The movie was fine, but had a lot of needless shock value. The sawing off of the convict's arms and the hacking of the pedophile's skull were not only gross-out over the top, but not in the book. In fact, the director pretty much stuck religiously to the book, scene for scene (which makes Zach Snyder slavishly imitative and not visionary) except when it came to scenes of violence and sex. Moore's realistically visionary work is blood-soaked, no doubt, but never stooped to shocking his audience for the mere sake of it. Even the startling recreating of JFK's death included more brain matter on the back of the limo than would actually fit into a man's brain.

Also, Moore's adventurers were purely human, They didn't leap nimbly to rain-soaked metal railings and they did not have devices that lifted them up to high-rise apartments and they could not fight like silver screen uber-professionals after years of retirement or after jumping to a street through a plate glass window. Also, Manhattan's mere existence brought about a huge leap in available 70s technology in the book, which was ignored by the director.

Some of this movie was in a word, awesome. But the ending was rushed and I felt that Snyder missed a lot of points. His over-reliance on sex and numbing violence is called pornography, and I simply find it distracting. While actors don't really need to act to groan in orgasmic ecstasy or scream while they're being chopped to ribbons, and most of the audience doesn't notice anyway, it's not art.

Onto a larger point, it's amazing to me that so many artists and regular joes alike have fought to define writhing, naked bodies and gut-churning violence as a basic American freedom. I'm sure if only one person held that view the rest of the world dismiss him as crazy and anti-social. And if you're tastes run to dark humor, then it's hilarious that the expression of raw brutality is more important these days than decent living. Eveyone's got rights, but fewer and fewer of us are talking about how to comport ourselves. Funny how these things work, eh?

But I guess I'm breaking my word here and talking about politics again.

One last string of repeated words from Wikipedia: "Dave Itzkoff of The New York Times wrote that the dark legacy of Watchmen, "one that Moore almost certainly never intended, whose DNA is encoded in the increasingly black inks and bleak storylines that have become the essential elements of the contemporary superhero comic book," is "a domain he has largely ceded to writers and artists who share his fascination with brutality but not his interest in its consequences, his eagerness to tear down old boundaries but not his drive to find new ones."

Which neatly describes my constant fussing over the self-restrained freedom to think versus the unrestrained freedom to act.

Read the book, The Watchmen. Oh, and have a great day!

Story:

 http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20090214_Shooter_had_death_wish__police_say.html

    I'd say God damn this city but it looks like the good citizens of Philadelphia have beat Him to it. When is the underclass of this city going to recognize that they represent? And I'm talking social, not racial, class here, because this country is drawn on economic lines. Yet shooter Rasheed represents Black America in the eyes of many the length and breadth of this county, he represents the city in the eyes of suburbanites and rural Americans, he represents the poor in the eyes of the world. This city - this country - will never take a step forward until we realize that while we are busy making political statements there are entire cultures we ignore or marginalize or avoid... to everyone's detriment. You want to talk about racism? The young dudes in the Inner City think every cop is corrupt, every white is racist. I don't exaggerate. I worked there, taught there, lived there. Now I have a white neighbor down the block who thinks every dark-skinned person is beyond reach, even vile. When are Black leaders going to go into the city and try to reach these brothers, instead of worried about unfairly being labeled an Uncle Tom? When are White leaders going to do the same, instead of being worried about the stigma of being unfairly maligned as a racist? Go and tell all these hotheads them to behave themselves, tell them to wake up and see the world not as a harmful place but teach instead teach them Humanity's dearest lesson?

That most of the harm and love that befalls us in this lifetime is of our own doing.

God damn political correctness. Go out into the world and make a difference. Treat people as people and take the time to reach someone beyond your sphere. And hug a cop!!

Today I acknowledge the troubling times in which we live. ..... And how gratitude fills my soul, while in so many areas around the globe - India, Zimbabwe, Iraq, North Korea, Sudan, others - being thankful means you and your loved ones surviving another day with even a scrap of food in your belly.

May we never become so preoccupied with the affairs of our country that we lose our compassion for those in far-flung regions of the globe. May we never cease to realize how fragile and blessed our lives here in America truly are.

It's past time for me - for us all - to get right with our neighbor, ourselves, our God. It is past time for divisive politics or thinking, it is past time to seize the moment and act.

Happy day and happy Season to all. May our eyes, minds and arms be forever open.

-mark

I will not vote for him. I once was his biggest fan, even campaigning for him in the classroom. But not now. He has naively made too many contradictory promises, he threw himself a Vanity Project major network celebration last week, with money garnered from a broken campaign pledge. He has decided to talk tough, even thuggish, on Pakistan, even threatening the war he so strenuously disavows.  He panders to the Israel lobby and pro-lifers and gun-toters, even though his record on these subjects suggests far otherwise. He is elitist – a small-town boy made good, he now hobnobs with the urban intelligentsia. He looks down his nose at small town residents.

I will not vote for McCain.  I wish that the SNL version I saw of him a couple of days ago was just normal, everyday McCain – but it’s not. A man with a steady flow of that kind of charisma, eloquence and self-deferential wit needs to be in the White House. But there are no comers, are there? Maybe Ron Paul is, but he dropped out because – and Obamamaniacs, take note – he wanted to put his money to better use. McCain more and more seems like a grumpy old man, sniping at a candidate  who’s about to give him a whuppin’. And who probably followed some bad advice on the way to that whuppin’.

(Heh. Can’t you imagine the conversation ‘twixt Palin and McCain? “Sarah, really, just drop out. Please. We goofed.” “Uh-uh, no way John. I’m going places.””But Sarah, you can’t see Russia from Pennsylvania Avenue.” “Nope, and I can’t see that many stars as I would in Alaska, either. But I will see one in Washington; My own. Rapidly ascending.” “Will you at least make fun of yourself on SNL?” “Nope. Ain’t gonnadoit.. wouldn’t be prudent.”)

The truth of the matter is, it’s the bulk of Obama’s frenzied fans that turn my stomach sour, not so much the man himself. Obama just doesn’t seem ready yet – but Obamamania? When I started on this blog, the insults and outrageous assumptions about me came flying! Now I’m just ignored – as this piece may surely be as well. Obamamaniacs ignore the gaffs their man makes, as well. They share the Bush mentality: if you’re not with us, you’re against us. Here is a short list of words I’ve read and heard to describe people who questioned Obama and his campaign: “racist,” “bigoted,” “lacking in mental acuity,” Republican,” “conservative,” “backwood,” “blind,”  “Bush fans,” “fearmongers,” “traitorous,” “of a certain ilk,” “doltish.” Never any credit for a person simply thinking independently.

Have people on the other side been just as bad? “You betcha,” he said with a wink. But I thought this was the Season of Change. To tell you the truth, all I see is a mentality of “It’s Payback Time!”  And to go further into the truth, I’ve been facing and fighting against that sort of inane mindset all of my life.  I’ve often been ridiculed and ostracized because I elect to go my own way, and can just as easily criticize the teams on both ends of the field. This is why I have taken such exception when so many smug doofi got together to beat up on McCain and Palin not on the issues – but on insubstantial trivia, making full use of the words I listed above and many others.

And whereas McCain has quieted the few bigots in his assembly crowds, Obama has never done the same to his supporters. He believes the lies and taunts they come up with. Lord knows McCain should have done the same to his campaign management, that Palin should have done the same herself.

But I’ve been in McCain’s position, ostracized and shouted down by bullies. So yeah, he’s had my sympathy. I still think he’s a decent man – despite every show and magazine in the country talking potshots at him. I still think Obama’s a decent person. But neither one deserves the White House now.

So whom do I vote for? I must admit I know precious little of Chuck Baldwin. I know Ron Paul says to support him, but I would have had to have known this guy for at least a year before I’d consider anything so drastic. But after much consideration, I decided to vote for him anyway. Why? I know he can’t win. My vote will say there’s more than one choice between two candidates – that I don’t have to settle for the same old distortion the media and the public forcefeed me every 4 years. There are options, other viable candidates. And what Paul and presumably Baldwin have to say makes more sense than the clueless rhetoric coming from the Obama and McCain camps.

Hey, Obama is for universal healthcare. I fully support this. McCain wants to walk softly and carry a big stick. I’m for that, too. But after waiting a year for either one of these guys to deliver the knockout punch and fully sway me, I know now it ain’t coming.

So to all you self-congratulatory, liberal elite out there, enjoy the party. And get ready for what’s to come. Obama’s going to be breaking far more promises soon, and there’s many tough choices that will have to be made. I pray that we in this country can finally unite and emerge victorious. But we love to pick sides – and the way things have been going in this country, I have my doubts.

We should even consider monetary deflation. Take a zero or two from the value of our bills. (Hey, it continues to work for Poland.)

I want to remind everyone that FDR provided relief by putting people to work, creating jobs, and not just handing out wads of cash. We must not only create jobs for people, and encourage the creation of jobs (jobs here on American land, and not overseas), we must create a mindset of national fiscal responsibility. To cite FDR again, he rose to the challenge of the times by leading his country into doing something bold, something heroic.

The time for boldness has come again.