You know, last night’s Presidential debate was great. John Kerry finally came out looking like he could win this thing, and Bush looked and sounded awful all night like, simply making statements with the hope that if he repeats something enough, people will believe it to be true. Frighteningly enough, plenty of people out there do, and what happened last night doesn’t necessarily matter as much as what’s been happening ever since 10:30 PM Eastern last night when the spin began. Kerry could have simply repeated the line, “The sky is blue,” all night long, never saying another word, and Bush (and all his supporters) would still have said that Kerry just kept giving mixed messages. The democrats have their spin too for sure, but it just so happens that this time, the actual event happened enough in their favor to make their spin closer to the truth.
You know what I haven’t seen anybody mention? There was a moment when Bush asked for the 30 seconds of additional time and then he sort of directed the question to Kerry as if asking him if it was OK? Kerry replied something about the specific rules which the Bush campaign had insisted upon, with a bit of a chuckle, saying he’d be happy to talk further and address all these issues. It seems that whether it was the time-lights on the podium (which Kerry nailed and Bush ran over a couple times) or the ability to actually debate without direct questioning, Bush’s extensive campaign rules backfired, and Kerry shoved it in Bush’s face at that moment.
But it’s enough to produce quite an Excedrin/Advil/Aleve/Tylenol headache, is it not? So this weekend, before we venture back into the poltical hurricane that will dominate the Sunday morning shows and include next Tuesday’s VP debate and second Presidential debate — this one featuring a highly coordinated town-hall format, but only in the sense that a town will enter a hall, not that there will be any spontanaiety — take a break, and let me remind you of a few suggestions for this weekend:
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First, run over to the Landmark Sunshine and go see DIG! You won’t be sorry.
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Next, make time to catch the new David O. Russell film I ♥ Huckabees. I know I’ve been awaiting it anxiously since Russell — ginormous ego and all — has proven himself with his first three films to be one of the absolute best filmmakers working today.
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After you’ve seen those, then, and only then, are you allowed to check-out Will Smith as a wise-ass fish.
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And of course, don’t forget that the New York Film Festival starts tonight. Filmbrain must have nabbed a press pass because he’s started reviewing things before they’ve screened. Me? I’m not so lucky. I’ll be seeing Look at Me tonight, The Big Red One, Triple Agent and Undertow tomorrow, and a whole slew of things over the next two weeks.
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A new month means a new programming focus for my favorite channel, Turner Classic Movies. This month’s “Star of the Month” is the great actor Peter Lorre. His films will be featured every Friday this month starting tonight, during which schedule you can catch the all-time great Casablanca. But the big “Spotlight of the Month” is on movie musicals. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays throughout the month, they’ll be showing 93 films, including classics like Top Hat, Singin’ in the Rain and My Fair Lady.
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Baseball, baseball, lots and lots of baseball. For me, that means a jam packed weekend where I pray to all that is and isn’t holy that the Giants sweep the Dodgers to force a tie in the NL West, and hopefully even knock LA completely out of the playoffs. Yeah, yeah … most of you will be rooting for/against another team, I know.
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Last but not least, I mentioned it the other day, but I can’t say it enough: if you’re not registered to vote or you moved, register right now. The deadlines in most states are next week, including New York where it’s next Friday 10/8. Don’t wait so long that you miss it. You can use any of these links to get started.
Out of Focus 