Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Jon Stewart on the War in Gaza
Jon Stewart returned last night after a seemingly endless break . . . and he didn't flinch for a moment.
Once more, like some Jubu master, he applies a much-needed sandal slap across the face of the American media.
I think it's so important - and admirable - for Jewish-Americans to speak out like this about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Stewart could take a lot of heat for his comments, but I think he knows that perceptive criticism of American media coverage is crucial if we're going to have a healthier and more open dialog about this ongoing crisis. The endless bloodshed between Israel and Palestine not only destroys too many innocent lives in that region, it has a direct affect on our own economy (billions of dollars a year), foreign policy, and national security.
Bravo, Jon.
When the history of early 21st-century journalism is written, how interesting (and shameful) that it basically took two comedians and a sportscaster to shake the media out of its lethargy and subservience.
Stewart continues to raise the issue of media coverage in his interview with David Gregory, the new host of Meet the Press.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Friday, April 04, 2008
McCain's Bus Trip Down Memory Lane
I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of the McCain/Grampa Simpson connection.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Oscars Night
So . . . Did the right films win? Did the right actors win? More importantly, who was the most beautiful/handsome?
Here are the results of the evening.
Interesting that all four acting awards went to non-American actors. Wonder if that's a first?
IMDB picks its favorite moments from the ceremony. If you're registered there, you can vote in the poll.
Favorite moment from last night's Academy Awards?
| Votes | ||||
| Jon Stewart's classy move to bring out Once's Markéta Irglová to give her acceptance speech |
| (26.3%) | ||
| Marion Cotillard named Best Actress! |
| (9.4%) | ||
| Jon Stewart's excellent opening monologue and solid performance throughout the entire show |
| (9.4%) | ||
| Hey! Jon Stewart gave a shout-out to the IMDb! Woohoo! |
| (8.3%) | ||
| Javier Bardem's elegant, bilingual acceptance speech |
| (6.4%) | ||
| Daniel Day-Lewis being "knighted" by Helen Mirren |
| (5.7%) | ||
| Judi Dench & Halle Berry = Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill |
| (5.6%) | ||
| The Coens, the Coens, the Coens.... |
| (5.4%) | ||
| Tilda Swinton calling out George Clooney on his Batman costume |
| (5.1%) | ||
| Another Oscar moment entirely |
| (3.4%) | ||
| Amy Adams being sent out solo to perform "Happy Working Song" |
| (1.8%) | ||
| Owen Wilson as presenter - welcome back, Butterscotch Stallion! |
| (1.8%) | ||
| The official Oscar salutes to "Binoculars and Periscopes" and "Bad Dreams" |
| (1.7%) | ||
| How many people slipped on their way to the podium?! |
| (1.7%) | ||
| The Rock -- I mean, Dwayne Johnson -- as presenter? |
| (1.6%) | ||
| Michael Bay is a member of the Academy's Director branch?! |
| (1.4%) | ||
| Diablo Cody rocking her Betty Rubble dress -- and inadvertently brushing off Harrison Ford |
| (1.3%) | ||
| Hey - were most of those acceptance speeches really short?! |
| (1.1%) | ||
| Sexy Kristen Chenoweth taking over the Kodak Theater with "That's How You Know" |
| (0.9%) | ||
| Taxi to the Dark Side winning Best Documentary over Sicko and No End in Sight |
| (0.5%) | ||
| Jessica Alba channeling Drew Barrymore |
| (0.5%) | ||
| No Country for Old Men producer Scott Rudin not throwing his Oscar at his assistant |
| (0.4%) | ||
| Elizabeth: The Golden Age winning for Costume Design |
| (0.3%) |
A few other great moments:
1) Jon Stewart: "Oscar is 80 this year, which makes him now automatically the frontrunner for the Republican nomination."
2) Helen Mirren's presentation of the Best Actor Award. "Ambition, amorality, greed, deviousness, usury, venality, remorse, nobility, generosity, decency and good old fashioned cojones. I know these sound like the description to be a successful studio head, but these are facets of the performances of our leading actor nominees."
3) Robert Boyle winning an honorary Oscar. The annual "Will the old guy/gal get through this without rambling on or getting confused?" moment was its usual edge-of-your-seat-thriller. But Boyle handled it very gracefully.
4) Clips of past presenters and winning moments.
Not-so-great Moments:
1) Those awful songs from Enchanted. THREE?!?!?!?
2) Tom Hank's bad haircut.
3) Colin Farrell's bad non-haircut.
4) The dull opening sequence inspired by . . . Cars, a mediocre animated film from two years ago. I was hoping for a sequel to George Clooney appearing in bed with Jon Stewart.
5) The tribute to 80 years of Oscars. The entire history of cinema at your disposal, and all we got was that lame exercise? At least they showed Fred Astaire for .76 seconds.
As far as most beautiful, La Reina went on and on about Nicole Kidman's amazing necklace and dress, and how great she looked being slightly pregnant. I won't argue.But I stuck with my more traditional choice: Penélope Cruz.
And we both thought Helen Mirren looked fantastic.
Considering the lack of time to prepare, I thought the show went fairly well. Not the most exciting, perhaps, but at least it was shorter than usual!
UPDATE: In 1964, at the 37th Academy Awards, all four acting awards went to non-American actors:
Best Actor: Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady
Best Actress: Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins
Best Supporting Actor: Peter Ustinov in Topkapi
Best Supporting Actress: Lila Kedrova in Zorba the Greek
Friday, February 08, 2008
Romney and Huckabee
And now, for some thoughtful, well-considered political discussion.
Liam was right all along about Romney:
Huckabee on how he'll beat McCain:
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
News and No News
Glenn Greenwald at Salon on the "Surge" you haven't heard about, and why: Yet to listen to media reports, Edwards doesn't even exist. His campaign is dead. He has no chance. They hate Edwards, hate his message, and thus rendered him invisible long ago, only now to declare him dead -- after he came in second place in the first caucus of the campaign. There are certainly horse-race counterarguments to all of this. This is only one poll. Obama is ahead in New Hampshire, where his support has increased, etc. etc. But I'm not focusing on the accuracy of horse-race predictions here, but instead, on the fact that the traveling press corps endlessly imposes its own narrative on the election, thereby completely excluding from all coverage plainly credible candidates they dislike (such as Edwards) while breathlessly touting the prospects of the candidates of whom they are enamored. Their predictions (i.e., preferences and love affairs) so plainly drive their press coverage -- the candidates they love are lauded as likely winners while the ones they hate are ignored or depicted as collapsing -- which in turn influences the election in the direction they want, making their predictions become self-fulfilling prophecies. Is there any distinction between what a "reporter" does and what a "pundit" does covering this campaign? There doesn't seem to be any.
And now for a newsflash from across the pond . . .
As but one example, consider this new daily tracking poll today from Rasumussen Reports. At least according to this poll, it is true that there has been one candidate who has been genuinely surging in the last week or two among Democratic voters nationally -- John Edwards:
Edwards -- who, just one week ago, was 10 points behind Obama nationally among Democrats -- is now only two points behind him. Less than a month ago, he trailed Clinton by 29 points. Now it's 13 points. He is, by far, at his high point of support nationwide.
BBC: Recession in the US 'has arrived'
Times (London): Merrill calls US recession
Daily Telegraph: US recession is already here, warns Merrill
Scotsman: Banking giant warns US economy in recession
Meanwhile, back at the ranch . . .
New York Times: Bush Admits Economy Faces Challenges
“We cannot take growth for granted,” Mr. Bush said in a speech to a group of business leaders in which he acknowledged that “recent economic indicators have become increasingly mixed.”On top of it all, the beloved Golden Globe Awards show has been canceled because of some scruffy, sushi-eating, latte-drinking, left-wing, pinko writers out on strike.
(In my book, anyone who can get an awards show canceled should be considered a HERO!)
But don't despair, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have returned.
