.cuz i got wheels.

(from Off the Wahl)

There is political chit chatter that the fact that Barack Obama failure to denounce his Chicago pastor will ultimately "kill his campaign".
Would you? Would you denounce someone who is like family to you? Who baptized your children and stood by you for years?
I wouldn't (okay, so I don't have a pastor and I haven't been baptized).

I don't agree with Rev. Wright but the moment someone says they think America is sinning and/or heading to hell the country goes in arms. Or do they? No one I know really cared about these remarks. Everyone I know was glad that Michelle Obama (side note: secret service codename is Renaissance...sweeeeet) said that she was for once proud of her country when remarking about her husband.

Have you been proud of your country lately? I haven't.

I've seen the bodies of innocent Iraqis killed by American troops and American bombs. A country that was attacked 5 years ago for having terrorist connection that didn't exist. The administration acting like a stubborn child who is too old to still believe in Santa Claus.
I've seen the video of American troops laughing at the carred bodies of Iraqis, admiting to killing women and children, and yes, throwing a puppy over a cliff.
I have cried with the children of the troopswho learn that they will never seen their fathers or mothers again.
I am not proud of my country.

We have sinned.
(I'm not talking about any sort of Biblical sense of sinning, I'm talking about being a good human being no matter race, religion or creed)

We have fought at no cost to be the most powerful; the omnipresent power in the world. We have bought in excess while others have fought, even harder than the troops overseas to live. We have sinned. We are Rome and our collapse will be grand (and you thought Spitzer was good!). We have launched wars against ideas and attacked knowledge. We are corrupting children and profiting from it at the same time. We have sinned. We are sinners.
Our country is flawed and anyone who disagrees is drifting awake with their eyes wide shut.
I have never been someone to blindly smile and say how proud I am as an American. I never said the Pledge of Alligence in school at the beginning of the day (I always thought it seemed so communist Russia, even at 8). Has anyone been "proud" since Bush took office? Really? Are we so proud of this flaw that we critize anyone who disagrees? Castrate their thoughts.

Barack Obama gave the most important speech not only about race, but about our country since Martin Luther King Jr.

Yes, he is running for president but that gives him a national platform to speak as an American and a black man.
He is not preaching. He is not accusing. He is not pointing fingers and making irrational claims like Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton (don't get me wrong, not everything they say is irrational/insane, most of it is not but the words they want to be remembered for as usually accusatory or filled with hatred and bitterness).
Will the most important speech that this country has heard in generations be overshadowed because he won't refuse that there are angry people out there.
Angry at the country. Angry at their god. Angry at the world.
Addressing the world in a cool, collected and always moving manner, Obama showed that he can unite (although not without controversy). You will hear that speech quoted and requoted and printed in text books. I don't doubt it.

The average American isn't saying, "Well, he won't denounce his pastor, that's all I got from that".
That is the press.
As Americans we have the freedom of press but more importantly we have the freedom of speech. Our speech. Our words. I refuse to let the media speak for me. I'm sick of it. I'm sick of speculation used to only fill airtime. Put some real people on TV. Ask them if they care. Ask them what they care about at all.

Keith Olbermann doesn't speak for me.
Joe Scarborough doesn't speak for me.
Hannity nor Colmes speak for me.
Brian Williams doesn't speak for me.
Tim Russert doesn't speak for me.
Rev. Wright doesn't speak for me.
Matt Frei doesn't speak for me.
Maureen Dowd doesn't speak for me.
Television doesn't speak for me.
The New York Times doesn't speak for me.
The BBC doesn't speak for me.

I speak for me. I decide things. I am my own fact checker. I am my own researcher. I am taking back my thoughts and refusing to give in to television rating and spring sweeps.

To miscontextualize Descarte: "I think therefore I am"

.on the lower east side.

politicians:
McGreevey. Patterson. Spitzer.
TMI.
That's all.
TMI.

.but i'm the luckiest guy.

Fun fact:
There are
8
registered
Holly Golightlys
in New York
But none
on the Upper East Side.

Oddly, this came up
in my
day to day work.

She was
such a
bitch
in the novella.
Very un-PC.
a must read
(rhyme!)

.with tom, the astronomer.

(subtitled: Dude! I knew it - Call my mom! I told her he was sketch)
Whoa!
Whoa!
You all read this?

I knew this guy was a
twat.
He just
looks sketch.
Like he,
oh, I don't know,
is involved in a
prostitution ring!

And he's a
super delegate
for Clinton.

See him on Meet the Press?
(a few weeks ago)
Twat.

Burn baby, burn!

(okay, hopefully this won't turn into the New York Times vs. McCain bs they published - I hate the Republicans as much as they do, but I call bullshit on that story)

.for you to wear to the prom.

The Village Voice has
redeemed itself
in my book
(okay,
not really)
With Michael Musto's
photo shoot
mocking
Lindsay Lohan's
Monroe shoot for
my beloved
New York Magazine.

Was that big in the world,
or just New York?
Is there a difference?

.and john would buy the gown.

(please file under random facts of life)
I just want to say I always thought Larry Wilmore (who has a great short in the collection "Things I've Learned From Women Who've Dumped Me" - which was at UCB and I could never get tickets!) was Chocolate Rain's uncle? brother? father? Mmmmm.

.in the rain to bring you candy.

You know how one can
spot
a tourist?
It's your pants.
Old
outdated
too short
and those
sensible shoes.

I say
bah!
to sensible shoes!

.andy would bicycle across town.

Inspiration for the next set of post titles:
Not an official video, but I find it amazing nonetheless.

(flip record to side 2A to continue)

So,
was I just
oblivious
(the answer is yes)
to the rate hike?
I thought it was in
June.
Not on Sunday.

Thank god I just bought my
Unlimited.

God bless the unlimited card,
and it making life be great in
18 minute intervals.

I'm gonna ride the trains
all Sunday
to watch people through fits.

Mmmm.
Sounds like fun.

(That image is from the Young Manhattanite blog which I've never read but they did post this amazing photo, so they can't be that bad)

.on the run again.

Fuck Nader.

.Bonnie and Clyde.

(again, from Monday, when this was fresh and relevant)

Hey, people of America. Stop bitching that Juno didn't win Best Picture or Actress. Just because most of you are too stupid to realize the subtle and gentle brilliance of No Country for Old Men doesn't mean it wasn't a great movie. Yeah, we all loved the ending to Juno. It's ridiculously accessible and you have to be an amorphous blob of jello sitting and soaking into the cinema seats to leave the theatre confused. That why people liked it. She had the baby and gave it to Jennifer Gardner. There, ruin it for you? No, because you knew all along that would happen. Dumb asses.

Anywho.

• Although I thought Julian Schnabel would get Best Director, I'm glad that the Coens (oh those anti-social, quiet awkward kids!) got their award (three actually).
• I also thought that Julie Christie would win best actress and I am so fucking glad she didn't. Maybe people got sick of her making Alzheimer jokes, insensitive or what? Marion Cotillard not only won but was the best dressed! She looked amazing and the only seen bits of La Vie en Rose, but I have the feeling that I and the rest of the English speaking world will flock to the local art house and see it, finally. She also had the best reaction to her announcement.
• Tilda Swenson (one of the oddest yet most talented actress today - never seen her work? watch any movie on Sundance or IFC) won Best Supporting Actress and eh, yeah. That's fine. As I mentioned earlier in this blog: Did anyone really care?
• The awards for actors were in the bag and we all enjoyed, maybe I a little more than others, Javier Bardem thanking his mother in Spanish. Mmmmmm. Native tongue.....
• And Daniel Day Lewis was gracious as always and you always think he just has no idea that he's a great actor. The scene they showed of him is just the best and you have to see it all, you just get such a great look into the mind of this man. But as you all know, I love There Will Be Blood.
• I just saw Once on Saturday so I was so glad Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová won (aren't they cute, they're in love in real life too) for Best Song. It was a great movie and like everyone else the bloggosphere I just loved that Jon Stewart brought Markéta Irglová out so she could make her speech. In case you haven't seen it, it's not really a musical and obnoxious like that, so you shouldn't shy away from it.
• In the non-acting and writing categories too often are these people shuffled off the stage but they are truly the people who make films wonderful and stunning and memorable - they really are the glue of cinema and shouldn't be overlooked. These people have been in the business for decades and have usually been nominated a zillion times and continue to make great art. Unlike actors who really come and go (gotta love seeing Cuba Gooding Jr.'s speech and just thinking - wow, what a waste) while these people stay.

Other moments:

• In case you actually thought Jennifer Hudson deserved an Oscar for Dreamgirls last year (please) look at her trying to read her introduction to Best Supporting Actor (or Supporting, Supporting Actor in a Supporting Role) in the most boring, monotone, lifeless manner. Next year we'll all go, who? Bye Jennifer, hope you enjoyed it. You have done nothing since the win and you never will - you can sing, congrates, you haven't even done anything with that.
• Yom Kippur/Atonement joke fell flat - come on, that was hilarious!
• No musical montages - the WORST part of every Oscar year for me. I hated those things and I'm glad they've generally gotten rid of them. Fuck you Billy Crystal, no one liked those stupid songs and dances and you haven't been funny since Princess Bride (which was 21years ago). There. I said it. It's true. Shut up.
• Still find Diablo Cody very unnerving.
• Did anyone else think the tribute section was short and lifeless (haha, oh, sorry, I punned). I could have sworn more people died - really. I'm not trying to be funny. It seemed short - I didn't even cry. And I usually cry.

But the best part - no more Oscar speculation and people thinking that well...read the first part of this. Hooray movies!

Now I will sit at home and enjoy my "Viva Pedro" collection I bought on DVD. Sweeeeeet.

.like some modern-day.

(last three posts were created on Monday, but I forgot to actually post them)

Okay, the mean bigiated side comes out. I'm in painful shoes today so my mood is not being enhanced by blistered feet (but that's part of life, eh?).

Another subway, WTF? Why do the little middle aged Chinese women with eight bags of groceries at 8:30 in the morning take one step into the subway car and just stop. They just stand there, facing the inside, right in the middle of the doorway and only an inch from the door.
What the hell is this? What is this? When and where is that acceptable? Not even in China. Maybe you are so amazed of the space left in the subway car compared to the meat packed conditions of Chinese public transportation, but I don't care. Move! Again, I'm in four inch heels. I can't just stand there with a foot between the car and platform. Have you seen those platforms, they're made of flimsy wood. Just move and don't look surprised when people are passing by you.

What is this?!?! Why does this happen all the time?
(PS: I know you speak English, I heard you! Don't play that card!)

.gypsy landslide.

this has
nothing
to do with
anything.

but when I'm down
I read this.

and I feel better

.like some modern-day.

I realized today that I'm
being groomed
for a position.
It's a weird feeling
knowing that you're going to be expected
to take over this position in a some time.


I feel like Uno.
(Is he not the cutest thing ever?!?!)

.of our leaving.

I find the idea that
Broadway
isn't a street, or an avenue
or anything,
unsettling
(like wet toast and small mariachi band)
It's just
Broadway.

.and I fantasize.

One of my
favorite parts
of Life Without People
was how the New York subway would
flood
in 36 hours without people/electricity
pumping the water.
In about 150 years,
the columns holding the tunnels up
would collapse
and the streets would cave in.

The closest to that was

today.
The streets of my neighborhood
were flooding because of the
snow and rain
and because of the
mass amounts of confetti
clogging the drains from Sunday's parade
(which was sweeeeeeeet).

In the subway stations
each stairwell was flooded with
at least
2-3 inches of water.
At every stations.
So glad I wore boots today.

The subway cars were wet
(thanks to my sweet new book I know that
only 60% of the New York subway system
is actually underground)
inside and out.
The floors were slippery.
Everyone smelled like that
old, wet clothing smell.
A smelly smell.
People were slipping
all over the place.

The train pulled in and I
(and I didn't mean to)
glared at the MTA guy in the middle of the car
(the one that makes the announcements)
and squeezed in.
Damn the man!
No, damn that man.
Damn him!

And damn that the snow is already gone!

.good fortune.

I predict.
And admittedly,
I'm good at this stuff,
Obama is going to be like good old #10
Eli Manning in the 4th quarter.

At the last minute
when you think the team will go down
you have 30 seconds left.
They're gonna try and grab onto Obama,
his gonna wiggle his way out of a bad grip on his shirt
and he's gonna make it.
Not gonna get tackled,
but rather
win the game at the last minute.

And with 1 second left on the clock,
Clinton's gonna demand a final gasp
and it will be pointless.
She's grumble
and groan.
But nothing will stop the parade.

VOTE OBAMA '08
(I waited 4 years to vote for him and I can't wait to do it again in November)

.so I take my.

Apparently
and I think these reports are
wildly
exaggerated,
about 3 million people
were at the ticker tap parade for
the New York Giants
in downtown Manhattan
(which is a relatively small area).

That's about the
entire population of
Manhattan and Queens
combined.

The atmosphere was like
a frat house,
of some accounts,
in the subways.
Still go glad I don't take the 6.

But what I found most interesting
was this article
about the term "ticker-tape parade".
It's easy to figure out,
but interesting nonetheless.

As you can see here
the ticker tape was flying.
Actually, it was just lazily ripped up office documents.
Doesn't seem
too smart
for the financial district and City Hall.

.and I feel like....

(PS: this will be long and I don't exactly expect anyone to finish my ramblings - and I cannot find the html code to break this up, please send me if you have it for Blogger)

So, one of my favorite things in the world is the Oscars. I don't care that it has cheesy montages, sappy tributes and it is generally self-serving. I love it. If February goes by with my eating vegetarian chili and corn bread while watching it, life is nothing.

I love the movies. I love going to the movies. I don't care that it's usually between $11.50 and 13.75. I will not eat to instead go to the movies. It gets bad when I'm not working.

So here are my picks and ideas for the main categories:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BEST FOREIGN FILM:

Most years I feel this category shows off the amazing achievements in international film making. Only one entry per country allows countries like France and Italy not to dominate the category. Past amazing winners have included The Barbarian Invasions (one of my favorite films, amazing since I thought The Decline of the American Empire was unbearable and obnoxious), No Man's Land (even though it won over Amelie), All About my Mother (via la Pedro!) and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (among many others obviously).

But this year the nominees are ones I actually haven't heard of (for me? I know!). Persepolis, Lust, Caution and 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (from Romania who has been starting to become a powerhouse in cinema) were all snubbed and movie people freaked out. I have no picks and will flip the channel when this award is presented. So there!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BEST ANIMATED FILM:

Another what the fuck category. Surf's Up is nominated for an award (not even going to both with linking that one)? I know most people are complaining that the Simpsons Movie wasn't nominated but I really didn't like it and I'll leave it at that. Persepolis and Ratatouille are nominated. Even though the former is from France I think the French public has embraced the latter more. Rataouille has the cute factor while Persepolis has the emotional factor. If Persepolis wins it will be a "sorry for not having you in the Foreign Film category". Hard choice. My prediction = Ratatouille.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BEST SCREENPLAY (ORIGINAL):

Dear People of America: Juno is good but horribly overrated! This category, I feel, is up for grabs. People will get their panties in a twist if Juno doesn't win and I wouldn't be surprised if Diablo Cody won (especially because she is an attractive ex-stripper with hipster tattoos and taste in music - wacky!). Ratatouille was good but not Oscar script worthy. Lars and the Real Girl hasn't been getting awards so, no on that one. Michael Clayton is too serious to win this category - the Oscar has recently been given to people like Charlie Kaufman, Pedro Almodóvar, Sophie Coppola, Alan Ball and Quentin Tarantino - all for scripts very unique and Sundance-y. Tamara Jenkins is nominated for the Savages and wrote and directed one of the my favorite film Slums of Beverly Hills. My vote = Tamara Jenkins, especially since the Academy loves anything with Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman (as do I) and with this film they get a double punch.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BEST SCREENPLAY (ADAPTED):

Whoa! Super tough category! I really think it's a three-way competition between The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, No Country for Old Men, and There Will be Blood. Which ever film wins this will win for best picture. I'll tell you that. I don't think Diving Bell win will win Best Picture so its down to the Cohen Brothers vs. Paul Thomas Anderson. The Academy has generally overlooked P.T. Anderson - going for nominations for the actors in his movies rather than his directing and scripts. My prediction = No Country for Old Men even though There Will be Blood should get a runner up award.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

A woman playing a man?! Insane. Cate Blanchett is of course getting rave reviews for I'm Not There and the Academy loves gender benders. But Ruby Dee is old and has been acting since the '40s and the Academy loves giving people awards for just still be alive. Saoirse Ronan is too young and Tilda Swinton has done better work. Amy Ryan might steal the award because the Academy loves drug addicts and generally awful human beings. My prediction = actually no one really cares about this category because of the Supporting Actor category but I say Cate Blanchett and she will look fabulous accepting the award. cx

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:

If I was not Javier Bardem and nominated I wouldn't even bother showing up to the award show. This is shoe in and there will be riots on the streets of Hollywood and Spain if he doesn't win. He's one of the greatest living actors and deserves all the accolades he's been getting. He was No Country for Old Men. Any other actor would have drowned in the intensity of that script but he was perfect. It's especially amazing because he has generally taken richly emotional roles and Anton Chigurh is the most psychopathic, emotionless human beings ever on film. He also has the most amazing Dorothy Hamill haircut ever! Bardem will be nominated again in the next year or whenever Killing Pablo comes out - he plays Pablo Escobar and that is just another Oscar shoe in. This also means more screen time for Bardem and I'll be honest, he is one of the most amazingly attractive people on the planet. Muy caliente! Also, I would have enjoyed No Country just a little bit more if he looked more like this (see right).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BEST ACTRESS:

To be honest I find this category a little lackluster. I don't think there was one really amazing part for actresses this year. Cate Blanchett for The Golden Age - that's a joke right? Ellen Page - that's another joke. Have you ever seen her interviewed? She is Juno, she wasn't acting, she just wore a pregnant belly. Marion Cotillard - glad she was nominated, I feel she's been a little overlooked because she's not very well known stateside. My prediction = Julie Christie for Away from Her. The Academy loves Alzheimer's victims and come back actors (she won her first Oscar in 1966) and has generally been forgotten since then. However, I would love if Laura Linney or Cotillard took it instead.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BEST ACTOR:

Another category that if I wasn't Daniel Day Lewis, I wouldn't bother showing up. Come on. I love Johnny Deep and Viggo Mortensen (Tommy Lee Jones and George Clooney - who won't win because no one wants to hear another fucking smug speech - I could live without) but they have a snowball's chance in hell on winning although I think it's great that they nominated because they are great actors. But Daniel Day Lewis made There Will be Blood. I just saw it last night - in Times Square which equals idiots everywhere but that's another story. Although Anderson's movie is great Daniel Day Lewis is almost too good an actor. Paul Dano, Dillon Freasier and Ciaran Hinds are all amazing yet unfortunately overlooked, although they shouldn't considering they all held their own opposite Day Lewis (or is it just Lewis? Mmmmm...?) On a side note: prediction for future - give Paul Dano one more amazing role and he will be nominated for an Oscar. He's an amazing actor who is almost there. Day Lewis is best when Daniel Plainview is on the edge of extreme violence. I'll write more about it later. But yes - My prediction = Daniel Day Lewis (and the true love of my mother's life) will get his much deserved second Oscar this year.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BEST DIRECTOR:

I love the Cohen brothers. I really do. I'm glad No Country was good because I thought The Ladykiller, Intolerable Cruelty and The Man Who Wasn't There were just unbearably forgettable. They have been getting a lot of press for having the best film of the year but P. T. Anderson, as I mentioned before is overlooked for no reason whatsoever. He is an amazing director. Julian Schnabel is showing himself to be a great director with Basquiat (which a lot of people didn't think but take Courtney Love out and it would have been perfect) and Before Night Falls. Anything that takes him away from throwing porcelain plates on a canvas is good in my book. My prediction = In an upset Schnabel will win. But if Anderson won, I would be very happy as well.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BEST FILM:

First Atonement will leave the Oscars without any awards - I'll make that prediction. And their shameless advertising for the Oscar is becoming repulsive. Michael Clayton will also leave without any awards. Juno will not win this category although I'm game for anything with Michael Cera in it (we'll get married one day and have awkward children who run into walls). So that makes it between No Country for Old Men and There Will be Blood. I liked There Will be Blood more even though the cast of No Country was stranger (PS: no nod for Josh Brolin? Brad from the Goonies did so well for himself!). My prediction = No Country for Old Men and we'll all applaud and we won't be shocked and then Jon Stewert will says= thanks for coming and end of the show. Shrug.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Other categories:

• None of Eddie Vedder's music from Into the Wild was nominated = Lame.
• Only one song from Once was nominated = Super lame.
• Johnny Greenwood's soundtrack for There Will Be Blood made the movie and is one of the most amazing pieces of movie scoring in cinematic history and it was not nominated because it wasn't %100 made for the movie = Not lame but bullshit.
• All but one Best Documentary nominees is about the Iraq war aka: these filmmakers are Oscar fishing = Rooting for Michael Moore.
• Waitress was snubbed for at least screenplay if not actress = I am upset and itchy.
  

.and all over the world.

ImprovEverwhere
Are the most genius,
subversive
and
generally amazing
people in New York.

My favorites:
'Meet a Black Guy'
and their most recent
'Frozen Grand Central'

These people are the
reason
the people on the subway
in Borat
don't really looked
that
surprised.