Pun Salad

This was a highly-regarded film having to do with racial relations. I was prepared for the usual ode to standard liberal pieties, but (instead) was very pleasantly surprised.

Oh, there are indirect genuflections. HMOs and insurance companies: bad. Guns: bad too. But the main problems are shared by just about all the characters, irrespective of background: they're angry, mistrustful, race-obsessed, and always on edge. (There is, however, one main character who's essentially a saint in comparison to the others, thank goodness.) And the result is full of unexpected twists and (even) occasional humor. Acting is consistently first-rate.

Marina Sirtis is in it, so far out of her usual starship context that I didn't realize it until I saw her name in the credits. Also Tony Danza shows up briefly; no problem recognizing him.

Another oddity: while it's currently number 56 on IMDB's top-250 filmlist, it was pretty much passed over for award nominations. That's kind of an unusual disconnection. [UPDATE: Well, duh. I had assumed Crash came out in 2004, because IMDB said so; for nomination purposes, though, it came out in 2005, and it did get quite a few awards and nominations, and of course you can get up-to-date information about that at IMDB.]

Or: I write my Congressman again.

I've written to my local congresscritter (Jeb Bradley, R-NH) about my disappointment with his vote against the motion to suspend rules and pass the "Online Freedom of Speech Act" (HR 1606) yesterday. (The other Congressman from NH, Charlie Bass, also voted against it. "Live Free or Die", ha!) Instapundit has more, and links.

I'd prefer, of course, that politically-related free speech be unrestricted across the board, not just to the Internet. You know, the old First Amendment thing and all.

But HR 1606 is better than nothing, I guess. If you'd like to complain to or compliment your representative about his or her vote, the record is here.