And the Trees Didn't Even Do Anything Wrong (UPDATED)

 

Quick shoutout to the good people at @UniversalPics for trimming the trees that gave our picket line shade right before a 90+ degree week. pic.twitter.com/aZvvPYQ23i

— Chris Stephens (@ChrisStephensMD) July 17, 2023

So here's an image that got me hotter than July sun on blacktop: these studio sonsofbitches pruned the trees. Were they even their trees to prune? (Maybe not, it looks like they might have been the city's trees.) And is this even the time of year you would normally do that? (Yeah, I dunno about that, you guys.) 

Now, leave out the whole level of mental motherfuckery you would need to possess to even decide "I know what, let's just take a little bit of natural coolness away from the picketers as if that's going to make them not want to resolve this strike in a way that lets them afford to live in the town they work" or anywhere else and shit like that, but also says "and if the trees die, they die." 

Now I'm not arborist, I'm not, I know it. I had fig trees, and they weren't meant for my area of the northeast. They got wrapped but still didn't survive a deep freeze. My grape vines do alright I guess. But that there looks like deliberate and unseasonable butchery for dramatic effect.

They should leave drama to the artists and then pay them for it. And if they screwed with the city's trees trying to strike break, they ought to pay for that, too. That image of those trees is just stark stupid miser shit. 

UPDATES: Why looky here! Apparently, the city had nothing to do with the pruning mess, and that's an unfair practices violation in addition to the city investigation.  Looks like some FA is going to be followed with FO.

Good. 

UPDATE: They got fined all of $250 by the city?

Look! A Shark!

 

For some reason, James Woods is threatening to sue the DNC for trying to take down his deeply meaningful Twitter post about Hunter Biden's penis because it retroactively got "Shark" cancelled and made him terribly unpopular, even if he was brilliant at playing such diverse roles as Byron De La Beckwith, Rudy Giuliani, and the sleazy boyfriend of the wife in Casino. 

Except I guess he was kind of like just being himself in roles as gross people?  Maybe just being extended universe versions of the smarmy AP teacher in Welcome Back Kotter isn't sustainable. Maybe too many anecdotes about being abusive existed. 

Anyway, I don't think the DNC is to blame for him not getting the same kind of roles as he used to at his age. I don't even understand how the take-down of a post violating Twitter's TOS undermines his whole entire career. 

I guess they rigged his votes.  That must be it. 

My Nostalgia Is Acting Up

Eminem defies NFL and kneels in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick during Super Bowl halftime show https://t.co/XDI07ULqDk

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) February 14, 2022

They told Slim Shady to please stand up, but Slim Shady said God sent him to piss the world off.

There was a lot of commentary on Twitter about how this half-time show was about my generation, and frankly, we never did say we were going to die before we got old. We said don't you forget about me. And we are getting old, and I wish more of us were getting wise. 

The fucking kids aren't all right. Charlie Kirk thinks the half-time show was full of sexual anarchy. This dumb man-baby must have been peeing in his diapers through the Janet Jackson and Prince half-time shows. He literally comes off like John Lithgow's character in Footloose.  That's two Footloose references I've made this month. I may be getting old. I repeat myself. Matt Walsh, middle aged but younger than me, doesn't know "woke" means aware, and Marshall Mathers is aware he's a white guy who owes a fuckton to Black music and Black people. That he's supposedly making amends for anything else is Walsh's own bullshit. 

I'm glad the convoy asshats didn't come to LA to fuck with the Super Bowl despite what loons like Wendy Rogers and Senator Rand Paul wanted. That would have been a shitshow--all those Confederate flags in LA. I don't think those two remember how things could go, because they forget that urban America is also real America. They think it would scare the shit out of people who live in the cities that right-wing dumbasses think have been burned down by BLM. They forget riots that have happened not even thirty years ago. 

I don't, The truckers don't, either, and they probably know that unlike Ottawa or Windsor, if you go to LA or NY or Philadelphia, you might meet with an entirely different atmosphere that isn't going to wait for police action because nope. Residents will find a way. People have turned out en masse for deceased kids they didn't even know, and some jackasses want to disrupt the shelves at Acme and whether our own kids get fed--are you for real? 

The Chinese Seeds Conundrum

Stephen King could have written this mess, and we'd be only at like, Chapter Five, right now. Still from Creepshow, You Lunkhead.

Human beings are primates, I remind myself, or find myself reminded, on a regular basis--and the thing about your monkey brain is--it's curious. Well, your monkey brain, my monkey brain, the point is, we are more curious than we are smart, but we are also fucking dumb. Case in point: The Chinese Seeds Conundrum:

In late July, America was briefly enthralled with “Unsolicited Seeds from China,” which started showing up in mailboxes in all 50 states. These mystery seeds prompted warnings from the USDA, which said people should not plant them, and should instead alert their state agricultural authority and mail them to the USDA or their local officials.

Many Americans heeded this advice. Many more decidedly did not.

You guys, this is how the horror novel starts out. "Many more decidedly did not." That right there is just negligent, but what did the folks do? They were told not to plant them of course, because, like, lets say it's just some random GMO licensing legal fuckery that takes over your lawn--it's just raw naivete to assume there's anything good in that.  Or who even knows what:

Audrey 2 from the brilliant movie "Little Shop of Horrors"

Yeah, I'm not saying it could definitely be alien man-eating plants, but no. It could be--okay what if it were alien man-eating plants and then you had that on your conscience in your suburban picket-fence tract home somewhere that's green Mr. Man? Is that what you want?

Chadwick Boseman Forever

pic.twitter.com/aZ2JzDf5ai

— Chadwick Boseman (@chadwickboseman) August 29, 2020

It is absolutely gutting to think of this gifted actor, having done some of the finest work while his body was suffering from a terminal disease, being gone, but it's a reminder of how much every day must count, and if there is any word for a career like his, even if cut too short, it's got to be: legendary.

My heart goes out to the loved ones he leaves behind.

RIP Buck Henry

Buck Henry ‘Graduate’ Writer and ‘Get Smart’ Co-Creator, Dies at 89 https://t.co/9GTiaRUdDt

— Variety (@Variety) January 9, 2020

I tried to explain to my spouse what he would have seen Buck Henry in and had to stop myself, because although we are the same age, I am a little older than him in terms of watching tv and that. And I guess it also happens that his genius was being the poker-face kind of actor even if he had a mad genius wit so some of his characters were maybe not the guy you remember the most? I think the thing I liked best was Get Smart which influenced my lifelong love of the cold war spy send-up. He was just associated with so much good-quality comedic stuff. He had that ear for satire. I'm going to have to find "Quark" because it seems like it was very deeply also my kind of thing. He came off like he was not just sharp and funny, but a cool guy.

I'll try to find "Taking Off" and watch that, too.

Trump's Still Big. It's the Pictures That Got Small. Er.

Trump tells this annoying Kevin person exactly where he can go, like a real (TM) New Yorker would.

So, it looks like the President, who has definitely been impeached despite the opinion of a few lawyers (who are totally sucking up or trying to be special), is pretty sure that photogenic legacy-PM of Canada, Justin Trudeau, had a hand in the CBC's editing out of Trump's really brief cameo in that time-honored cinematic classic, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. Because obviously, the 7 seconds he got as a part of a rider to film on his property were integral to the plot, and you know, you have to preserve the movie as made, so only politics could cause anyone to butcher a movie by editing out its biggest celebrity!

Especially someone with his very own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame! (They don't just give those away, you know.  Nor can they just vote them away.  Even if people really, really wanted to.) 

I think it is definitely possible that Trudeau has no idea at all how hard someone like Trump has worked for the recognition he has received in Hollywood.  Does an IMDB page like this happen by accident? I should certainly think not! 

But just imagine if everyone did realize how hard Trump worked to be considered a celebrity and understood this to be a visible sore point with him, when he is not recognized for his genius at television and movies and all that? Ouch! Like, if actual movie stars understood his slights came from a place of sick jealousy? If more politicians understood the same?

That would be a terrible sore bunion for people to step on, would it not? But Trump needn't worry--there are some videos he hasn't been edited out of, I suppose, available where that sort of thing is traded. 

That could be some solace, or maybe not. I'm not very knowledgeable about such things, myself. 

Truth in Advertising?

House Democrats can push their sham impeachment all they want.

President Trump's re-election is 𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲. pic.twitter.com/O7o02S26nS

— Trump War Room (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TrumpWarRoom) December 10, 2019

So, um, these knobs made a Tweet wherein they depicted their hero, Donald J. Trump (Super Genius) as Thanos, who was a genocidal villain who straight-up died in the end to show that Trump is also a....

Right. But you know, they couldn't depict him as Iron Man, who is an actual billionaire and also, um, smart. He's not the Hulk, because Trump actually gets weaker when he's angry. He's not Captain America, because he doesn't really reflect American values. And he isn't Black Widow, because she was a highly trained Russian agent, whereas he's just a useful idiot. He may have been inevitable given what the Republican party has become, but he isn't undefeatable, and no one will even have to turn back time to do it.

So, way to go, dumbasses. You just about had a thought there.

Netflix Finds: Cloud Atlas (2012)

Because I am trying to avoid being constantly mired in political mockery, I'm trying to be appreciative of artistic things (or, if I can't get appreciative, I can enjoy eviscerating them as a large dog enjoys destroying a toy made for a much smaller dog).  Today, I was in need of entertainment--Netflix, random-setting (i.e. spouse's choice) came up Cloud Atlas.

At a bit under three hours and with a promise of intersecting storylines crossing centuries, I was a little alarmed. This could be barking gibberish to a late-Friday brain ready for something a little less deep, and since I don't pay attention to popular culture except a little bit, wasn't there supposed to be something not right abou..aw fuggit, I finally decided, with true acceptance. I was going to just enjoy the ride.

Which paid off. Look, you should understand that you have a brilliant cast of people playing multiple roles across time--the advertising for the movie clues you in on the premise, and if you don't accept the premise--don't see the movie. I'm sure there's a Steven Seagal movie for you to see. He even does accents. He's like, the Meryl Streep of direct-to-video action movies.  He's even done some sf. Go see those. This isn't a put-down of Steven Seagal movies, since I'm apparently watching them--this is a judgment about you. You get in the right space to see Cloud Atlas, and you will see it the way I did--PMS-y and a little teary and loving all the touches. 

Now, there are some weak spots--Tom Hanks is a brilliant actor, but can not actually keep what I think was supposed to be an Irish accent to save his life. He plays one character in a way that veers from London to Dublin accent-wise in a way I'm not sure how to entirely accept-- but luckily, that particular character is not pervasive. And his performance in several other roles is amazing. 

Halle Berry--I love her in this. I love her as Luisa Rey and Meronym. I love Hugo Weaving for once again being the Agent Smith-style heavy in most of his roles in the flick, as he was in the Wachowskis' Matrix Trilogy. He does great menace. I am astounded by Hugh Grant just being in there in character roles in a not-Notting Hill way, but in a ballsy "have fun being characters" way.  OMG--Jim Sturgess and Doona Bae--there was fine work here. Ben Whishaw? Keith David? I just want to shout the whole cast out as stupidly good in a storyline that veers from scene to scene in a disjointed timeline to try and demonstrate how good deeds and bad follow people beyond their own lifetime. 

But it is beautiful. It's about deciding people matter. It's about looking beyond yourself, and seeing the other, and knowing this is also you. 

I just found it beautiful..

Netflix Finds: Salt and Fire

This evening, I watched a movie I did not personally pick out. It was the choice of my spouse, who sometimes sees something he thinks he might like and clicks on it even though I am in the same room and he could ask if I have any interest at all. Sometimes, he picks something really good. I recently enjoyed Lo Chiamavamo Jeeg Robot, which, while definitely reminding me of the problematic relationship so-called "(super)heroic" themes have with respect to female characters (vide The Refrigerator Monologues by Catherynne M. Valente which explores the "women in refrigerators" trope and The Geek Feminist Revolution by Kameron Hurley) also was a send-up of the application of fantasy to the "real world". And then there was this film I saw just now: Salt and Fire.  

I did not enjoy this movie. About 20 minutes in, I did a thing I often do after watching a movie, where I consult with online reviews to see if other people felt the way I did. (I seldom consult reviews before--for one thing, there is a risk of spoilers and setting expectations, which I just hate. I like to see a movie with little more than the trailers to get me going.) I was happy to know many felt the way I was feeling about this thing.

There's an irony to the theme of the movie (a hostage scenario) and my getting "trapped" into watching it. Me--I'm no sentimentalist when it comes to films. I will walk the hell out or quit viewing if I'm on my own watching a film. Not sposo mio. He commits. And I, as a part of our unspoken joint adventure together as media co-consumers, have decided it is better to just be part of the ride. I have watched, for fun, really wretched B-movie schlocky-ass stuff I would never subject him to--I understand my tolerances for crap. So I tolerate. I forbear. I bitch strongly afterwards. I know if something was truly unacceptable, violent, exploitative, he'd shut it off and not watch with me if I gave the word. But this time, because I'm trying to get away from just doing politics all the time, I'm submitting my multiple grouses with this nonsense in a review.

The actors did well with what they had. Michael Shannon and Veronica Ferres are not to be faulted for the dialogue that could not help but be leaden. I genuinely think they did as convincing a job as could be done with a story which is kind of The Worst. Veronica Ferres plays Dr. Laura Sommerfeld, a scientist who is part of a UN delegation to an ecological disaster in South America. Her delegation is taken hostage when they arrive at the airport, and the male members of the delegation have been segregated and afflicted with food poisoning to disable them. She comes to be aware that she is singled out by the kidnappers because of their mission, and she is told by Matt Riley (the head kidnapper played by Michael Shannon), after some weird nonsense about perspective in an Italian Renaissance mural and a little inquisition about her not being the custodian of her little girl, who lives in Morocco with her birth father (thanks, patriarchy!) , that the area is under threat because of a potential supervolcano threat which is more drastic really, than the ecological disaster in the long run, isn't it?. And then she is abandoned in a salt flat miles from anywhere with two blind little boys who basically just speak Spanish and the local dialect. 

And she perseveres. She takes the kids under her supervision, and works out how to speak with them, feed them, rationing water and trying to spare them the ugly truth of their situation, not understanding at all why they were abandoned this way. She plays with them, becomes affectionate with them. And then, as things look desperate, the head kidnapper and his guys show up and apparently he was the boys' adoptive father, and the ecological disaster he created (I don't care if I'm spoiling you regarding this movie--watch it at your own risk because it is dumb!) is what killed their natural mother and made them blind. (Also he abandons them with a female scientist he just thinks might be a hell of a mothering type because she has a child she is removed from--not father of the year material, him.)  He wants a cookie from her because he's going to "turn himself in" (I guess to the "ecological disaster police"?) and doesn't think she deserves an apology for being kidnapped or abandoned with these kids in a completely inhospitable situation because he's feeling sort of noble about owning up to his fuckery, and he's only done it to get her to be the very best witness possible to the full extent of his stupid fuckery so she could tell his story the way he perceives it.

There's More to Life than Politics, I Guess

For just a moment, I want to touch on what a really great time it is for sf/fantasy in my book. I mean, I think Wonder Woman was one of the best blockbuster movies this year, and am completely happy about the potential of the coming sequel and pretty jazzed about the Justice League trailer. I'm going to preface this with a brief disquisition that will probably make your eyes glaze over if you come here strictly for the politics stuff and maybe even if, like me, you are a geek. 

I liked Batman Vs. Superman. There, I said it. Furthermore, I think Affleck as Batman is actually, among other things, what an Affleck might even be good for. He physically is Bruce Wayne/Batman-sized. He somehow inhabits Bats' obsessions and trauma vs. privileged intersections. I think the Christ-symbolism with Cavill's Superman was kind of heavy, but the addition of Wonder Woman, and the later good, solid, origin-story Wonder Woman tale, and the way both establish that meta-humans are now part of reality, were not bad--just possibly waiting for something like JL to break out the way Marvel's Avengers did. (I like Justice League just because--they were my playground pantheon.)

Speaking of Avengers--I've got a lot of love for Thor: Ragnarok. So, how would we make a Thor movie good for me--okay, be a Thor Movie, have Loki and maybe another character like the Hulk. Greeeeeaaaat. How would I make that better ? Okay, Cate Blanchet is the baddie and there's Jeff Goldblum.  And now I'm so...take my money!

Also excited for Black Panther! (Okay, what the Marvel films are doing is basically creating a thing where I just need to give them my money. How they have not realized that a Black Widow movie is the best way to make feminists give up the ducats is not a thing I totally understand, but I get that they are having a major creative arc--this is how they made me buy all the comic books in the 90's. I both still feel like the biggest mark and enjoy the sheer world-building escapism. But going with Black Panther's world is also a challenge they want to live up to. )

The Suckularity Continues in 2017--Landau and Romero

Of the iconic series of Television Past, one of the greats is Mission: Impossible, and my favorite character was Rollin Hand, played by Martin Landau. He was cool, handsome, and a master of disguise. Martin Landau, the actor, was a Rollin Hand as an actor--cool, handsome, and as a character actor, a guy who folded into his roles beautifully. His career was exceptional and I'm sad that he has been lost to the suckularity. 

George Romero also--there was a period in my teens were I was a Tromaville afficcionada, but that sort of dirty, graphic, socially-aware kind of cinema milieu probably wouldn't have even existed if not for the example of Romero, who basically invented the zombie genre.  But his amazing work on movies like Creepshow and Monkeyshines show his depth in understanding human horrors. He visited dark places and brought humor and reality to the otherwise senseless dreamworlds. 

They both shaped my world a lot. Safe travels in the beyond, if there is one, to them both. 

Wonder Woman Hit the Right Spot

(Disclaimer--does contain spoilers.)

I'm going to put my hand up and admit to the ugly theater-cry phenomenon of just having a superhero movie that does origin without forgetting to also be about something, that shows a woman as hero where her gender isn't treated like an oddity, where bravery can be about protecting and caring and wanting to do the right thing, and strength is shown as being just as much about what is going on inside of a person, as what they can physically do.

Diana of Themyscira comes from a place and time outside of the 20th century larger world in which she will have her adventure. She is from a world where female excellence is actually the only kind she knows of. And all Amazons strive for it. Her world is disrupted by the outside world at first, when American spy Steve Trevor crashes into the beautiful water of her island home, and she rescues him, seeing for the first time an actual male bodied person. She then is introduced to the world from which he came in the form of the enemy army that followed him through the rift and, despite not even knowing where they are, respond to the Amazons with violence, killing several, including Diana's aunt, Antiope, who also trained her in martial skills.

There is something compelling about the idea of a feminist paradise where the world crashes in and needs to be dealt with. We are treated to the image of feminine strength and grace, a system that seems to be monarchic but at least somewhat democratic (there is an Amazon referred to as being a senator) and a justice system backed up with a truth-compelling lasso (which seems a little like a torture device, but it's magic, so I'm gonna buy-in that truth-compelling, even if my little US Constitutional heart says "But you can't even plead the Fifth!" is somehow working for them--maybe their society has the sense to ask contextual questions to determine if laws are broken for the right reason? )

Rest in the Force

Carrie Fisher, one unbelievably witty, talented, and truly genuine person, is dead at age 60. It seems cruel that she was stricken with her cardiac event four days ago, and was hospitalized and even in stable condition before she had passed, giving her fans hope that she would rally. But that didn't happen--I only hope that she was able to know the outpouring of well-wishes people had for her before she was gone.

Best known for her role as Princess (later, General) Leia Organa, leader of the rebellion against the Dark Side-led Empire in George Lucas' cinematic epic Star Wars series, she sort of was one of my feminist heroes. She portrayed a tough, sarcastic, brave Princess who didn't always need saving--and it was great to know that the actress behind that great character was a bit like that, too. Feisty. Honest. And a fighter for a cause. Her openness about her mental health and addiction behavior helped to lessen the stigma of those conditions. She was keenly aware that she wasn't perfect in a culture that tries to fake perfection, and she was knowing, wise, and humorous about it in her writing.

Star Wars was the first film I saw in a theater, and is pretty much a touchstone for many in my generation. (It still seems a little shocking to me when I come across a forty or thirty-something who has somehow not seen any Star Wars movies. How?) I think, over the arc of that series of movies, Leia seems to be as fully-realized as a character gets--and it is in no small part because Fisher herself deeply understood how scene writing and dialogue worked (and was well known as a script doctor giving often uncredited assistance to so many projects).

It's probably purely selfish of me that I'm relieved she had finished shooting for Star Wars Episode VIII, but feel so deprived, not just for myself but all her fans, of all the interesting things she still would have had in her. Her portrayal of the older, sadder, but wise General Organa showed that (despite some of the jackassery people had to say about the weird fact that actresses actually age) the character, and the actress, had not so much aged as ripened. How I wish she had more time with us.

I don't have any ideas about what the cosmos contains, but sort of want to think she is with the Force.

No, byte this.

I'm not sure what to make of the claims that North Korea is behind the hacking of Sony Corp, since the FBI sort of thinks they did it, but then again, lots of people think they didn't. I don't think it helps that North Korea's message seems a bit mixed on the matter; they didn't do it, but if the US retaliates, then it is on like Donkey Kong! (Against "the whole US mainland"--so, like, Hawaii should feel pretty secure from one of NK's sturdy Aquatic Annoyance Devices.) Seems kind of defensive to me.

So I also don't know what to make of the situation where North Korea's internet went down.  I mean, really, is there any good reason to think the US directly participated in an attack on that nation's information infrastructure? (Maybe they should just ring their provider or something.) Is that how the US rolls?

I still think it's weird to imagine that this is all over a comedy movie that might even be a bit of a bow-wow.  But it looks like the young dictator is still consolidating power, so killing the odd army minister or uncle or religious proselytizers, or even people who watched soap operas, is just how he validates who is really in charge. So it really doesn't do for him to be lampooned in a movie that will probably somehow still be pirated and watched in North Korea anyway. (I think I like the idea, a little, myself.) In the world of a dictator (whose father was a noted cinephile and probably a very, shall we say, dominating influence on him?) trying very hard to grasp and hold the reins of power, something like a movie that doesn't cast him in the best of lights seems far more significant to him than it might to people in a culture where our elected leaders are regularly shredded in the press and television programs.

It's cheap, of course, to malign North Korea's ruler in a comedic vehicle. His regime is associated with the tactics of starvation, imprisonment, labor camps, rape, and torture. The people of North Korea are suffering under a yoke that is anything but comedy gold. It's actually appalling. And there's only so much any of us can do about it, either.

Except to point out that Kim's Macklemore haircut really isn't as face-slimming as he thinks it is.

Maybe even a Red Ryder BB Gun.

Via Political Wire, the quote what done sums up it all:

"We're not going to be disrespected, We have to get something out of this. And I don't know what that even is." 

-- Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-IN), quoted by the Washington Examiner, on the government shutdown.

Shit, dude. What the everliving fuck has Drunk Uncle John even been promising you guys?

2016: Obama's America-- Too Commercial, Seriously.*

Dinesh D'Souza and the others who have worked on the 2016 film--no disrespect, but you have to know that you're making a huge mistake mentioning box office as your rationale for why your film deserved a nomination, right? Because honestly, we all know what the deal is, don't we?

Exactly. Too commercial. A movie about a presidential candidate, let alone a president, during an election year? Hello, obviousness! And then, have your director/spokesguy be the well-known conservative intellectual Dinesh D'Souza? Really? With that kind of star-power, obviously your going to fill seats, but why is he supposed to grab people cinematically? Because he's so darn photogenic? Because he can ask questions of people who don't really know Obama, the president, so much as are tangentially-related to his life?

Oh, p'shaw! Dinesh D'Souza wasn't there to self-aggrandize, and he knows it--but he got in the way of his own production by being just that much of a sexy beast. You know, for my $8 at matinee times, I think you could've gotten someone more schlubby and everyman like David Limbaugh. There are people who don't even know Rush has a brother in the business. He would be sort a Clint Howard/off-the-wall niche choice. That's the kind of balls Oscar notices.

Also--Obama conspiracy theory? Without sex appeal?  You have to understand that this business has changed. This isn't the 1950's. People want skin. I remember in 1993, I saw Harvey Keitel's wanger in like, three different movies. They were all really classy ones, too.  So, seriously, you need to have someone dangerous, maybe someone who'll whip it out, like a Ted Nugent or a Larry Craig. Not in a sick-puppy way. No. In a very necessary, cinematic way. But again--in a film that's not about the current president.

You know what Oscar likes? Period stuff. Maybe D'Souza and them could look back at the Clinton years for inspiration. You know, like the very popular "body count" oevre. And investigate why tacky documentaries don't necessarily do anything to bring down a popular president who has good policies everyone likes. Or they could go get stuffed. That's another thing they could do.

(On edit: Uh, the beginning is definitely written tongue-in-cheek. I've been in a weird mood lately.)

The War on Christmas Just Jumped the Shark

The Christmas display war--now with more Ted McGinley:



Oh, damn. One more Baldwin sacrificed to mediocrity and the forces of pro-religious-propaganda. Part of the fun--that the atheist against the Nativity display is supposed to be doing it for personal reasons that are entirely besides the point. And "Mitch Bright". Shit. I knew this "brights" idea was gonna be used against us someday, somehow. And the "grinchiness" and the "big city elitists vs. small town folks" and the "Christians started Amurrika!" Yow! This is everything I blog about and nothing I ever thought would be a good movie. Thank you, people who probably aren't even Hollyweirdizens, for making a crap movie about a mostly crap subject. Direct to Netflix.

Alaska? Really people? To guarantee snow and the plausibility of such, and other reindeer games? Oh, people......

Your moment of Retro-Zen--

Did you spot the moment of Xtian bias nestled between burgers and popcorn?

That was totes ancient.

US too squeamish for a Victorian-Age historical film?

The movie is called Creation. Does it sound scary, yet? So it's about Charles Darwin. Big deal. It's a movie. People will be wearing period costumes and I am given to believe there may even be acting and scenes with angst and questions of faith and um....

Sigh. I've heard the reviews are quite good. But this is what the article says:

The film has sparked fierce debate on US Christian websites, with a typical comment dismissing evolution as "a silly theory with a serious lack of evidence to support it despite over a century of trying".

Jeremy Thomas, the Oscar-winning producer of Creation, said he was astonished that such attitudes exist 150 years after On The Origin of Species was published.

"That's what we're up against. In 2009. It's amazing," he said.

"The film has no distributor in America. It has got a deal everywhere else in the world but in the US, and it's because of what the film is about. People have been saying this is the best film they've seen all year, yet nobody in the US has picked it up...."

Somehow, this country has weathered Inherit the Wind, The Last Temptation of Christ, and two, count'em, two cinematic works based on the novels of that blasphemous popular author, Dan Brown. I really don't see why what looks like a well-made and balanced treatment of a scientist whose theory, explained over a hundred years ago, is taught in schools today and whose work is considered to be mainstream science, should cause anyone any agita.

Unless, of course, there are some religious leaders who are afraid of their flock being taught the controversy? (But that must be laughable, surely! Isn't their faith stronger stuff than that?) And naturally, they aren't worried that a fictionalized account would rehabilitate and humanize for creationists, the image of someone they've done their damnedest to portray as a godless, pseudo scientific cult leader? Pish, and tosh, even, for that matter--

It wouldn't be a problem at all for them, unless it was plausible, sympathetic, and true.

Oh yeah. That problem.

I think this problem, in practice, in this country, was best summed up by something I read today on HuffPo, by Frank Schaeffer (whose posts I pretty much read religiously--small pun, and whose Crazy For God I'm just now reading since it came out in paperback--very interesting read and I may get to a review of it). He wrote, appropos of the 9/12 marchers:

The fact of the matter is we now know what the experiment in raising children outside of the American mainstream means. It means that there's a whole subculture within American culture that mistrusts facts precisely because they are facts. They glory an alternative view of not just politics but of reality.

They frequent the creationist museum and look at dioramas of dinosaurs cavorting with humans. They believe that gay people choose to be gay just stick it to the rest of us and could change if they invite Jesus into their hearts. They believe that before you run for governor of Alaska, for instance, you should get a preacher specializing in "casting out the spirit of witchcraft" to anoint you so you can win against the demonic forces of secularism -- as was the case with Sarah Palin when she first ran for governor. They believe that the NRA was telling the truth when they claimed that Obama would "take away your guns" and so have loaded up with more guns and ammunition. They think the time has come to rise up and overthrow the government. And yes, most of them also believe that black people are inferior to whites, so to have a black man in the White House is itself "proof" of American's fall from grace.

We have a vocal minority of people in this country who are like this--maybe some of the creationists aren't racist and some of the racists aren't creationist, and maybe we could flesh out a Venn diagram to show where global warming denialism and New World Order-ism fall in. But there is an anti-intellectualism, and even an anti-factualism, which can be daunting. Addressing topics that set this group off can be a headache. Truly.

And yet, just because something can be headache doesn't mean it shouldn't be done, and yes, they are a minority--well, yeah, I know there have been polls that say something like half of the US is some kind of creationist, but no matter--

Controversy can sell tickets, and if a movie is good, word of mouth does a lot.

I'm totally getting it on Netflix, anyway.