MARRIAGE, THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY

I Got Married

There we are, the happy couple! (That's me on the left, ha ha.) I promised you pictures from my March 24th wedding and here's the first one. I'll share more in coming weeks after I get the official pics from our photographer. If you're wondering where I've been the past couple of weeks, well there was wedding planning, the wedding, the honeymoon (too brief, if you ask me) and then the recovery period. And of course now there's all the fun thank you notes and what not. But I can't leave my small global audience behind for too long, so I'm back and I do have a few things on my mind...

The Toddler Doctrine

Those of you out there who have (or have had) two-year olds can probably school me on this, but doesn't PResident Bush's insistence that there be no timetable for troop withdrawl remind you of the recalcitrant tempertantrums of a two-year old? Unfortunately, this is a two year old with nuclear missles and that is truly a very scary thought. Almost everyone (including the pope) acknowledges that Iraq is a disaster, that it's not getting any better, that American troops should begin the process of withdrawl and yet Bush holds fast to the neocon company line that this withdrawl equals defeat, even though staying looks like a bigger defeat.

Of course, joining Bush in his limited worldview now is John McCain, a Republican I respect, but a guy who now seems like he's drank the "Kool Aid" and who now may have prematurely killed his presidential dreams for 2008. The footage of him proclaiming large parts of Baghdad "safe" while escorted by a phalanx of heavily armed Army Rangers is a bad joke that the writers of THE DAILY SHOW don't even have to add an exclamation point too. Of course, maybe this will be a good thing in the long run. The early collapse of McClain's campaign combined with continuing questions about Guiliani's character and electability may conspire to set Mitt Romney up as the GOP front runner--and to say that Romney has a charisma deficit is like saying that sometimes Buffalo gets a few snow flurries. I would like any leading Democrat in the race against Mitt Romney.

Politics aside though, we have to have more urgency as a nation in going about the business of extricating ourselves from Iraq. At this point, it's a no win situation.

Springtime TV Update

The best returning or premiering shows of the spring, TV's unofficial "second season":

The Sopranos, The Riches, The Shield, Entourage, The Whitest Kids You Know (sketch show on FUSE--funny and wrong!).

Springtime TV disappointments: 24, Lost, America's Next Top Model, Dirt.

The 200-Word Movie Review: GRINDHOUSE

While the wifey was out of town on business, I snuck off to the multiplex to see the Tarantino/Rodriguez B-movie extravaganza GRINDHOUSE. A lot has been written about the disappointing box office for GRINDHOUSE, but with no big stars in major roles, this film was always destined to have more cult appeal than blockbuster potential.

Did I like it? Parts of it, particularly the tongue-in-cheek, cheesy fake movie previews for titles like "Machete" and "Werewolf Women of the SS". I liked Freddy Rodriguez' "El Ray" character from Robert Rodriguez' half of the double bill, "Planet Terror" and I liked almost all of the dialogue from Tarantino's half, "Death Proof". Also, for the first time I can remember, Sidney Poitier's daughter Sydney makes a positive impression as sexy Austin, TX DJ "Jungle Julia" in the Tarantino flick--she's got red hot sex appeal and sass (and ass) to spare.

Overall though, it was too much of a B-movie thing, too long, a bit repetitive and not as funny as you might think. Watching MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 would probably be a more rewarding comparable experience, but I do highly recommend you get GRINDHOUSE when it comes out on DVD--you can fast forward through all the stuff you don't like to get to all the stuff that you do. And for fans of the trashy movie aesthetic or film geeks, there is almost as much film fetishism to chew on as there is scenery for GRINDHOUSE's actors. My grade: C+

Until we blog again...peace.