Some of the news that is fit to print

Poor Dick

So everybody is reporting that Dick Clark is ready to be back at his perch for New Year's Eve this year after suffering a stroke last December, but they have put out this publicity photo and... um, he doesn't look good! I don't know who is pushing whom, but... we'll all turn it on to see what he looks like, right? Or if he is even on live TV. Maybe he'll just be on the recorded parts.

And as I'm searching, I find out that the photo is fixed!

Dick Clark and ABC are claiming that it is the 34th consecutive year of the celebration on ABC -- I'm not exactly sure how they can say that given that he wasn't there last year, but whatever. This year, they are starting the show at 10p and it goes until 2:05a. Three hours?

Why do people hate cops?

ding So we were traveling around yesterday in our taxi cab role. We were at Keswick Hall for a few days working out wedding plans and we had to deliver my mother to Shepherdstown, WV., where my step-father was with his mother. So we're driving along I-81 -- Berkeley County, WV, specifically -- and there are two trucks driving side-by-side, both driving below the 70 mph speed limit and blocking traffic. So I flashed my lights. Suddenly, a cop turns on his lights behind me. I think, 'Great! They are going to get these trucks to move so people can move.' But he pulls me over.

He asks me if there was a problem with my lights. I answer, "No," of course.

He takes forever, of course, and eventually writes me up for 'following to closely' and 'deffective equipment.' (Yes, that is how he spelled it.)

DMV, of course, wants to blow up at him. We don't, needless to say.

If it had been speeding, I wouldn't have been thrilled, of course, but there are so many cases where I don't get caught... but this is just some small town sheriff deputy who gets to show the DC gay boys who is boss.

I have to say that I have not always had such a negative image of cops because, when it comes down to it, they are much like journalists -- these are people who often choose their profession because they want to help people and they are trying to get to the facts. Unfortunately, in all too many instances, they have too much power that allows the person's personal faults and biases to influence their judgment -- and they often take matters into their own hands. (Last night, I couldn't help but think about the fantastic movie, Crash.)

So I hope he makes his monthly quota... and meanwhile, I get to trek to god forsaken Berkeley, WV to fight this thing. Great!

Happy, er... well, happy everything

Happy Christmas... or whatever you may be celebrating!

Movie review: Brokeback Mountain

We went to see the much discussed Brokeback Mountain last night – the movie that has been billed as a ‘gay cowboy movies,’ and that is mostly because we have to categorize everything. The movie is stunning. Truly stunning. That being said, it is also horribly sad – a tragedy, really.

That being said, I’ll give my grade up front so if you don’t want to know anything more about the movie… As if it was some big secret, I give it a strong A, and yet I recommend this movie with some trepidation because it is just so sad. I even called my sister, who has had a tough month, and recommended that she not see it. So yes, it is phenomenal, but just be prepared.

I was not. I went into the movie knowing little about it – I knew it was based on a 1997 short story that was published in The New Yorker by Annie Proulx (whose name I can just never pronounce. Is it Pro-lix or Pru? She actually answers that question on her Web site, for those curious… Go to the FAQ. ) My boss actually had given me the complete New Yorkers for Christmas and I looked up the original, but I had not had a chance to read it yet.

I also knew that the movie was directed by Ang Lee, who directed Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, of course. My first experience with Lee, however, was with one of his early movies, 1993’s The Wedding Banquet. That subtitled movie is about a gay couple, one of whom looks to satisfy his nagging parents by marrying a friend, but it gets out of hand when the parents arrive and begin to take over the wedding plans. I have not seen it in years, but the movie is a CJD-fav.

Lee has such a delicate touch. His movies are always just so graceful. And Brokeback Mountain is no exception. From the scenery to the characters, the movie is just delightful.

Brokeback Mountain is that rare thing, a big Hollywood weeper with a beautiful ache at its center. It's a modern-age Western that turns into a quietly revolutionary love story.
-- Entertainment Weekly

The movie is about Ennis del Mar (remarkably played by Health Ledger) and Jack Twist (also very well played by Jake Gugenhaller), two ranch hands who come together when they are working as sheephearers on summer on a range on Brokeback Mountain. The two begin to share more that summer and eventually share their tent. That leads to a much deeper relationship.

Both men go on to marry and have kids – that’s what cowboys are supposed to do. Yet the two repeatedly come into each others lives – they eventually have regular “fishing trips.” Let’s just say that fish have never been safer. And during this period of the movie, it feels somewhat like the Alan Alda movie, "Same Time Next Year" but in some parallel universe.

The story is truly one of love – these men are passionate about each other. One of my faviroite scenes is on their first reunion, Jack is coming to visit Ennis and Ennis sitts at the window waiting in anticipation.

The tragedy is this love does not conquer all. There are severe consequences for this relationship – lost jobs, bad marriages, affairs, divorces, extreme loneliness and almost poverty… and more. In the end,

As the movie goes on, Ennis, penniless and alone, becomes a shard of a man, nurturing a lost dream.

Again, from the EW review:

Brokeback Mountain has a luscious doomed tenor that, at times, makes it feel like Edith Wharton with Stetsons. It's far from being a message movie, yet if you tear up in the magnificent final scene, with its haunting slow waltz of comfort and regret, it's worth noting what, exactly, you're reacting to: a love that has been made to knuckle under to society's design. In an age when the fight over gay marriage still rages, Brokeback Mountain, the tale of two men who are scarcely even allowed to imagine being together, asks, through the very purity with which it touches us: When it comes to love, what sort of world do we really want?

The movie is well worth the time. Andenjoy!

YEAH! I don't have to see King Kong

So our good friends, MB and CA, went to see King Kong last night. Given my previous reservations about it, I was interested to hear what they had to say. And despite the critical acclaim, I'm going to pass, thank you very much.

Here is MB's always entertaining take:

I'm sorry to tell you, but I thought it was absolutely terrible. CA fell asleep for the first hour. Save your money, or go an hour after the movie starts...

I didn't think it was possible for one's butt to fall asleep, but mine did. It was 3 freakin hours! And it wasn't Lord-of-the-Rings 3 hours, it was Ishtar 3 hours.

And CA, who was looking forward to the action, was not thrilled:

I had trouble keeping my eyes open for the first part. I had to wait well over an hour for the first dinosaur to get killed.

So I'm going to pass... and see Brokeback Mountain instead.

So I'm not alone on this King Kong thing...

I mentioned this weekend that I wasn't all that thrilled about the big King Kong movie -- well, according to the LAT this morning.

Hollywood has been betting for months that when "King Kong" hit theaters, the action epic would help reverse a nearly yearlong slide in movie admissions. Well, the rampaging 50-foot-tall ape finally has arrived, but like so many other recent movies, "King Kong" is not yet attracting stampedes of moviegoers.

Although writer-director Peter Jackson's remake of the 1933 classic did sell an estimated $50.1 million in tickets in its debut weekend, the film's opening receipts stood well below industry projections. Rival studios and show business prognosticators had said (and even hoped) that Universal Pictures' "King Kong" might gross as much as $100 million in its first five days of release.

But since the three-hour-plus movie started showing early Wednesday morning, its total domestic sales were $66.2 million -- almost exactly the take that "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" generated the previous weekend, in two fewer days.

The unexpectedly sluggish opening for "King Kong" adds to growing fears that U.S. audiences might be forsaking the multiplex: For the first time in more than 40 years, Hollywood by year's end will have recorded declining attendance for three consecutive years.

HP in Imax

So Harry on Imax is really excellent. I'm still a bit disappointed by the movie, but I still contend that it is the best of the Harry Potter movies. They just shortened some parts that I probably would not have shortened, but I can understand that you have to make cuts somewhere.

One of the weakest part of this movie is Dumbledore. In the past two movies, Dumbledore is played by Michael Gambon, and I don't know whether it is the actor of the director, it is just totally wrong. There are two perfect examples. The first is after Harry comes out of the pensive where he was exploring Dumbledor's memories. In his conversation with Harry, he seems perplexed and confused. In the books, he was perplexed, but he never let that interfer with his leadership or strength. The other scene is near the end in Harry's dorm room where he is talking about what happened with Lord Voldomort. Again, he seems surprised and perplexed.

In the books, Dumbledore is a majestic character and leader. In the movies, he is wishy-washy. Richard Harris played Dumbledore in the first two movies and did a great job. Gambon, however, just doesn't make it work, and it is too bad because he is such an important character... and I think Ian McKellen would have been a much better choice.

An aside: Here is an amazing tidbit from the WP on the HP Imax movie.

One challenge was the length of this Potter film, a copy of which in the Imax format weighs about 900 pounds. "The size of the film is enormous. Take our space films, 'To Fly' and the others -- they are the size of a coffee table. This is the size of a large, large conference table," Mensforth said.

Cool! Well worth seeing.

Movie updates… Harry Potter… Syriana… Pride and Prejudice

I know! I know! I haven’t been posting regularly. What can I say – work has been busy and life and all that stuff. DMV and I have very different ideas of what is a quiet time. We were talking to somebody and he said, ‘Yeah, it’s been a pretty quiet week.’ Um, what? Here was the past seven days:
* Last Saturday: ‘Casual make your own pizza night’ with our gourmet group.
* Last Sunday: We went to see Syriana --- OK, relatively quiet day.
* Monday: Work, of course, then to DMV’s CEO’s house for a blind wine tasting contest.
* Tuesday: Dinner with DMV’s (and my) friends.
* Wednesday: He has dinner; I have a quiet night.
* Thursday: My company holiday party at Tysons Corner mall and then shopping.
* Friday: Dinner at Citi Zen for our friend’s b’day.
* Saturday: ‘Christmas’ with DMV’s family

But tonight… we’re going to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on the big Imax screen at the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum. Yes, I’ve seen Harry Potter already. But it’s Imax!

So yes, I have seen a bunch of movies over my ‘quiet’ period.

Can I just start by saying that yes, King Kong is out this weekend and I know everybody has their panties in a bunch about it, but I’m just not all that thrilled to see it. In fact, I’m not excited at all. I don’t really like three-hour-plus movies… and I’ve never been a real big fan of King Kong movies. As a animal freak, I always felt sorry for Kong. He’s living a happy life and has it all ripped away from him – to be kept in horrible conditions, I’m sure – so some money grubber can cash in. Kong gets angry about the situation and everybody ends up blaming him!? And, of course, Kong pays his life for it all. So, no, I’m not that excited about seeing it.

I was, however, very excited about seeing Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. This is my favorite of the Harry Potter books by a long shot. There are two scenes in the book that are just wonderful: The opening, which is a strong, powerful image, and then the climatic scene near the end, which is absolutely riveting. So of course, I was thrilled at the prospect of seeing that magic brought to the big screen. In fact, I even reread the book in preparation for the movie.

That was my mistake! The book is big – it marked the first Potter book that also doubled as weight lifting. So there was inevitably going to be stuff that had to be cut or condensed and I was just too close to it. My mind’s eye also created such rich images, I should have expected that it would be difficult for the director to meet my expectations.

That being said, the movie is quite good and probably the best in the series so far… and that final scene is good, but it just wasn’t as powerful as I think it could have been. Unfortunately I’m at a loss to suggest exactly what that missing piece was, but it somehow just didn’t make me sit on the edge of my seat. It was exciting, but it wasn’t thrilling.

So… I’d give HP4 a B+ and strongly recommend that you not reread the book before going to the movie.

I’ll also report back on how it is on Imax.

Syriana

Last weekend we went to see Syriana. I hadn’t really heard much about this movie, so I went in with pretty much a clean slate. DMV wanted to see it – I’m not sure why. I’m guessing it was because of the positive reviews.

I knew it was a George Clooney movie, but I’m just not a huge Clooney fan. Other then that, I didn’t know what to expect.

I didn’t know that it was from writer/director Stephen Gaghan, who won the Academy Award for his screenplay of 'Traffic.'

'Syriana' is something of a political thriller. For its backdrop, the movie uses the global oil industry and its relationship to the United States, the Middle East, and the intelligence communities. And, as somebody who is fascinated by those subjects, I found this movie just riveting. That being said, there are a lot of characters in this movie – and if you saw Traffic, that will not surprise you. And it jumps around between Washington to the men working the oil fields in the Persian Gulf to the leaders of those countries to the leaders of oil companies. One of the big complaints I have heard is that people found that confusing and that they had a hard time putting all the pieces together – and I understand that complaint. It can be. I guess I didn’t focus on the details and instead just sat back and watched the interplay between these various slices of life.

The movie definitely has a political point to make – one that I happen to agree with, of course. (Clooney gave an interesting interview to The Advocate when Good Night and Good Luck came out where he talks about politics and the movies. It is an interesting read.) The movie does a good job of dramatizing how the U.S. addiction to oil actually drives so many important decisions that have led to the United States being so despised in that region. But this is no Michael Moore screed. It is an interesting story. Much the way Traffic looked at drug issues, this looks at the Middle East.

Even if you don’t agree with that point of view, the movie does an effective job making its case so I think it would be a healthy start for a rich discussion and debate. I give the movie kudos for that if nothing else.

CJD grade: A-

Finally, and briefly, Pride and Prejudice. It’s Jane Austin, so you know how it is going to end. Go and enjoy the romance.

CJD grade: B

My e-government quest

So I don't often talk about work here. My personal opinions are mine and -- I know people don't think that journalists can do this, but -- they stay with me and do not influence my work. Besides, my experience is that journalists don't play political favorites. They just love a good story. Anyway, that's a post for another time...

Certainlly one does notice things more when it hits close to home, so let me share a tale of what appears to be e-government gone wrong.

I live in northwest Washington, D.C. just off the Rock Creek Park. For those of you who may not know the area, Rock Creek Park is this wonderful area that runs from the Potomac River right near the Mall all the way out to the Maryland border. As you might imagine, the park is heavily used – the Rock Creek Parkway is heavily by drivers, but it is also a recreation area. It is part of one of my favorite bike loops.

So the WP this morning has a story, which they tease off the front page, about the new Rock Creek Park management plan. Given that I use the park – it is part of my daily commute – I was interested to find the plan.

I was hopeful that the WP would provide a link to the plan. BZZZ!
So I search Google, which provides me with the Park Service's Rock Creek Park page. I search on there for awhile -- management documents, maybe? Not that I could tell.

I eventually went to try Google’s Uncle Sam, keyed in "Rock Creek Park management plan," which took me to this site, which seems may be a step in the right direction, but when I click around, I can't really tell what is new, when things were posted... In addition, I'm not sure how somebody would actually find this site other than a Google search.

I clicked for awhile there until I grew frustrated and decided to try something else.
So I went to the Park Service’s main page, their press release page… on and on but all for naught.

So I called their press office. The person there didn’t know. She suggested that I use their search engine, which didn’t seem to come up with what I was looking for.
She gave the number of the superintendent of the park, who directed me to the director of plans, which whom I left a voice mail message.

How many real people actually go through this?

And can offer some notes when the Interior Department gets its e-gov grade on the management score card?

If anybody knows where I can find this document…

I am putting the spotlight on the Park Service -- well, I guess I am, but I don't mean to. I understand that this stuff is not always easy -- we don't always get it right! -- and I don't think the Park Service is alone.

Perhaps this just says something about people's expectations.

After much chasing and hunting, I got a certain degree of success... No, it wasn't easy... and it involved having to make several calls to the Park Service personnel that oversee Rock Creek Park... and the kind person had to walk me through the process, but I found it.

So do you want to walk through it, or should I just give it to you?
For those of you who read the end of the mystery first, you can find the Rock Creek Park improvement plan here.

Here are the steps I had to go through:
* Go to parkplanning.nps.gov
* Then look for Plans/Documents Open for Comment
* The third item down (as I'm posting this) is the Rock Creek Park plan.

I actually asked how Joe Citizen would ever be able to find that... and they acknowledged that it is kind of burried... and they promised that it was going to be moved to the Rock Creek Park page.

And it was eventually posted this information on the Rock Creek Park page under both “management docs” and the “news” link on the right side of the Web site -- although I did not find it under news, but it is difficult to find on the management document page because they are not really dates so it is difficult to tell what is the most recent item. Instead, I'd recommend just going to this site and selecting the Rock Creek plans.

So it is be up there, but it isn't really easy for Joe Citizen to find.

Again, I want to stress that I understand how difficult this is. It is difficult for us! Most people think you just post the link, but if it is much more complex… not the least of which is making it available in a place that people can find it. But posting information online should be one of the most natural ways of getting information out to the public -- lest we may part of most agency missions?

I would expect that in most government organizations, posting this kind of information is a add on duty – ‘other duties as assigned.’ Therefore it is decentralized, yet is centralized to ensure a common look and feel. And when things are posted, do they go at the decentralized sites, such as the individual parks, or a central Web page that lists all management changes?

It isn’t necessarily easy.

WSJ: Drowning polar bears!

This story in today's WSJ... which comes days after the United States essentially said F-YOU to the rest of the world in the global warming talks. How nice...

Drowning Polar Bears and Global Warming
In what may be the latest evidence of global warming, polar bears are drowning, The Wall Street Journal reports. Scientists for the first time have documented multiple deaths of polar bears off Alaska, where they likely drowned after swimming long distances in the ocean amid the melting of the Arctic ice shelf. In a quarter-century of aerial surveys of the Alaskan coastline before 2004, researchers from the U.S. Minerals Management Service said they typically spotted a lone polar bear swimming in the ocean far from ice about once every two years. But in September 2004, when the polar ice cap had retreated a record 160 miles north of the northern coast of Alaska, researchers counted 10 polar bears swimming as far as 60 miles offshore. The researchers returned to the vicinity a few days after a fierce storm and found dead bears floating in the water. While the government researchers won't speculate on why a climate change is taking place in the Arctic, environmentalists unconnected to the survey say U.S. policies emphasizing oil and gas development are exacerbating global warming, which is accelerating the melting of the ice.