comment #1

Walter Sobchak says ...

[Deleted because the poster has the sensitivity and political manners of a barnyard pig.]

comment #2

Walter Sobchak says ...

[Deleted because the poster has the sensitivity and political manners of a barnyard pig.]

comment #3

Nick Plowman says ...

I saw "Happy-Go-Lucky" too, but I really liked it. I didn't quite do cartwheels but I couldn't stop smiling after I left the press screening.

comment #4

Walter Sobchak says ...

[Deleted because the poster has the sensitivity and political manners of a barnyard pig.]

comment #5

scooterzz says ...

please don't do that....he's a long time commenter and the censored remarks would/could have been informative re: character/pov.....
censorship is never a good thing.....

comment #6

BurmaShave says ...

I've taken it all with a grain since your vitriolic response to EASTERN PROMISES, one of the best films of last year, but it is a shame to hear that about Sally Hawkins. I haven't been a reader long enough to know- do you generally go for Mike Leigh films?

comment #7

BurmaShave says ...

Obviously meant hear that about HAPPY GO-LUCKY, though if you hated it you hated her. If it is indeed subpar can we switch her out of the Best Actress race and switch in Rebecca Hall, whose incredible performance in a film full of them is growing on me daily?

comment #8

DotTheEyes says ...

I was disgusted by CNN's coverage of the first night of the convention. I started the night watching them, but couldn't believe my eyes or ears when Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper continued to chat and interview people during Pelosi's speech. They barely even acknowledged she was on the stage. I switched to C-SPAN and was impressed. They simply showed the convention - moments both big and small, endearing warts and all. It was nice being able to see news without it being instantly "Situation Room"-ized. Watch a speech without hearing James Carville and Paul Begala's thoughts halfway through.

As for the convention night itself, I was stirred and impressed by Michelle Obama's speech. What a woman. Can't believe there's any distaste for her, even in the nutjob neocon circles. Kennedy was also superb and it was great to see him. Smaller names also shined, such as Jesse Jackson, Jr. and Jim Leach. Thought it was a nice, inspiring, good-hearted evening.

Then I returned to CNN for analysis and was told the Dems WASTED THE NIGHT by being positive and not exclusively clawing at McCain. I believe all the CNN people agreed the night lacked "red meat." Whatever, I was moved. The jabs at McCain and Bush connected and were precise and pleasingly wicked, but overall I liked how the night reflected the classy, cool, intelligent nature of Sen. Obama.

comment #9

guylodge says ...

What an odd juxtaposition of topics in both post and comments!

BurmaShave: without speaking for him, the tone of Jeff's post suggests to me that he personally didn't connect with Happy-Go-Lucky, not that he thinks it a poor effort. It's been a pretty polarising film from day one.

From where I'm standing, Sally Hawkins is looking solid for a nomination.

comment #10

EOTW says ...

Sorry, Wells, but every discussion about Ted Kennedy begins and ends with Chappaquiddick.

comment #11

gruver1 says ...

Wells to scooterzz: Ted Kennedy, with only months left to go on this planet (if not weeks...who knows?), summoned the life force like few others in the public arena have done and delivered an affirmation of faith, spunk and never-say-die conviction that was truly legendary and (unless you're Walter Sobchak or some similarly-deranged right-wing brownshirt) inescapably touching, and Sobchak goes right into a nyah-nyah riff about Chappaquiddick? That's his reaction? Censorship is a perfect...no, exquisite thing to have used in that instance, and thank the gods for the technology that allowed me to deploy it. I felt more instinctual and profound disgust when I read Sobchak's posts last night than I would care to describe, much less allude to. The words used by Joseph Welch against Sen. Joseph McCarthy were truly appropriate last night: "Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency" He epitomizes what I despise with all my heart about conservative hammers, and if he persists in this line of repulsive expression then it will certainly be time for him to go and stay gone. This is a point of honor and pride with me and this site. I will not play host to people who so enjoy snarling and spitting that they are left with no basic human decency, or at least an insufficient amount by my standards.

comment #12

erniesouchak says ...

Although I often found it difficult to bear the main character, who was far more annoying than endearing (no fault of Hawkins'), I appreciated "Happy Go Lucky" as an unusually light Mike Leigh effort. (He's a singular director, and thank God for that.) Unlike some of his better work, it felt pointless, however.

comment #13

Yves says ...

He epitomizes what I despise with all my heart about conservative hammers, and if he persists in this line of repulsive expression then it will certainly be time for him to go and stay gone.
Well, it is your site, and you did write that you deleted the comments, but censorship, in any form, goes against the spirit of our democracy. I was hoping that one of those videos was a clip from Happy Go Lucky, which I recoiled from during the first 30 seconds of the trailer, but warmed up to as I bought into the Sally Hawkins character (plus, I liked her in Cassandra's Dream, and probably in Layer Cake, although I don't remember her character). Since it is a Mike Leigh film, I think it will have a bit more depth than a usual Hollywood romantic comedy.

comment #14

cjKennedy says ...

All I can say Wells is that when someone shits the bed, the best punishment is to let them stew in it. Offensive and stupid as they may have been, you should've let Sobchak's posts play.

comment #15

SaveFarris says ...

Saying something less than flattering while Ted Kennedy suffers: worthy of censorship and vile disgust!!!

Spewing nasty vitriol while Jesse Helms's corpse is still warm: stylishly poetic!!!

http://www.hollywood-elsewhere.com/2008/07/da_numbahs.php

Would it kill you to make your hypocrisy less glaring?

comment #16

Ponderer says ...

As the saying goes, the only cure for free speech is MORE free speech.

It's ironic that you would deploy the censorship tool in the face of your "emotional fascism" declaration. Yes, it's your site. It's your button. But if you can't hold to a principle, why the hell should we hold anyone else to one?

It would've been better if you had banned him and left his comments up. This makes me as ill as John Grisham helping to sue Oliver Stone for the supposed side-effects of Natural Born Killers.

People who depend on free speech should know better. One of the reasons I oppose torture is that when we do it, we now have no defense when someone else does it.

What happens when someone flips the switch on you?

comment #17

arturobandini says ...

Jesse Helms was one of the meanest, vilest, redneckiest, asshole politicians who ever lived. I rejoiced when he died. Wished it had happened 40 years earlier. Coming from his home state, I think I'm allowed to say that. We all suffered from his hubris, yet the bigots could relate to him and they kept him in office.

Ted Kennedy was the exact opposite. And when the whole truth about Chappaquiddick comes out after his death, some of the serial Kennedy bashers may see him in a slightly better light. Others, I'm sure, will continue to be shitheads.

comment #18

gruver1 says ...

Wells to Burmashave, Nick Plowman, guylodge: One, I have always had this kind of reaction to Mike Leigh's films -- each one being an example of absolute authority and fine craft, conveying an absolute affection for and understanding of the lives of lower-class Brits with homely appearances whom Leigh loves and dwells upon with each film. The man knows what he's doing, knows from restraint, and every time I watch one of his films I'm looking at my watch and telling myself, "Hang in there...you'll get through this and then you can walk outside and do what you want."

And two, I don't like Leigh personally either. I asked him a question at the Spirit Awards once that he thought was too probing or impertinent or whatever, and he called me on it rather snippily. I respect him for having the cojones to tell a journalist that he didn't care for the tone of a question, but I had a reaction right then and there that told me, "From now until the end of your days, you are going to dislike this man and his films, and there's nothing you can do about it."

As for Sally Hawkins, well...she certainly is spirited! I can understand why the Berlin Film Festival jurors gave her the Best Actress trophy. She carries Happy-G-Lucky, she carries its spirit, and she does handle herself well in the sad-shock scenes at the end with Eddie Marsan, the driving instructor with the correct manner and ferociously uptight, anti-immigrant attitude. In fact, the last 15 to 20 minutes contain the best stuff in the film, and I throughly respect Hawkins for her performance in this section. She handles her scenes with maturity and grace.

But her Poppy character epitomizes a sort of person I've never been able to tolerate -- the emotional fascist who insists on being happy, smiling, sparkly, chuckling, peppy, positive-minded and bubbly, and who -- here's the problem -- insist on making a point of bearing down on others (acquaintances, strangers, anyone) with this bubbliness with the idea of converting them to this way of looking at life, or at least giving them a contact high to take with them.

What especially dictatorial about these smiley-faced brownshirts is their determination to convert. If you don't get on board with the alpha program, they'll interrogate you like Laurence Olivier's Zell (in Marathon Man) with questions like "Are you happy?" or "Having a bad day?" Imagine if Poppy were a born-again Christian asking total strangers, "So have you accepted Jesus as your personal savior?" and "Would you like to be saved?" The police would be called, she'd be thrown into the van and taken down to the station. But there's no recourse with smiling optimists.

I hate people who ask me if I'm happy because, of course, they're not really asking me -- they're telling me they've observed my behavior, examined my vibe and decided that I just don't have the right peppy-happy attitude, and that I need to adjust it right away so it pleases them. I do meet these people from time to time. They're like Moonies or Hara Krishna devotees -- they've got the beautiful inner force inside them, and they know they've got that wondrous glow in their faces, and they're determined to beat you over the head with it until you're on your knees, bloody and begging them to stop.

The term "emotional fascism" was first coined by Elvis Costello in the '70s, and it's real, you betcha. There's a scene when Poppy's friend Zoe says, "You can't make everyone happy" and Poppy replies, "There's no harm in trying that Zoe, is there?" I am here to stand up and say that yes, there is harm in it, and would all the Poppy girls of the world please refrain from ever doing so again in my presence? It's oppressive. It's like being beaten with Mao's little red book during the Great Cultural Revolution.

There are many of us, I'm presuming, who look upon cheery, cock-eyed optimists as people you sometimes have to speak to at parties -- sometimes it's better just to suffer quickly and get it over with so you can move on -- but if you see these walking smiley-faces coming down the street you cross over to the other side and duck into a book store or something, and you stay there for a good 15 minutes, just to make sure the coast is clear.

comment #19

Matthew Lucas says ...

"But her Poppy character epitomizes a sort of person I've never been able to tolerate -- the emotional fascist who insists on being happy, smiling, sparkly, chuckling, peppy, positive-minded and bubbly, and who -- here's the problem -- insist on making a point of bearing down on others (acquaintances, strangers, anyone) with this bubbliness with the idea of converting them to this way of looking at life, or at least giving them a contact high to take with them."

I agree totally. I liked HAPPY-GO-LUCKY, but I couldn't help but feel that if I encountered Poppy in real life she would drive me absolutely insane. At times I felt as if her incessant bubbliness was almost a smart ass way of needling those around here. She bothered me in much the same way Juno Macguff bothered me, although on the whole I found HAPPY-GO-LUCKY to be a much better film.

comment #20

BurmaShave says ...

That was great. I actually tend to agree. Hated ALL OR NOTHING and really couldn't get into VERA DRAKE. His older work is obviously seminal British filmmaking but it's also left me cold, though Thewlis is brilliant in NAKED and the same goes for Blethyn in SECRETS & LIES, not that I liked that much better. The one exception is TOPSY-TURVY, maybe just because he couldn't embrace a cold and dirty aesthetic with it, but it's a beautiful and hilarious film, and to my mind one of the better works ever made about artistic collaboration. I always root for his films because of this, hence my disappointment.

That Zell comparison was a priceless thing to read as I sat down at my desk. Thanks for the laugh. I do hope all relentless cheerful people are one day hounded down the streets of the diamond district by those whom they have wrong. Der weisse Engel!!!!

comment #21

p.Vice says ...

Shit, I've never been deleted more than once on a thread. Congrats, Walter.

comment #22

Ponderer says ...

"The term "emotional fascism" was first coined by Elvis Costello in the '70s, and it's real, you betcha."

Delicious. Elvis Costello is also the guy who released a very popular album called "Get Happy!" Also, aside from The Edge, the world's biggest ABBA fan. (To the point of directly ripping off their sound with 'Oliver's Army.')

Happily, we'll find no such such interesting contradictions on this thread.

comment #23

Bocephus says ...

Um, Ponderer have you even heard Get Happy? The music is quite punchy but it only serves to contrast the lyrics, which are typically sarcastic and cynical.

comment #24

Ponderer says ...

I listen to Get Happy once or twice a month. Yes, the lyrics are typical Costello (probably more so, considering that he's disowned them on that album), but by his own words, he tried to create an album that set out to create "sunny, joyful noise."

His lyrics may be dark, but the title is quite irony free. He's no brooder, He wants to entertain the fuck out of you.

comment #25

Walter Sobchak says ...

Sorry, but Ted Kennedy's not a good guy.

And Jesse Helms, for all of his faults, never (deleted because it makes some people uncomfortable) and then tried to hide it by (deleted because Ted means well and that's all that really matters) and ultimately get away scot-free.

For the record, I also think John Landis should've served time in the clink.

comment #26

T. S. Idiot says ...

Have never warmed up to Mike Leigh except for TOPSY TURVY, but one of his short films, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093961, is thoroughly delightful, the only place, excluding LEBOWSKI, I've been able to tolerate Thewlis.

comment #27

gruver1 says ...

I've actually moved the Happy Go Lucky emotional fascism discussion over to a new piece I've just posted called "Fascist Tart" which reshuffles the thing I wrote earlier this morning about Hawkins' Polly and what she represents.

comment #28

spoiled says ...

Jeff, stop pretending you're a liberal. You're a conservative at heart. Bullying and censoring, accusing others of needing to "tough it out" while you accuse Clinton of being demonic.

You're a total puss.

comment #29

Walter Sobchak says ...

"The words used by Joseph Welch against Sen. Joseph McCarthy were truly appropriate last night: "Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency" He epitomizes what I despise with all my heart about conservative hammers, and if he persists in this line of repulsive expression then it will certainly be time for him to go and stay gone. This is a point of honor and pride with me and this site. I will not play host to people who so enjoy snarling and spitting that they are left with no basic human decency, or at least an insufficient amount by my standards."

Meanwhile, back on 4 July of this year-

"Wells to Joncro: You're a tech genius -- no question about it. The life of Jesse Helms left a dark gravy stain on every person and institution he came into contact with. If there is a God, if there was any moral order to anything, Helms would be roasting right now on a spit in hell."

But it's totally different, you see, because Helms was a Republican and Kennedy is a Democrat. See how that works?

At least be consistent.

(and no, Helms was never in the Klan, the senator who WAS in the KKK was Robert Byrd, Democrat - West Virginia)

comment #30

spoiled says ...

Of course, the big difference the GOP forgets is that Byrd renounced his past and made good on the present - Helms continued to be a bigot beacon for the Republicans.

comment #31

BurmaShave says ...

Jesse Helms was one of Joe Biden's closest friends in the Senate. Everybody needs to calm the fuck down.

comment #32

AuggieBenDoggie says ...

Good god, I'am so tired of this media induced frenzy of hatred. November just will not come fast enough. Maybe by April some pundits on the left/right will be on welfare, and the Country as a whole can have a political discussion without spitting blood at each other.

comment #33

Chapman Carruthers says ...

Can't we all agree that the the country would be a better place if Ted Kennedy was Jesse Helms personal driver circa 1969?

comment #34

guylodge says ...

Small detail, Jeff: the central characters in Happy-Go-Lucky are definitively middle-class, not lower-class... as someone who lives in exactly the same area as Poppy, with pretty much the same standard of living, the snob in me feels the need to correct. Sorry.

And Leigh is snippy with EVERYONE, regardless of how much he respects the question or its asker - I've been tutored by him, and it was ever thus.

comment #35

Terry McCarty says ...

Ponderer wrote:
As the saying goes, the only cure for free speech is MORE free speech.

It's ironic that you would deploy the censorship tool in the face of your "emotional fascism" declaration. Yes, it's your site. It's your button. But if you can't hold to a principle, why the hell should we hold anyone else to one?

It would've been better if you had banned him and left his comments up. This makes me as ill as John Grisham helping to sue Oliver Stone for the supposed side-effects of Natural Born Killers.

People who depend on free speech should know better. One of the reasons I oppose torture is that when we do it, we now have no defense when someone else does it.

What happens when someone flips the switch on you?

You haven't lived until you've been on a poetry listserve--such as certain Yahoogroups in Los Angeles. Far, far more censorious (and reluctant to even engage in mild debate) than anything here.

comment #36

Terry McCarty says ...

I amend my previous comment: there's only a couple of "safe" debate topics on poetry listserves: one is to ask "what is REAL poetry" and the other is to make snarky fun of commercially successful (and sometimes amateur) writers considered "bad" for various reasons.

comment #37

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comment #38

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