Dec 10, 2009

Wow!

Ms Mulligan goes to Whole Foods.  

Notes All Over The Map 12/10/09

  • For fleeting moments I am slightly optimistic (like Howard Dean and Rep Weiner) about parts of the Senate "compromise", notably the 90% rule and the Medicare 55+ buy-in, but mostly and, I suspect ultimately, I will feel like kos.  I got that same email, too.  What was it Johnny Rotten said in San Francisco, "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?"
  • What have those Democratic victories in 2006 and 2008 achieved for us? The public option polls off the charts, see here (pdf) and here.  Even during TeaBagging August the public option polled well.  It does not matter what the public wants.  Landrieu, Lincoln, Conrad, Lieberman, Nelson, they do not give a shit about you or me.  They either want to protect their current tenures (which won't work, anyway) or keep their "stockholders" i.e. lobbyists and special interests, happy.  If you have a mandate you must deliver to those who have elected you.  
  • Or am I being too tough on our Dems? Ezra Klein on Countdown last night said this compromise was the "end of the beginning" of true health care reform.  
  • Still, one has to wonder, If we cannot do this now? When?
  • Renee and I saw Fantastic Mr Fox.  We both loved it.  Perhaps Renee loved it slightly more than me.  My favorite moment was the explanation of the inscrutable cricket-like game the animals like to play in school.  It was also neat that despite the film being an adaptation of someone else's work and despite that the film is stop-motion model animation it is still a patented Wes Anderson film, probably closest in spirit and story to The Royal Tennenbaums.  If you do not like Wes Anderson movies in general you probably won't like this movie, either.  I always imagined this film would expand his audience.  As much as I loved the film, I don't see him breaking out of his cult shell.  I am not saying he wants too, either.
  • Movie award season has begun.  You go, girl!  
  • Ms Mulligan did not seem to mind her segment on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon being highjacked.  But she was a great sous-chef for Daniel Boulud.
  • Aw, what the hell, she's so great.  And here is more good stuff.  
  • btw, the soundtrack to An Education is phenomenal, too.  2 Juliette Greco songs, a Billy Fury song, the amazing movie titles track, On the Rebound, by Floyd Cramer, plus Beth Orton, Madeleine Peyroux, a blistering rave-up, Sweet Nothings, by Brenda Lee, a Ray Charles track, and for the coup de grace (as Steely Dan said in Show Biz Kids), the Velvet Fog doing this classic that was the inspiration for Lennon's Beatles' show-stopper, I Want You (She's So Heavy).
  • Music did not suck  before the Beatles.  Just rock and roll sucked.
  • I cannot wait!
  • I have not seen Precious yet, or Me and Orson Welles, and I really liked Julie & Julia, and I really loved the brilliant, yet slightly flawed An Education but it is hard for me to believe that any movie of 2009 could top In The Loop.  In The Loop is the smartest, funniest, sharpest, most satisfying film I have seen in years.  You must see it if you get a chance (hopefully it will get a best picture nomination [there are ten films nominated for best picture this year] and enjoy another release) but if not, buy the dvd.  You will not be disappointed.  It is a super-quotable film that has the potential to be as cult-able as Withnail & I.
I love you all out there.  Coming soon in this space:  a review of the Molly Ivins biography and the Beatles' remastered box sets.  

    Nov 29, 2009

    Is Fox a Real News Operation?

    Is Fox a Real News Operation?: "Fox News seems to have a real problem with cutting old footage into new stories."

    Wonkette : All 193% of Republicans Support Palin, Romney and Huckabee


    Wonkette : All 193% of Republicans Support Palin, Romney and Huckabee


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    Hilarious!

    But now Fox is zero tolerance! How many got fired for this beaut.  

    The Girl Can't Help It

    The film, The Girl Can't Help It, though insufferable for long stretches is ultimately a success.  My favorite moments are the Treniers performance and the Fats Domino sequence with the twirling petticoats (and then I think about how many times we've seen those petticoats in hundreds of films and TV shows since.)

    Nov 23, 2009

    Red Zone

    Me and Bruce Jenkins, a sportswriter for the SFChron, don't really get along.  He's like the biggest, all-time Barry Bonds apologist, and a gawd-awful homer for the Giants in general.  Plus he hates everything from OK and TX.

    But in his latest Three Dot Lounge column last Saturday we finally found some common ground.  Not only about Ireland getting hosed last week but especially about the Red Zone channel.  It is heaven on Sunday and I am sure the greedy, clueless NFL will shut it down sooner than later.

    Enjoy it while you can.

    Jules et Jim

    You know, Jules et Jim starts out like it is going to be one of my all-time faves but ultimately falls apart.

    The ending is inevitable but not surprising, and to be honest, for me, I have got to wonder, "What did they like about this woman in the first place?"

    Now that I think about it, the film really starts to go downhill right when we meet Jeanne Moreau.  

    Maybe it is just me.

    Nov 21, 2009

    Nov 19, 2009

    And, Oh Yeah, is

    this is my new favorite song of all-time? Yes, Bill Deal & The Rhondels, damnitt!

    AG Holder, the Justice Dept, and Obama Are Right


    They are absolutely right.  


    We know, folks, why the GOP has got their knickers in a twist.  First, they tortured the guy to justify their Iraq invasion and second, they want to see Obama fail (and by extension, really, the whole country.)

    Steven Simon, an author, and a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, really does a number on the GOP strawmen attacks but I would like to poke a spear in a few of the other lame canards the GOP (and Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Hannity, Beck, yada-yada-yada, ... ) are promoting.

    Some of my best friends are lawyers, ha-ha.  And I've been on a jury.  There is no such thing as a truly IMPARTIAL jury. There just ain't.  What judges ask juries to do is to:  to their best ability put their prejudices aside and adjudicate the case as fairly as they possibly can.  Sure, KSM has got to think that all New Yorkers hate him and would like to stick the needle in, themselves, but where in America would he think otherwise? Even in Berkeley/Oakland East Bay I know he'd have a rough time of it.  Hell, even Kos, from Daily Kos, bans users pronto if they even whisper about Bush 9-1-1 conspiracy theories.  But, just for fun, consider the kind of trial KSM would get in France.  Or the UK, or Germany, or any other Western European ally; Western European nations that suffer from terrorism to a much larger extent than we ever have, and that are just as racist and xenophobic as our country is.  KSM will not be pleased anywhere he is tried.  Tough titties.  And, I am sorry, but I love Holder's sense of poetic justice.  Manhattan should be able to face its' worst terrorist.

    There are two reasons KSM is being tried in the US.  The first, torture notwithstanding, is that Holder is supremely confident in a conviction and a death sentence.  The second is that, finally, the US is acting the way it truly should, as an example of legitimate justice.  This Justice Department and this administration are through w/ torture and Gitmo and John Yoo loopholes.  This trial reflects that shining city on a hill.  It is, quite simply, America at its' finest.

    And for anyone who says that this trial would be a recruiting bonanza for Islam, I would say, you mean more than Abu Ghraib? or waterboarding? or our support for Israel? or the Shah of Iran?

    Be proud as a US citizen to watch this trial unfold.  At last New Yorkers will get justice (and the rest of the world, too.)

    Passion for Lit: Vampires, Palin, and Werewolves

    I live right by a Landmark CinePlex, so on my walk home tonight I saw all the kids (and a few Mums and Dads w/ them) camped out for the Midnight showing.  I have not read the books.  My partner, Renee loves the books and has read them all.  I did watch the first film w/ Renee here at home.  (I think we Redboxed it.)

    Yesterday, of course, Sarah Palin's book tour began in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  Palin attracted a camped-out "Rock" crowd as well.

    The crowds were somewhat different.  In Palin's case there were fewer kids, tweens, etc, ... And the kids that were there were attached to their families.  Both crowds were overwhelmingly white.

    (btw, Fox News issued their second apology in about one week's time:  Hannity [again, jeez] showed footage from a campaign rally last year, claiming it to be from the Michigan book tour appearance thus trying to pump up the Palin fever.)

    The one thing Palin's book and the Twilight books seem to me to have in common is that the heroine in both is a victim.


    Hey, I would much rather have kids reading the Twilight books than Going Rouge Rogue (and it's great that kids are reading fiction, period) but it would be nice to see kids all fired-up about an empowered tween, woman, etc, ... heroine.

    Most Republicans think ACORN stole the 2008 election

    Most Republicans think ACORN stole the 2008 election

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    Stewart covers the Palin book tour drama

    Stewart covers the Palin book tour drama

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    GOP Rep. claims Republicans passed civil rights laws without Democrats

    GOP Rep. claims Republicans passed civil rights laws without Democrats

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    Fox uses 2008 rally footage to claim Palin getting huge crowds on book tour

    Fox uses 2008 rally footage to claim Palin getting huge crowds on book tour

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    FL-Sen: Bombshell results

    FL-Sen: Bombshell results

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    Nov 18, 2009

    Sunrise

    Murnau's Sunrise is a breathtaking, magical motion picture that should be required viewing for every high school student in this country.  


    It is beyond beautful.  I hope it passes the Godfather movies in the next Sight and Sound poll.

    Wes Anderson

    I finally understand my relationship w/ Wes Anderson movies.  I know that I'm being seduced by somthing lovely, yet slight and often shallow.  But it is so lovely and the movies seduce so well that I succumb anyway. 

    10 Reasons That Sarah Palin Could Win the Republican Nomination

    10 Reasons That Sarah Palin Could Win the Republican Nomination

    Nov 12, 2009

    Dobbs

    Lou Dobbs & Fox News announce their new deal in 5 ... 4 ... 3 ... 2 ... , ... 

    An Education (film), a review.

    An Education, directed by Lone Scherfig, is certainly a flawed film.  The ending is too tidy & contains a superfluous 'I'm working hard' montage & voiceover.


    Despite this, I cannot stop thinking about this film.  


    I suspect the tidy ending was dictated by the producers (aiming for a mass American audience & nominations for the film itself & Carey Mulligan) but then I also remember that Scherfig's other indie hit, Italian for Beginners, had a perhaps too tidy ending, as well.


    I should reveal my disclaimer now.  I have been a huge fan of Ms Mulligan for a few years now.  I've seen her in The Amazing Mrs Pritchard, an episode of Miss Marple,  the fabulous BBC Bleak House, and of course in the most recent film version of Pride & Prejudice. 


    An Education was shown at Sundance earlier this year.  Ruthe Stein, of the SFChron, one of my favorite reviewers, raved about her, comparing her to Audrey Hepburn, a comparison that will become ubiquitous in print over Oscar season next year.  


    Ms Stein's notice about Sundance was months ago.  I have been patiently waiting for this motion picture.  More information trickled in:  Nick Hornby wrote the screenplay, it was based on a memoir, Dominic Cooper (one of the best actors working today) was in it, Peter Sarsgaard, who was also her co-star in The Seagull, New York and West End, was in it, Rosamund Pike was in it, Emma Thompson was in it and Olivia Williams from Rushmore and Spaced was in it.  Finally when Renee and I sat down in the theater we learned Sally Hawkins was in it.


    This film, ultimately, is full of great screenwriting, great performances, and is buffered by a sterling soundtrack (maybe Nick Hornby had something to do with that?) 


    Alfred Molina perfectly represents the early 60s English verisimilitude of a woman's place in society, he's desperate to get his daughter in to Oxford, but if an older, wealthy man would wed her, Oxford is forgotten.


    Molina & Ms Thompson (and Hornby) are also almost pitch-perfect with England's (and probably most of Western Europe's) anti-semitism.  Ms Thompson's speech about her Christian liberal guilt over the Holocaust, yet reminding Ms Mulligan that it was those of Ms Mulligan's boyfriend's faith that murdered 'our Lord' is sobering to say the least.  Ms Mulligan's reply to this speech, "Our Lord was a Jew," is not essential to this critic, and reflects a weakness in Hornby's otherwise perfect script.


    One of the best scenes in the film is The Auction, wherein the heroes of our film buy a pre-raphaelite painting for a mere 220 quid ($660 back then).  Or the nightclub scene where an ultra-sexy Beth Orton sings as Ms Mulligan is introduced to a world that a sixteen year old, such as her, could only dream of.  This scene contains one of Mulligan's finest moments.  Her performance of the line, "I love the pre-raphaelites!" sums up my entire gay experiment in college.  


    Mulligan's other sterling moment is the virginity scene, before and after.  She wrests control from her lover, twice her age, setting the rules for making love in an adult fashion to her condescending lover, and after the act, her curt, honest dismissal of it.


    Mulligan's attraction I believe is due to her perfect nose, dimples, and deep voice.  She is a great actress, too.  Her reedy deep voice lends weight to her obviously young self.  It barely defeats her performance in this film.  It is obvious Ms Mulligan is not sixteen years old.


    As intoxicated as I am with the notion that Ms Mulligan resembles Audrey Hepburn, I believe Ms Mulligan, despite her height and figure, more resembles Lauren Bacall.  Which to tell the truth, is a trade-off I'd make in my sleep (I cannot stand Audrey Hepburn, except in Two for the Road.)


    I fully expect An Education to get a Best Picture Nomination (there are 10! this year.) And Ms Mulligan will certainly get a Best Actress nomination.  I think she has a better than not chance to make that walk in March.  The Academy loves youngsters & grizzled veterans in this category and Ms Streep is in a comedy this year (Julie  and Julia.)