tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56295731553186032672024-03-05T18:01:37.250-05:00The Nth WavePhilosoraptor!ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13809624257332220499noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629573155318603267.post-26181786623761317802009-07-26T00:32:00.007-04:002009-07-27T15:02:48.256-04:00That's Dope!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAhUgP7hDx9lDrn3s0QGHCsYXgk0uCf7auj6C5K43Esbc20lNttNYiU3yLLaGvIrxX6xirc73KGRv9p7NyshkdKDCSLC6vVU3zFwO_qG0OARLnECZuUxUaX-9sACIWzAQVesUuAUrYiyPl/s1600-h/tdf+09+podium.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 265px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAhUgP7hDx9lDrn3s0QGHCsYXgk0uCf7auj6C5K43Esbc20lNttNYiU3yLLaGvIrxX6xirc73KGRv9p7NyshkdKDCSLC6vVU3zFwO_qG0OARLnECZuUxUaX-9sACIWzAQVesUuAUrYiyPl/s400/tdf+09+podium.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363201475248924082" /></a><br /><br />Le Grande Boucle is over, and like the results of many of the recent tours, these are a bit dubious. Now, I don't actually have that big a problem with doping- the training still has to be done, the genetic advantages and mental fortitude present. All the EPO in the world isn't going to make me into a pro cyclist- among other issues, I don't have the mental strength, love of pain, or dedication. And the same is true within the pro peloton- doping isn't going to turn pack fodder into a grand tour contender. Doping makes things faster and punchier, although it does reduce the chances of a game-changing, uber-dramatic collapse on some important col (schadenfreude lends armchair sporting a particular potency). I wouldn't mind a leveling of the drug playing field (as well as some better safety regulations), but all the same, the prevalence of doping doesn't really change the way I watch cycling. And there's the bonus thrills of the "who's doping and what are they taking" game. Quelle thrilling!<br /><br />But I am amused by the increasing brazenness of doping among the GCers. El Pistolero, I'm looking at you.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqLDiWnb42bSUeG2oYouvUYiwW39fvhiTSsZ-TAzkQvRs4kLxeVN-Hv5G7xeBVV3SoHVqnqR1wQgP4fK419X4F_XHLnp2qEhc2NXt0FYs6lhprwv-mjvr2NFT5GuNFNgmLGMeD9bHJL6Mo/s1600-h/pistolero_contador.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 291px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqLDiWnb42bSUeG2oYouvUYiwW39fvhiTSsZ-TAzkQvRs4kLxeVN-Hv5G7xeBVV3SoHVqnqR1wQgP4fK419X4F_XHLnp2qEhc2NXt0FYs6lhprwv-mjvr2NFT5GuNFNgmLGMeD9bHJL6Mo/s400/pistolero_contador.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363204247527765234" /></a><br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><br /><br />Let's review, shall we?<br /><br />1. Homeboy is a climber, that much is clear. But suddenly, he is also beaucoup time trialest! Winner of the Spanish national championship (not that that's saying a <span style="font-style:italic;">whole</span> lot), able to go toe to toe with the best TT specialists in the peloton. 2nd in the prologue! Beats Cancellara in the TT! There's a reason that climbers are rarely great TTers- like sprinting, the disciplines require different physiology. Yeah, you can offset this with training, but only to an extent. And here is Contador, head and shoulders above EVERYONE on the climbs and the very next day, beating everyone against the clock (on the flats!). Think of the Schleck TT performances. Solid, perfectly respectable for GC favorites, but not exactly leaving a trail of fire behind their tires. Exactly what you'd expect from top-tier climbers. Just like Contador used to be- in his 2007 Tour victory, he placed 15th in the prologue (35" back) and 5th & 7th in the two TTs (2'18" back). And these results were <span style="font-style:italic;">after</span> Contador changed his training to focus specifically on time trialing for GC purposes.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinBf2N-wyIfp_WKOJvAxMHD6jVPfREIfA1B97PB3YzdOr5fsX2B615z6HkeAXjXG88hJHthH0pvDL0Vr7bbx3RYoWGZ4BRktKWzUUQLRBoJO31QUjvtYMnI6Huku5ksVjI5-f777JOJlf_/s1600-h/contador+TT.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 265px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinBf2N-wyIfp_WKOJvAxMHD6jVPfREIfA1B97PB3YzdOr5fsX2B615z6HkeAXjXG88hJHthH0pvDL0Vr7bbx3RYoWGZ4BRktKWzUUQLRBoJO31QUjvtYMnI6Huku5ksVjI5-f777JOJlf_/s400/contador+TT.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363206128133480242" /></a><br /><br />Now here's where you jump in with "but Armstrong was dominant in both disciplines too etc etc". Well, for starters, I don't think Armstrong's blood is quite...pure...either. But the other rejoinder is that Armstrong was never a <span style="font-style:italic;">great</span> climber, especially on the steepest ones- he was naturally more suited to a powerful TT. Pantani, for example, and other pure climbers were often able to drop him. He was a <span style="font-style:italic;">smart</span> climber with an insanely strong team, but he was much more vulnerable in the mountains than his results would suggest. Yeah, he could climb Ullrich off his wheel, but that's not really saying much. And, as awful as it is to say, Armstrong had that fortuitous bout of cancer to help him out. He was able to essentially rebuild his body from scratch into exactly what it needed to be for grand tour victory. Anyone who's tried to lose those last five stubborn pounds (ahem <span style="font-style:italic;">*Ullrich*</span>) can tell you its incredibly hard to change your body. Contador, on the other hand, apparently didn't even need to change his body from that of a wispy wee climber to that of a power-rider in order to suddenly rock TTs.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKXnDveGyjsfzhTtYZwysvLE5FS4eaoDndtNRBmRQYdCN4pMSaZmIGqhgCS_9X202l8pJPGxCdXwp06BbViB3_NPHQ_l2L_MHwLqmlYExX6RIKlMaw6Ov35vtYrhNrhBLcL5Cm-Zges9SE/s1600-h/armstrong_ullrich.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 366px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKXnDveGyjsfzhTtYZwysvLE5FS4eaoDndtNRBmRQYdCN4pMSaZmIGqhgCS_9X202l8pJPGxCdXwp06BbViB3_NPHQ_l2L_MHwLqmlYExX6RIKlMaw6Ov35vtYrhNrhBLcL5Cm-Zges9SE/s400/armstrong_ullrich.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363208834958933362" /></a><br /><br />2. Let's talk about that climbing. Dr. Ross Tucker over at <a href="http://www.sportsscientists.com/"><span style="font-style:italic;">The Science of Sport</span></a> wrote a fascinating <a href="http://www.sportsscientists.com/2009/07/tour-2009-contador-takes-yellow.html">analysis</a> (and <a href="http://www.sportsscientists.com/2009/07/tour-2009-contador-climb.html">follow-up</a>) of Contador's climb up the Verbier on Stage 15 of the Tour. It was impressive as hell to watch- Andy Schleck couldn't even <span style="font-style:italic;">start</span> to respond (that pain-grimace as he made a futile attempt to follow, and failing that, to bridge, ugh!). I've never seen anyone accelerate on a hill like that (I mean, until his attack on the Colombiere a few days later). <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNuXvDRK3TrB-y1Y8muqi9HJKmd-a-TMfd-N7Ruuy02eMbTVlki_AU5BAewf9bx1vStiA-ojWQmNfzLvtpKfBzXZNR6DFd4E9sl96VRi-UU-3uQI8YlLZztxKfKnNE50Thh5e_MU2gtqyE/s1600-h/verbier+attack.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 264px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNuXvDRK3TrB-y1Y8muqi9HJKmd-a-TMfd-N7Ruuy02eMbTVlki_AU5BAewf9bx1vStiA-ojWQmNfzLvtpKfBzXZNR6DFd4E9sl96VRi-UU-3uQI8YlLZztxKfKnNE50Thh5e_MU2gtqyE/s400/verbier+attack.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363209678342284018" /></a><br /><br />But apparently it was even more impressive than it looked- Ross' analysis is long on calculations and variables but the bottom line is that, even conservatively estimated, Contador's climb was straight-up (get it?) record-setting. Contador's vertical climbing rate (VAM, velocita ascensionale media, one of the accepted means of comparing rides on different climbs) on the Verbier was faster than EVER before in the Tour. And not by a little bit- Ross' original estimate was 652.8 vertical meters at <span style="font-style:italic;">1,900 m/hr</span>. He later revised that downward (to 640 vertical meters) because of ambiguity over where the climb actually began, which still gives an ascension rate of 1864 m/hr. Ross has data for all Tour climbs in the last twenty years, and the highest previously recorded was Bjarne Riis' climb up the Huatacam in 1996. And, as he quite rightly says, <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/cycling/news/story?id=2882380">we all know what powered Riis to that summit</a>.<br /><br />So here's a handy chart of the top 12 VAMs in the last two decades:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-wTGVBKroBEPZgKEak2ZLADcpm5eL68BoIKMHjLk17GaoUKd5iQIcFh85REZ6WfPOrewx8ew8Nt7o1NUO7amtWbcWHH6bkL77LcmCql1mBp2jO6Nhr56Kmc3-xAfCPnqL5if3OzTeyhgD/s1600-h/Top+climbs+list.gif"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 311px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-wTGVBKroBEPZgKEak2ZLADcpm5eL68BoIKMHjLk17GaoUKd5iQIcFh85REZ6WfPOrewx8ew8Nt7o1NUO7amtWbcWHH6bkL77LcmCql1mBp2jO6Nhr56Kmc3-xAfCPnqL5if3OzTeyhgD/s400/Top+climbs+list.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5362219441173574626" /></a><br /><br />Hmm...<br /><br />Riis- admitted doper<br />Armstrong- meh, probable doper <br />Pantani- <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/pantani-convicted-in-doping-trial-628599.html">busted</a><br />LeBlanc- <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luc_Leblanc#Doping">admitted doper</a><br />Ullrich- <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/cycling/news/story?id=4310774">busted</a><br />Indurain- who knows? he was at his peak during the pre-Festina, undetectable EPO era...<br />Peloton? That fucker's juiced to the gills!<br /><br />So Contador not only topped this list of druggies, but he <span style="font-style:italic;">blew them away.</span> Hmmm...<br /><br />As Jacques Anquetil once said, the Tour de France is not won on mineral water alone.<br /><br />(PS Props to this year's breakout star, Brad Wiggins! From trackie to unlikely GC contender! Doped or not, watching him claw his way back after every acceleration on the climbs was nothing short of amazing. He was the only one that made Ventoux interesting- Darco and I were cheering him on in his quest for fourth place retention like total dorks.) <br /><br />Incidentally, if you google-image "wiggins ventoux" <a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_K0haNtOUMe0/Sm34ZwaAhiI/AAAAAAAAEzo/PdAflqpZOvQ/naked_ventoux.jpg">this</a> is the first result.<br /></span>ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13809624257332220499noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629573155318603267.post-66675754521214701542009-07-24T12:33:00.014-04:002009-07-24T20:11:09.199-04:00Note to self: dead animals do not belong in my sporting equipmentNot even for charity.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitEeoCgeT-APXoBY5QXJ6PuCSxPMLSNiwnsX98CXJHmQOev7SRPV8Ky2kj-qM_RN1EHna-iGhNZsoHthyydTujlsDCYbqd9F0IiN4hdLnPv2P5_F6lWK-rgKhi_LT19TtBPpb7IpNcetJ7/s1600-h/hirst-armstrong+bike.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 244px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitEeoCgeT-APXoBY5QXJ6PuCSxPMLSNiwnsX98CXJHmQOev7SRPV8Ky2kj-qM_RN1EHna-iGhNZsoHthyydTujlsDCYbqd9F0IiN4hdLnPv2P5_F6lWK-rgKhi_LT19TtBPpb7IpNcetJ7/s400/hirst-armstrong+bike.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5362068125798995106" /></a><br /><br />I can't believe I am mentioning Damien Hirst in this blog again, but I can't ignore the cross-over hilariousness of this newest crime against artistic dignity. Why does he persist in doing such ridiculous things?? Well, at least this time he has a partner in ridiculousness- none other than Lance Armstrong. And for a bonus layer of self-aggrandizing mutual fellatio perpetrated by charity-minded celebrities, creation of the bike was requested by Bono. LOL.<br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><br />The bike above was a creation that Hirst('s assistants) decorated with hundreds of dismembered dead butterflies. Armstrong is set to ride the HirstyBike down the Champs in 2009 Tour de France finale. Sigh.<br /><br />The really funny thing is that Armstrong has apparently been doing this for years! Usually with artists of a very particular ilk: the immensely rich, carefully-constructed and marketed "bad boys" and <span style="font-style:italic;">enfant terribles</span> of the contemporary art world. This year steps up the mutual-admiration society due to <a href="http://www.stages09.com/stages/">STAGES</a>, a charity "global art exhibition" put on by Armstrong, Nike and the aforementioned <span style="font-style:italic;">enfant terribles</span>. He's riding like 6 art bikes this year! Why is everything ostentatious, egomaniacal or self-serving this man does associated with cancer charity? It makes him much harder to mock. And yet, I persevere...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXSjfDhGGfAOM70ca-sSuqnJFr_ZPL1j8X2XVCIZlu72j3MyJAp3WbNJWCnhyH_WrpR0smXFux2WUTc6e4BwbCxPgkCvmnuuhrUWFpu2imKnFc36bIn7pxIIuf976G9sJyW1a-kee_mbOy/s1600-h/hirst-trek.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 224px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXSjfDhGGfAOM70ca-sSuqnJFr_ZPL1j8X2XVCIZlu72j3MyJAp3WbNJWCnhyH_WrpR0smXFux2WUTc6e4BwbCxPgkCvmnuuhrUWFpu2imKnFc36bIn7pxIIuf976G9sJyW1a-kee_mbOy/s400/hirst-trek.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5362083516603082386" /></a><br /> <br />The media-circusy nature of the two principals involved in this endeavor was today compounded by the near-hysterical reaction of the professionally histrionic, PETA. Reps from the animal rights org further inflated Hirst's sense of relevance by <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1201914/Damien-Hirst-accused-horrific-barbarity-bicycle-covered-dead-butterfly-wings.html?ITO=1490">lambasting him</a> in the D<span style="font-style:italic;">Daily Mail.</span> Of course, they cannot attack CancerSurvivorAthleteCharityMan (for those outside the world of bike racing, its like attacked God), so we are treated to rhetorical gems like this one:<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">"Lance Armstrong is all about life - about not dying and about overcoming adversity.<br /><br />'Damien Hirst is a one-trick pony who ruins the very essence of this man's spirit by associating him with dead butterflies.</span><br /><br />I also particularly enjoyed this poetic number:<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">'Butterflies are beautiful creatures who should be enjoyed in the wild, not encased in a bike.'</span><br /><br />"Encased in a bike." Priceless.<br /><br /><br /><br />Below are some images of Lance's past patronage of the arts.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1K5hWkAxYW_NbgwnGM5wx6xLgTzNzRNO_OA2rAprf8_4mLB8WscKrX6fXjLrv8WetrSVXTipouk_a4qRjIJEZFua39VVzfNcGjA9Uwnn7gRKt8UwNX2YJK0ApOMA4VCzg1aR1LSixpflK/s1600-h/shep+fairery-armstrong+bike_giro.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 257px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1K5hWkAxYW_NbgwnGM5wx6xLgTzNzRNO_OA2rAprf8_4mLB8WscKrX6fXjLrv8WetrSVXTipouk_a4qRjIJEZFua39VVzfNcGjA9Uwnn7gRKt8UwNX2YJK0ApOMA4VCzg1aR1LSixpflK/s400/shep+fairery-armstrong+bike_giro.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5362074908978673874" /></a><br />Artist: legally-embattled possible plagiarist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shepard_Fairey">Shep Fairey</a>, ridden (and crashed on?) 2009 Giro d'Italia<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgimphyphenhyphen_3ptuUm6tggn7ziiJS7E_1wCSy7vSyymzeBRKqmUzFP-jXcldb0FfJ8JYFI4oV_VuwiBZ5qyj0rNTQj53XwUqOYjRyqvFUzZk5O8WrM3bbx7PQ_CDGFo1yVu9Zi8a9tZj_dgn5h5/s1600-h/shep+fairery-armstrong+bike.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgimphyphenhyphen_3ptuUm6tggn7ziiJS7E_1wCSy7vSyymzeBRKqmUzFP-jXcldb0FfJ8JYFI4oV_VuwiBZ5qyj0rNTQj53XwUqOYjRyqvFUzZk5O8WrM3bbx7PQ_CDGFo1yVu9Zi8a9tZj_dgn5h5/s400/shep+fairery-armstrong+bike.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5362074022038668786" /></a><br />Artist: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shepard_Fairey">Shep Fairey</a> again, ridden 2009 TdF<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsAX7J1gj_iQQ5FpVPMnpFzhkOkUWbUXT9RV2DVwW8hQZF61Xhny6PrAanG8xDNH16NdQmy1P7JZN9_Pr0_B5dM3Oo1zXlxRDJqZJG1DoXIq49yBpbgcW4P1BCYfQOri4DPt_djpLAUyNy/s1600-h/scharff_armstrogn_giro.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 374px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsAX7J1gj_iQQ5FpVPMnpFzhkOkUWbUXT9RV2DVwW8hQZF61Xhny6PrAanG8xDNH16NdQmy1P7JZN9_Pr0_B5dM3Oo1zXlxRDJqZJG1DoXIq49yBpbgcW4P1BCYfQOri4DPt_djpLAUyNy/s400/scharff_armstrogn_giro.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5362076528448251762" /></a><br />Artist: 80s pop artist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenny_Scharf">Kenny Scharf</a>, ridden 2009 Giro d'Italia TT<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7OkFR-WTHakXk9PykgzSFQ8D6B5hRy1st8N8yWnmUeRbRwX91ukwvAZ_rARvRIFLFOVXn1z5I1NYXEb8mAKZe1Y0ph-227y_6imWNlfPnV8_nUjaESqvXhQDNqjSW1sgHpKuDi9Pcw1yR/s1600-h/kaws_armstrong_milansanremo.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7OkFR-WTHakXk9PykgzSFQ8D6B5hRy1st8N8yWnmUeRbRwX91ukwvAZ_rARvRIFLFOVXn1z5I1NYXEb8mAKZe1Y0ph-227y_6imWNlfPnV8_nUjaESqvXhQDNqjSW1sgHpKuDi9Pcw1yR/s400/kaws_armstrong_milansanremo.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5362077158301043906" /></a><br />Arist: bizarrely psuedonymned <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KAWS_%28artist%29">KAWS</a>, darling of the "global art toy-collecting community," ridden 2009 Milan San Remo<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjk8Jwal623Vnu4yc_c1T8Q8gdqUUj1yc8vrmWgS_8WPaAiaimldxZptleucJmt9-ovwwavJKy_KmdxLyLNodeU0e-_NPkqq_ENZRzSLVolAkR9Bubz8Rcez-oy3Fz32iJSKQdU6jJpCcy/s1600-h/marc_newson_lance_armstrong_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjk8Jwal623Vnu4yc_c1T8Q8gdqUUj1yc8vrmWgS_8WPaAiaimldxZptleucJmt9-ovwwavJKy_KmdxLyLNodeU0e-_NPkqq_ENZRzSLVolAkR9Bubz8Rcez-oy3Fz32iJSKQdU6jJpCcy/s400/marc_newson_lance_armstrong_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5362077768129497714" /></a><br />Artist: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Newson">Marc Newson,</a> designer of furniture for the insanely wealthy, ridden 2009 TdF prologue TT<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMxonWNhqeO3r4jOjVMi3ilrozqih0KlRDIDFzaUkCqJJRfs-vrnFVjzFPoHET9wyWqiYR8ck2tYlqPxM_kJYIrhjU7-bLvb42AkMSidwLNv9b7YFyl0C-tkj5NLhQYDuEwEyGwH2ShFvI/s1600-h/mcgee_armstrong-cal.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMxonWNhqeO3r4jOjVMi3ilrozqih0KlRDIDFzaUkCqJJRfs-vrnFVjzFPoHET9wyWqiYR8ck2tYlqPxM_kJYIrhjU7-bLvb42AkMSidwLNv9b7YFyl0C-tkj5NLhQYDuEwEyGwH2ShFvI/s400/mcgee_armstrong-cal.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5362084456593595266" /></a><br />Artist: Graffiti artist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_McGee">Barry McGee</a>, ostensibly ridden 2009 Tour of California. Since its a fucking hybrid bike, I don't know what part of that race he would have used it for. Maybe he rode it from the Astana bus to the sign-in tent.<br /><br />Lastly, and my personal favorite:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHhCqovqguZlpT6E_MmjFBT0cttpx4kpSjwCYq_p61U7mDZprb-sIoK8frvLsoeFIEJkdvMuYIZx7VSNYi-OpuTSXi7lUb11Gs3idKASTh2huH_yYv5FJpBAQ7srDAuBhfVvMl9fiK1Lnw/s1600-h/armstrong_nara_TT2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 259px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHhCqovqguZlpT6E_MmjFBT0cttpx4kpSjwCYq_p61U7mDZprb-sIoK8frvLsoeFIEJkdvMuYIZx7VSNYi-OpuTSXi7lUb11Gs3idKASTh2huH_yYv5FJpBAQ7srDAuBhfVvMl9fiK1Lnw/s400/armstrong_nara_TT2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5362080266595795682" /></a><br />Artist: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshitomo_Nara">Yoshitomo Nara</a>, ridden yesterday in the 2009 Tdf TT. <br /><br />I don't have anything snide to say about this one. I like Yoshitomo Nara's work, and when I met him while interning at the Philly ICA, he seemed like a really nice guy. I wish he would design a bike for me. I'll donate it to charity after I beat it to hell, I swear.<br /><br /><br /></span>ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13809624257332220499noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629573155318603267.post-7543923033285082782009-07-19T16:29:00.016-04:002009-07-19T19:12:55.513-04:00Space Oddity<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsDvPUUXsKfo_BNM7jgrPihNl5uvYRbrgbaH-Mr_zLPMFkRAZZINV4S3B3BL_hZWJ2QjVlKi4i14rcC8eXi-cUQAQesgI4BSkKxNlQImS4dIZJQOaIeY4-vzl0CNfn-lZ5ScItv1nrnnLR/s1600-h/rockwell+clone.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 253px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsDvPUUXsKfo_BNM7jgrPihNl5uvYRbrgbaH-Mr_zLPMFkRAZZINV4S3B3BL_hZWJ2QjVlKi4i14rcC8eXi-cUQAQesgI4BSkKxNlQImS4dIZJQOaIeY4-vzl0CNfn-lZ5ScItv1nrnnLR/s400/rockwell+clone.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360274146570563250" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Moon</span> was what I like a scifi film to be. It had that classic "what if" premise- presuppose a technology or event and view it through the lens of some aspect of our human nature, extrapolate and build a story from there. In this case, the tech is our new found ability to mine abundant and clean-burning energy (Helium 3) from sun-charged moon rocks. And the lens? Our species' eternal hunt for the Free Lunch. But as we all know, there's no such thing. And no amount of technological advancement can change that.<br /><br />Spoilers, minor and major, follow. Read before seeing if you wish- the real quality of this movie isn't in the "twist," revealed early on. Its a human story.<br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Moon</span> is the story of Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell, last seen by me as the villain in <span style="font-style:italic;">Charlie's Angels.</span> Upgrade!). When we meet him, he's at the tail end of a three year contract with Lunar Industries, apparent monopoly-holders of the Helium 3 industry. He's got the shaggy hair and disheveled clothing of a man who's been alone for a very long time. He spends his downtime carving an intricate model of his hometown, talking to his plants ("You're awfully full of yourself today, Doug") and dreaming of the time when he can return to his wife Tess and daughter Eve. He's also a Tennessee Titans fan. But unfortunately for Sam, he's starting to hallucinate, causing him to crash his rover while out on the job. End scene.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhopSb9dlIfjUcHy7JOSCOayzlzFcG5pqT35NQoKLM3mtjb6VjgGP2e3sBjL339V51dz2-3FCvoQnE3uMojOO406d5DBjwKbg_G9u_W-LKkPCOQpQSsO7r9oGv_smzGnT15xOlzulkDHJ2J/s1600-h/sam+bell.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 314px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhopSb9dlIfjUcHy7JOSCOayzlzFcG5pqT35NQoKLM3mtjb6VjgGP2e3sBjL339V51dz2-3FCvoQnE3uMojOO406d5DBjwKbg_G9u_W-LKkPCOQpQSsO7r9oGv_smzGnT15xOlzulkDHJ2J/s400/sam+bell.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360284552371400098" /></a><br /><br />(Here be spoilers)<br /><br />The next time we see him, he's waking up in the infirmary. But something's off, you feel it right away. There's no sign of injury. His hair is cut and he looks oddly...crisp. Chipper, even. But his robot helper GERTY (more on this fabulous mechano-creature later) is adamant that he stay a-bed, mentioning a crash and a concussion. Newly peppy Sam, however, is having none of it- he wants to get back to work asap. He drives out to the broken harvester, crashed rover still stuck underneath it. And what does he find inside? Why, himself! Unconscious with a big ol head injury. A mystery!<br /><br />And then things get going and plans are hatched. Details are unimportant, but let it be known that Mr. Rockwell does a wonderful job playing to two Sams- OldSam with a good-natured (though willfully blind, incurious) zen attitude, NewSam with a temper and an aggressive, almost militaristic drive to find out what exactly is going on. And that's enough plot- suffice it to say, what is the logical extension of a search for ever-cheaper labor, given advanced technology? Here's a hint: Free Lunch with a side of sinister.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnMzuT5ySRiKkBXwOf1k-9xDK2bU_nwZvQ4LvX1PKSN3Ai4KNTk-UlDXgY6ZWDhD4TclpEuZp2DmGVDZzhwg6f0NbGHPclj4j-HjSlMllXWmz3hWjlcGn6_A8ZIeLJg5V_PQxoOTS9jZvu/s1600-h/moon_12.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 246px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnMzuT5ySRiKkBXwOf1k-9xDK2bU_nwZvQ4LvX1PKSN3Ai4KNTk-UlDXgY6ZWDhD4TclpEuZp2DmGVDZzhwg6f0NbGHPclj4j-HjSlMllXWmz3hWjlcGn6_A8ZIeLJg5V_PQxoOTS9jZvu/s400/moon_12.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360309345982109922" /></a><br /><br />Although there is ambiguity at first about whether this is just continuing insanity on the part of OldSam, it is dispensed with pretty quickly thanks to GERTY. GERTY is one of the best parts of this movie. Voiced by Kevin Spacey, in serial-killer-in-Se7en monotone, the GERTY 3000 looks like an overgrown 90s-era PC. He's beat up, dirty, covered in coffee stains and post-it notes, and he expresses himself through <span style="font-style:italic;">emoticons</span>. Awesome. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpdI2K6jX4r1NCnbRtkehbo4uhn7-qiyBlUaWvCB2CVHgth780eFXJDqS5x2tGC8eKP7NIG7IRbOvZYj08KK6OemEDqODlkETiafvu-7_5CzPZgXPf4ps8IeODODi59-OeeH-CV4ccQA0A/s1600-h/gerty+3000.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 179px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpdI2K6jX4r1NCnbRtkehbo4uhn7-qiyBlUaWvCB2CVHgth780eFXJDqS5x2tGC8eKP7NIG7IRbOvZYj08KK6OemEDqODlkETiafvu-7_5CzPZgXPf4ps8IeODODi59-OeeH-CV4ccQA0A/s400/gerty+3000.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360290293489560210" /></a><br /><br />This, actually, is another thing I loved about this movie- it is endearingly low budget. This is not to say that a scifi movie can't be good if its a multi-million dollar endeavor, but because of the futuristic settings the genre is particularly prone to getting bogged down in flashy CGI at the expense of characterization and story. <span style="font-style:italic;">Moon</span> definitely avoided this pitfall. The action takes place mostly within the moon base, a film set that doesn't look much more complicated than the first incarnation of the Millennium Falcon. There didn't appear to be any CGI-constructed environments- everything outside the base was a very obvious miniature. I got a geeky, b-movie warm fuzzy every time I saw that lunar rover, clearly no more than five inches tall pull out of an equally flimsy-looking moon base exterior.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh07_-DLTh3Iexb4ZFZD_4SrvC6OCPghWn42KyOofPwVFnzMKzLess3i_GGVlx7ekw7PNDoj6NbABL_gLLrrhTZ2DrvHF4918teUIFG_lgcNZpF9u7iUh7cyan3zn57nR6P3D210t_oKu2N/s1600-h/moon_movie.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 170px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh07_-DLTh3Iexb4ZFZD_4SrvC6OCPghWn42KyOofPwVFnzMKzLess3i_GGVlx7ekw7PNDoj6NbABL_gLLrrhTZ2DrvHF4918teUIFG_lgcNZpF9u7iUh7cyan3zn57nR6P3D210t_oKu2N/s400/moon_movie.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360293498053300258" /></a><br /><br />Anyway, back to GERTY. For the first chunk of the movie, that HAL-like name and the overly calm, solicitous Kevin Spacey monotone sparks a vaguely sinister tone. You keep expecting that white eye to go red and for poor GERTY to go off the murderous deep-end. But this early-generation HAL in fact over-corrects the other way. While HAL's ultimate focus is The Mission, GERTY's loyalty lies with Sam. He's there to help the human do his job, but it seems those "job" parameters weren't programmed in quite specifically enough because GERTY goes out of his way to help the poor guy. From constant, mother hen-like offers of food, to pats on the shoulder, to helping Sam discover the truth about himself, GERTY is just plain <span style="font-style:italic;">nice.</span> No doubt lunar industries was a bit peeved by some of GERTY's assistance to Sam- perhaps ultimately leading to a more tightly programmed 9000-series successor.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis9kchQyYhV0CRS-8nc5Fz5cOhY38nRB-u-9X63F-l22IbyvD9Ex_z4wv9UUAoKXTI54hU3SA_a3-GSY2TTDZuwK_eLnzSGCGnQLCcIKCCzBWJgR6DZJSprajFCV-qVaR8jOQDZFXud-ct/s1600-h/hal-9000-eye.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis9kchQyYhV0CRS-8nc5Fz5cOhY38nRB-u-9X63F-l22IbyvD9Ex_z4wv9UUAoKXTI54hU3SA_a3-GSY2TTDZuwK_eLnzSGCGnQLCcIKCCzBWJgR6DZJSprajFCV-qVaR8jOQDZFXud-ct/s400/hal-9000-eye.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360300391535163202" /></a><br /><br />If you haven't guessed it yet, yes, Sam is a clone. Several iterations away from the original, that three-year contract ends in vaporization and activation of a new unit. But just in case something goes wrong, there is a fail-safe built in: an expiration date. As the movie progresses, we literally see Sam's body fall apart at the seams. Although only alluded to by the Sams in euphemistic terms ("You look awful."), it is clear that both of them know what is going on and how it will end. Darco and I had a post-film discussion about the fact that the subject is never broached directly- it bugged him because he said it felt out of character for the straight-forward and aggressive NewSam. I 100% disagree. Imagine you were looking at a loved one, lying in a hospital bed. You know they're going to die, they know they're going to die...but no one is going to say so. Death is a thing of euphemism, to see someone else dying is to confront your own fate. Even more so if that other person is, in fact, you. And doubly more so if it reveals to you the date of your own demise.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3CpkVG36-hQ61R51cGU4B7-Aw21Yhin3CGeUlJ_ZzvjjKMUQY7dZCKfM0nZUMHN8FLJOW54yCYpuCiLAUYdvxXErs3toPDZuM1h9J8rPjM76GO-buNDI3qji-RTDH86aGdwx9W0vmREj4/s1600-h/sam+dying.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 264px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3CpkVG36-hQ61R51cGU4B7-Aw21Yhin3CGeUlJ_ZzvjjKMUQY7dZCKfM0nZUMHN8FLJOW54yCYpuCiLAUYdvxXErs3toPDZuM1h9J8rPjM76GO-buNDI3qji-RTDH86aGdwx9W0vmREj4/s400/sam+dying.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360309163071023666" /></a><br /><br />So...what is one to do with that knowledge? Well, you'll just have to watch the film. All I'll say is that <span style="font-style:italic;">Moon</span> ends with a discordant poke at Rush Limbaugh-y anti-immigration nonsense. Whaaa? <br /><br /></span>ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13809624257332220499noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629573155318603267.post-45559690927634642862009-07-17T14:25:00.016-04:002009-07-19T19:18:15.787-04:00Harry Potter and the Half-Assed Film Adaptation<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipxnPKAT9VmxNuN8cKs_TujDEL59p6buofzCXu5OJ_kH48MQSkDFrfHEekV-EuyXbErNffRBc6YPNk_Mnugox3FlClA6Fb11JsFK4wIjUulaGp0X8u_6WYOCgTo105DZlHIlgHkYTFrT2M/s1600-h/dumbledore+decesaed.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 264px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipxnPKAT9VmxNuN8cKs_TujDEL59p6buofzCXu5OJ_kH48MQSkDFrfHEekV-EuyXbErNffRBc6YPNk_Mnugox3FlClA6Fb11JsFK4wIjUulaGp0X8u_6WYOCgTo105DZlHIlgHkYTFrT2M/s400/dumbledore+decesaed.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359507389972749122" /></a><br /><br />Right...I have a blog.<br /><br />Its funny that when I returned to this blog from my months-long hiatus, I was met with Starey McBlueBritches from the execrable <span style="font-style:italic;">Watchmen.</span> I haven't been posting because I hate blogging about myself, and I've been busy with broken arms and dogs and vacations and general spring/summer enjoyment. But there is one thing that is sure to get my hackles up and fuel my tank for a good internet-rant: a crap movie. I don't know why this is so. Maybe its the feeling that I was just robbed of $10 and several hours, although I have no similar reaction to losing equal time and vastly more $$ to, say, an orthopedist. But it doesn't matter why, what matters is <span style="font-style:italic;">Harry Potter and the BlahBlahBlah</span> was the laziest screenwriting specimen I've seen in a while. <br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><br />First off, let me say that I thought this movie was pretty fun (although I can only imagine what someone unfamiliar with the books thought- completely incoherent is probably top of the list). I thought the beginning was great, especially the Londoner in-joke with the wobbly destruction of the Millenium Bridge (and a cameo by the Tate Modern!). Jim Broadbent was a nice mixture of bluster and fear as Slughorn, and the wee Tom Riddles hit just the right tone of nascent CrazyPantsEvil. I even enjoyed the (slightly forced, chemistry-free) Adolescent Sexual Awakening Played for Laughs. It was kind of a butt-number, but as a Harry Potter Fan (TM), there was enough there to keep me happy. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz2nHGKlHqJsdKojS7K-Fqj0SsO_69sG-WP7iVQTpv4KG66scVWEipoexXqSclN2Mi03X24tACG65EulEgvg4cC0pM1BRsLqYD7iEVHuVp1q2qS-vTLS4rp31Zhq0FzCYCEz3L-KyspcHn/s1600-h/article-0-047B53A2000005DC-196_634x340.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 215px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz2nHGKlHqJsdKojS7K-Fqj0SsO_69sG-WP7iVQTpv4KG66scVWEipoexXqSclN2Mi03X24tACG65EulEgvg4cC0pM1BRsLqYD7iEVHuVp1q2qS-vTLS4rp31Zhq0FzCYCEz3L-KyspcHn/s400/article-0-047B53A2000005DC-196_634x340.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359534606995895538" /></a><br /><br />Also, full disclosure, the 6th book was my favorite and so I may be judging a little more harshly than I would for, say, the lameness that was <span style="font-style:italic;">Chamber of Secrets</span>. I mean really, who expected that one to be any good? I also recognize that there was a hell of alot of exposition in this book and no immediate villian (bar the perpetually whinging Draco) which makes film construction more difficult. Its really just a tee-up for <span style="font-style:italic;">Deathly Hallows</span>. I get it, Mr. Director, I do. Its a difficult book to adapt, the most difficult in the series even.<br /><br />But that's where my sympathies end. Because what the book does have is a tremendous emotional climax, the death of Albus Dumbledore. And bafflingly <span style="font-style:italic;">that</span> is where the filmmakers decided to get off the direct book-to-film transposition train. Why??? Its the easiest part of the book to adapt! Its all there- Draco's (relative) redemption, the spawn of the Great Snape Debate, Harry's frantic suffering at his physical inability to do ANYTHING to save his mentor & protector, the Hogwarts battle, the death itself (scriptwriting paydirt!)... And then the emotional denouement, Dumbledore's funeral, which, apart from providing closure and a proper send-off for Herr Primary Plot Driver (I mean, beloved character), sets up everything for the next steps.<br /><br />And what do we get? Well, I'll tell you.<br /><br />1. We get more of this:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvoXWE3yZiXAMLm5Y5El_9_oxQRwjCbxKDOv_v_59f3sdIxYG6SifzfgdnPLl9Dxkzc63ETYG3kAkZBDzGMHtgE4rYRi36zp1lEKeC-1uaRkMj-2Q26ShzbhnoajHC1c8D2AqzqkhQJ_GP/s1600-h/draco+crying.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 249px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvoXWE3yZiXAMLm5Y5El_9_oxQRwjCbxKDOv_v_59f3sdIxYG6SifzfgdnPLl9Dxkzc63ETYG3kAkZBDzGMHtgE4rYRi36zp1lEKeC-1uaRkMj-2Q26ShzbhnoajHC1c8D2AqzqkhQJ_GP/s400/draco+crying.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359514152621265490" /></a><br /><br />Yep, the same snivelling Draco we had for the last 2 hours. Honestly, did he have a line in this movie? All I remember is "WAAAAAAAAAAHHH." Yeah, he whines in the book, but hey, that's a book and if there's one constant in bad adaptations everywhere, its that things that work on the page don't often translate directly onto the screen. Even in the theater, I couldn't help drifting off into thoughts of <span style="font-style:italic;">Lord of the Rings,</span> and how Peter Jackson et al really thought about the book <span style="font-style:italic;">as a film</span>. They agonized over pacing (as one must when one is dealing with these kinds of running times) and had no compunctions about chopping stuff out, changing the order of action, and moving things from one book to another film- but never without a real narrative or editorial <span style="font-style:italic;">reason</span> for it. <br /><br />My LoTR uber-fandom makes my Harry Potter fandom look decidedly anemic, and when I first saw the LoTR films (esp Fellowship) alot of those changes enraged my purist sensibilities. But looking at them now, I can see that they do make the trilogy better able to stand on its own as <span style="font-style:italic;">film</span>. The fifth Harry Potter film, <span style="font-style:italic;">Order of the Phoenix,</span> came close to achieving this- it was tighter and much more structured. They pared it down to the essential story and told it relatively well. Unsurprisingly, I have since learned that <span style="font-style:italic;">Phoenix</span> was the only Potter adaptation not penned by Steve Kloves. Blargh. I mean, it was the same director (David Yates) so I feel like the fault has to be mostly in the script. Except for the whole thing where the director is ultimately responsible for the script, of course...<br /><br />2. We get the removal of all question about Snape's loyalty. Really, even without that ridiculous pre-murder interlude with Harry its pretty obvious that Snape's one of the good ol' boys. One of the great things about the 6th book is that you really don't <span style="font-style:italic;">know</span> where Snape's allegiance lies or why he really cursed the old guy. On the one hand, you have the ultimate betrayal of the ultimate good, cementing Snape as perhaps more evil than the Dark Lord. On the other, you have the potential for a pretty sweet reveal in the final novel, and a staunch statement in favor of trust. Internet debates galore between the release of those two books! <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQanGB5TG5kmeVnaG3lABOnXiMXKsYmSsXiAKT0L_lk_vnKI1u4jw3pTqy8Rfi9hF_-cQKZzLaSiE0ex0txF57D9-pvimsZzgbalYU2VyzU2qHWV6ANAZZkval2R9n4u8JxC2WTakhEagj/s1600-h/snape.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 169px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQanGB5TG5kmeVnaG3lABOnXiMXKsYmSsXiAKT0L_lk_vnKI1u4jw3pTqy8Rfi9hF_-cQKZzLaSiE0ex0txF57D9-pvimsZzgbalYU2VyzU2qHWV6ANAZZkval2R9n4u8JxC2WTakhEagj/s400/snape.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359517760669463362" /></a><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">This is his face immediately before/after murdering Dumbledore- come ON!</span><br /><br />Yeah, most people seeing the movie have read the books and so yeah, they know- but that ambiguity, apart from its greater narrative interest, informs many of the choices Harry makes in <span style="font-style:italic;">Deathly Hallows.</span> If you give away Snape before the seventh film even starts, aren't alot of those decisions going to a)make Harry look like a blind idiot, or b)become entirely nonsensical? Not to mention the loss of impact of that redemption scene!<br /><br />3. We get Harry as a free agent during those crucial moments, thus tearing down SIX FILMS (yes, I meant six) worth of characterization. Instead of spending the scene petrified under an invisibility cloak, unable to do anything but watch impotently as Dumbledore is mown down, Harry is simply "ordered" to remain out of sight and not interfere "no matter what happens." So he stands there. Watching through the floor boards like a scullery maid. With his wand drawn. Pointed at feet.<br /><br />Granted, he looks mighty upset about it. But did you not just spend the entirety of five films and the bulk of the sixth setting him up as an overly impulsive, overly loyal, overly protective boy wonder with no particular regard for orders or his own safety? How does this behavior make sense given anything we've seen from this character? Not one hour ago we watched him run alone and wand blazing into a cornfield full of Death Eaters just because they showed up in the vicinity of his friends' house! And now we're expected to believe he's going to stand there and watch the only father figure he's ever known take the pointy end of a killing curse just because he's ordered to? <br /><br />Or, even worse, because he actually believes his blood is "more precious" than Dumbledore's, thanks to all those lines awkwardly shoe-horned into the horcrux-retrieval mission? <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivxmDZfU1p6go4zAf_XaPydThnZy1AbLJu-5HO9PnQ7dx_Ec80rJLkvYseGoFhYETMGrrPrdkZ_J8rLXacOMHy8OgzL-2ZaWTyiTubirFUB_nieXhREb1wHSK9QbadFIFhptltaqIVzxwn/s1600-h/hp6-trailer-9-inferi.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 170px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivxmDZfU1p6go4zAf_XaPydThnZy1AbLJu-5HO9PnQ7dx_Ec80rJLkvYseGoFhYETMGrrPrdkZ_J8rLXacOMHy8OgzL-2ZaWTyiTubirFUB_nieXhREb1wHSK9QbadFIFhptltaqIVzxwn/s400/hp6-trailer-9-inferi.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359537574225292290" /></a><br /><br /><br />Or maybe it was because the aforementioned pre-murder interlude with Snape made Harry go all weak at the knees and realize that his years-long hatred for the potions master was actually just insatiable lust. They were making goo-goo eyes at each other, after all. And there was an awful lot of "wand" pointing. And it took place in the Astronomy Tower- everyone knows what goes on up there. Actually, this would make the last film pretty interesting...<br /><br />But I digress.<br /><br />4. No Hogwarts battle. While one could argue that its not strictly necessary to the plot (unlike, obviously, the Ron-Lavender make-out sessions), the battle inside of Hogwarts gave a nice sense of immediacy to the story. It was an invasion of Harry's home, his sanctuary, and an hors d'oeuvre of the final battle. It was (if I recall correctly...which I may not) the first chance we get to see Dumbledore's Army in action, and all of Harry's little friends get to have their Not Just Students Anymore moment. Plus, it was a ominous taste of what could happen if Boy Wonder fails to defeat Voldemort. Instead, somehow all these Death Eaters just run right out of the castle without being the least delayed so that Harry can get right to his teary, pathetic confrontation with Snape.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL0MZWz5ptCPL6xpHRFSUg4z5S5leLfiJYYBoyDhaX1dIpJ1yACjLblNXUut3kwtLU4bKHIToBBZF3PKxQQ9114rJNwFkBvp7dnzjLQWM_p-URfQB0lwLIOdrn5Gy2xrTezyEEnUZIT2E6/s1600-h/tv_spot_12_harry_potter_and_the_half_blood_prince.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 170px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL0MZWz5ptCPL6xpHRFSUg4z5S5leLfiJYYBoyDhaX1dIpJ1yACjLblNXUut3kwtLU4bKHIToBBZF3PKxQQ9114rJNwFkBvp7dnzjLQWM_p-URfQB0lwLIOdrn5Gy2xrTezyEEnUZIT2E6/s400/tv_spot_12_harry_potter_and_the_half_blood_prince.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359534243147909538" /></a><br /><br />5. No funeral. Instead there was a sort of impromptu candlelight vigil by all the Hogwartians. This bugged me less than it did some others, who felt cheated by the cheap send-off of a hero. They felt they weren't given the chance to <span style="font-style:italic;">grieve.</span> Bitches, you grieved in the book. Quit crying. Seeing Dumbledore's tomb could have been nice, since it has a pretty big role to play in the finale. But narratively speaking, the funeral wasn't super important either. From a filmic perspective though, I don't really get its exclusion- its a pretty easy emotional denouement, wouldn't have had to take any more time than the way they did it (back in the Astronomy Tower??), and would have given them a chance to have one of those CGI-heavy crowd flyover shots filmmakers like so much. <br /><br />What really gets me though is that I have a sneaking suspicion that the funeral will in fact be rendered on celluloid- but that it will be bumped to the seventh film. Not for any narrative reason (clearly as an opening it will be stripped of all impact), but to help justify the splitting of the final installment into two movies. Double the movies, double the cash!! <br /><br />And that's essentially how this whole movie felt. <span style="font-style:italic;">Harry Potter</span> films will make money- by now, that's a fait accompli. So it seems like the filmmakers just don't care anymore (if they ever did) whether they make a good movie or a mediocre one. But, dammit, they ought to care! The story is chugging along, the actors are getting to an age where a director can actually do something with them, and the material is good! Its all there! They just have to <span style="font-style:italic;">think</span> about how it translates to the screen rather than make a slavish translation of the book with a soupcon of sops to the fandom.<br /><br />Although the real kicker here is that it could have been salvaged if it had been a little <span style="font-style:italic;">more</span> slavish. I mean, really, two hours of tedious teenage hormones and you only decide to veer from the book in order to eviscerate the totally cinematic finale? Back to Screenwriting 101, Steve Kloves.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4n88mS2phwJnVW-QVx3t3gqzim7sqVsMvvwt4PIzdXNylBbymvUzHc0hMxq8E6P90kPpoeLgIWq5-Q6d6Z4Cc1dX6VSj4QzbZt00oQITuu1NttkkO43TTYowvqWvgif6X-6lDI3uA-xWd/s1600-h/dumbledore.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 274px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4n88mS2phwJnVW-QVx3t3gqzim7sqVsMvvwt4PIzdXNylBbymvUzHc0hMxq8E6P90kPpoeLgIWq5-Q6d6Z4Cc1dX6VSj4QzbZt00oQITuu1NttkkO43TTYowvqWvgif6X-6lDI3uA-xWd/s400/dumbledore.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359534724051632194" /></a><br /></span>ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13809624257332220499noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629573155318603267.post-90970755962742006752009-03-09T19:18:00.011-04:002009-03-09T20:30:10.977-04:00Unwatchable WatchmenI watched <em>Watchmen</em>...<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl7G8Nwxsz1vH5d5BxfXaNRvQsNpNLWngXAUIGz-vrfSFabuF08lKoaivGxqhBGauikO3T6cBd7eEVQUkL4jewkYVm4l5oPbPTmDZ7vpnZtk9Hlq2KVHnoPsVJHwgJYVXQFvphBWVEqGqw/s1600-h/dr-manhattan.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 399px; height: 299px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl7G8Nwxsz1vH5d5BxfXaNRvQsNpNLWngXAUIGz-vrfSFabuF08lKoaivGxqhBGauikO3T6cBd7eEVQUkL4jewkYVm4l5oPbPTmDZ7vpnZtk9Hlq2KVHnoPsVJHwgJYVXQFvphBWVEqGqw/s400/dr-manhattan.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311331897791669042" /></a><br /><br />And I've never wished so badly for the threatened nuclear armageddon to just <em>happen</em> already. Anything to end the tedium.<br /><br />Some Observations:<br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><br /><br /><em>Watchmen</em> is the movie Quentin Tarantino would make if he lost his sense of humor, his taste in music, and his visual flair. Also his ability to hire people that can act.<br /><br />Three hours is way, WAY too long for this movie. But I also can't think of a running time at which it would have been good. <br /><br />Remember in <em>The Dark Knight</em> how whenever Christian Bale was in his batsuit, he would speak in that weird, hoarse voice that made every word he uttered painful to the ear? This movie was three hours of that. And I don't mean that in a literal way, although one of the actors <em>did</em> see fit to emulate Mr. Bale's delivery (added pain!). I mean it in a more metaphorical sense- <em>Watchmen</em> was the filmic embodiment of the Christian Bale Batman Voice.<br /><br />In of itself, it didn't bother me that the movie maintains the 1980s dystopia of the comic, with all the obsolete Cold War-iness that implies. Film is often about suspension of disbelief and immersion of the viewer into something they've never experienced. After all, plenty of Cold War movies have been made that are fine and dandy, even ones that don't really have anything new to say on the subject. And there was potential- by all accounts, the source material is seminal and the anti-heroic superhero motif is usually an interesting take on the genre. But nope, even on its own terms, <em>Watchmen</em> was simply awful.<br /><br />I don't usually walk out of movies. I know that the only thing I dislike to the point of it being unbearable is a movie that takes itself extremely, pretentiously seriously without having anything to show for it. Usually you can see films like that coming from a mile away. It never even crossed my mind that a movie based on a <em>comic book</em> would fall into that category. I didn't walk out of this one, but by about ten minutes in, I wanted to. Desperately.<br /><br />The sole redeeming element? Glowing blue penis. However, it was only visible in wide shots- anything tighter, and suddenly you would see a glowing blue...speedo.<br /><br />And finally, I'm pretty sure Paul Wolfowitz masturbated while he watched it. <br /><br /><br />All in all, I think I would have preferred this:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilMu7rcB7QbOw8KvF18Eh3-8JcUcCEnnetcoiOa4snqNcgMCa6E4LfH3CnbJPReycQYPfUV1tp7AcWQUO66WquwyZlmYW5ZlzSnWhPJi7S1fbvtYS3nyhtnsFlQKx1JU7kck5PygmFIjm7/s1600-h/watchmen+improved.bmp"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 298px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilMu7rcB7QbOw8KvF18Eh3-8JcUcCEnnetcoiOa4snqNcgMCa6E4LfH3CnbJPReycQYPfUV1tp7AcWQUO66WquwyZlmYW5ZlzSnWhPJi7S1fbvtYS3nyhtnsFlQKx1JU7kck5PygmFIjm7/s400/watchmen+improved.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311343314248751522" /></a><br /><br /></span>ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13809624257332220499noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629573155318603267.post-61519640925553753962009-03-01T16:54:00.003-05:002009-03-01T17:26:20.815-05:00Fraggle. Rock. Cake.A thing of beauty is a joy forever... <br /><br />Seriously, check out the craftsmanship and detail on this thing:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8v6VO8rkQQmA3xf1vaDh7K3JQsjhRJNv8C9qeSvK8s9WJaxdEGhkOXeVhvKromtEbKoMtcWAVQYRZJNhy1mD-FSOEVVYaetgnEO81WI5veW5HfeAiY4dqx4phno7W9UrnRvhy1usCdHmj/s1600-h/fraggle+rock+cake.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 297px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8v6VO8rkQQmA3xf1vaDh7K3JQsjhRJNv8C9qeSvK8s9WJaxdEGhkOXeVhvKromtEbKoMtcWAVQYRZJNhy1mD-FSOEVVYaetgnEO81WI5veW5HfeAiY4dqx4phno7W9UrnRvhy1usCdHmj/s400/fraggle+rock+cake.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308341271047707426" /></a><br /><br /><br />GoboMokeyWembleyBooberRed! Junior Gorg! And if you can't tell, that's Sprocket the dog behind the hole-in-the-wall to Outer Space. The only thing that could make this better would be the presence of the all-knowing, all-seeing Trash Heap.<br /><br />Image courtesy of <a href="http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/">Cake Wrecks</a>, of course.ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13809624257332220499noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629573155318603267.post-8180206156058678882009-02-28T17:14:00.013-05:002009-02-28T21:39:59.426-05:00There Will Be Blood...and Dated Ideologies<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpkY2lKyw1Kf01PPkl2s0efH9WnUuYKMEUJFT1rrzrKNSNIrZXyF5wuolGMyhRHaCqO6QU4u_YMb6zSu4zbjMhoIGiTQXkN4CQl6jo1Lt4kRHhqsn_O3mXSqVFBBfsmLmzKgX7TOZcXT1N/s1600-h/oil+fire.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 262px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpkY2lKyw1Kf01PPkl2s0efH9WnUuYKMEUJFT1rrzrKNSNIrZXyF5wuolGMyhRHaCqO6QU4u_YMb6zSu4zbjMhoIGiTQXkN4CQl6jo1Lt4kRHhqsn_O3mXSqVFBBfsmLmzKgX7TOZcXT1N/s400/oil+fire.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5307999133047013506" /></a><br /><br /><em>Oil!</em>, the "classic tale of greed and corruption" by Upton Sinclair and inspiration for the awesome (and awesomely Brahms-filled) <em>There Will Be Blood</em> is 550 pages long. I would estimate that about 300 of those pages consist of the characters talking to each other about that reddest of Prohibition Era herrings, MARXISM and THE CLASS STRUGGLE. A sizeable portion of the prose is devoted to the virtues of old-skool socialism over corrupt, exploitative and all-powerful capitalism and even <em>more</em> words are devoted to the delineation of Left Socialism vs Right Socialism vs the Intl Workers Party vs straight-up commies vs Bolsheviks and on and on through the myriad splinter groups.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhErXo0GwfNLgcvMynJvJ6teaG8q50L6gurJrEYmEyFgzrVexAUDWIHii6H9d-xZML8VRjj9-WDlXQTt78RKzPO-_UEjJ7OmR-FhKGagxZrhPhyphenhyphena3zhR3R2wHmw52gpduTYZ1LL0lHD7a0Q/s1600-h/RedScare_50.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 388px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhErXo0GwfNLgcvMynJvJ6teaG8q50L6gurJrEYmEyFgzrVexAUDWIHii6H9d-xZML8VRjj9-WDlXQTt78RKzPO-_UEjJ7OmR-FhKGagxZrhPhyphenhyphena3zhR3R2wHmw52gpduTYZ1LL0lHD7a0Q/s400/RedScare_50.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308000930418393298" /></a><br /><br />Unlike the film, the book is told through the eyes of the Oilman's son, Bunny. Bunny starts off about ten years older than his celluloid counterpart, and is never deafened. How could he be? If he couldn't hear, how could he be incessantly talked at by the various ideologues who wander into his life? Bunny is both empathetic and extremely passive, which means the kid spends the book as a blank sheet upon which all the other (equally one-dimensional) characters write paens to their rigid dogmas. <br /><span class="fullpost"><br /><br /><em>"...his trouble seemed to be, he was of the opinion of the one he talked with last. He was so prone to see the other fellow's point of view, and lose himself in that! Why couldn't he have a mind of his own?"</em><br /><br />Why, indeed? If he had, it would no doubt have been a better piece of literature. There really are alot of timeless themes here- greed and corruption, yes, also hypocrisy (the prophet Eli is a fornicatin' womanizer, of course), social effects of inequality, the impotence and censorship of the media, the self-interested politicking of our legislative branch, the bought-and-sold nature of the presidency, freedom vs order, the fallacy of the American Dream, issues of family and loyalty, love and lust and so on. Any one of these would have made a better focus from a literary standpoint. Hell, even a more generalized exploration of the relationship between capital and labor would have been great. Lord knows that's still a big issue today. But those timeless questions and conflicts are only discussed tangentially, small islands in the river of specifics poured in to support the exploration ad nauseum of the socialist-communist rift of the 1920s. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPxm9UQs8TQWuzxBSuZb_-RpAbn8fSL0Rw5SnYWcIaNxC2HbliHmVoMuXpX4w-YeZpIGZtaszQskgpB0qLOPGNjEy-_onUe5ujhN_TKGSm61dupf7yZiNtwgDNn50L8L_GExIJg-czYmep/s1600-h/untitled.bmp"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 188px; height: 273px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPxm9UQs8TQWuzxBSuZb_-RpAbn8fSL0Rw5SnYWcIaNxC2HbliHmVoMuXpX4w-YeZpIGZtaszQskgpB0qLOPGNjEy-_onUe5ujhN_TKGSm61dupf7yZiNtwgDNn50L8L_GExIJg-czYmep/s400/untitled.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308000425457725058" /></a><br /><br />Sorry, Uppy. You lost me the first time you waxed rhapsodic about the perfection of the new Soviet state. Enough information has come to light to make laughable any ideas about the USSR, even pre-Stalin, being some sort of workers' paradise of equality and efficient abundance. But that, of course, is information privileged to people reading at a date later than the novel's print year of 1927. And that knowledge is what makes the dated ideological nonsense bearable, even interesting at times. Because it <em>was</em> written in 1927, dammit. A time barely beyond the setting of the book, when the Red Scare was by no means put to rest and it was not exactly safe (let alone a wise career move) to write such a damning account of industry and politics in America. And he was certainly prescient about the nature of oil as a political world-mover. Still, there just wasn't enough here to stand the "timeless novel" test. The (completely understandable) gaps in Sinclair's knowledge glare out of every page and interrupt the flow of the narrative, they keep you from getting lost in the book or the period. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOi1Qj_24xXPzg3pP462_4ssQiHCoWFoGRcRlJj1G9eX-rVGzYw8oACg9Z0c6lJbmZ-7yfN5WMVxO2Cxsb1g1DZzdVusW_NrYNz4onOiL2xvrTHv2m717sFz8YAtcOTlcTWZ_bd2qeTR7M/s1600-h/commie+babies.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 259px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOi1Qj_24xXPzg3pP462_4ssQiHCoWFoGRcRlJj1G9eX-rVGzYw8oACg9Z0c6lJbmZ-7yfN5WMVxO2Cxsb1g1DZzdVusW_NrYNz4onOiL2xvrTHv2m717sFz8YAtcOTlcTWZ_bd2qeTR7M/s400/commie+babies.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308003024623994802" /></a><br /><br />Reading the book, its amazing to me how good a job the filmmakers did in stripping away the bulk of the book and leaving a version of Sinclair's work that could speak to the issues of our time so well. It's strange that the adaptors could read the book and come up with the film that they did- they reduced Bunny to a reference point for his father and relegated the second most important character of the book (Paul Watkins) to a 30 second plot-moving role that may or may not even be a character distinct from his brother Eli. Meanwhile they siezed upon two characters, Arnold Ross and Eli Watkins, who really just flit through the novel, surfacing now and then to be counterpoints to Bunny and Paul, respectively, and made them the focus of the film. The intense, competitive, combative and eventually violent relationship between Ross and Eli that makes the film so mesmerizing is almost entirely invented!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDvDkxQRVsiUnuUW55HNzzcXhaaWWEjqUZNql9XB5ZtrtU8iQayAsGLFVkU4mHQnpQodWFSEJyG7Fvyvi3eaBjHR65vVkSgNlRnCOSx3pG2gygFFzI_AI-UbwkORTiswrIjAElPG7X8Ayk/s1600-h/ross+and+eli.bmp"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 271px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDvDkxQRVsiUnuUW55HNzzcXhaaWWEjqUZNql9XB5ZtrtU8iQayAsGLFVkU4mHQnpQodWFSEJyG7Fvyvi3eaBjHR65vVkSgNlRnCOSx3pG2gygFFzI_AI-UbwkORTiswrIjAElPG7X8Ayk/s400/ross+and+eli.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308002021936649234" /></a><br /><br /><br />I wouldn't say that <em>Oil!</em> isn't worth reading, despite its frequent patches of vintage ideology. There are enough moments that remind you that Upton Sinclair is, in fact, an excellent writer to make it enjoyable. And while those timeless themes he touches on may not enjoy center stage, their presence does save the book from total irrelevance. Especially the reminder that the cancerous crapfest of the military-industrial-political complex is not exactly new, however depressing that reminder may be.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_-tx5EfYR156rliLWbcFlwLSesFuXABF5abl9POggcdMM1bRLBYtRqU0q2WtDqoMTDi_rsAvlT3UXdP60Z61LenoURm_7WrkP9phxiHqMrUt7qJnINpCDH9TtD3nUr0tSyEa1O6pI3JyV/s1600-h/there_will_be_blood.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_-tx5EfYR156rliLWbcFlwLSesFuXABF5abl9POggcdMM1bRLBYtRqU0q2WtDqoMTDi_rsAvlT3UXdP60Z61LenoURm_7WrkP9phxiHqMrUt7qJnINpCDH9TtD3nUr0tSyEa1O6pI3JyV/s400/there_will_be_blood.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308000600571179954" /></a><br /></span>ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13809624257332220499noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629573155318603267.post-50933359879998803782009-02-23T16:35:00.007-05:002009-02-23T16:50:40.679-05:00Lance Armstrong Hates Satirical Costumes...and those who wear them.<br /><br />Generally, I respect Lance as a cyclist, even though I have no doubt that he dopes ("Most Tested Athelete in History notwithstanding). But doping doesn't create a champion. Obviously it helps, but his path to dominance over the rest of the (also doping field) is insane, machine-like, monomaniacal discipline and work ethic. The man has earned his titles, I would never dispute that. Beyond that, he's definitely used his fame and money for a good cause- the man has pretty much single-handedly raised millions for cancer research and treatment.<br /><br />However, I don't think much of Lance the person at all- he is, by all accounts, an arrogant, domineering, diva-prick. But that very prickishness is what leads to awesome hilariousness like this scene from the Tour of Cali, where Lance confronts his doping demon:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGjPhFESeSdjeYn4skQcGoXDUbqCUITIYoriVnGPsdT-oEaV3yxdkTNoUsrE3oG3yAApKwbfa2QUrOdaqGQ4EBalE-_M2qsMhmR_gYV6KjM3rco5XXKgzO-m82_KaX0qRwBN7eoLpvsvr9/s1600-h/lance+devil+1.bmp"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGjPhFESeSdjeYn4skQcGoXDUbqCUITIYoriVnGPsdT-oEaV3yxdkTNoUsrE3oG3yAApKwbfa2QUrOdaqGQ4EBalE-_M2qsMhmR_gYV6KjM3rco5XXKgzO-m82_KaX0qRwBN7eoLpvsvr9/s400/lance+devil+1.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306109833066959394" /></a><br /><br />(photographic denouement after the jump)<br /><span class="fullpost"><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAr-vBLUmHXjCVXCOkoDGToyyB1MNt4JN6s4TjNFMU5BHFqxRaMPvppsRxJAjnHLo2K88fIPVBf3gYCV4adRirKKOzJdVzqFk-7d15hkDZB5oVHJ2TjlHUPZVWFo_hYxetmJeKS90hewLw/s1600-h/lance+devil+2.bmp"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAr-vBLUmHXjCVXCOkoDGToyyB1MNt4JN6s4TjNFMU5BHFqxRaMPvppsRxJAjnHLo2K88fIPVBf3gYCV4adRirKKOzJdVzqFk-7d15hkDZB5oVHJ2TjlHUPZVWFo_hYxetmJeKS90hewLw/s400/lance+devil+2.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306110125118132530" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpFIwnNHIUqlTqhZ_tNecQUPXJFPUsxBeVlfMjW0jUGYHHtXysVh5_uGYgUT27le_byGmbZMh3TveMuUYGE8BhmhxhXJh4fZOd4a6tgj4Vmm7i2qAr9qGfuaVOj5oBCQ2u6OdJ2U8YsNv6/s1600-h/lance+devil+3.bmp"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 265px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpFIwnNHIUqlTqhZ_tNecQUPXJFPUsxBeVlfMjW0jUGYHHtXysVh5_uGYgUT27le_byGmbZMh3TveMuUYGE8BhmhxhXJh4fZOd4a6tgj4Vmm7i2qAr9qGfuaVOj5oBCQ2u6OdJ2U8YsNv6/s400/lance+devil+3.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306110036442441986" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPMbErmem-uUc9wn0iPqsmWVuaoqpHHwF67hY2wd8HmMDHXbKfuIJgoA63MBUtudYt_XrNSUJWPr5lPk1b72em7mUxvjZT5SkrbDDgA4q8GOxRdAc6qzio2EHOcptfXMUllTVLHFd5U325/s1600-h/lance+devil+4.bmp"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPMbErmem-uUc9wn0iPqsmWVuaoqpHHwF67hY2wd8HmMDHXbKfuIJgoA63MBUtudYt_XrNSUJWPr5lPk1b72em7mUxvjZT5SkrbDDgA4q8GOxRdAc6qzio2EHOcptfXMUllTVLHFd5U325/s400/lance+devil+4.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306109926500215810" /></a><br /><br />You can't see it in this sequence, but the syringe pitchfork-toting devil is emblazoned with "Live Clean" on the back. Take that, cancer patients!<br /></span>ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13809624257332220499noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629573155318603267.post-11301147526904727352009-01-30T10:09:00.005-05:002009-01-30T10:15:16.465-05:00Light Painting<span><br /></span><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPhkmHzV28VnCajmweJVJ12aOeD0Nb_k57dIh9Z-Fish94Ch3Z5xC0b4o6DoRkWloIuNPJoiLQjIjNFbQln4LC7PxA4sebQ9ZrAk-4eDyiGdfNdvP_htBz8INzCaD8_H14SG67wVyv7gg3/s1600-h/DSC_0248.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPhkmHzV28VnCajmweJVJ12aOeD0Nb_k57dIh9Z-Fish94Ch3Z5xC0b4o6DoRkWloIuNPJoiLQjIjNFbQln4LC7PxA4sebQ9ZrAk-4eDyiGdfNdvP_htBz8INzCaD8_H14SG67wVyv7gg3/s400/DSC_0248.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5297104501542521282" /></a><br />Self-portrait at a wine bar in NYC, where our awesome Siberian bartender did me the favor of understanding my stilted, mushy Russian. Practice!<br /><span class="fullpost"><br /><br /></span>ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13809624257332220499noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629573155318603267.post-50319273813598215002009-01-22T16:29:00.014-05:002009-01-28T18:13:59.237-05:00Che pasa?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYtqiuhoAlv-oUrtKukyCJVLWmhGS3FIrE64siek3NOHIJs3UUrY6fyJwhzUGMxJjVcOm5x2gWB811U3niG5MbH46UjaDqVBTRopupc0gXqINso6fShO_DNtPluLZcenk_29XnAOsH6xcY/s1600-h/che+cigar.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 142px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYtqiuhoAlv-oUrtKukyCJVLWmhGS3FIrE64siek3NOHIJs3UUrY6fyJwhzUGMxJjVcOm5x2gWB811U3niG5MbH46UjaDqVBTRopupc0gXqINso6fShO_DNtPluLZcenk_29XnAOsH6xcY/s400/che+cigar.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5294236840846576642" /></a><br /><br />Worst case scenario, Soderbergh's <em>Che</em> was going to be five hours of the sort of stuff that leads to this:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkHBv4x7PKr3-1gGCH3SP2xlmV0_0NErEiFS1udzNdB4jca0K9gZrIiU_75tok-LlUhKcbTGDE8siWMCwrKmNxL3Vn_EtiLhLlo3Iyjxb3rE3kk_JZU-TK4PqrI8yqK5Mjk6c-C6aHpO9f/s1600-h/che+hipster.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 330px; height: 335px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkHBv4x7PKr3-1gGCH3SP2xlmV0_0NErEiFS1udzNdB4jca0K9gZrIiU_75tok-LlUhKcbTGDE8siWMCwrKmNxL3Vn_EtiLhLlo3Iyjxb3rE3kk_JZU-TK4PqrI8yqK5Mjk6c-C6aHpO9f/s400/che+hipster.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5294234433328545890" /></a><br /><br />It wasn't. But unfortunately, it wasn't much of anything else either.<br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><br />Incidentally, while looking for pictures of hipster-types in Che shirts, I discovered that I am <em>way</em> behind the times and it is now fashionable to proclaim your <em>disdain</em> for Guevara, even to recognize his more sanguinary excesses. Still through the medium of t-shirts though. Baby steps. This one was my favorite:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFKYK1E5HgjwMAqlpYSu09WEZXdR1WLry3Kzvd52_Vzx3e7ElBMTJjlN0rsqH8yM4aOIP3XIIc5hwFLSZVSTm1pwsIUuV9i53QzX3PTTVRyfcwSA_o0bmxK4jEz9pttUW3VV-0BJV1iv1Z/s1600-h/che+backlash+shirt.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 219px; height: 193px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFKYK1E5HgjwMAqlpYSu09WEZXdR1WLry3Kzvd52_Vzx3e7ElBMTJjlN0rsqH8yM4aOIP3XIIc5hwFLSZVSTm1pwsIUuV9i53QzX3PTTVRyfcwSA_o0bmxK4jEz9pttUW3VV-0BJV1iv1Z/s400/che+backlash+shirt.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5294238363398421362" /></a><br /><br />But back to the film...<br /><br />There are basically two ways of looking at Che: as a charismatic, inspiring revolutionary who stood up for the downtrodden or as a murderer with a messiah complex. While devotees of either would never admit it, both views are pretty accurate. And that's where Soderbergh's movie fails- he seems unwilling to commit to the extremes of personality and myth inherent in his subject.<br /><br />The five-hour epic was divided into two films, <em>The Argentine</em>, covering the Cuban Revolution and Che's 1964 trip to the UN and <em>The Guerilla</em>, depicting his abortive attempt at exporting the revolution to Bolivia. By dividing the films this way, Soderbergh neatly side-steps the most problematic period of the Che history: the intervening time in the Cuban government and his role in the mass executions of "counter-revolutionaries" as Castro consolidated power. The most infuriating thing is that Soderbergh goes out of his way to <em>acknowledge</em> the massacres, but in the most toothless way possible: through Che's blithe admission in his (admittedly quite eloquent) speech to the UN, "yes, we have executed; we are executing and we will continue to execute as long as it is necessary." I think this would have been a far more interesting dichotomy to explore: the humanist, the doctor who thinks nothing of using mass murder as a political tool; the liberator who becomes the jailor of La Cabana.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHdM6TunUIDiXaK4W0IBEafmALcjRt5UbfxD5a949uU6pIz40EIrciGbq1jqJJFIqsNfHNCeNrjysHU7ztSdPjpNdLIs4y01yWWL-LdKz1GziO7MyhyphenhyphenFv_FCrYvHnu4IKf7Bh1QJ85qe9g/s1600-h/che+UN.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 223px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHdM6TunUIDiXaK4W0IBEafmALcjRt5UbfxD5a949uU6pIz40EIrciGbq1jqJJFIqsNfHNCeNrjysHU7ztSdPjpNdLIs4y01yWWL-LdKz1GziO7MyhyphenhyphenFv_FCrYvHnu4IKf7Bh1QJ85qe9g/s400/che+UN.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5296469853060832546" /></a><br /><br />But really, I would have been 85% fine with a movie that romaniticized Che Guevara if it did it in an entertaining or interesting way. From a filmmaking perspective, all I can say is: meh. Part 1, <em>The Argentine</em>, was decent. The cinematography was beautiful, with interesting framing and saturated colors. The black and white flash-forwards to the UN speech were a nice visual contrast and well edited. There was an ensemble of supporting characters who, if not exactly fleshed-out, were at least recognizable and imbued with life and personality. Benicio del Toro did a good job of portraying Che's quiet, brainy charisma tempered with a firey, somewhat monomaniacal desire to be always on the front line, to be "a guerilla." In short, even if it didn't have <em>much</em> to say, <em>The Argentine</em> at least said it well.<br /><br />Sadly, the same cannot be said for Part 2, <em>The Guerilla</em>. Rise and fall, promise and failure- visually, everything was meant to contrast the Cuban success with the trapped, impotent feeling of the Bolivian revolutionaries. Lush jungle colors were traded for the washed-out pallette of the andean forests and cinematic widescreen traded for the seriously claustrophobic 1.85:1 format ratio. Effective visual metaphor perhaps, but not terribly pleasant or memorable.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRghyphenhyphenSNt3utJbWdMC4tbGQ9sMPPSvw30nva8Z3s1LbFB7rzjUUYG5Gze3JEccQBcVRHuizR3LIo7pxelROybDhKTwAbIV8ujgwWtQzNONRwCHrjSrgZgXYAk32aB3IUhaX5HUxhDpPA9Z8/s1600-h/che1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 276px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRghyphenhyphenSNt3utJbWdMC4tbGQ9sMPPSvw30nva8Z3s1LbFB7rzjUUYG5Gze3JEccQBcVRHuizR3LIo7pxelROybDhKTwAbIV8ujgwWtQzNONRwCHrjSrgZgXYAk32aB3IUhaX5HUxhDpPA9Z8/s400/che1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5296482086595826642" /></a><br /><br />Even worse, the narrative and pacing of <em>The Guerilla</em> was...nonexistent. The background characters were indistinguishable. The narrative became entirely linear and extremely plodding, and, worst of all, it wasn't even about Che! The only "character developments" poor Guevara had in the second half of this butt-numbing ordeal were predicted entirely by the FIRST MOVIE. Che's tragic flaw was that he just wasn't that good a supreme commander. He needed someone over him, someone to use his talents wisely, to hold him back or redirect his passions as needed. In the first film, Castro explicitly served this purpose. Who could doubt, given the first film, that Che on his own would not be so successful? Given this predictablity (and the fact that we all know how it ends), <em>The Guerilla</em> amounts to the most average war movie you can conceive of. Indeed it is worse, because I have a sneaking suspicion that Soderbergh unpardonably stretched the running time of Part 2 to achieve symmetry (Part 1 is 129 min, Part 2 is 128). <br /><br />Granted, its hard to show the entirety of a person in the running time of a biopic, but with an extra three hours, I expect Soderbergh to do more, not less, in illuminating his subject. What a wasted opportunity to show us the man behind the t-shirts.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_coJxMhCWj5-nLZK5QIzPMrTMsfq8XsIOmuvBluQwJGM6ll_TsCGWTJJsa-mtWtSCkjinB3XZ8W8gHSU47qs3XoAdMKLuxmtqxiv0OTX15oShy8emCdDo-N_5ZJ5KqIxuNZ1TWKKRLbX_/s1600-h/che+backlash+shirt+2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_coJxMhCWj5-nLZK5QIzPMrTMsfq8XsIOmuvBluQwJGM6ll_TsCGWTJJsa-mtWtSCkjinB3XZ8W8gHSU47qs3XoAdMKLuxmtqxiv0OTX15oShy8emCdDo-N_5ZJ5KqIxuNZ1TWKKRLbX_/s400/che+backlash+shirt+2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5296482251181127698" /></a><br /></span>ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13809624257332220499noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629573155318603267.post-75192340166183547452009-01-21T17:44:00.010-05:002009-01-21T18:25:33.031-05:004am commercials never cease to amuse<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ETN1px7i4KY&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ETN1px7i4KY&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Hooray for YOOOOOOOU!<br /><br />I hope that guy got paid alot. Course, judging by that way-too-forced smile and glassy stare, maybe he'd be better off getting paid in product. Looks like dude could use some of that sweet, sweet self-esteem.<br /><br />Also?<br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBeTq-4mOTUgALV4xObeypEKBK0gUN2yVZyhdjHhMJOU8C-Gv-HtKmuVz4gDFhb48bCvwovWAtfnJOwsXb__yrlGaqWq81EaR4vAeiqI-DuZcnyf0NGvkr7glUQl6RlPpHlYtcEBNJKrGZ/s1600-h/cog+in+the+machine.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBeTq-4mOTUgALV4xObeypEKBK0gUN2yVZyhdjHhMJOU8C-Gv-HtKmuVz4gDFhb48bCvwovWAtfnJOwsXb__yrlGaqWq81EaR4vAeiqI-DuZcnyf0NGvkr7glUQl6RlPpHlYtcEBNJKrGZ/s400/cog+in+the+machine.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293889653261570818" /></a><br /><br />Couldn't they at least have made the pieces fit together? And is it really a good idea to try to get people to affirm their individuality by reminding them of their cog-in-the-machine status?<br /></span>ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13809624257332220499noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629573155318603267.post-70165420376395065342009-01-21T12:36:00.004-05:002009-01-21T16:46:43.175-05:00Good Start<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjTBLMPqe7pASyvPXqR3AckuZ4XeKJR4gWENpF_jYm0L31vlryPnKH_M8by8U5IoJ-bn3qjJZO3USQ5BMIKTGVbGma3ZCcyL8J6vw9AoX3cTWsepUCOYzRLvEUd9UwKOeLqMwncHDPW4hS/s1600-h/obama+prayer+service.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 177px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjTBLMPqe7pASyvPXqR3AckuZ4XeKJR4gWENpF_jYm0L31vlryPnKH_M8by8U5IoJ-bn3qjJZO3USQ5BMIKTGVbGma3ZCcyL8J6vw9AoX3cTWsepUCOYzRLvEUd9UwKOeLqMwncHDPW4hS/s320/obama+prayer+service.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293806026513709234" /></a><br /><br />1. During the inauguration day (!), Obama ordered a freeze on all pending Bush regulations for a legal and policy review. Way to waste no time in cleaning that filth out of the system, buddy.<br /><br />2. A midnight legal filing ordering a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/washington/22gitmo.html?hp">halt to the Guantanamo military tribunals</a> with an eye to closing the detention center and, yknow, no longer pissing on the constitution and the geneva conventions. <br /><br />3. And, in more of a symbolic than substantive move, the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/us/politics/22obamacnd.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp">traditional prayer service </a>at the National Cathedral was conducted by a female preacher for the first time ever. It also included more than 20 representatives of different faiths, including woman leaders of Islam and Hinduism. Stick that in your "big tent" and smoke it, GOP!<br /><br />I await the forthcoming "series of announcements both on domestic and on foreign policy that I think will be critical for us to act swiftly on."<br /><br />Rock out with your Barack out, America!<br /><span class="fullpost"><br /><br /></span>ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13809624257332220499noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629573155318603267.post-46638413493166601202009-01-20T20:35:00.020-05:002009-01-22T10:20:18.679-05:00Lucky #44Yes. We. Did.<br /><br />So...its going to be all puppies and rainbows now, right? A job in every pot and a 401k in every garage, right? <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9ifZvcF1QSqSM3RZ5ooSTx6WRdjRUF99V1CGpUScStgQsYV2TkbVtpyVr4UJiJr1WSDiNlnd-sOX37_gSftQTBAepybFOd87fuXkT8ct_IbcjymUjXotScYoggYze4uFz50apTOE_Fnay/s1600-h/obama+inauguration!.bmp"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 224px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9ifZvcF1QSqSM3RZ5ooSTx6WRdjRUF99V1CGpUScStgQsYV2TkbVtpyVr4UJiJr1WSDiNlnd-sOX37_gSftQTBAepybFOd87fuXkT8ct_IbcjymUjXotScYoggYze4uFz50apTOE_Fnay/s400/obama+inauguration!.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293555427549171042" /></a><br /><br />Ah, Hoover. Seems a fitting man to quote...hopefully ironically.<br /><br />I keed, I keed. I know there will be times when he disappoints me, times when he has to compromise with political unsavories to get the job done...but for now, I'm all kinds of inspired. Goshdarnit, I'm hopeful.<br /><br />After the jump, an inauguration rundown.<br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><br /><br />Say what you will about the starry-eyed Obamaniacs, the beginning of that speech proved once again exactly why he has that effect on people. Starting out all dark and foreboding (perhaps aka "realistic"), then building to that crescendo of "Yes We Can"? My cynical ass got goosebumps. I'm not too proud to admit it. The man can deliver a speech. And its easy to discount that, but its a pretty powerful ability. Those speeches, after all, are how we are fed presidential policy. The president is the face of our government, and not only is this one able to string two coherent words together, but he can do it with some inspiring flair. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2VrghBwG9gKdylsDaL8ci4rh-KmHslZjS4AmOm2IFysPc4v4J1IvgUkty3xVKAdGfJhrLBMmo3a5Iv5TCshb3vmEy1yuF3IMmi-IM6Qolm1O6pjMH1UWtBbEnCy1SoiTlvh5FxAiJBqh3/s1600-h/YES+WE+DID.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 273px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2VrghBwG9gKdylsDaL8ci4rh-KmHslZjS4AmOm2IFysPc4v4J1IvgUkty3xVKAdGfJhrLBMmo3a5Iv5TCshb3vmEy1yuF3IMmi-IM6Qolm1O6pjMH1UWtBbEnCy1SoiTlvh5FxAiJBqh3/s400/YES+WE+DID.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293564372437729746" /></a><br /><br />Although, I also have to admit I kinda cringed when he flubbed the oath of office. Whoops. He laughed it off though, so hey, he's just human or whatever. [<em>Edit:</em> It was <a href="http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/01/20/1751351.aspx">Roberts' fault</a>! Ha!] [<em>Edit AGAIN!:</EM> <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28780417/">Mulligan</a>!]<br /><br />Below are some of the quotes that really stuck out to me (read: the aforementioned goosebumps). Going back through the transcript, the speech was a little more derivative than it seemed while watching. On paper, at times it even sounds a little...Shakespearean. But thats the power of good oration- even recycled words can sound like they're being spoken just for you. <br /><br />Watch the whole speech <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27721638/vp/28657278#28657278">here.</a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0BWoKsefmOHJs-gbZdRbesyzxJQqvYaefvFOKi5R4njCPXVaKV_EVGZ6vcDYoeaULlZjH-e1ZtDsf8x6CoEtTFRBcwAG_v2dmz_WoUyp5XWZxbCu7xaaiuAk2wI2sjM1sifjGDKvNkK3r/s1600-h/inaugural+address.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 361px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0BWoKsefmOHJs-gbZdRbesyzxJQqvYaefvFOKi5R4njCPXVaKV_EVGZ6vcDYoeaULlZjH-e1ZtDsf8x6CoEtTFRBcwAG_v2dmz_WoUyp5XWZxbCu7xaaiuAk2wI2sjM1sifjGDKvNkK3r/s400/inaugural+address.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293578135927406946" /></a><br /><br /><em>"Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our <strong>collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age.</strong>"<br /><br /><br />"Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America – they will be met. On this day, we gather because <strong>we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.</strong> On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics."</em> <br /><br />[At this point I half expected him to bust out with a "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."]<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUYz45HHLXkqQkNeACZjJrWDDtFblqgqMqcLTxgwdz5CfrgRKc_oy-3TI1tp5_DxkCn9wyurSt1LOc_wf_PSTkiosN5gq5bhWS-0pdgBKrHqSCWhfUleYi_wpyZlchkx_TSWhDX7tvpnJJ/s1600-h/inauguration+dawn.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUYz45HHLXkqQkNeACZjJrWDDtFblqgqMqcLTxgwdz5CfrgRKc_oy-3TI1tp5_DxkCn9wyurSt1LOc_wf_PSTkiosN5gq5bhWS-0pdgBKrHqSCWhfUleYi_wpyZlchkx_TSWhDX7tvpnJJ/s400/inauguration+dawn.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293565410807820946" /></a><br /><br /><em>"Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted – for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things – some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom."</em><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXihM2rX2mTmJjKseiDqwdQLkqw1ucizXQJWHqDVSZR_4EzDzOdoRiA2im0cQZesfL0xbjIeDBMe5H4pPvUYjPtLc-I8J0gdyYQfP8a6JNXUVdppkEswDQAxbTr2UiiKQyDRRv3Vp_rsPw/s1600-h/vendoring+hope.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 283px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXihM2rX2mTmJjKseiDqwdQLkqw1ucizXQJWHqDVSZR_4EzDzOdoRiA2im0cQZesfL0xbjIeDBMe5H4pPvUYjPtLc-I8J0gdyYQfP8a6JNXUVdppkEswDQAxbTr2UiiKQyDRRv3Vp_rsPw/s400/vendoring+hope.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293566005093628050" /></a>(I'm ok w the vendoring...especially goods of hilarious bad quality or dubious usage (obama belts?), but these freak me out cause they're so evocative of the little Putin portraits I saw in every Russian house. Krasny ugol is not for deifying politicians.)<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDxHgAw-zZHT4CZbbmYo-VK994F8mfUskQ9PICnQCJYxUtrnEpNa0pASpyrLxgLvcHryjuR2kxWiRAXFRKcCjgH02xCZmikWeUg_hwi6nqRIy3IdRQAxMnqkEZrhWY0U1L8mhw4-Kp373A/s1600-h/portrait+gallery.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDxHgAw-zZHT4CZbbmYo-VK994F8mfUskQ9PICnQCJYxUtrnEpNa0pASpyrLxgLvcHryjuR2kxWiRAXFRKcCjgH02xCZmikWeUg_hwi6nqRIy3IdRQAxMnqkEZrhWY0U1L8mhw4-Kp373A/s400/portrait+gallery.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293567221768639986" /></a> (THAT is a portrait. And its where it belongs: in the Natl Portrait Gallery)<br /><br /><br /><em>"But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions – that time has surely passed. <strong>Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.</strong>"<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUQXLnmLsIBASlicTk3bZOelQIM7bOCblukoSBhW8bgKqBYxamuD2JrodfUGMLt0u3Y7zLyOJ9vPSdCTPFDRhg2md27Mvug6kqJr0tf0XI2kbfsCbNo7PrsuNXYeICMg4ycn4kb2zZ1i9P/s1600-h/inauguration_tree_sitters.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUQXLnmLsIBASlicTk3bZOelQIM7bOCblukoSBhW8bgKqBYxamuD2JrodfUGMLt0u3Y7zLyOJ9vPSdCTPFDRhg2md27Mvug6kqJr0tf0XI2kbfsCbNo7PrsuNXYeICMg4ycn4kb2zZ1i9P/s400/inauguration_tree_sitters.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293576428704233170" /></a><br /><br />"<strong>We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.</strong> Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake."</em> <br /><br />[On MSNBC, the only time GW Bush was shown in this speech was during the first sentence of this quote. That is a pretty awesome and subtle (for cable news) indictment.]<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi36RktddWmrN31XLqK7E4XaDN1n4Ri4eGSTTmOjRykcqAwV5wZYQw65au6H1WJILZIkzIDAjbnmbLSbV6VucdG0wPkTsEFSk6dBC5mziK2rlhWW0NzvKen5QFeUaw1IaEwNN-4FgSO5_kh/s1600-h/kicked+in+the+balls.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 269px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi36RktddWmrN31XLqK7E4XaDN1n4Ri4eGSTTmOjRykcqAwV5wZYQw65au6H1WJILZIkzIDAjbnmbLSbV6VucdG0wPkTsEFSk6dBC5mziK2rlhWW0NzvKen5QFeUaw1IaEwNN-4FgSO5_kh/s400/kicked+in+the+balls.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293577409895251890" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjknEKhKIq_neeqr9sq4nPJMMQipGazT2Q2a8p1r0mGj53s8pl3kNELDStjxOfnFwhXwjUCegZULN0Ci9UqN76RlIryekDz8uBOALpwFATScKjgT7gZH4UeDFueTX8DR-6QY4L6YT0RFvpd/s1600-h/grim+reaper+protest.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 263px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjknEKhKIq_neeqr9sq4nPJMMQipGazT2Q2a8p1r0mGj53s8pl3kNELDStjxOfnFwhXwjUCegZULN0Ci9UqN76RlIryekDz8uBOALpwFATScKjgT7gZH4UeDFueTX8DR-6QY4L6YT0RFvpd/s400/grim+reaper+protest.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293577661143383746" /></a><br /><br /><em>"And because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; <strong>that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.</strong>"<br /><br />"...your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that <strong>we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.</strong>"<br /><br /><br />"This is the price and the promise of citizenship."</em> [Helloooo, JFK]<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgchemdgVQDEqnZT7JeLtqexDTBCtqkkttkl4wULmnRzgupsHOujRX4EcPFSB6VcRnPZa979pTqhpV2TtCoI2dbd4yRkQcOpdFHAxGFDo2eH7gwC1-fEd04RBPM8qGS211rkToB_LGGltkT/s1600-h/obama+art.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgchemdgVQDEqnZT7JeLtqexDTBCtqkkttkl4wULmnRzgupsHOujRX4EcPFSB6VcRnPZa979pTqhpV2TtCoI2dbd4yRkQcOpdFHAxGFDo2eH7gwC1-fEd04RBPM8qGS211rkToB_LGGltkT/s400/obama+art.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293578732937880018" /></a><br /><br />But nothing can top the super-awesome number one moment of the day:<br /><br /><object width="480" height="295"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/F5ZbtdjxiD0&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/F5ZbtdjxiD0&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"></embed></object><br /><br /><br /></span>ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13809624257332220499noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629573155318603267.post-2516601404983016612009-01-19T18:50:00.001-05:002009-01-20T22:22:44.857-05:00Really? You gotta go there? On a T-shirt???<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSjFDILVi_ZgkzcRDVGVg4-rVgAgzVili2uhF2qdiz1VuZLFqyyeYmKc3LUOuv3WHD41xXyZJZ9W7eLklXnBYcS6EwLPc7ZIuo8KhIYyz70LAOAJu23Oxezgk399L6cgSb1EW-6XaJ2j7s/s1600-h/plantation.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSjFDILVi_ZgkzcRDVGVg4-rVgAgzVili2uhF2qdiz1VuZLFqyyeYmKc3LUOuv3WHD41xXyZJZ9W7eLklXnBYcS6EwLPc7ZIuo8KhIYyz70LAOAJu23Oxezgk399L6cgSb1EW-6XaJ2j7s/s400/plantation.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293156695919940370" /></a><br /><span class="fullpost"><br /><br /></span>ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13809624257332220499noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629573155318603267.post-56709045730161506062009-01-07T14:58:00.004-05:002009-01-07T15:09:22.367-05:00Probably my one ski adventure of this year :(Not gonna lie...probably not going to get to any other Holiday Odyssey chapters. >.<<br /><br />But as consolation, here are some pics.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5SHBqUHTZWUsT6YkqwyUaw5Q854d_16SJJQzntheAvBoWNO3VlqcpJJ25VNdNyUpQwBdhKvw_SJSZR7FeR1T1uRVn7wwGEqfBtdc03ZSr4tsesnNHmeKxNrvTfKzobGoYMdIUQQ67afqZ/s1600-h/IMG_1264.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5SHBqUHTZWUsT6YkqwyUaw5Q854d_16SJJQzntheAvBoWNO3VlqcpJJ25VNdNyUpQwBdhKvw_SJSZR7FeR1T1uRVn7wwGEqfBtdc03ZSr4tsesnNHmeKxNrvTfKzobGoYMdIUQQ67afqZ/s400/IMG_1264.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288643859878076450" /></a><br />Darco picking his line through the trees at Ski Santa Fe.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOy2cVh_-Su9TOOjROEzscyBGpTk_mFvXQDWYjKKJNDnv3PKJtCVE2GaA161ODGk_FRwNJq_sxN4OPY8SQ7XD8GIjQctDX4Z55NAKGFVZP_-nbnv69SM27YuRVcMi4XyBACocmO1FbqJG0/s1600-h/IMG_1281.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOy2cVh_-Su9TOOjROEzscyBGpTk_mFvXQDWYjKKJNDnv3PKJtCVE2GaA161ODGk_FRwNJq_sxN4OPY8SQ7XD8GIjQctDX4Z55NAKGFVZP_-nbnv69SM27YuRVcMi4XyBACocmO1FbqJG0/s400/IMG_1281.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288644143433337410" /></a><br />Me parsing the (annoyingly irregular) mogul fields.<br /><br />And, to induce straight-up jealousy, this is Darco's sister's backyard:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjubHmkMzSMS1QCIQZvjIZxtHGTkLw0SNnkOHWawaBKXPN9Me-7wOP6utE-rUhdh4IS2j7-ICu5Pujumrzjg3pXK1Ub95ozvWtsmlsWuSk0LSlKntKR4zkA_PnZGbjgs-akVJiAApZperv-/s1600-h/DSC_0166.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 268px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjubHmkMzSMS1QCIQZvjIZxtHGTkLw0SNnkOHWawaBKXPN9Me-7wOP6utE-rUhdh4IS2j7-ICu5Pujumrzjg3pXK1Ub95ozvWtsmlsWuSk0LSlKntKR4zkA_PnZGbjgs-akVJiAApZperv-/s400/DSC_0166.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288645770856001138" /></a><br /><br />Hidden in that cloud is the back of the ski mountain. So. Un. Fair.ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13809624257332220499noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629573155318603267.post-79506934404857602972009-01-06T14:56:00.011-05:002009-01-07T15:10:16.869-05:00Jezebel, I Hardly Knew YeAbout a year and a half ago, I discovered <a href="http://jezebel.com/">Jezebel</a>. And I fell in time-killing, page-refreshing love. The blog had a pretty unique mix of news, politics and pop culture, all viewed through a feminist lens. It touched on alot of issues that are important to me, but in a snarky, irreverent, <em>entertaining</em> way.<br /><br />Well, those days are gone. Sadly, Jezebel has betrayed me and now I have the data to prove it.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1w2MXCbYbf878CSX4zjW7bgyJONTYthGfm8P84I68XvT_OHCrNImvqV5SvluylNFXK7Ojn2TwBrzkp8YPGI4yQVSkE3sWlbfQvm3Bfy6-MkltJflQ5pZxoYQ_Vw89ZqoeoZOrkUvmSp80/s1600-h/jezebel+logo.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 189px; height: 233px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1w2MXCbYbf878CSX4zjW7bgyJONTYthGfm8P84I68XvT_OHCrNImvqV5SvluylNFXK7Ojn2TwBrzkp8YPGI4yQVSkE3sWlbfQvm3Bfy6-MkltJflQ5pZxoYQ_Vw89ZqoeoZOrkUvmSp80/s400/jezebel+logo.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288278728137686194" /></a><br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><br /><br />Jezebel is a horse in the stable of the Nick Denton/Gawker Media empire. It launched with a bang in July 2007 when their offer of a $10,000 prize for an unretouched cover photo from a big ladymag led to the dramatic reveal of <a href="http://jezebel.com/gossip/top/the-annotated-guide-to-making-faith-hill-hot-278978.php">Faith Hill as an actual human being</a> (as opposed to the plastic glamour-cyborg published on the cover of <em>Redbook</em>).<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNb8jRVwGIjHF3JLFc9xDW85l5JylbyzQF2qz_Ps1Y1NC6wyDWnTVxLLOn5uUMyXgOmVkWTfGs5H0SdoBjw_3r861oMR__f3XvkQ0sTnv6Xay0791K3TDkGu9eMqJR-KCnPR792NF6Q3qT/s1600-h/faith+hill.bmp"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNb8jRVwGIjHF3JLFc9xDW85l5JylbyzQF2qz_Ps1Y1NC6wyDWnTVxLLOn5uUMyXgOmVkWTfGs5H0SdoBjw_3r861oMR__f3XvkQ0sTnv6Xay0791K3TDkGu9eMqJR-KCnPR792NF6Q3qT/s400/faith+hill.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288280777192256594" /></a><br /><br />Granted this coup de journalism was more monetary lubrication than reportage, but still- it was a pretty sensational, facade-busting way to come into the saturated women's media market. And it set the tone for alot of what came after- namely, revealing the market-driven nonsense spoon-fed to women for the bullshit that it is and shining a feminist spotlight on alot of the misogynistic (overt or not) crap that goes on in our world. With a healthy dose of humor to make the medicine go down.<br /><br />All was well.<br /><br />Then came the recession. There was <a href="http://www.observer.com/2008/media/denton-shuffles-deck-hires-snyder-m-e-gawker-moe-tkacik-let-go">"restructuring"</a> and layoffs. And still, I thought, all was well. I mean, there might be less posting and different voices, but surely the content would remain the same? After all it is Jezebel's content and refusal to dumb-down that made the blog popular in the first place.<br /><br />WRONG.<br /><br />Since September-ish I've noticed a steady falling-off in, I don't know, the <em>worthiness</em> of the things Jez chooses to post about. In the days leading up to the hols, the drop-off became pretty steep. So now, with the holidays over, I decided to try to analyze, in a totally amateur fashion, NowJezebel versus PastJezebel. I categorized the attributes of every post put up yesterday, Monday, January 5th, 2009 and compared them to the posts of Monday, January 7th, 2008.<br /><br />Here are the criteria I looked at:<br /><br />1. Category/subject- ie, fashion, news, celebrity, etc.<br /><br />2. Whether the post required an author or a journalist as opposed to an intern with an RSS feed. Is it just an image? Just a link to a real article? I did not count short summaries of articles, but I did decide to count any longer summaries, particularly if they were summarized through a lens of opinion or position.<br /><br />3. Whether there was any sign of analysis, opinion or thought. I also credited the sharing of personal info or anecdotes. This is another of the things that made OldJezebel so fun- you got to know the editors and contributors through their posts. <br /><br />4. Whether or not I personally was interested in or amused by the post. Obviously this one is <em>completely</em> subjective, but I like to think that I am fairly representative of the average Jezebel reader.<br /><br />Here are the spreadsheets:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/9782215/Jezebel-Analysis-Jan7th-2008">Monday, January 7th, 2008</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/9782397/Jezebel-Analysis-Jan-5th-2009">Monday, January 5th 2009</a><br /><br />Bottom line, the data supports exactly what I felt in my gut and in my increasing boredom with the posts on Jez. More celebrity crap, less news or feminist issues. More quick links and short posts, less actual writing. More of the hated TMZ-like paparazzied snap judgments. Less personality in the writing. <br /><br />Here's how it broke down:<br /><br /><a title="View Jezebel Comparison on Scribd" href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/9787934/Jezebel-Comparison" style="margin: 12px auto 6px auto; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; -x-system-font: none; display: block; text-decoration: underline;">Jezebel Comparison</a> <object codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" id="doc_914487726913897" name="doc_914487726913897" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" align="middle" height="500" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://documents.scribd.com/ScribdViewer.swf?document_id=9787934&access_key=key-lzr4msvz36m4ybenrsp&page=1&version=1&viewMode="> <param name="quality" value="high"> <param name="play" value="true"> <param name="loop" value="true"> <param name="scale" value="showall"> <param name="wmode" value="opaque"> <param name="devicefont" value="false"> <param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff"> <param name="menu" value="true"> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"> <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"> <param name="salign" value=""> <embed src="http://documents.scribd.com/ScribdViewer.swf?document_id=9787934&access_key=key-lzr4msvz36m4ybenrsp&page=1&version=1&viewMode=" quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" play="true" loop="true" scale="showall" wmode="opaque" devicefont="false" bgcolor="#ffffff" name="doc_914487726913897_object" menu="true" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" salign="" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" align="middle" height="500" width="100%"></embed> </object> <div style="margin: 6px auto 3px auto; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; -x-system-font: none; display: block;"> <a href="http://www.scribd.com/upload" style="text-decoration: underline;">Publish at Scribd</a> or <a href="http://www.scribd.com/browse" style="text-decoration: underline;">explore</a> others: </div> <br /><br /><br />Kinda sad, no? That's a pretty conclusive ~10% fall-off in all criteria. The one thing I was suprised about was that there wasn't <em>appreciably</em> more Snap Judgments, cause lord, it feels like there's a new one every time i refresh nowadays. I guess cause there's less worthwile content posted between them...<br /><br />And qualitatively, there was one post yesterday that particularly struck me as emblematic of the change. This item, "<a href="http://jezebel.com/5123611/couple-splits-over-extreme-pms">Couple Splits over Extreme PMS</a>," is definitely something that would have elicited something more than a link and a pull quote in the days of OldJezebel. Comments on the way PMS, something inherent to female physiology and connected to propogation of the freakin species, is still so taboo and stigmatized that this woman was not only nearly divorced over it but didn't even realize that her symptoms were extreme? Maybe about why medication is always the instant answer to "female trouble"? Certainly at least an anecdote about the Jez editor's personal experiences with boyfriends and PMS. But no. Just a link, a pic and a pull quote. I'm all for commenter participation, but allowing them to generate ALL your content is just lazy.<br /><br />I know Nick Denton and the most of the Jez editors would argue that this is temporary and due to the recession. Well, its a slippery slope guys, and I don't see you climbing back up. <br /><br />Pour one out for OldJezebel. RIP.<br /><br /></span>ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13809624257332220499noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629573155318603267.post-47794367923867903992009-01-04T20:33:00.004-05:002009-01-04T20:39:47.432-05:00He's Good Enough and He's Smart EnoughAnd doggone it, apparently people like him! (Yeah, I know everyone and their mom is going to use that joke. I don't care.)<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLx32IChrcvDrqRA_0hnBcawfA6WwiqVBa2JMUyfIiGuTxf7pBSu2X7DFWTaWIyHebLQzrUM7wX_srIPzMREpD9LklraF6OYRWr_8MllBYlsRgDxGBNACLIjpMNyzj0OIdgArqyIckldwC/s1600-h/al_franken_umd1_800pxh.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 306px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLx32IChrcvDrqRA_0hnBcawfA6WwiqVBa2JMUyfIiGuTxf7pBSu2X7DFWTaWIyHebLQzrUM7wX_srIPzMREpD9LklraF6OYRWr_8MllBYlsRgDxGBNACLIjpMNyzj0OIdgArqyIckldwC/s400/al_franken_umd1_800pxh.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287616935119008242" /></a><br /><br />Obvs, there's going to be a big ol' legal challenge, but for now I salute <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/04/minnesota.senate.race/index.html">Senator Al Franken</a>. Even if he is the worst senator in the history of the world, I still dig him cause he put his money where his <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lies-Lying-Liars-Tell-Them/dp/0452285216/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231119409&sr=8-1">mouth</a> was.<br /><br />And I know thats not the most flattering picture to use on the day of his victory, but hell, the man looks like a cartoon character at the best of times and this pic makes me smile. <br /><span class="fullpost"><br /><br /></span>ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13809624257332220499noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629573155318603267.post-26196624892699710432009-01-03T20:47:00.017-05:002009-01-03T21:53:24.557-05:00Holiday Odyssey, Part OneSing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story<br />of that (wo)man skilled in all ways of contending,<br />the wanderer, harried for years on end,<br />after (s)he plundered the stronghold<br />on the proud height of <del>Troy</del> Delta Airlines.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP8AARvgHc8vYrncGX4RBuB7D8Pe9wu_KrqINWQyB_ZtqBO-UcvePDiWNxVzR8bJ7n5Rd3dENLd_PnM2uaqmYHJKG1QMojQL1gg-it23vdIa5fP7_dmElWVaIUaFRVGjxKWeK98jo29fyM/s1600-h/DSC_0032.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP8AARvgHc8vYrncGX4RBuB7D8Pe9wu_KrqINWQyB_ZtqBO-UcvePDiWNxVzR8bJ7n5Rd3dENLd_PnM2uaqmYHJKG1QMojQL1gg-it23vdIa5fP7_dmElWVaIUaFRVGjxKWeK98jo29fyM/s400/DSC_0032.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287250718956483170" /></a><br />Yeah, yeah. It's hyperbole until <em>you're</em> the one spending the night in the Atlanta Airport Best Western East with bonus food poisoning courtesy of Juanito's "Mexican" "Grill" (or possibly IHOP).<br /><span class="fullpost"><br /><br />Freezing rain in Philly...<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGidham3U7P0PZXd_k7D56D-OyQwqGPf0u6VbT5y2ucQ7rMW6kwxnxpC4mp9og9f5WZSUONsZtsPBINJwuBIkTZDcHH5d5cNZAvvZskDYOSvGo7ELLvO5S_hiw2ckcibYwIZJR8du8oy53/s1600-h/DSC_0027.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGidham3U7P0PZXd_k7D56D-OyQwqGPf0u6VbT5y2ucQ7rMW6kwxnxpC4mp9og9f5WZSUONsZtsPBINJwuBIkTZDcHH5d5cNZAvvZskDYOSvGo7ELLvO5S_hiw2ckcibYwIZJR8du8oy53/s400/DSC_0027.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287252334870978290" /></a><br /><br />Led to 1.5 hr de-icing...<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhadAY2awMBR3-cbVJM9c2zwrfzBoQrTTGUyehCEdPfGIypI179BNLdn2iVX1S-Mg78agAIMUMxXoST7jzISb88onA_SPCrB-e1Yyg8pCKG_dB4FHOk0RowppqHM_wfDd-kKsDpVr1N3jFg/s1600-h/DSC_0031.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhadAY2awMBR3-cbVJM9c2zwrfzBoQrTTGUyehCEdPfGIypI179BNLdn2iVX1S-Mg78agAIMUMxXoST7jzISb88onA_SPCrB-e1Yyg8pCKG_dB4FHOk0RowppqHM_wfDd-kKsDpVr1N3jFg/s320/DSC_0031.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287252769331180626" /></a><br />(with some seriously noxious looking chemicals, including a gelatinous green liquid that came right out of TMNT...I could see the drain they all went down. Wonder how many three-eyed simpsons-esque fish live down there?)<br /><br />Led to a missed connection to NM in Atlanta and the aforementioned Best Western. <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRUpCUYvijGwYsRxNmgvsIXgdBLHaCbJAbYFaR3iOjcYhezVpLk3nFCJvUvI7cgGJ_kpJimU-zhF2RVWnV-GojL7jQJXJ1CfrOKyGU906GGycIhs70_LUie4CZD2E1YJN_lgYo24aAXz0I/s1600-h/DSC_0035.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRUpCUYvijGwYsRxNmgvsIXgdBLHaCbJAbYFaR3iOjcYhezVpLk3nFCJvUvI7cgGJ_kpJimU-zhF2RVWnV-GojL7jQJXJ1CfrOKyGU906GGycIhs70_LUie4CZD2E1YJN_lgYo24aAXz0I/s320/DSC_0035.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287253674489234562" /></a><br />The best part was when they put us into a customer service line hundreds of people long and after waiting for nearly an hour we got close enough to see that it only led to a phone bank and one (one!) Delta rep. Nice!<br /><br />Darco's Mom was shocked <em>shocked!</em> that they weren't going to pay for our hotel room. We tried to tell her unless the airline itself (not the weather, not air traffic control) mucks up- like only if the engine falls off your plane while you're taxiing or the pilot kicks your puppy or something-will they pay for your hotel room. And with the amount of people travelling before x-mas (and their total lack of alternatives), maybe not even then. <br /><br />As one might guess, the industrial area around the Atlanta Airport Best Western East does not present much diversion. We did pass a decomissioned Ford factory that was half torn down, and I would have LOVED to go shoot photos there, but it was pretty well guarded. Other than that, there's the TV, IHOP and (brrr) Juanito's. The evening passed slowly, but I felt the worst for Darco's son (at least until my digestive system revolted) as he was stuck with Darco's mum who decided that she HAD to spend all day and night watching Fox News. At one point he burst into our room, moaned "Mike Huckabee has been on TV talking for TWO HOURS" and then turned around and walked sadly back to his (admittedly unbearable) torture.<br /><br />Anyway. Atlanta led to Chicago (where the temp was 18 below!)...<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuE1APwZm2_aWTCtHx1KiEN-LCbBRC9CqpFDCwepWxjZ7d2SdVZXq7SaDAxmR2QQQQB11gzuwqGhyrzfI4k9BdWKhSui1rcDognk7yRDSBtWtt4wkGKe6H7k-ZmAmX-IRgrqHh0tYKRFI_/s1600-h/DSC_0039.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuE1APwZm2_aWTCtHx1KiEN-LCbBRC9CqpFDCwepWxjZ7d2SdVZXq7SaDAxmR2QQQQB11gzuwqGhyrzfI4k9BdWKhSui1rcDognk7yRDSBtWtt4wkGKe6H7k-ZmAmX-IRgrqHh0tYKRFI_/s320/DSC_0039.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287257236048778962" /></a><br /><br />Led to Salt Lake (where we just snuck in ahead of a snow storm), led (finally) to Albuquerque. And then the hour+ drive to Santa Fe (in a fucking ridiculous rented Dodge SUV that was humongous and didn't even have four-wheel drive), where we enjoyed the local law enforcement!<br /> <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN71YMR11l813yWO2rnDWyH_eeYXUVxc_AWmhjzTOZOOpZGpaAHZSoX9Q6z6Xu-Iy65ybC-cQ3nNarKl29RLc6xxkwxzwHI2xDie6ZvzKcFF9wmNu-DlB7wMWcHXmmQr1a2wJmEbL1qsMt/s1600-h/IMG_1392.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN71YMR11l813yWO2rnDWyH_eeYXUVxc_AWmhjzTOZOOpZGpaAHZSoX9Q6z6Xu-Iy65ybC-cQ3nNarKl29RLc6xxkwxzwHI2xDie6ZvzKcFF9wmNu-DlB7wMWcHXmmQr1a2wJmEbL1qsMt/s320/IMG_1392.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287264726678639186" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNWk667cfAh0_O_Nv4bHKK1h2BVVqNPNn1appUknfVRqFdJrH9rgVAxiNUuiyMkikYNMNuzZk2okTL8ggwXazDp59AguiuxJa9as8Ii0WSS96_aWBPo2l3yuVFWgcv74CpiVzsBFdWnPGa/s1600-h/IMG_1395.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNWk667cfAh0_O_Nv4bHKK1h2BVVqNPNn1appUknfVRqFdJrH9rgVAxiNUuiyMkikYNMNuzZk2okTL8ggwXazDp59AguiuxJa9as8Ii0WSS96_aWBPo2l3yuVFWgcv74CpiVzsBFdWnPGa/s320/IMG_1395.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287264486554765410" /></a><br />"Super Blitz" is pretty damn accurate- they stopped every car on the highway. Our cop even commented on Darco's perpetually red eyes. He bought the story that Darco is part albino rat, however, so we went on our way unmolested. No walking lines or backwards alphabets or anything.<br /><br />Icing on the cake, we ascended the Santa Fe plateau in a blinding blizzard that would dump about 2' of snow over the next 12 hours. But we finally made it to Darco's sister's beatiful house nestled in the hills at the tail end of the rockies. And it was good.<br /><br />Ah, but the Odyssey is not over (although it is a hell of a lot better from here on out, rough return journey notwithstanding). Part two soon!<br /></span>ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13809624257332220499noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629573155318603267.post-24629340153140234272008-12-16T12:33:00.008-05:002008-12-16T15:44:41.601-05:00Eye for an Eye<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8q1nEgnfJXfVUXDEqipx-wLZfdzfofsuPVtAsA2o7RmioBbPbEJoMDNunCSGuitYdAgpl7tx8el0t02QJ9lUV0wm35DKtyR0ElTVcSODc8KMGH3oKO3oUdJLvyHaJ0vLISfB2uYFoY4ML/s1600-h/iran+acid+ruling.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 350px; height: 248px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8q1nEgnfJXfVUXDEqipx-wLZfdzfofsuPVtAsA2o7RmioBbPbEJoMDNunCSGuitYdAgpl7tx8el0t02QJ9lUV0wm35DKtyR0ElTVcSODc8KMGH3oKO3oUdJLvyHaJ0vLISfB2uYFoY4ML/s400/iran+acid+ruling.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280442875786119890" /></a> Four years ago Ameneh Bahrami was blinded after a man she had refused to marry poured sulfuric acid over her head. Now, an Iranian court has ruled that <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/13/AR2008121302147.html?hpid=artslot">five drops of the acid</a> be put in each of her attacker's eyes. Bahrami emotionally stated, "At an age where I should be putting on a wedding dress, I am asking for someone's eyes to be dripped with acid. I am doing that because I don't want this to happen to any other women." I understand her reaction, I understand the desire to show people that there are consequences for such horrible examples of social violence. But... <br /><span class="fullpost"><br /><br />An eye for an eye? Really? Hammurabi's code was created in 1760 BC- hasn't the idea of justice evolved at all since then? Isn't part of the reason for a modern legal system to ameliorate individual desire for revenge? Retribution is not justice. Torture is not justice. The best thing that can be said about this (and it is a very good thing) is that the crime is being taken seriously by the courts. After all, this is a region where honor killings, disfugurements, stoning and myriad other forms of social violence go ignored, unreported and unprosecuted. I hope that other victims of such violence take courage from Ameneh's example and demand justice. But I also hope they remember that women's rights cannot be separated from human rights. One cannot be achieved at the expense of the other- that is a dangerous road that leads toward no rights at all.<br /><br /></span>ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13809624257332220499noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629573155318603267.post-34090962860150378182008-12-14T16:30:00.006-05:002008-12-16T15:45:36.803-05:00A Dose of (hilarious) SurrealityPresented without comment: an Iraqi journalist throwing his shoes at President Bush.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/OM3Z_Kskl_U&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/OM3Z_Kskl_U&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13809624257332220499noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629573155318603267.post-73895230012624807742008-12-12T10:28:00.006-05:002008-12-12T10:37:15.903-05:00Not-so-virgin Mary<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgWQdzhw1CjuaIwzydwEY_YASTRZY8CiNBvMW3aAbCngEZmIYAkglS9Q-2XDUKnlBt_Bd2c-v0Rf2izfZX7qeqRe8mpi5CVLyUW9cCebCvrzeKDHIyGyow2HfdB9rGK38Nd5sxpIUiJWRe/s1600-h/marymain_678935a.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 280px; height: 360px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgWQdzhw1CjuaIwzydwEY_YASTRZY8CiNBvMW3aAbCngEZmIYAkglS9Q-2XDUKnlBt_Bd2c-v0Rf2izfZX7qeqRe8mpi5CVLyUW9cCebCvrzeKDHIyGyow2HfdB9rGK38Nd5sxpIUiJWRe/s400/marymain_678935a.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5278925920965564994" /></a><br /><br />If only everyone were so honest about their fetishization of religious icons. You know there are naughty young evangelicals who have illicit "Jesus 'saved' me" (winkwinknudgenudge) fantasies. WWJD, yknow? Too bad <em>Playgirl</em> is kaput- no Jesus in a centerfold for us. But, while I am absolutely not going to do the research, I'm willing to bet that the dark n scary crevasses of the internets have plenty to offer for that sort of kink.ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13809624257332220499noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629573155318603267.post-77779808394860304992008-12-10T10:31:00.002-05:002008-12-10T10:35:28.357-05:00It's a fucking valuable thing!Offered nothing but appreciation?! <br /><br /><iframe height="339" width="425" src="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/28149258#28149258" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe><br /><br />Blago is so out there it sounds like he's aiming for an insanity defense.ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13809624257332220499noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629573155318603267.post-78301804034097860672008-12-08T18:28:00.001-05:002008-12-08T18:28:54.833-05:00Twenty Eight Years Ago Today<object width="400" height="300"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1965247&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1965247&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="300"></embed></object><br /><a href="http://vimeo.com/1965247">WAR IS OVER! (If You Want It)</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/yokoono">Yoko Ono</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.<br /><span class="fullpost"><br /><br /></span>ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13809624257332220499noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629573155318603267.post-5224799457392457012008-12-08T12:13:00.005-05:002008-12-08T13:06:43.100-05:00"Welcome to my hanging"Just regular old Bushy unfortunate word choice or intentional (though weird) joke? I really hope its the former, cause I hate it when people I loathe display self-awareness. Takes all the fun out of mocking them.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI8WrfoILQLrbIzyTfUa96eIgMG2FV6D441PAY4dWyI-R8e56UN-kJevZJBPxRAbJ1tdb6cZ753w6OvmVLT9chF7rkjBna14vIwXqqulomamBNXo8m7ZMApc5nUvTQ3h7BiOlmaJzkI0mN/s1600-h/bush+portrait.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 297px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI8WrfoILQLrbIzyTfUa96eIgMG2FV6D441PAY4dWyI-R8e56UN-kJevZJBPxRAbJ1tdb6cZ753w6OvmVLT9chF7rkjBna14vIwXqqulomamBNXo8m7ZMApc5nUvTQ3h7BiOlmaJzkI0mN/s400/bush+portrait.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277471739847226370" /></a><br /><br />Well, most of the fun.<br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><br />Anyway, /cheer that Bush defiled my city for (hopefully) the last time. He joined us for the Army/Navy game (meh...at least it wasn't the Eagles) and then to the Union League to see the unveiling of the above portrait.<br /><br />The Union League is like a trojan horse of Republicanism in the heart of our staunchly Democratic burg. It occupies a really beautiful building smack in the middle of our Avenue of the Arts and I'm pretty sure that no one who actually lives in Philadelphia ever enters it. Founded in 1862 to support the policies of Pres Lincoln, the club has now basically become a place for rich white men to fellate other rich white men that have been elected to public office. And such it was with Bush's visit!<br /><br />Bush was added to the League's famous collection of presidential portraits. To the wonder of exactly no one, the collection includes only one democrat (Jackson) and all but two repubs (Harrison and Harding). Bush is the first since Hoover to be included on the wall 'o fame while still in office. He also recieved the League's "gold medal", which has been bestowed on only 37 people since 1862. Incidentally, Bush's Asshole Triumverate, Cheney, Rummy and Ridgey, have all received it too! Quelle suprise, no?<br /><br />But really, Union League, who are you trying to fool? This ceremonial nonsense just reads as desperation from where I'm sitting. Showering honors on him as though he wasn't the worst pres EVER won't make his legacy any more impressive.<br /><br /><br /></span>ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13809624257332220499noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629573155318603267.post-69198455740107870582008-12-08T10:20:00.004-05:002008-12-08T10:33:38.321-05:00Now, I'm no fan of Jessica Alba...But surely she deserves a ribcage. And most of her abdominal organs. You need them to drink alcohol, so oughtn't they be represented when shilling alcohol?<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRIfkiDh7yUGDFPoU_w6UWRBbwfxCea_fujOb7zRIhEVO3sFy0hvQG_Qh1SFZ3s70KQMqxuwYEcFVNzM4rZSlUdirXsexuhaceOMoUGni-5jeykeILGCH1Prj6uOITVDSi_HUhhWCzvC9U/s1600-h/alba.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 355px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRIfkiDh7yUGDFPoU_w6UWRBbwfxCea_fujOb7zRIhEVO3sFy0hvQG_Qh1SFZ3s70KQMqxuwYEcFVNzM4rZSlUdirXsexuhaceOMoUGni-5jeykeILGCH1Prj6uOITVDSi_HUhhWCzvC9U/s400/alba.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277441355217264322" /></a><br /><br />Or at the very, <em>very</em> least give her a competent photoshopper. Check out the left side of her waist- that is some awkward whittling. If you're going to hack people's bodies out of recognition, its best not to use the sixteen year old unpaid intern to wield the eraser tool.ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13809624257332220499noreply@blogger.com1