Author: whodeanny

Ricky. Bobby. Really.

I finally saw Talladega Nights last night. There were some really funny moments but it was still a bit hard for me to watch at times. There were such surreal changes in scene, tone, intent and plot that I honestly wasn’t sure (multiple times!) if we were in a dream sequence or the confusion of someone coming out of a coma. Two separate times I was actually surprised when some bizarre happening was NOT part of a dream sequence. A friend tells me that I should just learn how to go along with the ride. He’s probably right but this movie would have been like riding through the Twilight Zone of Other Movie Snippets.

TP

Losing Isaiah

Losing Isaiah

<a href="
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=2821901&page=1&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
“>http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=2821901&page=1&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

Okay, first of all this is not about Isiah Thomas, coach of the New York Knicks. It’s about the actor Isaiah Washington who is using rehab to cover his juvenile habit of using demeaning language to describe homosexuals. This would be more sad if it weren’t true.

TP

Sam Cassell All-Stars Second Team

Sam Cassell All-Stars

Also known as the NBA All-Ugly Team

Please understand that I actually like several of these guys. Many of them are good people (from what I know of them) and some are great players. But ugly is ugly…

So without delay, the Second Team!

F- Adam Morrison
F- Shawn Marion
C- Dikembe Mutombo
G- Chauncey Billups
G- Steve Nash

A few comments are in order:
Morrison looks lecherous.
Marion looks alien.
Mutombo looks look an ancient artifact.
Billups looks like Dumb Donald from Fat Albert.
Nash looks like the radiation isn’t helping.

Mean? Perhaps. True? Definitely…

Next week. The current legends of unbeauty. The First Team.

TP

Heroes/BSG

Yes, I’m really excited that the Colts will probably make it to the Super Bowl this Sunday but I am more excited that both Battlestar Galactica and Heroes are returning to TV. Heroes has become THE show I like more than any other. It’s the best thing I’ve watched since becoming an adult. Certainly you’ll hear lots more about both in the next several weeks!

TP

Politics 2007

A few predictions concerning the politics of 2007:

The landscape of the 2008 Presidential election will shift dramatically as Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani and John McCain all abandon their presidential bids by the start of 08.

Clinton because she realizes that even if America might be willing to elect a woman president it would not be someone with so many enemies. It would instead be someone like Jennifer Granholm of Michigan. (It might have been Granholm herself were it not for the antiquated born in America rule that made lots of sense in the earliest days of America and almost none today.)

Giuliani will be done in because so many New Yorkers revile him and will make the reasons for their displeasure very public and very national. Rudy currently embodies the strength and resilience Americans love. By the end of the year, he’ll embody the ugly New Yorker that keeps many middle Americans from ever visiting the city.

McCain may get lucky enough that he can stay in the race through 07 but I doubt it. Iraq is such a disaster that it really will take a miracle or a crisis to keep Americans from wanting to abandon that enterprise altogether. McCain’s decision to encourage additional troops has put him substantially out of step with the public as a whole and may make him look like a brave fool by the fall. If he belatedly changes his position the Straight Talk Express will be permanently derailed.

I also think that gay marriage or civil union will become the law in at least one additional state. My guess is that it will be a western state this time and I will actually be surprised if this only happens in one place in 07. The tide has turned on this issue. Thankfully.

Last but not least, there will be at least one major investigation into the Bush Administration thanks to the Democratic Congress. I predict that the inquiry will be at least temporarily debilitating to the adminsistration. It may be Scooter Libby, Katrina, rebuilding contracts, 9-11, energy policy, WMD, human rights violations or something else entirely but the Bushies have screwed up so historically and on so many fronts that when the chickens come home to roost it will be deeply painful.

Five possibilities for 2007. We’ll keep an eye out on all these predictions.

TP

Flappy’s

My favorite breakfast place is a restaurant called Flapjack’s. They have amazing food, a mostly wonderful staff and a lively, boisterous atmosphere. They also serve Freedom fries and Freedom toast. Now, since it’s 2007 and the vast majority of Americans realize that the Iraq invasion was, uh, less than ideal, doesn’t it seem reasonable to expect that this restaurant would be done with the ‘Freedom’ substitute for ‘French’. If nothing else, couldn’t they call them Iraqi fries?

TP