Reviews and More

It would seem to be pure folly to base an entire movie on a cliché, especially one as constricting and limiting as “always a bridesmaid, never a bride”; but somehow 27 Dresses manages to rise above its banal basic premise to become a rather entertaining romantic comedy.

Yes, it is riddled with predictability, and yes, anyone who has ever seen a romantic comedy in the past will be able to foresee every single plot “twist” well before it comes up. However, thanks to strong performances by Katherine Heigl and James Marsden, the end result is not as bad as you might expect.

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): Heigl stars as Jane Nichols,a 20-something who has been looking forward to her wedding day since she was a little girl. Jane has plenty of experience with planning weddings, as she’s been a bridesmaid 27 times. However, she’s never been close to walking down the aisle as the bride — especially since her boss George (played by Edward Burns), the man she’s in love with, hasn’t noticed her years of pining for him.

One night, Jane juggles two simultaneous bridesmaid commitments by hiring a cab for the evening and shuttling back and forth between the two ceremonies, changing dresses on the ride. After being trampled during the bouquet-tossing portion of one ceremony, Jane catches the attention of Kevin Doyle (Marsden), a guest at the wedding. Doyle is a writer for the Commitments column of a major New York City Newspaper, one that carries a different byline (to ward off stalkers) and that Jane reads religiously. Kevin helps a woozy Jane back home, and then notices that she left her planner in the cab they shared. He picks it up and reads it.

When Kevin sees all of the weddings Jane must attend, he forms an idea for a story that will help get him off the Commitments page and covering real news. He’s going to write a feature about Jane, taking the angle that she must be a pretty pathetic person to be a bridesmaid 27 times. But as he’s researching the story, Kevin finds himself falling for Jane. Jane, too, feels a connection with Kevin, particularly since her sister Tess (Malin Akerman) came into town and “stole” George away.

The rest of the film then deals with Jane and Kevin’s blossoming relationship, the betrayal Jane feels after reading Kevin’s story about her, their ultimate reconciliation, and of course, their wedding when Jane finally gets to walk down the aisle as bride.

My Reaction: I know this wasn’t classic cinema or anything like that, but 27 Dresses was definitely entertaining enough to excuse the predictability factor that I mentioned above. All of the credit for this goes to Heigl and Marsden, who were not only good on their own, but also had tremendous onscreen chemistry as a couple — a crucial element that seems to be missing from a lot of rom-coms these days. After all, if viewers don’t believe the two main characters belong together, what’s the point?

I’ve been watching Heigl for four years as Izzie Stevens on Grey’s Anatomy, and have long felt that she’s one of the better actors on the show. Sure, her character is annoying as hell sometimes, but Heigl sells just about every scene she’s in, so she’s enjoyable to watch. I think she does a great job in romantic comedies as well (like this one and Knocked Up), and predict that she won’t last on GA for much longer, as she’ll likely make a full-time jump to the silver screen soon.

Anyway, Heigl was a terrific choice to play Jane Nichols, bringing a perfect balance of sincerity and romanticism to the part. She wasn’t cloying or overly sweet in her many onscreen defenses of love, marriage, and weddings, which is something that would have doomed the film for me.

I thought Marsden was excellent as Kevin Doyle, and feel that being a rom-com lead is right up his alley. I recently saw his work in 10th & Wolf, but had a hard time buying his portrayal of a Philly tough guy. He was much more genuine as the cynical writer with a romantic streak of his own in 27 Dresses. Plus, he’s funny and easy on the eyes, which is a great combination for these types of films.

Overall, 27 Dresses doesn’t have much of a plot going for it, but it definitely provides a fun time thanks to Heigl and Marsden’s work. I give the film 6.0 stars out of 10 and recommend that you check it out the next time you’re in the mood for some light entertainment.

These days, there are so many different credit cards to choose from that it can be a nearly impossible task trying to sort through them all to find the best one for your needs. Between the various rewards programs, balance transfer opportunities, and other specialty cards, there’s quite an overwhelming amount of information to sort through. That’s where a website like CreditCardSpecialist.com comes in handy.

CreditCardSpecialist.com is a site that offers free financial information and advice, as well as comprehensive credit card comparisons. The site is extremely well organized and easy to navigate, making it a simple matter to search for and compare available credit cards.

Are you looking for 0% Credit Card Deals or instant approval cards? CreditCardSpecialist.com can help point you in the right direction. Perhaps you’d rather have a rewards card or a low-interest rate card? Or maybe a card for people with bad credit is in order? No problem! The best deals are presented in a table form, thus allowing you to make comparisons very quickly. (Click for larger.)

Moreover, if you come across a credit card offer that you like at CreditCardSpecialist.com, you can immediately apply online. This convenient feature helps ensure that you don’t lose track of all the good deals that you find.

Overall, I found the website to be a terrific resource for finding the best current credit card offers on the market. If you’re looking for a new card, I’m sure you’ll discover the perfect one at CreditCardSpecialist.com!

I’ve been a huge fan of the hit TV series 24 ever since the very first season. I love the action-packed episodes, as well as all the twists and turns that the writers throw at us along the way. So obviously, I was extremely disappointed to learn that Season 7 would be delayed until January 2009 due to the WGA strike. Considering the fact that the S6 finale aired on May 21, 2007, that’s a long time to wait between fresh 24 episodes!

But I recently learned that there’s a way I can get my 24 fix without having to pull out my DVDs. Apparently, FOX and Degree Men® have teamed up to bring viewers a series of “websiodes” called The Rookie that more or less follow the 24 structure: same graphics, same ticking clock, same split screen, same CTU set, etc.

I thought this sounded pretty cool, so I decided to go to watch The Rookie over at the official FOX website. I checked out the current series called “The Extraction”, which is actually Day 3 (meaning there have been two previous series).

“The Extraction” stars Jeremy Ray Valdez as Jason Blaine, a rookie CTU agent who’s learning the ropes from veteran Alton Maxwell (played by Eric Beck). The two are in Mexico on a mission when Maxwell gets captured by Esteban Salazar (Jonathan P. Nichols), brother of Ramon and Hector Salazar, the drug smugglers from Day 3 of 24. Esteban wants to bring the family’s drug business back to the top — and he also wants revenge on CTU agents for killing both of his brothers.

When Blaine learns that Maxwell has been captured, he goes to work on an extraction plan. He utilizes the help of Kate Wyman (Katrina Law) back at CTU, and two tech agents, Ocho (Chad Johnson) and Dos (Jason Steward) out in the field to get the support he needs to rescue Maxwell.

There are six separate webisodes in Day 3, each ranging from about 4 to 8 minutes long. Because of the compressed time structure, things in The Rookie happen very quickly. It’s more or less nonstop action, which is pretty cool!

I think The Rookie Day 3: Extraction presented by Degree Men® is definitely worth watching. Sure, it’s not a total replacement for Jack, Chloe, and Bill Buchanan, but it’s entertaining and doesn’t require a huge time investment.

Check out the first episode right here, and then go to the FOX site I linked above to catch the rest. Be sure to view Chapters 3 and 4 to see Chad Johnson, mister “Ocho Cinco” of the Cincinnati Bengals, make his acting debut. He was pretty good, so I hope to see him make more appearances in the future!

Last night’s episode of How I Met Your Mother was called “The Goat”, and mostly dealt with fallout from the Robin/Barney coupling of the previous week. While I liked how freaked and nervous Barney was about the whole thing (such a drastic change for that character), I was disappointed that Robin and Barney had very little screen time together and barely discussed their actions after the teaser. The secondary story, that of Ted’s 30th birthday party and the goat was pretty boring, IMO, but that’s probably just because I wanted to see more Robin/Barney stuff!

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): The show opens with a “morning after” scene where Barney and Robin are going through some awkward conversation after sleeping with each other for the first time. They both agree that it would be best to pretend that the whole thing never happened, and above all, they agree that Ted should never find out.

Robin seems perfectly fine with this plan, and does a great job of acting normal later at the bar with the rest of the gang. Barney is the one who acts very nervous and guilty, taking references about “hitting it” and “Xbox” to somehow relate to what happened to Robin. Later, though, Robin ends up telling Ted, who says he’s not mad at all because they’ve been broken up for a whole year already, etc.

Barney can’t feel good about what he did because he knows he broke the Bro Code. He hires Marshall as his lawyer and tells Marshall to comb through the code and find out if there’s a loophole whereby Barney’s actions wouldn’t be considered sleazy. But Marshall can’t find anything of the sort. In fact, he just goes and points out all the ways Ted has adhered to the Bro Code over the years, making Barney feel even more miserable.

Meanwhile, the gang is planning a surprise 30th birthday party for Ted, even though he already knows about it. One unexpected guest is a goat that Lily’s class of kindergarten students begged her to save from the slaughterhouse. She brought it home where it hast to stay for a few days until an Animal Rescue place can pick it up. FutureTed makes a big deal out of this goat, and keeps trying to tell his kids what the goat did, but backtracks and puts it off until finally revealing that he had the birthdays mixed up and the goat wasn’t there until his 31st — at which point Robin was also living in the apartment.

Later, as Barney is driving Ted to his party in a limo, Ted reveals that he knows that Barney slept with Robin. At first, Ted said he wasn’t mad, which of course made Barney feel relieved. But then Ted’s true feelings show, and he tells Barney exactly what he thinks of him. Barney has always done some horrible things to other people, but Ted thought that there was a line, that Ted was a line Barney wouldn’t cross. Since Barney did cross that line, Ted doesn’t have any use for him anymore and doesn’t think they should be friends. Not even a free punch to the groin can fix this situation.

My Reaction: This episode failed to live up to my expectations of what the post-Barney/Robin coupling would be like. Actually, that’s not fair on my part, since I’m not even sure what I wanted — I just know that this wasn’t it.

First of all, while I can understand Ted being angry and hurt by what Barney did, the least he could have done was listen to what Barney had to say. He asked how it happened, but then didn’t give Barney a chance to explain. Had he done so, he might have realized that Barney did NOT take advantage of Robin (as Ted seems to think) and that since Robin and Barney are ok with what they did, then Ted should be too. After all, it has been a year. I know there’s that whole bro code thing, but… there’s got to be a point in time after which it shouldn’t matter who’s sleeping with whom.

I didn’t get the goat stuff at all. I read on some message forums that it was a callback to Season 1 when the goat was mentioned in a previous episode, but honestly, I don’t watch this show as closely as that, so the goat meant nothing to me. And since they didn’t explain its purpose in this ep, it felt like even more of a waste of time.

I know that Barney and Ted eventually reconcile; there’s no question about that. I’m just wondering when and how this comes about. Hopefully Robin will play an instrumental role in that, since she was the reason they broke up in the first place. I also hope that this isn’t the end of Robin and Barney because I still think they are awesome together!

There are just a few more eps left in the season. I’m praying that they’re good ones!

With Mother’s Day just around the corner, I’ve been spending a lot of time browsing through potential gifts — both for myself and for my mom. When I was growing up, my mom always said this was the most significant holiday for her, and that she valued it even more than her birthday. As a result, my brother and I always put extra effort into our gifts and cards, and I know Mom appreciated this.

Now that I’m a mother myself, I feel the same way about Mother’s Day and have not been shy in communicating this to my husband and son. As long as they acknowledge the day in some meaningful way, I’ll be happy.

Of course, a nice gift would be welcome too, which is why I’ve been looking for the last week or so. One interesting website I came across was LifetimeMothers.com, an online store that specializes in jewelry for mothers. They have a terrific assortment of rings, pendants, bracelets, earrings, and watches that can be personalized with kids’ names and birthstones, making them a perfect choice for Mother’s Day.

I particularly liked the Family Fun Ring, pictured above. This is a mother’s ring that can display up to four children’s names and birthstones, which I think is a very neat idea. The rings are made from 14k yellow or white gold with 3.0mm genuine birthstones. Moreover, the names are laser-etched into the surface, so they’ll always be readable no matter how long you have the ring. This is truly a beautiful piece that I have my heart set on for this year!

Moms do so much for their children on a daily basis that they surely deserve some recognition and appreciation on Mother’s Day. Show your mom or grandma how much they mean by choosing a beautiful personalized gift from LifetimeMothers.com. There’s still time to order before May 11, so visit the site today!

Last night’s episode of Desperate Housewives was called “Hello, Little Girl”, and was one of the more uneven hours of television I’ve seen in a while. The writers tried to address so many different storylines in the ep that almost everything felt rushed. Moreover, for a show that usually likes to take its sweet time in revealing info and plot twists, a lot of secrets were spilled last night (relatively speaking). So let’s get right to the recap of what happened in 4×13.

Mike/Susan/Orson/Bree: Julie wasted no time in telling Mike that Orson “confessed” to running him over. Mike in turn told Susan, who immediately went over to confront Orson and Bree. This led to an offscreen fight where Bree apparently decided to kick Orson out, so he goes to stay at a hotel (perhaps the same one Adam Mayfair is at?). Meanwhile, Susan agrees to work on forgiving Orson, but can’t guarantee that it will happen soon — or at all.

Gabby/Carlos: Gabby and Carlos had a good amount of screen time in this ep. Carlos got a seeing-eye dog named Roxie to help him move around a little better. Gabby was under the impression that these dogs were miracle workers who would be able to fetch the remote and actually do chores. When the trainer set her straight, she immediately lost enthusiasm in the project.

To make matters worse (for Gabby), Roxie becomes far too protective of Carlos for Gabby’s liking. The dog barks and growls whenever Gabby hits or yells at Carlos, and even ends up hogging Gabby’s side of the bed (after Carlos essentially chooses the dog over Gabby). So Gabby decides to try to return Roxie to the training center, but the dog follows her back home. Carlos becomes livid when he realizes what she tried to do.

Then Edie stops by with dog treats that Carlos asked her to buy, and tells Gabby that she needs to reevaluate the way she treats Carlos. Their constant bickering and hitting might have been fine when Carlos could see, but things are different now — though Carlos is too proud to admit that he can’t go “toe to toe” with Gabby anymore. Gabby needs to tone things down, otherwise Carlos will end up leaving again, adding that there are plenty of other women who would be happy to have him.

Tom/Lynette/Rick: Rick comes over to the Scavo pizza place to confront Tom about the fire. He found a book of matches from the Scavo restaurant near the back of his place and thinks that proves that Tom was involved. The two get into a brawl and won’t stop, so Andrew ends up calling the police.

While at the station, Tom is questioned about his whereabouts on the night of the fire. Lynette supplies an alibi, lying to say that she saw him sitting in the car shouting at the radio when he slipped out of the Founder’s Ball.

Later, the Scavo twins confess that they set the fire because they overheard Tom saying that Rick was trying to take Lynette away from her family.

Dylan /Wayne: Dylan gets pulled over by a police officer for speeding, even though she insists that she didn’t do anything wrong. The officer looks at her license for a long time before letting her go with a warning. As he gets back into his squad car, we see that he’s the faceless guy from last week who circled Dylan’s picture in the newspaper.

His name is Wayne, and he goes to visit Dylan when she’s sitting on a park bench reading a book. Instead of being completely freaked out by this creepy guy who seems to be stalking her, Dylan starts talking to him. He then reveals that he’s her father. Dylan doesn’t know how to react at first, but after Wayne admits that he wasn’t a perfect husband and that he hit Katherine, Dylan relents and decides she wants to get to know him — without telling Katherine about it.

My Reaction: As I said, there was really a lot going on in this ep. I was very surprised at how many things were revealed here: The Scavo twins as the arsonists; Julie telling Mike Orson’s secret, and Mike immediately telling Susan; Wayne coming forward as Dylan’s father… these are the sorts of things that the Desperate Housewives writers like to drag out forever, so it was strange to see everything develop so quickly.

I have a bad feeling about this Wayne character. After seeing his filthy hands and disgusting apartment last week, it doesn’t seem like he’s the same guy. It’s hard to believe he works as a police officer by day, and then goes home to that dingy place by night. I think there are
two different mystery men involved here, and the guy from the apartment hasn’t come forward yet.

Another clue is the actual newspaper. The guy in the apartment circled only Dylan’s face in the picture, but Wayne’s copy of the paper had both Dylan and Katherine circled. Sure, this could be a continuity error that slipped by the editors, but I prefer to think it’s a clue.

I wasn’t at all impressed by the Scavo storyline or the drama between Susan and the Hodges. Where are the writers going with Lynette and Tom? Is a divorce imminent? It sure seems like it.

I liked the Gabby and Carlos nonsense, as I prefer the lighthearted stuff to the “darker” storylines. I continue to love Gabby, even though she proves week after week that she is truly one of the most selfish and shallow characters ever. I thought it was sweet that she relented a bit about the dog, but I’m sure she’ll be back to her demanding ways in no time!

Overall, this was an ok ep. Lots of boring parts, but some good ones as well. I’m sure the Dylan/Wayne mystery isn’t what it appears to be on the surface, so it’ll be interesting to see how that one develops!

Comedies ruled the box office once again this week, with new entry Baby Mama starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler taking the top spot with a healthy haul of $18.3 million. The film, about a single woman’s experiences with a polar opposite surrogate, received mixed reviews from critics, but scored an aggregate positive rating of 60% over at RottenTomatoes.com.

Second place went to another comedy in its first week of nationwide release. Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, a sequel to the surprise 2004 hit about two stoner friends trying to find White Castle, grossed $14.6 million. I didn’t like the first movie all that much, so will probably stay away from this one — at least until it comes out on DVD.

Last week’s box office winner, The Forbidden Kingdom, slipped two places to No. 3, while the comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall likewise dropped two spots to No. 4. The only other new release to crack the Top 10 was Deception, a thriller starring Hugh Jackman, Ewan McGregor, Michelle Williams, and Maggie Q. The film was panned by critics, and will have a hard time recouping its $25 million budget.

Here’s the complete Top 10 for the weekend ending 4/27/08:

1. Baby Mama, $18.3 million
2. Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, $14.6 million
3. The Forbidden Kingdom, $11.2 million
4. Forgetting Sarah Marshall, $11 million
5. Nim’s Island, $4.53 million
6. Prom Night, $4.4 million
7. 21, $4 million
8. 88 Minutes, $3.6 million
9. Horton Hears a Who!, $2.41 million
10. Deception, $2.23 million

As promised, I’ve used an online randomizer to select a winner for the Alien Nation: Ultimate Movie Collection DVD box set that I’m giving away.

The randomizer put Webster’s name at the top, so he’s the lucky winner! Webster now has 48 hrs in which to email me back with his mailing address or I’ll go through the selection process one more time and come up with a different winner.

Congratulations to Webster for scoring this brand-new Alien Nation: Ultimate Movie Collection box set, and thank you all for participating in the giveaway and reading Reviews and More (or ram, as I always refer to it). I’m sure I’ll be having more contests and giveaways in the near future, so keep checking back!

It’s been a heck of a long wait, but Grey’s Anatomy finally returned with a new episode on Thursday night called “Where the Wild Things Are”! I know I’ve been down on Season 4 for the most part, but there’s no question that I missed this show while it was off the air, so I was very happy to get back into the swing of things. I didn’t watch a single rerun during the writers’ strike and therefore forgot nearly everything that was going on before. Fortunately, it didn’t take very long to get back into the swing of things.

Most of the episode focused on a competition that the Core Four (Meredith, Izzie, Cristina, and Alex) were having whereby they received a certain number of points for performing various tasks. For example, a suture was worth one point, observing a surgery was worth three, and solving a medical mystery was worth 80.

Apparently, the contest had been going on for two weeks already, during which time they all lived at the hospital in order to be on hand the minute something good went down.The winner — Meredith — ended up receiving a sparkly pager giving her first dibs on any surgery that passes through Seattle Grace for the next three months.

Here’s what else happened:

Meredith: She’s currently seeing the hospital psychiatrist because she hasn’t been able to sleep in five weeks. She doesn’t want to believe that the problem is Derek’s new relationship with Rose, but the signs are all there. On the professional front, she lost her mind and joyfully exclaimed, “Tumor!” when one of her patients ended up suffering from more than just a hand wound, and then she made up for it by potentially discovering a way to treat that kind of inoperable brain tumor. Of course, she needs Derek’s help to run the clinical trials, so….

Cristina Cristina is still trying to figure out a way to get Hahn to like her, but hasn’t been able to make any headway. Meanwhile, Hahn is now Callie’s new BFF, and they sit and socialize in Cristina’s apartment — while excluding her from their gossip sessions.

Derek/Rose/Sloan: Derek and Rose are still going strong, much to the amazement of Sloan. He’s especially baffled by the fact that Derek spends so much time with Rose despite not having slept with her yet. Sloan thought that he and Derek would be hitting the bars and picking up women together, so he’s very disappointed with the latest developments. As for Rose, she inadvertently lets it slip that she “loves” Derek at a time when Meredith happened to be within earshot.

Lexie/George: They moved into a roach-infested apartment together, with George complaining about it the whole time. Lexie decided to try to make the most of the situation by stealing stuff from the hospital to decorate and furnish the apartment with. George ends up appreciating the effort, so he vows to stop complaining so much and just enjoy things for a change.

Izzie: Made yet another huge misstep by putting a patient through $120,000 worth of painful, unnecessary tests all in the hopes of uncovering some hidden ailment so she could win the competition. The Chief chastised her a little bit, but not nearly as much as she deserved.

Alex: Didn’t do much of anything this week. He did have one nice scene with the Chief, where he refused to accept the “underdog” label, insisting that all he does is try to make the most out of whatever hand he’s dealt.

My Reaction: This was not a great episode, but it was a lot better than most of the stuff that has gone before it here in Season 4. I loved seeing Meredith, Cristina, Izzie, and Alex competing with each other again. That was such a key element to the success of Season 1 and Season 2, in my opinion, so it was great to see that aspect back again.

I find Meredith and Derek to be infinitely more likable when they’re not a couple. I didn’t roll my eyes at them once during the entire ep, which is a good sign for sure! Hopefully, they’ll stay separated at least for a little while longer. I have a feeling that creator Shonda Rhimes thinks of them as the show’s super couple, so her ultimate plan is probably to have them together, but for now, I’m glad they’re broken up.

Izzie… what is going on with her? She has fallen so far in the past two seasons that I’m really having a hard time believing she’s still a doctor. I don’t follow GA gossip in the tabloids or anything, so tell me: does Katherine Heigl want out of her contract so she can pursue film roles? It seems that the writers don’t know what to do with Izzie at this point, and they’re letting her stagnate just to make it easier to get rid of her later on. Who knows, though.

Anyway, I’m happy that Grey’s is back, and I can’t wait to see what happens next week when Addison returns for a visit!

I first started running my own websites about a year and a half ago. My initial intent was to have a place where I could showcase writing samples for prospective clients and perhaps make enough money to cover hosting and Internet fees. Eighteen months later, things are going better than I ever could have imagined, and I’m making far more than the $250 per year that my sites cost me in fees and service charges!

Because of this initial success, I’ve been thinking about different things I can do to help increase brand awareness and give my sites a more professional look. So when I was presented with an opportunity to test out the do-it-yourself logo design wizard at LogoYes.com, I jumped at the offer. A custom logo is precisely what I need to take my sites — and my business — to the next level, and I was eager to see what I could come up with.

The LogoYes logo creator is extremely easy to use. The process consists of six simple steps that will take you from idea to professional-looking logo in no time at all. Here’s a screen shot of the logo creator so you can see what I’m talking about (you can click all images to enlarge):

In Step 1, I just had to choose the image style that I was interested in. There are currently three choices, High Tech, Bold, or Flair, as well as helpful hints about which style to use given the type of company I represent. I went with Flair, because I like to think I have some!

In Step 2, I selected the industry that I’m in. This narrows down the symbol and image choices to those that are most relevant to my company. For my Reviews and More website, I clicked the Arts & Entertainment option.

In Step 3, I browsed through nearly 100 images ranging from cameras, film strips, and easels, to musical notes, flags, and abstract symbols. I couldn’t decide on any of the ones I saw, so I opted to use the letter “R” instead, and found the perfect image in a cursive “R” being drawn by a fountain pen.

Step 4 asked for my company name. Since I don’t really have a formal company, I used the name of this website, Reviews and More. It helped that I had a basic idea of what I wanted my final logo to look like so I could make some tweaks in this step to help get me there. For instance, I wanted the “R” symbol from Step 3 to be used in the word “Reviews”, and I wanted the “and More” part to be offset on a separate line. Knowing this, I was able to enter the name appropriately in this step. I also picked a handwriting font style that would more or less match with the cursive “R” from above. Take a look:

In Step 5, I got to play around with colors and layouts to get my logo to look just the way I wanted. Here’s a screen shot so you can see all the different tools I was able to work with, including Rotate, Flip, Size, Zoom, and a variety of colors. I have to say that the grid marks were extremely helpful and allowed me to make sure I had everything lined up perfectly.

After testing out a bunch of different colors, I settled on a dark red/maroon shade (I don’t remember the exact color, and I know my monitor is not the best at rendering these things). Here’s how the final logo turned out. I think it’s actually pretty cool, considering the fact that I spent about 10 minutes creating it and that I have zero artistic talent whatsoever!

Step 6 presented me with the option of buying my logo file so I could use it on my website, on letterheads, or on promotional materials. I also had the opportunity to use it on different business card templates right on the LogoYes.com website, which I did. I came up with two cards that I think look good, and would certainly give my business that professional feel that has been missing from the start (I’ve blanked out my last name and address for publication purposes, but they’re actually on the design).

Overall, I was very impressed with how easy the LogoYes.com logo design wizard was to use. The wizard features an incredible number of image, font, and color choices that gave me an amazing amount of flexibility every step of the way, and I was able to generate a professional-looking logo very quickly — even though I had no prior experience with this sort of thing.

If you’re looking for a simple, affordable way to brand your company, I recommend heading on over to LogoYes.com right now. You can test out different logos in the wizard with no obligation to buy, so why not give it a whirl? Hey, if I can come up with a nice logo all on my own, then anyone can!

I Am Legend was one of the biggest box office hits of 2007, finishing in sixth place on the year with an estimated domestic gross of $256,393,000 and change. The film received lots of positive reviews, and since I usually like Will Smith movies, I knew I’d eventually get around to seeing it. I didn’t have a chance to catch it in theaters, but was finally able to rent it last weekend.

I managed to remain unspoiled for this film, meaning I didn’t have any idea what it was about beyond what was shown in trailers. As it turns out, I shouldn’t have gone to all that trouble to avoid reading detailed reviews or listening in on discussions my friends had about the movie because not much happened in it anyway!

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): Smith stars as Col. Robert Neville, a man who appears to be the only human survivor in New York City after a deadly virus wiped out the rest of the population in the year 2012. Neville spends most of his days driving around the city with his dog Sam, hunting wild game and scrounging for supplies.

Strangely, he keeps a close eye on the time and makes sure to hustle back home while there’s still a bit of sunlight left. Furthermore, he barricades himself in his home at night, barring the door and pulling steel barriers down over the windows. Hmm, maybe he’s not alone after all.

As luck would have it, Neville is a virologist, so he spends the rest of his abundant free time in his basement laboratory working on cure for whatever wiped out most of humanity in the first place. He currently runs his test on bats and other creatures, but according to his notes, nothing has proven effective so far.

Later we learn that Neville does indeed have company in NYC. Apparently, not all of the infected humans died. Those that weren’t killed outright by the virus ended up suffering from rabies-like symptoms that not only turned them into raving lunatics, but also disfigured/elongated their skulls and transformed them into vampire-like creatures that are afraid of sunlight. Neville runs into a couple of these creatures in an abandoned building, and again later on when he gets ensnared in a trap.

Neville then gets a shock when two more uninfected survivors show up in the city. They are Anna (played by Alice Barga) and Ethan (Charlie Tahan), who help rescue him after he essentially tries to kill himself following the death of Sam, his only companion. Anna says they are heading to a survivor’s camp in Vermont, and encourages Neville to join them. Neville, however, replies that there are no survivors and that the two of them would just be wasting their time.

Things come to a head when Neville’s formerly secret abode is discovered by the vampire-like beings. These creatures apparently followed Anna and Neville after Anna’s rescue mission, and are now laying siege to the place. Neville leads Anna and Ethan to the basement, where he secures them in a hiding place. He also discovers that his latest cure actually worked, so he takes a vial of blood from the test subject, gives it to Anna, and tells her to carry it to the survivor’s camp. Neville then turns to face the onslaught of infected creatures, pulls out a grenade, and blows the lab up in order to save humanity.

My Reaction: I was kind of disappointed with I Am Legend because absolutely nothing happens in the first 30 minutes of the film! That whole time was spent in establishing Will Smith’s character, showing his daily routine, and hinting at what happened. The first vampire creature appeared right around the 30-minute mark, at which point things started to get a bit better. But that first part of the movie? What a snooze!

I also didn’t like how most of the story hinged on how Neville just happened to be a virologist who could sit around in the post-apocalyptic world and develop a cure. I mean, I’m willing to accept a certain amount of coincidence in movies, but that was a big one that was really hard to swallow.

After watching the film, I decided to go read the Wikipedia entry about the original novel, and I have to say that it sounded infinitely better than this adaptation. One line in the summary over there reads:

Neville sees the destruction of the infected survivors as a right, a moral imperative even, to be pursued for his own — and in turn the human race’s — survival. But at the end of the novel, he has a glimpse of a future society in which infection is the norm and Neville is a murderous deviant.

To me, that seems like it would have made a far more interesting theme than the standard Hollywood cleanup that we got in the latest adaptation, where Neville is turned into a typical hero who sacrifices himself to save the world. No wonder so many fans of the original novel were upset with the liberties taken in the film!

Overall, I Am Legend suffers from slow development, a boring plot, and an uninspired ending. I give the film just 4.5 stars out of 10, and wish I had read the original book instead!

A new episode of Bones aired on Monday night, but I didn’t get a chance to sit down and watch it until earlier this evening. The ep was called “Player Under Pressure”, and was originally scheduled to air during Season 2. But then the Virginia Tech massacre happened, so FOX execs decided to shelve it and go with a rerun instead. Why? Because the victim of the week was a college student, and even though he wasn’t gunned down in class, he was murdered on campus. Airing the ep at that time might have been considered in poor taste, so we didn’t get it until now.

Anyway, here are a few random thoughts I had about episode 3×11:

– Season 2 Booth and Brennan are awesome! Their interactions have the perfect amount of professionalism mixed with friendship and flirty banter. A lot of people have complained that the Booth/Brennan dynamic has become too dominant in S3, and even though I enjoy the interactions between these two, I sometimes agree with that assessment. I prefer to see special moments between the characters rather than entire storylines that focus on them being forced to go on a double date or whatever.

– I guessed that the security guard would somehow be involved from the minute that Booth realized the guy was a star from 25 years ago. Isn’t that always how these stories work out?

– Let me get this straight: Cutler killed Ray (or Roy or whatever the victim’s name was) because the kid was fooling around with Cutler’s daughter? Wow, there’s a strict dad for ya!

– Speaking of Cutler, remember that whole exchange when Booth mentioned that the guy’s college b-ball nickname was “Cutter”? I’m surprised Bones didn’t interject with something like, “What do safety cutters have to do with playing basketball?” as a way of showing her utter cluelessness about anything related to pop culture.

– I didn’t like the shenanigans in the lab this week. Sometimes that stuff is funny, sometimes it’s not. This time it wasn’t — especially that whole thing about the Angela/Hodgens DVD that Cam had. I found it disturbing that Cam would watch at all, and that Angela would watch it at work and comment about how “good” they were.

Next week we’re back to regular S3 epsiodes, so there will be even more opportunities for comparisons between the two different years!

It’s been a while since I’ve hosted a giveaway, so I figured this would be a good time to do another one. Up for grabs this week is a very cool Alien Nation DVD movie collection. You might remember Alien Nation as a short-lived television series that aired on FOX from 1989-90. The show was canceled because of budgetary problems despite being very popular with fans, which of course left lots of folks extremely disappointed.

The storyline of the original series was taken up again four years later with a television movie called Dark Horizon, and due to the success of that film, four more films followed over the next 3 years. These films have now been put together in a DVD box set called Alien Nation: Ultimate Movie Collection, and I’m giving you a chance to win one right now!

The box set contains the five Alien Nation movies (Dark Horizon, Body and Soul, Millennium, The Enemy Within, and The Udara Legacy), as well as a ton of extra features like concept art, photo stills, and commentary.

The contest will run from today until 5pm central on Sunday, April 27. To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post (please be sure to use a valid email address in the email field) before the deadline. On the 27th, I’ll put all the names into an online randomizer to come up with the winner, who will then have 48 hours to reply with a physical mailing address. If I don’t receive a reply within the designated time, I’ll repeat the drawing and come up with a second an alternate winner, etc. (To be clear, there’s only ONE winner here.)

This looks like a pretty cool box set, so go ahead and enter!

Edit(4/22): U.S. residents only, please. Sorry!

After a ho-hum Marshall-centric episode last week (and a generally up and down season overall), How I Met Your Mother made up for everything — and then some — with a new development that many fans have been waiting for since Season 1: the Barney and Robin hookup!!

Yes, folks, the writers went there, and it was awesome! Some of the stuff preceding the kiss wasn’t all that good, but the final 10 seconds of the ep was just about the best payoff I could have asked for.

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): Robin is excited because Simon, a guy from her past, is coming to New York to visit her. Robin had a big crush on Simon back when they were 16 years old. They starred together in a Robin Sparkles video called “Sandcastles in the Sand”, and they even dated for a week. But then Simon suddenly dumped her to get back together with one of his ex-girlfriends, leaving Robin with bad memories for the next 10 years.

Anyway, when Simon shows up, the gang is astonished to see that he’s not quite the catch that Robin remembered. Played by James Van der Beek, Simon has a pot belly, thinning hair, receding hairline, works in a water park, lives with his parents, and still harbors dreams of making it big with his garage band. Robin obviously has won the “how did your life turn out” competition, yet Simon still exercises a strange influence on her. She can’t see his flaws, and reverts back to the giggling 16-year-old who had a crush on him.

Marshall and Ted know this phenomenon well because it’s something that everyone goes through. Marshall dubs it “revertigo”, and says that it’s only natural that when you meet someone from your past, you’ll revert to the person you were when you knew them. This leads to a couple of hilarious scenes of Lily getting together with her high school friend Michelle, a well-spoken, intelligent PhD student at Columbia. When the two are together, however, they call each other “bitch”, say things like “for realz”, and walk with a certain… sway in their hips.

Later, Robin agrees to go on a date with Simon, after which she ends up liking him again thanks to revertigo. But Simon promptly dumps Robin yet again after one date, and she takes it pretty hard. In fact, she ends up in the bar all alone crying in her beer. That’s when Barney shows up and starts comforting Robin. Because he’s being so nice to her, Robin decides to invite him back to her place to watch the other Robin Sparkles video that he’s been dying to see. They watch it over and over — and then they start kissing! Due to the hotness of the kiss, there’s little doubt as to how far they went that night….

My Reaction: I thought the latest Robin Sparkles effort wasn’t as inspired as the first one. Nothing can top the original reveal of “Let’s Go to the Mall” in Slap Bet because it was so completely unexpected and brilliant back then. “Sandcastles in the Sand” was cringe-worthy for sure, but in a totally different way — it was just bad, but not necessarily funny.

But I don’t really care about that anyway, because I’m still excited about Barney and Robin finally hooking up! I have to admit that I’ve been rooting for them to get together because I think they have a tremendous amount of chemistry, and I’m just happy to see it happen. No, I haven’t given any long-term thoughts to where the writers can/should go from here (I prefer to simply enjoy the ride), and I know some fans are worried that this could be the beginning of the end, the jump the shark moment that we’ll look back to a few months from now.

Not me, though. I have faith in the writers and believe that they wouldn’t have taken such a major step without knowing precisely what they want to do with the storyline. At least, that’s what I’ll keep telling myself!

Last night’s episode of Desperate Housewives was called “In Buddy’s Eyes”, and though I have no idea what that title is in reference to, I’m happy to say that this was the best DH ep I’ve seen in a long time! It featured many of the elements that made me start watching the show in the first place, and spent just the right amount of time on each storyline. There were a couple of twists along the way, plus the start of a new mystery with that final shot of some unknown character circling Dylan’s picture in the newspaper.

Orson: All of the repressed guilt Orson has about deliberately running Mike over last season is finally showing some effects. Orson now sleepwalks in the nude and mumbles stuff about the incident. Susan caught Orson a couple of times, but she was more concerned with wiping “butt prints” off her kitchen stool than actually paying attention to what he said. Julie, however, did hear Orson sort of confess to hitting Mike, so now she’s wondering what’s up with him.

Gabby/Carlos: Gabby still feels that taking care of blind Carlos is a burden, so she decides to try to get something out of it for herself. She applies for a handicap parking placard in Carlos’s name, and then uses it when she’s out running errands. After getting into a confrontation with two wheelchair-bound men because of her obvious lack of a physical handicap, Gabby smartens up and actually brings Carlos with her the next time. But she leaves him in the car while she gets everything done, which makes him feel like even more of a useless burden. They finally have it out and come to something of an understanding — for the time being.

Tom/Lynette/Rick: Rick (the guy Lynette almost had an affair with) is back in town, and is opening his own restaurant down the block from the Scavo pizza place. This causes Tom to flip out, both because of what the competition will do to his business and because of what Rick might do to Lynette. He responds by throwing a brick through the front window at Rick’s restaurant. After the police show up to ask questions and Lynette hears Tom lie about what time he came home on the night of the incident, she confronts him. Tom confesses that yes, he did do it, but only because of the effect Rick had on Lynette before. Later, Rick’s place is burned to the ground, and the police suspect arson. Lynette doesn’t confront Tom this time, but she is not entirely sure that he’s innocent, either.

Katherine/Bree: Katherine and Bree work together planning a major event called the Founder’s Ball. Of course, they have differing opinions on just about everything, from the centerpieces to the Waldorf salads, which causes Bree to bristle. Then, when Bree hears that Katherine is presenting the major award of the night, something that Bree has traditionally done, she becomes vindictive. She lets Katherine try some kind of dip, after which Katherine falls ill. Nevertheless, Katherine insists on presenting the award — which goes to Bree.

After that, Katherine and Bree get to talking, and realize that they have a lot in common. They both have to be in control, they both establish this control by setting the perfect table and decorating with perfect Blanco sinks, and they both know that they can lose that control in an instant and be rendered helpless. Because of this, they should be friends and allies, not enemies, so they come to a tentative understanding.

My Reaction: Although I haven’t been a big fan of Katherine’s this year, I am really starting to warm to the character. Not that I like her or anything, but I finally feel as though her presence is adding something to the show. I love not being able to tell whether or not she’s sincere about joining forces with Bree. She seemed to be speaking from the heart, but most characters on this show are manipulative, so I have a feeling she has ulterior motives for this latest move.

I’m also glad to see that Orson will be getting a bigger storyline soon. It’s such a waste to have him just carrying Benjamin around, so I’m looking forward to seeing how this one plays out. The fact that Julie will be involved just increases my interest, as she’s another character that has had too little to do in the past.

So Tom’s slimy side finally surfaces again. How old is he, 12? What does he think throwing a brick through Rick’s window is actually going to accomplish. Oh, and I’ll give you 10:1 odds that the Scavo brats started the fire, not Tom. There’s a reason the camera showed them listening so obviously to Tom and Lynette arguing about the brick incident.

Gabby was awesome tonight! I love that no matter how shallow and selfish the character is, Eva Longoria manages to make her likable. Leave it to Gabby to get into a fight with men in wheelchairs — and feel guilty for only .10 of a second before saying, “Oh, well” and taking off!

Overall, this was a fun episode and gives me hope that Desperate Housewives will find its old form soon. I can’t wait to see what happens next week!

Two new releases took over the top spots at the box office this weekend, as last week’s champ Prom Night slipped to No.3 in the country with $9.1 million in sales — less than 50% of what the film did in its opening.

The new champ is the pre-teen adventure romp The Forbidden Kingdom starring Jackie Chan and Jet Li. About a kung fu-obsessed 12-year-old American boy who suddenly finds himself on a mission in China, The Forbidden Kingdom earned $20.9 million for the weekend.

Second place went to Forgetting Sarah Marshall, a raunchy comedy written by and starring Jason Segel of How I Met Your Mother fame (among other television and film credits. This movie was produced by Judd Apatow and features a few other faces that you’d expect from one of his efforts (including Jonah Hill and Paul Rudd), and actually received some very positive reviews from critics. It earned $17.3 million.

Last week’s second-place film, the cop drama Street Kings, plunged all the way to No.7 with just $4 million in revenue. I wanted to see this one because of Hugh Laurie, but now I don’t know. Maybe I’ll wait for the DVD!

Anyway, here’s the complete Top 10 at the box office for the weekend of 4/20/08:

1. The Forbidden Kingdom, $20.9 million
2. Forgetting Sarah Marshall, $17.3 million
3. Prom Night, $9.1 million
4. 88 Minutes, $6.8 million
5. Nim’s Island, $5.65 million
6. 21, $5.5 million
7. Street Kings, $4 million
8. Horton Hears a Who!, $3.5 million
9. Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, $3.15 million
10. Leatherheads, $3.02 million

I just started watching Bones in October of last year, but thanks to the WGA strike, I was able to catch up on all episodes from the first two seasons, as well as the nine episodes from the current season that aired before the strike. So when the show finally came back with a new ep last Tuesday, I was happy to see Booth, Brennan, and the rest of the gang again.

I didn’t realize how much I missed Bones until the first time Booth and Brennan were on screen together. They started bickering within a minute (as usual), which brought a smile to my face. I like these two characters, and think the actors have great chemistry together. Sure, they’re complete opposites, with Bones being the kind of meticulous person who puts Dymo labels on everything and has to be in control of every last detail of her life while Booth is more of a laid back, take-it-as-it-comes kind of guy, but that’s what makes them so great as a couple.

Anyway, the mystery of the week wasn’t all that exciting. I don’t like the “fresh” murders, as it doesn’t seem as likely to me that Bones would even be on the case at all, but whatever. I consider this show to be a guilty pleasure, as I watch it more for the Booth/Brennan interactions than for the mystery. And for that reason, I can’t wait for the next new ep tomorrow night!

Ben Stiller is one of those classic romantic comedy guys, which I guess is why he appears in so many films of this genre. What I mean is, he’s very convincing as your average nice guy who, as Roger Ebert puts it, is fantastic at doing a slow burn — just letting all of the other characters and situations grate on him without complaint until he simply cannot take it anymore. The audience sympathizes with a guy like this, and we can understand the outburst when it finally does come.

So what happens when Stiller plays a fundamentally unlikable character, as he did in the 2007 Farrelly brothers comedy The Heartbreak Kid? Well, the formula gets turned on its head and the result, at least in this case, isn’t pretty.

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): Stiller stars as Eddie Cantrow, a 40-something sporting good store owner who is feeling pressure from his father Doc (played by Jerry Stiller) and his best friend Mac (Rob Corddry) because he hasn’t found the right woman to settle down with yet. After attending his ex-fiancée’s wedding and hearing the bride’s father slight him in a toast, Eddie becomes more determined than ever to meet someone and end his bachelor days.

That someone turns out to be Lila (Malin Akerman), whom Eddie runs into outside a laundromat on Valentine’s Day. He didn’t get her number that day, but then she visits him at his store a little while later. They go out for coffee, hit it off, and are soon dating. A short time later, they get married and then drive down to Cabo for their honeymoon.

That’s when the trouble begins. Eddie realizes that he doesn’t know Lila half as well as he thought he did. In his words, it was like she “flipped a switch” after they got married, becoming a totally different person. Her transgressions range from minor annoyances like singing along to every single song that comes on the radio to having a wild past that includes cocaine abuse and $27,000 in debt. Oh, and Lila is so adventurous in the sack that she doesn’t even know what the missionary position is because she apparently does everything except that.

Eddie is miserable during the first few days in Cabo as he realizes that he has just made a huge mistake in marrying Lila. But then she gets a very bad sunburn that forces her to stay indoors for a while, which allows Eddie to go out by himself. He ends up meeting a woman named Miranda (Michelle Monaghan), and soon falls in love with her.

The rest of the film then deals with various situations that come up as Eddie tries to figure out how to dump Lila as quickly and painlessly as possible in order to snatch up Miranda. There are several romcom-style complications along the way, but no real surprises as the film builds up to its disappointing conclusion.

My Reaction: I didn’t like this film at all, mostly because I couldn’t think of a single way that the basic premise — that of marrying someone too quickly only to discover that personalities and ideals clash too much — could be funny. Then when you add the fact that Stiller’s character was reprehensible in his actions and that none of the jokes or sight gags actually elicited laughter, you can imagine how The Heartbreak Kid was pretty tough to sit through.

I really couldn’t stand the way Lila was portrayed after the wedding. Since Eddie was the main character, the filmmakers had to do something to make him at least more likable than Lila, so how did they accomplish this, they decided to saddle Lila with all kinds of flaws — none of which were even hinted at during the dating period. While I can see how Lila might have neglected to mention her old coke habit or her huge debt, I doubt that the singing or the volunteer “job” would have been major bombshells. Do you mean to tell me that Eddie and Lila never got into a car with the radio on while they were dating?

Also, whenever two characters in a movie wait to have sex until their wedding night, you can bet it means something bad will happen when they eventually do get around to it. In this particular case, having Lila be so… aggressive… was meant to be funny, but was actually just awkward and uncomfortable.

The only highlight for me in this film was Martin (Danny R. McBride), as he saw through Eddie’s bullshit and called him out whenever he had a chance. More Martin scenes might have made things a bit more tolerable.

Overall, I was very disappointed with the way The Heartbreak Kid turned out. I know it was a remake, so problems with the basic storyline can be blamed on someone else, but I was expecting so much more from Stiller and the Farrelly brothers. I give this film 4.0 stars out of 10.

A few people have asked how I find the time to watch and review so many movies (as well as TV shows and books). I try to put up at least one new review every day, which means that I certainly am very busy consuming all this media to keep my blog going. In order to do that efficiently, I find that sticking to a schedule is the best way to go.

Keeping up with TV shows is relatively easy, as they only require 21 or 42 minutes of my time. TiVo is very important in this regard, helping to shave 9 minutes off sitcoms and 18 minutes off dramas and allowing me to watch my shows whenever it’s convenient for me. If I didn’t have TiVo, I wouldn’t be able to watch TV!

Movies are a bit harder, as they require a longer time investment. I usually take them in during several sittings: 20 minutes as I use my mini-stepper machine, another 30 minutes when I take a break for lunch, and then maybe an hour after dinner. I also occasionally throw a DVD into my computer so I can have the movie playing in the background while I check email and do other tasks. Sure, I’d love to just sit in a massage chair for a couple hours while watching a film from beginning to end, but that’s impossible with all the other things I have to do in a day.

As for books, I force myself to read for 30 minutes before I take my afternoon nap and before I turn in for the night. Sometimes I read more than that, but if I find that if I don’t “assign” myself this task, I’m liable to let a book sit for weeks on end. I also listen to a fair amount of books on my iPod, but I try to make sure I get the unabridged version so it’s not cheating.

Anyway, there you have it. This is how I keep up with all of my movie, TV, and book reviews for this blog. And no, it never gets old or tiresome because I love this stuff!

Books filled with political satire are typically not found on my reading list, but I’d heard so many great things about America the Book by Jon Stewart that I decided to forget my usual reservations with the genre and check this one out. After all, Stewart would be discussing current events, so his jabs at the government should be easier to understand than, say, the ones Swift took at his government in Gulliver’s Travels, right?

So I grabbed the audiobook version of America the Book from the library last week and set about listening to Jon Stewart and a bunch of guests read the text.

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): America the Book is presented as a mock civics textbook that attempts to explain the history of democracy in the United States. Starting back with a quick look at the discovery of America and the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock and moving through to the Revolutionary War, the Declaration of Independence, and the Continental Congress, Stewart immediately sets an irreverent, biting, and very funny tone that will be maintained throughout the book’s nine chapters.

Stewart goes on to cover such topics as the President, Congress, the Judicial branch, Campaigns and Elections, and the Media in subsequent chapters. Each chapter is filled with Stewart’s spot-on observations and criticisms of the subject at hand, and ends with hilarious Discussion Questions and Classroom Activities. As a bonus, there are even a few humorous guest essays from people like Stephen Colbert, Ed Helms, and Samantha Bee.

My Reaction: I was very impressed by America the Book, and found myself laughing out loud a LOT while listening to this book. I’ve never watched a single episode of The Daily Show before and am not too familiar with Jon Stewart, so I was really taken by surprise at how funny this book was.

I have a feeling Stewart is a liberal, but he takes shots at both Democrats and Republicans in the book. People like Clinton, Kerry, Reagan, and Bush jr. are all targeted at some point, and I felt the criticism levied at each of these individuals was well deserved. In fact, most of the complaints Stewart has about the government are warranted on some level, which makes the book even better.

The best part of America the Book is that Stewart scatters actual tidbits of knowledge in with the satire, making it a great refresher in American history for those of us who have been out of school for ages. I’m not saying you should prepare for a citizenship test with this book as your primary source material or anything like that, but it does contain at least a few solid facts.

After checking out other customer reviews, I realized I made a huge mistake by listening to the audiobook version instead of going with the regular printed text. Apparently, the real book has a bunch of funny illustrations, drawings, and charts, as well as lots of little “Were You Aware?” boxes that contained additional fun facts and info. Obviously this stuff couldn’t be included in an audiobook, so I completely missed out on some funny material.

Overall, I thought America the Book by Jon Stewart was excellent. It definitely lived up to all the hype, and will have you laughing at our government no matter where your political loyalties are. I highly recommend this book if you’re in the mood for something funny!