By Steve Rhodes
1. The mayor is not sorry at all about torture.
2. Will a reporter please ask Obama if the mayor he endorsed should share any portion of responsibility for Jon Burge?
3. “Daley said he suggested the United Center as an ‘easier’ and more ‘controlled’ alternative to Grant Park [for Obama’s Election Night party]. But, the mayor said he was turned down by Obama campaign staffers who insisted on holding an outdoor rally,” the Sun-Times reports.
“Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt countered, ‘We checked before we requested space [in Grant Park]. Celine Dion is booked for the United Center the night of the election.””
Gee, which one should I go to?!
4. The mayor is not sorry at all for using your hard-earned money to make up for his continued mismanagement of Millennium Park.
5. “The purpose of the hotel tax was to bring tourists into the city,” said Daley.
You mean our hotel tax is an attraction? Can you go look at it somewhere?
6. Rick Perlstein thinks we’ve been living in Nixonland, but I contend we’ve been living in Reaganland. Even the Clinton years were Reaganistic in their “greed is good” let’s-all-get-rich trade-as-foreign-policy get-tough-on-crime sort of way.
But maybe it really is finally over.
7. Alan Greenspan illustrates how very smart people can still be very naive and very out of touch with the way the world works and how at least a certain segment of people with a certain set of values behave.
8. “Half of U.S. Doctors Use Placebos.”
Probably the same half that finished, er, in the bottom half of their class.
Well, I tried.
9. It was nice of the Tribune to mention in its little promo of “A Sandra Bernhard Halloween” right here in Chicago that she threatened Sarah Palin “with gang rape if the V.P. candidate sets foot in Manhattan, but curiously the paper left out the part where Bernhard said it would be her “big black brothers” doing the raping.
Over at the Sun-Times, Misha Davenport interviewed Bernhard but gave her a pass.
10. “Palin Now Much More Media-Accessible Than Biden.”
I’m sure Obamaphiles are as outraged about Biden’s media sequestration as they were about Palin’s.
11. I don’t know about you, but if I was asked to be vice president, I wouldn’t have a thing to wear. Michelle Obama, on the other hand, would because she famously loves designers like Maria Pinto so much.
12. Plus, Sandra Bernhard made fun of Palin’s glasses, haircut, and shoes, so I suppose she had to upgrade her wardrobe or face the ridicule of gang-rapists in Manhattan.
13. A free taco isn’t all every American has won.
“Earlier this year, Dr Pepper promised to give one can of soda to every American if Guns N’ Roses delivered its latest album, Chinese Democracy,” Advertising Age reports. “Now, it’s official. The album will be released at the end of November, meaning Dr Pepper’s promise is coming due.”
“The American edibles industry: Feeding America . . . one event at a time.”
– Scott Buckner
14. I wonder if McDonald’s will serve New Coke with its new double cheeseburgers that will contain less cheese. It could be part of their new Clueless Menu.
15. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has started a 72-part project on drinking called “Wasted in Wisconsin.”
16. These are GOP talking points, but still an interesting exercise in dot-connecting.
17. “The political press corps’ most striking attribute is its remarkably low intellectual caliber.”
18. Former Sun-Times reporter Eric Herman is now a spokesman for Cook County Assessor Jim Houlihan; former Sun-Times reporter Steve Patterson is now spokesman for Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart; and former Sun-Times reporter Lucio Guerrero is now a spokesman for Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
19. Cook County State’s Attorney candidate Anita Alvarez appeared in a full-page ad for O’Briens in the Tribune this week, gaining the Old Town restaurant’s all-important endorsement. Of course, Andy Martin has also appeared in an O’Briens ad.
20. Continuing our blurbing of Marilyn Ferdinand’s coverage of the Chicago International Film Festival is a two-fer. Go to Ferdy on Films for full reviews and details.
Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story: Lee Atwater–the man who called Strom Thurmond his mentor and Karl Rove his protege–gets a thorough going-over in Boogie Man as a win-at-all-costs political operative for the Republican Party until he died of brain cancer in 1991 at the age of 40. By the time Atwater had performed his dirty magic tricks on Reagan’s behalf, he had already ruined Democrats Tom Turnipseed’s and Max Heller’s bids for Congress by charging that the former was “hooked up to jumper cables” (mentally ill), and running a independent Christian candidate to slam Heller for being a Jew and having this straw candidate drop out after the damage was done, thereby leaving the door open for Republican candidate Carroll Campbell to win.
There are subtle, but damning commentaries on the media in this film, particularly the Washington press corps, which one interviewee characterizes as lazy and looking for something juicy. Bush Jr. hit it off famously with Atwater and certainly would have had Atwater ensure that his 2000 race against Al Gore was not so close had Atwater lived. As it is, the press corps did Atwater’s job for him, having learned how those well-chosen lies and steadfast adherence to a narrative can sell newspapers, make careers, and garner power.
Trailer:
“Shorts 2: Animation Nations: Is it an exercise in futility to review short films, either animated or live action? Outside of film festivals, the chances of seeing any short films is slim to none – that is, if you’re thinking about standard film venues. Through virtual film festivals, websites, and various social networking venues, film fans will once again be able to experience the unique pleasure of the short stories of cinema. The 11 animated shorts in Shorts 2 include Hot Dog (USA), the story of a dog that wants to join the fire department, Lavatory-Lovestory (Russia), a sweet story of a lavatory attendant who has a secret admirer, and Keith Reynolds Can’t Make It Tonight (United Kingdom), the explosion of a frustrated middle manager.
Here is a preview of Keith Reynolds Can’t Make It Tonight:
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The Beachwood Tip Line: Animate your complaint.
Posted on October 24, 2008