Born on this day – Alice Davenport:

 

Alice Davenport

Actress

February 29, 1864 – June 24, 1936

Credits:

The Dude Wrangler (1930); Legend of Hollywood (1924); Unmarried Wives (1924); Monkeying Around (1923); The Show (1922); Oh, Mabel Behave (1922); Fool Days (1921); The Hayseed (1921); Skirts (1921); The Sleep of Cyma Roget (1920); His Private Wife (1920); Her Private Husband (1920); How Dry I Am (1919); Her First Kiss (1919); Spotlight Sadie (1919); Rip & Stitch: Tailors (1919); Tony America (1918); Her Blighted Love (1918); His Nimble Twist (1918); A Coward's Courage (1918); Little Red Decides (1918); His Double Life (1918); His Hidden Shame (1918); An Ice Man's Bride (1917); His Social Rise (1917); A Maiden's Trust (1917); Secrets of a Beauty Parlor (1917); Pinched in the Finish (1917); Luke Wins Ye Ladye Faire (1917); His Last Scent (1916); Pills of Peril (1916); Counting Out the Count (1916); The Snow Cure (1916); Ramona (1916); A Love Riot (1916); The Egyptian Mummy (1916); Fido's Fate (1916); Perils of the Park (1916); Because He Loved Her (1916); The Worst of Friends (1916); Fatty and the Broadway Stars (1915); Stolen Magic (1915); His Father's Footsteps (1915); My Valet (1915); Dirty Work in a Laundry (1915); Mabel Lost and Won (1915); Mabel's Wilful Way (1915); Wished on Mabel (1915); Ambrose's Fury (1915); That Little Band of Gold (1915); From Patches to Plenty (1915); Mabel and Fatty's Married Life (1915); A Bird's a Bird (1915); The Home Breakers (1915); Mabel, Fatty and the Law (1915); Fatty and Mabel at the San Diego Exposition (1915); Mabel and Fatty's Wash Day (1915); Rum and Wall Paper (1915); Hushing the Scandal (1915); His Second Childhood (1914); Wild West Love (1914); Fatty's Magic Pants (1914); The Plumber (1914); Among the Mourners (1914); The Sea Nymphs (1914); Fatty's Wine Party (1914); Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914); His Talented Wife (1914); Cursed by His Beauty (1914); Gentlemen of Nerve (1914); The Love Thief (1914); Hello, Mabel (1914); He Loved the Ladies (1914); Those Country Kids (1914); The Property Man (1914); Mabel's New Job (1914); Love and Bullets (1914); Mabel's Married Life (1914); The Water Dog (1914); Caught in the Rain (1914); Caught in a Cabaret (1914); Mabel at the Wheel (1914); The Passing of Izzy (1914); Fatal High C (1914); The Star Boarder (1914); Against Heavy Odds (1914); Tango Tangle (1914); A False Beauty (1914); Love and Gasoline (1914); Mabel's Strange Predicament (1914); Making a Living (1914); Won in a Closet (1914); The Under-Sheriff (1914); A Hornet's Nest (1913); Schnitz the Tailor (1913); Mother's Boy (1913); When Dreams Come True (1913); Mabel's Dramatic Career (1913); The Firebugs (1913); The Riot (1913); Cohen's Outing (1913); Just Kids (1913); A Noise from the Deep (1913); Love and Rubbish (1913); The Telltale Light (1913); The Tale of a Black Eye (1913); The Hansom Driver (1913); Passions, He Had Three (1913); Toplitsky and Company (1913); The Water Nymph (1912); Just Brown's Luck (1913); The Mistaken Masher (1913); For Lizzie's Sake (1913); A Double Wedding (1913); Mabel's Stratagem (1912); Hoffmeyer's Legacy (1912); The Drummer's Vacation (1912); Pat's Day Off (1912); Brown's Seance (1912); Mabel's Lovers (1912); At It Again (1912); Ambitious Butler (1912); Stolen Glory (1912); The Leading Man (1912); The Love Trail (1912); The Baron (1911); Got a Match? (1912); A Near-Tragedy (1912); Lily's Lovers (1912); Pants and Pansies (1912); The Engagement Ring (1912); The Best Man Wins (1911).

Born on this day – Victor Rietti:

Victor Rietti

Director

Writer

Actor

February 29, 1888 – December 3, 1963

Credits:

Shipmates o' Mine (2022); Harry's Girls (1963); Come Fly with Me (1963); The Saint (1962); Village of Daughters (1962); Joseph and His Brethren (1961); Danger Man (1961); Uncle Martino (1960); Man from Interpol (1960); ITV Television Playhouse (1960); BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (1952–1959); Armchair Theatre (1958); Dick and the Duchess (1958); Your Past Is Showing (1957); The Story of Esther Costello (1957); The Jack Benny Program (1957); Encounter (1957); As I Was Saying (1955); The Bob Hope Show (1954); Kraft Theatre (1953); The Prodigal Son (1953); The Plate on the Wall (1952); The Little World of Don Camillo (1952); To Live in Peace (1951); Mr. H.C. Andersen (1950); The Glass Mountain (1949); A Man About the House (1947); Sinfonia fatale (1947); Give Us the Moon (1944); Hotel Reserve (1944); Yellow Canary (1943); The Peterville Diamond (1943); Thunder Rock (1942); Room for Two (1940); 21 Days Together (1940); The Viper (1938); The Divorce of Lady X (1938); Take It from Me (1937); Who's Your Lady Friend? (1937); Girl in the Street (1937); Show Flat (1936); Hideout in the Alps (1936); Juggernaut (1936); Where There's a Will (1936); Jack of All Trades (1936); Two Hearts in Harmony (1935); The Ghost Goes West (1935); Man of the Moment (1935); Jimmy Boy (1935); Escape Me Never (1935); Oh, Daddy! (1935); Power (1934); The Song You Gave Me (1934); The Charming Deceiver (1933); Bitter Sweet (1933).

Born on this day – Gioachino Rossini:

 

Gioachino Rossini

Composer

February 29, 1792 – November 13, 1868

J. K. Rowling, on writing:

I'm a writer, and I will write what I want to write.
- J. K. Rowling.

Honoring Martin Luther King, Jr.

The time is always right to do what is right.

- Martin Luther King Jr.

Adulterers (2015) - free will ... and its consequences:

Adulterers (2015) - free will ... and its consequences:

Review by Jack Kost

Adulterers is a cautionary tale, a powerful drama inspired by true events, and far more compelling than the contrived Fatal Attraction (1987) and Unfaithful (2002).

How you feel at the end of Adulterers may depend on your personal experience of the subject it deals with.

It’s right there in the title.

If you’ve ever been cheated on by your significant other – then this movie might sting.

If you have cheated on your significant other – then this movie should rightly sting if you have any conscience and sense of guilt about the choice you made.

Consequences for making the wrong choice is the theme unflinchingly examined in this movie, released in the United States on January 5, 2016, written, produced and directed by H.M. Coakley.

Lead actor, Sean Farris threw himself into this role of a betrayed husband.

We see the anguish of his character, his pain, regret, broken heart, broken life, and ultimately broken mind.

Sean Farris is Samuel, a store assistant, working extra hours during a sweltering New Orleans afternoon.

It’s his first wedding anniversary; a special day in any marriage.

Samuel is a proud and happy man, deeply in love with his wife, Ashley (Danielle Savre).

He regrets having to work so many hours and laments at their lack of money, but he plans on making it up to Ashley.

He swings by his home halfway through his day, carrying his wife’s favorite flowers and chocolates.

Besides their money troubles, all seems right with Samuel’s world until he catches Ashley and her lover, Damien (Mehcad Brooks), naked, having sex in the bedroom.

Devastated, Samuel shoots them both.

This is not a spoiler; it happens within the first twelve minutes.

Downstairs, he sits on the couch, and drinks whiskey straight from the bottle.

Suffering a psychological break, he rethinks the situation.

This time, in his imagination, he doesn’t pull the trigger.

What if I’d waited instead of acting on impulse?

What would I say to them?

How far would I go to punish them?

What would they say to justify their sin, or lie their way out of the situation?

These questions are the basis for the imagined trial and torture he puts his wife and her lover through in that stifling room.

As Samuel struggles with the pain of betrayal and infidelity, the wedding ring, crucifix and Bible often the focus of the camera, he struggles with his faith.

Finally, as Samuel himself points out:

"You ain't sorry. You're just sorry that you got caught. It's time that you dealt with the consequences of your actions."

In forcing them to face the consequences of their actions, Samuel is then left to face the consequences of his own.

There are no winners in this story; everyone is destroyed.

Adultery … it’s all fun and games ... until you get caught!

George R. R. Martin, on reading:

I was born in Bayonne, New Jersey.

I grew up in the projects.

I never went anywhere.

But I have lived a thousand lives and I've loved a thousand loves.

I've walked on distant worlds and seen the end of time.

Because I read. 

- George R. R. Martin.