Can I Interest You in Chanukah?

Finally, a successor to the incessant renditions of Adam Sandler's Chanukah Song. Jewish humor for the 2000s.

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

A Colbert Christmas: Jon Stewart

Colbert at Christmas
Colbert Christmas DVD

Green Screen
Bill O'Reilly Interview

Pumpkin pie from scratch

“If you want to make an [apple] pie from scratch, you must first create the universe.” Carl Sagan

Sarah Palin presented with appropriate juxtaposition

Good grief this woman scares me. If her idea of a cute PR event is joking about pardoning turkeys then having one slaughtered behind her as she quips some good ol' folsky talk, well, I am not sure where I am going with this. I love that MSNBC has to blur out the gratuitous slaughter in the background. Her next press conference should be her talking about Real America (TM) while secular humanist hippies are being trampled by Todd on his snow machine.

If you thought Prop 8 was bad...

Check out the Briggs Initiative or Prop 6 which I assume will be featured prominently in the upcoming Milk. If that had passed, Dumbledore wouldn't be allowed to teach. At least in California. In conclusion, supporters of Prop 8 equal Death Eaters.

Thoughts on W.

Over the Bush years, I often considered the somewhat pointless question of who Bush really is. Is he a Rovian political cynic exploiting the culture and values of Real Americans (TM) faking the whole Texan act secretly speaking with an ultra New England WASPy country club accent? Or does he truly believe he is a salt-of-the-Earth Texan who thinks God tells him what to do? Either way his only possible excuses for his history making F-ups are either he is a liar or profoundly ignorant.

Nevertheless, I was still excited about Oliver Stone's attempt to answer this question. In W., Stone argues it is a hybrid of these two arguments---Bush is subconsciously lying to himself as a means for political power. Stone argues all of Bush's actions can be traced to an Oedipal Complex. The Iraq War, folksiness, and religion are means to overcome his father's and family's achievements.
Stone's portrait of Bush is relatively sympathetic. Sure, Bush is not exceptionally bright, talented, or motivated but it sort of sucks to know you live in privilege and are worthless. Instead of making the best of the situation, Stone implies Bush found the easy way out, Religion! Instead of following the traditional tenets of Christianity, you know, humility, helping the poor, Bush discovers this is how he can out Christian and out Texan his dad and his detractors. And so Bush becomes president.

Of course, even an Oliver Stone lengthed film is going to be a gross oversimplification of any person's life. Why did Bush when running in 2000 argue against nation building if his intent was always to invade Iraq when he had the chance? Sure the Iraq War fits nicely into this Odeipal tale but where does Katrina, political firing of judges, covering for internal leaks of a CIA spy identity, basic sidestepping of all cultural issues and so on come into play? Was he over his head, corrupt, or both?

I must also comment on the tertiary characters in W. as no one as simple as Bush could have screwed America over alone. Stone doesn't leave any of the major cabinet figures out and presents them all as amusing one-dimensional talking points. Cheney is evil, Rove is conniving, Condi is a yes-(wo)man, Rumsfeld is cold-hearted, and poor ol' Powell is ignored. There is one overly melodramatic scene with the whole bunch argues over whether to invade Iraq. Stone admits this is an abridged version of events that took place over many months but it comes off as unrealistic and silly. Stone presents Bush's cabinet not as people but as a physical manifestation of Bush's Brain. And in this crowd, wisdom and patience loses out.

It is hard to judge this film on it's merits. It was impossible to separate the Bush I have known for eight years to the Brolin Bush on screen. I can say that the film played out too much like a made-for-TV biopic. Where is the Stone sizzle? He has gone low-key in his last few films. I wanted this to be like Nixon, where Stone sympathizes with Nixon as a Charles Foster Kane power-monger who realizes his failings all too late. (I read Stone has one scene in W. where Bush flies over Iraq in a magic carpet dropping bombs. Sounds like a hybrid of the hallucination sequence in The Big Lebowski and the strawberry bombs over Vietnam in Across the Universe. Anyway, probably a good idea to cut it.) The best scene in W. is towards the end when Bush Jr. has a dream of his father challenging him to a fist fight in the Oval Office. W. need more of this Stonesque historical dramatization.

In conclusion, I still don't understand Bush. Maybe over the years when more information is leaked other filmmakers will take a stab at this story so history will not repeat itself.

Full Watchmen TRAILER!

Is that Philip Glass I hear? Not as cool as the teaser (the full trailer rarely is). I am glad "visionary director" Zac Snyder is staying to true Watchmen but I still fear his tendency to overuse slow-mo ala 300.
Edit: It is not Philip Glass being played but Muse. Sounds just like Songs for Liquid Days though.

Video Game Trailers Get Serial

After hearing Devotchka's "How It Ends" for the Everything Is Illuminated film trailer, I officially added it to my mental list of music that makes any trailer awesome (also on that list "House, Concrete, and Stone" and "Where Do I Begin?"). Having never played Gears of War, my impression from videos/reviews is it is a standard, albeit well-made, third-person action game featuring a unique chainsaw bayonet machine gun. I guess they are trying to class-up the sequel by featuring "How It Ends" alongside a bunch of pensive, non-action related scenes. Are video games trying to go where movies have gone to become a critically acceptable art-form? After playing Bioshock (hopefully more on that later) and Half Life 2, I can say they are on there way.

High museum exhibit...

Or PF Changs?

Arrested Devolpment: The Movie: Update

AVClub says it is on per another pop culture gossip website: http://www.avclub.com/content/newswire/arrested_development_movie_is

As excited as I am about the prospect of new adventures with the Bluth family (SaveOurBluths.com), I do not understand why a movie studio would green light this movie. Movies based on canceled, critically well-received shows tend to not do so well in the box office: Serenity and Twin Peaks come to mind. Is there some glaring exception to this rule I have missed?

The Giving Tree

That book is super depressing.

Mormons How Could YOU???

These guys remind me of the Compound goons on Big Love. Bill Paxton we need you to stop this! Maybe we can compromise: gay marriage legal in California, plural marriage legal in Utah? Everyone wins!

Make a Little Birdhouse in Your Soul

What would an unemployed individual do without TV-on-DVD? Recently having finished all 5 seasons of The Wire (great show or greatest show? more to come) I have moved onto shows always in the back of my mind to watch, Twin Peaks and Pushing Daisies topping the list. Although Pushing Daisies is far from perfect, it is rare you see a prime-time television show with so much attention to art direction and I don't think since Buffy have I been so happy to see an abrupt musical number (of one of my favorite songs no less!). The sappiness and cheese is counterbalanced with a good amount of dark humor though the lead female screams for Zoey Draeshnel (yeah, I spelled that).

Strangest Moment of the Election Night

After watching CNN all day on-and-off and finally settling down on the couch at 6:00 to watch returns, it got a bit boring. So I would switch to Fox News once and a while to get a little catharsis after 8 years of their destruction. There was the normal conservative bias (only reporting the Republican winning states, Bill Cristol saying Obama might be a moderate (what happened to left-wing extremist?)). Once it became obvious Obama was going to win, something strange happened. I will let the SeattlePI describe it:

Best Redistribution of Cookie Wealth:  At 9:52, with little good news rolling in for McCain, Chris Wallace offers the other members of Fox's election team some special cookies brought just for him by his friend Karl Rove: "These are cookies in the form of a high-def, widescreen Fox TV - and just because this is the kind of guy I am, although Karl brought them specifically for me - Brit, panel, I'd like to bring you some snacks from Karl Rove." Hume, accepting a cookie: "Well God bless you both."

It was a very sad moment for Neo-Cons everywhere. Pigging out on dessert like they were just dumped and eating a whole container of Ben and Jerrys on the couch.

Obama!

Great day or greatest day?

10 Low Points of the Campaign

Before the "first day I can be proud of my country" begins, I want to look back on the 10 lowest of low points of the campaign that led up to this.

1. Palin + Guilliani denigrating community organizers.
2. Palin's Couric interviews reminding us we are not past the era of Bush idiocracy.
3. Palin dividing America into real and (fake?) America. Guess which one she is from?
4. Palin implying Obama is a terrorist/unAmerican/Arab/(insert middle America fear) and McCain going along with it.
5. Thompson at the G.O.P. convention saying the only thing historic about Obama's presidency is his liberal policies and the other offensive race double standard arguments (Powell supports Obama cause he is black! Obama wouldn't have made it if he weren't black!) I guess the G.O.P. lost the minority vote for another 50 years.
6. McCain starting the general campaign tone last summer with the infamous Hilton/Spears ad.
7. Hillary's fake outrage and continuation of a futile campaign that cost money and time that only hurt the Democratic party and liberal causes.
8. The very existence of Giuliani and Romney and the rest of that slackjawed yokel group of GOP candidates (how many of you don't believe in evolution? good grief).
9. McCain making the irresponsible choice of picking Palin who by any objective measure is unqualified to be president.
10. McCain's complete misrepresentations, truthiness and lies on Obama's record (taxes, sex education, etc.), Palin's record (Bridge to Nowhere), and his own record (his love affair with every major Bush policy).

But this national nightmare will soon end! Tomorrow we will elect The One and all shall be well.