Limes with Orange

It's been a busy week so I'll just do a summary post. Wednesday night after the Doc School screening I watched the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Why is this noteworthy when I watch the Daily Show most nights? Because this was the night that my friend Liz was in the studio audience! And it was the night that Lynne Cheney was on the show. Yep, you read that right... Lynne Cheney agreed to be interviewed by Jon Stewart. And my friend was there to witness it in all its hilarious awkwardness. Starting with the "You Don't Know Dick!" segment that was modified to "You Don't Know... Richard Cheney" right up to when Lynne made a dash for the exit at the end. Wish I'd been there, too!

Then Thursday night was the Deco Dawson screening. He showed several of his short films in chronological order and then ended with his latest film "The Last Moment" which is quite brilliant (and I'm not just saying that because it reminds me of a short film idea of mine that is in outline form at the moment). I was going to quote the Toronto International Film Festival program, but I feel like its brief blurb says too much and yet not enough. So I'm going to use this quote from Winnipeg's Uptown Magazine instead:

Winnipeg filmmaker Deco Dawson... emerges with the best film of his career — perhaps one of the best short films ever made. The Last Moment... shows us all that is fascinating about the medium. It's lurid, depraved, sleazy and cold. It's breathlessly romantic, hopeful and poetic. It's intentionally absurd and self-referential. It's shocking, confrontational and breathtaking. It's sexy and it's violent, artificial and honest. In short it is Cinema. The Last Moment is beautiful.

If you ever have a chance to see this film, watch it!

Friday night was Deco's Director's Eye talk at the CSIF. The Director's Eye series gives filmmakers an opportunity to talk about their cinematic influences and show clips that inspire and inform their own work. Well, Deco's style has a wide variety of influences from the Surrealists, Film Noir, Dogme 95, Hitchcock, French New Wave and recent filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino. So his clips ranged from an extravagant Busby Berkeley number in the 1934 musical comedy "Dames" (I had no idea that you could find Surrealism in Hollywood musicals) to "Dark Passage" (it's Bogie so it must be Film Noir) and "Europa" (not a Dogme film but by a Dogme director) and many, many more. I have to admit that before Deco's residency I would have been stunned to learn about the variety of his influences but having seen some of his more recent work, and hearing him talk about why these clips influenced him in such a way, it really makes perfect sense.

A couple of noteworthy news items: The Liberals won a second majority in the Ontario election... not a huge surprise, but a relief that at least they didn't go big-C Conservative (even though McGuinty is rather small-c conservative anyway). And congrats to Al Gore on being awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for raising awareness about the threats posed by global warming. (I wonder if he still has no plans to return to politics?) Unfortunately, the Nobel committee decided to split the award between Gore and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, rather than Canadian Inuit environmentalist Sheila Watt-Cloutier (who was jointly nominated with Gore by Norwegian parliamentarians). Pity.

But enough of all that... now I'm ready for a little weekend chillaxin'... Ciao!

Labels: film, jon stewart

Check out this Daily Show video where Bush makes a statement while talking about education that Jon Stewart couldn't make funnier even if he took it out of context:

Labels: bush bashing, humour, jon stewart

Last night, on Jon Stewart...

Labels: humour, jon stewart, politics, tv, videos

Cold War, that is!

Jon Stewart on Russia's return to form:

"Over the last few months, as we've seen Russia commit political assassinations, suppress its media and rig elections, I can't help but think: they're back, baby! Do you think they'd want to get in the Cold War again with us — because that war was awesome!"

Labels: humour, jon stewart, politics

Watch Jon Stewart moderate this priceless "debate" between present day Bush and first term Bush. I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry... laughter won:

Labels: bush bashing, jon stewart, videos

Jon Stewart of The Daily Show on the Democrats' efforts to lose the Iraq War:

"Last Friday the House put yet another cherry on its treason sundae by narrowly passing a war spending bill calling for the end of combat operations by next September, a plan Republicans immediately denounced as an admission of failure—as opposed to their plan, which is failure without admission."

Labels: humour, jon stewart, politics

I discovered this site where you can not only purchase the Iraq Study Group Report (aka "why Bush needs to concede that he got just about all of it wrong") but they have a whole bookstore devoted to information about the war in Iraq.

Now, you maybe be wondering why you should bother buying the book when you can download it in pdf form somewhere out there. Well, for one thing, if you're anything like me you don't want to sit at your computer to read 84 page document. And if you're planning on printing it out... c'mon, when the book costs less than $10, do you really want the bother of printing something that big, all that paper, all that ink. And, well, I just like books; the tangible feel and smell of them. Way better than a stack of 8 1/2" x 11" paper held together by a whopping big paperclip.

But seriously, I think the site is a good idea. By gathering together an entire bookstore related to Iraq—from carefully thought out strategies to impassioned arguments—it gives us an opportunity to find and share responsible information on this controversial topic. And the best part about the site is that it's politically neutral... unlike me... and Jon Stewart....

Labels: books and literature, bush bashing, jon stewart, politics

Jon Stewart of The Daily Show on the results of the midterm election:

"The Democrats are feeling something that they haven't felt in quite some time, I believe the emotion is — and I don't know if I'll be able to pronounce this — 'hope'."

Labels: humour, jon stewart, politics

Jon's demonstration of the connection between Iraq and the War on Terror:

"Let's pretend this plug is 'Iraq' and you're trying to connect it to the 'war on terror,' which is this avocado. You can do it... but here's the problem: THE AVOCADO STILL DOESN'T TURN ON. And now your plug is covered in guacamole."

Labels: humour, jon stewart, politics

aka... The 3 Variable Funny Test

It was far better than I expected... and accurate, too. Here's me:

the Wit

your humor style:
CLEAN | COMPLEX | DARK

You like things edgy, subtle, and smart. I guess that means you're probably an intellectual, but don't take that to mean pretentious. You realize 'dumb' can be witty--after all isn't that the Simpsons' philosophy?--but rudeness for its own sake, 'gross-out' humor and most other things found in a fraternity leave you totally flat.

I guess you just have a more cerebral approach than most. You have the perfect mindset for a joke writer or staff writer.

Your sense of humor takes the most thought to appreciate, but it's also the best, in my opinion.

You probably loved the Office. If you don't know what I'm talking about, check it out here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/theoffice/.

PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Jon Stewart - Woody Allen - Ricky Gervais

The 3-Variable Funny Test!
- it rules -

Here's one of my favourite anecdotes that might help illustrate my so-called wit:

George Bernard Shaw sent Winston Churchill a note inviting him to the first-night performance of Saint Joan. Shaw enclosed two tickets, "One for yourself and one for a friend... if you have a friend." Churchill returned the tickets and replied, "Am unable to attend the opening night. Please send two tickets for the second night... if there is a second night."

Labels: jon stewart, quizzes

Jon Stewart on the Arctic ice cap:

"There is near-universal consensus the melting is due in part to global warming, but the Bush administration counters that the ice caps are not melting — rather, the water has been liberated."

Labels: bush bashing, humour, jon stewart, politics, tv

Jon Stewart on the evacuation of New Orleans:

"You can't just rush in there. The federal government can't just usurp the power of the states — unless New Orleans is in some type of persistent vegetative state..."

Labels: humour, jon stewart, politics, tv

Jon Stewart on "nuclear states":

"President Bush did not offer India official recognition as a nuclear state, which would have put it on par with Russia, France and China. So if India ever drops a nuclear bomb on you, remember: it doesn't count."

Labels: bush bashing, humour, jon stewart, politics, tv

One of my favourite movies as a kid was "All The President's Men" (I know, I was a strange child). So when I saw a news clip that the identity of Deep Throat was finally going to be revealed, I was very excited (perhaps I'm a strange adult, as well). But now that the secret's out (former Deputy Director of the FBI, W. Mark Felt), it all seems a little anti-climactic. As Jon Stewart said, "Deep Throat is... a guy you've never heard of."

Stewart went on to report that G. Gordon Liddy, who went to jail for the Watergate break-in (minor detail), was asked his opinion about Felt's actions. (D'ya think the person asking the question actually thought Liddy would say, "he's a hero, man... two thumbs up"?) Apparently, Liddy said that Felt had "behaved unethically." ("You keep using that word. I do not think it means, what you think it means"... non-sequitur courtesy of The Princess Bride.) Jon Stewart surmised that Liddy probably went on to say "through this man's unethical actions, I went to jail for crimes I committed." (I'll link to the Stewart clip once it's available on the website.)

But if you want actual news coverage, check out The Washington Post's FBI's No. 2 Was 'Deep Throat' (it's only fair to start with the paper that started it all), CNN's Deep Throat's Role Revisited or the New York Post's 'Deep Throat' Coughs it Up (yep, that was the actual headline).

I also did a Technorati blog search to see what people are writing on their blogs about this and I was dismayed at the number of people saying how disappointed they are that Deep Throat turned out to be some whiny bureaucrat who only squealed because he'd been passed over for promotion. Granted, I just admitted to being a little disappointed myself, but my disappointment stems from the low key and commonplace way this 30 year secret was revealed (and the fact that I'd never heard of the guy before). Quite honestly, I think Felt did the right thing and I don't particularly care why he did it. So I prefer the opinions expressed on the blog So Let It Be Written... (Deep Throat): "You don't have to be a hero to do the right thing." Amen to that!

Apparently, Woodward had prepared for Felt's eventual death by writing a short book about Deep Throat. (Woodward & Bernstein had promised not to disclose his identity until after his death.) I'm guessing that his publisher is gonna have that book on the shelves in no time flat. And if you think I'm gonna buy it... well, you'd be right.

Labels: humour, jon stewart, news, politics, tv

Jon Stewart on Pope Benedict XVI:

"Cardinal Ratzinger, now known as Pope Benedict XVI, stood adorned with papal vestments, and crowned with the pope's signature white skullcap. And as he stood there before the adoring multitudes, it was then that he realized... this is how Bono must feel."

Labels: jon stewart, tv

Was watching last night's intro to The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and was quite tickled by the segment about the latest report critiquing U.S. intelligence gathering capabilities (and the NY Times' use of the phrase "doody-headed nincompoopery"... one can't help but wonder if the decline in their vocabulary is the result of William Safire's retirement... but I digress). While pondering why the authors of this report didn't seem to have access to the three previous reports that reached the same conclusions, Stewart suggested that a new report would be issued to explain this lack of communication, entitled:

"The Report Commission:
Reporting on Reporting Redundancy on Commission Reporting"
>>> watch segment

Naturally, this made me think of the phrase "Department of Redundancy Department." (Did I mention that this was going to be one of those tangentially meandering blog posts?) And I started trying to figure out who first coined that phrase. I remember reading it in "Anguished English" by Richard Lederer, but I'm sure it was around before then. It almost sounds Orwellian but it's kinda the antithesis of the Newspeak in "1984," which is intended to simplify language to its barest, most essential parts rather than make it more complicated than it needs to be (hmm... complicated like my run-on sentences that spew verbosity at every turn). Ironically, the Newspeak translation of "extremely bad" into "doubleplusungood" actually sounds more complicated to me, even though its root words are simplistic. (By the way, check out this Complete Newspeak Dictionary.) But I'm digressing yet again. (Though how can one tell in such a tangent-based rambling?)

Now where was I? Oh yes, Newspeak. The purpose of Newspeak is to dehumanize language and discount the emotion behind complex constructions of words. So if a culture's language does not contain the word for a concept, will the people of that culture be unable to comprehend it? Apparently, some linguistic anthropologists seem to think so (one website that I stumbled across claimed that Noam Chomsky is one of them, but being more familiar with his anarchist politics than his lingustic theories, I can't vouch for that). Taken to its extreme: if no word for "suffering" exists, how can one appreciate that they are, indeed, suffering? Likewise, how can an oppressed people rebel if they do not understand what "to rebel" means?

Hmm, interesting idea. But I counter with Buffy creator Joss Whedon's claim that language can sometimes have the effect of inhibiting true communication. (Have you seen the Emmy-nominated Buffy episode "Hush"? The majority of the episode is completely without dialogue and what little dialogue there is at the beginning and end of the show focuses on speech and communication... very on theme.) Who was it who said that words conceal as much as they reveal? [Google search result: "Words, like nature, half reveal and half conceal the soul within." ~ Alfred, Lord Tennyson]

Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE words (as anybody who reads my blog can attest). But I would argue that the hypothetical culture that doesn't have a word for suffering or rebellion will still suffer and rebel AND communicate about it. That communication may involve action or art instead of language, but the lack of a word doesn't prevent the intuitive thought. Does it? Or maybe I'm naive and uneducated and I just need to read more about the various theories of linguistics. And maybe that's more than enough inconclusive ramblings for today.

Labels: books and literature, buffy, humour, jon stewart, language, philosophy, politics, tv

Here's what tickled my funny bone on last night's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: when Jon compared George W. Bush's life to "The Truman Show"...

"So the president doesn't read the papers, the only real information he gets are from his loyal aides. And even when he goes to a town hall meeting to meet the people, they've been pre-selected." [like the dairy farmer from Utah selected to represent the youth of America... yeah, right]


Jon continued: "Our president's living in The Truman Show. Nothing happens around him that isn't planned." Then he added in a whisper, "I don't even think he knows we're out here watching."

And oh yeah, didja hear? They officially stopped looking for weapons of mass destruction... and guess what... they DIDN'T find any. Anyone surprised? Watch Jon's clip from last night.

Labels: bush bashing, jon stewart, tv

Hey everyone... Canada was one of the top stories on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart tonight! Okay, more accurately it was Bush's visit to Ottawa that made the headlines... myeh, potato-potahto. Unfortunately, there's no video clip of it up on the website (not yet, anyway... we can always hope). So allow me to mention a few of the highlights...

Jon Stewart mentioned that this was the first time that President Bush has visited Canada since taking office four years ago, then he explained that "he's been meaning to get around to it... but just didn't care." And, when Prime Minister Martin told a joke and then promptly began speaking French, Stewart hypothesized that in Canada "French is the comedy equivalent of: But seriously folks." And I definitely got a chuckle after Martin's comments about Bush and Martin's plan to craft a new North American partnership: "We agreed to put forward an agenda in which our two nations will cooperate in a practical way towards common goals..." At which point, Jon Stewart showed the cover of a new policy document: "Moving Forward: Proceeding with Going Ahead, A Non-Specific Proposal."

While I was on The Daily Show website, searching in vain for a clip of the aforementioned segment, I noticed that they did have a clip of the "This Week in God: Fanatics" segment from the previous night. Must watch it... bloody hilarious!

P.S. Apparently I should wait until the next day before bemoaning the lack of available video. It is now on The Daily Show site, as "Headlines: Nuke Kids on the Block" (which starts off with Iran as the top headline and segues into us at around the two minute mark).

Labels: jon stewart, tv

My attempt to find humour in an otherwise bleak moment in history: the first time that George W. Bush was elected (as opposed to selected) president...

"Vote: the instrument and symbol of a freeman's power to make a fool of himself and a wreck of his country." ~ Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"

Political cartoon in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Political cartoon in the Geneva daily "Le Temps":

Headline in The Onion: "God Puts His Tool Back Into Office"

Title of special election night coverage of "Indecision 2004" on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: "Prelude to a Recount" (watch this!)

"A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine." ~ Thomas Jefferson

*sigh*

Labels: bush bashing, jon stewart, tv