Redskins 35, Cowboys 7

Let the Festivus Begin!

Emilio received his first Christmas gift Saturday night: Snoopy in a Chicago Cubs uniform, given to him by Joyce and Weldon Lewis (Astros fans), who also gave the world Jack. Thanks, guys. Now, let's get some runs!

Jack and Julie gave Emilio a comfy, soft, taupe "reversible unisex pram" (looks like a snowsuit to me.) It is labeled for 3-6 month olds and I think he may be able to wear it to his high school graduation.

Julie brought two tins of cookies, some of which, in tribute to Emilio's Mussolini impressions, are shaped like the Italian Peninsula (Mari says they are shaped like Christmas stockings). We consumed a few and then we all exchanged books. Jack and I gave each other hard back copies of Doris Kearns Goodwin's Pulitzer Prize-winning A Team of Rivals (we're researching a possible sequel to The Query). Mari and I gave Julie a biography of Cicero by Anthony Everitt and Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt (mostly because I think she will discover she has a fondness for authors whose last names end with "-itt"). The J's gave Mari a historical novel about Charles the II , another historical novel about Jewish refugees in Italy during World War II , and an herbal eye pac (which is not, technically, a book), and they gave me The Real Festivus: The True Story Behind America's Favorite Made-up Holiday. Mari and I gave Jack a biography of George Washington (His Excellency) by Joseph Ellis.

The evening concluded with talk about paternity and then I forced everyone to pose with food--a cookie in this case, made by Julie and featuring (according to Jack) an evil Asian snow man. (Though I suggested that food be posed with, I must note that Jack took the project with alacrity. There is, I maintain, nothing wrong with that.)

Oleanna's Fatal Flaw

I received an e-mail from Gringo Richardson yesterday that included the following movie review: " . . . watched one of my ten favorite movies again this week – Oleanna. As always I was fascinated and intrigued. I have always wanted to know what the 'turning point' could have been, that is when she was will to confide in him that she was very bad and was going to tell him something she had never told anyone. It seems to me that the prof. mishandled the whole thing from the very start, had three opportunities to redeem himself, assuming he did something wrong, and in the end completely self destructed by what some refer to as a fatal flaw. A classic, 5 stars, two thumbs up."

Oleanna is not one of my ten favorites, Gringo. I thought the professor, played by William Macy, was a total jerk and I associate the film with the conservative backlash against Political Correctness. As I see it, the film encourages viewers to be skeptical of accusations of sexual harassment since the “feminist” student was such a vindictive manipulator. The Human Stain is another film/novel in that vein (here the skepticism was towards accusations of racial prejudice). To be sure, not all accusations of sexual harassment and bigotry are legit, but I have more use for films that level their political critique at other demons.

I think the film does usefully expose the flaw in thinking that one-on-one contact with professors is the pedagogical ideal. Better to get students in a room with several professors at the same time and let the profs keep each other real.

The last film I gave two thumbs up to: Capote.
The last film I gave five stars to: The Edukators.

My top 2 films starring Williams Macy:
1. Fargo (1996)
2. Door to Door (2002--which he also wrote)
Two other recommended films in which Macy appears
1. Spartan (2004; directed by Chicago native David Mamet—who also directed and wrote Oleanna)
2. Psycho (1998; directed by Gus Van Sant)

I’m looking forward to seeing Transamerica, which stars Macy’s wife, Felicity Huffman (I’ve never seen Desperate Housewives).

Top films directed or written by Mamet
1. The Verdict (1982; written by)
2. Glengarry Glen Ross (1992; written by)
3. The Winslow Boy (1999; written by and directed)
4. Spartan (2004; written by and directed)
5. Hoffa (1992; written by)

Ba, bababa, ba-mmdap, mmdap, mmm. . .

That long, skinny gentleman in the white diaper who is looking over the left tit of the somewhat shorter gentleman in the blue onesie is none other than Dr. Glen Brookshire, formerly of The Babys. Sadly, Dr. Glen's image did not survive the last wash, but the memory of his "dip-didip-didip-baaaah" lives on. Big ups to onesie-designer Missy Matthews nee Costello for keeping the dream alive all these years. Babys reunion tour in '06, anyone?

That's me, on my knees, in the middle of the onesie. I'm holding up a microphone for Dr. G's signature send-off. The icon on Mari's shirt represents some version of me as well, I guess: it's a neckless man with a round floating head holding up a stinky diaper icon. The words underneath Emilio's right arm read: "Men Who Change Diapers Rule." Mari actually bought the shirt for me, but I didn't feel that it expressed by unique soul, so I regifted it back to her (my unique soul doesn't mind changing diapers, but demanding rulership rights as a consequence seems a bit ambitious). I end up reading the message a lot more now than I would have if I had chosen to keep it for myself. You'll have to ask Mari if it has had a subliminal effect on my behavior.

Emilio Hits Restaurant Circuit with the J's

According to Jack, Bill Maher says John Roberts is the first gay Supreme Court Justice. Maher's evidence? A photo of Chief Justice Roberts posing with food. According to Maher (according to Jack), only gay men pose with food.

I confess to coercing Jack to pose with an Ann Sather's cinammon roll, but he went for the fruit bowl on his own--not that there's anything wrong with that. (Jack's addendum to the Stewart Postulate: Only gay men force other men to pose with food--not that there's anything wrong with that).

Emilio and the girls handled this and like banter with aplomb. It was the first time Julie had eaten at the Andersonville landmark (though she'd had take-out cinammon rolls) and it was Emilio's first visit to a restaurant of any kind.

The wait staff thought Emilio was beautiful. One of the waitresses told us that babies get their exercise by crying. Her mother once forced her to sit in a chair for ten minutes with her crying baby. It was hard for her to do, but after nine minutes and fifty seconds of wailing, the babe calmed down and slept better than ever that night, she says.

Sometimes when Emilio cries, he looks like Saturday Night Live's Will Forte imitating former Georgia Senator Zell Miller. Zell--the Democrat turned Republican who spoke at George Bush's last Republican National Convention--is a fascist nutbag.

Jack and Julie share our affection for Saturday Night Live and I think we all enjoyed Alec Baldwin's hosting effort this past weekend. Mari particularly enjoyed the Santa's Workshop sketch in which Alec, playing a tough elf from the home office, spoofs his performace in Glengarry Glen Ross. After Dane Cook's surprising performance last week (never heard of him? me either), that's two weeks in a row of good SNL hostage (Julie thought Dane got off to a slow start last week and Jack thought the FCC was going to pull the plug on his opening monologue). I am looking forward to watching Jack Black go for the trifecta this week.

Emilio is 35 Days Old

To See or Not To See?

To See:
1. Syriana
2. Brokeback Mountain
3. King Kong
4. Cache (Hidden)

Not to See:
1. Rent
2. Cheaper by the Dozen 2
3. Casanova
4. Rumor Has It