The Daily Show takes on town hall nuts

Thank The Daily Show and Jon Stewart for taking on those crazy rightwingers at congressional town hall meetings who only want to shout and drown out those that support President Obama's plans to fix health care. Look, we can civilly debate these issues and you rightwingers should be concerned about the costs and the effects on the deficit but can we stop with calling Obama a Nazi? Oh and by the way, Sarah Palin, Factcheck.org has debunked your euthanasia or death panel claims. I've posted Jon's take with a hilarious commentary panel on the alleged "death panels." You can see why this show is award winning.

Same Old Bengals

I want to start my Bengals stuff with something positive. After all, we're four days away from the first preseason game against the Saints. But that's impossible with this club, because you had to think the Bengals first round draft choice, Andre Smith would holdout, not because of where he was picked (sixth overall) but because of the red flags. It's a pattern that Bengals repeat with remarkable frequency. Choose talent over character. I mean look at Chris Henry. Granted, this year he's been a model citizen but considering his run ins with the law, it begs the question, why give this guy so many chances.

The problem with bad character guys is that you can't depend on them. If they're going to act badly off the field there's nothing to indicate that won't happen on the field. And if they're off field problems interfere with their ability to play football, why pick them? Remember Stanley Wilson's cocaine induced drunkenness which kept him out of Super Bowl XXIII? Bad character off the field hurts the team. Look, I'm all for giving people multiple chances but when they demonstrate they don't care about the team, it's time to change your policies and stop picking these guys.

The Bengals needed to draft an offensive tackle because of the need to revamp their offensive line with injuries to Levi Jones, and last year's loss of Willie Anderson. It was almost a year ago when we saw what would happen if the line failed. In a preseason game against the Saints, Carson Palmer had his nose broken. This year Levi's gone and so is center Eric Ghiaciuc. You've got to protect your franchise quarterback or else the season is over. Just like it was when Carson went down last year.

That brings us to offensive tackle Andre Smith. Look, I admit he's a huge talent. He won the Outland Trophy for 2008. But Pro Football Weekly in their 2009 draft guide rates Virginia's Eugene Monroe ahead of Smith. Yes, it might be choosing between chocolate and vanilla. But the Bengals should have heeded the red flags. Those red flags include getting suspended before the Sugar Bowl for allegedly dealing with an agent. Then he left the NFL Combine early. And he was unimpressive at his pro-day workout. These are important events in his professional career and he intentionally botched them. (This wikipedia article details all of these events.) Pro Football Weekly says he has "[q]uestionable character." Pg. 61. So, why should we believe he would come to camp, to start his professional career on the right note? Nothing. Same old Bengals.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra Movie Review

I went to see this G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, thinking I'm going to write my first negative review for this blog. I wasn't wrong. This movie is constant action and that's a bad thing. The audience is pounded into their seats with explosions and CGI effects. There's no room to breathe. The writing is stupid and the whole thing feels like a live action cartoon or an ad for G.I. Joe toys.

The movie starts with the beginning of Cobra, in the seventeenth century. James McCullen is punished with a metal mask because he's dealing arms to the English and the French. We flash forward to his descendant, James McCullen (Chrisotpher Eccleston) head of the the armament company MARS, who has just sold to NATO four missiles armed with nanotechnology. These nano-mites or micro-robots can eat through any metal and can also control human behavior. Wait a minute, I beginning to think this is a movie about the military industrial complex. Do you think with a name like MARS (Roman god of war), our leaders will figure out that this company is interested in propagating war? Um, no on both counts.

Anyway, Duke (Channing Tatum) and Ripcord (Marlon Waylons) are assigned to transport the warheads. During the trip, they are attacked by Cobra agents led by the Baroness (Sienna Miller) They are unsuccessful in stealing the missiles when agents of G.I. Joe, an elite NATO unit, saves them. The Baroness returns to Scotland to encourage her husband to kill the King so he may assume the throne. Okay, that last part is the plot to Macbeth. Duke and Ripcord join Joe led by General Hawk. (Dennis Quaid)

Eventually, Cobra gets the missiles. They attempt to destroy Paris but are only able to topple the Eiffel Tower, thanks to a save by Duke. I'm really surprised that the French let Paramount film this goofy movie in Paris but remember the French think Jerry Lewis is a god. Anyway, Cobra launches the missiles at Washington and Moscow. Their plan is to cause chaos so the world will follow the U.S. President who will be replaced by one of their agents. Hold on, those crazy Birthers may have something here. Maybe Cobra planted fake news stories of Obama's birth in the Honolulu papers so they could put a Kenyan in the presidency. We've got to check his blood for micro-robots! Okay, you crazy Birthers don't get any ideas.

I'm not sure if Director Stephen Sommers (The Mummy, Van Helsing) understands acting. I mean Quaid as Hawk merely mouths his lines in as macho manner as possible. You could have programmed a computer to deliver them. Sienna Miller struts around as if she were walking the runway at a fashion show. The humor, I hope it's humor, doesn't work because the film is so god awful stupid, you can't tell if the movie is serious. For example, a fight between a young Snake Eyes and Storm Shawdow in a kitchen is interrupted by Snake Eyes grabbing a biscuit to eat before he continues to pummel Shadow. And why do the women Scarlett (Rachel Nichols, the green Orion girl in Star Trek, Alias) and the Baroness not wear armor but those clinging black leather costumes that Diana Rigg made famous in the Avengers? Never mind, I get that one.

I really hope this movie does well. Seriously. I want Mel Brooks to do a spoof of it. Besides the movie ends with a cliff hanger with a fake President (Jonathan Pryce, probably saying to himself, "Wasn't I in Barbarians at the Gate?") now in office. Maybe G.I. Joe will demand his birth certificate. There are some good things about his movie. I love big battles with hundreds of actors. It's never boring but so is getting your teeth drilled without novocaine. The grade is "C."


Sienna Miller. Oh, that's why she's not wearing body armor.

Those Crazy Birthers, Part 5

Finally, the conservative World Net Daily has declared Attorney Orly Taitz's Kenyan Obama birth certificate a fake. You think? Would it be too much to ask Ms. Taitz to authenticate the document by say CONTACTING THE KENYAN GOVERNMENT. What's Keith Olbermann's take? Here it is.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Julie and Julia Film Review

I'll have to admit that I like cooking. To me it's an art. Enjoying good food is universal and making it to please individuals is no different than pleasing an audience with your singing. That's one reason I looked forward to seeing Director and writer Nora Ephron's Julie & Julia. The film is based on two real life women, Julia Child and Julia Powell. Ephron developed her script on Julia Child's "My Life In France" and Julie Powell's "Julie and Julia." And I am happy to say it is a delightful comedy-drama. The film is like a well cooked meal, you won't go away hungry. It certainly would be a great twin bill with Pixar's Ratatouille.

Julie Powell is played Amy Adams. Her day job is to receive calls from the Lower Manhattan Development Project which dealt with the reconstruction lower Manhattan after the 9-11 attacks. Frustrated by her career, and envious of her more successful friends, she looks for direction in her life. She decides to cook every recipe in Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" for a year and blog about it. Julia Child is played by Meryl Streep. She's married to a Paul (Stanley Tucci), former OSS agent and a diplomat stationed in post war Paris, France. She also looks for direction in her life. Though, Child herself worked for the OSS, she's bored until she enrolls in the prestigious French cooking school Le Cordon Bleau.

Child throws herself into the challenge of cooking French cuisine even though she's looked down upon by the male dominated profession and the school's uptight administrator. With talent, good humor and energy, she masters the art of French cooking. Later, she embarks on the task of writing a book about French cooking that would take her years to achieve. Meryl Streep does more than just an imitation of Child's high pitched voice. She gives Child wit, warmth and energy.

Powell, has an equally difficult task. First, she must overcome the post 9-11 malaise especially since she must hear from victims. Then she must not let her narcissistic impulses derail her task and marriage at the same time. Amy Adams gives a wonderful performance that demonstrates Powell's vulnerabilities.

Director Nora Ephron's films can get cloyed with sentimentality. See Sleepless in Seattle. But her writing on When Harry Met Sally looked at men and women relationships without the over the top romantic flourishes. It demonstrates she can write more realistically and in that movie reach classic heights. In Julie & Julia, she curbs her sentimental impulses say for one musical cue featuring a soft rock song where the singer telegraphs Adams' emotions after a fight with her husband. But overall, her toned down approach works. The film is warm and vibrant. It has the same common appeal of enjoying a great meal.

One test for a great movie is whether the viewer wishes to see it again. After sharing the two womens' journeys, I would love to order this dish again. The grade is "A."

King Lehr leads Reds over Cubs

Last night Justin Lehr pitched a complete game shutout over the Chicago Cubs. Didn't the Reds sell this guy to Korea last year? Okay, I know it's not a World Seres Championship but winning last night stopped a terrible eight game losing streak. And for you that hated the Scott Rolen trade, his two run jack was the winning margin. Here's the story with videos.

Cute Cat Video

There's an article in Entertainment Weekly about the current craze over cat videos. (Aug 7, pg. 37.) Nora the cat has gotten millions of hits. What is the matter with you people! So, I checked out one of the article's highest rated video. It's "Maru and the Big Box." Check out the multiple camera angles and editing.


Fascinating Captain, this video has a tranquilizing effect on the human nervous system. Fortunately for me... Ahhhh. it's so cute. Now the article also cites the politically incorrect and hilarious site called Cats that look like Hitler. It's a riot. Stop complaining about its inappropriateness. You laughed at "The Producers" and "Springtime for Hitler." Didn't you?