Mess with Yoda Do Not...Or Squishy Puddle You Will Be...

I went to see Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones last night. The theater was sold out, so a friend and I bought tickets for tonight. Then we drove to another theater and they weren't sold out. So we wound up watching it twice... last night and tonight. This installment felt so much more like an actual Star Wars movie than the Phantom Menace. Visually amazing, cheesy dialogue (it's nowhere near as bad as some are making it out to be, and it's not like the original trilogy was all that hot in this department), great action sequences. As far as action sequences go, though, did anyone see the teasers for the new Matrix movies? All I have to say is: WOW!

Maher No More

ABC announced recently that it will be cancelling the show Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher. ABC claims that the move has nothing to do with Bill Maher's comments after September 11th in which he described previous U.S. military actions as "cowardly". Perhaps that's true. Perhaps they are only cancelling the show because the network is struggling and they want to add new content to lure viewers back. Seems pretty suspicious to me, though. While I don't agree with Bill Maher's comments, I agree even less with forcing someone off the network just because they *gasp* actually have an opinion about something that goes against the norm. One of the reasons I like to watch Politically Incorrect is because Maher often makes very strong statements that I completely disagree with. It's fun to hear people express opinions on real issues, even if they are comedians, music artists, and actors (with the IQ's of cucumbers). Society needs its rabble rousers, its Thoreaus, its gadflies; they are the symbol of a truly free press. And now... Maher's long run will come to an end. I guess we'll all be expected to flip to Letterman or Leno and bask in the comfortable waves of inane late-night talk show drivel (so Toby Maguire, what do you think of your Spider Man action figure?). Boo, ABC, for trying to grab David Letterman to replace Ted Koppel and Nightline. Boo, ABC, for canceling a show that actually tried to combine humor with opinion. What's next? Gonna cancel Alias? Hey, Bill, anyone out there you want to call "cowardly" now? (Hint: their name starts with an A...)

Happy Birthday!

Today is my sister's birthday! Happy birthday, Julie!

At Last... a World Championship!

At long last, it appears that the chess title will finally be unified. Garry Kasparov (the highest rated player in the world) will play Ruslan Ponomariov (current FIDE World Champion) in a match with classical time controls. Meanwhile, Vladimir Kramnik (the Braingames World Champion) will play the winner of the Dortmund tournament in another match. The winner of each of these two matches will play in 2003 for the REAL World Championship, officially sanctioned by FIDE and everything. This is fantastic for the chess world, although it's really a raw deal for players like Viswanathan Anand and Vassily Ivanchuk, two top 10 players who will not be present at Dortmund. Still, the three big draws right now in chess are Kasparov, Kramnik, and Ponomariov. How exciting would it be to watch a Kasparov-Ponomariov match followed by a Kasparov-Kramnik match? I can't wait...

Carter, Cuba, and Bioterror

If you've been following the news, you know that former president Jimmy Carter is in Cuba right now. Meanwhile, President Bush's administration (or, more specifically, Mr. John Bolton) felt the need to undermine the visit (for whatever political reason) by stating that Cuba's biotechnology efforts were being directed towards terrorism. Carter defended Cuba against these accusations. Come on, George, you really expect us to believe Cuba is a hotbed of terror? More likely scenario: some aides said "Carter's visit is really gonna make people friendly towards Cuba... we'd better say something to stop the political movement that's gonna follow to lift the economic sanctions... hey, I know, let's call them TERRORISTS." I don't suppose this could have anything to do with Florida politics or playing the terror card. Personally, I don't think we have much to worry about from Cuba. Our problems lie elsewhere. I applaud Jimmy Carter for his efforts and wish him the best of luck. Carter's speech to Cuba is also worth reading. The latest? Bush is telling Cubans to "demand freedom". Hmph. Don't like being upstaged, George?

Bambi Fights the Taliban!

As usual, I watched Saturday Night Live this past weekend. Kirsten Dunst (from Spider Man) was the host. The episode sucked, but the Robert Smigel cartoon was really really funny. Who is Robert Smigel, you may ask? He's the man responsible for one of the most disgusting television shows ever. He creates extremely satirical cartoons which lampoon just about every aspect of society. His most famous efforts are Fun with Real Audio, Ambiguously Gay Duo, and the X-Presidents. Last Saturday's cartoon was a new one... Bambi 2002!

The cartoon is a fake ad for a new Bambi film, in which Bambi's mother returns and the pair of them go to Afghanistan and kick some Taliban ass. The funniest moment of the cartoon is when the terrorists fire bullets at Bambi, and he bends backwards to dodge the bullets just like Keanu Reaves in The Matrix. Somehow, Smigel manages to parody not only The Matrix, but also the fact that everyone else parodies The Matrix as well! Later, Bambi messes up his lines and says, "f**k this bulls**t" in his squeaky Bambi voice (of course it's bleeped, but it's still hilarious). Finally, the cartoon shows a real clip of a New York Yankees baseball game while the cartoon Bambi in the lower right hand corner of the screen chants "U S A!! U S A!!" Brilliant!!! Smigel pokes fun at patriotic self-righteous smarm... and it's damn funny to watch. Happy TV Funhouse!!

On another note, Smigel is also responsible for Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, a character who appears on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. I look forward every year to Triumph's journey to the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. If you haven't ever heard Underage Bichon, well, you're really missing out.

Who am I? Are you sure you wanna know?

Inspired by my brother David and his Mozilla friends (including some 8-year-old boy genius), I've decided to begin my own BLOG!! Two weeks ago, I'd never heard of a blog. I came across my brother's just by doing a search for his name in Google... the top hit was his blog. It was just one of those things... As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to try it myself. As for whoever's wandered over the doorstep into my new abode, well, you can expect to see a litle bit of everything... bioinformatics, chess, books, poetry, tennis, satire, politics, opinions/rants... Spent most of my time just getting this thing set up, so, well, see you when I have more time to blog!