Disappointments

An Imperfect System

There's going to be another debate with Republican presidential candidates this evening at the North Charleston Coliseum and Performing Arts Center in North Charleston, South Carolina.

This debate is already newsworthy thanks to the decision by Fox Business Network
to cull the field down to just seven candidates for the prime time portion of the debate. Among those who will not be on the prime time stage...

Carly Fiorina, to whose campaign
I have donated on more than one occasion this cycle, and who definitely deserves to be on that stage as much if not more than Kasich, Christie, Carson, and Bush.

I am still hopeful of a good showing by Carly once actual voting begins in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Senator Rand Paul, whose libertarian ideas deserve a place in Republican politics.

I have been underwhelmed so far by Senator Paul's approach this cycle. I think he's gotten some very bad advice, and has not put his best foot forward.

He still belongs on that prime time stage just as much as Kasich, Christie, Carson, and Bush.

To his credit, Senator Paul has said that he won't attend the "kiddie table" debate held earlier in the evening.


I doubt that anything that happens tonight will change the dynamics of the race, but
the GOP has not done itself any favors with the way it has presented its candidates this cycle.

"Do you have a drinking game planned for tonight?"

I've thought about taking a drink every time Trump says something idiotic, but there isn't enough liquor in the apartment...

No Chicken Dinner

So, somebody other than me hit the record-setting $1.5 billion Powerball jackpot last night (there are actually at least three winning tickets so far), which will definitely delay my acquisition of my next new toy...

2017 Jaguar XE

"You don't need one of those. You never go anywhere."

Hardly the point...

Requiescat in Pace

As Dr. Alfred Blalock in Something the Lord Made (2004)

Another morning brings news of the passing of another favorite of mine, English actor Alan Rickman. He was 69.

As is often the case with actors, the obituaries all mention his most famous roles, but omit any mention of the one
I consider his most moving.


In 2004, Rickman starred along with rapper Mos Def (who turned in an marvelous performance himself) in the award-winning HBO film Something the Lord Made. The film tells the story of the relationship between two men who together pioneered open heart surgery in 1944, repairing a heart defect in a 15-month-old baby. It is one of my All-Time Top 10 films.

Rickman's performance is a masterpiece of subtlety and understatement, and proof that a great actor can create drama without chewing the scenery. He was one of those actors who truly did elevate any production in which he took part. I miss him already.

Is Mother Nature is a Science Denier?

From the pen of Henry Payne, whose editorial cartoons you should read often, as I do.

Until Next Time...

In 1996, Alan Rickman co-starred with Liam Neeson in Michael Collins, a film about the life of the Irish revolutionary.

Original 1996 "one sheet" poster

As is usually the case with such movies, great liberties were taken with the historical record, and despite the best efforts of a talented cast and a script by Oscar-winner Neal Jordan (who also directed), the film was a box office dud everywhere except in Ireland.

Rickman portrays Éamon de Valera, basically the antagonist of Neeson's Michael Collins. Rickman succeeds in humanizing the treacherous de Valera, and even manages to make him a sympathetic figure at various moments in the film.

It is a movie worth watching, certainly, not least because of the splendid acting on display. 




Another highlight of the film is its score, by Oscar-winning composer Elliot Goldenthal, which included performances by noted Irish artists Davy Spillane, Frank Patterson, and Sinéad O’Connor. 

Today's send-off is O'Connor's soundtrack recording of the traditional Irish ballad
"She Moved Through the Fair," paired with clips from the film. Enjoy...