I, Shane › Shane Adams’ personal weblog

So the NFL wrapped the longest first day in draft history (6-1/2 hours!). The NFL Draft is up there with with my favorite non-sports sports events of the year (perhaps coming a close second to the World Series of Poker, just ahead of the post-NCAA tournament coaching shuffle and So You Think You Can Dance). The Chiefs were in a similar position as they’ve been in years past, with late-in-the-round picks and lots of needs, which they more or less filled.

Need #1: Wide Reciever - First Round Pick (#23 Overall) - Dwayne Bowe, LSU

Look, Eddie Kennison is getting old and Samie Parker is…well…Samie Parker. If Brodie Croyle is going to have any chance to succeed (or Damon Huard if that’s who starts), he needs somewhere to throw the ball. Tony Gonzalez is still the best tight end in the NFL (don’t go there with Antonio Gates or that punk Shockey…Tony is still the best), but he’s getting double-teamed and covered by every team’s best corner. We can’t hand the ball to Larry Johnson 400 times again next year (as much as Herm Edwards would like to), so a receiver was important.

Bowe was ranked anywhere from 2nd-4th on the list of receivers after the obvious #1, Calvin Johnson. After the Dolphins took Ted Ginn, Jr., (at #9! - what the heck?), Bowe seemed to be the best available and he seems like a great pick - tall guy, good hands, strength to beat bump-and-run coverage, decent speed (but not acceleration). A great pick in my opinion. The only other option here was either Joe Staley or Ben Grubbs, players who would have filled our offensive line needs.

Need #2: Defensive End - Second Round Pick (#54 Overall) - Turk McBride, Tennessee

With the four-game suspension of one of our best pass rushers, the Chiefs needed some more depth at defensive end. McBride is a tackle/end hybrid who will likely see playing time this year while Jared Allen serves his time. McBride played tackle while at Tennessee, but he’ll likely play end for the Chiefs. At Tennessee, coaches trusted him enough as an athlete to plug him in where he was needed and he still earned All-SEC honors.

This was a situation of “best athlete available”, I think and I hope the Chiefs are able to use him. I am hoping that the defensive-minded Edwards has plans for him and…

Need #3: Defensive Tackle - Third Round Pick (#82 Overall) - Demarcus “Tank” Tyler, NC State

With the bust that our recent first round and second round defensive tackles of years past (Ryan Sims, Junior Siavii, Eddie Freeman), the Chiefs tried again, this time with a guy whose nickname is “Tank”. Why wouldn’t you take a chance on a guy nicknamed “Tank”?

Tyler is a space-filler (which is what we hoped Siavii would be, too), but he seems to have a better resume and is not a “project”. He was a good value in the third round (some people had him going as early as the second round) and we desperately need depth at defensive tackle. I look for him to get significant playing time even in his first year. As a first round pick, there won’t be much expected of him, but I’m looking for him to be a contributor.

As for tomorrow…

We still have a lot of needs left to fill. The Chiefs will almost certainly look to get an offensive lineman. With the loss of Willie Roaf last year and Will Shields’ retirement, our line is no longer the dominant force it once was. We’ve got some people who are poised to step up, but we need more depth. I look for the Chiefs to draft at least two offensive linemen and possibly another defensive lineman on Sunday. The other place they’ll be looking to draft is cornerback. We have some great corners, but they are getting older…it’s time to infuse some new talent back there. Hopefully Herm Edwards (who played the position during his NFL years) will be a better judge of talent than in the past (William Bartee, hello?).

There’s also the issue of Trent Green. I think that with the Dolphins passing on Quinn, we all but solidified that Green will be in the Teal and Orange next year. I think we’ll probably get a 5th rounder for him this year and perhaps a conditional pick in next year’s draft. The Dolphins took a QB in the 2nd round, but he is a project that will need a guy like Green to learn from. I’m sad to see Green go - he’s a class act, but I understand that it makes sense for him and the Chiefs to part ways.

As far as Larry Johnson goes…he didn’t get traded (if the Packers were offering their 1st and 3rd round picks, I would take that offer in a heartbeat), so we are going to have to extend his contract somehow. I think he’ll get paid by the Chiefs, but we’ll see if he’s worth it.

Overall, I’ll give the Chiefs’ first day of the draft a solid ‘B’ grade. There certainly is potential there. We’ll see how these players pan out next year and we’ll see how the front office does tomorrow. Until then, I’m hopeful.

Michael Slezak, in his weekly Entertainment Weekly review of everyone’s favorite reality singing competition, accurately predicted that Wednesday night’s “most shocking result ever!!!” would be that - GASP! - nobody goes home! If that were the case, I really wish that they would not have dragged that out as a part of the show - it was kind of pointless, although I do like that they are combining the votes from this and last week and eliminating two next week…it makes sense - that way this week’s votes still matter.

And matter they did; thanks to News Corp’s generosity, the first 50 million of 70 million (!) total votes were multiplied by a dime equaling (get your calculators out) $5 MILLION!!! Add that to the ongoing pledges received by 877-IDOL-AID and the corporate sponsors and Ellen Degeneres’ on-air pledge of $100,000 (don’t you wish you could do that?) and by 3/4 through the show, they had raised $30 million.

I applaud American Idol for using their massive national stage to raise awareness for poverty and illness around the world. Some of their stories were so heartbreaking that they nearly brought me to tears. Others felt a little contrived (Randy in New Orleans, Paula at the Boys and Girls club), but I think that they all really wanted to do some good. The most comical moment of the night for me was Simon on stage with Ryan - he just looked so uncomfortable being up there and not only that, but he was being asked to be genuine and NICE. Must have been tough for him.

The night also featured some pretty great performances. I thought Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood put on a clinic for this year’s idols - showing them what true performing is and what real singers sound like. Clarkson’s performance with Jeff Beck was so good that I had to remind myself that she was actually LIVE. The Staying Alive lip sync performance was pretty funny, but I also thought the Celine/Elvis duet was pretty cool. Sure it was corny, but a lot went into that - I thought it was awesome.

I was, however, holding out for U2 to perform since Bono was this week’s celebrity mentor. How awesome would it have been to see them perform “Walk On” at the end of the show?

As I watched all these great performances, and before they had announced it, I leaned over to Alli and said, “You know what they should do is release all these songs and videos on iTunes and work with Apple to use the money toward the cause as well.” Sure enough, about 25 minutes later, they announced just that.

As much as I like to rail against American Idol, I still watch it every single week (didn’t watch the season with Fantasia or Clay…or much of the season with Carrie Underwood for that matter), but you can only ignore it for so long. Last night was the big payoff in my opinion. Sure, it deliberately pulled at your heart strings, but that was the point. There’s no doubt that the money raised will aid a lot of impoverished people; I just hope that it inspired people to do some good in their own communities as well. It’s amazing how much the little things can do. Just think - if each of those 70 million callers donated $1, the amount raised would more than double. And not only that, for the people who don’t vote (like myself), hopefully they found the will to make a contribution because I really believe that they are trying to do some good.

If you are anti-American Idol, but want to contribute to a great organization, check out Bono’s ONE Campaign. It had a couple of spots on Idol Gives Back last night and I’ve been following it for quite a long time. If you don’t do that, just take 2 minutes and think of something you can do to make the world a better place. It doesn’t have to be big, if we all commit to doing something small, together we can make a difference.

While Alli was recovering this weekend, I took a run at Blockbuster to pick up a few movies. I’ve got a couple things to say about them. Watched two inspirational teacher-type stories, Half Nelson and Freedom Writers, and a bleak near-future story, Children of Men.

Children of Men

Clive Owen is one of my favorite actors out there right now. He’s suave, he’s versatile and he’s British. To be honest, before I saw Casino Royale with Daniel Craig, I was convinced that he was meant to be the next James Bond (I’ve since changed my mind about Craig…he was quite good). Clive Owen pushes Children of Men forward as a government worker asked a favor of his ex-wife (who is now considered a terrorist) in the now completely infertile world. Imagine that. A world that is infertile. How messed up is that?

Alfonso Cuaron puts together a bleak view of the near future (2027, only 20 years away), but one that has its roots in today’s world. Britain in 2027 looks somewhat like the United States in 5 years perhaps, where people are segregated into the very poor and the very rich. I found the movie certainly depressing, but well-made. It ends quite abruptly, which bothered me a little…I would have appreciated just a little more resolution.

That being said, Clive Owen is fantastic and Michael Caine provides just enough comic relief as a drug-selling John-Lennon-lookalike revolutionary to make the bleak landscape tolerable. I still don’t know how I feel about the movie. It is one that makes you think, but I think that it could have been done better. If you like Clive Owen and you don’t mind depressing movies, I’d check it out. Otherwise, stay away from it.

Half Nelson

Ryan Gosling’s performance as a drug-addled inner-city history teacher garnered him an Oscar nomination. And he deserved it. He is absolutely terrific in this movie about inner conflict and how we find support in the most unlikely places. It is certainly a rough look at a teacher, but in all his flaws, you couldn’t help but relate to him on some level - he was a guy who was unhappy in life and used drugs to sedate himself against what he saw as failure, yet he was redeemed every time he stepped into the classroom or onto the court as the basketball coach and he reached someone.

Now there were certainly some weird scenes, and the chemistry between Gosling and his primary student, a young African-American girl who just “gets him”, is almost uncomfortable at some points, but at the same time, it is sweet and it makes sense. I liked the movie, particularly for the acting of Gosling and Epps (aforementioned student), but I don’t know if I’d recommend it.

Freedom Writers

I’m never sure just what to think of Hilary Swank. I don’t know if she’s the luckiest actress in all of Hollywood or if she’s really as good as her movies. She got pretty lucky here, playing a first-year inner-city teacher who wants to change the world one gang member at a time. It’s a noble cause and a good movie with a great message. I didn’t want to like the movie as much as I did…I don’t know why, but after watching it, I found myself really appreciating what it represented, and appreciating that it was based on a real person who really did all these things for her students.

I’ll admit, there were a couple of times that I was brought to tears thinking, “Is it really that easy to make a difference in the world? Why haven’t I done it yet?”

When the movie was over, I found myself smiling and glad that I had pushed aside the pre-judgements I had about Hilary Swank and just watched the movie for what it was - the story of a remarkable woman and a remarkable group of students who overcame a lot of adversity to inspire many people. I really enjoyed it and I would certainly recommend it to just about anyone.

Today started like most other days lately - my morning Power 90 workout (that’s 13 weekdays in a row!), breakfast, and off to work. I got settled in and was responding to some e-mails when I received a frantic call from Alli. She said that her left leg had gone dead and that she had fallen out of bed.

Naturally, I was a little concerned. I talked to her for a little bit and then she abruptly told me she’d have to call me back. Within 2 minutes I was back on the phone with her and she was hysterical. She had blacked out and woken up in the bathtub. I was packing my stuff to leave work before I even heard the word “bathtub”.

Cruising about 85 down I-35 South (thank goodness there were no cops), I got home quickly and comforted my wife, who was obviously quite scared. I did my best to calm her down so we could go see a doctor. At first, I thought it would make the most sense to go to the walk-in clinic since she seemed to be OK for the time being. It’s funny how your co-pay can affect where you choose to go.

Anyway, we walked in to the walk-in clinic (ha ha) and they promptly told us to to go to the ER. I guess when you faint for no apparent reason, you are supposed to go to the ER. Go figure.

We were admitted very quickly (which always makes you a little nervous) and the nurse told me that since Alli was a “fall risk” that if I was going to leave the room, that I had to tell someone to make sure that she wouldn’t fall out of bed. They ran her EKG, drew blood to check for anemia and some other stuff, and then whisked her off to have a brain scan and make sure she had not had a stroke.

It’s funny (and somewhat annoying) how in emergency rooms, they run all your tests very quickly and then you have to wait for about an hour and a half for the results. Fortunately, when the doctor returned to give us the prognosis, it was good news. All of their tests had come back negative. They gave Alli a clean bill of health and sent us away with the news that Alli had experienced what is called vasovagal syncope, or fainting caused by an over stimulation of the vagus nerve, the only nerve that is connected directly to our brain stem. It was quite interesting as Alli and I went through some of the triggers - she was experiencing several of them at the time, creating essentially a “perfect storm” of triggers for vasovagal syncope, particularly great circulatory change (the rushing of blood back to her entire left leg).

The doctors told her not to drive for a day or so and so I’ll be working from home to keep an eye on her. I really appreciate the sympathy of my employer, who have been extremely understanding this year with some of the family emergencies that have arisen. I’m lucky to work for someone so flexible. It’s also nice to finally have a company-provided laptop (not that I couldn’t ever get one before, Vince) at all times so I can work from home when it is necessary. I’m very fortunate to be in the situation that I’m in. Thanks Chris and Jessica. I also want to extend a special thank you to the doctors and nurses of Olathe Medical Center. Every time we’ve been in that emergency room, we’ve been treated very well, and this was no exception, our nurse Robin was so accommodating and kind and the doctor that attended to Alli had the best bedside manner of any ER doctor that I’ve ever seen.

Overall, the day was scary and I’m glad it’s over. There isn’t much that sucks more than watching the person you love more than anything in the world suffer and feeling that there isn’t a heck of a lot you can do about it. For now, I’ll be here to support her, and I think that to her, that’s more than enough. To those of you who sent e-mails and text messages to me and Alli today - thanks so much. And special thanks go out to our family of prayer warriors, the Arnolds and Adams. We felt you lifting us up today and we are so appreciative to have such a wonderfully supportive family unit. So a special thanks goes out to Tom & Carol, Ray & Sidna, Ashley, Jake & Kelly. We love you guys all very much.

I could go on a long tirade about how American Idol is a complete sham and that the best singers hardly ever win (nor the most commercially viable ones either…paging Chris Daughtry?). I could go on and on about how I think it’s funny that Taylor Hicks is going to be the only American Idol to not have his album go platinum. I could talk about how ridiculous Sanjaya is, but how I’m not sure I completely blame America…the judges were the ones who put him in the top 24, no?

I could rant about Paula’s very obvious confusion as to what show she is on, or how I hate Randy’s non-sensical ramblings about canines and pitch and tone. I could say that I can’t stand the fact that Simon gets booed regularly for telling the truth and how it is quite obvious that he knows what he is talking about and the people in the audience perhaps get paid for how loudly they ridiculously jeer Simon’s judging.

I could go on about the very obvious sexual tension between Ryan Seacrest and Simon Cowell or Cowell’s inability to be nice, even when trying to offer condolences to those affected by the Virginia Tech tragedy. I could comment on the fact that I wouldn’t buy the album of a single one of the fools left in the competition (nor anyone else who has already left, either), and how I think that we may have just run out of good singers in America - either that or the pre-screening process is a complete traveshamockery.

I could go on and on about all these things…

But I won’t.

I don’t watch that show…

I saw (and felt) something really ridiculous when I was filling up my car over lunch today. I watched as a car pulled into the Quik Trip on Shawnee Mission Parkway blasting its hip-hop music, nearly shaking every car that was trying to peaceful line the pockets of the oil company executives…er…I mean fill up their car.

I turn around to see 4 teenagers (of course) exiting their car and going inside. The driver was of course some Shawnee Mission North attending kid who wants to be gangster, but what was really comedic was not just the other folks that got out of the car (a really tall skinny K-Fed lookalike, a Hawaiian looking dude in a wife beater tanktop complete with board shorts and flip flops, and his girlfriend, I think), it wasn’t the predictable hip-hop music blasting or the driver’s predictable clothes (Under Armor T-shirt, gold chain, jeans, expensive running shoes, sunglasses). No. It was the fact that this clown had put his kicking stereo and tacky chrome dubs on a 2003-ish BUICK REGAL.

I don’t get it.

Look, I like music as much as the next guy, so I guess I can understand the stereo. I don’t see why you have to have your windows down and try to shake down the Quik Trip with your bass, but whatever. I’ll give you the stereo.

But the dubs?

Really? Do you think that your dad’s throwback from a few years ago looks BETTER with chrome wheels? It is still a Buick Freaking Regal. No amount of chrome is going to make that car look any cooler. It will always be the chosen car of most grandmas and Tiger Woods in his commercials from 4 years ago. But that’s it.

Next time, save your money on the wheels and buy yourself a new haircut. Idiot.

I’ve always thought that Hollywood makes sometimes horrible casting decisions for a couple reasons: 1) Save a buck, 2) Sell more tickets. Hollywood is notorious for making bad movies that sell a lot of tickets. Much of that can be attributed to casting. Bigger stars = bigger box office = bad movies. Sometimes. Here are 10 of the most egregious offenders:

1. Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon in The Da Vinci Code
   I definitely would have this one on my list, considering I’ve ranted about it before. I understand the producers of the movie wanted a really big opening weekend and hiring Tom “Mr. Opening Weekend” Hanks as one of the most charismatic fictional characters of recent years, Robert Langdon (maybe behind Harry Potter), but the truth is that anyone who read the books knew that Hanks was totally wrong for the character. Langdon was written for one person and one person only: George Clooney. There are others that would have done a better job than Hanks, but I’ll give him some credit… at least he didn’t ruin the movie.
   
   Re-Cast: George Clooney. If not him, Hugh Jackman would have done a serviceable job.
2. Billy Crystal as Harry in When Harry Met Sally
   I will probably never buy Billy Crystal as a romantic lead. When Harry Met Sally is the quintessential “buddy love” movie - one that probably is up there with Sleepless in Seattle as a classic for Valentine’s Day viewing across the nation. I even think that the movie is good and Billy Crystal is charming and all that, but I can’t stand looking at him. Perhaps When Harry Met Sally would have made more sense if Sally were blind - Billy Crystal was wrong for that part for a couple of reasons.
   1. He was considered a “player” near the beginning of the movie. Are you kidding me? That’s just downright ridiculous.
   2. I would say with a lot of confidence that in real-life, you’d call Billy Crystal a “step-down” for Meg Ryan. Now, Meg Ryan got more attractive the older she got (save the last few years when she didn’t meet a plastic surgeon she didn’t like), but even in this movie, she was clearly the more attractive of the two main characters.
   3. His age. In the beginning of the movie, he and Sally are supposedly on their way back to New York from college. College. Billy Crystal was probably at least 15 or 20 obvious years out of college in that movie. Give me a break. But for some reason Bruno Kirby was one of his best friends.

   Re-Cast: Harrison Ford. Look at the amount of charm the dude had in the Indiana Jones movies and the cheekiness he had as Han Solo. I think that would have been pretty good.

3. Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
   OK, before all you fan-boys and fan-girls get all up in a tizzy, be honest with yourself for a second and answer this question. Has there ever in the history of movies been a more annoying, more crucial to the story character than Luke Skywalker? I mean, really. He comes off as such a whiny little punk (which, in turn makes Hayden Christensen’s casting as his dad make sense). Now, I can understand it for one movie, but by the time we get to Empire, he should be well on his way to “bringing balance to the force” not crying to Yoda in the swamp about what he CAN’T do. Look, I love Star Wars as much as the next guy, but this is really an unfortunate casting job.Re-Cast: If the movie were made today, I’d cast Matt Damon in a heartbeat. If I was going with someone who would have been close to the same age, I’d cast Bruce Willis. He would have been 22 in 1977. Hamill was 26.
4. Sandra Bullock as Sarah Lewis in Forces of Nature
   There’s no doubt that the producers of this movie sat down and thought to themselves, who are two attractive people that haven’t been in a movie together? They came up with Ben Affleck and Sandra Bullock. There certainly was potential for a decent movie there and it seemed from the trailers that it might even be good. However, unfortunate writing and a completely mis-cast Sandra Bullock as the “wild child” Sarah RUINED this movie and was the first in a series of missteps in roles by Ben Affleck.Affleck is a guy who is a much better actor than people give him credit for, but this movie was doomed from the start. Since Speed, Sandra Bullock has been America’s darling, so obviously the blame will fall directly on the shoulders of Mr. Affleck. It’s unfortunate, since Sandra Bullock standing on top of the train beating her chest and howling at the moon was just about the most ridiculous scene in the whole movie. And it was a testament to just how ridiculous she was in that role.Re-Cast: Courtney Cox or someone a little less sweet.
5. Brendan Fraser as Rick Cabot in Crash
   He was Encino Man. Granted, I loved With Honors, but that was more because of the story and the writing, not Fraser’s acting. Stick to The Mummy, dude. His wooden performance is just plain dominated by Sandra Bullock’s great acting as his domineering, somewhat racist wife.Re-Cast: Just about anyone. But if I had to pick, I think that the guy from Law & Order would have been good…Christopher Meloni.
6. Chevy Chase and Zach Braff as Fletch in Fletch and Fletch Won
   This might be the most painful on this list for me, given my absolute adoration for Fletch, Fletch Lives and all other things Fletch. I enjoy Zach Braff on Scrubs and I loved his movie, Garden State. HOWEVER, I have to say that neither of them captures what Irwin M. Fletcher is all about, according to the books. Fletch is a bit of a loner, somewhat listless, and a true womanizer. I don’t buy either of these guys as that. Sure, Chevy has charm, particularly in this movie, but that is mostly due to the great job they did of STICKING TO THE BOOK.Evidence that he is a train wreck can be found in the follow-up, which didn’t follow any of the books at all, Fletch Lives. Don’t get me wrong…Fletch is a top 3 movie for me. But after reading all 11 of the Fletch books, I must say that Chevy is totally wrong for it.Which leads me to Braff. After hearing that they were going to update the story and make Fletch, Won, a concept that was originally supposed to be executed by Kevin Smith, I was psyched. Fletch is such a great character and I was really looking forward to the re-imagining of the character. A lot of people went through my mind. Zach Braff was not one of them.I really like Scrubs. But Braff can’t do the character justice. I don’t buy him as a womanizer (see his character on Scrubs), and he certainly is not attractive enough to play the character who charms the pants off several women over the course of 11 books.Re-Cast: Ryan Reynolds for Braff…I don’t know for Chase. That’s a tough one, but I think that there are others who would have been more apropos.
7. Jay Mohr as Jennifer Aniston’s love interest in Picture Perfect
   Bob Sugar. Bob Sugar as Nick. The happy-go-lucky wedding videographer who gets put in a weird situation where he has to pretend he’s Jennifer Aniston’s girlfriend. Oh yeah, and he was on the news for saving some old lady or something. Lest we forget, Jay Mohr got his start on Saturday Night Live and he almost NEVER was on the air. Perhaps Lorne Michaels knew something Hollywood didn’t, because this movie could have been a lot better. Aniston’s chemistry with Paul Rudd in The Object of My Affection was SO MUCH BETTER and Rudd played a guy who was gay. It’s not looking good for you, Bob Sugar.
   
   Re-Cast: Paul Rudd. No one plays the happy-go-lucky aw-shucks type better than Rudd. I also have to give him some props since he is a Kansas City product. I think my dad even knew his dad or something like that. Does that mean I get to be famous?
8. Teri Polo as Pam Byrnes in Meet the Parents
   I absolutely LOVED Meet the Parents the first time I saw it. I thought it was one of the best things to come from Ben Stiller since…perhaps Reality Bites. The casting of DeNiro in a comedic role and Blythe Danner’s absolutely perfect clueless wife was just so funny to me. But one thing always bugged me about that movie and it wasn’t even Ben Stiller’s portrayal of…well…EVERY BEN STILLER CHARACTER EVER. It was Pam, Greg Focker’s wife-to-be. She threw him under a big semi the whole movie long, volunteering him for tasks he didn’t want to do, going over to her ex-boyfriend’s house that she conveniently “forgot about” - all for the sake of impressing her father, who she wasn’t exactly forthcoming about either. I probably could have bought it if a better actress had played Pam, but that character is almost so flawed that it would require an entire re-write.
   
   Re-Cast: Here’s where Sandra Bullock’s sweetness would have worked. I’d put her in the role of Pam and hope that they re-wrote the script a little to make her seem a little more apologetic toward that crazy Focker.
9. Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane in Superman Returns
   This is a new one. Alli and I just watched Superman Returns on OnDemand this weekend and it was pretty good. Brandon Routh was downright CREEPY in his channeling of Christopher Reeve. It’s almost uncanny at times.Bosworth’s Lois Lane, however, leaves something to be desired. We find her engaged to the guy in every superhero movie, James Marsden, about ready to accept her Pulitzer Prize for her article, “Why the World doesn’t Need Superman.” I really think this is an egregious use of someone with “buzz” to push the box office receipts of a movie. Bosworth had a lot of buzz when this movie was filmed. Everyone thought she was great and she was dating Orlando Bloom. However, she only had to make like Margot Kidder (aka “crazy woodpile lady“, not exactly a daunting task. Bosworth came up more than a bit shy…every time she came on screen, I wanted to fast-forward. It wasn’t just the horrible brunette dye job she sported or even her one blue eye and one brown eye; it was her awful acting. She was out shone by her “is it or isn’t it Superman’s” child.Look, I thought Superman Returns was a pretty decent flick. But Bosworth’s Lois Lane was a traveshamockery.Re-cast: Maggie Gyllenhaal. Might be difficult considering that she’s taking over as Rachel Dawes in the new Batman movie for Katie Holmes, but since this is my article, I’ll make the rules.
10. Woody Allen in any of his own movies
    I have a certain amount of respect for Woody Allen. The dude has done things his own way and has made a pretty good living doing it. Annie Hall was a terrific movie, a shining example of why Diane Keaton is perhaps the greatest living actress. But if I have to watch one more movie about him playing himself, I might puke. Ignore the fact that he married his adopted daughter for a second (although, is that even possible? Even just typing made me shudder), and let’s look at him solely as a filmmaker.Allen writes great dialogue and his movies are interesting. But each of the movies that he takes a role in is nearly de-railed by his incessant whining and self-aggrandizement. It’s awful, really.STAY BEHIND THE CAMERA, WOODY.Re-Cast: ANYONE. I beg of you. Please just stay behind the camera, Woody.

What do you think?

I’ve watched Don Imus on MSNBC before and I never really found him all that great. He always seemed kind of like an older, more tame version of Howard Stern, in my opinion, but at least he was talking about politics and relevant news rather than always trying to figure out if a girl’s boobs were real.

In a move that surprised no one, CBS fired Imus yesterday shortly after MSNBC had canceled the televised simulcast of his show.

So what now?

There has been a lot of response to the firing of Imus by both CBS and MSNBC and I don’t have a lot to add to it that hasn’t been said, but I wanted to talk about a couple things.

Imus probably should have been fired a long time ago. He’s been much more offensive than this before, but (and I hate to say this), but I blame the media on this firing. Their obsession with the story really fueled much of the debate. I imagine that the apology and a face-to-face with the Rutgers team (not with Al Sharpton), would have been enough. But the media has nothing sensational to talk about now that we know who Anna Nicole’s baby-daddy is. So they dragged the story out (see Anna Nicole’s death, Britney in rehab, Elian Gonzalez, Pacman Jones, etc.) because they don’t have any other good stories (like, say, the war in Iraq, the plummeting housing market, Iran, etc.).

If anything good comes out of this, it will be that perhaps politicos and pundits will be more committed to further examining our long history of racism and sexism, not just by an old semi-shock jock, but by so-called musicians who glorify sex, drugs, murder and other deviant behavior, which was very blatantly pointed out by columnist Michelle Malkin (caution - some language is more than rough). I know that there are those out there that are wanting to ban the “N” word, but why stop there? Keep in mind that we are walking into dangerous first-amendment violations, but if Imus gets fired for this, shouldn’t we start to really think about our use of all words?

Listening to some talk radio, I found that it has some hosts rattled. If someone with Imus’ long track record can get fired, they must be even more careful in the words they choose to use on their own shows. I agree to an extent, but I hope that his firing instead brings a more rational discourse to the nature of our use of language in our culture.

I’ve written before about my struggles with my weight and stuff I’ve tried to do to take action. There are plenty of reasons why I’ve failed miserably at this task on numerous occasions:

• I get busy with other things and “don’t have time” to work out - I’m sick of that excuse for myself.
• I can’t find a program that works for me - Truth is, I can’t work on a program long enough to MAKE it work for me.
• My incessant Chipotle craving - Let’s face it…I don’t see this one ending anytime soon. I’ll have to just work harder I guess.
• I like to sleep in, thus cutting down on the time it takes to prepare healthy meals - I guess I need to get up earlier then.
• I can’t seem to find the motivation - Living longer should be motivation enough.

I could go on, but that’s not the point. The point is that last week, I started back on the Power 90 program, a Beach Body, Inc., program that we bought a long time ago that promised to re-shape your body in 90 days. Considering that our departure date for Italy is about 90 days away, I finally found some motivation. And with the pending nuptials of my little brother and his beautiful fiancee (likely on some island), I need to get control of my weight…and FAST.

I’ve worked out every weekday for the last two weeks, doing the Sweat! cardio tape on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and doing the Sculpt! lifting tape on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I haven’t yet worked out on a Saturday, but the plan is to either go to the gym or just figure out something active to do on the weekend, then rest on Sundays.

So far, so good. I’ve lost 3 pounds, but I’m still a really long way from my goal weight. I don’t like being this heavy and I don’t like my clothes not fitting. I’ve been better with my eating habits, but I still need to work on portion control, and if I’m going to have Chipotle, I need to steer clear of the guacamole (so good!) and any other extras like chips that would just add on more calories to my already scale-tipping burrito bol. If you want to find out what your burrito, check out this awesome Chipotle fan site. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Anyway, wish me luck. I’m going to need it to keep on my path to healthier living.