Friday Recommends: Staying In And Watching Mad Men

“I’m about to devour ten hours of your weekend.”

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That’s our Friday night right there. We figured it was time to get on board.

Jeremy Piven Wins!

It’s a great day for aspiring but beleaguered theater actors everywhere. (h/t Matthew Leathers)

In the meantime, Mr. Piven is still taking questions from Voreblog readers.

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(Jeremy Piven. Martin Luther King Jr. Yup, they belong in the same sentence.)

“What The Heck Are You Up To, Mr. President?”

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I (Ben) don’t dabble much in pop history books, but Kevin Mattson’s “What The Heck Are You Up To, Mr. President?” piqued my interest for several reasons. One is the speech the book is based on — Jimmy Carter’s “malaise” speech from July 1979 — and specifically how it has been canonized with a word that Carter never actually used. The second is that I’ve always admired Carter as a tragic figure; he was a good man who was a poor president. The third is that the incomparable Hendrik Hertzberg was Carter’s speechwriter and plays a peripheral role in the book. So I decided to pick it up.

Mattson sets the stage by capturing the late 70s zeitgeist: the energy crisis, gas shortages (and riots at the pump), Three Mile Island, disco, inflation, mood rings, Studio 54, The Deer Hunter and Apocalypse Now. 1979 “was a year in which secular trends bubbled up into crisis points,” writes Mattson. And the biggest crisis for Carter was an energy crisis which eroded his poll numbers and the country’s faith in him as a leader.

Carter saw it as more than a political crisis though. Prodded on by pollster Patrick Caddell, Carter looked at the challenges facing the nation in spiritual and moral terms. Carter admired the teachings of the theologian Rienhold Niebuhr, who counseled humility as a corrective against inherent sinfulness, specifically selfishness ( “self-love” being equivalent to placing oneself above God). In May of 1979, Carter gave in speech in Iowa and said, “The federal government has no secret scientific miracle tucked away that will suddenly produce a cure for our long-standing overdependence on foreign oil.” For Carter, Mattson writes,

the energy crisis prompted more than a change in policy but rather an end to narcissism and childishness. There are “thousands of smaller steps by individual people, by scientists, by researchers, by local officials, business” that can “lead to an eventual goal of energy self-sufficiency for our country.” Carter hit upon the ideal of a nation bonded together in common mission to tackle the crisis, a nation that recognized limits and its own vulnerability.

Carter was walking a fine line. A meeting with religious leaders at Camp David several days before the speech reinforced the risks of indicting the American way of life. “How much can the American people take?” Carter asked professor and participant Robert Bellah. Vice President Walter Mondale had cautioned Carter against being a “scold” and a “grouch.” But these leaders convinced Carter that he could frame his speech with the religious language of a covenant between a leader and his people. (One participant likened Carter to Moses coming down from the mountain to address the people.)

When Carter gave the speech on July 15, 1979, he said, “This is not a message of happiness or reassurance, but it is the truth and it is a warning.” He addressed the country’s cynicism about its political leaders. He quoted liberally from citizens with whom he’d met over the preceding weeks. The first quote he shared was from a Southern governor: “Mr. President, you are not leading this nation — you’re just managing the government.” (From a citizen: “Mr. President, we’re in trouble. Talk to us about blood and sweat and tears.”) He affirmed “the decency and strength and wisdom of the American people.” He also said, “Too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption.” He said, “We know the strength of America. We are strong. We can regain our unity. We can regain our confidence.” He also said the nation faced “a crisis of confidence … that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will.” He used the image of a fork in the road. “One is a path I’ve warned about tonight, the path that leads to fragmentation and self-interest,” he said. The other path was “one of common purpose and the restoration of American values. That path leads to true freedom for our nation and ourselves.”

When he finished, White House phones rang off the hook. Thousands of calls came in; polls indicated that 84 percent of them applauded the speech. Mail flooded the White House over the coming weeks — more letters, Mattson notes, “than those received when Richard Nixon announced the invasion of Cambodia or when Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon. Except in this case, the letters were positive: 85 percent of them oozed with praise for the president’s speech.” Carter’s approval rating jumped 11 points overnight. The press dubbed the speech “remarkable,” Carter’s “best.” David Broder said “it will surely go down in history as one of the most extraordinary addresses a chief executive has ever given. What he said was the kind of thing Americans have never heard from a president before.” Added Time, “In the whole history of American politics, there had never been anything quite like it.”

So how did it become the “malaise” speech? How did Carter plummet to defeat in the 1980 election? (Even though his approval rating jumped 11 points, it was only at 25 to begin with.) How did all of this coincide with — even fuel — Ronald Reagan’s ascent to the presidency? And the rise of the odious Jerry Falwell and his Moral Majority? Mattson spends the final chapter contemplating these questions, to which there are many answers. (Carter himself likely made the biggest blunder when he fired his entire cabinet two days after the speech.)

What I found most timely about the book is how an insurgent movement — in this case, those on the right coalescing behind Reagan — reframed the debate and used Carter’s words against him. Not unlike the health care debate going on now, conservatives seemed to own the narrative. Carter was not good at simplicity, whether it be from a policy, theological or speech-making standpoint. (His former speechwriter James Fallows damned him with this verdict: “I came to think that Carter believes fifty things, but no one thing.”) Reagan was. His message was clear. When he assumed the presidency in January 1981, his Inaugural words were a sting to the man whose hand he had just shaken: “It is time for us to realize that we are too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. We are not, as some would have us believe” — here one imagines Reagan grimacing and nodding his head in Carter’s direction — “doomed to an inevitable decline.”

Mattson’s book is not a counterfactual. He is plain about Carter’s faults. (Interestingly, he suggests that the speech was the impetus for Carter’s remarkably busy post-presidential life.) But he has done us the service of providing context for Carter’s speech as well as rescuing it from its detractors. “This book ends with a question about 1979 as a turning point,” he says, issuing a challenge to his audience not unlike Carter did. “Are we so certain that the turn taken was the right one?”

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You can watch the first five minutes of Carter’s speech here. Or you could just buy the book. (Or bum it off me.)

Jeremy Piven Takes Your Questions *UPDATED* (x5)

SWM looking for morally bankrupt company. Let’s talk!

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Time magazine invited Jeremy Piven to its weekly Ten Questions forum. Regrettably, readers lobbed softballs. ( “Of all the different looks you’ve had on film, which hairstyle have you liked the best?” Seriously, Christian Zafiroglu of New Castle, Delaware?)

What we would have asked: “Why have you morally bankrupted yourself as a spokesman for such heinous, soulless companies as Buffalo Wild Wings and Cincinnati Bell?”

And did anyone actually see The Goods?

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(Mike LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle did. He didn’t like it.)

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UPDATE!: We have stumbled across Piven Online News, a fellow WordPress blog devoted exclusively to all things Jeremy Piven. We apparently missed celebrating Piven’s birthday (July 26), but PON didn’t. (See “News Coverage of JP’s BDay.”)

UPDATE 2!: UPDATE 1! was not a joke.

UPDATE 3!: What would be more pathetic: Starting a blog devoted to Jeremy Piven or a blog devoted to the Utah Jazz? This is not a rhetorical question.

UPDATE4!: Piven himself has condescended to answer your questions! Send them now!

UPDATE5!: Is Jeremy Piven the biggest jerk in showbiz? (And does he wear hair plugs?) Page Six tells all!

So Your Cat Wants A Massage?

Our cat and occasional guest blogger Scooter Thomas asked for the opportunity to address the viral video, “So Your Cat Wants A Massage?” We have agreed to let him write today’s post.

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Ahem.

Thank you, owners, for the opportunity to comment upon a certain Internet video which explains, in scintillating detail, the carnal pleasures you can afford your feline through the simple but salacious technique known as “cat massage.”

Haven’t seen it? Here it is. (And a hat tip to Ryan Mecum for calling this to my owners’ attention.)

Phew! I need to take a cold shower!

Several thoughts:

1) Is there a luckier cat on the face of the earth than Champ? That devil.

2) Use two hands indeed! What’s that lazy left hand doing while the right one strokes our chinny chin chin? Put it to work!

3) The instructor (or “angel from God,” I don’t know which) hits on a crucial point when she explains the variant ways humans and felines experience time. What may seem “excruciatingly slow” to you, you harried, manic and forever-in-motion nitwits, is to cats an expanse of orgiastic pleasure stretching to infinity.

4) In thinking upon my “best mega-meow moments,” three come to mind:

The first was when my owners gave me my first (and still only) Kitty Hooch toy.

The second was when I was neutered. That was a mega-meow moment in the wrong direction.

The third was the rapturous experience of hearing Wilhelm Furtwängler conduct the Vienna Philharmonic in performing Brahms Symphony No. 1 in C Minor. What majesty!

5) I do want to touch upon the unfortunate tendency of the feline body to drool during moments of intense physical pleasure. As the instructor notes, we do sometimes forget to swallow, a lamentable trait that has not yet been purged from our collective genetic make-up through natural selection. But it is indeed a “very expressive and unconscious form of approval,” so have a towel or something ready for us, please.

6) I’m a bit touchy about having my chest muscles stroked, but I know other cats who would kill for such treatment. Consult your feline before diving in.

7) It is just a matter of time before your cat will start “demanding” cat massage. Better to acquiesce to our needs. Remember: We know where you sleep!

At this point, proceed directly to your feline of choice and introduce him or her to seventy times seven minutes of heaven.

Thank you.

Friday Recommends: Mowing Our Lawn

Seriously, who wants to do it for us?

We’ll force this little girl to if you don’t.

Battlestar Galactica, the Finale

Fare thee well, Six and Gaius.

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Much to John Sherck’s chagrin, we were not on time for “Battlestar Galactica’s” finale when it aired last March. But with the release of season 4.5 — and the generosity of Erik Brueggemann, who loaned us every season after the first — we finished the series last week with fellow “Battlestar” fans addicts Mark and Katie Andolina. (Their TV is, shall we say, from a more current century than ours.) Since then we’ve been letting it soak in. We’ve also been reading up on what others have said about the finale, which — no surprise here — sparked a good deal of controversy. We’ll throw our two cents in for what it’s worth. (Fair warning: There will be spoilers.)

It wouldn’t be fair to say we were dissatisfied with the ending; initially we were simply nonplussed. We’ll grant that there was virtually no way to pull off a satisfactory ending to a show as sprawling as BSG was. For a show that delved into survival, religion, science, power, politics and love — sometimes all in the same episode — it would’ve been nearly impossible to do all of those themes justice in the space of 140 minutes. (We watched the extended, unaired episode of “Daybreak.”) We’ll also grant that satisfactory endings to TV shows are an astonishingly rare breed.

The pre-attack flashbacks on Caprica were an inspired way to frame the story, but we also questioned why they were necessary to reveal now. Laura Roslin loses her family in a car crash and wanders into a fountain, then sleeps with a former student and decides to return to politics. Bill Adama wants to retire but can’t take a lie detector test. Gaius befriends an androgynous-looking lad from next door and can’t stand his curmudgeonly old man. A hammered Saul Tigh chortles while his exhibitionist wife Ellen dances on the bar. From a plot perspective, none of these stories pay off. (We kept expecting the driver of the car that killed Roslin’s family to be a big reveal — Adama, maybe.)

As Dave Powell reminded us, though, the show was always character-focused, and what those Caprica scenes captured was less plot than mood. For one, there was heavy drinking. Everyone was self-medicating to cope with pain, loss, regret and failure, even though the universe was, literally, at peace. By the end, these are changed characters, redeemed through cataclysmic events, charged with purpose and meaning. When we see them on Earth at the very end, they are at peace.

We didn’t get a clear answer about who (or what) Kara Thrace was, and while we were told not to expect one, we couldn’t help it. Was she an angel? A devil (the harbinger of an endless cycle of violence)? Just a plain ol’ resurrected human being? We can live with ambiguity on these kinds of things, but what nags us about Starbuck is that we don’t believe creator Ronald Moore had answers either. Her departure — vanishing into thin air when Lee’s back is turned — seemed about right for an inspired but sometimes maddening character. ( “What do we do with Starbuck? Everyone will want to know.” “How about this? One minute she’s there, the next — poof!” “That’s great. Write it!”)

Gaius was our favorite character throughout, and certainly the one who would’ve been the most fun to play. His climactic speech in the CIC was a marvel when you consider the arc he traveled during the series — from self-absorbed, God-mocking cynic to a man who could step outside himself, and a genuine believer. Erik B. made us appreciate this moment as a high point in the series: Two of the smartest (if not the two smartest) characters, Gaius and Cavil, engaged in a battle of wits between religion and science, hope and cynicism, idealism and pragmatism. It’s really a testament to BSG that an argument between two superior intellects could be more riveting than the apocalyptic battle between humans and Cylons (and Cylons and Cylons) raging around them. It was a brilliant show of ideas disguised in sci-fi trappings. (Alas, some of those sci-fi trappings in the finale were rather cheesy, notably the Cylon-on-Cylon battle scenes which only served to distract us from the human drama.)

The template that seems the most relevant to view BSG against is Exodus: the remnant searching for home. If we use this analogy, Roslin was the fleet’s Moses, and she, like him, died before she entered the promised land. Just as the Exile was a time of reckoning for the Israelites, the exile from Caprica is a time of reckoning for the fleet — a time in which they must answer the question Adama asked in the first episode: Is humanity worth saving?

There are other things we could nitpick at, but let’s acknowledge they’re just nitpicks. (Our major nitpick with 4.5: The reintroduction of Saul and Ellen’s dysfunctional marital drama. But measured against the brilliance of the Gaeta takeover episode and “Someone To Watch Over Me,” the episode when the mysterious piano player — Daniel? — teaches Starbuck to play and together they compose “All Along The Watchtower,” we’re more than happy to forgive insignificant little nitpicks.) Rolling Stone called “Battlestar” the most subversive show in television history, and it’s hard for us to disagree. (Though “Alf” could be rather subversive in its own right.) We regret being late to the conversation, but at least we showed up. Those who have spent more time than we have contemplating the lessons of “Battlestar” are, as always, encouraged to chime in. Those who are secretly judging us for being geeks: We invite you to watch the first 30 minutes of the series with us anytime. We guarantee you’ll be hooked.

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More links: A Ronald Moore Q&A on the finale; “blowback” from fans; BSG at the U.N.; and The Onion on Barack Obama’s BSG-withdrawal.

Question for discussion: What’s the best TV finale of all time?

166 Days And Counting…

…and if you don’t know what we’re counting down to*, then you are not a true “Lost” fan.

We threw a bone to Chicago Cubs fans last weekend. Now we’ll do so for “Lost” fans. Here’s some of the juicy off-season gossip and scuttlebutt we’ve gleaned (almost exclusively from Doc Jensen) about season six!

Everyone is coming back. Or almost everyone. (Charlie, for one, is a mystery.) Doc Jensen reports on what the tight-lipped creators have hinted at, and the tidbit we find most revealing is this one:

How might Lost accomplish [bringing Season One characters back], given most of these departed folks are, like, dead? TBD, though Lindelof does remind us that Lost was figuratively time traveling (see: flashbacks and flash-forwards) long before it was literally time traveling (see: season 5). Then again, when it comes to Season Six, Lindelof tells Digital Spy, “anything goes.”

Doc Jensen also offers analysis on four possible scenarios for how season six will unfold. Scenario #1 [Deus Ex Jacobus] seems the most straightforward and certainly the most plausible, but there’s something intriguing about Scenario #2 [Oh, Jughead -- Such a Joker!]. Scenarios #3 and #4 just strike us as Doc Jensen loopy.

Title of season six premiere: “LA X.” What does this mean? Two possibilities. 1) It refers to the Los Angeles airport [LAX]. But then why the space? 2) Doc Jensen speculates it may mean present day Los Angeles (Los Angeles ‘10, as in 2010). Or — and this is just us speculating — the X means Mulder and Scully of X-Files fame will join the cast for the final season. Hooray!

Here’s a season six preview made by Black Box for your viewing pleasure. Caution: The dramatic crescendo of the music (those pounding tribal drums!) made us wet our pants from excitement. You’ve been forewarned.

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And finally, for the truly obsessed, ABC.com has been screening a six-part series entitled “Mysteries of the Universe: The Dharma Initiative.” On an Essential Viewing scale of 1-10, we rate them a 2. Plus you have to watch a KIA commercial first. Nonetheless, we include the link here. Why? Because we care.

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* = ABC doesn’t have a date for the season six premiere, indicating only that it will happen in February. Hence our math on the day countdown was to February 1. If this does not match your countdown calendar, then you are an even bigger “Lost” fan than we are. Congratulations, we suppose. This video is for you.

Broken Places

A friend recently shared with us a great Hemingway quote: “The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places.” After some consideration, we’ve decided to change our page header on mental illness and depression from HURRY DOWN SUNSHINE to BROKEN PLACES. Expect a review of Hurry Down Sunshine (the book) sometime in the not-too-distant future.

Woe Are The Pirates

Back to lighter fare:

There are two reasons worth mentioning the Pirates’ 17-2 loss to Chicago last night ( “Cubs Massacre Pirates,” said the Trib-Review), a loss which dropped the Buccos to 46-69 on the season:

1) We are throwing a bone to our devoted Cubs readership. Some stats worth noting: Chicago scored ten runs in the second inning, the first time in over five years it had scored at least ten in one inning. The Cubs also put up four in the first, so it was 14-0 by the top of the third. (We’ll relegate this stat to the parentheses: It was the third time in franchise history — and first in over a century — that the Cubbies scored at least fourteen runs in the first two innings.)

What else? Oh, yes — Derrek Lee! He tied a career high with 7 RBIs. Kosuke Fukudome hit a three run homer in the first and pitcher Randy Wells walked, singled, drove in a run and scored twice — all in the second inning. (He later doubled.)

The win snapped a five-game losing streak and kept Chicago within four and a half games of St. Louis in the Central. Chicago can look forward to the rest of the weekend: The Cubs lead the season series against Pittsburgh six to two.

2) As for the Pirates, the loss was their eleventh in twelve games. They’ve lost the last three games by a combined score of thirty-five to three.

Pittsburgh’s annual late July fire sale was, even by Pirates standards, epic. Adam LaRoche went back to Atlanta (via Boston). Freddy Sanchez went to the Giants. Jack Wilson moved to Seattle. (So did Ian Snell.) John Grabow was offloaded to the Cubs. All this came after trading Nate McLouth earlier in the season. When the smoke cleared, only one starter from Pittsburgh’s 2008 Opening Day roster — Ryan Doumit — was left.

Who did Pittsburgh get in return? Does it matter? If those players turn out to be good, they’ll be offloaded in three to five years for future prospects. The message from management to fans is clear: Don’t get attached. Also: If you have a heart, we will rip it out and eat it, Temple of Doom-style.

All the wheeling and dealing left pitcher Paul Maholm’s $2.5 million salary as tops on the team. To put that in perspective, it’s the same amount the Yankees pay Alex Rodriguez every time he takes a dump.

Also, Maholm is 6-7 with a 4.93 ERA this year.

Seventeen straight losing seasons — here we come!

UPDATE: The Cubs beat the Pirates this afternoon, 3-1. Former Bucco Tom Gorzelanny struck out eight in five innings for the win. He also singled in a run.

In other news, Lou Piniella petitioned MLB to change its schedule so Chicago can play Pittsburgh for the rest of the season.