The Naked City

"There are eight million stories in the Naked City....and this is one of them."

Since October is over and with it Australia month, and the election has terminated, I feel it is time to add a new segment to the Free-Lancer. The concept really isn't new, and I could feasibly retroactively include a few earlier posts under the heading, but now I'm making it official.

The Naked City: Atlanta

I don't much care for the city, its people, its smells, its size, its murders. Yet for a few years now I have made my home in the Capital of the South and, having attended school and now working full time in the heart of the downtown I have seen a great deal of ridiculous things. Here is where I will recount them as I see fit.

Today, November 11th 2008, a crazed black man runs from the Peachtree Center Marta Train Station brandishing a long, bloodied blade. The man, with madness in his eyes and murder on his hands is fleeing for his life through the very epicenter of Georgia State University. Students walk to class unawares that death is today's guest lecturer.
For the students of GSU, a dirty-looking black man running through campus is not an unusual sight, in fact you could almost set your watch by them. Thus, the man with the knife crosses through campus unmolested, his feet carrying him swiftly away from his unjust deed towards an unexpected, but inevitable confrontation.
Woodruff park, the centerpiece to the GSU campus is alive this morning like it is every morning with loiters and bums, chess players and panhandlers. The man with the knife runs to this park, hoping maybe to loose himself in the sea of black faces, nappy roots, and Obama T-shirts. Inside he meets Johnny Law.
Johnny is older now then when he joined the force. His hair is white and his gut is copiously fed on the good life. The APB has gone out, and Johnny has just been jarred from his boredom by the news. He rushes to the center of the park, his hand on his hip-holster and his jaw set in determination. Johnny's seen a lot in his time, and he's ready for anything. Anything, except for our man and his knife.
Maybe Johnny has too much faith in mankind, maybe he was just rusty, but when he stepped in front of the perpetrator running towards him in Woodruff Park this morning, he made one, painful error: he didn't shoot first and ask questions later. The crazed black man with the knife, having killed once already, doesn't think twice about what he is going to do when he sees Johnny bar his way to freedom. He charges straight forward, knife out, and stabs for the heart.
Now Johnny's been pierced, his blood has been drawn. Immediately the pain shakes the rust free, the years dissipated in an instant and Johnny moves like lighting. Jumping back from the man, arching his back to avoid another thrust, he rips free his pistol from its complacency and makes that gun barrel speak volumes.
The sound echoes across the park, bouncing off of Atlanta's tall buildings, ringing through the halls of the still sleepy campus.
Johnny's done it. He's killed the man with the knife. The pistol still smokes in his hand, blood still pours from his knife wounds, but justice has been served.
Other officers arrive, the scene is taped off, and a white sheet is laid over the dead perpetrator. An ambulance is brought for Johnny Law, and he is heroically driven off to Grady Memorial Hospital. The students and lookie-loos go back about their business, to class, to work, to loitering. Another life has come to an end in the Naked City of Atlanta, and with it another story.

Moneygascar

The election is behind, and the future unclear, the only thing for The Free-Lancer to do is watch movies and talk about them. Proving for the umpteenth time that the only sure-fire way to make money with movies these days is to make a hit family film and then immediately crank out a sequel or four, Madagascar 2 made an estimated 63 million dollars this weekend. That my friends, is a HUGE number this time of year, and I must say (as industry savvy as I am) exceeded my own predictions.
I saw the first film and enjoyed it, as it is a humorous romp, but I wasn't one of the contributors to the new films success. O sure, I want to see it (growing up with three younger sisters I have always had a soft spot for cartoons) but I probably won't make it until later this week. Until then, here is a good review that basically says, sure it has laughs but the Penguins are the best part--much like the first movie.

Though I didn't manage to make it to the cinemas this weekend (I had an interest in seeing one of two films, such as Eastwood's Changeling), I did stop by last weekend for a little pre-election diversion.
I saw Zack & Miri and RocknRolla. Of the two I would recommended the later and completely ward you away from the former.
For some reason, people cannot be truly honest when it comes to reviewing Kevin Smith films. I have never liked the guy, or his films, and really have only enjoyed bits of his catalog and never whole films. The scenes in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back with Will Ferrell and the orangutan are funny, but that movie is a horrendous mess. Mallrats has its moments, as does Chasing Amy, but everything else is gratuitous, self-indulgent, and downright boring--to include (and maybe especially) Smith's "revolutionary" debut Clerks. I don't really want to talk much about Zack & Miri, because Dirty Harry wrote a great review of it that really gets to the point.
However, I will make a few observations: Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks are both excellent comedic actors, and Justin Long's appearance is the only true bright spot of the film. In the TV spots for the film, they call it "the perfect date movie" to which I can only balk and scratch my head, because it cetainly is not anywhere near a movie any self-respecting couple should be watching unless you hang around at home alternating between Clerks II and internet porn all day....
Anyway, we've got James Bond on Thursday at midnight, so I don't imagine many of you will get around to seeing RocknRolla. Already its on its way out of theaters, which is a same because it is really the only movie worth spending money on (other than Quantum of Solace) that is going to be around for a few weeks. Guy Ritchie is back in top form and brings a new level of maturity to his familar Lock, Stock/Snatch material. Those who are fans of his first two success will find the same things to love, but those who appreciated Revolver (I being one) will certainly see the same seriousness coming through in the plot, which is an intricate and well designed crime story this time around and less of a caper-esque romp like in the aforementioned earlier films.

Ritchies talent has always been grounded in bringing to life great characters, and RocknRolla has an exceptional cast chock full of 'em, with Gerard Butler being the real stand-out. The end of the film promises a sequeal, but it looks to be a long ways off. Next up from Ritchie is the Downey Jr., Jude Law Sherlock Holmes vehicle which (if RocknRolla is any indication) ought to absolutely sore. So if you get a moment and feel the need for some cinematic escapism, check out said film, and be sure to ignore Kevin Smith's new turd.

Voter Turnout Same as in '04

As I sat with a group of people (all Obama supporters for the most part) on the night of the election I mentioned how, despite increases in registration, there was no rise in actually voting participation. The Obamatons couldn't believe this. "No" they said, "that can't be true. Lots of people (read blacks) are voting this year that have never voted before."

Well turns out I was right, but so where the Sheeple...to an extent. According to reports, turnout was the same as in '04, but more Democrats made it to the polls than did Republicans. Big surprise there, eh? With Acorn's shenanigans going around registering everybody under the sun (to include plenty of fake people), more Dems were registered this year, and at least a small percentage of those registrees actually did manage to cast a ballot.

Here is the story:

The report released Thursday estimates that between 126.5 and 128.5 million Americans cast ballots in the presidential election earlier this week. Those figures represent 60.7 percent or, at most, 61.7 percent of those eligible to vote in the country.

“A downturn in the number and percentage of Republican voters going to the polls seemed to be the primary explanation for the lower than predicted turnout,” the report said. Compared to 2004, Republican turnout declined by 1.3 percentage points to 28.7 percent, while Democratic turnout increased by 2.6 points from 28.7 percent in 2004 to 31.3 percent in 2008.

“Many people were fooled (including this student of politics although less so than many others) by this year’s increase in registration (more than 10 million added to the rolls), citizens’ willingness to stand for hours even in inclement weather to vote early, the likely rise in youth and African American voting, and the extensive grassroots organizing network of the Obama campaign into believing that turnout would be substantially higher than in 2004,” Curtis Gans, the center’s director, said in the report. “But we failed to realize that the registration increase was driven by Democratic and independent registration and that the long lines at the polls were mostly populated by Democrats.”

Some experts also note that national turnout trends may mask higher turnout in swing states with more intensive attempts by both campaigns to get their supporters to the polls. Several large states, including California and New York, had no statewide races and virtually no advertising or get-out-the-vote efforts by either presidential campaign.

According to the report, several Southern states — North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Virginia, and Mississippi — and the District of Columbia saw the greatest increases in voter turnout.

Overall turnout was highest in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Michigan, South Dakota and North Carolina, according to the report.

In 2004, 122 million Americans voted in the general election.

Did you read that? Southern states saw the greatest increases in voter turn out....I would wager because of Blacks, but it still didn't matter. Only Virginia went for Obama, and the counties that pushed him to a win were the predominately white suburbs of DC. So what does all this mean? Everything....and nothing.

Friday Batman

In honor of next weeks release (in the US, 14 days after the UK and the rest of th world---come on!) of Bond 22 Quantum of Solace, today's Friday Batman is an odd find of James Bond vs Batman....as seen through the prism of TV's Friends. Yeah, I know, it is weird:


And when you're done with that, keep you Bond excitement going by revisiting THIS EARLIER POST ON THE NEW THEME SONG BY JACK WHITE AND ALICIA KEYS.

So Long....

Into the Jurassic Dark

Sad news, Michael Crichton, famed author/director/producer and father of the "techo-thriller" has passed. At 66, he has been taken from us to write no more. Apparently he was battling cancer, but there are very few details available right now.

Crichton was one of the first real authors I read. In second grade, following the film, I picked up a copy of Jurassic Park and couldn't put it down. I didn't understand half of the words or situations, but I knew it was awesome because it was about dinosaurs. Since then I have reread Jurassic Park countless times, and every other book that Crichton wrote (actually revisited Congo again this summer). All of the books are entertaining, many of them are thought-provoking, and at least two of them are what could be called important works (State of Fear and Next.)

I hope he had something finished before he died that can be left to us, but as it is he leaves behind quite a literary legacy.

Not So Gay Now I Bet

Some good news from last night:

"LOS ANGELES (AP) - In an election otherwise full of liberal triumphs, the gay rights movement suffered a stunning defeat as California voters approved a ban on same-sex marriages that overrides a recent court decision legalizing them.

The constitutional amendment—widely seen as the most momentous of the nation's 153 ballot measures—will limit marriage to heterosexual couples, the first time such a vote has taken place in a state where gay unions are legal.

Gay-rights activists had a rough election elsewhere as well. Ban-gay-marriage amendments were approved in Arizona and Florida, and Arkansas voters approved a measure banning unmarried couples from serving as adoptive or foster parents. Supporters made clear that gays and lesbians were their main target.

In California, with 95 percent of precincts reporting Wednesday, the ban had 5,125,752 votes, or 52 percent, while there were 4,725,313 votes, or 48 percent, opposed.

Similar bans had prevailed in 27 states before Tuesday's elections, but none were in California's situation—with about 18,000 gay couples married since a state Supreme Court ruling in May. The state attorney general, Jerry Brown, has said those marriages will remain valid, although legal challenges are possible."

Unfortunately however, abortion bans were voted down in Colorado and South Dakota. Abortion is a much more serious issue, as it concerns the lives of human beings, and it is disconcerting that people can't pull their heads out of their rear ends to do the right thing. Our cheating culture at work.