Wrestling A Viscious Puppet

2010-05-14T16:51:00.000-07:00

WE PASSED A LAW JUST TO WATCH IT DIE

Ever since I first saw the news about Arizona’s immigration law, I knew that it was a bad idea for everyone around. I’ve never claimed to be a Constitutional scholar or anything like that but it just read to me as wrong when I heard the initial news releases. My worries and views were confirmed when the entire bill was available to read online so it seemed kind of self evident that the whole thing would just stall out somewhere in the voting process and then be forgotten after a month or so.

Sadly I have been proven wrong about the whole thing. It wound up getting passed though the Arizona state legislature and then finally signed off by the Governor. There was all manner of strum and drang about the situation with calls for boycotts and lawsuits and the like. It’s been a week or so since the signing and it is still in the news but not quite as much as it was at the start. I kind of felt that maybe this would be the last of these laws and the hate would just be focused through the single point. But, as before I was wrong.

Earlier on in the week, there was a second law signed off by the Governor that adds many of the immigration laws ideas onto the world of ethnic studies classes. Just like the previous bill, it takes what kind of sounds like a good idea at the time where they try and stop classes and curriculum that promotes hate and just screws it all up. I would like to think that some people in the legislature would stop to think that maybe this law might need an extra bit of tweaking to make it form a better law. It looks like I might be one of those people that looks at the brighter side of life but I always hope that some people might clearly think for a moment when it comes to decisions of this magnitude. This just seems to prove me wrong again.

The final edition of this whole law environment idea is currently making it’s way through the same legislature that passed the other two. While the other bills seem to want to look like they’re just designed to be part of the laws of their home state, this last law tips the hat of the true people behind these laws to begin with. Also known as the “Birther Bill”, this little bit of paperwork is written in such a way that it could wind up causing ultimate damage to not just the state of Arizona but the entire country itself.

A byline attached to another bill, this bit of text would require anyone that is on the ballot in the state of Arizona be able to produce a United States birth certificate before they can be allowed to be voted into office. The decision on whether or not the certificate meets the needs of validating their citizenship comes down to the view of the Secretary Of State and the election officials. If they don’t sign off on the candidate, then this person’s name will not appear on the ballot. Just stop and think what this could lead to if the person in control of the situation decides that he just doesn’t trust what he sees in front of him or her for whatever reasons they might have and disallows a Presidential candidate from the state ballot. The fact that the current President ran against a man who has spent a lot of his time supposedly working for the benefit of the very state that is passing the law just might not enter into it but that still leaves the whole question of where this thing might wind up.

Now that we’ve reached the point of the bills passing into law, I’ve kind of felt a little set aback over how and why a state legislature would pass into law these bills that absolutely look and read to be blatantly unconstitutional. To spend all of the time and energy to get these bills passed only to have them guaranteed to be knocked down in the courts just seems counter productive to me. Why bother doing all of this if you just know that it will all get torn down sooner or later?

It was asking that question that gave me the answer that I was looking for. It might seem a slightly insane thing to do but these laws were ostensibly passed to have them knocked down. It is just that simple and I have to admit that it is a very brave thing to do. You wind up putting a whole lot of your eggs into one basket and have to really hope that no one drops the basket.

To break it down to a basic level, these three bills are being pushed and passed as a litmus test for the rest of the world to show where they stand on the whole immigration debate and the ancillary bits of questions. With all of the television shows, newspapers, and blogs to share their feelings on, you wind up with everyone putting their thoughts and feelings on the record. When you want to find out who is on your side in an argument, the easiest way to do it is to give everyone a place to direct their attention to and then let them tell you what they think. Once the law comes under scrutiny and question, then it even more requires everyone to put their views into public record. For all intent and purposes, you have these bills being made so that the people that agree with them know who is on their side of the debate. For someone living in a very red state, this bit of information could definitely nudge your popularity one way or the other depending on how it’s all spun.

While there is the definite need for bills that help with things like illegal immigration and hateful school classes, all three of these laws appear, as written, to be blatant excuses to attack specific ethnic groups and impede their personal rights. The unconstitutionality of them all looks obvious to me though I am kind of amazed at the way that some people seem to choose to ignore this fact. It all comes down to a need for a specific group to be able to see who is on their side and that they can look to if they need help or just a person to lend an ear or a keyboard to help promote their world view. It might sound a little crass on their parts for taking all the time to get the laws passed and any of the stress or heartache that might come from a person that is arrested for something that they weren’t able to prove to the levels that the police officer questioning them required but I guess it might be a thoughtful thing to do in a highly political kind of way. Let’s just hope that no one else thinks that this is something that they want to do because it just rubs me the wrong way and leaves me hoping for some form of actual logical thinking.

2010-01-21T11:13:00.000-08:00

AMERICA AND THE WONDER OF FOOD

There is a famous quote about how humans are mainly a vessel to stuff food into. I’d like to think that there are more important reasons, like possibly art or something like that, but I can see what they are getting at when they talk like that. It is a short list for the things that the entirety of the human race needs to do and eating is really up there on it. You don’t tend to stay alive for very long when you don’t eat.

Couple the amazing variety and styles of food stuff with the need and you have a pretty good combination ready and willing to help the world. And that isn’t even taking into account the whole psychological need that some of us have for food. It is well documented that many people use food and eating as a way to help for all manner of psychological upsets. There is overeating or starving or eating only certain foods or in a specific order and there are still so many more.

It might be some version of this or just a way to relive boredom but I will always find myself switching over to the Food Network or the Travel Channel’s food programs when there is nothing else on the tube. You get some serious amount of entertainment and tasty looking food to go along with it. It would be even better if it was possible to just stick your hand into the television and pull out the food for personal consumption but I’ll just have to wait for the next round of mechanical upgrades for that. First high definition and then food delivery.

The Travel Channel has a special series on right now called The Chowdown Countdown where they travel the country picking out what they believe are the 101 top places to eat in the country. These are all local establishments with no chain restaurants of any kind on the list. All of the places that they have shown so far have looked amazing and the food can’t look any more delectable as they do on the screen. It’s like a food fetishists dream come true.

While I’ve been enjoying watching the show and would love to visit a lot of the places on it, there is something that I’ve actually found a little troubling in the watching. The restaurants have a wide variety of different kinds of things to eat but there is a part of their menus that I feel the need to call into question. That part of it is the use of the enormous meal that looks like it would be too much for even all 19 of the Duggars could finish. Some places have mega sandwiches that have everything on the normal menu placed between two slices or bread. Still others go with the huge ice cream sundays and there was even a place with a mammoth vanilla milkshake that is served in a glass that looks like it was originally built for a piston engine casing. It’s all about the big amounts of food and every one of these places have a kind of promotion about rewarding people that can eat or drink the whole thing.

My mind started to wander while watching to what the thought of people from other countries must be to the apparent gluttony that these shows give the rest of the world. At first you’d like to hope that there are other countries that have the same kinds of things at their places of nourishment but I really can’t see the people in the Netherlands or Japan or Estonia having quite the need or desire to have something like these dishes on their menus. It all looks like something inherent to the people of the United States of America. We’ve gotten so used to having an overabundance of food in this country that we don’t have a problem with eating a cheeseburger that weighs as much as the cow that they got the meat originally from.

These single place establishments are part of their local environments and each of them fits into their region of the country but you kind of have to wonder when you factor these places into the same world as the one with all of the chain restaurants. They might not have the kind of huge meals that the smaller places do but that doesn’t help when you have the need to fulfill the menus of places across an area or the country. The amount of food that flows out of places like McDonalds, Taco Bell, or even like Subway can total up to a huge amount of stuff. It can blow a person’s mind to think about how much hamburger meat needs to be raised and processed for these places.

I am not someone who is innocent in cases like this because I still eat at all manner of places like these. I might have tried to curtail the amounts of time I spend at fast food places but I still love going to the local In & Out Burgers when I’m jonesing for a “Double Double”. There haven’t been my past trips to eating a couple double quarter pounders a week but I do still eat my fair share of it. It all just kind of leaves me worried about how much food we’re all eating.

There is another famous quote about how the fastest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach but it’s starting to seem like we have way too much food available for us to choose from. It just leaves me worried about all of the meat in the diet and how it’s possible to raise all of the meat that you need to make the food. You don’t want to worry about the need to feed all of the people of the world and the space needed for farms to raise all of it for our needs. It could make you go insane just worrying about it.

It all leaves my mind feeling a bit mixed up when I think about all of the possibilities about the food that we eat. With the country’s population growing exponentially, you have to fulfill the need to eat that all of those people might have. It’s not like I’m looking for the appearance of soylent green in the next month but we do need to figure out what we’re going to do before it gets to the point that all of those huge sanwhiches are taken apart just to feed all of the people that will need the food.

2010-01-13T00:48:00.000-08:00

EXCUSES FOR STEROID USE THAT ONLY HELPS TO MAKE IT EVEN WORSE

It came as a major surprise to most people on Monday when a press release and short interview by one Mister Mark McGwire admitted to using steroids during his time as a major league baseball player. For most of the free world the fact that he had used them wasn’t much of a surprise since he seemed to constantly look like he shopped at the “Strangely Big And Misshapen Muscles” store but it did seem like a stretch that he would ever admit to it. Chalk it up to his miniscule vote totals for the Hall of Fame or the lack of respect his home run record has gotten since he did it but something brought out the need to come clean about the whole thing.

All was going okay and even those that were feeling jaded about all of his accomplishments were starting to feel a little bit of compassion for the man but then came a live interview shown later on in the day. McGwire showed up on the MLB Network being interviewed by Bob Costas and it seemed to be a no hold bared kind of thing at first. Costas was asking many of the questions that many of us wondered about and it was all going okay up to a point. Once it reached that point, all the wheels seemed to come off and all the benefits the interview might have had were lost in the backwash of self salvation on the part of Mr. McGwire.

And what was this point that throttled the life out of the interview? For me it was when McGwire stated that the steroids that he was taking did not help his performance in any way and they did not help home runs that he hit after he started taking the drugs. It took me a moment to think about this and then I just had to call him on how stupid this made him sound. I’d like to believe him that he might just be confused but then you just need to remember the whole speech about not wanting to talk about the past when he was in front of the Congressional committee and that benefit was used up a long time ago.

This is an argument that has been floated a couple times in the past but it never held any kind of water for me. They try to say that there was no benefit from the steroids when it came to their actual on the field time. They will constantly say that all of their records and playing history should count the same even after the admission because the talent was, in lack of a better way to put it, God given or genetics or whatever. Andy Petite said the same thing when he was caught taking them too and it sounded just as wrong then as it does now.

This attempted explanation fails on so many counts that it’s hard to choose which one to start off with. You can say that it didn’t give you a competitive advantage but it is also very easy to understand the simple fact that the player wouldn’t even be able to compete without taking those steroids. The players of the past never had substances like this to help them recover from injuries or just from the rigors of keeping themselves in shape over the course of their careers. You can say that the steroids didn’t give you the original ability that might have gotten you into the major leagues all you want but those steroids that you took definitely helped you to stay there for a lot longer than you might have if you had done it naturally.

When it comes down to the whole steroid debate, much of the pro steroids side of the argument make me feel like when I hear about another kind of similar discussion, namely the anti gun control viewpoint. The main thing that people that are against strong gun control laws will always pull out the phrase, “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people” but they don’t seem to understand how wrong that is to say. It might be true that a gun doesn’t kill someone outright but it definitely does make it a lot easier for someone to actually kill as many people as they can. The people that use the phrase think it makes it some kind of circular idea that trumps everything else but it in fact negates itself since the event that comes from the two subjects wouldn’t be possible without each other.

The very same idea can be placed right across the steroid argument without any real difficulty. You can talk all you want about how your natural abilities trumps anything else but that still leaves us wondering why you would need to take them if they didn’t help you in the first place. If it all comes down to it, any try to make the statement that personal ability trumps any benefits from steroids just won’t hold water because those steroids can help the person to use those abilities. It is just that simple.

We all want to believe our sports heroes are the most amazing people as we think they are. You find someone to be a fan of and it can be so hard to understand that they can be just as human as all of us. They have the same worries and faults of all of us but that doesn’t excuse fact that they still used them when they were against both the rules of the sport and the laws of the country itself. You can try to talk all you want about the fact that you had to do it since you played in the Steroid Era but the time didn’t force you to take that substance into your body.

2009-12-01T11:40:00.000-08:00

THOUGHTS ABOUT THE PLAGUE THAT SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN FORGOTTEN

As a child of the 1980s, there were many things pulled out that frightened everyone during that time. You had the possibility of nuclear holocaust, or the economic recessions, or hundreds of other smaller moments that felt totally monumental at the time. Along with all of these choices, there was one event that started out very quietly but wound up building to a crescendo by the end of the decade. Whether that slow burn came from indifference by the government at large or the rate at which the disease worked it’s way through the person’s body, this wasn’t something that jumped right out to get our attention. It was the arrival of the HIV disease or, as it is usually called, AIDS.

I didn’t hit 18 years old until 1990 so most of the decade was spent watching the slow build of AIDS on the news programs and the random entertainment programs that included it as a plot device. Other than that, the disease didn’t seem to enter my suburban world in a physical sense. That didn’t mean that it wasn’t in my mind but that was as far as it got for me.

It seemed to take forever to finally get to the point where the government started to see just how important this disease was and how it wasn’t just the “gay cancer” that they must have thought it was or wanted it to seem. Both the gay and hetero worlds were starting to see the powers that AIDS was bringing to bear and the need to seriously start to look for a cure. The 1990s found more time spent in sorrow with people passing away and optimism over the possibility of a cure but AIDS was still this floating curse that looked like the equivalent of a death sentence once the diagnosis was made.

After so many people passed away, the doctors had come up with a drug cocktail that could help to control the infection but was nowhere near a full cure. It was still a dark diagnosis for anyone that received that news but at least there was hope of maintenance if not a total form of remission. You wind up having to take multiple expensive drugs on a daily basis but at least it can hold it in place for the most part.

Move your vision up to the current day and it is a different kind of world that AIDS is a part of. Instead of the dreaded scourge that it was, it almost seems like the United States has forgotten about how evil the disease is. You can chalk it up to whatever you want to but the importance is not like it used to be. This isn’t the same as it is in the rest of the world and that has hindered a lot of the responses to the firestorm that AIDS is burning through the African continent. There are complete generations that are dying directly from the disease or having their lives and future possibilities destroyed by the ramifications of what they are left with. There are orphanages that are full of the sons and daughters of parents that have passes away from the disease. Many of these children are also HIV positive which leaves them stuck both behind the proverbial eight ball and strapped onto the cue ball at the same time.

Thankfully many groups saw this firestorm coming and have been working to fight back against the flames of disaster. Medical groups, children’s charities, and more were in the forefront of bringing attention to what was going on and the need to help. These are people that can’t possibly afford the monetary bills that come from purchasing all of the drugs needed to care for their situation. Through the charitable work of all of these people and groups, there is now at least hope that the people of Africa now see what the disease is and how to protect themselves from what is to possibly come.

Where does that leave us on this World’s AIDS Day? It kind of seems that we are a little ahead of the game since there is the mixture of drugs that can help keep the disease in check but that still doesn’t leave us with an actual cure. That is still being looked for but I don’t really know how much of attention that used to be directed towards it is still evident. There are new diseases and problems that have come about that have pulled off both people and finances but AIDS still hasn’t gone away. It just seems to leave the situation in this gray area where there is work being done but the whole situation gets swept under the carpet here in the United States.

I always try to keep an optimistic view on the possible future and there does seem to be a good sign about the situation. But, even with that optimistic idea, I do worry about the seeming forgetfulness of most of the world when it comes to the AIDS situation around the world. There have been many advances made over the years but you can also say that we have kind of stayed in place over the past decade or so when it comes to finding a true cure. Even in a world full of new diseases appearing on it would seem a near daily basis, we should never let something as deadly as AIDS to fall into the mental background or we run the chance of having another situation like what happened on the African continent again. There is always the chance that it could come back that way here in the United States but that is something to think of for another day. For now there is work to be done to finally bring a cure to the people that seriously need it.

2009-11-23T22:16:00.001-08:00

WANDERING INTO MY TRAVELING WORLD

I am someone who gets a lot of pleasure out of being a traveller and not a tourist. When I go to another place on a full vacation or just a weekend trip, I like to really go into the neighborhoods and poke around to find the really interesting places that are out there. It’s all well and good to do the big bus tours or the package kind of things but I am so much more happier when I get to actually see the places that I’m going to.

There is one odd aspect of this enjoyment of a trip to another place that I’ve begun to notice over the past year. It kind of left me feeling a little silly when I first thought of it but my feelings have begun to change recently to a more positive point of reference. Unlike so many other people that spend their time buying all kinds of little nicknacks like fridge magnets or that neat paper weight you see in the hotel store, I go for something a little different. My choice of memento of a trip? T-shirts!

I have so many t-shirts from all of the places that I’ve been to over the years that I don’t know what to do with some of them. For example, I went to the New York City/New Jersey area in mid October a couple of years back and I went all over the city and much of the surrounding areas. What did I bring back? Three t-shirts including one from the Times Square Hard Rock Cafe, one from the Lombardi’s pizza restaurant, and one goofy touristy one made out to look like a Jim Beam bottle label. Yes, that was all of the souvenirs that I brought back with me from a weeklong trip.

At one point I thought that this made me a little silly when it came to my souvenir buying. While everyone else had been buying all of this stuff, I instead decided to choose to go down the singular path of the land of apparel. From my trip to the Minneapolis area, I have a University of Minnesota baseball jersey. From my last trip to Los Angeles, I have both a shirt from Canter’s Deli and a Jack Skellington “Bone Daddy” shirt from Disneyland. That is all I bought to bring home from all of these trips. You just tell people this and they kind of look at you a little cockeyed. These are people that mix up their souvenirs but that just doesn’t seem to be me.

Over the last couple of months, my mind has come back around about this and I now am starting to feel like this has been a good thing for me to do. Instead of having all kinds of little random clutter all over my desk to remind me about where I’ve been, what I have are souvenirs that I actually get some value out of. These are things that I wear and am seen out in public while having them on my body. What I bring back with me is something that I can use to show everyone that yes I am someone who has been to these places and I have brought back the spoils of my trip to show off to everyone around me. I know that might sound like a slightly more silly way to put it but it kind of makes me feel even better in the long run so there you go.

I have some other little travel eccentricities, like picking out the places that I want to visit by watching every show on the Food Network or the Travel Channel that I can find, but the t-shirt souvenir conundrum is one that seems to stick out the most. Either way, those weird tweaks brought me out to places like Lombardi’s Pizza in New York City and Voodoo Donuts in Portland where I had some amazing food and culture. To go along with that, I also brought back the t-shirts that help to show the kinds of places that I like to visit and what I do when I’m there. All of these things make me, the traveller, feel a lot better about showing off all of the places that I’ve been and even helps to maybe start a conversation about all of those places that we have both been. All this for just buying a cool looking t-shirt? A definite win-win in my book but that’s just me.

2009-11-20T01:45:00.000-08:00

INNOVATING THE VIDEO GAME WORLD ON A CHEAP BUDGET

It was this time last week that the video game company Electronic Arts announced that they were cutting at least 1,500 jobs and reducing their research into new game IPs due to the massive downturn in their profits. Then came a new statement on Tuesday of the closing, or consolidation as the press release says, of Pandemic Studios. This means another 200 jobs cut and everyone left at Pandemic being moved in as part of EA’s Los Angeles offices. Not the best week as a whole if you’re looking for stability in your publicly traded video game design company but, if it staves off the need to do something like declare bankruptcy, then it is a win-win in the eyes of the parent company.

Unlike many other businesses, the video game industry works in an odd sort of the fits and starts. You have the big companies that spend years developing, designing, and finally releasing new games be them original works or sequels and at the same time you have the smaller companies making flash games that might be released at a quicker pace then their larger counterparts but don’t have the high level of polish and quality that those long gestating games are supposed to have. These two extremes make the business have constant little jumps ahead combined with moments of big releases showing their faces. A business model like this for a company based around attempted creative innovation doesn’t really scream out as a stable place.

The need for innovation but lack of funds can bring about a very stagnant level of new IPs and make the whole business into sequels and carbon copies of whatever is hot at the time. You can easily trace the fallow period in the video game industry by the number of sequels that are released in comparison to everything else in the market. This lack of creativity can kill off both large pieces of the industry itself and make many people decide to look for a different way of life that excites their levels of creativity.

This is actually something that shouldn’t need to happen but it sadly does to many times. Instead of using those innovative minds that are already on the payroll, the company shifts into safety mode and makes what it knows will sell on the open market. You can’t really argue with this model since it allows the companies to remain in business at the level that they are at but it can lead to substandard games that are mere copycats of what has come before.

It might seem to be an overly pessimistic way to look at the whole situation but there is a way to tweak the system to work for everyone. While it might not be cost effective to have many subsidiary companies bringing out new properties that run the risk of never making a success of their investment, you can definitely use some of that innovation to liven up the current stream of releases to make them a better game all around. That is really a win-win for everyone.

One of the best examples of this combination of solid intellectual product combines with innovation was released a couple months back. The game in question is “Batman: Arkham Asylum”. After years of standard boring comic book hero games, the people at Rocksteady and Eidos mixed in the fighting mechanic from the current round of fighting games and levels based around a heavy load of stealth to mix up the game play. The stealth levels play like a superhero version of Splinter Cell which is a very good thing indeed. By taking these known IPs and combining them with innovations made in other games or brought about specifically for that game, you make an even better game out of what could have been a standard game.

Another way to tweak the situation is to plan better for the games that might carry more of a burden upon release. You don’t want to spring a totally new game on the fandom right in the middle of the prime buying season like EA did with “Mirror’s Edge” without expecting the release to be a little bumpy. The level of ad space was strong but you wind up leaving the buying public to make the decision between your new and unknown property or a game that the fans have knowledge of and have a shorter distance to being accepted.

The video game industry can be a very difficult business field to try and work under. You are expected to constantly be innovative in your games but then you also need to worry about making a profit for your investments. It might not totally be a two way street but you can set up new intellectual properties while playing it safe. Either by taking that innovative idea and mixing it into an already weathered franchise or planning the release date and advertising even closer there is a way to propagate new IPs in a business environment that doesn’t seem ready to be accepting.

2009-09-17T13:08:00.000-07:00

WHY I WAS WORRIED ABOUT GLEE

As the new network television season commences and we settle in with the hopes and fears about all of the content being given out to us, I was very hopeful about several new shows that had caught my eyes. It's not that hard for a good show to catch my attention but it is something when that show can make me wait near a third of the calendar year to see the next installment and not leave me feeling seriously wronged. They say that you don't bite the hand that feeds you and you also really shouldn't give out a nice sweet treat and not expect to have someone try and snatch your hands off when there aren't any more available for an extended period of time.

It was into this world that I found myself after the premiere of the pilot for a little show called "Glee". On the surface the story of a high school glee club and the trials and tribulations of their lives, I like many viewers was left wanting to see more of this show right away. Sadly we were only given a taste though it was a very melodically one at that. I just couldn't say no to a show that had that many interesting characters to play with and the guarantee from the shows producers that there would be at least 3 songs per episode.

After waiting like a good person through the whole summer, it was with major anticipation that I watched the season premiere of "Glee" a week ago. And, I'm sorry to have to say this but I was left feeling a little let down by what I saw. It wasn't that it was bad or unwatchable or anything of that nature. All in all, it was an adequately entertaining hour of television time.

But what bothered me was that it felt like there was so much missing from the pilot that was not in the first episode, namely the rest of the people in the cast. It can definitely be said that "Glee" is a show that will have some characters become background players for several episodes due to the simple fact that there are just so many of them in the show to begin with. If someone isn't involved in the A, B, or (depending on how much you can cram into an hour) C plots, then I can understand them being nudged back a little. It's just a given when it comes to an ensemble cast.

That being said, I was kind of taken aback at how far back some of those characters were moved back during the course of the episode. I might be mistaken but I really don't remember any of the other glee club members having any actual lines in the episodes other than Finn and Rachel. Add in all of the stuff with Mr.Schuester and his wife along with the normal cheerleaders/glee club battles and you wound up with everyone else seemingly frozen out of even spending more than a minute or two on screen.

Which brings us to last night's episode. It might only be the third broadcast episode of the whole series but I was starting to feel a little worried that the show that I thought would be was not what would wind up being shown on my nice HD screen. Thankfully I was proven totally wrong about my worries.

In the place of the small amount of participants of the previous episode, this week showed just what a talented group can do even in a crowded situation like this. You seemingly had at least 4 different plots going at the same time and every one of them were fleshed out and written perfectly. If you throw in all of the members of Acafellas separately, you have an additional 4 to 5 plots that were all woven together. There are some shows that can't even get one plot right and this show was nearing double digits by the 45 minute mark.

The thing that really made me happy though was that so many of the characters were allowed to come in and shine. You had the friendship/romance part and the cheer/glee battles and the male boy band and the unrequited high school love and the husband/wife issues and so on and so forth but none of these plots felt like they were being trimmed down or forced to be second class citizens due to any of the other ones. Many of them even complimented and played off each other to the point that you had moments of Plot A joining with Plot B to impact Plot C in a way that sheds new light on Plot D. It's a hard thing to write that many layers into a show but it is an amazing thing to watch when it does work.

As I said at the beginning, it can definitely be said that there might be some overreaction on my part when it is only 3 episodes into the shows existence but I was feeling a little nervous that what was seen in the pilot was not what we would get to enjoy in the following episodes. It is very nice to see that the show is not going to fall into that trap and will hopefully continue to let all of the myriad of characters have a chance to shine. Isn't that one of the best parts of a glee club to being with?

2008-11-20T22:23:00.000-08:00

Where Do You Want To Hire Your Governement Employees From

I was kind of struck by what I've started to see appearing coming from the mouths of both right and left wing columnists and talk show hosts. It's the kind of topic that you would almost guarentee to hear coming from the right but you don't think that it would pop out of the left wing side of things at all. It just doesn't sound like something that would illicit this kind of response either way.

To explain, it would seem that we need to go back around a month or so before the whole election finally ended. As part of his main speech, Barrack Obama said many times that he would come to Washington DC and change it for the better. It seemed from the way that he was talking that he would have an adversion to hiring anyone for his cabinet that had had any kind of experience working for any of the past administrations. It would be populated by brand new people who would come in with their new ideas and change the government for the better.

As the first couple of appointees were announced, an odd link began to appear - a large number of the possible members of the administration had worked for past administrations, especially the Clinton's years. When each new person was announced, it was left to the press and the pundits to dig out as many past connections as they could possibly fine.

All of this left me wondering just why this is so important. I know that he made those statements during the election process but you have to understand that it's not like there are a lot of people out there that have the resumes to work for the government. There isn't a category on Monster.com for Presidential Appointees or anything like that. You have a finite amount of people to choose from and this leaves you to wind up bringing in many people that had spent time in the building in the past.

Another odd strain is that many of the right wing pundits are complaining that this new administration is turning into "The Clinton Years" part 2. They spend all kinds of time and space going on and on about how this is going to be a repeat of the past with all of the same players as before. While a good amount of people who are being talked to did spend time in the Clinton White House, it isn't like the only people Obama is talking to are former Clinton employees that he is bringing in to the same positions that they had in the past.

It's all just left me to think about where all of these questioning people expect Obama to find his people since many of the people that have the experience to do the job are people that have worked in that building in the past. How about we let them find the same level of applications from people who have never worked in that kind of environment and see who winds up being hired. I'd be more willing to bring in the people that know what they are doing.

2008-11-05T06:43:00.000-08:00

The Morning After With Thoughts To Match

For many of us in this country and this state, waking up today is to open your eyes into a world that is more hopeful than the one that you went to sleep in the night before. The concession and acceptance speeches all came around the midnight hour on the east coast so, unless you stayed up to watch it to the end, you might have gone to bed without the knowledge of the resolution.

That resolution has left this country starting to turn towards a new direction and a new set of possibilities. It will have to remain in the realm of possibility for now due to the fact that the change in leadership doesn't actually happen until January 20th of next year. It is a very odd feeling to be able to look at the possible futures and have them not feel like a repeat of the same ideas that had divided our country for the past 8 years.

It is also no small feat when you look at the man will bring those changes into the White House on the metaphorical hill. It was literally only around 50 years ago when people of the same color were not allowed to vote, let alone actually run for public office. Just think about that for a moment. You are considered a citizen of a country that looks at you as a second class citizen who has no say in the course that your country will take. This man is the culmination of all of the work and sacrifices that have been made for the last half of a decade and I think that he understands the importance of that and how it will always effect the view of his time spent as President.

For the rest of the country, that optomism is a solid thing that can brighten anything but that light seems a bit darker from where I am sitting. I woke up today to learn that my home state, one of the states known for being uber-progressive in so many ways, will actually be writing hate into it's state constitution. Maybe I live in a little happy bubble where everyone can get along and it's all happyness and raibows, but I thought that there might be enough similar thinking people in this big state to negate the hate that was being pushed into it's borders. I thought that my state was better than all of that and wound not succumb to the 21st century equivelant of race baiting.

But I was wrong. It made it past the polls seperated by 4 percent but there was still enough of the people that felt we needed to say that some fellow members of our state's population did not deserve the same rights as the rest of us have for reasons that I am still waiting to be explained fully to me. There were some people who say that it is about teaching about gays and lesbians in our schools. They even pointed to rules already in the law about this topic though they also left out the part about how the earliest that law allows children to be taught this would be middle school at the start. Then there were the people who talked about how it was based on just religion and the need to not feel their religious beliefs being shoved to the side.

That is the answer that left me feeling the least acceptive of it. The idea of marriage came from the world of religion and is singularly a facet of that world. When it comes to the world of government, the only time a person's religion matters is if someone is attacking them on that point. The governement looks at each and every person as their own seperate individual who should be accepted for who they are. Each of us is our own person in the eyes of the government and that is the way that it should be. When you force laws onto the books that only have any kind of basis within the religious world, they just do not compute with that larger world. The state and federal governments are not in the business of forcing a specific splinter group's ideas or dogmas. All they are supposed to do is run the state in the best way they can to provide all of us, no matter the color, sexual oritentation, or religion, with the rights and previledges that being United States citizens gives us.

There is definately a sense of optomism running through the world around me today. A large portion of the country have helped to move the rest of us towards the dawning of what could be a new tomorrow. While I definately can see that new day coming and welcome it, I am also kind of left wondering about the giant step backwards that my home state took today. The thought of wanting to purposely and with malice of forethought create a law or a change to the state constitution that is only based on keeping a group without a simple inalienable right. This is something that I just can't seem to understand and I'm not sure if I ever will.

2008-08-29T13:38:00.000-07:00

A Moment To Think About McCain's Plans

Population of Alaska = 683,478

Populations of some of the closest cities in actual number of people =

11 San Jose, CA 782,000
12 Baltimore, MD 736,000
13 Indianapolis, IN 731,000
14 San Francisco, CA 724,000
15 Jacksonville, FL 635,000
16 Columbus, OH 633,000
17 Milwaukee, WI 628,000
18 Memphis, TN 610,000
19 Washington, DC 607,000
20 Boston, MA 574,000

* taken from the official Census web site *

So John McCain picked someone who has only gone through one budget submission process in a state with less people in it than San Francisco and this is a good pick?! Color me confused but I have to call shenanigans on this one. He could have at least picked someone like Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Senator from Texas who actually has experience dealing with the kind of legislation that happens at the level that she'll be working at if elected. But, I guess the blank slate idea of the Alaska Governor trumps the experienced senator from Texas any day as long as they're both female.

2008-08-17T16:33:00.000-07:00

What I Have To Put Up With To Hang Out With My Friends On A Saturday Night

Have you ever had one of those things that you just really can't get into? No matter how much you try to think good and happy thoughts about an event, you just can not pull from yourself the necessary amount of joy that says that you like or enjoy the goings on? I do have such a thing and I think that I am going to be forever damned to have to put up with it's existence every month or two.

This evil that makes me wish to leave the building at a rapid rate? Karaoke.

I can already hear what you're saying. "It's not that bad," or "It's all in good fun," or "Don't be a party pooper." You can all definitely say those things but they still won't get me to even smile when I'm involved in anything that requires karaoke to go on. It is just too painful to have to put up with for too long.

For example, they might be having a good time but there should seriously be a rule about being able to only choose songs that might be in your vocal range on your good day. There were a couple people in the bar that I was in last night that sounded worse than they should have because they just had to pick that Celine Dion song that they love to sing along to on the way to work. Your steering wheel might not be willing to tell you but I would seriously like to say that, if a song makes you sound like a dying harp seal when you come near to any of the high notes, it might be time to check out the songs in the mid range.

Another wonderful bit of karaoke that makes my skin crawl are those people that might know the words but seem to have no mental or physical concept of a song's rhythm. There was a guy last night who sang his all-time favorite Johnny Cash song, which I know because he spent the 10 minutes before his turn, the time during the song's intro, the moment after the song ended, and then the next 30 minutes to anyone who would listen to him in the entire bar speaking of only just that, and he had the words and vocal levels down big time. The only problem is that it sounded like he had no coherent thought of the song's rhythm because he just wound up bouncing all over the proverbial landscape and only getting it right every once or twice. I seriously had the urge to walk in there and start clapping out the correct rhythm in a vague attempt to see if I could get him back on the right beat.

There was one slightly humorous aspect of last night that I should bring up if only just to prove that I'm not a curmudgeon like I might seem. One of my friends who went to this bar with me and was happy to join into the karaoke free-for-all was looking through the book of songs to pick his first one. Most of the looking time left an oddly sad look on his face but then a big smile came across it and he ran quickly up to the person in charge. I have to admit to a little nervousness on what song he had chosen due to his constant enjoyment in situations like this of finding the most horrendous thing to do while in front of a crowd of people.

After a 20 minute wait which included the previously mentioned Johnny Cash and a brain meltingly horrendous version of what I believe was Faith Hill's "Breathe" which was sung by someone that was having a hard time at just that, it came down to my friend's song. My brain was racked with possibilities even after he started. I swore that knew the song but I just couldn't place it. Then the chorus kicked in and my jaw just about hit the floor. The song in question was "To Hell With The Devil" which was originated by none of there than those titans of 80s Christan heavy metal, Stryper. It doesn't matter who you are but you have to give it up for any karaoke bar that has a song by a long forgotten band like that on their song list.

And, for the record, the room seriously cleared out during it's performance. I am not sure if it was the song itself or the fact that my friend performed it like he was the Devil himself that can be to blame for that. Either way, my night was brightened just a little and, for that, I thank him.

2008-06-27T15:22:00.000-07:00

Jurice Prudence When It Comes What We Dont Agree With

This past week has seen a couple very large decisions kicked down from the Supreme Court which I think has brought back out one of the more irritating aspect of political discussion, namely the "activist judge" angle. For those of you that have either never heard of this or don't live in this country, this is the idea that there are federally appointed judges that are making rulings based on their own beliefs instead of what happened in the case or the sentencing laws state should be a person's punishment. Depending on which way the decision leans, you will always wind up with people on the other side complaining and acting like what the judge in question did.

Do you know what I say when I hear talk like this?

All I can say to them is "Duh!"

Once you've reached the level of being appointed by the sitting government, most of your cases wind up being heard without the benefit of silly things like a jury of the accused peers. At trials like this, it all comes down to how the judge feels and how he interprets what he has heard. Along with the straight word of law, to think that a judge would not use parts of his own personal experience when he makes a decision is just plain stupid. If that was the case, then you wouldn't have Presidents always trying to pick a person to appoint to a judgeship within their own political ideology. They are banking on the appointee basing a good portion of their decision on their own personal beliefs when it comes down to those cases that mean a lot to their political base or the people that got them elected in the first place.

It doesn't help the situation when the talking heads on radio and television seem to not want to admit that this situation cuts both ways. You can have a right leaning judge make a decision on a sensitive case and the left wing people would be all over the it with complaints about bias and other naughty things. Reverse it and you have the right claiming that the left leaning courts are trying to steal away all of their individual rights as if that could happen.

The political arena is almost always run by smoke and mirrors. There are a lot of bills that get passed or decisions made that we will never know for sure if they are an honest interpretation of the law or just full blown bias. With all of that under considertion, it seems mighty stupid to me to say that none of the judges that I agree with fundamentally are good and decent human beings.

2008-06-26T00:19:00.000-07:00

Purchasing Yourself Into The World Of Uncoolness

There are moments that just kind of strike my brain and show me just how silly I can be from time to time. We all like to think that we're too cool to go out and buy something that might mark us in the non-cool ledger. Some of us might never recover from something like this and could wind up spending the rest of eternity in a wrong headed attempt to return their level of perceived coolness to those who now know the truth.

My slight lack of street cred came out when I visited a local record store on Tuesday. In the new releases section of their DVD stock, I saw a brand spanking new disc that, at first glance, you would think that I would pause over for a moment and then move on but this time it didn't quite happen that way. Instead I picked it up off of the rack and, following a quick glance at the front and back of the box, I decided that I needed to finally own a copy of this movie.

It is a film that I actually saw in the theaters during it's initial release and thought it was okay. Since then, I've been tempted to purchase it when it appeared in other home video formats but I just never did. Call it scared of being uncool or just not having the money at the time. Whatever the reason, this film had not become a member of my slightly sizable collection but I just couldn't say no anymore. It sang it's siren song and I just couldn't help myself.

The film in question is that wonder of late 70s/early 80s wonderment known as XANADU. I can probably already hear the giggles coming from many of you but all I can say is that the movie might not be the most amazing piece of dramatic arts put to film but it is a large amount of guilty fun that I just can't say no to anymore. And before any of you start commenting on my knowledge of film, please remember that I got my college degree from San Francisco State film school which means that I survived all manner and style of film classes and saw my fair share of the serious and the art film.

I tend to look at it all in the way that many people work the metaphor between drama and action or comedy films. They say that a drama film is like eating a great steak dinner with all of the trimmings while an action or comedy film is like having a nice plate of your comfort food of choice. It's either that or they call them "popcorn films" like a drama sees that much of a decrease in the concession sales.

For me, I also have another level of filmdom, namely the "cotton candy" film. This is a film that is all about the sweet and perky and goes down all kinds of easy when you watch it. All this kind of film is doing is trying to entertain it's audience and take them away from whatever point their lives are at when they walked into the theater or put in the DVD. Some look at these films with a questionable eye but I tend to liken it to just wanting a slice of entertaining on my plate without having to really over think it.

Huh... I guess the fact that I waited until the "Magical Music Edition" came out isn't helping matters really. And yes, I've already added the soundtrack album that is included with the film onto my iTunes. Yeah... That's probably another check off from some of you but no one is perfect really... or perfectly cool...

2008-06-21T07:23:00.000-07:00

Safety First But Obviously Not For All Of Us

We all have a story or three about astonishingly bad driving that we've witnessed over our lifetimes. Hopefully none of us are guilty of these things though we'd also probably not want to be willing to admit to it. Your friends and family will never look at you the same way again when you tell them of the astonishingly evil that you've done, like done a rolling start through a stop sign and so on.

Unlike the kind of questionable evil of things like this, there will soon be a change in the situation that many of are very guilty of, your humble writer included. That is the thing that we see nearly every day as we drive down the road. It might not seem a bad thing but talking on your cell phone while driving has led to thousands of car crashes. The law that goes into effect at the start of July which requires hands-on equipment to be used while the car is in motion will still be broken but I'd like to think that some of us would learn before it comes to arrests or fines.

To go back to the other versions of vehicular stupidity, there is always one event that I remember being the silliest side of brain dead I've ever seen. I was walking down a local street to buy my lunch during a normal work day when I saw a really nice looking 66 Mustang coming toward me on the other side of the road. The car did need a little work done to it but it didn't look like those cars that have more rust than original coloring on it.

Anyway, my vision made it's way around the car until I could get a look at the driver and that was what left me shocked and surprised. As his car quickly made it's way down the road, anyone could easily see the car's driver was shaving with an electric razor. And it wasn't like he would shave while the car was stopped at a light or anything like that. He was doing it all the way down the road. He even used his rear view mirror to check how close his shave was going like we've all seen women do with their makeup.

To continue the odd timeline of this blog, let's jump back to this past week as I drove to work on a pretty boring morning. At about the halfway mark of the drive, I came up behind a car with a backseat full of balloons. There were so many inflated orbs bouncing around back there that I would seriously question if the driver could see out the back window. This gave me a worry since she was in the fast lane and going at a pretty good clip.

After a moment or two and witnessing the car wandering all over the lane, the car quickly snapped over to the middle lane and nearly smacked into another car trying to change lanes into the same spot. The car quickly slowed down which meant that I got a chance to see what the driver looked like. Now I'd like to say that this didn't follow the standard "woman driver" myth but it was a female driver so I'm stuck with that one. Anyway, that wasn't the reason that I got a shock. It was when I saw that this driver with a backseat full of helium filled rubber balloons was talking on the phone that made me just give up on the whole situation.

It would be wrong for me to say that I've never done anything while driving that could be looked at as wrong. But, all that being said, I can safely say that I've never done anything that horrendously bad. Cars are like large blocks of possible injury if you don't use a little bit of common sense to know that it's bad to be distracted when in motion. We can all think of it all in a funny sense of how stupid these people look but I get worried when it can lead to pain and suffering. I'm of a good sense of hope that the new law might at least reduce the stupid factor but it always seems like we'll just find something else to do as stupid as the last.

2008-06-15T00:44:00.000-07:00

The Sad Funeral Ballad Of The SUV

It might just be the visible sense of desperation or maybe just an odd death knell for something that this time last year still looked so strong and vibrant. All the fun is over. There are no more balloons to drop or fanfares to play. The fat lady hasn't started singing as of yet but you can definately hear her starting to warm up in the background. We could be witnessing the demise of the large truck in the automotive world and it is fascinating to watch the death spiral that it looks to be in.

One of the first harbingers of doom came out from what read like a random news story that was buried in the back pages of the financial section. The blurb was a swift mention of how many people that owned large trucks and other massively sized vehicles are finding it exceedingly difficult to get a good rate of return when they want to trade the vehicle in. Many were finding that the auto dealerships would be offering an amount that was less than what they still owed on the truck. Anyone that witnessed the late 90s and early 00s can attest to how it seems insane that a style of vehicle that was so well mixed into the world as they were would have their popularity come to a complete stop.

The big trucks just didn't have a chance one those gas prices started to inch their way up to the $4 average that we have now. Those trucks and SUVs get such amazingly bad gas mileage that you could wind up paying double for the vehicle if you added the total price of gas fill-ups along with the price that you originally paid for the thing. I have a small car and I'm paying about $40 to fill up my gas tank when I hit the local service station so I can just imagine how frightening it must be when you have a Hummer to fill up. Maybe someone can use this whole event as the basis for a horror movie. Either that or one of those movies of the week where the lead character has to realize that their lives need to change and the only way they can do that is to dump that bad boyfriend of an SUV and go for a more practical relationship.

Today was my first exposure to the next level of descent for the SUVs of the world. It came from a commercial that I saw twice on Food Network and it took me until the second viewing to really grasp what was going on. The new advertising plan from Ford Motors is to promote just how important their trucks have been to all of our lives and I know just how much all of our existences would be different without those massive trucks being driven fast down the highway with no load at all in the back. But I digress...

The commercial seems to view as a love letter to the extra large trucks and SUVs but they sneak in another new promotional aspect at the very end. Ford is now offering to sell you one of their trucks to you at the employment discount level of price instead of the marked up version. This might not mean that they're giving them away but it looks to be coming very close to that. I'm not totally positive but I really think that they can't get any cheaper than the current level unless they want to take an even larger loss than what they're already experiencing. If the companies are announcing the closure of all manner of plants that built the thing and no one can trade them in, it makes the buyer start to worry that their investment won't have much left once all is said and done.

Everyone was wondering when we would get sick of the big huge vehicle trend that was going for the last 20 years but I think that it is oddly prophetic to realize that it took just a rise in the price of fuel to make all of our heads spin. If you can't use simple logic to explain the purchase then what do you have left to use when you try to talk yourself into buying that SUV? All of this might change whenever the price of gas dips back down again but I'd like to think that we've all had the scare put into all of us that we should maybe look into practicality over large bling. Anyway, you can always work the bling into your new small car. It's just be a little bit smaller than you originally wanted.

2008-06-04T15:36:00.000-07:00

Being The Thing Killing The Music Industry

If you go to iTunes right now, it would appear that I am part of the problem. This problem being the evil corporate monopoly that is trying to squeeze all of the creativity and soul out of the music industry. It would seem that there is just no redeeming my state of naughtyness so I thought that it would be good just to fess up to the crime and be done with it.

What did I do that was so wrong?

I bought the Radiohead best of album that went on sale on Tuesday.

I was unaware of just how evil a thing to do this was when I did it. Either I was in the dark about the situation or I just didn't seem to pay close enough attention which means I'm either just evil or stupid evil. Your choice may vary.

The reasons for the evilness of my actions appear in the listener comments section. For those of you that don't know about this, here is the simple and quick explanation. Radiohead has always refused to release a best of album of any kind and stated on a regular basis that the only way their albums would be sold online would be as complete works and not on a song-by-song basis. It was all or nothing... until the band completed their contract and moved on to self release. This left the record company with all of their earlier albums and what looked like the total end of the relationship between the two parties. Looking to make more money back on their investment, the company went against the band's wishes and made a best of album. As can be expected, the fans of Radiohead sided with the band and now seem to spend large amounts of their personal time screaming online about anyone that shows an interest in the best of.

There is only one thing that I can say in my defense and that is the fact that I just don't like Radiohead enough to buy all of their albums to get the, at best, 10 songs that I really like. If this was something like Green Day's "American Idiot" where the songs are all linked together to tell a complete story, then I could see their side of the arguement. But making a statement like buying a single from an album is like only looking at a corner of a beautiful painting is really stretching the bounds of reality. The songs on the album are divided up into seperate songs... with seperate names... and can be played in any order the person listening wants to hear them. So why am I evil if I just want specific songs and not the entire freaking artistic masterpiece.

From reading down the reviews and comments, I really don't think that there is anything that can be said or done to disuade the fans of Radiohead on this topic. They have dug their heels so far into the dirt that only a nuclear bomb might move them and even that isn't a definate. I'd like to think that they could at least give a begrudging understanding to the idea that people can be interested in a band but not want to listen to every single song that they have ever made. That seems like a pretty even trade but what do I know? I'm the evil one...

2008-06-01T17:58:00.000-07:00

A Totally Different Kind Of Girl Power

A recent news story struck me in an odd way yesterday and it's left me feeling both kind of thrilled and really strangely worried at the same time. I just can't seem to really get a full grip on it which has left me kind of fumbling around in an effort to really clear up the whole vision.

In an online question and answer session in April, al Qaeda No. 2 leader Ayman Al-Zawahri was asked about how a woman can become of member and fight a jihad. His response is one that tends to fit into the ways that stereotypically people think of when it comes to strict Muslim countries, namely that women should stay at home and care for the home and families of the male fighters.

This has led to a ground swell of response from Muslim women in the Middle East who are questioning this answer. They are of the mind that it is their right and privledge to fight right alongside the men. Using alternate ways of communicating like the internet, these women are organizing as a group to fight for their right to go into battle.

For me, this has kind of left me feeling rather queasy and I'm not positive how I should really think about this. One the one hand, I give these women all of the props in the world for standing up and speaking their minds on an important topic in their world. If you were in the same situation that they are in, wouldn't you like to have the ability to fight for your freedom? It would seem like a natural thing to want to help win some manner of personal rule since the outcome will affect all their friends and neighbors.

On the other hand (and this is a big hand), I'm left feeling highly uneasy at the thought of these women fighting to have the right to go into battle and probably die along with taking their adevesories with them. An added level to this story is the news that more women are being used as suicide bombers these days then the men. When I read a fact like that, it kind of makes me sit back and wonder for a moment about what these women would be allowed to do if they actually won this arguement. It's one thing to take up arms against your perceived or real oppresors but it's a totally different thing to become a walking incidiary device while your male counterparts hang back and get to go home the next day.

Along with other things, the Middle East has seemed like a hotbed of the kind of thinking that leaves women as nothing more than possessions of their husbands and without any kind of chance for a normal life. Anything that can help to change that and bring them some equality would be something that I'd tend to applaud. But this has left me in an uneasy middle ground. You have living oppression on one hand and dead combatant on the other hand and neither of them really read any good no matter how you look at them.

2008-05-05T22:11:00.000-07:00

The New Rules Of Holiday Drinking

One of the things that I've learned since I moved into my current apartment is that there are now specific holidays that require the party goers to drink alcohol. The complex that I live in is right behind an Elephant Bar and there is ample parking set up along the street it's on. All in all, it can be a whole lot of weirdness when there are all kinds of people walking up the street to find their car and sometimes singing vaguely off key tunes.

As the Cinco De Mayo party winds down, it has struck me that this has now become the junior version of the drinking based holiday. The main professional event is and will probably always be St. Patrick's Day. That has had the crown for so long that I don't think it'll ever lose it's place in the list. I haven't been able to come up with a third event to fit into the show position since none of the future holidays really fit into the alcohol drinking spectrum. You can either go with Memorial Day or the Fourth of July but neither of them strike me as the way to go.

Thankfully it's been kind of quiet tonight so it might just have been Monday sucking the life out of the party for this year. All of the hard drinking was done over the weekend so it makes the day itself kind of moot. Either way, it is nice to have to not have to listen to drunk people singing.

2008-04-09T07:41:00.000-07:00

Reverse Psychology Or Just Plain Stupid?

I was listening to the radio driving home from work yesterday and I wound up stopping for some reason on the station that locally broadcasts Michael Savage's show. For those of you haven't heard him before, he tends to be king of over reaction and has no problem pointing the finger and making generalizations about everyone. It's some of the most hysterically reactive shows and tends to leave me wondering how he could possibly have any kind of audience.

The subject that he was talking about was, as usual for his show, how nearly anyone that is a Muslim wants to take over the world with their religion. Some days this whole thing borders on the psychotic because he just keeps slamming the same points over and over without stopping. It's all about his panic.

Specifically, his topic was that he couldn't understand why the "Liberal Left" could side with the Muslims because their religion states that what the "Left" believe in is evil and should be removed from society by any means. He kept playing all of these public service sounding messages about the gains that gays and lesbians are making in the Islamic world and how it's changing the countries for the better. He would spend the whole time making snide remarks about what was being said and then followed up each one with what he constantly said was the truth behind the broadcasts.

I had at first wanted to give him a little credit for coming up with a new way to spout off his racist ideas but I just couldn't really do it. I don't have a problem with people that have different opinions to my own but if the only way that you have to make them is to yell and scream without making an actual point and then expect everyone to just follow behind in lock step is an asinine way to make an arguement. All that does is lower the level of discussion for everyone involved and leaves all of the people that had to put up with his rantings a little weaker in the long run.

You, as a human being, seem to be preset to want to root for everyone to learn and better themselves as part of the world around them. It would seem that Michael Savage hasn't heard a single word anyone has ever told him about the world and is more than happy to try and spread his version of hate filled truth for all to hear. It kind of makes me glad that all I have to do is switch the radio to another station but I have to feel a little sadness for those of you that can't. Just keep your head down and let him rant until he works himself to sleep. That way he gets to think he's having his say but none of us have to listen to it.

2008-03-23T23:36:00.000-07:00

When Does A Song Play Itself Back In?

I was struck by an odd thought moment right after I dropped off Kelly following Easter dinner at my parents' house. As I tried to make the wander through the parking lot, I did a quick radio search and found a station playing "Hey There Delilah" from Plain White T's. The song was just starting which didn't mean that I could wait a moment or two for it to end and move onto a new listen. And what did I do while the song played?

I drove my car and enjoyed the song.

It was after it was over that it struck me how funny it was that I was suddenly cool with the song again. It was so overplayed back in the winter of last year that it got to the point where I couldn't even really pull myself in to listen. The moment that I knew what song it was, the radio would be switched to something else. Yep... No "or" statement there. It was all about the "if/then" statement...

This kind of reminded me of the time that I had an odd moment with Nirvana while on the job. I spent about 2 years working at a local Tower Records and this was right about the time of the whole 'Alternative Revolution' happened. One of the main albums that remain in my brain from that period is Nevermind by Nirvana. As soon as that was released, we were playing it in the store over and over. It would seriously wind up being played at least 3 times per day, one turn for every work shift.

About a month into our love affair with Nirvana, the song "Smells Like Teen Spirit" blew up like it did and you couldn't go anywhere without hearing it loud and clear. It was even getting played on KMEL, a local hip-hop/R&B station. Their playlist was all soul, rap, and R&B... and one song by Nirvana. That song was blowing up all over!

That blowing up left all of us back at Tower in the lurch. We had been playing that album since release and the song was quickly getting on our last collective nerves. It even got to the point that we (aka the floor employees) would play the album without playing the first song. It was just a big bloody pile of overplayedness. This led to the management actually decreeing that we were required to play the entire album if it was to be run on the store's CD player. It's fun when the boss has to be sure that we don't confuse the customers with the lack of the hit single.

It took us awhile to be comfortable with the song again. The initial buzz wore down and then it took a little more time to work back into our consciousness. We, and I, had just gotten to the point that the saturation was too much to take. The same thing happened with the song from Plain White T's. That song turned into everyone's dedication song to their loved ones (including females dedicating it to their boyfriends) and was played at every moment that needed some kind of romantic bit. The whole thing just got so out of control that the song went straight into the played out bin.

I'm not sure if this post works as a discussion about when a song comes back in but it does leave a person to wonder what ways the music moves from one stage to another. It seems like the public consciousness takes a very short amount of time to go "out" but then takes a very long amount of time to get all the way back "in". It's always good to be sure to get back "in" or you might wind up like Extreme and who wants to do that?

2008-02-19T21:52:00.000-08:00

It's Oscar-Palooza 2008!

For those of you that have never seen one of these posts, this is where I go through all of the various Oscar nominees and make up my own silly awards for some of them.

The "Show Us Your Penis And You Get A Nomination" Award Goes To... Viggo Mortenson for having either the bravery or the just plain goofiness to have a fight scene where he is nude for it's entirety. Maybe he thought that they might give him a chance if he wore the same amount of clothes as the Oscar statue.

The "It Ain't THE CRYING GAME" Award Goes To... Cate Blanchette for her performance as one of the multiple versions of Bob Dylan in I'M NOT THERE. Unlike the whole "don't spoil the big plot twist" in THE CRYING GAME that was basically spoiled as soon as the Oscar nominations were announced that year, I think it was pretty obvious that this he might be more of a she.

The "We'll Show 'Em" Award Goes To... LARS AND THE REAL GIRL being nominated for Best Original Screenplay. This was a movie that people seemed to either totally love or totally hate and it seemed to me to be kind of a compliment given to the film from the fellow writers than anything else.

The "FOX News Will Never Mention Who Won This Category" Award Goes To... The Best Documentary Feature category has three films about the Iraq war and Michael Moore's SICKO. I would be really surprised to hear anything out of them when it comes to this one.

The "One Of These Things Is Not Like The Other" Award Goes To... The three nominees in the Best Makeup category are NORBIT, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLDS END, and LA VIA EN ROSE. You've got a big action special effects epic, a movie obstensibly made to let Eddie Murphy dress up like a woman for most of it's run time, and a sensetive film about about quite possibly the best singer of the French language ever. I'll let you think about this combo for a moment...

The "Sure To Be The World's Bathroom Break" Award Goes To... This year, the Academy's Honorary Award is going to Robert F. Boyle who, from reading the bio attatched, appears to have been very big in the world of art direction. You have to love a man who has a "Ma & Pa Kettle" movie in his filmography...

The "Dame Judi Dench Screen Time" Award Goes To... Ruby Dee was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in AMERICAN GANGSTER but she had the least amount of screen time of any other acting nominee. Even Judi Dench had more actual screen time in SHAKESPERE IN LOVE than Dee had in her film.

The "Second Division One Of These Things Is Not Like The Other" Award Goes To... Your choices for Best Animated Film are one about a rat that wants to be a chef, one about penguins that surf, and one about growing up during the beginning of the revolution in Iran. They should have thrown in THE SIMPSONS' MOVIE just to really blow all of our minds.

The "Bad Guys Finish Wherever They Want To" Award Goes To... There is a very good chance that both of the male acting awards could go to people who played characters that are the bad guys of their respective films. I honestly can't remember the last time something like this might happen but it must make everybody want to be the bad guy if it means getting a nomination out of it.

The "They Picked That Category To Give This Film A Nomination" Goes To... ACROSS THE UNIVERSE is nominated for Best Costume Design. Out of all of the technical nominations I thought that this film could possibly get, Costume Design was not one of them.

The "Sympathy Date" Award Goes To... Both NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN and THERE WILL BE BLOOD go head to head in a lot of categories but it feels like NCFOM has it over TWBB except in the Best Actor category and the Best Adapted Screenplay category. Something tells me that Mr. Anderson will get his award for his writing but his film will miss out on nearly all of their major nominations.

The "Dark Horse That Could Actually Pull It Off" Award Goes To... No director has ever won the Best Director award if his or her film was not also nominated for Best Picture. That being said, I have an odd feeling there might be a surprise this year and the director of THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY, Julian Schnabel, might just wind up hearing his name called. The amount of buzz coming off of this film leaves me very inclined to think that he might just have the ability to sneak in under the wire and swipe the Best Director prize out from under everyone else in the category.

2008-01-12T00:06:00.000-08:00

Welcome To The World Of Hippie Food

My supermarket time has mostly been spent in the regular standard markets that we all know and love. It's been the Alpha Betas or Safeway's of Albertsons for me though there was also the 24 hour market in South San Francisco that I used to frequent when I needed to shop after the other places closed. I'll always remember that place for the night I stopped in after work at around 2am and found a woman in the produce aisle talking to the melons. You just don't tend to forget a thing like that.

This past week found me experiencing a new store that I had never shopped in before. I wasn't purposely avoiding the place. It just never wound up being a place that I purposely went to. Yes, it was time for me to go into the Whole Foods Market near my apartment.

The situation came down to my roommate, who had driven us to the the place that she works and I was temping at, needing to stop off and pick up a couple things on the way home. Unlike your standard stores, it did amaze me to see how compact everything was. People complain about grocery stores being built like mazes but Whole Foods just proves it.

The main part of my excursion turned into me looking at all of the amazingly worded labels on the boxes and bags of food. I understand that you can do a lot more with veggie versions of meat these days but it left me giggling when I saw the "Vegetarian Chicken Sandwich" in one of the freezer cases. It was amazing to note just how many ways that there are to make things healthy or, at the very least, better for you. A person would think that gluten was the devil when you see how rejected it is in that store.

As I walked through the aisles, I found what could now be called my favorite food label that I've ever seen. This was something that I nearly purchased just for the name alone. I'd have no real need for the thing but it just screamed out to be bought. The winner product is...

"Free Range Chicken Broth"

Now I know what they actually mean by the name but it just made me crack up in the aisle. You just can't say no to a label like that.

For those of you looking for the stereotypical "hippie market" idea that people tend to have about Whole Foods Market, you can go with my cashier who walked up to the register loudly singing along to the Grateful Dead song playing over the muzak system. If that floats your boat then you can go with it. For me, the place seemed pretty cool to me and it was even better when I paid for my organic ketchup.

2007-11-28T20:45:00.000-08:00

The Closet Monster Whispering In Your Ear

It was Richard Jeni who said that wars over religion was like two groups of people fighting over the best imaginary friend. There have been so many events that have happened throughout history and were spurred on by religion that have caused immense amounts of pain and suffering. By claiming to do anything due to your religion can lead to all manner of reactions and could just seem silly all the way around.

I was scanning through the news this evening and I found a headline that I knew I just had to check out - "Roberts Says God Forced His Resignation". For those of you that haven't heard any of the previous reports, Richard Roberts, the son of Orel Roberts, had been sued over excessive spending from what wound up being school funds for things like shopping sprees, buying a stable of horses and paying for a daughter to travel to the Bahamas aboard the university jet. Since the school is currently running at a $50 million debt, it would really be bad for this suit to show that there was something going on of an illegal nature.

Richard Roberts had spent all of the time since the original filing of charges claiming innocence and saying that God told his to fight the charges and not resign. There were a bunch of press releases, interviews, and even a stopover on the Larry King show for him to work this side of the discussion. Most of the interviewing was of the easy kind for Roberts and it seemed like he had slid along pretty easily. I'm not sure if there was something coming that he couldn't wiggle out of or he just decided to give but he made a statement that he is going to resign after all.

The reason that he gave for this decision? God told him to do it. I'll give you a moment or two to let that sink in.

At first, I was kind of amazed that he would say something like that. You are asking the public to believe that God felt the need to listen just to you to advise you on your legal situation. There aren't any more important things going on in the world that God should be dealing with. It's all about that legal problem and that's it. It seems that it would be the only way to really get out of it since he said that God was the one that originally told him to fight the charges. At least that way he wouldn't be irritating any possible higher power by tendering his resignation.

All humor aside, this event kind of goes into one of the problems that I have with most organized religious groups like the one that the Roberts managed. By saying that God tells you to do certain things, it takes away a chunk of the possible guilt that you might have in some people's eyes. It's almost like some kind of universal naughty deoderant that has "Rub on to remove all possible guilt over what you have done" as part of the directions for use. It's not right to do something that you know is wrong and then turn around and claim that God is advising you on how to deal with your actions. If you did the deed, then you should be ready to accept the consequences when caught and tried.

My mind wandered back for a moment to another religious figure who had to explain his misdeeds to his congregation. Unlike Roberts, Jimmy Swaggert got up on stage and actually admitted to doing wrong. He did not blame anyone other than himself and stated that he had failed and sinned before his God. While I don't really trust much of anything that Mr. Swaggert says to be the gospel truth, it was nice then and would be great now to hear some of these televangelists taking responsibility for themselves and not passing the buck off to what their inner voice told them was right.

2007-11-25T22:47:00.000-08:00

Questioning The Thoughts Of Fear And Courage

Last Friday, I was housesitting for my sister and got to enjoy all of the wonders of their high definition television. Two of the cool channels that they have are the HD feeds for HBO and Showtime which meant that I got enjoy movies in a mighty nice definition indeed. Even the crappy movies can be watched when they look that good.

I stumbled into watching ERAGON on Friday afternoon and thought it was an okay fantasy type movie though it's not something that I'll be running out to buy on DVD. It played like a standard sword and sorcery film though there were a bunch of odd nods to other films and books that seemed more of ripping off than paying homage. It'll work as a good weekend afternoon matinee kind of thing.

There was a line of dialogue that left me kind of confused. This confusion came more from my own mind than any content errors on the part of the filmmakers. On the verge of the big finale battle, the lead character and his dragon were talking while doing final preparation. When the hero said that he was frightened of what could happen, the dragon's reply was that there can be no courage without fear.

In the framework of the film, this line worked fine and it was a nice way to show how conquering your fears can be a good thing. It took about a minute for me to think about a line from a different film that seemed to contradict the one in ERAGON. The movie in question is STAR WARS: EPISODE I and it comes out of the mouth of the character that most everyone thinks is the biggest brain of the Jedi - Yoda.

While the Jedi Council are evaluating Anakin for whether or not he can be trained, Yoda has an interesting reaction to Anakin stating that he's scared. Yoda tells Anakin, "Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering." From the way that Yoda sounds, it seems like the Jedi are under the belief that the specific emotion is linked to the dark side as a cause and effect relationship and you have to avoid it at all costs.

A Jedi seems to be set up as the equivalent of a monk in the world that they live in. A Jedi is required to divest themselves of all emotions and simply follow the Force and not deviate from the programming. Your whole existence as a person is to serve the group and not let your emotional mind take over and play into your reactions.

For me personally, this idea of monastic existence would be a bad idea for a group of people that spend a lot of their time helping to protect the universe from evil. Emotional connections with the people around you would be of a help in times of great stress or hinderance because you wouldn't give up on what you're trying to do. Those emotions can be a great help to move someone into the hero that they can be.

It might not be the best fantasy film of all time, I do think that ERAGON has the correct idea when it comes to the idea of using fear to give someone courage in a stressful situation. Letting a person's emotions have all control over their actions can definately be a bad thing but you lose a lot of your power when you have to divest yourself of emotions entirely. Focus your emotions the right way and it can help to lead you to be the hero that you can be.

2007-11-21T21:07:00.000-08:00

Would Jesus Have A Nipple Ring?

I had kind of an odd moment while shopping at a local mall. It wasn't a bad event but it was something that opened my eyes to a creative new clothing medium. The fact that it took so long for me to realize what was going while in the store that I have to admit to thinking that this was a very brilliant version of a kind of viral marketing that you don't tend to see in the world of religion.

Most of the time walking around the mall was spent walking past most of the stores without a strong need to go in. It wasn't until I saw a very interesting looking clothing shop that looked like a Hot Topic. All of the standard displays and colors were prevalent and, for a moment, I thought I was actually in a Hot Topic store. This place was near where they used to have a store so all I could think of was that they just moved the store from one place to another.

Upon entering the store, I poked around the hoodies to see what they had but my friend pointed out a tshirt rack nearby. She held up one of the shirts that had "I *heart* JC" on it. Picture the classic New York City shirt and you'll understand. We looked at it for a moment before speaking.

"Do you know what the 'JC' means?" she asked.

My reply was, "Do they mean the guy from NSync?"

She gave me a quick look of confusion.

"Maybe Jesus Christ?" I stated.

We kind of looked at each other for a moment and then kind of walked around the general area. It was only at that point that I started to read what was written on the hoodies that I had been looking at. All of them had all manner of Biblical text on them. My brain took it's time hitting the final realization and it didn't go all the way until I scanned the large board near the front door with all of the car decals for sale on it. The last choice? The 29th Psalm. Trust me when I say that you'd need a pretty large rear window to fit all of it on it.

My friend walked over to me and we just kind of looked at each other in an odd mix of understanding and confusion. I went into the store expecting a Hot Topic experience and this wasn't what I thought that I'd find. We headed out of the store and then looked up at the store masthead which read "NOTW" in neon. A quick scan of the window displays gave us the full name of "Not Of This World". A momentary pause for complete realization was followed by walking away to go to the store that I had intended.

This whole event left me laughing at how amazingly brilliant I thought that the creator of that store was. Until I took the time to totally scan the whole place and pay close attention to the details of what was being sold, I never even knew that I was in what amounted to an alternative Christian clothing store. I've been so used to going into a store that looked like that for my "alternative clothing" store that I had no clue of the whole story until I had been in there for a couple minutes.

All of this led to me thinking about what Jesus would think about something like that. The art in most of the Biblical paintings and films make Jesus seem like the world's first hippie but most of the religious scholars are carrying around the idea of Jesus being this figure of the establishment. If you go by their views, it's really hard to think of Jesus rocking a hoodie and baggy pants while listening to Jars Of Clay. Their version would never be seen like that and might not even associate with them at all.

If you actually read the Bible and don't force your own ideas of belief onto the text, the personality of Jesus is really not the establishment at all. What his words seem to be saying is about the idea of acceptance and trying to bring in as many people as they could. The only feelings of dislike that can be found tend to come from Jesus reacting to the evils of people like the moneylenders. He spent more time with the people that would both then and now be considered the dregs of existence, like the homeless, prostitutes, and the sick, than he did with the ruling elite.

The creation of the store might be a way to prostilize in a new way to a younger audience but I'd have to give it a compliment just for the idea alone. Any group that requires their members to be as bland and regimental as the current religious elite will find that they will quickly find their numbers shrinking and shrinking. It's a benefit to everyone to bring in all of the various different groups and their list of interests. You just need to be careful that you aren't selling off your beliefs to make a trendy buck.

2007-11-11T00:50:00.000-08:00

Defining The Difference Between Right And Wrong

My brain has been kind of buggy all week about the torture discussion running through the news media for most of this week. There are all kinds of secret memos and other paperwork being leaked that points the proverbial smoking gun at all of us over what it seems that our government has been up to with it's prisoners. After some thinking and a little soulsearching, I've come to the conclusion that I just can't trust a group of people that stop torturing by changing the title of the form of questioning to make it sound less painful. If you're doing this supposedly in my name, then you don't get to change the rules to spite the game.

There are all kinds of new terms showing up these days. You've got "intense interrogation" and "aggressive questioning" for starters and I'd bet good money that there will be a new term by the time I finish writing this. The terms about have the benign feeling of government doublespeak that clouds the reality of what they are talking about. Acts like waterboarding do not have anything to do with intense or aggressive anything. These acts have everything to do with causing the person being acted upon to seriously think that they're going to die. That moves way past those terms into a place that makes a normal sane person question their actions or at least I hope that it does.

To add into this miasma of backtalk, you now have people being interviewed and answering questions in ways that make them sound either wickedly uninformed or just plain rock stupid. For example, there is the interview that Rudy Guliani gave to FOX News during the last week where he was asked about his views of waterboarding. His response, which included changing every reference to waterboarding into aggressive questioning, stated that there are a lot less members of the Mafia on the streets of New York thanks to his aggressive questioning. Given the fact that they really didn't need to be aggressive with their questions due to the fact that they had bugged one of the mafia member's homes and had extensive tape recordings or the fact that city DAs don't actually question suspects, the answer that Guliani gave made it sound like it was something that he had done himself. It would be seem like a long stretch to think that there is a secret waterboarding room somewhere in police headquarters but then again this is also the person that has a candidacy based around what was primarily a failure of his management of the city he was mayor of. It all just makes the man look like he doesn't have a clue what he's actually talking about.

I am not one of those people that thinks that the government of my country only does good and has never done anything that could be looked at in a questionable way to protect me. With threat levels the way they tend to be at that level or business, many people on all sides get chewed up by the machinery of war and politics. That being said, it disheartens me and leaves me with a worrisome feeling in my stomach when I think about how it feels like we're allowing members of the current administration to kill off some of the principles and ideals the country was founded on. By trying to manuever around the truth with distorting language, all it does is makes us sound like we're trying to excuse away the naughty things that we've done. Sending someone off to a foreign country to be aggressively questioned or strapping them down to a waterboarding table in Guantanamo is the same thing. It doesn't matter what you call it. It all comes out the same in the light of simple logical truth.

2007-11-11T00:41:00.000-08:00

Thinking About Listening To Orders

I've kind of realised over this weekend that I need to get my brain rewired a little to do work in a contractor ideal. All of my past business experience has been your standard office jobs. You walk in at the start of the day and the you do your job or your boss tells you what to do. While you're in that room, office, building, or wherever it might be, you know that you've got assorted jobs to get done during the day and you really can't leave until they're done. This is where my brain currently is.

But that won't really work when it comes to a contractor job. A job like that requires a person to keep track of the comings and goings at their own speeds and be ready to drop into the work day at a moments notice. It could be first thing in the morning or when you're making dinner but you need to observant enough to know when the time to work is and switch over to get it done. I might be overreacting a little but I think I might not have reacted as I should this weekend.

This position is still kind of in the feeling-out period so I hope that I have time to fix any possible screwups on my part. It's a job that will allow me to do something that comes naturally to me - to write. All I need to do is attach the right plugs to the right sockets and not leave an opening of questionable action on my part.

2007-08-23T17:09:00.000-07:00

My Comic Book Store Pull List - August 15, 2007

The Brave And The Bold #6
We come to the end of the first storyline since the relaunch of this series and it left me with a very nice taste in my mouth. I've been a fan of this series since the start mainly for the amount of fun and freedom this book has with all of the characters involved. It doesn't disregard continuity but it doesn't function as a slave to it too. The entire Destiny's book/Luck Lords story comes to a close with a mad dash and battle across the planet of Rand, proof that Supergirl can be a very well rounded character when handled by the right writer, and the last addition to the cast that I didn't see coming and was very happy to see. We'll see if it can keep it up as it moves along and I'll be one of the people rooting for it to succeed.
My verdict: A

Justice League of America #12
It Brad Meltzer's swan song on this title it read to me like he went out with kind of a shrug. After the previous issue that had a really interesting and thrilling way about it, this one kind of worked like a day in the life kind of thing based around the need for team members to do monitor duty. There are a couple nods to some of the lesser characters (aka the ones without their own books) and nods to the formation of the group back in the old days. I have to admit to feeling a little blase about the whole thing but it was nice to read a little actual character development after 10 issues of mostly action. I was also kind of left in confusion about an appearance by a character that I thought wasn't possible in current continuity but it didn't really make me hate the story or anything like that.
My verdict: B

Ultimate Spider-Man #112
Welcome to the beginning of the Stuart Immonen era on the art side of the book and it looked kind of a nice place to be. While I still have to say that I prefer Bagley's line work, the art on this issue flows along the same way as the previous 111 issues. Most of the action runs with Peter at school and Norman Osbourne in jail which felt mostly like the standard "storyline opening issue" that tends to come out since the trade paperback years started. Carol Danvers pays Norman a visit and it looks like everything goes bad once she refuses his one request while Peter, Mary Jane, and Kitty have to deal with the old "fake baby" thing that they have in high schools other than the one that I went to. I'll have to see what happens as the story progresses but this read like a paint by numbers opening issue to me.
My verdict: B

Countdown #37
This issue is more up and down by the nearest elevator and this one read on the way down, though there were some interesting points. It's just that the story as a whole wound itself down in a way that leaves me not really feeling a strong attraction to most of what's going on. The Mary Marvel/Zatanna and Trickster/Pied Piper stories were good additions especially the visit to Zatanna's secret mansion. Other than that, all of the other plot lines left me feeling cold. The end of the issue left me even more surprised that they would pull it out but it kind of leaves the whole thing in a very different way of going. Again, it's not the most thrilling of comic but it's not kind of totally worthless either.
My verdict: C+

The Flash #231
It's the first issue of the return of Wally West as The Flash and it was an interesting read. There were many little tidbits and references to what the West family had been up to since they wandered off into the Speed Force though there are still a lot of things left to be answered. There is also a beginning to the explanation of the kids' powers but it left a lot of stuff to be found out. Like Ultimate Spider-Man, this functioned as a "storyline opening issue" though there was also a lot of content shown to give the audience a view of the series as a whole following all of the last couple of issues. The art by Acuna has an interesting kind of view to it but it did seem a little too overstretched for my taste. There was also the odd look of the bad guys at the end of the issue that gave me a weird flashback to the movie, THE HOST, but all in all this was nice opening issue.
My verdict: B

Booster Gold #1
It's time for the return of one of the oddest characters in comics and this time he gets to play both sides of the fence. Unlike previous comics where he was played as just being a goofball, this series sees Booster playing the goof to the world while he winds up playing the serious hero in the background. It looks like they'll be using this comic to wander through the new multiverse as Booster is sent through time and dimension to fix or correct problems that pop up. A fun read that works as a way to begin the new perspective on the character and allows the story to go in many different directions, including a couple references to future storylines viewed in the now standard Geoff Johns' last page bit. Time will definately tell how it all works out but it is a nice start.
My verdict: B-

Welcome To Tranquility #9
The town of retired heroes is beginning to have major problems with zombies and what seems like the Devil's right hand man along with the first appearance of an intriguing new addition to the cast. While the standards of this comic is kept to it's normal position, I have to admit to being a little bored with this issue. It wasn't that nothing really happened. It's just that it kind of feels like I'm still waiting for a little more character detail that hasn't been gotten to. The town is full of all kinds of different people but you don't really feel any kind of connection with any of them on anything other than a superficial level. Along with the main story, we're also provided with a short bit about the new addition that shows the man's origin in a lot of freaky detail. Trust me when I say that this is one of those guys that definately has a simple focus to his heroics.
My verdict: B-

2007-08-13T16:21:00.000-07:00

My Comic Book Store Pull List - August 8, 2007

X-Factor #22
If I was asked to pick my current favorite comic book writer, one of the people at the top of the list would be Peter David. He has an amazing talent to write a comic like it's a prose novel and still make it work in the episodic nature of this business. That talent is seriously on show in this issue. There are multiple different plot lines running alongside each other and they all feel like they're getting the attention they deserve. It even works when you go to the story about the two kids that sing anti-mutant songs though it does seem to be kind of off to the side of the rest of the goings on. With what happened at the end of the issue, it would seem like all of those threads will begin to merge soon enough but I kind of have to wonder how the additional bit factors into it.
My verdict: A-

Daredevil #99
It's sad for me to have to say this but this was the first issue of Ed Brubaker's writing run that I really couldn't get into. Unlike all of the previous issues, the action in this one just kind of happens and not due to the plot developments. It's almost like a condensed version of a full issues content. After what happened in the previous issue, Matt is seriously on the hunt for who is causing all of the hell in his life and he goes all out, including smacking many people around. While all that is going on, his wife is going off the rails which leads to part of the big climax. And that leads to a big problem for me. Both of the big finale moments really rang false to me. The big villan reveal fell very flat for me and I'm someone who has read DD on and off (avoiding some of the sucky parts) for nearly 15 years. Honestly, I had no clue who the person was. Toss in a really random moment in a subway and it all just didn't work itself together for me.
My verdict: B-

Fables #64
This issue gives a minor break from the current storyline to show a view of what is going on with the Snow White/Bigby Wolf family and it does read kind of nicely. The action includes the preparation for the kids' birthday party and some views of the world moving towards war. While it is a nice story all the way around, it left me kind of wondering why they needed to pause the main story to put this one in. The fill-in art had a very interesting look with a lot of big eyed work though it did take me a moment or two to recognize who it was. I might be the only person asking for this but I really think that this comic needs one of those "Previously In..." pages at the start because I had no clue who the kids that appeared in the opening were and I still don't. Enjoying helps when you know who you're reading about.
My verdict: B

Countdown #38
After two pretty strong weeks, this series goes right back to the questionable level. All of the plot lines motor along with the Jimmy Olsen and Mary Marvel plots being in the forfront. The MM kind of works okay but I just can't wrap my brain around the JO one. I guess it feels a little too silly when compared to the things going on with the other characters. The whole Oracle/Calculator battle was intriguing but it kind of was a bit too cerebral for a comic book. Two people battling it out over an internet connection just doesn't tend to illicit the drama like a more physical fight would. All in all, it feels like this series is sliding back to the iffy area it lived in back at the start of the whole thing.
My verdict: C+

Green Lantern #22
It might just prove that I have the need to not know what is going on, but I decided to pick up this issue due to all of the publicity The Sinestro Corps storyline is getting. While I was left a little confused by the hows and whys of some of the stuff going on, the issue read very nicely and felt really thrilling to even a new reader. With Hal fighting to save Kyle Rayner from the thrall and power of the creature known as Parallax, there are many different players on the board that are trying to move the pieces into a manner that will benefit themselves when all of the fighting is over. I think I'm intrigued enough to stick around for a little while and see how it all shakes out but all I can really review comes from the words and pictures on the pages and those were very likeable indeed.
My verdict: B

2007-08-03T22:17:00.000-07:00

My Comic Book Store Pull List - August 1, 2007

Justice Society of America #8
Following up on the two big opening stories and the intoduction of the latest version of the "Steel" character, it was nice to have this single issue story to give a little more character work. With a cast as large as this comic has, it can be hard to give all of the different people their moment of attention so you take the chance when you get the time. This issue reads like a nod to Liberty Belle but it also dovetails in a little time for Damage too. The reading goes very smoothly and it does work very nicely but I did kind of dislike what the Society did with the police. It seemed really out of character to act that way after the worry and panic that showed up earlier in the story. Either way, it works nicely and gives us a hello from people that might wind up blending into the background from time to time. And that must be hard when they run around in blue, yellow, and red spandex.
My verdict: A-

Countdown #39
It's another week of jam packed action for the reverse counting series though I have to admit a little bit of confusion. It might just show that my memory is going away but I had no clue about who was travelling with Karate Kid until he said her code name. Either way, it's nice to have a couple issues in a row that moved the plots along. My current favorite has to be the Trickster/Pied Pipper plot, mainly due to the fact that it feels like there really is something going on. When you have one plot that usually involves a group of people seemingly randomly travelling around the subuniverse, a slightly silly plot with Jimmy Olsen, and a couple other to choose from. One thing that I found really interesting was the backup story and it's explanation for the Source Wall. Unlike all of the previous reasons to have a big wall at the end of the universe, the one included here really read like something that works both logically and storywise too.
My verdict: B

Metal Men #1
This one turned into more of a store purchase then a preplanned thing because I wasn't quite sure about what I had heard about it in the press. It just didn't scream out to me so I didn't have it pulled. While I was surprised at how well it did read, I have to say that there were some problems with what was going on. The issue bounced around a bunch which made me get slightly confused on the general plot of the comic. It's the first issue which leaves them a lot of room to fully explain what is going on but I really hope they write a little closer to the bone of the plot. There was also a little confusion on my part during a scientific presentation but that might just be due to being a liberal arts major.
My verdict: B-

2007-07-31T16:21:00.000-07:00

Spending Some Time Wondering About Cremation

This past weekend found me being part of something that I've never done before. My uncle passed away from cancer a little over a year ago and he was cremated instead of burial. On the first anniversary of his passing, it was decided to have a family ceremony to spread his ashes in San Francisco Bay. After a little time spent to find where it was legally allowed to do this, we hopped on an extended family member's boat and chugged our way out to Angel Island on Saturday afternoon. It all went down between 11am to 3pm.

While there were some laughs and tears, there was something that really kind of struck me as odd about the whole cremation process. The thing that really stuck in my brain was when I first saw the box that my Uncle's ashes were held in. It amazed me to see a box that small that could contain all of the non water based parts of the human body. We always see the human being as sort of a big and chunky thing that takes up a large amount of space in whatever environment the person is in. My brain kind of got stuck on this aspect of the whole thing. You don't contemplate that a 6'2" 230lb person would shrink down into a little box.

This also led to one of the most humorous moments on the trip and one that seems it was perfectly timed for the ceremony. When we reached Angel Island, the boat was sort of put into hover mode due to the odd currents and wind forming the need to keep the engines set on idle and we all went to the back of the boat for the ceremony. As the music was keyed up on an iPod and flowers were handed out, there was a sudden problem that no one really thought about - We couldn't open the box. There were no latches or hooks or buttons or whatever else you can come up with to get the thing open. Everyone seemed to have an idea about how to get it open but none of these seemed to work. It probably should have been something that we thought of before we left the dock but that just would be too much forethought on our part. We could actually hear my Uncle complaining about how silly we all were for not being able to open his box.

The ride there and back went well though it wasn't the most happiest of trips. It just kind of leaves a person feeling very opened up to the world around you and you kind of just look around you as you remember past times. The way that you look at the whole situation adds to the quiet mood when you realize just how small we can all wind up looking. It is true that they say that the human is made up of around 60% water which leaves a small amount to be turned to ash but it still doesn't help to calm the mind on how small in physical content we all really are.

2007-07-26T22:37:00.000-07:00

My Comic Store Pull List - July 25, 2007

Invincible #44
It amazes me when I realize just how fast a single issue of this comic moves all of the different storylines along. There is a major switch to the Mark/Atom Eve relationship that leaves it all up in the air. You can then mix in bits about Mark's Mom and his school status. Finally, Mark has a slight run-in with a woman from his Dad's planet (long story) that starts out questionably and winds up getting worse. This comic just keeps moving but always has time for character development which makes me very happy. Throw in a great joke about hurting a monster in battle and it's all good in the hood for me.
My Rating: A

Buffy The Vampire Slayer #5
After the end of introductory story, it's kind of nice to have this issue to both clense the pallete and also add a little danger to the comings and goings. We're given a view of what it's like to be one of the decoys that Buffy has running around the world masquarading as her. While it does read a little jarring since the whole story exists in just this issue but it does give us a view of what some people are asked to do to help keep the peace in the supernatural world. Bittersweet is the taste that you'll have at the end of the read but it shouldn't chase you away.
My Rating: B

Countdown #40
This is a definate step up from the last couple of issues which might not be saying much when it comes down to it. All of the major and even a couple minor plots start moving at a very rapid rate. From the microscopic world to Metropolis to Apokolips, there are all kinds of things happening in a short space of time. With the quick jumping, it still flows nicely and doesn't get too congested. It might have been better to move a plot point or three to previous or upcoming issues for a little breathing room but it made me happy to finally have some movement. Be sure to not miss what is quite possibly one of the meanest and funniest bit of dialogue coming from Darkseid. Sometimes it's good to be the king.
My Rating: B-

Hellboy: Darkness Calls #4
The mystical world can be quite a bitch when you have to put up with all kinds of things like Hellboy does. Stuck trying to make his way back to our dimension while being hunted by an ancient evil, you have to feel for the guy. The plot flows really nicely though I think that the monthly reader might be helped with one of those plot recap pages that many of Marvel's comics have. With all the stuff going on and all of the different characters popping in and out of the action, a little help would be nice.
My Rating: B

All Star Batman & Robin, The Boy Wonder #6
Pardon me while I am amazed at how fast this issue came out following the last one. When it took almost a year between issues #4 and #5, having the next issue appear on time makes a person go "Wow!" Snarkiness aside, this is probably the first issue of this series that I can say that I enjoyed. It's nice to have a little less of the whacked out Batman and he now reads like a badass more than anything else. The Batgirl story fragment felt awfully short to warrant having her on the cover and it seems like the freckles and red hair would be a dead giveaway to her identity. Black Canary pops in for a little fight that turns into something even worse for everyone concerned. If the future issues read as well as this one does, then I might feel the need to hang around a lot longer than I had originally planned.
My Rating: B

2007-07-26T21:57:00.000-07:00

Choosing What The Truth Is Supposed To Mean

This might just show that I'm older than any of the rest of the world but I'm kind of feeling really let down by the current people hanging out in the White House. I know that many of you won't be too amazed by that thought but it seems like there is a big ball of bad starting to build up in front of me. It doesn't even really include the standard things, like the Iraq War or other similar stuff, though it can kind of fit in there if it's turned quite right.

What is making me so flumoxed?

The way that several members of the government seem to feel really no worry over telling a lie.

This has nothing to do with those little white lies that we all tell. Those kinds of things tend to read more like fibs than out and out lies. Fibs tend to be those things that kind of help to get us through the day without additional interpersonal stress and humiliation. Most of the fibs also tend to be more of an innocent nature and don't stray too close to the danger of being a lie.

I just can't seem to understand why these people feel that they have the ability to tell outright lies with no repercusions coming their way. It could be all about the Attorney General throwing out all kinds of conflicting stories during his multiple testimonies in front of the different Congressional groups. It might be when Cheney decided to say that voting for anyone that isn't a Republican was voting for the victory of the terrorists. But then it might be all of the stuff about the attorney firings and who is and was actually involved in the situation.

All of those things could be seriously heinous and probably is at least against their supposed moral codes. After all that, it appears that the thing that has sent me over the edge is the newly released information about the death of Pat Tillman. After all of the previous things that have come from this event, be it death by enemy or friendly fire, it all left a bad taste in my mouth.

From paperwork acquired by the AP, it appears that there was even more people involved in the cover-up and the assorted cover stories that followed. It starts with doctors that checked the body stated that the bullethole placement in Tillman's head didn't jibe with all of the previous explanations. Their decision was that the bullets probably came from an M-16 and only about 10 yards away. Then there are the emails sent between multiple Army attorneys congratulating each other for keeping the criminal investigation at bay which led to administrative and non-criminal charges. An additional bit of lie comes from the fact that there was no proof of any kind of enemy fire found in the area of the shooting or in any of the vehicles used by the squad.

All of this just gets balled up into one colossal lie that makes me wonder how these people can sleep at night. This lie is bad enough but they shared it with the rest of the world as a truth. You have to either have balls of steel or a heart of stone to feel it's okay to tell the story that they spun to his Mom as she was still reacting to her son's death.

I guess I could say that maybe they just have a different set of mental priorities and leave it at that. Those are priorities that no rational human being should have but I guess it takes all kinds of people to run or ruin the world.

2007-07-20T16:09:00.000-07:00

My Comic Store Pull List - July 18, 2007

Brave And The Bold #5
This is kind of the oddest comics on the racks right now. You see it seems to me that this is a gloriously retro kind of book, both in writing and art. And the larger truth about it? I love it! Unlike most of the other currently produced super hero comics from the "Big Two", this comic is a wonderful team-up series done without a whole lot of interest with continuity. They might drop a hint here or there about something going on with a given character but it doesn't really factor into the story. It's all about the enjoyment of seeing your favorite heroes working together to fight evil.

This issue continues the introductory story concerning, among other things, Destiny's book and the Lords Of Luck. You've got Batman stuck in the 30th century with the Legion of Super-Heroes and dealing with the only object that could get him back home. Along with that, you have Supergirl arriving at the planet of Rann to help out Green Lantern and Adam Strange. It's all about leading into the big finale of the story next issue and it will be interesting to see how all of this dovetails together. All in all, it's nice to have a series that doesn't have to worry about what everyone else is doing.
My rating: A

Countdown #41
I honestly don't know what is causing me to feel that this book isn't working right. It seems like it should be humming along but it always seems to read more disjointed to me. Unlike the preceding weekly series, Countdown doesn't quite have the same flow as 52 did and it also lacks the previous series hold on all of the plot lines. Each issue is set up in the same manner as 52 but Countdown reads like seperate pieces stuck together and not a more complete story. All of the seperate plots are interesting but it feels like they're all going off into different directions and not towards a similar end. I'm going to keep reading but I hope that the story will gell together in the future.
My rating: C+

Justice League of America #11
This stand alone issue is a very interesting thing to read following the first two multi issue arcs. Instead of the big sweeping adventure storys, this is a much smaller story concerning the survival of two members of the team who are trapped inside a collapsed building. The whole story feeling of claustrophobia especially due to the guest art by Gene Ha. With it's all black pages and jagged open spaces wedged into each page, the reader can really feel how compressed the environment is for the heroes. I was kind of disappointed with how fast of a read this issue wound up being but the issue was still stong enough to work without being giant sized.
My rating: B+

Birds Of Prey #108
I'm not sure if this is Gail Simone's last issue as writer of the series but this issue really reads like it is. It seems to function both as a finale for the current storyline and an opening for the new writer to come in and do what they want to do. While the field team comes back from their mission in Russia, Barbara waits for the return to make the stand to return the team to her control. After a couple issues of Babs seeming more docile than in the past, it is really nice to have her back to her old personality. Add in a kind of altered 4 page spread of all of the people that have been members of the team backing Babs up (though I was kind of confused to see Power Girl there after their past problems) and it feels even more like an ending than anything else.
My rating: A-

Ultimate Spider-Man #111
After all of the histrionics of the last two plots, it is really nice to finally get the chance to take a breath. A reader can get buried mentally from all of the fights and explosions so you just want to feel for the characters more than it's possible to do in a plot like that. The main part of the issue is the discussion between Peter Parker and Aunt May about his heroic identity. Instead of all of the standard written issues, this one feels really real and solid in a worldly kind of way. The talk flows and you can feel it move without being forced at all. This issue also has the pedigree to be the final issue by artist Mark Bagley (who has drawn the entire series up to now) and his replacement, Stuart Immomen. Both artistic looks fit together nicely and both seem to have the same sense for design which leaves a long time reader like me looking forward with hope.
My rating: B

All Flash #1
It struck me as funny when I realized that I've actually bought every Flash first issue since the relaunch following the Legends mini series back in the day. I never seem to stay around for very long but there must be something in the character that keeps drawing me back. The opening of the issue helps to fit all of the odd temporal difficulties that have crept into the continuity since you have events happening in a couple different comics. It's nice to have that to link the points together and give you a knowledge of where the story is coming from. It might seem like they're spending a lot of time just to wrap up all manner of plot points but it reads more or less like a way to clear the deck for the return of Wally West as the Flash. And I really don't have a problem with that.
My rating: B+

2007-07-16T16:07:00.000-07:00

Calling Shenanigans On The Video Game Industry

Among my many interests, playing video games tends to fit in right in the middle. While I've grown up with the hobby and still enjoy it, I'm not one of those people that have to own the latest consoles as soon as they're released or play my favorite games incessently. I guess you could factor me into the casual gamer category. That being said, I do find it fascinating to watch the ways and means that the different companies go about promoting themselves at their big yearly event - the Electronic Entertainment Expo or E3 for short.

This trade show, held every July, is the big coming out party for the next fiscal year's video games and the industry as a whole. All of the big announcements are made there along with all of the different game creation companies showing off their wares. This year's E3 was being promoted as a return to being just about the games and moving away from all of the hype and hyperbole of the recent years. That means all of the big extravegances were removed, from big flashing marquees to booth babes to easily attainable tickets for those not directly in the business. Thie year's E3 was a leaner and meaner entity but that didn't stop each major hardware company from tossing out an odd choice during their keynote presentations.

Since I'm in a nice mood, I'll start this off with Nintendo. Their shenanigan was more humorous than just plain wrong so it's not like I'm coming down hard on them or anything like that. My mental tick comes out of the announcement of the new game Wii Fit, which is obviously meant for their Wii system. This is a video game that is actually meant to get the player up and moving. It might be even more healthy to get them to put down the controller and play outside but that might just be splitting and unecessary amount of hairs.

Wii Fit will come along with a new peripheral device called a "balance pad", which looks like a standard scale except without the readouts. This pad is seperated into two sections that can read the amount of pressure being put on it and will help use that to figure out how well the person is playing. The game appears to be full of all kinds of excercise based games, including yoga and low impact aerobics.

All of this leads me to the point of my confusion. Back when the Wii was first introduced, there were reports all over the news about how the players in the US seemed to be getting a bit overzealous while they were playing. For example, they wouldn't feel the need to just flick their wrist for the Wii Bowling game. They would do the whole motion and sometimes even let go of the controller like it was the ball itself. With the speed and velocity that those throws might have had, it is totally understandable that the wrist straps on the controllers, which I'd bet weren't designed for that level of play, had a tendancy to break which would then send the controller flying across the room at a serious rate of speed.

Now we come to the "balance pad". If there was that much trouble with the initial release, what makes them think that we aren't going to do the exact same thing to this pad? I can just see someone firing up their Wii Fit and switching to the hoola-hoop game only to cause their pad to break when they start really swivelling their hips back and forth. Since the entire game is based off of that peripheral, it would seem to me that the level of enjoyment would decrease rapidly if the only means of controlling the game is broken.

My other shenanigan is actually more or less a two parter. It concerns both Sony and Microsoft and their attempts to make it seem like their hardware is the best availble and the best seller. Both use a large chunck of questionable math to reach their conclusions and that just makes them look worse for it.

The award for cutting to the chase has to go to Sony. A week ago today, Sony announced that they were reducing the price of their 60GB PS3 by $100, down to a retail price of $499. While everyone else said that it was a price cut, Sony said that it was only an adjustment due to the introduction of a new version of the PS3 that will come with an 80GB hard drive. This new model will be priced at $599 like the old one was. Why anyone would want to pay $100 just to have 20GB more of available storage space is beyond me but that's not what I'm talking about.

Sony had their big presentation Wednesday afternoon and part of the financial section talked about how the PS3 had been the top console seller at Amazon since the price change. This even made it into the powerpoint presentation showing on the big screen behind the speaker. Along with the console popularity, they mentioned how well their BluRay game discs sold and how much information they are able to fit on them. There was even mention of how Blockbuster now will only carry BluRay discs and will remove all HD DVD discs from store shelves.

For the former, it struck me as slightly disingenious to promote your console's level of popularity after literally only 2 days of a price reduction. The news of the reduction was still being seen as fresh with many news outlets so there is a good chance that many people hadn't even heard about what had happened. Try quoting those same figures in a couple weeks and lets see how true they still are. Also, it doesn't help to say that your sales have increased 9 fold since the price change when we have no clue what the starting sales numbers were. By using this math, you could say that the PS3 sales increased 100 fold the day after it's launch and it would still be true.

For the latter, it's very simple. BluRay technology is a media system created and designed inhouse at Sony. Next time they might want to slip that bit into the speech somewhere so they don't seem like they're trying to work around the corner before they even tell us the wall is there.

The last entrant in the shenanigan derby would be Microsoft. Their odd use of math looked immediately kind of dubious but became even worse in hindsight. During their presentation, it was stated that, during the period of January - June 2007, both their console and games were outselling their competitors at an almost 2 to 1 ratio. That being said, it was actually something akin to comparing apples to a piece of cheese and saying that you won. It is a given that the XBox 360 would have a larger install base and game sales number since the console had been out a full year by the time they started counting all of the data shown. You had two competing consoles launching almost simultaneously which tends to drag down the market for both. Toss in the on release shortages and that will seriously decrease the amount of sales. Like Sony, let's see what is happening at this time next year before we start patting ourselves on the back.

Now I know that shenanigans like the ones metioned about tend to appear at these kinds of presentations. These events are meant to build up the fanbase and also get a little bit of drooling out of the fanboys that have not purchased their wares. That being said, it just struck me as foolhardy to flaunt all of these numbers without actually noticing how wrong the ways and means of retrieving them was. It must be that new math that I hear so much about...

2007-07-12T01:06:00.000-07:00

My Comic Store Pull List - July 11, 2007

X-Factor #21
This reads like the first part of a big upcoming event. Madrox spends the issue trying to keep the whole group moving and getting everyone together to work together. This includes everything from a meeting with a new client, attempting to make some kind of peace with Monet and Teresa, and getting his drink on. A well rounded story that even has room for a medical test and the arrival of what could be a major factor in the future of the series.
Decision: A

Countdown #42
The continuing adventures of the DC universe as it wanders through all manner of escapades. While it does move along at a good pace, I have to admit to feeling a little let down by a good portion of this issue. Many of the main characters seem to be more or less in a holding pattern which leaves a lot of scenes of people sitting around and talking. There is also an odd bit of conversation involving Karate Kid that left me wondering about the time frame of when the scene happened and how it fits into the whole "Lightning Saga" bit. Mary Marvel works in a little action with Clayface along with the forshadowing about her powers and the Trickster and Pied Piper get up close and personal with what appears to be a new version of the Suicide Squad. All in all, a nice read but not a lot hoding it up.
Decision: B-

Justice Society of America #7
We return to the bedside of Mr. Nathan Heywood, who has been stuck there in a coma since the start of the series. From the explanation given, it looks like he's wound up with a power not unlike his crime fighting relatives and doesn't like it. The plot of the issue flowed really nicely though it did feel like it was jumping ahead a bit too quickly from time to time. This is sort of the "one and done" origin issue that introduces a new character to the team which left me feeling a little let down at how fast it was moving. I would also have to question the way that they give him his costume, if only just because it seems like they would want to choose an easier means to do it if there is a good chance that it will need to be repaired on a regular basis. Either way, this is a nice little story to keep the plots going until the next major story arc.
Decision: B

Fables #63
While the most recent issues of this series have been mostly character based, it looks like "The Good Prince" is finally starting to really get moving. There is action on multiple fronts, including nearly all of the characters on both sides of the conflict. While there is no actual fighting, this issue reads like a primer for the battles to come. All of the different chess pieces are moving into position for the coming war and this issue really defines and shows how many of the characters will be experiencing the events to come.
Decision: A

Madman Atomic Comics #3
This issue made my brain hurt but in a good way. Our hero is trapped in the odd netherworld of his subconscious and needs to find a way out to stop his arch enemy. This journey is aided by an interesting choice of person though they don't quite end up where they thought they would. This story is filled with a lot of heavy psychological ideas and beliefs that can sometime leave you wondering where the story is actually heading. A special word must be made about the artwork. While we travel through the subconscious, we travel through many different worlds that resemble all manner of illustrated stories. This includes picture books, comics, paintings, comic strips, and even a certain television show that will soon be a movie. While it does lead to a "spot the influence" moment or three, the effect is still really creative and fits in well with the story.
Decision: B+

Freshmen II: Fundamentals of Fear #6
Can someone please explain to me what has happened to this story? The original mini series was so well written and this sequel just seems to be grasping at things to do. There are a bunch of events in the lives of all of the main characters but none of them really seem to stick in the mind very strongly. It would seem that they were trying to go for a way to show the characters growing up but there are some large leaps taken and a couple questionable decisions in the case of the writer's need to keep the story going. If the next mini series starts off like this one has ended, I'm not sure if I'll stick around to see what happens next.
Decision: C

2007-06-16T15:36:00.000-07:00

Unemployment Theatre Day 2: STAR WARS EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH

It is said that we all bring parts of ourselves into the viewing of any form of art. Our ideals, beliefs, and other assorted bits of intelligent thinking that we have picked up over the years form the glasses that we watch and feel about what we are seeing. The artist might have a certain topic or idea for what he is trying to say but that just combines into our personal mind to give the complete view. You can never be sure what the rest of the world will or won't see when they look at your artwork but it will never be a one-sided experience.

When EPISODE III was originally released, one of the first things that viewers mentioned about was how the film felt like it was being taken right from the news of the day. Along with all of the mentions of empires and such, there were moments like when Anakin tells Obi-Wan that he is either with him or against him. Taking what felt like a lift from a Bush Jr. state of the union speech and transposing it to a far off world seemed to point to the idea that George Lucas was trying to make a statement about today's world and that doesn't even include Padme's statement of how liberty ends with thunderous applause.

The trick about this belief is that it is being made by looking at the film in just this moment in time. By going back through history, the evidence of death of the ideal republic is shown time and again. There are all kinds of examples, from the Romans to the Ottoman Empire to the collapse of what had been Soviet Russia. All of these different points in the timeline illustrate the same ideas that Lucas seemed to want to bring up. Republics always start to fall from the inside out. There could be wars and other strife but the republic will hold together as long as the people are working toward the common good. As soon as the treachery works it's way inside, it will eat away at the foundations and bring the whole of the republic down around it.

I'm not sure if this just proves that either men are not able to handle governing a republic or if this form of governement is just unstable to begin with but it does seem to me to be a constantly repeating event throughout the history of man. Personally, I tend to be a person that believes that form of governement is something to strive for if for no other reason that it is one of the only governemental structures that allows every person to live their lives as they see fit. This idea that we all need to be free to believe in what we choose runs in the face of most every regimental society that has ever been. From the strict ideas of Communism to devout religious societies like the Muslims that want the world to be run by the word of their God alone, it is this freedom to choose that makes a republic the kind of government that functions for the betterment of all while allowing them to speak and believe what they will so long as it doesn't cause harm or injury to their fellows.

It would seem that I'm taking a large chunck of seriousness out of what most people think of as a space adventure style of movie but this film seems to be asking questions that you don't see in the standard space epic. You could say that all I'm doing is continuing to do exactly the thing that I brought up in the opening paragraphs and I guess you could say that you're right. That also says that I have the right to view a film and take out of it the ideas of beliefs that I have a feeling about. You can see it your way and I can see it mine. Neither of us is right or wrong.

It did kind of strike me to think of Dick Cheany's resemblance to the Emperor once he turns all old and wrinkly though. All Cheany needs is that forehead divit and the look would be complete. But that's just me being silly, I guess.

2007-06-15T20:06:00.000-07:00

Unemployment Theatre Day 1: LORD OF WAR

Who knew arms dealing could seem this exciting even with the extreme bodycount... moral ambiguity... questionable sexual practices... and so on and so forth?

I have to admit that I wasn't really looking forward to this one though it did come with a mighty strong pedigree. The NetFlix DVD has been sitting on my living room coffee table for many a month but I just didn't feel the urge to pop it in. Perhaps the dark subject matter left me a little whoosy but that disc just did not want to go into the player. The thought had crossed my mind to just send it back without watching but it felt like the movie deserved to be viewed just for the fact that I've had it for so long.

The first part of the film was intriguing to say the least. Watching the vaguely simple way that the lead character gets into the arms dealing business made me think about maybe needing a change of possible employment for me but that wouldn't work out because I think that I wouldn't want to buy a gun from someone who chews his fingernails like I do. That would just be the clue that something might be up. Either that or the buyer would think that I'd squeal the first time that I was arrested. Gun running is not a job that you get and work like your standard sales person job. It takes those of us with nerves of iron and sadly I think I might lack in those.

There were two things in the film that kind of struck me as odd. The first is how it would seem that Ethan Hawke is slowly turning into a skeleton or, at the very least, one of those figures made out of cornhusks that you find in those little knick-knack stores on the main street of the local quaint vacation town near you. I remember back when he started and he looked like every normal guy but now it seems like someone is slowly deflating him from the head down. My other odd thought came every time that Jared Leto was on screen. Unlike his costars who all sported normal makeup, it appeared that Mr. Leto had someone apply extra eyeliner on him at all times. There is a chance that the look might be the normal way his eyes appear but it was kind of odd to note that he looked like the entire eyeliner budget went to him alone.

To make a long story short, the movie was interesting. You got your standard wander through the world of illegal arms merchants and they mentioned a lot of the finer points about what happened during those times. The narration kind of fiddled with the film a little due to the fact that it made the viewer believe that person survived the film which tends to decrease the excitement at possible outcomes. All in all, a good solid movie for those days that you want a little thought provoking with your Nicolas Cage.

2007-02-12T21:14:00.000-08:00

Counting Down To A Lack Of Romance

It is always with a sense of either extreme trepidation or mild nausea that I come to this time of year. That time is the bane of all single people of the world. It's the one days where we, the lonely lot, stand out like a wart on the tip of the wrong thumb. I am of course talking about Valentine's Day. The day for lovers tends to be more like the day of the damned since it seems like I am kryptonite in relation to an actual dating relationship.

And it's not like I don't to get a date. I just don't seem to be very good at it.

Without fail I try to be the nice guy that every woman could want but that doesn't seem to make them happy. So I move over to trying to be the funny guy and see if their feelings of romance are attatched to the funny bone. Still no dice. It's a stretch but I try to come off as the cool guy but that lasts until I get around anything that catches my eye and makes me want to pick it up. The weird habit of examining the world and making statements about it will always seem to get me into trouble.

Even with the dating history that I've had, I still have hope that someday I'll meet someone that will actually find me a positive on the scale of attraction. I'm not one of those guys that think that I'll find true love and be her knight in shining armour and it will all be perfect with happy trees and unicorns. That might last for the first month but once you slide from dating into relationship it brings the real world back into the equation.

Being single on V-Day does tend to make me kind of bitter when I see all of the couples doing their special little couply things during the day and evening. Then again, there is always the happy thought that I don't have to worry about doing any of those specially things. Singleness on a day like that does have advantages. You just have to know where to look.

2006-11-16T09:49:00.000-08:00

China to use mice to test Olympic food

BEIJING - China will use mice to test the safety of food for athletes competing in the 2008 Olympic Games, state media reported Thursday.

"Milk, alcohol, salad, rice, oil, salt and seasonings will be tested by white mice 24 hours before they are used in cooking or served to athletes," Xinhua News Agency quoted Zhao Xinsheng of the Beijing Municipal Health Inspection Bureau as saying.

Zhao told a meeting on hygiene measures for the games that the mice would develop an adverse reaction to any food poisoning within 17 hours, sooner than test methods such as bacteria cultures.

China has seen a string of food poisoning incidents in recent months.

In October, more than 200 students and teachers fell ill at a school in southern China.

There have been at least eight other food poisoning incidents, but officials say they don't appear to be connected.

Zhen Xiaozhen, of the medical team of the Beijing Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games, told the meeting that most of the food for the Olympic athletes would be Western style, complemented by Chinese dishes.

Health inspectors were to receive training in management and inspection of Western food preparation starting this month, said Liang Jin of the inspection bureau. (Click Here)

2006-10-05T10:45:00.000-07:00

Watching The Wandering Time Zones

Along with this journal, I have another set up at LiveJournal. While this one is an attempt to be a little more formal with my writing style to come across as a personal editorial column instead of a diary, the LiveJournal is more just an everyday kind of thing. Another huge benefit of the LJ friends list is that I can keep up to date very easily with the lives of my assorted friends all over the world.

Having friends in every time zone tends to lead to odd moments of repitition. This was repeated last night as it seemed like two thirds of the list were watching the third season premiere of the show Lost. While I've never been able to get into the show, there are many people that I know that religiously watch the show and discuss all of the intricacies.

This gets even stranger on nights that new episodes are run. You can watch the progression of the time zones from east to west as everyone feels the need to get on LJ and talk about all of the new information. It has gotten to the point now where there isn't any reason for me to really ever watch the show because I'm getting all of the episode synopsises and trivia three hours... and then two hours... and then one hour... before the show even runs out here on the west coast.

I remember back when I was a kid and the only way that you could find out any information about television shows before they ran would be to call someone on the east coast that had watched it. The surprise would be safe until you sat down in front of the boob tube and turned it on. There were also a lot less channels to watch but that is a different sort of distraction all together.

2006-09-28T15:01:00.000-07:00

Watching The Government Go Down The Rabbit Hole

I am someone who is very happy to live in the United States of America. This country has been my home for all 34 years that I have been in existence and, while having traveled to other countries, I have never really thought about moving somewhere else. While my party affiliation is labled as a Democrat, I would tend to see myself more as a moderate than the two dominant parties. My mind is in reality even though I am a fan of all kinds of fantasy related endevors.

All that being said, I am now stuck on a specific observation - I am deeply ashamed of the people currently serving in elective offices, especially the President and his aides.

The current regime has never been popular with me. It started at the bottom with the way that the 2000 election went and has gone downhill from there. Every chance the President and his sidekicks had to do the right and just thing has been ruined by either their inability or disinterest in what would actually benefit the people of the country they are supposed to represent.

As a child of the 80s, I lived through the Reagan and Bush Sr. years and nothing that they did come anywhere near the amount of destruction being brought upon this nation now. With the law that is on the verge of passing concerning the treatment of prisoners, the government is showing just how much they care about things like basic human rights. This bill will both allow for the President to decide what means of interrogation could be considered as torture and absolving him and the people who did the deed if a future group in office decides that what was done in the past now constitutes torture. What we have here is the biggest get-out-of-jail-free card ever.

Please don't think that I am what some people call a "tree hugging liberal" or anything like that. I was actually for the invasion of Afghanastan but that is the only thing that I have agreed with when it concerns the decisions of the current regime. It is my hope and prayer that the people of the rest of the world realize that there is a huge amount of people in this country that do not agree with the current government in any way. The people in power might not feel the need to recognize these things but I don't feel the need to lower myself into the muck and slime that they currently reside in.

2006-09-25T22:49:00.000-07:00

Ohio car dealership blasted for jihad ad

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A car dealership's planned radio advertisement that declared "a jihad on the automotive market" has drawn sharp criticism for its content but will not be changed, the business said Saturday.

Several stations rejected the Dennis Mitsubishi spot, which says sales representatives wearing "burqas" — head-to-toe traditional dress for Islamic women — will sell vehicles that can "comfortably seat 12 jihadists in the back."

"Our prices are lower than the evildoers' every day. Just ask the pope!" the ad says. "Friday is fatwa Friday, with free rubber swords for the kiddies." A fatwa is a religious edict.

Dealership president Keith Dennis said the ad does not disrespect any religion or culture. He said it was "fair game" to poke "a little fun at radical extremists."

"It was our intention to craft something around some of the buzzwords of the day and give everyone a good chuckle and be a little bit of a tension reliever," he said.

The Columbus chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations decried the ad as disrespectful.

"Using that as a promotional pitch when so many are dying from the criminal activity of suicide bombers, that's not funny," chapter president Asma Mobin-Uddin said. "I don't think it's appropriate when it causes real pain. It exploits or promotes misunderstanding in terms already misunderstood or misused."

The ad, written and produced by the company, will begin airing next week, although he was uncertain of which radio stations had accepted the spot, Dennis said. (Click Here)

2006-09-25T15:56:00.000-07:00

Mondays Are For Boredom

Being A Parental Male: There was something that bothered me last night when I watched the season premeire of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. I even wound up calling my roommate about it during the show. For those of you that don't live here in the US (or the show isn't carried in your country), this is the show where a bunch of home designers build, with the help from local contractors and workers, a new house for a very deserving family. They've done hundreds of homes for many different reasons but this one had a catch that kind of caught my mind.

The family in question starts with a Mom and her 8 kids. Mix in her adoptive brother who had kidney failure and now get dialysis daily and his 3 kids. Take all of this and cram it all into a 900 square foot house. I'll wait for all of you to picture that in your head before I go on. Oh yeah... They live in the town of North Pole, Alaska and the house is full of holes. If that wasn't bad enough, the Mom says during the video that they submitted states that her husband decided to move in the previous year down to Idaho.

That was the only reference to the man for the entire episode so I don't know if he is paying child support or anything like that but I have to say that I have a problem with a father that leaves his extended family in that kind of situation. Even without the brother and his 3 kids, the house looked like it was beyond cramped. It was full of holes in the walls and windows that let all kinds of cold weather in during the winter months. That is no way to leave people that consider you as their father. Family is the most important thing and you don't walk out on your blood. That is just the way it is.

Songs Played While Writing This
1) Girls Talk - Dave Edmunds
2) Outshined - Soundgarden
3) Told You So - Barenaked Ladies
4) Getaway Car - Audioslave
5) Unchained Melody - U2
6) Sixteen Tons - Tennessee Ernie Ford

There Is No Crying In Football Pt. 1: Since I had nothing to do on Saturday night, I decided to watch the USC/Arizona State game on ABC. The actual game itself wasn't all that thrilling but the thing that caught my ears was something that the people calling the game kept saying. And when I say "kept saying", I do mean that I lost count of the number of times they threw out this topic. What could this possibly be? Instant replay.

After all the crap that they caught following the Oregon game where the replay booth operator was quoted as saying that he did not have any access to the ABC feeds to make his decision, you can kind of see how they might be a little defensive. That doesn't mean that they need to mention about how the replay person at the USC game had access to their feeds every single time something that could be looked at as reviewable happens. It got even worse later in the game when the color commentator guy felt the need to also mention that this was the same process that was in place in Oregon. In effect, this guy was calling the replay person from Oregon a liar multiple times to the entire country. That just starts to sound like they're getting pissy to me.

Reality In An Action Film World: I have always been one of those people that doesn't have a problem with shutting off my brain when I go into something like an action film or a silly comedy. There is always room for movies that are what I call "popcorn movies", where the film is there to entertain you and doesn't try to make it seem like they are trying to be overly artistic.

This leads me to the film that I watched on Friday night, 16 BLOCKS. At first, I was getting into the film and having an okay time but my level of enjoyment seemed to drop off as the story went along. The problem for me was the fact that film was just too full of lucky moments that allowed the heroes to escape. For every time that the leads came up with an idea to solve a problem, there were three lucky things that magically got them out of trouble. It got to the point that it just sucked me out of the whole movie.

There Is No Crying In Football Pt. 2: There are football players that complain when they get minor dings or hits. Then there are players like Chris Sims, quarterback of the Tampa Bay Bucaneers. Some time during the course of the game, Mr. Sims had his spleen rupture from a hit by the opposing team. No one is definately sure when it happened but, from reports by players who said that Sims seemed to be a little dizzy and having problems calling plays in the huddle in the first quater of the game, it is a good chance that he played a good portion of the game with a ruptured spleen. Think about how much that must have been hurting and then think if you would have been able to do anything constructive.

2006-09-22T10:34:00.000-07:00

Wondering What Leftists Put In The Water

I've sort of had a bemused interest in the whole Hugo Chavez UN speech thing going on this week. It seems like everyone is totally surprised that he would say something bad though I have to say that the level of his comments upped the bitchy factor just a little bit. Hearing Democrats that spend most of their time harassing Bush over what he is doing even came out to defend against the big meanie from Venezuela. Calling the President "the devil" was creative though the whole "smells like sulfar" bit was pushing it a little bit.

My mind is a little confused on where I see this thing going when it comes to popularity. On one hand you have a duly elected President that has no problem with saber rattling whenever he feels like it to make the people back home happy... and then you have Mr. Chavez. But I digress... While it might play well at home, there doesn't seem to be any real benefit to making a statement like that. His friends in places like Cuba and Iran might be laughing under their breath but being that pissy in official comment form can only tend to lead to more countries seeing the man as more of a goofball and less as an actual leader of a country.

Word choice can come back and bite you hard. Just ask the Pope about his little problem lately and I'm sure that he'll be happy to fill you in on when it might not be good to make a certain statement...

2006-08-23T10:19:00.000-07:00

Down The Middle Of The Grieving Process

Unlike many other large events in a person's life, a death can tend to bring up an odd kind of question. This doesn't have anything to do with inheritance or who was the deceased favorite relative. All of that is not a part of this question and, unless the decision is made beforehand, there could be a whole lot of arguements on the whole thing.

The question is... What kind of service to hold - funeral, memorial, or wake?

While two of these choices could seem like they are very similar, there are also subtle factors that bring out the differences. A funeral is the full blown church service with all of the accessories including the dearly departed in most respects. The finale of this kind of event tends to lead to going out to the graveyard for the standard rememberance as the coffin is lowered into the grave. It tends to work into a very regimental kind of way and it all tends to work the same way every time.

The memorial service is an odd kind of ceremony that actually sort of fits right in the middle of the others. You get all of the standard somber rememberances and the the like but you also get a couple swerves thrown in for good measure. A memorial service tends to play a little fast and loose with the musical choices which allows for freedom to be creative. I'll always remember watching parts of Jim Henson's service on the news because he had New Orleans style jazz band play "When The Saints Come Marching In" to close the whole thing. You just don't get something like that at your full funerals.

Another part of the memorial service that leans closer to a wake is the idea of the assembled friends and family being allowed to give voice to their feelings of the departed. Instead of just sitting for the whole ceremony and listening to the priest give the eulogy, there is a time set aside if any of the people in the pews want to say anything. This freedom of language gives everyone the ability to voice their thoughts and feelings and also helps to work as kind of an emotional release. Instead of holding in all of that emotion and interesting stories, they are shared with everyone in the room and give a fuller vision of the person that you are there to be remembering.

The third choice tends to be the favorite of alchoholics everywhere, namely the wake. The least formal of the three services, this one tends to go in all kinds of directions due to the probability of a large amount of alchohol being consumed. It's not a requirement of a wake for everyone to get blitzed but it just seems to work out that way most of the time. Along with the alchohol, the event is made up of a group of people spending the time telling stories about and listening to the favorite music of the departed person. It is also the most informal of the three affairs so it has a more relaxed sense of self. You don't have to be dressed up or quiet and respectful at a wake which can help to loosen people up in this time of emotional stress.

If I was asked my choice, I would go to the memorial service though a wake would be cool too. The only problem with the wake is that I wouldn't be there to enjoy the drink and talk. It kinds of puts a very morbid air on the whole endevor since it reads like your trying to come up with a party for a group of people that might not want to be there. As long as it's not stuffy and formal the whole time, it could be a very cathartic kind of experience for everyone concerned.

Everyone except the person that died... though that would tend to be a little obvious once you think about it...

2006-08-20T23:03:00.000-07:00

Take A Look At The World Through My Camera Phone

It's time again for cell phone camera theatre!

If You Couldn't Figure It Out Already - It's generic soda either for idiots or for the illiterate.

Someone Is Kind Of Missing The Whole Reason For The Fence - If you're going to go to all of the trouble to put up a "No Tresspassing" sign, I'd like to think that you would go that extra step and put some kind of obstruction to block the wide open part of the fence.

Direct Specific Marketing - The drive thru wouldn't be complete without a poster of a Spanish Whopper.

Sorry... We Have No Bananas... - It can really bite to have an inventory shortage during the middle of a heat wave.

When The Lay's Company Officially Ran Out Of Ideas - How long does it take someone to come up with the idea for this flavor of potato chip?

It's Attack Of The Killer Toilet Dragon - This would be very cute... if it wasn't found on the wall of a men's urinal...

You Know It's Bad When The Note Is That Long - This was found on the door of the hotel room across from mine the day before I left. It must have been something horrible to need all that writing.

One Of The Things That I've Always Wanted To Do Is Off The List - Welcome to Wrigley Field! : )

Proper Wording Can Be Your Friend - Am I the only person that sees the problem with this sign? I hope not...

They'll Find A Way To Coat Anything - Is this considered a snack food or do they expect you to cook with them?

God? Is That You? - This is either me arriving at O'Hare Airport in Chicago or on the people mover directly to Heaven.

Tending Bar On A First Named Basis - I really hope this Jenn person isn't stingy with the liquor.

You Should Just Not Walk On The Bridge - When there are two different warning signs of different colors and both have a little guy on them, you know that it's serious.

2006-08-16T15:18:00.000-07:00

Melting Pot Or Whirlpool?

It's been kind of odd to see all of the people suddenly up in arms about making English the national language of the United States. The voices were a trickle at first but they seemed to grow during the start of this year and now just don't seem to want to talk about anything else a lot of the time. It can get to the point where it seems like everyone is agreement on the topic.

While that is definately open to discussion, I think that this whole hulabaloo comes from a centralized source. Throughout the history of this country, it's mostly been a white-anglo-caucasian nation with many different ethnic groups making up a portion of the population. There might be a Spanish, Korean, or Indian language station on your local cable network but they tended to be stuck in the more marginalized area of the channel directory.

The last couple of censuses and just general polling of American citizens has started to show that this might not be the case anymore. The United States of America is becoming more of a melting pot than the founding father could have possibly imagined. There are people from all over the world living in the US who speak a multitude of native languages and are here in numbers big enough to actually gain recognition and status. Take a look at your ballot the next time you vote and see how many different languages it is translated into. The mass media has latched onto this and now there are many magazines, television channels, and other things geared directly to non English speaking people.

Which leads directly into the whole "Speak English" debate. There is quickly appearing groups that might have been a minority in the past but now they are growing closer to the majority. This country is rapidly becoming an actual melting pot with people from all over the world all calling the USA home. It is very possible that the next census will show the numbers of nationalities are even closer than we guessed it could be.

This country was created and built under the ideal that everyone was welcome. This is where the melting pot analogy came from. Unlike the other countries of the world, the US was a mixture of all of the people that came to live here (and also the native population) and make a new life. The danger with a lot of the "english only" arguements is that it risks spinning the contents of the pot into a whirlpool, spinning all of us to the sides and away from each other. The center of the pot drops lower and lower until the emptyness goes straight down to the bottom. An emptyness that could become a vacuum and pull us all into it. I don't tend to be a pessimist but that is something that could very detrimental to the country and everyone that lives here.

2006-08-07T22:09:00.000-07:00

Who Is Fighting In This War Anyway?

All of the different news stories coming out of the Middle East have been really kind of making me want to sit back and wonder about some of the people around me. For such an enlightened civilization that we are supposed to be, it amazes me that we keep finding new ways to screw up the same damn things. I keep hearing all of this talk about how this is a war between Lebanon and Israel which it isn't. They say that Lebanon doesn't want to fight Hezbollah because they side with them which is not true for a large portion of the country.

Lebanon is a country that was literally just starting to turn the corner away from all of the civil wars and bloodshed that nearly destroyed the country in the 80s and most of the 90s. You had Muslims fighting to recreate the country into an Islamic state which didn't really go with what the rest of the population wanted. After years of bloodshed and turmoil, it came down to the point that a cease fire was possible and it moved through all of the warring groups. Even with the end of open hostilities, there were still some mighty snags in the plan.

The biggest snag was the fact that a large portion of the really devout Muslims moved down to the southern part of Lebanon. This influx of new immigrants gave Hezbollah the might to turn it's attentions away from ruling Lebanon and to trying to destroy their perceived mortal enemies, Israel. So began the bombings and incursions and all of the other assorted attacks that pissed off the Jewish population to the south.

All of this leads into a hook that is pulling at the snag - Most people in the northern area of Lebanon don't like or follow Hezbollah at all. They see the group as a terrorist organization that uses violence to get it's way. The people in the sourthern regions have a different view of the situation. They have Hezbollah members around them 24/7 and they have noticed that it seems like this group does a lot better with helping out their survival than the official government is. Let it be stated that most of these niceties tend to wind up being linked into the whole human shield idea of diplomacy but the fact that this group is able to help them with basic aspects of survival tends to soften the blow considerably.

Lebanon is a country that is still in the rebuilding phase but many people in the rest of the world don't want to hear that. They don't see a country that is still rebuilding it's military after years of neglect and battle. All they see is what they want to see, namely a country that is allowing a terrorist group to operate on it's sovereign soil. The possible ramifications of a less than powerful Lebanese army trying to fight Hezbollah could lead the country right back into the civil war that it took so long to get out of.

I don't claim to know all of the answers but I do know that It's better to hear the whole story and not just the bits and pieces that fit into your view of the situation. I and many people that I know are very lucky to not have to survive in the hellish kind of world that a good portion of the Lebanese people are going through right now. I wish them all of the luck and strength to survive until a possible new dawn appears in their country.

2006-07-19T16:29:00.000-07:00

An Interesting Choice Of Words For The Situation

I was skimming through an article on CNN.com about Bush using his first veto on the stem-cell measure. Personally I think he has his head stuck up his born again ass on this topic but there was something that really caught my eye. About three quarters of the way down the article is a quote from Bush that made me pause for a moment...

"I'm disappointed that the House failed to authorize funding for this vital and ethical research," he said. "It makes no sense to say that you're in favor of finding cures for terrible diseases as quickly as possible and then block a bill that would authorize funding for promising and ethical stem-cell research."

The measure that he is complaining about not being passed is the one to try to find alternative stem-cell sources, including sources like placenta blood. Since it didn't hit the magic two-thirds majority, that one got left behind. The third measure, concerning the banning of what is called "fetal farming", passed 425-0 and was more or less a bill to make it look like they were standing up for the American family.

The quote above doesn't really fit in well when it comes right after he rejected a measure on a procedure that could save millions from all kinds of diseases. Even with the current questionable stock due to contamination of stem-cells that they are working with, the research is still pointing towards many possible discoveries. A veto of this measure is not an ethical thing to me.

It even goes into the photo-op that was played out around the signings and vetoing. They had invited parents of children that had received "adopted" frozen embryos that had been left unused at fertility clinics. This is all well and good but is there that big of a demand for these embryos? Is there such a backlog on these adoptions that the embryos can't be used for both? I'd go into the whole arguement of calling this "adoption" when there are still thousands of children in the foster care system that are treated like plutonium only because they happen to be older than what these families want. Kids are left to live their lives with no family relations because the adoptive parents must have a baby and not someone that they might have to learn and accept on their own terms.

When you have a good portion of the country being for a certain idea, it would stand to reason that the government would try to do what the people want. To destroy the chance at curing all manner of diseases, this veto is an even bigger red mark on the slate of this man's Presidential career. Not even the huge amount of doubletalk and backspeak can help to cover up this scarlet letter that will go right along with so many others.

2006-07-18T15:53:00.000-07:00

Trying To Answer A Question That Shouldn't Be Asked

Like a good portion of the rest of the world, I've been watching the events going on along the Lebanon/Israel border with a mixture of disbelief and horror. I was brought up in a household that excepted everyone for their differences as well as their similarities. If you stop to think for a moment, even people with a huge amount of similar facets of their lives will still have a difference or two between them. The lack of cloning humans means that none of us are that alike just yet.

When you stir in a large spoonful of religion into an already volatile mixture, then it just adds to the possibility of explosion. The two main sides of this battle are some of the most firmly religious groups on the planet today which doesn't help the possibility of compromise like most religious theologians would seem to think. There are two groups of people that believe that they are right and won't back down unless their God comes down and says so.

Another view comes from the odd factors that led to this battle. Technically, Israel is fighting the Hezbollah but all they seem to be doing is blowing the hell out of Lebanon. On the other side you have Lebanon, a country that after nearly 20 years of civil war in some for or another, is finally getting back to being it's own country again but doesn't have the military strength to remove the Hezbollah from their borders right now. Israel could be helping them with this extraction but no Arab country wants to be seen as helping Israel in any way and the battles seem to be centered more on civilian areas of Lebanon. It's like the Israelis think that, if they can't tell if someone is a terrorist or not, they'll just blow them all up until they get all of the actual ones.

The whole situation seems like a stilt house built on top of quicksand. You might be safe for awhile but that doesn't mean that you aren't being sucked down into it. I'd like to think that the current US government had some ideas to help calm the situation down but that thought just melts away when you hear about Newt Gingrich already calling the current battles "World War III" on the weekend chat shows after getting a Republican talking points memo to make that statement if asked about it.

My brain could just be too removed from that situation to clearly come up with an answer either way. I was brought up in the California suburbs which is an easier life than most of the people that are directly effected by the battles. That being said, I'd like to trust in the idea of human nature and that it will move into the good and not the bad. As I've been thinking, there is a quote that has been popping into my head on a regular basis. It comes from the conclusion of the film WAR GAMES when the computer Joshua states, "A strange game. The only winning move is not to play."

That sounds like a good call to me.

2006-05-23T21:45:00.000-07:00

Personal Perspective: What's On The Box Could Be What's Inside... Depending On The Direction You're Holding It

There are so many products introduced every day that some things can just slide out from under out noses. They come in a nice and shiny box that catches the eye of the consumer and makes them feel the need that they must have this thing instead of the others in the same rack or shelf. If the product hooks you at the right moment, it's like a psiren's call and you just can't look away without buying it.

This idea leads me to the sight that I had at a local Tower Records this afternoon. I stopped by on my way home from work to just take a quick peek if something had come out. While scanning the new release rack, I was surprised to see that the film TRANSAMERICA had already been released on DVD. It seemed like it was in the local art house theatres even into this month so I didn't think I'd be seeing it on the shelves already. The cover of the DVD box even caught my eye. It is a lenticular cover, where you pivot the case back and forth and the image changes. There was a little shock in my own mind that they would go to the trouble to spend that kind of money on a DVD case for this film.

Then I picked it up and saw what the images chosen were.

The main image was of her from the film. As a transexual (male to female), she has a female look with seeming male mannerisms in the way that she holds herself. Then I switched to the other image... which looks like a photo from her day job, namely the show Desperate Housewives.

It really startled me that they would do such a thing as a way to entice the buying public to purchase this DVD. While I haven't seen the film, I really think that the "regular" look is not one that is on display in the film. It's the first image that goes through the whole film and I'd think that that would be the image to have on front of the box.

Then there came a second realization. As I walked around the store, I noticed all of the "On Sale May 23" promo stuff and that bothered feeling came right back. Every one of the promo posters, end cards, folded displays and many other versions of the same advertising all had one thing in common - a promo for the TRANSAMERICA DVD with the "regular looking" photo as the cover. They were all that way.

Now I can sort of see that they might have thought they needed to find a way to entice the normal viewer that might not have heard of the film to want to purchase it but this just feels really underhanded to me. You have this film and it's lead actress that had the balls to bring this story to the movie screen and then you go and cheapen it with this way of trying to play it safe with the imagined Middle America.

2006-05-23T21:41:00.000-07:00

Senility Comes Compliments Of Your Local Television Affiliate

Pat Robertson's Age-Defying Shake

Did you know that Pat Robertson can leg-press 2000 pounds! How does he do it?

Where does Pat find the time and energy to host a daily, national TV show, head a world-wide ministry, develop visionary scholars, while traveling the globe as a statesman?

One of Pat's secrets to keeping his energy high and his vitality soaring is his age-defying protein shake. Pat developed a delicious, refreshing shake, filled with energy-producing nutrients.

Discover what kinds of natural ingredients make up Pat's protein shake by registering for your FREE booklet today! (Click Here)

Ummm... I'm not sure Pat has his numbers straight since leg-pressing that much weight would be a world's record for someone his age. You'd think that he'd want to use that talent to get into The Olympics or something but he's probably too busy propping up his own ego. Case in point...

Pat Robertson Predictions
Evangelist Says God Told Him Tsunami Might Hit U.S. This Year

(AP) In another in a series of notable pronouncements, religious broadcaster Pat Robertson says God told him storms and possibly a tsunami will hit America's coastline this year.

Robertson has made the predictions at least four times in the past two weeks on his news-and-talk television show "The 700 Club" on the Christian Broadcasting Network, which he founded.

Robertson said the revelations about this year's weather came to him during his annual personal prayer retreat in January.

"If I heard the Lord right about 2006, the coasts of America will be lashed by storms," Robertson said May 8. On Wednesday, he added, "There well may be something as bad as a tsunami in the Pacific Northwest."

Robertson has come under intense criticism in recent months for suggesting that American agents should assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine retribution for Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip. (Click Here)

Criswell predicts!

2006-05-16T11:17:00.000-07:00

iTunes Owns My Soul... When It's Not Doing Things To Irritate Me

Things That I Love About iTunes

Make Your Own KTel Record: As a young child of the very late 70s and early 80s, I remember back to the years of the KTel Records corporation and the odd mix albums that they would make. It seemed like every month would be a new album of songs combined together like some Rorscharch pinata. You'd be guarenteed of a couple hits being thrown together with some wannabes and several neverbes. With the amount of songs from that time period available for purchase, you can now make your own version of the great mix albums of the past.

Helping To Actually Save Me Money: The Red Hot Chili Peppers released their latest album a couple weeks ago. I heard the first single and really liked it so I had good thoughts about the whole thing. The release of the 2CD set made me kind of rethink buying the whole thing. While most of the RHCP's albums are pretty solid, the possibilities of a double length one just made me twitchy. On the morning that the album was released, I did a quick run through all of the songs and only bought 4 out of all of the available songs. I might be proven wrong by later single releases but I am very happy to be able to buy parts of CDs and not the whole thing.

Things That I Hate About iTunes

Making Previews By Brail: It always amazes me to hear some of the preview clips of the songs for purchase. A logical person would think that you'd want to go with a good part of a song, like the chorus or maybe a really nice part from the opening. Spend some time looking for songs and you'll start to run into some of the most random choices of previews you'll ever hear. I really don't think a clip that is most of the guitar solo of a song is a really good way to chose if you want to buy a song or a whole album.

Parts Is Parts: While most of the songs available for purchase are ready to go, there seems to be an odd need to put up partial versions of some albums. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of rhyme or reason for this shortening practice. You'll get an album missing a track or three and then find a greatest hits collection by the artist that has those songs. If you can go through the work to put the songs from the collection up for purchase, what is so hard about doing the same with the original album?

2006-05-11T22:35:00.000-07:00

News Of the Week

* done a little early due to time constraints *

German 'Robin Hoods' give poor a taste of the high life

A gang of anarchist Robin Hood-style thieves, who dress as superheroes and steal expensive food from exclusive restaurants and delicatessens to give to the poor, are being hunted by police in the German city of Hamburg.

This begs the question of what kind of powers a German superhero would have. And, from what the story says, these people just give the stuff to the poor. Now they might get lucky and find someone who knows how to build a fire to cook something like the kobe beef that some guy dressed up in tights and a mask handed him, but I'd be kind of worried that there are some homeless people in Germany that are eating all of their food raw. Then again maybe it's all about beef tartar...

LA man denied Mother's Day giveaway sues Angels baseball team

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) - A Los Angeles man who was denied a red nylon tote bag during a Mother's Day promotion at an Angels baseball game has filed a sex and age discrimination lawsuit against the team.

As someone who has been to a couple baseball games on promotion days, I can definately say that there is a good chance that you can find anything given out if you look under enough seats. It happens more on the kid related promos but you'll still get at least one or two people that set whatever cheap trinket they were handed down on the ground and then proceded to forget all about it. This guy just needs to learn some foraging techniques...

Report: Whirlwind lifts girl 25 feet

TRENTON, North Dakota (AP) -- Swirling wind swept a trampoline into the air and over a fence as a 4-year-old girl was jumping on it, knocking her unconscious and breaking her arm and pelvis, witnesses told police.

I want to see David Blaine pull off something like this girl did. All he did was paddle around in a giant version of a snow globe. This girl trampolined into mid air... and I tease because she survived. I'm not that insensitive.

At strip clubs, hip-hop is big business

NEW YORK (Billboard) - It's no longer just the hardworking women who make money at strip clubs. These late-night hangouts, with their booming sound systems and gender-mixed crowds, have become big business for the record industry, particularly for hip-hop labels.

"Strip clubs have become the main breaking place for records, especially in the South," says Jermaine Dupri, president of urban music for Virgin Records.

"There is no sex in the Champagne Room," as Chris Rock tends to say. I guess this helps the excuses when people get found out for going to a strip club. They can just say they went there to hear that new song everyone was talking about. There just happened to a naked woman dancing around and flaunting her naughty bits in your general direction but that is not why you went there.

2006-05-10T14:20:00.002-07:00

What Is In A Name? Apparently Too Much Creativity

There has been some developments in an aspect of new product development that is starting to get a little out of hand. I am speaking of the names that companies are choosing for their stuff. Maybe we've used up all of your standard names but it's turning into an epidemic of oddly named things being advertised for mass consumption.

The first time I really noticed this was when it was announced that Nintendo had chosen a name for it's upcoming third generation console. Throughout the whole development period and into the initial promotion, the system was going by it's inhouse code name of "Revolution". Now I thought that this was actually a pretty smart and snappy title for a console that looks to have the amount of new technology and new ideas that all of the specs and photos seem to show. This wasn't good enough for Nintendo so they decided to announce the official name for it.

Wii.

No... Really. That is the name. It's pronounced like the word we though I'm always feeling the urge to say "Weeeeeeeeeeee!" whenever I have to say the name. The explanation given is that they wanted to have a name that is all inclusive and inviting for gamers of every age. That is all well and good but I have to call at least a yellow card on the name just being odd. Creativity does not negate a name that sounds and looks like that.

Fastforward to this morning and me in my car as I drive to work. A radio commercial for 7-11 comes on advertising their new food product and it just didn't sound right. I kept hearing the word pizza but the announcer seemed to be not saying it right. The description of the sandwich product, 'slices of pizza flatbread with cheese and pepperoni substitute for bread slices, and are filled with deli meats, cheeses and spreads', didn't sound like any kind of pizza to me. After the morning rush, I took a quick run by the 7-11 site to see what this thing is called. My answer?

P’EatZZa.

Maybe their computer keyboard got stuck while they were trying to come up with a name or something because that name just seems a little too creative to me. I'll give you the creative use of 'Eat' in the middle but the double capital Zs just knock it right back again.

2006-05-09T22:35:00.000-07:00

It's All About Perspective

I'm kind of torn on the whole should we or shouldn't we celebrate when Barry Bonds passes Babe Ruth on the home run totals ladder. You think about all of the stories and innuendo that is swirling around this one person right now and it must be an insane way to live a life. Throw in all of the media there to cover the whole thing and it's a zoo of microphones and portable spotlights.

When I first heard the news stories about how Major League Baseball wasn't going to do the "special marked ball" thing that they do around records like this and that the Commisioner made a statement saying that he would not be at the games to congratulate Bonds, I kind of felt like this was just a way for MLB to continue a hands off approach when it comes to the topic of this man. It probably would be a little suspect to have a little moment of handshakes and photo-ops only to have an inditment for perjury come down the next day. The ownership side of baseball is giving this story a wide bearth to avoid getting any of it's assorted messes on their own nice suits.

After a little bit of thought, my feelings changed to something a little more understanding of what the MLB is thinking. When he passes Babe Ruth, that will place Barry Bonds at #2 in all time home run totals. There doesn't tend to be a very big hullabaloo when it comes to someone moving up to second place. I've heard the arguements about how much of a name "Babe Ruth" is to people and how that name and persona is kind of synominous in people's minds with baseball. History and name recognition of the combatants aside, all that is happening is two rungs on the ladder of home run immortality are being switched. Bonds hasn't reached the top rung and it's starting to look like he won't make it to the top, but there will still be Hank Aaron at the top and looking down at everyone in baseball below him. Barry Bonds included.

This is one of those odd discussions that can go either way. If you look from one end of the telescope, the view is similar but different than when you checked out the same thing from the other end. On the one hand you have this player reaching a large milestone in his playing career. On the other you have a player that has possibly knowingly cheated (though the exact definition of that cheating is an arguement for another time) and lied about it to everyone including a grand jury. It seems like Major League Baseball as a whole is just going to take a big pass on any kind of celebration because they still don't know which end of the telescope they're looking through.

2006-05-09T11:34:00.000-07:00

Sony Works With The Gas Companies

For those of you that don't tend to follow the video gaming industry, the next couple of days are the E3 Convention. This is the major gaming extravaganza on the North American continent and, next to the Tokyo Gaming Show, quite possibly the biggest kind of event in the industry. This is where the big debuts are made, be it a console, game, or peripheral. It's all about making a statement here to start the promo wheels rolling.

This promotional avalanche tends to start the day before the actual beginning of the convention with Sony's big event. They invite all of the gaming press, members of the companies that develop games for their system, and random contest winners that they can force into the building and make a PlayStation orgy out of the whole thing. It's like a cross between a rock concert and a product event.

Sony held their 2006 event last night and something caught my eye. And no, it's not the fact that they aren't going to go with the boomerang shaped wireless controller. My attention went to the prices of their new hardware, the PlayStation 3.

The generic version with the 20GB hard drive? $499.
The advanced version with the 60GB hard drive? $599.

It could just be me but this sounds to me like a pricing point made by people who run the gas companies. The gas prices always tend to end in 9s so they can say that they are pricing their product less than the competition. Those projected prices read to me like the people at Sony don't want to admit that they could be charging $500 for the basic model.

Depending on the competitions pricing, there is a good chance that you could buy a marked down XBox360 (There are rumours of this happening around the PS3 release date) and Nintendo's new console, the Wii (pronounced wee), for what you'd be paying just for one PS3. Is Sony on the verge of pricing themselves out of their own market kingdom?

2006-04-21T10:12:00.000-07:00

News Of The Week

Woman Accused of Acid Attack at Wedding
SCHENECTADY, N.Y. - An Albany woman was accused of crashing a Sudanese wedding party early Sunday and splashing people with a glass bottle full of acid, injuring six people, authorities said.

It has to be a serious snafu to do something like this at a wedding. You don't sneak in and throw acid around if you've been left off of the invite list.

Blind skier sets downhill record
The former soldier was aiming at speeds of more than 130mph
A former soldier who lost his sight when he was attacked in the street has set a new downhill speed skiing record by a blind person of 100.94mph.

Kevin Alderton, 34, from Dartford, Kent, set the record at Les Arcs in France. He was guided on the slope via radio speakers in his helmet.

I give him all kinds of props for doing this but can you imagine being the guy giving him the directions? That must been a really stressful practice session. "Whoops. Ummmm... I guess I missed that tree on the map. My bad but you don't look too hurt."

Limping Lynn leads in China
Britain's David Lynn has taken a one-shot lead at the China Open after two days of play, despite a painful groin problem.

The Englishman was clearly troubled in Beijing after having a boil removed from his groin, but still streaked ahead at the Honghua International Golf Club.

I've heard of sports injuries but this is definately a little different than a regular old groin sprain. And I bet that none of his competitors want to hear anything about this out on the course.

Idol's Bucky: Simon Says... Nothing Helpful
Idol's newest castoff actually had a lot to say about what the show's famously nasty judge is and isn't doing. Speaking to the haughty if not helpful critiques coming from Cowell this season, Bucky shares, "A lot of people are starting to say, 'Simon just likes to make money, so he says whatever he says to make a good show,' which he does" — but at the cost of actually proffering anything useful to the wannabes. "It seems like he used to give advice, but now he doesn't so much give advice as try to put you down and make the show [about] 'I can't believe you said that!' Like, he told Paris [her performance was] 'weird.' What is that supposed to mean?

Hello Captain Obvious... It took this guy 5 seasons to figure that out?! I've only watched about 10 minutes total of this show and I knew that right from the start. Being snippy and snarky is all Cowell seems to have any actual knowledge and talent to do.

Guards Make Unusual Smuggling Find
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) - April 20, 2006 - A Salvadoran woman is in some trouble after she tried to smuggle into the country's main prison a military grenade and marijuana hidden in her private parts.

Not to bring any aspersions on this woman but if you can fit that much stuff up in... ummm... there, it might be a good idea to try to live a more normal life. Maybe she needs some time as a nun...

2006-04-17T10:24:00.000-07:00

A Question About Language

Since I was bored last night while I wandered around online, I went to check out the personals at Craigslist. It was just something to keep my brain active a little longer before bed. Then I noticed on three different postings a word that I had never heard used before. My brain took a minute or two to wrap around the use of the word but I'm still kind of a little off.

The word in question?

Fluffy.

Now this has nothing to do with the whole furry thing though I can't definately guarentee it. The way that it was used in the personal ads was as sort of a space between normal weight and being a BBW. There weren't any photos with the ads so I can't say what the people looked like but that was the feeling that I got from it.

There seems to be so many words that people will use to describe themselves in an attempt to interest others and without making themselves sound fat. You've got the "plump", "zaftig", and many more. I've even heard a woman describe her body as being "rounded". Personally, I wouldn't think that using a word like "rounded" to describe a person's body shape or weight would be a good idea but maybe there is just something that I'm missing.

This is probably the female equivalent of husky...

2006-03-27T13:34:00.000-08:00

I Just Witnessed A Motor Vehicle Accident... Sort Of... In A Manner Of Speaking...

I was walking through the parking lot of a local strip mall type area intent on picking up some Quiznos for lunch when I watched an older looking, slightly dinged up car drive past me. As it made it's way towards the exit, a parked truck started to back up and neither vehicle seemed inclined to stop. The truck finally stopped after slightly binging the car, even though the women driving the car had been honking her horn repeatedly to get the pick-up truck driver's attention.

Now is where the fun begins...

The driver of the car didn't get out at all. All she did was back up a little and then drive around the back end of the truck. The truck's driver looked slightly confused and I think that I was doing the same. The car pulled out of the parking lot and then proceeded to drive away like nothing had happened.

It took me a couple seconds to realize why she had driven off and the exact second happened when I saw the car head onto the street. The truck had, in fact, hit the car right in a the front right corner of the car which was also a place that was already dented in and damaged. The woman driving the car probably just decided to give him a pass since he had hit a part that already looked like it was just a little tenderized.

2006-02-28T11:36:00.000-08:00

Romanian club exchanges defender for large lump of meat

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romanian second division soccer club UT Arad sold a player in exchange for 15 kilograms of meat, local sport daily Pro Sport reported on Monday.

However, fourth division Regal Horia made a bad deal because defender Marius Cioara decided to end his footballing career and take off to Spain to find a job in agriculture or construction.

"We are upset because we lost twice - firstly because we lost a good player and secondly because we lost our team's food for a whole week," a Regal Horia official was quoted as saying by the daily in its electronic edition. (Click Here)

2006-02-21T16:48:00.000-08:00

When A Phone Is A Camera

An idea popped into my head last week and I decided to get a couple different ringtones for my cell phone to use as a ringer for different people. There would be one for family, one for friends, and maybe a couple more sprinkled in the middle just for variety. I even went to Cingular's site to see what is available.

Then I had a slightly bewildering revelation - No one calls me on my cell phone.

Now, to be totally correct, there are people that do make a call to my mobile. My Mom calls it when she can't get me on my home or desk phone. And a friend or two might use the number once in awhile. But that's about it.

It was kind of depressing to think about how little use the phone side of this apparatus is getting. You'd like to think that a person would be at least popular enough to maybe get one cell phone call a day. There are full weeks that I go without it ringing at all.

Let it also be known that I spend my work day at a desk with a phone and a direct extension to it. Most everyone that would want to call me knows when I'm here or at home so they have those two means of communication. It would be kind of silly to call on the cell when I have a more sedantary phone within easy reaching distance.

I'm not sure if this is a lament about having a cellphone that spends more time as a camera than a phone (and the money involved in paying that kind of bill) or that the rest of the world in my personal orbit isn't interested enough in what is in the center of that orbit to call more often. Maybe it all comes down to wanting to feel like someone needs to talk to you so much that they will call you when you are away from the normal phones.

It looks like I'll just be sticking with my "Imperial March" ringtone for now...

2006-02-11T16:32:00.000-08:00

Misunderstood Masterpieces - ROCK & RULE

For a couple years when cable television first arrived at my parents' house, they decided to subscribe to Showtime. I guess it was to have the chance to view the programming that they had on the channel but I never knew for sure because I don't remember either of my parents actually watching that channel. It would appear that this choice was made to appease the younger members of the household.

Back in those days (aka the early to mid 80s), the subscription movie channels only ran anything rated higher than a PG after 8pm. You would never find a BAD BOYS on at 11:30am back then. This tended to feed the need for a lot of programming to fill up the daytime hours. Along with the cheesy 70s kid films both animated and live action, there were a couple random pieces of diamond to appear amid all of the coal.

ROCK & RULE is an animated film that didn't have quite the easiest of releases but that's what happens when you bring the completed film in a year late and nearly every motion picture company board member that okayed your little film had already been fired. After a couple showings in the Boston area, the film was out of circulation before the end of 1983. It was probably a nobrainer for the cable channels to snap this one up.

The story of an evil rock musician named Mok and his attempt to bring forth an evil demon sounded a little farfetched even for the child version of me. This film has two things seriously going for it - the general creativity and the music.

I'll talk about the music first. You can't have the ROCK in the title without the rock music and they went a very interesting way with this film. It was decided to find current rock stars to perform as the characters in the film. It's sort of like the state of my Disney films where you have one person doing the dialogue and another doing the singing. For the singing part of the film, you have Robin Zander of Cheap Trick as the male lead and Debbie Harry as the female lead. Mok's voice vocals are supplied by Lou Reed and, in an interesting bit of casting, Iggy Pop gets to be the voice of the demon. Throw in an uptempo Earth, Wind, & Fire song and you have all of the musical bases covered.

When I saw this film for the first time, I knew who Debbie Harry and EW&F were, but that was about it. This was my first time hearing Cheap Trick and Lou Reed. The Cheap Trick performances seriously won me over. If I had to point to where my interest in them first started, it would be here. All of the music is great and it really brings the film to life in many ways.

Which leads me to the whole creativity aspect of this story. This film worked in so many of the rock cliches and put them to very good use. Mok, from what some of the people that worked on the film have said, is based mainly on the look of Mick Jagger but they threw in some Bowie and Pop to round out the character. He seems like the prototypical over the top rock singer that thinks he can do as he pleases. All of the characters tend to resemble their voices even down to the members of the hero's band that look vaguely like the other members of Cheap Trick. The script might be a little weak in places but it never slows down and keeps right on moving to the end.

There are many people that have probably never heard of ROCK & RULE and I think that that is a bad thing. While this film isn't going to solve world peace, it is definately an exciting animated musical with just enough humor to make it through. Watching this film again was sort of like going back to those days of watching various cable channels to pass the summer afternoons at home. Now if they can only release ANIMALYMPICS...

2006-01-31T10:55:00.000-08:00

After Doing A Wander Through The Oscar Nominations...

The "Teacher of the Career Reimaging Class of '06" Award Goes To: Michelle Williams, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (Best Supporting Actress)

The "We'll Make Up For Not Nominating You Last Year By Giving You The Win Now" Award Goes To: Paul Giamatti, CINDERELLA MAN (Best Supporting Actor)

The "Major Nominee Consolation Prize" Award Goes To: George Clooney and Grant Heslov, GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK (Best Original Screenplay)

The "Song Title You Never Thought You'd Hear In Conjunction With The Oscars" Award Goes To: "Hard Out Here for a Pimp", HUSTLE AND FLOW (Best Original Song)

The "Michael Moore aka Can't Wait For The Acceptance Speech If They Win" Award Goes To: PARADISE NOW (Best Foreign Film - Palestine) or ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM (Best Documentary)

The "Does He Really Need To Be Nominated Twice... In The Same Category?!" Award Goes To: John Williams, MUNICH and MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA (Best Original Score)

The "Major Nominee Consolation Prize Pt. 2 aka 'It Depends On Who We Decide To Throw The Bone To" Award Goes To: Paul Haggis and Robert Moresco, CRASH (Best Original Screenplay)

The "Nominee For A Film That Many People Didn't Even Know Existed" Award Goes To: Amy Adams, JUNEBUG (Best Supporting Actress)

The "Slightly Creepy Nominee List For What Most Consider A Children's Genre" Award Goes To: WALLACE & GROMETT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT, THE CORPSE BRIDE, HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE (Best Animated Feature)

2006-01-19T14:23:00.000-08:00

It's All A Soap Opera In Spandex

I've had people ask me many times about why I still read comic books. Many of them are under the impression that this is a hobby meant for the young and people just naturally grow out of it. They seem to see it like chewing your fingernails or having an imaginary friend. Once you reach whatever the golden age of adulthood that they have in their minds, then you stop being interested in those childish thing.

The trick is that I tend to see what they're saying as being totally wrong.

Back when I first started reading comics regularly which I believe was somewhere around my tenth year of existence, it was all about the cool superheroes and the adventures. The suburbs were my childhood battleground and it tended to be just as calm as it sounds. The stories in those comics showed me the big world that was out there. It didn't matter that none of the characters were actually in the flesh. All that mattered was that the were alive in my mind.

Fastforward to a grown-up me and my interest has kind of shifted. From just being interested in the color and the sparkle, I've now moved into a more story driven frame of mind. The series that I read are ones with more realistic plots and believable characters. These comics are like all of those shows crowding the television dial. Comics are my Lost, 24, Desperate Housewives, and any other show you can think of. I just have to wait around a month between the story installments.

I sold off a large portion of my collection a couple years ago. There were a couple reasons, including needing the money and space. Maybe it was a little moving on from the stories that I read in the past into a more adult future or whatever you can think of. Either way, I'm still heading over to the local shop every Wednesday to get the next installment of the four-color soap opera.

2006-01-18T14:13:00.000-08:00

Damn Ninja... You Fast!

There are those characters that, as children, we think are the coolest thing. They just have the ability to make anyone under the age of 13 permanently have their jaw take up permanent residence on the ground. Nearly all of them tend to carry over into adulthood without losing that mystique except for one. It might just be me but there is one that just goes all to hell the moment you think as a grown-up. I am talking about the ninja.

One of the main problems with the whole ninja idea is that being one is a very prop heavy kind of act. You need to carry around all of these extremely sharp and deadly objects in an outfit that appears to have very little in the way of pockets. I have a hard enough time trying to tie an apron behind my back so I can't imagine what it would be like to have a sword back there. If you aren't careful, you could wind up taking out a shoulder blade just trying to put it away.

To go along with that is the worry that would come from trying to transport all of your ninja wear to wherever you need to go. The reports of airline baggage screeners missing some small weapons is one thing. I really don't see them not seeing those swords and katanas and shurikens and whatever else is in your carry-on. They could be a little more lenient when it comes to a checked bag but I still think you would be getting a red card for that flight no matter what.

Ninjas must have the most interesting bills too. Can you use the money paid to replace weapons not retrieved from your victims as a write-off on your taxes? Do you have to factor that in to the upfront money you get for your services? What kind of health insurance can a ninja get since they'd wind up being self employed? They must spend have of their days just trying to keep the paperwork in order.

It is kind of sad to see how impractical the life of a ninja would be. There is a whole lot of prep work for a job that might only take a quarter of the time. Maybe the ninjas find ways to make a little money on the side to balance out the rest of the cost. Since they are the fighting version of a prop comic, it would be good to have something to fall back on.