NCAA Fans: Add 'Vendetta' To Your Netflix Queue

It's too bad Warner Brothers released V For Vendetta during the NCAA tourney, and it's too bad most critics are so unenthusiastic. The most likely V appreciators were busy watching hoops last weekend and will be for the next two weekends. And the lukewarm reviews will prevent any buzz the movie would need to draw people to theaters after that. But to anyone who stops analyzing Sweet 16 brackets long enough to see this, you should go save V For Vendetta in your Netflix queue now.

V is about a liberator/terrorist in a futuristic, police-state London whose goal is to tear down the establishment. The story sets up the establishment and the motivation for the vendetta and then allows for the viewer to decide whether the protagonist is liberator or terrorist. The dialog flows smoothly (a welcome improvement over the last 2 Matrix installments) and, for such serious subject matter, they get their point across with just the right hints of levity.

V is a smart and entertaining movie that's well worth your time, despite the lukewarm analysis from critics like Owen Gleiberman from Entertainment Weekly and his self-proclaimed idol David Denby from The New Yorker. Gleibermann dumbed V down to a "rage against the machine by the machine," claiming that it's just one other example of how "fight-the-power anarchy is now marketed as a fashionable identity statement."

Denby took his usual intellectual superiority angle, saying that V "not so much imitated as pillaged" George Orwell's 1984.

Neither critic had much to say about the relevance of the story in today's America; about how conservative, pious leaders can create governments and societies where rights like freedom of expression are slowly and subtly taken away (doesn't anyone remember that you have to sign a loyalty oath to attend a Bush Q&A meeting?). And most notably, neither critic talked about the government's control of the media -- a key theme of the movie.

As for Gleiberman's beef, my response is that 'fight-the-power' is a cornerstone of freedom and the basis for Democracy. So as long as large media companies like Warner Brothers have enough balls to mass-market this mindset, I am all for it. Better that then letting conservative leadership slowly chip away at their right to put out material like V.

I have a similar response to Denby's problem with V's influences. There are lots of people -- yes Mr. Denby, even smart people -- who will never read 1984, so if an intelligent movie can get them thinking about the nature of power and propaganda and government, then fine. As long as the greatest number of people get the message.

It's so rare that a big studio takes a chance on these issues, so I am glad that V got the high-budget treatment that it did. And like The Economist said: "Only fans of detention centeres, torture, unfettered government surveillance, screaming-mad television pundits and laws against alternative lifestyles will find anything [in V] that could possibly offend."

So I predict -- and hope -- that V will gain more traction when it moves from the theaters to DVD and beyond.

Hats Off

I was at a concert recently, and about one row ahead of me sat Backwards Hat guy. You probably know him or have seen him around. They are everywhere, and if they're not around, their friend Too Old to Wear Hats is representing for them. Or perhaps, Wears Hats Indoors is fight for the jackass cause.

This all leads me to a discussion I've been having with anyone who will listen (mostly my inner monologue) about proper hat protocol. When are you too old to wear a hat? Why don't people take them off inside buildings? Why don't people take them off during the national anthem?

I'll start with the first question, since that discussion also includes our friend, Backwards Hat guy. Unless you're involved in a sporting event (as a participant or fan), if you've reached the age where you should have graduated from high school, hats are off limits. At that time you should ascend to adulthood, and understand that looking like a child is not a statement that you're counter culture.

As for Backwards Hat guy. Unless you're catching a ball game of some sort, and wearing a protective mask, there are really no good reasons why you should ever wear a hat backwards. Wearing a hat backwards in the ultimate statement of the allegiance you pledge to the union of jackasses.

This leads us to more constituents in the Union of Jackasses, and that's people that wear their hats indoors. I was out to dinner with my wife this weekend, at a restaurant where our bill scraped the $200 level. Not a lot, really, but then again it wasn't like there were Extreme Fajitas on the menu, or a drive through in sight. Still, there ambled in a man with a hat on. He was in his late 40s or early 50s. Far old enough to know better, but there he was.

And finally, you have the leader of this pack of jackasses; Won't Take Hat off During National Anthem Guy. Is it that hard to take your hat off for a few minutes to show some respect for those that died to allow you the freedom to be a hat wearing jackass? For some, unfortunately, it is.

This collective lack of respect, and lack of caring about anything other than yourself, demonstrated by those in hats, is indicitive of a larger problem, and not one pertaining to a lack of personal style. All that people really care about is what's going on inside, and on top, of their own heads. It's how we end up with Presidents like the one we have, and with companies like Enron. Maybe it's time we all take our hats off and think about the world around us.

Aging Headbangers Prove They've Still Got It

Whenever GSunderground goes silent for awhile, it's usually a good sign for Guerillasphere. It means we've been on a good development run. But not to worry ... there's been plenty of procrastinating going on too. Like the other night when my wife and I had to bang heads to Godsmack for all the world to see.

It's been a long time since I've graced a moshpit with my not-huge but extremely agile and sharp-elbowed presence ... even longer for my wife. But as you can see, the power of Bad Religion [itunes] can still get us to pay our respects at the headbanging altar.