Ghost memory

Last night we did something we very rarely do on a weeknight, by firing up the video projector to watch a movie. Has it already been ten years since the excellent film adaptation of the Ghost World comic book? It was Scarlett Johansson’s breakthrough role, but I don’t understand why it seemed to put the brakes on Thora Birch’s career, because she’s outstanding as Enid.

Ghost World has one of the more memorable movie openers, by featuring this outrageous dance number from a 1965 Bollywood flick called Gumnaam.

The Entitled?

Federal taxes for the rich were cut, reducing distributions to states and, in turn, communities. Thanks to financial deregulation Wall Street defrauded everybody, further reducing tax revenues and clobbering pension funds, then Wall Street was bailed out by the American taxpayers. And now cops, firemen and teachers are being denounced for being greedy? Huh?

I live in Massachusetts, the leader in public sector pension fraud, especially in Boston. The fire department has been particularly rife with abuse. The most notorious case was the allegedly disabled firefighter who was into competitive bodybuiding. But the real abuses are at the top. Retired state senator Billy Boy Bulger is a smooth operator who really knows how to work the system. He’s the brother of crime boss James Whitey Bulger, who knows how to work the other side of the fence. One of the first things that Mitt Romney did as governor of Massachusetts was force Billy Bulger out as President of UMass, but there was nothing Romney could do about Bulger’s sweet pension. Later, Romney introduced a health care system that became the basis for what the Democrats enacted in Washington. Romney has a tendency to shift his stated position as it suits the moment, but he’s not corrupt and when push comes to shove he does what he knows is right — like Scott Brown, come to think of it. I had my doubts about Brown as senator, but he’s AOK.

Speaking of brothers taking all they can get, there are the Kochs, who have done an impressive job of building up the wealth that was left to them by their father. They’ve set their sights on Wisconsin, and it seems plausible that they intend to buy up the no-bid contracts for operating that state’s power plants, but they don’t want to employ public union workers, so Governor Walker is determined to bust the unions for them.

I’m not familiar with what Governor Daniels has done in Indiana, but I agree with what Brooks and Shields say here about Governor Walker. Mark Shields reminds us of the importance of the G.I. Bill after WWII. My father went to college on the G.I. Bill, and he met my mother there. After the war Joe Sinnott worked with his father at a cement factory for a few years. Joe’s thousands of fans have the G.I. Bill to thank for making it possible for him to attend the School of Visual Arts in New York.

Spider-senseless

Last weekend D.F. Rogers was in NYC, and he saw Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark, a musical that’s still in previews, but has been playing longer than many past Broadway shows.

Denro got a copy of the program book for me, and I’m flipping through it right now, and OUCH….! Paper cut. Darn, I dropped it on the floor. I’ll pick it up and OW!!! Hit my head on the desk.

So the reports are true. The Spider-Man show is dangerous!