Coming June, 2010... Not Soon Enough For Me!

I just discovered that the first teaser trailer is out for "Toy Story 3", which is coming to theaters in June of next year.



Toy Story is, of course, the signature franchise for Pixar - the only major film studio in Hollywood history to never have a boxoffice flop... and with this weekend's opening of its 10th feature, "UP" drawing rave reviews, it's a sure bet that Pixar's winning streak will continue.


I can't wait for "Toy Story 3", simply because "Toy Story 2" was so fantastic. To my mind, along with "Godfather, Part Two", it is one of the rare sequels of all time that was even better than the original.


EW.com is asking its readers to choose their favorite Pixar films of all time, and it's interesting to note that the responses are all over the board. There truly is no consensus winner, aside from the most obvious answer that most people seem to like all of the films. Personally speaking, I do have a top 10 list (actually top 9, because I have yet to see "Up")... Your results may vary!

1. The Incredibles - not just my favorite Pixar film... one of my favorite films, PERIOD.
2 Toy Story 2
3. Monsters, Inc. - I'm watching you very closely, Wazowski!
4. Toy Story
5. Ratatouille - More adult than most, but very enjoyable.
6. Finding Nemo - Many people say this was the best one. Many people are wrong.
7. Cars
8. A Bug's Life - Not a bad film, but I bet if they could do it over, it would be much better.
9. Wall-E - The only Pixar film I've ever fallen asleep in. I might have to give it another shot someday, but really - snooze-a-rama.

Me And Susie Had So Much Fun...

I would be remiss (and a little bit chicken) if I didn't post one more blog on good ol' Susan Boyle, now that "Britain's Got Talent" has ended with her losing to a rather bizarre (and in my mind, less talented) dance troupe.


Two things come into play here, I think... First of all, I think Susan peaked too soon. After becoming perhaps the hottest youtube sensation of all time with her first performance, there was simply no way she would ever have been able to match that again. It didn't help that she had a couple of obvious flubs with her second performance last week, and by repeating "I Dreamed A Dream" from Les Miz in her final performance, she set herself up for the impossible task of trying to improve on what the public had already decided was perfection. A bad strategy for winning, if you ask me. Here's that final performance:



The second factor in Susan's loss (I think) is the A.D.D. world that we live in... As quickly as Susan Boyle became a star, she just as quickly became yesterday's news. From what I've read, she was never as popular in the U.K. as she is in the U.S., and it's possible there was also a bit of anti-American backlash in the British vote against her.


I still think Susan Boyle did a good job, and I'm happy she really did get to "dream her dream".


But with that - especially since she did not win - I am going to amend my original comments, and predict that Susan Boyle's 15 minutes are now going to run out quietly and peacefully. She does have a pretty voice, but pretty voices are not as rare as many people think.


Fear not, however... As long as they're making Trivial Pursuit, Susan Boyle will always have a place in history - right alongside Ken Jennings, Justin Guarini and John Carpenter.


And Susan - we'll always have youtube!

Bad Car-ma

Problems that used to be just a simple annoyance can become fiscally painful when one is only working erratically. I was actually looking forward to putting a few bucks in the bank with my new freelance gig at Sirius/XM (hosting on the POTUS Channel - watch this space in the coming days), because I was getting a couple of paid days for training, followed by a full week of work. But those dreams went away today, literally in a flash and a thump.

The flash was the telltale signal triggered when I sped past an unfamiliar speed camera on New Hampshire Avenue in Takoma Park at around 3:30 this morning. If you've read this blog, you know I'm no fan of speed cameras anyway, but THIS particular camera is especially heinous - and perhaps even not quite legal.

Allow me to present my case... I will confess to speeding well above the speed limit. Frankly, I wasn't thinking about speed because I was on the road alone - this being at 3:30am - and because my mind was focused on my new job. It's the placement of the camera that bothers me.

The only place in Maryland where speed cameras are currently legal is in Montgomery County. The location of this camera is in a place where Montgomery County crosses the road for literally just 5 or 6 blocks, with Prince George's County to the north and DC to the south. The camera is located at the bottom of a hill in both directions, so that traffic going either direction will have a natural predilection to be speeding. The camera is not near a school - it's in the middle of a commercial area, so I'm not even sure it's located there legally. But that's beside the point. Any argument the county can make that this is a matter of safety is simply absurd. That speed camera in Takoma Park is a cash grab - pure and simple.

But the Karma Gods were not done with me. On my way home (after carefully poking my way through Takoma Park), I felt a tell tale knocking under my car. I pulled into the parking lot of a high school and sure enough - my right front tire was flat. It has been a couple of years since I've changed a tire. It was warm and muggy out, but thankfully, it was cloudy and it was not yet raining, so I pulled everything apart in the trunk, got out the donut tire and the jack, and 20 minutes later, I was back in business.

The tire that had gone flat had lived a full life, I cut my hand as I pulled it off the wheel on the steel belt that was poking through the rubber, and I knew darn well that the other three tires were not in any better shape, so I took the car up to the tire shop in Olney (so nice to have one in the 'hood), and walked out an hour later with four new tires, a front end alignment and an oil change!

Now that I have a new set of tires for my '97 Honda, I'm good for another 5 years or so!

But with all of my transportation woes today, most of my work for this week has suddenly become pro bono. The only bono I want to consider these days is Sonny Bono. And he's dead.

Just Kill Me Now.

I was trolling around the ESPN website this afternoon when I saw this headline:

RUMORS: Vick To WAS Gains Steam

It now looks like the Washington Redskins are in the market for former Falcons quarterback and current dog fighting felon Michael Vick. Just what the Redskins need. It's not enough that they have done everything they can to destroy the confidence of their incumbent starter Jason Campbell. They tried to land Jay Cutler from the Broncos, and that didn't work. They tried to trade up in the NFL draft to get QB Mark Sanchez from USC, and that didn't work. And now, they are apparently trying to get Michael Vick - a flashy convict who hasn't played football in two years, and who wasn't all that effective when he was playing! Even if they get him, I can guarantee you is isn't going to work.

Jason LaCanfora of the Washington Post writes in his Redskins Insider blog that a Vick/Skins marriage seems unlikely, because Vick couldn't possibly join the team until sometime in training camp, and because his skills and size don't match the needs of coach Jim Zorn's offense. I 'm sure LaCanfora's correct in his assessment, but the rules of common sense do not apply in fantasy football, and that's the game Dan Snyder is really playing. It's not the NFL... It's all a big fantasy!

Can you name me one big Dan Snyder move in the decade since he bought the Redskins that really worked out the way he hoped it would? Bruce Smith? Deion Sanders? Steve Spurrier (and his star QB's Shane Matthews and Danny Wuerfful in tow)? Even Joe Gibbs? No - you can't.

Snyder has already all but ensured that 2009 will be a disappointment once again for Redskins fans. Now, it's just becoming an embarrassment. It's tough to be a Redskins fan and to try and defend them to fans of other teams. My friends who root for the Eagles and the Cowboys and the Ravens always tend to look at me with a hint of pity on their faces when the Redskins come up.

Can we just skip ahead to 2010?

Humor For The Underemployed!

Co-starring the immortal Mel Brooks and the recently late Bea Arthur! If you don't find this to be funny, you are NVTS!

Am I Still A Misanthrope?

Here's Susan Boyle's latest performance from "Britain's Got Talent". If I mention that her voice cracked at the opening, does that make me a misanthrope?



Susan beat eight other competitors, including a belly dancer and a Darth Vader inpersonator, to advance to next week's finale. She is the heavy favorite to win the whole thing, and if she does, she gets to perform for the queen.

Another Bump On The Road To Hell

You've seen plenty of entries on this blog fretting about how newspapers and radio are dying a slow and painful death. Well, let's not leave out the third sign of the apocalypse, OK? The Washington Post reported today that Channels 4, 5 and 9 here in the DC area have formed a cooperative TV pool service, so that when mundane news conferences or ribbon-cuttings are held, just one station can bother to send a camera, with all three stations sharing the video from the event.

Won't this further homogenize the news and make all three stations look alike? Yes. With only one station in attendance, won't that discourage the gathering of sidebar stories, and won't the discovery of news stories suffer because only one reporter might be on hand to ask questions? Yes. Won't this just give the stations even more of an excuse to watch the bottom line instead of focusing on creating better TV news? Yes it will.

It is jaw dropping to consider how quickly local journalism in this country is going to hell. Even just a couple of years ago, being a major market counted for something. TV reporters had camera operators to work with. Radio stations had real news staffs. Newspapers had real beat reporters. And consumers received actual news. All of that is going, or is already gone - even in the Nation's Capital.

I am not looking to point fingers, and it's pointless to blame the economy. The news business was heading in a downward spiral long before the stock market tanked. The Internet has changed the world in far more many ways than I could begin to discuss here, but somehow, we find ourselves at a crossroads. Demand for information is at an all-time high, while the consumers making those demands are also demanding to get all of this information for free.

Push is going to HAVE to come to shove at some point, people. TV and Radio news stations are not really gathering news any more - They are regurgitating what the read in the papers. And the papers have cut their staffs so thin that they are only covering a fraction of what they used to cover.

There is no corporate financial incentive right now for station owners to crank out expensive news product when they can rely on other sources to do investigative work and enterprise reporting, then steal it for themselves. As long as the stations can throw something up on the air that resembles news, that's really all they care about.

But mark my words... The day is coming when there will be another Katrina, or God forbid - another September 11th. People are going to need more information than the crippled TV and radio and newspapers can deliver. And very suddenly, there will be an outcry that will get some newsrooms rescued from mothballs. I truly believe it will take that kind of need to pull the news business out of this decline.

The young adults who are really just now getting married, having families and getting mortgages - in other words, becoming news consumers - are the same people who grew up as teenagers getting all of their music for free on Napster. They are the same people who feel they have the God-given right to receive whatever media they want - and to get it for free.

They say the customer is always right. But they also say you get what you pay for.