Movie Song of the Week: “Black Boys / White Boys”

On a brighter note, there's this excerpt from the 1979 movie musical Hair. I'm not sure why it took me so long to get around to posting this. One would think this musical salute to interracial love and/or lust would be an obvious favorite for a half-breed like myself. Well, it is, but geez, I can't post everything I like. At least, not all at once...

Besides, the people in this video say nothing at all about brown girls and guys and some of my best friends fall within that category. Oh, well, perhaps in the 2179 version...

Pop Song of the Week: “Johnny Can't Read”

Just in time for the beginning of the new school year, it's a video for Don Henley's 1982 song “Johnny Can't Read,” a video I didn't even realize existed until I found it on the Internet. This video is even darker than most of Don Henley's attempts at social commentary -- “The Last Resort,” for example. Among other things, it includes an image towards the end that looks like a foreshadowing of the Columbine High School massacre. Or maybe that's just an unfortunate coincidence.

Anyway, it's not like they had school shootings back then. Especially below the college level. Nor songs inspired by them.

Right?

Anyway, I'm praying my niece and nephew don't have a “Johnny” in any of their classes...

Thunder and Laughter -- Very Little Laughter

Tropic Thunder may strike some as a better summer comedy than we usually get in August, but I for one would have liked it a lot more if so many of the film's elements -- the domineering studio boss, the greedy agent, the actor who's “funny” because he talks “like” an African-American, etc. -- had not seemed so familiar from past movies. Indeed, it's worth noting that when Rambo was parodied in the last Hot Shots movie back in 1993, it was popular for critics to denounce the movie for taking such an unimaginative approach to film parody. So what are we supposed to think when the same type of Rambo parody turns up more than a decade later?

I must confess that I cracked a smile or two during the middle of the movie -- especially when the film's rap star character started clashing with Robert Downey, Jr.'s method actor character -- but as a whole, the movie was not quite as funny as I expected it to be.

I will give the movie props for making Jack Black the token actor/drug addict and not you-know-who. But I also must admit that I've come to despise the sight of Ben Stiller in anything close to Mr. Furious mode*. And that's the mode he was in for most of the movie. However, even he had one genuinely funny moment.

So I'll forget the fact that for more than a moment or two, I really really really really wanted the bad guys in this movie -- the Asian drug dealers -- to win.

And I don't usually root for drug dealers...

* As you might guess, I really hated the flick -- Mystery Men -- in which Stiller played Mr. Furious. Some day I'll tell you why.

All Politics Is Loco, Parte V

Oh, rats! I missed seeing the Democratic National Convention on TV. I wonder who this year's Presidental candidate turned to be. I'm betting it was Obama. Call it a hunch...

Yo Soy un Bloguero

At least, according to the Spanish version of Wikipedia. Apparently, "bloguero" is the Spanish word for "blogger."

I'm sure some of you all know that already, but I didn't.

Other Spanish terms to note:

bloguear -- to blog.
entrada -- entry.
plantilla -- template.
posteo -- post.

Once again old news to some of you all but not to me.

And they say we don't assimilate...

Movie Quote of the Week

You answered without saying anything. That’s politics.
--Arthur Kennedy, Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

No Puedo Comprender o Entender Spanglish

Ay, Dios! It was really hard for me to take the 2004 film Spanglish all that seriously. Yes, I know. It was a comedy. But even by comic standards, it was hard to take seriously. What was the main point of this movie anyway?

Anglos can be condescending to the Latins they hire? El Norte covered that same ground better over two decades ago. By now, it's almost a cliché.

Success is a bad thing? Sure, I can see the Mexican-Americans in El Paso and East LA taking that message very seriously...

And in these days of layoffs and downsizing, how many people worry about being "too" successful anyway?

Yes, I know. It's escapism. And some scenes I'll admit were very funny. For example, the scene in which Adam Sandler's character John Clasky argues with his Mexican maid Flor Moreno (played by Spanish actress Paz Vega) while her daughter Cristina (played by Tejana actress Shelbie Bruce) translates for both John and Flor.

But, c'mon. A film that implied you have to go through Texas to get to California from Mexico? A film that implied most Mexicans choose to come to certain parts of the US based on the number of Mexicans already there and not, say, the number of jobs available there?

And since the script chose to make race an issue, why cast a Spanish actress like Paz Vega for the part of a character who considered herself non-white? After all, many Spaniards not only consider themselves white, but have been historically obnoxious about it. And Mexicans of Spanish descent definitely consider themselves white. Indeed, they get insulted if you imply they're anything else.

Why not cast someone who was not European? LA has one of the largest Latino populations in the country. And yet they couldn't find one American-born Latina actress who could play this part? Let's hear it for outsourcing...

Why for that matter was the main Mexican character in this movie a maid? Yes, I know many Mexican women in LA are maids and that it would be unrealistic to see an illegal alien like Flor in an upper-class position.

But why is it that at a time when more and more Latinas are entering the middle and upper classes in this country that so many Hollywood movies see fit to cast Latinas as either servants or illegal aliens, if not both? And why do you so rarely see a Latina character in a Hollywood movie who is anything else?

I'm not the most politically correct person in the world, but I get all so tired of seeing yet another Hollywood movie pretend that the type of Latinas I see every day just don't exist. And yet most of the complaints Anglo film critics have had about this movie have concerned how Clasky's Anglo wife was portrayed. How nice to see how some things never change...

Quotes of the Week

Edward Abbey
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Amanda
Jean Arthur
Isaac Asimov
Bruce Bawer
Kristen Bell
Ray Bradbury
Stephen Browne
Stephen Browne
William F. Buckley
Charles Bukowski
Octavia Butler
Thomas Cahill
Pedro Calderón de la Barca
Mariah Carey
Anders Carlson-Wee
Cato the Elder
Charisma Carpenter
Miguel de Cervantes
Anton Chekhov
G. K. Chesterton
Migdia Chinea-Varela
Cicero
Frank A. Clark
Colette
Brian Copeland
Charlie Daniels
Dorothy Day
Steven De Castro
Guillermo del Toro
Samuel R. Delaney
Cameron Diaz
Junot Díaz
Junot Díaz
Junot Díaz
Walt Disney
Ross Douthat
David Drake
W. E. B. Du Bois
Will Durant
Will Durant
Will and Ariel Durant
Will and Ariel Durant
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Barbara Ehrenreich
Elenamary
Dennis Etchison
Rachel Held Evans
Enrique Fernandez
Enrique Fernandez
Enrique Fernandez
Felipe Fernández-Armesto
Gustave Flaubert
Daniel J. Flynn
Charles Fort
Benjamin Franklin
George MacDonald Fraser
Ernesto Galarza
Ray Garton
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Tess Gerritsen
Edward Gibbon
André Gide
André Gide
Dagoberto Gilb
Dagoberto Gilb
Manuel C. Gonzales
Andrew M. Greeley
Andrew M. Greeley
Stephanie Elizondo Griest
Stephanie Elizondo Griest
Merle Haggard
Mary Harron
Salma Hayek
Patricia Heaton
Ernest Hemingway
Eric Hoffer
Eric Hoffer
Eric Hoffer
Ishiro Honda
Sarah A. Hoyt
Robert J. Hutchinson
Henrik Ibsen
Washington Irving
Gary Jennings
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
Pico Iyer
Robert D. Kaplan
Casey Kasem
Joan Kelly
Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen King
Dean Koontz
Irving Kristol
R. A. Lafferty
Luke
Alison Lurie
Don Marquis
W. Somerset Maugham
Herman Melville
H. L. Mencken
H. L. Mencken
Tom Miller
Mira
Mira
Ed Morales
St. Thomas More
Rita Moreno
Morrissey
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Debbie Nathan
Ruben Navarrette, Jr.
Ruben Navarrete, Jr.
William Nericcio
William Nericcio
William Nericcio
Friedrich Nietzsche
Flannery O'Connor
Flannery O'Connor
Sheila O'Malley
George Orwell
Dorothy Parker
Simon Pegg
Michael Phelps
Pindar
Leonard Pitt
Leonard Pitt
Marco Portales
Vincent Price
Molly Ringwald
Chris Rock
Chris Rock
Michelle Rodriguez
Richard Rodriguez
Richard Rodriguez
Robert Rodriguez
Matt Ruff
Carl Sagan
Dan Savage
Matt Zoller Seitz
Ben Shapiro
Lionel Shriver
Ali Smith
Lynn Snowden
Bruce Springsteen
Ilan Stavans
Terence
Liz Torres
Mark Twain
Luis Alberto Urrea
Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez
Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez
Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez
Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez
Lupe Vélez
Sarah Vowell
Sarah Vowell
Scott Walker
Tim Ward
Rebecca West
George F. Will
Esther Williams
William Carlos Williams
Robert Anton Wilson
Michelle Wolf
Zeuxis

All Politics Is Loco

Parte I
Parte II
Parte III
Parte IV
Parte V
Parte VI
Parte VII
Parte VIII
Parte IX

Movie Song of the Week: “To Life”

It's been over a year -- a whole four days, in fact -- since I wrote this post so I might as well post the song that inspired it. Not that my engagement was ultimately more successful than poor Lazar Wolf's, but at least it lasted longer.

Seriously, I've always considered this tune to be one of the more memorable songs in the 1971 movie Fiddler on the Roof. Of course, recent events in Georgia give the appearance of the Russians in this number a certain unintended irony. Because you know those Russkies can act like they're peaceful-looking, but once your back is turned...

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy it:

Pop Song of the Week: “The Boys of Summer”

Oh, geez. August is more than halfway over and the anniversary of what would have been my first wedding occurred last weekend. So something tells me it's not a good time to post another Abba song. So from 1984, it's Don Henley's ballad of long-lost love.

Ironically, the first thing I heard this song, I was in love with yet another woman apart from my former bride-to-be. And that “relationship” ended horribly as well. (For what it's worth, my love was unrequited.)

On the other hand, I rarely think of that girl nowadays so maybe I'm doing something right for a change.

Maybe.

I hope you all enjoy the song:

All Politics Is Loco, Parte IV

Heh. I actually saw someone wearing a "Vote Petrelli" campaign button last week and I was actually tempted to ask him where he got it.

Not that I particularly hate both of the current presidential candidates enough to cast such a write-in vote -- but it is tempting.

Words of the Future

Words that are not yet part of the English language but might someday be:

1. antisocial disease -- disease that brings about social ostracism of its victims.
2. apprehension fatigue -- weariness of endless doomsday predictions.
3. Artificial American -- cyborg or robot of American origin.
4. Boerish -- pro-apartheid.
5. bookoholic -- one addicted to books or reading in general.
6. caudillo complex -- desire for a strong leader.
7. centros -- “centers”; those who believe themselves to be at the center of the universe.
8. cosmedy -- cosmic comedy.
9. culture Nazi -- would-be censor.
10. culturebabble -- cultural equivalent of “psychobabble.”
11. decade envy -- envy of another (usually earlier) generation.
12. ethnomonophrenia -- the notion that all members of a certain ethnic group either think or should think alike.
13. guerocentrism -- a system in which everything is centered around light-skinned people.
14. guerocracy -- rule by light-skinned people.
15. guerophobia -- fear of light-skinned people.
16. instant history -- a tendency to ignore any sort of historical perspective when analyzing the latest news.
17. Karoshi-prone -- prone to death from overwork.
18. libroholic -- bookworm.
19. madonna envy -- envy of pregnant women.
20. mayfly journalism -- journalism that makes little attempt at historical analysis.
21. mayfly politics -- politics that is concerned only with the present day.
22. milkaholic -- someone who likes to drink a lot of milk.
23. moradodinosaurophobia -- fear of purple dinosaurs; especially acute in Gen-Xers.
24. morenophobia -- fear of dark-skinned people.
25. morocracy -- rule of fools.
26. moroculture -- culture of foolishness.
27. New Hidalgoes -- modern folk with same work ethic as the Conquistadors.
28. nohemians -- liberals who define themselves by what they DON'T indulge in.
29. Old Romans -- ones who believe in traditional values.
30. otros -- “others”; those who are not considered to be at the center of the universe; outsiders.
31. reconquistador -- one who is obsessed with regaining long-lost territory.
32. Roanoked -- absorbed into the surrounding population.
33. rubialatry -- worship of blondes.
34. sincaras -- faceless ones
35. sluritans -- Puritans who like to slander other people.
36. spitwater -- a puritanical Latina.
37. venereal killer -- a person who deliberately spreads or chooses to spread a fatal venereal disease.
38. venereal roulette -- having sex with a succession of unknown partners without using a condom.
39. zopilote journalism -- celebrity journalism that focuses primarily on dead people.
40. zopilote politics -- the use of dead people to advance a political agenda.

Nonsequential Links II

Still more items of interest:

If nothing else, everyone should read his classic of prison camp literature, “A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch.” (And what does it say about a society that it gives birth to such a genre?)

I think it's wrong to make people feel bad for availing themselves of resources, especially when you're making money off of that guilt.

Even if you, like me, don't give one whit about the Olympics, you have to be thrilled at the achievement of Michael Phelps.

I do find it amusing that the so-called "poor" girl had her own private phone line and answering machine and drove a cute classic car with a custom paint job.

We have this cartoon history of the period that's as simplistic and high concept as the O.J. trial.

I discussed these subjective P.O.V. shots with Kathryn, wondering if they were overdone and exaggerated, and asked her if she thought that men looked at women this way too -- this brazenly -- and she said yes. Absolutely. All the time.

Still More Spanish Words I Like

1. ciencia ficción -- science fiction.
2. cocodrilo -- crocodile.
3. computadora -- computer.
4. escrito por -- written by.
5. escritor -- writer.
6. gallo -- rooster.
7. gato -- cat.
8. guajolote -- turkey (Mexican word).
9. guión -- script; screenplay.
10. guionista -- screenwriter.
11. hispanidad -- Spanish nature; Spanish essence or spirit; Spanish solidarity; Spanish union.
12. hispanohablante -- Spanish-speaking.
13. hispanoparlante -- Spanish-speaking.
14. iconoclasta -- iconoclast.
15. idioma -- language.
16. ignorante -- ignorant; ignoramus; term used by Californios in the 19th century to refer to a member of the Know-Nothing Party.
17. ignoto -- unknown; undiscovered.
18. igualdad -- equality.
19. jardín -- garden.
20. lector -- reader.
21. lectora -- female reader.
22. lengua -- language.
23. ley -- law.
24. leyenda -- legend.
25. leyenda negra -- literally, black legend; the claim that Spain and the Spaniards were depicted as uniquely bloodthirsty, cruel, greedy and licentious, in excess of reality.
26. leyenda rosa -- literally, pink legend or white legend; the claim which promoted an ideal view of Spaniards.
27. librería -- bookshop; bookstore.
28. libro -- book.
29. mentira -- lie.
30. mundo -- world.
31. nieve -- snow; ice cream (Mexican word).
32. película -- film; movie.
33. película basura -- bad movie.
34. película independiente -- independent film.
35. película muda -- silent movie; silent picture.
36. película taquillera -- blockbuster; box office hit.
37. periódico -- periodical; newspaper.
38. poema -- poem.
39. regla -- rule.
40. ruiseñor —- nightingale.
41. selva -- forest; woods; jungle.
42. siglo de las luces -- Age of Enlightenment (18th century).
43. siglo de plata -- silver age.
44. siglo dorado -- golden age.
45. tecolote -— owl (Mexican word).
46. vaciado -- funny in the sense of “a kick” or something that tickles one; word that was sometimes used by my Mexican cousins to mean “cool” or “neat”.
47. valores familiares -- family values.
48. verdad -- truth.
49. vida -- life.
50. zopilote -- buzzard; turkey buzzard (Mexican word).

La Vida Es Mentira y las Mentiras, Mentiras Son

My father once told me that Eugene O'Neill's 1939 play The Iceman Cometh was the one thing I should read if I really wanted to know more about people. And indeed, the play taught me more about the way people really are than a dozen Hollywood movies.

Granted, it wasn’t a nice lesson. We all like to think that we are a lot better than we are. That we don’t delude ourselves with lies and illusions. That we don’t continually put off attempts to improve ourselves. And yet we also know that deep down there are worse things we can do than trap ourselves within our self-made myths.

For often our attempts to make others face the truth prove to be just one more way of hiding from the unpleasant truths of our own existence. Or so O’Neill would have us believe.

Quote of the Week

Anyone can do anything they want if they really want to.
--Michael Phelps

What Else Can You Expect from a Woman Named after a Byzantine Empress?

Anyone else get the feeling that if Puritanism never existed, American liberals would have felt compelled to invent it? Indeed, Puritanism is so often held to be the great American tradition that it is kinda depressing to look around and see the many ways we Americans have evolved beyond it. Even the most conservative of Americans today often indulge in activities -- living with their boyfriends or girlfriends before marriage, piercing their private parts, gazing at pornography, going to strip clubs -- that would have shocked our Puritan ancestors. And when you consider how many Americans today are not directly related to the Puritans, it is a wonder that Puritanism gets as much lip service as it does.

It is especially depressing to watch an old movie like Theodora Goes Wild and realize how much American culture has changed since the days when this movie was made. Back in 1936, when this movie was first released, small town gossip was no doubt still a thing to be feared and the loss of a woman’s reputation was still regarded as a genuinely serious matter. Yet today few enough people live in small towns to make fearing small town gossip worthwhile. And so many American women nowadays have done so much worse than indulge in the drinking and dancing that Theodora does when she finally rebels against the small town gossips in this movie that Theodora’s rebellion seems funny in a way that the filmmakers did not quite intend.

Anyway, the movie revolves around the life of a small town girl named Theodora Lynn (played by Irene Dunne) who chooses to start a literary career by writing romance novels under a pen name. Unfortunately for her, the novels prove to be quite popular -- and because they are very steamy -- controversial to boot. Her own aunts -- with whom she lives -- join a campaign to ban the books in her home town, and if that is not complicated enough, a big city acquaintance named Michael Grant (played by Melvyn Douglas) follows her back to her home town and threatens to expose her true identity.

Much is made of the fact that Theodora is basically a decent woman who eventually -- through circumstances beyond her control -- acquires a reputation for being anything but decent. Finally she gives in and deliberately embraces her new-found reputation, mocking the gossips of her home town by pretending to be the very type of “loose“ woman they assume her to be. As noted above, she drinks and dances in public and pretends to have various illicit affairs. She also discovers that Michael Grant who had been looking down on her for leading a double life has secrets of his own. And that city folks can be every bit as petty and hypocritical in their ways as small town residents.

The ending of the movie is too delicious to spoil. Let’s just say everything works out for Theodora Lynn in a way that seems quite logical -- and in the end, quite just.

Yet the most ironic thing about that ending is the way Theodora manages to get the attention of the townsfolk with an act that would receive little attention today. So I guess we should be glad that times have changed, right?

Right?

Movie Quote of the Week

Hey, you big bully. What's the idea of hitting that little bully?
--Groucho Marx, A Night at the Opera (1935)

Pop Song of the Week: “She Works Hard for the Money”

There are a lot of women in my life to which I could dedicate this Donna Summer song but this week I dedicate it to my sister, who works just as hard as a stay-at-home mom as she ever did when she was in the workplace. If anything, she probably works even harder now.

This is for you, mi hermana:

Movie Song of the Week: “Theme from Shaft”

So you think I'd dare to honor the late Isaac Hayes by posting the same video so many other people have already posted on their respective sites?

Damn right.

Feliz Cumpleaños, Mi Hermana

It's my favorite sister's birthday today. Okay, she's my only sister but she's still my favorite sister.

Here's hoping she had a really good day today -- even if it doesn't seem likely she'll officially celebrate her birthday until this weekend.

And yes, I should have said something about it on this date last year and the year before -- but I didn't.

Mea culpa. Mea maxima culpa.

R.I.P. Isaac Hayes

First African-American TV star Bernie Mac passed away this weekend, then 70s icon Isaac Hayes passed away. Bad things apparently come in twos as well.

Not a lot I can say about Hayes that hasn't already been echoed by others. Suffice to say, that even if he had done no more than compose "Theme from Shaft," he would have still made an invaluable contribution to American culture.

And he didn't do too badly in his film and TV career either. Apart from Shaft, of course, he was most famous for a recurring role on The Rockford Files and his role as the villainous Duke of New York in 1981's Escape from New York.

He, like Mr. Mac, will be missed.

Science Fiction Short Stories I Wish More People Were Familiar With

1. “Journeys End” (1957) -- Poul Anderson.

No connection at all to a recent Dr. Who episode with a similar title. And yes, that title is spelled correctly. (It's based on a Shakespeare quote.)

A short story about two telepathic would-be lovers who learn way too much about each other to enjoy a decent relationship, a fate that oddly enough appears to anticipate the pitfalls of today’s cyber-dating. True, we don’t learn as much about our would-be significant others online as the protagonists of this story learn, but we do share the all-too-common temptation to share way too much personal information with our would-be acquaintances in an effort to jump-start an intimacy on which we might otherwise miss out. It doesn’t exactly help that modern society often seems to discourage alternative ways of building a relationship on the grounds that meeting people offline is just so unfashionable.

2. “Snake And Ocean, Ocean and Snake” aka “The Affair” (1984) -- Robert Silverberg.

A telepath carries on a long-distance romance with a fellow telepath.

Another story that appears to have anticipated modern cyber-relationships, although this time the love story has a happier ending. It does, however, anticipate the disappointment many would-be cyber-daters feel when they meet their cyber-partners face-to-face. And it appears to suggest that a purely non-physical relationship with one’s significant other can sometimes be preferable to even the most daring of physical relationships. (Perhaps because it‘s one thing to share one‘s body with another person, but yet another thing to share one’s mind.)

3. “Tomorrow's Children” (1947) -- Poul Anderson.

Mutations become the norm in a post-World War III society. One of the first short stories I ever read that did not argue that the only good mutant was a dead mutant, though one suspects the story was actually meant to reflect contemporary fears about the aftermath of an atomic war, with mutation meant to be just another side effect that would discourage would-be Cold Warriors from promoting the likelihood of World War III.

4. “Multiples” (1983) -- Robert Silverberg.

A woman decides to pose as a sufferer of MPD--in San Francisco, natch. No doubt this story is meant to be Silverberg’s sly comment on bisexuality but it's a moving one, nonetheless. Of course, the woman’s decision to reject her conventional identity at all costs rings a bell even with those of us who are not inclined to reject heterosexuality.

5. “Absalom” (1946) -- Henry Kuttner.

A man experiences a generation gap with his genius-level son. Interestingly enough, it was written before the generation gap of the 1960s.

6. “A Sound of Thunder” (1952) -- Ray Bradbury.

A butterfly plays havoc with history. No doubt this story was inspired by the Kennedy-Nixon presidential race of 1960 although modern readers will be reminded of a more recent presidential race.

7. “Mute” (1962) -- Richard Matheson.

The story of a young telepath who gets adopted by a childless couple after the death of his birth parents and who is later pressured by the local schoolteacher to reject his telepathic abilities in favor of “conventional“ speech. This story was once adapted for a Twilight Zone episode.

Oddly enough, I find it difficult to read this story today without seeing it as a parable of ethnic assimilation. Indeed, the process the story’s schoolteacher uses to force the telepath to become more like the rest of her class seems uncannily like the process used in some stories I’ve read about English immersion. (Though as one who himself went through the English immersion process, I find it odd that it took me years to pick up on this. Sometimes one can be too close to a subject to see certain things.)

8. “Hobson’s Choice” (1952) -- Alfred Bester.

A story that dares to pose the question of whether even the most rugged individualist can be truly happy outside of his own time and culture. Perhaps the story was meant to be Bester’s response to the Miniver Cheevy syndrome, which glorifies the idea of the man born outside his time.

9. “The Last of the Deliverers” (1958) -- Poul Anderson.

The last Communist and the last Republican kill themselves in a society that no longer recognizes the importance of either philosophy. One of the few short stories to anticipate the fall of the Soviet Union but not necessarily the aftermath.

10. “All You Zombies” (1959) -- Robert Heinlein.

A man has identity issues, to put it mildly. The one science fiction story I keep mentally referencing the more time I spend on the Internet because it's so hard not to wonder about the identity of a lot of the people I communicate with. Are they real people like myself or corporate employees pretending to be real people? That question gets harder to answer every year -- and I've already been fooled once.

R.I.P. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Yes, I should have said something last week but I didn't realize the man had died until it was too late to post anything about it. Just shows what I get for not keeping up with the news.

By all rights, Solzhenitsyn should not have lived this long but he did. Not only does his life make it very hard to gripe about the life of the average "starving" artist here in the US, it also proves that one can prevail against a political system far harsher than the US if one is determined -- and fortunate. Of course, he ultimately paid for his defiance with exile but when you consider how easy it must have been to give in...

If nothing else, his life certainly puts this item in perspective.

He will be missed.

Ouch!

It turns out that my new cable service doesn't include TCM, after all.

At least not yet it doesn't.

Smells Like Teen History

It seems like just yesterday when people said the Soviet Union would never fall because it was just too powerful.

It seems like just yesterday when people said South African whites would never agree to majority rule without a bloody revolution.

It seems like just yesterday when people said it was stupid to expect PAN candidates to win over the PRI in Mexico due to that country's rampant government corruption.

Of course, it has been said that the one thing we learn from history is that we never ever learn from history...

Pop Song of the Week: “The Winner Takes It All”

According to the good folks on YouTube, this is supposed to be the best Abba song ever. And I must admit that I find it pretty sweet.

Agnetha Fältskog (the blonde singer in the video) just looks so sad. It almost breaks your heart to look at her. Plus there's the fact that she and another member of Abba broke up in real life.

Anyway, I hope you all like this song (despite the sadness):

Movie Quote of the Week

When I lived in Porpoise Spit, I used to sit in my room for hours and listen to ABBA songs. But since I've met you and moved to Sydney, I haven't listened to one Abba song. That's because my life is as good as an Abba song. It's as good as “Dancing Queen.”
--Toni Collette, Muriel's Wedding (1994)

My Tastes They Are A-Changing

I just signed up with a new cable company last week and the one channel I was most interested in getting was not HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, CNN, Discovery, MTV or even VH1. It was TCM.

Yes, I was surprised too.