A World of Difference

President Obama is giving his first prime-time news conference as I type this.

The difference between this and the Bush era is absolutely striking — instead of short stumbling fumbled answers, often responding to questions with meaningless doublespeak and empty slogans, we’re seeing eloquent detailed answers, fully responding to the reporter’s question…. and then, even more incredibly, he goes on for an additional 5 minutes or so, expanding on the issues raised in his answer, even if those additional details weren’t directly asked for by the reporter.

It’s like a Presidential press conference with DVD extra commentary!

Obama understands that information is power, and he’s banking on his belief that the American people can handle details, rather than soundbites and slogans. The Washington Press Corps has no idea how to react. It’s a beautiful thing.

OneChanbara

A fruitful weekend indeed. Another film for the Far West inspirography (although this one is a bit further afield, subject-wise.).

OneChanbara: The Movie — based on the Japan-exclusive videogame series, and pronounced “Oh-nay-chan-bara” (A combination of the slang term for young woman/older sister and “chanbara” (sword fighting film genre) — so, in essence “Sister Sword Fighting”), the movie features Bikini-Cowgirl-Swordfighter and her Schoolgirl and Motorcycle-Chick-Machinegunner friends vs post-apocalypse Zombies.

Oh, come on. Like you need any more details than that….

The Good, The Bad, The Weird

Another one for the Far West inspirography pile — the new Korean film, “The Good, The Bad, The Weird.” A tribute to Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns, which, according to the four-star review in London’s Times, is set in 1930s Manchuria, where three Koreans — a psychotic dandy gangster, a bounty hunter and an opportunistic small-time thief — take on Mongol tribesmen, the Japanese Army and each other to secure a treasure map.

The trailer: