Bobby (2006)_______8/10
A touching (Robert) Altmanesque tribute

Directed by Emilio Estevez

Harry Belafonte…. Nelson
Joy Bryant…. Patricia
Nick Cannon…. Dwayne
Emilio Estevez…. Jim Fallon
Laurence Fishburne…. Edward Robinson
Brian Geraghty…. Cooper
Heather Graham…. Angela
Anthony Hopkins…. John Casey
Helen Hunt…. Samantha
Joshua Jackson…. Wade
Ashton Kutcher…. Fisher
Shia LaBeouf…. Jimmy
Lindsay Lohan…. Diane
William H. Macy…. Paul
Svetlana Metkina…. Lenka Janacek
Demi Moore…. Virginia Fallon
Freddy Rodríguez…. José
Martin Sheen…. Jack
Christian Slater…. Timmons
Sharon Stone…. Miriam
Jacob Vargas…. Miguel
Mary Elizabeth Winstead…. Susan Taylor
Elijah Wood…. William

Movie critics have been all over the map on Bobby, some measuring it against the gold standard of ensemble-casted, social-ennui movies of Robert Altman, e.g. Nashville. Well, it is that type of movie, a slice-of-life, journalistic recreation of an important day in history.

This is another nostalgic visit for me of a vein in the ideological gold mine I didn’t tap too much, but was aware others were deeply exploring. I didn’t have the sensitivity in those days to appreciate what a fine and decent human being Bobby Kennedy actually was.

The fatal flaw, as far as I am concerned, for Bobby and many of the others on the Left is expressed in the following quote:

Do not ever say that the desire to “do good” by force is a
good motive. Neither powerlust nor stupidity are good
motives. — Ayn Rand Continue reading →

Some thoughts on ‘being known for being known’
and what it means to the freedom movement

This definition of celebrity—being known for being known—is pretty close to a quote from a an interesting piece I read from a Web article by Daniel Epstein published a couple of years ago in The Weekly Standard of all places[1]. Actually, Epstein was quoting Daniel Boorstin from The Image: Or What Happened to the American Dream: “The celebrity,” Boorstin wrote, “is a person who is well-known for his well-knownness.”[2]

Epstein continues by making a distinction between fame and celebrity: fame being based more on actual achievement, while celebrity especially recently become more the art of being paid attention to by large numbers of people on television regardless of any personal noteworthiness. Probably the most classic example is Brian “Kato” Kaelin, the house guest of OJ Simpson. The Kaelin persona reminds me of the Woody Allen movie, Zelig, in which a nondescript man seeks to blend in and dissemble as if he were one of the famous people himself. Continue reading →