ROGER'S ANGLE

Saturday, July 9, 2011

OBAMA, THE NEO-HAWK

Our moderate president seems to be turning into a hawk.

At least that is what Yale professor David Bromwich seems to be saying in The New York Review of Books.

Obama may even approve an attack on Iran, even though intelligence reports show no reason to do so, according to Bromwich.

Without a strong policy position of his own, our moderate president is perhaps being led to take increasingly hawkish positions. He has already led Congress to renew the Patriot Act, something I don't like.

None of this looks good.

I was hoping for a new kind of leader in Obama, someone who could lead us bravely into peace.

Right now, it doesn't look that way.

-- Roger

Obama, Our Philospher In Chief

I just started taking The New York Review of Books again after many years. Today, I got my first issue, dated July 14, 2011.

So far, I love it. It's like being on a first date with a real babe. She's smiling and sexy and she wants to do just what I want to do. (Reminds me of an old joke.)

That may not be a good analogy, but you get the idea.

The first article that I love is by--wouldn't you know it--a professor of English. David Bromwich, who is at Yale, says Obama sometimes sounds more like president of the world than president of the USA.

Yes, I think that is right. I think our Commander in Chief sometimes wants to be our Philosopher in Chief, to lead us into new ways of thinking.

Bromwich says, "Obama has always preferred the symbolic authority of the grand utterance to the actual authority of a directed policy...."

These are really cogent observations by a very intelligent person. Right on.

Here is a link:

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/jul/14/obama-his-words-his-deeds/

I haven't read the rest, but I can't wait. I find intelligence exciting. It lights me up.

-- Roger

'SONS OF ANARCHY' - NOTES 7-9-11

SONS OF ANARCHY: Season 1

8/21/09

For NETFLIX:

I have only watched the first disk. The acting and parts of the story are good. But I cannot get over the feeling that I am watching some bulls**.

It doesn't feel real or believable. Maybe it's a little too pat. I like some of the characters: The main character, the young blond guy in his 20s who tries to tone down the violence but is violent himself. The chubby curly headed guy and the Brit. The big cheese.

The wife of the big cheese seems not real, for some reason. It's not her acting but the writing -- her dialogue and her actions. Overall, some of the scenes are great -- the ax scene in the 7-11, for one. But the idea that this motorcycle gang runs guns for years in this little California central valley town doesn't quite float. Somebody would call the state police or the feds.

Or maybe it's because the purpose seems to be to excite the audience rather than to give insight into these people and this world. The show seems derivative. It's like watching Tony Soprano on two wheels, a lame idea.

I don't like the name of the club: The Sons of Anarchy. Too abstract. How about Sons of Satan? Anarchy is such an intellectual concept. However, the more I watch it, the more interesting it gets. Still, it seems a little thin. Its no “Deadwood” or “The Wire.” But I will keep watching.

I said that and then I didn’t watch it.

9/18/2010

I tried to watch an episode last night on CATV, and I found it boring. Who cares about these people? The episode was structured around long-term situations rather than a short-term problem. And it all depends on violence, which I don’t find appealing. The guy who runs the show probably thinks it is fascinating that these thugs have families and family problems. But I don’t like it that it’s like “The Sopranos” on Harleys. I kept thinking, “So what? So what? So what?” I lasted about 20 minutes. The actors are good, though, I must say.

Saturday, July 02, 2011

I've rented some of these episodes and watched some on TV. The stories just don't work for me. I can't get over the feeling that I am watching BS. The characters don't ring true, and the stories don't reveal anything about the people, or about human nature, or about life in general. I've ridden motorcycles, and I've been in jail, and I don't see any of that here. It all seems totally fake to me.

7/9/2011 The purpose seems not dramatic but just to keep the audience jacked up. Two different things.

I get the feeling that the show's creator is just doing this for the money, which doesn't make for good drama.

It's too bad, because the whole biker gang thing has a lot of potential.

-- Roger

'HARPER'S ISLAND' - MORE NOTES

Last night, I stayed up late again and re-watched the first three episodes of HARPER’S ISLAND on DVD, from Netflix, including the pilot with comments by the writers/creators. Those guys sound supremely confident and knowledgeable. A very talented bunch.

The first three episodes worked just as well as I remembered. But I had not seen #4 before.

Episode Four – the guys go fishing and find the boat with the dead guy in it and the money. (SPOILER ALERT) They take the money.

The show is not perfect. I don’t like the little chubby guy with glasses and sideburns. His character doesn’t jell for me. Doesn’t feel right or ring true. He seems too simple-minded. And where did they get the guy who shot himself in the femoral artery? I never saw him before this episode. Those two guys and their story line seem artificial.

Having seen the end, it’s hard to believe that Henry set all this up. He seems too simple minded, too. I don’t like the actor who plays Henry. He seems fake. Especially if you have seen the ending. I don’t believe him. He’s acting like he’s acting.

The NY Times had a negative review, calling the cast “numerous bad actors,” but I don’t agree. The reviewer had probably watched too much TV, so he or she got jaded. For me, who watches almost no TV, this show is fresh and interesting. Only two or three of the actors are bad. Most are superb.

-- Roger

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

'HARPER'S ISLAND' - MY NOTES

Last night, I stayed up till 4:00 a.m. watching a marathon of "HARPER’S ISLAND," a CBS TV show.

Wow. Here are my notes, pretty much raw and unedited:

Monday, July 04, 2011 -- HARPER’S ISLAND

This is pretty darn good.

The contrasts work well, both between the setting and the violence, and between the various characters, ugly and pretty, mean and nice, and the way they are balanced.

The acting is first-rate.

The red herrings work, the misdirections, the way they fool the audience, and the rise and fall of tensions.

I hate to admit it, but I love the scene where the girl falls away from the killer, denying him the pleasure of killing her.

Tone and sensibility are very good. I am both attracted and repelled.

Clever ways to kill people. I never would’ve thought of killing that guy under the party boat, (SPOILER ALERT) strapped to the screw shaft with a scuba tank, so when they start up the boat, they kill him inadvertently. Very clever.

Very clever to have everyone going back to the scene of previous horrific murders. I have never seen that before.

Very clever to have only a few people in the wedding party know about the previous murders, so only a few people, and we the audience, are scared out of our wits.

(SPOILER ALERT) Very clever to have tightened the screws, so that the second bad guy was the son of Abby’s mom and the killer.

Very clever to have the big bad guy have fallen off a cliff but they never found his body. Or is this stock? Anyway, I went for it.

Very clever to juggle this huge cast.

The depth of feeling and character development are good.

The foils are good, like Abby and the tattooed girl.

Overall, very scary and very well done. Wins my thriller TV prize.

I watched it higgly-piggly and out of order. Now I’m renting it all from Netflix and will watch the whole series in order. Can’t wait.

I can’t believe this is network. Good for you, CBS.

-- Roger

RAPE CASE LOOKS WEAK; CASEY GETS OFF

In the Angle roundup of today's news, it looks like two people accused of serious crimes will walk:

-- DSK, the married French playboy and probable horn-dog who was head of the IMF--don't you love these initials--is probably going to get off. Looks like his accuser may be a con artist who set him up to get money.

But there is plenty of blame to go around. I imagine he took some willing part in this little sex-capade.

-- Casey Anthony was acquitted of murder today. The prosecution didn't prove its case. But her poor daughter is dead. Looks like the child may have drowned in the pool and the family covered it up. Guess they didn't trust the criminal justice system. Too bad.

-- Pres. Obama is probably going to cave in to the misguided Republicans again, this time on the debt ceiling. When is he going to show some cojones?

-- Greece should get out of the Euro-zone, some people are saying. I never believed in the Euro in the first place. I liked the old system. I believe they have inadequate central banking for all those countries, if I understand it right. Too many countries and the economies are too diverse.

-- NPR had a story about union co-op housing in NYC, which still has a few affordable apartments for union members. The buildings actually have a sense of community. Everyone knows everyone and they look out for each other. Fancy that. Like old times. Rampant capitalism does not produce that, not usually.

-- Less than 1% of Americans are in the military, according to NPR. I think that would be a tough row to how. I can't think of a "good" war since WWII, and that was probably avoidable, if we hadn't backed Hitler early on. I salute those who serve, but not the missions they pursue.

-- Legalize, tax and control drugs. That is what I think. It's Econ 101. We have been driving down the supply, while demand rises, thus raising prices and bringing criminals and cowboys into the market. Stop the violence in Mexico. That's what I say.

Would you use heroin? Not me. No way. Cocaine? Nope. Made my face numb, like going to the dentist. Pot? Makes you dopey in the head.

OK, that's the news roundup for Tuesday, July 05, 2011.

Thanks for reading.

-- Roger

Sunday, July 3, 2011

A POEM

I haven't felt like blogging much lately, so here is a poem:

PRIMITIVE TIMES

It’s strange, there’s only one

room in the house where

you can piss or take a crap.

I long for more primitive times

when you could piss in the

river or dig a hole to take a

crap, when you could

chop down trees to build

a fort and kill animals

with a spear. I long for the

taste of fresh red meat that

I kill myself. The truth

is I’m growing old, and I

long for anything

but this.

-- Roger