The Dark Knight (2008)**
Not an enjoyable experience. I admired the cinematography, the stunts, the special effects up to a point. It does get repetitive especially in a 2.5 hour comic book movie. I just think the film takes itself way too seriously and is so unrelentingly dark and grim that the humongous gaping plot holes and ridiculousness gets to be too much to ignore. Plus the moral of the sordid tale is that absolute power must be given to certain individuals in order to protect us, but if they have it too long they will become the villain. And in such a twisted and heavily one-sided tale it makes all kinds of sense. In the real world though, it's poppycock.

Heath Ledger does turn in an interesting and mesmerizing performance, fully deserving of all the accolades. The role is big and juicy of course but he nails it. I am hopeful that Christopher Nolan is over his comic book phase and can get back to his "Memento" roots. I'm afraid with the success of this film though, he may be compelled to make another and complete the trilogy. Ugh.

YouTube - Hearing on Limits of Executive Power: Vincent Bugliosi
It's about time, but watch the whole thing. It appears this hearing is just a going-through-the-motions sort of affair. Nothing will be done about it by this Congress, but they want to be able to say they DID do something. Shameful. Mr. Bugliosi, thanks for trying.

Tom Friedman doesn't understand why America is unpopular in the world - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com:
Mr. Greenwald hits another nail on it's fat head. Well done.

Christopher Lee on Middle Earth
Fascinating 4+ minutes with the great Christopher Lee regarding future plans for The Hobbit film and his potential participation. Lee is one of those actors who I feel should have received much more recognition for the great work he has done in dozens of films. The trouble is he was in so many "B" type movies so even if you are outstanding, because the film is second rate you get dismissed. I would think that if the producers of these films wanted to they could find a way, a la Speed Racer, to "green screen" Mr. Lee and include him in the film from London and not require him to make the arduous journey to New Zealand. (Although since everyone was on the same focus level in Speed Racer it was a much easier thing to splice actors from different sets and designs in to the same frame.)

The Delays - Everything's the Rush (2008)****
Tremendous power pop album with the ballad of the year in "Silence". If you like jangly chords, heavy hooks, throbbing bass, smart lyrics and lots of uptempo, this is a must have.

Aimee Mann @#%&*! Smilers (2008)***
Much like Elvis Costello's 1984 release "Goodbye Cruel World", this is Aimee's worst album of individually good (and some great) material. There are 3 songs I would put up against anything she's ever done: "It's Over", "Freeway", "Thirty One Today". And the rest are well-made, intelligent pop songs. The problem is listening to the album is relentlessly depressing and morose. This was a trend for Aimee ever since 2002's "Lost In Space". She is in a deep rut musically and lyrically. But why do I feel this way? I just said 3 of these songs are tremendous and the rest are merely good. Give it a listen and you tell me.

Obama plan would expand faith-based program - IHT:
"Obama is proposing $500 million per year to provide summer learning for 1 million poor children to help close achievement gaps for students. He proposes elevating the program to the "moral center" of his administration, calling it the Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
...
The plan was met with praise from officials who crafted the Bush administration's proposal, including John DiIulio, who in 2001 served as the director of Bush's office on faith based initiatives. 'Senator Barack Obama has offered a principled, prudent, and problem-solving vision for the future of community-serving partnerships involving religious nonprofit organizations,' DiIulio said in a statement. 'He has focused admirably on those groups that supply vital social services to people and communities in need. His plan reminds me of much that was best in both then-Vice President Al Gore's and then-Texas Governor George W. Bush's respective first speeches on the subject in 1999.'"

And so it continues. Obama's march to the center of NOTHING, his betrayal of his most ardent supporters, this mad rush to prove he is not different at all is continuing proof that he really does have what it takes to be president: he will do and say anything at all to get elected.

I am officially off this bandwagon.