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Shuts and Failures

by Michael Maiello

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Tiger Woods should have been disqualified from the 2013 Masters

by KRXA Hal 4/13/2013 - 4:42 pm   |

This is a no-brainer.  What's hard to fathom is that people are even debating whether the Masters should have disqualified Tiger Woods for an illegal drop or for signing an incorrect scorecard.  On the 15th hole Friday,  Tiger hit a beautiful approach shot that unfortunately (for him) bounced off the flagstick and directly into a nearby pond.  Here's what happened next , according to Woods (per the New York Times): [Read more]

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Vertigo is not the greatest film of all time (but La Regle du jeu just might be)

by KRXA Hal 12/9/2012 - 2:58 pm   |

Every ten years the British magazine Sight and Sound polls various cineastes to learn what they consider to be the greatest movie of all time. In 2012, Alfred Hithcock's Vertigo unseated Orson Welles' Citizen Kane which had been selected first in each poll conducted since 1962. Jean Renoir's 1939 classic La Regle du jeu (Rules of the Game) came in fourth. Below, I explain why I believe Renoir's film is demonstrably superior to Vertigo. [Read more]

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Sunday Morning - Nate Silver pegs Obama's likelihood of victory at 85% . . . but

by KRXA Hal 11/4/2012 - 11:58 am   |

I don't read yesterday's (and this morning's polls) as that favorable.  What gives?  Very early Saturday morning (I'm going by east coast time throughout this post), Nate explained that the President's chance of winning was over 80% because of the 22 polls of swing states published Friday, he led in 19 and trailed in only 1.  This seemed sensible.  On Saturday, there were fewer published polls (at least listed at Real Clear Politics) and a couple of these were not positive for Obama.  The most worrisome are a Tampa Bay Times Florida poll that shows Romney +6 and, perhaps even more troubling, a University of New Hampshire poll showing a tie in the Granite State.  The Saturday polls that show Obama ahead were not exceptionally strong for h [Read more]

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Exit Strategy?

by KRXA Hal 10/18/2012 - 2:38 pm   |

The second of three debates between Romney and President Obama is in the books.  The instant post-debate polls all had Obama winning.  Nevertheless, Rasmussen and Gallup have now published their first tracking polls which include data compiled after the thrill(a) at Hofstra(uh) and they ain't pretty.  Gallup shows Romney up among likely voters 52-45 (7 points!) and Rasmussen has Romney up 49-47.  The Thursday data moved both polls 1 point towards Romney.  [Read more]

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Melissa Harris-Perry adopts Articleman's former position

by KRXA Hal 8/26/2012 - 11:48 am   |

At this site a couple of weeks ago, the always estimable Articleman posted the definitive explanation why Paul Ryan would sink the Romney ship.  If you listened to my radio show this past Wednesday from 8-9a Pacific, you would have heard "A" sensibly, in my view, pull back from his earlier declamation.  I agree that the Paul Ryan choice is problematic for Romney and that Ryan's (and Romney's current) position on medicare may be outcome determinative.  Nevertheless, we'd be a little too early and optimistic to so conclude. [Read more]

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The Dark Knight Rises

by KRXA Hal 7/21/2012 - 2:42 pm   |

On the strength of Mary Ann Johanson's 4-star review of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises in the Monterey Weekly, http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/news/2012/jul/19/dark-knight-rises/, I did something for the first time since the releases of Gran Torino and Mystic River, I bought a ticket to see a non-arthouse film. Given Johanson's expansive rave, I was expecting not only a cinematographic tour-de-force of but also scathing social commentary decrying the overlordship of New York, er Gotham, City by financial robber barons.

Instead, I suffered through a bombastic, repetitive, over-long, and occasionally incoherent fascist fantasy. I have not seen the first two Dark Knights, so at least some of my confusion may be due to unfamiliarity with details in the previous films. To be fair, I'll concentrate here on my problems with Dark Knight Rises that could not result from ignorance of its predecessors and conclude with a critique of its retrograde politics. [Read more]

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The NY Giants will win the Super Bowl

by KRXA Hal 1/26/2012 - 12:27 am   |

If I were a betting man, and I'm not, I'd bet the house on the Giants beating the spread which currently has them 3 point underdogs versus the Patriots.  In fact, I'm very confident that they will win the Super Bowl.  For the life of me, I can't figure out how the Patriots are favored.  Okay, I can.  Tom Brady. 

Brady is a great great quarterback.  Quite possibly, he is the dominant 21st century pro football player - although Ray Lewis devotees certainly have an argument.  But I'm not even sure he's better than Eli Manning right now and Manning has more weapons and a better defense. [Read more]

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Keystone Extra Large

by KRXA Hal 1/19/2012 - 1:08 am   |

It's a great life. You risk your skin catching killers and the juries turn them loose so they can come back and shoot at you again. If you're honest you're poor your whole life and in the end you wind up dying all alone on some dirty street. For what? For nothing. For a tin star.

Lon Chaney, Jr., asking Marshal Will Kane played by Gary Cooper why he goes out into the street to get shot at. High Noon. [Read more]

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Elia Kazan Reconsidered

by KRXA Hal 1/8/2012 - 9:50 pm   |

I've been meaning to write about film for a while but haven't gotten around to it. For me, like most of us I guess, writing well requires both knowledge and passion about a topic and a sense that I have something unique to add. Lots of times, I have one or two but not all three. In late Spring 2011, I wrote a brief article entitled The San Francisco Giants have the Best Pitching Staff in Baseball. [Read more]

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A Proposed Declaration for the Occupiers

by KRXA Hal 10/10/2011 - 9:14 am   |

We, the General Assembly of Occupation ___________, constituting all who have joined together in __________, whether in person or virtually, to be part of our movement to reclaim, through non-violent means, American democracy from the corporatists, militarists, and theocrats, declare the following to be our operating principles and goals:
 [Read more]

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