| Tonight on TDS, James Harding,
Author, Alpha Dogs; and on TCR, Will Smith, Actor, Hancock . |
Whaddya mean, work? | |
Writing short again tonight.
Jon's guest, James Harding, is Editor at The Times. That's the London one, although I've seen more than one huff-ified discussion about how "The Times" should need no modification -- it's The Times, that's its' precise name, and any upstart Times'es from other (lesser?) Cities or Nations should Really Reconsider Their Arrogance.
Ah, good Times. Well anyway, Harding's got a book out (Alpha Dogs: The Americans Who Turned Political Spin into a Global Business) that seems to have potential. Unusually, the excerpt at the publisher's site is worth reading. Amazon has a few customer reviews (and the same excerpt), and Barnes & Noble has Publisher's Weekly, Kirkus, and Library Journal. I also found a review from The Economist, and there may well be more out there (there's a Washington Post blog entry titled "What You See Is What You Get: Judging Five Books by Their Cover" which is as insubstantial as you might imagine. And then I gave up).
Here's Publisher's Weekly (via):
The rise and fall of the Sawyer Miller Group, a political consultancy firm, makes for a whirlwind look at international electioneering in this thoroughly engrossing book. The firm grew out of a partnership among the political neophytes who essentially invented the "American-style of campaigning" and served as backroom strategists in every presidential contest from Nixon to George W. Bush. Editor at The Times in London, Harding draws on over 200 interviews to reconstruct the behind-the-scenes history of the Sawyer Miller Group's meteoric rise to power and influence, offering an intimate look at the firm's involvement in global politics-its hand in steering Corazon Aquino to power in the Philippines, its clients' successful campaigns in South America and its machinations in Chile and Israel. The author closes the main part of his narrative in the early 1990s, with the firm's crushing defeat in Peru, a company shift toward corporate clients (e.g., Coca-Cola) and an acrimonious buyout. Though Harding spends little time on domestic politics or his protagonists' personal lives, this fascinating book vividly renders political history with clear insight and rich detail.
That phrase, "Every presidential contest from Nixon to George W. Bush," is straight from the publisher's info. However, the excerpt includes this:
...In the United States, Sawyer Miller worked almost exclusively for Democrats; internationally, they were more promiscuous....
Very often, they lost. Sawyer Miller’s clients lost every time they ran for the U.S. presidency. They lost congressional races from North Carolina to Florida, Illinois to Utah. They lost in Argentina, they lost time and again in Israel, and they lost most spectacularly in Peru....
Oh, and then there's this:
Mark McKinnon was one of several Sawyer Miller men who went on to help get a man elected to the White House. A hip Texan who used to show up for work in Washington, D.C., dressed like a country-western singer minus the hat, McKinnon ran the advertising campaigns for George W. Bush in 2000 and again in 2004. In the run-up to the 2008 election, he worked for John McCain. During his time at Sawyer Miller, he advised candidates and parties in Ecuador, Colombia, and Nigeria. "There is a parochial notion that elections are different everywhere. They are not. They are the same everywhere," McKinnon says. "The things that drive elections are the same in Nebraska as they are in Ghana."
Politickery wonks, you may have found your next day-at-the-beach read. |
Catkin update!
She finally condescended to eat -- well, devour -- some pureed tuna fish (mercury free, they claim, King of the Sea brand -- shows up on the receipt as KOS), so I don't feel compelled to drag her back to the vet tomorrow. I managed to snip off some of her bloody fur, but it's difficult getting her to let me clean the wound. No, no gross pictures today. I did get enough of a good look to see that the actual wound looks, well, not inflamed and oozing pus, although if I can't get some more cleaning done I may take her back to the vet early just so they can check it out. And she is drinking water and litterboxing and all.
She's been trying to get The Cone off, I think. Most of the time I hear her clanking it's because she's misjudged distances and keeps trying to go forward when The Cone has hit some obstacle (those whiskers are useful things, normally!), but sometimes I think she's trying to wedge it in someplace and back out of the thing. I keep thinking she's somehow managed to push it up against her ears, but then I find that no, she's got her ears back deliberately. Not a happy kitty. But she got some cuddling and let me carry her around a bit this afternoon. Without any pills or prodding or fussing, because I think she's getting annoyed with all the attention:
I've solved the water dish problem. Here's her new feeding station:
That's a quiche pan. And whichever super-cheap tin foil baking dish looked like it'd accomodate multiple dimensions of Cone. And a whole lot of dry food, because I don't know yet the optimum compromise between aching arthritic backside and conically impaired mouth.
And here she is in her new favorite super-secret hidey-place. I had to move that box so The Cone'd fit.
Oh, right. Topic ≠ cat. Oops.
You know who Will Smith is. Turns out his summer movie, "Hancock," has already opened elsewhere in the world, but they're holding it for the July 4th weekend here. And I just inadvertently hit the shift key and typed that "July $th," which might have been a bit of subconscious snarkery at work.
Well, you already know who the guy is, so let me just briefly summarize the GoogleNews results. Let's see... lots of standard publicity, headlines with misleading sex and/ or conflict imagery... ooh, his daughter is in a movie opening against his... July $th is "Willie Weekend." (Hmm. Unfortunate that I just came from reading Brit websites). ... and Scientology. Really? Scientology? Damn. That's going to taint my every perception from now on. Really?
Anyway, there aren't that many reviews up yet (no tomatometer so far, although there is an assortment of about-the-movie publicity (as distinct from about-the-celebrities publicity). Hancock is
A hard-living superhero who has fallen out of favor with the public enters into a questionable relationship with the wife of the public relations professional who's trying to repair his image.
Here's the official synopsis (via RT):
There are heroes... there are superheroes... and then there’s Hancock (Will Smith). With great power comes great responsibility – everyone knows that – everyone, that is, but Hancock. Edgy, conflicted, sarcastic, and misunderstood, Hancock’s well-intentioned heroics might get the job done and save countless lives, but always seem to leave jaw-dropping damage in their wake. The public has finally had enough – as grateful as they are to have their local hero, the good citizens of Los Angeles are wondering what they ever did to deserve this guy. Hancock isn’t the kind of man who cares what other people think – until the day that he saves the life of PR executive Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman), and the sardonic superhero begins to realize that he may have a vulnerable side after all. Facing that will be Hancock’s greatest challenge yet – and a task that may prove impossible as Ray’s wife, Mary (Charlize Theron), insists that he’s a lost cause.
Also, I expect, flying and things blowing up and crashing and exploding and the like. To a soundtrack, chances are.
Smith has apparently been using his press tour to promote Obama, also not that unexpected (although it led to this unfortunate LATimes piece, published -- ooh! Tomorrow! I love time travel). So maybe we'll get politickery tonight instead of blow-em-up-movie star stuff. Or random goofiness. I could go for that.
But really, now. Scientology? Maybe you should stop doing the SciFi movies, Will. It's great that you get absorbed in your work, but... |