Is she making an argument for the McCain camp or Obama’s? I’m confroosed.

To say that Paul Newman had an immense influence on the way I view movies and the way I view life would be an understatement. Until I encountered Mr. Newman, I thought that the heroes in films had to be massive giants filled to the brim with brawn and testosterone. They had to be drenched in sweat with lips curled into an angry snarl as they peeled off shots from some colossal piece of military hardware. Schwarzenegger and Stallone were my only glimpses into what it took to be a giant onscreen.

Then, in my early twenties, I saw The Hustler. Fast Eddie Felson. With that walk and that talk and that cool yet tortured air of confidence he carried with him every time he stepped into a bar or poolroom, it was then that everything changed. It was then that I rushed back and forth to the video store, renting and watching every Paul Newman movie I could find. The Hustler showed me that you could be slight in frame and still be the most powerful person in the room. That biting wit, that sarcasm, that swagger that to me was one of Paul Newman’s most distinguising traits - all of these elements combined to present to one young man an image he had been waiting for his whole life.

The Hustler, Cool Hand Luke, The Verdict, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Paris Blues, and my personal favorite Hud - I watched these films and others and constantly wondered how a man becomes so impeccable at performing his craft. For a while I even tried to adopt the Newman swagger, that little pop he had in his left shoulder and arm as he sauntered along (watch the end of Paris Blues or even notice it in Newman’s later films like The Verdict). I didn’t want to be Paul Newman, but I wanted to be as cool as he was. I wanted to stride along in the sort of way that told the world my burdens may be heavy, but nothing or nobody can stare me down. Some say McQueen was the coolest sonofabitch to ever grace the silver screen, but to me, it will always be Newman. The embodiment of cool, that was Paul Newman.

There were only two men in the world of film who, if I had the chance, I would shake their hands and say to them, “Thank you”. Denzel Washington, like Sidney Poitier before him, showed me that a black man can not only command a picture, but he can do it with style and sophistication. He can do it his way without deferring or kowtowing to anyone. He too has a swagger and gait that tells the world he is the master of his domain. To me, he has picked up the torch that Paul Newman left behind.

The second gentleman whose hand I wish I could have gripped firmly and expressed my undying gratitude is Paul Newman. I can say unashamedly and unabashedly, he was one of my heroes. Not only for what he did onscreen, but for his immense philanthropic influence off screen.

There are some stars that shine so bright, when they dim, the whole world seems to darken just a little bit. Louis Armstrong, John F. Kennedy, Princess Diana, Martin Luther King Jr. - when they departed from this earth, the world could not help but to take notice. For a moment, however brief, one had to take notice of the crushing silence and the gaping void that was left behind. Today, that silence is upon us once more. And once again, there is a void, a missing piece that can never be replaced.

In the The Hustler there is a scene in which Fast Eddie and his nemesis Bert Gordon discuss talent and character.

Bert Gordon: I don’t think there’s a pool player alive shoots better pool than I saw you shoot the other night at Ames. You got talent.
Fast Eddie: So I got talent. So what beat me?
Bert Gordon: Character.

Fast Eddie had the talent but he was lacking in what was most important. Character. In the real world, Paul Newman was loaded with talent. But what made him a truly iconic figure was character.

Farewell, Mr. Newman. And thanks for the lessons in what it takes to be a real man - both in fact and in fiction.

THESE are the people I would be forced to spend eternity with….

Yesterday, Senator John McCain’s senior policy domestic adviser claimed that the Blackberry was a “miracle that John McCain helped to create”. When informed of this, Senator McCain laughed and said, “That’s true. But in my day it was referred to as the Coloredberry.”

*rimshot*

*crickets*