Action Hero

Well, let's see. What to blog about today? I've got some stuff to post, inspired by the State of the Union address the other day. It's on the top 5 things I'd do if I became President of the US. I'm a bit nuts; I'm aware of that.

Anyways, in the meantime let's talk about 24. I love that show! Lots of press abou the first 4 episodes and the negative portayal of Muslims and the fear mongoring to push the Bush administration's agenda. I'm sorry, but if an idealogical slant was grounds for being kept off the air Aaron Sorkin would be pumping gas somewhere. Personally, I think they just do what they think will create tension and draw in viewers. An interesting fact on 24: it was created and planned for the first episode to be shown in the fall of 2001. In other words, the world that it is now accused of too accurately portraying is a world that was only a fear when it was first thought up.

I'm looking forward to seeing where they go with the brother/father plot. What do you think of Season 6 so far?

In other exciting news, a Jack Bauer action figure is being developed by McFarlane and will be released later in the year. Apparently they had a prototype that would have been released earlier but they sent it to Kiefer and he took it with him for a night on the town. After he and his friends had drunk a few they decided to torture the figure. That was the only prototype so the developers had to go back to the drawing board.

I'll definitely be getting this one to add to my Michael Vick, Jason Kidd, Darth Vader and Slash action figures. Don't call them dolls, they're action figures!


And finally, don't watch this clip if the phrase 'Damn it' is offensive. As Kiefer explains that's the phrase they use on 24 in lieu of swearing. Funny stuff.

"You are going to tell me what I want to know, it’s just a question of how
much you want it to hurt."

New Year's Eve Party 2006

The New Year's Eve party at my house was a success! We had a good time getting ready and lots of people came out and had a good time. Lots of good food, too.

Thanks to all who came out, and to those who helped get ready and who brought food. It was a great way to welcome in the new year.

Bono Itching To Take U2 To The 'Next Level'

The New Year's Eve party went great. I think everyone had a good time. I did! I'll be posting some pics in the next few days. In the meantime, here's some news for the U2 fans out there from Billboard magazine.


Bono Itching To Take U2 To The 'Next Level'

With its monster-selling Vertigo tour complete, U2 is ready to reinvent itself, frontman Bono said during a BBC Radio interview earlier this week. "Our band has certainly reached the end of where we've been at for the last couple of albums," he said. "I want to see what else we can do with it, take it to the next level; I think that's what we've got to do."

Asked by interviewer Jo Whalley if that might mean a move away from rock'n'roll, Bono replied, "We're gonna continue to be a band, but maybe the rock will have to go; maybe the rock has to get a lot harder. But whatever it is, it's not gonna stay where it is."

He went on to reveal he'd like U2 to explore compositions featuring just voice and acoustic guitar. "I would like to do a couple of tunes in that direction, with just a lot of space around the voice," he said. "I'd like to strip things down; that's something I'd be very interested in at the moment."

U2 is expected to get busy in the studio after the New Year, with an eye on releasing a new album before the end of 2007. Bono said casual fans were the target for the recently released compilation "U218 Singles," which also includes two new songs.

"We've never been much of a singles band," he admitted. "But we did it because we have a very young audience coming through, and we wanted to, you know, just be very available for people who want to check us out, you know? We wanted to have something they could check us out very easy on."