weekend.  This is all I have to say about it:

"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs."

-John Rogers

Not just Farrah and Bea Arthur

Here are eight film notables who died in 2009 that had just as much right to be listed among last Sunday's Oscar Memorial as did Farrah Fawcett and Bea Arthur, but were likewise omitted.

• Dan O'Bannon (screenwriter, Alien, Dark Star)
  
• Ed McMahon
  
• Gene Barry (War of the Worlds)
• Henry Gibson (Nashville, Blues Brothers, Wedding Crashers, Charlotte's Web, etc)
  
• Patrick McGoohan (The Prisoner, Braveheart, Silver Streak)
  
• James Whitmore (Shawshank Redemption, Oscar nominee, Emmy winner) see comments
  
• Pat Hingle
  
• Harve Presnell (Fargo)