Bliss

This is the definition of bliss.

Flowers for Michal

Brilliance and sadism go hand in hand right? The Pillowman is a harrowing achievement that leaves readers (or viewers) stunned with its sheer backwards story telling. Martin McDonagh makes quick work of the reader interweaving reality with fiction, but leaves you wondering, s it really fiction, are the stories real or are they true to Katurian's life? I found myself reading over the play a few times, starting and stopping, and starting again from the beginning, just to grasp the characterization.

I found Michal's character to be very endearing. His sheer sense of innocence in the face of despair; the ability to feel alright as long as his brother approves of what he does. He looks up to Katurian and his only way of expressing it is through acting out his brother's short stories. While Michal does retain a sense of innocence, he also carries a very mild sense of reason. While maybe not apparent to himself, some of his interjections become words of wisdom and put things in perspective for Katurian. Allow me to take you back to 7th grade. I remember reading Flowers for Algernon and feeling this deep conflict between emotion and intellect. While Charlie does become and intellectual, he was happier at his more simpler state of mind. Charlie, in his state of adult retardation, was more coherent and sensible; his innocence gave others insight to situations that weren't so easily accessible.

Also, Jeff Goldblum as Tupolski, brilliant.

Midterm?

Fuck it dude, lets go bowling.

It's All in the Family

I for one didn't have any trouble reading Black Watch. Maybe it's because of my Celtic upbringing (oddly enough I was religiously raised Jewish, but that's besides the point), or my background with theatre. I have spent a good portion of my life at family reunions that consist of either angry Irish men or angry Scottish men, and yes, they all sound like these men in Black Watch. Of course there is the excessive usage of profanity and the word "cunt."

This play very much mirrors that of Jarhead just for the sheer fact that the majority of the play they spend most of the time just chatting and doing absolutely nothing. What I did find absolutely hilarious was the comment on the weight of Americans with the "extra, extra, extra, extra, extra (?) large shirt." Although I did find the ending rather uneventful and unfulfilling, it would be just like ending Jarhead with "Semper Fi."

"Blowin Up" the McCain campaign.

Man, Sarah Palin keeps digging a deeper hole for the GOP. She honestly has to be dense, of course she could have a disguised USB drive in the back of her head (Why else would she have that hair doo?) where they deliver all their information. It is getting very lame that the Republicans have to resort to fear mongering. Fun fact, most ex-members of the Weather Underground are now either teachers or lawyers or community activists. In other news, OJ finally got owned by the system.

Obamatopia

Relax

"Relax. I got this."

As I returned home from seeing "Towelhead" I realized that I had missed the debate. I decided to download it watch it. Biden was the winner by a long shot, but I was a little let down by Sarah Palin. I expected her to not be as on point as she was, I was waiting for this debate to be the final nail in the GOP coffin. Although I feel that including candidates familial lives os out of place in politics, there was one thing that Palin said that really irked me, and yes, this is a direct quote: "God bless her, her reward is in heaven, right?" You have got to be kidding me. Holy passive-aggressiveness, Batman! Do you hear that? That's the sound of every teacher in America voting for Obama. (I will update with a video once one is "Youtube'd").

Fox News: Skewing the News, Even Locally

After reading Shooting War the commentary on the ongoing Middle East conflict is excellent, but the commentary on news reporting is was even more apparent. The first thing I noticed was the changing of major news stations, most likely due to the change of administration (McCain and all) of CNN to the dubiously titled Eternal Vigilance: Global Television. Although Anderson Cooper makes a appearance, I was more disturbed by the cameo of Bill "We'll Do it Live" O' Reilly. I have this deep hatred for Fox News, and how what they do isn't actually report the news, they're more of news commentary, from the extremely far right. Don't get me wrong I'm not pro-CNN either, they are indeed a very right wing source for the news. When it comes to the news, I tend to get my news from the BBC, they're pretty unbiased view of the United States. Aw hell who am I kidding they tend to laugh at us American twits. Even a supposed letter from John Cleese to American displayed his (supposed) discontent with America. If believe the video below proves my point.