Obama for “Dictator”

Woody Allen suggests that Obama be appointed dictator for a few years so he can get things done without Republican interference. I personally would prefer Fielding Mellish.

South Park and Sex Addiction

I don’t watch a lot of TV, but I caught a great episode of South Park yesterday. It was a spoof on the “sex addiction” meme, starring Tiger Woods, with an “Emperor’s New Clothes” theme, where everyone had to pretend that they believed that rich, powerful men who enjoyed sex with multiple partners were afflicted by some terrible mental disease. It’s absurd when you think about it. Is there some reason why evolution should favor rich, powerful men who decide they don’t want to have children? Have these people never heard of the Genghis Khan effect, repeated on a lesser scale over and over again? And yet, we were all expected to nod our heads sagely and pretend we actually believed the “sex addiction” thing. Trey Parker and Matt Stone have lost none of that ephemeral comic edge that “Peanuts” used to have back in the 60’s, and I hope they can hold on to it for a good while longer.

If you haven’t seen their movie, “Team America,” get the CD. I give it both of my thumbs up. You could probably count the number of films that have hit the big screen in the last decade that are creative, funny, and not relentlessly PC at the same time on one hand. “Team America” is one of them. As for the flap over the latest Muhammed episode, it speaks volumes about the times we live in. Two guys have the nobility to put their lives on the line in defense of freedom of expression, and the people whose liberties they are risking so much to defend react with incomprehension. Meanwhile, the abject sheep on the roof with their crucifixes in urine and caricatures of Mary smeared with elephant dung, who know full well they have nothing to fear from the victims of their scorn, are lionized as heroic fighters against “censorship” and avatars of culture.

Avatar, Racism, and Hollywood Ideologues

Do you think the people on the left who are complaining that Avatar is racist realize that they are exposing their own racism?

Do you think the people on the right who are moaning about the clichés of corporate bad guys and American Indian analog good guys realize that if Hollywood films didn’t reflect the world view of the people who make them they would be completely phony? 

If you don’t live in either one of those ideological boxes, do yourself a favor and go see the film, preferably in 3-D.

A Clockwork Orange: The Last Chapter

A girl I knew asked me to take her to “A Clockwork Orange” back in 1971, when it first came out. It was the first time I’d heard the title, and I had no idea what to expect. I don’t think she did either. She was rather shocked, but I’ve been a Kubrick fan ever since. Of course, the movie became a cult classic. Type “clockwork” on the Google search line, and the first suggestion that comes up is “clockwork orange,” with 2,850,000 hits.
.

.
As one might expect, the links run the gamut from the ridiculous to the sublime, but there’s a lot of amusing and interesting stuff out there. Among the reviews, my personal favorite is here. Of course, the academicians have added their two cents worth. There’s even a site with a Nadsat glossary, and some interesting remarks by a Russian guy on the Nadsat experience.
.
Many years after I saw the film, I saw Burgess’ novel at a second hand bookshop, and decided to have a look. I liked it even better than the movie. With a few notable exceptions, I’m usually not attracted to novels that aren’t a direct reflection of the author’s own life. This was one of the exceptions. Linguistically, it’s a work of genius. The “Nadsat” in the book is a fantastic concoction with a much heavier tincture of Slavic than Kubrick could allow himself in the movie. If you want to read it, take my advice, and find a copy with a Nadsat glossary in the back or print out the one on the Internet. And one more thing; make sure you get the last chapter that Kubrick left out of the movie. You see, Burgess nursed an enduring grievance against Kubrick, not to mention a classic case of European anti-Americanism, because it was dropped. In his own words, “I leave what I wrote with what Dr. Johnson called frigid indifference to the judgment of that .00000001 of the American population which cares about such things. Eat this sweetish segment or spit it out. You are free.” Brrrrrrr!