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Tag Archives: Joan Cusack
Posted on December 8, 2019 by carlosdev
This is not your daddy's Santa Claus.
(2019) Animated Feature (Netflix) Starring the voices of Jason Schwartzmann, J.K. Simmons, Rashida Jones, Norm McDonald, Joan Cusack, Will Sasso, Sergio Pablos, Mila Brener, Neda Margrethe Labba, Sydney Brower, Teddy Blum, Emma Shannon, Kendall Joy Hall, Julian Zane, Amanda Philipson, Finn Carr, Tucker Meek, Hailey Hermida, Jaeden Bettencourt. Directed by Sergio Pablos and Carlos Martinez López
We've all seen origin stories of the big guy in Red before. No, I'm not talking about Shazam! I'm talking about the real big guy. Santa. Claus, even.
This delightful animated feature has the distinction of being the first animated feature to be distributed by streaming giant Netflix (after a brief theatrical run) and it will have the added bonus of making animated feature aficionados wish that Netflix would have made it more widely available in theaters, because the animation is that gorgeous, with a hand-painted look that hasn't been seen since the halcyon days of Disney, which is where director Sergio Pablos cut his teeth, by the by.
The film is about Jesper (Schwartzmann), the indolent scion of a politically connected and wealthy family. Jesper, the son of a Central European country's postmaster general, is coasting his way through life, shirking work whenever possible and looking forward to using his family's political connections to maintain his lifestyle of personal butlers, espressos on demand and silk sheets. However, his father has different ideas. He exiles his son to Smeerensburg (which is based on a Finnish town that no longer exists), a town above the Arctic circle where no letters have been mailed in years.
It turns out there's a reason for that. The town is run by two families that have been feuding for centuries, the Krum family whose matriarch (Cusack) absolutely hates the patriarch (Sasso) of the Ellingboe family. The two family heads have recruited the children into a vicious cycle of hate and pranks which gives the film a kind of Looney Tunes feel and also a kind of warped satisfaction as the lazy Jesper is often the butt of the children's tricks.
Through a convoluted set of circumstances, Jesper meets Klaus (Simmons), a lonely and isolated woodsman who has deliberately isolated himself for reasons that are made clear later. He has a gift for wood carving and eventually delivers a toy to a young child whose melancholy drawing touched his heart. Jesper, recognizing a scam when he sees one, induces the kids to write letters to Klaus to get him to send them toys; he just needs six thousand of them to be released from his exile. He utilizes Alva (Jones), a teacher who came to a town where none of the kids attend school, to teach the kids to write letters. She has resorted to converting the school to a fish market in order to make ends meet and save up enough to get out of that crazy town. But as the kindness of Klaus begins to affect the children, Mrs. Krum and Mr. Ellingboe begin to plot to end this change which threatens the status quo.
The movie starts out a bit slowly and the early Looney Tunes section might pale in comparison with classic cartoons, but it picks up steam as it goes along and never fails to charm. Kids will be entranced with the lovely images and adults will find the movie heart-tugging – the ending in fact is likely to generate more than a few tears from sensitive viewers. I, myself, loved it.
As Christmas films go, this one is certainly superior to the glut of direct-to-home video projects that make up the bulk of what's available at this time of year. Klaus is the kind of movie you and your kids will want to see again and again, year after year. That's the kind of Christmas gift that keeps on giving.
REASONS TO SEE: The animation is magical. The film is charming throughout, with the ending being absolutely wonderful.
REASONS TO AVOID: It's a bit of a slog during the first third.
FAMILY VALUES: There is some rude humor as well as mild animated action.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: This is the first hand-drawn animated film to make use of CGI lighting techniques to give it almost a 3D feel.
BEYOND THE THEATERS: Netflix
CRITICAL MASS: As of 12/8/19: Rotten Tomatoes: 92% positive reviews: Metacritic: 63/100.
COMPARISON SHOPPING: Santa Claus is Coming to Town
NEXT: The Boy, The Dog and The Clown
Posted in VOD Review	| Tagged animated feature, Arctic Circle, cinema, Cinema365, espresso, feuds, Films, Finland, fishmonger, J.K. Simmons, Jason Schwartzmann, Joan Cusack, Klaus, letter writing, movies, Netflix, Norm McDonald, poor little rich boy, postman, Rashida Jones, Santa Claus, schoolhouse, Spanish cinema, VOD Reviews, Will Sasso, woodcutter	| Leave a reply
New Releases for the Week of June 21, 2019
Posted on June 20, 2019 by carlosdev
(Disney*Pixar) Starring the voices of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Annie Potts, Tony Hale, Joan Cusack, Keanu Reeves, Timothy Dalton, Christina Hendricks. Directed by Josh Cooley
With the gang now firmly in the care of Bonnie, Woody takes on a craft project-turned-toy named Forky, who thinks of himself as trash and not a toy, as his new project. He tries to show Forky the joys of toy-ness. However, when Bonnie takes them all on a road trip and Woody meets up with an old friend, he discovers there are many viewpoints on what it is to be a toy.
See the trailer, clips, video featurettes and an interview here
(Summit) Sasha Luss, Luke Evans, Cillian Murphy, Helen Mirren. Anna is without doubt a beauty but she's also a beast; beneath the exterior of the woman lies a cold, ruthless assassin.
Rating: R (for strong violence, language, and some sexual content)
Burn Your Maps
(Vertical) Vera Farmiga, Jacob Tremblay, Virginia Madsen, Marton Csokas. A young American boy believes himself to be a Mongolian goat herder – so much so that he crowdfunds a trip to Mongolia, throwing his fractured family into further disarray. His mother makes a desperate trip across the globe for one last shot at making her family whole again.
See the trailer and a video featurette here
Now Playing: Touchstar Southchase
Rating: PG-13 (for thematic elements including some mature sexual material, and brief strong language)
(Orion) Aubrey Plaza, Mark Hamill, Tim Matheson, Gabriel Bateman. A young mother buys her son a special doll, unaware of the sinister nature of the toy in this reboot of the iconic horror franchise.
See the trailer, interviews, video featurettes and clips here
Rating: R (for bloody horror violence. and for language throughout)
(Cradle Walk) Dhanush, Erin Moriarty, Bėrėnice Bejo, Barkhad Abdi. Upon his mother's death, a young fakir from Mumbai decides to visit Paris to find the father he never knew. Things don't go quite as planned and what was supposed to be a simple trip turns into a frenetic odyssey.
Now Playing: Regal Oviedo Marketplace
Rating: PG-13 (for some suggestive content and brief strong language)
(CBS) Luciano Pavarotti, Stevie Wonder, Bono, Nelson Mandela. The story of one of the greatest tenors of the 20th century featuring cutting edge sound and never-before-seen footage. This doc was directed by Oscar winner Ron Howard.
See the trailer, clips, interviews, a video featurette and B-roll video here
Genre: Music Documentary
Now Playing: Regal Winter Park Village, Rialto Spanish Springs Square
Rating: PG-13 (for brief strong language and a war-related image)
Agent Sai Srinvas Athreya
Holy Lands
The Spy Behind Home Plate
In the Aisles
Mallesham
Woodstock: Three Days That Defined a Generation
Yomeddine
Sindhubaadh
Swinging Safari
FILM FESTIVALS TAKING PLACE IN FLORIDA:
The Dog Film Festival, St. Augustine, FL
Posted in Weekly Preview	| Tagged 2019, Anna, Annie Potts, Aubrey Plaza, Barkhad Abdi, Berenice Bejo, Bono, Burn Your Maps, Child's Play, Christina Hendricks, Cillian Murphy, cinema, Cinema365, Films, Helen Mirren, Jacob Tremblay, Joan Cusack, June 21, Keanu Reeves, Luciano Pavarotti, Luke Evans, Mark Hamill, Marton Csokas, movies, Nelson Manela, Pavarotti, Previews, Sasha Luss, Stevie Wonder, The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir, Tim Allen, Tim Matheson, Timothy Dalton, Tom Hanks, Toy Story 4, Vera Farmiga, Virginia Madsen	| Leave a reply
Snatched (2017)
Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn get a look at the reviews.
(2017) Comedy (20th Century Fox) Amy Schumer, Goldie Hawn, Wanda Sykes, Joan Cusack, Randall Park, Oscar Jaenada, Tom Bateman, Christopher Meloni, Al Madrigal, Bashir Salahuddin, Arturo Castro, Raven Goodwin, Ike Barinholtz, Kate Dippold, Moani Hara, Nicholas J. Lockwood, Pedro Haro, Tom Choi, Modesto Cordero, Linda Molina, Kim Caramele. Directed by Jonathan Levine
I've said it before but it bears repeating; comedy is a highly personal thing. Everyone's taste is different. One person's belly laugh is another person's meh and vice versa. We all react differently to different stimuli and what tickles our funny bones can't necessarily be predicted. I know there are things I find funny one day that I wonder what on earth I was thinking the next. Still, there are things that we can universally agree on are not as funny as others.
Take this Mothers Day comedy. Emily Middleton (Schumer) is failing at life. Fired from her retail job, dumped by her musician boyfriend and left holding the bag on a non-refundable vacation to Ecuador – Ecuador? – she searches desperately for someone to go with on the "trip of a lifetime" (Ecuador?) but none of her friends are particularly interested in going or more to the point, interested in going with her. Judging on the behavior we observe in the first ten minutes of the film, one can scarcely blame them.
With almost no options available, she turns to her mother Linda (Hawn), an adventure-challenged cat lady of a mom who is happiest staying at home with a glass of wine and a book. One has to wonder why, particularly since Emily's agoraphobic and passive-aggressively spoiled younger brother Jeffrey (Barinholtz) lives with mom, whom he addresses as "Ma-mah" and complains loudly if his bread isn't warm enough. Millennials *eyeroll*!
Emily manages to convince Linda to go but it promises to be as awkward as you can imagine. Linda bundles up like a mummy by the pool and slathers Emily with enough SPF-1000 to deflect a flamethrower. Linda also shows no interest in going out partying so Emily goes by herself and is picked up by the handsome and charming James (Bateman). One simply can't fathom what he could possibly see in her until of course it turns out his interest is strictly financial.
He arranges for Linda and Emily to be kidnapped by a ponytailed drug lord named Morgado (Jaenada) for white slavery purposes. However, the two intrepid women escape from Morgado's essentially brain-dead thugs and hook up with an Indiana Jones wannabe named Roger Simmons (Meloni) whose wilderness experience is limited to being the former manager at a Best Buy. With Jeffrey trying to get the U.S. Embassy to mount a rescue and the women trying to make their way back to civilization with an enraged Morgado in hot pursuit with a personal vendetta, the jungle might not be the safest place to be.
On paper, this should have worked. A strong cast led by the redoubtable Hawn who reminds us here why she was one of the greatest comediennes of her generation and a director who has some pretty quality films on his resume with a writer who co-wrote some of Melissa McCarthy's best movies all lead to the assumption that this should have been a high quality film. Sadly, it Is not.
Hawn is one of the bright spots here although Schumer acquits herself reasonably well in a thankless role that mainly consists of the actress going from one onscreen embarrassment to the next. Schumer is one of the most talented comedic actresses working today but this feels like the character was cobbled together from dozens of other characters Schumer has played over the years. There's nothing really original for her to sink her teeth into.
Poor Barinholtz, generally a pretty reliable character actor, gives his all to a character who you just want to punch in the throat at nearly every opportunity but the character is so inherently unlikable that you don't care if he improves himself or not. Likewise the Emily character starts off basically as a self-involved bitch but as she spends more time with her mom becomes softer and more humble. Schumer is likable enough that even in an unlikable role we end up rooting for her but the transformation is fairly cliché.
The major sin here is that the comic set pieces – and the movie literally one set piece after another after another – are mostly unfunny. You don't expect everything to work but you would hope at least 50% worked. That's not the case here. Most of the gags here left me completely flat. There are some that work – and a lot of them are in the trailer – but there are fewer that work than don't.
Hawn is really the reason to see this movie, particularly if you're of a certain age. She's not the Cactus Flower at this stage of her career but she still has deft comic timing and a screen persona that is both ditzy and charming. Schumer and her have a pretty comfortable chemistry that makes one wonder/hope that there might be further collaborations for the two in the future. If there is, one hopes they get better material to work with than this.
REASONS TO GO: It is wonderful to see Hawn onscreen again who remains an engaging screen personality.
REASONS TO STAY: The movie is dreadfully unfunny in places.
FAMILY VALUES: There is some brief nudity, plenty of profanity and some sexual content of the crude variety.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: This is Hawn's first movie since 2002 when she made The Banger Sisters.
COMPARISON SHOPPING: Grandma
FINAL RATING: 6/10 (about 4 of which is Hawn)
NEXT: King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
Posted in New Releases	| Tagged 20th Century Fox, adventure-challenged, agoraphobia, Al Madrigal, Amy Schumer, cat lady, Christopher Meloni, cinema, Cinema365, comedy, dream vacation, dress boutique, Ecuador, escape, Films, Goldie Hawn, Ike Barinholtz, Indiana Jones, Joan Cusack, Kate Dippold, kidnapping, mother-daughter relationship, movies, mute, Oscar Jaenada, Randall Park, rescue, reviews, Snatched, Tom Bateman, U.S. Embassy, Wanda Sykes, white slavery	| Leave a reply
New Releases for the Week of May 12, 2017
Posted on May 11, 2017 by carlosdev
(Warner Brothers) Charlie Hunnam, Jude Law, Djimon Hounsou, Eric Bana, Aidan Gillen, Freddie Fox, Astrid Bergés-Frisbey, Annabelle Wallis. Directed by Guy Ritchie
A new take on the Arthurian legend from iconoclastic director Guy Ritchie. When Arthur's father, the King, is murdered his power-mad brother seizes the throne. Arthur is forced to flee and live a life in the alleys and streets of the capital, but all that changes when he pulls a sword from the stone. Now he must face his history and seize his legacy. The trouble is that Arthur isn't all that eager to do either.
See the trailer, clips, interviews, a promo and B-roll video here.
Release Formats: Standard, 3D
Genre: Fantasy Action
Rating: PG-13 (for sequences of violence and action, some suggestive content and brief strong language)
(Music Box) Cynthia Nixon, Jennifer Ehle, Keith Carradine, Duncan Duff. Emily Dickinson is one of the most beloved and acclaimed poets in American history, but few know all that much about the reclusive woman who passed away in 1886. What was she like? What prompted her to write such beautiful poetry? Why did she never marry? Legendary director Terence Davies takes on the story of one of the most revered figures in American literature.
Rating: PG-13 (for thematic elements, disturbing images and brief suggestive material)
(Atlas) Simon Pegg, Kate Beckinsale, Robin Williams (voice), Monty Python. A group of eccentric aliens bestow an ordinary man with virtually unlimited power – the ability to make anything he wishes come true. As he struggles to control his power, observed from space by the aliens, he starts to rely more and more heavily on his loyal dog. Now, however, with a beautiful woman literally in the palm of his hands, he finds himself forced to choose between the girl and the dog. The movie is notable as for being the last film in which the late Robin Williams appears (he is the voice of the dog) and as a reunion for the surviving members of Monty Python, whose Terry Jones directed the film.
Genre: Sci-Fi Comedy
Now Playing: Premiere Fashion Square
Rating: R (for language including sexual references, and brief nudity)
(BH Tilt/Telemundo) Gabriel Chavarria, Demian Bichir, Eva Longoria, Melissa Benoist. East L.A. is a world unto its own. Danny is a talented street artist who has his own goals and dreams; his father and brother are part of the car culture of East LA, fabled Lowriders who have built a street rep over the years. Danny gets caught between their world and his own and must choose between family and future.
Now Playing: AMC Altamonte Mall, AMC Disney Springs
Rating: PG-13 (for language, some violence, sensuality, thematic elements and brief drug use)
(20th Century Fox) Amy Schumer, Goldie Hawn, Wanda Sykes, Joan Cusack. A young woman is getting ready to go on the vacation of a lifetime when her boyfriend abruptly dumps her just before they are due to leave. With her options limited and not wanting to give up her vacation, she reluctantly invites her uptight mom with her. When they are kidnapped, the two polar opposites realize they must work out their differences and lean on each other if they are to escape from their captors.
Rating: R (for crude sexual content, brief nudity, and language throughout)
(Roadside Attractions/Amazon) Aaron Taylor-Johnson, John Cena, Laith Nakli. Two Marines are investigating a construction crew's ambush by a sniper. Convinced that the sniper has left the area, they prepare to be evacuated from the area when the sniper, who has patiently out-waited them, opens fire, wounding both of them and pinning one behind a crumbling wall. It becomes a game of cat and mouse as the sniper talks to them over their radios and with food and water running out and no way to communicate with their base to get help, forces the Americans into a desperate act. Doug Liman, who directed The Bourne Identity and Edge of Tomorrow, is the man behind the camera here.
See the trailer and a clip here.
Genre: War Drama
Now Playing: AMC Altamonte Mall, AMC Disney Springs, Cinemark Artegon Marketplace, Regal Waterford Lakes, Regal Winter Park Village
Rating: R (for language throughout and some war violence)
Posted in Weekly Preview	| Tagged 2017, A Quiet Passion, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Absolutely Anything, Aidan Gillen, Amy Schumer, Charlie Hunnam, cinema, Cinema365, Cynthia Nixon, Demian Bichir, Djimon Hounsou, Eric Bana, Eva Longoria, Films, Goldie Hawn, Jennifer Ehle, Joan Cusack, John Cena, Jude Law, Kate Beckinsale, Keith Carradine, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Lowriders, May 12, Melissa Benoist, Monty Python, movies, Previews, Robin Williams, Simon Pegg, Snatched, The Wall, Wanda Sykes	| Leave a reply
New Releases for the Week of October 30, 2015
Posted on October 29, 2015 by carlosdev
(Paramount) Tye Sheridan, Joey Morgan, Cloris Leachman, David Koechner, Logan Miller, Sarah Dumont, Halston Sage, Niki Koss. Directed by Christopher Landon
The motto of the Boy Scouts is to be prepared, but how does one prepare for the unpreparable? Why, there's a handbook for it of course. And no doubt, merit badges.
Genre: Horror Comedy
Now Playing: AMC Altamonte Mall, AMC Disney Springs, AMC Loew's Universal Cineplex, AMC West Oaks
Rating: R (for zombie violence and gore, sexual material, graphic nudity, and language throughout)
The Algerian
(Hannover House) Ben Youcef, Candice Coke, Harry Lennix, Tara Holt. An Algerian travels around the world as part of a sleeper cell, masquerading as a university student. He knows that his enemy is America, but as he begins to develop relationship and even love with various Americans, he becomes conflicted. What is his mission and what is his purpose? Whatever it might be, there will be a bloodbath by the time it ends.
Genre: Suspense
Now Playing: Regal Pointe Orlando
The Armor of Light
(Fork) Lucy McBath, Rob Schenck. A conservative Evangelical minister meets the mother of Jordan Davis, a teenage shooting victim in Florida whose death focused attention on the controversial "Stand Your Ground" laws. Despite her pro-choice leanings, the two decide to work together to bring about real change in gun laws and more importantly, in attitudes towards guns. Incidentally, NRA members can get free tickets to this movie; go to the website to find out how.
Now Playing: Regal Waterford Lakes
Rating: PG-13 (for thematic content and brief strong language)
(Weinstein) Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Emma Thompson, Uma Thurman. A once-promising chef who suffers a spectacular meltdown having fallen from grace due to his own excesses. Hungering for that elusive third Michelin star, he opens a new restaurant, knowing he'll have to have the best of the best working for him which includes Helene, a comely sous chef who might bring him the redemption he is seeking – and also that of an unexpected kind.
See the trailer, interviews, clips and premiere footage here.
Rating: R (for language throughout)
Dancin' It's On
(Medallion) Gary Daniels, Witney Carson, Jordan Clark, Ava Fabian. A beautiful young girl travels from Beverly Hills to Panama Beach for the summer to work at her father's hotel and falls in love with a handsome young dishwasher. The two have a mutual love for dance and decide to partner up for the Florida State Championships but will have to navigate long odds to achieve their dreams. Did anyone else just throw up a little in their mouths or was it just me?
Genre: Music/Dance
Now Playing: Regal Oviedo Marketplace, Regal Pointe Orlando, Regal Winter Park Village
Rating: PG (for some suggestive material)
Freaks of Nature
(Columbia) Mackenzie Davis, Nicholas Braun, Joan Cusack, Denis Leary. In one small town, vampires, zombies and humans have all managed to co-exist – until an alien invasion throws everything into chaos. Now it's every being for themselves and all of them being chased by aliens. It will take three teens – one human, one zombie and one vampire – to convince the town to unite against the real threat: bad reviews.
Now Playing: AMC Disney Springs, Regal Waterford Lakes
Rating: R (for bloody violence and gore, pervasive language, sexual content and drug use – all involving teens)
Goodnight Mommy
(Radius) Susanne Wuest, Lukas Schwarz, Elias Schwarz, Hans Escher. After facial reconstructive surgery, the mother of a pair of precocious 10-year-old twins returns home, her face covered with bandages. Soon after, however, the twins begin to suspect that the woman under the bandages isn't their mother; she acts very differently than the woman who raised them. So they decide to find out who the woman is but most importantly where their real mother is.
Rating: R (for disturbing violent content and some nudity)
(Adopt) Sandra Bullock, Billy Bob Thornton, Anthony Mackie, Scoot McNairy. With Bolivia's economy teetering on the edge of catastrophe, a presidential election between the incumbent president and an upstart rival, the incumbent trailing in the polls by 30 points (a nearly insurmountable margin) enlists a damaged but brilliant American political strategist to aid him. Unfortunately, the opposition has hired her nemesis whom she has never beaten. With the election taking on global proportions, the price of losing could be intolerable. Based on the real events chronicled in the documentary of the same name.
Rating: R (for language including some sexual references)
(A24) Brie Larson, Jacob Tremblay, Joan Allen, William H. Macy. A woman and her young son escape from a shed where they've been held captive for the son's entire life. The woman returns to a woman she doesn't understand anymore and the son to a world he's never known. Both damaged, they rely on each other as much or more outside the single room that was their entire world than they did in it.
See the trailer, clips and interviews here.
(Sony Classics) Cate Blanchett, Robert Redford, Topher Grace, Elizabeth Moss. When respected CBS news anchor Dan Rather broadcast a story regarding then-President George W. Bush's service in the National Guard during the Vietnam War, he was doing his job. Instead, it turns out that the story was factually inaccurate, putting one of the most prestigious news organization's reputation in tatters and nearly bringing it down. The CBS network is refusing to air ads for this film, incidentally as you might expect.
Rating: R (for language and a brief nude photo)
Posted in Weekly Preview	| Tagged 2015, Anthony Mackie, Billy Bob Thornton, Bradley Cooper, Brie Larson, Burnt, Cate Blanchett, cinema, Cinema365, Cloris Leachman, Dancin' It's On, David Koechner, Denis Leary, Elizabeth Moss, Emma Thompson, Films, Freaks of Nature, Goodnight Mommy, Joan Allen, Joan Cusack, Mackenzie Davis, movies, Nicholas Braun, October 30, Our Brand is Crisis, Previews, Robert Redford, Room, Sandra Bullock, Scoot McNairy, Scout's Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, Sienna Miller, The Algerian, The Armor of Light, Topher Grace, truth, Tye Sheridan, Uma Thurman, William H. Macy	| Leave a reply
Writer to writer face-off.
(2015) Biographical Drama (A24) Jason Segel, Jesse Eisenberg, Mamie Gummer, Anna Chlumsky, Joan Cusack, Ron Livingston, Mickey Sumner, Becky Ann Baker, Dan John Miller, Chelsea Lawrence, Gina Ferwerda, Noel Fletcher, Lindsey Elizabeth, Johnny Otto, Stephanie Cotton, Joel Thingvall, Michael Cunningham, Rammel Chan, Ken Price, Jennifer Holman. Directed by James Ponsoldt
Fame, particularly for creative sorts, is not the brass ring that we imagine it to be. Many writers, artists, dancers, singers and actors do what they do because it is within them, bursting to get out. The wealth is nice mainly as a validation that they are connecting with someone; fame in and of itself is a dog with a temperament that you never know is going to snuggle with you or tear out your throat.
David Foster Wallace (Segel) has found fame, although he wasn't looking for it. A literature professor at Illinois State University, his 1,000 plus page tome Infinite Jest has made him the darling of the literary crowd, a young American Turk who is proclaimed the voice of his generation. Wallace, somewhat shy and full of insecurities, is uncomfortable with this designation and is trying more or less to keep to himself.
David Lipsky (Eisenberg) has written a book of his own to little acclaim or acknowledgement. He is passionate about writing though and gets a job at Rolling Stone. When his girlfriend Julie (Gummer) turns him on to Infinite Jest, Lipsky realizes that this is the kind of voice that needs to be heard and he persuades his editor (Livingston) to send him to Bloomington, Illinois to interview the reclusive Wallace.
Wallace really isn't anything like what Lipsky expected; he is surrounded by big dogs, lives in an unassuming ranch style home with a nice view of the prairie and eats massive amounts of junk food. He wears a bandana as a doo rag in a kind of throwback (even then) look that he takes great pains to say that it isn't an affectation so much as a security blanket.
The two fly to Minneapolis for the last stop on Wallace's book tour; they are met at the airport by Patty (Cusack), the publishing house representative who is to shuttle Wallace to a book signing/reading and an NPR interview. Lipsky accompanies him to these things and in meeting friends of his subject afterwards; Sarah (Chlumsky), a big fan who has been corresponding with Wallace for years, and Betsy (Sumner) who once had a relationship with Wallace in college.
In the course of the five days, Wallace and Lipsky talk about their shared likes, the creative process, the nature of fame and the things that motivate them. The two develop a bond that takes an odd turn, leading to an awkward final farewell.
In real life, the article was never published as Rolling Stone, perhaps to their discredit, elected to pass. It was only 12 years later, after Lipsky had heard of Wallace's suicide, that he discovered the tapes from those five days and wrote a book based on them.
The movie, like the book it's based on, elects to forego nostalgia and hero-worship and focus on a character study. Do not imagine that you are meeting David Wallace here; five days in the company of anyone, not even constant company, can truly give you an accurate portrayal of who a person is. We get that Wallace is insecure, not just about his talent but how he is perceived. That seems to be a pretty major issue with him. I found it interesting – and maybe a little unsettling – that the original tapes that Lipsky recorded were used mostly to help the actors get into character. Apparently they weren't used in the writing of the script, so in essence we're getting all this third hand.
Segel, who has made a career of playing big likable shaggy dog guys in comedies, steps out of his comfort zone and simply put delivers easily the best performance of his career. For all the regular guy affectations that he puts out there, the easy smile hides a great deal of pain. Wallace's wariness of praise is captured nicely by Segel, who shows Wallace at once embracing his fame and shying away from it. He's a complicated character and Segel fleshes him out nicely. Although it's way early, I can see Segel getting some Best Actor buzz later on in the year for this.
Eisenberg I had more problems with. Watching a movie with Jesse Eisenberg in it is the cinematic equivalent of pounding down twenty espressos in a row; you feel nervous and jittery just watching him. Eisenberg's characters often have a bundle of tics, and an undercurrent of meanness, even when Eisenberg is playing genuinely nice guys. Lipsky doesn't seem to be; he is interested more in the story than in the person he's writing about and in that manages to objectify his subject rather than understand him. I admit that is something journalists have a tendency to do and Eisenberg is to be commended for capturing that element of the character and bringing it to life, even though it is sure to make audiences feel antipathy towards Lipsky. Still, I couldn't help but feel that I was watching Jesse Eisenberg more than David Lipsky; I didn't get the same impression from Segel.
The movie has a bit of a bittersweet air to it, particularly since we know Wallace's fate going in. This isn't about a brilliant author, tormented in life, committing suicide; this is more about the image we project, how we fight to keep it, even if it doesn't necessarily jibe with who we are. Wallace is portrayed as being obsessed with how others saw him; I can relate to that as I have that tendency myself to really want to be liked, both on a personal level and as a writer. Not that there are many people who want to be disliked; there'd be something sociopathic about that.
At one point, as Wallace he says he likes to be alone; he doesn't want a lot of people around him. I can understand that; I'm pretty shy with people I don't know well myself and I have a tendency to prefer spending time on my laptop keyboard writing than in interacting with others most times, but if you're going to be a writer, if you're going to be a good writer, you need social interaction. Without it, you're like a chef in a restaurant whose menu has only one item on it. You might get really good at that one item, but at the end of the day, you're limiting yourself. I am admittedly unfamiliar with Wallace's work and while I definitely intend to sit down with some of his books in the very near future, I don't share Lipsky's assessment that reading him will be like meeting him. He seemed to be far too private a person for that to be true.
REASONS TO GO: Bravura performance by Segel. Real insight to the loneliness of artists. Melancholy and celebratory.
REASONS TO STAY: Eisenberg plays Eisenberg.
FAMILY VALUES: A fair amount of foul language, some sexual references and a good deal of smoking.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: In order to get Wallace's dogs to pay attention to Eisenberg and Segel, meat was sewn into their clothing. In the scene where the dogs come into Lipsky's room to wake him up, peanut butter was smeared on Eisenberg's face so that the dogs would come in and lick his face.
COMPARISON SHOPPING: :Last Days
NEXT: The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Posted in New Releases	| Tagged A24, Anna Chlumsky, book signing, book tour, bromance, cinema, conversation, David Foster Wallace, David Lipsky, Die Hard, dogs, Films, flirtation, handler, Illinois, insecurities, Jann Wenner, Jason Segel, jealousy, Jesse Eisenberg, Joan Cusack, junk food, Mamie Gummer, Minneapolis, movies, novelist, reading, reviews, Rolling Stone, Ron Livingston, The End of the Tour, writers	| Leave a reply
New Releases for the Week of August 14, 2015
(Universal) Corey Hawkins, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Jason Mitchell, Paul Giamatti, Aldis Hodge, Neal Brown Jr., Marlon Yates Jr., R. Marcus Taylor, Alexandra Shipp. Directed by F. Gary Gray
In the middle 80s, Compton was a part of Los Angeles that you didn't want to live but nonetheless people lived there. It was sometimes described as Southern California Beirut; overrun with gangs and violence, extreme poverty and drugs, growing up was a mixture of survival and despair in some of the most dangerous streets in the country. Out of this mix came NWA, a rap group that not only changed hip hop forever, they changed the attitudes of African-Americans and channeled the rage into action. All these guys did was tell the truth about their existence; in doing so, they galvanized not just a people but an entire movement.
See the trailer, interviews, a clip and B-roll video here.
Genre: Musical Biography
Rating: R (for language throughout, strong sexuality/nudity, violence, and drug use)
Brothers…Blood Against Blood
(Fox Star/FIP) Akshay Kumar, Jacqueline Fernandez, Jackie Shroff, Sidharth Malhotra. When an alcoholic father goes to jail, his two sons part ways and become bitterly estranged from one another. When Dad is released some ten years later, the two boys are struggling to make ends meet; one an ex-fighter turned schoolteacher faced with mounting medical bills for his daughter, the other an alcoholic himself eking out an existence on the underground street fighting circuit. When the biggest MMA event in the world comes to India, both men unknowingly sign up for the winner take all event; when both end up facing each other in the finals, all bets are off. Will blood prevail over years of bitterness?
Genre: Sports Drama
(A24) Jason Segel, Jesse Eisenberg, Mamie Gummer, Joan Cusack. David Foster Wallace was one of the most talked-about writers in America. It was 1996 and he had just published Infinite Jest, and was on tour promoting it. Rolling Stone writer David Lipsky was assigned to interview the hot young author and the two shared five days on the road. They would bond in some way, sharing confidences that may or may not have been entirely truthful. Ironically, the interview was never published and the two men went their separate ways, never meeting again. In 2008, Lipsky stumbled on the tapes from the trip in his attic and decided to write a book on his experience, which became the basis for this film for which Segel has been getting some serious Oscar buzz.
See the trailer, clips and a featurette here.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
(Warner Brothers) Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander, Hugh Grant. It is the height of the Cold War and the United States and Soviet Union are playing a deadly game of chess with nuclear annihilation as the stakes. But now there's a new player in the game, a criminal organization bent on world domination and they've just become a nuclear power. The Soviets and the Americans must bury the hatchet at least for the time being and take on this new threat together, although they can't do it officially, and so a new agency is created – U.N.C.L.E. – with agents Napoleon Solo from the West and Ilya Kuryakin from the Evil Empire partnering to save the world. Based on the hit TV show from the 60s and directed by Guy Ritchie.
See the trailer, clips, an interview, a promo and B-roll video here.
Release Formats: Standard, IMAX (opens Thursday)
(RLJ) Rosamund Pike, Shiloh Fernandez, Nick Nolte, Camryn Manheim. A blind date turns into the worst kind of nightmare for a woman who courageously stands up and accuses her attacker. Against all odds, he is sent to prison. While there she continues to communicate with him, developing a sick kind of relationship. When he is finally released, he seeks her out – setting up the opportunity for her perfect revenge.
Now Playing: AMC Downtown Disney
Walt Before Mickey
(Voltage) Thomas Ian Nichols, Jodie Sweetin, Jon Heder, David Henrie. Before Walt Disney was synonymous with family entertainment around the world and had become a global brand name, he was a struggling artist trying to make it in a harsh world. This is the story of a driven, determined and sometimes obsessive man who would later make history – thanks to a chance meeting with a rodent.
Rating: PG (for period smoking throughout, mild thematic elements and language)
Posted in Weekly Preview	| Tagged 2015, Akshay Kumar, Aldis Hodge, Alicia Vikander, Armie Hammer, August 14, Brothers...Blood Against Blood, Camryn Manheim, cinema, F. Gary Gray, Films, Henry Cavill, Hugh Grant, Jacqueline Fernandez, Jason Segel, Jesse Eisenberg, Joan Cusack, Jon Heder, Mamie Gummer, movies, Nick Nolte, Paul Giamatti, Previews, Return to Sender, Rosamund Pike, Shiloh Fernandez, Straight Outta Compton, The End of the Tour, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Thomas Ian Nichols, Walt Before Disney	| Leave a reply


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Hal Y'all Doin'
Scott E. Raymond Friday, October 21, 2016 Comments Off on Hal Y'all Doin'
STORY BY SCOTT E. RAYMOND
PHOTOS BY LINDSAY JANIES
A tall and fit-looking 60, when Hal McMillin first greets this writer, he enthusiastically begins the visit by showing some photos of family, friends, colleagues and a few of the numerous famous people he has come in contact with over the years either through his business or public service career. About his working area there are pictures and displays which make evident his passion for outdoor sports.
All of the aforementioned speaks to who McMillin is: a person who loves his family; who loves being around people; and certainly has gusto for life itself.
Growing Up In Westlake
The son of plumbing contractor father Harold McMillin, and mother Dalton McMillin, who was the Town Clerk, Hal McMillin grew up in Westlake, a town from which, he says, was "a great place to grow up," and from which he is "honored," he says, to claim as his hometown.
From left, Mickey, Jan Chelette and Hal
McMillin grew up the youngest of four siblings. His late brother Mackey worked in New York City in the 1960s with nationally known entertainers of the time. As a result, at the age of 10, younger brother Hal got to hang out with some of the major television stars of that era and became familiar, on his own, with such locales as downtown Manhattan, Central Park and Radio City Music Hall.
McMillin's older brother Mickey, he says, is "a true outdoorsman … the most outstanding hunter that I know — ducks, geese, deer, rabbit, squirrel, alligator — he can do it all." Jan, his sister, who was once homecoming queen at Westlake High, is "just the greatest sister you could have," he says.
"I had a great childhood growing up in Westlake," McMillin says. "We lived on Martha Street, which was only a couple of blocks from the Westlake Recreation Center, so there were no days that I can remember as a child that I had nothing to do. We had a great neighborhood of friends who played together every day.
"Westlake had a small town atmosphere. There were woods behind our house, and I could go into the woods and shoot a BB gun or go up to the recreation center, and there was always a ball game going on somewhere. The recreation center had ping pong tables and bumper pool tables, and the swimming pool was right there by it, so it was just a tremendous hometown."
McMillin says that since Westlake "was a bedroom community to the industries," he recalls growing up there knowing every one of his neighbors and the particular company each worked for.
"Back in the '60s," he says, "it was kind of like a Mayberry. Everybody knew everybody. I knew everybody at every house and all of their kids in every family in the neighborhood."
McMillin tells a story that reflects the small town atmosphere of Westlake during his youth. He says when he was a child a local grocery store owner would leave some soft drink bottles in the back of the store so young McMillin could cash-in the deposit for bubble gum. McMillin says he didn't know until much later in life that the bottles were put there just for him.
From left, Mackey, mother Dalton, Hal, Jan and Mickey
"I was fun-loving as a kid." McMillin says. "Fun-loving and, maybe in parenthesis, mischievous! I loved to have fun."
In keeping with that admission, McMillin relates a story of years ago concerning the first time he ran for the Westlake City Council. He says he knocked on the door of a home and told the resident, who had known him since his childhood, that he was running for the office. She recalled an insignificant yet mischievous incident he had orchestrated as a boy, and he replied, "Yes, Ma'am, that was me, but I've outgrown that stage!"
"That's kind of the way a hometown is," McMillin says, grinning. "Everybody knows you — both the good and bad things you did in the hometown!"
McMillin originally knew his wife Sue as schoolmates in high school. Soon after meeting again at their 15-year class reunion, he began dating her for the first time.
"She's my blessing that God gave me," McMillin says.
They enjoy recreational sports together; they snow ski every year along with a group of friends affectionately nicknamed "Hal's Pals" at Angel Fire, N.M.
"She taught me how to take vacations," McMillin says, "and Angel Fire is one of them. We've watched our family grow up skiing there, and have enjoyed the mountains and the snow skiing trips. We have also visited the Smokey Mountains and the Gatlinburg area with the family.
"Sue and I have had the opportunity to fly throughout the United States, and also have taken many road trips in our truck. One of our favorite road trips is to the hill country of Texas. Around Fredericksburg and Luckenbach, they have over 25 wineries in that area to visit." McMillin said he and his wife also love cruising.
Auctioneering
Hal McMillin has an array of hobbies and interests that include such sports as open water scuba diving; dove, goose and duck hunting; and salt-water fishing. He has served as a television outdoor reporter and now does a weekly radio show. But if you single him out on one activity particularly close to his heart, he will mention auctioneering.
Says McMillin, "As a family, while I was growing up, every Friday night we'd go … I just loved auctions, from as a kid of 6, 7, and 8 years old, and as I got a little bit older, I liked doing impersonations. I'm not very good at doing impersonations, but I do one of Elvis and a couple of other people. I like voices, so I started doing the auctioneering impersonation, and I liked it.
"A friend of mine had cancer and they were doing a fundraiser auction so I said that I would be the auctioneer for the event and did it. I did a couple more auctions, and a good friend of mine mentioned that I should go to auctioneer's school. I went to a nine-day auctioneer's school in Dallas, Texas: Texas Auction Academy, a tremendous school where I had a chance to listen to world class auctioneers and learn from those guys. [I received] a certificate for passing the course, then [came] back to Louisiana to pass a written and oral test to become a licensed and bonded auctioneer.
Photo By Lindsey Janies
"Levingston Group, the company that I work for, gave me the time off to go to the school. The first two years after graduating, I donated my time in turn for the experience. But I now get paid for most auctions.
"My first time in front of a large crowd, I was the PTO (Parent Teacher Organization) president and was nervous and scared. But I said, 'whatever these butterfly feelings are in my stomach, I need to understand those feelings and harness that.'
"My [habit] of choice would be a microphone and a crowd of people, and that's where the auctioneering came very natural to me. I love people from all walks of life, so I am comfortable speaking, whether it's to people doing manual labor — I love those guys — or I can put on a coat and tie and deal with the upper echelon of the industries and business.
"Back during Hurricane Rita, I had a chance to sit down in a meeting with other decision makers and … President George [W.] Bush. I was very impressed that our president was here to help speed the recovery of Southwest Louisiana. That was a good moment!"
A Career In Public Service
McMillin began his public service career in 1992 as a board member and later served as president on the Westlake Recreation Board. From 1995-99, he served on the Westlake City Council. McMillin currently serves as vice president on the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury (CPPJ), where he has served as Police Juror-District 14 since 1999.
McMillin says his interest in government and politics came at an early age when his mother worked at Westlake City Hall. He says she took him to Louisiana Municipal Assoc. functions, where he heard speeches by governors and senators. He recalls one occasion when then-Louisiana Gov. John McKeithen came by Westlake City Hall and he got to meet him.
"I don't like the word politician," says McMillin, "although I am one; but I prefer public servant. Of course, at times out in public I slip and say 'public serpent.' (He smiles.)
"A public servant is really what I like to be. That's what it's about. I'm a guy who can build relationships with people in the public and with people at the CPPJ who can get the job done, so I can be that conduit between the two.
"You've got to be able to empower people to do their job. The empowerment of people is a tremendous thing, and you've got to be able to build that trust with them. They know they can count on you, and I want them to know that I'm counting on them, and that's very important. Empowering people is important because you can't do it all yourself.
"I think one of the major things I've learned is listening. Some people have problems you just can't solve. But if you can listen and let them vent, then, it somewhat defuses the matter."
McMillin says that some of the toughest issues he has had to deal with politically have dealt with zoning, because "people on both sides of the issue are very passionate."
McMillin relates the story of when the Westlake City Council had to decide on an issue regarding the purchase of 641 acres of land for the City of Westlake to some day use for a golf course and subdivisions. He says it was a three to two vote to buy the property.
"Mayor Dudley Dixon wanted this to happen and I saw the vision that he saw," McMillin says. "I was in the right position to help my city buy that property. And now that you see it turn to fruition — we have a beautiful golf course and beautiful homes out there. That's just one of those early things that I am so proud to have been a small player in."
McMillin singles out two important issues he has been working on as a member of the CPPJ, and since having first been elected to the Westlake City Council: a new Westlake overpass over the railroad tracks, and his work toward getting a new I-10 bridge.
Thoughts On The Economic Boom
Says Hal McMillin, "I had the opportunity to be a part of the beginning of the GO Group (The Southwest Louisiana Task Force for Growth and Opportunity). We started out at the Pioneer Club. And we said, 'We have a lot of economic development coming that almost reflects what we did in Hurricane Rita. But with Hurricane Rita we were dealing with a disaster, and here we are dealing with an opportunity of economic development. Both, in either direction, have a lot of pains.
"We wanted to have a group of people that would be proactive and get out in front of the growth as much as possible.
"With a lot of this, we don't necessarily have to reinvent the wheel. We can go to see what other areas having experienced major economic development have done and utilize those things. There are a lot of growing pains that come along with economic development. But the main thing is that our kids and grandkids should have great opportunities to have great industrial jobs right in Southwest Louisiana — that thrills me. And I want to try to do my best of what we can do — along with all of the great people and great minds of Southwest Louisiana — to make sure that 40 or 50 years from now, the people don't look back and say, 'Wow, those guys had an opportunity and they squandered it. Why didn't they do this or that?'
"We are trying to do those things, do them right and try to envision every issue and look forward in a positive way. That's what the GO Group's about. We want to leave a legacy — not leave something that's lacking in the end."
What Kind Of Mayor?
My conversation with Hal McMillin shifts to the upcoming 2017 City of Lake Charles mayoral election. McMillin gives his thoughts about the job Mayor Randy Roach has done in his four terms in that position and his view of what kind of character and skill sets are needed for the next mayor.
"The simple answer would be just clone Randy!" McMillin says. "Let me say something about Randy. I respect that guy so much. He's a tremendous leader; he does it with humility; and, he's one of the best communicators I have ever heard. Whenever we give a welcoming speech to anybody coming into town, I always dread going behind Randy because he's so eloquent and he covers things so well. He's just a tremendous guy.
"I've had people say to me that there are three Randys because he's everywhere. He's a tireless leader. I try to somewhat follow in his footsteps, but, wow! Randy is a mentor to me.
"The next person that comes in is going to have big shoes to fill, no doubt. Lake Charles is our premier city in Calcasieu Parish. It's the largest city in Calcasieu Parish, so as Lake Charles goes, it affects all the other cities in the parish. So goes Lake Charles, Louisiana, so goes Calcasieu Parish.
"Being the mayor of Lake Charles is a very important job, and I'm not downplaying the very important job of any of our other mayors; we have great mayors throughout the parish. But the mayor of Lake Charles is the pinnacle of the mayors, being the mayor of the largest city within Calcasieu Parish, with almost 100,000 people. That person has to get along with everyone and juggle all types of affairs because that person is needed throughout the parish. It's not just about Lake Charles — the mayor of Lake Charles is just such an important position. We've been blessed. Mayor Willie Mount did such a great job and now Randy.
"The next mayor is going to have to come in with the same type of skill sets. And look, I'm not sure who all is running for mayor, but political experience helps. You need to know how the Robert's Rules of Order work; you need to know how the Public Works Dept. works; and regardless of whether it's the parish or the city, you need to know how to interface with members of the Lake Charles City Council; you need to know who our congressional leaders are as well as our state delegation. You need a person who is going to be well respected and who has integrity.
"Experience isn't going to hurt. Now, somebody may get elected who is not an experienced elected official, but we need a public servant. It goes back to what I said earlier. We need another public servant who is trustworthy, and experience would be a good thing. That person must also have a true love for all of Southwest Louisiana as well as their city of Lake Charles. If you can find that person that's a good communicator and a good public servant, it's really going to help us all in Southwest Louisiana."
"I'm Living a Blessed Life"
When asked what he is most proud of, McMillin says, "Personally, I have to be proud of my family. You are very proud of your kids, but you are extremely proud of your grandkids. (He flashes a big smile.) It's all about family. And, I love my community.
"We are blessed. At Christmas time, there are 60 or 70 people at our house because it's a huge family. We just have a real diversified group of people of all ages who love each other; it's fun to know them all. I'm Uncle Hal to all these nieces and nephews, and that's a big honor that I get to play that role."
McMillin says he tries to have fun every day. He relates the poignant story of when he was in his late 20s and his dad was dying in his arms. He learned from that moment, he says, to "live every day to the fullest.
"I love my life, I love my family, and I love my community. I do give thanks to God every day. When God pours grace upon me, I know at that moment there is no happenstance. When something happens, and I know it's grace, I just say, 'Thank you, Lord. I see it! I see that you are pouring this grace out upon me.' There's a lot of grace in this world, if you recognize the grace that's being given to you. I always tell God, 'I thank you for your grace.'"
From left, Mickey, Jan and Hal
When asked how he would best characterize himself, he says, "I'm just blessed! I'm living a blessed life! And I'm married to my best friend and soul-mate! I'm having fun; just so much fun. It's a great life!"
Hal McMillin's very first job was as a hunting guide. Then, after attending McNeese State University, he began in 1976 what would be a long and fulfilling 23-year career in the chemical plant industry.
"I always wanted to be a coach, but after I saw the money that the plant had to offer, and the benefits … And, hey, I grew up in an industrial town. One of the guys that interviewed me for my industrial job was my little league coach. So it's a hometown atmosphere — everybody knew everybody — and I guess that they knew from knowing my mom and my dad that I came from a good bloodline, and that they could mature me into a good worker." (He laughs.)
"I worked 18 years in operations and five years in environmental. At 44, I decided I wanted to get into sales and business development. I worked in some different places.
"Some 10 years ago, I found my ultimate job at Levingston Group as their business development manager. The thing that I want to say about this job is that I love getting up in the morning and going to work every day. Any time you can work in a work place … enjoy the work environment with the people you are with [it's a good thing]. It boils back down to that I am blessed to have a job that I love doing.
"This job incorporates all my talents of being a people person, of being an outdoorsman, getting to take people hunting and fishing, to play golf and build relationships.
"Having this job at Levingston as their business development manager is just another blessing in my life. This place is special to me, and the people are special. You know you're working in a wonderful place when God is first, then family and work!"
TAGS » featured, Hal McMillin, Lindsey Janies Photography, Scott E. Raymond
About the author: Scott E. Raymond View all posts by Scott E. Raymond

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Swift 3 - Apostrophes being converted to â on screen-scrape In my Swift 3 application, I am getting HTML text from a web api to render inside of a UIWebView.  However, apostrophes specifically and maybe other special characters are rendering as accent letters instead of their real value.  For example, the text for "Transportation's" displays as "Transportationâs".
The code is simple.
var myHTMLString = try String(contentsOf: myURL, encoding: .ascii)
//myHTMLString = "some bâd string"
webview.loadHTMLString(myHTMLString, baseURL: nil);

The values are correct on the API.  Why is this happening when grabbing?

A: Change the encoding to .utf8
I'm not sure why the .ascii isn't working, though I suspect it has to do with HTML entity encoding. If I find a reason, I'll update this answer...
Update: This w3schools.com page explains that HTML is now considered UTF-8 standard. UTF-8 can handle a larger set of characters. Apparently the webview browser understands HTML entities (for example, ' representing an apostrophe) in UTF-8, but not ASCII.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Cindy Rose dot com
Tag Archives: Gingrich
January 1, 2021 · 20:38
Newt Gingrich Has No Moral Authority
Newt Gingrich Needs to Ride Off Into the Political Sunset
Newt Gingrich recently wrote an opinion piece in the right-wing Washington Times entitled: "Why I will not accept Joe Biden as president". I could simply ask "Who gives a damn?" and end this post, but Newt Gingrich is rarely challenged on his bombastic bullshit. For those lucky folks who don't know much about Gingrich, here are the cliff notes:
He's an arrogant, self-important, self-delusional, self-aggrandizing, adulterous, finger-in-the-wind ex-politician. For more detail, read:
Politico's "The Millennial's Guide to Newt Gingrich"
The Atlantic's "How Newt Gingrich Destroyed American Politics", and
Time's "How Newt Gingrich Laid the Groundwork for Trump's Republican Party"
Now, back to Newt's opinion piece; without a doubt, the most hypocritical statement comes at the very start:
Having spent more than four years watching the left #Resist President Donald Trump and focus entirely on undoing and undermining the 2016 election, it took me several days to understand the depth of my own feelings.
Carrying the torch of Republican hypocrisy
In case you didn't know, Newt Gingrich was the star of the show at the 2009 Inauguration eve meeting to sabotage Obama's presidency. Robert Draper's book, "Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the U.S. House of Representatives" lists attendees as:
Republican Reps. Eric Cantor (Va.), Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), Paul Ryan (Wis.), Pete Sessions (Texas), Jeb Hensarling (Texas), Pete Hoekstra (Mich.) and Dan Lungren (Calif.), along with Republican Sens. Jim DeMint (S.C.), Jon Kyl (Ariz.), Tom Coburn (Okla.), John Ensign (Nev.) and Bob Corker (Tenn.). The non-lawmakers present included Newt Gingrich, … and Frank Luntz, the long-time Republican wordsmith.
As HuffPost's Sam Stein reported:
For several hours in the Caucus Room (a high-end D.C. establishment), the book says they plotted out ways to not just win back political power, but to also put the brakes on Obama's legislative platform. (…)
"You will remember this day," Draper reports Newt Gingrich as saying on the way out. "You'll remember this as the day the seeds of 2012 were sown."
Sadly for Newt, the seeds dried up and Obama won re-election in 2012. Republicans never realized how much Democrats supported their President, and saw through GOP efforts to ensure the government failed. Just as they don't realize even now that unlike their base, Democrats have always seen through Trump's MAGA bullshit. Republicans elected a repulsive, vulgar, un-American, self-absorbed con-man who has done nothing but shit all over the dignity of the office and the reputation of the country. AND NEWT GINGRICH KNOWS THIS.
Covering for the Failure-in-Chief
Gingrich continues:
" …Democrat-led COVID-19 policies have enriched the wealthy while crushing middle class small business owners (some 160,000 restaurants may close)."
It's DEMOCRATIC-led, brainiac, sheesh! Anyway, this kind of nonsense is why people like Newt write for conservative sites: No Pushback. And fact-checking? PFFFT.
Whatever COVID-19 policies Democrats enacted were a result of the lack of leadership and blatant dishonesty from Washington. Blue states acted quickly and imposed the necessary lockdowns.
Republicans, however, hid behind their constituents' selfish "freedom" arguments and practically reveled in doing the opposite of everything the disease specialists suggested.
Red States' COVID cases are surging now, and Republicans and the White House have abandoned any pretense of having a plan.
The Right's fine-tuned art of dishonesty
As for "enriching the wealthy and crushing middle-class small business owners", that is a direct result of the non-existent oversight of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). According to SBA.gov:
The Paycheck Protection Program is a loan designed to provide a direct incentive for small businesses to keep their workers on the payroll.
SBA will forgive loans if all employee retention criteria are met, and the funds are used for eligible expenses.
But according to Vox (my emphasis):
As written in the legislation, any business that's classified as an accommodation or food service that has 500 or fewer employees at its individual locations, is eligible. It's a loophole that, in theory, was meant to help franchisees and independent owners — think a local McDonald's store owner — but as Bloomberg notes, the "language didn't clarify whether individual locations must apply for the aid or whether corporate headquarters could start vacuuming up millions in relief funds."
Some of the "small businesses" that "vacuumed up" money included Ruth's Chris Steak House, Shake Shack, and the Los Angeles Lakers. In fact, the AP found that "… at least 94 companies that disclosed receiving aid since the program opened April 3 were publicly traded, some with market values well over $100 million." True small businesses were left to fend for themselves, thus the money was gone before they could even get their applications processed.
Mnuchin's Financial Free For All
Among others receiving PPP money:
A couple who purchased a $3.5 million estate, and a "ministry" that tried to buy a $3.7 million house in Disney World's Golden Oak development. In addition, Small Business Trends reports:
Feds have seized a 2020 Lamborghini Huracan sports car, a Rolex Presidential watch, a 5.73-carat diamond ring, and a diamond bracelet — all purchased with PPP loan money. Other loot includes a Tesla, a 26-foot Pavati Wake Boat, a 33-foot Cruiser yacht, two Rolls-Royces, a Lamborghini Urus, a Kia Stinger, and a Ford F-350 pickup truck.
Authorities also seized cash hoards and froze bank accounts. They are in the process of trying to recover other assets.
Some defendants blew taxpayer money on wild spending sprees, including Las Vegas gambling, visits to strip clubs, and day-trading. In one case, a married couple was apprehended at JFK Airport purportedly attempting to flee the country after submitting 18 fraudulent applications — allegedly.
As a result of public outcry over the program's fraudulent loans, Steve Mnuchin decided to conceal the names of businesses receiving PPP loans.
I'm not going to continue to point out the blatant lies in Gingrich's opinion piece, I think you get the drift. Aside from tax breaks for the wealthy, starting wars, suppressing the vote, and denying people their rights, lying is one of the things Republicans excel at. Newt Gingrich's opinions are about as important as something you'd scrape off of your shoe, and his character is no better.
Filed under Corporate Greed, COVID-19, covid-19 relief package, newt gingrich, Politics, relief package corruption, stimulus
Tagged as COVID, Gingrich, PPP fraud, stimulus
November 9, 2020 · 20:46
Election Fraud Found Right Where You'd Expect It
The Trump Toadies are out in full force for their Master claiming to have evidence of voter fraud, or just simply feeling it in their gut:
Rudy Giuliani held a press conference claiming he had upwards of 50 witnesses to voter fraud. The first guy he called up to the podium happened to be a convicted child sex offender. (Pardon coming his way from Trump?)
Newt Gingrich went on Fox and made ridiculous claims: "First, you go out and the Democrats steal five or six states, and that's what Republicans believe we're watching. We think we have evidence of a lot of it." Called it "…a left-wing power grab financed by people like George Soros, deeply laid in at the local level." And declared: "I think that it is a corrupt, stolen election." Will Newt EVER go away?
College dropout turned Trump's personal news host, Sean Hannity actually suggested a "do-over" in Pennsylvania. Civics must have been one of his toughest classes.
Then there's poor, pathetic Lou Dobbs, whose mind seems to be failing him: "I believe corporate left-wing media, Biden and Harris have overstepped—PA ignoring court orders, the law and they claim victory! Huge suspect vote dumps for Biden in about a half dozen states, and clearly widespread voting fraud. There is no way that Biden… could get more legal votes than the greatest President ever!" Right. Outa. His. Ass.
So What is Election Fraud?
"Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election fraud, election manipulation, voter fraud or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of rival candidates, or both."
Republicans are in search of election fraud, pointing everywhere but to their own back yard. They know who's committing fraud, and they're in full support of it.
♦ The California Republican Party… admitted responsibility for placing more than 50 deceptively labeled "official" drop boxes for mail-in ballots in Los Angeles, Fresno, and Orange Counties, an action that state officials said was illegal and could lead to voter fraud. ( NY Times, Oct. 2020 )
♦ Republican Gov. Greg Abbott "…forced Travis and Harris counties — two of the state's most important Democratic strongholds — to shutter a number of drop-off sites they had already opened… and allowed "Texas counties to provide no more than one drop-off location for voters casting absentee ballots." (Texas Tribune, Oct. 2020) Abbott had to be sued to do the right thing.
♦ Republicans in Wisconsin urged volunteers to contact Pennsylvania Trump voters "to get them to turn in ballots days after the election." (Daily Beast, Nov. 2020)
♦ A Republican in California set up an illegal "vote center" in front of his business. (Voice of OC, Nov. 2020)
Then there's this little nugget involving Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel herself, from the Minnesota Reformer:
Minnesota GOP Chairperson Jennifer Carnahan told party activists on Thursday night that she would help amplify claims of ballot fraud made by President Donald Trump and national Republican leaders, even though they are baseless assertions disputed by election officials of both parties.
Carnahan said that earlier Thursday, Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel asked her and other GOP officials around the country to recruit elected Republicans to parrot the false claims of fraud.
Also, as recapped by the Las Vegas Sun this month:
In December, The Topeka Capital-Journal exposed Kansas GOP Congressman Steve Watkins for using a UPS office in that city as his home address in order to register for a 2019 municipal election.
Wisconsin Republicans prevented postponement of this year's primary election and extension of mail-in voting despite the COVID-19 pandemic, then rigged the system so that only five of 180 polling sites were open in Milwaukee. Black and Hispanic voters were disproportionately affected, but turned out in strong numbers in defiance of the GOP.
From the AP:
Jacob Wohl, 22, and Jack Burkman, 54, each face four felony counts in Detroit, including conspiring to intimidate voters in violation of election law and using a computer to commit crimes, Attorney General Dana Nessel said.
The calls falsely warned residents in majority-Black Detroit and cities in at least four other states that if they vote by mail in the Nov. 3 election they could be subjected to arrest, debt collection and forced vaccination, Nessel said.
Maybe the most important support FOR election fraud came from the Republican Senate, which refused to advance bi-partisan election security bills ahead of the 2020 elections. They argued among other things, it would be imposing on states' rights. Even so, the party is currently trying to overturn state legislators' voting changes made due to the pandemic.
Mitch McConnell, as CBS reported in 2019 "…objected to legislation that would have required campaigns and candidates to report offers of election-related aid from foreign governments."
THESE are all instances of election fraud, and it is Republicans committing it.
Because Republicans know: When voters are able to vote unhindered, they turn out, and when they turn out, Republicans lose.
Filed under 2020 Election, election fraud, Elections, Politics, Republicans, States, voter fraud, Voters
Tagged as Dobbs, Gingrich, Giuliani, Hannity, Republican election fraud, Ronna McDaniel, Trump sore loser, voter fraud, voter suppression
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Pope Park
The Peru Program is the newest program to the Engineers without Border University of Connecticut student chapter. The project is based in Abra Malága, a rural community in the Peruvian Andes outside of Cusco, Peru. With collaboration from Asociacion Ecosistemas Andinos (ECOAN), the local non-governmental organization, the goal of the project is to improve health issues through Community-Led Total Sanitation.
Currently, the community has no formal waste management. As a result, the members of the community practice open defecation, which causes bacteria from human feces to contaminate the drinking water supply.
In order to address this problem, the Peru team will design low-cost, replicable latrines to implement next August. To improve the success of the latrines, the team will utilize principles from Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS). CLTS is a thoroughly researched topic that has proven effective in changing common behavioral practices. Simply implementing latrines will not change poor sanitation practices, which is why CLTS must be used.
Summer 2017 travel team surveying the community members.
In August 2017, several of the program members were able to travel to the community. Through this assessment trip, the travel team met with ECOAN and the community. The team was able to collect survey data, water quality tests, and create a map of the community. This data will be used to design a latrine that will address the community's needs.
The project is planning an implementation trip for August 2018. Over the next year, the program will design a latrine and apply for a series of grants to financially support the construction.
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1945 Chifley Presents Cheque for War Charities
1940s Chifley and HV Evatt
JF 1940s Chifley and HV Evatt
HV "Doc" Evatt was Chifley's External Affairs Minister and Attorney General. After the war Evatt played a significant role in the establishment of the United Nations and Declaration of Human Rights. He also became the UN's first President of the General Assembly in 1948.
1940s Hotel Kurrajong
JF 1940s Hotel Kurrajong
The Hotel Kurrajong became the accommodation of choice for Labor parliamentarians until the 1970s. Remarking on Chifley's heavy workload, then Prime Minister Curtin issued a mock National Security Regulation ordering Chifley to consume "one plate of soup, one helping of meat and vegetables and one dessert nightly at the Hotel Kurrajong".
Building the Nation: The Chifley Years | 1945 - 1951
Sustaining the war economy
Ben Chifley's experience as a minister in the Scullin government during the Depression, together with his time on the banking Royal Commission, provided good foundations for his role as Treasurer in the Curtin government. He was acutely aware of how the banks had exacerbated the Depression by raising their interest rates in 1930, thereby making unemployment in Australia higher than in most other advanced countries. Chifley wanted the federal government, rather than the banks, to control the economic levers, and he thought that nationalising the banks might be necessary to give the government that power. He recommended as much in his minority report for the Royal Commission in 1936.
Five years later,Chifley was back in government when John Curtin was made prime minister. Labor's return to office in October 1941 came as the nation was about to confront an even worse crisis than the Great Depression. Just eight weeks after Curtin took over, Japan launched its attacks on Pearl Harbor and Singapore before steaming its powerful fleet swiftly southward. Australia was already fighting in the war against Germany and Italy. Now the economic and manpower resources of the nation had to be mobilised to face the prospect of a Japanese invasion of Australia itself.
Chifley was already closely involved in the business of mobilising the nation's resources, after having been enlisted by the Menzies government in 1940 as director of labour supply and regulation in the Department of Munitions and as a member of the Capital Issues Advisory Board. Now, as Treasurer and Curtin's closest confidant, he was effectively in charge of it all. He had to raise the taxes and loans that were required to finance the war, manage the unprecedented expenditure and ensure that private spending did not consume resources that were needed for the war effort. While raising taxes on companies and wealthy individuals, and exhorting everyone to live as frugally as possible, he promised to maintain the essential living standards of ordinary Australians.
One of Chifley's first moves as Treasurer was to use the government's wartime authority to reign in the power of the private banks to set interest rates. Another was to shift the balance of power within the federation firmly towards the federal government and away from the States. Chifley had long favoured doing away with the States altogether and having just two tiers of government, but he realized that such a shift was unlikely to be approved by the required referendum. So he moved instead in 1942 to cut down the powers of the States, starting with their power to levy income tax. When the States resisted, Chifley won the subsequent case in the High Court. The national government would forever after be paramount.
With memories of the Depression still fresh in people's minds, Chifley was determined that Australians should enjoy the freedoms set out in the 1941 Atlantic Charter signed by Churchill and Roosevelt, particularly the freedom from fear and want. Chifley and Curtin interpreted this to mean that governments had an obligation to provide full employment for their citizens. After all, if government action in wartime could remove the blight of unemployment, why not also in peacetime? It became the policy of the Labor government to do so.
It was Chifley's task as both Treasurer and Minister forPostwar Reconstruction to implement the government's policy. With a group of young economic advisers around him, plans were devised for a massive government-directed push to develop the economic resources of the nation, to make the country a fair and prosperous one for the people who done so much to defend it. There would be government support to encourage industries in cities as well as in country towns. There would be a government housing program to provide homes for returning service personnel, and universities and other educational facilities to develop their skills for peacetime.
One of the central features of Chifley's vision was the massive Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme , which was designed to produce power for homes and factories across south-eastern Australia and provide irrigation water for small farms. Population was also the key to Australia's future prosperity and security, and the increased population would come from an government-assisted immigration scheme, that was intended to attract millions of people from war-ravaged Europe, and from government support for families, that was intended to boost Australia's birth rate. The assistance for families, including a planned national health scheme, would be part of a comprehensive National Welfare Scheme. While the full scheme would have to await the end of the war, some instalments that had long been Labor policy were introduced immediately.
The achievements of Curtin and Chifley in securing the nation and providing the foundations for post-war prosperity ensured that Labor won an overwhelming victory at the federal election in August 1943 and that it was Chifley to whom the party and the nation turned for leadership after the tragic death of John Curtin in July 1945. The plans he had developed during the war were now his to implement, as he undertook at the federal election in 1946 to usher in a new 'golden age' for Australia.
Other topics in The Chifley Years
Ben Chifley: The man, his history and his values
Ben Chifley was one of Australia's most productive treasurers and prime ministers, helping to lead Australia successfully through the Second World War and the challenges of the early post-war years. Yet his path to the prime ministership was far from easy. Chifley was born the…
Post-war reconstruction: Nation Building
Prior to becoming Treasurer in October 1941, Chifley had already turned his mind to post-war reconstruction and the expanded role that government would have to play if a better world was to emerge from the conflict. Like many people around the world, he feared that…
Implementing a Labor agenda
The Labor Party had won two resounding electoral victories in 1943 and 1946. The first victory rewarded Curtin's government for its stewardship of the country during the dangerous months of 1942, while the second victory was an affirmation by Australians of Chifley's call for a…
Conflict and the Cold War
Although Australia avoided invasion during the Second World War, Japan's frightening lunge southward, culminating in the fall of Singapore, confirmed the deep-seated fears of many Australians about the territorial ambitions of their northern neighbours. Those fears helped to reconcile Australians to the Labor government's announcement…


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Q: What are EJB callbacks and why do we need them? I'm just started to look at Java EE but I'm struggling to understand what callbacks are exactly and what they are used for.
Does anyone have a clear explanation of what they are? I've looked around the site but been unable to find much information.

A: The Formal Definition

Callback is a mechanism by which life cycle of an enterprise bean can be intercepted.

A Practical Example
I think a single example will help show off the usefulness of these callback annotations. Let's take a look at the @PreDestroy callback. From the JBoss docs on EJB, we can see that:

PreDestroy - is invoked when the bean is removed from the pool or destroyed.

And you've got a Bean that has some kind of File Resource. You want to ensure that when the Bean is destroyed, that file lock goes with it. Well, we know that it's "risky" practise to wait for the Garbage Collector to handle these things for us; we don't know when it's going to run.
But what we can do is put in place some logic that is called when the bean is removed.
@PreDestroy
public void cleanUp() {
    // Clean up your FileOutputStreams etc.
}

In your bean, it's very clear that this method is executed when the bean is destroyed and it requires no extra code from the outside. This ensures that your resources are cleaned up, as and when the bean is destroyed.

A: Callbacks are your primary opportunity to execute custom code at specific points in the EJB (or the container's lifecycle).
So take for example, you want to initialize specific fields or components

*

*inside the EJB,

*after the EJB has been instantiated, but

*before it starts to service requests

You'll implement the @PostConstruct callback method. A method annotated with this is an advertisement to the JavaEE runtime that that method must be run immediately after an instance of that class has been created. A common use of this annotation is to instamtiate class-level variables or to prepare shared resources.
The JavaEE specification has designated several annotations such as this one, as lifecycle callbacks. What this means is that at startup, the container knows to scan the deployment kit for artifacts that implement any of the available callbacks. In doing so, it knows to notify the interested components (EJBs, CDI components , JAX-WS bean implementations) of specific events, or call specific methods when...specific actions occur in the app server.
The callback mechanism is in itself an implementation of the Callback pattern (or event-driven programming if you're coming from a UI programming world)
Further Reading:

*

*Oracle's intro to lifecycle callbacks


J: You straight did doody in yo drawers.
M: Nah I was just playin' that day.
I straight farted and I told you I did, but I didn't.
M: They told me to to the bafroom and check my drawers. I did, and there was nothin'.
I was just playin' bra.