Recount

At the height of the 2000 election season, CBS anchor Dan Rather quipped, "The presidential race is crackling like a hickory fire." Director Jay Roach (Austin Powers) recaptures that blaze in his smart HBO docudrama about the thriller in Palm Beach County. Written by actor Danny Strong, Recount bounces between the Sunshine State, Gore's Tennessee headquarters, and Bush's Texas stomping grounds. Gore adviser Ron Klain (an excellent Kevin Spacey) provides a privileged window into those weeks when the American public first became familiar with obscure terms like "hanging chad." (Since Klain has an ax to grind with the vice president, neither he nor Gore appear completely heroic.) First, the Democratic candidate pulls ahead; then he falls behind. Just as he prepares to concede, Klain's colleague, Michael Whouley (Denis Leary), spots an anomaly in the vote count, and the race continues. Enter eccentric Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris (Laura Dern, a certain Emmy nominee), who orders a recount, and former Secretaries of State Warren Christopher (John Hurt) and James Baker III (Tom Wilkinson), who oversee a process that ends up in the Supreme Court (where Ed Begley Jr.'s David Boies represents Gore). Produced by the late Sydney Pollack, who originally intended to direct, Recount skillfully integrates news footage with dark comedy, most provided by the foul-mouthed Whouley and Bush adviser Ben Ginsberg (Bob Balaban), who's still livid about JFK's victory over Nixon. If the Democrats come across as more sympathetic, the Republicans come across as more colorful--and strategically effective. --Kathleen C. Fennessy (from Amazon.com)

Great film - brought back horrible memories, but Dern as Katherine Harris is priceless.

American Wife

by Curtis Sittenfeld

Great Read. Loosley based on Laura Bush, and W's life - I probably enjoyed this book more after watching Oliver Stone's "W" - the bumbling Bush was present in this book as well.

It made me think about the life of a Presidential wife. How hard it must be to have to compromise, especially if your husband is wrecking the county.

This book's plot moved along, it was a good story in itself even without the Bush tie-in, which is not overstated. I alos enjoyed "Prep" by Sittenfeld - a good new writer on the scene.

Banking 101 - huh?(blogging resumes post sinus infection)

back again - I've been reading quite a bit, fascinated and horrified by the country's financial crisis. We've been on a saving spree here, budgeting and staying in (not hard when there's snow everywhere).

The banking crisis is overwhelming to me. I cannot believe there has been no regulation for so long - and the banks are in trouble because THEY gave bad loans to people, and even more will be defaulting on those loans still. Yes, I know it's more complicated than that - but how will this ever resolve without more financial pain and ruin?

Tom Friedman, my hero, sums it up well for me today in the NYT, with his suggestion of what Obama should do:

“Ladies and gentlemen, this crisis started with you, the bankers, engaging in reckless practices, and it will only end when we clean up your mess and start afresh. The banking system is the heart of our economy. It pumps blood to our industrial muscles, and right now it’s not pumping. We all know that in the past six months you’ve gone from one extreme to another. You’ve gone from lending money to anyone who could fog up a knife to now treating all potential borrowers, no matter how healthy, as bankrupt until proven innocent. And, therefore, you’re either not lending to them or lending under such onerous terms that the economy can’t get any liftoff. No amount of stimulus will work without a healthy banking system.

“So here’s what we’re going to do: we’re going to unclog the arteries. My banking experts have analyzed each of your balance sheets. You will tell us if we’re right. Those of you who are insolvent, we will nationalize and shut down. We will auction off your viable assets and will hold the toxic ones in a government reconstruction fund and sell them later when the market rebounds. Those of you who are weak will be merged. And those of you who are strong will receive added capital for your balance sheets, after you write down all your remaining toxic waste. I am not going to continue rewarding the losers and dimwits amongst you with handouts.”

The rest is here. Read it and laugh/weep?

Air Guitar Nation (2006)

"The axes are invisible, the chops are real"

"to err is human, to air guitar is divine"

"Tight long strums is what it's about, man"

"it's the last pure art form. (he) sees it as something that you can't commercialize, because it's invisible... you can steal some one's possessions, but you can't take away something that's invisible."

Set around the 2003 Annual Air Guitar World Championship Contest, and in particular around the first-time American participants, Air Guitar Nation plays like a tournament movie, pitting two opponents against each other, the "favorite" C-Diddy and the "relentless challenger" Björn Türoque.

This is quite a nice balance after the book about REAL guitar that I just read. Very serious musicians, albeit without any actual instruments. Enjoy!

Practicing: A Musician's Return to Music

by Glenn Kurtz

Guitar was the young Kurtz's passion. From lessons as a child, through summers at a guitar camp where he learned aspects of performance, on to the New England Conservatory of Music in preparation for a solo career, and actually pursuing that career in Vienna, he describes the journey that led to the recognition that he wasn't cut out to be a performer. Practice is putting love into the music, he sees, and performance is sending that love to the listener. Including discussion of the history of the guitar and of the composers of music for it, he traces an odyssey that turns full circle 10 years later when he resumes playing for his own enjoyment. He bares his soul, relating his feelings during practice, audition, and performance, as well as his experiences with teachers, mentors, and other artists. Although Kurtz writes in stream-of-consciousness style, virtually everyone who is dedicated to getting the most out of music by playing it will appreciate his insights into the art of practice for the love of music. (from Amazon)

Great read for the musician in all of us. Kurtz includes substantial interesting guitar history tidbits, as well as vivid depictions of life in the practice room.

News from off the soapbox: poverty in India

I saw Slumdog Millionaire yesterday. I thought it was great, plot devices were clever. Go see it - Roger Ebert's review is a better summary than I can give here.

It also, however, was yet another stunning depiction of the abject poverty that still happens, in this day and age, in the world. I was reminded of the following:

“To sum up, an overwhelming majority of the Indian population, around three-quarters, is poor and vulnerable and it is a staggering 836 million as of 2004-05. This includes 70 million or 6.4% who may be characterised as extremely poor with a per capita consumption of less than or three-quarters of the official poverty line. To this should be added 167 million of those who are poor with consumption not more than that fixed as the official poverty line. If this is relaxed to include those with a per capita consumption of up to 25% above the poverty line, called marginally poor here, then we find another 207 million. These three groups account for 444 million or 40.8% of the population. To this we add those with a per capita consumption between 1.25 and two times the poverty line as vulnerable and this group of poor and vulnerable comes to 836 million of Indians or well over 75% of the population.

“The next major finding is the close association between poverty and vulnerability with one’s social identity. The two social groups who are at the bottom by this classification are the SCs/STs, who constitute the bottom layer, and the Muslims, who are in the next layer. This does not mean that the other groups are far better off. The next group is the OBCs but better than the two bottom layers. Even for those who do not belong to any of these groups, the incidence is 55%.”

from ‘India’s Common People: Who Are They, How Many Are They and How Do They Live?’ by Arjun Sengupta, K P Kannan and G Raveendran in the Economic & Political Weekly, March 15, 2008

We have a LONG way to go in fixing this world. And I suppose fixing means different things to different folks: I mean making sure people are basically healthy and safe with enough to eat, and are not regularly tortured and persecuted. We as Americans are all yearning for a better 2009, it's hard to be reminded that there's so many places in this world where people quite simply do not have the ability, the means, or the luxury of even hoping for a better future. They are living moment to moment, with not many moments left.

A good place to read about India's social justice issues is at infochange.

Amesbury Friends Cuba Benefit

Amesbury, Mass. - Looking for a great way to warm up on a cold winter night? On Saturday, Jan. 10, head over to the Friends Meetinghouse, 120 Friend St., for an evening of Cuban music, dancing and food, and benefit the survivors of this past summer’s Cuban hurricanes at the same time.

Members of Amesbury Meeting are headed to Cuba. Attend the festivities if you are local!