by Bryan Stamp

Does art imitate life, or does life imitate art?

Sometimes our political candidates act like actors and celebrities, and sometimes they actually are. But often we are only left with our imagination to explore the landscape of a country led by politicians as portrayed in the movies and TV.  During this time of national politicking,  I am inspired to write a little something about of my favorite “election films” for two reasons: The first is by the films SWING VOTE and the upcoming DVD release of Participant Media’s own documentary CHICAGO 10, and the second is by an All Thing’s Considered segment called, In Election Movies, Playing By A Rule of Three.

Bob Mondello keenly observes this genre of films as a sub-genre of “political films” with it’s own sub-set of three types of electoral manipulation:

… movies with a generically political bent come in all shapes and styles, election movies are almost always about process — specifically, about efforts to manipulate either (a) the media, and thereby the public, (b) the candidate or (c) the process itself.

The most famous examples are THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, BOB ROBERTS, PRIMARY COLORS, THE BEST MAN and THE CANDIDATE. Bob Mondello and Michelle Norris discuss these and others, including the lesser known Capra/Tracy/Hepburn film STATE OF THE UNION. And WAG THE DOG, which doesn’t really follow and election or candidacy, but it’s a damn fine movie (smartly adapted by David Mamet from a more ambitious book). Nothing about THE CONTENDER though, which isn’t a perfect film and not exactly about an election/campaign, but certainly worth a mention (especially in this post-Hillary era). All of these films intersect with real life (by imitating it or influencing it) either at the time of their making or later.

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You know I love The Wire. And thus I was quite excited to see that The Museum of the Moving Image in New York City is holding a symposium about my favorite Baltimore show entitled Making The Wire.

The panel will feature a conversation with David Simon, novelist Richard Price (who wrote five episodes), and cast members Seth Gilliam (who played Sgt. Ellis Carver), Clark Johnson (city editor Gus Haynes), Lance Reddick (Lieutenant Cedric Daniels), Wendell Pierce (Detective William “Bunk” Moreland), and Clark Peters (Detective Lester Freamon).

Sigh, I love then all! I am super upset that I am in Ohio and have to miss it - so if you’re in New York City, you should definitely go!

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The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

TakePart Gang:

Sudan Leader Charged with Genocide: What Are the Reactions? by Wendy Cohen

Inconvenient Truth of the Day: Al Gore Speaks on Climate Change by Joshua Tremblay

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Nicole Hughes:

“Farms in the Sky” a Solution to Global Food Crisis?

Wal-Mart Launches Eco-Bling Project

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Andy Kondrat:

NYC To Bring in 300 Hybrid Taxis Per Month

Coolio To Educate Students On Climate Change

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Jon Popham:

Pickens’ Plan for Energy Independence

On “Rent” Closing, the East Village, and Gentrification

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Gina Telaroli:

Batman Morals: Top 5 Lessons from the Capped Crusader’s Films

Emmy Nominations Kick “The Wire” to the Curb

The Emmy Nominations for the 2008 season are here. I’m not a big TV watcher, with the exception of The Wire and Lost, but it’s always interesting to consider the nominations and this year is no exception. The complete nomination list can be found here but after looking at it, it has become obvious to me that I should focus on a glaring omission:

1) THE WIRE

I’m sorry, but it is unacceptable that this show not be nominated and even more unacceptable that none of it’s actors be nominated. I mean really, does William Shatner really deserve another nomination for Boston Legal? Not when Andre Royo, Michael K Williams and Lance Reddick are without one.

I’m not sure how anyone who spent 5 minutes with Royo’s Bubbles could NOT nominate him… He is the definition of best supporting actor and did more work in one episode than William Shatner has done in his entire Boston Legal career. And as much as I love Lost and love Michael Emerson’s Ben, I would easily chop his name of the nomination list for Royo, Williams, Reddick or any number of their co-stars.

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It’s been 4 months since The Wire season finale aired and television hasn’t been as good since. That might change though, now that HBO is airing Generation Kill, a mini-series about the first wave of Marines that engaged in combat in the Iraq war. The mini-series was created by non other than David Simon, the amazing creator of The Wire.

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They don’t call Baltimore “Charm City” for nothing. Sure, it might play home to the gripping series “The Wire,” but Baltimore is also home to some of the country’s best museums, universities, medical research institutions, seafood, and quirky art communities. Remember fellow blogger Jon’s posts about HonFest and the Kinetic Sculpture Race? Baltimore also has a thriving green community, and urban environmentalism has taken root with many local organizations that want to cut back on pollution, improve public transportation, reduce landfill waste, and incorporate greener living into city life. How are the residents of Baltimore working to green their city, improve air quality and public health, and revitalize public space in the interest of a greener, cleaner environment? Find out by learning about some of these great organizations after the JUMP—>.

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A new website called LegiStorm has got a bunch of top House staffers pretty upset. LegiStorm has been publishing information related to their personal finances and it is causing quite a stir:

In an unusual conflict over constitutional rights, the aides argue that the recent disclosures leave them highly vulnerable to identity theft. But the Web site, LegiStorm, contends that it has a First Amendment right to publish already public information about some of the Capitol’s most powerful players — the high-level staffers — and is creating a new check against potential corruption.

“Congressional staffers are among the most powerful people in Washington, and in the past they have received very little scrutiny. It’s about time there was a little more scrutiny given to what they’re doing,” said Jock Friedly, president and founder of LegiStorm, which has six employees. [The Washington Post]

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Scenarios USA is an awesome non-profit that asks teens to write about what’s real to them. Their “What’s the REAL DEAL” contest takes all kinds of writings form teens, stories, plays, poetry and scripts all related to a specific real topic and picks the top 3 and turns them into movies directed by real working directors.

The winners of the “What’s the REAL DEAL about Masculinity?” have just been announced and the projects sound great….

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If you haven’t come across the Youth Media Blog-a-thon sponsored by Wiretap and YO! yet, it’s some pretty moving stuff that is worth the read. This month’s subject is violence, and young bloggers are engaging with their readers on how violence impacts their lives and their communities.  WireTap contributing editor Jamilah King kicked off the blog with a saddening story about the murder of her 15-year-old sister:

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Anyone who has read any of my many Wire posts knows that I love Omar Little (the character Michael Kenneth Williams played on the show). It seems I am not alone - apparently a few months ago Barack Obama announced that he loves Omar too! This may not seen like such a big deal, except that Omar is a violent street criminal (keep in mind that it’s all in the game) and openly homosexual. I found a YouTube video of an ABC report about Obama’s liking of Omar that features an interview with Michael Kenneth Williams where he talks his character and the significance and importance of Omar (FYI - it’s a little out of sync) - it will make you love Omar even more!

How could you not love Michael K. Williams! In honor of Omar, to learn about an awesome health center in New York City that works to help the gay and lesbian community.