Operation Indiscriminate Justice

Carrie Ends Up With Big in 'Sex' Finale

I promised Jon that I'd use the title above today, and it's as sensible as anything else for the mish-mash that follows.

First, the wedding was wonderful. Any fears of roasting on the altar were alleviated by the presence of enough tears to put out any fire, and the reception was one of the best nights of my life. If that's as close as I ever get to being the groom, it's as a good a surrogate as could be asked for--though, as I'll detail, I won't ever be satisfied by a surrogate.

Second, the end of Sex and the City was deliciously satisfying. While I was moved by the fact that Charlotte finally got her baby--and has found peace with her own imperfections--and while it was thrilling to see Carrie finally tame Big--I found the closure for Miranda and Samantha most satisfying. Samantha's realization that Smith really loves her, and that his love meant more than sex, was almost Kierkegaardian, and the way the writers moved from a very touching acknowledgement of Smith's place in her life to her final scene of ecstasy was a perfect capstone for her character. And Miranda: Magda's benediction of her, that kiss on the forehead, said everything. Who has watched Miranda's life more closely than Magda? When she saw Miranda bathing Steve's mother, the look in her eyes said it all: that woman has grown up. I know many people will say the show ended with a cop-out--returning to New York with Big, revealing his name as the Big kicker--but I was very happy that they let our girls grow and change in the final season and rewarded that growth so handsomely in the finale.

Someone else revealed that he hasn't grown very much on Sunday: Ralph Nader. I'm pleased that he's pledged not to go after the Democratic nominee, but his presence in the race is problematic for reasons beyond the practical, we-need-every-vote-we-can-get one: symbolically, it fragments our side of the debate while the Republicans, no matter how much they disagree about deficit spending and even social issues, stand together behind their favorite C-student. (For more about C-students, read Calvin Trillin's interesting op-ed piece today about the difference in how the media covered Dan Quayle's National Guard service and how they've covered Bush's.)

As shameless as Nader is, though, my notion of politics this election year may take the cake. The past year has seen great strides for gay rights and for public recognition of gay issues. There are those who fear that pressing the issue right now would be dangerous and potentially counterproductive, that actions like Gavin Newsom's in San Francisco and the decision of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court will turn the public against us. While that's possible, I think this is the time to push forward and push hard. The issue is on the table--the only question is whether we let Bush and his $150 million war chest define it or whether we do it ourselves. With that in mind, I believe that 2004 is the time when every gay man and lesbian woman should speak his or her mind to every straight friend and family member possible. Tell them just how much the notion of a Federal Marriage Amendment hurts. Talk about the financial and legal ramifications--inheritance rights, hospital visitation rights, countless other accoutrements of marriage that the gay community must ask lawyers to cobble together for us if we want to protect ourselves and those we love. Talk about the stigma such an amendment would put on us, and how fundamentally wrong it would feel to live in a country that enshrined discrimination in its constitution. Tell them it's a deal-breaker: you can't support this amendment, or the president who will annouce his support for it any day now, and claim to support me, too.

We've been shamed, and ashamed, all of our lives. It's time to turn the shame around, to speak boldly and with one voice and say that we will not be driven back into the dark, will not be pigeonholed by commentators from Georgia or politicians from the Bible Belt. The personal has become political this election season, and if we're going to keep moving forward, gay people must be willing to confront this reality with the people who love us.

Going to the Chapel

No, not me. But don't expect much from me this weekend; Brian and Michele are getting married, which means that I get to test my theory that setting foot in a Catholic church could cause me to burst into flames. I'll be back to comment on the end of Sex and the City on Monday.

Until then, I leave you with the words that sealed the fate of Friends last night: "With us, it's never off the table." Methinks a Ross/Rachel reunion is in the offing...

Meaningless

In Polls, Kerry, Edwards Both Lead Bush

It's way too early for a 12-point lead in the polls to mean anything--so why does the fact that Kerry leads Bush 55 to 43, and that Edwards leads Bush 54 to 44, bring me such glee?

It shows that at least 55 percent of the "likely" electorate (as opposed to the registered electorate, where I imagine Bush would be beaten even more soundly) is willing, right now, to consider voting for someone other than Bush in November. This means that calling him out on his record of job "outsourcing" and unilateral military response to "imminent threats" can sway people. That's very encouraging.

Not so encouraging: extreme close-ups of John Spencer on last night's West Wing made him look ghoulish. And fair is fair--it was just as lame for Leo to echo John Kerry's insistence that every day after Vietnam must be harnessed to honor the memory of those who lost their lives as it was to hear him echo the Bush rationale for unilateral war last week. The episodes aren't downright rotten--it was fun to see Ryan show up Josh in the Oval Office, for instance, and CJ's rout on the Taylor Reid show was amusing--but the overall plot of the show seems to be adrift. Hopefully the return of Tim Matheson as the ex-VP next week will make things interesting. Any speculation on what story CJ has to spin because of Hoynes?

Common Sense

Daley has 'no problems' with gay marriages

It's nice to see someone from the "heartland" standing up for gay rights. Today Mayor Daley said he has "no problem" with gay marriage. He also urged people to look at the real problems plaguing marriage, like a high divorce rate: "People have to look at their own lives and at their own marriages," he said. "Don't blame the gay, lesbian, transgender community, please. Don't blame them for it."

I hope more heartland politicians take a stand like Daley's. It will help our cause immensely to see this in the Tribune tomorrow.

Foot in the Grave

Dean to End His Campaign

Just a few days ago, Howard Dean was saying it was too early to write his political obituary. The link above shows that at least two reporters paid him no heed; it's a pretty good obit of his campaign, which will end this afternoon.

It's my birthday today, and the gift I'd like from Howard Dean is this: drop out with grace, and don't endorse anyone yet, but make it clear that you intend to support the Democratic nominee and that you will push to get your supporters to do the same. Offer to continue to organize support on the internet. And please, reprise the scream! And my requested gift from Kerry and Edwards is this: thank Dean for changing the shape of this race, awakening the Democratic Party's soul, and getting so many people excited about politics again. During the long, parabolic arc of his campaign, it's undeniable that Dean changed the debate and showed that taking Bush to task for his failings can be a more effective strategy than coddling him. For that alone, we owe him a debt of gratitude.

Connections

This says it all.

Pop Culture Shock

Polaroid Warns Film Users Not to 'Shake It'

As if OutKast hasn't been in the news enough the last two weeks, winning the Album of the Year Grammy, angering Indians during the ceremony, and opening the NBA All-Star Game, they've also inspired Polaroid to make a statement regarding the line "shake it like a Polaroid picture." Wouldn't it be fun if all the companies whose products are mentioned in songs issued press releases about it? Can you imagine how busy Cadillac would be?

In a Family Way

The 'M-Word': Why It Matters To Me

Andrew Sullivan is a gay conservative who has made a career out of his blog. That in and of itself is remarkable. But what I find most amazing is how he distills what it was like to grow up different from everyone else, and how he gives voice to the paramount desire that he and I share: that no one else need experience that pain, that questioning, that loneliness. It's a cliche to say we should do something for the children, and also one of the standard arguments being used to demonstrate the need for the Federal Marriage Amendment. Sullivan shows that the children, surprisingly enough, would be a lot better off without it.

Big Deal

Sex and the City - 'An American Girl in Paris (Part Une)'

Enough with the politics and the big baseball trades--let's talk about something really important. Will Carrie pick Petrovsky or Big in next week's series finale? How will the writers wrap up Samantha's cancer storyline and her relationship with Smith? Will Charlotte and Harry adopt a child? Is there anything left to say about Miranda?

And, perhaps most importantly, doesn't the new season of The Sopranos look like it's going to be awesome?

Thanks, Bill

Valentine's Day, that great state holiday

To my great joy, the Boston Globe has posted Bill Maher's final new rule of the week, which deals--quite humorously--with the desire of the Republicans to amend the Constitution to deal with weddings. When you read it, realize that when Bill said it, he made it clear that the last words of almost every paragraph were meant to be funny. Enjoy!

Throw Down

He Ought to Know

The Washington Post apparently doesn't like being used as a pawn by the Bush campaign. The editorial above rips into Bush for citing the paper in the video he sent to six million supporters, a video that called John Kerry unprincipled and portrayed him as a tool of the very special interests he derides in his campaign.

As the Post said, "let's consider the source." Did you know that donors to Bush in 2000 were classified by industry code so he'd know how much pork he owed to each group? Neither did I, but it makes a man I already didn't like look even worse.

Hot Pursuit

So Begins the Vice-Presidential Mating Dance

Happy Valentine's Day. Who will win John Kerry's heart and be the VP on the ticket?

An interesting possibility dawned on me while reading the article above: why not pick Bill Richardson as VP to win the Latino vote and promise to replace the abominable John Ashcroft with John Edwards? Has there ever been a more natural Attorney General than Edwards, or a more divisive one than Ashcroft? I stand by my other picks below, and Edwards is still a fine VP choice, but this idea might help Kerry and the Democrats even more.

Time Out

Passionate speeches evoke tears

While gay couples marry in San Francisco, giving California something to think about, lawmakers in Boston have given up for a month. They can't get an amendment passed that bans gay marriage. If they don't find a way to pass it in March, I predict they never will: once the first couples marry, and the sky doesn't fall, passing an amendment that would undo those marriages will be seen as exponentially more cruel than the same amendment today. The speeches cited in the article above are the sort of argument that needs to be presented to the American people over and over, and not just in the Massachusetts legislature or the Berkshire Eagle . This supposedly black-and-white issue of fundamental morals is actually about real people and their everyday lives. We work alongside you, pay taxes alongside you, live and die with you. All the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has suggested is that we deserve the same protections as you. OK, I suppose this is an issue of fundemental morals.

You may ask why it matters whether those protections come as marriage or in the guise of civil unions. Every state has marriages; at the very least, couples who marry in Massachusetts can expect that some more liberal states will immediately recognize those marriages, and corporations that do business in Massachusetts would immediately extend benefits to married same-sex couples. In the longer term, allowing gay marriages in one state is a more useful social experiment than offering civil unions. We've already seen that civil unions didn't destroy Vermont; now it's time to find out if a state can survive gay marriage. If Massachusetts can survive, the slippery slope by which marriage rights may spread to the rest of the nation may not seem quite so daunting to those who fear it.

Of course, if the current Supreme Court heard a case in which Ohio refused to recognize a marriage from Massachusetts, there's a chance the same five justices who started this ballgame with Lawrence v. Texas could end it by forcing all 50 states to acknowledge gay marriages performed in any state. While that may not be the ideal way to make progress on civil rights, it would certainly be the fastest.

Rally Round

Clark to Endorse Kerry, Democrats Say

I've been burned before for saying that an endorsement will end a race, but this one looks a lot more like the icing on the cake than anything meaningful. How does John Kerry manage to lose the nomination at this point? What will journalists do until July?

Perhaps they can speculate on jobs for all the Democrats who didn't win the nomination. Here are my picks:
John Edwards: Vice-President
Wesley Clark: Secretary of Defense
Howard Dean: Fundraising Chair, Democratic National Committee
Dick Gephardt: Secretary of Labor
Carol Moseley Braun: Secretary of Housing and Urban Development or Education
Joe Lieberman: Senator, Connecticut
Dennis Kucinich: Representative, Ohio
Al Sharpton: Debating Partner for Alan Keyes

Birthday of a Saviour

Excerpt from The Partly Cloudy Patriot

The page above contains the full text of the first essay in Sarah Vowell's excellent book of essays, The Partly Cloudy Patriot. The essay is about her visit to Gettysburg, and it meditates on the meaning and importance of the Gettysburg Address. Since the man who delivered that address turns 195 today, I thought it appropriate that we consider a bit of his finest work. My favorite sentence in Vowell's essay, by the way, is the last one. It's a great payoff.

Unfortunately, I must mingle my respects for Lincoln with a pronouncement that has been developing for weeks now: The West Wing is no longer a great show. The clunky dialogue, ridiculous plots, and preaching have become intolerable. Josh doesn't sound like Josh anymore. Leo sounds like a moron: "There's a new member of the club." Jed delivers lectures in the Oval Office on how important his decisions are, and even the great Dule Hill is reduced to sounding like he'd rather be reading a menu than the lines he's been given. Toby saves social security one week and the next he's got to freak out about a nuclear explosion and toss a softball about the U.N. to Leo so Leo can explain, for John Wells, why the U.S. was justified in going to Iraq--the U.N. just wants to whine and moan but they really expect us to act unilaterally. The commentary on actual political events used to be sly and clever. Now it's obvious and sounds silly.

Feel free to prove me wrong. The show hasn't been giving you much to work with, though...

Wedgie

Bush Plans To Back Marriage Amendment

The headline above comes as little surprise; now that Bush essentially has a fall opponent in John Kerry, it's time for him to start running his campaign. But the following paragraph from the article above shows how tremendously cynical and deceptive this White House is:

Republican officials said Bush's decision to proceed now was driven partly by his desire to start the general election campaign on a fresh issue, at a time when his credibility has been battered by questions about prewar warnings of unconventional weapons in Iraq, as well as doubts raised by Democrats about his National Guard service.

The sad thing is that this will probably work, at least for a while. But here's an important question: will the Federal Marriage Amendment ever become part of the Constitution?

Harsh Assessment

Mr. Bush's Revisionism

The last two days of editorials in the New York Times have not been shy about President Bush's appearance on TV this Sunday. I'm about to watch the tape, but thought I'd welcome comment on the appearance--and public reaction to it--now.

By the way, D.C. was great during the three hours I got to experience it. Seeing the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Jefferson Memorial was stirring as always, particularly reading the Gettysburg Address. I also heard a lot of interesting things while I was gone, including these:
"In these days of difficulty, we Americans everywhere must and shall choose the path of social justice,the path of faith, the path of hope and the path of love toward our fellow men."
"We must scrupulously guard the civil rights and civil liberties of all our citizens, whatever their background. We must remember that any oppression, any injustice, any hatred, is a wedge designed to attack our civilization."
"The structure of world peace cannot be the work of one man, or one party, or one nation. It must be a peace which rests on the cooperative effort of the whole world."
Sound like something that was said over the weekend? It could have been, but it wasn't. The most interesting and inspiring of the many memorials I walked to during my eight-mile patriotic hike was the one for F.D.R., which is an open-air park featuring numerous quotes from the man on the dime, including the three above. John Kerry should take a stroll through the park as he contemplates his message for the fall; much of the wisdom of President Roosevelt is sadly relevant to life today, a point that is just begging to be made.

Capital Beat

I will be in Washington, D.C. for work from today until next Tuesday. There's a chance I'll be able to post from there, but I'd call it remote.

I know the comments are malfunctioning right now. I'm sure they'll be fixed soon. When they are, I'd appreciate it if you'd leave a comment if you visit. I'm requesting this because I used to know exactly who was visiting, and now I find that I have no idea who many of the visitors who show up in the log are.

Have a great weekend!

Divider, not a Uniter

Bush's strategy: Pander to prejudice

All my optimism about the upcoming election ground to a halt this morning, just as the Massachusetts Supreme Court brought a smile to my face by saying that, yes, we were serious, and we won't take civil unions as a waffling way out. Marriage for everyone.

This is super news, but it would have been better if the presumptive Democratic nominee weren't from Massachusetts. Because I've figured out what the issue will be in this election, if Bush has his way: Me.

One day, someone will free me from my status as a wedge issue. A Democrat with nerve and guts will slam some poor Republican in a debate with a pithy statement that will knock this issue off the map, make it clear to the millions of Americans whose thinking on this issue is cloudy that, whether they support or hate the idea of gay marriage, it doesn't have a damn thing to do with their lives. What society and government eventually decide about the issue will help--or hurt--me, not them. Then the Democrat will get back to talking about the deficit, the war, the environment, health care--issues that impact everyone.

I hope the Democrat who can pull this off is John Kerry. But the fact that my life is about to be the center of the presidential election does not make me happy or optimistic. Please, America, prove me wrong.

Falling Short, Standing Tall

The New Math: Make a Wish

Still not convinced that the Bush budget is a bunch of crap? Read the article above. Then take a look at today's article from Nicholas Kristof in the Times. The Bush budget and fiscal policy are more than a load of lies. They're a threat to America as we know it.

Fortunately, a contender is rising from the messy fray of the Democratic Party to take Bush to town in November. There will be a few weeks yet of bickering among the candidates, but no rookie general or baby-faced trial lawyer is going to derail the increasingly presidential-looking John F. Kerry. Dean may as well be Void in Vermont as well as the rest of the country. Now that we have an answer to the race's biggest question--when will Joe Lieberman admit defeat?--the great drama of the race is wondering who will drop out next and who will try hardest to knock Kerry down. Also worth wondering: Will the running mate come from within the race or will it be someone like Bill Richardson of New Mexico? Don't be surprised if Edwards, who has nowhere else to go, sounds exceedingly gracious when he finally drops out and endorses Kerry. Nothing can keep him in the limelight like being the running mate.

John F. Kerry vs. George W. Bush. It could be the most important election in decades.

Conversion Factor

Kerry's New Position Brings More Interest

Not only does the article above feature plenty of Democrats who, like me, have fallen in step behind Kerry as the man to free us from Bush, but afterward you can read You'll Know Who Won If... and laugh at how well it lampoons nearly every media outlet covering the election.

Marginalia

Kerry leading Bush in new poll

It's very early, yes, but it's still encouraging to see John Kerry leading George W. Bush in the polls by an amount that puts his lead outside the margin of error. This also marks the first time a Democrat has polled above 50% in a national poll against incumbent Bush, at least in any poll I've seen. There's a lot of money yet to be spent--at least $200 million--but Bush better start hoping he finds bin Laden. He may need the boost.

Elevating the Debate

The Stars Have Voted

As long as the media are willing to obsess over botox and breasts, I feel justified in posting this link to an astrologer's take on the Democratic race. Like any astrology reading, this one seems eerily prescient in places. I hope you find it amusing.

Gathering Consensus

Budgets of Mass Destruction

It's appropriate that this column by Thomas Friedman ran on the same day that CBS didn't run MoveOn.org's ad during the Super Bowl, as the two have the same theme. Friedman brilliantly sums up what people should realize between now and November: "long-term tax cuts without long-term spending cuts are not tax cuts. They are 'tax deferrals' — with the burden to be borne by your future or your kid's future."

If Democrats can make this the signature issue of the election, I honestly don't see how they can lose.

Skin Deep

Democrat Dean Hints at Rival's Wrinkle Rumors

Could the big issue of the 2004 be a dermatologic one? If it turns out John Kerry lied about getting Botox, you can be sure it'll be a punchline, not only now but in November. He does look younger now than he did a few months ago...is it the energy of being in the lead, or the magic of botulism?

Playing With Fire

Patriot Games

Eleanor Clift explains why Bush shouldn't even try to dig into John Kerry's war record. She's right. Here's hoping the issue comes up in a big way during the election.

Conflicted

Democrats Increase Pressure on Scalia

Here's another issue that Democrats aren't pressing enough: how is Antonin Scalia NOT required to recuse himself from a case involving Dick Cheney after they went on a hunting trip together during the time between when the Court agreed to hear the case and the actual proceedings? As a professor quoted in the article notes, ordinary Americans can quickly see how there's no way Scalia can claim that his impartiality in the case is beyond doubt. How much outcry will it take to convince Scalia, over whom there is no oversight but that of God, that he should do the right thing and bench himself?

We should find out. Democrats should raise their voices, make the case to the American people, and generally make so much noise about this that Cheney pulls Scalia aside during a fishing trip and begs him to sit this one out.

Irony Everywhere

Givers and Takers

The article above points out one of the central ironies of today's political divide: the people most likely to be living off the largess of the federal government are also the most likely to support shrinking it. I've seen this up close, and it's kind of funny. Working on museum projects for the federal government in Montana, I met lots of people who blamed the government for everything, even as it subsidized their chosen existence in a wind-swept and infertile hell by taking money out of my pocket. There's no way to make ends meet in a lot of the red states without the government intervening--if you want to talk about welfare queens, Dakotans, Montanans, Wyomingans, and Idahoans should be at the top of the list. Yet they're the very people who like to rail against the excesses of government, to tell everyone to pull themselves up by their bootstraps.

Beyond the hypocrisy this irony makes evident, though, is a political problem for Democrats: how do we win when Republicans control the government and have the power to whisper soothing promises of smaller government into red states' ears while deftly putting federal money into their pockets at the same time? How can we beat a party that lets its supporters have it both ways--and uses our money to do it?

Pickup Line

Forget the South, Democrats - Stop coddling the spoiled brat of presidential politics.

We all remember Howard Dean's famous Confederate flag line, right? Timothy Noah makes a compelling argument that it was more than misguided; the very notion that it makes sense to chase Southern votes is flawed.

Democrats came tantalizingly close to winning in 2000--some would argue they won--without any Southern states but Florida. They'll never pick off Mississippi or Alabama or Georgia, not in any close election where the Republicans stand a chance. They should circle the wagons around Ohio and Michigan and Pennsylvania, sweep the Northeast, and count on California and the Pacific Northwest to provide the margin they need to win. Trying to kiss up to the backward-thinking electorate of the former Confederacy only gives them an importance they don't deserve. But don't trust me; read Noah's article and let's hear what you think.

'Bill Made It Famous'

Meet the inventor of 'CtrlAltDelete'

Here's something lighter. This guy is a true wit. He wrote the code that lets you restart your crashing computer by hitting three magic buttons. When discussing it, he gave Bill Gates the credit for making his work famous. That's pretty funny. If not for Gates and Windows, would you ever need CtrlAltDelete?

Bad Advice

Dump Cheney Now!

I like the title, but I'm not sure what to make of the content of Maureen Dowd's rather odd op-ed piece today. To lay blame on advisers who gave Bush bad information is to give Bush himself too free a pass. Not that I think Dowd is doing that--or do I? Her writing today is spectacularly unclear, almost as if she were mocking the typical response of the Bush Administration to any question. So below I'd like to discuss two things: is Bush less to blame than those who provided faulty intelligence, and is that what Dowd is saying?

Trippi-ing Up

Dean Shakes Up Presidential Campaign

I'd say this sort of thing never works, but a few months ago John Kerry got a new campaign team and look at him now. Still, firing the head of the campaign after he brings you from unknown to internet money machine seems a bit rash. On the other hand, if Joe Trippi--who's been sending me e-mails for almost a year now asking for money and support, and convinced me to give both for a while--couldn't convert all that support into wins, it makes sense to look for someone who can. Will this make a difference? I guess we'll know in the next few weeks...what do you think?

Marathon

Edwards Rejects a Kerry-Edwards Ticket

First, the news above is bad. Let's hope it's just posturing, and that while Edwards doesn't want his supporters to flee to Kerry because they figure they can just have Edwards as the VP, he'll come to his senses if it comes down to VP or nothing. Because really, what will Edwards do after January 3rd, 2005, if he's not in one of the two slots on the Democrats' winning ticket?

Second, Joe Lieberman proved last night that he can't count. To call his finish in the New Hampshire primary a "tie for third" is quite the overstatement. He finished fifth, and wasn't really very close to the two men who did, in fact, tie for third, Edwards and Clark. He camped out in New Hampshire, literally living there for more than a month, and it didn't work. Likewise for Clark, who at least has some support nationally--though that's drying up quickly as more people watch him stumble through his stump speech. Realistically, these two, who banked it all on New Hampshire, should be dropping out now. Refusing to be winnowed isn't going to fool voters in upcoming primary states.

Third, Kerry thumped Dean, and it's hard to imagine a scenario in which Dean finds more than two states to win in the next two weeks. That won't be enough for him. But while Clark and Lieberman will come to their senses when people stop donating money in a week or two, Dean seems likely to keep on trucking through March. His rabid base will keep supporting him, and it's easy to understand why: his speech last night may have been short on details, but it promises to make right a great many things that have gone wrong. Who wouldn't want that?

Kerry, Edwards, Dean. Who will be the nominee? Realistically, these are the only three who still have a shot.

Budget Con

Red Ink Realities

Paul Krugman has been making his case about the real intent behind President Bush's budget for quite a while now, and here he tackles a new wrinkle--calls from the far right to curtail spending ever further because Bush's "bloated budgets" are creating deficits. This is exactly what Krugman predicted: the right is blaming spending for the shortfall rather than the real culprit, a reduction in tax collections to a level lower than any since World War II. Take a look. I especially like Krugman's call for the Democrats to harness this as a campaign issue and explain what's really happening to the American people.

And yes, it's at nytimes.com, and you'll have to register. But it's free, and you can't find content like this just anywhere. There are worse people to give your email address.

Feast and Famine

'Rings' Tops Oscar List; Actors Nominees Surprise

Today is like a national holiday to me. In the morning we get the list of Oscar nominees above; tonight we get a better grip on who we'll nominate for president. For now, my reaction to the Academy Awards:
Good: Return of the King leads all nominees and looks like the can't-miss front-runner now.
Bad: None of the actors from Return of the King are nominated.
Good: Bill Murray got his first nomination, and Sofia Coppola got two, for the sublime Lost in Translation.
Bad: Scarlett Johansson was snubbed after getting nominated for both Lost in Translation and Girl With a Pearl Earring at the Golden Globes.
Good: Mystic River could clean up in the acting awards, with Tim Robbins, Sean Penn, and Marcia Gay-Harden all nominated.
Bad: Laura Linney's chilling performance in Mystic River was ignored.
Good: I don't feel obligated to see Cold Mountain now that the Academy has snubbed it.
Bad: I feel like I should see Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World now that it's got ten nominations.

What do you think of today's nominees?

Make Your Choice

Nation of Second Guesses

I choose to say only that the article above makes some very interesting points about choices and the idea that, sometimes, the more choices you have, the less happy you'll end up with whatever you choose. What do you think?

Nail-Biter

Kerry Lead Shrinks to Three Points in New Hampshire

Nothing about this makes sense. Dean clearly needs this bounce to stay alive, but the fact that it's him in second place in New Hampshire one day before the primary is something of a shock after last week's events. Have Granite-staters decided to punch his ticket and let the rest of the nation decide if he's worthy?

If I were Kerry right now, I'd be carrying Newsweek around with me on the campaign trail. The latest polling data shows Kerry as the only contender for the nomination who beats Bush in a head-to-head matchup. The margin is only 49-46, and it's obviously months too soon to know what people will really do, but leading Bush in the polls is a new achievement for the Democrats. In a contest of electability, being the man who did it must mean something.

Coronation Day

List of Golden Globes Winners

Last night's events bode well for three events that will make me very happy: Best Picture and Best Director wins for Return of the King and an Oscar nomination for Bill Murray. We'll know about that last matter tomorrow morning, but the other two look a lot more like locks after LOTR swept all four categories in which it was nominated and Cold Mountain was denied all but a single trophy after leading with eight nominations. Other pleasant happenings: Sean Penn and Tim Robbins were recognized for their sublime work in Mystic River--a Best Picture winner any year but this one--and Sofia Coppola got to accept two awards despite the fact that she's up against the Peter Jackson juggernaut in the directing category. Lost in Translation richly deserves the expanded audience that the awards season should garner for it.

On the TV side, it was nice to see Frances Conroy finally win an award for playing Ruth Fisher on Six Feet Under. But her short and classy speech paled in comparison to Ricky Gervais's quote of the night: "I'm from a little place called England. We used to run the world before you." And thank you, Meryl Streep, for using your acceptance speech to mock the policies put forward in President Bush's State of the Union. Anyone who thinks that people who want to get married and athletes who take steroids are the nation's biggest issues should get out more.

Debatable

Democrats stress own strengths in polite debate

Last night's debate lacked in firepower but still made for entertaining television thanks to two people who have no business still being in the race, Al Sharpton and Dennis Kucinich. Sharpton's comment that if he were Dean and lost Iowa so badly after spending all that money, he'd be "hooting and hollering" too, was the laugh line of the night. Kucinich pulled out charts that brought back memories of Ross Perot and responded to one question, about the fact that he and Edwards had agreed to pool their delegates in Iowa if necessary, with such candor that the questioner was muted. Meanwhile, Edwards made his claim to Southern charm and moral principle, and Kerry tried to rise above the fray and sound presidential. Clark refused to back away from Michael Moore's draft-dodger label for Bush, and sounded almost foolish in doing so. Dean looked tired and ill--he's both right now, apparently--and stuck to his guns about the middle class tax cut. Lieberman made his last stand by blowing kisses to New Hampshire, pledging to support its primary's first-in-the-nation standing until the day he dies.

In short, nothing much changed. Kerry and Edwards looked and sounded the most electable, and nothing he said will hurt Kerry in the polls that now show him between 8 and 12 points ahead of Dean and far out from the rest of the field. If Kerry wins New Hampshire and Edwards takes South Carolina, it could be a two-man show pretty quickly. But we've all seen how fast this race can change. Stay tuned.

Battleship Sunk?

Howard Dean's Campaign Scream--Is It Fatal?

And the beating goes on. Daily tracking shows Howard Dean's numbers tanking in New Hampshire, and you can bet that some new poll showing him crashing on a national level will show up any day now. Meanwhile, he's trying to play it off, but millions are playing it over and over thanks to MP3s like the ones linked in yesterday's post.

Oh, Howard, it was good while it lasted. Should you start thinking about who you'll endorse when you leave the race in South Carolina, in Oklahoma, in Arizona, in North Dakota, in New Mexico, in California, in Texas, in New York, in South Dakota, in Oregon, in Michigan? Yeaeeeaaaah!

Multiple Choice

MPR: Select A Candidate - President: Survey Page

You should try the quiz above. While it isn't perfect in that it doesn't recognize shades of opinion--it makes no distinction between Bush and Dean on gay rights, for example, because neither is behind gay marriage, but their positions are obviously very different--it does yield interesting numbers. Here are the candidates I agree with, in order from 100-0.
Carol Moseley Braun: 69
Dennis Kucinich: 61
Howard Dean: 61
Al Sharpton: 53
John Kerry: 53
Richard Gephardt: 53
Joe Lieberman: 46
John Edwards: 46
Wesley Clark: 30
George W. Bush: 0

Bring It On

Bush in 30 Seconds

There's never been a better way to use your bandwidth than these 30-second spots opposing President Bush. They're all good, but I especially like the second and third.

We're Not Alone

Dean's Raucous Iowa Speech Lives On

This is hardly a shocker, but it bodes ill for Howard Dean: evidently most of the nation is having the same conversation we've been having here.

Dean's crazed performance Monday night may be a bigger gaffe than $40 million can repair. It's getting play from news organizations--which will no doubt rerun it when his poll numbers and approval ratings go down, as they've already started to do in New Hampshire, by way of explanation--and from late night shows, and you can bet it's going to be the featured clip on Sunday morning, State of the Union be damned.

Yep, Dean may have shouted himself right out of the race.

Outrageous

State of the Union at Home

I planned to offer a full reaction to last night's State of the Union speech. I took notes and everything. But how can I say anything meaningful about a speech that lacked a shred of meaning? President Bush's speech was a sop to his base and a slap to the rest of us, as if to say, "I'll do exactly what I want to do, evidence be damned, and we'll just see if you can beat me." I think the editorial above brings home the fact that, in the shadow of his plans to render the deficit permanent through tax cuts and corporate giveaways, none of Bush's other proposals mean a thing.

Feel free to discuss the speech in the comments below. I'm guessing I'm not the only one who, with expectations as low as they could possibly be for this president, was still disappointed.

Three Down, One to Go

Paul Krugman: Going for Broke

Ever insightful, Paul Krugman's take on tonight's State of the Union--potentially the last of Bush's presidency--contemplates a rationale I had never considered. Since no one with any knowledge of numbers could believe Bush's promise to finance both permanent tax cuts and increases in numerous pie-in-the-sky programs (among them his trip to Mars), he must be planning to use a set of wonderful but impossible proposals to win, after which each promise will be discarded.

You have to believe that people will see through this. You have to hope that the media will call him on it, will write the analytical pieces that show, with colorful charts and compelling logic, that the nation can't afford what Bush is proposing.

It's been three years today since Bill Clinton said goodbye in an airplane hangar and President Bush promised to unite rather than divide us, to make things fairer and better for everyone in America. Tonight, Mr. Bush, you can start your farewell. The American people will be smart enough to see through you this time.

Bring It On, John

I'd be lying if I didn't say up front: I'm stunned. No polling data could convince me that Kerry and Edwards would rise from the ashes to finish 1-2 in Iowa.

I'm convinced now. After watching the speeches of all four major candidates tonight, Edwards and Kerry have something that Dean doesn't: they both talk about ideas and real people. Dean's appearance was awful. He listed states, shouted in Spanish, and looked like a madman. More than the fact that he didn't find a way to win Iowa, that turned me against him tonight. And so did something very small: he was not polite. He came on stage when Edwards was still delivering his speech, and to me that's either an inexcusable gaffe or a sign of highly unpalatable aggressiveness and impoliteness.

Speaking of Edwards, his speech was almost Clintonian in excitement and personality. He talks about issues that others shirk, like poverty, and he didn't once bash Bush; even a bloodthirsty liberal like me can appreciate how that positivity plays, especially among the on-the-fence women we need to attract to win back the White House. Oh, and he's pretty attractive, too--he's rich but it doesn't show, and he's just the right balance of pin-up model and average guy. If the race were a beauty pageant, he'd take it.

Poor Gephardt. Edwards and Kerry both graciously acknowledged his years of service, a big plus for me; again, Dean didn't do the basic, decent thing. I know the two of them were in a dogfight, but when a man delivers the knockout punch, his next move should be to lift the guy up off the canvas. I hope Dick Gephardt finds himself the Secretary of Labor a year from now.

And Kerry. Wow. He showed a charisma I hadn't seen before. He sounded presidential, and it's obvious he's learned how to use his experience to his advantage. Please, John, don't run back to your safe strategy. If you're going to win this nomination and challenge George W. Bush, you need to stay as excited and connected with voters as you sounded tonight. Kerry turned the Rove strategy on its head: of course Bush is running on national security. He can't run on jobs! He can't run on national health care! He can't run on leaving no child behind! And the new frontrunner made a statement that warmed my heart: his attorney general won't be John Ashcroft. Kerry knows what gets the base going.

I'm not writing off Dean's chances. And Clark can still make waves. But tonight, it looks a lot more like the Democratic nominee could be named John. And I could be very happy with that.

Dead Again

''Six Feet Under'' will be light and wacky again

Only five more months until Nate and David and Claire reinhabit our lives--and pump some embalming fluid into the less lively. The article above promises interesting developments during season four.

Meanwhile, HBO's signature comedy series is coming to an end; did anyone else see Sex and the City last night? It sounds sick, but giving Samantha cancer was a master stroke. All four characters are growing up just in time for the end of the series. Carrie's Catch-38 was well played out, and Miranda's honeymoon showed that even she has some learning to do. I really hope Carrie realizes that her little speech to Charlotte was true--if she wanted kids so much, she'd already have had them. Petrovsky is the mature man she's been waiting for her whole life. And his accent...who wouldn't want to wake up to that?

One more HBO show: Bill Maher is back! His first show in three months was mostly Al Sharpton, Ron Silver, and Darrell Issa shouting at one another about Iraq...it's sad when Darrell Issa, AKA Father of the California Recall, is the voice of reason on your panel. Bill made some excellent points--he and I agree about how big a deal it was the Bush lied about the reasons for going to war, and that it's deeply disturbing that the President takes pride in not reading the newspaper--but he's going to have to find more cooperative panelists if the new season is going to be as successful as the last.

Wish Come True

Columbus Day Blog

It looks like I got what I wanted. Let's hope that one day, someday soon, Dr. King's dreams come true too.

New Format

A new review has been posted at 290BOOKS. Starting today, new reviews will be posted to the main site and to the review site for easy archiving. I hope this change makes the site easier to use on a day-to-day basis. Thanks for reading!

Jhumpa Lahiri, Interpreter of Maladies

Prologue: I have never been a great fan of the short story, or of collections of short stories. No matter how much I like an author’s work, his or her short story collections are inevitably the hardest for me to get through. I think this has more to do with expectations and momentum than actual content. I expect myself to finish every story I start before I stop reading, and that makes me put pressure on myself—but isn’t that the idea of a short story, that you read it in a single sitting? As far as momentum, once I do finish a single story, there’s nothing familiar waiting when I turn the page to the next one—it’s a whole new world I need to learn, and for me the hardest part of reading a book is starting, so a short story collection presents me with my least favorite part of reading over and over again. Alas…

Argument: Jhumpa Lahiri made it easy for me to forget about my issues with short stories. Her debut collection, which won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2000, has several themes that bind the stories together, and her talent for letting each story unfold is remarkable. I read the first story, “A Temporary Matter,” at 5 AM on an airplane, and it was only the fact that I was sitting next to a stoic Canadian man that prevented me from crying at the end. In 20 pages Lahiri made me care about the couple in the story, made me understand their entire past, the tragedies they had survived, and the pain that they now sought to escape and put behind them. The ending, like the ending to each story in the collection, could go either way, but none of the surprises that arrive toward the end of a tale feel forced; they flow almost inevitably from the story, no matter how unlikely they seem until you read them.

There is not a bad story in this collection. At only 200 pages it presents a week’s worth of nightly reading. As you may guess from the author’s name, all of the stories feature aspects of life in India or as an Indian living in America, particularly the East Coast. They are windows on a culture that is a quiet presence in Chicago and across most of the nation, a culture that we do not often see into as deeply as Lahiri allows us to in this work.

Appendix:
Other recent short story collections of note:
Adam Haslett, You Are Not A Stranger Here
David Sedaris, Naked or Me Talk Pretty One Day
Richard Russo, The Whores Child
Michael Chabon, A Model World and Werewolves in Their Youth

Tune In

'The O'Franken Factor'

I don't listen to the radio in the car, but this might change things. Al Franken on the radio every day is a dream come true for me. You may think of him as a goofy liberal, but read what he had to say in this interview and I think you'll start to realize that he's actually pretty smart and understands the issues.

Hypocrite

Candidates Slam Bush on Pickering

This shouldn't be a surprise at all, considering who we're dealing with, but I was stunned to read that Bush has put Pickering on the federal bench and bypassed the Senate. He must be very confident that his base alone can deliver the election, because this isn't the way to court minority voters.

One More

Masters of Deception

This deserves its own comment string. I almost wish Al Gore was running again this year. He really knows his stuff.

Miscellany

Op-Ed Columnist: Who Gets It?

This link gives all of you access to Paul Krugman's latest article about the Democratic race, which Brian mentioned in the comments about Carol Moseley Braun. It's pretty astute and sort of brings me back around to Dean again.

Other miscellany:

Ellen will be on Six Feet Under this season. Yes, that Ellen. So will Mena Suvari, she of rose petals in American Beauty fame.

John Shoop is out as Bears offensive coordinator. (The sound you hear is an entire city cheering.) I hope Lovie hires someone willing to throw the ball whose name can be part of the new Gilligan's Island theme.

John Kerry, of all people, is in the lead in Iowa. We could have skipped the last year of campaigning, evidently. I'm still skeptical that he'll actually win the caucuses. All those Rolling Stone readers in Iowa will doubtless be swayed by Howard Dean's appearance on the cover this week.

If you missed Friends last night, you may have missed the last Monica-is-a-clean-freak joke of the series. "If only there were a smaller one to clean this one!" she shrieked as she used a Dustbuster to clean her industrial-strength vacuum cleaner. The writers are mocking their characters, but it's still bittersweet to watch the final episodes of a show that feels like an old friend.

The Friends and Frasier finales will be two hours each--an hour of retrospective and a one-hour final episode. They'll run on consecutive Thursdays: May 6 and May 13. Don't plan on calling me between 7 and 9 PM those nights.

An Honor

Last night's episode of West Wing was pleasing for many reasons. Charlie had lines again, and so did Donna; they hadn't been used as much lately. Stockard Channing's return was welcome, as was her character's vow to be more involved--it's always fun to watch the First Couple bicker. The parenthetical storytelling showed that the writers are still trying to do clever and interesting things. And I always like it when Jed decides to think about history when it seems like bad politics and it turns out his instincts are also the best thing for him politicially.

Unfortunately, the snap of the writing still isn't quite back. A lot of the dialogue between Charlie and Michelle wasn't very engaging, and I don't think she really understood what he meant when he said Bartlet isn't just the president to him. Unless she comes back, I don't know if we'll ever get to hear him clarify it. I'm sure what he has to say would involve a father figure, not a feeling of power as Michelle seemed to suspect.

And the meeting of CJ, Leo, Josh, Angela, and Toby to discuss how to handle the pardons was filled with dialogue that I've already purged from my memory. Even Sorkin would have made that moment corny, but the "let's get to work" thing was kind of silly.

I did love the moment when Josh sees Joey Lucas, after saying to Donna that he thinks the time is right to make a move with her, and discovers she's quite pregnant. Even better, from my Donna-and-Josh-belong-together perspective, was the moment when Donna said she needed to stop taking things to heart and Josh said he hopes she doesn't. Did anyone else hear "I love you just the way you are" playing in the background? Must have been my imagination.

Eight is Enough

Moseley Braun to Drop Out, Endorse Dean

Carol Moseley Braun brought a certain charm and dignity to the Democratic presidential race. It's time for her to accept that she won't win--though I'm sure she accepted that a long time ago--but I hope she reaps benefits from having run. Being back in the news will certainly help her, and having run for president should increase her stature and maybe get her invited to sit on some corporate boards.

The next woman to run for the nomination will win it. I can hardly wait.

Lighter Fare

AFC title game is the real Super Bowl

For those who don't want to engage in a discussion of the merits of war in Iraq or the Democratic presidential candidates, here's an excuse to talk about football again. Does anyone think the eventual Super Bowl champion won't be either the Colts or the Patriots, depending on who wins this weekend?

Almost Time to Decide

Hard-Headed Howard:
Dean can win, with a little tough love

This William Saletan article is a pretty good statement of what Dean needs to change if he wants to win. While his argument that the Bush tax plan effectively raised taxes on middle class folks has merit, he's not going to win a general election trying to sell that in the face of Bush and Rove. He needs to admit defeat on this one and join the rest of his fellow Democratic candidates in calling for keeping the middle class tax brackets the same as they are post-Bush while returning the higher brackets to their pre-Bush levels. Raising taxes on the middle class, however sensible, won't win the election.

Inside Looking In

Paul O'Neill, Unplugged, or What Would Alexander Hamilton Have Done?


This article gives a nice account of Paul O'Neill's time as Treasury Secretary. It even gives President Bush credit for recognizing that his second round of tax cuts for the rich was unnecessary and shows how he was overruled by his political advisers. And it confirms what many of us have feared: that policy decisions in this administration are made by the political crew, not the people who have been crunching numbers and studying real issues. How can that not frighten people?

Late Whistle

Here's a thought, which I doubt is original to me but which I haven't seen before: ten years ago USC would have been the undisputed national champion based on its season. Why? Because they would have finished 11-0-1, and that would have made them the only team in the nation without a loss. The change to the college game that created perpetual overtime until a winner is declared--and sometimes that means seven overtime periods--made it possible for USC to lose to California in triple overtime, and thus for the title to be split.

And why don't ties exist anymore? In part, I'll wager, so that the BCS calculations can ignore them and simply count losses. A change made to enable the BCS to work is exactly what caused it not to work this year. Isn't that charming?

Just in Time

Details emerge in sex lawsuit

Remember IPA? The job from hell that lasted two very long days?

The long hours, harsh lighting, rude people, and unethical business practices weren't the only reasons to run. Turns out they're being sued--by more than 100 people--for sexual harassment.

This could explain why one of my "coworkers" said the hours were long and the work was punishing, but it was definitely worth it. I guess I should be happy to be awake and headed for a totally different workplace this morning.

Kill Who?

Miramax has delayed the release of part two of Kill Bill from February 20 to April 16. By then, will I even remember who Bill is?

This Could Get Ugly

White House Rejects O'Neill Criticism

Apparently nicknaming people only keeps them on your side for so long. After nearly three years in office, George W. Bush finally has first insider attack.

Watching someone who was fired mount an attack on his former employer is always a bit suspect, but it's hard to ignore some of what Paul O'Neill is saying. More and more, it looks like Saddam was a self-aggrandizing thug, but not a terribly immediate threat to the United States, and certainly no more dangerous to us than several other petty tyrants. It's easy to see why neoconservatives saw the Iraq war as step one in a global quest to end all tyranny. If Iraq was fit to be a target, why not Syria? Why not Iran? Whether those wars come to pass or not, the view from the present makes it look very much like our current involvement in Iraq is the result of a personal (Bush family) obsession and political sleight-of-hand (Bin Laden=Saddam) rather than the principled invasion we were sold. I know that doesn't particularly bother some of you who think that the end of Saddam justifies the means, but it bothers me quite a bit.

20 Hours in America

It's back! Season four of The West Wing starts on Bravo tonight. Watch as Rob Lowe backpedals out the door and Josh Malina swoops in to pick up the pieces.

Speaking of WW, does anyone have any theories about Charlie's shocking choice this Wednesday? I'm curious how he can communicate any decisions at all with the three lines per episode the writers are giving him this season. Maybe Dule Hill is running away from the show? At least we'll have Joey Lucas back on Wednesday.

Mainlanded

I'm back. Maui was hot and wonderful and perhaps too sunny for my skin.

I played a round of golf only a few miles away from the place where Tiger Woods was playing at the very same time.

Give me a day to process and unpack and I'll have more.

Aloha from Paradise

Hello from the most beautiful place I've ever seen.

Happy 24th birthday to Brian. Hope all my Chicago friends are enjoying the snow.

USC and LSU sharing the college title is the only fair way this could have turned out.

Wesley Clark was on Tim Russert's show last night and sounded reasonable.

That is all.

On the Nose

Romancing the Tire Swing - What's up with that hokey Levitra ad? By Seth Stevenson

OK, this is an odd article to link to as my last post prior to my weeklong Maui excursion, but the commercial it discusses drove me crazy while I was home the past week. (Tells you a lot about how much time I wasted, doesn't it?) In short, the article asks: isn't showing a man throwing a football through a tire swing over and over after taking Levitra such an obvious explanation of what the product does that they may as well have said what it does in the ad? I'm not very easy to scandalize when it comes to sex talk, as many of you know, but this ad makes me more than a bit uncomfortable.

I don't think that's because the ad is too sexually overt. (They could have shown the actual use of the drug and I doubt I'd have batted an eye.) I think it's because the ad is bad. But it made me remember Levitra, so I guess it's working. Maybe in three decades I'll ask my doctor about it.

Have a splendid week free of my commentary, and I'll be back soon.

Lists, Lists, Lists

metacritic: Music: Best of 2003

With only a day and a half remaining in 2003, here are several more lists to compare with mine.

My own list, it must be said again, may come up for review after a particularly fruitful holiday CD season. New additions to the collection include these (the first six are from 2003):
The Shins: Chutes Too Narrow
Guster: Keep It Together
The Minus 5: Down With Wilco
Rooney: Rooney
The Jealous Sound: Kill Them With Kindness
David Sedaris: Live At Carnegie Hall
Miles Davis: Sketches of Spain
The White Stripes: The White Stripes
The White Stripes: De Stijl
Joni Mitchell: Blue
Bruce Springsteen: Tracks
Radiohead: Airbag/How Am I Driving?
Rufus Wainwright: Poses
Rufus Wainwright: Rufus Wainwright

Interested in hearing more about any of these? Let me know. I'm also waiting for delivery of Spymob's Sitting Around Keeping Score. If you'd like to hear samples, visit www.spymob.com.

Perhaps Ever

Gephardt: Bush Worst President of Last 5

I'm not voting for Gephardt in the primary, but I admire him and I like his gumption. On the list of bad presidents all time, I wonder where W would rank? Grant and Nixon and Harding are three that come to mind as ever worse.

Happy Holidays

This site will be pretty quiet the next several days. After today, I don't go back to work until January 2nd, after which I'll be spending eight days in Maui. I hope this means I'll see many of the people who read this in the coming days, but whether I do or not, I wish all of you a very happy holiday.

You can still find the Top Ten* Albums of 2003 List at 290MUSIC, and sometime in the next few days I'll try to post a review of the year's best movie so far at 290MOVIES.

Red, Red, Red

Analysts: Future Budget Outlook Gloomy

This article gives a pretty good quick overview of the coming fiscal doom we're facing in the United States. What it doesn't say is this: the fastest way to make it go away is to eliminate Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid--to take the government out of the business of taking care of its citizens in vital ways. And that's just what the Republican road is leading toward...

Tricked

Cities covet young urban single professionals

Apparently Minneapolis was using me and continues to use my friends who live there. This article brings to light something I've often noticed--single, childless folks are quite the lucrative business opportunity for other people, evidently including municipalities. They pay more than their share of taxes in exchange for less than their share of services. Is it any wonder cities want them to move in?

Yeah, That'll End the Curse

Famous Foul Ball to Be Destroyed by Chicago Fan

I can't imagine paying $106,000 for a baseball, much less one I planned to destroy. Maybe they'll feed it to a goat in the middle of Wrigley Field. I'm sure that will help the Cubs win the pennant more than signing a decent catcher.

Big Surprise

Paris Hilton Beats Bush in TV Ratings

What a patriotic fervor we've all been whipped into over Saddam's capture. Maybe everyone did what I did and read the interview transcript online. While reading Bush's words is an adventure, actually watching and listening to him say them, and remembering, "That guy is running the free world," gives me nightmares.

At Last

'Return of the King' Promises Big Box Office Ring

To think, people once considered this an epic gamble on the part of New Line Cinema. Today it looks like an epic masterpiece.

Use the comments below to talk about when you're seeing the movie and what you thought of it once you do see it. I won't be seeing it until Sunday night when I get back from Minnesota, so try not to ruin any surprises!

Impossible

Bush Appears to Open Door to Same-Sex Unions

This can't be true, can it? Is Bush moderating the view of the party? If he does, there's no going back...

Perhaps he's decided this is an issue that's going to end up running the table in the end, and he can nip it in the bud if he draws the line between civil unions and marriage and says this far, but no further. I'm curious to see if the White House backpedals from this; it's sure to raise questions in the briefing room.

Second Opinion

Till My Head Falls Off

Not satisfied with my Top Ten* Albums list? Check out the site above for a review of the year's best CDs by music guru Paul V. Allen.

Short and Sweet

A review of Steve Martin's new book, The Pleasure of My Company, has been posted at 290BOOKS.

Top Ten* Albums of 2003

At long last, here it is: my list of my favorite ten (eleven, actually--hence the asterisk) albums released in 2003. Due to the fact that the holiday season inevitably brings more CDs my way, you can anticipate that this list will be shaken up and revised at least once in the coming year, but for now, here it is! (It is also available at 290MUSIC, where it will be front and center for a good long while, probably into 2004.)

1. Rufus Wainwright, Want One

This is part of a planned pair—Want Two is due next year—so it’s possible that in a few months I’ll have some second thoughts about Wainwright’s decision to cleave his bombastic efforts in two. On the other hand, W2 is supposedly the darker and more experimental half of the material from the sessions, so the division may have been an apt one.

Either way, Want One earns its spot on the list for several qualities. It’s consistently good—there are songs that are better, but none that beg to be skipped. The slowest songs are the shortest, maintaining a flow that carries the album along. The best song of all, “Go or Go Ahead,” is the longest, over six minutes of outburst that weaves myth and madness into a stunning package of sonic bliss. A microcosm for the album as a whole, the song builds for more than two minutes before erupting.

Lyrically dense, the album starts out in near nonsense territory with the repetitions of “Oh What a World” and builds to the poignant “Dinner at Eight,” an almost tear-inducing finale that acknowledges Rufus’s mixed feelings about his abandonment by his famous father. “I Don’t Know What It Is” and “Movies of Myself” belong on Top 40 radio, where they could oust less intelligent pop; “11:11” sounds silly at first but makes profound the words “ I was alive.” Born of personal experience and genetically inherited musical genius, Wainwright’s latest is the finest album of 2003.

2. Kathleen Edwards, Failer

This spot should belong to Lucinda Williams, but she met her match this year in a young Canadian with stories to tell that sound more naked and real than the over-imagined, over-wrought fare on World Without Tears. Failer is a remarkable triumph for a brand-new artist, and should have earned at least a Grammy nod in that category. It sounds like a northern winter and stings just as hard. It’s wry and self-effacing; witness track two, written at the last minute to add a tenth song to the album and one of the best songs on a record filled with them, called “One More Song the Radio Won’t Like.” She doesn’t sound like radio—she’s too good for that. I feel sorry for Kathleen Edwards. She’s got a tough task ahead of her trying to top this first effort.

3. Ryan Adams, Love is Hell, 1+2

There was a time, long ago, when artists did this: they’d write, record, and release tons of songs every year, building up impressive catalogs instead of touring until the fourth or fifth single played itself out and deigning to drop an album every third year or so. In that respect, Adams is heir to the Beatles and early Dylan, delivering quantity and quality at the same time. So it should come as no surprise that he now follows in their footsteps in other ways, placing two albums in one year’s top ten.

We start with his two-EP set, Love is Hell. Recorded as the official follow-up to 2001’s brilliant Gold, then jettisoned by his record company, Lost Highway, Adams considers this his truest artistic statement, and that seems like a fair self-assessment. It’s a beautifully written album, and Adams sings like he means every word.

The title track is rollicking fun, followed by a cover of “Wonderwall” that stakes a claim for Adams as its new owner, even in the eyes of its writer, Noel Gallagher of Oasis. There’s a splendid and wistful sadness in “This House is Not For Sale,” a song that’s actually about ghosts in their old house—sounds weird, but it really works. Adams can carry off an up-tempo tune as well, bringing Part 1 nearly to a close with “World War 24.” The final song, “Avalanche,” fades out beautifully, wrapping up the first EP so that it would stand well on its own as an eight-song album.

Instead, the second EP continues the mood of the first, though it is clearly a different side of the same record. (The full album has been issued on vinyl, which is what qualified it to be considered as a single entity.) With “Please Do Not Let Me Go” we discover the real impetus for such a sad work—the death of a close friend. This vein of tribute-thought continues on “City Rain, City Streets,” tumbles into “I See Monsters,” and completes a three-four-five punch on “English Girls Approximately.” The latter lifts the mood musically just in time, jangling with the flair Adams displayed on Gold, but even here the lyrics are sad, as the girl Adams loves says she doesn’t love him.

Overall, Love is Hell is a remarkable album. It changes setting halfway through—EP 1 seems to “take place” mostly in a rural setting, while EP 2 is more urban—but it holds together as one record. Its depth of emotion and the variety of tempo and instrumentation choices Adams makes to surround his weighty material make it worth having as a whole. It would be tough to divide it, in any case: the best material on each EP is sandwiched in its center, giving the overall album a good balance. Turns out you can be prolific and make coherent albums. May other artists take note.

4. Annie Lennox, Bare

The queen of broken glass is back with music that sounds like it—or, perhaps, like ice. This confessional, lyrically downbeat album is set to the logical electro-dance continuation of Annie’s old Eurhythmics music, and the results are fantastic. Highlights like “Pavement Cracks” and “Bitter Pill” soar as Lennox shows off the voice that made Diva an appropriate title for her last original album, while “Twisted” brings the album nearly to a close with an incredibly emotional remembrance: “I remember every word you said to me,” “I remember everything you did to me”—these phrases speak volumes, simplifying feelings that the music and voice convey until the depth of the anger and bitter regret behind them is almost painful. The album ends with the song that nearly kept it off this list, and now brings it back, “Oh God (Prayer).” Annie quietly confesses that she doubts God is watching over or listening to her, then bursts “But if you hear me” and begs for the help she needs to make it through, and the results…damn. They’re beautiful.

5. White Stripes, Elephant

“Seven Nation Army” describes the sound of this critics’ darling as well as its first song. How can two people, with no technology to help them, make a sound this big, this good? The album plays to strength after strength. Jack White sounds like Robert Plant on the Zeppelin-esque songs and like some classic crooner on the pitch-perfect “I Want to Be the Boy To Warm Your Mother’s Heart.” There are a few lulls among the fourteen tracks, but the album starts and finishes strongly enough to find its way back into the player over and over, a feat few 2003 releases achieved.

6. Ryan Adams, Rock N Roll

Ryan Adams’ response to the current state of rock—especially pals The Strokes and the White Stripes—plays like a greatest hits album for a career he hasn’t pursued at all. Often accused of faulty quality control, Adams has made a short album that never slows down long enough to question its quality at all. It wasn’t the album he wanted to make—look above for that—but we’re lucky Lost Highway pinned him into a corner. Having this album is a very good thing.


7. Fountains of Wayne, Welcome Interstate Managers

There’s so much more to this album that the hilarious “Stacy’s Mom.” In fact, too much—at 16 tracks, it drags by one or two. But it’s catchy and smart—the songs sound like ear candy but turn out deep, satisfying your sweet tooth and your need for intellectual stimulus. “All Kinds of Time” is a clever song that turns out to be about a quarterback seeing the field in a new way, while “Fire Island” is a nice musing on teenage mischief. And “Halley’s Waitress” is funny and relatable—“Darling, don’t you know we miss you when you’re gone?” Who hasn’t gone from wanting to order coffee and dessert to twisting in your seat to hail the waitress for the check and paying cash to avoid another long wait? Fountains of Wayne tie into these common experiences and make them live. They have just the right blend of wit and guitars to pull it off.

8. Radiohead, Hail to the Thief

So brilliant, so easy to forget. That’s the verdict on the new Radiohead, it seems. This CD rode around with me for months, and it still lives in my head—or parts of it do. “2+2=5” is the perfect opener for an album whose title was swiped from the sign of a Bush protester. And even the more experimental songs are very good—at least a few times around. Unfortunately, while they can grow on you enough to enjoy them, they still force on the listener a moderation that keeps the gems of this album, like “There There,” “Myxomatosis,” and “Wolf at the Door” away from needy ears for too long, both on the back-loaded album itself and over time, as Hail gathers a bit of dust despite its genius. Radiohead was a couple songs away from a truly transcendent album. That makes the result that much harder to accept.

9. Fleetwood Mac, Say You Will

This could have rivaled Rumours, which isn’t as perfect as people now remember it being. (It’s still pretty close.) Say You Will suffers from bulk and Buckingham. The bulk comes in the form of a 76-minute album that far outlasts its interest. Lindsey Buckingham adds volumes to this problem with songs like the unnecessary “Come,” a seven-minute thrasher which simply doesn’t work, and the indulgent “Murrow Turning In His Grave.” Cut this album down to 12 songs, though, and it’s a thing of beauty. The title track, “Miranda,” “Peacekeeper,” and the spectacular “Thrown Down” are among the best of Fleetwood Mac’s work, and that’s saying something. A flawed jewel, perhaps, but with a little polish and a programmable player, Say You Will makes a fine album indeed.

10. The Thrills, So Much For the City

Can’t anyone write a decent slow song anymore? The Thrills’ first album sounds like an instant classic for a little while, pillaging California for musical ideas until the only clue that they’re Irish is the cover photo—and even that’s no giveaway. In many ways, songs like “Don’t Steal Our Sun” sound like the Flaming Lips on Soft Bulletin, and the comparison makes instant classic designation a very real possibility. But, to quote the fourth track, “Deckchairs and Cigarettes,” the bottom falls out of this album as it goes on. It’s tempting to take it out thirty minutes in—perhaps after the seventh song, “Say It Ain’t So”—and call it a great EP. That would deny you the excellent bonus track, though, with its classic line, “I can’t see you smiling pumping gas.” The slowest songs are the longest, and that kills the flow of the album. Nevertheless, it’s still a good CD—it just misses too often to place any higher on the list than this.

11. Dido, Life for Rent

Poor Dido. She can’t quite crack the top ten with me. This year she’s mired at number eleven with an album that I really like but don’t feel compelled to listen to as often as it deserves. The single, “White Flag,” is a breath of fresh air in a tired pop world, filled with regret and bordering on the creepiness of a certain Police hit from the past. As I said in the original review: “Dido's songwriting remains strong on this album, and her classical training informs a musically interesting work that occasionally slips into sounding too much like itself by maintaining the same mid-tempo beat for much of the album. Nevertheless, that feel suits the songs, and as a result Life For Rent is just as strong as No Angel, if a bit more consistent.”

Tough Talk

Bush: Halliburton Must Pay for Overcharge

I predict this: in nine months, all Bush will want people to remember about this little episode is that he was "tough" on a major campaign contributor. He'll use the fact that he demanded Halliburton repay what it overcharged the government as evidence that they never got special treatment. Meanwhile, Halliburton will continue to ship money his way--not that he needs any more than he's already raised. Call me a red, but the fact that the Bush campaign can outraise all the others while selling most of America down a highly polluted river is stark proof that not everything should be decided by free markets.

Back in Action

Comments are back. Feel free to comment on the also-rans in the music list below, and check back tomorrow for the Top Ten* Albums of 2003!

Talkative

Yes, it's just me talking right now. The comment server is acting up. I'll have them back as soon as I can. If you're desperate to shout at me for something I've said, e-mail me at RMN21879@yahoo.com.

A Few That Missed The Mark

Please note: this content is also at 290MUSIC, where it will be joined two days from now by the Top Ten* Albums List. Both will be posted here on the main site as well.

These artists have known the glory of past top album lists, but didn’t make it this year. Here’s why.

Lucinda Williams, World Without Tears

When they collect Lucinda’s best work, there will be a few songs from this album. “Righteously,” “Those Three Days,” and “Real Live Bleeding Fingers and Broken Guitar Strings” all belong on a compilation. But Williams overreaches, and it can be painful at times. “Atonement” can be kindly called ill-advised, and many other tracks aren’t up to her very high Car Wheels on a Gravel Road standards. Maybe she really does need six years to make an album.

Everclear, Slow Motion Daydream

By all rights, this continuation of the sound from the transcendent Songs From An American Movie albums should be great. It ain’t. It’s just OK—there’s no glue holding it together, no real emotion behind the faceless songs. That’s a real shame—this could have been a tighter album than the sprawling double disc last time out, and that might have shot to number three or so on the list.

John Mayer, Heavier Things

There’s obvious craft here, but someone either rushed Mayer or turned him sappy on a few of these tracks. You can’t blame him for striking while the iron is hot, but there’s room for quality control on an album with only ten songs from an artist who hasn’t been prolific. Deleting “Daughters” and playing around with a heavier sound to go with the album title could have propelled Mayer from also-ran to the big time.

Robbie Williams, Escapology (US)

For one thing, this is too long at 61 minutes. For another, it’s essentially the same as last year’s UK version, which was widely available here through the wonders of the internet. While it isn’t Robbie’s best album—Sing When You’re Winning and the crooner follow-up, Swing When You’re Winning, have that distinction—there’s a lot to like here, including the new and updated songs. I just wish the US version still had “Hot Fudge.”

Pete Yorn, Day I Forgot

How can an album shorter than its strong predecessor feel looser and weaker as well? (See Everclear.) Yorn’s sophomore effort isn’t bad, but it’s not nearly as catchy or consistent as the much better 2001 album musicforthemorningafter.

Zwan, Mary, Star of the Sea

And people say Ryan Adams has quality control issues. Billy Corgan, formerly of Smashing Pumpkins, lets it all hang out here—for over an hour—and the result, at times wonderful, it just too much. The bloated title track is an emblem of an album that’s sometimes killer and often filler.

Sting, Sacred Love

He’s anything but prolific—he releases an album every three or four years with only ten new songs. So why can’t Sting make all ten count? The single, “Send Your Love,” is a decent song, and his duet with Mary J. Blige on “Whenever I Say Your Name” is a stirring listening experience. It’s telling, though, that Blige is the one whose voice stands out and makes the song interesting—she’s the one bringing the fireworks. The remaining collection of Sting solos isn’t bad, but it’s bland enough that most of it will drop from memory as soon as you put this CD back on the shelf to gather dust next to Brand New Day.

Liz Phair, Liz Phair

Like everything else with the words “The Matrix” attached to it this year, Liz Phair’s attempt to transform herself into Avril Lavigne is disappointing for several reasons. The songs aren’t that good or even that catchy—which is, after all, why you have The Matrix write your songs in the first place. They sound trite, something Phair should be ashamed of after her auspicious debut. Worst of all, she’s trying so hard to sell out—and failing. Attempted humor and poignance fall equally flat. I’d have bought Britney to keep this off the top ten list if that were what it took.

The Strokes, Room on Fire

Victims of their own critical prestige, the Strokes had no chance of pleasing as many people with their second and overexposed album as they did with Is This It. My displeasure lies with the problem that Room on Fire is pretty boring. It doesn’t sound human—in fact, for a record made by five unruly New Yorkers, it sounds like a committee of computer programs created it. The results are musically competent but not very revealing or interesting.

Travis, 12 Memories

I never thought I’d say this, but the latest from Travis is too British. Nevertheless, you’ve got to give Fran Healy credit for trying. His lyrics here are all over the map—literally. Some of the album is about love, some is about politics, and Healy wedges in both references to the United Nations and a crowd of soccer hooligans chanting “Peace the fuck out.” There’s nothing wrong with that, and there’s nothing particularly wrong with this mostly charming little album, either. But it doesn’t soar, and that means it suffers in comparison to The Man Who. Every time it approaches the cusp of brilliance, it backs away, right where Man Who would have taken flight. Still, this is an enjoyable record, certainly worth its release week price tag of eight dollars. It just doesn’t grab and hold you the way we know Travis can.

The Thorns, The Thorns

There’s a prophetic line at the start of the second track, “I Can’t Remember”: “I’m not gonna lie to you, something is missing.” Despite the fact that it boasts the work of three moderately successful solo artists, including Pete Droge, Shawn Mullins, and previous top ten entrant Matthew Sweet, The Thorns comes up short. Instead of any driving rhythms or compelling lyrics, the thirteen songs here consist mostly of three-part harmony and lyrics that sound like they were sanitized during the process of three songwriters tweaking them. The results are bland and inoffensive, certainly not as good as fans had every right to expect from these three.

Interrupted

I'm building a new, faster computer--OK, Brad is building a new, faster computer for me--so you may get less content for a little while. However, I will post the first phase of the 2003 Top Ten* Albums List as soon as possible.

Sad News

Ex-Sen. Paul Simon of Illinois Dies at 75

Senator Simon was a good legislator, a smart entrepreneur, and a good man, as the obituary above makes very clear. I met him at Augustana late in my senior year, and walked with him across campus. As we rode in the elevator to the small talk he was leading, he told me to continue to care about politics--this was right after the 2000 election--and to do everything I could to help Paul Wellstone get re-elected. In the discussion he led, he remembered my name and where I was moving, and also the names of the other people in the room. He told us not to watch too much TV, an admonishment I hope I have done better at regarding than the one about Wellstone. He made politics seem noble, and saw government as a tool that, properly wielded, could make life better for people.

Today, three years after I met Paul Simon, both he and Wellstone, two consciences of the nation, are dead. They both brought honor to a place that is often acrimonious. They are both missed.

Advocacy From the Devil

How Dean Could Win . . . (washingtonpost.com)

William Kristol would say he's playing devil's advocate in this article. While I think the Weekly Standard editor is the real devil, his article is interesting in its use of a football metaphor to explain the possibility that Dean could pull off a win in 2004. Whether Kristol thinks that would be the end of the world or not--and on that count, I think he's nuts--his argument is interesting.

Game Over

Gore to Endorse Howard Dean, Sources Say

And just like that, the clock may have run out on the race for the Democratic nomination. When the winner of the popular vote endorses you in a race decided by people who still believe that he won the election and should be in office right now, it carries weight. If this happens, everyone else is finished.

Fry Him

Janklow Jury Weighs Manslaughter Case

The level of deceit that former South Dakota governor Bill Janklow, currently the state's only representative in the House, will tolerate in his defense is stunning. I guess it shouldn't come as much surprise from a man whose governing style was always fairly mercenary. I hope the jurors are seeing through his web of lies to the truth--he sped through a stop sign, just like he always has, and this time someone else was already in the intersection. It may not have been intentional, but Janklow killed a man through his own recklessness and he isn't fit to be in Congress.

Ten Days

Film Review: 'The Return of the King'

The first reviews are coming in, and so far no one has anything bad to say. So here's a question: if the third movie is as good as the first two--and I'm betting it's even better--is Lord of the Rings the greatest trilogy ever?

Pens, Swords, and Might

A new review has been posted at 290BOOKS.

Playoff Time

Sugar snub for USC is total B(C)S

After watching all three games in question yesterday, it passes understanding that poll leader USC is headed to the Rose Bowl while Oklahoma remains the number one team in the BCS rankings and gets to play LSU for the "national championship." It's time for a playoff in college football.

Since that won't happen, it's time to do what they should have done when they created the BCS: leave the computers out of it and designate a different bowl each year that gets the top two teams in the AP and coaches polls. If there's a disagreement between the two polls, find a tiebreaker--perhaps the poll whose number two has a bigger lead over number three gets to go. And bar any team that can't win its own conference title from playing for the title. How many times must the Big 12 send its second, or third, or fourth place team to vie for the national title? How does that make sense?

It's really a shame. USC-LSU would have been a classic.

And Clinton on the Dollar Bill

Conservatives Want Reagan on Dimes

Only Republicans would want to change the faces on money over a TV show that no one even watched. They want to replace Franklin D. Roosevelt--the leader of the nation through the Great Depression and World War Two--with Ronald Reagan, who similarly bloated the nation's deficits but did so without any compelling rationale other than making it too expensive to continue FDR's social programs. Isn't it enough that they named an airport after him--while he's still living!? (Of course, he may not be alive at all--his family says he's asleep most of the time, but a Reagan funeral late next October would suit the GOP election strategy pretty well, don't you think? They probably already have his "last words" chosen, something along the lines of "Carry on, George.")

And the headline is a serious suggestion. If living politicians can be on the money, why not Dollar Bill? His administration presided over quite a few dollars flooding into the hands of ordinary American people, which is more than most other recent presidents can say.

Good Move

Bush Ends Steel Tariffs, Averting Trade War

A man admits when his opponent does something right. In a gesture toward this 'manhood,' I must acknowledge that dropping the steel tariff was the right thing to do and took courage. For once, I agree with Bush.

And I must go further and express my disappointment at Howard Dean, who accused Bush of playing politics with people's lives. Where was that line when Bush condemned the Massachusetts court? Bush is obeying international law in this case. Opposing civil rights to play to his base is playing politics with people's lives, and none of the Democrats had the guts to quite go so far as calling a spade a spade then. Shame on you, Dean. Don't hide from an issue when you're right.

Hip Hop Honors

R&B Stars, Rappers Lead Grammy Nominations

I suppose it's hard to argue with this year's Grammy nominees. I have a hard time with Fountains of Wayne as a new band, even if they're new to me--they've been around for eight years! But in the big categories, the nominations were sane. The White Stripes duke it out with OutKast, Missy Elliott, and Justin Timberlake for album of the year; only Evanescence is a surprise, but there has to be one representative of that sort of sound and no one else impressed, apparently. (I'd have put Annie Lennox or Radiohead in that spot.)

The nominations also herald this important announcement: it's almost time for the Highway 290 Top Ten Albums of 2003. I'm currently awaiting one more CD's release before compiling and publishing the list, and nine of the top ten are tentatively chosen. Any guesses what I'll choose? Who makes your top ten of 2003?

Time Is Almost Up

Poll Shows Dean Opening Big Lead in N.H.

Dean is apparently made of teflon. All the attacks by the other candidates, and now even the Republicans, seem to have conferred on him an unbeatable status. A 42-12 lead is almost insurmountable.

And Dick Gephardt, who I consider a potentially viable candidate, is at three percent. Three. Maybe he's not so viable.

Common Sense Prevails

Holy Matrimony - What's really undermining the sanctity of marriage? By Dahlia Lithwick

If only everyone would read this and think about it.

Time After Time

A new review has been posted at 290MOVIES. Take a minute or two to read it, won't you?

Headed North

Canada's View on Social Issues Is Opening Rifts With the U.S.

In a land where cooler heads are prevailing, they tend not to agree with or even understand the direction America has taken of late. One day soon we'll all look back on this troubled time in American history with the same detachment the Canadians have right now...and realize how fundamentally screwed up things have been lately. They think it's funny and sad that our government is increasingly run by fundamentalists, even as we fight a war on terror against other fundamentalists. You know, they're right. It is funny--and very sad.

Payback Will Come

Conservatism, Um, Evolving

If you want to see how bad things have gotten for someone, take a look at the way his friends paint his troubles. If you want to know how badly the GOP has been behaving lately, without any liberal spin, ask conservative George Will.

He's right about a great many things in this column. Republicans have decided that it's time to change the rules now that they're the majority party. Checks and balances like meaningful Senate debate--including the filibuster--and limited votes--unlike the one the House held last week--are being threatened by a party that wants to capitalize on its current good fortune.

But what if the balance swings back, as even Will knows it will? Where will that leave Republicans who want to stop Democrats from enacting their agenda without debate or compromise? And would anyone like what happened if either party could run things without any moderating influence from the other?

Let's hope Republicans who respect George Will pay heed to his message.