Clash of the Titans

Having waited with bated breath for the long awaited opening of the remake of "Clash of the Titans" I am pleased to announce that it is NOW IN THEATERS!

After pushing past throngs of people waiting for hours for their own first peak of the Grecian epic, we were seated in prime seats -not too close, in the middling for optimal sound quality, and front row of the section so there weren't any heads to bob around. A few talkers during the neverending Trailers threatened to cause discontent but they managed to keep their traps shut once the film began.

The opening sequence of the show was superfluous and it seemed the filmmakers thought so too. The conception and birth of wee Perseus was handled later in the story but the filmmakers thought for some bizarre reason they needed to show how loved and well-adjusted the future savior would be. In an odd moment that took up valuable screen time, the pre-teen Perseus sits on the ship with his adoptive parents (oh, his arrival into their lives was very Mosaic--- they pulled him right out of the waters of a bobbing casket- of course his dead mother was inside- ewww!- unlike the biblical myth) and glances troubledly at his adopted mum. His father, oh so moved by his son's discountenanced countenance, asks what is bothering him and sits amiably by his side as Perseus explains his feelings, his fear of being cast aside by his parents when the child his mother is carrying is born. "Not true, Perseus," his father denounces, "You'll always be our own true son... " or something to that effect. It wasn't really worth seeimg, let alone remembering so I could quote it accurately. If the four people who exited the film unceremoniously at the beginning of the film had left at that moment, I might have been tempted to follow them. But fortunately that was a short-lived touchy-feely moment.

Now on with the show!

Our hero's epic adventures begin because the rebellious sheeple decided  they didn't need the gods anymore (just like the Haitians). At this point, Hades, played by Ralph Fiennes (whom I love but does anyone else see the resemblance to He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named?)...

sees an opening and gets Zeus (Liam Neeson) to let him unleash the hounds of hell, the Kraken, on the ungrateful wretches. I mean after all, Zeus created them so if he wanted to play fast and loose with their women and their lives, then that's his prerogative, right? And they should just live their miserable lives and be happy for it!

But I digress...

Gathering his Band of Brothers, a woman, (who adds the feminine touch and reminds me a bit of the female tokenism of Arwen in 'Lord of the Rings' movie) and a duet of hunters who will "kill anything" Perseus heads out into the wilds. Their purpose is no small one for they are on their way to save the King's daughter from being hung out to dry as an untimely virginal sacrifice to the Kraken.

Moving quickly through the time-space continuum  (who has time to waste when there are three blind hags to interrogate, Medusa to behead and the Kraken to kill? Not to mention Hades henchman who immediately tries to waylay them and winds up complicating things by sprinkling blood in the sand which turns into giant scorpions?) the group quickly finds themselves in trouble (and that's Trouble with a capital T).

Showing themselves to be broadminded ancients with a liberal bent (clearly future socialists!), the group even adds an interspecies member to their numbers that puts Star Trek to shame-- not just raised eyebrows or strange ears but actual Woodlike creatures who live in the dessert and quickly control the rampaging scorpions before they can eat our christ-figure for lunch AND then giving the journiers a ride on to their next destination. Nothing like hitching a ride on a giant over-sized scorpion to take the sting out of Mediterranean rush hour traffic jams!

The story moves along at a gallop (or with the wings of Pegasus if we're going to stick with the Grecian theme) which might leave a more complicated story in the wake of it's tail, but the original tale was fairly sparse on detail so the director could romp off from one action packed scene to another. The computer graphics were not too troublesome and I certainly didn't miss the 3D effect our neighbor's down the corridor might have been tortured with. As I  mentioned there were several obvious rip-offs from other films, not the least of which was a Star Wars-ish sword which had been given to Perseus from Zeus. Why the magical sword had to appear and disappear light sabre-style is beyond me and the Kraken looked like it might have escaped from New York after the filming of Cloverfield was over... but the out-of-syncrities didn't detract from the general enjoyability of the film. There were even some nice moments of homage to it's thirty-something predecessor. All in all a good time was had by all-- for the most part.

(And just for full disclosure- there weren't many people in the theater at all. We had our choice of seats!)

The Fed in Hot Water

Robert Reich wrote on his blog @ http://robertreich.org/:
"The Fed has finally came clean. It now admits it bailed out Bear Stearns – taking on tens of billions of dollars of the bank’s bad loans – in order to smooth Bear Stearns’ takeover by JPMorgan Chase. The secret Fed bailout came months before Congress authorized the government to spend up to $700 billion of taxpayer dollars bailing out the banks, even months before Lehman Brothers collapsed. The Fed also took on billions of dollars worth of AIG securities, also before the official government-sanctioned bailout.

The losses from those deals still total tens of billions, and taxpayers are ultimately on the hook. But the public never knew. There was no congressional oversight. It was all done behind closed doors. And the New York Fed – then run by Tim Geithner – was very much in the center of the action.

This raises three issues.
First, only Congress is supposed to risk taxpayer dollars. The Fed is not part of the legislative branch. Its secret deals, announced almost two years after they were done, violate the democratic process, if not the Constitution itself. Thomas Jefferson put a stop to Alexander Hamilton’s idea of a powerful central bank out of fear it would be unaccountable to the public. The Fed has just proven Jefferson’s point.

Second, if the Fed can secretly bail out big banks, the problem of “moral hazard” – bankers taking irresponsible risks because they know they’ll be rescued – is far greater than anyone assumed after Congress and the Bush and Obama administrations bailed out the banks. Big banks will always be too big to fail because they know the Fed will secretly back them up if they get into trouble, even if Congress won’t do it openly.

Third, the announcement throws a monkey wrench into the financial reform bill now on Capitol Hill, which gives the Fed additional authority by, for example, creating a consumer protection bureau inside it. Only yesterday, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) blasted the Dodd bill for expanding the Fed’s authority “even as it remains shrouded in secrecy.”

The Fed has a big problem. It acts in secret. That makes it an odd duck in a democracy. As long as it’s merely setting interest rates, its secrecy and political independence can be justified. But once it departs from that role and begins putting billions of dollars of taxpayer money at risk — choosing winners and losers in the capitalist system — its legitimacy is questionable.

That it chose to reveal the truth about its activities during a week when Congress is out of town, when much of official Washington and the Washington media have gone on vacation, and only after several federal courts have held that the Fed must release documents related to its bailout of Bear Stearns, suggests it would rather remain secret than become transparent.

Much of what Ben Bernanke and Tim Geithner did (when Geithner was at the New York Fed) in 2008 was presumably necessary. But the public has no way of knowing. The public doesn’t even know who else the Fed has bailed out, or what entities it will bail out in the future. All we know is the Fed secretly bailed out Bear Stearns and AIG and thereby subjected taxpayers to risks that remain even today, without informing the public. That’s not a record on which to build public trust."

Can anyone say "Corporate Control" or "Who really writes the rules?" This isn't an April Fool's joke either sadly.

And the Oscar should go to...

On a stone bench sits what appears to be a Buddhist Monk quietly ruminating amidst the red flags that waggle and flit in the gusty breeze that dances between the stone pillars of the temple stationed at the top of the hill. A man's voice is dubbed over the oriental music that accompanies the quiet scene, "There is a Zen saying: A true Buddhist will gladly jump into hell in order to save another human being."

And then we enter hell, mon.

With home video-like quality (although nowhere nearly as shaky and bouncy as "Cloverfield"-- that almost made me dizzy!) we zoom into a quiet and austere middle class neighborhood. The scene quickly changes as a door opens and a nude woman dashes out into the street screaming "Help! get back! somebody help me!" a neighbor glances up to see a man close on her heels adorned in his best birthday suit, his hand staunching a gash in his skull and shouting "What did you split my head open for?" The police quickly intervene (probably much more quickly than they do when getting a call about a real-life domestic) and with this "that-was-way-more-than-I-wanted-to-know" moment we are thrust into the life of one Maxwell Bright --masterfully played by Patrick Warburton.

Life has moved beyond chaotic for Max and one might feel a tinge of pity for him if he weren't such an incredible ass. His employees are mutiny-minded but his single friend Jaurice (Austin Pendleton) intervenes and reminds them that he's just having a hard time after having been cheated on and beaten up by the afore mentioned girl-friend. (Oh poor guy, one thinks facetiously...) After an intervention, of sorts, by his friends, Maxwell Bright lands upon a solution to all his problems-- which might actually epitomize his assholery. He decides to buy a wife.

The decision, however ill intentioned and absolutely and contemptibly self-serving, winds up being a good decision on Max's part and we soon see him married and alit with what might almost be joy as he introduces his new bride, a beautiful and gentle character who's entrance completely changes the dynamics of the heretofore reality show reject, to his poker playing buddies.

The "oriental Mary Poppins" transforms Max with the spin of her paper umbrella, into a gentle and contented, almost-human, character. Well, for a bit. After all you can take the beast out of the wild, but you can't take the wild...

But life isn't really magically transformed for Max- he has created his own special place in hell and hell is determined to drag him back. His credit cards are maxed out, the bank won't honor his checks and just after this bit of reality gives him a punch, he finds out the stock in his shop (he sells TV units)is being repossessed. And that is just the beginning...

Though generally panned, or at the very least received luke-warmly, by critics, the very criticism of the know-nothings is what makes this movie a unique in Hollywood experience. David Beaird, the creator, writer and director of this extremely limited release film, is a dealer in the archetypal, giving birth to stories and characters that go beyond the trite sermon or simple entertainment such as his Louisiana based story Scorchers or Key West, the series that barely had a half-life in a television year (and has been discussed elsewhere on this blog). The Civilization of Maxwell Bright is no different.

Max is the Everyman, an over the top example of the uncouth that lurks in us all: selfish, self-absorbed and stuck in a middle school world of "it's all about me." He is that Us that we cover up with adult superficiality which Max hasn't the time to discover. Mei Ling, his beautiful, bought-and-purchased-with-cash wife, is the archetypal woman, Mother Earth/Moon Goddess who nurtures and counsels, nurses and instructs.

Simon Callow, a lead player who has not yet been mentioned, has an archetypal role to play as well. When Max bumps into frustration (and potential ugliness on the part of his wife) he goes to Mr. Wroth to secure his promise that he will find him a beautiful wife of "intelligence, virtue, ability and honor" When Max queries about sex, he's told "[in China] young girls are taught sexual techniques by skilled older women." Mr. Wroth appears, at first glance, to be merely a "snakehead" but his role as her father the "wise parent" who arranges the girl's marriage to the one she will love becomes apparent when Max takes advantage of his position as husband (and perhaps in his mind Owner) of the beautiful sex goddess. Wroth shields his young charge (as her real father could not, perhaps would not, do) when she runs away from the abuse of the man she is wed to and in so doing reinforces the power she is claiming for herself. Giving her the opportunity to walk away and never look back, the role is now reversed, she is the one who chooses, not Max.

Beautifully played, marvelously directed, wittily written and tightly woven, this film stands head and shoulders above anything Hollywood has to offer. You can rent a copy from Blockbuster Online (it's probably not in any of the stores), order it from Barnes & Noble (maybe Borders too) or you can rent or buy it from iTunes. However you manage to see it, expect the unexpected.

Hullo, Job Seekers!

Some days the library is... some might say, "Exciting." But they would be wrong. Others might say "Interesting" But they also would be wrong. A more accurate description might be Aggravating or a Lesson in just how dumb and selfish people can be. I mean after all, how much of a fit do you really need to throw over a couple of dollars of fines for your free DVD rentals?    

Frequent flyers in the library are generally only interested in a couple of things, and one of them is generally not books. But public computers at the library are a heavily trafficked area that people will wait in the cold for. And that is even more true in the difficult times we are currently facing with the official unemployment numbers still just under 10% (which doesn't account for those who have given up trying to find a job or college grads who have never found a job or are taking a job that they are overqualified for or those who are being underpaid for their jobs). So the library sees a lot of computer non-users who are trying to find a job. (I say non-users because most of the job seekers in the library are unfamiliar with computers and yet are forced to apply for even the simplest positions online because even Courtesy Clerks at King Soopers (i.e. Baggers) have to fill out their applications online.)

Occasionally, the job seeker is more literate on the computer but has been unemployed for some time and simply can't afford a computer or perhaps has disconnected the internet in an attempt to trim the household budget. Such a person approached the circulation desk today. 

His initial request was for more time as the application process was taking more than the allotted hour. I added a half hour only to later find out he'd given me the wrong computer number and his time had expired while he was filling out the digital forms. Later, as he explained the whole problem he began expressing his frustration with his job search and added complaints about unemployment, how demeaning the whole process is, how long it takes to get a hold of the people in the unemployment office, etc, etc.. His attention then turned like a dog after a squirrel onto the current healthcare (non) reform bill that was passed Sunday by the corporately owned democrats in Washington. He was agitated that the government was interfering with insurance and forcing states to foot some of the bill- irritated that the government was interfering in people's private lives, for daring to curb the unfettered greed of the Insurance companies (as if...).

As he stood in front of me, taking advantage of the FREE computer usage and FREE DVD rental courtesy of  the taxpayers of Denver Co, complaining about the governmentally run Unemployment Office which he is having to deal with because he lost his job-- and lost his job, I might add, because of the poor economy which was driven into depression by the right wing policies of both parties, a system he apparently voted for he is then going to bitch about the healthcare bill??? The sheath of irony that swirled around his head was like a blizzard and visibility was apparently zero.

I wriggled uncomfortably in my comfy desk chair (which I covet for home use!) knowing that I was gagged from offering the answer he rightly deserved-- which was, "If you like this system and you want to continue to vote for the politicians who are mere puppets for the corporate hacks, who protect business interests while denying healthcare then I am for your right to starve to death!"