Georgia Woman Inspires Refugee Soccer Team

A fascinating account of one woman who is battling on behalf of a small kid's soccer team in Clarkston, Georgia was in a recent NY Times story. I read the paper with much skepticism, but this story was impossible to not read.

It tells the story of a small team of kids - all refugees, from countries like Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Burundi, Congo, Gambia, Kosovo, Sudan, Somalia and Liberia - who go by the name of Fugees. What they have endured in the past is beyond horrifying. What the yearn to do as a team and as individuals is nothing short of pure courage and hope, along with a child's earnest desire to play sports and do well:.

Their coach, a woman named Luma Mufleh, is truly inspirational.

Here's a sample from a handout given to her players if they wish to be on the team:

I will have good behavior on and off the field.
I will not smoke.
I will not do drugs.
I will not drink alcohol.
I will not get anyone pregnant.
I will not use bad language.
My hair will be shorter than Coach'’s.
I will be on time.
I will listen to Coach.
I will try hard.
I will ask for help.

Sadly, the town's mayor banned them from playing soccer on a field in a city park.

The town has certainly been staggered and shocked by the arrival of refugees from around the world, part of a federal relocation program. Nearly half of the town's population of 7,400 are refugees, who get 90 days of assistance and then must rely on their own needs for income and housing.

Despite endless obstacles, the coach and the team persist to do their very best on the field and off.

What they have endured, the solid support of a determined Coach Mufleh, and their combined tenacity is a must read. (NYTimes reg. may be required)

In addition, Mufleh also founded a company which employs adult refugees, called Fresh Start. More on the Fugees team is here.

The Battle to Control Oil

With billions due in debt, civil wars waging. the economy sputtering, refugees fleeing from home and from the nation itself, amid even more U.S. forces moving in -- most all hopes pinned on the nation of Iraq gaining stability in all the aforementioned arenas continue to dim and dwindle away to the needs of outside (read non-Iraqi) oil corporations.

I mentioned this policy trend before. And said policy has again gathered powerful strength, as the troubled Iraqi ministers moved on step closer to a new "hydrocarbon law" which grants foreign oil companies "national treatment", meaning "the Iraqi government cannot give preference to Iraqi oil companies (whether public or privately owned) over foreign-owned companies when it chooses contractors. This provision alone will severely cripple the government's ability to ensure that Iraqis gain as much economic benefit as possible from their oil."

The Bush adminstration pushed for this very change, though it benefits outsiders far more than citizens of what Bush has claimed must be the eventual outcome of democracy in Iraq, back at the end of December 2006, just weeks ahead of the announced U.S. military escalations in Baghdad.

History offers much to highlight just what is happening now. Via an report from Barry Lando from Jan. 16, 2006, excerpted from his forthcoming book, "Web of Deceit" :

"... when viewing the historical record of British attempts to rule first Mesopotamia and then Iraq you get the feeling you’re watching an old Hollywood black and white classic that has been reshot for an American audience with digitalized sound, computer animation, and the “United States” substituted for “England. For instance, when British forces marched into Baghdad in 1917 they announced they had come not as “conquerors” but "liberators.”


snip

"Britain’s ruling classes spoke of a divine mandate to bring the obvious benefits of Western rule to peoples steeped in tyranny and darkness. As Arnold Wilson-- a prototype,one could argue, of Paul Bremmer in 2003—who was appointed to oversee Britain’s new holdings in Mesopotamia, declared in 1918. “The average [Iraqi] Arab, as opposed to the handful of amateur politicians of Baghdad, sees the future as one of fair dealing and material and moral progress under the aegis of Britain….The Arabs are content with our occupation.”

The Arabs, it turned out, were not content when they understood that Britain had no intention of liberating the conquered territories. On June 30, 1920, uprisings exploded across the country. The British then had 133,000 troops in the area—roughly the same number as the U.S. had after the invasion of 2003."

Controlling resources remains the at the center of the current and past conflicts.

Blog For Choice Day

This issue is far and away more about choice, individual freedom and personal responsibility than anything else.

So add my voice to millions of others who are Pro-Choice (not Anti-Life) in America.

Yes I know I'm a male (duh) but to deny medical procedures a woman requests based on someone else's beliefs makes no sense. The word and concepts of abortion may be repellent to you. If so, you have the ability through your words and deeds to promote and insure accurate, compassionate education about sexual behavior is available.

This Blog Is Going To Outer Space

As of today, this blog is going intergalactic. Yes, this blog and you and your comments are welcome to travel into space as well.

You'll notice a little badge on the left side of the page for Blog In Space, a project which regularly collects the blog posts of members, bundles them together and transmits them into the vast reaches of the universe, sending them out into the stars and planets.

I am positive aliens will find much to enjoy here, though I am not sure if our primitive operating systems are compatable. But why wait for them to contact us? Along with the gazillion radio and television signals already hurtling through the vast and immeasurable universe, now this blog and those whose comments are herein will now reach beyond this beautiful and fragile globe.

Now, in addition to being world-wide, we have intergalactic distribution. About time, I say.

I don't have the $20 million fee so I can be a Space Tourist. My lifelong hopes of seeing human outposts on the Moon or Mars are still unrealized. So for now this will have to do.

So --

Greetings to the inhabitants of Alpha Centauri, or Omicron Perseid 8, or maybe to the flying gas-bags of HammaGammaJamma 12 and any and all who find this page of words and images. And a fine howdy to you all.

Here is a video to sort of tell you where you can find us. It is narrated by a human named Morgan Freeman who has a nice calm voice and should not scare you. If anything here, today or ever, does scare you, relax. We are all pretty darn harmless, except to ourselves. The video starts with an image of what we call a hula hoop in a place called Venice and goes from there. Oh, and Klaatu barada nikto.



And keep this in mind, advice from the Blog In Space folks, who say: "Bloggers who use this site are urged to keep their blogs devoid of any language, comments or content that might offend, taunt or provoke alien life forms in any way. Let's not start an intergalactic war :)

(And thanks to Ginger, where I discovered this whole Space Blog dealie.)

Camera Obscura - Cyberpunk TV, Weird P.I.s, The Descent

Like most of us, I start the year with great expectations. Hopeful, even. And some years, the results exceed the expectations. Since it's still January, expectations are quite high. So some news today about what's ahead and what's being planned, and my take on one of the best reviewed horror films of 2006.


I was most impressed to read that George Clooney will try and bring the Hugo Award winning novel "The Diamond Age" by Neal Stephenson to life in a mini-series for the Sci-Fi Channel. And it's because that is one fantastic novel, and Stephenson is writing the script. "The Diamond Age" is one of the best science fiction novels I've ever read - and I mean ever. No matter if the genre isn't something on your regular reading list - this richly detailed look into the future explores very likely expansions of current tech, has elements of a great mystery novel, near-Dickensian characters and social history all in one.

Stephenson has a massive cult following for his earlier work too, "Snowcrash", which has been mulled over as a movie, but again, it's the book itself that provides a detailed and highly entertaining world in which most readers can get easily lost. I've probably read "Snowcrash" half a dozen times and never get bored. It's very funny and satiric in it's approach to a world future. Computer gaming, franchise-businesses as nation-states, and language as code, the book is the origin of much computer and web slang, as well as the longtime online world of the Metaverse.

And yes, I've read all his books - he's one of the best American writers today.

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Speaking of the shows on Sci-Fi, they present a new show based on Jim Butcher's books, called "The Dresden Files." Basically, a master wizard as detective show, it airs on Sunday. I've always liked the supernatural detective/private investigator idea, and this one shows some promise.

In fact, for the last year, I've been reading the very pulp-fiction adventures of one Repairman Jack, hero of ten novels by F. Paul Wilson. Jack is a down-and-dirty outsider, a fixer, who gets drawn into a full blown multi-dimensional power struggle for reality itself. It all tends to start normally, as he P.I.'s his way into seemingly normal crime cases, but with each book, he learns he is part of some nebulous cosmic battle.

Very pulpy style helps this out and yeah, it's a guilty pleasure. But I've read 5 or 6 of the books and can't stop. Jack is too much fun.

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I sat down this week at long last to watch "The Descent", which friends and critics alike all cheered as one of the best horror films of 2006 and of the whole darn '00 decade. I was more than skeptical of such praise.

But it does deliver all the goods and will scare the bejesus out of you, even long before the monsters in the dark appear onscreen.



The set-up: An all-female group of adrenaline junkies/extreme sportsters follow a friend who's organized a cave exploration. She is not a nice person. She takes them into unmapped areas without telling them and of course they get lost. It's a cinematic marvel of near-darkness and claustrophobia which gets the suspense cranked into high gear.

The horror: Lost and scared and bickering, one member of the gang, already in a spiral descent of madness before even going into the cave, starts seeing people in the dark. Scampering, oozing creatures who melt into shadows. And there's not just one - there's a dang colony of these things. Building on the first half-hour's tensions, the movie gets feral for the remainder of the journey and so do the women.

The verdict: It's a first-rate thriller. Writer/Director Neil Marshall of Scotland already had B-movie fame for a movie called "The Dog Soldiers" about a half-assed military squad encountering werewolves, lives up to his early hype and delivers the goods with "The Descent". His frequent collaborator, cinematographer Sam McCurdy, is part of the reason for success here. He gets impossible shots inside that cave's nooks and crannies, and the viewer feels as lost as the gals.

Turn off all the lights, crank up the sound and prepare for nerve-jangling fun.

3 Things to Do Before I Shuffle Off

When Stephen King was asked about the 3 things on his "must-do list" I think he spoke for most of us when he said:

""I'd like to outlast George W. Bush's second term of office."

I ponder that notion daily. I hope it is survived by many and grieve for those who have not and won't make that mark. HIs 3rd wish:

"3. To see "American Idol" canceled."

Also in this Newsweek report (hat-tip to R. Neal at KnoxViews for the story) the former Tennessee senator listed these 3:

"1. Continue yearly trip to African regions without health care to perform needed surgery.
2. Fight AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, and work to provide clean drinking water to poor areas.
3. Treat heart problems in gorillas at D.C.'s National Zoo."

No mention of running for Governor. Maybe it's number 4. I personally fear for those gorillas.

My list of 3 Must Do's?

1. Travel and stay for extended periods in Europe, Japan, Hong Kong, Tibet, Egypt, and even more countries around the globe. This plan is all on hold until W. leaves office. The write a book about what I saw and heard.

2. Make the scariest horror movie anyone has ever seen.

3. Employ some of my longtime friends making said movie and sharing huge profits with them all.

What's on your list?

The Surge Effect

What prompted the turnaround in the Bush administration so that say they've decided to follow the law and end warrantless wiretaps?

The question is tackled by Glenn Greenwald, who sums up:

"This is what the Bush administration does and how it always operates. It has not conceded anything and it has certainly not done anything that mitigates its lawbreaking -- its crimes -- over the past five years with regard to eavesdropping without warrants. The president has been committing felonies on purpose and systematically for the past five years because he wants to. The fact that he might have decided he should stop does not excuse his lawbreaking and must not be allowed to shield him or anyone else from accountability."

The new hearings in Congress to provide oversight (their Constitutional responsibility) hasn't altered the thinking of The Decider. I have to think this is yet another delaying tactic by an administration which has ignored laws by the handful.

Call it the Surge Effect. A pretense of change which changes nothing, but further extends a single-minded desire to act with no accountability.

Or call it too little and too late.

Another example -- DOD lawyer Charles Stimson goes on the radio to name a list of legal firms which have been tackling the cases of detainees at Guantanamo, but after he's maligned and threatened them, his bosses refute him and then Stimson himself "re-defines" his statements in a letter to the Washington Post.

But this change of view occurs only after Stimson named these firms and their attorneys as possible collaborators with terrorists.

Lower The Voting Age?

A bill in the state legislature would lower the voting age to 17 if the person were to turn 18 by the date of the general election itself. A report on the bill is here.

I understand the desire to increase voter turnouts. Already we in Tennessee and most other states have extended or early voting to encourage more people to vote. I'm not aware of any studies which show that these increased time-periods to vote have in fact increased turnout. However, I am rather positive it has increased the number of absentee ballots, where most voter fraud actually occurs.

The plain fact is - we are all offered ample opportunities to vote but we are ultimately given the freedom to not participate or vote at all. There's the saying that if you vote, you have a right to complain about outcomes. Nonsense. We have the freedom to not vote and still complain like mad if we wish it.

Is that hypocritical, to not vote but to complain? Perhaps. But the right to complain is just there, and Americans love to complain.

If the wish of the state is to encourage more young people partcipate in elections, why not create the opportunity of school credits if a high-school or college student works in an election office? Too often, election officials stay in their posts for so long it leaves little room for new blood. But a credit and/or mentoring program would surely increase participation best.

Another bill is mentioned in the above article to extend early voting by another week. It seems to me that due to the time involved and long lines of voters due to equipment malfunctions or large turnouts, it would serve the state best if voting days were also a day off from work and school, as with many federal holidays.

Extending voting days also means decreased days of campaigning by candidates.

Why not make the day an official day off?

Would some just take the holiday and not vote? Probably. But most would take advantage of the time off to participate.

Failure, Humiliation Drive "American Idol"

The ever-intrepid Cinemonkey provided the following in yesterday's post about the television show "American Idol", which I want to see ended forever:

"As an inveterate Devil's Advocate, how do you explain AI's popularity (& to this day, to me, AI means "Artificial Intelligence"), &, what "reality shows" do you find entertaining, if any."

Fair question. Here's my response.

The Popularity: I believe it was reporter H.L Mencken who once said "No one ever lost a dollar underestimating the taste of the American public."

The audience at home are told they can participate in the voting process for selecting winners. I don't buy that for a minute. Producers of such show carefully construct who is to win, and while audiences may temper that decision, it is definitely not theirs to make. But the "participation factor" does attract viewers.

I think most viewers tune in to see who loses, not who wins.

That explains why each "season" begins with a wide range of "auditions" and the focus is on the people who fail miserably. And don't kid yourself -- most of those who fail and appear on television have been carefully selected - in fact I am sure they are likely coached or created by the show's producers. The object of these shows is to allow the audience to again feel as if they are participating and because viewers want to see people fail.

More proof of that - while viewers number in the tens of millions, the record sales of "winners" or near-winners, are a few million at best. If audiences tuned in to see winners, those sales numbers would be higher.

In the old-timey days of television, talent shows, like the one from Arthur Godfrey, featured actual performers, singers, songwriters, and musicians who found fame based on their talents - Elvis is one case of success. For a fine representation of just how created and orchestrated game shows are and have always been, check out the fact-based "Quiz Show" movie.

These days, the advertising hook on "reality shows" is to "tune in and see who's eliminated this week!"

As for what if any of such shows I watch -- the only show like this I've ever watched from start to finish was the one on the Sci-Fi channel last year, "Who Wants to be a Superhero". The mighty man of Marvel Comics, Stan Lee, was the main reason I watched. It was fun to see him work and the superheroes he provided were most entertaining to me. But it was all very, very carefully crafted and written and had little to do with "reality".

Make no mistake - film and television producers are manufacturers first and last. They make products to sell products. It has always been so. A studio selected a performer, gave them lessons in everything from dance to elocution lessons, created a specific look provided by make-up and other technical effects, created stories to highlight the performer as "heroic" or as an "average person" or as a "villian" or "comedian" or any type needed to create a certain type of performer.

And that brings us to my problem with "American Idol" -- it isn't about excellence. It's about the mediocre attempting to be more than mediocre. It promotes the barely talented into the music world and programmers on radio and television follow the popular trend and feature these mediocre types because they have momentary fame. Actual musicians are sidelined while the flavor of the week is pushed onto audiences as something of value.

I am well aware I am not a typical or average viewer. As a writer, I prefer to see dramas and comedies which are well-written, acted and produced. Television and movies are first and foremost entertainment fantasies -- reality is mimicked not captured whole and intact.

Allow me to share a video with you. It is not manufactured (as far as I can tell, though it is edited from surveillance cameras). We see a would-be thief attempting to rob a liquor store and, yes, he fails and does so in spectacular stupidity. His only success is in getting arrested. It makes me laugh because of his failure.



UPDATE: Not longer after I posted this today, I read Sarcastro's Confession that he tuned into to the "American Idol" against his better judgement and his take underscores what I said -- It's Failure That Drives The Show:

"I want to see abject failure.

I want to see people so self-deluded that they refuse to believe that they can't sing despite all evidence to the contrary. Bring me more people whose friends and family are too spineless to tell them that they have absolutely no talent. Load me up with losers who have placed their entire concept of self-worth on staggeringly unrealistic dreams of stardom."

Dear American Idol -- Please Go Away

An Open Letter .....

Dear American Idol:

Please go away. You are a blight on music itself.

I've endured talk about you for years now, and you are not exciting or entertaining and you wouldn't know what musical talent was if it bit you in the ass. You are an over-glorified night of sing-alongs and it's been a night in hell, enternal and painful.

Three judges whose musical knowledge and experience combined is hardly a footnote in musical history. There's Paula, the dancer who apparently must drink (or drug) herself into near incoherence to participate in the show. There's Simon, whose daddy got him a job at EMI, which he lost, who then founded two recording labels which went bankrupt, then made money recording novelty songs by the Power Rangers and whose only skill is The Obvious Insult. And I have no idea who Randy is.

Those who appear on your show climb up on the talents of others -- songwriters, singers, musicians - who often worked thankless years and in obscurity to develop their talents. Like scavengers, these contestants, enabled by the talentless producers of this show, pick over the achievements of others with greed as the mark of their nature.

You glorify mediocrity as it reaches for the abilities of other far more talented people, with only the aim of theft.

As for the people who actually watch this middle-school popularity contest -- you would be far more rewarded for actually going out in your own communities to see and hear actual musicians, who write their music, play instruments, and perform for the joy of music and the hope of enough money to cover the cost of their efforts. They are in every community and they strive mightily to create something of worth while you endorse and celebrate nothing.

I blame the show and those who faithfully engage in it's dumbed-down exercise in lip-synching for eroding the arts and obscuring the talents of thousands of others. Not only is the world of music maligned and damaged by your efforts, this program has the entertainment value of watching paint dry. (If the paint were stolen from others.)

I urge the world to boycott you.

The Contradictions Of The 'Crack Tax'

It makes no sense. It is not constitutional. Why does it continue? Sadly - the cause may all be about money.

Other states have similar programs, but on Monday, NPR focused their attention on Tennessee's "crack tax":

"For a second consecutive year, Tennessee has collected more than $1.5 million in revenue from its so-called "crack tax." The state has been enforcing a tax on illegal substances that drug dealers can report without fear of prosecution.

But once arrested, dealers must prove they've paid the tax or face fines or property seizure. A local judge has called it unconstitutional but the state is appealing saying it will help deter crime and boost tax coffers.

Complete report here.

Media Reform Conference in Memphis

It may be called "public ariwaves" but the place most likely to be the source of "public views and opinons" is not on radio, television or newspapers -- it's on the internet.

This weekend in Memphis the National Conference on Media Reform is presenting a large amount of information and discussion about all types of media and what the public can do to demand a less corporate hold of "public airwaves". I hear it so often -- the public owns the nation's "airwaves", but do they really?

Newscoma is blogging live from the event with information and lots of pictures, and more info can be found here at Liberadio:

"And what do the American people - who own the public airwaves, by the way - get in return? Too little news, too much baloney passed off as news. Too little quality entertainment, too many people eating bugs on reality TV. Too little local and regional music, too much brain-numbing national play-lists. Too little of America, too much of Wall Street and Madison Avenue. That’s what we get for half a trillion dollars. It’s one hell of a bad bargain, don’t you think?"

Camera Obscura - Bruce Campbell, Horace McCoy, Idiocracy

A Nashville native who went from fighter pilot to famous writer to bum to screenwriter gets introduced to you this week, and also in this whirlwind edition of movie news, the dumped-on and controversial comedy "Idiocracy" arrives on DVD and to start it all off, the legendary chin of actor Bruce Campbell.

Bruce continues his unique exploits in cinema and stardom with the following commercial for Old Spice. Look quick at the beginning and you can see a mighty chainsaw by the fireplace - wherever Bruce goes, Ash is close by. Groovy, baby.



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The comedy/satire "Idiocracy" by filmmaker Mike Judge got shelved for two years by Fox, then they barely released the movie last August, pulled it out of theatres after a week or so, and now they have released it on DVD this week - with no commentaries or extras other than a few deleted scenes. Even the original poster for the movie has already become a collector's item.



Judge has been most patient with Fox's gross mishandling. They chopped the movie up some, added some unneeded narration, but all around the country, the movie is getting the praise it deserves. The story follows Army private Joe Bowers (Luke Wilson) who is placed in an experimental hibernation pod, along with a prostitute (Maya Rudolph) and an accident puts them out in an America 500 years from now - where Stupid is King and Joe stands out as the smartest man in the nation. The Washington Post writes:

"Things go awry, and the two guinea pigs don't wake up for 500 years, by which time the country has become populated by porn-addicted rednecks and Uzi-toting gangstas; the English language has been replaced by a patois of "hillbilly, Valley Girl and inner-city slang." A trashed-out landscape that's part zombie film and part broken-down "Blade Runner," the America of "Idiocracy" has become one vast junk food-entertainment complex, where bread and circuses take the form of super-size burritos and monster truck rallies."

As with his previous film, "Office Space", expect a massive cult following to lift this movie out of obscurity.

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As long as I've been writing about movies, I can always learn something new - even if the movie was one I thought I knew much about.

Such is the case with the brillant drama. "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" Set in a grim and brutal dance marathon in the 1930s, this 1969 movie by Sydney Pollack has always been a favorite of mine. Watching it again the other night on TCM, the movie has lost none of its visceral punches so I thought I should take advantage of this here internets deal and check on the writer - novelist/screenwriter Horace McCoy.

McCoy was born in Pegram, Tennessee, just outside of Nashville and deserves quite a bit of celebration as a writer of distinction. McCoy's novel of the dance marathon of death was based on his own script, but there were no takers. He published it as a novel in 1935 and Charlie Chaplin took the option to film the work - an effort that never saw completion. The book sold poorly in the U.S., but was hailed in Europe as a masterpiece and McCoy was ranked with writers like Hemingway and Faulkner.

McCoy had an amazing life and career. He left home at 16, became a bombardier and when his pilot was killed in mid-flight in 1918 took the controls, shot down an enemy plane and landed safely, despite his own wounds. Flying now as a pilot, he was wounded several more times by the time his military career ended, logging over 400 hours in the air.

Back in the U.S., he started writing for newspapers in Texas, and acting with the Dallas Little Theatre, running in the highest circles of society. He lost his fame and wealth, ending up as a hobo and odd-jobber (which led to his time as a bouncer for dance marathon in California and gave backgorund to his later novel). He was a pulp writer for Black Mask magazine, crafted dozens of action films in Hollywood (incudling some uncredited work on the original "King Kong") and penned the novel "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye" which became one of Jimmy Cagney's favorite roles.

There is much more to his life and you can read a fine biography of McCoy here, and his Hollywood career is noted here. I know I'm reading his books as soon as I am able to track down a few copies.

Oil Profits The Reason for New Iraq Strategy?

The most urgent priority for success in Iraq is security, especially in Baghdad." - President Bush, speech on Jan. 10, 2006

More security and more stability in Iraq has been emphasized in recent weeks, though I have noticed a specific reason why that is the goal currently-- a proposal to privatize oil production in Iraq.

In coming days, a proposal will be voted on by the Iraqi Council of Ministers which creates a new "hydrocarbon law" and gives Oil Giants like Shell, BP, and Exxon Mobil a real deal on production-sharing agreements - 75% of profits for an indefinite period of time and then 20% once they have recovered their investment costs. The 20% is more than twice the average of standard PSAs.

Some have been writing on this already and noting this thirst for oil has been a primary concern since before the U.S. military action in Iraq began:

"This law has been in the works since the very beginning of the invasion - indeed, since months before the invasion, when the Bush administration brought in Phillip Carroll, former CEO of both Shell and Fluor, the politically-wired oil servicing firm, to devise "contingency plans" for divvying up Iraq's oil after the attack. Once the deed was done, Carroll was made head of the American "advisory committee" overseeing the oil industry of the conquered land, as Joshua Holland of Alternet.com has chronicled in two remarkable reports on the backroom maneuvering over Iraq's oil: "Bush's Petro-Cartel Almost Has Iraq's Oil" and "The US Takeover of Iraqi Oil."

"I see Plans within Plans."

Perhaps the current plan offered by the President on television last night will indeed bring a level of stability to the country of Iraq. And if this oil proposal is approved, then perhaps, in time, the benefits will trickle down to the average Iraqi.

Cynical as it may sound, it truly looks like the battle has been for business first, last and always.

The Comedy Barn Hits YouTube

What happens when a regular old fellow from Memphis travels to Pigeon Forge for some entertainment? He steals the show, that's what. Read on for details

I have done my time working in, as we called it, Prison Forge. We called it that because of the unholy traffic mess each and every traveler must endure. I think it's the key to the growth in Sevier County - road-weary madness prompts many to just pull over and live in the county rather than try and find a way out.

There is nothing like the place. Many an entertainer has tried to produce constant shows for the endless line of tourists, and few have succeeded. One place that has been a staple for years is The Comedy Barn.

I can't say too much to deride the place - I have friends involved. But really, the Barn isn't the home of relentless or savage topical humor or regrettable tirades a la Michael Richards. It is what it is, and it's name is most appropriate.

Thanks to YouTube, one visitor shows you just how easy it is to steal the show there. The person who posted this says, yeah, that is my dad and that is his real laugh. The laugh is far, far better than the comedy routine the host of this bit is trying to present. The host gets points for giving the man a microphone but he should have just let the man and his laugh take the center stage and to heck with what was planned.

On to the video - and a sentence I never thought would appear on this page: Time for a video from The Comedy Barn.

Hannity Hatefest

It looks like Sean Hannity, talking head for Fox News, watched the puppet-populated movie "Team America: World Police" and thought it was a documentary.

Struggling for ratings and for attention, Hannity offered up what could best be called a hysteria-fueled feature on his program-- identifying and labeling people as an "Enemy of the State." Apparently, Hannity is a new "agent of the State". Unlike the humorous segments on Keith Olbermann's show, "Worst Person in the World," Hannity is claiming anyone not a cheerleader for the neo-cons is a criminal. He isn't drinking the kool-aid of lunacy, he's chugging it down like a frat boy at a homecoming party beerfest.

What nefarious person does Hannity pick as his first "enemy"? Why, it's actor Sean Penn. Sean Penn?? Others featured in his li'l hatefest segment (which you can see here) include Barbara Streisand and Alec Baldwin. Like I said, it's as if he watched "Team America: World Police" and thought it was a documentary.

Certainly the nation has enemies - they attacked us on 9-11, Sean. They aren't American entertainers. In fact, Sean affixes this crude label of enemy to Penn because Penn said naughty things about Sean.

Shouldn't his segment be called "Enemy of the Hannity"?

(from "Team America" - click to embiggen)

Didn't We Already Win?

Some views on the eve of the President's planned prime-time special - What's Next In Iraq?

On one hand, the dubious ideas of The Iraq Study Group did actually include meetings with the U.S. military and their take on "surges" or other increases in troops in Iraq. They thought it was a bad idea.

On the other hand, the other front in the ground war - Afghanistan. Military leaders there say taking troops from Afghanistan and placing them in Iraq will bring more trouble to Afghanistan.

On the other, other hand - I tend to agree with R. Neal's take via KnoxViews. Since the administration has already proclaimed "Mission Accomplished" then why not re-assert that claim and go home with victory in hand?

"It looks like "mission accomplished" to me. No Saddam. No WMD. The only terrorists are waging civil war against each other. The only Americans threatened by Iraq are the American soldiers Bush put in harms way by sending them to Iraq."

My nearly-a-Knox-native-brother and I talked about this very thing last fall, prior to Saddam's execution. Since the Bushies have been successful at making the idea of "liberty" mean "national security" then why can't they make "victory" mean whatever they want?

Ramsey New Lt. Governor

For this first time since 1971, the state has a new Lt. Governor. In a deeply contentious vote and a bitter battle for power, Senator Ron Ramsey was voted into that slot today. Kleinheider has been closely following the power struggles at Volunteer Voters.

Wilder's Wiki has already been changed (though the site notes the info available is "unverified").

In a day or so, many will write about the rocky history of Wilder, who has Speaker of the Senate for so long he seemed invincible. But no one is invincible in politics - ever. 36 years is certainly a long time to hold that office, but it is not forever. I certainly welcome the change and the call to remove Wilder has been rather deafening in the last few months.

With Ramsey now in that slot and the GOP in firm control of the Senate, the real question of how Ramsey will lead will take time to be answered. One thing is certan - Wilder was often termed a bi-partisan senator. That is not a word anyone has ever used for Ramsey. Will he lead or just stand in the way of any legislation not created by the GOP?

Happy Elvismas!

Thanks to a timely reminder from one of the Wonder Triplets (that means you, Tits and check out her excellent post here) I still have time to wedge in a wee bit of celebration of The King's birthday.

This is the opening from his 1968 TV special and blends two songs, "Trouble" and "Guitar Man". And of course, it includes the giant multi-story, light-up letters that spell E-L-V-I-S.

Denying the Record on Iraq

Amnesia has struck numerous right-wing pundits and online gurus who used to echo the many and ever-changing talking points about war in Iraq via the White House. The reality of a confused strategy and a growing civil war has prompted them to forget they used to champion the rush into the middle east with U.S. military. The last election cycle in 2006 seems to have magically transformed their opinons.

It's fine to change your mind about the war, given the current state of affairs. Pretending you never supported the war is shameful. Yet, some have been doing just that, as noted by Glenn Greenwald:

"All of these self-proclaimed super-patriots who spent the last three years shrieking that anyone who criticizes the war is a friend of the terrorists are now being forced to admit that the war is unwinnable. But rather than acknowledging their reversal, they seek to erase the public record, both to salvage their reputations and to obscure the intensity of their attacks against those who were right. Such vitriol against critics muted debate in the first place and ensured that we stayed in Iraq, pretending all along that things were going great."

This week the President is supposed to promote a "new approach" in Iraq. Given this administration's track record of stubborn denials of reality and the tendency to stubbornly act as the Lone Ranger, I expect little of use to be offered. While this administration was a cheerleader for the Rapid Response philosophy from the Pentagon, they seem unable to grasp the concepts of "rapid" and "response".

Making Movies for the Faithful

A curious pedigree for the newly released movie "Thr3e", a thriller about serial killers and theology. The movie is the newest production from Fox Faith, a Christian-themed distribution arm of 20th Century Fox. I mean talk about niche marketing. Is there an evangelical audience yearning for movies of murder and mayhem with religious overtones?

The reviews are pretty harsh for this movie. And perhaps it's best to say that given it's title, it's about half as good as the other number-titled serial killer movie with religious overtones - "Seven".

As for Fox Faith - with the tagline "Movies you can believe in" - it seems a really cynical marketing ploy. But so far, returns and promotions of their films are pretty thin. And for studio execs, I have some much needed info for you -- by their very nature, the majority of thrillers and horror tales usually have the structure of a morality play already.

And good luck getting the web site for Fox Faith to load. The fact is, there has been a surge of sorts in what's called "Christian Retailing." The phrase seems oddly contradictory to me.

Some background and details about what's really the focus here -- profits and not prophets:

"The Weinstein Co. recently struck a deal with Impact Productions, a Christian company, to finance, coproduce and distribute its films. FoxFaith, a new division of 20 th Century Fox that caters to the faithbased market, will release at least six religion-themed films this year, said Steve Feldstein, senior vice president of corporate and marketing communications for Fox Home Entertainment.

Good News Holdings, a Christian multimedia company, acquired film rights to Anne Rice’s best-selling novel Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt for a tentative December release. The company, which plans to make the film on an estimated budget of $40 million, is also developing a series of Christian-themed horror movies, according to its Web site.

"There’s a huge untapped marketplace out there that is interested in films that reflect their values," Feldstein said.

To promote its religious titles, Fox has strung together a network of 90,000 churches, ministries and Christian groups nationwide, Feldstein said.

He added that the company isn’t looking to spread Christian values. Rather, it hopes to gain access to an underserved and lucrative niche market.

According to CBA, an evangelical Christian trade group, the Christian market is a $4.2 billion industry."

Last weekend I happened to see an old 1950s entry called "Red Planet Mars," where it turns out that God is broadcasting messages from Mars to Earth. The very sincere and talky movie also has a subplot involving Communists trying to overwhelm the Mars to Earth Message Pipeline. Strange as it sounds, the movie, I had to admit, was fascinating to watch. And the ending was curiously violent, to say the least. It certainly is a layered story about a search for intelligent signs in the Universe, but I thought you didn't need a high-tech radio set-up to talk to God.


The script here is by legendary horror and fantasy writer John Balderston, who penned both the 1930s era play "Red Planet Mars" and the movie script. Balderston also created the plays/scripts for "Dracula", "Frankenstein," "The Mummy" and more for Universal.

It still ranks as the only Sci-Fi-Communist-Christian movie ever made. But perhaps Fox Faith or some of these other new production companies will correct that. This new crop of movies is not the first time Hollywood has tried this type of filmmaking and marketing. History has shown, that so far, it's an approach that has failed financially.

Perhaps the worldwide religious fervor of the 21st century will be more profitable, but will audiences convert to such marketing ploys?

Camera Obscura - Best Movies of 2006; Who Is Uwe Boll; Movie News

A top movies of 2006 list is as easy to find as a bluegrass musician in Tennessee. As one friend says, you can't swing a dead cat without hitting one.

Last week I offered my picks for the movies I liked the best in 2006, though many were made in previous years, and I tend to see more these days on DVD. So this week, a peek at who will win Oscar nominations, a bona fide list of excellence in horror movies on DVD, and much more juicy and tasty takes on the world 'o movies. Read on!

The nominations from the Producer's Guild point to heavy-duty Oscar contenders - but missing is poor Clint Eastwood. Will the five movies picked by producers be the nominees for Best Picture? I imagine "Babel" will drop off the list, but I think the solid contenders are "The Departed," "The Queen", and "Dreamgirls". Their list is here.

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Once again, I truly like the selections and opinions offered on horror movies via DVDStalk. They note the best horror on DVD releases from 2006, and they make some great selections, many of which I too have mentioned. One I did not mention, since I only saw the DVD was available last week is the deeply underrated "Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2" from creator/director Tobe Hooper. Aiming for comedy but still keeping the terror at high levels, the movie scores big with Bill Mosley and Dennis Hopper, a kicking soundtrack, and Hooper's goofy nightmare amusement park. And that opening scene will take yer head off!

Their pick for the best horror on DVD of 2006 - "The Descent". On my list to see this week, the movie gets truly high praise from all the fans and critics alike. And I do mean praise:

"I'm telling you - horror freak to horror freak - The Descent is my favorite film of 2006 and easily one of the best horror films of the last ten years. I said it before, and I'll say it again - this is a must see film for any discerning horror fan."

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Two new DVD releases make my mouth water -- both Season One and Two of the David Lynch TV series "Twin Peaks." Loaded with honest-to-pete extras and commentary, this was too long in arriving. Now the bad news -- not all the episodes are here!! For some reason, Warner's will not give the OK to release the 2-hour pilot on DVD. That is just stupid.

Me? I am one of the lucky ones - I have a commercial free copy of the pilot on VHS which ABC sent me in advance to review just before the show hit television and made history. Friends will confirm I eagerly took the tape to many many homes preaching the Gospel of it's Goodness.

The good news about the boxed sets: it arrives with a removable pic of the doomed Laura Palmer and the set is wrapped in plastic, just like Laura. Heh heh.

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"I'm Christian Slater - Paranormal Detective"

That should have been the title of the truly godawful movie "Alone In The Dark" from heinous and infamous director Uwe Boll. I've tried at least 8 times to watch the entire movie and failed each time. Which means it does rank in my book as a movie so bad, it should carry FDA warnings. And yes, I keep saying "that's because I'm Christian Slater - Paranormal Detective" every time Slater speaks.

The movie may be the (so far) masterpiece of awful from Boll -- who is planning a sequel. And people from all walks of life really hate the man. Last summer, he challenged his critics to face him in a boxing ring. The results were surreal. How long will it be before someone makes a movie about Boll, rightly termed the Ed Wood of the 21st Century?

Truth is, I have never been able to watch an entire Boll film. "BloodRayne" (which he has now mapped out as a trilogy) is another choice entry of awful. What is stunning is how the actors involved - Ben Kingsley, Michelle Rodriguez, Michael Madsen - NEVER look at the camera, though you know they want to, with a look that says "Help Me!" They exhibit what's known in the biz as "Take the money and walk away ... quickly."

With the $60 million budget (??!!!??) for "Dungeon Siege" (Burt Reynolds?), Boll will surely lay claim to the throne as Worst Director in World History.

Words will never capture the discomfort his movies create in a viewer. Or the boredom. My advice, however, for an excellent time, is to get one or two of his movies, gather your friends, and make up your own running dialog as you watch. That, my friends, is deeply entertaining!

Why Wii Is More Popular Than The PS3

Courtesy of the minds at G4.

Very Unscientific Survey on New Congress

For the first time the U.S. House of Representatives has a woman as Speaker - number two in line of succession to the presidency. She easily has the toughest job in American politics today, though President Bush may be a close second in the tough job category - can he prove his policies and programs have relevance? A question for you, dear readers, follows.

The Democrats elected Pelosi by a slim margin of 29 votes to the leadership position. Democrats are pushing for an ambitious agenda for the first 100 hours of the 110th Congress. Here is a summary of their plans:

* Good Government: Cutting off lobbyist gifts and restoring fairness and transparency in the way laws are passed

* Fiscal Responsibility: Stop recklessly driving up the national debt

* National Security: Implement all of the 9/11 Commission security recommendations

* Fighting Poverty: Increase minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, helping 15 million working families

* Health Research: Increased funding and availability for stem cell research

* Affordable Health Care: Negotiate for lower prices on prescription drugs, passing savings on to seniors

* Education Access: Cut interest on federal student loans in half

* Clean Energy: Cut oil company subsidies and invest in safe alternatives


And you can go here for a more detailed account.

THE QUESTION:

How much - if any - of these legislative plans will be adopted?

Useful Confusion With Hired Interrogators

There is a very convenient confusion available to military forces since the military uses contractors for "intelligence" and "interrogation".

As mentioned in my post yesterday, the use of contractors throughout military operations has been a central part of the Bush administration's policy and strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan. A report in today's Washington Post cites an FBI investigation into events at Guantanamo Bay prisons, again noting the activities of these contractors. Allegations of abuse however, are difficult to confirm in the murky rules of chain of command:

"The disclosures, which are based on a 2004 survey of FBI personnel, do not mention which company employed the contractors at Guantanamo. Many of the incidents dated to 2002, but it could not be learned yesterday what company held the contract for some of that time. In November 2002, Affiliated Computer Systems was awarded a contract to supply 30 intelligence analysts and 15 to 20 interrogators and strategic debriefers to Guantanamo. ACS was acquired by Lockheed Martin, the Pentagon's largest contractor, in 2003."

"The allegations are reminiscent in certain respects to charges of mistreatment at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. There, too, contractors who supplied interrogation services were allegedly involved, and some U.S. military personnel said they had mistreated detainees under orders from contractors.

The U.S. attorney's office was assigned to investigate contractor behavior at Abu Ghraib, but no charges have been filed."

Confusion creates opportunities - and cover - for abuse.

In The Future, I Can Talk About The Banana In The Sky

I would hope very much that in the year 2030, I am here at the ripe young age of 90, being sought out by reporters and historians as one of the many folks living in the 21st century yet born in the 20th.

Why?

So I can say things like, "I remember when the idea of a geostationary banana over Texas was just a dream."

Private Police and Anti-Terrorist Training for Malls

It's hard not to notice the rising numbers of private police companies over the last few decades but until I read the report from the Washington Post, I had no idea these private companies and their forces were a booming business.

"What is new is that police forces, including the Durham Police Department here in North Carolina's Research Triangle, are increasingly turning to private companies for help. Moreover, private-sector security is expanding into spheres -- complex criminal investigations and patrols of downtown districts and residential neighborhoods -- that used to be the province of law enforcement agencies alone.

The more than 1 million contract security officers, and an equal number of guards estimated to work directly for U.S. corporations, dwarf the nearly 700,000 sworn law enforcement officers in the United States. The enormous Wackenhut Corp. guards the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia and screens visitors to the Statue of Liberty.

"You can see the public police becoming like the public health system," said Thomas M. Seamon, a former deputy police commissioner for Philadelphia who is president of Hallcrest Systems Inc., a leading security consultant. "It's basically, the government provides a certain base level. If you want more than that, you pay for it yourself."

Today the WaPo had another story about how shopping mall security officers were being given anti-terrorist training.

"The job of a shopping mall security guard normally involves controlling rowdy teenagers, finding lost children and patrolling parking lots. But starting this month, malls across the country will begin training guards for another task: fighting terrorism.

The 14-hour program is being developed by the International Council of Shopping Centers, a trade group, and the Homeland Security Policy Institute at George Washington University at a cost of $2 million. It is the first standardized anti-terrorism curriculum written for the nation's estimated 20,000 mall security guards."

Seems clear that the trend for privatizing government is taking us to some new places.

Since private companies also operate prisons, one wonders if soon we can free up a lot of court time and let private companies handle any and all problematic populations.

The Bush administration has truly endorsed (with over 100,000 contractors) this type of change since they handed off chores of both protection of public and private facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan, and operations like interrogation to private firms, so the financial rewards continue to grow.

The wisdom of such changes -- unknown.

Using Thomas Jefferson's Copy of the Koran

Irony of the Week Award goes to newly elected Congressman Keith Ellison for his savvy response to some rather heated and mean-spirited taunts from Congressman Virgil Goode.

Goode's remarks made headlines and filled blogs as he wailed and moaned in fearful squirming that Ellison, a Muslim, would be taking his oath to office in an unofficial ceremony using a Koran. The law is rather specific that legislators swear to uphold the Constitution - but there is no requirement that oath be taken with hands laid on a religious book. But most congressman do hold private ceremonies where they do lay hands on a religious book.

After much public hysteria, Ellison truly gets the last word on this idiotic tirade, He decided to use a copy of the Koran once owned and notated by Thomas Jefferson.. Goode's eyeballs/jaw hit the floor, especially since he represents the district in which Jefferson was born.

Reviewing Blogs and 'Blog Wars'

Understanding an experience happens when it has passed, usually, though not always.

People in general and the current news media in particular are grappling with the question of a blog, what is and isn't and who are these darn bloggers anyway?

Last week I mentioned the broadcast of a documentary called "Blog Wars," and CE Petro has a fine write-up on the where the documentary failed and succeded. For me, the most interesting part of the doc was a comment from writer/blogger Andrew Sullivan, who said that blogging is incredibly liberating - to be able to write and publish on a worldwide scale without any editors or publishers or owners peeking over your shoulder. It is an experiment

I expect in coming years (or less) attempts to regulate blogs will markedly increase, even as the medium is still creating itself. Such unfettered freedom of expression is frightening to many.

The function and the form of a blog is solely determined by it's writer and/or creator. BusyMom noted yesterday a debate on whether or not a blog is a blog if it has no comments or discussions.

Old-fashioned print and broadcast media are confused and appalled by bloggers, though no so much as to dismiss them (if they are smart). More and more, the old guard is working hard to stay viable and useful on the internet.

More than once, one or two anonymous commenters here have chided me and this page, wanting to know why I didn't make this page, this blog, behave in a way they thought was best. Well, oh anonymous ones, this blog is not called "The News From _________ " and for good reason. A reader here can read news and news reports about the local area, the state, the region, the nation and even the world - but that's only part of the equation.

A reader here can easily discover after reading a few posts that the topics I write about will be on anything I want.

That's why it's called "Cup of Joe Powell" -- whatever is in my thoughts or whatever I discover reading any and all kinds of other web sites will end up here. Unlike a traditional print or broadcast outlet -- the object here isn't making money, making sales, expanding subscribers or viewers. The topics here are on my opinions, my views, sometimes well-written, sometimes just a link, sometimes all that you'll find here will be just as odd as I am.

News can be found here - and you can scan through all the links on this page to read the news, just as many of the links here are to blogs offering the views and thoughts of other bloggers. Some of that is news-oriented and some isn't. Some links are even (gasp!) blogs about blogs!!

Confusing to some, yes. Experimental at times, yes. This entire blogging deal, folks, is ever-changing. As 2007 gets going, you'll find new links being added and will likely see some layout changes here too.

Perhaps the best way to explain all this is to say that I often spend more time reading other sites of information than I do writing. Some days will bring many posts - some days none. Other opinons and comments are always welcome here as long as you have bothered to actually read what has been written about and as long as ya don't get nasty or insulting. If you find after reading here that I am nasty or insulting then my advice is to move on and do not come back. Admittedly, I will leave comments on many other blog sites expressing my doubts about what they write or my support. I don't expect my comments will change the writer's mind - I like debating/sharing information. It's a learning process for me.

I do know this - I have read and seen far more open debate, far more information, far more news, far more entertainment via the internet and blogs and web-sites that I ever saw via the old-fashioned media. The blogosphere seems to me to be populated by intense and informed readers and writers. In my view, that is incredibly beneficial to all.

Times Square Cam and The Top 25 Cams of 2006

Watch the gathering crowds and keep your eyes on a 16 live web cams in Times Square and around the nation via the EarthCam website.

And, they also have released their top 25 web cams of 2006. I like the monkey cam the best myself, but there are also roaches, tigers and Key West too. Although it looks like all their links are redirecting you to the Times Square page at least until tomorrow.

But who know? Maybe their will be monkeys in Times Square!

A Protest Against The Year 2007

A group has organized in France to protest 2007. They don't want it - no new year, no more years period, and ultimately an end to Time itself.

The group calls itself Fonacon and declared:

"The members of the anti-New Year front, including several otherwise conventional local businessmen and women, dressed up in hoods and masks.

"It is about time that the passage of time ended," said one of the hooded organisers. "We are fed up with getting older. Why should we follow the fashion? The planet is getting older and warmer. Not us. Stop this mad race towards death."

Certainly seems to be a growing problem and resentment with any and all holiday observances, with what they are called and why and how they are observed. I suppose it was inevitable that once there was a "War on Christmas", then why not a War on Time?

Time is an issue for us all, yes. Various cultures say we are on the edge of the year 2007, others say Jan. 1, 2007 is actually Tevet the 11th, 5767 and some say we are currently in the year 4704.

Time could be stopped - but then what do we do? Einstein seems right in saying that the reason we have time is so that everything doesn't happen at once - though I must admit that the more I have traveled through Time, the more it does seem to all happen at once anyway. And I've read enough science-fiction to know that stopping Time usually brings bad results. I mean, somewhere there is an official Atomic Clock and if Time stopped, then I suppose everything would go boom.

I've heard it said that someone is "living in the past" or "living for today", so perception seems to be the key to time. At least that's the way I see it.

One of the most ominous phrases I have ever heard is "There is no Time like the present." That just gives me the creeps.

Perhaps Groucho Marx said it best - "Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."

Camera Obscura - Best Movies of 2006

Before I offer up a list of the best from this year and the disclaimers which go with my selections, there are a few noteworthy movie news items to provide.

I was most happy to see what the first images of comic book legend Silver Surfer will look like in the second Fantastic Four movie out in 2007. He isn't all CGI - actor Doug Jones performs in a body suit which will get some CGI touch-ups and as fan, I am impressed. Here's to hoping they also do a good job creating the Surfer's boss, Galactus. More about the photo and the movie can be found here. And the first trailers are being shown with "Night At The Museum.

On Thursday, 25 more movies were added to the National Registry of Film for preservation and the list covers a wide range of films, as always. Some of the list includes:
Blazing Saddles
Halloween
Groundhog Day
Fargo

The complete list is here.

One of the best things about this year in movies was the stellar and influential collection of films from the Janus Collection. Not only did we get an massive boxed-set of DVDs and extras of the best from the Janus, many cities are hosting mini-festivals to allow folks to once again see these classics in a movie theatre. The Nashville Scene has the info about the festival playing in January 2007 at the Belcourt.

Among my favorites being offered are Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai" and "The Hidden Fortress, a major influence on Li'l George Lucas, who borrowed much for his "Star Wars" tale -- instead of two robots, the story follows a tall and skinny and short and squat pair of peasants who stumble into a struggle between empires, aiding a heroic samurai charged with protecting an endangered princess. There is one astonishing and very funny scene of the two peasants caught on a massive staircase on a mountainside as thousands either flee or attack in a massive jail break.

Some others in the Janus Festival include "400 Blows", "La Strada", "Gimmie Shelter" and "Walkabout." And seeing these movies in a theatre is sheer bliss.

One of the best columns on the Best of 2006 is from The DVD Savant, whose list is properly titled The Most Impressive DVDs of 2006. His picks are perfection. Just go read it.

DISCLAIMER: My selections of favorites from 2006 are a blend of both new theatrical releases and releases from earlier years which became a regular part of my home viewing habits. There are several films from 2006 I haven't seen yet. And, naturally, the following represents something of my taste for obscurity. Some of these selections are .... aw, hell. I'll explain as I go.

Favorite Movies in No Particular Order:

"V For Vendetta" -- I avoided watching this in the theatres, as I am a massive fan of the Alan Moore graphic novel, so why ruin my memory with a bad movie? I finally caved and watched it this year and was most impressed with how the film kept the language and even the comic-panel style of imagery. Subversive and cautionary and very much a movie of it's time - plus a fantastic performance by Hugo Weaving from behind the mask.

"Grizzly Man" - Werner Herzog once again paints a picture of a madman and a doomed soul. Really more of a found artifact of the videotaped journal of Timothy Treadwell. Impossible to not be absorbed by Herzog's narrative.

"The Proposition" - Yes, a movie from this year makes the list!! Former rocker Nick Cave's script drops you immediately into a harrowing Outback western saga, and makes both a lyrical and ugly story. Add in the haunting musical score and the haunted faces and lives of the characters and this movie is a minor masterpiece.

Satisfying Sequels/Remakes: Two sequels, both hyped to death and big at the box office, actually impressed me this year - "X-Men 3" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest". The only drawbacks to X-3 was the poor Beast performance and Angel, who was lost in all the character threads. In Dead Man's Chest - my favorite performance of the year was from Bill Nighy as Davy Jones, who steals the screen whenever he appears. A remake I thought would be terrible was instead both careful to preserve the intent of the original and to enhance it as well -- "The Hills Have Eyes". The movie is about what it takes to turn a pacifist into a fighter and about the distorted creatures who make that pacifist transform. Just a brilliant remake.

"Pulse" -- No, not the remake from this year, which sucked, but the original 2001 Japanese version finally made available this year in the U.S. Relying on mood and shadow, it created an intense sense of dread for me. I was jumping at shadows for days. Not for every taste, I know, but for me it worked in spades as I watched the characters slip into despair, fear and then disappear into nothingness.

"Slither" - Part homage to horror films of the 1980s and the 1950s, plus part mindless escapism, I watched it several times, laughing often. Add in the hilarious and numerous DVD extras and this was some of the most fun I had with a film all year. Seek it out.

My Favorite of the Year:

This movie came out in 2004, but it was the one most often in my DVD player this year. It is a great comedy, has a fantastic musical score, is loaded with action scenes and has a romance story stuck in as well. The writer, director and star of the movie expertly crafted each frame and every performance is dead-on perfect. It's a kung-fu extravaganza, a Chuck Jones cartoon, and the supporting characters are famous for their previous roles in movies - from Bruce Lee's stunt double to one of the Japanese girls chasing Bond in "Man With A Golden Gun". The movie makes my obscure heart rumble with admiration every time I see it. If you haven't ever seen it, I highly recommend you take the time to watch it. Highest ratings for "Kung Fu Hustle".

Now I know this list is odd, eclectic and may not make much sense to you. That is why it's my list and not yours. Feel free to add your favorites in the comments - or just deride me for mine.

"Blog Wars" Tonight

Pertinent and/or impertinent, those millions of people who take to the internet with a keyboard and become bloggers have been changing both political and personal realities for several years. 2006 especially was their year of political activism.

Tonight a documentary from Sundance and the BBC titled "Blog Wars" will air, telling the political story of how blogging and bloggers have forever altered the media landscape. Starting with the crafty use of the internet by Howard Dean in 2004 and focusing on the Lamont and Lieberman campaign, the documentary attempts to tell a rather complex story.

Info on the documentary is here at the Sundance website. A short mention and clip was made last week at Crooks and Liars.

Details in PS3 Shooting Continue to Emerge

It's likely that items in this post will offend some people. Good. This should disturb most of us.

I've been following the surreal and violent events from North Carolina about the shooting death of 18-year-old Peyton Strickland, gunned down by police in their "investigation" of the theft of two PlayStation 3's. Some previous posts are here and here.

Certainly more tounges are wagging about another news story in North Carolina, the one involving the Duke Lacrosse Team. The story has been getting great ratings.

But let's be honest - all the speculating and pontificating on that case is pretty much a standard story in American athletics. The majority of athletes do not always make the news for drunken, drug-fueled, sexual assaults. However, enough of them do so that we might as well include arrest and conviction records along with the stats kept on the players of pretty much every sport. If anything, the events concerning what happened at Duke should inform most of us that the term "sport" is equitable with the term "justice." It's a game where the win is determined by the abilities of the legal "players" and not by notions of Justice.

The killing of Peyton Strickland does bother me though.

Let's say for argument's sake that the teen was guilty of beating someone up and stealing their PS3. What followed that crime is lunacy. And what the Hanover County Sheriff's office did over the last week to raise money for the now-fired deputy who did the shooting -- raffle off a PlayStation 3 - is a clear indication of these officers sneering at the death of Strickland.

The only reason the raffle was halted - changed to a Plasma TV - was because the public and the media learned of it.

Troubling too are the overwhelming paramilitary tactics waged on a teen who essentially stole a toy.

16 officers, including a 10-person SWAT team, surrounded the teen's home. And as I've said before, paramilitary tactics and weapons are far too common in every town in America. A study from the CATO Institute this summer noted that in the last 25 years, there has been a 1,300 percent increase in the number of such raids on American homes. Standards and training, however, are barely existent, according to Peter Kraska, criminal justice professor at Eastern Kentucky University and author of two other nationwide studies of SWAT teams deployment and tatics:

"There's absolutely no standards or national accreditation or anything a department has to do to establish a tactical team," Kraska said. "So many people have the misconception that because there's a SWAT team, its members are competent and highly trained ... and it's just not the case."

North Carolina, like most states, doesn't set statewide standards for tactical training, leaving that up to individual agencies, Kraska said."

A Grand Jury, which "mistakenly" marked the wrong box and found deputy Christopher Long guilty of second degree murder, and then the next day said, "whoops! we meant not guilty", has also revealed some highly questionable testimony --

As reported by the Greensboro News-Record, here's what was supposed to happen: Long was standing next to an officer at the door who had the battering ram, he would then go inside first and the other 15 officers would follow while a search was conducted. (And yeah, a battering ram? That may be the norm when raiding a home of suspected drug-dealers or in hostage situations, but for the theft of a toy??)

Long's statements to investigators was that when he heard the sound of the battering ram, he thought someone inside the apartment was shooting. Even though he was standing right beside the battering ram. He immediately shot through the door - blindly, not knowing who was on the other side.

Long did knock on the door -- it hasn't been reported if he identified himself as a policeman with a warrant to enter. (Thanks to the Supreme Court decision this year, none of that is even necessary anymore) Instead he fired multiple times through the closed door, one bullet travelling through Strickland's brain, another just missing his heart. Strickland's dog, Blaze, alarmed at the gunshots began to bark and came to the doorway and other officers gunned the dog down.

By this time, according to testimony, Long was in the yard, away from the apartment, freaking out, saying "Oh Jesus Oh Jesus".

The D.A.'s office is continuing a criminal investigation into the case and may attempt to bring other charges before a Grand Jury in January.

Here at this blog, I know I'm just being an armchair detective -- hell, it's a national pasttime, 21st century sport, with it's own celebrities, like Nancy Grace and the entire CourtTV channel or the handsome and sturdy stars of shows like "CSI" and "Law and Order."

But shooting blindly through a door - with no idea who, if anyone, was behind it, is a clear example to me of someone who believes any and all actions are justified.

An editorial in the Wilmington Journal points out some key concerns here:

"This whole sorry episode calls into question the safety of every citizen in this city, county and state, especially our children. Who will be the next officer who recklessly acts alone at the risk of all nearby? How appropriate is it to send in a small militia to a well-populated street when there’s no evidence of violence emanating from the address?

And if it wasn’t for the news media, the grand jurors claim they wouldn’t have known that the wrong box was checked on the indictment sheet. How do we know innocent people haven’t been erroneously indicted in the past? Grand jury proceedings are secret by law and no recording of them is made. So how do we hold the system accountable?

How do we know it works, or doesn’t work?"

More on the rise and the deadly mistakes in the use of paramilitary raids can be read here. Or maybe you're ok with the fact that in the early 1980s there were some 3,000 paramilitary raids per year and by the early 2000's, that number is 40,000 a year.

That's all - go watch your favorite team play a game on TV now.

A Merry Christmas from Old Friends

It was a favorite from the Christmas 2005 Cup of Joe. And since numerous readers requested it again, then here it is, and hope you have as fine a Christmas/Solstice/Whatever for 2006 as this wee fellow is having. Stick out your tounge for Christmas if it makes you feel festive.



As for me, here is a Christmas image from me (well, actually Chuck Jones and a guy named Seuss) to all of you.

Welcome, Christmas, bring your cheer. Cheer to all Whos far and near. Christmas Day is in our grasp so long as we have hands to clasp. Christmas Day will always be just as long as we have we. Welcome Christmas while we stand, heart to heart and hand in hand.

Camera Obscura - 101 Christmas Classics Free

Never mind scouring the television schedules or the mangled stacks of DVDs in some video store bins looking for the Christmas special or movie or even the hard-to-find parodies of Christmas' past.

Now you can watch what you want, when you want and all for free and online.

The Fanpop Christmas Spot offers 101 favorites all for your holiday pleasure. Yes, 101 classics just for you, dear readers.

There are the obligatory favorites of Charlie Brown, Rudolf, Claymation favorites and even movies like "It's A Wonderful Life" and cartoons galore, from "The Simpsons," "South Park", and even Batman and The Justice League. Plus there are old commercials and the seldom-scene-since-it-aired Chuck Jones and Richard Williams version of "A Christmas Carol."

Music videos are here too, from Bing and Bowie to Judy Garland and much more. Plus TV specials like"Mythbusters" and even Ali G.

But the must-have and must-see entry is one from the late 1970s -- the complete "Star Wars Christmas Special." It is beyond rare and yes, often beyond bizarre.

The links are all here at The Christmas Spot.