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Saturday, February 22, 2014

The Loud Music Trial, Justice Largely Served

There's now handwringing from civil rights activists because he wasn't convicted in the death of Jordan Davis. There seems further confusion as to how a jury could convict him of attempted murder of three men but not the actual murder of the fourth. (It was a mistrial on this count.) Really it's not that confusing.
 
The difference is that the white guy will be going to jail for a very long time, and the number of rightwingers hailing this Negro slayer as a hero are substantially smaller. There is wide concession that this guy is a dumbass who should be in jail. The difference was that Zimmerman was involved in a physical altercation while this was name-calling and perhaps idle threats between the parties. The difference is that this white man was shooting and multiple unarmed men while they were trying to escape the hostile situation. (Oh, and the black men turned down their rape music upon the white man's request. Even in comparison to Zimmerman, this white man wanted the situation to escalate.) After shooting at a bunch of black guys, he did not wait for the police to arrive--rather he went to a hotel and ordered out for pizza. Local place.
 
If the races were reversed, and just the races, the Negro Dunn would be having his armed swabbed for a needle for murdering that unarmed white boy--and attempting to murder three other white guys, whose fun night out was violently disturbed by a black man's madness.
 
That said, it is within the realm of possibility that Dunn did see a gun--and that was why no conviction was reached in that case. (In another rare case, the prosecution over-prosecuted a white person in connection to the murder of a black man. A manslaughter conviction was more achievable.) He had been in a verbal confrontation with four young guys, and he lived in a state where any idiot or escaped mental patient can buy and carry a gun--including himself. It might've been a gun--or a cellphone or a finger. There is nothing in Dunn's history that would suggest he fantasized about shooting a black man. He had no previous connection to Davis. He was not trying to rob Davis--nor did he take anything from Davis.
 
This young man's parents family want their son's name cleared. They want an acknowledgement that he was murdered, and he'd done nothing to provoke the shooting. This is not necessarily possible in a liberal democracy, where we are suppose to give the accused the benefit of the doubt. The solution, perhaps, is to give more young black men the benefit of the doubt, not remove that benefit from schlubby white guys.
 
Whatever darkness inhabiting Dunn's heart that led him to want to try to kill those men, the rest of us will never know.

Saturday, February 15, 2014

What other kind of shenanigans can Ellen Page get into?

It feels like she came out years ago, right. It's like discovering Shirley Temple was still alive and had just died.

The reason beyond how sporty she was was that she was never particularly enthused talking about the sexy guys who she was dating in the past--something that so many of us undoubtedly thought was ironic detachment. She dated the sexiest man in Sweden, which makes one wonder if Alexander Foreign Name turned her into a Lilith Fair attendee. (Great music, by the way.)

I get the creepy feeling that this was meant to force herself back into the public eye. Jennifer Lawrence has really stolen her thunder on the 20-something "It Girl" role. Unlike Page, Lawrence will be around forever, having been nominated for TWO Oscars before she was old enough to drink--her humor, grace, beauty (and height) have catapulted her several slots above the Canadian. Really, Lawrence is Meryl Streep with great cans. (Love you, Jennifer.) Jennifer Lawrence is the Kate Upton of great actresses.

To promote Whip It a few years back, she did a pseudo-lesbian photoshoot with Director Drew Barrymore, which begs he question: Was that offensive? Not offensive because watching hot chicks go to town on each other is offensive, but offensive because they were using someone else's sexual identity to draw men to a romcom. Turns out one of those ladies was actually gay, which made it less bad.

Oh, and when will Ellen Page come out as a secret American? That'll be shocking. What if she isn't a Canadian at all!?! Think about that.

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Forget Bridgegate. Is Chris Christie still stuck in high school?

In an interview, Christie both mentioned he was exercising when he heard the news that one of his assistants and oldest friends has proof that he knowingly closed a bridge in political retaliation. He went on to point out he was a high school athlete and an overachiever in high school. Really it feels like Christie just wants us all to remember he used to be athletic. Okay, good. We're all happy for you, Christie. It still feels like cheating that he got gastric bypass rather than devoting the rest of his life to diet and exercising. This demonstrates just a different kind of weakness on the New Jersey governor's part beyond his original weakness of gluttony.

His ridiculous defense, including spreading rumors about the guy citing his high school social studies teacher's innuendo about dishonesty.

But, really, he's now the guy who keeps thinking about high school. He's the governor. Can't he move on? He is literally the most successful graduating member OF HIS CLASS! Okay, you won...soon you'll lose--but you won in high school!

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Is Lex Luthor already attacking Batman vs. Superman?

Feels like Jesse Eisenberg already played Lex Luthor in The Social Network, right? (They certainly are taking the character in a different direction.) I mean, Amy Adams will just push Luthor over. There. Defeated. End credits.

What I seriously loathe is how this is turning into a lazy Justice League movie--with rumors of a Green Lantern showing up too. It's bad enough for Wonder Woman to interrupt the epic bromance between the World's Finest.  Marvel did one awesome thing: They created a massive network of superheroes that can cross-pollinate each other's movies and is now on the TV-verse. Their movies are also largely, well, good. Meanwhile DC keeps bombing--I'm looking at you, Jonah Hex and Green Lantern. Get outta here, you guys.

Also there's the problem that Snyder's canonical Man of Steel is supposed to be a "first contact" movie. There aren't supposed to be any other aliens here before the arrival of the Kryptonians--so what of the Green Lantern Corps.? (This is related to Batman siting out the activities depicted in Man of Steel.)