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You are here: Home / TV & Movies / Movies / He Must Have a Book To Sell

He Must Have a Book To Sell

by John Cole|  December 12, 20077:08 pm| 40 Comments

This post is in: Movies, Previous Site Maintenance

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I am about 20 minutes into the Bourne Ultimatum, and it occurred to me- at what point in the movie do the Bush dead-enders wonder whether Jason Bourne has a book to sell?

Consider this an open thread, and since the debate was on before I thought it was, fill me in on the lowlights.

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40Comments

  1. 1.

    Jen

    December 12, 2007 at 7:15 pm

    I didn’t read the book, but evidently the movie changed the book so that the bad guys were Murikans and not forners. Hollywood liberals. Jason Bourne is a hero, it’s not his fault.

  2. 2.

    calipygian

    December 12, 2007 at 7:21 pm

    Over at K-Lo’s Black Hole of Fucking Ignorance and Chickenhawk Rookery, the man who admitted today that he’s voting for Ron Paul thought that Alan Keyes is ca-ray-zee.

    Keyes is becoming a real problem [David Freddoso]

    They might need to call security. It’s their fault for inviting him.

  3. 3.

    Jen

    December 12, 2007 at 7:21 pm

    So I’ve been playing around with Pajamas Media’s other offerings. I found this little jewel to mock. If you’re not an MST3k nerd, it may not mean much to you but I’m going for it anyway.

    It is beginning to look like George Bush may be a uniter, not a divider, after all.

    No, he isn’t.

    It’s not that the loyal opposition doesn’t have to be dragged kicking and screaming. But the Bush-bashers of the world are slowly being brought into the fold, recognizing the common interest … or at least, for now, beginning to arrive at common ends in their own interest.

    No, we aren’t.

    In war, we know, the ends so often do justify the means

    No, they don’t.

    so who’s to quibble about why impeachment proceedings are not going ahead; why alleged U.S. “torture” just became a non-issue; why the Democratic leadership in Congress is ready to fund the U.S. troops fighting terrorism and trying to build a free nation in Iraq; and why, belatedly, said leadership and other critics are acknowledging that the Bush counter-insurgency strategy there is in fact working?

    We’re to quibble, and no, we aren’t.

    Perhaps it is better simply to appreciate that these things are happening.

    No, they aren’t, and no, we don’t.

    Repeat.

  4. 4.

    jake

    December 12, 2007 at 7:22 pm

    I’m wondering at what point the BDEs are going to hatch a plan to free Jack Bauer so he can save teh whirled!

  5. 5.

    calipygian

    December 12, 2007 at 7:25 pm

    Bauer’s not serving a bit for DUI. He’s infiltrating Islamists cells in prison. It was Malkin’s idea.

  6. 6.

    laneman

    December 12, 2007 at 7:25 pm

    cummon – murikans are bad now. As with you, I have not read the book, nor will I. But the stupid prevails through the working film indusrty and gives me a brain ache.

  7. 7.

    jcricket

    December 12, 2007 at 7:26 pm

    This political cartoon does make me wonder if our Bush is learning (the wrong lessons).

  8. 8.

    dslak

    December 12, 2007 at 7:52 pm

    As I’ve posted in another thread, here are some of the highlights of the debate.

  9. 9.

    Robert Johnston

    December 12, 2007 at 8:19 pm

    since the debate was on before I thought it was, fill me in on the lowlights.

    Well, it sounds like you’re asking for a quick recap. Unfortunately, the lowlights are pretty much the entire debate. Consensus seems to be that this debate made even typical recent Republican primary debates seem intellectually high brow and substantively informative in comparison.

    It seems that Alan Keyes has achieved the impossible, and by his mere presence at this debate he’s dragged down the entire Republican field to his level. Someday soon I expect to come across someone saying “draft Pat Buchanan!” and find myself thereupon thinking “hmm . . . well at least it would be an improvement on the current Republican field.”

  10. 10.

    The Other Steve

    December 12, 2007 at 8:35 pm

    didn’t read the book, but evidently the movie changed the book so that the bad guys were Murikans and not forners. Hollywood liberals. Jason Bourne is a hero, it’s not his fault.

    Bourne Identity was about the only one which was close to following the book.

    Bourne Supremacy took place in Asia. An assassin shows up committing killings under the name Jason Bourne, and someone from China kidnaps David Webb’s wife(Marie) and forces him to go find this fake Bourne.

    Bourne Ultimatum takes place in Europe. His old enemy Carlos the Jackal shows up, trying to kill him. Webb hides his family(Marie again) and working with Alexander Conklin(his old CIA friend who died in the 1st movie), tries to hunt down the Jackal in Europe.

    Utterly and completely different. It’s somewhat understandable, as this is supposed to take place in modern day. David Webb in the books was part of a special ops team during Vietnam until his family was killed and then he joined Treadstone, where he was bait trying to flush out Carlos the Jackal.(Basically the name Jason Bourne was used to take credit for assassinations throughout Asia, to make the Jackal nervous)

    I thought the films were good. The book story is better. But books can always afford to tell a more complex story with intertwining characters and plots. Movies have to flow in two hours.

    The best book to movie I’ve seen was Hunt for Red October, just in that the main things changed were technical, the character development and such was pretty good even though they probably spend 250 pages in the book detailing the sonar hunt, they were able to capture the excitement in 5-10 minutes of screen time close enough.

  11. 11.

    The Other Steve

    December 12, 2007 at 8:39 pm

    cummon – murikans are bad now. As with you, I have not read the book, nor will I. But the stupid prevails through the working film indusrty and gives me a brain ache.

    You so don’t understand Ludlum.

  12. 12.

    croatoan

    December 12, 2007 at 8:40 pm

    The 1984 movie of Nineteen Eighty-Four was good, too.

  13. 13.

    Michael D.

    December 12, 2007 at 8:43 pm

    What Jews do on Christmas! Can’t wait to have my Black Bean Chicken!

  14. 14.

    Cindrella Ferret

    December 12, 2007 at 8:55 pm

    So I’ve been playing around with Pajamas Media’s other offerings.

    I’ve started checking out a few other PJ blogs, as well, and the comment sections are a great diversion. The actual posts aren’t nearly as entertaining. Hot Air commenters are the most amusement I’ve had since we took the kids to Disneyland. Although, Disneyland did seem a bit more rooted in reality.

  15. 15.

    The Other Steve

    December 12, 2007 at 8:59 pm

    Speaking of CIA american haters… I don’t know if I’d trust the source, but this is a curiousity. Apparently a plane which had been used by the CIA back in 2003-2005 for rendition flights, crashed this past September with 3 tons of cocaine on board.

  16. 16.

    Cap and Gown

    December 12, 2007 at 9:03 pm

    I just saw the movie yesterday. I liked it quite a bit, though I thought the roof-top chase scene was over-long. But the ending was totally unbelievable, complete fantasy. Are we really supposed to believe that anyone in this government is ever going to be held accountable for breaking the law? Ever? I don’t think so.

  17. 17.

    Cindrella Ferret

    December 12, 2007 at 9:06 pm

    And once again the Right Wing shows its ass. Someone at PJ Media is bragging about questioning the Jamie Lee Foundation, and that resulting in a page of the Foundation’s website being taken down.

    If they were as vigilant about the words and actions of the Former Cheerleader and his War Criminals, and their consistent dissembling, obfuscating and outright lying this country might not have it tit in the proverbial wringer. Jesus! What is it with these people? Perpetual Inertia comes to mind.

  18. 18.

    jake

    December 12, 2007 at 9:15 pm

    Apparently a plane which had been used by the CIA back in 2003-2005 for rendition flights, crashed this past September with 3 tons of cocaine on board.

    Someone check, did the Prezdint become noticeably crankier and/or lethargic in September?

    Someone at PJ Media is bragging about questioning the Jamie Lee Foundation, and that resulting in a page of the Foundation’s website being taken down.

    Yeah, ‘cos a page on a website never gets taken down for updating or any other reason. It had to be the hard work of the Sweaty Palmed Vigilante Counter Checkers!

    Swaggering wankers.

  19. 19.

    JR

    December 12, 2007 at 9:16 pm

    Bourne was never really a covert agent, and Pam Landy is the one trying to score a book deal.

    Traitors, the lot of them.

  20. 20.

    Jen

    December 12, 2007 at 9:29 pm

    Do you know how big a dorko I am? I know that the movie changed the book because of a review in, I believe it was the Nation, but I can’t find it online so that might not have been it. Dorko! I did see the movie, and I liked it. But this is how big a Mom-o I am. I later saw an ad for it in the paper and noticed it was PG-13. PG-13 and it has realistic, bone-crunching violence drenching nearly every scene. But no boobies, I guess that’s why.

  21. 21.

    cbear

    December 12, 2007 at 9:42 pm

    Shorter Rethug debate-

    Romney- I’ll do anything, swear to God…vote for me and I’ll come over to your house (or send a family member) and blow you.

    Guiliani- of course I fucked her and the citizens of N.Y. paid for it and I lied about it…but it doesn’t count cause everybody really already knew about and I’m a much better person now.

    Tancredo- I’ll personally execute as many illegal immigrant Messicans as we can round up.

    Huckabee- I jus loves the lil’ chirren and as soon as I get the women, fags, and Ishlam-0-factists in line, I’m goin to hep em all get a good ejikation.

    Hunter- I built that goddamn wall, you want me on that goddamn wall…I was in the goddamn military and my son’s in the goddamn military and we can kill more illegal immigrant Messicans than anybody up here.

    McCain- I refuse to torture people…but I’ll sure kill the shit out of a bunch of them.

    Thompson- is it soup yet?

    Paul- these people are fucking crazy.

    Keyes- look at this aborted fetus, LOOK AT IT!!!

    Did I miss anything?

  22. 22.

    tBone

    December 12, 2007 at 9:47 pm

    PG-13 and it has realistic, bone-crunching violence drenching nearly every scene. But no boobies, I guess that’s why.

    Seeing realistic, bone-crunching violence depicted on screen will help prepare the next generation for their role in the War on Terror.

    Boobies, on the other hand, would rot their moral fiber, turning the girls into America-hating lesbians (like Hillary) and the boys into lust-crazed rapists (like Bill).

    In summary – spurting blood on screen: good for America. Other spurting bodily fluids on screen: bad for America.

  23. 23.

    jcricket

    December 12, 2007 at 9:50 pm

    If they were as vigilant about the words and actions of the Former Cheerleader and his War Criminals, and their consistent dissembling, obfuscating and outright lying this country might not have it tit in the proverbial wringer.

    So what you’re saying is that this is a GW Bush quote?

    This is not a cheer-ocracy, I am the cheer-tator, I will make the cheer-isions around here, and I will deal with the cheer-onsequences.

    And c’mon, you know the words of Dear Leader require no attention, other than to bask in their glorious rapture and correctness by definition.

  24. 24.

    jcricket

    December 12, 2007 at 9:55 pm

    Paul- these people are fucking crazy, please don’t notice this twitch in my eye

    That’s the only part I think you missed.

  25. 25.

    TheFountainHead

    December 12, 2007 at 10:10 pm

    Apparently a plane which had been used by the CIA back in 2003-2005 for rendition flights, crashed this past September with 3 tons of cocaine on board.

    Ever read Air America? Details the CIAs Taxi-Service-in-the-Sky pretty damn well, and a good read at that.

  26. 26.

    Jen

    December 12, 2007 at 10:11 pm

    So, Bush vetoed SCHIP again. I guess I should “recognize the common interest”, though.

  27. 27.

    Robert Johnston

    December 12, 2007 at 10:23 pm

    Apparently a plane which had been used by the CIA back in 2003-2005 for rendition flights, crashed this past September with 3 tons of cocaine on board.

    Someone check, did the Prezdint become noticeably crankier and/or lethargic in September?

    Crankier? More lethargic? It’s a good 15-20 years since I’ve had to deal with different orders of infinity. . . . hmm . . . Yes, there does appear to have been an uptick in the measures of Bush’s crankiness and lethargy from aleph-null. Yes, yes, it makes sense: there’s no longer anything discrete or discreet about George Bush’s crankiness and lethargy, which can now only be measured by the infinity of irrationality, er, the irrational continuum, aleph-one.

  28. 28.

    Chad N. Freude

    December 12, 2007 at 11:13 pm

    I found this little jewel to mock.

    Mock? How can you? The author of that piece is clearly in urgent need of hospice care. How can you be so un-PC as to mock the words of a person whose brain is so obviously badly damaged. And you call yourself a LIBERAL!!!

    And I can hardly wait for the Evangelical Christian Bourne movie, the PG-rated one where everyone who has sex (all of it off-screen) dies hideously and gruesomely with blood everywhere (all of it on-screen), The Bourne Again Ultimatum.

  29. 29.

    jake

    December 13, 2007 at 12:07 am

    Ow.

  30. 30.

    The Other Steve

    December 13, 2007 at 12:24 am

    Do you know how big a dorko I am? I know that the movie changed the book because of a review in, I believe it was the Nation, but I can’t find it online so that might not have been it. Dorko! I did see the movie, and I liked it. But this is how big a Mom-o I am. I later saw an ad for it in the paper and noticed it was PG-13. PG-13 and it has realistic, bone-crunching violence drenching nearly every scene. But no boobies, I guess that’s why.

    Boobies bad, waterboarding, er I mean swimming… that is good.

  31. 31.

    Perry Como

    December 13, 2007 at 1:47 am

    What Jews do on Christmas! Can’t wait to have my Black Bean Chicken!

    That’s awesome. I have a good friend that is Chinese and Jewish. She’ll love this.

  32. 32.

    Cain

    December 13, 2007 at 3:01 am

    So, Bush vetoed SCHIP again. I guess I should “recognize the common interest”, though.

    Congress is planning on folding to Bush again on the war funding. Ah well. Oh yeah, apparently Republicans want an alternative (see huffpost) Iraq report and some Republican dweeb is going to get a bipartisan group going to take a second look at it. Malkin is already gearing to head over to Iran to find out what kind of counters the prez over there has. I look forward to reading the report on Conservapedia!

    cain

  33. 33.

    John S.

    December 13, 2007 at 8:00 am

    I have a good friend that is Chinese and Jewish. She’ll love this.

    I have cousins that are half Vietnamese and Jewish. They always got very strange looks at temple.

  34. 34.

    pharniel

    December 13, 2007 at 9:15 am

    I have a good friend that is Chinese and Jewish. She’ll love this.

    I have cousins that are half Vietnamese and Jewish. They always got very strange looks at temple.

    do you know how much i would kill to have good blackbean chicken on christmass? with good hot sour and crabcheese?

  35. 35.

    Blue Jean

    December 13, 2007 at 11:22 am

    Jen,

    Why did I have to read your link?!!! Why??? And I just finished breakfast too!

    Shorter Crittenden: Dear Leader has united the nation on Iraq.

    MST3K’s Crow; Yes, we’ve all agreed he’s doing a bad job.

  36. 36.

    jcricket

    December 13, 2007 at 11:41 am

    So, Bush vetoed SCHIP again. I guess I should “recognize the common interest”, though.

    If Democrats were smart they would seize on this veto and hang it around every Republicans neck who voted against SCHIP. And don’t ever back down or apologize for doing so.

    Any vulnerable Republican should be forced to vote no/obstruct things that are popular/right thing to do. Let’s see how they like being made to squirm by their lame duck leader.

  37. 37.

    binzinerator

    December 13, 2007 at 1:53 pm

    The Bourne Again Ultimatum

    My wife and I went to see the Bourne Ultimatum at the local cineplex. The ticket girl asked us what show, I said “two for the Bourne Again Ultimatum”. And man, did that chick give me one hellva nasty look.

    Think she might’ve been born again? Those evangelicals sure have no sense of humor. I love telling them I was born right the first time when they come proseltyzing to my door.

    Ya know, I didn’t used to. I used to be respectful. Something about the past 10 or so years or so has made me change my mind about that. Perhaps it was the realization that they no longer want to come to my door and tell me, in their roundabout way, I need to live my live according to their beliefs — they want to go to the government to make me. I have only contempt for them now.

    By the way, I think the first Bourne flick was the best. The premise of assassin-with-amnesia was new and fresh — we were as clueless as he was, and we struggled to connect the dots, find the real meaning behind events. Tough to replicate that in sequels.

  38. 38.

    grumpy realist

    December 13, 2007 at 4:40 pm

    Hunt for Red October–well, the movie had to be better than the book because the latter made my eyeballs hurt.

    If you know any Russian, stop up your ears for Sean Connery’s first scene. I think that actually placed first place when some UK newspaper had a contest for “worst foreign language pronunciation in a movie.” Ow.

  39. 39.

    jcricket

    December 13, 2007 at 5:57 pm

    If you know any Russian, stop up your ears for Sean Connery’s first scene. I think that actually placed first place when some UK newspaper had a contest for “worst foreign language pronunciation in a movie.” Ow.

    There’s no way that Sean Connery beats John Wayne playing Ghenghis Khan.

    Ja-moo-gah. That tar-tar woman’s fer me.

  40. 40.

    Silver Owl

    December 13, 2007 at 7:28 pm

    The Bourne books are awesome. I have read all the books and just can not bring myself to even watch the movies. Matt Damon is as far away from the Bourne/Webb character as could be, in my opinion. Few books are done correctly in movies anyways, but casting Matt Damon as Bourne/Webb was so not right.

    I do have to say Eric Van Lustbader writing the new Bourne books does a damn good job. I really really liked Bourne Legacy and Bourne Betrayal. I hope Van Lustbader does more with Bourne’s son. Now that is an interesting character.

    The Covert One novels that Ludlum started are good too. I just finished the Artic Event.

    Robert Ludlum was a fanastic author.

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