"Ruined" - Images Theatre Company

On Sunday afternoon, I headed to the Guild Theatre to see "Ruined", by Images Theatre Company. This is the show, as previously mentioned, in which Tyehimba Kokayi would be playing drums.

Synopsis:

RUINED is a powerful, gripping, gut-wrenching play, set in a bar and brothel in a mining town in the rain forest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The sexy, shrewd, proprietor, Mama Nadi both profits and protects the women whose bodies have become battlegrounds for the rebel solidiers and government workers, alike. The women who live and work at Mama's Place, have been brutually raped, ravaged and ruined by the men of the Congo and are caught up in a devastating and spiraling tragedy, yet they continue to fight to hold onto hope and their sanity. The soldiers and Government workers continue to war, and mark their territory as perpetrators as they march in and out of the bar/brothel taking what they want, and leaving more pain and devastation in their aftermath.

For a musical theater sort of person like myself, the synopsis sounded fairly-grim, but I'm happy to report the show is not nearly as depressing as the synopsis sounds. The issues the show deals with are all quite serious, of course, but there is time for music and singing too, and lighthearted banter.

The music starts the show with a bang, with Osayande Kokayi's powerful entrance, followed quickly by Tyehimba's tumbling entrance, and vigorous dance. Richard Jackson is on-stage too, with Lacorey Cunningham assisting with the drumming, and Norman McDaniel on guitar.

Left: Natasha Greer (who plays the tragic Salima).

Left: Ediambolo Lokoto (who plays the pretty Sophie).

Sophie and Salima make a powerful team that begin to part ways, carried away to different fates.

Lisa Lacy as Mama Nadi is powerful and excellent, as is Rob Anthony Gray as Christian. I also liked Dell Grooms as the ominous Commander Osembenga.

(I didn't realize Jannette McCoy was Assistant Stage Manager. I should have said hello!)

Comparing RMS Titanic With Modern Cruise Ships

Left: Young enthusiast with a white cardboard model of the Titanic stands in the ticketing line, waiting to see DMTC's "Titanic - The Musical" (May 4, 2012).


Before completely departing from the subject of RMS Titanic, one question has been gnawing at me: How does the Titanic compare with modern cruise ships?

There is only one cruise ship I'm familiar with: The Princess Sapphire (which I cruised on in Nov-Dec, 2010). So, I'll compare the Titanic to the Princess Sapphire.

Here are a few statistics regarding both the Titanic and the Princess Sapphire.

Year Christened:
Tt: 1912
PS: 2004

Gross Tonnage (gross tons):
Tt: 46,328
PS: 116,000

Total Length:
Tt: 268.0 meters
PS: 290.0 meters

Maximum breadth:
Tt: 28.0 meters
PS: 41.5 meters

Height (above water surface: meters):
Tt: 18.4 meters
PS: 54.0 meters

Total number of passengers:
Tt: 3,547
PS: 3,078

The RMS Titanic required 825 tons of coal per day. That is an average of 19 pounds of coal a second (like a cement bag's worth of coal a second).

Left: Sapphire Princess, with parasailer.

So, the Princess Sapphire is roughly 2.5 times bigger than the Titanic. It's only slightly longer, but it's 50% wider, and 3 times taller than the Titanic. Nevertheless, despite its smaller size, the Titanic carried 17% more people than the Princess Sapphire is intended to carry.

On average, the modern cruiser gets roughly 2.5 times more space than the folks on the Titanic did.

Ah, luxury!

Woodland Chamber Singers - Spring 2012 Concert

Saturady evening, it was off to Sally perform with the Woodland Chamber Singers.

Left: Woodland Chamber singers director Lenore Turner-Heinson wishes Woodland High School Choir Director John Abigana Godspeed as he retires from his position.

Some aspects about the show troubled me, as it edged closer to politics. Lenore Turner-Heinson is understandably preoccupied. Her son is due to return from Afghanistan later this month. She urged the audience to support "all our sons and daughters" in harm's way, and led an ovation for veterans, who were encouraged to stand. All reasonable enough.

One of the songs was called 'Anthem of Peace'. Reader Brad Van Sant explained that it was an Estonian song that celebrated the successful, non-violent endurance of the Estonian people, as the Soviets tried over generations to break apart their nation and its culture, particularly its musical culture; first with violence, then through dilution, by the settlement of Russians there. Clearly the Soviets were the villains here.

Then, Van Sant introduced the song 'Anthem' from the musical "Chess" (as ably sung by Ryan Gordon, whom I at first didn't recognize, because I haven't seen him in such a long time). 'Anthem', of course, is an assertion of embattled national pride: basically defensive in nature. In the musical "Chess", it is sung from a defensive Russian perspective, but it works very well today as sung from a defensive American perspective: an embattled America burdened with the 'Long War' against terrorism. Van Sant went on to mention the Soviet effort to bring Afghanistan into the Communist orbit, and the critical role of the U.S. in sheltering Afghan musicians and their culture from the depredations of both the Soviets and the Taliban.

It seemed to me that Van Sant was explaining America's role in Afghanistan by equating the Estonian resistance to the fight against the Taliban, and our support for both efforts to save culture.

There is so much mischief here! The two fights are quite distinct, of course. The Estonian nation has been in existence for a thousand years, but the Afghan nation has yet to coalesce, riven as it is by tribal differences. The analogy fails.

But perhaps Van Sant's efforts are to be expected. Americans remain perennially puzzled and baffled by our precise role in Afghanistan. None of the official explanations seem to make much sense, particularly after the killing of Osama bin Laden. Obama, Boehner, McCain, Petraeus, Biden, Franks: they have all tried to explain what we are doing, but their stories remain unsatisfying.

Well, someone has to explain what we are doing in Afghanistan! Why not Brad Van Sant? Why not Ryan Gordon? Nature abhors a vacuum, and since official explanations define the precise meaning of a complete void, others have to give it a try. In fact, as troubling as these analogies are, they are the first time I've heard anyone try to tell a coherent tale about our Afghan involvement. There will be other such efforts.

Not quite what I expected when I went to hear the Woodland Chamber Singers.

The PhD Movie

Candy had a great idea. Let's get all the young, hip PhDs she knows at work together for a party, to screen "The PhD Movie". Candy was particularly fond of this movie, because it was filmed at CalTech, her alma mater, and features the Ballroom Dance Club, her favorite leisure activity at CalTech, as well as including several people she actually knows. (Since I was once the Vice President of the Ballroom Dance Club at UNM, I felt a second affinity to this movie.)

We got into trouble almost immediately because everyone's schedules were so non-congruent. And, truth be told, she doesn't know that many Ph.D.'s at work, because there aren't that many Ph.D.'s at work. So, she tried relaxing the specifications a little bit. Even young, hip people with Master's degrees, or with incomplete Ph.D. dissertations, were welcome. In the end, just a few of us showed up, and I had to leave early anyway. (I'm just flattered that I was young and hip enough to be included).

Nevertheless, a well-done movie that highlights the eternal plight of graduate students in the sciences!




Based upon the PhD Comics series by Jorge Cham.

"Thirteen" - Woodland Opera House

Left: Andy Hyun (left) talks to Jason Hammond. Stacy Arriaga (Cassie! - center) talks to Tony Cellucci (who played the lead, Evan, in '13'). Right, Mike Yambrovich.


On Friday evening, a gathering of DMTC folks ate at Ludy's Barbeque and headed to the Woodland Opera House to see "Thirteen".

Interesting show. Sitting towards the back of the hall on the main floor, I had problems hearing the show, which was unfortunate. A number of jokes were thus lost.

I liked the humble setup and the ordinary situations employed in the musical, but I didn't like the exposition of the show in the first act. So clunky! For example, Patrice (Abby Miles), who appears to be appealing young lady, and has a winning personality, is shunned by the popular kids. Why? No apparent reason, except that it is necessary for plot development. Those same inscrutable popular kids also instantly confer the nickname 'Brain' on the new kid in town, Evan (Tony Cellucci), even though he hasn't done or said anything remotely intelligent yet. Bang! Clunk!

Nevertheless, once that Noisy Steam Automobile known as a Musical finally gets rolling in Act 2, everything works fine.

Generally, in most musicals, I like Act 1 better than Act 2, because the new world portrayed by the show is still fresh and alive, and there are no awkward threads to deal with. "Titanic the Musical" is a good example. In Act 2, the boat sinks. Awkward! So, "Thirteen" is one of those special musicals, like "Sweeney Todd", where Act 2 is better than Act 1.

Devin DeGeyter has impeccable comic timing in his role as Archie, the kid encumbered by illness. Devin will go far! I also liked McKinley Carlisle's sass and Tomas Eredia's moves. Glad to see Quentin Carbajal and Chloe Deamer on stage again!

Jenny Plasse waves hello.


It was great fun seeing Stacy Arriaga again. She played "Cassie" in the Woodland Opera House's 1999 production of "A Chorus Line", and even though she is an active choreographer in the Vacaville-Fairfield-Vallejo-Martinez area, I hadn't seen her since then.

Stephen Hatcher's choreography was clever, energetic, and well-executed!

Born To Be Alive----Patrick Hernandez

Another favorite song from the height of Western Civilization (the late Seventies).

Sylvester - Cry Me A River

Got this on *repeat*!

The Seed That Got Away

In a small flaw in the pavement, about 100 feet downhill from where I usually feed the birds, this small sunflower popped up. Usually, the pigeons and squirrels are extremely efficient about picking up every sunflower seed I leave them, but here is undeniable evidence that, at least on one occasion, they failed!

Giant, Pulsing Sea Blob Identified

(h/t Craig) So strange!:

It’s actually a Deepstaria enigmatica, said oceanographer Steven Haddock.

...This type of jellyfish is usually found in the south Atlantic Ocean; it has “oral arms […] terminating in curious hook-shaped organs.”

Porcelain Unicorn

Gabe sends this - the winning entry:

The contest, which received over 600 entries from around the world, invited aspiring filmmakers to create an original short film using the same six-line dialogue as the Cannes Lions award-winning Parallel Lines short films directed by RSA talents Carl Erik Rinsch, Greg Fay, Johnny Hardstaff, Jake Scott and Hi-Sim.

"Guns And Butter" Economy

Indeed! Made all the worse with the Mexican border trade, which thrives on the guns trade, courtesy of all those gun shows where Big Private Profits are made on Big Cartel Death:

The result is that America has become the true “Lord of War,” as the arms dealer motto goes. We are the leading arms supplier to the developing world and we are responsible for the majority of all weapons sales across the globe. Yes, we are so committed to selling instruments of death to the rest of the planet that military industries have almost tripled their share of the U.S. economy in just a decade.

The second bit of news came from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, whose new study shows that America is exporting our obesity crisis to Mexico. Coupling health statistics with U.S. export data since the North American Free Trade Agreement tore down Mexico’s agriculture trade barriers, researchers found that the Mexican market was flooded by American agribusinesses’ taxpayer subsidized commodities (corn, soybeans) and their processed derivatives. According to the report, that quickly wiped out Mexico’s local food economy, leaving its food system exactly “like the industrialized food system of the United States — characterized by the overabundance of obesogenic foods.” Not surprisingly, Mexican obesity rates have consequently skyrocketed.

Taken together, these export booms represent what could be called America’s new Guns and Butter economy. We are so desperate to export any “stuff” we can, we are now fattening up the world and arming it for permanent bloodshed.

Liking The Visuals In Calvin Harris' "Feel So Close"

What really caught my eye was the ballerina in the desert town. Evokes my own life, in some ways, and I'm sure the lives of many others!

Then, the landscape. Where is this place? The town looks like Oatman, AZ. The landscape looks like Albuquerque, or Reno. But then, it looks more Great Basin-ish than any of these places.

According to Wikipedia, it was filmed in Kern County, California. So, does that make CVHS Central Valley High School in Shafter, CA? But most of this isn't the Central Valley at all. That desert town is SO Great Basin-ish! China Lake-ish! But the suburban homes looks ALMOST like Rosamond. Hmmmm.....

The truck stop scenes (Reyes Polish) are in good ol' Kramer Junction! But that's not in Kern County! Wikipedia's got some suspect info here!

You see, that's what happens when you spend too much time hunting down Breaking Bad sites! It's never enough to just watch something on TV anymore.

And I'm not even sure I like the song either. Though I probably do by now!

[UPDATE: I updated the Wikipedia article with the location information.]

A Catholic Review Of "Damsels In Distress"

Best review yet! A bit of an odd review, but that’s Catholicism for you!:

Whit Stillman’s new film, Damsels in Distress, offers one of the most positive film endings in recent memory. What most reviewers of the film have neglected to mention is how the film makes a subtle suggestion about authentic Catholicism as a positive, counter-cultural option in the face of dominant cultural trends.

...At first, Violet’s charming naivety seems to be played for laughs, as if she is simply a comic character with an amusing form of mental illness. But by the time the movie ends, the audience is challenged to ask themselves: Isn’t Violet’s crazy dream-world in fact preferable? Is hers not the most beautiful way of choosing to transfigure the real world? Isn’t it really the dominant culture—concretely symbolized by the movie’s decadent “Cathar” heretic, Xavier (Hugo Becker)—that is truly crazy?

...Violet is introduced to us as the zany leader of a trio of girls on the fictional Seven Oaks campus who welcome a newcomer, Lily (Analeigh Tipton). Lily functions as Violet’s foil, something especially highlighted when Lily is later on seduced by the “Cathar” Xavier. But prior to that, the girls enlist Lily as part of their efforts to improve the campus with a program of beautiful clothes, perfumed soap, and tap-dancing as suicide-prevention therapy.

The distress from which these damsels need to be rescued is nothing less than the rampant boorishness of contemporary culture. But because the frat-boy mentality of the campus militates against any chivalric rescue, the damsels take matters into their own hands and instead pursue Violet’s nostalgic dream of a better world.

...It’s the movie’s suicide-prevention theme that got me thinking the most. It seems to me that the real theme of the film is the suicide of the West, with Violet operating as Whit Stillman’s proxy for offering a “suicide-prevention” program for the West.

...VIOLET: You probably think we’re frivolous, empty-headed, perfume-obsessed college coeds. You’re probably right. I often feel empty-headed… But we’re also trying to make a difference in people’s lives. And one way to do that is to prevent them from killing themselves... Have you ever heard the expression, “Prevention is nine-tenths the cure?” Well, in the case of suicide, it’s actually ten-tenths.

The grand dance finale of the film is preceded by the epiphany of the frat boy Thor (Billy Magnussen), wherein he is able to distinguish the colors of the rainbow for the first time. Earlier, Thor had been played for laughs as someone who had never learned how to identify primary colors. But it is his parents whom the film blames for his mis-education. And Stillman also has Thor make an eloquent appeal:

THOR: I don’t know about you but I don’t think anyone should feel embarrassed about not knowing stuff. What’s embarrassing is pretending to know what you don’t—or putting down other people just because you think they don’t know as much as you. I’m happy to admit I’m completely ignorant. That’s why I’m here and plan to really hit the books. The next time you see me, I’ll know more than I do now. I’ll be older, but also wiser—or at least know more stuff. For me, that’s education.

...Do we want to affirm Violet and her “international dance craze” or not? And what would that “international craze” be, other than the opposite of the Modernist heresy of decadent and barren boorishness that in this film goes by the name of “Catharism”? Would it not be the cultural fecundity of Violet’s own “Catholicism”?

Preppy Sadist

No surprise the GOP is going to nominate a Class-A jerk for Prez. Well, we keep saying we're going to do something about bullying. How about NOT voting for this sicko?:

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. — Mitt Romney returned from a three-week spring break in 1965 to resume his studies as a high school senior at the prestigious Cranbrook School. Back on the handsome campus, studded with Tudor brick buildings and manicured fields, he spotted something he thought did not belong at a school where the boys wore ties and carried briefcases. John Lauber, a soft-spoken new student one year behind Romney, was perpetually teased for his nonconformity and presumed homosexuality. Now he was walking around the all-boys school with bleached-blond hair that draped over one eye, and Romney wasn’t having it.

“He can’t look like that. That’s wrong. Just look at him!” an incensed Romney told Matthew Friedemann, his close friend in the Stevens Hall dorm, according to Friedemann’s recollection. Mitt, the teenage son of Michigan Gov. George Romney, kept complaining about Lauber’s look, Friedemann recalled.

A few days later, Friedemann entered Stevens Hall off the school’s collegiate quad to find Romney marching out of his own room ahead of a prep school posse shouting about their plan to cut Lauber’s hair. Friedemann followed them to a nearby room where they came upon Lauber, tackled him and pinned him to the ground. As Lauber, his eyes filling with tears, screamed for help, Romney repeatedly clipped his hair with a pair of scissors.

Scottish Weather, Courtesy Of Prince Charles

(h/t Jerry)

Terrible Historical Analogies - Part XXXVI

This Richard Mourdock looks like a piece of work:

Referencing Lincoln’s speech, Mourdock said that as long as nearly half of Americans don’t pay taxes, “we are a house divided” that is presumably on the point to another fight, this time between the rich and the poor:

MOURDOCK: What he meant by that was that slavery was either going to be totally eliminated from the United States or it was no longer just going to be restricted to the Southern states, it was going to go everywhere. I am here to suggest to you that we are in a house divided. You know this past April, when our federal taxes were paid, 47 percent — 47 percent — of all American households paid no income tax. In fact, half of that 47 percent almost, actually got tax money back from the government that they never paid -– because a few years ago we revised the welfare program to make it part of the tax code. When 47 percent are paying no income taxes — they do pay Social Security — but they are not paying income taxes, and 53 percent are carrying the load, we are a house divided.

So, does this mean the homeless are going to set upon us with their stuffed shopping carts in a slow-motion replay of Pickett's Charge? And the righteous Republicans (who hate paying taxes even more than the homeless do) - are they going to respond with muskets and Minnie balls? The past is a hazy guide to the future, but no one should EVER want to emulate those dark Civil War days.

Obama's Finished Evolving On This

I liked what Jake posted yesterday on Facebook (whether his creation, or by others) regarding Obama's recent evolution on gay marriage:

Obama, Shantay you stay. Mitt Romney you are one fierce queen but you dont have what it takes. Now sashay away.

Obama is now finished evolving on the question. This move is so high-profile Obama won't be able to change his mind even if he wanted to. Obama HAS to start taking big risks if he wants to get the sluggish donation machine running again, and this is one way to do it. A game-changing move: analogous to when John McCain chose Sarah Palin as running mate (but smarter).

Joe The Plumber Makes A Mistake And Nearly Kills His Dog

I'm really puzzled about Joe The Plumber's decision-making abilities today.

Joe has decided to leave wicked Sacramento forever, and head towards the Big-Sky Country: Montana. Earlier today, as part of his manic effort to unload his personal belongings, he came to my workplace, and loudly informed the office staff that he wanted to find me ASAP. He told loud, R-rated jokes as the staff scrambled to locate me. Eventually, the office staff realized I was probably at Subway for lunch, so (with relief) they sent him down the street to find me there, which he eventually did.

Joe had been thinking of giving me his pickup truck, but he decided to give that to someone else. Instead, Joe wanted to give me a mountain bike (which was damaged, and required some repair). For some reason, my inspection of this bike couldn't wait. Perhaps he saw himself as inspired now that he's decided on a path forward in his life; I saw him as loud and embarrassing.

In the evening, he went to retrieve his own mountain bike, which is stored in my shed at home (and to which he has access). Later in the evening, he returned to my house for some reason I have yet to establish.

Joe said he saw the Honda sedan coming down the alley behind my house. Nevertheless, he didn't hesitate to open the passenger door of his van in order to let his Labrador retriever, Bella, leap down upon the pavement. Bella jumped down out of the van just as the Honda passed by. Bella was sideswiped by the car, and tossed.

According to Joe, despite being struck by the car, Bella did not seem seriously-injured. Instead, Bella interpreted the impact as chastisement, and was apologetic. The driver stopped, but after a few minutes Joe sent her on her way. Joe took Bella to Land Park (a favorite place) for some quiet time, and is keeping an eye on her this evening.

Today, Joe's decision-making processes seem even more questionable than usual. If he ever leaves town, I doubt he'll ever get to Montana without something derailing him on the way. Maybe he'll end up in Elko, or Salt Lake City, but maybe he'll actually get to Big Sky Country. Beware actually making it there, though. Living in a van down by the river is no picnic in a Sacramento winter, but it's a walk in the park compared to Great Falls in December.

Ome Henk - "Neem Een Ander in de Maling (Barbie Girl)"

(Not really Rammstein: the Dutch comic Ome Henk instead)

They're Going To Put That Weird, Creepy Town Near Hobbs, NM

Land O'Robots: wave of the future! Who needs people when, finally, you can have intelligent design!:

A $1 billion city without residents will be developed in Lea County near Hobbs, officials said Tuesday, to help researchers test everything from intelligent traffic systems and new wireless networks to automated washing machines and self-flushing toilets. Mayor Sam Cobb said the research facility, resembling an empty city, will be central to diversifying the area’s economy.

Gonna Be A Thunderific Day In El Paso!

And even Tucson! And the rest of Texas too, over the next few days, as the low trundles eastward!

Voting With Their Feet

The climate change deniers are increasingly getting denied:

The recent flight of insurance companies from leading climate change denial group The Heartland Institute isn’t just due to the group’s offensive Chicago billboard comparing scientists to serial killer Charles Manson.

...“The insurance industry has in some ways been the quickest to acknowledge and talk about the impacts of global warming, because it directly affects their business,” Daniel Souweine, campaign director for Forecast the Facts, told Raw Story. “They’re the ones who are going to pay for increased damage from extreme weather, flooding, sea level rise, etc. It’s already hitting their bottom line, and potentially hitting their bottom line even harder in the future.”

With a Facebook post on Monday, State Farm became the latest insurance company to withdrawal its funding from Heartland Institute, blaming their move on the group’s decision to launch their billboard. But far from just one more company deciding to withhold its support, State Farm’s decision personifies the increasing acceptance of global climate change and a concerted insurance industry push to adapt their business practices.

Quickclay Landslides; Or, Whatever You Do, Never, Ever Add A New Wing To Your Existing Barn!

I was reading this interesting blog, Olelog, and was startled to read about this weird, science-fiction-like earth conundrum I had never heard of before! The Rissa Quickclay Landslide of 1978!

Beware marine clay sediments that experience isostatic rebound after glacial epochs! Beware!

David Nachmanoff & Hardwater Will Be At Luigi's, In Davis

The Dave Nachmanoff Band and Hardwater will be playing at Luigi's, 213 E St., in Davis this Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ($10; all ages). They promise a Folk-Rock Extravaganza!

Lock Yer Doors

Last night, about 12:30 a.m., I had just finished watering the grass on the front bank in front of my house, when I heard a repetitive clunking sound coming from up the street. I retreated to my porch and watched a fellow with black hair and a white T-Shirt (with a black square on the back) rapidly and systematically walk down the street and try to open a door on every parked car. Down the street, the fellow got lucky, and found an unlocked vehicle. He opened the passenger door of the Jeep 4x4, quickly plundered the glove compartment, and moved on.

I called the cops, but didn't expect a visit. Nevertheless, things likely being slow on a Monday evening, two police cars did indeed come. They asked about race (all I could say was 'not black') and checked out the vehicle. Then they took off, to see if they could find the malefactor.

I was surprised that someone with so much visible personal material in the passenger compartment (stuffed with camping equipment) would leave their vehicle unlocked. I was also surprised that the malefactor would be so brazen as to continue trying to open doors, when I knew he saw me, and could clearly see me watching him. Maybe my watchfulness prevented even more plundering of the vehicle!

In any event, lock yer doors. You don't know who is out there!

Martin Solveig & Dragonette - Hello

I posted this once before, but since this song opened iMPACT Contemporary Dance Theatre's show this last weekend, I thought I'd repost. A shout-out and hello to the Folsom dancers!

Unsung Heroes

(B. posted this on Facebook.)

DMTC's Titanic Slide

The last show of DMTC's "Titanic - The Musical" ends on Sunday afternoon. Time to strike the set!

But some unfinished business first.

During the show's run, after the first weekend, David Holmes (Tom Andrews) began making his final exit at the end of the show by sliding off the Titanic's tilting stage. The angle was steep enough that sliding off was both possible and visually effective.

But the cast yearned to give the Titanic slide a try too.....

Travis Nagler starts the party.

Mary Young.

Let strike commence!

One Last Look Under The Tilting Stage Of "Titanic - The Musical"

"Damsels In Distress"

Yesterday afternoon, Joe the Plumber and I went down to the Tower Theater and saw "Damsels In Distress".

Sacramento is even more represented in this movie than usual because both Greta Gerwig and Analeigh Tipton, both St. Francis High School alumni, are at the top of the movie's cast list.

(Justin Cerne is listed as choreographer, but I remember that when Sacramento's Jenifer Foote came to visit from New York last year, she said that Greta Gerwig was one of her dancing students, so maybe there is even more Sacramento on the screen here than many people realize.)

The movie is enveloped in a choking miasma of self-involved dialogue, but like in a Woody Allen film, that miasma is a feature, not a bug. The four young ladies at the center of the film are all very charming and attractive. They hold forth on various topics to charmingly idiotic extremes (I particularly liked Greta Gerwig as she defended the use of trite and hackneyed expressions in the English language, as representing the distillation of centuries worth of experience and wisdom).

Oddly enough, I thought the best monologue of the movie didn't come from any of the four young women at all, but from a minor character (Thor; played by Billy Magnussen). Thor's early education was stymied by over-involved parents, and the declaration of his intention to get an education is simultaneously very noble and the most ridiculous thing I've heard in years. A real gem, that monologue is! The best monologue, ever!

One of Salon's fashion reviewers, Mark Oppenheimer had an odd take on the movie. He couldn't precisely pin down the movie's era, based on clothing, and that non-specificity really bothered him. As a fellow who tracks down 'Breaking Bad' sites, I can understand that mental disturbance non-specificity creates (in my case, location), but it shouldn't really bother people who are outside the East Coast, Ivy League circuit. Once again, the miasma surrounding the movie is a feature, not a bug.

What does Roger Ebert think of "Damsels In Distress"?:

It's delightful and a little bewildering to find a 2012 comedy that evokes a world that exists only in the novels of P.G. Wodehouse. Whit Stillman's "Damsels in Distress" creates Seven Oaks College, a school so innocent and naive that only it could believe in itself. Its heroine, Violet Wister, is one of the daffiest characters in recent movies, who believes one of the noble callings of women is to date men who are their inferiors, and thus lift them up.

..."Damsels in Distress" is the fourth film (and the first since 1998) by Whit Stillman, who as a younger man, looked like F. Scott Fitzgerald and spoke like someone who had learned the language through sophisticated comic novels. He made a kind of movie nobody else was making, about rich and privileged young people moving in the very best circles — which is to say, their own. He called them the "urban haute bourgeoisie." They consider "yuppie" a term of praise. His "Metropolitan" (1990), about a young man hoping to win acceptance from such snobs, was a considerable hit, in part because no one had seen a movie like it unless one possibly running in black and white at 3 a.m. on TCM. Then came "Barcelona" (1994) and "The Last Days of Disco" (1998). What they had in common is that the supporting cast of a Fred Astaire comedy could have wandered in and not been noticed.

...Violet of course must have a posse; friends who are not quite as tall or (in her mind) not quite as pretty. They flank her, because Violet must always be centered. On the first day of the new school year, we meet them: Rose (Megalyn Echikunwoke) and Heather (Carrie MacLemore), who both instinctively stand just a step behind her. Violet has ESP when it comes to picking out new recruits, and she and her friends sweep down upon Lily (Analeigh Tipton), a campus newcomer. Lily will be their new roommate. Thus will all of Lily's wardrobe, behavioral and boyfriend problems be handled for the next few years.

...The movie almost inevitably contains a campus musical, centering on Violet's new dance craze, the Sambola. This is not an inspired dance craze, nor is the musical destined for Broadway, but inspired by Violet, they are all perfectly rehearsed and keep on smiling, and their good nature is impossible to resist.

The last Greta Gerwig movie I saw was "Arthur", which I also saw with Joe The Plumber. What did Joe think of this film? Thumbs up!

Dogs In Cars: California

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iMPACT Contemporary Dance Concert - Stages, Folsom Dance Arts - May 5, 2012

'Life in Color' - the theme of the iMPACT Contemporary Dance Concert, hosted by Stages, Folsom Dance Arts, at the Jill Solberg Performing Arts Theater, at Folsom High School, on May 5-6, 2012. Since a number of dance veterans were graduating from high school and moving on to college, however, tonight's show became a wonderfully-sentimental retrospective on growing up.

This is the first time I've been at Stages. Conceptually, it seems to be a somewhat complicated arrangement. Three dance companies (iMPACT Contemporary Dance, Folsom Ballet, and Sound Out Tap Company) function under the umbrella Stages organization. Stages coordinates a number of people with diverse training, a number of dance studios, and stresses youth education. Tonight, CORE Dance Collective was special guest.

Below: Bows. iMPACT's Director, Kelli Leighton (dressed in red; she is also CORE Dance Collective's Artistic Director) is brought on stage for roses. Dylan Gardener, a gifted dancer who is moving on to UCLA soon (and will be much missed), stands next to her.






There a number of highlights to the show. The opening, "Hello" (featuring Martin Solveig's song with the same name) was bright and happy. It was great to see Jacob Montoya's 'Thank Heaven for Little Girls' too (music by Maurice Chevalier).

Lots of great dancers. Too many to mention them all. If I had to mention one of the up-and-comers, it would be the sunny and musical Callyn Kammermeier.

One highlight of Act II was 'Blue or Pink?' The dance starts with Jacob Montoya as a big, impatient baby sucking his thumb, sitting in the middle of a nursery of crying 'infants'. He suggests they dance, which they proceed to do, to a number of pop songs featuring 'Baby' themes: 'Baby, One More Time' by Britney Spears, 'baby Got Back' by Sir Mix-A-Lot, etc. Jake is the most hilarious baby ever!

After the hilarity, the evening closed with a surprising and very moving tribute to Jeff Fehr, who died recently as a result of bullying.

I met Emily Kelly tonight (she's been doing musical theater at Sutter Street in Folsom: most recently in Nunsense II.

Attending exercise classes at Step One Dance Studio, I've become familiar with Fred Jonas over the past year. Fred's optimistic, easy-going charm has made him a popular figure at Step One. I knew Fred was connected in some way with Stages - he earnestly promoted Sound Out's December concert, for example - but I didn't realize HOW closely connected he was with everything here in Folsom until tonight. Since Fred's daughter, Renee Jonas, was one of the graduating seniors being feted in tonight's concert, it's clear that the entire Jonas family is a prime mover of the entire Folsom scene!

Below, Renee Jonas, with her father Fred. (Dagnabit, the camera's flash nearly shuttered Renee's eyes!) I think that's her on the promotional card, though (farther below).

Maybe I Should Have Worn A Moustache

The owner first observed me carefully as I scanned the merchandise, drawing conclusions from my Saturday-morning bedhead and stubble, before asking: "May I help you?"

I explained I wanted technical assistance featuring great range and capability. Poker-faced, the owner explained maybe an investment of $15,000.00 might suffice.

Reconsidering, I said maybe I can relax the technical specifications a bit.

Hundreds of dollars maybe, the owner thought, but the requirements would have to be quite specific, and quite clear.

I left to think things through.

Cutoff Low Coming To The Southwest

NM & Texas should get some rain from it!

Looking For Pieces Of The Meteorite

I was sorry I slept through the spectacle in the sky on April 22nd, but at least I saw the zeppelin floating around this week:

The meteorite did not arrive quietly early on that Sunday morning. Residents throughout the Sierra Nevada, from Lassen to Kernville, reported hearing explosive sounds as it burned in the atmosphere. Many saw a bright white streak in the sky.

The track of that streak ended around Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park in Coloma, where pieces of the meteorite were found in the parking lot. It was here, in 1848, that gold was discovered in the American River's south fork, touching off the legendary Gold Rush that transformed California and the West.

In honor of the location, scientists have dubbed it the Sutter's Mill Meteorite. They estimate it must have been about the size of a minivan, and weighed around 150,000 pounds, before it broke up.

...Which helps explain why the scientists did not hesitate to charter Eureka, the only zeppelin in North America, which conveniently shares space with the NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field near San Jose.

...Scientists say the meteorite is probably the most significant event of its kind since the late 1960s. That is because it likely is composed of carbonaceous chondrite, the earliest solid material to form in our solar system more than 4 1/2 billion years ago, before the planets took shape.

...Scientists will likely probe these samples for decades in search of clues about the universe and life itself. The last major carbonaceous chondrite find occurred in Australia in 1969 – the same year Americans first landed on the moon – and scientists have been learning from those samples ever since.

"This material is unique. It's capturing the very first moments of planet formation," Yin said. "It is, perhaps, one of the most primitive objects you would ever hope to find."

This Weekend!

Wax Tailor - Ungodly Fruit

A. posted this strange but interesting song on Facebook yesterday. Kind of tango-ish. After all, we had been tango partners on stage, in 2008! But not really tango-ish. Just different. Or, as she said, "sexy"!

"Let's Believe In Change"

Change, and maybe no hope:

YEREVAN — More than 140 people were injured on Friday when gas-filled balloons exploded at a governing party campaign concert in the Armenian capital ahead of parliamentary polls on Sunday, officials said.

The emergencies ministry said 144 people suffered burns when scores of promotional balloons burst into flames at a concert staged by President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican party in Yerevan’s central Republic Square.

...It was not immediately clear what caused the explosions although police said they were looking into various potential reasons including the “improper storage of flammable substances”.

...The promotional balloons were decorated with the governing party’s election slogan “Let’s believe in change”.

Russia Threatens Destruction Of Anti-Missile Sites

Russia is making menacing noises:

Russian Chief of General Staff Nikolai Makarov, in a sign of the tension between Russia and the United States over the missile defense plans, said during an international conference that a strike by his country might be possible.

...In November, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev threatened to withdraw from the New START nuclear arms control deal with the U.S. and deploy missiles aimed toward U.S. defense installations in Europe after becoming upset over missile defense consultations between the two countries.

Russian officials Thursday showed a computerized version of imaginary strikes by Russian nuclear missiles on imaginary targets on the U.S. East Coast.

Actually, I'm quite sympathetic to Russian demands here. The Russians have emphatically, consistently, and loudly opposed anti-missile deployments anywhere near their borders for the last thirty years. Did I say they LOUDLY opposed such deployments? LOUDLY! Do you hear me? Do you care?

In contrast, the United States has immediately retreated into dreamy fantasy whenever challenged on the matter. The fog of fantasy was particularly thick during the Bush Administration, when Condoleeza Rice was calling the shots, but unfortunately the nightmare's continued under Obama. These days, the U.S. says the deployments are meant to oppose offensive Iranian missiles, but the U.S. will basically say anything, and make any excuse, however implausible, to install those missiles. These deployments curry favor all around the Black Sea, and are good for business.

It's too bad that the Russians have to club the U.S. across the forehead with the equivalent of a baseball bat to get American attention. We have lots of common interests - controlling Afghanistan, controlling Middle Eastern terrorism, strengthening ties in central Asia - and the rest. We should be cooperating; not fighting. But the U.S. still wants its damned missiles next to the Russian border, for some damned reason, so there's friction too.

So, what's so bad about missile defense installations? Wouldn't that stabilize the strategic situation there? If that was only the case!

Missile defenses are likely to be quite ineffective - missiles move so fast that any missile battle is bound to be won by the aggressor, not the defender. Nevertheless, missile defenses give small powers on the Russian periphery a false sense of security, which could give them enough confidence to attack Russia. THAT'S what the Russians are concerned about! And they have good reason to be concerned too. Look what happened in 2008!

Reading about the South Ossetian War of 2008 is sobering. After a major military buildup (featuring lots of help from the Americans and Israelis) over the years, and after a period of severe border tensions, Georgia felt emboldened enough to attack the Russian-held city of Tskhinvali. Even without missile defenses, a minor power on the Russian periphery felt emboldened enough to directly attack one of the most powerful military powers on Earth, possessing enough nuclear might to kill nearly everyone on the planet! How much more emboldened Georgia might have felt with missile defenses (and perhaps a guarantee from NATO to come to its aid and defense)? Could nuclear war with the West be forestalled? What were our 'strategic thinkers' - warmongers like John McCain - thinking?

That's one reason why Georgia should never become part of NATO: it might mean our annihilation, perhaps even if accidentally. But it also illustrates that Russia's concerns are real, and not just arrogant talk.

So why are Americans so deaf to reason that Russians have to threaten our East Coast cities with Armageddon just to get our attention?

Location Hints Here!

35.201494°, -106.751956°
Roughly 10526 Box Canyon Place NW

The B-52's - Debbie

My Dad Used To Give Me Advice Like This

As a kid, I remember watching TV coverage of the Winter Olympics, and watching figure skaters spinning away under the lights. "I can do that," my dad said. I replied skeptically, "YOU can do THAT?" He answered, "You can do anything you set your mind to!"

It's Satire! - Or Is It?

That thin line between reality and chaos: otherwise known as the Mexican border!

I always liked the Mexican border in the Colorado Desert between Arizona and Sonora, where Highway 2 between Hermosillo and Tijuana comes up within a few hundred feet of the parallel dirt road in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, with that thin border lying in-between.

The First-World Mexicans ride on the paved road knowing full-well they are passing through a blasted wilderness. The Third-World Americans ride on the dirt road knowing full-well they are passing through a park. Which interpretation is real, and which is fantasy? Just too surreal!:

If Governor Jan Brewer gets her way, Arizona radio stations will soon be prohibited from playing Latino music over the airwaves. On May 3, the Arizona House will vote on a bill that would ban any music that:

1. Promotes the overthrow of the United States government.

2. Promotes resentment toward a race or class of people.

3. Is designed primarily for listeners of a particular ethnic group.

4. Advocates ethnic solidarity instead of treating listeners as individuals.

According to the bill, “Any music that includes more than five words in a language other than English will be reviewed by an independent commission for seditious overtones.” By these standards, many popular artists such as Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, Shakira, Pitbull and Selena Gomez will likely find their songs banned from Arizona radio stations. According to Brewer, this legislation is necessary to “curb the growing use of subversive music to manipulate young Latinos into hating the United States.”

Looking At The Status Of One Set Of Retirement Accounts

I pay virtually no attention to my retirement accounts (which is bad in some ways, but at least I don't engage in the bad habit of trying to time the stock market). Nevertheless, for the first time in a decade, I wanted to take a look at my TIAA-CREF accounts, since I had recently noticed a spike there.

There have been no additions or withdrawals to these accounts since 1990. These funds have been riding the surf of the stock market since then, and so may be a pretty-good indicator of how things are going with retirement funds in the stock market, in general.

The 20-year-graph (1992-2012) shows an increase of about 6.6% per year (the plotted fit). The two great recent bubbles - the Dot-Com boom and the Real Estate boom - are clearly-evident. The recent spike in returns appears to be just part of the complicated noise of the recent market. There have been other spikes in the recent past - even bigger than the current spike - that ultimately meant little, since crashes soon followed. No new bubble is clearly evident - yet - but may come sooner than we think. Booms are when the biggest players make their biggest killings, and so they are earnestly trying to recreate those conditions even as we speak.

Meanwhile the Consumer Price Index (CPI; 1982-84 average of 100 is baseline) is increasing at a remarkably-stable rate of 2.5% per year (with only a mild burst of inflation evident in 2008; when credit momentarily seized and everything else was spinning out-of-control). The difference between these two rates is 4.1%, which is what I clear.

Nevertheless, there are many potential pitfalls. If I can't avoid touching these funds until retirement (as appears increasingly-likely, given my shaky job situation), then I have to pay taxes on them, so I ultimately won't clear 4.1%. And if the stock market tanks again, then that's more grief too.

Like Dostoevsky knew, in a casino, you have to have nearly-inhuman patience, and uncommon luck, to do well.

Getting My Fee-Fees Hurt On Facebook

OK, well maybe my comment wasn't as witty as I thought. Did it merit removal? And how does comment removal work anyway?

And my request to give a tourist (who left his driver's license at home) a lift. On the one hand, he offered cash. On the other hand, it's true, he's from overseas and has no ID. I know; I know: the glass is half full; the glass is half empty. But still; no reply.

But maybe I stumbled into a zone where Facebook just didn't operate properly. Maybe no one got my messages at all. Maybe no one knows what I'm talking about.

Just like the ending of "The Social Network": I stare at the blue-themed screen, and click away with the mouse, and it doesn't tell me a damned thing.

Blaming Everything On The Mexicans

The profound evil at the heart of the vigilante movement has never been clearer! This J. T. Ready looks like a real piece of work:

The Arizona Republic reported the victims were Ready’s girlfriend, her daughter, the daughter’s boyfriend and the daughter’s 18-month-old baby. Ready still somehow managed to use the event to blame immigrants even after his death. A posting on his Facebook page appeared hours after the massacre took place.

“Reports are unconfirmed that a cartel assassination squad murdered JT Ready and several of his friends and family this afternoon in Gilbert Arizona,” the posting said. “This page’s admin will keep you updated of the situation as soon as possible.”

This guy planned to murder a toddler, among others, and blame the Mexicans for it (but failed to foresee that one of his victims would survive).

Reactionaries never, EVER take personal responsibility for the things they plan and do! No sirree! Blame the Mexicans!

And that, in a nutshell, is why I will never be a reactionary, or a vigilante, or a "conservative". As made transparently clear every night on FOX News, to an inordinate degree, they possess no sense of personal responsibility.

What Goes Around, Comes Around

Funny as hell!:

According to Gillespie, Republicans in 2004 simply depicted Bush as “a strong leader. You don’t see him saying, ‘and that guy [John Kerry] would have done something different.’ ”

Really? Let’s go back and look at the 2004 campaign. Let’s see what McCain, Gillespie, and other Bush surrogates said about Kerry, Iraq, and Saddam Hussein.

...Here’s Gillespie on CBS in February 2004: “If his policies were in place, Saddam Hussein would not only be in Baghdad; he'd still be in Kuwait.” And on CNN: “If his policies were in place, Saddam Hussein would not only be in Baghdad today, he'd still be in Kuwait, and we would not be waging an aggressive war against terror.” And on NBC: “If John Kerry had his policies in place today, Saddam Hussein would not only be in Baghdad, he'd be in Kuwait.” And on Fox: “If his policies were in place today, Saddam Hussein would not only be in Baghdad, he'd be in Kuwait.” And at a Republican dinner: “"If Sen. Kerry's policies were in place today, Saddam Hussein would not only be in Baghdad, he would still be in Kuwait.” And so on.

That summer, Gillespie turned the Republican National Convention into a martial victory parade. Speaker after speaker bragged that Bush had defeated, deposed, and captured Saddam—and that Kerry couldn’t be trusted to make such tough calls. “We have captured or killed hundreds of al-Qaida,” Vice President Dick Cheney crowed. “In Iraq, we dealt with a gathering threat and removed the regime of Saddam Hussein. … Tonight he sits in jail.” Cheney went on: “Time and again, Sen. Kerry has made the wrong call on national security. … America needs and America has a president we can count on to get it right.”

...Is Obama using his Bin Laden gamble, and its success, to score political points? You bet. Is he cynical to imply that Romney, in the same situation, wouldn’t have done the same thing? I think so. But, please, let’s not hear such complaints from the people who spent 4,000 American lives and $1 trillion to get the wrong guy—and then played the patriotism card all the way to re-election.

Like The Folks At Kos Say, Best Political Ad Ever

Stockbrokers As Psychopaths

Works for me:

Recently, an article in CFA Magazine by Sherree DeCovny garnered online buzz when DeCovny cited Wall Street psychotherapist Christopher Bayer’s claim that 10% of people in the financial services sector are psychopaths. A “conservative estimate,” according to Bayer, but one that makes sense when you run Hare’s checklist against the qualities that make a successful broker. And this estimate certainly plays into the general population’s current perception of Wall Street as a Caligulan den of amoral iniquity.

...So, be careful out there, I suppose. With a few dozen million psychopaths and sub-psychopaths cruising the corridors of the finance world, chances seem pretty high that at least one person you know is currently dispassionately planning a path to success that will, as merest byproduct, leave you crawling in the wreckage of your hopes like the vile creature you are.

I Wonder What's Up With The Stock Market?

I opened up my recent TIAA-CREF retirement account statement, and I was floored. The return was up nearly 8% in the first quarter alone. That's a 30% annual rate of return!

Well, it probably doesn't mean much. It's just the Wall Street Casino doing its Wall Street Casino thang, so good luck holding onto all that cash! But still, it makes me wonder, what the heck is going on there these days? Back to 1929 again, so soon?

Nartnoside Posted Kaskade's Entire Set At Coachella 2012

"The Three Stooges"

Went and saw "The Three Stooges" last night. Had a good time. These new Stooges are quite talented! And the difficulties of moving such a time-specific act from vaudeville into the modern age are handled quite well.

I thought the movie began to weaken when it began moving into the realm of Reality TV. To me, the Stooges always worked best in obscurity: crummy apartments, crowded alleys, and obscure street corners. Not for the bright stage lights!

Then, I remembered the original Stooges were also a bit addled by stage and screen. A few celebrities show up in the original shorts, but usually C-list celebrities that even folks in the 1940's had barely-heard of. The original Stooges would have been flattered to know that these new Stooges had snagged B-list celebrities like the cast from Jersey Shore. So, this particular weakness in the new movie was present in the original shorts too. No one can seem to get enough of celebrities!

Woofpac

The Hardest Thing About Calling A Gangster A Gangster

...is actually calling him a gangster:

Murdoch has insisted he was unaware that hacking was widespread at his now-shuttered News of the World tabloid, blaming underlings for keeping him in the dark.

The legislators said if that was true, “he turned a blind eye and exhibited willful blindness to what was going on in his companies.”

“We conclude, therefore, that Rupert Murdoch is not a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company,” the report by the panel of 11 lawmakers said.

"Just Keen To Keep Dancing"

Cloudy Weather On Thursday

Maybe even rain!

Joseph Nocera Steps Away From His Own Book, And Rethinks The 401K

I remember Joseph Nocera's book. I HAVE his book on my bookshelf! Reality is a hard teacher!:

Like millions of other aging baby boomers, I first began putting money into a tax-deferred retirement account a few years after they were legislated into existence in the late 1970s. The great bull market, which began in 1982, was just gearing up. As a young journalist, I couldn’t afford to invest a lot of money, but my account grew as the market rose, and the bull market gave me an inflated sense of my investing skills.

I became such an enthusiast of the new investing culture that I wrote my first book, in the mid-1990s, about what I called “the democratization of money.” It was only right, I argued, that the little guy have the same access to the markets as the wealthy. In the book, I didn’t make much of the decline of pensions. After all, we were in the middle of the tech bubble by then. What fun!

The bull market ended with the bursting of that bubble in 2000. My tech-laden portfolio was cut in half. A half-dozen years later, I got divorced, cutting my 401(k) in half again. A few years after that, I bought a house that needed some costly renovations. Since my retirement account was now hopelessly inadequate for actual retirement, I reasoned that I might as well get some use out of the money while I could. So I threw another chunk of my 401(k) at the renovation. That’s where I stand today.

When I related my tale recently to Teresa Ghilarducci, a behavioral economist at The New School who studies retirement and investor behavior, she let out the kind of sigh that made it clear that she had heard it all before. The sad truth, she told me, is that I’m the rule, not the exception. “People have income shock, like divorce or loss of a job or a health crisis,” and those crises tend to drain retirement accounts, she said.

But even putting income shocks aside, she said, most human beings lack the skill and emotional wherewithal to be good investors. Linking investing and retirement has turned out to be a recipe for disaster.

“People tend to be overconfident about their own abilities,” said Ghilarducci. “They tend to focus on the short term rather than thinking about long-term consequences. And they tend to think that whatever the current trend is will always be the trend. That is why people buy high and sell low.” Financial advisers — at least the good ones — are forever telling their clients to be disciplined, to create a diversified portfolio and to avoid trying to time the market. Sound as that advice is, it’s just not how most humans behave.

...I laughed, but it’s not funny. “The 401(k),” she concluded, “is a failed experiment. It is time to rethink it.”

Testosterone Time

Barack Obama bitch-slaps Mitt Romney regarding Osama bin Laden:

Let’s start with the premise that absolutely any sitting President who made a high stakes choice to order a commando raid that killed one of the most notorious enemies of the United States in American history would make that decision a center point in his or her campaign for a second term. To pretend otherwise is not only ludicrous; this is actually what a president should do. So much of what goes into a presidential campaign are indiciators - some bogus, others acute - about what a president would do in impossible to foresee, high stakes moments. Obama made a high stakes call. He was proved right. And he’ll bring that before the electorate to make his argument to keep him as president.

But as I first argued back in 2004, national political campaigns are only loosely about ‘issues’ as news obsessives construe them. Contemporary American campaigns are much more meta-battles over power, masculinity and dominance, what I once called “bitch-slap politics.” Not pretty perhaps but you’ll never understand campaigns without understanding things through this prism. And that’s very much what’s happening with the Obama campaign’s latest fusillade against Mitt Romney. This isn’t simply - maybe not even mainly — about the actual decision to risk so much to kill bin Laden. It’s a dance to - let’s not run away from what it really is - unman Romney in his contest with the president.

People don’t expect Democrats to make such brash moves on national security politics. It’s been a very long time since a Democratic president has been in a position to do it. Its aforementioned obviousness aside, it’s garnered a collective gasp from the pundit class. It was a smack right across the face of Mitt Romney right as he’s making a reasonably successful reintroduction of himself to the American people.

The key is less the attack itself than how Romney responds. In this sort of schoolyard power play, if you attack someone and they’re unwilling or unable to defend themselves they become weak, dominated, pathetic. And the perception among voters is much more important than most of the policy minutiae political types focus on. This is what the Swift Boat attacks were really about. I’ve always doubted that many people actually believed the attacks on John Kerry. That wasn’t the point. It was his inability to defend himself that was devastating politically. It made him an object of ridicule and contempt, demoralizing supporters and inspiring opponents. Bush owned Kerry as a result. This is the position that the Obama team is trying to put Romney in.

On its face it calls for an aggressive, hardcore response from Romney, putting to rest any idea that he lacks the inner resolve to have taken down bin Laden or stand toe to toe with Obama. But I suspect that folks in Chicago are figuring that with the wringer Romney’s been through in recent months, putting on so many different masks and faces, done so awkwardly and with diminishing credibility, that that itself will put him in a bind from which he can’t escape. Can Romney now credibly refashion himself as some mix of Conan the Barbarian and Rambo? Or will that simply reinforce the impression of falseness and unbelievability?