I like fake news satire. I regularly post Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart videos. Though, Colbert and Stewart more often dabble in social commentary with a comic twist. There's a fake satirical web newspaper called The Onion. Many times, it's hilarious.
Well, The Onion fooled the Chinese or make that The Communist Chinese newspaper, The People's Daily. You see, The Onion named North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un as the "Sexiest Man Alive." They wrote this:
"With his devastatingly handsome, round face, his boyish charm, and his strong, sturdy frame, this Pyongyang-bred heartthrob is every woman’s dream come true. Blessed with an air of power that masks an unmistakable cute, cuddly side, Kim made this newspaper’s editorial board swoon with his impeccable fashion sense, chic short hairstyle, and, of course, that famous smile."
Now check out his picture above. Now you get the joke. But obviously the Chinese Communists do not. Realizing that they don't get it, The Onion pokes fun at the Chinese and even itself. In an update, it says:
"For more coverage on The Onion's Sexiest Man Alive 2012, Kim Jong-Un, please visit our friends at the People's Daily in China, a proud Communist subsidiary of The Onion, Inc. Exemplary reportage, comrades."
Quick note. Conservative Republicans listen up. The Onion is joking when it says The People's Daily is a proud Communist subsidiary. It's like Stephen Colbert is not really a conservative. It's called satire. Using humor to make a point.
Yesterday, former Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer returned with the Oakland Raiders to face his old team. Now let me get this out of the way, the Raiders are hapless. They came out to Cincinnati with a record 3-7. The stadium was not sold out. So, would the Bengals seek revenge on Palmer who dissed the team when he refused to play for them last year?
The game was over after the first half. The Bengals ran over the Raiders and had a 24-0 lead at the end of the second quarter. They went on to win, 34-10. The Bengals made a statement by sacking Palmer twice during the first series. Boy, was it great to see Palmer get hit a bunch of times. And when the Raiders tried to stop the pass, the Bengals ran the ball with running backs BenJarvus Green-Ellis and the Runnin' Reverend, Cedric Peerman. And don't forget about Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton. Three touchdown passes today. Here's the story with video.
But what about the return of Carson Palmer? Yeah from the crowd, it was loud. Loud as in boos. Listening to the radio, I could hear you Bengals Nation. And frankly, the Bengals defense may deny it, but they seemed inspired by his return. They hit Palmer about 13 times, forced him to fumble and throw an interception. I've always had a love-hate relationship with Palmer. Loved his talent and his will to come back after a bad knee injury. But when he said he didn't want to play for the Bengals again, it hurt. Yeah, he basically indicated we were a bunch of losers, the team and the city. And you want to know something? Palmer lacked guts to play here. Why? It's life. He was drafted by the woeful Bengals, well at least at the time they were woeful. One has to deal with it. The game was a lot like being dumped by a girlfriend and seeing her again. Except this time, you get to see her get heart broken. Yeah, it's a little cruel. But Tony Bennett sang about this type of heartbreak in "I Wanna Be Around." So that's how I feel.
Director Ang Lee has made a wide range of films from American family drama, "The Ice Storm" to a lyrical martial arts saga, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" to comic book blockbuster "Hulk" to a controversial romance in "Brokeback Mountain." Now he does what Martin Scorsese did last year and enters the world of 3-D (3D) filmmaking with the cinematic version of Yann Martel's novel, The Life of Pi.
The film, The Life of Pi, is exactly that. It's about Pi Patel, how he got his name, his boyhood life in India, and his family's zoo business. The boy Pi has sincere interest in all religions whether they be Islam, Hinduism or Catholicism. When Pi becomes a teenager, (Suraj Sharma) his family decides to move to Canada, taking with them their zoo animals. The ship on which they are traveling runs into a storm and sinks. Pi survives by boarding a lifeboat. Also on the boat are some of the zoo animals. They are a zebra, orangutan and hyena. Unfortunately, the zoo's tiger, Richard Parker, is also on board. The bulk of the movie is about the journey of Pi as he tries to survive with a carnivorous tiger.
The remarkable thing about The Life of Pi is that the filmgoer knows how Pi's perilous sea journey ends at the beginning of the movie. So how do director Lee and screenwriter David Magee keep the interest? They do so by having healthy doses of humor, and balancing the philosophical ideas and the drama of survival. From the start, when a character says that one will believe in God when you hear the tale of Pi, Lee mates this idea with Pi's struggle to keep the tiger from eating him. It's done as Pi narrates his story. It's also done with Lee's visual style.
And what visual style! Lee's film is beautiful to look at. There's a surreal feel to many of the scenes. The CGI that can hinder a movie's realism, works well here. Scenes look like paintings. Yet the CGI did wonders with some of the tiger's scenes. But it's the surreal scenes of the ocean, the skies and an island that will rivet a filmgoer. And the 3D is the best use of it in a fictional film since Scorsese's Hugo. (2011) First, it helps that the movie was filmed in 3-D. Lee doesn't ignore 3D. He uses it. Many times I believed I was in the movie. Lee does this by emphasizing the depth. The result for this movie is that it made me think about the ideas in the movie. See this movie in 3D.
The Life of Pi is a stunning achievement. It's cinematic entertainment that crosses into the area of high art. It does so by asking the audience to think while immersing them with beautiful and surreal images. It asks questions. How does one deal with tragedy? What is the nature of religion? And yes, Pi's story did make me believe in God. The grade is A +.
You knew Stephen Colbert would do a piece on the General Petraeus Affair. Well, he got soap opera star Susan Lucci to do guest spot. Check out the funny video below.
Leave it to Bill O'Reilly of Fox News to bemoan President Obama's victory coalition of women, African Americans, Asians, and Hispanics as the end of "traditional America" as reflected by the fifties sitcom "Leave It To Beaver." I'm not kidding. "Leave It To Beaver" was a show about a family, a lily white family. Yeah, O'Reilly could have used the Cosbys but he didn't. So, you get what he is crying about. It's about the loss of the domination of whites.
Anyway, thank goodness for Jon Stewart and the Daily Show to do a cogent piece on O'Reilly's fears. Stewart likes O'Reilly and won't call him out but I will. Bill O'Reilly, you are a racist. Here's Stewart's video.
The Cincinnati Bengals dominated the Kansas City Chiefs and beat them 28-6. There's not much to say. The Bengals were aggressive and took chances against the hapless Chiefs who are now 1-9. Cincinnati used a fake punt which led to a touchdown and went for it on a couple of fourth downs. The Chiefs resorted to using Brady Quinn at quarterback. Yikes.
Still too early to think of playoffs. Talk to me when the Bengals win ten games. Yet, the team must win games against opponents like these. Here's the story with video highlights.
Maturation might seem like a bad word in Hollywood's obsession for the teenage audience. But when it comes to filmmaker Stephen Spielberg, it's a term that can define the master director's works since the nineties. If you start with his European art film like Schindler's List (1993) to this year's Lincoln, you get a filmmaker who's interested in making serious movies. Yes, you get an occasional foray into the commercial like Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) but Speilberg's career will be highlighted by his last twenty years of making movies with something serious to say. And with Lincoln, Speilberg has created another masterpiece.
The film Lincoln is based on Doris Kearns Goodwin's book, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. It covers the final four months of President Abraham Lincoln's (Daniel Day-Lewis) life. Specifically, the film is about Lincoln's urgent mission to get the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution which abolishes slavery passed through Congress. The problems facing Lincoln is a House of Representatives in which he does not have the votes. Lincoln must muster his political resources while trying to end the Civil War. He must also reign in the more radical abolitionists Congressman Thaddeus Stevens (Tommy Lee Jones)
A good film starts with a good screenplay. A great film starts with a great screenplay. Tony Kushner (Angels in America) has created a great screenplay that highlights the struggle to get the votes for the Thirteenth Amendment's passage. And he doesn't sugarcoat it. There's near bribery and arm twisting by Lincoln. Yes, it was probably impossible to say anything negative about Lincoln, the screenplay does reflect the great difficulties, personal problems from his wife's neurosis and professional ones dealing with the Civil War. Yet for all it's seriousness, the film depicts nice touches of humor especially when President Lincoln wants to tell a funny story.
As Lincoln, Daniel Day-Lewis is astounding. He gives his Lincoln, a tenor's timbre which some say is historically accurate. He is a man who has seen too much bloodshed and injustice. He'll end the war on his terms but he is also a forgiving man. James Spader
adds some comic relief as William Bilbo, Lincoln's lobbyist. It's one of the few times that a lobbyist is depicted in a positive light. Frankly, all the roles are performed well. But it's Tommy Lee Jones' Congressman Stevens that nearly steals the show and will likely get him an Oscar nomination. Jones' facial moods range from rage to passion to disappointment to love.
As far as Spielberg's direction, many filmmakers could learn much from him. There are very few hand-held camera shots that would distract from the drama. Camera movements are slow but dramatic. Some wide shots feature Lincoln walking away from the conversation as if to depict his loneliness. And while Speilberg gets the right emotions from his actors, he knows when to get out of the way. These instincts are what make a great filmmaker.
Lincoln is one of the finest films of the year. It raises important issues about humanity; issues about race and prejudice. The grade is A +.
Sarah Palin described bloggers as people in their pajamas sitting in their mother's basement. Well, Sarah I sometimes blog in my pajamas. Your comment has inspired a great name for this blog. Thanks, Sarah.
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