Something About Celebrities

MyHeritage.com, a website that allows people to find out more about their genealogy, has started a service that allows users to find their "inner celebrity." Just upload a picture of yourself and the website will scan your facial features to find your best celebrity match. When I uploaded my photo I was given a 61% similarity to Mark Ruffalo, 58% to James Marsters, and a 51% likening to Johnny Depp. While I agree slightly with Ruffalo, I really can't see the latter.

Something About Political Cartoons

Here's my take on a political cartoon:

Something About Open Mic

At the recent G8 meeting U. S. President George Bush didn't realize his dinner conversation was being picked up by a nearby mic. Besides cursing Hezbollah with an explicit (what do you neo-cons think about that?) to best bud Tony Blaire, he was also heard saying the following to Vladimir Putin and an unidentified world leader (Stephen Harper?):

"You eight hours? Me too. Russia's a big country and you're a big country. Takes him eight hours to fly home. Not Coke, diet Coke. ... Russia's big and so is China. Yo Blair, what're you doing? Are you leaving," Bush said.

Seriously, the guy sounds like he's in elementary school: "Russia's big and so is China." What a great observation, W! And what better way to address another world leader than with a "Yo." I'm surprised he didn't add "How's it hanging?" Honestly, how does anyone take this guy seriously?

Something About Webisodes

NBC's sitcom "The Office" is showing webisodes on its website this summer. The webisodes revolve around the accountants trying to trace $3,000 that has gone missing from the books. While the content isn't the funniest, it's still nice to see fresh material between seasons. New webisodes are broadcast every Thursday at http://www.nbc.com/The_Office/video/ . You can view past webisodes as well. For some reason I can't view the video with Firefox; it seems to only work with Internet Explorer.

Something About Belittling

The White house has belittled former President Bill Clinton for the ways he sought to deal with North Korea. White House Spokesman Tony Snow told reporters that "officials in Clinton's administration went to the North with offers of light-water nuclear reactors, a basketball signed by Michael Jordan as well as many other gifts for their agreement not to develop nuclear weapons." Snow says that this approach failed and that "we've learned from that mistake.

Funny, I don't remember hearing much about North Korea while Clinton was president. Sure they test fired their missile over southern Japan, but besides that they kept out of the spot light. Check out this blurb from BBC that shows what happened in 2000:

2000 - Summit in Pyongyang between Kim Jong-il and South Korean President Kim Dae-jung. North stops propaganda broadcasts against the South.

Senior journalists from South Korea visit the North to open up communication.

Reopening of border liaison offices at the truce village of Panmunjom, in the no-man's-land between the heavily fortified borders of the two countries.

South Korea gives amnesty to more than 3,500 prisoners.

One hundred North Koreans meet their relatives in the South in a highly-charged, emotional reunion.

It seems to me that everything went to pot when Bush cancelled the light-water nuclear reactor project soon after he took the presidents office. Gee, an impoverished country that suffers from constant blackouts sure could use those reactors. It wasn't until after Bush scrapped that promise that the North took down the UN security cameras and began bragging about their nuclear arsenal.

I admit that the offer of a signed Michael Jordan basketball seems a bit odd, but look at who your talking about. North Korean defectors tell stories of Il's passion for Hollywood movies (he owns over 1,000 titles) and his love of food (he flew in a renowned Italian chef just to make him a pizza). This guy is a bit off his rocker. You can't deal with someone like this the way you would deal with the average person. Personally I think Bill Clinton did a great job of dealing with North Korea.

Something About Attention

So North Korea finally launched their missiles. It's about time. 2 weeks ago this was the biggest news story but as of late there has been less and less information. The North simply wants the world's attention on nothing more than itself. All attention was on Iran when the North's expected missile launch became known. For a few days all eyes were on North Korea. Then Israel decided to steal the spotlight. I knew as soon as the news started to sway from North Korea they would feel the need to act; now they have what they wanted. Sort of. What they really want is one-on-one talks with the United States. Isn't it funny how The U.S. suggested direct talks with Iran over their nuclear development but have refused the same direct talks with North Korea?

While Japan is steaming about the missile launch, South Korea is steaming for another reason. All western news sources are referring to the water between Korea and Japan as "The Sea of Japan." According to the South Koreans, this body of water is called "The East Sea." Between 8:00 and 9:00 this morning I heard CNN refer to the water as "The Sea of Japan" a total of 18 times. This is sure to piss off the South Koreans.

Something About The Man of Steel

When I was in grade 2 my favorite movie was Superman. I remember receiving a Superman poster from Ponderosa and hanging it on my bedroom wall. I was sad to hear about the death of Christopher Reeves but was intrigued when I heard Warner Brothers was making a new Superman movie. I remember they had originally cast Nicholas Cage for the role of this new movie. Thank goodness they scrapped that idea. Really, how stupid would that be?

As it turns out the new movie is amazing. The writing, the acting, the music; everything was great. I was glad to see the tone of this new movie was an "action-comedy" like the originals. While Clark was his bumbling self, I think they could have made Lois a bit more ditzy like Margo Kidder used to portray. Despite the praise I've given there are two points that didn't impress me.

The first was when it emerged that Lois' son is actually Superman's. Superman and Lois? I know they kissed a few times, but Superman always erased her memory afterwards. But in this movie she seems to admit the fact her son was actually conceived with Superman. This didn't play well with me. If Superman took off his costume to be "intimate" with Lois, how on earth could she still not realize that Clark was Superman? Do those glasses make that much of a difference to his appearance? I thought this side plot was a bit dumb.

I also thought the beating Luther's goons gave Superman was a bit harsh. Kicking, punching, and holding his head under water? This is way too violent for what is considered to be a family movie. That said, the showing I watched was interspersed with annoying kids running around the theater.