The Ox Arrives

The above pic is from a host of 35 colorful images in China as the nation celebrates the new year, a Year of The Ox, the start of year 4707 on their calendar.

Did God Abandon The State Republicans?

I know much of what is spoken on the floors of legislatures state and national and even local tend to be preening and meaningless loads of nothingness. Mostly such speeches are are self-aggrandizement or perhaps the demonization of some person or policy. In short, little that is said is worth the time taken to state it.

I was reading thru the prepared speech by State Representative Jason Mumpower - a speech he had prepped as he awaited being elected the Speaker of the House in Tennessee - but he did not win said election. And most if not all the comments flowing from Mumpower and his supporters has been a rather sad whining and endless rounds of blamethrower games, since, apparently it wasn't their fault they lost a bid for power.

However, Mumpower's speech-not-given reveals some glaring hypocrisy from the Right, like their victories are ordained by God Almighty (their loss, apparently, is the work of Evil Itself, which somehow subverted the Will of the Creator).

"As the Apostle Paul describes in the book of Corinthians, the body is made of many parts, but together they form one unit.

“God has brought each member of this body together in His service and each, though different, is an important member of the whole. This body — this House — wouldn’t be the same without each part.

“Our calling to this place is foremost a calling of service. And we must be vigilant to remember daily our purpose to serve, lest we confuse it with the mirage of power."

Mumpower might also want to recall from his speech his oft-stated belief that:

"As I quoted when I addressed this body two years ago as minority leader, I’ve heard it said that ‘great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss things. (And) small minds discuss people.’

“In serving Tennessee and her people, we are here to discuss ideas and find solutions to the problems Tennesseans face. That’s our job, and that’s what we are going to do."

Now, Rep. Kent Williams - also a Republican - won the vote for Speaker. But rather than accept a loss, Mumpower and his Republican backers obviously feel none of that is true. By their own argument, God ordained it so that Williams would be Speaker. Why challenge the Will of the Almighty? Are they angry with God?

Wonder when they'll see the best option is to stop whining, take up the business of government, and seek solutions to the issues of the day?

Camera Obscura: Anime, Kung-Fu, Texas Hold Em and Werner Herzog

Actor Keanu Reeves will leap into anime if his current project continues to move forward -- the project being a live action version of the anime series "Cowboy Bebop" with Reeves starring as the laconic hero Spike Spiegel.

Urf. This is not really happy news. I was hoping for another animated feature from the series which ran for 26 episodes in 1998. The story is set in a science fiction world of bounty hunters, but the real pleasure came from the characters and their failures and successes - and the arc of the story is rather non-linear and goofy, an anti-action tale with anti-heroes, a genius dog named Einstein and a computer whiz child named Ed. It's oddity is endearing, but I truly doubt Hollywood can do anything at all worthy of the time and money they'll throw at this.

Do yourself a favor and watch the original series, the one feature they made and be happy with that perfection.

Hollywood sort of flirts with animation and comic book tales - especially if they make money. Does that mean the just-announced Oscar nominations for Heath Ledger as The Joker, and the other nominations for "The Dark Knight" will actually earn the award itself? (Oh boy, here I go on comics again. Fanboy rants and raves about comic books are akin to those tedious scenes in "High Fidelity" where the characters talk about music and records. It's full-blown nerdiness.)

Here's what I know - Ledger's performance was surely one of the best I saw all year. And with Hugh "Wolverine" Jackman hosting this year's awards, maybe the comic book is finally --- naw, Hollywood loves money first and last. (Though Oscar does love tragedy, such as Ledger's untimely death last year.)

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Via the pages of Topless Robot (a blog about toys and nerds which is on my daily must-read list) we get the new trailer for a kung-fu movie called "Chocolate". It is absolutely my kind of Valentine's Day flick:



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Texas Hold-Em poker has never been more popular - and a raft of comedians get a chance to create a mock tournament improv movie in the often-hilarious "The Grand". The cast includes a grizzled Gabe Kaplan (who is a bona fide player on the poker circuit these days) as a deranged dad of two in the movie, and former SNL player Chris Parnell, a math genius player who also hurls insults culled from books like "Dune" at the other players. The movie is a broad and scattershot work, but has tons of funny performances and crazy moments -- Michael McKean recalling how he lost his hearing after he swam into a school of Man of War jellyfish, for example.

The real jewel in this movie, the one that makes it an underground classic, is director Werner Herzog, who plays a cruel contestant, known only as "The German". Herzog and "Grand" director Zak Penn have worked together before in also hilarious mockumentary "The Loch Ness Incident". Check out all the familiar faces in the trailer:



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Let's talk horror movies -- or rather horror movie music.



Blogger rhsmith at The Movie Morlocks blog from Turner Classic Movies gives us the rundown on some hefty collections of music from horror movies from days long past and has an encyclopedic knowledge of all kinds of spooky music and how said music landed on vinyl.

Read his full post here.

Smith also has a great list of pop music used in the movies in highly original ways. It's a trend I go for too - often bringing whole new legions of fame to old (or new) pop songs. Like the way the song "Mad World" infects everything in the movie "Donny Darko."

Smith offers a list of his favorites in this post, a collection of tunes and movies which is easily as nerdly as the above mentioned discussions of comic books. Read his list of favorites here.

Wednesday Web-Walking

It's too dang cold to blog.

Sure, the constant hum of the Internet can warm your cockles, unless maybe you're still shivering from watching everyone else shiver as they live-blogged and twittered the inauguration.

-- One inauguration story brought a smile to my chapped lips:

"If we break a rabbit's legs and throw it in there, he will eventually go in to finish it off. Doesn't work with dead rabbits, though. Cheney only eats what he kills."

Full report here.

-- Maybe you avoided the whole monumental shift in U.S. government yesterday and just plunked around with your toy guitar playing Guitar Hero game. Just know that while you mash buttons, an 11-year-old Japanese girl already can actually play a musical instrument and rock out to Rush's "YYZ" way better than you play that game:



-- Meanwhile "Lost" returns to television tonight, and the idea has me oddly upbeat, or as this blogger says "I'm giggling like a schoolgirl about to ride a pony". Be sure and check out the preview clips at his page, or just wait for the surprises and confusion to roll out as you view the new episodes.

-- A dog named Java survived an icy plunge into a frozen pond.

-- This wee kitten got hurt somehow but seems to be resting somewhat comfortably despite the wee cast on it's wee leg:


-- Since I'm talking about animals, did ya know that raccoon meat sells out mighty fast?

"Eating raccoon has never gone out of style. It's just hard to get unless you know somebody."

-- And finally, in news about news, Google says No More Newspaper Ads.

Man, it is cold out here. I'm gonna go chug some soup or something.

Inauguration Parties Span the Ages

I know I'm about two days older than dirt, but I cannot dredge up any memory of a previous presidential inauguration where children and young adults got their own massive parties to celebrate, much less have those celebrations air on television.

Last night the Disney Channel aired "Kid's Inaugural - We Are The Future", an huge bash hosted by the likes of Jamie Foxx and featuring performances by Miley Cyrus and The Jonas Brothers -- watched most carefully by President Obama's young children who even got to take the stage with the famous 'tween superstars. You can watch the event here online.

And tonight young adults can tune in to MTV for "Be The Change" ... and again, when was there an inaugural party on MTV? Performers include Kanye West, Kid Rock and Fall Out Boy and the newly sworn-in president will make an appearance as well. MTV News has coverage now for the broadcast which will air at 10 p.m. tonight.

When was the last time you recall seeing political programming for kids and young adults where shouts of "God Bless America!" or "We have a new president!" drew cheers from that same group of young people?

President Obama - Day One

"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools."

-- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.


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"I would be honored if the Drive-By Media headlined me all day long: 'Limbaugh: I Hope Obama Fails.' Somebody's gotta say it."
-- Rush Limbaugh

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From the speech given at the Inauguration of President Barack Hussein Obama:

"On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted -- for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn. Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions -- that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act -- not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions -- who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them -- that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works -- whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account -- to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day -- because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

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"So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations."

Change Is Gonna Come

(Cartoon via McClatchy)

The nation changes leadership on Tuesday, and it makes me think of a job I once had where a new office manager arrived after some very troubled years had taken place. The outgoing manager was first in his class at bad management, often misrepresenting his stubborn ways as his 'principles', many of the inherent benefits of the job were just gone, and morale had been sucked down to a level so low as to be non-existent.

The new manager, while known to a few at the workplace, got an immediate lift among employees simply because he was new and the old one who had dragged everyone down was finally gone. Still, in the first six months to a year, this new manager also created many positive changes, often by simply seeing opportunities where the old manager was content to go on tirades about problems. He encouraged us to work harder, noting it was not our fault our business had been mismanaged. He found ways to acknowledge employees for their efforts, often expressed thanks, created projects where our business could excel and inspired us to dream big as we tried to improve our business. There were still some problems which took longer to correct, but the new manager stayed focused and overall made the business more successful and all of us employees earned direct benefits from that success.

So here's to the new manager about to take the post at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Hilzoy at Washington Monthly has highlighted an editorial from 1933, just prior to the inauguration of FDR, which has some eerie similarities to the America of today and the challenges ahead:

"It was a Grand Old Party -- for them [Republicans] -- while it lasted. Makers and beneficiaries of our politico-economic system, these are the men whose failure is now written large in the towering empty edifices that scrape the New York sky, in the hundreds of thousands of "For sale" and "To let" signs which adorn our cities, in the closed banks, in the foreclosed farms, in the whole picture of devastation which has come under their rule.

Have these captains and kings departed -- not to return? The epoch of their wanton and repulsive leadership is ending. Their incompetence and their betrayal are manifest. But much of the evil they have done lives after them. The coming years will see the struggle to purge America, to reassert the promise of American life, to validate, in consonance with the changed times and conditions, the high aspirations of the founders of the nation."

I was glad to see the Sam Cooke tune "A Change Is Gonna Come" performed in Washington at the Inauguration celebrations Sunday (you can watch the celebration free via HBO online).


Here's to real change, which only the citizens of the U.S. can create.

No Pants Day Spreads

Good thing the 8th annual No Pants Day was held last weekend and not this weekend, as being pantless now would have surely been a glacially painful experience. I read at Alice's blog about the events of this January 10th No Pants Day, making a few realizations about this promotion of public goofiness via the organizers with the Improv Everywhere Group.



From Atlanta to NYC to Boston and Denver, Washington DC, Chicago all kinds of folks shed their pants as they brought smiles, concern, and visible knees and thighs into the public forums and workaday routines. (nearly 2,500 people took off their pants on subways in 22 cities around the world.)

But here's what I realized - I think No Pants Day should be a new holiday. Though there may be some inherent goofy or silly attributes to any holiday, No Pants Day could just be a day to do something wacky, in public, to just be nonsensical and whimsical, a day to laugh at ourselves, to see our world in a new perspective. (Experts say that kind of thing is good for us. Just experts, OK? I don't know any names or actual scientific data. I'm only blogging here for pete's sake.)

And who knows, it could really catch on and assume those other qualities of holidays, like No Pants Day Dinners, No Pants Day Parties at work, No Pants Day decorations and cards, No Pants Day Parades, all to just really embrace the sheer silliness. Not that it should be made annoying or corporate-encoded, at least not for a few decades, so we could really just enjoy our lives.

If nothing else, we, as good, honest and decent American voters and citizens, should make No Pants Day fall every four years on the Inauguration weekends for our president. Just to say, you know, you may be the president, but we don't have to wear pants if we don't wanna.

Camera Obscura: The Age of Superhero Decadence

I had the chance to read through some of the posts at the much-hyped Big Hollywood web site, the creation of conservative writer/web mogul Andrew Breitbart (the man who helped launch both The Drudge Report and Huffington Post).

Conservatives like Breitbart have a history of decrying art and entertainment for not having a solid core of American conservative political belief and therefore are instead guilty of destroying the moral fiber of the nation. Yawn.

At least he's not calling for a return of congressional hearings into comic books (like that led by Tennessee Democrat Senator Estes Kefauver) and the movie industry -- not yet anyway, but I get the feeling some would love such a thing. Those events were dismal, dark days in our history, allowing for hysterical Inquisition-style theatrics which destroyed lives and celebrated ignorance.

I suppose this is a continuation of the so-called culture wars in America, as if the body politic needs to alter the creation and distribution of works of art and the imagination so that it conforms to a single perspective. Yeah, we so need an anti-imagination campaign. Because, well, conservative ideas are all mangled by art and media whose only goal is to express America-hating and commie-loving views. (Conservative political Myth Numero Uno.)

I stumbled into Big Hollywood after reading about a column by comic book writer Bill Willingham published there. Willingham is moaning that we are in the age of "superhero decadence" and longs for a return to the days when all comic book superheroes were ... well, just better:

"Old fashioned ideals of courage and patriotism, backed by a deep virtue and unshakable code, seem to be… well, old fashioned."

Willingham adds:

"It’s time to make public a decision I’ve already made in private. I’m going to shamelessly steal a line from Rush Limbaugh, who said, concerning a different matter, “Go ahead and have your recession if you insist, but you’ll have to pardon me if I choose not to participate.” And from now on that’s my position on superhero comics. Go ahead and have your Age of Superhero Decadence, if you insist, but you’ll have to pardon me if I no longer choose to participate.

No more superhero decadence for me. Period. From now on, when I write within the superhero genre I intend to do it right. And if I am ever again privileged to be allowed to write Superman, you can bet your sweet bootie that he’ll find the opportunity to bring back “and the American way,” to his famous credo."

Yeah. Wonder why Willingham's work isn't more successful since he guides his comic book writing by the light of Limbaugh's political views? Darn kids today just don't have much use for jingoistic tropes of nationalism in their durned heathen funny books.

Robot 6 has a good discussion of Willingham and his views on comic books.

But really, as a lifelong comic book fan, the superheroes usually were the least impressive creations. Basic storylines tend to follow a simple formula: Good Guy Encounters Bad Guy and Big Fight Follows. There are many, many instances in real life of just plain heroic - not superheroic - acts and individuals. Most recently, the pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger III of the airliner which was forced to land in the middle of the Hudson River yesterday is a bona fide hero - maybe the only person in the world who could have landed that plane in a river without any fatalities.

And if Willingham feels he needs to inject conservative politics into his superhero fantasies, well that's fine by me. I wish him the best. But drama - good drama - requires some kind of conflict, and a character with flaws is more interesting than those without. Let's face it - a multi-millionaire Bruce Wayne, aka Batman, who decides to wear a mask and attack criminals is really just a vigilante who is making an end-run around the law and courts in order to exact immediate justice which only he defines.

I enjoy the movie "Dirty Harry" but in real life I do not want a policeman to act like Harry at all.

Reading through Big Hollywood all I found was a giant whine-festival - Hollywood is evil, media is evil, good moral values don't exist in art enough to satisfy me, etc etc etc.



I like some ambiguity in the fiction or movies or TV I see -- not everyone does, and with hundreds if not thousands of options available to us, we can all find something we like. And that ambiguity allows me a chance to ponder on the tale I am reading or watching - to react to it and weigh it and think about it. A work of the imagination is most often about the rejection of confinement.

Discussion and debate about the fictions of heroes and superheroes might best be started with Joseph Campbell's "Hero With A Thousand Faces" rather than the blather of conservative blogs. Your mileage may vary.

Offering Holy Oils for Obama

Some religious leaders got a congressman to allow them to anoint a doorway that President-elect Obama will step through on his way to the platform where he will be sworn in next week.

This "inaugural anointing" is the first time such has occurred in the U.S., though the same folks did anoint the seats and doors in a Senate chamber where confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominees Roberts and Alito were held.

Video is here, as the Reverends Rob Schenck and Patrick J. Mahoney are joined by Congressman Paul Broun of Georgia in their ceremony. (Who knew there was already an Anointing Shoppe online?)

Broun told the press in November he thinks Obama is going to establish a new national Gestapo security force to help transform the U.S. into a Marxist state. The Rev. Schenck, a founding member of Operation Rescue, has had some run-ins with the law dating back to the 1990s:

"Schenck was arrested a dozen times during protests outside women's health clinics and abortion doctors' homes, and was momentarily detained by Secret Service after shoving an aborted fetus in front of Bill Clinton outside the 1992 Democratic National Convention."

Broun has introduced one piece of legislation since being elected - banning images of naked women in magazines from the military - a bill which has never been approved for a vote.

Prayers aplenty are common at the Inauguration - I suppose any help is a good thing. I mean, if someone wants to pray and fast for three weeks to benefit me or you, well, I guess that's their choice.

But what if a congressmen brought in some folks to hold a Smudging Ceremony?

Maybe the Tennessee legislature, writhing and moaning over who will be or won't be holding the position of Speaker of the House need some of that holy oil, or a smudging or even an exorcism. Just something to clean out their chi or chakras, maybe they should all attend a cuddle party??

Republicans Make Tennessee History and Hate It

The Republicans in the state's House of Representatives made history today and they are furious.

For the first time, all the Democrat members of the House of a Republican to be the Speaker of the House -- it just wasn't the Republican the GOP leaders had planned on and bragged about for the last few months. Republican Kent Williams of Carter County got the powerful post which the entire GOP (other than Williams) had planned for Jason Mumpower to get.

Also seems for the first time that Highway Patrol officers had to be summoned to surround and protect the newly elected speaker from his angry GOP colleagues.

Did Williams seek out the job? Or did Democrats seek out Williams?

Other than bloggers, pundits and the news media - few Tennesseans know or care one bit about the battle for control of the House chairman.

Longtime speaker, Democrat Jimmy Naifeh, just showed the entire GOP he knows more than they do about how to exert control over all events in the House, even appointing his replacement. I also find it most curious that the Republican leaders were totally unable to muster the support of a single Democrat to vote for their agenda. And Democrats rallied around one Republican to shatter the dreams of Mumpower and the entire state GOP.

NOTE: You can track the hijinks, the anger and the aftermath through a vast amount of posts from Post Politics. Also, readers respond at KnoxViews too.

Problems Grow for TVA's Ash Spill

Keeping up with the ongoing developments --

Gov. Bredesen says TVA must pay back the state for it's ongoing costs in clean-up and testing for the massive spill of toxic ash in Roane County - just as TVA is saying they are already laying out $1 million in their own costs for the clean-up.

"I am committed to making sure this spill is cleaned up and doing everything we can to prevent any similar situation in the future," Gov. Phil Bredesen said in a statement. "I'm also committed to making sure Tennessee taxpayers don't foot the bill. This order requires TVA to reimburse the Department of Environment and Conservation for expenses incurred overseeing cleanup and further investigative activities."

WATE-TV is broadcasting an hour-long special tonight on the disaster and offers a chance for you to submit questions and hear some answers from TVA and other agencies. They also report seeing clean-up crews 6 miles away from the original site.

Sen. Boxer says new regulations are long overdue when it comes to controls for the ash ponds at coal plants and that reviews at all sites must take place now:

"Boxer said her resolution also will request that the EPA immediately regulate coal ash once the agency has completed that review.

"This is the most neglected area," Boxer said. "I myself apologized for not getting on this sooner, so I'm going to be all over this."

Sen. Corker says TVA ratepayers will bear all the costs of cleanups, with no federal aid, even though TVA is a federally owned utility.

"I hate it for the ratepayers of TVA, but this is their responsibility."

More info on the real-time problems and questions from one resident who is "trapped in a nightmare". "Sick and getting sicker," she writes.

The lawsuits continue.

Another video on the impact (via Southern Beale):

Get Paid To Blog About Your Island Lifestyle

Sign. Me. Up.

Applications are now being taken for a 6-month job as a caretaker on Hamilton Island - your duties will be to write about your experiences living in a three-bedroom villa, exploring the island and maybe cleaning the pool every now and then. Post your adventure in a weekly blog plus some video and photo blogging as you live in a tourist paradise.

Nope, it is not a joke.

UPDATE: A winner for this contest has been announced - see this post for details.

The New Uncle Sam Abroad, or Joe The Plumber's Self-Reflexive Truth-Search

Samuel Joseph "Call Me Joe" Wurzelbacher, hired to make video reports from Israel about the war with Hamas for Pajamas Media spends much of his time talking about himself and denigrating reporters on his "search for the truth" about the war.

No info on what the causes of this war are - heck he couldn't even name the people whose bombed out house he inspected. He did say the threat of missile attacks from the Hamas makes him angry.

But it's been his comments to the press about the press that has been generating coverage too:

"I don't think journalists should be anywhere allowed war. I mean, you guys report where our troops are at. You report what's happening day to day. You make a big deal out of it. I think it's asinine. You know, I liked back in World War I and World War II when you'd go to the theater and you'd see your troops on, you know, the screen and everyone would be real excited and happy for 'em. Now everyone's got an opinion and wants to downer, ah, down soldiers. You know, American soldiers or Israeli soldiers.

I think media should be abolished from, uh, you know, reporting. You know, war is hell. And if you're gonna sit there and say, "Well look at this atrocity," well you don't know the whole story behind it half the time, so I think the media should have no business in it."

So, war coverage is bad - and that's why he is working as a war reporter?

His 10 days of work for PJTV is sure to help sell his new book, which is likely why his publicity agent told him to go after the PJTV exposure. Score this one Publicity 1, Truth 0.

TVA Has More Spills, Sen. Boxer Demands Review

Another TVA spill from their coal-fired Widow's Creek plant in Alabama -- that makes for three "accidents" in less than a month. TVA officials called the Alabama incident a "leak" which poured out 10,000 gallons from a gypsum waste pond - some going into the Tennessee River. This is the same plant that TVA's Inspector General cited in a report from last year for failure to address the constant problem of leakage -

"The report says little consideration was given by TVA officials of reporting the "continuous nature and extent of the leaks" to Alabama environmental authorities."

Sen. Barbara Boxer of California told the press that the agency needs a full review and needs it now:

"The Tennessee Valley Authority has a lot to answer for - the first step is to prevent further spills and damage to communities around its plants. I have asked the TVA for a complete assessment of the safety of its waste disposal sites and their plans for upgrading those sites. This second pollution spill must be a wake up message to the TVA and to the U.S. EPA that the current situation is unacceptable."

In a KNS story on this incident, TVA officials say they did conduct a review of all of their waste ponds and found they were "all in good shape."

Also the state has cited TVA for failing to comply with regulations when they allowed for the release of sludge into the Ocoee River this week, a story which KnoxViews has been tracking.

Sen. Boxer's committee heard testimony this week on TVA's handling of their first accident back on Dec. 22nd (links to the hearing and testimony here). But as noted at Facing South, TVA's CEO just did not have much info on what the status of their waste ponds might be, or even how many there are:

"Asked how many ash ponds TVA had in use, for example, Kilgore said he didn't know. He also didn't know why the company opted for dry storage at some facilities and wet at others, or that TVA had previously fought federal environmental enforcement efforts. And he said he was unaware that a 2007 federal assessment documented three TVA sites with proven damage from coal ash pollution.

Kilgore also demonstrated what appeared to be a basic misunderstanding of critical coal waste handling issues. Asked whether he would be willing to utilize the same strict waste-management practices for his ash impoundments that govern landfills for ordinary household trash, he responded that his company was investing hundreds of millions of dollars in new air scrubbers for the Kingston plant.

"That's wonderful, and we all applaud that, but that gives us even more ash," said an exasperated Boxer. "I'm asking about safe disposal of ash."

Kilgore replied noncommittally that TVA would "look at several options."


While Governor Bredesen has called for far more state regulatory controls over TVA, it seems their current system is in dire need of immediate attention right now. When will the rest of Tennessee's state and federal representatives call for action? How many "accidents" will it take? Why hasn't TVA's own board called for intense reviews of their federally-owned utility?

Camera Obscura: Best of '08 Awards Roll Out; Ray Dennis Steckler, R.I.P.; The Empire Wants You

The Golden Globes will air Sunday, the People's Choice Awards loved "Dark Knight" and two Hollywood guilds provide a peek at what movies are likely Oscar contenders for Best Picture nominee.

The Writer's Guild announced nominations for Best Original script: Burn After Reading (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen), Milk (Dustin Lance Black), Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Woody Allen), The Visitor (Tom McCarthy), and The Wrestler (Robert Siegel). The Coens won WGA awards for Fargo and No Country for Old Men, and Allen has won four times, most recently for 1990's Crimes & Misdemeanors. For Best Adapatation, the nominees are: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Eric Roth), The Dark Knight (Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan), Doubt (John Patrick Shanley), Frost/Nixon (Peter Morgan), and Slumdog Millionaire (Simon Beaufoy). Roth previously won this award for Forrest Gump, and Shanley won for Moonstruck. If you're wondering, The Dark Knight counts as "adapted" because it uses pre-existing characters.

The Director's Guild meanwhile usually tags most of the nominees and their selections are:Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire. This is his first DGA nomination. Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight. Nolan was previously nominated for Memento. Gus Van Sant, Milk. Van Sant got a nod for Good Will Hunting, too. David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon. Howard won DGA Awards for A Beautiful Mind and Apollo 13.

For info on the Golden Globes, their website has all the details. All the award shows are thankful there is no writer's strike this year. Will viewers care at all?

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One of my picks for the best of 2008 is also my pick for the best horror film of 2008 - "Let The Right One In". It's the very subtle and powerful story of vampires and children from Sweden and a most original take on the vampire genre. A young boy named Oskar, lonely and isolated in a Stockholm apartment building, makes friends one evening with a new tenant, a strange and barefoot girl named Eli. She connects with him one evening as he is stomping about the courtyard as he pretends he is fighting and threatening the bullies who terrorize him by day at school. Is it his violence that attracts her attention?

There's very few special effects here, no coffins, no checklist of vampire cliches. Just a steady and understated march towards a confrontation with the adult world and the world of vampires. The acting too is subtle and powerful and both children act far wiser than their years. The movie is haunting both for the way it shows how children are unimportant and isolated and for the quiet threat of a vampire trolling the locals. It also has a real sweetness as these two lost souls create a friendship.

It's an amazing movie, already earning many awards and rave reviews, and is simply top notch work in any language. Any Hollywood remake would never, repeat, never, provide the intelligence and the sly approach of horror to be found here.

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The AMC Channel is prepping a mini-series remake of the British sci-fi classic "The Prisoner", which will air later this year.

In the meantime, AMC is offering all 17 episodes of the original show online - uncut, no commercials, and loads of great fun. Check them out.

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Legendary low-budget director/actor/writer Ray Dennis Steckler passed away this week. Acting under the name of Cash Flagg, he made history with his 1964 movie "The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies". He was fearlessly independent, shooting on location, often without any sound equipment and looping the dialog later, playing both the crazed and haunted killer or the comic sidekick in his movies. He was a shameless promoter and his movies show influences from Fellini, John Ford, Hitchcock and even Ed Wood. The dream sequence from "Incredibly Strange Creatures" shows off his daring and his ultra-low-end production designs. And that's Ray having the dream and scooting about in his hoodie.



I doubt there was any job in a movie or tv show the man did not do on his own. Not that he did them well.

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From the web site io9 a post about designer/artist Feng Zhu, who has created a line of "recruitment posters" for the Empire, as in "Star Wars". More samples are at their websites.

Darth Vader and General Grievous never looked anything like this.

And I won't mention that the Empire's army was made of clones, so why the heck would they need to recruit anyone?

As with most things SW-related there's a disconnect of logic or reason. The Lucas Rule is "if it looks good, it's in the official canon".

Spider-Man Meets Obama

For the first time ever, a U.S. President has admitted he likes comic books and his fave is Spider-Man. So Marvel Comics is printing up a special edition to mark the historic moment. The issue hits stands on Jan. 14th and of course real collectors can seek out the variant cover.

I wonder - was Obama ever a member of F.O.O.M.?

Senate Takes On TVA Ash Spill

Ash spill really is not the phrase needed to describe the massive enviromental and economic disaster that struck Roane County on Dec. 22, but for now it will do. The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works chaired by Sen. Barbara Boxer, held a hearing today on the disaster and took testimony from TVA CEO Tom Kilgore, the county EMA Director Howie Rose and Dr. Stephen Smith with the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

The committee website has video of the entire hearing at this link. (RealPlayer needed)

Sen. Boxer said in an opening statement:

"Over 130 million tons of coal combustion waste is produced in the U.S. every year. This is the equivalent of a train of boxcars stretching from Washington, D.C. to Melbourne, Australia.

A 2007 US EPA report found 67 ash impoundments or landfills in 23 states that had caused or were suspected of causing contamination, including to ground or surface waters. EPA knew of dozens of other sites but lacked sufficient information to single out the cause.

For nearly three decades, EPA has been looking at the issue of how to regulate combustion waste. The federal government has the power to regulate these wastes, and inaction has allowed this enormous volume of toxic material to go largely unregulated. State efforts are very inconsistent, and as more and more toxic material is removed from coal combustion, it is critically important that protective standards for coal ash waste be established."

The testimony of Dr. Smith offers some of the best advice on what happened and how to prevent such disasters in the future -- I hope both the federal and the state government decide to enact strict regulations for these highly toxic collection sites. He noted:

"News reports and my organization’s preliminary investigation indicate that this could and should have been avoided. Shortcuts have been taken, rules were waved or broken and accountability has been absent; this was not a natural disaster this was a manmade disaster.

It is clear that, in its early response, TVA prioritized public relations over public health and has largely been overwhelmed by the size of this spill, which appears to be the largest industrial spill in our nation’s history.

The force of this accident not only ripped homes off their foundations—it also ripped the lid off of a national problem and the failure of EPA to develop minimum standards for this waste. It is outrageous that the landfills holding our household garbage are more regulated than the pits holding this toxic coal sludge.

Today I call on your committee to at a minimum:
1: Require an orderly phase out all wet storage of toxic coal ash;
2: Require EPA to immediately inspect and monitor all toxic coal ash storage and disposal units; and
3: Develop the long-promised Federal regulation of all toxic coal ash storage and disposal by year’s end.

TVA was born out of crippling economic times. As we find ourselves again in similar difficult times, this is an opportunity to remake TVA for the 21st Century.

Online folks also reported on the hearing -- Southern Beale - Part1 and Part 2, Aunt B. and Nashville Is Talking has a roundup. Local news station WATE takes on the story as well. The Knoxville News Sentinel's coverage is collected here.

Also, as Sen. Boxer has said, just covering the toxic ash spilled onto the riverbanks and yards for several hundred acres with grass seed is not a cleanup solution for the long-term. Much work is ahead and TVA has every reason to develop better methods when it comes to burning coal - demand better regulation for their protection and the safety of Tennessee residents, and to show they have a viable role in the energy business for this century.

Sen. Boxer also says more hearings on this issue are being planned.

(Background posts on this event are all tagged TVA spill if you want more information.)

UPDATE: R. Neal at KnoxViews has been reporting on another release of sludge, this time on the Ocoee River - here and here. And more lawsuits ahead on the disaster in Roane County.

Joe the Plumber aka Joe the War Reporter

It sounds like a punch line to a bad political joke -- "Joe The Plumber" has been hired to be a war reporter. In Israel.

Yet that's what a web-site called PajamasTV, headed by Knoxville's UT law professor Glenn Reynolds, just did. Hired him. Gonna pay him to be a war correspondent.

If need for reporters exists, why not hire any of the thousands of experienced writers and reporters who've lost their jobs in the last year? I guess PJTV and Reynolds think the entire barrel is rotten - or maybe JtP was the only person who would take the job. Is it because the job is only for 10 days?

Who knew the jokes of the 2008 election would just keep on giving in 2009 too?

The commenters at MetaFilter score points on the topic:

"Don't get me wrong-- I think that pajamas media is pretty much only proving how shallow the right-wing online journalism talent pool is, but I actually can't blame JtP for making the most out of his 15 minutes of fame. Opportunities are tough to come by, especially for a guy like Joe, and ridiculous as his various schemes appear (ads for the DTV switchover, his newsletter, his album, etc.), I can totally understand wanting to make as best a living as he can by grabbing the opportunities that come by in front of him. I really don't view the term "opportunist" as an epithet. The guy sees opportunities and he takes them. Granted, if he'd been a bit better about that in the past, he'd be a master plumber, rather than an apprentice, and PJMedia should think more about who will produce good-quality content for them, but you go with the right-wing journalists you have, not the ones you wish you had."

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"I look forward to hearing their ideas for sending other pundits into combat zones."


Meanwhile, the commenters at Michelle Malkin's ultra-conservative site cheer their man on:


"I would believe him before 97% of the rest of the media."

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"He will probably be safer in Israel than here - at least after the Big O day, the 20th…"

It's only 10 days of work we're talking here, people. It's really just a way to drum up publicity for ... D'oh!!!!

5 and 6 Year Olds Try to Elope to Africa

It is a dream that has been shared by lovers across the centuries – the chance to elope to exotic lands. But few would have been as bold and spontaneous as six-year-old Mika and his five-year-old sweetheart Anna-Bell who, after mulling over their options in secret, packed their suitcases on New Year's Eve and set off from the German city of Hanover to tie the knot under the heat of the African sun.

The children left their homes at dawn while their unwitting parents were apparently sleeping, and took along Mika's seven-year-old sister, Anna-Lena, as a witness to the wedding.

Awww ... you can read their adventures here.