MOVIES SINCE JULY Part 2

HOAX (2007) - Richard Gere stars as Clifford Irving, the guy who forged Howard Hughes’ autobiography in the early 1970s. The story is also chronicled in Orson Welles film F FOR FAKE. HOAX is much more watchable than director, Lasse Hallstrom’s THE SHIPPING NEWS, which was my last attempt at his work. On the negative side, I think that the dependable Gere only scratched the surface. The chutzpah it would take to pull off a fraud so big would require a larger than life guy. DiCaprio pulled it off in CATCH ME IF YOU CAN. Gere plays it affable enough, but not nearly as grandiose. Alfred Molina plays the researcher sidekick that helps him with the con. Marcia Gay Harden is cast as the wife and accessory to the crime. The lovely Julie Delpy gets a scene or two as Gere’s on-again, off-again mistress. It made me want to read the book.

CINEMANIA (2002) - A documentary about several eccentric Manhattan residents obsessed with films. One guy knows the running time of every movie including the times of alternate versions. Another guys plans to see 5 films everyday so he has to work subway schedules, pack different clothing for different environments, and bring Peanut Butter sandwiches. Another guy is a print snob that avoids 16mm. An older lady is known to fight with the staff and collect movie memorabilia. Except for the guy who admits the inheritance, the rest of the gang lacks a means of support and they live how you’d think. They’re easy to write off as eccentrics, but one guy in particular sums up the pretentiousness of certain foreign films versus other foreign films that are true classics. I thought it was about the best analysis I heard on the subject. The film ends with a screening of the documentary with them in attendance.

COOL (2004) - The only other Theo Van Gogh film available at Netflix. Here a crime gang of kids rob and steal and wind up in reform school. The two main characters fight with one another over the same girl and you know how those things go. Bad boy is the leader of the gang. Good boy is reforming in reform school. I didn’t like it as much at May 6th, although it’s better than the this kind of material would be from a Hollywood production. Van Gogh has a refreshing style in both of these films that make me wonder why he didn't have a larger following. May 6th was better than most of the stuff I've seen at the Enzian. COOL was better than half.

MUSIC AND LYRICS (2007) - Hugh Grant plays the former 80s music star who can still make a living off of his name although it’s not always in the most dignified ways. The latest teen pop tart wants him to write a song so that they can record a duet and our hero jumps at the chance although he is purely music and no good with lyrics. Miraculously Drew Barrymore, here to water the plants, has a way with words and reveals this as she does so. If you like these two actors the movie will not offend you, and may occasionally make you laugh. I find them both winning enough that the movie was about what I expected.

AMERICAN DREAMZ (2006) - American Idol and other reality shows are ripe for parody, but that golden opportunity was lost with this uninspiring comedy. Either Mandy Moore is a great actress or she is naturally irritating like this character. I’ll have to remember to ask myself next time I see her. Here she plays the nobody longing for stardom at any cost. Chris Klein plays her lovesick boyfriend in that same way he plays everything from the popular jock in ELECTION to that popular jock from AMERICAN PIE. Hugh Grant has a tough job trying to parody Simon Cowell. I don’t like those kinds of shows, but Cowell himself is surprisingly self-aware and although you can copy his derision, he seems to have few ticks and mannerisms. There is also a terrorism subplot played for laughs. A parody of the Apprentice may have been easier than this. Avoid!

DARWIN AWARDS (2006) Winona Ryder and Joseph Fiennes are back from their Siberian exile and the party leaders decided to star them in something not too terribly difficult but clever enough to warrant their participation. Fiennes is a police profiler and fan of the Darwin Awards. He’s smart and he can handle himself but he faints at the sight of blood. This leads to him losing a serial killer he apprehends and gets him kicked off the force. He then talks himself into a job of insurance profiler, convincing the company that he can profile Darwin like tendencies and save the company millions. Winona plays the cynical insurance adjuster that gets assigned to him. It’s gory at times although its played for laughs. A lot of the Darwin winners are recognizable faces. All and all a decent effort with a few laughs.

THE GREAT MOMENT (1944) - The last of the Golden Era Preston Sturges films I hadn’t seen. Here Sturges decides that Joel McRae is the inventor of anesthesia, when I thought that Paul Muni invented it. Soon I realize that it has to be McRae because William Demarest is the sidekick and McRae gets a wife that Muni would never marry. Muni marries the ones that bring him pie in the wee hours, whereas McRae’s wife accuses him of being a rummy when an experiment or two knocks him out cold. If I had to name movies with the most abrupt endings in the history of film, this would certainly make my top five along with Cassevettes HUSBANDS. Distinctively Sturges, but not his best.

BRICK (2005) A different take on high school life. Nobody ever attends any classes and the school action take place on an empty football field, empty parking lot or other semi secluded places in and around campus. Our guy is pressed into being a detective after his ex-girlfriend calls him for help and then turns up dead. Rather than try for parody the movie takes this Chandler/Hammett premise and plays it out in a straightforward manner. We get the fem fatale that doesn’t fool our gumshoe, the crime king pen that our hero gets close to, and a number of hat tips to the masters. Worth mentioning is the visit to the principal’s office that is direct comment on Sam Spade’s visit with the District Attorney in Maltese Falcon. The other Hammett plot device is how he plays both sides against each other like in RED HARVEST. I don’t know that there was anything about it that stands out but it was an interesting idea.

FRACTURE (2007) I notice the more I see Anthony Hopkins films, his character quirks are actually Anthony Hopkins quirks. He almost always does that pause and grunts to himself during a movie. it’s sort of his “I don’t care what you are saying” schtick. I don’t mind it because I like him on screen and it reminds me that he is a movie star in the old tradition. And this is a movie star vehicle. Hopkins kills his cheating wife and then devises a plan to get away with it. The hotshot D.A. on the brink of leaving for a high paying private sector firm suddenly becomes the Hopkins dupe that could ruin his future plans. The plot involving the legal system makes Grisham look reasonable. Decide how much you like Hopkins and you’ll know whether to seek this out. The style is there the substance is not.

ZODIAC (2007) A pretty solid effort from David Fincher (Se7en) returning to the serial killer genre in this based on a true story film. Jake Gyllenhall is winning as the cartoonist that becomes obsessed with the case for years much to the detriment of his private life. The solid Robert Downey Jr. plays the ace columnist also hot on the trail until his personal demons end his quest. The mystery itself is never fully answered so it leaves you a little disappointed especially after spending nearly 3 hours to get there. Does that give away too much? Still, it’s smart and above average.

SMOKIN’ ACES (2007) - A movie that could not possibly exist without the influence of Quinten Tarantino. A bunch of characters and subplots and hitmen all trying to kill the dude who might testify against the mob. Fast paced, cameo ridden and fun to a point if you like the style, but not terribly inspired.

REIGN OVER ME (2007) - Adam Sandler in a dramatic role of a dentist who loses his family in the 9-11 attacks. Don Cheadle plays his dental school roommate who runs into him by chance and tries to lend a hand. Sandler has dropped out of society and doesn‘t remember Cheadle, he also ignores his in-laws and blocks out the memory of his family. It’s a very real premise and both Sandler and Cheadle are at their best. The problems arise mostly out of inconsistencies and movie devices. We get a useless subplot about model-esque patient of Cheadle’s who comes on to him and then cries sexual harassment. Not only does Cheadles just happen to share a psychiatrist with the accuser (in NYC?), but the patient later recants and plays into Sandler’s rehabilitation. Come on. Jada Pinkett Smith plays Cheadle’s wife, a character that exists simply to give Cheadle something to feel guilty/angry about and then thankful for. Cheadle’s parents also exist for similar reasons. Sandler’s in-laws have a little more purpose plot wise, but they aren't given enough to do. Most movies get superfluous because they lack substance. This movie seems to do it to avoid the substance. If you like Sandler and Cheadle it might be worth it anyway, but it could have been much better.

PRAISE FOR NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENT THAT ACTUAL WORKS (in me at least)

SAM-e, (short for S-adenosylmethionine, also spelled SAMe) is made from the amino acid methionine and ATP. SAM-e is a methyl donor involved in the making of dozens of important compounds in the body. SAM-e has been available by prescription in Europe for many years as an antidepressant but has been available over the counter in the US only since about 1996.

Because of its role in the making of neurotransmitters, SAM-e has been
tested in the therapy of depression. A number of studies have been
published, mostly in Europe, evaluating this nutrient’s role in mood
disorders. Back in 1994, Dr. Bressa, from the University Cattolica Sacro
Cuore School of Medicine, in Rome, Italy conducted a meta-analysis of the
studies on SAM-e. A meta-analysis is a statistical pooling of already
published research papers. Dr. Bressa concludes, "The efficacy of SAM-e in
treating depressive syndromes and disorders is superior to that of placebo
and comparable to that of standard tricyclic antidepressants. Since SAM-e is
a naturally occurring compound with relatively few side-effects, it is a
potentially important treatment for depression." The influence of SAM-e on
depression has also been tested in the United States. Back in 1994, researchers at the University of California, Irvine Medical Center, did a double-blind randomized trial involving a total of twenty-six patients. They compared oral SAM-e with oral desipramine (a pharmaceutical antidepressant). At the end of the four-week trial, 62 percent of the patients treated with SAM-e and 50 percent of the patients treated with desipramine had significantly improved. Similar results were found in a 2002
study when SAM-e was compared to imipramine. SAM-e has even been tested in depressed postmenopausal women. Researchers from the University of La Sapienza in Rome, Italy gave SAM-e for thirty days to eighty women between the ages of 45 and 59 with depression following either natural menopause or hysterectomy. There was a significantly greater improvement in depressive symptoms in the group treated with SAM-e compared to the placebo group. Side effects were mild and transient. New research indicates that SAM-e may give the boot to Prozac and other SSRIs. SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology,
December 2004.

I've suffered from Depression, to one degree or another, for most of my life. It all comes from my Mom's side of the family. It gets significantly worse when under serious stress (i.e. my divorce, death of family, etc.). I've spend 4 years in psychotherapy during my Doctoral training and tried several types of prescription anti-depressants. The psychotherapy was helpful for the emotional and cognitive components. I figured a lot out and it's made me a better psychologist. But the depression would persist. Although most of the prescriptions worked, they were quite serious in their side effects with me (loss of appetite, low to no libido, sleep disturbance, etc.). I knew about Sam-e for many years but only recently decided to try it after a new round of depression back in January of this year. After about a month I noticed a significant improvement in mood and have stayed on it. I do not have the crazy side effects from the prescription anti-depressants nor do I have the "depersonalization" (feelings of being unreal) withdrawal effects that I felt when stopping abruptly and others have reported from the Prozac family of drugs. But as for Sam-e, Wow! All I can say is that I've never endorsed any product for mood before, but this is without a doubt, the very best. Hooray for Sam-e!

(The Photo above is the brand I use and the best formula I've found. It is sold at CVS Pharmacy).

RACE AND POLITICS

Someday the Democrats will nominate a black candidate for President. The media will approach that election by questioning whether America is too racist to elect a black President.

Since it's possible that the Democrats will nominate a black candidate this time let's ask the question now.

Are Democrats too racist to nominate a black candidate?

For what substantive reason is Clinton leading Obama? What position is she taking that Obama isn't taking or vice versa? If Obama has shortcomings that might make him less desirable, youth, inexperience, flaky ideas etc. won't he have those same shortcomings if he wins the nomination? In other words I want the media to explain to me why it is or isn't racist that he's trailing Hilary.

It's a question we'll certainly hear directed toward Republicans some day.

MOVIE LOCATIONS

This is kind of a fun site for learning where your favorite movie scenes were shot. I learned a little something about Martha's Vineyard, where JAWS was shot.

YOU CAN'T SAY THAT ON TELEVISION

One of the world's most eminent scientists was embroiled in an extraordinary row last night after he claimed that black people were less intelligent than white people and the idea that "equal powers of reason" were shared across racial groups was a delusion.

James Watson, a Nobel Prize winner for his part in the unravelling of DNA who now runs one of America's leading scientific research institutions, drew widespread condemnation for comments he made ahead of his arrival in Britain today for a speaking tour at venues including the Science Museum in London.

The newly formed Equality and Human Rights Commission, successor to the Commission for Racial Equality, said it was studying Dr Watson's remarks "in full". Dr Watson told The Sunday Times that he was "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" because "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours – whereas all the testing says not really". He said there was a natural desire that all human beings should be equal but "people who have to deal with black employees find this not true".

Critics of Dr Watson said there should be a robust response to his views across the spheres of politics and science. Keith Vaz, the Labour chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said: "It is sad to see a scientist of such achievement making such baseless, unscientific and extremely offensive comments. I am sure the scientific community will roundly reject what appear to be Dr Watson's personal prejudices.

"These comments serve as a reminder of the attitudes which can still exists at the highest professional levels."

Anti-racism campaigners called for Dr Watson's remarks to be looked at in the context of racial hatred laws. A spokesman for the 1990 Trust, a black human rights group, said: "It is astonishing that a man of such distinction should make comments that seem to perpetuate racism in this way. It amounts to fuelling bigotry and we would like it to be looked at for grounds of legal complaint."

Luckily for Dr. Watson, a prominent American won the Nobel Peace Prize this week for championing inconvenient truths. He doesn't care about popularity or praise or even his own checking account. All he cares about is science and he doesn't filter it through his own politics or world view. He just believes whatever the data says. A week ago Dr. Watson would have been ruined. Now two Nobel Laureates can walk hand in hand speaking truth to power and chasing the rest of us meat heads right back to the cave.

MOVIES SINCE JULY Part 1

I have such a backlog that I will release in portions.

LONG WAY ‘ROUND (2005) Documentary about Ewan McGregor and pal Charlie Boorman (son of direction John Boorman) riding their motorcycles from France to the New York city heading through some of the most desolate counties of Asia along the way. The journey is broken into episodes for British TV and runs around 6 hours total. They encounter a lot of unforeseen problems like roads that don't exist and no bridges over strong rivers. They get to eat a lot of nasty food and grow beards. When they fly from Siberia to Canada and get to shop in a real store you remember why the rustic loses its charm after a short period of time. Boorman and McGregor both come off a decent guys seeking adventure and it was compelling throughout.

LAUREL CANYON (2002) - I’ve come to think that Christian Bale is one of film’s finest modern actors. I can’t name a bad performance and he usually seems to lift the material he’s in. So I decided to that I reached back to see this one despite mixed reviews. Bale’s mother (Francis McDormand) is a record producer in Los Angeles and we learn that Bale escaped that life to study medicine out east and to become an adult. At the beginning of the film he and his fiancée (Kate Beckinsale) travel back out to L.A. so that he can take an internship and Beckinsale can write her Doctoral thesis. They plan to stay in McDormand’s vacant house in Laurel Canyon, but they arrive to find that mother has given her primary residence beach house to the ex boyfriend, so everyone gets to stay in the Laurel house like a big family, and that family includes the band that mother is currently producing. A couple of love triangles are introduced and nothing exciting really happens. It feels like a typical TV show that isn’t quite interesting enough to love but not quite bad enough to turn off.

3:10 to YUMA (2007) - Bale again as a poor rancher and disabled Civil War veteran. It’s a remake of the a 50s film that I haven’t seen with Van Heflin and Glenn Ford. The movie begins with Bale's money problems and the understanding creditors burning down his barn. The family shoos out the cattle and the next day is spent retrieving them. During that quest, he happens upon Russell Crowe and his band of rowdies robbing the stagecoach. After they vamos Bale drags the lone survivor Peter Fonda back into town where they easily capture Crowe. That’s the easy part. The tough part is getting Crowe several hundred miles to the train station and on to jail while trying to allude Crowe’s gang. Bale tags along to make money to save the ranch. As the journey goes forward a bunch of the posse members taunt Crowe and he kills them with whatever tools possible. Bale doesn't like Crowe but he's respectful enough that Crowe begins to admire him anyway. I guess Crowe longs to be an honest man married to an honest woman. It’s kind of a funny throwback to the movie device where gunslingers were so fast and accurate that they were untouchable. I don’t think I have seen that approach since UNFORGIVEN won best picture.

HOT FUZZ (2007) From the guys who gave us the underrated SHAUN OF THE DEAD, this time our hero is an man-of-action cop exiled to a sleepy English hamlet. But all is not what it seems. There are some real laughs here, a couple of twists, some decent action, and like their last effort much gore for the sake of gore. You’ll see a lot of faces you’ll recognize from other British movies and TV shows. The consensus at work is that this is better than Shaun. I don‘t know. I think the newness of Shaun was part of the charm. I probably needed to see this first to like it better.

HITCH (2005) - I was ready to skip this, but Will Smith was so good in PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS that I dialed it up. The charm of Smith and Kevin James carries the movie pretty well because the plot is standard enough fare about being true to one’s self and while winning over women. Typical vehicle movie that doesn’t offend.

SYLVIA (2006) - Gwynneth Paltrow plays the clinicly depressed poet Sylvia Plath. I know so little about poetry that I figured this thing to take place in 1890 and was surprised to see motorcars. It turns out that she lived in the 1950s. Typical biopic of troubled genius with Paltrow doing that pouty dowdy thing she does when she slouches and frowns. It has good stretches here and there and then parts that make you uncomfortable. You’re not missing anything if you skip it.

APOCALYPTO (2006) - Mel Gibson has made a movie in a foreign language in the jungle with no recognizable actors and yet it feels as Hollywood as a Tom Cruise picture. The first scene with the hunting party felt authentic enough, but once they got back to the village, Gibson’s sense of humor made the movie seem contemporary. The chases in the jungle built good tension like in a Lethal Weapon movie. It’s violent sometimes for good purpose and other times simply to shock the audience. That savages will sever a guy’s head is not a surprise, but the joy in which these heads are lopped off seemed to be Gibson’s sense of humor more than anything else. The expected approach in a movie like this is to show the noble savage ruined by progress, and although our hero is noble, there are plenty of other savages that could use some good old fashioned imperialism to straighten their butts out. I don’t think he gained anything with the foreign language and it probably cost him a good deal of his audience. Between the way he makes movies and things he says in public, Gibson seems to be more eccentric than we ever knew. What will he do next?

WEATHER UNDERGROUND (2003) -A documentary on the 60s radical group that exploded buildings to protest the war in Vietnam and to protest other social causes that were too slow for their wills. The filmmakers interview the survivors of that period all walking freely in our midst. The work is mostly a straight history that shows archival news coverage and uses the participants interviews to fill in the blanks. It’s an interesting history and occasionally one of the aged hippies would reflect on the nonsense of it all, but I was surprised at how unrepentant some of them were. The documentary sort of skirts the specifics of why these people aren’t in jail now saying that the FBI used illegal tactics to catch them and therefore they were hard to prosecute. The expected thing would have been to show the participants at the end with the amount of jail time they received and their current occupation. Usually I’m happy when I don’t get the expected ending, but in this case I think it was necessary and missing.

STRANGER THAN FICTION (2006) - I don’t get Will Ferrell. He is supposedly funny and makes a living at it by playing two characters, the milquetoast coward and the clueless braggart. Didn’t Bob Hope already do this and more effectively? I don’t mind Ferrell much as a supporting player or in a cameo, but they annoy me too often by casting him as the lead. Of course, it may be that my avoiding his films has kept me from appreciating the real genius in the ones I miss. Maybe the NASCAR spoof was the LAWRENCE OF ARABIA of modern comedies. Stranger than Fiction purported to be a real story with humor rather than a cartoon with plot points. They cast Emma Thompson and Maggie Gyllenhall and they both demand to see scripts with characters and situations that people could actually wind up in. Although this is a fantasy farce it still seems more grounded than someone hiring that over the top Will Ferrell to anchor the news. The premise is that Ferrell is not a real person, but a character in a novel by Thompson that becomes self aware as he somehow hears Thompson’s words describe his every action. Gyllenhall is the love interest that cowardly Ferrell pursues in the book. Funny enough idea, but Ferrell’s self discovery becomes tedious as he hears his every move read by Thompson to the point of my annoyance. After we get past the initial slips, the movie isn’t all that bad, but it could have shined brighter with Steve Martin or Dana Carvey in the leading role. I won’t spoil the resolution except to say that Ferrell somehow winds up in a literature professor’s office who is watching an interview with Thompson so that Ferrell can discover that Thompson is the voice in his head. So how does that even exist in Ferrell’s world unless Thompson had written it in her universe? It really gives you added respect for a movie like PLEASANTVILLE that combines these fantasy elements while staying within the logic of that universe.

BREAM KILLS DREAM: An October Memory

Pirates fans remember where they were when the slowest man in baseball slid across with the game winning run in October 1992. I was in a bar in Cincinnati. I had been in Three Rivers Stadium for Game 4.

Here's how it went down:

Terry Pendleton led off [bottom 9, Bucs up 2-0] with a shot to the right-field corner, where Cecil Espy - a defensive replacement for Lloyd McClendon - passively allowed it to drop for a double. David Justice bounced a ball to Jose Lind, who misplayed it. Men on first and third. Bream walked on four pitches to load the bases, prompting Leyland to pull Drabek, who'd thrown 129 pitches. In came Stan Belinda, who'd converted just 18 of 24 save chances. Bonds promptly caught Ron Gant's blast at the left-field fence. A run scored. Men on first and second, one out. Damon Berryhill, hitting .167, laid off some agonizingly close pitches that were called balls. A 3-1 slider appeared to catch the inside corner. "He's human; he missed it," Belinda would say of Marsh, who'd replaced John McSherry behind the plate after the first inning because McSherry was ill. Bases loaded, one out (to this day, Bream can't believe manager Bobby Cox did not use a pinch-runner for him). Brian Hunter pinch hit for second baseman Rafael Belliard and popped out. The Pirates were one out away from their first World Series since 1979. With pitcher Jeff Reardon due up, Cox summoned the last position player on his bench, third-string catcher/first baseman Francisco Cabrera, who'd been added to the roster Aug. 31. An odd thought entered Cabrera's mind as he stood in the on-deck circle. "I was thinking, 'Who's going to play second?' If I had only tied the game, I might have had to play second. So I appreciate Sid Bream for coming in. It usually took a triple for him to score from second. I knew if I got that hit, I'd become a hero. But if I didn't, it would have been OK, because people didn't know me anyways."

Bonds is still blamed for a lame throw to the plate. But was it? You know Bonds won't admit it.

Bonds was playing a deep left field to protect against a gap shot. He raced to his left and threw across his body. His throw was about two feet wide, forcing LaValliere to backhand it, then dive back toward the plate, where he tagged Bream too late. Few plays in Pirates' history are scrutinized more than Bonds' throw. Leyland, McClendon and others have said it was a good play. Bonds agrees. "If I played any shallower, that ball probably would've gotten past me," he said. "I had to come over toward my left, then cross-fire it. You can go back and look at the history of the game of baseball and how many guys have thrown guys out in that situation."

The Pirates had other chances to win it.

Among the game's less-scrutinized issues: Van Slyke flied out with the bases loaded in the seventh; Orlando Merced got thrown out at home in the eighth, attempting to score from first on Jeff King's double; and Leyland stuck with his platoon system, starting lefties Merced, LaValliere and Alex Cole, even though they'd gone a combined 4 for 21 against John Smoltz in Games 1 and 4. That meant McClendon, Gary Redus and Don Slaught sat, even though they were a collective .487 in the series.

Cabrera did nothing before or after.

Cabrera was released by the Braves in 1993 and never played another game. He hit .254 in 351 major-league at-bats but remains a hero in Atlanta and in the Dominican Republic. "Sometimes in the Dominican Republic, I'll be called for an interview, and they'll ask me to bring the tape," he said in the spring of 2003. "I've watched it over and over."

Bream, a Pittsburgh favorite, felt for the Pirates.

The moment was bittersweet for Bream, because he'd spent five seasons with the Pirates before he was dealt to Atlanta after the 1990 season. "I felt bad, thinking they'd never get another chance," he said. "I desperately wanted to see them get to the World Series."

A Pittsburgh native describes the pain that persists into what will be a 16th consecutive losing season next year.

A poem: My Heart Did Not Burst

my heart did not burst
when ex-Buc Sid Bream
slid his dirty slide
all over the once white plate
just past our pudgy catcher's
too late tag
and the umpire in the same instant
spread both arms in either direction
signaling an end to world serious hope
for my precious Pirates

my nerves did not snap
despite eight and two-thirds frames of tension
I did my deepest breathing to relax
control I did not have
over loaded bases
and balls that were strikes
that were not called
in the bottom of the 9th
at the unlikely sound
of Francisco Cabrera's homicidal single
my brain did not crack
under tons of promise and possibilities
that twist and untwist
but can never undo
the undisputed truth
of 3-2

my arms did not rip
the TV from its cabinet
I could not shatter
the televised outcome
It happened, like a bad wreck
I could not help but watch
the explosion of Atlanta madness
I wished was mine, ours
days, months after the damage
Happened

SOMETHING I HEARD THAT I CANNOT FORGET

You know how you hear something in the media or conversation and it strikes you as odd and then your mind keeps thinking of it? Several months ago I heard Christopher Guest giving DVD recommendations on NPR. A pretty good selection starting with Laurel and Hardy and then moving into Dr. Strangelove and some more modern things like Fargo and the Ricky Gervais’ show Extras. Then the interviewer asks Guest about his first ever line in a movie. I found the archive online (June 1, 2007):

INTERVIEWER: Do you remember the first line you ever said on camera?

GUEST: (sigh) I did a part in a film which may be the worst film ever made. This was a film that turned out to be a film called Death Wish and there were a series of films made after that vigilante movies basically where a guy goes around -- Charles Bronson and kills people. It was horrible. I was a policeman and I said something but I don‘t remember. I think that was my first film.

INTERVIEWER: I imagine you could rent that. It’s gotta be out on DVD.

GUEST: Yes one could rent it. I wouldn’t but one could.

It was funny that Guest said it could be the worst movie ever made. Was he serious? Death Wish may not be Henry V, but it cannot possibly be in the top 1000 stinkers. Unlike the sequels, Death Wish is a pretty solid movie that accomplishes its goals. It does exactly what a lauded film like Erin Brockovich does, it taps into the fears of the audience and gives them a singular human hero fighting alone to save us. It’s catharsis. It just has the unfortunate device of using actual criminals as criminals instead of the typical corporate villain that Guest expects like sugar on his corn flakes.

I’m in a small minority of people who think that the 1950s blacklist has been overstated. If the government had passed laws that ordered Hollywood to blacklist people that would be an issue of freedom, but the blacklist was a result businessmen not wanting to associate with tainted property. They didn’t want their films to be boycotted. It’s the same thing businesses do today to keep Jesse Jackson from launching campaigns against them. What ever the blacklist cost leftists in the 1950s they have milked it to the point where they so control the industry that right wing movies are scarce. They certainly don’t make movies like Death Wish anymore.

Look at Clint Eastwood who seems to have spent the last half of his career apologizing for the first half. He does so subtlety, trying not to alienate his longtime audience while reaching out to the earlier critics with film scripts that question most of the values he espoused previously. He’s probably not all that political of a person, but he’s savvy enough to know how to keep a career in Hollywood. I’m sure that Christopher Guest wouldn’t say that Dirty Harry is one of the worst movies ever made as long as Eastwood is getting accolades for Mystic River. But the day is coming.

It’s a shame that popular film eschews the values of half of America and thus eschews half of the story ideas it could tell. So often we hear about actors complaining that scripts are hackneyed and that there are no good parts anymore. Of course that is going to happen when every villain is a profiteer or clergyman.

What is the Jane Austen revival but a way to tell conservative stories without endorsing current rightwing ideology? You must put those values safely in the past or you risk offending someone’s lifestyle choice.

Guest could have said that he disagreed with the politics of Death Wish instead of giving the impression that it was poorly made. He could probably give you a good speech about artistic freedom and open-mindedness if Mapplethorpe had a piss display ready. But that sentiment doesn’t apply to films where victims are fed up with ineffective government and do something about it. Guest hates Death Wish not because it’s horrible but because it's effective.

It’s Hollywood’s right to blacklist unfashionable ideas. They can decide whether catering to only half of their potential audience is good for business. But please spare me all the moral indignation over the 1950s. They are the absolute worst when it comes to free expression. They do not seek artists but parrots.

BRITTANY SPEARS

That cover of her first CD is the absolute objectification of teenage innocence cum sexuality. She has or had that IT girl quality and they used it as a vehicle for her average talent. They dressed her up in the Lolita outfit and had her dance near the school lockers and they had a hit. Her family became rich and she had everything she could ever want. . . or not.

Around the time of the breast implant question (circa 1998) she came to the Studios. We were eating lunch backstage and Dan pointed her out as she walked by our window. She was with a few of her people when we looked over. There were no fans around, no one to look good for, but she saw that we were looking and smiled and waved to us. It was a very genuine thing. I have seen other celebrities in the same situation and they were only “on” with an audience. Backstage they were different people. It impressed me that she was the same wherever.

Brittany was not a person who was ready for this kind of money and fame. She has made poor choices again and again. But she is not the first person in Hollywood to do so. What she lacks is the identification of some leftwing cause to provide her cover. Angelina Jolie slobbering on her own brother in public is long forgotten now that she is on some U.N. panel. Carrying vials of Billy Bob’s blood is yesterday’s news because she delivered her baby in a third world country. When Donald Trump got a little backlash from the Rosie attack, he criticized President Bush and then he was back in the good graces. Didn’t we all want Princess Diana to suck it up and be Queen? Yeah but that was before she embraced the end of land mines and Aids awareness.

It will be interesting to see if Brittany’s public rehabilitation is accompanied by some sort of leftist position or cause. You pretty much need to wear one to be in the club especially after being naughty. I would guess that some publicist is dreaming up a plight right now. I won’t begrudge her if she follows that script. She was nice to us when no one was looking.

GORE

Former Vice President Al Gore Jr. was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize today, along with a United Nations panel that monitors climate change, for their work educating the world about global warming and advocating for political action to control it.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee characterized Gore as "the single individual who has done most" to convince world governments and leaders that climate change is real, is caused by human activity, and poses a grave threat.

O'Sullivan's First Law:
Any Organization that isn't overtly right-wing will over the course of time become overtly left-wing.


They don't even pretend to seek peace makers anymore. Just holding a position that is in conflict with America is enough these days. There is no agreement on the cause of this phenomenon, if its even dangerous, or if all the money in the world could stop it.

Religion is at the center of many wars. Gore has more or less invented a religion or at least become its greatest reverend. So the question to the Norwegians is how is that going to bring peace.

IN OTHER NEWS: Hilary must be a little worried.

THE POWER OF JUNTO

I have bought an ad in an upcoming playbill inviting Gentlemen to Join me in Forming a Junto in the Tradition of Benj. Franklin. -E

Franklin describes the formation and purpose of the Junto in his autobiography:

I should have mentioned before, that, in the autumn of the preceding year, [1727] I had form'd most of my ingenious acquaintance into a club of mutual improvement, which we called the Junto; we met on Friday evenings. The rules that I drew up required that every member, in his turn, should produce one or more queries on any point of Morals, Politics, or Natural Philosophy, to be discuss'd by the company; and once in three months produce and read an essay of his own writing, on any subject he pleased. Our debates were to be under the direction of a president, and to be conducted in the sincere spirit of inquiry after truth, without fondness for dispute or desire of victory; and to prevent warmth, all expressions of positiveness in opinions, or direct contradiction, were after some time made contraband, and prohibited under small pecuniary penalties.

The Junto's Friday evening meetings were organized around a series of questions that Ben devised, covering a range of intellectual, personal, business, and community topics. These questions were used as a springboard for discussion and community action. In fact, through the Junto, Franklin promoted such concepts as volunteer fire-fighting clubs, improved security (night watchmen), and a public hospital.

One outgrowth of the Junto was the American Philosophical Society, created in 1743 to "promote useful knowledge in the colonies." Franklin proposed that the group be comprised of "ingenious men"—a physician, a mathematician, a geographer, a natural philosopher, a botanist, a chemist, and a "mechanician" (engineer)—who lived throughout the colonies. The purpose of the group was to facilitate the sharing of information about discoveries being made in the various fields.

A respected intellectual institution, the American Philosophical Society still exists more than 200 years later.

Rules For a Club Established For Mutual Improvement
Previous Question, To be Answered at Every Meeting

1. Have you met with any thing in the author you last read, remarkable, or suitable to be communicated to the Junto? particularly in history, morality, poetry, physics, travels, mechanic arts, or other parts of knowledge?
2. What new story have you lately heard agreeable for telling in conversation?
3. Hath any citizen in your knowledge failed in his business lately, and what have you heard of the cause?
4. Have you lately heard of any citizen’s thriving well, and by what means?
5. Have you lately heard how any present rich man, here or elsewhere, got his estate?
6. Do you know of any fellow citizen, who has lately done a worthy action, deserving praise and imitation? or who has committed an error proper for us to be warned against and avoid?
7. What unhappy effects of intemperance have you lately observed or heard? of imprudence? of passion? or of any other vice or folly?
8. What happy effects of temperance? of prudence? of moderation? or of any other virtue?
9. Have you or any of your acquaintance been lately sick or wounded? If so, what remedies were used, and what were their effects?
10. Who do you know that are shortly going [on] voyages or journies, if one should have occasion to send by them?
11. Do you think of any thing at present, in which the Junto may be serviceable to mankind? to their country, to their friends, or to themselves?
12. Hath any deserving stranger arrived in town since last meeting, that you heard of? and what have you heard or observed of his character or merits? and whether think you, it lies in the power of the Junto to oblige him, or encourage him as he deserves?
13. Do you know of any deserving young beginner lately set up, whom it lies in the power of the Junto any way to encourage?
14. Have you lately observed any defect in the laws of your country, of which it would be proper to move the legislature an amendment? Or do you know of any beneficial law that is wanting?
15. Have you lately observed any encroachment on the just liberties of the people?
16. Hath any body attacked your reputation lately? and what can the Junto do towards securing it?
17. Is there any man whose friendship you want, and which the Junto, or any of them, can procure for you?
18. Have you lately heard any member’s character attacked, and how have you defended it?
19. Hath any man injured you, from whom it is in the power of the Junto to procure redress?
20. In what manner can the Junto, or any of them, assist you in any of your honourable designs?
21. Have you any weighty affair in hand, in which you think the advice of the Junto may be of service?
22. What benefits have you lately received from any man not present?
23. Is there any difficulty in matters of opinion, of justice, and injustice, which you would gladly have discussed at this time?
24. Do you see any thing amiss in the present customs or proceedings of the Junto, which might be amended?

THE BARRY GIBB TALK SHOW: A Refreshing Take on Current Issues

OBAMA, THE OTHER KIND OF PATRIOT

"The truth is that right after 9-11 I had a pin," Obama said. "Shortly after 9-11, particularly because as we're talking about the Iraq war, that became a substitute for I think true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security.

"I decided I won't wear that pin on my chest," he said in the interview. "Instead, I'm going to try to tell the American people what I believe will make this country great, and hopefully that will be a testament to my patriotism."

The media never asks the right follow up questions. Does Obama think that people who wear breast cancer ribbons or aids ribbons are using those as substitutes for real compassion?

Democrats are always angry that people question their patriotism, but they don't mind questioning the patriotism of others. People wear pins and ribbons for a lot of different reasons. I'm sure that some do so for heartfelt reasons others simply as a shortcut like Obama says. But when Obama makes a point of telling us why he doesn't wear a pin he's grandstanding just the same as those people who wear the pins simply for effect.

We don't know how much any candidate loves his country. We hope they all love it a great deal since they want to run it. Maybe they want to run it so they can love it more than they do now. We can't be sure.

What we do know is that Obama declaring that he won't wear the American flag pin helps him court voters that do not like this country, the ones that are more comfortable carrying hammer and sickle flags like that group protesting in New York before the 2004 Republican convention. The latest Fox poll shows that almost 20% of Democrats want to lose the war. Obama can't win those voters over by wearing flag lapel pins.

THE BUG BOWL

It's the 9th inning NY v CLE 1-1 and the gnats are controlling the game. Bugs are crawling up Joba's neck. Hitters are batting them away. Fielders are swiping their gloves. Why don't the umpires delay the game? This is the playoffs. Rain is easier to play in.

G.M. WALT JOCKETTY OUT IN ST. LOUIS, LaRUSSA'S FUTURE UNCLEAR

(CEO Bill) DeWitt said he didn't believe Jocketty and La Russa were a "package deal." DeWitt noted that La Russa asked him to seek a candidate with Jocketty's qualities when hiring a new general manager.

The Jocketty household can anticipate a case of Tofu.

al-Qaeda financier' netted in Iraq

Iraqi and US forces have detained a man they believe received 100 million dollars this summer from Al-Qaeda sympathisers to hand out for "terrorist" operations in Iraq, the US military said Thursday.

A statement from the military said the man, who was detained in the central Baghdad neighbourhood of Al-Kindi, was suspected of handing over 50,000 dollars a month to Al-Qaeda using his leather merchant business as a front.

"He is believed to have received one hundred million dollars this summer from terrorist supporters who cross the border illegally or fly into Iraq from Italy, Syria and Egypt," the military said.

He is suspected of traveling abroad himself to seek money for Al-Qaeda and of employing up to 50 extremists to help deliver bomb-making materials to insurgents attacking the US-led coalition.

Why would al-Qaeda be in Iraq? Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11.

The US military also accused the unnamed man of involvement in two attacks on a revered Shiite mosque at the heart of Iraq's bitter sectarian conflict.

He was linked to purchasing explosives and weapons for the February 2006 attack on the Al-Askari mosque in Samarra, widely seen as the trigger of Iraq's sectarian strife. Another attack on June 13 of this year destroyed the mosque's two minarets.

They'll bomb their own shrines to beat us and yet we shouldn't be in Iraq when this war can be won with diplomacy.

THE TWO OF THEM

Fred Thompson, 65, is a very large man, and his wife Jeri, 41, has very big... hair.

YOU OFFEND ME SIR!!!!

Makers of hit US television series "Desperate Housewives" have apologised for a slur against Filipino medical workers that caused an uproar in the Southeast Asian country.

The episode showed actress Teri Hatcher, who plays Susan Mayer, asking during a medical consultation to check "those diplomas because I want to make sure that they're not from some med school in the Philippines."

The apology was made a day after chief aide to Philippine President Gloria Arroyo said the line of dialogue appeared to be a "racial slur."

"I am mortally offended by the statement because it betrayed the racial prejudice and denigrates the excellent performance of world-class Filipino doctors in the US," said Senator Miriam Santiago, whose sister is a doctor working in Los Angeles.

The outrage is phony. The comment isn't about Filipino doctors, but the phenomenon where Americans unable to get accepted into American medical schools will go to places like the Philippines. Regardless of how good the training, only desperate Americans travel half way around the world to do so. Filipino doctors can be amongst the world's greatest, but Americans in those programs are likely not. It's a question of aptitude not training.

The politicians in Philippines know this as well as anyone, but decided to put a racial spin on it. And to be "mortally offended" is laughable. I doubt they want to be attended by Americans trained in their programs anymore than the characters of this TV show.

THE ART OF COMEDY

This is so funny, you don't even need to know the language to enjoy it. A Belgian talk show host interviews a man who had his testicles removed accidentally by a surgeon. The lady in the wheelchair is the unfortunate man's wife.

NEW RESEARCH MAKES WIVES EVEN ANGRIER

Here is a finding for all wives to hate.

In men, keeping quiet during a fight didn’t have any measurable effect on health. But women who didn’t speak their minds in those fights were four times as likely to die during the 10-year study period as women who always told their husbands how they felt, according to the July report in Psychosomatic Medicine.

How much the spouses fought and what they fought about did not correlate with increased cardiovascular risk. It was HOW they fought, their bickering style, that correlated with increased cardiovascular risk. Mary Poppins knew: a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.

THE SHOT HEARD ROUND THE WORLD

Today is the anniversary of Bobby Thompson's famous home run. This morning on XM 175, Mark Patrick and Buck Martinez interviewed Joshua Prager, best known in baseball circles for his writings on the sign-stealing shenanigans leading up to that at-bat. At his website you can listen to three radio calls of the historic dinger, including the Russ Hodges call that we all know. Gordon McClendon called it this way: "I don't know what to say. I don't know what to say." Had he come up with something, he still wouldn't be famous today, because "The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!" is pretty hard to top.

CLARENCE GETS HIS WINGS

Thanks Tom for the link to Rush's long interview with Clarence Thomas. Not even the president has ever gotten that much air time from Rush.

This is vintage Rush:

I asked you if you thought that you were at the pinnacle of your profession as an Associate Justice on the court. You said you don't look at it that way at all. You have a much more humble approach to what it means to sit on the US Supreme Court. But others, who were threatened by your nomination and your confirmation, looked at you as the biggest threat to the existing civil rights coalition prescription for minority success in this country today because you did not follow their route. You did not go through the appropriate civil rights leaders to be anointed and granted permission to move on and do so in their image and in their ways, and America is now seeing you as they've never seen you. They're seeing you exactly as the civil rights coalition feared from the first day of your nomination that you would be seen: a genuine, humble human being who has become, in their fearful view, the way they look at you is, you are now the most powerful African-American man in the country, and you have shown that it can be done without them.

Bravo! Justice Thomas did it the old fashioned way. He worked hard, and long, and harder. He maintained a strong sense of self and decency and honor. He didn't cry about not having access to the best opportunities but made the most of the opportunities that were available to him, and impressed people in those settings through his character, judgment and work ethic. I don't remember hearing it quite that way from Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and Obama's pastor.

Thomas delivers the perfect answer to the question, "What is the proper role of a judge?"

My role is to interpret the Constitution. It's to interpret a statute. It is not to impose my policy views or my personal views on your Constitution, our Constitution, or on your laws. It's not my private preserve to work out these theories, and I guard very, very diligently against doing that. I think a part of being able to stay within the confines of that limited role, a judge has to be humble about his own approach and what his capacities are. I had a little prayer that I used to say years ago when I was at EEOC: "Lord, grant me the wisdom to know what is right and the courage to do it." So I also think that, in addition to wisdom or humility, you need the courage to do what is right. If the answer is something that is difficult or that will lead to criticism, you still have to do it, if it's right. It's your oath. So that's, in a nutshell, my approach to the job. I took an oath to God, not an oath to be God. We're there to do our jobs as
judges. I'm a judge. I have a limited role, and I stick within that role.

Did the confirmation hearings scar him, leave him bitter?

I've suffered no wounds. People say, "Well, you had a tough confirmation." I have no wounds. I have my arms; I have my sight. Our wounded soldiers have given so much more in defense of liberty than I could ever hope to give. Yes, I love being out among them, the people who fought our wars, the people who protect us, the people who give us our electricity. It reaffirms the way I write the opinions so they can read them. One gentleman came up to me, and he said, "Thank you for writing your opinion," and I can't remember the case. I said, "Why are you reading it?" He said, "I'm not a lawyer, but you gave me access to our Constitution." That's why I write it that way, and it's for these people that I try to be humble in interpreting their Constitution.

CLARENCE THOMAS

He did a great interview with Steve Kroft on Sunday (see it here).

Rush on Monday.

Here's a story from Pajamas Media.

There are few people in public life worth admiration anymore. I can't think of any that I admire more than Thomas.

I can't wait to read the book.

HOW GOES THE WAR?

According to Investor's Business Daily (via Instapundit)

That the media are no longer much interested in Iraq is a sure sign things are going well there. Instead, they're talking about the presidential campaign, or Burma, or global warming, or . . . whatever.

Things have gone so well, in fact, that leading Democratic contenders have stopped calling for a "timetable" for withdrawal and can't even promise they'll remove all the troops by 2013.

In short, the U.S. is — yes, we'll use the word —winning the war against al-Qaida. And not just in Iraq. In fact, the only way we won't win is if we do something very stupid — such as letting the overwhelmingly negative media convince us we can't do what we clearly are doing.

La RUSSA II

La Russa said "I should have sent over a case of ______ for Ausmus hitting into that double play."

What did LaRussa want to send over? A hint, here’s Ausmus’ reply.

"I would like it better if he'd sent over a beer." Ausmus said.

You guessed it. La Russa suggested that he send over a case of Tofu.

"I want to be true to my values," said La Russa, a longtime vegetarian.

Everyone else can send the obvious case of “animal parts” for a twin killing. For La Russa it's not that simple.

La RUSSA MEANS IT

Cardinals manager Tony La Russa plans to call Milwaukee manager Ned Yost about the three-game series at Miller Park this week that left both managers yelling at the other's dugout. La Russa said he'll probably leave Yost a message.

La Russa said he asked first base coach Dave McKay to let Fielder know the pitch that hit him was not intentional. La Russa plans to restate that case in his message to Yost, whom he has routinely lauded.

"Just so he gets the facts straight from our side," La Russa said. "Because one, the Fielder thing — when I swore on my animals — that's the truth. That message was sent. And they didn't believe it. I'll tell him what I thought was happening in that series, and I'm sure he'll have his own opinion."

Come on Ned, the guy swore on his animals!

WINE-MAKING: ANCIENT TRADITION FOR TODAY'S SOPHISTICATED RENAISSANCE-MAN

We here at the Juntoboys do not always agree with everything, but we do agree on some of the more important things. Lower-taxes, less government, more poker, cuter girls, and of course the delights of a fine Brew or glass of wine.

Over the past several months I have been diligently researching and trying out several different recipes for both Beer and Wine. But today's blog entry I will dedicate exclusively to the subtle art of wine making. From the time of the ancient Greeks (and possibly long before) man has enjoyed the fermented beverage.

To the left, is a lithographic rubbing of an ancient Greek wall depicting the god Dionysus and the making of wine. Wine is actually quite easy to make. Yeast, is a living organism that is found growing naturally on every variety of grape in the known world. All one has to do is simply crush the grapes, let sit covered for a week or so, then siphon off the liquid, and val-la! You have wine. Wine is easy. Good wine is hard.

My first couple of batches were sour and rather vinegary. I kept reading about what to do and what to add. And the chemistry of wine-making. The chemical formula for alcohol is CH3CH2OH. Other ingredients of a typical glass of wine is: Water: 250g, Ethyl Alcohol: 25gGlycerine: 3gPectins: 1gAcids: 1gPolyphenols: 500mg traces of flavor elements such as oak, chocolate, etc.

Well after a few more batches I finally got the levels right and the wine went from sour mash unfit for consumption to a smooth mellow delightful wine that is wonderful on the palate. Thusly I proudly present my first wine: Summer Sunset. This is a light blush wine made with Muscadine Grapes. Muscadine's are a native grape to the Southeastern U.S. I'm hoping to use some seasonal fruit to make a different kind of wine year round. I'm using the last of the Muscadines to make a nice Merlot. I'll keep you posted. Next up, "The Art of Beer Making."

ACADEMIC FREEDOM DOES EXIST (so far)

Well, well, I'm into my first semester and given out my first set of exams. So far academic freedom does exist. We got a good talking to on Friday from the Chair of the department. He re-advowed his commitment to Academic Freedom. (He didn't expand onto why he was bringing up the subject, but I guess that some Prof. must have asked or felt insecure). He explained that Academic Freedom meant the professors have the right to teach their classes however they see fit and say anything in class; even "controversial" statements. Of course he didn't elaborate on what that meant. Mostly I've found "controversial" means that you simply say the most extreme left wing thing you can and wait for gasps. Unfortunately, the gasps seldom come anymore since everyone expects the left-wing thing to be said by any given prof. What I've found thus far from the professors point of view is that this is a whole lot of fun. It is great to educate a new generation on the subjects I hold dear. My Cross-Cultural class has turned out to be my favorite mostly because there is so much leeway to include politics in the class since most of the subject matter lends itself to political discourse. However, some of the students have caught on to my right leaning, libertarian stances. The more savvy students are waiting for a derogatory remark about the Dems or Clinton or such and then are leaping forward. I confronted one in class recently and made her prove her point. (I had made a rather neutral comment about Bill Clinton being long winded in his speeches---a valid point as Bill made the infamous 2 hour speech at the Dem Con many years ago). Before I could finish my point, she had lept and stated, "Well at least he can finish his sentences, at least he could speak in coherent thoughts, etc" I stopped and said, "Oh really? Could you give us an example? Whom do you refer?" on and on I went. I hated to exert my power thusly, since I had been similar to the student in my youth and could not always defend myself, but perhaps that is part of the whole learning process anyway. And secondly, that student is sort of nuts.

I haven't gotten fired yet and thus far the school has completely left me alone. No one has questioned my book selections (one book is a Heritage Foundation selection) and no one has questioned my methods...at least to my face. Most students seem to express gratitude (much as I did when I found the lone conservative professor) and ask what class will I be teaching next. On one sad note, I've been told through the grapevine that they are going to try and steer me away from "diversity" classes like Cross Cultural and instead give me more pure science classes like Perception/Learning and Abnormal Psych to teach. Maybe I'm not teaching the Cross-Cultural class the "right way." That is sad because it kind of goes against what the Chair had to say. I'm sure that if I confronted them I'd get denial and accalaids for my scientific mind that is sorely needed. Blah, blah. I've asked to teach the Psychology of Women next, THAT is one I'm REALLY looking forward to! But we'll see. More adventures in Academia to come...

POP CAN FELONY

Authorities said they arrested 10 people and seized more than $500,000 in cash after breaking up a smuggling ring that collected millions of beverage containers in other states and cashed them in for 10 cents apiece in Michigan.

The 10 people were arraigned on charges ranging from false pretense, a possible 5-year felony to running a criminal enterprise, a possible 20-year sentence.

The scheme defrauded the Michigan Bottle Deposit Fund, whose proceeds are used to pay for environmental cleanup efforts, Cox said in a statement.

"Each year, this type of activity defrauds the state approximately $13 million," said Col. Peter Munoz, Michigan State Police director.

The charges include maintaining a continuing criminal enterprise, a 20-year felony, and fraud, a 5-year felony, the statement said.

This is a great example of the futility of social engineering. Any government manipulation of the free market will create unintended consequences. By making the cans and bottles worth money, they received more cans and bottles. The intention was to clean up the environment, but the result was more garbage.

It's not too unlike how social services create more poor people.

SPAM FROM TEXAS DOLLY

This might be the most unintentionally funny spam I've read all year. I think the intern stole Doyle's email password. Commentary by me.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

"Doyle Brunson, in partnership with Leonardo DiCaprio, would like to take this opportunity to present to you a project that has been extremely important to everyone at the Doyle Brunson Poker Network. Global warming and the negative effects it has on mankind, is an issue that we have taken very seriously.

LEO: Where did you first hear of global warming?
DOYLE: From you at the Bogata. You?
LEO: Christian Slater told me.

In an effort to help educate poker players as well of the rest of the world about this important issue, Doyle Brunson and Leonardo DiCaprio, have partnered to produce the feature film environmental documentary entitled "The 11th Hour" which is now being distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. studio.

DOYLE: Leo, there are poker players and then the rest of the world.
LEO: What's the best way to educate the rest of the world?
DOYLE: Not really a good idea if you want to make a living at poker.

We don't know how things are in your life, but no matter what's going on, this planet has got you beat. We've made it sick, and it, in turn, is sick and tired of us. We have the floods, fires, droughts, heat waves, melting ice caps, and endangered or extinct species to prove it.

DOYLE: My life is great really. We gave up the Texas bookie joint back in the 50s and eventually moved out here to Vegas. Now I have a big energy burning, water wasting mansion in the desert. You can't grow anything out here without a truck of chemicals. All the food has to be driven here from hundreds of miles away. If Louis XVI only had it so good.
LEO: What was it like in the old days before floods, fires, droughts, heat waves, melting ice caps and extinct animals?
DOYLE: Back then you could get sirloin for 35 cents a pound.

The film, featuring DiCaprio, exposes these issues with an array of stunning visuals and expert analysis from renowned experts

LEO: I thought of this last night - "expert analysis from renowned experts"
DOYLE: Poker Rooms have actually gotten a little colder over the years. You'd have to write a script if you want me to be an expert.
LEO: Nah, we're going to get celebrities, scientists outside their field of expertise, and then just whatever guy we find on the street that scares easily and put them all on camera.
DOYLE: And call them experts.
LEO: Better than calling them a hodge podge of people who would participate.

such as physicist Stephen Hawking

HAWKING: Which should I say, hotter or colder?
FIELD PRODUCER: We'd prefer hotter, but you're the scientist.
HAWKING: Hotter then. I don't want to be on the cutting room floor. When that Star Trek cameo repeats I get a sizable spike at Amazon.
FIELD PRODUCER: Do you think it will rain tomorrow?
HAWKING: How the hell do I know?

and Kenyan activist (and 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner) Wangari Maathai

FIELD PRODUCER: Mr. DiCaprio doesn't sign autographs and you may address him as Leo on camera but off camera it's strictly Mr. DiCaprio or sir.
MAATHAI: It would be for my daughter.
FIELD PRODUCER: Leo is tired of everyone's daughter. Is it hot here or not? Right, so just tell him you think so.

as well as Andrew Weil

FIELD PRODUCER: You're the guy who helped ruin Dr. Leary?
WEIL: Yeah, I'm into juicing and deep breathing now.
FIELD PRODUCER: We think you're a squealing pig. But nice to have you on this.

and Mikhail Gorbachev.

FIELD PRODUCER: So uh, when did you notice it getting warmer?
GORBY: Right after Reagan handed me my ass and that ended. . . wait for it. . . the COLD WAR.

Their opinions, along with the observations made by people from all walks of life,

JOE: Six months ago it was freezing and now I can't walk to the mini mart without getting swamp ass.
FRANK: Me too.
JOE: I wish they'd produce a movie to explain why.
FRANK: And even if the whys were clouded in conjecture at supposition there would be no reason why we shouldn't change life as we know it in order to feel better about ourselves.
JOE: And a promise to end swamp ass.

make a compelling case that if we human beings don't change our ways soon, we're doomed.

LEO: Can we get the "Profit of Doom" for this?
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: He's in the middle of a 3 picture deal with Michael Moore but we could reference him here and there.
LEO: Check with the lawyers.

"Save the Planet," as humorist George Carlin says, decrying the arrogance of the environmentalists' motto. "The planet isn't going anywhere - we are."

LEO: I don't get this quote. Do we need it?
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Carlin's funny. Have you heard that thing about his "stuff" or all those curse words.
LEO: Yeah, but I heard those words already.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Carlin is saying that the chances of us dying are even greater if we don't stop global warming now.
DOYLE: Greater than 100%?

In support of this important message, we are telling all of our family and friends to go to their local theatre and watch the movie. We are confident, that if you understand the issues as we have learned ourselves, you will become as impassioned as we are to do something about it.

GORBY: You're like the smartest guy in the world. Why isn't this problem solved yet?
HAWKING: I don't know. I wake up in the morning, have an omelet, check the west coast box scores, flip around on the TV and it's nearly noon. I keep telling myself that I have to get on this first thing and work through the day, but I just have too many distractions. I sometimes substitute the omelet for an English Muffin and Yogurt. What I need is to watch movies about it and get impassioned.

Thank you for taking the time to read this important message from the Doyle Brunson Poker Network, we look forward to hearing your feedback.

Since you played it so close to the chest, I just can't imagine what kind of feedback you're looking for.

THOSE YANKEES

Things are working out very well for the Yankees. It looks like they get to play Cleveland in the first round, a team that they traditionally handle well instead of the Angels who seem to have their number. Boston is more likely to beat the Angels and I have confidence that the Yankees can beat Boston. If I had to put up a scenario favorable to the Yankees this would be it.

OPERA SINGER LEAVES NARY A DRY EYE

He got me. He got my wife. He didn't get Simon. Will he get you?

Totally unrelated: I am really enjoying the NL races and I have to hand it to the Yanks who everybody wrote off except the Yanks. The FIGHTIN' PHILS are right back in it!

BOBBY (2006) (A Movie Review)

I can imagine that Bobby Kennedy’s assassination had a profound effect on America and especially so to the American Left. My mother who shook hands with Bobby a few months before his assassination talked about it on several occasions during my childhood. She wasn’t very political but Camelot wasn’t about politics but royalty and Bobby was the crown prince.

Forgotten is that he worked for Senator Joe McCarthy and was even best man at his wedding for crying out loud. Bobby knew all the angles fighting commies with Uncle Joe in the 50s and then prosecuting the Republican leaning Teamsters in the 1960s while ignoring the corruption of the Democrat leaning AFL-CIO. When Civil Rights looked politically viable he was for that too and when the Vietnam war became unpopular he hated it.

Bobby's assassination means that he is the perfect President that never was. He would have ended the war and racism and poverty and healed all that ails us. Idealism requires that Bobby wasn't an calculating union busting McCarthyite turned dove, but a true believer. He wasn't Humphrey or McGovern or other Democrats that would have bungled the message, but the one we would have listened to.

And to Emilo's credit the archival footage he chooses here is really impressive. Bobby connected with people in a way that candidates no longer do. But the tough reality is that Bobby had very little chance of winning the 1968 Democrat nomination. The primaries were a smaller part of the delegate count back then and the party insiders were going to nominate VP Humphrey regardless of the voters. But rather than be realistic, a certain part of the Left imagines Camelot II stopped by inefficient gun control legislation. That night wasn't just another tragedy for the Kennedy family, but a turning point where the country was forever lost.

The film though is about that day in the Ambassador hotel and the people that spend it getting ready for Bobby’s arrival. Therefore most of the movie could have been made independent of Bobby storyline since so many sub plots make it seem more like an Arthur Hailey story. Rather than go into the mundane lives that are shattered when the real hero is fell, let’s just say that it comes off pretty well and though it’s not saying a whole lot, it’s Emilo’s best movie yet. His goal of making Bobby significant works for a guy like me who thinks that even an underdog win by Kennedy wouldn't have shifted the country all the much.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

Columbia University bans ROTC at their campus under the guise of the "don't ask don't tell policy." You'd think that Ahmadinejad would be disqualified simply for his views on that subject. But the elite have a certain fascination with any figure who is anti-American. They will forgive almost any specific position as long as the American right wing doesn't like him/her. It's always under the guise of having a dialogue.

Freedom of speech does not guarantee a bullhorn or a platform, just the protection that you won't be arrested. It doesn't make us a more noble country to allow our enemies such a demonstration. It just makes us look like dupes to other dictators.

The media quotes Bollinger's denunciation as if that makes him some kind of hero. A few days ago Bollinger spoke about the importance of dialogue and today he didn't even let the students confront the tyrant with impromptu questions. They were all screened and read officially just like back in the home country.

Why are tax dollars going to universities that oppose the military or give a platform to our enemies? This is not just a man who espouses anti-American positions, but someone who has been killing American soldiers in Iraq.

I'm not so much bothered by the theatre of today's event because it doesn't surprise me. But I am bothered by how higher education has taken on a sort of religious infallibility. Our job is to fire hose money at it and their job is to show us what rubes we are. There needs to be a better balance if we're to continue to foot the bill.

MESS-O-POTAMIA

Sure, there is oil in Iraq, but to declare that the sole cause of this war is, to borrow a poker term, first level thinking. The free trade of oil on the world market is something we are extremely dependent on and it is not so heinous as libs would have you believe that it is worth a good fight to keep this precious resource from being horded behind the turban curtain. It's not like we go around stealing oil, for god's sake - we just want the opportunity to purchase it at market price, even though we are fully aware that those profits will be turned into ammunition to use against us.

With second level thinking, the cause to war becomes clearer. There is a civilization sharing our planet that has gotten rich by mistake, just by serendipitously finding vast oil reserves under their sand, and one of the ways they choose to spend this windfall is by financing the extermination of us and our allies. We ignored this fight until it came to us and even the libs rallied to the cause and as usual, America kicked ass and took names. The fact that we have not been attacked at home in six years since should be regarded as a great victory but for some reason is not. We are engaging the enemy far from home with an all-volunteer army which has made the hoi polloi back home grow soft and yearn for peace. Since the war is not here and the cessation of it would seemingly make no daily difference to the unwashed masses, they have joined together in a great cry for withdrawal. Note the term surrender is never employed.

Only with third level thinking can we see that a continued presence in Iraq is vastly preferential to withdrawal. It goes back to Iran, 1979. There used to be sane Muslims in charge of that great country. All of a sudden, the crazies took over and threw the entire region into turmoil. Iraq tried to capitalize on the turmoil and we helped them do it, even though they were just a different strain of crazy. We couldn't bring down the new Iranian leadership via Iraq and by 1990, Iraq itself was getting too big for its britches and we had to bitch slap them a couple of times. Meanwhile, those cold war stalwarts, the Russkies were getting huge in Afghanistan and we financed an offshoot batch of nutjobs to drive out the Reds. Now there was a new wing of wackos getting big for their britches and they dug into Afghanistan. We've been playing whack-a-mole now for decades in the Middle East.

The people of the Islamic world are wonderful people as individuals but they are stuck in an historical rut of going from bad dictator to worse. Although every culture will fight for its way of life, you gotta figure nobody enjoys living under a tyrant. Maybe it is all they know and they can't imagine the alternative, but I'm one of those cowboys who truly believes we are doing a great service to the people of the Middle East when we fight the man for them. Unlike the Russkies, we are not going to move in and take the resources, we simply want to liberate the resources so that we can engage in free trade.

Anyways, I've got to go soon, so I won't belabor my point. I mainly wanted to point out the hilarity in the closing paragraph of the news story I linked above:

If Blackwater and other private contractors are shut out of Iraq, Democrats in Congress and Iranian intelligence operatives may have stumbled on a way to end the Iraq War—less than a week after Gen. Petraeus testified that the U.S. is turning the corner.

Who is the enemy in this story? It seems to be the American general who is fighting the good fight. And who are his antagonists? You guessed it, that great axis of evil, the Iranians and the Congressional Democrats. Together, they are unstoppable.

FAMOUS MISQUOTATIONS

This wikipedia page corrects common misquotations -- for example, "Beam me up, Scotty" was never uttered on STAR TREK and Sgt. Friday never said, "Just the facts, ma'am." I am guilty of misquoting the following in the past week or two:

"Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Notes: This misquote hearkens back to the British Lord Acton, a 19th century English historian who was commenting about tyrant monarchs (Caesar, Henry VIII, Napoleon, various Russian Tsars, etc.). It is probably the single most misquoted statement in the English language. Lord Acton actually wrote: "Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."

Now the question of whether to be a technically accurate smartypants the next time this quote applies, or to accept common usage and feel a small ping of intellectual remorse. Probably the latter, because of another favorite quote (which is quoted correctly as far as I know): "Be wiser than other people if you can, but do not tell them so." - Lord Chesterfield

MAY 6th (A film Review)

You’ve heard of Theo Van Gogh, Great Grand nephew of Vincent. Theo was shot by a radical Islamist back in 2004. Theo was a columnist and a movie director, a career that doesn’t seem to have much of a parallel in the United States unless you count Sean Penn’s trips to the Middle East. Theo was a supporter of Pim Fortuyn, the Dutch politician himself gunned down two years before. They both wanted restricted Muslim immigration fearing that Muslim fundamentalism was slowly changing the liberal landscape of Holland. But Pim Fortuyn’s killer was an eco-terrorist, one who prayed at the other great multicultural religion, the environment.

May 6th is the day the Pim was shot and the movie is about the forces behind the killing. Our hero is a tabloid photographer outside a radio studio shooting cheesecake shots of a model while unbeknownst to him Pim is inside giving his last radio interview. Pim is shot leaving the interview and our photographer’s proximity gives him a lot of accidental evidence about the scene of the crime, ala BLOWUP (1966). Since going to the cops is never any fun, our hero instead tracks down the people in the photos one by one and tries to solve the mystery of what happened that day.

Unfortunately, what happened borrows heavily from the Oliver Stone JFK approach. Find some dissent from orthodoxy in a politician’s record and low and behold, the secret cabal is standing by waiting to cut his throat. Here the greenies are just dupes for businessman who put them up to it. How are the Dutch ever going to have an independent film culture when they keep borrowing Hollywood villains?

Despite the hackneyed conspiracy theories this is a solid picture with a lot of fine smaller performances. Our hero’s detective work moves at a good speed, less so than Hollywood breakneck and yet not so slow as to lose the viewer. Instead of aha scenes where Charlize and Denzel study the same paper and look at each other and say, “does this mean. . . ?” our hero is solitary in his search. Other people seem slightly amused at his obsession or indifferent and when the bad guys turn up they don’t wear $2000 suits and have half page of dialogue to clue our guy in real good. The heavies act like people, more powerful than our hero, but still semi-unsure of themselves in a situation they didn’t anticipate.

The best attribute of the movie is the hero’s journey. You follow and root for him throughout and I was sorry to see the thing end, because so many of the ancillary problems are left unsolved like real life.

AllMovie.com says that Van Gogh’s work has received scant worldwide critical attention although he was praised inside the Netherlands. If MAY 6th is representative of his work I hope they release the rest of his filmography. Netflix has one other Van Gogh title and I will cue it forthwith.

CRASHED

I have reputation at work as someone who knows movies. I think it’s mostly due to the nature of my work, but wrapped in there is also the ability to talk art house and classic movies. My knowledge isn’t as exhaustive as it once was. I’m no longer good with what just came out and I can’t keep up with the tent poles anymore. But if you want a change of pace, I’m always good for a recommendation or a conversation.

Around last year’s Oscars, our Vice President asked if I had seen any of the nominees and what I liked. I had not seen CAPOTE which turned out to be my favorite of the group or WALK THE LINE, a solid movie even in multiple viewings. All I had to recommend was CRASH, which I had seen 8 months before when it came out on DVD. A week or so later he told me briefly that he saw it and didn’t like it. And after the Crash recommendation she stopped bringing up the topic and would say little when I did.

He took the team to lunch recently and he told us that he immediately rented CRASH after our conversation and told his wife that I had recommended it. Only, he rented the David Cronenberg version from 1996. That movie (NC-17) is about a perverted subculture that finds eroticism in car crashes. Maybe he could have weathered it, but what wife wouldn’t have been appalled? Very recently he happened upon the 2005 version and he and his wife had a big laugh realizing that they had rented the wrong one. He laughed again telling the story at lunch. What was going through his mind after seeing the first one? Who would recommend such a movie to their boss?

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I recently read THE TIPPING POINT by Malcolm Gladwell. It’s how small ideas or trends explode into sensations. A good example from the book is how Hush Puppy shoes were so unpopular in the early 1990s that the maker almost stopped production. They produced only 30,000 pair a year. Somewhere in the East Village a bohemian wandered into a thrift store and bought a used pair simply because they were cheap. This person, whoever he was, was influential enough that other young artist types started doing the same. A fashion designer looking for the hot new trends hung around the village looking for style and noticed the Hush Puppies gaining popularity and the designer decided to use the shoes in a fashion show. The show led to models wearing the shoes in magazines and within two years they were selling over 200,000 pair of Hush Puppies annually. The trend began with a few influential people and steamrolled into a style.

Gladwell uses the same phenomenon to explain why Paul Revere is famous and anti teen smoking campaigns are doomed to failure. It was the best human behavior book I have read since INFLUENCE.

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KRAUTHAMMER ON PETRAEUS

The surge is working and Petraeus recommended starting a conditional withdrawal. A great showing and a political hit for the Left which has backed itself into a corner by trying to strong-arm the Right. It has repeated its disingenuous talking points so often it now has to pretend to believe them, to its detriment. They missed a golden opportunity to connect with the mainstream in their obsession not to offend the Soros/Sheehan crowd.

Having poisoned one country and been expelled from it (Afghanistan), al Qaeda seized upon post-Saddam instability to establish itself in the very heart of the Arab Middle East — Sunni Iraq. Yet now, in front of all the world, Iraq’s Sunnis are, to use the biblical phrase, vomiting out al Qaeda. This is a defeat and humiliation in the extreme — an Arab Muslim population rejecting al Qaeda so violently that it allies itself in battle with the infidel, the foreigner, the occupier.

Just carrying this battle to its successful conclusion — independent of its larger effect of helping stabilize Iraq — is justification enough for the surge. The turning of Sunni Iraq against al Qaeda is a signal event in the war on terror. Petraeus’s plan is to be allowed to see it through.

NEVER HAVE YOUR DOG STUFFED by Alan Alda (A Book Review)

Stuck in yet another airport and complaining to my wife on the cell, she wisely recommended that I go buy something to read to pass the time. Staring at a thousand titles, I saw Alan Alda plaintively looking back at me and couldn't resist. Unfortunately I had time to read the whole thing before I hit the runway back home.

Celebrities are so often a fascinating mix of ambition and insecurity, and Alda obliges. His stories had me laughing so hard I had to move away from the guy sitting next to me in gate E31 whose seat I kept shaking. His second glare sent me to a more remote location. Alda is a great storyteller, setting the scene, getting to the funny part quickly, and moving on. He doesn't dish any dirt and you feel like he left a lot out, but it's a great way to pass a few hours. There are laughs and lessons but he doesn't beat you over the head or ask too much.

My biggest takeaway was this: The following night I was in class and we did an exercise identifying things that fill our tanks and things that drain our tanks. I listed four or five things in each column--for example, reading something interesting fills my tank, listening to blowhards or sitting in airports drains it. The point of the exercise was to start recognizing when something is draining your tank and turn your attention to something that will fill it. My wife had applied the lesson for me before I even encountered it, and now I will know what to do the next time they start posting travel delays. Sometimes it takes someone else to point out the obvious.

YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS by John McEnroe (A Book Review)

Tennis was the only sport that I wasn’t introduced to through my father. I picked it up during summer vacation in the late 1970s when Wimbledon highlights would come on right after the Johnny Carson show. Jimmy Connors was my favorite. I asked for a racket for Christmas and I would bang tennis balls against the garage door for hours letting my sweaty bangs hang over my eyes like Connors. Everything about the sport I learned on TV, I never had a formal lesson. I practiced enough on the driveway that I was decent competition for my friends, even the guys who were better athletes.

Connors was my favorite but I borrowed McEnroe’s serve. The traditional form I learned later was to face your opponent and serve straight ahead. McEnroe pointed his toes 90 degrees from the net before winding up and serving the ball. I played like this for so long that when I later tried the other way, I couldn’t hit the ball with any accuracy.

Over the weekend I read McEnroe’s book, YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS, and it turns out he developed that serve because it put less pressure on his sore back. So my technique is based on Johnny Mac’s bad back.

The book was insightful. I learned that he and Connors hated each other in their playing days. They played Davis Cup one year together and hardly even spoke. Now they get along a little better playing the Senior Tour. He still doesn’t think much of Ivan Lendl. He calls Brad Gilbert a complainer.

McEnroe is an extremely patriotic guy, who played Davis Cup in his prime despite the weak money simply because he wanted to win for his country. He speaks harshly of other Americans who don’t make it a priority, namely Connors in his day and Sampras in the 1990s.

McEnroe idolizes Bjorn Borg and the great loss of his career was the Borg retired early and he couldn’t play him anymore. Borg gave McEnroe motivation like few others did. He never lost his temper in a Borg match, he never yelled at an umpire, because he needed all of his strength to beat this worthy adversary.

He also talks about his personal life in the book being married to Tatum O’Neill and now Patty Smyth. He doesn’t say so directly, but the Tatum relationship certainly drained his energy away from tennis much like the Brook Shields relationship cost Agassi.

He speaks well of Reagan in the book and his one time meeting him, but he didn’t make it back in time from Europe to vote in the 1984 election, presumably for Reagan. He said his first ever vote came in the 2000 election though he doesn’t tell us his leanings. I seem to remember McEnroe at a 2000 Bradley rally in NYC. Was it just a jock connection or was Mac a full fledged supporter? I’m pretty sure he’s a Dem these days.

A candid book and worth the time of any tennis fan.

LEST WE FORGET

Jonah from NRO:

But it’s important to remember that from the outset, the media took it as their sworn duty to keep Americans from getting too riled up about 9/11. I wrote a column about it back in March of 2002. Back then the news networks especially saw it as imperative that we not let our outrage get out of hand. I can understand the sentiment, but it’s worth noting that such sentiments vanished entirely during hurricane Katrina. After 9/11, the press withheld objectively accurate and factual images from the public, lest the rubes get too riled up. After Katrina, the press endlessly recycled inaccurate and exaggerated information in order to keep everyone upset. The difference speaks volumes.