One of the Good Guys: Paul Newman

It's a beautiful Saturday morning. I planned to go for a walk through downtown, while the pollution is low. But CNN just broke in with an update that has me sitting down to remember... Paul Newman.

That's strange in itself. Having to remember him, in the past tense. He and his many television, stage and film personae have been with us for so long, his auto-racing exploits have been so widely covered, and his legendary generosity has been such an influence that he's become a part of our lives. But now, Paul has lost his long battle with cancer.

When most of us remember him, we'll remember his roles. The usual suspects come to mind, but his acting career -- which started in 1952 -- has produced a huge range of characters. When he started out as a young television actor, he was a utility player, portraying everyone from a regular Joe at a boxing match to Nathan Hale and Plato.

In 1956, he starred as prize fighter Rocky (Graziano) in Somebody Up There Likes Me, but 1958 was The Year of Paul Newman. It's an age-old cliche, but it really applies here... Newman's career exploded onto the big screen with three influential movies, and four influential characters in a single year: "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" / Brick Pollitt. "The Left Handed Gun" / Billy The Kid. "The Long, Hot Summer" / Ben Quick.

The list of roles Paul Newman played would be any actor's dream. Israeli activist Ari Ben Canaan, pool hustler Fast Eddie Felson, steamy Chance Wayne, the ruthless Hud Bannon, Nobel Prize winner Andrew Craig, rebellious inmate Cool Hand Luke, escape planner Pvt. Harry Frigg, and Indy car driver Frank Capua.

Then came another leap in his fame and stardom: Butch Cassidy, and the cult classic Judge Roy Bean. Newman was Joseph Rearden in The MacKintosh Man -- one of my sleeper picks. Then The Sting's Henry Gondorff, and the architect of the Towering Inferno, Doug Roberts, followed by a lighter Newman as Reggie 'Reg' Dunlop in Slap Shot.

I'm a science fiction fan, and one of my favorite Newman pictures is Robert Altman's often-overlooked modern ice age movie, Quintet, with Newman as Essex. The film has its flaws, but Newman delivers as always, and in the kind of world he's never been seen in before or since.

In 1981 came tough cop Murphy in Fort Apache the Bronx, followed by legal pic roles Michael Colin Gallagher and Frank Galvin in Absence of Malice and The Verdict. He cranked up his crotchety side as Harry Keach in Harry & Son.

Newman was nominated for Best Actor Oscars seven times and received a special honorary Academy Award in 1986. He topped that honorary award the following year, when he won a Best Actor Oscar for his much-anticipated and widely-praised reprise of Fast Eddie Felson in The Color of Money.

The final phase of his career included nuke builder Gen. Leslie R. Groves, Hudsucker industrialist Sidney J. Mussburger and Sully Sullivan in Nobody's Fool. Newman played father to a younger generation of leading man as Dodge Blake, dad of Kevin Costner in Message in a Bottle. Roles in Road to Perdition as John Rooney and Cars as the voice of Doc Hudson showed that Newman still had his chops, late in his professional life.

What can you say about an incredible career like Paul Newman's... except to touch on the man's life outside of film. Rarely has a celebrity been as well known for their unassuming demeanor and quiet, far-reaching philanthropic efforts.

His 50-year marriage to Joanne Woodward was a stand-out in the entertainment community. And his generosity is the stuff of legend. In 1994, Newman received the Academy's Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. Famous for his Hole-in-the-Wall Gang camp for seriously ill children, and for donating all proceeds from his Newman’s Own brand products to educational and charitable causes, Paul Newman was truly one of a kind in terms of giving.

Through all of his diverse characters and all of his real-life stories runs a single thread: integrity. Even when he was playing a bad guy, Paul Newman was definitely one of the good guys.

The debate: in case you were napping

During tonight's debate, I think we all should have played a drinking game: everybody takes a drink every time McCain patronizingly says "what Senator Obama doesn't seem to understand."

No, wait-- then we would all have been dead from alcohol poisoning by the end.

Senator Obama clearly understood absolutely everything he spoke about, and in tremendous depth and detail. While Obama discussed the facts and what he would do, McCain repeatedly resorted to vaguely chanting about how experienced he is and what he, the experienced [read: insider] candidate can do, and relating anecdotes that he and his campaign calculated would appeal to the gut reactions of the right.

What Senator McCain doesn't seem to understand is that folksy stories aren't what we need. We need a president who knows the nuances of policy, of international relations, of economic checks and balances, that are vital to getting the country back on track-- not a president who pouts and stamps his feet and refuses to engage adversarial nations. The silent treatment has been proven a failure again and again and again, not only with North Korea, but throughout the Cold War and broader history.

What Senator McCain doesn't seem to understand is that he's stuck in a nationalist / adventurist / shoot-first mentality that will be the death of this republic if allowed to continue to saturate the actions of an Imperial White House.

McCain showed once again that he's an idealogue who bases decisions on presumptions. Obama proved once again that he's a pragmatist who studies the issues and crafts a policy based on a calculated outcome.

Some of the pundits are saying this was a tie. Apparently, they were watching a re-run of a previous election's debate.

For anyone who gauged the outcome on how much we learned about how each of the candidates thinks, and what actions they would take on various issues... well... Barack kicked the old man's ass.

Blowin' up: Sa Dingding

Every once in a long while an artist or a particular song comes along... and gives me chills. Sa Dingding, a Chinese singer, and DJ Full Phatt have done it with this remixed version of her song "Alive", from the debut album of the same name.

According to KCRW, this mix is available on an import release, but after Gargling, I discovered that the label has also made it available as a free download; the MP3 is here. While the Full Phatt Remix is more westernized and electrified, the rest of the tracks on the album lean a bit more toward acoustic instrumentation and Sino-centric sounds, and I'm sure many will note a New Age influence, although this stuff won't have you napping after a few bars.

Ms. Sa's voice moves effortlessly from the bright, traditional violin-like beam of light to a blues-influenced, breathy sensuality-- within the span of a single phrase. Invoking ancient Chinese or Mongolian culture and a chilled urban groove at once is an accomplishment in itself.

I could rave for paragraphs, but words can't replace a listen. Enjoy (iTunes affiliate link):

Joe Lieberman tries to Rove the convention

From the What Were They Thinking Department:

I've respected Joe Lieberman, off and on, for his willingness to be independent. I thought he would have made a decent VP to Al Gore's Presidency.

But now he's rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, all the while assuring us that the Republican ship of state is unsinkable.

In October of 2006, Lieberman decided to call himself an "Independent Democrat". Not just as some sort of media-branding tool, but officially, for the record. That was a bit of a head-scratcher, but tactically understandable in that he'd lost the Democratic ticket bid for his seat.

When asked "Would you unequivocally caucus with the Democrats?" Joe said: "Oh, come on. I’ve said that 1200 times.... Yes. Yes!"

In December, 2007, Lieberman announced he'd be backing McCain for president. Now there's a declaration. It calls up images of Lieberman perched on the bow of the Titanic, screaming "Look at me! I'm independent! King of the world!"... showing that it's possible to take the independent thing to an illogical extreme.

And yet, asked in July of 2008 if he would start voting with the Republicans to hand them the majority, he said "I don't have any intention of doing that before the end of this session of Congress." Really, Joe? This isn't independence. This is navigating without a map, a compass, GPS, landmarks, stars...

Now, at the Republican National Convention, Lieberman says "In the Senate, [Obama] has not reached across party lines to get anything significant done, nor has he been willing to take on powerful interest groups in the Democratic Party."

Wow. As if throwing support behind Mr. 90%-With-Bush weren't bad enough, now Joe's decided to start telling obvious lies? What sort of efforts would Joe call "significant"? As Obama advisor Robert Gibbs said, the senator worked with Sen. Richard Lugar to keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists and with Sen. Tom Coburn on the budget. Just for a couple of examples. And the last time I checked, those guys were Republicans.

If forging a solid budget and preventing terrorists from getting nukes aren't "significant" enough for you, Joe, what is? Perhaps you would like Sen. Obama to build consensus with the Republicans on Unified Field Theory? Or maybe form a bi-lateral committee to definitively establish or disprove the existence of God?

It's as if Carl "Repeat a Lie Enough Times" Rove himself had written Lieberman's speech.

More evidence that if John McCain is elected president, America will be subjected to at least four more years of flat-out lies.

And, it's apparently evidence that Joe Lieberman has lost not only his spine, but his mind. I would say "Say it ain't so, Joe"... but I doubt he could respond coherently.

In a world where there's no Don LaFontaine...

...movie trailers -- and life in general -- will be just a bit less scary. Or dramatic. Or funny.

The legendary voice over artist who did more than 5,000 movie trailers died today at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in LA, reportedly as the result of a collapsed lung.

I never met the man, but have always envied those pipes, and that signature read. And from all the cameos I've seen, Don could also poke fun at himself... as in the recent GEICO "In a world..." spot.

Thanks for all the great reads, Don!

ET Online: Don LaFontaine Dies at 68