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I saw this film years ago with one of my best friends. A guy named Rob. When we walked out of it, I recall him being a bit disappointed with it. Mind you, I don’t think we hated it. But I distinctly recall Rob being very disappointed about one main aspect. A severe lack of ranting from Leary. There are brief moments where he starts, but he usually got cut off.

This is certainly a valid disappointment. I mean, do you see Lewis Black is in a movie and expect him to be a sweet and gentle character? No. You expect a cynical, world weary guy. And yet, the Ref has become one of my favorite Christmas time films. I am a sucker for films about troubled families on the verge of failing that are forced to look at themselves.

Spoilers follow… Read the rest of this entry »

You might remember the X-Files had a poster in the office that read “I Want to Believe”.  Truth be told, often throughout the past couple of years that described my feelings on matters of faith.

However, the ambivalence has not dampened my positive feelings about this holiday season.  Truth be told, I am very fond of Christmas, especially.  I find the sentiment behind the season hopeful, especially when the natural season of winter can feel so bleak.  The trees have gone dormant, there is a bitter chill in the air.  On Sunday, my family gathered with my father’s side of the family.  It was slow going, as there was little visibility.  The weather was harsh, the snow falling rapidly, hiding dangerous and slick ice.  My uncle’s car broke down as he tried to leave the house.

And yet, in the midst of the weather, I cannot help but see it as a hopeful time.  In the movie Scrooged, Bill Murray speaks of Christmas as the one time a year when we are a little nicer to each other.  He echoes the sentiments of a Christmas Carol, speaking about having Christmas in his heart every day of the year.

And for the public at large, I think that is the positive hope to be found in the holiday, regardless of faith.  That we can reach out to each other, support each other, protect and serve each other all the time, but use this time to remind ourselves that we need each other.  When we turn inward and focus on our own hurts exclusively, we fail each other and we start to find our lives can feel as barren and frigid as the winter landscape in January.

I find few things can help me gain strength in times of tribulations like the love and support of people-sometimes absolute strangers.  I firmly believe, for Christians, this is an important message that gets lost in the demands that people remember the “reason for the season”.  I disagree with this notion.  It’s the actions of the season that matter.  Remembering that it is “the Birth of Jesus” does not help people share the love and support needed to get through the tough times.  Christians need to focus putting forth the HEART of the season.  Give the warmth, the love, the joy we claim people are suppressing.

My favorite Christmas carol is probably “I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day.”  There is a certain darkness to the song.  At one point, the songwriter states,

“And in despair I bowed my head:
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.“

It’s honest.  The world can seem oppressive and hopeless. And like George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life, the immediate picture can look impossible and worth giving up on.  But I would hope that we can each get that small reminder of what our presence can do, the true impact we can have in the lives of those around us.  In I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow follows himself up with:

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men.”

It is in that spirit I am going to wish everyone reading this a Merry Christmas.  In the spirit that the season can be a moment of hope in a bleak time, that we can overcome.

Peace on Earth and good will to men.

I feel Like I have said this before.

I recently got this e-mail that had a poem noting how under siege Christmas is. It included gems like this:

Twas the month before Christmas,
When all through our land.
Not a Christian was praying,
Nor taking a stand.

See the PC Police had taken away
The reason for Christmas - no one could say.
The children were told by their schools not to sing,
About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.

It might hurt people’s feelings; the teacher would say
December 25th is just a “Holiday”.

And you know what? Christmas IS just a holiday. According to the Bible, some people hold one day above others and some hold all days as the same-and neither is right. If you see all days the same? That is acceptable. If you put some above others? That is okay as well. Christians are not called by the Bible to hold Christmas in special esteem-it was almost three hundred years after Christ that it even started to be celebrated. That’s right, St. Peter? Did not celebrate the Birth of His Lord. Apparently, he was not taking a stand.

Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa
In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.
As Targets were hanging their trees upside down
At Lowe’s the word Christmas - was nowhere to be found.
At K-Mart and Staples and Penny’s and Sear’s
You won’t hear the word Christmas; it won’t touch your ears.

They are right of course. I mean, you can’t go into a store without being slammed by all the Hanukkah decorations, especially annoying how they overshadow the tiny little Christmas section. And if Best Buy has one more Ramadan or Kwanzaa themed sale, I will scream. You can’t even tell that stores are ready for Christmas-what with all the (Eid) al Adha garlands and lights and ribbons strung up around the stores!!!!

Inclusive, insensitive, Di-ver-si-ty
Are words that were used to intimidate me.

Yeah. It is terrible thing to be not self absorbed, ain’t it?
Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen
On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton
At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter
To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter
And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith
Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace.

Here that? The Democrats are trying to destroy Christianity. They are trying to take away our faith-oh wait, they already did. Isn’t it clear people? Democrats hate Christianity!

The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded
The reason for the season, stopped before it started

Well…is that really such a surprise? In my lifetime, the public face of Christmas has not been the message of salvation brought by Jesus. It’s been Santa Clause, gifts, time with family or people you actually love (I kid!!! I love my family) and kind of merry wonderment. Hope born anew…in a general sense. The salvation side has been the strict domain of the church community. Think of all the beloved Christmas specials… outside of the Peanuts Christmas special and the Little Drummer Boy…how many of the classics are specifically about the Christmas message of Christmas? Santa Clause is Coming to Town? Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer-was that elf who wanted to be a dentist a real subtle metaphor I missed? The Grinch? Democrats haven’t taken away our faith-we shared it with the culture at large, and surprise, folks. They focused on what appealed to them-the positive messages for those who are not necessarily Christians. No one has taken away our right to discuss Jesus in relation to Christmas in a public realm (or did ike Huckabee get thrown in jail and I just missed it?). But the mainstream public is not obligated to pander to our faith on a public holiday. If we wanted to keep Christmas sacred? Maybe we should have kept it a secret.

So as you celebrate “Winter Break” under your “Dream Tree”
Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.
Choose your words carefully, choose what you say.
Shout Merry Christmas - not Happy Holiday

What really gets me there? A common Christian response is that people should not be offended by our wishing them a Merry Christmas. We are not meaning to slight them, we mean well…what’s the big deal? And that would be a fair question. If, you know, we showed the same understanding to people who say Happy Holidays. Instead we accuse those people of hating Christmas, trying to obscure the real meaning for the season or, when we are especially generous, just accuse them of being PC.

No one means any harm when they say Happy Holidays. There are about three or four major holidays, celebrated by different people, for different reasons. So, why is it a big deal to acknowledge this? We Christians always get up in arms about people being offended by our faith, but we still expect people to bow to our whims when there is a movie or book or school of thought that is different from ours presented. How the heck did Christianity last this long? Were Christians protesting plays in the early A.D.? Whining about the assault on Christians? Oh wait, they were busy trying not to be fed to lions. Yeah, but if they weren’t, I bet they would have complained about “Happy Holidays”…well, if they had been celebrating Christmas back then.

Happy Holidays, Jesus!

For parenting advice. Okay, maybe that isn’t fair, but Lynn Spear’s kids have not actually been showing themselves to have been the best decision makers. So it is no surprise that Thomas Nelson (an religious book publisher) has shelved her parenting book indefinitely.

I must admit, I got the impression that the younger sis was the smarter of the two and not on her way to repeating her older sisters… ill judgments.

But my real question is, what caused a religious publisher to choose, of all people, the mother of Britney Spears as author of a guide to raising high profile kids from a low profile background. I could see why a mainstream publisher would choose her, but a religious publisher? It’s not like Brit is a shining example held high in the Christian community to emulate. I mean, she did not shave her head for monastic reasons and run off to join a nunnery. So, who at Thomas Nelson thought, “Parenting of high profile kids…whose kids have really impressed us with their stability in the face of pressure from a fame hungry audience and media beast that chews kids up? I know! Lynn Spears!”

I picture it like this:

——————————————————

The Offices of Thomas Nelson Publishing a Year or Two Back

Thomas Nelson Guy 1: We need a book that will sell well. The sales on our books about Harry Potter and the Da Vinci Code have slowed down. And Left Behind is pretty much over for now. How about something about fame?

Thomas Nelson Guy 2: Oh! Oh! Oh! Wait for it…WAAAIT for it… How about marriage and fame? Or maybe…PARENTING and fame!

TN Guy1: Oooo! Good call. We could have a famous parent write about raising kids in a hectic lifestyle that our readers can’t relate to, what with their mundane lives.

TN Guy 2: Oh, wait, better. The entertainment industry destroys the moral values of families and eats children who are a part of the machine for breakfast…we have a parent write about their famous kids and what it was like…maybe give it a quasi “educational” angle…sort of instructional!

TN Guy 1: Great! So who do we get? Maybe Hulk Hogan? We have a readership that totally digs wrestling.

TN Guy 2: Hmmm…I don’t know…their son and daughter seem pretty wild.

TN Guy 1: Fair point. How about…HEY! Britney’s mom!

TN Guy 2: Who?

TN Guy 1: Britney Spear’s mom! Lynn Spears. I mean, Britney got married and had kids, and the other daughter is a star on some show on Nickelodeon.

TN Guy 2: What about their brother?

TN Guy 1: They have a brother? Is he famous? An actor or singer or something?

TN Guy 2: No.

TN Guy 1: Then who cares?

TN Guy 2: Fair point. As long as nothing to crazy happens with the kids, this will be publishing gold…I am pretty sure we can gloss over some of the stuff from Brit’s pre-marriage career that would make our readers cringe.

TN Guy 1: Yeah, there is no way this can go wrong! Lets get in contact with Lynn Spears!

——————————————————

I think that is exactly how it happened. Or nothing like that at all. I can’t really decide.

So, the holidays are when we open the doors of our home to friends and family and give them comfort from the cold. Sometimes, we even write on their faces when they have had to much to drink and pass out.

Anyways, this weekend, I will be opening my doors to my pal Greg, we call him “Spanky” for short. Spanky hails from Nepal. More specifically, somewhere within the Himalayas. His exact address is sketchy, though I know it’s a cave.

He’s about seven feet tall, so he had to duck when he entered my apartment (not unlike my pal Peter, sorry my apartment is not taller, man) . You would think all that hair would be hard to control and, frankly, smelly. But not Spanky. He uses the full line of Kos.Pro products to take care of his hair. He is well groomed. I’ve always been impressed how he can pull off having his fancy clothes look so smooth and not be all bloated looking, from the head to toe hair. I mean, I did mention that Spanky is a Yeti, right?

Not a lot of Yeti can pull off a suit and tie. But Spanky is almost Clooney-esque. If George was seven feet tall with long silky hair from head to toe.

So far, his visit has been great. Spanky has regaled me with wild tales about scaring climbers and village people. He claims he created that fake scalp and finger bone bit that had so many convinced Yetis are real. And nobody takes a fuzzy/ambiguous photo better than Spanky-nobody. But he loves coming to the U.S.A. Often, he laments that he is not a citizen, but he he is not keep on trying to transport his LCD HD TV via ice flow.*

I would say the only point of conflict between us? He is a total supporter of President Bush and the war in Iraq. Boy do those discussions get heated. But we usually get over it with a nice cup of eggnog.

He’ s also real good at at Gears of War and Call of Duty. Them giant mitts don’t interfere with his gameplay at all. I am still better than him at Crackdown though. But I have to say, spending your holidays with friends, family and general loved ones is always welcome. Having my buddy over for a week to play video games, watch movies and hit the town? Priceless.

Of course…my apartment manager is complaining that I am not allowed to have pets.

*Boy does he hate it when I point out that he gets around the same way as Buddy the elf from the movie Elf. Seriously hates it. He is not a fan of Will Farrell at all.

This flick looks awesome!!!  Seriously…I was unsure about Heath Ledger.  Not anymore.  He looks like he might become one of the iconic versions of the Joker.

Personal Experience does not make an opinion a Universal Truth. Seriously. And just because you associate something with negative experiences in your life does not mean that, in itself, that “something” is bad, wrong or evil.

From marriage to the “Weight Wars”, we see a lot of people on both sides who state their experiences as some sort of “fact”. Using the two examples I mention, I have seen people declare marriage a universally evil and oppressive system designed to control women and of no use or good to humanity and I have seen people proclaim it the most ultimate good. Pretty much, the arguments are based in their experiences. The problem is… “Daddy beat Mommy” is not proof that marriage is inherently bad. It’s merely proof that your Daddy was an abusive asshole. On the other hand, your great marriage is not proof that marriage is universally a good and right thing. Marriages is neutral- it’s what the two people involved contribute that make it good or bad. In other words, “Daddy did not beat Mommy because they got married. Daddy Beat Mommy because he is a loser jerk with no respect for women/people in general.”

The weight wars are much touchier. Both sides feel entirely validated by science, both sides are quick to jump on any research that hints of their vindication-even before it’s a proven fact. I have witnessed people pull out “Scientists are starting to think…” and run with it as if it’s a done deal, one that cannot be challenged. And yet, usually the reason they unquestionably accept theories as facts? Life experience.

Understand that I will never be convinced that my genetic predisposition is to be fat. I don’t buy it, because I can feel it. I can feel how much more tired I am than when I was thinner. How much more my knees hurt. How much more quickly I am out of breathe. These things are the truth of my experience. It is not good for me to be at the weight I am. Does that mean I sit around hating myself or my life and body because I am fat? Well, only on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

But seriously, no. I get together with family and friends. I do creative things (write, draw, etc). I read and so on. I enjoy life. I don’t diet. Dieting is an exercise in failure. Instead, I started to make life long changes in my eating habits. Diets fail because they are temporary. People lose the weight and start eating the way they used to, stop the aggressive exercise routines. So, yeah, diets don’t work. Only permanent life changes do.

Now, I noted that the weight wars are touchier. Which is understandable. The messages that get sent to the over weight community is often that we are good for a laugh, we are the humor. But we are not valuable citizens. We might be good people, but according to society, we would be much better people if we just slimmed down. So, please, skinny people, do not forget that this battle is more about perceived worth and value as people than mere aesthetics or health. We are more deserving of love and general reward if we just get less…fat.

Because of this, I would never presume that my experiences with my weight are, in fact, universally true for all fat people. Just because I am winded after a short flight of stairs or putting on my socks does not mean others of equal or greater weight have the same problem. And why? Because, my life experience does not make a universal truth. It is merely true for me. And some things are true for some individuals and not for others.

So, I saw Best Buy had this game for $15 for the X-Box 360. I remembered seeing some promotional stuff that made it look like fun. I am not real concerned with plot in my games. Give me something where I am blowing away monsters or thugs (real world style or fantasy) and I am happy. I borrowed Call of Duty 4 from work, and that got fun once I started to get the hang of it.

Needless to say, I had not actually seen reviews of Bulletwitch. I must say…disappointing. Seriously. It was not easy to figure out the controls and they wereclumsy at best. I would say my entire Bulletwitch experience went like this:

Try and shoot bad guys who have me surrounded. Can’t seem to hit them, cannot dodge bullets fast enough, dead in 12 seconds. Over and over again. And this was in standard mode, not hard. Come on! My character is a supernatural lead, surely she can withstand more than this-right? Apparently not. It was the same scenario about eight times. So I took it out and resumed Call of Duty.

I watched this last night. Any ideas why it was such a flop? It’s hardly a bad movie. Are people just “fantasied” out after Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings? The reviews were actually quite favorable (Rotten Tomatoes considered 170 reviews-127 of which were positive), and I considered it a fun “fantasy epic.” Maybe it will find a better life on DVD.

Mark Penn is the front guy in the Clinton Campaign. He was on Hardball last night, and boy did he come across as a poor salesman. If he really thinks people are dumb enough to buy the idea that the Clinton campaign has been avoiding negative attacks-all while being attacked viciously by Barak Obama’s team…well, he is either delusional or a liar.

On the other hand, Edward’s Guy, Trippi, just comes off like a used car salesman.

(if the above item will not play, click here)

Apparently Alan Keyes is currently running for the Republican nomination.  I guess he showed up at Morgan State Debate in the fall.  And boy was he combative at the last debate.

2:50 p.m. | Keyes Alan Keyes is demonstrating why he has not been a welcome participant on the debate stage this year. He bullies the moderator into calling on him and then growls out a long statement, after which no one applauds.

But I can’t imagine not showing up more than once prior to this is the smartest way to keep your name in the minds of potential voters.  So far, his approach of “No Ads, No Media Presence, Minimal Debate Appearances” has not been effective.  At least he has a web site.

No…this is not about MTV. No, I am talking about the CIA destroying tapes that contained water boarding. The reasoning given was to protect the identities (oh, that’s important now?) of the interrogators.

I am skeptical of this and find it hard to believe that claim. Why? It’s not hard at all to digitally alter the appearances of the interrogators and alter their voices. Hell, I could do it on my Mac for a reasonable fee (so, call me, C.I.A.). It’s not hard to protect their identities without destroying the tapes. Actually, you make your obscured version and trash the originals. There. You have the records and the identities are protected. Wow, what’s crazy is some yahoo in Minnesota can come up with that…but the people “protecting” us in the “War On Terror” could not?

And pretty much, the holidays are an excuse to do just that. Drink, guzzle, and just completely slam down tons and tons of liquid joy. Sure, I like to drink all year around. But there is something special about those holidays. Especially Christmas, where drinking to excess makes the holiday a bit more freeing. A release, you might say.

Sure, on an average day outside of the holiday season, I might have a good 64 ounces of that beautiful wet courage…but as I said, the holidays open the doors a bit. Sometime I might go for another full quart. And for a bit of pizzazz, sometime I drink a bit that is fizzy. Sometimes , it’s all I consume while at work. Often, I will have some before work. And a whole bottle after work, sometimes starting on the drive home. Man I love water.
Yeah… I drink like a fish…if fishes drank water that is.

Sorry for the glib subject title.  But it seems like the past few years have had a spate of Christmas time shootings.  Just last week a guy went and killed some people at a mall, and then on Sunday two different people shot and killed folks at a missionary training center and a mega-church.  There is talk they may be related(the church shootings, not the mall shooting).

I am sure people will find many things to blame this all on.  Crass commercialism, the “war on Christmas”, religious intolerance, guns or even keeping God out of the public sphere.  And maybe little bits of all those things come into play, maybe none of them.   I long ago learned people are just really messed up.  But I wonder if things are truly getting worse, or just becoming more visible and obvious?  Have we so stripped away the appearances and proprieties that the ugly heart of humanity is just shining through clearer?

I have found that doing good just does not come natural to us.  It takes grand moments of insanity or evil to make us step forward.  It takes 9/11 or Katrina or a mall shooting.  And often, we just try and keep to ourselves.  We try and tell ourselves we are not bad people, but we set our bar around Charlie Manson and Hitler.  If we are not a serial killer or a rapist or a genocidal dictator?  We are doing all right.

But think about it.  Not doing bad things is not the same thing as being good.  Doing good is as much an action as doing evil.  And it seems to take more effort.  Tell me…which is easier:   To tell someone the truth even though the truth might hurt them (or you) or to just lie and pretend all is fine?

Christmas seems to bring out both the best and worst qualities of those in the places where it is celebrated.  A longing for “peace on Earth and Goodwill towards your fellow man” permeates the season, yet there is aggression on the roads and in the stores, greed and fights to get the “best deal”.  There are all sorts of charities, yet finding the time to give seems hard, we all see our time as valuable.  It’s easier to stay home after a hard day at work than to go help someone move.  It’s easier to play video games than go help at a soup kitchen.

In the religious debates, religious people proclaim mankind evil, those who are not religious get offended and point out they do not need religion to be good and are, in fact, not evil.  But mankind is clearly selfish.  We function on auto-pilot, putting ourselves ahead of others, family, friends, strangers.  We require big events to change our perspective (terrorist attacks, hurricanes, cancer) .  If mankind were, at it’s core, basically good and decent?  The world would be a much better place.  It’s not the few evil ones mucking it up.  It that majority of us.  The selfish and complacent who get shaken up once and awhile and then lull back into our comas.   Wow, this was a depressing post.

So…it appears the editorial powers that be (Joe Quesada) have finally found the way to get Spidey single without killing Mary Jane or divorcing them.  Afterall, Spidey divorced is even harder for readers to relate to than the wacky marriage thing is.  Which makes sense.  I mean, what modern teen can relate to marriage or divorce?  Not one that I know of.  I mean, what other crazy situation could they through at Peter to make him ever harder to relate to?  Parenthood?  Modern teens and comic book readers (who are much older than modern teens) can’t relate to marriage and kids.  What experience do they have with it?  Well, other than growing up in a family of some sort.

What’s terrific is that they are using that bane of teenage life-the “deal with the devil to erase a part of your life”.  What modern teen is unable to relate to that.  How do you think that guy got to be captain of the football team?  Effort and training?  Heck no, he made a deal with that evil jerk the devil.  Probably so he could give us comic geeks wedgies.

And let us not forget about the editorial allegiance to the writers here.  I mean, I know Joe is just thinking of them.  He doesn’t want editorial to have to continue to shoot down Ed Brubaker or Peter David (or, uh, someone actually writing Spider-Man right now, like J. Michael Strazynski) when they bring that “Peter Parker looks at Porn online” story they are dying to write-but can’t.  Why?  Poor Peter is shackled to a wife, killing any possibility of fun.  Stupid girls.

So, while some of you babies sit back and lament this silly notion that Marvel is anti-marriage, I lie back and bask in the truth…Marvel is just making Spidey an normal guy the modern teens can relate to.  You know…a super-smart scientist with superpowers who is single and has trouble with the ladies.  That sure describes my teen years in a nutshell.

The…Hell…I have no words.

In the debate on whether or not being gay is a choice or a decision of nature, a very valid point mentioned by pretty much every gay person I have ever known, been acquainted with or seen interviewed is the simple fact of “Why would I choose this?”  And why would some choose to be gay when it is still pretty much a choice of societal rejection, abuse and loathing from even those closest to you?  I know conservative religious folk believe our country is super pro-gay and that gays are treated like heroes.  But that is a myth propagated by fools.

However, I have discovered there is one guy who apparently would choose it-if he wasn’t completely, totally and unquestionably heterosexual.  He is not gay, but he wishes he was.  But he’s not.  He likes the ladies.  He dates Ashlee Simpson.  A girl.  Got that?  She has girl parts.  So he is completely straight.  He believes rumors that he is gay  are driven by homophobia, but he does want to set the record straight (pun intended).  He’s not gay.

So, apparently the women of the View feel the teacher who let her students pick the name of Mohammad for a stuffed bear brought it on herself. She should have been more aware of the customs of the land in which she was teaching.

Seriously now? We are supposed to be “understanding” of ass-backwardness? You know…someone should tell Fred Phelps’ critics about that. It’s one thing to try and understand the beliefs of folks different than you…but we are talking about a situation where the government was punishing someone for naming a toy bear “Mohammad”. I supposed we could blame her…I mean, kids are pretty stupid and insensitive, right? Why did she think they would pick a good name?

What really confounds me is it should have been clear from the start to authorities, no insult was intended. This is totally the opposite of the cartoon debacle, and clearly no malice was intended. Is it shocking that children in a primarily Muslim country might choose the name Mohammad? It’s one of the most common names in the world. In fact, if the name is so sacred…why is anyone named Mohammad at all? Seriously, very few Christians name their kids Jesus-or take the name when they convert. And really, in the cases where you do see it, Jesus or Christ are usually root words, it is not the exact name Jesus or Christ. It’s Christopher or something like that. But Mohammud has been in the top 100 baby names in England for…like five years running, and reaching near # 22 at times.

It seems to me you have to take stuff on a case by case basis. The woman who was raped by six men getting 40 lashes for sitting in a car with a male friend and this teacher who got in trouble? I don’t have to “understand” that part of the culture anymore than I have to “understand” purity balls. All three things are messed up. Period. However, I also know that those who believe in Purity Balls do not speak for all Christians and those that punished a rape victim and a teacher for absurd infractions do not speak for all Muslims. Frankly, this is an indictment of theocratic government, not of Muslims.

The hosts on the View are free to call it as they see it…but I think their perspective is rather fuzzy on this case.

So, I rented Superbad this weekend (hits the streets tomorrow, in case you were planning to run right out and get it). I had high hopes on this one…it was supposedly the funniest thing ever.

And certainly, the film had moments that had me laughing quite hard. But the story never really comes together and ultimately, this movie failed for me (as opposed Producers’ Apatow and Rogan’s previous effort Knocked Up).

Superbad details the efforts of best friends Seth (Jonah Hill, Knocked Up & Evan Almighty) and Evan (Michael Cera, Arrested Development & Juno) to get alcohol for a party and to “get” with the girls of their desire. This, in and of itself, is a simple set up. The two friends had planned to go to college together, but Evan has been accepted to Dartmouth and Seth to…well, somewhere else. Everyone seems to think this will be hard on them. Apparently, Evan agrees a little, as he will not tell Seth that his roommate will be their friend Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse).

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