Movie Review: The Usual suspects

This past week in media we've gotten to watch the movie "The Usual suspects." Im not usually big on action movies, but i actually felt this movie was really good, even though Kevin Spacey was the lead character. (Yeah, i really can't stand Kevin Spacey usually, its his voice or something, it really just drives me up the wall. maybe its the fact that his hair looks like a vampire. i dont know, all i know for sure is i usually just am not a fan of him.) Still, this movie had a really interesting an unique plot, and i thought it was cool that besides being a regular action movie it also incorportated a little bit of magical themes with The Devil being a bad guy-- now thats original. i was also quite surprised by who the devil in fact turned out being. that was such a shocker, oh my. I really dont want to give away anything to people who havent seen it yet, but all i can say is that people should deffinately see it when they can. This movie impressed me alot more than i thought it would, the usual suspects is deffinately a good movie.

* * * (3 stars)

George Bush is the new Adolph Hilter :)

So many Americans in this day and age-- such as elizabeth from the veiw-- are totally supporting their president and trusting in him completely to lead their country to justice. but what so many people dont realize is that George .W. Bush is so similar to Adolph Hiltler. dont believe me? here are some of the ways Bush and hilter are similar.

1 - - Like Hitler, President Bush was not elected by a majority, but was forced to engage in political maneuvering in order to gain office.

2-- Like Hitler, Bush went on to pursue a reckless foreign policy without the mandate of the electorate and despite the opposition of most foreign nations.

3-- Like Hitler, Bush has increased his popularity with conservative voters by mounting an aggressive public relations campaign against foreign enemies. Just as Hitler cited international communism to justify Germany’s military buildup, Bush has used Al Qaeda and the so-called Axis of Evil to justify our current military buildup. Paradoxically none of the nations in this axis--Iraq, Iran and North Korea--have had anything to do with each other.

4--Like Hitler, Bush envisages our nation’s unique historic destiny almost as a religious cause sanctioned by God. Just as Hitler did for Germany, he takes pride in his “providential” role in spreading his version of Americanism throughout the entire world.

5--Like Hitler, Bush began to curtail civil liberties in response to a well-publicized disaster, in Hitler’s case the Reichstag fire, in Bush’s case the 9-11 catastrophe

6--Like Hitler, Bush uses the threat of enemies abroad to stir the fearful allegiance of the U.S. public. For example, he features public announcements of possible terrorist attacks in order to override embarrassing news coverage or to crowd from headlines positive coverage of Democratic Party activities. He also uses the threat of terrorism to justify extraordinary domestic powers granted by the Patriot Act.Even the books we check out of public libraries can be kept on record by federal agents.

7--Like Hitler, Bush misconstrues Darwinism(or the theory of evoloution), in Hitler’s case by treating the Aryan race as being superior on an evolutionary basis, in Bush’s case by rejecting science for fundamentalist creationism.

8-- Like Hitler, Bush and his cohorts emphasize the ruthlessness of their enemies in order to justify their own. Just as Hitler cited the threat of communist violence to justify even greater violence on the part of Germany, the bush team justified the invasion of Iraq by emphasizing Hussein’s crimes against humanity over the past twenty-five years. However, these crimes were for the most part committed when Iraq was a client-ally of the U.S. Our government supplied Hussein with illegal weapons (poison gas included), and there were sixty U.S. advisors in Iraq when these weapons were put to use (see NY Times, Aug. 18, 1992). U.S. aid to Iraq was actually doubled afterwards despite disclaimers from Washington that our nation opposed their use. President Reagan’s special envoy Donald Rumsfeld personally informed Hussein of this one hundred percent increment during one of his two trips to Iraq at the time. He also told Hussein not to take U.S. disclaimers seriously.

9--Like Hitler, Bush began warfare on a single front (Al Qaeda quartered in Afghanistan), but then expanded it to a second front with Iraq, only to be confronted with North Korea and Iran as potential third and fourth fronts. Much the same thing happened to Hitler when he advanced German military operations from Spain to Poland and France, then was distracted by Yugoslavia before invading the USSR in 1941. Today, bush seems prevented by the excessive costs of the Iraqi debacle from going to war elsewhere if reelected, but not through any lack of desire.

10--Like Hitler, Bush has become obsessed with his vision of conflict between good (U.S. patriotism) and evil (anti-Americanism.

In my opinion, the evidence is pretty un-deniable. i guess history really does repeat itself, in this case, unfortunately.

Bloc Party

Bloc party is one of the most popular new indie bands lately. . .and i must say, i really do love their music. particularily the song "this modern love." Its mellow but at the same time, its deffinately not background music. I love the sound of the lead singers voice too, he really has one of the best british accents, even better than the lead singer of the Artic monkeys--and i really do like the artic monkeys too. Im beginning to think that british indie music is one of the best sub-catergories of indie music. although really all indie music is great in my opinion. to hear the song check out this music video.

Marilyn Monroe. . .

Marilyn Monroe, in my opinion is one of the most beautiful actresses ever to set foot in hollywood. I've always thought of her as such an icon, she hardly seems like she could possibly have been a real person. But was she even a real person ? that name, that look ? actually, alot of things about her were fake. for example, she was naturally a brunette, with sort of mousy brown hair, and her real name was Norma Jeane Mortenson. She had also had some cosmetic surgery, including getting her teeth fixed as they had protruded slightly. She had some more major surgery in the 1950's on her nose and chin. they tried to make her chin look more soft and rounded, and also made her nose signifigantly smaller. although she was pretty before she became the "marilyn monroe" she was known and loved for, she looked signifigantly different before she reached her stardom, see marilyn as a teenager in the picture below. back before Marilyn was famous, she was married to a man named James Doughtrey who fought in world war II. could you imagine being married to a nice woman named Norma Jean, then to have her transform into the starlet marilyn monroe? Marilyn was also known to fight with depression and drug problems throughout her life, and it has been said that the more famous she got the more depressed she would become in her private life. she was a very different person when she was out of the public eye. I think marilyn monroe is a very mysterious person, and i wonder if anyone ever really knew her.

MSN & confusion

I really like to chat on msn, and i find that i talk on it almost every day. but ive always liked talking on the phone a little bit more, just because msn can cause so much confusion! for one thing, uhm, nobody understands if youre being sarcastic or not. it can be pretty annoying to not understand sarcasm, although i guess its kind of dumb for you to expect them to get that its sarcasm. still though! ive actually gotten into arguments with people over msn just because they dont understand your tone of voice at all. also it can be pretty confusing if people are miss-spelling things and you really dont know what the on earth they are talking about. Another thing that seems a little bit sketchy about msn is that its not very private and people can so easily lie or be sneaky over msn. for example, if you dont want to look dumb in front of someone and they say "do you even know what that means?" you can so easily type it into google and pretend like you know exactly what it means, and always have. So many people will also paste a conversation over to let you in on another "private" conversation theyre having with someone else. its very sneaky! not to mention you never know who else is around while theyre talking to you. its really not very private at all! I do love msn, but still i always try to remember that it cant be trusted, and it really isnt that private at all.

BIAS!?

Bias in the media occurs when the media reports something that is inaccurate or one-sided because of ideology, political favoritism, reliance on limited (not treating both sides equally), or other factors. Bias can show up in coverage (or the lack of) the content and analysis of stories.

The above picture and quote stuck me as weird; is it suggesting its okay to be bias past a certain point? what do you think about it? It seems wrong to me, but tell me your opinions.

Internet Safety

Internet safety is really important in this day and age . . . but their are so many way to stay safe while using the computer. the computer deffinately should not be a risk to you, but it can be. Some really good ways to stay internet safe, particularily when youre blogging include:
Be as anonymous as possible. Avoid postings that could enable a stranger to locate you. That includes your last name, the name of your school, sports teams, the town you live in, and where you hang out.
Protect your personal information.
Avoid in-person meetings, always!
Photos: Think before posting. What’s uploaded to the Net can be downloaded by anyone and passed around or posted online pretty much forever.
Check comments regularly. If you allow them on your profile or blog, check them often. Don’t respond to mean or embarrassing comments. Delete them and, if possible, block offensive people from commenting further.
Be honest about your age. Membership rules are there to protect people. If you are too young to sign up, do not attempt to lie about your age.