Bill Maher on Larry King

Not having free HBO has been hard if only because I miss Bill Maher’s weekly political and comedy show Real Time. I agree with most (but not all) of his views and think he is actually quite funny as well. Here are a few things I noticed about tonights show:

1.) King mentioned Maher’s new movie, Religulous, opening October 3rd. It is not exactly a documentary but a comedic film about religion in America. Maher mentioned Atheists and Agnostics, or what he calls “rationalists,” account for 16% of Americans. Which is more, according to him, than Blacks, Gays, and many other minorities. We don’t have a knack for uniting and that hurts us as a notable voting block. He also claims religion should not play any role in American politics. Interesting.

2.) I used to watch CNN Headline news habitually. Once they switched to entertainment shows and Nancy Grace (a woman I can’t even listen to for 30 seconds) I left forever. I still valued CNN for their unbiased and serious news coverage. I have been away from them for a while so the changes I noticed tonight are probably more gradual than I saw but the Central News Network is becoming more and more flashy. It started when everyone fell in love with former “Mole” host and old money heir Anderson Cooper. I think he is the personification of news today: an incredibly attractive person delivering news until we want to throw up.

Obviously, I’m not the first person to notice how flashy the news has become but tonights Larry King is just ridiculous. On the screen at the same time was the ticker line at the bottom (nothing new there), the “live” sign in the upper corner, the famous Larry King microphone symbol in the bottom corner that burst with stars every 30 seconds or so, taking over 20% of the screen, and then they would have quotations that Maher had just delivered recited on the screen in print, as if I didn’t just hear him say that! It’s bad enough when they think I can’t pay attention between commercials but now they think I can’t focus for 20 seconds! During the show they also asked me to go online and participate in a poll asking what I liked the most about the show I was currently watching…… I was reminded of the SNL skit showing a news screen suffocated by logos, stock tickers, the bat signal, and godzilla, I thought it was simply satire but tonight I saw the real thing.

Please just present the news CNN. Charlie Rose has no back drop, no interruptions, and simply asks questions (what I would wager is exactly what Larry King wants to do) and has become an incredibly respected and popular journalist. I don’t mind advertisements and plugs but let’s leave them to the commercial breaks.

Tropic Thunder Before the Tropic Thunder

With tropical storm Fay looming over the southern tip of Florida I decided to enjoy a little comic relief. Tropic Thunder, Ben Stiller’s first attempt at directing since his cult comedy, Zoolander, uses a star-packed cast and enormous budget to entice an ever-evolving audience to laughter. While in the theatre, my opinion of the movie swirled about as much as Fay’s wind direction. I cackled annoyingly, I was bored to tears, I was impressed by the special effects, and I thought the jokes were over-done.

At the same time, I think that is the most interesting aspect of this film: it is a completely new genre. It’s Hot Shots meets Rambo; it’s Scary Movie meets Apocalypse Now. Surprisingly for Hollywood, they notice the complexity of this attempt and attack it seriously. A-list cameos become central character roles; topics and themes that skirt the boundaries of racism are handle with care. They push the limits of our willing suspension of disbelief and expect us, as an intelligent, film-savvy, hard-to-impress audience, to respond in turn.

The movie is funny but could be more so. They parody famous cinematic tropes much like the Scary Movie series and they bend our stereotypes of major actors like Tom Cruise and Matthew Mcconaughey. Both of these techniques seem an effective strategy given an audience inundated by romantic comedies and unintelligent attempts at humor. They take the new adaptation of witty, fast word play perfected by the Seth Rogen comedy team and twist that into a serious action movie. Sometimes too serious. At times, Stiller focuses too much on character depth and plot development and looses his laughter-hungry audience. (It’s hard to fault a movie for too much character but the comedy they create is so intense that I just crave more and more of it and found myself disappointed when they focused on the story.)

It was great to see Black, Stiller, and Downey Jr. do a piece together. I would have liked to have seen more from Jack Black (much like Chevy Chase, it’s hard to take a physical actor and squeeze him into a script.) Stiller basically plays the same character in all his films so what I saw from him was neither a positive or negative surprise and Downey Jr. can add this film to his list on strong comebacks- he earned my focus for most of the movie.

Overall, I enjoyed the film. It was obvious Dreamworks took this film seriously. Tom Cruise’s cameo as the film executive might be worth the price of admission and the more dramatic scenes to not diminish the power of the comedic ones, just delay them. Tropic Thunder might hit land as a category three…

As if The Dark Knight Couldn’t Get Any Better…

I recently came across this clip. It is the Dark Knight trailer done by kids. I think they have captured the essence of Nolan’s vision and concepts. Their execution is flawless and they definitely want to make me see the movie. The next clip is a kid reciting the famous milkshake line from There Will Be Blood, one of my favorites to quote as well. Enjoy.

Who’s at Fault? The who-done-it psychology game.

The Castle the Baroness is running away from!

I recently completed a Graduate Teaching Assistant training program. One of the exercises they made us do in small groups involves the following scenario. We were to read the case and then place blame on the characters in order of responsibility for the Baroness’s death; 1 being most responsible, 6 least. What I found so interesting was the fact that there were so many possibilities for interpretation. It became a psychology test. There were four members in our group and we all had completely different interpretations; which is unfortunate considering the next task was to come up with a group consensus.

I will give you the prompt than my order and explanation. Let’s see if anyone agrees or has a better order. It may seem mundane at first but give it some thought and see how many times you change your mind…

“As he left for a visit to his outlying districts, the jealous baron warned his pretty wife: ‘Do no leave the castle while I am gone, or I will punish you severely when I return!’

But as the hours passed, the young baroness grew lonely, and despite her husband’s warning, decided to visit her lover, who lived in the countryside nearby. The castle was located on an island in a wide, fast-flowing river, with a drawbridge linking the island and the land at the narrowest point in the river.

‘Surely my husband will not return before dawn,’ she thought, and she ordered her servants to lower the drawbridge and leave it down until she returned. After spending several pleasant hours with her lover, the baroness, returned to the drawbridge, only to find it blocked by a madman wildly waving a long, cruel knife. ‘Do no attempt to cross this bridge, baroness, or I will kill you,’ he raved.

Fearing for her life, the baroness returned to her lover and asked him to help. ‘Our relationship is only a romantic one,’ he said. ‘I will not help .’

The baroness then sought out a boatman on the river, explained her plight to him, and asked him to take her across the river in his boat. ‘I will do it, but only if you can pay my fee of five marks.’

‘But I have no monley with me!’ the baroness protested. ‘That is too bad. No money, no ride,’ the boatman said flatly. Her fears growing, the baroness ran crying to the home of a friend, and after again explaining the situation, she begged for enough money to pay the boatman his fee.

‘If you had not disobeyed your husband, this would not have happened,’ the friend said. ‘I will give you no money.’ With dawn approaching, and her last resource exhausted, the baroness returned to the bridge in desperation, attempted to cross to the castle, and was slain by the madman.”

So which character (the baron, the baroness, the boatman, the friend, the lover, or the madman) is the most responsible for the baroness’s death? My order might be a little abstract but, again, there is no right answer. You might want to make a list now and see if it changes the more you think about it… mine did.

I put the baron first. I thought anyone in such an abusive situation/relationship has the option to get out. If he was so worried about her I think he should have treated her better and made her want to stay instead of scaring her out of leaving. Second, the friend. This one I had to be convinced of by my group but a good friend should be considerate of their friends’ situations, especially life and death ones, regardless of circumstances. Thirdly, the madman(woman?) did physically end the baroness’s life but his/her mental instability prevents me from putting him/her at the top of my list.

Coming in fourth position, I have the lover. He is much like the friend because his relationship comes with certain moral responsibilities. [During my initial judgment I changed the characters' name to 'sex slave' or lust companion' to see if lover carried certain connotations.] I look at long lasting friendships being stronger than lust so, while the lover still has some responsibility, he does not have as much as the friend. Following the lover, I put the baroness in the fifth position. She should have foreseen certain risks when engaging in extra-marital relations and could have made smarter choices. She tried hard to avoid her death so one has to give her some credit for that. Her husband’s warning does not say that he was going to kill her, so death was not in her mind when she set forth looking to get out of the castle.

Lastly, the boatman should have helped a person in need… in a perfect world. So while he could be held responsible, his relationship to the baroness is not as strong as the other characters’ and should be placed near the bottom, if not at it.

Hope this was fun!

Olympics Medal Tracker

Stay up-to-date on USA’s progress

Olympic Medal winners at NBC Olympics.com!

Swimming and Gymnastics… they’re great… but why?

The opening weekend of the Olympics has not disappointed. American women swept the medal count in the Saber competition, Michael Phelps is three for three on his chase, and the men’s gymnastic team brought home a bronze for their country.

My question is who decided that America wanted to watch gymnastics and swimming so much? I think most of us can agree that the Olympics is comprised of mostly sports not widely followed in this country: archery, rowing, and weight-lifting, for example. But I would not put swimming or gymnastics in the top 15 “most popular sports” in the United States.

Who (and why?) decided that those two sports (and I guess Track and Field in a week or so) would get all the prime time attention? There are plenty of sports out there, I want to experience them all! It can’t simply be because they’re team sports right? The average person knows no more about swimming than they do about the rules of water polo; no more about gymnastics than hand ball. It couldn’t simply be the human interest stories; all Olympic athletes, regardless of sport, have overcome some type of obstacle that would “entertain” a prime time audience. The swimmers and gymnasts aren’t more attractive than some other athletes, so I don’t even think it’s sex appeal. These sports aren’t even purely “American” the way we can view basketball and baseball… I have no idea what makes them different.

I think we would find anything they presented in an entertaining, sexy way, during prime time interesting. We would quickly learn the rules and critique which moves, shots, forms, and executions were the best. We watch it because that’s what they show. It seems a viscous cycle. I love watching those big three too, but I enjoy all forms of Olympic games. I don’t want to have to wake up at 4:30 in the morning to watch some fun fencing or badminton. NBC, be a little more fair with your prime time distribution please.

Time For the Olympics

I’m heading back down south today so I might be out of good post ideas for a while… but I can say that I actually took the time to watch the opening ceremonies last night and I wasn’t disappointed. I love the Olympics as much as any other crazy American but I usually skip the ceremonies simply because I don’t see the appeal. Last night I changed my mind… and what I saw I would probably put in my top ten best things ever witnessed on television.

The Chinese used this chance to share their culture with the world and they completely delivered. The show was about an hour and a half of perfectly choreographed ballets, dances, light shows, interpretive movement, and displays of creativity. It was beautiful, political, moving, challenging, colorful, and perfect. i highly recommend watching the entire show on YouTube if not only to get into the Olympic feel (the greatest feel) and appreciate a foreign culture, but to simply be awed at the talents of 15,000 people working together. You won’t be disappointed. Now off to Florida, and let the Olympics begin!

I’ll See You at the Debates Bitches

See Paris Hilton Responds to McCain Ad

Paris Hilton has now entered into the Presidential campaign. After “that wrinkly, white haired guy” used both Paris and Britney Spears in an attack ad to portray Barack Obama has nothing but a celebrity [which you can see below] Hilton has punched back with this video. She supports an energy plan that is a combination of both of the current candidate’s positions and supports the message because “it’s hot.” But if McCain is serious enough to put Hilton and Spears in a “real” political ad than Hilton’s response deserves the same about of “real” attention. Of course, at the Sturgis Biker rally, McCain offered to sign his wife up for their Buffalo Chip beauty contest “which makes a wet tee-shirt contest look like a spelling bee;” maybe he should just bow out to Hilton in the beauty contest and the presidential debate.

On other news, I understand that Keith Olbermann’s nightly news show, Countdown, might be biased but the events they cover are not only factual but not covered by other (more conservative) outlets and must have a voice as well. I almost want others to play devil’s advocate to the stories Countdown presents because if they were given the coverage they deserve I believe our country would be much more fed up with current policies than it already is. The following is a list of what we learned from the show last night:

• Former CIA officials explain that the Bush Administration actually forged a document to defy the country into believing we need to go to war with Iraq. I hope by now we know all know Iraq was not involved with 9/11 and our president lied to us but now THEY WROTE A FAKE LETTER… Seriously?!
• Jealous of Obama’s ability to attract crowds of over 200,000 McCain crashed a Biker Rally where he prostituted his wife in a beauty contest and introduced performer Kid Rock. [My sister just got back from a concert in Chicago where she told me Obama was supposed to open for Kayne but feared he might get attacked for being too much of a celebrity... but it's alright for McCain?]
• The Bush Administration is offering 150,000 cash incentive for Arabic translators to join the military while still kicking out current translators simply because they’re gay… Seriously?!

We need to hold these administrations and people accountable for lying to us and remaining racist and homophobic. We need to move on. (Oh yeah, Countdown in funny as well. I highly recommend the show.)

Which Art is at the Top?

This is a conversation that I have had with a number of people, inside and outside artistic circles. I want to try and categorize, or rank, the following artistic disciplines: theatre (dramatic works and/or enriching musicals for the stage), opera (self-explanatory), dance (mostly ballet, but not excluding serious Modern and/or Jazz styles), and music (orchestral symphonies).

Now, the scale is what I find difficult to explain. It is not exactly the pretension of the audience and artists or the strict adherence to rules of decorum. It is not exactly the skill level of the performers and/or respect given to them. It is not exactly the difficulty in translating a narrative for the audience. But it DOES seem to be a combination of all of these.

Most people (I would say over 90%) would probably agree with the following order: opera, music, dance, theatre. Some may switch music and dance. It is interesting to note that most everyone I have asked has put theatre at the bottom (this includes theatre people!). It seems theatre is the easiest form to relate to, connect with, produce, etc. But, I think that is the beauty of theatre. And most everyone has opera at the top of their list (not surprising, given the lack of available opera in this country and negative impressions regarding entertainment value and accessibility.)

My list still has theatre at the bottom but differs as follows: dance, music, opera, theatre. Every time I see a dance performance my stance on it strengthens. When I think of ballet I instantly picture 60-year-old Russian women beating their students with rulers and the students bandaging their bloody feet every night. Movies like Center Stage have instilled in me an impression that the audience is comprised of retired dancers who see it as their privilege to critique the works and see us lay people in the audience as an annoyance at best. Dancers train from as young as 3 or 4 and devote their lives to their craft. I bet if you asked a dancer to rank these arts they would put dance at the top. I also think there is a strong distinction between beauty and skill and conveying of meaning. I find the art fascinating and enjoy it very much, but even with Masters-level training in Theatre Studies still find it difficult to translate or interpret the meaning of the pieces. I believe it is an “Old boys” or “Old girls club” that is hard to break into and there is a conservative resistance to change or progression within.

Opera and symphonic music have higher levels of respect given to them: most everyone dresses up for these performances, they are usually more expensive, and ten-minute curtain calls are not uncommon (and sometimes expected). The commercial followings for these are most assuredly smaller than theatre but I still feel their accessibility is stronger than dance. [I have a soft spot for opera, especially the foreign versions, mostly because the story is simple and I think it is neat to hear people sing when I have no idea what they are saying.]

I guess what I am trying to say is theatre is the easiest to produce and relate to (mostly why I enjoy it so much). Audiences can connect to music either because some have training in music or maybe it is that you really only have to use one of your senses (although, I am hypnotized when watching a pianist work) to appreciate it. Traditional opera employs simple stories and elaborate/grandiose sets and costumes to attract audiences. While dance, in my opinion, is a different beast all together; beautiful and easily recognizable skill, yes, but a tough task to fully unwrap what they have packaged for us.

Please let me know what you all think. Have I made my opinion clear or simply confused everyone? Does anyone have a better way of explaining what I am trying to say? Does anyone strongly agree or disagree with my order? I’d love to hear everyone’s thoughts!

Too Fit for President?

That was the title of a recent Wall Street Journal article. I don’t think I have to add anything to show the lunacy people have displayed trying to convince Americans Obama is not like “us.” Now we have decided since two thirds of “us” are overweight and 30% of “us” are obese Obama is not capable of relating to America. It’s late and I’m tired, luckily (hopefully) I don’t have to explain any further how low this attack is: Obama is too skinny to be president… SHUT UP! I’m not overweight and run three or four times a week. I may not be like “us” either but Obama sure represents me…

My weekend post will be asking you to think about your opinions on the arts: opera, theatre, dance, and symphonic music, in particular. I want you to rank them. I’ll give you the scale and my opinion soon, just think about them for now…