Bad Need

This is a old new article that I decided to share. It's easy to picture some guy that looks like "my other brother Darryl", shaking dead squirrels by the tail, having a big smile because its such a good offer.

Down to the Nub of It

For balance, I make an effort to read the New York Times. On the home page of the website there is a story titled Where’s the Bounce?. This is a blog article discussing the causes for the narrowing gap in the polls between Obama and McCain, written by Adam Nagourney. The blog itself does not offend as NYT often can, but within the comments, one of the first gets right to what I believe will become a recurring complaint for committed dimocrats...
Posted by Annie......

Barack Obama, a once in a lifetime candidate and potentially one of the great leaders of the 21st Century, is not doing better (he is ahead a bit, so that’s good) because of one thing.
Good old-fashioned American RACISM.
Also: the fact that McCain, a mentally, constitutionally, and ethically weak candidate, is getting a free pass from the Press (except for MSNBC) on all his terrible behavior over the last couple weeks.

Now isn't that special. We're a bunch of racists because we don't want to vote for a man that advocates retreat in Iraq, tax increases and compulsory community service. Obama is such a "once in a lifetime candidate" that he could not handle an interview by the sycophant anchor Katie Couric. The news service most supportive of the dimocratic party, is MSNBC, but is far from the only supportive network, ABC, NBC and CBS are all clearly in favor of the Obama campaign. In the printed press you have Time and Newsweek openly allied with the dimocratic party. The New York Times went so far as to print an editorial by Barack Obama then refuse to print a rebuttal editorial by John McCain, claiming that the content was not acceptable to the editors.
I said months ago that Obama would be hard to run against, because all criticism, when things get dirty, will boil down to the charge of RACISM.

Annie, that kind of horseshit will only play to to your own audience, it smacks of fear and desperation. The DNC has fairly selected it's liberal candidate and will likely fail because of exactly that.

Match Point

Some folks have told me that these movie reviews are boring, that I should do more sarcasm stuff. I'll try but did just watch this movie.

Match Point is crime drama directed by Woody Allen and released in 2005. The movie is rated R for some sexuality. The movie length is 2 hours 4 minutes. Starting as a story about an ambitious tennis professional, the plot quickly moves being about the life is a social climber that succumbs to lust and murders to escape the consequences.

The actors are......

• Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Chris Wilton the ambitious tennis pro.
• Matthew Goode as Tom Hewett the friend made at the tennis club and avenue for Chris's social leap. I've noticed in recent trailers on television that this actor has a prominent part in the upcoming movie Brideshead Revisited.
• Brian Cox as Alec Hewett patriarch of the entitled English family and later benefactor of Chris's career. It was nice to see Cox in this roll, so many times he plays the spy master in action movies.
• Penelope Wilton as Eleanore Hewett the snobby matriarch.
• Emily Mortimer as Cloe Hewett sister of Tom and bride of Chris Wilton.
• Scarlett Johansson as Nola Rice the American actress, initial fiance of Tom and object of Chris Wilton's passion. Nola says it well in the movie, her sister is classically beautiful, she is simply sexual. I am not sure why I never connected Johansson to Marilyn Monroe before, it may apt, both exude sexuality, though I think Johansson is a much better actress.

I enjoyed the movie, a Hitchcock type plot that uniquely ties luck in life's mundane incidents to the everlasting. A departure for Woody Allen and a positive one at that. Score 31 of 50.

• Character development 8 of 10.
• Writing 7 of 10.
• Photography 8 of 10.
• Acting 8 of 10.
• Concept 7 of 10.

No Water For You (Sequel)

Well the bill finally came in, take a deep breath....
I owe $1243.61, the equivalent of about 25 months of water use.
The sewage charge by itself was $613.72.
Never did see any water in the yard, under the house or in the street.

No Water For You

This afternoon the wife called and let me in on the catastrophe of the day.
The water company was banging at the door and having to turn off our water. It seems that the fitting between the new polybutylene pipe and the house broke.
About 18 months ago the poly line to the house failed just like every other house in the neighborhood. Last summer the fitting on the other end of the new piping failed.
The plumbers took care of everything fixing the leak, just like they did last summer. They are nice honorable people, but their parts are for shit.
The water man said we used 139,000 gallons in the last month. Get this there were no signs of the leak in the house or in the yard. Can't wait to get that big fat bill.
Just realized that bill is set up for electronic funds transfer, I'm guessing that the account will get wiped out.
Where did all the water go, a sink hole under the house?

Charlie Wilson's War

This was the newest movie I watched in a long time. Ordered Charlie Wilson's War because the bride said she wanted to see it. Released in December of 2007 this is a drama based on a true story. The movie is rated R for some profanity and nudity but for the most part pretty mild.

The movie was developed from the 2003 bestseller book of the same name by George Crile. The screenplay was written by Alan Sorkin better known as producer-write for the television shows "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip", "The West Wing" and "Sports Night". The director for the movie was the esteemed Mike Nichols whose past work includes "The Graduate", "Catch-22", "Carnal Knowledge", "Silkwood" and "Birdcage".

The movie starts in the the early 1980s, even though the real Charlie Wilson says 1979, Congressman Charles Nesbitt Wilson was a hard drinking womanizing man. Being from an undemanding district in Texas allowed him to become a member of two major foreign policy and covert-operations committees. Through the nagging Joanne Herring, Wilson learns about the suffering caused by the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Wilson enlists the help of CIA agent, Gust Avrakotos, and applies his deceptive political skill to supply the mujaheddin with the weapons and support needed to drive out the Soviet Union. The end of the movie hints at what is now our past, having had so much success raising money for the Wilson ran into stone wall trying to help rebuild the country, suggesting that because our help was covert through the Pakistanis, and the population was so young that there was a strong chance the political situation could turn sour. It did, but I have to wonder if that was some editorial poetic license on the part of either Crile or Sorkin.

The actors are.....

• Tom Hanks as Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson. Always good work.
• Julia Roberts as Texas socialite and activist Joanne Herring. Small part, good.
• Philip Seymour Hoffman as the CIA point man Gust Avrakotos. Awesome.

This is a good movie, my score is 39 out of 50.

• Character development 8 of 10, this is a very good story about a man seemingly averse to serious politics morphing into the catalyst that was the motor that drove support for the war.
• Writing 8 of 10. The screen play is up to the pedigree.
• Photography 7 of 10. Nothing special, this movie was more about the people.
• Acting 9 of 10. The big three could carry any movie.
• Concept 7 of 10. True story what was there to create.

Charlie Wilson retired from Congress in 1997 after 12 terms covering 24 years.

Lindbergh

Finished this book just after the holiday. It took me nearly a month to get through as the part time reader that I am. Written by A. Scott Berg, a book of nearly 600 pages, with copious additional notes and indexes. Berg has also authored a biography of Katherine Hepburn, a book my bride enjoyed very much. The publisher, Putnam, released the book 1998.

After the introduction as Lindbergh being the man we are know as a famous pilot, the book shifts into a consistent chronological background. Beginning with the patriarchal grandfather a Swedish politician who was disgraced and left for America with his mistress. To his aloof father who after earning his fortune in real estate, became a member of the House of Representatives. The father after serving a few terms fell into a pattern of bipolar behavior that lasted decades till his death. Charles was raised as in independent young man of self reliance, the interpersonal things did not come easily. After a short stint at the University of Wisconsin Charles became engrossed in motorcycles and then airplanes. With no experience Lindbergh bough a WWI surplus Jenny airplane and with that learned to fly. From there Lindbergh moved to St Louis and became a barnstormer. From barnstorming the pilot joined the Army Air Corp and learned flying to discrete rules. From there Lindbergh was one of the pioneers in the new air mail business. All the while Lindbergh was honing is flying skills and building a group of aviation admirers.

In the late twenties the science of aircraft building was closing in on the range required to cross the Atlantic in a single leap. A Paris group offered a large price for the first successful trans Atlantic trip. Lindbergh arranged for a group of investors has a plane build and, as we know, did the thing. The thing propelled Lindbergh into the most famous person on earth. For the rest of his life Lindbergh rode this feat of bravery to feed his thirst aviation, scientific curiosity in bio mechanics and later a passion for "tree-hugging".

On his personal side, Lindbergh did not date, in his late twenties he met and married the wife of a New York banker and later diplomat to Mexico, Anne Morrow. Morrow was the second sister with the finest education and training that her father could provide. After the marriage the two travelled extensively both on business for the new airline companies and for personal enjoyment. Anne's travelling was cut back by the birth of their first son. Two years later that son was kidnapped and killed leaving scars on the parents that are not surprising. In time more children came and all became strong people.

During WWII Lindbergh flew in the South Pacific, server as a high end advisor for pilots in once place increasing the range of P57's by 200 miles. Because of prewar political opposition to Roosevelt and a mis-reported allegiance to the Germans, Lindbergh was banned from fighter pilot positions. Lindbergh managed to gain trust and flew on the sly, shooting down one Zero. After the war Lindbergh toured Germany and was permitted entrance into some of underground the V2 missile factories.

After the war Lindbergh developed a passion for the environment that carried him till his passing in Hawaii in August of 1974.

This was a very good book, if you like biographies get this, it should be in the used bookstores cheap.

Drugstore Cowboy

Drugstore Cowboy is a movie with a length of 1 hours and 44 minutes, rated R and released 1989. Directed by Gus Van Sant who went on the direct the good works of My Own Private Idaho and Good Will Hunting. This is an accomplished director whose background is in documentaries. An insightful depiction of the life of junkies, a quartet robs pharmacies to fuel their addictions.

The actors in the movie are......

• Matt Dillon plays Bobby Hughes the leader of the gang, too focused on scoring drugs to pay attention to the girlfriend. When his mom see's him she runs to hide her purse. Bob is the anti-hero of the movie.
• Kelly Lynch plays Dianne who is Dillon's wife.
• James LeGros plays Rick, the muscle of the robbery gang. LeGros was one of the surfer dudes in the movie Point Break.
• Heather Graham plays Nadine, Rick's girlfriend, a girl they picked from the counter up when they were robbing one of the drugstores. This was Graham's first major movie, filmed when she was just 19. Heather is better known from Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and as Rollergirl in Boogie Nights.
• James Remar plays Gentry the detective assigned to the chain of robberies. Remar is well known as the bad guy in 48 Hours, nowadays he has mostly television roles as scumbags.
• The counselor in the rehab unit is Beah Richards the same lady who with Sidney Poitier in both Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and In the Heat of the Night.
• David is played by Max Perlich, an actor with a face that will always be childish. He has been many movies and has recurring roles in Law & Order.
• Tom the Priest is played by William Burroughs an older actor who in a previous career was considered one of the three important authors of the Beats Generation. Burroughs was real ex-junkie, he died in 1997 at the age of 83.

In the early seventies Bob runs a crew that robs drug stores for the merchandise. Steal the drugs run back to the apartment shoot the stuff up. Bob's mother tells the wife that she doesn't hate them but they cannot run and play for their entire life. Ringleader Bob Hughes, along with his wife and their underlings Rick and Nadine, take the show on the road after things get to hot at home. When Nadine dies from an overdose of diluadid, Bob swears off drugs and tries to rebuild his life - minus his wife, who is determined to stay hooked.Home got to hot because Bob set up a situation where a neighbor though the police were peeping Tom and opened up on them with a shotgun. This pisses off the police who beat up Bob and tell him to get out of town. After robbing a drug store on the road, the gang score big in a small town drug store, hitting on some dilaudid. After the score the gang steals car and robs a hospital pharmacy. Nadine left alone in the hotel room for hours, till the next morning, overdosed on dilaudid while they were gone. Before they leave they hide the body in the attic of the hotel room. Then they are asked to leave the hotel because it is reserved for the incoming Sheriff's convention. Bob holds the kids Rick and Nadine in low esteem, calling them television babies. When retrieving the body from attic, it get dropped from the hole to the kitchen floor. All the while police showing up for the convention. The body is stuffed in a garment bag and slipped into the truck for burial in the woods. The stress convinces Bob to go home and get on a methadone program, Diane has no interest. In the rehab clinic Bob recognizes Father Tom, a defrocked priest. Then Bob gets a job in a machine shop and settles into the routine of a clean life. The police show and encourage his progress. Then his wife shows up and looking good and leaving a bag of drugs, he talks about how he is coming to like life clean. Diane spurns Bob's advance, she is no part of Rick's crew. After a day of work Bob returns home and the untouched bag of drugs is still there. Bob brings the bag to Tom the priest. After giving up the bag David the addict shows up to rob the drugs. From that he gets his ass kicked. After the beating, David gets his partner to shoot Bob, and leaves him to die. Then the movie wraps to the beginning, with Bob on the ambulance stretcher. As he is riding Bob says to himself, "its this fucking life", still alive. The preist "the idea that anyone can use drugs and escape a horrible fate is anathema to these idiots. I predict in the near future rights wingers will use drug hysteria as a pretext to set up an international police aparatus."
This movie gets a score of 27 out of 50. An interesting movie that has a takes an unglorified view of drug life.

• Character development 6 of 10, this is a good story of how the anti-hero recognizes his futility and acts to correct.
• Writing 4 of 10. The book which serves as the basis was writtin by an incarcerated habitual addict-feloon. The writing itself is simplitic by carries a sense of reality.
• Photography 7 of 10. Filmed in 1988 this was good picture this developed a aura of the early seventies. Many moving shots.
• Acting 5 of 10. The parts are all played as pitiously shallow, the result of their habits. Dillon in interesting. Lynch is as usual, lucky that she is so good looking because she can't act for shit.
• Concept 5 of 10. The mixture of drug abuse, petty crime and search for redemption. I do appreciate that the movie did not promote the Hollywood coolness to the drug lifestyle.

A Nice Walk

Down a road called Pleasant Street. Really. Because of the parking restrictions we had to park the car 3 times in one afternoon. The last stop did not have a time limit and the long walk down this Nantucket street was and unexpected trip through a gardener's competition.

Motorcycle Boys Reigns

Rumble Fish is a film released by Universal Pictures in 1983, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the S.E. Hinton novel of the same name. Ms Hinton was also the author of the book "The Outsiders " another story of troubled adolescents living in the poor sections of Tulsa Oklahoma. Music for the movie was composed and performed by Stewart Copeland better known of the band The Police.
The players were....

• Rusty James is played by Matt Dillon, at the height of the idol phase of his career.
• Midget is played by Lawrence Fishburne, who worked with Coppola in the movie Apocalypse Now. Midget serves as Rusty's guardian angel, a messenger of truth.
• Smokey's part is played by Nicolas Cage, member of the Wild Deuces. This was his first movie and no doubt a boost from his powerful director relative. His work in the movie is a bit stiff but it fits the part.
• The late Christopher Penn, Sean's fat less talented brother plays one of the gang's thumpers.
• Rusty's clean cut bespectacled friend Steve is played by Vincent Spano. An early film for Spano who like Cage seems out of place, stiff and uncomfortable, but the part is constructed that way so it works.
• Rusty's girlfriend Patty is played Diane Lane, both Lane and Dillon were in the movie The Outsiders, filmed by the same group only weeks earlier.
• Dennis Hopper played the drunken father of Motorcycle Boy and Rusty James. A lawyer on welfare as the boys call him. This father is like Motorcycle Boy clearly having an appreciation for classical education, and clearly the victim of his own mind's productivity.
• Bill James, The Motorcycle Boy, Rusty's brother is played by Mickey Rourke. This is during Rourke's star period, other work during that time included Body Heat, Diner and The Pope of Greenwich Village.
• The billiards parlor owner Benny is played by Tom Waits. Benny repeatedly mutters that he has only 35 summers left. Waits is better known, at least to me, as the gravely voice blues singer of Smokey Joe's Cafe.

The scenery is in black and white, the fish neon red and blue. The gang's name is the Wild Deuces and while Motorcycle Boy is out of town his not so intelligent brother is standing in as the leader. The first rumble in the movie has the choreographed feel of the fight in West Side Story, as it turns out the scene was staged by a ballet director. This fight is simplified to a man on man struggle between Rusty and the pill popping leader of a rival gang, Biff Wilcox. Rusty wins the fight but then Motorcycle Boy shows up, distracts Rusty and the beaten rival slashes Rusty with a knife. Motorcycle Boy finishes pill popper off with a thrust of the cycle. At one point Rusty is asked "Why are you fucked up all the time, one way or another?" The Motorcycle Boy is having second thoughts about being the leader of a gang; he tells Rusty "you know, if you are going to lead people you have to have somewhere to go". Colorblind, he has memories seeing color. The trip to California was to see the mother that had left them 15 years earlier. A pool player in described Motorcycle Boy as a prince, able to do anything he desires physically or mentally. Rusty is mugged, hit in the head with a tire iron and has a death experience, levitating and seeing those that love him. Reconnecting with his body he sees Motorcycle Boy beat up and run off the muggers. Rusty idolizes his brother and the glory of gang life. He wants revitalize the gang's strength. In reality Rusty is a walking punching bag, he gets cut, mugged and tricked out of his girlfriend, there is no chance that Rusty become what he wants most, to become his brother.
In a late bar scene the father tells Rusty that every now and then a person comes along that has a different perception of the world. An acute perception doesn't make you crazy. However an acute perception can drive you crazy. He's really miscast in a play, born in the wrong era, on the wrong side of the river. With the ability to anything and finding nothing.
Rusty keeps saying that he wants to be like his older brother, to which the father expresses his pity by calling him poor child.
Bill ends up back at the pet store that has the Siamese Fighting Fish, that he calls Rumble Fish. He breaks in and frees the birds, the puppies, and tries to dump the fish into the river. He asks Rusty to take a stolen motorcycle and drive it clear to the ocean, following the river. The local beat cop shoots and kills Motorcycle Boy, Rusty collects the fish and sets them free into the river.
The movie ends with Rusty driving the motorcycle up to the beach, presumably California.

Score 34 of 50, better than average because of Coppola and Rourke.

• Character development 6 out of 10. Difficult to follow but the slow witted Rusty James and his street royalty brother play out a dark dance leading to the elder's suicide and the little brother's escape, both leaving the father stagnant and wasting.
• Acting 5 out of 10. Work that I enjoyed but held back by some of the younger actor's inexperience.
• Photography, cinematography 9 of 10. Black and white, extensive use of shadowing in a retro style.
• Writing, script 7 out of 10. The work by Hinton is good. The mythology angle from the book should have been left in the movie.
• Concept 7 out of 10. The premise was good, but the movie came close to being a well directed star vehicle for the then up and comers.

Second Admendment Upheld

The Supreme Court has made a decision that is based on the as constructed intent to protect individual rights over the goverment's inferred and extrapolated power. In the decision on District of Columbia v. Heller, a majority of justices (5-4) ruled today that the Second Amendment is constitutional, affirming the right of idividuals to keep and bear arms, striking the District of Columbia's ban on handguns as unconstitutional.

Comments from the majority opinion....

"Logic demands that there be a link between the stated purpose and the command,"
"We start therefore with a strong presumption that the Second Amendment right is exercised individually and belongs to all Americans."

Authored by Justice Antonin Scalia , joined by Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Anthony Kennedy, Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito.

President Bush is catching a great deal of greif these days, but his Supreme selections have been as promised. If this case had come to the court during the Clinton years the decision would have been 5-4 the other way. Does anybody doubt that?