Tuesday 27 May 2008

Representative much??

I was just reading a piece in CNN about the US elections and stumbled upon a particularly interesting piece about the potential VP candidates to complete the John McCain ticket.
The obvious names are all there - Huckabee and Romney form the primaries as well as some of the senior senators from the southern states - so all very much as expected. However as I ran through the full list of 23 names, one thing that struck me was the lack of diversity.
Of the 23 there were only 2 non-Caucasians and 2 women. Secretary of state Condoleezza Rice falls into both categories and seems an unlikely running mate based on recent reports. The other three non-middle aged, white, males in the mix are Indian-American Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson.
This doesn't really match up too well with the demographics of the country which show that one in two people are female, one in six are Hispanic and one in eight are black.
So, before you all vote in November it's definitely worth thinking about the GOP and ask: "Does it represent me?"

Tuesday 13 May 2008

New blog for the big event

So, I may have mentioned that I'm getting married later this year. One of the things I am doing in preparation is keeping a Wed-log. This mostly going to be informative and knowledge sharing for anyone going the wedding. A lot of my posting energy will be moved here for a few months - check it out at http://ourwedlog.blogspot.com/.

Monday 12 May 2008

Six degrees of separation #29

Great work by Simon to get #28 in four moves - especially seeing as Zach Braff has only been in one movie of note. I managed it in three like so: John McGinley to Johnny Depp in Platoon; Depp to Ian Holm in From Hell; Holm to Zach Braff in Garden State.

#29: Robert Duvall to George Clooney

Thursday 1 May 2008

Movie review: 21

It's not too often that you go to a movie which totally fits your mood, particularly one which you go to on a whim. Well, last Saturday afternoon 21 was just that for me.
Cast brilliantly, this is another example of the excellence of Kevin Spacey as a producer. In 21 he renews his partnership with Kate Bosworth who plays across from newcomer Jim Sturgess and the always excellent Lawrence Fishburne.
Based on the true story 'Bringing down the house' the plot is a simple tale of the MIT students who, led by their wily lecturer (Spacey), perfected card counting and took on the Vegas casinos.
Overall the film was refreshing and well made. Only one slightly formulaic segment of the "lose old friends because of new friends" variety. That aside the audience was treated to a sharp and witty piece of cinema.
The pace is suitably quick once the scene is set. The story jumps from Las Vegas' neon glow to the more mundane classroom life in Boston. The casino scenes are sharp and the detail surrounding the blackjack tables and card counting is both impressive and accurate. Even if cards is not your forte 21 is a must see.

Six degrees of separation #28: The Scrubs Edition

It's been a while since I've done a six degrees, so taken I was by CK's put down! He correctly pointed out that Donald Sutherland and Jamie Lee-Curtis were in Virus together. Ouch!
But it's back and we kick off again with a Scrubs edition as that's what's on the telly right now!

#27: John C. McGinley to Zach Braff