Sad and Pointless.

Bush and the GOP were out in force to commemerate the 5th anniversary of September 11th. Do you think they'll be as vocal in commemerating

This?

Atlas Shrugged? A Movie? Hmmm.

From the IMDB News:

Jolie Lands Dream Role As Taggart

Angelina Jolie has won her dream role - as author Ayn Rand's iconic heroine Dagney Taggart. Jolie, a longtime fan of Russian-born Rand, has been quietly campaigning to play Taggart in new film Atlas Shrugged - and now she's landed the role, according to trade newspaper Daily Variety. The movie adaptation of Rand's epic tome has been kicking around Hollywood for many years, and, at one point, was set to star Faye Dunaway. The project sets up a busy 12 months for Jolie, whose next movie will be another epic adaptation, Beowulf. She'll also be seen alongside Matt Damon in The Good Shepherd and she'll also star in the adaptation of Mariane Pearl's book about the kidnap and murder of her husband, journalist Daniel Pearl.

Where's Our Karl Rove?

(this is from a Diary I posted on Daily Kos last week because it's Friday and I'm lazy.)

I've been exhaustedly watching the election coverage for the midterms, and I'm getting very, very anxious and disheartened.
It seems that the only articles coming out on the subject are all about the Republican war chest and their opposition research, and the Bush P.R. blitz, and Rove mobilizing the base.

My question is, where is the Democratic equivalent to Karl Rove? Who is the one political genuis who is capable of uniting the entire party and fighting off the attacks of the GOP, and just maybe putting the Republicans on the defensive for once?


All of the rhetoric is that the Republicans are on the run from Bush, that the Dems are going to possibly take back the House, and maybe even the Senate. Yet, each passing day, we're losing ground. It's closing by a few points here, a few there, but, we're still pretty far away from election day. And I'm getting very worried about our prospects. It's ours to lose, and from the looks of it, that's where it is headed.

We need to be on the attack. We need to get angry. I understand the rationale of the positive populist ads and message, but I don't think that that's entirely effective anymore. Our culture reflects that. We want the strong candidate to win, the tough candidate. Negative ads come off as tough to the average voter. The polling data in the midst of negative campaigning reflects that. During the last Swift Boat campaign, the numbers increased in favor of Bush and the Republicans. I don't think that's coincidence.

I live in NE Ohio, which is a very watched area as far as elections go. As many know, the DeWine/Brown race is uncomfortably close, and Brown's lead dwindles each day. DeWine is positing himself as an Independent candidate for Ohio. You don't see the word Republican anywhere near his ads*. I'm curious to know in how many other state races are following this trend. Why not, when speaking of your opponent, just throw the word Republican in front of their name at every mention? Just a thought.

(*although I'm not sure it's the best strategy. You can't really erase that big (R) next to your name on the ballot.)

I'm trying to be positive. I really hope that we can pull it off. With all the strikes against the Republicans: Abramoff scandals, Domestic Spying, Iraq, the War on Terror, the Economy, Education, Gas Prices, etc., it seems crazy that we aren't ahead in every race in every state and by double digits across the country. We need the candidates to use all of this against their opponents. Every one of these things should be thrown right back at them every time. It seems that we are still on the defensive.

All of the talk of Democrats being compared to Nazi's, and pro terrorist, and anti American will seep in to the American conciousness as we get closer to the election and as more Republican ads saturate the airwaves. We need to unite and attack them at their own game. I know that that's not a very popular opinion, but as history shows, it works. I'm afraid that if we don't, if we stand back and try to win on the Republican's record and the country's attitude toward their failures, they'll just spin it in their favor by November. They do it every time. I understand that we want the moral high ground and we want to win on our merits, be the party of change, but by taking no action, we'll again be the opposition party.

This is our election to win or lose, and this is probably the most important election I've yet seen. If we fail at this, if the GOP remains in control, the Republicans will use that as a sign that they're policies are what the country wants. I think the country will swing so far right, that it may be too hard to dig the U.S. out of any hole which we will inevetibly dig ourselves into, and we will be powerless to stop it. We need to win this at all costs.

I'm hoping the Dems have a plan that I don't know about yet that they unleash in the coming months.

I just needed to get this off of my chest in a public forum. I'm sorry if it was so disjointed and negative. I still do have hope that our citizens will choose to get this country back on track and out of the hands of fundamentalists and radicals. I love this country and I just want to see us back in a positive direction.

Most Underrated Hip Hop Album Ever

So, I'm going through my chest of old CD's the other day, looking for songs to load into my iPod, when I come across this. I'm still not sure how this isn't listed as one of the classic hip hop CD's of our time. I mean, come on, this is essentially the first real supergroup that we had, although at the time, I guess not many knew it. The RZA, Prince Paul, that guy from Onyx. Granted, this was coming out of the golden age of hip hop, and it probably did get lost in the wierdness of "death rap",or to some "horrorcore" alongside of such (forgotten) artists as Natas, Esham, and the Flatlinerz. (so that's where the edgy mispellings came from.) The lyrical content is a little over the top, "1-800-Suicide", "2 Cups of Blood" "Death Trap", but I'm pretty sure that this was just an over the top in-joke. The beats are staggering, with organic drums propelling acoustic jazz bass, old blues guitar, and some really great horn stabs, with the obligatory horror music synth and theremin, just for good measure. The album was produced by Prince Paul (De La Soul, Handsome Boy Modeling School), once again showing his sick genuis on just about every track. (At the time, the Wu-Tang was just getting some recognition, so the RZA sat production duties out until the next album, The Pick, The Sickle, and the Shovel, which is good, but doesn't quite hold the musicality of the music on this.) The rhyming is superior to most, if not all, of the so called artists of the present, with lyrics concerning, you guessed it, dismemberment, mass murder, suicide, and your general splatter and gore, but all done tongue in cheek (you hope). If your'e a hip hop fan, and you haven't heard it, check it out. It's a hidden gem lost in the shuffle that, in retrospect, is musically sound, complicated, and humorous. I played the shit out of this disc when I was a kid, and it's surprising how well it holds up, especially in the present cookie cutter hip hop world. It even comes off as groundbreaking if you are hearing it for the first time. But in the current hip hop scene, it seems that the past is where to look for innovation and talent; to hear music instead of product.

The Obligitory First+ Description.

I know I'm a little late in the game on this, but since a lot of my free time is spent reading others' opinions on a variety of blogs, I've decided to throw my two cents in to the arena as well. This is a place for myself, and possibly others to air their views of current popular American culture with an emphasis on Politics, Film, Music and the Media. The political leanings will tend to lean left, although, I'm more interested in exposing my problems with the system. I feel that the far left is as bad as the far right, but at this juncture, I can't get behind any Republican, no matter how close to center. As for the other focuses: Film, Music, Media, etc., I have many strong opinions as well on the current atmosphere of our American "junk" culture. So, if your interested, check back. It may be a little slow going at first, and I will warn you, I'm not a trained writer, so I'm sure I'm in need of some editorial. Enjoy.