Beltmann

Thought I would point out that the video for "Water Falls," by our very own Kalle Mattson, has been receiving the Interwebs viral treatment. For instance, "Water Falls" was mentioned at the popular blog The Dish. The city of San Francisco receives a love letter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zinPNDFzj_A&feature=player_embedded

Thank you for sharing such a terrific article! I very much miss St. G's vibrant presence.

I saw the short at the time, but barely remember it.

I haven't seen The Darjeeling Limited since theaters, but at the time I felt it was one of Anderson's least accomplished efforts. Still, I've been meaning to revisit it. If there's one thing I've learned over a lifetime of writing about movies, it's that first impressions can't always be trusted.

I love that shirt. I have literally worn mine out.

If this was an effective strategy, you would have different organizations working from the same list of registered voters. The likely outcome would not be a swayed election, but a lot of fraudulent voters showing up trying to vote under the name of someone who (oops) was already used by another fraudulent voter. Consider my earlier example of my neighbor who moved. Sure, I could show up and vote under his name. But what if my other neighbor tried the same thing, and beat me to it? Now I'm in serious trouble. My guess? If attempted on a massive scale, these types of strategies would end

I've imagined different scenarios about how I could fake a vote. For example, my neighbor recently moved. I know he's still on my district's rolls, but won't be voting in my district. I could easily show up and claim to be him, and then later show up for my own vote. Why don't I do this? Because it's wrong, yes, but also because it's risky--it doesn't pass the cost-benefit test. Why would I risk being caught doing such a thing when that one vote isn't going to change the outcome? It's paranoid to think that these kinds of fraud are happening en masse. Yes, it's possible. But a far mor

There is no question that Anderson has made a conscious decision to work within a more stylized, heightened framework, and I don't begrudge that choice, especially since it has yielded several "fantastic fables," as you said. Anderson exists as one of the most vibrant voices in American cinema. I know what you mean about using artificiality to express human truths; as someone who teaches poetry for a living, I certainly respond to that strain in Anderson's work, and most likely that's what I like best about visiting Andersonville as it stands today. I especially don't want to overstate my

Tyrannosaur tells us that Paddy Considine can direct, too. It's a strong debut (probably one of the ten best British films of 2011).

I enjoyed Moonrise Kingdom very, very much. However, it continues Anderson's recent tendency to indulge his signature style without inhibition, which is both its joy and its limitation. Each new film feels more stylized, more quirky, and more cartoonish than the last (not for nothing is Anderson's best recent film an actual cartoon), and lately his films always risk vanishing into Andersonville. That really neat town is very consistent with a priceless internal logic, and I cherish my visits to that town. They do, indeed, cast a spell. Still, I suspect Anderson the artist should be greate

My view is that our elections must have integrity. Voter fraud interferes with that integrity, and therefore serious steps must be taken to prevent fraud (that includes concerns with computerized ballot counts, which is a major topic for another time). At the same time, voter suppression also interferes with that integrity. How can we have trust in our elections if, due to various barriers, eligible voters are systematically denied the opportunity to participate? The current crop of tighter voter ID laws and the reckless purging of voter rolls seem to be trading one evil (voter fraud) for a m

Not a bad list (of the 36 I've seen, I'd recommend the vast majority), but I'm not sure it's comprised of truly overlooked fare. Then again, Entertainment Weekly's working definition of "obscure" has always meant "at the fringes of the mainstream." Nothing wrong with that, of course; that particular string of cinema still deserves attention, and their target readership doesn't want to hear about, say, an abstract experiment by Stan Brakhage.

I had forgotten about that... thanks for the reminder! Downloaded today.

Perfect!

I revisited Manhattan over Christmas and also thought that it held up surprisingly well. I think I enjoyed it more than ever.

Whether they have remained strictly online or spilled over into real life, the many friendships that I have made here at VC remain important facts in my life. I don't think these friendships are essential to my interest in Wilco, but they definitely enhance that interest!

Sounds like high praise!

My 7-year-old and 4-year-old were riveted.

Indeed.

My instinct was to forget the letter--after all, these are heated times--but my wife decided to inform the police, just in case a paper trail was needed. Turns out that at least five other neighbors had already reported receiving the letter, and police are investigating it as a crime. The story also featured on at least two Milwaukee TV news stations.

I don't know. Barrett is very likable and everyone agrees that he's a nice, sincere guy. But he ran a lackluster campaign in 2010, and again seemed unable to find his message in 2012, other than "I'm not Scott Walker." Unfortunately, he was definitely the strongest Democrat in the primary (I supported him from the start).

On the point of the new culture of demonization and intimidation in Wisconsin, my wife and I received the above letter in our newspaper box today (along with a full-page poem about "Unionistas"). My first instinct is to dismiss it as just a one-off by a wingnut, but this kind of thing has become extremely common over the last year and a half. You wouldn't believe the stuff happening between neighbors and within families. We have a long list of first-hand experiences. The letter writer, of course, is self-evidently a childish and unserious person. (The irony is that this person lacked the

Thanks, Tweedling. I know that you mean it, and I appreciate it.

My wife and I are both teachers in Wisconsin. When you factor in everything--changes in salary schedules, changes in health insurance and coverage, changes in retirement--our household income dipped about $12,000. Meanwhile, most Wisconsinites received a tax break. That's how Walker defines "shared sacrifice." Walker has been very successful in cherry-picking and distorting facts in order to demonize teachers, labeling them as the "haves" pitted against the "have-nots," even though, when total compensation is considered, teachers were already making less than their private-sector counterp

There's nothing "difficult" or courageous about a decision to ram through radical laws simply because you control both houses of the legislature. In fact, that's the definition of taking the easy route. Finding common ground, finding ways to unify rather than divide, finding ways to not rip apart a state--that's managing. What he did was conquer and vilify not based on facts but on political calculation; scapegoating is not leadership. To answer the question about the WI economy... there are different measures, but even the most optimistic still shows WI lagging behind nearly every state