Fifteen Years Ago: The passing of Frank Sinatra and the end of SEINFELD.

In the spring of 1998, my then-Significant Other/now-wife and I were vacationing in Santa Barbara when SEINFELD aired its final episode (the "meh" throw-them-in-jail-for-their-sins climax).

We watched the nuclear-hyped Television Event in our hotel room and then were saddened to learn of Frank Sinatra's passing on the eleven p.m. news.

YouTube clip of a scene from the final SEINFELD:
http://youtu.be/n_OS1q6f5Rc

BBC coverage of Frank Sinatra's death from 1998 (volume a bit soft):http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFFwNfS872k

Brief opinion of Woody Allen's WHATEVER WORKS.

On the good side: Woody Allen's WHATEVER WORKS (essentially a compendium of Woody's Greatest Kvetches, Obsessions and Enthusiams) is better than expected, with a number of funny-to-hilarious lines and good performances all around.

Debits: WHATEVER WORKS looks a bit shoddy and stagebound for a New York-based Allen film (shot by, of all people, the gifted DP Harris Savides--who did a fine job for David Fincher on ZODIAC). And it takes a couple of steps back in quality, ambition and sophistication from Allen's previous VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA--his best film since 1999's SWEET AND LOWDOWN.