Movie Review: Green Lantern, First Flight

In "Green Lantern, First Flight," DC Animation Studios has hit on another gem. In the line of recent animated features from DC, "Green Lantern" keeps the ball rolling with a story that is told well, and full of action.

"Green Lantern, First Flight" follows test pilot Hal Jordan as he becomes a member of the Green Lantern Core. The Green Lanterns are protectors of the universe, and they are powered by their Green power rings. After being chosen for the ring, Jordan is taken by other Green Lanterns to their home base where he faces questions about being the first human to become a Green Lantern. But, when senior Green Lantern, Sinestro, agrees to take Jordan under his wing, he is allowed to keep his power ring and learn the ropes.

We see Hal Jordan quickly excel as a Green Lantern. Soon he uncovers a conspiracy against the Guardians, founders of the Green Lantern Core. Jordan is forced to choose sides, and, despite his inexperience, he becomes a force to be reckoned with.

I enjoyed this movie, nearly as much as "Superman/Batman: Public Enemies." I never really knew that much about Green Lantern as a kid, so there wasn't a nostalgia attached to this one like there is with a Batman or Superman film. Still, it's a terrific animated movie. Easily 4 stars...maybe even 4.5.

Stop! Food Police...

Put that Burger down and walk away slowly! Don't make me taze you!

What have we come to in our society when this trash is front page news on MSNBC? What have we come to when people are making a living running around and deciding what foods are bad for us and then spending their efforts trying to get restaurants to take items off their menus?

Yes, there are actually people who's full time job is to do the following (taken directly from the article): "A few months back, we lambasted the Seared Sea Scallops Salad from Macaroni Grill on the Today Show. That leafy abomination packed in 1,170 calories, 27 grams of saturated fat, and 2,680 milligrams of sodium. That’s more calories than in two Big Macs, and more sodium than you should eat in an entire day!" Yup...that's what they do, they go on the Today Show and attack a restaurant for 1 item on it's menu. And, eventually that restaurant caved and took it off their menu. Now, is that a good thing to eat? Absolutely not! But if you want to eat it once or twice a year when you go to Macaroni Grill, then go for it!

Look, I'm all for eating healthy. I should do more of it, and thankfully my wife tries looks out for me on that front. I'll be the first to admit that I could stand to lose 15 pounds. But, if I want to go to a restaurant and get a juicy burger, I should be able to do that without feeling horrible about myself, or worse yet, having my favorite restaurant remove that burger from their menu under pressure of the "food police."

Let's use a little common sense here people! Is it ok to go to a restaurant and order a 1/2 pound Super-Cheeseburger with fries? Yes! Should you eat that every day? No! The point is, treating yourself on occasion is ok, making a habit of it is wrong. We don't need the "food police" telling us what to eat and what not to eat...we just need to exercise common sense in our eating habits.

Thoughts on Cheney

Today a liberal coworker of mine stopped by to ask me what I thought of Vice President Cheney's criticism of President Obama's inaction on Afghanistan. I told him I thought Dick Cheney was right on...Obama needs to act, which I blogged about last week. After he spouted some Democrat talking points about "how Obama is waiting for the election because he needs to get this right," I pointed out that he wanted to pass a $700+ billion dollar stimulus in a week, and he originally wanted health care reform done in 2 weeks. Basically, he's tried to do everything really fast, except the one thing that all his military experts said needed to be done quickly. This simply brought out more talking points about having a friendly government in Afghanistan is what is important, and it's only 10 days until the election, and he wanted to let the Congress act on Health Care and yada yada yada.

This back and forth went on for a little while longer. Eventually this point came up in a sort of round about way: should a former VP, or President for that matter, criticize the sitting President? I asked if he had a problem with Al Gore criticizing George W. Bush when Bush was President. The response was something like..."Al Gore didn't criticize Bush this early into his Presidency." And then he walked away. I don't know why I even bother with these discussions sometimes...I just end up frustrated.

Given more time to think about this, I should have taken a totally different approach. I should have said that Dick Cheney is an American citizen. And, as American citizens, we are guaranteed the right to Freedom of Speech, so we can criticize our President if we think he is wrong. Is it Dick Cheney's fault that he gets a big audience when he chooses to criticize the President? No, not at all. And, as Hillary Clinton told us during the Bush years, it's patriotic to criticize our President.

Dick Cheney, or any American, can exercise their Freedom of Speech in any legal manner they choose. If that means speaking out against a President who they believe is totally inept on foreign policy, then by all means speak out. Heck, if an American citizen is ok with being totally wrong, they can even speak out in support of Obama and his misguided policies. That's the freedom guaranteed by our Constitution (yes Obama voters, we still have a Constitution...he hasn't managed to get rid of it yet).

TV Series Review: Life, Season 2

"Life" appears to be the latest installment of great TV shows that never caught on. I watched Season 1 about 2 years ago and loved it. Last year, NBC kept moving the night around and I lost track of the show. So, when season 2 came out on DVD, I jumped at the chance to watch it. I absolutely loved this show...sadly, season 2 was the last. It was not renewed for a 3rd season. Too bad, because I think "Life" is a 5 star series.

"Life" stars Damian Lewis ("Band of Brothers") as Detective Charlie Crews. Crews was wrongfully convicted of a brutal murder, and sent to prison for 12 years. After DNA evidence cleared him, he got a $50 million dollar settlement and a job as a detective for the LAPD. Sort of far fetched...maybe it's why the show never caught on. Because of his time in prison, Crews is a bit quirky. For example, he's always eating fruit. Also, he's attempting to acheive Zen, so he's always quoting it and listening to Zen tapes.

In Season 2, Crews is continuing his efforts to uncover the conspiracy that sent him to prison. All the while, solving a new murder every episode with his partner, Detective Dani Reese (Sarah Shahi). The individual murders in each show were the best part of season 2. Some of the best episodes included "Evil...and His Brother Ziggy," "I Heart Mom," and "5 Quarts." The series finale, "One," felt a bit forced as I think the writers had to wrap things up too quickly. Still, it ended up working.

Adam Arkin is also a regular in the series. He plays Crews' roommate Ted. Ted was in prison with Crews for shady business practices. When he got out, he became Crews' money manager. He provides much needed comic relief in each episode. At first, I found Arkin's character sort of annoying, but in the end, I decided that he adds a lot to the show.

I really liked this series. I think it's sort of a cross between "Monk" and "Bones", but ends up being better than both in my opinion.

Football Frenzy!

Yesterday was one of the greatest days of football ever, at least in my little corner of the world. I live in Iowa, so I tend to root for the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Iowa State Cyclones. When they play each other, I root for the Hawkeyes...sorry Cyclone fans. Neither of these schools is my Alma mater though...I went to Division I-AA South Dakota State University. Go Jackrabbits!

Anyway, yesterday, Iowa State ended a 32 year losing streak to the Nebraska Cornhuskers when the game is played in Lincoln. It took 8 Nebraska turnovers, but Iowa State won 9-7. They are now 5-3 and have a shot at making a bowl game. Not bad for a team that won 2 games last season.

Then there was the Hawkeyes, who always seem to play just slightly better than their competition. Last night, they played the Michigan State Spartans. The Spartans went ahead 13-9 with 1:37 remaining in the game. Iowa hadn't done much on offense all day, but as they seem to do this season, they found a way to get it down to the 7 yard line. On 4th and Goal from the 7, Ricky Stanzi hit Marvin McNutt for a Touchdown as time expired to get the 15-13 win. The Hawks are now 8-0 and lead the Big Ten.

Finally, there are the Jackrabbits of South Dakota State. They are the 11th ranked team in Division I-AA, now called Football Championship Subdivision. They were playing the 6th ranked University of Northern Iowa Panthers. When I went to SDSU, we were a mediocre team, at best, so I fully expected the Jacks to lose yesterday. But they shocked me, by beating UNI 24-14, to remain undefeated in conference play, and 6-1 overall. With 4 games left, they have a shot to make the playoffs, which would be huge.

Oh yeah, and I played golf yesterday, so it was a really good day.