Project Civil City: Good Idea or Totally Fucking Dumb?

While I am generally on the side of civility (shut up, you bitches, I am too) I'm always a little worried when it looks like the right-wing is trying for a power grab. Getting to the root of social issues like homelessness is something I will always support, but bashing the homeless in the usual callous manner of the right, of course, I cannot do.

Also, the matter of manners cannot be addressed with by-laws, especially if they're not enforced.

It's too bad I won't be able to attend Project Civil City's meeting. I'd be interested in seeing who shows up and what gets discussed. Given that a member of the Board of Trade will be there, and that the impetus behind the entire project is likely the Vancouver Olympic Committee, I am instantly skeptical.

Maybe I can talk one of my more perceptive friends into attending, and submitting a report.

[To find out more, visit the website]

What's Next: Starbuck's At Lenin's Tomb?

Well, vis-a-vis the whole "not feeling dirty" issue, I don't know that seraching for an obscure news story on The Drudge Report makes me feel any cleaner, but here it is anyway.

It seems that the Vladimir Putin government has demolished historic buildings at the Kremlin in order to make way for a luxury hotel there. It scarcely needs to be said that the Kremlin is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and that these demolitions were conducted without permits. Hm. Poisoning his opponents, demolishing world heritage for capitalist greed...

Maybe Putin's the one who phoned in that death threat against Knut at the Berlin Zoo, then iced Yeltsin.

[Der Spiegel via The Drudge Report]

Rosie O'Donnell Leaving "The View"

Sorry about hopping on the blog-wagon with this story, but, but...

All the other bloggers were doing it. I just wanted to be popular! I feel so dirty... I'm gonna go right out after this and find something obscure for my next post, I promise.

Blah blah blah contract negotiations blah blah. Blah blah, blah amicable blah blah blah. Blah saw this coming a mile off blah, blah blah.

So... I wonder when Rosie's new show will be on. Hopefully it won't be on opposite "The View" or "Ellen". Unless it's on Logo, in which case it won't matter, 'cause no one'll see it.

If there's a Gawd, it'll be on opposite "The Apprentice" and finally put the boots to that blowhard's TV career.

"The Queen", Part Two: An Interim Assessment

It's late and I've only just finished the first viewing, but my initial impressions are good. I'll need to watch both commentary tracks before I make my final verdict, though I doubt that'll shift it much. As pop culture, of course, it's spot on. As history... Well, no movie ever shows history well, nor can it be expected to. Film is glib; in that way, it's the ideal pop cultural medium.

History is deep, and as such, this movie works best as just one piece of many covering the death of Diana. Of course, Helen Mirren is amazing, as is Michael Sheen, who plays Tony Blair. The rest of the cast seem afraid to impersonate, and so don't come quite as close. The star of the film, though, is Diana, as elusive a figure here as she was omnipresent in life.

The screenwriter, Peter Morgan, has done much to draw the Queen and Blair together, namely by giving each of them a crass, borderline loathsome spouse. The Duke of Edinburgh, of course, is blunt to the point of callous and always has been; Cherie Blair could well sue Stephen Frears for libel, except that I suspect her portrayal is the most accurate of them all.

It's a handsome film: well-paced, beautifully photographed, and features expertly used documentary footage intercut with the narrative, making for a poignant, resonant remembrance. It celebrates not only the legacy of Diana and the resilience of the Queen, but interestingly the promise shown by Tony Blair before corruption and scandal got the better of his idealism.

Imagine... A Labour Prime Minister, of all people, saving the monarchy from itself. If I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes I'd have never believed it.

All Hail "The Queen"! (Part One)

Speaking of things that have left the solar system (how's that for a segueway?) I just bought my DVD of "The Queen", and am getting ready to settle in and enjoy.

Of course, given all the hype it's gotten, it'll probably suck. I'm so picky about such things, it'll be hard to please me, even given my fanatical interest in the subject matter.

Oh well, here goes something.

To be continued...