Ted Widmer calls for a return to internationalism (and principled opposition to Dubya’s foreign policy) in the Democratic party.
Month: August 2002
The Road to Kashmir.
My friend Seth kicks off a new Slate column with a lousy flight into Leh.
Ashcroft’s “Hellish Vision.”
Jonathan Turley, Constitutional Law professor at GW and television staple during l’affaire Lewinsky, lashes into John Ashcroft for his recent plan to create extraconstitutional internment camps of “enemy combatants” (re: US citizens) in and around the country. (Via Caught in Between.) Y’know, I do believe John Ashcroft is the scariest man in the country right now.
No, not yet.
“Wanted: Roman rooftops, terraces or other elevated perches that will frame St. Peter’s perfectly in the backdrop, with its dome just over Peter Jennings’s or Dan Rather’s shoulder.” Frank Bruni surveys the journalistic dead pool surrounding Pope John Paul II.
Something More than a Machine.
Can anybody tell me if any of the rest of The Flaming Lips‘ oeuvre is any good? ‘Cause Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots is the best album I’ve bought in a long time (although I have high hopes for Peter Gabriel’s Up next month)…it’s a bubbly space pop classic right next to Moon Safari, and absolutely impossible to get out of your head. Her name is Yoshimi. She’s a black belt in karate…
Hobbits and Vulcans.
I found this on Napster a long time ago, but had never seen the Ming Tea-like accompanying video. The one and only Leonard Nimoy (and the Nimoyettes?) sing The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins. (Via Monkeyfarts.)
Go West, Young Man.
The Washington Post checks in with Cornel West upon his move to Princeton. (Via Random Walks.) Sure enough, Larry Summers comes off as a jackass. As I’ve said over here, West was easily one of the most committed professors to undergraduate life on campus. To accuse him of playing hooky because he has a number of high-profile side projects is both unfair and untrue. All I know is I hope someday I’m both respected and culturally relevant enough as an academic to appear in the Matrix sequels (or their fanboy equivalents.)
Hi, his name is…
Also in movie news, the new 8-Mile trailer is up. Between Curtis Hanson directing and Marshall Mathers starring, I still have no clue how this one’s going to turn out.
Catch Him If You Can
AICN points to several pics from Catch Me If You Can (due out this winter), starring Tom Hanks and Leo di Caprio. Nice to see Spielberg continuing in the atmospheric vein of his past couple of films.
There is no more Nature.
The trailer for Naqoyqatsi, the final chapter of the Koyaanisqatsi trilogy, is now up. However you feel about the first two films (due out on DVD next month), it’s really a brilliant teaser.