From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...
"Good Night, and Good Luck..."
One of the fall movies I'm really looking forward to is George Clooney's take on the battle between newsman Edward R. Murrow and Joseph McCarthy during the height of the senator's Communist witch hunt. Here are some snippets of an interview with the director and co-star of Good Night, and Good Luck in the latest issue of Premiere magazine:
Premiere: Why is this still an important story?
George Clooney: My father was an anchorman for years and years, and we grew up with the theory that there are very few times that broadcast journalism can make that big of a difference, but those mileposts---Murrow taking on McCarthy and Cronkite taking on Vietnam---actually change things. That was a high point in my family's life, something my father always talked about---without Murrow, what the country would have been like. So it was something I've always sort of romanticized.
And as the world changed and [it came out] that a couple of people McCarthy nailed were actually spies, there was this rewriting of history---about what a good guy McCarthy was. And it occurred to me that the whole point of what Murrow had done so brilliantly was to take on the subject matter saying, "I don't know whether these people are guilty or not, but they have the right to face their accuser." I wasn't looking to preach to anybody. I just thought there were some really interesting parallels to issues going on today.
Why did you choose to show [Senator Joseph] McCarthy only in archival footage?
The danger of hiring an actor for the part was always that you could never believe the guy, with stringy hair hanging down his face and screaming, ranting and raving. The truth is to use McCarthy's own words, as opposed to having an actor play him.
How do you think the film reflects or comments on the current state of television news?
It's an interesting time because you realize how Murrow and McCarthy could never happen again. One voice couldn't have that impact. There isn't the most trusted man in America anymore.
We had a montage of the history of television at the end of the film, bringing us up-to-date---the great moments, the stunning moments, the idiot moments. We ended it with this car chase---a couple of stations covered it---where the guy got out of the car, took his clothes off, set himself on fire, stuck a shotgun in his mouth, and blew his head off. On one of the channels, you could hear the guys laughing in the background, going, oh my God, there's your news story. And the cameras moved in on him---they'd interrupted a children's program to do it. The montage was an amazing thing to watch, but it dawned on me that it was manipulative, because adults are going to understand what we're talking about. And if they don't, then I can't spoon-feed them arguments about how the news has become entertainment.
View the trailer by clicking here. Cheers to shooting the film in black and white in spite of studio opposition. Jeers to the fact that it takes something like a devastating hurricane to bring out the Murrow instincts in our press today. If they're not first in line to see this movie, they should turn in their notepads.
Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Note: Have you noticed that those ubiquitous ads for anti-teeth-grinding devices didn't start appearing until after Bush moved into the White House?
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By the Numbers:
Days `til the 2005 Cumberland County Fair: 4
Average number of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes---those with winds of at least 131 mph---per year since 1990: 18
Average number of CAT 4s and 5s per year in the 1970s: 10
Increase in tropical-sea surface temperatures since 1970: 1°F
(Source: Time magazine)
Total arrests in 2003 for "prostitution and commercialized vice in Maine: 12
Oldest person arrested on those charges: 65
(Source: Maine Dept. of Public Safety via the Portland Phoenix)
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Your Puppy Pic of the Day From the U.S. Humane Society: "I'll never again leave my pet behind," says Manuel Barbre. Barbre and his dog Chip were reunited at the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center on Sunday, three weeks after Barbre evacuated New Orleans. If you can spare a few bucks to help with pet rescue efforts, click here.
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CHEERS to taking your ball and going home. As reported yesterday by Kos, the Democratic leadership got the Republican-skewed House-Senate investigation into the response to Hurricane Katrina axed. Billmon has a graphic that says it all. (Could...could those be legs sprouting??)
JEERS to carnage as usual. 5 more American soldiers were killed in Iraq yesterday after accidentally choking on chocolates and flowers thrown to them by cheering throngs of well-wishers. Donald Rumsfeld issued a short statement: "Those don't count! Those don't count!" Sorry, Don, you go with the casualties you have, not the casualties you want.
P.S. Any word on that armor yet? Didn't think so.
JEERS to the bully on my playground. Hurricane Rita blew over C&J's favorite vacation spot, Key West, yesterday. Fortunately, the eye passed just south of the island so damage was minimized (for the record, the mayor actually said, "I think we did, so far, dodge a bullet"). Now the bitch is gaining strength and headed for the Texas coast. You guys's school buses ready to roll?
CHEERS to Anatomy of a Leak...in song! Arianna Huffington adds new fuel to the still-simmering investigation into the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame. And-a 1, and-a 2...
The Plame leak's connected to the...Rove leak.
The Rove leak's connected to the...Li-bby leak.
The Libby leak's connected to the...No-vak leak.
Now hear the Word of the Lord!
The Novak leak's connected to the...Mi-ller leak.
The Miller leak's connected to the...Bol-ton leak.
The Bolton leak's connected to the...Fleitz leak.
These guys are fucking screwed!!
Thank you. Please remember to tip your server.
JEERS to fallen heroes. 16 years ago today, the Senate Armed Forces Committee unanimously confirmed General Colin Powell as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He kicked the Iraqi army's ass during the first war, but got trounced by neocons in his own outfit during the second. Hope you're enjoying your retirement with only one buttock, sir.
CHEERS to the Nazi-hunter. Simon Wiesenthal, who pursued and caught over 1,100 of Hitler's thugs and became the "voice of the Holocaust," has died at 96. Today I feel a little less safe than I did yesterday.
JEERS to cheers denied. Remember this ad from the '04 primary season?
"Howard Dean should take his tax-hiking, government-expanding, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading ... Hollywood-loving, left-wing freak show back to Vermont where it belongs."
The group that made it, the Club for Growth, is being sued by the Federal Election Commission...the first suit brought against a "527" group. But the folks at Ankle Biting Pundits prevent us from twitching with gloatesque glee:
If they're smart the left-wing blogs shouldn't rejoice too much at the Club For Growth being targeted because they are conservative group. Soon, it will be a liberal organization's turn in the FEC crosshairs. And you know what? When it happens, we'll be right there to say it's wrong, whether it's Planned Parenthood, the Sierra Club, or Handgun Control, Inc. that finds itself on the receiving end of this assault. But actually, we think the Daily Kos's of the world will step up to the plate here and come in on the side of the angels. If there's one thing that has brought the right and left of the blogosphere together, it's the issue of Campaign Finance Reform and the assault on everyone's right to free speech.
But that doesn't prevent us from saying that George Bush should "...take his crony-loving, government-starving, arsenic-laced water drinking, mercury-tainted fish eating, Hummer driving, New York Post-reading, Bible-thumper-loving, right-wing freak show back to Texas where it belongs."
JEERS to hurricane relief for...Maine?? Truckers are getting paid by FEMA to drive truckloads of ice from the Midwest...to the Deep South...and up to Maine (a state where residents chisel ice off their windshields 7 months out of the year) because of---zounds!---mismanagement. Cost of this runaround: 800 of your tax dollars per day. Says driver Rick Benn: "It's the government. What do you expect?" Considering who's in charge, nothing less.
CHEERS to Maine's creepiest resident. Today is Stephen King's 58th birthday. One of my former co-workers used to be the morning DJ at the author's Bangor radio station, WZON. If you want a unique Thing d' King, these are guaranteed to draw attention. Especially in church.
CHEERS to math that ain't fuzzy no matter which way you slice it. (via Bassjhs). How low can he go? Let's recap Bush's latest post-speech ratings based on his response Hurricane Katrina:
CNN/USA Today/Gallup: 41%
Rasmussen: 35%
AP/Ipsos: 46%
Survey USA: 40%
Average of the above 4 polls: 40%
Um...Democratic leaders in Congress, that would be your cue to unleash your secret GOP-gutting bunker buster. Can't wait to see this. Anytime now. Did we miss it?
JEERS to the new war against evildoers. (link via C&J'er Todd42873) What enemy threat is Attorney General Alberto Gonzales going after now? Terrorists? Corporate crooks? War profiteers? Nope...much worse: Hooters, Tuckuses and Trouser Snakes. Taking a break from Katrina-related mismanagement, Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff announced a new color-coded federal porno terror alert system. We're currently at Long Dong Silver.
CHEERS to keeping the government's pecker out of our state's pants. Maine is now the third state to turn down federal funds for an abstinence-only sex education program that forbids any mention of safe sex practices. Turns out our way works better than their way, which is why "teen pregnancy rates and teen abortion rates in Maine have dropped substantially, so the state does not need the federal funds, anyway." Nyahh!!
CHEERS to media shoutouts. Daily Kos gets a mention as one of the Top 5 blogs in Time magazine this week. So wash behind your ears...we're expecting visitors.
JEERS to the lowest of low-points. 7 years ago today, President Clinton's videotaped grand jury testimony---during which he detailed his relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky---was shown on television. It was one of the few times we've actually begged for a commercial interruption.
CHEERS to Carl the Greenskeeper. And Dr. Peter Venkman. And John Winger. And Tripper Harrison. And all the other characters brought to life by Bill Murray, who turns 55 today. We wish him a day full of dogs and cats living together...mass hysteria!
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One Year Ago in C&J: September 21, 2004...
CHEERS to Passion of The Chin. In Monday barn-burner, he starts sounding positively Dean-like: "The President now admits to `miscalculations' in Iraq. That is one of the greatest understatements in recent American history. His were not the equivalent of accounting errors. They were colossal failures of judgment, and judgment is what we look for in a president." Gosh, maybe the Great Closer is beginning to stir. P.S.---Survey the damage to Bush by clicking here.
JEERS to Dan's dive. CBS News just got their ass kicked by right-wing bloggers and Drudge over fake memos. As Rather apologizes, American journalism says it's shocked...shocked!...by such sloppiness. But, um...where were you guys when the Swiftys were spraying lies like a dog pissing on a fire hydrant?
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And just one more...
CHEERS to `The Way Life Should Be.' On September 21, 1993, Michael and I arrived in Portland, Maine, having escaped the rust-belt hamlet of Saginaw, Michigan (motto: "Wipe That Smile Off Your Face!"). We had no jobs, not much money, and an apartment with barely any heat. 12 years later, we're still here...and Portland is Home in the best sense of the word. We hope you feel the same about your neck of the woods, too.
Floor's open. What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless Testimonial:
"Billy, you're doing a heckuva job!"
--President Bush
"Shit...I'm dead."
--Bill in Portland Maine
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