Month: September 2007

MOVIE REVIEW: Sicko

I like Michael Moore. He was kind enough to put my name on his first film, the flinty Roger and Me, which I enjoyed, except for the bunny scene. I also watched his television show, TV Nation and even own a video of it. The cartoon sequence in Bowling for Columbine I thought showed a fascinating breakdown about race in America. And, of course, there was Fahrenheit 9/11, which people particularly loved or hated.

When Carol and I were about to see his latest film, Sicko in late July, I mentioned this to a lunch buddy of mine, who is considerably more right-of-center than I (she voted for GWB twice more than I did, because “he’s a Christian”). She replied, “HE (Moore) is a sicko!” I was reminded yet again what a polarizing character Michael Moore is for some people.

Yet, if she gave it a try, I think she might find the new movie Sicko compelling, in spite of herself. Certainly, I think Moore made a deft move by concentrating on the 250 million people who (allegedly) have health coverage, rather than the 50 million that don’t. You’ll laugh at the absurdity of the system we’ve been saddled with – one more thing to blame on Richard Nixon, I discovered. You’ll cry with the insurance company official whose decision not to treat lead to a man’s death (yes, I saw it in the previews, and it still got to me). You’ll get more than a little ticked off. This is propaganda, of course, but persuasive propaganda.

Certainly, my view of the upcoming (ongoing) Presidential race has been colored by seeing this film. I want to see what solutions the candidates have to address a system that, it seems, can’t be easily fixed by more money being poured into the pockets of the insurance industry.

I worked as a customer service rep for an insurance company back in the late 1980s, so I believe these horror stories. I will write on this soon.
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Lefty Brown’s podcast on Sicko and our political process. And Gordon’s podcast on Sicko.
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Video:
At the Variety screening of the docu “Sicko,” director Michael Moore chats about bringing Americans together to fight a common enemy: the nation’s declining health care system. (And if that link doesn’t work, try this one).

More videos at Brightcove.com
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When Jane Wyatt died last year, a surprising number of people said to me, “I heard Ronald Reagan’s first wife died.” And I had to correct them.

NOW, Jane WYMAN, Ronald Reagan’s first wife has died.

Incidentally, the location I found the picture indicated that it is in the public domain.
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The Wrong Way

When I first voted in an election primary, back in 1972, the New York State primary day was in June. There was one primary date for President, and for other offices. This was about the right length for the campaign.

Because of the nature of Presidential politics, though, the Presidential primary was moved to April, while the other primaries moved to September, creating, not so incidentally, greater expense. In subsequent years, the Presidential primary moved back into March, and in 2008, will move to February 5, where it will be on Supa Dupa Lollapalooza Tuesday. Meanwhile, the September primary has been moved this year from September 11 to September 18, out of “respect” for 9/11. You may recall, especially if you lived in New York State at the time, that 9/11 was Primary Day in the state six years ago. The primary was postponed at the time for a couple weeks.

The early Presidential primary bothers me because we could have a protracted, undoubtedly nasty, nine-month race for the White House, which will almost certainly generate a situation in which most voters will say, “A pox on both houses.”

The later non-Presidential primary bothers me too, because usually there is an incumbent in the race. Running against two or more challengers who aren’t winnowed out until eight weeks before the general election, gives even more advantage to the current officeholder. Moving the Primary from September 11 to the 18th just worsens that.

More to the point, I think voting on September 11 honors the victims of 9/11. Democracy is not postponed; the terrorists haven’t won, or whatever.

Expect this never to happen.
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Shock Doctrine, a short (less than seven minutes) film by Alfonso Cuarón and Naomi Klein, directed by Jonás Cuarón, on Klein’s book.
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While working on a reference question last week, I discovered, to my surprise, that most Arab-Americans identify as Christians.
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Eight things

It was undoubtedly Lefty who semi-tagged me to write eight (more) things about myself.

1. I have gone out with two different women who had lost children in car accidents, before I met them. I think – check that, I’m certain – that I didn’t understand their deep-seated devastation at the time.

2. I recently finished listening to a disc that someone compiled of the 500 best songs. Of the 500, I downloaded 128. Of the 128, the vast majority I already own on vinyl – six by Chuck Berry, four by Little Richard, three each by Queen and Buddy Holly; I also grabbed Buddy Holly by Weezer, which I had never owned before.

3. I worked as a bank teller for less than a month in 1978. My first day solo, I was off by five cents, and I was required to spend an hour looking for it; not worth it.

4. I’ve received Hess trucks for Christmas the last seven years. I actually play with them on those rare occasions when neither my wife or daughter are home.

5. The sound of a power lawn mower, vacuum cleaner, or washing machine could put me to sleep, given the opportunity.

6. I’ve shaken Nelson Rockefeller’s hand twice.

7. I used to be in a volleyball league. I served well.

8. I never took the SATs.
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What Is Art?

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Wind Energy


The last post about our vacation week in June. Although, if I find that picture of my wife in Shaker garb that she dressed up in at Hancock Shaker Village on the Friday of that week, I’ll have to show you. As a family outing, it was probably the most successful, for Lydia could look at the animals, and there was a kid’s exploration building, where they could draw, milk a faux cow, as well as see real bees making honey.


Meanwhile, the big deal at the timeshare was that much of the parking would be blocked off the accommodate a wind turbine passing through on the way to the top of the mountain. It came in by ship to the Port of Albany, it was announced on the news, and I knew it by the description that it couldn’t come where we were via either of the routes we took. Route 43 has a nasty turn which would not accommodate sections that long. I was right; they came a more circuitous, but straighter path (on Route 20).

I’m sure I was more interested in these things because I had just done a reference question about wind farms. It seemed like an easy alternative to other forms of energy, and it may be. But the people opposing then complain about a constant low hum, the destruction of birds and bats that run into them, and the evolutionary nature of the technology whereby 30 windmills five years from now may generate as much power as 60 windmills today, as well as the aesthetic considerations. One also needs to look at wind maps to maximize the effectiveness of the items.

Still, I’m extremely curious about them.
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I was going to write about this disturbing, and somewhat bizarre racial story in Jena, LA, but Thom beat me to it. The nooses in the story disturbed me viscerally, just reading about it; “strange fruit”, indeed. Read more here.

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When the Cat’s Away QUESTION

Unusually, my wife and my daughter were both away for a week last month. This meant I got to do all the laundry the day before my wife returns, which is a good thing. I got deeper into my T-shirt collection, as usually the same three or four shirts get washed and end up on top, so that those other shirts don’t get the love they deserve.

I’m hoping Tosy or Jaquandor can remind me of the particulars of this scene from the excellent, but short-lived, TV series Once and Again: Karen Sammler is sorting her (underwear?) drawer so that those pieces that hadn’t gotten worn recently got put on the top. I’m sure I saw this scene, and since I almost certainly watched it on tape, I rewound it and showed it to my wife (who seldom watched the show). “See? See?”, I told Carol.

Anyway, I did things such as all of the dishes at once. I stacked all my reading material on the living room floor one day, and cleaned it up en masse the next. My wife’s more incrementalist.

So, here’s the question: what things do you do when your boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse, roommate is away that you would never do when he/she’s there? If you’re living alone now, or have lived alone in the past, post-roomie, what did/do you do solo that would have driven your exes nuts? Conversely, what did they do when you were away that would drive you nuts? (My wife would tidy up, then I’d ask her where so-and-so was that had been sitting on the kitchen table for weeks, and she had no idea – sure it LOOKED good, but some Thomas Dolby quote would come to mind.)
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How to: Be an uber blogger, by Cory Doctorow

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