Here is this week's blog post - Bill
Wild Bill Ketelhut provides the "blog" to this anti-blog
He has a radio program on WXOU out of Oakland University
Wild At Heart
Welcome everyone to the blog today on Inauguration Tuesday. While I didn’t watch any of the festivities due to seeing a press screening of the new animated film, Coraline, I would be remiss if I didn’t bring it up. Reports are saying that over 1 million people filled up the National Mall to witness the historic swearing in of Barack Obama as President. While historic for many reasons, it seems like it will be known for Chief Justice John Roberts messing up the oath (I’m sure it will be a big hit on youtube this week). Next time, bring your note cards! I am glad we finally got Bush Jr out of office and while I won’t get into a gripe session at this time, I hope Obama is up for the challenge ahead of him. I am thankful that I recently was able to get a job after being laid off for just over a year (and no, I don’t get paid for this blog or my radio show on WXOU 88.3FM – www.wxou.org ) but the economy will be a major problem to fix and I wish him the best of luck in getting it done (despite a decent speech, Wall Street indexes fell 2% which is ironic since US Airlines stock rose after their recent plane crash – go figure!). I also find it troubling that the article rating Michelle Obama’s inauguration day wardrobe is longer than the article about her husband’s speech.
From what I have read, I liked his speech’s somber tone with words like, "In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given," he said. "It must be earned". That is exactly correct. We must change the way we have been conducting business and get everyone on the same page to make this country truly great at a time when the pressure is on and the future uncertain. Maybe it is because I read a lot of dystopian literature and can see a road where the US breaks apart and I hope that we can shake the greed that wants to keep us on those paths. Barack seems to have tapped into that today and is putting up a challenge to fight for a brighter future while admitting it will not be easy. So far, Barack has shown more promise that Bush had in 8 years of office. Let’s hope that it continues and bipartisan politics doesn’t ruin that dream.
On almost lighter news, I have recently seen a few films of note. First, The Reader by director Stephen (Billy Elliot, The Hours) Daldry and starring Ralph Fiennes and Kate Winslet. Here we have the story of Michael Berg (David Cross), a teenager in the late 1950s Germany who has an affair with an older woman, Hanna Schmitz (Winslet). The affair between the two is punctuated by Michael’s reading to Hanna which she enjoys as much, or even more than the sex. Michael is devastated when Hanna disappears and has gone on to study law. The class attends a war crimes trial which features Hanna as one of the guards of a concentration camp. Hanna has trouble really understanding what she is doing there and Michael alone realizes that Hanna is illiterate and may be concealing that at the expense of her freedom. The film ends with an older Michael (Fiennes) trying to understand his feelings towards Hanna as she is about to be released from prison (there is also his attempt to examine his relationship with his daughter).
The film takes a look at a really interesting relationship and the question “Can someone do bad things and still be a good person?” but at times it really lacks a definite response from Michael’s character that seems to run away from instead of really trying to understand Hanna. The film could use more intensity in dealing with the subject matter though Kate really does a great job in her role. My grade is a B+.
Speaking of Kate, she also appears in Revolutionary Road which is directed by Sam (American Beauty, Road To Perdition) Mendes. The film also costars Leonardo Dicaprio and gives the two actors to portray a different type of romance that their overly hyped Titanic adventure. The movie really captures the feelings of Richard Yates’ excellent novel set in 1955. The plot focuses on the hopes and aspirations of self-assured Frank (Dicaprio) and April Wheeler (Winslet). When they met, their lives were full of fun and they believed life would hold something special for them. Instead they wind up in suburban hell as Frank works a job at the company his father worked for and finds it soul crushing while April is an aspiring actress at a untalented theatre company. Both are dissatisfied with life in the sterile suburbs until one day April brings up the idea of moving to Paris as a way of recapturing the spark of their marriage (Paris being the one city
Frank has always loved and wanted to go back to). Life all of a sudden seems better with the trip hanging like a carrot in front of them despite the fact that their friends cannot understand why they would want to do something as unconventional as this. Only the institutionalized son of their local realtor really seems to understand what they are feeling suggesting that to be the same as everyone else is the true craziness. Things change as Frank, under the spell of this new life, starts succeeding at work and gets an offer for a huge promotion and the untimely pregnancy of April. Both characters now start to fly apart from each other as their marriage starts to dissolve even faster than before. Winslet and Dicaprio put together stunning performances as the film reaches its climax that truly puts the American dream under a microscope.
The best film of the 2008 and gets a grade of A+.
This relationship definitely makes up for Titanic.
In the concert calendar, we have Nickel Eye (a side project of The Strokes bassist Nikolai Fraiture) on Jan 21st at the Magic Stick. Low Vs Diamond is opening.
On Friday 23rd, the Buzzcocks will be performing at the Leamington Kinsmen Rec Complex while local bands Greenstreet will be @ the University of Detroit Mercy & the Hard Lessons @ The Factory.
On Sunday 25th, Powerman 5000 will be at the Emerald Theatre and you can win tickets by listening to Wild Bill on www.wxou.org between 8-10AM this Thursday 22nd.
Take care and make sure to listen and win tickets to Powerman 5000!!
"MCB IS DETROIT"
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