'Best of TBH Politoons'
Baron Dave Romm
Iron Man and Indiana Jones 4
By Baron Dave Romm
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Hail! Hail! The Gang's At Home!
Sorry for the short column this week, but the weather's been nice and I'm going back outside soon.
Of course, it hasn't been nice continuously. Yesterday (5/31) a hailstorm hit Minneapolis. "Golfball sized hail" was repeated a lot. I live near downtown, and we didn't get a pummeling quite that bad. For a few minutes it hailed followed by a downpour followed by more hail. I have some pictures, but streets full of small white sphere's aren't very interesting, and they melted away quickly. We had a short but sweet rainbow, then it was back to normal.
Iron Man
The latest comic book to make it to the big screen is Iron Man. For some reason, movies of comic books tend to do the origin story first. Sometimes more than once, eg Batman and Batman Begins. Not all origin stories are the best way to introduce a cartoon character, though Tony Stark has an interesting one that's timely again. Unfortunately for the movies, Iron Man's origins are rooted in the Vietnam War of the 50s-60s. Fortunately for the movies, they don't have to stick to the history on the comics.
The 60s comic careens off Vietnam without mentioning communism; the 00's movie careens off Afghanistan without mentioning terrorism. And it works splendidly. Iraq is another quagmire started by a president from Texas who lied to the American people to get us into a war mainly so his friends could make money. Even more than the comic, the movie distinguished between the bravery of our fighting forces and the cowardice of the people who send them to danger.
I was never a big Iron Man fan, largely because it was written by Stan Lee. Stan is a great editor but a terrible writer. (He's having an enormous amount of fun playing himself in the movies, though he's referred to as "Hef" in this one.) I haven't read an Iron Man comic in decades, but caught most of the sly references (I think). Tony Stark always struck me as a Batman-type: Rich playboy with no superpowers who becomes a hero because he can afford the equipment and has time to train himself to use it. Richard Downey Jr. give it the Our Man Flint take on the super rich, a Richard Branson type of wisecracking sybarite who has worked his own way to his billions.
The movie doesn't make a perfect translation from the comics. Stark smashes into walls and then gets up and walks away. That may work in the comics, but these kinds of incidents take me out of the movie. While they give lip service to fuel supply, Iron Man flies literally half-way around the world, has a big fight, and flies back on just the supply in a person-sized suit. He could make several fortunes selling this to the army, or blackmailing Saudi Arabia so he doesn't release the formula.
Iron Man is very good when it could have been bad. On the Shockwave Radio Theater scale of 9 to 23, where 9 is bad and 23 is the top, I'd give Iron Man about a 20 or 21.
And yes, stay until after the credits.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Where Raiders of the Lost Ark was an amalgam of serials from the 30s and 40s, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a mish-mash of movies and themes from the 50s. This series entry starts out as a Cold War-Biker epic. Indy gets caught up with Soviet spies on US soil before meeting a Marlon Brando-ish drop-out on his hog. Merrily zipping between jungle epics, cheap sci-fi flicks and screwball comedies, the action rarely lets up.
We meet Indiana Jones 19 years after the chronicle of his previous adventure. Age joke abound. But Dr. Jones may have aged, but he hasn't matured.
"What's he going to do now?"
"I don't know that he thinks that far ahead."
George Lucas is credits with the Story and, separately, with Characters. he gets credit for the previous Indiana Jones movies even as a script doctor is called in to rescue this one. Lucas hasn't been able to write dialog for a long time, and the snappy patter of the first movie is long gone, diffused into kvetching and retorts. Every now and then someone gets off a good line, or some dialog resonates, but not enough.
Director Stephen Spielberg is at the top of his game playing with toys. Interestingly (at least to me), I had just seen Spielberg in The Blues Brothers (he plays the Cook County clerk near the end). The very first sequence of Crystal Skull is a drag race along a desert highway. There are astonishing bits of cinematography, as the camera sees one car roaring down the road in the polished chrome of the other, then swings to seeing the first car in the chrome of the second. Lots of fun high-speed chases. Spielberg's specialty is the moving close-up.
On the other hand, it's sloppily made, with several mismatched edits. A person will be smiling in the close-up and wearing a different expression in the immediate cut to a long shot. Sometimes it seems the action wasn't blocked well, or the script wasn't that well thought out.
The four movies don't exactly have a story arc, but there are repeating characters and references to events in the past. To say more would be to spoil some of the twists. While the movie stands up on its own far more than the Star Wars Prequels, I suspect that it's major audience will be those who want to see Indy one more time. I enjoyed Crystal Skull, but I hope it's the last. Unless they restart the sequence ala the Bond movies... but I can wait.
I had a good time without feeling like I was in the moment. It's not a great movie, but it's a good one, On the Shockwave Radio Theater scale of 9 to 23, where 9 is lousy and 23 is great, I'd give Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull about an 18 or 19.
And no, you don't have to stay for the credits.
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia who produces Shockwave Radio Theater, writes in a Live Journal demi-blog, plays with a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. Dave Romm reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E. Podcasts of Shockwave Radio Theater. Permanent archive. More radio programs, interviews and science fiction humor plays can be accessed on the Shockwave Radio audio page.
Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air.
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Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Mark Weisbrot: "U.S. Economy: The Worst is Yet to Come" (Huffington Post; Posted on AlterNet.org)
Nobody can predict exactly where the bottom will be, but it's clear that we're not even close to hitting it.
Kat Cohen: "The Truth About Summer Work for College Bound Teens" (huffingtonpost.com)
I'm in a state of shock, dumbfounded actually. Is CNN really encouraging students to lifeguard for the summer?
Andrew Tobias: Barney Frank's Non-Fundraising Letter (andrewtobias.com)
So I am writing this to you simply to stay in touch, and it includes no request whatsoever for money, praise, moral support or anything else. It is simply a letter to people who have been extremely good friends and who have made the career that I continue to enjoy possible.
Joel Stein: Make it a gay-old time (latimes.com)
C'mon, senior citizens, vote for same-sex marriage -- it's the future.
Chez Pazienza: American Idiots (huffingtonpost.com)
The fact that Ben Silverman is not only successful but has become so via the control of so much of NBC programming is all the proof you need of both the existence and virility of pacts with Satan.
Vanessa Richmond: What Does the Decay of Journalism Have to Do with My Huge Appetite for Celebrity Gossip? (The Tyee; Posted on alternet.org)
Not much.
Jon Bream: R&B ingénue Chrisette Michele doesn't want to bring the Payne onstage (Star Tribune)
She has recorded with hip-hop stars Jay-Z, Nas and the Roots, performed three times on David Letterman's show and earned a gold record for her debut album. But rising R&B star Chrisette Michele's biggest honor came two weeks ago. She received her college degree.
David Medsker: Charlotte Sometimes Interview (bullz-eye.com)
BE: What is the hardest thing about being a woman rocker that people outside the biz would never understand?
CS: Having PMS. I think I should get those days off!
Jeff Giles: A Chat with Steve Winwood (bullz-eye.com)
BE: I've always loved the story about how you accidentally erased the drums on the introduction to "While You See a Chance," and subsequently ended up with the now-famous synth intro.
SW: Right, yeah. You know, a lot of things like that end up being happy accidents. The mother of invention in music is necessity, not Frank Zappa!
Rob Horning: Hurray for Hype (popmatters.com)
Enjoying popular culture is necessarily a social experience; hype supplies the ground rules.
Hubert's Poetry Corner
BEAMING it UP GEORGE W, SCOTTY
Two Texas guys reachin' for the short hairs in a hissin' contest?
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and cool.
Fire Destroys Sets, More
Universal Studios
One of Hollywood's largest movie studios starred in a disastrous sequel Sunday as a fire ripped through a lot at Universal Studios, destroying a set from "Back to the Future," a King Kong exhibit and a streetscape seen frequently in movies and TV shows.
It was the second fire at the historic site in nearly two decades, leveling facades, hollowing out buildings and creating the kind of catastrophe filmmakers relish re-creating. This time around, thousands of videos chronicling Universal's movie and TV shows were destroyed in the blaze.
The blaze broke out on a sound stage featuring New York brownstone facades around 4:30 a.m. at the 400-acre property, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Michael Freeman said. The fire was contained to the lot, but about 400 firefighters were still trying to put it out several hours later.
At one point the blaze was two city blocks wide, and low water pressure forced firefighters to get reserves from lakes and ponds on the property.
Universal Studios
Electric Car Project
Neil Young
Neil Young, the rocker who provided some of the soundtrack to Vietnam-era protests, is trying to change the world again - with his car.
Young has teamed up with Johnathan Goodwin, a Wichita mechanic who has developed a national reputation for re-engineering the power units of big cars to get more horsepower but use less fuel.
The two are looking to convert Young's 1959 Lincoln Continental convertible to operate on an electric battery. Ultimately, they said, they want the Continental to provide a model for the world's first affordable mass-produced electric-powered automobile.
"Johnathan and this car are going to make history," Young told The Wichita Eagle. "We're going to change the world; we're going to create a car that will allow us to stop giving our wealth to other countries for petroleum."
Neil Young
Memory Lives On In Scholarships
Mr. Rogers
The man in the cardigan himself would've been glad to welcome the Fred Rogers Memorial Scholarship winners to his neighborhood, his widow said.
The three college students, whose names were announced Sunday, are part of a series of "wonderful young people" who've been recognized by the 4-year-old scholarship program named for her husband, the children's TV host, said Joanne Rogers.
Michael Robb of the University of California, Riverside; Sabrina Connell of the University of Connecticut and Ronald McCants of UC San Diego each receive a $10,000 scholarship. Their media projects and studies focus on such issues as children's literacy and health.
Joanne Rogers, mother of two sons and grandmother of three boys, including a 5-year-old, said her husband believed that when it came to being a parent, "the best gift you can give is your honest self."
Mr. Rogers
Escapes Crane Collapse
Robert Iler
Sopranos actor Robert Iler owns an apartment in a New York block that was struck by a crane that fell and killed two construction workers on Friday.
Iler - who played A.J. Soprano in the hit series - was at home in the Upper East Side building when the tumbling 62 metre (200 foot) tower crane struck.
The crane was working on a new 32-story-apartment block when it collapsed and destroyed many apartments in Iler's neighbouring building.
According to TMZ.com, the 23-year-old actor - who had lived in the block for several years - felt the impact and heard people screaming, although his home was not affected.
Robert Iler
End Combat Mission
Australian Troops
Australian troops ended their combat mission in Iraq on Sunday and are withdrawing from the country, Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said.
The 550-strong force will leave their base in southern Iraq, fulfilling a promise made by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd ahead of his election last November to bring troops home from the conflict by mid-year.
Australia joined the US-led campaign in Iraq in early 2003 but no Australian Defence Force troops were killed in combat in the country.
Canberra will still have 1,000 personnel deployed in support of the war but only a small security and liaison force will remain in Iraq itself. Most will be working from nearby countries on two maritime surveillance aircraft and a warship which helps patrol offshore oil platforms.
Australian Troops
Rock Pile Is Children's Work
Uganda
Stephen Batte works in a quarry under the blazing sun, chipping rocks into gravel with a homemade hammer. It's tiring, boring and dangerous.
Stephen is 9 years old, and has been on the rock pile since he was 4. His mother, the woman who taught him to smash rocks when he was a toddler, was killed here in a landslide in August.
His T-shirt torn and his feet bare, Stephen is one of hundreds of people who work in the quarry on the outskirts of Uganda's capital, Kampala. Their shabby figures sit hunched over their heaps of gravel. The chink of metal against stone bounces off the rock faces.
Most of the workers are refugees who fled a civil war in northern Uganda. Now they make 100 Uganda shillings, 6 U.S. cents, for every 5-gallon bucket that they fill with chipped rocks. Stephen works 12 hours a day to fill three buckets.
Uganda
Fund Raiser
Butterfly Ball
Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher and several of their famous colleagues - including newlyweds Charlie Sheen and Brooke Mueller - spread their wings Saturday night at the exclusive Butterfly Ball fundraiser benefiting Chrysalis, a Los Angeles-based organization that helps homeless men and women find jobs and homes.
Sheen and Mueller created a stir among photographers and reporters when they arrived on the ball's purple carpet. It was the first public appearance by the recently married couple, who wed Friday night. The "Two and a Half Men" star and real estate developer were engaged last summer after meeting at the Chrysalis Butterfly Ball in 2006. The newlyweds didn't stay for this year's ceremony.
Inside, the evening almost served as a "That '70s Show" reunion. Before dinner, Topher Grace stopped by Kutcher's table, just a few seats away from fellow former "'70s Show" co-star Mila Kunis. Kutcher and Grace were interrupted by 15-year-old singer Spensha Baker, who performed after Geffen Records chairman Ron Fair was honored. Baker was eager to meet the "What Happens in Vegas" star.
The casts of "Grey's Anatomy" and "Private Practice" were also out en masse to laud executive producer Mark Gordon during the ceremony, which was attended by over 800 people. Among them: Katherine Heigl, Kate Walsh, Tim Daly, Eric Dane, T.R. Knight and Justin Chambers, who has no idea what will ensue following his character Alex's steamy season finale kiss with Heigl's Izzie.
Butterfly Ball
Surge In Popularity
Ghost-Hunting
About 90 people tiptoed around night-vision cameras atop tiny silver tripods and dodged remote sensors connected to a computerized surveillance system. They waited for the Lincoln Ghost Train, which some people believe passes through this western Ohio city on the anniversary of the 1865 trip that carried the president's body to Springfield, Ill., for burial.
Ghost-hunting groups around the country are swelling with members - their popularity fuelled by television shows, the Internet and the increasing availability of high-tech equipment.
"Academics pooh-pooh all of this usually," said Julieanne Phillips, an assistant professor at Urbana University who invited the ghost hunters and organized the vigil that also included about 80 students and residents. "I'm hoping for some vindication that there might be some type of paranormal activity surrounding this."
Thirty-four per cent of Americans say they believe in ghosts, according to a survey conducted in October by The Associated Press and Ipsos.
Ghost-Hunting
Recycling Plan Spoiled
Composting
Police in Iowa say a man caught with a large quantity of marijuana claimed all he had in mind was recycling.
A complaint by the Johnson County Sheriff's Office says the 30-year-old man told police in Iowa City that he planned to turn several large bags of marijuana into compost.
Officers report the bags he had when he was arrested early Saturday held a "gallon" or more of marijuana each.
The complaint says officers didn't buy the compost story. The suspect remained in jail Sunday without posting $14,000 bail on a charge of possessing marijuana with intent to distribute.
Composting
More Catholic Enlightenment
Carol Race
Carol Race thinks it's important for her 13-year-old son to be in church on Sundays for Catholic Mass.
Leaders of the Church of St. Joseph once felt the same way, but not anymore. They say Race's autistic son Adam is disruptive and his erratic behavior threatens the safety of other parishioners.
The northern Minnesota church has obtained a restraining order to keep Adam away, an action that has been deeply hurtful to the Race family and has brought them support from parents of other autistic children.
"My son is not dangerous," Carol Race said. The church's action is "about a certain community's fears of him. Fears of danger versus actual danger," she said.
Carol Race
Weekend Box Office
'Sex and the City'
Sarah Jessica Parker and her gal pals have not lost their sex appeal. The big-screen "Sex and the City" - reuniting Parker and TV co-stars Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon - strutted to a $55.7 million opening weekend, far exceeding Hollywood's box office expectations.
That was nearly twice the forecast by distributor Warner Bros., whose head of distribution, Dan Fellman, said he had hoped the movie might deliver a $30 million debut.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Sex and the City," $55.7 million.
2. "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," $46 million.
3. "The Strangers," $20.7 million.
4. "Iron Man," $14 million.
5. "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian," $13 million.
6. "What Happens in Vegas," $6.9 million.
7. "Baby Mama," $2.2 million.
8. "Speed Racer," $2.1 million.
9. "Made of Honor," $2 million.
10. "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," $1 million.
Sex and the City
In Memory
Yves Saint Laurent
Legendary designer Yves Saint Laurent, who reworked the rules of fashion by putting women into elegant pantsuits that came to define how modern women dressed, died Sunday evening, a longtime friend and associate said. He was 71.
A towering figure of 20th century fashion, Saint Laurent was widely considered the last of a generation that included Christian Dior and Coco Chanel and made Paris the fashion capital of the world, with the Rive Gauche, or Left Bank, as its elegant headquarters.
In the fast-changing world of haute couture, Saint Laurent was hailed as the most influential and enduring designer of his time. From the first YSL tuxedo and his trim pantsuits to see-through blouses, safari jackets and glamorous gowns, Saint Laurent created instant classics that remain stylish decades later.
Saint Laurent was born Aug. 1, 1936, in Oran, Algeria, where his father worked as a shipping executive. He first emerged as a promising designer at the age of 17, winning first prize in a contest sponsored by the International Wool Secretariat for a cocktail dress design.
A year later in 1954, he enrolled at the Chambre Syndicale school of haute couture, but student life lasted only three months. He was introduced to Christian Dior, then regarded as the greatest creator of his day, and Dior was so impressed with Saint Laurent's talent that he hired him on the spot.
When Dior died suddenly in 1957, Saint Laurent was named head of the House of Dior at the age of 21. The next year, his first solo collection for Dior - the "trapeze" line - launched Saint Laurent's stardom. The trapeze dress - with its narrow shoulders and wide, swinging skirt - was a hit, and a breath of fresh air after years of constructed clothing, tight waists and girdles.
In 1960, Saint Laurent was drafted into military service - an experience that shattered the delicate designer, who by the end of the year was given a medical discharge for nervous depression.
Bouts of depression marked his career. Pierre Berge, the designer's longtime business partner and former romantic partner, was quoted as saying that Saint Laurent was born with a nervous breakdown.
Yves Saint Laurent
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