Saturday
Martini Shot on Oscar Hopefuls
(Holding Curtis Hanson's Oscar for LA Confidential)
I was talking to a friend about this year's Oscar Globular hopefuls. I hate being critical. I loathe critiques of my own work. Well loathe is too extreme. I usually don't read them. Unless I like them. Then I read them over and over .. and over. "Hey, listen to this," I'll usually say. And make others listen. I guess that's a testament to how few good reviews I get. Anyways, my friend said "You should write a blog about your take on the Oscar contenders." Why? Just another annoying voice in the netverse? I'm a filmmaker myself - I've written and/or directed 8 flicks - I want to work again. Why bite the hand that feeds me? Oh, it hasn't fed me lately? There's a strike on? Oh, okay, I'll take out time from helping my 4 year old play on Sesame street (.com) to jot down some thoughts.
That being said. Can we talk?
"Into the Wild." Wasn't wild about it. Didn't care for the lead character. The actor was good, I love Sean Penn's pov mostly, but I just didn't like this guy's character. Or his story. He was kind of annoying. Kind of a jerk to his family - and he goes off the deep end for no reason I could really gather - his parents yelled at each other. Oooh. Hide the kids. It's not like Perry's father beating the crap out of him in "In Cold Blood" or his mom having sex with men while he was on the next bed. I mean.. c'mon. Then the kid trecks cross the country and winds up in a trailer in Alaska - just yards from where a bridge that crossed the raging river he was stuck behind.. where he would have found civilization. I'm sure he was a great brother and a wonderful son. I'd hate for my son to run off to Alaska without saying goodbye. But it reminded me of a George Carlin riff he did about people swimming in the East River, drinking pollution when he grew up. "Some people aren't supposed to survive childhood." Maybe this story will convince someone else to give their parents a break. Or phone home more often. Or carry a cell phone. Or a map? He came to an apotheosis, a realization about the meaning of life when he died - but I'd come to the same realization two hours earlier; don't go to Alaska without a hat.
"No Country For Old Men." This should have been called "There will be blood in this country where old men are" I loved this movie. Up until the last reel. Maybe two reels. Suddenly the film goes.. What? Did someone load up the wrong reel? Then I read that the Fabulous Cohens chose the book to adapt because the third act was so wacky. I'm paraphrasing but it was "we loved that this key moment happened off screen." C'mon. Our lead character has his epiphany.. off screen? Where's Billy Wilder when we need him? Okay, that's novel, but that's as in - "that belongs in a novel." We're in a movie theater. Don't make us think about the structure of this story while you're screwing up a story. Then.. the inexplicable - at least to this seasoned viewer - ending. I won't go into details. Why should I? Tommy Lee Jones telling us about a dream he had. "Then my Pa rode by me on his horse, didn't say nothing. Nope. Just went on down the road.." (sorry I'm paraphrasing again) Felt like I was watching an episode of Rifleman. The effervescent Tess Harper, looking radiant, wasted, we know she's been his wife for the past two hours and they decide to introduce her to us now? She sits across and listens to him opine about his dream. Speaking of wasted - Woody, phone home. What was billed as - or at least story wise - a great matchup between two bad guys.. was .. um.. anticlimactic? Hmm. "Should I answer the ringing telephone or shoot this hombre's head off? Let me flip a coin." It really annoyed me, but then after reading other blogs, I know I'm not the only one. So if it wins, audiences around the globe can be annoyed as well.
"There Will Be Blood." Ok. I got two problems with this movie. One is John Huston's ghost. The other is the ghost of Ghoulardi. That's an inside joke, and if you don't know who Ghoulardi is, look 'er up. But why the brilliant DDLewis decided to do a (spot on mind you) imitation of the great John Huston, is beyond me. It's like DeNiro doing young Brando in Godfather II - brilliant - the voice, the stature, everything - DDL is doing a young John Huston who grows up to be Hollis Mulray in Chinatown. It's eerie to hear Huston in a film - but there you have it. PT Anderson has gone on record that he watched "Treasure of Sierra Madre" a bunch to imitate it - and the bug eyes scene where DDL loses his temper with his brother - some of these scenes were great homages to John Huston's film. (Yes, I know it was Walter who starred in the film - brilliantly so, the leading man taking off his hairpiece and his fake teeth for an Oscar worthy part) but what irks me about this film is the story. Did I feel satisfied with it? Why? Well, for starters there's no third act. Again. We're in the Greystone mansion where Doheny was murdered by his son. Why isn't DDLewis murdered by his son? The scene is set for it - but it doesn't happen. Something else happens. And I for one, was laughing throughout. Over the top? Over the bowling lanes for my money. But what do I know? The other beef I have is the music - it was great - but as I sat there looking at these long shots of barren Texas countryside, I was thinking "this music is making me tense, but there's absolutely nothing happening in this frame. Or in the story? So why the mock tension?" Also - one final dart - lots of behavior (kissing of his son - its understandable, I kiss mine - but this character?) It felt like it was something out of the 1990's and not the 1890's. Just.. didn't.. buy.. it. Great filmmaker. Great actors. Not so great story.
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" I was looking forward to this - Harwood's script, Kaminski's the DP - both oscar worthy folks. And then Julian Schnabel shows up - at our screening no less - to talk about his contributions to the film. Which, from I can tell so far, he didn't look at Harwood's script (which is the person who came up with the POV idea) or he shot the film himself.. Janusz was on the sidelines listening to the great painter paint. Somebody give me a Tums. And the film at the end is dedicated to Schnabel's dad - that's lovely - except it's not Schnabel's story, it's not his film - and I can't help but feel like this great story has been inundated by some over eager ego. "Let go of my ego." That's all this director needs, more accolades as to the genius he imagines himself to be. I've yet to hear anyone on the streets of LA who doesn't feel the same about the guy. I was glad to see him speak at my screening - I thought I might be wrong about him. I asked him it was like to work with Janusz. He said, and I quote, "I called him on the phone. He came to my hotel." Ok. How about a compliment in someone else's direction? And how convenient is it that every woman in this film is a babe? Even Fellini, when surrounding himself with beautiful women, found a way to highlight real people. Not too many real people in this film. And why should we care about him? Because he had a stroke. Guy has a chance to redeem himself in front of his wife.. but doesn't. Eh. But the visuals are stunning. Janusz could shoot the laundry and make it look fabulous.
POST SCRIPT: Saw Herr Schnabel speak about his film at the DGA awards. His producer's introduction was so over the top, that for a moment I thought "Maybe JS really isn't such a bad guy - just misunderstood." Then he got up to accept his nomination - made a comment about Kathleen Kennedy sending him the script and some woman in the audience said something. He froze. He glared at her. "You want to finish my speech? Here, you finish it." and then acted like he was going to walk off. Furious. The music cued him off. Then he stopped. He must have realized how petty he was being.
I immediately thought to myself "the woman has turrets. This is a Larry David episode." And then it all came back to me.. The producer said it was the Director's idea to have the first 38 minutes of the film from the victim's pov. How brilliant! Only if that's true, then Ron Harwood is a liar -(WGA article) he says that was in the script. It was his idea to make it from the writer's POV. The script that was sent to Schnabel by the producer Ms. Kennedy. The finished product Schnabel claimed, in a DGA forum no less, that the script "bore little resemblance" to the finished product.
Wow. Then in the trades (Hollywood rep 1-23-08 - "Schnable in Rome)" at what he regarded was a snub of his film for not being nominated for a Best Picture award "Of course, I think it's the Best Picture." News flash: A writer wrote this story. A novelist in fact. Then an award winning WGA screenwriter. Two gentlemen who created this story that Il Regisata has never thanked in any speech I've heard or seen. Even if its oversight, it appears to be deliberate neglect to mention others as being part of the success of the film. Then the dedications at the end of the film - to the Director's parents. What about the original writer's family? Whose story is this? Who do we care about in this story? It's not the Director. It's the author's.
And then the audacity! the horror! Sean Young dares to interrupt his nomination acceptance speech!! The one where the Director neglects to thank the two key people who wrote this film.. Sean Young was ejected, but when she said "Get on with it," she might as well have said "Don't forget to thank the writer for this film." It's a lovely film, but I feel like someone's trying to sell that fact that they invented muslin, paint, and how to put it onto the canvas. Or as I often quote an old Hollywood maxim: "I'll see you on the way up, and I'll see you on the way down."
American Gangster - Haven't seen it yet. Seen the trailer. Feel like I've seen the movie.
3:10 to Yuma. Still can't get Russell Crowe throwing a phone at a bellhop out of my head. Hard to find sympathy for him - although the filmmakers seem to think its his story. Hence why we leave our hero in the dirt, and follow the bad guy onto the train. Awful third act. It's all about the hat.
In the Valley of Elah this is one film I didn't see but I read. (being on strike gives you time to actually read what the Guild sends you.) I like Paul Haggis. A son is murdered after coming home from Iraq, his pop tries to find out who and why and how. He finds out his son was involved in creepy stuff while in Iraq. We're about to have a whole nation full of veterans who've been tortured by this inane war. I live close enough to the VA hospital to viscerally feel how awful going to Vietnam must have been - 70% of all homeless people in the country - it's estimated - are Vietnam vets. Get ready for a lot of homeless veterans. I like the script - well written - but I read a more powerful story about an Iraqi vet in the LA Times. He was the guy called the "Marlboro Marine" because of the LA Times photo of him smoking a butt. He came home, his life shattered. But he said one thing that stayed with him - as he killed Iraqis there was this moment when their lives flashed through his mind. For an instant he was connected to them - and could see their lives as he killed them. That's what's haunting him. Wow. Imagine if they taught you that in school - if you take someone's life it will smack you in the face and haunt you with their ghosts. That's interesting to me. That's a film I haven't seen. However, Paul gets my vote for best script, because well, he's a good writer.
Lars and the Real Girl He's great. She's not. Okay, I have to agree with the Geezers of youtube when I wished there was some drama in this film. Or sex. Or something. When I saw that same story the writer of this film did, on HBO's show "Real Sex", about this company making Real Girls or whatever they're called... During the "Real Sex" episode on HBO they showed a writer who was living in a cabin with his mannequin - and smirking about sex with her - I thought "that's a weird film." And dang it all, someone beat me to the punch - but if you put ten writers in the same room and gave them the same concept.. I don't know - it should have been something more - funnier. Still, filmmaker did a good job - just not a great one.
Juno. I heard this awful review on the radio - Wall Street Jrnl? - and they played a clip from the movie claiming it was annoying. It was the scene where she goes to the prospective adopters with her dad - and while listening to the clip, I had to agree. It sounded like an annoying film. But since then, I've revisited the trailer, had a laugh, so I finally saw it. The film surprised me in every way - the lead actress - brilliant. Bravura performance. I liked the dialog, the setups, the changes, the first, second and third act. I didn't know what would happen. It took me back to my teen years, and my own traumas, which I'll revisit through my writing someday.. I hope. But it's a great film. Also gets a nod for best script and the direction as well. Good work all around. Kudos to Diablo.
My opinion of the best film this year? Ratattouille. I can't spell it. I can eat it. I've seen it a dozen times. My kids want to be Remy and Emile. Not easy to take a rat and make him your hero - make him a chef to boot, and create 3 dimensional characters. When I wrote for Epicurean Rendezvous a great chef once told me "Every great chef has the taste of his mother's cooking in his mouth." And the moment when Anton Ego tastes Remy's dish - and his mind races back to his childhood - I had tears in my eyes.. I so understood that moment, how brilliant it was. And it was the only film this year that made me wish I'd written that scene.. If you can get a four and two year old (my daughter and son) to want to play with and be better rats.. - then that's what Rocky did to me when I first saw it, what Chinatown did to me before I grew up to go to film school and then got to work for Robert Towne, what the Godfather did to me before I grew up and got to meet the incomparable Francis Coppola. These guys can tell a story. It's a shame that so many filmmakers these days are skating when it comes to giving us a beginning, middle and end, even if it's told completely out of order. Gimme Wilder anytime.
That's a wrap.
Wednesday
Charles Grodin's book: "If I Only Knew Then"
Hey. I'm in a book.
One of many essays in a book about learning from mistakes, yours truly has an essay in this one.
I also helped Sally Kellerman and Robert Towne craft their essays - in the former case, Sally told me the story over lunch at a local eatery in Santa Monica, in Robert's case I went to his house with my laptop and had him tell me the story so I could type it up for him. Essentially they both edited them into the stories that appear in the book, but are hilarious nonetheless.
A perfect gift for your family - who make a lot of mistakes, don't they?
If I Only Knew Then
Hockenberry Vs Zucker - who do you believe?
By Paul J. Gough Wed Jan 2, 9:06 AM ET
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - A former "Dateline NBC" correspondent claims that in the aftermath of September 11, the network diverted him from reporting on al Qaeda and instead wanted him to ride along with the country's "forgotten heroes," firefighters.
John Hockenberry, who was laid off from "Dateline" in early 2005, wrote in this month's Technology Review that on the Sunday after the September 2001 attacks he was pitching stories on the origins of al Qaeda and Islamic fundamentalism. He claimed that then-NBC programming chief Jeff Zucker, who came into a meeting Hockenberry was having with "Dateline" executive producer David Corvo, said "Dateline" should instead focus on the firefighters and perhaps ride along with them a la "Cops," the Fox reality series.
According to Hockenberry, Zucker said "that he had no time for any subtitled interviews with jihadists raging about Palestine."
NBC News wasn't impressed by this or any of Hockenberry's other claims.
"It's unfortunate that John Hockenberry seems to be so far out of touch with reality," an NBC spokesperson said. "The comments are so utterly absurd, we will have no further comment." Another NBC executive said it didn't sound like Zucker, who was promoted out of the news division and was at one time "Today" executive producer.
Hockenberry is a distinguished fellow at the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, Mass. But for more than 20 years, he was a broadcast journalist working at National Public Radio, ABC News and from 1996-2005, a correspondent at "Dateline." Hockenberry's blistering article trained much of its fire on the controversial NBC newsmagazine, which has been criticized for its "To Catch a Predator" series -- a "highly rated pile of programming debris," in Hockenberry's words.
Another bombshell is Hockenberry's claims that General Electric, NBC's parent company, discouraged him from talking to the Bin Laden family about their estranged family member. Hockenberry asked GE, which does business with the Bin Laden family company, to help him get in contact with them. Instead, a PR executive called Hockenberry's hotel room in Saudi Arabia and read a statement about how GE didn't see its "valuable business relationship" with the Bin Laden Group as having anything to do with "Dateline."
In another instance, Hockenberry claimed a story he did about a Weather Underground member wouldn't appear on the Sunday edition of "Dateline" unless its lead-out, the 1960s family drama "American Dreams," did a show about "protesters or something." And for another story on the abuse of mentally ill inmates, Hockenberry was told by a producer that video of a fatal attack on a prisoner by guards wasn't enough.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
Happy New Year. This year, can we all just speak a little truth to power? When the executive says "print the lies," we all say "no." When the programmer says "edit that story so it reaches the common denominator" we say "Sorry, can't do it." Or the story editor says "It's show business, not show art" we say "Is that what you tell your children at night?"
I love that NBC responds as if this award winning journalist is out of his head. Why didn't they just say "Look, the guy's in a wheel chair - he's off his rocker!!" Hockenberry is just pointing up the picky idiot things that those in power constantly asks people to do with their work. Instead of aiming for the truth, they aim for the bottom line - or the bottom of the barrel. The only way to say no to that is.. to say no.
Here's the article: http://www.technologyreview.com/printer_friendly_article.aspx?id=19845
Kudos to JH for speaking truth to power.
And Happy New Year anyways.
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - A former "Dateline NBC" correspondent claims that in the aftermath of September 11, the network diverted him from reporting on al Qaeda and instead wanted him to ride along with the country's "forgotten heroes," firefighters.
John Hockenberry, who was laid off from "Dateline" in early 2005, wrote in this month's Technology Review that on the Sunday after the September 2001 attacks he was pitching stories on the origins of al Qaeda and Islamic fundamentalism. He claimed that then-NBC programming chief Jeff Zucker, who came into a meeting Hockenberry was having with "Dateline" executive producer David Corvo, said "Dateline" should instead focus on the firefighters and perhaps ride along with them a la "Cops," the Fox reality series.
According to Hockenberry, Zucker said "that he had no time for any subtitled interviews with jihadists raging about Palestine."
NBC News wasn't impressed by this or any of Hockenberry's other claims.
"It's unfortunate that John Hockenberry seems to be so far out of touch with reality," an NBC spokesperson said. "The comments are so utterly absurd, we will have no further comment." Another NBC executive said it didn't sound like Zucker, who was promoted out of the news division and was at one time "Today" executive producer.
Hockenberry is a distinguished fellow at the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, Mass. But for more than 20 years, he was a broadcast journalist working at National Public Radio, ABC News and from 1996-2005, a correspondent at "Dateline." Hockenberry's blistering article trained much of its fire on the controversial NBC newsmagazine, which has been criticized for its "To Catch a Predator" series -- a "highly rated pile of programming debris," in Hockenberry's words.
Another bombshell is Hockenberry's claims that General Electric, NBC's parent company, discouraged him from talking to the Bin Laden family about their estranged family member. Hockenberry asked GE, which does business with the Bin Laden family company, to help him get in contact with them. Instead, a PR executive called Hockenberry's hotel room in Saudi Arabia and read a statement about how GE didn't see its "valuable business relationship" with the Bin Laden Group as having anything to do with "Dateline."
In another instance, Hockenberry claimed a story he did about a Weather Underground member wouldn't appear on the Sunday edition of "Dateline" unless its lead-out, the 1960s family drama "American Dreams," did a show about "protesters or something." And for another story on the abuse of mentally ill inmates, Hockenberry was told by a producer that video of a fatal attack on a prisoner by guards wasn't enough.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
Happy New Year. This year, can we all just speak a little truth to power? When the executive says "print the lies," we all say "no." When the programmer says "edit that story so it reaches the common denominator" we say "Sorry, can't do it." Or the story editor says "It's show business, not show art" we say "Is that what you tell your children at night?"
I love that NBC responds as if this award winning journalist is out of his head. Why didn't they just say "Look, the guy's in a wheel chair - he's off his rocker!!" Hockenberry is just pointing up the picky idiot things that those in power constantly asks people to do with their work. Instead of aiming for the truth, they aim for the bottom line - or the bottom of the barrel. The only way to say no to that is.. to say no.
Here's the article: http://www.technologyreview.com/printer_friendly_article.aspx?id=19845
Kudos to JH for speaking truth to power.
And Happy New Year anyways.
Tuesday
Sicko - A Great Film!
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,273875,00.html
I normally wouldn't weigh in on a movie review. (I did see and love "Knocked Up" on Father's Day" - The family played in the Malibu playground while dad went across the street for his holiday treat.. and it was a treat - and in retrospect the 'perfect father's day film' - as it's all about taking you back into the birthing experience; I roared with laughter thruout)
Which brings me to Michael Moore - whom I saw do a Q & A tonight with Ron Howard at the DGA, talking about his film and screening it as well. I didn't attend the free outdoor screening he gave tonight to the homeless folks down on San Pedro street in downtown LA - which is a pretty wild gesture - but despite the polemic that follows Moore around this really is a great film. It has no real political stance, as both Republicans and Democrats have embraced the film (those that have seen it.) It's a really funny, touching look at America in a way - since HMO's didn't come into existence until 1971 - he does a great job of showing both sides of the coin, as per the Fox review above. I can't recommend it higher for a really unusual mirror held up to our country, its health care system, especially in comparison to the rest of the world. Much has been made of his trip to Cuba; I can only say that if I ever have to face a life threatening illness without insurance I'll be on the next plane to England, Canada, France or Cuba.. it's amazing what he reveals. A really terrific film.
xo
R'cardo
I normally wouldn't weigh in on a movie review. (I did see and love "Knocked Up" on Father's Day" - The family played in the Malibu playground while dad went across the street for his holiday treat.. and it was a treat - and in retrospect the 'perfect father's day film' - as it's all about taking you back into the birthing experience; I roared with laughter thruout)
Which brings me to Michael Moore - whom I saw do a Q & A tonight with Ron Howard at the DGA, talking about his film and screening it as well. I didn't attend the free outdoor screening he gave tonight to the homeless folks down on San Pedro street in downtown LA - which is a pretty wild gesture - but despite the polemic that follows Moore around this really is a great film. It has no real political stance, as both Republicans and Democrats have embraced the film (those that have seen it.) It's a really funny, touching look at America in a way - since HMO's didn't come into existence until 1971 - he does a great job of showing both sides of the coin, as per the Fox review above. I can't recommend it higher for a really unusual mirror held up to our country, its health care system, especially in comparison to the rest of the world. Much has been made of his trip to Cuba; I can only say that if I ever have to face a life threatening illness without insurance I'll be on the next plane to England, Canada, France or Cuba.. it's amazing what he reveals. A really terrific film.
xo
R'cardo
Saturday
Immigration Policy revisited
I'm so glad we're finally putting up a fence. I'm so sick of these immigrants showing up illegally at our shores!!! the country used to be a nice place before they started showing up in droves and bringing their stinky, smelly diseases across our shores. but while we're getting rid of the latest gang, can I ask that we get rid of the frickin' irish while we're at it? Belching, farting, full of cabbage - they drive me crazy!! and those obnoxious Italians. Talk about garlic breath. And then those krauts. Man, I've had it up to here with the rules and regulations - acting like a much of anastazis. Let's not forget the slaves they all brought with 'em.. comin' over here and demanding their 40 acres and a mule. Can we talk about the Polee for a minute? Chicago used to be a city of broad shoulders .. and now it's all eastern euros! Those russkies have shown up in record numbers, and now, we're gonna have this huge influx of iraqis showing up wondering why we blasted their country to kingdom come and won't let 'em in the front gate. Speaking of gates, we're not even close to keeping those pesky canadians out of here.. next thing they're going to swamp us with their frickin health care system and their cheap knock off drugs!! It gets my gall! And not to mention the Gauls!! If we had just kept the danged French out of our shores we wouldn't have lost the first revolution!!! Those ridiculous frogs bringing all their china and linen.. did someone say China? If someone had been smart enough, we wouldn't have had the country ripped in half by Chinamen putting up a railway system. We should have known better - it's just so hard to tell them apart when so many of them look like Apaches. So I'm outraged as well.. put up the damned fence and keep the whole lot of them out, which I said we should have done against those freakin' Spaniards.. but no.. everybody told me this Columbus guy was going to bring his 'new world' to our benefit. Some benefit!!! Should shot him through the head with an arrow when I had the frickin' chance!!! signed Chief Kick-In-The-Pants.
Wednesday
Thomas the Tank Engine Recall
For all those parents out there..
I wish this wasn't true - but have checked it out. The people who own Thomas have been letting the Chinese use lead based paint on the red painted wooden train cars. This means James, Fire Engine, etc, etc.
You can get a complete list from www.rc2.com - been checking in to just what to do - the company is requesting that you return the piece IMMEDIATELY for a refund and a gift certificate.
However, some pediatrician websites are recommending that you NOT return the piece if it was a favorite toy of your child - take the piece in to your pediatrician and discuss if your child should be checked for lead poisoning... which as we all know, leads to some pretty creepy side effects. (and if, God forbid, something awful does happen, better to have the evidence in your possession.)
I remember back in the 60's the psychic Jeanne Dixon (who predicted JFK's assassination) said something about a wave of poisonings coming from China.. of course this was the 60's, and she associated it with willful acts - but there's that old Confucious saying "man who lie down with dog wake up with fleas."
So - if your kids (like mine) are Thomas fanatics, double check your red engines.. and go to the site. Here's more details from the CPC:
Thomas & Friends Toy Recall
Thomas Train RecallThe U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and RC2 Corp. have recalled about 1.5 million Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway Toys because 'surface paints on the recalled products contain lead.'
If your kids are at risk and played with Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway Toys that were purchased between January 2005 through June 2007 and may have been involved in this recall, more importantly than simply trying to get your money back or a replacement toy, take them away and contact your pediatrician to see if a lead test should be done on your children. This would be especially important if your kids frequently put the Thomas toys in their mouth and/or you notice chipped or flaking paint on the toys.
Kids who only occasionally played with these toys are likely not at any risk for lead poisoning, but it would be a bigger risk if they were his favorite toy and he played with the trains on most days. If your child always carried one of the Thomas trains around, like a security object, and puts it in his mouth or puts his hands in his mouth a lot, then he could also be at risk for lead poisoning from this exposure and a lead test should likely be done.
Related:
* Lead Poisoning
* Lead Poisoning Risks from Lead Paint
* How do I protect my kids from lead poisoning?
* Lead Poisoning Alert
* Metal Toy Jewelry Recall
* Target Recalls Various Toys Due to Lead and Laceration Hazards
There's a notice at the consumer protection agency (www.cpsc.gov) from jun 13th, and one at the company's home site.
Here's the company link..
http://recalls.rc2.com/recallinfo/RecallPoster_Wood061407.pdf
or visit http://recalls.rc2.com/
I wish this wasn't true - but have checked it out. The people who own Thomas have been letting the Chinese use lead based paint on the red painted wooden train cars. This means James, Fire Engine, etc, etc.
You can get a complete list from www.rc2.com - been checking in to just what to do - the company is requesting that you return the piece IMMEDIATELY for a refund and a gift certificate.
However, some pediatrician websites are recommending that you NOT return the piece if it was a favorite toy of your child - take the piece in to your pediatrician and discuss if your child should be checked for lead poisoning... which as we all know, leads to some pretty creepy side effects. (and if, God forbid, something awful does happen, better to have the evidence in your possession.)
I remember back in the 60's the psychic Jeanne Dixon (who predicted JFK's assassination) said something about a wave of poisonings coming from China.. of course this was the 60's, and she associated it with willful acts - but there's that old Confucious saying "man who lie down with dog wake up with fleas."
So - if your kids (like mine) are Thomas fanatics, double check your red engines.. and go to the site. Here's more details from the CPC:
Thomas & Friends Toy Recall
Thomas Train RecallThe U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and RC2 Corp. have recalled about 1.5 million Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway Toys because 'surface paints on the recalled products contain lead.'
If your kids are at risk and played with Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway Toys that were purchased between January 2005 through June 2007 and may have been involved in this recall, more importantly than simply trying to get your money back or a replacement toy, take them away and contact your pediatrician to see if a lead test should be done on your children. This would be especially important if your kids frequently put the Thomas toys in their mouth and/or you notice chipped or flaking paint on the toys.
Kids who only occasionally played with these toys are likely not at any risk for lead poisoning, but it would be a bigger risk if they were his favorite toy and he played with the trains on most days. If your child always carried one of the Thomas trains around, like a security object, and puts it in his mouth or puts his hands in his mouth a lot, then he could also be at risk for lead poisoning from this exposure and a lead test should likely be done.
Related:
* Lead Poisoning
* Lead Poisoning Risks from Lead Paint
* How do I protect my kids from lead poisoning?
* Lead Poisoning Alert
* Metal Toy Jewelry Recall
* Target Recalls Various Toys Due to Lead and Laceration Hazards
There's a notice at the consumer protection agency (www.cpsc.gov) from jun 13th, and one at the company's home site.
Here's the company link..
http://recalls.rc2.com/recallinfo/RecallPoster_Wood061407.pdf
or visit http://recalls.rc2.com/
Monday
The Sopranos Ending
as to the ending of the sopranos - looks like i'm the only guy who loved it.
like everyone else, i was on the edge of my seat - waiting for a squib fest.. they're all going to get shot - no, meadow is going to miss the bloodbath.. and then... BLANK SCREEN!
my wife and i both had dropped jaws. and it's not easy to get dropped jaws around here. I had heard they shot 'multiple endings' - or maybe wrote multiple endings - and maybe those will show up on the dvd of the season when its released. but what i liked most about it was:
we create the ending. (i saw the slate blog (http://www.slate.com) last night where he quoted the lady and the tiger ending from a book in the 1880's that was popular - where the reader gets to pick the ending). But this show did a lot of that.. remember when Dr. Melfi got raped, and everyone in the country was hoping she'd tell Tony so that he'd rub out the rapist? It was an interactive show to begin with - and all the heat that Chase took from the Italian American community - complaining about the depiction of Italians - or people weighing in on what the Sopranos should be..
and in this case, like the Time magazine cover Man of the Year - (http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,20061225,00.html) YOU are the person who writes the ending. It's whatever you, in your heart of hearts, wants the ending to be. Tony gets arrested by FBI agents. Tony dies in a hailstorm of bullets, Meadow survives because she can't park. Tony takes out a gun and saves his family. You're the author - and that doesn't let us off easy either - because we've been rooting for Tony - and Chase is saying "look what you're rooting for - look which ending you think is going to happen."
It's being reported that Phil Leotardo's son was in the credits as to being in the diner. (Hmm, I don't think the credits tell where someone's scene takes place, but I digress) I think that's great that Phil Leotardo's son was in the diner - and who was the guy who went into the bathroom? (My wife said - he looks russian.. is it that missing russian?) Who were the two black kids coming in at the end, looking like the guys who tried to pop tony in the first episode..? It was like he was having a hit parade of all the hit men who tried to whack him.. it was also a way of saying Tony will never rest easily - every time a door opens, or a guy walks past, he will have to consider - is this the guy sent to kill me? No rest for the wicked.. and no rest for us either - because we're the wicked viewers.
I think killing tony and famiglia would have let us off easily. or pulling back and seeing them dine in their diner would have let us off too easily as well - this way, David Chase (http://www.hbo.com/sopranos) has ratcheted up the tension so that we too - will always be looking up when someone walks through the door - is this a smile for my daughter? or a frown to the guy who's sent to whack us?
anyways, that's what I got out of it.
like everyone else, i was on the edge of my seat - waiting for a squib fest.. they're all going to get shot - no, meadow is going to miss the bloodbath.. and then... BLANK SCREEN!
my wife and i both had dropped jaws. and it's not easy to get dropped jaws around here. I had heard they shot 'multiple endings' - or maybe wrote multiple endings - and maybe those will show up on the dvd of the season when its released. but what i liked most about it was:
we create the ending. (i saw the slate blog (http://www.slate.com) last night where he quoted the lady and the tiger ending from a book in the 1880's that was popular - where the reader gets to pick the ending). But this show did a lot of that.. remember when Dr. Melfi got raped, and everyone in the country was hoping she'd tell Tony so that he'd rub out the rapist? It was an interactive show to begin with - and all the heat that Chase took from the Italian American community - complaining about the depiction of Italians - or people weighing in on what the Sopranos should be..
and in this case, like the Time magazine cover Man of the Year - (http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,20061225,00.html) YOU are the person who writes the ending. It's whatever you, in your heart of hearts, wants the ending to be. Tony gets arrested by FBI agents. Tony dies in a hailstorm of bullets, Meadow survives because she can't park. Tony takes out a gun and saves his family. You're the author - and that doesn't let us off easy either - because we've been rooting for Tony - and Chase is saying "look what you're rooting for - look which ending you think is going to happen."
It's being reported that Phil Leotardo's son was in the credits as to being in the diner. (Hmm, I don't think the credits tell where someone's scene takes place, but I digress) I think that's great that Phil Leotardo's son was in the diner - and who was the guy who went into the bathroom? (My wife said - he looks russian.. is it that missing russian?) Who were the two black kids coming in at the end, looking like the guys who tried to pop tony in the first episode..? It was like he was having a hit parade of all the hit men who tried to whack him.. it was also a way of saying Tony will never rest easily - every time a door opens, or a guy walks past, he will have to consider - is this the guy sent to kill me? No rest for the wicked.. and no rest for us either - because we're the wicked viewers.
I think killing tony and famiglia would have let us off easily. or pulling back and seeing them dine in their diner would have let us off too easily as well - this way, David Chase (http://www.hbo.com/sopranos) has ratcheted up the tension so that we too - will always be looking up when someone walks through the door - is this a smile for my daughter? or a frown to the guy who's sent to whack us?
anyways, that's what I got out of it.
Sunday
Bury My Iowa Heart at Wounded Knee
I was doing a channel flip tonight. Bouncing back and forth between 60 Minutes, (http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml) and it's terrific piece on the soldiers from the Iowa National Guard, and HBO's Dick Wolf special; "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee." (http://www.hbo.com/films/burymyheart/?ntrack_para1=feat_main_text)
Watching the Iowa soldier come home and hug his new born infant baby wearing the Santa Hat, watching the wife of the soldier who burst into tears at the thought of her husband's tour being extended another 120 days, or the son of the soldier who stared at his mother when she told him about the 'surge' and his head collapsing in his mother's arms... flashing back to the death of Sitting Bull, the mindless violence perpetrated on the Sioux nation in the name of nation building, the vast amounts of suffering that went on with the native American people, who wanted nothing more than to live out their days on their own property, and the government doing its best to make that not happy.
Do we learn nothing as a nation? Do we learn nothing as human beings? When did war become the first resort instead of the last one? Are we really better off as a nation for attacking a nation that had nothing to do with why we went to war in the first place? Weren't we going over to catch Osama? And then weren't we over there to get rid of Saddam? Well, Saddam is gone. Osama is alive and kicking. What are we doing in Iraq anyways? The same thing we were doing in Wounded Knee.
It was so sad to see the Iowa national guard father, serving with his son in Iraq, whose wife is going crazy back home - but who is angry that people in the US are fed up with the war in Iraq - he explains because after the events of 9/11, how the nation had banded together to go and find those responsible for who perpetrated those events, and how our country has lost interest in doing so - and the 60 minutes reporter not pointing out that the people of Iraq, that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with the events of 9/11, and we had no business going into that country, and have no business being there now. And that father standing next to his son, who also puts his life on the line every day, because our leaders sent them there together to hunt down the perpetrators of 9/11 - when it knew full well that they weren't in Iraq, they had nothing to do with Iraq.
The administration argues that Al Qaeda is in Iraq. Well, they certainly weren't there before. And who are they talking about? The radical Saudis who are lining up to fight us in Iraq? That Al Qaeda? The only reason Al Qaeda is in Iraq is because we're in Iraq. And once we're out of Iraq they aren't going to come here - they're going to go after our assets in the middle east. So why aren't we pouring our troops into Afghanistan where the Taliban is regrouping with the help of Al Qaeda? You think the Shia militia are going to tolerate Al Qaeda telling them what to do? Or the Sunni militias? These are the same guys who fought Iran for over a decade. You think they fear Al Qaeda? Al Qaeda will go back to Afghanistan the day we leave Iraq. And they'll plot more attacks on the U.S. because they know that we don't follow up what we say we're going to do. We said we were going after Osama, Zawahiri, even Mullah Omar. Then Bush said "I don't think much about Osama anymore." Then Bush last week said "Osama is trying to regroup in Iraq." Hey! I thought you didn't care much about him? When our dear misguided President makes up his mind, will someone let the nation know?
The War on Terror is such a bumper sticker, a misnomer. Like the War on Poverty or the War on Drugs. If you declare War on something that is shape shifting - something that you can define to your own likes and dislikes - how about "We are a nation of laws, and we have a Constitution, and we will protect it and its citizens ruthlessly, and anyone who attacks us, we will hunt down and bring to justice.. by the laws that have founded our country." Why isn't that just as strong as the "war on terrorists?" Why can't we arrest people who've done a crime and put them on trial? People in England are doing it - they've arrested the terrorists, and have put in a zillion cameras to keep an eye on people, and have figured out how to track down those who might attack their country, and are vigorously stopping them. Their nation doesn't throw out the Magna Carta the day after the subway bombings - my English friends remind me that they lived through the IRA bomb blasts in London for a number of years, and managed to sort that out in the end.
It just strikes me as incredibly stupid that we haven't learned any lessons from our mistakes. Whether they were in Vietnam, or in Wounded Knee. We just don't have a clue about other people's cultures, and we tend to through them all into the same pot. We have this paternalistic attitude about Iraqis where he assume that if we left their country it would go up in smoke - that their 10,000 year old civilization would just dematerialize into a blood bath, over run by Iran on its way to destroy Saudi Arabia. We have got to be the most egocentric nation on the planet. Either that, or the greediest, willing to sacrifice anyone on the altar of oil.
Anyways, I feel bad for those poor National Guardsmen who signed up to seek revenge for 9/11, and were sent in completely the wrong direction. And now they and their families have to suffer another 3 months fighting this ridiculous civil war. It's the equivalent of us attacking China after Pearl Harbor. We assume they must all be on the same wavelength, because after all, they're Asians. And here we are, fighting a war in the wrong country, making families suffer here and abroad, whether it's the world accepted number of 650K dead in Iraq from all the devastation of War, or if it's the US figure about 'oh, about 60K' or so. Thousands of our soldiers are dead fighting in the absolute wrong theater, and many thousands are wounded, and many more will be psychologically damaged by the time they get back. So my final thought for this Memorial Day; For those veterans who now make up something around 70% of the homeless people in America - move over, there's a whole new generation of soldiers who will be denied treatment, ignored by the government, and will wind up joining you on the streets.
my two cents.
Watching the Iowa soldier come home and hug his new born infant baby wearing the Santa Hat, watching the wife of the soldier who burst into tears at the thought of her husband's tour being extended another 120 days, or the son of the soldier who stared at his mother when she told him about the 'surge' and his head collapsing in his mother's arms... flashing back to the death of Sitting Bull, the mindless violence perpetrated on the Sioux nation in the name of nation building, the vast amounts of suffering that went on with the native American people, who wanted nothing more than to live out their days on their own property, and the government doing its best to make that not happy.
Do we learn nothing as a nation? Do we learn nothing as human beings? When did war become the first resort instead of the last one? Are we really better off as a nation for attacking a nation that had nothing to do with why we went to war in the first place? Weren't we going over to catch Osama? And then weren't we over there to get rid of Saddam? Well, Saddam is gone. Osama is alive and kicking. What are we doing in Iraq anyways? The same thing we were doing in Wounded Knee.
It was so sad to see the Iowa national guard father, serving with his son in Iraq, whose wife is going crazy back home - but who is angry that people in the US are fed up with the war in Iraq - he explains because after the events of 9/11, how the nation had banded together to go and find those responsible for who perpetrated those events, and how our country has lost interest in doing so - and the 60 minutes reporter not pointing out that the people of Iraq, that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with the events of 9/11, and we had no business going into that country, and have no business being there now. And that father standing next to his son, who also puts his life on the line every day, because our leaders sent them there together to hunt down the perpetrators of 9/11 - when it knew full well that they weren't in Iraq, they had nothing to do with Iraq.
The administration argues that Al Qaeda is in Iraq. Well, they certainly weren't there before. And who are they talking about? The radical Saudis who are lining up to fight us in Iraq? That Al Qaeda? The only reason Al Qaeda is in Iraq is because we're in Iraq. And once we're out of Iraq they aren't going to come here - they're going to go after our assets in the middle east. So why aren't we pouring our troops into Afghanistan where the Taliban is regrouping with the help of Al Qaeda? You think the Shia militia are going to tolerate Al Qaeda telling them what to do? Or the Sunni militias? These are the same guys who fought Iran for over a decade. You think they fear Al Qaeda? Al Qaeda will go back to Afghanistan the day we leave Iraq. And they'll plot more attacks on the U.S. because they know that we don't follow up what we say we're going to do. We said we were going after Osama, Zawahiri, even Mullah Omar. Then Bush said "I don't think much about Osama anymore." Then Bush last week said "Osama is trying to regroup in Iraq." Hey! I thought you didn't care much about him? When our dear misguided President makes up his mind, will someone let the nation know?
The War on Terror is such a bumper sticker, a misnomer. Like the War on Poverty or the War on Drugs. If you declare War on something that is shape shifting - something that you can define to your own likes and dislikes - how about "We are a nation of laws, and we have a Constitution, and we will protect it and its citizens ruthlessly, and anyone who attacks us, we will hunt down and bring to justice.. by the laws that have founded our country." Why isn't that just as strong as the "war on terrorists?" Why can't we arrest people who've done a crime and put them on trial? People in England are doing it - they've arrested the terrorists, and have put in a zillion cameras to keep an eye on people, and have figured out how to track down those who might attack their country, and are vigorously stopping them. Their nation doesn't throw out the Magna Carta the day after the subway bombings - my English friends remind me that they lived through the IRA bomb blasts in London for a number of years, and managed to sort that out in the end.
It just strikes me as incredibly stupid that we haven't learned any lessons from our mistakes. Whether they were in Vietnam, or in Wounded Knee. We just don't have a clue about other people's cultures, and we tend to through them all into the same pot. We have this paternalistic attitude about Iraqis where he assume that if we left their country it would go up in smoke - that their 10,000 year old civilization would just dematerialize into a blood bath, over run by Iran on its way to destroy Saudi Arabia. We have got to be the most egocentric nation on the planet. Either that, or the greediest, willing to sacrifice anyone on the altar of oil.
Anyways, I feel bad for those poor National Guardsmen who signed up to seek revenge for 9/11, and were sent in completely the wrong direction. And now they and their families have to suffer another 3 months fighting this ridiculous civil war. It's the equivalent of us attacking China after Pearl Harbor. We assume they must all be on the same wavelength, because after all, they're Asians. And here we are, fighting a war in the wrong country, making families suffer here and abroad, whether it's the world accepted number of 650K dead in Iraq from all the devastation of War, or if it's the US figure about 'oh, about 60K' or so. Thousands of our soldiers are dead fighting in the absolute wrong theater, and many thousands are wounded, and many more will be psychologically damaged by the time they get back. So my final thought for this Memorial Day; For those veterans who now make up something around 70% of the homeless people in America - move over, there's a whole new generation of soldiers who will be denied treatment, ignored by the government, and will wind up joining you on the streets.
my two cents.
Saturday
Happy Memorial Day
Just taking time out to say "Thank you for serving."
There's alot of people who have served in the US military. My brother is one of them. He was lucky - while in boot camp, he was bitten by red ants and died on an operating table. But he was brought back to life by the doctor there with a shot of adrenaline. The doc knew there weren't red ants in Vietnam, but declared that my brother might die if he was bitten by a red ant in Vietnam, and signed medical dox that kept him from going there. My brother spent his time in the Army at the DMZ in Korea. Out of the 21 guys that were in his unit that served in Vietnam... something like three of them survived.
I was walking near the Vietnam memorial once some years ago - I wasn't aware that I was walking near it, I had just left the Lincoln Memorial and was heading up towards the Capitol, talking to a friend from college - and I was pretty focused on what we were talking about, and suddenly I was overcome with emotion. I had to stop to keep from sobbing. It was then I turned around and realized I was standing near a panel from the names on the Memorial. Mind you, I didn't know I was near the panels, I just had this overwhelming feeling of sadness.
Some years later, I was covering the inauguration for Variety - I had somehow talked the Editors of that mag into letting me cover the "music of the inaugural" for Clinton's first.. and had some great times - met Bob Dylan, scammed my way into seeing Streisand, sneaking into seats a few rows back from the just inaugurated Pres.. but I digress. While I was there, I took my video camera with me and walked along the wall again.. this time just filming the names on the wall. And when I came to that panel again, I was again overwhelmed by sadness. I walked a few feet past the panel and the feeling went away - then I walked back and it came back - stronger than ever. Like I should just burst into tears, and wrenching sadness overwhelming me. So I scanned the wall of names - I didn't recognize any of them - I don't know anyone who died in Vietnam. I know people who served, I know people who were shot, I know people whose lives were dramatically changed forever by that conflict.. but none that died, or who were named on that panel.
And the only logical conclusion I could come to is that people who had prayed in front of that panel - or people who came and cried in front of that panel, had somehow left behind an 'imprint' of their sadness. (Two other times I've had this effect happen to me - once in Dallas at the book depository, and the other was in Anne Frank's house in Amsterdam). I don't know how the physics might work for something like that to happen - but all I know is, I did an experiment, and the experiment proved to me beyond a shadow of a doubt, that some kind of emotion was remaining in that wall. Maybe because it's marble - I don't know - maybe because of this one panel - I don't know. I know that no one is buried there, so it can't be some left over spirit calling out for emotion - the only reasonable explanation I have is that the sadness from those who've come and cried and prayed in front of the wall, left some of that emotion behind.
And that's basically in a nutshell why I'm anti-war. I'm not anti-service, and I'm not anti-fighting the bad guys where they might live - like in Afghanistan - but when the time came for me to sign up for the draft during the vietnam war era, I was relieved to get a really low number in the draft - something like 320 out of 365, for those of you old enough to remember how that went down. I was relieved, because I had decided that there was no way I was going to go and fight in Vietnam, that I would have gone to Canada instead - and told my father so. He was just as glad that I didn't have to make that decision back then - but in my heart I knew that LBJ was lying about Vietnam, you could hear it in his voice - I knew that Nixon was lying, and I knew that the whole govt. was lying and just plain wrong to be fighting that war - the same way I know the govt is saying the exact same things about the war in Iraq. "If we don't fight them there, they'll come here," "The rest of the countries around it will become our enemies," "if we leave now, it will all become a disaster." As George Santayana put it over a century ago; "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Or perhaps more aptly as Rudyard Kipling said: “If any question why we died, Tell them, because our fathers lied.”
But I honor those who served. My brother. My father. My mother. My grandfather, who at one point was National Commander of the American Legion. His picture is in every American Legion hall in the country, and when I find myself near one of them, I'll usually dip in to say hello. But they're heroes, all of them, and those who are serving and dying in this unjustifiable, contemptous war, are just as heroic.
There's a national cemetery near my home in Santa Monica - it's over in Westwood. And if you take the time to walk the grounds, you'll find that the majority of the dead were part of the Spanish American war. A war that most of us have forgotten, and history doesn't really reflect well upon. These guys signed up to protect the country, were shipped off to the Phillippines, (A war that is widely acknowledged to have been created by yellow journalism courtesy of WR Hearst)- and thousands died of malaria, fever, and other jungle diseases. It's easy for me to say "what a waste" and few would disagree - but it's all a matter of degree. They too signed up to fight for our country - right or wrong, and they deserve credit for doing so.
So when you're flipping burgers and sipping a cold one this weekend, raise a toast to those who've served.
My two cents.
There's alot of people who have served in the US military. My brother is one of them. He was lucky - while in boot camp, he was bitten by red ants and died on an operating table. But he was brought back to life by the doctor there with a shot of adrenaline. The doc knew there weren't red ants in Vietnam, but declared that my brother might die if he was bitten by a red ant in Vietnam, and signed medical dox that kept him from going there. My brother spent his time in the Army at the DMZ in Korea. Out of the 21 guys that were in his unit that served in Vietnam... something like three of them survived.
I was walking near the Vietnam memorial once some years ago - I wasn't aware that I was walking near it, I had just left the Lincoln Memorial and was heading up towards the Capitol, talking to a friend from college - and I was pretty focused on what we were talking about, and suddenly I was overcome with emotion. I had to stop to keep from sobbing. It was then I turned around and realized I was standing near a panel from the names on the Memorial. Mind you, I didn't know I was near the panels, I just had this overwhelming feeling of sadness.
Some years later, I was covering the inauguration for Variety - I had somehow talked the Editors of that mag into letting me cover the "music of the inaugural" for Clinton's first.. and had some great times - met Bob Dylan, scammed my way into seeing Streisand, sneaking into seats a few rows back from the just inaugurated Pres.. but I digress. While I was there, I took my video camera with me and walked along the wall again.. this time just filming the names on the wall. And when I came to that panel again, I was again overwhelmed by sadness. I walked a few feet past the panel and the feeling went away - then I walked back and it came back - stronger than ever. Like I should just burst into tears, and wrenching sadness overwhelming me. So I scanned the wall of names - I didn't recognize any of them - I don't know anyone who died in Vietnam. I know people who served, I know people who were shot, I know people whose lives were dramatically changed forever by that conflict.. but none that died, or who were named on that panel.
And the only logical conclusion I could come to is that people who had prayed in front of that panel - or people who came and cried in front of that panel, had somehow left behind an 'imprint' of their sadness. (Two other times I've had this effect happen to me - once in Dallas at the book depository, and the other was in Anne Frank's house in Amsterdam). I don't know how the physics might work for something like that to happen - but all I know is, I did an experiment, and the experiment proved to me beyond a shadow of a doubt, that some kind of emotion was remaining in that wall. Maybe because it's marble - I don't know - maybe because of this one panel - I don't know. I know that no one is buried there, so it can't be some left over spirit calling out for emotion - the only reasonable explanation I have is that the sadness from those who've come and cried and prayed in front of the wall, left some of that emotion behind.
And that's basically in a nutshell why I'm anti-war. I'm not anti-service, and I'm not anti-fighting the bad guys where they might live - like in Afghanistan - but when the time came for me to sign up for the draft during the vietnam war era, I was relieved to get a really low number in the draft - something like 320 out of 365, for those of you old enough to remember how that went down. I was relieved, because I had decided that there was no way I was going to go and fight in Vietnam, that I would have gone to Canada instead - and told my father so. He was just as glad that I didn't have to make that decision back then - but in my heart I knew that LBJ was lying about Vietnam, you could hear it in his voice - I knew that Nixon was lying, and I knew that the whole govt. was lying and just plain wrong to be fighting that war - the same way I know the govt is saying the exact same things about the war in Iraq. "If we don't fight them there, they'll come here," "The rest of the countries around it will become our enemies," "if we leave now, it will all become a disaster." As George Santayana put it over a century ago; "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Or perhaps more aptly as Rudyard Kipling said: “If any question why we died, Tell them, because our fathers lied.”
But I honor those who served. My brother. My father. My mother. My grandfather, who at one point was National Commander of the American Legion. His picture is in every American Legion hall in the country, and when I find myself near one of them, I'll usually dip in to say hello. But they're heroes, all of them, and those who are serving and dying in this unjustifiable, contemptous war, are just as heroic.
There's a national cemetery near my home in Santa Monica - it's over in Westwood. And if you take the time to walk the grounds, you'll find that the majority of the dead were part of the Spanish American war. A war that most of us have forgotten, and history doesn't really reflect well upon. These guys signed up to protect the country, were shipped off to the Phillippines, (A war that is widely acknowledged to have been created by yellow journalism courtesy of WR Hearst)- and thousands died of malaria, fever, and other jungle diseases. It's easy for me to say "what a waste" and few would disagree - but it's all a matter of degree. They too signed up to fight for our country - right or wrong, and they deserve credit for doing so.
So when you're flipping burgers and sipping a cold one this weekend, raise a toast to those who've served.
My two cents.
Friday
Michael Moore & "Sicko"
Politics aside, Michael Moore is an incendiary filmmaker, and has changed the market for documentary filmmakers (myself included) worldwide. Just got this email from his mailing list missive, but it sounds like he's going to have a bumpy ride.. which will translate into big B.O. Either way, thought y'all would be amused:
"Sicko" Is Completed and We're Off to Cannes!
May 17, 2007
Friends,
It's a wrap! My new film, "Sicko," is all done and will have its world premiere this Saturday night at the Cannes Film Festival. As with "Bowling for Columbine" and "Fahrenheit 9/11," we are honored to have been chosen by this prestigious festival to screen our work there.
My intention was to keep "Sicko" under wraps and show it to virtually no one before its premiere in Cannes. That is what I have done and, as you may have noticed if you are a recipient of my infrequent Internet letters, I have been very silent about what I've been up to. In part, that's because I was working very hard to complete the film. But my silence was also because I knew that the health care industry -- an industry which makes up more than 15 percent of our GDP -- was not going to like much of what they were going to see in this movie and I thought it best not to upset them any sooner than need be.
Well, going quietly to Cannes, I guess, was not to be. For some strange reason, on May 2nd the Bush administration initiated an action against me over how I obtained some of the content they believe is in my film. As none of them have actually seen the film (or so I hope!), they decided, unlike with "Fahrenheit 9/11," not to wait until the film was out of the gate and too far down the road to begin their attack.
Bush's Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, launched an investigation of a trip I took to Cuba to film scenes for the movie. These scenes involve a group of 9/11 rescue workers who are suffering from illnesses obtained from working down at Ground Zero. They have received little or no help with their health care from the government. I do not want to give away what actually happens in the movie because I don't want to spoil it for you (although I'm sure you'll hear much about it after it unspools Saturday). Plus, our lawyers have advised me to say little at this point, as the film goes somewhere far scarier than "Cuba." Rest assured of one thing: no laws were broken. All I've done is violate the modern-day rule of journalism that says, "ask no questions of those in power or your luncheon privileges will be revoked."
This preemptive action taken by the Bush administration on the eve of the "Sicko" premiere in Cannes led our attorneys to fear for the safety of our film, noting that Secretary Paulson may try to claim that the content of the movie was obtained through a violation of the trade embargo that our country has against Cuba and the travel laws that prohibit average citizens of our free country from traveling to Cuba. (The law does not prohibit anyone from exercising their first amendment right of a free press and documentaries are protected works of journalism.)
I was floored when our lawyers told me this. "Are you saying they might actually confiscate our movie?" "Yes," was the answer. "These days, anything is possible. Even if there is just a 20 percent chance the government would seize our movie before Cannes, does anyone want to take that risk?"
Certainly not. So there we were last week, spiriting a duplicate master negative out of the country just so no one from the government would take it from us. (Seriously, I can't believe I just typed those words! Did I mention that I'm an American, and this is America and NO ONE should ever have to say they had to do such a thing?)
I mean, folks, I have just about had it. Investigating ME because I'm trying to help some 9/11 rescue workers our government has abandoned? Once again, up is down and black is white. There are only two people in need of an investigation and a trial, and the desire for this across America is so widespread you don't even need to see the one's smirk or hear the other's sneer to know who I am talking about.
But no, I'm the one who now has to hire lawyers and sneak my documentary out of the country just so people can see a friggin' movie. I mean, it's just a movie! What on earth could I have placed on celluloid that would require such a nonsensical action against me?
Ok. Scratch that.
Well, I'm on my way to Cannes right now, a copy of the movie in my bag. Don't feel too bad for me, I'll be in the south of France for a week! But then it's back to the U.S. for a number of premieres and benefits and then, finally, a chance for all of you to see this film that I have made. Circle June 29th on your calendar because that's when it opens in theaters everywhere across the country and Canada (for the rest of the world, it opens in the fall).
I can't wait for you to see it.
Yours,
Michael Moore
P.S. I will write more about what happens from Cannes. Stay tuned on my website, MichaelMoore.com.
"Sicko" Is Completed and We're Off to Cannes!
May 17, 2007
Friends,
It's a wrap! My new film, "Sicko," is all done and will have its world premiere this Saturday night at the Cannes Film Festival. As with "Bowling for Columbine" and "Fahrenheit 9/11," we are honored to have been chosen by this prestigious festival to screen our work there.
My intention was to keep "Sicko" under wraps and show it to virtually no one before its premiere in Cannes. That is what I have done and, as you may have noticed if you are a recipient of my infrequent Internet letters, I have been very silent about what I've been up to. In part, that's because I was working very hard to complete the film. But my silence was also because I knew that the health care industry -- an industry which makes up more than 15 percent of our GDP -- was not going to like much of what they were going to see in this movie and I thought it best not to upset them any sooner than need be.
Well, going quietly to Cannes, I guess, was not to be. For some strange reason, on May 2nd the Bush administration initiated an action against me over how I obtained some of the content they believe is in my film. As none of them have actually seen the film (or so I hope!), they decided, unlike with "Fahrenheit 9/11," not to wait until the film was out of the gate and too far down the road to begin their attack.
Bush's Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, launched an investigation of a trip I took to Cuba to film scenes for the movie. These scenes involve a group of 9/11 rescue workers who are suffering from illnesses obtained from working down at Ground Zero. They have received little or no help with their health care from the government. I do not want to give away what actually happens in the movie because I don't want to spoil it for you (although I'm sure you'll hear much about it after it unspools Saturday). Plus, our lawyers have advised me to say little at this point, as the film goes somewhere far scarier than "Cuba." Rest assured of one thing: no laws were broken. All I've done is violate the modern-day rule of journalism that says, "ask no questions of those in power or your luncheon privileges will be revoked."
This preemptive action taken by the Bush administration on the eve of the "Sicko" premiere in Cannes led our attorneys to fear for the safety of our film, noting that Secretary Paulson may try to claim that the content of the movie was obtained through a violation of the trade embargo that our country has against Cuba and the travel laws that prohibit average citizens of our free country from traveling to Cuba. (The law does not prohibit anyone from exercising their first amendment right of a free press and documentaries are protected works of journalism.)
I was floored when our lawyers told me this. "Are you saying they might actually confiscate our movie?" "Yes," was the answer. "These days, anything is possible. Even if there is just a 20 percent chance the government would seize our movie before Cannes, does anyone want to take that risk?"
Certainly not. So there we were last week, spiriting a duplicate master negative out of the country just so no one from the government would take it from us. (Seriously, I can't believe I just typed those words! Did I mention that I'm an American, and this is America and NO ONE should ever have to say they had to do such a thing?)
I mean, folks, I have just about had it. Investigating ME because I'm trying to help some 9/11 rescue workers our government has abandoned? Once again, up is down and black is white. There are only two people in need of an investigation and a trial, and the desire for this across America is so widespread you don't even need to see the one's smirk or hear the other's sneer to know who I am talking about.
But no, I'm the one who now has to hire lawyers and sneak my documentary out of the country just so people can see a friggin' movie. I mean, it's just a movie! What on earth could I have placed on celluloid that would require such a nonsensical action against me?
Ok. Scratch that.
Well, I'm on my way to Cannes right now, a copy of the movie in my bag. Don't feel too bad for me, I'll be in the south of France for a week! But then it's back to the U.S. for a number of premieres and benefits and then, finally, a chance for all of you to see this film that I have made. Circle June 29th on your calendar because that's when it opens in theaters everywhere across the country and Canada (for the rest of the world, it opens in the fall).
I can't wait for you to see it.
Yours,
Michael Moore
P.S. I will write more about what happens from Cannes. Stay tuned on my website, MichaelMoore.com.
Dick Cheney and The DC Madame
According to the Wayne Madsen Report, later backed by Stephanie Miller on Air America Radio, the curmudgeonly Dick Cheney was a frequent client of the DC Madame while he was at Halliburton, not while he was in the White House. (Hopefully no one kept a blue dress with DNA evidence.) But since he's been in the White House, The Shooter's gotten the bulk of his massages at the hands of the mainstream media. That's funny. The Shooter now takes on a different connotation, doesn't it?
Check this article out:
Quote:
May 10, 2007 -- WMR (http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/) has received a third well-placed confirmation that Vice President Dick Cheney, while CEO of Halliburton, was a client of the escort service of DC Madam, Deborah Jeane Palfrey. In addition, one of Cheney's closest military advisers and friends was also a client of the DC Madam's Pamela Martin & Associates escort service. Cheney used the escort service while he was a part time resident of the posh Ballantrae section of McLean, Virginia.
....
After intense pressure from the White House and Disney executives, ABC News killed the DC Madam client story after having been given exclusive access to Palfrey's ten years' of phone call records."
Quote:
May 8, 2007 -- Cheney .... reportedly engaged the services of Palfrey's escort firm while he was the CEO and maintained a residence off Chain Bridge Road in the Ballantrae neighborhood in McLean, Virginia, a few blocks from the headquarters of the CIA."
WOAH!
So ABC execs, people throughout the administration - everyone needs a massage now and then, what's the big deal? The truth is, if Bill Clinton had used the service, Al Gore would still be in the White House and we wouldn't be in Iraq. So God bless 'em, I think they could all use a little release now and then.
On the other hand; what's going on here? Is this the "night of the long knives?" Is the administration crumbling around us as we speak?
Our Attorney General Gonzalez is on the bubble. If he doesn't quit, he'll be the least effective AG in the history of the office. He could keep his head in the sand and stays for another 2 years - but his reputation has been shot to smithereens as it is.
Wolfowitz has now gone howling into the night. Terrific article about the reasons behind his downfall, directly tied to his behavior in the Defense department can be found at (http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,482945,00.html) Der Spiegel. The writer uncovered a number of offenses from all the people he brought in with him.
I think every administration has its share of dissemblers, liars and charlatans.
I don't think Dick Cheney should be faulted for going to an escort service any more than I think he should be chastised for being a good Republican against gay rights, despite having a gay daughter. What gets my gallstone throbbing is Cheney insisting on WMD's in Iraq, a connection to 9/11, and the myriad of other lies that he's put out to force us into Iraq. I think he (and W) genuinely believes that a democratic Iraq is in the best interests of the U.S. and Israel. I just don't think he has a clue if that's what the Iraqis ever wanted. As MacNamara so aptly put it in "Fog of War;" (to paraphrase) "If we had known that the Vietnam conflict was a civil war and not part of the Cold War, we would have backed the North."
I'm not anti-Republican, or anti-anyone. I'm just for an open air policy - or in this case, and open door policy. Those in office who want to lie, use cronyism, are war profiteers, or use hate, fear and hostility to get their point across - here's the door. Don't let it hit you on the way out. Whatever party your in. I say we take a page out of the European Parliament handbook - if you don't have a mistress or a lover stashed away somewhere, then you aren't working hard enough.
As Claude Rains says in Casablanca; "I'm shocked! shocked! that gambling is going on here."
What's next? Condi and W in a love nest? Heaven forfend!!
Check this article out:
Quote:
May 10, 2007 -- WMR (http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/) has received a third well-placed confirmation that Vice President Dick Cheney, while CEO of Halliburton, was a client of the escort service of DC Madam, Deborah Jeane Palfrey. In addition, one of Cheney's closest military advisers and friends was also a client of the DC Madam's Pamela Martin & Associates escort service. Cheney used the escort service while he was a part time resident of the posh Ballantrae section of McLean, Virginia.
....
After intense pressure from the White House and Disney executives, ABC News killed the DC Madam client story after having been given exclusive access to Palfrey's ten years' of phone call records."
Quote:
May 8, 2007 -- Cheney .... reportedly engaged the services of Palfrey's escort firm while he was the CEO and maintained a residence off Chain Bridge Road in the Ballantrae neighborhood in McLean, Virginia, a few blocks from the headquarters of the CIA."
WOAH!
So ABC execs, people throughout the administration - everyone needs a massage now and then, what's the big deal? The truth is, if Bill Clinton had used the service, Al Gore would still be in the White House and we wouldn't be in Iraq. So God bless 'em, I think they could all use a little release now and then.
On the other hand; what's going on here? Is this the "night of the long knives?" Is the administration crumbling around us as we speak?
Our Attorney General Gonzalez is on the bubble. If he doesn't quit, he'll be the least effective AG in the history of the office. He could keep his head in the sand and stays for another 2 years - but his reputation has been shot to smithereens as it is.
Wolfowitz has now gone howling into the night. Terrific article about the reasons behind his downfall, directly tied to his behavior in the Defense department can be found at (http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,482945,00.html) Der Spiegel. The writer uncovered a number of offenses from all the people he brought in with him.
I think every administration has its share of dissemblers, liars and charlatans.
I don't think Dick Cheney should be faulted for going to an escort service any more than I think he should be chastised for being a good Republican against gay rights, despite having a gay daughter. What gets my gallstone throbbing is Cheney insisting on WMD's in Iraq, a connection to 9/11, and the myriad of other lies that he's put out to force us into Iraq. I think he (and W) genuinely believes that a democratic Iraq is in the best interests of the U.S. and Israel. I just don't think he has a clue if that's what the Iraqis ever wanted. As MacNamara so aptly put it in "Fog of War;" (to paraphrase) "If we had known that the Vietnam conflict was a civil war and not part of the Cold War, we would have backed the North."
I'm not anti-Republican, or anti-anyone. I'm just for an open air policy - or in this case, and open door policy. Those in office who want to lie, use cronyism, are war profiteers, or use hate, fear and hostility to get their point across - here's the door. Don't let it hit you on the way out. Whatever party your in. I say we take a page out of the European Parliament handbook - if you don't have a mistress or a lover stashed away somewhere, then you aren't working hard enough.
As Claude Rains says in Casablanca; "I'm shocked! shocked! that gambling is going on here."
What's next? Condi and W in a love nest? Heaven forfend!!
Thursday
Chris Albrecht & HBO
Chris Albrecht fell on his sword yesterday.
Here's a guy who has been part of a team that has brought the best television has to offer over the past ten years, and for an incident that happened on a drunken evening, the guy's career is in tatters.
One wonders why Cheney, Bush and Rumsfeld weren't all subject to the same kind of corporate relief?
According the LA Times article today, Chris has had a 'history' of this kind of behavior. But if one reads between the lines, the stories become a little odd - in the first instance, Chris is said to have had an affair with a fellow employee, who was also married - and after they broke up when he found out she was seeing someone else, he 'grabbed her by the throat.' $450K later, she had a settlement, which hasn't come out in the media until today.
I'm of the opinion that you can't hit a woman - you can't strangle them either - but I'm also of the opinion that people do stupid things, and since the incident happened in the workplace, I can't imagine Mr. Albrecht was really trying to strangle his former mistress, just acting out in a bad fashion. Is that worth $450K? Well, in light of the recent HBO much hyped bout, the payment is miniscule.
But then may we examine the events from the past weekend? Mr. Albrecht is caught in flagrant delicto - strangling his girlfriend in a parking lot, so badly that 'there were marks on her neck.' The arresting officer quoted Mr. Albrecht as saying "she pissed me off." The victim in the case, whom I won't name, but the LA Times chose to name, even though no crime was committed, because she refuses to press charges - is mute on the point. Why is she mute? Because it wasn't the first time? Or because she really did 'piss him off.' Odds are, she probably admitted to seeing someone else - and hence another neck lock by Mr. Albrecht, who can't help himself in these cases.
Now - lets talk about a matter of degree. In the OJ case, his rage and jealousy led to the results we all know about - for one side of the spectrum - but in the US Administration, when either the head of the World Bank gets his girlfriend a pay raise and a plump job, he refuses to accept responsibility for it. Or in the case of the Attorney General, who when caught lying on the subject of the recent political dismissals, refuses to step down. Why? Was it because "the finger marks" are not visible in either case?
I applaud Mr. Albrecht for doing what must have been a really difficult decision. I don't know him, never met him, but I know there's a long list of people in Hollywood who are making great livings based on his belief and faith in him. Here's a guy who not only hasn't been convicted of anything, but admits that he has a drinking problem, and is seeking help for it. It's not like he went off and called a police officer "sugar tits" or ranted about Jews causing all the wars. He obviously can't drink and hear bad news at the same time.
It may turn out that this is a serious problem for him, and that this was the best thing that could have happened in his life - it will force him to reflect on behavior and how he can turn it around. After all, it's not like he was seducing teenaged boys over the internet while in office in Washington, or profiteering from an illegal war.. but the guy made a mistake, has fessed up to it, and fallen completely on his sword. It's a rare act these days - in fact I can't think of anyone else in recent memory who has done so - and I'm surprised that the parent company didn't give him 30 days to straighten himself out, or go into therapy. However, in a town that has a severe short term memory loss, I'll predict that within a year, he'll have joined another company with media clout, and will continue to bring quality programs into our world.
But will anyone else from Washington follow his lead? My two cents.
Here's a guy who has been part of a team that has brought the best television has to offer over the past ten years, and for an incident that happened on a drunken evening, the guy's career is in tatters.
One wonders why Cheney, Bush and Rumsfeld weren't all subject to the same kind of corporate relief?
According the LA Times article today, Chris has had a 'history' of this kind of behavior. But if one reads between the lines, the stories become a little odd - in the first instance, Chris is said to have had an affair with a fellow employee, who was also married - and after they broke up when he found out she was seeing someone else, he 'grabbed her by the throat.' $450K later, she had a settlement, which hasn't come out in the media until today.
I'm of the opinion that you can't hit a woman - you can't strangle them either - but I'm also of the opinion that people do stupid things, and since the incident happened in the workplace, I can't imagine Mr. Albrecht was really trying to strangle his former mistress, just acting out in a bad fashion. Is that worth $450K? Well, in light of the recent HBO much hyped bout, the payment is miniscule.
But then may we examine the events from the past weekend? Mr. Albrecht is caught in flagrant delicto - strangling his girlfriend in a parking lot, so badly that 'there were marks on her neck.' The arresting officer quoted Mr. Albrecht as saying "she pissed me off." The victim in the case, whom I won't name, but the LA Times chose to name, even though no crime was committed, because she refuses to press charges - is mute on the point. Why is she mute? Because it wasn't the first time? Or because she really did 'piss him off.' Odds are, she probably admitted to seeing someone else - and hence another neck lock by Mr. Albrecht, who can't help himself in these cases.
Now - lets talk about a matter of degree. In the OJ case, his rage and jealousy led to the results we all know about - for one side of the spectrum - but in the US Administration, when either the head of the World Bank gets his girlfriend a pay raise and a plump job, he refuses to accept responsibility for it. Or in the case of the Attorney General, who when caught lying on the subject of the recent political dismissals, refuses to step down. Why? Was it because "the finger marks" are not visible in either case?
I applaud Mr. Albrecht for doing what must have been a really difficult decision. I don't know him, never met him, but I know there's a long list of people in Hollywood who are making great livings based on his belief and faith in him. Here's a guy who not only hasn't been convicted of anything, but admits that he has a drinking problem, and is seeking help for it. It's not like he went off and called a police officer "sugar tits" or ranted about Jews causing all the wars. He obviously can't drink and hear bad news at the same time.
It may turn out that this is a serious problem for him, and that this was the best thing that could have happened in his life - it will force him to reflect on behavior and how he can turn it around. After all, it's not like he was seducing teenaged boys over the internet while in office in Washington, or profiteering from an illegal war.. but the guy made a mistake, has fessed up to it, and fallen completely on his sword. It's a rare act these days - in fact I can't think of anyone else in recent memory who has done so - and I'm surprised that the parent company didn't give him 30 days to straighten himself out, or go into therapy. However, in a town that has a severe short term memory loss, I'll predict that within a year, he'll have joined another company with media clout, and will continue to bring quality programs into our world.
But will anyone else from Washington follow his lead? My two cents.
Friday
Holding the Qu'ran and the Bible
Dear Dennis Praeger,
With regard to your article (http://www.townhall.com/)
about the right of newly elected Congressman Keith Ellis
to hold the Qu'ran instead of the Bible to be sworn into Congress:
I'm moved to write you about your article. Perhaps
you're not aware of it, but the Islam faith marks its
beginning with Abraham, as does the Jewish faith and
the Christian faith. So the Qu'ran, if you've read it
(great online translation by the way at usc.edu) comes
out of the Bible as we know it and acknowledges the
wisdom of the Bible, and Jesus as well. Secondly,
Congessmen don't swear on the Bible when they're
'sworn in' - they raise their hands and stand at their
desks. It's too time consuming to go around and check
to see who's got what on their desk when they're sworn
in. Those pictures are done as 'photo ops' at a later
date. I'm sure Mark Foley raised his hand on a bible
at some point, but I won't belabor the point; it's not
what's in the hand of a Congressman, but what's in the
heart. And last time I looked, the Bill of Rights is
pretty specific about Congress not passing any law
that tells people what religion we should hold dear.
(or what book they need to hold to get into office)
In fact, if you get a chance, just read the first line
of the Bill of Rights.
I sincerely hope you find a way to mitigate the anger,
or hatred, or misunderstanding you have about Islam.
I'm a Christian, but when 9/11 happened I took it upon
myself to learn and understand the Islamic faith, as
well as to travel to countries where their faith is
practiced, and interview Imams to find out what the
differences really are. I was suprised at how little
differences there are between us and the people who
follow Islam. (honest! and the State dept paid for the
film!) But that took me lots of research, which, as
an intelligent person, I highly recommend you do. As
you can see from the vitriol you've engendered on your
website, I'd hate to see some crazy person cause
violent harm to an innocent Muslim because of their
faith. All because of your column. I think to equate
9/11 with Islam is to fundamentally misread what
happened on that day. You might equally argue that 19
Saudis were on those planes, and therefore Saudi Arabia is
reponsible. Or they were all dark haired -
dark haired people are responsible. It's not what's in
your hand, but what's in your heart. I pray that you
are able to find it within your heart to forgive those
who don't think the same as you, after all, as I've
learned as a Christian; love your neighbor not less
than yourself, but as much if not more than yourself.
And a fitting reason to hold the Bible in your hand,
if only to learn that one lesson.
Sincerely,
Richard Martini
Filmmaker
With regard to your article (http://www.townhall.com/)
about the right of newly elected Congressman Keith Ellis
to hold the Qu'ran instead of the Bible to be sworn into Congress:
I'm moved to write you about your article. Perhaps
you're not aware of it, but the Islam faith marks its
beginning with Abraham, as does the Jewish faith and
the Christian faith. So the Qu'ran, if you've read it
(great online translation by the way at usc.edu) comes
out of the Bible as we know it and acknowledges the
wisdom of the Bible, and Jesus as well. Secondly,
Congessmen don't swear on the Bible when they're
'sworn in' - they raise their hands and stand at their
desks. It's too time consuming to go around and check
to see who's got what on their desk when they're sworn
in. Those pictures are done as 'photo ops' at a later
date. I'm sure Mark Foley raised his hand on a bible
at some point, but I won't belabor the point; it's not
what's in the hand of a Congressman, but what's in the
heart. And last time I looked, the Bill of Rights is
pretty specific about Congress not passing any law
that tells people what religion we should hold dear.
(or what book they need to hold to get into office)
In fact, if you get a chance, just read the first line
of the Bill of Rights.
I sincerely hope you find a way to mitigate the anger,
or hatred, or misunderstanding you have about Islam.
I'm a Christian, but when 9/11 happened I took it upon
myself to learn and understand the Islamic faith, as
well as to travel to countries where their faith is
practiced, and interview Imams to find out what the
differences really are. I was suprised at how little
differences there are between us and the people who
follow Islam. (honest! and the State dept paid for the
film!) But that took me lots of research, which, as
an intelligent person, I highly recommend you do. As
you can see from the vitriol you've engendered on your
website, I'd hate to see some crazy person cause
violent harm to an innocent Muslim because of their
faith. All because of your column. I think to equate
9/11 with Islam is to fundamentally misread what
happened on that day. You might equally argue that 19
Saudis were on those planes, and therefore Saudi Arabia is
reponsible. Or they were all dark haired -
dark haired people are responsible. It's not what's in
your hand, but what's in your heart. I pray that you
are able to find it within your heart to forgive those
who don't think the same as you, after all, as I've
learned as a Christian; love your neighbor not less
than yourself, but as much if not more than yourself.
And a fitting reason to hold the Bible in your hand,
if only to learn that one lesson.
Sincerely,
Richard Martini
Filmmaker
Saturday
Putin & The Nuke Pill
For those of us in the West, the idea of poisoning those who know the truth is .. creepy. As y'all know, this Russian dude was poisoned by a "nuclear pill" for digging up facts around the death of a famous Russian journalist.
Here's the truth; Putin was just in office when a series of bombs went off in Moscow. Using these "terrorist attacks" as a pretext for going to war against an oil rich province, former Soviet satellite of Chechnya, the Russians went back into Grozny with tanks and troops, and have been battling the poor Chechens for six years. Only problem is; evidence points to the Russians planting those very bombs in the Moscow capital, and planting evidence that the Chechens had done it. It was widely reported at the time that one of the cars seen at the scene of the crime was traced back to people within the Russian administration - call it an official police vehicle. This famous Russian journalist was working on the story when she was executed. This Russian guy in London was working on the story of who killed her. Now he's dead, and he blames Putin (or members in his administration) for his murder.
Sound familiar?
I'll explain; the 9/11 conspiracy camp believes that the Bush administration either looked the other way or actively participated in the 9/11 attacks so that we could go to war with Iraq. The terrorist attack on NY became a pretext for our sojourn into the middle east and that oil rich region. Never mind that we went after the Taliban.. and walked away from the battle there. (Which is where "Cut and run" originated.) And now there is this huge body of paranoid people out there showing clips, writing books, and making speeches about the conspiracy.
The conundrums are all there; why let the Bin Laden's out of the country if they didn't know something about it? What about all the 'puts' made on the stocks of American Airlines, and the insurance companies hit in the WTC? Who made those trades? Why is it that the majority of those trades were made through a former CIA official's trading firm? (reported by the UK Guardian in 2001).
Here's my take on it; claiming that the CIA or the Shadow Govt of the US was behind the attack is an attempt to rectify how 'men with box cutters' could bring down two huge buildings. That's trying to diminish the ability of those who did it. I'm not going to refer to them as terrorists, because one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. (Needless to say, the Freedom Fighters of Afganistan have all turned into the terrorists who are trying to kill Americans.) So let's leave that on the table for now - if you spend anytime reading or doing research about Al Qaeda, you'll find a group of very smart, very formidable opponents. Yes, they'd worked out all the details of how to bring down a plane. Yes, they put men with box cutters on the plane, and they did their jobs well. Whether those working on the planes for Al Qaeda knew they were going to die or not is moot - they pulled off the crime of the century. With box cutters. It's arrogance for people to assume their enemies have no ability. It's equally dangerous to assume that your enemy can't pull off an attack of this magnitude without the help of the US secret services. The US Secret Services have shown gross incompetence in the war in Iraq, why would they suddenly become the cleverist of all services? You can't claim incompetence on behalf of the Bush administration, and then claim they pulled off the crime of the century.
That being said - why was Mohammed Atta allowed to traipse across the US scouting locations, sending email, dressing up like an American airlines pilot and arrested in Miami for not paying a bar tab? - Atta was no super criminal.. he comes off like a cartoon most of his trip here. And yet, he was there on the plane and able to direct a pretty amazing airstrike on America. There's some truth in there - something to do with trying to figure out what karma is about, or why the fates of the planet, or our guardian angels allowed this guy to pull off such a heinous crime. But does he deserve credit for it? Credit where credit is due.
Why haven't "they" struck again? Why should they? We've dumped all our troops, money and resources into Iraq. They know that our failure there will be their victory. However, there needs to be another key element for their plan for world domination - and that's for the Iraqi people, for the arab world, for the muslim world, to roll over and play dead for them. People in the Arab world enjoy their advances in luxury - in living - despite hating the West for its lack of religion, or its lack of spirituality. And they aren't going to roll over for Al Qaeda either, when the US wakes up and gets out of Iraq. It's another arrogant point of view to assume that the Arab world will fall apart the moment we leave it. Does anyone remember the "domino theory?"
I lived through the Vietnam era. It's incredible to me that Kissinger has the ear of the President, and that the US Generals in Iraq are pursuing a "Vietnam" strategy to get out of the country. Did no one see "Fog of War?" It's pretty clear what MacNamara says - "If I had understood that the war in Vietnam wasn't the cold war, but was a civil war, we would have been on the side of North Vietnam." That's pretty simple isn't it? In retrospect we didn't understand Vietnam. We still don't. We fought on the wrong side of the war in Vietnam. If that's not saying "60,000 American troops died needlessly" I don't know what is.
So what will happen when we leave Iraq? A civil war? Perhaps. "Al Qaeda will suddenly get nuclear weapons.." from who? Iran? Doubt it. Pakistan? Doubt it. And then what? Wouldn't it make more sense to know where Al Qaeda's power base is so that we can demolish it at a later date? If everyone that's in Al Qaeda races to Iraq to participate in the new "caliphate" - wouldn't that be a good thing? After all, it's easier to do battle with a state of bad guys, then it is to do battle with a movement of bad guys. And that's presupposing that the Iraqi people, who've enjoyed a certain amount of liberty in their non-sectarian country for the past 50 years (until we came in and destroyed it in the name of hunting down our old friend, our hero of the Iran-Iraq war Sadaam) - so now we've saved the Iraqi people from Sadaam, at the cost of 60,000 humans. And the toll is climbing every day. Eventually it will top a million. And the US will go down in history, alongside Germany, Cambodia, Darfur, Bosnia, where millions died in conflict in the pursuit of our wrong headed policies. What history proves is that we have learned absolutely nothing about anything.
But does that mean there's no hope? On the contrary, it's a breath of fresh air in Washington, Pelosi's vindictive behavior aside, but the other side of the coin is that despite mankind's relentless pursuit of power at the point of a gun, eventually even that comes to pass, and a period of peace and reconciliation comes about. Even the Maoist "terrorist insurgents" in Nepal can come to the table with the King, and form a new government by the people. And one day, peace will return to Iraq, and I can guarantee that we won't be the people bringing it to them.
Which brings us back to the "nuclear pill." I can see the minds of those in Washington turning - why were we spending so much money on building nuclear weapons when a "nuclear pill" could have done the same work? A dose for Sadaam would have saved 60,000 lives, but wouldn't have put all the money into the American military machine that needs that money to feed it. It wouldn't have jacked the prices up at the gas pump, and put record billions of dollars of profits into the pockets of the cronies, and war profiteers that are still busy emptying our nation's future into their pockets. I can think of a few people who are candidates for the "nuclear pill," but I won't post them here - after all, I don't believe in capital punishment, and hopefully I won't be given a sushi snack with a side of ginger that has a dose designed for those in this country who disagree with the politics as usual.
The Martini shot for Nov 25, 2006
Here's the truth; Putin was just in office when a series of bombs went off in Moscow. Using these "terrorist attacks" as a pretext for going to war against an oil rich province, former Soviet satellite of Chechnya, the Russians went back into Grozny with tanks and troops, and have been battling the poor Chechens for six years. Only problem is; evidence points to the Russians planting those very bombs in the Moscow capital, and planting evidence that the Chechens had done it. It was widely reported at the time that one of the cars seen at the scene of the crime was traced back to people within the Russian administration - call it an official police vehicle. This famous Russian journalist was working on the story when she was executed. This Russian guy in London was working on the story of who killed her. Now he's dead, and he blames Putin (or members in his administration) for his murder.
Sound familiar?
I'll explain; the 9/11 conspiracy camp believes that the Bush administration either looked the other way or actively participated in the 9/11 attacks so that we could go to war with Iraq. The terrorist attack on NY became a pretext for our sojourn into the middle east and that oil rich region. Never mind that we went after the Taliban.. and walked away from the battle there. (Which is where "Cut and run" originated.) And now there is this huge body of paranoid people out there showing clips, writing books, and making speeches about the conspiracy.
The conundrums are all there; why let the Bin Laden's out of the country if they didn't know something about it? What about all the 'puts' made on the stocks of American Airlines, and the insurance companies hit in the WTC? Who made those trades? Why is it that the majority of those trades were made through a former CIA official's trading firm? (reported by the UK Guardian in 2001).
Here's my take on it; claiming that the CIA or the Shadow Govt of the US was behind the attack is an attempt to rectify how 'men with box cutters' could bring down two huge buildings. That's trying to diminish the ability of those who did it. I'm not going to refer to them as terrorists, because one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. (Needless to say, the Freedom Fighters of Afganistan have all turned into the terrorists who are trying to kill Americans.) So let's leave that on the table for now - if you spend anytime reading or doing research about Al Qaeda, you'll find a group of very smart, very formidable opponents. Yes, they'd worked out all the details of how to bring down a plane. Yes, they put men with box cutters on the plane, and they did their jobs well. Whether those working on the planes for Al Qaeda knew they were going to die or not is moot - they pulled off the crime of the century. With box cutters. It's arrogance for people to assume their enemies have no ability. It's equally dangerous to assume that your enemy can't pull off an attack of this magnitude without the help of the US secret services. The US Secret Services have shown gross incompetence in the war in Iraq, why would they suddenly become the cleverist of all services? You can't claim incompetence on behalf of the Bush administration, and then claim they pulled off the crime of the century.
That being said - why was Mohammed Atta allowed to traipse across the US scouting locations, sending email, dressing up like an American airlines pilot and arrested in Miami for not paying a bar tab? - Atta was no super criminal.. he comes off like a cartoon most of his trip here. And yet, he was there on the plane and able to direct a pretty amazing airstrike on America. There's some truth in there - something to do with trying to figure out what karma is about, or why the fates of the planet, or our guardian angels allowed this guy to pull off such a heinous crime. But does he deserve credit for it? Credit where credit is due.
Why haven't "they" struck again? Why should they? We've dumped all our troops, money and resources into Iraq. They know that our failure there will be their victory. However, there needs to be another key element for their plan for world domination - and that's for the Iraqi people, for the arab world, for the muslim world, to roll over and play dead for them. People in the Arab world enjoy their advances in luxury - in living - despite hating the West for its lack of religion, or its lack of spirituality. And they aren't going to roll over for Al Qaeda either, when the US wakes up and gets out of Iraq. It's another arrogant point of view to assume that the Arab world will fall apart the moment we leave it. Does anyone remember the "domino theory?"
I lived through the Vietnam era. It's incredible to me that Kissinger has the ear of the President, and that the US Generals in Iraq are pursuing a "Vietnam" strategy to get out of the country. Did no one see "Fog of War?" It's pretty clear what MacNamara says - "If I had understood that the war in Vietnam wasn't the cold war, but was a civil war, we would have been on the side of North Vietnam." That's pretty simple isn't it? In retrospect we didn't understand Vietnam. We still don't. We fought on the wrong side of the war in Vietnam. If that's not saying "60,000 American troops died needlessly" I don't know what is.
So what will happen when we leave Iraq? A civil war? Perhaps. "Al Qaeda will suddenly get nuclear weapons.." from who? Iran? Doubt it. Pakistan? Doubt it. And then what? Wouldn't it make more sense to know where Al Qaeda's power base is so that we can demolish it at a later date? If everyone that's in Al Qaeda races to Iraq to participate in the new "caliphate" - wouldn't that be a good thing? After all, it's easier to do battle with a state of bad guys, then it is to do battle with a movement of bad guys. And that's presupposing that the Iraqi people, who've enjoyed a certain amount of liberty in their non-sectarian country for the past 50 years (until we came in and destroyed it in the name of hunting down our old friend, our hero of the Iran-Iraq war Sadaam) - so now we've saved the Iraqi people from Sadaam, at the cost of 60,000 humans. And the toll is climbing every day. Eventually it will top a million. And the US will go down in history, alongside Germany, Cambodia, Darfur, Bosnia, where millions died in conflict in the pursuit of our wrong headed policies. What history proves is that we have learned absolutely nothing about anything.
But does that mean there's no hope? On the contrary, it's a breath of fresh air in Washington, Pelosi's vindictive behavior aside, but the other side of the coin is that despite mankind's relentless pursuit of power at the point of a gun, eventually even that comes to pass, and a period of peace and reconciliation comes about. Even the Maoist "terrorist insurgents" in Nepal can come to the table with the King, and form a new government by the people. And one day, peace will return to Iraq, and I can guarantee that we won't be the people bringing it to them.
Which brings us back to the "nuclear pill." I can see the minds of those in Washington turning - why were we spending so much money on building nuclear weapons when a "nuclear pill" could have done the same work? A dose for Sadaam would have saved 60,000 lives, but wouldn't have put all the money into the American military machine that needs that money to feed it. It wouldn't have jacked the prices up at the gas pump, and put record billions of dollars of profits into the pockets of the cronies, and war profiteers that are still busy emptying our nation's future into their pockets. I can think of a few people who are candidates for the "nuclear pill," but I won't post them here - after all, I don't believe in capital punishment, and hopefully I won't be given a sushi snack with a side of ginger that has a dose designed for those in this country who disagree with the politics as usual.
The Martini shot for Nov 25, 2006
Tuesday
Vanum Populatum
Vanum Populatum
Had a weird dream yesterday.
I've got a bad cold, and weird dreams come to me when I'm loopy from a cold.
I was visiting somewhere ancient I guess.. it almost seemed out of body. Hazy images, smoky. And I heard the words "Vanum populatum."
So when I woke up I wrote it down. Maybe I've been watching too much of the "Rome" miniseries. But then I looked up the words at a Latin translation site;
vanum means "empty, vain, false, untrustworthy.'
populatum means "ravage, devastate, lay waste; plunder, despoil, strip."
It took me awhile to decipher it;
"Strip away that which is vain." or "Lay waste to that which is false or untrustworthy."
What the f am I doing talking to myself in Latin? I don't speak Latin. So who the heck was talking to me in Latin? I'd like to know. And why so philosophical?
It sounds Buddhist to me - but coming from a Latin.. hey wait a second. Nah, Jesus spoke in aramaic, not Latin. So maybe it was a priest - I had an uncle who was a priest - but is that the kind of casual thing a Priest might say? Even to his old nephew?
I was a little shocked to say the least. But it's a cool motto:
"Devastate that which is empty, vain, false or untrustworthy."
sounds like time for a new election.
Had a weird dream yesterday.
I've got a bad cold, and weird dreams come to me when I'm loopy from a cold.
I was visiting somewhere ancient I guess.. it almost seemed out of body. Hazy images, smoky. And I heard the words "Vanum populatum."
So when I woke up I wrote it down. Maybe I've been watching too much of the "Rome" miniseries. But then I looked up the words at a Latin translation site;
vanum means "empty, vain, false, untrustworthy.'
populatum means "ravage, devastate, lay waste; plunder, despoil, strip."
It took me awhile to decipher it;
"Strip away that which is vain." or "Lay waste to that which is false or untrustworthy."
What the f am I doing talking to myself in Latin? I don't speak Latin. So who the heck was talking to me in Latin? I'd like to know. And why so philosophical?
It sounds Buddhist to me - but coming from a Latin.. hey wait a second. Nah, Jesus spoke in aramaic, not Latin. So maybe it was a priest - I had an uncle who was a priest - but is that the kind of casual thing a Priest might say? Even to his old nephew?
I was a little shocked to say the least. But it's a cool motto:
"Devastate that which is empty, vain, false or untrustworthy."
sounds like time for a new election.
Always Connect
Always Connect
some years ago i was sitting at a table in cannes with all these high falootin' folks. i mean, there was a prince, a queen, some other royalty at the table, and yours truly. not that i belonged there. i'm always somewhere that i don't belong. but that's another story. "what are you doing here?" is the most frequent question i get at unusual out of the way places. I think to myself "if you knew me well, you'd say 'hey, of course you would be here.'"
but i digress. I was sitting opposite from the great film producer ishmael merchant. this had to be ten years ago. and i made some comment like 'well this is an unsual table of folks.' and he said 'always connect.' Which he explained as things get put in your path for a reason, he believed, and that one should always try and connect with other people. which is kind of what myspace is all about.
now, it's a little peeving (is that a word?) that this place is filled with PR bots, as I call them. PR people who've created a website for their client - you see 'em around.. selling something.. sell sell sell, everything you live for" that's a line from a song in "O Lucky Man" one of my favorite films. if you haven't seen it, it's worth renting. and then the multiple persona pages - if i see someone on here that i've met or said hi to, or admire, i'll click on their pic and see if they'll add me - and then send 'em a note to see if they remember me from 'that time that we met at so and so's.' and of course, inevitably it's a fan putting up a web page.. which is kind of weird in a way - and kind of indicative of the times we live in. we live through other folks vicariously.. on the net, on t.v., on the silver screen. (are there any silver screens left?)
and yet here you are, reading this blog - which is composed of O's and 1's.. with pix attached. and we try to ascribe meaning to the O's and 1's - or the X's and O's - all with the same inherent meaning. what i've observed about myspace is that since everyone gets only a small box that you can have your pic in - or long box in the case of some folks who need to have bigger pix - everyone's the same. like going into blockbuster and seeing "Lawrence of Arabia" next to "Larry the Cable Guy" movies. (I'm not knocking Larry. I added his comedy page, he's hilarious) My point is, everything becomes relative when it's reduced in size, and scope. Blockbuster titles are all just boxes in a row. They don't reflect the hours and blood sweat and tears that have gone into these films, these works or art, or works of non art.. they're just dvd boxes in a row.
like the pix on your myspace page. just a bunch of pixels - and when you see them, you get an emotion attached to them - 'oh, i love that guy's work' or 'isn't she unsual?' or 'i didn't know he was on myspace.' of course they probably aren't, but their PRbot may print out a missive or two and pass 'em along..
which isn't to say that i haven't had some interesting conversations here.. i have. about all kinds of things.. i guess what i'm trying to say is that what it all boils down to is.. 'always connect.' it may be that we're connecting with people from our past, or connecting with people from our future.. or past lives, or future lives, or what have you. There's a law in phsyics that shows that the atoms and ions and gluons that bounce around each other have a tendency to find out other atoms and ions that they've bounced around with before.. attracted to places and other atoms they've already been.. so maybe that's also true of myspace. we're just bouncing atoms finding each other again in the ephemera of webspace.
my two cents.
some years ago i was sitting at a table in cannes with all these high falootin' folks. i mean, there was a prince, a queen, some other royalty at the table, and yours truly. not that i belonged there. i'm always somewhere that i don't belong. but that's another story. "what are you doing here?" is the most frequent question i get at unusual out of the way places. I think to myself "if you knew me well, you'd say 'hey, of course you would be here.'"
but i digress. I was sitting opposite from the great film producer ishmael merchant. this had to be ten years ago. and i made some comment like 'well this is an unsual table of folks.' and he said 'always connect.' Which he explained as things get put in your path for a reason, he believed, and that one should always try and connect with other people. which is kind of what myspace is all about.
now, it's a little peeving (is that a word?) that this place is filled with PR bots, as I call them. PR people who've created a website for their client - you see 'em around.. selling something.. sell sell sell, everything you live for" that's a line from a song in "O Lucky Man" one of my favorite films. if you haven't seen it, it's worth renting. and then the multiple persona pages - if i see someone on here that i've met or said hi to, or admire, i'll click on their pic and see if they'll add me - and then send 'em a note to see if they remember me from 'that time that we met at so and so's.' and of course, inevitably it's a fan putting up a web page.. which is kind of weird in a way - and kind of indicative of the times we live in. we live through other folks vicariously.. on the net, on t.v., on the silver screen. (are there any silver screens left?)
and yet here you are, reading this blog - which is composed of O's and 1's.. with pix attached. and we try to ascribe meaning to the O's and 1's - or the X's and O's - all with the same inherent meaning. what i've observed about myspace is that since everyone gets only a small box that you can have your pic in - or long box in the case of some folks who need to have bigger pix - everyone's the same. like going into blockbuster and seeing "Lawrence of Arabia" next to "Larry the Cable Guy" movies. (I'm not knocking Larry. I added his comedy page, he's hilarious) My point is, everything becomes relative when it's reduced in size, and scope. Blockbuster titles are all just boxes in a row. They don't reflect the hours and blood sweat and tears that have gone into these films, these works or art, or works of non art.. they're just dvd boxes in a row.
like the pix on your myspace page. just a bunch of pixels - and when you see them, you get an emotion attached to them - 'oh, i love that guy's work' or 'isn't she unsual?' or 'i didn't know he was on myspace.' of course they probably aren't, but their PRbot may print out a missive or two and pass 'em along..
which isn't to say that i haven't had some interesting conversations here.. i have. about all kinds of things.. i guess what i'm trying to say is that what it all boils down to is.. 'always connect.' it may be that we're connecting with people from our past, or connecting with people from our future.. or past lives, or future lives, or what have you. There's a law in phsyics that shows that the atoms and ions and gluons that bounce around each other have a tendency to find out other atoms and ions that they've bounced around with before.. attracted to places and other atoms they've already been.. so maybe that's also true of myspace. we're just bouncing atoms finding each other again in the ephemera of webspace.
my two cents.
My Flix on google and youtube
The Flix on my myspace page
I've just posted a bunch of my flix, or clips from my flix, or short films, or what not on this myspace page. I finally got around to uploading them, so get out the popcorn, pull up a chair and enjoy a sampling of my life. Soon I'm putting up "The Big Bang" the first film I ever did in high school, then there's my short "Video Valentino" that became my first feature "You Can't Hurry Love." There's a bunch of clips from my film "Camera - dogme ..15" because - well they're funny. And I made the flick for nothing. So the actors should be seen, because they're great in it. So, we'll see if anyone pays any attention to this stuff.. I just like having my stuff out in the planet, because it's just sitting on my shelf otherwise. The internet is not only the new yellow pages, it's the new garage sale, and the new closet where you put all your stuff - it just so happens other folks can get a gander.
And a word about Luana Ander's work - she's listed in my top 8 - she passed away 10 years ago - but I put up two flix we did - "Clones at Greaser's Palace" where she plays all the parts - it's a student film I did while at USC - Luana was in over 300 t.v. shows and 30 feature films - she's no longer on the planet, but you can visit her memorial page at www.luanaanders.com - anyways, I think there might be another one on there, I forget. But she's the real deal. Enjoy.
RM
I've just posted a bunch of my flix, or clips from my flix, or short films, or what not on this myspace page. I finally got around to uploading them, so get out the popcorn, pull up a chair and enjoy a sampling of my life. Soon I'm putting up "The Big Bang" the first film I ever did in high school, then there's my short "Video Valentino" that became my first feature "You Can't Hurry Love." There's a bunch of clips from my film "Camera - dogme ..15" because - well they're funny. And I made the flick for nothing. So the actors should be seen, because they're great in it. So, we'll see if anyone pays any attention to this stuff.. I just like having my stuff out in the planet, because it's just sitting on my shelf otherwise. The internet is not only the new yellow pages, it's the new garage sale, and the new closet where you put all your stuff - it just so happens other folks can get a gander.
And a word about Luana Ander's work - she's listed in my top 8 - she passed away 10 years ago - but I put up two flix we did - "Clones at Greaser's Palace" where she plays all the parts - it's a student film I did while at USC - Luana was in over 300 t.v. shows and 30 feature films - she's no longer on the planet, but you can visit her memorial page at www.luanaanders.com - anyways, I think there might be another one on there, I forget. But she's the real deal. Enjoy.
RM
Monday
American Idol Redux
“Tea for Two”
Here's a recap of my latest post from USA TODAY. Here's a link:
http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2006-05-22-idol-coaches_x.htm
Talk about a tight race. It’s tighter than the election of 2000, and if history repeats itself, the Supreme Court may have weigh in to decide the winner - the Court being those pesky purveyors of American Supremes; the Idol Mod Squad of Randy, Paula and Simon. It was a shame to see Elliot hit the road, but there couldn’t have been a finer tribute - kudos to the editors of those ‘farewell’ videos, they capture the essence of the Idols, and in this case, showed a heartwarming depature for a kid from the pharmacy counter in Virginia who went all the way to singing in his hometown’s baseball stadium. A classic Idol moment.
I think Taylor’s first solo album would aptly be named “Soul Patrol.” Why not? They got him this far, he might as well honor them with a nod. He’s going to have a lot of fun in the studio, with or without his hometown band, and he should build on his foundations with material from his root mentors; Ray Charles, Joe Cocker, Otis Redding, or Michael McDonald. But there’s a few titles I’d like to hear from Taylor, like John Lennon’s “Imagine” done with the backing of a gospel choir, Ray Charles “You Don’t Know Me” done with Billy Joel, Van Morrison’s “Real Real Gone,” or any Muddy Waters tune, as long as he plays his blues harp on the tracks. He might give a shout out to Ray beyond the pearly gates by doing his own version of “America the Beautiful;” he’s got a shot of being asked to sing that at every down home grits fest they can get him to roll up his sleeves for. Kelly Clarkson scored with her version of the “Star Spangled Banner,” but “America” is more suited to Taylor’s chops. Other oddities come to mind; Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks “I Feel Like Singing,” a version of “Soul Man” with Clarence Clemmons backing him on sax, or “Midnight Rider“ with Dickey Betts‘ new band, “Great Southern.” His choice of Michael McDonald for the Idol Cd was sharp, but can’t wait for him to have some fun with “Sweet Home Alabama” or even my hometown anthem “Sweet Home Chicago.” I’d like to hear his take on Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” if only to see if he can match Jeff Buckley’s haunting version, which I can‘t seem to get off my car‘s CD player. As for duets, big blues voices like Chaka Khan, Aretha Franklin, or Bonnie Raitt would all have some fun with the funky white boy’s joie de vivre. I’d shy away from getting mired in the insipid song list the Clive Davis assembly-liners churn out for the Idol contractual CD’s - they’re hard to sing, have little or no soul, and although sell piles of ‘units‘, taste like Chinese fast food; listen once, you’re still hungry for something more substantial. Suffice to say, if it don’t fit like an old boot, don’t put it on your foot. Mr. Hicks is a triple threat, being able to sing, play guitar and harmonica, and despite having pitchy moments, technology can smooth out the pitchiest voice - including stars like Rod Stewart who returned to the show to prove why he sounds so good in the studio. (My mom asked why she couldn’t vote off Rod after his performance on the show.) The odd occasion Taylor hits a clam can be ironed out in post, and his live shows will drown out any sour notes via his megawatt enthusiasm. As for a producer, I’d drag Grammy winning Russ Titelman out of his Hudson River digs, and get him to work the same magic he did with Eric Clapton, Chaka Khan, Rickie Lee Jones and Randy Newman, among others. If Taylor stays true to his roots, he’s going to have a Kelly Clarkson career, no matter if he wins the Idol crown or not; it’s time for another “Blues Brother” wave to sweep the country. I thought Taylor should win from the moment he picked up his harmonica and wailed it at the gob smacked judges, seconded by my two year old dancing around the house chanting his name like a mantra. She‘s got his vote, even if it’s by a half point.
Kathering McPhee knocked “Over the Rainbow” onto Waveland Avenue, and wouldn’t hurt as a title for her first solo album. She really can sing a capella, and I’d love to hear her do a rendition of Tracy Nelson’s overlooked paean “When You Went Away.” I also loved the snippet of coloratura she did with Andrea Bocelli; perhaps she can strong arm curmudgeon David Foster into getting Andrea to do a Lucio Dalla “Caruso” with her. As odd as it sounds, a pairing with Kellie Clarkson would make synergistic sense - politics aside - since Simon pointed out how similar they can sound. Would love to hear them both wail on “It’s Raining Men.” Mac’s performances of Whitney Houston, or other “big vocalists” demonstrated how fearless she is at attacking songs that are out of her range - in the case of her own choice of material, I’d allow people like Simon to tell her what to sing, and how to sing it, as he was on the money with “Rainbow.” She may enjoy doing the wild stylings of a Christina Aguilera, but it rarely feels organic - and she’s scored best when she was singing fun songs, heart breakers, or even Aretha, when she obviously felt she had nothing to lose by kicking off her heels and rocking the house with “Think.” This is the kind of material she can own, and the women vocalists she’s tried to emulate by giving the songs the Michael Bolton full-throated blast have been the least successful. However, that being said, I’d like to hear her version of “Piece of My Heart,” Joni Mitchell’s “California,” Sting’s “Fields of Gold” or even a standard like “Autumn Leaves.” As for a producer, I’d cozy up to Glen Ballard, who when not winning Grammy’s for his work with Alanis Morrisette, has been known to create magic even in the San Fernando valley. I think Katherine is well poised to snatch the crown from Taylor, and I’ll polish my own apple by noting previously she’d have the chops to “sail under the wire” to the end. Her dad’s ubiquitous tears aside, I just happen to believe Taylor’s going to be doing the tears of joy with that smidgen of a point that decides the victor. However, my choice for Kat’s most sentimental duet on her solo album would be one with Elliot Yamin, who would bring a jazzy feel, an emotional lift and a cute counterpoint to her talented vocals. After all, wouldn’t they make the perfect American Idol twosome?
Here's a recap of my latest post from USA TODAY. Here's a link:
http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2006-05-22-idol-coaches_x.htm
Talk about a tight race. It’s tighter than the election of 2000, and if history repeats itself, the Supreme Court may have weigh in to decide the winner - the Court being those pesky purveyors of American Supremes; the Idol Mod Squad of Randy, Paula and Simon. It was a shame to see Elliot hit the road, but there couldn’t have been a finer tribute - kudos to the editors of those ‘farewell’ videos, they capture the essence of the Idols, and in this case, showed a heartwarming depature for a kid from the pharmacy counter in Virginia who went all the way to singing in his hometown’s baseball stadium. A classic Idol moment.
I think Taylor’s first solo album would aptly be named “Soul Patrol.” Why not? They got him this far, he might as well honor them with a nod. He’s going to have a lot of fun in the studio, with or without his hometown band, and he should build on his foundations with material from his root mentors; Ray Charles, Joe Cocker, Otis Redding, or Michael McDonald. But there’s a few titles I’d like to hear from Taylor, like John Lennon’s “Imagine” done with the backing of a gospel choir, Ray Charles “You Don’t Know Me” done with Billy Joel, Van Morrison’s “Real Real Gone,” or any Muddy Waters tune, as long as he plays his blues harp on the tracks. He might give a shout out to Ray beyond the pearly gates by doing his own version of “America the Beautiful;” he’s got a shot of being asked to sing that at every down home grits fest they can get him to roll up his sleeves for. Kelly Clarkson scored with her version of the “Star Spangled Banner,” but “America” is more suited to Taylor’s chops. Other oddities come to mind; Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks “I Feel Like Singing,” a version of “Soul Man” with Clarence Clemmons backing him on sax, or “Midnight Rider“ with Dickey Betts‘ new band, “Great Southern.” His choice of Michael McDonald for the Idol Cd was sharp, but can’t wait for him to have some fun with “Sweet Home Alabama” or even my hometown anthem “Sweet Home Chicago.” I’d like to hear his take on Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” if only to see if he can match Jeff Buckley’s haunting version, which I can‘t seem to get off my car‘s CD player. As for duets, big blues voices like Chaka Khan, Aretha Franklin, or Bonnie Raitt would all have some fun with the funky white boy’s joie de vivre. I’d shy away from getting mired in the insipid song list the Clive Davis assembly-liners churn out for the Idol contractual CD’s - they’re hard to sing, have little or no soul, and although sell piles of ‘units‘, taste like Chinese fast food; listen once, you’re still hungry for something more substantial. Suffice to say, if it don’t fit like an old boot, don’t put it on your foot. Mr. Hicks is a triple threat, being able to sing, play guitar and harmonica, and despite having pitchy moments, technology can smooth out the pitchiest voice - including stars like Rod Stewart who returned to the show to prove why he sounds so good in the studio. (My mom asked why she couldn’t vote off Rod after his performance on the show.) The odd occasion Taylor hits a clam can be ironed out in post, and his live shows will drown out any sour notes via his megawatt enthusiasm. As for a producer, I’d drag Grammy winning Russ Titelman out of his Hudson River digs, and get him to work the same magic he did with Eric Clapton, Chaka Khan, Rickie Lee Jones and Randy Newman, among others. If Taylor stays true to his roots, he’s going to have a Kelly Clarkson career, no matter if he wins the Idol crown or not; it’s time for another “Blues Brother” wave to sweep the country. I thought Taylor should win from the moment he picked up his harmonica and wailed it at the gob smacked judges, seconded by my two year old dancing around the house chanting his name like a mantra. She‘s got his vote, even if it’s by a half point.
Kathering McPhee knocked “Over the Rainbow” onto Waveland Avenue, and wouldn’t hurt as a title for her first solo album. She really can sing a capella, and I’d love to hear her do a rendition of Tracy Nelson’s overlooked paean “When You Went Away.” I also loved the snippet of coloratura she did with Andrea Bocelli; perhaps she can strong arm curmudgeon David Foster into getting Andrea to do a Lucio Dalla “Caruso” with her. As odd as it sounds, a pairing with Kellie Clarkson would make synergistic sense - politics aside - since Simon pointed out how similar they can sound. Would love to hear them both wail on “It’s Raining Men.” Mac’s performances of Whitney Houston, or other “big vocalists” demonstrated how fearless she is at attacking songs that are out of her range - in the case of her own choice of material, I’d allow people like Simon to tell her what to sing, and how to sing it, as he was on the money with “Rainbow.” She may enjoy doing the wild stylings of a Christina Aguilera, but it rarely feels organic - and she’s scored best when she was singing fun songs, heart breakers, or even Aretha, when she obviously felt she had nothing to lose by kicking off her heels and rocking the house with “Think.” This is the kind of material she can own, and the women vocalists she’s tried to emulate by giving the songs the Michael Bolton full-throated blast have been the least successful. However, that being said, I’d like to hear her version of “Piece of My Heart,” Joni Mitchell’s “California,” Sting’s “Fields of Gold” or even a standard like “Autumn Leaves.” As for a producer, I’d cozy up to Glen Ballard, who when not winning Grammy’s for his work with Alanis Morrisette, has been known to create magic even in the San Fernando valley. I think Katherine is well poised to snatch the crown from Taylor, and I’ll polish my own apple by noting previously she’d have the chops to “sail under the wire” to the end. Her dad’s ubiquitous tears aside, I just happen to believe Taylor’s going to be doing the tears of joy with that smidgen of a point that decides the victor. However, my choice for Kat’s most sentimental duet on her solo album would be one with Elliot Yamin, who would bring a jazzy feel, an emotional lift and a cute counterpoint to her talented vocals. After all, wouldn’t they make the perfect American Idol twosome?
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