King County Proposition 1

This is for King County voters in Washington State. How are you going to vote on Proposition 1? This proposition would raise the county sales tax to help with the county budget. I sympathize with the need to do something about the budget catastrophe, but I'm really, really tired of solving our problems with a regressive sales tax. I'm leaning pretty strongly toward voting No on this one, despite the fact that all progressive organizations seem to be recommending a Yes vote. Any thoughts?

Image of the Day

L'enfant de Paris (1913)

'Perret’s artistic maturity is beautifully represented in the influential feature The Child of Paris, a naturalistic drama reminiscent of Émile Zola. Of this film, critic Georges Sadoul proclaimed, “Léonce Perret was able to render a graceful and lively story by using an extraordinarily refined cinematic repertoire: backlighting, low-angle shots, close-ups, moving shots and numerous other innovations, all of which Perret implemented with flair, in stark contrast to...the still somewhat primitive technique of David W. Griffith at that time.”'

-- Gaumont Treasures (1897-1913)

' It is easy to see why Gaumont’s first feature filmmaker, Léonce Perret, although a little-known figure, greatly influenced 1920s cinema. The Mystery of the Rocks of Kador (1912) and The Child of Paris (1913) are replete in refined pictorialism, advanced split-screening, fast cutting and other editing novelties, special effects, backlit silhouettes, highly stylized and theatrical lighting, angles, pans, masterful transitions, extreme close ups, point-of-view shots, early reaction shots, and, thankfully, a shift from stationary tableaux to more consistent multiple camera set-ups.'

-- Amy R. Handler, review of Gaumont Treasures (1897-1913)