Stairway to Heaven
I love movies from the '50's. I love technicolor and Edith Head and the days when all your movie heroes wore a coat & tie. So, as you might guess, I have a very special place in my heart for the new film by writer/director Todd Haynes, Far From Heaven. Intended as a deconstruction of 50's melodramas like Imitation of Life or Peyton Place or pretty much any movie by Douglas Sirk, Far From Heaven follows the travails of a perfect, June Cleaver-esque housewife (Julianne Moore) in 1950's Hartford, CT, who catches her business executive husband (Dennis Quaid) in the arms of another man. And the only person she can talk to about this without being ostracized is her somewhat naive, grossly overqualified, and very Black gardner (Dennis Haysbert, also known as President David Palmer on Fox's 24). Beyond the fact that this is one of the most lush, vibrate, and beautiful stories put on film in quite a while, it's also wrenching as you watch these lives completely disintegrate before your eyes. Oscar-worthy? I"m not sure. But it's DEFINITELY noteworthy. There's a real love for filmmaking that just pervades every aspect of this movie. Check it out.

Bride of the Prophet
This is an outstanding interview from Salon.com with Geraldine Brooks, the author of "Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women". Here, she uses the recent Miss World riots in Nigeria to illustrate how misogynists and demagogues have completely usurped the modern-day interpretation of Islam, and perverted it from the very sensual and romantic original teachings of the prophet Mohammed. Of particular interest to me is her depiction of the growing tend of female religious scholars in Iran, who are in fact rolling back many of the draconian restrictions on women by showing their contradictions with the actual text of the Quran. She also lays alot of the blame for the current vulgarity of Islam in the Middle East squarely on the doorstep of the Saudi royal family. Personally, I will be very interested to see how Iran & Saudi Arabia interact with each other politically and culturally as time passes.

Stargazing in the Motherland
Here's a little something on ancient ruins in Zimbabwe which may actually have been a stellar observatory, like Stonehenge. Not much to say about it, except "kewl".

The Next Big Thing?
Martin O'Malley is the mayor of my home town, Baltimore, MD. But, how many mayors of mid-sized cities receive letters from Bill Clinton, congradulating them for NOT running for Governor of Maryland because "I won't be surprised if you go all the way"? Here's a story ostensibly about O'Malley's potential to be a Democratic savior, but also about Clinton's efforts to help regroup the Democratic Party. I must admit, I used to be a big fan of the Democratic Leadership Council, but their standard-bearers like Joe Lieberman leave alot to be desired when it comes to artists' rights, and, in the face of the last election, their leaders, From & Bruce Reed, say the party should abandon it's liberal ideals because "The harsh reality is that the Democratic base just isn't big enough to win: there are more conservatives than liberals ... more suburbanites than big-city dwellers, more whites than minorities, more non-union workers than union workers". Well, at least they won't be pretending to court my vote anymore.

Crafting A Strange World
John Cassaday is one of my favorite comic artists today. I first discovered him in the pages of Warren Ellis's meta-genre epic, Planetary, but John has also made me a believer again with his work on the post-9/11 Captain America. Here, he talks about his craft and both titles over a few brewskies.

Buried Alive
Remember the "dirty bomber" from last summer? Well, that man was an American citizen that the government suspects of being a member of Al Qaeda. They promptly declared him an enemy combatant (i.e. someone who is not entitled to due process under the law), and have been holding him a Navy brig ever since. This article shows that, nearly 6 months after he was detained, the government is just now giving him access to his lawyers. I have yet to see what evidence they have that justifies stripping this man of his rights as a citizen. This, and the recent CIA bombing of suspected Al Qaeda agents in Africa is setting a really, really frightening trend, where the government is just going after people with out a shred of justification to the public. Don't sleep on this.

GET YOUR WAR ON!!!
And, now, for the lighter side of American hegemony and genocide, here's a charming little comic strip to help you keep the important things in mind. Yes, it's excessive, but boy, does it tickle my funny bone.

Sun Kings
Here's an interview that Patrick Goldstein of the L.A. Times conducted with James Cameron and Steven Soderbergh, the producer and director, respectively, of the film Solaris, starring George Clooney.

Favorite quote, from the King of the World himself: "Hollywood is desperate to be loved, and that desperation to be loved causes them to follow you out of the movie theater and down the hall and put a synopsis of the plot in your pocket. It's pathetic."

Now, as far as the movie itself goes, let me just say this: If you go to movies for nothing more than eye-candy and escapist entertainment that will not challenge you or your opinions of the world and yourself, Solaris is definitely not the movie for you. If, on the other hand, you are excited by stories that contemplate the very nature of love, life, reality, and God, I don't know that I can give a much stronger recommendation than this film. Beyond the fact that it's beautifully shot and performed with deep intensity, it really begs the question: just how real are the people in our lives? And, in the end, does it really matter? Do yourself a favor and see it on the big screen before it disappears.

"Feelin' Like A Space Brain"
This article from SPACE.com talks about the statistical and evolutionary probabilities necessary to spawn so-called "intelligent" life (i.e. smart enough to build a radio telescope that could be used to communicate with other entities) on another planet. Personally, I'm constantly amazed by the arrogance of certain scientists to actually assume that, in the entire universe, human beings are the only beings capable of coherent thought. I suppose it supports some more creationist-leaning theories on outer-space, but it just doesn't seem logical. The factors that are necessary for life, relative to the sheer number of stars and planets out there would seem to make it inevitable.

The Shadow King

The Shadow King
Usually, CNN contributer Mark Shields is a little too shrilled for my tastes, but I think he hits it right on the money on the absurdity of Henry Kissinger leading the independent investigation of government screw-ups pretaining to 9/11/01. Maureen Dowd of the New York Times gives a slightly more measured critique of Kissinger, but it's hard to speak softly of the man. I mean, this is the guy who advocated that the President of the United States should maintain it's own, secret intelligence unit to discredit the White House's political opponents. These so-called "Plumbers", like G. Gordon Liddy and E. Howard Hunt, were the gentlemen responsible for the Watergate affair. And let's not even get into Christopher Hitchens' fairly convincing case that Kissinger should be indicted for war crimes in the way that he and Nixon sabotaged LBJ's peace negotiations with the North Vietnamese just so they could get elected. Does this man REALLY have the interests of the American people in his heart?

Whither the Democrats?
Here's an article from the Village Voice that contends that the Democratic Party has been in ideological retreat since the 1968 Convention, where the growing progressive, counter-culture movement, led by its principled but, ultimately flawed standard-bearer, Senator Eugene McCarthy, was crushed, literally, by the Powers That Be.
Coincidentally, this occurred a few months after Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy were both assassinated by lone crazy gunmen.
The author also suggests that, while the GOP has become the party of "Big Ideas", those ideas are nothing more than an opiate for the masses, while they continue to do the dirty work of the previously mentioned Powers That Be.

The Party of Apathy
Here's a fantastic article from The Atlantic monthly, that does a demographic breakdown of the 120 million people in this country (i.e. the majority of the population) who do not vote, and how the right political party can take steps to intice them to the booths. Short version: they don't vote because they're young, overworked, and feel no connection to or stake in society. Of particular note is a book mentioned in the article, The Stakeholder Society, that proposes a new Homestead Act that would give every American citizen an $80,000 loan out of the Federal coffers when they turn 21.

"You wouldn't like me when I'm angry...."
Here's an interview with Bruce Jones, the current writer for The Incredible Hulk comic book, which has become a much darker, more paranoid title under his stewardship. Here, he ties the Hulk's current popularity to some broader themes about the American people and how we are beginning to see ourselves in a post 9/11/01 world.

Inching Towards the Supreme Computer
Here's an article from The New Scientist on how scientists have just successfully completed the first baby steps towards constructing a quantum computer. Just what is a quantum computer and why should you, the non-geeks, care? Well, consider this example: Theoretically speaking, if you had a multiplication table that went from 0 to 1024 on both dimensions, it would take a traditional computer over a million calculations to find all the numbers in the table. A quantum computer could find all those numbers with exactly 1 calculation. Get the picture?

New Strings Attached for the 3rd World
In a White House press briefing yesterday, Ari Fleischer announced the creation of the Millenium Challenge Corporation, a new government agency to administer the billions of additional funds that the Bush administration is now ear-marking for developing countries. The catch, of course, is that these countries are now going to compete for the money based on a score card that includes things like cleaning up corruption, commitment to democracy, "sound fiscal policy", etc.
So, there are several odd things about this: Why a new agency, when there is already one in existence that does this (the U.S. Agency for International Development)? And since when are government agencies called "corporations"? If none of the countries in a given year meet the criteria established by the corporation, what happens to the aid money ear-marked for that year? And, even more disturbing, why did I have to go to some off-brand news agency like this to get any kind of an in-depth article (not even the BBC covered this)? On the flip side, here's an editorial that suggests that, on the whole, this is a step in the right direction for the U.S. I'll remain cautiously optimistic.

Shades and Tones
Here's a very interesting article from The Atlantic, about the status, effect, and potential future of Black/White interracial marriage. My general, spur of the moment thought, is that the author (like most advocates of interracial dating) haven't fully processed the psychological and sociological impact of centuries of White men raping Black women and how interracial dating and the so-called "beauty standard" wreaks havoc on the minds, souls, and self-esteem of so many Black women, but feel free to come to your own conclusions while you're waiting on me...

Stranger Fruit
Here's a Washington Post article about an FBI report that indicates that hate crimes against people of Arabic descent increased 1500% in 2001. I think it speaks for itself.

Bulletproof Flag
First, kudos go to my good friend "Pocho Joe" Hernandez-Kolski, from "The Bomb-itty of Errors" for bringing this to my attention. Here's a rare op-ed piece from Kenneth Turan, film critic for the L.A. Times, where he contends that American movies have convinced us that America cannot be defeated in warfare, in much the same way that German films of the 1930's convinced the citizens of that country of their own invincibility. Heavy stuff.

"There Is No Spoon"
Time to be a fanboy for a second. No news here. Just this rediculously kewl one-sheet of fellow Baltimore native Jada Pinkett Smith, ready for action in The Matrix Reloaded. Check out the film's official website for more equally snazzy single-character posters.

A General for the Democrats?
So, it should surprise no one out there that I'm pretty much a peacenik. And part and parcel of being a dove is an inherent mistrust of all-things military. As a result, I never quite got why everyone assumed that generals would make good presidents. It's not like they can get voted out of office by their troops if they screw up. Having said all that, I have been impressed with the statesmanship that Colin Powell seems to bring to the job. So, the idea of a respected military guy running for president as a Democrat is eye-catching to say the least. I've agreed alot with what retired General Wesley Clark has had to say about US foreign policy, so he'd definitely be a contender if he ran as a Demo. Now, if only he could do something about that whole "domestic economy in ruins" thing.