the dark knight

I am not a movie person. I love a select few movies, which I watch over and over in the comfort of my own home. To be honest, my favorites are essentially the same movie with different characters. I would also like to mention that I've never seen any of my favorites in the theater. I rarely enjoy going to the theater, but I go, because I really don't have anything better to do.

Occasionally, a movie is surrounded by such hype that it's impossible not to watch it. Enter The Dark Night. It's not that I was expecting it to be bad. I just didn't think that I would like it. I generally don't like action movies; I don't like violence. I don't want to get all shook up in the movie theater, unless I'm being shaken by roars of laughter. The point is, this movie did not have good odds with me. In addition, I wanted to have a more critical eye, because it's just so easy to get caught up in the hype and come out praising a horrible movie (Juno?).

That being said, The Dark Knight was the best movie of the year, and I don't have to see any other movies this year to know that.

the lakeland goodies

I started going to school in Lakeland last August, and ever since then, it seems that every news story about the city is a negative one. In fact, Sheriff Grady Judd is in the news more than Britney Spears and Angelina Jolie combined! This morning, however, there was a great piece on Bay News 9! This awesome north Lakeland guy, Giok Se Tjiong, crossed elephant grass and sugar cane, and now wants to try to produce ethanol from the plant. According to him, one acre of these plants can produce 1,300 gallons of gas. The government has allowed him to begin distilling some ethanol for experimentation.

A retired minister cross-breeding plants. Doesn't that remind you of someone?

I don't really know much about ethanol. Isn't there a big controversy about it? I know some people are saying that using corn to produce ethanol takes away from food supply, but isn't the agricultural process detrimental to the environment as well? I mean, this elephant sugar cane grass could solve the corn problem, but what is it's environmental impact? I think we all know what happens when people start introducing species without thinking about the consequences ;)

don't cage me bro

After signing on the proverbial dotted line and joining the Democratic Party, I decided that it would be important to read the fine print. So I've been perusing the official website (www.democrats.org), and to be honest, I haven't found anything of great importance. In fact, both the democrats and the republicans have more material bashing the other party's candidate than they do supporting their own. But I was trying to learn about the party as a whole, not the candidate. I haven't been very successful so far, but I did find out about something very interesting: voter caging.

From what I understand, the government sends a letter to the address at which you are registered. If for some reason the letter is returned as undeliverable, your registration can be considered fraudulent, and your right to vote can be challenged. It's legal because it's meant to catch the baddies, but it has been used in the past to illegally strip voting privileges from innocent people (usually minorities). The Bush campaign was [allegedly] planning to use this technique right here in Florida in 2004, which doesn't surprise me in the least bit.

Anyway, there are a few bills (S. 2305 and H. R. 5038) which would pretty much prevent anyone from being challenged unless the challenger knows beforehand that the person is shady, and any governmental misconduct would be punished. I personally prefer H. R. 5038 because it includes jail time in the punishment (S. 2305's punishment is a hefty fine).

I never really considered until now how long it takes to get a bill passed or tabled, but it seems like a good long while, considering both of these bills have been out there for more than 6 months. Let's just hope McCain isn't trying any of this shady business in '08. And Obama, too, I guess ;)