Don't Heckle The Supervillain

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Ok, so I went to the Drudge Report to catch up on all the news that's not fit to print and I just couldn't resist this story. What I found even more perplexing was this story, which I found at the bottom when I got there.

Damn crazy Dutch. Gotta love'em.

That is all.

I quote...

"America is never, ever going to get to that point. There are little events that indicate that America will never do anything of import, other than throw its military might around and pretend to be the last bastion of civilized democracy while at the same time whittling away its own citizen’s rights."

Fil, the fact that you can post a comment like that and NOT be dragged out into the street and shot should show you just how great a country we live in. In my opinion you spit on the memory of all those who have fought and died for our country when you say something like the words in the quote above. However, this is America and you are entitled to your opinion, something to ponder. I could say a lot more on this but it's probably better that I don't for all concerned.

I urge everyone to go here to enlighten yourselves.

That is all.

Daredevil

The man without fear. I'll admit, I'm a sucker for comic book superhero movies. I love them. I loved The Phantom, Superman, Batman, Spiderman. I can't wait to see X-Men 2 and The Hulk this summer. So I went to see Daredevil.

And I'll be honest, I enjoyed the hell out of it. Sure, in some ways it followed the same old superhero lines, but it also took a few new directions as well.

Most noteworthy, the movies finally showed a superhero willing to kill. Daredevil is Batman only instead of self inflicted guilt, it's catholic guilt. And they really go into the sacrifices it takes to be a superhero.

My biggest regret of the film? Well, in the previews you can hear the line "Time to give the Devil his due!". Affleck delivers the hell out of the line and I was really disappointed they cut it from the film, also, minor regret status, apparently Coolio was supposed to be in the movie and they cut him too.

Lastly, if you occasionally watch Alias just because of Jennifer Garner, I admit it, I do, but I also watch Smallville so it's OK, then you're gonna love this movie because when she's on screen, well, it hurts daddy. I also like that her character is Greek, I knew it from reading the comics but I'm glad they kept it.

I'd love to say a lot more but I don't want to spoil it. For much better reviews go here for an amature and here for a professional. They both seemed to like it.

That is all.

1986...

We know what happened, not necessarily why it happened, but we know the what of the matter. Like a lot of folks this event reminds us of a day when we were children.

Mostly, I keep thinking that I hope this doesn't kill NASA. It's a great agency and they do a lot of good work despite the fact that they're terribly underfunded in comparison to their hey-day in the 60's. Not to mention they're flying a shuttle that was 20+ years old and that Congress has nixed several of the heavy payload orbial platforms meant to replace the shuttle fleet. I know Columbia was just recently retro-fitted but still, it was an aged craft. It should have been replaced. There are two ways this will go, either NASA will get funding to replace the shuttle fleet with something new and safer or NASA will get axed all together.

There are a lot of reasons I hope that they choose to fund NASA more aggressively. Divert some of the funding from these countries that dislike us so. I know that sounds simplistic but I'll tell you this much, the space program has rewarded us in more tangible ways than our foreign policy ever has rewarded our nation. Not to mention the inherent nobility of the thing. Our salvation lies, I think, in our gaze upward. While it is important for man to show kindness to his fellows I think it is also important to lead the way by example. To forge ahead into the unknown.

That is all.

From AM 2 PM...

Today is my friend Neal Anderson's birthday...all day long according to my yahoo reminder. Neal turns 24 today. I say it every year but I think it's appropriate. To quote Paul Simon "Down the decades every year, summer leaves and my birthday's here. And all my friends stand up and cheer and say 'Man, you're old!'"

Happy Birthday Neal! Here's to many more.

Best Wishes,

Your friend,

Nick

That is all.