Wassup

Wassup 2008

How far we haven't come in eight long years.

Must See Video from Ron Howard

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

8 1/2

Like most neophyte film buffs, I had heard of Fellini, but something kept me from seeing any of his movies. Today I watched 8 1/2, probably his most famous film.

My gut reaction was something like "Oh, that's what that movie is referencing." The list of other movies that reference sequences from 8 1/2 is endless. But it really is a head trip. Sometimes you can't tell if your watching a movie about a guy or a guy in a movie, or maybe it's not a movie at all and it's really a documentary of the filmmaker's process. It's every dream sequence that's been in every other medium, but amped up times a thousand.

The story goes that Fellini was stuck in between movies and couldn't decide how to finish a production, so he wrote a story about a famous film director in the same situation. On the surface, it's a semi-autobiographical story of a man in a midlife crisis, but it explores lots of different themes. Childhood innocence, the objectification, brutalization, and eventually celebration and an almost deification of women. The stress of a lover, the triviality and nuisance of a business, the pain of trying to make art while making money for yourself and your boss. The film is 45 years old, but its themes resonate today.

I finally see what I think everyone else sees, it's a truly brilliant film. Get it and get in touch with your inner angst, then throw a party where everyone gets to dance and live life to its fullest.

Technical note: The version I watched was the Criterion Collection DVD from Netflix with an introduction by Terry Gilliam (you know, the genius behind all the Monty Python animations and 12 Monkeys). But don't watch the introduction until after the movie because it has some spoilers.

Even more desperate Republican Rabble

Ignorance and Fear are now taking a backseat to made up allegations of fraud.

Family Guy Backlash

Bye Stewie. It's been nice knowing you.

RADAROnline has a great article on Family Guy and Seth MacFarlane backlash.

I've been irritated with Family Guy ever since the Barbershop Quartet AIDS song, but the reruns from the first volume of shows win me back. Lately though, it's been on the wane. I cheered Eric Cartman for trying to get Family Guy off the air.

Now that MacFarlane is teaming up with Burger King, he's pretty much officially sold out in my book.

The Invisible Hand is Out to Lunch

I got scolded on the blog of my Libertarian sister for leaving a comment that I think tax increases under Obama are a better idea than tax cuts under John McCain. I would like to elaborate on my opinion here.

It is more than likely that the overwhelmingly vast majority of Americans will never see a tax cut under a McCain presidency. Is is also incredibly likely that taxes will need to go up because our deficit is 500 billion per year. Even by Reaganomic standards, this is insane.

In my college economics class, we learned about Adam Smith and the so-called Invisible Hand that guides market forces for good. I think that there is no Invisible Hand guiding the market. The government should take a more active role in regulation of markets to protect the welfare and domestic tranquility of the State. This is the fundamental difference between the economic philosophy of my conservative family and myself.

I also believe in some form of the so-called "Great Society" where social programs benefit those less fortunate. Most conservatives argue that the Private Sector should distribute wealth by paying more in wages, dividends, and investing in charities. But recently I've observed that Private sector investment in the poor only works when it suits the company's bottom line. Going green for the environment is much more about marketing non-solutions than it is about solving anything. Companies like WalMart, Target and other major retailers give money back to communities, but they can pick and choose who gets what, so there is no way to figure out the most equitable way. I believe that the government should be holding the lines of the safety net, not the private sector.

The point was made in my class that the government could never go broke because it could always print more money. And people will always loan the government money. Both points are of course true, but the end result of the government just printing more money would be disastrous. And now, no one wants to lend money to anyone, yet the Treasury wants to give hundreds of billions that it doesn't even have to Wall Street firms.

When do we start paying this check? Sure, no one thinks we should have to because it's not our fault. That may be true, but I find it unconscionable that people are just sitting there waiting for tax cuts for only the wealthy to trickle down and let the market take care of it. But we've already seen what the market will do when you give it more money. It crashes and takes off for a spa weekend.

Besides that, the Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith's book, was written almost three hundred years ago. People weren't even using electricity, let alone inventing risky financial instruments like Credit Default Swaps and Collateralized Debt Obligations. Republicans actually inserted amendments to pending legislation back in 1998 that allowed these instruments to be created and forbid them to be regulated.

I believe that the progressives will bring more accountability and organizational transparency. I believe in positive progressive solutions. I do not believe in theoretical conservatism.

I expect that I will be paying more in taxes under the next president, whomever is elected. What really matters is a future where the government works for everyone, not just the rich.

Desperate Republicans

People at a Palin rally were actually so incensed by the racist, fear-mongering Republican rhetoric that they called for blood.

This is ridiculous. Why haven't people realized they are being duped by these statements? It's completely irresponsible to stir up people's hate and fear, and they have officially gone too far.

UPDATE: The real news is abuzz with this story. Fox "News" is crying foul that Newsweek didn't airbrush the blemishes out of Palin's cover photo. It's just further proof they are a tool of the RNC.

Gotcha Journalism is Good Journalism

Marty Kaplan has a great column on Huffington Post about the necessity of gotcha journalism.

There is a necessity to have good journalism. There is a need to be skeptical about everything we see, hear, and read.

Ben Folds Interview

Click Here to read my story on the News-Sentinel site. As usual, I will be posting the text on my other blog in a couple of days.