"Undermining my electoral viability since 2001."

Batman Begins

Batman Begins -- imdb

Most promising thing to hit during the Super Bowl. With American Psycho in mind, Bale is an ideal casting choice for Bruce Wayne. Christopher Nolan clearly has directorial and storytelling chops, plus Scarecrow is a great villan. Throw in Michael Cane, Liam Nesan, Morgan Friedman, Gary Oldman and Kaie Holms (often underrated as an actress because of Dawson's Creek) and you have the makings for something that could outshine Tim Burton's original.

Batman Returns was good, but marred by Tim Burton going too far, and the last three were abbysmal examples of hollywood shitting all over what could have been good character and actor combinations. Cloony and Kilmer deserved better, and the absolute butchery of potential with Tommy Lee Jones cast as Two-Face (see the animated series and imaging what might have been) and the horror of blowing a great role like Mr. Freeze on Shwartzegnegger are unconscionable. Hopefully enough people will give this new edition a chance and Nolan has the skills to pull it together. He had a hand in the script, and Bruckheimer is no where on the bill, so that bodes well. We shall see, but I'm hopeful for a good piece of cinema.

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Update

I'm out of house and home; it's easy on a weekend. We'll see how this week goes.

Bastard spammers keep hitting my trackbacks even though they're disabled. It makes me sad. Site revamp is eminent.

Lots of good things happening. I'l chronicle and record in good time. Lucas is in AZ with truck in hand and visiting with Talyn, we'll head up to Westhaven Friday. The wheel is in spin.

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The crisis of meaning is upon me again...

In spite of overall long-term confidence, the feeling right now reminds me of getting out of college, a kind of four-year de ja vu. I'm still hurting for space to think and fumbling around for the lack of structure. Lost in the wheels of confusion, spinning fast on caffeine and poverty.

I have blind faith that something will break soon, but at the moment I don't know what it is, and I worry about letting people down. Hopefully my universe will be forgiving. I need some time for myself.

The Crisis Of Meaning is a time-worn idea, something I've discussed with my friends since adolesence. According to good old Erik Erikson, we're supposed to have moved out of the struggle of Identity vs Role Confusion and into the realm of Intimacy vs Isolation. I ponder...

Intimacy is defined as the ability to be close to others. This means as a lover, a friend, and as a contributing member of society. There's the rub. Though I feel strong on the issue of "who I am," I have quite a lot of angst about "what I do" and "who I do it with." What's your role here? Just what would ya say ya do?

The last time I remember feeling like I had a good answer to this was in early 2003. Sasha took me out to a party in TriBeCa with a bunch of other people who seemed older and more established, I was leaning in a doorframe (like Brando's Stanley) and sweating from biking over from Brooklyn and we were doing the introduction thing. The women were teachers or grad students; the men were in finance. "I'm an artist." I threw on a little bit of Oregon accent with it. Felt right. Sasha took to it, which was the point, but I didn't really live up to the billing in the long run, got sidetracked -- really -- into politics as an occupation, and now I'm here.

And I'm struggling. The most important thing is to stop struggling. Need motion, velocity my old sweet mistress.

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More Thoughts On BattleStar Galactica

Just finished episode 13 of 13 so far produced. Good stuff all the way through. It's not all that often that you'll see television programming taking risks, going at all outside the box, but when it does it can be quite good. I highly recommend this bit of sci fi.

I lik be because it does very well with the form, managing to explore all the great classic metaphysical topics -- what does it mean to be human? a staple of the genre -- as well as political theory and mythology to boot, and all this with highly engaging characters and admirable style. I'm watching online (not like I'd help their neilsons anyway) so the lack of commercials is a boon, but the bottom line is it's good viewing. If they get the pick up for a second season, (which is looking likely as the show is a relative hit here and across the pond), Edward James Olmos has a meal ticket that could take him to mainstream notoriety ala Patrick Stewart. Providing he wants it of course.

Speaking of Stewart, I think this series can do a lot more for the players involved than Star Trek: The Next Generation. On the whole the characters are vastle less "gimmicky." This is good. It means the show is less otaku-centric (more broadly appealing and free to roam), and it also means the actors can avoid typecasting. There's a lot less pseudo-science -- though a lot more pseudo mythology/politics -- and a lot more simple drama. The style is much more gritty/lowbrow, and the action revolves more around the course of human events than what strange planet crop ups next.

I think it's a good setup. In all it probably makes for a shorter shelf life (it's hard to see this thing going 7 seasons without some serious cheese) but there are at least 20 or 30 good episodes in it if they keep everyone on board and enthusiastic. My guess is that this is the first big break for a number of the cast and crew, and the producers aren't old hands either. It's a start-up show. The whole thing has the touch of the auteur, of vision, of people who have been looking for their chance to make a mark.

I'll say again, it's a step up for science fiction, let alone on TV. If you're savvy you can watch it on your computron like it did. If you've got cable, you can catch it on sci fi. If you're looking to be entertained, I suggest you give it a whirl either way.

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That More People Would Believe

Daily Kos :: An Outsiders' Reaction to His First DFA Meetup

I honestly can say now that I understand why people are the way they are for Dean and what he wants to do. His organization, and the people involved in it, are making a difference in their own communities, and by doing that they are making it better for all of us. I saw three future state Congressmen, at the least, and a couple that could possibly make it to national level. Two of them would not have even tried, if not for DFA.

That's nice to read. I'm burnt lately, calling myself "a technician" or "a plumber" in the world of poltrix online. Truth is, I need to get away from it in order to replentish whatever it is that keeps my inner fires burning. That's why I'm planning on living on east coast couches for three months. That's why I'm planning to be On The Road for the summer.

The good news is that stories like these are going to keep happening, and with Howard Dean likely to take the chair of the party -- this is looking more likely than Iowa ever did, largely because it's such a non-public proceeding -- I have reasonable hope that his common-sense facts-first reality-based and other-hyphenated approach will build these nodes of activity into a thriving network. There are 100s of bright young things burning to work for him. They'll do good.

For my part, all this gives me moral cover to duck out for a bit, to think about my own trajectory knowing that if I got hit by a bus the world would be in as good hands as could be reasonably expected. I'm needing a long dip in the deep metaphysical, been thinking about stuff on the other end of the divine membrane; impractical but stirring lines of inquiry.

I'll keep writing and reading and dropping opinions from time to time of course. If you ever want my take on something, feel free to drop a line. Gouts of fiery rhetoric will come, and I'll never cease to poke and pry at the puzzles of language, ethics and political theory. But I realize that politicking -- horseracing, hackery, jockeying for position -- isn't really my game, though I'm glad I know some damn good players. Campaigning is something I'll take up again down the line, and maybe in a decade I'll end up governing a household or something larger, but for now I'm happy to tie my soul to other things, and let the job be a job again.

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Kick Out The Jams...

I'm contemplating bringing my stereo back into my room to play loud music.

It's February 2nd and in San Francisco's Mission District that means 60 degrees and blue skies. I remember this from my first visit here; jetting down alone at the age of 17 to try out for acting schools. What a trip that was. I sat in Union Square for a couple hours between auditions and just soaked it up.

Today I impose order on my posessions, deal with the IRS, and decide how to prepare myself for the first leg (New York) of my ramblin' time. The widows are all wide open: out with the old, in with the new. Kick out the Jams indeed.

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The Principles Project Is Heating Up

It's Heating Up

The 2020 Democrats' Principles Project is picking up steam. It's a gradual build (as you'd expect it to be), but the web team has been creating shaolin-style java widgets, and the outreach people logging long hours in the clinches to get the word out on the wire. I zipped in to make some comments on the 2nd draft, and day later going back I'm one of 17 comments in most cases. That's heartening to see.

If you've got a stake in progressive politics going forward, I suggest you log on in and drop a comment. Who knows; maybe you'll underwrite the next great slogan of the Left. Lord knows it can't hurt to take a few more shots at it.

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Online Civil Disobedience

Online gamers engage in virtual civil disobedience in the realm of Worlds of Warcraft. I don't play, but i find the phenomena fascinating. Also, check the warning text from the admins:

Attention: Gathering on a realm with intent to hinder gameplay is considered griefing and will not be tolerated. If you are here for the Warrior protest, please log off and return to playing on your usual realm.

Minus the game-speak, this sounds exactly like what you hear cops say when people lie down in traffic to protest a war.

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Online Civil Disobedience

Online gamers engage in virtual civil disobedience in the realm of Worlds of Warcraft. I don't play, but i find the phenomena fascinating. Also, check the warning text from the admins:

Attention: Gathering on a realm with intent to hinder gameplay is considered griefing and will not be tolerated. If you are here for the Warrior protest, please log off and return to playing on your usual realm.

Minus the game-speak, this sounds exactly like what you hear cops say when people lie down in traffic to protest a war.

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Chairman Dean

The buzz around the water cooler is that Howard Dean has basically locked up the Chair of the Democratic Party. That's cool. I would have preferred him to be president, but given how things went down this is a good thing. It means, at the very least, that the Ass party is going to re-orient itself, hopefully significantly. My hope with Dean is that he's got the wherewithal to restructure the party, and to not make doing so an occasion to consolidate his own power. That's not a faint hope either; I actually believe he will do it, but I don't know any more than you about what he actually plans on doing.

One thing that occurs to me now is that the kids from Gen Dean might be ripe to drive a revitalization of the Young Dems. We need some action for the youth. The kids voted well, but there are ominous winds blowing in many parts of the country.

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