Justice Scalia gave this interview recently. It's caused a bit a stir on two points. First:
"Certainly the Constitution does not require discrimination on the basis of sex. The only issue is whether it prohibits it. It doesn't. Nobody ever thought that that's what it meant."
and second, regarding originalism:
"We don't have the answer to everything, but by God we have an answer to a lot of stuff ... especially the most controversial: whether the death penalty is unconstitutional, whether there's a constitutional right to abortion, to suicide, and I could go on. All the most controversial stuff. ... I don't even have to read the briefs, for Pete's sake."
Here's Jack Balkin following up: Scalia on Sex Equality.
Wednesday, January 05, 2011
Birthday Wishes
My birthday was yesterday and this year I found myself counting communications mechanisms people used to send me good wishes. I came up with eight:
Facebook wall posts - by far the most common. It's usually just people saying "Happy Birthday" but the numbers make it gratifying.
Facebook messages - just a couple of these but they were a little more personal.
Email - a few old school email messages
Phone call - About half went to voice mail, but nice to catch up with some friends and family. The only means that people used to sing.
Text Message - Two text messages
Instant Message - one via IM
Postal Mail - one package from my sister and her fiance
and of course, In Person is still the best.
It surprised me a little that none came through twitter, I guess they're behind facebook in the birthday wish competition.
Update: One tweet and a postcard came. :)
Facebook wall posts - by far the most common. It's usually just people saying "Happy Birthday" but the numbers make it gratifying.
Facebook messages - just a couple of these but they were a little more personal.
Email - a few old school email messages
Phone call - About half went to voice mail, but nice to catch up with some friends and family. The only means that people used to sing.
Text Message - Two text messages
Instant Message - one via IM
Postal Mail - one package from my sister and her fiance
and of course, In Person is still the best.
It surprised me a little that none came through twitter, I guess they're behind facebook in the birthday wish competition.
Update: One tweet and a postcard came. :)
Tuesday, January 04, 2011
The 2010 Labor Market in One Graph
About a week ago Ezra Klein wrote The 2010 labor market in one graph. "Much more here. Note that the big drag on the labor market's recovery has been cuts in public-sector jobs. If the line for government jobs looked more like the line for private jobs, the labor market would be in much better shape right now."
Law and the Multiverse
Law and the Multiverse is a fun blog that tries to apply real law to problems posed by comic book superheroes. Honestly, when I started using tags on this blog I never expected to combine comics and law. Here are some of the recent posts I found more interesting.
Superheroes and Immigration Status - This covers, Superheroes Born Elsewhere but Raised in the US, e.g. Superman, Adult Alien Superheroes like various X-Men, Foreign Dignitaries like Namor and Dr. Doom and the really weird stuff like Thor, the Shi’ar, and the New Gods.
There are two posts on Superheroes and Flying, Part I: Air Safety and Registration and Part II: Flight Plans and Air Traffic Control.
Supers and the Eighth Amendment talks about cruel and unusual punishments.
Costumes and the Confrontation Clause answers: Can superheroes that wear identity-concealing costumes wear them in court?
Superheroes and Immigration Status - This covers, Superheroes Born Elsewhere but Raised in the US, e.g. Superman, Adult Alien Superheroes like various X-Men, Foreign Dignitaries like Namor and Dr. Doom and the really weird stuff like Thor, the Shi’ar, and the New Gods.
There are two posts on Superheroes and Flying, Part I: Air Safety and Registration and Part II: Flight Plans and Air Traffic Control.
Supers and the Eighth Amendment talks about cruel and unusual punishments.
Costumes and the Confrontation Clause answers: Can superheroes that wear identity-concealing costumes wear them in court?
Best Solar Eclipse Picture
Bad Astronomy wrote INSANELY awesome solar eclipse picture
"The ISS was in front of the Sun for less than second, so not only did he have one chance at getting this spectacular once-in-a-lifetime shot, but he had only a fraction of a second to snap it!
To give you an overall idea of what you’re seeing here: the Sun is 147 million kilometers away (less than usual because this eclipse happened, coincidentally, very close to perihelion, when Earth was closest to the Sun). The Moon is 390,000 kilometers away. The Sun is about 400 times bigger than the Moon, but also about 400 times farther away, making them look about the same size in the sky. If you’re still having a hard time picturing the scale, take a look at the dark sunspot in the lower right of the big picture: it’s about twice the size of the Earth!
The space station, on the other hand, is 100 meters across (the size of a football field) and orbits about 350 km (210 miles) above the Earth’s surface. So the Moon was very roughly 1000 times farther away than the ISS when this picture was taken, and the Sun 400,000 times more distant. Yet all three lined up just right to make this extraordinary photograph possible."
"The ISS was in front of the Sun for less than second, so not only did he have one chance at getting this spectacular once-in-a-lifetime shot, but he had only a fraction of a second to snap it!
To give you an overall idea of what you’re seeing here: the Sun is 147 million kilometers away (less than usual because this eclipse happened, coincidentally, very close to perihelion, when Earth was closest to the Sun). The Moon is 390,000 kilometers away. The Sun is about 400 times bigger than the Moon, but also about 400 times farther away, making them look about the same size in the sky. If you’re still having a hard time picturing the scale, take a look at the dark sunspot in the lower right of the big picture: it’s about twice the size of the Earth!
The space station, on the other hand, is 100 meters across (the size of a football field) and orbits about 350 km (210 miles) above the Earth’s surface. So the Moon was very roughly 1000 times farther away than the ISS when this picture was taken, and the Sun 400,000 times more distant. Yet all three lined up just right to make this extraordinary photograph possible."
The Year According to Toles
The year according to Toles "A review of 2010, from the drawing board of Tom Toles, The Post's political cartoonist."
Monday, January 03, 2011
The Big Lie
Robert Reich wrote The Big Lie. "Republicans are telling Americans a Big Lie, and Obama and the Democrats are letting them. The Big Lie is our economic problems are due to a government that’s too large, and therefore the solution is to shrink it."
This is my problem with the Democrats. The entire debate is framed in GOP terms and many of them are absurd. Krugman walked through some of it in The New Voodoo. "To be sure, there were renewed claims that tax cuts lead to higher revenue. But 2010 marked the emergence of a new, even more profound level of magical thinking: the belief that deficits created by tax cuts just don’t matter. For example, Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona — who had denounced President Obama for running deficits — declared that 'you should never have to offset the cost of a deliberate decision to reduce tax rates on Americans.'"
The Democrats, and that means Obama, have to stand up and explain why they are right. When the other side is crazy, that shouldn't be difficult. It's part of why I'm dissatisfied even though this last Congress accomplished a good amount. They completely lost the debate. So now we have to relive all the debates again as the GOP tries to repeal healthcare. They got their tax cuts and won't cut spending so the deficits will stay large and they'll be able to spout their exact same lies yet again. Until someone stands up and calls them on it.
This is my problem with the Democrats. The entire debate is framed in GOP terms and many of them are absurd. Krugman walked through some of it in The New Voodoo. "To be sure, there were renewed claims that tax cuts lead to higher revenue. But 2010 marked the emergence of a new, even more profound level of magical thinking: the belief that deficits created by tax cuts just don’t matter. For example, Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona — who had denounced President Obama for running deficits — declared that 'you should never have to offset the cost of a deliberate decision to reduce tax rates on Americans.'"
The Democrats, and that means Obama, have to stand up and explain why they are right. When the other side is crazy, that shouldn't be difficult. It's part of why I'm dissatisfied even though this last Congress accomplished a good amount. They completely lost the debate. So now we have to relive all the debates again as the GOP tries to repeal healthcare. They got their tax cuts and won't cut spending so the deficits will stay large and they'll be able to spout their exact same lies yet again. Until someone stands up and calls them on it.
Wall Street Hates Obama
Politico wrote a week ago, Obama & Wall St.: Still Venus & Mars.
"After all, polls suggest most Americans believe Obama has handled the titans of Wall Street with an exceedingly light touch. He supported the deeply unpopular $700-billion bank bailout, pushed a financial reform package that stopped short of breaking up the biggest behemoths and, just this month, signed off on tax cuts for the wealthiest and continued low rates on capital gains and dividends.
And, of course, big-time bonuses at bailed-out banks are back, even as average Americans continue to get tossed out of their homes, corporate America has turned in its most profitable quarter in history and the stock market is at a two-year high.
Yet the executive dislikes Obama with, what seems like, an almost irrational passion. And he is not alone.
Along the gilded corridors of Manhattan's largest banks, hedge funds and private equity firms and inside Washington's financial lobby shops, Obama and the rest of his administration are regarded with a disdain so thick it often blurs to naked loathing, a fact that has significant implications for the president's reelection campaign and his ability to operate over the next two years. "
It all makes sense to me. I assume these executives watch Fox News and read the Wall Street Journal editorial page. I guess they believe it all too.
"After all, polls suggest most Americans believe Obama has handled the titans of Wall Street with an exceedingly light touch. He supported the deeply unpopular $700-billion bank bailout, pushed a financial reform package that stopped short of breaking up the biggest behemoths and, just this month, signed off on tax cuts for the wealthiest and continued low rates on capital gains and dividends.
And, of course, big-time bonuses at bailed-out banks are back, even as average Americans continue to get tossed out of their homes, corporate America has turned in its most profitable quarter in history and the stock market is at a two-year high.
Yet the executive dislikes Obama with, what seems like, an almost irrational passion. And he is not alone.
Along the gilded corridors of Manhattan's largest banks, hedge funds and private equity firms and inside Washington's financial lobby shops, Obama and the rest of his administration are regarded with a disdain so thick it often blurs to naked loathing, a fact that has significant implications for the president's reelection campaign and his ability to operate over the next two years. "
It all makes sense to me. I assume these executives watch Fox News and read the Wall Street Journal editorial page. I guess they believe it all too.
Australian Flooding
I first heard of this this morning. The Big Picture has this, Australian flooding. "Seasonal flooding across eastern Australia has been widespread and devastating this spring - their wettest on record. Cyclone Tasha came along two weeks ago, and dumped even more water on Queensland. Hundreds of thousands of people in an area the size of France and Germany combined are now affected, and at least nine people have been killed so far. Authorities are working to evacuate some communities and airlift supplies to others as the water level is expected to continue rising over the next two days and 38 regions were declared natural disaster areas. Collected here are photos from the recent flooding around Australia and its effect on residents and animals. (33 photos total)"
I heard the "size of France and Germany" comparison too. That's about 350,000 square miles, making it way bigger than Texas, or 10,000 square miles bigger than the smallest 18 states combined: Rhode Island, Delaware, Connecticut, Hawaii, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maryland, West Virginia, South Carolina, Maine, Indiana, Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee. That's big.
I heard the "size of France and Germany" comparison too. That's about 350,000 square miles, making it way bigger than Texas, or 10,000 square miles bigger than the smallest 18 states combined: Rhode Island, Delaware, Connecticut, Hawaii, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maryland, West Virginia, South Carolina, Maine, Indiana, Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee. That's big.
Movies Seen in 2010
I saw 305 movies in 2010, five more than in 2009. 253 were feature length (compared to 262 in 2009) and 52 were shorts. 8 of the 253 were made-for-TV films (usually HBO).
I saw 111 in the theater (11 more than in 2009) and 165 on cable (vs 176 in 2009). I'm not really getting all my money's worth with Netflix as I only saw 15 films using it (2 more than in 2009). Counting only features and not shorts, i saw 87 films in a theater (vs 75 in 2009) which is 1.64 features in a theater a week.
For the last few years I've been rating films on a scale of one to five similar to what Neflix uses. If I like it I give it a three. If I really enjoy it, that is it's above average I give it a four. A really great film, one of my all-time favorites, gets a five. Two I don't like and one I hate. I've done pretty well in only re-watching films I've liked.
Most of the films were recent. 92 of them came out in 2009 and 89 in 2010. I need to see more older films.
23% of the films were foreign. I made a concerted effort to see (classic) French films and I did like some of them. They're a subject of later post.
I've been trying to classify films by genre but it's not easy to find a taxonomy I like. Here's an attempt, suggestions welcome. 45 were animated, 4 were silent and 24 were black and white.
Here's all the films i saw in the order I saw them.
I saw 111 in the theater (11 more than in 2009) and 165 on cable (vs 176 in 2009). I'm not really getting all my money's worth with Netflix as I only saw 15 films using it (2 more than in 2009). Counting only features and not shorts, i saw 87 films in a theater (vs 75 in 2009) which is 1.64 features in a theater a week.
For the last few years I've been rating films on a scale of one to five similar to what Neflix uses. If I like it I give it a three. If I really enjoy it, that is it's above average I give it a four. A really great film, one of my all-time favorites, gets a five. Two I don't like and one I hate. I've done pretty well in only re-watching films I've liked.
Most of the films were recent. 92 of them came out in 2009 and 89 in 2010. I need to see more older films.
23% of the films were foreign. I made a concerted effort to see (classic) French films and I did like some of them. They're a subject of later post.
I've been trying to classify films by genre but it's not easy to find a taxonomy I like. Here's an attempt, suggestions welcome. 45 were animated, 4 were silent and 24 were black and white.
Here's all the films i saw in the order I saw them.
| Title | Year | Type | Genre | Country | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Another Thin Man | 1939 | Feature | Mystery | US | 4 |
| Caprica | 2009 | TV | Sci-Fi | US | 3 |
| Sayonara | 1957 | Feature | Drama | US | 3 |
| Night of the Hunter | 1955 | Feature | Thriller | US | 4 |
| Blindness | 2008 | Feature | Drama | US | 1 |
| What Women Want | 2000 | Feature | RomCom | US | 2 |
| The Real Place | 2009 | Short | Documentary | Canada | 1 |
| A Single Man | 2009 | Feature | Drama | US | 4 |
| The Soloist | 2009 | Feature | Biography | US | 2 |
| Golden Boy | 1939 | Feature | Drama | US | 3 |
| The Stranger | 1946 | Feature | Thriller | US | 3 |
| Five Graves to Cairo | 1943 | Feature | War | US | 4 |
| Wonderful World | 2009 | Feature | Drama | US | 2 |
| The Bride Wore Black | 1968 | Feature | Thriller | France | 2 |
| Disaster Movie | 2008 | Feature | Comedy | US | 2 |
| Bell, Book and Candle | 1958 | Feature | RomCom | US | 3 |
| Diabolique | 1955 | Feature | Thriller | France | 4 |
| Sherlock Holmes | 2009 | Feature | Action | US | 3 |
| Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince | 2009 | Feature | Fantasy | US | 4 |
| Topkapi | 1964 | Feature | Crime | US | 2 |
| Hello Dolly! | 1969 | Feature | Musical | US | 2 |
| A Streetcar Named Desire | 1951 | Feature | Drama | US | 3 |
| Night Nurse | 1931 | Feature | Drama | US | 2 |
| East of Eden | 1955 | Feature | Drama | US | 3 |
| Avatar IMAX | 2009 | Feature | Sci-Fi | US | 4 |
| Lemonade | 2009 | Short | Documentary | US | 4 |
| Beauty and the Beast | 1946 | Feature | Fantasy | France | 3 |
| In The Loop | 2009 | Feature | Comedy | Britain | 5 |
| Swing You Sinners | 1930 | Short | Comedy | US | 3 |
| The Bank Job | 2008 | Feature | Crime | Britain | 4 |
| Black Orpheus | 1959 | Feature | Drama | France | 2 |
| Presto | 2008 | Short | Comedy | US | 5 |
| Knick Knack | 1989 | Short | Comedy | US | 5 |
| Lifted | 2006 | Short | Comedy | US | 5 |
| BURN-E | 2008 | Short | Comedy | US | 5 |
| One Man Band | 2005 | Short | Comedy | US | 4 |
| For the Birds | 2000 | Short | Comedy | US | 4 |
| Luxo Jr. | 1986 | Short | Comedy | US | 4 |
| Geri's Game | 1997 | Short | Comedy | US | 4 |
| Jack-Jack Attack | 2005 | Short | Comedy | US | 4 |
| Mike's New Car | 2002 | Short | Comedy | US | 3 |
| Mater and the Ghostlight | 2006 | Short | Comedy | US | 3 |
| Your Friend the Rat | 2007 | Short | Comedy | US | 3 |
| Red's Dream | 1987 | Short | Comedy | US | 3 |
| Tin Toy | 1988 | Short | Comedy | US | 3 |
| The Adventures of André and Wally B. | 1984 | Short | Comedy | US | 2 |
| Rescue Squad Mater | 2008 | Short | Comedy | US | 2 |
| Boundin' | 2004 | Short | Comedy | US | 2 |
| El Materdor | 2008 | Short | Comedy | US | 2 |
| Mater the Greater | 2008 | Short | Comedy | US | 2 |
| Unidentified Flying Mater | 2009 | Short | Comedy | US | 2 |
| A Town Called Panic | 2009 | Feature | Comedy | France | 2 |
| Poliwood | 2009 | Feature | Documentary | US | 3 |
| Long Day's Journey Into Night | 1962 | Feature | Drama | US | 5 |
| Nine | 2009 | Feature | Musical | US | 2 |
| Temple Grandin | 2010 | TV | Biography | US | 5 |
| Bad Day at Black Rock | 1955 | Feature | Western | US | 5 |
| District B13 | 2007 | Feature | Action | France | 3 |
| District 13: Ultimatum | 2009 | Feature | Action | France | 3 |
| Crazy Heart | 2009 | Feature | Drama | US | 3 |
| The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus | 2009 | Feature | Fantasy | US | 3 |
| The Last Station | 2009 | Feature | Biography | Germany | 2 |
| The Donation | Short | Comedy | US | 2 | |
| The Color Purple | 1985 | Feature | Drama | US | 3 |
| Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs | 2009 | Feature | Comedy | US | 4 |
| Paris Blues | 1961 | Feature | Drama | US | 2 |
| The Most Dangerous Man in America | 2009 | Feature | Documentary | US | 5 |
| Koyaanisqatsi | 1983 | Feature | Documentary | US | 4 |
| Our Dancing Daughters | 1928 | Feature | Drama | US | 1 |
| The Blind Side | 2009 | Feature | Biography | US | 4 |
| Transformers 2 | 2009 | Feature | Action | US | 1 |
| The Princess and the Frog | 2009 | Feature | Fantasy | US | 3 |
| The Lady and the Reaper | 2009 | Short | Comedy | Spain | 5 |
| Partly Cloudy | 2009 | Short | Comedy | US | 5 |
| A Matter of Loaf and Death | 2009 | Short | Comedy | Britain | 4 |
| French Roast | 2009 | Short | Comedy | France | 4 |
| Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty | 2009 | Short | Comedy | Ireland | 4 |
| Runaway | 2009 | Short | Comedy | Canada | 3 |
| Logorama | 2009 | Short | Crime | France | 5 |
| The Kinematograph | 2009 | Short | Drama | Poland | 4 |
| The White Ribbon | 2009 | Feature | Drama | Germany | 1 |
| Instead of Abracadabra | 2009 | Short | Comedy | Sweden | 3 |
| The New Tenants | 2009 | Short | Drama | Denmark | 5 |
| Miracle Fish | 2009 | Short | Drama | Australia | 3 |
| Kavi | 2009 | Short | Drama | India | 3 |
| The Door | 2009 | Short | Drama | Ireland | 3 |
| Coco Before Chanel | 2009 | Feature | Biography | France | 3 |
| Broken Embraces | 2009 | Feature | Drama | Spain | 4 |
| Taken | 2008 | Feature | Action | US | 4 |
| The Young Victoria | 2009 | Feature | Biography | Britain | 3 |
| Ajami | 2009 | Feature | Drama | Israel | 3 |
| Paris 36 | 2008 | Feature | Drama | France | 3 |
| City Island | 2010 | Feature | Comedy | US | 4 |
| Big Bad Mama | 1974 | Feature | Crime | US | 2 |
| The Lucky Ones | 2008 | Feature | Drama | US | 3 |
| Prodigal Sons | 2008 | Feature | Documentary | US | 3 |
| Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones | 2002 | Feature | Sci-Fi | US | 2 |
| Why We Laugh | 2009 | Feature | Documentary | US | 4 |
| Pillow Talk | 1959 | Feature | RomCom | US | 3 |
| Ran | 1985 | Feature | Drama | Japan | 2 |
| Send Me No Flowers | 1964 | Feature | RomCom | US | 2 |
| Hot Fuzz | 2007 | Feature | Comedy | Britain | 4 |
| Shaun of the Dead | 2004 | Feature | Comedy | Britain | 4 |
| Hubble 3D | 2010 | Feature | Documentary | US | 5 |
| Star Trek | 2009 | Feature | Sci-Fi | US | 3 |
| Lover Come Back | 1961 | Feature | RomCom | US | 3 |
| The Ghost Writer | 2010 | Feature | Thriller | Germany | 3 |
| Hot Tub Time Machine | 2010 | Feature | Comedy | US | 4 |
| Osama | 2003 | Feature | Drama | Afghanistan | 3 |
| The Warlords | 2007 | Feature | War | China | 3 |
| Observe and Report | 2009 | Feature | Comedy | US | 3 |
| The Runaways | 2010 | Feature | Biography | US | 2 |
| Severance | 2006 | Feature | Horror | Britain | 4 |
| Kick-Ass | 2010 | Feature | Action | US | 3 |
| Transporter 3 | 2008 | Feature | Action | France | 2 |
| The Extra Man | 2010 | Feature | Comedy | US | 3 |
| Cyrus | 2010 | Feature | Comedy | US | 3 |
| Perrier's Bounty | 2010 | Feature | Crime | Ireland | 5 |
| Bass Ackwards | 2010 | Feature | Adventure | US | 2 |
| Machotaildrop | 2010 | Feature | Comedy | US | 1 |
| Down Terrace | 2010 | Feature | Crime | Britain | 4 |
| Drones | 2010 | Feature | Comedy | US | 5 |
| Teenage Paparazzo | 2010 | Feature | Documentary | US | 5 |
| Erasing David | 2010 | Feature | Documentary | US | 4 |
| Do It Again | 2010 | Feature | Documentary | US | 4 |
| Bananas! | 2010 | Feature | Documentary | US | 3 |
| The Killer Inside Me | 2010 | Feature | Crime | US | 2 |
| The Parking Lot Movie | 2010 | Feature | Documentary | US | 4 |
| 9500 Liberty | 2010 | Feature | Documentary | US | 4 |
| Diplomacy | 2010 | Short | Drama | US | 5 |
| The Hirosaki Players | 2010 | Short | Drama | US | 4 |
| Little Accidents | 2010 | Short | Drama | US | 4 |
| Laredo Texas | 2010 | Short | Drama | US | 4 |
| New Media | 2010 | Short | Drama | US | 3 |
| Cairo Time | 2010 | Feature | Drama | Canada | 3 |
| The Good, The Bad, The Weird | 2010 | Feature | Western | Korea | 4 |
| Marwencol | 2010 | Feature | Documentary | US | 4 |
| Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child | 2010 | Feature | Documentary | US | 3 |
| Micmacs | 2009 | Feature | Adventure | France | 5 |
| It Might Get Loud | 2009 | Feature | Documentary | US | 4 |
| Zack and Miri Make a Porno | 2008 | Feature | Comedy | US | 2 |
| Billy Wilder Speaks | 2006 | TV | Documentary | US | 4 |
| Exit Through the Gift Shop | 2010 | Feature | Documentary | US | 4 |
| You Don't Know Jack | 2010 | TV | Biography | US | 3 |
| Land of the Lost | 2009 | Feature | Comedy | US | 2 |
| The Secret in Their Eyes | 2009 | Feature | Drama | Argentina | 4 |
| In The Loop | 2009 | Feature | Comedy | Britain | 5 |
| Please Give | 2010 | Feature | Drama | US | 3 |
| The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra | 2001 | Feature | Comedy | US | 5 |
| The Lost Skeleton Returns Again | 2009 | Feature | Comedy | US | 4 |
| The Spirit | 2008 | Feature | Fantasy | US | 1 |
| The Empire Strikes Back | 1980 | Feature | Sci-Fi | US | 5 |
| Iron Man 2 | 2010 | Feature | Action | US | 3 |
| Without Reservations | 1946 | Feature | RomCom | US | 3 |
| Drag Me to Hell | 2009 | Feature | Horror | US | 2 |
| The Special Relationship | 2010 | TV | Biography | US | 3 |
| Fly | 2010 | Short | Comedy | Britain | 4 |
| Holy Rollers | 2010 | Feature | Drama | US | 2 |
| Splice | 2010 | Feature | Horror | US | 2 |
| The Terrorists | 1975 | Feature | Thriller | Britain | 3 |
| Valkyrie | 2008 | Feature | War | US | 3 |
| I Knew It Was You | 2009 | Short | Documentary | US | 5 |
| Eight Men Out | 1988 | Feature | Sports | US | 3 |
| Myra Breckinridge | 1970 | Feature | Comedy | US | 1 |
| Terminator Salvation | 2009 | Feature | Action | US | 2 |
| Get Him to the Greek | 2010 | Feature | Comedy | US | 3 |
| Burma VJ | 2009 | Feature | Documentary | Denmark | 2 |
| Cast Away | 2000 | Feature | Drama | US | 4 |
| The Incredibles | 2004 | Feature | Adventure | US | 5 |
| Up | 2009 | Feature | Adventure | US | 4 |
| Cycle of Love | 2010 | Short | Drama | US | 3 |
| Winter's Bone | 2010 | Feature | Drama | US | 5 |
| GasLand | 2010 | TV | Documentary | US | 3 |
| Whiteout | 2009 | Feature | Crime | US | 2 |
| Horton Hears a Who! | 2008 | Feature | Fantasy | US | 3 |
| Burn After Reading | 2008 | Feature | Crime | US | 4 |
| The Friends of Eddie Coyle | 1973 | Feature | Crime | US | 3 |
| Battleship Potemkin | 1925 | Feature | Drama | Russia | 3 |
| Knight and Day | 2010 | Feature | Adventure | US | 3 |
| The Wizard of Oz | 1910 | Short | Fantasy | US | 2 |
| The Wizard of Oz | 1939 | Feature | Musical | US | 4 |
| Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets | 2002 | Feature | Fantasy | US | 4 |
| Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | 2004 | Feature | Fantasy | US | 4 |
| Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work | 2010 | Feature | Documentary | US | 3 |
| Vicky Cristina Barcelona | 2008 | Feature | Drama | US | 3 |
| City of Industry | 1997 | Feature | Crime | US | 3 |
| The Proposal | 2009 | Feature | RomCom | US | 2 |
| Public Enemies | 2009 | Feature | Biography | US | 2 |
| Michael Jackson's This Is It | 2009 | Feature | Documentary | US | 3 |
| Inception | 2010 | Feature | Sci-Fi | US | 5 |
| Dial H For Hitchcock | 1999 | TV | Documentary | US | 5 |
| Where the Wild Things Are | 2009 | Feature | Fantasy | US | 5 |
| The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo | 2009 | Feature | Thriller | Sweden | 4 |
| Big Fan | 2009 | Feature | Comedy | US | 2 |
| Taking Woodstock | 2009 | Feature | Drama | US | 3 |
| The Good Heart | 2010 | Feature | Drama | Denmark | 3 |
| The Kids Are All Right | 2010 | Feature | Drama | US | 3 |
| The Girl Who Played With Fire | 2010 | Feature | Thriller | Sweden | 4 |
| Salt | 2010 | Feature | Action | US | 1 |
| The Battle of Algiers | 1965 | Feature | War | France | 4 |
| Bad Lieutenant | 1992 | Feature | Drama | US | 2 |
| 9 | 2009 | Feature | Sci-Fi | US | 2 |
| Valhalla Rising | 2010 | Feature | War | Denmark | 1 |
| Mysteries of Pittsburgh | 2008 | Feature | Drama | US | 2 |
| Jennifer's Body | 2009 | Feature | Horror | US | 2 |
| Helvetica | 2007 | Feature | Documentary | Britain | 4 |
| Junior Bonner | 1972 | Feature | Drama | US | 2 |
| The Cincinnati Kid | 1965 | Feature | Drama | US | 3 |
| Deadline U.S.A. | 1952 | Feature | Drama | US | 3 |
| Shutter Island | 2010 | Feature | Thriller | US | 4 |
| Othello | 1965 | Feature | Drama | Britain | 3 |
| The Sea Hawk | 1940 | Feature | Adventure | US | 2 |
| Les crayons | 2005 | Short | Comedy | France | 4 |
| Get Low | 2010 | Feature | Drama | US | 4 |
| The Box | 2009 | Feature | Thriller | US | 2 |
| The Rocker | 2008 | Feature | Comedy | US | 3 |
| Green Zone | 2010 | Feature | War | US | 4 |
| The Invention of Lying | 2009 | Feature | Comedy | US | 3 |
| Inglorious Basterds | 2009 | Feature | War | US | 4 |
| Scott Pilgrim vs. the World | 2010 | Feature | Fantasy | US | 3 |
| Fiddlesticks | 1930 | Short | Comedy | US | 3 |
| Day & Night | 2010 | Short | Comedy | US | 4 |
| Toy Story 3 | 2010 | Feature | Comedy | US | 3 |
| The Oxford Murders | 2008 | Feature | Mystery | Britain | 2 |
| Killshot | 2009 | Feature | Crime | US | 3 |
| Whip It | 2009 | Feature | Drama | US | 3 |
| Topaz | 1969 | Feature | Thriller | US | 2 |
| Hoosiers | 1986 | Feature | Sports | US | 3 |
| Animal Kingdom | 2010 | Feature | Crime | Australia | 3 |
| The Hangover | 2009 | Feature | Comedy | US | 4 |
| A Single Man | 2009 | Feature | Drama | US | 4 |
| Angels & Demons | 2009 | Feature | Thriller | US | 2 |
| Machete | 2010 | Feature | Action | US | 3 |
| Wrong | 2009 | Short | Drama | Britain | 3 |
| Ronin | 1998 | Feature | Thriller | US | 5 |
| The Man in the White Suit | 1951 | Feature | Comedy | Britain | 4 |
| Baby Doll | 1956 | Feature | Drama | US | 3 |
| The American | 2010 | Feature | Thriller | US | 4 |
| Spider-Man 2 | 2004 | Feature | Action | US | 4 |
| The Notorious Landlady | 1962 | Feature | Comedy | US | 4 |
| Couples Retreat | 2009 | Feature | Comedy | US | 2 |
| Zombieland | 2009 | Feature | Comedy | US | 4 |
| The Shining | 1980 | Feature | Horror | US | 4 |
| Chains | 2009 | Short | Drama | Canada | 2 |
| To Be Friends | 2010 | Feature | Drama | US | 2 |
| Locked In | 2010 | Feature | Thriller | US | 1 |
| Chéri | 2009 | Feature | Drama | Britain | 2 |
| The Town | 2010 | Feature | Crime | US | 4 |
| Sherlock Holmes | 2009 | Feature | Action | US | 4 |
| Catfish | 2010 | Feature | Documentary | US | 2 |
| Freakonomics | 2010 | Feature | Documentary | US | 2 |
| Barry Munday | 2010 | Feature | Comedy | US | 2 |
| Brick Lane | 2007 | Feature | Drama | Britain | 3 |
| Never Let Me Go | 2010 | Feature | Drama | Britain | 3 |
| A Perfect Getaway | 2009 | Feature | Crime | US | 2 |
| The Social Network | 2010 | Feature | Drama | US | 4 |
| Waiting for Superman | 2010 | Feature | Documentary | US | 3 |
| Inception | 2010 | Feature | Thriller | US | 5 |
| Red | 2010 | Feature | Action | US | 3 |
| Apollo 13 | 1995 | Feature | Drama | US | 5 |
| Inside Job | 2010 | Feature | Documentary | US | 5 |
| Kings of Pastry | 2010 | Feature | Documentary | US | 3 |
| Howl | 2010 | Feature | Drama | US | 3 |
| Monsters vs Aliens | 2009 | Feature | Comedy | US | 2 |
| 2012 | 2009 | Feature | Action | US | 1 |
| All the President's Men | 1976 | Feature | Drama | US | 5 |
| Fair Game | 2010 | Feature | Drama | US | 4 |
| Deathproof | 2007 | Feature | Thriller | US | 4 |
| 127 Hours | 2010 | Feature | Drama | US | 4 |
| Twilight | 2008 | Feature | Drama | US | 2 |
| Dead Zone | 1983 | Feature | Sci-Fi | US | 3 |
| The Rules of the Game | 1939 | Feature | Drama | France | 5 |
| Black Dynamite | 2009 | Feature | Action | US | 2 |
| Unstoppable | 2010 | Feature | Action | US | 4 |
| The Lovely Bones | 2009 | Feature | Drama | US | 1 |
| Valentine's Day | 2010 | Feature | RomCom | US | 2 |
| Thomas Crown Affair | 1999 | Feature | Crime | US | 4 |
| The Promise | 2010 | Feature | Documentary | US | 2 |
| The Proposal | 2009 | Feature | RomCom | US | 3 |
| Up | 2009 | Feature | Adventure | US | 4 |
| It's Complicated | 2009 | Feature | RomCom | US | 3 |
| Restrepo | 2010 | Feature | Documentary | US | 5 |
| The Red Shoes | 1948 | Feature | Drama | Britain | 4 |
| Monsters | 2010 | Feature | Sci-Fi | Britain | 2 |
| All Good Things | 2010 | Feature | Drama | US | 2 |
| Black Swan | 2010 | Feature | Horror | US | 4 |
| Conviction | 2010 | Feature | Biography | US | 3 |
| A New Leaf | 1971 | Feature | Comedy | US | 3 |
| Ménilmontant | 1926 | Short | Drama | France | 3 |
| No One Knows About Persian Cats | 2009 | Feature | Musical | Iran | 3 |
| The Fighter | 2010 | Feature | Biography | US | 4 |
| Alice in Wonderland | 2010 | Feature | Fantasy | US | 2 |
| Don't You Forget About Me | 2009 | Feature | Documentary | US | 3 |
| Public Speaking | 2010 | TV | Documentary | US | 3 |
| Tron: Legacy | 2010 | Feature | Sci-Fi | US | 1 |
| Good Hair | 2009 | Feature | Documentary | US | 3 |
| Love Happens | 2009 | Feature | Drama | US | 2 |
| Far and Away | 1992 | Feature | Drama | US | 4 |
| State of the Union | 1948 | Feature | Drama | US | 5 |
| True Grit | 1969 | Feature | Western | US | 4 |
| Eat Pray Love | 2010 | Feature | Drama | US | 2 |
| Inception | 2010 | Feature | Sci-Fi | US | 5 |
| Breakfast at Tiffany's | 1961 | Feature | RomCom | US | 4 |
| 500 Days of Summer | 2009 | Feature | RomCom | US | 4 |
| The Man From Laramie | 1955 | Feature | Western | US | 4 |
Cosmology: Going Round in Circles
I'm about a month behind in my Economists. When I catch up I can skip lots of news stuff that's been superseded but I try not to skip the science section. I found this article on cosmology,
Going round in circles. "What happened before the beginning of time is—by definition, it might be thought—metaphysics. At least one physicist, though, thinks there is nothing meta about the question at all. Roger Penrose, of Oxford University, believes that the Big Bang in which the visible universe began was not actually the beginning of everything. It was merely the latest example of a series of such bangs that renew reality when it is getting tired out. More importantly, he thinks that the pre-Big Bang past has left an imprint on the present that can be detected and analysed, and that he and a colleague in Armenia have found it."
Going round in circles. "What happened before the beginning of time is—by definition, it might be thought—metaphysics. At least one physicist, though, thinks there is nothing meta about the question at all. Roger Penrose, of Oxford University, believes that the Big Bang in which the visible universe began was not actually the beginning of everything. It was merely the latest example of a series of such bangs that renew reality when it is getting tired out. More importantly, he thinks that the pre-Big Bang past has left an imprint on the present that can be detected and analysed, and that he and a colleague in Armenia have found it."
Quadrantids Meteor Shower Tonight
Aside from the fact it will be cold, tonight is a good night to view the Quadrantids meteor shower. There no moon and at least here the forecast is for clear skies.
Three Recipes
Mark Bittman wrote in the New York Times Sustainable Food - Three Recipes.
"But perhaps most important, a cooking repertoire of three basic recipes can get anyone into the kitchen and beyond the realm of takeout food, microwaved popcorn and bologna sandwiches in a few days.
One could set off a heated argument with a question like, ‘What are the three best basic recipes?’ but I stand behind these: a stir-fry, a chopped salad, and the basic combination of rice and lentils, all of which are easy enough to learn in one lesson. (‘Lessons’ might be called ‘recipes,’ and need no ‘teacher’ beyond the written word.) Each can be varied in countless ways. Each is produced from basic building blocks that contain no additives, preservatives, trans fats, artificial flavorings or ingredients of any kind, or outrageous calorie counts; they are, in other words, made from actual food. The salad requires no cooking; the stir-fry is lightning fast; the rice-and-lentils, though cooked more slowly, requires minimal attention. The same can be said for other recipes, of course, but not for all of them, and certainly not for the food that most Americans rely upon most of the time.
These recipes offer other benefits: They’re nutritionally sound and environmentally friendly. They’ve sustained scores of generations of societies worldwide, using traditional farming methods and producing little negative impact on the earth. (Almost without exception, your ancestors relied on something like one or more of these dishes.) All of them can be made with meat, poultry or fish, but they can be satisfying and delicious when made vegetarian or even vegan. In fact, if you cooked only variations on these three dishes you’d be well on your way to becoming an intuitive, fluid cook (the fanciest pilaf is essentially a rice-and-bean variation), eating more healthfully and with a lighter carbon footprint."
"But perhaps most important, a cooking repertoire of three basic recipes can get anyone into the kitchen and beyond the realm of takeout food, microwaved popcorn and bologna sandwiches in a few days.
One could set off a heated argument with a question like, ‘What are the three best basic recipes?’ but I stand behind these: a stir-fry, a chopped salad, and the basic combination of rice and lentils, all of which are easy enough to learn in one lesson. (‘Lessons’ might be called ‘recipes,’ and need no ‘teacher’ beyond the written word.) Each can be varied in countless ways. Each is produced from basic building blocks that contain no additives, preservatives, trans fats, artificial flavorings or ingredients of any kind, or outrageous calorie counts; they are, in other words, made from actual food. The salad requires no cooking; the stir-fry is lightning fast; the rice-and-lentils, though cooked more slowly, requires minimal attention. The same can be said for other recipes, of course, but not for all of them, and certainly not for the food that most Americans rely upon most of the time.
These recipes offer other benefits: They’re nutritionally sound and environmentally friendly. They’ve sustained scores of generations of societies worldwide, using traditional farming methods and producing little negative impact on the earth. (Almost without exception, your ancestors relied on something like one or more of these dishes.) All of them can be made with meat, poultry or fish, but they can be satisfying and delicious when made vegetarian or even vegan. In fact, if you cooked only variations on these three dishes you’d be well on your way to becoming an intuitive, fluid cook (the fanciest pilaf is essentially a rice-and-bean variation), eating more healthfully and with a lighter carbon footprint."
Detroit in Ruins
Detroit in ruins "Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre's extraordinary photographs documenting the dramatic decline of a major American city."
Movie Review: The King's Speech
The King's Speech tells the true story of King George VI's efforts to overcome his stammer.
George always had a stammer and as royalty was sometimes required to give public speeches which he . With the invention of radio, the people expected to hear their King's voice.
The director, Tom Hooper has mostly done British television work. He did direct all of HBO's John Adams and last years (well 2009's) The Damned United which I liked. The King's Speech is no exception to these in being a film about historical figures talking, mostly in old rooms and occasionally out in big spaces with crowds looking on. He keeps it interesting and lets the actors carry the film.
The two stars, Colin Firth as King George VI and Geoffrey Rush as his vocal instructor Lionel Logue, are both outstanding in making their characters become real. Firth has the showier role, having to pull off the stammer and the frustration in dealing with it. He'll certainly get an Oscar nomination for it and probably a win, since he probably deserved it last year over Jeff Bridges for his role in A Single Man. Rush's role also has a lot of difficult dialog and elocution to get right. He's got to say it correctly before Firth can get it wrong.
The rest of the cast was also quite good and I kept thinking it was a Harry Potter reunion (and a little bit of Doctor Who). I'm not very up on my British monarchy and the fact that everyone had multiple names didn't help (though it wasn't particularly confusing), so he's a summary.
The film starts in the late 1920s and ends in the late thirties. Michael Gambon is King George V and Claire Bloom is his wife Queen Mary. Their two eldest sons were Edward (who the family called David) and Albert (who the family called Bertie). When George V died in 1936, David became King Edward VIII (played by a barely recognizable Guy Pearce). A year later, he abdicated the throne to marry divorced American Wallis Simpson (Eve Best who I know from Nurse Jackie). David had no children so that made Albert, King George VI. His wife was Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) and they had two daughters Elizabeth and Margaret. Young Elizabeth is now the reigning Queen and Bonham Carter is playing the Queen Mother who died in 2002 at 101. Bertie and Elizabeth also used the alias Mr. and Mrs Johnson when they didn't want to be recognized in public.
I was half expecting this to play as a sports movie. There are some clear cliches. The underdog star who has to vanquish personal demons to realize his true potential and end the film with a great performance as crowds watch. The only one who truly understands the star is a coach who will only help if he can unconditionally use his unorthodox methods. But it's a bit more about the relationship of these men and the work involved rather than just the success. The 'joy of victory' in the final speech was tempered with its content of the seriousness of Britain's entry into World War II.
It's not a great film, but it's a very very good one with some great performances.
George always had a stammer and as royalty was sometimes required to give public speeches which he . With the invention of radio, the people expected to hear their King's voice.
The director, Tom Hooper has mostly done British television work. He did direct all of HBO's John Adams and last years (well 2009's) The Damned United which I liked. The King's Speech is no exception to these in being a film about historical figures talking, mostly in old rooms and occasionally out in big spaces with crowds looking on. He keeps it interesting and lets the actors carry the film.
The two stars, Colin Firth as King George VI and Geoffrey Rush as his vocal instructor Lionel Logue, are both outstanding in making their characters become real. Firth has the showier role, having to pull off the stammer and the frustration in dealing with it. He'll certainly get an Oscar nomination for it and probably a win, since he probably deserved it last year over Jeff Bridges for his role in A Single Man. Rush's role also has a lot of difficult dialog and elocution to get right. He's got to say it correctly before Firth can get it wrong.
The rest of the cast was also quite good and I kept thinking it was a Harry Potter reunion (and a little bit of Doctor Who). I'm not very up on my British monarchy and the fact that everyone had multiple names didn't help (though it wasn't particularly confusing), so he's a summary.
The film starts in the late 1920s and ends in the late thirties. Michael Gambon is King George V and Claire Bloom is his wife Queen Mary. Their two eldest sons were Edward (who the family called David) and Albert (who the family called Bertie). When George V died in 1936, David became King Edward VIII (played by a barely recognizable Guy Pearce). A year later, he abdicated the throne to marry divorced American Wallis Simpson (Eve Best who I know from Nurse Jackie). David had no children so that made Albert, King George VI. His wife was Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) and they had two daughters Elizabeth and Margaret. Young Elizabeth is now the reigning Queen and Bonham Carter is playing the Queen Mother who died in 2002 at 101. Bertie and Elizabeth also used the alias Mr. and Mrs Johnson when they didn't want to be recognized in public.
I was half expecting this to play as a sports movie. There are some clear cliches. The underdog star who has to vanquish personal demons to realize his true potential and end the film with a great performance as crowds watch. The only one who truly understands the star is a coach who will only help if he can unconditionally use his unorthodox methods. But it's a bit more about the relationship of these men and the work involved rather than just the success. The 'joy of victory' in the final speech was tempered with its content of the seriousness of Britain's entry into World War II.
It's not a great film, but it's a very very good one with some great performances.
RIP Pete Postlethwaite
Pete Postlethwaite died yesterday of cancer at the age of 64. He was great at playing the tough old guy in whatever context was needed. IMDb says he played 94 film and TV roles, here are some of films I really liked:The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
In the Name of the Father (1993)
The Usual Suspects (1995)
Amistad (1997)
The Constant Gardener (2005)
Inception (2010)
The Town (2010)
And these aren't as good, but I remember his role:
Alien3 (1992)
Romeo + Juliet (1996)
DragonHeart (1996
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
The Shipping News (2001)
Æon Flux (2005)
Sunday, January 02, 2011
How did we get here?
Ethan Siegel explains dark matter in How did we get here?. Short, lots of pictures and graphs and very readable. (via io9).
Fix the Filibuster
Walter Mondale wrote an op-ed in the New York Times, Resolved - Fix the Filibuster.
"WE all have hopes for the New Year. Here’s one of mine: filibuster reform. It was around this time 36 years ago — during a different recession — that I was part of a bipartisan effort to reform Senate Rule 22, the cloture rule. At the time, 67 votes were needed to cut off debate and thus end a filibuster, and nothing was getting done. After long negotiations, a compromise lowered to 60 the cloture vote requirement on legislation and nominations. We hoped this moderate change would preserve debate and deliberation while avoiding paralysis, and for a while it did.
But it’s now clear that our reform was insufficient for today’s more partisan, increasingly gridlocked Senate. In 2011, senators should pull back the curtain on Senate obstruction and once again amend the filibuster rules.
Reducing the number of votes to end a filibuster, perhaps to 55, is one option. Requiring a filibustering senator to actually speak on the Senate floor for the duration of a filibuster would also help. So, too, would reforms that bring greater transparency — like eliminating the secret ‘holds’ that allow senators to block debate anonymously."
Josh Chafetz of the Cornell Law School wrote an article in the Connecticut Law Review, The Unconstitutionality of the Filibuster.
The Senate can vote this Wed January 5th to reform the filibuster.
"WE all have hopes for the New Year. Here’s one of mine: filibuster reform. It was around this time 36 years ago — during a different recession — that I was part of a bipartisan effort to reform Senate Rule 22, the cloture rule. At the time, 67 votes were needed to cut off debate and thus end a filibuster, and nothing was getting done. After long negotiations, a compromise lowered to 60 the cloture vote requirement on legislation and nominations. We hoped this moderate change would preserve debate and deliberation while avoiding paralysis, and for a while it did.
But it’s now clear that our reform was insufficient for today’s more partisan, increasingly gridlocked Senate. In 2011, senators should pull back the curtain on Senate obstruction and once again amend the filibuster rules.
Reducing the number of votes to end a filibuster, perhaps to 55, is one option. Requiring a filibustering senator to actually speak on the Senate floor for the duration of a filibuster would also help. So, too, would reforms that bring greater transparency — like eliminating the secret ‘holds’ that allow senators to block debate anonymously."
Josh Chafetz of the Cornell Law School wrote an article in the Connecticut Law Review, The Unconstitutionality of the Filibuster.
The Senate can vote this Wed January 5th to reform the filibuster.
Epic Review of Star Wars Episode III
Red Letter Media reviews Star Wars Episode III. It's long, three 30+ minute video clips, and the narrator is a deranged serial killer which I could do without, but it's still a great review of the film and a lesson in film construction.
He's right about a lot of the problems in the film. The tone is jumbled, the pacing is off, the plot has logical flaws, the dialog is awful and the framing and editing of those dialog scenes is boring and rote (I hadn't realized how many couches were in the film). This all leads to you not caring about the characters.
I did disagree with the part about the Emperor taking power and the Senate giving it to him because of the emergency (which the Emperor constructed). It could have been done better, but the real-life parallels were pretty strong.
He's right about a lot of the problems in the film. The tone is jumbled, the pacing is off, the plot has logical flaws, the dialog is awful and the framing and editing of those dialog scenes is boring and rote (I hadn't realized how many couches were in the film). This all leads to you not caring about the characters.
I did disagree with the part about the Emperor taking power and the Senate giving it to him because of the emergency (which the Emperor constructed). It could have been done better, but the real-life parallels were pretty strong.
Saturday, January 01, 2011
2011: A Brave New Dystopia
This is really a chilling column, Truthdig - 2011: A Brave New Dystopia.
"The two greatest visions of a future dystopia were George Orwell’s ‘1984’ and Aldous Huxley’s ‘Brave New World.’ The debate, between those who watched our descent towards corporate totalitarianism, was who was right. Would we be, as Orwell wrote, dominated by a repressive surveillance and security state that used crude and violent forms of control? Or would we be, as Huxley envisioned, entranced by entertainment and spectacle, captivated by technology and seduced by profligate consumption to embrace our own oppression? It turns out Orwell and Huxley were both right. Huxley saw the first stage of our enslavement. Orwell saw the second.
We have been gradually disempowered by a corporate state that, as Huxley foresaw, seduced and manipulated us through sensual gratification, cheap mass-produced goods, boundless credit, political theater and amusement. While we were entertained, the regulations that once kept predatory corporate power in check were dismantled, the laws that once protected us were rewritten and we were impoverished. Now that credit is drying up, good jobs for the working class are gone forever and mass-produced goods are unaffordable, we find ourselves transported from ‘Brave New World’ to ‘1984.’ The state, crippled by massive deficits, endless war and corporate malfeasance, is sliding toward bankruptcy. It is time for Big Brother to take over from Huxley’s feelies, the orgy-porgy and the centrifugal bumble-puppy. We are moving from a society where we are skillfully manipulated by lies and illusions to one where we are overtly controlled.
Orwell warned of a world where books were banned. Huxley warned of a world where no one wanted to read books. Orwell warned of a state of permanent war and fear. Huxley warned of a culture diverted by mindless pleasure. Orwell warned of a state where every conversation and thought was monitored and dissent was brutally punished. Huxley warned of a state where a population, preoccupied by trivia and gossip, no longer cared about truth or information. Orwell saw us frightened into submission. Huxley saw us seduced into submission. But Huxley, we are discovering, was merely the prelude to Orwell. Huxley understood the process by which we would be complicit in our own enslavement. Orwell understood the enslavement. Now that the corporate coup is over, we stand naked and defenseless. We are beginning to understand, as Karl Marx knew, that unfettered and unregulated capitalism is a brutal and revolutionary force that exploits human beings and the natural world until exhaustion or collapse. "
Read the whole thing.
"The two greatest visions of a future dystopia were George Orwell’s ‘1984’ and Aldous Huxley’s ‘Brave New World.’ The debate, between those who watched our descent towards corporate totalitarianism, was who was right. Would we be, as Orwell wrote, dominated by a repressive surveillance and security state that used crude and violent forms of control? Or would we be, as Huxley envisioned, entranced by entertainment and spectacle, captivated by technology and seduced by profligate consumption to embrace our own oppression? It turns out Orwell and Huxley were both right. Huxley saw the first stage of our enslavement. Orwell saw the second.
We have been gradually disempowered by a corporate state that, as Huxley foresaw, seduced and manipulated us through sensual gratification, cheap mass-produced goods, boundless credit, political theater and amusement. While we were entertained, the regulations that once kept predatory corporate power in check were dismantled, the laws that once protected us were rewritten and we were impoverished. Now that credit is drying up, good jobs for the working class are gone forever and mass-produced goods are unaffordable, we find ourselves transported from ‘Brave New World’ to ‘1984.’ The state, crippled by massive deficits, endless war and corporate malfeasance, is sliding toward bankruptcy. It is time for Big Brother to take over from Huxley’s feelies, the orgy-porgy and the centrifugal bumble-puppy. We are moving from a society where we are skillfully manipulated by lies and illusions to one where we are overtly controlled.
Orwell warned of a world where books were banned. Huxley warned of a world where no one wanted to read books. Orwell warned of a state of permanent war and fear. Huxley warned of a culture diverted by mindless pleasure. Orwell warned of a state where every conversation and thought was monitored and dissent was brutally punished. Huxley warned of a state where a population, preoccupied by trivia and gossip, no longer cared about truth or information. Orwell saw us frightened into submission. Huxley saw us seduced into submission. But Huxley, we are discovering, was merely the prelude to Orwell. Huxley understood the process by which we would be complicit in our own enslavement. Orwell understood the enslavement. Now that the corporate coup is over, we stand naked and defenseless. We are beginning to understand, as Karl Marx knew, that unfettered and unregulated capitalism is a brutal and revolutionary force that exploits human beings and the natural world until exhaustion or collapse. "
Read the whole thing.
The Big Picture on New Years
A New Year rolls in. "The world has already begun to welcome 2011, as the New Year has been entered by people living on some Pacific islands, Australia and Asia. As the Earth revolves today, bringing the rest of us into the year 2011, I'll be updating this entry, to show people all over as they ready themselves, celebrate and welcome the New Year. 2011 will be observed as the Year of the Rabbit in the Chinese zodiac, a year with attributes of gentleness, persistence and luck. Happy New Year everyone! (56 photos total)"
Happy New Year
I hope everyone had a Happy New Year. I'm making a change to this blog that I hope is an improvement.
Lately I've been linking to articles and not adding much to them. I want to write more reviews and longer articles here but I'm still reading from a firehose and find a lot of things of interest. I'm also reading more on the iPhone while away from the computer.
Since a lot of apps have a "tweet this" function, I've started a twitter feed, HowardLikedThis and it now appears in the sidebar here on the right. I'll still blog articles and include longer quotes if useful, but sometimes there's no need for me to add more than a title and a link. I'll now post those to the twitter feed.
Let me know what you think.
Lately I've been linking to articles and not adding much to them. I want to write more reviews and longer articles here but I'm still reading from a firehose and find a lot of things of interest. I'm also reading more on the iPhone while away from the computer.
Since a lot of apps have a "tweet this" function, I've started a twitter feed, HowardLikedThis and it now appears in the sidebar here on the right. I'll still blog articles and include longer quotes if useful, but sometimes there's no need for me to add more than a title and a link. I'll now post those to the twitter feed.
Let me know what you think.
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