• If you want the troops to come home, they are…  But it takes time.  We had troops in Europe, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam for decades after each of those wars.  A premature withdrawal of troops would destabilize a region that we have fought hard and shed blood to liberate.  Obama’s “change” by the way, is to move them to Afghanistan, not bring them home…
• If you want Universal health care, try Canada, or pretty much any country in Europe.  I’d ask someone that lives there though, how they feel about the quality of the care.  In case you haven’t noticed, the Government isn’t particularly good at providing services (education, Social Security, counting votes…).  The free market will always handle issues like this better.
• If you think the economy is a mess, try looking at the International markets.  They are just as screwed up as we are right now…
• If you want lower taxes, then I can’t even imagine why you would consider Obama.  However, if you want higher taxes, there are lots of great socialist countries out there that would like to take 50% or more of your paycheck in return for parenting you for the rest of your life.
• Concerned about the mortgage crises?  Ask yourself, who “actually” bought all those houses that they could not afford, and then rolled all their credit card debt and car loans into them, creating a bubble that eventually blew up in all of our faces?  Before you pass blame on the government, or any particular administration, I’d suggest looking in the mirror, and those around you, first…
• Is abortion a big deal for you?  In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s already legal here.  The only “change” that Obama can impose here is to legalize partial birth abortion, which he has voted in favor of in the past.  If that suits your fancy, I’d suggest you move to Rwanda.  They will actually let you kill people there “after” they’re born.  Typically with a machete…
• Worried about Social Security?  I’d suggest you check your history books and learn a little about who was behind the development of Social Security, who has perpetuated the broken system all these years, and who has been actually trying to fix it.
• If you want nationally recognized gay marriages, you should check out South Africa, The Netherlands, and Spain.  They have already passed these laws.
• If you are a Socialist, you might try Sweden, Venezuela or Syria.
• If you are a Communist, there is always China, Cuba and North Korea.  I’ve heard those are great places to live!

Change is only good, when it is the right change.  The Obama campaign paints a picture of this country as a fallen and broken nation.  If you “really” believe that, then I would challenge you to just look around at the world and notice how broken the rest of it is.  We have much to be thankful for in our country, and yes, there is a lot of work to do as well.  But Barack Obama is not the one that is going to make it happen.  “We the people” will make it happen.

The “change” that Barack Obama, and his followers, are proposing is NOT change that “I” can believe in.  As a result, I’ll be proud to cast my vote for John McCain on Tuesday.

The community of World of Warcraft players around the world continues to grow, recently hitting a new high of 11 million subscribers. We just wanted to take a moment to share the news and say thank you to all the current, new, and returning players around the world whose enthusiasm and support have made this milestone possible.

Thanks to Chris for sharing this beautiful work with me. LOL!

It’s actually a musical (which I usually hate BTW), about a heart-sick supervillian who finds that his arch-Nemesis Captain Hammer is dating the girl of his dreams. Despite the musical style, it’s really funny and and very entertaining.

It stars Neil Patrick Harris (remember Doogie Howser?) as Dr. Horrible, as well as Nathan Fillion (from Firefly and Serenity) as Captain Hammer. It’s off-beat humor and quirky style reminded me a bit of Mystery Men, which is one of my favorite movies.

There are a couple of things that have really struck me about this show. The first is the intense fan base that it has already developed. It appears that the producers have done a great job of using Social Media and social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and Digg to create a viral campaign that has apparently paid off big time for them. Also, the way in which the show was produced is very interesting. According to Wikipedia, the producers apparently wrote the script during the WGA Writer’s Strike in an attempt to “create something small and inexpensive, yet professionally done, in a way that would circumvent the issues that were being protested during the strike”. With the rapid shift that has been taking place from mainstream television and movie viewing to the web, this could be another big sign that the entertainment world is changing right before our eyes.

I would highly recommend checking out the show. It’s short, and better yet, it’s free. For more info on Dr. Horrible, here are some helpful links:

• Official Dr. Horrible Website
• Dr. Horrible fan site
• YouTuber Applies to be Dr. Horrible’s Sidekick

Hancock (3.5 of 5 stars)

I went into this movie with very low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. The story is quite different than they insinuate in the preview, and has a pretty interesting twist in the end. Despite it’s corny beginning, It’s actually a pretty decent story with a rather redeeming conclusion.

Hellboy 2: The Golden Army (3 of 5 stars)

This movie was pretty disappointing. I really liked the first Hellboy movie, and I probably made the classic error of getting my hopes up too high on this one. There were a LOT of things that I didn’t like:

1. First off, they open the movie with a flashback of Hellboy as a child begging his dad to read him a bed time story… He basically looks like a red Eddie Munster, and is a total whiner. C’mon! Hellboy is supposed to be a huge indestructible demon… It’s like picturing Wolverine getting his diaper changed as a baby… This is not how I want to picture Hellboy.

2. They took the campy humor from the first movie, and pushed it way too far. It felt more like a Men in Black movie than the first Hellboy. It was almost like they were making fun of the idea, rather than balancing the story with some well placed humor. As stupid as this may sound, the first movie had such a good balance with the dark and sinister feel to it, that it felt more “believable” somehow.

3. The bad guys were not nearly as cool as those from the first movie. The Prince in this movie was pretty cool, but he basically looked like an elf from LOTR or WoW, or maybe a Wraith from SG:Atlantis. Whereas, Rasputin, Sammael and especially Kroenen from the first movie were totally cool!

4. They casted a new voice actor for Abe Sapien, instead of David Hyde Pierce. I hate it when they do that!

There’s probably more, but those are the main things. It did have a couple of redeeming qualities. The special effects were pretty cool, and as expected there is a lot of action. It still left me wanting more of the first movie though. I may have to see this one again, so I can try to appreciate it for what it is, and not what it isn’t… QQ

Wanted (3 of 5 stars)

This movie could have been really, really cool… but wasn’t. Instead, it was just OK. The story was all over the place. Their gratuitous use of slow-motion blood splatter and the F-bomb seemed to cheapen the story, and made it harder to take serious. The special effects were pretty darn good overall, and there is lots and lots of action and fighting. Angelina Jolie is always a bonus too! Definitely worth seeing, but don’t expect more than a good action flick.

WALL-E (4 of 5 stars)

This movie was great! Very fun and cute. Excellent animation. The fact that the vast majority of the movie has no dialog in it, yet you hardly notice, is amazing. They do such a good job of communicating emotion and feelings through these robots, without ever saying a single word in many scenes. That’s hard to do with humans, let alone with animated robots… My whole family loved it, and I’m sure we’ll be adding this one to our home collection.

Get Smart (3.5 of 5 stars)

This movie was hilarious. It’s basically just a 2 hour version of the preview though. There are a few more scenes that are particularly funny, but most of the best scenes were blown in the trailers. However, there is definitely something to say for the fact that Steve Carell is funny even when he’s just standing there… So if you feel that way about him, you’ll surely enjoy this movie.

So I did a little research and found several other blog posts going back to last summer and fall sharing my sentiments. One site even referred to them as “manpris“… Maybe this has been going on longer than I realized, and I’ve just been in denial… This is not meant as any sort of homophobic or anti-metrosexual statement. It just looks stupid!

End rant here. I feel better now…

Very good operating achievements were offset by non recurring or calendar impacts: the first quarter of 2007 included notably the successful launch of the first expansion set World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (the second expansion set is anticipated to be released in the second half of 2008) and the favorable settlement of a tax litigation.

As an avid fan of WoW, I am pleased to see some sort of official statement on this, despite how vague it is. My personal suspicion is that it will be released in October or November of 2008, just in time for the Holidays.

Full press release is here.

This movie has a good story that feels true to the classic Hulk television show, impressive special effects, and lots of action. They actually do a pretty good job of quickly getting you up to speed as to what is going on, and how Bruce Banner has gotten to where he is. You could easily see this movie and enjoy it without already seeing the Eric Bana version, which if you’re lucky is the case for you… (they do a remarkably good job of redeeming themselves from that film). If you are an old-school Hulk fan or like comic book/superhero movies, you won’t be disappointed.

If you’ve seen the previews, then you’ve probably picked up that something “happens” that causes people to start killing themselves randomly. At first they think it’s a terrorist attack, but later they determine it’s something else. It’s the discovery of what the cause actually is, that is most disappointing about this movie.

I’ll try to justify my comments without giving it away for any of you who may still want to see it, even if it is out of sheer morbid curiosity…

• Horrible acting: There was such an over-the-top campy feel to this film, that I have to wonder if it was intentional. If so, I’m at a complete loss as to why M. Night would do this… It was stupid.
• Weak special effects: There are a handful of CG scenes in the movie (mainly of people killing themselves in horrendous ways) that are pretty cheesy looking. You’ll know what I mean if you see it.
• Humor confusion: There are scenes that are clearly meant to be funny that just aren’t, while other scenes that would seem to be intended to be scary or intense are comical in their own weird little way…
• Retarded Plot: But above all, the worst thing about this movie is the whole premise of what “The Happening” actually is. It’s such an asinine idea, that I could hardly stand it.

Who knows. Maybe M. Night was trying to make such a bad movie that when people left the movie theater, they would be so disappointed that they would partake in their own little “happening” and brutally end their own lives in the parking lot…

I left the theater actually feeling betrayed by this movie. I’ve spoken to a number of other people who’ve seen it as well, and I was somewhat comforted by the fact that they were as disappointed as I was. I hope that if I’ve accomplished anything writing this review, it’s to lower your expectations so low, that if you see this movie you might actually like it…

• Park Seasons: This is fun. It reminds me of World of Warcraft for some reason.
• Vlad Studio Wallpapers: I downloaded a bunch of these.
• Politics Explained: This is funny and bizarrely accurate.
• Juggling Game: I have a set of juggling balls just like this. It reminds me of a former employee that used to always steal them from me and play with them. I miss her. QQ.
• Ice Cream Diet: This would probably go in my WTF category…
• Amazing African Photography: This guy is really talented. I’d love to get some of his prints.

You can keep up with my Stumbles here.