Now the Government is Stealing Land From Citizens

Like I said yesterday, the terrorists are winning. Today brings news that one more right given to US citizens by the Constitution has been overridden by a power-hungry, corrupted government.

I read on The Knight Shift just a moment ago that the government is seizing private land for use in building a memorial for the folks who dies aboard Flight 93.

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WHAT the hell is going on here?! According to the Yahoo! article, the government has supposedly been in negotiations with the landowners since late 2004 to buy the land (though the property owners contend that there were NO negotiations at all), but since the "negotiations" were unsuccessful, the government is just going to up and take the land anyway. 

What do the g-men need the land for? How about a $58 million permanent memorial and national park to honor the folks who gave their lives on Flight 93. What's more, the memorial/park will cover a ginormous twenty-two hundred acres. The gov't would like to have the memorial completed by the 10th anniversary of the hijacking, as if the people who died in that plane crash really care when or even if a memorial is built. 

That point aside, I find myself wondering: What in god's name do you do with a memorial of that size? What's the point?

We here in the US have a right, inalienable, to own property. The government has no right to take our property away from us. Yet, here we are with the government poised to step into territory strictly forbidden by the document that governs it. What else is new, right?

From the article, Phil Sheridan, park service spokesperson, had the following to say: "We had a group of people who took some very heroic actions. It's just fitting and right that we get this done in time for the 10th anniversary."

First, do the dead folks care? No. They're dead. Their actions are remembered. Do we need a memorial to help us remember? No. What they did was brave and will live on through history as such. 

Scary thing is, the family members of the heroes on Flight 93 were pushing for the government to bring eminent domain to bear. Hell, they've even formed a group, Flight 93 Families, with a president and a vice president even. Patrick White, VP of F93F, supports the government's actions here and was even planning on asking for eminent domain to be wielded. Apparently both he and the families of the dead have forgotten what it means to be a citizen of the US, so swept up are they in their greed. 

Civil rights be damned, give us a meaningless memorial. 

I eagerly await the nasty emails that will come from that comment.

Thing is, the folks aboard Flight 93 died protecting the people of this country, because they believed in what this country stands for. Perhaps this is a lesson the government (and Flight 93 Families) should take to heart. 

Deadpool News

This makes my day.



In more Deadpool news, here's Ryan Reynolds talking about his role in the recent X-Men movie. I love the part at the end... it seems a bit like a jab at the folks responsible for f-ing up the character in the Origins film. I hope they do a spinoff, I hope he stars in it, and I hope they fix the character. Like Reynolds says, 100% accurate to the comic books.

Edit: I was browsing the web, and I came across some interesting news. We now have confirmation (here, here, and here) that there IS going to be a Deadpool spinoff movie. That's right, a movie about Marvel's most badass comic book superstar (er... cult hit). Better yet, it will (supposedly) star Ryan Reynolds as the main man. Given that his 15 minutes on screen was the best part of Origins (he positively stole the show, imo), this could be awesome. Of course, if the Fox producers get too much say in this shizzle, we're going to end up with Baraka-Cyclops-Pool again, and that would be sad days indeed.

Here's to hoping Reynolds' Deadpool intent wins out here and he gets the true-to-the-comics adaptation he and all the rest of the Deadpool fans out there truly want. 

US Government Using Patriot Act Against its Own Citizens

Pandora is playing "Capital G" by NIN right now... Irony!

I ran across this hoprrifying story while browsing the web this morning. I'm not sure horrifying is the correct term for it either. It goes so far beyond merely "horrifying"...

Back when the Patriot Act was rushed through the House and Senate following the 9/11, the law scared me. Never, EVER, should a law have been passed that supercedes the Constitution. Yet, utilizing the country's general state of panic and lust for revenge, our government pushed through a law that allows them to suspend the rights of anybody they suspect (or claim to suspect) of being a terrorist. It gives law enforcement officials, among other things, unlimited rights to hold prisoners without representation, without proof, and without cause. One utterance of "terrorist" and your rights are magically gone. Poof. You aren't protected, you have nowhere to turn.

That's what this story is about. Federal officials came one night and arrested a tenth grade kid for being a terrorist threat. He's been held now for two months without legal representation and limited contact with his family. His hearings are delayed, then delayed again, all the while this poor kid is being denied his Constitutional rights. 

Pardon my French, but what the fuck is this country coming to? This is not the United States the forefathers envisioned, this is more like the various foreign regimes we have been horrified of in the past. Perhaps this has become cliche by now, but only because it is true. We are moving at an ever more rapis pace towards the world envisioned by George Orwell when he penned 1984. The fate of Winston Smith is scarily close to what this kid is going through right now. 

If that doesn't send chills up your spine, you should get your pulse checked. 

Seriously, folks, anybody reading this and watching this video must acknowledge that this is ridiculous. This is not what the USA is all about. We elected a man who promised us change, yet one of the most atrocious things left over by the Bush administration was the Patriot Act, and he is doing nothing to rectify this problem. He's busying himself with spending record amounts of money and doing more than perhaps any other President before him to socialize this country, but when it comes to the basic rights of the people he was elected to lead, he turns away and refuses to do anything. 

I will inevitably get an email or two about how the Patriot Act is necessary to combat the threat of terrorism, and to that I say bullshit. I didn't believe that back in 2001 and I sure as hell don't believe that now. This Act serves no purpose other than stealing away the few rights that remain to us as citizens of the United States. It gives the government far too much power, and that power is wholly abusable due to an utter lack of checks and balances. 

It's been said that terrorists attack us because they are jealous of the way we are able to live. If you believe that, perhaps you should take a step back and look at this story from the perspective of a terrorist. They are jealous of our freedoms and our rights, yet the government is stripping those freedoms and rights away from us, little by little, so really, the terrorists are winning. Hell, perhaps they've won already. 

If this story horrifies you as much as it does me, do something about it. The Campaign for Liberty is educating people about what their rights are and how they can stand up for them. They are fighting to stem the tide of big government that is slowly eroding our great country and standing up for the Constitution and the rights we have under it. Head on over and educate yourself, then stand up for your rights.

Star Trek in TWO Days!

It just might be the movie event of the summer, and it is suddenly upon us. 2 days to go. Whet your appetites here:

More Random News

So, they're already talking about both Gambit and Deadpool spinoff movies. Don't believe me? Check it out here. I'm down for both, assuming they can find a way to take the shitstorm of crap they dished on the Deadpool character back and do it correctly this time. And bring Ryan Reynolds back as Deadpool. 

It's with a heavy heart that I tell you Kings has been cancelled. I am tremendously sad that more people didn't start weatching that show. NBC will air the remaining episodes later this summer. It will be on again Saturdays starting June 13 and will run through its remaining episodse. :(

Heroes has avoided the NBC chopping block for now. NBC has renewed the show for next season, though they are debating how many episodes it will be. They also renewed Southland (YAY!) and Friday Night Lights (another YAY!)

All you Chuck fans out there can breath a sigh of relief, since NBC has confirmed that this cult hit is being renewed as well. 

More Movies - G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and Transformers: Rise of the Fallen

One quick aside: there is a lot of "rising" going on with this summer's movies.

The X-Men movie, though piss-poor, was definitely not bad enough to dampen my spirits about this summer. There are still a tremendous number of great movies slated for release in the coming months, and I can't wait to keep it going. This Friday gives us Star Trek, which, if the critics are to be believed, is phenomenal. 

Also, we finally have an actual trailer for G.I. Joe, which you can view right here on this very blog:

As I watch the trailer, I'm struck by the notion that the film has potential to be a special effects bonanza that falls short in the story department. While that approach works for some movies (read: Die Hard), it will fail with this one, I think. G.I. Joe has a great and rich background from which to pull material, so it will be disappointing if the folks behind this movie don't bother pulling any of it. 

Also, the first Transformers movie stole the Best Movie of 2007 on my old MySpace blog, so I'm understating when I say I can't wait for the followup. Everything worked for me about the first one, especially the soundtrack, composed by Steve Jablonsky. The movie roared into theaters with a big story, fascinating and well-acted characters, stupifying special effects, and a score that brought everything together and stole many, many hours away from my life. 

Well, we've got the same cast, same crew, and same composer* back for the second, so it should be exciting. 

* In addition to Steve Jablonsky, the rumor mill has Hans Zimmer working on the score as well. I'm down with this so long as Zimmer doesn't fiddle with the things that made Jablonsky's score to the original so good. Also, Linkin Park will be back, throwing their garbage in for the Official Music From and Inspired By soundtrack... barf. I'll wait for the score.

I saw the new trailer for Transformers 2 prior to X-Men, so I figured I'd post that here too. Enjoy!

X-Men Origins: Wolverine - The Review

This review really pains me. It really, really does. I liked the first 3 X-Men movies - they were fun, action-y, and told a good story. Yeah, there were some complaints about the third one, but that hardly precluded it from being an entertaining movie. 

So, imagine my excitement when I heard that there was going to be yet another X-Men movie. When I first posted the trailer here, I was all giddy and excited. More to the point though, I was pumped about Ryan Reynolds playing one of my favorite comic book characters of all time!!! Ryan Reynolds is one of my favorite actors, and he seemed to fit the young Deadpool perfectly - pretty boy with a sarcastic, dark humor. I liked where that was going. Throw in Hugh Jackman reprising his role as Wolverine, and it seemed like a can't-lose proposition.

Enter, then, the movie itself. I'll admit that I went in with mixed expectations; I mean, come on, the movie was clocking in with a whopping 37% on the tomatometer. Anyway, enough preface, let's jump into this one.

First, the good. And this is a mighty short list.

• Ryan Reynolds is a complete badass - at least he is for the whole 15 mintues he's on screen as Deadpool.
• Hugh Jackman can act. This movie would have been a complete bust if it weren't for his great acting talent. He really gets into the Wolverine part, and he plays it with passion that really shows.
• Several members of the supporting cast were also very good in their roles. Of note, Leiv Schreiber plays a great Sabretooth, and Danny Huston was a passable Stryker. 

The best moment in the entire movie right here!

And that about covers it. The first 15-20 minutes or so was completely sweet. The beginning was everything I expected from the movie, plus Deadpool brought to amusing and badass life by Mr. Reynolds. Then the movie went downhill, sharply. The action disappeared, and the movie slowed to a crawl as we explored Wolverine's life  with his wife, leared where the name came from, watched Hugh Jackman cutting down some trees, were exposed to his bare chest as often as possible, and just plain stopped caring. Anybody who knows me knows that I'm all for dropping action for character development, but the writing in this movie is sloppy and riddled with cliche, and not even Jackman's passionate portrayal of his character could mop up this mess. We are introduced to Gambit, who is awesome for about 10 seconds, there are a couple of clashes between Wolverine and Sabretooth, a couple of people die, and all along, Stryker is plotting away. What his ultimate intention is is anybody's guess (though if you're paying attention you guessed correctly far too soon). 

Anyway, during this entire time, we're missing half the point of my seeing this movie: Deadpool. He just isn't here, and I was thoroughly disappointed, but the biggest let-down was still in store. 

I'd like to preface my next remarks by saying that I now understand all the people who hated the third X-Men movie for not sticking to the story line. Though I'll make an exception here in that what they did in Origins was on a far different level. In The Last Stand, they f-ed up the plot line, but stayed relatively true to the characters (well, the important ones at least). Here, they just messed everything up, including main characters. End preface.

Enter the end of the movie, the climactic battle - the movie has finally started to pick itself up again (after several utterly lame "plot twists") and I am excited to see Deadpool again. And here is where the movie fails in the most epic way possible. Stop reading now if you would rather subject yourself to the heaping doses of FAIL first hand.

We are introduced to the mutant killer (formerly Deadpool - he no longer deserves that name at this point in the movie). Here is bald Ryan Reynolds, bare-chested (why is everybody bare-chested in this movie all the time?????) and hideous in an experimented-on way. Not to mention they, uh, "stitched" his mouth closed, depriving us of the most defining thing about the Deadpool character. As if that wasn't enough, the movie barely gives us enough time to digest this before, in a further act of WTF, he sprouts sword blades from his knuckles, Wolvy-style. 

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Ummm, the movie completely lost me at this point. There's about 5 minutes of this thing beating the ever-loving crap out of our protagonist, then they climb up the exhaust pipe (for lack of a better term) for the nuclear reactor and epic battle ensues up there. We are introduced to the experiment's newest ability, Nightcrawler teleporting. More fighting. Just as it looks like mutant aberration is going to win, Sabretooth joines the battle and the mutant killer beats the snot out of both of them at the same time, employing much teleporting tactics. In the final straw, mutant-thingy teleports away and unleashes a volley of Cyclops-laser. 

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Is there no saving this movie? Anyway, Wolvy ends up decapitating the thing, losing his memory, not recognizing his wife's dead body, walking away, and thus the movie is (finally) over. I and the group of friends I came with wander angrily out of the theater, wondering why we wasted our money on such a terrible movie. 

After the credits, the mutant killer's body attaches it's head again. Who cares.

My personal opinions about their borking up Deadpool aside, the movie was just bad. The story was cliched, the action was all-too brief, the character development was shallow (especially considering the time they alotted for it), the plot twists were predictable and stale. 

When I see a movie for which I can say that not even Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds can save it, there is something very wrong with that movie. Unfortunately, between the story being lame, the characters being one dimensional, and Deadpool being butchered, there's just not much left to appreciate about the latest X-Men outing.

Score: 2.5/10.0 

It is nice to see that it being a terrible movie didn't stop it from making bank to the tune of $87.0M. I expect that the numbers won't look even remotely that good next weekend. 

The next day, I watched The Nines to make myself feel better. It worked wonders. On the upside, Star Trek comes out on Friday, and the Tomatometer is giving it a truly whopping 100% thusfar. Now there's a movie I can't wait to see.