A Little Of The Old In And Out



In: Al Franken. Clearly we are not a fan of the newly-minted Minnesota Senator, so this is bittersweet. But we'll clothespin our nose and clap as it gives Obama -- a natural concillator -- a filibuster-proof majority in the United States Senate. From Bloomberg:

"Democrat Al Franken won Minnesota’s disputed U.S. Senate seat as a loss at the state Supreme Court prompted Republican Norm Coleman to concede.

“I congratulate Al Franken” on his victory, Coleman said at a news conference outside his home in St. Paul. 'Sure I wanted to win,' the Republican said, though he said further litigation would damage the state’s unity.

Adding Franken, 58, to the Senate will give Democrats the 60 votes needed to overcome Republican delaying tactics on legislation. The seat has remained vacant since January. Franken plans a news conference later this afternoon at his home in Minneapolis.

".. 'Al Franken received the highest number of votes legally cast and is entitled' by law 'to receive the certificate of election as United States senator from the state of Minnesota,' Minnesota’s highest court said in an unsigned opinion."

So ends the sourest case of grapes in recent American political memory. Congratulations, Senator Asshole.



(image via criticalfilmcondition)

In: Michael Bay. If one doesn't take director Michael Bay too seriously, there is something rather glorious about the cartoonish, explosion-happy masculinity that he represents. Michael Bay is the manchild that still stops and peeps through the hole in the fence to watch the demolition and construction work, mouthing the words "Wow." We like to joke about Michael Bay. There is even #MichaelBayFact on Twitter. Some of our favorites: Michael Bay lost his virginity to a bolt of lightning. God made the Universe; Michael Bay added the explosions. And: Michael Bay will only light his cigarettes by walking into a burning building.

But Michael Bay, clearly, has tapped into something. From Boxofficeguru:

"THIS WEEKEND Robots ruled the box office as the highly-anticipated action sequel Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen generated the second biggest opening in history with a gargantuan $200.1M in its first five days, according to final studio figures, sending the overall marketplace to its highest gross of the year. The eye-popping figure included $109M over the traditional Friday-to-Sunday period plus an additional $91.1M since its Wednesday launch. Compared to Sunday estimates, the Fri-to-Sun gross dropped by $3M while the Wed-Thu take was revised upwards by $1.9M. Playing ultrawide in 4,234 theaters including 169 IMAX screens, the Paramount release averaged a stunning $25,736 over the Friday-to-Sunday period and a gigantic $47,255 over five days.

The only other film to ever gross more in its first five days was last summer's The Dark Knight which hauled in a slightly better $203.8M from 4,366 venues. The first Transformers bowed to $155.4M in 6.5 days and needed 12.5 days to break the double-century mark on its way to a $319.2M finish."

Or, as someone on #MichaelBayFact eloquently said: Michael Bay eats asteroids for breakfast, and then sh*ts out robots.



(weasel-faced bastard via theatlantic)

Out: Rudy Giuliani. As of early April, Giuliani Partners was in steep decline.

Fucking awesome (The Corsair sips a glass of Chateau D'Yquem)!

It was probably an ill-fated project, leveraging the post-September 11 goodwill in order to allow Rudy to fulfil his dream to become a Mini-Me Kissingeresque statesman. But Rudy has neither the intellect nor the intensity to parallel Kissinger's Satanic maneuverings.

How curious that now Politico reports that Giuliani is considering running in 2010 against the weak Governor David Patterson, the first African-American governor. Giuliani, you'll remember, ran against David Dinkins, the first African-American mayor of New York City. And, we cannot fail to note, Giuliani provided the slimiest "comm-yew-nity organizer" insinuation/soundbyte at the 2008 Republican convention against the first African-American major party Presidential candidate.

Nice karma with African-Americans, Rudy (Averted Gaze).

The prestige Giuliani Partners garnered in the days and months after September 11th has all but evaporated, particularly after the former Mayor's embarrassing performance in the GOP Presidential campaign (When, in American History, has a fucking local Mayor ever won the White House). This Gubernatorial run -- or mock-run -- begs the question: Was Cindy Adams right when she reported:

"POLITICAL pros say: Rudy, who's been very quiet lately, will make the run for governor. But whether the presidential campaign dampened him or he's reading polls, who knows? What they say they know is, he'll do all the paperwork, make all the moves, gather all the groups, get all the p.r., make all the statements, fund raise, file, flap around -- but . . . won't . . . run. They say he needs to create buzz around himself. To help himself in person, in general and in business in particular. They say."

SchadenFrudy?