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.