Production and consumption

I've had the experience lately of going to most of the blogs I read regularly and being disappointed that nobody was updating. I thought to myself, "Well, I guess I'm not updating either." When you're blogging, you get the experience of being both an audience and a producer. I'm assuming few if any bloggers only post and never read other blogs.

Artists and entertainers (Are any types of entertainers not artists? Any nominations?) regularly get feedback and the knowledge that their work is being consumed and evaluated, whether that be positive or negative, by people they do not now and will probably never know. It comes with the job. But I wonder, is this a new experience for thousands (or millions) of people?

I'm sure there's a lot of overlap between creative people who've put themselves out there before the internet and those who are now blogging, but I wonder how many people are creating a public persona for themselves for the first time outside of their circle of friends, work, and family? When someone on the other side of the planet sends you an email or posts a comment on your blog to share an experience, correct a mistake you've made, or expand on an idea, your world gets smaller and more connected. It can also be a spur to keep you going.

Every time bloggers sit down at their computers, they have the opportunity to either consume or produce. Unlike watching television, with blogging it's a lot harder to complain there's nothing on when you've got the power at your fingertips to create your own show.

Support our troops

In the April 15th issue of Entertainment Weekly, there was an interview with Jane Fonda about coming out of retirement for a new movie and releasing a new book that covers, among other things, her experience in Vietnam. With the 30th anniversary of the fall of Saigon coming up on the 30th, now's as good a time as any to consider the role Americans have in considering war.

It's become something of a cliche for those against the war in Iraq to say they simultaneously support our troops. In fact, one of the more egregious instances of this was when Natalie Maines made her remark to a foreign crowd, "we're ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas", and one of her fellow Dixie Chicks stepped up to the mic to say they still supported the troops. I don't doubt her sincerity, but it comes off as an afterthought, a CYA maneuver.

The reason I don't doubt her sincerity, and don't reject the very idea, as some of those on the right wing do, is because there is a very real distinction between supporting the war and supporting the troops. The troops don't get to choose who, when, or where they fight - the politicians do.

What does it mean to support soldiers being ordered to perform a job you disagree with? It means trying to prevent them from being ordered to perform that job. I don't mean to imply that all troops in Iraq believe it is wrong for them to be over there, or even wrong to fight Iraqis (although there have certainly been many anecdotal cases of this reported in the press), but that given the choice between fighting and not fighting, they would choose not to fight - most everyone would, soldier or no.

Fonda claims this is why she went to Vietnam. According to the interview, she says Nixon was considering bombing the dikes, which hold back seasonal flooding, an act that would have killed 200,000 people. "[A]ccording to the Pentagon Papers, they'd already looked at the possibility", she claims. By bringing back evidence of this plan, she hoped to prevent it by generating enough bad publicity using her fame. Of course, it didn't quite turn out that way, but it's worth noting that, according to the article, "[Most historians say the U.S. never intentionally bombed the dikes.]"

My personal opinion on the war in Iraq is that it's too early to tell what the long term results of the invasion will be. There have been good signs recently from the elections and stirrings of democracy in the region, but even more recently the violence has been picking up again, and we've seen democratic movements crushed in the past. I tepidly supported the war after Colin Powell's presentation to the U.N. of evidence, since debunked, that Iraq was actively pursuing WMD, but all the other signs pointed to the success of the pressure being applied by the international community on Saddam Hussein's regime. Remember, he destroyed the missiles found in violation of distance restrictions by the U.N. teams investigating the country in the months before the war.

But the Bush administration made the decision to send our troops into battle, and they went, most of them serving honorably, too many sacrificing their lives. I support them by opposing any more wars planned by Bush that may put them in danger, and hoping for their safe return home, as soon as possible.

Talking Social Security

I started editing my first full-length feature this week, and I've got a month to do it in, along with working full time, so I don't have as much time to write as I like for the near future. Still, I can't resist quoting Vern's take on the "conversation" over Social Security private accounts, which you can check out in its entirety here.

BUSH: I propose that we change RED traffic lights to BLUE!

DEMOCRATS: That's ridiculous, blue is too close to green, people would get confused. And why do we need to change it anyway? You're not making any sense at all.

BUSH: There you go again, criticizing my plan without offering an alternative.

DEMOCRATS: The alternative is to NOT change red to blue. Keep it red.

BUSH: That's not an alternative. That's what it already is, red.

DEMOCRATS: We don't want to change it to blue, there is no reason to.

BUSH: No reason? Innocent Americans are killed in traffic accidents every day! They should be changed to blue! Also I propose that we won't wear any pants!

DEMOCRATS: Not w-- you said not wear pants? I don't--

BUSH: Once again, the democrats are criticizing my not wearing any pants plan without offering an alternative.

DEMOCRATS: But... the alternative is... wearing pants.

BUSH: That's not an alternative. An alternative is like, we'll wear shorts, or we'll wear clownpants or something. I already said no pants.

DEMOCRATS: I don't... are you-- I mean I guess we could pull them down part way or something.

While this is laugh out loud funny, I'd just like to note that Bush says he wants private accounts to avoid raising taxes in the distant future, whenever Social Security "runs out". Meanwhile, his plan would cost something like $2 trillion to implement. Where's he going to find that money without raising taxes now? Borrow it all? That is the option that is not on the table, which America is letting him know by opposing him on this issue by a large margin.

Gorch Fock with jumping jacks. 

Goings on

I went to the final Dynamite Boy show last night, where they were joined by Cruiserweight. It's the first (and last) time I've seen Dynamite Boy play, and now that I've seen them I wish I'd come out to more of their shows before they broke up. They played the kind of punk pop I've really come to enjoy over the last few years, especially live. Stella, Cruiserweight's lead singer, joined them for a couple tunes, and she dances the robot with the best of them (although I can't say I'm sure that's not her normal dancing).

We've had a few people inquire about renting Phil's room for the summer, since he's going to be gone for three months, but no takers so far. I'm kind of curious to see what kind of roommate I'll end up with, if any. Hopefully someone who likes to hang out once in a while, doesn't stay up too late, and likes movies.

I saw a free advance screening of Sahara Thursday night, and was truly impressed. The acting was spot on, the story was convincing and fun, with a believable menace, and the best thing was how they took the secondary characters seriously. For a while there, every adventure movie had a stupid sidekick who cracked jokes, screwed things up, and had to be saved in the end by our hero. That's becoming less common, for good reason, as we've seen a lot more ensemble-type movies in the last five years or so. Steve Zahn's character in Sahara is not just a buddy, he's a fellow ex-soldier who served with Matthew McConaughey's Dirk Pitt, and he's a capable hero in his own right. In fact, a thought that occurred to me while watching the movie was that if it wasn't for Dirk Pitt, he could easily be the star of the movie.

The reason you don't see that very often, according to books I've read anyway, is the insecurity of stars, who almost always want to play characters that are a) noble, b) the best at everything their characters do, and c) the most likable role in the movie. If the sidekick threatens b) or c), the stars get nervous, and it's true that could sometimes pose a problem for audiences, who might get confused over who to identify with, but I think that's a pretty small problem. The ones it really poses a problem to are writers, who are looking for any way to create tension and drama. If neither the hero or his buddy is an idiot, that's one area they can't use. I'm happy to say Sahara, which I should note is based on a book by Clive Cussler, managed it well.

Show me the scenery

So I saw Sin City yesterday, after an hour and a half of trying to get to a theater that was showing it less than an hour after my arrival, which proved to be a tall order when they had the upper deck of I-35 shut down and an accident on the lower deck.

I've gotta say, I was disappointed by the movie. There were good parts, and most of the characters were very well-drawn, but I think it suffered from being too loyal to the comics-and I say that as someone who hasn't read them, so I'm not nitpicking the differences here. I think it fails simply as a movie. I like film noir, I like comic books, I like violent movies, and I'm a twenty-something male, so this movie was aimed straight at me, but I couldn't help but feel it fell short.

I think Vern hit the nail on the head in his review, when he wrote "Dick Tracy is to Sin City as Nick Nolte is to Nick Nolte's mugshot." No matter how impressive the effects, I rarely bought the world that all those computers constructed, and it felt like a cartoon from beginning to end. Regardless of whether that was the intention, it didn't work for me.

Elijah Wood plays one hell of a creepy villain, though, and Bruce Willis has still got that stoic honor beneath the tough-skinned wiseass quality that he's been riding since Die Hard. Keep it up, fellas.

Use what you've got

I saw the Flametrick Subs play Beerland last night with Nate and his older brother Matt, who I also knew in high school. That band rocked the house. Joining them were the Satan's Cheerleaders, a group of women who dress in leather cheerleading outfits with "666" sewn on the front and fishnet stockings. They're somewhat similar to the Poon Girls, only the Poon Girls wear obscenely short shorts and button-down shirts tied up like a bra to show their midriffs.

They're all cute and harmless, although I did see a brand on one of the Cheerleaders' shoulder in addition to all the tattoos, but the Poon Girls get the edge for actually dancing with the crowd and having their own little performance between bands, whereas the Cheerleaders stood on stage with the band and just danced behind them. Not to diminish the effort they put into it. They had three women rotating into the two positions, one on break while the other two danced, for more than an hour and a half, and it was full body dancing.

The bassist for the Subs only has one hand, which he uses to pick an upright bass while running the stub of his left arm up and down the neck. He was good, too (I especially liked that the singer credited him as rocking "single-handedly"). At work the other day, we were talking about dogs and I told a story my dad once told me about when he was growing up on the farm. There was a dog (I don't remember if it was his or a friend's) that lost its hind legs, probably to a piece of farm equipment. After that, it learned to walk on its front legs only, with its rear end pointing up in the air.

You hear stories about people with disabilities who overcome them pretty regularly, especially on TV, like the drummer for Def Leppard who lost an arm and continues to play, or of course Lance Armstrong. This serves a purpose, in encouraging people who are born disabled or suffer tragedies to not give up on their interests and dreams. People (and animals) find a way to keep on making it, and life overcomes. That's a story worth telling again and again.