House, MD

Haven't blogged for awhile as real life intervened, but I think it's time again. Politically, things have deteriorated as our rights continue to be nibbled away by a radical theory called the Unitary Executive...in other words, the monarchical presidency.

I have gotten into something rare for me...a television show. Weary of infotainment cable "news" and tired of watching CSPAN endlessly, I happened upon this (of all things) Fox Show last spring, and now I'm as addicted to this show as its main character is to the pain medication he needs to function.

Now for Something Completely Different

I don't usually do humor (but I do like it), but as a late baby-boomer, I do appreciate this bit that came into my email box this AM

It was fun being a baby boomer...until now. Some of the artists of the '60s are
revising their hits with new lyrics to accommodate aging baby boomers.


They include:

Herman's Hermits - Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Walker
The Bee Gees - How Can You Mend a Broken Hip
Bobby Darin - Splish, Splash, I Was Havin' a Flash
Ringo Starr - I Get By With a Little Help from Depends
Roberta Flack - The First Time Ever I Forgot Your Face
Johnny Nash - I Can't See Clearly Now
Paul Simon - Fifty Ways to Lose Your Liver
Commodores - Once, Twice, Three Times to the Bathroom
Marvin Gaye - I Heard it Through the GrapeNuts
Procol Harem - A Whiter Shade of Hair
Leo Sayer - You Make Me Feel Like Napping
The Temptations - Papa's Got a Kidney Stone
Abba - Denture Queen
Tony Orlando - Knock 3 Times on the Ceiling if you Hear Me Fall
Helen Reddy - I am Woman, Hear me Snore
Willie Nelson - On the Throne Again
Leslie Gore - It's My Procedure and I'll Cry if I Want To

True Patriotism.com

True Patriotism.com

Hubris and hijacking

It's been awhile since I've last posted, and I fervently hope that someone is reading these rants. (Hi, mom!) The thing is...There are so many areas in which the USA is being hijacked by the powers that be, and I'm so angry and pessimistic about it that I'm having a difficult time articulating it. So, here goes an attempt at articulating my frustration at least:

Hubris. It's connected to arrogance and a belief that "they" can do anything "they" want to do: Assume the mantle of "mandate" based on a majority of 51%...then send the attack dogs upon anyone who disagrees. Lie, confabulate, misuse facts, then hire propagandists at taxpayer expense to create a mythology of truth. I don't blame this all on the administration, the Prez or even Carl Rove (although I'd really like to). Part of the blame lies with the 24 hour newstainment networks. You know, the purveyors of short-attention-span news, otherwise known as MSNBC and CNN (I don't count FOX, because that network is simply Republican propoganda central--it might as well be an owned and operated subsidiary of GOP Inc.)

The newstainment networks have the American public figured out. We'd prefer to hear about Michael Jackson for hours on end rather than the number of Iraqi civilians killed or the number of American soldiers killed. We'd rather get our analysis from talking heads shouting talking points at each other than introspective analysis and intelligent debate about important issues. For the latter turn to PBS or CSPAN. Or Jon Stewart.

But it's not that the American public is stupid. It's that broadcast journalism is lazy. There's no depth, no analysis. No digging. Bernstein and Woodward have become quaint museum relics of a different time.

There are exceptions. Keith Olberman tries and often succeeds, where Chris Matthews only wants to hear the sound of his own voice. Aaron Brown used to try. At the beginning. I had high hopes for Aaron when he started Newsnight. Now he throws softball questions to party hacks and "experts" with their own axes to grind. But occasionally he shines.

I usually try to catch the BBC news on BBC America; or the NPR news shows throughout the day. Or Washington Journal on CSPAN in the morning. At least its news and not Newstainment.

More to come...

Alaska

I know it's pretty strange thinking about Alaska on winter's brink, but I came across some photos I took a couple of summers ago in breathtakingly beautiful Glacier Bay off Alaska's southern coast. If anyone has any doubts about the existence of God or a higher power that holds together the symetry of the universe, then go to Alaska. No one can tell me that the power and beauty of Alaska's glaciers, narrow fjiords, rushing waterfalls and snow capped mountain peaks were created randomly. There are no words to adequately describe the raw beauty of Alaska. None. No photographs can capture the powerful silence, nor the sapphire sky, nor the days that never end in the summertime. I hope these photos capture at least a little bit of that. Enjoy.

BB

more alaska 

fjiord in Alaska 

Alaska 

An Ideal Husband

Who is the ideal husband of An Ideal Husband? Is it Lord Goring, the dandified (but deeper than he admits) Rupert Evert? Or is it Sir Robert Chiltern (Jeremy Northam), put on a pedestal by just about everyone and is almost ruined by a youthful indiscretion come back to haunt him?

An Ideal Husband is a well-acted and enjoyable movie, adapted from Oscar Wilde's play of the same name. The movie, made in 1999 was the second Sir Robert that Jeremy played that year, and with some of the same sets and both Sirs Robert giving passionate speeches in the House of Commons no less! Winslow Boy (the other Sir Robert film, that one based on Rattigan's play and directed by David Mamet) is a superior film, but An Ideal Husband is not that far behind. Julianne Moore plays the devious Mrs. Cheevley who tries to ruin Sir Robert; Cate Blanchett plays Gerturd, Sir Robert's very unbending and somewhat judgemental wife. She is right to mistrust Mrs. Cheevely, however. Minnie Driver is the only one in this film that seems to be out of place. I dont' really care for her portrayal as Sir Robert's younger sister. She comes off as too 21st Century for this play. I know Jeremy Northam has stated how he desires to stay away from the waistcoasts and wing collars forever at this point, but don't you agree he looks quite dashing as Sir Robert?

Sir Robert Chiltern

Sir Robert again

Voices From a Locked Room

Saw the little seen film Voices from a Locked Room last night. I understand the movie is not completely true to the life its subject(s) Philip Heseltine/Peter Warlock. As a film about living on the edge of sanity and as a showcase for the just emerging from stage to screen Jeremy Northam, it is a tour de force. Jeremy did this film in 1994, I think. Before the 'Net and Emma brought him to American audiences. Up until this point, he was mostly known as a stage actor for the RSC and National Theatres, having won an Olivier (Britain's equivalent of the Tony) for his performance in The Voysey Inheritance a couple of years previous.

Jeremy is nothing short of brilliant in this film, playing the music critic Philip Heseltine and his alter ego the composer Peter Warlock. Particularly in the scenes as Warlock, Jeremy exposes the raw edge that Peter dwells upon. Jeremy's Peter Warlock is a man of great sensitivity and musical genius. A shy and withdrawn man whose love for a woman cause him to lose the delicate balance he maintains between sanity and madness. For Peter's other self is Philip Heseltine, a harsh critic on the London music scene, who has fallen in love as well, and with the same woman. The inevitable crashing together of these two halves of the same man create the dramatic tension in the film.

The film doesn't entirely work on every level, yet there is something incredibly compelling in Jeremy's performance as Philip/Peter slide into depths of torment. Maybe it's the purity of joy and concentration when as Warlock, he plays his newly composed nocturne in a duet with the woman he loves, a singer. It is known that Jeremy Northam is a musician himself. The very modest Jeremy Northam would probably be the first to deny this claim, yet his musicianship was clear in the 2002 film Gosford Park, where he played piano and sang Ivor Novello's wonderful musica hall tunes. The musician in Jeremy is so purely expressed as Warlock that it is beautiful to behold. I do not know for certain whether that is Jeremy actually playing Warlocks pieces, including the duet, it certainly looks like he's playing and not just play-acting, but who knows.

Anyway, try to catch the film on Starz Cinema if you get digital cable or satelite. It's a difficult film at times, but Jeremy Northam's performance is beautiful to behold. Some photographs from the movie to entice you.

In torment 

Peter 

Peter Warlock 

Where's the Gate?

Tons and tons of high explosives missing in Iraq, endangering our soldiers; Iraqi soldiers massacred under our watch and even the Iraq puppet...er...interim president blames us. Haliburton. The list goes endlessly on and on. So where's the 'Gate? Where's the outrage? Where's the investigatory journalism? Where's the media?

Having been a 24-hour cable news junkie for several years now, I'm finally over my addiction. The "news" delivered by vapid and clueless manequins, asking softball or, worse, insanely stupid, questions of guests they should be asking the tough questions. Even Wolf. Even Aaron Brown. I, for one, am disgusted and finally, disinterested. Jon Stewart's "fake" news makes more sense and asks more pertinent questions, digs deeper and looks harder at the day's events. The only news program that seems to ask the tough questions is the CNN show with Lou Dobbs.

I'm off cable news and onto the 'net to find out what I need to know. Slate, Salon, Prospect.org, NPR and BBC are all preferable to the infotainment and softball "news" that inhabits the 24/7 news channels. Farewell and good riddance.

End of Rant.

Hersh versus the Pentagon

Hmmm. Who to believe....who to believe...who to believe? Seymour Hersh or the Pentagon. Now, let's see....

Seymour Hersh (Ok, so he has the same first name as both my father and grandfather.) is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who exposed the My Lai Massacre back when I was but a young high school student. Versus the Bush Administration who has taken lying, confabulation and misinformation to levels unkown since the days of Richard Nixon.

I highly doubt that Mr. Hersh would put his prestigious reputation on the line by making up an "outlandish, conspiratorial story." Empshasis on the "making up" part. Is the story "outlandish?" Yes it is. Who would believe such a thing? Is the story "conspiratorial?" Indeed. Since it involves a sort of conspiracy...but not on Hersh's part.

I was amused and enlightened by the Bush administration response to the story, which posted on the New Yorker's Website on Saturday and will publish in this week's issue today. The administration "denied" the story by saying it was "outlandish, conspiratorial, and filled with errors." Reading this "denial very closely, one can see that it is not a denial at all, but a classic "non-denial denial." Note that the "denial" didn't say the story wasn't true or had some truth to it. Makes you ponder what else will be revealed in the coming days or hours.

If the the Senate and House democrats continue to find their collective backbones and push for a congressional investigation--not a pentagon investigation--with independent counsel and the works--this will no doubt mean the downfall of the Bush Administration in November. It is a terrible, terrible shame that it would have to have happened on the backs of so many Iraqis and the deaths of so many of our young people.

Barbara Barnett