Until now.
I was very, very disappointed to discover in the most recent issue of "Time" an article that swayed so far left that it was simply embarrassing. Here's a link to the partial article (you have to be a member or buy the magazine to read the entire thing), but I will summarize it for you. Basically this article was all about Republicans' attempts to make voting more difficult, obviously in an effort to keep minorities and the poor from being able to go vote for democrats. The idea was that the big bad Republicans have been trying to enact all these nasty laws and rules as a desperate ploy to keep their party valid.
Some of the rules, I have to say, are questionable. For example, I remember one law that was passed in a state specifically outlawed voting on a day where a predominately African American church worked with it's lower-income community to try to get people out to vote. That's not cool. But most of the laws were more like "you must show photo ID" or "you must prove that you are a US citizen." Really?
This would all be well and good if it had been written in the opinions section. But no... this was a national article, prominently shown in the magazine, lumped in with their other big articles. You could have easily changed the premise of the story to "how Republicans are trying to save the voting system" and it would have been just as (if not MORE) accurate.
When did it become wrong to tell non-citizens that they can't vote? When was that considered big and bad? What's the big deal asking someone to show you their driver's license before they go vote? I don't get it. These are rules that should be applauded. They keep our system honest, they help stop fraud. And yet, the Republicans who enacted them (or who tried) are now being harpooned as anti-american and anti-vote? Don't get me wrong, I'm sure Republicans were more than happy to find that enacting these laws would most likely benefit them... but at the end of the day keeping if keeping people honest helps one party more than the other, who cares? It's the honesty that's important.
So are we supposed to be outraged that Republicans are demanding we show our IDs and prove we are citizens before we vote? Are we supposed to be angry because it might cost the democrats a few votes? Or are we supposed to be thankful that someone is raising the red flag? That someone is letting us all know our electoral system is being hijacked and we need to do something to protect it? Is that supposed to piss me off? It does. At "Time."
Lie Strong
So Lance Armstrong is in trouble. I guess he's done trying to fight the accusations that he was doping his way to all those Tour De' France wins. But forget the fact that no one should give two shits about a dude because he can ride a bike really fast. Forget the fact that this entire thing takes place in France, the most ridiculous country in the world. What this comes down to in the end is an argument over whether or not he actually loses here, and whether or not it's worth our time and money.
Lance Armstrong is not a "loser" by any means. Sure he's lost his sponsorships, and sure he was stripped of his titles. But he is RICH. He is FAMOUS. And (something actually good) he has raised millions of dollars to help fight cancer. So what if he has a trophy or two (or seven) taken away? So what if Nike is walking away? He's got his money. He's going to be fine. So what's the lesson here? If you cheat to win and you're caught, you still kinda win? Sure you only have one nut, but you still win?
And even worse is how much money has been spent trying to get this guy to fess up. You think the Roger Clemens stuff was ridiculous, the authorities have been tracking, tracing, and trying to catch Lance Armstrong for YEARS. How many hundreds of thousands, MILLIONS of dollars have been poured into trying to prove that this guy wasn't able to do the unthinkable without some kind of outside help? We're trying to buy our way out of two wars, we're in debt up to our asses with other countries, and we're pouring out time and money to try to catch a CYCLIST? A CYCLIST???
There is, of course, the argument about keeping sports honest. "What are we teaching our kids" after all? Well, chances are none of those kids are watching bicycle racing. If they are, you need to get them a new hobby. But even if you are upset about the lessons these kids might learn, this situation is no better. What your kids have learned is that you can cheat your way through professional sports, and if you're caught, you get slapped on the wrist while you drive away in your Ferrari. Nice lesson.
Who really cares about Lance Armstrong? The people who have benefited from his charity. And if it took one dude cheating his way through a silly cycling competition full of french weirdos, then I say that's worth saving lives and furthering cancer research. Not saying it's cool to dope, just saying look at the big picture here folks.
(500) Days Of Summer
From Netflix: When his girlfriend, Summer (Zooey Deschanel), unceremoniously dumps him, greeting-card copywriter and hopeless romantic Tom (Golden Globe nominee Joseph Gordon-Levitt) begins sifting through the year-plus worth of days they spent together, looking for clues to what went awry. As he recalls the good and bad times he spent with the commitment-phobic girl, his heart reawakens to what it cherishes most. Marc Webb directs this uncommon love story.
My take: This movie warns you right off the bat that it's not a love story. Kind of strange, I thought, considering that seemed to be the target audience for the movie. But it had two actors I really like, an interesting premise, and a good strong opening couple of scenes, so I figured what the hell I'll stick with it.
I found myself laughing on more than one occasion. I caught myself feeling angry and frustrating. I felt sorry for the main character. I got mad at Summer. And then I realized... I was falling for this movie just like the main character had fallen for Summer. The movie even warned me right up front that it wasn't going to be a love story (just like Summer warned him that she wasn't looking for anything serious)... and yet here I was angry that it wasn't playing out like a traditional love story.
I also realized something else. I have been that guy before. I think many of us have. Trying to understand a situation that just isn't mean to be, even though you're SO SURE that it HAS to be. You spend weeks, months, sometimes years trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. You pour so much of yourself into trying to make something work that it almost breaks you... and on the other end is someone who gets all of the benefits of your hard work without having to reciprocate in the slightest. And whaddya know... things work out just fucking fantastic for her, and you're left feeling empty and worthless.
It's a terrible feeling, and it's a feeling that I actually found surfacing inside of me as I watched this movie. And that's when it hit me. "(500) Days Of Summer" is a work of pure genius. Oh sure, it's a good film. It's well-written, well-acted, funny, has some great dialogue and moments and characters. It's even cool stylistically (I like the counter graphics, very nice). But what really makes this movie sing is the fact that it can reach into your life and make you feel these things that you have suppressed for so long. It can bring out these feelings that you have so expertly ignored and tucked away. It's not a sappy love story where everything works out in the end. Or is it? It's so close to real life that it's scary. And it makes me feel bad for the writer/director, because you can just tell this is something they've experienced firsthand.
Bravo to everyone involved with this movie. You've done more than just make a great film. You've figured out a way to grab all of us beyond the screen and pull us into your story in a way that I never thought possible. In other words, see this movie.
The American
From Netflix: On the heels of a rough assignment, assassin Jack declares that his next job will be his last. Dispatched to a small Italian town to await further orders, Jack embarks on a dangerous double life while falling for a lovely villager.
My Take: Here's one that slipped under the radar. Well, I say that but in reality it was buried in my Netflix queue so I heard about it from somewhere. Much like the role in "The Descendants" was perfect for Clooney, the role in "The American" was not. And I hate to say it, but I think it's mostly because Clooney is just too old. He was trying to be the lean-mean-fighting-machine, but he just came across as sort of frail.
This was an interesting story, but it really was beneath an actor of Clooney's caliber. Someone like Jason Statham could have very easily performed this role. I know it was trying to be the "classy hitman movie," but a hitman movie is a hitman movie, and at least Statham would look like a badass beating the everliving shit out of people. Unlike Clooney, who just sort of looked like he was flailing around with a frightened look on his face.
I guess in some ways this movie was much more realistic in the portrayal of that kind of lifestyle. Sure, I don't really know. But as far as an entertaining movie goes, this one fell kinda flat. And the final scene wrapped up so tightly and perfectly, it reminded me of something I would have worked into the ending of one of my childhood movies.
"The American" tries. But it fails. Don't bother.
Cloud Atlas
From Netflix: In this star-studded drama, six seemingly disparate stories take viewers from a South Pacific Island in the 19th century to 1980s America to a dystopian future, exploring the complicated links that humans share through the generations.
My Take: The Wachowskis have lost their edge. That's what I would have told you if you had asked me my opinion before going into this movie. Ever since the Matrix it's just been downhill. I couldn't even make it through the first 10 minutes of "Speed Racer." But "Cloud Atlas" was the moment when the Wachowskis restored themselves. To an extent.
This movie is a HUGE undertaking. I never read the book, but if it covers this much ground it must be just gigantic. To the Wachowskis' credit, they were able to take what was probably a huge and complicated storyline, and compress it into something watchable. I will give them that.
The visuals are gorgeous. The graphics and special effects are amazing. The idea is genius. The concept is deep and thought-provoking. This movie had all the pieces in all the right places. The only thing that threw me was the element that tied it all together. I won't give it away, but you won't be able to miss it. It's stuffed down your throat so hard it will make you gag. It's like they had this delicate, wonderful, nuanced movies, and then some idiot from the studio came in and said WAIT DO THIS. SEE? NOW IT'S ALL CONNECTED! GET IT??? Yeah no, we got it.
Still, I did think this was a fantastic movie. Very well done. And it gives me hope that the Wachowskis are back on the rise. Give us "The Matrix" again, guys! This movie isn't it, unfortunately... but it's close. See it. See it in theatres if you can. And then feel smarter for having seen it. Trust me, it's better than 99% of the bullshit farting around in theatres right now.
Before I go, I just want to say one thing about Sandy the "Super Storm." This hurricane has gotten more coverage than any other storm I think I've ever seen in my life. Sure it's historic, and it was by no means a wimpy storm. But you want to know why it's getting so much attention? Because (A) it's hitting New York, and (B) there's nothing else going on in the news right now except politics, which everyone is more than happy to take a break from.
But compare this to Hurricane Ike, which rocked Houston's world back in 2008. That storm was also a monster, also historic, also very damaging. And yet it was nothing more than a blip on the national media's headlines. It was "the economy!" followed by "the election!" followed by "chi chi the baby panda!" followed by "oh yeah Houston got its ass rocked off by a hurricane."
I turned on my TV this morning to see a news reporter being WAY too dramatic talking about a tanker boat which had blown across the harbor and ran aground on the beach. She was freaking out because it was "JUST A COUPLE DOZEN FEET FROM THIS MINOR ROADWAY!" Does anyone remember Ike, when boats were on the FREEWAY about 50 miles from the ocean? No? Not surprising, I'd be shocked if any of that footage made it out of Texas.
Situations like this are always a good eye opener for those of you who blindly follow the media. It's also good for those of you who claim to be smarter than that, and yet you spent the last three days talking about nothing but the "Frankenstorm" or the "Super Storm." For those of you posting on Facebook about how many times you've been to New York, like that means you're feeling this storm more than the rest of us. Consider this: While all of the storms listed were very damaging and ruined many many lives, from a media standpoint, Sandy was a big deal because it hit New York during a media "dead time." Katrina was big deal because it turned into a political "everybody hates George Bush" story. Ike was not a big deal because it happened to Houston, a city the media just seems to kind of ignore, and because Houstonians are incredible people who, when faced with unbelievable challenge and hardship, put their heads down and get things done instead of crying for help or trying to paint something as unfair or blame it on someone else.
There, I said it. It's my opinion, doesn't represent anything or anyone else. Just my opinion. Hate me if you like. I've never been to New York.
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