Quick Review: The Ides Of March

Did you know politics is a dirty, cutthroat business? If you didn't, first check yourself for a pulse. Then watch a few hours of MSNBC, Fox News, etc. before you see "The Ides of March" so you won't be too shocked by what goes on. The film takes place in the days leading up to the Ohio presidential primary, and the Democratic race is close. Oh, and George Clooney, whose Mike Morris has a slight lead, is the governor of Pennsylvania. If only art imitated life. Morris is charismatic and very much progressive -- sort of a combination of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Ryan Gosling plays Morris' junior campaign manager, a budding political genius who is all about making a difference. Philip Seymour Hoffman is the senior campaign chief and much more cynical. Then events occur that turn things all topsy-turvy. Some are the work of the opposing campaign manager (Paul Giamatti), some the work of Gosling's and Hoffman's characters, some are caused by a Morris campaign intern (Evan Rachel Wood). Did someone say "intern"? Uh-oh... Anyway, I wasn't quite blown away by this movie. It's entertaining, sometimes more realistic than you'd expect, other times a bit too far-fetched. Solid but not spectacular, although it might get some love when awards season begins. My grade: B.

Japan

I was on Twitter and dreading a barrage of Charlie Sheen news (apparently police were raiding his house last night) when the first mention of an earthquake in Japan hit my news feed. It turned out to be so devastating that, at least for now, just about everyone seems to be ignoring Mr. Sheen. I wish it had been something less terrible than this, however, knocking him off the airwaves and Twitter/Facebook pages.

I started switching between CNN and MSNBC, fascinated and horrified. Fascinated because it's not often you see a disaster movie come to life. Horrified because of the destruction, of course, and also because of the quality of television news. Granted, it was the middle of the night in the United States and the anchors pressed into service aren't the most famous names. But I heard some inane commentary.

One woman on MSNBC kept interrupting her interview subject, an NBC producer stationed in Tokyo, to ask if he could see the video that was being shown. At another point, she and a Weather Channel meteorologist were discussing the tsunami warning issued for Hawaii and the two of them couldn't figure out the time difference between Hawaii and the U.S. East Coast. Sample: "If it hits the East Coast at 5 a.m then it's 3 a.m. there..." The two went back and forth until finally someone informed the weather guy that there was a five-hour difference. Of course, it wouldn't be easy for the tsunami in the Pacific to hit the East Coast.

Perhaps the worst came when there was video of the water surging over some farmland. There was a comment -- and I"m not sure which network I saw it on -- to the effect that "it's good that the tsunami hit a sparsely-populated area." There were a number of buildings and vehicles in the area they were showing. Just because it's not a big city doesn't mean it's not populated. Besides, the tsunami didn't just hit one area of the coast. Look at the video below. Those houses came from somewhere.



So often the interviews (of experts and eyewitnesses) make me NOT want to watch the news, even when it's something like this, the interviews are that bad. Just let the cameras show the event. If you have a reporter on the scene, let the reporter talk.

My Priority Is NOT Keith Olbermann

In my opinion, it's not all that urgent that I contact MSNBC and demand they put the suspended Keith Olbermann back on the air. He donated money to political candidates. It's against NBC's rules for editorial personnel. It doesn't matter to me that they've possibly played fast and loose with their own rules over the years. That's standard just about everywhere. Some people get preferential treatment, some people don't. (Surprisingly, you'd think he'd be the one getting that preferential treatment. What does this say about his status?) If you want to guarantee that you're not punished for a crime, don't commit a crime in the first place.

And it doesn't matter that someone from Fox News probably gives money to all manner of candidates with no repercussions. (Pssst -- Olbermann doesn't work for Fox News, although thanks to this foolishness he just played right into their hands and the hands of his other critics. Let Fox News police their own if they want.)

No, I just can't get worked up about that. On the other hand, when a post is cruelly retweeted into my timeline with a taunting message about what might have been? Off with their heads!

It doesn't even make sense! The "if" probably is for "if necessary" or "if game is rained out" -- but there's no way they'd play a World Series game at 1 pm on a Saturday! This was posted today. Game 7 was scheduled to be played last night. A postponement would have pushed the game to tonight; continued bad weather would push it to Saturday night. This whole thing is ridiculous and has given me post-traumatic stress over the end of the 2010 Phillies season. I really want to sue someone for damages.

Here's an idea: instead of petitioning to get Olbermann back on the air, how about we petition to have the MLB playoffs re-played so that a more entertaining World Series could take place?