NBC Announces 2013-14 TV Schedule

NBC FALL 2013-14 SCHEDULE
(New programs in UPPER CASE; all times ET)

MONDAY
8-10 p.m. – “The Voice”
10-11 p.m. – “THE BLACKLIST”

TUESDAY
8-9 p.m. – “The Biggest Loser” (New Day and Time)
9-10 p.m. – “The Voice” (New time)
10-11 p.m. – “Chicago Fire” (New Day and Time)

WEDNESDAY
8-9 p.m. – “Revolution” (New Day and Time)
9-10 p.m. – ”Law & Order: SVU”
10-11 p.m. – “IRONSIDE”

THURSDAY
8-8:30 p.m. – “Parks and Recreation” (New time)
8:30-9 p.m. – “WELCOME TO THE FAMILY”
9-9:30 p.m. – “SEAN SAVES THE WORLD”
9:30-10 p.m. – “THE MICHAEL J. FOX SHOW”
10-11 p.m. – “Parenthood” (New Day and Time)

FRIDAY
8-9 p.m. – “Dateline NBC”
9-10 p.m. – “Grimm”
10-11 p.m. – “DRACULA”

SATURDAY
Encore programming

SUNDAY
7:00-8:15 p.m. – “Football Night in America”
8:15-11:30 p.m. – “NBC Sunday Night Football”

NBC MIDSEASON 2013-14 SCHEDULE
(New programs in UPPER CASE; all times ET)

MONDAY
8-10 p.m. – “The Voice”
10-11 p.m. – “THE BLACKLIST”

TUESDAY
8-9 p.m. – “The Voice”
9-9:30 p.m. – “ABOUT A BOY”
9:30-10 p.m. – “THE FAMILY GUIDE”
10-11 p.m. – “Chicago Fire”

WEDNESDAY
8-9 p.m. – “Revolution”
9-10 p.m. – ”Law & Order: SVU”
10-11 p.m. – “IRONSIDE”

THURSDAY
8-8:30 p.m. – “Parks and Recreation”
8:30-9 p.m. – “WELCOME TO THE FAMILY”
9-9:30 p.m. – “SEAN SAVES THE WORLD”
9:30-10 p.m. – “THE MICHAEL J. FOX SHOW”
10-11 p.m. – “Parenthood”

FRIDAY
8-9 p.m. – “Dateline NBC”
9-10 p.m. – “Grimm”
10-11 p.m. – “CROSSBONES”

SATURDAY
8-10 p.m. – Encore and specials programming
10-11 p.m. – “Saturday Night Live” (Encore)

SUNDAY
7-8 p.m. – “Dateline NBC”
8-9 p.m. – “AMERICAN DREAM BUILDERS”
9-10 p.m. – “BELIEVE”
10-11 p.m. – “CRISIS”

Book Review: Dad is Fat by Jim Gaffigan

Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Crown Archetype (May 7, 2013)

Another week, another comic memoir.  Since April started, there have been memoirs released by Kelly Oxford, Jen Kirkman, and Marc Maron, to name a few.  Last week brought the release of Dad is Fat by comedian Jim Gaffigan.

The comedian, his wife, and five kids live in a small 2-bedroom apartment in a five-story walk up.  I don't know how they do it but more power to them.

What Gaffigan does with his memoir is share his observations on fatherhood, revealing the joys and horror of raising five young children in New York City, and how to cope when you're outnumbered at home.

We are lucky that Gaffigan's family life has made for comic material for us.  It's not like he hasn't shared his wit with us before as he shares it on Twitter all the time.  He could have written a book about what it was like to have grown up in Indiana but he didn't.

Some of the topics in the book include his going from a loner to a family man, food, becoming vice president of his household, big families in general, the narcissist's guide to babies and toddlers, how children have terrible taste, plus other subjects like babysitters, critiquing children's literature, survival, and bedtime.

Overall, what we have from Gaffigan is a charming and irresistibly candid take on the ups and downs of parenting, which isn't what one usually expects from a comedian.

Book Review: Attempting Normal by Marc Maron

Hardcover: 240 pages
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau (April 30, 2013)

Marc Maron is a comedian best known for his interview podcast WTF with Marc Maron.  Outside of his former radio show on the late Air America, the comedian had never really hit the bigtime.  Then WTF happened and the rest, as they say, is history.

The publication of Maron's comic memoir just so happens to have coincided with the debut of Maron on IFC.  What he has in his memoir is a collection of stories that are explosively, painfully, and addictively funny...even when they shouldn't be.  Maron the comedian is a disarmingly honest, intensely smart, brutally open comic who just happens to find wisdom in the strangest of places.

It was when Maron had nothing that he turned to his garage and started WTF.

But most of us can relate with Maron.  He's just trying to do better without making a larger mess than he already has.  As with other comic memoirs, Maron is open about his life, including failed relationships, his cats, flying planes in his mind, etc.

Maron has a struggle with relationships from day to day and that's documented in his book.

If you want a better of idea of who Maron is, this book is for you.

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Book Review: Everything Is Perfect When You're A Liar by Kelly Oxford

Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: It Books (April 2, 2013)

Kelly Oxford is a Twitter superstar.  Now she has a book.

Described by Jimmy Kimmel as someone that is "very consistently and solidly hilarious," Oxford is an online superstar.

This book is a moderately perfected version of her life story.  Her life has been paved with uncommon adventures and exploits.  How many 6 year olds try to adapt Star Wars for the stage and get their friends to audition?  Not that many, I suppose, but Oxford did it.  It wasn't successful but she tried.

This book is written as if it were a series of short stories.  It's not written as a narrative memoir book would be.

At 12 years old, she was washing the dishes at a restaurant.  Here in the United States, it would be a violation of Child Labor Laws but I guess that things are much different with our friends in the north.

Her first trip to Hollywood was spent trying to find Leonardo Dicaprio before Titanic opened to a massive amount of money at the box office.  That didn't work out too well for her.

In the fall of 2011, NBC hired her to write a pilot, which wasn't picked up to series.  A year ago, Warner Brothers bought a screenplay that she wrote.

Oxford isn't your typical comedy star.  Known mainly for her writing and not performing, she found her voice through chat rooms, blogs, and on Twitter.  Stand-up comedians hone their craft in comedy clubs.  Oxford uses social media to hone her craft.

Book Review: I Can Barely Take Care of Myself by Jen Kirkman

Hardcover: 224 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster; Original edition (April 16, 2013)

Comedy writer Jen Kirkman brings us her biographical comic memoir, which mostly focuses on her decision to be child-free by choice.  Kirkman is annoyed at how many people ask her when she is having children and of course, she's frustrated by the question.  I don't blame her.

What she wants to do with her body his her decision.  If she chooses to not bear children, that's her right so stop asking her the question!  She isn't afraid to talk about it.  She shares personal stories of times she has been insulted by the decision not to have children...like at the comedy club bathroom in Texas where she was called selfish by someone in attendance.

There was the time she went to Best Buy to buy a gift for a friend and the attendant, named Bren of all names, did not know what The Golden Girls were.  I'm sorry but in an era where Betty White is all the range, there is no excuse to not know who exactly The Golden Girls are.

There was the time when she was vacationing at a Hawaiian resort and was laying out at an adult only pool only to deal with all these non-adults swimming in said pool when there were 5 other options around for children.

Kirkman is a writer for E!'s Chelsea Lately, the late night comedy show starring Chelsea Handler, and is a regular comedian on the nightly roundtable.  However, instead of writing in Handler's comedic voice, she writes this book in her own.

She defends decisions she has made her entire life--from opting to live in her childhood bedroom as she broke in to comedy to joining the writing staff for Chelsea Handler.  She shares her story in a book that is full of humor, wisdom, and laugh out loud moments.

We Killed: The Rise of Women in American Comedy

Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Sarah Crichton Books (October 16, 2012)

 Women are funny so please stop trying to argue that they are not.  If you look at the past several years on both the small and big screen and still argue that they aren't funny, well I don't know what to say.

The tone of Yael Kohen's book is similar to that of Live from New York in that it is a oral history that focuses on the rise of women in American comedy.

The early days started with Phyllis Diller and Joan Rivers performing in clubs while Elaine May was making her way to stardom with Mike Nichols.

Mary Tyler Moore and Carol Burnett had sitcoms that still live on today.  Moore's sitcom is the predecessor, in various ways, to Tina Fey's 30 Rock.

Then there was Elayne Boosler in the 1970s.  She refused to be treated as a feminist.  She paved the way for female comics with her observational act.

In the 1980s, there was a standup comedy boom.  This led to Roseanne and Ellen getting their eventual sitcoms.  Unfortunately, several clubs still limited their bills to the maximum of one woman a night.  A shame.

It was the 1990s that changed things, and maybe for the better when Janeane Garofalo helped start the alternative comedy movement.  Soon, Margaret Cho would be involved.

The late 90s and 2000s were a boom for women in comedy, especially for SNL.  I don't even have to list the names as we all know them.  Molly Shannon, Cheri Oteri, Ana Gastayer, Tina Fey, Rachel Dratch, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Kristen Wiig, etc.

The Upright Citizens Brigade not only gave us Amy Poehler but their theater in New York has given us rising stars as Aubrey Plaza, Ellie Kemper, and Casey Wilson.

Chelsea Handler is probably the biggest late night female star right now with her show on E! and she has done a tremendous job in hiring female writers.

Female comics can be attractive, as Sarah Silverman is.  Silverman is one of the hottest names out there in comedy and she's also one of the raunchiest, too.

If you appreciate comedy as I do, you will enjoy this book.  I know that I did!

Quote of the Day

“I have been thinking today about my children and grandchildren who will never know the days of innocence I did,That you could go anywhere to any public event and not worry about an explosive device being detonated….that is the price of freedom and that is the world in which we live today.”
--Tom Brokaw, NBC News, April 15, 2013

LINK

Pray for Boston

Please keep the victims of today's Boston Marathon Massacre in your thoughts and prayers.

Steven Spielberg: A Retrospective

Hardcover: 280 pages
Publisher: Sterling (October 2, 2012)

Steven Spielberg is one of the greatest living filmmakers of a generation.  He came up at the same time as George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, and Martin Scorsese.

Richard Schickel, a noted film critic, goes back to interviews he has had with Spielberg since 2005.  The excerpts from the interviews along with Schickel's commentary accompany the 400 or so photographs that are spread throughout the book.

It should be noted that this retrospective on Spielberg does not focus on his career as a producer but only the films that he has directed.

Are there films that he feels could have been better?  Yes.  Is he going to disown them?  No.  That's not the kind of filmmaker that he is.

Spielberg has never written a memoir and until now, he has never cooperated with someone wishing to write a book.  This is as close to a memoir as we will likely get for the time being.  If this is what we are left with, it does the job just fine.

Book Review: I Remember Me by Carl Reiner

Hardcover: 328 pages
Publisher: AuthorHouse (January 18, 2013)

Carl Reiner is one of the comic geniuses of our time.  Before he went on to create The Dick Van Dyke Show, Reiner was a member of the cast and writing staff of both Sid Caesar shows: Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour.

What we have in I Remember Me is a comic memoir.  In only so many pages does Reiner reminisce on his 90 years of "love and laughter, highs and lows, mistakes and triumphs."  Be it as it may, Reiner tells us these stories with his warm heart and the touch of nostalgia that pops in every now and then.

Reiner's memory is still very sharp.  He's able to draw from decades of family, friends, and the fun that he has had in his career.  He uses the same combo of playful jest and modest himulity that has given him the love and respect from his fans for decades now.

Reiner writes of attending shul growing up following his bar mitzvah so that other people were able to daven.  He's not necessarily Orthodox but he attended shul regularly while growing up.

Most importantly, Reiner remembers those incredible moments with his beloved Estelle, who was eight years older than him and would never have fallen in love had she met him while he was growing up in the Bronx.

85th Annual Academy Award (Oscars) Winners

The following were the winners at the 85th annual Academy Awards when the Oscar ceremonies were held February 24, 2013.
Best Picture: Argo
Best Actor Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained
Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Best Director: Ang Lee, Life of Pi
Best Original Screenplay: Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino
Best Adapted Screenplay: Argo, Chris Terrio
Best Animated Feature: Brave
Best Cinematography: Life of Pi, Claudio Miranda
Best Costume Design: Anna Karenina, Jacqueline Durran
Best Documentary Feature: Searching for Sugar Man
Best Documentary Short: Inocente
Best Film Editing: Argo, William Goldenberg
Best Foreign Language Film: Amour, Austria
Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Les Misérables, Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell
Best Original Score: Life of Pi, Mychael Danna
Best Original Song: “Skyfall” from Skyfall, music and lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth
Best Production Design: Lincoln, Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson
Best Animated Short: Paperman
Best Live Action Short: Curfew
Best Sound Editing: (TIE) Zero Dark Thirty, Paul N.J. Ottosson; Skyfall, Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers
Best Sound Mixing: Les Misérables, Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes
Best Visual Effects: Life of Pi, Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott

85th Annual Oscar Predictions

The following are my predictions for the 85th annual Academy Awards when the Oscar ceremonies are held February 24th 2013.

Best Picture:  Argo

Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln

Best Actress:  Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook

Best Supporting Actor: Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook

Best Supporting Actress:  Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables

Best Director: Ang Lee, Life of Pi

Best Original Screenplay:  Zero Dark Thirty, Mark Boal

Best Adapted Screenplay:  Argo, Chris Terrio

Best Animated Feature:  Wreck-It Ralph

Best Cinematography:  Life of Pi, Claudio Miranda

Best Costume Design:  Anna Karenina, Jacqueline Durran

Best Documentary Feature: Searching for Sugar Man

Best Documentary Short:  Inocente

Best Film Editing:  Argo, William Goldenberg

Best Foreign Language Film:  Amour, Austria

Best Makeup and Hairstyling:  Les Misérables, Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell

Best Original Score:  Life of Pi, Mychael Danna

Best Original Song:  “Skyfall” from Skyfall, music and lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth

Best Production Design:  Life of Pi, Production Design: David Gropman; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock

Best Animated Short:  Paperman

Best Live Action Short:  Curfew

Best Sound Editing:  Life of Pi, Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton

Best Sound Mixing:  Les Misérables, Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes

Best Visual Effects:  Life of Pi, Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott

Recipes for Disaster by Tess Rafferty

Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books (October 30, 2012)

I never thought that I could read a humorous book about food but that is what Tess Rafferty has written.  While trying to pursue a career in the entertainment industry, Rafferty started hosting dinner parties for friends.

The former writer for The Soup has recounted many of her dinner parties over the course of almost 300 pages including some of the worst kitchen disasters she has experienced.  Rafferty even sprinkles in tips and recipes throughout the book.

She tells her story with heart, honesty, and obviously, humor.  She unveils the lengths that she went through to please her house guests and there is not a person out there who has not experienced a similar story.

The next time you think about having a dinner party for friends, read Rafferty's book.  It's as if you are right there with her.

19th Annual Screen Actors Guild Award Winners

EW's Oscar writer Anthony Breznican stresses the following in his recap of tonight's SAG Awards:

We have another month for Academy voters to figure out whether amends have already been made for Affleck’s snub, or if it still galvanizes them to check off Argo on those final ballots.

19th ANNUAL SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS® THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURES Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture: ARGO (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role: DANIEL DAY-LEWIS / Abraham Lincoln - "LINCOLN” (Touchstone Pictures)
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role: JENNIFER LAWRENCE / Tiffany - “SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK” (The Weinstein Company)
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role: TOMMY LEE JONES / Thaddeus Stevens - “LINCOLN” (Touchstone Pictures)
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role: ANNE HATHAWAY / Fantine - “LES MISÉRABLES” (Universal Pictures)

PRIMETIME TELEVISION 
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries: KEVIN COSTNER / “Devil Anse” Hatfield - “HATFIELDS & McCOYS” (History)
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries: JULIANNE MOORE / Sarah Palin - “GAME CHANGE” (HBO)
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series: BRYAN CRANSTON / Walter White - “BREAKING BAD” (AMC)
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series: CLAIRE DANES / Carrie Mathison - “HOMELAND” (Showtime)
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series: ALEC BALDWIN / Jack Donaghy - “30 ROCK” (NBC)
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series: TINA FEY / Liz Lemon - “30 ROCK” (NBC)
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series: DOWNTON ABBEY (PBS) Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series: 30 ROCK (NBC)

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT: Dick Van Dyke

SAG AWARDS HONORS FOR STUNT ENSEMBLES
Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture: SKYFALL (Columbia Pictures)
Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series: GAME OF THRONES (HBO)

Barack Obama's 2nd Inaugural Address

The full text of Barack Obama's 2nd Inaugural Address as prepared for delivery is below.

Vice President Biden, Mr. Chief Justice, Members of the United States Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens:

Each time we gather to inaugurate a president, we bear witness to the enduring strength of our Constitution.  We affirm the promise of our democracy.  We recall that what binds this nation together is not the colors of our skin or the tenets of our faith or the origins of our names.  What makes us exceptional - what makes us American - is our allegiance to an idea, articulated in a declaration made more than two centuries ago:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."

Book Review: The Fifth Assassin by Brad Meltzer

Hardcover: 448 pages
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; First Edition edition (January 15, 2013)

Beecher White is back!  Picking up two months after the events of The Inner Circle, we are in for another successful page-turning conspiracy thriller from Meltzer.

Just when you think you have it all figured out, Meltzer takes us on a twisty turn as he gets us to the conclusion of the novel.

This book moves at a fast pace, full of the classic Meltzer wit and some history facts thrown in as well.

In The Fifth Assassin, Beecher White is facing a serial killer that is out there recreating four presidential assassinations.

Beecher discovers the truth that all four assassins were working together.  He seeks to find out their purpose, who they are working for, and why they are trying to kill Orson Wallace.  In doing so, he's going to have an in-face meeting with the fifth assassin.

It's clear that Meltzer knows his presidential history and that he did his research on the assassins.  His research really shows in the page-turning action.

Brad is one of those authors that really knows what he is doing and he churns out at least one novel every other year.  I can't wait to see where Beecher White goes in the next piece of work.

From 7th grade onto maybe 2008, John Grisham was my favorite author.  Brad Meltzer has passed him up in my book.

The Manti Te'o Scandal

What the hell?!?

That is probably what everybody was thinking when Deadspin broke the scandal late Wednesday afternoon saying that Manti Teo's girlfriend didn't die of cancer because she never existed in the first place.  The same one that Pete Thamel wrote about in the 2012 season.

Notre Dame later responded through a university spokesperson rather than via the Athletic Department.  Later, Te'o himself issued a statement to the press.

As is the case with several in the sports media world, I'm not buying it.  Not for one minute.  Not when the university claims to have known since the end of December.  Not when Te'o was still answering questions about it during the BCS media days on January 3rd.

Q.  Manti, how have the football‑related commotion and excitement of the past year helped you get through the turmoil you've faced with your grandmother and girlfriend?  And how have the quiet periods been for you, given you more time to reflect?  Is that a good thing or double edged?
MANTI TE'O:  I think whenever you're in football, it takes your mind off a lot of things.  You know, this team is very special to me, and the guys on it have always been there for me, through the good times and the bad times.  I rarely have a quiet time to myself because I always have somebody calling me, asking, do you want to go to the movies.  Coach is always calling me asking me, "Are you okay?  Do you need anything?"  I have three roommates, Zeke, Carlo and Robby Toma, who are always yelling at each other, who's going to play Call of Duty.  I'm rarely by myself, and that's how I like it.  I'm always around my guys, always around my family.

He could have said that he didn't have a girlfriend but he didn't.

Reagan Mauia, an Arizona Cardinals fullback, tells ESPN that he met her.  At this point nobody even knows what the hell is going on right now.

Jack Swarbrick, the athletic director for Notre Dame, is willing to go as far as covering for any of the football team yet nobody at Notre Dame has even answered for the death of Lizzy Seeberg.  That's the real tragedy.  Players assaulted her and she was forced to remain silent because they were football players at Notre Dame.  Anywhere else, those players get kicked off the team.  Not at Notre Dame.  They are backed up by the coaches and administration.

Meanwhile, Pete Thamel goes to Alabama and Turkey to investigate Kentucky players but when it comes to a football player's girlfriend, he never even makes an attempt to meet the family.  This Slate article is a MUST READ!

At a Wednesday night press conference, the university claims that it was Te'o who was duped.  I disagree.  It was the American media and America that was punk'd in the process.

The latest on Jack Conway

Jack Conway was recently interviewed by the AP.  He's taking a serious look at running for Governor.

"To me, it's still awfully early," he said Friday. "But there's been a lot of jockeying. It seems the ink wasn't even dry on Steve Beshear's re-election and people were already talking about it." [...]

"There's still a lot of time," he said. "If I think I can be successful in accomplishing some things, then I will sit down and talk to my family about it, and we'll make a family decision. But I'm going to take a very, very serious look at it." [...]

"Crit and I talk regularly," Conway said. "I don't' think Crit and I will get ourselves in a position where we are trying to beat each other to the punch."

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/01/14/2475536/ap-interview-conway-serious-about.html#storylink=rss?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter#storylink=cpy

 He would be in a good position in 2015.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/01/14/2475536/ap-interview-conway-serious-about.html#storylink=rss?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/01/14/2475536/ap-interview-conway-serious-about.html#storylink=rss?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter#storylink=cpy

Oh, Morsi...

What an idiot!

70th Golden Globe Awards Winners

Best Motion Picture — Drama
Argo

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Drama
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln

 

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Drama
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty

Best Motion Picture — Comedy Or Musical

Les Miserables

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Comedy Or Musical
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Comedy Or Musical
Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables

Best Performance by an Actress In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables

Best Performance by an Actor In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

Best Director — Motion Picture
Ben Affleck, Argo

Best Screenplay — Motion Picture

Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino

Best Original Score — Motion Picture
Life of Pi, Michael Danna

Best Original Song — Motion Picture
“Skyfall” (music and lyrics by Adel and Paul Epworth), Skyfall

Best Animated Film
Brave

Best Foreign Language Film
Amour

Best Television Series — Drama
Homeland

Best Television Series — Comedy Or Musical

Girls

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Drama
Damian Lewis, Homeland

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Drama
Claire Danes, Homeland

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Kevin Costner, Hatfields and McCoys


Best Performance by an Actress In A Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Julianne Moore, Game Change

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Ed Harris, Game Change

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series — Comedy Or Musical

Lena Dunham, Girls

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series — Comedy Or Musical

Don Cheadle, House of Lies

Best Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made for Television
Game Change

Cecil B. DeMille Award
Jodie Foster

70th Golden Globe Awards Predictions

I'm making predictions really quickly and not formatting headings or titles.  These predictions are not as much who I want to win as it is who I believe will win based on voting patterns of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

Best Motion Picture — Drama: Lincoln
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Drama: Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Drama: Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Best Motion Picture — Comedy Or Musical: Silver Linings Playbook
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Comedy Or Musical: Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Comedy Or Musical: Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables
Best Performance by an Actress In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture: Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Best Performance by an Actor In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture: Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
Best Director — Motion Picture: Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
Best Screenplay — Motion Picture: Lincoln, Tony Kushner
Best Original Score — Motion Picture: Lincoln, John Williams
Best Original Song — Motion Picture: “Skyfall” (music and lyrics by Adel and Paul Epworth), Skyfall
Best Animated Film: Wreck-It Ralph
Best Foreign Language Film: Amour

Best Television Series — Drama: Homeland
Best Television Series — Comedy Or Musical: Modern Family
Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Drama: Damian Lewis, Homeland
Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Drama: Claire Danes, Homeland
Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: Kevin Costner, Hatfields and McCoys
Best Performance by an Actress In A Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television: Julianne Moore, Game Change
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: Mandy Patinkin, Homeland
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series — Comedy Or Musical: Amy Poehler, Parks And Recreation
Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series — Comedy Or Musical: Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Best Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made for Television" Game Change

Cecil B. DeMille Award
Jodie Foster

18th Annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards winners

While the Oscars were announced this morning, the Critics' Choice Movie Awards were announced tonight on the CW.

BEST PICTURE: Argo
BEST ACTOR: Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
BEST ACTRESS: Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Anne Hathaway – Les Miserables
BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS: Quvenzhane Wallis – Beasts of the Southern Wild
BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE: Silver Linings Playbook
BEST DIRECTOR: Ben Affleck – Argo
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Quentin Tarantino – Django Unchained
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Tony Kushner – Lincoln
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Life of Pi – Claudio Miranda
BEST ART DIRECTION: Anna Karenina – Sarah Greenwood/Production Designer, Katie Spencer/Set Decorator
BEST EDITING: Zero Dark Thirty – William Goldenberg, Dylan Tichenor
BEST COSTUME DESIGN: Anna Karenina – Jacqueline Durran
BEST MAKEUP: Cloud Atlas
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: Life of Pi
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Wreck-It Ralph
BEST ACTION MOVIE: Skyfall
BEST ACTOR IN AN ACTION MOVIE: Daniel Craig – Skyfall
BEST ACTRESS IN AN ACTION MOVIE: Jennifer Lawrence – The Hunger Games
BEST COMEDY: Silver Linings Playbook
BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY: Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook
BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY: Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook
BEST SCI-FI/HORROR MOVIE: Looper
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: Amour
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: Searching for Sugar Man
BEST SONG: “Skyfall” – performed by Adele/written by Adele Adkins & Paul Epworth – Skyfall
BEST SCORE: Lincoln – John Williams

85th Annual Academy Awards Nominations

The following are nominated for the 85th annual Academy Awards when the Oscar ceremonies are held February 24th 2013.


Best Picture
Amour
Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Actor
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables
Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
Denzel Washington, Flight

Best Actress
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Naomi Watts, The Impossible

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin, Argo
Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, The Master
Sally Field, Lincoln
Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook

Best Director
Michael Haneke, Amour
Ang Lee, Life of Pi
David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best Original Screenplay
Amour, Michael Haneke
Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino
Flight, John Gatins
Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola
Zero Dark Thirty, Mark Boal


Best Adapted Screenplay
Argo, Chris Terrio
Beasts of the Southern Wild, Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin,
Life of Pi, David Magee
Lincoln, Tony Kushner
Silver Linings Playbook, David O. Russell


Best Animated Feature:
Brave
Frankenweenie
ParaNorman
The Pirates! Band of Misfits
Wreck-It Ralph

Best Cinematography
Anna Karenina, Seamus McGarvey
Django Unchained, Robert Richardson
Life of Pi, Claudio Miranda
Lincoln, Janusz Kaminski
Skyfall, Roger Deakins

Best Costume Design
Anna Karenina, Jacqueline Durran
Les Misérables, Paco Delgado
Lincoln, Joanna Johnston
Mirror Mirror, Eiko Ishioka
Snow White and the Huntsman, Colleen Atwood

Best Documentary Feature
5 Broken Cameras
The Gatekeepers
How to Survive a Plague
The Invisible War
Searching for Sugar Man

Best Documentary Short
Inocente
Kings Point
Mondays at Racine
Open Heart
Redemption

Best Film Editing
Argo, William Goldenberg
Life of Pi, Tim Squyres
Lincoln, Michael Kahn
Silver Linings Playbook, Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers
Zero Dark Thirty, Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg

Best Foreign Language Film
Amour, Austria
Kon-Tiki, Norway
No, Chile
A Royal Affair, Denmark
War Witch, Canada

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Hitchcock, Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane
Les Misérables, Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell

Best Original Score
Anna Karenina, Dario Marianelli
Argo, Alexandre Desplat
Life of Pi, Mychael Danna
Lincoln, John Williams
Skyfall, Thomas Newman

Best Original Song
“Before My Time” from Chasing Ice, music and lyric by J. Ralph
“Everybody Needs A Best Friend” from Ted, music by Walter Murphy; lyric by Seth MacFarlane
“Pi’s Lullaby” from Life of Pi, music by Mychael Danna; lyric by Bombay Jayashri
“Skyfall” from Skyfall, music and lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth
“Suddenly” from Les Misérables, music by Claude-Michel Schönberg; lyric by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil

Best Production Design
Anna Karenina, Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, production Design: Dan Hennah; Set Decoration: Ra Vincent and Simon Bright
Les Misérables, Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Anna Lynch-Robinson
Life of Pi, Production Design: David Gropman; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
Lincoln, Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson

Best Animated Short
Adam and Dog
Fresh Guacamole
Head over Heels
Maggie Simpson in “The Longest Daycare”
Paperman

Best Live Action Short
Asad
Buzkashi Boys
Curfew
Death of a Shadow
Henry

Best Sound Editing
Argo, Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn
Django Unchained, Wylie Stateman
Life of Pi, Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton
Skyfall, Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers
Zero Dark Thirty, Paul N.J. Ottosson

Best Sound Mixing
Argo, John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia
Les Misérables, Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes
Life of Pi, Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin
Lincoln, Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins
Skyfall, Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson

Best Visual Effects
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R. Christopher White
Life of Pi, Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott
The Avengers, Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams and Dan Sudick
Prometheus, Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley and Martin Hill
Snow White and the Huntsman, Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson

Book Review: The Middlesteins

Hardcover: 288 pages (272 of main text)
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; 1 edition (October 23, 2012)

The Middlesteins is the creation of Jami Attenberg.  To say that this is the story of a very dysfunctional Jewish family would be putting it lightly.

This is a story about Edie and Richard Middlestein, a married couple living in the Chicago suburbs.  Edie has a problem.  She cannot stop eating.  Because of this, Richard falls out of love with her and leaves.

This causes a problem.  Their daughter, Robin, is not the least bit happy about this and it changes her entire relationship with her father.  Their son, Benny, and daughter-in-law, Rachelle, try to do what they can to have a relationship with both and try and save Edie's life.

It isn't enough.  Regardless of that, Attenberg uses "pitch-perfect prose, huge compassion, and sly humor" to bring us only what can be described as "an epic story of marriage, family, and obsession."

While I enjoyed reading this book, it's that final chapter that really got to my emotions.  It isn't just the storytelling that got to me but the sympathy, too.

Fiscal Cliff

This recent Congressional term could not have ended sooner.

By far, this has been the least productive Congress that anyone can ever recall.

It gets worse.  The Republican Tea Party has sold their souls to Grover Norquist in order to prevent passage of anything that raises taxes for the wealthiest Americans.  In essence, by not voting against tax hikes for a few, they are supporting tax hikes for everyone without placing a single vote in the House of Representatives.

House Speaker John Boehner's legacy has been set today.  He will go down as one of the worst Speakers of the House.

The thing with the GOP is that they are putting the good of a few over the good of everybody in the country.  They are putting their egos before the country.  It's not right and shouldn't be.

This is a party that has shown they don't want to exist anymore.  The Republican Party, as we used to know it, is dead as can be.  They are never coming back into existence.  Maybe in the form of a third party but who knows.

Because of John Boehner's failure to lead, unemployment benefits will expire for 2 million Americans.  These Americans will likely be forced to file for bankruptcy, no doubt.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution has more details on the fiscal cliff deal. 

2012 in Film

While I am not a professional critic, I’m posting my awards for this year’s crop in film.  Like the past few years, any film that is released limited but does not open locally until after the new year is not eligible for this past year.  So, without any further adieu, I present the Solzy Awards for 2012.

Top 10 Films of 2012

Silver Linings Playbook
Lincoln
The Avengers
The Dark Knight Rises
Safety Not Guaranteed
Moonrise Kingdom
Ruby Sparks
Pitch Perfect
Argo
Django Unchained

Seven Bonus Films of 2012

Skyfall
The Sessions
Flight
Friends with Kids
The Hunger Games
The Campaign
Life of Pi

Best Drama: Lincoln
Best Comedy: Silver Linings Playbook
Best Animated Feature: Wreck-It Ralph
Best Director: Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
Best Original Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained
Best Adapted Screenplay: Tony Kushner, Lincoln

Best Comic Book Movie: The Avengers
Best Musical Movie: Pitch Perfect

Drama

Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence, The Hunger Games
Best Supporting Actor: Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Breakthrough Performance in Drama: Suraj Sharma, Life of Pi

Comedy

Best Actor: Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Best Supporting Actor: Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook
Best Supporting Actress: Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook
Breakthrough Performance in Comedy: Kara Hayward, Moonrise Kingdom

Surprising Performance in a Comedy from a Dramatic Actor: Channing Tatum, 21 Jump Street
Most Likely To Be In Every Movie This Year: Channing Tatum (Haywire, 21 Jump Street, The Vow, Magic Mike)

Favorite 10 Comedies of 2012

Silver Linings Playbook
Pitch Perfect
The Campaign
Friends with Kids
Hope Springs
Safety Not Guaranteed
Moonrise Kingdom
The Five-Year Engagement
This is 40
Ted

Some Bonus Comedies of 2012

21 Jump Street
Wanderlust
Ruby Sparks
American Reunion
Hit and Run
For a Good Time, Call...
The Guilt Trip

The next list consists only of the film(s) I saw this year and that's after reading the reviews!

Worst Movie of 2012
Fun Size

2012 Solzy Awards

I started tweeting these the other day but here are the 2012 Solzy Awards.

Best Basketball Book (Tie): 100 Things Wildcats Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die by Ryan Clark  and Joe Cox, The Last Great Game by Gene Wojciechowski, Dream Team by Jack McCallum

Best Baseball Book: One Last Strike by Tony La Russa

Best Comedic Book on Politics: America Again by Stephen Colbert

Best Political Memoir: A Nation of Wusses by Ed Rendell

Best Fiction Novel: Lunatics by Alan Zweibel and Dave Barry

Most Anticipated Book of 2013: The Fifth Assassin by Brad Meltzer

Best Album (tie): Safe Travels by Jukebox the Ghost, Wrecking Ball by Bruce Springsteen

Best Kentucky Sportswriter: Larry Vaught

Best National Basketball Writer: Mike DeCourcy

Best Group of Sports Bloggers: United Cardinal Bloggers

Best Kentucky Broadcaster (Tie): Tom Leach, Bob Valvano

Best New Television Comedy: Ben and Kate (FOX)

Best New Television Drama: Revolution (NBC)

Most Annoying Person on Television...Period: Skip Bayless (ESPN)

President Obama attends Newtown vigil

The president was in Newtown to attend a vigil to remember the victims.  While I link to the text of the full speech, here is an excerpt that shows that President Barack Obama means business.

I’ve been reflecting on this the last few days, and if we’re honest with ourselves, the answer is no.  We’re not doing enough.  And we will have to change.

Since I’ve been President, this is the fourth time we have come together to comfort a grieving community torn apart by a mass shooting.  The fourth time we’ve hugged survivors.  The fourth time we’ve consoled the families of victims.  And in between, there have been an endless series of deadly shootings across the country, almost daily reports of victims, many of them children, in small towns and big cities all across America -- victims whose -- much of the time, their only fault was being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

We can’t tolerate this anymore.  These tragedies must end.  And to end them, we must change.  We will be told that the causes of such violence are complex, and that is true.  No single law -- no set of laws can eliminate evil from the world, or prevent every senseless act of violence in our society.

New York City and Boston Mayors Speak Out on Gun Control

The co-chairs of Mayors Against Illegal Guns have spoken out after Friday's shooting.

Michael Bloomberg:

With all the carnage from gun violence in our country, it's still almost impossible to believe that a mass shooting in a kindergarten class could happen. It has come to that. Not even kindergarteners learning their ABC's are safe. We heard after Columbine that it was too soon to talk about gun laws. We heard it after Virginia Tech. After Tucson and Aurora and Oak Creek. And now we are hearing it again. For every day we wait, 34 more people are murdered with guns. Today, many of them were five-year olds. President Obama rightly sent his heartfelt condolences to the families in Newtown. But the country needs him to send a bill to Congress to fix this problem. Calling for 'meaningful action' is not enough. We need immediate action. We have heard all the rhetoric before. What we have not seen is leadership - not from the White House and not from Congress. That must end today. This is a national tragedy and it demands a national response. My deepest sympathies are with the families of all those affected, and my determination to stop this madness is stronger than ever.

Thomas Menino:

As a parent and grandparent, I am overcome with both grief and outrage by the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut. This unspeakable act of violence will forever imprint this day in our hearts and minds. My heart goes out to the families impacted by this senseless tragedy and the many others we have recently witnessed across the United States. As a Mayor who has witnessed too many lives forever altered by gun violence, it is my responsibility to fight for action. Today's tragedy reminds us that now is the time for action. Innocent children will now never attend a prom, never play in a big game, never step foot on a college campus. Now is the time for a national policy on guns that takes the loopholes out of the laws, the automatic weapons out of our neighborhoods and the tragedies like today out of our future.

1775: A Good Year for Revolution

Hardcover: 656 pages
Publisher: Viking Adult; First Edition edition (November 27, 2012)

I'm a big history buff and that's what found me interested in reading 1775: A Good Year for Revolution by Kevin Phillips.  For most Americans, 1776 is seen as the biggest year for the Revolutionary War.  After all, it's the year that saw the adoption and signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Not so fast, argues Phillips.  The political and economic commentator decided "to write about a United States taking shape rather than losing headway."  Phillips goes on to explain why 1776 is not the "watershed year" and makes the argument that 1776 has been elevated by mythology because of "an unusual case of historical hype and confusion."

Phillips calls 1775 a critical year as it is the year when the American commitment to revolution took shape.  He goes on to focus on several events and confrontations, including the start of the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps.

This book offers some insights into our own times as well as the country that the USA became.

Online poker

In 2006, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was pass and online gaming was effectively banned in the United States.  Online poker was included in that ban and supporters of online poker have been lobbying since 2006 to get the game legalized.  With the recent reelection of Barack Obama as President, poker lobbyists feel that they are in a good position to finally get the game legalized, but the question remains whether or not he truly supports online poker.

It is widely known that President Obama plays poker and even described himself as a good player.  He is known to have played in a weekly home game with Illinois lawmakers in Sprinfield.  The President's style was described by Illinois state Senator Terry Link as conservative.  The President often, "played the odds. He didn’t play for the inside straight."

While a known poker player, the President has by and large remained mum on the issue of online poker.  The closest that the Administration has come to making a formal statement was in response to a "We the People" petition on the White House's website back in May of this year.  In response to a petition regarding the White House's stance on online poker, the statement essentially left it to the states:

“…Online gambling on sporting events or contests violates federal law. The legality of other forms of online gambling is dependent upon the law of the states where the bettor or gambling business is located. It is left to each state to determine whether it wishes to permit such activity between its residents and an online poker business authorized by that state to accept such wagers…:

The question was raised yet again during the weeks leading up to the elections.  As part of the Republican party platform, the party openly spoke out against online gambling and called for a ban of all online gambling.  This includes online poker.  When the Democratic platform was released, no mention of online gambling was made.  Poker supporters were surprised and a bit dismayed that this issues was completely ignored.

In essence, the answer to whether or not President Obama supports online poker would seem to be maybe based on the response to the petition earlier this year.  If he is indeed a supporter of the game, he looks to be holding his cards close to the vest and calculating the odds of when the best time would be to come out with an official declaration of support.

The issue at the Congressional level is a bit more murky.  For years, there have been attempts to attach online poker legislation to bills.  Key poker supporters in Congress include Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Texas Representative Joe Barton.  They have worked on poker legislation together and their first serious attempt was planned to be attached in Obama's tax cut plan back in 2010 but it failed to make it to the bill. 

Now, a bill drafted by Senator Reid and AZ Senator Jon Kyl is trying to make it's way through the lame duck session but is looking at a slow death.  Problems with the bill include that it would ban all forms of gambling online except for poker and horse racing.  States do not support this as it would harm them from being able to put lotteries online.  In addition, there is a constitutional question about a clause that would ban online poker companies that operated in the United States past 2006.  There are claims that the law is essentially a bill of attainder which bypasses due process laws, and therefore unconstitutional. 

At present, only two states have legalized online poker.  Those are Nevada and Connecticut, but neither have started offering games.  A federal online poker solution would provide a legal and regulated framework for online poker operators but it appears that support for this type of solution is still a ways off.

Book Review: America Again by Stephen Colbert

Hardcover: 240 pages
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; First Edition edition (October 2, 2012)

Stephen Colbert is at it again.  The comedian is back with another book, America Again: Re-becoming the Greatness We Never Weren't, that came out rather than in the election season.  If Colbert released it over the summer, maybe Mitt Romney could have used it to his advantage.

Colbert takes advantage of the 3D craze of the last few years and released the book in 3D.  Whether it really affects the sales, I don't know.  Moreover, will this lead to other authors deciding to release their books in 3D?

Colbert uses his wit to explain why America is perfect and how to put the country back on track.  Some of the hot button issues that Colbert looks at include jobs, healthcare, Wall Street, energy, justice, and food.

Just as with Lewis Black's books, you can really hear Colbert's voice in your head while reading this best-seller.  You cannot call yourself a comedy fan and not read this book.  It's a classic.

Ed Marksberry announces 2014 Senate run

Ed Marksberry, an Owensboro resident, will announce on Wednesday that he is a candidate for the 2014 U.S. Senate race.  The Democrat will be making his official announcement on Wednesday at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Room B109 at 1:30 PM.

Mitch McConnell is UNPOPULAR

PPP:

Mitch McConnell is the most unpopular Senator in the country. Only 37% of Kentucky voters approve of him to 55% disapprove. Both in terms of raw disapproval (55%) and net approval (-18) McConnell has the worst numbers of any of his peers, taking that mantle from Nebraska's Ben Nelson.

McConnell is predictably very unpopular with Democrats (23/73). But his numbers are almost as bad with independents (33/58) and even with Republicans he's well below the 70-80% approval range you would usually expect for a Senator within their own party (59/28).

What about matchups in a general election?

3 of them- Lieutenant Governor Jerry Abramson, Attorney General and 2010 nominee Jack Conway, and actress Ashley Judd- come within 4 points of McConnell at 47/43. Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer trails by 5 at 46/41, Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes has a 7 point deficit at 47/40, Congressman John Yarmuth is down 10 at 48/38, former Ambassador Matthew Barzun lags 48/37, and State Auditor Adam Edelen trails by 12 at 48/36.

What about Democratic primary voters?

Ashley Judd is the clear choice of Democratic primary voters to be their candidate in 2014. 29% say she would be the first pick, followed by Abramson at 16%, Conway at 15%, Grimes and Yarmuth at 9%, Fischer at 5%, Edelen at 2%, and Barzun at less than 1%. Judd is a particularly popular choice among young voters and those describing themselves as 'very liberal.'

The Carbon Crunch by Dieter Helm

Hardcover: 273 pages
Publisher: Yale University Press (October 22, 2012)

In The Carbon Crunch, author Dieter Helm has tackled what we are getting wrong with climate change and offers proposals on how to fix it.

How is it that Helm is the person to tackle these issues?  For starters, Helm's credentials are rather impressive.  He is a professor of energy policy at Oxford and a member of the Economics Advisory Group to the UK Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change.

Make no mistake.  Climate change means warmer winters and summers approaching the brink of disaster.

Helm uses this book to serve as a critique of the global climate and energy policy spanning the last 40 years.

Since 1990, Helm argues, absolutely nothing has been achieved in the worldwide fight against climate change.  Helm advocates for a transition from coal burning to clean energy by way of natural gas.  This proposal won't sit well in areas of Kentucky, where coal mining is seen as a way of life.

Helm proposes that we spend money not on the the current technologies but towards research and development and future technology that will be able to solve the problem of climate change--while encouraging the quick transition from coal to gas.

There's no doubt that this book will serve as a blueprint for the future debate into climate change.

A Thanksgiving Message - 2012 Edition

May you have a safe, healthy, and happy Thanksgiving.

On this Thanksgiving, I am thankful for my family and friends. Times have been rough, more so these past three years than possibly ever before. Those friends have come through for me in more ways than they could possibly imagine and for that, I'm grateful.

I am thankful for my great-grandparents getting out of Europe and Russia before the war started.

I am thankful for my public school education, although the state of Kentucky has a lot of work to do. The education system in this state needs work. Teachers need to teach, not show the movie Forrest Gump on a rainy day because they don't want to deal with students. No excuse for having seen that movie five times while in the public school system, especially when it had nothing to do with the curriculum. Seriously, teachers. Get with it. A history class? Sure. Other classes, no way.

I am thankful to those of you who have forgiven me for doing that which will not be mentioned, although it gave me my first fifteen minutes of fame. If you don't know what I am talking about here, please message me appropriately. Strike that. In 2009, I was told by a friend of mine that used to be on mainstage at Second City that he loved it. These guys know what they are talking about. They do this for a living. It makes up for all the death threats that I recieved, whether those were done in a joking manner or not.

I am thankful for our troops serving us overseas even if I disagree with why we went over there in the first place, except for Afghanistan which was justified.

I am thankful to be living in a free country which allows the freedom of religion. On that note, I am thankful for the Anshe Sholom community for their warm welcome following my move from Kentucky to Chicago in 2008. And their warm welcome each and every time that I go back to visit until I can get back their for good.

I am thankful for the Jewish comedians of the vaudeville and Borscht Belt eras for paving the way for comedians like Jerry Seinfeld and Jon Stewart.

I am thankful for President Bush for providing so much comedic material along with Sarah Palin as well. She's self-destructing when she doesn't realize it.

I am thankful that shows like The Daily Show, Conan, The Late Show with David Letterman, Saturday Night Live, How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, NCIS, CSI: NY, Modern Family, Community, Parks and Recreation, The Office, 30 Rock, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Homeland, 2 Broke Girls, Suburgatory, Last Man Standing, Once Upon a Time, Revenge, New Girl, Ben and Kate, and The Colbert Report were approved by the networks so that I have television to enjoy.

I am thankful for the writing room of Caesar's Hour, considered to be the smartest and funniest room since Thomas Jefferson dined alone at the White House.

I am thankful for all my friends in the improv and sketch comedy scene, be it in Chicago, New York, or LA.

Last but not least, I am thankful that my first book, Turn That $#!+ Off! has been published. It's on sale via CreateSpace, Amazon, and Amazon Kindle as of now.

I am thankful for my appreciation of American history, which will be the basis for my second book.

Plymouth Rock

Plymouth Rock.  If you look closely, you can see the numbers 1620 carved into the rock.  It's as small as it looks and does not live up to the hype!

Mark Regev hands it to CNN

Mark Regev, a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, hands it to a CNN anchor over her line of questioning.

From this past Thursday:

Senate passes resolution in support of Israel

While the United Senate passed a resolution in support of Israel, neither Mitch McConnell or Rand Paul decided to co-sponsor Senate Resolution 599.

McCain thinking Independent?

After reading the book that Meghan McCain co-wrote with comedian Michael Ian Black this past summer, I am not the least bit surprised to have read the following today:

Times are changing. The face of America is changing and we as Republicans stand at a crossroads. Are we going to accept the changing face of America and change with it? Or are we going to continue to become more isolated and irrelevant? It's possible to maintain the core values of this party and evolve when it comes to social issues. Quite frankly, I don't see any other path to success.

I've spent most of my adult life fighting for change from inside the Republican Party... And if we don't move forward, adapt, and become relevant again, the Republican Party isn't going to survive. It will just continue to alienate more moderate voters like myself. If I don't see some changes in the next four years, I'm going to consider registering as an Independent in 2016.

Mitch McConnell recycles Romney line

Mitch McConnell, in essence, recycled a Mitt Romney line this past June when he appeared on CBS This Morning.  Nobody made a big deal about back then.

What McConnell said on the show:

“I understand full well that our friends on the other side live to every day to raise taxes...Almost 70 percent of the federal revenue is provided by the top 10 percent of taxpayers now. Between 45 and 50 percent of Americans pay no income tax at all.”

 Obviously,  he ignores the fact--like Romney did--that these people pay other forms of federal taxes.

The problem with McConnell's statement is that, at best, it's misleading. McConnell claims that nearly 50% of Americans don't pay income taxes, but he fails to mention the other numbers. The Americans McConnell is speaking of pay a state tax, a sales tax, a gas tax and many others. They also pay into the payroll tax of Social Security and Medicare. The reason many Americans don't pay a net federal income tax is because they make such a small amount of income that they qualify for a tax return.

Book Review: Argo by Tony Mendez

Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Viking Adult; First Edition edition (September 13, 2012)

Released just weeks before the motion picture directed by Ben Affleck, Argo: How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled Off the Most Audacious Rescue in History tells the true story of what really happened.

Tony Mendez, the CIA agent who was portrayed by Ben Affleck in the film, wrote this book with Matt Baglio.

Whenever I see a movie based on a novel or non-fiction book, I like to read the book afterwards just to see how they compare and where things are different.  Oy, are there so many things that were different in the film!

Mendez pens a great book that shares what happened when Hollywood and the CIA worked together.  There were times that I found myself thinking why did Hollywood get the film wrong.  For everything that the film got right, there's a scene or two that strays far from what actually happened.

While the the Affleck movie was inspired by an earlier work of Mendez, this work finally describes in detail everything that happened.  Hollywood changed things in the film for dramatic licenses, which should come as no surprise.  However, the writing flows perfectly from page to page.  Yes, names were changed in some instances but Mendez tells us how the 6 house guests were rescued.

If you want to understand just how the CIA works, this is a great read.  It's not a James Bond action-packed thriller but it does the job just fine.

Secessionist movement is treason

I don't get this whole secession movement.  Actually, I do.  It's because these people are racist assholes that put their hatred of the president over their love of country.

You didn't Democrats file petitions when Bush was re-elected in 2004.

These people are racist assholes that should be considered traitors to the Union.  Nothing more, nothing less.

The latest from Kentucky and Indiana:

“We petition the Obama administration to: Peacefully grant the State of Kentucky to withdraw from the United States of America and create its own NEW government,” the petition for the commonwealth reads. It had 13,617 signatures as of late Tuesday afternoon.


The Kentucky version of the petition then cites the Declaration of Independence, including a section that states: “...Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and institute new Government.”

The Indiana petition is worded the same way as Kentucky’s. It had 14,616 signatures.

These people should be deported from the United States of America.  If they really hate the country so much, why don't they just move?

Campaign Finance Reform

NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams brought this up last Tuesday during the election night coverage about the insane amount spent on advertising.

The Forward has a nice editorial on how that money could have been spent on other things.

Six billion dollars. Six billion dollars.

That’s the amount spent on the 2012 election campaign, according to an analysis of Federal Election Commission data by the Center for Responsive Politics. It is by far the most money spent on an election in American history — probably in human history — and that is thanks in large part to the nearly $1 billion raised and spent by the newly-sanctioned, supposedly independent organizations known as super-PAC’s this year.[...]

Just think of what $6 billion will buy. Not just 30 million iPhone 5s or 15,503 Lamborghini Aventadors, as one website cheekily noted. Serious stuff. Life-saving stuff.

A sea barrier of the type that protects major cities in Europe could have prevented superstorm Sandy from destroying lives and property in New York. Its cost? Engineers have estimated $6 billion.

An accelerated availability of antiretroviral drugs could prevent 7.4 million people from dying of AIDS, and another 12.2 million from contracting HIV, by 2020. The cost? Scientists have estimated $6 billion.

A millennium vaccine fund could commit to purchasing an effective malaria vaccine for each of Africa’s 25 million newborn children, thereby preventing untold deaths and suffering. Its cost? Harvard economist Jeffrey Sachs puts it at $3 billion.

There’d be another $3 billion to spare. With that, we could buy nearly 500 new public elementary schools, or build 225 small hospitals.

America can do better.

No Knocked Up references in This is 40?

According to a recent interview with Judd Apatow, there are no references to the hit 2007 comedy.

There are other characters from Knocked Up who reappear here, including Jason (Jason Segal), who’s a personal trainer now, and the perpetually stoned Jodi (Charlyne Yi), who’s working as a clerk in Debbie’s boutique. But Ben and Allison themselves are conspicuous by their absence.

I shot some stuff, in case the audience demanded to know. I shot a version where Pete talks about how Ben and Allison live in Atlanta where she works for CNN. I covered my ass quite well. But when I was conceiving the movie, my interest wasn’t in what happened to Ben and Allison, because Pete and Debbie in a way are Ben and Allison. They were always meant to be the future for them, and in a lot of ways in Knocked Up, Ben and Allison and Pete and Debbie are meant to be the same couple. They’re a fabricated, exaggerated version of Leslie and myself at two different ages.

Kind of a shame, in my opinion.

Listen to Bill Kristol

I think it's about damn time that Republicans in Senate and House leadership start listening to Bill Kristol.  He has some good things to say when it comes to letting the Bush tax cuts expire for those making over $250,000.

Politico reports:

"The leadership of the Republican Party and the leadership of the conservative movement has to pull back, let people float new ideas. Let's have a serious debate," Kristol said on "Fox News Sunday." "Don't scream and yell if one person says 'You know what? It won't kill the country if we raise taxes a little bit on millionaires.' It really won't, I don't think."[...]

"I don't really understand why Republicans don't take Obama's offer to freeze taxes for everyone below $250,000, make it $500,000, make it $1 million," Kristol said. "Really? The Republican Party is going to fall on its sword to defend a bunch of millionaires, half of whom voted Democratic and half of whom live in Hollywood?"

Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, etc. would be wise to listen to Kristol's comments.

The First Polling for 2016

While the fiscal cliff talks are already about to begin as this week's election has ended, the race for 2016 has already begin.

The big question is:  Will Hillary Rodham Clinton make one last run for president?

Politico has an exclusive on polling.

The PPP poll, which was shared exclusively with POLITICO, shows Clinton taking 58 percent of the Iowa vote in a hypothetical presidential run. Vice President Joe Biden trails far behind at 17 percent, followed by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo at 6 percent and Massachusetts Sen.-elect Elizabeth Warren at 3 percent.

None of the other Democrats tested – Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and Virginia Sen. Mark Warner – cracked 1 percent in the poll.

If Clinton doesn’t run, Biden would jump into the lead with a less-commanding 40 percent of the vote, with Cuomo rising to 14 percent and Warren up to 9 percent. In the event that neither Clinton nor Biden runs, Cuomo draws 30 percent to Warren’s 13 percent, with 46 percent of voters unsure who they’d support.

Of the other potential candidates, it does not mean that they don't have a chance if Clinton doesn't run.  Potentials like Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley will not run if Clinton makes a run for office.

It's a long way to Indecision 2016.

LaTourette on current state of Republican Party

Retiring congressman Steve LaTourette (R-Ohio) offered his thoughts on what the Republican Party will need to do over the next two yours if they want to win the White House again.  LaTourette is a centrist Republican, or as he called it, an "endangered species."

LaTourette was responding to criticism by Tea Party Patriots co-founder Jenny Beth Martin, who said Mitt Romney was a "weak, moderate candidate" who was "hand-picked by the Beltway elites and country club establishment wing of the Republican Party."

LaTourette in full:  "There's a one-word phrase we use in Ohio for that: crap. I mean, that's nonsense... The Republican Party cannot be a national party if we give up the entire East Coast of the United States and say -- we don't have any Republicans in New England, we don't have any Republicans in the Mid-Atlantic states. We can't continue to diss the Latino voters and -- you know, my wife's a Democrat, and she was so close to voting for Mitt Romney, but then Mourdock and Akin opened their mouth and we sent them running back to the Democratic Party because they think we're nutty. We have the right message on the finances. We have to get out of people's lives, get out of people's bedrooms, and we have to be a national party, or else we're going to lose."

1859, 1950, and 2012

This map is disturbing to see how some things don't change.

The same and territories states that allowed slavery or were open to slavery are practically the same ones that required segregation or didn't have specific legislation on segregation.  Not only that but a majority of them voted for Mitt Romney.

Colorado, Nevada, and Virginia seem to be the ones that have progressed over time.  Colorado, while open to slavery, prohibited segregation in 1950 and voted for Barack Obama.  Nevada was open to slavery and didn't have any specific legislation on segregation and also voted for Obama.  Virginia has been helped in recent years by the vast majority that live in the DC area more so than anywhere else in the state.

Idaho is a different case.  It was a free state/territory and prohibited segregation.

In New Mexico, they were open to slavery, segregation was allowed to varying degrees, and they voted for Obama.

Florida, while being a slave state and requiring segregation, voted for Obama.

Indiana is a strange case.  They were a free state, prohibited segregation, and voted for Romney.  But then again, Indiana also voted for Bob Dole and George H.W. Bush, too.

It's amazing to see how these maps look so similar.  The states that owned slaves really have not changed.

Takeaways from Election 2012

Some takeaways from last night's national results are that the GOP needs to evolve in what they stand for.  It's clear that they have to stop focusing on abortion rights and other social issues.  Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock lost because of their views on social issues.  In doing so, the Democrats were able to pick up a Senate seat in Indiana.

Politico:

In 2004, George W. Bush won 44 percent of Hispanics. Four years later, John McCain, the author of an immigration reform bill, took 31 percent of Hispanics. And this year, Romney captured only 27 percent of Hispanics.[...]

But the GOP’s problem is more fundamental than one bloc of voters. For the second consecutive presidential election, the Republican got thumped among women and young voters in the states that decided the election.

If you're a Republican, that's a very depressing stat to read.  Just looking at the exit polling data from yesterday's election, it's astonishing.

Still though, it's as if liberal (moderate) Republicans no longer have a home in the Republican Party.  The political center is longer where it once was due to the fact that the far right of the GOP has taken control.

Mitch McConnell congratulated the president on re-election and will have to work with him.  He doesn't have a choice.  He is very vulnerable for 2014 and is likely to see strong opposition in Kentucky, whether it is Ben Chandler, Alison Lundergan Grimes, or even Ashley Judd.

The Kentucky Democratic Party also has to learn from last night.  Candidates have to run like REAL Democrats, not Republican-lite.  The party needs to take control of the State Senate in 2014.

Really, Mitt?!?

I'm not even fucking sure what the hell Mitt Romney was thinking when he made these comments.  Was there not a snowstorm in Massachusetts that he could have referenced?  Surely, there had to be a snowstorm that he could have referenced?

I remember once we had a football field at my high school. The field was covered with rubbish and paper goods from people who’d had a big celebration there at the game. And there was a group of us there assigned to clean it up. And I thought, ‘how are we going to clean up all the mess on this football field?’ There were just a few of us. And the person responsible for organizing the effort said, ‘Just line up along the yard lines. You go between the goal line and the 10-yard line, and the next person between the 10 and 20, and just walk down and do your lane. And if everybody cleans their lanes, we’ll get it done.’ And so today, we’re cleaning one lane if you will.

Bullshit, Mitt.  Homecoming celebrations just simply do not work as an analogy to what happened along the east coast.

Add on the Buzzfeed reports that the campaign pre-bought items and gave to people to give right back to them as a photo opportunity.

As supporters lined up to greet the candidate, a young volunteer in a Romney/Ryan T-shirt stood near the tables, his hands cupped around his mouth, shouting, "You need a donation to get in line!"

Empty-handed supporters pled for entrance, with one woman asking, "What if we dropped off our donations up front?"

The volunteer gestured toward a pile of groceries conveniently stacked near the candidate. "Just grab something," he said.

Two teenage boys retrieved a jar of peanut butter each, and got in line. When it was their turn, they handed their "donations" to Romney. He took them, smiled, and offered an earnest "Thank you."

This is just fucking disgusting.