Ingrid Michaelson

I’m a little behind in pop music (or just music in general) as I’m sure many have heard of Ingrid Michaelson since last year but listening to her live concert on the NPR web site makes a fan out of me. Not that I need much convincing after my then fiancée picked out “The Way I Am” as our first dance song. Grant it, some of her songs have been commercialized but that isn’t anything new in the advertising industry that has used songs from Aerosmith, Lenny Kravitz, and many other popular artists.

Some say that she reminds them of Fiona Apple or Regina Spektor. Personally, I think she sounds a little bit like Feist. After listen to her live, I have hope that she would breakout and be known for her voice, talent, and an artist with great showmanship. Her interaction with the audience was warm, entertaining, and yet, she wasn’t shy about letting them know how she feels about people who criticize her for "letting" her songs be used in the Old Navy commercial and some TV shows (Grey’s Anatomy, One Tree Hill, etc).

If you get a chance to listen to the live concert, don’t miss the last song at the end where she beautifully sang “Fools Rush In”.

Ingrid Michaelson in Concert

Her official web site

Sean Penn’s take on Kucinich: Electibility VS Idealism

Sean Penn has just written a piece that expresses eloquently what I'd attempted to say in my previous post.

Piano Wire Puppeteers: The Constitution, Media & Dennis Kucinich

I'm torn. I'm torn between the conventional wisdom of what we all keep being told is electibility and the idealism that perhaps alone can live up to the challenges of our generation.

Of the democrats running for President, only Congressman Dennis Kucinich's candidacy is backed by a voting record of moral courage and a history of service to our country that has fully earned our support and our gratitude. And when I say support, I am not speaking to democrats alone, but rather to every American who would take the time on behalf of their children, our planet, and our soldiers to educate themselves on the Kucinich platform.

Wolf Blitzer asked each candidate if they would support the other should they themselves not be the nominee. One after another, the answer, yes. One exception: Dennis Kucinich, who with the minimal time allotted him, once again rose up beyond the sound bite and put principal ahead of party; argued policy rather than politeness. He has been the dominant voice of integrity on issues of trade, labor, education, environment, health, civil liberties, and the one endlessly determined voice of peace. But is he too short? Does his haircut not appeal? Is he not loyal enough to a cowardly democratic platform? Does he not appeal to the cult of personality? And what if the answer is yes? What if Dennis Kucinich, the most deserving and noble of candidates, the most experienced in issues of policy and the least willing to play into the politics of personal power? What if we can't elect a man simply on the basis of the best ideas, the most courage, and the most selfless service?

Why not Kucinich?

If you’re a true liberal, why would you not like Kucinich? He’s about as ideal candidate as you can get. And I bet you he’s anti-spanking, too!

On the issues:

* He’s environmental friendly and has shown great interest in the sustainable development. He also voted against drilling in Alaska.

* He has voted against authorizing the war in Iraq and against funding its continuation.

* He has a plan for a Universal, Single-Payer, Not-for-Profit health care system.

* He is the only candidate who supports same-sex marriage.

* He has a pro-gun control voting record.

* He support the women’s right to choose on abortion.

* He's a strong advocate on Animal's rights.

Dennis Kucinich's Web Site

Biography

Kucinich on treehugger

Kucinich on grist

Best & Worst Movies (I've seen in 2007)

Worst Horror:
The Abominable Dr. Phibes and its sequel Dr. Phibes Rises Again: We love Vincent Price but these two films make no sense whatsoever. The sequel was even worse than the original. Vincent Price’s fans would be laughing at the Vincent Price’s mask. The only redeeming value is that I got to see my favorite actor, Joseph Cotton, in The Abominable Dr. Phibes. On a totally unrelated observation, the lead detective looked like a European version of Robert De Niro.

Worst Sci-Fi:
Close Encounters of the Third Kind: People call this one of the best Sci-Fis? Good idea, poor execution but that may explain why there are so many different versions on the 30th anniversary edition that’s just been released.

Worst Comedy:
Monty Python and the Holy Grail: I feel asleep. And yes, I get British comedy. I love Keeping Up Appearances and even liked Mr. Bean at one point.

Worst Classic:
A Streetcar Named Desire: Stella! STELLLAAAA! Can't you hear me YELLA! You're puttin' me through HELLA! Stella... STELLLAAAA!

Best Horror:
The Descent: I was so glad this didn’t turn into a predictable monster/slasher film. The unrated version (as opposed to what was released in North America) has far superior ending. According to the Special Feature on DVD, the whole underground/cave scenes were shot in studio - amazing!

Best Classic:
The Grapes of Wrath: I loved this film but unable to describe exactly why. Perhaps it’s John Ford’s stunning black and white portraying of the Great Depression. I heard that the book by John Steinbeck was pretty awesome, too.

Best TV Series:
Heroes Season 1: The nerdy Asian dude annoyed me but the series was like a hard to put down comic book.

Best Documentary:
Too Hot Not to Handle: This is one of the most important documentary films to see regarding climate change/global warming.

Best Foreign:
A tie between Volver and Bacheha-Ye aseman (Children of Heaven) : Volver is my Almodóvar most favorite film (next to Hable con ella or in the English title, Talk to Her). His other films are just too much for me. This one is a perfect story-telling with the right amount of mystery and drama.

Children of Heaven is the most wonderful children film I’ve seen in years. The acting might not be the most natural since the leads are just kids but the movie really portrays the purity in children and also gives the audience a peek into the lower class Iranian family.

Best of the Best:
Zodiac: This has to be the best and the most complete work of David Fincher (Se7en, Panic Room, Fight Club). Awesome casts and excellent performances, awesome script, awesome cinematography, directing, and editing.

Conservatives and global warming

While I still maintain that global warming isn't and shouldn't be a political issue, the conservatives have done everything in their power to prove me wrong. The article below is pretty accurate in describing how conservatives "deal" with global warming.

Conservatives and global warming

I was recently made aware of the fact that the conservative National Review has a newish blog called Planet Gore. That's right: the only conservative blog I know of on global warming is primarily focused on mocking Al Gore -- who is, you'll recall, a big Fatty Fatterstein.

This pungent discovery got me pondering a post on how conservative opposition to global warming advocacy seems openly and bizarrely centered on hatred of liberals and environmentalists and Al Gore rather than, say, any substantive take on the issue itself. It is perhaps the clearest example of how modern conservatism has descended into pure ressentiment.

But -- and let this be a lesson to all you procrastinating pundits out there -- Jonathan Chait beat me to it

The psychology at work here is pretty clear: Your average conservative may not know anything about climate science, but conservatives do know they hate Al Gore. So, hold up Gore as a hate figure and conservatives will let that dictate their thinking on the issue.

The latest assault on the planet earth comes from a Republican Senator, James Inhofe (who thinks that the climate change is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people).

Inhofe vows to put brakes on Gore's 'Live Earth' concert at the Capitol

And finally, GOP attack on Gore makes no sense at all

So from what I've been seeing, the way the conservatives deal with global warming is to ignore the scientific findings, spend their negative energy attacking the messengers while doing absolutely nothing to reduce CO2.

Does that sound about right to you?

The Latest Attack on Al Gore is Laughable

Actually, it makes me smile. Why? I've been hearing about this all over the place and frankly I don't care.

But wait - why would I not care about one of the leaders in the environmental field being attacked? Don't I care that he might be a hypocrite?

Well, not really. Why? So many reasons. First of all, as long as you aren't living in a tree, naked, and eating stuff only from your surrounding then you're responsible. I'm responsible. Gore is responsible and Bush and Cheney are responsible. All of you people who joined in this latest attack are responsible.

Secondly, what have those who criticized Gore personally done to help reduce the CO2 or combat global warming? Remember we all share responsibility to preserve this beautiful blue earth for the next generation. Gore has many faults and he's doing his part to make it better. What have you done?

Thirdly, it's the old tactic from the right to attack and smear. We've seen it countless times and we even saw they did it to each other (Bush VS McCain). This isn't new. This isn't something anyone should be surprised. Instead, this should be expected. And if you expect something and it happens then you really don't care.

Lastly, it's laughable that people try to dig up dirt on someone who isn't even running for President. I can't help but wonder, why not spend more of your negative energy on someone like Clinton, Obama, or Edwards?

The problems with "The Good Shepherd"

***MILD SPOILER ALERT!!!

• Unlikable and uninspiring lead character: Edward Wilson is a typical government worker character who's extremely successful and good at what he does at work but isn't able to have a normal, loving relationship with his family. Worse, he left his nice girlfriend to marry someone who he doesn't love (for political reason) and then cheated on his wife. Matt Damon isn't a bad looking actor but his character is so boring it's hard to understand how all these attractive female characters throw themselves at him.
  
• Robert De Niro, who's arguably one of the best actors of our time, isn't able to manage the large group of all-star casts with a somewhat complex plot and subplots. He did an admirable job directing A Bronx Tale when the cast was much smaller and the story was less complicated.
  
• The editing by Tariq Anwar, which is something that De Niro should be partly responsible for, was inefficient in that it failed to compact the story and move on to something else more interesting. The main problem is that it kept linger in the dark world, which was beautifully set up and shot but you get tired after looking at it for most of the movie. I was able to appreciate the end of the movie much more when the location is in Dominican Republic where it's much more vibrant.

Critical Thinking on Violent Movies

A movie can be a form of entertainment but it can also be art. Movies put together many artistic aspects such as photography, acting, directing, music score, costume, set design, etc. It’s a strong medium that can be very powerful and can reach a broader audience than the other medium such as music, painting, and the other forms of art.

As far as violence in a movie, it’s ignorant at best to lump all violent movies together and criticize them as a whole. Sure, Hollywood is the number one offender when it comes to gross-out violent movies but to be able to intelligently discuss this issue; you need to ask why a (violent) scene is there. You need to think about the intention of having certain scenes or displaying of certain images. Are they related to the storyline? Do they help stressing the messages that the directors try to get across?

In a way, a violent scene should be analyzed the same way as a sex/nude scene.

Case Study One: The violence in Braveheart is much worse than Kill Bill but somehow is more accepted (judging by Kill Bill being constantly criticized) even though the violence in Braveheart is real and the violence in Kill Bill is highly stylized and cartoonish (also applies to Sin City).

Case Study Two: Many religious people who have been opposing violent movies have embraced The Passion of The Christ. It’s interesting that when people agree with the message of the film, they open up to something they have strongly opposed. They are more willing to understand and even attempt to explain to those who don’t agree.

Spanking in America

That's right, spanking your children is bad while America is full of spoiled rotten kids. Let's not discipline the children and buy them cell phones, iPods, video games, Abercrombie & Fitch clothing, and expensive sneakers.

Spanking is bad but NRA is good. Spanking is bad but violence in movies is embraced. Spanking is bad but death penalty is supported. Spanking is bad but it's OK to invade a country and shove democracy down their throat.

Is it possible that all these are connected? Are there any relations at all of how American adults think and view the world to how they were raised? Maybe or maybe not. I too, could make an extreme generalization but is it the most efficient way to look at the issue?

It's almost pointless to bring up how some adults grew up to be the upstanding citizens with or without getting spanked as children. There are so many viable aspects that come into play in deciding whether spanking is a good tool for parents to discipline their children. Spanking may work in some countries and may fail miserably in the other.

Then there is the aspect of defining spanking. How do you differentiate between spanking, hitting, smacking, whipping, etc? And what if there is a formal rule in place at schools where children already know that if they do certain things then there would get some spanking?

And what about the motive behind spanking? What if the parents spank, not out of anger, but just as a rule, a form of disciplinary/correction?

Sending more U.S. troops to Iraq is a bad idea but what can we do at this point?

Some questions had been asked regarding the alternative to the President Bush's new Iraq Policy plan. Here is my attempt to answer those questions.

Q: So what do we do?

A: Withdraw. Not immediately but slowly. Set a time and stick with it. I prefer no longer than later this year.

Q: I think popular opinion turned against this war, not because it was wrong AND stupid, but because it wasn't a slam dunk win.

A: Unfortunately, I think you're quite correct. People need to stop thinking of this as a sport and stop using the terms like win and lose.

On a larger scale, this isn't just a war against a few local insurgents but a war against global terrorism. And in that regard, the world has been fighting this war for ages because it's an ongoing problem. If people can understand this then they can start thinking clearly and would be willing to accept withdrawing the troops as regrouping, not losing.

Q: But we created that mess- shouldn't we fix it?

A: Absolutely. By regrouping and start a committee with a new batch of people who can bring new, fresh ideas to the table - preferably, someone who has been against the war from the beginning (i.e. Barack Obama) and/or someone who has no connections to Lockheed Martin, Halliburton, oil companies, and Saudi royal family.

Q: I hear a lot of congressional Dems calling for withdrawal- but how many of them are just on the same bandwagon they were on when it was time to give the goober-in-chief carte blanche?

A: Politicians are people just like us. And unfortunately, they bought into the Bush Administration's scare tactics just as majority of Americans did. If I could, I would hang them all but we need some of these people who can now see that the invasion was wrong and willing to do something to help correcting it.

Q: I don't profess to have any answers, but how do you run roughshod over a country, destroy its infrastructure, completely destabilize an already fragile set up, and then claim- well we "gave" you freedom, now you're on your own? I'm not talking about goober's "stay the course" crap- but we made this bed...

A: We can retrieve and slowly bring back the troops. It's possible that at some point, the troops would be sent back providing that the mission is specific and has a clear goal that can be achieved in a short period of time.

What will happen to Iraq? I have no answer but I can't see it being worse than it is right now.

I'm thinking that to fight terrorism in a long term, a country needs to first strengthen its own by focusing on the key areas such as economy, spending, education, health care, environment, etc. As it is, the US aren't in its best shape with so many diversions created by the Bush Administration.

America needs to work on gaining back the trust of the people around the world. It needs to gain back the status of the leader of the free world - not in term of the military power but to be, once again, a country that people everywhere can look up to and a country that people are willing to follow (didn't happen during the Iraq invasion and no, I didn't forget Poland).

quick rec - jan 07

For horror, I'd recommend The Descent, a non-conventional British horror about a six female friends' caving expedition gone wrong.

If you're a left-wing-Canadian-hippy, watch Who Killed the Electric Car? and be mad as hell just like when you watched the part about the California blackout in Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room.

In Good Company is a well made, non-pretentious, and light hearted comedy drama about a manager (Dennis Quaid) who got demoted after his company got bought. It's from the same director (Paul Weitz) who directed About a Boy and the first American Pie.

Another good flick that the whole family could enjoy is Cars, a colorful animation from Pixar with some really good message for children.

A movie to avoid is Miami Vice. I'm a fan of Michael Mann (Collateral and The Insider) but "Miami Vice" was totally off the mark. Mann didn't understand what made Vice's fans loved the TV series. The mistake begins at casting, then script, acting, and directing. Colin Farrell doesn't have the charm of the original Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) and Jamie Foxx looks uncomfortable in the role of Rico Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas). The only redeeming aspect is on the production, which is first rate and I like the cinematography of the city night life, which is Mann’s trademark.

Lastly, if you don't mind the violent, try this overlooked little movie set in Australia called The Proposition. It has the smell of Unforgiven and The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada and is as well directed.