QVC'S PEACE PENDANT

Yesterday, I mentioned how the only way we're ever going to get out of Iraq is if public attitudes shift decidedly in an anti-war direction. What we've got now, majority disapproval, isn't enough. It's got to be like I remember when I was a really young child with Vietnam: peace has got to be a pop culture phenomenon. I remember peace symbols being all over the place when I was three or four, back in '71 and '72--they were so commonplace, that they made an indelible impression on my young consciousness; I'll never forget it.

Later that evening, flipping channels around, I noticed something weird. QVC is hawking to its consumer-viewers a diamond peace pendant. This may be the kind of social signal I'm talking about; such a product would have been unthinkable in late 2001--those were the days of go go, kill kill, USA-USA-USA bangles, baubles, and beads. But not anymore. And the salespeople were so damned casual about it. They didn't say anything like "no blood for oil," but they were talking about how nice it would be to have a peace pendant to let everybody know that you support peace.

Things are getting weird. In a good way.



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THE VOICES I LOVE AND HATE

Well, I've been up all night working on a final wide-ranging paper for my voice class, so I don't have much time here at three in the morning to do much in the way of blogging. However, my paper did end up with a section that might be interesting to Real Art readers. I think it'll all be self-explanatory.

Voices I Love

Dr. $$$$$$$ $$$$$$ (a.k.a. “Brother $$$$$$$”): the preacher who baptized me, and recently retired pastor of the Southern Baptist church where I grew up. He has a sort of quiet voice, a tenor, with a lilting Virginia accent. Occasionally, when he gets all fire and brimstone, he has a marvelous booming voice, never yelling, but full of passion.

William F. Buckley, Jr.: the conservative political commentator I’ve always loved. He has a deep voice with an elitist sounding New England accent, a bit nasal, a bit throaty, with lazy diction.

Paul Robeson: the actor, singer, political activist. He had a well trained voice, deep and well supported, with perfect diction. He was a bass. I could listen to him read from the phone book.

Barbara Jordan: the Democratic Congresswoman from Houston who, as a member of the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate scandal, asked, “What did the President know, and when did he know it?” Her voice was deep, with perfect diction. She was very careful with inflection and pitch.

Jack Kerouac: the beat poet and novelist. He had a clear voice, a tenor, with lots of upward inflection. He spoke very rhythmically, evoking the jazz musicians who inspired him. He had a vague New York City accent.

Voices I hate

Annoying Girl: with whom I went through the jury process for getting into upper level acting classes at the University of Texas. Obviously, I can’t remember her name, but I’ll never forget that voice. Shrill is probably the best way to describe it. It was high pitched and nasal. And loud. She also had a Brooklyn sounding dialect. God, she was like something out of a Seinfeld episode. Actually, she was a very sweet girl. It’s a shame that she was cursed with a voice like fingernails on a chalkboard.

Joyce $$$$$$$$$$$$: family friend when I was growing up, and onetime Den Mother for my Cub Scout den. Her voice is exceedingly loud, near monotone, with a tendency to fade in volume at the end of thoughts.

George H. W. Bush: the father of our current President. He has a somewhat nasal voice, which also tends to fade in terms of loudness as he nears the end of a thought. Bad diction, with a faux Texas accent.

Miles Davis: the immortal jazz trumpet player. Miles had a raspy voice, a near whisper, very quiet, with very little change in pitch, almost monotone. But put a trumpet in his mouth and he sounds like an angel.

Sylvester Stallone: the pandering, blockbuster movie actor. Sly is terminally nasal in his speaking, with an unidentifiable urban East coast dialect. Pretty bad diction.

So what do you think? Is this a fair analysis? What are your hated and loved voices?

God, I need some sleep.

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GROSSEST LOOKING CEREAL EVER!

From retroCRUSH:

I was at the grocery store the other day looking for some sugary goodness and was startled to see this latest offering from the fine folks at Kellogg's. How could anyone not think that the box looks like a giant bowl of perfectly rolled up turds?. All that's missing is some puffed corn to make it the most scat-a-riffic breakfast of all time. I wonder if perhaps this is some tribute to the company's founder, RJ Kellogg, who was a near crazy health nut who espoused the benefits of frequent enemas.

Click here for the rest.

You've gotta wonder what these marketing guys are thinking. I mean, it's not like they're stupid. Indeed, these are some pretty quick and witty people we're talking about. I can't help but think that they knew exactly what they were doing when they came up with a fudge flavored cereal that looks just like dooky. I bet they're laughing about it even now.

Just as I am.



Really, I'm very much of the opinion that all the best jokes come out of kindergarten: doo-doo cereal is just about the funniest thing I've ever heard of. It beats Mattel's "Earring Magic" dance club oriented Ken doll from the 90s, a.k.a. the very gay "Cock Ring Ken," by miles and miles.



Don't get me wrong; Cock Ring Ken is pretty funny, too.

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Newspaper Marks 1000 Days of Iraq War with Key Stats

From Editor and Publisher courtesy of the Daily Kos, and originating in the London Independent, some of my favorate numbers coming out of the quagmire:

$204.4 billion: The cost to the U.S of the war so far.

2,339: Allied troops killed

15,955: US troops wounded in action

30,000 : Estimated Iraqi civilian deaths

0: Number of WMDs found

53,470: Iraqi insurgents killed

90: Daily attacks by insurgents in Nov '05. In Jun '03: 8

Click here for more.

No matter how you look at it, morally, pragmatically, economically, strategically, whatever, this war is a sick and stupid joke. It's gone from being simply a really really bad idea to being, perhaps, the worst thing the United States has ever done. Like the last worst thing we've ever done, the illegal "police action" in Vietnam, it's a war that cannot be won. Obviously, the US needs to immediately withdraw, and by that I mean in a way where loss of life is minimized, but I feel quite certain that the ruling elite is in it for the long haul--that is, there is so much to be gained by controlling the Persian Gulf oil spigot, it's likely that there will be a US troop presence in Iraq two decades from now, three decades even. The only way out of this mess is by mass public disapproval, but I don't think we've reached the tipping point yet. Anti-war attitudes need to be totally commonplace; Bush bashing must be something that pretty much nobody has a problem with.

Soon, I hope, soon.

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FAREWELL RICHARD PRYOR

From Democracy Now:

Well, he had been very successful. He had been on -- in the early ’60s, he was on TV, he was on the Tonight Show, he was on Ed Sullivan Show, and so forth. He was playing the Catskills. He had made one movie, and he was on his way to fortune and fame. And his handlers were saying the way to do that is to continue doing the kind of comedy that Bill Cosby did, because Cosby was the most accepted black comic around at that time.

But Pryor often said that he had to be himself, that success wasn't enough, and that there were voices crying out inside him that he had to let out. And it came to a head, I think, at the Aladdin Hotel around 1969, where he walked off the stage and apparently shouted some profanities at the predominantly Italian and reportedly Mafia-based crowd that was in the audience, and was asked to leave Las Vegas after that and never to come back, and also disappeared for a couple of years. He moved from California to Berkeley, started hanging out with some of the militant black writers of that period, Ishmael Reed, Cecil Brown, Al Young, people like that. He started to read African American history and became much more aware of his own history, his own background.

He also started to incorporate those people that he had known as a child, because he grew up in an area of Illinois where there were storytellers around. There were drunks, there were winos, there were pimps that he grew up with. He started to bring those characters to the forefront of his comedy. And when he came back, it was an amazing change. I think Bill Cosby said that ‘Richard Pryor returned, and he killed the Cosby in his act. It was the most astonishing transformation that I had ever seen.’ And I think it truly was. No one expected it. The writers -- those writers -- I knew them at that time. I was working at The New York Times Book Review, and those people were friends of mine. But they told me that Pryor, at that time, simply became a different person opinion, and he was freer. He was able to deliver his comedy in a much freer, open manner. And he was much funnier, obviously, because that's when he made an impact. He could have gone on and been another Cosby if he wanted to. But he didn’t. He chose not to do that.

Click here to listen to, watch, or read the rest.

Of course, I never knew that earlier, careful comedian; the Richard Pryor I knew was the latter, edgier, more dangerous guy. It's hard to say what kind of effect he had on my own childhood formulations of the American black-white dynamic. There seemed overall, relative to the 60s, to be a massive explosion of assertive and dignified African-American media images taking place when I first started paying attention as a kid in the 70s. Who can say whether the Roots mini-series, or The Wiz, or cool black guys playing congas on Sesame Street, or the Jeffersons had the most effect on me? I do know that Pryor was definitely in the mix. I suspect that his total straightforwardness, his dedication to telling the truth, his virtual omnipresence as an HBO staple, and his absolute hilarity made his influence on me the greatest.

Here is a bit from my earliest memory of him on Saturday Night Live in 1975 when I was seven:

Chevy Chase: OK, word association. I'll say a word, and you tell me the first word that comes into your mind. Car.

Richard Pryor: Truck

Chevy Chase: House

Richard Pryor: Home

Chevy Chase: White

Richard Pryor: Black

Chevy Chase: Tar Baby

Richard Pryor: Cracker

Chevy Chase: Spear Chucker

Richard Pryor: Honky!

Chevy Chase: LAWN JOCKEY

Richard Pryor: HONKY HONKY!

(pause)

Chevy Chase: Nigger

Richard Pryor: DEAD HONKY!

Chevy Chase: Congratulations, you got the job!

Farewell Richard Pryor. Your comedy was truly Real Art.



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Supreme Court to review Texas redistricting

From the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

The Supreme Court, in an opinion in 2004, upheld a Republican-drawn redistricting plan for Pennsylvania on a vote of 5-4. Lawyers who monitor such cases said at the time it appeared to leave little room for similar Democratic challenges in Texas and elsewhere.

Then-Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justices Antonin Scalia, Sandra Day O'Connor and Clarence Thomas appeared to signal they would not intervene in any cases involving redistricting done for partisan reasons.

Justice Anthony Kennedy provided a fifth vote for the majority, saying at the time that the Constitution might provide an avenue for relief in some, yet to be defined, circumstances.

Of the justices who rejected the appeal in the Pennsylvania case, Rehnquist has died, and was succeeded by Chief Justice John Roberts. O'Connor has announced her retirement, and Judge Samuel Alito's nomination to replace her is pending in the Senate.

Paul M. Smith, a Washington lawyer who was on the losing side of the Pennsylvania case, said the facts of the Texas case might make a difference at the court. He said that because the Pennsylvania district lines were drawn quickly after the census was taken, "One of the things you couldn't say in that case was their only reason was partisan. ...

"Here we have a trial in which the state conceded that the only reason they did the case at all was partisan," added Smith, who is also involved in the legal attack on the Texas redistricting plan.

Click here for the rest.

Well, this is a strange turn of events. I pretty much thought that this story was over, that the Republicans had won. That's still probably the case, but maybe not. If you don't know the background for this weird and complex political drama, the article gives a pretty good brief history. But if you don't want to click through, the long and the short of it all is that a couple of years back the Texas GOP, through various and possibly illegal methods, managed to ram through the state legislature a new federal congressional district map for the express purpose of giving Republicans the edge as far as voting goes. Since then, the plan's mastermind, Lizard King Tom DeLay, and others have been indicted for some of those aforementioned methods. That the Supreme Court is now going to review the redistricting plan itself is very interesting. It strikes me that there's at least a chance that they could rule against the Republicans: they didn't have to take the case and could have just sat on it; instead, they want to hear it, which means that there are at least a few important legal questions that they want to clear up.

Very cool.

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THIS MONTH'S STAR TREK CALENDAR PICTURE IS...



Admiral Kirk grieving the fallen Mr. Spock in The Wrath of Khan:

SPOCK: Do not grieve, Admiral - it is logical: the needs of the many outweigh -

KIRK: ... the needs of the few...

SPOCK: Or the one.

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QUESTIONING AUTHORITY
Let's See Some I.D.

From AlterNet:

We humans are generally compliant creatures. We follow the path of least resistance, even if it's not to our advantage. We halt at stop signs even when there are no other cars around for miles. We unquestioningly accept the small "service fee" tacked on to our bills without knowing exactly what they are for. We are sheep who follow the herd -- most of us, most of the time.

This is the story of one rogue sheep.

Deborah Davis, a 50-year-old mother of four, is by all accounts an ordinary woman who worries about ordinary things like her mortgage and the safety of her middle son, who is a soldier in Iraq. To save money, she rides the bus to work in Denver, Colorado. That is, she used to ride the bus to work, until one morning in September when she dared to do what my favorite bumper sticker urges people to do: Question Authority.

Click here for the rest.

The essay is actually about the circumstances under which it is reasonable for authorities to demand to see citizens' indentification papers, and it's quite an interesting read. But the introductory paragraphs compelled me to return to a thought that I've hit on a few times before here at Real Art, the myth of America's rebellious nature and sense of individuality. We seem so proud of our individualism. We bask in the retelling of the stories about how our founding fathers rebelled against England in order to form our new nation based on freedom and democracy. Our popular culture is filled with rebellious archetypes and individuals from James Dean to Fonzie to Howard Stern to the morons from MTV's Jackass TV show. But it's all a sham. All this rebellion and individualism is carefully controlled and contained in such a way that it is ultimately meaningless. The vast majority of Americans go with the flow, do as they're told, conform to the conventional wisdom. Sure, we find our individualistic niches. We might drink Pepsi instead of Coke. We might listen to "alternative" rock instead of "classic" rock. We may dig independent films instead of Hollywood blockbusters. But those are all just consumer choices. Who among us truly rebels against society? How many people really dress in an individualistic way? How many people are in a situation such that they can tell the boss to go to hell without facing financial ruin? Who actually has an original thought every now and then? In our great nation of individuals, individualism is a charade. Rebellion is just a game. It's a nice thought, that we American individuals are able to pursue our own individual interests which collectively amount to some kind of greater whole, but it's all just a myth, all just a show. Like the 70s Bob Dylan song says, "you're gonna have to serve somebody." Like it or not, that appears to be the situation in 21st century America.

Personally, I'd like it much better if we could find a way to make the myth into reality.

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THE OTHER ID: INCOMPETENT DESIGN

From Seed courtesy of the Daily Kos:

The thing that perhaps is closest to all of us is our own skeleton, and there are certainly all kinds of stupidity in our design. No self-respecting engineering student would make the kinds of dumb mistakes that are built into us.

All of our pelvises slope forward for convenient knuckle-dragging, like all the other great apes. And the only reason you stand erect is because of this incredible sharp bend at the base of your spine, which is either evolution's way of modifying something or else it's just a design that would flunk a first-year engineering student.

Look at the teeth in your mouth. Basically, most of us have too many teeth for the size of our mouth. Well, is this evolution flattening a mammalian muzzle and jamming it into a face or is it a designer that couldn't count accurately above 20?

Look at the bones in your face. They're the same as the other mammals' but they're just squashed and contorted by jamming the jaw into a face with your brain expanding over it, so the potential drainage system in there is so convoluted that no plumber would admit to having done it!

So is this evolution or is this plain stupid design?

Click here for the rest.

While I'm sympathetic to the concept of intelligent design, which I also believe has no business being in any sort of science classroom, this guy raises some very good points. God, who by definition is all powerful, could have easily done a much better job of designing, well, everything. I'm sure that the standard fundamentalist response would be to fall back on the old "we can't understand God's logic" which is, to say the least, an unsatisfying explanation. When it comes down to it, I guess I don't really see any intelligence in the "design" of the universe, myself. Evolution, cosmology, and other scientific fields do quite a good job of explaining how matter and energy behave according to certain principles: the universe in which we currently live is clearly the result of all this. I suppose that my own belief that these principles were determined by God, as opposed to numerous devine interventions throughout the eons, isn't quite the same thing as "Intelligent Design Theory." Really, when you get down to it, it's pretty much impossible now to have a serious discussion about the subject. "Intelligent Design," as a concept, has been hijacked by fundamentalist anti-evolution forces in order to further a creationist agenda. That's too bad, because I think there are some interesting philosophical lines of thought that could come out of discussion of ID, if only the discourse hadn't become such a joke.

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THE REAL JOHN LENNON

From Democracy Now:

While the highlights of Lennon's career with the Beatles is well known, Lennon is less remembered for his political activism and dedication to peace. Lennon wrote some of the most famous songs of the anti-war movement: "Give Peace A Chance", "Imagine" and "Happy Christmas (War Is Over)". He sang at political protests against the Vietnam War, in support of the radical John Sinclair and even for the prisoners of Attica. He and Yoko made international headlines simply by lying in bed as part of their Bed-In For Peace.

The U.S. government saw Lennon as such a serious threat that President Nixon attempted to have him deported in 1972. In addition the FBI closely monitored his actions and amassed a file on Lennon of over 400 pages.

Today -- on the 25th anniversary of John Lennon's death -- we speak with historian Jon Wiener about Lennon's politics and his FBI files.

Click here to listen to, watch, or read the interview.

This interview is fantastic. I've known tons about John for years, but I picked up quite a few new pieces of info about his political life listening to this spot. For instance, this recording of 60s activist Abbie Hoffman talking about his New York meetings with Lennon:

John and Yoko did come and look up myself and Jerry Rubin, and they wanted it known around the New York scene that they had political side to them. They -- before they even got here, they had a lot more political consciousness than just say the bed-ins or other things that they were kind of involved in that might appear a little flaky.

We must have met at least a dozen times, and we started to organize demonstrations at the Republican Convention, which at that time was still in San Diego. And it was -- of course, all of these conversations were monitored by the F.B.I. and God knows who else, you know. And it was these conversations that, number one, forced the convention to move to Miami, and number two, got the immigration service on John Lennon's back. And you know, it's -- I think it's wise to remember that for six years, he was hounded, not just because of some pot possession charge. I mean, there's probably 100-200 people a week that want to come into this country with much more, you know, many more charges, but because that he was both political and was forming alliances with radicals.

He had -- he talked sheer poetry. I mean, you totally hung on every word, and he was extremely dramatic and ran the gambit from, you know, manic excitation to sad depressive, moody states. And he just pulled off one night and just went over to the corner and in three minutes wrote a song, came back and sang it. It was quite a thing to witness.

Wow.

It's amazing the influence John has had on me. I think back to when I first heard "Imagine" over twenty five years ago. No countries, no religion, no posessions, no war, a brotherhood of man. "Nice," I thought, "but utterly impossible, and I love my religion, love my posessions." I've come so far: I believe it all now. What were once to me insane ramblings forgiven because of his great music are now the values by which I live. These ideals are not impossible; they are simply despised by the wealthy and powerful elites who rule the world. Peace and justice do not defy human nature. They are, indeed, possible, but only if our species decides to make it happen.

And, I think, that's what I've devoted my life to. Despite all the years since John was alive, since the civil rights and anti-war movements, despite so many positive changes, we really haven't come very far. The Bush administration only differs from the corrupt and brutal Nixon administration in its level of incompetence. We are once again at war, killing non-white people in a foreign land, for reasons that make no sense. The civil liberties won in the 60s are being slowly taken back. Narrow minded religious fundamentalists have more power than I've seen in my lifetime. Hundreds of African-Americans were needlessly killed, and thousands more driven out of their homes in New Orleans due to governmental indifference. The rich are getting richer. The poor are getting poorer. How can I stand by and do nothing?

When I leave grad school in a year and a half, I'm going to try to go after it with as much energy as John did when he left the Beatles. In the short term, that means open mike nights, and more politically conscious songwriting. In the long term, that means writing and producing, wherever I can, small scale shows aimed at enlightening average ordinary people about our desperate circumstances. I'm an artist, yes, but art cannot be an end to itself. Art must be a means to an end. For me, that end is peace and love.

Yeah, all this John Lennon stuff these past few days is going to my head, but so what? It's good to reconnect with your roots.

Go check out that interview; it's great stuff.

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FRIDAY CAT BLOGGING

My turn now.

Phil and Paz



Sammy



Frankie



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TWO FROM WORKING FOR CHANGE

I've got monologues to prepare this evening. So, as usual, less thought from me, but more from the professionals, one of them being uber-Texan Molly Ivins.

Christmas under attack: A manufactured crisis

Christian fundamentalists, right wing Christian legal groups, and most of the Fox News Channel's prime time crew are echoing variations on the same them; liberals are once again out to destroy Christmas. Instead of the ancient cry that "Jews killed Christ," fundamentalist Christians and their conservative allies are accusing liberals -- which in those circles is often read, Jews -- for trying to remove Christmas from the public square.

Last year, the Rev. Jerry Falwell claimed, "secularists" "hate Christ" and want to "steal Christmas from America. This holiday season, Falwell's Lynchburg, VA.-based Thomas Road Baptist Church has joined forces with a Christian legal outfit, Liberty Counsel, for its "Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign."

Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly -- under fire for recent explosive comments seemingly condoning the destruction of Coit Tower, San Francisco's monument to heroic firefighters, argued on his program that viewers should shun stores that are "anti-Christmas."

Click here for the rest.

Impersonating the Lord

Quite a few people have been mishearing the Lord lately. The Rev. Pat Robertson thinks the Lord told the people of Dover, Pa., they shouldn't ask for His help anymore because they elected a school board Robertson doesn't like. And Rep. Richard Baker of Louisiana said right after Hurricane Katrina that "we finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did it."

I kind of doubt Katrina was designed by the Lord as a form of urban renewal. I think it's a big mistake for us to go around putting our own puny interpretations on stuff that happens and then claiming the Lord meant thus-and-such by it. It is my humble opinion that some folks should do a lot more listening to God and a lot less talking for Him.

Click here for the rest.

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REST IN PEACE JOHN LENNON

I have very few heroes, people whose lives I look to for guidance and inspiration. One of them died twenty four years ago tomorrow. I'll never forget when I found out that he had been murdered. I was in the seventh grade, and they flashed the news at the bottom of the screen during the Monday Night Football game my Dad was watching--he immediately came and told me. I didn't get it at first; I didn't understand what I had lost, but it hit me a few days later and I cried my eyes out. It was the first time I wept for another human being's death. Even today, if I think about it too much, I get a bit misty eyed.

John Lennon was the first to really teach me about peace and love. I still look to him as an exemplar of such values. It is in no way an exaggeration to assert that his death was a staggering blow to Western Civilization. Rest in peace, John.

Mind Games

(Here is a pretty good, but still cheesy, midi file of the song.)

We're playing those mind games together
Pushing the barriers, planting seeds
Playing the mind guerrilla
Chanting the mantra, peace on earth
We all been playing those mind games forever
Some kinda druid dudes lifting the veil
Doing the mind guerrilla
Some call it magic, the search for the grail

Love is the answer and you know that for sure
Love is a flower, you got to let it, you got to let it grow

So keep on playing those mind games together
Faith in the future, outta the now
You just can't beat on those mind guerrillas
Absolute elsewhere in the stones of your mind
Yeah we're playing those mind games forever
Projecting our images in space and in time

Yes is the answer and you know that for sure
Yes is surrender, you got to let it, you got to let it go

So keep on playing those mind games together
Doing the ritual dance in the sun
Millions of mind guerrillas
Putting their soul power to the karmic wheel
Keep on playing those mind games forever
Raising the spirit of peace and love

Love...
(I want you to make love, not war, I know you've heard it before)



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PRETTY GOOD REVIEW FROM THE ADVOCATE
'Big Love' is big fun, LSU Theatre's latest
production a spectacle that defies convention

From the Baton Rouge Advocate:

This play is that friend that some of us have -- that crazy, neurotic, chain-smoking fool whose rants are endlessly irritating, luridly fascinating and jam packed with stormy inner dialogue that barely makes sense, yet is the smartest thing you've heard all day.

Some people love plain oatmeal. A million dollars says playwright Charles L. Mee is one of those guys who mixes his Fruit Loops with Captain Crunch.

The result -- perhaps "Crunch Loops" or "Captain Fruit" -- is rather unpredictable and silly, yet sweet as hell and fortified with nutrients nonetheless.

I think I can see where he's going with this...

Ron Reeder, as Giuliano, plays "gay" gorgeously. Enough said.

I knew it!



On the other hand, he might be making a good point.

Anyway, to summarize, it sounds like the reviewer is a bit uncomfortable with non-realistic post-modernism, but enjoyed himself despite his conventional leanings. Actually, he as much as says that:

The themes contradict, and the ultimate bottom line, that love conquers all, seems a bit convenient in the face of such perfectly orchestrated madness.

But these things are forgiven when you consider that Ingulsrud went out on a professional limb to do such an experimental show here.

One small problem though. This show might have been considered "experimental" a couple of decades back, but not today. I mean, it's not Neil Simon, but then, his best work was some forty years ago. Indeed, Charles Mee's scripts are so "experimental" that the local community company, Baton Rouge Little Theater, is doing one of his plays next year. Whatever. I'm thankful for all the praise.

I do have one BIG problem with the review:

While Richardson gave an impressive performance in "Arms and the Man," she was not as appreciated in this role. Much of that, seemingly, has to do with her character Lydia's moral indecision. Essentially she has an identity crisis: deciding if she can be a strong, independent woman and still acquiesce to the love of a man. The complexity of this indecision seemed to make the character less (rather than more) compelling, perhaps attributable to the actress's overtaxed abilities.

Click here for the rest.

He spends an entire paragraph explaining why he doesn't like the moral ambiguity of the character as written, but then completely reverses himself and attacks my classmate's talent, almost as an afterthought. What a back handed cheap shot. It's a low blow that makes no sense, especially in light of the fact that he seems to already think she's a good actress. Perhaps the reviewer was trying to reflect the thematic contradictions of Big Love by writing a thematically contradictory review. Or perhaps this dislike for the complexities of post-modern theater is attributable to the writer's overtaxed abilities.

But like I said, I'm thankful for all the praise.

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TWO FROM BUZZFLASH

It's late and I'm exhausted once again. So go read these two essays courtesy of BuzzFlash.

Corrupt Intentions
What Cunningham's misdeeds illustrate
about conservative Washington

From Slate:

It used to be said that the moral arc of a Washington career could be divided into four parts: idealism, pragmatism, ambition, and corruption. You arrive with a passion for a cause, determined to challenge the system. Then you learn to work for your cause within the system. Then rising in the system becomes your cause. Then finally you exploit the system—your connections in it, and your understanding of it—for personal profit.

And it remains true, sort of, but faster. Even the appalling Jack Abramoff had ideals at one point. But he took a shortcut straight to corruption. On the other hand, you can now trace the traditional moral arc in the life of conservative-dominated Washington itself, which began with Ronald Reagan's inauguration and marks its 25th anniversary in January. Reagan and company arrived to tear down the government and make Washington irrelevant. Now the airport and a giant warehouse of bureaucrats are named after him.

By the 20th anniversary of their arrival, when an intellectually corrupt Supreme Court ruling gave them complete control of the government at last, the conservatives had lost any stomach for tearing down the government. George W. Bush's "compassionate conservatism" was more like an apology than an ideology. Meanwhile Tom DeLay—the real boss in Congress—openly warned K Street that unless all the choice lobbying jobs went to Republicans, lobbyists could not expect to have any influence with the Republican Congress. This warning would be meaningless, of course, unless the opposite was also true: If you hire Republican lobbyists, you and they will have influence over Congress. And darned if DeLay didn't turn out to be exactly right about this!

Click here for the rest.

The GOP's Roe Gamble

From TomPaine.com:

But there’s also a political reality, and it has made some far-seeing Republicans fearful: The striking down of Roe v. Wade would be one of the worst things that ever happened to the Republican Party.

Rep. Tom Davis, the Virginia Republican who in 2002 helped expand his party’s majority in the House, spoke to this point. If the Supreme Court overturns Roe, he said recently, “you’re going to have a lot of very nervous suburban candidates.’’ He was talking about Republican candidates.

I wouldn’t want to be a Republican politician the day suburban mothers learn there’s no legal way to end their 16-year-old daughter’s unwanted pregnancy. Republicans err in assuming that, on this subject, mothers in the old suburbs differ greatly from mothers in the new exurbs.
Click here for the rest.

You know, I'm probably going to be loaded down tomorrow night, too. Are you listening Miles? I could use some help here. Maybe you can post a government or journalism paper...

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WHY I HATE TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
Aggie charged in manure incident at UT game

From the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

A member of the Texas A&M University Parsons Mounted Cavalry accused of throwing horse manure at University of Texas band members before their annual football game has been charged with criminal mischief.

A lieutenant from the A&M university police said he saw John Richmond Sullivan, 20, throw a shovel full of horse feces at the opposing team's band members at Kyle Field, according to an affidavit.

The incident came before kickoff of the annual game between No. 2 Texas and Texas A&M. Texas beat their archrivals 40-29.

Click here for the rest.

Of course, it's not at all surprising that an Aggie would be playing with manure. That's their thing. Manure. You know, shit from animals. And like the monkeys that they are, they think it's just fine to fling poop at people who they feel threaten them. That, in a nutshell, is why Longhorns hate Aggies.

When I first arrived at the University of Texas at Austin back in 1986, I didn't really have a problem with the Aggies. A lot of my friends from high school went to Texas A&M, and it's a good and well respected school, in many ways academically equal to the University. Of course, there was some anti-Aggie propaganda thrown my way that fall, but it was really more of a school spirit thing, reeking of preppies and frat boys. Not really my thing. Yeah, I wanted our football team to beat them, because they are our rivals and all that, but, really, I had no sense of venom about it all.

That eventually changed. Over the years, everytime some moron Aggie found out I was a UT student he immediately tore into me. "Ooooh," which always seemed spoken in as hick of an accent as you can possibly imagine, "you go to TU?!?"

"No, it's actually UT."

"Ha, ha, ha! You mean TU!!!"

Apparently, this incomprehensible insult, because that's obviously what it is, has something to do with the perception that it's just not right for UT to refer to itself as "The University of Texas" because, and I quote, "there's more than one university of Texas. Like Texas A&M is also a university of Texas." The lyrics to their fight song even say "Goodbye to Texas University..." Like I said, incomprehensible. Unlike my laid back freshman experience at Texas, the Aggies heavily indoctrinate their freshmen into school culture. A great deal of that is how to hate the Longhorns. In fact, it strikes me that the entire philosophical basis for being an Aggie is about hating UT. Pretty nutty, huh? But that's what they're about.

So, I was insulted for years by these inbred cretins:

"Teasip! Ha, ha, ha!"

"Only steers and queers go to Texas! Ha, ha, ha!"

"TU, TU, TU, TU!!! Ha, ha, ha!"

Christ, these jokes aren't even funny. Nonetheless, after years of abuse by these wart-faced rednecks, the whole thing took its toll on me. I didn't ask for this war; it was imposed on me. All I wanted was a friendly little rivalry, but the militaristic retards from College Station clearly want a high level of animosity year round.

Okay. Fine. If that's the way it has to be, I guess that's the way it has to be. The only thing that bugs me about it is that our real rival is the Oklahoma Sooners. I mean, the Aggies are just a pest when you get down to it.

Damned waste of time, really.

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DeLay's hopes dashed for quick end to case

From the Houston Chronicle:

Priest dismissed charges of conspiracy to violate the state election code but upheld a money laundering indictment against DeLay and two of his associates: Jim Ellis and John Colyandro. They were charged in connection with spending corporate money in the 2002 legislative races.

And

DeLay's legal team, headed by Dick DeGuerin of Houston, had challenged the indictments on numerous legal issues, but DeGuerin called two the "silver bullets."

Those points were that the state conspiracy law did not apply to the election code until a year after the 2002 elections.

The other was that the definition of money laundering did not include checks until 2005. TRMPAC transferred the $190,000 in corporate money to the RNC by using a check.

Click here for the rest.

Well, one out of two ain't bad. The dismissal of the conspiracy charge was expected--while unethical, it wasn't actually against the law until after DeLay's conspiratorial activities. The money laundering charge, however, seemed much more solid, and the judge agreed. Really, this is great news. It strikes me as simply a matter of time until DeLay is behind bars. All they've got are bullshit arguments: everybody agrees that the money was transferred; DeGuerin (full disclosure: I shook his hand last summer), a great lawyer, has no choice but to conjure up a slew of technical arguments to defend his client. There's a chance that he could confuse a jury, but there just seems to be so much sleaze surrounding DeLay, I don't think they have a chance in hell.

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GLOBAL WARMING: Hard-core evidence

From the Houston Chronicle editorial board:

Robert May, the head of Britain's top scientific body, The Royal Society, says the threats from climate change include rises in sea level, shrinking freshwater supplies in some areas and the increasing incidence of extreme events such as floods, droughts and hurricanes. According to May, the consequences "are rising to levels which invite comparison with weapons of mass destruction."

In the last month, new studies indicate global warming is proceeding faster than previously thought. Analysis of Antarctic ice cores spanning the last 650,000 years revealed that the amount of carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere has shot up over the past two centuries to the highest levels in the sampling. U.S. researchers used East Coast sediment samples to establish that annual sea level rises of 1 millimeter over the past 5,000 years doubled in the past 150 years, coinciding with the introduction of fossil fuel use.

At the same time, geophysicists at Oregon State University and the University of Utah announced findings from soil and tree ring analysis indicating average temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere have increased 1.5 degrees over the same century and a half since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.

President Bush has acknowledged the growing evidence for global warming, but his administration remains on the sidelines as world leaders grapple with the issue. The U.S. Senate has passed a nonbinding resolution calling for economically responsible efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Click here for the rest.

You know, this story isn't simply about the devastating effects of global warming and how the US, as a nation, seems to just not give a shit: it's absolute proof that our country is run of, by, and for the wealthy elites who own it. It has been known for at least a decade that fossil fuels are destroying the atmospheric gasses which filter solar heat. Instead of doing something about it, however, our ruling elite has engaged in a disinformation campaign which has bogged down public discourse in a morass of bullshit about whether or not there actually is such a thing as global warming.

Why? Because doing something about global warming will cost big business a great deal of money. Never mind the fact that we're talking about the lives of everyone on the planet. The priority of the US has been to protect profits, and fuck everything else. Obviously, it's totally insane for a democracy to act in a way that is profoundly harmful to its citizens. It is not insane, however, for a plutocracy to do such a thing. After all, the biggest concern for a government run by the wealthy must necessarily be their wealth. And that's exactly what's going on with this global warming situation.

Like I keep on saying, we do not live in a democracy. Our nation has democratic elements, yes, but that's mostly a show. You and I have no real power. America is for the rich, and it's our job to do their will. Our best interests simply don't matter. Sick, isn't it?

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STILL MORE ON BIG LOVE
LSU Theatre performs delayed opener

Another advance article, this time from LSU's student newspaper The Reveille:

After much delay due to Hurricane Katrina, the world will finally have the chance to see LSU Theatre’s production of “Big Love” – just leave the kids at home for this one.

“The show does have mature themes such as murder, sexuality, language and cartoon violence,” said Vastine Stabler, director of marketing and public relations for LSU Theatre.

Nikki Travis, a Master’s of Fine Arts candidate who is playing the character of Olympia in “Big Love,” said despite the violence in the play, “Big Love” is a love story many students will be able to relate to.

“Love is a huge theme in this play,” Travis said. “There is anger and murder, but what it all boils down to is love.”

“Big Love” was written by Charles L. Mee and is a modern update of Aeschlyus’ “The Suppliant Women,” a story of 50 brides being forced to marry their cousins. The modern version of this story centers around three of these women, sisters Lydia, Olympia and Thyona as they either flee from or embrace love.

“I think that young people will be able to relate to being in love and not being sure if that person is the right person for you,” Travis said. “It is a universal theme.”

Click here for the rest.

Well, the article is nigh on incoherent, but any publicity is good publicity, I say.

We had a really good audience for the opening night performance Friday, lots of laughing and whatnot, but a somewhat smaller and quieter group on Saturday--it's hard to say whether they enjoyed it. It is a weird play, and it's tempting to assume that people from a smaller town like Baton Rouge just might not get it. On the other hand, it's an engaging and entertaining script. I just can't imagine that its vaguely avant garde nature would put off anybody who might set foot into a theater in the first place. I mean, we've got singing and dancing for god's sake! Who doesn't like that? We've even got rock and roll and Bach. I think they liked us last night even if they weren't laughing their heads off.

At any rate, I'm quite sure we've got a good show on our hands, myself.

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FROM THE REAL ART SPORTS DESK:
TEXAS PLAYS LIKE A CHAMPION; LSU DOES NOT

From the Austin American-Statesman:

Texas wins Big 12 title with 70-3 romp over Buffaloes

HOUSTON — The best things in college football came by the dozens to the Texas Longhorns on Saturday:

•They won the Big 12 Conference championship in overwhelming fashion, defeating Colorado 70-3, in Houston's Reliant Stadium.

•They improved to 12-0 for the first time in school history.

•They wrapped up a dozen roses and a trip to their first Bowl Championship Series national championship game — a return trip to the Rose Bowl on Jan. 4.

"A lot of people said last year we were coming back," Longhorn coach Mack Brown said of his team's two consecutive trips to Pasadena. "Now we are."

Brown's team was handed the Big 12 championship trophy on the field after the game — along with a massive bouquet of roses.

The only drama Saturday came after the game, when the second-ranked Longhorns awaited the outcome of the UCLA vs. Southern Cal game to learn their Rose Bowl opponent.

USC, ranked No. 1 in the polls all season and in the current BCS standings, is seeking its third consecutive national title. Texas, which last claimed a national title in 1970, is seeking its fourth in school history.

The BCS bowl lineup will become official at 4 p.m. Central time Sunday. Texas' place in the national championship was secured a lot earlier than that.

Before an overwhelmingly burnt-orange crowd of 71,107, Texas jumped on Colorado (7-5) from the start, forcing a Buffalo fumble on the game's opening drive. Colorado would go on to turn the ball over four times as it suffered the worst loss in Big 12 championship history.

Click here for the rest.

Not much to say here. The game was every bit as lopsided as the score indicates. Indeed, I called my wife, who was at work, early in the third quarter, and while we were talking, for less than ten minutes, Texas scored three touchdowns. In fact, if you put together the last ten minutes of the second quarter with the first ten minutes of the third quarter, you see how utterly dominating the 'Horns were today: they got seven touchdowns in twenty minutes of game time. Somehow the word "rout" just doesn't do justice. This was a massacre of Biblical proportions. I actually felt kind of sorry for the Buffaloes by the time the fourth quarter rolled around. But this is what I wanted to see, Texas making a very loud statement, especially after the embarrassingly close game against Texas A&M last week.

But USC, the 'Horns' opponent for the national title game at the Rose Bowl in January, also made a statement today: they beat a much better opponent, 11th ranked UCLA, almost as convincingly, 66-19. It's going to be a good game between these two college football giants. I hope the Longhorns are ready.


Texas quarterback Vince Young relishes the victory (photo courtesy of ESPN)

On the other hand, my other college team didn't fare so well. From the AP via the Baton Rouge Advocate:

Injuries sink LSU's championship hopes

ATLANTA (AP) -- LSU began its Saturday gameday routine believing it still could win the national championship. By the end of the day that belief - and the No. 3 Tigers' hopes for a Southeastern Conference title - were lost in a wave of injuries and penalties.

With the 34-14 loss to No. 13 Georgia, LSU may have to settle for a repeat trip to the Georgia Dome for the Dec. 30 Peach Bowl. Another option is the Cotton Bowl, which is believed to be favoring Alabama but could reconsider and pick LSU.

The SEC championship game loss to Georgia already appeared certain when quarterback JeMarcus Russell left the field late in the third quarter with an injured left shoulder. The Bulldogs led 24-7, a shocking score for LSU, considering it had spent its season playing close game after close game.

LSU also lost receiver Early Doucet with an ankle injury in the second quarter.

Click here for the rest.

Not much to say here either. I didn't get to watch this one because I had to go to the theater for tonight's performace of Big Love, but I was keeping track of it online. It seems that Georgia had the game in hand pretty early on. For a short time at the start of the second quarter, when the Tigers were only down by a touchdown, it looked like we had a chance, but no such luck. It looks like this season's Tiger magic has worn off. Really, given how they've performed this year, with such close victory margins, numerous turnovers, and generally sloppy play, I'm surprised they've only got two losses. I suppose I should be thankful for what they've accomplised. After all, this part of the state has been in hurricane hell for months--10-2 really ain't so bad.

And there's no shame in not making the BCS. Texas, for instance, kept out by OU again and again, has posted some pretty cool and dramatic victories in second tier bowls. The Tigers still have one more to go, and I bet they play well.


Louisiana State University quarterback JaMarcus Russell
grimaces in pain after being sacked in the third quarter (AP Photo)

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