CRASH: No Auto Fuel Economy Standards

Although race and anger are the dominate themes of the Oscar winning movie Crash, the main vehicles in the film are gas guzzling SUVs. Ludacris and Larenz Tate jack Sandra Bullock's SUV and Terrence Howard and Thandie Newton also drive a big black SUV. Of course Ludracis' own compact car will not start and he is too ashamed to ride the bus. Neither couple has children. Sandra Bullock and Thandie Newton are particularly angry in this film and Terrence Howard's anger boils over after he is jacked in his SUV by Ludacris and Larenz Tate.

The second most powerful scene in the movie involves a sexual assault of Thandie Newton by policeman Matt Dillon against an SUV. The most powerful scene in the movie includes Matt Dillon and Thandie Newton when her SUV crashes and is about to explode in a ball of flames. "Crash," where race, sex, anger and oil imports collide. AAEA believes large SUVs should be plug-in fuel cell hybrid electric vehicles.

And of course Hollywood's discomfort with interracial sex is highlighted again when Don Cheadle, during a sex scene, announces to his mother after answering the telephone that he is having sex with a white woman but when he hangs up tells his Latina girlfriend he would have told her she was Mexican but it wouldn't have made her as angry. Heaven forbid it should be a white woman.

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Inside Man

Inside Man is a very good film and Spike Lee's first $100 million movie. And for a film about a bank robbery in Manhattan that involves 50 hostages, no one gets killed (except in a fantasy sequence, a faked murder and in a kid's video game). In fact, the head bank robber bemoans the killing he sees in the kid's hand held video game. Imagaine an anti-killing bank robbery film. Google the film if you want standard reviews but we have two observations that probably will not be covered.

First is the digging in the bank to find a sewer line. Without giving away the film, suffice it to say that the line is needed for a specific purpose. I am just curious though about whether such a line would flood the room once breached. How much pressure is there in Manhattan sewer lines? And what about sewer gas? Wouldn't the antagonist be overcome by the methane?

Second, Hollywood bends over backwards to keep black men away from sexual situations with white women. The onscreen heat between Denzel Washington and Jodie Foster, above, almost melts the screen with them just talking. Yet this sexual dynamic is not explored because of studio sensitivities to negative reactions from white males and black females, which could translate into lower box office. Of course, contrary to such expectations, it could actually add to the box office. It would also reflect reality because such interactions are common, particulary in New York.

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President's Corner: An Interesting Day

Norris McDonald, Laurie David, Condoleezza, Hillary Clinton, & Robert Kennedy

Some days are just more interesting than others. Wednesday, April 5, 2006: Rode down a Senate elevator with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, met Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice just before a House International Relations Committee hearing, chatted with Robert Kennedy, Jr. about his left-arm rotator cuff surgery at a global warming HBO film screening at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center Amphitheater, and talked to Laurie David, Executive Producer of the HBO documentary "Too Hot Not To Handle" and the wife of Larry David of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "Seinfeld" fame about including commercial nuclear power plants as another solution to global warming. I invited her to tour nuclar power plant. Post by AAEA President Norris McDonald.

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Global Warming Films By Gore & David

Former Vice President Al Gore and Hollywood environmental activist Laurie David are debuting global warming films. Gore's film is scheduled for theatrical release on May 26 and David's documentary will air on HBO on April 22 (Earth Day). Gore's film is titled, "An Inconvenient Truth," and David's HBO documentary is titled "Too Hot Not To Handle." Laurie David is the wife of Larry David of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "Seinfeld" fame. Gore's book on global warming will be release on May 16.

The Washington DC premiere screening of the HBO documentary "Too Hot To Handle" features special presenters Senator Joseph Leiberman, Senator John McCain, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, and Executive Producer Laurie David. The screening is scheduled for Wednesday, April 5, 2006 at 6:30 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center Amphitheater, Concourse Level, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC. The one-hour documentary illustrates the effects of global warming in the U.S. and some of the solutions that are already taking place across the country. The film features contributions from leading scientists in the field.

AAEA President Norris McDonald attended the premiere and shared his views with Laurie David about how nuclear power is a crucial part of the solution to global warming. He invited her to tour a nuclear power plant. She respectfully declined but McDonald is hopeful that she will change her mind. McDonald also wished Robert Kennedy, Jr. well with recovering from his rotator cuff surgery on his left shoulder. He was wearing a sling.

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'CRASH' Moment on Capitol Hill

The altercation between Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and a Capitol Hill police officer is a classic 'Crash' moment for anyone familiar with the film. Matt Dillon and Thandie Newton are both culpable as characters in the film just as McKinney and the officer struggled to exert their authority over each other. The officer was wrong to touch the congresswoman and she was wrong to strike him with her cell phone.

Although the incident should have ended with apologies from both, lawyers and 'Inside-the-Beltway political machine operatives plus the media have turned it into a full blown circus. Danny Glover and Harry Belafonte even joined in with McKinney at her first press conference about the incident. Fox News salivates at the hint of a McKinney press conference. As Matt Dillon said in the movie: "You think you know who you are. You have no idea."

American Blackout FilmCaptures
History of McKinney and Capitol Hill Police (Quicktime Format) DownloadQuicktime
- American

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Green Clooney Featured In Vanity Fair

GEORGE CLOONEY, as a member of the new Hollywood environmental movement, will be featured in the first "Green Issue" of Vanity Fair. Clooney's efforts to raise environmental awareness and inspire activism are profiled, along with other limosine liberals, enviro elites, politicians, other left-wing prius-driving stars and ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER. Clooney has also produced "Oil Change," a campaign to educate audiences and reduce our dependence on oil. Clooney also drives an all electric two-seater Tango. It has to be recharged each night.

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Tribeca Film Festival

The Tribeca Film Festival is in New York City from April 26 to May 7, 2006. In 2002, the Tribeca Film Institute launched the First Annual Tribeca Film Festival. Created by Jane Rosenthal and Robert De Niro, right, the mission of the Tribeca Film Festival is to enable the international film community and the general public to experience the power of film by redefining the film festival experience. The Tribeca Film Festival was founded to celebrate New York City as a major filmmaking center and to contribute to the long-term recovery of lower Manhattan. Tribeca has branched out to AMC Loews theaters at Lincoln Square, 34th Street, and Village 7. Film Guide. Venue Map.

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