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...Sarkozy also plans to visit Brazzaville, capital of the neighboring Republic of Congo, and Niger, in search of business opportunities for French companies. French commentators have noted how such business-as-usual tightness with African cronies, whose track record on democracy and human rights often leaves much to be desired, contrasts with Sarkozy's earlier pledges to break with Paris' traditional Françafrique policy of turning a blind eye to authoritarianism and corruption to maintain healthy relations with stable African allies. (See pictures of the Pope's recent visit to Africa...
...oversimplify with my usual abandon, I'd say that Pixar movies are animated features in the old, elevated Disney style, and DreamWorks films are flat-out cartoons, proud to be descended from the knockabout traditions of Warner Bros. (Bugs Bunny) and MGM (Tom and Jerry). You can spot the difference in the kinds of stories each studio favors. Pixar makes movies about couples - guy-guy in Toy Story, Monsters Inc., Cars, Ratatouille and this summer's Up; guy-gal in Finding Nemo and WALL-E - who build a relationship out of initial antagonism and shared need. In other words, buddy...
...usual spit and polish are on display in Monsters vs Aliens, directed by Rob Letterman (co-director of Shark Tale) and Conrad Vernon (co-director of Shrek 2). The movie imagines that in 1950 the government, fearful that the populace would freak out if it knew that monsters actually existed, put a top-secret plan into effect. General W.R. Monger (Kiefer Sutherland) herded the lot of misfits into X-file confinement. Waiting for Susan are Dr. Cockroach (Hugh Laurie), the gelatinous B.O.B. (Seth Rogen), the gatory Missing Link (Will Arnett) and a huge, grubby, voiceless Insectosaurus. It's another band...
...Shorb, Skidmore College's fast-talking director of student aid and family finance, did more reading than usual this year. And not just because the 4,000 financial-aid applications that landed on his desk made up a record 62% of the applicant pool. Shorb, who has worked in financial aid for 30 years and is halfway through putting his three daughters through college, had also never seen so many personal appeals folded into the files. Setting aside his computer algorithms and thick-buttoned relic of a calculator, he absorbed every typewritten page. One family expected a 50% income drop...
...cannot just hunker down, cross our fingers, hysterically pinch our pennies, wait for the crises to pass, blame the bankers and then go back to business as usual. All that conventional wisdom about 2008 being a "change" year? We had no idea. Recently Rush Limbaugh appeared on Sean Hannity's Fox News show, panicking not so much about the economy but about how the political winds are blowing as a result. If we finally manage to achieve something like universal health care, Limbaugh warned, it would mean "the end of America as we know it." He's right, but that...