HAPPY HALLOWEEN (...cont'd)

Leaked still from Joel Schumacher's live-action Snow White remake (starring Rachel Weisz):

HAPPY HALLOWEEN (cont'd...) & MULTICULTURALISM WATCH

In Londonistan:

---
A SCHOOL was yesterday accused of MAKING teachers dress up as Asians for a day – to celebrate a Muslim festival.

Kids at the 257-pupil primary have also been told to don ethnic garb even though most are Christians.

The morning assembly will be open to all parents – but dads are BARRED from a women-only party in the afternoon because Muslim husbands object to wives mixing with other men(!!!). Just two members of staff – a part-time teacher and a teaching assistant – are Muslim.

Yesterday a relative of one of the 39 others said: “Staff have got to go along with it – or let’s face it, they would be branded racist." [me: sadly, that's true...]

“Who would put their job on the line? They have been told they have to embrace the day to show their diversity. But they are not all happy.”

The day aims to belatedly mark Eid, the end of Ramadan.

Sally Bloomer, head of Rufford primary school in Lye, West Midlands, insisted: “I have not heard of any complaints. It’s all part of a diversity project to promote multi-culturalism.” (The Sun)
---

HAPPY HALLOWEEN (cont'd)

Today is Peter Jackson's birthday (He's 46). How perfect is that? The fantasy and Fangoria freak was born on the day of all days that the macabre mobs value most!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

---
"The bourgeoisie will remember my carbuncles until their dying day," Marx told Friedrich Engels in a letter from 1867.
---

And thus communism was born! Could it be so simple as to pinpoint Marxism down to the fact that Der Karl had a pizza face and was thus rejected sexually by women (or men...)?

Probably not, but it's fun to think about... as a British professor has done:

---
Karl Marx, who complained of excruciating boils, actually suffered from a chronic skin disease with known psychological effects that may well have influenced his writings, a British expert said on Tuesday.

[...]

"In addition to reducing his ability to work, which contributed to his depressing poverty, hidradenitis greatly reduced his self-esteem," said Shuster, who published his findings in the British Journal of Dermatology.

"This explains his self-loathing and alienation, a response reflected by the alienation Marx developed in his writing." (Reuters)
---

Talk about your grudges!!! Sheesh. I know it can be tough to be made fun of for your looks, but to get revenge by unleashing an economic philosophy that crippled societies and killed hundreds of millions?!?!? Dang, Karl. He's totally like that villain in comic books/cartoons that vows to destroy the world because nobody was nice to him when he was a kid.

This actually explains a lot about the behavior of Hugo Chavez.

THE NEW MEXICAN VICE PRESIDENT

Tonight, at the Democratic POTUS debate, Hillary got pounded by everyone except... Bill Richardson:

---
"With the crescendo of criticism of the former first lady at a fever pitch, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson at one point questioned the "holier-than-thou" attitude of her critics.

"It's bothering me because it's pretty close to personal attacks that we don't need," Richardson said. (Reuters)
---

Did that just give credence to the buzz surrounding a possible Clinton/Richardson '08 ticket??? He stood up and protected his lady!

Although, there is still buzz of a Jim Webb Veep too (I think this would be the smartest move... he's blue dog, yet critical of the Iraq war). Plus, Webb just has that VP vibe to him... you know?

And those two guys differ in their illegal immigration stance. Webb is pretty tough on enforcement and Richardson is pretty soggy. I guess it will come down to where Hillary wants to be on the issue. WILD CARD: Richardson speaks Spanish.

SEPARATED AT BIRTH (PART 6)

P.S. - In case you're wondering, here is the lineup of actresses (and the actresses whose shoes they must fill) for the The Women remake:

Eva Mendes = Joan Crawford
Meg Ryan = Norma Shearer
Annette Benning = Rosalind Russell

Uh.... good luck with that, ladies....

"THE COURTESAN HAS SUNG" - SUNSET RUBDOWN

I don't know what "courtesan" means, or what a "courtesan" is. Is it someone that's courteous? Eh... I'll look it up later. The reason I haven't looked it up is because it doesn't matter. It couldn't change my feelings for the song. Song? I guess it's a proper song. It starts somewhere in between tracks #3 and #5 on the new Sunset Rubdown album, Random Spirit Lover. (That title is an appropriate way to describe Spencer Krug's approach to song...)

Not that lyrics need to be good - or even make sense, like Hurricane Chris' "A Bay Bay" - for me to like the song, but I generally like to have an idea as to what they're saying. For instance, one of my favorite songs this year is The New Porno's "Mutiny, I Promised You". Sample lyric:

"Heartbeat, you abandoned searches/Your lost ride/You're in my lost country now lady/Sweethearts in the crosstown wild/You don't let go/To the new live history goes with me."

Ok, cool, whatevs. But it totally jams!

And so does "The Courtesan Has Sung". Or maybe "jams" isn't the right word, but flies?... or soars, yeah... it soars!... and 70% of the time I find myself making up the words,... and it ain't no thang!

Krug uses his voice more and more as an instrument, now. In the percussive sense, and in place of instruments he may hear in his head but doesn't have lying around the room (...or that haven't been invented yet). He goes: "Oh UH oh Uh oh ooohhh OH oH oh...", blowing notes and writing melodies in mid air like a composer. Krug has real, beaded, forehead-sweat talent. We need more of him, and less or Devendra and Joanna (just typing their names is irritating...). Theirs is just a costumed parlor game, a porch swing molestation of melody and craft.

"BUT THAT'S NOT MY PENIS!"

The quote in the title of this post isn't one you hear too often in someone's self-defense, so when it is used I think we need to grab it and run with it. The story that is, not the ...

The Australian candidate of the Family First Party got busted for some not quite "family" type pictures over the weekend.

---
Sydney music teacher Andrew Quah, 21, admitted photographs showing his penis and circulating widely on gay websites had embarrassed his party and made his candidacy untenable.

"But that's not my penis," Quah told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, adding one of the images may have been digitally altered.

"I might have been drunk off my face, or my political enemies might have drugged me," Quah said. "It was a mistake that I would not have committed had I been of right mind. All I know, I have been humiliated." (Reuters)
---

See... I don't think - at this point - he's so concerned about "the penis" damaging his campaign because that's already done, I think he's concerned because "the penis" isn't very... how you say? ... impressive, and he doesn't want his reputation as "a man" being tarnished.

---
Quah, nicknamed "Australia's Smallest Loser" in a parody of a popular television series after the photos came to light, had been a member of Family First for 11 months, de Fombelle said.
---

Oi! Sorry about that my man. I've always heard that about the men down under, though.

WORLD SERIES: PREMATURE EVALUATION

It's over already (again...).

I sure wish the Red Sox would let the Series go more than 4 games (again...). I can't take another Series sweep. It's so anti-climactic! It's like sneaking the porno past your parents only to shoot before the first scene with "the star" comes up. [NOTE: how come straight porn only gives you one full length scene with "the star"? You generally get an abbreviated scene/tease near the beginning, but it's usually a lesbo scene which is soooo 1997. Like, are guys still into that?!?!]

But it's partially the Rockies fault, this year. Game 1 was a joke, but Game 2 saw wasted opportunities, and Game 3 saw some weak-ass managing by Clint Hurdle. Ex: Why didn't Hurdle have Todd Helton steal second after he singled in the 7th??? Is it me, or was that a no-brainer that Hurdle effed-up??? Okajima was on the mound, and he's got an extremely slow release. Plus, he was throwing offspead junk!!

Yes. Okajima struck out the next two batters, and got the third to ground out, but I'm a big believer in scenario head games. If Helton stole second with no outs, Okajima would've been rattled even more than he already was after the Holliday home run. But after he struck out the first batter he was back in the zone... inning over. (you don't get many opportunities with guys like Okajima).

Oh well. I guess it's officially football season now. I love my Houston Texans, but they're still just barely above average. Plus, they play in San Diego tomorrow and the Chargers are gonna have the football karma gods on their side because of the fires. *SIGH*........

p.s. Hey Astros, when Okajima's contract is up next year, go sign him!

RENDITION

If you're looking for some provocative anti-war dissent in your films, then 2007 hasn't been your year. Music has been the place to go: From Bruce Springsteen to Spoon to Jay-Z, pop songwriters have made the war on terror personal, taking political stances that are thoughtful instead of mailed-in.

Filmmakers, on the other hand, are making product that they think they're supposed to. A Mighty Heart and In The Valley of Elah ripped off headlines and glued 'em to the screen without filtering them through an original artistic eye. These are films that not only presume they're right, but that if you disagree - and how could you disagree?!?! - you're a monster. Their propaganda is as black-and-white as the policy they accuse their neo-conservative counterparts of dishing out.

Rendition is the latest snoozer. While it doesn't say "based on...", it's likely that director Gavin Hood and screenwriter Kelly Sane had the case of Maher Arar in mind when they made their film. Arar was captured by Canadian mounties, handed over to the U.S. on allegations he had ties to Al Qaeda, and then sent to Syria where he was likely tortured. Maher was later released without charge.

Rendition attempts to lobby for it's anti-war stance on that lone incident. Disgracefully, it also suggests that Islamic extremism is the result of torture as interrogation technique (another "Blame America First" answer to a centuries old problem...). Never has the "high-atop-a-mansion-looking-down" world view of the Hollywood elite been on such ridiculous display.

The worst case scenario cinema of Rendition is secondarily pushed through its stereotypical casting. Reese Witherspoon (America's blond, blue-eyed sweetheart?), plays Izzy, a sweet, pregnant, soccer mom married to an Arab-American who gets fingered by the evil white Republican spook, Corinne Whitman (Streep) - who just happens to be rude to her Hispanic maid as well. Over in north Africa, Jake Gyllenhall is the CIA agent with a heart of gold ("this is my first torture case" he snidely says to his boss), coming off like the cute Donnie Darko with a clearance badge. This silliness peaks when Witherspoon gets her "GIVE ME BACK MY SON!" moment when she screams "TELL ME WHERE HE IS!!!" as the guards drag her away.

Next up: Lions For Lambs. If you haven't seen the trailer, Tom Cruise reprises his "Did you order a code red!!" from A Few Good Men when he says to Streep (again) "Do you want to win the war on terror? Yes, or no? ..... YES ... or, NO?!?!".

INTEREXTRATERRESTRIAL MARRIAGE

So what's up with the new AVP movie? (That's Alien Vs. Predator for you people out there living real, adult lives...)

Is the story supposed to be that Alien and Predator made love in space and then their babies invade Earth? Cuz look at this below picture:

It's a Predalien!

My wife and I saw the trailer last weekend in front of 30 Days of Night, but we had some MEGA "wtf ?!?" looks on our faces the whole time and didn't pay attention to the plot.

All I wanna know is who's the TOP and who's the BOTTOM? My money is on Predator being the top. Although... the "dreads" on Predator might mean that it's a natural bottom. Cuz you could really grab onto those locks and go to town... or, I mean Alien could.

Ew... and what if the really kinky Aliens use that Lil' Alien in their mouths for special positions!!! FREAKY!!!

NORTH AMERICAN SCUM (PART 4)

Nonie Darwish tried to give a speech at Cal-Berkely, and the "radicals" did the only thing they know how: shout obscenities & "racist" charges - at a woman who's experienced shaira oppression first hand, mind you - because they never have a rational point to make.

I tried to post the video directly, but the provider isn't as fancy as YouTube quite yet. So please click HERE to watch it.

THURSDAY MORNING HEARTACHE

[NOTE: While reading this post, imagine that Toni Braxton's "Unbreak My Heart" is playing in the background.]

This is not what I needed first thing in the morning!!! I haven't even had my coffee yet!!!!

---
On Tuesday afternoon, they arrived together at a party at Cowboys cornerback Terence Newman's home in Dallas – at which guests previewed the video game Guitar Hero III for Xbox 360.

Bush didn't play, says a source, but enjoyed watching Romo's competitive streak in action: "She was laughing at him when he screwed up a little bit in the beginning. They had a good time. They seem cute together."
---

As funny as it would be if that "Bush" was George W., it wasn't.... it was my Sophia!!! NOOOOOOOO!!!!

If you didn't know... Sophia Bush is on my "shortlist". You know, the five you can crush on without your spouse/partner getting upset with you. She's so darling. Adorable. She's ready to bloom into a career and then THIS LIL' PUNK HAS TO COME IN AND SCREW THINGS UP!!

If you didn't know... that "PUNK" is Tony Romo, quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys. I hate him. Here's the only explanation you need : I hate the Dallas Cowboys + Tony Romo plays for the Dallas Cowboys = I hate Tony Romo.

---
At one point, Romo tried his luck over the Internet against Carmen Electra, who was having a similar gathering in L.A. "I think she actually beat me," Romo told PEOPLE at the party.
---

OMG...what a bean brain!

---
The pair sat next to each other the entire night while laughing and talking with their table full of pals. "When they were leaving and chatting with friends and some staff at the bar, Tony was hugging Sophia from behind, and she put her arms around him as well," adds the source. (People)
---

BLARGHHHH!! Does she know that he has a micropenis, hunts endangered species, and watches Dancing With The Stars? (to be fair... I'm not 100% about that last part...).

THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE

Susanne Bier has a great movie somewhere in her. Things We Lost In The Fire is good, a step up from last year's promising After the Wedding. In fact, it's not too far a step at all - maybe just a side shuffle - because Things We Lost... could easily be retitled After the Funeral. Bier seems to take interest in the aftermaths of major familial shake-ups, but she does so without the requisite malaise and loathsome posing we've come to expect from from our stateside dramas.

Named after the 2001 album by Mormon rockers Low, Things We Lost In The Fire is a fresh take on the "spousal loss" drama, just like Low's album was a fresh rethinking of their sound. You can forget about the bad taste - momentarily at least - left in your mouth from low-end films of this genre like 21 Grams and A Mighty Heart. Take Bier's film as a response to that screen snot. (The stain on cinema left by directors like Innaritu and Winterbottom almost preconditioned me to expect Things We Lost... to take a despairing turn, but it didn't...)

Bier distills the drama down, yet keeps your interest peaked, by relying on close-ups and MEGA close-ups (she's a fan of eyeballs and eyelids) of her cast. Everyone does well with it... even the children. This technique, relying more on body language than dialogue, speeds up the story and connects the audience more directly to the drama than a wordy script would have (and who needs words when you have actors that can physically express loss?).

The end of Things We Lost... ends too many times, and Halle Berry screws up a would-be crucial scene with some serious diva histrionics, but Duchovny, John Carroll Lynch, and Del Toro all shine. Oh... and there's an excellent Captain Beefheart song mixed in for good measure.

IDIOT(S) OF THE DAY

A teacher in the small town of Tusculo,TX is facing possible criminal charges for having a Cormac McCarthy book on his ninth grade reading list.

Yep! It's true!:

---

A popular English teacher has been placed on paid leave — and faces possible criminal charges — after a student's parents complained to police that a ninth-grade class reading list contained a book about a murderer who has sex with his victims' bodies.

Kaleb Tierce, 25, is being investigated for allegedly distributing harmful material to a minor after the student selected Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Cormac McCarthy's Child of God off the list and read it.

---

The majority of people in Tusculo are on the teacher's side, so this will probably fizzle out into nothing, but think about the type of parents that felt the right thing to do was get the police involved???

---

[In the past,] parents have sought to ban various books, including John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men and J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" series, as well as books on Cuba or gay penguins, according to the American Library Association. Last year, schools or public libraries received nearly 550 requests to remove books, the Chicago-based association said.

---

A book on gay penguins is cool, but Cuban penguins?!? Umm.... Helllllll no!! I would push to get that book removed too!

FRED THOMPSON MAKES A MOVE

A lot of critics gave Fred Thompson a hard time for ass-draggin' his way into the POTUS '08 race. It was hard to disagree. He comes off as kind of a slow, sluggish, takin'-it-easy type of guy, and he doesn't seem too interested in changing his behavior just to please the media and voters.

But maybe Thompson was just strategizing all along...

The presidential debates, on both sides, have become humdrum and redundant. Sound bites make for good TV and Monday morning radio, but almost 8 years of an unpopular administration has made voters hungry for real policy talk.

So when Thompson threw down the gauntlet today by unveiling his illegal immigration plan, it made a pretty big bang! For someone, like myself, that holds the illegal immigration issue up high, I am impressed.

To read the Thompson's plan, click -----> HERE

Now maybe we can hear some real talk on immigration... especially from front runners Clinton and Obama - who both voted to build a fence on the Mexican border last year - that have been fairly silent on the issue, thus far.

REDSTATE.COM GOES "DAILY KOS" ON RON PAUL SUPPORTERS

Popular right-wing blog REDSTATE.com has banned Ron Paul supporters from commenting on its site:

---
Attention, Ron Paul Supporters (Life is *REALLY* Not Fair). Effective immediately, new users may *not* shill for Ron Paul in any way shape, form or fashion. Not in comments, not in diaries, nada. If your account is less than 6 months old, you can talk about something else, you can participate in the other threads and be your zany libertarian self all you want, but you cannot pimp Ron Paul. Those with accounts more than six months old may proceed as normal

(click here if you wanna read the whole post)
---

Now we all know how irritating comments sections can get. I'm sure if I got over 500 comments a day on my blog (someday?? someday????....please???) I'd probably yearn for some quality control too. But such is the world of a blog. Wild stranglers come with the territory in an "open forum". I don't care if they wanna ban certain posters from their blog - it's their blog, after all - but I think it's silly to ban posters that aren't saying anything offensive or off-topic (unless you find Ron Paul offensive...).

It's interesting to watch the egos of blog masters behind sites such as REDSTATE and Daily Kos grow because where they once stood as voices in opposition to the limitations placed on print and broadcast media, they now seem to be setting up similar restrictions in their success.

Such is the cycle of life, I guess...

IS THAT A DOOKIE IN YOUR PANTS?

As if Louisiana doesn't have enough problems already, another town (La.'s eighth) has banned "baggy pants", and can fine lawbreakers up to $500 for a violation.

---
Council member Ray Helen Lawrence said she voted for the ordinance only because she got numerous calls from constituents who consider the look a fashion faux pas. Many said they associate droopy outerwear with crime, she said.
---

Well at least she's being honest about her reasoning (or lack thereof)...

But Louisiana's not the only state doing this, it's become the cause celebre among bored legislators everywhere:

---
"If we have kids going around wearing pants below their butts, it's not nice, not decent," says Timothy Holmes, a city commissioner in Opa-locka, Fla. "If you ask six of these kids, 'What are your grades?' four will tell you they're making C's, D's and F's. I see how senior citizens respond to these kids. They're afraid."

[...]

The low-slung style was inspired by the beltless pants worn by prison inmates. It spread through the hip-hop music community to urban neighborhoods and then to the suburbs. The style is predominantly worn by black youth, according to Bositis. (USA Today)
---

I still wanna ask lawmakers why this particular style is being singled out. If you're gonna argue that the legislation is based on indecency, then you gotta go after all other types of clothes that may be "indecent", right?

I would respect them more if they just said "we wanna ban these pants because we think they may be carrying gloks in them". Quit dancing around this "I don't wanna look at your butt!" line, because we know that's not true in other cases...

"TURNING COKE MACHINE, I THINK I'M TURNING COKE MACHINE...I REALLY THINK SO!"

A woman in Tokyo, inspired by the stealthiness of ninjas, has invented a way for women to instantly "disappear" if they are in fear for their safety while on the street.

Her solution? .........

A skirt that transforms you into a Coca-Cola machine!:

I immediately have a concern though...

OK, let's say you see a street tough coming and you zip yourself up in the Coca-Cola machine skirt and wait for him to pass. BUT... what if the street tough is thirsty!?!?

Well perhaps Ms. Tsukioka considered this problem, b/c she has some other skirt designs in the works:

---
If the fizzy drink machine seems a little elaborate, not to mention impractical, she has also come up with the 'manhole bag' which is supposed to look like a sewer cover when you put it down so unwitting thieves walk right by without noticing it.

For children, she has a backpack that transforms into a fire hydrant.

While British women might prefer to take self-defence classes, Ms Tsukioka said: "It is just easier for Japanese to hide. Making a scene would be too embarrassing."

She admits that making the switch from skirt to vending machine might prove a little tricky "especially when your hands are shaking".

But she told the New York Times: "These ideas might strike foreigners as far-fetched, but in Japan, they can become reality."
---

Yep! I freakin' love the Japanese!!

THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTIN'

Remember that black dude from the first season of The Real World? You know, the "slam poet" with a Cornell West-sized chip on his shoulder? (The scenes of him doing "slam" at open mic nights were painful. I was an idealistic 17 year old when that show was on and I still saw through that doo-doo...).

Well, from there he did some "writing", been a hip-hop "expert" on VH1 shows, and "lectured" at various colleges on...stuff.

Now, Kevin Powell is running for Congress!

I don't even know what the guy's politics are. But looking at the first paragraph of his page gives us a hint:

---
Legendary feminist Gloria Steinem asserts that "as a charismatic speaker, leader, and very good writer, Kevin Powell has the courage...to be fully human, and this will bring the deepest revolution of all"
---

I love the "very good writer" part. Couldn't a legendary endorser think of a more exciting description than "very good"?!?!

[Commercial voice over: "Washington needs some very good writers, and Kevin Powell wants to bring that back! KEVIN POWELL 2008 : He believes in complete sentences."]

I don't begrudge the guy to make a stab at it, but Kev should change his campaign slogan, like .... right NOW! It's KP4C : Kevin Powell Four Congress ... oh, well I guess he means "for".

TOTALLY LAMEme

Stacy just sent this little list/survey thing over. I agree with her when she says it will be a breeze to fill out. In fact, I think I could make one of those daily tear-a-page-away desk calendars on this very thing. Hmmm... I like that. Too bad I don't have readership like Perez Hilton does b/c I would jump on that idea with calendar season being just around the corner...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
List 5 things that certain people (who are not deserving of being your friend anyway) may consider to be “totally lame,” but you are, despite the possible stigma, totally proud of. Own it:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. I think concession stand workers at movie theaters need to work harder, and customers in line at the movie theater concession stand need to know what they want before they step to the register. THIS IS NOT A TIME TO ASK QUESTIONS, THIS IS A TIME FOR TRANSACTION!

2. I love defecating in a private bathroom. Being in your own locked bathroom, with a book or magazine, is a special thing. The world around you can wait. Here, you are in charge! Vulnerable, with your pants around your ankles, you let out waste while feeding your mind with (arguably) knowledge.

3. I love the 2nd Amendment.

4. I think playing sports in high school is more important than going to class. High school sports instills teamwork, companionship, and personal sacrifice. In the classroom you are too preoccupied with post-pubescent thoughts to concentrate...and The Scarlet Letter is a bore.

5. I love talk radio so much. I am obsessed with it. Talk show hosts are superstars to me. Politics, Sports, and Local are my favorite. I think people that can entertain with their voice and quick thoughts for three straight hours are a rare breed.

------>I tag Debbie, Mandy, Tom, Tommy, and Perez Hilton.

INFIDELITY

Commie chic is nothing new. It's been around since... hell, I don't know... since the first college-aged dweeb got a hard-on over Marx and Engels because he thought it would make daddy mad?

We've had:

The Che shirts...(and bikinis. yes there are even bikinis now... Google it.)

The sickle and hammer shirts...

The работники соединяют! shirts...

The Mao shirts...

The RED STAR shirts...

The Marx shirts...

I mean, the list goes on and on and on....

Just go to Urban Outfitters and you'll see a bunch. I think they have a section now: Swimwear, Petites, Juniors, Leftist Revolutionaries... Just ask the unhappy anti-capitalist capitalist behind the counter who is "sooo sick" of his job and just wishes he could work at American Apparel to point you in the right direction.

The latest trend is the Castro Cap. You know, the short rimmed, squared-top, button of a hat that actually ... and this is no joke ... constricts the blood to your brain (this explains the failure of Marxism).


Well, the Castro Caps are everywhere. If you live in a college town they are as common as t-shirts with ____ University's colors/mascot on it, white guys sporting the visor-sandals-shorts combo, and sweatpants with the waist rolled over. Obviously, I hate the Castro Caps the most because, well... I hate Castro.

So, tonight I saw the ultimate. In fact, I think I saw Fidel's 1961 doppelganger. He had the army fatigue green shirt, jeans, dark-bushy beard, and ... the Castro Cap. It was awesome because it was so ridiculous. I wanted to point it out to my wife, but she has had enough of me after I complained about Sean Penn and how he "can just go on eat a ___ and ____ on my ____."

I don't blame her. I can be quite a brat. She just wanted to talk about us, and pizza, and digital cameras. After all, I have this blog to use anytime I feel like wringing out some angst (...SUCKERS!!!).

Plus, I think she may have stood up for the '61 Fidel. I think she likes Commies. Maybe she is one. That could explain my attraction and loyalty to her. Cuz as much as I hate commies, they kinda turn me on.

SOX LOGIC

I'm not a Boston Red Sox fan, I'm a 21-year long Houston Astros fan. I'll bleed brick red and black until I die (or until they change their colors again...), but when the Astros season is over I put my karma behind Boston because I have many Sox fans for friends.

So thank you, baseball gods, for letting the ALCS go at least another game. I think most nonpartisan baseball fans can agree that they'd rather not see a Colorado Rockies vs. Cleveland Indians World Series. No disrespect, but come on...

But the point of this post is to stir the pot a bit over the ninth inning of tonight's game (Game 5 for you readers in the future...). Here it is : I think Francona should have let Josh Beckett pitch a complete game.

I understand the baseball logic behind the decision not to:

1. The bullpen needed to get some work so they won't be 4 days cold going into Game 6.

2. Why push Beckett's arm when you have a 6 run lead?

3. Beckett was over the 110 pitch count, in a ALCS game. Duh!


but hear me out...

Josh Beckett was on fire. He was so dialed in that even after he left the mound, and watched from the bench, he still had the tunnel vision in his eyes. I have no doubt he would've gone 3 up, 3 down in the ninth. In the meantime, Papelbon finished the game, but he looked pretty shaky.

Look. The Indians rode into Game 5 on a high. They had their workhorse going, they had home field, the felt invincible. Beckett popped that balloon... BIG TIME! And if Francona woulda let him go the full nine, I think it woulda been a sword across the throat for the Indians.

I know, I know.... I'm a third party observer here - and I still think the Sox did exactly what they needed to do tonight - but letting Beckett go nine would've just turned those screws a little bit more, assuring that the Sox are still playing next Wednesday night at Fenway.

In the mean time, Becksy, enjoy those Beantown ladies when you arrive back in Boston tomorrow...lucky Chowd!

R.I.P. DEBORAH KERR (1921-2007)

Immediately I have to say that Deborah Kerr means something to me because of Michael Powell. Kerr starred in his films : The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, Contraband, and Black Narcissus. All should be seen, especially Blimp and Narcissus.

Other great movies starring Deborah Kerr (an abbreviated list): An Affair To Remember (1957), Julius Ceasar (1953), The Sundowners (1960), Heaven Knows Mr. Allison (1957), Separate Tables (1958), and personal favorite Tea and Sympathy (1956).

Movies I loved her in, but didn't care for the movie: The Arrangement (1969), The Innocents (1961), Kings Solomon's Mines (1950), Bonjour Tristesse (1958)

THE " i " WORD

As you probably know by now, NY governor Eliot Spitzer wants to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. I don't think it's an entirely bad idea b/c it could possibly force very poor illegal immigrant drivers to go through some behind-the-wheel training.

However, I DO think it's a terrible idea to make the illegal's licenses indistinguishable from legal citizen's licenses... which Spitzer intends to do:

---
Already, as of Sept. 24, under Spitzer's orders, the state's Department of Motor Vehicles has ceased stamping legal visitors' licenses with the word "temporary." By April 2008, even illegal immigrants will be able to walk into the DMV with a foreign passport and emerge with a driver's license indistinguishable from yours or mine.
---

Because driver's licenses are so often used as a form of ID, shouldn't those IDs make it clear that the illegal is not a US citizen?

So...

I've used the term "illegal" four times (er, five now...) in this post. I did it on purpose, because a Democratic legislator in Duchess county said one of the most ridiculous things of the year while debating the proposal this week:

---
"Democratic legislator Fred Bunnell equated that using the word "illegal" to describe undocumented immigrants was the moral equivalent of using the "n" word. (Yahoo)
---

Ahh.... the good ol' race card. Well played Bunnell. And I mean that! sincerely!... cuz when that card is played it means the other side just won the debate.

Unless... by "n" word, the good legislator meant "neat", "nifty", or "New Yorker"... which, if the open borders continue to bleed, "illegal" and "New Yorker" might just be one and the same.

FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA UNLEASHED!!!

Francis Ford Coppola says that the aging stars of Hollywood are lacking the "kind of passion to do a role and be great".

Maybe this is inspired by his upcoming back-to-my-roots film Youth Without Youth.

I'm sure there is some playful jib-jabbing and elbow nudging in all of this - especially since FF is just as guilty of the things he rants against - , but here it is anyway:

---
Coppola on Al Pacino:

"Pacino always wanted to do theatre ... [He] will say, 'Oh, I was raised next to a furnace in New York, and I'm never going to go to LA,' but they all live off the fat of the land."

Coppola on Jack Nicholson:

"I don't think Jack would [go after a challenging role]. Jack has money and influence and girls, and I think he's a little bit like Brando,... except Brando went through some tough times"

Coppola on Robert DeNiro:

"I met both Pacino and De Niro when they were really on the come. They were young and insecure. Now Pacino is very rich, maybe because he never spends any money; he just puts it in his mattress. De Niro was deeply inspired by Zoetrope and created an empire and is wealthy and powerful." (Guardian UK)
---

"AYO TECHNOLOGY" - 50 CENT

Kanye has the better album, but Fitty has the better single.

And as talented a producer as Kanye is, Fitty has Timbaland, ...and Kanye is no Timbaland.

[NOTE: While Graduation is easily the better album - it's Kanye's best - Curtis has been overlooked and underrated. It's as if critics felt they had to destroy one to love the other...]

Where on "Stronger" Kanye gets his electro-squiggles from sampling Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger", Timbaland gives 50 Cent some home-grown organic squiggles fresh off his laptop-soundboard-Galaga arcade machine combo thingy.

The rhymes to "Ayo Technology" are terrible ("She gon' do the right thing and touch the right spot/Dance in you're lap till you're ready to pop"), but 50 Cent's never been much of a Thesaurus thumper. He get's mileage out of his stilted pseudo-thug pop thang. (Short on brains, but immearsurably long on hooks.)

Fault 50 for a lot - he's got them - but he has an uncanny ability to make you nod your head while forgiving & forgetting what trips out of his mouth. Plus, "Ayo..." is only about dancing and breakin' em off some. Oh... it's got a triple chorus via Justin y Timbaland.

In short: "Stronger" is for the awkward, can't-dance-but-like-to-act-like-I-can-when-I'm-with- my-girls set, while "Ayo..." is for people who can bring it like the cast of Honey.

IDIOT OF THE DAY

No, not the little girl... the idiot is her neighbor. In fact, "idiot" may be too kind a word.

The 6 year old girl - like all 6 year olds - was drawing on the sidewalk with some chalk when a few hours later, a notice was sent to her apartment:

“PLEASE REMOVE THE GRAFFITI FROM YOUR PROPERTY. FAILURE TO COMPLY … MAY RESULT IN ENFORCEMENT ACTION AGAINST YOU.”

Yes, a neighbor called in to the police complaining about "graffiti".

---

Since when is a kid’s chalk drawing “graffiti”? Since the City Council passed local law 111 in 2005, which defined “graffiti” as “any letter, word, name, number, symbol, slogan, message, drawing, picture, writing … that is drawn, painted, chiseled, scratched, or etched on a commercial building or residential building.”

In other words, Natalie Shea is not an artistic little girl, but a graffiti scofflaw?

No. The law goes on to say that the scribbles can only be called “graffiti” if they are “not consented to by the owner of the commercial building or residential building.” But how could the 311 caller possibly be expected to know if Natalie had her mom’s consent to use chalk on her own front stoop?

“He could have just asked!” Pepperman said. “This whole thing is ridiculous. Admittedly, this drawing was not her best work — she usually sticks to cheerful scenes, not abstracts, frankly — but to send a warning letter like that is outrageous.”

---

I have a hunch to what kind of woman ... er, I mean person ... that neighbor is, but I will keep it to myself. I don't wanna be fined for any type of "cyber-graffiti".

NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Leonardo DiCaprio and George Clooney are set to make a movie about the 2003-2004 rise and meltdown of former presidential wannabe and current DNC chairman Howard Dean.

It's based on the life of a staffer that worked for Dean during his '04 run. DiCaprio is to star, but let's hope he's playing the staffer, and not the red-faced weirdo:

Borrrrrring....

Although, if they reenact "the scream" I will gladly pay $8.50 (er, $6.25) to see it!

LIFE ON A STRING

Necessity is the mother of invention, but did the creators of Silly String ever dream their product would save the lives of US soldiers? Probably not. Maybe reinvention is the stepson to a new necessity.

Military squads use silly string to lasso tripwires before entering a room. They squirt it in the air, and if it doesn't hit the ground, they know there's a wire. Apparently this isn't a new tactic... just new to me.

I guess it's no surprise we've never seen it reenacted in Hollywood. Imagine Tom Hanks yelling back to Matthew Damon: "WE NEED MORE SILLY STRING!! HURRY... HURRY!" Nah... it doesn't quite go with reflective drama.

Anyway... a soldier's mama in New Jersey has 80,000 cans (!!!) and she is sending them to Iraq for the good guys and girls to use:

---
Shriver, 58, got one shipment of 40,000 cans out in January through the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Willow Grove in Pennsylvania but officials told Shriver they didn't know when they'd have more flights headed to Iraq and didn't have space to store the boxes. McGuire Air Force Base declined to take the shipment.

Despite her frustrations, Shriver said the Silly String campaign was worth it.

"If this saves one life, I'm happy," Shriver said.
---

Moms are awesome.

THE STAR OF DAVID

David Lynch is in Israel right now promoting meditation as a way to achieve inner and outer peace. I love David Lynch because he is unbrandable. I never thought I'd wake up this morning and see a picture of him holding hands with Shimon Peres. Walking to his own soundtrack, that man ... and I love him for it.

Anyways... he says this about meditation:

---

"The experienced gardener doesn't worry about the leaves. Get at (the problem) from its roots," he said. "A peace on the surface — it doesn't address the seeds of war ... it's a `peace' of paper."

---

Then that little tiny fella from Twin Peaks woddled out and slurred.... "zipzipzipzzzzip... sometimes my arms bend back... zzzzipzipzipzippzipzipzipzippzp"

THE DARJEELING LIMITED

Since Rushmore, every time a Wes Anderson film comes out, a critical chorus of "it looks great, but..." chimes in, as if "looking great" is a minor thing in the makeup of a film. It's the most important thing! This is cinema, after all.

Of course, that doesn't mean great looking films can't be terrible (see Children of Men), or that average looking films can't be great (see Once), but in Anderson's world, the image represents both picture and story. This process is evoked most directly, in The Darjeeling Limited, when Angelica Huston says "let's try and communicate to each other without speaking". Facial close-ups and a fantastical tracking shot through train compartments tells the audience a thousand words.

Francis (Wilson), Peter (Brody), and Jack (Schwartzman) are brothers still recovering from a father that died a year ago and a mother that left years ago. Like Henry Jaglom's post-VietNam dramedy Tracks, the train these three manchildren board is taking them to a destination, but it's real purpose is to serve as a locomotive therapy ride, moving each man forward with the problems between them and in their own personal lives: Peter's wife is 7 1/2 months pregnant, Jack's girlfriend manipulates his heart, and Francis is recovering from a near-death motor accident.

Something new to me in Darjeeling that I'd never seen in previous Wes Anderson films was a kind of Godardian non-sequitir wit (the way Jack lights his cigarette while motioning to a girl, Peter's observation of a cricket game being played with a tennis ball). These moments serve as playful punctuation along the way, filling gaps and assuring that not a second is wasted. Of course, the lazy will just dismiss this as "those quirky Wes Anderson eccentricities". Do you imagine a Godard (or more recently, a Tarantino) was ever treated with such acerbic disrespect?

But modern day film culture rewards the perfunctory viewer. And it's not the fault of a new unseasoned generation of film goers. I blame the critics. Their reluctance to get behind important re-releases like The Conformist, or to reference the old guard in reviews, echos the same short term memory of news media. The passing of Ingmar Bergman and Michaelangelo Antonioni generated less than a week full of yawns from people that should have been setting up memorials and flag posts. It's no surprise anymore - they'd rather ramble on about "Mumblecore" - but it's getting worse.

But Anderson just gets better. After seeing The Life Aquatic, I was giddy over seeing his first masterpiece, and The Darjeeling Limited might just be his second... I think it's his best. But it's too soon. Like other great narrative visualists - Bertolucci, Tarkovsky, Malick, Lynch - Wes Anderson makes films so rich they not only reward multiple viewings, they demand it.

THE BRAVE ONE

You can't help but grapple with yourself over the death penalty while watching Neil Jordan's The Brave One. The film sees things in black and white, right and wrong ... but then it doesn't. That kinda sums up my personal take on the issue. I used to be against it, now I'm for it ... but sort of reluctantly... kind of ... I think?

Meaning, I've heard some convincing arguments against the death penalty, but in most debates, where I try to separate emotion from rationality or logic, in this one, I just can't. I can't let go of one thought: If a loved one was murdered, and I knew the accused was guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt, I would want them dead. Now, that narrows the debate down to a very specific situation, but it's a situation that leads to a conclusion that I don't feel comfortable denying other people.

Jodie Foster plays Erica, a NPR-style radio host of an NPR-style talk show called Streetwalker. She walks the streets of New York City, recording found sounds and lamenting about romantic times now paved over. When violence & loss hit home, Erica's moral center goes askew. What isn't clear is if Erica's rampage is a reaction to police inaction, or, if the assault triggered an instinct in her that she just can't ignore.

In The Brave One, the "executioner" is always either the victim or a firsthand witness to a crime. Detective Mercer (Howard) is against vigilantism throughout the film, but after seeing a video-phone recording of Erica's assault - a brutal crime he sees being done against a "loved one", thus pushing his moral center askew - he tells the thug, "I saw what you did to her..." and then lets death be done. Is this immoral? Corrupt? Criminal? Perhaps. But it's a point-of-view. And one, that to some people, is just.

And Neil Jordan does a fairly fine job of standing aside from that point-of-view. Or so I thought... until the last scene. While not righteous or prideful, the camera follows Erica through the tunnel where the crime previously took place. She's eternally effected, yes, but newly unafraid and content with the actions she's forever gotten away with.

CALLING ALL "IN RAINBOWS" EARS

I won't be hearing the new Radiohead album, In Rainbows, until it gets it's tangible release early next year. That's just the way I am with my music. (personally, I wish they would release the cd at the same time as the download, but that's just my own selfish quibble...).

Today I read this about In Rainbows' unique releak:

---
If this is some kind of revolution it is probably news to Courtyard Management’s Chris Hufford and Bryce Edge, who have been steering the career of the band from their Oxford base since 1991. In a manner that flies in the face of some of the hysterical coverage the plan has sparked, Hufford simply and calmly describes the name-your-price download as a promotional tool and a matter of “art driving commerce” in what stands as the opening part of a strategy that will reach its second phase early next year when a conventional CD album will appear through a more traditional record company-to-retail model.

[...]

“If we didn’t believe that when people hear the music they will want to buy the CD, then we wouldn’t do what we are doing. This is a solution for Radiohead, not for the industry,” says Edge. (Music Week)
---

On the surface, that sounds fine. In fact, it's cool. If Radiohead wanna promote the album by leaking it themselves first, then go for it dudes.

BUT, then what is up with the "pay what you want" angle? If, as Bryce Edge says, the strategy is to have fans buy the cd after having downloaded it, then why would they ask for any payment? That kinda goes against the philanthropic angle the music media was lavishing on the band last week.

Which leads me to your comments. If you've heard the album:

1. Let me know how the quality sounds to you. (I've read accounts that the sound quality is below average. On the other hand, I've read just as many accounts that saying the opposite).

2. Is the download simple enough for the average computer user to do? (i.e. If you're not a computer head, can you still easily download the album).

3. Did the download come with .jpeg album art and lyrics?

4. Do you personally think this entire brouhaha is solely a promotional/marketing gimmick? (NOTE: If it is, I don't think it's a bad thing. In fact, marketing wise, I think it's pretty smart ... as long as the fans were being asked to pay "what you want" for the same quality of sound as the upcoming cd release.)

BREAK!

THE FAT TOAD'S THIN SKIN

That lard around Hugo Chavez's chin and cheeks must be baby fat because the red faced cursader is acting liking a tyrannical tot!

Latin pop star Alejandro Sanz was scheduled to perform at a state-owned stadium (what isn't state-owned anymore, in Caracas?) before he criticized Chavez and was given the official socialist revolution boot!

---
"If an artist comes to Venezuela to rail against Chavez, against (Chavez's political) movement, how do you think the people of this country would respond if he were to be allowed to use the stadium", Higher Education Minister Luis Acuna said in a radio interview.

[...]

This year, after high-profile visitors gave speeches criticizing his government, he said foreigners who show a lack of respect for Venezuelans should be deported.

Acuna over the weekend said that from now on, the government will ensure concerts held at the state stadium do not promote "anti-educational values." (REUTERS)
---

"Anti-educational values". I love it!! More like re-education values, OR, de-eductaion values.

Meanwhile...

The first of Hugo's state-controlled propaganda films, Miranda Regressa, opens today in Venezueala. (It stars Danny Glover... of course it does...). I haven't seen it yet - can't wait to Netflix that bad boy!!! - , but I'm sure it's chocked full of "educational values".

____________ ENTHUSIASTS

Experts... Correspondents... Representatives... Enthusiasts...

Everybody is one. Everything's got one.

Sadomasochism is no exception:

---
Exley's family is suing LeBlanc's estate for unspecified damages, claiming wrongful death. Many bondage enthusiasts are watching the case closely, seeing it as lesson in where to draw the line of responsibility on consensual but dangerous sex.

"There's definitely the whole spectrum of thought on what really happened—whether it was a consent issue, or negligence or misunderstanding," said Vivienne Kramer, a board member of the New England Leather Alliance. "Everybody has their own ideas on what should have happened." (AP)
---

The NELA (or New England Leather Alliance) is one of my favorite "Alliances".

[How do you start an "Alliance"? Do you have to register with the state? Is there a fee? I kinda wanna start one.... but I have to pick a cause first.]

As for the case????

A man is being sued for "wrongful death" when an S&M session went wrong. I gotta say I side with NELA and the leather people. (HEY! That is totally a name for a book, album, or movie : NELA & The Leather People.) The dead guy consented to some pretty freaky and dangerous stuff. This was his request:

---
Adrian Exley was wrapped tightly in heavy plastic, then bound with duct tape. A leather hood was put over his head with a thin plastic straw inserted so that he could breathe, and he was shut up in a closet.
---

So, I mean, it's too bad he died, but he was playing with fire.... or duct tape & straws ... so you gotta know the risks.

Thing is, I don't think NELA et. al. have ever put together some kind of consent/liability form for situations like this. That should be agenda item #1 at their next quarterly meeting.

THAT OTHER KATE...

If Kate Middleton is my madonna, then Kate Moss is my whore. (And I mean "whore" in that most respectable way).

There are some new photos of Kate, done up as a blondie. They are probably the most important thing you will look at this year, so be sure and click on them for a bigger look. (I do wish she would put on some weight, though...)

Aye yi yi! she looks like a modern day, sci-fi slanted, version of Anna Karina:

Y(OUR) NEW HOMEPAGE?

Hillary wants to expand internet access across the 50 states.

Does this mean it would be an federally funded effort?

We already know that the government, Google, Yahoo, Amazon, etc. track us online, but if Washinton was to fund a nationwide internet rollout wouldn't that just put them in a better position to further regulate the internet???

Yuck. Would there be an e-mail tax?... a porn tax?... PSA cookies popping up everywhere!?!?

I don't know. Maybe I'm off in my thinking. Hillary hasn't yet to explain how she would do this.

Hmm, maybe she can bundle it in with that "$5000 for every baby born" proposal.

JEFF ROBINOV'S DAMAGE CONTROL?

If Jeff Robinov wants to explain his comment that Warner Bros. will "no longer make films with female leads" that's cool, but he needs to do a better job than this:

---
Contrary to recent reports in the blogosphere, Warner Bros. is still committed to women.

Despite the failure of three femme-centered actioners produced by Joel Silver -- Jodie Foster starrer The Brave One, The Reaping, with Hilary Swank and the remake The Invasion, starring Nicole Kidman -- Warner production prexy Jeff Robinov insists he is moving forward with several movies with women in the lead. Indeed, he is offended by rumors of his cinematic misogyny.

Robinov is currently in final negotiations for a Cameron Diaz picture. And he made aggressive bids to land both Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones and the Sex in the City movie, but lost the deals to DreamWorks and New Line, respectively.
---

(hmmm.... no more Hillary Swank movies???!!!! oops... ok, ok... back to the issue...)

The above was from an article in today's Variety. You can read it here. It reads like a press release from a celebrity in hiding. There is no mention in the article about what Robinov meant, and to his credit, there is no flat out denial that he said it. I think at this point they are just spinning.

but... Nikki Finke is good at getting the juiciest juice, and over at her blog she just posted this:

---
The Real Facts Behind Jeff Robinov's "Denial"
coming...
---

to be continued...

OH! and speaking of Warner films with male leads, they've just decided to do a new Terminator trilogy staring Vin Diesel (definitely a male...):

---
Fresh off the back of last week's news that Vin Diesel may be taking over from Arnold Schwarzenegger in a fourth Terminator film comes the announcement that producers are planning not one but three new films in the sci-fi franchise.

Warner Bros, which now owns the rights to the Terminator films, wants to see an entire trilogy of movies set in the future, during the war between the robots and the humans. Executive producer Moritz Borman said: "The third film was really the conclusion of what happened in the 'now.' You will find the most-loved characters, but the intention here is to present a fresh new world and have this be the first of a trilogy."

And if you're one of those who wishes studio bosses had listened to original franchise director James Cameron, whose famous response when asked what he thought of Terminator 3 was to simply say: "I told the story", then we're afraid matters get worse. The director being talked up to take on the next film is Charlie's Angels' McG (GUARDIAN)
---

THE FAT TOAD'S "BRAVE NEW MAN"

I told ya.... I told ya....

Give a big-bellied dictator some oil fields (CHOMP!), term limits (CHOMP!), TV Stations (CHOMP!) and he/she just ain't gonna stop.

Well, Fat toad Hugo Chavez is on a war path of crazy, and he just got crazier....

---
President Hugo Chavez is on a moral crusade in Venezuela, preaching against vices from alcohol to cholesterol, vowing to curb whisky imports and ordering beer trucks off the street.

His government announced increased taxes on alcohol and tobacco on Monday, and Chavez also plans steep new taxes on luxury items such as fancy cars and artwork. (AP)
---

Artwork tax... sweet! Fancy car tax... excellent!

Well, you know, if your dream is to create a fully functioning Marxist playground it just wouldn't be kosher (oops... sorry Hugs, I know how you hate the Jews...) it wouldn't be proper to have a Matisse hanging on the wall, or to roll up in your driveway in a Beemer.

---
The president has a long list of other "New Man" recommendations: don't douse foods with too much hot sauce, exercise regularly, eat low-cholesterol foods, respect speed limits. He also wants parents to stop buying Barbie dolls - and breast jobs - for their daughters.

"Now some say, 'When my daughter turns fifteen years old, we're going to give her phony breasts.' What a horrible thing! It's the latest degeneration," Chavez told one packed auditorium."Am I exaggerating?" he asked. "No!" the crowd responded.
---

Hmmm... for a man that looks as round as Hugo does, he sure doesn't seem to be following his own "eat healthy/exercise regularly" advice.

But that's just like a dictator. "Do as I tell you to do,... but stay out of my business!" Nothing was funnier to me when it was revealed that Castro was worth $900 million dollars.

The Fat Toad, and his almost dead mentor, put the "moron" in oxymoronic.

WARNING WARNER BROS.

Wow...

I don't know if this story has no legs, hasn't caught traction yet, or if nobody cares (I doubt it's this last option)... but I am surprised I'm just hearing about it for the first time today!

I was just scrolling through Nikki Finke's site and came upon the story that a president at Warner Bros. said: "We are no longer doing movies with women in the lead". Say what?!?!

Umm... if a storm hasn't already flared up, Warner Bros. best be preparing for one. Not only do I think that is a poor business stance to take, but I can't believe the man actually said it out loud!!!!

Maybe Mr. Robinov should look at the quality of films his studio has cranked out in the past few years (namely, Malibu's Most Wanted, Osmosis Jones, The Time Machine, Troy, and The Island among them...) and rethink what's actually wrong with his company.

---
Of course, Warner Bros has always been male-centric in its movies. But now the official policy as expressly articulated by Robinov is that a male has to be the lead of every pic made. I'm told he doesn't even want to see a script with a woman in the primary position (which now is apparently missionary at WB). Oh yeah, the fact that so many Warner Bros movies have been sucking at the box office for the last two years is all the fault of females. (Then again, Robinov's poorly performing Superman Returns was criticized for its girlie-man portrayal of the superhero.) As regular readers of my own box office reports know, chick flicks haven't been doing well at the box office lately. But Robinov's statements aren't about women's movies as a genre, they're anti Hollywood actresses. Besides, neither The Brave One nor The Invasion were classic chick flicks, either. "It's a phenomenal thing to say. What are we in the 1700s where women are back to being barefoot and pregnant?" a producer railed. "What's next -- fire all the Warner Bros women executives?" (Finke)
---

Stay tuned.... Tractor Facts will be following this....

BBC LOVES CHE

Thankfully, 40 years ago today, an executioner put an end to the life of Che Guevara.

But of course - in a twisted twist - that day has become a day of worship... and not just in Cuba, Venezuela, or Argentina, but England as well!

The BBC asked readers to send in their favorite images/paintings of Che. They were collected and put into a photo gallery today on their site.

But that's not the worst of it.

Check this, from a BBC article (bold/italics are mine):

---
His critics describe Che as a brutal man who ordered the execution of dozens(!!!) of his opponents and helped move Cuba further towards communism in the early years of the revolution. (BBC)
---

"DOZENS"?!?! Did that sentence just say DOZENS?!?! If by "dozens" you mean thirty dozen (or perhaps 300 dozen?), then OK, but that is just some blatant word manipulation in an attempt to downplay the brutality of Che. Oh... and nice "ordered" BBC. Pfft... as if Che didn't roll up with a pistol and place it against the base of a human skull himself.

The cult of Che fasinates me, especially the branches in America & Europe, because it's such a perfect example of modern propaganda at work. Give Castro and his thugs credit for one thing... they've done a great job selling a fable about a man that really wasn't much at all (unless helping dispose of one dictatorship in order to help prop up another is "something"...). Ask random Che t-shirt wearers why they admire the man - or even know who he is!?! - and 75% of the time you'll get a blank stare.

A perfect example of this phoniness was in Che's own contradiction of a famous quote of his, “Better to die standing, than to live on your knees.” Well, according to his captor, Gen. Gary Prado, Che "wasn't someone to inspire terror or anything, but simply to be pitied." He was "sad, sick, hungry, dressed in rags and alone in the jungle - simply dropped his gun and surrendered, saying, "Don't shoot, I'm Che."

That is the image I like to keep in my head. But the BBC didn't post it...

TO GAZA, FROM ARKANSAS

OK, so it's only 25 minutes into the early AM of Saturday, October the 6th, but I really hope this story gets picked up by some American/international papers:

In Gaza, under the new despotic rule of Hamas:

---
Asked a routine question about the 2006 Palestinian elections yesterday, Khaled abu Ahmed slipped off his sandal and used it to beat his head several times to demonstrate his remorse for voting Hamas. "We wanted change and reform," he said. "We thought they would bring prosperity. We thought they were people who knew God. But, believe me, they don't know God." (The Independent)
---

I'm not a spiritual man myself, but may I just say... HALLELUIAH! Not for the poor man's distress, mind you, but that a Palestinian citizen is verbalizing his disgust with Hamas.

He continued....

---
"People have no money to buy anything," he said, pointing to the street's many shuttered shops. "We have been occupied by the Turks, the British, and the Egyptians," he added, his voice rising rapidly. "We were occupied by Fatah and now we are occupied by Hamas. And the best of these occupations was by the Jews."
---

eeerrrrk!!!! what was that last part????

---
"And the best of these occupations was by the Jews."
---

Did you hear that Jimmy Carter? Are you listening Jose Saramago? Got your translator headphones plugged in U.N. members? As we speak, Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn just simultaneously sat up in bed together and knocked heads.

But I worry for a Gazan shop keeper being so open with that opinion, because, well...

---
Hearing him, a passing bearded cyclist, Hamas supporter Omar Hamad, 37, stopped in his tracks and shouted: "You are talking only for yourself, not for the Palestinian people."

Mr Hamad levelled the blame for Gaza's ever deepening economic crisis on the emergency Ramallah government of President Mahmoud Abbas for sanctioning its isolation. "We Palestinians did these closures ourselves," he said.
---

Things have gotten really, really bizarre when you have Palestinians placing blame on members of the former party of Yasser Arafat!!

Not that things are hunky dory in the West Bank, but it's night and day compared to Gaza. And don't forget, Hamas brought ALL OF THIS on themselves. And more than ever, they show they care not one iota for the Palestinians.

but...

there's still hope, always hope...

and that hope may be in Arkansas:

---
Just before the school year started in August 1971, Bill Feldman steered his Volvo amid the pickup trucks and horse trailers of small-town Arkansas, bound for his first job as a math professor. He was coming to the Bible Belt as a Jew reared in a Boston suburb, a scholar educated in Canada and Europe. To ease the culture shock, an uncle had given him three jars of kosher pickles for the trip.

The same month, 19-year-old Fadil Bayyari boarded the first plane of his life, carrying falafel from his mother for the journey from Tulkarem in the West Bank to Roosevelt University in Chicago. He handed a taxi driver at O’Hare the college’s address and was relieved of a month’s spending money when the cabby took the naïve newcomer downtown more or less by way of Indiana.

All these decades later, destiny or providence or something has delivered Mr. Feldman and Mr. Bayyari to the same acre of land at the bottom of one of Fayetteville’s many hills. There Mr. Bayyari, now a general contractor, will build the first permanent temple for the Reform Jewish congregation in Fayetteville, of which Mr. Feldman is president. And Mr. Bayyari, a Palestinian-American Muslim, is doing the job at no charge. Without his sacrifice, the congregation probably could not afford the project at all.

[...]

“The humanity of it is thrilling,” Mr. Feldman, 62, said of Mr. Bayyari’s gesture. “We’re thinking not only of our temple but of continuing the relationships with Muslims. We hope to accomplish an understanding. We hope to ultimately bring peace.” (NY Times)
---

...Is that the photo of the week, or what?!

MAMMA MIA!

Italy's economic minister has floated the idea of giving Italian men between the ages of 20-30, a 1000 Euro tax break if they move out of their parent's house.

MIA BAMBINO!!!

---

More than a third of Italian men over the age of 30 live at home with their parents, a phenomenon blamed on sky-high apartment rents and bleak job prospects as much as a liking for mamma's cooking.

Economy Minister Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa offered to come to the rescue with a 1,000 euro ($1,411) tax break for 20- and 30-something Italians who rent.

He said the move was aimed at "bamboccioni," which evokes images of clumsy, overgrown male babies.

"We must send those we call 'big babies' out of the house," the minister told a Senate hearing on the 2008 draft budget. (Reuters)

---

There's one variable that the good minister is forgetting about, though... and that's mama's red sauce!! Does he really think men will sell their stomachs out for a 1000 Euros?!?!

In this modern world, nobody cooks for you like your mama! And mama knows she has that trump card in her back pocket if another woman starts hanging around her baby.

Plus... I mean... I don't mean to get all Spanking The Monkey up in here, but if your mama also looks like Monica Vitti...

...well, then that's a whole other reason to stay.

Kinda gives a whole new meaning to the MILF acronym, huh?

ok...I better stop now.

DAY NIGHT DAY NIGHT

If Day Night Day Night isn't the worst movie of 2007, it's definitely the silliest. Newcomer Luisa Williams plays "She", an Islamic suicide bomber with her explosive sights set on Times Square. Director Julia Loktev fashions "She" to be some kind of Renee Falconetti with a nail bomb strapped to her back. Like that Passion of Joan of Arc actress, Williams has a striking face. Big green eyes, and youthful lips. Loktev uses that to her manipulative advantage. She wants your sympathy for her devil.

Day Night Day Night goes to pains to humanize a woman whose intentions are to murder innocent New Yorkers. "She" likes eating pizza & candy apples, she catches a woman that loses her balance, says "thank you" alot, she's polite, she likes pretty blue sweaters, says "I'm sorry", carries a cute little make-up bag, has excellent hygiene...

The most politically correct scene in the film is when "She" is escorted down to the bomb makers dungeon to pick up her bound-for-paradise backpack. But you'd think we'd just walked onto the set of What Not To Wear (Pakistani edition)!!! A polite and shapely hostess in headdress welcomes "She", while a deaf (yes... he's deaf...more sympathy please?) and effeminate bomb-maker sizes her for the backpack. They ask her: "is it too heavy?", "does it feel OK?", "is it comfortable?", "do you want me to take some of the nails out?". It's like she's being prepped to walk the runway.

Day Night Day Night's soft-headed (mis)understanding of militant Islam is so inane that it borders on the satirical. It's groundbreaking in one sense, I guess; the first of its kind, perhaps. Day Night Day Night is martyr video as full-length feature film.

GRADING POLITICAL SPEECH

Wesley Clark on MSNBC last night (for the full transcript, and some context, click HERE.) :

---
CARLSON: OK. But hold on, General. I want to know if you‘re going to apply that same standard to the rest of public broadcasting in this country. And there‘s a lot of it. A lot of entities get money from the federal government to put opinions on the air. You think Congress ought to decide what opinions are acceptable and which aren‘t and yank the unacceptable ones off the air? That‘s what you‘re saying.

CLARK: Well, no. There are standards for propriety in public broadcasting, are there not? I mean, there‘s X-rated, there‘s R-rated in public broadcasting. We call it profanity.

CARLSON: This is a political belief.

CLARK: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. We should be talking about the facts, we should be having a good discourse in America. I don‘t see why there can‘t be standards for political discourse. I‘d like to see A-rated, B-rated, and C-rated for political discourse.
---

OK.... got some questions for the weirdo General:

1. What would these 3 separate ratings - A,B, & C - stand for?

2. Who would decide what type of speech falls into each category?

3. Can you only view/listen to C rated discourse after 9:00 PM?

4. Would each show being broadcast on public radio/television - ex: Fresh Air on NPR, OR, Rush Limbaugh on the Armed Forces Network - have to go through a screening process before each broadcast?

OFFICIAL POSTER FOR DE PALMA'S "REDACTED"

"Truth Is The First Casualty of War" is the tag line.

I think it's safe to say that most DePalma fans, upon hearing about Redacted, immediately thought of his Casualties of War. It'll be interesting to compare and contrast the two once the former comes out.

DON'T TALK TO ME FOR 3 WEEKS

Ahhh! It's officially 12:06AM, Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007...

That means it's officially the first day of Major League Baseball's post-season!

Now, while my Astros didn't make it, I still love watching the playoffs and World Series. It's nerve wracking... but in that good way... I guess??

So, before the fun starts, let me unleash my predictions:


*********************
NLDS

Colorado Rockies vs. Philadelphia Phillies

prediction: Phillies in 4.

Chicago Cubs vs. Arizona Diamondbacks

prediction: Diamondbacks in 5.


ALDS
Boston Red Sox vs. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

prediction: Sox in 5

NY Yankees vs. Cleveland Indians

prediction: Yankees sweep.


*********************
NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP

Philadelphia Phillies vs. Arizona Diamondbacks

prediction: Diamondbacks in 6


AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP

Boston Red Sox vs. NY Yankees

prediction: Sox in 7

**********************
WORLD SERIES

Boston Red Sox vs. Arizona Diamondbacks

prediction: Sox in 6.

THE DEMOCRATS TERRI SCHIAVO MOMENT?

With Congress' approval rating lingering somewhere around the 8% mark you would think they would get the message that the public wants more legislatin' and less gesticulatin'.

But senate Democrats (41 of them) have decided to drag out a comment Rush Limbaugh made about "phony soldiers" past the point of silliness. Senate leader Harry Reid, and 40 others, sent a letter to Clear Channel asking for public condemnation of Limbaugh's comments. Not all of them agreed with this move (Russ Feingold: “I did not sign the letter regarding Rush Limbaugh for the same reason I voted against the Cornyn and Boxer amendments regarding negative political advertisements. The Senate should not get in the habit of condemning political speech, even speech that is offensive.")

Like the Imus fiasco, many are taking sides without actually listening or reading what Limbaugh said. (Go to YouTube etc. if you're curious...). Me, personally? I took the comment to be in reference to how the media sometimes cherry picks a dissenting soldier to give his opinion on the war. (Same way the Bush admin. will cherry pick soldiers, and feed them questions, for a cutesy, via satelite, meet-and-greet with the President). In my opinion, "phony soldier", was a passing description on that very type of cherry pickery. Poor choice of words? Probably. Worth hoopla? Gimme a break.

It's like how the senate Republicans had to officially condemn the MoveOn.org ad about General Petreaus. Come on! I mean, it's MoveOn.org ... what do you expect from them? They don't need any help making themselves look bad. I think the general public found the ad to be pretty disgraceful without Republicans having to chime in. We don't need politicians to give our opinions a stamp of approval.

Watching all of this, you feel like you're watching a egotistical guitar player and pompous singer bickering, fighting, and whining on stage while the audience just wants them to shut up and play! And as an audience member you just get angrier and angrier because you had to pay for this.

IDIOT OF THE DAY

A total (ADJECTIVE)** (NOUN)** is suing Apple because they made her angry (awwwwwwww....) when they cut prices on iPhones from $599 to $399. Oh, yeah... and she's suing for $1,000,000!!!

---
A New York woman is so angry at Apple Inc. for lopping $200 off the price of the iPhone that she's filed a lawsuit seeking $1 million in damages.

Dongmei Li of Queens, N.Y., claimed the company violated price discrimination laws when it slashed the price of the 8-gigabyte iPhone by a third, from $599 to $399, within two months of the gadget's June debut.

Apple lowered the iPhone's price on Sept. 5 and also said it would stop selling the $499 4-gigabyte model. Hundreds of early customers who paid full price didn't expect a reduction so soon and complained.

Apple issued an apology the next day. Under its return policy, Apple refunded the $200 difference for those who bought the phone within 14 days of the reduction. And in a move to make peace with those who purchased the higher-priced phone before that period, the company offered a $100 credit at Apple stores.

According to Li's lawsuit, filed on Sept. 24 in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, the price reduction injured early purchasers like herself because they cannot resell the product for the same profit as those who bought the cell phone following the price cut. (Statesman)
---

**Insert your word of choice into each appropriate place. I couldn't help but use expletives over and over again, so I just left it blank. Have fun!

BLACK BOOK

If Catherine Trammel used sex as a weapon in Paul Verhouven's overrated, but provocative, Basic Instinct, then Rachel Stein uses sex as a defence mechanism in Black Book. After her Jewish heritage is discovered by her gestapo lover, Rachel puts his hands to her breasts and asks "Are these Jewish?". It's intended as a sexual distraction to the nazi, but Verhouven shoots the scene as if it's also a clearing of the third reich mind. Press your hands to the flesh of breasts and you soon realize how silly that whole "world domination" thing is after all.

Verhouven argues for the social advantage of physical beauty, but he does it politely with respect to Rachel (and women). She's a knockout, but no numbskull. She takes advantage of the weak knees in men. Upon being interrogated in bed by her gestapo lover, Rachel frowns and says she will only confess if "you kiss me first". She diffuses the situation, undercuts the significance of the information by giving the officer a little bit of the love potion #9. Twice, Rachel is referred to as a Jean Harlow and Greta Garbo lookalike. Who in their right mind would execute a Hollywood movie star? And when there's an attempt to put Rachel to death, it is done with an insulin overdose instead of a quick bullet to the head. Even in execution, she garners gentility.

Black Book makes you rethink the silly saying, "If women were in charge, there'd be no war!". Maybe there's something to that after all. Then again, Hillary, Angela Merkel, Mary McAleese, and Pratibha Patil aren't very kind to the eyes.

NATIONAL TREASURE 2 POSTER

Is it me, or is the new poster for NT:2 totally freaky looking?!?!? (CLICK TO ENLARGE) :


It's like Harry Potter meets Tomb Raider meets Patriot Games, with a little That Darn Cat thrown in.

And btw ... when did Nicolas Cage fully transform into an animated actor? Dude looks like that creepy kid from The Polar Express:

WELL DONE, SNL!