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Greg Heffley (Zachary Gordon, third from right) and his endearingly easygoing friend Rowley brave middle school in “Diary of a Wimpy Kid.”View this Post in:
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Memories of middle school can reduce strong men and women to shudders of horror as they remember their dorky, lumpy, shape-shifting earlier selves. Yet America’s brave junior high-schoolers continue to endure the experience to this day. Not that they have much choice.
Author and cartoonist Jeff Kinney knows this, and speaks dork-cool truth to cafeteria-bully power in an insanely popular book series now adapted into the delightful movie “Diary of a Wimpy Kid.”
As millions of comforted readers young and older know, the diary belongs to Greg Heffley (Zachary Gordon), a runty dude with the wherewithal to know he’s surrounded by morons (his word, not mine) but without the social skills to outwit, outplay, and outlast them. Or the knowledge of how to at least hang in until high school, when the games only get tougher.
Greg’s diary — or journal, as he’d prefer you call it — is filled with the details of a million little humiliations shared with his fat, endearingly easygoing friend Rowley (Robert Capron), a kind of Zen master in the shape of a Pillsbury doughboy.
And the movie, a jaunty and forthright production with a lively look reflecting the book’s illustrated pages, does a great job of being in two places at once: In the head and gangly bodies of kids, and in the hearts of those of us who have survived grades 6-8.
Director Thor Freudenthal (”Hotel for Dogs”) and his team of writers are at the top of their game in the case of the Cheese Touch, a hideous ostracization that befalls any kid unlucky (or unaware) enough to touch a slice of Swiss cheese, mottled with toxic mold, that has stuck to the schoolyard blacktop for eons.
Don’t ask why the Cheese Touch results in nuclear cooties. It just does.
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Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart star as Cherie Currie and Joan Jett in “The Runaways.”View this Post in:
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When the Runaways cut their first LP in 1976, producer Kim Fowley made sure their ages were printed on the sleeve.
It wasn’t enough that he had the first all-girl rock band on his hands. These were also the girls Chuck Berry used to sing about, 16 years young (if not so sweet).
As he exults it in director Floria Sigismondi’s new movie, “The Runaways,” “Jailbait [expletive] jackpot!”
These days, teen sensations tend to come ready-made straight off the Disney Channel. But the Runaways were raw — and not about to cuddle up to Mickey Mouse.
Lead singer Cherie Currie is recruited because Fowley (Michael Shannon) and proto-punkette Joan Jett (Kirsten Stewart) like her look. Can she sing?
Her experience consists of lip-synching to David Bowie’s “Rebel Rebel” at a high school talent show. She was booed off the stage, but she doesn’t tell them that. The alternative is following in her older sister’s footsteps, working in the nearest taco take-out.
Sigismondi evokes the no-frills, straight-ahead vibe of ’70s drive-in flicks; the first image is of menstrual blood hitting the sidewalk. She has directed pop videos for David Bowie, Bjork and the White Stripes, and this film, she doesn’t pretty up the music scene. She doesn’t have to.
There’s built-in excitement and energy as the band comes together to produce short, sharp shockers such as ch-ch-ch-ch “Cherry Bomb” (improvised by Kim and Joan on the spot in Cherie’s honour).
A glam Frankenstein, Fowley puts the band together piece by piece in his broken-down trailer, barking for more attitude, more sex, more — uh, testosterone.
“This isn’t about women’s lib,” he yells, “it’s about women’s libido.”
Of course, liberation and libido aren’t mutually exclusive, even if this underground Svengali expects to call all the shots. It’s his confusion on that score that probably seals the band’s crash-and-burn fate.
In a scene that deserves its own exhibit in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Infamy, he has the band play on while they’re pelted with trash and dog excrement to prepare for their first gig. It’s unorthodox, but also useful preparation for the road, Sigismondi implies.
It’s a mystery how the intense and flamboyant Shannon (”Revolutionary Road”) continues to fly under the radar.
The same cannot be said for Kristen Stewart or Dakota Fanning. The “New Moon” stars are the right age (19 and 16 respectively), but more importantly they seem of the right time. They suck on cigarettes, party all night, and there’s not a paparazzo in sight.
Proving she’s more than just a wan face, Stewart gets Jett’s peculiar toughness. She’s like John Garfield in a hot red jumpsuit. When the band begins to splinter and Joan starts smashing furniture around the studio, it’s not about ego or bravado, it’s just the frustration of someone who loves what she does and sees it slipping away from her.
Currie is a more vulnerable character, but somehow a less compelling figure. Although the movie is based on Currie’s memoir — it’s lightly structured as an adolescent’s coming-of-age story — scenes picking over her fractured family relationships have a rote feel.
It doesn’t help that Riley Keough (Elvis Presley’s granddaughter), who plays big sister Marie, is a miserable actress — though it’s nice to see Tatum O’Neal back, however briefly, as the girls’ absentee mom.
The inevitable burn-out, such a staple of the rock biopic, drags down the movie just when it’s hitting stride.
It may be true that most rock dreams end with a dose of harsh, cold reality, but Joan Jett’s ongoing love affair with rock ‘n’ roll is proof that it doesn’t have to be that way. Stewart steals the show here, indicating they’ve made the movie about the wrong woman. Jett remains the runaway that got away.
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GOP prepares for floor fight as lawmakers pore over legislative language
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WASHINGTON - House Democratic leaders late Friday were exploring the possibility of a deal with abortion opponents that would clinch the final votes to pass major health care legislation, but they faced stiff resistance from lawmakers who support abortion rights.
It was not immediately clear if the bill could win approval without some concessions to Democrats seeking tighter abortion restrictions.
In similar late-hour wrangling in November, Representative Bart Stupak, Democrat of Michigan, succeeded in winning approval of tight limits on insurance coverage of abortions in the House health care bill.
Mr. Stupak has said he would oppose the current measure without similar limits. Other Democratic opponents of abortion have said they are satisfied with the language in the Senate bill that bans the use of federal money to pay for coverage of the procedure, and they have pledged support for the package, expected to come to a decisive vote in the House on Sunday.
Mr. Stupak introduced a resolution on Friday that would add tougher abortion restrictions to the bill after it is approved but before it is sent to the president — a technique typically used to make minor or technical changes with the consent of both chambers, an unlikely prospect.
“We don’t want another vote on abortion,” said Representative Diana DeGette, Democrat of Colorado and a champion of abortion rights, as she left a meeting Friday evening in the office of Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “We are not going to vote for a bill that restricts women’s right to choose beyond current law.”
Medicare dispute
The abortion issue was just one complication that Democratic leaders wrestled with on Friday. A dispute over Medicare payments rates also flared as rank-and-file lawmakers pored over the detailed legislative language released Thursday, and a handful of lawmakers said their states would be shortchanged by new provisions.Still, Ms. Pelosi expressed confidence that the issues would be resolved. “When we bring the bill to the floor,” she said, “we will have a significant victory for the American people.”
Several previously uncommitted House Democrats announced Friday that they would support the bill. They included four who had opposed the legislation in the fall: Representatives John Boccieri of Ohio, Allen Boyd and Suzanne M. Kosmas of Florida and Scott Murphy of New York.
Republicans, meanwhile, readied for a ferocious floor fight. The House Republican leader, Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, said he would demand that lawmakers call out their votes one by one in the chamber. Other Republicans said they would unleash every procedural weapon available to stop the bill.
The disputes over abortion and Medicare rates were among several fast-moving developments as the Democrats pressed toward a vote.
‘Something historic’
President Obama, making a quick trip to northern Virginia, rallied a crowd of 8,500 supporters at George Mason University. The White House also said he would meet with the House Democratic Caucus at the Capitol on Saturday afternoon.“We are at the point where we are going to do something historic this weekend,” Mr. Obama told the cheering throng.
He continued: “Teddy Roosevelt, Republican, was the first to advocate that everybody get health care in this country. Every decade since, we’ve had presidents, Republicans and Democrats, from Harry Truman to Richard Nixon to J.F.K. to Lyndon Johnson to —” he paused, continuing, “Every single president has said we need to fix this system.”
The argument over geographic disparities in Medicare payments has percolated throughout the yearlong health care debate.
Representative Peter A. DeFazio, Democrat of Oregon, who voted in favor of the legislation in November, warned Friday that he would oppose the current bill unless it increased Medicare payments to states like his that provide high-quality care at relatively low cost. “It does not cost three times as much to do an appendectomy in Miami as it does in Portland,” Mr. DeFazio said. “This has to be fixed.”
Ms. Pelosi acknowledged the concerns at a news conference on Friday morning, and said party leaders would work to address them. Lawmakers from Iowa, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin have been meeting with her to reach an accord.
The growing rancor in the health care debate was illustrated by an extraordinary exchange on the House floor on Friday.
Representative Jason Chaffetz, a freshman Republican from Utah, raised the possibility that some lawmakers were “trading votes for jobs.” He cited a report that Representative Bart Gordon, Democrat of Tennessee, had been promised a job as NASA administrator and that another Tennessee Democrat, Representative John Tanner, wanted an appointment as ambassador to NATO in exchange for his vote.
The two men said the assertions were false.
“That offer was never made, and I would not accept it,” said Mr. Gordon, the chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee, who announced Thursday that he would support the bill.
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US President Barack Obama has described a congressional vote on healthcare reform due on Sunday as a “historic” moment in a century-long struggle.
Speaking at a rally in Virginia, he dismissed criticism of the bill from Republicans and some Democrats.
Appealing to lawmakers and citizens to back the legislation, he said: “The time for reform is right now.”
Democrats are still working to secure enough House of Representatives votes to pass a Senate version of the bill.
The BBC’s Mark Mardell in Virginia says that Mr Obama’s speech was fiery but the Democratic Party seems deflated, with no real desire to motivate the people.
‘Hard debate’
The reforms would deliver on Mr Obama’s top domestic priority by providing insurance to some 30 million Americans who currently lack it.
Calling the battle to create the bill, “messy”, “frustrating” and “ugly”, Mr Obama said the final proposal was the culmination of a year of “hard debate”.
“Every argument has been made,” he told students at George Mason University.
“We have incorporated the best ideas from Democrats and Republicans into a final proposal.”
The House of Representatives and the Senate adopted different versions of the bill in November and December.
The usual procedure would be for two versions of legislation to be combined into a single bill for President Obama to sign into law. But after Senate Democrats lost the 60-seat majority required to defeat a filibuster by Republicans, Democratic leaders decided to use a controversial procedure to ensure the bill’s passage.
Under the plan, the House will vote on a package of reconciliation “fixes” amending the Senate bill.
‘Bill of rights’
The Senate will then be able to make changes in a separate bill using a procedure known as reconciliation, which allows budget provisions to be approved with 51 votes - rather than the 60 needed to overcome blocking tactics.
Mr Obama brushed aside Republican claims that the bill was too costly and said Americans had been told “a whole bunch of nonsense” about its contents.
The reform, he said, “brings our deficit down by more than one trillion dollars over the next two decades. Not only can we afford to do this. We can’t afford not to do this.”
According to Congressional Budget Office, the final version of the Democrats’ healthcare plan will cut the federal deficit by $138bn over 10 years.
The non-partisan body said the proposed legislation would cost about $940bn over a decade.
The president also lashed out an insurance companies whose lobbyists, he said, were prowling the corridors of Washington, trying to prevent the bill passing.
“We are going to end the worst practices of insurance companies. This is a patients’ bill of rights on steroids,” he told a cheering crowd.
The reforms would increase insurance coverage through tax credits for the middle class and expansion of the Medicaid programme for the poor.
If approved, they would represent the biggest change in the US healthcare system since the creation in the 1960s of Medicare, the government-run scheme for Americans aged 65 or over.
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Thousands of anti-government protesters in Thailand have boarded motorcycles and trucks for a mass rally in Bangkok in the latest stage of their campaign.
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Thousands of anti-government protesters in Thailand have boarded motorcycles and trucks for a mass rally in Bangkok in the latest stage of their campaign.
The “red-shirt” movement, many of them supporters of former PM Thaksin Shinawatra, wants the government to step down and call new elections.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has admitted his country is divided, but has refused to step down.
The numbers of protesters are down since the rallies began last weekend.
But thousands of people dressed in red rode motorbikes or boarded cars and trucks to flood the streets of the Thai capital in a bid to boost support for their cause.
Blood protests
Many of the anti-government protesters are from rural areas of Thailand where Mr Thaksin remains popular.
The prime minister has offered to talk to the protest leaders, but only after their campaign in Bangkok is called off.
The red-shirt leaders say they will remain encamped in Bangkok but will scale back their protests in order, as they put it, to conserve energy and resources, reports the BBC’s Rachel Harvey in Bangkok.
Earlier in the week, the protestors spattered their own blood outside the government headquarters and the prime minister’s private residence.
The protesters have sought to distance themselves from Mr Thaksin, - who lives abroad having fled a two-year jail sentence for a conflict of interest case - painting themselves as fighters for democracy against entrenched elites.
They say Mr Abhisit came to power illegitimately in a parliamentary vote after a pro-Thaksin government was forced to step down.
Mr Thaksin was ousted as prime minister in a military coup in 2006.
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The Hump restaurant is accused of selling whale meat, which is illegal in the United States.View this Post in:
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