NOTES

Gatsby and Gastro

2011-08-26T16:24:00.012-06:00

After dealing with a full blown sweating, painful food allergy attack, and laying in bed in between bathroom and water trips, I decided to get out of bed and be a food detective to figure what bothered my stomach so much. I cleaned, researched, did laundry all while watching "The Great Gatsby" on television. More about that later...

After a night of cheese enchiladas, chicken quesadilla's and ice cream, then pizza for lunch, my body was not happy. I was getting a sever pain under my ribcage every hour. I literally had to hold my stomach when I laughed or moved too much. I came home from and lets just say I was unable to 'hold on' to any food that I was trying to eat. I even tried chicken broth, to no avail.

Now I'm not saying I'm lactose intolerant or have celiac (which genetically runs in the family), but I do love cheese. I put cheese on everything. In college I put Tostito's queso on hot pockets and frozen burritos. What can I say, I'm dedicated? Some people like sweets, I want a slice of Gruyere melted on toast. Could cheese be my new nemesis? I've already switched to almond milk, just in case.

As I get older it's probably time to start reflecting on what I do eat and what helps my body run properly. I have found ways to cut out processed and canned foods, which means I eat a little more organically, without the added cost of buying organic labels, I might add. I drink plenty of water, a necessity in Houston.

I've already learned what red meat does to me. We already know they've linked it to obesity, arthritis and hypertension. When I eat it I feel sluggish and, although to some it may sound melodramatic I can literally feel it in my stomach for a while after I eat it. We just don't work red meat and I. With all the infected turkey going around I've switched to chicken as my main source of protein.

I like coffee and consistently have one mug a day; no sugar, just non-dairy creamer. Everything I read says coffee raises stress levels and contributes to weight gain. I could try and give up coffee, there are some mornings where I'm not particularly interested in it, so maybe that's a sign I don't really need it. I can try tea or a hot breakfast.

I guess I'll be taking a culinary journey in nutrition and health.

As I sat home nursing my stomach, I ran across "The Great Gatsby". I read the book a few years ago and found it all style and mood, with no real plot or meaning. I figured this was the tone Fitzgerald wanted and I grew to be satisfied with the emptiness of the characters. The movie however is all style and no substance. You never get to the internal of all these decadent people. For all their talking and emoting you never truly understand their motives are. The casting is key when style is the main operation. Robert Redford and Mia Farrow play the romance perfectly, but it's an empty venture, they never click together for us. I won't say I was disappointed, in fact the movie I watched was exactly how I felt about the book; a deep, distant appreciation. Here's hoping the new Baz Luhrmann version can balance the style and the gravitas!

Cooking

2011-08-23T16:27:00.005-06:00

Working in retail you rarely have the luxury of having two consecutive days off. That being said I am at the tail end of two days off and I have enjoyed them. Besides reading and running, I have been cooking.

I tried a new recipe from a Food Network chef I've never heard of, Tyler Florence. I wanted to make a pizza and this hit the spot! You make the pizza sauce at home, which I love and the focus of the sauce is more about the tomatoes then the actual watery sauce. My only addition to the pizza was Italian sausage, to satiate the meat lover in my home. I thought it was an easy recipe, although I added a little more cook time to ensure the dough was crispy.

Here it is mid bake...

Here's the link to the original recipe if you want to try it as well.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tylers-ultimate/pizza-margherita-recipe/index.html

I made myself a left over lunch, of sorts. We had roast chicken in the fridge, so I decided to heat some pieces with garlic and pepper. I had some multi-grain wraps in the fridge and I filled them with cheddar cheese, gluten free salsa and green leaf lettuce. Delicious and nutritious!

Oh Land "Wolf and I"

2011-08-22T16:46:00.001-06:00

Please don't ask me why, this song just sounds better live. Listen and enjoy!

Dick and Liz

2011-08-21T14:13:00.006-06:00

I've been reading a book about Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor called, "Furious Love, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and The Marriage of the Century" by Sam Kashner and I cannot stop! I've always had a little crush on Richard Burton. He's so sexy without having the blessing of actually being attractive. If you watch him when he's playing kings or cads, he's powerful and makes him so much more attractive.

Now Elizabeth Taylor was the last great star of the era which birthed all the 'real' stars that have ever really mattered. She could be loud, drunk, over weight, over the top, but also fantastically talented, powerful and always exciting. She could go from brilliantly shrill in "Suddenly, Last Summer" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" to subtle in "Giant" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof". No matter what the role she always found a way to make it exciting.

The books delves into their relationship form beginning to end and then to the remarriage and divorce again. I cannot wait to see how it all plays out.

I guess it's time to watch "Cleopatra", although I doubt I have the patience to sit through the whole four hours. I'll watch it in four one hour increments.

2009-06-18T08:10:00.002-06:00

1. Persona (dir. Ingmar Bergman. Liv Ullman and Bibi Andersson)*
2. The Hours (dir. Stephen Daldry. Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore and Meryl Streep)*
3. Magnolia (dir. p.t. anderson. Julianne Moore and Tom Cruise)*
4. Aliens (dir. James Cameron. Sigourney Weaver)*
5. Reds (dir. Warren Beatty. Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton)*
6. Rebecca (dir. Alfred Hitchcock. Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine)*
7. Darling (dir. John Schlesinger. Julie Christie)*
8. Terms of Endearment (dir. James Brooks. Shirley Maclaine and Debra Winger)*
9. Network (dir. Sidney Lumet. Faye Dunaway and Peter Finch)*
10. Annie Hall (dir. Woody Allen. Diane Keaton)*

11. Basic Instinct (dir. Paul Verhoeven. Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone)*
12. Cabaret (dir. Bob Fosse. Liza Minnelli)*

13. Klute (dir. Alan Pakula. Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland)

14. Now, Voyager (Bette Davis)*

15. Hud (Paul Newman and Patricia Neal)*
16. The Exorcist (dir. William Friedkin. Ellen Burstyn)*

17. Fatal Attraction (dir. Adrian Lyne. Michael Douglas and Glenn Close)*
18. Rosemary's Baby (dir. Roman Polanski. Mia Farrow)*
19. Sunset BLVD. (Dir. Billy Wilder. William Holden and Gloria Swanson)*
20. Broadcast News (dir. James Brooks. Holly Hunter and William Hurt)

21. Birth
22. All About Eve
23. Alien
24. Closer
25. Cries and Whispers
26. The Departed
27. Don't Look Now
28. The Haunting
29. The Ice Storm
30. Kill Bill

31. The Long Kiss Goodnight
32. Lost in Translation
33. Repulsion
34. The Silence of the Lambs
35. Sisters
36. A Streetcar Named Desire
37. Thelma and Louise
38. Wonder Boys
39. 21 Grams
40. Badlands

41. Belle de Jour
42. The Big Chill
43. The Birds
44. Blade Runner
45. Blue
46. Boogie Nights
47. The Shining
48. Candyman
49. Carnival of Souls
50. Carrie

51. Casino
52. The Center of the World
53. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
54. Crash (1996)
55. Dead Man Walking
56. Damage
57. Elizabeth
58. Hilary and Jackie
59. I Heart Huckabees
60. In the Cut

61. In the Mood For Love
62. Jackie Brown
63. Last Tango in Paris
64. Laurel Canyon
65. Match Point
66. Pollock
67. Reflections in a Goldeneye
68. The Portrait of a Lady
69. The Royal Tenenbaums
70. Scream

2009-06-17T07:27:00.000-06:00

71. Bull Durham
72. The Stepford Wives (70's)
73. Sunday Bloody Sunday
74. Suspiria
75. The Way We Were
76. Chinatown
77. 2001: A Space Odyssey
78. Double Indemnity
79. The Last Seduction
80. Funny Girl

81-90

2009-05-28T11:45:00.010-06:00

81. The Apartment

I like Shirley MacLaine, but in this movie I really liked Jack Lemmon. He's that every man that we rarely see anymore (maybe Seth Rogen?). In his attempt to try and do the right thing he ends up with a cold and falls in love with the elevator girl (MacLaine), who is sleeping with his married boss. Made in 1960 the movie still sparkles with heart and humor.

82. Midnight Cowboy

Jon Voight was a force of nature back in the 70's. I did a little movie marathon of his films ("Coming Home", "Deliverance" and "Midnight Cowboy") and the man is phenomenally talented actor. Nobody plays stupid like he does. He sheds away all of his intelligence which shows up in the previously metioned films. The movie wants to be sad, but for me it glided by on a Wes Anderosn like melancholy; you can't help but laugh at some of the uncomfortable moments.

83. Monster's Ball

I think I cried in this movie for about an hour until Halle Berry asked Billy Bob Thorton to make her feel good. The movie starts out so depressing, so heavy hearted that we to want to feel good and that is exactly what the movie sets out to do with its last hour. It follows these two as they start a tentative romance that gives both of them hope for the future. This photo is the last shot in the movie I believe and it shows exactly what we were meant to take away from "Monster's Ball".

84. The Graduate

Still sexy, still funny. "The Graduate" may be a punchline now, but Anne Bancroft's Mrs. Robinson is still one sexy, cold character. I still think Dustin Hoffman is insanely sexy in this movie as the new graduate coming home for the summer. His relationship with Mrs. Robinson's daughter Elaine feels forced, but Katherine Ross makes it work. The last scene impliesimplies so much I'm still waiting for a sequel. (Not "Rumor Has It"!!)

85. The Grifters

86. High Tension

87. Atonement

88. Chicago

89. Ghost World

90. The Contender

100-91

2009-05-25T09:17:00.042-06:00

91. Best in Show

You only have to see this clip below to understand the wacky, off the wall (yet close to many people's homes) characters that inhabit a Christopher guest movie. The camera swirls around the hotel guests who have entered their dogs in a pageant. To me this was his peak of insanity. His latter films teetered more towards real human beings and therefore, to me, less fun. In this film the ensemble of actors all stand out and find their own moments to shine.

92. Elevator to the Gallows

Louis Malle's first film, backed by the ultimate French acting queen Jeanne Moreau, is the first anticlimactic thriller. Nothing really happens. There are no loud explosions, intense chase scenes, just a man trapped in an elevator who has just killed his lovers husband. The wife, Moreau, who waits, confused and ends up wandering the streets after she sees her lovers car go off with another woman. This all plays out in front of a perfect score by Miles Davis. Very French.

93. A History of Violence

I always find it interesting that people have not seen this film. It's appears so generic, so formulaic in the trailer I had assumed people would run to it. not so much I guess. Everything about David Cronenberg's direction, having everything appear so apple cheeked normal, that when blood starts flying you are genuinely shocked.

I've re-watched it a few times and one thing that is very interesting to note; the violence is always instigating by someone other than the protagonist,(Viggo Mortensen, who tries his hand at diplomacy. Only when pushed does he respond with rather skilled attacks. Mortensen and Maria Bello (who has what could be called the dominant role) will always go down in my memory as two character actors who made more of the screenplay that there seemed to be on paper. A sex scene in the latter half of the movie proves my point that once provoked Mortensen will get rough. Rough indeed.

94. Battle Royale

I call this film bat shit crazy! Not a very proper English description, I know, how else to describe this movie? The prologue of this movie sets it up very well saying, "at the dawn of the millennium, the nation collapsed. At fifteen percent unemployment, ten million were out of work. 800,000 students boycotted school. The adults lost confidence, and fearing the youth, eventually passed the Millennium Educational Reform Act - AKA: The BR Act...".

So...they drop a group of kids on an island and inform them they have to kill each other and the one winner gets to go back home. There are all these rules in place so that you really must kill someone or you yourself will die. Drama and violence ensue. Friendships are declared then betrayed as they find ways to kill each other. Truly, an expert film about human nature and survival.

I have extra admiration for the girl who was sleeping with the horny boys and then killing them. Hey, they probably want to lose their virginity before they die, they probably just didn't realize it would be so sudden. Smart bitch.

The picture above is one of the films first images. That little girl managed to survive and look at that face. She'll make a nice housewife someday.

95. Breakfast at Tiffany's

As effervescent as champagne, "Breakfast at Tiffany's" is not my favorite Audrey Hepburn movie, but it is my favorite Hepburn performance. She's magnificent, shooting sparks off at every minute, while managing to play the movie's quieter moments gracefully. The story traveled far from Truman Capote's original; the original Holly Golightly's hooker antics were a bit more detailed, but something about that final scene always grabs me, the song...the cat...the rain, its pure magic. Even if the characters spend the first hour as caricatures, Hepburn brings me to tears in the final scene looking for that damn cat! P.S. all movies benefit from a supporting role by Patricia Neal.

96. INLAND EMPIRE

"INLAND EMPIRE" succeeds because it does what every David Lynch movie should do, which is embedding its images deep in your mind. Lynch said the film should be viewed like an art installation and with this mind set you can fully enjoy the bumpy road trip. Remember enjoy the ride, not the destination. Trying to figure out the movie is not the point.
The director does maximize the face of Laura Dern, who seriously deserved more credit than she will ever be given for following her director to strange, sometimes even insane places (sidewalks of Hollywood mingling with hookers and illegal immigrants, etc).
After "Blue Velvet" and "Wild at Heart" it could be said that she's the muse in his crazy dream world. he even sat on the side of the highway with a cow and poster suggesting she be nominated for an Academy Award. It doesn't get any more "Lynchian" than that.

97. The Innocents

This film would be ripe for remaking although I doubt anyone would give it the quiet tension it had in the 60's. Deborah Kerr plays a young governess who takes a job watching two children. Seems the previous governess had a fling with the valet and things ended badly. The couple begin showing up in the garden and creeping behind windows at night as the governess begins to suspect the children know more than they should.
A simple retelling of Henry James "The Turn of the Screw", this movie has fallen to the sadly forgotten bin. Why? Truman Capote wrote the script. Kerr maximizes the suspense with her emotive performance. Never schlocky, always subtle and beautiful creepy this film goes down as one of my favorite scary movies.
Just watch the clip to see what I mean.

98. The Pianist

I have only seen "The Pianist" once. The date who was with me was forgettable, but I distinctly remember crying so much in this movie I could never go out with him again. The pure emotion, the unrelenting sadness and violence that director Roman Polanski displayed shook me up. I'll be the first to say I'm not a huge fan of any Holocaust movie. This movie may be the reason why. Adrian Brody won a well deserved Oscar over such legendary actors like Jack Nicholson, Michael Caine and Daniel Day-Lewis.

99. The Talented Mr. Ripley

A beautiful, delicious photographed setting sets the the stage for Matt Damon's hardly repressed homosexual killer in my favorite Anthony Minghella adaption. After "The English Patient" and before "Cold Mountain", Minghella adapted Patricia Highsmith's suspense yarn, blowing up characters (like Cate Blanchett's American debutante) and casting such attractive, talented actors that the movie comes alive. Not a typical thriller where the leading lady is running from a knife wielding maniac, Minghella stages the suspense with deep probing dialogue. You feel for the knife wielding maniac (or in this film, an orr, a statue, a scarf, almost a razor blade). Damon, sadly overlooked for an Academy Award nomination, has a great supporting cast in Jude Law (seriously the most devilishly attractive he's ever been), Gwyneth Paltrow (playing a variation on her delicate intelligence to perfection) and Phillip Seymour Hoffman (brief, but memorably decadent.)

100. A Clockwork Orange

I saw this movie in High School and although I was very disturbed I didn't really get it. I have to say I've usually felt this with all of Stanley Kubrick's work. I'm drawn to them, but it takes a few weeks (or years) for me to figure out what he's saying or if he's saying anything at all. "A Clockwork Orange" definitely has something to say; something about the violence we as a society condemn then instigate, in essence paying forward. The movie plays circular as Alex (a very young Malcolm McDowell) must view all of the violence he has caused if only to be repulsed by it (in hopes that it will subvert it in his mind) and then back to his violent ways. Was Kubrick saying violence is breed deep in your genes, therefore your ARE violent? Who knows?

Top 100; the ten spillovers.

2009-05-19T11:32:00.024-06:00

I always make lists and for a while I've been trying to narrow my favorite films down to 100. This is difficult. I like a lot of different films; films that challenge me, disturb me, inspire me. I can suggest films for particular people, but for me the movies that I ended up narrowing it down to are films I will forever remember, watch and still find a kernel of inspiration. Call them the 'Muses'.

These 10 almost made it onto the list but for some reason they were too recent, too commercial or I haven't formed a full appreciation of them. Remember these are my favorites, not the best or the most influential globally. They're just movies that I love.

101. We Don’t Live Here Anymore
This domestic, frosty "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" doesn't equal the latter's intensity. In it's quiet energy and extremely pointed way it manages to get into your head instead of your heart. Strange direction to take for a relationship film, but I can't complain, it sizzles. The acting is beyond top notch, especially Laura Dern's searing, spurned wife.

102. Vanilla Sky
"Vanilla Sky" made me fall in love with it's three stars. I was starting to like Tom Cruise in 1999 when he appeared in "magnolia" and "Eyes Wide Shut". After that film he started to do things that were more interesting, more provocative; "Vanilla Sky", "Minority Report", "Collateral", and then sadly he went downhill again. Cameron Diaz was lovable in almost everything she did, this movie helped me see she may actually have some chops. Those were tears behind her flacid smile this time around. Wonder what Paris Hilton could have done with this part? Penelope Cruz had infinitely annoyed me, mostly because you could tell she had memorized the script. I know this to be true because recently she admitted to it. In this film she set us up for what would become the next decade of wonderful, full roles in English and Spanish ("Volver", "Elegy" and "Vicky Cristina Barcelona").

The film itself managed to be both romantic and mysterious, including elements from the original and branded with Cameron Crowe's stamp of pop culture infusion. I fell in love with it in 2001 and although it still manages to pull at my brain, the over elaborated ending has me running for the remote before I'm told AGAIN how the movie 'really' played out.

103. Rachel Getting Married

I don't think anybody likes this movie as much as I do. It touches me for some reason. I feel like I know Kym and her family. Many people complain about the scenes that go on and on, which is how I feel at weddings anyways, so it was typical for me to be bored during endless speeches. The actors breath so much life into these characters that every movement starts to feel very real and very raw.

104. Funny Games

No movie has disturbed me as much as "Funny Games". It's not a movie I suggest for everyone. It doesn't give you what you want at every turn. Every scene manages to hide what you want to see, shows what you'd prefer not to view; it's exhausting. Nothing about this movie is enjoyable, except maybe the acting by Michael Pitt and Naomi Watts. I can't help but enjoying it for the art and the message its desperately trying to send out. Watch with caution.

105. A.I. Artificial Intelligence

This movie exhibits the bridge between the popcorn fare and the philosophical (yes I know "The Color Puprle", "Saving Private Ryan" and "Schindler's List" were before this). After this he took on deeper, stranger issues (i.e. "Minority Report" and "Munich"), maybe they just got more sci-fi and less fantasy. "A.I. Artificial Intelligence" is a fantasy gone bad. A fantasy that breed with a futuristic porn. Its strange, heartfelt and altogether amazing. It was layered even if some of the layers weren't satisfying.

106. American Beauty

My my my how this movie has aged. Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening are still miracle workers- tettering on the comedic-tragic edge, yet does the movie have as much punch now that it's been imitated, duplicated, repackaged? Sadly, no.

107. Copycat
"Copycat" is a guilty pleasure for me. Sigourney Weaver and Holly Hunter play two professional women working together in a thriller. When was the last time we saw that on the screen? Anything Weaver does draws me in, she's a magnetic force to my movie mind. Holly Hunter has never been looser or more playful since. Sadly, the movie came out the same year as the more aesthetically pleasing "Seven", and "Copycat" got relegated to the background. Oh well, I'll always remember it.

108. Something’s Gotta Give

It's all about Diane Keaton and it confirmed to me that she is national treasure in every sense. Just look at her body of work and this performance compares favorably. I do wish it was less talky thou.

109. Safe

Strange in the best possible sense, Todd Haynes second feature manages to scare us and confuse us. Without Julianne Moore I can imagine this film would not be as powerful. Moore so inhabits her role that at times I worry about her physical condition. Long, drawn out and filled with environmental questions, "Safe" is one film that could actually benefit from a sequel in this climate.

110. Angels in America

Monumentally powerful. Monumentally epic. At times, it's just long and repetitious.

Oh Woody Allen...

2009-05-17T15:02:00.003-06:00

I've missed a few of these great movies, or maybe I just picked the best ones....who knows?
All I know is watching Woody forced me to rent Bergman and compare. Even his comedies seem to be taking alot from the Swedish master; "Deconstructing Harry" is a good example of this. Most of Allen's drama's squeeze out all signs of comedy, nearly capsizing the film under it's weight (See: "Interiors"). Most of his characters are eloquent, intelligent, well read and therefore emotionally incompetent.

His men are endurable cheaters or shameless heartbreakers. His women; shrews or whores. A very broad, probably over simplified description, but either way, chances are the actors will get nominated for their work. Seriously, look at this list of people nominated for Woody Allen performances;

Diane Keaton "Annie Hall" Won
Woody Allen "Annie Hall"
Geraldine Page "Interiors"
Maureen Stapleton "Interiors"
Mariel Hemingway "Manhattan"
Michael Caine "Hannah and Her Sisters" Won
Dianne Weist "Hannah and Her Sisters" Won
Martin Landau "Crimes and Misdemeanors"
Judy Davis "Husband and Wives"
Dianne Weist "Bullets over Broadway" Won
Chazz Palminterri "Bullets over Broadway"
Jennifer Tilly "Bullets over Broadway"
Mira Sorvino "Mighty Aphrodite" Won
Sean Penn "Sweet and Lowdown"
Samantha Morton "Sweet and Lowdown"
Penelope Cruz "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" Won

Who wouldn't want to work with him...besides Nicole Kidman.

*in bold i've seen
Whatever Works (2009)
Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
Cassandra's Dream (2007)
Scoop (2006)
Match Point (2005)
Melinda and Melinda (2004)
Anything Else (2003)
Hollywood Ending (2002)
The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001)
Small Time Crooks (2000)
Sweet and Lowdown (1999)
Celebrity (1998)
Deconstructing Harry (1997)
Everyone Says I Love You (1996)
Mighty Aphrodite (1995)
Bullets Over Broadway (1994)
Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993)
Husbands and Wives (1992)
Shadows and Fog (1991)
Alice (1990)
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
Another Woman (1988)
September (1987)
Radio Days (1987)
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
Broadway Danny Rose (1984)
Zelig (1983)
A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982)
Stardust Memories (1980)
Manhattan (1979)
Interiors (1978)
Annie Hall (1977)

The Possession Joel Delaney

2009-05-11T07:44:00.006-06:00

One must never try to guess what makes actors choose the roles they do. After a run in the sixties starting with "The Apartment" and ending with "Two Mules For Sister Sara", Shirley Maclaine seemed to be one of the most bankable stars. At the point of making this she'd already amassed three Academy Award nominations, but like Hilary Swank after her she won her second Oscar Maclaine chose this semi-religious horror flick.

The movie starts out relatively well, Maclaine is an upper middle class divorced mother of two who demands her maid dress the kids in 15 minutes and make her breakfast and coffee. Her brother, a relationship that has a rather incestious undertone, is an attractive bohemian sort who lives with alot of Puerto Ricans in the east Village.

His behavior grows increasingly erratic and after minor investigation Maclaine is told he could be possessed by a dead puerto rican serial killer! Head chopping ensues. Atleast in "The Exorcist" she was possessed by the devil himself!

I guess in 1972 these were strange ideas and perhaps thats why Maclaine took the part. Its interesting and creepy, the acting is good, but nothing compares to the end. Maclaine has run from the city with her two young kids to a secluded beach house (natch).
(SPOILERS) After finding a decapitated head on top of her fridge Maclaine realizes they are not alonei in the house. Her possessed brother shows up and holds the family hostage. He makes the son dance naked, forces the daughter to eat dog food; it was pretty intense considering the first hour was hum-drum. Disturbing considering you would not show that now in 2009.
All in all I was entertained but never dazzled. Baffled a bit thou that Shirley Maclaine did not work for 5 more years (until her Oscar nominated work in "The Turning Point"). There's a story behind this movie somewhere.

Things I love...for free.

2009-03-27T08:38:00.012-06:00

* a reminder for myself

Taking a bath

Bette Davis' wit, no matter who wrote it for her

Smoking

A movie and dinner with friends (preferably one they haven't seen)

Getting some sun

Taking a nap

Reading a book

Seeing my friends

Taking a walk around Lake Hefner

Cleaning the house

Sex

Writing

Discussion

I think basically I wanna live inside Woody Allen's world.

I gave in to the cult...

2009-03-25T09:38:00.003-06:00

...of "Twilight". I watched the movie thinking it could be really awful and funny and instead found an interesting little high school "Romeo and Juliet". Don't get me wrong, it had its faults, but when a movie is so unabashedly romantic you don't see those details.

I was all set to borrow all three proceeding novels when I stopped myself, thinking, 'do I want to be one of those people?'. You know how I feel about giving into the popular choice, but I have; Gossip Girl (which I stopped watching after the 1st season) and Lost (which I'm still completely in love with) are really the only two examples.

Instead I went to the library and choose my own romances; "Madame Bovary" and "Lady Chatterley's Lover". I bet "Twilight" doesn't feature any backdoor sexual references! To my surprise "Madame Bovary" is so modern. Most classic literature delves into the history of every character, but Bovary dives into the story fairly quickly and it reads just as fast.

Tim said it best...

2009-03-25T09:28:00.002-06:00

From CrazyGayzian:
"It has been that time again. The time when I evaluate my life and start chopping away at the cancerous parts that make it harder than it should be. In these last couple of months, I've done several things. I've remembered what it is that I love and gives me pleasure in life and I've gone after those things with a ferocity that made some of my friends wonder if I was loosing my mind. Concerts, great food, wine events, and some guilty pleasure shopping. I enveloped myself back into my spiritual beliefs and attended events with people that strengthen those views. I also reconnected with my philanthropic side and I have never felt better doing so. Whether they were complete strangers, a social cause, or just some attention to my own friends and family, most rewarding things in life start with your heart.

'...As always, with this change comes introspection. A deep analyzing and critical look at your changed ways is always helpful and beneficial. Do the friends you choose to hang out with inspire you to be better or are they just the same as before with different packaging? Are your eating habits the best for you overall, or the most convenient? Do you have any ideological, religious or spiritual beliefs which are keeping you from being who you are and/ or keeping you at odds with other loved ones? Are there things (whether it be drugs, work, the gym, personal baggage, and/or personal views) in your life that are halting or completely stopping your short or long term goals?

Yeah, its not easy nor is it always pleasant. If anything, sometimes it is helpful to have someone you can talk to that will be encouraging and honest. It can be very hard to share your feelings and fears with people when you are afraid that you will be ridiculed, criticized, judged, or worse; that the person you trusted will try to use your shared faults against you at some point. Luckily, I've made in roads in a lot of these areas and have made some difficult and unwanted decisions. Mistakes will occur, but at least you are trying. If anything, be thankful for those in your life that uplift and love you. They are truly the best things in life."

2009-03-19T12:16:00.003-06:00

START HERE
by Curtis Chastain

It always starts like this. I am dancing. I am dancing wildly because I am drinking. In a club with hundreds of sweaty gay muscle men and tense twinks, I’d be at home. I’d be comfortable. I’d be at home. Truth is I’m at my new home, in a country town; in Oklahoma. I’m surrounded by a dozen cowboys, farmers, barflies and used up waitresses. I shouldn’t be this comfortable.

After all of these drinks I am unaware of the damage I am causing to their psyches. When I stop dancing I am surprised to see no one has really noticed me. Perhaps I am lucky. The manager asks me to leave but I insists I finish my drink. I paid for it after all. He retorts that my stepfather paid for it and he’s gone. It won’t take me long to finish it and it doesn’t. It’s a gulp at best. Mellencamp blares down on the juke box as I swing open the retro saloon doors that lead to a real twentieth century door. The was my selection. “I lived on the outskirts of town...” My mother would have been proud. I know a good bar song.

“That’s when a smoke was a smoke and groovin’ was groovin’”

The front steps of the courthouse are very cold. The whole town is cold. Weather aside, the people haven’t exactly taken to me and in fact I look my nose down on them so much, we are probably at the same height. I justify that I read books they’ve never heard of, except for the town library who jokes that he once went to school with Ann Radcliffe. I laugh at his joke even thou I know Radcliffe was English and this guy got his degree at the local community college. The postman delivers my movies by mail and always wants me to open them in front of him. He gets delight in pretending to snore when I read the synopsis of the new (classic) movie that’s been delivered.”Three sisters journey through depression’, yawn. “A crazed doctor tries to implant a new face on his scarred daughter; a French classic’, double yawn.

I fumble for my keys; they’ve fallen down the steps or they fell out when I was on my way up. Either way I don’t have them. Why did Todd leave me? Did I ask him too? He wouldn’t t just leave; that’s not like him. Maybe he’s on his way back. I can find a ride. I should call Martin. Surely some good Samaritan will take me home. If I was back in the city someone would take me home. Although not so much a good Samaritan as a sweaty older gent looking for his twenty dollars worth. This isn’t that kind of story. The horn honks and with all abandon I run down the stairs, swiping at my keys, which lay at the very base of the steps. When I turn to look at it, I wonder who builds a bar across from the courthouse. Perhaps they thought it would be easier to bring people to the drink tank. I know for a fact no one in a suit has been in the bar, so that rules out everyone who works in the city building built in 1909. I sit on the steps enough to know when it was erected.

Erected was perhaps in the front of my mind as I jumped into the truck. Maybe you could see it on my face. He sure did. I didn’t know him, he didn’t know me. Did it matter at this point? How many times have I gone home with someone I didn’t know. In the city, of course. In the city, in the city, how often this phrase has come across my mind in the past few months. It seems like a fever dream of restaurants, cafes, clubs and men. We exchange minor chatter which I’m sure involves the location of my house. I briefly fell asleep and when I opened my eyes we were on a country road. Not my country road. Again I blinked, I was in a truck bed with various tools littering next to the dust. Choosing to sober up is hard when your drunk. I must sober up. I can see straight. When I threw my legs over the gate I knew I couldn’t stand. What’s stopping me from slamming my face in the ground? He was. He held me up and placed me back in the truck bed. I should lie down, I thought. He was not impressed with my tired excuses. This not was not going to be typical, but I guess I was prepare by my father's manifesto. In other words I knew how to deal with out of control men.

I guess even in my sloppy half clothed inebriation I managed to fondle a hammer, which landed god knows where. I had to get out of there. As I drove away I remembered Todd saying he’d be right back. How many drinks had I had after that? Five, six...oh, god. I’ve changed location, but my problems are all the same. My mother always said this would happen. She’s haunting me in the most intuitive way I can imagine. Maybe if I believed in the afterlife the way everyone around her does I’d be more comforted by it. I could look up in my moments of distress and see her; lit up like a Christmas angel. A friend of mine, who shares all my contempt for the shaming God that lives here in the state, said that everything my mother told me was coming back in waves and all anyone could say was ‘well that’s God’, because they want to believe. He thought it meant that I was finally listening to her now that she wasn’t on my case all the time. I did listen to her when she was here I said. Everyone listens, no one pays attention, he said, at which point I happened to find myself in a much more interesting daydream.

I think you, as a reader, should have a middle, an end, and of course where I hope to start a beginning. The beginning may be the most difficult part as there’s a lot to cover. The middle is a major valley. The ending will hopefully give you hope. You have to get through this thou. And this, the story of how I came here. How I managed to get the wind knocked out of me and had to restart everything I knew. I cannot safely say you you won’t find the story somewhat downbeat. Maybe you’ll see the humor in these situations. I’ve had to. Try not to be offended. We’re all fucked up by our parents eventually. I’m trying to not let it affect me forever.

I observe well and my observations are all I have. I’m not on trial, required to give a perfect testimony that is devoid of editorialized dialogue and personal anecdotes. I am just relaying the details as I saw them through my glassy, tinted vision. I guess its all about my intuition and I intend to see through the glass darkly.

2009-03-19T12:08:00.001-06:00

Dreary Detachment
Scrape your heels on the rocky graveled street,
Get out and meet, greet, move your bloodied feet,
Run from your plaid, plain fiction,
You don’t need your frivolous addiction,
Move quickly to another fallible devotion,
Make haste with another false emotion,
Loudly push yourself into a red colorless state,
Do not mimic your parent’s soulless fate,
Be alone, friendless if you can,
You may turn out a better man.
All you need is a map, a compass, a coat,
Friends will do nothing to keep you afloat.

Confused about Polanski

2009-03-18T08:56:00.007-06:00

A couple of weeks ago I watched a great documentary about Roman Polanski and his legal troubles ("Wanted and Desired"). I started to realize as I watched it that I pretty much adore ALL of his films. I own three and have seen most of his work, since "Repulsion".

I decided to check out his first feature film "Knife in the Water", knowing it had the same motifs that show up in all of his other films. Imagine my shock when I found the movie...uneventful. The subtitles (the film is spoken in Polish) were off and sometimes I had to imagine what the characters were saying (a fun game I have to say), so perhaps I felt a little cheated. "Knife in the Water" didn't have the suspense, the intrigue of his later works. I WAS surprised to see how many directors have sampled from the film. Shots, actions and even dialogue have been used in other movies I've seen. Its obviously influential; just not too exciting.

Since I know how Polanski grew, watching the movie was like watching the first season of "Sex and the City"; all of the seeds for growth are there, they just haven't bloomed. He would go on to use many of the subtexts from this film, but his films grew stronger each time out.

Top Five Polanski Films
(for me)
5.
4.
3.
2.
1.

You have to understand...

2009-02-19T22:57:00.003-06:00

You have to understand the way I am,
Mein Herr.
A tiger is a tiger, not a lamb.
Mein Herr.
You'll never turn the vinegar to jam,
Mein Herr.
So I do...
What I do...
When I'm through...
Then I'm through...
And I'm through...
Toodle-oo!
Bye-Bye, Mein Lieber Herr.
Farewell, mein Lieber Herr.
It was a fine affair,
But now it's over.
And though I used to care,
I need the open air.
You're better off without me,
Mein Herr.

Don't dab your eye, mein Herr,
Or wonder why, Mein Herr.
I've always told you I was a rover.
You mustn't knit your brow,
You should have known by now
You'd every cause to doubt me,
Mein, Herr.

The continent of Europe is so wide,
Mein Herr.
Not only up and down, but side to side,
Mein Herr.
I couldn't ever cross it if I tried,
Mein Herr.
So I do..
What I can...
Inch by inch...
Step by step...
Mile by mile...
Man by man.

Bye-Bye, Mein Lieber Herr.
Farewell, mein Lieber Herr.
It was a fine affair,
But now it's over.
And though I used to care,
I need the open air.
You're better off without me,
Mein Herr.

[SALLY AND GIRLS]
Don't dab your eye, mein Herr,
Or wonder why, Mein Herr.
I've always told you I was a rover.
You mustn't knit your brow,
You should have known by now
You'd every cause to doubt me,
Mein, Herr.

Holden and Offred

2009-02-11T10:12:00.008-06:00

This is the best quote on "The Catcher in the Rye";

The boy himself is at once too simple and too complex for us to make any final comment about him or his story. Perhaps the safest thing we can say about Holden is that he was born in the world not just strongly attracted to beauty but, almost, hopelessly impaled on it.

—Original book jacket copy, possibly partially written by Salinger

I was in love with this book from the moment I opened it. I was supposed to read "Slaughter-house Five", but after flipping through both book, this one stood out. I've obviously heard of it before and know the names Holden and Salinger; knowing them and reading them are two different things. I have got to read more Salinger. His writing, or at least Holden's inner thoughts, were so perceptive, cynical and spot on about so many people. It as if Holden had the voice of an adult, but the maturity and hubris of a teenager. He is repulsed by the very things that attract him and at one point considers a hooker then is suddenly turned off by her. He invites a girl to dinner then when she won't engage him in conversation he starts to yell at her, all the while ensuring the reader he was never yelling.

In a few minor ways I relate to Holden; which after mentioning this book to people, they kept telling me how they related to him as well, so I guess Holden is a perfect creation for the disillusioned. He is one of the great 20Th century inventions.

Before I read "The Catcher in the Rye" I was implored to read "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood. Her other novel, "The Blind Assassin" was on my list, so I substituted this one for that one. What a weird, interesting novel?!

It's interesting that my last two novels were written in first person narrative (maybe that's why I liked them, I definitely felt emotionally attached). Someone mentioned that the novel was Sarah Palin's wet dream, where women could not read or make decisions for themselves. They were either wives, handmaids (former criminals who had the unfortunate ability to breed) and the Martha's (the housekeepers).

I responded to Offred, my narrator, because she yearned for the knowledge she was no longer allowed to have and everyone chapter or so she would sigh and think to herself, 'I want a cigarette'. I loved that. Not to give anything away, but the last page, the last sentence left everything so up in the air, that I found myself staying up to create my own ending that would help me sleep soundly. That's the thing about great literature; it keeps you challenged and thinking long after you shut the book.

Gatsby, Disquiet and Women in Love

2009-02-01T09:00:00.009-06:00

I finished "The Great Gatsby". I think I need to read more Fitzgerald, thou. I liked the slim little novella, but had trouble deciphering where my sympathies should go; I certainly had very little for any character in the book. Their motives were a mystery to me, which may very well have been the point. I ended up thinking they were mostly pretentious, flimsy people; which is different than saying the writing was flimsy. I kept looking for something deeper. Interesting enough for me, for now.

One blustery evening last week I stayed up late, started and finished the slim "Disquiet" by Julia Leigh. I haven't made my mind up about the artistic merit of the book yet, although I was enthralled reading it. In my mind it played like a movie; all the little visual details, the behavioral humor, the quick cuts. I'd suggest reading it if you're in the mood for something dark and interesting. It seriously took me only three hours to read. Read it before they make the movie.

I tried to read "Their Eyes Were Watching God". Tried is the operative word. The phonetically written speech took a toll on me, so sadly I had to put it down, for now.

On another note, I watch ALOT of movies. I've seen quite a few in my 25 years, so rarely am I blind sided by how interesting and original a film can be. Last night I sat down and watched "Women in Love". From the D.H. Lawrence novel and directed in 1969, with Glenda Jackson, Oliver Reed and Alan Bates. Simply, it's about two sisters who begin dating two friends.

The story drew me in immediately; it felt like "Grey's Anatomy" for English lit. I kept hoping the couples would work out. After all the strange, romantic episodes they went through I wanted Gudrun (Glenda Jackson, in her first Academy Award winning role) and Gerald Crich (Oliver Reed, all sexed up) to end up together. That is not how the story goes. It reels you in with its romantic vision and then body slams with you with death, domestic abuse and some insanity. Add in some MAJOR homosexual overtones (including an extended nude wrestling scene) and you have a movie close to my heart.

Final Oscar Nominations

2009-01-20T13:19:00.004-06:00

On Thursday we'll know for sure how I ranked. :)

Best Picture
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight (I was wrong here, "The Reader" made its way in)
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire
Alternate:(take out Frost/Nixon and replace with) Wall-E
Wishful Thinking: Rachel Getting Married

Best Actor
Clint Eastwood "Gran Torino" (yay! Jenkins made his way in instead of Eastwood)
Frank Langella "Frost/Nixon"
Sean Penn "Milk"
Brad Pitt "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Mickey Rourke "The Wrestler"
Alternate: (please god let them snub Eastwood for) Richard Jenkins "The Visitor"
Wishful Thinking: Leonardo DiCaprio "Revolutionary Road"

Best Actress
Anne Hathaway "Rachel Getting Married"
Sally Hawkins "Happy Go Lucky" (very sad, but enjoy Melissa Leo, so it's ok)
Angelina Jolie "Changeling"
Meryl Streep "Doubt"
Kate Winslet "Revolutionary Road" (but for "The Reader", hmm)
Alternate: (they may snub Jolie again; see "A Mighty Heart" and give it to) Kristen Scott Thomas "I've Loved You So Long"
Wishful Thinking: Michelle Williams "Wendy and Lucy"

Best Supporting Actor
Josh Brolin "Milk"
Robert Downey, Jr "Tropic Thunder"
Ralph Fiennes "The Duchess"
Heath Ledger "The Dark Knight"
Phillip Seymour Hoffman "Doubt"
Alternate: (if it rides the wave, then bump Fiennes for) Dev Patel "Slumdog Millionaire"
Wishful Thinking: James Franco or Emile Hirsch from "Milk"
And the surprise fifth nominee was the phenomenal Michal Shannon in "Revolutionary Road"
Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams "Doubt"
Penelope Cruz "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"
Viola Davis "Doubt"
Marisa Tomei "The Wrestler"
Kate Winslet "The Reader"
Alternate: (they may not like Amy Adams as much as I think they do) Taraji P. Henson "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" the bump of Winslet to lead left that extra spot open for Henson.
Wishful Thinking: Rosemarie Dewitt "Rachel Getting Married"

And I kept on reading...

2009-01-12T13:59:00.006-06:00

I have been keeping up with my book list faithfully (I've also prevented myself from biting my nails, but that was a New Years resolution, so not the same). Perhaps, without cable, my underutilized imagination is coming out. I now fear the day when I can afford cable ;(

Finished "Animal Vegetable Miracle" at the beginning of December. It was one of those books that reads fast and was very informative, but in no way was it a book that made me excited to read it.

I've been arbitrarily going through my list and the first on it was "To The Lighthouse" by Virginia Woolf. I actually saw it in a used book store and picked it up. I just assumed that was a sign to read it first.

I have read Woolf's "Mrs. Dalloway" when "The Hours" came out and she was all the rage.
This book however was quite a struggle for me. Her use of stream of consciousness and complexity of experience usually left me bored. Perhaps I need more dialogue. I was intrigued by the first and last part of this three sectioned novella, but in the end it left me cold. Thats what the list is for thou; to experience things I would never normally pick up and make my way through.

(*A little side note; in one of my favorite movies "In the Cut", Meg Ryan's english teacher character is telling her students about this book and explaining the difference between stream of consciousness and stream of conscience. How fitting).

I chose something racier for my next book. Something that was not originally on the list, but yet again I found looking for something else. Published in 1973, "Crash", explores the relationship between car crashes and the fertilizing rather than destructive event, mediating the sexuality of those who've died with an intensity that's impossible in any other form". Talk about sordid. If you've seen the movie, you'll understand the broad metaphors for interpersonal relationships and cars. The fact that the author, J.G. Ballard, manages to hold the metaphor for entire book is amazing. The most erotic passages do not read sexual but rather mechanical, creating an interesting juxtaposition when the the latter chapters feature nothing but sexual prose. This was one intense novel that was not really erotic, but auto-erotic.

The book I'm nearing the end of now is something I read in middle school; "Lord of the Flies"; a book I must have not been old enough to understand at the time. Its terrifying. Stranded alone on an island; these school boys begin acting out. Free from all of societies mores and without the tact or restraint of adults, they attack each other, emotionally and physically.

Quite an adept study of human nature without electricity and 911, the book uses the children to demonstrate many awful human traits. Brilliant. Right now I'm wondering who is the Lord of the Flies?

I picked up some others from the library, but I'm leaning towards "Play it as it Lays" by Joan Didion or "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Which one?

I also read, which I failed to mention, a book that is not on my list and was a delicious juicy little read; "American Wife".

Coming Soon....

2009-01-05T16:04:00.001-06:00

If I had a ballot...

2009-01-02T11:29:00.004-06:00

The Best
1) Milk
2) Rachel Getting Married
3) Revolutionary Road
4) Happy-Go-Lucky
5) Vicky Christina Barcelona
6) Australia
I have an unadulterated love affair with this movie!! "Australia" is one big, loud, epic and I was completely IN this movie for all three hours.

7) Blindness
What a dark and depressing movie? That's what I heard when I left the theater. True, "Blindness" had its moments of desperation, but did they see the whole movie? Did they understand that human nature can be very cruel? I enjoyed the film, but really what sealed the deal of my love for it was that last ten minutes; which were filled with hope and joy.

8) The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Pure magic from the credits on. I was sadly bored while Benjamin had his affair with the ever dependable Tilda Swinton and I did think the Cate Blanchet's role was majorly underwritten, but even with those two major flaws this movie still moved me to tears. The music, the makeup, the cinematography and the special effects should be lauded at year end award shows.

9)
I know I'll get shit for this pick, but no film this year really gripped me like "Funny Games". It had all the elements of a exploitation movie but the director never let it entertain you. It was meant to shock you without showing you what you wanted to see; the violence. It proves a perfect lesson (one that I would attribute to "The Dark Knight" as well) ; violence can be so much scarier when you see nothing and hear everything.

10)

Simply hilarious. The cast seems game enough to really let their hair down and the result is a spy farce that manages to make stupidity look fun. Special points go to Frances McDormand and Brad Pitt who take their gym bunnies characters to the edge. I was smiling for hours.

Almost there...
11."The Wrestler" (which didn't wow but was fascinating)
12. "Changeling"
13. "Elegy" ( a beautiful sensitive movie, which was a one-two punch for Penelope Cruz, reinforcing the love I had for her in "Vanilla Sky").
14. "Doubt" (which had some amazing acting, but was at no point amazing itself).
15. "Sex and the City" (which had many flaws, but managed to hold this fans attention).
16. "The Dark Knight" (which was so good but seriously teeters on the brink of being OVERRATED- please do not kill it fanboys!)
17. "The Strangers"
18. "American Teen"
19. "Then She Found Me"
20. "In Bruges"

Actor
Sean Penn "Milk"
Runner Up: Mickey Rourke "The Wrestler"
Leonardo Dicaprio "Revolutionary Road"
Brad Pitt "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Richard Jenkins "The Visitor"

His work in “Mystic River” floored me. He was amazing in “Sweet and Lowdown” and “Dead Man Walking”. I honestly always thought he would be playing this aggressive tightly wound bad boys, but in “Milk” as someone whose accused of being on uppers; he smiles and hugs and laughs as natural as Annette Bening on screen. The performances is played not as heroic but human which makes the story that much more affecting.

Actress Sally Hawkins "Happy Go Lucky"
Runner Up: Anne Hathaway "Rachel Getting Married"
Angelina Jolie "Changeling"
Kate Winslet "Revolutionary Road"
Kristen Scott Thomas "I've Loved You So Long"

If someone handed me the Oscar and said give this to whoever you want I would pass Streep, Jolie, Winslet and put it in Sally Hawkins hand. There’s a reason why her comedic performance impressed me (considering comedic performances rarely do); she was natural, funny, and above all, not some construct, but a real genuinely positive person. Even after two hours of people trying to break her spirit she consciously refused to let them. Its one of the best comedic performances since Diane Keaton in “Annie Hall” and yet again for me that’s saying a lot.

Best Supporting Actor Bill Irwin "Rachel Getting Married"
Runner Up: Heath Ledger "The Dark Knight"
Josh Brolin "Milk"
Emilie Hirsch "Milk"
Robert Downey, Jr "Tropic Thunder"

Why is he being overlooked for every award? One reason: Ledger. Bill Irwin meshes so well into the ensemble of “Rachel Getting Married” for a while you forget that it’s a film. Irwin manages to tear our eyes away from the ‘lead’ Hathaway often. My favorite scene and one that really defines his character takes place in the kitchen as he has a competition loading the dishwasher, until he takes out a dish that brings back a very bad memory. Not many people notice what’s going on with him, but watch his face as he considers breaking down.

Perhaps I am most impressed with the performances this year that felt natural and down to earth, which is my main fault with Ledger’s joker. It is undoubtedly a brilliant role and he filled out the thinly written character wonderfully, but for me (unlike my superlatives for Bardem last year) the film surrounded him and in some ways was about him which doesn’t feel very supporting.

Supporting Actress (tie)
Penelope Cruz "Vicky Christina Barcelona"

Woody Allen knows about supporting performances. He brings Cruz in just when things start to slow down and she jump starts this movie with her energetic, sensual, sassy role. I’ve never been one to praise Penelope Cruz, but with “Elegy” and “VCB” I am really appreciating her work. Its easy to label her character here crazy, but she is so much more than that; she’s spurned and jealous, smart and caring, loud, insecure; in short; it’s a knockout role which is finely suited to Cruz. Who knew it would take Woody to make me love her?

Rosemarie Dewitt "Rachel Getting Married"
It had to be a tie. Although Cruz will probably win the Oscar, Rosemarie Dewitt adds so many dimensions to Rachel that its hard not to sympathize with her at times and in turn you want to slap her face in some scenes. She can be just as spoiled and self centered as Anne Hathaway's Kim; she just doesn't have a drug problem. Its a very hard performance to pull off and not many actresses could make her so three dimensional.

Amy Adams "Doubt"
Marisa Tomei "The Wrestler"
Taraji P. Henson "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"

Director
Clint Eastwood "Changeling"
Runner Up: Gus van Sant "Milk"

Eastwood marveled me yet again with his restraint in telling this story, which could have been played over the top. Although Jolie’s performance sometimes tetters near the edge she or Eastwood reigns it in. She would have been my number three pick for Best Actress. What he shows and does not show is a clear indication of his age. He knows that the imagination is much stronger and therefore drags us along without too much information. His direction will probably be overlooked her because he’s had so much acclaim in the past few years (“Million Dollar Baby”, “Letters from Iwo Jima” and “Mystic River”) but “Changeling” belongs amongst his best.

EW predicts the Oscars...

2008-12-31T10:15:00.002-06:00

...and they're usually right, so lets see who they picked;

Best Picture
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Actor
Clint Eastwood "Gran Torino"
Frank Langella "Frost/Nixon"
Sean Penn "Milk"
Brad Pitt "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Mickey Rourker "The Wrestler"

Best Actress
Anne Hathaway "Rachel Getting Married"
Sally Hawkins "Happy-Go-Lucky"
Angelina Jolie "Changeling"
Meryl Streep "Doubt"
Kate Winslet "Revolutionary Road"

Best Supporting Actor
Josh Brolin "Milk"
Robert Doweny, Jr "Tropic Thunder"
Heath Ledger "The Dark Knight"
Dev Patel "Slumdog Millionaire"
Phillip Seymour Hoffman "Doubt"

Best Supporting Actress
Penelope Cruz "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"
Viola Davis "Doubt"
Taraji P. Henson "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Marisa Tomei "The Wrestler"
Kate Winslet "The Reader"

Best Director
Danny Boyle "Slumdog Millionaire"
David Fincher "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Ron Howard "Frost/Nixon"
Christoper Nolan "The Dark Knight"
Gus Van Sant "Milk"

Best Original Screenplay
Woody Allen , Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Dustin Lance Black,  Milk
Mike Leigh, Happy-Go-Lucky
Jenny Lumet, Rachel Getting Married
Andrew Stanton and Jim Reardon , WALL-E

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Eric Roth, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
John Patrick Shanley, Doubt
Peter Morgan,  Frost/Nixon
David Hare,  The Reader
Simon Beaufoy,  Slumdog Millionaire

Now these are some nominees....

2008-12-18T08:34:00.003-06:00

The Screen Actors Guild announced their awards this morning. I would be very happy with these being the lineup at Oscar time...with a few exceptions.

Best Cast
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Doubt
Frost/Nixon (take this one out and add The Dark Knight for Oscars I hope)
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Actor
Richard Jenkins "The Visitor" (I'm sure, sadly, Eastwood will be here for Oscar instead)
Frank Langella "Frost/Nixon"
Sean Penn "Milk"
Brad Pitt "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Mickey Rourke "The Wrestler"

Best Actress
Anne Hathaway "Rachel Getting Married"
Angelina Jolie "Changeling"
Melissa Leo "Frozen River"
Meryl Streep "Doubt"
Kate Winslet "Revolutionary Road"

I would be very sad if Angelina didn't get nominated again. Last year she was nominated for all of these awards and no Oscar, so unless she is replaced by Sally Hawkins I had better see her name Oscar morning ;) Also what happened to Kristen Scott Thomas?!

Best Supporting Actor
Josh Brolin "Milk"
Robert Downey, Jr "Tropic Thunder"
Phillip Seymour Hoffman "Doubt"
Heath Ledger "The Dark Knight"
Dev Patel "Slumdog Millionaire"

Easy lineup. Any could win and I'd be happy.

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams "Doubt"
Penelope Cruz "Vicky Christina Barcelona"
Viola Davis "Doubt"
Taraji P. Henson "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Kate Winslet "The Reader"

Where the f**k is Rosemarie Dewitt? Was Anne Hathaway the only thing in "Rachel Getting Married"? Lets hope Oscar corrects this problem and take out the double dip Winslet. You could also bump out Amy Adams for Marisa Tomei in "The Wrestler"

In intriguing idea....

2008-12-11T16:57:00.003-06:00

A couple of years ago Time magazine announced their 100 best modern fiction novels, perhaps I can work through some of them next year, maybe 50. Quite I challenge but think of the fun. I've read a few on the list, but it's not enough. Reading the entire list is too much and I know my limits; 50 thou I know I can do.

I need to start filing down the list;
UPDATE: I have narrowed it down.

The Adventures of Augie March
Saul Bellow

American Pastoral*
Philip Roth
Read the Original Review

Animal Farm
George Orwell
Read the Original Review

Appointment in Samarra
John O'Hara
Read the Original Review

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
Judy Blume

At Swim-Two-Birds
Flann O'Brien

Beloved
Toni Morrison
Read the Original Review

The Berlin Stories
Christopher Isherwood
Read the Original Review

The Blind Assassin
Margaret Atwood
Read the Original Review

Blood Meridian
Cormac McCarthy

Brideshead Revisited
Evelyn Waugh
Read the Original Review

The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Thornton Wilder
Read the Original Review

C - D
Call It Sleep
Henry Roth
Read the Original Review

Catch-22
Joseph Heller
Read the Original Review

The Catcher in the Rye
J.D. Salinger
Read the Original Review

A Clockwork Orange
Anthony Burgess
Read the Original Review

The Corrections*
Jonathan Franzen
Read the Original Review

A Dance to the Music of Time
Anthony Powell
Read the Original Review

The Death of the Heart
Elizabeth Bowen
Read the Original Review

The French Lieutenant's Woman
John Fowles
Read the Original Review

Go Tell it on the Mountain
James Baldwin
Read the Original Review

The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Read the Original Review

The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter
Carson McCullers
Read the Original Review

I, Claudius
Robert Graves
Read the Original Review

Lord of the Flies
William Golding

Lucky Jim
Kingsley Amis
Read the Original Review

The Man Who Loved Children
Christina Stead
Read the Original Review

Midnight's Children
Salman Rushdie

Mrs. Dalloway
Virginia Woolf

Naked Lunch
William Burroughs
Read the Original Review

Never Let Me Go
Kazuo Ishiguro
Read the Original Review

1984
George Orwell
Read the Original Review

O - R
On the Road
Jack Kerouac
Read the Original Review

Pale Fire
Vladimir Nabokov
Read the Original Review

A Passage to India
E.M. Forster

Play It As It Lays
Joan Didion

Portnoy's Complaint
Philip Roth
Read the Original Review

Possession
A.S. Byatt
Read the Original Review

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Muriel Spark
Read the Original Review

Rabbit, Run
John Updike
Read the Original Review

Slaughterhouse-Five
Kurt Vonnegut
Read the Original Review

Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937)
Author: Zora Neale Hurston

To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee
Read the Original Review

To the Lighthouse
Virginia Woolf
Read the Original Review

Tropic of Cancer
Henry Miller
Read the Original Review

U - W
Ubik
Philip K. Dick

Under the Net
Iris Murdoch

White Noise
Don DeLillo
Read the Original Review

Pretty good picks.

2008-12-11T11:01:00.004-06:00

I love Awards Season!! I just do, so far this year I've seen some really good movies and the Golden Globes actually picked some of my favorites.

Best Picture (Drama)
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“Frost/Nixon”
“The Reader”
“Revolutionary Road”
“Slumdog Millionaire”

where's "Milk" you may ask? I dunno its surprising how they shunned it, but last year "Atonement" won best picture in this category and it didn't win Best Picture so who knows. Nice to see "Revolutionary Road" getting some favor thou. Brilliant book, that I hope is a brilliant movie.

Best Picture (Comedy/Musical)
“Burn After Reading”
“Happy-Go-Lucky”
“In Bruges”
“Mamma Mia!”
“Vicky Cristina Barcelona”

this is a strange category because none of these will be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, but it gives us the chance to look back on some of the comedic movies of the year. I loved "Vicky Christina Barcelona" and "Happy Go Lucky", they may even be in my top ten. Good to see Woody Allen getting his movies nominated for something. Although I guess "Match Point" did get some love.

Best Actor (Drama)
Leonardo DiCaprio, “Revolutionary Road”
Frank Langella, “Frost/Nixon”
Sean Penn, “Milk”
Brad Pitt, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Micky Rourke, “The Wrestler”

Very good lineup and I imagine the Oscars will look very close to this. I keep hoping Clint Eastwood doesn't get nominated for what looks to be the over the top "Gran Torino" and here he didn't. If the category looks like this, expect Rourke or Penn to win.

Best Actor (Comedy/Musical)
Javier Bardem, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”

Colin Farrell, “In Bruges”
James Franco, “Pineapple Express”
Brendan Gleeson, “In Bruges”
Dustin Hoffman, “Last Chance Harvey”

I'm sure Bardem will win this one, just for being himself although he was damn charming in VCB. I think they musthave given James Franco a nomination for this but I imagine he'll be nominated for "Milk" come Oscar time.

Best Actress (Drama)
Anne Hathaway, “Rachel Getting Married”
Angelina Jolie, “Changeling”
Meryl Streep, “Doubt”

Kristin Scott Thomas, “I’ve Loved You So Long”
Kate Winslet, “Revolutionary Road”

Perfect category! I have to say thou I want one of these women to be taken out and replaced by Sally Hawkins from "Happy Go Lucky". That will be my perfect lineup. Really any of the five could win this award or the Oscar. No one is a clear lock.

Best Actress (Comedy/Musical)

Rebecca Hall, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
Sally Hawkins, “Happy-Go-Lucky”
Frances McDormand, “Burn After Reading”
Meryl Streep, “Mamma Mia!”
Emma Thompson, “Last Chance Harvey”

Interesting. I'm very happy they nominated Rebecca Hall for VCB. I would like her to win if only she wasn't up against Hawkins. ): Nice to see Thompson and McDormand in the race thou.

Best Supporting Actor
Tom Cruise, “Tropic Thunder”
Robert Downey Jr., “Tropic Thunder”
Ralph Fiennes, “The Duchess”

Philip Seymour Hoffman, “Doubt”
Heath Ledger, “The Dark Knight”

WTF?! Tom Cruise! I thought his part of "Tropic Thunder" was the most annoying part of the movie. Happy to see the other guys; if we could only find a new fifth nominee for Oscars (maybe Josh Brolin of James franco for "Milk"). I do think Heath Ledger's performance was very very good, but I would rather Downey, Jr win.

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, “Doubt”
Penelope Cruz, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
Viola Davis, “Doubt”
Marisa Tomei, “The Wrestler”
Kate Winslet, “The Reader”

Someone had better explain to me how Rosemarie Dewitt did not make it into this category for "Rachel Getting Married"?! She was just as amazing as Hathaway, maybe more. I dunno, bump out Amy Adams and put Dewitt in. Expect Cruz to win this and maybe....the Oscar?

Best Director
Danny Boyle, “Slumdog Millionaire”
Stephen Daldry, “The Reader”
David Fincher, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Ron Howard, “Frost/Nixon”
Sam Mendes, “Revolutionary Road”

Best Original Score
“Changeling”
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“Defiance”
“Frost/Nixon”
“Slumdog Millionaire”

Best Screenplay
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“Doubt”
“Frost/Nixon”
“The Reader”
“Slumdog Millionaire”

Best Animated Feature
“Bolt”
“Kung Fu Panda”
“WALL-E”

In love....

2008-11-26T20:56:00.003-06:00

...with "Australia"

Yeah for literature...or just books.

2008-11-26T09:34:00.005-06:00

Without cable I have been left to my own devices on how to entertain myself. Internet porn? Check. Listening to music while I clean? Check. Cooking elaborate meals? Check. Now I remembered my first love; books. Those pre-movie forms of entertainment that got pushed to the pack for quicker satisfaction.

I'm happy to say I've finished over one a week since moving into my new place. Some great, some good, some interesting. I'm starting to really buy into this no cable thing. I thought I would just get it when I felt a little better in the new place, you know economically, but I doubt I will. All the shows I watch are online or on itunes the next day.

My first was "Revolutionary Road", which I have to say I only read because of the impending movie. The book should definitely benefit from the movie and its a book to read. Lord knows it delves deep into the 1950's mentality and two people who are unsure of one another and themselves. Its a dark, haunting novel; the last one hundred pages will stay with me for a long time.

"The Widows of Eastwick" had my favorite characters from the previous novel, which was so different from the film version there's really no comparison. Alex, Jane and Sukie are now over the hill witches who have lost their powers and choose to go back to Eastwick, not to resuscitate their magic, but to make right what they did wrong in the first book. In the movie they were these delightful women who didn't quite understand their powers. In the book they knew and did some rather terrible things. I love Updike's writing; mostly the way he writes sexuality. Its startling, which kept my interest going as the women spent their retirement traveling, until they made their way to Eastwick in the second act.

I love Augusten Burroughs. I want to marry him I think. He's got a past drinking problem, a complicated sex life, a tortured relationship with his father; he's perfect. The book is a very serious affair compared to his previous books. Gone is the off hand humor and quirky characters. His father is very real very scary and even after all he does to his son, Augusten still wants his love until the very last page. That's a father-son relationship I understand.

I don't know why I continue to read Tom Perrotta. I've read "Election" and "Little Children" and every time I finish his books I vow to not read him anymore. A sad cycle indeed. In each book he creates wonderful rich characters that I love to follow until the story ends rather suddenly or on the wrong note. Its as if he started writing a satire and then veered into serious drama. The movie "Little Children" adapted his work very well for the screen, so perhaps my confusion lay there. Todd Field is great with literature isn't he? (See "In the Bedroom").
Anyways, back to Perrotta; I'm in the book, flashing through the pages, enjoying the two main characters, and then suddenly, rudely, I'm treated to a sudden conclusion. Its as if the climax was in the last ten pages and only one page of aftermath. Hmmm...

I don't know why...everyone has suggested it, so I'm jumping in. I started it last night and I can tell its going to be a quick read. Albeit a pleasurable read....I'm sure I'll be writing about it on Monday :)

Next Up;

Long time gone...

2008-11-18T10:32:00.003-06:00

The new place is amazing. A-MA-zing! Making it my home was easy but now it needs to be a stylish cute home, so that's the hard part. Today is my first day in which I have no plans. Its about time I turn on the stereo with my new Dido cd (I know lol) and create what I can with this wood floored canvas.
On a more important note I have seen three very good movies in the past two weeks.

1) "Changeling". The entire movie was brilliantly put together. Angelina Jolie deserves the Oscar nod, but not the win (we'll get to that later). I would compare it to "There Will Be Blood"; perfectly made, well acted and a major Oscar contender, but I didn't LOVE the movie. How can you love a movie that hurts so good. Although the ending had a hopeful note I still felt pretty shitty after it was over.

2) "Rachel Getting Married". I did however love this movie. It was not perfect, but once you start watching it you feel like you are part of the wedding party. The dialogue and acting are top notch, but the camera drifts a little too long on the actual party. Anne Hathaway and Rosemarie Dewitt deserve their Oscar nominations as well, but they wouldn't get my vote for the win.

3) "Happy-Go-Lucky". Perfectly played by Sally Hawkins, who should seriously be standing up at the podium come March, the entire movie follows the happy, positive smart assed Poppy. I would even say she's the best comedic performance since Diane Keaton in "Annie Hall" and for me to say that is ALOT, but she really is that good. After seeing the previous two films and being wowed by the female performances I was still so happy to be watching Hawkins and her magnificent creation.

Paul Newman Dies

2008-09-27T09:41:00.005-06:00

I love Paul Newman. As an actor, as a humanitarian. As beefcake :)
From "Hud" to "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" to "butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" , he managed to be cool, private and most of all a damn good actor. Sadly, my hope is that now all of his films will be seen.

2008-09-16T12:32:00.002-06:00

WHEN THE PAWN hits the conflicts he thinks like a king

What he knows throws the blows when he goes to the fight

And he'll win the whole thing before he enters the ring

There's no body to batter when your mind is your might

So when you go solo, you hold your own hand

And remember that depth is the greatest of heights

And if you know where you stand, then you know where to land

And if you fall it won't matter, cuz you'll know that you're right

Go Here!

2008-09-15T20:58:00.002-06:00

http://www.towleroad.com/2008/08/mccain-takes-23.html

Not very inspired....

2008-09-14T18:37:00.011-06:00

Bummer! I have major block. I even rode a bike today for about 45 minutes, nada. Still have no ideas. Wrote lists. Read. Smoked. .....nothing. I have to write this. I have to write something. The fall should bring more promise. Everything, in my mind grows better in the fall. I flourish with the cold.
I have another list;

Things that have inspired me before;
INGMAR BERGMAN'S FILMS

Joni Mitchell's Art and Music

Schiele

POLLOCK

the country, coffee, books, films, people, situations, complications, smoking, lust, disappointment, the Fall....hmmm, nothing yet.

The Portrait of a Lady

2008-09-03T13:44:00.009-06:00

When I was a kid I read Henry James' "The Portrait of a Lady".

I wanted to see the movie I think and so as usual when a book becomes a movie they re-release the book with the movie poster.Something about that movie poster/book cover spoke to me.

It looked like this...

Something about the hand, the dress, I don't know; the image itself said something. Anyways, I read the book. I liked the main character Isabel Archer. I liked her willfulness and spirit, but the character of Madame Merle was more to my liking. I think I wanted to be mysterious, dangerous and conniving. I know, strong goals for a 14 year old! In "Bull Durham" Tim Robbins tells Susan Sarandon's character that she's 'cute', which enrages her. (I'm paraphrasing here) 'I don't want to be cute I want to be mysterious, exotic..etc, etc.' Perhaps I would have been offended if someone said the same thing to me. I'm blond and have blue eyes, not the dark haired wisdom Madame Merle had.

The movie version bored me.

So years have passed and I haven't seen the movie again, but something told me to rent it. Well its out of print. Needless to say after many internet clicks, I found it on e-bay won and have been watching it ever since. I even got out my old copy of the book and started reading through it. Today in 2008 the movie and book (which follow each other so closely and now I see the movie holds true to much of the books spirit) speak a great deal to me, but from Isabel's side.

Isabel wants to be the mysterious Madame Merle, but she is not and probably never will be. She's too compassionate to be merciless and too inquisitive to play along. I like that about her immensely. She has a haughty naivete that drives her to make very bad decisions. She make mistakes and eventually her life starts to steer towards what could be a big train wreck. Her strong will is the only thing left standing at the end and because she's not Merle she will survive under her own steam. There's a line in the book (and movie) where her aunt tells her she is too fond of her own ways, to which Isabel responds, "I'm very fond of them." Earlier she tells her Uncle she wants 'to get a general impression of life', before settling down with a man. She even tells her cousin and closest confidante that marrying would be giving up chances to for other things..other adventures.

I guess what I'm saying is this, I wanted to be Madame Merle as Isabel did, but with my thirst for adventure I never settled into a simple, restricted life where I seemingly had complete control. My prideful decisions, in a way, had me making mistake after mistake. Although I learned from them, chances are I'll make them again; although different mistakes I hope. Madame Merle made one fatal mistake that broke her spirit. It seems to me that Isabel who made so many more, would not be broken.

This is heroism to me. That's the spirit of Isabel Archer. Learning from life while allowing yourself to fuck up and get back up.

Long time

2008-08-25T19:41:00.002-06:00

I noticed I stay away from the blog for a few weeks and the write alot. Not that anyone is reading but I like having the blog.
I have been working on a story that I may post on here in chapters soon. I on page 30 and its is coming along nicely. I need to start editing, but can't stop writing.
Soon I guess.

The definition of a man?

2008-08-20T10:23:00.004-06:00

Why do we want men to look like this?

When in reality most men look like this?

Hey its pretty nice. :) ...more on this issue later

2008-08-11T12:52:00.002-06:00

IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?
So, here's how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend your cool...

P.S. - I swear I follwed the instructions exactly! The songs just happen to fit for some of the scenarios. I personally played my Itunes on shuffle mode and this is the order the songs came in. It was kinda strange, but cool.

Opening Credits:
Giggling Again For No Reason- Alanis Morissette

Waking Up:
Not Ready To Make Nice- Dixie Chicks

First Day At School:
Disturbia- Rihanna

Falling In Love:
Love Today- Mika

Fight Song:
God is a DJ- Pink

Breaking Up:
Candy Perfume Girl- Madonna

Prom:
Love Stoned- Justin Timberlake

Life is good:
Human Behaviour- Bjork

Mental Breakdown:
Sleep To Dream- Fiona Apple

Driving:
Never Again- Kelly Clarkson

Flashback:
Tell Me- Diddy

Getting Back Together:
You Can't Always Get What You Want- The Rolling Stones

Wedding:
Hollywood- Madonna

Final Battle:
Outta My Head- Ashlee Simpson

Death Scene:
Love is a Losing Game- Amy Winehouse

Funeral Song:
Oil- Johnny Greenwood

End Credits:
Let it Will Be- Madonna

Quite a list....

2008-08-11T09:49:00.003-06:00

Netflix has this option for you to view your rental history. Since I've had Netflix for three years, you can imagine there are quite a few. And the diversity!! I can even tell when my Bergman obsession started.

L'Avventura
Eyes Without a Face
The Hunger
Event Horizon
A Nightmare on Elm Street
The Breakfast Club
Dark City Director's Cut
The Constant Gardener
Six Feet Under: Season 5: Disc 5 (5-Disc Series)
Six Feet Under: Season 5: Disc 4 (5-Disc Series)
The Rules of the Game
The Devil Wears Prada
Six Feet Under: Season 5: Disc 3 (5-Disc Series)
Six Feet Under: Season 5: Disc 2 (5-Disc Series)
Six Feet Under: Season 5: Disc 1 (5-Disc Series)
Rendition
Pollock
The Manchurian Candidate
Midnight Express
Cruising
Stranger than Fiction
Things We Lost in the Fire
Citizen Ruth
Southland Tales
Hard Eight
Hatchet
Dan in Real Life
The Thomas Crown Affair
Girl with a Pearl Earring
The Rose
A Tale of Two Sisters
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
The English Patient
The Last House on the Left
The Times of Harvey Milk
The Last Wave
Ira & Abby
Lost: Season 3: Disc 5 (7-Disc Series)
Lost: Season 3: Disc 4 (7-Disc Series)
Lost: Season 3: Disc 3 (7-Disc Series)
Lost: Season 3: Disc 2 (7-Disc Series)
Lost: Season 3: Disc 1 (7-Disc Series)
The Jane Austen Book Club
When a Man Falls
Lost: Season 1: Disc 4 (7-Disc Series)
Lost: Season 1: Disc 3 (7-Disc Series)
Lost: Season 1: Disc 2 (7-Disc Series)
Lost: Season 1: Disc 1 (7-Disc Series)
Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season 7: Disc 4 (7-Disc Series)
Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season 7: Disc 2 (7-Disc Series)
Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season 7: Disc 3 (7-Disc Series)
Battle Royale
The Mudge Boy
The Craft
Sunshine
Joshua
After the Wedding
Ally McBeal: Disc 2 (2-Disc Series)
Ally McBeal: Disc 1 (2-Disc Series)
Paris, Je T'aime
Laura Smiles
X-Men: Evolution: Season 1: Vol. 3: X Marks the Spot (4-Disc Series)
Eastern Promises
Scenes from a Marriage
Bridget Jones's Diary
Away from Her
X-Men: Evolution: Season 1: Vol. 2: Xplosive Days (4-Disc Series)
X-Men: Evolution: Season 1: Vol. 1: UnXpected Changes (4-Disc Series)
Cries and Whispers
Black Christmas
Closure
The Hottest State
The Nanny Diaries
Joni Mitchell: Woman of Heart and Mind
Victim
Innocence
La Vie en Rose
The Rapture
Elevator to the Gallows
Shortbus
This Film Is Not Yet Rated
If...
Autumn Sonata
Drawn Together: Season 1: Disc 2 (2-Disc Series)
Happy Together
Poison
Dario Argento Collection: Vol. 1: Inferno
In the Mood for Love
Interiors
Will & Grace: Season 3: Disc 1 (4-Disc Series)
When a Stranger Calls
Lady Sings the Blues
The Celluloid Closet
Passion of Anna
Drawn Together: Season 1: Disc 1 (2-Disc Series)
Ma Mere
3 Women
Another Woman
Hour of the Wolf
Scenes from a Marriage
Baise-Moi
Mysterious Skin
The Silence
Star Trek: Voyager: Season 1: Disc 1 (5-Disc Series)
Cries and Whispers
Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season 7: Disc 5 (7-Disc Series)
Through a Glass Darkly
Persona
Sisters
Battle Royale
The Year of Living Dangerously
The Center of the World
L'Auberge Espagnole
Eyes of Laura Mars
Mary Reilly
Ghost World
Election

As I live and breathe....

2008-08-05T09:58:00.002-06:00

Didn't see much i liked.

2008-08-05T08:56:00.002-06:00

Sex and the City.
The Dark Knight.
American Teen.
Wanted.

I didn't see alot of good movies this summer. Those four and the only ones I liked. "Wanted" is on their only because of its good hearted bloody pulpy nature. Things are looking up thou...

Brideshead Revisited

The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants 2
Pineapple Express
Tropic Thunder
Mirrors

Vicky Christina Barcelona

Hamlet 2
Burn After Reading
The Women

Changing

2008-07-30T09:55:00.004-06:00

I had a wonderful evening last night. Brandon and I walked to the downtown library, ate a sandwich from Subway in the park and went to see a perfect documentary, "American Teen".

When I got home I pulled out the books I had checked out and one of them Liv Ullman's "Changing" (She of Ingmar Bergman's classic films, i.e. "Persona", "Scenes from a Marriage" and "Cries and Whispers") had a receipt from the last person who checked it out. Upon the further inspection the receipt was mine, from May '06. What a delightful piece of serendipity! Its as if the universe was telling me their still is a little magic in the world. I obviously didn't read the book, or I briefed it in a way that eludes my memory. I started to re-read it last night and was fascinated at one of the entries. A chapter that I would not have understood when I read it two years ago, but now, checking it out again, I fully understand whats on the page. It applies so greatly to my life I have to admit I am startled by it.

It reads like this;

'It is a short love story that resembles so many others.
It lasted five years.
When she lived with him for a few years she began to observe him. She would sit quietly and experience him as an individual. One who no longer existed in relation to her.

Gradually her understanding of him awakened.

The more he retreated from from her, the better she understood him-as if the distance gave her clarity. The fear diminished and the loneliness was easier to bear when she saw his insecurity. She became filled with tenderness and look beyond his violence and injustice.
She was no longer blind to his faults and weaknesses, as she had been at the beginning. But her understanding and respect for him grew.

The adoration disappeared.
She noticed that his hair was gray; he was much older than she; he was wise and stimulating; he was vain and egotistical.
The last year she fought for their relationship, even though she knew it was hopeless, and not right for either of them.
And when it was all over she hoped he would not be alone. That the new woman would take better care of him than she had.
But of course it took her some time to reach that point. Something had been crushed in her and something was more alive.
She had undergone a change.
And when bitterness and despair were gone, she was sure she had experienced love and been enriched. But she would never be able to talk about it. She had seen into another person and was full of tenderness for what she had found.
For a period of time they had taken each others hand and been painfully connected.
But only after it was all over did they become true friends.'

I think I have something to learn from this woman.

How Obama Became Acting President

2008-07-29T10:08:00.000-06:00

Published: July 27, 2008
by Frank Rich

IT almost seems like a gag worthy of “Borat”: A smooth-talking rookie senator with an exotic name passes himself off as the incumbent American president to credulous foreigners. But to dismiss Barack Obama’s magical mystery tour through old Europe and two war zones as a media-made fairy tale would be to underestimate the ingenious politics of the moment. History was on the march well before Mr. Obama boarded his plane, and his trip was perfectly timed to reap the whirlwind.

He never would have been treated as a president-in-waiting by heads of state or network talking heads if all he offered were charisma, slick rhetoric and stunning visuals. What drew them instead was the raw power Mr. Obama has amassed: the power to start shaping events and the power to move markets, including TV ratings. (Even “Access Hollywood” mustered a 20 percent audience jump by hosting the Obama family.) Power begets more power, absolutely.

The growing Obama clout derives not from national polls, where his lead is modest. Nor is it a gift from the press, which still gives free passes to its old bus mate John McCain. It was laughable to watch journalists stamp their feet last week to try to push Mr. Obama into saying he was “wrong” about the surge. More than five years and 4,100 American fatalities later, they’re still not demanding that Mr. McCain admit he was wrong when he assured us that our adventure in Iraq would be fast, produce little American “bloodletting” and “be paid for by the Iraqis.”

Never mind. This election remains about the present and the future, where Iraq’s $10 billion a month drain on American pocketbooks and military readiness is just one moving part in a matrix of national crises stretching from the gas pump to Pakistan. That’s the high-rolling political casino where Mr. Obama amassed the chips he cashed in last week. The “change” that he can at times wield like a glib marketing gimmick is increasingly becoming a substantive reality — sometimes through Mr. Obama’s instigation, sometimes by luck. Obama-branded change is snowballing, whether it’s change you happen to believe in or not.

Looking back now, we can see that the fortnight preceding the candidate’s flight to Kuwait was like a sequence in an old movie where wind blows away calendar pages to announce an epochal plot turn. First, on July 7, the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, dissed Bush dogma by raising the prospect of a withdrawal timetable for our troops. Then, on July 15, Mr. McCain suddenly noticed that more Americans are dying in Afghanistan than Iraq and called for more American forces to be sent there. It was a long-overdue recognition of the obvious that he could no longer avoid: both Robert Gates, the defense secretary, and Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had already called for more American troops to battle the resurgent Taliban, echoing the policy proposed by Mr. Obama a year ago.

On July 17 we learned that President Bush, who had labeled direct talks with Iran “appeasement,” would send the No. 3 official in the State Department to multilateral nuclear talks with Iran. Lest anyone doubt that the White House had moved away from the rigid stand endorsed by Mr. McCain and toward Mr. Obama’s, a former Rumsfeld apparatchik weighed in on The Wall Street Journal’s op-ed page: “Now Bush Is Appeasing Iran.”

Within 24 hours, the White House did another U-turn, endorsing an Iraq withdrawal timetable as long as it was labeled a “general time horizon.” In a flash, as Mr. Obama touched down in Kuwait, Mr. Maliki approvingly cited the Democratic candidate by name while laying out a troop-withdrawal calendar of his own that, like Mr. Obama’s, would wind down in 2010. On Tuesday, the British prime minister, Gordon Brown, announced a major drawdown of his nation’s troops by early 2009.

But it’s not merely the foreign policy consensus that is shifting Obama-ward. The Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens has now joined another high-profile McCain supporter, Arnold Schwarzenegger, in knocking the McCain nostrum that America can drill its way out of its energy crisis. Mr. Pickens, who financed the Swift-boat campaign smearing John Kerry in 2004, was thought to be a sugar daddy for similar assaults against the Democrats this year. Instead, he is underwriting nonpartisan ads promoting wind power and speaks of how he would welcome Al Gore as energy czar if there’s an Obama administration.

The Obama stampede is forcing Mr. McCain to surrender on other domestic fronts. After the Democrat ran ads in 14 states berating chief executives who are “making more in 10 minutes” than many workers do in a year, a newly populist Mr. McCain began railing against “corporate greed” — much as he also followed Mr. Obama’s example and belatedly endorsed a homeowners’ bailout he had at first opposed. Given that Mr. McCain has already used a refitted, hand-me-down Obama campaign slogan (“A Leader You Can Believe In”), it can’t be long before he takes up fist bumps. They’ve become the rage among young (nonterrorist) American businessmen, according to USA Today.

“We have one president at a time,” Mr. Obama is careful to say. True, but the sitting president, a lame duck despised by voters and shunned by his own party’s candidates, now has all the gravitas of Mr. Cellophane in “Chicago.” The opening for a successor arrived prematurely, and the vacuum had been waiting to be filled. What was most striking about the Obama speech in Berlin was not anything he said so much as the alternative reality it fostered: many American children have never before seen huge crowds turn out abroad to wave American flags instead of burn them.

Mr. McCain could also have stepped into the leadership gap left by Mr. Bush’s de facto abdication. His inability to even make a stab at doing so is troubling. While drama-queen commentators on television last week were busy building up false suspense about the Obama trip — will he make a world-class gaffe? will he have too large an audience in Germany? — few focused on the alarms that Mr. McCain’s behavior at home raise about his fitness to be president.

Once again the candidate was making factual errors about the only subject he cares about, imagining an Iraq-Pakistan border and garbling the chronology of the Anbar Awakening. Once again he displayed a tantrum-prone temperament ill-suited to a high-pressure 21st-century presidency. His grim-faced crusade to brand his opponent as a traitor who wants to “lose a war” isn’t even a competent impersonation of Joe McCarthy. Mr. McCain comes off instead like the ineffectual Mr. Wilson, the retired neighbor perpetually busting a gasket at the antics of pesky little Dennis the Menace.

The week’s most revealing incident occurred on Wednesday when the new, supposedly improved McCain campaign management finalized its grand plan to counter Mr. Obama’s Berlin speech with a “Mission Accomplished”-like helicopter landing on an oil rig off Louisiana’s coast. The announcement was posted on politico.com even as any American with a television could see that Hurricane Dolly was imminent. Needless to say, this bit of theater was almost immediately “postponed” but not before raising the question of whether a McCain administration would be just as hapless in anticipating the next Katrina as the Bush-Brownie storm watch.

When not plotting such stunts, the McCain campaign whines about its lack of press attention like a lover jilted for a younger guy. The McCain camp should be careful what it wishes for. As its relentless goading of Mr. Obama to visit Iraq only ratcheted up anticipation for the Democrat’s triumphant trip, so its insistent demand for joint town-hall meetings with Mr. Obama and for more televised chronicling of Mr. McCain’s wanderings could be self-inflicted disasters in the making.

Mr. McCain may be most comfortable at town-hall meetings before largely friendly crowds, but his performance under pressure at this year’s G.O.P. primary debates was erratic. His sound-bite-deep knowledge of the country’s No. 1 issue, the economy, is a Gerald Ford train wreck waiting to happen in any matchup with Mr. Obama that requires focused, time-limited answers rather than rambling.

During Mr. McCain’s last two tours of the Middle East — conducted without the invasive scrutiny of network anchors — the only news he generated was his confusion of Sunni with Shia and his embarrassing stroll through a “safe” Baghdad market with helicopter cover. He should thank his stars that few TV viewers saw that he was even less at home when walking through a chaotic Pennsylvania supermarket last week. He inveighed against the price of milk while reading from a note card and felt the pain of a shopper planted by the local Republican Party.

The election remains Mr. Obama’s to lose, and he could lose it, whether through unexpected events, his own vanity or a vice-presidential misfire. But what we’ve learned this month is that America, our allies and most likely the next Congress are moving toward Mr. Obama’s post-Iraq vision of the future, whether he reaches the White House or not. That’s some small comfort as we contemplate the strange alternative offered by the Republicans: a candidate so oblivious to our nation’s big challenges ahead that he is doubling down in his campaign against both Mr. Maliki and Mr. Obama to be elected commander in chief of the surge.

Hmmm...

2008-07-29T09:56:00.001-06:00

"Incomplete"

One day I'll find relief
I'll be arrived
And I'll be friend to my friends who know how to be friends
One day I'll be at peace
I'll be enlightened and I'll be married with children and maybe adopt
One day I will be healed
I will gather my wounds forge the end of tragic comedy

I have been running so sweaty my whole life
Urgent for a finish line
And I have been missing the rapture this whole time of being forever incomplete

One day my mind will retreat
And I'll know God
And I'll be constantly one with her night dusk and day
One day I'll be secure
Like the women I see on their thirtieth anniversaries

I have been running so sweaty my whole life
Urgent for a finish line
And I have been missing the rapture this whole time of being forever incomplete

Ever unfolding
Ever expanding
Ever adventurous
And torturous
And never done

One day I will speak freely
I'll be less afraid
And measured outside of my poems and lyrics and art
One day I will be faith-filled
I'll be trusting and spacious authentic and grounded and home

I have been running so sweaty my whole life
Urgent for a finish line
And I have been missing the rapture this whole time of being forever incomplete

The Dark Knight

2008-07-23T09:56:00.003-06:00

Wow! What can I say. Even thou the film lasted a little too long, much story must be told I'm sure, the movie overall was amazing. I like how Christopher Nolan has basically reconstructed the superhero genre and made it so...down to earth, I guess.

Heath Ledger really deserves all the superlatives that are flying his departed way. He was that good. His Joker should be the definitive villain for a while. When an actor can best Jack Nicholson out of a part, thats saying something. I can't think of a clip to put on here because you have to watch the overall performance of Ledger to understand simplicity and over the top insanity that he displays scene to scene. The film gets extra points for jettisoning Katie Holmes out for Maggie Gyllenhaal, who turned her one note little cookie into someone interesting. All the kudos actually belong to Christopher Nolan, the director and artist who re imagined the batman for a generation that doesn't suspend their disbelief for very long.

EMMY Nominations!!!

2008-07-18T11:40:00.005-06:00

Damn, nothing like an award show to really knock things out of the park and brighten my day.

COMEDY SERIES
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Entourage
The Office
30 Rock
Two and a Half Men

Obviously this will go to "30 Rock". If only because its the only comedy I watch.

ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Steve Carell, The Office
Lee Pace, Pushing Daisies
Tony Shalhoub, Monk
Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half Men

Alec Baldwin, not just because of previous reasons, but because he is one of the funniest men on television.

ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Christina Applegate, Samantha Who?
America Ferrera, Ugly Betty
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, The New Adventures of Old Christine
Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds

Yet again, Tina Fey. How does Ferrera keep getting in here; is her show that good?

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Jon Cryer, Two and a Half Men
Kevin Dillon, Entourage
Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother
Jeremy Piven, Entourage
Rainn Wilson, The Office

I know I should say Neil Patrick Harris, but I want Rainn Wilson to win. From "Six Feet Under" to "The Office" the guy is always hilarious.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Kristin Chenoweth, Pushing Daisies
Amy Poehler, Saturday Night Live
Jean Smart, Samantha Who?
Holland Taylor, Two and a Half Men
Vanessa Williams, Ugly Betty

Hmmm, Vanessa Williams or Amy Poehler? Very tricky proposition but points go to Poehler. She needs this win so she can leave "SNL" for good.

GUEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Will Arnett, 30 Rock
Shelley Berman, Curb Your Enthusiasm
Steve Buscemi, 30 Rock
Tim Conway, 30 Rock
Rip Torn, 30 Rock

Will Arnett was very good in his role as a changed man; from gay to straight and watching him get tackled by a college wrestler was knee slapping.

GUEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Polly Bergen, Desperate Housewives
Edie Falco, 30 Rock
Carrie Fisher, 30 Rock
Kathryn Joosten, Desperate Housewives
Sarah Silverman, Monk
Elaine Stritch, 30 Rock

This is a touch category!! All of the "30 Rock" women were great, but who doesn't want to see Sarah Silverman win an Emmy!

DRAMA SERIES
Boston Legal
Damages
Dexter
House
Lost
Mad Men

I just started watching "Mad Men" and it is a genius as they say, but "Damages" catapulted forward with each episode with suspense and wonderful acting. I have to say thou this one should go to "Lost" for always being creative and interesting.

ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Gabriel Byrne, In Treatment
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Hugh Laurie, House
James Spader, Boston Legal

ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Glenn Close, Damages
Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters
Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Holly Hunter, Saving Grace
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Ted Danson, Damages
Michael Emerson, Lost
Zeljko Ivanek, Damages
William Shatner, Boston Legal
John Slattery, Mad Men

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Candice Bergen, Boston Legal
Rachel Griffiths, Brothers & Sisters
Sandra Oh, Grey's Anatomy
Dianne Wiest, In Treatment
Chandra Wilson, Grey's Anatomy

GUEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Charles Durning, Rescue Me
Robert Morse, Mad Men
Oliver Platt, Nip/Tuck
Stanley Tucci, ER
Glynn Turman, In Treatment
Robin Williams, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

GUEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Ellen Burstyn, Big Love
Diahann Carroll, Grey's Anatomy
Sharon Gless, Nip/Tuck
Anjelica Huston, Medium
Cynthia Nixon, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

MINISERIES
The Andromeda Strain
Cranford
John Adams
Tin Man

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE
Bernard and Doris
Extras: The Extra Special Series Finale
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
A Raisin In The Sun
Recount

ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR A MOVIE
Ralph Fiennes, Bernard And Doris
Ricky Gervais, Extras
Paul Giamatti, John Adams
Kevin Spacey, Recount
Tom Wilkinson, Recount

ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR A MOVIE
Judi Dench, Cranford
Catherine Keener, An American Crime
Laura Linney, John Adams
Phylicia Rashad, A Raisin in the Sun
Susan Sarandon, Bernard And Doris

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR MOVIE
Bob Balaban, Recount
Stephen Dillane, John Adams
Denis Leary, Recount
David Morse, John Adams
Tom Wilkinson, John Adams

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR MOVIE
Eileen Atkins, Cranford
Laura Dern, Recount
Ashley Jensen, Extras: The Extra Special Series Finale
Audra McDonald, A Raisin in the Sun
Alfre Woodard, Pictures Of Hollis Woods

Been away....

2008-07-16T08:56:00.004-06:00

I have been on vacation and then back home for a long week of work. Sorry. Surprisingly enough I found all of my old writings in a folder while I was deleting stuff off my hard drive. I did have some interesting papers thou. Maybe if I get some balls I'll post one, but not before I edit it to shreds and make something entirely new.

My new favorite song;

Dear Lord....

2008-06-19T08:00:00.000-06:00

Monday Meryl

2008-06-17T13:57:00.000-06:00

I forgot Monday was yesterday

Keeping my head up...

2008-06-15T17:28:00.001-06:00

		http://www.mp3lyrics.org/GX8J

Do it, now You know who you are You feel it in your heart And your burning and wishin But first wait, won't get it on a plate Your gonna have to work for it harder and harder And I know cause i've been there before Knockin on the doors with rejection (rejection) And you'll see(you'll see) cause if it's meant to be Nothing can compare to deserving your dreams [ Chorus ] It's amazing, it's amazing all that you can do It's amazing, it makes my heart sing Now it's up to you Patience now frustration's in the air And people who don't care Well it's gonna get you down And you'll (you'll) fall (fall) Yes you will hit a wall Get back on your feet And you'll be stronger and smarter And I know i've been there before Knockin down the doors wont take no for an answer And you'll see cause if it's meant to be Nothing can compare to deserving your dreams [ Chorus ] It's amazing, it's amazing all that you can do It's amazing, it makes my heart sing Now it's up to you Ooo-ooo-ooo [ electric voice ] It's amazing, it's amazing all that you can do It's amazing, it makes my heart sing Now it's up to you It's amazing, it's amazing all that you can do It's amazing, it makes my heart sing Now it's up to you Ahh-ahh-ahh

Movies to see...

2008-06-10T12:48:00.005-06:00

I've seen so many movies that its hard to keep track of which ones I have not viewed. Sometimes I've seen so many pieces that I actually think I've watched it. After going through my "1001 Movies to See Before You Die" book, I realize I have a few to watch this summer.

Birth of a Nation

Gone With the Wind

The Rules of the Game

The Philadelphia Story

Casablanca

Meet Me in St. Louis

Strangers on a Train

The African Queen

Singin' in the Rain

On the Waterfront

Guys and Dolls

The Searchers

North by Northwest

Anatomy of a Murder

Jules et Jim

Spartacus

To Kill A Mockingbird

Blazing Saddles

Barry Lyndon

The Deer Hunter

Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Brazil

The Piano Teacher

When a friendship dies...

2008-06-04T10:47:00.005-06:00

What to expect....

Sometimes you can tell somethings going bad. Not like lettuce or milk that have visible eat by dates printed on them, but like car tires. They get low, you put air in them. They start to show tread, but you ignore them, because really who wants to go through the drama that is an auto shop. It can be scary to confront whats happening to y0ur car. Or your most valuable friendship.

I'll give a tip here; when you can tell you're becoming so different, so separate, that you're common interest are few and far between; get out. Make it so you don't see each other as much or god forbid, you don't live together. Truth is, people are made to live in close quarters unless they are going to stay the same forever and who wants to stay the same forever. We change, we're human. For better or worse in your life you will lose friends who simply fall away because you stop having a lot in common. Its ok. Just get out before your differences become a fight. Before you spend all of your time trapped in your room trying to avoid a fight. Its depressing, trust me.

When I say get out before it becomes old and curdled, I mean it. Things can get ugly and no matter how hard you try to avoid a messy confrontation, trust is lost. You go into survival mode.
Its not about ending up on top, its about ending up on your feet. Doing what you have to do to get out and move on remains the top priority.

Dignity has a lot to do with it. Whats the point of displaying everything that was wrong with the other person? Do we ever get satisfaction from being the victim? Some people do. I know I have. No one is the victim in a situation like this, thou. Its all situational, but for something like this, no, theres no use in begging for sympathy. Who did what, who slammed what, who said what....its exhausting. It ended, its sad. You both lost.

Take comfort in what you had, when you had it. Be grateful that you had someone in your life who for a time knew what you would do before you did it, someone who could make you laugh when you were heartbroken and someone who understood the need for highlights and a mild tan. That's all you can do.

Pollack

2008-05-27T08:44:00.010-06:00

Sydney Pollack has died. For those of you who only know him as Will's dad George on "Will and Grace", you are seriously missing out. The man was an Academy Award winning director and producer before he graced that show with his gravitas. He made the poignantly romantic gushfest "The Way We Were" and the paranoid thriller "3 Days of the Condor" in the 70's. The lush "Out of Africa" and the hilarious "Tootsie" in the 80's. He even stepped in for Harvey Keitel when Stanley Kubrick wanted to re-shoot scenes in "Eyes Wide Shut". He was not a big personality, no splashy story comes to mind, but he always maintained his class while his contemporaries were doing low ball comedies (i.e DeNiro) and all but retiring. In the past few years he produced and co-starred in "Michael Clayton", directed the mildly successful "The Interpreter" and yes managed to parent will before dying of a heart attack.

One hopes that someone will take over the duty of churning out the level of movies that were so evident in the 70's, but without Anthony Minghella (who died just a few months ago), I doubt anyone will.

"Tootsie"

"Out of Africa"

Makes my heart warm up...

2008-05-22T07:26:00.004-06:00

2008-05-17T17:41:00.005-06:00

Do I like this place? I think it may be too small, but I guess its just me.

Writing alot....

2008-05-13T08:37:00.006-06:00

Sorry I've been away; I have been writing and reading so much that I haven't had much time to write anything else.

I'm getting all caught up in this "Sex and the City" mayhem, but don't worry as it gets closer I have been reading less and less and watching less and less. I want to be a little excited and surprised when I go in. A new tv spot was on during "Brothers and Sisters" sunday and I thought it was a nice little teaser that focused more on the comedy and sexiness that the girls also had. In searching for it to show I came upon some other tv spots as well. Damn these websites, lol.
Here they both are;

Exciting, huh? Now hopefully that'll be enough for a couple of weeks when the movie actually hits the screens.

I have been to busy re-watching "The Shining" and "Carnival of Souls" to get into anything else. Its surprising how inspiring and jaw dropping those two films are. Both are so original and weird and creepy and interesting. Major inspirations. Almost as much as Bergman when I first discovered him, although I've seen both of the latter films previously, they feel new to me now.

I think it has something to do with being in a new place, experiencing life a different way and feeling a little out of place. Changing your scenery can really change your train of thought. I never knew. Maybe I should be moving around more often. :)

and i'm off....

And I'm back....

2008-05-02T08:53:00.003-06:00

So I have re-booted and I've learned a few things.

1) You never really know anyone.
now this isn't so much a bad thing as it is an unexpected thing. which life is unexpected so maybe we should stop being so surprised by life. the surprises (good and bad) should be met with gratitude. if life never jumped in our face and set us off course I doubt we'd have as much as excitement as we do.

2) You wake up easier if you haven't been drinking the night before....or is my body slowing down?

3) Work is funny and as I learned in "Baby Mama"; you do your job for the money but I bet you love it and you're good at it. I'm having a lot if forks in my road lately, it seems once I've polished one off and put it in the drawer I have another that needs choosing. The unexpected I guess, huh?

Last (New) Post

2008-04-22T11:36:00.002-06:00

I just listened to Madonna's whole new CD (don't worry Madge I'm still buying it) and its a great CD. There are a few songs I don't care for but basically its very good.

Some of the tracks even have music from her former albums which is kind of a great little nod to the past and surprisingly its not as R&B as the first single would suggest. Its more urban-beats mixed with bubble gum pop.

I have to say you must buy it when it comes out next Tuesday.

I'm about to shut this computer down and move it so in a way this is my last post in this mindset (setting). Hopefully by the time I re-boot I will have had a nice rest and can restart. Hopefully.

New SATC commercial!!!!

2008-04-22T08:52:00.002-06:00

Me Without You

2008-04-17T17:31:00.006-06:00

Holly (from "Me Without You"): Fuck, I don't know. I just--I don't want to be us anymore. Do you? I mean it's not your fault. I-- I let you do it, and I blame you. But I don't like what I am with you. You're strangling me. I mean, we're-- We're, like--We're, like, suffocating each other. All the time that I'm with you, I feel ugly...and bloody desperate and depressed......and not good enough and unsuccessful...and jealous and stuck.

I say; sometimes (normally) change is good. For me when its quick and rips at you fast I handle it better. I shut down emotionally, of course, but only because things are changing and I refuse to get worked up about it. Its my survival instinct cranked up to eleven.

But oh how I will grow.

I think sometimes things end and you want to know why. I want to analyze it, break it down and think it over until it makes sense in my head, but for once I don't need things to. What a fucking relief! Dust is settling all around me and I am seeing things much clearer. Life can go unexplained. For once. No fights, no arguments...Full Stop. The End.

Lately I've been wanting to run away as fast as I can to end this chapter in my life. Strangely enough, now that I'm being hoisted out I'm happy to go and glad someone had the guts to end it. I'm anxious and excited to see what my life will be like after this funny, comically tragic, learning, surprising, difficult chapter in my life.

I'm really liking this song....

2008-03-25T09:44:00.000-06:00

So Madonna released her new song today and I’m really enjoying it.

Hey and if the song doesn’t do well, which I think it will, she’s already sold out to Sunsilk, so technically the song is already a hit.

One of the best movies....

2008-03-24T20:35:00.003-06:00

Reflections in a Golden Eye

but in some versions it has a gold tint, which supposedly is the color tint the director wanted.

I forgot to be ashamed....

2008-03-24T16:00:00.000-06:00

my new hero ;)

Did you watch "Flashpoint" this morning? I sure as hell did. The show, like one of my dates, was an emotional roller coaster; never fun, and it frustrated me, made me cry and left me in shock. I hope that some people understood what was really being said.

witty bitch.

Sadly, Sally Kern stood by her point and got her agenda out there on national state television, but so did Scott. He calmly explained his views as Sally berated him on the bible (ummm, hello, he’s a pastor, I think he’s read it). Mayor Humphries went from saying the bible condemned homosexuality to saying books in it to saying some scriptures. Inconsistencies? I’m glad Scott didn’t follow his line of questioning on adultery. Why is homosexuality comparative to adultery? I guess all sins a sin, right? Wrong, adultery ruins people and relationships, homosexuality may ruin your relationship with your family, but oh well. If people are really nervous about gay marriage ruining the "sanctity" or the strict moral code we live under (sarcasm doesn’t read well on here, does it?) please make divorce illegal. We’ll see how many straight people cheat then.

agenda pushing is for the honeymoon!!! i think i’m into it.

According to Sally Kerns, the "Gay Agenda" and I do have one, consists of voting, supporting candidates I choose and living my life openly and freely. So to Sally Kern I am a basic American citizen, without the right to marry nonetheless. Why are we being shamed for it? How is our agenda terrorizing this nation, worse than the ’terrorist’ that our President warns us of?

I’m not going to live my life in shame. I won’t drink from the other fountain, I won’t stay in the kitchen, I won’t hide. Now, I’m not saying I’m a bad ass communist fag, although I have the Travis Bickle haircut for it. I prefer to live my life as I see fit, because I won’t hurt anyone. My nasty sin, will not be my nasty little secret. Which makes me proud that I live when I live and where I live, because I forgot to be ashamed of my life. I never knew you were supposed to be, but thank god (or whomever sits up their laughing) that I never was.

and really if being gay means you look like this, well then sign me up. :)

2008-03-05T15:03:00.000-06:00

2008-03-05T09:57:00.001-06:00

See latest stories on Yahoo! News

Sex and the City

2008-02-22T11:50:00.006-06:00

Finally we get a look at the trailer for Sex and the City...the movie? Anyways, it looks FANTASTIC! Can't say I've been this excited for a movie since Basic Instinct 2...don't ask. I'll try to upload it directly onto the page, but here's the link just in case I can't.
ENJOY!!

SexandtheCityMovieBlog.com: Sex and the City Full Trailer
by gsantamaria

Click Here!

Hate Crime Victim- 14 years old

2008-02-19T23:43:00.003-06:00

i included some of the papers comments at the bottom; its interesting to see how people respond to these things.

Cherry Creek teen may face bully in court
Adrian Ulm took the abuse for two years, and then it escalated.
By Joey Bunch
The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 02/19/2008 08:38:28 AM MST

CENTENNIAL — Adrian Ulm is the kind of kid whom school staff say they have to keep an eye on — a little heavy, a little different, the kind bullies will circle like coyotes, a security officer at West Middle School said.

But for two years, Adrian kept a secret from every adult he knew, even his father: The verbal abuse he says was heaped on him from other students. Bullies called him "Nazi," because he is from Germany, and "gay," because he is a musical-theater prodigy who stars in professional plays.

And despite what Cherry Creek Schools calls a proactive effort to curb bullying, including classroom discussions, plenty of kids knew Adrian was a target and nearly a dozen watched him get beaten up at a school-bus stop
Bullied, Beaten

in November. Adrian had bruises and a broken collarbone.

"They didn't lift a finger to help him," Heinz Ulm said of his 14-year- old son. "I can't understand that."

His attacker won't face criminal charges, because Adrian voluntarily took part in the fight, the Ulms were told. But a 2-year-old amendment to Colorado's hate-crime laws could make Adrian's assailant the first youth in Colorado to be sued for punitive damages on the basis of school bullying.

"I would definitely describe this as a hate crime," said Adrian's lawyer, Gregg McReynolds, who has not made a decision about a suit.

Adrian said Monday he had taken all the name-calling he could last fall. On the school bus, the other boy made fun of his dad's paunchy stomach, asking when the baby was due, and said his father has yellow teeth.

"They found my weak point," Adrian recalled. "My dad is great."

The boy was expelled and has not applied for reinstatement, according to Cherry Creek Schools. But last week, three of his friends told Adrian the boy intended to deal him a worse beating when he returns.

As a result, those three were required to sign "contracts" that would lead to their expulsion if they harass Adrian again, said Cherry Creek Schools
Adrian Ulm is photographed in his home recording studio. Students called him "gay" because he is a theater prodigy and "Nazi" because he's from Germany. The school is providing extra security, but his assailant has allegedly threatened an even worse beating. (Brian Brainerd, The Denver Post )
spokeswoman Tustin Amole.

In addition to extra attention from school security officers, a teacher checks in with Adrian daily, Amole said. Students in the district are taught from kindergarten how to respond to bullies, she said.

"The first we knew of this problem was after the fight," Amole said. "... We don't take bullying lightly. We take it very, very seriously."

David Finkelhor, director of the University of New Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Research Center, agrees it's important for schools to take bullying seriously.

"You need lots of options," he said Monday. "But first, you need a criminal-justice system and a school system that takes it serious."

But turning to lawsuits seems counterproductive, he said: "You aren't able to negotiate resolutions in good faith if you've got both sides governed by lawyers who are concerned with damages."

Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com

Kids and crimes

• Five percent of students ages 12 to 18 report being bullied at school in the prior six months.

• Juveniles make up 23 percent of all individual hate-crime victims, compared with 11 percent of all other crimes.

• Eighty-one percent of the juvenile victims of hate crimes are ages 12 to 17.

• Boys make up 69 percent of all juvenile hate-crime victims.

• Sixty-three percent of hate crimes against juveniles involve violent assaults, compared with 39 percent of hate crimes against adults.

• Twenty-one percent of hate crimes against juveniles occur at school.

• Sixty-four percent of those who commit hate crimes against juveniles are younger than 18.

• Fifty-six percent of juveniles who commit hate crimes know their victims, compared with 39 percent of adults who commit hate crimes.

Article Comments (89 comments)

* I wish those punks lived by me!!! Punks who are such losers have to pick on someone who is weaker! Come to my bus stop boys!!!!!
Mike

* The problem with these mentally degenerate children is that they grow into adults with the same anti-social traits.
gino

* those punks DO live by me... Cherry Creek Schools are a disgrace regarding this bullying activity! My step-son has been bullied at the shcool bus stop, at school, and even in class for months. When we called the school, they said since it is happeneing on the way to/from the bus stop, or not during the actual class, they are not responsible and will not do ANYTHING!

My step-son goes to Heritage and step daughter to West! And yes, they have a major issue at both due to administrators turning a blind eye to the problem...its time for the Principals to be held responsible just like what happened to the principal in Air Academy District for refusing to help a 6th grade girl named Casey...she ended up dead....and the district paid multiple millions of dollars to her parents for her death.....when are these people going to have to wake up?
JR Ridings

* Bullies usually have crappy parents. Why don't we publish some parents' names and then I believe that much of this would stop.
Karl Spackler

* I'd support that....
KarlSpackler wrote:
Bullies usually have crappy parents. Why don't we publish some parents' names and then I believe that much of this would stop.

Sounds fair to me...
JR Ridings

* This Is A Hate Crime The Cherry Creek school district is using the excuse of "bullying" to avoid any further embarrassment of its so called student diversity policies.
John

* Bullying at Cherry Creek Schools If you read this, Adrian, please hang in there! Communicate with your parents and teachers. Try your best to be who you are. Confidence scares bullies. Show them that you are strong in your belief in yourself and your family. Sing/act, study, play and ignore those who can't seem to accept anyone different from themselves. Best of luck.
Tim Gaudette

* We are a society of conquer first, question later..... This is the very reason my son takes martial arts classes and has for the last 6 years. Now at 17 he teaches the younger kids and I am so very proud of him. No one should be forced to be a victim of bullying or anything else.
K S

* psychosocial Wait one minute; children are born Innocent and those primitive thought patterns are a learned behavior from the adults. The disillusionment and depersonalization of our social behaviors is a psychosocial interpretation of the real problem. We justify evil in ourselves with the evil of others, and we teach this to our children, with "our" behaviors.
There are two children in a sandbox declaring my father is greater then yours, my religious belief is greater then yours, my skin color is greater then yours; and you declare war on your own brothers.
It is know more then the appeasement of the demons in all of us.
patrick

* And we wonder why some people go crazy and shoot up schools
Dude Man

* From One Parent to Another My heart goes out to Adrian's parents. No parent wants to learn that their child is being picked on, but to have it result in this kind of hatred and violence is even worse. Adrian is an adorable, talented little boy. I hope he and his family find resolution in this process.

Ironically, the boys calling him "Nazi" displayed the same hateful tactics the Nazis employed during the Hitler regime. They dehumanized millions of people based on their religion and/or ethnicity and physical attributes, and then convinced millions of compatriots that it would be OK to persecute, torture and kill them.

That is why we need to remember and learn from history because, as it has been said over and over again: If we forget what happened in the past, it is bound to happen again in the future. This month, people across the nation are marking Black History Month and National Holocaust Awareness Week. Perhaps now would be a good time for Cherry Creek Schools to implement some sort of program to enlighten their students.

* Adrian's final solution These kids should be packed into trains and sent to a camp where the can concentrate on not being bullies.
Cam Neely

driver wrote:
Wait one minute; children are born Innocent and those primitive thought patterns are a learned behavior from the adults. The disillusionment and depersonalization of our social behaviors is a psychosocial interpretation of the real problem. We justify evil in ourselves with the evil of others, and we teach this to our children, with "our" behaviors.
There are two children in a sandbox declaring my father is greater then yours, my religious belief is greater then yours, my skin color is greater then yours; and you declare war on your own brothers.
It is know more then the appeasement of the demons in all of us.

You will notice that its not history repeating itself but the same hate crimes are being brought up to promote and support specific agendas. In this case the media is shying away from calling this a hate crime. Their diversity policies are really agenda motivated, so this German kid was just being bullied. If this child was Hispanic it would have been a hate crime.
John

* Both at fault Looks to me like this "victim" took it to the next level by starting a fight. If you read between the lines of the article it is clear that this kid likely instigated the physical altercation. As a result, he likely has no legal claim nor should he. Bullying should not be tolerated but lets not make this kid out to be too much of a victim.

* school bullies This story reminds me of the Post's articles that said that the precursor to the Columbine shootings was the bullying of Dylan and Eric. I never read the names of the those bullies. In retrospect, I think it would have been justified to identify them. They should have faced some sort of accountability.

Grammy Wins

2008-02-11T05:41:00.000-06:00

Record Of The Year
Rehab
Amy Winehouse

Album Of The Year
River: The Joni Letters
Herbie Hancock

Song Of The Year
Amy Winehouse

Best New Artist
Amy Winehouse

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
Rehab
Amy Winehouse

Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
What Goes Around...Comes Around
Justin Timberlake

Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
Makes Me Wonder
Maroon 5

Best Pop Instrumental Performance
One Week Last Summer
Joni Mitchell

Best Pop Vocal Album
Back To Black
Amy Winehouse

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album
Call Me Irresponsible
Michael Bublé

Thats all for now :)

Hillary and America and Amber

2008-01-29T08:59:00.001-06:00

Barack and I

2008-01-26T11:32:00.000-06:00

I know I've been lazily re-posting articles and information with no real opinion of my own about the state of affairs in politics lately, but honestly I still need time to decide who to place my bets on. My heart wants me to vote for John Edwards, but would I be wasting my vote? On a more serious note, I must mention how cute he is.

Perhaps I fancy myself too much of a rebel (trust me I don't kid myself that much), as I can't give in to the Obama firestorm that is taking over my generation. Maybe I'm missing the point. I've watched his speeches, researched his issues...I still don't get it. James Cooper wrote a Obama support piece (Click Here To Read) that was well written; an emotional, optimistic plea for the vote. He mentions that the cynicism should be taken out and we should share the hope for change and that change is Obama.

I don't share that idealism. All three major nominees have very similar politics. They are all charismatic, attractive, intelligent, and well dressed to boot. If they all looked the same, were the same sex and race, they'd be the same person-EXCEPT-Clinton has a little more experience. Edwards flops around a lot on the issues and Obama takes some cheap shots. Please lets ignore the obvious first woman, first african-american in office ploys; that doesn't make you a good candidate, that makes you a good martyr.

"You know the former president, who I think all of us have a lot of regard for, has taken his advocacy on behalf of his wife to a level that I think is pretty troubling," Obama said. "He continues to make statements that are not supported by the facts -- whether it's about my record of opposition to the war in Iraq or our approach to organizing in Las Vegas. This has become a habit." Ugghh...Martyr

Why is his involvement troubling? True Bill Clinton did smart off to begin with and I think some of his facts were wrong, BUT if he's this saint and revolutionary we should be ideally looking up to, doesn't he know how to turn the other cheek. I hate how we look at someone as this flawed, yet angelic leader when he's a cog in the government machine as well.Someone compared him to a peaceful man like Martin Luther King, jr. Bescuz me?

Thats the point thou. If we were voting for a chance to win and make some change Obama is the wrong way to go. I watched one college blogger supporting Obama for being so green and uncorrupted by government treachery since he's so new at the game. What? Is that rational? First of all, to say anyone's untouched by the powerful cash fat pockets of the government policy maker is ridiculous. Secondly, why am I voting for an inexperienced audaciously hopeful junior senator from Illinois....? Because he's green. Because he's a revolutionary? Really?

Back to my point. Realistically, in my head, which is limited I realize, I think if we support Obama for the democratic presidential nomination we will lose and if we lose to someone like Huckabee or Romney we are fucked! We're fucked as Gay people, we're fucked as Democrats, we're fucked as middle class people. I'd vote for McCain, but Republicans seems to be supporting someone more religious like Huckabee, I guess.

So in essence, Barack is a good guy, an optimistic, hopeful candidate who should wait for a few more years before running and getting in over his head.

New Alanis song...I love it!!

2008-01-25T22:38:00.001-06:00

Alanis Morissette - Underneath (HQ Official)
Uploaded by Sebdk

Also, funny little article about her;
WHO: Alanis Morissette
WHAT: "Underneath"
WHY: Alanis is back! Hello? Anyone? Well, chances are somebody on earth is slightly excited for the return of this '90s heroine who once sold millions of records on the strength of her strangled-cat whine and palpable young-person angst. With her new album, Flavors of Entanglement, the singer is aiming for a more electronic sound and, lo and behold, new track "Underneath" features a bunch of weak, tentative and already dated beats — Madonna tried this same strategy (and pulled it off with significant aplomb) exactly 10 years ago. So while her voice sounds even harsher when set against the track's popping, mechanical drums, the video just confuses. Why is everyone jumping into this pool, again? Is there a secret land where people still buy CDs and listen to "Ironic" on repeat located somewhere "underneath" the water's surface? And why is Alanis winking at us like that? Wishful thinking? Nervous tic? Not a lot of "comeback of the year" potential here.

I'm being swayed....

2008-01-25T19:19:00.001-06:00

Editorial

Primary Choices: Hillary Clinton

This generally is the stage of a campaign when Democrats have to work hard to get excited about whichever candidate seems most likely to outlast an uninspiring pack. That is not remotely the case this year.

The early primaries produced two powerful main contenders: Hillary Clinton, the brilliant if at times harsh-sounding senator from New York; and Barack Obama, the incandescent if still undefined senator from Illinois. The remaining long shot, John Edwards, has enlivened the race with his own brand of raw populism.

As Democrats look ahead to the primaries in the biggest states on Feb. 5, The Times’s editorial board strongly recommends that they select Hillary Clinton as their nominee for the 2008 presidential election.

We have enjoyed hearing Mr. Edwards’s fiery oratory, but we cannot support his candidacy. The former senator from North Carolina has repudiated so many of his earlier positions, so many of his Senate votes, that we’re not sure where he stands. We certainly don’t buy the notion that he can hold back the tide of globalization.

By choosing Mrs. Clinton, we are not denying Mr. Obama’s appeal or his gifts. The idea of the first African-American nominee of a major party also is exhilarating, and so is the prospect of the first woman nominee. “Firstness” is not a reason to choose. The times that false choice has been raised, more often by Mrs. Clinton, have tarnished the campaign.

Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton would both help restore America’s global image, to which President Bush has done so much grievous harm. They are committed to changing America’s role in the world, not just its image.

On the major issues, there is no real gulf separating the two. They promise an end to the war in Iraq, more equitable taxation, more effective government spending, more concern for social issues, a restoration of civil liberties and an end to the politics of division of George W. Bush and Karl Rove.

Mr. Obama has built an exciting campaign around the notion of change, but holds no monopoly on ideas that would repair the governing of America. Mrs. Clinton sometimes overstates the importance of résumé. Hearing her talk about the presidency, her policies and answers for America’s big problems, we are hugely impressed by the depth of her knowledge, by the force of her intellect and by the breadth of, yes, her experience.

It is unfair, especially after seven years of Mr. Bush’s inept leadership, but any Democrat will face tougher questioning about his or her fitness to be commander in chief. Mrs. Clinton has more than cleared that bar, using her years in the Senate well to immerse herself in national security issues, and has won the respect of world leaders and many in the American military. She would be a strong commander in chief.

Domestically, Mrs. Clinton has tackled complex policy issues, sometimes failing. She has shown a willingness to learn and change. Her current proposals on health insurance reflect a clear shift from her first, famously disastrous foray into the issue. She has learned that powerful interests cannot simply be left out of the meetings. She understands that all Americans must be covered — but must be allowed to choose their coverage, including keeping their current plans. Mr. Obama may also be capable of tackling such issues, but we have not yet seen it. Voters have to judge candidates not just on the promise they hold, but also on the here and now.

The sense of possibility, of a generational shift, rouses Mr. Obama’s audiences and not just through rhetorical flourishes. He shows voters that he understands how much they hunger for a break with the Bush years, for leadership and vision and true bipartisanship. We hunger for that, too. But we need more specifics to go with his amorphous promise of a new governing majority, a clearer sense of how he would govern.

The potential upside of a great Obama presidency is enticing, but this country faces huge problems, and will no doubt be facing more that we can’t foresee. The next president needs to start immediately on challenges that will require concrete solutions, resolve, and the ability to make government work. Mrs. Clinton is more qualified, right now, to be president.

We opposed President Bush’s decision to invade Iraq and we disagree with Mrs. Clinton’s vote for the resolution on the use of force. That’s not the issue now; it is how the war will be ended. Mrs. Clinton seems not only more aware than Mr. Obama of the consequences of withdrawal, but is already thinking through the diplomatic and military steps that will be required to contain Iraq’s chaos after American troops leave.

On domestic policy, both candidates would turn the government onto roughly the same course — shifting resources to help low-income and middle-class Americans, and broadening health coverage dramatically. Mrs. Clinton also has good ideas about fixing the dysfunction in Mr. Bush’s No Child Left Behind education program.

Mr. Obama talks more about the damage Mr. Bush has done to civil liberties, the rule of law and the balance of powers. Mrs. Clinton is equally dedicated to those issues, and more prepared for the Herculean task of figuring out exactly where, how and how often the government’s powers have been misused — and what must now be done to set things right.

As strongly as we back her candidacy, we urge Mrs. Clinton to take the lead in changing the tone of the campaign. It is not good for the country, the Democratic Party or for Mrs. Clinton, who is often tagged as divisive, in part because of bitter feeling about her husband’s administration and the so-called permanent campaign. (Indeed, Bill Clinton’s overheated comments are feeding those resentments, and could do long-term damage to her candidacy if he continues this way.)

We know that she is capable of both uniting and leading. We saw her going town by town through New York in 2000, including places where Clinton-bashing was a popular sport. She won over skeptical voters and then delivered on her promises and handily won re-election in 2006.

Mrs. Clinton must now do the same job with a broad range of America’s voters. She will have to let Americans see her power to listen and lead, but she won’t be able to do it town by town.

When we endorsed Mrs. Clinton in 2006, we were certain she would continue to be a great senator, but since her higher ambitions were evident, we wondered if she could present herself as a leader to the nation.

Her ideas, her comeback in New Hampshire and strong showing in Nevada, her new openness to explaining herself and not just her programs, and her abiding, powerful intellect show she is fully capable of doing just that. She is the best choice for the Democratic Party as it tries to regain the White House.

Lets get started

2008-01-16T06:34:00.000-06:00

John Edwards
*straight from Wikipedia

Edwards promotes programs to eliminate poverty in the United States, is pro-choice, and supports "College for Everyone" initiatives. He has endorsed efforts to slow down global warming.

Although Edwards initially supported the Iraq War, he later re-evaluated his position and in November 2005 wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post in which he said he regretted voting for the Iraq War Resolution, and discussed three solutions for success in the conflict. He has denounced the "troop surge" in Iraq and is a proponent of withdrawal and has urged Congress to withhold funding for the war without a withdrawal timetable.

Edwards has a universal health care plan that requires all Americans to purchase health care, "requires that everybody get preventive care," and that requires employers to provide health care or be taxed to fund public health care.He supports a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, is opposed to a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, and supports the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

Barack Obama

On the role of government in economic affairs, Obama has written: "We should be asking ourselves what mix of policies will lead to a dynamic free market and widespread economic security, entrepreneurial innovation and upward mobility [...] we should be guided by what works." Speaking before the National Press Club in April 2005, he defended the New Deal social welfare policies of Franklin D. Roosevelt, associating Republican proposals to establish private accounts for Social Security with social Darwinism. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Obama spoke out against government indifference to growing economic class divisions, calling on both political parties to take action to restore the social safety net for the poor.^[91] Shortly before announcing his presidential campaign, Obama told the health care advocacy group Families USA: "I am absolutely determined that by the end of the first term of the next president, we should have universal health care in this country."

At the Tax Policy Center in September 2007, he blamed special interests for distorting the U.S. tax code. "We are taxing income from work at nearly twice the level that we're taxing gains for investors," Obama said. "We've lost the balance between work and wealth." His plan would eliminate taxes for senior citizens with incomes of less than $50,000 a year, repeal tax cuts said to favor the wealthy, close corporate tax loopholes and restrict offshore tax havens, and simplify filing of income tax returns by pre-filling wage and bank information already collected by the IRS. Announcing his presidential campaign's energy plan in October 2007, Obama said: "Businesses don’t own the sky, the public does, and if we want them to stop polluting it, we have to put a price on all pollution." He proposed a cap and trade auction system to restrict carbon emissions and a 10 year program of investments in new energy sources to reduce U.S. dependence on imported oil.

Obama was an early opponent of Bush administration policies on Iraq. In the fall of 2002, before the start of the Iraq War, he addressed an anti-war rally in Chicago, saying:

I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaeda. I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars.^[100]

Speaking to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs in November 2006, Obama called for a "phased redeployment of U.S. troops from Iraq" and an opening of diplomatic dialogue with Syria and Iran. In a March 2007 speech to AIPAC, a pro-Israel lobby, he said that while the U.S. "should take no option, including military action, off the table, sustained and aggressive diplomacy combined with tough sanctions should be our primary means to prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons." Detailing his strategy for fighting global terrorism in August 2007, Obama said "it was a terrible mistake to fail to act" against a 2005 meeting of al-Qaeda leaders that U.S. intelligence had confirmed to be taking place in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas. He said that as president he would not miss a similar opportunity.

Obama has encouraged Democrats to reach out to evangelicals and other religious people, saying, "if we truly hope to speak to people where they’re at—to communicate our hopes and values in a way that’s relevant to their own—we cannot abandon the field of religious discourse." In December 2006, he joined Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) at the "Global Summit on AIDS and the Church" organized by church leaders Kay and Rick Warren.^[109] Together with Warren and Brownback, Obama took an HIV test, as he had done in Kenya less than four months earlier. He encouraged "others in public life to do the same" to show "there is no shame in going for an HIV test." Before the conference, 18 pro-life groups published an open letter stating, in reference to Obama's support for legal abortion: "In the strongest possible terms, we oppose Rick Warren's decision to ignore Senator Obama's clear pro-death stance and invite him to Saddleback Church anyway." Addressing over 8,000 United Church of Christ members in June 2007, Obama challenged "so-called leaders of the Christian Right" for being "all too eager to exploit what divides us."

In his write-in response to a 1998 survey, Obama stated his abortion position as: "Abortions should be legally available in accordance with Roe v. Wade."

While serving in the Illinois Senate, Obama had a 100 percent rating from the Illinois Planned Parenthood Council due to his consistent voting in favor of legalized abortion, family planning services, and having female contraceptives covered by health insurance.^[61] Since his election to the United States Senate Obama has maintained a 100 percent rating from Planned Parenthood (as of 2007) and NARAL (as of 2005). While serving in the Illinois State Senate, Obama opposed the Illinois Born Alive Infants Protection Act, which requires medical care for aborted fetuses who survive. He argued that the legislation's wording defined the fetus as a child — a measure he said would "essentially bar abortions."

Hillary Clinton

Fiscal policy

In her address to the 2000 Democratic National Convention on August 14, 2000, she stressed her support for the social programs, Social Security and Medicare, that were established during the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt. "We’ll never accomplish what we need to do for our children if we burden them with a debt they didn’t create. Franklin Roosevelt said that Americans of his generation had a rendezvous with destiny. It’s time to protect the next generation by using our budget surplus to pay down the national debt, save Social Security, modernize Medicare with a prescription drug benefit, and provide targeted tax cuts to the families who need them most."^[2]

In a 2004 fund-raising speech in San Francisco, she was highly critical of George W. Bush's tax cuts, saying that "Many of you are well enough off that ... the tax cuts may have helped you. We're saying that for America to get back on track, we're probably going to cut that short and not give it to you. We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good."^[3] Clinton has sponsored legislation designed to reduce the deficit by reinstating some taxes that had been cut. She has co-sponsored legislation related to debt and deficit reduction. On the other hand, she has advocated for federal spending that many describe as wasteful, including the expendinture of $1 million of federal funds for a museum commemorating the Woodstock Music Festival.^[4]

In January 2008 Clinton announced she wanted to enact a "stimulus package" totaling as much as $110 billion, to deal with the effects of a possible recession. The package would consists of funds to help deal with the effect of the subprime mortgage crisis, to help lower-income families pay for higher home energy costs, to extend unemployment insurance, and to possibly provide some tax refunds.^[5]

Clinton has not signed the tax cut pledge from Americans for Tax Reform, which pledges not to create new taxes or raise existing ones while in office.^[6] Clinton advocates repealing portions of the Bush tax cuts, effectively increasing some taxes to the higher rates which existed in 2000.^[7]

[edit] Immigration

On March 8, 2006, she strongly criticized H.R. 4437, a bill passed by the House of Representatives in December 2005 and sent to the Senate, which would impose harsher penalties for undocumented workers. Clinton called the measure "a rebuke to what America stands for" and said it would be "an unworkable scheme to try to deport 11 million people, which you have to have a police state to try to do." She believed the solution to the illegal immigration problem was to make "a path to earned citizenship for those who are here, working hard, paying taxes, respecting the law, and willing to meet a high bar for becoming a citizen."^[40]

On March 27, Clinton again vowed to block the bill. Speaking to a New York group of open-border advocates, she said: "[The bill] is certainly not in keeping with my understanding of the Scriptures because this bill would literally criminalize the Good Samaritan and probably even Jesus himself."^[41]

On April 5, speaking to the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Clinton said her work for her New York constituents could fall afoul of the bill since some of her constituents are undocumented immigrants. "I realize I would be a criminal, too. My staff would be criminal. We help people with all kinds of problems."^[42]

In September 2006, Clinton voted for the Secure Fence Act, authorizing the construction of 700 miles (1,100 km) of fencing along the United States–Mexico border.^[43]

In May and June 2007, Clinton cast preliminary votes (in terms of amendments and cloture) in support of the high-profile, compromise-based but very controversial, comprehensive immigration reform bill known as the Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Reform Act of 2007.^[44] When the bill was again brought forward, she continued to vote in favor of cloture motions to consider it.^[45] In October 2007, Clinton voted in favor of a small subset of the previous bill, the DREAM Act.^[46]

At a debate at Drexel University in Philadelphia on October 30, 2007, Clinton committed to support of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's plan to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. Two minutes later, she recanted the position and blamed the Bush administration for not passing immigration reform.^[47] The following day, she clarified her position in a prepared statement by coming out in support of Spitzer's bill.^[48] Two weeks later, after Spitzer abandoned the plan due to widespread opposition, Clinton reversed her position on the issue once again, stating: "I support Governor Spitzer's decision today to withdraw his proposal. As president, I will not support driver's licenses for undocumented people and will press for comprehensive immigration reform that deals with all of the issues around illegal immigration including border security and fixing our broken system."^[49] At a University of Nevada, Las Vegas debate on November 16, when asked again if she supported granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, she gave a one-word answer: "No."^[50]

[edit] Homeland security

On December 8, 2004, in a speech regarding the passage of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (IRTPA) of 2004, Senator Clinton delivered remarks on her approach to homeland security. "[This] legislation calls for dramatic improvements in the security of our nation's transportation infrastructure, including aviation security, air cargo security, and port security. Through this legislation, the security of the Northern Border will also be improved, a goal I have worked toward since 2001. Among many key provisions, the legislation calls for an increase of at least 10,000 border patrol agents from Fiscal Years 2006 through 2010, many of whom will be dedicated specifically to our Northern Border. There will also be an increase of at least 4,000 full-time immigration and customs enforcement officers in the next 5 years.^[79]

Later in the speech, Clinton described her satisfaction with the way in which IRTPA tackles what she views as the root causes of terrorism by improving education around the world and establishing schools in Muslim countries that will replace the current madrassas.

I am also pleased that the legislation addresses the root causes of terrorism in a proactive manner. This is an issue that I have spent a good deal of time on in the past year because I believe so strongly that we are all more secure when children and adults around the world are taught math and science instead of hate. The bill we are voting on today includes authorization for an International Youth Opportunity Fund, which will provide resources to build schools in Muslim countries. The legislation also acknowledges that the U.S. has a vested interest in committing to a long-term, sustainable investment in education around the globe. Some of this language is modeled on legislation that I introduced in September, The Education for All Act of 2004, and I believe it takes us a small step towards eliminating madrassas and replacing them with schools that provide a real education to all children.^[80]

Clinton has sponsored and co-sponsored several bills relating to protecting Americans from acts of terrorism,^[81]^[82] as well as providing assistance to the victims of such acts.^[83]

Security vs. human rights

On November 15, 2007, when asked "[is] national security more important than human rights?" Clinton responded, "I agree with that completely. The first obligation of the president of the United States is to protect and defend the United States of America. That doesn't mean that it is to the exclusion of other interests. And there's absolutely a connection between a democratic regime [in Pakistan] and heightened security for the United States."

Clinton voted for the USA PATRIOT Act in October 2001 when it was first enacted. In December 2005, when a political battle ensued over its renewal, Clinton supported a general filibuster against it, on the grounds that the renewal legislation did not apportion enough money to New York for anti-terrorism efforts.^[88] During the renewal debate she also worked to address some of the civil liberties concerns with it.^[89] She then voted in favor of a compromise renewed act in March 2006 that passed by an 89-10 margin.^[90]

Regarding the December 2005 NSA warrantless surveillance controversy, Clinton stated that she was "troubled" by President Bush's 2002 actions. In a statement, she said: "The balance between the urgent goal of combating terrorism and the safeguarding of our most fundamental constitutional freedoms is not always an easy one to draw. However, they are not incompatible, and unbridled and unchecked executive power is not the answer."^[91]

Clinton has not signed the American Freedom Agenda's pledge to end the use of military commissions to prosecute war crimes, restore habeas corpus, end torture of captives, end domestic wiretapping without a warrant, and end presidential signing statements.^[92]^[93]

Clinton supports making flag burning illegal, but without adopting the constitutional Flag Desecration Amendment to do so.^[97]

In 1992 Hillary Clinton supported a federal ban on semi-automatic firearms before the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act was passed in 1993 and signed by President Clinton^[98].

During a 1999 press conference at the White House, First Lady Hillary Clinton stated, "And since the crime bill was enacted, 19 of the deadliest assault weapons are harder to find on our streets. We will never know how many tragedies we've avoided because of these efforts."^[99] During the time period referenced by Clinton, handguns accounted for over 2/3 of firearm mortalities in the US.^[100]

In the 1999 Proposition B in Missouri campaign, Robin Carnahan's Safe Schools and Workplaces Committee, on the weekend prior to voting day, coordinated a taped phone message from Hillary Clinton that automatically dialed 75,000 homes statewide with the message, "Just too dangerous for Missouri families." ^[101]

Hillary Clinton favors "sensible gun control legislation" and not limiting gun control lawsuits. ^[102] She made gun control issues part of her 2000 Senate campaign.^[103]

Hillary Clinton was one of 16 Senators who voted against the 2006 Vitter Amendment, which prohibits the funding of the confiscation of lawfully-held firearms during a disaster.^[104]

Clinton has been a staunch supporter of the legal right of a woman to end her pregnancy by abortion as determined in the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision of 1973. Clinton believes that the acceptance and availability of birth control and sex education will reduce unwanted pregnancies and the number of abortions.

In a speech on January 24, 2005, to the New York State Family Planning Providers, Senator Clinton outlined her stance on abortion. "When I spoke to the conference on women in Beijing in 1995 — ten years ago this year — I spoke out against any government interfering with the reproductive rights and decisions of women and families. So we have a lot of experience from around the world that is a cautionary tale about what happens when a government substitutes its opinion for an individual's. There is no reason why government cannot do more to educate and inform and provide assistance so that the choice guaranteed under our constitution either does not ever have to be exercised or only in very rare circumstances." She emphasized that, "I believe we can all recognize that abortion in many ways represents a sad, even tragic choice to many, many women." She praised the role of moral values in preventing unwanted pregnancies while supporting continued research into the most effective means of preventing these pregnancies. "Research shows that the primary reason that teenage girls abstain is because of their religious and moral values. We should embrace this — and support programs that reinforce the idea that abstinence at a young age is not just the smart thing to do, it is the right thing to do. But we should also recognize what works and what doesn't work, and to be fair, the jury is still out on the effectiveness of abstinence-only programs. I don't think this debate should be about ideology, it should be about facts and evidence."

A July 13, 2005 New York Times article titled "The Evolution of Hillary Clinton" characterizes Clinton as seeking to find middle ground between voters with various views on the criminalization of abortion.^[109] In April 2007 Clinton expressed dismay at the Supreme Court's Gonzales v. Carhart ruling that upheld the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act.

National Abortion Rights Action League gave Clinton a score of "100%". She votes in favor of maintaining the legality of abortion with every vote on the subject.

In September 2007 Clinton worked on a concept of starting a workable savings plan for everyone. Although some of her casual brainstorming about providing every 18 year-old with a small savings grant was misconstrued, a formal policy emerged. The following is a brief summary of a press release 10/9/2007:

Hillary’s American Retirements Account plan will: • Offer matching tax cuts of up to $500 and $1000 to help middle class and working families save • Establish new “American Retirement Accounts” that allow families to save for retirement in a way that is easy, secure and portable • Encourage all employers to allow no-hassle, direct deposit enrollment into American Retirement Accounts • Reduce disincentives to saving by removing asset-tests for moderate income families to contribute to American Retirement Accounts • Freeze the estate tax at 2009 levels to pay for matching tax cuts for middle-class savings

In 2000, during a Senate debate in Manhattan, Clinton voiced her support for drug courts to address drug abuse problems when she stated, "We need more treatment [for drug addicts]. It is unfair to urge people to get rid of their addiction and not have the treatment facilities when people finally make up their minds to get treatment."^[112]

In 1994, during a National Center For Women and Policing conference, Clinton voiced her support for three-strikes laws when she stated "We need more police, we need more and tougher prison sentences for repeat offenders. The three strikes and you’re out for violent offenders has to be part of the plan."

Clinton is against education vouchers for use at private schools. On September 13, 2000, she said, " I do not support vouchers. And the reason I don’t is because I don’t think we can afford to siphon dollars away from our underfunded public schools."

Clinton is currently serving on the Committee on Environment and Public Works in the Senate.

Clinton believes the scientific consensus on global warming is increasingly clear, and that global warming is caused by the release of greenhouse gases in to the atmosphere. In a speech to the AFL-CIO, she stated that she supports a green building fund and green-collar job training.

The United States needs to protect its environmental treasures, Clinton believes. She supports the protection of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and would not allow drilling there. She co-sponsored the Roadless Area Conservation Act. ^[124]

On December 7, 2003, in an interview with John Roberts of CBS News, Senator Clinton expressed her opposition to same-sex marriage while affirming her support for some form of civil unions for homosexual couples: "I think that the vast majority of Americans find [same-sex marriage] to be something they can't agree with. But I think most Americans are fair. And if they believe that people in committed relationships want to share their lives and, not only that, have the same rights that I do in my marriage, to decide who I want to inherit my property or visit me in a hospital, I think that most Americans would think that that's fair and that should be done."

In the same interview with Roberts, Clinton expressed opposition to the Federal Marriage Amendment, a proposed constitutional amendment that would have defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman, implicitly banning same-sex marriage. "I think that would be a terrible step backwards. It would be the first time we've ever amended the Constitution to deny rights to people. And I think that should be left to the states. You know, I find it hard to believe in one program [health care] I'm agreeing with Newt Gingrich, now I'm about to agree with Dick Cheney. But I think Vice President Cheney's position on gay marriage is the right one."

Following a 2006 New York State Appeals Court ruling that denied any state constitutional right to same-sex marriage, Clinton reiterated her support for "full equality" under the civil unions mechanism.

In a March 2007 interview with ABC News correspondent Jake Tapper, Clinton said that the U.S. military's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy was not working and that openly homosexual people should be allowed to serve: "We are being deprived of thousands of patriotic men and women who want to serve their country who are bringing skills into the armed services that we desperately need, like translation skills."

Clinton released a statement regarding US General Peter Pace's comment that homosexual acts are "immoral". She stated: "I disagree with what he said and do not share his view, plain and simple." She went further the following day, stating that "what I believe" is that "homosexuality is not immoral."

In August 2007, Clinton participated in a forum hosted by the Human Rights Campaign and Logo. When responding to questions regarding same-sex marriage, Clinton said she would move to repeal the third section of the Defense of Marriage Act, which federally defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

Clinton supports students' individual right to pray at public schools, but on his or her own time and not during class. She does not, however, wish to inhibit students from free expression of their religious beliefs in school assignments. Clinton also affirms schools' right to teach religion and moral values, but only for appropriate educational purposes.^[135]

Clinton supports embryonic stem cell research and voted in favor of the 2005 Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act that passed Congress but was vetoed by President Bush. She also voted for the 2007 bill with the same name that passed in Congress.

Entertainment Weekly's Pic

2008-01-11T11:42:00.001-06:00

...for the Academy Awards and they are normally right.

Picture
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Actor
George Clooney, Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd
Ryan Gosling, Lars and the Real Girl
Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises

Actress
Julie Christie, Away From Her
Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose
Angelina Jolie, A Mighty Heart
Laura Linney, The Savages
Ellen Page, Juno

Supporting Actor
Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James...
Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson's War
Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild
Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton

Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There
Ruby Dee, American Gangster
Catherine Keener, Into the Wild
Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

Director
Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
Sean Penn, Into the Wild
Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Joe Wright, Atonement