The incredible disappearing Erik Sten
Dick, Dubya and Dollars
Some summertime movies faves
What's up, Vera?
Yes, the automobile's days are numbered, but probably not as much as Veritable Vera likes to think. But the obvious has never been the mayor's strong point, so up they go, endless speed bumps to appease homeowners irritated that -- shock of all shocks! -- there's an arterial in front of the new home! (Wasn't it there all along?) Then there are all those potted plants, curb extensions and traffic islands to "calm" the manic motorist. Never mind that these weave-and-bob obstacles (many of them unlit or unannounced) wreak havoc on front-end alignments and wheel rims of private and public vehicles everywhere. Worldwide Pablo thinks it says a lot about city traffic policy that even the Fire Bureau cannot get the road lumps removed, relocated or retrofitted to match a street's intended speed limit.
Yes, traffic is a problem, and the polls say so. But the city survey Worldwide Pablo filled out made no mention of turning Stumptown's street grid into Disneyland-style micro-village as a solution. Meanwhile, the fact that the city has abdicated any responsibility of enforcing city and state traffic statutes goes ignored.
Pablogram to Vera: Road anarchy is the real traffic problem. Enforce the law, or prepare to let someone else do so.
Is Erik Sten re-electable? Think again
Mike Rosenberger might be gone, but he wasn't the problem, was he? Here's another question everyone is asking privately, but will not say out loud: How did our city's highest elected official in charge of city water service remain oblivious to massive problems that were plainly evident to tens of thousands of ordinary city residents? Remember: Bills are not going out, revenue is not coming in, debts and uncollectible bills are mounting. Worldwide Pablo, not exactly a super-sleuth himself, knew things were seriously flawed when he received only two bills in one year. Even the commissioner's allies are quoted in the local newspapers as saying they knew there was a problem. The "facts were misrepresented to me" story line is not cutting it, commissioner.
Add to this his turncoat attitude toward affordable housing in the city's west end, and it adds up to a very disappointing first (and perhaps final) chapter for the once-promising Gen-X politico.
Pablogram to Erik Sten: You are the weakest link. Good bye.
Pablogram to CSC: Time to dust off the speeches.
The wages of campaign sin is political death
George W. may have been elected president (or appointed, if you want to be churlish about it), but does Dubya have any clue that he doesn't have a mandate? One would never know from the "drill at any cost" energy policy advanced by our nation's leader and his co-president, Dick. Much has been written about Dick & Dubya's devotion to their Oil Patch interests and political campaign contributors, and Worldwide Pablo sees no need to add to that catalog of complaints. But he notes with satisfaction that the public has caught on to this charade and the growing realization that political paybacks do not an energy policy make. Watch the surveys dive, dive, dive, taking with it any chance of enacting the Great Uniter's domestic agenda -- a fact not lost on even the most ardent Republicans.
Pablogram to Dubya: The one who gets the most votes has the mandate.
"Sexy Beast" (now playing at the Regal Fox Cinema, rated for lots and lots of bad language, as well as sex and violence) is not the sort of movie you take your parents to. Or a first date. See it with friends, and then afterward, "talk amongst yourselves." To say that "Sexy Beast" is riveting is to slight it. Intense, driven, focused and original, the film ratchets up the emotions of its viewers until there is nothing left to give or feel. One merely survives ... not unlike the film's characters. By far, the year's most adventuresome and well-acted film, although most would describe "Sexy Beast" as cinema, not merely a film or a movie.
"Boys to Men" (closes Thursday, July 5, Cinema 21, not rated but probably R for nudity and graphic male-male sex) arrives in the tradition of the "Boys Life" series, anthologies of modern gay life that have played in art houses and in gay video sections for the past decade. "B2M" is four shorts; "Crush," about a small-town girl's crush on a gay boy; "The Mountain King," about a tryst between a hustler and a beach boy; "Lost," a vivid male/male sex short that leaves little to the imagination, and whose point is lost on Worldwide Pablo; and "The Confession," about a dying man and his (competing) relationships with the church and his partner. For gay cinephiles, it's worth checking out at the video when it arrives there soon, as it seems very unlikely that B2M will make it the larger art houses in Stumptown.
One-line reviews
Two films you won't want to miss: "Moulin Rouge" (sexy Nicole Kidman and even sexier Ewan McGregor) sing all the popular songs of 1899. And "Shrek" (voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz) tells a tale of beauty, love and a little ass (as in donkey).
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