1. "Folie a deux": Roger Ebert's re-evaluation of Godard's Pierrot le fou.

["Godard's "Pierrot Le Fou" (1965) is the same film I liked so much when it opened here in 1968, and assigned a 3.5 star rating. In fact, it is probably a better film, because the Music Box is showing it in a new 35mm print. But while I once wrote of it as "Godard's most virtuoso display of his mastery of Hollywood genres," I now see it more as the story of silly characters who have seen too many Hollywood movies."]

["The morals on display in these long and bombastic previews turns out to be that we need crazy tyrants like Nixon, like Kissinger, like Sterling Hayden in DR. STRANGELOVE, like George C. Scott as PATTON, Brando as the GODFATHER, John Huston in CHINATOWN, Gene Hackman in FRENCH CONNECTION, Robert Shaw in JAWS: we need real characters unafraid to bloody up the joint. That is if we want to win the unwinnable, or do you want bombs in your living room? Do you want to get trampled on by the muddy feet of terror? The ominous bass synth chords gradually fade against the bright dawn of military trumpet fugues and slow motion flag folding and white-gloved salutes. Damn right, you don't."]

["A Chinese couple seeking a distinctive name for their child settled on the e-mail 'at' symbol—annoying government officials grappling with an influx of unorthodox names."]

["I know a lot of people love that the show finally confirmed that Don Draper was, at one time, Dick Whitman. And I know that a lot of people feel that this is the show finally kicking in with something resembling a "storyline." But I, well, I. . .kind of don't like this aspect of the show. I don't think it's awful, and they're certainly doing a good job of making it believable and having it tie into the show's themes and such, but it just feels so prosaic, like Mad Men is down in the muck, having a game try at doing what all of these popular "serialized" shows are doing and sort of not getting the hang of it. It's like a kid who's only ever seen football on TV getting together with his pals and trying to play for real—he sort of gets the idea, but he spends most of his time standing off to the side with a bemused smile on his face (OK, I was that kid)."]

["And so, the Long Take Hall of Fame Part II, which should of course reference the precedent of the Daily Film Dose reader's poll this May, complete with YouTube clips."]

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"Links for the Day": Each morning, the House editors post a series of weblinks that we think will spark discussion. Comments encouraged.