"The president of the United States is not a fact-checker"

Untruth and Consequences is an interesting read. It's an essay about lies by US Presidents over the past several decades, but it focuses upon the current one and Iraq.

Travel Plans

I don't really have much vacation saved up at work, but my plans for this year are:

• Costa Rica - go and see the rainforest and do something a bit different than my past two vacations (which were to Europe).
• Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons - Crater Lake was an awesome camping trip. I want to go to camping at Yellowstone next and Grand Teton is right beside it.
• New York City - I have a friend who's moving there, so I figure I can invite myself for a visit some weekend and see the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, Times Square, and all that good stuff.
• Chile - There's a ferry that runs along the coast, which has scenic fjords, and after a few days you end up in Patagonia, which has great hiking at Torres Del Paine. Being south of the equator, the seasons are "backwards", so the best time to go is November-April, which means I would go next winter.
• Portland - I've been to Vancouver and Victoria, which only leaves Portland as the nearby major city that I still need to visit.

I want to go hiking/camping at Mount Rainier and Olympic National Park this year too, as it's been two years since I've visited either place, but they're close by, so it's not really travelling.

The Broker

I haven't read a novel in a while. I've been reading a lot of non-fiction lately like Collapse, The Goal, Code Complete, Lonely Planet Denmark, and The Modern Defence.

While I was home for Christmas, I borrowed John Grisham's The Broker from my brother-in-law. It's John Grisham doing a spy novel. (e.g. The main character was a lawyer that a bunch of spies want to kill). I liked it and read it pretty quickly. I think I need to read more novels, they're a quicker read and more entertaining than non-fiction.

Do I Live In A "Red State"?

One of the school boards in the Seattle area, banned showing An Inconvenient Truth because it is "controversial". What is the World coming to? <sarcasm> If that's their standard does this mean they can't show Schnidler's List unless they also include commentary by Ahmadinejad?! I hear that smoking is good for you too. Perhaps that needs to be taught in health class?! Maybe Civics clas needs to include reading more Karl Marx and a little less Thomas Jefferson?! </sarcasm>

The primary source of "controversary" surrounding the issue is due to oil companies. (e.g. The Denial Machine).

Burnout

A (somewhat) long, but interesting article about burnout: Can’t Get No Satisfaction (via Slashdot).

Best Movies Of 2006

Just like last year, I watched a lot of movies. (Perhaps even a few more). I saw a few really awful movies, but also a lot good ones and even a few great ones.

The best film I saw was Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List. It took me a long time to get around to seeing it (and it was so long that it took me two nights to watch it), but it's easily one of the greatest movies of all time.

I like drama movies. I saw a lot of good ones. So I don't think I can pick one or two that were the "best". A River Runs Through It was an interesting story about two brothers growing up in Montana at the start of the century. I liked Bill Murray in Broken Flowers. Another quirky story was the Irish ensemble Intermission about a bank robbery gone bad. Lord of War has another good mix of story and character were Nicholas Cage plays an arms dealer who tires of his career. Finally, The Passion of the Christ lived up to its reputation and was better than I expected.

The best thriller was V for Vendetta. The third time (after The Matrix) was finally the charm for the Wachowski brothers, who delivered another great movie. A notable mention goes to The Prestige, the bitter rivalry between two magicians that gives you a lot of "tricks" to figure out as the Hugh Jackson and Christian Bale's characters battle each other.

Jean-Pierre Jeunet is an awesome director. I like Audrey Tautou too. The best foreign film was A Very Long Engagement. It's about Mathilde (Audrey Tautou) searching for her fiancé because she doubts the fact that he was killed in World War I (as reported). The Motorcycle Diaries, the story of Che Guevara deserves a recognition as well.

The best comedy was easily the satire Thank You For Smoking. It's absolutely hilarious. Stranger Than Fiction stars Will Ferrell in an unconventional role (for him) and has a good (and funny) story too.

The best documentary was March of the Penguins, one of my favourite movies of all time. Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth was good also.

The best action movies were Blood Diamond and Casino Royale, a great addition to the James Bond franchise - Daniel Craig is a great James Bond and Eva Green is very hot.

The best crime film was A History of Violence. It's a part drama, part thriller as the past of an "ordinary" man in a small town becomes exposed after he appears on the news for stopping a robbery at his diner.

The best historical movie was Good Night, and Good Luck. David Strathairn portrayal of Edward R. Murrow was good. Of all the movies nominated for the best picture Oscar last year that I watched (also Brokeback Mountain, Crash, and Munich), this was the one that I liked best.

The best biographical films were Kinsey and Michael Collins. Liam Neeson is the lead actor is both. I think he's one of the best actors in Hollywood.

The other good movies that I didn't mention above include Brokeback Mountain, Enigma, Kingdom of Heaven, Match Point, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Munich, Seven Years in Tibet, Syriana, The Future of Food, The Illusionist, The Pursuit of Happyness, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, Wedding Crashers, Who Killed the Electric Car?, and You, Me and Dupree.

Now for a few "fun" categories for movies that weren't good, but are worth mentioning anyway:

I didn't see any superhero movies worth endorsement. I was disappointed with both X-Men 3 and Superman Returns. Both of which merit no more than 3 stars of out 5.

The best "B" movie was Snakes On A Plane. It has no chance of being even a "B+" movie (and I would give it 3 stars out of 5 and argue it isn't even good), but it was entertaining.

Last year, I called Spielberg's Close Encounters Of The Third Kind the most disappointing movie. This year, I'm calling out George Lucas and Peter Jackson for THX 1138 and King Kong, respectively. Perhaps ever director needs a mulligan. (Or maybe even more than one. Spielberg's War of the Worlds wasn't that great either and I'm not sure all of the blame can be assigned to Tom Cruise).

The movie that most exceeded by expectations was Kill Bill: Vol. 1. Quentin Tarantino is a self-indulgent director who movie making process is solely to satsify his whims, and not designed to improve the story or benefit of this audience. He emphasizes of style at the expense of substance and has a penchant for puddles of blood and streams of profanity. Nevertheless, Kill Bill was almost good.

The worst film is a tough call between Coffee and Cigarettes and Sin City.

Environmentally-Friendly Light Bulbs

The NY Times has a good article about Walmart trying to sell more environmentally-friendly light bulbs, but meeting a variety of obstacles: Wal-Mart Puts Some Muscle Behind Power-Sipping Bulbs (via Slashdot and Metafilter).

I have one of these light bulbs (given to me by Seattle City Light) and its lasted at least 18 months (and it's in a lamp that is on most of the time that I'm home). Unfortunately, I still have 3/4th of a package of regular light bulbs to use up before I get more.