Documenting My Audacity

I saw Kick Ass the other day.  Going into it, I was fairly familiar with Roger Ebert and other frumpy old men’s criticism of the film, which is that the hyper-violence is too much.  Also, they were pissed that most of the killing came at the knives and guns of the 11 year old Hit Girl, played by 13 year old Chloe Grace Moretz.  I think these guys missed the point totally, but I also don’t know if I think this film is the greatest thing ever made.

To me, this film is about the idiocy of the idea of a super hero.  If you want, it is a critique of Nietzsche.  The main character, Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), is pissed that there aren’t any real super heroes in the world, and sets out to become one.  His first attempt fails awfully.  After getting beat up badly, he has surgery, and his nerve endings are screwed up so that he cannot feel pain.  At this point, I was pissed.  I had not read the comic Kick Ass was based upon, but I thought this would be a satire of the super hero from the start, yet here we were at the classic inciting incident of Freytag’s pyramid that occurs in every super hero story.  I thought Kick Ass would become the super hero he was destined to be, and fight crime like a real kick ass.  I was pleasantly surprised, however, when Kick Ass still sucked at being a super hero.  In his subsequent attempts at being a Super Hero, he sucked just as hard.

Meanwhile, another plot takes place with a considerably darker tone.  The Macready family–father Damon (Nicolas Cage) and daughter Mindy (Moretz)–show us another possibility of how the attempt for real people to become super heroes ends.  Damon Macready essentially brain washes his daughter into becoming a killing machine while he acts out his fantasy of killing the man who unjustly put him into jail.  What occurs in their first scene can only be described as child abuse–Damon shoots Mindy while she wears a bullet proof vest in order to show her what getting shot feels like.  Their plot is sad–Mindy kills without remorse, while the father only is capable of showing love through Mindy’s passion for violence.  While a lot of people who saw this film point to this story as entertaining, in my opinion, it is very dark and very sad.

Which is not to say that it is sickening or detestable, as the frumpy old men I linked above say.  This film, for most of its duration, is a satire on super heroes–showing first how dangerous and how sinister the fantasy can be.  This is what the film satires.  However, the film falls apart at the end.  In the final battle, the realism the film was based in disappears.  People are flying around with jetpacks, getting shot with bazookas, and avoiding entire clips of fully automatic weapons.  For some reason, the film lost its purpose right at the end, and that is why I say this film is not all it could have  been.

Honestly, I wanted to like this film a lot.  Although 90% of it accomplishes what it sets out to do, the final 10% ruins the theme, and in so doing, reduces what this film could have been.  This film could have been this year’s version of Tropic Thunder–a wildly entertaining film on top of much darker themes, but Kick Ass falls short of that.

The film is still good, though.  I encourage you to see it.

Kick Ass: 7/10

I’ve been listening to a lot of newer albums recently.

Broken Bells

Broken Bells is a collaboration between Brian Burton (DJ Danger Mouse) and James Mercer (front man of The Shins).  This album is awesome–who would have put these two together?  I have no idea, but the end result is better than anything that The Shins ever put together (yeah, better than Chutes Too Narrow), and it is as good as Gnarles Barkley.  You owe yourself to check this disc out.  The only draw back?  Its really short.   This album is over and done with in a little more than half an hour.

8.5/10

Gorillaz – Plastic Beach

You would be hard pressed to find somebody who doesn’t at least appreciate the Gorillaz.  From that song Clint Eastwood to that other song Dirty Harry, plus their weird videos–this band is insane but people seem to dig it.  What started as the side project from that guy from Blur has turned into a CGI-fueled phenomenon.  This album isn’t quite as awesome as their past couple, but Snoop Dogg raps on it and that is pretty legit.  Enjoyable, but not the best.

7.5/10

Johnny Cash – American VI: Ain’t No Grave

This is supposedly the final album that will be released of original Johnny Cash cuts.  It is impossible to over state how incredible Rick Rubin has been in reinvigorating and revitalizing Johnny Cash’s last years.  This album is not the greatest of the American cuts (that would be American IV), but  it’s good.  It includes the requisite covers of songs sung in a way only Johnny Cash can sing them, and the haunting, sad sound only the voice of a dying man can create.  Also, its the last Johnny Cash album ever.  So we should savor it and enjoy it while it is here.  Especially the title track, because it is awesome.

7/10

Jimi Hendrix – Valleys of Neptune

Keeping with the posthumous theme, a new album of previously unreleased Jimi Hendrix cuts has been released.  I didn’t know what to think when I first heard about this album, but it is awesome.  The title track is awesome, and would have been a sure fire classic if it had been released before Hendrix’s death.  But my favorite cut from the album is a cover of Eric Clapton’s “Sunshine of Your Love,” which takes Clapton’s recognizable hook and turns it into a psychedelic riff unlike anything Clapton would ever have thought of, and which only Jimi could have played.  Listen to it.

8/10

Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More

This album is a little older, having been released in October, but it wasn’t received with the fanfare of the above albums.  However, this British band’s first disc is gaining steam on this side of the Atlantic.  This album is great.  Their sound is decidedly folk, but includes strange orchestral backings in a lot of songs which build the songs to epic levels.  The lyrics sound genuine, but are not over done.  The album never forgets that its strength is in the simplicity of its melody, no matter how many ornamentations are added.  If you check out one album from the list I have here, check this one out.  If you want to see how great this album is, click here.  That is an awesome song.

9.5/10

The White Stripes- Under the Great White Northern Lights

Very few bands are as dividing as the White Stripes.  They are beloved by many fans, but they are hated by a lot of other people.  Personally, I really like them.  I think Jack White is kind of full of himself, but I am pretty full of myself, so that is something I can get over.  I think the people who don’t like The White Stripes heavily discount how powerful hooks can be in albums.  This is a live album, and apparently, The White Stripes are epic good live.  I really, really enjoy this album.  It was released with a documentary film which I have not seen, but the album is good enough for me.  It’s full of the best of The White Stripes songs played with a crazy energy that only a live album can capture.  It’s one of my favorite live albums.

9/10

I just got my hands on the new Flobots CD, but have only listened to it once.  I may write something up about it too, later.

I saw the new Alice in Wonderland film today.  The one directed by Tim Burton.  This one:

The movie is sitting at 54% on RottenTomatoes.com, the review aggregator that I find incredible useful.  This qualifies it as “Rotten,” but I disagree.  I liked the film a lot.

The complaints about the movie seem to have merit at first glance: it sacrifices Lewis Carroll’s books to develop a Tim Burton film, the scenery/mis-en-scene trumps the plot, and the characters are not fully developed.  I would say many of them are legitimate, but at the same time, I think a lot of the folks who dislike the movie are misinterpreting it.

I read Lewis Carroll’s original fiction of Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass for the first time at age 16.  At that point in my adolescence, it had become all the rage to do kind of strange things in the name of originality.  Reading this  book fit right in, because it was so strange:

Honestly, I don’t really know how Walt Disney managed to make the first Alice in Wonderland:

The fiction which both of these films are based on is entirely whimsical and, in my opinion, not fit for making any sort of plot-based literary criticism.  The book came out of crazy stories which the author told to a (presumably) very strange kid.  When I was very young, the things which would have kept my attention were not the character arcs or internal conflict within the protagonist, or the motivation of the antagonist–it was the crazy stuff that went down.  I would have loved for somebody to have told me a story about a caterpillar who smoked a hookah, or a cat which could disappear!

So, what Burton had to work with as far as original fiction was a mythology.  A world in which cats disappeared, and hatters and hares drank tea together, where queens of cards cut off people’s heads, and where rabbits carried pocket watches and were always late.  If Carroll’s books had a purpose, it was to showcase the incredible ability of human imagination, and the power of the impossible.  So Burton built on that.  Of course he didn’t stay true to Carroll’s fiction–that could not work as a film.  Burton utilizes Carroll’s imaginative world and developed a plot which he used to prove Carroll’s point in his own way.

The film Burton leaves us with is of course not perfect.  It’s not even close.  I would give it 3 stars, or a 7/10.  The script is a bit contrite and childish, in a way which is not approachable for adults (unlike, say, Where the Wild Things Are).  The characters are a bit stunted, probably because a few are forced into the film to give each of Carroll’s incredible characters a chance to shine on screen.  And the film is presented in 3-D for really no reason (I didn’t even see the 3-D version).   I am not trying to say that this film is a masterpiece, or one of Tim Burton’s achievements, or even the best movie out right now (or even a movie you will remember in 5 years).  But what we do have is a movie worth going to see.

Or at least, I liked it.

Alice In Wonderland: 7/10

It’s been a long while since I updated the ole blog, but I suppose now is as good a time as ever to start writing again.  I think it’ll take a different path this time, though.   I am busy working on a master’s degree in public policy, so when I write about politics/policy, it will be from a more philosophical/technical side than strictly partisan writing.  Not only is that the smart thing to do for my future, its how I am feeling more and more often.

Anyways, I’ll also probably write more about sports/film/spirituality than I have in the past also.

So, I guess you should get ready to be amazed by my incredible writing skills again.  Because I’m back!

A while ago I tweeted about 5 times in 5 minutes about my experience getting a bike parking sticker from Parking and Transportation Services at the University of Kentucky.  The process of getting the  pass wasn’t so bad (besides being forced to pay all my outstanding parking tickets before they’d let me buy a pass), but the underlying theory of bicycle registration has a whole bunch of people uneasy, and unbeknownst to many cyclists at UK, opposed to some of their greatest advocates.

News about the bicycle registration program broke last Spring in the Kernel, and immediately caused a huge firestorm.   The step of registration had apparently been in the works for a long time, and had the backing of Shane Tedder and Taylor Shelton, major players in all things involving sustainability at UK (Shane even founded Wildcat Wheels, the on-campus bike shop at UK).  However, the step seemed like a powerplay by many of the average bikers at UK–as was witnessed in letters the the Kernel’s editor, comments on their website, and by organizing on facebook, as well as casual conversations I’ve had with many of my biker friends.

Taylor and Shane, as far as I can tell, are the two people who ride bicycles who support the registration program.   The vehement opposition obviously is a function of lots of different feelings–mistrust of PTS because of their autocratic behaviors involving car parking at UK, the initial news that the registration would include a fee, or anger at the aestetic price which placing an unattractive barcode on one’s seat post included.  There is a stereotype of bicycle riders as more liberal and less trusting of authority.  If that stereotype is grounded in truth (which I believe it to be), that quickly could translate to opposition to this plan.

I understand the case for registration as laid out by Shane and Taylor.  As far as I understand it, the case is that registration acts as a theft deterrent (via the barcode on the seatpost), PTS requiring registration legitimizes bicycling as a transportation choice, and initially, the funds recouped would have been used for improvements in bicycle infrastructure.   However, I have my doubt about all of these points.  First, the sticker could be removed with by anybody with a little goo-gone and about 10 minutes.  No more theft deterrent.  Second, the law already legitimizes bicycling as a transportation choice.  Finally, the fee was removed immediately after the plan was announced, meaning that we will recoup no funds for infrastructure improvement.

Honestly, PTS did what they should have done in order to ensure this plan had the backing of the bicycle community–they went to all the right people to ensure the plan would be accepted by the bicycling masses at UK.  However, the plan is, as far as I can tell, pretty useless.  The bike racks at UK are very rarely full, and do not merit the registration program in terms of space requirements.  The only end I see for this plan is PTS using bikes to generate funds.  If the plan had included a method of raising funds, I might have supported it, but I cannot see any end-game I can see from bicycle registration is a reduction of bicyclists at UK.  While I hope that is not the case, I feel that it will be.

This puts me in a pretty awkward position.  I don’t think I’ve ever opposed Shane or Taylor in any reform effort on UK’s campus ever.  However, I side with the great majority of bicyclists at UK and oppose this change.  I guess this goes to show you that you never agree with everyone all the time.

But nothing seems to get me excited anymore.

I said I would write more earlier this summer, and up to this point I have been nothing but an utter failure in that regard.  I will try to make it up to all of you with a post today.

Almost always, I am proud to be an American.  The history of our great history is not without its blemishes, but no country on Earth has a spotless record.  However, every once in a while something happens in the United States which makes me hang my head.  This occurred when I heard about Guantanamo Bay prison, and what was happening there.  America’s sins often happen because of an overzealous desire for our way of life–for example, supporting dictatorships in South America in order to defeat communism.  However, Guantanamo Bay occurred DESPITE of our belief in our way of life.  One of the items which has stuck with me since I read it is this article from the Washington Post.  Read the whole thing if you want to, but the long and the short of it in my words is this: Bush’s policies with regards to the detainees at Guantanamo were more focused on interrogation rather than prosecution.  The Executive Branch owns no complete case files on these detainees, and cared little for their legal status.  The only thing which they cared about was the information which many of them didn’t even posess.  Once they couldn’t find any more information, they didn’t care any more.  In other words, my country showed nothing but disdain for the legal procedures so important to our founders–something I find absolutely awful.

I was so relieved when President Obama, back when he was still candidate Obama, promised to close Guantanamo Bay.  However, that promise has run into a severe snafu.  Republicans (with key support from conservative Democrats) in Congress shut down an attempt to close the prison, citing an incomplete plan for housing the detainees in the United States.  A recent Pew research poll states that less than half of Americans want to see the Prison shut down within a year.   How shameful.  This number was once higher–and I am not blind enough to say it is not because of some mishandling of the issue by Barack Obama’s administration, but I still am a little ashamed of my fellow countrymen for not believing more in the due process upon which this country was founded.

Finals are over, my diploma should be in the mail, and its warm outside.  Which can mean only one thing: time to book up ole DMA, where this summer I will be dispatching all the things that cross my mind with no regards or cares about anything else.  Get ready for insanity, if you want to.

I got a job this summer, because I have to pay for graduate school.  Apparently, the downturn in the economy means that there exists much less money for scholarships than in previous years.  Which kind of sucks, but thats okay.  So I’m waiting tables and making money to pay the Martin School at the University of Kentucky about $7000.  Excellent.

The most fun thing I’m going to be doing this summer, however, will be the Robert Kahne Film Festival.  I’m going to be watching one movie every day this summer.  Each of these movies shall be marked by the fact that I have not seen them, and am embarassed to say that I have not seen them.  Today starts with a Double Feature:  The Big Lewbowski and The Life Aquatic.

That’s all for now, probably more later.

The church I attend, Calvary Baptist in Lexington, participates in this program for homeless men in Lexington called Room in the Inn, which rotates between different churches each day of the week and provides shelter for about 15 men a night.  This program’s existence is necessary because of the lack of any sort of social safety net for homeless men in this city.  At any rate, tonight the College Ministry at my church set up and hosted the men for the night.  After working to put together all the mattresses and making the coffee and preparing the food and whatnot, we had a chance to sit down and talk to these guys.

I ended up eating dinner with three guys, all of whom were exceedingly friendly and nice to me.  I heard a little of their stories, and learned that one of the guys with whom I ate played basketball for Austin Peay for 4 years in the 1970s and has played basketball in Madison Square Garden and once played in the NCAA tournament.  At any rate, what I learned tonight was that the slumping economy sucks for everybody.

I don’t know why, but for some reason I thought the crappy economy wouldn’t have too much of an effect on homeless people.  I guess I thought that since they didn’t really have much to lose, they couldn’t be hit too hard.  However, I forgot one key thing–the thing which sustains almost every homeless person I have ever met is the idea of Hope.  Hope is key in homeless life because it presents the idea that they will someday get a job, or someday find an apartment they can afford, or someday be able to sustain themselves without having to depend on the handouts of others.  This hope has been badly hit by this economy.  Don’t get me wrong–these guys were nothing if not cheerful.  They loved talking about sports, history, and the places they had been.  However, they seemed downtrodden.  One man had just gotten a job and was in the process of looking for an apartment when he was laid off after less than a month on the job.  One of the guys we talked with had just recently become homeless after losing his job and was looking for work as a groundskeeper.

Life is rough for everybody–us included.  However, I think its worth our time to take a step back and realize it could be a lot worse.  Economically speaking, it doesn’t get too much worse than what I saw with these guys tonight.  However, the effect on their disposition, while existant, pales in comparison to what I’ve seen out of some people.  I learned a lot from the guys I talked to today.  I hope that in my life, I can learn to appreciate what I have.  Because really, I’ve got a lot for which to be thankful.

So today was the Super Bowl and everything.  The game was really exciting, which is good (a good development in recent years: good Super Bowls).  I was rooting for the Cardinals, mostly because I hate every team in the AFC North except the Bengals (which is a sad, sad life).

Anyway, the thing which has been foremost in my mind politically in recent days has been the stimulus package put together by The President (Barack Obama….glory).   In the early days when this thing was being put together, President Obama made a plea for bi-partisanship.  This set off a small firestorm amongst some of my more strident friends and a few of the more pragmatic writers whom I read.  Their beef: they felt that the President should have made an attempt to pass the “best bill possible” without attempting to compromise in any way.

Honestly, they have quite a point.  Elections have consequences, and the American people elected the Democratic Party to lead it out of the wilderness in which it finds itself.  However, I think it is worth noting that one of the main reasons which the American people elected the Democrats was because of our promise to seek bipartisanship and and inclusive program.

The attempt at bi-partisanship did not go very far.  John McCain (who during the campaign said he didn’t know anything about the economy anyway) and John Boehner complained bitterly about the stimulus plan to the press.  During a meeting with the President, some Republican’s twittered their chagrin.  When the rubber met the road, in the House, 0 Republicans voted with the President.  So disheartening.  Some attempts were made to assist them–stripping out family planning for the poor, for example.  Some of the more progressive provisions which I had hoped to see didn’t come to fruition (see stuff from Rep. DeFazio from Oregon for good examples).

The bill still passed, even without any Republican support.  This will probably happen often in the House.  Now, the stimulus package awaits the Senate, where a totally different political game shall be played.  The Senate has 59 Democrats (or will, once Al Franken is seated).  Therefore, one more vote is needed to suppress a filibuster.  We’ll see if that happens.  Hopefully, all the Democrats will be whipped correctly.  Ben Nelson (D-NE) has already expressed that he’s not so sure if he wants to vote for it.  I suspect it will pass without too much hassle.

Which, if you were still wondering, I consider a good thing.  Paul Krugman (who just won the Nobel Prize) articulates pretty effectively why in this video, but if you don’t want to sit through this, here is a quick synopsis for you: monetary policy is the way to go to stimulate the economy, but we’ve run out of policy options since interest rates are mostly zero.  Fiscal policy is our only weapon left, and we have to come out swinging.  So we need a huge stimulus package.   I would have like to have seen more internal investment, but whatever.  It’s pretty good.  I just hope it works.