Ron Howard is to direct an adaptation of The Strange Adventures of H.P. Lovecraft, a graphic novel.
Sheer insanity!
29 October, 2009
With Strange Aeons, Even Opie May Make An H.P. Lovecraft Flick
This I did not expect:
Ron Howard is to direct an adaptation of The Strange Adventures of H.P. Lovecraft, a graphic novel.
Sheer insanity!
Ron Howard is to direct an adaptation of The Strange Adventures of H.P. Lovecraft, a graphic novel.
Sheer insanity!
28 October, 2009
Dr. Werner: Woomeister
Oh, this is just rich. What is it with New Age people? Can't they just come up with their own bullshit instead of perverting science?
And The Cap Times wants us to lament that insurance companies won't cover woo?!
And The Cap Times wants us to lament that insurance companies won't cover woo?!
27 October, 2009
R Place: Fading to Black
Last week The Cap Times carried an interesting article about R Place and the trials & tribulations of its owners. Someone fired a gun in the bar's parking lot on 10 October and this was the fifth weapons incident of 2009 for R Place. Owners Rick Flowers and Annie Weatherby-Flowers have been given a last chance by the city to discourage the violence surrounding their establishment. Personally, I will be surprised if R Place makes it until the end of the year and would be shocked if it's still up and running in 2011.
There are a lot of issues at play here including racism, crime, commerce, and culture. Flowers charges that "the issue is not really R Place" but with "the societal forces and city policies that put unreasonable demands on bars popular with the black community and set them up to fail." The author of the piece, Pat Schneider, notes, "A study by the city's Equal Opportunities Commission found what appeared to be a different standard for bars that cater to people of color compared to campus-area bars" and that "remarks by then-Alcohol License Review Committee head Tim Bruer supporting a supposed moratorium on liquor licenses in the "fragile neighborhoods" south of Wingra Creek." Flowers surely has a prima facie case of unequal treatment under the law.
Flowers also complains that he is being held responsible for the incidents despite the fact that most (all?) of them happened outside his establishment where he has little control.
Two of the gun incidents since May were armed hold-ups that according to "word on the street," were done by the same group that has pulled other hold-ups in the area over the past year, Flowers says. Police have not arrested anyone. The police department has tens of millions in its budget, "and they can't deal with these shooters. They come over here and I'm supposed to deal with it. They wouldn't ask that of white people," he says.
This brought to mind the situation over by Red Letter News several years ago where hookers and johns littered the area outside the store. RLN stayed open and the police conducted a sting operation to rid the area of prostitution. These two situations are not exactly the same but both have in common nefarious or dangerous activity outside an establishment which did not solicit it. In one case, the police took action while in Flowers' case, he is expected to be the police. Just as prostitution didn't end in the aftermath of the sting and instead moved elsewhere from the corner of Washington and North, gun violence won't end when R Place closes.
It will be a shame when R Place shuts its doors for the last time because, as the article notes, "Flowers, who is black, says he wishes white people would try to understand the significance of the fact that his bar is the only place in town that caters primarily to people of color." Although I haven't read all the comments, many of those I have were by people who don't appear to even have tried to understand the what Flowers spoke of.
I was reminded of this significance over the weekend when The Dulcinea told me about getting her nails done. (The Dulcinea is my bi-racial girlfriend, for non-regular readers.) She was given a manicure by a black woman and she told me that they had a good conversation which drifted from talking about raising sons to movies and other topics. The manicurist was about 10 years older than The D and had adult children. She moved to Madison from Chicago while The D was born and raised here. They were both looking forward to seeing Precious next month while the nail expert was fearful that Good Hair wouldn't play in Madison.
Now, two women of color chatting about movies with black stars and generally exploring their common ground may sound insignificant to you, but for The D, it wasn't. If you take the significance of that conversation and broaden it, deepen it, then I suspect you'll get at what Flowers meant.
Strictly from reading the articles, I feel that it's a shame that the city – in the form of the cops, Alcohol Policy Coordinator Katherine Plominski, and even the area's alderperson Julia Kerr – are basically abandoning Flowers. The cops have seemingly foisted the burden for policing those outside his bar on his shoulders. If some guy packing heat steps into Flowers' parking lot looking to settle a score or hold someone up, why is Flowers paying the penalty? Kerr takes the same line: "But I do hope they can turn it around and make a go of it." Does she really think that Flowers can single-handedly deter criminals? Is that what she expects of the citizens in her district? From reading Schneider's piece, it seems that no one representing city government is the least bit interested in helping Flowers out.
When the city puts the kibosh on R Place, not only will the assholes with guns just go shooting elsewhere, but the black community here will see yet another attempt at carving out their own social niche in Madison go the way of the dodo. And most of Madison won't even notice.
There are a lot of issues at play here including racism, crime, commerce, and culture. Flowers charges that "the issue is not really R Place" but with "the societal forces and city policies that put unreasonable demands on bars popular with the black community and set them up to fail." The author of the piece, Pat Schneider, notes, "A study by the city's Equal Opportunities Commission found what appeared to be a different standard for bars that cater to people of color compared to campus-area bars" and that "remarks by then-Alcohol License Review Committee head Tim Bruer supporting a supposed moratorium on liquor licenses in the "fragile neighborhoods" south of Wingra Creek." Flowers surely has a prima facie case of unequal treatment under the law.
Flowers also complains that he is being held responsible for the incidents despite the fact that most (all?) of them happened outside his establishment where he has little control.
Two of the gun incidents since May were armed hold-ups that according to "word on the street," were done by the same group that has pulled other hold-ups in the area over the past year, Flowers says. Police have not arrested anyone. The police department has tens of millions in its budget, "and they can't deal with these shooters. They come over here and I'm supposed to deal with it. They wouldn't ask that of white people," he says.
This brought to mind the situation over by Red Letter News several years ago where hookers and johns littered the area outside the store. RLN stayed open and the police conducted a sting operation to rid the area of prostitution. These two situations are not exactly the same but both have in common nefarious or dangerous activity outside an establishment which did not solicit it. In one case, the police took action while in Flowers' case, he is expected to be the police. Just as prostitution didn't end in the aftermath of the sting and instead moved elsewhere from the corner of Washington and North, gun violence won't end when R Place closes.
It will be a shame when R Place shuts its doors for the last time because, as the article notes, "Flowers, who is black, says he wishes white people would try to understand the significance of the fact that his bar is the only place in town that caters primarily to people of color." Although I haven't read all the comments, many of those I have were by people who don't appear to even have tried to understand the what Flowers spoke of.
I was reminded of this significance over the weekend when The Dulcinea told me about getting her nails done. (The Dulcinea is my bi-racial girlfriend, for non-regular readers.) She was given a manicure by a black woman and she told me that they had a good conversation which drifted from talking about raising sons to movies and other topics. The manicurist was about 10 years older than The D and had adult children. She moved to Madison from Chicago while The D was born and raised here. They were both looking forward to seeing Precious next month while the nail expert was fearful that Good Hair wouldn't play in Madison.
Now, two women of color chatting about movies with black stars and generally exploring their common ground may sound insignificant to you, but for The D, it wasn't. If you take the significance of that conversation and broaden it, deepen it, then I suspect you'll get at what Flowers meant.
Strictly from reading the articles, I feel that it's a shame that the city – in the form of the cops, Alcohol Policy Coordinator Katherine Plominski, and even the area's alderperson Julia Kerr – are basically abandoning Flowers. The cops have seemingly foisted the burden for policing those outside his bar on his shoulders. If some guy packing heat steps into Flowers' parking lot looking to settle a score or hold someone up, why is Flowers paying the penalty? Kerr takes the same line: "But I do hope they can turn it around and make a go of it." Does she really think that Flowers can single-handedly deter criminals? Is that what she expects of the citizens in her district? From reading Schneider's piece, it seems that no one representing city government is the least bit interested in helping Flowers out.
When the city puts the kibosh on R Place, not only will the assholes with guns just go shooting elsewhere, but the black community here will see yet another attempt at carving out their own social niche in Madison go the way of the dodo. And most of Madison won't even notice.
26 October, 2009
How We Are Watching Foreign Films
Today I found a blog post called "Wisconsin Book Festival v. Film Festival" which was remarkably ill-informed, littered with unfair comparisons, and, generally speaking, ridiculous.
The author, a gentleman named Chris, compares to the two festivals and pronounces the former to be superior.
How much for this literary escape? $2 for parking. The event was free. And that’s what I love about the Wisconsin Book Festival. I’ve seen great authors and gotten introduced to some great regional literature. And it’s all free.
That’s in direct opposition to the other big annual arts festival in Madison, the Wisconsin Film Festival. I also enjoy the WFF, but the events charge. I know films are more expensive products and may have to charge to make up for the expense, but I don’t get that. The book festival brings the authors in front of you (unless they’re dead). I’ve never seen a filmmaker or actor (Though, I’m told a few are there.).
Read this line again: "I know films are more expensive products and may have to charge to make up for the expense, but I don’t get that." What part of "more expensive" is so elusive of comprehension, Mr. Chris? What a whiner. Sorry, Chief, but the world doesn't owe you free festivals.
Just because you've never seen a filmmaker or actor at the film festival doesn't mean that they don't appear. Here's my review of one such occasion and here's another.
But perhaps the most ridiculous claim is this:
A good portion of their programming this past year was foreign, and most of the films were at least imports into the Midwest. I’m not a big believer in bringing the world to someone’s doorstep. Travel costs have dropped thanks to the great recession, and people who want to see the world should do it first hand.
If you believe that this recession means that everyone is able to afford to take months off from work and travel the globe, then you are an idiot. Perhaps Chris is independently wealthy but many people aren't. Most of us can't throw the kids in cryogenic suspension for a few months as we trot the globe spending tens of thousands of dollars. Some of us have to work for a living, support children, and are finding our salaries being slashed and/or being forced to go on furloughs. Does he think the only thing the recession is affecting is the airline industry and that everyone else is enjoying the riches of Croesus? If experiencing something for yourself instead of via art is so important to Chris, then why his hard-on for the local and regional at the book festival? It's is a thousand times easier to experience these things for oneself considering their proximity so why is he choosing to experience regional art in a lecture hall when he can jump in a car or on a bus and go experience it for himself?
In addition, the idea that watching foreign films is simply about having the world "brought to your doorstep" is ridiculous. People watch foreign films for many of the same reasons they watch domestic films. For example, to enjoy a good story. Does Chris think all the foreign films at the festival are just the equivalent of National Geographic specials? Watching a film like Los cronocrímenes (Time Crimes) as I did a couple years ago at the fest can be no more an act of cultural anthropology than watching a Transformers movie.
Sure, viewers might be able to glean a bit about a foreign land from watching films produced abroad, but I'm sure most folks would love to be able to head to every country that has a film shown at the festival. This just isn't possible except in Chris' la-la land where people are able to discharge their responsibilities on a whim and can travel at will in a deep recession.
Chris needs to take a class on aesthetics.
25 October, 2009
Goodbye Mr. Kailin
Clarence Kailin died a short time ago. He was a veteran of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and a tireless activist for peace and social justice. Since I am dating his granddaughter, I got to meet him on occasion but, unfortunately, never got to know him. So it goes, I guess. It's especially sad because I've been thinking about my own deceased relatives a lot lately. I guess The Dulcinea and I will both be commemorating El Día de los Muertos this year.
You can read about Clarence's war experiences and his anti-war activities in Long Shadows: Veterans' Paths
to Peace or in what will no doubt be countless tributes in the coming weeks in local and national media. I, for one, won't be able to walk by the ALB memorial at James Madison Park in quite the same way again.
Rest in peace, Mr. Kailin.
You can read about Clarence's war experiences and his anti-war activities in Long Shadows: Veterans' Paths
to Peace or in what will no doubt be countless tributes in the coming weeks in local and national media. I, for one, won't be able to walk by the ALB memorial at James Madison Park in quite the same way again.
Rest in peace, Mr. Kailin.
23 October, 2009
Prepare to Bust Out Your Wallet for Hulu
Next year, the free TV site Hulu will start charging. They gotta pay Alec Baldwin somehow, I guess. You knew it had to happen sometime.
"What do you think I fought for at Omaha Beach?"
Ed Brayton has a post which highlights the need for the government to recognize gay marriage.
The couple, Janice Langbehn and Lisa Pond, were getting ready to board a cruise in Miami with their adopted children when Lisa collapsed and was rushed to the hospital.
Janice then sat in the waiting room with their children, being refused any access to her partner and information on her condition for hours on end even after the hospital had the documents showing that she was designated as Lisa's healthcare surrogate to make medical decisions in such a situation. And a federal judge just dismissed her lawsuit against the hospital.
The court ruled, essentially, that the hospital had no legal duty to do anything more than they did, even if the hospital's own clearly stated rules say otherwise.
I feel terribly for Janice. It pains me to think of my father's death. He spent the last few moments of his life on the ground in a parking lot 1000+ miles away from his family. The last time we spoke on the phone did not go very well and two days later he was dead. I never got a chance to say goodbye or to say what I wanted to say to him. And here we have Janice who is just down the hall from her partner in life as she lies dying yet she is denied the chance to say her goodbyes. That must have been incredibly frustrating and maddening. The hospital administrator deserves a punch in the nose.
Janice wrote:
I even showed the Admitting clerk the children's birth certificates with both Lisa and my name on them... and said if you won't let me back, let her children be with her. I was told they were "too young". I thought how old do you need to be to say goodbye to your mother?
This is outrageous. I don't understand this attitude. Back in the day, the death of a family member was dealt with at home. There were no undertakers so it was the family that washed the body and got it ready for the wake. And it was the family that buried the body. Death wasn't outsourced and dealt with behind the closed doors of strangers. Yet somehow children managed to grow up and be normal, productive members of society.
Getting back to gay marriage, I found this video this morning. It shows a World War II veteran named Philip Spooner speaking out in favor of it before a legislative committee in Maine which is considering the issue on an upcoming ballot.
The kicker:
I’m here today because of a conversation I had last year when I was voting. A woman at my polling place asked me, “Do you believe in equality for gay and lesbian people?”
I was pretty surprised to be asked a question like that; it made no sense to me.
Finally I asked her, “What do you think I fought for at Omaha Beach?”
The couple, Janice Langbehn and Lisa Pond, were getting ready to board a cruise in Miami with their adopted children when Lisa collapsed and was rushed to the hospital.
Janice then sat in the waiting room with their children, being refused any access to her partner and information on her condition for hours on end even after the hospital had the documents showing that she was designated as Lisa's healthcare surrogate to make medical decisions in such a situation. And a federal judge just dismissed her lawsuit against the hospital.
The court ruled, essentially, that the hospital had no legal duty to do anything more than they did, even if the hospital's own clearly stated rules say otherwise.
I feel terribly for Janice. It pains me to think of my father's death. He spent the last few moments of his life on the ground in a parking lot 1000+ miles away from his family. The last time we spoke on the phone did not go very well and two days later he was dead. I never got a chance to say goodbye or to say what I wanted to say to him. And here we have Janice who is just down the hall from her partner in life as she lies dying yet she is denied the chance to say her goodbyes. That must have been incredibly frustrating and maddening. The hospital administrator deserves a punch in the nose.
Janice wrote:
I even showed the Admitting clerk the children's birth certificates with both Lisa and my name on them... and said if you won't let me back, let her children be with her. I was told they were "too young". I thought how old do you need to be to say goodbye to your mother?
This is outrageous. I don't understand this attitude. Back in the day, the death of a family member was dealt with at home. There were no undertakers so it was the family that washed the body and got it ready for the wake. And it was the family that buried the body. Death wasn't outsourced and dealt with behind the closed doors of strangers. Yet somehow children managed to grow up and be normal, productive members of society.
Getting back to gay marriage, I found this video this morning. It shows a World War II veteran named Philip Spooner speaking out in favor of it before a legislative committee in Maine which is considering the issue on an upcoming ballot.
The kicker:
I’m here today because of a conversation I had last year when I was voting. A woman at my polling place asked me, “Do you believe in equality for gay and lesbian people?”
I was pretty surprised to be asked a question like that; it made no sense to me.
Finally I asked her, “What do you think I fought for at Omaha Beach?”
22 October, 2009
20 October, 2009
Dead Snow This Weekend
Dead Snow is finally making its way to Madison. Well, sort of.
The Norwegian Nazi zombie flick will be playing this weekend at the Union on Friday and Saturday nights at 9:30. Unfortunately, it will be in the form of a projected DVD. I want my Nazi zombies on celluloid, dammit!
Also at the Union will be a midnight screening of A Clockwork Orange on Saturday night/Sunday morning. It too will be a projected DVD. :(
The Norwegian Nazi zombie flick will be playing this weekend at the Union on Friday and Saturday nights at 9:30. Unfortunately, it will be in the form of a projected DVD. I want my Nazi zombies on celluloid, dammit!
Also at the Union will be a midnight screening of A Clockwork Orange on Saturday night/Sunday morning. It too will be a projected DVD. :(
19 October, 2009
Blaska's Victimology Blathering
David Blaska, the local conservative victimologist, recently decried Rush Limbaugh's failed attempt to exercise his Yahweh-given right to own an NFL team, namely, the St. Louis Rams. You may recall that Limbaugh was recently booted from a group of investors led by businessman Dave Checketts who are seeking to buy the team. It was determined by this group of private businessmen that Limbaugh's presence was apparently not helping matters because of his "divisive" day job where he blathers and lies.
Because conservatives are victims of liberal conspiracies in the Blaska world, he can blame lefties for Limbaugh's ousting. Never mind that it was, in fact, private businessman Dave Checketts who gave him the boot. You know, a private citizen taking responsibility and doing it for himself. Why is Blaska not cheering the fact that government stayed out and allowed private individuals to settle the matter amongst themselves? By the way Blaska writes, you'd think Noam Chomsky had done the deed himself as he sat at his underwater headquarters petting a cat and ordering his minions around via a really big video screen.
Blaska goes on to list various liberals who are divisive like Keith Olbermann and Jimmy Carter. Of course, none of these people are involved in the private matter of trying to buy the St. Louis Rams. Blaska noted:
Imagine if the Right had tried to slam George Soros, bankroller of MoveOn.org (General Petraeus, don’t betray us!) from buying a sports team. For speaking his mind! Freedom of speech!
Well, the right may not have slammed him in quite the same way, but, unlike Limbaugh, Congress decided to chime in when Soros tried to purchase a baseball team.
"It's not necessarily smart business sense to have anybody who is so polarizing in the political world," Rep. John E. Sweeney (R-N.Y.) said. "That goes for anybody, but especially as it relates to Major League Baseball because it's one of the few businesses that get incredibly special treatment from Congress and the federal government."
George Soros was apparently so divisive that Sweeney resorted to threats. Did any Congressional Democrats threaten the NFL if Limbaugh was allowed to become an owner? When a private individual boots Limbaugh, it's an outrage and the fault of liberals. But when a Republican Congressman threatens MLB over a liberal…? So was that OK, Mr. Blaska?
(h/t Ed Brayton.)
Yes, Mr. Garvery, Some People Are Just Plain Stupid
Ed Garvey has an opinion piece today up at The Capital Times. In his op-ed, he suggests that Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman should step down.
How embarrassing for our state. The Supreme Court of Wisconsin is in turmoil because its newest member, Justice Michael Gableman, has a cloud over his head, but he won't offer an umbrella to his six colleagues and the six are split 3-3.
Garvey accuses Gableman of having found his own personal Willie Horton in the form of Reuben Lee Mitchell. Gableman's campaign ran ads last year suggesting that his opponent, Louis Butler Jr., who defended Mitchell on his appeal, found a loophole in the law to free his client who went on to commit further crimes. The problem was that Mitchell was not freed at that time because the state Supreme Court kept him in the pokey. It was only after Mitchell had been paroled that he committed his subsequent crimes. And so Gableman is more than likely guilty of lying by omission.
Gableman should recuse himself from criminal cases and if he won't, then the other members of the high court should take action. He should also recuse himself from cases involving WMC. To do otherwise undermines public confidence in the court. He should stop embarrassing Wisconsin and step aside.
One more thing. This state must begin funding Supreme Court races. The idea of lawyers and their clients giving large campaign contributions also undermines public confidence in our highest court. The public knows what is going on. We may be slow but we aren't stupid.
Garvey implies that the Gableman ad swayed voters – hence Butler's loss in the election last year. While this reflects poorly on Gableman, it surely reflects even worse on voters. I like how he felt compelled to include, "We may be slow but we aren't stupid", because that is exactly his implication. If people watched the ad and actually decided not to vote for Butler, then they're stupid. It didn't take a Bob Woodward to find out the actual events behind the ad and that Butler's actions did not, in fact, get Mitchell freed. And the state funding of Supreme Court races cannot cure stupidity.
How embarrassing for our state. The Supreme Court of Wisconsin is in turmoil because its newest member, Justice Michael Gableman, has a cloud over his head, but he won't offer an umbrella to his six colleagues and the six are split 3-3.
Garvey accuses Gableman of having found his own personal Willie Horton in the form of Reuben Lee Mitchell. Gableman's campaign ran ads last year suggesting that his opponent, Louis Butler Jr., who defended Mitchell on his appeal, found a loophole in the law to free his client who went on to commit further crimes. The problem was that Mitchell was not freed at that time because the state Supreme Court kept him in the pokey. It was only after Mitchell had been paroled that he committed his subsequent crimes. And so Gableman is more than likely guilty of lying by omission.
Gableman should recuse himself from criminal cases and if he won't, then the other members of the high court should take action. He should also recuse himself from cases involving WMC. To do otherwise undermines public confidence in the court. He should stop embarrassing Wisconsin and step aside.
One more thing. This state must begin funding Supreme Court races. The idea of lawyers and their clients giving large campaign contributions also undermines public confidence in our highest court. The public knows what is going on. We may be slow but we aren't stupid.
Garvey implies that the Gableman ad swayed voters – hence Butler's loss in the election last year. While this reflects poorly on Gableman, it surely reflects even worse on voters. I like how he felt compelled to include, "We may be slow but we aren't stupid", because that is exactly his implication. If people watched the ad and actually decided not to vote for Butler, then they're stupid. It didn't take a Bob Woodward to find out the actual events behind the ad and that Butler's actions did not, in fact, get Mitchell freed. And the state funding of Supreme Court races cannot cure stupidity.
Ambivalence About Barleycorn
Last week's hearing on a bill to raise the beer excise tax here in Wisconsin had generated a lot of discussion. The bill came into being in no small part because of attention generated by studies showing that we have more than our fair share of drunk drivers. Newspapers around the state ran multi-part stories about Wisconsin's "culture of alcohol". Here in Madison, the University of Wisconsin works to try and counter over-consumption and underage drinking by students.
Everyone agrees that drinking too much is bad, that driving while drunk is dangerous and potentially fatal, and that alcohol is a large part of socializing in Wisconsin. However, there is a lot of ambivalence about ol' John Barleycorn.
A couple weeks ago, there was what I think was a pre-Homecoming bash down on Library Mall. Walking towards State Street, I saw a van whose paint job was one big ad for Bacardi Limón. Was it pure happenstance that this boozemobile was there at the same time a campus shindig was ongoing? I sincerely doubt it. Go to the much heralded Union Terrace in the summer. There are multiple beer stands and posters proclaiming sponsorship of shows by beer companies.
Today the Chicago Sun-Times is running an AP story about how the Wisconsin Department of Tourism is promoting the state's microbreweries.
And so we have a situation where Dr. Bob Golden, the Dean of the Medical School, testifies in favor of the beer tax, while just down the street the Union serves beer, has events sponsored by breweries, and, in general, promotes a "culture of beer" of some ilk. Up at the Capitol Rep. Berceau and Senator Risser try to raise the tax to combat Wisconsin's "culture of alcohol" yet the folks at the Department of Tourism try to get people to plan their vacations around beer by providing itineraries for tours of the state's microbreweries.
Can we have it both ways? Can one hand work against a "culture of alcohol" while the other promotes what we might call a different "culture of alcohol"? How does all of this look to an outsider? Imagine you've just emerged from a Rawlsian veil of ignorance and consider Wisconsin. Would it make sense to you when you see all the efforts to combat drinking and then to look in the other direction and see that our baseball team is called the Brewers and that they play in a stadium named after one of the largest breweries in the world? Would it make sense to you when you see some members of state government attempting to combat consumption while others promoting it?
Everyone agrees that drinking too much is bad, that driving while drunk is dangerous and potentially fatal, and that alcohol is a large part of socializing in Wisconsin. However, there is a lot of ambivalence about ol' John Barleycorn.
A couple weeks ago, there was what I think was a pre-Homecoming bash down on Library Mall. Walking towards State Street, I saw a van whose paint job was one big ad for Bacardi Limón. Was it pure happenstance that this boozemobile was there at the same time a campus shindig was ongoing? I sincerely doubt it. Go to the much heralded Union Terrace in the summer. There are multiple beer stands and posters proclaiming sponsorship of shows by beer companies.
Today the Chicago Sun-Times is running an AP story about how the Wisconsin Department of Tourism is promoting the state's microbreweries.
And so we have a situation where Dr. Bob Golden, the Dean of the Medical School, testifies in favor of the beer tax, while just down the street the Union serves beer, has events sponsored by breweries, and, in general, promotes a "culture of beer" of some ilk. Up at the Capitol Rep. Berceau and Senator Risser try to raise the tax to combat Wisconsin's "culture of alcohol" yet the folks at the Department of Tourism try to get people to plan their vacations around beer by providing itineraries for tours of the state's microbreweries.
Can we have it both ways? Can one hand work against a "culture of alcohol" while the other promotes what we might call a different "culture of alcohol"? How does all of this look to an outsider? Imagine you've just emerged from a Rawlsian veil of ignorance and consider Wisconsin. Would it make sense to you when you see all the efforts to combat drinking and then to look in the other direction and see that our baseball team is called the Brewers and that they play in a stadium named after one of the largest breweries in the world? Would it make sense to you when you see some members of state government attempting to combat consumption while others promoting it?
17 October, 2009
16 October, 2009
Precious Trailer
I am really looking forward to this after reading Roger Ebert's review and now having had my eyes well up with tears watching the trailer. It'll be at Sundance starting 20 November.
Paranormal Activity
Much of the hype surrounding Paranormal Activity relates to the movie's microbudget of $15,000 or to its grassroots viral marketing campaign. But all of this ignores the fact that freshman director Oren Peli has come up with a genuine creepfest that is a load of fun.
Katie and Micah are a young couple living together in San Diego. Fate has endowed Katie with a case of extremely bad luck as she has been beset by a shadowy visitor in the night ever since she was eight years old when her family home mysteriously burned to the ground. The unwanted nocturnal guest has been away for a while but now has returned. Unexplained noises in the wee hours of the morning have prompted Micah into action. In this case he has bought a video camera to try and capture whatever it is spooking the house on tape or, rather, on his laptop's hard drive.
As with The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity is entirely made up of footage from a camcorder supposedly found in the aftermath of the events portrayed. Here, we see the couple's relationship play out during daylight hours while at night the camera is, thankfully, mounted on a tripod in their bedroom set to record the source of strange noises. Micah, a cocksure day trader, is skeptical of supernatural claims and likes to poke fun at Katie's increasing fear. But, as the days and nights wear on, it becomes apparent that her dread is quite justified.
Since the story is told solely by camcorder footage, we never get to know much about our protagonists aside from their occupations and brief bits of background. I personally found Micah to be incredibly annoying but Peli deserves credit for being able to transcend this and a lack of plot by ratcheting up the tension slowly and throwing in some horror movie clichés very effectively along the way. He uses a sort of minimalist approach whereby we essentially see the same scene repeated but with minor variations. At first there's just some unexplained noises. Then on another night the bedroom door mysteriously closes. Whatever it is that haunts their home gradually makes its presence known increasingly more dramatically.
Along the way there are some moments common in the genre such as the tense scene investigating the attic and a psychic who, unable to help the couple, can only offer the best line in the movie, "I can't be in this room", before bolting out the front door.
Paranormal Activity is as frightening as it is because it keeps the door closed, so to speak, until the very end. No back story is developed for that which haunts Katie which in turn would lead to a solution. It remains unseen. Aside from one scene out on the patio, the action takes place within the house which lends an air of claustrophobia. The movie also makes great use of silence which only helps the tension build to almost unbearable heights. I would also argue that it utilizes the wide screen very well. As you can see above, the bedroom scenes place the open door which leads to the hallway and downstairs on the extreme left-hand side of the screen while Katie and Micah slumber on the right. I was kept on my toes as my eyes were forced to dart around the shots looking for any sign of something spooky happening.
I have a few gripes but most of them relate to light switches and how the camera is lugged from room to room in certain scenes. These are quite minor and my biggest complaint isn't about the movie per se but rather…POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD…
…that the big shock ending was given away in the trailer. WTF? Unfortunately this meant that, after Katie undergoes her transformation of sorts, I knew what the end was going to be like and merely had to wait for it to come. Who thought it would be a good idea to put the finale into the trailer?
The ending being shown in theatres was not the original. If you're curious as to how it originally concluded, check out this article at Rope of Silicon.
…END OF SPOILERS….
Overall, Peli has created a good gothic tale using well-worn yet highly effective techniques to install dread into the audience which makes for a thrilling hour and a half.
The Polish Film Festival Needs Your Help
The Polish Film Festival here in Madison needs your help!
Due to a funding snafu, the festival is short and it may have to be canceled this year. From Catherine Kuzmicki of the Polish Student Association:
We are hoping to hold the Polish Film Festival November 20, 21, 22. To give you a general idea of what the film festival is about, I'd liked to talk about it. The Polish Film Festival is a free event which showcases the latest Polish films for the student body and great Madison community. It will take place on the evenings of November 20-22. Its purpose is to enhance the appreciation and understanding of the Polish culture and life through the showing of various Polish films. The audience for this event is everyone; a variety of films will be shown that may tailor to all types of people. All students are welcome to this event as well as anyone interested in learning more about the Polish heritage. To further enhance their experience, after the showing of the films, there will be discussion sessions that analyze the films motives and ideas. We hope that this will greater augment the audience’s knowledge. We believe that through the showing of these films we can create a social atmosphere where people feel comfortable to explore both Polish heritage and film styles. To ensure great quality we use Cinematheque to run our films.
If you are able to donate to the cause, please do. Contact Catherine at kuzmicki@wisc.edu for more information.
15 October, 2009
My Freezer is Stocked, I Tell You
My freezer is pretty well full at this point after my friend Jason and I headed down to Chicago on one of our meat runs earlier this week. Here's the back of his truck stuffed with coolers full of tasty goodness.
We hit basically the same joints as we have in the past: Andy's Deli, Eli's Cheesecake, Lincoln Quality Meat Market, Argo Georgian Bakery, and New York Bagel and Bialy. In order to save time, my mother had made a run to Serrelli's a couple days previously and bought us a whole lotta Italian Beef and garlic sausage.
However, we also made a trip to an Ethiopian store called Kukulu Market. I'd read about it and the tasty snack food chechebsa they have over at the Chicago Reader and just had to go. This is it:
It's flat bread fried in clarified butter seasoned with berbere and the stuff is just excellent. A bit on the spicy side too. I don't know squat about Ethiopian cooking so I decided it was time to try to make doro wot, an Ethiopian chicken stew that ranks as one of The Dulcinea's favorite foods of all eternity. If Buraka were to ever close or leave town, I think she'd be compelled to leave Madison.
The first photo shows the injera bread I bought. They had 3 or 4 different varieties. One of the rounds above is made with the traditional teff while the other is with another grain that I don't know the name of. Below that we have containers of spices. The red one on the right is berbere while the other escapes my mind. Truth be told, the gentleman behind the counter was incredibly helpful and willing to explain everything to us Cheeseheads. Unfortunately, I just can't remember everything he told us. Our first batches of Ethiopian stews may or may not be edible.
Another interesting item for sale at Kukulu was green Ethiopian coffee. I favor African coffees. I mean, coffee originated in Ethiopia so we're dealing with the ur-stuff here. According to the Internet sites I've read, roasting coffee isn't particularly difficult. It just takes a little patience and some good ventilation. Perhaps this weekend I'll give it a shot.
We hit the Lincoln Square area and found that Delicatessen Meyer had closed. In its place is a second location of Gene's Sausage Shop. Unfortunately, remodeling was still apace. Not sure when it is slated to open. Unlike our last meat run, however, the Paulina Market was open. Walking in you are nearly overcome with the sweet scent of pork a-smokin'. Their selection of smoked sausage is enormous. I bought more linguisa, a Portuguese cured sausage, than I probably should have. My shopping basket also held a smoked goose breast, some apple breakfast sausages, mettwurst, a small slab of hickory smoked bacon, and probably a few other things that I'll discover when I dig around my freezer.
At Eli's, I got a lingonberry cheesecake as well as a chocolate chip. They had these four or five inch chocolate volcano cakes on sale for $2 apiece and I couldn't resist.
For lunch, we stopped at Psistaria Greek Restaurant on Touhy Avenue which was conveniently located right across the street from New York Bagel and Bialy. Jason and I both went for the combination platter and I nearly had a lamb overload. The mousaka was fantastic with just the right amount of cinnamon. The platter also came with a dolma, a roasted chicken quarter, rice, and peas. Everything was just delicious. And they kept the basket of bread full. Oh, the avgolemono was also quite tasty.
One lowlight of the trip was that my favored store for Indian sweets on Devon Avenue is now a pizza joint.
I had my camera with me the whole time but completely forgot about it so we're stuck with photos taken at home. Here are a few more.
That's a hachapuri from the Georgian bakery. It's a puffed pastry dough concoction filled 3(?) kinds of cheese. I also bought some pelmeni there which we had for dinner last night. I think they put just the right amount of pepper into the beef/pork combo filling.
Those are rugula, a Jewish sweet. I went with raspberry & cheese and chocolate chip. New York Bagel and Bialy is open 24/7/365 so I can run down there any time when I have an onion bialy itch that needs to be scratched.
Above is the Polish version of Playboy that we bought for our co-worker. I read the articles on the drive home. (Ahem.)
A few parting thoughts:
1) I must find barfi soon.
2) Someone in the Madison area must learn how to bake a decent loaf of light rye bread. I couldn't bake my way out of a paper bag and shouldn't have to drive to Chicago to get a good loaf of the stuff. I generally shop at the east side Woodman's and occasionally at Jenifer Street Market and have yet to find one. Silly Yak make a decent dark eye, I give them that. But most folks need to understand that rye bread doesn't necessarily mean pumpernickel. Can anyone suggest some good stuff around here?
3) I forgot to buy Gonnella bread for the Italian beef. D'oh!
4) I'm getting really hungry right now.
We hit basically the same joints as we have in the past: Andy's Deli, Eli's Cheesecake, Lincoln Quality Meat Market, Argo Georgian Bakery, and New York Bagel and Bialy. In order to save time, my mother had made a run to Serrelli's a couple days previously and bought us a whole lotta Italian Beef and garlic sausage.
However, we also made a trip to an Ethiopian store called Kukulu Market. I'd read about it and the tasty snack food chechebsa they have over at the Chicago Reader and just had to go. This is it:
It's flat bread fried in clarified butter seasoned with berbere and the stuff is just excellent. A bit on the spicy side too. I don't know squat about Ethiopian cooking so I decided it was time to try to make doro wot, an Ethiopian chicken stew that ranks as one of The Dulcinea's favorite foods of all eternity. If Buraka were to ever close or leave town, I think she'd be compelled to leave Madison.
The first photo shows the injera bread I bought. They had 3 or 4 different varieties. One of the rounds above is made with the traditional teff while the other is with another grain that I don't know the name of. Below that we have containers of spices. The red one on the right is berbere while the other escapes my mind. Truth be told, the gentleman behind the counter was incredibly helpful and willing to explain everything to us Cheeseheads. Unfortunately, I just can't remember everything he told us. Our first batches of Ethiopian stews may or may not be edible.
Another interesting item for sale at Kukulu was green Ethiopian coffee. I favor African coffees. I mean, coffee originated in Ethiopia so we're dealing with the ur-stuff here. According to the Internet sites I've read, roasting coffee isn't particularly difficult. It just takes a little patience and some good ventilation. Perhaps this weekend I'll give it a shot.
We hit the Lincoln Square area and found that Delicatessen Meyer had closed. In its place is a second location of Gene's Sausage Shop. Unfortunately, remodeling was still apace. Not sure when it is slated to open. Unlike our last meat run, however, the Paulina Market was open. Walking in you are nearly overcome with the sweet scent of pork a-smokin'. Their selection of smoked sausage is enormous. I bought more linguisa, a Portuguese cured sausage, than I probably should have. My shopping basket also held a smoked goose breast, some apple breakfast sausages, mettwurst, a small slab of hickory smoked bacon, and probably a few other things that I'll discover when I dig around my freezer.
At Eli's, I got a lingonberry cheesecake as well as a chocolate chip. They had these four or five inch chocolate volcano cakes on sale for $2 apiece and I couldn't resist.
For lunch, we stopped at Psistaria Greek Restaurant on Touhy Avenue which was conveniently located right across the street from New York Bagel and Bialy. Jason and I both went for the combination platter and I nearly had a lamb overload. The mousaka was fantastic with just the right amount of cinnamon. The platter also came with a dolma, a roasted chicken quarter, rice, and peas. Everything was just delicious. And they kept the basket of bread full. Oh, the avgolemono was also quite tasty.
One lowlight of the trip was that my favored store for Indian sweets on Devon Avenue is now a pizza joint.
I had my camera with me the whole time but completely forgot about it so we're stuck with photos taken at home. Here are a few more.
That's a hachapuri from the Georgian bakery. It's a puffed pastry dough concoction filled 3(?) kinds of cheese. I also bought some pelmeni there which we had for dinner last night. I think they put just the right amount of pepper into the beef/pork combo filling.
Those are rugula, a Jewish sweet. I went with raspberry & cheese and chocolate chip. New York Bagel and Bialy is open 24/7/365 so I can run down there any time when I have an onion bialy itch that needs to be scratched.
Above is the Polish version of Playboy that we bought for our co-worker. I read the articles on the drive home. (Ahem.)
A few parting thoughts:
1) I must find barfi soon.
2) Someone in the Madison area must learn how to bake a decent loaf of light rye bread. I couldn't bake my way out of a paper bag and shouldn't have to drive to Chicago to get a good loaf of the stuff. I generally shop at the east side Woodman's and occasionally at Jenifer Street Market and have yet to find one. Silly Yak make a decent dark eye, I give them that. But most folks need to understand that rye bread doesn't necessarily mean pumpernickel. Can anyone suggest some good stuff around here?
3) I forgot to buy Gonnella bread for the Italian beef. D'oh!
4) I'm getting really hungry right now.
Don't Tell My Doctor About This
My doctor would kill me if he saw me eating this but it was just incredibly tasty.
It's a breakfast sandwich made of a fried egg and baconwurst from Hamann Charcuterie on two slices of bacon & cheese bread from La Baguette.
It's a breakfast sandwich made of a fried egg and baconwurst from Hamann Charcuterie on two slices of bacon & cheese bread from La Baguette.
Shutter Island Trailer
Martin Scorsese's latest film, a thriller called Shutter Island, is due in February. Robert Richardson, one of my favorite cinematographers, lensed it. There are now a couple trailers floating about. Here's one of them.
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