Oh What a Week It Was
By
Ron Steinman
The week started simply enough, though it soon became powerfully interesting because the unexpected occurred. Iran threatened to go up in flames and held the world’s attention for days, as it should have. In need of some respite from the massive street demonstration in Teheran, and the hope that the people would prevail over repression, I had an offer to go to the movies with my son and daughter-in-law and I did. We saw “Moon,” a new science fiction or futuristic movie that in some ways astounded me. Mostly understated, the film had a well-designed set that made me feel as if I were on the moon, both inside where a person lived worked, and outside where that same person lived and worked. Sam Rockwell was outstanding as much the only fulltime actor or set of actors. He plays several roles because he is a clone. Yes, he is a clone. After all, it is the future. Should I not have given that away? Anyway, those who have read about the film know that, so I make no excuse for revealing too much before you see the movie. Rockwell dominates the film. Maybe it is because he is just about the only actor in it. His only competition other than the obsequious voice of Kevin Spacey, his know-it-all and do-it-all computer companion is himself. No clone there, but because it is a computer you just know it will go on forever. It is worth seeing this film.
Then it was back to business as usual. Onto the Internet I went. I turned on the TV. Remote in hand, I watched as much of the Iran story as I could. Street demonstrations. The horror of seeing Neda, the young and talented Iranian woman die before my eyes. The emergence of Twitter as an instrument of information, some of which was valid and much probably not. Watching Twitter on the verge of becoming an agent of change was fascinating. You Tube showed every video it could find. Facebook was part of the equation. I viewed the continued and violent repression of the Iranian people by Basij militia and the police as each organization did everything it could to stem the scent of freedom. Those in the street dreamed about the taste of liberty but as the days went on, the chances of that dream becoming a reality faded.
What else? There was a terrible commuter train crash in Washington, D.C where at least 9 died. President Obama worked hard to talk people into accepting legislation on health care, on immigration and he started commenting about Iran n a way that said what the government in Teheran did was evil. There was almost no news about the airliner lost last week near the coast of Brazil. Unemployment figures rose once again. Many people died in Iraq from terrorist’s bombings as American troops distanced themselves increasingly from everyday involvement in that seemingly never-ending war. I have to wonder if those bombings are a last gasp by insurgents or the resumption of an insurgency that had been asleep, waiting for the American forces to leave. Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina admitted he had an affair with a woman in Argentina named Maria. News reports say his wife said something like, enough already. Stop seeing her. But Mr. Sanford obviously in the throes of love, took another trip anyway to break up with his Maria. At least, Mrs. Sanford was not at Mark’s side when he made his public confession. And cheers to Jenny Sanford for not standing by her man. The guy cheated on her. He is yet to suffer the consequences of his raging hormones. That is still to come.
There is always more but then we hit a sad double-header on the same day. Michael Jackson died from apparent cardiac arrest. The Los Angeles coroner is looking into prescription drug abuse, something that does not seem to surprise anyone remotely connected to Jackson. Farrah Fawcett died when she lost her long battle with cancer. Two icons of pop were not longer among us. I was never a fan of Jackson’s. Call it generational. Call it what you will. I never saw him in person. I never went to a concert he gave. I do not own his music. I understand and appreciate the effect he had on pop music and people everywhere because of his music and, oddly, his wasted life. There are those of you who might jump all over me for not properly genuflecting to Michael Jackson’s image and legacy. Call it sacrilege. Call it what you will. But I never had time for him. Other music is more important to me, such as jazz, mainly bop, and much of classical. Genius is never an excuse for what some describe as a life badly lead. He never affected me in any way, except as a curiosity. Parse his dancing, if you have the courage, and you will see that every step he took in every dance he did, was a copy of every step he made earlier in his career. Maybe his huge, immeasurable audience lived for repetition. I do not. He is, aside from Elvis, the best example of what celebrities suffer, partly self-inflicted, partly an inability to handle fame, in our age of celebrity gone wild. TV networks around the world did little to make themselves proud. They emptied their vaults of Michael Jackson material and devoted far too much time at the expense of real reporting in their adulation of the “King of Pop.” Talk of pandering.
Farrah Fawcett as always good to look at but she was really not much of an actress. I did not follow her life, either but it was clear she did try to become something other than how people perceived her. We will remember her for her beauty, her hair and as someone wrote, she at least tried. That is more than what many people in the public eye do and for that we commend her.
Some week. I will see if next week brings more of the same. If it does, as I am sure it will, you can join me here again for another look back in time.
