Candidates Fall Down Go Boom

If you can’t figure out why I chose Konfetti Ka-BOOM as today’s fractal you probably shouldn’t be reading my blog. Ah well--on with today’s commentary. . .
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It seems the Presidential race is down to two candidates on both the Republican and Democratic side with the departure of John Edwards and Rudy Guiliani. Yes, Mike Huckabee is still in the race (for now) but I don’t think he has a real chance to win this election. (He may well end up being the VP Candidate if McCain wins the nomination). There are also a few candidates still on the fringe of things but none of them ever had a real shot at the Presidency.
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Did John Edwards ever have a real chance at becoming the next President? I doubt it. He seems like a nice guy but when his former running mate John Kerry endorsed Barach Obama then I knew it was pretty much over for him. Rudy Guiliani couldn’t even get his own children to endorse him. Add that his one claim to fame was his anti-terrorism record (which suddenly nobody cares about) and he was pretty much doomed. (Still, I found his views some of the more reasonable of the Republican candidates: personally I'm sorry to see him gone fro the race.) I’ll leave it to wiser, more in tune, political observers to discuss the bad choices both men made in their campaigns. Both races are still worth watching.
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On the Republican side John McCain is disliked by may of his party who call him a “Rhino” (Republican In Name Only). He’s strong on defense but admits he’s weak on the economy (which seems to be the driving issue in this year’s election.) Mitt Romney is beloved by the Republican right but he doesn’t seem to be resonating with centrist Republicans and Independents. Also, as of yesterday (January 30) I heard he had chosen NOT to buy expensive TV time for “Super Tuesday” (and that isn’t a good sign for his campaign.)
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Hilary Clinton and Barach Obama are beating the crap out of each other. (Frankly BOTH of them need to heed Ronald Regan’s “Eleventh Commandment”--thou shalt not run down a fellow party member.) Clinton has the machine and the experience but she is hated with a passion by many (Republicans and Independents alike) for reasons I could never fathom. (Lance!) Obama brings youth and a new voice to the political discussion (and personally I approve of his long-time vocal stance against the war in Iraq.) Still his lack of experience in international politics could be trouble down the line. I also worry about another “Jimmy Carter Presidency” (he was a political outsider that ended up getting hamstrung by both Democrats and Republicans alike because he didn’t play the political game).
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Whoever ends up running this is going to be the most interesting (not to mention VITAL) election in my lifetime. Democrat or Republican, it won’t really matter WHO wins the election it won’t really affect the average American all that much. In the end the wrangling between the President and Congress won’t allow huge changes in law to be made (since the days of bi-partisan cooperation seem to be long over). HOWEVER--four, possibly even FIVE Justices may well retire from the Supreme Court. Whoever fills those vacancies could change the course of law in the United States for the next forty years--and THAT is of vital importance to all of us. Whichever way you lean it is vitally important that you let your voice be heard in this year's election.

Meet the Spartans: sledgehammering an Epic

You’ll have to follow my chain-of-thought to see why I picked Ares as the fractal for today’s post. (As chains go, this one is fairly simple.) “Ares” (the God of War and most favored of the Spartans. I will be reviewing Meet the Spartans so I chose Ares. (It’s not like I had a lot of other choices but still…)
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As long as there has been Drama there has been parody. When movies were invented it was inevitable that parody would make its way to the screen. And if ever there was a movie ripe for parody it was 300, Therefor it was pretty much inevitable that Meet the Spartans would come to theaters.
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Meet the Spartans follows the basic plot of 300--it is a parody after all. The movie aims low, going for the obvious jokes. It gleefully and frequently skewers the blatantly homoerotic elements from the other movie (of which there are many.) It also throws in references to many other popular movies, televisions and pop culture. (There is almost as many punches at American Idol as there are at 300.) There are quite a few laughs but many of the jokes made me cringe (and I wasn’t the only on cringing in the crowded theater where I saw the film) but that is only to be expected in a movie like this. A few sequences went on too long but most scenes passed quickly enough so the viewer doesn’t have a chance to get bored.
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British Actor Sean Maguire looks pretty and seems to have fun in his role as King Leonides. Carmen Electra as Queen Margo isn’t called on to stretch her talent (or much more than look hot) but she does a fine job. Former Hercules hunk Kevin Sorbo looks vaguely uncomfortable as Captain (yes, that’s the title of his role) through the whole movie. I loved watching him his French kiss and his comment of “man boobs” was one a real highlight for me. Ken Davitian (the fat guy from Borat) as Xerxes gets the single best joke in the movie (which I won’t repeat here.) The rest of the cast seems to have fun with their parts and totally gets in to the movie: none of them will win Oscars for their work but they do well for what they are asked.
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Is Meet the Spartans a movie for the ages? Not hardly. Is it a fun, mindless movie for a rainy afternoon or dull Saturday night? Absolutely! Should you make a special trip to “Blockbuster” to rent it when it comes out on DVD? (sarcasm on) No--but if you happen to pick it up it’s a nice-enough diversion for fans of low comedy.
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FINAL GRADE: C

CORRECTION TO THE PREVIOUS POST

Today’s post begins with a fractal called What’s This? I picked it because I don’t have a fractal called Eating Humble Pie or even Oops. It seems I have made an error so, in the spirit of honesty and full disclosure I find I must make a correction.
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Jane Kazor was kind enough to respond to my last post and pointed out an error. (Read her full comment and my reply in the “comments” on the previous post.) It turns out she did NOT file suit against the Huntington Beach High School District. According to her, she merely had the Pacific Justice Institute write a letter of complaint to the district. She says no lawsuit is planned (for which I am eternally grateful--as I am sure is the School Board.) I got a mistaken impression from reading an article in the Orange County Register. Since my last post the HBHSD has adopted a formal policy regarding movie view in their school.
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So, in conclusion, my apologies to Jane Kazor, the Pacific Justice Institute or anyone else who may have been upset or hurt by any inadvertent inaccuracies in my previous post. In future I will endeavor to be more careful in my fact-checking.

Of Serendipity and "Rainy-Day Banana Pudding"

Today's post begins with a fractal called Sunny Flower. I picked it largely because it was yellow and green (like bananas) and because the shape looked like tropical leaves. It's a very slim connection but you can't always have a perfect connection between every image and post. ANYway--on with the post!

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Serendipity. The word has fallen out of fashion and that’s really too bad because it has such a wonderful definition. The Dictionary defines “serendipity” as “an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident.” It can also be defined simply as “good fortune” or “luck.” I’m going to take a break from the movie reviews and random rants to tell you about a bit of serendipity that happened to me.
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The Saturday after New Year’s Day is almost my least favorite day of the whole year. That’s the day all the Christmas stuff comes down at our house--putting an end to the holiday season. That's the day the season is officially over and lets me know it's time to go back to the dull, Real World and all it's problems. It never helps that the day always seems to be gray and cold. This past Saturday (January 5) the day was compounded by a night of hard rain and the promise of even more rough weather to come. We’d had an indifferent lunch (at a Restaurant that’s usually pretty good) when I saw they had Banana Pudding on the menu! (At $4.95 no less--and that for a single serving!) Banana Pudding was something my Mom used to make a lot when I was a kid. It was usually a summertime treat but I decided I wanted some even in the dead of winer.
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I remembered it as being fairly easy to make so I suggested to Robyn that we go and pick up the ingredients--since we had several bananas at home--that would have ended up being thrown away if we didn’t find a way to use them. (My titian-haired everluscious lady had her doubts--no doubt becayse she's had experience in the kitchen with me. Still, this time she was willing to give it a try--just because it made me happy.) Luckily there was a Ralphs Supermarket close to hand. I remember the Banana Pudding recipe my Mom used as being on the “Nilla Wafers” box. We got the wafers--only to find that the pudding recipe had been replace with, of all things, a recipe for “instant” Tiramisu! (Is it me or is that really a utterly disgusting as it sounds?) Still, I thought I could remember how my Mom had done it back in the day so we bought the wafers, a six-serving box of Instant Banana Pudding and a small container of Cool Whip then headed home to see what we could make with the ingredients.
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While Robyn made up the pudding and sliced the bananas I lined a 9X13 inch pan with Vanilla Wafers. Once the pudding was mixed Robyn added the sliced bananas and some of the Cool Whip then mixed that all together. While she was doing that I took some more wafers that I had put in a Glad Bag and used a hammer to pound them into crumbs. We then used these crumbs as a topping for the mixture Robyn had poured into the pan. After several hours of chilling the pudding was ready to be eaten. Turned out to be pretty darn good actually: not quite like Mom used to make but close enough...
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So why am I sharing this story? Not because I think I have made some sort of “grand discovery”--or even managed to recapture a small piece of my childhood. I told this story because I wanted to share a small serendipity in my life. We took a risk (albeit a small one) and had a wonderful result. (Not that it would have been a huge loss had it turned out badly but still--we had to have at least a little faith and the willingness to fail . . .) What I want you to get out of this, dear reader, is took look for the serendipity in your own life. Really, it’s there--just waiting to be discovered.

Sweeney Todd: note perfect

Today’s post begins with a fractal called Twisted Quad. I picked it because it had the right “feel” for my review of Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The “blade” like bars, the twisty parts of the image and the “black and white” color palette all enhance the general feel I got from the movie.
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I went in to see Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street with some trepidation: I’m not a fan of “horror” (be it fiction or movies) and I don’t much care for Stephen Sondheim. I passed on the opportunity to see it on stage for just those reasons. In ways though it may have been a good thing since I went in to the show with no preconceived notions (or at least not very many!)
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Director (and perennial oddball ) Tim Burton (who has created such diverse twisted oddities as The Corpse Bride and Ed Wood) has transformed “Sweeny” from a sprawling epic into something of a chamber piece. (I’m not sure anyone else could have realized the movie to the perfection Burton pulled off here.) Gone (but not missed) are the choruses that help set the scenes and move the action along. Instead, we get an “up close and personal” (sometimes even claustrophobic) look into the story. The movie is shot with toned-down, almost monochromatic, colors: only the blood shines bright scarlet and it helps to enhance the sad, decrepit aspects of the story. Every aspect of the movie is almost, dare I say it? note perfect--the sets, the acting, even the singing.
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Johnny Depp--fresh from the third “Pirates of the Caribbean” film doesn’t have much of a singing voice but he completely inhabits the title role and gives a performance which is completely believable and quite chilling. Perennial Burton Favorite Helena Bonham-Carter channels her inner “Goth Girl” as Mrs. Lovett who helps Sweeney on his road to revenge. (She isn’t without a few secrets of her own and a connection to Sweeney that I never quite figured out.) Alan Rickman comes a bit too close to “Severus Snape” for my taste but does a fine job as evil Judge Turpin. Character Actor Timothy Spall (who played a villainous henchman in Enchanted) reprises his henchman duties as Badle Bamford to oily perfection. Sacha Baron Cohen (of Borat fame) plays barber competitor “Signor Adolfo Pirelli” (who also has a connection to the Demon Barber). He displays a nice singing voice and gets one of the few comedic moments--before Sweeney slits his throat. Newcomer Jamie Campbell Bower (playing romantic figure Anthony Hope) is handsome and has a lovely tenor voice. The rest of the cast is made up of capable unknowns.
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This is a movie musical for people who aren’t fans of movie musicals: it wasn’t an easy movie for me to watch--and it is definitely not a “feel good flick” for anyone (except fans of horror movies). The language is a bit graphic as is the violence: this is not a movie for children or the faint-of-heart. Still, it is challenging and involving--and well worth the trip to the Cineplex. It may be the best movie I’ve seen in2007.
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FINAL GRADE: A+