- So first off today I'll talk politics for a second and quickly discuss last night's State of the Union address. Basically, I thought Bush gave a decent speech, though the substance of what he was saying was mostly very same-old, same-old. I do give him credit though for a.) his nice and surprisingly classy introduciton of Nancy Pelosi, and b.) his cheesy though pretty effective closing in which three notably heroic Americans were introduced to the audience, including that one guy who saved that other guy from getting run over by the subway, and everyone's favorite African NBA star / warrior / finger-wagging-do-gooder, Dikembe Mutumbo. Nice ... though couldn't we have at least gotten a token finger-wag from the ageless NBA legend? These little touches gave an otherwise somber speech a slightly more hopeful tone, though there was plenty of familiar nonsense tying the war in Iraq to September 11th and speaking in broad strokes about "the enemy" and how evil they are - even though the stuggle in Iraq is clearly no longer a black and white conflict of that nature. Bush had a few lines about global climate change (the new vogue term for global warming, I guess), though his record on the environment pretty much negates any too-little, too-late efforts from his administration. It's interesting that on many issues, like immigration, Bush is beginning to move away from the Republican mainstream - perhaps becoming a bit of an outsider in his own party is starting to humble Bush a bit? Whatever the case may be, Cheney is plenty hawkish enough for the both of them (PS -- what was up with that eerie moment where Bush and Cheney both paused for a sip of water at the EXACT same second?). Overall it was a decent address, but so much of Bush's rhetoric on the environment, balancing the budget, etc is more a reaction to previous failed policies than a real new direction.
- On Iraq though, I think we are now at a point where the truth is that most politicians, like most of us, really have no clue how best to proceed. Almost no one is fully comfortable with Bush and Cheney's planned upcoming surge of troops, but on the other hand most have to admit that an immediate withdrawal could really muck things up. My point is - I have to agree with people like John McCain who asks opponents of the war what their alternative plan is - not to say that a good alternative plan doesn't exist, only that I haven't really heard one spelled out from Democrats who are making this their go-to issue.
- And man, I don't think many are sorry to see John Kerry bow out of the 2008 election. Time for fresh faces.
- In any case, I feel like most are more than ready for 2008. On facebook there's already a "One Million People for Obama" group. It's going to be interesting how viral internet marketing and the like plays into the upcoming presidential election ...
TV STUFF:
- I have admitted that most of VERONICA MARS season 3 wasn't quite up to par with seasons 1 and 2 ... that is until the amazing fall finale that was just a spectacular piece of television. Well, I'm happy to say that last night's VM return picked right up where the last episode left off, and we got a new mystery arc that promises to be a lot of fun.
Have I mentioned how much I love this show? It just reeks of coolness. In the past, VM has blatantly payed tribute to the likes of The Big Lebowski (best movie ever). Last night, VM totally payed some homage to Y: The Last Man (best comic of the last 5 years). How cool is that? At least I think it did ... I mean we had a capuchin monkey stuck in a lab, two scientists who kind of resembled Yorick Brown and Agent 355 ... there had to be some connection, right?
Anyways, this was a darn good episode. A great self-contained mystery and some really cool build-up of the larger murder mystery. The bar scene with Kieth and Prof. Landry was great, great stuff ("I also wrote a book ..."). And, normally, I'm not the biggest fan of when this show veers into more soap-opera stuff, but they really did a great job of focusing on the characters here. Everything with Mac was extremely well-done, and you had to feel for her as she played the role of hopeless romantic. And then there was the whole Logan-Piz-Veronica thing. I admit, I haven't yelled at the TV like that in a while - I screamed when Veronica had her heart to heart with Piz then went straight to reconcile with Logan, who only a little while earlier was with some random beach girl. Damn you, Logan! Anyways, it doesn't look like Veronica- Logan redux will last long, judging from next week's preview, so it's all good.
Last night's VM was just another great episode, with so much crackling dialogue ("Garden State was never a book." "So much for that essay.") and so many great character moments. Even a seemingly one-trick character like Parker became way more likable than most would have expected, and was great in this ep. This is one show that may just be too good for the masses.
My Grade: A
- Also, GILMORE GIRLS last night was really good. As in the last few eps before the hiatus, I loved everything with Luke and April, and you've got to really root for him - especially in that one great scene where he and April ran into Lorelai and Rory at the mall (Burbank mall?) and all of the old good times they had had together came flooding back. Lauren Graham continues to do stellar work on this show, and only she can take that crazy Gilmore dialogue and somehow make it so funny and eandearing - the scene when Lorelai rambled on about her inner thought-processes went from odd to annoying to just plain hilarious, thanks to Graham's ability to make it work. Also, everything with Lane was pretty great, and ya gotta love Sebastian Bach introducing his "brood" to young parents-to-be / rockers Zach and Lane. Overall, this was perhaps one of the better episodes of the season and a great return for the show, which is saying something considering the absence of the senior Gilmores, Paris, etc.
My Grade: A -
- Still have not watched HEROES or STUDIO 60 from Monday. Curious to see what Heroes did to kick off the second half of its season.
Alrighty then, I'm out. ROCK.
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