Revenge of the Sith is the best of the new-school, but still falls short of the glory. The pacing still seems off -- or maybe I'm too old to keep up? -- and the over-use of massive/complex digital effects seems more distracting than useful for the most part. Like Episode II, it felt a bit like a video game. Also, the political aspects that everyone seems to be playing up were pretty hamfisted, I have to say. There's just not enough depth in the film to really make you believe that anyone really believes all that much in anything, and you end up just waiting for the next duel.

That said, it was good entertainment. Also, I have Anakin hair. Or Anakin has Josh hair. I just need to perfect my smoldering gaze, score a big hooded robe, maybe get back into the gym for four months or so and find a way to put a cleft into my chin, and I've got a halloween costume all set. To the extent that looking like a pop culture icon helps build relationships quickly, this could be my ace on the road this summer. We'll see.

Stick this in your pipe and smoke it:

The virtue of open source methodology lies in the fact that it is fiercely entrepreneurial, but rewards utility over profitability. I think some promulgation on this formula is key for people on the left to seize the great American mantle of being in favor of hard work.

Elsewhere, hanging with some local labor heads, I heard (and found a link this morning) that a US Senator (Brownback of Kansas) likes to wash his staff's feet as a gesture of faith. Just imagine the uproar if Ted Kennedy did anything this odd. Also heard from a SEIU organizer about how a corporate hospital demanded $600 back pay from a husband before they would treat his wife for the miscarriage she was having. Oh lordy lordy.

Taking a little look back at the old Kos:

Day 1
I am progressive. I am liberal. I make no apologies. I believe government has an obligation to create an even playing field for all of this country's citizens and immigrants alike. I am not a socialist. I do not seek enforced equality. However, there has to be equality of opportunity, and the private sector, left to its own devices, will never achieve this goal.

Seems like a pretty susccinct way to say it. I wonder what I was doing at that point...

May 26th 2002: In Your Heart You Know Marx is Right

That's the secret screed of us liberals. Read that in an article in an old Harpers my mother sent me criticisizing a couple books puffing up the Ronald Regan legacy. It's gotten me thinging again about what a piss poor job we're doing, my generation. Sure, we're getting by and having fun, but we're largely a spoiled, self-absorbed lot, more concerned about how and where to spend their money than anything else. For some (postmodernism) reason, there's not a lot to believe in these days, and it's killing us as a society. What the hell are we about, this country, this state, this county, this boro, this block, this house, this person? What about this earth? It just kills me that we let a great opportunity to come together like 9-11 roll on past us, the message from our leaders being "don't stop shopping." See there's a lot of money and power sitting on top of all this anomie, and it doesn't like being disturbed.

The wistful feeling that packing brings: empty shelves, bare walls, simple sad music. Sam's birthday/going away celebration last night, shotgunning Pabsts, vague notions of how I piloted the bike home and a thundering hangover reminding me I'm not 17 anymore. Getting ready to go. Reading urban poetics online.

More like all that in the days before I used software to blog.

Taking a little look back at the old Kos:

Day 1
I am progressive. I am liberal. I make no apologies. I believe government has an obligation to create an even playing field for all of this country's citizens and immigrants alike. I am not a socialist. I do not seek enforced equality. However, there has to be equality of opportunity, and the private sector, left to its own devices, will never achieve this goal.

Seems like a pretty susccinct way to say it. I wonder what I was doing at that point...

May 26th 2002: In Your Heart You Know Marx is Right

That's the secret screed of us liberals. Read that in an article in an old Harpers my mother sent me criticisizing a couple books puffing up the Ronald Regan legacy. It's gotten me thinging again about what a piss poor job we're doing, my generation. Sure, we're getting by and having fun, but we're largely a spoiled, self-absorbed lot, more concerned about how and where to spend their money than anything else. For some (postmodernism) reason, there's not a lot to believe in these days, and it's killing us as a society. What the hell are we about, this country, this state, this county, this boro, this block, this house, this person? What about this earth? It just kills me that we let a great opportunity to come together like 9-11 roll on past us, the message from our leaders being "don't stop shopping." See there's a lot of money and power sitting on top of all this anomie, and it doesn't like being disturbed.

The wistful feeling that packing brings: empty shelves, bare walls, simple sad music. Sam's birthday/going away celebration last night, shotgunning Pabsts, vague notions of how I piloted the bike home and a thundering hangover reminding me I'm not 17 anymore. Getting ready to go. Reading urban poetics online.

More like all that in the days before I used software to blog.

Duncan taking Mr. Reasonable Matt Yglesias to task:

Eschaton:
The primary conceit of the "liberal hawks" has been and is that only they are "serious" about the security of the nation. Support for the Iraq war demonstrated that seriousness, no matter how misguided it was. The truth is concern for our national security was a very real reason to oppose the Iraq war, and the primary reason for lots of its opponents.

That's what I'm fucking talkin' about! You want to hear a hawkish liberal stance? How about "we're at the mercy of Communist China because of our disasterous fiscal policies!" How about "Our lack of a comprehensive health care system has made us a sitting duck for bioterrorism!" How about "our reactionary drug laws are preventing effective treatment (via MDMA) of Post traumatic Stress Disorder; why do they hate our troops?"

Big ups to what Atrios says here. My problem with the so called "Liberal Hawks" (and the conservatives too) is that they really don't seem to be serious about the real threats we face as a nation and as a world. There's nothing like getting a condescending lecture from someone who's ass is hanging out of their pants.

The NYT is reporting that there's about to be some shit going down in Iraq:

BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 26 - In a sweeping effort to strike back at a violent insurgency that has hobbled Iraq's new government since it took power nearly a month ago, the Defense and Security Ministers said today they would deploy thousands of troops to stage a massive search-and-arrest operation in the capital over the next week.

This is going to be interesting. The insurgency seems to be pretty liquid, so they might melt into the surrounding areas, making this a kind of empty show of force that will probably annoy citizens with it's authoritarian intrusiveness. On the other hand, the insurgency also seems to strike when it wants. And if it wants, this could mean real urban combat, which would be ugly.

There's an off chance that this might really break some insurgent networks, but given that they're tellegraphing it and the lockdown is temporary, I don't see it as likely.

I got an email today from good old Chris Cromwell, who's running the The Town Motel and Moseley Cottage Inn this summer up in Bar Port, Maine; big old houses that rent out to fair-weather visitors. His special lady's family has been running it for 35 years. Seems pretty cool.

He's also blogging, and Crom is a really great writer. Here's an excerpt:

Tonight you won't be able to sleep until after midnight. Usually you're in bed by ten and asleep by ten thirty and that's really pushing it. Tonight you'll sit on the floor with your old dog, running your hand through his fur and remembering what he was like as a puppy, on the loose, or even just five years ago when his sight first started going. He can't curl up in the hollow of your body any more so you curl your hollow around him. He stretches. You have to walk behind him now when he goes up stairs; you have to help him with his hind legs. And the roof is wet in one room and the heaters out in another. There's no shortage of things to worry about, but you and your dog both have something to teach each other. His lesson for you is terrible, just feels horrible. You remember that last night in your dream your dog was with you and ran with you, ran without hesitation like only animals and children can, while someone chased you with a wood pole. You don't know what your lesson for him is; you feel he may be beyond lessons. In your mind you envision yourself, tall and friendly, with treats and friends and you try to beam this image to him, your friend, your old dog.

I have to give the man credit for affecting my writing and performance style with the work I observed him doing at ETW. All this scans good with your eyes, but it pales in comparison to having Crom put on some choice music, gather up a few ideosyncratic props, and read it to you like a fable.

I don't know if Vagabender is going to make it that far north in New England, but if so we'll definitely be dropping in.

I've got code out on drupal.org! If you're a grassroots geek, you might like: volunteer.module

I'm a fan of good science fiction. By "good" I mean that which uses the "science" to aid the "fiction" to tell great stories which lend insight into our present conditions, either by taking on a grand futuristic (mythical/allegorical) scope, or by extrapolating contemporary phenomena to fictionally-compelling conclusions.

I have to admit that I'm a little surprised by the political tumilt that's come around the latest Star Wars film. Many on the radical right believe it to be anti-Bush propaganda, and have begun writing tracts which attempt to rehabilitate the Empire as the real good guys in the film. I haven't seen it so I can't really comment in detail, but it strikes me as more than a little weird.

Now I learn that Orson Scott Card has gotten in on the act. Card wrote one of my favorite books as an adolescent, Ender's Game, which is about how in a future clash of planetary civilizations, a child genius is taken into military training and in his final "exercise" actually remotely-commands a fleet which destroys the entire alien species. It's a gripping mix of Harry Potter-style prep-school drama and futuristic political/military storytelling. Anyway, it surprised me to learn that Card is a right-winger himself, and has come out swinging against George Lucas's latest.

This is all very intersting. I don't think the current level of political polarization in the US is healthy or sustainable, and my particular view is that it is culture rather than politics which has the best chance of breaking down the harsh divisions. Continuing on the Star Wars tip, I noted with interest that a great fan-film about "The Line People" was made by a homeschooled Christian kid. Now, the young man in question is (I think) too young to vote, but as a demographic he (or more precisely his parents) represent a population people I work with generally consider to be on the "other side."

Yet everyone loves Star Wars, right? Culture brings us together. I see his blog because he made this film about a film that I'm going to see (and got it on Slashdot), and while I don't share his faith, I understand and appreciate a lot of what he's saying. Maybe I leave a comment; a connection is made. We may end up on opposite sides of some cultural or political divide, but we're not enemies. We share some things. We can understand one another.

Which is, in the end, why I think the radical right attacks much of popular culture. The specific animus is often some objection over content, but I think the larger agenda is to bring about an end to democratically-created popular forms of expression.

Make no mistake, the hardcore activists who are at the core of the post-conservative GOP have been working on building a parallel media/culture for more than 30 years. They come from the school of Trotsky, Lennin and Mao; they understand the necessity of propaganda and of maintaining a state of "permanent revolution." This is why even when they control the government they paint themselves as victims. This is why they consistantly attacking any culture (or any institution of the press) which can potentially serve as a unifying force in society. Their revolution demands enemies, and creating enemies means dehumanizing your fellow citizens. Hard to do when you share a culture. Hard to do when you share an understanding about how the world works.

If you want to create a cultural revolution within America, the first step is to create a paralell ecosystem of information, a parallel reality for all intents and purposes. Through grassroots organizing, underground/alternative media and the brilliant use of subculture and coded communications, the modern post-conservative GOP has done this. The second necessary step is to demolish as much of the "common" culture and information as possible, first by cutting your own population off from it, and then by relentlessly attacking it, whether it's for "bias" or for "objectionable content." If you're successful, at some point your parallel ecosystem of information will become dominant, the new mainstream.

This is where we are headed today. On the left there are a number of institutions being built which comprise a sort of "counter revolution." At this point, I don't see much in the way of clear ideas motivating the counter-revolution, other than to derail the radical right. However given the ascendency of the radical right, not much more is needed.

Given how poorly the radical right is managing itself while in power, and given the fact that they've gotten there without ever really facing organized resistance, I tend to think that in the long run their revolution will fail. However, I'm deeply concerned about the damage that will be done in the mean time. There exists this thing outside the political realm called "the real world," in which there is trouble brewing. Dealing with the 21st Century effectively is going to require a consensus, exactly what the current political trench warfare expicitly prevents.

I don't honestly see this changing until my generation begins to truly exert our own political and cultural influence, or until structural changes brought on by the democratization of media and the proliferation of independent grassroots organizing shake up the status quo. Both are likely in the next 10 to 12 years. I just hope nothing really ugly happens before then.

I'm a fan of good science fiction. By "good" I mean that which uses the "science" to aid the "fiction" to tell great stories which lend insight into our present conditions, either by taking on a grand futuristic (mythical/allegorical) scope, or by extrapolating contemporary phenomena to fictionally-compelling conclusions.

I have to admit that I'm a little surprised by the political tumilt that's come around the latest Star Wars film. Many on the radical right believe it to be anti-Bush propaganda, and have begun writing tracts which attempt to rehabilitate the Empire as the real good guys in the film. I haven't seen it so I can't really comment in detail, but it strikes me as more than a little weird.

Now I learn that Orson Scott Card has gotten in on the act. Card wrote one of my favorite books as an adolescent, Ender's Game, which is about how in a future clash of planetary civilizations, a child genius is taken into military training and in his final "exercise" actually remotely-commands a fleet which destroys the entire alien species. It's a gripping mix of Harry Potter-style prep-school drama and futuristic political/military storytelling. Anyway, it surprised me to learn that Card is a right-winger himself, and has come out swinging against George Lucas's latest.

This is all very intersting. I don't think the current level of political polarization in the US is healthy or sustainable, and my particular view is that it is culture rather than politics which has the best chance of breaking down the harsh divisions. Continuing on the Star Wars tip, I noted with interest that a great fan-film about "The Line People" was made by a homeschooled Christian kid. Now, the young man in question is (I think) too young to vote, but as a demographic he (or more precisely his parents) represent a population people I work with generally consider to be on the "other side."

Yet everyone loves Star Wars, right? Culture brings us together. I see his blog because he made this film about a film that I'm going to see (and got it on Slashdot), and while I don't share his faith, I understand and appreciate a lot of what he's saying. Maybe I leave a comment; a connection is made. We may end up on opposite sides of some cultural or political divide, but we're not enemies. We share some things. We can understand one another.

Which is, in the end, why I think the radical right attacks much of popular culture. The specific animus is often some objection over content, but I think the larger agenda is to bring about an end to democratically-created popular forms of expression.

Make no mistake, the hardcore activists who are at the core of the post-conservative GOP have been working on building a parallel media/culture for more than 30 years. They come from the school of Trotsky, Lennin and Mao; they understand the necessity of propaganda and of maintaining a state of "permanent revolution." This is why even when they control the government they paint themselves as victims. This is why they consistantly attacking any culture (or any institution of the press) which can potentially serve as a unifying force in society. Their revolution demands enemies, and creating enemies means dehumanizing your fellow citizens. Hard to do when you share a culture. Hard to do when you share an understanding about how the world works.

If you want to create a cultural revolution within America, the first step is to create a paralell ecosystem of information, a parallel reality for all intents and purposes. Through grassroots organizing, underground/alternative media and the brilliant use of subculture and coded communications, the modern post-conservative GOP has done this. The second necessary step is to demolish as much of the "common" culture and information as possible, first by cutting your own population off from it, and then by relentlessly attacking it, whether it's for "bias" or for "objectionable content." If you're successful, at some point your parallel ecosystem of information will become dominant, the new mainstream.

This is where we are headed today. On the left there are a number of institutions being built which comprise a sort of "counter revolution." At this point, I don't see much in the way of clear ideas motivating the counter-revolution, other than to derail the radical right. However given the ascendency of the radical right, not much more is needed.

Given how poorly the radical right is managing itself while in power, and given the fact that they've gotten there without ever really facing organized resistance, I tend to think that in the long run their revolution will fail. However, I'm deeply concerned about the damage that will be done in the mean time. There exists this thing outside the political realm called "the real world," in which there is trouble brewing. Dealing with the 21st Century effectively is going to require a consensus, exactly what the current political trench warfare expicitly prevents.

I don't honestly see this changing until my generation begins to truly exert our own political and cultural influence, or until structural changes brought on by the democratization of media and the proliferation of independent grassroots organizing shake up the status quo. Both are likely in the next 10 to 12 years. I just hope nothing really ugly happens before then.