Arlen Specter

Arlen Specter has always been a favorite politician of mine. Why? Because he holds fast to his own political beliefs, that's why. He acts in the best interest of his state and his country, not in the best interest of his party.

That's what makes him a great Senator.

And that's exactly why he had to switch parties.

The Republican party has essentially given up on the Northeast, and plans on giving up even further. Toomey was slated to run against Specter again in the primaries. He only narrowly lost last time, and already was predicted to have a 20 point lead for the election next year. Toomey is a far right republican, compared to Specter's moderate. So, if the Pennsylvania Republican party had its way, it would have rather run someone willing to tow the party line over someone who is willing to not make a mockery over the political process.

How bad is the Republican party trying to lose that its scaring away some of its most powerful politicians? Do they want to cling onto a narrow majority in a small, changing (yeah, it is), part of the country? Speaking of that change, yeah, that means they're gonna lose that part of the country too (North Carolina and Virginia, remind me who won them in the last presidential cycle).

Jesus Christ, just because Neo-conservativism was hi-jacked and distorted doesn't mean you have to resort to being the dixie party again.
Do they realize that liberatarian economic policies have large numbers of supporters in the Northeast (and other current democratic strongholds) in addition to parts they already have? Not to mention, the most charismatic leader of this part of the party is himself a Texan.

The democrats here don't actually win that much. Just another Senator titularly in their party (Specter actually switched parties originally very early in his career, to get the position of Philadelphia D.A.). Specter will still vote his own way.

I wonder what party and/or wing is going to replace the void that is quickly being created by the Republicans. Remember, it only took about 2 or 3 election cycles to make the Whigs a distant memory. And it was all because the Whigs refused to recognize the will of a changing nation.

The suck fest that is "X Men Origins: Wolverine"

Now, before I begin, I want to make it clear that Fox said it was OK to download this movie off the internet. Therefore, this review is not illegal.

I also want to mention, before I begin, that I will not comment at all on any of the special effects, or any bit of the movie where quality would in itself be depreciated by the lack of the finished special effects.

X Men Origins: Wolverine may be the worst comic book movie ever made, ever. This includes Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D starring Davind Hasselhoff, the practically unlicensed Fantastic Four from the mid 90s, Daredevil, Spiderman 3, and of course, X3 X Men United.

The reasons themselves are legion. The character of Wolverine was of the utmost importance to me as a child, so this offense is personal. It also gives me a certain kind of insight as to where abouts they went wrong. The characters of Deadpool and Gambit are also important to me, especially recently Deadpool. I also know very in depth the stories of Alpha Flight and Weapon X (also team x), which form the basis of any Wolverine origin story.

1. They never mention Alpha Flight by name, and it appears to be American in origin, as opposed to Canadian, despite having four Canadian members (Wolvie, Sabretooth, Deadpool, and John Wraith).
2. The X in weapon X is given as a number in a series of Weapons. This follows in the NEVER TO BE FOLLOWED Grant Morrison New X-Men story, which ties it to Captain America (Weapon I) etc. Would be nice, except this definitely does not seem like a tie into the Avengers Universe of Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, making the point entirely moot.
3. Deadpool is gone within a matter of minutes.
4. Many members of Alpha Flight that shouldn't be in the group -- Bolt, Blob.
5. Deadpool doesn't have any powers at all in the beginning except being badass at martial arts. Also he has a distaste for using anything besides his swords, which is a lie because he will use anything at his disposal, including guns.
6. Sabretooths claws extend. WTF
7. Silver Fox is only loosely attached to weapon x, and has the power of persuasion. Oh, and she's related to Emma Frost (White Queen).
8.Blob is not extremely obese to start.
9. John Wraith teleports at will in public, in fact showboating it. In reality, he wants no one at all to know that he can teleport, even hides his powers from his teammates.
10. Really, I'm getting tired of naming every single innacuracy, and I kinda feel bad about nitpicking like this. Why don't I move straight to who is to blame. The list is long

1. Rupert Murdoch, head of Fox. Let this movie be made.
2. Marvel. Sold the rights to X Men pretty much entirely since X3. This is a Fox movie using Marvel characters, as opposed to being a Marvel movie produced by Fox.
3. Fox, they really screwed up the story of arguably one of the most followed Comic book characters of the past 25 years. Even people who did not follow comics followed Wolvie.
4. Grant Morrison. His New X Men storyline about Weapon X is the one predominantly used. It also happens to be the one that is never ever used in any other X Men continuity.
5. Ryan Reynolds. He played an adequately well enough Deadpool that they had to identify not only the character in the beginning as Wade Wilson, but the monstrosity at the end (see picture above) as Deadpool. We all know that is not Deadpool by any stretch.
6. Hugh Jackman. He's really digging this whole Wolvie gig, except he sucks at it. Kinda funny how the voice of Wolverine in the short lived show Pride of the X Men was Australian. Just a funny coincidence is all. He also thinks he's the current foremost expert on the character. It's a shame really, cos it seems he doesn't know a thing.
7. David Beinoff. He's the man who wrote this piece of garbage. Probably never picked up a comic book in his life (ahem Tim Burton's Batman ahem).
8. The World Series of Poker. Gambit's entrance is at an underground high stakes poker game. Not exactly where I'd picture him. Oh, they're probably also playing Texas Hold 'em, not the poker game I'd picture him playing. Oh, and there's cameos by some people who do that world series thing or whatever its called.
9. Gavin Hood. He directs this piece of crap.
10. Whoever thought it was a good idea to do what they did to Deadpool. Deadpool was part of Weapon X, he got the healing factor to cure his cancer, and then became crazy, the merc with the mouth. He did not receive about 20 different powers to become some sort of controllable monster that cannot speak.

Seriously, what they did to Deadpool was unforgivable. I am going to have to write an alternate movie solely for Deadpool. I'm thinking something along the lines of a Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back type of deal, maybe, except instead of dodging Will Ferrel, it's like Taskmaster or T-Ray or something.

And why does he never break the fourth wall? That can be very easily done. Just have him fuggin narrate the thing in real time, seen on screen. Really, not that hard.

How could they screw something like this up that badly? I feel like a part of my childhood has been cornered in a dark alley and raped repeatedly.

-- Knuttel

Space Buddies: Oedipus without the incest

Enough of these negative posts bashing various positions within the NFL and whatever else.

How about something positive.

Space Buddies may be the greatest straight to video release yet this year.

Both the Air Buddies and Air Bud series are direct to video now, but the Air Bud series is much easier to ridicule because of its ridiculousness. The original had a lot of pure dramatic elements. It wasn't a comedy or a children's movie per se, it was a feel good film, a story about redemption, a story that taught a kid to believe in himself. The dog just happened to be how it happened. As the kid learned more sports (presumptively) so did the dog, even when it seemed entirely impossible for the dog to do so.

The Air Buddies series, on the other hand, isn't grounded in that realistic original that prevents the movies from truly embracing the farcical. On the contrary. The very premise that the dogs can talk (as can the other animals) opens up the entire world to put these puppies on fantastic adventures that seem to be able to work within its own world.

The movie does have some of the problems of standard kid fare. The ending is horribly predictable, there are some pretty big plotholes, there are some fairly large inconsistencies (in the matter of physics and the like, things not needing to be explained); but it still works.

Really, the film has some of the best dramatic irony since Sophocles' classic Oedipus Rex, the standard of the definition. No one but the audience knows who is on board the shuttle until they reach the moon. No one but the audience knows who the villian is until the end. No one but the audience knows how the shuttle manages to make certain corrections until the end.

-- And it's things like that which make the film legitamately good on its own merits. Sure the ending is incredibly standard, but I wanted to see how they'd get there, and how certain things would unfold. The journey was the destination itself.

The characters could be a little more dynamic, and maybe the plot a little more twisted, but hey, it's a kids movie. It is meant to entertain.

It entertains.

-- Knuttel