Star Trek – It was… okay.  The casting was terrific (me likey Zoe Saldana…), but the ship’s interior either looked like a milk processing plant (engineering section) or a super-futuristic doctor’s office (bridge, and just about anywhere else).  Oh, and the whole time travel thing is waaaay played out.  Try something totally new, guys.

Terminator: Salvation – I had super high hopes, was only slightly disappointed in some of the major plot holes.  Big plot holes, but hey, it was a movie about the Robot Apocalypse.  Meh.

Love the Beast – A documentary about Eric Bana’s obsession with his car.  I totally understand, man.

Crank: High Voltage – The first installment was pretty off-the-wall, but I just couldn’t rush out to the theater for this one.  Prolly won’t even rent it.

Earth – I see it all the time.  Just kidding.  But I have to be in a contemplative mood for this one…  but it looks beautifully shot.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine – I got sort of superheroed out.  Maybe a rental.

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian – I was scared away by the negative reviews.  Damn you, media, forcing me to not see this movie!

Up – Wow.  Really, really good.  I’m a Pixar whore, ’tis true – but this was a very moving movie.

Moon – I really do need to see this, even though I accidentally found out the twist.  The atmospheric production is right up my alley.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – As a commenter noted, Megan Fox’s… assets… required more, um, exposure.  Other than that, this movie was an absolute mess.  There’s a desert behind the Udvar-Hazy museum?  Really?

Bruno – Dammit, I should have seen this one in the theater, just to hear the crowd’s reactions.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – Good movie.  One of these days I’ll read the books to get a better understanding of what’s going on.

G.I. Joe: the Rise of Cobra – Forget it.  Looks LAME.

Inglourious Basterds – The “spaghetti western” concept was brilliant, but Tarantino sort of dropped it toward the end of the film.  He should have kept that theme strong until the end.  I wish this movie was based on a true story.  The world would be a slightly better place if it was.

World War Z – Looking forward to the Zombie Apocalypse.  I should read the book…

TRON 2.0 – Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!  So far, the trailers and still shots make TRON: Legacy look like a winner.  The story better be damn strong, though.  Tron (1982) was groundbreaking in the field of computer-generated imagery, but now the practice is so common that the screenplay absolutely must shine.  Oh, but Olivia Wilde is in it, so maybe the story won’t matter so much…

Her mind boggles my mind.

Plus she’s super duper hot.

Just sayin’…

The ending, though, was not quite what I wanted/expected.  In my mind, it was a major deviation from the comic, but it was well done, regardless.

So, I give it 8/10.

Watchmen

Star Trek

Terminator: Salvation

Love the Beast

Crank: High Voltage

Earth

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

Up

Moon

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Bruno

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

G.I. Joe: the Rise of Cobra

Inglourious Basterds

World War Z

Tron 2.0

Dear J,

You and other NAACP supporters sent more than 20,000 e-mails to billionaire publisher Rupert Murdoch. You demanded that he fire the people responsible for this racist cartoon in one of the papers he owns, the New York Post. Yesterday Mr. Murdoch personally apologized in the paper (though he needs to do a lot more).

When you make your voice heard, we are powerful.

I’m writing to ask you to take another step for change — make a donation to the NAACP to help support our campaign to force Mr. Murdoch to make the changes that will clean up the racism at the New York Post and make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Your tax-deductible gift of $25, $50, $100 — whatever you can — will help us continue our media and grassroots organizing campaign from New York to LA, Cincinnati to Birmingham. Later this week, NAACP members will be demonstrating across the country, demanding meetings with their local Fox affiliates.

Your tax-deductible donation to the NAACP will help keep this protest on TV, radio, and newspapers across the country… and help get a commitment from Mr. Murdoch to hire diversity in his newsrooms.

We’ve got an African American president, but a major New York newspaper runs a racist cartoon that seems like an invitation to assassination. You know what that means — you and I and the NAACP still have a lot of work to do. Your donation will help make it happen.

Sincerely,

Benjamin Todd Jealous

President and CEO

NAACP

Below is the “personalized” (pffft, whatever) message on the NAACP site you can simply sign your name to:

http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/2446/t/4676/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=1086

I want a REAL apology

I am writing you today to let you know I will not tolerate racist images and caricatures in your newspaper. I ask you to take immediate action to renounce the racist cartoon published in your paper on Wednesday showing two police officers, one with a smoking gun, standing over the body of a bullet-riddled chimp. This blatant exhibit of racism, comparing our commander in chief (also featured signing the stimulus bill on the issue’s facing page) to a dead chimpanzee is unacceptable, given the historic racist stereotypes of African-Americans as being synonymous with monkeys. I strongly urge the immediate firing of the Editor-in-Chief and all those involved in the decision to print the image. I also demand that the New York Post publish a full, unequivocal apology for the misguided decision to print the cartoon.

Your publication sadly reminded me of the reality that even in 2009, when an African American man holds the highest post in the nation, racism is alive and well in the United States, and that we have a long way to go to ensure civil and human rights of all people. There is no room for this kind of insensitivity and divisiveness – they only distract us from the real work that we need to do to foster an era of change, collaboration, and acceptance of all people.

As a supporter of the NAACP, and as citizen committed to ending racism and promoting civil rights for all people, I ask you to do better.

… and here is how I modified the message and sent it off:

I demand that NO apology be given by the NY Post

I am writing you today to let you know I will continue to expect cleverly satirical cartoons in your newspaper. I ask you to take immediate action to continue to defend the completely non-racist cartoon published in your paper on Wednesday showing two police officers, one with a smoking gun, standing over the body of a bullet-riddled chimp. This blatant exhibit of satire, comparing the authors of the Stimulus Bill to a dead chimpanzee is perfectly acceptable, given the historic joke about “infinite monkeys typing away”. I strongly urge the Editor-in-Chief and all those involved in the decision to print the image to go about their business. I also demand that the New York Post publish a full, unequivocal explanation of why the decision to print the cartoon should not be considered “controversial.”

Your publication reminded me of the reality that even in 2009, when an African American man holds the highest post in the nation, racism is alive and well in the United States, and that we have a long way to go to ensure civil and human rights of all people. The reason racism is alive and well is because of attention whores like Al Sharpton who go out of their way to find racism wherever they hope to see it, even if it’s not there. There is no room for this kind of insensitivity and divisiveness – they only distract us from the real work that we need to do to foster an era of change, collaboration, and acceptance of all people.  All of this is the fault of Al Sharpton and his cronies.

As a supporter of logic and reason, and as a citizen committed to ending racism and promoting civil rights for all people, I ask you to do better.  Continue to defend your cartoonist and his work, this piece in particular.

This whole thing is getting totally out of hand.  I am going to fight this thing just like I fight 9/11 conspiracy theorists.  I will not back down.

Fu_king wack-o liberal jerk-offs…  I used to support the ideals of the NAACP.

No more.

And NO, I am NOT racist.  I’m a human being, and I simply don’t see race as an issue in my life.  If others still choose to hang onto the old ways, whatever.  I’ve moved on.

Al Sharpton is the #1 enemy of race relations in the US.

The recent NY Post cartoon is NOT racist.

Without going into too much detail, you would have to be a bigoted idiot NOT to “get” the joke.

Read this:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_monkey_theorem

Good god, my country is going to hell because of hypersensitive PC freaks.

I disagree with this one-word assessment of me, based on what I wrote.

[Perhaps I could have written 10 pages about my 3-hour trip, but I didn't.  I cooked it down to a few sentences, leaving the essence of my experience.]

To the quick:  I am not a “racist.”  I am a realist.  Yeah, I’m white, but I never got anywhere because of it.  I don’t see race as an issue in my daily life.  I don’t see why anyone should, especially in the US.  What I mean is… I was hoping my generation would be the first to simply move on, move forward, and deal with each other based on our merits.  But folks just want to play the race card at any time they can.  Good god, that game is OVER.  People want to drag skeletons out of the closet that had been dealt with.   Then again, that’s how I feel.  Some folks just want to hold onto their pain.  Well, healing will never happen if you  don’t just let some things go.

Obama might do a good job (might – remains to be seen how many of his promises he will backtrack on), but a fair portion of his followers are off the deep end.  Instead of unity, I am still seeing divisiveness… non-inclusiveness… but from an unexpected direction.

A lot of people voted for him for all of the wrong reasons.  He’s young, he can read a prepared speech very well (but can’t wing it worth a damn), he promises “change”, and he’s not white.  All of these things appealed to a large portion of the potential voters, which actually got a lot more to vote than ever before.  Of course, I wonder how many people really, truly understand the issues facing our country, many of which are the result of  – gasp! – Clinton.

I’m not saying people should not have voted for Obama – far from it.  But if you voted for him out of a knee-jerk reaction, well, that’s just dumb.

Why is that all of a sudden people are pulling together, supporting each other, being nice to each other (at least, that’s the chrome on the plastic of reality now)?  Where was all this positive energy the last… 16 years?  You do remember the hoopla back in 1992, don’t you?  Don’t you?  Oh…. short attention spans.  Got it.

If you CHOOSE to be miserable you will BE miserable.  I think people made stupid financial decisions, fell into the trap of religion, and generally were self-serving pricks for the longest time, then found someone to blame.  Now, there’s a new sherrif in town to clean it all up.  Good.  Now is the positivity going to last?  Nope.  People will fall into their old patterns, screw up their own lives, and want someone to make things all better – all without looking in the damn mirror.

For the past year and a half, people on the street were asked who they were going to vote for.  It was disturbing that in a lot of cases, the person responded by saying something along the lines of, “Look at me.  Look at my skin tone.  Who do you think I’m going to vote for?  What a dumb question.”

Well, that really, really cheapens Dr. King, Jr.’s ideals, if you ask me.  A lot of civil rights heroes did not fight – and die – so that the pendulum would swing so far the other way for no reason other than Obama is black.  Do I feel ashamed to be white and from a dysfunctional lower-middle class white family, as if I had any choice in the matter?  Do I feel remorse for the crimes of whites (and blacks – never forget what the slave trade really entailed) who lived hundreds of years before me?

H   E   L   L       N   O

How can I be sorry for something I didn’t do, and I certainly would not have accepted?  I can only worry about my life, and moving forward.  I try to be positive about the present and future, only looking back to the past to know what not to do now and in the future.  I can’t mope about what was done then – I can only worry about what I’m going to do now.  Reparations?  How about sending a bill to Denver’s Latino community so that I can get compensated for the bike that was stolen out from under me by a punk 10 years older than me, way back in 1983?  Sounds fair to me.

I am who I am.  I was the only white kid in my neighborhood in Denver, so if you think I have no idea what it’s like being a minority, you can kiss my ass.  It sucks, yes, but there are opportunities if you choose to seek them out and take advantage of them.  And I did.

I was the first person in my immediate family (mom, aunts, uncles, grandpa,  grandma, cousins) to earn a degree.  That was in 1996.  As of this moment, only one other person has a degree, and that’s my mom.  I chose to go to school.  It was not easy, but it was necessary.

I got through college by taking out student loans available to just about anyone who is able to get into college in the first place.  I did not qualify for most grants (free money, a bit better than loans) becuase of my ethnic background.  That kind of stung, knowing I was part of the “elite”, and yet never, EVER tasted the fruits of this so called upper crust.

Long story short, Bush isn’t responsible for every single ill this country is currently enduring.  Some, but not all.  There is a lot of inertia in government, and the President only has so much power.  He’s a figurehead most of the time, but as an individual he is a lightning rod for criticism that should be directed at the idiots in Congress.  Yeah, he got us into Iraq – not the smartest move – but there is a big picture going on here.  Wow… that’s a subject for another post.  Move along.

I have seen that whites are still singled out as the “evil” that has caused so much misery in this nation.  Well guess what – I’ve lived my life knowing I’m a small  part of a great nation, and that our nation can draw strength from its diversity IF WE CHOOSE TO.

Oops, I think this post meandered all over the place.  I’m not necessarily the best communicator, especially when the ideas and concerns rolling around in my head don’t translate to a blog very well.

Then again, you didn’t have to read it.   Freedom of choice, and all that.

Yay.

Get over it already.

Please.

This whole circus is waaaaaaaay out of hand.  I hear cries of, “You didn’t vote for Obama?  What are you?  Racist?”

I took the Amtrak from Iselin, NJ to DC on Sunday afternoon, and boy, was it a borderline racism storm.

It all started when I took my seat and a crew member asked for my ticket.

I said, “How are you doing this afternoon?”

The reply: “Oh, lordy, I am just having an Obama day.”

Ummmmmmm….

WTF?!?

I let it slide, as she was part of a particular ethnic group (that shall remain nameless) that has been having Obamagasms ever since they first heard of the guy (sometime late in ’06 or early ’07, I think).

But wait, there’s more.

As we were pulling in to Union Station in DC, the conductor got on the PA system and said, “Thank you for riding Amtrak, and thank you for riding the Obama train! Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!”

The majority of passengers (but not all) around me were of the same ethnic background as the crew member I spoke with earlier, and boy, was everybody on board hoopin’ and hollerin’. It was like a big party on the stupid commuter train. Yay.

Again: WTF?!?

Amtrak is publicly funded through our taxes. Therefore, it is rather uncouth to use the PA on a commuter train to shout such… evangelical praises. Again, I let it slide, albeit with gritted teeth.

He is not our President YET.

He is not the “messiah” that everyone is making him out to be.

He is going to be our President. Later today. There’s this little thing called the Constitution…

I sincerely hope he is able to deliver on his promises, and to live up to the lofty expectations all those robo- I mean, conscientious voters – have heaped upon him.

I have no problem with his being elected. Actually, it sets quite the precedent that a non-WASP can get elected to the top office. Congratulations.

But jeez louise… tone it down a bit with the whole “racism” thing. It’s definitely a two-way street.

[/rant]