Good Question

Youtube and CNN had the brilliant idea of allowing the voting public to ask the questions at the next Democratic presidential debate. Of course, the questions will be vetted by CNN so I imagine the questions will sound alot like all the other questions asked at all the other debates. Lots of gay marriage, abortion, war, and the evils of George Bush. And a lot of empty answers from spineless Democrats afraid to stand up to the Republican minority. But the thought was nice.

There was one video submission that really struck home with me. It of course focused on the media fixation de jour but the central conceit was right on. It dealt with the out of whack funding priorities in this country. How much money is going into destroying and then rebuilding another country and how little is going into the scientific research that could save lives here in this country for decades to come. Time to put some of that juice into other cups.

By the way, the central plot line of Flight Plan is so ridiculously implausible it ruins the entire movie. No one sees the little girl? No one? And the bad guys entire, elaborate plan rides on this implausibility. How could they possibly even imagine this to be a viable idea for a crime or a movie?

Teach Them Early that Life is Hard

Add both the book and the movie version of Bridge to Terabithia to the list of "childhood entertainment" options that seek to teach kids about the fragility of life. Never to early to know that Mommy and Daddy are going to die.

More Complaining

Old business - Please make Who's Now go away. Everytime I turn on Sports Center, there it is. I just want to see highlights. I don't want to see this pointless drivel. Is it really that slow of a news period that they have to fill the airwaves with this brain killing nonsense? One top of it all, there is the distinct feeling that the fix is in. According to the "rules" of this pseudo-competition, 30% of the vote belongs to ESPN. Meaning that unless there is a landslide in the popular vote (another aspect that you can't have much faith in being handled with integrity), the final "winner" is determined by the talking heads. And we already know who their favorite players are. We hear about them nonstop as it is. Not surprisingly, all the athletes that ESPN installed as higher seeds have "won". The only thing more startlingly surprising than some TV professional green lighting this channel changing nuisance is that there are numerous chat room yakkers who actually debate the outcome of Who's Now bracket. Can there really be people whose lives are that empty?

The Real Winner of Who's Now

Autobots, Roll Out

Just a quick note on an enjoyable time. As a person who spent most of his formative years in the 80's, the Transformers Movie is a big deal to me. Thankfully, I was not disappointed (too much). Sure there were many fanboy details that were wrong (Bumblebee will always be a VW Bug to me) but the numerous action-filled sequences (something dearly missed from Pirates 3, Spiderman 3, and Superman vs. a Rock) kept it in the realm of an entertaining popcorn flick. And despite never being an Optimus guy (my favorite was Trailblazer), I got a little goose bumply when that Semi rolled up. Good to hear the old Optimus voice too. My only complaint was an extended comic relief section in the middle of the movie featuring a mom coming up with euphemisms for masturbation and John Turturro in his underwear. The actors appeared to be allowed to ramble and ad lib at will with absolutely no editing for quality to follow. It was incongruitus with the rest of the movie and grinds the picture to a halt. Other than that, can't wait for Transformers 2 (and the GI Joe Movie).

A Day Late - Sunset Strip

The modern news cycle moves way to fast for me to ever keep up. So the best I can do is write my thoughts on a subject a week after the rest of the world has already posted and debated every possible opinion and position on said subject. By the time I get around to it, my words look both unoriginal and redundant. But if I let that stop me, these pages would remain blank. Not that anyone would notice if that happened. That absence of an audience does provide the benefit of not having to worry about timeliness. Since, I am the only one being entertained by this blog, I will continue in the grand tradition of kicking a dead horse and over-indulging my own egomania.

Today's thought is a week and a half old. Last Thursday was the concluding episode of the massively disappointing failed TV series Studio 60 from the Sunset Strip. As most left-leaning individuals, I loved the West Wing (At least the first 4 Aaron Sorkin years before John Wells made it soapier than General Hospital). That is why I bought into the hype surrounding Sorkin's new show, Studio 60, and was anxiously awaiting its arrival at the start of the TV season. Unfortunately, it was a complete nonstarter from the very beginning. It treated the backstage mechanizations of a TV show as if they represented life or death consequences and that opinions of pampered Hollywood types about national policy mattered to anyone. The pomposity of it all was over the top. It was as if Sorkin sought to continue the West Wing but in Hollywood. If he just would have stuck to juicy insider details about making a show and a light hearted tone, it might have worked. But no, we have supposed comedy actors more concerned about war in Iraq than making anyone laugh.

The inappropriateness of the tone certainly ruined the show but the most annoying part for me was the so-called Christian true-believer. This token representative of the faith was supposed to provide the balanced view that the West Wing was missing. But instead, this character played out as way for Sorkin to show that his beliefs were superior to anything the religious right has to say. We are told she that she is a true and faithful servant despite her residence in the Sodom and Gomorrah of Hollywood. What we are shown is a woman who constantly questions her faith while those around her steadfastly defend their own. We see a woman who is more than willing to subserviate her own religion to be with an atheist man who has no intention of doing the same for her. What a bastion of modern Christianity.

Goodbye and good riddance (Even though I watched every awful episode).

Who's Now

Pardon the Interruption is my favorite sports-related show. It is immensely entertaining with two likable hosts (I also enjoy Tony Kornheiser's radio show although it just went on hiatus while he is doing his tour of duty with Monday Night Football - Even though he is a contrarian, I am also a fan of PTI fill-in Dan Le Batard). But PTI has also wrought an unspeakable evil on us. Although PTI was an original at the time it premiered, it has spawned a number of truly awful, unwatchable knock-offs featuring annoying sports writer talking heads spewing meaningless opinions about sporting minutia and pop culture. Now comes what looks like the absolute worst of the lot, this one featuring one of our beloved PTI guy's. I am talking about the worthless piffle that is new Sports Center feature Who's Now.

I am, of course, not the first person to complain about the awfulness of the idea of Who's Now, never mind the execution. But this is the lamest excuse yet to have fill 10 minutes of air time. It doesn't provide information that we don't know. It isn't entertaining or interesting. We are simply treated to three or four ESPN empty suits telling us which sports celebrities they like best. That is it. They talk about some nebulous criteria like endorsement dollars and on field success but that is a smoke screen. But really, the only thing that we get out of this exercise is the knowledge that Keyshawn Johnson prefers Dwayne Wade over The Flying Tomato. And the nation takes a collective sigh of relief. Structuring this sham popularity contest of overexposed athletes as a tournament or adding the Web 2.0 feature of internet voting doesn't make it any better. I won't be seeking out the voting aspect but if I stumble across it on ESPN.com, I plan to vote for the lowest seed. The best result I could envision for this mess is a finals matching Amanda Beard vs. Kelly Slater. That should make for some riveting TV. Boo-yah.

This is a kid's movie?

You want to mess your kid up for life? Just wait until they are old enough that they are beginning to understand the concepts of aging, death, and dieing. Then play for them this set of movies back-to-back-to-back etc.

The Lion King
Bambi
Puff the Magic Dragon
Pete's Dragon
Charlotte's Web
Old Yeller

And for good measure, tuck them in with a reading of "The Giving Tree". That should leave emotional scars that will last a lifetime.