Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

so, i saw the movie and for the most part i was pretty impressed with it. i've always looked at the movies as completely separate entities from the books anyway, because if you're really a fan of the books first and foremost, then no movie will ever truly satisfy you. it just never lives up to what you've imagined, so i make it a point to never compare a film to the book it's based on. just maybe to the spirit of it.

having said that, i've always enjoyed the Harry Potter films for what they are, for the most part (aside from the first two). starting from the third one, they became much more cinematic and were basically able to stand on their own i thought. and i definitely think it's an impressive feat that they've managed to make all these movies that are basically solid, quality films over the course of ten years.  they were never perfect, or even GREAT adaptations, imo, but they've been very consistent over the years.

this one is too, but there are a couple of things that were noticeably better in it. one was Emma Watson's acting. i've always thought the boys had improved over the years, but she was the weakest of the trio, so i was shocked to see that all of a sudden, between the last film and this one, she learned how to act. but it's true, she was very good and you really felt all of her emotion in this movie. there were also some genuinely suspenseful scenes and the action was was well done throughout. it's a really solid entry in the series, and i think it validates the decision to split the last book in two.

i think what's always prevented the HP books from becoming really great movies is that there is SO much plot in each book, that it's difficult in the length of a movie to develop the characters enough so that casual audience members can care about them before the plot interferes. so that pretty much leaves the movies to cater to fans only, who already know what's going on and don't need to be enticed. i think each film has TRIED to push in some character moments, but they're so few that to me it always stands out and comes across as a bit forced. and it's almost impossible to downsize the plot in these books, because every twist eventually comes together in the last one. i think what needed to happen was for the movies to have turned these characters into their own movie characters, with interactions btw them and maybe extra dialogue and chats that weren't in the book, so that people get more of a feel for their personalities. you can take the essence of someone's character in the book and make it into a separate film character for the actor. of course, one of the greatest examples of all time is Scarlett O'Hara from Gone With the Wind. Viven Leigh made that character entirely her own on-screen, and book Scarlett and movie Scarlett are different from each other, but both are still great.

Oscar Hosts

so, it's apparently gonna be Anne Hathaway and James Franco. weird. i personally thought the two host idea completely bombed last year anyway with Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, so i'm surprised they're doing that again. but these two aren't even comedians. Anne Hathaway is sort of in the Hugh Jackman style, because she can sing and she'll probably do a big musical number, but James Franco? why'd they even think of him? he'll probably be nominated for Best Actor too, so that will be awkward. i think it's an odd choice.

Lame Duck Session

ok, so now that my rage has mitigated a bit at the Republican takeover in the House, i hope at the very least the dems can find it in themselves to make this last lame duck session the most productive one in history. why not? what do they have to lose? there are three things they can do, or at least TRY to do:

1. Pass a permanent extension of middle class tax cuts only
2. Pass the defense bill that has within it the repeal of DADT
3. Pass the DREAM Act

of these items, the one i think they may actually pull off is DADT, believe it or not. there are signs that this actually will pass the senate in december. the big study they did is expected to show that 70% of the troops believe it would be ok to allow gay service members to serve openly, so i think that the study will give cover to a couple of republicans (they only need 1 or 2), probably Scott Brown or Olympia Snowe, to not filibuster. i have a bit of optimism on that.

the other two i'm not so sure. the Dream Act is the down payment on immigration reform- it allows minors a pathway to citizenship if they join the civil service i believe. i don't think this is that controversial, but i'm not sure if this has even passed the House yet. i also don't think it's gotten much attention. to my mind the only reason for a filibuster of something like this is the fear that it will go that much further toward solidifying the latino vote with the democrats. but, that's already happening- the only polls that underestimated the democratic likely vote in the elections were just about every state on the west coast and in the southwest especially. the tightest races were california, nevada and colorado, and in every single one the dem won by higher than expected, and it turned out to be due to the underestimated latino turnout. i think if they manage to pass immigration reform (which won't happen when the GOP takes over), it solidifies that base pretty solidly. maybe even comparable to the Civil Rights Acts in the 1960s. otherwise, this could pass this session since it's not the whole thing, just a piece of it, and it involves kids for christ's sake. and who knows, even if it doesn't- it might help the Dems anyway, to have it visibly defeated by the republicans.

and the worst one, those tax cuts. sigh. imo, this SHOULDN'T be that difficult, and it won't be for the House, which is now saying they are going to vote on just the middle class ones alone. but the problem, as always, lies in the senate, where i'm pretty sure the entire GOP is deadset against this in any way. they love their tax cuts for rich people and they don't want to let them go. i think they likely WILL filibuster a tax cut for the middle class for this purpose, even if it looks horrible for them. and they say they're going to hold UI benefits hostage for the jobless for this purpose as well. it's pretty awful if you ask me. but basically, i would say have the House pass the middle class ones, and then just bring it up in the Senate and let them do what they do. have it play out in public- that the GOP blocks even a vote on permanent middle class tax cuts, over and over and over. it may well backfire on them. i personally don't think it would look that good for them to be seen defeating and blocking tax cuts (supposedly their favorite thing ever) over and over again, and for 98% of americans at that. once more (because it can't be said enough) for the purpose of giving the RICH another, even bigger tax cut, which by the way, would add $700 billion to the deficit. but they probably think they can wait it out, because the december session is only 3 weeks long and it just wouldn't leave enough time for maybe one of them to cave in the face of awful public branding. the Dems would ultimately give in rather than let tax cuts expire for everyone. it'd definitely be a face-off over what each party stands for. so, i'm not sure what's gonna happen on this, my fear is that the Dems are a little too afraid of risking the expiration of all tax cuts if the Republicans don't blink. unfortunately, that is what would happen. you have to be able to bet one of them would cave, and who knows, maybe Scott Brown would. (MA does NOT prefer to favor the rich and this guy is up for re-election in that very liberal state in 2012). it's gonna require 100% unity and some balls on the part of the Democrats in the Senate, which leaves me feeling pessimistic, esp if they do manage to get the DADT repeal through.

London Boulevard

keira knightley in a NON-period piece? maybe it'll be good

Midterm Results

so, the bloodbath is over and boy was it awful. the lunatics gained at least 60 seats, one of the worst routes ever, and now has a house majority that's their biggest since 1946?!!!

someone explain to me how the party that led us to utter ruin over the course of this entire decade, managed to wipe out 2 cycles worth of losses in one year, regaining the majority so they can screw us all over again? because i DO NOT understand it. i cannot comprehend the ignorance, amnesia and sheer STUPIDITY of the american people. seriously. why the fuck are things so bad right now in the first place? because of them. why are we NOT in another great depression? because of obama. so, how is it a rational, logical action to vote the assholes who put us here back into power, bigger than they had before????? i think it's the definition of insanity. or masochism.

i feel like people didn't even give the democrats a chance. it hasn't even been 2 years, how the fuck are they supposed to fix everything back to where it was before bush and his cronies imploded it in less than 2 years? it took them EIGHT to beat us down to where we were.

why are people so stupid? they are voting against their own interests. the only person i can sort of understand why they would actually be a republican, are the super-wealthy. because they're greedy and they want their tax cuts that they don't need and greedy assholes are the base of the party i suppose. but the other people who make up the base is CONSTANTLY voting to screw themselves over. a lot of poor, white southerners and senior citizens who NEVER benefit from anything that party has ever done for them. ever. what exactly do the republicans stand for? tax cuts for rich people, and starting mass unpaid for wars. do NOT tell me they stand for deficit reduction because that is a fallacy and completely untrue. tax cuts add to the deficit and are not paid for. all that war spending the same exact thing. they don't ever cut any spending programs, so this "wasteful spending" they rail against is complete and utter bullshit. the whole party is a fucking joke. they INCREASED the deficit like tenfold when they had power, and when they were given a surplus in 2000. they are FRAUDS.

and like anybody really gives a fuck about deficits when unemployment is 10%. the only thing that government can do to create jobs is spending, ok? that's the bottom line. so what's more important to you, debt reduction or job creation? everyone you ask would say job creation, even the idiots who voted last night. so why would they vote republican? again, because they're stupid.

the exit polls were completely incoherent. first of all, the majority of people still blame bush for the bad economy, then wall street, then obama (who got like 20% of the blame). second, people who said they were mad at wall street voted republican (WTF?). irrational. third, when asked if they favored debt reduction, gov. spending to create jobs, or tax cuts to create jobs (which it really doesn't, only minorly), 40% said debt reduction, 35% said spending, and 19% said tax cuts. ummm.....that's a 54-40 MAJORITY who favor stimulus for job creation. and what do these morons do? they vote republican.

so, this is not in any way a rejection of obama's policies, or a complaint against "big government overreach" or whatever bullshit people are saying. it's an incoherent, illogical temper tantrum about the economy and a protest vote against the party in power, and because we only have 2 parties in this country, the pendulum swings back, inexplicably, towards the people who put us here in the first place.

so what happens now? the GOP has already said their number one goal is to make obama a one-term president (very nice, very patriotic isn't it?), so that's what their agenda will be. i'm sure they won't cooperate on anything he wants to do to continue to fix the economy. so this is gridlock. people voted to PRODUCE gridlock, which is historically the one thing people always complain that they hate about congress. that it doesn't do anything. well, if you voted republican last night then you're getting what you deserve.

i don't believe in divided government anymore. i think we should abolish the senate, and just have one party control over everything. gridlock is bullshit, let's just vote for a party and see what they do when they literally have all the power. then maybe it won't be so easy to forget when the republicans destroy the country in the quest for political gain, and people can see in their faces what that party stands for. rich people and wars.

i wish i didn't GENUINELY believe that they were out to destroy the country for political gain, but when they say their number one goal is to make obama lose re-election, how can i not? at least the democrats have ideas, policy goals, things they want to accomplish. universal health care, federal regulations, clean energy, higher taxes for the rich....these are principles that are about looking out for ordinary people, a belief in a social safety net, a collective society. if i was rich i would happily pay higher taxes, because i know how many people suffer and aren't as lucky as me. why do you NEED to own 15 houses and 30 cars, when so many people have nothing? you will always have money and never struggle for anything, no matter what you pay in taxes. for god's sake, the top income tax rate was 90% in the eisenhower era, i never hear about the majority of people complaining about that! because they didn't, because people were content and happy in that economic system. the only reason it ever changed in the first place was because republicans solidified their hold on power based on racist white southerners who hated the Civil Rights Act and black people more than they liked living in economic contentment. (and that is absolutely true, look it up in a history book, republicans rise to power in the 60s was ENTIRELY based on racial attitudes and social issues, and the reverberations of that are still in place to this day)

well, to me, it IS more important to enact economic policies that are beneficial to people, and all i can do is hope that this can be erased in 2 years, when hopefully the economy has improved. but that will be difficult with no republican cooperation, now that they control the House. it makes me very depressed, i have to say. depressed and angry at people's stupidity and wanting to run over every old white person in this country with a monster truck for their prevailing ignorance. they suck and they ruin everything when they shouldn't even be voting, they'll be dead soon anyway. fuck you old people, for fucking over the rest of us.