Future News: Andrew Meyer Is a Millionaire

UPDATE:  I have now seen video footage of the taser incident at the University Auditorium yesterday, and I think I can safely say that Andrew Meyer will eventually be receiving a large settlement from the University of Florida.  It’s kind of a shame, really, because he is a jerk who has a history of harassing people.  But it’s pretty clear that using a taser against him was excessive.  I predict that a lawsuit will soon be filed, and the University will settle for a large sum.  So, way to go, jerk, you made yourself rich.

Filed under: Current Events, Gainesville on September 18th, 2007 | No Comments »

Lesson 1: Don’t Be A Jerk; Lesson 2: Don’t Resist

Yesterday morning the weather was a bit threatening, and it was already raining lightly around eleven o’clock when I would have needed to be on my bike riding to campus in order to attend the speech by John Kerry.  So, regretfully, I didn’t go.  Come to find out, some punk got tasered by University Police.

Now, this doesn’t surprise me for several reasons.  First, UPD are kind of jerky.  I am as law abiding as they come, but I am on campus every day, and have been for the last seven years, so in that time I have, of course, had occasion to interact with UPD, and the exchanges have not always been friendly.  There is one nice motorcycle officer who pulled me over once for a broken tail light–he just gave me a warning–and I see him directing traffic each day, and he does a fine job.  But there is another guy who is a total jerk, and I see him sometimes directing traffic very poorly.  Second, this tasered student is a known troublemaker.  And, while it is disturbing that he was tasered when he was, from what I hear, already handcuffed, at least partially, every protester should know that you don’t resist arrest.  That’s a basic tenet of non-violent civil disobedience.  And don’t be so obnoxious in a public forum.

That said, I do think that police have a tendency to resort to tasers in incidents that might call for less force.  This guy obviously did not pose a serious danger to anyone, and there is no reason that two officers could not have subdued him without tasering.

From what I have read, John Kerry has stated now that he had no problem answering this kid’s question, even though the announced last question had already been asked.  But I also read what the kid wanted to ask, and he sounds like a huge wanker just trying to give Kerry a hard time.  I’m just glad he wasn’t a Republican.  Can you imagine the uproar his tasering would have caused then?  Every right-wing blogger and radio host would have turned it into the scandal of the century.

Filed under: Current Events, Gainesville, Politics on September 18th, 2007 | No Comments »

A Terrifying Glimpse of Things to Come

I think it wouldn’t be fair to call myself a movie buff, since I hate far too many of the films that “critics” consider the best, but I still watch a lot of movies. So far this year, for example, I have seen over 180 movies, and by December 31st I wouldn’t be surprised if that number passed 250.

I had heard recently that a major strike is expected sometime next year by members of the various writers’ and actors’ guilds, and, in preparation, they are fast-tracking many productions to avoid disruption. Then, last night I came across a list of films that studios have green-lighted, and are expected to be ready before any labor action. The titles include some genuinely surprising adaptations, like Atlas Shrugged (which I cannot imagine being condensed into movie form, much less a cinematic narrative) and, less impressively, many, many remakes and TV show rip-offs, to wit:

  • Alice (presumably based on Alice in Wonderland)
  • Escape from Witch Mountain
  • A Christmas Carol
  • Porky’s
  • The A-Team
  • The Day the Earth Stood Still
  • Fantastic Voyage
  • Escape from New York
  • Sex and the City
  • Capricorn One
  • Voltron
  • GI Joe
  • Castlevania
  • 20,000 Leagues
  • Fantasy Island
  • Barbarella
  • Creature from the Black Lagoon
  • Land of the Lost

And, most depressingly:

  • Clash of the Titans

Why? I can see that Castlevania is due, and maybe GI Joe, but they’ll never do half these movies as well. Barbarella? They’ll pick some big name starlet, and they’ll try to make it seem serious, and it will be no fun at all. Porky’s? I’d bet money that it won’t have the the original film’s best scene, the only scene in the whole movie worth watching.

There were dozens of other movies whose titles I couldn’t identify, and some of them may be remakes, but most of them are probably original ideas. Still, that anyone would dream of remaking Clash of the Titans makes me pretty unhappy, because it could never be as good. I’m sure I’ll write more about this in the future.

Filed under: Film on September 18th, 2007 | No Comments »