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From what i am reading, including over at information leafblower, Morissey is performing even better than when i saw him at the Apollo in May.
And this despite his recent illness.
I am so looking forward to the Radio City Music Hall NYC gigs in December now. Roll on Christmas!
Almost 40 children killed in the center of Baghdad at the celebration of an opening of a sewer and water pipe system;
- one US marine killed, again in the center of the city in one of another two attacks in the city;
- another 10 hostages taken.
The news is now remorselessly bad
...how can Allawi and Bush say things are getting better?
As if the prospect of two weeks of gripping film watching isnt enough to keep me going, we ventured off tonight to catch The Motorcycle Diaries.
The film by director Walter Salles is an adaptation of a journal written by Ernesto "Che" Guevara (Gael Garcia Bernal) when he was 23 years old. He and his friend, Alberto Granado (de la Serna) are typical college students who, seeking fun and adventure before graduation, decide to travel across Argentina, Chile, Brazil and Peru in order to do their medical residency at a leper colony.
Beginning as a buddy/road movie in which Ernesto and Alberto are looking for chicks, fun and adventure before they must grow up and have a more serious life. As is said in the film narration by Che, it's about "two lives running parallel for a while." The two best friends start off with the same goals and aspirations, but by the time the film is over, it's clear what each man's destiny has become - Che will become the revolutionary, Alberto the practical doctor working in the system in Cuba.
The road / buddy movie is a little different from the standard - its in English and is more about the evolution of political and social thought, than sexual exploration and growth. The cinematography is stunning - Latin America looks amazing. But I sat wondering whether this was going to be an endless series of shots of a motorcycle tavelling through vast vistas punctuated by occassional stops at key socially relevant points (a rapacious multinational owned mine; Machu Picchu, a leper colony) or necessitated by bike crashes. There really was little plot and nothing really to surprise or astound. The politics were a little heavy and the character development was trite.
Overall I was disappointed by this film as a film, but it did get me thinking at the wasted opportunity that America has had on this continent. Even in its own back yard the USA has not understood what it takes to create a just and liberal society. It has not learned from its own revolution, and has left Latin America bereft, saddled with corrupt dictatorships and harsh in-equality.
Off to SoBe again for a few days relaxation and maybe some sun...lets hope the hurricanes stay away.
This time trying the Kent Hotel. a restored Art Deco Hotel located right in South Beach on Collins Ave. Originally built in the 1930's, this Hotel recently completed a major renovation, bringing the hotel up to ultra modern standards, while appointing it with an eye-catching décor. 
The Hotel lobby's original mahogany wood accents and classic Terrazzo floors have been maintained, while the new furnishings and details are very bold and funky.
While there is no pool there is a rad outside lounge terrace an its only a block from the beach.
Travel And Leisure Magazine has called The Kent one of the World's Top 50 Great Hotels.
Starts on Friday...its a beguiling program this year, full of some stunning new films from the masters - Almodavar, Leigh, Solondz, Godard, Rohm, but also some new stuff from out of the way places like Thialand and Senegal.
Its sort of unfortunate that I will be in miami for the first weekend and miss some absolute corkers!!!
But at least I do get back in time for the Pedro stuff and the Directors Dialogue with Mike Leigh.
Opening night is Comme une image (Look at me) by (and staring) filmmaker-actress Agnès Jaoui and her writing partner-lead actor Jean-Pierre Bacri a deliciously bittersweet ensemble comedy. 
Then there is the opening night black tie party at the god awful "Tavern on the Green", for which I must, I must remember my camera or else !
After the libations its off to sunny (hopefully) Miami in the morning with a stay in the Delano to buck my spirits. Of course like last year I will post an occassional review of the films I catch, as well as pics from any of the parties.
Garrison Keilor, usually a home- spun humorous man "from Lake Wobegon" sets down a line in the sand in his impassioned and personal article on the coming election.
"Here in 2004, George W. Bush is running for reelection on a platform of tragedy—the single greatest failure of national defense in our history, the attacks of 9/11 in which 19 men with box cutters put this nation into a tailspin, a failure the details of which the White House fought to keep secret even as it ran the country into hock up to the hubcaps, thanks to generous tax cuts for the well-fixed, hoping to lead us into a box canyon of debt that will render government impotent, even as we engage in a war against a small country that was undertaken for the president’s personal satisfaction but sold to the American public on the basis of brazen misinformation, a war whose purpose is to distract us from an enormous transfer of wealth taking place in this country, flowing upward, and the deception is working beautifullyThe concentration of wealth and power in the hands of the few is the death knell of democracy. No republic in the history of humanity has survived this. The election of 2004 will say something about what happens to ours. The omens are not good"
The full arrticle is worth a read.
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
President Dwight D. Eisenhower April 16, 1953
Today I added a counter to this site showing the escalating cost of the war in Iraq to the US economy. It is a running total of the amount of money spent by the US Government to finance the war. This total is based on estimates from Congressional appropriations. It is staggering how much is being spent, which along with the tax cuts implemented by the Bush Administration will further worsen the deficits that the American taxpayers in the future will have to bear.
It is also mind blowing to think about the difference that these funds could make in providing better schools, better health, eliminating poverty and homelessness, addressing and conquering the AIDS epidemic, wiping out third world debt and creating friends for America.
Wasted opportunity
(from Pitchfork)
Now, it's been said that the best bands aren't just bands but also art projects.
Well, Interpol in the lead up to the release of Antics and their coming tour have now taken that idea to the Nth degree with the introduction of "Interpol Spaces", a series of stylized art rooms designed for all things related to, and regarding... themselves. 
"Interpol Spaces", as they're called, depict a rare and unusual approach to the notion of the "concept space": The rooms act as neither a museum of the band's career-to-date, nor merely a place for the selling of merchandise, but rather as a space governed by the "Interpol aesthetic," as interpreted by artistic friends, fans, and contributors to the band. This means, in practical terms, that Interpol Spaces feature rare poster sets and art prints designed by Shepard Fairey of the self-proclaimed propagandists design company Obey/Giant, customized neon signs courtesy of Brooklyn-based Lite Brite Neon, and a collection of band-commissioned short films available for viewing.
The band plans to open Spaces in Paris and Berlin later this year, but for now there are three-- in New York, Los Angeles, and London. Each of these locations is also acting as a merchandising point to feature exclusive Interpol stuff, including a limited-edition seven-inch Antics box set. Additionally, the spaces will be utilized by local record stores and distributors as locations for Antics release parties. Here's where you go, and when:
September 10th through October 9th:
New York City, NY - 199 Lafayette Street
September 13th through October 3rd:
Los Angeles, CA - Subliminal Project Space: 3780 Wilshire Blvd. #210
September 23rd through September 27th:
London, England - The Ragged School: 47 Union
Useful and non partisan siteFactCheck.org has stated that the Bush Cheney TV advert "Searching" is the most egregious example so far in the 2004 campaign of using edited quotes in a way that changes their meaning and misleads voters
"This Bush ad is a textbook example of how to mislead voters through selective editing."
Here is the analysis...it is worth absorbing how far the current administration is willing to bend the truth.
How the US authorities boxed at moonshadows - the story from Yusaf told in his words..
You really have to ask what has this country really come to?
I understand that Yusaf was stopped because the officials had a similar but differently spelled name on their list. From Yusaf's account he raised this with them a number of times.
I am increasingly fearful of living in the USA.
Change is good
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