Observing the art form of mid-budget Hollywood remakes.

This afternoon, I saw Kimberly Peirce's (BOYS DON'T CRY, STOP LOSS) remake of Stephen King's CARRIE--the definitive version was made in 1976 by Brian De Palma, with a star making lead performance by Sissy Spacek,

When the preview trailers were playing, I saw other remakes to come in early 2014.  ABOUT LAST NIGHT (based on a David Mamet play titled SEXUAL PERVERSITY IN CHICAGO and a 1986 Rob Lowe/Demi Moore yuppie romance smoothed out from the apparently darker and more cynical play) has been moved from Chicago to L.A. and seems to be mostly a vehicle for super hot comic Kevin Hart in the role once played by Jim Belushi.

And then there was the trailer for ENDLESS LOVE, a remake of Franco Zeffirelli's 1981 teen sex drama with Brooke Shields (a film which is half-forgotten now and not as successful as Shields' previous teen sex drama THE BLUE LAGOON).  In the new version, Brooke Shields' role is taken by Gabriella Wilde--who plays Amy Irving's old role of well-meaning teenager Sue Snell in the remake of CARRIE.

Following the current logic of mainstream films made by Hollywood studios, I'm expecting GabriellaWilde to appear soon in a remake of THE BLUE LAGOON.

Why Senator Ted Cruz will stay on the nation's radar a bit longer.

Yes, Ted Cruz makes Joseph McCarthy look like William F. Buckley, Jr.  But he hits a gigantic nerve with feel-don't-think conservatives across the USA.

Witness these comments on Cruz' Facebook page (commenters' names redacted):
Good that they have a Senator who understands the Constitution and the gravity of the current state of affairs.
Please don't crumble! You are all we have!!
Ted Cruz for president!
WE DONT LIKE OBAMA, REMOVE HIM FROM OUR WHITEHOUSE! !!!
Illegal Immigration, and Obamacare, this is not the country of my youth. STAND YOUR GROUND or we are ruined

Predicting the 2014 Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame inductees.

http://mobile.avclub.com/articles/nirvana-hall-oates-the-replacements-and-more-nomin,104297/?mobile=true

Here are my predictions for the Final Five:
1. Nirvana
2. Chic
3. Peter Gabriel
4. Hall and Oates
5. Yes

Link Wray and The Paul Butterfield Blues Band will get some kind of subsidiary recognition.

Sheryl Crow's awful makenice with country radio: FEELS LIKE HOME.

Once upon a time in the early 1980s, the cult R-&-B artist Swamp Dogg (aka Jerry Williams) released an album with the title I'M NOT SELLING OUT, I'M BUYING IN.

Over three decades later, here's Sheryl Crow, cut loose from A&M/Universal (despite a generally good run of albums with that label) and desperate for a career revival.  So, why not humiliate herself by trying to compete with Carrie Underwood, Kellie Pickler, the one-foot-out-the-country-door Taylor Swift and Miranda Lambert--voila, the Warner Brothers release FEELS LIKE HOME.

Here are some examples for your listening displeasure:
EASY (YouTube video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST7btkkoaNU

GIVE IT TO ME (YouTube audio) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIlf_CqDVPw

And the song which made me turn off FEELS LIKE HOME, the craptastic
WE OUGHTA BE DRINKIN' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mh5MS_7RDcQ

YEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!  Country Music in the Shade of Beige!

New poem: MILEY AND SOME OF THE REST OF US.

If it wasn't you

riding wrecking ball
licking sledgehammer
twisting on ground
people would search hard
for someone else
to throw stones at
to keep practicing
notions of rocksolid
moral superiority
>
Mario Lopez smiles
as he implies to Channel 4 News
that nothing Sinead O'Connor says
about Miley Cyrus
is valid
because two decades ago
she tore up the picture
of a former Pope
who will be a Saint
next year
>
some things you do
when you're young
or younger
will never be forgiven
>
it's not like Miley
is Madonna or Lady Gaga
or Courtney Love
with some ideas
brought to the table
and marinated in
Pop Culture Sauce
>
it's just selling
and superselling
and Product
and publicists
and MTV
and record execs
saying how do we make Miley
bigger than Britney
and Christina
that's what matters
>
in ROLLING STONE,
the Miley article
contains a tidbit
on how Billy Ray Cyrus
fathered two children
with two different women
Billy Ray chose to marry Miley's mother
>
wondering if
Billy Ray's other child
has a well-adjusted life
or gets depressed over how he/she
lost the Superstar Lottery

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Miley Cyrus "Wrecking Ball" and Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U"

Here's the prop-and-nudity-free alternate version of Miley Cyrus  "Wrecking Ball:
http://youtu.be/-YICuUtkjlg

And here's the Sinead O'Connot video it was influenced by:
http://youtu.be/iUiTQvT0W_0

Poet Julia Stein gets Murrayed.

"If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it."--Elmore Leonard

But in the world of poetry, some people (particularly reviewers who wish to culturally shape their communities) prefer writing that sounds like writing.

Here are two excerpts from G. Murray Thomas' review of Julia Stein's book WHAT WERE THEY LIKE?

But too often the poems acquire their power through flat statements, rather than poetic language. This is especially true in the final lines with which she closes many of her poems. Too often they end with a line which punches the gut without engaging the imagination. “A cruise missile left her/ paralyzed on half of her body.” (“I Wanted to Believe”); “I ask Congress to stop the destruction of this city.” (“Do I look like a Sumerian goddess”); “she wants to send money to stop the war” (“My Mama Remembers”).

What Were They Like? delivers a powerful anti-war message. Stein succeeds in her goal of showing the lives of average people swept up in the horror of war. But I’m sad to say it rarely rises to the level of great poetry in the process. Regular readers of my reviews know I like my poetry open-ended. I like to discover meaning in the poems I read, not be slapped in the face with it. Poetry is such a perfect format for expressing ambiguity that, to be honest, I feel cheated when a poet does less with it.

The full review can be read at http://www.poetix.net

Visit the alternate universe blaming Harry Reid--rather than GOP obstructionism--for government shutdown.

https://twitter.com/search?q=%23HarryReidsShutdown&src=tren

Some examples from the above link:
Now that Harry Reid shut it down government, the Stay Puft man is going to walk through New York.--Dana Loesch, conservative pundit

Democrats want to kill the TeaParty. They know gov't run media will lay blame upon them & the statist GOP will pile on--Victor Nikki

Why is it ok for Pres Obama to stand on principal but not ok for GOP?--Representative Jeff Duncan

#HarryReidsShutdown because he's fine w/ forcing Americans to purchase what he has exempted himself and his minions from!--Jennifer McFarlane

HarryReidsShutdown because they could care less about what Americans truly want!!!!!--Andrew

Harry Reid would rather shutdown the government than have an honest debate about how Obamacare is ruining our economy.--Amanda Carpenter

Will Michelle Obama tell me to drink water when thirsty pro bono?--Rufus Kings

STOP SAYING most are blaming Republicans for #HarryReidsShutdown! NOT TRUE! Reid is ARROGANT NAZI SCUMBAG! #BlameHarryReid--Debra Pianalto

The choice is clear: Shut down the thing that is shutting down America by #DefundingObamacare #HarryReidsShutdown--Representative Jeff Duncan

This is another step by the Kenyan to turn America into a 3rd World Country. What a shame. #HarryReidsShutdown #tcot--Dan Freeman

And finally, as rebuttal to the above:
#HarryReidsShutdown Don't like a law? Defund and disobey it. Blame someone else for your recalcitrance. All better now. Stay strong, Harry.--Gail James