Modern Marvels

I'm always impressed how they get so much toothpaste into that last inch. One of science's great achievements!

At first I was feeling charitable and decided to give this guy a pass for showing such bad form and showing up in Beijing wearing the official "your country is foul and toxic" symbol on his face. We all know how we Americans love our fear!

But then this one comes along and it's time to blog.





This lady from the American team that is not going to win the gold medal and get freaky in the sand, plays beach volleyball. Because its beach volleyball, the ball and everything else gets sandy, there are attendants around the court bearing towels for the players to wipe off when necessary. This particular young lady has no manners and never once acknowledged the people who gave her the towels. There is a saying that you don't really know what someone is really about until you see how they treat the help. I'm glad she lost.

Oh and since we're talking about sports, If you bother to go to Dodger Stadium for a game and have the best seat, right behind home plate, WATCH THE GAME!!! The beauty of high def is you see everything and if you chat with your pal or catch up on your phone calls while the Dodgers are batting, then DON'T SIT IN THE FRONT ROW!!!! I'm talking to you Vince Vaughn! You just insure that we hardcore fans will never go to your movies and watch you age as fast as David Bowie in The Hunger.

I'm Back!

So I was having some issues with my advertisers that never got resolved so I say, onward.

Is this guy for real? After a lifetime of sitting at the table and eating way more than his share, Mr. T. Boone Pickens has decided that we all need to go on a diet. While I have no problem with the argument that American needs to overcome it's oil lust, is this guy in any position to judge. Solar and wind power must replace oil, but I just don't like the messenger. His basic argument is that our dependence on oil is sending all of our money out of the country. He has no problem with oil lust when it lines his own pocket but giving it to a foreigner is more than he can take. Sounds a bit racist to me. And does he mention global warming and his role in it? That part must have ended up on the cutting room floor of his ubiquitous commercials.

And don't even get me started on his funding of Swift boat liars who torpedoed John Kerry.

It's good to be back.

The Visitor

Summer is the time for bad movies, blockbusters, big explosions, chase scenes, and comic/cartoon characters, when the out of school kids need something to occupy them. But that does not have to be the only choice. I think that if you only see one movie this year, so far, it should be The Visitor.

The Visitor tells the story of a middle aged professor, sleepwalking through his days, whose life becomes intertwined with a young couple trying to build a life together in New York, but living there illegally. Without giving away too much of the plot, The Visitor pulls back the curtain a little to show us the effects of America's immigration policies in the post 9/11 world where secret prisons and shadowy due process have become woven into the fabric of our way of life.

But this does not not do justice to the film, which infuses music with humor and melancholy in ways that all great films should do. It's nice to know that there are filmmakers out there taking on the big issues of the day and talking to us about them like we are adults. Writer/Director Tom McCarthy has done so with great subtlety and nuance that you probably will not get in Ironman and The Incredible Hulk, and actor Richard Jenkins' name will be heard a lot come Oscar time if there is any justice in the world(which there isn't, but I like the expression anyway).