philly

The Watchmen

I read Alan Moore's V for Vendetta a little whiles back and with the film coming out on Friday, I wanted to go grab a copy of another one of his classics, The Watchmen.

I used up almost the rest of my Barnes & Noble gift card I got for Christmas. It's a bit thicker than V for Vendetta. I start before bed in a little bit.

Jane on Dick's Book

Jane's taken on some daunting tasks in the past, but reading and analyzing Dick $antorum's book It Takes A Family [to kill a nation], whoa.

Reading her summaries and excerpts is about as much as I can stomach. She notes that there are lots of statistics thrown around, sourceless stats. Mmmm, sourceless. Here's a stat: 157% of Dick $antorum's genes are primordial ooze. I don't have a source for that though. You'll just have to take my word on it. As Colbert says, I feel it; look it up.

Crashing the Gate

There aren't a ton of books I think I would actually read these days. I used to be an avid reader. Loved going to the library to pick up the new whatever. But that love started to sour in high school and continuted through college. Having to read something, assigned to read something slowly bled that love from me. And three years removed from college, I still haven't recaptured that want to pick up a book and just devour it like I did over a decade ago.

Recently, I read The Godfather, a book I've wanted to read for forever. I loved it. Pulpy. It always had me wanting more. I couldn't put it down. It may sound crazy, but I had the same urge to read it every day like I did that one day when I was a kid reading Matilda. I can honestly say that I don't recall a thing about Matilda, but I vividly remember taking it with me to my dad's Carvel store in Tuckahoe, NY and reading it all day while he worked, in one sitting. I think I stopped a couple times to go to the bathroom and have a slice of pizza for lunch. But I read that thing ravenously. I'm racking my brain right now, but I still can't remember a thing about it. I can only recall that it was a paperback and it was a large paperback. That is all. But I read The Godfather in the same way. I think it took me five days or so, reading it before I went to bed each night for awhile, but I read that book like a madman.

My friend Pat lent me two graphic novels he thought I'd like: V for Vendetta and The Dark Knight Returns — I absolutely loved both of them. The want to read slowly returns perhaps.

And just a few minutes ago, I was reading through my RSS feed for my one of my favorite political blogs, MyDD and I see this post for a book, Crashing the Gate. It's by Jerome Armstrong and Markos Moulitsas Zúniga, the founders of MyDD.com and DailyKos.com, respectively. I want to read this thing. From Jerome's post:

If you like what we've been blogging about on Daily Kos and MyDD over the past 4 years, I know you'll enjoy reading Crashing the Gate. When we formulated the proposal for this book at the beginning of this year, we wrote a sort of historical chapter from this decade and the rise of the outsiders or reformers within the Democratic Party. That wound up being Chapter 5, Civil War, the story of CFR, Dean, and the rise of the netroots, placed within the context of the Democratic Party. Every other chapter takes it's footing from the blog world as well, but that was probably the easiest chapter to write, because most of it was from our experience, and didn't require a lot of interviews. We let the DNC winter meeting and the California Democratic convention of 2003 take the center stage for the presentation of Dean. I think those two speeches (and Dean never gave that speech again) epitomized the call to action that Dean for America represented to millions. And for us, being the first political event that gave credentials to bloggers, it was a breaking out moment for the blogosphere.

And for further incentive to get the book, "Full purchase goes directly to people and organizations working for social and political change -- Working Assets, Chelsea Green Publishing, and the authors" and it is "Printed on recycled paper, shipped in recycled packaging" mmmmmm.

Pre-orders will ship before it hits the bookstores and will have a nifty "Progressive Partner Special Limited Edition" footing on the cover. It ships in mid-late February; I think I'll order it as an early birthday present [Feb 3rd!] and I'll receive it as a late birthday present, it'll sort of prolong my birthday I guess.

"People-Powered Politics" — I can dig that.

Maureen Dowd at the Central Library

NY Times columnist Maureen Dowd is coming back to the Philadelphia Central Library to speak about her new book Are Men Necessary?: When Sexes Collide on Monday the 28th at Noon.

Arg, I wish I could go see her, but alas, middle of the day.

Jim's Back

Just read over at The All Spin Zone that Jim Capozzola is back to blogging at The Rittenhouse Review and The Lighter Side of Rittenhouse. It's been about three months or so. Too too long.

And I see in this post that Joe Conason is coming to town on Wednesday at 7p at Barnes & Noble [1805 Walnut St] to talk about and sign his new book The Raw Deal: How the Bush Republicans Plan to Destroy Social Security and the Legacy of the New Deal. A Comcast technician is supposed to fix my internet problem on Wednesday, hopefully by 6.30p so I can get over there for this.

Welcome back Jim!

Alan Lee at Friends Select

I was so excited to slosh out into the cold, dreary, wet, windy, disgusting night to go see Alan Lee speak at the Friends Select School tonight. I got there early in hopes that I could get him to sign my Fellowship of the Rings DVD set and I got there just as the crowd was gathering. He was out in front of the auditorium sitting by a stack of books and I walked up to him with the DVD set and asked if he'd sign it. He said of course and fumbled around looking for something to sign it with [he only had a pen]. I came prepared and whipped out a nice silver Sharpie [it's what I use when I sign prints of my photos] and he signed it "To Albert, Best wishes, Alan Lee" SWEET!

I settled into the front row with my new ginormous 80-200 f/2.8 zoom. One of the organizers told me that he likes to face a certain way while speaking and doing his slideshow presentation and ushered me to the center of the front row where I plopped myself and my bag o' goodies. I mounted my flash and waited for Alan to start. I took a few shots of him before he started to speak and more during the Q&A session, none during the presentation, that would've been mucho rude.

He said that he had never touched a computer until working on the Lord of the Rings films. And not until three years into the production of it at that. I believe it was seven years of work altogether [yes, I've watched all of the extended DVD sets and the extra footage DVDs]. But once he started with the computer, he worked solely in Photoshop and loved it. He was saying how hand made drawings were great when talking to other artists, but when it came to the computer animators and CGI designers, he felt that PS was a much better communicative tool.

He mentioned that he was here last December giving a similar talk and that the presentation this time would be of completely different images. I didn't go to, nor did I know about, him being here last year, but I was psyched as I knew this would all be new stuff to me. He's just as soft-spoken as he is on the DVD extra footage when he discusses the set design and concept to film segments. Quite peaceful. At one point during the presentation, he remarked that "It was just like being a kid again" in regards to working on the films. He made 2000+ drawings plus tons of digital work throughout the course of the filming and production of the films.

He cited artists like Da Vinci and Raphael among his influences and a slew of illustrators I've never heard of before, but some of the people in the audience were obviously illustrators as they were nodding in agreement and some even commenting on how they were familiar with the artists' work.

I had a blast looking at his images and listening to him narrate the processes that went into the making of the films. I'm no über dork about it, but I'm pretty into LOTR so it was quite a treat for me. And to get him to sign my DVD set was icing on the cake.

I have six photos up in a flickr set, four more in addition to these two. Just a few more shots of Alan.

Oooh, I forgot to add that Alan took a photo of the crowd at the end to post on his book tour blog. So not only did I get to hear Alan speak, see never before seen footage, meet, shake hands with and get him to autograph a copy of my DVD, but I'll be immortalized on his tour blog. There were, however, nobody dressed up in a Middle Earthean outfit.

The locations and dates of the rest of his two-week long tour.

Alan Lee at Friends Select

Alan Lee, one of the men behind the amazing images from Lord of the Rings will be speaking at The Friends Select School co-sponsored by Joseph Fox Book. He'll be discussing, I presume, the art behind The Lord of the Rings and his new book The Lord of the Rings Sketchbook.

The event starts at 7p and should go until about 8.30p or so. Rain or shine, I'll be there. I'm such a geek about LOTR. Will I be geeky enough to bring a copy of one of my three extended edition DVD sets with me for him to sign? Would he even sign it if it's a book event? I think that he would, but I wonder if he has a handler who would be there telling him he's not allowed. I think I'm gonna bring one. Which one? I think The Fellowship.

Anyone gonna geek out with me?

Chris Mooney at Friends Select

I went to see Chris Mooney, author of The Republican War on Science. He spoke for about thirty-five minutes about his book and I took me some notes. I saw him last week on The Daily Show and was intrigued and then coreleus from The All Spin Zone suggested attending this event at the Friends Select School and off I went.

We were able to see Mooney because he was in the area for the 'New Scopes Trial' going on now in Harrisburg. I'll recap a few things he touched on in his short lecture.

Why is the Bush administration's stance on science unique
Mooney said that this not the first administration [nor will it be the last] to push and prod science to fit their needs, but this particular administration's efforts have been particularly egregious.
1. There are just so many testimonies from previous officials in previous administrations, Democratic and Republican. Russell Train served as EPA Administrator under Nixon and Ford and he said that the stuff that W's cronies are pulling right now would never have happened under his watch.

2. In recent political history, there have been so many flare ups. During Reagan's administration, they pushed their Star Wars [SDI] program. Their agenda against science used to be localized, now, it is vast.

3. Comparing and contrasting with Clinton's administration, there are more charges and the scope of the allegations against W and Co. are much greater and bigger in magnitude. Now, more credible scientists are coming on board in opposition to the president than against Clinton's administration. Mooney cited forty-eight Nobel laureates and 120+ members of the National Academy of Sciences have rebuked W and Co. [those numbers may be slightly off, he was talking quickly].

4. Historical trends. Big Business/Industry has attacked science more and more under W. There has been an incredible growth rate of political think tanks creating contrarians experts that the Right can use to go up against real scientists.

He also spoke of how the neo-Con Christians have a slicker way of saying things. They used to say that science is wrong and that their faith in God is all that matters. Now, they're saying that they have their own science and that it is simply better. For evolution, they counter with Intelligent Design. For stem cells research, they say that they are pro adult stem cell research. For sex ed, they preach that condoms are bad and unsafe and want abstinence-only programs taught to youth. The Right ahs created their own "shadow science" with their small group of experts to go up against 2000+ scientists who have publicly spoken out against this administration.

To put all of this into context of what's going on now, he brought up two examples, the memo W's administration discussed through the EPA where they tried to change climate studies. And then they said that scientists could not make any edits to the changes. The Union of Concerned Scientists no longer consider the EPA report to be scienctifically based.

Mooney also noted that the Intelligent Design debate has been philosophical in nature. I.D. debators claim that science encourages atheism by stating that the supernatural is not real. Mooney asked: Who is this Designer? Who designed the Designer? Why didn't the Designer design everything right the first time?

So what can we do? Mooney said that scientists are going to have to do more than just sign statements. They have to become more involved, get into the trenches. Universities with large science wings must be more vocal. Major research universities must use throw their weight behind the effort to promote science. He said that the chancellor of the University of Kansas has already taken a vocal role. Mooney also spoke of legislative action. He mentioned how the Office of Technology Assessment [OTA] was killed under the Gingrich era Repugs. The OTA used to have bi-partisan Congressional backing. Now, there are experts here and there that individual blocs call upon for the answers they want pushed. They go to the individuals with answers already in hand instead of looking for them. He said that Congress must take measures to protect the whistle blowers and agencies overlooking everything.

Mooney was asked what he thought of the media's coverage of science or lack thereof. He said that he's taken a lot of flack for being so hard on journalists today. He said that journalists are not being hard enough and not seeking out answers, but merely glancing over stories. He said that journalists should not be constructing debates on settled issues like global warming / climate change - it IS happening and there's no need to question it anymore or debate it. The experts the Right use are, for the most part, not published in peer-review journals he added.

When asked to comment on the Roberts confirmation, he said that he thinks we will see the topic of evolution brought back into the Supreme Court. But, he does not think that the 1982 7-2 decision for evolution will be overturned soon. There will have to be a few more Scalila's for that to happen he said. he said that he doesn't know how Roberts would vote on the issue.

After Mooney was finished, coreleus, came up from the back and tapped me on the shoulder, I thought he'd be there. We chatted for a bit, he had just returned from that Mercedes drivin', socialist, subsidy-addicted potato farmer country called Germany. He had a book in hand, he had already read it. I told him how I was wondering how old Mooney is and he said that he thinks Mooney graduated from college in 1998 which would make him about twenty-eight. I wasn't surprised that he was under thirty, he could easily pass as a freshman in college. I said how happy I was that a person who is so young is taken seriously by so many people. People who have been practicing science for probably longer than Mooney's been alive. It gives me hope. Graybeards can't be running everything.

The Friends Select has a full schedule of their book events. I'll probably be at the October 24th Alan Lee event. Yes, I'm a LOTR geek. No, I do not speak any Elvish languages. Yes, I own the entire trilogy extended edition DVD set.

Reforming Womens' Rights?

W's newest crusade seems to be improving his image to the Muslim world. As I read Dowd's latest from Saturday's NY Times, I learned that he's appointed Super Spinner Karen Hughes to the post.

W. thinks so highly of Ms. Hughes, his longtime Texas political nanny, spinner, speechwriter and ghostwriter, that he put his Lima Green Bean, as he called her when she prodded him about the environment, in charge of the critical effort to salvage America's horrendous image in the Islamic world - even though what she knows about Islam could fit in a lima green bean. Why get any Muslims involved in reaching out to Muslims? That would be so matchy.

The real role for the newly minted ambassador hasn't been defined yet, but so far it looks as if Ms. Hughes's first priority will be to take her spinning skills, honed for W. in 2000 and 2004, to improve his image, and his policies' image, on a global scale.

Just as she retooled Bush as "a reformer with results" and a "compassionate conservative," Ms. Hughes plans to inundate Muslims with the four E's: "engagement, exchanges, education and empowerment."

And on Thursday he had this to say:

The way to defeat our enemies' "hateful ideology," he said, is to offer an ideology "that says to young girls, you can succeed in your society, and you should have a chance to do so." He also said, "Hopefully, the drafters of the constitution understand our strong belief that women ought to be treated equally in the Iraqi society."

Riiight, women ought to be treated equally... How about telling that to the #3 Repug Rick Sanitorium.

In his new book It Takes A Family, Santorum outlines how he believes a womans' place is in the home, you know, taking care of the kids she's required to spit out. From an article in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette:

"In far too many families with young children, both parents are working, when, if they really took an honest look at the budget, they might find they don't both need to," Santorum writes.

Many women, he adds, have told him that it is more "socially affirming to work outside the home than to give up their careers to take care of their children."

That ideology, he says, has been shaped by feminists who demean the work of women who stay at home as primary caregivers.

"What happened in America so that mothers and fathers who leave their children in the care of someone else -- or worse yet, home alone after school between three and six in the afternoon -- find themselves more affirmed by society? Here, we can thank the influence of radical feminism," Santorum writes.

"Sadly the propaganda campaign launched in the 1960s has taken root," said Santorum. "The radical feminists succeeded in undermining the traditional family and convincing women that professional accomplishments are the key to happiness."

Yep.

Sanitorum also had some nice words for one of his many corporate sponsors, Wal-Mart:

He also rails against the "hostile cultural climate" -- influenced by the moral values shown on television shows such as "Friends" and "Sex in the City" to violent video games -- where parents must raise their kids, and praises companies such as Wal-Mart for refusing to sell some music CD's with offensive language.

No shit he'd say something like that. Looking back on Will Bunch's post Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Wal-Mart).

Now, if the Dems had a candidate to stand up against Sanitorium who will not take PAC monies and stand up for what s/he believes in no matter what... Oh wait, we have one right here! His name is Chuck Pennacchio and he needs the support of the netroots because the PA Dem leadership has chosen to fall in line behind Treasurer Bob Casey Jr. already. Where Chuck stands on the issues. Philly lawyer Alan Sandals is also in the running for the Democratic nomination.

Brooke Sheilds' NYT Editorial

Who woulda thunk it? An editorial by Brooke Shields appearing on the NY Times' Op-Ed page? I guess stranger things have happened.

I didn't know what to think, so I clicked and I read it through. It's well written and very personal. And to catch you up on why it's relevant to anything, she wrote a book Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression about, duh, Postpartum Depression. Then, Tom Cruise [and I just discovered he's a NYer from that IMDb link?!] ranted on how taking pills is wrong and publicly chided Shields and then in an interview with Matt Lauer went off about how Lauer didn't know jack shit and how he, Tom, was some kind of knowledgable person about medication, depression and aliens?

Well, it's a good read and offers some insight into the fact that celebs are just like the rest of us with real problems, but with oodles of money to pay for them I guess. An excerpt:

I never thought I would have postpartum depression. After two years of trying to conceive and several attempts at in vitro fertilization, I thought I would be overjoyed when my daughter, Rowan Francis, was born in the spring of 2003. But instead I felt completely overwhelmed. This baby was a stranger to me. I didn't know what to do with her. I didn't feel at all joyful. I attributed feelings of doom to simple fatigue and figured that they would eventually go away. But they didn't; in fact, they got worse.

I couldn't bear the sound of Rowan [her baby daughter] crying, and I dreaded the moments my husband would bring her to me. I wanted her to disappear. I wanted to disappear. At my lowest points, I thought of swallowing a bottle of pills or jumping out the window of my apartment.

There's more to Brooke than The Blue Lagoon.