Obama Read Comics When He Was A Child!

OK, I know that this probably isn’t such a big deal and I’m sure that there are plenty of politicians ( presidents, vice-president…etc, etc ) both past and present who have read comics when they were children…but this Observer article makes me relate to him just a little bit, as opposed to never as far as most other politicians are concerned:

Grandpa bought me all the DC Comic books, and I was the only one who had them, so Barry [i.e. Barack Obama] and Yanto would borrow the books and copy pictures of Batman and Spider-Man out and ask me to judge which was better. Barry was always better than Yanto. Even Yanto always agreed with that. Barry had a great eye.

Hebbo

I’d just like to say Hebbo to tarvuism

La Zona

I know that in my blog I’ve mostly talked about US films but I do watch foreign films as well. Today I’m going to talk about one. A South American gem called La Zona or ‘The Zone’. The basic premise of the film is that a gated community turns vigilante in pursuit of a boy thief that has invaded their ‘zone’. The movie covers lots of themes within its ploting; a community loosing its humanity, becoming more facist in their pursuit of the perpetrator, a bunch of rich people who have the money to close themselves away from the rest of the society and create their own laws and rules, a corrupt society that allows them to do this, and the ( mostly poor ) people that get caught inbetween. The film is by no means perfect, the flashback to what happened during the robbery is week ( maybe it would have been better if there was no flashback at all because the explanation would not have detracted from the narative? ). However it is a very good thriller/horror movie even if you choose to ignore the political and social aspects of the movie.

30 Rock

This show is hilarious, it has some amazing one-liners and Alec Baldwin’s performance is pure genius. Anyway here are some quotes from the episode entiltled ‘Seinfeld Vision’:

Jack: All of my summer replacement shows were big hits – America’s Next Top Pirate, Are You Stronger Than A Dog, MILF Island.
Liz: MILF Island?
Jack: 25 super hot moms, 50 eighth grade boys, no rules.
Liz: Oh yeah, didn’t one of those women turn out to be a prostitute?
Jack: That doesn’t mean she’s not a wonderful, caring MILF.

Jack: [to Liz, after noticing Jenna's weight gain] She needs to lose thirty pounds or gain sixty. Anything in between has no place on television.

Tracy: She knows I can’t sleep without the sound of the ocean and the smell of Bacon

Tracy: Remember that night we had the three-way with Elayne Boosler
Jerry Sienfeld: I don’t think that was me.
Tracy: Oh yeah you know what? I think that was a mirror.

Jack: You Owe me! Remember St Barts? When I saved your life from that shark?
Jerry Seinfeld: Alright Jack, I’ll come back. But I still think you shot a dolphin!

The Financial Crisis – The Plan

As an armchair economist ( I have a degree in the subject so its actually a rather luxurious armchair ). I have to agree with Krugman. Out of all the major western governments the only decent plan to solve this problem has come from us Brits in the form of Gordon Brown and Alistar Darlings proposal. It’s by no means perfect but it is solid and a lot more thought out then Paulson’s ’shit we’re in trouble I’ve got an idea, give the financial industry $700 billion dollars and then leave them alone to get on with it’ Plan. Now all they have to do is persuade all the other economies to do something similar this weekend…good luck.