Monday, April 14, 2008
For god's sake, nobody tell Bush or I'll have to move into a hole
And those of you that said "Which would be different from the way you keep your apartment how?"--why you, I oughta...
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Don't read this too soon after breakfast or before dinner
We've comitted war crimes, tortured and assaulted.
Via Daily Kos:
Via Daily Kos:
"The unreleased images show American soldiers beating one prisoner almost to death, apparently raping a female prisoner, acting inappropriately with a dead body, and taping Iraqi guards raping young boys, according to NBC News." – The Boston Herald, May 8, 2004
"Torture and abuse also took many other forms, all of them criminal. Federal government documents obtained by the ACLU through our Freedom of Information Act litigation and reports of the International Committee of the Red Cross documented torture or abuse against U.S.-held detainees, including acts such as: soaking a prisoner’s hand in alcohol and setting it on fire, administering electric shocks, subjecting prisoners to repeated sexual abuse and assault, including sodomy with a bottle, raping a juvenile prisoner, kicking and beating prisoners in the head and groin, putting lit cigarettes inside a prisoner’s ear, force-feeding a baseball to a prisoner, chaining a prisoner hands-to-feet in a fetal position for 24 hours without food or water or access to a toilet, and breaking a prisoner’s shoulders.
But unpunished crimes go even further, to include possible homicides..."
Lengthy, but excellent and well-worth reading article from The New York Review of Books on the Clinton/Obama fight
...written by author and reporter Elizabeth Drew.
Too many good paragraphs to quote, but here's an early one to give you a taste:
Too many good paragraphs to quote, but here's an early one to give you a taste:
In this fight, the Clinton camp is the more aggressive of the two, and it's adept at what might be called molehill politics: making a very big deal in the press about something that's a very small deal—such as a single word in a mailing or a slip-up by an aide. Clinton's strategists pounce on whatever opportunity presents itself to attack Obama, and try to knock him off his own message, and his stride. Clinton's approach resembles her tactics in the White House, in which her inclination was to attack (which caused a number of problems, and was one of the reasons her health care bill was defeated). The Obama camp has sometimes been slow, and even reluctant, to respond, because if he attacks her personally (which the Clinton campaign would like him to do), he's not Barack Obama anymore. Moreover, Obama takes care not to come across as the "angry black"—a stereotype he does not fit, but that could be imposed upon him by others.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Not antimilitary or anti-soldier, anti this war
Judged as a drama and choosing to ignore (only for the moment) the controversial political context, Stop-Loss is a powerful; well-pitched film with effective performances by its stars.
As the film's protagonist, Ryan Phillippe (seen here with director and co-writer Kimberly Peirce at the film's premiere) plays a good man and a leader of men who tried to do his duty as it was told to him, and then finds the people controlling the game have changed the rules.
I'd say he does better work than I would previously have imagined him capable of. But come to think of it I know him mainly as a pretty-boy, I don't really think I've seen him act in very much.
I know I've never seen Abbie Cornish act before. She plays a sharp Texas woman--y'know, the kind I love to talk about
--so well I was mildly taken aback to learn she's actually Australian.
A childhood friend of Phillippe's character, she tries to help keep him from being forced back into service. The film gracefully acknowledges a sexual tension between the two (which if you believe the tittle was consumated off the set), but is too smart to let the characters sink into its suds.
Channing Tatum, though I feel compelled to mock him for his name, plays a character that's a good argument to those who insist this film is anti-soldier. He's the longtime best friend of Phillippe and fiancée of Cornish who finds good for himself in the service.
I submit that in a really anti-soldier movie Tatum (seen above with Cornish) would have been a cardboard ogre, but he's not. He's an imperfect man trying to balance loyalty to his friend, duty as he sees it to his country, and love of his fiancée.
He does what he thinks is best, even as it brings him into conflict with those he loves. Which is one of the secrets of good drama, the trouble with balancing these things is that there's really no way for it to come out even.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character might have benefited from more screen time. There's depth to his performance, but the character just kind of...slips away. This might be the point. But, I will be curious to see if there's more of him in deleted scenes on the DVD.
It's wrong to assume, as some have, that this movie is antimilitary or anti-soldier. Antiwar? Possibly. But who the hell isn't antiwar at a time when our "commander-in-chief" is so unpopular he's booed at baseball games?
Anti this particular war and the fucks sending men and women back to be maimed or killed (while we choose to care about Obama's "bitter" comments)...absofreakinglutely.
But antimilitary and anti-soldier? No. No, I don't think so. Not unless you choose to see the world in black-and-white; the simplest possible terms.
This movie and its characters are more complex and subtle than that. So are, I have to believe, the men and women fighting this war.
I musn't forget to mention Ciaran Hinds, who was in the last movie I saw in the theatre, too, and gives perhaps the most subtle performance of the lot as Phillippe's father.
He's a man who loves his son and of course doesn't want to see him hurt--but he also believes in the male fraternity of the military.
Again, the three "C's" that make up a good "D": Character, Conflict and Complexity. His thoughts, and what the final judgment of him should be, are open to discussion.
The script is comparable to, and arguably better than, (deep breath) Aaron Sorkin's Charlie Wilson's War, which I've come to believe was compromised by the need to serve star egos. Stop-Loss admirably steers clear of tying up every loose end, or the sucker's happy ending.
So: Why did it lose out at the box office? Theories are flying around. Mean-spirited conservatives like those who got us into this war (at little or no risk to themselves) think it’s because the film, like others recently about the Iraq war, isn't sufficiently toe-the-line patriotic. I think James Rocchi has a better bead on it.
But I'm absolutely sure the film deserved better, and hope it will be rediscovered in time.
We're asking too few to do too much for too little; that's what the real problem is, and that's the lesson which Stop-Loss underlines. And how is that anti-soldier as seen by any but the most knee-jerk of Bush supporters?
This movie loves its soldiers, and feels for them.
It is probably not insignificant that it was co-written and directed by a woman (screenplay with Mark Richard).
As the film's protagonist, Ryan Phillippe (seen here with director and co-writer Kimberly Peirce at the film's premiere) plays a good man and a leader of men who tried to do his duty as it was told to him, and then finds the people controlling the game have changed the rules.I'd say he does better work than I would previously have imagined him capable of. But come to think of it I know him mainly as a pretty-boy, I don't really think I've seen him act in very much.
I know I've never seen Abbie Cornish act before. She plays a sharp Texas woman--y'know, the kind I love to talk about
--so well I was mildly taken aback to learn she's actually Australian. A childhood friend of Phillippe's character, she tries to help keep him from being forced back into service. The film gracefully acknowledges a sexual tension between the two (which if you believe the tittle was consumated off the set), but is too smart to let the characters sink into its suds.
Channing Tatum, though I feel compelled to mock him for his name, plays a character that's a good argument to those who insist this film is anti-soldier. He's the longtime best friend of Phillippe and fiancée of Cornish who finds good for himself in the service.
I submit that in a really anti-soldier movie Tatum (seen above with Cornish) would have been a cardboard ogre, but he's not. He's an imperfect man trying to balance loyalty to his friend, duty as he sees it to his country, and love of his fiancée.
He does what he thinks is best, even as it brings him into conflict with those he loves. Which is one of the secrets of good drama, the trouble with balancing these things is that there's really no way for it to come out even.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character might have benefited from more screen time. There's depth to his performance, but the character just kind of...slips away. This might be the point. But, I will be curious to see if there's more of him in deleted scenes on the DVD.
It's wrong to assume, as some have, that this movie is antimilitary or anti-soldier. Antiwar? Possibly. But who the hell isn't antiwar at a time when our "commander-in-chief" is so unpopular he's booed at baseball games?
Anti this particular war and the fucks sending men and women back to be maimed or killed (while we choose to care about Obama's "bitter" comments)...absofreakinglutely.
But antimilitary and anti-soldier? No. No, I don't think so. Not unless you choose to see the world in black-and-white; the simplest possible terms.
This movie and its characters are more complex and subtle than that. So are, I have to believe, the men and women fighting this war.
I musn't forget to mention Ciaran Hinds, who was in the last movie I saw in the theatre, too, and gives perhaps the most subtle performance of the lot as Phillippe's father.
He's a man who loves his son and of course doesn't want to see him hurt--but he also believes in the male fraternity of the military.
Again, the three "C's" that make up a good "D": Character, Conflict and Complexity. His thoughts, and what the final judgment of him should be, are open to discussion.
The script is comparable to, and arguably better than, (deep breath) Aaron Sorkin's Charlie Wilson's War, which I've come to believe was compromised by the need to serve star egos. Stop-Loss admirably steers clear of tying up every loose end, or the sucker's happy ending.
So: Why did it lose out at the box office? Theories are flying around. Mean-spirited conservatives like those who got us into this war (at little or no risk to themselves) think it’s because the film, like others recently about the Iraq war, isn't sufficiently toe-the-line patriotic. I think James Rocchi has a better bead on it.
But I'm absolutely sure the film deserved better, and hope it will be rediscovered in time.
We're asking too few to do too much for too little; that's what the real problem is, and that's the lesson which Stop-Loss underlines. And how is that anti-soldier as seen by any but the most knee-jerk of Bush supporters?
This movie loves its soldiers, and feels for them.
It is probably not insignificant that it was co-written and directed by a woman (screenplay with Mark Richard).
Friday, April 11, 2008
Bill Clinton to Hillary's critics: Leave my wife alone, she's an old lady and she forgets
... the former president said: "She took a terrible beating in the press for a few days because, she was exhausted at 11 o'clock at night and she started talking about Bosnia and she misstated the circumstances under which she landed in Bosnia," he said. "Did you all see all that?"
The fact is, she didn't talk about it "exhausted at 11 o'clock at night," but at 9 a.m., after a day off, [CBS News chief White House correspondent Jim] Axelrod reportsAxelrod reports.
Bill Clinton might have thought twice about his line of defense.
"And some of them, when they're 60, they'll forget something when they're tired at 11 at night, too," Bill Clinton said.
Hillary Clinton's best-known ad this campaign has been about her ability to think straight in the middle of the night. Remember, "It's 3 a.m….?"
Good one, Bill.
Do you ever get the feeling at this point, Ms. Clinton wishes somebody would start sucking the former president's dick so he could be kept far, far away from microphones and cameras?
Why doesn't she just have him boarded, like a dog...only at the Playboy mansion?
The Force is not strong with this one
Star Wars: Episode II Bloopers, featuring the negative charisma of Hayden Christensen.
Ok...you know how PETA has those "Rather go naked than wear fur" ads?
"Women I'd rather went naked than wore my favorite color"
The inexplicably famous Kim Kardashian.
The inexplicably famous Kim Kardashian.
The 50 Greatest Comedy Sketches of All Time? And a few they missed.
Nerve.com has come up with a list. I'd quibble with some of the choices, but at least they have all the major troupes represented: Sid Caesar, Python (I've have included "Nudge Nudge," tho) SNL, SCTV, The Kids in the Hall...
And I guess I can understand them not including the Daily Show or Colbert Report.
But they left out a couple by focusing only the televisual, even if for obvious reasons.
For instance...
Mel Brooks as the 2000-year old man, with Carl Reiner, the world's greatest living straight man (George Burns and Bud Abbott having passed on).
This is from a cartoon adaptation of their early-'60s comedy album made (I think) in the late '70s.
The jazzy fun of Stan Freberg.
This is a lovely video put together by a YouTuber called cputb1 illustrating a sketch from Freberg's "United States of America" album.
And what's Jack Benny, chopped liver? Here we have convincing proof that Jack had the finest writers in the business: They could make Frank Sinatra seem funny...
Or the Muppets? Here, Milton Berle meets his match...
And all you need to know about this one is that it's Groucho Marx...and some lady called Marilyn Monroe. It was her first major appearance in films; she was 23.
(OK, so this isn't one of the greatest sketches ever filmed. But its Groucho and Marilyn, man.)
And I guess I can understand them not including the Daily Show or Colbert Report.
But they left out a couple by focusing only the televisual, even if for obvious reasons.
For instance...
Mel Brooks as the 2000-year old man, with Carl Reiner, the world's greatest living straight man (George Burns and Bud Abbott having passed on).
This is from a cartoon adaptation of their early-'60s comedy album made (I think) in the late '70s.
The jazzy fun of Stan Freberg.
This is a lovely video put together by a YouTuber called cputb1 illustrating a sketch from Freberg's "United States of America" album.
And what's Jack Benny, chopped liver? Here we have convincing proof that Jack had the finest writers in the business: They could make Frank Sinatra seem funny...
Or the Muppets? Here, Milton Berle meets his match...
And all you need to know about this one is that it's Groucho Marx...and some lady called Marilyn Monroe. It was her first major appearance in films; she was 23.
(OK, so this isn't one of the greatest sketches ever filmed. But its Groucho and Marilyn, man.)
Like father, like son? Think about it, won't you?
President George W. Bush's job approval rating has dropped to 28%, the lowest of his administration. Bush's approval is lower than that of any president since World War II, with the exceptions of Jimmy Carter (who had a low point of 28% in 1979), and Richard Nixon and Harry Truman, who suffered ratings in the low- to mid-20% range in the last years of their administrations.
Really, seriously, could we, for the love of sweet Christ impeach him now?
Carter's low point of 28% was measured in late June and early July 1979, as the country underwent significant gas shortages and amid perceptions of a failing economy.
Nixon had a number of readings below 28% in 1973 and 1974 prior to his leaving office as a result of the Watergate scandal.
Truman recorded a number of readings below 28% in 1951 and 1952 as his administration was beset, similar to the current situation for Bush, with problems relating to the economy and an unpopular war (in Korea).
Of note is the fact that George W. Bush has now descended below the low point of his father's (George H.W. Bush's) administration. The senior Bush had a reading of 29% in July and August 1992. The former president also recorded a high point of 89%, the highest on record until his son's 90% in September 2001. Both Bushes, in short, have undergone radical 60-point drops in job approval in the course of their administrations.
I love it.
The acoustical future of the Mets is in doubt.
The team is currently running a week-long promotion to determine which song, from a list of six, it will play during the middle of the eighth inning of home games. Inspired by the success that Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" has had in uniting fans at Boston's Fenway Park over recent seasons, the Mets -- who also used Diamond's hit last year -- have decided to let their own fans choose the song they prefer.
There's just one problem. The results of an online poll, revealed earlier this week, showed that Rick Astley's 1988 hit "Never Gonna Give You Up" had won with more than five million votes as a write-in candidate -- the result of fans rigging the vote in favor of Astley,
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Does this make him the first Scotsman to win a contest against an Irishman after he stopped drinking?
For the first time, Craig Ferguson, the CBS late-night host whose program follows David Letterman on weeknights, has won a ratings contest against NBC’s late-night star, Conan O’Brien.
I really shouldn't let myself get into such a bind
I gotta remember: No getting involved in other people's psychodrama. No getting involved in other people's psychodrama...
But, I've found myself in another argument lately with some who seem to think you cannot support feminism--which I do--and not support Hillary Clinton, which, as you know, I do not.
This has led me down the path of thinking about how all women don't have to (and don't) think alike. As luck would have it, as I've been thinking about this, I've stumbled across a few articles that illustrate the point. Here are some links.
(I don't often do these "linkfests," but it seemed appropriate in this case)
Some women don't seem terribly conflicted about supporting Obama at all. Even icons of feminism like Alice Walker, for example, who gives her views on Obama here.
And here's an interview with Obama himself.
Many women do find themselves in a bind this election year, however, namely--shhhhhhhhhhhhh!--they support Obama.
And here is the story of his mother.
And finally, a new scientific, bi-partisan poll conducted for Lifetime, "the network for women" finds Clinton is losing appeal among women.
Also, it's a wash as to whether or not they think she's been impacted negatively by sexist coverage in the news. A notable percentage does think that, but it's not even a majority of her supporters.
But, I've found myself in another argument lately with some who seem to think you cannot support feminism--which I do--and not support Hillary Clinton, which, as you know, I do not.
This has led me down the path of thinking about how all women don't have to (and don't) think alike. As luck would have it, as I've been thinking about this, I've stumbled across a few articles that illustrate the point. Here are some links.
(I don't often do these "linkfests," but it seemed appropriate in this case)
Some women don't seem terribly conflicted about supporting Obama at all. Even icons of feminism like Alice Walker, for example, who gives her views on Obama here.
And here's an interview with Obama himself.
Many women do find themselves in a bind this election year, however, namely--shhhhhhhhhhhhh!--they support Obama.
And here is the story of his mother.
And finally, a new scientific, bi-partisan poll conducted for Lifetime, "the network for women" finds Clinton is losing appeal among women.
Also, it's a wash as to whether or not they think she's been impacted negatively by sexist coverage in the news. A notable percentage does think that, but it's not even a majority of her supporters.
Fun with photos 2
If "My Girlfriend's Boyfriend" had been written in 1963.
(Annabel: I'm not wearing my hair like that.)
I can't take that kind of pressure!
(Besides, I thought everyone knew Jodie Foster was my beard.)
(It seems only fair.)
I simply can't decide. Is this lovely or hideous?
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
99 percent of Americans aren't running for president while U.S. troops are at risk, Joe
As I've mentioned a few times over the years, Joe Scarborough is on the short (very, very, very, very short) list of right-wing louts I could learn to like. But I haven't yet, because he keeps saying the dumbest things. Things like this.
On Media Matters:
Is the bar so low that a potential president is expected to have no better command of our foreign policy than John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt from Peoria or Columbus?
Never mind boycotting the Chinese, let's just sell to them now.
On Media Matters:
Scarborough trots out the most-Americans-don't-know-the-difference defense of McCain's Sunni-Shiite "confus[ion]'
Summary: On Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough defended Sen. John McCain's apparent conflation of Sunni and Shiite Muslims, saying: "The thing is, everybody is obsessing over the fact that he keeps confusing Sunni and Shia. The fact is, I -- you know what? I could start peppering people with questions about Sunnis and Shia and Kurds, and the relationships there, and 99 percent of Americans wouldn't know; 99 percent of Americans wouldn't give a damn."
Is the bar so low that a potential president is expected to have no better command of our foreign policy than John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt from Peoria or Columbus?
Never mind boycotting the Chinese, let's just sell to them now.
Oh, this is really weird.
An actor named Stanley Kamel died this morning. He was known in recent years as Adrian Monk's psychiatrist, Dr. Charles Kroger, in Monk. Would you like to know what series I just rented two seasons of? Would you like to know who I just saw acting not two hours ago?
I hadn't heard that he died, I just felt like watching some Monk and Wednesday is two-for-one day at my video store.
I can't help thinking how sad Adrian Monk would be. I hope this doesn't sound too disrespectful--I certainly mean it as much as a tribute to Kamel's performance as anything else. But of course I didn't know him as a man, only as this character.
He always reminded me of Frank Sinatra, in a way.
I hadn't heard that he died, I just felt like watching some Monk and Wednesday is two-for-one day at my video store.
I can't help thinking how sad Adrian Monk would be. I hope this doesn't sound too disrespectful--I certainly mean it as much as a tribute to Kamel's performance as anything else. But of course I didn't know him as a man, only as this character.
He always reminded me of Frank Sinatra, in a way.
Anyway...
I am presently opposed to Hillary Clinton's candidacy. For me, my opposition lies in the belief that, of the two remaining Democratic candidates, Obama has a better chance of getting done the things that I think need to be done in the next four years.
I think I'm reasonably informed about Mrs. Clinton. I don't know if I could say I've made a serious study of her but I have read a few books about her and her husband. Plus I've lived with her on the world stage for over 15 years.
You may well be asking yourself, what is all this in aid of? It's in aid of leading into this Politico/CBS News story about how if Clinton's presumed competency in running the country is what her supporters are banking on...
...let's just say the campaign has shot a few holes in that theory.
I think I'm reasonably informed about Mrs. Clinton. I don't know if I could say I've made a serious study of her but I have read a few books about her and her husband. Plus I've lived with her on the world stage for over 15 years.
You may well be asking yourself, what is all this in aid of? It's in aid of leading into this Politico/CBS News story about how if Clinton's presumed competency in running the country is what her supporters are banking on...
...let's just say the campaign has shot a few holes in that theory.
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