What this movie IS:

• A lot of fun.
• Pure, 100% escapism.
• Great example of the state of the art in GCI animation, and the blurring of the line between live action and animation.

Whether he knew it or not, Micheal Bay has released this film at almost the perfect time. 

As long as you didn’t go in looking for Shakespeare, or something…

And this comes from a guy that watches Doll House….

Last night, Letterman issued a non-apology:

“All right, here – I’ve been thinking about this situation with Governor Palin and her family now for about a week – it was a week ago tonight, and maybe you know about it, maybe you don’t know about it. But there was a joke that I told, and I thought I was telling it about the older daughter being at Yankee Stadium. And it was kind of a coarse joke. There’s no getting around it, but I never thought it was anybody other than the older daughter, and before the show, I checked to make sure in fact that she is of legal age, 18. Yeah. But the joke really, in and of itself, can’t be defended. The next day, people are outraged. They’re angry at me because they said, ‘How could you make a lousy joke like that about the 14-year-old girl who was at the ball game?’ And I had, honestly, no idea that the 14-year-old girl, I had no idea that anybody was at the ball game except the governor and I was told at the time she was there with Rudy Giuliani … and I really should have made the joke about Rudy …” (audience applauds) “But I didn’t, and now people are getting angry and they’re saying, ‘Well, how can you say something like that about a 14-year-old girl, and does that make you feel good to make those horrible jokes about a kid who’s completely innocent, minding her own business,’ and, turns out, she was at the ball game. I had no idea she was there. So she’s now at the ball game, and people think that I made the joke about her. And, but still, I’m wondering, ‘Well, what can I do to help people understand that I would never make a joke like this?’ I’ve never made jokes like this as long as we’ve been on the air, 30 long years, and you can’t really be doing jokes like that. And I understand, of course, why people are upset. I would be upset myself.

“And then I was watching the Jim Lehrer ‘Newshour’ – this commentator, the columnist Mark Shields, was talking about how I had made this indefensible joke about the 14-year-old girl, and I thought, ‘Oh, boy, now I’m beginning to understand what the problem is here. It’s the perception rather than the intent.’ It doesn’t make any difference what my intent was, it’s the perception. And, as they say about jokes, if you have to explain the joke, it’s not a very good joke. And I’m certainly – ” (audience applause) “– thank you. Well, my responsibility – I take full blame for that. I told a bad joke. I told a joke that was beyond flawed, and my intent is completely meaningless compared to the perception. And since it was a joke I told, I feel that I need to do the right thing here and apologize for having told that joke. It’s not your fault that it was misunderstood, it’s my fault. That it was misunderstood.” (audience applauds) “Thank you. So I would like to apologize, especially to the two daughters involved, Bristol and Willow, and also to the governor and her family and everybody else who was outraged by the joke. I’m sorry about it and I’ll try to do better in the future. Thank you very much.” (audience applause).

Now, the thing that is MOST wrong about this is that Letterman is so tone-deaf that it took a WEEK of criticism before he really understood that he had done something wrong.  But even then, he doesn’t recognize that he made a mistake – it’s everyone ELSE’S fault for their PERCEPTION of what he said.  He still contends that it would have all been OK, if the Palin daughter that he joked about was 18 years old, instead of 14.

But almost as bad – and certainly worse, from certain perspectives – is that Letterman felt that it was not only OK and fair to make sexual jokes about the children of a political figure, simply because he, and his hyper liberal audience, disagree with the parents’ politics.

And not making sexual jokes about the children, but the parents as well.

This is the state of civil(?) discourse in the United States today.

If you disagree with someones politics, you are free to malign them, and smear their character, in ways that would have led to an invitation to a Duel 200 years ago, and a beating by the persons relatives even 100 years ago.

But today, public figures in general, and Conservatives in particular, are considered fair game for slander that would have landed people in court for defamation of character even 30 years ago.

And why are Conservatives in particular subjected to this kind of gutter commentary and “comedy”?  Because they tend, as a group, to praise basic values such as chastity, traditional marriage, and traditional family values.  Any black mark in their personal lives (such as a teenage daughter becoming an unwed mother) is seen as proof of hypocrisy, and becomes an open license to besmirch and smear the parent, as well as the entire family.

Which really is the point, from the perspective of the Left.  It is necessary to tear down their opponents on a personal level, to level the playing field, since Leftists believe that their are no standards that should be defended.  The left believes that all lifestyles are equal; that morals and ethics, and standards of conduct are simply local eccentricities, and none are worthy of being help up as superior to another. 

But it’s really really hard to make jokes about political corruption, or sexual misconduct, about a group of people who feel that there is nothing wrong with either issue.

So a Governor of a State of the Union becomes a “Slutty Flight Attendant”.  And Letterman doesn’t feel that he has to apologize for that.

So, no, Letterman still doesn’t get it. 

But I am not calling for a boycott of his sponsors, or for his termination.  But I think what he should be compelled to do is spend a week living with a Conservative family.  For Letterman, and for that matter, most of the people on the left that think like him, that would be the cruelst punishment of all, becuase they just might come to understand that Conservatives are people too, and worthy of some modicum of respect.

That we can disagree, without dehumanizing and demeaning those that we disagree with.

Personally, I am not all broken up about this.  I have little respect for most of the left wing shills (they like to be called “journalists”, but I think they and their fellow travellers are the only ones they are fooling) at this Democrat/Left Wing propoganda rag, and I am not sad to see them go, victims of their own political leanings.

What do I mean by that?

Well, as a former subscriber to the PI, when I lived in King County, it was obvious that their goal was to cater to the left wing portion of the market.  Unfortunately for them, that portion of the market does NOT cater to the advertisers that a large metro publication needs to survive.

In addition, print publications cannot provide rock solid evidence of value to an advertiser, in the way that On Line sites can (like click through data).

I think this can be proven by comparing the Tacoma News Tribune, who is financially stable.  While they lean to the left, the reporting, on the whole, is far more balanced than the PI.  They appeal to a wider demographic, and people shop with their advertisers, so the advertisers stay with them.

Having said that, just this morning my wife asked me why, if I get most of my news from Fox News and the Internet, do I still subscribe to the TNT?

The only real answer I have to that is 1) portability, and 2) the kids like the comics.  Though most of the comics aren’t even mildly entertaining.  But that’s another post.

I guess, at some point, I need to ask myself if the $10+ dollars a month I spend on the paper balances out.  For that same $10, I could get a major regional or national newspaper delivered daily to my Kindle e-reader, thus solving the portability issue.  I know that my kindle payed for itself in 6 months, by changing from paper and hard cover books to eBooks.  Maybe I should think more about changing my newspaper over as well.  With the added bonus of receiving the paper ANYWHERE in the US I happen to be that day.

But I digress.

I wish the PI luck in converting to an on-line only operation (as in this environment, I can’t imagine anyone wanting to throw away $14M a year on the PI).  But I won’t be reading it there, either.

“I am convinced that if there were no Fox News, I might be two or three points higher in the polls,” Obama told me. “If I were watching Fox News, I wouldn’t vote for me, right? Because the way I’m portrayed 24/7 is as a freak! I am the latte-sipping, New York Times-reading, Volvo-driving, no-gun-owning, effete, politically correct, arrogant liberal. Who wants somebody like that?”

Hmmm.

Hillary Clinton said:

Hillary Clinton appeared on “Fox & Friends” Tuesday morning, where she discussed sexism with co-host Gretchen Carlson and took the opportunity to say that she “appreciated” Fox News’ balanced coverage of her campaign.

Terry McAuliffe, HIllary’s former campaign manager, and former head of the DNC said:

“Fair and balanced Fox!” he exclaimed, noting that the network was the first to project Mrs. Clinton’s Pennsylvania primary win.

But, given the Democrat/Socialist/Leftist/Friend-Of-William-Ayers-(I-mean-he’s-just-a-guy-that-lives-in-my neighborhood) meme out there, it must be just the red meat hunter/killer Vast Far Right Wing Conspiracy members watching Fox News, right?

Maybe not:

Who Is Watching

Survey data have shown that there are some clear partisan differences among those tuning into the three cable news channels.

According to data from the Pew Research Center for the People and Press, CNN and MSNBC had more Democrats tuning in, while Fox News™ audience leaned Republican.

Looking at party affiliation, CNN and MSNBC had nearly identical viewer demographics. Almost half of both of their audience members were Democrats: 48% for MSNBC and 45% for CNN. Independents made up about a quarter (26%) of viewers, while Republicans took up the smallest share: 22% for CNN, and only 19% for MSNBC.

On Fox News, the trend was somewhat reversed. The largest share of its audience: 38% — were Republicans, followed by Democrats (31%) and independents (22%).

In real terms, that means that Fox has a LOT of Left leaning people watching.

In Q2, 2008 Fox News Channel averaged 1,585,000 viewers. CNN: 961,000, MSNBC: 685,000. So according to the PEW survey, how many of these are Democrats? Numbers don’t lie:

* FNC (31% Democratic): 491,350 Dem viewers
* CNN (45% Democratic): 432,450 Dem viewers
* MSNBC (48% Democratic): 328,800 Dem viewers

Yes, it’s true. More Democrats watch Fox News Channel than either CNN or MSNBC.

Perhaps what is really bothering the Obamessiah is that the one place in Broadcast/Cable news that is not totally in the tank for him, but tries to tell both sides, is watched by more Democrats and Independents than his tame media at MSNBC, CNN, and the rest…

And what does it say about a man who, in the face over nearly universal adulation from the media, feels compelled to malign the one source of reasonably objective coverage?

Analysis: Clinton calm in hostage crisis

When the hostages had been released and their alleged captor arrested, a regal-looking Hillary Rodham Clinton strolled out of her Washington home, the picture of calm in the face of crisis.

Easy to be poised and calm, when you were hundreds of miles away from the incident.  I mean, c’mon, it’s not like she was office where it nutbar was threatening the lives of people Hillary has probably only met in pasing, if at all.

The image, broadcast just as the network news began, conveyed the message a thousand town hall meetings and campaign commercials strive for — namely, that the Democratic presidential contender can face disorder in a most orderly manner.

“I am very grateful that this difficult day has ended so well,” she declared as she stood alone at the microphone….

It was a vintage example of a candidate taking a negative and turning it into a positive. And coming just six weeks before the presidential voting begins, the timing could hardly have been more beneficial to someone hoping to stave off a loss in the Iowa caucuses and secure a win in the New Hampshire primary.

Okay, that last line is about the only thing is this whole puff piece that could even remotely be considered “objective”…

Aides said Clinton was home Friday afternoon, getting ready to deliver a partisan speech in Virginia to the Democratic National Committee, when she was told three workers in her Rochester, N.H., headquarters had been taken hostage by a man claiming to have a bomb….

The aides said Clinton immediately canceled her trip and began working the phones. She later told reporters she had New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch, a fellow Democrat, on the phone in eight minutes.

Over the ensuing five hours, as a state trooper negotiated with the suspect and hostages were released one-by-one, Clinton continued to call up and down the law enforcement food chain, from local to county to state to federal officials.

“I knew I was bugging a lot of these people, it felt like on a minute-by-minute basis, trying to make sure that I knew everything that was going on so I was in a position to tell the families, to tell my campaign and to be available to do anything that they asked of me,” the New York senator said.

THAT is how she is “Calm in the face of a crisis”?  By pertering the first responders, who were just a tad busy trying to save lives?  But then she quickly recovers:

“They were the professionals, they were in charge of this situation, whatever they asked me or my campaign to do is what we would do,” Clinton said.

But the reporter still has to give the impression that Hillary was in control:

Along with taking charge while giving the professionals free rein, Clinton offered up a third dimension to her crisis character: humanity. She said she felt “grave concern” when she first heard the news of the hostage-taking.

“It affected me not only because they were my staff members and volunteers, but as a mother, it was just a horrible sense of bewilderment, confusion, outrage, frustration, anger, everything at the same time,” Clinton said.

Ah yes, play the mommy card. 

It was a thawing moment for a stoic figure who once snapped that she opted for professional life instead of staying home to bake cookies…

You can just imagine the reporter casting a longing gaze at a freeze frame of Hillary from the news conference as he writes the piece.

And them he implies that Hillary has “schooled” us:

Class dismissed.

It’s too bad that the “class” wasn’t on journalistic ethics and objectivity.

A quick search of “Glen Johnson AP” beings up a number of his pieces for that news service.  From a glance at the first page of results, I see a number of negative pieces on Mitt Romney, and one positive on Rep. Barney Frank (D- GLBT).

I will admit up front that I had read the Novella, and was more curious as to how the story translated to the big screen.  I had read reviews that it was well done, and even the orioginal author, Stephen King, had spoken very highly of it (rare for an author to approve of an adaptation).

Overall, the movie follows the book fairly well.  I was a tad disappointed that the first portion of the novella, which really set the mood, was truncated to about 5 minutes.

The central part of the story (which is really about how thin (and fragile) the veneer of civilization really is) is well done, and pretty creepy.

The special effects beasties are OK by todays CGI standards, but not revolutionary.

I was, I admit, shocked by the ending.  It is far different from the Novella, and casts an entirely different complection on the morality tale.  Sorry, no spoiler here. 

All in all, I recommend it as worth seeing, though I think I would wait until is hits DVD or Satellite/Cable. 

COMING SOON:  Beowulf 3D!

For those of us old enough to remember the original format war of VHS vs. Betamax, this is deja-vu all over again.  Like that conflict, one format has slightly better technical specifications, but the other is more industry friendly, and less expensive.  In the first format war, VHS eventually won out, even though Betamax was a superior format, with better run times on smaller tape catridges, with superior resolution.

In essence, the technical differences in HD formats (like most things) boils down to size… or at least capacity:  HD-DVD (dual layer) stores about 8 hours of HD video; Blu-Ray stores about 9.  Now, there are various tweaks being looked at, like triple or quad layer, but these would end up being Data functions, not Media for entertainment purposes.  Unless you wanted to put the entire Lord of the Rings movie trilogy (extended versions) on one Disk…

And, to date, HD-DVD players are less expensive, even though there are more manufacturers supporting Blu-Ray at this time.

But what is really going to tip the scales for HD-DVD is Porn (courtesy of Yahoo/Reuters):

James McQuivey, a principal analyst at technology research firm Forrester, said in the VHS-versus-Betamax war, porn provided a significant boost for the winning format.

He also noted the adult entertainment industry has often paved the way with new uses of technology — such as streaming video on the Internet — and said porn could help tip the scales in the current DVD format battle.

“If the porn industry wanted to break the logjam of HD-DVD and Blu-ray, it could,” McQuivey said. “If they said ‘We are going to go with HD-DVD’ you would see a few million homes immediately go out and buy HD-DVD players. They have that power.”

It is a potential weapon that one side, at least, has ignored. Instead, Blu-ray backer Sony Corp.(6758.T) blocked manufacturers from producing porn DVDs in that format — a move that some say has pushed adult film studios into the camp of HD-DVD camp led by Toshiba Corp. (6502.T)

So, for those of you still on the fence, start looking for HD-DVD players.  Blue-Ray will end up being an oddity in entertainment, only found on the Playstation 3. 

Blogs aren’t the cure for what ails newspapers or society these days. Done properly, they’re an important way for newspapers to adapt to the digital age. And many, if not most, independent blogs are stimulating and useful. But remember: On a good newspaper, nobody is a loose cannon – not even columnists and sportswriters and certainly not editorial writers.

If a newspaper pays your salary, somebody higher up on the food chain makes sure you stay within the bounds of propriety, fairness and accuracy – even in the realm of opinion. You can’t make up stuff and get away with it.

I wonder if Mr. Seago has forgotten the NY Times problems from Jayson Blair through the current intentional misreporting of infanticide of a healthy (post-natal) baby as an abortion; or the AP’s issues with fauxtography and the probably-doesn’t-exist Iraqi Police Source used in over 40 articles.

While it was the Blogs who exposed Rathergate, the scandals at Air America, and follow up on leads that don’t fit the MSM agenda.

As Mr. Rago points out (but Mr. Seago neglects to quote):

Certainly the MSM, such as it is, collapsed itself. It was once utterly dominant yet made itself vulnerable by playing on its reputed accuracy and disinterest to pursue adversarial agendas.

Far be it from me to dispute such august personages as these Professional Journalists.

I would note that there are two (at least) distinct forms of Blogger:  News Producers, and Commenter’s.

The News Producers are the minority, but are what the MSM and Newspapers specifically should be concerned about.  These folks – ranging from Mark Tapscott, to  Brian Mulroney , to Michelle Malkin , and many others, The folks are doing the work that the MSM won’t, and in many cases not just scooping the “real Journalists”, but driving issues and stories INTO the MSM.

The Commenter’s (including yours truly) also serve a purpose in helping to sort through the glut of information on the web, and providing for discussion and insight of various readers on those issues. It is a dynamic, flowing system, that encourages dissemination of information and views.

I can certainly understand why Blogs are the subject of derision by the self appointed Guardians of Truth in the MSM.  And I do NOT think that Blogs will really replace the Newspaper.  But Newspapers will get to be more like Blogs.  And the News Producer Blogs will become defacto Electronic Newspapers, as the line blurs.