Friday, December 29, 2006

The End of an Era


The unconfirmed reports are starting to trickle in that Saddam Hussein, terror of the Middle East since before I was born, has been put to death. There are vastly conflicting views on whether this execution should have been carried out or not, but I doubt many people would argue it was not deserved. Justice can be difficult to enforce, and was certainly absent throughout the course of SH’s rule. The execution of the Dujail villagers, the genocide of the Kurds in the north during the Iran-Iraq war, the invasion of Kuwait and his crimes against humanity-- these events were not preceded by the kind of fair trial (kangaroo courts don’t count), like the one Saddam received. That contrast in the way Saddam dealt out judgment, to the way he received it, distinguishes the west and its democratic system of checks and balances from the tyrannical and unilateral way Hussein would arouse fear in his neighbors and his fellow countrymen. In this way, it seems that Saddam has been made an example of. As an opponent of capital punishment, I feel it would have made a better example of Saddam to let him live out his remaining years as the destitute, hobo we’ve come to know (a far cry from the oppressive despot image of just a few years ago). It would help us rise above the culture of violence that seems destined to embroil the mid-east for years to come. But if anyone deserved to be put to death, it was Saddam. I’m not losing any sleep.

Thursday, December 28, 2006

*Shudders*

The scary thing about the following statements by conservative icons is that there are many, many people out there who wouldn't find a single thing wrong with them.

Courtesy of Alternet:



Fox News host John Gibson: "Do your duty. Make more babies. That's a lesson drawn out of two interesting stories over the last couple of days. First, a story yesterday that half of the kids in this country under five years old are minorities. By far, the greatest number are Hispanic. You know what that means? Twenty-five years and the majority of the population is Hispanic. Why is that? Well, Hispanics are having more kids than others. Notably, the ones Hispanics call 'gabachos' -- white people -- are having fewer." [
5/11/06]


Coulter responding to Hardball host Chris Matthews' question, "How do you know that [former President] Bill Clinton's gay?": "I don't know if he's gay. But [former Vice President] Al Gore -- total fag." [
7/27/06]


Nationally syndicated radio host Michael Savage: "That's why the department store dummy named Wolf Blitzer, a Jew who was born in Israel, will do the astonishing act of being the type that would stick Jewish children into a gas chamber to stay alive another day. He's probably the most despicable man in the media next to Larry King, who takes a close runner-up by the hair of a nose. The two of them together look like the type that would have pushed Jewish children into the oven to stay alive one more day to entertain the Nazis." [
8/7/06]


Coulter on Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., an African-American: "Congresswoman Maxine Waters had parachuted into Connecticut earlier in the week to campaign against [Sen. Joseph I.] Lieberman because he once expressed reservations about affirmative action, without which she would not have a job that didn't involve wearing a paper hat. Waters also considers Joe 'soft' on the issue of the CIA inventing crack cocaine and AIDS to kill all the black people in America." [
8/9/06]


Nationally syndicated radio host Rush Limbaugh, blaming America's "obesity crisis" on "the left," "liberal government," and "food stamps": "Because we are sympathetic, we are compassionate people, we have responded by letting our government literally feed these people to the point of obesity. At least here in America, didn't teach them how to fish, we gave them the fish. Didn't teach them how to butcher a -- slaughter a cow to get the butter, we gave them the butter. The real bloat here, as we know, is in -- is in government." [
8/29/06]


CNN Headline News host Glenn Beck to Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, D-Minn.: "OK. No offense, and I know Muslims. I like Muslims. … With that being said, you are a Democrat. You are saying, 'Let's cut and run.' And I have to tell you, I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is, 'Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies.' " [
11/14/06]


Right-wing pundit Debbie Schlussel on Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.: So, even if he identifies strongly as a Christian … is a man who Muslims think is a Muslim, who feels some sort of psychological need to prove himself to his absent Muslim father, and who is now moving in the direction of his father's heritage, a man we want as president when we are fighting the war of our lives against Islam? Where will his loyalties be?" [
12/18/06]


Nationally syndicated radio host Neal Boortz on Rep. Cynthia McKinney's (D-Ga.) hairstyle: "She looks like a ghetto slut. … It looks like an explosion in a Brillo pad factory. … She looks like Tina Turner peeing on an electric fence. … She looks like a shih tzu!" [
3/31/06]


Beck: "Blowing up Iran. I say we nuke the bastards. In fact, it doesn't have to be Iran, it can be everywhere, anyplace that disagrees with me." [
5/11/06]


Jonathan Hoenig, managing member of Capitalistpig Asset Management LLC, on Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto: "I think when it comes to Iran, the problem is we haven't been forceful enough. I mean if you -- frankly, if you want to see the Dow go up, let's get the bombers in the air and neutralize this Iranian threat." [
6/5/06]


Savage: "I don't know why we don't use a bunker-buster bomb when he comes to the U.N. and just take [Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad] out with everyone in there." [
7/21/06]


Boortz: "I want you to think for a moment of how incompetent and stupid and worthless, how -- that's right, I used those words -- how incompetent, how ignorant, how worthless is an adult that can't earn more than the minimum wage? You have to really, really, really be a pretty pathetic human being to not be able to earn more than the human wage. Uh -- human, the minimum wage." [
8/3/06]


Beck: "The Middle East is being overrun by 10th-century barbarians. That's what I thought at 5 o'clock this morning, and I thought, 'Oh, geez, what -- what is this?' If they take over -- the barbarians storm the gate and take over the Middle East (this is what I'm thinking at 5 o'clock in the morning) -- we're going to have to nuke the whole place." [
9/12/06]


Limbaugh on the Middle East: "Fine, just blow the place up." [
11/27/06]


Fox News host Bill O'Reilly (on his radio show): "Do I care if the Sunnis and Shiites kill each other in Iraq? No. I don't care. Let's get our people out of there. Let them kill each other. Maybe they'll all kill each other, and then we can have a decent country in Iraq." [
12/5/06]

Monday, December 25, 2006

There's a reason why the original CSI is the best.

You Don’t Deserve a Boob*



















The
theme for this Christmas was creating new traditions. Dara and I are spending our first Christmas as a married couple together and we wanted to turn this first into a series of firsts. For example, we thought Christmas Eve would be a good opportunity to watch a classic Christmas movie. There are many such classics, including “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and “Miracle on 34th Street,” but we have elected to make our yearly Christmas movie “Love, Actually.” Mom disagrees with our choice, but it’s probably better than my first choice, “Die Hard 2: Die Harder.”

This morning the Harrison family woke up a bit too early for my taste, but nowhere near the pre-dawn wake-up times I used to enjoy when I was growing up. Dara and I had a nice, relaxed time exchanging gifts and making breakfast. I won’t go into detail about every gift I received, because I received many (I have a generous wife and family), but the following gift bears mentioning: Dara gave me a book called “Recording the Beatles.” As the title implies, this 500+ page behemoth recalls the recording sessions for the Beatles in great detail. By detail, I mean, the authors describe what kinds of microphones were used for which songs, special techniques employed, and comprehensive sketches and schematics outlining the layout of Abbey Road, the arrangement of the instruments, and the like. Among the many items included in this special package are a copy of the original lyrics for “A Day in the Life” in John’s handwriting, an original photo of the Beatles and George Martin conversing in the studio, and a postcard by George to the Beatles.


Oh what the heck, I’ll tell my other gifts (forgive me if I forget, I’m just very excited). Dara gave me a daily flip-calendar based on the book “Eats, Shoots and Leaves,” which is a grammar book I keep in my bathroom at home. My wife knows me well. Dara also gave me a Barnes & Noble gift certificate, two Ben Folds Cds, and the “X-Men” trilogy. After the gifts, I called my family back in Toronto and had a nice chat with them. Everyone seemed in a good mood. After having a short nap and showering, Dara and I made our way to the Hampton household.


We arrived Chez Hampton with our modest cache of gifts and were showered with a generous cascade of gifts from the Hampton and Salti families. Dara can speak for herself (she did very well), but my haul included a box of chocolates, two great DVDs (“The Office” and “Rent”), an emergency Smores kit, and a very cool midi-controller to be used on a music program I use. They were very generous. More important than the gifts, of course, was seeing and spending time with family. It was a relaxed environment with the children enjoying their toys and the warm rays of the sun beating down on the leisure living room setting.


At sun-down, Dara and I left to do some Christmas-light viewing (brief), and then grab some Benihana-type food at a good local place, which actually had better food and entertainment than Fullerton’s Chomp Restaurant. This was to be our Chinese-Food section of Christmas in our newly-created Christmas tradition. We also wanted to fit in a movie, but didn’t have time. But it’s not a rigid tradition, so maybe we’ll try again next year.


In all, it was a great Christmas. It marked a different direction than my traditional Christmas celebration, and didn’t quite feel like Christmas in the (beautiful) shorts weather, but it was a nice day. Relaxed, low-key, warm day. A day of making new traditions. Here’s to years more of new traditions.


Oh, and, Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

*Another title could have been "traditionally speaking" or something less weird. Don't ask.

Sunday, December 24, 2006

An Orchestra of One


Before I start tonight’s blog, I want to say that December 23rd is a special day for me, for reasons which will remain hidden. But the moment deserves a quiet call in the night, even if no one else will be out there to here it. Happy December 23rd.

______

Friday night I had the good fortune of seeing musical savant and local hero Jon Brion perform at the infamous Largo night club on Fairfax in Los Angeles. It had taken me over a year in telephone calls and vigorous scanning of the online Largo schedule to finally score a reservation at the cult club, so you can imagine my elation when I received a confirmation call indicating that there were four seats waiting for me on Friday, December 22nd.

For those of you who don’t know the Largo process, it involves either scoring tickets in the aforementioned method which involves scanning the upcoming schedule and praying and phoning, or showing up the night of and hoping for a standing-room spot. Jon Brion’s customary Friday-night slot at the House-that-Brion-Built venue of Largo has reached mythic proportions, in an atmosphere charged with musical creativity amidst a host of celebrities and musicians who all clamor to get a glimpse of the genius of Brion. But Jon’s usual Friday-night shows were interrupted earlier this year by a worrisome case of tendonitis which had fans concerned. For months, Jon was M.I.A., so when he finally returned to the stage, the internet was abuzz with excitement. Still, Jon’s performances were sporadic at best; perhaps a single performance a month. Needless to say, the supply diminished while the demand only grew. Scoring seats at Largo on a Jon-Brion Friday night is tantamount to sitting next to Nicholson during a Lakers home game.

So me and some friends and family found ourselves sitting in the proverbial court-side seats in a tiny club, nestled in a Jewish community, across the street from the famous Cantor’s Deli. The standing room patrons get to avoid the prison food that is forced upon the reserved-seat crowd, but my suggestion is to stick with the honey chicken and keep your expectations low. You’ll forget all about the food before long.

Friday’s show was opened by comedian Paul F. Tomkins who puts on a subdued, but funny performance. Paul was followed by E, founding member of the Eels, who rivaled Paul in humour and in handle-bar-mustachery. Finally, the moment we were all waiting for.

Jon strolled to the stage, first casually playing with Mr. E. It was strange to see Jon apply his musical prowess on the simple G-C-D chordal arrangements of Mr. E, but I guess it was a good warm up, because as soon as he was alone onstage, the magic happened.

Jon’s show is fascinating for several reasons, not the least of which is its naked exhibitionist nature. To watch a Jon Brion show is a voyeur experience, giving you a fly-on-the-wall perspective of what it must be like to watch a genius to go to work at the office. For we’re not just watching Jon reproduce old songs and covers; he is creating before our eyes. Layering songs with complex loops, mastering all instruments at once… the creative ball of yarn in Jon’s head unravels brilliantly before us, and we simply watch in awe, swirling the music around our palettes like wine; tasting the deliciousness of the music. But Jon works without a net and, genius though he is, the complex frame he sets up could easily come crashing down. That’s what makes the performance so fun. Not so tonight: There are no slip-ups as Jon rips through most of his highly underrated debut solo effort Meaningless, and gets almost all the way through before moving on to other numbers. Each song is laid out with perfect execution and musical sincerity.

Eventually Jon starts inviting people to share the stage with him. The first of the cameo appearances is made by Hollywood actress Zooey Deschanel of Elf and Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy fame. As anyone who can remember Elf can attest, Zooey has a buttery singing voice that hearkens back to the angelic singers of the 40s and 50s. Together, Zooey and Jon channeled Les Paul through a variety of songs which delighted the crowd.

Eventually Jon called to the stage several other musicians, among them: Benmont Tench (of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers fame), the aforementioned Mr. E, Sean Watkins (Nickel Creek), Zooey and some lesser-known players. Here, the show slackened somewhat, but not before they performed spontaneous versions of “Billie Jean,” “Raspberry Beret,” and “Happiness is a Warm Gun.” So says John Lennon. For me, happiness is a warm seat at the Largo.

Honourable mention goes to Paul Tomkins for his rendition of “Ring of Fire” with lyrics about the Maccabees, and the celebration of Chanukah. And to Zooey who doesn’t know “Frosty the Snowman” as well as she would like, but no one cared.

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Greetings from the desert

Well, Dara is back from Charlotte and all is well. She decided she just wasn't done travelling yet, so here we are in the desert. Palm desert, to be precise. The temperature is a balmy 60 degrees (fahrenheit, which converts to about 15-16 degrees celsius). That's t-shirt weather back home, and indeed I hear the t-shirts were dusted off for some warmer Toronto weather, but compared to the last time I was here (when it was 125 degrees F), it's rather frigid. Maybe I'm being California-nized, where a warm day in Canada is a cold day here in California. Or maybe I'm just losing weight (here's hoping for the latter).

In any case, it's nice to relax amidst the stoic calm of the mountains. And seeing the snow, far-off atop the mountains though it is, reminds me of home. And that's nice.

Chanukah is upon us, with Christmas not far behind. And though the media tells me that the two sides are warring ("there's too many christmas trees in this mall, not enough menorahs," or "this country was based on christian values... there should only be christmas trees") all signs here tell me that Christmas and Chanukah are getting along great, thank you very much. No word on Kwanzaa yet; he hasn't shown up to this particular party yet.

I think it's a universal desire to have peace on earth and good will towards all men, so let's have a helping of that, shall we?




Saturday, December 09, 2006

Sunny, rainy days

Today was a day of beautiful weather, though I spent most of the day indoors. The morning was sunny and cool, and the evening saw heavy rain with a crispness that made me miss home.

The last two weeks have been a time of waiting (for the return of my bride), and of watching movies. In the past 7 days, I have watched (or re-watched) and graded the following:

In the theatres:

-Bobby. This doesn't qualify as a biopic, but some scenes still paint RFK as a demi-god. Still, it was an impressive effort by writer Emelio Estivaz. Grade: B

-The Departed. A gangster movie, complete with violence, jarring edits and moments of treachery that will make you doubt the guy in the next seat. Grade: B

-Casino Royale. A Bond movie is like a warm glass of milk. It's comfortable and familiar, but also gives you a stomach ache. Okay, this particular Bond gave me a headache, but that doesn't mean I didn't like it. (It probably had more to do with the fact that it was the third movie in a row I had seen). Craig does a great job of silencing his critics, while showing us a younger, buffer, newer James Bond, sans the gadgets (which was hard for me to let go). Of particular interest was the torture scene; both funny and terrible. Grade: B+

Babel. This movie promises a lot that it doesn't deliver on. Three loosely-connected stories play out to varying degrees of success, one of which (the deaf Japanese girl) could be stricken from the movie completely with no ill effect. The film has important things to say, but mostly it feels like a warmed-over Paul Haggis (Crash) script. Frankly, I'll take Paul Haggis, thank you very much. Grade: C+

Blood Diamond. This movie was almost as stressful as its predecessor, Hotel Rwanda. But unlike the earlier depiction of African struggle and genocide, Blood Diamond is lacking the dramatic storytelling and depth of characters. Leonardo's character develops a rather wooden onscreen relationship with Jennifer Connelly, whose doe-eyed portrayal of an idealist reporter could easily have been removed from the film, again with no ill effect. The shining star in this history-lesson-as-entertainment was Djimon Hounsou, as a father struggling to maintain the tattered remnants of a family caught in bloody civil war. The depictions of children with AK-47s was horrifying: both scary and sad. And the civil war itself is given main stage, which can only be good for the world to have exposure to this knowledge. As entertainment, not so much. Grade: B-


In my apartment:

-Superman Returns. This movie rental is simple eye-candy: special effects, and the further exploration of Supe's powers. The latest addition of the Superman canon is a simple one, even more so than those of the Spider Man catalogue, although it is always entertaining to watch the Superman mythology unfold. Lex is (predictably) played to great effect by the manic Kevin Spacey, while Parker Posey adds her colourful touches. Grade: C+

-X-men: The Last Stand. Easily the darkest of the X-men, trilogy, this movie suffered (or was saved?) from director Bryan Singer's absence (who was off wasting a fortune making the above movie). Actually, I quite enjoyed this movie, though Kelsey Grammar's Beast character, while adeptly imitating a toilet brush, doesn't quite fit the tone of the movie. All in all a good swan song for a fun franchise that never took itself too seriously. Grade: B

-The Da Vinci Code. I just don't know why I rented this piece of crap. Anyone who read my review of Dan Brown's novel of the same name will know that I found it to be a terrible book with terrible story telling. The story telling in the movie improves somewhat, but only with the brilliance of Howard, Ian McKellan, Hanks and my favourite Audrey Tautou. Even with all these influences, the movie plays like a hastily pasted-together afterthought of a story. Grade: D