Funny People (?)

For those of you that have bared witness to the film Funny People, you may have noticed that the title is rather misleading. By that, I mean that the film is clearly not about funny people.

The story centers around Seth Rogan, a young stand-up comedian struggling to make his way into the successful world of comedy. Adam Sandler plays a successful comedic actor who has reached a slower part of his career. When Sandler is diagnosed with terminal cancer, he enlists the help of Rogan as he sets off on a one-last-shot at stand-up comedy (his roots) and to apologize for all the things that went wrong with the girl that got away. However, (*spoiler alert!) Sandler beats the cancer. So his mission now is to actually win back the girl of his dreams.

From this point on, the film takes an odd turn. The rest of the movie from here on, which is the majority of the film, centers around Sandler living with the girl and her children while her husband is away on business. This ruins the film! The kids are cute, but that is about it. Every argument and reasoning behind why he still loves her and why she eventually loves him back, but then suddenly doesn't makes zero sense! It is the opposite of a convincing story.

Secondly, the comedic failure of this bomb. There are dozens of jokes in this movie, most of which centered around Sandler, Rogan, and the other comedians they meet along the way. Not one joke is funny! Also, if you had not noticed, Adam Sandler was never a funny comedian. He's just a great producer that gets hilarious writers for his films. Rogan is funny, but he's given virtually no good lines. The only true hilarious character in this film is Aziz Ansari as Randy, or should I say, Raaaaaaaandy! He is in the film for five minutes, when he easily deserved to be the star.

Anyway, I encourage you to watch this movie just to see how terrible it is. In the meantime, check my boy Aziz doing his impression of Randy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEcAI-wzUbY

Check my video!

And thats the way it works!

The Zoo: A New Perspective

As I mentioned in a previous post, almost all of my trips to the zoo as a child ended in disappointment. I had come there expecting to see happy animals playing joyously with their companions. But as we all should know by now, that is now what you or I will find.

Zoos, for quite a long time, have been regarded as "safe havens" for animals whose habitats have been destroyed. But simply holding them captive (as in "captivity") is not the solution. Animals do not want to be held in cages for screaming children to point at them. They want to be free, just like you or me.

Aside from being prisoners, there are many health risks animals face when living in zoos. First of all, there is a high risk of disease. Being in close proximity to so many animals that they would never encounter in the wild, humans especially, puts many of these poor creatures lives' in jeopardy. There is also the risks of obesity and muscular dystrophy. When placed in such small cages and pens, animals have no way to exercise as they would if they were free. And finally, there are never enough animals of a certain species in one zoo at the same time to rule out the risk of inbreeding. This possibility could lead to multiple genetic defects and health problems for new born animals.

Hopefully after reading this, you will regard zoos in a different light. Although many zoo workers may truly be trying to do the right thing, they are not. The only way to truly protect these animals is to respect their right to this Earth as equal, if not greater, to our own. If you're still not convinced, here are some sites from which I got most of my research. They are very informative, and I strongly urge you to check them out and expand your mind.

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1865628,00.html

http://www.animalliberationfront.com/Practical/Entertainment/No%20to%20Zoos.htm

Check my video!

And that's the way it works!

(*UPDATE 2/24/2010)

Well here's proof that animals do not belong in captivity: an orca whale just killed its trainer at Sea World, apparently they didn't get along as well as everyone thought. This is a prime example as to why wild animals should not be kept in captivity performing tricks for us on a daily basis. Here's the full story...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/02/24/national/a123454S13.DTL

The Dolphins of Taiji

When I was young, my absolute favorite place to go was the San Francisco Zoo. There's truly nothing greater than getting a chance to see wild animals close-up. But at what cost? I distinctly remember asking my mom, "Why aren't any of the animals playing? Why are they just lying around?" She and my dad would tell me that they're tired. Well I guarantee that is not the case: they are severely depressed. The same goes for places like Sea World. If you ask someone that works at a zoo or animal water park and they tell you that they love animals, then they are either lying to you or lying to themselves. The only way for these animals to be truly happy is to be free.

In places like Sea World and Six Flags Marine World, dolphins and orcas are captured from the wild and put into these glass prisons where they are forced to perform everyday. In the past, they were hunted in enormous quantities. Luckily, the Whaling Commission has made the hunting of dolphins and whales illegal, and it is supported by virtually every nation on Earth.

However, in the small fishing town of Taiji, Japan, the dolphin slaughter rages on. Every year, thousands upon thousands of dolphins and pilot whales are killed in a small cove outside of Taiji. Many are captured and sold to Sea World and other aquarium-style parks. But most are killed and illegally sold to Japanese fish markets, labeled as tuna, mahi mahi, or some other kind of fish. You see, in Japan, there is no market for dolphins as food. This is due to the high level of mercury found in dolphins. So the dolphin meat is mislabeled, and often served as school lunches for children.

*Here are some images of the slaughter. (WARNING: very graphic) http://thevibe.socialvibe.com/index.php/2009/10/29/the-taiji-dolphin-slaughter-continues/

Luckily, there are many people working very hard to stop this atrocity. At the top is former dolphin trainer Richard O'Barry. Originally the capturer and trainer of the multiple dolphins who portrayed Flipper in the 1970's television series of the same name, he has since become one of the world's leading activists against dolphin capture and imprisonment.

*Learn more about Richard and what you can do to help: http://www.savejapandolphins.org/

I hope this post has awakened many of you to the reality of what zoos and aquariums truly are, and hopefully you will join me in my boycott against them.

The Sherlock Holmes Disaster (blog post #3)

So I feel it is safe to assume that many readers of this blog have seen the highly anticipated new Sherlock Holmes movie. It stars Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, and of course, Robert Downey, Jr. A huge budget, a highly acclaimed director (Guy Ritchie), and a strong cast helped make this movie happen. What could go wrong?

Well, lets begin with the positive aspects of the film. Jude Law gives a great performance. The end.

Now, on to the negative aspects. At what point was the director planning on telling Rachel McAdams that her character was supposed to have a British accent? I guess never. When she was on set, did she simply not notice that every single other actor (other than herself) was talking with an English accent? Downey, Jr. at least makes an attempt at an accent, although I have no clue what it was. It appeared to be a mixture of Southern American, English (I'll give him that), Iron Man's Tony Stark, and just a hint of Truman Capote. Finally, let's move on to the acting of the main villain... actually, let's not. It's too depressing.

The film, being a Sherlock Holmes story, is surrounded in "mystery." I put the word 'mystery' in quotations because it only applies to children and some of the more intelligent animals that inhabit our Earth. Possibly the most entertaining aspect of the old Holmes mysteries and movies was trying to figure out the mystery on your own. Without giving anything away, I will simply say that there is virtually no mystery. They tried, but failed.

Finally, I don't blame Ritchie for this one. He's a very talented director, but this simply is not for him. Guy Ritchie is to Sherlock Holmes as Tim Burton is to Planet of the apes. Not going to work.

So, readers, I encourage you to go out and purchase some of the old Sherlock Holmes movies from the 1950's. You will not be disappointed.

Awesomely Terrible Film & TV

Today's topic: "Syriana". Now, don't get me wrong, I know this is outdated. But I just tried to watch this movie for the second time, and I was unsuccessful. This movie got some of the best reviews I've ever come across, and almost every extended member of my family told me to watch this film. People my age would say, "Dude, there's an awesome scene where Clooney gets tortured! You gotta see it!" This may be true, but if a movie is too boring to even get to the good part, then... fail! Yesterday was my second attempt at watching this movie in its entirety. The first time, I literally fell asleep 20 minutes in, and I don't even take naps. Mind you, this was also during the middle of the day. This most recent time, I stuck it out for what I thought was almost the whole film. When I saw that I was not even half way through, I was forced to shut it down.

Now, this film was certainly shot very well. Cinematography gets an A+. But the storyline, dialogue, and "plot twists" would put a hyperactive eight-year-old on a steady diet of Ritaline to sleep faster than a Grizzly bear at the beginning of Winter. This seemingly successful film is a complete failure.

This is NOT Our World

Although this blog will eventually encompass many aspects of the wildlife of planet Earth, dangers they face, and ways we can help, this particular post is about an episode of Dirty Jobs, with Mike Rowe. This was an episode made especially for Shark Week, and if focuses on the Greenland shark, a six-gilled mystery living deep below the arctic ice. Mike and his team follow a group of scientists and research students to study this shark, but what I did not expects was how they would go about this.

In order to study these sharks, the research team would ice-fish for them. Yes, that involves hooks, very large and sharp hooks. Now, a lot happens in this episode, but I shall be focusing on my favorite participant, a research student named Bailey. She always wears a smile and has a very happy-go-lucky attitude. Not what you would expect from a mass-murderer. Ol' Bailey's plan is to hook the sharks, and if when they are reeled up they appear too injured to survive, she cuts them open. Now, it may come as no surprise that the vast majority of sharks she has hooked do not survive, given the fact that they have been impaled by an enormous hook. After she is done cutting off the poor sharks head (while it is still alive) she proceeds to open up its stomach. She then expresses excitement when she finds fish heads in the sharks belly, leading her to the discovery that this shark eats fish. Golly, a shark that eats fish! Who would have guessed?!

Anyway, at the end of the episode, Mike demands that Bailey justifies what she is doing. She explains that she looks at it as being for "the greater good." Now, this is a shark that has virtually zero human contact and affects the lifestyle of no one. I would love to know exactly what "greater good" this monster is referring to. Our good friend Mike is not satisfied with her answer (who would be?) and proceeds to seek an explanation from a senior member of the research team. Suffice to say, he cannot justify this act either, although he attempts to.

If you are as outraged by this as I am, please comment. Thank you.

3 Blog Reviews

The first blog I'm reviewing is called The Lost Blog (http://www.lostblog.net/). Although the vague title could refer to a number of things, this specific blog chronicles and analyzes the many episodes of the hit TV show "LOST." Now unlike most Lost fans and especially bloggers, this particular author does not voice his opinion too often, nor does he make outlandish predictions about what will happen next. Finally, he does not attempt to add his own explanation for the many abnormal events that occur on the show. This is a positive aspect, I believe. The show simply takes too many twists and leaves too many unanswered questions for one single individual to figure it all out. Instead, the author simply recaps the events of previous episodes and puts together answers based on what happened in earlier episodes. However, the author's blog is rather short, and could easily use some additional content and analysis. Other than that, the Lost Blog, when it comes to reviewing television, is quite appropriate, professional, and well written.

The next blog I checked out was The Health Care Blog (http://www.thehealthcareblog.com/). Unlike the Lost Blog, this was much more scholarly. By this, I mean I had some trouble understanding what was being discussed about half the time. Now, this is by no means a negative aspect, I'm simply stating that there is much different target audience compared to the Lost Blog. Now, I have only recently started reading blogs, and I had always imagined them being highly opinionated in nature. However, this particular blog was more like a well written, unbiased news article. Also, there was not a single author, it was open to whomever wished to post. This blog was very interesting and well read, but a little boring for my taste.

My final blog review is from Aural Life, and it discusses the NBC "Late Night controversy" (http://aurallife.blogspot.com/2010/01/nbcs-late-night-controversy-im-with.html). This was a fantastic blog, it must be said! Although this is relatively old news at this point, this blog is loaded with information. I thought that I knew most of what was going on with the whole Conan/Leno situation, but this blog provided me with even more knowledge. I now know that Leno will actually be resuming his role as host of the Tonight Show, rather than simply changing time slots. Furthermore, the author actually provided his opinion, which I always enjoy reading. Without an opinion, it's just news.