Trane - genius explored...

Now this is totally cool.

Reminds me of that year Carlos Santana won all those Grammy's and he admonished us all to "listen to Coltrane every day."

War, Inc. - a shameless plug

I was listening to the Thom Hartman show this morning. Thom had one of my favorite actors on as a guest: John Cusack. I could go on and on about Cusack. He is one of the few actors for whom I will watch a film solely because he is in it -- "The Grifters," "Grosse Pointe Blank," or "High Fidelity" being some of my favorites. (As I commented to Eileen as we left the theater after seeing "High Fidelity," it was as if these guys had lovingly made the film just for me - still one of my favorite movies of all time).

Anyway, as I found out only today, Cusack has a new movie coming out today: "War, Inc." Hartman (whose opinion I totally respect), was raving about it, saying it was not only a powerful indictment against the Iraq war and corporatization of America, but also an absolutely hilarious and brilliant satire on the whole issue. Not surprisingly, in surfing around to get the link on the trailer for this post, I found lots of MSM sources saying things like "limping into New York" and the like. Cusack spent a lot of time on the Hartman show explaining how difficult is has been for him to get theater bookings because corporate Amerika is not looking kindly on his effort.

The film is only opening in LA and NYC this weekend, so Cusack was urging people in those cities to get out and see it. If they get good numbers in those cities they will get a larger theater release -- otherwise, you'll have to wait for the DVD. So, for those of my readers who are in LA or NYC, get off your asses and seek out "War, Inc." To spur you along, here is the trailer.

A Byrd soars....

I just heard that Robert Byrd, a powerful super delegate, has endorsed Obama. This got me thinking about the man's long life, including his youthful years when he embraced the Ku Klux Klan. That brought me back to one of Lenny Bruce's great riffs where he slips into the skin of a KKK used car salesman, who confesses that he has no beef with "Negroes" but needed to sell some cars to people who had the money to buy them. Unforgiving liberals: Don't forget that the exact same motivation, in one way or another, prompted young folks to join the Communist party!

My point is that Robert Byrd experienced a true reformation, which has made him one of my few living heroes. He opposed the Iraq war tooth-and-nail at every juncture, which is one of the main reasons he has today endorsed Obama. Please take the time to read his Senate speech opposing the war, BEFORE THE COWARDLY CONGRESS BENT TO THE WILL OF EVIL.

~ tom

May the force be with you, Barack

My good friend Josh sent me this link. I'm still laffin'. The whole thing is clever and funny, but the part that made me roar was the millisecond when Howard Dean appears near the end. I tip my cap to the people who put this together. Enjoy.

Weddings and death

I love weddings. I never tire of them. Send me an invitation and I'll be there if possible. Most likely, I will tear up with absolutely no shame. Perhaps the reason I love weddings so much is because of the joy and unmitigated optimism they engender in me. The couple are devoid of cynicism, and imbued with hope. As a stark contrast to my "wedding fetish," I offer the reverse: a death of a spouse in a long marriage.

Last week, a good friend unexpectedly died. While Eileen and I mourned his passing, we also bore the burden of supporting his wife, who was even a closer friend to both of us. As a friend of mine said recently, "death sucks." After attending the memorial service on Friday, and then sitting Shivah at their home last night with many of their friends, I was reminded of a wonderful quote from a Phillip K. Dick novel, "Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said." Paraphrasing: "Grief is the price you pay for the privilege of having loved." So true.

Anyway, in this context, I "Stumbled" across this wonderful wedding video, which was just the corny, yet so, so sincere antidote to my sadness, which I desperately needed. It's seven minutes long, so don't feel that you have to watch the whole thing; but, if you are a wedding freak like me, you will not be able to abort.

~ Tom

Miles v. Jesus?

Well, Miles certainly has more albums...

T.

Legitimate journalism...

The media these days should collectively hang its head, if not put it in a noose and jump off the stool. Thus, it always heartens me when I come across some real journalism, even from a source with which I rarely agree, including their ultimate opposition to any Democratic candidate -- The Economist and this article. Here are the closing paragraphs from the article:

There is one final reason why Mr Obama is almost there. More than any other candidate this year, he has articulated an idea of a nobler America. That is partly because of who he is. When Mr Obama's parents married, in 1960, a union such as theirs, between a white woman and a black man, was illegal in over half of America's states. Now their son stands at the threshold of the White House. But it also has a lot to do with what he says and how he comports himself. Despite considerable provocation, he has never wavered from his commitment to bipartisanship—nor from the idea of America once again engaging with the world. There are severe problems with the details, on which Mr McCain will hopefully push him even further than Mrs Clinton has, but the upside of an Obama presidency remains greater than that of any other candidate.

For all these reasons, Mr Obama in our view now deserves the Democratic nomination. It is surely not worth Mrs Clinton dragging this to the convention. It is time for her, at a moment of her choosing, to concede gracefully and throw the considerable weight of the Clintons behind their party's best hope.

Clinton to use "nuclear option?"

Well folks, based on my title to this post you were probably thinking HRC was just confirming her cowboy diplomacy promise to obliterate Iran if they messed with Israel. No, this nuclear option is one she plans on using against Brack Obama and all of us who are his loyal, and perhaps too naive, supporters.

Let's see: I'll have an election where the other guy is not even on the ballot, where even I agreed that the results would not be counted, and then demand to seat all the delegates as mine. (Michigan). Then, I'll have an election where the other guy, and others, are on the ballot, but we all agreed that the results would not count, AND WE TOLD ALL THE PROSPECTIVE VOTERS THE SAME DAMN THING, and now we'll pretend that it was a real election with no such strictures, so gimme my delegates. (Florida) Huh?

Disgustedly yours,

~ tom