Sorry for the mess...

I'll clean it up soon!

Broadcast: Reviewof 'Rachel Getting Married'

Obama Radio Broadcast

Technology sucks

Yeah, this doesn't work. How did other people do this? I am so frustrated!

ARRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!

I am SOOO frustrated! I have spent hours creating my broadcasts and after several weeks of trying IT WILL NOT LET ME POST MY BROADCASTS! ARRR I want to break this machine!! ARRRRRRRRRR!!!!I have posted soooo many podcasts at podomatic that now I have to delete them in order to upload more...and those STILL don't work! Plus garageband deleted my older broadcasts and I had to do them over!!

Okay, okay...I needed to do that to feel better...I will keep trying....arrrrr....

OBAMA BROADCAST

LAST APPEAL FOR OBAMA IN NEVADA

60 SECONDS

THERE IS DANCING, SINGING, AND PUSHING FOR AUTOGRAPHS IN THIS CROWD OF
SCREAMING FANS IN LAS VEGAS, NEVADA…IS IT THE RETURN OF ELVIS…NO IT’S
SENATOR BARACK OBAMA.


THE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE IS HERE GIVING HIS FINAL APPEAL THIS MORNING
BEFORE A ROARING CROWD OF AN ESTIMATED 15-THOUSAND AT THE CORONADO HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL FIELD.


OBAMA HAS VISITED NEVADA A TOTAL OF 20 TIMES SINCE HE ANNOUNCED HIS RUN
FOR OFFICE IN 2006…AND IT HAS PAID OFF WITH ROCK STAR-LIKE CROWDS AND
FANS LIKE BRANDI MOORE, WHO SAYS SHE’S VOTING FOR OBAMA BECAUSE--


“IT IS TIME FOR A CHANGE. THIS IS MONUMENTAL --NOT JUST FOR OUR CULTURE
BUT FOR THIS WHOLE COUNTRY.”


THE ELECTION IS THIS COMING TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2ND.


-60-

Magazine Project: Film Review

Anne Hathaway, left, and Rosemarie DeWitt in "Rachel Getting Married."

Rachel Getting Married
2008

"All About Kym" should be the real title of the film and Kym, played by a punked up and modded-out Anne Hathaway, never lets you forget it. Kym, with black rimmed eyes and even blacker hair, is Rachel's (Rosemarie Dewitt) little sister who comes back home to her father's upper middle class, Connecticut compound for Rachel's multi-cultural, artsy-fartsy, eastern religion-appropriating wedding.

Kym walks directly out of rehab and straight into the chaos of Rachel's wedding and is ready, or so Kym tells herself and everyone else who will listen, to make amends with her wounded family. Rachel, on the other hand, has moved on both literally and figuratively: she has just completed her PhD in psychology, she is moving to Hawaii, and she is about to marry a sweet and gentle musician named Sydney. Kym is clearly jealous. Use to receiving all of the family’s attention, good and bad, she can't handle everyone’s eyes and ears focused on her sister, even for just this one day.

This might seem like your average family drama, but it's not. With Dogma-like, hand-held camera action and Robert Altmanesque dialogue, the viewer is sucked into the arguing, the crying, and all the other hysterics that go on behind the scenes, and sometimes in front of the scenes, at this dysfunctional family wedding. Squeamish and embarrassed, the audience cringes with the rest of the wedding party as Kym tries to turn her speech at the rehearsal dinner into an Alcoholics Anonymous apology. With a soundtrack of an eclectic flock of floating wedding musicians, rehearsing behind partially open doors and on rain-drenched patios, the tension builds every time Kym opens her mouth or Rachel and Kym lock eyes, taking the audience with them from room to room.

Jonathan Demme’s film also has something very interesting to say about gender roles. The father, played by Bill Irwin, is gentle and soft, much like Rachel’s fiancé, and is constantly pampering and enabling Kym. He chases after her, proffered sandwich in hand, pleading with his sad, puppy dog eyes for her to behave. During one intense fight between sisters he breaks down and weeps loudly, his high-pitched wails filling the room, as his daughters stomp around, playing their own blame game.

In stark contrast, the mother, played by a radiant Debra Winger, is distant and unattached. She wants little to do with the wedding planning and even less to do with the family tragedy that Kym is trying, in her narcissistic way, to make up for. A complete opposite of the father, she seems to be running away from her daughters. Always either apologetically late or graciously leaving early, she flits in and out of the film, ghost-like, while Kym and Rachel’s small hands clench and grasp at her sleeves, trying with all of their might to hold onto her, to pull her back into their lives.

There are also some flaws with ‘Rachel Getting Married’. The issues of race and ethnicity are never mentioned although Rachel is marrying into a Black, seemingly Christian family, and she and her family seem to be White and agnostic. The film also incorporates many different cultures into the wedding ceremonies: belly dancers, conga drums, Indian saris, Jamaican singing, hip hop and rock music, to name just a few. This could be seen as positive but without explanation, it just seems like a caricature of your average east coast, latte drinking, Volvo driving, culture appropriating liberals. And this just doesn’t do the film's strong acting and beautiful camera work justice.


TOP 5 DYSFUNCTIONAL WEDDING FILMS OF ALL TIME:

1. Margot at the Wedding (2007) Noah Baumbach
Margot and her son Claude decide to visit her sister Pauline after she announces that she is getting married to less-than-impressive Malcolm.

2. After the Wedding (Efter brylluppet) (2006) Susanne Bier
A manager of an orphanage in India is sent to Copenhagen, Denmark, where he discovers a life-altering family secret at the wedding of a benefactor.

3. The Wedding Banquet (Xi yan) (1993) Ang Lee
To satisfy his nagging parents, a gay landlord and a female tenant agree to a marriage of convenience, but his parents arrive to visit and things get out of hand.

4. A Wedding (1978) Robert Altman
Muffin's wedding to Dino Corelli is to be a big affair, except the aging priest isn't too sure of the ceremony.

5. The Wedding Party (1969) Brian De Palma
This dark comedy finds Charlie (Charles Pfulger) traveling to stay at the house of his fiancee's parents two days before his wedding to Josephine.


RADIO BROADCAST:

FILM REVIEW: RACHEL GETTING MARRIED

60 SECONDS


‘RACHEL GETTING MARRIED’ IS THE TITLE OF THE FILM…ALTHOUGH THE REAL TITLE SHOULD BE ‘ALL ABOUT KYM’.


KYM--PLAYED BY ANNE HATHAWAY-- IS JUST OUT OF REHAB AND IS HEADED HOME TO CONNECTICUT FOR SISTER RACHEL’S WEDDING. RACHEL--PLAYED BY ROSEMARIE DEWITT--IS THE PERFECT SISTER MARRYING THE PERFECT MAN. KYM IS TORN BETWEEN BEING HAPPY FOR HER SISTER AND INSANELY JEALOUS OF HER.


THIS MIGHT SEEM LIKE YOUR AVERAGE FAMILY DRAMA…BUT IT’S NOT. A HAND-HELD CAMERA SUCKS THE VIEWER INTO THE HYSTERICS THAT TAKE CENTER STAGE AT THE WEDDING.


THE FILM ALSO INCORPORATES MANY DIFFERENT CULTURES INTO THE WEDDING CEREMONIES. THIS COULD BE SEEN AS POSITIVE AND REFRESHING…BUT WITHOUT EXPLANATION IT JUST SEEMS LIKE CARICATURE AND DOESN’T DO THE FILM’S STRONG ACTING AND BEAUTIFUL CAMERA WORK JUSTICE.


-60-