I’ve been trying to write this for months now, and wanting to do so for even longer. But today – the sixth-month-anniversary of the horrific acts of July 22 – seemed like the right time. We all have our individual stories of what we did that dark day – and since I was not there but lost a great friend that day – my experiences pale in comparison to do those of survivors and relative of the people who were so brutally torn away from us. And still, the grief is always there, for ever and no matter our experiences. So what do say on a day like today? (more…)
Archive | January, 2012
My Favorite Movies of 2011: Chasing Imperfection
21 JanWas 2011 a good year for movies? For me, there are to ways to answer this question. The short answer is I don’t know yet. As always, the expected Oscar contenders mostly have not premiered in Norway yet, and assuming that at least some of them (Hugo, maybe, or Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, or The Descendants) will be worth waiting for, the following list of favorite movies of 2011 should be considered little more than a working draft. The other side of that coin, however, is that 2011 gave me a more complete view of the glorious movie year that was 2010. If my 2011 list feels even more stale and safe than unusual it is probably due to the fact that it contains several great movies which premiered in the US a long time ago. It may also say something about a more meager harvest from the festival crop than in recent years. (more…)
Anderson Cooper Saves CNN From Itself
8 JanIt’s been 2012 for a week already and this blog has roundup duties to take care of, but I just gott sneak this in before the Republican presidential freakshow exhibit moves on from New Hampshire and thus renders the results from Iowa even less significant: Is there a better reason to watch election night coverage than to see the elegant and sensible Anderson Cooper make fun of the inanity of his CNN colleagues’ so-called “analysis” (oh, the sanctimoniousness of self-described centrists!), and the network’s grating hangup on slick-looking but ultimately useless digital data-collection tools? Well, no. (Fortunately, Wolf Blitzer doesn’t invoke the phrase the best political team on television nearly as often as he did four years ago. Good on him, since the core of that team still is David Gergen, probably the dullest and most risk-averse pundit in the history of televised punditry.) (more…)
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