...where in some parts, Alice couldn't get an abortion even if she were raped by the Mad Hatter. For a better, more cogent take on just how absurd and barbaric this is, please check out one of my cohorts at the dissent channel blog.
My Take on the Immigration School Walkouts
I'm no fan of any bill that would aim to use the Mexican underclass to drive our economy and then criminalize them once we're done with them, but this little editorial is aimed at those who are walking out of classrooms to "protest" these new potential immigration laws. I am hugely supportive of anyone who gets riled up about anything beyond American Idol and the latest sports non-controversy, but I fail to see how walking out of high school or middle school and then engaging in fights with the police makes the statement that the proposed changes to immigration laws are wrong. Write your congressperson, write your senator, write letters to the editor, but stay in the classroom. I know the LAUSD isn't going to give you credit for time spent marching on the streets and the missed classroom time ends up hurting you, the protester, more than it does the powers that be who will just use it as an excuse to cut more classroom funding from the primarily Latino school district. (If you're reading this somewhere other than in L.A. then first--congratulations for finding me!--and second, if kids are walking out in large numbers in your school district too, then your district will soon also be primarily Latino).
You may have noticed that there's an excellent movie currently airing on HBO (directed by Edward James Olmos) about high school walkouts done by Latino students during the late 1960's. You might ask, would I have opposed those walkouts and if not, what's the difference? Well, the answer is I supported those walkouts and the difference is that those students were walking out on the very people who were directly discriminating against them, the LA school district and the principals and teachers who were treating them like second class citizens. Their walkout had a direct impact on decision makers who could immediately act to make changes that affected those students. Today's walkouts are just a glorified excuse to play hooky--and they are largely being treated as such, since the issue isn't in the schools, it's in the workplace, at the border and potentially in the courthouse. My rule is, if it isn't immediately apparent what affect your walkout or protest can have on the issue at hand, then there is probably a better way to make your point.
Reviews & Thangs
New CD's: Prince, 3121 - Prince might be coasting a bit as he cruises into funky middle age, but his coasting is still better than most artist's top career achievement. Such can be said about the Purple One's latest, 3121, a laid back pastiche of funk, rock, pop, electronica and Latin grooves aided and abetted at various points by Sheila E., the New Power Generation, Maceo Parker and Prince's current chanteuse/protege Tamar. Prince may no longer be a trailblazer, but he knows how to work a groove, build musical drama in a song and craft a memorable hook, something no American Idol winner will ever be able to do (at least not on their own). Another plus--this is not one of Prince's deadly "concept albums"; although the second half is more concerned with spiritual matters than the first half is, these songs sound well when played in sequence, but they are not trying to pound a message into our head nor are they wandering off on some arcane, obscure artistic quest. They are quintessential Prince songs, played loose and played (generally) fast. This is the first truly worthwhile new album purchase/download of 2006. My favorite tracks: "Fury", "Lolita", "Black Sweat".
New movies: Inside Man, directed by Spike Lee, written by Russel Gewirtz. Stars Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Christopher Plummer and Willem Dafoe. A surprisingly low key and unpreachy heist thriller from Spike Lee, Inside Man (#1 at the box office last week), isn't the best heist/cops & robbers movie you'll ever see but it's certainly far from the worst and it's well-directed and well-acted enough to keep you engaged to the end, even if there are a few too many unnecessary red herrings and Lee's propensity for flashforwards occasionally stalls the dramatic momentum. Washington and Foster give especially enjoyable performances, the former evoking the kind of sexy, easy going charm that helped make him a movie star in the first place; the latter, taking an underwritten, one-note role and imbuing it with an energy and sexiness that leaves you unable to take your eyes off of her (although I thought the ending completely misused her).
Is Inside Man worth $10 at the theater? Just barely...but that's saying a lot in a year that so far has only this and V for Vendetta as standout above average new releases. My grade: A-
A DVD Shoutout
This isn't really a review, but I must say that I just saw the Korean thriller Oldboy on DVD and man, what a knockout! The movie is so weird and unsettling I'm not sure I could call it a great movie, but it sure is memorable and the ending is one of the strongest I've seen from a modern movie in recent years. I'd love to see an American remake--but with the studios so cautious and the mood of the country so conservative these days, they'd probably take out all of the most button-pushing, freaky things about the original and leave us with some bland Bruce Willis action movie. If you haven't seen Oldboy, check it out. You'll either thank me--or pray for my soul.
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I'm tired of making promises for when I'll be back and what I'll be writing about. Just keep checking the blog, okay? I'll try to be back before the end of the week...
Peace.
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