Rants and Raves about Movies, TV, Politics, and Current Events.
Thursday, April 24, 2003
Extra - Extra - There's so much Movie / TV news today I just had to post!!
Did you know this about Angel's ratings?
The WB's Angel, which remains "on the bubble" for renewal next season, last week delivered its best male demographic ratings in more than two years and the best adults 18-49 rating (2.3/6) since its season premiere, Variety reported.
Warner Brothers announced that it will release special, super-sized versions of The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions in Imax theaters in the spring and fall, Variety reported. Revolutions will open on the same day as the regular theatrical version, Nov. 5, the trade paper added, marking the first time that a Hollywood live-action event film is released concurrently in 35 mm and Imax's special 15/70 format.
The Imax version of Reloaded is set to open a few weeks after the film's 35 mm bow on May 15. There are 240 Imax theaters worldwide, the trade paper reported.
Milla Jovovich will star in the sequel to Resident Evil for Screen Gems and Constantin Film, Variety reported. Jovovich will reprise her role as the heroine who must search for ways to contain a deadly viral outbreak while trying to escape the ruined Raccoon City with fellow survivors, the trade paper reported.
Alexander Witt will make his feature-film-directing debut with the production, which is slated to begin in August in Toronto, the trade paper reported. Witt was second-unit director on Daredevil, XXX, Black Hawk Down and Hannibal.
Paul W. S. Anderson, who wrote and directed the first Resident Evil, wrote the sequel's script and will produce, with his Impact Pictures partner Jeremy Bolt and Constantin's Bernd Eichinger and Davis Films' Sam Hadida, the trade paper reported.
Well, something different for today, Thursday, April 17th's blog post. I received a very interesting email from a good friend of mine. He has been doing some reading of my blog and was very dissatisfied with the “little tiny response field”, a.k.a. the tagboard. So he took the time and effort to write his thoughts down in an email. So today’s posting is dedicated to my friend’s point of view.
Jason's Counter War Rant
hey - just read your blog. Had some things to answer, but much too long for the little tiny response field. That response field looks like a good place for the 'yes men' to cheer you on, but not such a good place for someone to go WTF YOU TALKING ABOUT!?!?
The US and aggressive expansionism: No, they have not started a war to get more land. Nor have they established any colonies anywhere. Except of course for Guam, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. But, the US has performed military and covert operations which have had the intent to install friendly governments. Friendly to whom? The US, of course. Now, I'm all for free speech, free markets and democracy, but WTF!?!?! They installed Saddam in the first place. He was a bastard dictator who oppressed his own people then, just as he is now. And when did the problems start with the US? When the war with Iran ended. So long as Iraq and Iran were at war, so far as the US was concerned it was GO SADDAM!!! Ditto Osama in Afghanistan against the Soviets. So, we can tell that the US is OK with setting up terrorist and oppressive goverments so long as 'they are on our side'. Back to my original point: ok, no real expansionist wars. But I fail to see a major difference between setting up a puppet government and just taking the damn place over and installing your own.
The US is just out to make life better for the poor oppressed people of the world. From the threats, it looks like Syria is next. Hey, why not North Korea? They ADMIT to building weapons of mass destruction and have the capability of hitting US soil!?!? Hey, Canada has nuclear power and nuclear weapons on its soil too. Oh wait. The weapons belong to the US.
The UN: The veto thing sucks, I agree. But based on population??!?!? OK there buddy. So, exactly how is the US going to get anything done against 200 million russians, 100 million french, 1 billion chinese, 1 billion indians, and 200 million US hating arabs? 300 million americans, 30 million canadians and 50 million brits. All numbers approximate, but my point is there. The veto in this case had nothing to do with the outcome.
Ok, end of my counter rant...
Point, Counter-Point
Thanks very much Jason for your contribution. Regardless of the sides we have chosen, let's not forget one of the best things about the world in which we both live and breath, we can disagree. And we can express that loud and proud on this blog. Perhaps it is time for the other 3/4 of the planet to have the same freedom. Ultimately, almost everyone seems to agree, there is nothing wrong with that. The question is, how do we get them there.
The method of doing so seems to be the real debatable issue. Is War the best way? Definitely, the answer is NO. But the results are achieved much sooner than waiting for the sanctions imposed by a limp UN security council that can’t stand up and do much of anything right. Perhaps there is no right way, but just seeing the pleasure in the face’s of the Iraqi people who have a sense that freedom is coming indicates that action, is better than inaction. Historically, the price of freedom has always been high. But having the good things in life usually does cost, even for someone buying a cooper mini.
The move into the new little starter home is complete. My wife and I still sit on our couch looking up at the 25 foot vaulted ceiling out the great room wall of windows at the stars and moon in the dark, clear night sky and say, "Wow, this is ours?". Still hard to believe!! Honest!
The cable modem is no more and a new dedicated phone line has been put in place for dial-up access to my beloved internet. However, I must tell you DIAL-UP REALLY REALLY SUCKS HARD!!!!! Damn I can't believe how ultra-crappy it is at times. Not all the time mind you, just when I get a busy signal, over and over and over, and then get on and something keeps pages from loading in under 15 mins. WTF?
WAR RANT - Part Four - Kinda
Well, I had Part Four all planned for this Thursday. As you can see, I've been forcing myself to keep the blog updated at least once per week. I'm sure not quiet enough for some of you blog junkies out there, but hey, give a guy a break.
But on the way to preparing this weeks update, something happened, They have all but taken over Baghdad. So my two items to discuss are going to be put on hold for this week. I mean come on, didn't you see the papers today? Don't you think those 5 million plus people seemed somewhat happy? Thankfull? Greatfull? Shocked their lives have all just gotten one step close to being better?
And surely you've read some of this stuff coming out of the fall. Did you get the shit France "Officially" stated? Please!!! What the F*#K? Don't pay a cent and try and back peddle saying, hey, it's all good!! Whatever!! Jacques Chirac is an ass, and so is Jean Chretian for being on the same side of an international issue as the French President.
And then there is this article. The one that actually vindicates my last blog posting!!! Check this shit out!! It's the war balance sheet I was looking for!! Not exact numbers, but validation that the money has been an issue. US proposes for France, Russia, Germany to write off loans to Iraq
Now the real problem starts. As many of you out there probably now realize, the war is not the real issue. It's only the first step. The bigger problems, which France, Russia, and Germany didn't have the guts to even consider dealing with is how do you rebuild that countries government? How do you help people who have been so badly abused for so long? At least the US and Britain want to try and help. No hiding their heads in the sand saying, well um, we don't want to introduce instability into the region, blah, f*#king blah, chaps my ass blah!! The whole god damn region is unstable because the first world has been selling weapons and military supplies to the third world!! Christ!! It's almost as if the crusades have been covertly been going on for years. The only difference is we are letting those people kill each other.
And then it all changes when we get a wake up call from someone with enough intellect to say, hey, let's stop killing each other and go kill them!! Ah, nothing like a common enemy to unit people eh? But now that the common enemy is gone in Baghdad, now all the petty bickering will start. I wanna piece, no we deserve a piece, no this is our birth right, and so on, and so on. So, the US had the Brass Balls to go in and oust the dictator, but my final thought for this posting is, does the UN have the Brass Balls to go in and focus these groups of people? Or will they just keep on fighting each other? As with most things, only time will truly tell.
Finally another WAR RANT is posted. Thank you for standing by...
The move into the new little starter home is complete. The wallpaper stripping and painting is still on going. The cable modem is no more and a new dedicated phone line has been put in place for dial-up access to my beloved internet. Pics will follow soon.
*** W A R N I N G *** Strong Opinion and Content Ahead
I have two issues to discuss for WAR RANT - Part Three. The first issue deals with the real reason so many of the big industrial countries like Russia and France did not go to war, their balance sheets. The second issue I want to discuss is the reality of where all these Peace Mongers live and how I wonder if they really know how good we have it!
Issue #1 - The Global Powers Balance Sheets
This first issue really chaps my ass!! I mean, how come the major news media has not tracked, exposed, or featured this as a headline story? Hum? What the good holy christ are they waiting for? I guess for me to do it!! Well, here I go!!
I stumbled across an interesting fact while reviewing a flash presentation over at http://www.msnbc.com, on the players involved in the Iraq dispute. One of the most interesting facts I learned was the amount of money owed to Russia by Iraq. According to this website / article I was reading, the Russian government is owed over $8,000,000,000.00 US dollars by Saddam and his regime.
Now great god damn, I thought to myself, and I knew it was myself, because I recognized the sound of my own voice in my head. I said self; no wonder they are threatening to use their veto power at the Security Council. No wonder Putin and his cronies don't want to go to war. If the regime changes, I'm sure the debt would be whipped out.
And then France started on the wagon of (insert cheesy French accent) "We too will veto!", and guess what, with a little more investigation I discovered they too had an issue over money. It wasn't until only recently that I discovered this when my wife and I were watching an excellent TV documentary, by FrontLine on PBS, called The Long Road to War. It's about three hours long and if you have a chance to view it, I would strongly recommend you do. It is all about the items, issues, and politics that have lead up to this latest confrontation with Iraq.
So anyway, back to my point about France. Their economy does over $2,000,000,000.00 US dollars a year in exports to Iraq. So France stands to lose a very valuable trading partner. But wait, not only that, but apparently according to this documentary, the French are also the ones who provided key elements to Iraq's nuclear program. Oh yes, can you believe this good F*#k'n shit? Get this, not only did France provide the scientists and their training to aid the Iraqis, but they even provided the F*#k'n depleted uranium required to make the F*#king bombs!!!! Holy Jumpin Jesus!!!! No wonder the American's want to rename their French Fries to Freedom Fries!!!!!! Enough to make you sick.
So Russia can't vote to go to war with Iraq because of the amount of debt they are owed, and we all know how much Russia needs money these days in post communist USSR. And, well, France just can't stand to lose one of their best trading partners. Ah so what if it is selling nuclear weapons and technology to a dictator. Big deal!! Well, at least we don't see America taking that stance thank god!!!
And hey, while I'm at it, let's just address the poor little peace mongers argument about "Who gave the US rights to nuclear arms?". Well, OK, that is a great question. Nobody is the answer of course. But nobody gave the Russians permission either. So what? We know that Russia and the US haven't killed mass quantities of their own people in recent history. Ok, maybe in the past the Russians killing their own soldiers in WWII was a little much, but hey, they are a changed country now, right?
Remember, the US and Canada are the only modern nations to never engage in the practice of war for the conquest of land. And just to stop you before you start with me on "What about the American Revolution?" bullshit question. I know someone has to be thinking it, come on, fess up. That wasn't about land, it was about self-determination. Big difference between the two. If you mention the slaughter of the Native Americans you might have a valid point, but why would I want to give you ammo against me?
Oh yeah, I'm running long here but F*#k it, it's my blog and my rant. Another item to point out is yeah, I know that the CIA empowered Saddam years ago. But so what. Does that mean the US meant for him to become a total F*#k'n asshole, kill his own people and threaten the world? I don't think so. At least the US has the balls to stand up and say, ya, he f*#ked up, ya, we put him there, but we'll take him out now. You bet your ass!!!!
Hey, if you're going for some Freedom Fries, bring me some back will ya? And speaking of ice cream here is the other issue I have.
Issue #2 - Peace Mongers don't know how good we got it
Oh man, these F*#k'n Peace Niks at these rallies really get my goat. I've talked to some friends about their thoughts on the war and many people don't support the war, but they also don't support tyranny. And they also believe the UN is broken and needs to be fixed. Come on, veto? F*#k Off with that load of horse shit!! The UN should be switching to weighted votes based on population, but don't give one country the power to overrule everyone else. How the mother F*#k can that be called fair? Hum? If one country doesn't get the best out of the deal for themselves, they turn everyone else down.
Anyway, if you look at most of these protestors they certainly don't look hungry. They don't even look afraid. They look totally defiant against the government and the police. Whatever!! That's cause they know they have rights blah blah blah. Please!!! Let's send these people over to Iraq for just one week. Let them see what it's like. Hell, send them down to Cuba. The Cuban's are cleaning out anyone, and their family, who might have spoken badly about Fidel recently. Why the hell do you think they are taking boats and planes hostage? Cause they are tired of the food? No f*#kin way!! It's cause if they stay in Cuba they'll end up dead!! In the US at least they can live in prison for a good long time and get food, water, and clothing. Hell, they'll even get a paid job and family visits!!
So our protestors certainly do have the right to their demonstrations, and their opinions, but I really wonder if any of them ever stop to think what living in the other 2/3 of the world would be like. I wonder if they can even begin to remember the sacrifice our grand parents generation made to stop the evil forces of WWII? Why are people's memories such F*#k'n short? Aren't we suppose to learn from history? Thankfully some of us do. For the rest, F*#k'em. Let them get a little pepper spray and clubbed in the head. It ain't nothing compared to the bullet in the throat they would get else where in the world!!!
And with that pleasant note, I end this WAR RANT - Part Three. As always, please, let me know what you think, good, bad, or indifferent. And tell me if my writing sucks, I can take it, I'm a big boy now. I can even spell dam right!!! ;-)