WEDNESDAY MOVIE

Hitch

There’s been some grumbling and growsing lately on the entertainment media news about the lack of moviegoers coming out to the big screens compared to other summers. Clearly, the growth of the DVD industry and now the ease of having them delivered right to your house by innovationists like Netflix is putting some serious pressure on the cineplexes. And I must say, I haven’t been blown away by the year’s offerings so far. Hitch came out early this year and went DVD this past month, at which point I broke down and watched it. It follows the cardinal rule of romantic comedies – First Do No Harm. And it has to its credit the always dependable Will Smith in actually the first of this genre I can remember he’s done – plus a perfectly adequate supporting cast (Kevin James of TV’s King of Queens series and Eva Mendes, a Cuban-American up-and-comer – now there’s a mini-Rainbow coalition). The plot is sweet and fits them all like a glove – smartass professional date doctor helps lovable nurf (or is that nerd?) get powerhouse but actually lonely and insecure gorgeous corporate executive to love him back and then blows all his own expertise when he falls in love himself. Not to worry – no tragic inexplicable twists and turns here. It’s a lay on the couch and dribble ice cream on your shirt while chuckling kind of experience. Will Smith is a force of nature – he’s made some very popular action movies, science fiction drama/comedies, and even a big box office blockbuster drama in Ali. But you know what I remember being really impressed by early on was a little indie film called Six Degrees of Separation. Now that’s what I’d like to see him try again. He has 3 films coming up – two dramas and a comedy. We’ll see if he stretches. But First Do No Harm.

Deep Thought: “One thing that makes me believe in UFOs is, sometimes I lose stuff.”
Today I am grateful for: Soft-tongued folks
Guess the Movie: “That’s funny, that plane’s dustin’ crops where there ain’t no crops.” Answer: North by Northwest, 1959. Winner: thenarrator.
Reporter for New York Times Sent to Jail in Legal Wrangle Over First Amendment Rights
by Pete Yost
WASHINGTON, July 6 – A federal judge on Wednesday jailed New York Times reporter Judith Miller for refusing to divulge her source to a grand jury investigating who in the Bush administration leaked an undercover CIA operative’s name. (Rest of article here.)
End of Day: 9:08 pm
+ = So glad I have a comfy mattress to go crash out on now.
- = Last day in my old office tomorrow but looking forward to starting anew next week.

TUESDAY POLITICS

It’s a Beautiful Day In the Neighborhood
Congress Votes to Restore $100 Million to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting

Moveon.org posted this little notice this morning. Don’t know if you knew the House Appropriations Committee was threatening to dock one of our last bastions of intelligent news and cultural programs, but as a devotee of NPR on my car radio (it’s the only station I ever listen to), I was. It isn’t a done deal yet. Still has to pass the Senate. According to the Arizona Republic (see article here), it was a gesture intended to intimidate public broadcasting to move their content further toward the right. Gee, that’s a surprise. Stay tuned. (Taking off for work now – public radio full on).

Deep Thought: It’s probably not a good idea to be chewing on a toothpick if you’re talking to the president, because what if he tells a funny joke and you laugh so hard you spit the toothpick out and it hits him in the face or something.”
Today I am grateful for: Serial numbers
Guess the Movie: “At your age, you’re going to have a lot of urges. You’re going to want to take off your clothes, and touch each other. But if you do touch each other, you *will* get Chlamydia… and die.” Answer: Mean Girls, 2004. Winner: tikhead.
Tens of Thousands of Anti-Poverty Demonstrators March Through Edinburgh
by Beth Gardiner
EDINBURGH, Scotland – Tens of thousands of protesters clad in white streamed through the cobbled streets of Scotland’s medieval capital Saturday, demanding that the leaders of the world’s richest nations act to better the lives of the poorest. (Rest of article here.)
End of Day: 9:42 pm
+ = Met two difficult challenges well today.
- = Pretty sure I ate too much damn spaghetti.

MONDAY BOOK

Someone mentioned this song in a comment to my blog from yesterday about humanity before nationalism. It’s not a book – it’s a lyric, but it’s a meaningful read for today.

Imagine

Imagine there’s no heaven,
It’s easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people
living for today…

Imagine there’s no countries,
It isnt hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace…

Imagine no possessions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world…

You may say Im a dreamer,
but Im not the only one,
I hope some day you’ll join us,
And the world will live as one.

Deep Thought: “I think the monkeys at the zoo should have to wear sunglasses so they can’t hypnotize you.”
Today I am grateful for: Seed-sowers
Guess the Movie: “I came here to drink myself to death.” “How long will it take you?” “I’d say about three to four weeks.” Answer: Leaving Las Vegas, 1995. Winner: thenarrator.
NOW Declares ‘state of Emergency,’ Plans March After News of O’Connor’s Retirement
by Rose French
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The president of the National Organization for Women declared a “state of emergency” for women’s rights and planned a march on the state Capitol as news of Sandra Day O’Connor’s retirement reverberated through the group’s annual convention. (Rest of article here.)
End of Day: 8:37 pm
+ = Absolutely gorgeous weather for the holiday folks.
- = Long day coming up tomorrow.

PEOPLE WHO KNOCK ME OUT

Howard Zinn
(See sidebar for others)

On the eve of the 4th of July, I thought I would check this guy out, since he has something to say about the holiday, and since his name has been flickering on the border of my peripheral awareness for some time.

Put away the flags
By Howard Zinn
Sunday, July 3, 2005
We would do well to renounce nationalism and all its symbols on Independence Day — its flags, its pledges of allegiance, its anthems, its insistence in song that God must single out America to be blessed.
Is not nationalism — that devotion to a flag, an anthem, a boundary so fierce it engenders mass murder — one of the great evils of our time, along with racism, along with religious hatred?
These ways of thinking — cultivated, nurtured, indoctrinated from childhood on — have been useful to those in power and deadly for those out of power. (Rest of article here.)

So who is Howard Zinn?

Well, 83 for starters. Professor Emeritus at Boston University and major boat-rocker for another. Born in New York City in the slums of Brooklyn in 1922 to parents who were immigrant factory workers. They were so poor they clipped coupons from the New York Post to send in with a quarter for individual volumes of Dickens because they knew he liked to read. He volunteered as a bombardier in World War II and returned at age 23 a decorated soldier, graduated Columbia University, taught at Spelman College in Georgia in the 1950’s, and began teaching political science at Boston U in the late ‘60’s. He opposed the war in Vietnam, U.S. policy in Central America, and the Gulf War. Needless to say, he’s not thrilled with the war in Iraq. Ironically, he also wrote a book in 1980 called “A People’s History of the United States” that tried to tell the story of the United States from the perspective of minorities and it is a standard text in many U.S. high schools that has profoundly influenced the public’s perception of Columbus, the Founding Fathers and American foreign policy. Here is a page that has many of his writings and here is an interview he gave a few years ago. And so, on this holiday when I can hear increasingly frequent fireworks going off around my neighborhood in broad daylight at 5 pm and the scent of god knows what kind of red meat on the barbies on my block floating past my nose, and interestingly the sight of very few American flags hanging out from the houses in my neck of the woods compared to the heady days immediately post 9/11, I would like to say I’m grateful for just about anybody (especially if they can express themselves like this guy) speaking out for the human race over the single nation. My nation needs them – bad. Maybe they can help us all live to be 83. Have a safe Monday!

Deep Thought: “Many people never stop to realize that a tree is a living thing, not that different from a tall, leafy dog that has roots and is very quiet.”
Today I am grateful for: Secularity
Guess the Movie: “What I remember most about my childhood is holding your hand. My wee hand in your big hand, and the smell of tobacco. I remember, I could smell the tobacco in the palm of your hand. When I want to feel happy, I try to remember the smell of tobacco.” Answer: In the Name of the Father, 1993. Winner: thenarrator.
A July 4th Covenant
by Marcus Raskin
July 4th 2005 will surely be known to future generations as a period of terror and insecurity for Americans who wish nothing more than a consecration to a set of purposes and ideals that seem ambiguous and contradictory.
Caught in a war not of the citizenry’s choosing, but that was an outgrowth of government deception, moral and political blindness—and even criminality—the people search for a meaning that will capture the sensibility of our better selves. This feature is there, but increasingly hard to find because of the hubris, war and selfishness that plague certain elements of the nation. (Rest of article here.)
End of Day: 9:46 pm
+ = Biopsy negative for cancer.
- = I’ve got the lowdown deja vu Supreme Court Blues.