RAPE IS OKAY, AND OTHER THINGS THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION BELIEVES

Cousin Braydon down in the O.C., making his mark at San Jacinto Junior College, says hello to "my audience of twenty or so elitist snobs and un-down homies" and says he'll contribute a blog of his own on my site soon. I didn't know that "un-down" was a word, but whatever.

Apparently, Braydon is undergoing some sort of Internet-free cold turkey enforced by his parents after he flunked two classes because he was spending too much time on his MySpace page. So now he calls me every other day and I can tell he's itching to post something, but he can't blog again until October 6th, so he'll just have to tough it out. In honor of his struggle though, I will insert random observations of Braydon's where appropriate throughout today's post. Hang tough braugh. We're all praying for you (or something)...

Sexual Assault Is Okay, Says Bush

Maybe the President didn't say this directly, but he's authorizing it as part of his continual assault on civil liberties and basic human decency. As part of a deal struck between the administration and Congress yesterday, a bill may pass the Senate which allows wartime commanders to force prisoners to strip naked and dance, wear underwear on their head or be sexually threatened as a part of prisoner interrogation during wartime. Basically, it's ensuring that another Abu Ghraib will happen again soon. When I read this, there were some things I had envisioned for Donald Rumsfeld that I'm sure would be allowed under the new procedures, but somehow I don't think he'd like them very much.

Appalled? Of course you are...go here to read more and tell Congress how you feel. I hope it makes a difference, I really do.

R's Annotated TV Pilot Review: HEROES (NBC)

This was one of the better premieres of the fall season, although not without its faults. (Nothing on TV so far this fall has premiered with the obvious breathtaking brilliance of say NORTHERN EXPOSURE, THE WEST WING or THE SOPRANOS, just to name a few).

HEROES concerns a group of misfits scattered around the globe who begin to discover that they have unique supernatural abilities. Think the movie Unbreakable, but with about a half dozen Bruce Willis characters instead of one. The idea has a lot of promise, although some of the actors are good and others--particularly a psychic painter and his girlfriend--are, to put it mildly, terrible. If you can overlook the uneveness of the acting, the premise is engaging, the production values are top notch and there's a throughline to the storytelling that promises fewer digressions and maddening narrative dead ends than you get on a show like LOST for instance.

But you might want tune in quickly, because if there's one genre that almost never makes it on network television, it's the sci fi/fantasy/superhero genre. Maybe it'll find a second life on the Sci Fi network?

HEROES
Created by Tim Kring ("CROSSING JORDAN")
Stars: Ali Larter, Adrian Pasdar, Milo Venitimiglia, Hayden Penitierre and a bunch of unknowns.
Who Might Like It: Comic book/manga geeks, sci-fi fans, people looking for a different (for TV anyway) premise, people (like myself) who wish NOW & AGAIN had never been cancelled.
Who Might Not Like It: People who prefer their dramas to be self-contained in one episode--nothing in HEROES will be resolved neatly in a single episode, that's for sure. Also, anyone who thinks the people from the first list are anti-social nerd weirdos.
Braydon Says: "That Ali Larter chick is hot and she plays a stripper with superpowers. That is like, so cool."
Will Become A Hit If: Come on! It's on NBC on Monday night up against the inexplicably popular TWO AND A HALF MEN. Fox's VANISHED also figures to eat into it's prime audience and the show isn't a good fit with NBC's STUDIO 60 at 10. I hope it will stay around long enough to get to midseason, but I'm not optimistic.
My Grade: A-

New Orleans

I'll have more to say about the return of the NFL to New Orleans in (warning: shameless plug) my Sportsapalooza blog later this week. But I'm thrilled the Saints, always my second favorite team, now America's second favorite team, got a big win for a city that needs a lift. One of the only good things to happen to New Orleans in the last 13 months.

From Braydon comes this wisdom, "When it's your time to puff, it's not cool to take more than three hits. Remember--puff, puff, PASS!"

Couldn't say it better myself...peace.