Super Tuesday

for the politically inclined today is an historic day. it is the first time in the history of electoral politics in this country that a nation wide primary has been attempted. 24 states in all are participating. regardless of where you come down politically, even if you find politics completely irrelevant or corrupt it is still a fascinating drama to watch.

i have a brief thought on immigration and the current imbroglio that has been stirred up by the mccain bashing regarding his pro-immigration stance. the first political act regarding immigration was the naturalization act of 1790, and somewhat infamously offered naturalization to "free white persons." Obviously this was designed to leaved out slaves and other africans/blacks that might otherwise gain naturalization. this law wasn't changed until 1870, which allowed blacks and former slaves to become naturalized citizens. and the final change came in the 1950's which allowed asian peoples to become citizens. clearly the element here is that the immigration issue has always been run through with a racist and racially motivated element. it stands to reason that the current climate of anti-immigration is similarly fueled by racist/racially motivated reasons. i realize that things are often more complicated than we allow them to be, but i think that because of the substantive historical legacy of race informing our immigration policies it is undoubtedly informing and influencing a large portion of the debate now.
amnesty makes sense. i don't know the financial numbers on this, but i would assume that the cost of "rounding up" illegals would be prohibitive. where as simply processing those already here makes the most fiscal sense. to be honest the amount of ambiguity on this issue is pretty profound. as for me, i am continuing to wrestle with what is just and what is compassionate regarding this issue...
enough for now.

adoption...

started back to school today. sitting in ethics taught by anthony bradley. first thing brought up was this stat...115 million "christians" in america. 56 million "evangelicals". 115,000 orphans. to quote, "how is it that we can't find 115,000 thousand families, out of 56 million people to adopt?" yeah. amen to that.
we've been talking about adopting...i suppose we'll see.

there will be blah

the title of this post is misleading. the movie is not blah. by movie i mean, there will be blood. just got home from seeing it at the tivoli. first thoughts, more later.
soundtrack: imposing, cacophonous, discordant --> a musical embodiment of daniel plainview's mania. this might seem a bit of a stretch, but i would argue that it is the music that elevates this movie from a otherwise interesting character study to a near transcendent story of human nature. just me.
Daniel Day Lewis: i have always loved his work. it is something about the intensity that he exudes that i have always found attractive. he is no disappointment here. it is a reprisal of sorts of his character bill the butcher from gangs of new york. minus the theatrics. he is devastating. evil. fascinating and yet repulsive. he is in short: mesmerizing. perhaps the most amazing performance i have ever seen.
paul dano: colorblind kid from little miss sunshine (top ten entry for last year). he was great as well. a bit shrill. but i suppose that was the plan.
paul thomas anderson: i looked at some of the boards on imdb, people go on and on.
"it's pretentious, it's self-indulgent." shutup. just....shutup. dudes telling a story, and he's telling it straight. "the pacing is so slow"...read a book doofus. why do movies have to have quick pacing. someone hasn't seen solaris - five minute long shots of bubbling creek beds or nighttime traffic...oh well. well done p.t., i wish i had your skillz.
as i said...more later. bed time for bonzo.

top ten - music and movies

the following list is my top ten for both film and music. and in that order.


movies:
there will be blood
no country for old men
the darjeeling limited
bourne supremacy
rescue dawn
zodiac
eastern promises
once
lars and the real girl
ratatouille

honorable mention: eagle vs. shark, gone baby gone, 3:10 to Yuma
honorable mention for movies i haven't seen yet: juno, the savages, atonement, persepolis, and 4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days

music:
radiohead - in rainbows
the national - boxer
fiest - the reminder
iron and wine - the shepherd's dog
menomena - friend or foe
arcade fire - neon bible
glen hansard and marketa irgolova - the swell season
andrew bird - armchair apocrypha
band of horses - cease to begin
rogue wave - asleep at heaven's gate

building anticipation

i've already said i can't frickin wait for this movie. another article raising expectation. the problem with heightened expectations is that they are almost always not met. i find that movies that come with big expectations, especially critical praise, are almost always a letdown. i hated american beauty. i probably would have like it if it hadn't been a critics wetdream. anyway. well see.

end of year top ten lists

one of my fave things that always arrive at the end of the year are best of lists. music. movies. books. you name it. i love reading them to find some bit of overlooked or previously un-enjoyed bit of beauty, or to remember once again something that i enjoyed during the year. below are a number of links to well known publications. i suppose to enhance my indie cred i should have some random dudes blog linked to his fantastic list mentioning movies and/or music i have never seen nor heard. but i didn't. most of this stuff is accessible. this is not about trying to outdo people with, so here are a few links to some great year end top ten lists,
movies:
from the post-dispatch.
a list by manohla dargis of the new york times
a top 25 by british entertainement sight empire.

side note: part of the beauty of lists like these are the conversations they begin, manohla dargis points this out in her article. and most the conversations are stirred more often by omissions than by inclusions. for instance, there are some glaring omissions on the empire list, and they had 25 chances to get it right. oh well.

on to music (just one):
pitchfork

random viral video:
this has to be my fave viral for the year. seriously. i can't even believe this is real. apparently these prisoners do a whole bunch of other dances. daily exercise, i guess.

hopefully i will get to my own list of top tens for music and movies. maybe ill do books next year. happy new year!

it has been some time....school and all. now i have some time that the primary holiday of the "holidays" is over i will post a bit more. here is an article on my favorite modern director, whose new film, there will be blood, will opening soon. can't wait!
enjoy