The Red Riding Trilogy: Great Crime Thrillers

One of the nice things about streaming Netflix is the non-mainstream content you get exposed to.  In this case, Netflix offers the Red Riding trilogy from England.  As a fan of crime dramas, such as Homicide: Life on the Street or Clockers, I am always interested in realistic stories that show the underbelly of society.  Red Riding hits all the right notes.  The trilogy consists of Red Riding 1974, Red Riding 1980 and Red Riding 1983.

The three films deal with the police corruption in North England, specifically the West Yorkshire Constabulary.  Against a series of serial killings and child kidnappings, including the Yorshire Ripper murders, we see brutal police methods put to work to gain a conviction, regardless of the guilt or innocence of the accused.  The top notch cast plays their detectives as hard men with rough edges.  There is no pity in the interrogation rooms.  The story here does more to frighten the viewer than any goofy horror film.  Once you see how utterly helpless suspects can be in the grasp of corrupt police officials you will know what it's like to be truly powerless and vulnerable.

Everyone is on the take as well.  These officers don't so much view their job as serving and protecting as maintaining graft and protecting their patrons.  Indeed, in the first film, asking the wrong questions about a string of child kidnappings stretching back several years gets cub reporter Eddie Dunnford in a lot of trouble.

One of the greatest aspects of the films is the cinematography.  The bleak english countryside communicates the desperation of the people living near Yorkshire and the village of Fitzwilliam.  There is an altogether familiarity for residents of our rust belt of gray concrete, desolate public housing and desperation. 

The films demonstrate how authority can be corrupted in the absence of an informed public who cares about what is happening.  In 1974, especially, we see how a corrupt mall developer uses money and influence to get public officials to do what he wants while they look the other way.  Familiar, eh?

If you are a crime buff and enjoy realistic, gritty dramas on the subject I recommend all three Red Riding films.

Maureen Dowd on Dick Cheney's New Memoir

Maureen Dowd certainly has a way with words and it shines through in yesterday's review of Darth Vader's Dick Cheney's new memoir.  I may or may not read it myself, although it does seem to have a certain self-delusional quality that might be entertaining.  I haven't read George W. Bush's memoir either but only because the going-out-of-business sale price of 40% off at Border's still isn't low enough.  I'll wait for the library to get a copy.

All kidding aside, I will probably want to dust off my history degree and see what the draft-deferring war monger has to say.  It will be interesting to hear him defend the decision to go to war in Iraq, to hear him justify torture and to learn what he thought of the other people in the administration.  Additionally, Ms. Dowd says it was co-written by his daughter Liz Cheney so that should ratchet up the 'gotta be right' tone of the book because no daughter has ever been more of a daddy's girl than her.

I just hope I can get through it without hearing his words in that Burgess Meredith Penguin voice.

Best Buy Gouges Hurricane Irene Shoppers for Water

I've seen this story on a couple sites and thought I'd share. 

As hurricane Irene bears down on the Jersey Shore, the Best Buy in Howell, NJ has taken it upon themselves sell cases of Dasani water for $40.56. One of the DJs for New Jersey 101.5 just sent this photo to theCHIVE.
At a time when it’s so important for these seaside communities to come together to help each other out (maybe even lower the price on water, eh), it’s disappointing to see a massive corporation like Best Buy not only assume zero social responsibility, but also go the extra mile to make a buck by selling bulk cases of water at the single bottle price during an emergency. 

It's like Best Buy in Howell, NJ is doing it's best to give people a reason to boycott them after the storm.  Remember Best Buy, you can shear a sheep many times but you can only kill it once.

United States Announces Plan to Invade the United States, Build Schools, Roads

The United States of America announced today that they are invading the United States of America. In a statement released by the American government, the White House announced that “the government of the United States is dysfunctional and has effectively abandoned the citizenry of the United States.” Citing specific instances that led to the decision to invade, a White House spokesman mentioned allowing the infrastructure of the country to fall into disrepair, high unemployment rates, exorbitant health care costs, failing schools and a failure to effectively budget tax revenues.

“Also,” the spokesman said, “there is a boatload of oil in some places.”

“Since the military is the only government entity still effectively functional, we’ve decided to invade the United States,” the spokesman said. “We plan on improving roads, building schools and bringing 21st century medical care to the overwhelmed populace. Private contractors will be employed to accomplish many of these tasks and they will hire local people in an effort to reduce unemployment.”

The occupation of the country is expected to last some time given the difficulty of the situation, the spokesman said. “Given the ineffectiveness of the government to accomplish even the most basic functions we anticipate a lengthy mission. Hopefully this humanitarian mission will enable the United States government to overcome its problems and once again become a fully functioning member of the global community.”

World Afire, Obama and Congress Head Off to Vacation

As regular readers of this blog know, I campaigned hard for the President.  I liked his passion and thought he had good ideas and a mandate to implement them.  Now I see the stock market in free fall, unemployment at ridiculously high levels and an economy that is brittle.  It's now that he decides to take the family up to Martha's Vineyard.

He has an opportunity at this point in time to be a real leader, to sieze the moment as Churchill or a Roosevelt and give people hope in the face of overwhelming despair.  Now is the time to stand up and try something, anything to get this economy turned around.  Big ideas or small, a pat on the hand or a pep talk, he absolutely must be the leader we elected him to be.  We need a steady hand at the rudder, a calming influence and the hope that things are going to get better.

Maureen Dowd has reffered to him as President Spock and this decision confirms his aloofness.  A lot of the people who lost jobs in 2008-2009 still haven't found work and those that kept their jobs haven't seen their wages come back.  Now it looks like we could be entering those dark days again and here's what we get from this White House:

Press secretary Jay Carney defended Obama's plans to take a break even as he's pledged urgent action on those issues.

"I don't think Americans out there would begrudge that notion that the president would spend some time with his family," Carney said.

I do begrudge him that time.  He needs a little Clinton gravitas, a little of that old "I feel your pain".  We're still waiting, after three years, for things to get better.  I know the Republicans are working against him but that's the name of the game.  That's politics.  They aren't going to work with him so he has to learn to go through them or around them.  If he won't learn that one simple lesson, to stand up and fight for what he believes, he needs to forget re-election and let Hillary Clinton get into a primary fight. 

Finally, the only way he could have been more elitist in choosing his vacation destination would have been to announce that James Taylor would be serenading the whole family on the beach around a bonfire.  If he has to go somewhere, go to a depressed area where all that vacation money would do some good.  A tour of the Lake Erie shoreline gives you Presque Isle, Cedar Point, Geneva-on-the-Lake, Kalahari Waterpark and other attractions.  There's no harm in coming out to see the folks he leads and how we spend our vacations.

The World Appears to be on Fire. These are Your Instructions for Tuesday

Sunday Morning News Shows and the Living Fossils who Roam Them

Just saw Senator John McCain on Meet the Press.  This millionaire who enjoys government health care just explained that Social Security and Medicare must be reformed because the country is going broke. In his next breath he explained how we must continue "the mission" in Afghanistan.  Essentially saying our money is for war, not for our retiring middle and lower income classes.  He had that creepy campaign smile on his face as he said this.

Living skeleton Alan Greenspan just explained, I kid you not, that the United States would never default on its debts because we could always print as much money as we need.  Eventually all of that cash will wash up in the grocery store and we'll be paying $4 for a loaf of bread but I guess we can worry about that later.

Republican strategist  Alex Castallanos just explained that President Obama is responsible for businesses not hiring because he has plans to raise taxes on the 20% of the people in this country who hold 80% of the assets.  Who else is going to pay?  The rest of us are out of money and those are the people who sent our good paying manufacturing jobs overseas.  I'm no economist but won't the deficit be reduced if we cut spending and raise taxes?

Folks, the boat is sinking and the crew is arguing about whether we should use buckets or teaspoons to bail out the water.