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6/23/2004
ACCELERATE PRESS
The presses have been quiet around here not because we don’t have things to
report on, but because we’ve been doing too much to have time to report! We’ve
got a mess o’ pictures of local bands and burlesque to upload, but that’ll
probably take a day or three. Meanwhile, let’s all go to the movies instead! Or
at least the movie reviews…
FILM FLAM
Sunday was the monthly Modo Movie at the drive in with Steve McQueen in Bullit,
and Russ Myers’ Super Vixens.
Personally, I find Bullit to be one of the dullest films of all time. Yes, it
has that one great chase sequence. But I would’ve rather fastforwarded through
the first hour of little plot, no dialogue, and no action to get there, then
shut off the rest of the pointless film entirely. Some said that it was just the
time period, but SW did a little research and pointed out a half dozen films
released about that time that are action packed. Holy cow, what a sleeper.
On the other hand, Russ Myers’ Super Vixens is non-stop action of one form or
another. It’s nonsensical to the point of surreal, but if plot is important to
you you’re probably not a Russ Myers fan. If women with incredible bodies and
Amazonian attitudes are your thing you should steal a car and get to the video
store and hold the place up at gunpoint and demand all their Russ Myers films.
Then the cashier should kick the gun out of your hand and wrestle you to the
ground and sit on your face and laugh. And you’ll like it.
Oh – what was I talking about?
Oh yeah, Super Vixens. Anyhow, it’s a movie about some poor bastard who stumbles
from one strange encounter to the next, all the while trying to fend of the
advances of luscious women and sadistic men. Somewhere in there is something to
do with the ghost of his ex girlfriend, slain by a vicious cop, but by that
point you pretty much can’t figure out what the hell is going on.
Or maybe it’s just the naked girls on screen frying your brain.
Regardless, it’s a must-see.
Monday we headed up to some movie theater OTP to catch the one time showing of
the Elvis 68 Comeback Special on the big screen, a promotional thing for it’s
release on DVD the next day. The TV special was originally just one hour, but it
was put together from several shows taped for that purpose. The DVD apparently
gives you every minute of every show, logging something like 7 hours of footage.
Frankly, the hour and a half or so version they showed on the big screen had a
bit too much repetition in it, but if you’re an Elvis fanatic nothing I can say
is going to stop you from buying it, and the Aloha from Hawaii DVD. Editing
aside, the Comeback Special is Elvis in top form, returning to the stage after 7
years of filming shitty movies instead of doing what he did best – rockin’ the
fuckin’ house DOWN. 7 more years and he’d be a living joke, a couple more after
that he’d be dead, but in ’68 you got a glimpse of the then-living legend. Worth
renting if you’re not a fanatic.
Afterward, we drove across town to the Starlight Drive In where The Forty Fives
needed extras for a video shoot. Rumors of free beer turned out to be unfounded,
so we picked up a few on the way and stood around with other degenerates waiting
for things to get rolling. Eventually they put together a rickety stage/scaffold
in front of one of the screens and shot the band lip-synching to one of their
high energy tunes while the crowd danced along. It was worth the trip just to
see the behind the scenes action and the bragging rights we’ll get when they’re
famous for 15 minutes and you can just spot us in the video if you freeze frame
it and squint while looking right there in the corner. No, not there, there…
Tuesday we returned to the drive in for our weekly flick, ignoring the solid
wall of storm clouds creeping across the Weather Channel. Dodgeball is
predictable and inane, but has moments of hilarity, especially if you were
terrorized by the sport as a child. Just the TAANG sound of the ball bouncing
off someone’s head was enough to make me giggle with a mixture of memories both
pleasant and painful. Ben Stiller does a good job playing the evil idiot, Vince
Vaughn does a fair job playing the good idiot, the others are all but invisible.
If you liked Dumb and Dumber, Old School, BASEketball or any film of that ilk
you’ll probably like Dodgeball. Make sure to stick around after the credits too.
Wednesday it was a slow day at the office so I took a long lunch and snuck out
to see Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. If you’ve looked at any mass
media lately you already know this is getting critical raves for it’s dark,
lush, more mature tone. As with the other two films, there’s a plot twist at the
end you don’t see coming, though by now you know there must be one, you’re just
not sure what it will be (and I’m not going to spoil it for you.) But if you’re
interested in the movie, you probably should see it on the big screen. It’s
pretty and dark, which only works on a big screen in a dark theater. Get out
there and catch it before some other summer blockbuster dispels it from the
theater.
EAR PLUGS
Degenerate SG said, “I heard nothing about Echo. Other than email from them
saying they changed age from 18+ to 21+. Did they get cited for underage
drinking?”
Apparently there’s some dispute about all ages shows and such, I haven’t tried
to figure out the whole mess but regardless they’re open and now 21 & up only,
so kids complain to your local city council about this and the bullshit 2:30
last call.
BLASPHEMY
I borrowed this from degenerate AG's livejournal:
The religious right has targeted one of Georgia's Supreme Court Justices, Leah
Sears, for defeat on July 20 due to her support of equal rights for gays.
http://www.sovo.com/2004/6-11/news/localnews/judge.cfm
http://www.gwinnettdailyonline.com/GDP/archive/article76E67738512B4AB7B0F834B07B128E45.asp
Despite the fact that she is one of Georgia's good judges, I do not think she
has a good chance of holding onto her seat. She has to win a statewide election,
and the only really big July 20 statewide election is the Republican one for
U.S. Senate candidate, and that's gonna bring all the fundies to the polls. Her
opponent has the very active backing of the Christian Coalition and the like,
and they have made putting him in office their number one priority this
election.
Since few people will show up to the polls on July 20, it may only take a few
extra voters to swing this election. This is one where your direct participation
can make a difference. More information on the Sears campaign is here:
http://www.searsforjustice.com
We are holding our first volunteer meeting this evening (6/22) at 7:00 pm at 726
Spring Street Atlanta, Georgia 30308. We will layout our visibility plan for the
entire state of Georgia and hopefully will recruit eager and supportive
volunteers to assist with the campaign. Please come to the meeting if you are
available.
I’m hesitant to let the political diatribes continue, since it seems to generate
a mess of unsubscribes, but it ain’t like I’m losing money by losing subscribers
so here we go again, kicking things off with color commentary on Reaganomics
from degenerate LS:
When Reagan was in office, I was a volunteer for the Oregon Human Rights
Coalition. It became one of the most heart breaking experiences of my
life. When Carter was president he began a very effective program to
end welfare dependency. When a person applied for benefits they were
given basic skill tests to assess their readiness to enter the work
force. If for example their reading skills weren't adequate they were
sent to classes to bring them up to speed. If they had no high school
diploma they received GED classes before being put in the jobs program
and so forth. Childcare was provided and they were given bus tokens so
they could actually get there. If a person was ready for work they
entered the jobs program where they attended some resume writing and
interviewing training before being sent out to see prospective
employers who registered with the state to list job openings. They were
also able to go to select stores and pick out two interviewing outfits
and then were issued a voucher to give the store so the store got paid
for the items. If a person has been poor long enough coming up with
appropriate work clothes can be a challenge. Once again child care and
bus tokens were provided. Once the person got a job, childcare was
subsidized until the person had worked long enough to pay for it
themselves. When Reagan came into to office ending this program was
almost his first act. At the same time Reagan also eliminated
legislation that required certain ship repairs be done in the US. In
Portland 1200 union welders lost their jobs in one week due to this.
The same week about the same number of railroad welders lost their jobs.
Next the bottom fell out of the housing market and mills started
shutting down. In several cases in Oregon the mills were so far away
from other towns that the mills paid for the schools and other services
their workers needed. When they closed people found themselves living a
four hour drive from the nearest schools and shopping. They couldn't
sell their homes because they were just too remote. Then as a topper
Reagan decided to use Oregon as a test for his new job program which
required a recipient to start looking for a job when their youngest
child turned 3 instead of 6 like everywhere else. No childcare or
transportation was provided. His job program was that each person had
to show up at the office every day without their children, where they
were given a copy of the yellow pages and told to start going through it
and asking businesses for jobs. They were also given ridiculously high
quotas of applications turned in and actual interviews per week. The
situation was so bad that almost overnight a card board city sprang up
under the bridges where suddenly homeless families were living. Even
McDonald's had huge banners up saying no applications being taken.
There were no jobs. Going down the streets you could see bight orange
foreclosure stickers on house after house. When the applicants didn't
meet their quotas they were sanctioned or kicked off welfare for
'refusing' to cooperate with the program. My job became trying to help
these people write letters to their various political representatives
seeking help and trying to help them with the ever changing welfare
rules. On many occasions when they went back with the documentation,
the rules had changed and now this was no good and they were supposed
to do something else. Even with a college education I couldn't keep up
with what these people were supposed to be doing but I tried. After a
month or so I actually saw a politician say on television what a success
the new program was and cite the numbers of people that were now off
welfare. Yes and living in boxes downtown you worthless ass! All of
the people I worked with wanted a good life for their families and
despite the bull the right likes to spew, welfare is not a good or easy
life. For a brief time when my daughter was three, I looked
unsucessfully for a job until I reluctantly had to apply for welfare. I
was given $105 a month and treated like such shit that I actually broke
out in tears in the case workers office. You would think she was
cutting me a check out of her bank account. Needless to say I couldn't
even buy groceries for two with that much less rent so we became
homeless. When that happened I quit receiving benefits because I didn't
have a verifiable address. Reagan may be a hero to the wealthy but I
remember the devastating effects of Reaganomics all to clearly to ever
want to do anything but spit on his grave.
Degenerate LS
Another one from degenerate RVI:
Degenerate SR said: "Degenerate RVI is an eloquent writer, and he (?) presents
some interesting ideas. However, reading his lament of the 24-year "revolution,"
I wonder which president he'd prefer to live under? Carter? Ford? Nixon?
Something before 1965, perhaps? Which end of the bus would RVI be sitting in?
Was the world a better, happier place in 1979 than it is today?
The Golden Age that RVI feels such nostalgia for has never existed.
We're moving forward. Not in Great Leaps, and not without detours or
backtracking...but we're moving forward."
RVI replies: (Thank you for the compliment, and I am male.) Was the world a
better, happier place in 1979 than today? I think that’s the wrong question
because it presupposes the belief that things have actually progressed on many
levels, especially on a cultural level, a belief with which I strongly disagree.
Things in late 20th century America did not so much progress as rapidly change,
grow, and become more complicated - an acceleration of change is arguably not
the same thing as real progress; it's too superficial to be called that. But you
are right - there is no "Golden Age" in history, either in the past or the
future. Golden Ages are the ideals we create in our minds as products of
philosophical (and other) speculation ; then, imperfectly, we attempt to live up
to them. There are presidents and moments in history from the past I admire - I
wouldn’t care to re-live my life under them. I am not a creature of some past
age, I was born 38 years ago and have to live right now and deal with both what
I have been given and what should be done with it, the actual and the ideal. One
of the problems with my "right now" is the dominant neo-conservativism that runs
contrary to my own ideals and morality, a domination, which began with Nixon,
but derailed by his basic crookedness, and was reborn with a more congenial face
man, i.e. Reagan. So, I am left with being unable to reconcile myself to just
accepting that things are "not as bad as they could be" - it disturbs me that
they are nowhere near being pointed in the direction they ought to go. I am a
philosopher; this is my curse.
Degenerate HPL wrote: "Zipperhead RVI: It is time to get over yourself. Even if
you believe that Reagan's good works were accidental -- nothing but the residue
of flawed and demonic policies akin to condensation on an icy glassful of greed
-- your life's good works, in comparision, are nothing. Cut the guy some slack.
He's dead, and you ain't so perfect neither.
Degenerate RVI replies: Cut him some slack? I may not be perfect, not by a damn
longshot, but, by God, I was never "Leader of the Free World" while running a
secret, absolutely anti-democratic, government behind the backs of Congress to
illegally fund things Congress had forbidden me to do, either. Nor a host of
other things [see Degenerate JDP’s letter last episode]. I have no judgements
about the man’s personal life, only his public one - as a practicing
Episcopalian, in fact, I firmly believe God is merciful and that Mr . Reagan is
now in a place of peace. The problem with this world seems to be that it’s a
test, and the more responsibility you’re given, the greater the opportunities to
fail - and, as a world leader, Reagan was a failure; and as a domestic leader,
Reagan was destructive. On a personal level, I’m certain he did his best. But
you’re right, my good works are about nil; thanks for the reminder. For someone
who has as little social human contact as I do, however, it always amazes me
that many people seem to know my actions and sins as well as they do.
And the expected spew of abuse from degenerate PK:
> Welcome back to the broadcast, PK. I have sorely
> missed the rapier-like subtlety of your (almost)
> Swiftian wit.
Oh brother.
Well, it's nice to be back for some lively conversation.
Degenerates SR & HPL, welcome to the game. You'll find it's a waste of time
trying to inject common sense into these jokers, but I like to have a little
fun with them from time to time. They get so moody when you disagree with
their narrow-minded beliefs.
I love liberals. They claim to be champions of diversity, but when a side
opposes them, they get their panties in a wad. This is why I believe them to
be proponents of socialism rather than tried and true democracy. With that
in mind, here we go...
> The number of people living below the poverty line
> increased by roughly 20 % from 1980 to 1988.
> Homelessness became a serious problem as federal
> subsidies for affordable housing were slashed.
Homelessness is and always has been a local issue, it's not for the feds to
control. Blame our cities' mayors. Even when homelessness maxed out during
the Clinton administration, I could find no reason to blame him. He may have
"felt the pain" of the homeless, but couldn't do much about it.
> live on when you can LOAN it to them and rape them on
> interest for the rest of their lives!
30 year loans are somewhat of a thing of the past. Anyone who owns a home
and is halfway financially sophisticated will show you the numbers (see my
Greenspan item below).
Loans are not an issue of rape, it's more like prostitution. With rape, a
victim has little choice but to lay there and let the protagonist get their
rocks off for fear of getting hurt (like letting the government tax you to
death).
> - as a double whammy [and as RVI
> pointed out] help create a culture of consumerism
> to encourage everyone to BUY regardless of need
> -- you get to claim that your economy recovers, and
> everyone's in your debt! What a DEAL, huh?).
Yeah, I got my MTV. Experts agree that MTV was one of the biggest driving
influences of consumer culturism in the 1980s. Known for it's liberal
leanings and Rock the Vote propaganda, this network has always been designed
to sway impressionable kids away from common sense and to vote for the guy
who wears boxers.
What hand did Reagan have in individuals spending money they did not have?
I'll bet both JDP and RVI carry credit card balances of $3000 to $8000 with
no hope of paying off their debts any time soon.
In America, individuals have the freedom to make choices that affect
themselves unlike other countries where the governments make those choices
for you. True freedom allows for individuals to fail.
Do RVI and JDP think that government can better spend individuals' money? If
so, on what and how much?
> In fairness, Reagan's SDI speech, although ludicrous
> to anyone who has passed a physics class, did (according
> to Gorbachev) help convince enough of the Soviet conservatives
>(many believed SDI was feasible) that the Soviet Union would not
> be able to compete with the US in that field, and they acquiesced
> Gorbachev's peace initiatives.
I knew you'd see the light, JDP! If not for Reagan, Gorbie would have
continued his country's decline by keeping communism alive. So, do you agree
that when a country is going down path to hell, that America should
intervene?
>...lowered unemployment,...
> did do that. Unemployment was topping 10 percent, and
> increased in the first months of the Reagan presidency
> fore the business cycle began to reverse it. For all the
> "morning in America" propaganda, everyone seems to forget
> the negativity of the "misery index" speeches given by Reagan
> and Bush Sr., during the election cycle. The intent was
> clear. Life under a Democratic president sucked, and now
> that we're in, life is great! Life clearly did become
> better for some, and it clearly became worse for others.
Is this John Kerry typing these words? I think that last sentence was a
direct quote form John Kerry talking about our invasion of Iraq.
Speaking of, do you think misery index concepts are ethically and morally
wrong? Take a look at what your pal, Kerry's web site:
http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/releases/pr_2004_0412.html
I guess that propaganda should only be tolerated when it is directed the
other way, eh?
; )
>...lowered the interest rate... blah blah blah...
> Paul Volker of the Treasury resisted lowering interest rates,
> but Alan Greenspan (although Greenspan was initially opposed
> to lowering rates for fear of inflationary pressures)
> eventually did so.
Thank God Greenspan is still here today to lower interest rates. Last month
I refinanced my rental house and I'm saving hundreds of dollars per month.
Thanks to inflation and continuing increasing equity, my rental house is
bringing in further income and when I sell it, I'll make 300 to 400% profit
after my loan payoff. We're still enjoying Reagan's intuition and excellent
decision-making today. That's another victory for the Gipper.
> I wrote this off the top of my head when it was
> way past my bedtime.
Neat.
Degenerate PK
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