The Lobby Wins Again.

I am so glad that U.S. policy is still being decided through the prism of whatever is right for Tel Aviv, is right for us. But this was a big chunk for AIPAC to bite out of, a lot of capital to expend so we do not look at the issue in an evenhanded way. It would be awful if the NIE's kept coming out which support the fact that Iran is not a threat to anyone (like Iraq but they got their wish). They won the battle but the war is going to change. There will be more Chas Freeman's, the Lobby can only obstruct for so long before people start to see what is going on. The Neoconservatives' clock is ticking as we see with this desperate move and they have to know it. Schumer, Emanuel, Lieberman, and The New Republic will have to answer why our interests so often take a back seat to a country that does absolutely nothing for us except stoke intense anger by people who, normally would not give two fucks about us. Thus making our country less safe.

You Were a Baaad Guy in Timecop!

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R.I.P, Ron Silver. You were my favorite liberal turned "9/11 changed everything" conservative actor. Truly, truly sad.

My Favorite Time of the Year.

Remember how I was all like, "Basketball, what's that?", about two months ago? Well, as the king of hyperbole I seem to have found my bearings again for the season and am in full force. It could be that I am seriously considering not being a Packer fan as the organization is apparently thinking the model for success is the last presidential administration. Which included hiring fucking Ari Fleischer as a consultant during the Favre saga which tells you exactly how they think in regards to splitting the most loyal fan base in the NFL. Or it could be that this is going to be the craziest tournament, ever!!1!1! With the amount of upsets that have already occurred it should be madness. I watched like 80 hours of conference tournaments this weekend so I feel I am ready. Also, have there ever been three #1's from the same conference before?

For the record my Final Four picks are:
-Wake Forest in the Midwest. Louisville is good but I just don't see it. I also hate Pitino's white suit thing he sometimes wears. What an easy sectional(?). Does that mean that Louisville is the number one #1? Bullshit.

-UConn and Marquette would have been great, but both are missing star players so I will go with Memphis in the West, even though they come from the weakest conference ever. Maybe Washington could slip through as well.

-In the East exists the strongest sectional(?) by far. This is where, of course, the Badgers are in and will be drummed out by their Champs Sports bowl opponents in the first game, as usual. They should not even be in the tournament as they are a weak team (speaking of weak conferences). Fuck Duke. I will go with Pitt here but they are known chokers so I feel a ton of ambivalence about it.

-Finally, in the South I may get my wish for a Oklahoma-Carolina match up. If that happens Psycho T. will probably sit out and I don't think the Tarheels' truly best player, Lawson, will be fully healed and so will be dealing with his injury the entire tournament. Which is too bad but the Sooners are coming out of the South. Blake Griffin is the man and I see him just going crazy. They also have a decent point guard who needs to play exceptionally well in order for them to advance.

-Sooners win the whole thing, as I said long ago. I can't wait for Thursday.

Go Mauricio Funes.

Hopefully the good people of my sweet, beloved, Gracie's country get rid of the last dregs of the Reagan era right wing death squads. Reagan was truly a great man and the hundreds of thousands who disappeared in the 80's should be truly grateful, if they weren't dead. Oh yeah, what did Cuba and Venezuela do to us again and why should I be scared?

Well.

I don't know anything much about this Rihanna thing. But if there is any justice in the world, Jay-Z puts a hit out on that motherfucker right quick. Since he seems to be one of the few in the hip hop community to actually be like, "Wrong." Domestic abusers always do it again and the abusees always come back. Usually until the abuser goes to jail, someone finally leaves, or the abusee gets killed. It is a horrible cycle of violence that makes me, deep down on a visceral level, if I actually had a say, which totally is not the appropriate response or thought at all, would be: Rihanna, you are a beautiful young woman and it is so fucking not dumb, but fucking typical to be doing this. Little girls and young women look up to you and I think your actions thus far, at least subconsciously, have given them a feeling of, "It's OK to get my ass beat by a punk ass like that, he really loves me." Which makes this whole thing so goddammed tricky, because it is never that easy to leave, apparently. So she is really just acting like most victims, and that is kind of the saddest part, because it doesn't matter how strong a person may seem to be or actually is. It always seems to follow the same pattern. And please, can one motherfucking celebrity in that community, be it athlete, rapper, comedian, or actor condemn his ass, please? Other than Hova? This is not some "misunderstanding" or "passionate people" deal. (Yeah, I'm looking at you, Kanye.) This is deadly serious and it makes me wonder how often this happens and it is never reported by some of these guys. Like, it probably would not have been that big of a deal if it was Jenny, a random girl, and not Rihanna, a huge pop star.

Bad world right now, gonna be a storm soon.

Oh Boy.

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT READ THE COMIC. Or who wants to see the movie unsullied. Aww, who am I kidding, no one reads this anyway.

I am excited for Watchmen, I really am. I just have an overwhelming feeling that this is just like the excitement that I felt in 1999 when a certain little prequel was coming out. Oh, was that a heady time. It was so much fun anticipating and dreaming of how cool it was going to be. My roommates and I went on opening night full of early 20's excitement and walked out almost angry. "How could that loser rape our precious childhood like that?" was the overwhelming feeling. Jar Jar was even worse than the reviews were describing him, and the kid, oh the kid. It was just a really, really bad movie.


Why do I feel the same disturbance in the force about Watchmen? Well, look at the picture above. Look at the actor playing Ozymandias. Sure, he looks like he may be the world's smartest Macaulay Culkin. But does he look like a world class athlete who can easily overpower and kill a professional bad ass like The Comedian(who does look pretty awesome above, but no Gimp mask, ever?)? Or fend off Rorschach in such an aloof, nonchalant, hilarious style near the end? I don't think so! Who I do like: The actors who play The Comedian, Rorschach, both Silk Spectres, and Night Owl II. Fun Fact: Both of the actor's who portrayed NO2 and Rorschach were in the movie Little Children, which is a really good movie. Also, I give props to Snyder that NO2 is still a bit fat.

Continuing on, why does Nite Owl II look like Batman from the George Clooney era? Why does Ozy have nipples on his costume like the same? The costumes are not supposed to be the slick, streamlined outfits that these are. In the comic they look homemade, a little crappy, not form fitted to the body. These look pure Joel Schumacher. Meaning kind of, um, flamboyant? I do, shocking I know, enjoy better the look of both Silk Spectre I and II as represented in the pictures I have seen so far.



Which brings me to this point: Zack Snyder. OK, I liked Dawn of the Dead, at least the beginning. It was a pretty good zombie movie. But let's talk 300, the movie that got him to this point. That barely veiled allegory which all the eliminationist right wingers have orgasms over. For good reason. It was all of their killing brown people in the name of, something, fantasy that they could ever wish for. But it seemed that was the whole point, other than showing off chiseled dude bodies in various modes of undress. I am going to steal a quote from Sarah Silverman, "That movie 300? Turns out, how they got that title was they measured how gay it was on a scale of one to ten." Which is what made the love by the righties so funny. But Arabs (really not-Arabs, I know) were killed in a variety of gruesome ways, and that is always awesome for them. So, there is that.

Finally, I can deal with no squid, I really can.

Oh God, I tried, I really did. I cannot lie, the whole narrative is fucked without it and there is no reason for so many things in the story now.
1. I still don't know how they can tie up why Ozy needs to kill Edward Blake, which sets up the whole "Mask Killer" thing.
2. There would be no island where The Comedian witnesses the "project" being constructed, which piques his interest and where he uncovers the insane plot.
3. Dr. Manhattan is an American asset, strictly American. He has shown allegiance only to the U.S. and its' interests. He may look at humans as inconsequential ants and such but he is still the face of America. I could see him bugging out and heading to Mars if he thought he gave people cancer but no, not destroying cities(?) all over the world.
4. Since Dr. Manhattan is a strictly American asset, why would the USSR, who are on the brink of war with America, ever believe that the blue guy went rogue? Just because his fuck buddy left him and he gave Moloch, that other guy, and Janey cancer? It makes no sense.

Last finally, I really mean it this time. I really hate slow motion filming. Once or twice is fine, but where it makes the entire movie 25 minutes longer because of it? No. I am afraid that this movie will be bad, but I will say the hype and the marketing has been pretty damn good. I guess that is half the fun when one needs a distraction from stress of life and longs for NOSTALGIA of younger days.