I don’t always like to get political on this blog (yeah, right), but the presidential campaign is heating up and the next couple of months look to be pretty exciting. So far, I have voted with my party in every election. It is unlikely that I would ever vote for a democrat, and the reason is simple. Their party-line views on a couple of hot-button issues I just can’t ever support under any circumstances. Plus, there’s the foreboding sense I get that Barrack Obama may just be the antichrist.

But for once I actually have a sense of confidence and hope in the candidate I’ll be voting for: John McCain. I trust his integrity, his bravery, and I believe that most of his policies are right for America. And unlike most Americans, I’ve actually taken the time to see what those are. I especially like that McCain has the guts to stand up to his own party at times. And despite McCain’s lack of public speaking ability, I found his speech last night at the RNC to be stirring and inspirational.

As for McCain’s stunning choice of a running-mate, Ms. Palin is charming and attractive on the outside (is it wrong that I think she has this cool, sexy librarian thing going for her?) and happens to be a solid conservative, helping to make up for McCain’s shortcomings. Also, she wears a skirt… meaning she’s not afraid to be a woman (read: feminine) and a leader, unlike cold-as-ice Hillary. I swear, the pant-suit is an immediate deal-breaker for me.

Obviously I haven’t even scratched the surface of all there is to say about these candidates, but I just wanted to come out and say that I’m looking forward to the rest of the campaign and especially the election. I support John McCain, and I know that he will make a decent president. Probably.

The IOC has finally decided to investigate claims that He Kexin, the little Chinese Olympic gymnastics gold medalist, is actually 14 years old rather than the required minimum age of 16. Apparently, the mounting mountain of evidence (along with public opinion, I’ll wot) has convinced them that it is something they should probably look into.

You think?

If they find enough evidence to support the claim that He is really 14, she will most likely be stripped of her medals. What’s more, the entire Chinese female gymnastics team (notice I said “female” not “women”) will be stripped of their medals. What’s more more, it will mean that the Chinese government is guilty of a very big cover-up that will tarnish their reputation in a big way within the global community.

Check it out, China. We’ve got a saying over here in the West: “Cheaters never prosper”…. or something to that effect. Here’s the thing. If China really wants to become a bigger player on the world stage, they must adopt a way of thinking that is in line with the rest of the world. This includes ethics. If the IOC determines that China lied about the ages of its gymnasts, I will pee myself with happiness. Why? Because for so long the Chinese government has existed with an attitude of we said this is true, therefore it is true and there will be no argument against it. Well, guess what China? You may be able to silence the voices of the majority of 1.3 billion Chinese people, but you can’t silence the whole world. What’s done in the dark will eventually be brought into the light, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. And does the IOC need to prove that He Kexin (she’s a little darling, by the way–I don’t blame her for anything; her government made her lie about her age; she’s too young to understand that what she was doing was wrong, blah, blah, blah) is really 14? Nope. They just need to be convinced.

Can’t wait to see how this turns out.

I just read that the release of the next installment of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, has been pushed back from November to July 2009, a full eight months. Why did the studio decide to do this? Was there a problem with production? Did they decide that they needed more time to make the movie as good as can be for the fans? Nope. This move by Warner Bros. can be summed up by one word: GREED. The powers-that-be over at WB have decided that they can make much more money by releasing the movie next summer rather than in a few months. They have said that the movie is totally on schedule for a November release but that July will be better for their bottom line. DON’T YOU ASSCLOWNS HAVE ENOUGH MONEY? I guess the success of The Dark Knight wasn’t enough for them. Greedy bastards! Once again a movie studio has shown that it has no regard for movie fans. I hate them. I hate them so much. Once I figure out where I should send it, I plan on writing a very pointed email about all this. In fact, if WB goes through with its plans, I promise that will not go see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in theaters when it is released. I will find some alternative way of seeing it that will guarantee that Warner Bros. makes as little money from my viewing as possible.

UPDATE:

Please help me “stick it to the man” in the fight against corporate greed. Sign this petition to get Warner Bros. to change the release date back. All you have to do is enter your name and email, and it’ll only take a second.

I know this is all pretty silly as a “cause” and all. I promise that I’ll find something more noble to rant about next time. Thanks.

UPDATE:

Apparently there are two petitions being made for this. Here is the second one. Or rather I think it’s the first one, as it actually has more signatures. Please sign both if you can. No harm in that, I guess.

I just had to post about the Swedish wrestler who threw down his bronze medal at the Olympic awards ceremony, saying, “I don’t care about this medal. I wanted gold.”

What a big, whiney baby. Seriously, Sweden, is this the best you have to offer? I thought the Olympics was about bringing together the best athletes in the world. Part of being a great athlete, in my opinion, is possessing great sportsmanship. Obviously, Ara Abrahamian is some kind of prima donna who thinks more highly of himself than he ought. Nice temper tantrum, guy.

Hey, Sweden, if that’s the best you have to offer, I suggest you stay home next time.

I was all set to write this nice post about the Olympic ceremony and the spirit of the Chinese people and then I read this news report about the father of an Olympic coach being murdered by a Chinese man at the Drum Tower in Beijing. You know, I never once felt unsafe walking the streets in China, but I guess I’ll have to rethink that attitude.

[sigh]

Still, the opening ceremony was beautiful and reminded me of the great artistic and cultural traditions of China that I love. Zhang Yimou is a genius. And that little boy with Yao Ming who had freed himself from the rubble of his school after the Sichuan earthquake and went back to help free his classmates and who later, when asked about it, said, “I’m a class leader; it was my responsibility”… Wow. Like Yao Ming said in the interview, it really gives you a little bit of hope for the future. By the way, I also happen to really like this story.

Yes, I give the Chinese a lot of crap but only with things that have to do with their collective backward ways of thinking about a lot of things and also with their corrupt and controlling government. However, I love China and always will. And generally speaking, the people there are warm and hospitable. And ultimately I can’t blame the whole country for the disgraceful acts of one psychotic Chinese man (who at least had the decency to throw himself off the top floor of the Drum Tower–though, it would have been nice to know why he did such a horrendous thing).

Anyway, I’m looking forward to the rest of the Olympics. I hope the Chinese do well, but despite the fact that it’s their “home turf”, I think we’re still going to clean the floor with them. I don’t think the Chinese athletes will be able to overcome the overwhelming pressure of 1.3 billion people depending on them. The U.S. is currently (at this writing) in the total medal count lead with three total (1 each of gold, silver and bronze), though the Chinese are a close second with 2 medals (but they’re both gold). But have you seen the medals? Have a look:

I really like this design. It’s totally original and unique. The addition of a ring of jade is the perfect element to infuse a bit of Chinese culture into it. I’m glad that designers are taking some chances with this stuff and not just sticking with traditional ways of looking at things. I also liked the medals from the Torino games. Though there was a lot of talk about them looking like doughnuts, I thought they looked cool. Looking back on past years’ medal designs, I noticed that, with the exception of Salt Lake City in 2002, every medal design from a U.S. Olympics has been pretty boring. What the hell? I hope next time we host an Olympics they hire someone with some creativity. It’s just interesting that the country who’s people are supposed to be homogenous is the one that shows an unusual amount of creativity.

Speaking of hosting the Olympics, it’s kind of strange to think about the cities (especially the American ones) that have been selected. As far as the summer games are concerned, L.A. has hosted twice… okay, that makes sense. And then there’s Atlanta and… St. Louis? What about NYC or Chicago? I don’t know. It seems weird to me. Anyway, let the games begin. Go U.S.A.

I’d heard that The Mummy 3 was in danger of having its opening delayed in China due to the government there requesting that some parts be censored out. I don’t know how all that turned out. But I saw The Mummy 3 yesterday, and I found myself wondering what the Chinese government could possibly find offensive about it. In the end the only thing I could think of was the depicted interracial relationship between a Chinese girl and a white man. I hope that wasn’t the case because, if it was, that’s just pathetic. I won’t say anything else about that since I don’t have all the facts.

Overall, The Mummy 3 was just okay. It was about what you’d expect from that type of movie, but there was something missing. I can’t quite put my finger on it. All I know is that, about two-thirds through the movie, I stopped caring. And what a waste of Jet Li. Shameful, really. This year’s earlier Chinese adventure, The Forbidden Kingdom, was much better. It comes out on DVD early next month; you should check it out, if you’re into that kind of thing.

I found the absence of Rachel Weisz a little disconcerting. Maria Bello is a decent enough actress, but she’s no Rachel Weisz. I’m not sure why she wasn’t in this third installment of The Mummy series, but I kind of feel like she should have considered herself under some kind of moral obligation to reprise her role. I mean, The Mummy was the movie that made her career. Doesn’t an actor kind of have an obligation to the fans that made her what she is, who are expecting to see her up there on the big screen next to Brendan Fraser, the King of Dorks? I suppose I feel the refusal makes her look kind of stuck up, like she’s too good to do The Mummy all of a sudden. But for all I know she had a perfectly legitimate reason for not appearing in the third film. I could so some research, but I’m far too lazy for all that nonsense. Anyway, at the very least, my hat’s off to the writers/producers of The Mummy 3 for not killing off the character altogether. I hate that kind of crap.

Lately I’m finding that I’m very conflicted about a lot of things. Mostly I’m conflicted about my plans for the immediate future. At any given moment I go from totally being over living in Southern California and wanting to get out of here like now to thinking I should stay because there are so many awesome things about living here, such as access to cool things like the beach (I can’t remember the last time I was at the beach, but I like the fact that it’s there and that I can go whenever I want) to Comic-Con and other cool events (BlizzCon is coming up in October, but it’s way expensive–I still might go, though). I guess I should weigh the pros and cons thoroughly before I decide to bail or not.

One thing is for sure. A change is going to be needed in the very near future, and that change is related to my employment situation. My current job is at least somewhat in my chosen field, but it doesn’t pay quite as well as I would like it to. Plus, there are no benefits at all. So, it pretty much has to go. However, I don’t want to up and quit without a firm plan in place. And when I am ready to make my move, I don’t think I’ll be limiting my search to just this area. This place is just too expensive, and if I ever want to, oh, I don’t know, buy a house, then I should seriously consider going elsewhere.

But I won’t be doing anything before October. I’ve got concert tickets. After that, though, I’m going to be searching pretty earnestly. And I’m open to any good advice that anyone might be able to offer.

I had a conversation with this kid today that I found to be pretty upsetting. He’s in his early twenties, but I say “kid” because I’ve pretty much decided that that is what anyone under the age of 25 is to me now. Basically, I coming to find that the thinking of people 25 and younger is so completely different than the way I and my contemporaries think. And I don’t think I’m just feeling the effects of a personally widening generation gap.

Anyway, we started talking about politics and the upcoming election. This person, who I’ll call Jim, stated that he so far didn’t like either of the presidential candidates and that he might not vote at all. I tried to explain to him that it’s not just our right to vote for our leaders but that it is also a duty. I told him that for we Americans not to exercise our right to vote is basically wrong simply because there are so many people in the world who don’t have this basic human right. Jim told me that people have the right to drive a car but that they don’t have to and that a person shouldn’t have to vote if they don’t want to. I explained to Jim that driving a car is a privilege and not a right but neither fact has any bearing on whether someone should vote or not. I again tried to reiterate my point that someone should vote because it is a civic duty. However, it didn’t seem like Jim was able to understand the distinction. He then told me that there are many Americans who shouldn’t vote because they are ill-informed about the issues and the candidates. I told Jim that this was a completely separate issue. Yes, people should educate themselves, but that has nothing to do with whether those who can vote should vote.

I finally discontinued the discussion because it was very clear that Jim was never going to see the issue clearly. I believe this comes from some sort of generalized flaw in the collective thinking of today’s young people. I hope this isn’t so, but I seem to be seeing it more and more these days. There must be something wrong with our education system, I guess (Ha! Like that’s any big surprise to anyone). Not only can young people not think critically anymore, they’re apathetic yet make absolute statements when it suits them. It really makes my head spin.

So I realize that, after all that X-Files posting I did last week, I never wrote about what I thought about the movie. I ended up seeing it last Thursday at a midnight showing at The District in Tustin, which was not at all crowded. We now know that X-Files: I Want to Believe had a disappointing opening weekend, falling in at number 4 behind Mamma Mia! of all things. Seriously? Mamma Mia? Anyway, I’m still hoping that the movie will have a better weekend coming up, though I’m fairly certain it won’t beat out The Mummy 3. Maybe all the people who would have seen it last weekend were at Comic-Con.

Overall I’d have to say that X-Files: I Want to Believe was something of a disappointment. However, despite this, it was a very good movie in a lot of ways. It focuses primarily on our hero and heroine, Mulder and Scully, and further develops their characters. Though, I might argue that, after nine television seasons of The X-Files, further character development wasn’t needed and that the new movie should have just been a kick-ass, exciting story. Hence, my disappointment. But I understand that, after a six-year absence, Chris Carter felt he needed to reexamine his most-famous characters rather than focus on the story. The story was good, mind you; it just takes a back-seat to the characters.

I was mistaken in my earlier predictions about who the missing FBI agent would be; I guess it was kind of a stretch. But I will say that one (and only one) additional character from the original series makes an appearance. Beyond that I won’t say anything else about that.

I did enjoy the movie. Just seeing Mulder and Scully together again is enough to make me at least mostly happy. But this had better not be the last X-Files film. At an appearance at the SoHo Apple Store recently, Chris Carter stated that another film would probably be dependent on the success of this film. There has to be another one. Carter has said that he made this movie so that it would appeal to a wide audience but that it was also “for the fans”. I pretty much reject that. This wasn’t a fan appreciation film. It was the film that he wanted to make, exploring the things that he wanted to explore. The fans want to see some aliens and some of their favorite characters from the show. So… he’d better get cracking on that.

All in all, good movie. Very cerebral, but enjoyable whether you’re an X-Phile or not. Go see it. Support the cause.

In this entry of Tim Johnson’s China Rises blog, Tim writes about the Korean reporter who snuck into a rehearsal for the Olympic opening ceremony at “the bird’s nest” in Beijing and taped it. The video was posted on YouTube until the Chinese government put pressure on YouTube to block the link. The video is no longer available. I mention it because I think it’s kind of funny. When it comes to the copyrighted work of other nations, China is lax on bringing the thunder down on illegal bootleggers. But when its creative properties are “stolen”, China starts crying like a little bitch. I don’t agree with what the Korean reporter did, but I’m a little exasperated with China’s official policy of knee-jerk overreaction when its rights are violated while it completely ignores the rights of millions of others. According to Johnson’s blog, those who have leaked Olympic “secrets” have been threatened with seven-year jail terms. Seven years? Really? Maybe China needs to take itself a little less seriously.