Website Wednesday

I got to watch On The Beach the other day. It’s one of those movies in my TV movie package. I was surprised how powerful this 50-year old movie still is. Powerful in spite of the fact that it’s chocked full of the Hollywood A-list of the day (or the just off the A-list or soon to be on the A-list of the day): Astaire; Gardner; Peck; Perkins. This can easily be a casting “kiss of death.” Here however Kramer got some subdued, potent, and poignant performances from them. I was ever more surprised at the favorable reviews on IMDB.com. People are still connecting with this movie.

Shute was a good middle-of-the-road novelist and Kramer had artistic misses (It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad World, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.) However, to use the sports’ cliche, they hit this one out of the park. Go take a look at it. But, as they say, spoiler ahead: it’s not a happy ending.

Then I got to see/hear snippets of Obama’s speech last night. Only snippets because I sleep during the hours politicians appear on TV (7 p.m. to 12 a.m.) and then I’m wide awake. Talk about a wacky sleep pattern.

As you know, I’m not wild about heroes but I understand the need for them in the human drama. After the fiasco of Bush, we do have the hero in Obama. His speech had the right tone and the determined optimism which people on the brink of economic disaster need. (Though Krugman says we’ve left the brink and are over the cliff.)

Whether he can turn our huge American capitalistic armada around and change our ways will be determined soon. Whether he will only give us a breathing space to return to our rampant capitalism will also be determined soon.

But for now, you need some laughs. Get to this site fast:

http://thewhitehouseplumber.blogspot.com/ because it may have a short duration.

Its blogger, Dan Rosa, is a college student who is in between classes and sleep. I’m afraid if he starts taking classes or getting some sleep this witty treat might be ended.

This is satire as good as The Onion and as funny as Saturday Night Live. One headline: A Modern Art Critic Mistakes An Empty Warehouse for A Profound Contemporary Work is followed by an 8-paragraph short story by Rosa which is mockingly right on point. A picture of Czar Nicholas II of Russia has a caption saying how disappointed he was that Obama has dropped the idea of a “Car Czar.” To keep you informed, while laughing, Rosa has link to the Crooks and Liars web site where you can read an article about the car czar and download the video of David Axelrod discussing it on Fox News.

Rosa also links you to other great sites like The Onion, Wonkette, Jesus’s General, and 538.

Much to his amazement,“Sully” Sullivan learned in that great 1941 movie, Sullivan’s Travels, that laughter can lighten the heart in the midst of despair. And my take on this is: laughing satire is even better.

So go take a look at The White House Plumber. Laugh a little; it's good for you.