With the 2008 Presidential Election finally in sight, reporters, talking heads, pundits and the public are turning their attention to Senator Joe Biden and Governor Sarah Palin over the next few weeks as we prepare to enter the final two months leading up to the election.

Barack Obama and John McCain’s respective choices for the Vice Presidential slot on the ticket are just the latest step in by far the longest and strangest Presidential election cycle ever. And while the nation begins to examine the potential Vice Presidents, this writer will offer his take on the fanfare surrounding the picks and what they may actually be able to deliver.

First, it is important to note that neither candidate selected a running mate from a politically advantageous state with respect to the election. It’s true that Biden has Pennsylvanian roots and that Palin will play well in the Northwest, but just the same, neither of them are from states named Texas, Florida, Ohio or California. While this may puzzle many casual observers of the election, it is important to note that Vice Presidential running mates have a poor history of actually carrying their home state or region; so it is understandable why McCain and Obama were looking for running mates that could garner support from major national voting blocks instead. Read the rest

Now that June 17th has finally come around, we can join together in joyous praise as the new Coldplay CD has finally been released. But, does Viva La Vida, as the CD is so aptly named, meet up to its long anticipated expectations?

In a resounding word, the answer is clearly “YES!”

I have been enthralled by the CD’s new artistic style and mastery of both rhythmic dissonance and musical nuance. Not only was I impressed by the tremendous and creative use of classical instruments in songs like “Viva La Vida” (the featured single) and “Yes”, but I was also excited by the lively beats and tempos in most of the CD.

If you are familiar with Coldplay’s music, then you know that their last CD, X&Y, does include lively and active beats and rhythms in its playlist, like “White Shadows”. However, in this new CD, Coldplay uses brighter timbres and different instruments than the melancholy instruments and tones they are notorious for. This uncharacteristic style is exemplified in songs like “Lost!” and “Lovers in Japan”.

Watch the iTunes commercial featuring the song “Viva La Vida”:
Read the rest

Over the past five to ten years or so, professional hockey has taken a dramatic turn for the worse. Player strikes, inaccessible players, high ticket prices and the continual rise of America’s other major sports all contributed to the NHL’s near collapse.

While the pain felt by true hockey fans was writhing in many cities, the pain Chicagoans faced was nearly unbearable. For a city that cherished its status as one of hockey’s “Original Six” and celebrated such names as Stan Mikita, Bobby Hull, and Tony Esposito, the sad gaggle of ice skaters that called themselves the Blackhawks over the past few years was enough to keep former fans in depression.

As if the league-wide downturn wasn’t enough, the late and longtime Hawks owner Bill Wirtz seemed as if he was actually trying to kill the franchise he owned. All throughout my childhood Wirtz refused to televise Hawks games on the gorunds that if a fan wanted to see a game, he/she should pay for a ticket and go to the stadium.

Wirtz also refused to spend any money on star or even remotely decent players and began an Exodus that saw Chicago favorites (and my childhood heroes) Ed Belfour, Jeremy Roenick and Chris Chelios go on to have sparkling careers in other cities. Not to mention his alienation of the aforementioned Hawk greats from the organization.

But with Old Man Wirtz’s passing last year, his son Rocky took over the reigns and immediately began a reversal of the downtrodden organization that has Daddy Wirtz spinning in his grave like a floating wrist shot.

This past season, the Hawks nearly made the playoffs and the franchise finally gave Head Coach Denny Savard (another fan favorite whose number 18 is retired by the Hawks) some tools to work with. In themed nights, former Hawk greats were welcomed back to the United Center and given the respect that they have deserved for so long.

Marketing genius John McDonough was then stolen from the Chicago Cubs to serve as the Blackhawks new President and has reverted the organization back to articulating what made it great for so many years as a staple of the Chicago sports scene. Read the rest

M. Night Shyamalan, the director who brought you the groundbreaking films The Sixth Sense and Signs, is trying to rebound from a few big screen blunders with his new chilling flick The Happening.

Highly advertised for being Shyamalan’s first R-rated motion picture while being released on Friday the 13^th, The Happening stars Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel and explores a freakish epidemic of unexplained death. Teacher Elliot Moore (Wahlberg) finds himself in the midst of the events which are engulfing the entire northeastern United States. Along with his wife Alma (Deschanel) and their friend’s child who accompanies them, the three flee their home and the catastrophic ordeal however, soon realize that the occurrences may be unavoidable.

The premise of the movie is complacently original and actually brilliant but still fails at making the movie a true horror classic. I can’t deny the stressful amounts of sheer terror I endured while watching it and most of that fear is due to jaw-dropping horrific deaths that are ingeniously instilled into the plot. There isn’t an excess of superfluous violence unlike most modern day films similar to this, but enough to have you locked in and genuinely entertained in some respect.

For some, just the fact that the The Happening is irrefutably fear-provoking is enough for many to enjoy it though apart from Shyamalan’s creative death depictions, the feature as a whole is still a mess. There is hardly any character development or background information given so you never can really connect with the main characters and their situation. The plot gets old after a while and as the movie nears the end, and the predictability of the conclusion appears more obvious and disappointing. That is not a spoiler to the end of the 91 minute film but it must be acknowledge that even though it’s not a long movie, one’s attention begins to waver to the end. Read the rest

The title tries to warn you, but Adam Sandler fans won’t be able to resist screening You Don’t Mess with the Zohan. I am going to deviate from a normal review and just go into a list of three reasons why not to see this new film that should be locked away indefinitely in Happy Madison Productions’ vault.

1) The first problem is the film tries to extract laughs with false and over-exaggerated Israeli stereotypes including abysmal attempts at Middle Eastern accents. For example, the film consistently incorporates Hummus, a popular Middle Eastern dip, into the plot at every opportunity. Also, the filmmakers made sure to tread carefully on more delicate issues that stir in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinian with the result being a bunch of cheap, unintelligent jokes and a insufficient dosage of genuine humoe.

2) The acting in this movie is absolutely awful. Adam Sandler is a comedic legend and has the best performance of any actor in the movie, but it was still mediocre. John Turturro, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Nick Swardson, and the rest of the cast all have devastatingly painful performances which doesn’t blend well with the rest of the movie’s horribleness. Read the rest

All my life I’ve heard of silly stories about alien encounters and whether or not extraterrestrial life has visited Earth. Between the other suspicious characters (the Loch Ness Monster, the Yeti, etc…), alien sightings have forever become news stories with varying degrees of merit and success.

Yet, this past week has added another story to the files, one that gathered more than 20 journalists in Denver to see a homemade video, shot five years ago, portraying the outline of an alien peering through a home window.

The man who took the picture, Stan Romanek, claims that there has been an alien in his home in Nebraska, and has a three minute video to prove it. Why this comes out now, as opposed to when it was shot in 2003, is an interesting enough question to pose.

Alejandro Rojas, education director of MUFON (the Mutual UFO Network), spoke at the conference stating that, “If it was a puppet, it would be a very elaborate and sophisticated puppet.” The video itself has not been released as it is in the hands of scientific researchers, yet a similar video has surfaced on youtube and appeared most recently on Larry King Live.

Accompanying Stan on Larry King was Jeff Peckman who is pushing to set up an governmental Extra-Terrestrial Affairs commission on the Denver City Council. The interview drags on with other panelists, film editors and scientists who viewed the video. Stan tells his story in another pointless Larry King interview, however this video has seemed to garner more attention than previous alien stories of the past. Read the rest

Well movie-fans it’s almost that time that you all wait for while daydreaming during your physics class or subconsciously playing Frisbee in your dorm hallway. One thing is guaranteed in Hollywood this summer, an avalanche of profit will be pummeling down upon some movie crews while others will sink slowly in the quicksand which is the sad reality of a failed motion picture.

But yet another thing is surely guaranteed, this summer’s movies will unfortunately not be genuinely adequate and original. That’s right, it’s time for the 2008 Summer Blockbuster Report:

Indy has already banked well over $100 million in just a short amount of time in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The largely anticipated Sex and the City Movie based on the popular HBO show is still getting mixed reviews but nevertheless proving to be very profitable.

Sorry to filibuster on a movie that is coming out when Chicago will still be in winter but Indy isn’t the only continuation of a legendary series due out this summer blockbuster season. Yes indeed, the new Batman film entitled The Dark Knight will be filling seats in theaters nationwide July 18^th.

With all owed respect to twenty-eight year old Heath Ledger who overdosed on prescription drugs (whether intentionally or not) while the film who’s fake working title was Rory’s First Kiss was merely in post-production, the deranged and horrifying Joker will return. While Ledger’s performance will be weighed against the immortal Jack Nicolson’s, the poised Christian Bale will once again imprint his name in history by throwing his black cape on and hopping in the Bat mobile. I have exceeding expectations for The Dark Knight and confidently predict the movie to securely meet the anticipation it has conjured from is masterfully produced trailers. (And when I say masterful describing the trailer I mean I got the shivers watching it the first time. Bravo to those who produced it, hope the movie matches the quality of its preview) Remember, “Why so serious?” Read the rest

When heading out to the baseball stadium, fans are primarily concerned with the performance of their team. But according to Portfolio.com fans might want to focus a little more of their attention on their stadium’s food service cleanliness.

Several MLB stadiums have been found to have serious health code infractions that are just plain disgusting. And interestingly, the spectrum of health code violations does not at all rest on the performance of the team on the field. Have a look at the Top Ten grossest stadiums in Major League Baseball and keep this list in mind if you’re planning a baseball road trip this summer!

10. Kauffman Stadium - Kansas City Royals

• 32 violations
• mold was found in ice machines
• workers were found making sandwiches without gloves on

9. Miller Park - Milwaukee Brewers

• 36 violations
• mouse droppings were found near food areas
• mold was found in ice containers Read the rest

The continuous saga of hostile relations between the secular and religious streams of Judaism in Israel has once again come to the forefront of public attention. As the highly anticipated release of “Sex and The City” nears closer, Orthodox groups are continuing to voice loud concerns about the movie’s promotional poster and actual content that they view as highly promiscuous.

While Israeli celebrities were enjoying a preview party for the film in Tel Aviv, Forum Films, the movie’s local producer, was locked in a battle with advertising firms in both Jerusalem and Petach Tikvah over the appropriateness of posters containing the word ’sex’. Those cities were directly targeted due to pressure produced by unidentified religious groups.

Sources said that the municipal governments had no qualms about the content of the posters understanding that it would be unreasonable to alter the film’s title, however the advertising firm continued to oppose the move despite assurances that no immodestly dressed women would be shown.

This is not the first time that movie advertisments have been called into question. When “Spider Man” was released, religious groups also had qualms about posters that displayed male and female actors standing, what they believed to be, too close to one another. The posters were eventually altered to increase the separation between the characters.

Based on comments by Israelis on a number of online forums (Achbar Ha’ir) , this controversy has sparked a hot debate over whether the presence of a large religious population in areas of Israel such as Jerusalem is grounds for such censorship, especially in the capital city of the State. The results of this clash, similar to past encounters over other issues such as whether or not to allowing the Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem, certainly provides a fascinating twist to this notable issue in Israeli society.

Photo courtesy of Ben-Romberg