Beltmann

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.

You honestly don't see the difference between Obama's point about excessive media coverage and McCain's insinuation about empty celebrity? It's fair to say that Obama has the same degree of celebrity fame that Paris Hilton does, but it's not fair, or accurate, to say that he's famous for the same reasons.

There's nothing wrong with using "Hussein" the same way people once used "Herbert Walker" or "Jefferson" or "Milhous." The problem is, often Obama's opponents use "Hussein" not that way but with a contemptuous sneer, clearly intending to use negative connotations to smear the candidate. It's both transparent and stupid.

Good grief... that was really lame. I know McCain thinks he's being clever and funny with this type of ad, but he's stunningly tone-deaf. Worse, there's nothing funny about a once-honorable politician stooping, over and over again, to such juvenile, condescending, desperate tactics. It's just embarrassing.

I'm willing to believe that the ad in question wasn't intended to be racial. (Most likely, the ad uses those two particular girls not because they are white but because they are America's most recognizable symbols of empty celebrity; they are airheads who just happen to be white girls.) Still, in this age of carefully tested messages and sophisticated, subliminal marketing, it seems foolish to deny the possibility that the McCain campaign was aware of the racial overtones. Accidents are rare in this kind of marketing.

I wasn't crazy about King Corn.

Silver City is basically John Sayles' lampoon of George W. Bush, made a few years back. Overall, it's a mediocre movie--but I'd say it's worth watching just for Huston. When I was a kid, I thought of him mostly as the director of Mr. North. (I liked that movie a lot back in the day.)

One of my favorite Danny Huston performances is in Silver City. Underrated actor, that one.

Wish I had caught this on the big screen...

Yeah, I agree. I think that's similar to what Matt called an anesthetic, and what Huxley called soma. By design or not, the end result is a dangerous kind of complacency.

That chimp (and Garroway) were in the movie Quiz Show--a movie that, among other things, pointedly attacks how money (the bottom line) has warped the national discourse.

The incentive for conditioning the public could be that fluff and commentary is easier, faster, and cheaper to produce than real journalism. If the networks can convince us to prefer the cheapest product, that maximizes profit.

Apparently it's a sequel set 20 years later, when the city decides to revive the RoboCop program. If Aronofsky's on board, then I'm curious.

Good post, as always. My question, though, is how did the public become so disinterested in real journalism? To what degree has the media helped condition us to prefer fluff, propaganda, and opinionated blowhards? To what degree is the media responsible for persuading us to care about trivial matters? I don't know the answers.

Revisited War of the Roses today. Still like it a lot.

As a researcher I love IMDb and use it every day, but the weirdest thing about that article is that people actually care about user rankings at an internet database. Now, my eyebrow might raise if Dark Knight replaces Godfather on the Sight & Sound poll...