By Artur Davis, on Tue Jan 7, 2014 at 10:00 AM ET A year ago, in lieu of resolutions or predictions, I offered a more guarded set of wishes for the new calendar year. Could the track record have been worse? There was the melancholy: Mandela no longer lives; while George H.W. Bush survives, his conciliatory brand of leadership is discredited in his own and seems impossible to revive nationally. There was the embarrassingly off base: describing Virginia’s likely soon to be indicted Bob McDonnell as a politician without a single ethical blemish, and a much too laudatory take on the Washington Redskins’ Robert Griffin III were the low points.
There were rosy hopes that didn’t pan out: some of my favorite center-right thinkers have added a lot of wisdom to the internal Republican debate without influencing it very much; Atlanta’s Mayor Kasim Reed, rather than soaring, is the latest southern black politician whose ambitions suffer the limitations of his party’s “electability” mantra; and Bobby Jindal is a much longer presidential shot now than he appeared 12 months ago.
And there were the parts that really made my label of “wishful thinking” unintended irony. Let’s just say that Phil Robertson isn’t the principled voice of federalism on same sex marriage that I had in mind; that the Heritage Foundation’s assault on food stamps is not quite the anti-poverty agenda I was hoping for; and that education reform continues to lie in the overstocked, undersold column on aisle 32.
 So, in the hopes of doing better, a more guarded set of wishes for 2014:
(1) That a year from now, some Republican has decided to run for President unabashedly as a center-right alternative, with policy ideas and campaign message to match. Whether that individual is Chris Christie, the most successful coalition builder in big league politics today, or Paul Ryan, who should keep channeling his former mentor Jack Kemp’s vision that upward mobility is a legitimate conservative aspiration, or someone to be named later, it would be to the good of Republicans and domestic politics in general if a presidential level Republican owned the notion of a vital center rather than running from it.
(2) That George Packer’s superb “The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America” follow up its National Book Award with a Pulitzer. One can take issue with Packer for skimping on the fine points of economics, or for staying vague on solutions, but this is the most gripping account that has emerged of what the guts of the country looked like in the depths of the Great Recession. He nails the development of alienation that has eroded normal ideological boundaries. And if Packer’s subtle narrative maneuver of reducing national politics to the margins seemed incomplete to critics, it surely captures how the swamp on the Potomac registered to most rank and file Americans.
Read the rest of…
Artur Davis: Wishful Thinking for the New Year, Part II
By Jonathan Miller, on Tue Dec 17, 2013 at 5:00 PM ET  Interested in being a part of Mark Nickolas’ first significant film project? The political operative-turned blogger-turned documentary filmmaker is in the middle of his first Kickstarter campaign to fund his latest film titled ‘This Is Not Graffiti,’ an important short film that will explore the use of political graffiti and street art as a catalyst for popular revolutions and uprisings around the world.
Mark is 17 days into his 36-day fundraising period and has already raised about 50% of his $18,500 budget, with pledges ranging from $1 to $2,500. But Kickstarter is an all-or-nothing platform. If he doesn’t hit his target, no pledges are processed and he gets nothing. Besides, the project offers very cool rewards starting at the $10 level, so they are great stocking stuffers!
As you may recall from our reporting here, his first film (which was simply a graduate film school project), garnered considerable national press, was a Smithsonian finalist, and is now on the film festival circuit. (check out his website if you want see/read more about his work at mosaicfilmsnyc.com).
Love him or hate him, those of you that know or remember Mark will recall his impressive level of success at his work, be it campaigns, with his writing, or with his very early film work. His new film project is already getting a considerable amount of attention and backing (including from yours truly), and you should check it out here.
By John Y. Brown III, on Tue Dec 17, 2013 at 3:00 PM ET How does one say RIP to a man, Peter O’Toole, who once quipped, “I hate the light. I hate weather. Heaven for me is moving from one smoke-filled room to another?”
And to complicate matters further, O’Toole hilariously played an aristocratic delusional man who believed he was God in The Ruling Class. His doctor asks, “When did you realize you were God?” and O’Toole explains, “One day when I was praying I realized I was talking to myself.”
Today we lost, professionally, one of our greatest actors and even greater stage presences; and personally, we lost a preposterously delightful and divinely charming character’s character.
Upon hearing of Peter O’Toole’s death, I kept thinking of the story he told nearly a decade ago about what he wanted written on his tombstone.
After a trip to his dry cleaners’ to drop off his beloved leather jacket, one that he sent in “because it was covered in blood and Guinness and scotch and Cornflakes, the usual,” the jacket was returned with a note pinned on it:
“It distresses us to return work which is not perfect.”
And that’s what Peter O’Toole wants his tombstone. Maybe he’ll get his wish.
There are too many memorable video clips to pick just one. But since one is the limit for a post, this is a fitting one and they way I prefer to remember, Mr O’Toole–whose most magical role as an actor, perhaps, was simply playing himself.
(Start at about the 3:50 mark)
By Jonathan Miller, on Mon Dec 2, 2013 at 10:00 AM ET The Recovering Politician is proud to present the latest project by Friend of RP Mark Nickolas, recovering political blogger and now award-winning documentary filmmaker:
THIS IS NOT GRAFFITI: A Film on Revolutionary Graffiti & Art — a short film exploring use of political graffiti and street art as a catalyst for popular revolutions and uprisings around the world.
Please join me as a backer of Mark’s exciting new project at Kickstarter!
This Is Not Graffiti is a 20-minute short documentary film on the critical role that politically-charged graffiti and street art has played in uprisings and revolutions around the world, particularly the recent popular revolts in the Arab world that began in Tunisia in 2011.
Despite the preferred media narrative that the Arab uprisings were the ‘Facebook Revolution,’ what is often overlooked is the enormous impact that anonymous graffiti and street art played in galvanizing the public (particularly youth) and served as a revolutionary call-to-arms, where the walls became a canvas to speak truth-to-power and proved to be a powerful weapon of resistance.
In fact, the current conflict in Syria began simply with a group of teenage boys who, while watching the events in Libya and Egypt unfold on TV, spray-painted on their school wall the simple phrase “Your Turn Has Come, Doctor” — referring to President Assad, a Western-trained ophthalmologist.
Throughout the Middle East and North Africa, graffiti and street art became the prime communications vehicle for people to vent their anger, express their hopes and dreams, and demand action.
But this phenomenon is hardly new.
Graffiti dates back to walls of prehistoric caves. But its modern use as a political weapon came into plain view in revolutionary pre-war Europe of the mid-1900s, eventually coming into its own during the 1968 French riots where all across Paris, a groundswell of creative street expression came from striking workers and students, who spray-painted walls with poetic and philosophical slogans, speaking to its readers on a much more emotional level.
Since then, revolutionary graffiti and street art can be found all over the world and has played a vital role during times of political transformation and social instability, creating a shared public visual space which symbolically and physically challenges the establishment and the dominant ideologies, and has tremendously influenced the great social and political upheavals of the past century.
THE FILM
This Is Not Graffiti will examine this history and evolution while telling this global story by way of a local one, mixing interviews on the subject here in the New York City area with a week in Cairo talking with those who have made, studied, and been directly impacted by these words and images.
The film will also explore how this effort to demand change from governments has led to other calls, most prominently from women in Egypt — a country that recently ranked last in the Middle East for women’s rights — who have taken to street art to demand change from their own society.
A revolution within a revolution.
Please join me as a backer of Mark’s exciting new project at Kickstarter!
THE PLAN
We are seeking the funds in this Kickstarter campaign to fully produce, finish, and submit the film to festivals around the world by the end of Spring 2014. You join us on the ground floor for this endeavor.
We have been in touch with several of the people who we hope to visit with and interview on-camera, and are ready to begin production as soon as this campaign is successfully funded.
We will interview people in the New York City area in early January 2014, and then fly to Cairo in February during the third anniversary of the Egyptian revolution where we will spend a week shooting.
Editing, scoring, and finishing the film will be completed by April when we will begin an aggressive film festival campaign—domestically and internationally—where we fully expect the film will find a home for the next year or two.
THE FUNDS
Filmmaking is not an inexpensive endeavor and funds for independent documentaries are in short supply. Your donations will allow us to fully fund this film (***there will be no second Kickstarter project to finish this film, we promise!***), permitting us to:
• rent film gear: while we own much of the equipment needed, we will need to rent some lighting accessories, camera gear, and some additional audio components.
• transportation: a week in Cairo, Egypt for our very small crew will account for the vast majority of our travel costs, though there will be several days of production travel locally, as well.
• music: allow us to hire a composer for an original score for the film.
• crew: our very small crew of three will require very modest funds to pay for a cinematographer and sound recordist, and a small fee to direct and produce this project.
• post-production work: while we will handle a large majority of the work for this film ourselves, we will need to outsource some graphic design, audio work, color correction, and film transfers to specialty houses.
• film festival submissions: film festival submissions, even for shorts, run between $35 and $50 a piece, and an aggressive festival campaign will require 75-100 submissions, and the cost for us to attend our theatrical premiere.
• miscellaneous production expenses: production always requires small purchases that add up — from food for the crew and volunteers, to periodic runs to Office Deport or Radio Shack or Home Depot, to unexpected fees for traveling and driving, etc.
• Kickstarter rewards: though we were careful to create great rewards for our donors, we were also cost-conscious in making sure that they accounted for a reasonable portion of the overall budget to create, acquire and ship.
Please join me as a backer of Mark’s exciting new project at Kickstarter!
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Nov 21, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET
It’s 6:57 AM on Mullholand Drive in the East End of Louisville.
I have over slept. Again. And this blonde dame keeps waking me up and telling me she’s made me a cup of Joe and that I am late and she’s not waking me up again.
She’s a looker alright. Nice voice. But with a motherly sort of tone. And makes a mean cup of Joe.
Yeah, that’s right. She’ s not just another long-legged blonde dame trying to make it through another overcast windy day in this two bit city. She’s got normal length legs. Not long ones. But as for the rest of the description, it’s dead on. And this wasn’t going to be just another ordinary day.
I had a dentist appointment because I hadn’t had a teeth cleaning in 8 months and was getting an oil change for the first time in 7000 miles.
Yeah, I live on life’s edge not by choice. But because it’s the only way this kid has ever known how to live.
 Oh yeah, and that normal length legged blonde beauty I was telling you about? That’s my wife. That’s right. And that’s Mrs Brown to you, pal.
And she was serious about not waking me up again and now was getting really irritated with my little game of narrating this Wendesday morning like I was a narrator in a 1950s Film Noir movie.
She’d had enough. See? See? And, frankly, so had I.
For now anyway.
By Josh Bowen, on Thu Nov 21, 2013 at 8:30 AM ET Lists are fun, everyone likes lists. On this snowy day, I give you my top 12 best fitness motivation movies of all time, a snippet of my forthcoming book, “The 12 Steps to Fitness Freedom” available in January. These are the types of movies that could motivate anyone to get off their butt and start moving. The most heart pounding, testosterone driven movies of all time. If motivation is your problem, watch one of these classics and two hours later you will be hitting the gym ready to take on the world.
1. Rocky
The ultimate underdog story staring Sylvester Stallone, will for sure get you motivated to do a few push-ups.
2. 300
The ultimate battle movie complete with every actor that has a six pack.
Read the rest of…
Josh Bowen: 12 Best Fitness Movies
By Julie Rath, on Fri Nov 15, 2013 at 8:30 AM ET 
This week’s episode of The Bachelorette illustrates that there are no shortcuts to having your clothing to fit correctly.
Moments after Ames was given his walking papers, we see him approach Ashley to say goodbye, and in that instant, an ugly truth is revealed: his jacket is pinned in back (this is the third episode where I’ve noticed this). In real life, you can’t walk around with your clothes pinned, and it seems from these pictures that you can’t get away with that on reality TV either, even if you think the cameraman has your back.
Ames, I thought you were a good guy, and I was sad to see you go, but let’s get you some clothes that fit. Call me!
By John Y. Brown III, on Wed Nov 6, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET I watched the hubbub over the weekend and KY US Senator Rand Paul borrowing some lines from Wikipedia to use in a speech where he references the movie plot of Gattaca Well, for what it’s worth, if I had somehow found myself in a situation where I had to give an important speech and reference the movie Gattaca, I think I would simply have looked it up on Wikipedia for the plot summary–just like Sen Paul— instead of watching the movie for myself and having to come up with my own personal commentary about it.
I remember when the movie Gattaca came out in 1997 and was in the local theaters. At the time I had several opportunities to see it with my wife and chose instead Good Will Hunting, Titanic, As Good as it Gets, and even Lost World instead. And, yes, if you really press me to be completely forthright and transparent about this issue, I saw Nicholas Cage’s Face Off that year instead of Gattaca too. That was probably a mistake in retrospect.
But the point is I had many opportunities to see Gattaca in the theatres and never did. Later when it was on video, I rented (well….there are too many movie titles to list. Just know there were several hundred rental movies I chose to rent since 1997 instead of Gattaca, too) Later when it was available on cable, Gattaca got beat out by several hundred other movies I chose to watch instead.
Yes, I really love movies. But not enough to have ever watched Gattaca. Even though it did get an 82% on Rotten Tomatoes….. I can’t really explain it why it had no appeal to me. Maybe I’m just not much of a sci-fi guy.
Plus, Ethan Hawke, Jude Law, Uma Thurman and Gore Vidal?? I just didn’t see how the chemisy would work.
And, finally, just the word Gattaca made my stomach turn and head ache wondering what it could be about that I wasn’t interested in. Finally, it is apparently mostly an anti-abortion political diatribe and those get a little wearisome to me whether I agree or not.
And for the final test–the test that proved beyond doubt—I understand and support Sen Rand Paul’s choice for going the Wiki route on this movie instead of watching it for myself? Even after all the brouhaha about the speech and movie over the weekend, I still have no desire to see Gattaca. I haven’t even read the Wikipedia article about it. Or even the few sections Sen Paul used.
And, frankly, don’t think I ever will. I’ll take Sen Paul’s word for it about the movie and what it says on Wikipedia about it (and back him up on not laboriously sitting through the whole tedious sci-fi flick).
I think I’ll just watch either Goodwill Hunting or As Good as it Gets again. Maybe both…if I don’t have to use either of them in a speech.
By Jason Atkinson, on Wed Oct 23, 2013 at 8:30 AM ET
By RP Staff, on Tue Oct 22, 2013 at 4:30 PM ET Last night, Kentucky hall of fame journalist Bill Goodman and his guests on “Kentucky Tonight” discussed the federal budget and debt ceiling. Scheduled guests: Jonathan Miller, former Kentucky state treasurer and former chair of the Kentucky Democratic Party; Brad Cummings, former chair of the Jefferson County Republican Party; John Heyrman, political science professor at Berea College; and Stephen Voss, political science professor at the University of Kentucky.
Click below to watch:
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