Blockbuster Roundup

I have taken a pass on most of the big summer movies thus far. Stuff like The Longest Yard, Mr & Mrs. Smith, and Madagascar looked awful so other than Revenge of the Sith I've been blockbuster free. Not so any more.

Batman Begins - Wow! Probably the best superhero movie ever. Or at least in a tie with Superman II. Gets everything right. Its grounded in reality and Christian Bale's Batman is mean, tough and scary. Every role is perfectly cast and most importantly this movie is actually about Batman. Its not about the villain, unlike the previous Bat-flicks. Bring on Batman Continues or whatever they are gonna call it.

Land of the Dead - I'm biased as I love me some zombie movies, so Romero would have had to really screwed things up for me to not be happy. I was more than impressed. Its a total b-movie horror flick but a smart one. Everything in the plot works the characters are fun and most importantly the zombies kick ass. One thing I learned about the film after seeing is that there were a ton of CGI effects in the movie. Not once during the movie did I think "nice cgi" or whatever I thought it was all traditional effects. That's the way CGI should be you shouldn't be thinking about it being CGI you should just be enjoying the action on the screen even if it priest zombie with a near decapitated head biting a chuck of a dudes arm.

War of the Worlds - What a freaking intense film. The first 75% percent of the film is awesome. Out of this world amazing. But then Spielberg seems to loose the plot near the end. A truly excellent film even with its large flaws. Deserves to be seen on the big screen in a quality theater. And freaky Tom Cruise is actually quite good in it. Could have been a classic but its still very good almost great. Jeffrey Wells sums up my thoughts on the film pretty good in his latest column (you gotta scroll down to the second story).

Doubting Street Memo

All this hubbub about the Downing Street Memo is really overblown. I've read the said memo and supporting documents and I fail to see this smoking gun that proves "WE MUST IMPEACH BUSH NOW!" This isn’t the Pentagon Papers just yet. It may be the start of something big but the idea that the DSM amounts to a smoking gun is wishful thinking at best. I think we really ought to wait until more comes out be fore we start trying to storm the Bastille. And the mean time lets focus on the here and now and the future rather than rehashing old battles that we lost. If Democrats put half is much effort into doing something as a party as we do on attacking out idiot President wewouldn'tt be losing all these elections.

Still doubt me? Read Christopher Hitchens latest which dismisses the thing.

I Couldn't Say It Any Better

Regarding the whole Tom/Katie thing, ESPN.com's Bill Simmons had this to say:

Despite all the joy he's provided me over the years, I'm not sure if I can forgive Tom Cruise for what he's done to Katie Holmes. This is the same girl who allowed SNL's Mr. Peepers to spit apple all over her face four years ago and went topless in "The Gift" just for the hell of it – now she's whispering "I love you" on Oprah, shamelessly plugging movies and embracing Scientology? This is an outrage. I'm outraged. This never would have happened if she had stayed with Dawson.

Pub Trivia Glory

I gathered with my buddy FCW, her lovely husband, and her newly relocated brother for some pub trivia at the Old Pequliar in Ballard last night. A great time was had by all. The highlight was definitely getting a perfect score on Movie round (all Gary Oldman flicks!), but when we got a mere 8 out of 20 on the final fine art picture round we figured we'd likely win one of the runner up prizes, but to our huge surprise we took first place winning $130! You know I really gotta make this Pub Trivia thing a more than once a quarter thing!

Dino KO'd

Our long statewide nightmare is over. The Republicans have lost their attempt to overturn November's election for Governor. Judge Bridges really put the smackdown on the R's and rejected all of the Republicans supposed evidence and in a bit of sweet irony actually deducted confirmed felon votes from Rossi and Libertarian Ruth Bennett thereby increasing Gregoire margin of victory. Rossi then the made the smart move and announced that he would not appeal the case further. Now the Democrats and the Governor can return more important matters and hopefully King County will iron out its election problems.

It will be interesting to see what Rossi does next in his career. Its possible he might run against Ron Sims for King County Executive this fall and then run for US Senate against Maria Cantwell in 2006. He is certainly one of the most popular Republican politicians in this state in a long time and proved himself to be a formidable campaigner last fall. As a Democrat, I hope he retires to the private sector but the Republicans would be stupid to let him do that.

The only downside to justice being served in this case is that Tim Borders, my Knowledge Bowl teammate at South Kitsap High School will go down as a mere footnote a in Washington State history rather than be one of the named parties (Borders v. King County) in a historic case that overturned a Gubernatorial election.

Juggling on TV?

Im beginning to think that the weird "sports" on TV trend started by ESPN is starting to go too far. I think it started with their coverage of the National Spelling Bee and then went to the next level with their World Series of Poker coverage. Last night while folding my laundry before going to bed I caught the World Juggling Federation Championships on ESPN. It was really strange stuff, but in some ways its much more a sport than Spelling Bee or poker as it does require freakish physical skill. And those Galchenko kids were freaking amazing. Throw in Penn Gillette of Penn & Teller fame as a commentator and you have pretty compelling sport.

Best of Film of the Year (So Far) is...

...Layer Cake. Granted I haven't seen some of the supposed top films of the year so far like Millions or Palidromes, but Layer Cake was excellent and flawless. Daniel Craig is the lead and is charismatic without being hammy or obvious. He has been stellar in everything I've seen him in and is a very versatile actor capable of playing intellectuals, psychopaths, regular Joes, and smooth criminals with equal aplomb. The film definitely in the same genre as recent British gangster flicks like Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, but unlike most of those films it has depth. It could be a complete splashy gaudy film but it remains restrained throughout which just heightens the tension. The plot is never predictable an never implausible. And the ending? Perfect! Anyway, go see it and ignore that bad football remake.

The Importance of Napping

One thing I miss from my college days is the daily nap. I used always get an hour of sleep in the afternoon after classes either in the old Suzzallo Reading Room or back home. It always left me energized for the evening ahead regardless of whether I had to go to work, do homework, or have fun. Unfortunately my schedule these days makes a mid-day nap impossible. When you work 8 hours a day with lengthy commute each day there just isn't time. Sometimes I do manage a brief nap on the bus on the way home but that doesn't happen often enough and when it does its not quite the same. But sometimes you do get a chance to squeeze in a good nap like yesterday I left work early for a doctor's appointment (the good news I do not have to have tear duct surgery!) and got home in time for a nice nap. Bliss! Maybe when I get my dream job at the Ballard Branch I'll be able to swing a more nap-friendly lifestyle, but until then I will continue to envy the napped among us.

Travishammockery

I wish I could go back in time and stop myself from ever recording Britney and Kevin: Chaotic. What the hell was I thinking? Maybe that it would be similar to that Jessica Simpson/Nick Lachey show. You know good natured fun. But no its quite possibly the worst show in the history of television. Maybe even worse than Who's My Daddy?

On Newlyweds, Jessica comes off as total ditz but also genuinely nice person, while Britney comes off as nearly retarded and vapid. And Nick seems like a very regular guy, while K-Fed is possibly dumber than Britney and scummier up close than you ever imagined. To make matters worse the home video footage is so jittery as to be nauseating. And the editing? It appears there has been very little thought put into that. You'd think they'd try to give the episodes a theme and all that? You tell a little reality TV story? Nope. Just a few things happen, a bunch of dumb stuff is said, and then it just ends.

Ugh. If only I had the strength of character to remove it from my scheduled programs list, but I can't its like a car wreck. I can't turn my eyes away from the big bloody white trash car wreck.