Miscellany

Most every weekend, I see a movie (or two) with The Kenosha Kid. Last night we saw Zodiac, which I liked as a police procedural (and for Robert Downey, Jr. whose liveliness is born, I fear, of his screwed-up-edness) and which TKK appreciated for its spot-on '70s detail.

But I keep meaning to recommend The Lives of Others ("Das Leben der Anderen" in the original German), which we saw two weeks ago and which won some big award last weekend. I find it difficult to verbalize why I like a particular work of art, as my appreciation (or lack thereof) for such is almost purely visceral. I don't know enough about technique or technology to discuss, say, the quality of the images in "Zodiac" or the lack of tension in Harold Hodgkins' brush strokes. So I'll just say that hating -- and then growing to love, in a way -- the Stasi officer at the center of this movie was two of most exhilarating hours I've spent at a movie in a long time. I don't want to ruin it for you by talking about plot. Just watch his face during his encounter with a prostitute. That was the moment when I cracked.

Other stuff...

Watertiger alerted me to this NYT feature about "co-sleeping," yet another phenomenon that I never knew had a name. The first paragraph, which is chock full of the "lifestyle" details over which the NYT regularly slobbers reminded me of Gawker's Dialectical Materialism post, which compared the price of all the crap featured in the NYT's odious Sunday "Styles" and the WSJ's icky "Pursuits" features. I couldn't stop thinking about it, so I totaled up the cost of all the stuff mentioned in the just first paragraph of the "co-sleeping" feature:

West Village townhouse: $5,450,000
King-sized Anglo-Indian four poster bed: $4,950
Subscription to Domino magazine: $35
Queen-sized hammered metal four poster bed: $2,599
Queen-sized pink paisley sheets: $169.97 ($59.99 each for fitted and flat; $49.99 for pillowcases)
Queen-sized dust ruffle: $99.99
Ikea trundle bed: $129.99
Grand total: $5,457,983.95

That's a lot of lifestyle! In fairness, I suspect that the NYT writer's purpose in piling on these details is to illustrate the irony in the family that hurls money at the sleeping problem not actually getting any sleep. But it still comes across as mere house porn.

Finally, what is the difference between Ann Coulter calling John Edwards a "faggot" and this? As far as I can see, MoDo's purpose is similar. Notice how she's turned Obama's teenage nickname, "Barry," into a diminutive? How soon until his opponents co-opt that? Way to go, MoDo. Somerby has you pegged, honey.