House of the New Rising Sun
Knew this was going to be a historic moment in American history, no matter what the outcome of the election. I had remarked that I was going home to watch the election returns with a bottle of single-malt. Ultimately, I didn't get a chance to stop off and get any scotch, had to make due with my Canadian blend of (economic) choice, Black Velvet. But first, I decided that Election Night was the perfect time to go see Oliver Stone's W.
After a Black Velvet and Red Hook warm up, I went down to the Uptown in Queen Anne. Shortly before I got there, I got a call from my friend Jim, who was up from Renton to watch the results at The Showbox--only to find the place packed (could've predicted that--), so he was looking for something else. He joined me a few minutes into the movie.
As for W.: not bad. Not Stone at his outlandish best, but the movie was entertaining and looked great. Once again, Stone took known actors and had them disappear into characters that are very familiar to us. Val Kilmer became Jim Morrison, Gary Oldman was uncanny as Lee Harvey Oswald, and Paul Sorvino as Kissinger was worth the price of admission. Here, Richard Dreyfuss could get an Oscar nomination as Dick Cheney. Certainly, this isn't the reverential portrait of Bush that the right would enjoy, but the movie doesn't vilify him either. All in all, a good movie that was perfect for Election Night.
After that let out, we went across the street to The Mecca. I had my favorite, the hot turkey sandwich, with a Long Island to make my point. Jim had his phone on during the movie, so when they declared for Obama at 8:15pm (halfway through the movie) he let me know. He was an early Obama backer, so he was happy. We talked politics over a few beers, then he went downtown to try to get into The Showbox, while I headed home to continue the drinking as I watched CNN and Northwest News deliver the numbers.
I was in a good mood all day and into the night. I've never been a big Obama supporter--I was for Hillary right up til the end (and not just because I think she'd be a good president: I've always thought she was hot. Hey! If guys'll vote for McCain because they'd like to see Palin in a bikini, I can have my Hillary-lust). But I knew this was going to be like 1960, or a Democrat's version of 1980. Twenty-eight years later (hey: that's a good movie title...), I honestly feel like it's morning in America. So this is why everyone liked Reagan so much.
If anything, it was over much to quickly: usually they don't declare the candidate til around 1:00am in the morning. Here, they just waited til the polls closed in California, then that was settled. No suspense, but no real show, either. Meanwhile, on the local front, it looks like Christine Gregoire beat back that used car salesman, Dino Rossi (actually, he's a real estate salesman, but you get the idea). He's a sore loser (and I do mean Loser), so this'll no doubt drag out, but I don't think he'll have the grounds to take it to court like he did (unsuccessfully) in 2004. That means that Washington will remain the only state with a chick for a governor and an all-chick delegation to the Senate (Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell). Unfortunate that that's a distinction, but if it's only one state where that's the case, I'm proud that it's Washington.
After a Black Velvet and Red Hook warm up, I went down to the Uptown in Queen Anne. Shortly before I got there, I got a call from my friend Jim, who was up from Renton to watch the results at The Showbox--only to find the place packed (could've predicted that--), so he was looking for something else. He joined me a few minutes into the movie.
As for W.: not bad. Not Stone at his outlandish best, but the movie was entertaining and looked great. Once again, Stone took known actors and had them disappear into characters that are very familiar to us. Val Kilmer became Jim Morrison, Gary Oldman was uncanny as Lee Harvey Oswald, and Paul Sorvino as Kissinger was worth the price of admission. Here, Richard Dreyfuss could get an Oscar nomination as Dick Cheney. Certainly, this isn't the reverential portrait of Bush that the right would enjoy, but the movie doesn't vilify him either. All in all, a good movie that was perfect for Election Night.
After that let out, we went across the street to The Mecca. I had my favorite, the hot turkey sandwich, with a Long Island to make my point. Jim had his phone on during the movie, so when they declared for Obama at 8:15pm (halfway through the movie) he let me know. He was an early Obama backer, so he was happy. We talked politics over a few beers, then he went downtown to try to get into The Showbox, while I headed home to continue the drinking as I watched CNN and Northwest News deliver the numbers.
I was in a good mood all day and into the night. I've never been a big Obama supporter--I was for Hillary right up til the end (and not just because I think she'd be a good president: I've always thought she was hot. Hey! If guys'll vote for McCain because they'd like to see Palin in a bikini, I can have my Hillary-lust). But I knew this was going to be like 1960, or a Democrat's version of 1980. Twenty-eight years later (hey: that's a good movie title...), I honestly feel like it's morning in America. So this is why everyone liked Reagan so much.
If anything, it was over much to quickly: usually they don't declare the candidate til around 1:00am in the morning. Here, they just waited til the polls closed in California, then that was settled. No suspense, but no real show, either. Meanwhile, on the local front, it looks like Christine Gregoire beat back that used car salesman, Dino Rossi (actually, he's a real estate salesman, but you get the idea). He's a sore loser (and I do mean Loser), so this'll no doubt drag out, but I don't think he'll have the grounds to take it to court like he did (unsuccessfully) in 2004. That means that Washington will remain the only state with a chick for a governor and an all-chick delegation to the Senate (Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell). Unfortunate that that's a distinction, but if it's only one state where that's the case, I'm proud that it's Washington.
posted by Russ the Librarian at 11:52 PM
1 Comments:
Chick Powah!
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