'TBH Politoons'
Baron Dave Romm
Superman Returns
By Baron Dave Romm
Thumbs down on Superman Returns. It's directly in the line of Superman movies starting with the 1978 version, and doesn't work at all. Brandon Routh is okay as a Christopher Reeve replacement and his cape flaps nicely, but only okay. His part is so poorly written that in the movie's best scene (after a rescue... you'll know it when you see it...) he doesn't know where to stand. Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane makes you hanker for Margot Kidder. The plot is dumb, the special effect are poor and Perry White's editorial instincts are bad enough that he belongs on Fox, not at the Daily Planet. Jimmy Olson still is a cub reporter. (It's nice that they brought back the Jimmy and Lois from the 50s tv show. But they spend a lot of time too self-consciously not being the 50s tv show with strained attempts at wit, and don't use either of them to effect.) The movie doesn't know what time period it wants to be in: The 30s, the 70s or today. Kevin Spacey is the best part of the movie: Gene Hackman played Lex Luthor more broadly, and Spacey is deliciously comical as well. In addition, Spacey is creepy and you can believe he's that evil.
I find I have very little to say about Superman Returns. Even the credits aren't as good as the first movie. A full review would contain too many plot spoilers, which I don't want to do. On the Shockwave scale of 9 to 23, where 23 is good, I'd give Superman Returns about a 14, with Kevin Spacey being at least two pips of that. Avoid.
A quick non-spoiler: You don't have to stay around until after the credits.
Hmm... this is shorter than usual, so here's a few bonus comments.
My Congressman is retiring after 28 years. Martin Olav Sabo, a stern and liberal Lutheran, has represented this district well. Here in Minnesota, a political party endorsement is a plus, but no guarantee of victory in the primary, though this is safely a Democratic seat. I had a chance to interview the DFL's endorsed candidate, Keith Ellison, July 1st. Ellison is currrently a state representative, and has been a defense lawyer and community radio host. If elected to national office, Ellison would be the first African-American to represent Minnesota (at least that I can think of) and the first Muslim in Congress. I didn't know anything about the guy except for the Keith Ellison web site and various unflattering portrayals in the conservative news media.
As a science fiction humor show, I usually reduce politics to making fun of it and perhaps interviewing office holders. But this is an important election for the Congressional District we broadcast from. Whoever wins the election is likely to be our Congressman for a couple of decades so we need to choose well. As much as you can get to know someone in a short period, I liked Ellison and would be proud to have him as our district's standard-bearer. I'll talk to the other candidates before making a final decision, but Ellison has the inside track at the moment.
I haven't made the podcast or put the mp3 on my site as yet, but if you want to hear the interview (in Real Audio) click here until the afternoon of July 8, and here from July 8 to July 15. Shockwave starts a minute or two into the file.
But I can poke fun at anybody. I'm going to have the Green Party endorsed candidate on in a few weeks. I wonder if the Republican endorsed candidate will have the guts to return my phone calls...
George Orwell is laughing: The Bush administration accuses itself of treason. US monitoring of SWIFT transactions have been known for some time.
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 being reworked. Recent radio programs 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
Mike Ferner: 'Has this country gone completely insane?' (smirkingchimp.com)
This afternoon, drinking a cup of coffee while sitting in the Jesse Brown V.A. Medical Center on Chicago's south side, a Veterans Administration cop walked up to me and said, "OK, you've had your 15 minutes, it's time to go." "Huh?", I asked intelligently, not quite sure what he was talking about. "You can't be in here protesting," officer Adkins said, pointing to my Veterans For Peace shirt.
Roger Ebert: Cabiria (1914; A Great Movie)
Consider another scene where warriors with shields approach a city wall. Eight of them (as I recall) bend double and put their shields on their backs. Six climb onto those shields, bend double and put their own shields on their backs. Four more stand on them, and two more on them, and at last the hero is able to climb this human pyramid and reach the top of the wall. This is a stunt taking place in one shot before our eyes, and if the legs of one of the warriors had buckled, it would not have been a pretty sight. Because all of this is so palpably real, there is an undeniable sense of wonder in seeing it achieved, as there is when Douglas Fairbanks Sr. or Buster Keaton do their own stunts in shots deliberately photographed so we can see they were not faked.
Roger Ebert: Wassup Rockers (3 Stars)
The only subject [Larry Clark] feels any passion for is, obviously, the private lives of teenagers. Does that make him a pervert? Look at it this way. Hollywood has a cottage industry in Dead Teenager Movies, all devising formulas in which the young characters die in sudden and colorful ways. Clark listens to them and takes them seriously. His films may be the only truthful ones about some aspects of American adolescence, however we might wish that were not so. "Wassup Rockers," for better and worse, is about lives that might actually be lived.
Rose Yndigoyen: Queer Women in Webcomics: A Primer (afterellen.com)
Although comics for queer women are still a small niche within the wider webcomic community, the ones that rise to the top of the existing pack are some of the most exciting reading you can find online.
Jesus Chrsist: There's No Way I'm Saving That Guy (theonion.com)
All right. I realize I am supposed to be all-merciful, universally loving, the Light and the Way and everything, but even a divine avatar of the Supreme Being's loving grace has His limits. I know I've said many times that there is always room for one more-even the lowliest-at the table of the Lord, but even so, there is just no freaking way I'm redeeming this S.O.B.
Tully Satre: Why do "family" groups destroy families? (advocate.com)
With hundreds of millions of dollars to spend, right-wing so-called "family" groups ought to be helping LGBT youth instead of alienating them from their conservative parents.
James Hillis: The Great Pink Scare (afterelton.com)
Based in part on Barry Werth's 2002 book The Scarlet Professor, The Great Pink Scare's title plays on Werth's assertion that in 1950's America "It was more dangerous to be discovered as a homosexual than it was to be discovered as a communist."
Karman Kregloe: Writing with Heart: Journalist Anne Stockwell (afterellen.com)
Ultimately, Stockwell's love of the "gay beat" is due to her belief that, "Gay people are the most imaginative, enterprising, resourceful people on earth. And they're brave and steadfast. I really have loved the chance to learn more about us."
Comic: Boobs Ahoy (boobsahoy.comicgenesis.com)
Comic: Yu+Me (yume.comicgen.com/)
Hubert's Poetry Corner
RICKY TACKY WACKY
PROTECT YOUR FAMILY FROM THIS MOST UNNATURAL ACT!
Filling For Jay Marvin TODAY
Erin Hart
Erin Hart sits in for Jay Marvin on
Boulder's Progressive AM 760, Monday, July 3 & Tuesday, the 4th.
Monday we talk to Ken Gude, Associate Director of the International Rights
and Responsibilities Program at the Center for American Progress about the
Supreme Court ruling that military tribunals for terror suspects at
Guantanamo Bay in Cuba do not comply with the Geneva Conventions regarding
treatment of prisoners.
Also on Monday, we check in about how the Bush taxes hit most of us with
Colorado's Progressive Coalition. Find out just how regressive these taxes
are. And we follow up on immigration with Keep Colorado Safe. Find out
what they will compromise on and what they will not!
Tuesday, celebrate our country's birth with fireworks supplied by the newest
Americans among us. New citizens are particularly invited to participate.
Joining us will be Minister Jamal Rahman, who recently became a citizen
after living and working in Seattle for several years. Find out what July
4th means to him as a Muslim, as a progressive, as a new citizen.
That and so much more-please check out
erinhartshow.com for further details (or drop
marty a note).
Adventure is everywhere. . .
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still hot, still humid.
The ant farm experiment is officially over.
No new flags.
Darfur Needs More
Mia Farrow
Mia Farrow, who recently returned from her second trip to Darfur, says more international aid is desperately needed in the western Sudan province.
The actress and U.N. Children's Fund goodwill ambassador told ABC's "This Week" that in Darfur alone, UNICEF has only 20 percent of what it needs to continue its work.
"And that's really why I'm here, to tell people I've seen firsthand that UNICEF and other aid agencies are all that there is right now to sustain these lives, keeping people alive," Farrow said on the show, which aired Sunday.
Mia Farrow
Will Sing In Sarajevo Again
Jose Carreras
Spanish tenor Jose Carreras will sing again in Sarajevo, 12 years after performing in a burned-out library to raise money for rebuilding the war-ravaged Bosnian capital.
The singer said Saturday that he will perform July 10 with the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Spanish conductor David Jimenez as part of a music festival.
Carreras said he was excited to be returning to Bosnia, where in June 1994 he joined conductor Zubin Mehta and other stars in a charity performance of Mozart's Requiem Mass at the National Library, which had been burned to a hulk two years earlier by Serb shelling.
Jose Carreras
TNT Renews For Another Season
'The Closer'
TNT has picked up its red-hot series "The Closer" for a third season.
The cable network has ordered 15 more episodes of the detective drama starring Kyra Sedgwick to run in summer 2007.
The announcement comes two weeks after the show's second-season premiere smashed the ratings record for a basic cable original scripted series with 8.3 million viewers.
'The Closer'
Hospital News
Roger Ebert
Film critic Roger Ebert, who has battled cancer in recent years, was in serious condition at a hospital Sunday following an emergency operation to repair complications from an earlier cancer surgery.
Chicago Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper - co-host of the "Ebert and Roeper" movie review show - told the paper that Ebert's vital signs appeared to be good after the hours-long operation.
About 8 p.m. Saturday, a blood vessel burst near the site of the operation, the Sun-Times reported Sunday on its Web site. A Northwestern Memorial Hospital spokeswoman declined to comment Sunday afternoon.
Roger Ebert
Canada Day Debut
Canadian Guitar
A remarkable acoustic guitar made up of bits and pieces of Canadian history makes its debut Saturday at a Canada Day performance on Parliament Hill. A look at its parts:
The neck: decking from the Bluenose II; the Papineau Manor (built by Louis-Joseph Papineau who led the Lower Canada Rebellion of 1837-38); a bagel shibba from Montreal; oak from the St. Boniface Museum (the oldest building in Winnipeg, where Louis Riel went to school)
Inside: a piece from Fan Tan Alley (Canada's first Chinatown in Victoria); champion skier Nancy Greene's childhood skis; former prime minister Pierre Trudeau's canoe paddle
Maple Leaf pick guard: part of cowboy John Ware's cabin; part of basketball inventor John Naismith's house; an inset of a wooden nickel made out of the third Maid of the Mist built in 1885; red ochre stain from Newfoundland; Paul Henderson's hockey stick; Wayne Gretzky's hockey stick; a seat from the Montreal Forum
For more - Canadian Guitar
Pleads Guilty
Dallas Austin
Grammy-winning producer Dallas Austin, who has crafted songs for TLC, Madonna and Michael Jackson, pleaded guilty Sunday to cocaine charges in the United Arab Emirates, a newspaper reported.
The songwriter, whose life story was loosely depicted in the 2002 movie "Drumline," was arrested May 19 at Dubai's airport.
He was on his way to a three-day birthday party for supermodel Naomi Campbell at a Dubai hotel, the newspaper reported. He was charged with cocaine possession and has been held without bail at a police station, it said.
Dallas Austin
Japanese Revival
Beatlemania
The Beatles visited Japan only once as a band, but the country is commemorating the 40th anniversary of their concerts as if the Fab Four had never left the stage.
Japanese media are lost in Beatlemania, and the hotel where they last stayed in 1966 is offering a special last viewing of their suite before the hotel's demolition.
"We have done our best to restore the presidential suite to how it looked when the Beatles stayed," Michael Miyauchi, of the Capitol Tokyu Hotel, said as lines of fans queued for a viewing. The hotel was the Tokyo Hilton in 1966.
Beatlemania
Amapa, Brazil
Tropical Stonehenge
A grouping of granite blocks along a grassy Amazon hilltop may be the vestiges of a centuries-old astronomical observatory - a find archaeologists say indicates early rainforest inhabitants were more sophisticated than previously believed.
The 127 blocks, some as high as 9 feet tall, are spaced at regular intervals around the hill, like a crown 100 feet in diameter.
On the shortest day of the year - Dec. 21 - the shadow of one of the blocks disappears when the sun is directly above it.
Anthropologists have long known that local indigenous populations were acute observers of the stars and sun. But the discovery of a physical structure that appears to incorporate this knowledge suggests pre-Columbian Indians in the Amazon rainforest may have been more sophisticated than previously suspected.
Tropical Stonehenge
'Too Many Rats Man'
Roger Dier
It all started four years ago when Roger Dier bought a baby rat to feed his pet Indian python. But when he saw the furry little critter squeaking for its life, the lifelong animal lover said he didn't have the heart to let it become just another snake snack.
"I couldn't stand it," he told The Press Democrat of Santa Rosa. "I took the rat out of the cage and got to know it."
After that, Dier was hooked on the rodents, which he described as gentle, lovable and an endless source of entertainment. He later bought four more at the pet store - but didn't think to spay or neuter them.
Last week, animal control officers discovered more than 1,300 rats in Dier's small one-bedroom Petaluma home, after a neighbor complained about the foul smell. He was cited for misdemeanor animal cruelty.
For the rest, Roger Dier
In Memory
George Page
George Page, the creator and host of the long-running PBS series "Nature," died Wednesday. He was 71.
He was a journalist and broadcaster for more than 50 years, and was best known as the voice of the PBS wildlife series.
"Nature" debuted in 1982 and has consistently been one of public television's highest-rated shows. The Emmy and Peabody Award-winning series, produced for public broadcasting by Thirteen/WNET in New York, will begin its 25th season this fall.
Page narrated every episode of "Nature," nearly 300 overall, until retiring from television because of illness in 1998.
Page worked for an NBC affiliate in Atlanta before joining NBC News, where he became a foreign correspondent and covered the Vietnam War.
George Page
In Memory
Lennie Weinrib
Lennie Weinrib, a character actor, writer, director and voice-over artist who brought to life "H.R. Pufnstuf," died Wednesday. He was 71.
Weinrib had a varied career that included working as a standup comic, appearing in the "Billy Barnes Revue" on Broadway in 1959 and co-writing the 1963 joke classic "The Elephant Book."
As a character actor, he appeared on such TV shows as "My Favorite Martian," "77 Sunset Strip," "The Twilight Zone," "The Munsters" and "The Dick Van Dyke Show."
Weinrib also directed low-budget teen movies in the mid-1960s. Yet he garnered the most acclaim as a voice-over artist.
By the mid-1960s, he was supplying voices for everything from Ford and Avis to Pepsodent toothpaste and Hunt's tomato sauce.
He also provided voices for numerous TV cartoons, including "The Addams Family," "The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show," "The New Tom & Jerry Show," and "Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo."
Lennie Weinrib
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