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“Dad, I’m Back In Jail.” Love, George.

03 Jun

Go to jail. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $135,000.

I admit it:  when I read the judge revoked George Zimmerman’s bail and ordered him to turn himself in within 48 hours, I was hoping he wouldn’t.

If Zimmerman had “gone rogue” and on the run, it would have been fun to watch his defenders squirm and stammer trying to explain it.  It would also have fun to see Zimmerman hunted the way he hunted Trayvon Martin.

The pro-Zimmerman side has blamed Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, blamed the news media, blamed the prosecutors, blamed Trayvon Martin, blamed anyone except George Zimmerman.

Zimmerman lied to the court about the funds at his disposal. Lied about his second passport. Along with his wife, attempted to hide how much money he had squirreled away. Try and put that on the Pseudo New Black Panthers or demonstrations in the streets of Sanford.

Zimmerman’s own deceit and duplicity has put his honesty and credibility in question, so who will his defenders blame now?

In revoking the bond, Judge Lester said Zimmerman, who is currently in hiding, shouldn’t be able to benefit from “material falsehoods.” The judge also immediately placed Zimmerman under a “no bond” status, meaning he’ll likely spend the rest of his time awaiting trial in a Seminole County jail cell. The judge gave Zimmerman 48 hours to report to jail.

As prosecutors released nearly all their evidence in the case to the public last month, it increasingly appeared like Zimmerman’s original statement – that he shot Trayvon after fearing for his life as the boy pummeled him – had credence. Medical statements showed he had a broken nose and cuts on the back of his head, and several witnesses corroborated that Zimmerman was on the receiving end of a beating after getting out of his car to follow Trayvon.

Prosecutors say Zimmerman is culpable because he ‘profiled” the boy as a criminal, ignored a dispatcher’s warning about following Trayvon, and then “confronted” him. While the state’s Stand Your Ground law allows people to defend themselves with lethal force in public areas, it does not protect those who instigate a fight.

Some legal experts, including Harvard’s Alan Dershowitz, have accused chief prosecutor Angela Corey of folding under public pressure to charge Zimmerman with second degree murder, arguing there’s not enough evidence to support the charges. It’s a notion Ms. Corey has denied.

But having the judge in essence calling Zimmerman a liar before he even has a chance to take the stand in his defense may dramatically change the tenor and perception of the case by boosting the prosecution’s contention that Zimmerman is not a trustworthy person. Because Zimmerman is the only living witness to the exact events of that night, a jury will have to weigh his credibility as he defends himself against a crime that carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

There’s only one victim here and don’t ever forget it.

During the hearing, prosecutors introduced several recordings of telephone conversations between Zimmerman and his wife, Shellie, made while he was in jail. In one such recording, they can be heard speaking cryptically about a second passport in his possession. Zimmerman was ordered by the judge to hand over his passport so he couldn’t flee the country, but Zimmerman applied for a second passport after the shooting, saying his first one had been stolen.

I’m sure he had a really good reason to lie to the judge about his assets. Like he didn’t want to go to jail.  If Zimmerman is willing to lie to a judge about how much money he had and his second passport, what else  might he be lying about?

Does these seem like the actions of a trustworthy man?  Not to me it doesn’t but maybe that’s just my anti-Zimmerman/pro-Trayvon bias coming out.   Some have cast doubts on how smart Zimmerman is with his reckless disregard of the 911 dispatcher and every rule a neighborhood watch should follow.

But I’m not so sure Zimmerman is as big a dope as he actions lead others to conclude he is. He fooled a judge into releasing him on a low bond. Zimmerman fooled a lot of people thinking he’s an innocent man caught up in a politically and racially fueled nightmare of Kafkaesque proportions.

Zimmerman might not be particularly intelligent or bright, but he’s displayed a degree of cunning and capacity to manipulate others in his behalf that says to me he isn’t stupid either.

Now he can be the smartest second-degree murderer in a Florida jail.  If the judge lets Zimmerman out on bail a second time, he’s a bigger idiot than Zimmerman.

George, I have three words for you:  watch your back.

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Posted by on June 3, 2012 in News & Views

 

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Fox News Drops the “Fair and Balanced” Front

01 Jun

Totally unfair and mentally unbalanced.

If you work for Mitt Romney presidential campaign or the Republican National Committee, you’ve got a friend at Fox News.

Any question that the “fair and balanced” network is anything but ended this week after the Fox and Friends morning program aired a four-minute anti-Obama attack ad that looks like something Karl Rove and Ted Nugent would have dreamed up during a mutual masturbation session.

Media critic Howard Kurtz was flabbergasted by how brazenly Fox went scorched earth on the president.

The thing has to be seen to be believed. It is a classic piece of negative propaganda, scary music and all.

The piece starts off with Barack Obama promising change, and then, banging the viewer over the head: A bag of money, labeled a $15.7-trillion deficit. Footage of begging homeless people. The jobless rate ticking up to 8.3 percent (though it’s down from 9.9). Shots of people using food stamps as Nancy Pelosi favorably mentions the program and the unbiased Newt Gingrich rips Obama as a food-stamp president. Rising gas prices. Rising food prices. Foreclosure signs. A pink piggy bank tumbling down the stairs. Speeded-up snippets of unseen voices delivering bad news.

And how did Fox & Friends react to this assault on the senses? “Hats off to Chris White,” said co-host Steve Doocy, crediting the associate producer who made the video.

” Fox not fair and balanced? Me am confused!”

I’m telling you, Mitt Romney’s campaign wouldn’t have produced this. The RNC wouldn’t have produced this. Karl Rove’s group wouldn’t have produced this. It is a parody of an attack spot and would have been laughed out of the political arena.

Fox reacted by yanking the video from its website and issuing a tepid statement from executive vice president Bill Shine: “The package that aired on Fox & Friends was created by an associate producer and was not authorized at the senior executive level of the network. This has been addressed with the show’s producers.”

That’s it?

Not authorized”? No denunciation of the video? No apology? No disciplinary action?

The fact that the hosts were happy with this latest video assault on the president is nothing short of revealing.

This is a moment of truth heading into the general election. Roger Ailes should denounce the video and criticize his network’s handling of it. He should make clear that such partisan garbage has no place on Fox News. Otherwise people will assume that Fox’s worst critics are right.

Newflash for Little Howie Kurtz: Fox’s worst critics are right and always have been. You can’t slide a piece of paper between the Republican Party and their official network, Fox News.

Fox and Friends isn’t like The Today Show or Good Morning America. Their primary interest has never been happy talk with celebrities or Jungle Jack Hanna sitting on the couch with a cockatoo perched on his shoulder. It’s always been a morning program wearing its political views on its shoulder.

A four-minute attack ad is coming from a much different place than an segment on how to make delicious low-cholesterol meals. Fox and Friends is a program on the Fox News channel and despite that obnoxious lie that Fox is “fair and balanced” there is no wall of separation between the network’s news, opinion and entertainment programming.  It’s all designed to flow Fox’s right-wing agenda. Unless they produce a four-minute attack ad with Mitt Romney as the target Fox have proven themselves unfair and unbalanced.

Even a lousy program like F&F has to keep up some semblance of journalistic standards. It can’t engage in slander, it has to ensure they have checked their facts and when it runs a hit piece like this, it can’t hide behind the flimsy excuse it’s not a news or opinion program.

Any pretense F&F doesn’t have a political slant went “bye-bye” when they aired that segment and gave the associate producer a big wet kiss.

Not everybody wants a heavy-handed dosage of anti-Obama propaganda first thing in the morning with their corn flakes.

The surprise for wimps like Kurtz is Fox’s total abandonment of any semblance of impartiality and objectivity. Those of us whom have witnessed Fox’s rise to the ratings juggernaut it is, picked up a long time ago the secret to their success was to offer “news” in the most negative and polarizing way possible by demonizing Democrats and the Left in general and President Obama specifically.  The three stooges who make up the Fox and Friends morning crew couldn’t have been more obvious with their support of Romney if they had worn, “We Like Mitt” T-shirts.

You call that what it is when you see it: media bias. It’s not just for liberals anymore.

“Keep watching Fox and one day you’ll be as dumb as me.”

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Posted by on June 1, 2012 in News & Views

 

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“Peter White” Does Not Like My Review of Peter White

30 May

“Jeff Winbush, at one of MY shows? Cheeky bugger.”

I’m of the mind that anyone who creates something for public consumption is subject to have whatever that something is critiqued.  Not every artist agrees with the assessment, but most don’t take the compliments or the criticism to heart.

Most, but not all as my recent review of the new Peter White album seems to demonstrate:  

Make no mistake about it: Peter White is a technically proficient guitarist who blends impeccable taste and admirable fluidity in his playing. He is standing on the top of the smooth jazz food chain and Here We Go will do nothing to lessen his dominance as one of the most popular artists working today. White is a pro’s pro who knows what he can do and he does it quite successfully.

But there’s a tad too much polish and far too much restraint to make any lasting impression At its heart, Here We Go feels like just another in a series of pleasant-sounding Peter White recording that breaks no new ground, places no demands and commands little (if any) attention.

This isn’t a bad album so much as it isn’t a compelling one. The saxophones solos by David Sanborn on the horn-heavy title track and Kirk Whalum on “Our Dance” are as effective as they are routine. Sanborn and Whalum can play this kind of stuff in their sleep. Philippe Saisse‘s piano is a standout, and Ramon Yslas’ Latin percussion livens up the three tracks he appears on, but he isn’t enough to lift the album up from the humdrum and ho-hum.

White can’t be faulted for being a bad musician because he clearly is not. He excels at what he does, but what he does is play exactly the right amount of notes in exactly the correct sequence to make precisely the kind of pretty sounding music that doesn’t stray from his formula. Some artists swim against the tide; others prefer to float along with it. White excels at the latter.

There’s nothing wrong with courting commercial success, and who can blame White for staying in his lane and making what is essentially nice-sounding, but never compelling music. This album was never meant to appeal to jazzheads wanting their guitarists to have a harder edge, get a little nasty and put some blood, sweat and tears into their playing.

That is not Peter White’s style, it never will be, and he’s probably okay with that. Everybody else will learn to be too.

Track Listing: Night After Night, Time Never Sleeps, Here We Go, If Ever, Our Dance, Desert Night, Joyride, Costa Rica, My Lucky Day, Requiem For A Princess, Reunion

Personnel: Peter White: guitars, accordion, unspecified instruments; D.C.: unspecified instruments; Nate Phillips: bass (1, 2,); Phillipe Saisse: piano, keyboards, drum programming, orchestration (1-5, 7, 10); David Sanborn: saxophone solo (3); Andrew Neu: background sax, soprano sax, saxophones, flute (3, 4, 7, 8); Gabriel the Gun: flugelhorn, trumpet (3, 7, 8); Mel Scott: baritone sax (3); Kiki Ebsen: vocals (4); Charlotte White: violin (4); Ramon Yslas: congas, timbales, percussion (4, 7, 8); Roberto Vally: upright bass (5, 11).

The review received a comment.  Apparently, from Mr. White himself.  He wasn’t happy either.

Thanks for the comments, Jeff.

I was amused by your line- “This album was never meant to appeal to jazzheads wanting their guitarists to have a harder edge, get a little nasty and put some blood, sweat and tears into their playing”.

I am not a jazz player, I have never tried to appeal to jazz heads, never tried to break new ground or place any demands as you say and most of all, never tried to court commercial success as you imply. I welcome criticism of my music but draw the line when writers such as yourself start questioning my motives. You do not know me and have not a clue as to what my motives are for making music. Let me help you-

I play and record music that I like and turns me on. I hope other people will like it but that is not what drives me. Please reserve your criticism for what I do, not for what you thought I should have done. You may become a better writer in the process.

All my best…..Peter White
email@peterwhite.com

P.S. As to your snide comment that my music “commands little (if any) attention”, my current single and the title track “Here We Go” currently stands at number 1 on the Billboard Smooth Jazz chart. Maybe more research is needed here, Jeff.

Billboard Smooth Jazz chart:   1 – 1 (3rd week @ #1)

(I seriously doubt Peter White trolls the Internet looking for middling-to-negative reviews of his albums so he can take the writer to task.  I would think he has better things to do.   But a Peter White fan?  THEY might take exception to such a review and so much so they would respond to it by claiming they are Peter White,  Which is kind of ballsy-as well as stupid, but I replied to “Peter”).

I’m probably feeding a troll here, but I got a few minutes to kill, so I’ll play along.

If this really is from Peter White, the guy who says he never tried to court commercial success (but boasts his album is Number One on Billboard’s Jazz Chart), I’d say if you welcome criticism of your music, aren’t you too busy enjoying that commercial success you say don’t care about?

It’s great your album is doing so well, “Peter,” but I don’t write my reviews based upon whether you’ve sold 500,000 copies or five. Nobody on AAJ does.

You are right “Peter” that I don’t know or your motives, but I do own enough of your music and that qualifies me to express an opinion. My opinion is I don’t care for Here We Go. It’s safe. It has no edge. It breaks no new ground.

I listen to and review music that artists make and when I do, I’m going to write reviews that honestly reflect my assessment of the music. If you feel I’ve attacked you personally and in an unprofessional manner, I’d urge you to bring it to the attention of this fine website’s editor and publisher.

Otherwise, what I can promise you when you make an album I like, I’ll say I’ll like it and when you make an album I dislike, I’ll say that I dislike it.

I will also promise I won’t tell you how to become a better musician if you don’t tell me how to become a better writer.

Fish, chips and sweat,

Jeff Winbush

“I forget. Are we acting like we’re cool or blind?”

 
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Posted by on May 30, 2012 in Music. Movies. Media. More.

 

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Stand Your Ground (and Shoot to Kill) or Go to Jail.

28 May

Stand Your Ground or Take A Beatdown.


Marissa Alexander needed the supposed protection of Stand Your Ground if anyone ever has.

 Marissa Alexander was a 31-year-old, 5-ft. 2-in. mother of three, her baby just 9 days old, living in Jacksonville, Fla., a “Stand your ground” state. Her 36-year-old husband Rico Gray was arrested in 2009 for attacking her and sending her to the hospital, after which she got a restraining order against him.

In a 2010 deposition, Gray said, “We was staying together and I pushed her back and she fell in the bathtub and hit her head and that’s the time I went to jail.” In the same deposition, he admits that this was not his first incident of domestic violence against women, saying, “I got five baby mamas and I put my hand on every last one of them except one. The way I was with women, they was like they had to walk on eggshells around me. You know they never knew what I was thinking or what I might do. Hit them, push them.” He also admits that he and Alexander had “four or five” episodes of domestic violence leading up the August 2010 incident that landed Alexander in prison facing a 20-year sentence.

 Alexander retrieved a gun she had in her truck. She returned a fired a shot in the wall. Gray backed off and left. He ran to the police and Alexander was arrested. She claimed she was in fear of her life and cited Florida’s controversial “Stand Your Ground” law. The same law that George Zimmerman may use to justify why he shot and killed Trayvon Martin and the same prosecutor, Angela Corey would try to put Alexander away.

Facing 20 years in jail, Alexander was offered a three-year sentence instead, but turned it down and why not? She thought she had defended herself from a man whom had previously beaten her and admitted he liked thumping on woman. She had a permit to carry a firearm. Rico Gray was threatening to kill her or have her killed. She tried to leave the premises by going out through the garage, but couldn’t open the door, something Gray admitted in his deposition that he knew she couldn’t get out that way.

Alexander thought she would go free and why not?  Since SYG became the law in Florida justifiable homicide from it had been cited as a defense in 93 cases involving 65 deaths and successfully most times.

Is Corey using Alexander to warm up for Zimmerman?

Marissa Alexander was sentenced to 20 years in jail.

Marissa Alexander, whose case brought allegations that Florida’s Stand Your Ground law is being unfairly applied, was sentenced to 20 years in prison Friday after being convicted of three counts of aggravated assault after firing a warning shot during a dispute with her husband.

The case sparked a confrontation between a congresswoman and the prosecutor after the sentencing in Jacksonville, Fla., WJXT-TV reported.

Alexander, 31, claimed she fired a shot from a handgun into the wall to protect herself during a confrontation with her husband, who she said had abused her, WJXT reported. Two children were with him when she fired a shot in his direction, and she was charged with three counts of aggravated assault.

Her attorneys claimed self-defense and cited the state’s Stand Your Ground law, which gives people some protection from prosecution for using potentially deadly force in cases in which they feel their life is threatened.

The law came under nationwide scrutiny during the Trayvon Martin case, when neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman shot an unarmed teen and authorities waited weeks before charging him.

But a jury agreed with prosecutors that the law didn’t apply because she left during the argument, got a gun and returned to confront him, WJXT reported.

Last week, State Attorney Angela Corey, who is also handling the Zimmerman case, said she personally met with Alexander and reviewed the evidence in the case, WJXT reported. She said she offered Alexander a three-year sentence before trial, despite the case qualifying for a 20-year minimum mandatory sentence.

This is what happens when a terrible law (Stand Your Ground) and an equally terrible practice (minimum-mandatory sentencing) catch up someone in a squeeze play. To the point if Florida is going to have this awful law, it either needs to be applied consistently or scrapped entirely.

Facing 20 years in jail, Alexander was offered a three-year sentence instead, but turned it down and why not? She thought she had defended herself from a man whom had previously beaten her and admitted he liked thumping on woman.

This is certainly not justice. No way is society a safer place with Marissa Alexander locked up until she’s 51 years old.

One can only hope Corey is as equally aggressive and successful in her prosecution of George Zimmerman who actually put a hole in a human being, not a wall, and killed Trayvon Martin.

Every picture tells a story, don’t it?

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Posted by on May 28, 2012 in News & Views

 

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Is Coming Out Gay Just Another Comic Book Stunt?

27 May

Astonishing Gay X-Men?

To be a man in your fifth decade and still reading comics is slightly embarrassing and that was reinforced when sitting next to my 13-year-old nephew at The Avengers and realizing I’ve forgotten more about every major character in the movie than he will ever know (or care) about.

I gave up comics this year.  I didn’t give up buying them every so often.  Old habits do die-hard.  I just took myself out of the never-ending cycle of 52 Wednesdays a year burning up gas and spending money to bring home another $20 to $40 worth of four-color funny books that after being read once or twice end up in filling storage bins in my basement.    Throw in the ridiculous cost ($3.99 for something that used to cost 12 cents) and giving comics up wasn’t a tough call.

I still read comic books.  Most of them are my brother’s “New 52″ line from DC Comics.   Last year, fueled by desperation as much as inspiration, DC zeroed out its existing universe and rebooted their line with  brand new Number One issues, new costumes for Superman and his other super-friends and in doing so generated a buzz that garnered a ton of favorable coverage from the mainstream media and the interest and excitement of fans.

That’s how you create a buzz about comics.  You come up with a stunt.  Kill Superman and bring him back.  Kill Captain America and bring him back.  Kill Batman and…are you starting to see a pattern here?

Anyway,  The New 52 worked great.   DC knocked industry leader Marvel on its backside and out of the top spot, which for as minimal comic books have on pop culture is like being the tallest pygmy.   Movies based on comic books are big business.  Comic books themselves struggle to sell 75,000 copies a month, but DC is owned by TimeWarner and Marvel by Disney and they could give a shit if Superman sells in the thousands or in the dozens.  What their comic book companies contribute to ledger sheets of  their corporate masters wouldn’t pay for a week’s worth of office supplies.

What Disney and TimeWarner care about are the comic book properties.  You think they give a toot in a tornado about a damn comic book when one Friday evening of The Avengers puts more cash in The Mouse House’s pocket than 40 years Avengers comic books.

“Dick, have you ever been in a Turkish prison?”

The New 52 was a great hook, but it wasn’t a revolutionary concept.  Many of the same artists and writers whose lousy stories ran the company into a ditch were now being tapped to pull it out.  Zeroing out their universe and starting from scratch liberated DC from decades of confusing and convoluted comic continuity .   Continuity is important to the educated in comics lore fan base, but their numbers are too small and the demographic too old for Hollywood to give a shit if a geek gets upset because Superman no longer wears his underwear on the outside.  The purpose of comic books are to provide concepts that can be mined by movie studios and turned into movie franchises. DC has failed to successfully follow Marvel in making the transition from comic book company to feeder system for million-dollar movies.

It no longer matters what happens in comics.  Not that it really ever did, but particularly not now.  Spider-Man, Batman and Iron Man generate millions in ticket sales and that second life on the silver screen means whatever happens to them in their paper and staples form don’t mean a thing.

What’s left for comic books?  Stunts.  Tricks.  Big cataclysmic events that shake up the status quo, shatter worlds, and change everything as we know.  Then six months later someone comes along and changes it all back.

The newest stunt:  Make someone gay everyone thought was straight or take a second or third-string hero and marry him off.   To his boyfriend.   HEY KIDS! GAY COMICS!

Marvel is allowing Northstar, their French-Canadian mutant speedster to marry his Black boyfriend.  Gay and interracial marriage?  Two taboos broken for the price of one.

DC’s response?  Follow the leader and announce a “major” character will come out the closet as a gay man.

Gay supporting characters and even gay heroes aren’t new.  Northstar has been out for years.  DC’s Wildstorm imprint featured a openly gay couple named Apollo and The Midnighter who were overt Superman/Batman stand-ins.   But their love affair ended when they were incorporated into the DC mainstream.  Odd that there weren’t many protests from the continuity-obsessed fans about that reboot.

Not Superman and Batman, but just like them.

Who will come out of the comic book closet?  It could be Batman.  It should be Batman.  But because it’s both so obvious and so perfect it won’t be Batman.  Batman is now on his third or fourth Robin.  He just keeps picking up young boys to be his “partner.”  What would you call a billionaire who’s never married, only uses women as props, enjoys dressing up head to toe in leather and prefers the company of athletic youths?

One of Bats current writers, Grant Morrison, fessed up in Playboy  the Dark Knight”s antenna isn’t picking up the wavelength of the opposite sex.

“He’s very plutonian in the sense that he’s wealthy and also in the sense that he’s sexually deviant,” Morrison said. “Gayness is built into Batman. I’m not using gay in the pejorative sense, but Batman is very, very gay. There’s just no denying it. Obviously as a fictional character he’s intended to be heterosexual, but the basis of the whole concept is utterly gay.”

“I think that’s why people like it. All these women fancy him and they all wear fetish clothes and jump around rooftops to get to him. He doesn’t care — he’s more interested in hanging out with the old guy and the kid.”

As someone with no skin in the game, I’m all for gay fans of comics being represented with gay characters they can relate to   An openly homosexual hero isn’t going to corrupt a kid’s mind anymore than most of the other crap DC and Marvel poop out every Wednesday.

Just don’t stop there.  Let’s see what happens when a gay superhero faces discrimination from a straight superhero who doesn’t want to team up with him.  Instead of fighting alien invaders, let’s have the Justice League or Avengers take on a homophobic hate group.

There have always been gay themes in comics as long as there have been comics.  It was just nodded and winked at and never spoken of in a serious way.   This feels like the latest in a long line of contrived stunts the major companies engage in passing it off as being socially conscious.   We’ll see if DC and Marvel are as seriously committed to their “evolution” as gay couples are to getting married.

Don’t look for the happy couple in the next X-Men movie.

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Posted by on May 27, 2012 in Music. Movies. Media. More., News & Views

 

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Shaken and Stirred by the “Skyfall” Teaser

24 May

007 has a license to kill, but did he lose his razor?

A teaser trailer is supposed to do precisely two things:  generate a bit of a buzz before the movie opens and not send off major warning signs that it’s going to suck (Green Lantern, I’m  looking at you).    The teaser for James Bond 23 , Skyfall does its job with workmanlike precision in a tidy 94 seconds.

A lot of quick cuts and ominous music does not a good movie make,  But a new James Bond movie is always something to look forward to.  Nobody is more pleased by than I am that Skyfall doesn’t give off the tell-tale odor of flop sweat.

Casino Royale was a return to glory for the franchise, but the follow-up Quantum of Solace killed a lot of the good will.   In the theater it’s busy and gets to point “A” to “B” faster than its predecessor, but Quantum of Solace  doesn’t go anywhere special.  Even though the story picks up immediately after Casino Royale all it establishes is this is a Bond who really seems to enjoy killing people.   Daniel Craig is once again the most joyless and cold-blooded 007 ever, but he’s got nothing to work with in Quantum.   The plot was murky, the bad guy  wimpy and bug-eyed and the standard “Bond girl “nearly non-existent with the whole tiresome mess anchored by Marc Forster’s sloppy and scattered direction.

Forster, who had never handled a big-budget franchise film tried copying the fight and chase scenes from the previous film and demonstrated he simply couldn’t shoot an action scene.  Either he shot everything too close, too dark and cut it so fast it’s hard at times to figure out what’s happening on screen.

Roger Moore, the third actor to portray Bond on film put it well.  ‘I enjoy Daniel Craig, I think he’s a damn good Bond but the film as a whole, there was a bit too much flash cutting for me.’

‘I thought Casino Royale was better. It was just like a commercial of the action. There didn’t seem to be any geography and you were wondering what the hell was going on.”

“She needs help! She watched ‘Quantum of Solace’ three times in a row.”

I’ve watched Quantum on DVD, but it still leaves no impression.  Things zip by on screen, lines are delivered, guns shoot, and Bond wins.  The end.  Roll credits and put the license to kill in a drawer for four years.

Skyfall  arrives in November both liberated and burdened.   Four years is a long time between Bond entries and it’s the longest lay-off between films since the six years from License to Kill (1989) to GoldenEye (1995) which featured a long legal battle and the recasting of the lead between Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan.  Skyfall doesn’t have to be as good as Casino Royale.  It  only has to be better than Quantum of So What.   How hard could that be.

Since the last time we saw Bond onscreen he was scowling his way through a pedestrian movie, there is pressure on Craig and Sam Mendes, the Academy Award director of American Beauty to regain the momentum.

One way to do it is to give everyone a reason to hope the five months from the teaser to the film fly by  Bond’s longest line of dialogue goes a long way to get me there.

“Some men are coming to kill us. We’re gonna kill them first.”

That sounds like the bad-tempered Bond we’ve come to known and love.

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Posted by on May 24, 2012 in Music. Movies. Media. More.

 

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Fake-Ass Black Militants and the White Conservatives That Love Them

23 May

Attention conservatives: THIS is what a brother who means business looks like.

Having never been White or a conservative I can’t begin to understand what it is about the Pseudo New Black Panthers Party that sets White conservatives into a frenzy.  As far as I know, the only one who takes these fake-ass Black radicals seriously are White conservatives.  The only reason I can figure they do is it plays into their paranoia that the Age of Obama is the harbinger for the upcoming race war or something.

When the small, but noisy, group of Black separatists issued a “manifesto” denouncing President Obama and speculated the choice in November would come down to the “ballot or the bullet” the conservative media and blogs freaked the hell out.   The conservative website, The Daily Caller breathlessly wrote:

In the Spring edition of the New Black Panther Party (NBPP) newspaper — cover reading “The Ballot or The Bullet: which way for black people?” — NBPP Chairman Malik Zulu Shabazz breaks down the presidential election, concluding the Democratic Party is the “institutional pimp of Black peoples and the Black Nation” and that Obama has “been a real disappointment.”

“Black peoples are the whores and prostitutes of the Democratic Party, and mistreated mistress that is courted in the late of night, but left hanging when it is time for real change in the light of the post election day,” Shabazz wrote, following a dissertation on the need to “Vote for Revolution.”

“Black peoples are the whores and prostitutes of the Democratic Party, and mistreated mistress that is courted in the late of night, but left hanging when it is time for real change in the light of the post election day,” he wrote, encouraging blacks to “vote for revolution.”

“Black America, you must decide who will best represent you in 2012. You must decide if you will choose the ballot as a means to change, or the bullet,” he wrote, adding that ““demanding change does come by any means necessary.”

The right-wing media does an excellent job of whipping their base into a mouth-foaming frenzy.  But they do a rotten job of doing even a little bit of historical research.  If they had they would have realized “the ballot or the bullet” were ripped off from a speech given by an assassinated Black leader some 48 years ago.

Whomever Malik Zulu Shabazz really is, he’s ripping off the far more articulate and infinitely more intelligent El-Hajj Malik El Shabazz, a.k.a. Malcolm X.   The phrases “the ballot or the bullet” and “by any means necessary” are instantly familiar to anyone who has listened to the deceased Black Muslim leader’s fiery and impassioned speeches.  That does not seem to include Tucker Carlson, Glenn Beck, Lou Dobbs and the idiots running Breitbrart.com.

Malcolm X gave a speech on March 29, 1964 entitled “The Ballot or the Bullet.” The Black Muslim leader was speaking about the need for Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act and warning of what the dire consequences might be if it wasn’t.

“Look at us! We’re tough! We’re mean!. GRRR! You scared yet?”

If you’re interested in freedom, you need some judo, you need some karate–you need all the things that will help you fight for freedom. If we don’t resort to the bullet, then immediately we have to take steps to use the ballot. Equality of opportunity, if the constitution at the present time [doesn't offer it], then change it. Either it offers it, or it doesn’t offer it. If it offers it–good, then give it to us–if it doesn’t offer it, then change it. You don’t need a debate. You don’t need a filibuster. You need some action!

So what you and I have to do is get involved. You and I have to be right there breathing down their throats. Every time they look over their shoulders, we want them to see us.

We want to make them–we want to make them–pass the strongest civil-rights bill they ever passed, because we know that even after they pass it, they can’t enforce it.

In order to do this, we’re starting a voters’ registration drive. We have to get everybody in Harlem registered, not as Democrats or Republicans, but registered as Independents. We’re going to organize a corps of brothers and sisters who, after this city is mapped out, they won’t leave one apartment-house door not knocked on. There won’t be a door in Harlem that will not have been knocked on to see that whatever black face lives behind that door is registered to vote by a certain time this year. Nobody will have an excuse not to be registered. We’ll ask him to let us see your card. If you don’t have the sense of responsibility to get registered, we’ll move you out of town.

It’s going to be the ballot or the bullet…

The Pseudo New Black Panthers specialize in two things: dick-riding authentic Black leaders and pissing offf White conservatives. Why do I say White conservatives? Because those are their major constituents. The way they inflame fear and paranoia among the White right, you have to wonder if they are on the Koch Brothers payroll.

The Real Deal Black Steel

They know this kind of jive makes conservatives see red and double-check to make sure all their guns are loaded and ready for when the race war begins. Meanwhile, these fakes get all sorts of free pub. It’s a win-win!

All the Pseudo Panthers do is scare White folks that the big, bad Black militants are going to come to take their guns and rape their wives. It’s a crock. These clowns love to dress up, talk tough and do nothing. They never raised $10,000 for a bounty on George Zimmerman. They couldn’t raise $10 bucks if they passed the hat between themselves.

You can promise anything if you know you’re never going to deliver. Maybe the right-wing blogosphere and the people who get dumber by watching Fox News are putting bars on the doors and windows in fear of the Pseudo Panthers comin’ to get their mama, but this is karaoke Black militancy.

Malcolm X was a real Black militant. Huey Newton and the original-accept-no-substitutes Black Panthers were real Black militants.

This shit by the Pseudo Panthers isn’t militancy. It’s cabaret. It’s “Let’s scare the shit out of White folks” and it’s working.

I read Malcolm X. I listened to Malcolm X. I admired Malcolm X.  These fake-ass Negroes are no Malcolm X.

But they’re good enough for the White Right to use as the boogeymen of Scary Black People.  It’s great for creating paranoia, racial hatred, ratings and gun sales.  I really do not get what it is about the Pseudo-New Black Panthers that gets so many tighty whiteys in a wad. They talk a lot of mad shit. Oh GOD, how they love to talk about all their plans and what they’re going to do and how they’ve gonna fuck up White folks world.

And they don’t do diddly.  Who listens to the Pseudo Panthers?  Who hangs on their every word?  Who takes them seriously?  It’s White folks, not Black folks.

The only militants worth worrying about are the ones that don’t run off at the mouth, don’t announce their plans, don’t do media events and don’t bite off of dead Black Muslims and the carcass of the original real deal Black Panthers.

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Posted by on May 23, 2012 in News & Views, Rantology

 

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“I’ll Persuade You” and The Black Widow Does.

20 May

“Is it hot in here or is it just all this leather I’m wearing?”

When you make a movie that grosses over a billion dollars and shatters box office records like The Avengers, every little detail of it is going to be picked apart, analyzed, and dissected down to its essence trying to figure out how it became such a category crossing sensation that defies demographics and appeals to teenagers, couples, families, fanboys of all ages, races, shapes and sizes.

It’s a major plus to hire a director who likes his women characters and treats them as important components instead of pretty girls in tight spandex.

The Black Widow can’t fly, doesn’t wear a suit of high-tech armor, doesn’t sport a mystical hammer, unbreakable shield, or get big mean and green, but that doesn’t mean she has no game. Of all the incredible things Joss Whedon put into The Avengers he gave a second-string super heroine major game.

Black Widow 2.0 is a vast improvement over her uselessness in Iron Man 2 she almost seems like a brand new character despite being played by the same actress. In the trailers, the Widow and Hawkeye looked like they were there to fetch coffee for Cap and Iron Man. Whedon was crafty to not give away what he had planned for Natasha Romanoff. . More screen time than Thor, Bruce Banner or Hawkeye and third behind Captain America and Iron Man.

Just don’t believe Scarlett Johansson got the role of Black Widow based upon her immense acting abilities as opposed to how hot she looks in a completely impractical outfit so tight if she you can tell if a coin in her pocket is heads or tails.  There’s plenty of beefcake in The Avengers. Let’s not pretend the Black Widow’s primary power isn’t eye candy, but to Johansson, Whedon and co-screenwriter Zak Penn’s infinite credit, they made Natasha Romanoff so much more than that.

Pretty people get cast as superheroes.  Even if they wear masks, they tend to lose them exposing the actor’s face.  If you’re an incredibly good-looking dude like Chris Evans or Chris Hemsworth, that’s  understandable.  Lucky for Johansson she’s both pretty and plays a character that doesn’t hide her looks behind a mask. Looking pretty and occasionally punching out someone was all she was given to do in Iron Man 2. 

It sure helps to work with a director who likes female characters.

So I wasn’t excited to see the Black Widow was an Avenger until I saw The Avengers.  Whedon is justifiably being lavished with praise for doing the following:

  • Fixing the problem of two previous attempts to present the Hulk as something more than a CGI hot mess.
  • Made a superhero movie fun instead of dark, grim and gritty without making it dumb.
  • Turned a supporting character who was previously little more than sexy wallpaper into a valuable member of a group instead one of their weakest links.  And she’s still sexy.
  • Doubled the expectations that The Dark Knight Rises can’t get away with just being good; now it has to be great.

Sexism has been a part of the comics as long as there have been women in comics. All you have to do is look at how often Wonder Woman is depicted bound and chained. Despite DC’s “New 52″ revamp, while Superman got out of his “undies on the outside” look, they put Wonder Woman back in her one-piece bathing suit. The more things change….

That’s why the Black Widow runs around in curve-hugging black leather that is all but useless in a fight, but  looks cool.  Whedon likes to give his actresses interesting things to do and say, but he has to pander to popular tastes too and guys really like women kicking ass in tight clothes.   As least she’s not wearing heels.

One of the last frontiers for the super hero genre is to make a successful one featuring a super heroine.  Wonder Woman seems like a no-brainer, but DC Comics has been inept at making movies featuring characters not named Superman and Batman.  Hollywood is reluctant to put millions into a movie featuring women or minorities as the center of attraction.

The speculation Marvel will greenlight a solo Black Widow film is running rampant on the Internet, but like most things online, doubt everything until the ticket stub is in your hand.  It could happen and it should happen, but whether it does happen is no sure thing.

I’m taking my nephew to see the movie tomorrow.  He won’t care if the Black Widow is a strong hero or an objectified sex object. . All he’ll care about is how much butt she kicks.  He might also take a long look at how her butt looks.

Yeah, you think it’s easy kicking butt in skin-tight leather? Try it sometime.

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Posted by on May 20, 2012 in Music. Movies. Media. More.

 

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