Saturday, March 29, 2008

Fate Takes Us to the Newseum

Something very cool and unexpected happened to my son and me today. We decided to pay a visit to Washington, D.C. It was the first day of the Cherry Blossom Festival and it's always nice to look at pretty, pink flowers, right? (Yeah, right!) What we really wanted to do was ride the Tourmobile around the city and perhaps look at a monument or two. If you luck out you can get a really good tour guide who is both entertaining and educational.

Well, the trip didn't start out too well. We drove to the Vienna Metro station to catch the train, and the parking lot was completely full. There were also at least a dozen cars waiting to grab any spot that might come available, so we decided to keep driving toward the city and try a different station. Fortunately there were lots of spots at the West Falls Church station, so we parked and hopped the train.

We got off at Union Station, and no one could tell us where to buy tickets for the Tourmobile. The guy behind the Information desk suggested we just go outside, look for the tram stop and buy the tickets from the driver. Well, we finally did find the stop - and after 30 minutes - the tram still hadn't arrived. Pretty boring. Then, guess what! They don't take credit cards unless you buy your ticket from one of their ticket booths, which no one could tell me where it is!

We got frustrated and started walking toward the Capitol. My son was miffed and I was frustrated, but it must have been fated to happen because we got really lucky.

As we walked down the hill from the Capitol we found ourselves on Pennsylvania Avenue at the Canadian Embassy. Next door there was a lot of activity at something called the "Newsuem." A gentleman wearing a green windbreaker with this word printed on it approached us and invited us to a pre-opening visit to this new interactive museum devoted to the news media. He promised us we'd have a good time and that we'd come out "with a smile on our face!" How can you say "no" to that?

We went in and were totally wowed! It doesn't open officially until April 11th, so there were a few areas and exhibits that weren't quite ready, but all in all this is an amazing facility. You start with a short movie on the lower level and then take a glass elevator up to the sixth floor and work your way down.

The first thing we saw was an incredible collection of newspaper front pages going back hundreds of years. It's really cool to see the headlines of the major events of world history and we spent a lot of time in this area. The American Revolution - The Civil War - The Titanic - World War I - Rise of the Nazi Party - World War II - Korea - Kennedy Assassinations - Viet Nam - Moon Landing - 9/11 - all there, and much more! As you move down to lower levels you get to experience the birth and growth of broadcast media and how important this became to politics in the middle of the 20th century. There are some excellent exhibits on the First Amendment to the Constitution, and a moving tribute to journalists who have died in the pursuit of stories.

There are also some truly fun things to do at the Newseum. You get to stand before a news camera and read a story from a teleprompter. They give you a still photo of your appearance and you can download the video from their website. There's a 4-D movie theater (3-D glasses and a trip through time), which we did not get to visit, and several interactive displays that allow you to perform a lot of newsroom-type tasks. It's very up-to-day with lots of displays on digital media, blogs and video of news events recorded on cell phones.

Two very interesting exhibits are devoted to the Berlin Wall and the 9/11 attacks. There are several sections of the actual Wall on display as well as some twisted remains of the World Trade Center. One wall is covered with all of the world's newspaper headlines about the attack, and it's hard not to stand there and read each and every one.

The only criticism I have of the facility is its snack bar. For some reason they teamed with Wolfgang Puck so everything is extremely overpriced. Our lunch - which consisted only of a sandwich, a personal pizza, some chips and drinks came to $28! We were so hungry we didn't quibble, but I really think everything available was priced at twice what it should be.

So despite a rather frustrating start, our trip to D.C. turned out to be better than if we had ended up riding the silly Tourmobile! It's nice when things like this happen unexpectedly. I hope the Newseum does well. It's going to have to complete will all the national free museums in the area, but its offering is special and unique. Plus their decision to invite pre-opening visits like ours should work out well. I know I for one will be telling people it's an excellent new place to go.

Dan Abrams is a Doofus

I am regularly appalled by the garbage that networks like Fox, CNN and MSNBC pass off as "news" on their shows. There's a horrible war raging in the Middle East that has resulted in over 4000 dead Americans. We have an extremely important presidential election coming up in a few months. The housing market is crumbling and taking our economy with it. The pharmaceutical companies have taken control of the FDA and are literally killing people in the name of profits.

So what does Dan Abrams do on a recent show? He "exposes" American Idol for letting some contestants onto the show who formerly had recording contracts! OH MY GOD!

The thing is, first of all, Abrams admits he doesn't watch the show and isn't a fan. He can't pronounce the names of the contestants and is totally clueless as to why so many millions of people enjoy the program so thoroughly. So why the hell is he expressing an opinion? He obviously has done no research and is just trying to create controversy where none really exists. In fact, other organizations jumped on this non-story weeks ago with no real consequence. So why is Abrams so far behind everybody else? Could it be that he has absolutely no journalistic skills whatsoever and shouldn't even be on TV? YES!

So he gets two former Idol contestants - who see no problem with letting on contestants who might have at one time recorded professionally - and some dolt who is obviously there to agree to everything Abrams says. Of course Abrams won't let the former contestants finish anything they try to say because he has to inject his outraged ignorance at every opportunity.

Where he really shows his stupidity, though, is when he suggests that if Mariah Carey was currently "between contracts" even she could compete on the program - and how unfair this would be to the other contestants! The thing is, Carey is well known and famous. The producers and judges - who have absolute control over who makes it into the competition - would not permit her to compete. None of the other contestants are famous. None are well knows by the American public. None have sold millions of records, played to sold-out concerts and appeared on dozens of television shows. They aren't rich. They are talented people who are looking for a break. If Abrams can't see the difference, then he's just a moron. And the fact that he is trying so hard to stir up a non-existent controversy, just proves it. But I guess that's what MSNBC is all about, isn't it?

Maybe Abrams is just jealous that on a bad night, American Idol has something like 120 times the audience of any MSNBC show. Heck, MSNBC can't even generate the same audience as most large-market evening news broadcasts! Abrams' attempt at slamming the show is obviously a desperate attempt at "creating" news where there is none, and it only makes him look idiotic. No one who knows the show - and enjoys it - is going to give Dan Abrams any credence whatsoever, so what's the point? Go stalk Britney or Lindsay, Dan, and keep yourself down on their level where you belong.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Tarantino is Dead to Me

I've had really mixed about Quintin Tarantino for a long time. I know there are a lot of critics out there who think he is the Orson Wells of his generation and can do no wrong, but I certainly see tremendous inconsistency in his work. And no small touch of complete insanity!

There's no doubt he's a very odd human being. Whenever I see him on a talk show or being interviewed, it's very obvious there's a totally off-kilter person inside that hyper, bubbly exterior. This comes through in his work as an actor too. If you didn't know who he was, you'd think they had done a very strange job of casting for that particular role. "What's with the weird looking tall dude who acts so geeky?"

Well, when he and Robert Rodriquez teamed up for their Grindhouse double feature last year I had high hopes. Rodriguez is more of an auteur - if anyone still uses that term - than most anyone else working in films today. He writes, direct, shoots - heck he even scores his own films and has a style that is distinct and interesting. Tarantino aspires to be this type of all-around filmmaker, but I don't think he has the requisite talent. He's just weird.

Back to Grindhouse.

When it came out, I just couldn't force myself to shell out the money to go see it. Part of me wanted to take the risk, but I was seriously afraid that I wouldn't be able to endure almost four hours of an attempt at bad filmmaking by people who have access to all of the top technology available in the world today. I know the movie did horrible at the boxoffice, so I felt somewhat relieved that I didn't make a monetary contribution. Then I saw that the videos - now separated into two films - were available "exclusively" at Blockbuster. But you know what, I still had that funny feeling that I was going to shell out three or four bucks and be horribly disappointed. Also, which one should I get and/or watch first? Rose McGowan with a machine-gun leg is pretty intriguing, but would that be enough? I decided not to make a decision and didn't rent either one.

Now Tarantino's film, Death Proof, is playing on one of the cable premium channels. No more excuses. I decided to watch.

What a sorry excuse for a film! There is nothing campy, interesting or redeeming about the entire work. I wonder what was going through the minds of the cast - a pretty decent one at that - when then were shooting these boring, overly talky scenes. I can only assume they deferred to Tarantino's "genius" and figured he knew what he was doing. Of course when he injected himself repeatedly into the bar scenes and over-acted his way to embarrassment - I have to wonder if they weren't starting to wise up by then.

I really want my 90 minutes back. I feel cheated, even though I technically I didn't pay anything to watch it. The two action scenes in the movie are exciting and well done. But the price one has to pay in order to get to them far exceeds their value. Women sitting around drinking, talking tough, chain smoking and cursing is 90% of Death Proof. It's Tarantino hiring a bunch of very nice looking woman and then masturbating in his mind over having sex with them. And we, poor unfortunately sucked-in viewers, have to endure his imaginary camera sex. Or not. I did because I kept wondering where this horrible excuse for art was going to go. Obviously America's movie-goers did not, hence the anemic receipts. Now I see why. Glad I didn't contribute anything to the bottom line.

It's going to be a long, long time before I let Tarantino sucker me in to watching anything he does in the future. Actually, after Grindhouse, I hope he doesn't get the opportunity.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Spitzer's Wife is Pathetic

OK, the news today is dominated by Eliot Spitzer, the governor of New York, who just got caught paying for a night with a call girl. He immediately calls a press conference to apologize to just about everybody. I don't really care about the details and the fact that this man is a total hypocrite with a total warped sense or morals.

The thing that strikes me is how his moronic wife not only stands at his side, but plasters herself against him at the podium as he asks for forgiveness. Occasionally she looks up adoringly at Client #9, but mostly her eyes are on the paper from which he's reading. What is she doing? Making sure he reads the words correctly and doesn't leave anything out?

What a sorry, pathetic excuse for a woman. I suppose some people see this as dedication and devotion to her man, but I see it as yet another woman who has absolutely no identity of her own. Being the wife of the governor of New York gives her status. Being the indignant, wronged ex-wife of the governor of New York gets her nothing. So she is willing to swallow her pride and "stand by her man" as his career tanks. Hmm...kind of reminds me of someone else whose husband showed his lack of character but put it behind her to further her political goals.

I feel sorry for Silda Wall Spitzer, but I have absolutely no respect for her.