Tonight I decided to watch Team America: World Police and I must say, this movie is not at all what I expected. Actually, to be completely honest, I am somewhat disappointed with it. I really like Matt Stone and Trey Parker, and I am a big fan of South Park. This movie however, misses a golden opportunity.

Instead of making a statement in American politics, Team America instead acts merely as a stage for Stone and Parker to share their dislike for some members of Hollywood. You might think that the movie is an attack on the Bush Administration’s foreign policy, but it really isn’t. Alec Baldwin and Matt Damon have nothing to do with the US starting wars around the world. While somewhat funny that these actors are part of the Film Actors Guild, or F.A.G., it seems pointless. Also pointless is the way the actors all die, or the fact that they are in this movie at all.

Actually there are very few things in this movie that are not pointless. The puppet sex scene was mildly funny, the fact that Intelligence is a computer that gets things wrong was only mildly funny. I suppose the way Kim Jong Il spoke and killed Hans Blix was mildly funny, but not really. I didn’t find the Michael Moore jokes funny at all. The elongated puking scene was disgusting, not funny. I suppose the speech at the end was somewhat funny, but even then, it felt forced.

Perhaps I had the wrong expectations before I started watching the movie. I was expecting a cross between Michael Moore and Jon Stewart – making fun of the election, the campaigns, the candidates, etc. Instead what I watched was a poorly made movie about dislike for a few actors and movies. If you want to see something because you are in election mode, this movie is not the one to see. If you want to see something funny, go watch South Park instead.

Team America had a good opportunity to make light of some of the issues surrounding this year’s election. To say that it failed miserably would be an understatement. Perhaps it succeeded at accomplishing whatever Stone and Parker set out to, but I can’t see what that could possibly be. All I can say is that I am glad I didn’t pay to watch this movie.

Looks like Eminem‘s new anti-Bush song “Mosh” has been leaked on to the net. Interpret leaked however you want. Anyway, if you are following the election, you might want to give it a listen (Real Audio, Windows Media) and also check out the transcribed lyrics. My favorite part:

And as we proceed to mosh through this desert storm
In these closing statements, if they should argue, let us beg to differ
As we set aside our differences, and assemble our own army
To disarm this weapon of mass destruction that we call our president for the present
And mosh for the future of our next generation
To speak and be heard – Mr. President – Mr. Senator!

Read: BoingBoing

If you missed SNL on Saturday or have been living under a rock since then, Ashlee Simpson got caught lip syncing. I got the video from Dickson, and it really is quite funny, but I refrained from posting until I read this:

At the close of the show, Simpson deflected the blame, telling the viewing audience “I feel so bad. My band started playing the wrong song.” Geffen issued a statement blaming a computer glitch that should have played pre-recorded percussion rather than the “Pieces of You” vocals.

Simpson was reportedly singing a different tune Monday. MTV, home to her reality series “The Ashlee Simpson Show,” reported on its Web site that Simpson admitted to lip syncing on the show because her voice has suffering from the stresses of a heavy promotional schedule.

Take the blame when you need to, and people will respect you for that. Glad to see Ashlee is beginning to realize that (hopefully).

Read: Reuters

I actually had a somewhat productive Sunday! One of the things I did was create a CD for our Camping Trip which happened almost a month ago now. I burned a few copies tonight, so ask me in CAB for one. The CD has all of the pictures and video, as well as a musical slideshow of some of the best pictures.

Andrew and I tend to talk about Halo 2 a lot on The Vlog, so by now I am sure you have heard that the French version of Halo 2 was stolen and circulated on the Internet. It doesn’t really matter though, as anticipation continues to grow for the November 9th release of the game. From a Microsoft press release:

With three weeks to go before the game hits store shelves, pre-orders for “Halo® 2” — the highly anticipated Xbox® exclusive from Microsoft Game Studios — have eclipsed the 1.5 million mark in the United States. With phenomenal record-breaking video game pre-orders, “Halo 2” is poised to generate more revenue in 24 hours than day one sales of any full feature movie in entertainment history, including “Spider-man 2,” “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” and “Matrix: Reloaded.”

Those are some pretty huge movies to top. Its no wonder that advertising dollars are starting to pour into the gaming industry. There is even advertising in Halo 2 (wink wink, nudge nudge), as this post tells us: top 10 ways the Canadian version differs from the US version (I particularly like #9). Gotta love Tim Horton’s eh? That would be awesome….driving a warthog with a steaming TimHo’s in a cup holder. If only this list had been released early enough for the developers to consider 😛

I look at Google News Canada several times a day, even just to glance at the headlines and see what is going on. The headlines and pictures usually change quite frequently. Oddly enough however, for the last week or so there has been a picture of someone named Dr. Vivian Loo from the Montreal General Hospital on the page consistently. I know this is probably just an error in the algorithm that generates the page or with their image cache, but it makes you wonder what the software likes about her so much doesn’t it? I haven’t noticed it with any other pictures, just hers (though Sheila Copps has been on there for two days now).

She usually appears on the bottom left under Health. But at least once in the last couple days I have seen her at the top of the page. She is currently appearing for the story here.

As you probably have heard by now, West Edmonton Mall has decided to fill the old dolphin tank with three sea lions. As you might have guessed, there are a lot of people opposed to this, with groups like Zoocheck Canada calling it “deplorable”.

Fellow blogger Darren Barefoot has written a letter to WEM saying that until the mall is animal free, he will not be visiting. I think that’s too bad. The argument could be made that no animal should be in captivity, but if we are not going to follow that idea, I think as long as the animals are being looked after, who cares? I don’t know much about it, but I am sure there are some government regulations that must be met and are checked on, so if everything is checking out, I don’t see a problem.

I also think that having the animals at the mall is good for kids – kids who would not have the opportunity to see the animals anywhere else, but also for kids in general, as they have an opportunity to learn something while they are wasting time at the mall.

Apparently I am not the only one who thinks so. You can read my thoughts from Friday, and a more complete dissection of the book courtesy of the Toronto Star. The story is picking up steam too, with 113 publications listed in Google News.

Last night Megan held a little get together at her house as she is on her own this weekend. It was pretty good to see everyone for a bit! We had nachos (thanks Kim) and some other snacks, and of course, rum and Coke! For entertainment we watched the unrated version of The Girl Next Door which surprisingly not everyone had seen. Such a funny movie!

Unfortunately I didn’t bring my camera, so there are no pictures to post this time. Won’t happen again 😛

Anyway, thanks again Megan! Good times!

Have you heard about the TV-B-Gone? It’s a little keychain-sized device that lets you turn off any TV. On the flip side, it also lets you TURN ON any TV – but the developers usually neglect to advertise that function. Basically, you press the button, and the device cycles through 209 different codes, starting with the most popular brands first. You can learn more about it here. Good idea? Maybe not. Here is what I am thinking:

• The privacy freaks will probably have a field day, saying that turning off a TV you are watching is an invasion of privacy.
• Within a year someone will turn off a TV in a bar in the middle of a sporting event and then will be beaten to death by angry patrons.
• This device will probably spawn a new form of recreation. Think toothing.
• Some resourceful person will get lazy and try to extend the range of the device.
• The device will cost airlines thousands of dollars as they will need to modify their recordings asking people to turn off their cell phones, pagers, and TV-B-Gone’s due to interference.
• In five years, someone will claim that the device causes cancer of the hand.
• The first TV-B-Gone lawsuit should arrive sooner than you’ll be able to purchase one of the devices.