Streep/Clinton/Gillard
Three women have my attention in this entry.
Firstly, I saw Prime on the weekend. It was much better than I expected it to be, and I enjoyed it. Romantic comedies are never my favourites, but the premise of this film was original and the conclusion, thankfully, did not resort to any real clichés... Or maybe it did? That's debatable, I suppose. Anyway, Meryl Streep is an incredibly underrated comic actor. Her timing was impeccable and her expressions and reactions were very funny. As far as comedies go, I should think that it's probably the best material she's worked with. Comedies like Death Becomes Her, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, and the lesser-known Defending Your Life and She-Devil, whilst having some reasonably funny moments, were, I think, not actually all that good (script-wise). I don't know what this film would have been without Streep and Uma Thurman (who was actually a replacement for Sandra Bullock). The soundtrack was good too. Anyway, this is where my ongoing discussion and promotion of 'Prime' is to end.
Senator Hillary Clinton said Monday that an immediate U.S. withdrawal from
Iraq would be "a big mistake." The New York Democrat said she respects Rep. Jack Murtha, D-Pa., the Vietnam veteran and hawkish ex-Marine who last week called for an immediate troop pullout. But she added: "I think that would cause more problems for us in America."
"It will matter to us if Iraq totally collapses into civil war, if it becomes a failed state the way Afghanistan was, where terrorists are free to basically set up camp and launch attacks against us," she said (Yahoo!News).
I thought this news was interesting. Personally, whilst I have always been staunchly opposed to the holocaust that is Iraq, I have mixed feelings about an immediate withdrawal. The idea of the US invading Iraq, fucking it up, and then just leaving it behind... it doesn't sit right. In this sense, I probably differ with most Left thinking concerning the issue.
Lastly... It's time for Julia Gillard. Though, in retrospect, I believe Beazley was once PM-material and deserved to win the 1998 and 2001 elections, I am not comfortable with the prospect of a third Beazley run for The Lodge. Despite his Rhodes Scholarship, he has not been saying anything overly intelligent lately. That's not to say that he's been acting un-intelligently. But Howard remains dominant and relaxed and comfortable. Labor needs to shake off the shackles of a decade's worth of crappiness, mediocrity and failure. Unfortunately, Beazley is one of those shackles. He represents a sad era for Labor. An era in which the words Labor and loss have become inextricably linked. Gillard appears genuinely smart and very capable. She's confident in Parliament without getting ahead of herself. She was elected in 1998, which makes her a modern member of the Labor Party, as opposed to someone who may carry subconscious nostalgia linked directly to the Hawke/Keating governments. I think that's a good thing. She was made president of the Australian Union of Students in 1983 and carries a great concern for and knowledge of education. She's a comparatively fresh face. She belongs to the left-wing faction of the Labor Party. And she's a she.
Firstly, I saw Prime on the weekend. It was much better than I expected it to be, and I enjoyed it. Romantic comedies are never my favourites, but the premise of this film was original and the conclusion, thankfully, did not resort to any real clichés... Or maybe it did? That's debatable, I suppose. Anyway, Meryl Streep is an incredibly underrated comic actor. Her timing was impeccable and her expressions and reactions were very funny. As far as comedies go, I should think that it's probably the best material she's worked with. Comedies like Death Becomes Her, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, and the lesser-known Defending Your Life and She-Devil, whilst having some reasonably funny moments, were, I think, not actually all that good (script-wise). I don't know what this film would have been without Streep and Uma Thurman (who was actually a replacement for Sandra Bullock). The soundtrack was good too. Anyway, this is where my ongoing discussion and promotion of 'Prime' is to end.
Senator Hillary Clinton said Monday that an immediate U.S. withdrawal from
Iraq would be "a big mistake." The New York Democrat said she respects Rep. Jack Murtha, D-Pa., the Vietnam veteran and hawkish ex-Marine who last week called for an immediate troop pullout. But she added: "I think that would cause more problems for us in America."
"It will matter to us if Iraq totally collapses into civil war, if it becomes a failed state the way Afghanistan was, where terrorists are free to basically set up camp and launch attacks against us," she said (Yahoo!News).
I thought this news was interesting. Personally, whilst I have always been staunchly opposed to the holocaust that is Iraq, I have mixed feelings about an immediate withdrawal. The idea of the US invading Iraq, fucking it up, and then just leaving it behind... it doesn't sit right. In this sense, I probably differ with most Left thinking concerning the issue.
Lastly... It's time for Julia Gillard. Though, in retrospect, I believe Beazley was once PM-material and deserved to win the 1998 and 2001 elections, I am not comfortable with the prospect of a third Beazley run for The Lodge. Despite his Rhodes Scholarship, he has not been saying anything overly intelligent lately. That's not to say that he's been acting un-intelligently. But Howard remains dominant and relaxed and comfortable. Labor needs to shake off the shackles of a decade's worth of crappiness, mediocrity and failure. Unfortunately, Beazley is one of those shackles. He represents a sad era for Labor. An era in which the words Labor and loss have become inextricably linked. Gillard appears genuinely smart and very capable. She's confident in Parliament without getting ahead of herself. She was elected in 1998, which makes her a modern member of the Labor Party, as opposed to someone who may carry subconscious nostalgia linked directly to the Hawke/Keating governments. I think that's a good thing. She was made president of the Australian Union of Students in 1983 and carries a great concern for and knowledge of education. She's a comparatively fresh face. She belongs to the left-wing faction of the Labor Party. And she's a she.
posted by Anthony Stoddart @ 6:50 AM
1 Comments:
At Sat Nov 26, 04:42:00 PM,
Sarah said…
The ALP needs to dump Kim Beazley. Julia Gillard would be a good choice to replace him. If they leave it too late, however, they're screwed. They're nearing a deadline, and I think that out of fear of what happened at the last election (giving Mark Latham only a short time to turn the party around before leading them to the polls) they will just stick with Beazley. Of course, that would mean they would be ignoring all the mistakes they made during the last election campaign (no effective advertising or counter-advertising, running a 'nice' campaign and failing to attack Howard on his many lies and shortcomings, including the interest-rate scare...).
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