Kicking It Old School

I've been watching a lot of movies on DVD lately, with a bias towards older ones. I've been having a wonderful time. Let tell you why I've had so much fun.

1. The Matrix

I loved watching this movie again. I hadn't seen it in years. And then I watched it the other week and it brought back all the memories of the first time I saw it. People talk about films like Star Wars and about how when it first came out it was ground breaking. The Matrix is that movie for me. It changed action movies. Bullet time was a revelation. And having white people, shoot guns and do kung-fu like a Hong Kong movie... so special.

I remember paying attention to the whole production process while they were shooting it here in Sydney, and then to see the finished product, which turned out to be amazing; I was thrilled.

2. Conan the Barbarian

I had never seen the movie so I felt I should, it was Arnie's big break, and I'm feeling a great affinity for action movies at the moment.

I was totally not disappointed. Though I think it would have been difficult to disappoint me. There was plenty of a mindless violence and dumb villains.

By far my favourite bit was where Arnie punched a camel in the face. Cinema doesn't get better than that.

3. The Borne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy

What can I say? Jason Bourne is awesome. Another film that changed the action genre, Bourne took the whole good with guns and hand-to-hand combat thing that The Matrix started and took to a whole new, realistic, shaky-cam, quick cut level. You watch Bourne and you think "Yeah, that really could happen." Or at least I do, but maybe I'm gullible.

4. The Green Berets

This was the first film ever made about the Vietnam war. It was shot in 1968, had John Wayne and was pretty much just one big piece of propaganda. The whole thing was shot in the USA, it's like they thought "If we just scatter a few Asians with conical hats around no one will know we're actually in Georgia." Damn Francis Ford Coppella had to come through and ruin it all for everyone. (On a side note, did you know that Full Metal Jacket was shot entirely in England? It's true. They had much more realistic conical hats so we were all fooled.)

Also adding to the un-authentic flavour was that the Viet Cong's guerrilla tactics pretty much resembled trench warfare without the trenches. They'd just walk out of the jungle shoulder to shoulder in a line. With tactics like that it's no wonder the US lost the war.

Anyway, aside from being terribly unauthentic, I had a wonderful time watching it. Propaganda is always fun. I think my favourite moment was when a US soldier, being kind to an orphaned Vietnamese boy, let him hop in his bed and spend the night with him. In the 60's you could do anything.

5. Notes on a Scandal

The first non-action film in the list, this was great. I'd been putting off watching it for a while because everyone told me it was horrible. And it was. It was a train wreck of story. Judi and Cate are just amazing. I'm glad I watched this. I'm also glad I put off watching it for a while. I think I needed to be in the right head space.

6. Nixon

Long, but good. What is it with Oliver Stone and American Presidents?


I love DVD.

ATTENTION ALL SPECTOR PROSECUTOR ALAN JACKSON FANS

Please click here for an important update about the Spector case.

SPECTOR JUDGE FIDLER ADMITS ‘FRUSTRATION’ WITH CONSTITUTION

“California Code of Civil Procedure Section 170.1: “(a) A judge shall be disqualified if any one or more of the following is true: …(6) (A) (iii)… A person aware of the facts might reasonably entertain a doubt that the judge would be able to be impartial.”

Now, this is outrageous.

The Los Angeles Superior Court judge who is presiding over retrial of the People of the State of California vs. Phillip Spector—previously admitted that he disagrees with THE REQUIREMENT THAT ANY CRIMINAL JURY UNANIMOUSLY find the defendant guilty before imposing punishment!

Why is this startling news?

Because the California Constitution REQUIRES that no criminal defendant be punished unless a jury of 12 UNANIMOUSLY votes that guilt has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

Because Judge Fidler TOOK AN OATH to “…support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California…” (Cal. Const. Art. 20, Sec. 3.)

If Judge Fidler is “frustrated” in general by the CONSTITUTIONAL requirement of a conviction by a unanimous jury—despite SWEARING UNDER GOD to uphold the constitution—imagine how “frustrated” Judge Fidler was by the 10-2 hung jury in the first Phil Spector jury trial.

How can a trial judge who has not only disagreed with a fundamental constitutional provision, but is on record as saying that he is “frustrated” by it, be considered “unbiased” in a case directly implicating the very constitutional provision that is the source of his “frustration”—a FIVE MONTH retrial caused by the failure of a prior jury to unanimously agree on e verdict?

In our opinion, a reasonable person aware of the facts could entertain a doubt that Fidler could impartially preside over the Phil Spector retrial, and under the applicable law, Judge Fidler should have disqualified himself.


SOURCES:


http://www.law.com/regionals/ca/judges/sup_la/fidler.htm

(“Behind the Bench, Brief Profiles of California Judges, Larry Fidler.”)

(Constitution of the State of California…” (Cal. Const. Art. 20, Sec. 3.)

CCP Section 170.1: “(a) A judge shall be disqualified if any one or more of the
following is true: …(6) (A) (iii)… A person aware of the facts might reasonably entertain a doubt that the judge would be able to be impartial.”

PHIL SPECTOR MURDER TRIAL, CENSORSHIP, AND AMERICA

Opinion, by Blogonaut

We have received many indications that the only source of daily Phillip Spector murder trial coverage, Sprocket’s Trials and Tribulations blog, is so hell-bent on seeing Phil Spector convicted of homicide charges [even a manslaughter conviction-WITH GUARANTEED LIFE SENTENCE + a mandatory CONSECUTIVE sentence addition for using a gun-would mean that Phil Spector dies in prison] that the blog even censors comments to blog posts that do not agree with the party line.

So we have agreed to provide a forum for those who disagree with the Taliban like, anti-American views expressed on T & L, including this censored T & L commentor:

“Dear Blogonaut:

“Re: Censored comments on Sprocket’s Trials and Tribulations blog

“I tried to post this response to “Ray” who posted today on T&L.

“First, Ray’s post:

“I would say that is more of a pathetic move by the defense team than a brilliant move. I seem to recall that the only Spector scheduled throat surgery once before and a few days of trial were canceled. Then he showed up without having had the surgery. Wasted time! I would bet that Weinberg told him not to do the surgery then, because it could come in handy some day if he needed to delay the trial. Weinberg is the correct lawyer for Spector....they are both unethical weasels.”

“Now, my censored response that I tried to post on T & L:

"Dear Ray:

"You wrote:

"Weinberg is the correct lawyer for Spector....they are both unethical Weasels."

“Other than your assumption that Phillip Spector is guilty, please enumerate your evidence that BOTH Spector AND his lawyer Doron Weinberg are "unethical weasels."

“Please tell me there is more foundation for your character indictment of BOTH lawyer & client than the SPECULATION than "I would bet that Weinberg told him not to do the surgery then, because it could come in handy some day if he needed to delay the trial."

++++++++++++++++++++++
Other censored rebuttal comments:

“Spector is more dangerous than the night stalker and Manson…”

“Fairness! Sounds like "WhinyBerg's" posting comments now.”

"These two posts best exemplify just how ridiculous the extreme views prevalent on Sprocket’s Trials &Tribulations blog are.

"The first statement is so asinine that it does not deserve a response.

"The second, suggesting that “fairness” has no place in a criminal trial is equally ridiculous."

________________________

SPECTOR TRIAL: ALAN JACKSON CAPTION CONTEST, NEW WINNER!

“You want to know the truth, after two five month murder trials back to-back, it's mush up here.”

See here for the other new entries.

SPECTOR TRIAL: ALAN JACKSON PHOTO CAPTION CONTEST WINNING ENTRY

Several readers have submitted humorous captions to the Alan Jackson courtroom photo adorning our recent bio post on the Phillip Spector prosecutor.

And the winner is: “THIS is the miracle of Botox™.”

Can you think of a funnier caption?

If you can, leave it in the comments.

WHO IS PHIL SPECTOR PROSECUTOR ALAN JACKSON?

Last week, we profiled music producer Phil Spector’s defense attorney Doron Weinberg. Now it’s lead prosecutor Alan Jackson’s turn.

According to the State Bar of California website, Alan Jay Jackson, State Bar 173647, was admitted to practice on December 12, 1994---14 years ago.

Jackson received his undergraduate degree from the University of Texas, and his law degree from Pepperdine University School of Law in Malibu, California.

After attending high school, He spent four years as an enlisted airman, attaining the rank of E4.

After a short stint in a Southern California civil litigation firm, Jackson was offered his dream job of prosecutor with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office—in 1995 at the time of the OJ Simpson murder trial.

Although Jackson started in a misdemeanor department, later in the 1990’s Jackson was assigned to the Hardcore Gang Division of the LADA's office, prosecuting gang members. His cases were almost exclusively murder cases during this time.

As a member of the Major Crimes Division of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office where Alan Jackson is currently assigned, Jackson is responsible for handling high-profile and complex cases.

Before taking on the Phillip Spector murder case, Jackson won a conviction in a 19 year old case involving the murder for hire of a famous race car driver and his wife by a former business partner.

In addition, Alan Jackson is now in the middle of a retrial of the Phil Spector case, a case that he handled as lead prosecutor for five months before the jury deadlocked, necessitating a retrial. As such, Alan Jackson has been living and breathing the Phil Spector case for three years.

LA Times reporter Peter Hong who covered the Spector trial said this about Jackson:

"He was portrayed as a young up-and-comer in the prosecutorial community, but I tried not to characterize him as such because, in reality, he is an experienced, seasoned prosecutor."

That experience and seasoning shows in the courtroom—as does Jackson’s charismatic personality and self confidence as a trial lawyer.