And Junichi, do you really DISAGREE with the critical race argument against Avatar, or just taking it to the extreme of calling Cameron a racist? If the latter, then I understand, and I’ve attributed any apparent cultural insensitivity in the movie to the fact that this is Cameron’s brainchild from when he was a teenager. And I think he did his best to preserve his original vision.

That might also explain why the overall story and dialogue were so terrible.

So it’s not so much racist as it is just oblivious to the implications. As one of the people arguing for the “white man’s fantasy” interpretation, I certainly don’t regard Cameron as a racist, nor do I know of anyone who comes to that conclusion.

On Obama: the speculation that he might be remembered most for the mere fact of his election I think may prove to be accurate if he doesn’t do something to distinguish himself from the “politics as usual” in Washington.

He’s been so busy trying to get establish some sort of everyman’s bipartisan coalition that he’s alienating his base (at least the progressives, like me), gaining no ground with Republicans (who as you say, are against him as a political strategy), and at the same time floating to the surface the most virulent sector of the right – i.e. the Tea Party.

If everyone’s going to hate him anyway, he might as well effect the “change” that he preached during the campaign – which by definition means BUCKING the status quo.

Anyway, I hope you guys do this more often – it was fun to listen.