Meet the real Sarah Palin
One of the reason John F. Kennedy was so popular were his great looks. I can understand why evangelical Republicans are ecstatic about the nomination of Palin. But why she is popular in the entire Republican party cannot be explained by her record. I suspect her good looks and her outgoing personality are an important factor. But now the vetting of Sarah Palin has started in earnest. The New York Times sent a number of reporters to Alaska to find out about her history as a mayor and governor. (Click on “More” to read the story “In Office, Palin Hired Friends and Hit Critics.”)The American people have re-elected George Bush after it was very clear what kind of administration he was running. It will be interesting to see whether they will elect someone to be a heartbeat away from the presidency who has so similar instincts as George Bush junior.
Hurrican Ike Makes Gigantic Waves
Image of Hurricane Ike on September 10, 2008, downlinked by the crew of the International Space Station, flying 220 statute miles above Earth.
300
300 is different from any movie I had seen before. The closest would be Chinese films such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon with the magical fighting scenes. Yet these Chinese films still are far from where 300 takes you. For my eyes, the film pushes boundaries of cinema as an art form. 300 tells the story of a historical battle in which 300 Spartan battled hundreds of thousand Persians intent on subjugating all Greek city states. (I cannot tell more without giving it away). ). I typically don’t like brutal, bloody films. But the makers of the film based on graphic novel (never new they existed) prove that even slaughter can be made artful.
Anyone who wants to see a cinematic innovation and is able to stomach some really terrifying carnage, rent 300.
Alaska Lawmakers to Subpoena Palin’s Husband
The only question is whether Palin’s husband will be called to testify before the November election or afterwards. Alasaka will get more attention in the next seven weeks than anytime in its history.
By Gene Johnson (Associated Press)
ANCHORAGE, Sept. 12—Alaska lawmakers voted Friday to subpoena the husband of Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential candidate, after an investigator called Todd Palin “a central figure” regarding the governor’s dismissal of the state’s director of public safety.
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Palin overshadows McCain
I watched large portion of Sarah Palin’s speech last week while waiting at the airport for my delayed plane. The first couple of minutes after I tuned in she seemed a bit wooden. But then she loosened up and launched into the good lines crafted by very skilled speech writers. The Republicans want to pull off what Bush junior did four years ago: to convince the voting public they would be more secure under him than under the Democratic candidate, which of course was a complete fantasy. Palin’s performance was universally hailed as a great performance and a new media star was born and McCain weak speech made him into the sideshow. After Palin’s speech, McCain came out onto the stage. I had never seen his fully body live. His upper body was very stiff, and he looked a bit like a Robot waving his hands, perhaps a consequence of his injuries in Vietnam. Palin’s youth made him look ever older. As Frank Rich points out in the article below she offers a great distraction from the weakness of John McCain as the Republican presidential nominee. It is too early to tell how she will play out over the next 2 months. Eight years ago I was a fan of McCain. The evidence starts to get stronger by the day that he is temperamentally not fit to be president.
Mama Mia!
Mamia Mia!, this was worse than I had feared. I did not even get a great tour of the Greek islands. I was the first to leave the cinema. Now I was watching people coming out. Women smiled, men looked pained, albeit a bit proud they took their lady to the movies. Cinema, in my view, has rendered opera unnecessary. What makes a great movie is that, unlike opera or its modern incarnation—the musical—, it makes you forget that you are watching a staged reality. The best movies become lifelike. You think you are watching reality. In Mamia Mia! you never forget that you are watching a show. A good playwright like Tom Stoppard (Shakespeare in Love) could have managed to write a decent script around the songs of Abba. But Catherine Johnson lacked the skills and produced childish superficial love story. Pierce Brosnan (the former James Bond) is not able to act out his inane role. Meryl Streep does better with hers, showing that she is a truly great actor because she can play any role, even the most trivial one, without letting you know that she is acting. Making the actors sing all the songs, even when they have the weakest voice as in the case of Pierce Brosnan, struck me a big mistake. I yearned for the real voices of ABBA. The movie would have been a lot better if once in a while the actors could have done ABBA karaoke instead of pretending that they can be real singers.
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The Story Behind Palin’s Selection for VP
Having search the internet, it is not clear to me that Sarah Palin has received a full vetting. McCain is making a big gamble. In two months we will know whether the move was brilliant or stupid. Here is the best background article on the nomination.
The story behind the Palin surprise
By: Jonathan Martin (Politico.com)
John McCain on Friday announced a running mate whom he met only six months ago and with whom he spoke just once on the phone about the position before offering it in person earlier this week.
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Tropic Thunder
There is a reason why in most films different people take on the roles of the writer, director, and the lead actor: Rarely is one and the same person equally good at all these jobs. Tropic Thunder stars Ben Stiller, and is written and directed by Ben Stiller. That was a mistake. When I saw the trailer a few weeks ago, my hopes soared. Perhaps Tropic Thunder was going to be as funny as There is something about Mary. Far from it, the new Ben Stiller vehicle only provokes a few laughs. The story (a film crew making war movie in Vietnam comes under real attack) is rather weak, a mumble jumble of ideas that Stiller had over the years. The best part of the movie was Tom Cruise, who plays a slimy, foul-mouthed, overly hairy Hollywood producer. Cruise steals the show from Stiller, even though he only played a minor character, in a sideline of film. I am not going to see another film written and directed by Stiller any time soon.
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