these days

last night was a tv treat deluxe: suns vs. spurs on channel 12 and the miss universe pageant on channel 13. i was rooting for miss peru...until she tripped over her summer shawl during the bathing suit portion of the competition. i just knew that such a faux pas would not be tolerated by the celebrity judges. of course, who hosted the main event? none other than this asshole, billy bush--aka the cousin of george w. bush. curious how that family leaves its mark on so many constructed competitions. with the adventures of the current administration in mind, i'd highly recommend the film, THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS, to anyone interested in seeing a realistic interpretation of a "third-world," islamic country's struggle for independence against a western colonial power. depicting the "bloodiest revolution in modern history," the movie watches like a relatively objective documentary as it contrasts claustrophobic scenes of urban guerilla warfare in which insurgents slaughter innocent civilians with vivid images of torture at the hands of the imperialists. the film itself has had its own intriguing history over the years as well, being studied here in the us by both sides, so to speak.

it seems to me that f. scott fitzgerald's description of the us after the end of wwi--taken from the CRACK-UP essays--as being "cynical rather than revolutionary" also befits part of our populace today after 9/11, the start and continuation of the 2nd war in iraq, and bush's re-election. nevertheless, i know that i personally engage in too many worthwhile conversations with my peers regarding the current state of the union to not realize that certain latent forces lie within us, waiting to be liberated. those of us still residing anywhere near the "reality-based community" must, first of all, conjugate these forces into a new, critical language that illuminates rather than obfuscates.