Citizen Kane

"Rosebud..."

I finally saw Citizen Cane, the so-called "greatest movie ever made". I thought it was interesting. But I think by "greatest movie" what they mean is "movie with the camera work and effects most ahead of it's time", or "movie involved in the most intriguing hollywood subplot in the 1940s", or "movie that we most like to discuss in cinematography 101". They definitely don't mean "most enjoyable movie". I don't think it was as enjoyable as say, Ironman 2 (the last movie that I saw), or as enjoyable as just about any enjoyable movie. In fact I found it annoying that they mapped out the entire plot (except the rosebud thing) right at the beginning. But apparently it has deep focus photography and nifty fake ceilings made of cloth. Isn't that nice.

I did find the whole story about Orson Welles battling it out with William Randolph Heast pretty fascinating though. My previous knowledge of Hearst was based mostly on the brief mention of him by Joseph Pulitzer in Newsies.

"Rosebud..."

I'm Undecided On Proposition 100

On May 18 we in Arizona will vote on Proposition 100. If passed, it will add a one cent sales tax, supposedly for only three years, that will generate about a billion dollars a year to help shore up Arizona's massive budget deficit.

On the one hand, I'm usually against any raising of taxes. And "temporary" taxes have a tendency to become permanent. On the other hand, Arizona really needs the money, and if they don't get it, there will probably be serious cuts to education and public services, among other things. On the other hand, why do they need the money? The answer is simply because they let the budget get out of control when times were good.

The tax increase is essentially a bailout. The state government went on a wild spending spree, and now judgment day has come, and they want the taxpayers to make up for their folly. I'm generally opposed to bailouts on principle, unless they involve bailing me personally out of jail. But fortunately I've never been in jail. I believe in the free market, and letting things work themselves out. So I should probably be opposed to this bailout. However, I hate to see education get cut. That could cause some serious problems for our future workforce, and our ability to attract employers. And think of the children.

I feel a little bad for the governor, because she's trying to clean up somewhat else's mess (JANET?). But I'm not sure if raising taxes is the right way to clean it up.

I received a booklet from the Secretary of State with a bunch of "for" and "against" arguments. Let's see who's arguing...

FOR: Looks like we've got lots of education people, public service groups, blah blah blah. OK you don't want your funding cut, I get it. But also the Chambers of Commerce are for it. Interesting...

AGAINST: Various individuals and politicians... oh what's this, the Goldwater Institute is against it? I oppose any opinion of the Goldwater Institute, also on principle. Those nut jobs are always trying to destroy progress and keep the state from attracting new business. (Hello! You have to give incentives to businesses if you want them to come here and provide jobs! Please get a clue!)

OK, so based on the opinion pages, I'm tempted to vote for it just because the Chambers are for it and the Goldwater psychos are against it. But it's still a bailout, which I hate to see. I'm still undecided.