no escaping from it.

happy belated new year.

it's 2008 and it promises more exciting movies, the opening of our own ferris wheel, a new american president and streaming towards bu*sh's end of term, the end of the hollywood writer's strike (they can't possibly drag the strike on till 2009 right, right?), convocation and finally it's my term to wear that gown and get that certificate and a trip to finland and neighboring countries and SO much more.

i've been semi-following the US presidential elections'08 for quite some time now. most of which from yahoo news, google news, the wires and ST. and just early this morning, i rejoiced with the obam*a campaign at their win at the Iowa caucus. i've been quite undecided about oba*ma and hilla*ry. like many americans, i presume. but now i'm beginning to lean towards ob*ama for a number of reasons. which i would think if strange 'cos wouldn't i, as a woman, support the first woman-president of the US's election bid? and i'm wondering about the countless women of Iowa who voted for all the other men, whether democrats or republicans.

well oba*ma now wins my vote because he's tough on foreign policy, albeit inexperienced (unlike hill*ary, or so she claims), he's also very much against the iraq war right from the start, he's african-american, he's from a humble background who worked his as* off to get to where he is today, he is young, fresh and so passionate about the work and i believe can inject a fresh new start to change america and shape it to be a better world, taking over the ruins that b*ush left him. he loves his family, he's a man of God, he is that "bridging gap between the college campus and the retirement homes", as said by kitty walker in brothers and sisters.

and i had the opportunity to hear oba*ma speak at a rally in early june (i think) in seattle, but i wasn't sure if they'll let me in, me being a non-american, not registered to vote and i have no washington state driver's license. so i didn't in the end. it's a pity. the rally was FULL by the way, packed to the brim in the huge 15,000 or so stadium.

anyway, my ideal president is personified by jed bartlet, the president in the west wing, written by aaron sorkin and protrayed by martin sheen. (: in real life, obama is probably him, with the exception of age and experience.

anyway i was going to say, there's really no escaping from politics. it's everywhere. there's national politics, relationships politics, office politics etc. i never really understood or bothered to care about politics when i was younger. but as i grew older, i began to comprehend just how important politics are and how intricately it's related to change. and bitchiness of course.

claudia jean from the west wing once said in a 'rock the vote' opening speech,
"Think government isn't about you? How many of you have student loans to pay? How many have credit card debt? How many want clean air and clean water and civil liberties? How many want jobs? How many want kids? How many want their kids to go to good schools and walk on safe streets? Decisions are made by those who show up. You gotta rock the vote!"

you know we live in singapore where everything is handed to us in a silver platter. there's schools to go to, financial aid if you need it, loans and CPF, medisave, clean air, clean water, more jobs are created, there's financial reward for having kids, our streets are safe, free from guns explosives and nuclear weapons. so there isn't much for political debate on a national level, and as i did in my younger days, why bother?

but things are changing now. and i find it hard to not bother sometimes. oil prices are up to US$100 a barrel. ir*an, north ko*rea may have nuclear weapons, the middle east is too unstable, so is south east asia, our closest neighbors. terrorism, global warming, the economy, rising food prices, electricity prices, genocides, famine, H5N1 influenza, AIDS and the list goes on.

so just how is a normal human being supposed to react to all these? by showing up i guess. in singapore we can rest a little easier 'cos we've got a good government to tackle big issues. it's just the smaller domestic issues that we find fault with.

***

speaking of politics, the creator of brothers and sisters the tv show, jon robin baitz, has left the show after getting into a disagreement with network execs and some colleagues. and i'm dismayed that it turned out this way. i can never understand hollywood backstage politics. but as a fan of the show, i'm afraid the show will go downhill from here.

like what happened with the west wing when aaron sorkin, the creator, left the show after season 4. seasons 5-7 were just dismal. especially that dreadful season 5. the show had no longer a sense of direction and was just merely floating from week to week, settling for any storyline that was interesting and could captivate the audience for 1 hour each week and that's all. it was disappointing.

and there's uncanny coincidences with regards to the 2 show creators. they are actually good friends in real life, aaron got robbie baitz to write an episode of the west wing, they both started out as playwrights, with very successful plays on broadway, and there's rob lowe to tie the 2 shows together.

i was reading robbie baitz's very emotional and lengthy essay on his departure from the show and LA, and how he describe the direction of each character on brothers and sisters he would have taken if he didn't leave the show. and i mourn the fact that i would probably not see those story arcs happening on the show. part of his departure was due to the disagreements of story arcs that robbie baitz and the network execs wanted to take. the former was more stage-play-like, more emotional, more smart, more intricate and complicated while the latter wants to appeal to the mass market. hence more silly, funny, drama rama type stories, less serious and political commentator-ish.

sigh. so sad. the west wing is now gone. they canceled studio 60 on the sunset strip (also politics. and ratings.). robbie baitz left brothers and sisters. smart, witty, fast-paced dialogue with great acting and a great script that delves into issues like aging, sexuality, social behavior, politics, war, religion etc.

there's no escaping from politics.