Preparing for Panic Mode

Alright. I admit I'm a little worried. I'm not panicked - there are bright spots yet, the math is still in my candidate's favor - but I'm getting more concerned.

The media coverage of Obama has been decidedly negative. I don't say that in a whiny woe-is-me sort of way (I'm no conservative); the media is just seeking controversy. Presidential elections are their Black Friday - they'll coast on the investments and payouts of this cycle's coverage for the next four years. They need a close race. You can't blame a guy for feeding his kids.

In his effort to flip the evolving script, the President gave a big speech that was more picked apart and fretted over than discussed seriously on merit. So Obama pulled out the big guns and gave them lazy Mexicans all of our jobs.

This new immigration policy (or anti-policy) is foremost the prudent move for our country. It saves resources, saves money, and encourages good citizenship. And nobody cares. Screw that wishy-washy Hopey Changey crap, the fun part is in sussing out the politics.

In light of this announcement, for example, one has to wonder what the advantage would be of a Rubio Vice Presidency. And what issue do Republicans have to court Latino voters with now? It gives those of Latin persuasion magis causum (as their people say) to show up at the polls, an inevitable issue for the Democrat's Western strategy. And it forces Mitt Romney to either commit the cardinal sin of agreeing with the President, or essentially reverse course on yet another major issue and further alienate a crucial voting bloc...

What's Romney's response, you ask? So far he's punting, using Rubio as human shield, and no doubt there is some serious focus-grouping being conducted by his campaign. He's wisely fighting to stay on his only truly effective election message: The Economy Sucks and It's Obama's Fault.

The question remains, though. Romney's been hammering this singular point, excepting times when he swiped at the President for straying from that message, and Obama has been unable to articulate an effective counter-point. Is he capable of unveiling an economic policy or message that can cut through the clutter and reassure skittish undecideds he can steer the economy back on track?

That, uh... that's the part where I'm worried.

"My Cat Mia"

Martin Bashir is so fucking weird. Did anyone else catch this today?

Week by week, watching his show, I feel like I'm getting a glimpse into the life of an aging British spinster. 

"For more breaking analysis of my qualms with Mitt Romney, here's Mr. Spoots in a smart neckerchief."

Double Standard

I just want to drop a quick note here, just for easy reference. If you encounter a conservative that claims that Barack Obama's actions would have been completely unacceptable under George W. Bush (here's an example), please tell them to shove it. As a personal favor to me.

This is a silly argument for two reasons:

1. They're complaining that nobody is complaining. Berra-esque.
2. Bush was a conservative.

This doesn't indicate a double standard in the media or the public, though, but with the people complaining. They're comparing apples and oranges. Obama is doing really conservative things, and getting a pass for that because he's a progressive.

Bush did the same thing. Big spending, big government? Not conservative ideals. And Bush got a pass because he ninja'd it through with a bunch of batshit conservative initiatives. So, again, the double standard only applies to the big dummies claiming there's a double standard.

Moneyball Fever

I really wanted to review the film Moneyball before it was too late, to the point that I got excited enough to order my tickets in advance. Had the whole day planned out, friends were invited, clothes were clean. Relatively. And then I got sick. While I should warn you I fear for your safety, as the Black Plague has apparently somehow combined with HIV, I feel somehow compelled to fight through my sudden illness and soldier on. If Muhammed cannot go to the mountain, or whatever. I don't have the energy for tropes.

What the hell do they use to flavor NyQuil? Fermented DayQuil?

Anyway. With full intention of buying a ticket at a later date, and eventually the DVD, I decided to simply torrent a copy of the film via a reputable pirating agency. On the downside, I had to wait forever for the movie to download (nearly an hour - seed, people!), and the copy I got was clearly a cam bootleg, but the upswing is that I finished nearly my entire bottle of NyQuil beforehand. I found my experience to be thoroughly enhanced.

Everyone seems to rave about the script, and I can't disagree. Written by Steve Zaillan (also known as "Schindler," most famous for his listing prowess), Aaron "West Wing Social Network" Sorkin, and some other guy, the script is tight, adult, and has just the right mix of wit, humor, heartbreak and melancholy. Never pretentious, but always unique and enthralling, the script broods on impulse, analyzes instincts, and - most importantly - makes a king of the nerd in a land of jocks. Very satisfying.,

The cinematography is subdued but interesting, allowing the journey but never forcing it. The acting is impeccable - Brad Pitt turns out another chameleon performance, and co-star Jonah Hill reminds viewers how likable he was before he lost all that weight. I should have nothing but good things to say about this film. Sadly, though, that's not the case.

How the camera was pointed is fine - great cinematography, whatever - but the actual quality of the picture was awful. Blurry, often out of focus, I found it to be terribly distracting. Similarly, I noticed an incredible usage of what seemed to be a Cloverfield-esque motion blur, with the picture constantly shaking and occasionally disappearing from view entirely. It all had the feel of 90's-era TV footage.

Worse yet, several times during the film, a person can clearly be seen standing between the viewer and the scene - totally unrelated to the context of the film, appearing only as an indistinguishable humanoid shadow, seemign to do nothing more than stand up, shuffle slowly to one side of the screen, disappear for a few minutes, and then do the same things in reverse. I can't fathom what sort of creative desision making lead the filmmakers to okay an idea like that, but I found it utterly distracting.

The audio is muffled and often intelligible, as well. At one point, you can literally overhear a young couple arguing over the dialogue of a crucial scene. I assume it was noise from the set, but even that's disquieting as the disagreement seemed to be over whether an actor in the scene was or wasn't Philip Seymour Hoffman. (It totally was.)

Even that isn't the worst of it, though. At one pont - and I know this sounds strange but I recall it perfectly, as I'd just cracked open my second bottle of cough syrup - my grandmother appeared onscreen and recounted an embarrassing story from my youth. Why the director would include that, and how he got footage of the situation, is truly baffling.

From an artistic standpoint, I can find very few flaws with the film, but I'm afraid the technical problems, and the strange scene involving my grandmother, really limited the film and my immersion therein. 3/5

Prognostication

There are a few things I've been sort of mentioning in conversation with my friends, little predictions about what I foresaw the 2012 battle coming down to. They haven't all been right, but there are some big ones, some that were scoffed at, that I think look more and more plausible as things unfold.

Right now, Herman Cain still seems to be clinging to his role as the current GOP frontrunner, even now eliciting far more excitement than his chief rival, Mitt "I'm Running For President for Gosh Sakes" Romney. But sexual harrassment claims put a politician in a tough spot, and Herman the Hammer sees all problems as nails. 


Prediction: Herman Cain resorts to boosting plausible deniability, with he and his right-wing-talk supporters (ie, Limbaugh, Hannity, etc.) vilifying his accuser. Either she'll be an economic opportunist taking advantage of a powerful man, or she'll be a tawdry slut looking for attention.

Now, let's assume the Republican electorate at some point comes to its senses and decides Herman Cain being both an unelectable idiot and a philanderer is just a little too much for them. They still hate Romney, the only plausible candidate. And these Tea Party types have shown they care more for ideology and personality than substance or logic. I don't think I've ever seen an election begging so hard for third-party candidates.

Prediction: A viable Tea Party candidate, and possibly (though likely to negligible effect on the election) a far-left challenger to Obama.

On that note - WTF, Sarah Palin? I was completely convinced she was running for office, and I'm still not entirely sure she wasn't. The bus tour, the media frenzy, and the knowledge of reality without Palin injecting herself into the news cycle, makes me wonder if she just didn't declare her candidacy. It would make sense to view her actions as the beginnings of a campaign that ran out of oxygen after both Bachmann and Perry were officially in the running.

Prediction: She's too unpredictable, too assured in her nonexistent skills, for me to even guess what she does next, but you can rest assured it will only benefit her. And you can bet she won't fade quietly from the national stage - I'm sure, at the very least, she has kingmaker ambitions.

Finally, another thing that's been on my mind: Healthcare. I predicted nigh two years ago, when my fellow Democrats were convinced the victory was total and we needed to move on, that this would remain a major issue all the way until the election, and very probably beyond. Now the Supreme Court is readying to take the case. My bet is that the law will remain largely unchanged, but either way the impending decision will probably work in President Obama's favor. If they rule against, he can use that to boost his base, framing the election, and its impact on the Judiciary and the Court, as a needed turning-point. If it's decided that the provision in in fact constitutional, then Obama has a clear and solid victory going into the election.

Prediction: Nothing will change except Obama's poll numbers, which should see a bump. Nowhere to go but up, at least, right?

It'll be fun looking back at this after the election. Unless these are all wrong, in which event I'll be rewriting this entirely and still claiming victory. Mutable media!

The Subtle Differences Between #Occupy and the Tea Party

Let's discuss the difference between Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party. This first image, for examle, indicates the general reception of the Tea Party by the powers that be, vis-à-vis their initial demonstrations:

Here we see the line-up for the official FoxNews sponsored Tea Parties.

And here's an image indicative the of the general reception of Occupy protestors:

Here we see an Iraq War veteran who's been shot in the head, reportedly with a
tear gas canister, in the streets of Oakland

The differences are subtle, I know. Maybe video might clarify. Here's a government official lashing out  and attacking the Tea Party:

Contrast that with government officials responding to OWS:

Can you see it? No? Jeez. Look -- the Occupy guys are total hippies! In the first picture, check out that stoner on the left with the giant earrings. What are those made of, tusks? Hey, jackass, go get a job! Tea Party supporters, on the other hand, are more like Glenn Beck. Family men. With jobs.

And those Oakland protesters, what dicks. They were saying some very mean-spirited things, and being quite loud about it. It looks like they may have been obstructing pedestrians, too, which is completely illegal. And rude.

There isn't any video of it (conveniently enough) yet, but the Oakland police said the protesters were throwing rocks, bottles and paint at them. It very much scuffed and otherwise defaced their body armor -- which, I might add, was paid for by taxpayers. I mean, tear gas may be too dangerous for warfare, but common decency has its limits.

Think about that the next time you see one of these "peaceful protests" in the news. Hippy.

Old People Use Subtitles, Young People Exploit

A brilliant new semi-Orwellian ad was released, playing on the American fear of squinty-eyed orientals (a tradition more than a century old) about the stimulus that saved us from another depression, the health-care overhaul the American people have been begging for during the past, ahdunno, couple generations, and the government "takeover" of GM that saved countless jobs around the globe (especially in light of Toyota, the company Republicans wanted to fill the void when GM collapsed, changing it's business model from "autos" to "careening death machines").

The gist is, China will own us, and we'll collapse entirely while somehow surviving to become employees of their government. Or those students watching the lecture - I don't know, there's no logic to the script. But it's well made, I have to give them that. Great lighting, and the special effects were just cheesy enough to excite my inner nerd.

The spot has a strange thesis, considering China made even more sweeping and dramatic moves than we did to keep its economy upright, and now they're doing their best to tamp down their economic success to fight inflation and avoid revaluing their currency. One could make the case that, in light of China's overwhelming success, the watered-down reform (a misguided attempt at bipartisanship) didn't go far enough. But that's not the case made by the conservative group that ran the following ad.

The ad begs for parody, and luckily enough the good folks at Campus Progress Action pounced, pointing out a bit of absurdity, and even throwing in a Christine O'Donnell jab at the end.

Ah, the youth.

(via HuffPost)