Saw this trailer posted on Balloon Juice,

And, honestly, despite loving many of these stars (Laura Linney, David Thewlis, Peter Capaldi, Daniel Brühl, Stanley Tucci, etc, ... ) and thinking that Benedict Cumberbatch is the absolutely perfect choice to play Julian Assange, I am not excited about this motion picture.

I do not for a minute believe that Dreamworks and Bill Condon are the right choices for this subject matter.  This seems to me to be the perfect recipe for disaster, an awful film, even if it is boffo at the box office.

I hope I am wrong.

************

Meanwhile, anybody see this amazing story on the front page of the NYT today? (Love my weekender subscription!) Olga Dogaru, who lived in the tiny Romanian village of Carcaliu, became haunted by the staggeringly beautiful paintings her son had brought home in a suitcase one night. There were seven paintings in all, including a Picasso, Matisse, Monet, and Gaugin.

The seven paintings stolen, and supposedly incinerated.

When Ms Dogaru learned that her son was a suspect in one of the greatest art heists in recent times, she thought the best thing to do to protect her son was to incinerate all seven paintings in a wood burning stove! (Or so she says, ... )

Now somebody needs to make a flipping movie of THAT story!

I will get right on it.








Mwah, 
Have a great Friday everyone,
Ardent

Hoo-boy! (No Matter Who You Vote For, The Government Always Gets In)

Flame away, I do not care.  I am going to stand by my positions:

David Simon, and TBogg, and others have got this right.  It was us, you and me, and our numbskull "public servants" who signed off on all this PATRIOT ACT/FISA bullshit.  Why everyone is clutching their pearls, and/or rending their garments in the Trad Media/blogosphere and on both sides of the aisle politically is nearly as disgusting as all the spying.  We, you and me, signed off on all this shit! By either approving it, or allowing to happen.  Why the heck is anybody surprised here? The spying does not even constitute a crime.

Daniel Ellsberg, his friends, and wife.

But heads must roll, and that knucklehead GED kid (who somehow lucked in to doing the right thing) will most certainly have to pay.  And, while I have your attention, too: 

Just saw Gibney's We Steal Secrets, and Assange is not the amazing hero so many portray him to be.  Why the heck is nobody talking about Bradley Manning? But, then again, no one seems to be holding the NYT or The Guardian responsible, either.  Just Assange.  (And, it appears he sold out on a few of his own personal Core Values, too.)

Man, watch The Most Dangerous Man in America again.  Ellsberg; Chomsky; and Zinn, those guys are the badasses.

Those in power will always hate the whistleblower, and they will always collude with other people or institutions of similar power to find the most vulnerable link in the chain to publicly humiliate, incarcerate, torture, or kill said weak link.  Why is any of this so shocking?

No Matter Who You Vote For, The Government Always Gets In.

I love the story Howard Zinn tells

In the spectacular documentary, The Most Dangerous Man in America Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers:  That Ellsberg, a former Marine Corps Troop Commander directed Zinn and his other Cambridge buddy, Noam Chomsky, on how to successfully conduct a non-violent protest on May Day, 1971, instructing them on when to move, when to lay down, when to get arrested, etc, ...

Ellsberg and his wife when they turned themselves in.

And, I also love that before wikileaks and Anonymous, Ellsberg and Tony Russo took on the establishment, the Nixon administration, and all the lies of the previous four administrations, and beat them in court so emphatically that whistle blowers like Julian Assange are now attacked through the media, and on trumped-up unrelated charges.

And, I love that Ellsberg and his wife, Patricia, are still out on the front lines every day, fighting for peace, and making sure we hold our Public Servants truly accountable.  A great great man.  And, an absolute must-see doc.

It was on PBS last night.  And, it is likely they will repeat it again soon.  Please watch.

All my love,


Michael David Spitler