Well another year of Defcon began yesterday. This time it's Defcon 12. They'll have their typical events like Spot the Fed, where convention goers attempt to do just that. If someone is successfully spooted they get a shirt that say "I am the Fed." Gotta love that. New this year, I think, is Dunk the Geek. I'd love to be there Dunking Geeks. Maybe next time.
Here are my final thoughts on the DNC. You’ll notice that I had reasonable bloggage on days one and two but didn’t even touch days three and four. I think day three was relatively uneventful. The only people I remember were Sharpton and Edwards (obviously).
Sharpton brought something that the convention was lacking in previous days – unscripted excitement. He was supposed to speak for about six minutes and ended up speaking for twenty minutes. The teleprompter was going nuts. I loved it. He actually spoke his mind and really excited the crowed. The media immediately jumped all over it and tried to pin a negative connotation to the speech for being unscripted and too long. The media doesn’t matter; people liked it, that’s all that matters.
Edwards’ speech was relatively uneventful; nothing unexpected here. Talked about himself, his father, and Kerry. He’s a good speaker but it wasn’t his best showing.
Day four was all about Kerry but I think Max Cleland brought overwhelming patriotism to his introduction and his daughters brought that personal touch that was very needed. Kerry himself seemed more relaxed than I have ever seen him and I think that was very important. A lot of people feel that the president has to be someone that you would like to “go get a beer with.” While I don’t think that’s the case at all, I think it is important that Kerry tries to win that group. Overall it was a great speech, he addressed almost everything that the president was criticizing him about. I think that he should have talked about his Senate record a little more, but he covered a lot in his fifty minutes or so.
In the end the convention only really matters to the people that are already decided on who they’re going to vote for. Adding to this, the networks this year decided to air more reality TV as opposed to a convention that happens once every four years. Way to go media. Anyway, I’ll be watching the RNC too, so until then, convention time is over. Word.
It rains so much here. I hate rain. Yesterday was alright, no rain yesterday, but today the wrath of water fell down even harder. The street in front of my house flooded pretty quickly. I hate rain.
Good freaking crap, my birthday is on Monday. Turning 19 really snuck up on me. I'm not sure if this whole Liv and Zeus joint birthday is going to materialize, but I hope so.
Let’s see, what did we have today…. I missed a bit of the coverage which I will hopefully pick up later tonight. The first person I saw was Barak Obama. This was one of the big hype speakers of the day and supposedly a rising star in the Democratic party. You probably heard of him from the senate race in Illinois. He was going to be running against Ditka but then Ditka decided not to do it so now he’s running unopposed. After seeing his speech I seriously think that he could be the first African-American president. It’s clear that other people were thinking the same thing and want to see it happen because reporters wouldn’t stop asking him if he though about running. He gave the typical response that he was going to focus on the Senator job. I think if he wants the job and America is ready for an African-American president, I really think he will be the first. The man is bright, eloquent, and approachable. He is everything you could want in a candidate.
Next I saw Ron Reagan talk about stem cell research. While he clearly isn’t that great of a speaker compared to the others (he followed Obama who lit the floor on fire) he did a great job of explaining and personalizing stem cell research. Also, he didn’t really talk about Kerry – a good thing. That sort makes the science transcend politics and I think that’s what should happen. Out of all the speeches, I think his will probably bring the most voters because if you have a loved one who has a life threatening disease or you yourself have a currently incurable disease and you hear that there might be a cure if you vote for Kerry, then who do you think you’ll vote for?
I saw all of Chris Heinz’s introduction to Teresa. In my opinion he isn’t a very good speaker so I’m not even going to talk about him. I only caught the first five minutes of Teresa’s speech so I suppose I’ll write more when I hear it all.
On Bill’s speech. Going into this, I was thinking, “He can’t possibly live up to expectations.” I was wrong, his speech was as amazing as anyone could have expected. The way he so subtly bashed the Bush administration was perfect. He destroyed them with out anyone even noticing that he was speaking negative. Only Bill can do it like that. As expected he brought out the nostalgia for the Clinton years in everyone. I was barely conscious during those years and I even miss them. But I think one of the strongest moments in his speech was when he said that both men were strong candidates and would be strong presidents but that strength and wisdom don’t have to be opposing forces. He went on to say that Kerry had the wisdom that Bush lacks. He closed with some blazing rhetoric about sending John Kerry to the White House. Bill definitely lived up to the hype. He came in and left like a rock star. Good for Bill.
The first day of the Democratic National Convention has come and gone by now, seeing as it's about 3 AM. I did see most of it on CNN and it was a hell of a way to kick off the convention. Let me first talk about CNN's coverage. They really have some good stuff going on. They're right there on the floor (for the first time ever, as they repeat over and over) giving you the details. Also, they have some good guests and not just boring political types but some nice and relatively new faces. The two that stand out particularly are Mo Rocca and Ben Affleck, both with Larry King. Mo Rocca is hilarious, you've probably seen him on VH1 and The Daily Show. This guy really knows his stuff too - history, politics, everything. Ben Affleck really surprised me, as I'm sure he surprised many. He too actually knows what he's talking about. Granted he's not up to par with the other political strategists and the like that he was put with on Larry King but he's still very knowledgeable.
Now, on the actual convention. Al Gore's speech was the first big one that I actually noticed. Gore did an extremely good job of opening it all up. He mixed in some political humor in reflecting on last year's election. He did a very good job of reminding people how Bush stole the election in 2000 without pointing fingers. He was light-hearted at first but later yelled it up like he has in the past in his praise for Clinton and Kerry-Edwards. Another kiss followed.
Carter's speech was pretty good. Nothing remarkable, but he said basically what he was expected to say and what was affective for him to say - Bush's foreign policy is terrible. Coming from Carter that means a lot because, as I'm sure you know, he is very well known for his role in international politics, probably more after his presidency than during.
Next came the Clinton block. The Clinton's speeches were probably the most hyped speeches of the convention and probably of the year. I don't think they deserve all of that attention, after all this is mostly about celebrating Kerry-Edwards, but they do deserve at least 75% of it. After all, they are probably the biggest names in the party, although that guy from Illinois is getting a huge amount of publicity. I can't remember his name but I'm looking forward to his speech to see what all the hype is about.
Anyway, on to Hillary's introduction of her husband. She didn't say anything unexpected. No hints of her future like the press wishes she would say, just praise for her husband and praise for Kerry-Edwards. Granted everything she says is in that typical Hillary Clinton way - angry. She always seems angry, but not truthfully angry, just happy angry, if there is such a thing. Her anger just seems a tad fake to me. Ya know what, it's getting late and I want to go to bed so I'll just talk about Bill's speech tomorrow.
Saw The Bourne Supremacy last night. I liked the movie, however, I hated the environment. On my left I had this strange looking kid with chains and piercings that smelled like a foot in an ashtray. In the two seats in front of me were his friends who were just as pungent as him. Behind, was an old man that I'm pretty sure was dying throughout the movie. So, given that environment I still managed to get some out of the film. Immediately after seeing the movie, I said that it wasn't as good as the first however, I think now that it's probably equal at least. It had one hell of a car chase in Moscow of all places and the same action that the Identity was known for. Also Matt Damon's character is still the most realistic spy ever. Maybe I'll be able to pass better judgment if I see it again. Hopefully they make The Bourne Ultimatum.
Last night as we were sitting at the campfire Olivia brought up the fact that we share a birthday (August 2nd). So we decided we would plan a dual-Birthday party. Sounds like a good idea to me. I've never really been able to properly celebrate my birthday, with band and football before that. So, Olivia came up with a really good idea for a party. A small '50's style cocktail party. I think it's a great idea! I need to get out my bow tie and my pocket squares. Can't wait.
There's a BBC interview here with Elton John that does a good job of summing up the strangle hold that Bush has on American media today. He compares the fear in America today with that of the 50's during McCarthyism. He also points out the double standard with Toby Keith and the Dixie Chicks. Worth reading.
On a related note, there was a good political cartoon in the local paper today that shows Bush on Fox News saying, "I'm George W. Bush and I approved this newscast." Pretty good. A lot of people unknowingly watch Fox News thinking that it must be unbiased if they shove that saying down your throat every 5 seconds. You know the one - "Fair and Balanced" or "We report, you decide." America would be much better informed if they would watch CNN or NBC in addition to Fox News (if they must) or at least check some of the facts on the net. Not that the net is the best place for news but if you go to Google's news site you can get several different articles on the same subject. That seems much more Fair and Balanced to me.
Saw I, Robot last night, so I shall write my thoughts on the movie. First of all, I had bad feelings about this movie before seeing it. Will Smith producing and starring in a movie based on an Asimov book didn't exactly excite me. However, I tried to go in with an open mind. The first thing I noticed about the film was a plus: the Chicago of 2035 doesn't look forcedly futuristic. It's the most realistic portrayal of the future that I have seen in a long time. The insides of houses weren't changed much from today but the gadgets that they used and, obviously, the robots were futuristic. That's how it should be. Another good thing - the resemblance to Minority Report. It seems that they took a few pages out the Minority Report futuristic look. For example, the cars, the metals, etc. They didn't copy the extremely cool computers from Minority Report though. That probably would have crossed the line.
Now on to plot. If you read the book by Asimov than you should forget about this movie being a digital copy. I don't think they were trying to copy the book at all, they were just taking the concept. Just don't go in expecting to see the book word-for-word and you'll be ok. One of the arguments that I have with the plot is that it was way too action movie predictable. There really aren't very many unique points in this movie. It all seems to follow the preconscribed notion of what an action movie has to be.
You'll be happy to hear that it was too Will Smithed up. There was only one "Ahh Hell No" that I counted. He does make a terrible joke about being allergic to bull shit though. While the auddience laughed I thought it was neither neccesary nor funny. But, like I said, it was too much Will Smith.
Overall it's a good sci-fi movie that you shouldn't hesitate in seeing. Not bad.
-- I need a haircut.
-- Amazon will take over the world - evidence.
-- I'm ok with that.
-- Red Vs Blue is the funniest web series about the PC version of Halo ever.
If you haven't noticed the increasingly accusation-filled comments then just ignore this. But to the others: let this be the final word on Fahrenheit 9/11 please. Yes, Michael Moore takes the facts and stretches them as he wishes; sure, he leaves out parts of the story. Realize that he has an opinion and his film is going to reflect that. I will admit that about half of the movie is Anti-Bush propaganda, thus, he is trying to cast Bush in the worst light that he can. He is successful. However, the other half of the movie is the poignant story of a mother who lost her son in the war, which even more so today seems pointless. This is the part of the movie that has won it the amount of acclaim that it has rightfully received.
To those who have no idea what is going on: someone anonymously commented on my post where I simply stated that it was a good movie whether you are a Bush supporter or not. I stand by that post. In the comment they basically wrote a short essay on how Moore skewed the facts. After I felt obligated to defend the movie, the same person wrote an even longer and more detailed response. Then came the accusation of plagiarism. My thoughts: it was just someone looking for any opportunity to bash Fahrenheit 9/11 and found that opportunity on my blog. It is probably a good thing that the person posted anonymously because that person looks extremely foolish by posting so much about something that so few read in response to my simple praise of the movie. Who knew blogs could be so heated.
I saw Anchorman the other night. Hilarious. It is basically a who's-who of comedians in that genre. It was almost a gratuitous use of stars. Will Ferrell was amazing as I knew he would be. That man can make ANY situation funny. I don't know how he does it.
In other news, Cumberland is boring and Jacob is fat.
This morning my future college, which is doing this alumni connection whatever bs, sent me the site of this NY cartoonist that graduated a couple of years ago, so I checked out his site and he does some pretty funny stuff. His name is Kevin Cannon. Here's a little short that I found particularly funny:
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In a slightly expected but very smart move, Kerry chose John Edwards as his running mate today. He sent an email to his subscribers first, which I got but by the time I woke up the news was broken to the public anyway so it didn't matter. The NY Post was the first to report the big news, however, they got it wrong. They said that Kerry chose Gephardt a few hours before Kerry announced. Way to go Post.
In other news, my car is finally fixed. Let's hope it lasts a while until it breaks next time.
Yay! With a great holiday comes a great new Red Vs Blue P.S.A. announcement. Check it here. It's actually under a post made on July 3rd. A little premature but still excellent.
In other news I saw two good movies recently. Firstly, Spider Man 2. I hadn't seen the first one so I had no idea what to expect. I just know there was a lot of hype, so naturally I wanted to check it out. It was better than I thought it would be. It's not going to make you rethink your life or anything but it's still worth seeing. Now on to a movie that may make you rethink your life, that is if you're a Bush supporter, I don't know, maybe not. Fahrenheit 9/11 was definitely good, even if you're not a Michael Moore fan you have to admit that the man has skills. It is a very well made documentary and you can tell that Moore spent a whole lot of time on it. Congrats to him. Now don't blow yourself up.
I went to lunch today with Jordan, at the wonderful dragone chinese buffet place. Good stuff. Anyway, he told me to go to these two websites that he thought were really funny. Now if Jordan thinks something is funny, it's gotta be funny, because Jordan is a very funny man himself. The first one was the Citizens Association to Blow Up the Moon. Easily seen as a spoof website, but still hilarious. It's a group of people that want to blow up the moon. Byy the way, if you want to volunteer you can do your part by "...shaking your fist at the moon each night in a show of defiance, shouting, "Damn you, Moon!" I love volunteer work.
Another is Guess the Dictator. It's actually Guess the Dictator/Sit-Com character. Awesome. Think of a dictator or sit-com character, answer some question and it will guess it. Hasn't been wrong yet.
The daily thoughts of a Zeus.
