Beltmann

The premise--Moore wants to ban the Fourth of July, but is then visited by three ghosts who show him what's great about America--could be a good starting point for biting satire, but it looks like the movie aims instead for the usual obvious, tired, broad slapstick. Is every joke in the movie about getting hit in the head? (Come to think of it, that was the same philosophy that made Zucker's Scary Movie 4 so unbearable.)

Has anyone seen the trailer for David Zucker's An American Carol? Normally I'd be plenty interested in a ZAZ-style spoof of the far-left, but this trailer doesn't offer much hope. The trailer makes the movie look like another witless parody in the vein of Epic Movie--Michael Moore is really fat! That's hysterical!!--and in the process makes the far-right look downright buffoonish, not to mention tone-deaf. The target audience appears to be 11-year-old boys, which begs the question: How many 11-year-old boys are longing for a parody of leftist politics? Who is this movie for?

Exactly. I felt a similar way this afternoon when I watched In Search of a Midnight Kiss. It was okay, but it reminded me of a Richard Linklater film, just not as good. (Nice soundtrack, though, filled with Okkervil River and Shearwater.)

I bought that mostly for the baseball, partially for McCaughey. I love that Ted Williams song!

Riviera - At the End of the American Century. Haven't listened to this for some time... it's still really good.

I don't like Accelerate either, but what's more dishonest--this record, or a random listener somewhere pretending he knows, beyond doubt, exactly what the band's motivations and ambitions were when recording this record?

Excellent post.

In the movie, that's not the body part that usually comes off. The movie also dramatizes one of my greatest personal fears, which is

Come here often?

By using the myth of vagina dentata as a metaphor for teenage sexual awakening, Teeth plays like a deadpan horror-comedy about repression, female vulnerabilities, and male fears, among other things. The final third loses the way, but overall I laughed--and cringed--a lot. The visit to the gynecologist is priceless.

I'd like to have an affair, but I just don't have the time nor the energy.

Key word.

Future ambitions, such as a cabinet position, might need protecting.

You know what might provoke road rage in me? That damn Spiritualized album.

Same here. I went to Amazon too late. Boy, sure wish I knew somebody who could help me out...

"Math geek"

When I wear tube socks, I only need one.

"Change You Can Spit-Take To"

It might not be the "best" album I've heard in 2008, but I've probably listened to the Vampire Weekend album more than any other album this year.

Obviously some liberals choose to believe in a cartoon version of McCain; I'm not sure how that relates to my original statement. (I don't think I implied that cartoonish reductions only happen on one side of the spectrum. I think calling McCain "McLame" is just as juvenile and stupid as calling Obama "Messiah." It's politics for sixth graders.) Are you suggesting that the existence of a cartoon version of McCain somehow justifies mischaracterizations of Obama? Two wrongs make a right (wing)?

I'm an Obama supporter, but I'm not expecting a tidal wave of change. I'm just hopeful that he'll be a decent president.

Why resort to extreme caricatures to make a point? Those kind of exaggerated overstatements always undermine the argument. That said, I'm told that the blood of poor blacks goes very well with a pound of Jewish flesh.

Well, I guess you can choose to believe in the vacuous cartoon Obama that's playing in your head--that Obama, although fictional, might be worthy of your dismissive derision--but that Obama isn't the one running for president back here in reality. The real-life Obama is no more an empty celebrity than he is a Messiah. Why resort to extreme caricatures to make a point? Those kind of exaggerated overstatements always undermine the argument.