Author Archives: Kit Stolz

Why “W” Went to Baghdad: Oliver Stone Tells All

A new movie blogger on the scene is Patrick Goldstein, who writes "The
Big Picture" for the LA Times (here). For some reason, nobody in the
blogosphere seems to like Goldstein at all. Near as I can tell, it’s
became he writes for a real newspaper and they don’t. But be that as it
may, his opening post last week was a scene from the screenplay for the movie biography of George W. Bush that Stone is directing, called "W." It’s the movie that everyone
in Hollywood wants to see, but no one in Hollywood wanted to fund (as
Goldstein put it).

Oliver Stone is a living mess, but when he’s on, no film writer alive
puts better bad guys down on paper. (Takes one to know one?) Remember Gordon Gekko? Platoon?
Nixon? I question Stone’s ability to direct — he can’t seem to settle on a single film stock, far less a single POV — but not his ability to write. Maybe this story will focus him. If so — and the cast is promising — could be something to remember.

The scene is below the fold. You won’t regret reading it, I promise.

U.S. Marine Officials Oust Blogger/Photographer for Photographing Suicide Attack in Iraq

Bloggers sometimes get an inflated sense of their own importance, but Zoriah is no ordinary blogger. He’s an experienced combat photographer who has been doing something unprecedented. He publishes from Iraq — and allows other bloggers to post his images. And he cares about what’s happening there. A few days ago he photographed the aftermathContinue reading “U.S. Marine Officials Oust Blogger/Photographer for Photographing Suicide Attack in Iraq”

Quote of the Year (religious)

"The opposite of the religious fanatic is not the fanatical atheist but the gentle cynic who cares not whether there is a God or not. The atheist is a religious person. He believes in atheism as though it were a new religion [as Dostoyevsky said]….according to Renan, "The day after that on which the worldContinue reading “Quote of the Year (religious)”

What the World Needs Now: New Paper Towel Dispensers

From King Kaufman’s often-hilarious sports blog for Salon: Every time I go into a public restroom, there’s a new device for dispensing paper towels. Sometimes you have to pull the paper towels out of a little round hole in the bottom of a cylinder. Sometimes there’s a lever to push or pull or bang on.Continue reading “What the World Needs Now: New Paper Towel Dispensers”

Rove Describes Barack — Or Does He?

Quote of the Day: Karl Rove was impressed with Barack Obama when he first met him. But now he sees him as a “coolly arrogant” elitist. This was Rove’s take on Obama to Republicans at the Capitol Hill Club Monday, according to Christianne Klein of ABC News: “Even if you never met him, you knowContinue reading “Rove Describes Barack — Or Does He?”

The End of Progress — in Poetry as in Life

A couple of years ago the poet Tony Hoagland published (here) an essay about the allusive nature of most modern American poetry, in which narrative — storytelling — had fallen by the wayside. Hoagland wasn’t happy about that, but he understood why it had happened. He quoted the great Carolyn Forche: Our age lacks theContinue reading “The End of Progress — in Poetry as in Life”

The Psychology of “the Mindset” that Got Us into the War in Iraq

As brilliantly defined by Prof. Andrew Bacevich, of The American Conservative: The Iraq War represents the ultimate manifestation of the American expectation that the exercise of power abroad offers a corrective to whatever ailments afflict us at home. Rather than setting our own house in order, we insist on the world accommodating itself to ourContinue reading “The Psychology of “the Mindset” that Got Us into the War in Iraq”

The End of 9/11 Politics?

Fortune: Mr. McCain, what do you think is the single greatest economic threat to the United States? McCain at first says nothing. He sits in the corner of a sofa, one black, tasseled loafer propped against a coffee table. We’re in the presidential suite on the 41st floor of the New York Hilton. McCain hasContinue reading “The End of 9/11 Politics?”

Obama on Ethanol: Supports Corn, Taxes Sugar Cane

For an enviro-type, it’s difficult if not impossible to support Barack Obama when he claims we should be giving ample taxpayer support to growing corn for ethanol, but should not allow Brazil to sell its sugar cane ethanol in this country free of tariff….even though sugar cane ethanol is a far more efficient fuel. That’sContinue reading “Obama on Ethanol: Supports Corn, Taxes Sugar Cane”