Solipsistic

It's March 21 for goodness sake.

Why is there snow on the ground?

Is Tony gonna die? Is he gonna turn into Harrison Ford in "Regarding Henry"?

No on both counts, but in the meantime we're gonna continue to get a really cool story about alternate reality/dream sequence Tony and the kind of life he might've chosen for himself. Wasn't Gandolfini amazing as the polished and faithful salesman? Awesome performance.

I saw some strong "Odyssey" parallels. All Tony's crew moving into his house and eating his food while his own son comes to grips with the situation and contemplates revenge. Tony losing his identity and becoming "Nobody. Tony being stalled in his journey back home and out of his coma.

For those who were worried "The Sopranos" had stalled and was tired, worry no more. David Chase is taking the show somewhere I, and no one else, ever expected. Look out.

I predict more than a few fans are gonna be pissed about the radical turn of the show and the Kevin Finnerty subplot. It's all gonna pay off, though, so be patient.

"Meanwhile, in downtown Canada..."

Apparently, we're still torturing.

And I thought we'd caught and convicted the ten people who were responsible for prisoner abuse, including uber-mastermind Lindy England.

If you wonder why some liberals are cynical and angry, do stories like this help you understand?

Here's a joke: Why are liberals so angry? Because they pay attention.

Why has Kansas choked the last two years in the first round?

Certainly they have the talent to go a little deeper into the tournament. They just haven't been prepared it seems.

Play 'em if you got 'em.

1. "Miami 2017" Billy Joel (the live verson off "Songs in the Attic")
2. "Dogs Got a Bone" The Beta Band
3. "New Madrid" Uncle Tupelo
4. "Sugar Sugar" The Archies
5. "When I Fall" Barenaked Ladies (the one from "Rock Spectacle")
6. "Debaser" The Pixies
7. "Soul Love" David Bowie
8. "Fever Dog" Stillwater
9. "Expressway to Your Heart" The Soul Survivors
10. "Sweet Thing" Van Morrison (The greatest Van Morrison song? Discuss.)

Gonna see this sometime over the next few days.

Anyone who complains to you that the movie stinks because its not faithful to the source material probably hasn't read the source material in awhile. The graphic novel on which the movie is based is a snoozer. Ugly color choices abound, the narrative moves at a glacial pace, and the book is full of hokum about anarchy.

Don't get me wrong. Allan Moore, the author of "V", wrote one of the great novels in "Watchmen," but "V" is a misfire. This opinion also may be the result of all the time that has passed since the book's publishing. When it came out, its adult themes and willingness to address politics in a somewhat mature manner were probably a breath of fresh air.

But post-"Watchmen", "Sandman," and "Year One," "V" is a narrative and artistic failure. The movie can only be better.

Hello again. Back in town, but trying to get caught up on some school work. Maybe a few more posts today.

R James is going into hibernation for a few days. I'm heading down to Atlanta for a friend's birthday. Will post again soon.

Atrios highlights this heated exchange between Chris Matthews and Pat Toomey who is running for US Senator in Pennsylvania.

In the discussion, Matthews keeps pressuring Toomey, who is anti-abortion, to say how we propose women would be punished if abortion were illegal. What would the penalty be?

Toomey will not answer, but it is the question all those who are against abortion must be ready to answer.

After much outrage, the Republicans in the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to not launch an investigation into NSA wiretapping.

Instead, Gonzales, who has lied to the Senate in the past, will have to report to a special committee every forty-five days.

So basically, keep up the good work White House. You're doing a heckuva job.

I really thought with our president at 34%, the genuflecting GOP might break ranks.

President Bush, as you remember, recently stated that he didn't remember ever meeting lobbyist Jack Abramoff. (Of course, we all knew this was bunk. Abramoff was one of the most powerful and influential men in the GOP.)

Abramoff, in a new issue of "Vanity Fair", further deflates Bush's claim as well as the claims of a few other memory-challenged Republicans.

Say it with me now, "President Bush is a liar."

The man behind "Kicking and Screaming" and the Awards-deprived "The Squid and the Whale" is at work on a new project with a big name cast.

I'm hoping we'll be getting a Baumbach project on a regular basis now.

Speaking of Baumbach, I was just sitting here thinking about "The Squid and the Whale" and how in some ways its reminiscent of Woody Allen's work--it takes place among intellectuals in New York and it deals with adultery. But unlike so much of Allen, Baumbach has a more pointed take on adultery. Rather than being a positive step toward finding that someone who will make us happy, Baumbach shows the fall out of infidelity. His leads rather than being neurotic and winning, are neurotic and deeply flawed. (I'm not pointing fingers here. I got a huge plank in my eye.) I'm just saying I appreciate Baumbach's take on fidelity in that it is more realistic and more human. It feels less like a fantasy than an Allen work like "Hannah and Her Sisters."

Check it out when it comes to video.

My wife got me a subscription to the literary magazine "The Believer" for my birthday and it's proven to be a good gift. It's put out by the good folks at McSweeney's and has fun stuff like a regular column by Nick Hornby, an analysis of Dave Sim's "Cerebus," interviews with folks like Sarah Silverman and Tom Stoppard, and articles by folks like Richard Powers--one of the best and least recognized authors of the last twenty years or so.

Anyway, they recently ran a piece by Robert Christgaua, critic for the "Village Voice" analyzing Eminem's ouevre. The piece was confounding and stands as a good example of why "fly over country" often finds liberal mores offensive, or, at the very least, hard to understand.

Let me explain. Appreciating hip-hop is a necessary skill for any liberal. It's a way to appear hip and to show that you understand the marginalized. It also means that unlike your conservative parents, whom you are inevitably rebelling against, you don't mind your music hard and uncompromising.

I remember a very liberal professor whose classes I loved, extolling the virtues of Eminem's "brilliant", epistletory "Stan." I don't know. After all these years, it still seems sort of silly and ham-fisted.

I do enjoy a good deal of hip-hop, but as a Christian, I find its tendency to promote misogyny and conspicuous consumption troubling. (As always, there are exceptions. But on the whole, these values are consistently promoted in hip-hop music.) Given the misogynist tendencies in hip-hop, I'm consistenly amazed at hip-hop's embrace by liberals.

Christgau continues this trend in his Eminem apology "The Slim Shady Essay." The author defends Eminem's misogyny by claiming it is all part of the performer's act. Of course, Christgau is truly offended by Eminem's homophobia--me too!--because those feelings when expressed are truly hurtful. The misogyny, though, is just part of his brilliant act.

This all struck me as more than a little ridiculous. How is misogyny less harmful than homophobia? Certainly there are more cases of violence against women in the US than there of violence toward homosexuals. Neither of which I am defending, of course, but how can we overlook some of Eminem's hate and attack the rest?

I have found Eminem's music particularly offensive. It is hateful and his swipes at homosexuals are gross and very mean. I find "Lose Yourself" as catchy as the next guy, but the performer has unleashed some truly hateful albums. ("Lose Yourself" was part of the "8 Mile" soundtrack and "8 Mile" was an attempt to soften the performer's image--to create a softer, gentler Eminem.)

If we're gonna seriously examine the artist and hold him accountable, let's put everything on the table.

Disillusioned by the Bush White House and the big business ties of the Republican party, some conservative christians are looking left. There is an article in the new Washington Monthly addressing this trend. It also looks at the case of a Democrat-sponsored bill in the Alabama legislature to teach bible literacy and how it was opposed by Republicans:

The Republicans were filibustering the Bible bill. On a Tuesday afternoon in early February, Republican legislators in Alabama took to the crimson-carpeted floor of the state house to oppose legislation that would authorize an elective course on the Bible in public high schools. The recommended curriculum for the course had been vouched for by Christian Right all-stars like Chuck Colson and Ted Haggard, but so far as Republicans were concerned, there was only one pertinent piece of information about the bill: It was sponsored by two Democrats. And now Republicans were prepared to do everything in their procedural power to stop it, even if that meant lining up to explain why they could not—could not!—stand for this attempt to bring a class about the Bible into public schools.

I long ago looked left after seeing how quickly, haphazardly, and deceitfully the president launched the war. I think Bush's bungling may cause him to lose sizeable support among conservatives. We'll see.

"May you live in interesting times."

Not too many surprises, except for "Brokeback" not winning Best Picture.

"Crash" was not the best picture of the year, but the academy has a history of overlooking the year's best movies. I'm still miffed that "The Aviator" and "L.A. Confidential" weren't awarded Best Picture given that they are two of the best pictures in Hollywood history.

Kinda boring overall. Jon Stewart was good. Glad to see McMurtry given any award, and I liked the hip hop acceptance speech.

I was babysitting my neice last night and stayed at my sister-in-law's house. Got a chance to catch Bill Maher's show.

Not so good. It's all about Bill. His jokes come off a bit like Bob Hope working really blue. Good guests, though.

Apparently, O'Reilly threatened to send out Fox's secret police if anymore callers stepped out of line and mentioned Keith Olbermann on his show.

This honor goes to Jeff Daniels in "The Squid and the Whale."

He managed to create sympathy for his character of the pretentious, at times clueless, father and author.

After seeing his turn in this movie, I think I appreciate "Dumb and Dumber" more.

Runners-up: Mickey Rourke in "Sin City" and Paul Rudd in "The 40-Year Old Virgin"

And maybe the best all around actress of the past ten years or so.

Yes, I'm talking about Catherine Keener. She turned in two amazing performances this year in both "Capote, where she played Harper Lee, and "The 40-Year Old Virgin," where she played the sometimes thankless role of the love interest.

She is a magnet for your attention whenever she is onscreen. She served as moral compass in two very different morality plays. She managed to steal scenes from both Phillip Seymour Hoffman--an amazing feat given his performance--and goofball Steve Carrell.

Runner-up: Rachel Weisz in "The Constant Gardener"

I don't have an iPod, yet, but I have been downloading some music on to my laptop and putting Windows Media on the shuffle setting. Even though I have a few hundred hours of music in the hard drive there are some songs that my computer seems to really have an affinity for. (Or, if mom's reading "...for which it has an affinity.")

For instance, my computer seems to really love "Potholes in My Lawn" by De La Soul. It plays it almost every day.

Who knew Hewlett-Packard's were hip hop fans?

Feeling a little country today. Play 'em if you got 'em.

1. "Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart Tonight" Whiskeytown
2. "Lonesome Wind Blues" Rhonda Vincent
3. "Alone Again Or" Love
4. "Scooby Driver" Belle and Sebastian
5. "My Stars are Clear (The Runway Song)" The Macon Blue Beat Combo
6. "Zorro is Back" Oliver Onions
7. "Lava" The B-52s
8. "Starlings of the Slipstream" Pavement
9. "Winter" The Rolling Stones
10 "A Change is Gonna Come" Sam Cooke

There's an interview with the director of "Metropolitan" in this week's Onion AV Club.

Apparently, he's got new projects in the works. Let's hope.

Here's a timeless headline from America's finest news source.

Just try to make it through an entire WOW compilation, a collection of the day's best contemporary christian music. The melodies are derivative and reminiscent of commercial jingles. The singing is bland and American Idol-y. The lyrics self-centered.

The Christian record companies motto seems to be "If you like the crap you hear on pop radio, just wait to you get a load of our crap."

It's very old news at this point in the day that Bush was well aware prior to landfall of the impending danger posed by Katrina. There's video out there proving this fact.

And yet, after everything went awry, he claimed no one saw it coming.

I'd be really interested to hear from my readers, if you still trust the president. And if so, why?

My budget is limited, so I try not to go see any movie that I read is crappy.

My least favorite movie of the year I saw for free and saw in 2004, but Miramax didn't release it until this year:

Dear Frankie

This is a cloying tale about a young boy in search of the father he's never met. His mother, to ease the boy's pain, hires an eligible bachelor to stand in as the boy's father. Wonder what's gonna happen? The young boy's too perfect and the twists and turns too obvious. If you've seen a movie before, you'll see the end coming a mile away.

My wife liked it, so some of ya'll might like it, too.

I hated it.

Here is the definitive list.

Behold!

10. The Constant Gardener
9. Cache
8. The New World
7. King Kong
6. Munich
5. Layer Cake
4. The Squid and the Whale
3. Pride and Prejudice
2. The 40-Year Old Virgin/Brokeback Mountain (tie)
1. La meglio gioventu

Runners up: The Upside of Anger, Sin City, Gunner Palace, The War Within, A History of Violence, Capote, Serenity, Elizabethtown, Syriana, Crash, Match Point

His new album "Illinois" is amazing.

Creepy, literate, fascinating, weird, beautiful.

Check it out. It's part of his project to make concept albums about all fifty of the United States. "Illinois" is his second album in the series following "Michigan."

You'll find it in the rock section of your record store.

Today,I was trying to figure out the mysteries of the Dewey Decimal system.

Believe it or not, more interesting than it sounds, but it definitely cut into my blogging time.