THE OBENSON REPORT

• Culture Critical
• Deesha Philyaw (AKA Mamalicious!)
• The Black Actor
• The Invisible Woman
• Wigger Lover

"...there, Michael, in the middle of Sixth Avenue -- as I stood there jabbering... traffic speeding... I looked at my hands and my suit -- my briefcase -- and it came to me -- came over me -- through me -- the overwhelming sensation -- the feeling -- the fact -- that I was covered with some sort of film -- an oil -- an ooze -- my hair -- my face -- like a glaze -- a coating -- and at first I thought, “My God, I know what this is, this is some sort of amniotic, embryonic fluid - I’m drenched in afterbirth -- I’ve breached the chrysalis -- I’ve been reborn”... or some giddy illusion of renewal that happens in the final instant before death.” I realized, at that moment, that I had emerged -- as I have done nearly every day for the past twenty eight years of my life from the asshole of an organism whose sole function is to excrete the poison -- the ammo -- the defoliant -- necessary for even larger and more dangerous organisms to destroy the miracle of humanity -- and that I have been coated with this patina of shit for the better part of my life and that the stink and stain might in all likelihood take the rest of my days to undo -- and do you know what I did next? I took a deep, cleansing breath. I set that notion aside. I tabled it. I said to myself, “As clear as this may be -- as potent as this may feel -- as true a thing as I believe I have witnessed here -- It must stand the test of time.” And, Michael, the time is NOW!"

As spoken by Tom Wilkinson as Arthur Dent from the film Michael Clayton (although slightly edited for my benefit). He should have won the Oscar for best supporting actor, by the way. His performance in Michael Clayton trumped Javier Bardem's choirboy haircut killer!

TAO