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Using the Best, Bringing Out the Worst

Freedom of speech is one of the most widely appreciated and critically lauded rights in our country, yet it is also one of the least understood. Under the protection of this original amendment to the Constitution of the United States, each person has the inherent right to express themselves through the use of words. This is one of the core elements to our democracy, if not the very heart of it. Yet once again we are beginning to see how that right can be mistreated, misunderstood and misdirected against the very ideals it was created for.

On March 23, 2010 President Barack Obama signed into law a comprehensive package of health care reforms under the title of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. This is being held as the most widely sweeping package of reforms to the health care system since the enactment of Medicare. As with any major change to our country, there was disagreement and dissent in how these changes should be applied, if at all. That’s a good thing–dissent and disagreement should be protected and even encouraged because that is how checks and balances work and it is our protection against any one party or idea running roughshod over the entire country. A multi-party and multi-idea system is inherently necessary for Democracy to work at all.

Unfortunately, as with any system requiring human beings to take part, there will always be people who will abuse that system. While hiding under the guise of protected argument in opposition to the passage of health care reforms, Senators, Congress people and ordinary citizens have escalated their rhetoric beyond reasonable limits. Referring to health care reform as “global Armageddon”, claiming we should vote out  those in favor in November, “if we have elections” or even calling for the assassination of politicians’ children if they voted yes on the bill; those are only a few of the responses from the opposition. While they might indeed reside technically under the protection of the first amendment, these types of exaggerations and exhortations are against the core ideal of free speech.

Our right to free speech was meant to protect our ability to state our opinion and express ourselves in face of totalitarian oppression and intimidation, yet in these cases it is being used directly for the intimidation and oppression of those with differing views. Worse, the politicians, pundits and performers who choose to wallow in this level of discourse ignore the effect it has on those people listening to their vitriol. They scoff at those who warn them and they deny that the mass population would ever take things too far, but they consciously and knowingly neglect the knowledge that terrible acts aren’t only orchestrated by a large group of people:

-       The recent flight of a small plane into an IRS office building was achieved and orchestrated by one man.

-       The Oklahoma City bombing was achieved and orchestrated by two men.

-       The mail bombing campaign issued from 1978 – 1995 was achieved and orchestrated by one man.

The very night the Senate version of health care was passed an operation of window smashing was enacted against various Democratic county offices and those offices of politicians who voted for the bill. Credit has been taken by a far-right conservative blogger who revels in each and every report of vandalism and damage, whether or not it was specifically in his name. While a few hundred dollars in damage per affected office is not a huge thing, I do wonder exactly why this particular act was chosen to express their disappointment. I suppose letters to their representatives seemed too light or too ineffective, or maybe it just wasn’t flashy enough, or maybe they were trying to draw a subliminal connection to the ‘Night of Broken Glass’ where the Nazis and anti-Jewish coalition smashed all the windows of Jewish shop owners, signaling only the beginning of the oncoming Holocaust. Whether or not this was in their heads while they scurried through the dark tossing bricks through windows, the message is clear. Words are no longer an option for them, action and violence is now their chosen recourse.

The opposition to the new health care package needs to quickly decry and despise the violence inherent in the rally cries and speeches from their very own supporters. If they do not, they will find the uncomfortable color of innocent blood on their hands and a saddened nation of people wondering how and why they let it get that far.

Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution

For a long time now I have followed the career of British chef and master of rustic cooking, Jamie Oliver. Recently he began a one-man mission to overhaul the way the world looks at food, one country at a time. He started in his home country of England, but now he is bringing his gargantuan efforts to the United States. His hope is if he can change the eating habits of Americans, the rest of the world will follow suit. To launch and lead this effort he has created a TV show and charity under the title Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. Here are his own words to describe the cause:

I believe that every child in America has the right to fresh, nutritious school meals, and that every family deserves real, honest, wholesome food. Too many people are being affected by what they eat. It’s time for a national revolution. America needs to stand up for better food!

You live in an amazing country full of inspirational people and you have the power to change things. With your help, we can get better food into homes, schools and communities all over America and give your kids a better future.

Sign the petition to save America’s cooking skills and improve school food. It could be the most important thing you ever do for your family. America’s health needs you now!

So please give this a concerted look and sign the petition at the very least. If you are feeling even more moved by Jamie’s march towards our children’s health, then click here to donate what you can.

If you need any more convincing about his desire to see this through and his dedication to the cause, check out his acceptance speech at this year’s TED awards. It is really a powerful and moving piece of work.

Shutter Island: This is Your Mommy’s Thriller

Listen here, Ghandi! I want the truth! Where did you hide the Snickers bars?

Rating: 9 out of 10

The moment your cast and crew are announced, the bar is set in the minds of your audience. You tell people that Martin Scorsese is directing a new film and the bar moves up a notch from its humble beginnings. You tell people he is getting Leonardo DiCaprio to star in it, click, there’s one more notch. Then you lay on people that the film is based on a Dennis Lehane novel, which might not mean anything to a majority of people, but once you clarify that he is the author behind such stories as Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone, well, now you’ve got their attention. With a quick glace at your expectation pole, you might find this upcoming film to be teetering near the top, almost daring you to shake it off, which is inevitably what happens to most films in this predicament. The bar gets lost in the clouds and the audiences walk out of the theater staring at the ground; but every now and again the pieces slide into place and you just might find yourself glancing at the tip of the pole through a break in the cloud cover. Now is one of those times (so you can leave the raincoats at home).

Shutter Island is a harrowing tale of two Federal Marshalls called to a lonely island that only houses one thing–a psychiatric institute for the criminally insane. The worst of the worst are sent here because there is no hope or possibility of escape. The marshalls are called in due to the recent disappearance of a certain prisoner, vanished right out of her cell like air. As they being to peel back the layers of clinical observation, polite discreteness and congenial denial they find a labyrinth of deceit underneath. Questions are being asked, but not answered, and the marshalls start to wonder whether they are the ones investigating an actual crime or if indeed they are the ones being investigated.

Reaching a pinnacle in your career is a dangerous thing. With each new project people can claim that it is the best thing you’ve ever done, thereby making your next project pale in comparison before you’ve even begun. In some cases artists under that kind of pressure have just given up, chosen not to fight against their own glory in an effort to eclipse it. Martin Scorsese is surely one who has had to battle against the easy way out underneath the weight of his celebrity. From his early exploits with Mean Streets and Taxi Driver to his recent accolades with The Departed, Scorsese has never given up telling stories. It hasn’t been a consistent rising arc for him, with bumps along the way like Gangs of New York, but his name still holds its ring of Hollywood mastery and clout. In Shutter Island, he reminds people why he got that name recognition by going backwards in style and substance, back to the earlier days of thrillers and chillers. Shutter Island plays itself out much more like Hitchcock or Kubrick’s The Shining than anything in today’s cinematic landscape. Scorsese’s breadth of past experience comes to the forefront through his tonal control and tempo while twisting his audience into his personal web.

One of the glorious moments in cinema is witnessing an acclaimed director find his muse. Although there is an overtly sexual tone to that idea, as in Tarantino and Uma Thurman or Rodriguez and Rose McGowan, it is not always the case. Furthermore, very few directors can find two in one lifetime. Scorsese has done just that with his early display of works with Robert De Niro and now with his younger go-to-guy, Leonardo DiCaprio, who has starred in four films under the Scorsese banner: Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed and of course, Shutter Island. The best thing about this dynamic duo is they seem to be bringing out the best in each other. Although The Departed was fantastic, I actually think DiCaprio’s performance here was more demanding and more fulfilling. The same goes for Scorsese, although I feel Shutter Island is more on par with The Departed instead of outdoing it. Other actors also gave their all in this twisted mind-bender, like the always rewarding Mark Ruffalo, the continually mischievous Max von Sydow and the man with an unending sense of power and grace, Ben Kingsley. Everyone played their parts with extraordinary poise and gratitude for the other actors on screen and watching that ability to share the spotlight never fails to delight.I would also be terribly remiss if I didn’t give accolades to the great cameo monologue by Jackie Earle Haley. Very rarely does a man disappear from Hollywood for such a long time and then erupt back on the scene and make us wonder, “How the hell did that guy get away from us before?” I don’t think we’ll be making that same mistake twice.

The End of the Page Recommendation: If you are a fan of Hitchcock or the original The Shining, you should fit right in on the island. If you are not someone who enjoys a good twist, well, maybe just check out The Island instead. No thinking required in that one.

Kiva – Loans That Change Lives

Kiva’s mission is to connect people, through lending, for the sake of alleviating poverty.

Kiva empowers individuals to lend to an entrepreneur across the globe. By combining microfinance with the internet, Kiva is creating a global community of people connected through lending.

Kiva was born of the following beliefs:

• People are by nature generous, and will help others if given the opportunity to do so in a transparent, accountable way.
• The poor are highly motivated and can be very successful when given an opportunity.
• By connecting people we can create relationships beyond financial transactions, and build a global community expressing support and encouragement of one another.

Kiva promotes:

• Dignity:   Kiva encourages partnership relationships as opposed to benefactor relationships. Partnership relationships are characterized by mutual dignity and respect.
• Accountability:   Loans encourage more accountability than donations where repayment is not expected.
• Transparency:   The Kiva website is an open platform where communication can flow freely around the world.

As of November 2009, Kiva has facilitated over $100 million in loans.

Darfur Dream Team

Young people everywhere are more alike than different. They want a good education and opportunities for the future. Children in refugee camps who have survived the war in Darfur are no different. They dream of quality education and a chance to help rebuild their lives and homes.

When Tracy McGrady of the Houston Rockets heard about the massive challenges children from Darfur were facing in the refugee camps in Chad, he decided to see for himself. After spending days listening to the harrowing stories of young Darfuris in the refugee camps and their incredible thirst for a better education, he decided to act. When Tracy and his traveling companions from the Enough Project returned, they hatched the idea for the Darfur Dream Team’s Sister Schools program linking American middle schools, high schools, colleges, and universities with schools in the Darfuri refugee camps. Tracy’s Journey to the refugee camps in eastern Chad is chronicled in the movie 3 Points.

The Darfur Dream Team is a dynamic partnership of organizations and professional basketball players working together on the Sister Schools Program, an initiative to connect American middle schools, high schools, colleges, and universities with sister schools in 12 refugee camps in Chad.

Crazy Heart: The Dude Finds a Girl, a Guitar and a Truck.

Why yes, it is called the Dude Ranch. Why do you ask?

Rating: 7 out of 10

With mere days to go until the Academy Awards, I’m doing my best to find and witness screenings anywhere and everywhere of the nominated films. I’ve missed a few due to the insane schedule I am currently keeping, but I was lucky enough to have a good friend offer me passes the other night for this country music moment on film that has many people raving. I jumped at the chance, strapped myself into the comfy padded seats of the screening room and here’s what came out of it.

Crazy Heart is a tale as simple and heartwarming as your favorite country tune. Bad Blake is a true country musician; smoking, drinking, loving and putting it all into his songs. He once had a shot at the big time, but life took a turn and he finds himself playing roadside bars and bowling alleys left behind by time itself. As a favor to a local musician, Bad allows himself to be interviewed by a young woman, who in turn finds herself drawn to the power and passion of his character. Yet, like in all country tunes, rocky times hit hard and Bad Blake is tested to see what kind of man he can become and if anyone will accept him if he makes it to the other side of the bottle.

First off, let me say it is dangerous for me to watch a movie about country musicians because the soundtrack gets stuck in my head and I become forced to admit to liking country music. I know deep down that there is nothing at all wrong with that, but when I was growing up country music was thought of as for old people and those who were mad about losing the Civil War. So I feel it is with a certain sense of renewed maturity that I applaud the wonderful soundtrack in the film and admit to humming the tune of Fallin’ & Flyin’. While I may have buckled on my childhood ban on country music, I am still holding strong to the fact I look terrible in a cowboy hat.

Now, on to the real review. Crazy Heart is another of those truly touching films that begins and ends with the main actor. Jeff Bridges schools Hollywood once again with what it is really like to envelop a role, live it in front of a camera and make your audience forget you, the actor, even exists. Bridges seems to revel in characters that are out of place in their own time, proven back in the day by roles like Kevin Flynn in Tron (a personal favorite) to the lead in John Carpenter’s Starman. He reached what many believed to be his cult-pinnacle inside the skin of the lackadaisical, prema-chilled sloth-man known only as “The Dude” in The Big Lebowski. In a move that will surely ruffle a few bong-tinged feathers, I report that he might have equaled that achievement with this tender and honest portrayal of an artist left behind by life. Maggie Gyllenhaal co-stars as the young woman who reignites his fire and sets him on the path to recovery. She appears on the screen with a light sense of shyness and an internal blush that radiates under the affections of Bad Blake. Her charm certainly helped keep the character afloat, but Bridges stole the show in almost every way possible. Also lending his status and talent is Robert Duvall as a bar owner and close friend to the down-and-out Blake. There are few people who bring the grit and grind of hard life people like Duvall and his few moments on screen were a continued testament to that ability.

The story itself was simple, but as I’ve said before, even simple stories can be screwed up by too much meddling. Crazy Heart strums all the right notes, but lets the song drag in a few places. I left feeling that the movie itself was not nearly as memorable as the performances.

The End of the Page Recommendation: Jeff Bridges fans should all go through the roof for this film, while those who might not know him as well are bound to get an incredible first introduction to a world-class actor. Check it out if you want to know what “Oscar worthy” really stands for.