I recently started to read
Mark Pincus’ blog. Mark is from Israel, so I’m surprised to see he wrote the following paragraphs…but I think this pretty much sums up the reality of the current Middle East crisis...
“Why can't we all take a breath and take an even handed approach?
That starts with acknowledging that what hezbollah and hamas did in killing and kidnapping israeli soldiers was wrong and deserved some response. Since the UN has never condemned one act against israel. She must act for herself.
Second, israel's response is also too much and is wrong. Civilians shouldn't die…”Mark also posted
a comment left by one of his regular readers which reminded me of a political science paper I wrote in college that echoed similar sentiments.
This year's Hotdog Eating Contest was a close call. I was in the crowd at Coney Island on July 4th to witness the great Kobayashi set a new world record - 53 and 3/4 hotdogs in 12 minutes! Joey Chestnut, a rookie to the competitive eating circuit, finished slightly behind with 52 hotdogs.
Although I really enjoy the Hotdog Eating Contest, I didn't like how the event became so commercialized and how the host kept drag the event on and on for hours (the actual contest only took 12 minutes). 4th of July was a hot and humid day, many of the crowd felt dehydrated after 2 hours standing directly under the sun on the street of Coney Island, waiting for the "show" to start. The host of the contest squeezed in gibberish announcements, prolonged contestant-introductions, and boring musical performers (Eric Booker's rap performance was so bad we thought it was his strategy to affect other contestants' appetite). Later, ESPN wanted them to re-do the introductions for TV, so we had to watch it all over again. And since ESPN broadcasted the event live, there are many commercial breaks, which added to the wait.
Anyway, once the actual "eating" started, the contest quickly became intense. Joey Chestnut was neck-in-neck with Kobayashi, and even took a two-hotdog lead for quite some time. But at the end, the great Kobayashi showed his experience and patience. He charged ahead of Joey's pace after both hit the 40-hotdogs mark, and never looked back.
Next year, I would probably watch this contest on TV, so I don't have to endure the other nonesense that went on.
I went to see “Superman Returns” on iMAX 3D yesterday (only 20 min of the movie are in 3D), and was somewhat disappointed by the movie. It has less action and more melodrama than I expected. And I am puzzled why on earth would Superman work a day job at the newspaper. Shouldn’t he be “save the world” fulltime, 24-7?
Popular blogger, Jeff Jarvis (buzzmachine.com), asked us “who is Superman?” I think the question should be – “what is Superman?” Superman represents many things on many levels. Is he the comic book version of Jesus, the son of a superior being, send to earth to save us? Is he the manifestation of American ideologies, albeit a little “played out” in the post-9/11 era? Or, since Superman saves people all over the world, not just Americans, is he a reflection of our point-of-view on American Globalization?
Like many other comic book superheroes, Superman fights for “truth and justice”. But he's also different from...let say, Batman, who “gets things done” his way, and often terrorizes his foes. Superman is too “good-hearted” in comparison. Also, unlike Spiderman, who can be easily distracted by too many personal issues, Superman is more focused when it comes to “save the world.”
So, is Superman the perfect superhero, and do we need Superman? Why is Lois Lane’s Pulitzer winning editorial (in the movie) called “Why we don’t need Superman anymore”? I think the world today is far too complicated for a “perfect” superhero like Superman to handle.
Back to the movie, I think the screenwriters didn’t get “Superman.” When it comes to a “perfect” superhero like Superman, people don’t want to see him get tangled-up in a love triangle, and (here is a spoiler) has to deal with an illegitimate child. We just want to see Superman battle villains, save people, and all that stuff. This explains why the movie only grossed $74 million over the weekend (not counting the 4th of July holiday).
