Turk Pipkin : Remembering James Gandolfini

James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano from season six of The Sopranos.

Sleep well, Jimmy:
Remembering James Gandolfini

Though I'd worked a long while in film and television, I never dreamed that a tall drink of water from Texas would end up acting alongside Gandolfini in the show that I loved...

By Turk Pipkin / The Huffington Post / June 26, 2013

From the premiere episode forward, I was a huge fan of The Sopranos and the show's amazing lead actor James Gandolfini. What David Chase and team were creating week after week was quite amazing, but what Gandolfini was creating and living moment by moment was a timeless work of art and passion that we will not see again for a very long time.

Though I'd worked a long while in film and television, I never dreamed that a tall drink of water from Texas would end up acting alongside Gandolfini in the show that I loved, even when I was invited by the Austin Film Festival to do a panel with Sopranos creator David Chase and to honor Chase with their lovely writing award.

David and I spent some enjoyable time talking about his hit show and about the past months I'd spent in Italy writing a book about the Calabrian mafia, the Ndrangheta. I'd recently been in La Stampa prison interviewing Ndrangheta hitmen, one of whom told me of taking a target into the woods and ordering him to dig a grave. When the man ran away, the bad guys had cut his achilles tendons, then made him continue digging. "Let's see you run now," they laughed.

A few days later, Sopranos casting agents called to ask if I'd audition for a part in the show. The scene came over my fax and I read the pages trembling, my eyes pouring over the lines of Aaron Arkaway, Janice's born-again, narcoleptic boyfriend. The title of the episode was one of my lines, "Have you heard the good news?"

I shot the audition in Austin, Fedexed the tape and was on the plane to New York to start shooting by the next week. The first day on the set -- with one of the greatest casts and crews ever assembled -- I ran through the first scene with the full cast with the exception of James Gandolfini, who I believe was still in makeup.

Turk Pipkin, as the narcoleptic Aaron Arkaway, with Aida Turturro, who played Janice Soprano. Photo from HBO.

The Sopranos family was watching football on Thanksgiving Day and I had the easy task of taking a deep narcoleptic nap. I asked the director if it would be okay for me to fall asleep on Tony's shoulder and he said to give it a shot with Gandolfini's stand-in.

Here's the thing. I'd been up all night -- a great way to look sleepy and as it would turn out, one of Gandolfini's own tricks to create a look and feel he wanted -- so when we ran the scene a second time, I didn't actually notice that my head was not resting on a stand-in but on the man himself. Just before "action," Gandolfini leaned down to my drooling face on his shoulder and introduced himself.

One episode turned into two and then into three. There wasn't a lot of broad comic relief on the show and I was loving being a part of it, especially being in the spell of the great and kind James Gandolfini. Filming the show was a marathon for all involved. Late one night, Gandolfini had a rare break where he wasn't in a scene. When he came back for a post-midnight scene, he brought back enough sushi for the cast and crew to cover a 20-foot table. Those type of gestures were not uncommon.

When I'd fallen asleep on the dining room table during Thanksgiving dinner, he bounced nuts off my noggin from the other end of the table, and between takes kept saying, "Man, am I throwing those too hard?" I said, "Is that all you got?" And it turned out that indeed he had a little more.

Gandolfini was a cigar smoker and between scenes would retire to the back porch of the Soprano family home for a stogie. This is on an indoor soundstage at Silver Cup Studios in Queens mind you, a definite "No Smoking" zone. I asked him what it takes to get that privilege and he said, "All it takes is asking. And you're the first to ask."

So there I was, looking at the painted swimming pool chroma-key of the Sopranos family back yard, smoking a Cuban cigar with the greatest actor of my day. Thank you Jimmy, for that and for so much more.

I was just a tiny cog in the great wheel that was The Sopranos, just one of thousands who James Gandolfini treated with kindness and respect. There are few so great who remain so humble, who are able to grasp their own incredible abilities and still recognize them as a gift.

James Gandolfini was a gift. And he will be missed beyond measure. Luckily we have his incredible body of work to keep us company. Thanks, Jimmy, for showing us the way. And thanks, David, for letting me lean on the shoulder of greatness.

[Turk Pipkin, an Austin-based writer, actor, and filmmaker, played a recurring role on The Sopranos. Pipkin founded the education and social action nonprofit, The Nobelity Project, and his films include Nobelity, One Peace at a Time, and Raising Hope. He is the author of 10 books including the New York Times bestseller, The Tao of Willie, written with Willie Nelson.]

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Gregg Barrios : Cantinflas 101 in San Antonio

Dia de los Muertos altar honors the memory of Cantinflas at San Antonio retrospective. Photo by Gregg Barrios / The Rag Blog.
Catinflas 101:
Don Mario's silent empire

Known for his 'little tramp' outfit of patched, baggy pants, rope belt, tattered vest, straw hat, and a slim mustache, Cantinflas personified the Mexican 'peladito,' an everyman.

By Gregg Barrios / The Rag Blog / November 5, 2012

SAN ANTONIO -- On a recent afternoon in San Antonio’s Market Square, a German tourist asked one of the vendors for a uniquely Mexican souvenir. After pointing to a plethora of Aztec calendars and rebozos, the vendor produced a ceramic Cantinflas.

“Es muy mexicano, es único,” she said. Behind her, a display shelf held dozens of Cantinflas figures depicting roles that had made the actor famous. A short legend was inscribed below the figure of Cantinflas as a doctor: “I’ll cure you of whatever ails you.” The tone in español is almost picaresque.

The tourist asked if the shopkeeper had statues of other national heroes.

“Solamente Benito Juárez y la virgen de Guadalupe,” she replied.

The German took the Cantinflas.

This year marks the 101st anniversary of the beloved comic’s birth, and appropriately the San Antonio Public Library, KLRN and the San Antonio Public Library Foundation celebrated Latino Heritage Month with a long overdue Cantinflas retrospective. In addition to an exhibit of film posters and photos that span his life and times, local library branches screened the lion’s share of his 50-plus films.

Known for his “little tramp” outfit of patched, baggy pants, rope belt, tattered vest, straw hat, and a slim mustache, Cantinflas personified the Mexican “peladito,” an everyman. His use of convoluted, hilarious wordplay was later aped by Abbott and Costello in their “Who’s on First?” routine, and on TV by Professor Erwin Corey, an Anglo legacy that hints at the impact this Mexican comic genius had on Spanish-speaking audiences around the world.

Film purists still insist that Hollywood’s golden age of comedy ended with the talkies. And although Spanish-speaking audiences enjoyed the slapstick comics of Hollywood, their interest waned as movies began to speak in English. That’s when the Mexican film industry took off.

Its most successful star was Mario Moreno, aka Cantinflas. His slight build was perfect for the screen, and fame came quickly, starting with Está es mi tierra (This is My Country) in 1937. His most famous films dealt with the everyday life of a penniless vagabond, el peladito -- not unlike Chaplin’s Little Tramp-- who wore his pants lower than even today's hip-hop standards might allow.

Both comics had worked in the circus and vaudeville and began their film careers in one-reel comedies. After a Los Angeles screening of Cantinflas’ Ni sangre ni arena (Neither Blood Nor Sand), Chaplin called Cantinflas the best living comic in the world. That film’s daring and hilarious bullfighting sequences are especially impressive because Moreno, an amateur bullfighter, did his own stunts.

But Cantinflas was so much more than a physical comedian. There was a method to the madness of his Spanish-language double entendres and verbal nonsense. He befuddled and jabbed at politicians, diplomats, lawmen, and the wealthy in his films. His brand of humor spread like wildfire, so much so that the Real Academia Española added the verb cantinflear -- to speak in a nonsensical manner -- to the dictionary.

The golden age of Mexican cinema began in 1936 and lasted more than 30 years. Latino families made weekly treks to el cine and a new Cantinflas film was often the reason. San Antonians of a certain age still remember when the small comic occasionally appeared at the Alameda theater along with such stars as Jorge Negrete, María Félix, Gloria Marín, Pedro Infante, Dolores Del Río, Pedro Armendáriz, and Tito Guízar.

By the 1950s the era of great Hollywood comics had faded, but Hollywood came courting the populist and popular Cantinflas. His role as Passepartout, David Niven’s valet in Around the World in 80 Days, remains the one high point in the 1956 Best Picture Oscar-winner. Cantinflas also won a Golden Globe for best motion picture actor in a comedy/musical for his role -- beating out Yul Brynner and Marlon Brando.

But when Hollywood attempted to cash in on Moreno’s newfound fame by casting him in as the lead in 1960‘s Pepe, the film bombed. Jorge Camara, vice president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which sponsors the Golden Globes, says the reason for its failure is simple.

“In Around the World in 80 Days, Cantinflas was able to use his physical comedy, something he didn't do in his followup film, Pepe,” Camara said by email. “His genius and one of his greatest talents was the comic way he used (or misused) the Spanish language to fit his character and his situations. That ability, unfortunately, did not translate into English.”

When I moved to Los Angeles in 1980, many downtown movie palaces were programming Spanish-language films to meet the demand of recently arrived immigrants. The new waves of immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua had one thing in common: Cantinflas. Most had grown up watching his comedies. He not only was a first-class film star, but also a cultural hero to his countless fans, especially the working class who identified with el peladito.

Cantinflas lookalike at San Antonio retrospective. Photo by Gregg Barrios / The Rag Blog.
But the end was near. The Mexican film industry was beginning to churn out substandard films filled with gratuitous nudity and blue humor.

Writer Sandra Cisneros has kept a ceramic figure of el peladito in her bathroom for nearly 20 years. “Isn’t it from the street that all fashion and pop culture ultimately comes from?” Cisneros asked.

Every time I see someone walking down the street with their pants falling off, I think, mira, hay va Cantinflas. El peladito was ahead of his time for showing his calzones and dragging his pants down to his hips like hip-hop kids do.

Cantinflas is a cultural icon like la virgen de Guadalupe. You have to have an image of the Virgen and Cantinflas whether or not you’re Catholic or have seen his films. They are omnipresent in Chicano culture and in some ways the antithesis of themselves because each one in a sense is god: the Guadalupe is the compassionate face of god, while Cantinflas is a symbol just like the Virgen of the oppressed. For a few moments, he makes you laugh, and if that isn’t God I don’t know what is

For a mural at the Teatro de los Insurgentes in Mexico City, Diego Rivera painted Cantinflas as a Christ figure with an image of the Virgin on his clothing -- a latterday Juan Diego. The mural drew outrage and was later modified and the Guadalupe removed. Today it depicts Cantinflas taking money from the rich and redistributing it to the poor. In real life, Moreno was a co-founder and president of the Mexican actor’s union, ANDA, and funded La Casa del Actor, a haven for needy film industry workers.

Herbert Siguenza, a founding member of the Chicano performance troupe Culture Clash, considers Cantinflas a muse and a hero. Siguenza wrote a one-man show that pays tribute to Moreno, commissioned by Houston’s Alley Theater. Part biography, part comic sketches, his Cantinflas! illustrates el peladito’s influence on comedy today and introduces the character to a new generation that perhaps only knows the him from the animated children’s Cantinflas Show on Spanish-language TV.

“There is a new generation, a second generation of young Latinos growing up, and these kids don’t know who Cantinflas is,” Siguenza said in a recent phone interview. “They know who Will Smith and Jim Carrey are, but I wanted to show them that we also have a comic hero; we have someone who was as big as Charlie Chaplin. And we should remember that. He was one of the first crossover stars that we had.” Still, Siguenza admits it's a hard sell to English-only audiences. “The verbal antics aren’t transferable. It’s like trying to translate Groucho in Chinese.”

In 1983, on assignment for the Los Angeles Times, I interviewed Don Mario in Mexico City two years after what was to be his final film, El Barrendero (The Street Sweeper), which at the time had made more money at the box office than any other Mexican film. He was still upbeat about his art, and expressed a desire to have el peladito cross the border into California to join César Chávez’s farmworkers and perform with Luis Valdez’s Teatro Campesino.

He spoke of his screen counterpart in the third person:

Cantinflas has changed because he is part of the world, part of the people. We all change. The little guy isn’t the same one from 30 or 40 years ago. He has the same ingenuity, but he is better prepared than he was before to deal with life. He may see the same problems of years ago occur again today, but he sees them from a different perspective. Cantinflas has changed but he still carries the essence of being part of the common people. The clothes he wore before aren’t worn anymore, so he doesn’t wear them, but he’s the same guy underneath. That won’t ever change.

Later, watching his penultimate film, El Patrullero 777 (Patrolman 777), I saw what he meant. His comic style of cantinfleando had morphed into the everyday doublespeak of politicians everywhere. In the film, Moreno portrays a patrolman, but he still sports his signature bigotito, his thin mustache. When his commanding officer asks why he no longer wears his pants low, he retorts: "Todo a subido” (“Everything’s gone up”).

Yet the old Cantinflas, more the social reformer than the social satirist, makes an appearance at the end of the film. In a speech that contains little of el peladito’s double talk, he laments the loss of trust and dignity in public officials in a speech in front of a building named for former Mexican president Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, under whose orders hundreds of university students were killed during the 1968 protests in Mexico City.

Cantinflas then lifts his gloved hand, echoing a moment during the 1968 Summer Olympics -- also held in Mexico City -- when African-American medalists raised clenched fists in a human-rights salute. By that time, I was in tears.

This article was published at Plaza de Armas and was crossposted to The Rag Blog.

[Gregg Barrios is a journalist, playwright, and poet living in San Antonio. Gregg, who wrote for The Rag in Sixties Austin, is on the board of directors of the National Book Critics Circle. Contact Gregg at gregg.barrios@gmail.com. Read more articles by Gregg Barrios on The Rag Blog.]

• A clip from Cantinflas’ 1940 film Ahí está el detalle (There’s the Rub) with English subtitles, can be seen here.

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Gloria Feldt : Gender Disparities and Aniston-O'Reilly Spat

Fox News host Bill O'Reilly attacked Jennifer Aniston for her comments on single parenting. Photos by Sykes, AP; Lovekin / Getty. Image from New York Daily News.
Women's Equality Day:
Aniston comments on single parenting
Get O'Reilly all riled up

By Gloria Feldt / August 27, 2010

Jennifer Aniston sparked a classic Bill O'Reilly firestorm when she said a woman doesn't need a man to have children and a perfectly fine life, thank you very much.

Defending not her personal situation but the character she plays in The Switch, her hit movie about a single woman who chose to be impregnated by a sperm donor, Aniston opined, "Women are realizing... they don't have to settle with a man just to have a child." O'Reilly retorted that Aniston trivialized the role of men, saying she was "throwing out a message to 12 and 13-year-olds that, 'Hey, you don't need a dad,' and that's destructive."

It's no accident that this pregnant pop culture moment occurred near the 90th anniversary of women's suffrage, Women's Equality Day, August 26. The Aniston-O'Reilly tiff highlights both the progress women have made and how far we are from reaching parity from the bedroom to the boardroom. We might be able to make babies on our own, but according to the White House Project, only 18 percent of leadership positions across all sectors are held by women.

That includes women like Mary Cheney, either clueless or co-opted or both, who even as she endorses anti-choice, anti-gay candidates, claims her own same-sex relationship and pregnancy choice are private matters.

It includes women like my Pilates instructor, who spent her life savings on achieving a high-tech pregnancy at age 42 and told me, "If men would step up to the plate, women like me wouldn't be in this situation" of deciding solo whether or not to experience motherhood.

But the focus on these 50,000 or so exceptional conceptions overshadows the concerns and needs of the six million American women who become pregnant the old-fashioned way in any given year.

Besides, separating biology from destiny is just one of many expansions of freedoms women have aspired to as far back as 1776, when Abigail Adams urged her husband John to "remember the ladies," threatening that the women would rebel if excluded from the Constitution (Yes, the same document Sarah Palin and the Tea Partiers want restored to its original state when enslaved African-American men were counted as 2/3 of persons and women were ignored completely).

The Founding Fathers did not heed Abigail's plea, the women did not rebel, and as a consequence it took until 1920 for women to achieve ratification of the 19th amendment to the Constitution guaranteeing them the right to vote.

And just as those against women's suffrage alleged it would trigger the demise of the patriarchal family, what sets off the O'Reilly Factors of the world isn't so much concern that high-tech turkey-basters will replace the penises they hold dear. It's terror that the power over others -- hegemony they've assumed as their gender's birthright -- diminishes in proportion to the rise in women's power to set the course of their own lives.

Nothing could be further from the truth, of course. Power isn't a finite pie where a slice for you makes less for me. It's an abundant resource. The more it is shared, the more the pie grows, and the more everyone thrives.

But if men have not yet figured this out, neither have women decided it's time to use their power to make the rest of the changes needed to reach full equality.

A recent Harris Poll found three out of five Americans say the U.S. has a long way to go to reach gender equality. Not surprisingly, there's a gender difference: half of men feel inequality remains whereas 74 percent of women agree. But the startling finding is that both men and women across the age spectrum downplay the importance of rectifying gender inequality, saying there are more pressing issues to fix.

That kind of self-abnegation to which women are still acculturated is why AOL's electronic greeting card selections celebrated August 26 as National Toilet Paper Day as recently as 2007, yet the company had no card for Women's Equality Day. Popular culture will continue to imitate what we talk about and what we pay attention to in our daily lives.

And while it's relatively easy for a celebrity like Jennifer Aniston to get attention for any subject, it's much harder for the rest of us to shine the public spotlight on other important issues impinging upon equality.

Today's challenges to reaching a fair gender power balance are rooted not so much in legal barriers as in eliminating lingering constrictive cultural narratives, such as assuming mothers are less competent workers, thus paying them less than men or than women without children.

Women can't wait for a Jennifer Aniston to lead the charge for change, and we don't need to.

It took just one woman, unknown to the paparazzi, calling AOL's oversight to the attention of 10 of her friends, asking each to forward the message to 10 more, to start a viral protest to AOL. An avalanche of complaints ensued, and Women's Equality Day cards magically appeared.

Assuring that attention is paid by media, decision makers, and policy makers -- and by women ourselves -- to social and perceptual barriers standing in the way of a fair shake has become the women's equality issue of these early decades of the 21st century. If we can accomplish that, women's possibilities will indeed be unlimited.

O'Reilly will continue to be offended. But isn't that just another sign of progress?

[Gloria Feldt is the author of the forthcoming No Excuses: 9 Ways Women Can Change How We Think About Power. The article was distributed by truthout.]

Source / truthout

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Roman Holiday : Fatty, Woody and Polanski, Oh My!

Buster Keaton, Fatty Arbuckle and Al St. John. Silent screen giants, 1917.
Hollywood's patriarchal license

His artistic defenders cling to the slim excuses the situation affords. It was a youthful indiscretion. It was, but not for Polanski.

By Carl R. Hultberg / The Rag Blog / October 1, 2009

Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle was Buster Keaton’s close friend. Arbuckle had rescued Keaton from Vaudeville, bringing him to Hollywood to act in his two reel (silent) movies in the early 1920s. Fatty had been one of the original Keystone Cops, comically inept policemen whose sped up enforcement activities are still pretty funny to watch in black and white. Thanks to Arbuckle, Keaton’s stone face became star material. Keaton was never known to smile on camera after that time.

As everyone must know by now, Roscoe Arbuckle was the subject of Hollywood’s worst scandal. An actress died at one of his parties, and the rumors and allegations about the circumstances surrounding her death made it certain that Fatty Arbuckle would never work in Hollywood again. His old friends suddenly disappeared, despite the fact that the subsequent trial cleared Arbuckle. The only friend who stuck by Fatty was Buster Keaton. And for that (and perhaps some other reasons), Buster was also blackballed in Hollywood.

But who wasn’t to blame? Charlie Chaplin was a genius, but also had a talent for involvement with underage girls. He eventually left the USA and never came back. Hollywood is about sexual fantasy. It’s not supposed to spill over into life? What are gossip columns for?

Fast forward the movie to the 1970s and you could see the latest generation of bad boy Hollywood directors. Pedophilia was a current running through Woody Allen’s art films. His involvement with the underage Mariel Hemmingway, other dalliances culminating in his courtship and eventual marriage to his own step-daughter. This was cutting edge patriarchal license at the time and remains some sort of world record I’m sure for male star sexual audacity.

Filmmaker (and wanted man) Roman Polanski.
And of course there was Roman Polanski, who everyone wanted to cut some slack for because his wife, sex symbol Sharon Tate and his unborn child had been murdered by the Mansonites. If only the underage girl Polanski drugged and had non-consensual sex with had been sixteen, instead of uh.... thirteen. That’s a little young, even by Hollywood standards. Roman did the deadbeat, splitting the USA in a hurry to avoid sentencing. And somehow he has avoided it ever since. Until last week when the Swiss arrested him on the old US warrant.

His artistic defenders cling to the slim excuses the situation affords. It was a youthful indiscretion. It was, but not for Polanski. He was 45 years old. The victim has forgiven him. But not at the time it appears, for he was arrested. His art makes him above the law...

Shades of Norman Mailer. Mailer, the self promoting novelist and historian, defended Henry Abbott, the sensational prison author, helping to get him released in the early 1980s. After Abbott snapped at the Binibon Restaurant (corner of Second Avenue and Fifth Street), stabbing and killing the owner’s son in law Henry Adan, Mailer refused to back down from supporting Abbott as an artistic genius who somehow deserved to be placed above the law.

Too bad Hollywood never considered forgiving Fatty Arbuckle. It would have been great to see what kind of art he (and Buster Keaton) would have created had they been allowed to continue to work on big budget movies. They were saints compared to these modern guys.

(If you can find a copy, the best book to read on Buster Keaton is still Keaton, by my grandfather, Rudi Blesh.)

Buster once told Rudi: “I’m on the side of the animals...”

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Oscars 2009 : Sean Penn: 'You, Commie, homo-loving sons of guns...'

Sean Penn Wins for "Milk" -- Acceptance Speech

Sean Penn: 'For those who saw the signs of hatred as our cars drove in tonight, I think it's a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect and anticipate their great shame...'

By Chad Rubel / February 23, 2009

See Video of Penelope Cruz' acceptance speech, mostly in Spanish, Below.

It felt like the Oscars got the memo that the U.S. embracing of the world will be much improved under an Obama Administration.

The Oscars last night had a wide-ranging international feel. An British film set in India, "Slumdog Millionaire," won 8 Oscars. Acting awards went to a Brit (Kate Winslet, Best Actress), a Spaniard (Penelope Cruz, Best Supporting Actress), and an Australian (the late Heath Ledger, Best Supporting Actor). The host was a fellow Australian, Hugh Jackman.

Cruz, whose performance consisted of speaking mostly in a foreign language in winning the Academy Award, summed up that international feeling last night in her acceptance speech:

... this ceremony was a moment of unity for the world because art, in any form, is and has been and will always be our universal language and we should do everything we can, everything we can, to protect its survival.

The night was also about embracing those different from most of us on domestic soil as well. "Milk" picked up two awards: Best Actor (Sean Penn) and Best Original Screenplay (Dustin Lance Black).

From Penn's acceptance speech:

"For those who saw the signs of hatred as our cars drove in tonight, I think it's a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect and anticipate their great shame and the great shame in their grandchildren's eyes if they continue that way of support," Penn said. "We've got to have equal rights for everyone."

From Black's acceptance speech:

Referring to "gay and lesbian kids," Black said: "No matter what everyone tells you, God does love you ... very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights federally across this great nation of ours."

The Academy is considered a conservative organization. For those who felt that "Brokeback Mountain" deserved more Oscars, there was a concern that the conservative Academy wasn't ready for a film where two gay men were at the center. Last night might have proven that they are a little more ready than they were before.

Source / BuzzFlash

'You, Commie, homo-loving sons of guns...'

From Advocate.com:

"You, Commie, homo-loving sons of guns,” Sean Penn said to laughs as he took to the stage to accept the Oscar for Best Actor in a Motion Picture for his work in the biopic Milk at Sunday's Academy Awards.

The outspoken activist won for playing an outspoken activist and, true to form, quickly changed his tone and took the opportunity to make a political statement in support of marriage equality.

Penelope Cruz gana el OSCAR a la Mejor Actriz de Reparto



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Belafonte : Colin Powell in the Master's House, and the Promise of Obama

Actor/activist Harry Belafonte.
Obama has a much better starting point than Colin Powell. Powell helped cover up the My Lai massacre and ended up his career supporting the lies that got us into Iraq.
By Alan Pogue / The Rag Blog / November 6, 2008

Harry Belafonte on Colin Powell.

Jump to the last sentence about Pakistan. Harry called it. We should be out of Iraq, out of Afghanistan, and leave Pakistan alone. What excuse will the Democratic leadership have now for not doing that? One hopes they will have none and do the right thing, get our military the hell out of the Middle East. How many more Afghan wedding parties will we blow up? Smell the napalm. I am sure the Afghans have stronger words for the U.S. leadership than "Uncle Tom". One can only hope Obama was not telling the truth when he said he wanted U.S. troops out of Iraq so he could send them to Afghanistan. One hopes the Democrats can now bring all of our soldiers and mercenaries back from Iraq and Afghanistan and keep them here.

I am very, very happy that Obama won. I agree with Chomsky, as I usually do, that even though Obama is another shade of the Ruling Class he will make a large positive difference in the lives of many and it would be small minded and foolish to discount that in the name of ideological purity. Nader ate some sour grapes, for sure, but if he were darker (and not a candidate himself) he could have said what he said without too much trouble. Let us see Obama prove him wrong. Let us see Obama, and the other Dems, repeal the Patriot Act, lift the embargo on Cuba, get our foot off Haiti's neck, make nice with Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales, junk Star Wars and all that sort of thing as Putin has asked. The list goes on.

Obama has a much, much better starting point than Colin Powell. Powell helped cover up the My Lai massacre and ended up his career supporting the lies that got us into the invasion of Iraq.

“Barack Obama is only a promise,” Belafonte told the crowd—and by extension the entire country--“we are the fulfillment of that promise.”

As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, not the exact quote, "When your house is on fire you must become the fireman".

In other words, we got Obama elected and now it is also up to us to see he does and can do the rights things. No matter what he wants to do he can't do it without our active support and perhaps our active push. We already must stop him from giving the green light to more nuclear power plants and more killing in Afghanistan.

Colin Powell, shown during an interview with CNN's Larry King.
HARRY BELAFONTE, Activist: There's an old saying in the days of slavery. There are those slaves who lived on the plantation, and there were those slaves who lived in the house. You got the privilege of living in the house if you served the master. Colin Powell was permitted to come into the house of the master.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

KING: All right, Harry, what did you mean?

BELAFONTE: First of all, let me hasten to say, Larry, that this was never meant to be a personal attack on Colin Powell's character.

What it was meant, however, to be was an attack on policy, and the reference and the metaphor used about slavery -- it is my personal feeling that plantations exist all over America. If you walk into South Central Los Angeles, into Watts, or you walk into Over-the-Rhine in Cincinnati, you'll find people who live lives that are as degrading as anything that slavery had ever produced. They live in economic oppression, they live in a disenfranchised way. In the hearts and minds of those people, and millions of others, you're always looking for hope, and whenever somebody within our tribe, within our group, emerges that has the position of authority and power to make a difference in the way business is done, our expectations run high. Many times, those expectations are not fulfilled. But when such an individual is in the service of those who not only perpetuate the oppression, but sometimes design the way in which it is applied, it then becomes very, very, very, very critical that we raise our voices and be heard. And...

KING: I'm sorry, I don't mean -- isn't it possible, Harry, one, that Colin Powell, who has stood up for his country, fought for his country, may have disagreed in counsel, but supports his president in a tough time of need -- why compare that to being -- as a slave?

BELAFONTE: Because, I think, to a great degree, that which governs us is really the extent to which we are permitted by the forces of power in this country to do what it is we can do to make a difference.

The civil rights movement was a huge struggle against an enormous opposition. You know, many people who lived under that tenet and what we had to do to try to position people in high places to make a difference so we could change the way in which our democracy functioned was part of the game.

And Colin Powell is in that position. And I do believe that the policies that have been expressed by the administration he serves are less than honorable. It is not just about what I say.

Last year, in South Africa, the United Nations under Kofi Annan gave us an excellent opportunity in convening the International Conference on Racism directed by a woman of remarkable credentials, the former president of Ireland, Mary Robinson. There was a place where the United States should have been in attendance, and given us the benefit of thought on a very grievous set of conditions that affect the human family -- the issue of race.

And in that instance, the United States government sought to turn its back on the thousands of people who were gathered there to make a difference. And Colin Powell was the point person on that distancing of our country. You know...

KING: What did you want him to do? What do you want him to do?

BELAFONTE: I would like him to live up to a higher moral standard. You know, Jeffords doesn't have to be the only one who sits in disagreement with the policies of this country and this government and acts upon it out of conscience.

Where is Colin Powell's conscience? In a time when the world is getting ready to go up in flames in a war that's hugely ill-advised, you know. Today we are going to go after Iraq. You know, where do we go next? After Iran? And then, when our present friends fall out of favor with us, do we go after Pakistan?

Larry King Live / CNN.com / Oct. 15, 2002

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Paul Newman : Dead of Cancer at 83

“It was one of my life's proudest achievements. More than the films, more than the awards — finding out that I was on Nixon's Enemies List meant that I was doing something right."

Paul Newman

The 'Cool' Progressive Voice of Paul Newman Falls Silent
By R.T. Eby / September 27, 2008

See Video Below.

"What we have here is a failure to communicate." The iconic line from Cool Hand Luke could just as easily represent the current discourse between Democrats and Republicans. And, while life, truly, is for the living, it is sad to note that as of Saturday one of the major voices for American progressive thinking fell silent for the last time.

However, with the spirited intentions of a New Orleans jazz band following a hearse, it is a time to celebrate the highlights and achievements of a man's life. "Sometimes God makes perfect people," fellow Absence of Malice star Sally Field said, "and Paul Newman was one of them."

The media, across the board, is awash in examples of his legendary films. Excerpts of his interviews and clips of luminaries speaking about him are as plentiful now as the number of channels there are available on a state-of-the-art remote control.

It is the achievements of his life that brings this outpouring of respect; not the least of which were directed by Newman's political philosophy. As an Associated Press story notes, "He was so famously liberal that he ended up on President (Richard M.) Nixon's 'enemies list,' one of the actor's proudest achievements, he liked to say."

Newman was passionately opposed to the Vietnam War and strongly in favor of civil rights.

His legend also stands in the world of racing. He teamed up with Carl Haas starting Newman/Haas Racing in 1983 and joined the CART Series and went on to claim multiple wins and several series championships.

But, it would be remiss, while celebrating his life and achievements, not to mention Newman's Own, a line of foodstuffs that enabled him and his partner, A.E. Hotchner, to donate more than $175 million, all of the company's profits, to charities, an astonishing accomplishment for an enterprise which began as a joke.

It was his private life that he held dear and closest to his chest. It is most effectively characterized in a written statement by his daughters, "Our father was a rare symbol of selfless humility, the last to acknowledge what he was doing was special. Intensely private, he quietly succeeded beyond measure in impacting the lives of so many with his generosity."

Along with his wife, Joanne Woodward, Newman enjoyed a true rarity in Hollywood, a long-term marriage. To show his appreciation for his wife he once quipped to Playboy Magazine, "I have steak at home, why go out for hamburger?"

But it is his persona onscreen that will forever stick in my mind. I remember when I first "discovered" Paul Newman. In a darkened theater back in the days when going to the movies was a real event. I watched him and Robert Redford wise crack their way through Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid.

It was after that performance that I became consumed with learning as much about him as I could and I have been a fan, on every level, ever since.

Source / The Huffington Post

See Legendary actor Paul Newman dies at age 83 / AP.



The Rag Blog / Posted September 27, 2008

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FILM : Arianna Huffington on 'Swing Vote"

Kevin Costner in 'Swing Vote'. Photo courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures.
What the new film tells us about the '08 race, and why Obama needs to put Kevin Costner on his iPod
By Arianna Huffington / August 4, 2008

The makers of Swing Vote, the new film starring Kevin Costner, have pulled off a rare double play, producing a smart political satire that is also heartfelt and moving. It's also a film that turns out to be remarkably relevant to the 2008 race.

Costner plays Ernie "Bud" Johnson, a beer-drinking, unemployed resident of Texico, New Mexico who as fate -- and a voting machine error -- would have it, will single-handedly decide a presidential election (sure, it's high concept, but don't forget that in 2000 New Mexico was decided by just 366 votes). The media descends on him, as do both presidential candidates and their win-at-all-costs campaign managers.

The film has lots to say about -- and gets plenty of laughs from -- the evils of modern campaigns: pollsters, lobbyists, focus groups, and the inevitable mudslinging and negative ads. The film features a bunch of satiric smear ads launched by the competing candidates -- incumbent GOP President Andrew Boone (Kelsey Grammar) and his Democratic challenger, Donald Greenleaf (Dennis Hopper). You can see them here, here, here, here, and here.

But as ludicrous and over-the-top as the film's negative ads are, none of them can hold a candle to the absurd ads unleashed last week by the McCain camp and the RNC.

Paris Hilton and Britney Spears? Really? David Hasselhoff? John McCain has been waiting his whole life to run for president and the best he's got is Britney, Paris, and the Hoff? And Moses? Everything about the McCain media reeks of desperation -- and a stunning disconnect from popular culture. Does the McCain campaign's computers have Google software than can only go back to 2003? And the RNC's ad ended with a riff on Leo DiCaprio in Titanic. That was 1997. When John McCain still had principles.

The film shows how, in their hunger to win, the candidates are willing to say or do just about anything -- and chalk it up to the price of doing business. At one point near the end of the film, both candidates have crises of conscience. President Boone, disgusted at his own willingness to abandon his core principles to court voters -- "dancing the dance," as his campaign manager calls it -- wonders aloud, "What are we about?" To which his campaign manager replies: "Winning. If we don't win, you can't do what you set out to do. And everything you've done won't matter."

But even the two campaign managers -- who are the personification of cynicism -- eventually admit the emptiness of that realpolitik rationalization. When one of them bemoans "the whole bullshit system," the other reminds him: "We are the system. If it's bullshit, it's because we're bullshit."

Watching as these two fictional candidates completely lose sight of why they are running, and lose track of everything other than winning, I couldn't help but think of McCain, reduced to voting against the banning of torture, and denouncing his own immigration bill.

In a moving speech before the film's climactic final debate, Bud comes to terms with his own role in the degradation of our politics:

It's sorta like somewhere along the way I checked out, and it's not like I had huge dreams to begin with... I have never served or sacrificed. The only heavy lifting I have ever been asked is simple stuff, like pay attention -- vote. If America has a true enemy, I guess it's me.

It's an incredibly tough scene to pull off -- but Costner does it beautifully, giving flesh and blood to a man who has stopped believing that he can make a difference or that politics matters, and has simply given up.

Bud Johnson is a powerful stand-in for the 83 million eligible Americans who didn't vote in 2004, and is precisely the kind of voter the Obama campaign should be targeting every day. Reaching America's Buds is more critical than ever; if we don't, and if the Buds keep turning away, disheartened and disillusioned, we will never see real change.

Instead we'll see campaigns spending all their time courting the affection of fickle, fence-sitting swing voters. The kinds of people who could be influenced by the Britney/Paris ad.

So each and every day Barack Obama should roll out of bed in the morning and ask himself, "What can I do to get the real life Bud Johnsons of this country to check back in, to pay attention, to vote, to reconnect to the dreams they have abandoned along the way?" I recently suggested that Obama fill his Kindle and his iPod with the great speeches of RFK and Martin Luther King. He should add Costner's finale to the mix.

I have a very small part in Swing Vote, playing myself. Talk about type casting. We filmed in New Mexico, in an arena. I was in a booth with Aaron Brown and Lawrence O'Donnell. There were laptops all over the set, and I kept pulling up the home page of HuffPost on each of them.

We filmed my scene all night. The producers had gotten me a hotel room, but I never even saw it. We kept shooting and I eventually just went straight from the set to the airport the next morning. In between shots, we would go to Kevin Costner's trailer and sit outside under the stars while he played guitar.

I watched Costner film his big speech that night. And it was powerful. But not nearly as powerful as it is now, in the context of the current state of the race. So go see Swing Vote. Bring your cynicism, you idealism, and a box of Kleenex.

Source / The Huffington Post

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Oh Where is the Jon Voight of Yesteryear...

Voight Offensive
By Mike Klonsky / The Rag Blog / July 30, 2008

Wing-nut Jon Voight (channeling his late amigo Charlton Heston) warns us that electing Obama will bring about “a socialst era” in America. I doubt it.

He blames it all on school reformer/educator Bill Ayers, us civil rights and anti-war activists, and other assorted, "militant white and black people" who hypnotized him back in the '60s. I hope my friend and colleague Bill realizes the kind of power he has. Name me one other progressive educator who can single-handedly so influence the course of American politics.

Damn! What ever happened to the Jon Voight in Coming Home, who gave that great speech at the end, to high school students, warning them that the Vietnam war wasn’t all it was cracked up to be?

When I was your age, all I got was some guy standing up like that, man, giving me a lot of bullshit, man, which I caught. I was really in good shape then, man. I was captain of the football team. And I wanted to be a war hero, man, I wanted to go out and kill for my country. And now, I'm here to tell you that I have killed for my country or whatever. And I don't feel good about it. Because there's not enough reason, man, to feel a person die in your hands or to see your best buddy get blown away. I'm here to tell you, it's a lousy thing, man. I don't see any reason for it. And there's a lot of shit that I did over there that I find fucking hard to live with. And I don't want to see people like you, man, coming back and having to face the rest of your lives with that kind of shit. It's as simple as that. I don't feel sorry for myself. I'm a lot fucking smarter now than when I went. And I'm just telling you that there's a choice to be made here.

Maybe he and fellow new-McCarthyites Sol Stern and Checker Finn ought to order it from Netflix, heat up some pop corn, and watch it together.

Mike Klonsky blogs at Small Talk.

See VOIGHT: My concerns for America / Washington Times / July 28, 2008

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