The susan miller daily political obama campaign

TV viewers can’t seem to escape Virginia Madsen these days. No, she’s
not a Hollywood bad girl being exposed and dissected by tabloid TV
shows, or the star of a new fall sitcom. Nor is she taking to the talk
show circuit to promote any feature film at the moment. Rather, the
wide-eyed, smoky-voiced Madsen, who made a splash in movies like
Sideways and Candyman, has hit the airwaves to spread the word about a
couple of seemingly disparate matters of interest to women —
encouraging them, via a public service announcement, to get involved
in the political process, and selling them, via a highly visible
multimedia campaign from Grey, on the benefits of a popular, wrinkle-
combating drug. Allergan, manufacturer of Botox, of which Madsen is
the face, partnered with the League of Women Voters on an initiative
called Freedom of Expression Through Film. Playing off the Botox
tagline, the drug maker calls the public-awareness campaign “dedicated
to voter education and self-expression.” Madsen played a major role.
Beyond the PSA, the actress crisscrossed the country on a 10-city tour
this summer on behalf of the 88-year-old nonpartisan League. Fighting
the effects of aging and inspiring political involvement would not
seem to have much in common. But Madsen ties it all together,
explaining, “It really is about the total woman. We’re complicated
creatures. There are so many aspects to us, so many different choices
we have as women today with our bodies, our minds, beauty, brains-and
one of the most important choices we have this year is voting.” In a
historic political year in which celebrity has played a starring role
— from Oprah and Paris Hilton to the megawatt impact of Obama and
Palin — the Madsen-Allergan-League partnership made for an ingenious
and increasingly common intersection of celebrity, politics and
commerce. And with our celebrity-fixated electorate engaged in the
pursuit for the White House like never before — as evidenced by
record ratings for both political conventions — it’s no wonder
advocacy groups, marketers and media brands all have sought to cash in
on that heavy consumer interest. Another high-profile, celebrity-
centered link-up encompassing politics, marketing and civic awareness
was initiated by Declare Yourself, a nonpartisan voter-registration
group founded by legendary TV producer Norman Lear. Its eye-catching
campaign to encourage voter involvement roped in A-list young stars
like America Ferrera, Zac Efron and Jessica Alba, whose arresting,
duct-tape-bound image got tongues wagging when it rolled out a couple
of weeks ago. “The celebrity involvement this year is more intense,
more visible and more pragmatic,” says Marc Morgenstern, executive
director. “They feel very strongly about this election-it’s not a
casual thing. They’re going out of their way to use their appeal to
get out the youth vote.” Corporations jumping on the Declare Yourself
bandwagon include American Eagle Outfitters, which marketed a Declare
Yourself T-shirt, and Apple’s iTunes, which featured an exclusive
cover of Alice Cooper’s “I’m Eighteen” by Sean Kingston. “Working with
partners like this gives us a bigger footprint, and that’s critical,”
says Morgenstern, whose organization reports registering some 2
million voters since 2004, about 750,000 of them this election cycle.
While those examples had civic mindedness at their core, most brands
have taken a cheekier approach. Unilever’s politically themed
iteration of the long-running “Axe Effect” campaign had Hillary
Clinton donning both Obama and McCain buttons during the primaries.
Another lighthearted entry was the “presidential campaign” of Captain
Morgan, mascot of the Diageo rum brand, who made appearances at both
political conventions after the marketer secured sponsorship rights.
Meanwhile, Miller High Life, a MillerCoors brand, had a beer delivery
guy touting his “Common Sense Party” via the Web and appearances at
sporting events and nightclubs. And the restaurant chain Denny’s
launched a “Vote for Real” contest seeking best look-alikes of the
presidential candidates. Flipping channels, it’s evident the range of
entertainment-media brands that have — along with some of the
marketers whose messages they carry — aligned themselves with this
year’s presidential contest. Forerunner Comedy Central continues to
break ratings records with its “Indecision 2008” coverage on The Daily
Show and The Colbert Report. Following suit, networks including
Nickelodeon, MTV, BET, Lifetime, CMT, Spike TV and Logo have
capitalized on the public’s fascination with the campaign with
dedicated programming, candidate debates, town halls, streaming video,
user-generated content — even made-for-TV movies. Rainbow Media’s We
cable network has made a voter-registration drive (goal: 1 million
women) the center of its branding campaign, enlisting the likes of
Geraldine Ferraro, former U.S. Rep. Susan Molinari, and entertainers
Kelly Ripa, Ricki Lake and LeAnn Rimes. Sibling net IFC, which took
only a toe-in-the-water approach in previous elections, this time
rolled out news specials, audience polls, on-demand content, streaming
video, extensive primary and convention coverage, and blogs. “We’ve
never done anything of this magnitude before,” says Evan Shapiro,
president of Sundance Channel and IFC. “Our Web traffic is up, we’re
getting covered by other media and our viewers like it because it’s a
reflection of their independent mind-set.” Meanwhile, syndicated
entertainment shows — known more for chasing Britney Spears and
Brangelina than for their political coverage — also have devoted more
time to this star-studded election cycle. Access Hollywood, from NBC
Universal, found ratings gold with its interviews of Barack Obama and
his family. Ratings shot up 25 percent week over week and 30 percent
in the all important women 25-54 demo, while Web traffic jumped 165
percent. As executive producer Rob Silverstein points out, “These
politicians are the biggest stars out there right now.” Adds IFC’s
Shapiro, “Celebrities pale in comparison to the star power of Obama
and Palin. This election is high drama. It’s better than Gossip Girl.”
For Hollywood stars to link with political causes and candidates is
nothing new, of course. But that trend certainly seems to have hit a
saturation level in 2008, with Oprah Winfrey’s powerful endorsement of
Obama as the tipping point. The question-for the political parties
marketing their name-brand candidates as well as brands and
nonpartisan groups aiming to take advantage of the spotlight-remains:
Is a celebrity’s involvement good, bad or inconsequential? A cause or
a campaign with a big-time star on its side can most assuredly raise
money, draw crowds and generate buzz, but there can be a downside. “If
you use celebrities in your campaign, you’ll be tarred as an elitist,”
explains Howard Bragman, CEO of the public relations firm Fifteen
Minutes and author of the forthcoming Where’s My Fifteen Minutes? That
is especially true for a superstar like Obama, who has attracted the
support of a range of Hollywood heavyweights, including Steven
Spielberg, Barbra Streisand and Ben Affleck. Therefore, Obama, says
Bragman, has had to be “appropriately cautious, knowing that it could
work against him.” Still, others contend that at the end of the day,
celebrities have little real influence. “There’s not a lot of
evidence, historically, to show that celebrity endorsement has an
impact on how people vote,” says Darrell West, political science
professor at Brown University and author of Celebrity Politics. “Most
people in middle America and elsewhere look to celebrities for
entertainment, not for advice on presidential politics.” T.L. Stanley
is a frequent contributor to Special Reports. She can be reached at
tlstanley8@yahoo.com.

NEW YORK Though most experts say there wasn’t a clear winner in last
week’s presidential debate, Barack Obama crushed John McCain — on the
search ad front, at least. So says

Stay connected to what’s happening in the advertising industry with
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George Lois, Creative Director – Good Karma Creative with Eleftheria
Parpis; On The Spot, Jeff Lucas; On The Spot Bryan Buckley; Kamau High
interviews Mark Tutssel, chief creative officer of Leo Burnett
Worldwide. ; Mark Tutssel; leo burnett; Kamau High interviews Joyce
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about the Adweek.com relaunch.; Adweek; Relaunch; alison fahey;
welcome;

NEW YORK Though most experts say there wasn’t a clear winner in last
week’s presidential debate, Barack Obama crushed John McCain — on the
search ad front, at least. So says

Who would have guessed that the next generation of CMOs would need an
in-depth understanding of a trade that goes back to the days of
Benjamin Franklin?

Next year will undoubtedly be full of further surprises for the
world’s marketers, with changes in political leadership both in the
U.S. and other world markets creating challenging environments for
businesses of all sizes.

AdweekMedia’s At The Roundtable is a dynamic business networking and
collaboration tool for media, marketing and advertising experts and
enthusiasts.

The gwen ifill pbs questions debates presidential

Workers ready the stage inside the Ford Center at the University of
Mississippi in Oxford, Miss., for Friday’s presidential debate. Paul
J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images)

OP-ED:
To put it mildly, this has not been the most substantive of
presidential campaigns. We’ve endured endless discussions about flag
pins and lipstick, Paris Hilton and former pastors, and a whole raft
of controversies so meaningless they fly right out of our heads as
soon as the next absurd attack ad is unveiled and played dozens of
times on cable news. But on Friday, Americans will finally get an
extended look at and Sen. Barack Obama talking about issues. That is,
we will if the journalists moderating the debates will let us.

The debate moderators have some ground to make up. It’s not just that
the day-to-day coverage of the campaign has been focused on pointless
trifles, but the primary debates appeared designed to test candidates’
abilities to answer the most absurd questions journalists could
devise.

In the primary campaign, there were 32 nationally televised debates,
more than ever before. In an era in which the typical soundbite of a
presidential candidate on the evening news is less than eight seconds
long, so many debates might have offered voters an opportunity to
learn more than they would ever need to know about where the
candidates stood on issues and what they wanted to do as president.
Instead, the media figures who moderated the debates — mostly
television news personalities — seemed to work overtime making
sure that substantive policy discussion would be overwhelmed by fluff
and trivia. As discovered when analyzing the 2,300 questions asked in
these debates, substance often took a back seat to personal questions,
“gotcha” questions and just plain ridiculous questions.

Candidates were asked to name their favorite Bible verse, forced to
choose between the Red Sox and the Yankees, queried about what costume
they’d wear on Halloween, and asked question after question about
polls and political strategy. They were forced to defend statements
made by their supporters, required to rehash campaign gaffes, and told
to raise their hands in response to numerous questions, as though they
were schoolchildren.

The problem wasn’t just with the questions that were asked, but with
those that weren’t. Only 9 percent of the questions concerned the
economy, which has become the most important issue in the general
election. Only six questions out of the total of 2,300 touched on the
growing crisis in the mortgage industry, which was already making
headlines in 2007. Only two questions touched on the issue of
declining wages. There were dozens of questions about oil prices, but
only three about conservation and renewable energy. There was not a
single question about the Bush administration’s unprecedented use of
signing statements, its dramatic claims of executive privilege, or its
extraordinary secrecy. The debates featured only one question about
wiretapping, and only two questions about the prison at Guantanamo.

If nothing else, the shabby treatment was bipartisan: The Democratic
and Republican candidates faced equally bad questions. As the primary
campaign went on, furthermore, the debates became less and less
substantive; by the campaign’s final period, non-substantive questions
outnumbered substantive ones. And the candidates at the top of the
polls, including Messrs. Obama and McCain, were more likely to be
asked trivial questions than those at the back of the pack.

The blame, however, should not be spread equally. Two networks stood
out for sticking to matters of policy: PBS and Univision. Every
question asked in the PBS debates was substantive, as were 82 percent
of the questions asked in the debates sponsored by Univision. At the
other end of the spectrum, only 46 percent of the questions asked in
the ABC debates were substantive, as were only 45 percent of the
questions in the Fox News debates.

The upcoming presidential debates will be moderated by Jim Lehrer of
PBS, Tom Brokaw of NBC, and Bob Schieffer of CBS; PBS’ Gwen Ifill will
moderate the vice-presidential debate. While all four are respected
journalists, so are many of those who moderated the primary debates
that received, with good reason, such poor reviews. One hopes they
will focus on some of the critical issues that got ignored during the
primaries.

We’ve been told repeatedly that this is an historic election, and the
challenges facing the country could hardly be more serious -from a
faltering economy to tens of millions without health coverage to two
wars still being waged overseas. Forty-eight years after John F.
Kennedy and Richard Nixon walked into a television studio together for
the first televised debate, these events are still the best look most
citizens will get at their next president and vice president, and the
best chance they have to assess their habits of mind, their political
philosophies, their perspectives on our country and the world, and the
things they want to do once in office. During the 2008 primaries, that
opportunity was squandered. It would be a shame if it happened again.

Substantive Presidential campaign? When was the last Substantive
Presidential campaign? The one where Karl Rove used the race card on
McCain in South Carolina? The one where fear mongering won out in
2004?

My vote is with Obama, based on issues important to me and my family,
and the nation as a whole.

I agree with kilgoretrout, Hannity (Me! Me! Me!) would hog the entire
debate, just to hear himself talk – and I am not a liberal.

The thing is it will be very difficult to find any journalist who
ISN’T biased, mostly for Obama.

I think we need to forget about Bush policies and how BO and McCain
voted (we’ve already heard all about that), and focus on the policies
of Obama and McCain. This is what we need to know; this isn’t a
discussion of the past, but one of the future.

I just don’t want to see a serious debate turned into a socialist
pile-on attack on McCain. Right now, I just don’t see how it will turn
out to be anything else, from what I am hearing and reading on PBS,
NBC, and CBS.

The main reason Hannity cannot be involved is because he’s a bloated,
drooling, cantankerous pile of fool.

As for your second suggestion- don’t get me wrong- I respect Rush for
how good he is at what he does. But that would never, ever fly, and
you know it. Hannity is a total idiot, but at least he’s on a network
that pretends to be fair and balanced. Rush isn’t an idiot (not even
close), but he has never claimed to be non-biased.

Why is it so important to ask questions about Bush policies, Paul?
Last time I checked, he wasn’t running for office. How about asking
the candidates about their own policies? I know you would like to
portray McCain as a 3rd Bush term, but the only people stupid enough
to believe that are already Obama supporters.

What do you mean all four are respected journalists, 2 from PBS 1 from
NBC and 1 from CBS all cheerleaders for Obama. How about adding
Hannity or Limbaugh? Boy even 4 to 1 Rush would steal the show and ask
some real questions. Oh wait, I just answered my own question.

Workers ready the stage inside the Ford Center at the University of
Mississippi in Oxford, Miss., for Friday’s presidential debate. …

Don Lambro and Ralph Hallow discuss the days news.; politics;
washington dc; washington times; Iraq’s Ambassador to the United
States, Samir Sumaida’ie, discusses Iraqi stability during a visit to
The Washington Times Tuesday, May 6, 2008.; Ambassador; Iraq; War;
community-technology-lifestyle; iran; Thousands greet Pope Benedict
XVI as he drives through Washington, D.C., on April 16, 2008.;
Benedict XVI; pope; washington dc; A Washington, D.C.-based cab driver
recovered from a traumatic time in his life thanks to the power of
music.; cab; karaoke; taxi; washington dc; Iraq’s Ambassador to the
United States, Samir Sumaida’ie, discusses Iran during a visit to The
Washington Times Tuesday, May 6, 2008.; Ambassador; Iraq; War; iran;
Iraq’s Ambassador to the United States, Samir Sumaida’ie, discusses
using oil proceeds to pay for reconstruction.; Ambassador; Iraq; War;
iran; oil; reconstruction; Iraq’s Ambassador to the United States,
Samir Sumaida’ie, discusses politics a visit to The Washington Times
Tuesday, May 6, 2008.; Ambassador; Iraq; War; iran; oil; presidential
primaries; The Robotopia Rising exhibit is part of the Kennedy
Center’s “Japan! Culture + Hyper Culture” festival. ; The Newseum,
which bills itself as the world’s most interactive museum, will open
its new $450 million, seven-level museum on historic Pennsylvania
Avenue on Friday, April 11. Take a sneak peek inside; DO NOT DELETE. I
this player that shows on all article detail pages.

Do you think the media has done a good job of explaining the economic
situation to the American public?

Nearly 1,000 veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder were
enrolled in a study to test different methods of ending smoking, with
143 using the controversial anti-smoking drug Chantix. Twenty-one
veterans reported adverse effects from the drug, including one who
suffered suicidal thoughts, a three-month investigation by The
Washington Times and ABC News found.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Wednesday the
resurrected financial bailout bill isn’t perfect but warned that the
nation’s financial crisis will become a full-fledged …

Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Wednesday the
resurrected financial bailout bill isn’t perfect but warned that the
nation’s financial crisis will become a full-fledged …

Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Wednesday the
resurrected financial bailout bill isn’t perfect but warned that the
nation’s financial crisis will become a full-fledged …

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama says it’s time for
Congress “to take some clear action” on a financial rescue for Wall
Street.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama says it’s time for
Congress “to take some clear action” on a financial rescue for Wall
Street.

It is the most remarkable find since excavations in the heart of this
3,000-year-old capital of ancient Israel began 140 years ago: a tiny
clay seal impression also known as a bulla or stamp, discovered near
the ruins of what has been identified as King David’s palace and
bearing the name of an influential courtier mentioned in the Hebrew
Bible.

Tubes, capsules and pellets of used radioactive material are piling up
in the basements and locked closets of hospitals and research
installations around the country, stoking fears they could get lost
or, worse, stolen by terrorists and turned into dirty bombs.

School districts across the region are preparing to cut most
nonessential classrooms needs – from bus routes to class trips – as a
result of budget deficits created by the troubled national economy.

On the Texas Stadium sideline, Washington Redskins safeties coach
Steve Jackson wasn’t reveling in the fact that four of his players
were on the field against the top-ranked Dallas Cowboys offense.

There is no telling how many churches actually participated in “Pulpit
Freedom Sunday,” an event designed to challenge the government’s
restriction on political pronouncements from the pulpit.

Clutter does not a happy couple make. That’s right, household junk is
not just an eyesore, but also, it turns out, a source of marital
strife. “More than eight in ten couples view these items lying around
the house as a source of tension in their relationship,” says Jose
Mallabo, spokesman for Kijiji.com, an online marketplace that recently
conducted a survey of couples and their – superfluous – household
items.

Democrats will let the offshore drilling moratorium expire next week,
caving in to Republicans weeks before the election and potentially
opening the outer continental shelf to expanded oil and gas
exploration for the first time in a generation.

The United States needs new weapon systems, including missile defenses
and other advanced military capabilities, to deter and counter China’s
steady buildup of nuclear and conventional arms, according to a draft
internal report.

Do you think the media has done a good job of explaining the economic
situation to the American public?

The religulous movie movie documentaries up

Jimmy Page, Jack White and The Edge in a scene from David Guggenheim’s
“It Might Get Loud.” Image courtesy of the Toronto International Film
Festival.

If a single lesson emerges from this year’s crop of documentaries at
the Toronto International Film Festival, it might be this: Who needs
Paris Hilton when you have Agnes Varda? Both the overexposed starlet
and the French New Wave legend showed up in Canada this week to watch
themselves on the big screen, although at least Varda had the audacity
to direct herself. Like most of her famous cinephilic colleagues, the
playfully existential octogenarian continually churns out unique,
startlingly creative movies.

She continues that tradition with her latest autobiographical essay,
“Les Plages d’Agnes” (“The Beaches of Agnes), a sweeping visitation to
her childhood and early days as a filmmaker. Hilton, meanwhile, showed
up with paparazzi in tow for the hotly contested premiere of “Paris,
Not France,” first-time director Adria Petty’s exploration of the
hotel heiress’ seedy reputation from the inside out.

Although most attendees were less than enthusiastic about the quality
of the movie, its presence at Toronto was the cause of ongoing
controversy leading up to the premiere, once the festival cancelled
all but one screening in the face of threats from Hilton’s camp. If
the purpose of Petty’s project was to get behind the crazed Hilton
infrastructure, it ended up simply magnifying the problem.

Nevertheless, the movie fit neatly into a visible trend of high
profile subjects among the documentaries in this year’s program. From
Jimmy Page, Jack White and The Edge sending rock fans to cloud nine
when the trio showed up for David Guggenheim’s “It Might Get Loud” to
Hilton’s flash-and-click drumbeat, many of the documentary screenings
seemed to rival those of the narratives at the festival in terms of
sheer star power. Still, the smaller, specialized work of the genre
also had a significant presence. “One of the things we’re trying to do
is create a balance between those high profile, celebrity-driven works
and works that don’t have the same instant recognition, but they’re
very complicated, emotional stories that tell us a lot about the
world,” said TIFF documentary programmer Thom Powers.

Indeed, one of the major themes tackled by several TIFF documentaries,
both large and small, involved comparisons of myth and reality. In
“Les Plages d’Agnes,” Varda films herself walking backwards on a
beach, as if journeying through time and unraveling the crop of
stories that have, over years, helped shape her esteemed career. In
her characteristically jovial manner, she stages love scenes on the
beach to evoke nostalgia for her youth, and even manages to provide a
concise history of the French New Wave with help from her colleague,
Chris Marker, who hides behind a gigantic cartoon cat. Although
frequently humorous, the movie often switches to intimate observations
of Varda’s personal woes, such as the scene in which she bemoans the
loss of her husband, Jacques Demy.

While Varda’s work has specialized appeal, nobody could deny the
built-in selling point for the premiere of “It Might Get Loud,” which
focuses on a conversation that took place on January 23, 2008 between
Page, The Edge and White. The trio discuss their distinctive rock
techniques, which vary wildly from White’s down-and-dirty approach to
Page’s classically trained riffs. Guggenheim cuts between each artist
discussing his background and the details of the conversation, but he
refreshingly avoids the cliche of delving into the culture of rock
stardom.

No sex and drugs here — just musicians talking about music. Fresh
from directing Barack Obama’s biography video for the Democratic
National Convention, Guggenheim told the audience at the premiere that
the idea for the movie came from producer Thomas Tull (“The Dark
Knight”), a longtime guitar player who wanted to see the instrument
get the proper treatment on film. “No one really talks about the
journey of the artist,” Guggenheim said. “We just brainstormed about
how it could be done.”

There’s no doubting that they landed on the right idea. It doesn’t
take much of a trained eye to see that these three musicians aptly
represent separate generational approaches to rock, which makes the
final jam session so interesting. That the collaboration ends up
relatively tame is sort of the point. It’s hard to imagine such vastly
different aesthetic mentalities finding anything in common beyond the
universality of rhythm.

Generational continuity also comes into play in “Every Little Step,” a
fascinating peek at the auditioning process for the recent Broadway
revival of “A Chorus Line,” which recently closed. A kind of “American
Idol” for theater geeks, the movie, directed by James D. Stern and
Adam Del Deo, seems validated by the resulting production (hardly seen
onscreen), which received rave reviews. The filmmakers frame the
auditions with choreographer Michael Bennett’s original formulation
for the show in 1974, when he taped dancers discussing their personal
lives. “It’s really about examining a group of people in this
society,” the late Bennett says. The documentary does that as well,
gliding along the meta wave of a movie about auditioning for a play
about auditioning for a play with ease.

According to Powers, “Every Little Step” and “It Might Get Loud” have
attracted major interest from distributors at the festival, providing
a sharp reprimand to last year’s oft-reported story about
documentaries flailing at the box office and losing the interest of
the industry. “I always thought the doom-and-gloom scenario was
overrated,” he said. “All that argument is saying is that there’s not
a Michael Moore documentary, or an Al Gore documentary, or a penguin
documentary — but those films have always been the weird exception.”

More conventional documentaries are visible throughout this year’s
program. “The Biggest Chinese Restaurant in the World,” from TIFF
veteran Weijun Chen (“Please Vote for Me”), doesn’t quite succeed at
selling you on the significance of the sprawling West Lake Restaurant
in Southern China, which seats five thousands guests at a time, but it
still manages to provide a window into distinctive cultural nuances.
The founder, Mrs. Qin Linzi, reveals that she has $4 million in
assets, and flaunts her prominence in a country that favors male
dominance. Ironically, she remains subservient to China’s communist
ideals while managing her 1000-person staff. Chen’s verite approach
never climaxes with any serious drama, but it retains a mildly
interesting anthropological angle.

The lower budget documentaries at TIFF also grapple with the myth-
versus-reality schema. Although it sounds like a Midnight Madness
entry, “Blood Trail” is actually an amusing portrait of war
photographer Robert King, whose early days as a wannabe
photojournalist in 1993 Bosnia are contrasted with his more
accomplished status in the present. Following King through his giddy
days on foreign soil, when he can barely muster the courage to run
across a bullet-filled battlefield, “Blood Trail” becomes a totally
disarming comedy. Later in his career, King remains not completely
satisfied with his achievements, raising the question of personal
fulfillment that plagues many traveling journalists.

“The Examined Life” also deals with issues of self and purpose, but it
takes the abstract route. Taking a cue from Plato’s line that “the
unexamined life is not worth living,” documentarian Astra Taylor
(“Zizek!”) attempts to create a movie exclusively focused on
philosophy. Anyone with a tendency to squirm during heavy-handed
academic lectures won’t find much respite here, but patient types are
bound to discover a series of entertaining personalities not unlike
those on display in Richard Linklater’s “Waking Life.” Taylor gives a
variety of excitable philosophers, including Cornell West and Avital
Ronell, ten minutes to discuss the practice of philosophical
discourse. Although it generates a constant sense of contemplation,
the arbitrary narrative does start to wear after the first few
encounters.

Comical documentaries present a certain challenge; documentaries that
cause authentic emotional discomfort face an entirely separate one.
“The Heart of Jenin,” a moving portrait of Middle Eastern turmoil seen
from the specific angle of a Palestinian father, uncovers familial
discomfort that few screenwriters could possibly portray. In 2005,
twelve-year-old Ahmed Khatib was accidentally shot by Israeli soldiers
who thought his toy gun was real. After his death, the boy’s father,
Ismael, agrees to donate his son’s organs. Among the many recipients
is an Orthodox Jewish family, whose beliefs don’t exactly correlate
with those of the Khatibs. The tension between the two backgrounds, as
Ismael attempts to maintain contact with the Israeli family and
continually fails, culminates in a remarkable confrontation.

As far as confrontations go, however, nothing gets more awkward than
the ones making up the bulk of “Religulous,” where filmmaker Larry
Charles (“Borat”) follows Bill Maher around as the comedian confronts
a variety of religious extremists and mocks their perspectives.
Maher’s circus routine is easy to enjoy, particularly since it appears
driven by his assertion that religion has become “detrimental to the
progress of humanity.” That conclusion holds steady, but the movie
suffers from serious structural problems. Most of the footage
comprises of one confrontation after another, with very little to
shape the final product into a cogent piece of storytelling.

Only Maher’s fiery, apocalyptic conclusion validates all that comes
before, to the point where it would’ve been better if he had put it
out there earlier. Regardless, the premiere of the film at the Ryerson
Theater had a certain charm to it, as protesters appeared outside the
building while Maher strode the red carpet. When Powers took the stage
to the introduce the film, he set out to give the festival a
democratic edge. “Let’s hear it for the protesters!” he said to
shrieks and applause. “Everyone is welcome in this house of cinema.”

Opera comments 09.30.08 in operation repo is staged

Perpetual New Yorker and is in the process of working on an opera
about the life of Walt Disney. Called The Greatest American, the
musical concerto will not feature any of the songs that brought Disney
features fame, but will tell the story of Walt’s last days as seen
through the eyes of a fictional cartoonist working for the master.

Hopefully the production will follow in opera’s gory tradition and
include a segment where Walt cuts off his own head for cryogenic
freezing. If so, this production will follow in a growing trend of
movies-cum-operas that take some of the weird films of the 20th
century and give them the soprano-alto-bass treatment:

• Lost Highway Opera: (that, according to David Foster Wallace,
was at least partially inspired by the O.J. Simpson case) started out
as a production at Oberlin College and moved with its Austrian
composer Olga Neuwirth to New York’s Young Vic last year. Perhaps
there were subtitles explaining the plot.

• The Fly Opera: ), The Fly hatched into a musical earlier this
month over at the Los Angeles Opera. Famed music composer Howard Shore
did the score.

• Repo: The Genetic Opera: Sure this hasn’t technically jumped to
stage yet, but considering that it’s basically Saw: The Musical (with
a little bit of Rocky Horror thrown in) you can bet your Hot Topic
gift certificate that it will get fans of the torture porn genre into
theaters. Even if it does star Paris Hilton.

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Operation repo the movie’s opera fly genetic

Sure you can see Paris Hilton slashed in forthcoming movie Repo: The
Genetic Opera, but this month in David Cronenberg’s fiendishly
seductive opera adaptation of his 1980s gorefest The Fly, you can see
a naked man go transgenic and turn his entire body into an experiment
in human-insect genetic hybridization. Plus, the naked transgenic guy
will actually be singing real opera. With a real orchestra conducted
by Los Angeles Opera director Placido Domingo. The kicker? Cronenberg
himself has directed this opera production, which retells the story of
teleportation expert Seth Brundle’s tragic love affair with a human
woman and a stray fly whose genetic material is fused with his own.

According to Reuters, Cronerberg has said that the opera version of
The Fly isn’t a straight remake of the movie — so opera-goers
can expect some surprises. Reuters continues:

Movies have rarely made the transition to the world of opera, but
Cronenberg said the basic plot of “The Fly” had the elements of love
story, retribution and transformation common to many operas that made
it ideal for a stage treatment.

If this opera version of The Fly goes well, I’m hoping for an
adaptation of 2001 for the opera hall. Call it a space opera opera.

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The operation repo the movie what’s september repo

The worth of socialite turned popstar was called into question today
(September 12) on ITV’s This Morning.

While asking Buffy The Vampire Slayer star Anthony Head about working
with Hilton on forthcoming rock musical film ‘Repo! The Genetic
Opera’, presenter Eamon Holmes jokingly asked “What’s the point in
Paris Hilton?”

Anthony described the hotel heiress as “Very sweet” and jokingly added
“What’s the point in any of us?”. Head also went on to add that Paris
often jets off to host parties.

‘Repo! The Genetic Opera’ is due for release on the 7th November, with
the soundtrack to the movie preceding on September 30th. The musical
was directed by Darren Lynn Bousman.

The operation repo the movie repo genco future

We all know that Paris Hilton will be making her horror musical debut
in Repo! The Gentic Opera, as surgery-addicted Amber Sweet. Her
character isn’t in the movie a lot, but when she’s there she looks
(duh) phenomenal. We’ve collected a gallery of the red hot outfits our
knife-obsessed lady wears in the role of the daughter of the man who
owns Genco — and your future innards.

Repo! follows the story of a man hired to do the dirty work for a
future corporation, Genco, who loans out organs (human organ failure
being the number one killer of future humans). But when you miss a
payment, Genco sends out the repo man to get its product back. Which
is why Paris needs to look so hot. Wait, did that make sense?

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Place fantastic fest in operation repo the movie

In a Fantastic Fest opening night Q&A; for the US Premiere of his new
comedy “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” in Austin’s downtown Paramount
Theater last Thursday, director Kevin Smithreminisced about the first
time he decided he wanted to make films. “It was actually when I saw
Richard Linklater’s ‘Slacker.’ I said, ‘if this counts as a movie and
this guy can do that in fucking Nowheresville, USA,” Smith joked
ironically, “then I can do that.'”

It’s not hard for one to speculate the causes for Fantastic Fest’s
monumental amount of growth in the past year. Between the number of
distributors that have opened up to releasing genre films and being
noted publicly by Variety President Charles Kooneas being one of the
ten festivals that they love, Austin’s premiere genre film expose,
perhaps best known for world premiering last year’s best picture
nominee, Paul Thomas Anderson’s “There Will Be Blood,” has certainly
broken out of the “fanboy” shell and caught the attention of the
outside world. And now as another September rolls around, Fantastic
Fest has come of age. It’s back, bigger and better than ever and
between it and SXSW, Austin will never again be “Nowheresville, USA”
in the film world.

One of the hottest tickets for the fest was the premiere of the highly
anticipated “Repo! The Genetic Opera.” In this unique offering from
director Darren Lynn Bousman, the mad mind behind the last three “Saw”
sequels, we are presented with a disturbing vision of the future in
which organ transplants are used as corporate leverage in a capitalist
society and can be repossessed if the mortgage payments are not on
schedule. Switching gears to generate a campy cult value in his pet
project, Bousman presents us with an almost entirely computer
generated goth-pop musical, save for the all star cast featuringPaul
Sorvino, Paris Hilton and Broadway legend Sarah Brightman, who was
reflected upon fondly by composer/supporting player Terrence Zdunich
in a post screening Q&A.; “What’s really cool about Sarah, and I never
would have guessed this, is in real life she’s totally goth.” The
addition of the film to the program generated so much interest that
the festival had to add an extra screening which was generously
populated with repeat viewers, placing “Repo!” well on its way to
becoming the next “Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

Also on the bill was a special screening of Kyle Newman’s “Fanboys.”
“It’s been a long time coming,” noted Ain’t It Cool News Founder and
Fantastic Fest Programmer Harry Knowlesin a gleeful introduction. “Ten
years ago I was sent the script for this movie.” A period piece set in
December of 1998, “Fanboys” follows the adventures of four “Star Wars”
crazed teenagers who go a quest to break into the Lucasfilm ranch and
steal a print of “The Phantom Menace,” in the hopes of seeing it
before any other fan in the world. Knowles, who is also a character in
the film, reflected on some of the misadventures the production has
taken. “At one point, I was even going to play myself.” Now in its
final interaction, “Fanboys” is slated for a Weinstein Company release
later this year.

A scene from Fantastic Fest Audience Award winner, Ji-Woon Kim’s “The
Good, The Bad and the Weird.” Image courtesy of Fantastic Fest.

Perhaps the most special event, however, was the presentation of a
series of shorts by fest poster boy Nacho Vigalondo, the director of
“Timecrimes,” a 2007 Fantastic Fest world premiere that went on to be
purchased by Magnolia Pictures and play the Sundance Film Festival.
Vigalondo’s idiosyncratic sense of humor and innovation was perfectly
showcased in this program of short works, which included the zany
science-fiction spoof “Code 7,” the hilariously depressing “Gremlins
3” and the Academy Award-nominated “7:35 in the Morning.” The
presentation was rounded off with behind-the-scenes of footage of a
particularly gruesome vomiting sequence and uproarious interludes from
Vigalondo himself, which ranged from being explanations of the coming
films to spectacles of circus tricks involving honey and confetti.
When it came to heralding in the top prizes at Monday night’s awards
ceremony, however, it wasn’t the premieres that mattered so much as
the quality of filmmaking. Drawing a line in the sand between the
industry mining un-bought gems and the seasoned Fantastic Fest
veterans, the juries all chose to honor modern genre classics from
major festivals around the world. Among the top winners were Tomas
Alfredson’s brilliant child-vampire tale, “Let the Right One In,” Ji-
Woon Kim’s action packed western, “The Good, The Bad and The Weird,”
and Anders Ronnow Klarlund’s biting social satire, “How to Get Rid of
the Others.”

But, for the most part, there was something for everyone and the
greatest meeting of the two worlds, the curious industry first-timers
and the die-hard genre alums, was Saturday night’s premiere of Eduardo
Sanchez’s “Seventh Moon,” a piece of classic horror fare starting Amy
Smartand Tim Chiou. Buyers and geeks alike clamored into their seats
as the longtime home and co-business venture of Fantastic Fest, The
Alamo Drafthouse, put their signature touch on the screening by
offering a custom designed Chinese meal featuring a roasted pig that
was presented to the audience in an appropriate introduction for this
often terrifying tale of a young couple honeymooning in Hong Kong who
find themselves trapped in a deserted forest late one night where they
are stalked by a clan of mysterious, bloodthirsty creatures. Sanchez,
often noted for co-directed “The Blair Witch Project” along with
Daniel Myrick, spoke in a Q&A; about the challenges of the shoot. “The
biggest problem is that in Hong Kong,” Sanchez remarked, “it’s very
densely populated. So it’s hard to make it look like they’re in the
middle of nowhere.”

One could say the same for Fantastic Fest these days, with the growing
number of events and badge holders. But let’s get one thing straight:
The buyer/press/industry presence may be bigger, the attendance may be
sky rocketing so far through the roof that the festival has expanded
to two more venues, and the private, insider, daily, rowdy, no-holds-
barred parties may have become zoos where audiences can watch the
ultimate nerdy arguments between festival guests, but, for the better,
Fantastic Fest won’t really ever grow up. With its seven convenient
screening slots a day, its maximum opportunity for filmmaker/audience
interaction and its sheer dedication to everything fun and outrageous,
the festival still manages to keep the addictively casual atmosphere
that its boy-at-heart founder Tim League has managed to maintain with
the Alamo Drafthouse. For all those present, it is the ultimate
pampering.

Bloodshots 48 Hour Filmmaking Contest: Team: Scottish Rite Productions
Film: “Meet the Maydays” Team Capt – Drew Thomas

Animated Shorts: First Place: “Bernie’s Doll Second Place: “Muto”
Third Place: “Violeta” Special Jury Award for Technical Merit: “Facts
In The Case Of Mr. Hollow”

Fantastic Shorts: First Place: “The Object” Second Place: “Spandex
Man” Third Place: “Stagman” Special Jury Award for Visual Invention:
“Rojo Red”

Horror Shorts: First Place:. “Electric Fence” Second Place: “I Love
Sarah Jane” Third Place: “El Senor Puppe” Special Jury Award for sheer
enjoyability: “The Horribly Slow Murderer With The Extremely
Inefficient Weapon”

Fantastic Features: First Place: “How To Get Rid Of The Other” Second
Place: “Cargo 200” Third Place: “Ex Drummer” Special Jury Award for
originality and vision: “Santos”

Horror Features: First Place: “Let The Right One In” Second Place:
“Acolytes” Third Place: “Donkey Punch” Special Jury Award for most
politically incorrect gore: “Feast 2” Special Jury Award for best use
of latex: “Jack Brooks Monster Slayer”

Audience Award: First Place: “The Good, The Bad and the Weird” Second
Place: “Chocolate” Third Place: “JCVD”

Paris repo album in operation repo the movie

Paris Hilton has to be one of the busiest woman in show business. With
a clothing line, shoe collection, movies, beauty line, TV shows, and
her music career, it’s a wonder how she finds time to do anything!
Paris already wrapped up shooting Repo! The Genetic Opera, but she
also recorded an entire soundtrack for the movie. Paris tells
Hollyscoop, “My movie Repo! The Genetic Opera comes out November 7. My
new album for Repo comes out September 30th. I have five songs on the
new album.” What are your thoughts on Paris the singer? Will you
buy her new album? Check out our exclusive interview with Paris
below…

Black paris hilton in operation repo the movie

It’s not the most obvious choice for a film screening locale,
but last night took her new movie “Repo! The Genetic
Opera” to the masses at the Abbey, a gay bar in West Hollywood
that also happened to be playing host to Lance Bass’s birthday
party.

Joined by her boyfriend , who sported a black DCMA t-shirt and black
jeans, Miss Hilton looked sultry in a black corset-style top, black
leather jacket, and skin-tight vinyl pants.

According to Paris, her relationship with Madden is stronger than
ever. She told press, “We’re really happy. We just had our
seven month anniversary. I’m really in love and excited to be in
a great relationship.”

As for her new show “Paris Hilton’s My New BFF,” she
said that while the winner will attain BFF status, there’s no
replacing her original BFF . “Nicole is more than a best friend.
She’s like a sister since we’ve been best friends since we
were two… She hasn’t seen the show, but she’s
looking forward to it.”

R you the Benji Madden that likes sex games. Why call it a couple when
your with Paris it is the Hilton.