Ali G in Da House (2002)

Fucking hilarious!!! It is a laugh riot. Ok, well you have to be akin to Sasha Baron Cohen’s ultimate idiot faux gansta, Ali G. Well, maybe not, because it is so stupid that it is brilliant.

Most American’s know Ali G for his two years on HBO. Some know that he was a big hit in England before that. In fact, most of the jokes on the American Ali G show are right off the British version.

Ali G in Da House was not released in America. I saw it on DVD, on a vacation to London in 2002. It was released here after Ali G gained popularity and now is available on DVD.

It starts out with Ali G in an East L.A. gang war. He is caught up defending two Mexican woman, who he speaks French to. He saves a little Mexican boy, and tells him that “life is the greatest thing that Jah has given us.” Then he wakes up.

He lives with his grandmother in an upper middle class neighborhood in suburban England. He calls the local police force the LAPD, while he jams out to reggae. He has his name on his car above the drivers seat and “Me Bitch” written on the passenger seat.

Ali is the head of the “West Staines Massive,” his gang, which includes him and British comedian from the UK "The Office", Martin Freeman; plus some other guy. They are combated by the “East Staines Massive;” a rival gang. Think of the Bloods and the Cripes, if they were on the Disney channel.

Ali’s job, if he actually gets paid, is to terrorize small suburban kids into thinking that they will be fighting the next gang war. Maybe he actually believes "South Central" England will arrive any minute- it’s just funny.

The community center, which he works at, is going to be torn down. Now, Ali G has to do something about that in a more gansta way. So, he runs for Parliament, and has the best time, until he is confronted by an enemy that is “eviler than Skelator.”

There are plenty of bad words, sexual references and potty humor. It’s great.

The Assault on Reason (2007) – Al Gore

I guess what Al Gore does best is to pull a lot of information together in a cogent meta-analysis. He did that with the Inconvenient Truth. He took information about Global Warming, which was just very esoteric and unstructured data that scientists, who had seen the effects of global warming while they were studying other things, had been warning Congress about. Gore put it in a coherent package that could be presented to the masses, so much so that people were able to understand it and feel motivated by it. It was quite a feat!
It has been right wing rhetoric to brand Global Warning as a political argument, bad science, or premature. There were also people saying that the earth was in the mists of another ice age, and of course they said the Sun is going to explode soon. Such arguments were successful in leaving people so confused that nothing would be done about Global Warming in this country. Gore shifted the scales.
This time around, Gore takes on the murky topic of the post 9-11 American government, and the culture that created it. He takes all the disjointed facts out there on the Government (Bush Administration) and tries to make sense of it.
Gore goes at it with a style that mixes history, law, science and current events together. He contends that corporations and special interests are the highest bidder that controls American politics whether it is a Republican or a Democratic in office. He goes further as to suggest that American politics has become a 30 second television ad, which are extreme expensive to produce and show. Politicians spend little time doing their jobs of governing, and instead they spend most of their time fund-raising. Often, they don’t read the bills, attend debates or vote.
Because of the age of Television, especially Cable Television, the political debate in this country has been cut off from the American people. This wasn't always the case. He cites copious amounts of documents and historical records, such as the Federalist papers, to highlight that a national debate is essential to survival of the United States of American as per the founding fathers. Since, television is a one-way communication medium, people don’t feel like they don’t have a say in government, and in turn, become apathetic. He shows data to support this idea.
Gore describes the evolution of the political debate over the life of the United States, and he shows how it is getting more and more abstract. He carefully describes the brain washing techniques used in modern day cable news programs that report little of the news and gives a lot of opinions set along specific political lines. He illustrates this by speaking of the invention of the radio, which had everything to do with the raise of Hitler and Mussolini. Both dictators programmed their audience with the gravitas of their voice transmitted over radio. The same is happening with the cable news problems and talk radio. Both not only give their version of the news, they tell their audience how to feel about it.
The difference from watching the news and reading the newspaper is that when you read a newspaper the information goes through a mental filtering process by the nature of reading. When you watch the news, you are being manipulated through a more primitive brain function, you don’t think about if you agree with it or how you feel about it, because it bypass prefrontal cortex (where higher ordered brain functioning occurs) and the message goes straight to emotional knowledge.
Al Gore who has a much higher opinion of President George W. Bush than most Americans at this time, painfully goes over the copious amount of constitutional crimes that are occurring and utter incompetence of the Bush administration.
Gore makes one of the first public statements that I have heard, which states the 9-11 could have been avoided. He cites reports that were given to president Bush in august of 2001 that warned of the 9-11 attacks. Apparently Bush responded with mass negligence. He dismissed the reports and told the agents that they had covered their ass, and continued with his vacation. Gore states that when reports were delivered to the Clinton-Gore administration, that an emergency meeting were held, and every possible scenario would be considered. Bush did nothing.
He cites that Paul O’Neil, an early Bush cabinet member, had stated that from the start of the Bush administration, George W. Bush looked for any excuse to invade Iraq. He goes further, and cited Paul Wolfowitz’s statement that the argument of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was picked by a focus group that it determined it would be the most acceptable story that the American people take to support an invasion Iraq. So there was never a belief at any time that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, it was just a marketing strategy by the administration.
George Bush has replaced much of the government officers with inept political appointees who make their decisions based on political ideals. One of the greatest American disasters, Hurricane Katrina, was a handled along political lines that failed the American people. Without a press to keep the Bush administration honest, and a government that keeps being undermined by the executive branch, the Bush administration has been changing the government of the United States to not be a representative democracy and instead it is transforming it to be more of a dictatorship. Constitutional breeches have been common, with a distain for this country being land of law. The executive branch sees itself as being above the law, and most people don’t seem to care because they feel they have no say. The only salvation to save our republic , as Gore sees it, is the Internet. At this point in time anyone can give feedback to this country’s national debate via blogs, websites and youtube like videos. He leaves with a warning that the Internet should stay free and that the national American political debate must come back to the people.

Overall, this is a great book. Often it is difficult to read because it reveals an America that we feel, but don’t truly understand. The book is written in a manner that is open to anyone. I truly recommend this book to everyone.

Happiness in magazines – Graham Coxon (2004)

Music for graphic designers, it seems like it would help if you were single, somewhere between 25 – 35 years old, artsy, and urban to understand where ex-Blur guitarist Graham Coxon is at with this album. If you are, I think you might love it. Happiness in magazines is a formidable guitar driven disc, typical of Coxon’s fluidity with a Fender.

It is hard not to hear Blur at the start of each song. It is like a George Harrison album in that way. Harrison’s style defined the Beatles sound. Likewise, Coxon’s style gave Blur an added lift and balanced out Damon Albarn’s lyrics.

With this album, Coxon’s is confident and in control of his music. The songs seem focused, energetic, and developed. Songs like “Freaking out,” which I think is the best track here, are semi-punk assaults on the listener. Most of the album is a full-fledged rock album. The songs are short, loud, and the lyrics aren’t bad either.

Coxon performs most of the album entirely by himself and he painted the album art.

Coxon writes about what he knows, his friends, living in London, and his emotional state. My favorite lyric is from the song “no good time,” is “graphic designer, you could look no finer in your eyeliner and your silas jeans.” He paints very a specific pictures and I know exactly whom he is talking about. Another song like “hopeless friend” takes you into this hipster/artsy world. These songs are more like an exposé’s of these people’s lives, and it is not always positive. He isn’t trying to sound hip or necessarily write music that these people would listen to.

There is something very honest here, and it comes out as confidence in the songs. There is an intelligence and sensitivity that is easy to feel and connect to.

The US version of Happiness in magazines has 13 tracks on it, which includes the bonus one. About 10 out of 13 are good.

The track, “bittersweet bundle of misery” sounds a lot like “Coffee and TV” from Blur, which I think is their best song.

This album is really hard to find. I couldn’t find it in New York City. I found it at Reckless Records in Chicago, which is small chain of used records stores.

Overall, I really like this album. It is easy to get into, and I find myself wanting to listen to the whole album instead of a single track or two.

Rocket Science (2007)

Probably the most psychological correct movie I have ever seen about being a teenager. In the same vein as Rushmore and Napoleon Dynamite, Rocket Science is a brilliant comedy about how absurd normal life can be. What many people do in this situation is to go off into fantasy. Fantasy about sex, violence or social success becomes the genesis of high school clicks. If you stay grounded then you probably don’t fit in.

Rocket Science is a delightful film and it is as hilarious as it is charming.

Meet Hal Hefner. He is a freshman in High School in New Jersey. If that wasn’t worse enough, he has an unpredictable stuttering problem. His parents are getting divorce and his older brother picks on him. He doesn’t really talk to people, because he can’t get the words out. He is basically surviving. He is probably not the best pick to be the captain of the debate team.

In fact, that guy had a breakdown in the state championship, and was never seen again.

Hal, a guy just trying to get through a day, is recruited by strong willed and beautiful, at least to him, older girl who is co-captain of the debate club. She tells him that he could be the best at debate, because she feels that he has a deep seeded anger due to his stuttering.

He is not interested, at first, but he is interested in the girl.

She planted a seed or connected to a wish to he has, which is to be able to effectively speak to people.

This is the premise of the film. High School debate seems like another interesting esoteric topic like crossword puzzles or child beauty contests from movies like Little Miss Sunshine and Wordplay, and it is.

I was speaking with a speech therapist about this movie and she said that actor, Reece Thompson, did such a good job in portraying a person with a speech problem that she wondered if he really did have one, because all of the little details are there.

The movie is filled with many sad but true scenes of growing up. There is a scene when his parents are fighting and his father is leaving the family. Hal pets his dog for comfort. It’s poignant and common for so many kids from homes where there is too much fighting. It is those kind of details that gives away how autobiographical this film is, even if all the plot points may not.

Like Napoleon Dynamite, it doesn’t really give away the era it was suppose to be set in. The cast looked like they were wearing the latest Urban Outfitters styles. Of course that could have 70’s, 80’s or even 90’s. I remember that this was a topic of debate (no pun) with Napoleon Dynamite - when was it? I found that you can tell by looking at the technology. In this movie, there are no cell phones, Internet, and the only computer is an Apple IIc – so let’s say the movie is set in the mid-eighties.

For a slightly abused introverted boy with a speech problem, the only kind of girl he would truly fall for would be an overly aggressive, talkative bitch, who tries to shake him up. Her idea that he would have a huge reserve of anger is right in-line with Freud’s view that stuttering is caused by repressed anger.

Adults have flings, sensitive teenage boys have reactions to attraction like atoms being smashed. For the viewer in this movie, it is damn funny.

Throughout the film, each scene draws its humor out of truly sad, yet typical situations. Sometimes, the film hits too close to the mark. Everyone I have talk to about this film, related to it, and it did not matter if they were male or female. In the audience, laughs came about every five seconds.

You really started to care about Hal, and wonder if he will survive high school. Towards the end of the film, you realize that he is going to be OK. In context everything you have just watched it is highly satisfying.

Rocket Science is written and directed by Jeffrey Blitz, and stars Reece Thompson, Anna Kendrick , Nicholas D’Agosto, and Vincent Piazza. It is one of those movies that uses music really really well. The soundtrack has two Violent Femme’s songs , Blister in the Sun and Kiss Off. If you are familiar with “Kiss Off”, then you will really appreciate the Hal’s freak out scene that is set to that song. It was an excellent piece of filmmaking.
Rocket Science is the funniest film I have seen all year, and I can’t wait to own it.

The Nanny Diaries (2007)

Well, don’t want to say that this movie sucked, it certainly didn’t, although nothing else seems to come to mind.

I think if you are fan of the book, I think you will be significantly disappointed. It reminds me of the “Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy” – good book, bad movie.

Of course The Nanny Diaries is not without it’s redeeming qualities. Watching Scarlett Johansson for an hour and a half goes without saying. Laura Linney, Mrs. X, carries the film. She is fragile, terrible, and sympathetic at the same time. She plays the abusive selfish 5th Avenue mother, which Johansson, the Nanny, works for. Paul Giamatti plays her husband very well. He is as disgusting as one can be. As far acting talent goes, that’s about it. The kid, Grayer, played by Nicolas Art was probably the worst child actor I have ever seen. Alicia Keys plays the Nanny’s best friend, which makes absolutely no sense, because both girls seem like they would never have anything to do with each other. Chris Evans plays the Nanny’s love interest. I kept on waiting for him to say “Flame on” and rescue her as the “Human Torch.” Their romance is lacking too, as the movie gives no reason why they would want to be with each other, except for animal lust.

You can see how this is a very entertaining book. Some of the text is kept in the narration, which is cute, funny and insightful. However, the filmmakers Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini do about everything they can to ruin a very engaging and entertaining summer read. The first part of the Nanny Diaries feels like you are watching a Lizzie Macquire story. It gets better as you get into the story, which is good, but it is told in such a boring way. It could have easily been a Disney channel movie, if only they had edited it down.

The locations in the film are easily for most New Yorkers to recognize Columbia University, the Travelers building in Tribeca, the Avalon apartments in Jersey City, etc.


The best part of the movie is looking at this world of the superrich through an anthropological lens. It is both funny and puts things into perspective.

The Nanny Diaries is a story of a girl from New Jersey who has just graduated college. She is daughter of a single mother. She takes a job as a nanny to avoid life. Lies to her mother about the job. She finds herself almost being a slave to a rich bitch. However, she falls for the little boy who she is taking care and cannot leave the job so easily because of that. After the husband tries to seduce her, which she resists, the wife fires her. What is both sad and fascinating about this story is how realistic it seems. It is one of those times when reality is much stranger than fiction (no pun).

I would recommend the book over the movie.

Across the Universe (2007)

I have to admit that this is probably the best time I have had at the theatre in a while. This movie is basically “The Beatles, the musical.” There is barely a story here. It is just an excuse to make movie set in the 60’s and sing a lot of Beatles songs. In fact, they murder the songs most of the time. However, as my grandma used to say, you can murder a good song, but you can’t kill it. Basically, what you do with this film is to stop paying attention to any kind of narrative, and sing aloud with your favorite Beatles songs. They are mostly sung in a cheesy musical theatre fashion, which makes it easy to follow along. If you can't do that, then just enjoy the interesting visuals. If you can do both, then you will have a great time with this campy movie.

Of course, you might have some intellectual tension with the fact that this movie is constantly taking Beatles references literally to a point of nausea. Nausea ain’t fun! That is exactly why it is important not think too much while watching this.

Probably the best part of the movie are the visuals, which would be somewhat artistic if the movie just wasn’t so damn cheesy, but you are going to the listen to Beatles songs anyway, so who cares!

Bono is in the movie. He plays Dr. Robert. Dr. Robert is a John Lennon song from the Revolver album. Get it, the Beatles have a song called Dr. Robert and Bono plays Dr. Robert. OK, forgot it. Well, this was no stretch for Bono who basically played his Macfisto role from the Zoo TV tour. U2 constantly barrows from the Beatles anyway, so Bono was right at home here. You can here Bono sing “I am the Walrus,” which is pretty good, and “Lucy in the sky with Diamonds” with The Edge.

Did I mention that the Paul McCartney look-a-like, played by Jim Sturgess, is named Jude? His love interest, who was just 17, was played Evan Rachel Wood is named Lucy. And you have a Jojo, Sadie, Prudence, and lets just say, it gets worse. At one point Jude says, “She came in through the bathroom window.” oi, really! Now, she could have just done that and the audience would have gotten the picture, but no, the filmmakers had to go for 120% cheesiness. If you not a purest, it is possible to really enjoy this shtick.

I am not one to have an opinion on choreography, but I like it in this film. I really seems to have work well. There are a thousand and one references to people and events of the sixties that are so NOT subtle.

This film is directed by Julie Taymor.

Just think of Across the Universe as Beatles sing-a-long and you will be in great shape, and don’t forget to clap when they have John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, and Ringo in the credits, because it is the only mention of the actual Beatles in this movie. This feels like a cult classic!

Born to Kvetch by Michael Wex (2006)

It’s funny how Yiddish has become an acid test of Jewish authenticity. Of course, most Ashkenazi Jews(Jews typically from eastern European decent) comes from a Yiddish background anyway. Jews in the ghetto spoke almost nothing but Yiddish from the time of Crusades to the World War II. There are still pockets of Yiddish around the world that still do speak it, but they are very small. It is not the dominant Jewish cultural force that it once was. I know people from the former Soviet Union who are Jewish, or at least they say so, who are now living in Brooklyn and are trying to use Yiddish words and expressions to try to give a false impression of their Jewish background. The only problem is that they don’t get the words right and they misuse them to a point of laughter or embarrassment if you understand what is going on.

Michael Wex’s book is a good book if you feel like taking a stroll down a Polish Ghetto a hundred years ago. He is like that kid in school that tells you all bad words and dirty jokes of his culture. If you ever grew up in a place where there were many cultures living together, you know what I mean.

Wex does more than give you a babe mayse. He offers a cultural and historical explanation of the expressions and customs of the Yiddish language of which they are based on. It would be a good read if you grew up putting stones on a gravestone and only knew that it was the custom.

The writing is like the old person who has, long past, given up any tact of not using bad words in both Yiddish and English. In fact, I have not known so many dirty words in any book, yet in this academic pursuit, the book it doesn’t seems dirty and it is just a bit vulgar. Really, you can’t say Shlong without laughing or feeling uncomfortable. (figure it out).

Born to Kvetch goes further than just showcasing the Yiddish brought to this country between 1862 – 1948. The author brings Yiddish up to the present and even discusses Yiddish in terms of the Beatles and the Dot-com crash. He seems to be a huge fan of 60’s music and references it of often to explain the Yiddish phrases. He even uses Gangsta Rap to explain the word Yidena.

Wex explains the Yiddish that has been incorporated into America culture from such people as The Three Stooges to Lenny Bruce. Places like New York have Yiddish words used in their everyday language. Even a Chinese immigrant shleps. I explained to someone that people in California don’t shlep and never plotz. She just said that they probably don’t shmeer either.

This is a really great book if you are researching your Jewish roots or if you are interested in Jewish Studies. Sometimes, it is just good for a laugh. The writer is a Yid with all the humor that goes along with it. If you are not interested in this kind of stuff, you should be board out of your mind, because it is like spending 14 hours in Yeshiva.

I really like this book because it was so detailed and really gives a sense of how rich and developed the Yiddish culture is, and it does so without leaving out any of the superstitions, ironies, or the bad stuff. I know my grandmother spoke Spanish with a Yiddish accent, which sounds really weird if you ever get a chance to hear that.

The Good, the Bad, and the Queen – Live from Soho (itunes Exclusive EP) – 2007

The Good, the Bad and the Queen, the self-title debut, has been the best album I have heard so far this year. In April of 2007, they put an out live EP in New York while on tour. It was part of the “live for itunes” series. (“itunes” is Apple’s popular mp4 music store.)

The band played five tracks:

The History Song
Herculean
Behind the Sun
Natural Spring
Three Changes

In many ways this EP was better than the album. Of course, the album has more tracks. However, this EP sounded better. Even though it was a live recording, you can’t really tell that there was an audience present, expect for the claps at the start. What I really like about this recording was how clear everything sounded. The strings sounded beautiful here as oppose to the how they sound on the album, which pushed down and flatted in the background. The vocals, acoustic guitar, and electric bass sounded like you were in the same room.

The band had been touring for a while before they preformed this live session and you can hear how tight they were playing together at this point. Of course, the band members are all stars. Paul Simonon of the Clash, Damon Albarn of Gorillaz and Blur, Simon Tong of Verve, and Tony Allen make this band. All are all veterans and masters of their craft.

I am not normally a fan of these “live for itunes” series. I think of these itunes only recordings as a waste of money, because they seems to be neither a real live performance with a big audience to affect the music nor a proper studio performance where everything as perfect as it can be. However, this time, you are either getting a brilliant supplement to the original album or a well made sample of the band, depending on how you look at it.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007)

I hope that this series of books is taught in every woman’s studies course for now on. After finishing the story of Harry Potter, it is easy to see that this is a very similar tale that has been told throughout the ages. Star Wars was the last time it was told. It was the same story just set in space.

J.K. Rowling has told same story in a way for girls or at least it has a female perspective. As far as I know a woman has never written a tale like this before. Really, if you look at the fan base of Harry Potter it is mostly woman and children. Why, because they have never known this story before. Children are far too young for Star Wars, and I don’t mean that prequel business. And most women haven’t had much of an interest of a story written by men for other men.

Gender politics aside, Rowling’s brings a detailed emotional account of the hero’s struggle and his relationship to his friends and family, which was a part of the story which was missing in the thousands of years that it has been told. This is why the reader feels much more emotional attached to Harry Potter than they ever will to Luke Skywalker. Also, this is exactly where the Harry Potter movies fail every time. In Harry Potter story the emotional journey is just as important as the adventure.

With Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, it is the end of the series, the last book. It is really sad that the series is over. When the last page turns a little of the magic is gone too, because you are not wondering what is going to happen next or how it will end. You really don’t want to say good-bye to Harry or his friends. You feel a loss. I am sure that the publisher feels the same way as far as future profits are concerned. All of us wouldn’t mind another book.

Since this review is coming so late, I am sure that you know that Harry doesn’t die. I never thought he would anyway. How sad would that have been?

Now a list of the dead:

Hedwig
Mad Eye Moody
Remus John Lupin
Nymphaodora Tonks
Fred Weasley
Crab
Peter Pettigrew
Dobi
Bellatrix Lestrange
Voldemort
Snape

Like all Harry Potter stories, it starts at the Dursley house at 4 Privet Drive. The muggle and wizarding worlds are under attacked from the Death Eaters. Harry is stuck in his Aunt’s house until his 17th birthday, because it provides protection via charms. Once he turns 17, and is “of age” the dark forces are ready to sack him. So, “the Order” plans to get him out before the carnage. They make seven Harry Potters and fly out on broomsticks. Except, Voldemort and company are waiting and ambush. Somehow, they know the secrets plans of Harry’s escape, but they didn’t know which one is Harry. Voldemort goes after the real Harry, and they find that their wands dual unexpectedly. It is something that will unfold throughout the rest of the book.

Harry does escape, barely. He learns of what has been happening while he has been out of the loop. Things are bad.

Life goes on though and Bill Weasley and Flur are getting married. It goes well until the Death Eaters show up and crash the party. Now, Harry, Ron, and Hermione are together again and alone.

To be quite honest, the book lags for a while. The reader is just mildly entertained by brilliant little allusions to everything in all the previous books. It is truly remarkable.

The book really takes off when Harry, Ron, and Hermoine invade the Ministry of Magic. From this point on, it is a rush that never stops till the end.

My suggestion here is that if you can keep reading to the end. I made the mistake of trying to savor the book bit by bit. You want the rush. Keep going!

I see no need to give anymore of the story, or really why read the book? I can tell you that there is a showdown at Hogwarts. There are many clever plot twists.

At the very end, there is an epilogue. It is set way in the future. I am sure this will be a source of debate on the future of the Harry Potter for a long time.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is an end of an era. It is really cool to be alive in the period of literature. Be mindful of that. It is a brilliant end to a true classic.

Topbeagle in Chicago

Luciano Pavarotti passes. View from Lincoln Center, NYC

September 6th, 2007, Luciano Pavarotti passed. No mention of it at Lincoln Center, New York. No flowers.