Swiss Stakes

This may or may not apply to pop culture, although it's most definitely a topic du jour:

Polanski, Roman: Director, French citizen, currently awaiting extradition to the United States to face sentencing for a 30 year old conviction of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor.

She was 13, drugged and violated; now France is protesting the arrest in Zurich over the weekend as a grave injustice. And Hollywood is following suit.

A petition signed by over 100 film European and US industry professionals and organisations admonishes the US and Swiss governments, saying "His arrest follows an American arrest warrant dating from 1978 against the filmmaker, in a case of morals."

[editor: SIGH]

Clearly, there are two sides to every argument; even Polanski's victim has come down on the side of mercy, saying in her 2003 LA Times piece "...who wouldn't think about running when facing a 50-year sentence from a judge who was clearly more interested in his own reputation than a fair judgment or even the well-being of the victim?"

But, c'mon guys...

He.

Raped.

A.

Child.

He did. He admitted it. He just got cold feet when it came to taking the punishment. I don't see Polanski as a visionary, as a victim or harmless. He's lived a successful, fulfilling life in the limelight and enjoyed the sort of forgiveness reserved for popes, orhpans and Laura Bush.

I think you know where I stand... how about you?

A little light reading

The planets have aligned and the seventh seal is opening; it's time for another novel from Dan Brown.

People with whom I drink frequently will already be familiar with my strong dislike of Brown's penchant for publishing shit. In case that seemed a bit passive aggressive, I'll just come out with it:

I hate Dan Brown.

He is destroying the art of literature faster than you can say "Stephanie Meyers" (don't worry, Meyers, we'll talk later). I've got a long angsty rant stored up, but today let's look to someone who's done an awful lot more research into proving what I've known all along... the man can't write his way from under a napkin.

Behold! The Telegraph called out Dan Brown's 20 worst sentances with all the disdain of an Edwardian French tutor. How good is it? I'll give you a taste:
"Brown's writing is not just bad; it is staggeringly, clumsily, thoughtlessly, almost ingeniously bad.”

That gives me goosepimples all over.

On the Whitney Scale Dan Brown gets a

Let's get this party started.

I'd just like to state for the record that I love Pink... or is it Pink!, or P!nk?

Not sure – but she's a sassy bitch and I've finally given myself over to what has been a long-delayed fandom.

Case in point: if 50 Cent gives you a shout-out for being so tough he'll let you take over the tutelary beatings (Kanye, we're all looking at you)... you've made it.

Well played, P!nk(!), well played.