US Airways: blows. Enjoy bankrupcy.
Daniel Snyder: the Devil. Should by all rights be forever haunted by vengeful Indian spirits.
Washington, D.C.: worst sports city in 2004.
U.S. "initial" aid pledge to tsunami victims: less than what it will cost to put on the stupid inauguration next month. I'm so proud.
12.29.2004
The funniest thing ever
Not much time to post right just now, so instead, I give you the funniest thing ever. You'll need Windows Media Player.
Click here.
Click here.
12.21.2004
See how easy that was?
Under the final deal, the city will continue to search for private money to cover at least 50 percent of the cost of the ballpark. The District and Major League Baseball will share the cost of insurance against cost overruns. And the city will be liable for $5.3 million for one season of compensatory damages -- compared to $19 million or more in the original deal -- if the stadium does not open by March 2008.In conclusion: Linda Cropp just saved the city a ton of money on park insurance. All it took was a little haggling. And this is money that the Bowtie would have willingly given up to baseball, without any negotiating whatsoever. All those people who claimed that the owners were on the verge of moving the team to Vegas rather than negotiate... should never play poker. Baseball had little leverage, and the whole "We're shutting down operations! Call now for your refund!" thing was just a toothless scare tactic.
People keep claiming that Cropp was just out to score political points. Well, she deserves them for having the balls to stand up to baseball. I will assign those points right now. She gets 17 points.
Fa la la la la, la la, la, DEATH
'Tis the season for grisly suicides.
Oh, and just FYI, there's probably an armed robber running around downtown, who escaped after hitting that well-known cash cow, the Rite-Aid pharmacy.
P.S. Even if you manage to avoid contracting lead poisoning from the water, it could still turn you into a woman. So watch out for that.
The operator hit the brake, but by the time the train stopped, the man's body was between the third and fourth rail cars, Taubenkibel said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.Ewww. So, great holiday memories for everyone involved.
Oh, and just FYI, there's probably an armed robber running around downtown, who escaped after hitting that well-known cash cow, the Rite-Aid pharmacy.
P.S. Even if you manage to avoid contracting lead poisoning from the water, it could still turn you into a woman. So watch out for that.
12.20.2004
He really did say it
The Bowtie, on ESPN: "I think some of these jackass council members [blah blah blah]" and I didn't listen to the rest that closely because the mayor just said "jackass" in a national interview. Seriously. Tony seems like a smart guy, but he may be the godawfulest politician ever. My suspicions were confirmed after reading that Post article this weekend. He basically was ready to give baseball owners everything they wanted, without doing any negotiating whatsover. He's, at worst, in the pocket of the baseball owners, and, at best, a gigantic pussy.
Remember when Tony said, "I actually think historians are going to look back and say I brought this city back, and that I'm one of the best mayors in the country right now"?
Yeah. That was awesome.
Meanwhile, there was also this bizzare column by Marc Fisher in Sunday's paper. It purports to explain how baseball can be a positive force for racial unity. Unfortunately, he chose to use the Senators Mark I as an example. What was his second choice, Pat Buchanan? Sens owner Carl Griffith, now residing in Hell, steadfastly refused to desegregate the roster until well after Jackie Robinson's debut, and also came up with the unusual innovation of segregated bleachers.
Then he goes into this story of this one guy who loved the team; alas, he was black. He wanted to be on the radio, but had to sit on the roof because the team didn't allow blacks in the press box. He essentially had to trick a radio station into broadcasting his show. And in a book about the Senators, the author "notes that black Washington repeatedly rose above the racism of baseball's owners to embrace the team as a point of civic pride." Well, that's not really racial unity, is it? They're enjoying the team despite being repatedly stepped on.
Fisher doesn't mention that in the 1940s, when the Grays of the Negro League started playing in Griffith Stadium, blacks eventually started going to those games instead of the Senators' games, which finally prompted the team's move to whiter pastures (Minnesota). So, in the end, baseball really was a racial divider!
Anyway, somehow, this is all supposed to be relevant to Washington's current situation:
Mlah. Nobody here even knows how to approach talking about racial harmony, let alone actually practice it. For more hilarious sports-related racism, read this article about George Preston Marshall, original owner of the Redskins, now also residing in Hell:
Remember when Tony said, "I actually think historians are going to look back and say I brought this city back, and that I'm one of the best mayors in the country right now"?
Yeah. That was awesome.
Meanwhile, there was also this bizzare column by Marc Fisher in Sunday's paper. It purports to explain how baseball can be a positive force for racial unity. Unfortunately, he chose to use the Senators Mark I as an example. What was his second choice, Pat Buchanan? Sens owner Carl Griffith, now residing in Hell, steadfastly refused to desegregate the roster until well after Jackie Robinson's debut, and also came up with the unusual innovation of segregated bleachers.
Then he goes into this story of this one guy who loved the team; alas, he was black. He wanted to be on the radio, but had to sit on the roof because the team didn't allow blacks in the press box. He essentially had to trick a radio station into broadcasting his show. And in a book about the Senators, the author "notes that black Washington repeatedly rose above the racism of baseball's owners to embrace the team as a point of civic pride." Well, that's not really racial unity, is it? They're enjoying the team despite being repatedly stepped on.
[Hal Jackson] believes to this day that sports is a powerful tool blacks can use to pry their way into the white power structure.Don't know if that's necessarily the lesson we want to be teaching our black youngsters. Number of black majority owners of a major professional sports team in America: 1 (Bob Johnson). Number in baseball: zero.
Fisher doesn't mention that in the 1940s, when the Grays of the Negro League started playing in Griffith Stadium, blacks eventually started going to those games instead of the Senators' games, which finally prompted the team's move to whiter pastures (Minnesota). So, in the end, baseball really was a racial divider!
Anyway, somehow, this is all supposed to be relevant to Washington's current situation:
That's the choice Linda Cropp, the D.C. Council chairman who stands between Washington and baseball, faces right now: Ride to higher office on a wave of spite or bring us together. History teaches the right answer.Say whaaa? I haven't really heard race brought up in the context of the Nationals (at least, not by the people involved). But it sounds like Fisher's arguing that, in the interest of racial harmony, predominantly black D.C. should give 29 white baseball owners a free $600 million-plus stadium. This makes sense how?
Mlah. Nobody here even knows how to approach talking about racial harmony, let alone actually practice it. For more hilarious sports-related racism, read this article about George Preston Marshall, original owner of the Redskins, now also residing in Hell:
"We'll start signing Negroes," Marshall once quipped, "when the Harlem Globetrotters start signing whites."That's sports in D.C. for you: always a uniter.
12.17.2004
The perfect way to start your day
I'm pretty sure that when my clock radio woke me up this morning, the Bowtie was being interviewed, and that he said the anti-stadium forces on the council were being "jackasses." But now I can't find any evidence of that online. Maybe I dreamed it.
Either way: awesome.
Either way: awesome.
12.16.2004
Why am I not on the take yet?
From Howard Kurtz's column:
Want to understand the real business of Washington?Utterly and absolutely VOMITOUS.
"Facing consumer clamor for cheaper drugs from abroad and official inquiries into the fatal side effects of some medications," says the Los Angeles Times, "the pharmaceutical industry said Wednesday it is hiring one of the capital's savviest lawmakers as its top lobbyist.
"Rep. W.J. 'Billy' Tauzin, who just had jurisdiction over the industry as the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, will become president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America on Jan. 3, when his retirement from Congress takes effect. . . .
"The 13-term Louisiana Republican will go from a congressional salary of $158,100 a year to more than $1 million, according to a source. As a committee chairman last year, Tauzin helped to write the law to provide outpatient prescription coverage under Medicare."
What an amazing coincidence!
Baseball is such a dramatic sport
ESPN reports that baseball could potentially make more money by contracting the Natxpos and one other team, because the remaining owners would collectively get a bigger cut of the TV contract pie. However, that couldn't happen for a couple years; in the meantime, where do they play? Back in Montreal?
The team is being so melodramatic... it's great. Even though D.C. supposedly has until Dec. 31 to work things out with the team, the Nationals yesterday called off the unveiling of the jerseys, suspended operations, stopped selling merchandise, and even offered to refund season ticket deposits! They're pulling out every scare tactic in the book... but still haven't said where they'll play if it's not here. There's simply nothing lined up for next season at this point.
I have to say again: it's so much fun watch a city pull this on baseball, instead of the other way around. After all the decades of baseball doing the baiting and switching (e.g. the old Nationals Mark II left after less than a decade, and Bud's own Brewers were stolen from Seattle after just one season), seeing the tables finally turned on them is totally worth not getting a team.
ESPN has a good column by Jim Caple that says Cropp's demand doesn't sound unreasonable. And he mentions St. Louis, where the Cardinals are building a new park using almost exclusively private funding.
The team is being so melodramatic... it's great. Even though D.C. supposedly has until Dec. 31 to work things out with the team, the Nationals yesterday called off the unveiling of the jerseys, suspended operations, stopped selling merchandise, and even offered to refund season ticket deposits! They're pulling out every scare tactic in the book... but still haven't said where they'll play if it's not here. There's simply nothing lined up for next season at this point.
I have to say again: it's so much fun watch a city pull this on baseball, instead of the other way around. After all the decades of baseball doing the baiting and switching (e.g. the old Nationals Mark II left after less than a decade, and Bud's own Brewers were stolen from Seattle after just one season), seeing the tables finally turned on them is totally worth not getting a team.
ESPN has a good column by Jim Caple that says Cropp's demand doesn't sound unreasonable. And he mentions St. Louis, where the Cardinals are building a new park using almost exclusively private funding.
12.15.2004
Why is Linda Cropp the only one with any BALLS?
OK, you guys know I love baseball, right? I've got box scores at home, I used to go to about 20 games a year, yada yada yada.
So are you surprised that Linda Cropp is my new personal hero?
It's true. I'm in love with this woman. She put her foot down, and said, "I'm not willing to suck Bud Selig's dick in order to get a baseball team" (I'm paraphrasing). With a masterstroke of legislative manuevering, she's painted baseball, and Mayor "You Will Respect The Bowtie" Williams, into a corner.
"Nobody puts Tony in a corner!" the mayor was heard to say as he stormed out. "Now where's my dancing posse?"
OK, not really. Actually, it was even more hilarious than that:
I love it. I really do. This really makes me way too happy.
OK, yeah, so maybe, no baseball team for Washington in the long run. But consider:
1. It's partially baseball's fault for delaying so long. This whole "maybe we'll move the Expos to Washington", lest we forget, has been going on since the end of the 2001 season when baseball failed in its efforts to contract two teams. They could have moved the team here two or three years ago, but kept delaying and delaying and delaying some more. The deadline kept getting pushed back; meanwhile, baseball has been consistently losing money in Montreal and San Juan, waiting around for some sucker to come along and promise full public financing for a new stadium. And that sucker came along in the form of... the Bowtie. But all the delaying didn't leave much time to do any actual negotiating. The Council was expected to kowtow to a financially irresponsible plan in the space of a couple months, and it just didn't happen.
2. But... we had an agreement! I love how everytime someone interviewed the Bowtie over the last few weeks, he'd be all: "But... but... we have an agreement!" OK, see, the thing is: D.C. is not a dictatorship. You can make a hundred agreements with the Bud, if you want; it won't actually mean anything. They could have agreed to replace the Lincoln Memorial with the Bud Memorial... Doesn't matter! Wearing the bowtie doesn't give you absolute power over the city and its finances. And, as you might expect...
3. The agreement suxored. This. City. Should. Not. Be. Fully funding. A baseball stadium. Period. We're talking about D.C. here, people. Does anybody remember last year, when they had to fire 422 people from the school system and cancel raises and sports programs due to budget cuts? How can a city that can't pay for its fucking schools agree to spend potentially $600 million on a baseball stadium, the financial benefits of which are going to go almost completely to the team's owners? (And yeah, there are residual business and gentrification effects on the local economy, but it sure as hell isn't going to be $500-$600 million worth.)
Consider San Francisco. They play in a ballpark that was constructed using private funds only. The team leases the land from the city at fair market value. And, by all accounts, it's the best park in baseball, at no cost to the city.
The consider what went down in Milwaukee with Miller Park, where the attendance for Bud Selig's Brewers has dropped to half capacity and the team remains uncompetitive, despite promising that a new park would lead to better teams.
And yeah, there's no owner in place yet for the Nationals to help secure the private funding, but again, that's baseball's fault. Right now the other 29 owners own the team; they're the ones losing money in Montreal; they're the ones who voted to move to Washington. They're also the ones who will profit when they sell the team, and so they should help come up with funding for the kind of park they want. Otherwise, this deal is just a tax revenue giveaway to baseball owners.
4. This whole situation has generated some of the best local news photos, ever.
You'll have to check out the Post for more. Clip and save. Put 'em on the fridge. You won't get more entertaining photos the rest of the decade.
5. D.C., for the first time, actually has some leverage. I actually feel like this is a good time to be playing chicken with the Bud. The team has to play in RFK next year; they don't have a choice. It's too late to go back to Montreal, and that would be a futile low-attendance money-losing proposition anyway, compared to what's likely going to be high attendance at RFK. Plus, none of the other cities (Vegas, Dulles, Monterrey, etc.) previously in the running for the team have a major-league-level stadium currently available. Which means that the Nationals, whether baseball likes it or not, are stuck at RFK for the next three years anyway. We're holding them prisoner! Or, at the very least, we've got a captive team and can still negotiate with them in the meantime. Yeah, it might not work out and they might move after two or three years. But who cares? D.C. gets baseball right now, and some other stupid city can spend $600-whatever million on a ballpark if they want.
In conclusion, this is great and I love it. And there is one more person who deserves our praise:
Adam Eidinger, the guy who jumped up on stage at the Nationals unveiling press conference and managed to say into the microphone, "This is a bad deal, people!" before being pulled off-stage. Adam, you did it; somebody finally, really, listened. To those about to dork... we salute you.
So are you surprised that Linda Cropp is my new personal hero?
It's true. I'm in love with this woman. She put her foot down, and said, "I'm not willing to suck Bud Selig's dick in order to get a baseball team" (I'm paraphrasing). With a masterstroke of legislative manuevering, she's painted baseball, and Mayor "You Will Respect The Bowtie" Williams, into a corner.
"Nobody puts Tony in a corner!" the mayor was heard to say as he stormed out. "Now where's my dancing posse?"
OK, not really. Actually, it was even more hilarious than that:
Williams left the John A. Wilson Building without commenting on Cropp's actions and before the council voted on the legislation. A half-dozen police officers formed a cordon to shield him from reporters as he left the council chamber. The officers scuffled briefly with reporters as they tried to follow the mayor into a public hallway leading to his offices.OK, everybody put on your best Lil John voices... "YEAAAA-UHHHHH! What you gon' do, Bowtie? SHIT!"
Reporters ultimately cornered the mayor in an elevator and demanded to know why he had taken the unusual step of enlisting the police as reporters tried to question him.
"I don't want to talk to anybody, okay?" Williams said.
I love it. I really do. This really makes me way too happy.
OK, yeah, so maybe, no baseball team for Washington in the long run. But consider:
1. It's partially baseball's fault for delaying so long. This whole "maybe we'll move the Expos to Washington", lest we forget, has been going on since the end of the 2001 season when baseball failed in its efforts to contract two teams. They could have moved the team here two or three years ago, but kept delaying and delaying and delaying some more. The deadline kept getting pushed back; meanwhile, baseball has been consistently losing money in Montreal and San Juan, waiting around for some sucker to come along and promise full public financing for a new stadium. And that sucker came along in the form of... the Bowtie. But all the delaying didn't leave much time to do any actual negotiating. The Council was expected to kowtow to a financially irresponsible plan in the space of a couple months, and it just didn't happen.
2. But... we had an agreement! I love how everytime someone interviewed the Bowtie over the last few weeks, he'd be all: "But... but... we have an agreement!" OK, see, the thing is: D.C. is not a dictatorship. You can make a hundred agreements with the Bud, if you want; it won't actually mean anything. They could have agreed to replace the Lincoln Memorial with the Bud Memorial... Doesn't matter! Wearing the bowtie doesn't give you absolute power over the city and its finances. And, as you might expect...
3. The agreement suxored. This. City. Should. Not. Be. Fully funding. A baseball stadium. Period. We're talking about D.C. here, people. Does anybody remember last year, when they had to fire 422 people from the school system and cancel raises and sports programs due to budget cuts? How can a city that can't pay for its fucking schools agree to spend potentially $600 million on a baseball stadium, the financial benefits of which are going to go almost completely to the team's owners? (And yeah, there are residual business and gentrification effects on the local economy, but it sure as hell isn't going to be $500-$600 million worth.)
Consider San Francisco. They play in a ballpark that was constructed using private funds only. The team leases the land from the city at fair market value. And, by all accounts, it's the best park in baseball, at no cost to the city.
The consider what went down in Milwaukee with Miller Park, where the attendance for Bud Selig's Brewers has dropped to half capacity and the team remains uncompetitive, despite promising that a new park would lead to better teams.
And yeah, there's no owner in place yet for the Nationals to help secure the private funding, but again, that's baseball's fault. Right now the other 29 owners own the team; they're the ones losing money in Montreal; they're the ones who voted to move to Washington. They're also the ones who will profit when they sell the team, and so they should help come up with funding for the kind of park they want. Otherwise, this deal is just a tax revenue giveaway to baseball owners.
4. This whole situation has generated some of the best local news photos, ever.
You'll have to check out the Post for more. Clip and save. Put 'em on the fridge. You won't get more entertaining photos the rest of the decade.
5. D.C., for the first time, actually has some leverage. I actually feel like this is a good time to be playing chicken with the Bud. The team has to play in RFK next year; they don't have a choice. It's too late to go back to Montreal, and that would be a futile low-attendance money-losing proposition anyway, compared to what's likely going to be high attendance at RFK. Plus, none of the other cities (Vegas, Dulles, Monterrey, etc.) previously in the running for the team have a major-league-level stadium currently available. Which means that the Nationals, whether baseball likes it or not, are stuck at RFK for the next three years anyway. We're holding them prisoner! Or, at the very least, we've got a captive team and can still negotiate with them in the meantime. Yeah, it might not work out and they might move after two or three years. But who cares? D.C. gets baseball right now, and some other stupid city can spend $600-whatever million on a ballpark if they want.
In conclusion, this is great and I love it. And there is one more person who deserves our praise:
Adam Eidinger, the guy who jumped up on stage at the Nationals unveiling press conference and managed to say into the microphone, "This is a bad deal, people!" before being pulled off-stage. Adam, you did it; somebody finally, really, listened. To those about to dork... we salute you.
12.14.2004
WJLA: The official station of the Justice League of America
I don't know how it is that straight-laced Washington has the best TV columnist in the country, but Lisa de Moraes is indeed the bomb. Her creativity and spunk (I hate spunk!) really seem out of place in the Post. Notice the bracketed replacement of the word "Redskins," which is also one of my favorite techniques.
In the capital of the Free World, however, people were denied the opportunity to see "Desperate Housewives" on Sunday night. WJLA once again shoved its No. 1 program out of prime time and into the wee hours of Monday morning to broadcast another lousy [wildly inappropriate local football team's name] loss at the same time it was telecast on ESPN.To find out about the missing scenes, read the rest of her column.
[...]
When WJLA finally did air "Desperate Housewives" -- beginning at approximately 12:45 a.m. Monday -- it cut 4 1/2 minutes from the episode. (It also misplaced one 3 1/2-minute ad break.)
12.13.2004
Purityrannical!
A Hagerstown couple sues Wal-Mart because the Evanescence CD they bought from there contains the f-word! (Flan?)
Just kidding, I have no idea who that is. I just like saying "Trevin Skeens." Anyway, the lawsuit seeks damages of $74,500; what was damaged, I'm not sure. Hopefully, the Skeens children are not reading this: your parents are a couple of fucking pussies.
"I don't want any other families to get this, expecting it to be clean. It needs to be removed from the shelves to prevent other children from hearing it," said plaintiff Trevin Skeens of Brownsville.Trevin Skeens? THE Trevin Skeens?
Just kidding, I have no idea who that is. I just like saying "Trevin Skeens." Anyway, the lawsuit seeks damages of $74,500; what was damaged, I'm not sure. Hopefully, the Skeens children are not reading this: your parents are a couple of fucking pussies.
12.10.2004
Sports roundup, in alphabetical order
Capitals: Still locked out. It's for the best; I went to Lethbridge, Alberta, over Thanksgiving, and the newspaper there was deciding the hockey standings, on a game-by-game basis, using a roll of the dice. Even in a completely random alternate hockey universe, the Caps were last in their division.
Nationals: I knew I'd seen that boring logo somewhere before! Separated at birth:
I'll have the, um... José Vidro super combo special.
(Tough to think of a player name to fill in there.)
Redskins: Not much offense this year. In fact, Papa Johns, the "official pizza of the Washington Redskins" (because if the fans can't tell from bad football, I guess they won't be able to tell from bad pizza either), had to alter the deal they've been running the past couple years. They had been giving customers one free topping and one free coke for each touchdown scored by the Redskins; but since the team has become allergic to the end zone, they're now spotting everyone two toppings. Hilarious. I guess everyone got tired of plain cheese pizza.
Wizards: They started 10-5, but did the curse of Les Boullez finally rear its ugly tête? Kwame Brown, former #1 pick and current #1 head case, was suspended for conduct detrimental. Seems Kwame was upset at getting a talking-to from coach Eddie Jordan about his defensive play against the Nuggets (rightfully so), and decided the best way to respond was by sitting on the bench and refusing to go back into the game. Aww, centers are so cute until get into those terrible 22's. Enjoy free agency next season, little Kwame!
Nationals: I knew I'd seen that boring logo somewhere before! Separated at birth:
I'll have the, um... José Vidro super combo special.
(Tough to think of a player name to fill in there.)
Redskins: Not much offense this year. In fact, Papa Johns, the "official pizza of the Washington Redskins" (because if the fans can't tell from bad football, I guess they won't be able to tell from bad pizza either), had to alter the deal they've been running the past couple years. They had been giving customers one free topping and one free coke for each touchdown scored by the Redskins; but since the team has become allergic to the end zone, they're now spotting everyone two toppings. Hilarious. I guess everyone got tired of plain cheese pizza.
Wizards: They started 10-5, but did the curse of Les Boullez finally rear its ugly tête? Kwame Brown, former #1 pick and current #1 head case, was suspended for conduct detrimental. Seems Kwame was upset at getting a talking-to from coach Eddie Jordan about his defensive play against the Nuggets (rightfully so), and decided the best way to respond was by sitting on the bench and refusing to go back into the game. Aww, centers are so cute until get into those terrible 22's. Enjoy free agency next season, little Kwame!
12.09.2004
Washington appreciates the arts, after a reasonable cooling-off period
I wasn't invited to the Kennedy Center Honors last weekend, which is probably a good thing, since I'm sure I would have wound up throwing objects on the stage during Billy Joel's rendition of "Bennie and the Jets."
Actually, it might have been fun to go just to watch those in attendance squirm in their seats, during Robert Downey Jr.'s speech:
That's the paradox of this bizarre yearly ceremony: Washington does its best to suppress anybody who tries to be edgy or daring or push the societal envelope. But then, 30 years later, it lavishes praise on those same people with a big-ass lifetime acheivement ceremony.
Elton showed up on stage with his long-time life partner, and has been highly outspoken against Bush; and yet, there's President Homophobe himself, clapping along in time (at least, as best a Republican can) with Kid Rock's (!) rendition of "Saturday Night's All Right For Fighting." Ossie Davis, also honored, was good friends with Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcom X back in the day... I'm sure he was real popular around here for that. Hell, just for that they probably had an FBI file on him. Thirty years later, now Washington's ready to accept him as an artistic hero.
But my favorite example of the thirty-years-later-now-we-like-you honoree from this past ceremony was Warren Beatty. Here's a guy who pushed the envelope a great deal with his films; as he said so himself at the ceremony, "So much of what I have experienced in life has to do with the contrast and confluence of arts and politics."
His resume is like a primer in generating controversy. Bonnie and Clyde sort of makes you feel for its titular (best word ever!) anti-heroes, until they're mercilessly and brutally gunned down in an orgy of gunfire. Violence so graphic and visceral hadn't really been shown that way before.
Later, Beatty won an Oscar for Reds, a love story about Socialists. I'm sure that went over real well here.
Umm, let's forget about Ishtar for now.
I think his most underrated movie was Bulworth. From the opening scene it's unflinching in its jabs at American politicians:
Here's another clip written by Beatty that they could have shown (you want uncomfortable Washingtonians squirming in their chairs? I'll give you uncomfortable squirming):
It's exactly this kind of truthfulness and edginess that Washington tries to suppress. Take a look at Alexandria's own Parents Television Council. They write down everything... everything... they find offensive on TV, for the purpose of, I don't know, getting Michael Powell to fine them. Either that or to catalog specifically what gets them off. Didn't we unseat this regime already, and wasn't it called the Taliban?
So anyway, I think it's funny. Washington appreciates actors and artists who push the envelope, and their contribution to American culture, as long as they do it at the safe distance of 30 years in the past.
I half expect Howard Stern to be up on that Kennedy Center stage 30 years from now, throwing half-peeled bananas at some half-naked stripper. I'll bet it brings the house down.
Actually, it might have been fun to go just to watch those in attendance squirm in their seats, during Robert Downey Jr.'s speech:
[Downey] said he -- like losing presidential candidate John Kerry -- was suffering "from acute symptoms of another dual-diagnosis disease of mine: the ADD, of course, the altruistic Democrat disorder."He also introduced Elton John as "the other first lady." Which by itself is only mildly funny, but in the context of doing it at the Kennedy Center Honors is comedy gold.
That drew nervous laughter from the audience, which included Sen. Kerry as well as President and Mrs. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife, Lynne, Secretary of State Colin Powell and the woman nominated to replace him, Condoleezza Rice.
That's the paradox of this bizarre yearly ceremony: Washington does its best to suppress anybody who tries to be edgy or daring or push the societal envelope. But then, 30 years later, it lavishes praise on those same people with a big-ass lifetime acheivement ceremony.
Elton showed up on stage with his long-time life partner, and has been highly outspoken against Bush; and yet, there's President Homophobe himself, clapping along in time (at least, as best a Republican can) with Kid Rock's (!) rendition of "Saturday Night's All Right For Fighting." Ossie Davis, also honored, was good friends with Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcom X back in the day... I'm sure he was real popular around here for that. Hell, just for that they probably had an FBI file on him. Thirty years later, now Washington's ready to accept him as an artistic hero.
But my favorite example of the thirty-years-later-now-we-like-you honoree from this past ceremony was Warren Beatty. Here's a guy who pushed the envelope a great deal with his films; as he said so himself at the ceremony, "So much of what I have experienced in life has to do with the contrast and confluence of arts and politics."
His resume is like a primer in generating controversy. Bonnie and Clyde sort of makes you feel for its titular (best word ever!) anti-heroes, until they're mercilessly and brutally gunned down in an orgy of gunfire. Violence so graphic and visceral hadn't really been shown that way before.
Later, Beatty won an Oscar for Reds, a love story about Socialists. I'm sure that went over real well here.
Umm, let's forget about Ishtar for now.
I think his most underrated movie was Bulworth. From the opening scene it's unflinching in its jabs at American politicians:
What it comes down to is a politician who can no longer bring himself to recite the words, "America is standing on the doorstep of a new millennium." Over and over and over again he has repeated the same mindless platitudes, the same meaningless baloney, the same hot air. Now he sits in his office, playing one of his stupid TV commercials on an endless loop. He has not eaten or slept in three days. He is sick to the soul of the American political process.Yeah, it's kind of ham-handed in places, but it's absolutely priceless when Beatty (as Bulworth), thinking he has three days to live, becomes a rapping truth teller:
Angry black woman: Are you sayin' the Democratic Party don't care about the African-American community?Somehow, I don't think they played these scenes on the big screen at the Kennedy Center Opera House. In front of the President. Instead, attendants did get an embarrassing Colin Powell rap as a "tribute." I. Wish. I. Was kidding.
Bullworth: Isn't that OBVIOUS? You got half your kids are out of work and the other half are in jail. Do you see ANY Democrat doing anything about it? Certainly not me! So what're you gonna do, vote Republican? Come on! Come on, you're not gonna vote Republican! Let's call a spade a spade!
[Loud, angry booing]
Bullworth: I mean - come on! You can have a Billion Man March! If you don't put down that malt liquor and chicken wings, and get behind someone other than a running back who stabs his wife, you're NEVER gonna get rid of somebody like me!
[...]
Bullworth: Yo, everybody gonna get sick someday / But nobody knows how they gonna pay / Health care, managed care, HMOs / Ain't gonna work, no sir, not those / 'Cause the thing that's the same in every one of these / Is these motherfuckers there, the insurance companies!
Cheryl and Tanya: Insurance! Insurance!
Bullworth: Yeah, yeah / You can call it single-payer or Canadian way / Only socialized medicine will ever save the day! Come on now, lemme hear that dirty word - SOCIALISM!
Powell toasted honoree Warren Beatty by parodying the actor's role as a rapping politician in the movie Bulworth: "I'm Colin Luther Powell/Public service is my thing/Don't do it for the fame/Don't do it for the bling."Glarrrghhh. Um, Mr. Powell, did you see the movie? Hell, did anybody in attendance actually watch any of Beatty's films? Or all they all just playing lip service to how great he is because that's what everyone else is doing?
Here's another clip written by Beatty that they could have shown (you want uncomfortable Washingtonians squirming in their chairs? I'll give you uncomfortable squirming):
L.D.: I'm giving them entry-level positions into the only growth-sector occupation that's truly open to them right now. That's the substance supply industry. They gonna run this shit someday. They gonna have the whole empire. Man, y'all don't give a fuck about it. You greedy-ass politicians. That's what you tell me every time that y'all vote to cut them school programs; every time y'all vote to cut them funds to the job programs. What the fuck; how a... how a young man gonna take care of his financial responsibilities workin' at motherfuckin' Burger King? He ain't. He ain't, and please don't even start with the school shit. They ain't no education goin' on up in that motherfucker. 'Cause y'all motherfuckin' politicians done fucked the shit up. So what they gonna do? What's a young man supposed to do then, right? What's he gonna do? He gonna come to me, that's what he's gonna do. Why? 'Cause I'm a businessman, and as a businessman, you gotta limit your liabilities. And that's what these shorties offer me: limited liabilities; because of their limited vulnerability to legal sanctions, man. It's the same fuckin' thing in politics, Dog. You find an edge, you gotta exploit that shit. That's why y'all sent all them motherfuckin' teenagers to Iraq. Die over some motherfuckin' oil money. Send the motherfuckin' CIA up in the 'hood with all the fuckin yayos. Slangin' in the hood man. It's the same shit in politics.Beatty didn't even produce or direct The Parallax View, just starred in it, but I'd love to sit the President down and make him watch the scary brainwashing montage scene, and watch him have an accident in his presidental trousers.
It's exactly this kind of truthfulness and edginess that Washington tries to suppress. Take a look at Alexandria's own Parents Television Council. They write down everything... everything... they find offensive on TV, for the purpose of, I don't know, getting Michael Powell to fine them. Either that or to catalog specifically what gets them off. Didn't we unseat this regime already, and wasn't it called the Taliban?
" 'Nip/Tuck' is so much sex," she says, "and it's really graphic. Like people having sex and snorting cocaine off someone's bare butt at the same time; people having sex with sex dolls; threesomes." Then there's the mother-son incest and suicide: In the season finale, the son stabs himself as they hug.Yes, what indeed is the point of showing evil, hurtful things that people do to each other? That's just going to make people feel bad. And we can't have that. Heaven fucking forbid.
"I mean, incest is evil; why dramatize it? It's like a sick, twisted thing that people do that really hurts people," she says -- and no, it doesn't help that the mother turns out to be transsexual.
So anyway, I think it's funny. Washington appreciates actors and artists who push the envelope, and their contribution to American culture, as long as they do it at the safe distance of 30 years in the past.
I half expect Howard Stern to be up on that Kennedy Center stage 30 years from now, throwing half-peeled bananas at some half-naked stripper. I'll bet it brings the house down.
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