Cleopatra Developments

A review of a new book out on Cleopatra, written by Stacy Schiff:http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-stacy-schiff-20101107,0,2749115.story.  The article says Hollywood is going to do a film version with Angelina Jolie reprising the Elizabeth Taylor role.  Hope it's good.  The famous Cleopatra version with Taylor isn't that great of a movie but worth the money to see Elizabeth in prime vamping mode.  Burton played Marc Anthony as a scrawny, pale, drunk Welshman.  Had a great voice, though.
Saw "Rules of the Road" this past Friday, which starred Robert Downey and that Zach Garaffuldududiddis guy with the beard who plays essentially Zach Garaffuldududiddis in each role I've seen him.  Downey deserves a better story, a better script, and a better director than he's getting.  Go see it if you want: some laughs here and there but once you've seen the greatest road movie, "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles," this latest treatment of the genre doesn't come close to measuring up.

Watched mostly crappy football--Texas, Baylor, Dallas all sucked wind.  At least Baylor's game was during a glorious fall day, which gave me an excuse at halftime to finally clean out the storage shed, something that Mrs. Bulba has been on my ass about for a good three months now.  Hers is a furtive motive: she didn't want it so much tidied up but rather envisioned space cleared in order to move current furniture out to the shed and newfangled stuff into the house.  Cunning creatures, women, and reading up on Cleopatra would be a good lesson out there for all of you young dudes thinking about throwing in with that hot honey of yours who makes all of those cooing sounds at the right times.  Anyway, the shed has room for a couch and easy chair and I hear there's a couple of items "on hold" at Pottery Barn.  Defeated again.

Olbermann Sent to Time Out

MSNBC has "suspended without pay" its star player, Keith Olbermann because he gave money to a bunch of Democratic Party candidates:http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/05/olbermann-donated-to-three-dems-in-apparent-violation-of-nbc-policy/.  Apparently, MSNBC is still under the impression that there is some gentle soul out there who thinks the network is a sanctuary for objective news coverage and equitable commentary, so they're playing this parlour game until the smoke clears.   I pretty much assumed that Olbermann gave money to Dems and have never been under the impression that he was pretending to be an objective news deliverer, ala the great pretender himself, Dan Rather.  Olbermann, O'Reilly, and all of these guys (that includes you, Rachel Maddow) certainly have convictions but they understand very well their roles to preach to their respective choirs to keep the ad money rolling in.  MSNBC is full of crap (see above) for thinking we somehow don't know it.

Prop. 19 and Other Election Stuff

Proposition 19, the California initiative to legalize possession and cultivation of relatively small amounts of weed for personal use failed yesterday.  Here's a short piece about the measure that appeared before the election: http://chronicle.com/blogs/brainstorm/kristof-crouch-soros-and-mcnamara-on-prop-19/27987.  Call me whatever you want (and I've been called lots of things) but I agree with the voices in the article, even arch liberal George Soros--this war we have on pot is nuts.  People want to smoke weed and it's no worse for you than alcohol.  I agree that pot is a gateway drug and a lot of people begin their drug abuse tailspin through pot usage just like I know for a fact that alcohol does the same for many.  But, most pot users--like most alcohol users--do so and live responsibly at the same time, reporting in for work each day and baking delicious brownies at night.  We've got better uses for our tax dollars and police and I have a little spot in my backyard that gets just the right amount of sun and shade.

Lots of Republicans won last night.  You think Obama overreached or what?  I thought he was smarter--a big chunk of the country identifies itself as "conservative"--much more than "liberal," so he maybe should have had one of those best and brightest surrounding him point that little fact out along the way while he was ripping the Republicans a new one.  The R's now have Congress and  I'm not sure they know what they're going to do with it but I do know for sure that John Boehner is going to be lighting up Camels in his office while cheerfully suggesting that Nancy Pelosi can go suck it.  Anyway, I think that despite the big win in Congress, Republicans would make a mistake by thinking it's a mandate of some sort--it was a market correction of the political variety.  I have every confidence that the R's will muddle around and screw up things in fine fashion which should work in the president's favor in a few years.  But, for the moment, he can sneak over to Boehner's office for a smoke.

The day following elections should be reserved for the expeditious removal of political signs from public and private places, along with a ritual peeling off of bumper stickers.  Note: for those of you whose candidates won, you come off as a preening ass by leaving your bumper stickers affixed to the Prius.  If you lost, you appear as the bitter, self righteous ass variety.  Don't be an ass.  In fact, all the world and especially your friends and neighbors would much rather not know your politics at all or get your prayer train emails or see you without makeup.  Speaking of which, I live in an area with a lot of transplants from other parts of the country.  You see them on Saturday or Sunday mornings in public venues (HEB, kids sporting events, etc.) wearing absolutely no make up, the effect of which is typically hideous.  That contrasts with a Texas (or Southern) girl who wouldn't show up to a dawn hanging or 6:30AM 10k with a 105 degree fever without the expert application of makeup and a smart touch up of their hair.  Reminds once again that once you go north of the Red River, it gets a little dicey in the female department.  Hear the pot's better in California, though.

Wayne's Alamo

They had a fandango in San Antonio to celebrate a big anniversary for John Wayne's version of the Alamo story, it's 50th anniversary premiere: http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dgagliasso/2010/11/01/john-waynes-dream-the-alam0-at-fifty/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BigHollywood+%28Big+Hollywood%29&utm_content=FaceBook  Skip the political stuff in the article if you want, the real story is the making of that film and for all its faults, it's a pretty good movie.  Great character actors and no computerized special effects--those are real extras portraying soldados. 
They built an awesome set for the movie out on Happy Shahan's ranch near Bracketville.  I went there once and you really get more of a sense of the Alamo at the ranch than by visiting the real thing.  Out there, you get the dimension and relative remoteness compared to what's left of the compound in San Antonio, which is essentially the famous chapel and the foundations of a few of the blockhouses.  You don't have raspa vendors or tour buses out there, either.  I met Shahan once, and rode around on the ranch with him.  He told me a few stories about the filming of the movie and how much he liked Wayne and the crew.  BTW, Wayne and the cast and crew stayed at the barracks of the old cavalry fort in Bracketville.  If you're in the mood, you can rent those out now.

Left, Right, Left, Right...

An interesting study on why people turn out to be liberal or conservative:http://www.miller-mccune.com/politics/a-new-take-on-political-ideology-24683/.  Maybe, though there are some obvious exceptions to Vigil's thesis.  Anyway, go vote tomorrow and then please remove your hideous yard signs and bumper stickers for your favorite candidates--they've influenced no one but irritated many.  My next door neighbors--a nice, smart retired couple who are uber Democrats not only have political signs but sub signs on the larger signs.  These smaller signs spell out the legal penalty for removing or defacing political signs.  What happened was that during an election a few years ago, I went out to get my paper one Saturday morning and saw their signs were knocked down.  This was the obvious work of teenage boys roving around on a Friday night, bent on tearing up something when mailboxes prove unavailable.  But, nice next door neighbors interpreted it as the work of nefarious Republican operatives (is there any other type?) bent on the reintroduction of back alley abortions and killing old people.  So, if you ever think of knocking over the signs on my block, please be advised to read the smaller signs first.  Especially, if it's Karl Rove out raising Hell and knocking over mailboxes.