House - The Patient is Sick

Written by C. Louis Wednesday, 02 November 2011 00:00

Alas, everything has its lifecycle and unfortunately even the great become the once great before they succumb. And so it is with House which for about 5 years reached the pinnacle of entertainment. Brilliantly written, acted and directed. Now it is none of these things and it hasn’t been for a year or two.

Can the patient be saved? Unlikely without a major reshuffling. Things are so bad now that one of the characters is played by someone who possesses no acting ability whatsoever, Charlyne Yi. To call Ms. Yi an actor is literally an insult to people that ply that trade.

When did the patient become ill? It started with the introduction of the private detective character, Lucas, and has been headed straight downhill since. You know the writing is bad when even Hugh Laurie sounds stilted, and you know the direction is bad when quality actors suck and episodes lack anything close to being interesting.

No, I’m afraid this patient isn’t going to make it.

Terra Nova - Not Good Enough

Written by C. Louis Tuesday, 04 October 2011 00:00

I expected more from the $20 million Fox dinosaur tale. While good in concept, the show is poor in execution. Characters are not compelling and while the lead may remind many of Mel Gibson in appearance and voice, the comparisons end there.

The most disappointing part of the show is what was billed as the stars, the dinosaurs. Sorry, but not convincing at all.

Obama’s Dangerous Game

Last Updated on Thursday, 13 October 2011 10:22 Written by C. Louis Thursday, 13 October 2011 08:18

The Pee Party has occupied the streets in dozens of US cities. They rail against the evil 1 percent of the population who, they claim, have enriched themselves at the expense of the other 99 percent.

The vile 1 percent is defined as millionaires and billionaires and private jet owners, many who made their money on Wall Street. Where does the idea of attacking fellow American’s come from, particularly the most successful Americans who bear the burden of financially supporting government programs that seldom benefit them? Straight from the President of the United States, Barack Obama.

Never in our country has a President worked so hard to cast so many fellow Americans as villains, and President Obama does it for the most despicable of reasons, personal gain. Let us not forget the attack on doctors who he claimed routinely removed healthy organs and amputated healthy limbs for profit. He then moved on with bellicose rhetoric against the insurance industry, the financial industry, corporations; oh, and millionaires, billionaires and private jet owners.

In President Obama’s America, people that work hard and enjoy success are the enemy. That’s right, ‘enemy’; the President has used that very word to describe the Americans with whom he has disagreements.

Obama has taken the game of identity politics to a new and dangerous level. He purposefully stokes the darkest elements of human nature, envy and jealousy, in order to benefit himself. He displays support for the anger that the 99 percent feel and never misses an opportunity to foment their rage.

Groups of people that are inspired to hate others often turn from peaceful assemblies into violent mobs. Soon the millionaires, billionaires and private jet owners become a generic group of ‘haves’; people that have expensive cars, nice clothes, jewelry and live in nice neighborhoods. And these ‘haves’ all of a sudden become targets of the boiling rage fueled by the President of the United States.

If the Pee Party degenerates into murderous rioters, the blood of the victims will be on President Obama’s hands and it will be this episode that lives on in history and defines his legacy.

Republican Debate Reflections

Last Updated on Tuesday, 25 October 2011 12:10 Written by C. Louis Wednesday, 12 October 2011 13:45

Mitt Romney was a man among boys in discussing economic issues at the Bloomberg Republican Debate held at Dartmouth on October 11, 2011.

Prior to any further debate analysis, a few reactions regarding Bloomberg are warranted. Such as, what the hell was that last night? The production values were abysmal, not even up to the standards of a junior high production. Shaky cameras, wrong shots, breaking for commercials during candidate responses; how embarrassing.

Adding to the Bloomberg embarrassment was their representative to the panel, Julianna Goldman. OMG! Is this woman dense or what? First, she doesn’t know the meaning of the word hypothetical. She asked Romney a question about how he’d respond if certain events transpired in 2013, and his initial response was that he didn’t want to answer a hypothetical question to which she responded that it wasn’t a hypothetical since a poll showed that 51% of people thought the events could happen. Really!

Back to the debate. I’ve been on the Cain Train, but he was a bit one-note during the debate and needs to have a deeper response to questions about his 999 plan as well as a broader overall economic vision. Newt was great as always in this type of setting, but unfortunately too much baggage is weighing him down.  

Having seen an occasional interview with Santorum over the years, I came into this cycle thinking he was an idiot. Well, I was wrong about that; I’ve found him to be very impressive and it’s ashamed that he’s relegated to getting only a couple of minutes in each debate.

I continue to find Huntsman creepy. He’s the type of guy that thinks he’s hilarious, but no one’s laughing with the exception of odd cackling from Michele Bachman. I heard a fellow, Joe Getty, whose opinion I respect commenting on how well he thought Huntsman did, but I didn’t see it that way at all. As for Bachman, she hit it out of the park with her response about the government’s involvement in the housing crisis and the current damage that Dodd/Frank is doing to the economy.

Ron Paul is a man that doesn’t like the Federal Reserve and hats off to his strong support for liberty. Men like Paul are needed in times like this, but he’s got no chance of reaching the Whitehouse unless invited by the President.

Rick Perry, what a disappointment. Seems like a nice enough man, but there is no spark there and the breadth of knowledge is lacking. He’s absolutely right about the ability of companies to create thousands of jobs if they were allowed to develop our energy resources, but the guy needs a second point.

So, the debate clearly went to Romney who not only looked Presidential, but showed tremendous adroitness and an incredible breadth of economic knowledge and confidence. Mitt Romney makes President Obama look like a grade-schooler when it comes to the economy and a failing grade-schooler at that.