The American Election 2012 with wobbly ghosts and candle wax...

If you thought the U.S. election was too close to call 4 years ago (and it was no where near the landslide to the Democrats that prevailing history would want one to believe) then have a gander at tonight (though only die-hards in Britain will stamina the early morning hours their time). This website is only politic in the sense that it is to do with people. No art, no films, NOTHING cultural can exist without a context. What makes those artforms deathly boring is agenda of any race, colour or creed. And politics, unfortunately, is mostly that. One CNN commentator quipped tonight from The Simpsons “we have to let these damn people vote”. Democracy is indeed the least political system of all evils. New York is hardly a swing state- yet Mayor Bloomberg bravely described his own polling experience and others this morning as “third world” after Hurricane Sandy totally rearranged the polling stations. Can Sandy be blamed for the electronics a bit skew-whiff or the lack of photocopied affidavit voting forms for those polling outside their zone due to storm damage? One could argue that Bloomberg's statement was politically agendered. Just as his decision to abandon the NY Marathon (Staten Island is predominantly Republican). But it would be foolish to say the least to draw that conclusion of either experience.

Manhattan may be sporting a brave face after Hurricane Sandy (again perhaps a gross generalisation). But the hard hit NY boroughs –many still without much help or indeed power- are speaking their mind. Whether the general American electoral vote of 270 to win Presidency tonight are doing the same or indeed are mindful of all the intricacies and ramifications of that vote is kinda beside the point. That is the system one has! And if the vote is tied 269/269 then the system is even more problematic. The Senate has a deciding vote but it is only one vote per State no matter how different are the political margins of each State. No wonder many people like ‘The Simpsons’ are sceptical of democracy!

One small haven of Virginia that has correctly predicted/voted the outcome since 1952 is neck and neck at 49% as of writing this post. Point taken? Whilst it is remarkable that the MTA has almost all subway lines up and running two very important lines are still flooded (one still with 3,700 foot of water)- the L to Williamsburg/Bushwick and beyond and the G to Bedford-Stuyvesant an up and coming (and one of the still affordable) suburbs. So home to many ‘middle-class’ and artists ‘on their feet’ who can least afford to be without a subway line.   

And nobody is happy with the American banks. In many cases you are better off bankrupt than with a salary or cash. Such are the hoops one has to jump through in order to get board approval for a co-op, buy a short sale or foreclosure, or even get bank approval for anything whatsoever. Remember the days of New Labour in Britain when one could ‘flannel’ an income 4 times what one earned or more? The buy to let bank fiasco?! America wasn’t that different. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. And those banks who sold inflated mortgage products have the gall to stand on their high horses pretending that they are holier than thou for their decisions protecting the interests of American democracy! Many loyal citizens are reaching for something else rather than the intense to burn there!

I feel a film review coming on. Many to choose…ummm…45 or so from the 50^th New York Film Festival for a start. Martin McDonagh’s Seven Psychopaths (2012 London Film Festival) opened in NYC a few weeks ago, UK -Momentum Pictures-  Dec 5). It’s not perfect but it does deserve ‘a film by Martin McDonagh’ credit unlike many self-confessed auteurs. How do you make sense of the reality? Is there any sort of ‘reality’ that will reach a multiplex? Writer/director McDonagh goes a long way in discussing those questions with loads of really inventive scenes and acting turns along the way. But he doesn’t quite get inside the minds of his characters as he did with In Bruges. But you may disagree. And one could also argue that those minds, like many Americans, are fairly impenetrable nay schizoid given what normal people have to contend with on a daily basis. They don’t have a press briefing every day from Mayor Bloomberg assuring them that everything will be fine. They have normal TV! They’d all be better off doing the daily round and having a laugh in the evening with The Big Bang Theory. After all, as the doco filmmaker Patricio Guzmán noted in Nostalgia for the Light we are at the end of the day all but atoms.