March 10, 2006

The Onion has the last word on the most-overhyped sports story of the week, here.

Any outrage I was supposed to have felt for the "revelation" that a baseball superstar has been on the juice for the past six years was quelched when the writers (and S.I.) apparently thought it newsworthy to publish the hearsay testimony of one of Bonds' former skanks that he only married the current Mrs. because she was black. It was a story of dubious relevance, at best, to the issue of whether Bonds had taken steroids and lied about it to a grand jury, even if Bonds had called a press conference and announced it to the public. The fact that it was an otherwise unsupported allegation made by an embittered and biased witness, the publication of which having the clear effect of hurting people (Bonds' wife and children) who are not public figures, is a truly scummy act by the book's writers and Sports Illustrated.
Profumo Dies: Until I read of his passing, I had no idea he was still alive.

March 09, 2006

I don't often write about high school sports, but tonight's Southern Cal hoops semifinal between No. 1-ranked Compton Centennial and No. 2-ranked Harvard-Westlake* is worth noting. In recent years, the two schools have developed one of the nation's most intense rivalries in high school basketball, more so because of how diametrically opposite they are. One is a predominantly African-American public school in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the region, the other, a prep school known nationally as a feeder for the Ivy League. While H-W is known as much for its role in educating the progeny of power lawyers, movie execs and bankers, Centennial is part of a school system that was taken over by the state awhile back for poor test scores and misappropriation of funds. It's Duke-North Carolina taken to the nth degree.

And yet, for some reason, the two schools have now played in four of the past five CIF title games, with H-W winning three of them, as well as several epic battles in the state tournament. Although H-W has won most often, the Apaches have the recent edge, knocking H-W out of the state tournament two years ago on the road, and winning the CIF title last Saturday. As always, it was a thriller: H-W coming from way back to take a two point lead with four seconds to play, only to have senior guard Tyre Thompson go from end-to-end on an Edneyesque run and hit a desperation trey at the buzzer to win the championship. This time, it's the Wolverines turn to travel to Centennial, with the winner advancing to the state semifinals next week.

UPDATE [3/10]: H-W won, 60-58 [O.T.]. Tar Heel-bound senior Alex Stepheson led the way with 26 points and 22 rebounds, to go with 10 blocked shots. The Wolverines play Artesia tomorrow for the So-Cal title.

*In the interest of full disclosure, my alma mater

March 07, 2006

A good exegesis as to why Crash won and Brokeback lost, here. The two biggest reasons, I think, come down to the fact that the winner had a much better pre-Oscar campaign (a DVD in every pot, as it were), and that it took place in Los Angeles, and was thus easier for the working members of the Academy to relate. For all the sanctimonious twaddle and hype during the ceremony about what a precious and unduplicable experience seeing a movie "before a crowd of strangers" on "the big screen" is supposed to be, in reality, the race came down to the fact that the winner had been released on DVD months earlier, and its studio took full advantage to make sure that every possible person with a vote would have a copy long before screeners for the other candidates went out.

The other reason, dealing with the locale of the movie, is perhaps counterintuitive, when one realizes that in the first 76 years of Oscar, not a single film set in the City of Angels had ever won the top honor, and only a handful of films had so much as a scene set here. Now that we've had back-to-back winners, it's useful to see what it is the two last two films (Crash and Million Dollar Baby) had in common: they are both films that inhabit the real city, not some glamorous or mythical stand-in for same. Classic films that came close in the past were either period pieces (Chinatown, L.A. Confidential) or were films about Hollywood (most notably, Sunset Blvd. and Singing in the Rain); obviously, such films, while admirable on an aesthetic level, have nothing to do with the ups and downs of normal, everyday life here. Most of the Academy membership are not, by any stretch of the imagination, stars; they may have made a good living off of films, but they still have to inhabit the same universe everyone else does. People who are "stars" can afford the luxury of owning homes on each coast, while dissing the city as fake and superficial; the rest of us just have to make do, and perform the same mundane tasks as everyone else, like go to the supermarket, drive their kids to school, etc.

For the most part, Academy members do those things in Los Angeles, so any film that broaches the topic of what Los Angeles is, as a community, has an appeal. Since most of what "L.A." symbolizes to the rest of the planet is based on what non-Angelenos think, there becomes a dichotomy between the real city and "Hollywood", and it becomes a very rare thing indeed to see that "real city" on the big screen. Not having seen Crash, I can't say for certain whether that film succeeded in doing so, but I can see why it might have appealed to a member of the Academy who isn't making $50 million a picture (the fact that it was shot in the city, at a time of runaway production, no doubt also played a factor). For good or ill, provincialism is universal.

March 05, 2006

A correction from last week: I have seen an Oscar-nominated film. Two, to be exact: Revenge of the Sith is up for Best Make-up, and Batman Begins is nominated for Best Cinematography.

I can safely say that I would not be watching tonight's Oscar ceremony were it not for a familial tradition. For years, my parents attended an Oscar-night party hosted by a family friend, and my late father, who like his son is not a movie fan, had the job of tabulating the results of the Oscar pool. When he passed away, I inherited the task, to my increasing discomfort, as I have come to see fewer and fewer films as the years pass. The two hours or so between major awards now leads to some big-time squirming, so I pass the time napping or catching up on my reading.

If this Patrick Goldstein article in this morning's L.A. Times is any indication, I'm not the only person greeting this year's ceremony with a yawn. Situating the Oscars in the context of other big events that have experienced significant drop-offs in TV ratings, Goldstein argues that there is less interest now in events that "capture the communal pop culture spirit". I would argue that we've entered an era in which movies are just not that important anymore, either as entertainment vehicles or as works of art, and just as film replaced vaudeville in the '20's, and TV obliterated radio drama in the early-50's, we now live in an age in which the time and expense necessary to leave home and see a movie on a large screen isn't worth it to a lot of people anymore.

Something similar is happening to the music industry right now: why buy an album when you can tailor-pick your musical selection over the internet, at much less cost, and without much of the annoying filler. Last month's simultaneous release of a Steven Soderburgh film (an Oscar-winning director, no less) on DVD and cable television indicates that someone gets it; the old methods of delivering the product from studio to consumers isn't necessary anymore, and people are more likely going to choose the method that is cheapest, most convenient, and gives them more control over when and how they see it. People will still choose the cinema to see comedies and slasher pics, since the communal experience in seeing a film with a group of strangers is most enhanced, as well as films that emphasize the visual spectacle (such as any Star Wars or Harry Potter film), but everything else is going straight to video. And that includes the five Best Film nominees, none of which would probably have seemed out-of-place (or, for that matter, particularly distinguished) had they aired on HBO first.

Speaking of "straight-to-video", my one rooting interest tonight will be in one of the early categories, Best Supporting Actress. Anyone who has ever channel-surfed in the middle of the night has probably seen the classic "sequel" to the Ryan Phillippe-Reese Witherspoon vehicle, Cruel Intentions (actually, a prequel). Originally shot as a TV-pilot called "Manchester Prep", with the same director as the original, the show was dropped from the Fox TV schedule in 1999 a month before it was to air, after Murdoch's minions saw the finished product and realized that it was trashy even by their own low standards. Quickly reedited, Cruel Intentions II subsequently became a late-night staple on cable; the Shower Scene alone is worth the two hour investment, though it adds absolutely zero to the plot. Inheriting the role played by Sarah Michelle Geller, Amy Adams is a true trash goddess in CI II, savoring each line with an Alexis Carrington-in-prep-school fury.

So for overcoming such auspicious beginnings, I salute you, Ms. Adams. Take home the Oscar, and make us all proud !!

March 01, 2006

Katrina: Bush lied.

UPDATE [3/2]: In what may be one of the more lamer attempts at defending Bush, Mickey Kaus writes:
A good deal of the gleeful Froomkinian outrage in the press and Democratic party over that pre-Katrina video seems to be based on what is at best is a semantic misunderstanding. After Katrina, Bush said "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." In the video, Patterico points out, Bush is warned by hurricane expert Max Mayfield that there's a chance the "levees will be topped." Topping is different than breaching, no? When a levee's "topped," or "overtopped," some water sloshes over it and into the city. Then the storm passes and that's it. When a levee's "breached," there's a hole in the levee and Lake Pontchartrain pours in the gap and keeps pouring in until the city is completely flooded. What Bush said after the storm seems quite consistent with what Mayfield told him before the storm--i.e., he thought the levees might be topped by the storm surge but not that they'd be breached, with the catastrophe that resulted.
Yeah, that's the ticket...all Bush was warned of was that "some water" might drip over the levees and down into the Big Easy as a result of Katrina, not that there would be mass flooding as a result...such a trivial thing, too; I wonder why Mr. Mayfield even broached the subject. And technically, Clinton didn't have "sexual relations" with Ms. Lewinsky either.

Jeez, that doesn't even survive the giggle test. In fact, "topping" and "breaching" are the same thing, in this context. Both constitute a failure in the levee system to prevent water from flooding the city of New Orleans, and with Katrina predicted to be a Cat-5 hurricane when the President was briefed, the predicted result was going to be the same: a calamitous and overwhelming ocean of water entering the city, ruining everything in its path. It didn't matter if the water was coming over the levee or through it. Bush knew that this was possible, was warned about it before it took place, then denied he had been told anything of the sort several days later. This isn't even lame spin; it's insulting.
A fine wrap-up on Marshall v. Marshall, by Dahlia Lithwick:
It seems cruel to report that Anna Nicole then stood and exited the courtroom, leaving the building by a side door and again granting no interviews. I would love to tell you that she did something, anything, to distinguish herself from the thousands of appellants who have brought their cases into these marble walls. But the court has worked its magical spell of blandness, even upon Anna, and she is just another litigant with a probate dispute today. She has stepped into the only place in America where her breasts have no power.
Well, Clarence Thomas aside....
As if we needed more evidence that the Housing Bubble has burst, comes word that last month, home sales reached a ten-year low in Massachusetts, the state that saw the most sustained increase in home values over the past twenty-five years. I thought we caught a real break last year when the Bubble sustained itself through the expiration of the old bankruptcy law; the unsupportable increase in home prices over the last decade has been one of the things that helped limit the number of credit defaults, since people who sustained a medical emergency or job loss could always borrow money off the equity in their home as a last resort. Now that home values have peaked, and monthly credit card payments are soon to double, it may get very ugly again in the bankruptcy courts....

February 28, 2006

In re Vickie Lynn Marshall: Not much of substance to add about this case (for that, go here and here), except that the trial in her matter took place in the same bankruptcy court that I used to hang out at, in Downtown L.A. (most of my work is now done at the Woodland Hills branch). On occasion, I would drop by the packed courtroom (1575, on the 15th Floor, is where Judge Samuel Bufford holds court) and sneak a peek of the fat model listening to the proceedings during her trial. That she was initially awarded such a huge amount of money, in spite of the earlier decision by the Texas probate court, was no surprise, considering the strong pro-debtor leanings of Judge Bufford, whose obsession with the correct pagination and tabbing of motions and briefs has made appearances before him such a deeply pleasurable experience for all local counsel. And now Anna Nicole, like Dred Scott, Curt Flood and whoever "Wade" was before her, will live on in American history, to be studied and scrutunized by law students into the next millenia.
Political Relativism: Blogger Jane Hamsher writes:

While it's open to debate how much influence NARAL's decision not to support anti-choice Langevin in the Rhode Island race had on his decision to drop out, it was perceived as significant. Their endorsement may not mean a lot in Alabama, but it means a lot in solidly pro-choice New England states. Further, their decision to continue to support Lincoln Chafee and Joe Lieberman even after their disastrous vote on Samuel Alito is a signal to other Senators that is okay to vote like this in the future and keep your official pro-choice credentials in the process. NARAL and Planned Parenthood are rubber stamping these votes. How exactly do they plan on coming out and fighting the next Supreme Court Alito-lite nomination if they don't start yanking chains now?

Whenever major media outlets need an official quote from the pro-choice movement, they call NARAL and Planned Parenthood. If they are not speaking up against this bullshit, nobody is.

The problem is that in doing nothing they are actively hurting their own ability to do the good work that Planned Parenthood consistently does. If the South Dakota Rapist Rights bill goes through, it won't matter how many brave souls are willing to staff an abortion clinic, they won't be able to do so. I've said it before and I'll say it again: there is no more important task right now before the pro-choice movement than changing the balance of power in the US Senate and breaking up the Gang of 14....

I can think of nothing that will have less importance to the "pro choice movement" in the U.S. than electing a Democratic majority this November. However unlikely, at the moment, the prospect of taking seven GOP-held seats may seem, the prospect of taking over the Senate will be of almost no signifcance in preserving abortion rights, or protecting the privacy rights of women. That fight is now in the hands of the judiciary.

And if party stalwarts such as Daniel Akaka, Herb Kohl, and Maria Cantwell were not motivated to use the filibuster when the party was in the minority, and it was one of the only weapons in their arsenal to fight back against the far right, why should anyone believe they'll put up much of a fight when they gain the majority? And if the blogosphere doesn't care enough to send them a message, instead focusing all its wrath on the hapless Mr. Lieberman, why should other Democrats stick their necks out on principle either?

Based on recent history, the party's track record is not promising. One doesn't even have to look to the last four years, and examples such as the 2005 Bankruptcy bill or the confirmation of John Roberts and Samuel Alito, to realize what a worthless vehicle the party is in effecting worthwhile change, since there are numerous examples of what it did when it actually had a majority. In the five and a half years since 1990 when the Senate was controlled by the Democratic Party, it:

1) confirmed Clarence Thomas;
2) prevented President Clinton from ending anti-gay discrimination in the military;
3) failed to pass bills mandating access to health care (Hillary's plan, or any plan), public financing of elections, K-Street reforms, term limits, or efforts to curb gerrymandering;
4) passed the Patriot Act;
5) supported the resolution to go to war with Iraq, and generally supported the President's policies (before they opposed them);
6) created the Homeland Security Department; and, last but not least,
7) confirmed Michael "Heckuvajobbrownie" Brown to run FEMA.

That's quite a track record for a political party that's ostensibly supposed to be defending the great liberal tradition in this country. So pardon me if I don't get too exorcised about whether NARAL endorses Joe Lieberman or Lincoln Chafee, or use my small corner of the internets to whore for Democrats this election. Making the Democratic Party something worth fighting for can't be done by scapegoating a single Senator, not when almost half the party sucks from the same sleazy teat.
Le Menu Cunningham: I suppose when there's no one guarding the henhouse, it shouldn't be surprising that one Republican Congressman would not only sell his office, but would actually set out, in writing, a "menu" for what services he could provide in exchange for what level of bribe. This sort of corruption is never bipartisan, since the minority party can't offer government contracts, or any of the big ticket items that exist in this scandal. Yet it's a "Republican" scandal only because they currently hold the reigns of power; there is nothing in the modern ideology of liberalism that would make its believers any more pristine than conservatives. Moreover, this is a problem that can't be fixed by any of the normal palliatives, such as the public financing of elections, since the money doesn't go to campaign spending. Greed is greed.

February 27, 2006

Overshadowed by the election of the first woman to baseball's Hall of Fame is the welcome news that Minnie Minoso may also be pegged for the Hall. Among the players chosen today for their contributions in the Negro Leagues, Minoso had the prior misfortune (as far as his HOF candidacy was concerned) of having straddled the gap, putting up splendid numbers before and after the integration of the Major Leagues, but not having the career numbers in either to be an obvious selection. Today, that can be remedied.

UPDATE [2/28]: Not remedied, after all. Minoso, along with Buck O'Neil, were among those passed over by the Hall.
Texas Q.B. Not Borderline Retarded: Deadspin sets a rumor straight...dog bites man !!
Matt Welch, et al., opine on the five nominated films for next week's Oscars. I haven't seen any of them, including the flic Welch rips, Crash; moreover, I haven't seen any of the films featuring the twenty nominated actors or ten nominated scripts. Besides being a dying medium akin to radio drama in the early-1950's, lying supine at the feet of high-def TV, it's also a rip-off to pay twenty bucks for the overrated "communal experience" that even movie connoisseurs don't seem to care about anymore. I'll go see a comedy, or anything that would look good in IMAX, but for everything else, I can wait for it on cable.

If I really want to see it, I'll get the DVD, which now only comes out a few months after the original release. Inevitably, technology will make it easier to download movies, either on to my computer or DVR, without having to wait even that small amount of time. Actually going to a movie theatre will soon be akin to visiting a museum, an activity based more on social class than a need to be artistically enthralled and captivated.

February 26, 2006

Proponents of school vouchers should take a look at these private institutions, where the only subject on the curriculum is...basketball. As reported in today's New York Times:
The Times found several schools with curious student populations.

¶Genesis One Christian Academy in Mendenhall, Miss.: Two years ago, this kindergarten-to-Grade 8 school added a high school and a Grade 13, for basketball players who did not graduate to raise their grade-point averages. At least 33 of about 40 students at the unaccredited high school play basketball, and its stars have signed letters of intent to attend Oklahoma State, Arkansas and Alabama.

¶Boys to Men Academy in Chicago: The student body consists of 16 basketball players, who can earn credit for the equivalent of eight high school core courses in a year by studying online through an accredited correspondence school.

¶Rise Academy in Philadelphia: Opened last fall, it outsources lessons to others, including Lutheran Christian and two online high schools.

¶God's Academy in Irving, Tex.: A summer basketball coach started with three students in August. Now 40 students in Grades 6 to 12, all basketball players, meet with two full-time teachers four days a week at a recreation center. The curriculum is provided and graded by an education center 25 miles away. Its star player, Jeremy Mayfield, signed with Oklahoma.

Some of these institutions recently joined other private schools to form the National Elite Athletic Association. With more than two dozen teams from Los Angeles to Toronto, this conference is seeking a shoe contract and a television deal. Its teams sometimes travel thousands of miles to play in tournaments that often attract more college coaches than fans. Those coaches will pay $100 for booklets of information about the players.
What's a Wilf? A comprehensive list of who athletes donate to in political campaigns, here. As you might expect, people in the World o' Sports tend to contribute disproportionately to the right end of the political spectrum, but there are some exceptions, more so one than one would find in examining the leanings of entertainment figures. Those exceptions can be found in three categories: African-Americans (duh), basketball coaches (bravo to the Zen Master, Pat Riley, Dean Smith and Gregg Popovich, et al.), and team owners/executives (incl. the aforementioned Minnesota Vikings owner, Zygy Wilf).

Some surprises: Muhammed Ali leans Republican; Arnold Palmer, who used to be a golf buddy of Ike's, has been a generous backer of Jack Murtha; and tennis stars tend to be as Democratic a voting bloc as NBA players. No surprise: golf pros are more Republican than the Christian right. [link via Roger Ailes]
Earlier this week I mentioned my endorsement of another blogger for something called the Koufax Awards, which is sort of a lefty popularity contest. It seems one can't write about the contest without mentioning the financial woes of the blog that's hosting the awards, and asking that a "contribution" be sent their way, which I won't do here (on the other hand, if you like their blog, then by all means give 'til it hurts; it's a pretty good site). Banging a tin cup is a particularly tacky thing when it's being done for your own website (one blogger in particular seems to have a fundraising drive every six weeks), but sometimes necessary if you're too lazy to get a real job.

However, doing it for a blog that's providing a potential award or benefit to you isn't just tacky; it's ethically sleazy, calling into question the entire credibility of the award. It's at the same level as the "service" Mitchell Wade or Jack Abramoff provided members of Congress: Duke Cunningham has been a mensch in the field of defense contracts, he works his ass off rewarding his friends, so why shouldn't he get a taste of the Good Life, especially since our business will benefit too. Of course, there's no law against bribing bloggers, or against encouraging payments to support a website that's giving you an award. But the appearance is just as shady.

February 24, 2006

Suspended for rudeness? This is the type of thing I would expect to see Vladimir Putin or Hugo Chavez try to get away with, not something done by a legitimate "democracy". And what kind of self-respecting journalist chooses to be a complainant in this type of action?

February 23, 2006

Apparently, Crony Capitalism is a bipartisan affair. Any doubts that a Democratic majority in the Senate would be just as spineless and compliant as the status quo should be alleviated by its rolling over and confirming this clown to sit on the Federal Reserve Board. Just a reminder: it was a Democrat-controlled Senate that unanimously confirmed Michael "Heckuvajob" Brown to head FEMA...and lets not forget the Bankruptcy bill from last year. An effective opposition party has to stand for something other than the fact that it considers the President to be pure evil.

February 21, 2006

Collapse? Mickey Kaus has been, shall we say, obsessed with the box office appeal of Brokeback Mountain since the film was first released in mid-December, and he seems cheered by its apparent decline over the past few weeks. One problem: it's "decline" is not only less than that of the other four Oscar nominees (see here, here, here, and here*), it's also doing double the business of the two blockbuster pics that were released concurrently, King Kong and The Chronicles of Narnia, even though both films are screening on (roughly) the same number of theatres. Moreover, its box office to date is higher than last year's Best Film winner, Million Dollar Baby, which didn't contain a gay sex scene to offend the flyovers. Even more surprisingly, its per screen average for this time in February is higher than the average for Return of the King two years ago. What with the Olympics, the Super Bowl, and Hollywood's penchant for releasing its dregs at the start of the year, I don't see any evidence of a "collapse".

*Crash is no longer screening at theatres.