Hm, let's see...
I saw Road to Perdition the other day. It looked great, was well acted, and held me rapt in my seat. However, it was pretty predictable -- maybe not so much as American Beauty, in which the protagonist announced in the first minutes of the movie that he would die, but one generally still could figure out what was going to happen to ol' Tom Hanks.
Also, it was definitely in the same vein as American Beauty, in that it was a predictable chronicle of a family's decline, due to the sins of generations past. It's like "OK, Sam, we know families are screwed up, and they often disintegrate over the years. We've all read a Faulkner book or two." In fact, I said to my friend as we were leaving, "If that were a Faulkner book, it would have been called "As I Stood Shooting."
Get it? Haw!
Anyway, it was good and looked great. I recommend it, but you won't be surprised how it all turns out.

God, reading a Mareen Dowd column is painful. Especially this one (link requires registration).
I don't even know where to begin on dissecting this piece of drivel. I guess first and foremost would be to examine her motivations for this column. I'm guessing she's laying in bed, watching FX last night (like I was), and she saw a commercial for the new RFK movie. Then, she remembered "that thing about that study that says women are emotional."
Then I'm sure it was a simple matter of tracking down some jerk who has a stupid idea about women in politics ("I probably deep down believe that women are the superior sex," Mr. Kelley told TV critics gathered here for a fall preview. "And when I see all that's going on in the world, in the Middle East . . . if the United Nations just said that women had to run countries, I don't think this would be going on in any of them."), mix and stir, and VOILA! A New York Times Op-Ed is born!
Seriously though, an FX biopic is probably a pretty poor basis for a theory that claims to explain "modern American history."
Maureen Dowd is a "biscuit" writer in my opinion (biscuit=bad). This column cements it for me.

Whoo-hoo! Back in the game!
Has anyone been following the Joel Mowbray/State Department saga? Boy, I have, and I'll tell you why. It's because I wish I were Joel Mowbray. Look at that cat, in there, mixing it up with the bigwig spinmeisters in State. That's the kind of reputation I want as a journalist -- a troublemaker for bigwigs. It's tough to get that rep covering school board meetings and village council meetings, though. Oh well -- maybe a bit further down the pike, no?

Well, it doesn't appear that Blogger is allowing me to post to my site, so by the time these posts make it on I'll have given up, like the quitter that I am.

One question for Zed -- why, sir, do you like Mark Ruffalo so much?
I'll admit, I don't think I've seen any movies he's been in. Haven't seen The Last Castle, nor have I seen You Can Count on Me. Guess I might have to see those, if for no other reason than to have something to discuss.

Something's going on with Blogger today, so I'm not sure if these posts will show up on the site. I've got some things to say, though, and I'm forging ahead anyway.

Going back to the so-called "Star Wars controversy" we were discussing a while back, a friend of mine writes this gem:
" But the nature of cult film-making is found in its specific emotional (usually) attachment to a particular social demographic within the context of an even more specific film genre. Lucas struck the proverbial gold when he embarked on the successive Star Wars counterparts precisely because they are a genre that flirt with the latest movie 'magic.' The draw for people our age is not the fact that those movies refused to give in to the most advanced form of special effects; it is precisely that they did. And they did it in a "Schoolhouse Rock" type of way which made it socially preferrable to hail what is vintage and disregard and villify that which is cutting edge. It is selfish to expect the new trilogy to cater to our generation. For that to be the case, Lucas would actually be forced to prostrate and undermine his advanced special effects mechanisms. So. The reason the new trilogy will ultimately lack the meaning and pervasiveness of the first is that we are no longer the demographic. Isn't it strange that we (yes, you and me) appreciate The Matrix for its cutting edge special effects, but not Attack of the Clones? Both are just about equal in terms of meaning, durability, and import. Our mindset is different towards each. There is our failure, not Lucas'. One more thing. Lucas actually once addressed this very issue, saying, that the entire field of film is one large special effect. It is true. The Brothers Lumiere were the original special effects artists. If you agree, the Star Wars controversy becomes nothing more than a search for nostalgia...."

Well said, Michael. Well said...

I also wanted to give a shout-out to Zed, if he is indeed reading this. You see folks, Zed lambasted me via email, and I appreciate that. In fact, he was one of the first people I don't know to comment on the site.
Prickly tone aside, his email was right on in a couple of respects. First, I have been going at this site rather half-heartedly for the past few months, Don't know why, just have. Actually, I do know why -- it's because I now have a writing job, and that PAID writing is taking up more of my time and creative energy. When I started the site, I was working in inside sales, and needed to get something down to feel like I was still a writer. Now that I have the job with a paper...well, I don't need to draw my smart readers a map, do I?
I know, Andrew Sullivan has many paid writing gigs and still posts to his site daily. Well folks, hate to say it, but I'm not Andrew Sullivan. There's a reason he makes the big bucks and I don't. He's got a work ethic!

I just had to write today. Wanted to let everyone know that Toledo made it unscathed through the holiday, even though the rumor swirling around town was that small cities such as ours were being targeted. You know what I say to that? Pshaw!
That being said, I'm awfully glad nothing happened, although I wasn't exactly holding my breath.