People say to me that liberals are like conservatives in that they do not compromise. Not true. See, as a liberal, I supported President Bill Clinton even though he was a moderate. And now, I support President Barack Obama even though he uses unconstitutional drone attacks. One of these drone attacks killed an American citizen, Al Awaki. Yeah, I don't weep for this guy, he was a terrorist leader. But he was an American citizen who had the right of Due Process before he was killed.
Anyway Stephen Colbert did a piece on the use of drones in Tuesday's show. He also went over Al Qaeda's tips to avoid getting whacked by a drone. Funny stuff.
It's a dream of Democrats to turn Texas blue but it's going to happen. How? Texas is getting an influx of women, African Americans, Hispanics and young people. And sorry, you angry white guys, they're not conservative Republicans. Stephen Colbert interviewed the Democrat who is in charge of changing Texas, Jeremy Bird. Humorous stuff.
First Lady Michelle Obama was on Jimmy Fallon's show to do a skit called "The Evolution of Mom Dancing." She was dancing with Jimmy Fallon who was in drag. She also wanted to promote her "Let's Move" campaign which encourages parents to get up and move with their kids. First, Michelle Obama can dance. Second, she is one hip lady. Michelle Obama, that is. Check out the funny video below.
I always wondered why Mars is red. You know the expression, Mars is the Red Planet. Well, today we find out that the color of Mars is only as deep as the layer of dust which covers the planet. NASA' Mars rover Curiosity dug beneath the surface and found the rock beneath the dust was gray.
But back to the question of why Mars is red. According to this story from the Huffington Post, Mars gets its red color "from a surface layer of dust that has undergone a rusting process, during which iron was oxidized."
Yesterday's funny and entertaining 85th Academy Awards show with an opening by Seth MacFarlane featured a guest appearance by Captain Kirk (William Shatner) of Star Trek. Now in case you didn't know this, MacFarlane is a big tie Trekker. He even got to be in an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise. Lucky guy. Anyway, Mediaite posted the whole opening. Here it is. It was funny, well done and a mix of MacFarlane's edgy humor with Hollywood glamour.
Speaking of glamour, some in Hollywood need to loosen up. And I'm not talking about Quentin Tarantino. I mean the joke about Rihanna and Chris Brown where MacFarlane said that Django Unchained was a date movie because of its abuse of women wasn't that bad. He didn't endorse domestic violence. And the joke about Mel Gibson's racism was funny. Yet, some groaned at those jokes. His worst joke was the one about Lincoln and saying assassin John Wilkes Booth was in the President's head. MacFarlane was able to respond to the groans by saying it's been about one hundred forty eight years and "it's too soon?" Over all, I thought he was funny. Hey he got Tommy Lee Jones to laugh.
Even though the show was too long, it was one of the best Oscar shows in memory. Look, the commercials make the show too long. But I loved the tribute to the classic songs from film. Nice end number where Kristen Chenoweth and Seth MacFarlane sing Frank Sinatra's standard, "Here's to the losers" with lyrics written for the losers. Got to love the line about Bradley Cooper losing but getting to appear in Hangover IV.
It's that time of year again. It's time to hand out the Basement Blog Awards for the Oscar Awards telecast. This year was the 85th Annual Academy Awards. These are the best and worst moments of the show. :-) So without the fake banter, here are the awards.
1. Best Captain Kirk. The BB Award goes to William Shatner for the humorous opening skit. Yep, they brought William Shatner to play Captain Kirk one more time to give advice to host and big time Trekker Seth MacFarlane. This leads us to ...
2. Hey that guy can sing AND dance. Seth MacFarlane. Yeah, I knew that Seth could sing but he can dance. Okay, he's not Gene Kelly. Who's Gene Kelly you say? Oy. Young people. But he wasn't that bad. And the skit was a nod to the glamour of Hollywood's past and a little of MacFarlane's edgy humor. And Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) can sing and dance too.
3. Best musical decision. In the past, they would have the songs from the best song category performed. And frankly, that would kill the show. Let's face it. Not all songs are good for the show. This year they had the great music from film's past decorate the show. Yeah, I knew they were celebrating the music of film but it was inspiring. Dug the tribute to musicals and was glad that guest host John Travolta did not do that awful YouTube song with Olivia Newton John. And this leads us to...
4. They had the orchestra where?! I'm pretty sure the music was live . But the orchestra was not in the theater. It was at Capitol Records' studio. That's technology. And that brings us to...
5. Hooray for the technical awards. Won't remember who won but the effects that were delivered for Avatar and Rise of the Planet of the Apes were remarkable.
6. Classless move. Having the theme from Jaws interrupt a winner when he went long was well, classless.
7. There was a tie?! Hooray for Hollywood. In a subjective competition, sometimes the Oscar doesn't go to the best. Sometimes two films deserve the award. The Oscar for Sound Editing went to two great films. Skyfall and Zero Dark Thirty.
8. Worst joke. MacFarlane made a joke about assassin John Wilks Booth getting into President Abraham Lincoln's head. But he gets the next award...
9. Best comeback for a bad joke. MacFarlane then says it's been one hundred forty eight years and questions, "too soon?"
10. Fix that fu...ing tie! Quentin Tarantino. Come on QT. You're on worldwide television and you wear your tie like that? The tie was loose and hanging about half a foot from his neck. It looked like you started celebrating with the booze a little early.
11. Yeah, I know what George Clooney is going to do with that bottle of boooze. George Clooney. Seth MacFarlane threw a bottle of booze from the honor bar to Clooney. You know what George is going to do with that.
12. You got Barbara Streisand to sing "The Way We Were?" To Barbara and her tribute to composer Marvin Hamlisch.
13. You better stand and applaud. Dame Shirley Bassey. She sang the theme from Goldfinger. And at seventy six, she was as powerful as ever.
14. The Best Song. I don't care if Adele won for "Skyfall." It should go to "Everybody Needs a Best Friend" from Ted. First, host and Trekker Seth MacFarlane wrote the lyrics. Second, I'm a jazz fan and I love its beautiful jazz vibe. Check out the video below.
15. Best jokes. Daniel Day Lewis. He said he was slated to play Margaret Thatcher before Meryl Streep. Then he joked that he convinced Spielberg not to make Lincoln into a musical.
16. Sure to cause Rush Limbaugh's blood pressure to rise. Okay, they had First Lady Michelle Obama announce Best Picture. Yeah, all those right-wingers got to see the liberal-Hollywood connection.
17. Best ending to an Oscar show. Yes, it went over three hours long. But at the end, Kristen Chenoweth and Seth MacFarlane sang the classic, "Here's to the losers", a Frank Sinatra standard. The twist was that the lyrics were written for the losers of the night. Best joke. Chenoweth sings that Bradley Cooper will be doing Hangover IV.
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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