Two Cents Worth

Still don't have much important to say. Congratulations Philadelphia... took em three days to win the last one, but they did it. Wish it had gone 6 or 7 but, hey...

Anything else? I suppose there are some momentous events on the horizon - things look good for the republic, with Obama well in the lead - but until the votes are counted and the results are in, you can never rest easy. But probably not much point in panicking. It has been a strange capaign, geting stranger - look at this rant, quoted by Belle Waring - what on earth is that guy talking about?

I mention this because I firmly believe Barack Obama absolutely loathes my kind. This man will not be content to win the presidency. He will spend his waking hours thereafter not pursuing the legitimate goals of state, but punishing those who would dare to oppose him. The man is devoid of humility, or any sense of humor. He cannot humbly accept his incredibly lucky break in the crapshoot of American politics. The absolute lack of any pushback or intercessions on the part of the journalist class has rendered him peckish and intolerant of any dissention, if indeed he was not born that way.

What is that? that makes no sense - which Barack Obama is that? not the one running for president - unless he's running some very different ads out in the "red" states. How did the campaign against him become such a complete fantasy world? Socialism and terrorism and anti-semitism and - witchcraft? sweet jesus... It's a strange thing. Maybe I see too much of it, reading blogs - there's not so much nuttiness in the papers; I don't watch TV, though there seem to be a fair number of imbeciles playing dumb on TV. I don't know. The voters, over all, seem to be a bit more sensible.

Okay: this is a Summing Up post, This Week on the Blogs, not just politics. So, whadda we got?

David Bordwell writing about - oh noes! - politics - political "Narratives". A very rich vein....

Meanwhile, one of our other great critics atones for his sins - Roger Ebert follows up that already infamous 8 minute review with a group of ethical ground rules. They do not, even after the kerfuffle, include "watch the whole movie" - they do, however, provide the Rog with opportunity for vengeance - taking shots at Ben Lyons, his television "replacement" - though without naming names. Ah yes....

I have to say: Ebert's original crime - watching 8 odd minutes of something called Tru Loved then giving up and publishing (more or less) his notes from those 8 minutes - isn't terribly shocking. It's probably more honest and accurate a review than the full review linked to above: it's almost certainly more than the film deserved. It even gives the movie whatever traces of notoriety it will get. Ebert says he let his cleverness get in the way of his duty as a critic - well- I'd say his first duty as a critic is to be interesting, and he was. The first review is a gem. Though so are the rules. In fact most of his posts are gems. It is interesting - I find Ebert a much better blogger than reviewer. I suppose that's an extension of the fact that I used to find him a better essayist than reviewer - his occasional pieces were almost always better than his reviews. He's an odd writer - I dismissed him when he was on TV; discovered him on the internet (when I could read a fair sampling of his work) - and became something of a fan; but liked the longer pieces - the later pieces, the "Movies of Distinction" reviews,better than the regular reviews. And now find his blog a perfect delight to read. So - I forgive him for falling in love with his own prose. It's what he's best at.

That's enough. Tomorrow, I shall celebrate halloween with 2 more Minnellis - I hope I get around to posting a roundup. After that? Claire Denis... (though I expect to fit the Flaming Lips movie in there somewhere...) though it's all building to December, when the HFA is taken over with a full retrospective of Nagisa Oshima. That will be a big deal...