The Long Proud Line

Oceans Two

In "Duplicity," Julia Roberts and Clive Owen, red-hot lover-haters in 2005's "Closer," reunite as secret agents who quit their government jobs to run a $40 million con on rival cosmetic CEOs, marvelously played by Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson. You'll have to see the movie to find out who really gets played. Written and directed by Tony Gilroy ("Michael Clayton"), it's heavily influenced by "Oceans Eleven Through Thirteen," determinedly cool and ironic, with a dizzying number of flashbacks. Keep the dates in your head or else. Even then, there's a glaring hole in the story. If you see "Duplicity," please tell me how Owen gets out of the jam in Duke's lab 15 minutes or so before the end.

The corporate espionage angle has such a broad satirical coloration (American businessmen? What boobs!) that the stars sometimes have trouble keeping hold of their love story. In one scene, Roberts shows up unexpectedly in Cleveland, where Owen has taken a job as security chief for a food company. When she tells him that it's time to come to New York to join the big con, he says he's about to make a key move in connection with his boss's new product: Double-crust frozen pineapple and ham pizza. "That's never been done before," Owen says as Roberts looks bored.

Us, too, almost. But their chemistry is strong enough that you''ll probably hang in there, despite the plot's intricacies. Me, I figured they'd get each other or the money, but not both. They'd first met six years before the action of the movie, when the U.S. assigned her to seduce Owen (a dashing British agent) and steal the secrets in his briefcase, which she accomplishes after drugging his champagne. Just before she scoots, she tucks a pillow under his head. They meet again in Rome two years later and hatch their plot. But he never completely trusts her, nor she, him. It's an occupational hazard, of course, though the idea is that even civilians keep secrets from one another. "Nobody trusts anybody," Owen says during their passionate reunion in Rome. "We just cop to it."

Timeless Songs: "Because The Night" (1978)

A live performance by Patti Smith. Go here for a montage of stills set to the original recording of by the Patti Smith Group and here for a performance by R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe (for whom Smith was a major influence) and Bruce Springsteen, who co-wrote the song with her.

Maybe The IRS Is Hiring

Though I don't always agree with him, I never miss the weekly e-newsletter from Rep. John Campbell (R-Newport Beach). Here's his math on the federal budget that passed the House and Senate this week without a single GOP vote, en route to an appropriations process that will be considerably more rancorous. Italic and boldface type in the original:

The spending increases are so massive that it doubles the national debt in only 5 1/2 years and triples it in 10 years. The government can probably not even sell that much debt. We’ve already seen this scenario play out in the UK and Germany, where issuances of their national debt failed to attract enough buyers. If the President wanted to balance his budget, he would need to increase every federal tax on every American by at least 30%. That means an increase on your payroll taxes, gas taxes, income taxes, alternative minimum taxes, corporate tax, capital gains tax, cigarette tax, excise taxes, etc by 30% each. This is in addition to what he has already proposed.

Having Your Coal And Burning It, Too

The article's in "Newsweek." It says that our nation's energy crisis is artificially induced, that the government has chosen to cut off sources of supply that could keep prices low while reducing our dependence on foreign suppliers. It opposes cap and trade. It strikes this Nixonian note:

What America needs is a rational energy policy that utilizes all our homegrown energy resources while protecting the environment.

The author is Newt Gingrich. Go here if you're interested.

So Much In Common

Faith Goldman, who attends St. John's with her beloved (and my godson), Harry Elliott, grew up watching her grandfather preside at her family's Passover Seder. He positioned a gold chalice on the table from which no one ever apparently drank, and yet by the end of the meal, it was always empty. Faith was a young woman before she realized that, when she and the other children had been sent outside to look for Elijah (whose return would presage the coming of the Messiah), grandpa would quickly gulp down the wine, like mom and dad consuming the goodies that kids leave out for Santa Claus.

Faith revealed these and other mysteries during an hour-long teaching for 35 of us tonight at St. John's. It's an apt subject for any Christian community. Jesus Christ was probably presiding at a Seder on the evening of his betrayal and arrest. The ancient ritual, always conducted at home rather than at temple or in a synagogue, has many correlations with Holy Eucharist (aka the mass) -- candles, ritual hand-washing, the common cup of wine, the breaking of bread. When the middle matzo is broken, wrapped in linen, and hidden until being brought out again for dessert, Christians naturally think of Jesus's broken body laid in the tomb until Easter. As Faith read the ancient prayers, just as her grandfather had year after year, we heard the source of other familiar themes in our worship -- creation, forgiveness, trust, blessing, deliverance, God's abundant love, and above all thanksgiving. So much in common, we people of faith. Thanks, Faith!

Howard's Trend

Howard Ahmanson, who provided major funding for the anti-gay marriage Prop. 8 in California as well as for conservative American Anglican causes, has switched his registration to the Democratic Party. Reading this article, I couldn't quite figure out why.

Would Jesus Tweet? It Sure Is Efficient

Evidently voice mail is going the way of IBM Selectric typewriters, being overtaken by texting, e-mails, Facebook messages, and Twits, young people's (them again) preferred methods of communication. Some people don't even listen to their voice mails anymore or await programs that will translate spoken messages into type.

Why meet, why touch, anyway? Better to sit at home with a computer on your lap and BlackBerry within reach. Why not hold the whole world at bay behind walls of pixels? Jill Colvin's article about this phenomenon buried the lead -- or maybe she wrote it this way on purpose. Her final paragraphs:

For Charlie Park, 30, a Web developer in Williamsburg, Va., a text message is more efficient and — equally important — more respectful of the recipient’s time.

“You never send an e-mail that says, ‘Hey, e-mail me back!’ You’re always sending information,” he said.

But even Mr. Park admits that sometimes, there is value in voice.

When his eldest daughter, Lucy, now 5, was learning to talk, he had to take a business trip. While away, she left him a message: “I love you daddy. I miss you. Come home soon.”

Mr. Park said he kept the message for several years and would replay it again and again.

“There is something nice about hearing people’s voices,” he said.

You think?

Perfect Duos: "This Is Us" (2006)

Emmylou Harris and Mark Knopfler. Song by Knopfler, from their album All the Roadrunning, which was seven years in the making.

Not The London The Obamas Saw

Thanks to ChrisCLondon, a unique tour of the city