With their first draft pick and ninth overall, the Cincinnati Bengals gambled big time by selecting Washington wide receiver John Ross. The weaknesses are his size. 5' 11". 190 pounds. It's a little small for the NFL. The bigger problem is that he missed 2015 with an ACL injury. The upside is that he has blazing speed. He broke the 40 yard dash record for the NFL combine. He runs good routes. He's played defensive back so he knows how to exploit defenders. That should translate to an ability to outrun defensive backs and get open. But with that injury, I judge this to be a high risk-high reward draft pick. The grade is C Plus because of the risk. Check out his video highlights from last year below.
Friday, April 28, 2017
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
Kingsman: The Golden Circle trailer
Hooray. Here's the first trailer for the sequel to the Kingsman: The Secret Service, called "Kingsman: The Golden Circle." Wait a minute. That's Harry Hart (Colin Firth) at the end of the trailer. Didn't he get shot in the head and killed in the first one? Oh, well, maybe Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson) missed.
Shut up Ivanka Trump
First Daughter Ivanka Trump was booed and received hisses when she said this at an international conference about women's entrepreneurship,
“I’m very proud of my father’s advocacy, (regarding family leave) ” she said, calling him “a tremendous champion of supporting families and enabling them to thrive.” Politico, April 25, 2017
Your father does not support families or women. Repeal of Obamacare will leave millions without health insurance. Defunding Planned Parenthood will leave women without health care. We all know about how he bragged about using his celebrity to sexually assault women. And he's been accused by women of sexually harassing them. So Ivanka, "Shut up." Oh, but please keep trying to moderate your crazy father. He does have the nuclear codes.
One last thing. I love this question from the moderator, Miriam Meckel.
“The German audience is not that familiar with the concept of a first daughter. I’d like to ask you, what is your role, and who are you representing, your father as president of the United States, the American people, or your business?”
Ms. Meckel, may I add that the American people are not familiar with the concept of a first daughter as political advisor.
“I’m very proud of my father’s advocacy, (regarding family leave) ” she said, calling him “a tremendous champion of supporting families and enabling them to thrive.” Politico, April 25, 2017
Your father does not support families or women. Repeal of Obamacare will leave millions without health insurance. Defunding Planned Parenthood will leave women without health care. We all know about how he bragged about using his celebrity to sexually assault women. And he's been accused by women of sexually harassing them. So Ivanka, "Shut up." Oh, but please keep trying to moderate your crazy father. He does have the nuclear codes.
One last thing. I love this question from the moderator, Miriam Meckel.
“The German audience is not that familiar with the concept of a first daughter. I’d like to ask you, what is your role, and who are you representing, your father as president of the United States, the American people, or your business?”
Ms. Meckel, may I add that the American people are not familiar with the concept of a first daughter as political advisor.
Monday, April 24, 2017
Liberals must stop trying to censor speech
Liberal Bill Maher criticized progressives because the University of California at Berkeley, cancelled a speech by right-wing author Ann Coulter. She was later re-invited. (The Blaze, April 22, 2017 See I can cite conservative news outlets.) He called attempts to stifle speech by progressives as the "liberal version of book burning" on his HBO show Real Time.
Yes, I agree with Maher. Come on my fellow liberals. We believe in the Bill of Rights. You know, The First Amendment which guarantees free speech. And that means tolerating speech we don't agree with. Because it's out of this marketplace of ideas that truth can come out. The First Amendment protects conservatives as well as liberals.
Second, it is wrong for liberals to resort to violence when protesting these right-wingers. We, liberals are better than that. Don't give right-wing conservatives ammunition to attack our ideas based on lawlessness. Think about Gandhi and how he achieved justice through non-violence.
Yes, I agree with Maher. Come on my fellow liberals. We believe in the Bill of Rights. You know, The First Amendment which guarantees free speech. And that means tolerating speech we don't agree with. Because it's out of this marketplace of ideas that truth can come out. The First Amendment protects conservatives as well as liberals.
Second, it is wrong for liberals to resort to violence when protesting these right-wingers. We, liberals are better than that. Don't give right-wing conservatives ammunition to attack our ideas based on lawlessness. Think about Gandhi and how he achieved justice through non-violence.
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
New Pirates of the Caribbean trailer has Keira Knightley in it
The new international trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales has Keira Knightley in it. For you who don't know the series, she was in the first three films. I guess I'm going to have to look at Pirates of the Caribbean: At the World's End to see how they write her and her love Will (Orlando Bloom) back into the new sequel. Anyway, check out the trailer below. Knightly shows up at the 1:04 mark.
Monday, April 17, 2017
My reintroduction to this song from Kool and the Gang
I was vaguely aware of this song. But when I played Grand Theft Auto, I believe it was Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, I got to know it again. The song was "Hollywood Swinging" by Kool and the Gang. You can dance to it at the club. Thank you Lentarian for posting this on Youtube.
Friday, April 14, 2017
Dance with Gloria Estefan and The Miami Sound Machine with the song "1-2-3"
Time to get happy and dance. Here's Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine with the song "1-2-3." Look at the hair of everybody in the video! Well, it is 1988.
Jimmy Kimmel's hilarious parody ad for United Airlines
Some of you are flying this weekend, so remember sometimes airlines overbook flights and if it's the airlines' employees who need the seats, bad things can happen. Ask the doctor who was dragged off a United Airlines flight. So, enjoy this video from Jimmy Kimmel and his riotous parody ad for United Airlines as you wait for your flight. Caution fake ad has bleeped out cuss words. Enjoy.
Thursday, April 13, 2017
SNL: Trump with O'Reilly post sexual harassment scandal
In this hilarious Saturday Night Live skit, it's President Donald Trump with Bill O' Reilly on his Fox News show. Alec Baldwin plays both. And he's even better as O' Reilly than Trump. In real life Trump defended O'Reilly against sexual harassment charges. So, enjoy the irony of this skit. Emmy Award winning material here.
SNL questions why poor white people vote for Trump
In this Saturday Night Live's cold open, the show asks the question, "Why did poor white people vote for Trump?" I mean he stands for nothing that helps them. In the skit, Alec Baldwin as Trump visits Boone County, Kentucky to listen to his poor white supporters. I wonder why Kentucky hated Obama so much. Hmm... Obama vs. Trump. Didn't hate Democrat Bill Clinton. What is the difference? Hmm.. .
Ghost in the Shell review
Ghost in the Shell is the live action film of the Japanese manga and the 1995 anime movie of the same name. Like its source material, the movie takes place in a futuristic Japan where humans and machines can merge to form cyborgs. Scarlett Johansson plays the Major, a cyborg cop with a human brain but a robotic body. She's part of a police force called Section 9. At he beginning of the movie, she interrupts an attack on a Hanka Robotics executive. Unfortunately, the executive is "hacked" and killed. Soon, other Hanka executives are killed and it's up to the Major to find out why.
Okay, let me first say that I am an Asian American and have a unique view of this movie. So, I need to address one of the major controversies surrounding this film. that is the whitewashing of the Major character. Having seen the anime, there's no question this is a Japanese movie with Japanese characters. The anime's Major is not only rank only. She has a Japanese name. Motoko Kusanagi. In the anime, she looks Japanese. She is Japanese.
Does that create a problem for this live action version? Yes. In baseball parlance, there's a strike against it before it even steps up to the plate. Placing Johansson who is white in a movie which takes place in Japan and playing a Japanese woman removes the Japanese character of the material. Yeah, there can be a reason for the Major to be a white person but the movie never explains it. I'm guessing it would be too racist to explain in that the theory would be white people are more attractive and are better models for robots. Or maybe it's a metaphor for Hollywood. Again, none of this is really part of this film. Setting this movie in Japan and putting a white person in place of Japanese one is a slap to people of color. Would you cast a white man as Kunte Kinte for a Roots remake? And yes, it cuts both ways. Casting an African American as Johnny Storm in the dull Fantastic Four (2015) was wrong also since in the comics he was white. The producers of this movie would have been better off if they just removed the whole thing from Japan and put it in New York.
Okay, what about this remake? First, let me make some cinematic heresy. The 1995 anime was mesmerizing but suffered from a lack of exposition. Who is Section 9? Who is Section 6? In the new film, Jamie Moss, William Wheeler and Ehren Kruger's screenplay stays away from that mess but changes the theme from "what is life?" to "what defines our humanity?" That's better handled with a Data-lkie character of Star Trek who has no human parts. They add a one dimensional villain in the CEO of Hanka whose motive is corporate greed. And let's hope this was not at the insistence of the movie's Chinese producing partners. The problem in this movie was it should have been longer. Yeah, longer. I wished it would have told me more about this cyberpunk future. Tell me more about the people. The charismatic Juliette Binoche plays a mother like figure in scientist Dr. Ouelet. Well, the movie needs more fleshing out of her character to justify her actions.
Director Rupert Sanders has made a movie with stunning visuals. It's a crowded Japan with huge futuristic holographic ads. They stand up well with the now classic neo-noir science fiction classic Blade Runner. I just wish there was more of this world on the screen. Action pieces are well made. Some of them suffer from a lack of originality since they were literally ripped from the 1995 anime.
Ghost in the Shell is like one of the movie's robots except without the human brain. It's empty and inert. Time may be kinder to this film but it will be an example of Hollywood whitewashing for its existence. The grade is B Minus.
Okay, let me first say that I am an Asian American and have a unique view of this movie. So, I need to address one of the major controversies surrounding this film. that is the whitewashing of the Major character. Having seen the anime, there's no question this is a Japanese movie with Japanese characters. The anime's Major is not only rank only. She has a Japanese name. Motoko Kusanagi. In the anime, she looks Japanese. She is Japanese.
Does that create a problem for this live action version? Yes. In baseball parlance, there's a strike against it before it even steps up to the plate. Placing Johansson who is white in a movie which takes place in Japan and playing a Japanese woman removes the Japanese character of the material. Yeah, there can be a reason for the Major to be a white person but the movie never explains it. I'm guessing it would be too racist to explain in that the theory would be white people are more attractive and are better models for robots. Or maybe it's a metaphor for Hollywood. Again, none of this is really part of this film. Setting this movie in Japan and putting a white person in place of Japanese one is a slap to people of color. Would you cast a white man as Kunte Kinte for a Roots remake? And yes, it cuts both ways. Casting an African American as Johnny Storm in the dull Fantastic Four (2015) was wrong also since in the comics he was white. The producers of this movie would have been better off if they just removed the whole thing from Japan and put it in New York.
Okay, what about this remake? First, let me make some cinematic heresy. The 1995 anime was mesmerizing but suffered from a lack of exposition. Who is Section 9? Who is Section 6? In the new film, Jamie Moss, William Wheeler and Ehren Kruger's screenplay stays away from that mess but changes the theme from "what is life?" to "what defines our humanity?" That's better handled with a Data-lkie character of Star Trek who has no human parts. They add a one dimensional villain in the CEO of Hanka whose motive is corporate greed. And let's hope this was not at the insistence of the movie's Chinese producing partners. The problem in this movie was it should have been longer. Yeah, longer. I wished it would have told me more about this cyberpunk future. Tell me more about the people. The charismatic Juliette Binoche plays a mother like figure in scientist Dr. Ouelet. Well, the movie needs more fleshing out of her character to justify her actions.
Director Rupert Sanders has made a movie with stunning visuals. It's a crowded Japan with huge futuristic holographic ads. They stand up well with the now classic neo-noir science fiction classic Blade Runner. I just wish there was more of this world on the screen. Action pieces are well made. Some of them suffer from a lack of originality since they were literally ripped from the 1995 anime.
Ghost in the Shell is like one of the movie's robots except without the human brain. It's empty and inert. Time may be kinder to this film but it will be an example of Hollywood whitewashing for its existence. The grade is B Minus.
SNL: Fail on Internet Activisim
In an effort to be fair and balanced, Saturday Night Live ridiculed liberals for using the internet to express opinions and try to change the world. It's a music video called "Thank You, Scott." In the video below, a citizen named Scott shares an article on Facebook to express outrage over an injustice with his eighty four friends.
The problem with SNL's point is that it fails to understand the concept of free speech on the internet. You see Scott shares his article with eight four friends. They may share it with their friends. Maybe those who see it, become hundreds. Then those hundreds become thousands. Maybe those thousands rise up and don't vote for say, conservative Republicans. Then the world changes. SNL, that's the power of free speech.
If SNL wants to satirize liberals, I suggest they actually find some wrongdoing by them. Examples include Anthony Weiner and John Edwards' scandals. Going after liberals for the sake of going after liberals makes some inaccurate and unfunny comedy.
The problem with SNL's point is that it fails to understand the concept of free speech on the internet. You see Scott shares his article with eight four friends. They may share it with their friends. Maybe those who see it, become hundreds. Then those hundreds become thousands. Maybe those thousands rise up and don't vote for say, conservative Republicans. Then the world changes. SNL, that's the power of free speech.
If SNL wants to satirize liberals, I suggest they actually find some wrongdoing by them. Examples include Anthony Weiner and John Edwards' scandals. Going after liberals for the sake of going after liberals makes some inaccurate and unfunny comedy.
Tuesday, April 4, 2017
Last trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2
From what I've read this is the last trailer for Guardian of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 before its May release. And unfortunately, the end of the trailer reveals that Star-Lord's father is Darth Vader. I kid. It's Kurt Russell as Ego. Oh, well there goes the surprise. Though I love Russell. Good stuff. Can't wait.
Equal Pay Day
Today is Equal Pay Day. It marks the day of the year where women must work into the year to earn what men make for the prior year. "Overall, women employed full time, year-round in the U.S. are paid 80 cents for every dollar paid to men." Huffington Post. Something to think about.
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