The Free Press is bringing back a Reviews section after some absence. We hope to review plenty of events around town. Check back frequently and if what\'s going on is any good.
Arts & Culture
The Samaritan’s Dilemma: Should Government Help Your Neighbor?
by Deborah Stone
Nation Books, 2008
292 pages
Notes & Appendix
In her 1993 speech on health care, Hillary Clinton argued that America needed a new a “politics of meaning,” and was roundly criticized as being some kind of left wing, new-age kook. While then First Lady Clinton backed away from the phrase, almost twenty years later Deborah Stone is calling for the same thing.
by Deborah Stone
Nation Books, 2008
292 pages
Notes & Appendix
In her 1993 speech on health care, Hillary Clinton argued that America needed a new a “politics of meaning,” and was roundly criticized as being some kind of left wing, new-age kook. While then First Lady Clinton backed away from the phrase, almost twenty years later Deborah Stone is calling for the same thing.
Just like a fine and flavorful wine, the Traverse City Film Festival (or the Michael Moore Film Festival experience) continues to ripen and mature with each passing year.
The festival’s fifth year was not only a challenging and thought provoking social/political film experience, the coordinators also added a film school for emerging directors. Raucous parties for the many film goers celebrated the final festival evening.
Fun and funny panels with writers such as Jeff Garlin and Larry Charles (“CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM”) as well as a dialogue with unparalleled American filmmaker Paul Mazursky enthralled the many film goers.
A festival’s most vibrant feature was its generosity of spirit, especially in its highlighting of women voices in films, scripts, philosophy, and activism.
Annemarie Jacir”s “SALT OF THE SEA”, a Palestinian film which boldly shows the frustrations of the abused Palestinian people, is a brilliant, intense, and soul-searching drama which stresses the ongoing peoples’ personal struggle for justice.
The festival’s fifth year was not only a challenging and thought provoking social/political film experience, the coordinators also added a film school for emerging directors. Raucous parties for the many film goers celebrated the final festival evening.
Fun and funny panels with writers such as Jeff Garlin and Larry Charles (“CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM”) as well as a dialogue with unparalleled American filmmaker Paul Mazursky enthralled the many film goers.
A festival’s most vibrant feature was its generosity of spirit, especially in its highlighting of women voices in films, scripts, philosophy, and activism.
Annemarie Jacir”s “SALT OF THE SEA”, a Palestinian film which boldly shows the frustrations of the abused Palestinian people, is a brilliant, intense, and soul-searching drama which stresses the ongoing peoples’ personal struggle for justice.
FOOD INC., now showing at the Drexel, is a genuine must-see tour de force. Featuring primarily food author/activists Michael Pollan and
Eric Schlosser, this lengthy but very watchable documentary gem lays out the horrific crisis America faces in feeding itself---or rather, in being
force-fed by corporate evil-doers. The agri-rape and pillage of Monsanto and its unholy host of boardroom buccaneers has made a mess of
our food production and distribution system. If you can face the ravages of the mass meat industry without becoming a vegetarian, you are
ready for a job as Dick Cheney's private chef. Despite its pithy topic, the film never lapses into jargon. Nor does lose its pace or punch.
Grounded with excellent appearances by regular down-home farmers and true mainstream folk, this is a march to where we all
live and eat. Lets hope it has an impact. Thanks to Jeff & Cathy Frank for bringing---and keeping---it here. Bring the kids. They'll never drag
you to McDonald's again!!
In Mortal Hands – A Cautionary History of the Nuclear Age
by Stephanie Cooke
Bloomsbury, New York, 2009
From the sharper-than-sharp images of the planet taken from Satellite’s circling the globe to thrilling shots of a Humpback Whale mother supporting her calf on the ocean surface, EARTH, a breathtaking and dazzling new film about our planet’s environment and the creatures who inhabit it will open at the Drexel Theatre, 2254 E. Main St. on Wednesday, April 22 (Earth Day) for a special limited engagement. Conceived by the filmmakers who produced the Emmy-Award winning BBC/Discovery series, “Planet Earth”, the film brings new never-before scene images to the big screen. The filmmakers spent five years making the film, including 4,500 days in the field, dozens of camera crews filming at over 200 locations in 64 countries and 250 days of aerial photography to tell a sweeping story about the planet’s landscapes, seasons and species. Earth combines rare action, unimaginable scale and impossible locations by capturing the most intimate moments of our planet’s wildest and most elusive creatures.
U.S. vs THEM – How a Half Century of Conservatism Has Undermined America’s Security. J. Peter Scoblic. Viking (Penguin,) New York, 2008.
In a work that is well focussed, Peter Scoblic has written an intriguing historical review of the second half of the Twentieth Century on into the recently passed Bush regime. In U.S. vs. THEM, the writing narrows on to a main theme of how the decisions and actions of the conservative/neoconservative mind have only increased the nuclear danger to the world. At times the consistency of that narrow perspective can be irritating as a bit more contextual perspective, a slightly broader sweep could have presented a broader historical picture, but that was distinctly not Scoblic’s purpose and the book needs to be read on that understanding. There is much more to conservative and neoconservative policies and actions than the increasing nuclear proliferation threat, but this work retains an accurate and direct view of the nuclear issue.
In a work that is well focussed, Peter Scoblic has written an intriguing historical review of the second half of the Twentieth Century on into the recently passed Bush regime. In U.S. vs. THEM, the writing narrows on to a main theme of how the decisions and actions of the conservative/neoconservative mind have only increased the nuclear danger to the world. At times the consistency of that narrow perspective can be irritating as a bit more contextual perspective, a slightly broader sweep could have presented a broader historical picture, but that was distinctly not Scoblic’s purpose and the book needs to be read on that understanding. There is much more to conservative and neoconservative policies and actions than the increasing nuclear proliferation threat, but this work retains an accurate and direct view of the nuclear issue.
The Uncultured Wars – Arabs, Muslims, and the Poverty of Liberal Thought.
Steven Salaita.
Zed Books, New York, 2008.
Steven Salaita.
Zed Books, New York, 2008.
“The Uncultured Wars” comprises an excellent series of thought provoking essays, the excellence deriving from their ability to provoke thought that should be one of the hallmarks of academic works. As such Steven Salaita writes as an advocate of a position rather than pretending dispassionate objectivity, or “myth of disinterest” in Salaita’s own words. I will return to that idea later as for my own personal interests it is contained in one of his more interesting essays. Generally, these essays are well constructed, leading the reader to consider how subtle and yet how obvious racism is in the U.S., Arab/Muslim racism in particular.
A Review of THE SUPERFERRY CHRONICLES: Hawaii's Uprising Against Militarism, Commercialism and the Desecration of the Earth
by Koohan Paik & Jerry Mander.
[Available from: http://www.koabooks.com/ ISBN13:978-0-9773338-9-9 ]
The sleek, aluminum mega-catamaran streaksacross the sea swells at forty miles an hour. Powered by jet engines, it rides high, skimming the surface on twin hulls that slice sharply through the water...and also, incidentally, accidentally through any dolphins, whale pups, sea turtles or, for that matter, human protesters that happen to get in the way.
Five stories high and a football field-and-a-half long, the superferry can carry 866 civilian or military personnel, 282 civilian cars and trucks...or an unknown quantity of Stryker Depleted Uranium-firing military tanks across the high seas and into shallow water on any island chain or continent. China, and other potential US rivals, please take note.
by Koohan Paik & Jerry Mander.
[Available from: http://www.koabooks.com/ ISBN13:978-0-9773338-9-9 ]
The sleek, aluminum mega-catamaran streaksacross the sea swells at forty miles an hour. Powered by jet engines, it rides high, skimming the surface on twin hulls that slice sharply through the water...and also, incidentally, accidentally through any dolphins, whale pups, sea turtles or, for that matter, human protesters that happen to get in the way.
Five stories high and a football field-and-a-half long, the superferry can carry 866 civilian or military personnel, 282 civilian cars and trucks...or an unknown quantity of Stryker Depleted Uranium-firing military tanks across the high seas and into shallow water on any island chain or continent. China, and other potential US rivals, please take note.
Hope Destroyed, Justice Denied: the Rape of Palestine
by William A. Cook
EXPATHOS, Groningen, Netherlands, 2008
The cover of Hope Destroyed, Justice Denied: the Rape of Palestine tells a significant story on its own: from a Palestine of green dotted with a few Jewish settlements, mainly in the north, transiting through the UN partition plan designation and the 1967 war to what is now the reverse - a small strip of green on the coast at Gaza, and a small sprinkling of isolated green bantustan communities huddled in the middle of Israel. The Jewish community in Israel has been very successful in their ongoing purpose to achieve dominion over all the lands of Palestine. They have achieved this by abrogating and denying almost every international law that has been established to govern how one group of people should interact with another in times of peace and war, but mostly war.
by William A. Cook
EXPATHOS, Groningen, Netherlands, 2008
The cover of Hope Destroyed, Justice Denied: the Rape of Palestine tells a significant story on its own: from a Palestine of green dotted with a few Jewish settlements, mainly in the north, transiting through the UN partition plan designation and the 1967 war to what is now the reverse - a small strip of green on the coast at Gaza, and a small sprinkling of isolated green bantustan communities huddled in the middle of Israel. The Jewish community in Israel has been very successful in their ongoing purpose to achieve dominion over all the lands of Palestine. They have achieved this by abrogating and denying almost every international law that has been established to govern how one group of people should interact with another in times of peace and war, but mostly war.