The Eyes Have It

I was watching TV again (dang me, dang me, they oughta take a rope and hang me) and caught a clip of the Iranian pres Ahmadinejihad (misspelling purposeful) being interviewed. What got me was that I couldn't see his eyes. I mean, I know they're there, but he squints all the time and all you can see are these two black beads. I was reminded at first of the description of Miss Emily in Faulkner's story:

Her eyes, lost in the fatty ridges of her face, looked like two small pieces of coal pressed into a lump of dough...

In both cases one gets the impression of eyes into which one cannot see. They are opaque, reflecting back the world rather than letting it in. But then I realized that, if I had to be in one or the other's company on a daily basis, I'd choose Miss Emily, for at least I could understand her theory of murder. If her heart was going to be broken one more time, then she'd freeze it, time that is, so that it could not happen again. Miss Emily, though something of a walking corpse herself, is still human. That's when the Iranian prez's eyes began to remind me of a shark's instead. I heard a diver once tell of how a dolphin looks at you, while the shark looks through you.

I guess if you're going to be a proponent of Jew-genocidalism, those are the only kind of eyes you can have. You can't let in what you don't want to see. The fellow also smiles a lot, almost incessantly, sort of like a car salesman, only the car salesman doesn't hope you die if you leave the lot without buying. People who smile all the time are usually trying to hide something. Just shake my hand and make the smile brief, a flash of humanity acknowledging my right to stand on the same planet as you. You can smile more often after we're friends. When Ahmadinejewdead's smile accidentally falls for a second, his eyes look even deader. Some might diagnose him as a sociopathic personality, others as a mere religiously brainwashed fanatic. He's certainly one of those. I found out during the interview that the Holocaust was a fraud, and that if the Jews have a home, it's somewhere in Europe (everywhere they go it seeems like people want to kill them or throw them out or at least just dislike them a whole lot). Me, I'm going with demon possession.

















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I saw an editorial in the Weekly Standard recently (July 24th issue) that said eventually something will have to be done about Iran. Actually, here are their exact words:

For that matter, we might consider countering this act of Iranian aggression with a military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities. Why wait? Does anyone think a nuclear Iran can be contained?...It would be easier to act sooner rather than later...

Don't worry. They're probably just kidding.

Besides, if Iran does get a bomb, no one will know it sooner than the Israelis. Couldn't we let them whack the facilities first? After all, they have experience at this kind of thing.

And further besides which, if my diagnosis of demon possession is correct, we at least know it has a cure. Before we start showering with bombs, let's bring on the exorcists. Of course, there's a whole army over there that needs exorcising (Hezbollah), which would seem to present a problem, but there's a solution. Those Jew and Western-hating Persians and Arabs love TV. They don't exactly watch the same stuff you and I do - running more along the lines of "Everybody hates Seinfeld" - but they do watch it. If we could commandeer their broadcast networks for just a few hours - you know, "We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to bring you..." and there's Max von Sydow in clerical garb bellowing in that magnificent bass-baritone, "The power of Christ commands you!" - think of the dissension that might be sown in the ranks. Imagine Ahmadinejad writhing on his prayer carpet in agony screaming, "Turn it off! Turn it off!" Until eventually he rises a new man, and you can see into his eyes now.

Ah, this is a blog. Whaddya want? Madeleine Albright?
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Also saw Ramesh Ponnuru, the National Review columnist, on the Colbert Report. It's the first time I've ever seen him on TV and now I understand why. He's sort of a gnomish little fellow with a high-pitched voice who curls in on himself as he sits there talking, as though he's shrinking from the confrontation. He was billed as the author of The Party of Death, which didn't lend itself to a whole lot of ready-made humor. The interview was so bad and so unfunny I can't even find a link to an archived version of it. Ponnuru's fine behind a desk as long as it's off-camera. Not his fault.
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Saw a movie called Deep Blue. It's a pg rated documentary. Or maybe G. Can't remember. What I like about it was that it had no plot, no point, and no people. Just a feast for the eyes, although watching a mama grey whale lose her calf to a pack of killer whales wasn't easy, or watching another killer whale launch his seal prey on a somersaulting, 50 foot flight skyward with a swipe of his tail fin. I'm sorry so much of life has to live off other forms of it. Makes you wonder how the whole project ever got off the ground. Pierce Brosnan's narration is understated, unobtrusive, and intermittent. Long periods of silence. The animals are center stage. They do try to tack on some point at the end about exhausting the ocean's resources before we've fully explored it, which makes it sound as though after we've fully explored it then we can exhaust it. The only disappointment came at the end when the blue whale makes his appearance, but we don't really get a good look at him. Certainly the largest creature now living on the planet and possibly ever. There used to be 300,000 of them, but they're down to about 3,000. All in all a fine experience. No profanity, lousy dialogue, pornographic sex, or car crashes. The trailer is here.