Home Again

After a most busy week in Wonderland, I am back in the digital saddle. (sounds kinda painful ..)

Blogging will resume shortly.

I did enjoy my extended stay in Wonderland, where there was little to no talk at all of politics and the Internet was merely a place to find music, see funny videos, and talk to friends.

I did take note that it does seem most expensive to live at the technological level - a 12 year old with iPod, cell phone and portable gaming devices is a 12 year old with working parents who dole out many dollars.

I'm so old, I remember when it was a tough job just to remember my home phone number, games came in a cardboard box, and the best musical devices were also home furniture and were called "consoles."

I've Tumbled Down The Rabbit Hole

It's true. I tumbled down a rabbit hole a few weeks back and I have not been here to post with my normal regular schedule. The Wi-Fi in Wonderland is sketchy, ya know. (Above are pictured Alice, The March Hare, The Dormouse and The Mad Hatter -- duh, who else would that be??? Alice is played by Autumn Leming, and her brother Josiah was a contestant on "American Idol" this year so we all feel connected to Hollywood-style Fame and Fortune; the March Hare is Candice Keller, The Dormouse is Jamie Afghani, and The Mad Hatter is Kylian Andrew.) Oh and be sure and click on all the photos in this post to see larger versions.

Now to explain: I've been most busy in Wonderland, which means I've been directing a stage version of Lewis Carroll's classic story for the Rose Center Summer Players program in Morristown. This is the 17th production of their annual summer program and I am deeply grateful to Rose Center for the opportunity to work with 18 young actors, ranging from 12 to 18 years of age. They are terrific performers, plus they have been hard at work making costumes, selling ads for the programs, helping with the set and props, and just doing whatever necessary bringing life to the wild world of Wonderland.

We perform the show for one weekend only, this weekend, with shows Friday and Saturday at 7 pm and matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 2 pm. Tickets are only $5 and can be purchased in advance or at the door, just call 423-581-4330 for the details.

I have such high praise and esteem for the young actors in this show. They work hard and play hard and have been so willing to try all manner of slapstick comedy and wacky antics, to wrestle with the impossible and nonsensical language, all to create an unforgettable journey to Wonderland. The cast comes from all over East Tennessee and they make me laugh and laugh, and they often laugh at me, too. Best of all they allow me to be a part of their creativity and wit.

Did I mention they make me laugh really hard?? They are very funny, on-stage and off.

From now thru Sunday I will be mostly in Wonderland and not here on the blog, so I wanted you, dear readers, to know. Also, I wanted you to know about this show so you could make some plans to attend at least one performance. Don't worry if you live far away -- it's worth the drive, even if gas is a bajillion dollars a gallon.

I'm adding some more pictures below from rehearsals this week. The set is not complete in these images and some costumes are still getting finishing touches, too. The photos were taken by my good friend Roger Fleenor and I should have a link to his Flickr album soon, so check back.

Many thanks go to the parents of the entire cast and crew for all their work and time. Thanks goes to Eileen Bowers who is the Education Coordinator for Rose Center and has been producer for every Rose Center Summer Players production. She makes my job very, very easy. (And she's mighty funny too and also makes me laugh a lot.)

Here's a shot of some of the Wonderland cast as they are rehearsing a scene where they play a version of croquet ....


Next a peek at Tweedledum (Candace Davis) and Tweedledee (Adreanna Bailey):


The Frog (Austin Pratt), The Knave (Spencer Husk) and the King of Hearts (Preston Husk) all take a moment to ponder on life in Wonderland:

On behalf of the entire cast and crew, we would love to see you in Wonderland too. We'll have plenty of home-made tarts for sale at the concession stand (just don't tell Tana McClain- I mean The Queen of Hearts!!).

PAC Donations Bring Votes From Rep. Davis

"Michael Owens at Tricities.com reports that U.S. Rep. David Davis, R-Tenn., is this election season’s leading congressional recipient of donations from a billion-dollar global defense contractor accused of bribing Saudi officials with call girls and money.

BAE System’s $11,000 worth of donations to Davis began trickling into his campaign fund after he requested $4.4 million in federal funding for the contractor. After cuts in the congressional appropriations process, the arms dealer landed $4 million.

The London-based defense company’s political contribution arm, USAPAC, is among the largest donors to Davis’ campaign."

DeMarCaTionVille has the more on this story.

"Of course, when told of the allegations against BAE Systems, Davis said an investigation does not mean that the company is guilty of any wrongdoing. Likewise, he doesn’t know anything about the coincidental timing of BAE Systems’ contributions. Davis also told the Herald Courier he is comfortable accepting money from a defense firm, which manufactures arms the world over, as long as neither the company nor its customers defy American ideals."

Camera Obscura: Fear Itself and NBC's Horror Contest; Vampire Hamlet

The makers of the award-winning "Masters of Horror" series on Showtime have now moved to NBC on Thursday nights this summer. Mick Garris and his team have again gathered some top names in the genre - Stuart Gordon, John Landis, Darren Bousman (director of the "Saw" movie series), Mary Harron ("American Psycho") and some top acting talent too. Showtime's loss is NBC's gain.

The first episode, "Sacrifice", by director Brick Eisner, aired this week and you can watch it online at NBC right here. The story about vampires and gun-runners was quite grisly and well done, I thought. Future episodes of the 13-episode series are Thursday nights at 10 pm. I am delighted to see Garris and his team still crafting shows which are envelope-pushing horror tales for the small screen, bringing a much-needed jolt to original anthology programming.

Also, NBC's Chiller TV, their online all-horror channel has just launched their new short horror film contest, Dare To Direct - details are here on how to enter - and $5,000 goes to best films, best monsters and other categories too. The link also includes the work of last year's winners. You could be "America's Next Top Monster"!!!!!

-----

A new movie blending Shakespeare, hipsters and vampires called "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead" looks like a perfect little indie horror comedy. There's a trailer (see below) but no word yet on a release date. The official website is here.

Tropical Night

It's 7 pm and the temperature is just over 92 degrees here in this part of the lush Tennessee Valley, but this feels more like a tropical heatwave. So why not gather some friends and some tiki torches and ease into the weekend with some style?

Here's something to help. First, a nice tropical kinda painting suitable for an indoor or outdoor tiki lounge setting.



Now a list of 53 excellent tropical drink recipes.

And now the music:


SeeqPod - Playable Search

Fact-Checking Rep. David Davis on Energy

In a speech to Greene County Republicans, the incumbent 1st District Congressman David Davis made some claims which capture the imagination, but blur the facts.

He says "There is more oil in Colorado than in the entire nation of Saudi Arabia".


Well - Saudi Arabia has crude oil aplenty, yes. Colorado and other western states have huge shale oil deposits, which could create trillions of barrels of oil. Emphasis is on "could". In the 1980s, the Exxon corporation spent some $8 billion on the Colony Oil Shale Project, which ultimately failed. The cost of production plus the then-low price of oil per barrel made it a losing game.

" ... the plan to develop synthetic fuels was to be another Manhattan Project, a dramatic, accelerated national effort to meet energy needs from American resources and help make the U.S. less dependent on foreign crude."

Ah, the well-worn "Manhattan Metaphor" sure has been around for a long time. And experts agree the oil from shale does not make gasoline quality products. But the hopes remain that it could ... one day .. be viable.

Many patents exist to try and make it a more worthwhile project - but we aren't there yet.

The current pricing for crude oil may change that, and a 2006 federal program called for development of such technologies, but again, we're just not there yet. A 2006 Congressional report on the shale oil deposits in the western U.S. says:

"However, because oil shales have not proved to be economically recoverable, they are considered a contingent resource and not true reserves. It remains to be demonstrated whether an economically significant oil volume can be extracted under existing operating conditions."

But saying all of that is not nearly anywhere as catchy or as quotable as what Rep. Davis says, is it? (He's also on record saying OPEC sets oil prices, when they do not.)

Rep. Davis goes on to say "China is 90 miles off the coast of the U.S. drilling for oil, and the (Democratic-led) U.S. Congress won't let us drill there ourselves".


Well, again, that's not a factual statement.

China has partnered with Cuba's national oil company to allow Cuba to use Chinese-made equipment to explore and drill, and they (along with Spain and Canada) are drilling off of the coast of Cuba. Last time I checked, that would make it a Cuban coast and not a U.S. coast. True, though, that getting to Cuba from the U.S. is a 90-mile trip.

Once again, the facts just don't make the same snappy campaign talking points as Rep. Davis makes.

Oh, and it's the state of Florida which has prevented more oil exploration and drilling off of their coasts and Congress has agreed with them.

Alternatives to imported oil, alternatives in all areas of energy creation, are absolutely needed. But fudging the facts to score campaign-trail points serves only to keep the public ill-informed.

A Progressive Turn In America?

One thing I've noticed here in the South during the presidential campaigns for Senator Obama and Senator Clinton: the fairly quick withering worldview regarding non-whites and women. The good thing here is that the comments I've heard quickly ID the speakers as having some serious prejudices -- good to know who they are and that their days of power are dissolving. Clinging to past prejudices in light of change is a sure sign of extinction.

I recently overheard a county constable, who has been on the county payroll since sometime before Eisenhower I think, tell a most nasty joke about these two major contenders for the presidency. And no, I'm not going to repeat it. The joke, if you want to call it that, fell flat among the listeners, and none rebuked him. Was it mercy for the old geezer whose views and his days of power are fading fast? It was most generous if it was mercy, then.

Publius at Obsidian Wings made some noteworthy comments on the very historic event of Senator Obama's rise to prominence:

"And all of this was accomplished by a black man named Barack Hussein Obama, in a nation of former slaveholders in a post-9/11 world.

I pride myself on being fairly cynical. Like any good child of the 90s, I’ve watched more than my share of Larry David. And I understand the frustrations that Clinton supporters and more hardened, cynical Obama supporters feel when they hear all the naive gushing praise for him — particularly from young people.

But they need to understand that many of us have never had a moment like this. We’ve never really been inspired — we’ve never “looked up” at candidates in a Paul Fussell “Romantic” sense. Candidates have never been bigger than us — we look down on them, we criticize, we tell dry jokes, we watch the Daily Show. We’re just not that inspired.

But for the first time, a lot of people are inspired. I don’t really remember 1992, and I didn’t exist in 1960. So I don’t know what this feels like. But I’m excited — I’m not in cult-like worship mode, but for the first time in my political life, I’m genuinely excited about the opportunities ahead. Maybe that will prove silly — maybe the proverbial 1968 lies just ahead. For now, though, I’m excited.

But even if 1968 lies ahead, who cares. When you see your teenage children experiencing crushes for the first time, you hopefully don’t call them over and say “these emotions you’re feeling now, they will soon be crushed.” You pat them on the back and wish their doomed enterprise well, and maybe savor a few youthful memories of your own.

And who knows, maybe this time, the good guys will win. Maybe in this version, there is no Nixon -- no 1968. Maybe Mercutio survives. It’s a historic and exciting time — progressivism appears to be in an intellectual revival. The Democrats — having shed its Dixiecrat wing — are poised to command the most progressive majority in American history."

I on the other hand remain a cynic. I do recall watching the '68 convention and the aftermath, I've seen the continued evidence of endless corruption and abuse of federal powers, I've seen great ideas rise, flourish and fall to the wayside when needs get a new focus. (Isn't it appropriate here to also say "I've seen the best minds of my generation ...."??)

I do see much optimism with an Obama presidency, but I also know that change is seldom legislated. It can happen, up to a point, and then the non-elected Americans will have to continue the job.

Few Vote, Sales Tax Hike Approved

With little to no news coverage of the event, city officials won approval of a sales tax increase in Morristown on Tuesday. A of 1,504 voted in the special election. Some 979 voted yes on the measure with 525 voting no. The referendum wins approval, but could not get even 15% of city voters to come to the polls.

Does one vote matter? A few hundred certainly does.

The vote means property taxes will drop 15 cents from a recent 40 cent increase. How long until that amount increases? With ever-rising city government costs and an a community unconcerned with voting, I'd say the increase will happen as soon as possible with no fear of repercussion.

Defending Congressman David Davis

Blogger David Oatney says 1st District Congressional Congressman David Davis has done a stellar job in his first term, simply a man who represents his constituents:

In the case of the First District Primary, it isn't so much that Phil Roe is a poor choice, but that an effective case against Davis from a conservative perspective can't be made-David Davis is a conservative, and his views on issues such as taxes, immigration, abortion (and other social issues), national defense, and unfunded federal mandates are similar those of most of his constituents.

David Oatney's post takes on this post from DeMarCaTionVille on Rep. Davis and the 1st District:

"I do think the area is changing, but it’s changing at about the same rate as the climate. Therefore, I don’t expect see any significant breaks in district voting patterns - at least not over the next five years or so.

Two reasons: (1) the Republicans have all the money and (2) political party is a family tradition.

I know it sounds crazy but it’s true. People in this district pass down their “Conservative Republicanism” like its heirloom silver. Some, who have inherited the party, embrace the values with which they grew up. Others have no clue what the Republican party stood for, how it’s changed or what it means nowadays - but they cling to it nonetheless. It belongs to them as much as their family name or their Grandpappy’s pocketwatch. For the most part admitting to this crowd, you prefer a Democratic candidate is akin to wearing a Mexican Flag shirt and singing “Big Ole Butt” to the preacher’s wife at the Baptist Homecoming.

It’s not gonna make you popular."

Blogger Rob Huddleston writes today:

"I think the dogfighting vote acknowledged by Oatney - the vote where Davis appeared to take the untenable position of being pro-dogfighting - could be bigger than the other votes that Davis has cast in the last two years. In the wake of Michael Vick, public sentiment was on the side of those who wanted to come out stronger against interstate dogfighting. To be the only Tennessean voting against the dogfighting bill could be portrayed as being out-of-touch with Tennessee voters.

Only time will tell if this becomes the race I think it could. However, Davis should not rest on his laurels, because 78% of Republican voters in 2006 didn't pick him in the primary."

I have taken issue several times with Rep. Davis' public comments (more illegal immigrants in Hamblen County than anywhere in the world!!) and voting record (what dogfighting??). He takes the party line most of the time. He sends me bulk mail telling me how to battle the high cost of gasoline, but won't vote to reduce tax breaks for oil companies.

Some other votes:

No on increasing the minimum wage.

No on allowing the government to negotiate with drugmakers for lower prices for those on Medicare.

No on the Children's Health Care expansion.

No on a resolution (HR 1591, which the president did veto) which would set benchmarks for the war in Iraq and set a timetable for withdrawal, as well as provide funding for improving health care for returning veterans, address needs for recovery relief due to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, increase funding for vehicles and armor used in Iraq to withstand roadside bombs.

Yes on expanding eavesdropping authority without court order.

More on the bills above and the votes are listed here. Also, plenty of info is here on his voting record on a host of social and political scales - some with very high ratings, some very low.

And honestly, most of the grumbling from the GOP in East Tennessee about Rep. Davis comes from the Tri-Cities area. And truly, Rep. Davis has been making appearances for just about any grant program or announcement he can.

I know my views are not in the mainstream of East Tennessee voters - but I will vote for change in this district and right now the candidate I like is Rob Russell, a Morristown native. I don't agree with his views 100% -- but after 100-plus years of a single party, the republicans, in charge of this district, our area isn't all it could be, in my opinion. Low wages are a key concern - or should be - for the residents.

From Russell's web page:

"Make access to affordable healthcare and freedom from medical bankruptcy a reality for all Americans.

Enforce fair trade policies that will protect East Tennessee jobs.

Reduce energy costs and end our dependence on foreign oil through investing in renewable energy technologies.

End the war in Iraq and repair the damage it has done to our diplomatic standing, military strength, and domestic economy.

Provide our children with the world’s best education and improve educational opportunities for hard-working college students and adults re-training for 21st-century jobs.

Put an end to corporate welfare and tax loopholes that allow foreign and US-owned corporations to avoid paying their fair share.

Guarantee a living wage for full-time workers– “working poor” is a shameful phrase that should never have to be used to describe hard-working Americans!

Buried In A Pringles Can

Well, if you have the patent on the Pringles can, why not be buried in one? R.I.P Fredric J. Baur.

And some other news stories to which I can say "I did not know that!"

-- Your high school graduation speech was stolen (and your principal stole one too).

-- Riots between gangs of Emos and Punks are making the news in Mexico.

No Debate On Morristown Sales Tax Referendum

City residents in Morristown have a sales tax increase referendum on the ballot for their vote on Tuesday, but there is pretty much zero information about the ballot. A county-wide vote was defeated earlier this year, despite much huffing and puffing to promote it in the local press. Most in the public just won't vote to increase taxes. All those temporary measure taxes, like for a wheel tax, voted for in county after county were really votes for a permanent tax. Voters learn quickly from such experiences.

For Tuesday - not even the city's web site has one word about the upcoming vote. The only listed event for Tuesday June 3rd is a city council meeting. Is the measure more likely to pass if fewer people vote? Until the vote is counted Tuesday, we won't know. It sure seems like a low turnout is being hoped for.

Blogger Linda Noe has reported on the mass mailed letters to "property owners" asking them to support the tax increase, an effort paid for by tax dollars. Has the city decided the less said about the sales tax increase the better?

Part of the push from City Hall is that their recent massive 40-cent property tax increase would be rolled back some 15 cents if this vote passes. But given the budget mess they have on their hands, how long before that 15 cents gets added back in again? Or 25 cents? Or more? The sales tax increase is permanent.

Ben Cunningham at Taxing Tennessee writes about the city's registering itself as a committee to promote the proposed increase:

"I wish I could find words to describe the arrogance of these Morristown officials."

I am not a city resident and will have no vote on Tuesday. However, I can and do vote by deciding where I go to spend money, as do so many others in the area. Knowing I could travel into the city limits to make a purchase at a higher price or travel about the same distance to Jefferson County and Jefferson City ... well, with everything costing more and more, I look for savings wherever I can. Some folks can't afford to pay for the extra cost of gas to travel outside the city for a small savings on sales tax, but I wonder how many non-city residents will decide to not make a purchase while in Morristown?

Whether or not the city needs an increase in sales taxes, needs to cut spending, needs to reconfigure their operations - all that is a topic for debate, certainly.

But I hear no debate at all.

Camera Obscura: Al Gore's Opera; New Coen Brothers; 'Stuck'; Learn Filmmaking Secrets; A New Futurama Movie

More crackling comedy is ahead from Joel and Ethan Coen in the movie "Burn After Reading", a farce about the CIA and would-be spies starring Brad Pitt, John Malkovich, George Clooney and Frances McDormand and Tilda Swinton. A brand new trailer hit the internet this week:



Opening this week is a sort of comedy/thriller/true story called "Stuck", from director Stuart Gordon, whose career stretches from the H.P. Lovecraft cult hit "Re-Animator" to a very shocking adaptation of playwright David Mamet's "Edmond". But for "Stuck", he turns to true crime for the story of a woman who hits a homeless man with her car, embedding him in the windshield and then just decides to drive home and deal with the whole thing later. Yeah, can't make up a tale like that. You've got to see the trailer to catch what's happening here at IGN.

IGN also has a trailer for the Pang Brothers American remake of their thriller, "Bangkok Dangerous", due out soon. The movie is still about the dangers of being a hitman, but the deaf-mute killer in the original is now Nicolas Cage, who is not deaf or mute. The trailer is here.

---

Oscar-winning cinematographer Roger Deakins has his own web site where he gladly dives into forums to talk about every aspect of filmmaking - lighting, using cameras, and much more - which you can explore right here. It's a mini-filmmaking class loaded with insights.

---

Al Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth" is going to be an opera. No I am not kidding.

---

The Beast With A Billion Backs is the title of the new movie from "Futurama", the second of four DVD movies, and is out in late June and picks up once again with the gang from Planet Express. Here's a trailer:

Will The 1st District Ever Emerge From The Shadows?

After decades of empty-handed, self-serving Congressmen in the 1st District, I too am wondering if the seat might fall to a Democrat this fall. Randy Neal at TennViews points to some of the elements in this year's race. And as I have been saying for a while, many in the East Tennessee GOP want Rep. Davis to be a one-term federal representative. Randy points to the primary battle underway, as reported in The HIll:

"Johnson City Mayor Phil Roe (R) finished fourth in 2006 with 17 percent of the vote, but has quietly become one of the few challengers in the country this year to out-raise an incumbent. He reported collecting $120,000 between January and March, compared to $80,000 for Davis, who still holds a 2-to-1 advantage in total cash.

Davis has signed up Bill Snodgrass as his campaign manager. Snodgrass served as district director for former Rep. Bill Jenkins (R), who served in the seat for five terms before retiring in 2006. Also, Keith Spicer, a co-chairman of Davis’s campaign last cycle, is now an adviser to Roe.

Davis’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

Bruce Oppenheimer, a political science professor at Vanderbilt University, said it’s generally tough to beat incumbents in the state but that Roe does have an advantage in that the district is focused on a singular media market in the Tri-Cities area of Bristol, Johnson City and Kingsport.

“That’s the one district where there is largely one media market, although you might have to do Knoxville as well to hit the whole district,” Oppenheimer said. “So it’s probably an affordable district to campaign against the incumbent.”

Despite the challengers’ enthusiasm, David Wasserman, a House race analyst for the Cook Political Report, said Davis will likely have to do something wrong for the voters to kick him out.

The incumbent has had legendary staying power in the seat over the last 90 years, including being held for three decades by both Reps. B. Carroll Reece (R) and Jimmy Quillen (R) and then by Jenkins."

One would have to be deeply uninvolved to realize that Rep. Davis has had a lousy term. And also worth noting is that the GOP machine, which really runs this district is split over Rep. Davis. I know this area is totally filled with Conservative voters - but they too are angry with their leadership. Our area has been changing quite a bit lately in terms of who is living and working here.

If a GOP challenger or if the Democrats would organize a smart campaign converging on how this section of the state has been allowed to dissipate into the far background instead of a priority for state attention and national concerns, I think that person could win by a landslide. But with precious few media outlets, local control also in the hands of a few party leaders and their crony-filled staff, new ideas and new directions are very hard to market.

Donut Terrorism

Leave it to right-wingnuts like Michelle Malkin to vigorously blend donuts, scarves and Rachel Ray into examples of terrorists taking over America, resulting in a recipe of sheer madness.

That may be one of the most insane sentences I've ever written, and trust me, I have worked hard at times to write some crazy stuff.

Worse, crazier even - the Dunkin' Donuts company was rendered so helpless and fearful by the insane concepts spewed by Malkin, they yanked ads of Rachel Ray wearing the Heinous Scarf.

Says Dunkin' Donuts:

"In a recent online ad, Rachael Ray is wearing a black-and-white silk scarf with a paisley design. It was selected by her stylist for the advertising shoot. Absolutely no symbolism was intended. However, given the possibility of misperception, we are no longer using the commercial."

To which Malkin cheered:

"It's refreshing to see an American company show sensitivity to the concerns of Americans opposed to Islamic jihad and its apologists."

Jihadi donuts????

The Epi-Log on Epicurious writes:

"It's probably hard for many people to decide who deserves the lion's share of their wrath: Malkin for ignorant (and, as always, borderline racist) demagoguery, the insipid Rachael Ray for aggressively embracing the role of foodie icon while shamelessly peddling nutritional nightmares, or Dunkin' Donuts for manufacturing said fare in the first place and for backing down in the face of Malkin's toothless swagger."

Donuts, people. And scarves.

The murky historical origin of the donut, or doughnut, obviously hides some nefarious plot ....

And clothing, well, that all started with a fig leaf meant to hide from the shame of Original Sin.

And let's not even talk about the evils of eating ice cream:

"Worst of all from this point of view are those more uncivilized forms of eating, like licking an ice cream cone --a catlike activity that has been made acceptable in informal America but that still offends those who know eating in public is offensive."

In Memory of Fallen Soldiers

I'd like to think most of us have moved past the idea that support and encouragement of our troops - the men and women who volunteer to serve in the military and not the hired contractors who serve to make a profit - does not mean support for the war in Iraq. I have never supported it and still cannot. But make no mistake - I have friends and family who serve now and have served in decades past. I've seen them used and abused and I simply hope for their safe return home and for greater wisdom to direct our armed forces.

I don't sport bumper stickers or yellow ribbons, but I know many who do. Sometimes, they are presented by the wives and husbands and parents and children and brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles and more who wait here at home anxious for their loved ones to return home. I tell my elected representatives in government when they've been wise and when they've been unwise when deploying the military.

On this Memorial Weekend, I am grateful for the freedoms we have and enjoy as folks vacation and barbecue with great ease and pleasure, and I know many folks who never really think about how we came to such ease. There are voices at home and abroad who work unselfishly in preserving such freedoms.

Some folks today, however, are grieving for their losses.

I read about one woman, Kristen Nelson, a widow at age 20, who saw her Marine husband return home in a flag-draped coffin one day after their first-year anniversary. Her story and that of her husband, Cpl. Richard Nelson is told with images in this report from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

More on the story behind the images is here. A young American widow and her family will be spending this weekend and many more to come marking the loss of Cpl. Nelson. A life-sized cardboard image of the young Marine haunts their home today. And for this Memorial weekend, I hope you take some time to consider the real lives, the real people, whose loss is keen and whose futures are uncertain. (NOTE: I received an email from Cpl. Nelson's brother Dave today, which I appreciated, and he included a link to a website of remembrance for his brother - I encourage you to visit and sign the guestbook there.)

There are so many stories of real people, typical Americans all, which deserve to be recognized. One place to read about them is here, in a continuing series called I Got The News Today.

Don't wait until the events of our time are history to think about what is happening today.

Playing Bongos With Alice Cooper

(NOTE: I do not know why, but all the videos cited here are gone. That's too bad. I hope he did not get some kind of copyright threat. Fun while it was all there and I'll shoot Gary and email and see what happened ... 1/07/09)

His screen name is bongorilao, and he occupies a small but rhythmic corner of the Internet.

The video above is one of my favorites from this 47-year-old musician who has some 238 such videos for you to view at his YouTube page. His skill really shines when he is surrounded with drums as he plays and improvs with George Benson's "On Broadway". But his musical selections include The Beatles, Jethro Tull, Bob Marley, Uriah Heep, Black Uhuru, Sly and The Family Stone, The Allman Brothers, James Brown, Elton John, Earth, Wind and Fire, Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan, The Gypsy Kings, The Guess Who, Sting and much more.

His profile says:

"I hate negativity and all manifestations thereof, but hating is negative, too, so let's not talk about it. Just want to play bongos under a palm tree somewhere but the rat race has me.

Tell it, my brother. Like you, I'm here to do my verbal bongo thing.

I own a pair of bongos my parents bought for me when I was about 8 years old. I never learned to play them well, but I have always kept them and would not let them go for any price.

And here on this page of the Internet, I get to riff as I wish too, on my own little corner where I set the priorities, selecting what I wish to post about, write about, laugh at, celebrate and share with a few dozen or a few thousand people. I love writing about movies, for instance, and do so every Friday here, and those posts are always the most least read thing I place here. People don't care diddley squat about what I write about movies. But I do it 'cause I love it, not because someone seeks me out to read my movie musings.

Millions of people write online constantly, or make music, or share information and videos and only a handful become hits o' the internets. We do it because we can and because we love it.

Camera Obscura: 'Diary of the Dead'; Get A Life-Size Indiana Jones; And Laser Cats!

"When there is no more room in hell, the dead will create a MySpace page."

Let's talk about zombies.

Shambling undead humans who rise up from the grave to feast on human flesh were once the fevered imaginings of odd readers and bizarre writers and film-fans such as myself. Today, zombies are cultural icons. All across the globe, everyday folks will slap on some gory make-up and gather for Zombie Walks, and the movies about them and with them are everywhere, some very funny, some very scary and some very poorly made. The literary world reeks of rotting flesh and survival guides flourish to the point one may well wonder if some people know they are still creatures of the imagination.

The guru of zombies is George Romero and his most recent movie hit DVD this week, "Diary of the Dead". His dark fantasies have fired up imaginations for decades, movies that have skewered society with visceral glee. Students and teachers and film critics and cultural anthropologists pontificate on the Romero Zombie with frequent essays and doctoral thesis papers. In Romero's movies, the story is more than just a scary tale told in the dark - they are also stories about us all, about how we react and respond to disaster and destruction.

"Diary" continues such themes with a digital skewer. It's the YouTube Internet Zombie Age in his film, and more than any of his previous movies, this one pushes the undead into a vague fearful background and the foreground is full of cameras and people obsessed with them. The story begins with a narrator who says the following images were all captured via a variety of media sources, which the narrator is compelled to send out via the Internet. We then see a group of would-be low-budget horror movie filmmakers whose shoot is cut short when the radios begin crackling with reports of the rising undead. Quickly, the group gathers up and begins to flee, all of their actions being "documented" by an obsessed director named Jason.

Just as quickly, the viewer gets inundated with images within images, frames within frames. Our hardy survivors meet other survivors, but no matter what they do or where they go, they begin to die and transform into the undead. It is the camera and the cameraman (or woman) who remain the focus of the film. Though horrified and terrorized, the characters can't stop observing themselves as they are being destroyed. In one scene a character shoots a zombie and then passes the gun to someone else, saying "It's too easy to use". Moments later, after another attack, someone passes a camera off to someone else saying the same line "It's too easy to use."

Romero conceived of his idea to be an online movie only at first, and his MySpace page remains quite active. He hits all the aspects of the constant barrage of information, from cell phones to blogs to videogames , citizen journalism and surveillance cameras. And he notes too that even if the zombies devour every human, all those digitized details will remain long after all life is gone.

Does all of that information have any value? Towards the end of the movie, a comment is offered that all the billions of voices captured and sent around the world have no provided more truth or more illumination - instead it has deafened us, made us less sure of everything.

For the DVD release, 5 short amateur films submitted via MySpace are included in the extras and they're pretty good too - imaginative and spooky and funny takes on the zombie apocalypse. And I do have some complaints about the movie - mostly that Romero found some really bad actors, some of the worst in any of his movies. But "Diary" is more about the hardware, not the software, and the hardware wins out in the end.

One other aspect of all of Romero's zombie tales I truly like is that there is never a really clear explanation of a cause or a solution. How one might survive is considered, but if it's even worth surviving has always been his biggest question.

----

MOVIE NEWS

Also rising up from the long ago this weekend is Indiana Jones in "Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." If you just can't get enough Indy and crave more, then perhaps you can bid on a life-sized Indiana Jones to place in your own home. It's being offered on eBay, with bids starting at $50,000.

Another attempt at resurrection arrives from the director of not-very-good "Sahara", Breck Eisner. He's working on a new version of "Flash Gordon" and "Creature From The Black Lagoon." Keeping his career alive at this point is a notable feat.

A blogger worked some liveblogging for Quentin Tarantino's two-hour talk about his movies, which you can read here.

The movie "16 Candles" has just been re-enacted in 30 seconds by bunnies. The result is here.

See the latest on the new animated movie "Space Chimps and Patrick ", featuring the voices of Andy SambergWarburton. What I want to know is when will someone greenlight a feature movie of Samberg's SNL creation - "Laser Cats"??? I'll pay cash money in a heartbeat to see that!

The Trust Drug

Researchers in Europe report success with clinical trials of a new "Trust drug", aka the "cuddle chemical", which soothes those who take it into trusting people even though that "trust" has been abused.

"The subjects who received oxytocin demonstrated no change in their trust behaviour, even though they were informed that their trust was not honoured in roughly 50% of cases."

No word yet if anyone is working on a Don't Abuse Trust drug.

O wonder!

How many goodly creatures are there here!

How beauteous mankind is!

O brave new world

That hath such people in't!

Starvation On The Campaign Trail

Are you exhausted by the media coverage of the current presidential election? Most likely. But have you actually learned much beyond how a candidate campaigns, feels about campaigning, or the now often-overused phrase "creating a narrative" for a candidate?

Given the history that so many political appointees and campaign staffers have become television icons who provide running commentary on elections, it's no wonder the results of a national survey show the TV coverage of the current presidential race is long on 'campaign strategy' and very short on analysis of issues and policies of the candidates.

FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) offers this insight:

"From December 26, 2007, until February 5, 2008, the three nightly newscasts aired a total of 385 news stories about the election. This averages out to more than nine news stories on the election per night on network TV. With that kind of saturation, you’d think that the coverage would not only touch on the horse race and polling, but would shed light on policy platforms, economic plans, foreign policy goals and other substantive differences among what was then a wide-open field of candidates. You’d think that, after viewing or reading 385 news stories, you’d come away well-informed and ready to participate in a democracy.

But, unfortunately, you’d be wrong.

Campaign Analysis/Strategy dominated the coverage FAIR examined, appearing in 333 of the 385 stories overall (86 percent). It was the dominant frame in 252 stories (65 percent), and it was the only frame in 79 stories (20 percent). In other words, one in five stories in this sample touched only on the “how” of getting elected.

It’s not that campaign coverage should be devoid of analysis and strategic concerns; who’s ahead and why is of legitimate concern to voters, and this type of story can be informative and illuminating. But the emphasis on this type of reportage mostly provides news consumers with a lot of insignificant “insights,” like the January 2 CBS story “Hillary Clinton Needs Supporters to Show Up to Caucus.” So which candidates didn’t need their supporters to caucus?"

FAIR goes on to mention critical failures in coverage of just exactly how a candidate might propose to address the faltering economy and the war in Iraq. Short, zippy riffs from campaigners get air time - specific plans are seldom given coverage:

"Remarkably, in the 55 stories that raised the Iraq War as an issue, the networks made no mention of any of the Democrats’ plans for troop withdrawal or their stances on the troop “surge.” Both of those topics, however, provided much fodder for the coverage of the leading Republican candidates.

John McCain is “surging in part because the ‘surge’ in Iraq, which he has long supported, has shown signs of success,” ABC reported on January 2. The “progress in Iraq . . . put new life into the John McCain campaign,” CBS reported (1/29/08).

The supposed success of the troop “surge” became a lens through which to view the McCain turnaround, but his plans for what happens next weren’t covered. Rather, his “ownership” of the war issue in the media left viewers with very little specific information."

The news media too often is addressing the cult of personality, and from their cheerleading heading into the war with Iraq to today, viewers are fed junk food and not food for thought.

Down The Memory Hole

George W. Bush, in 2000 says:

"Gov. George W. Bush of Texas said today that if he was president, he would bring down gasoline prices through sheer force of personality, by creating enough political good will with oil-producing nations that they would increase their supply of crude.

''I would work with our friends in OPEC to convince them to open up the spigot, to increase the supply,'' Mr. Bush, the presumptive Republican candidate for president, told reporters here today. ''Use the capital that my administration will earn, with the Kuwaitis or the Saudis, and convince them to open up the spigot.

Thanks to Hilzoy for that, and he adds:

"Honestly, it's not always hard to spot a bad President coming. If we had paid less attention to who we wanted to have a beer with, Al Gore's earth tones, and so on, and more to George W. Bush's total lack of any grasp of policy, we could have avoided the last eight years."

As for that 'force of personality', "the Saudis said they would pump an additional 300,000 barrels of crude next month. They also made a point that the decision had been made a week ago, and not in response to Bush's visit." But the President did promise to send the Saudis more nuclear technology. Is it even close to a good idea to help make Saudi Arabia a nuclear power? Sure they may agree to add in the technology safeguards we want them to have, and sure maybe it is simply the best we can hope for - that they will be a nuclear power allied with the U.S.

The local prize for Bad Ideas on Energy Policy once again goes to Congressman David Davis of East Tennessee. He thinks a.) OPEC sets the price of oil and b.) the government should provide tax-free bonds for oil companies so the poor, poor oil companies can build more refineries. He also urges more tax breaks for them and continues to blame House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for high gasoline prices (article here).