The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

Actor Bryan Cranston plays a quadriplegic in the new film The Upside  and some are not happy about it, claiming that it's wrong for an "able-bodied" (I hate that term) actor to play the part over a disabled one. While I can empathize with disabled actors and feel they should receive more opportunities than they do, I feel the critiques leveled toward Cranston are misguided. It may sound overly simplistic, but actors act. That's what they do. Those who receive the most acclaim are the actors who can master starkly different characters in an array of genres. Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, and Daniel Day-Lewis are all prime examples of this. Actors who consistently attempt to expand their horizons by going out of their comfort zones for parts tend to be the most widely respected. Those who are typecast for a single character or part, while they may be successful at the box office, they're often parodied by comics and shut out at awards ceremonies. What will impress audie...

Word has it Twitter will soon increase its character limit from 140 to 10,000, which has many long-time Tweeters/Twits/Twitterers (or whatever) up in arms. My initial reaction is, "Well, that's interesting. Let's see how this plays out..." That's how I've learned to be when it comes to most big changes. While I can understand those who both do and don't initially like the move, what's really the point of lauding or criticizing it until we actually see it go into effect? It took me a while to get into Twitter. I prefer to not have my thoughts and posts condensed, which is why I favored blogging, as well as Tumblr and Facebook, to Twitter initially. I've also never got into the abbreviation craze, because it provides me with both a migraine and stomach troubles to even think about typing something along the lines of, "Luv u 2." However, after giving Twitter a second chance, I realized it could be a useful platform for business purposes - ...

In light of the new college football playoff rankings, ESPN staff writer Heather Dinich wrote an interesting article today, entitled, "College Football Playoff contenders judged differently according to committee's 'eye test'" (http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/14101809/college-football-playoff-selection-committee-making-clear-distinctions-teams-using-own-eye-test). In this article, Ms. Dinich contends that while the playoff committee still takes strength of schedule and quality wins into consideration while ranking teams, it appears as if the "eye test" may be the most important component of all, and I tend to agree with her. The problem with this is, though, as Brad Pitt said in the film Burn After Reading , "Appearances can be deceptive." While I've been on board with a playoff in college football for a number of years, I've tended to favor computers deciding the most deserving teams rather than people. The reason for ...

Just yesterday, Gallup released some rather significant findings with regard to the Medicaid expansion offered via the Affordable Care Act. According to the report, the 21 states which expanded Medicaid and established a state-based marketplace exchange or state-federal partnership have seen their uninsured rates drop to a much greater degree than the 29 states which didn't take advantage of those options afforded to them by the new healthcare law. Based on these latest numbers, the 21 states which expanded Medicaid and established a state-based marketplace exchange or state-federal partnership have seen their uninsured rates drop by an average of 3.97%. These very states hold the top 13 rankings when it comes to a decrease in the uninsured between 2013 and 2014. The 29 states which didn't expand Medicaid and the like have seen their uninsured rates drop an average of 1.95% - less than half that of the 21 other states. These 29 states hold 20 of the bottom 27 rankings when ...

Wanna hear a joke? What do you get when two women yell "Shame on you!" toward 46 Senators whom voted against expanding background checks on gun sales? Give up? A background check. Sadly, this isn't really a joke, as this very thing happened to Patricia Maisch and Lori Haas after the bill to expand background checks on guns failed this past week. Perhaps those 46 Senators will be proposing new legislation to expand background checks on people wanting to speak to them. Expanding background checks for people speaking their opinions and possibly hurting others' feelings? Republicans say "aye!" Expanding background checks for people purchasing a weapon designed to hurt others' feelings so much it kills them? Republicans say "nay!" Wanna hear another joke? Knock, knock, ::"Who's there?":: The United States Congress... http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2013/04/18/1886801/gun-violence-victims-detained-put-through-backgroun...

Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz made quite the statement with regard to Medicaid on Monday. According to the Dallas Morning News , Cruz said the following at a news conference yesterday: "Our friends who are saying they want health care do not realize that expanding Medicaid will worsen health care options for the most vulnerable among us in Texas." The stuffed bear upon which a film was named after (Ted) appears to have more knowledge regarding Medicaid than Senator Cruz. The state Cruz represents - Texas - has the highest percentage of uninsured residents of any state in this country. Approximately 33% of Texans between the ages of 19 and 64 are uninsured (4,886,100). Another 17% of Texans between the ages of 0 and 18 are uninsured (1,247,300) - also tops in the country. Overall, 25% of Texans are uninsured (6,234,900) - once again, tops in the country. As noted in a study conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, if Texas did participate in the Medicaid expans...

With each and every election, it appears as if the Republican Party is getting older and whiter. With the country becoming progressively more diverse, this could pose some serious problems for the future of the party if it doesn't try appealing to more than the cast from the film Cocoon . In the 2012 presidential election, the exit polls revealed that President Barack Obama won among the following groups of people: Blacks (93%), Hispanics (71%), voters under 30 (60%) and women (55%). Republican challenger Mitt Romney won among these groups: Whites (59%) and seniors (56%). Of the electorate, non-whites made up 28%, voters under 30 made up 19%, and women made up 53%. For Barack Obama, 56% of his voters were white and 44% non-white. For Governor Romney, 89% of his voters were white and 11% non-white. Like I said at the outset - with the electorate becoming progressively more diverse, the Republican Party is going to run into some serious problems in future elections unless it trie...

A week ago, the British rock band Muse released their sixth studio album - this by the title of "The 2nd Law," as in the second law of thermodynamics. As is quoted from a song on the album - "The 2nd Law: Unsustainable": " All natural and technological processes proceed in such a way that the availability of the remaining energy decreases. In all energy exchanges, if no energy enters or leaves an isolated system, the entropy of that system increases. Energy continuously flows from being concentrated, to becoming dispersed, spread out, wasted, and useless. New energy cannot be created and high-grade energy is being destroyed." Like all other Muse albums, this one takes a different turn in terms of sound. As a matter of fact, it takes several different turns, as I will describe below with a track-by-track breakdown: 1) "Supremacy": What's Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir" + a dark James Bond theme song + Matthew Bellamy's false...