Lakeview Terrace
I was looking for a movie where the bad guy got his spectacular, violent comeuppance, and I was not disappointed. I guess the word of the week is “catharsis.”
Archived entries for
Quote of our generation
“Freedom fighters don’t always win. But they’re always right.”
-Molly Ivins
God, I miss you, Molly.
The experience issue
The Simpsons are watching the midseason replacement series “Admiral Baby.”
Officer #1: We’re taking the entire sixth fleet to Candy Island?
Officer #2: Those are the Admiral’s orders!
[The Admiral is revealed to be a diapered baby in a crib wearing the appropriate hat and jacket. He loses balance and falls over to a laugh track and funny noises, while the Simpsons look on uninterestedly.]
Marge: It’s hard to believe someone that young could have risen to the rank of Admiral.
Identity politics
Homer changes his name to “Max Power.”
Marge: But this will be so confusing! The mailman won’t know what to do. Did you think of the mailman at all before you did this?
Homer: Yes, briefly.
Marge: And what about the tattoo on my you-know-what?
Homer: Oh, Honey, they have acids that can burn that off!
Gobsmacked
With the writers’ strike and the resultant glut of reality TV (“Groomer Has It”? Really? Really?), there hasn’t been much to praise about idiot box programming of late. But I found myself gobsmacked by two very different shows this week.
Many people already love “Mad Men,” the AMC drama about Madison Avenue advertising execs in the early 60s. This time I think the bandwagon is worth jumping on – I don’t remember seeing another show on the small screen that evokes a sense of place and time like “Mad Men.” Sometimes your jaw is on the floor from the intricate production design; sometimes it’s from the writing, which is multilayered and subtle and fascinating in its unflinching examination of power and control and the roles we play with ourselves and others. And then there’s the casting – John Hamm and January Jones (what a name!) playing the ultimate 60s Ken and Barbie couple, and especially Christina Hendricks (who I loved in “Firefly”) as the iron-fist-in-velvet-glove office manager, Joan.
It’s a show that makes you *want* to pay attention to every moment. It makes you sit forward in your seat. When’s the last time that happened to you watching TV?
The first season of “Mad Men” is out on DVD. Watch it and let me know so we can discuss it. It’s that good.
Then there’s “The Sarah Connor Chronicles,” which couldn’t be more different from “Mad Men.” It’s a show that has no right to be so good: it’s an alternate-timeline TV spinoff of the “Terminator” movies. How awful does that sound? But the show has a beautiful movie-like look, and the pacing is fast and furious. The action feels visceral, and the constant twists and turns seem interesting rather than cheap, like the endless chain-yanking of “Lost.” Plus, the show actually honors the “Terminator” canon rather than crapping all over it like you might expect. Of course, there’s also another “Firefly” alum, Summer “River Tam” Glau, as the new Terminator protector. So I was bound to love that. Her scene this week where she tried to talk a teenage John Connor out of deactivating her left me yelling “Oh my god! I can’t believe that!” at the television.
That never happens.
So give these shows a try, if you haven’t already. It appears there’s some hope for the idiot box yet.
Taking the high road
Every time Barack Obama says some variation of “I trust the judgment of the American people,” I hear one word:
LOSER.
Lightening the mood
Q: What was Sarah Palin’s worst mistake as Governor?
A: Letting Bristol wear the “Drill Here, Drill Now!” t-shirt.
The five stages of Sarah Palin
DENIAL
“I can’t believe they’re doing this. What a stupid pick. Don’t they realize what a boneheaded move this is? I can’t wait for the VP debate.”
ANGER
“They’re getting away with it! Those bastards are going to win again! No one cares about her background, or how her personal narrative is a lie, or how inexperienced she is. Why are people so frackin’ stupid?”
BARGAINING
“Maybe people will wake up and see how shallow and vain and political this pick is. Maybe ‘Troopergate’ and all the rest will matter, once the blush is off the rose. For once – once – maybe voters will be smart about this.”
DEPRESSION
“They’ve fallen backwards into clover again. Those villains are putting up a soccer mom as a shield, and it’s going to work. I hate everything and everyone. I just want to crawl into a hole and die.”
ACCEPTANCE
“If they win, they win. We get the government we deserve, again. Good luck, Sarah.”
At this point, waiting for Sarah Palin’s big speech tonight, I’m currently at “depression.” Which is not a fun stage, let me tell you.
Having it both ways
Let’s face it – Republicans are masters at spin. How else could they make John Kerry into a traitor and John Edwards into an elitist?
But the effort to shore up Sarah Palin is epic. My favorite so far was Cindy McCain’s assertion that Palin did know about foreign policy because of Alaska’s proximity to Russia.
Then there’s the whole pregnancy flap. What bothers me the most about it is that they want to use Palin’s background and family for their own ends – hockey mom, PTA member, raising a Downs syndrome baby – while simultaneously declaring that 17-year-old daughter Bristol Palin’s pregnancy is off limits. Live by the sword, die by the sword, people. And the most humorous aspect of all this is that they only revealed Bristol’s pregnancy to blunt an even worse internet rumor that Sarah Palin faked her last pregnancy to cover up for her daughter.
Memo to Republicans: try to start vetting candidates for national office more than a day before their candidacy is announced.
Of course, there’s Troopergate and the “I don’t know what the VP does” video and all the rest of it. This is going to be fun, and it’s funny but almost uncomfortable watching Republicans twist themselves into knots explaining what a great pick Palin is.
“May you live in interesting times,” indeed.
UPDATE: After noting the perhaps obvious fact that Palin supports “abstinence-only” education in schools, Thomas Schaller of Salon has a spot-on point:
“What’s galling is this: When the subject is a pregnancy to an unwed, minority teenage mother growing up in some (presumably Democratic) urban area, that pregnancy becomes fodder for lectures from conservatives about bad parenting, the perils of welfare spending and so on. But when the subject is a pregnancy to an unwed, white teenager from some small town in a Republican state, that pregnancy is…a celebration of the wonders of God’s magnificence–and choosing life!”
UPDATE 2: Salon commenter Juliebird has another great question for the McCain campaign:
What will McCain and Palin do to support other teenaged, unwed women who “choose life” when faced with an unplanned pregnancy?
Free prenatal care? Expert medical care for labor and delivery? Free pediatric care? Help, support, and love for the young mother and baby? So the mom can get an education, get a job, get good childcare, and maybe get married?
UPDATE ON COMMENTS: For the few people reading here, remember that my current template doesn’t have the usual comment links on the front page. If you want to comment, you need to click on the post title to get to the post detail page, where you can read comments and add your own. I’m trying to fix this, but in the meantime, there it is. Thanks.