New Blog Feed Subscription

I have not been posting on this blog because as I mentioned previously I have started a new blog. I may post on this site again eventually, but for the time being I am trying to get my new blog going before revisiting this one. If you are signed up for the feed for this blog, but have not yet signed up for the feed to the new blog, make sure to click the following link. It will bring you to the page where you can select to subscribe via email or whatever rss feed reader you use whether it be google reader, my yahoo, my aol or any other one. I appreciate your support in this difficult transition. It is greatly appreciated. http://feeds2.feedburner.com/Dickness

The Goings Getting Awful Weird

"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." Hunter S. Thompson

It may seem strange to go pro when you have not really mastered the craft in which you currently retain amateur status. At this point in the arc of my life as a blogger turning pro would be akin to an amateur boxer turning pro after a few unsuccessful fights. Maybe he believes that he has the potential and that by quitting his job and finally making boxing his profession, instead of a hobby, he will finally meet this potential. I am not by any means saying that I would quit my job if I had one to blog for a living, but I would like to blog for a living someday and there is no better time than the present.

Some have said that Google should have kept Chrome in beta for the foreseeable future while it worked out some of the bugs. Those same people probably think getting married to someone you barely know in Las Vegas is a mistake. What if Joe Namath said he hoped he would win, but that realistically he probably wouldn't since he was in the AFL and not the vastly superior NFL? We'd all be speaking Canadian if we had a negative defeatist attitude like that. So without further ado and with little urging from anyone and really no reason other than my own possibly misguided self confidence I am extremely excited to remove the beta tag on my blogging career and officially turn pro.

It is my great pleasure to introduce to you the all new http://www.dickness.com/

My plan is to continue to do this blog, but the new blog will be my primary focus. As you can tell by the title it will be bigger, bolder and more obnoxious than the current one. I don't plan to have it contain graphic nudity and strong sexual content as the name may suggest, but at the very least I am practically contractually obligated by the name of the blog to make jokes referencing my last name. (I will have to read the fine print to see if I am indeed obligated by contract. I will let you know.)

Be the first one on your block to visit http://www.dickness.com/ and spread the dickness to everyone you know. I will apologize once and once only once to any relatives or friends who may read my blog and be shocked or offended by it. It is meant in good fun and it is only going to work the way I plan if I am opinionated and unapologetic so I am sorry if you are offended.

Post-Inaugural Hangover

Image by scriptingnews via Flickr

Yesterday was an incredible day as Millions of people gathered in Washington D.C. to watch the historic inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States. Millions more watched the inauguration and the inaugural balls that followed on television and the Internet. As I sit here the day after the inauguration I am reminded of the recent South Park episode about the post-election fallout. Of course both sides widely overreacted to the election of Obama and chaos and hilarity ensued in classic South Park fashion. The Obama supporters partied in the streets and spoke of how everything was going to change. The McCain supporters hid in a cave expecting the election of Obama to bring about the Apocalypse. The truth of the matter is that even if Obama truly is the once in a generation leader that many of his supporters believe he will be, his being elected will not magically change the course of the country. Although for a split second during the inauguration I wondered if he was indeed magical. I was watching ABC and one of the commentators suddenly seemed surprised and mentioned how some of the people were walking on the water. They did not quite understand how it was possible. Of course it was pointed out that the water was frozen, but for a brief moment one of the ABC analysts seemed to believe that the Obama magic had helped his supporters to be able to walk on water.

It will likely be a long arduous struggle to attempt to change the track we are currently on and the outcome is not certain even if Obama lives up to all the expectations we have for him. Sometimes circumstances ruin even the noblest of plans or people. Lyndon Johnson planned to introduce the Great Society which he hoped would do for his legacy what the New Deal did for FDR. Of course Vietnam ended up nixing Johnson’s plans and he instead went down as one of the least popular Presidents in modern times. FDR of course was also President during World War II so war played a huge part in histories view of him as well. Sure if you are not a big fan of the New Deal or the idea that government can work for people instead of merely just being a hindrance to their success you may not have had a strong opinion of Johnson anyway, but he would have been thought of in an entirely different light if Vietnam had not played such a central role in his Presidency. Yes that is mainly his fault, but Vietnam was already on the fast track well before Johnson came into office, although he was responsible for escalating it to a whole new awful level and thus his legacy will forever be tarnished by Vietnam.

Putting aside for the moment that President Obama will almost certainly face great challenges, including but not limited to the current financial crisis, yesterday was a proud day to be a citizen of the United States of America. People from countries all over the world were once again envious of America. You can scoff at that if you like, but whether you like it or not much of the world’s opinion on our nation has changed dramatically with the election of Obama. If you were unable to fully appreciate the inauguration and all that it meant I feel sorry for you. Sure some of you who did not enjoy it are staunch Republicans and I can understand that to some extent. You probably view Obama’s election as a huge pothole on the road paved by Ronald Reagan, William Buckley and the conservative movement. It makes sense that you would look at his election and be alarmed that the country is headed in a new direction. Hope for you likely means a disastrous first four years of the Obama administration, but if our country has another four years similar to or worse than the last eight we will all be worse off because of it. If Obama has a successful eight years this does not mean the Conservative movement is dead for the foreseeable future. After Reagan’s eight years it looked bleak for the Democrats, but George H. W. Bush was not able to capitalize on that enough to win a second term. Therefore eight years of Obama may lead to a lesser Democrat winning one term, but if he or she cannot continue that momentum the American voter will have no problem voting for the opposition party. Of course even eight successful years of Obama does not mean a Democrat will be elected if there is no one who is seen as a close enough ally of Obama running for office. Biden may be too old at that point so it remains to be seen. Sure that is way off in the future and no one knows what will happen before then, but my point was that it is in everyone’s best interest to hope Obama and to a greater extent America succeed over the next few years. Sure if you are a Republican it may mean a few more tough years ahead, but ultimately if Obama succeeds so does America.

So while attempting to extend an olive branch to our fellow Americans who are upset by Obama’s election mostly because they are Republicans and he is a Democrat, I would like to take a few moments to speak about a more disturbing group of Obama bashers. I want to make it clear that I do not think everyone who voted against or who still does not support Obama feels this way, but unfortunately there are a fairly sizeable minority who took this opportunity to make jokes about our new President’s race or to make fun of him for being a Muslim even though he is not. I am a staunch supporter of free speech so I respect their right to say these hateful things. Also I am a huge fan of comedy whether it is offensive or not. My problem is that many of these people are not merely just making harmless jokes at Obama’s expense, but that many of them truly despise Obama solely because he has brown skin. Some even believe, despite no evidence to support their belief, that he is a secret Muslim. I understand that uneducated or ignorant people use limited negative experiences they have had with minorities and extrapolate that to an entire race of people, but if you actually watched President Obama yesterday or at any other time and found a reason to include him in your narrow-minded stereotypes about minorities or people with black or brown skin than you are beyond hope. Sure you can say he is the exception that proves the rule which of course makes no sense because it would not be a rule if there was an obvious exception to it nor would an exception prove something to be a rule. That is like saying that one white basketball player being able to jump proves the rule that white people can’t jump. It doesn’t of course it instead proves that although stereotypes are sometimes useful, relying on them too much and failing to look at each person on a case by case basis is lazy and ignorant.

Bill Clinton is another example of someone who is an exception to a stereotype. He was the product of a single parent family from Arkansas. Sure you could try to write him off as a redneck, but because of his superior intellect he was able to attend prestigious schools such as Yale. He also became the governor of Arkansas and leader of the most powerful nation on Earth. Sure he has many faults, but that is not really the point. It is easy to mock him for having a taste for McDonalds cheeseburgers or chubby women, but although this makes him easy to mock you cannot dismiss him as a dumb redneck. I know everyone will say, but wait why is it alright to make fun of Clinton for chasing women and eating McDonalds, but not alright to make fun of Obama. Well I did not say you could not do it, but what made Darrel Hammond’s impression of Clinton so great is that it is an exaggeration of the man, but there is some truth to the exaggeration. If you want to insert Obama’s name into some offensive racist almost madlib-like jokes they won’t work as well as there is little to no truth behind them. Sure people who share your limited worldview may get a kick out of it, but since the only thing Obama has in common with your stereotype of black people is his skin color your jokes will ultimately be lacking for anyone with even the slightest ability to use reason.

Enough with the ranting about race and prejudice I understand that like the General said in the movie Cool Hand Luke “some men you just can’t reach”. One of the great things about our new President is that he does not seem to believe that. He thinks he can reach everyone and maybe to a fault at times he tries hard to reach a consensus even when he does not need to do so. He could probably get much of what he wants to get accomplished by relying on the Democratic majority in Congress and getting a few Republicans to cross over here and there depending on the issue, but he instead has made a point of reaching out to Republicans. Sure it is just the beginning of his Presidency and there is much to be learned about Obama and of course the office of the Presidency may change him in the coming years, but it is reasonable to be hopeful based on what we have seen and heard so far.

I had previously discussed the anticipation of the inauguration and the what the television coverage of the inauguration would most likely look like by the major networks and the twenty four hour news networks. If you are interested click the link Obama Inauguration Nearing

Update I have a new blog and I have a new Obama post at the new blog http://www.dickness.com/2009/01/27/inauguration-a-day-in-pictures/

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Terry Gilliam to Return to Tilting at Windmills in Hopes of Bringing Quixote to Big Screen

Image via Wikipedia

According to Cinematical.com, Terry Gilliam is set to make another attempt at making a movie based on the classic novel Don Quixote by Miquel Cervantes. The initial attempts at making the film were disastrous and have for years been the subject of much discussion and rumor by film and literary fans alike. It almost seemed as though the film was cursed by some sort of enchantment the likes of which Quixote was familiar with during his many adventures. Cervantes made numerous references in the second Quixote book (now usually sold as one book instead of two) to his disdain for imposters who tried to pass off their works as though they were official adventures of Don Quixote. One would hope that Cervantes would have appreciated Gilliam bringing his work to a whole new audience if he ends up making a film worthy of the original source material. Having heard some of the tales from the initial attempts at making the film if I was of a mind like Don Quixote’s, instead of a skeptical mind like my own, I would seriously wonder if the project was indeed doomed.

Gilliam did a great job in successfully adapting “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” by Hunter S. Thompson for the big screen. Unlike Cervantes, Hunter was still very much alive when Gilliam made the movie so he would have likely received the full wrath of Thompson and his many fans if he had messed up the film adaptation of Fear and Loathing. It will be interesting to see if he can meet or succeed his success in bringing Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo to the screen with Quixote and his sidekick Sancho Panza.

People often ask me why this blog is titled Blogger of La Mancha, they asked more before I put up an explanation about it on the main page, but hopefully if this movie is made a new generation will come to enjoy the story of the legendary Knights-Errant Don Quixote Man of La Mancha and his trusty squire Sancho Panza. I became of a fan of Hunter S. Thompson’s after seeing the movie by Gilliam so hopefully the new movie will do the same. Yes it does seem strange to me too that I somehow lived twenty years without ever hearing of the great doctor of journalism.

Full Disclosure: I know most people when referencing Gilliam would mention Monty Python, but somehow I have never really gotten into Monty Python. I know everyone tells me I should love it, but I did not like it as a young kid and have never really revisited it. Maybe someday I will. After reading Gilliam’s filmography on Imdb.com it is pretty remarkable how many interesting projects he has been involved in.

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Obama Inauguration Nearing

This is an historic time for our country. Change is coming to Washington courtesy of our next President Barack Obama. It seems as though the election ended years ago and everyone including our current President seems to want to get on with the inauguration already. Unfortunately I will not be going. I do not have the resources (cash) or the connections to be able to pull of the trip to DC. I will instead watch it on television. I was going through my television’s guide last night and was amused by the coverage or lack thereof in some cases on the major networks and the 24 hour news networks.

(Update click here for Post-Inaugural Hangover)

CBS covers the inauguration from 10:00-1:00 AM with a short break for local news and then continues coverage from 1:30-5:00 PM. CBS does not devote any of its primetime lineup to the inaugural ball instead choosing to show NCIS, Challenge and the Mentalist

ABC has perhaps the most extensive coverage. It begins with coverage from 10:00 AM-5:00 PM and then continues with a two hour primetime special called The Neighborhood Ball: In Inauguration Celebration.

Fox is noticeably absent from the other major networks in covering the Inauguration. They show American Idol and Fringe. Fringe is a good show for those who are not aware of it. For those who are not aware of American Idol, alright unfortunately everyone is aware of that show. To be fair to Fox (and balanced) they do have coverage on Fox News beginning at 8:30 AM-3:00PM. They then have the inaugural ball from 9:00 PM-1:00 AM. The regular programming is scheduled for most of the day, but will likely include coverage and discussion of the day’s events. If you are not a big Obama fan and are looking for coverage that will reinforce this opinion this is probably your best best. I am somewhat surprised that they are not airing the Sean Hannity Special Obama and Friends which basically asserts that our next President is a Muslim extremist. Kudos to Fox maybe they are going to in fact try to be fair and balanced for one day.

NBC starts with coverage from 10:30 AM-4:00, but cuts coverage in order to air Oprah at 4:00. My guess is Oprah has some sort of special coverage planned regarding the inauguration as she is an unabashed supporter. I do not watch Oprah nor do I have any information on what she has planned so if that is the sort of thing that interests you feel free to tune in to find out. Oprah may be a syndicated show so in your area it may be ABC or some other network which cuts off some of its inaugural coverage to show Oprah instead. Like Fox NBC eschews primetime coverage of the inaugural ball instead choosing to show the Biggest Loser. I was outraged at first thinking this was a show hosted by Keith Olbermann where he made fun of John McCain and Sarah Palin for two hours, but it is actually just an episode of that silly reality weight loss show. Like Fox, NBC also has a 24 hour news network in MSNBC and they have a full days worth of coverage as well. NBC usually separates NBC from MSNBC for the most part. MSNBC is the polar opposite of Fox News for those who are not familiar.

CNN will also have around the clock coverage. Of the 24 hour news networks CNN is really the only one who tries to be somewhat balanced in spite of some of the other networks who openly brag about their balanced coverage.

CBS, ABC and NBC which all have morning shows and evening newscasts will cover the inauguration extensively as well. The local newscasts will also likely cover the inauguration so if you are like me and unable to go to DC for this historic inauguration there will be plenty of coverage around the clock from all the major networks and the 24 hour news networks.

Conchords Prepared to Take Flight For Season Two on HBO

The hilarious New Zealand folk comedy duo Flight of the Conchords returns to HBO this Sunday January 18th at 10 pm. If you are among the many who missed out on Season one I suggest you rent the DVD, but not because you would be unable to understand season two without seeing the first as it is not really that complicated. Jemaine and Bret (yes that is how they spell their names) are a real band from New Zealand and they play a fictionalized version of themselves on the show. On the show they have an agent, also from New Zealand, who works at the New Zealand tourism board in New York City. They are the only band he manages. Some of the funnier non-musical portions of the show are the band meetings they have with their manager Murray which take place in his work office. They have only one fan who is completely obsessed with them and basically a stalker. She openly throws herself at them right in front of her husband.

The strength of the show is the music. The topics they sing about are usually completely silly, but they manage to do a good job of making them funny and well constructed. They often break into falsetto or sometimes they rap. I do not want to waste too much time describing the show instead I will show a few clips. Also apparently the first episode is already available on demand on some cable systems. Time Warner has it on the free on demand channel as well as HBO on demand. They also put the first episode online already at Funnyordie.com. Just click the following link Conchords Season 2 Premiere

I have not watched it yet, but I notice from the comments that people are already saying it is not as funny as season one. I will reserve judgment until after I see it, but it was inevitable that a cult hit like this would be praised by everyone who watched it the first season and then panned by the same people the next season. It happens with just about every show. I hear people tell me all the time that South Park used to be good, but they have not watched it in years. This is mostly due to it not being hip to watch the show anymore as I thought this past season was one of the best ever. It is all about expectations. When a good show comes along and catches you by surprise and exceeds your expectations you fall completely for it. The next season your expectations are raised to extreme heights that the previous season probably never actually reached and thus when it does not meet these lofty standards you have set for it, you are disappointed. Sort of like if you have someone new you are seeing and you wildly overrate them as though they are perfect. No one is perfect just as no show is perfect. Here are a few clips from season one. Hope you enjoy them.

 

 

 

 

Those are just two examples. It is pretty impressive that they are able to come up with thirteen episodes a year with each including a few new songs. So cut them some slack if every song does not live up to some of their previous gems. So how about you watching season two? Is that something you want to do? Just click on the link to view. If that is what you’re into.

Ghost Town Reviewed and Introducing the Romantic Comedy Watch-Abilty Scale

Ghost Town stars Ricky Gervais (creator and star of the British version of the Office), Tea Leoni and Greg Kinnear. It is Gervais' first leading role in a movie and although it is nothing spectacular he does a decent job at it. It is a fairly conventional romantic comedy which usually is not my cup of tea. Get it Gervais is British... cup of tea...seriously though. Gervais plays a lonely depressed dentist who cannot stand people. He goes in for a routine colonoscopy, but requests anesthesia. I can understand the thought process, but it generally is not covered for such a procedure. Certainly this is the sort of thing one would be willing to splurge on though. After leaving the hospital he makes a comment to a nurse who is dressed up in a world war II era nurse's outfit. She is excited that he can see her and tells him so. He thinks she is crazy as she starts following him. Soon she tells others that he can see them and they begin following him. He believes that he is hallucinating so he later returns to the hospital to see if there was anything unusual about his surgery (yes a colonoscopy is considered a surgery). When he goes back to the hospital it is eventually revealed to him by his surgeon, Kristen Wiig of Saturday Night Live, that he died for seven minutes on the night of his surgery.

Having died and come back to life he is now able to see and communicate with the dead a not so well known fringe benefit of briefly dying. You think people purposely flat lined when they thought they could visit loved ones or people who passed on in some sort of netherworld as in the movie Flatliners, well imagine how common it would be if people thought they could speak to ghosts. Maybe not so common, but I imagine it would have sort of a cult following among certain people. Greg Kinnear is one of the ghosts who he communicates with and Kinnear convinces him to attempt to break up his ex-wife played by Tea Leoni from her new fiance played by Billy Campbell. Her new fiance appears to be perfect in every way, but Kinnear insists he is not. Not surprisingly Gervais soon falls for Leoni and she seems to like him as well. He makes her laugh. If you have never seen the British version of the Office or Extras and are not familiar with Gervais' somewhat unique brand of British humor it is somewhat dry. He mumbles often and with a British accent so if you are not paying attention it is easy to miss what he is saying. He is funny on occasion in this movie, but it is nothing like his character Michael Scott from the Office. Of course that is one of the best comedy series in television history so maybe that is too high a threshold to compare it to.

It reminds me of a cross between the movies Ghost and Groundhog Day. I suspect it may have originally been a bit of a satire on films such as Ghost, but it does not really go the satire route much, surprisingly. It mostly plays it straight forward.

Are you having a laugh? Well a few, but not as many as I expected. A reference from Extras for those who did not get that. On the romantic comedy watch-ability scale which I just came up with which goes from 1-10 with 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest. Ghost gets a 1.5 and Groundhog Day gets a 10. A popular theory about romantic comedies is that the attractiveness of the female in the lead is the most important thing to get you through the movie if you are a male who was dragged kicking and screaming to the theater. As a last resort that will help a little, but if the movie is just downright crazy like Bride Wars starring Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway appears to be, then it does not matter how attractive the female lead is you will be miserable.

Strangely enough I will submit that the male lead is likely a better indicator of how enjoyable a romantic comedy will be for a male. Just hear me out. Groundhog Day had Bill Murray and he has the ability to lift even mediocre or bad material and make it worth watching. I'm not saying it would have been bad if he was not in it as the material was good and Harold Ramis usually does a good job. If you had replaced him with a fairly talented and likable leading man it might have been decent, but if you replaced him with Richard Gere it would have been unwatchable from a man's prospective. That said although Gervais is an extremely funny and talented man his performance does not compare to Murray in Groundhog Day nor are the movies comparable in quality. It does however compare favorably to Ghost from a man's prospective. The only redeeming scene in Ghost is when Whoopi Goldberg kisses Demi Moore. The sexual chemistry between Leoni and Gervais is only slightly better than that between Goldberg and Moore.

So all things considered it gets a six on the romantic comedy watch-ability scale. I'm sure other people have made similar scales, but I am not aware of them and I apologize in advance to anyone who came up with this idea before me. Until I can come up with a better name for this scale I will continue to call it the rc was. I am open to suggestions on a new name for this scale. No I will not rename it the bromantic comedy scale as that is dumb and if you find the word bromance or any variation of that word funny you should be embarrassed. Also if you like using the word bromance you probably do not agree with my rating of Ghost. Of course if that is the case than you do not need this scale and it was not meant for you. You should still read it and all of my other posts for educational purposes though. It is nothing personal. I am sure you a great guy and I bet some women are probably more than happy to date a eunuch who is excited to go see Bride Wars with them.

Full disclosure: I talk tough, but if a woman I liked wanted me to go see Bride Wars with her I would. After the movie I would be willing to go to Bed Bath and Beyond while she picked out bed clothes. Although tempted I would probably not make any jokes about how my clothes on the floor would really help decorate her room. Sad, but true.