The Smelly Cheese

Keith Olbermann is clearly in the tank.

No Comment  

No Country for Old Books

I watched the now Oscar-winning,"No Country for Old Men," for the second time over the weekend. It's well, made (as most everything the Coen brothers make is) and it's a very chilling and intense flick. I'm not going to "spoil" the film's plot for anyone who hasn't seen it. But I have to put a question out there after seeing one of the lead actors accept an academy award last night on TV. Am I supposed to understand what the hell he was saying in the movie? I mean I could understand Javier Bardem's speech last night, but in the movie... not so much.

Spoiler alert!!! Highlight to read. I get that he's supposed to represent death, although as a metaphor for death he did seem kind of vulnerable. If he is supposed to be a true harbinger of doom, shouldn't I at least be able to understand his dialogue. And this totally wasn't about his accent. I'm almost absolutely certain that they slowed down his voice in post production (trust me I do that stuff for a living). If that was the intention I get that. But if you're going to make your main character play evil incarnate at least have the few words that he does say be audible to most humans. Or is that part of the whole shtick? Your not supposed to understand death when it comes for you? I call shenanigans!! If death is a character in your movie that is relentless, omniscient and invincible then he better be able to communicate properly. Otherwise he's just a crazy hitman with a bad haircut and thick spanish accent. End spoilers.

Apparently from some emails I've received I should read the book No Country for Old Men, to make sense of the film. To this I also call shennanigans! The ending of this movie made sense to me, I got the themes and the allusions. There's some stuff in the middle that just flat out looked like bad editing or poor directorial choices. Here's a hint if you're going to kill a pivotal main character in a suspense "cat and mouse," film don't have that character die "off screen," leaving your audience wondering what the hell happened. It's even worse if you then ask the audience to re-focus their attention on another ancillary character who turns out actually to be "the main character." If you're going to adapt a novel into a screenplay don't hide behind "being faithful to the novel." You're movie has to stand on its own merit.

I'm getting real tired of crazy serial killer characters being metaphors for death. First off don't real-life crazy fucks get enough attention already. Is there not enough death and mayhem going around these days? I fast forwarded through most of the Oscars last night, because in large part it's just a bunch of overpaid actors and directors sitting politely in ridiculously expensive clothes verbally masturbating with each other over how wonderfully complex and rich their "art" was during the past year. I really like the Coen brothers film's, but am I really gonna learn anything about mortality or morality from a couple of New York Jews that went to film school? No offense boys, I loved "Fargo," but you're opining about "life and death," seems a bit trivial when men half your age are getting shrapnel lodge in their asses in the middle of the desert.. for realz.

1 comments  

Bitch is the new Black!!!

No Comment  

Ralph Nader: A great man or the greatest man ever?

Ralph Nader is once again doing a great service to all citizens of our nation by throwing his hat into the presidential ring.
http://www.votenader.org/index.html

I would like to personally thank Mr. Nader for his visionary leadership and bravery. To look the democrat, republican, libertarian and green parties straight in the eyes and say," I know you've moved on but I'm still better than you," is beyond courageous. It's downright inspirational. To be able to see past his 0.37 percent of the 2004 electorate as an independent candidate is both laudable and heroic. Sure, he may be 74 years old, but his mind is as clear as ever. Ralph Nader is ready to take this country in the right direction. He is the next preside-- I'm sorry. My keyboard incurred a hostile invasion from someone wearing a "Nader Raider," t-shirt and seemingly had not showered in a few years.

Fuck Ralph Nader. How long is this douchebag going to guilt trip people with, "Hey I'm the guy that made the auto industry put seat belts in your car!" shtick? Despite his protestation on this interview with Tim Russert http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23319215/, he did make it possible for Jorge Bush to become president. In 2000, Ralph Nader saw Bush having no substantive differences with Gore. Now, in 2008, Nader cannot admit that Barack Obama would make a better president than John McCain. Really Ralph? Obama wouldn't be better for the country than McCain? Is that why you have to continue fighting for the American people?

You, the Great Nader, and only you have the solutions to fix our ailing nation. Ralph Nader is only running for president because he is sad and lonely old man. He has no children, no wife, nor a partner in his efforts to change the world. He is a once great muckraker that has refused to buy a car let alone a computer or embrace the ever-changing world around him. For Nader, it is still 1969 or 1976 and he is still a relevant social advocate lawyer crusading around the country saving all of us from the evils of corporate America.

Nader supporters cite the last 7 years of the Bush administration as the absolute reason why a corporate crusader candidate is desperately needed, now more than ever. I site these last seven, hell even 20 years as a prime reason why Ralph Nader needs to get a fuckin life. He should have passed his baton to someone different a long time ago, because clearly hasn't reverberated with the people for a long time. The man doesn't own a car, nor does he own a home. According to wikipedia (so it's gotta be true), "...he lives on $25000 a year and gives most of his stock earnings to many of the over four dozen non-profit organizations he has founded." He apparently holds $1 million dollars of Cisco stock, yet has no idea what his own website looks like or how to access it.

Ralph Nader has become our nation's crazy old uncle that just needs to be appeased every couple of years with a little bit of mainstream media coverage. He may be fighting the good fight in his own mind, but he's wasting my time and yours by putting his name on a ballot. He knows he can't win, he knows that he won't win so what is he doing it for? The principles of an open democracy? Third party viability? No, Ralph Nader is running for president as an advocate for social and political change so that he can be remembered by a small percentage of the world's population as "an advocate for social and political change." Fuck you Ralph Nader. You'd be tolerable if you were just a smug, egocentric pseudo-intellectual. Alas, you're much worse. You're totally ineffective.

No Comment  

Damn it Justin! Look what you did to this poor girl!

Dear Mr. Timberlake,

1 comments  

Super Delegates and Florida fucking up our elections... again.

In case you've been holed up in your house watching all those episodes of American Gladiators you missed, the Democrats have a big potential mess on their hands.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/02/obama_campaign_manager_clinton.html?hpid=topnews

The basic problem is that Florida and Michigan moved up their primaries by being told by the DNC, " I swear to god you two, if you move those primaries I'm gonna turn this car around right now!!" Additionally, voters are more concerned than ever with "superdelegates." These are senators and congress-people that wield numerous delegates with their own vote. Most people have never been too concerned with superdelegates this early in an election year since most primary contests are this close this late in the game.

Hillary wants to "seat" the delegates from Florida and Michigan largely because she won those primaries, but there's also a little sliver of a thing called democracy mixed into it. Obama wants the "Super People," to vote alongside their own consituencies. The idea being that you're congress-person shouldn't vote against the majority of the people that elect them to office. That makes sense on a macro-level, but kind of flies in the face of the idea that individuals are free to vote for any candidate they like.

The Democratic party is hamstrung by their own archaic rules. The Florida election board or some other stuffy organization decided to move up their primaries by one week. Michigan moved theirs up by two weeks. Then some equally stuffy people at the national democratic party headquarters said, "No, we don't like that. So you don't get to come to our party at the end of year." Did moving up the primaries somehow cause a molecular shift in the time-space continuum? I'm gonna guess not. So it's simply an argument of, "Well... if I let one person move their primary then I'm gonna have to let everybody move their primary." Florida and Michigan dared to mock the sanctity and tradition the Democratic National Committee and now the party is telling a few million voters that they can "sit in their room and think about what they did."
The really insane thing is virtually every other state in the union moved it's primary up on the schedule this year.

So isn't the "democratic" thing to do is either count those two states votes or have them re-vote? The Obama campaign doesn't think Florida and Michigan should be rewarded for "breaking the rules" of the party. A rule is a rule is a rule is a rule. Except when un-democratic ideas could go against his campaign. The Obama people want superdelegates to be bound to the votes of their consituents even though the DNC, through its own rules and regulations, has given more power and delegates to these specific "super" people. Super delegates have voted against the majority of their districts before and have every right do so according to the bylaws of their own party.

And let's be honest here, it doesn't matter which candidate we're talking about. If Clinton was the candidates on a 9-state winning streak with Obama hoping that Texas and Ohio pull through for him, his campaign supporters and staff would be holding rallies with signs declaring, "Let Them Vote!!!" It is refreshing to see that electioneering is indeed "color" and "gender" blind in 2008.

The Democratic party can either stick to its guns and obey all the rules all the time or they can actually throw caution to the wind and do something truly radical. Use common sense.

No Comment  

I started a political shit storm.

No Comment  

Rome wasn't built in a day: AKA Voter's remorse.

1 comments  

Vote. Vote. Vote. Til ya can't vote no mo!

Just a reminder to vote if you're registered in 1 of the 24 states holding its primary today. Here's a friendly reminder for those registered as a Democrats too. While you can get away with you're "I'm voting my concscience," crap in the primaries, don't bring that shit in the general election. Pick a fucking side. Kucinich is out of the race.

And I swear to the big fake sky-bully that If I meet you and find out you actually voted for Ralph Nader, I will fucking murder you with my bare hands. Why? That kind of snooty arrogance doesn't need to propagated throughout the species, that's why. Don't make me talk about Dade County bitches! Al Gore's looking pretty fucking sweet right about now huh? And for those Green, Libertarian, Constitutional, Socialist, Peace and Freedom asshats that still didn't get the memo back in 2004 fret not. You'll be able to cleanse your chakra in a matter of months.

Don't fuck this one up America.
(And yes, voting for Stephen Colbert is equally douchebaggy.)

No Comment