The Most Important Thing That Will Happen This Week

I don't pretend to know squat about the sports. But being a Knoxvillian, there are two mighty shadows one must live under: Neyland Stadium and the McRib religion (although some don't separate the two).

I've been listening to Vols fans carry on about Fulmer for years now, and looks like they've finally gotten their wish. Contratulations. Flag poles across the city are being extended today so flags can fly at fuller mast.

McCain Supporters Hate Children

Are You Watching Pushing Daisies Yet?

If you're not watching the best show on television, io9 gives a quick rundown on why you should.

"Welcome To Magical Realism That's Both Magical And Real.
Unlike Heroes, Ned's superpower is unique... and grounded in a reality that isn't rewritten to fit the plot of the week. It's not just that there are very definite rules to what happens when Ned brings someone back to life - and with the show's backstory based around those rules, they're unlikely to change when someone decides that they'd like to keep the undead around for more than a minute - but also that we've been shown what happens when those rules are forgotten or ignored. Even outside of Ned's abilities, however, the show's reality is one that recalls Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, both in terms of wonder and awe and... well, cruel cynicism at how the world really works. We discover a company that rents friends to social outcasts, only to find out that it's been created by a former nerd who killed and stuffed his jock tormentor so that he wouldn't feel so alone, or corpses being disguised as crash test dummies in the laboratory of the factory of a car that runs entirely on Dandelions. The spirit of Roald Dahl is alive in this series, something that's weirdly accentuated by the use of Jim Dale as an ominpresent narrator with a penchant for explaining everything through the use of puns. And talking of the cast..."

Read the rest.

The Guy In China

And the award for What The Fuck Happened To You?! goes to ex SNL cast member, Victoria Jackson:

She was less of a brain dead bimbo when she was playing brain dead bimbos on television. Good god. Every sentence she utters is progressively dumber and also enhances the stupidity of the one before it. She's like a genius of idiocy.

W.

This is a week overdue, but I kept forgetting about it. W. was pretty disappointing.

Josh Brolin and Richard Dreyfuss both turned in really good performances. So did Ellen Burstyn and James Cromwell (though Cromwell was the least like his real life counterpart, in my opinion).

Parts of the movie were funny, with George generally acting like an idiot. But it probably wasn't as funny as it could have been. For one, some of it's just too painful to laugh at right now. George W. would probably be a more likable bumbling boob if he hadn't screwed things up as much as he has. With that said, the movie probably would have worked better if it had gone straight for satire. Thandie Newton's performance suggests she thought that's what the movie was going for.

Surprisingly for an Oliver Stone movie, W. is mostly non-political, focusing on the personal story. With the exception of one scene where Cheney lays out his plan for controlling Iraq's oil and admitting that once we enter the country we're there for good.

I'll give the movie credit for humanizing George W. Bush while at the same time emphasizing some of the things that made him such a lousy leader. But I think ultimately it would have been better to make this movie several years from now, when we all have a little more distance and perspective.