Too Moving

It isn't a huge surprise that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is stepping down from her Congressional seat to focus on recovery from the gunshot wound that nearly took her life a year ago this week. It does seem like a shame, and it is difficult not to be moved by the video she created to announce her decision:

The nature of her recovery is on display for all to see. Lots of cuts, possibly due to aphasia. Gotta hope that her seat stays blue in the special election and again in the Fall, that she has a magnificent recovery however long it takes, and that we get her back in public work again no matter how far into the future.

America's Return

The old site was Sorry Everybody and had zillions of submissions from all over the U.S. -- and all over the World.

The new site is Hello Everybody and it is just kicking in, big blast fresh air. I like the folks representing America, and I especially love the wonderful support from our friend around the World.

Here's my fave so far.

Acceptance

There were a few entertaining moments in last night's Golden Globes telecast and some genuine over-emotion, but the most moving speech of the night was by The Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan in accepting the Best Supporting Actor award for the late Heath Ledger:



The way of looking at the loss, as significance to cinema. James Dean but with another forty years of sophistication behind it. Torn from cinema's side.

Nolan is the secret identity of the cinema man of the year. Think how pitch black Batman is, especially as informed by the real life tragedy that followed. It's vision of endless conflict leaving it the #1 Bush Era blockbuster, an anti-utopian vision of modern justice. And now think how many people have seen it, and continue to do over and over on DVD. This movie is going to be with us a long time, and Ledger's performance is the centerpiece that holds it all together.

At the Beverly Hills Hilton last night Christopher Nolan channeled real pain, real gravity, but in a disarmingly modest way where he put himself in the same position as the filmgoer in relation to the loss of Ledger.

Even as one imagines the future movies they would have made together.