Reviews and More

If you’re a regular visitor to this site, then chances are you’ve encountered an error or two at some point in the past few months. That’s because I experience frequent problems with my current web host. Whether it’s database connection errors, slow page loads, or unexplained downtime, I’ve had more setbacks than I care to remember.

Obviously, I didn’t choose the best hosting company around, so now I’m paying for my mistake. It’s just too bad that I didn’t know about WebHostingBluebook.net back when I first started this blog.

WebHostingBluebook.net is a site that provides reviews of leading web hosting companies so that webmasters can make the best hosting decision based on their needs and budget. Besides reviews, the site also contains a lot of educational pages, including this hosting glossary that explains the meaning behind all the jargon you’re likely to encounter while shopping for a web host.

In addition, WebHostingBluebook.net also features a free newsletter, a blog, an active forum, and many more resources that will appeal to both new and experienced webmasters alike.

If you’re trying to figure out which web hosting company you should go with, I recommend checking out all the info available at WebHostingBluebook.com. As soon as my current hosting contract expires, you can be sure I’ll be heading straight over there to shop for a new one!

Have you heard the latest news about Patrick Swayze? The 55-year-old actor has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, which is very difficult to treat. In fact, according to a post on TMZ.com, less than 5 percent of patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer live for more than five years following the initial diagnosis. I know that’s not a site known for its reliability, but still… that’s pretty scary.

Swayze is best known for his roles in movies like Ghost, Dirty Dancing, Point Break, and Roadhouse. He hasn’t had a lot of high-profile work in recent years, but has still been adding to his filmography. Most recently, Swayze has been working on a TV project for A&E called “The Beast”, in which he plays an FBI agent. Apparently, he’s going to continue working on the project despite the diagnosis.

I wouldn’t exactly call myself a huge Patrick Swayze fan, but this is still pretty sad news. His movies of the late ’80s and early ’90s are so much a part of my junior high and high school years that I can’t help but like him.

I’ll definitely be following future developments closely.

I’m not very happy with my current Internet provider, so I’ve been looking to make a switch. I’m just tired of all the services glitches such as intermittent connections or spotty phone service. I can’t even tell you the number of times my home phone line has been out of order because of problems with our cable Internet.

Anyway, I was checking around today, and saw an awesome offer from Charter. Beginning on March 12, they’re going to hold an auction in which the top bidder will receive Charter High-Speed® Internet service for life! Bidding begins at just $10 with no upper limit, so it will be interesting to see how much this prize ultimately sells for.

In addition, Charter is currently holding a sweepstakes for a brand-new Nintendo Wii bundle, which includes a complete Wii gaming system as well as Wii Sports. I have this exact same system, and it’s definitely a lot of fun! Wii Sports includes Tennis, Baseball, Bowling, Golf, and Boxing, so there’s something for everyone in the family.

You have to live in an area serviced by Charter in order to enter the sweepstakes, so if you do, then you’ll have a chance to win a Nintendo® Wii™!

Unfortunately, Charter isn’t in the Bloomingdale area, so I can’t participate in the Wii sweepstakes or the auction, but hopefully one of you can. Take a look today, and let me know if you end up winning the Wii or the high-speed service!

According to Wikipedia, the CIA has been using the procedure known as “extraordinary rendition” ever since the 9/11 attacks in New York. The term refers to the way the CIA can arrest someone suspected of being a terrorist or of having ties to terrorists, and transfer that person to a different country for interrogation. There’s no due process, no lawyers are involved, of course, and no legal rights are granted. Purportedly, the U.S. likes to transfer prisoners to countries where torture can be used during the interrogation.

It’s a scary concept for sure, and one that provides the basic subject matter for the 2007 Gavin Hood film Rendition.

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): Egyptian-born businessman Anwar El-Ibrahimi (played by Omar Metwally) has been living in the United States on a green card for the past 14 years. He and his American wife Isabella (Reese Witherspoon) live in Chicago with their son Jeremy (Aramis Knight), and have another baby on the way.

Their lives get turned upside down when Anwar is apprehended at Dulles International Airport on his way back to Chicago from a business trip to South Africa. There has been a suicide bombing in the Middle East that killed several people, including a CIA agent. The person believed to be responsible for the attack allegedly made several calls to Anwar’s cell phone, so that’s why the CIA has taken him into custody. Anwar is questioned for a bit at the airport, but when he reveals nothing (since he doesn’t know what’s going on), he is transferred to the Middle East.

Isabella panics once Anwar doesn’t show up in Chicago. She does some investigating on her own, and discovers that Anwar was definitely on that flight from South Africa to Washington: He bought some duty-free items on the plane using his credit card. Isabella decides to go to an old college friend for help since that friend is now a Sentaor’s aide.

Meanwhile, Anwar is interrogated and tortured by a man named Abasi (Yigal Naor) as junior CIA analyst Douglas Freeman (Jake Gyllenhaal) looks on. Abasi is ruthless in his methods, and eventually Anwar admits to having contact with the terrorist. Freeman suspects that Anwar is just saying that in order to stop the torture, but Abasi won’t listen to him.

The rest of the film shows Freeman’s struggles to come to terms with what he’s seeing and participating in, as well as Isabella’s efforts to find answers despite stonewalling from high-ranking government officials. In addition, there’s a subplot about Abasi’s daughter’s involvement with a militant student, and the consequences of their actions.

My Reaction: I had high hopes for Rendition, particularly given the fact that the cast included the likes of Witherspoon, Gyllenhaal, Meryl Streep, and J.K. Simmons. But despite having some great material to work with, the filmmakers couldn’t quite pull off a compelling product.

First, I want to say that the Khalid/Fatima storyline felt like a big waste of time to me. What was the point of that whole thing? Just to demonstrate how ironic it was that Abasi’s daughter got mixed up in a plot to kill him? I didn’t get it, and those scenes slowed the film down to a crawl. I found myself sighing, rolling my eyes, and shifting around on my couch whenever the “action” switched to Khalid and Fatima.

I also didn’t understand the need for the time differences in the scenes. Why was the Khalid/Fatima story presented as a flashback while everything else presumably occurred in a more linear fashion? Again, this just seemed completely unnecessary, and detracted from, rather than added to, the movie as a whole.

One more question: who (or what) was Abasi? Was he the head of an intelligence agency? Was he a government official for that country? Was this ever explained? If it was, I totally missed it, so I was sitting there the whole time wondering why he was such a big target of these terrorists.

As for Anwar — well, I can’t say that he elicited much sympathy from me. Sure, I felt a bit sorry for him in a general way; but I think the film would have been so much more effective if more time had been spent on developing this character before he was arrested. As it was, I didn’t have anything emotionally invested in him, so I didn’t particularly care if he survived or not (as bad as that sounds).

With a few changes, I think Rendition could have been an intense, engrossing film. Unfortunately, the final cut ended up being merely average, which is why I’m giving it 5.0 stars out of 10.