Fuji Watch Day 6

Plundered Books Returned - Chile returned 3,378 books taken from Peru's National Library by pillaging Chilean soldiers in 1881. Not so fast Chile, you forgot something. The National Library fine on these overdue library books is 1 New Soles per day x 3,378books x 126 years x 365.25 days/year = 155,460,627 New Soles. Peru has never forgiven the original humiliation and may be prepared to go to war over the fine.

Fuji Takes Up Painting - Jailed former Peruvian dictator Alberto Fujimori is painting landscapes while awaiting trial on corruption and human rights charges, and he "has not ruled out a gallery show." Right. An amateur's view of the prison yard, sure to be a hit with the discerning collector. And a good investment to boot, prices will increase ten fold if Fuji is convicted and executed after selling only one or two works. The real news here is that Fuji's trial is scheduled for next month. A speed record previously undreamt of in the delay plagued annals of Peruvian justice.

Trade Deal With Peru Likely to Pass House Vote - Speaking of corruption, will the US Administration and Congress really welcome a trading partner that essentially confiscated the fund of US corporations in some extraordinary tax cases during the desperate final years of the Fujimori regime? It doesn't make sense to hold a grudge, it does make sense to require Peru to repair the damage and end the continuing criminal persecution of local executives used as scapegoats to help justify its theft.

Look: Robert Altman - Security Guard

Look - Imagine you are sitting through a classic Robert Altman film. You cut between seemingly unrelated characters and stories, each developing on their own, then gradually intersecting. Make the stories and characters a little bit simplistic, nothing unbearable, still somewhat Altmanlike, but with a slightly heavy hand. Now add a new perspective, everything you see is shot by security cameras - the predatory Lolita, the department store Lothario, the sympathetic teacher fending off Lolita, the criminal lawyer (with secrets of his own), the stalking pedophile, the quickie mart clerk with friends and the bad guys on a crime spree - all caught on security videos.

The security camera perspective sounds like a gimmick, but it works on two levels. First, it adds credibility to characters that would otherwise seem too broadly drawn, individual plot lines that would feel too predictable, plot intersections that would be just a little too coincidental. Second, the security cameras themselves are food for thought. They preserve enough data to satisfy even the most voracious voyeur, but they don't often save the victims or punish the truly malicious.

Look's writer/director Adam Rifkin grabs your attention, holds it with simple, sexy stories that crash together and leaves you wondering about those security cameras on your way home. Cast and crew all deserve credit but there is too much movie and too little time. Lolita (actually Sherri) was well played by Spencer Radford (pictured) in one of the film's largest roles. Rather than attempting to name all names I will note that I saw this film late at night as the second half of a double feature, after missing supper and while knowing I was missing a Steeler game on Monday Night Football - and I still enjoyed it.

The Cake Eaters: What Is A Cake Eater?

The Cake Eaters -Mary Stuart Masterson makes a small budget picture that succeeds on its own terms in her debut as a director. Two families intersect in small town upstate New York. Bruce Dern as Easy Kimbrough, owner of the town butcher shop, is the patriarch of one clan. At first Easy undervalues his son Beagle (Aaron Stanford), a school cafeteria worker who stayed at home and stuck by Mom's side as she died from cancer. Easy basks in the glow of Guy (Jayce Bartok, also the screenwriter), the returning prodigal, back after three years as a struggling musician in New York City, so far out of touch that he missed his mother's funeral. Elizabeth Ashley as Marg, grandmother and matriarch of the Kaminsky family, lives on the wealthier side of the tracks. Marg's daughter is a photographer, nervously micromanaging the life of her daughter and subject (photographically and otherwise), Georgia, a fifteen year old with Friedreich's Ataxia. Friedreich's Ataxia is a debilitating, incurable and progressive neural disorder and Georgia (Kristen Stewart) decides to live her life before her disease progresses too far. Georgia sets her sights on Beagle, who tumbles head over heels at breakneck speed, stumbling upon a long-standing affair between Easy and Marg on his route to romance with Georgia.

At times the film captures the pacing of the small town, the Kimbroughs bond, and feud, over seemingly uneventful breakfasts. A lazy flea market provides the backdrop for a critical, yet leisurely, meeting between a pair of couples. Georgia and Beagle really see each other for the first time, as Easy and Marg, ill-at-ease and apart since the recent death of Easy's wife, reunite with some small talk in public. At other times Masterson moves swiftly, the denouement to Guy's pursuit of his former girlfriend is told, completely, in a single glance.

The Cake Eaters has some distracting loose ends. Jesse Martin has a small part that adds little but unanswered questions to the story line. Georgia's relationship with her mother starts as fast and fascinating and dead ends with no real exploration. Melissa Leo gets a mystery credit as an actress when she should have been listed as a crew member - "leaf raker". These oddities suggest some very major editing was done after the shoot - probably to focus more narrowly on the story line growing out of the relationship between Georgia and Beagle at the expense of other elements from the original script. Good decision, Ms Masterson. Kristen Stewart is brilliant as Georgia in a role reminiscent of your own work in Benny & Joon. The cast (particularly Dern, Stanford and Ashley), score (including works by Duncan Sheik and Glen Hansard), and cinematography all had exactly what it takes to make this film work. If you don't see it in the theater it is worth renting the DVD. No details on release date or distribution plan available at this time.

If you google "cake eaters" you will see many references, but if you know that Jayce Bartok is originally from Pittsburgh and you notice that Elizabeth Ashley, in character as a tipsy Marg, roars mysteriously that her family is from Upper St. Clair, then you know cake eater can mean only one thing. In the Pittsburgh area, "cake eater" is a derisive term applied by blue collar kids to the privileged upper middle class, especially those from suburbs like Mt. Lebanon or Upper St. Clair. As Good As News is betting that Jayce Bartok is from Upper St. Clair, that the original script was set in Western Pennsylvania and that it included an even greater emphasis on the class difference between the Kimbrough and Kaminsky families. This theme was developed as a significant element in the Easy-Marg relationship, but was there even more on the cutting room floor?---------------------------------------------------------------------------

-ps - thank you mary-stuart-masterson.com for the referral and link. As Good As News posts weekly reviews of unreleased films, generally on Tuesday, but occasionally on Wednesday. Some weeks include a double feature. See the review of Look -"Robert Altman - Security Guard" also posted on Nov. 6 or go back for Canvas, Love In The Time of Cholera and other new releases.

-pss - the term "cake eaters" resurfaces in Charlie Wilson's War - spoken by Phillip Seymour Hoffman playing a CIA agent from Aliquippa. Very enjoyable film, funny and better than its reviews.

Rubin and Sarkozy to Rescue

Fixing Citigroup Will Test Rubin - but he will get at least a B+. If you can believe Alan Greenspan, Robert Rubin contributed mightily to averting global financial crises when he was Treasury Secretary so saving a single bank, even a very big bank in very bad trouble, should be child's play. He doesn't really want the job, but a lot is riding on this, including Rubin's reputation, so he will bring his full effort and energy to the table. He may miss that printing press he had at Treasury though, the one he could use to crank out $$$$ when needed to fix a problem.

Chad Releases 7 Seized Trying To Fly Children Out - The procedures and motives of the charity/adoption agency (or perhaps child abduction ring) Zoe's Arc remain suspect, but Chad released a group of seven stewardesses and journalists who were flying out with a planeload of Zoe's Arc "orphans" but were not implicated in their alleged abduction. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, reeling from his wife's recent divorce announcement, flew to Madrid to capture a hug from the Spanish stewardesses during the emotional moments following their return to safety. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Pakistan is all over the front page because of Musharraf's emergency declaration and arrests of political opponents who had not actually done anything illegal. A spokesman explained the arrests were made as "preventive measures , because the people [arrested] presented a threat to future law and order". Other than replaying that wonderful quote we can add little to the predictive coverage appearing here in Selections on October 19. Note in particular the many recent campaign photos of Musharraf with his multi button Nehru jackets.

Letterman Strikes Back

The writer's strike is upon us. Dave, yes, you! David Letterman. This is your opportunity to recapture, finally, those fickle, gossip hungry voyeurs who fled to the Tonight show to watch Hugh Grant apologize for hiring a hooker and never came back. Don't run a rerun tomorrow, surprise that humorless gasbag Jay Leno with an attack while he has no writers to defend him. You don't need to write anything, just type “Leno Sucks” into Google and you'll have ten shows worth of material before you know it. With any kind of effort on your part Jay shoud be running for cover well before 2009. Conan's been waiting long enough. For starters here is your

TOP TEN REASONS LENO MUST GO -NOW

-10- Johnny Carson can't rest until Conan is in

-9- Jay needs more time for onerous duties as President of Gray Panthers Motorcycle Gang

-8- Jay's jaw reduction surgery dangerously overdue

-7- Stuttering John running out of clueless saps to interview

-6- Eubank's family reunion bars Kevin, claiming forced cackles are damaging family rep

-5- Conan is already too old to stay up until 2AM

-4- Secret to Leno ratings success revealed as hordes of aging Johnny Carson fans admit they haven't understood how to switch channels since they got cable boxes

-3- Good Times the Movie, starring JJ Walker has a writer's slot with Jay's name on it

-2- Tonight Show guests on strike because Jay hasn't listened to an answer in the last 15 years

-1- Sad when Jay confused Paul Rodriguez with George Lopez, unforgivable when he thought J Lo was Penelope Cruz----- until she turned to leave

Headline Crawl 3

Pittsburgh Episcopal Diocese Votes to Leave Church - to attend Steeler Game

Ex-Astronaut Wins Ruling in Attack - This headline should read DIAPERS OUT AS TRIAL EVIDENCE. Comments during interrogation and the results of a car search will not be used as evidence in the assault trial of love triangle astronaut Lisa Nowak because Detectives minimized her Miranda rights and misled her during interrogation. Yes, sadly, the diapers will not appear at trial. Apparently the smell of moist diapers does not, in and of itself, constitute probable cause for a vehicle search.

Writer's Guild Set to Strike - Studio executives remain calm, they are still sitting on a reservoir of comic book super heroes and sixties TV shows that they can turn into movies for the rest of the decade. Watch for a Top 4 on David Letterman Monday.

Thousands Rally Against Georgia's Once Popular President - OK, the new book stinks, but Jimmy Carter deserves better.

Clinton Retreats on Issues of Men vs Women -Announces settlements in Paula Jones vs Clinton, Monica Lewinsky vs Clinton, Kathleen Willey vs Clinton, offers hush money to Gennifer Flowers, Dolly Browning, Sally Perdue, Elizabeth Gracen.

We leave the Tabasco flood to Jay Leno.

bad movies and baby steps to immigration reform

Last night I watched Fast Food Nation, a horrible waste of an all star cast. Last week it was Amexicano, reviewed here, a good movie with a questionable ending. This morning's Times includes a movie script waiting to happen - an Anglo teacher from the meatpacking town of Lexington, Nebraska has run off to Mexico with her lover, a twelve year old Mexican boy from her class. Does anyone distribute these stories in Mexico, cautionary tales on the difficulties of illegal border crossings and the difficult life of the undocumented alien in the US?

Maybe the writer's strike will generate some scripts from scabs with a fresh perspective. America 2020 - A blue collar family of Mexican-Americans with century old roots in rural Texas struggles with high taxes and low wages as the long term effects of a porous border take their toll. Faobib and Esau, stay-at -home Faobib slowly builds a light manufacturing empire in Tijuana while his talented twin brother Esau graduates with honors from Berkeley and then fades into the shadows of the undocumented. Googleplex - a documentary following the stunning decision of Google to establish world headquarters in a shining new office complex situated adjacent to the IITs - that's the Indian (not Illinois) Institutes of Technology - where it can hire talent from around the globe.

Hollywood, and the Times, have ably provided undocumented immigrants with faces and voices. Immigration is an issue with many aspects, but there may be a dwindling opportunity to act. Corporate America wants to do something - it sees a labor shortage at the top and bottom of the economic ladder. Liberals want to do something to help the downtrodden hiding amongst us, the spiritual heirs to our ancestors who braved the unknown to find freedom and prosperity. W wants to do something, because he sees real problems that he wants to fix, because he wants to be remembered for more than a failed war. Many, maybe a majority are reluctant to do anything, concerned by security and the possibility that immigrants will take jobs from natives. Amnesty may solve some practical problems, but it drives conservatives nuts, who wants to reward lawbreakers. How can America bless the lawless, who cut in line, and damn the the lawful, who waited patiently at the border.

Let's look for a few things we can all agree upon, and get them done while W is still trying to create a legacy that includes some positives. First, address the top end of the labor market. Anyone that earns a doctorate (PhD, MD, JD, any recognized, legitimate doctoral degree) from an accredited university in the US has an option to become a US citizen if: 1) they give up citizenship in all other nations when sworn in as a US citizen; and, 2) they agree to a background check and accept the fact that Homeland Security can arbitrarily reject their application without explaining the reason. This will start to fix one area of labor shortage, a demographic in which not many US natives will have trouble finding jobs, even with increased competition . It will not draw terrorist immigrants. It will welcome long-term citizens. If they are citizens of the US, and only the US, they will learn English (nearly everyone in this group will already speak English), their children will speak English. Get the commitment to one nationality and the language and culture issues will take care of themselves. Offer free ESL classes as an option.

Second, extend the same offer of citizenship to anyone who gets a masters in engineering or science from an accredited US college and finds a job in the US within 30 days of graduation. The requirements of US citizenship only and submission to a background check still apply.

Third, look for other compromise niches, including some that help with labor force shortages. Let's start with citizenship opportunities for the immediate families of citizens in situations where the relative seeking US citizenship is employed, accepts a security check and gives up all citizenship except for US citizenship (that deal on ESL class still applies). How about a US citizenship opportunity for honors graduates of US high schools and colleges who give up any other citizenship and show either employment or continued education in the US? How about visas for seasonal workers who can establish that they leave the US for at least four months every year, with a potential to become a citizen after ten years as a seasonal worker?

The specifics above may be incomplete, even defective, but there is an opportunity to reduce the scope of our labor and immigration problems that will fade as W's administration becomes increasingly lame duckier (lamer ducky?). Find the niches of common ground. Act now. Do not think that this issue will get any easier when Democrats control House, Senate and White House. Immigration change is a knee jerk "no" for most labor unions and there may be no time like the present to take some productive baby steps.