The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

- "'C.S.A.' tells a counter-story of how slavery survives to the present day-and it uses traces of contemporary pop culture to show that the notion isn't really even such a stretch." - Richard Brody ( New Yorker ) - "A piece of well-crafted righteous indignation." - Ann Hornaday ( Washington Post ) - "By slyly nudging both history and the language of television, this mock documentary about an America won by the Confederacy ... manages to be both shocking and strangely banal in equal measure." - Geoff Pevere ( Toronto Star ) - "A sometimes incisive, sometimes amateurish look at race in America, the things we do and tolerate as a nation that are really no different from an America ruled by unrepentant slave-holders." - Roger Moore ( Orlando Sentinel ) - "[Writer/Director] Willmott could have easily stumbled over his own cleverness but, as with the rest of the movie, his fantasia is intellectually rigorous and makes for stim...

I've been reading Harlan Coben's critically-acclaimed Myron Bolitar series. It was recommended to me by both my mother and her sister. So, since we all quite thoroughly enjoy detective mystery books and all have similar senses of humor, I thought I'd give the series a gander. I just got through book #8 of the series (out of 10), Promise Me , and while I've promised myself (no pun intended) I'd get through the entire series and discuss it with my mom and aunt, I'm having trouble motivating myself to do so. The books in this series are often times quick moving, entertaining, easy reads, which don't leave any lasting impact or provide what I call the "wow" factor. Since I've finished eight books in the series, it's quite obvious I haven't disliked them to a great degree. However, after each and every book, while there are some chuckles and tense moments along the way, as well as some unexpected twists and turns, I'm still left feelin...

While part of me is sad to see that there's just one more episode left in the Psych series, another part of me is glad. The reason for that is I've been thoroughly disappointed in the eighth and final season. I started noticing the series going downhill in the seventh season, after six very strong ones. There were still some funny episodes in season 7, but there were also times when it appeared as if, due to the added romantic elements, Psych was going to become like Friends and turn into a romantic dramedy or soap opera. That element has definitely faded in season 8. However, it's been replaced by sub-par writing, extreme randomness, and a sense of, "Were the writers and actors high when making these episodes?" This season has honestly appeared to me to be one where the writers and actors weren't 100% certain if it was going to happen, and at the last minute, decided to gather all the "fun," random ideas they could, and place it on the screen - de...

I heard from the special guest on ESPN's Pardon the Interruption  the other day that "everybody" loves the new playoff format, where there are two Wild Card teams at season's end who play in a one-game playoff. However, I know this statement is inaccurate, for I do not feel this way. Just like with rewarding the league winner of the All-Star Game with home-field advantage in the World Series was a bad idea in my opinion, this is as well. I'm fine with changes being made to the playoff-format in Major League Baseball. I was in favor of adding a Wild Card team initially for a best-of-five series. I'd be fine with the addition of a second Wild Card team in each league, but not in the current format. As far as I see it, there were only four teams in each league that made the playoffs this year: New York, Detroit, Oakland and Baltimore from the American League and Washington, Cincinnati, San Francisco and St. Louis from the National League. Texas and Atlanta play...

On Wednesday night, Republican Presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, said the following: "Now and then the president says I'm the grandfather of Obamacare. I don't think he meant that as a compliment, but I'll take it..." I'm trying to make sense of this man. In so doing, I'll attempt to run down the notable healthcare-related events chronologically and see if things start to finally click upstairs for me: 1) Romney signs Romneycare as Governor of Massachusetts 2) Obamacare, which is said to be nearly identical to Romneycare, passes 3) Upon receiving his party's nomination for president, Romney says his first order of business in the Oval Office would be to repeal Obamacare in its entirety 4) Romney later states that there are portions of Obamacare he likes and wouldn't mind holding onto 5) After hearing angry conservatives yelling at him and throwing feces at his bedroom window while cursing at him in jive, he states that he'll repeal...

Mitt Romney is something else. Upon video footage being released of him telling some large donors that he won't worry about 47% of the American population, since he has no chance to win their vote (not true, as Obama only leads with these voters by a 49-43% margin) and standing by that for a few days, the Republican Presidential nominee is now saying he represents 100% of the people in this country. Let's run through this series of events: 1) Romney tells large donors at a private fundraiser that 47% of the population doesn't matter and without his knowledge, someone records the speech 2) The tape gets fully released 4 months later 3) Romney faces major backlash due to the tape and this can be seen both in poll numbers and heard from liberal and conservative politicians and talking heads alike 4) Romney more or less stands by what he said in the tape for a few days 5) Romney then tells the public that he supports not just 53% of them, but all 100% of them Yeah...