We are huge U2 fans. They are that rarest of breeds in the music industry; a rock band with original members over 40 that are still making relevant music. And, unlike a lot of you selfish, envious bastards out there, we won't hate on Bono for his humanitarian crusades. Sure, he comes off as pompous. Big deal. Most rock stars at Bono's stage of life are either dead, in and out of rehab, spun off into Axl Rose-like ego-trips, going on "reunion" tours, or otherwise tarnishing the legacy of their music. In a culture that celebrates the vapidity of, for instance, Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag, it's hard to get real upset at Bono for trying to do the right thing. He is using his celebrity to help people dying of starvation and AIDS, and the Grind won't tolerate any Gawker-like snark questioning the manner in which he does it.,But the Irish singer is in too deep writing Op-Eds for the New York Times. Halfway through this wine-soaked, dream-like montage of Dublin at Christmas, the story inexplicably morphs into a tribute to Frank Sinatra's painting prowess. Bono is too much of a lyricist to make this piece work. Unconventional grammar and stream-of-consciousness imagery may seem profound when sung in a soaring tenor, over the Edge's sparkling guitar. But in print, the same style just comes off as fuzzy. Unlike a song lyric, an editorial is supposed to finish somewhere near where it starts.
The rest of the Times opinion page is open letters to Obama. Paul Krugman has more advice on Obama’s economic stimulus plan. William Kristol and Roger Cohen comment on what we can expect from the President-elect’s foreign policy. Kristol is hopeful. Cohen apparently thinks Jimmy Carter should be named Secretary of Defense. Well, okay. Not Carter. Just James Zogby.
Digital cameras are everywhere. no longer can a guy get drunk and act like a fool without fear of the party pictures showing up online the next day. But for all the drawbacks, the proliferation of digital cameras has some astonishingly helpful implications for self-government, as the You Tube riots attest. Last Wednesday, in plain sight of an Oakland crowd, a police officer for Bay Area Rapid Transit, Johannes Mehserle, shot a man who was cuffed and on his stomach. Had the story of Oscar Grant's shooting only appeared in print, it might not have had such a galvanizing effect. But the riveting, gut-wrenching video taken at the scene sparked a civil unrest in Oakland that, so far, has forced the officer to reign.
Sure, it's annoying that you can't get drunk and wear a lampshade without someone taking pictures. But we are thrilled that these "citizen-journalists, otherwise known as "people" have helped to ensure that a bad cop gets his due. There's something exciting about living in a time when justice doesn't always have to rely on one person's word against another.
Now, the courts must do their part. If this ex-officer is given a slap on the wrist, the streets of Oakland could explode in a way that makes the Rodney King riots look tame.
There's lighter news, too. Sienna Miler has been kicked off the Ridley Scott Robin Hood project, Nottingham. Depending on who you read, Miller lost the role either because she didn't get along with anyone on the set, and "projected the wrong image" for Maid Marion, or because Russel Crowe is too fat to do love scenes with her. Either way, it's funny. Sienna Miller is annoying. She's an actress who is more famous for sleeping with other women's husbands than for anything she's done on screen. Miller should go back to London and leave our sweet, innocent American boys alone.
