(M)an: Dude! Robert Redford’s latest film release is a
must-see. Robert Redford is in every frame. In fact, he’s a refreshingly
singular presence throughout the movie.
(D)ude: Man! Robert Redford hasn’t won a Best Actor Oscar
yet! He’s 77-years-old, but defies all the odds stacked against him decade
after decade, doesn’t he?
M: Dude! He’s only listed in the end credits as “Our Man”
and I totally agree. Robert Redford’s a rugged American icon, defying all odds
and focusing always on newer scripts and fresher talent through the Sundance
Film Festival that he founded in 1978 in order to gain more ground to break
down the commercial barriers to give US such masterworks as Jeremiah
Johnson and Ordinary People.
D: Man! Do you think he met Judith Guest? I always wanted to
know more about that one author who created the pain that was Beth Jarrett’s!
M: Dude! Judith Guest’s online! You must visit her website,
but know that it was last updated in 2005. But if you have the sincerest intent,
you can email Judith Guest if you so desire.
D: Man! I’ll just ask you about what you read. What in
particular struck you as interesting?
M: Dude! Probably the fact that she and Redford were both
born in 1936 really stayed with me. They’re of the same generation. They’re of
that generation whose latest reads in the 1970s comprised of Norma Klein and Laura
Z. Hobson novels.
D: Man! Did you see Robert Redford’s interview on BBC
America? It was brief, but contained a brilliant take on the politics in Washington.
Redford expressed shame towards the way the conservatives have refused to work
alongside the President of the United States Barack Obama and kept government
stalling for the past three years.
M: Dude! It is shameful! Did you notice how the GOP Senators
ordered cots to sleep in during their scheduled talk-a-thon that would have
gone on from Wednesday afternoon to sometime Saturday evening?
D: Man! But they did not care to even make an effort! Concerning
the cots that were set up in the Old Senate Chamber last week, there should be
a rough estimate given to the press as to who availed the opportunity or not.
M: Dude! Unemployment benefits are expiring, yet
the wealthiest Americans and corporations are protected from having to pay additional
taxes once again! And Congress is blaming the President for having ended the
recession without having presented the plight of the working poor and
diminishing middle class. And worse, the American people are blaming the
President as well for their struggles to make ends meet.
D: Man! I just hope that the dissonance doesn’t result in
what the Republican Party is banking on right now and that is the mistrust of
the American public towards the President of the United States. The Democratic
Party is also buying into these premeditated notions and, in all honesty, I
believe there are a lot of Democratic members who are siding with the
Republican Party mentality of “So what if the President got US out of dire
straits in his first term! What’s he done since?”
M: Dude! The numbers reveal too much and ought to be
reemphasized. The Republican Party members have only revealed their deliberate
obstructionist agenda in which the American people are not even factored into
the consequences of the GOP’s juvenile tactics. Just look at how the GOP has
burned $24 billion dollars through the government shutdown it insisted upon.
D: Man! They burned $24 billion dollars and now they’re
proud for having averted another government shutdown for the next two years
through the bipartisan agreement that was reached last week that will only save
around $26 billion dollars? The Affordable Care Act will save US $222 billion
dollars through mass implementation!
M: Dude! According to Dr. Kavita Patel of The Brookings
Institute, ideally the Marketplace plus Medicaid Expansion would both be
available to all Americans but the Medicaid Expansion portion of the Affordable
Care Act is being blocked in 25 plus states like Texas and Wyoming where
Republican governors have blocked off accepting Medicaid Expansion.
D: Man! Medicaid Expansion would save the states a lot of
money in the long run! So much for fiscal conservatism that the Republican
Party claims as its fundamental concern! The GOP only wants retribution for
President Obama never engaging in new war fronts and choosing diplomacy over
sacrificing our daughters and sons in uniform.
M: Dude! Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey ought to be
placed under oath and asked whether or not he was directly involved in the
George Washington Bridge shutdown drama involving possible retribution for Fort
Lee’s Democratic mayor not supporting Christie’s reelection efforts.
D: Man! Did you know that Peter O’Toole died just moments
ago?
M: Dude! I’ll never forget his performance as King Priam in
2004’s Troy opposite Brad Pitt’s
Achilles. Remember that moment where he requests that his son Hector’s body be
returned to him and Achilles agrees and puts off all combat for 11 days so King
Priam can arrange a proper funeral for Hector?
D: Man! Peter O’Toole was about ten years too late. If he
had played King Priam in a 1994 version of the story of the Trojan War than I
would not have been so ridiculed by my parents and siblings for my sketches of
Gaius Julius Caesar as part of my fulfilling the extracurricular credit
requirements for Latin 101 in high school.
M: Dude! Peter O’Toole had played opposite a Julius Caesar
in 1979’s Caligula, written by Gore Vidal and costarring Helen Mirren. Peter
O’Toole plays Emperor Tiberius.
D: Man! You should have told me this then! And to think I
never sketched again after being told my Caesar depictions were more like
O’Toole’s Lawrence of Arabia! Yes, I did fulfill the requirements of the course
rather successfully, but I did not dare bring those sketches home. I am certain
one of my parents would have foisted a keffiyeh with an agal upon my Peter
O’Toole-like Caesars!
M: Dude! God bless Peter O’Toole! I seriously think that the
keffiyeh and the agal would be an unbeknownst threat to US today if it had not
been for his portrayal of T.E. Lawrence!
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