I don't like this poster as much as the first one*

--but it's growing on me.



He's Got The Whole World In His Hands...



*"The Game Comes Full Circle," at right.

10 Transports of Delight

In the past couple of years, Cool Runnings has become one of those movies which every time it's on TV, which it is a fair amount, I nearly always have to stop and watch, at least part of it. This is one of my favorite parts to stop and watch.



It's one of my favorite John Candy movies (and actually the whole ensemble's good), along with Planes, Trains & Automobiles, Stripes, and Splash ("...what about that, huh? What about a woman showing up naked in a public place, Freddie?" "Well I'm for it, of course."

In the above scene, BTW, notice that tbe whole "Derice, remember the radio? Radio? stick, hitting with the stick?" sequence seems to have been assembled from reused footage and ADR...but it works.

11 efficient excellencies

A new Amazon review by me is up--and it's of a book (actually, a Book On Tape) you may be surprised to read that I loved. I know I was.

A Tidy 12

Once again, I am completely out of the mainstream when it comes to television. I don't watch any of the top-rated shows of the moment. In an odd way, I find that reassuring...even though I know it'll only last until House comes back and I start feeling all common again (it's the same feeling I get when I have to admit I like the shape of Angelina Jolie).

Two unrelated observations

1. Boring, stupid people do not become any less boring or stupid when in the nude, no matter how good-looking they are.

2. I've seen the Rebecca Gayheart/Kari-Ann Peniche/Eric Dane tape.

OK, they're not really unrelated...

13 Turned loose, Unburdened and Relaxed

82278287BM272_60th_Primetim
Originally uploaded by Cujoy

A contrarian view of 'Mad Men'

It's no great pleasure to stare for hours at a show that everyone is supposed to (nay, commanded to) adore and come away feeling depressed, underserved and unhip in every way...

Heretical as it may seem to say, "Mad Men" is the truest example of style over substance.

Try as I might, "Mad Men" fails to resonate, settle in, tell me something. It can no longer get out of its own way so as to allow its multiple story lines to experience actual forward momentum. (Only the calendar does that.)



A little dab of "Mad Men's" style goes a long way. If you find yourself with a stack of old episodes, getting ready for more of the "Mad Men" craze, and you want to believe, and yet you lack faith, I am here to absolve you. You read it here first: You do not have to watch "Mad Men."

Free!

This is beautiful...

Have you ever wondered, how low can the conservatives go?

Last week, Las Vegas radio station KDWN AM720 sponsored a “contentious” town hall, emceed by conservative morning show host Heidi Harris. At the event, local news stations were interviewing an Israeli man who was praising the “fantastic” “national health care” in Israel. During his remarks, a woman yelled out, “Heil Hitler!”

That's how low.

Recommended reading

Robert Reich:

The President's centeredness, calm, and dignity inspire trust but also suggest a certain lack of combativeness, a reluctance to express indignation, and an unwillingness to identify enemies -- resulting in a tendency toward compromise even at the early stages of controversy.

Obama may be temperamentally incapable of being more combative and identifying enemies. But surely he can state less equivocally what he does and does not want -- and, with regard to key matters such as the public option, what he'll sign and what he won't.

The widening gap between admiration for Obama and cynicism about his policies also reinforces passivity in Obama's base, which makes it even harder to advance a specific agenda. His presidential campaign strengthened the nation's political grass roots and spawned hope for a new era of public engagement, but Obama's reluctance to fight for any specifics is causing the base to lose interest.

angry piece of shit dumbass racist skinhead calls for the physical beating of politicians.

Conservatives say, "Now that's the face we want to project to America!"

Y'know...I've said this before, but it bears repeating. It may be that the one thing for which I will never be able to forgive John McCain is that he elevated an angry piece of shit dumbass racist skinhead like Sam "Joe the Plumber," Wurzelbacher to the national stage.

During his appearance at the Americans for Prosperity RightOnline conference in Pittsburgh, August 15, Joe the Plumber said that in the old days, politicians would have been “taken behind the woodshed and slapped upside the head a couple times.” But, he said, “I don’t advocate violence.”

I don’t either, “Joe.” That's why I'm sure you'll understand I'm not advocating for violence when I say:

In the old days, angry piece of shit dumbass racist skinheads like you would rot behind bars for stealing drugs from dentists’ offices. And get punched out in the yard so many times you wouldn't be able to say "Joe the plumber"...much less your real name and occupation.

But I don't advovate for violence. I'm just saying, in my good old days--which are at least as real as your good old days--that's exactly what would happen.

Memories...

I wonder if we could somehow get President Barack Obama a copy of The American President...

As you know, I've been getting a sinking feeling about President Obama (and his administration)'s apparent desire to make nice with Republicans. Especially at the expense of the progressives who got him elected or what I think they used to call "real, meaningful reform."

I'm far from the only one. Robert Kuttner of the American Prospect, for example, penned a piece for Huffington in which he says:

Clearly, the administration playbook is to stick to the high road and not take the argument to the other side. But the strategy isn't working. The approval ratings for both the president and for his health plan are falling. He isn't even inspiring his own strongest grass roots backers to turn out in numbers at support rallies.

Now, this is the end of a speech from The American President, one of my favorite movies (& my first Sorkin!). It's a speech that would make anybody in the liberal wing of the Democratic party's heart surge with warmth.

We've got serious problems, and we need serious people, and if you want to talk about character, Bob, you'd better come at me with more than a burning flag and a membership card. If you want to talk about character and American values, fine. Just tell me where and when, and I'll show up. This is a time for serious people, Bob, and your fifteen minutes are up.

As you also know, when I am feeling low about my government and elected leaders, I like to think of Presidents as played by Martin Sheen. Or in this case, Michael Douglas. Instead, I got...

(And now we're back to the HuffPo. BTW, there is no significance to the fact that the writer of that post is named Robert, and the character Douglas is addressing in the quote is called Bob. Just a coincidence.)

Instead, I got...

At his own town hall meeting in Portsmouth, New Hampshire August 11, Obama was quite eloquent and detailed on the foolishness of the "death panel" lies, and he also said this:

Every time we come close to passing health insurance reform, the special interests fight back with everything they've got. They use their influence. They use their political allies to scare and mislead the American people. They start running ads. This is what they always do.

But, oddly, he didn't name the "special interests" (like the insurance and drug industry) because they are nominally part of his reform coalition.

I wonder if we could somehow get President Barack Obama a copy of The American President.

15 Freaky Fondnesses

President Obama:

When someone as deranged as Jigsaw is sounding saner than you about health care...it's a sign of something.

16 Stunners of Style

A classic by Stephen Sondheim.



A song that outlived its show.

You'll have to deal with Pressure/You used to call me paranoid/But even you can not avoid/Pressure! /You turned the tap dance into your crusade...

From the AP:

White House appears ready to drop 'public option'

Bowing to Republican pressure, President Barack Obama's administration signaled on Sunday it is ready to abandon the idea of giving Americans the option of government-run insurance as part of a new U.S. health care system

Republican pressure? Republican pressure? In what state outside the state of mind apparently endemic of Washington, DC, do the Republicans have enough substance to force pressure?

You've got to be kidding me.

The Republicans should be embodied by their last standard-bearer. John McCain, despite what could've been and should've been a genuinely inspiring personal story, hollowed himself out in hopes of aiding his rise to the top.

The Republicans are men and women of Jello. And the only thing keeping them in the driver's seat...is that the Democrats are men and women of pudding.

Republican pressure. Good god.

Un-fucking-believable. No matter how little the GOP gets-and they are very, very little, in any number of ways-it's clear they still have the whip hand.

Why are Democrats always so fucking timid?

Republicans say a public option would have unfair advantages that would drive private insurers out of business.

You're breaking my heart...

Hmm.

I thought this was going to be another one of those links to articles about which I have very little to say except that I think I agree.

Turns out I did have a little something to say after all.

I love when that happens.

Keli Goff in the Huffington Post:

...I believed that Hillary Clinton's problem [in the 2008 primaries] was not sexism but Hillary-ism, as in the people who were criticizing her did not have a problem with all women, but they did have a problem with her. As proof of this I noted analysis during the primary indicating that while women as a whole were a stronghold for Clinton, younger women were not.

But...

If someone had asked former Secretary of State Colin Powell what his lovely wife Alma thought of a particular policy issue, my guess is he would have been incredulous too. But the reality is no one would ask Secretary Powell that. I know some might argue that it is an unfair comparison, that Secretary Clinton is unique because she is married to a former president, but how many times was the most recent President Bush asked to articulate the policy positions of his father, the former president?

I found myself pretty frustrated with Hillary Clinton and her supporters last year too, as some of you may recall, but this is hard to argue with.

It's also interesting to me that in a weird way it's the exact same issues of female sexuality and power that I've been looking at in my blogs with regard to the "Megan Fox is dumb" stories...

17 Wonders of the World

I saw this on the Keith Olbermann show the other day, and it needs must be shared.

It seems that a couple vacationing at a rocky lake area, as couples vacationing are wont to do, wanted to take a picture or two of themselves by which to remember this time by.

So they set up a camera with an automatic timer and got themselves into position.

When, at precisely the right moment...

How the National Enquirer saved America

From the TV Barn:

So it was all true. Sigh.

John Edwards' paternity test proves he fathered the baby. As for Elizabeth, she long ago admitted to covering up the affair — and the push for healthcare reform sadly lost a powerful advocate.

The skanky tabloid press was 100 percent accurate, the good-guy reformer who defended the defenseless turned out to be 100 percent liar, and though America was harmed in the process, imagine if the guy had been put on the ticket. Kudos, National Enquirer.

How you know when 1970s nostalgia has gone too far

The Wonder Twins are coming to Smallville

If casting sides that Spoiler TV put up last week are accurate, the twins should appear in the 5th episode of the upcoming season, titled Idol.

On the bright side, this is who's playing Jayna, so it might be worth checking out at that.

18 Marvels of Regard for the Irreverent

Here, George Carlin shows why he belonged on the comedian's Mount Rushmore (with Richard Pryor and Lenny Bruce). It's not just that he could literally make you laugh until tears came to your eyes...



It's that in the service of doing so, even with one of the most cliched subjects for 1990's comedy, he's returning to one of his best larger themes: How we use language--let me rephrase that, how language is used against us-to keep us disconnected from each other.

God, I loved that man.

19 Incidents of the incidental

Which of these records were not #1 US Hits of 1988?

"One More Try," George Michael

"Pale Shelter," Tears For Fears

"Being Boring" Pet Shop Boys

"I Get Weak," Belinda Carlisle

"Beds Are Burning," Midnight Oil

"Wishing Well" Terence Trent D’Arby

“Anything for You" Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine

"Father Figure" George Michael

"Got My Mind Set On You," George Harrison

"1 2 3" - Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine

“My Prerogative" Bobby Brown

“Two Hearts" Phil Collins

Think you know? Now go check this out.

An end to Grace

Saving Grace, with Holly Hunter, will finish its run next summer. Reportedly the studio was losing money on it.

According to the show’s creator, Nancy Miller, TNT wanted a full-season order for the series, but Fox, the show’s studio, declined for budgetary reasons.

Fox...the same studio that (in network form) hung my Terminator out to dry...

While Miller would have liked to see the show continue beyond the episodes scheduled for 2010, she said she is glad she got to tell the story about Grace Hanadarko, an Oklahoma City detective whose life is transformed by the appearance of a guardian angel.

"Here’s the deal. I got to set a show in Oklahoma City, my hometown, tell the story of Grace Hanadarko and explore God. [But] the DVDs are not selling, they can’t sell it foreign, and they’ve already lost a lot of money, and they don’t see any of that changing.

Great...now I feel guilty for not buying the DVDs. But then, what would a show exploring God be without a little guilt? Oh, well. This is one of the shows for which I've been most thankful in the last year or two.

For a while, at least, I got to see my favorite actress on television once a week. Besides that, I'll miss, among other things, the inter-female relationships on the show.

These were some of the best on television, by which I mean the ladies actually talk to each other about things besides men. And what ladies they were.

Any series that stars Holly Hunter, with the luscious (and hugely gifted) Laura San Giacomo in a featured role, with episodic appearances by the likes of Christina Ricci...





...well, for a show like that to fail may just prove that God is dead.

In recent episodes, besides Hunter & Giacomo, I've really become aware of what a great ensemble the cast has become.

When Hunter was absent from the middle third of an episode (her character had been kidnapped and the others came together to figure out who had taken her), I barely missed her at all.

But...for me not to miss Holly Hunter? To underscore: Not just as a guy who thinks she's a babe is she my favorite actress. If I were one (an actress) she'd be one of my role models.

Now, if I wanted to be dark, sardonic and bitter, I'd say that this year, first the networks took my Life, and now they've taken my Grace.

If I wanted to be dark, sardonic and bitter.

But fortunately, I don't. And anyway, as I quoted earlier, it seems to be the studio, not the network that killed this one.

Michael Wright, head of programming for TNT, told The Hollywood Reporter that he was disappointed to be losing the show prematurely.

TNT wanted more and (unlike NBC with Life, he said pointedly), I can't be mad at them for a lack of promotion. They hyped the heck out of the series.



Oh, well...