Can We Split the Country In Two Yet?

(The following is from 6/30/09...it fell into a dark and murky corner of the blog until now)

I was planning on ranting and raving a little about the new Transformers movie, but other people have already covered it pretty well. Yes, I enjoyed it, but it was still one of the worst directed/produced movies I've ever seen. There's currently a headline article on Yahoo news about the atrocious plot holes. I also came across a chuckle-inducing (but not family friendly) satirical question and answer session about the movie. It was basically supposed to be one friend asking another friend about the movie. Very well done. Bravo to whoever wrote it.

Even now, 2 days after seeing the film, I still have these random realizations of moments in the movie that made no sense. Such as....

Since when is there a giant field behind the Smithsonian filled with retired aircraft?
How are the presence of Transformers on Earth a secret despite an epic battle in the middle of Los Angeles in the first movie?
How is that humans can go to Robot Heaven?
Robot Heaven????
Why does a movie about giant alien robots have to focus so much on a teenage love story and have annoying side characters while perfectly good giant alien robots spend most of the movie either in the background, off screen, or not saying anything?
How come the movies weren't preempted with more Michael Jackson coverage?

I could go on and on....but like I said, others have already taken the movie (and its abysmal director) to task. Despite my many, MANY complaints - it was still an entertaining movie...but it could have been SO much better. Just let me direct it next time. Please. There won't be any Shia LaBeouf, no Meagan Fox, no annoying side characters (like pointless roommates who do nothing but scream and be non-funny), no love story, no slow-motion cut-scenes in the middle of a big battle, no massive plot holes at every turn, no pushing the awesome giant alien robots to the background of the movie while lame-o humans occupy most of the screentime, and no killing off giant alien robots before they've had a chance to establish themselves.

(The following is from today....fresher and unlike it's older friend, not scarred-for-life from spending a week alone in the dark)

So I went to the dermatologist yesterday to have a suspect spot on my temple examined. The doctor took a quick look, could not determine what exactly it was, and then decided it needed to be cut off. A couple of minutes later a small chunk of my skin was being prepared for its journey to a lab and I was left pondering the fate of my modeling career (I'm joking....geez....). Hopefully it will turn out to be nothing, but then again, it could be the big C word. And this got me to thinking....have you ever noticed that we as a culture seem to hold cancer survivors in some higher regard? Like veterans or firefighters. If two people are applying for a job with the exact same qualifications - but one happens to be a cancer survivor - you know who's getting hired. Now I'm not saying there's anything wrong with this....it's just an interesting component of our human nature.

Anyway, it's SO comforting when the doctor says "I don't know what that is....let's remove it," and then asks if there's a history of skin cancer in your family.

Seems like our government is still working diligently at driving our country into the ground. Cap and Trade, nationalized health care, ANOTHER stimulus plan....it's getting to the point where someone who openly wanted to ruin the US and had unlimited power to do so couldn't do much better of a job than those who are currently running the show. Ultimately the problem is too many of us are apathetic, too many of us are idiots, too many of us are too easily confused/misled, and too many of us have been raised (whether consciously or subconsciously) to view America as the bad guy in all situations. We all get lazy at times, we all can act stupidly, we all can get lost in rhetoric and politics. Unfortunately a growing chunk of the population seems to be all those things (and more) all the time. (I have a term for it...but I can't share it because I haven't copyrighted it yet...)

And this week Al freakin' Franken became a US Senator. So now you no longer have to have any credentials to hold any office in this country. None. We can start randomly selecting people to fill every position from President to Secretary of Education. How about the local Prom Queen? She doesn't need more experience - people like her, they look up to her, they voted for her, so she can bring people together. Plus she's really pretty and speaks so well!

Al Franken as a senator is the liberal equivalent of Ted Nugent or Jerry Falwell or some other extremist with no real experience or credentials getting elected to the same position. Actually Rush Limbaugh might be a better comparison, but at least he didn't become famous for being a comedian. Perhaps you're saying to your computer (or at least I know I can hear my own friends' snide voices in my head right now saying it), "oh, you're just saying that because he's a Democrat! If Rush Limbaugh or Clint Eastwood or Bruce Willis got elected as Republican Senators you'd love it and find nothing wrong with it! You're just a vicious stupid right-winger anyway! Nothing you say matters because you think unborn babies count for something! BOOOOOO!!!!!" (Okay, maybe I got carried away there....) The point is, I don't think Limbaugh as a senator would be a good thing, even though I think he would be a slightly less ridiculous choice than Franken if only because Franken spent most of his career being a comedian. Had Franken never been in the entertainment industry and instead spent all these years as a serious political commentator - then I would put him on equal standing with Limbaugh...and would still say it's ridiculous for either of them to be a senator. Clint on the other hand....I'm sorry, I'd have to vote for him. It's Clint Eastwood! He shoots no-good scoundrels and teaches personal accountability and self-reliance. He IS rugged individualism! Plus at least he's held public office before!