Obamania, For Real

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  • FletcherB,

    I wonder what all the crazies are going to do with themselves now that chimpybushhitler is gone?

    I wouldnt wonder too hard... I'm sure they'll find a new messiah to follow, soon enough?

    West Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 893 posts Report

  • Sacha,

    Polishin their guns, I'd imagine..

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Hey, I can understand the hatred of John Williams - but I actually liked the version of "A Gift To Be Simple"...waua! Shaker hymns!

    So, do I -- but I liked it even better when Aaron Copland did it and I don't __hate__Williams. He's a perfectly competent film composer and, like it or not, enormously influential. And if I'm going to have to endure an earful of saccharine bombast, Williams makes it relatively painless.

    What really annoys me is that most contemporary composers would pimp their first-born's soul for a commission like that -- and I'd like to think they'd make a little more effort. The funny thing is that American classical music doesn't do statements of grand-scale nobility, or idealized collective emotion. And I can't for the life of me imagine why.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Joe Wylie,

    Polishin their guns, I'd imagine..

    If I didn't find Sacha to be such a paragon of rectitude I might've taken that as some kind of euphemism.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    BTW, did anyone else watch The Daily Show tonight and wonder if the first casualty of the Obama Adminstration will be Jon Stewart?

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Simon Grigg,

    That would be the leaders of Cuba, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Iran, Syria, Burma, North Korea. Hamas as well.

    Or Egypt, those wonderful central Asian nations, Saudi Arabia and a whole bunch more that seemed to have slipped your list.

    Not like you to wallow in hypocrisy James.

    Oh, wait.....

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Oh, and did anyone else realise he's black? I'm kind of hoping that hacks everywhere are quickly going to realise that even the blind know he's black, and it's unlikely to change any time soon.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Stephen Judd,

    "doesn't do statements of grand-scale nobility, or idealized collective emotion."

    ORLY? I thought you liked Copland? Fanfare for the Common Man?

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

  • giovanni tiso,

    BTW, did anyone else watch The Daily Showtonight and wonder if the first casualty of the Obama Adminstration will be Jon Stewart?

    I thought it was great. "Humanity as a moratorium on making jokes about people on wheelchairs. But this is a day for making history, so..."

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • giovanni tiso,

    make that "has a moratorium"

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    I thought it was great. "Humanity as a moratorium on making jokes about people on wheelchairs. But this isa day for making history, so..."

    And that's my point -- you do realise Dick Cheney is out of office? So's Bush.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    I thought it was great. "Humanity as a moratorium on making jokes about people on wheelchairs. But this isa day for making history, so..."

    And that's my point -- you do realise Dick Cheney is out of office? So's Bush.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • giovanni tiso,

    I do, but I honestly don't think they're going to have any trouble at all. I thought it was an exceedingly well sustained episode even when it talked about Obama.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    This is good ...

    WASHINGTON (CNN) — Promising "a new era of openness in our country," President Barack Obama signed several executive orders Wednesday relating to ethics guidelines for staff members of his administration.

    "Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency," Obama said.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Joe Wylie,

    ou do realise Dick Cheney is out of office? So's Bush.

    Gepetto shuffles off to Wyoming in a wheelchair, Pinocchio's packed off to Texas. Pity, really - I'd kind of hoped they'd end up together as an exhibit in some kind of creationist museum, next to the sodomites 'n stegosaurus.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    And George Mitchell, US Special Envoy to Nothern Ireland for the last 13 years, and an active participant in the peace process there, has been named Obama's Middle East envoy.

    Bonus: he's an Arab-American.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    I do, but I honestly don't think they're going to have any trouble at all. I thought it was an exceedingly well sustained episode even when it talked about Obama.

    I guess we're going to have to agree to disagree there, because it seems to me TDS gets downright feeble when they can't avoid Obama (Um, he's got big ears. And, yes, I've noticed he's black. That all you've got.) -- and it's not really that mysterious why. Most people don't make fun of people they like with any conviction. And really great satirists are misanthropic -- they don't like anyone very much.

    This is good ...

    Not to harsh the mellow, nobody every comes into office saying "opacity and a rapacity not seen since the Goths swept over Europe like a tsunami of hairy badness will be the hallmark of my government." The real test is how the Obama Administration is going to react when those ethics standards get broken.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Rich Lock,

    John Williams - you're a thieving hack whose banality is exceeded only by your hubris. Why didn't Itzhak Perlman and Yo-Yo Ma just play Aaron Copland's setting of 'Simple Gifts' and cut out the middle man?

    There is no human event that a John Williams soundtrack won't manage to cheapen. As it turns out.

    Yeah, he should have at least stuck to rehashing his own work.

    Possibly the 'imperial march', just to put the shits up the republican wingnuts?

    Or the music from the final scene of ep4 where Luke, Han et al get their medals from Leia?

    Or maybe just go with the 'superman' theme?

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report

  • Bob Munro,

    There's a rather touching image of Obama practising for the oath taken by Callie Shell of Time magazine.

    Christchurch • Since Aug 2007 • 418 posts Report

  • Peter Darlington,

    I guess we're going to have to agree to disagree there, because it seems to me TDS gets downright feeble when they can't avoid Obama (Um, he's got big ears. And, yes, I've noticed he's black. That all you've got.) -- and it's not really that mysterious why. Most people don't make fun of people they like with any conviction. And really great satirists are misanthropic -- they don't like anyone very much.

    Agreed Craig. TDS breathed oxygen from the absurdities of the Bush years. Is Jon Stewart going to spend the next 4 years doing skits on writer's block?

    Nelson • Since Nov 2006 • 949 posts Report

  • giovanni tiso,

    Agreed Craig. TDS breathed oxygen from the absurdities of the Bush years. Is Jon Stewart going to spend the next 4 years doing skits on writer's block?

    We'll just have to wait and see, but very little in the last year or so has been about Bush anyhow.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • 3410,

    BTW, did anyone else watch The Daily Showtonight and wonder if the first casualty of the Obama Adminstration will be Jon Stewart?

    He - albeit jokingly - said as muxh, himself, last night.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report

  • Danielle,

    TDS breathed oxygen from the absurdities of the Bush years.

    I remember the show being pretty funny pre-Bush, too - although I came in around 1999, which I suppose was at the height of Clintonblowjoborama, segueing nicely into the 2000 election campaign. Hrm. We'll see.

    At least Colbert will still have buckets of material, since his job is to pretend to be a liberal-hating blowhard...

    Note: woke up this morning, looked at the New York Times site, and saw a photo of Obama sitting behind the desk in the oval office, taking a call. You mean he actually gets to be president now? Holy crap. :)

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report

  • Gareth Ward,

    There's a rather touching image of Obama practising for the oath taken by Callie Shell of Time magazine.

    While it borders on the obvious cliche, I still found this image pretty striking

    Auckland, NZ • Since Mar 2007 • 1727 posts Report

  • tim kong,

    I think TDS will be fine - it's a comedy show. And it skewers the system, regardless of it's editorial bias.

    I think even in last night's show - they were showing up some of the absurdity in comparing the language of the Obama's speech and the Bush ones over the years.

    Obama might be in the White House, but there's still plenty of good material in Congress and beyond. I also hope - that in TDS style, Stewart holds this administration to the promise and principles that we all hope it will deliver. I will be disappointed if they just cheer from the sidelines.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 153 posts Report

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