20100514

The Avengers (2010)

Did you notice ? David Cameron would make a perfect young Patrick Macnee.

But Nick Clegg as Emma Peel... ? If you don't mind, I'll stick to Diana Rigg.

The New New Avengers series were launched during an outdoor press conference routine, complete with the staged question from a friendly journalist, Nick's fake departure, and Dave's begging "please don't go".

To facilitate the transition of power Joanna Lumley recently met the Prime and Vice-Prime, simultaneously.

What is exactly a "Deputy Prime Minister" ? What are his powers ? Is see at least two : the power to pull the plug when he pleases, and a few legs until then.

blogules 2010

20100505

The Housemaid (Im Sang-soo)

Ahead of the 63rd Festival de Cannes, "The Housemaid" (하녀) premiered yesterday in Seoul : IM Sang-soo's latest movie will air on Korean screens starting May the 13th, and on the Croisette the next day.

This is a remake of a great Korean classic by KIM Ki-young (1960) : a psychological drama, already audacious 50 years ago, where a man cheats on his wife with their maid. Korean media were pretty much excited by a glamorous erotic thriller featuring a clash of actresses : the betrayed spouse (Seo Woo) et her rival (Jeon Do-yeon as the title role). I was expecting different kinds of surprises from this audacious filmmaker.

And yesterday, I wasn't disapointed : IM once more delivered a well crafted movie, a stimulating actors direction, and a powerful social satire. He didn't hesitate to somehow rewrite the original story, inverting the roles and moral standards.

In this version, the femme fatale is not the maid but the mother in law (Park Ji-yeong) who forms with the husband and wife (Lee Jung-jae et Seo Woo) a perfect trio of vain characters as artificial as their luxurious yet Hitchcockian mansion.

The actual pair of actresses lies around the pivotal role of the housekeeper. In "The President's Last Bang", IM Sang-soo carved an amazing Baek Yoon-sik. With "The Housemaid", he's not only pushing Jeon Do-yeon on the way to a second Palme d'Or, but also bringing the best in Yoon Yeo-jeong.

And once more, enjoying the winding road between a classic tragedy and a dark comedy.

blogules 2010 (see also this post in French)

20100428

Arizona Dream

On his way back from the inauguration of the Great Arizonian Iron Curtain, President McCain inspected the Louisiana oil mess from Marine One chopper : "What a waste ! All those gallons will stick to our Shouthern shores for decades instead of fueling our fundamentally sound economy... Believe me my friends, heads will roll at the FEMA : we said 'drill baby drill', not 'spill baby spill', for Chrysler's sake !"

Meanwhile...

- Veep Palin visited a Creationist School. "Onov'em kids made such a terrible mistake, I hadda get to the board rite-way to fix it by m'self. Lil'guy wrote 'when dinos roamed the Earth four thousand years ago, men used their bones to play baseball'. Can you believe it ? Did I add the e to "dinoes" ? You betcha !"

- Secretary of the Treasury Lloyd Blankfein attended a pre-G20 summit. "I was taken abacus by the audacity of a brilliant young Frenchman : Fabulous Fab Tourre suggested to Jean-Claude Trichet that Greece be wrapped in toilet paper and sold to Abu Dhabi in a bundle with the Brooklyn Bridge. I suggested we that trew in the New York Mets as well, but Fab wisely noted that it could raise suspicions."

- In Mexico City, former First Lady Cindy McCain married former First Lady Carla Bruni.

- George W. Bush inaugurated his Presidential Library. "All the 10,000 books I've read so far are here. I never use twice the same copy of the Holy Book, and the West Wing is devoted to the only other book I read : 'My pet goat'. This year I intend to start page 5."

- Senator Obama attended a Milk Party : Michelle Obama's movement claims 10,000 new members every day and she remains in the polls the front runner for 2012.

blogules 2010

20100415

"Mommy, am I a...?"

"Mommy, am I a...?" is a simple but useful lesson for young kids, as well as for parents and educators.

Anila Ali, a friend, wrote this book for her daughter with Karen Gottlieb (co-author), and Marian Seiders (illustrations). All three taught in a Californian middle school : Anila, a Muslim, was born in Pakistan ; Karen is a Brooklyn Jew ; and Marian happens to be Christian.

The story of Aisha is about intolerance, stupid words and cliches that hurt. Hopefully, here, the usual mechanism is quickly defused because adults act responsibly. Unfortunately, in real life and in this post-9/11 world of ours, kids are not only often left to their own devices, but sometimes encouraged to cause more damage by irresponsible adults or worse, hatemongers who thrive on wounds that never heal. Even small misunderstandings and unfairnesses hurt, so let's spot their signs as early as possible.

If poor education can be a time bomb, sound education is one of the most precious gifts a kid can receive.

And this 23-page book is a very nice gift.


"Mommy, am I a ....?"
Avid Readers Publishing Group
Anila Ali (Author), Karen Gottlieb (Author), Marian Seiders (Illustrator)


blogules 2010

20100407

FCC : another hot potato for the Congress

2010 - A regulator that fails to regulate may need some fixing.

After being awarded the right to deregulate broadband by a Supreme Court ruling in 2005 on the ground that it would not be a telecom service but an information service, the FCC allowed broadband subs to plug whatever hardware or software they pleased to their access, but after that ordered ISPs to fight against peer-to-peer abuses. Comcast logically sued and won the case at a federal court.

That same FCC has also been working on a much advertised National Broadband Plan which now appears to be left to its own devices.

The only way out of this farcical situation would be for lawmakers to restore some regulatory power, a move that could prove unpopular for partisans of freedom on the liberal front (no regulation for the internet : that's fascism) as well as on the libertarian side (no regulation whatsoever : that's socialism). If Obama thought he was done with ideological battles between health care madness and financial reforms, here's yet another hot potato to catch before mid-term elections.

blogules 2010

20100323

J Street : It's Time

It's time for moderates to speak up and denounce impostors.

It's time for Palestinian and Israeli democrats to say no to radicals who keep torpedoeing peace and undermining their own camps.

J Street is running a full page ad in the NYT to remind opinion leaders that a majority of Jews in the US think "it's time for Israel to stop allowing extremist settlers and their sympathizers to endanger not only the friendship of the United States, but also the very future of Israel"*.

J Street also sends a message to AIPAC : now that Obama's healthcare reforms have passed, the politics of fear cannot rule the agenda until next elections. Change must come to the Middle East, with full support from the US, but also from Israeli citizens who reject as false the choice between their security and their ideals**.

blogules 2010

* see "
Our Full-Page Ad in the New York Times"

** see "Israel accepted as true the choice between its security and its ideals"


20100318

Joe Biden's stand-up comedy routine

Back from Israel, Joe Biden at 2010 Radio & TV Correspondents' Dinner : his trip in Israel, his tips from Tiger Woods, his palm reading of Sarah, his foot in mouth disease...



blogules 2010

Barack "No Crisis" Obama

Joe Biden publicly humiliated by Bibi Netanyahu* ?

Israeli hardliners pushing provocations to new standards, embarrassing even their "regular hawk" followers ?

General David Petraeus confirming the impossibility to support at the same time this clique of warmongers and peace ?

"No Crisis", answers Barack No Drama Obama.

The POTUS doesn't mean that there is no crisis between the US of A and Israel : he simply doesn't want a crisis between his healthcare reform agenda and AIPAC ahead of US mid-term elections.

So be it. No Crisis, then.

As planned by Netanyahu & co, Salam Fayyad and Fatah reformers will lose to radicals, the Palestinian Authority collapse for good, and even if Bibi doesn't get the intifada he wants**, Tel Aviv extremists will strengthten their grip on the Israeli democracy without even the weakest reaction from the Israeli people (I won't even mention Israeli opposition parties : they either joined or condoned this infamous coalition, and Amir Perez is not my idea of a peace maker).

No Crisis, Oby wan Kennedy said.

Barack Hussein Obama also said these few words, during his inaugural address : "to those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West: know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy". Netanyahu obviously took it as an encouragement : "great ! I will destroy peace, and I'll be rewarded for the illegal colonies I build."

No Crisis, I'm telling you : all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds.

blogules 2010

* maybe, instead of Joe The Biden, the Israeli PM expected Joe The Plumber, who would have more cheerfully given a hand for new Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem ("Home Improvement" after "
Israel's Funniest Away Videos" ?)
** see "
Netanyahu's al Aqsa intifada"

20100316

Detox

It was definitely high time for me to come back to Seoul for a good doenjang jjigae. Here is the indecent menu of my 9 dinners and 9 lunches in Paris :
- andouillette
- Britanny galettes
- grilled sausages
- couscous at Charly's
- chili con carne
- Relais de l'Entrecote
- paella
- "canette de barbarie rôtie aux olives pommes sautée"
- delicatessen
- light salad picnic at the Luxembourg garden (the odd one, probably the reason why my arteries didn't explode during the flight back to Korea)
- gastronomic dinner at Les Bouquinistes
- Relais de l'Entrecote redux (just to check something about their damning sage sauce)
- lasagna
- kebab
- black pudding with apples
- vietnamese pho (second odd one, but there's some beef inside)
- Savoyard fondue
- pot au feu stew with bone marrow

Of course, I spare you the breakfasts (croissants in Saint Germain des Pres, kouign amann - tarte tatin duet, cheese platter...) and snacks (aah, La Pâtisserie des Rêves... and thanks again Francois for that tea at Jacques Genin's - caramels were a huge success too).

Well well... All at building my Sasquatchian carbon footprint, I couldn't find the time to do everything I wanted to do nor see all the friends I wanted to see... Mea maxima culpa. Et meus maximus stomachus.

blogules 2010

20100220

GOP meets Poujadism

When Karl Rove says the Tea Party should keep distances from the GOP*, what he actually means is that the GOP should stay away from this political dead end.

But if the Architect knows a few things about winning and losing elections, I don't think he is familiar with French Poujadism, the movement which inevitably comes up to my troubled French mind each time I hear about this laughingstock of a Tea Party.

During the early 1950s, Shop owner Pierre Poujade defied the French tax system and founded a party that surfed on a collapsed political system to claim 400,000 members and more than 50 seats in the National Assembly... where the absence of program of the movement became an embarassment for everyone. Charles de Gaulle's comeback put an end to the doomed IVth Republic, and Poujade's Union de Defense des Commercants et des Artisans left for ever the political centerstage.

Pathetic indeed. But one can worry a bit more about what could happen in a country where a certain Joseph Stack III just crashed his plane on an I.R.S. building in Austin, TX**... Furthermore, among UDCA's law"makers" was Jean-Marie Le Pen, who later founded the extreme right party Front National... I wouldn't be surprised to find this kind of "great democrats" within the Tea Party's dream team.

Hardcore taxophobes are not comfortable with the very concept of a state, and such platforms never bloom in healthy democracies because they are, fundamentally, anti-democracy.

Populism and tax breaks sell well in the short term, but only simple minds stick to it whatever happens. For instance : the same voters who followed G. W. Bush on that path are now mad at Obama because he doesn't know how to reduce Dubya's abyssal deficits with more tax reductions.

Unlike Poujadism, the Tea Party is purely grassroot and lacks a leader. Ron Paul might fit the job, but Sarah Palin proposed to take the helm at the inaugural National Convention in Nashville, TN, reading from her Palm Pilot (actually a low tech model counterfeited by John McCain). Sarah Tea Party Palin... what a match.

We already saw how Palin represented the no-future of the GOP ("
Sarah Palin and the Segolene Royal Syndrome - The GOP on the same path as the French Socialist Party"). So a Tea Party Spin Off with Mrs Theocon on board would definitely leave some space for Republicans who actually respect the republic (see "GOP : time to split").

Anyway, instead of following the ones who yell and destroy, GOP leaders would better sit down and think. Even if it means losing the upcoming elections - actually, THAT could come as a blessing : they decently cannot postpone their own reforms any longer.

But Democrats shouldn't rejoice too soon : if the popular success of the Tea Party unmistakably corroborates the ideological collapse of the GOP, it also is a gorilla-sized canary in their own coalmine. And they must prevent the most liberal aisles to stretch beyond the limits of the republic. Obama took the blame and seems to be correcting communication to restore some of the truth : OK, I didn't deliver the goods, but I had a few bads to take care of first.

blogules 2010

* "
Where the Tea Parties Should Go From Here" (WSJ 20100219)
** At least, a political crash of the GOP wouldn't cause much damage.
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