The Dramatization Of A "Great" Classic

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This is one time I can write about a movie without having to worry about giving away plot points.  It's safe to say that anyone who's been through an American high school has been exposed to F. Scott Fitzgerald's condemnation of the conspicuous consumption of the 1920's upper class, The Great Gatsby.

As in Fitzgerald's 1925 novel, Nicholas "Nick" Carraway (Toby Maguire), a newly arrived resident of the fictional West Egg, New York, narrates the exploits of Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) and the cast of sponging ne' er-do-wells who attend his lavish parties during the summer of 1922.  In fact, the film's plot was remarkably true to the book, right down to the presence of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg's God-like eyes.   What makes this movie version different than the book is its tone.

Director Baz Luhrmann, creates a colorfully over the top world for the story's characters to interact within.   Everything from the mansions to the parties to the noir-esc downtown settings are exaggerated to the nth degree, producing caricature-like representations of reality.

At one point, Carraway explains feeling like he's in a downtown party and on the street below looking up at the party at the same time.

“…high over the city our line of yellow windows must have contributed their share of human secrecy to the casual watcher in the darkening streets, and I was him too, looking up and wondering. I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life” 

The visual texture of the scene has an almost cartoon-like quality, strongly reminiscent of Frank Miller's movie Sin City.  This effect adds to the excessive tone of the film, further removing it from reality.

Somehow, this choice of tone creates a greater empathy for Gatsby.  When I read the book, I saw the character as nothing but a dreamer who couldn't cope with the uglier aspects of reality.  When the party stopped he literally didn't know what to do with himself, except to pine for Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan).

This facet of the character is definitely in the movie as well, but the audience is also exposed to a noble side of Jay's character, which I never felt was present in the novel. The result is a main character which movie goers can root for as fervently as Nick does.

I give The Great Gatsby 85 out of 100 points.
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All The News I Can Use - Really?

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"In the infancy of mass communications, the Columbus and Magellan of broadcast journalism, William Paley and David Sarnoff, went down to Washington to cut a deal with Congress. Congress would allow the fledgling networks free use of taxpayer-owned airwaves in exchange for one public service. That public service would be one hour of air time set aside every night for informational broadcasting, or what we now call the evening news. Congress, unable to anticipate the enormous capacity television would have to deliver consumers to advertisers, failed to include in its deal the one requirement that would have changed our national discourse immeasurably for the better. Congress forgot to add that under no circumstances could there be paid advertising during informational broadcasting. They forgot to say that taxpayers will give you the airwaves for free and for 23 hours a day you should make a profit, but for one hour a night you work for us." ~ Aaron Sorkin - The Newsroom: The 112th Congress (#1.3) (2012)

I woke up earlier than normal the other morning, so I turned on one of the major TV networks, figuring I'd start the day with a bit of news. At a time when; Kim Jong-un is pointing missiles at Tokyo & South Korea, Congress is trying to iron out a gun control strategy which will address recent events without alienating 2nd amendment activists, and our President is trying to sneak cuts in Social Security past his liberal base; the morning news show I was watching treated me to a recap of Dancing With The Stars and a story about one of the "New Kids On The Block," now in his forties, getting hair plugs.

I had to turn it off, because I could feel my brain going numb. Don't misunderstand, I'm not suggesting that everything on TV needs to be high brow.  I, for one, love food shows and SciFi. I love learning new recipes, seeing what people eat around the world, watching a certain British chef rip into oblivious restaurateurs, and heroes in spaceships blasting aliens.

While I'm entertained by those things, when I turn on the "the news" I don't want to see a rundown of Gwyneth Paltrow's newest cookbook or learn which blush highlights a middle aged red head's cheek bones. Save those stories for FOOD NETWORK or O. When I turn on the news, I want to see "up to date stories meant to successfully inform and educate the American electorate."

Even with cable, we can't get access such reporting for most of the day, here on the west coast. CNN, for example, airs its final hour of CNN Newsroom from noon 'til 1pm, then the network reverts to a string of opinion based talk shows such as;

The Lead with Jake Tapper: The return of Anthony Weiner: Disgraced congressman considers run for NYC mayor,
The Situation Room: Wolf Blitzer brings you the latest in political news and international events, 
Erin Burnett OutFront: Anthony Weiner stages a comeback. Do sex scandals still matter?
Anderson Cooper 360º: AC360° exclusive: Former Rep. Gabby Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, talk about her recovery and efforts to change gun laws,
Piers Morgan Live: America's ongoing gun debate: The deal proposal that would expand background checks on sales of firearms.

These shows cover topics within the news, but often feature boisterous WWE caliber arguing and opinion bashing in order to appeal to the lowest common denominator.  Red faced activists and self proclaimed influence peddlers customarily interrupt the host, with the idea that the loudest argument will eventually be accepted as the right argument.

CNN Headline News isn't much better, having broadcast entire blocks of live testimony in the Jodi Arias murder trial.  Although vivid descriptions of her abusive relationship, with Travis Alexander, satisfied voyeuristic appetites across the country, the broadcasts offered no real informative value to anyone not on the jury.

If I had my way, news shows would feature straight no nonsense reporting on important stories on; politics, economics, crime, national security, and global events; and stories involving kids fashion, celebrity gossip, diet tips, make-up tips, etc.... would be confined to non-news shows & networks.

I have little, if any, hope of having my wish granted.   The simple truth is, these non-news stories boost ratings and sell products.

Many Americans say they're tired of sex scandals on news, yet viewer ratings seem to sky rocket for any show featuring stories about Charlie Sheen's antics, Tom Cruise's divorce from Katie Holmes, and Angelina Jolie's relationship with Brad Pitt.

As these titillating tales boost ratings & commercial prices, the aforementioned stories on; kids fashion, celebrity hair plugs, diet tips, and make-up tips; are selling; kids clothes, Hair Club memberships, diet books, and lip stick; reducing such segments to virtual infomercials.

Being fed a steady diet of media regurgitated Pablum, instead of hard news has taken its toll on the populace.  According to a nation wide survey/quiz, twenty-nine percent of Americans can't name the Vice-President, yet Kim Kadashian, a woman known for dating famous men and partying with Paris Hilton, has over seventeen million Twitter followers.

Think about it.
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A Free Verse Tribute To An Abbey

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Like a ship in Her Majesty's Royal Fleet,
The abbey rests midst a sea of crisp green grass,
Perfectly kept.
Everything has its function,
Everyone has their place.
As each servant has their assigned duties,
So too does each spoon have its assigned dish.
For the housekeeper to stock the wine cellar,
Or to eat from bouillon cup with a soup spoon,
Would be equally unthinkable faux pas.
Men in ties and tails,
Ladies in gowns and gloves,
Are nightly sights over filet of sole,
And the proper wine.
As Lords, Ladies, and senior staff,
Devoutly dedicate themselves to age-old customs,
The new generation seeks to embrace modern life,
And junior staff hatch plots in back halls,
To advance their own ends.
Yet, each night when the sun sets,
The abbey endures as a steadfast monument,
To tradition and above all to,
Propriety.
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The Truth Is Out There, But Not THAT FAR Out There

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On December 14, 2012 Adam Lanza, of Newtown, Connecticut, shot and killed his mother, then drove to Sandy Hook Elementary School where he killed twenty children and six staff members, before killing himself.

Americans, watching the horrific aftermath on the national news, cried along with forlorn parents who had dropped their children at school only hours earlier, and now would never enjoy their company again.  Although most of us had never heard of Newtown, we wept as a nation at this latest  tragic link in the recent chain of mass shootings, which had gripped the country.  

July 20, 2012—James Holmes enters a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises and opens fire with a semi-automatic weapon; twelve people are killed and fifty-eight are wounded.

August 5, 2012—A white supremacist and former Army veteran shot six people to death inside a Sikh temple in suburban Milwaukee, Wisconsin, before killing himself.

August 14, 2012—Three people were killed at Texas A&M University when a 35-year-old man went on a shooting rampage; one of the dead was a police officer.

September 27, 2012—A 36-year-old man who had just been laid off from Accent Signage Systems in Minneapolis, Minnesota, entered his former workplace and shot five people to death, and wounded three others before killing himself.

October 21, 2012—45-year-old Radcliffe Frankin Haughton shot three women to death, including his wife, Zina Haughton, and injured four others at a spa in Brookfield, Wisconsin, before killing himself.

December 11, 2012—Supposedly motivated by his inability to purchase a sandwich shop, 22-year-old Jacob Tyler Roberts began shooting at random at Clackamas Town Center Mall in Portland, Oregon, killing two people and then himself.

At more than an event a month, I knew I wanted to address the trend in this blog.   I was preparing to do just that when a fellow blogger posted the following video.  Its the first of a four part series explaining how our government is trying to stage a Coup d'etat by faking the Sandy Hook incident to justify taking away our guns.


I'm not going to spend time attacking his argument, which seems based on a trivial response to an off camera joke & the fact that someone practiced their statement to the press in order to keep his emotions in check.

I'm not going to comment on how incredibly offensive it is to hear the narrator refer to newly distraught mothers & fathers as, "the alleged parents."

I don't have to address any of that.  The fact that the narrator thinks that a sitting government can stage a Coup d'etat (which means to overthrow a sitting government) tells you all you need to know about his line of reasoning.

No, I wasn't there, I can't testify first hand that the shooting happened.  However, I can rely, pretty solidly, on Occam's Razor which states, "If you have two equally likely solutions to a problem, choose the simplest."  Even if more tragic, I find a lone boy on a rampage to be a far simpler explanation than the government using an entire small town and multiple news outlets to execute an elaborate hoax.

Still, the video started me thinking about conspiracy theories in general.  Our history, or historical mythology, is full of ominous tales of shadowy organizations controlling destinies from behind the scenes.  Some of the more "interesting" theories include the following.

• The Phantom Time Hypothesis - This is a conspiracy theory first postulated by Heribert Illig which states that the Early Middle Ages (614 - 911 AD) never occurred.  In other words, all historical figures during this period, including Charlemagne, are outright fabrications and this is actually the year 1716.

• The Jewish Holocaust Was A Hoax  - There are those, including Republican Congressional Candidate Art Jones, who believe no Jews were gassed by the Nazis and Israel perpetuates the hoax, "...to receive trillions of dollars worldwide as retribution for Holocaust gassings."

• The Moon Landing Was A Hoax - Supposedly, footage of Neil Armstrong's walk on the moon on July 20, 1969 was shown to the world through the lens of master film-maker Stanley Kubrick and was staged on the same Borehamwood, U.K., sound stage where Kubrick made his landmark film, 2001: A Space Odyssey.

•  The US Government Authorized 911 Attacks - Yes, there are even those who believe we kill thousands of our own citizens to fabricate an excuse to invade the Middle East.

• The Trilateral Commission - This secret group, purportedly composed of past and present presidents, ambassadors, secretaries of state, senators and congressmen, Wall Street investors, NATO and pentagon military personnel, international bankers, etc... theoretically manipulates events to usher in a new world order.

Some of these theories baffle me.  I can see no legitimate psychological need to deny the fact that humanity has progressed enough, technologically, to get to the moon.

Plus, while I understand certain key documents of the period from 614 to 911 AD may have been misfiled, denying the passage of 297 years of history seems illogical to me; Beowulf had to have been written at some point.

Yet, some of these theories are either denials of something evil, or extraordinary explanations of evil in the world.

When Joe loses his job, perhaps it helps to blame, "that stinkin' Trilateral Commission," for screwing up the economy.

Maybe some people find it easier to wage war against a 911 shadow conspiracy at home than against a zealous religious enemy half way around the world.   Theoretically, every time they "expose" something about the 911 shadow conspiracy in a blog or leaflet, a battle has been won.

Perhaps, those who can't grasp the horror of mass graves full of tortured Jews, denying their existence is the only coping mechanism these people have.

If that's the case, then maybe the Sandy Hook shooting was simply too horrific for some  to come to terms with.  Perhaps, it's easier to imagine a shadow conspiracy lying to us than it is to digest the reality that twenty young children lost their lives for no reason.

The problem with that is, while we're arguing about whether, or not, the Sandy Hook shooting occurred, other shootings are taking place.

December 24, 2012—66-year-old William Spengler set his neighborhood on fire, then ambushed firefighters with an assault rifle, killing two and wounding two.  

This month alone, the recent shooting at Lone Star College, during which three people were shot, was the sixth shooting to take place on or near a college campus since 2013 began.

It's easy to bury our heads in the sand and pretend someone's making it all up.  However, that will  keep us from figuring out why this is really happening and working together toward a solution.
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Les Misérables' Film Soundtrack Strikes Me As Annoyingly Incomplete

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Those of you who receive my newsletter may recall that I said this  blog would be a look back at 2012.  I'd fully intended to post just such an entry, but as I began writing it I found myself regurgitating tired clichés about having survived the end of the Mayan calendar, the Summer Olympics, and welcoming back Obama. 

I sighed as I realized these topics have already been written into ground, and I had nothing intelligent to add to them.  Once I removed these topics from the piece, I was left with an incomplete rant on the recent string of mass shootings in America.  Such a rant WILL appear on this blog, but I hardly wanted to kick off 2013 with it.  Thus I shifted gears, and decided to write about an enigmatic, if trivial, annoyance.
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Les Misérables is film based on Victor Hugo's 19th century novel of the same name. Starring Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean, Russell Crowe as Inspector Javert, Anne Hathaway as Fantine, Amanda Seyfried as (Adult) Cosette, Eddie Redmayne as Marius, and Samantha Barks as (Adult) Éponine, Les Misérables is, in a nutshell, the story of a man being hounded by a despotic lawman over a trivial crime.  In fact, if you've ever seen TV shows such as  The Fugitive, The A-Team, or The Incredible Hulk (Bill Bixby's version) in which the hero flees an overly determined cop/reporter, they were all, at least partially, inspired by Hugo's story.

Aside from the multiple moral questions the story asks, what makes the movie so powerful is the fact that the story is told entirely through very dynamic music, which was sung directly on the set.  Having spent Christmas at the movie, I couldn't wait to get the soundtrack and play this soul stirring music at home.   Thus, once the holidays settled down, I bought it on ITunes for $16.99.

The Movie Soundtrack features the following pieces:
"Look Down" (Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and The Convicts)
"The Bishop" (Colm Wilkinson)
"Valjean's Soliloquy" (Hugh Jackman)
"At the End of the Day" (Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, The Factory Girls and Cast)
"I Dreamed a Dream" (Anne Hathaway)
"The Confrontation" (Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway)
"Castle On a Cloud" (Isabelle Allen)
"Master of the House" (Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter)
"Suddenly" (Hugh Jackman)
"Stars" (Russell Crowe)
"ABC Cafe/Red and Black" (Eddie Redmayne, Aaron Tveit and Cast)
"In My Life"/"A Heart Full of Love" (Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Samantha Barks)
"On My Own" (Samantha Barks)
"One Day More" (Cast)
"Drink With Me" (Eddie Redmayne, Daniel Huttlestone and Cast)
"Bring Him Home" (Hugh Jackman)
"The Final Battle" (Cast)
"Javert's Suicide" (Russell Crowe)
"Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" (Eddie Redmayne)
"Epilogue" (Amanda Seyfriend, Hugh Jackman, Eddie Redmayne, Anne Hathaway, Colm Wilkinson and Cast)

 I was listening to my purchase for the first time, when I began noticing some strange omissions.  "Who Am I?" sung by Jean Valjean, "Lovely Ladies" sung by The Ladies of the Night, "Do You Hear The People Sing?" sung by The Revolutionists, and "A Little Fall of Rain" sung by Éponine & Marius were missing from the soundtrack.

Since the movie was 2 hours & 37 minutes of continuous music, some things had to be cut from the album, granted.  However, "Who Am I?" "Do You Hear The People Sing?" and "A Little Fall of Rain" are, each in their way, three of the most emotionally powerful pieces in the film. 

The primary reason I buy a soundtrack is to re-experience the music, and emotional flow of a movie.  I won't spoil the plot to explain the significance of each song. Suffices to say that the omissions of these songs interrupted the overall flow with glaring gaps.

I solved the problem for myself, to some extent, by buying the four songs off the Broadway Soundtrack and inserting them into my playlist.   The voices are different, but the songs are at least there now.

Nevertheless, I'll always wonder what the decision making process was when producers chose which cuts made the Movie Soundtrack.
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James Bond - Then & Now

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On October 5th, 1962, movie goers,were treated to their first glimpse of the tuxedo clad James Bond in Dr. No.  Audiences first met this suave hero as he was being ordered away from a winning run at the Baccarat table to receive his first assignment as a Double Oh Agent (Specifically Agent 007).  This new designation granted him the right, even the responsibility, to kill in order to further the interests of Queen & Country.  

Since receiving his license to kill, 007 - James Bond has protected the free world in 23 cinematic adventures, 24 if you count 1983's Never Say Never Again (the court mandated remake of 1965's Thunderball), 25 if you count 1967's Casino Royale (Woody Allen's spoof of the Bond franchise).

Most 007 film fans consider the "official" cannon to be comprised of the following 23 movies though, and consider the other two films to be outliers featuring Bonds of other quantum realities.

Movie Title	Year	Played James Bond
Dr. No	1962	Sean Connery
From Russia with Love	1963
Goldfinger	1964
Thunderball	1965
You Only Live Twice	1967
On Her Majesty's Secret Service	1969	George Lazenby
Diamonds Are Forever	1971	Sean Connery
Live and Let Die	1973	Roger Moore
The Man with the Golden Gun	1974
The Spy Who Loved Me	1977
Moonraker	1979
For Your Eyes Only	1981
Octopussy	1983
A View to a Kill	1985
The Living Daylights	1987	Timothy Dalton
Licence to Kill	1989
GoldenEye	1995	Pierce Brosnan
Tomorrow Never Dies	1997
The World Is Not Enough	1999
Die Another Day	2002
Casino Royale	2006	Daniel Craig
Quantum of Solace	2008
Skyfall	2012

Actually, hard core Double Oh fans probably choked on their proverbial popcorn when I lumped all 23 features into a single cannon.  Die hards recognize two official Bond Cannons, or timelines, these days. 

The first, or classic, timeline stretches from 1962's Dr. No all the the way to 2002's Die Another Day.  As with similar action heroes such as Robert B. Parker's Spenser, fans accept the fact that each adventure took place within the year each movie in question premiered, but our hero remained in his late 30s to early 50s during the entire span.

This Bond, played by; Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, and Pierce Brosnan; was the irreverently dashing gourmand who could dodge a barrage of bullets one moment, and the next moment be enjoying a medium dry vodka martini (shaken not stirred) with some caviar, quail's eggs, and foie gras before making love to his next sexual conquest.

It was this Oxford educated sophisticate who could taste a quality sherry and explain on which wine vintage it had been based, (see Diamonds Are Forever),  speak multiple languages, and memorize dossiers of potential enemy operatives such as Scaramanga (The Man with the Golden Gun).  In addition to his roguish charm, heroic talents, and refined palette, four additional components define the classic era in my mind.

• Gadgets & Cars - Q Branch (MI5's tech department) didn't equip Bond in Dr, No. Bond's station chief, M, merely replaced 007's beloved Beretta with his first Walther PPK in the genesis of the series.  The following movie, From Russia with Love, first introduced Desmond Llewelyn as Q, who reprised the role until his death in 1999.  

Q's first allocation to Bond was, perhaps, the most realistic allocation of spy equipment during the franchise's tenure.  An ordinary looking attache case contained 40 rounds of ammunition concealed in two tubes disguised as metal studs on the bottom of the case.  A flat throwing knife was concealed in the side of the case, and was releasable by pressing a button under the clasp.  A disassembled and compactly stored AR7 folding Sniper's Rifle complete with scope and infrared lens, 25 gold sovereigns hidden in each side of the strap, and a tear gas cartridge disguised as a tin of talcum powder rounded out the covert kit. 

Since then, Q has supplied our hero with a dart shooting watch, exploding pen, inflatable ski coat, poison cigarettes, a jet pack, collapsible gyro-copter, cable & piton expelling belt, and a host of other gadgets which have saved the day on multiple occasions.

This list doesn't take into account his parade of top of the line luxury cars, modified by Q, with weapons such as assault rockets, headlight machine guns, buzz saws, oil slick dispensers, and ejector seats.  We've even seen a Bond car which could double as a miniature submarine.   Part of the fun of going to a Bond movie, during the classic era, was to see what new gadget & car Bond would be given next.

• Bond Girls - Famous for their sexually provocative names and gorgeous bodies, Bond's romantic interests were key elements to the films of the classic era.  As with the gadgets & the cars, viewers hurried back to theaters to see which beautiful woman 007 would woo next.  

Would she be a lone damsel in distress, such as Dr. No's Honey Ryder or Thunderball's Domino? Would our hero have to rely on his charms to reform a moll gone bad as in the cases of Goldfinger's Pussy Galore, A View to a Kill's May Day, or Octopussy's title character?  He may even find himself temporarily partnered with fellow agents such as Moonraker's Holly Goodhead, Die Another Day's  Jinx Jones, or The Man with the Golden Gun's Mary Goodnight.

The earliest Bond girls were little more than bubbly headed eye candy.  These early girls pleasantly accepted their customary slap on the bottom and dutifully left the room so the men could talk.  When Bond wasn't saving them, he was correcting their ditzy ideas and trying to get them to focus on the matter hand, rather than his raw sexual vibe.  In From Russia with Love it was all the poor chap could do get Tatiana Romanova to record details about the Lektor decoding device, instead of James' dreamy eyes.

Beginning with Teresa di Vicenzo of On Her Majesty's Secret Service (the only classic Bond girl to get 007 to the marriage altar) however, women characterized by this vapid docility slowly began to be replaced by stronger leading ladies with attitudes of rugged independence and self assuredness.  By the time Die Another Day came along, movie makers were choreographing one battle for Bond and a separate battle for Jinx, the Bond girl, in the finale, essentially acknowledging the two characters as heroic equals.

• The Bond Villains - For starters, it was usually rather easy to spot the villain in a James Bond movie; he was almost always the guy in the Nehru Jacket, with the notable exceptions of Auric Goldfinger and The Spy Who Loved Me's Stramberg.  Seriously, all 007 had to do was find a suspect sporting a traditional hip-length tailored coat with the mandarin collar and it would've been a good bet this was the guy who stole the micro-chip, nuclear missile, or decoder.  Of course, there was a reason for this odd form of consistency.

In the first movie it was established that Dr. No was a chief operative of a criminal organization called  SPECTRE (SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion).  For the next six films, again with the notable exception of Goldfinger, the villain would  be a member of SPECTRE; the coat was to be a quasi-uniform of sorts.

Due to a lawsuit between producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman over the script of Thunderball, Broccoli lost the rights to mention SPECTRE and its founder Blofeld in any movie after Diamonds Are Forever.  However, Broccoli kept the jackets on his villains as nod to the organization he could no longer name.

Besides on the fashion front though, Bond's enemies were symbolic in another way as well.  If you look at the year each film was released, many of the villains were representations of what people were scared of, or at least worried about, at the time.  Beginning with Dr. No's attempted disruption of the space race in '62, to the atomic terrorism of Number 2's Thunderball in '64, to Scaramanga's attempted exploitation of the energy shortage in '74, to Kamal Kahn's manipulation of the nuclear cold war in '83, etc...  These and other Bond villains served as personifications of the looming menace of a given period which could be defeated in 2 hours by a martini sipping hero.

• Tongue in Cheek Humor -  Bond's irreverence and boyish charm were most made evident by his occasional flippancy and tongue in cheek one-liners.  The movies were, by no means, comedies in the vein of Austen Powers, or anything like that.  Yet, there was a playfulness about the character as he lay in bed with a Russian spy and told his superior he was, "doing his bit to keep England's end up," (The Spy Who Loved Me).  Another favorite example is from Diamonds Are Forever when Plenty O'Toole introduced herself.

Plenty O'Toole: Hi, I'm Plenty.

James Bond (scans Plenty up & down, taking note of her ample measurements before answering): But of course you are.

There was no goofy silliness or slapstick BS going on.  However, you got the feeling that being in constant danger made it necessary for him to poke fun at his circumstances in order to maintain a functional level of sanity.  As he did, he let the audience in on the joke.

Arguably, the one classic era actor who didn't grasp this aspect of the character was Timothy Dalton, who tried to play Bond completely deadpan straight, much like a Jack Ryan (Tom Clancy's heroic spy) or a Jason Bourne (Robert Ludlum's) title spy.  It didn't work, and Dalton was released from the series after his second film, Licence to Kill.

2006's Casino Royale changed all that by having M (Judi Dench) call James Bond (Daniel Craig) into her office to receive his first assignment as 007.  This revamp gave fans a grittier, somewhat darker, James Bond.  This Bond hasn't been through the cold war, is less gadget oriented, and probably couldn't tell, by tasting, if a martini had been shaken or stirred.  The latest film, Skyfall, featured an erotic shower scene, but I wouldn't say there was a significant "Bond girl" to speak of.

In many ways today's Bond is a completely different character than the one I grew up with.  Yet, his sense of duty is still in tact, as is the number one rule of the James Bond Universe.

What's that rule, you ask?  Simple, the number one rule of the James Bond Universe is that James Bond CAN do the seemingly impossible in order to save the day.  I can't tell you how many times I've been in a theater watching 007 perform some stunt such as diving from a cliff to climb inside a twin engine plane, or chase an enemy across a high scaffold, only to hear some idiot in the audience say, "He can't do that."  You're there to see him do what can't be done.  Making such a criticism is like going to a Mel Brooks movie and saying, "That's stupid."

Without giving too much away about the plot of the current film, I'll wrap things up by saying, I found Skyfall to be the most enjoyable of the recent three films.  OK, the villain here didn't pose much of a global threat, granted.  Yet, we saw glimpses into Bond's past, as well as an emotionally vulnerable side our hero, neither of which Bond fans are used to seeing.  It was also fun to see 007 temporarily shatter the forth wall, reach back into his other timeline in what can only be described as a Dr. Who-esc moment, and retrieve his 1964 Aston Martin from Goldfinger and Thunderball.

The film also re-introduced several classic elements to the modern series, including an all new younger long haired genius version of Q, reminiscent of Criminal Minds' Dr. Spencer Reid.  I can't list the other elements which were re-introduced without giving away key plot points and some fun surprises.  What I will say is that the inclusion of said elements may signal shift back to classic  007 story telling.
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Pictures within the entry are linked to products which may be purchased from Amazon.
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Foreign Americas

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A few weeks ago I was at the movie End Of Watch, about a pair of uniformed officers who patrol the mean streets of downtown L.A. .   It's one of these films that prides itself in being realistically gritty.  As I watched the movie, I noticed the heroes of the piece interacted with basically two kinds of people.

1. Civilians - These people just wanted to be left alone and wondered, from day to day, whether they'd be a victim  of a violent crime.

2. Gang Members - These characters were more than willing to sell drugs, and slaves, in order to make enough money to keep partying and remain high.  Crime & killing were so second nature to this group that they nicknamed their leader "Big Evil," relishing the cruelty they inflicted on a daily basis.

While these characters were "Americans," it struck me that I was watching a story about a completely foreign way of life.  It was a totally different America than my America.


My America is centered around middle income suburbia.  In my America we keep our lawns nice, join churches and/or other social/volunteer groups, see a movie & maybe eat out on the weekend, read some good books, and a few times a year we treat ourselves to a major concert or sporting event.  Such a life sounds completely normal to me, but it may very well sound as bizarre to an inner urban American as constantly getting high and carrying machine guns sounds to me.

Someone from The Ozarks would have a hard time identifying with a native of Chicago, while a laid back resident of Haight Ashbury may find it difficult to see eye to eye with a Wall Street player.  Yet, at the end of the day we're all Americans.  It's in that capacity that we're due to come together, in a little under two weeks, to choose a common leader.

Rather than voting for who will best lead America as a whole, we'll each be choosing the candidate who best represents our version of America.  Being middle class, I'm pretty set on the guy who's going to deliver health care to those around me.  On the flip side, the aforementioned Wall Street player, who makes his bread & butter from investments, is going to identify with the guy promising capital gains tax cuts.  Does that make me right and him wrong?  Well, I think so, but he thinks the reverse.

What's my point?  My point is that those of us with strong informed opinions can't afford to sit back and trust that voters will hit upon "the right answer."  In the end, the election won't be decided by which side is objectively right, but by which versions of America can deliver more voters to the polls.
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Apple Yard - A Verse

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Each evening, weather permitting, I take a thirty minute stroll to put some fresh air into my lungs and clear my head.  The following verse has been inspired by an actual yard I pass each night on those strolls.
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Apple Yard
The sharp sweet bite of alcohol assaulted J’s nostrils as he passed the chrome mesh fence.   Through the links J could clearly see piles of, what had been fresh Red Delicious Apples, now brown wrinkled corpses of neglected fruit; their once sugary juices fermenting unchecked.

Dangling above the mounds of rot, J saw bright red orbs of delectable produce awaiting their wasted fate.   Pangs teased his stomach.  He smacked his lips at the thought of  plundering the otherwise unwanted treasure.  Yet, a gleaming white sign promised prosecution of all those who traversed the fence.

J continued down the lonely road, the smell fading slowly from his weary senses.
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Rant From My Sick Bed

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This year, my retired mother has earned the title of Master Gardner from OSU.  She enjoys keeping her lawn and garden up to snuff, and is actually quite skilled at it.  Being on the cusp of autumn last Saturday (September 22), I accompanied her to a local nursery  to pick out some; pumpkins, corn stalks, mums, etc...; to give her lawn the feeling of fall.

Upon entering the plant based business we found ourselves amidst a virtual winter wonder land.  A sweeping array of crystal ornaments hung majestically from snow flocked trees as replicas of snowflakes, churches, reindeer and other Christmas icons adorned the room.

I was pretty disgusted by the whole display.   Don't misunderstand, I'm not someone who'd deny Bob Cratchet an extra piece of coal to stay warm.   No, no, no, Dickens wasn't writing about me; I love Christmas.  I simply found the earliness of the display to be extremely tacky, to the point of crassness.

I told myself right then and there that I was going to do a blog on the extended commercialization of the season.  I was going to point out that the autumn items we'd actually come for were way in the back of the nursery.  I was going to research and compare Christmas shopping seasons from year to year.  That blog didn't happen.

On the evening of my shopping trip, I was flossing and the floss slipped a bit between two of my lower teeth.  I thought little of it and went to bed.  By morning, my bottom gum was crimson, black, and blue with infection.  My gum hurt.  My teeth hurt.  My head throbbed.  I was literally living on soup, mashed potatoes, and pudding because I couldn't chew without searing  pain.  I found my, otherwise active, self reduced to napping and watching TV in between doses of Percogesic.

Fortunately, I have very good  health insurance thru the State of Oregon, and by Tuesday I had a filled prescription for Amoxicillin from my dentist.  The pills are helping, slowly but surely, and I should be back on solid food by Monday.

While I was battling my ailment though, I wondered what I would've done if I'd not been covered.  Then I remembered Mitt Romney's statement, "There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it...."

Granted, nowhere in the constitution is the right to health care guaranteed.  Yet, in a day when we can communicate with anyone in the civilized world within minutes and send robots to Mars, surely providing health care for its citizens should be a basic function of our government.  What else does "provide for the general welfare mean," if not that?   Without such coverage, I would still be in agony, lacking the energy to type this or preform any other productive task.

Even though millions of American men, women, & children currently suffer without such coverage, Mitt Romney, if elected President, has vowed to repeal Obamacare, the law which will cover as many as 30 million uninsured Americans by 2014.  Whether or not he CAN realistically repeal the law on his first day in office is beside the point.  The fact that he wants to take promised coverage away from awaiting recipients is a frightening thought which I hope will decide the election for most voters.
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This Summer's Salmagundi

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Introduction:
 
Salmagundi: [sal-muh-guhn-dee]
noun
1. a mixed dish consisting usually of cubed poultry or fish, chopped meat, anchovies, eggs, onions, oil, etc., often served as a salad.
2. any mixture or miscellany.

In my last newsletter, I promised  I'd do my next blog on the best & worst new TV shows of 2012.   Due to health issues though, I've neglected this blog during most of this summer, and there are a few other things I want to talk about as well.  Thus, this entry will feature said reviews, but will be a hodge-podge, or salmagundi, of topics which will serve as a summer wrap up.  Hopefully, I'll be able to  post on  more consistent schedule this fall, which is practically already upon us.
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Best New Show:

Undoubtedly, the best new show, or at least the most intelligent new show, is HBO's The Newsroom, created and written by Aaron Sorkin, creator of the politically charged drama, The West Wing. The series chronicles the behind-the-scenes events at the fictional Atlantis Cable News (ACN) channel. The show features Jeff Daniels as anchor Will McAvoy, who, together with his staff set out to put on a truly informative news show in the face of corporate and commercial obstacles. 

Being a prime time show on a premium cable channel, the show, of course, features a juicy love triangle and a story of true love denied.   Beyond the heartbreak of unrequited love however, is the more intriguing story of a news team who just wants to educate the public, ratings be damned.

What makes this show a delight to watch is  Sorkin's use of real news events and issues within each episode.  From the New Orleans oil spill, to shooting of Giffords, to the Presidential Primary Debates the show attempts to explore how each story should have been handled in order to provide the American people with the most accurate information.

On a final interesting note, The West Wing was often accused of "Republican bashing" during its tenure on NBC.  Perhaps in an attempt to avoid such criticism this time, Sorkin has made his new hero,  McAvoy, a Republican, albeit an extremely moderate one with many of the creator's liberal leanings.
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Worst New Show:

I need to start this section by explaining that I have absolutely no use for, so called, Reality TV unless it's somehow food related.  I find most reality shows to be extremely low brow and insulting to anyone who is indeed smarter than a fifth grader.  NBC's Stars Earn Stripes is certainly no exception.

Don't misunderstand, I'm the biggest flag waving son of a biscuit eating Uncle Sam you're ever likely to meet.  I'm all for supporting and honoring our troops.  That's not what this show does.  Eight celebrities each team with a special ops specialist to compete in a series of live fire exercises as a concerned general watches a live video feed from his tent, and paces back & forth.

Yes, the competitors are shooting real ammo at prearranged targets.  However, NOBODY'S SHOOTING BACK!  To compare these games to actual live combat, especially when we actually have real soldiers harm's way, is incredibly tacky.  It devalues actual sacrifices being made by our troops by making it look like any buff actor or female wrestler can do what our troops do every day.
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The 2012 Summer Olympics:

This year, I eagerly watched The 2012 Olympics, well the first week of them anyway.  By the second week, I was pretty much Olympicked out.  The opening ceremonies were a brilliant summary of the history and culture of The British Isles.  I didn't even mind Paul McCartney opening the games, which stress anti-doping rules, with a diddy about LSD.  Yet, as I watched the games themselves, I found myself grow increasingly frustrated by bizarre officiating.

Being primarily a boxing fan, one glaring example of bizarre officiating comes immediately to mind.  Azerbaijani boxer, Magomed Abdulhamidov, started the third round of an elimination bout with a two-point lead.  In the third round, he touched the canvas, was knocked down, six times by Satoshi Shimizu of Japan. Rather than delivering a minimum three standing eight counts and scoring the round in favor of Shimizu, Referee Ishanguly Meretnyyazov, from Turkmenistan, waved off all six knockdowns and the judges scored the round with mysterious 10-10 tie score giving the bout to Magomed Abdulhamidov.

Even with the six knockdown blows being ignored, one could theoretically accept the round having been scored 10-10 if one could only point to the ten scoring blows which Abdulhamidov supposedly landed in the third round.  Nobody seems to be able to spot those blows while watching the tape however.  While this particular bout was later over turned, and Referee Ishanguly Meretnyyazov was expelled from the game, erroneous results of bout after bout featuring; mystery points being awarded, legitimate points being ignored, and Teddy Atlas throwing spastic hissy fits from ringside; were allowed to stand.

Additionally, Gymnast Jordyn Wieber did not advance to the all-around final due to the rule limiting participating countries to two competitors in the all-around final, even though her scores were greater than many of her foreign competitors.  Yes, rules are rules, but the rule in question strikes me as being a politically motivated rule, designed to keep certain countries from dominating an event, rather than a sporting rule, designed to find the best competitor within the sport.

Sure, many athletes legitimately won their events.   Misty May-Treanor & Kerri Walsh Jennings are the women's beach volleyball champs.  Missy Franklin is a champion swimmer and seemingly a complete sweetheart.  Ashton Eaton is a gold medal decathlete.  I'm not knocking any of them, or anyone else who trained, sacrificed, and brought medals back to their country.  I'm simply saying that bizarre officiating and politically motivated rules have taken the wind from my Olympic sails, and I probably won't be as gung-ho to watch it four years from now.
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The National Election - Economics:

I'm an unapologetic liberal.  Thus, I was going to steer clear of talking about the election this year simply because when I correct something Romney  said, or give Obama a thumbs up, my liberal bias shows and people tend to write my points off as predictable.  Fair enough.

Yet, I keep hearing people who should know better saying that Romney's plan to cut tax rates for corporations and the wealthy is the best way to fix the economy.  The argument is that tax cuts free up money to create jobs.

That sounds good until you take into account the fact that it's never worked before.  It didn't work under Reagan or either Bush, Sr. or Jr., and there's no reason to believe it will magically work under Romney.  Trickle down economics fails every time because the tax savings trickles into bonuses for top executives then stops before the money reach levels where it can fuel the economy with new jobs.

Of course, if they're referring to capitol gains tax cuts, partner run financial advising companies, which have no employees other than a few secretaries, stand to make millions in tax savings without creating a single job.  Thus, those millions are denied to local, state, and federal budgets while society as a whole sees no return on that sacrifice.

The Institute On Taxation And Economic Policy conducted a study comparing states with the lowest income tax rates to states with the highest income tax rates.  According to the study, the states with higher tax rates have much more robust economies across the board.  One likely explanation for these numbers is that when businesses look for states to move their employees to they look for areas with healthy infrastructures; roads, schools, police, mass transit; which are supported by tax dollars.   Hence, the areas with the most tax dollars in the kitty can build the strongest infrastructures which thereby attract new businesses.

Bottom line, I'm not sure how Romney's plan to give corporations more than a trillion dollars in tax cuts is going to work in paying off the deficit, unless he's planning to make sacrifices to infrastructure and cut essential services; medical care, food stamps, heating assistance, etc...;  from people who need them to survive.
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The National Election - Hoppy Tactics:

I have to say, Obama is a bit of a crafty fox.  For the last few weeks, he's appeared on The Today Show, and other news shows, talking about the White House's line of craft beers; Honey Ale, Honey Blonde, and Honey Porter.   Meanwhile, newspapers are being fed stories about citizens clambering for the recipe, and they're being reminded of The Beer Summit which saw our president calm racial tensions between black Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and white Cambridge, Mass., police Sgt. James Crowley over pints of the frosty beverage.

What makes this so cleaver is that Romney has no obvious counter move, since Mormons don't drink alcohol of any kind.  Obama alone gets to sell himself as someone who'd have a beer with the guys.  "He's one of us, he drinks beer," is the message the DNC wants us to internalize without anyone actually verbalizing it.

It's brilliant!
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One Final Note:

 Mr. Todd Akin, rape is rape.  'Nuff said.
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