three great speeches from fictive u.s. presidents for the 4th of july

it's been a quiet week.  surprisingly.  because usually the lighting of fireworks starts a week before this holiday.  but tonight it seems everyone saved up to light them all off right now.  as i type, with my window open to the warm july night, it sounds like the front line of a war.  i noticed, today, the great many homes, in neighborhoods up & down & across my fair city, are proudly displaying an american flag.  so are we.  for america is an idea & an ideal.  worthy of them too even if our present time seems to contraindicate the idea & ideal just so.  

so in the spirit of this great american holiday here are three speeches from fictive u.s. presidents.

1.  the west wing [1999 - 2006].  president bartlett's speech here is goosebumpery.  martin sheen delivers this speech with great aplomb.  aaron sorkin's writing is a balance of nobility, grace & pride.  president bartlett may be the greatest u.s. president in american fiction.   

2.  independence day [1996].  i have come to love this flick.  when i first watched it, 30 years ago, i agreed with the new yorker's summation that this was a work of 'spectacular nothing.'  i've long since changed my mind.  this flick is a summer movie deluxe.  it's got a killer cast, fantastic FX, & the director, roland emmerich, delivers such goofball panache to what is, in essence, a summer popcorn movie.  but when president whitmore, played by bill pullman, gives his st. crispin's day speech, oh wow!  for again, this speech is evidence that america, & being american, is an idea & an ideal.  

3.  ioiocracy [2006].  now this is a movie.  a satire of u.s. culture, political & popular, this flick is a bastion of hilarious counter moves against our own current culture, political & popular.  but i will say that president dwyane elizondo mountain dew herbert camacho, played by the great terry crews, only wants what is best for his people.  so he gets the smartest man in the world, not sure, wonderfully essayed by luke wilson, to create a three-point plan, to fix everything! president camacho's state of the union speech is a miracle of theater & persuasion.  

there you have three fictive american presidents giving the speeches of their lives.  

the fireworks are still lighting the Sac sky.  i love it.  i love the holiday.  one of my favorites, behind halloween.  because it is a summer holiday, & an american holiday.  for whoso chooses to celebrate this day is american.   

maximum overdrive [1986]

 

in the spirit of the 4th of july weekend let us celebrate a true american classic movie.  based on stephen king's short story, trucks, motor vehicles become sentient & murdery.  every car, truck, & vehicle in between, turn into serial killers.  they want to take over the earth & kill every living human on it.  why?  well, it's been 40 years since i read king's story but in this flick our machines turn on a killing mood because a comet's tail engulfed our home planet.  that tail alone is the cause of all the stabby, blunt force trauma to come.  

i would be remiss to not point out the obvious detail of this movie.  this is the only feature directed by the writer himself.  & king was outta his mind on coke & booze when he helmed this masterpiece.  did the chemicals help?  well, let's just say that this movie is sui generis.  it is flat out petal to the metal balls to the wall goofy gory fun.  the tone is a balance of camp & scary.  the direction is pretty solid.  the editing & photography pretty cool.  the score, by those great american patriots ACDC, is killer.  hell, the opening set piece scored with the song 'who made who' is worth the price of a ticket.  oh, & the cameo of king himself trying to get a few bucks from an ATM when it all goes haywire is an icon of american movies.  i shit you not.

it must be clear by now that i fucking love this movie.  starring emilio estevez as the young short order cook at a highway truck stop who becomes the de facto leader of the survivors, & pat hingle as his boss & owner of said truck stop, The Dixie Boy, who chews both the scenery & a cigar as he calls everyone, including the psycho trucks, 'bubba.'  don't forget a young giancarlo esposito in the video arcade of The Dixie Boy too.  i can't think of a better movie to watch on a long holiday summer weekend.  this movie is easy to find both as a dollar bin DVD & on many streaming platforms.  i cannot recommend this movie enough!  happy 4th of july!

watching TV late at night haiku

nothing 

will solve the problems 

of a summer night

but a stream of shapes & sounds

might help

it's friday nite & you are zonked out from a long work week so you need a little electricity in the form of little richard performing, in 1963, 'whole lotta shakin' going on' which is one of the most electrifying performances you ever did see!

 

greek theater, berkeley haiku

evening, light rain

the Beths onstage

incense of weed on the air

dilations of the crowd

centered & still

Absolute Music

they call me MISTER EARS

 

summer solstice haiku

               the shadows are long

when night finally comes

twenty years ago father's day

 

i have this on my desk at work.  i look at it every time i'm in the office but on friday i picked it up & really looked at it.  the year on it is 2006.  nick must've been around 18 months old.  twenty years!  twenty short years feels like this father's day gift was made just last year.  & in those twenty years anna & i have watched nick grow into his own special, wonderful person.  a young man of remarkable abilities.  i say that as a biased father, no doubt.  but being a father to nick is the best thing ever.  in the early days of his life i'd write about him all the time.  i don't now.  because he can tell his own stories.  he is possessed of his own life created in a style of his choosing.  nick is twenty-one years old as i type.  already he has had great adventures of the kind that blow my socks off.  adventuring of the kind that are the subjects of books.  again, he is the author of his stories.  not me.  what i can do is provide love, kindness, & courage to nick in my own flawed style that might help nick become his own human being.  he is the greatest father's day gift.  i am nick's father.  it is the best thing i will ever be.  

buenos noches!