Happy Birthday, Carl Weathers

A happy birthday wish today to "actor" Carl Weathers. Carl Weathers is worth a thought today primarily for his work on "Arrested Development," playing some version of himself. A version of himself that is miserly and opportunistic. It's a great self-skewering, and Weathers deserves kudos for playing it to the hilt.

Here's a great Carl Weathers clip from the show:



This seems like a good time to note today's news on the Arrested Development movie. There appears to be only one obstacle to it at this point: the indecision of George Michael Bluth, Michael Cera. But don't worry, the AD team has their best guy on it--the handsome and talented Jason Bateman. According to Bateman,

"I think you really have to get him on the phone to get his answer about whether he's going to come back and do it or not. I know he's thinking about it, and we're all awaiting some finality to that."

"I do feel bad that people are a little misinformed about what's going on with him," Bateman said. "He's certainly not said that he won't do it. I think he's, you know, Michael is clearly the guy that has come out of 'Arrested Development' with a very, very big plate. And so I think he's trying to really give some responsible thought to what makes sense for him to do with his career.

"The guy's 20 years old and I'm sure he doesn't want to screw up this opportunity, and trying to figure out whether an 'Arrested Development' film would be right for him and his future, I think, again, he's just trying to give responsible time to that decision. And he may or may not have come to a decision. I really can't speak to that."

Of course, we all know the what the responsible decision is here. That is, if Michael Cera doesn't want everyone to hate him forever. Forever!

UPDATE (1/15/08): Ack! Fosco just learned that January 14 is also the birthday of handsome and talented Jason Bateman! It's an AD twofer. Happy Belated, JB.

Joyeux anniversaire!

Even though Fosco is getting to this kind of late, he can't let it pass that today is the birthday of Ste Jeanne d'Arc, born in 1412 in the village of Domrémy in Lorraine. Fosco's favorite representation of Joan of Arc is this 1879 painting by Jules Bastien-Lepage (found in the collection of the Met Museum in NYC and adored by Fosco on his recent visit).

This painting dates from a French revival of interest in Jeanne after the disastrous Franco-Prussian War (1870-71). If you look carefully at the left of the canvas, you can see ghostly shapes of Saint Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret giving Joan her holy charge. Sometimes Fosco wishes we had a historical record of what happened to Joan after that. Oh well.