Solipsistic

Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley. Check out "Rabbit Fur Coat" and the several Rilo Kiley albums. I'm a little late to the party on Rilo Kiley, but I've been to their songs in heavy rotation lately and wanted to give them an endorsement.

But maybe a little too "inside baseball." Those who keep up with the talking heads will get a kick out of it.

Former CIA analyst drops this bombshell on Tucker Carlson's show.

I'll believe it when I see it.

George Tenet, former CIA director, has his big 60 Minutes interview on Sunday and his book will be released on Monday. In the book, he says Cheney was eager to get us into war with Iraq and didn't properly consider the impacts of such an action and the alternatives to war. (This is not news.)

Tenet also states that his comment about war evidence being "a slam dunk" referred to the President's ability to make the case for war given the evidence. He was not stating that the evidence itself was a "slam dunk," or definitive and irrefutable, as the White House has characterized. This is a key revelation because the White House has always stated that the bad intelligence was the CIA's fault. The White House was duped into the war.

No one really believed this but the very gullible and those who still believe in Bush because he says he prays everyday. But Tenet seems to believe this vindicates him. But if he was stating that the ability of the White House to sell the war based on the evidence was a "slam dunk." How is this any better? Tenet still remains culpable. Forget questions of legitimacy of the evidence. We can sell this, Mr. President.

That's inexcusable. Tenet has stated in regards to the White House's mischaracterization that "men of honor don't do this."

Men of honor don't dupe the American people and try and sell us a false bill of goods.

Curtis Hanson's (L.A. Confidential) has been in the can for two years and regular moviegoers have been seeing ads for it for over a year. The release date continues to be pushed back. Initially it was advertised as a moody movie about a gambler's troubled relationship with his father and girlfriend. It looked as if the movie was more of a "guy" film with a heavy emphasis on Texas Hold 'Em.

Over a year later, it has been hauled out again and is now being advertised as a somewhat upbeat film that is a love story about a gambler. The Texas Hold 'Em almost seems incidental to the plot. Its opening date? My 4th. The same day is the behemoth Spiderman 3. This is classic counterprogramming. It explains the new emphasis on romance and the switch to a more upbeat trailer. (Don't be fooled. This one looks to be a bit of a downer.) Warner Brothers, the studio releasing Lucky You, hopes to snag those wives and girlfriends who don't want to see one of the biggest action movies of all time.

But doesn't everyone want to see Spiderman 3 on opening day? Expect a quick death for Lucky You.

Josh Marshall articulates what I have been thinking in regards to the war.

Some Republicans have been saying that the Iraq spending bill in its current condition is a de facto order to surrender. But to whom? Isn't the war over? Aren't we now an occupying force? Wouldn't leaving be ending the occupation--not surrendering--since the war is already over?

Here.

From AmericaBlog:

Laura Bush wants you to know the President is suffering over Iraq. Laura [Bush] told Anne Curry on the Today Show, that the American people need to know that "no one suffers more than their President and I do."

No one?

Hates Iraqis.

Senator Waxman's hearings on the Army's falsifying of multiple stories is astounding. This testimony from Pat Tillman's brother Kevin is worth watching.

What happened here?

To the amazement of company CEO:

Despite having been on the job for nine months, RadioShack CEO Julian Day said Monday that he still has "no idea" how the home electronics store manages to stay open.

"There must be some sort of business model that enables this company to make money, but I'll be damned if I know what it is," Day said. "You wouldn't think that people still buy enough strobe lights and extension cords to support an entire nationwide chain, but I guess they must, or I wouldn't have this desk to sit behind all day."

The retail outlet boasts more than 6,000 locations in the United States, and is known best for its wall-sized displays of obscure-looking analog electronics components and its notoriously desperate, high-pressure sales staff. Nevertheless, it ranks as a Fortune 500 company, with gross revenues of over $4.5 billion and fiscal quarter earnings averaging tens of millions of dollars.

"Have you even been inside of a RadioShack recently?" Day asked. "Just walking into the place makes you feel vaguely depressed and alienated. Maybe our customers are at the mall anyway and don't feel like driving to Best Buy? I suppose that's possible, but still, it's just...weird."

..."I'd like to capitalize on the store's strong points, but I honestly don't know what they are," Day said. "Every location is full of bizarre adapters, random chargers, and old boom boxes, and some sales guy is constantly hovering over you. It's like walking into your grandpa's basement. You always expect to see something cool, but it never delivers."

Added Day: "I may never know the answer. No matter how many times I punch the sales figures into this crappy Tandy desk calculator, it just doesn't add up."

Behold.

Maybe, but given the desire to find/create torture loopholes, one suspects that DOD R and D may be hard at work on a device such as this.

Best not to view at work.

Boggles the mind.

...is in full effect. Less scripted programming, more reality shows. Monday night has been the platform to display the new budget cutting shows which have included the inert Thank God You're Here--improv is only hindered by costumes and sets--and tonight's The Real Wedding Crashers.

Critical reaction to the show here.

Sounds painfully bad and it's an hour long. Same as Thank God. Didn't someone of note say something about brevity and wit.

NBC is beginning to look like FOX in the mid and late nineties. Very desperate.

World Bank in turmoil.

But the Illuminati disappeared 'em.

Under the last six years of GOP control of Washington, one gets the impression that exposing cronyism of their own wasn't a high priority. (It's fair to say that a long period of a heavy Democrat majority would likely yield the same situation.)

Now No Child Left Behind is under investigation for cronyism.

John Podhoretz of National Review reprimands fellow writer John Derbyshire concerning his horrible post of a few days ago.

Very good to see. Kudos to John Podhoretz.

Derbyshire lamely defends his statements here. I do not agree with the author's characterization of Derbyshire as a coward, but he certainly does sound very foolish.

The shooting at Virginia Tech inspired all manner of obtuse commentary. Here's another one that insists liberals made him do it.

While reading this week's Newsweek story about Imus, I noticed a little sidebar within the story entitled "Leaders of the 'Shock Jock' Pack." The column had a listing of the # of outrageous statements made by talk radio hosts and then ranked them according to this number. Rush being on top, followed by Hannity, etc. Except the list was compiled by Media Matters for America which is decidedly left leaning. I read them regularly, but they are definitely a media watchdog group with a progressive agenda. The magazine would have committed a similar no-no if they made a list based on the findings of Brent Bozell's decidedly conservative Media Research Center. Sure, the source was cited, but how many of you had even heard of Media Matters and knew of their political leanings?

Thought I'd practice some Equal Time for a change.

Good, fair article in the New York Times about the woes and problems in the Gateway to the West. Pretty accurate picture for those who want to know more about the city.

This image of Virginia Tech shooter Cho Seung-Hui quickly led to, likely the very correct, notion that he was imitating a scene from the film Oldboy. In the movie, a man seeking vengeance for being held in captivity for ten years(?) by an unidentified party goes after a host of badguys with just a claw hammer.

Before a furor gets started about the movie--and whether the scenes of violence it depicts are "acceptable"--I'll just throw out that I think this line of argument is a dead end. Violent movies and video games don't make people go on violent rampages. I think they may fan the flames of a damaged psyche, but recovering alcoholics shouldn't have the occasional cocktail either. Cho also said the following, according to a Bloomberg news service article:

I die like Jesus Christ, to inspire generations of the weak and defenseless people," Cho Seung Hui, 23, said during a rambling video message that he mailed to NBC News after killing his first two victims.

Look any more at the manifesto and you'll see a hodgepodge of references so pinning blame on any one outside source is not a useful exercise. (I'd argue the mass activity of non-experts, semi-experts trying to diagnose his pathology on cable news networks--who need to create twenty four hours of unique content--is a bad idea. At the very least its a gigantic waste of time.)

The movies didn't make him do it.

Wow. This from Mark Steyn on the infantilzation of young men and women:

On Monday night, Geraldo was all over Fox News saying we have to accept that, in this horrible world we live in, our “children” need to be “protected"...They’re not “children.” The students at Virginia Tech were grown women and — if you’ll forgive the expression — men.

They sure are having a field day with the tragedy at Virginia Tech. And as someone who went the liberal arts route--specifically English--the following statement particularly rankled:

And, sorry again, but thoughts also arise on the killer's being an English major and on the spiritual emptiness of much education nowadays.

I guess being a moron doesn't disqualify you from writing for The Corner.

This is so horrid.

Maybe the people didn't react the way super Derbyshire would have because those not conditioned to warfare and seeing friends being shot down around them freak out and go into shock. Seriously. What an ass.

And these relating to relations between the White House and convicted lobbyist Abramoff. Who the president never recalled meeting.

Adventures in deception.

It's hardly a new or novel insight, but the swiftness with which Imus was dispatched is largely due to the twenty four hour news cycle. Cable news and the internets need a steady stream of captivating stories. We know if it bleeds, it leads. But racist remarks made by public figures are a close second. And the ghoulish cowboy hatted Imus speaking like a good old boy captured the public's imagination. I think much of the country had little to no awareness of Imus. But among politicos and punditry, he was highly influential and his company was sought after. His show had a clubhouse mentality. The guys at the country club speaking with the doors closed. And with a poorly chosen target, he flung open the doors and exposed his club for all the world to see. Given close and intense scrutiny, there was no way his anachronistic club could survive.

The Imus story proved to be a rich vein, the ghoulish Imus a suitable villain, and the news cycle needed to be filled. (If we had discovered in the last week that Anna Nicole Smith was actually a transsexual, Imus may have been saved.) I watched highlights of the The Daily Show of Imus speaking to Sharpton, and Imus used both the phrases "you people" and he referred to aggressive criticism by Sharpton as "jive." He was clearly an anachronism, a hold over from another generation. The world has zero tolerance for racist remarks uttered by the privileged and Imus seemed bizarrely unaware.

Then there was the target of his criticism. He and his crew called the basketball team--and here's a word that white men should rarely if ever speak--"jigaboos" and "hos." Why? Had he said this about some of the contestants on the trash fest Flavor of Love he would have gotten away with it. But these were college students on an overacheiving basketball team. They were heroic, admirable. Imus did not know them. He nothing of them. But he did know they were black. And this seems to be the only discernible reason for him using the terms. And that is racism. And that can get you fired.

If I use the "n" word in an office, I would be fired. My free speech has not been impinged. Speech has consequences. The government should stay out of policing "hate speech," but you have to be willing to face the music when your words offend others. Speak carefully. If a rap artist calls someone a "ho"--and let's clarify that no rapper ever labeled overacheving college students "hos"--it's up to you to decide how you want to respond. Don't buy the music. Write a letter to your newspaper's editor. Boycott. Contact Al Sharpton. The public responded to CBS and NBC by stating that Imus's words and sentiments were intolerable on a national broadcast.

Speak freely, but be ready to face the consequences when your words wound. Imus needed to go, but the swiftness of his firing was extraordinary. The whole thing clearly overwhelmed him.

Another highlight.

Given the stunning success of Grindhouse, I have some ideas from similar projects:

How about a film project called Art House featuring James Ivory's The Drawing Room and Almodovar's Mujeres Locos with fake trailers directed by Errol Morris, David Gordon Green, and Eric Rohmer?

Or Multiplex featuring The Dominion directed by Michael Bay and Friend of the Family by Brett "the Rat" Ratner with fake trailers by Nancy Meyers and Gary Marshall.

Here and here.

And an "aha" moment that reveals why this story won't be going away anytime soon.

I had a long discussion recently with a friend of mine who genuinely believes in the existence of the Illuminati, an all powerful group of world leaders that schemes and conspires behind closed doors. He ran through a litany of recent corruption and malfeasance using this as evidence of, if not the Illuminati, some international conspiracy.

But there's no need to construct a powerful group of white males operating behind closed doors to explain corruption and duplicity on a grand scale. Simply, corporations, individuals, and governing bodies will act illegaly and/or immorally to the degree they believe they can get away with often in an effort to consolidate or grab more power.

This is what we do. And its the reality of this that should chill you to the bone when you look at the failure of Congress and, to a lesser extent, the press to provide adequate oversight of the White House. Aggressive oversight is necessary to correct the tendency to corruption no matter the political stripe of our leaders.

And why it's very big deal. From Dan Froomkin of the Washington Post:

Until 2004, all e-mail on RNC accounts was routinely deleted after 30 days. Since 2004, White House staffers using those accounts have been able to save their e-mail indefinitely -- but have also been able to delete whatever they felt like deleting. By comparison, the White House e-mail system preserves absolutely everything forever, in accordance with the Presidential Records Act.

The White House yesterday said it has no idea how many e-mails have been lost.

In an afternoon conference call with reporters, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel spread the blame all around. "White House policy did not give clear enough guidance," he said. "The oversight of that wasn't aggressive enough." And individual White House staffers "did not do a good enough job of following existing preservation policy -- or seeking guidance."

Said Stanzel: "I guess the bottom line is that our policy at the White House was not clear enough for employees."

But when I asked Stanzel to read out loud the White House e-mail policy, it seemed clear enough to me: "Federal law requires the preservation of electronic communications sent or received by White House staff," says the handbook that all staffers are given and expected to read and comply with.

"As a result, personnel working on behalf of the EOP [Executive Office of the President] are expected to only use government-provided e-mail services for all official communication."

The handbook further explains: "The official EOP e-mail system is designed to automatically comply with records management requirements."

And if that wasn't clear enough, the handbook notes -- as was the case in the Clinton administration -- that "commercial or free e-mail sites and chat rooms are blocked from the EOP network to help staff members ensure compliance and to prevent the circumvention of the records management requirements."

Stanzel refused to publicly release the relevant portions of the White House staff manual and denied my request to make public the transcript of the call, which lasted more than an hour but which -- due to Stanzel's refusal or inability to provide straight answers on many issues -- raised more questions than it answered.

Stanzel said that "some people" may have used their non-government accounts for official business due to "an abundance of caution" in order to avoid violating the Hatch Act, which prohibits the use of government e-mail for overtly political purposes, such as fundraising -- and due to "logistical convenience."

The oversight wasn't aggressive enough? That pretty much sums up the kid gloves treatment given to the White House the previous six years.

The White House conveniently loses evidence. They've sure got some brass ones.

AP:

President Bush on Tuesday invited Democrats to discuss their standoff over a war-spending bill, but he made clear he would not change his position opposing troop withdrawals. The White House bluntly said the meeting would not be a negotiation.

"It's time for them to get the job done, so I'm inviting congressional leaders from both parties — both political parties — to meet with me at the White House next week," Bush said in a speech to an American Legion audience in Fairfax, Va.

"At this meeting, the leaders in Congress can report on progress on getting an emergency spending bill to my desk," Bush said. "We can discuss the way forward on a bill that is a clean bill, a bill that funds our troops without artificial timetables for withdrawal and without handcuffing our generals on the ground. I'm hopeful we'll see some results soon from the Congress."

Bush is inviting Congress to the White House so he can lecture them. A truly arrogant gesture.

In the midst of finals for the rest of the week--I don't have to write a thesis for my program, but I do have to write several essays--so expect slow blogging.

For long time fans, last night's episode was incredible. For years, we have been watching gentle Bobby, wandering what the heck he was doing in the violent world of the mob. He just seems too nice. Last night the dam broke, Bobby took out years of pent up agression and it was incredible. (How much of that fight was about Uncle Junior, too?) We knew that Monopoly, drinking, and Janice were a deadly combo and the use of "Take Five"'s unresolved theme to build tension was fantastic. The best use of that Brubeck piece I've ever heard.

Last season's finale, with the happy family gathered together, was a tease, a ruse. These people can't live happily together. They're too violent, too screwed up. They'll destroy themselves and each other. Their attempts at domestic normalcy--family game night--are impossible and fascinating. Last night was the beginning of the end. Tony didn't whack Bobby, but his revenge was cruel. We also saw the RICO case tightening, Bobby's impending doom--he left far too much evidence--and possibly the beginning of the end for Christofuh. Truly a fantastic hour of television.

In the lead up to the war in Iraq, I participated in a few anti-war demonstrations and, very foolishly, I signed several petitions at these protests. This may well lead to me never getting to leave the country again, or at least some harrassment upon trying to do so.

See here.

Welcome to life in Bush's America.

The release of the hyper-violent Grindhouse and its subsequent success is going to lead to much editorializing on violence in the media and cinematic sins.

In order for some perspective, though I want to remind readers of one of the most egregious, tasteless film scenes of all time.

This is family friendly and work appropriate, but nonetheless tasteless.



Anyone remember this movie?

See here.

This weekend sees the release of the new family film Firehouse Dog from 20th Century Fox which means 24/7 promotion on the Fox Movie Channel. Last night, I got a chance to catch an overly serious promotional documentary about the film. In it, the film's producer shares that he knew director Todd Holland was looking to make a "dog movie." But the director had a specific vision for his "dog movie." The director, to maintain his artistic integrity, wanted to make a movie about the things "dogs actually do."

Apparently the things dogs actually do includes playing Playstation, sliding down a poll, and cleaning a kids room.

CNN's trying to out-Fox the competition.

According to this reasoning, people of color have "dirty skin"?

In a message to troops at Fort Irwin, California, Bush said the following:

President George W. Bush told troops at Fort Irwin, California, that the Democratic-led Congress must send him war-funding legislation without ``artificial'' timetables for withdrawing troops from Iraq.

``The clock is ticking for our military,'' Bush told a throng of soldiers after lunch at the base. He said House- and Senate-passed measures that include timetables for pulling out U.S. forces are ``unacceptable'' and the impasse threatens to delay funds needed to train soldiers.

Some pertinent questions to keep in mind when looking at the spin concerning war funding:

How are the deadlines artificial?

The word "artificial" implies a falsehood or a reproduction. But the deadlines, if the current Congressional version of the bill was passed, would be very real and tangible. So the use of the word "artificial" doesn't really make sense.

Who created the impasse?

The White House would have you believe that Congress is not funding the troops and in doing so has created an impasse. But Congress is on the verge of passing an emergency supplemental bill which would indeed fund the troops. Vetoing the bill--an action Bush is threatening--would delay funding of the troops. The president would be most directly responsible for delaying funding.

I'm not saying the President must accept the current bill--of course, I think we shouldn't have ever gone to Iraq in the first place--but an impasse would be the president's reaction to Congress. Bush would be a prominent player in the impasse. He would be equally culpable.

I recently read the Sesame Street retrospective Unpaved and was glad to hear that other children used to freak out when the very angry muppet Don Music came on screen. I went berzerk with fear when he showed up. Crying, wailing. I think my mom got a kick out of it.

Here's the bi-polar Don Music:

Concerning the record industry sowing the seeds of its own destruction.

Anyone who has listened to Orrin Hatch (R-UT) in his House Judiciary Committee hearings knows that he is White House water carrier uber supreme. When a Bush nominee comes before him, he'll ask questions like "Do you realize how great a candidate you are?" (A hyperbolic example, but not far from the truth.)

In defense of the White House over the US attorney controversey, Hatch offered up this doozy of a lie. Its an audacious string of falsehoods.

Highlights below:



Full version here.

Thanks for turning Bugs Bunny into a didactic bore.

You heard it here first.

When I was a kid, I thought a greater song would never be written than this gem.



This is a song about not selling out and "corporation games," but it's being performed by Starship AKA Jefferson Starship AKA Jefferson Airplane.

And the first music video I ever saw. I remember watching this at my grandmother's--the first person I knew who had MTV--and being transfixed and very scared. Now it comes off as pretty silly, but as a kid who rarely listened to rock--considered it kind of dangerous--and had never seen MTV, this thing was mindblowing.

Watching it again, I can't help but think the Wachowski's were heavily influenced by this when making The Matrix.

Yesterday brought news of a Goonies musical, see below, which reminded of the very odd music video for the film's catchy Cyndi Lauper theme song "The Goonies 'R' Good Enough." (This video's a little long.) It features The Bangles as pirates, Steven Spielberg, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Andre the Giant, and Martha Plimpton.



What's with Captain Lou's rubberband?

Though Meet the Robinsons doesn't offer fantastic storytelling--it feels like an original feature from the Cartoon Network--it is a technical and design marvel. The storytelling is just good enough to keep all ages entertained, but the character design is quite good and the 3D presentation is a wonder to behold. The film is preceded by a classic Disney cartoon that, while in 3D, looks very flat. The characters look like paper cutouts which actually diminishes enjoyment of the cartoon. The 3D flattens the onscreen characters and makes them look more artificial.

But when Robinsons starts, you immediately note the contrast between classic 3D and the new Disney technique. The film opens with a gee whizzy rainstorm that's very effective. Rain falls in the foreground, while in the background a mother places her child on the steps of an orphanage. Though the scene is a dramatic staple, the effective 3D technique breaths new life into this cliched scene.

What follows is pretty standard animated fare about time travel, following your dreams, finding a place in the world, etc. The film borrows pretty liberally--pays homage(?)--to many other films including a climactic chase with moments ripped directly from Return of the Jedi and The Matrix.

But the character design is fantastic, filling the movie with interesting caricatures that are practically Dickensian in their lovely grotesqueness. Two favorites include the lanky arch villain and the hyper-jock gym coach. These characters are comic inspirations brought to life by the 3D effect. Robinsons takes the gimmick of 3D and uses it to elevate a so-so film to a perfectly enjoyable one.

Just finished this Jonathan Lethem novel about race, gentrification, superheroes, and Brooklyn, and I loved it. It's a dense novel thats playful with its language so it doesn't make for a quick read. For those willing to sink into the book--you're going to need to set aside some time for the novel--you'll be richly rewarded. It's frequently earnest leading you to believe that the book is at times a very thinly veiled autobiography.

I started reading this book at least two times before I finally was able to successfully tackle it over my recent vacation. Fans of Powers and Delillo will want to check this out. If you enjoyed Kavalier and Clay, this might also be a good choice as it offers a similarly lyrical take on superheroes.

It's good enough for me/
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

Go see it. A very good good crime film with a fantastic performance from Joseph Gordon Levitt (Brick, Third Rock from the Sun). He plays a young man frustrated and hampered by his inabilities due to a traumatic injury from his past.

A unique crime story with broad appeal and great performances.

Whoa.

McCain safely strolls the serene streets of Baghdad.

More here.

Gary Trudeau offers a nice rejoinder to those who claim Democrats aren't supporting the troops with the latest Iraq spending bill.