Monday, April 10, 2006

Movements: Good, Bad and Unfortunate


Because Sandra has needs, I will ignore this migraine behind my right eye, the fact that I was in the ER at 4 a.m. and will post this update. (I'm all about fulfilling a Planeteers' needs).

The festival was a huge success. Let's take a look at a few films you should check out.

The Good - Sir! No Sir! is a doc about the GI protest movement during Vietnam. I was too close to the subjest to be objective but my nephew assured me this was as good as I thought. I was one of these guys, and wrote for one of the many illegal underground papers at the time, but history has been so whitewashed by the right, I'd forgotten just how pervasive the resistance was. Seeing my brothers again, fists in the air, refusing to go quietly, brought tears to my eyes. Right on.

The Bad - Goldwater on Goldwater. The father of the conservative movement was profiled by his grand daughter and the film was great, even if the political movement is evil. While Goldwater was certainly a conservative, he was also pro choice, pro homosexual rights and deeply suspicious of the Christian right.

The Unfortunate - This movement involved a bean burrito at midnight. Not pretty.

Other high points - A profile of Frank Gehry by Sidney Pollack, a look at how the drug war has made collateral damage out of The Asparagus Capital of the World, the persecution of Tommy Chong, and displaced New Orleans musicians.

Now I have to go lie down in the dark. More tomorrow including an update on this book I'm reading, Cold Granite, by Stuart MacBride. It's really good, goddamit.

I mean really good.

Shit.

5 comments:

Sandra Ruttan said...

Boy, do I ever feel guilty. But the movie Sir! No Sir! sounds good. Got to wonder about the timing...

I should have openly dedicated my porn post to you today.

And yeah, that Stuart, so talented he's disgusting.

Olen Steinhauer said...

Good at least that you made it back, beans or none. Check out this op-ed from the NYT. Just read it and thought you'd like it:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/09/opinion/09wills.html?ex=1144814400&en=555a991895f22240&ei=5087

David Terrenoire said...

That was a terrific article, Olen, thanks. I looked for Sans Soleil, but Netflix seems to have missed it. I'll look on Amazon.

Sandra, as for pornography, I'm probably less interested in it than most. I once interviewed a West Virginia police chief who busted a porn store and when I asked him what evidence he had seized, he'd waved his hand dismissivley and said, "Off the record? Nothing but a bunch of fuckin' and suckin'."

As a young reporter, I didn't appreciate that summation nearly as much as I do now.

Sandra Ruttan said...

That is a great line!

But the post went beyond porn to sexual frustration in marriage.

Not that I'm inferring anything.

I'll be quiet now.

Mindy Tarquini said...

While Goldwater was certainly a conservative, he was also pro choice, pro homosexual rights and deeply suspicious of the Christian right.

Also a damned good photographer. The Heard Museum here in Phoenix did an exhibition a couple of years ago. Photographs spanning many decades of Arizona history - Native Americans to the Grand Canyon, black and white, to color.

It still haunts me.