Fall is almost upon us, meaning its Oscar movie season. Let's face it, very few films from the first 8 months of the year ever hear a peep come Oscar time. This year, it's the same with only Seabiscuit, Finding Nemo, and The Matrix: Reloaded probably the only major contenders with a glimmer of a chance. The rest of the nominees will come from the next 4 months. That means tons of movies will be released eager to get your attention, your money, and your votes. The following list just happens to mention some of these movies as well as others that aspire to entertain rather than receive awards.

Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star - I'm sorry. I believe this missed the August dumps by a week. David Spade is a former child star looking to re-establish his career by growing up again. (September 5)

The Order - Most of the cast of A Knight's Tale, including Heath Ledger, reunites for this pic about a murder mystery becoming something much more: sin eating. (September 5)

Cabin Fever - What could go wrong with 5 friends spending time in a cabin? Yeah, one of them has a flesh-eating virus. (September 12)

Dummy - Before the Pianist, Adrien Brody filmed this little pic about the relationship between his ventriloquist character and the puppet he brings to life. (September 12)

Lost in Translation - Directed by Sofia Coppola, Bill Murray gets a second chance in life, exploring Tokyo with young friend Scarlett Johansson from Ghost World. Judging from the trailer, it looks to be one of the best of the season. (September 12 in Los Angeles, September 19 in the Bay Area)

Matchstick Men - Nicolas Cage's life turns upside-down when he finds the daughter he never knew he had. It's one of the few books I've read before seeing the film and if director Ridley Scott stays true to its dark, comedic themes, he's got a great movie on his hands. (September 12)

Once Upon a Time in Mexico - Robert Rodriguez gets away from the Spy Kids trilogy to complete this trilogy of the gun-toting, guitar playing Mexican (Antonio Banderas). Here, a CIA agent (Johnny Depp) hires El Mariachi to take care of a cartel boss. (September 12)

Anything Else - The annual Woody Allen film finds Jason Biggs as a comedy writer who discovers breaking up with Christina Ricci is harder than it sounds. (September 19)

Cold Creek Manor - From the director of Leaving Las Vegas comes this mystery of an unsolved mystery where not much is known about the former occupants of Cold Creek Manor until they stop by for a little visit. (September 19)

The Fighting Temptations - Along with shifting release dates from August to September, the star of the film has shifted from Cuba Gooding Jr. to Beyonce. (September 19)

Secondhand Lions - A boy is sent to live with some crazy uncles in Texas. Playing the boy is Haley Joel Osment. Playing the uncles are Michael Caine and Robert Duvall. (September 19)

Underworld - Vampire (Kate Beckinsale) + Werewolf (Scott Speedman) = One Crazy Relationship. An action/fantasy Romeo and Juliet? (September 19)

Duplex - Drew Barrymore and Ben Stiller learn to live with an annoying old neighbor in a duplex that's falling apart. (September 26)

The Rundown - The Rock's first role as a real-live person, not some wrester or mythical figure, finds him in a comedy with Seann William Scott. (September 26)

Under the Tuscan Sun - Diane Lane moves to Italy for a fresh start, a beautiful home, and new love. (September 26)

The Human Stain - Anthony Hopkins is an African-American professor who has spent his life being a Jewish white man. But when he utters a racial slur in the classroom, he finds comfort in a cleaning woman played by Nicole Kidman. (October 3)

Out of Time - Denzel Washington is the police chief everyone loves until some secret financial transactions lead him to be the lead suspect in a murder. (October 3)

The School of Rock - More lunacy from Jack Black, he's a substitute teacher desperate to win a Battle of the Bands contest. So what better place to recruit a band than the classroom? (October 3)

Wonderland - The life of porn star John C. Holmes and his link to a quadruple homicide. Holmes partially inspired P.T. Anderson's Boogie Nights. Val Kilmer plays the title character. (October 3)

Mystic River - The only major American entry into the Cannes Film Festival (let's not talk about The Brown Bunny) stars Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, and Kevin Bacon as friends who were brought together after a traumatic event to one of them when they were young and unite again after Penn's daughter is found murdered. Directed by Clint Eastwood. (October 8)

Good Boy! - The top canine agent from a distant planet travels to Earth to find out what happened to his fellow canine spies. (October 10)

Intolerable Cruelty - The Coen Brothers bring us on another wacky adventure as George Clooney plays a divorce lawyer who falls for his client's soon-to-be ex-wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones). (October 10)

Kill Bill: Volume One - It's the big experiment from Quentin Tarantino. His big comeback is literally so big, it's being released in two parts. This martial arts spectacle stars Uma Thurman and Lucy Liu. When's Volume Two comin out? Who knows? (October 10)

Pieces of April - Katie Holmes tries to make peace with her estranged parents. (October 17)

Runaway Jury - Adapted from the John Grisham novel, John Cusack will sell his jury to the highest bidder. Among the bidders, Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman. (October 17)

Sylvia - Gwyneth Paltrow hopes to build some Oscar buzz into this pic about a troubled poet. (October 17)

Texas Chainsaw Massacre - Classic, mindless killing continues its comeback (see: Freddy vs. Jason). (October 17)

Beyond Borders - Angelina Jolie's humanitarian soft side hits the big screen in a love story between a socialite and an aid worker. (October 24)

Brother Bear - The classic animals vs. humans animated story where animals will win save for one or two casualties. In a twist, a boy and a hunter are morphed into bears. But come on, I bet you're just dying to hear the next songs from Phil Collins. (October 24)

Elephant - Gus Van Sant's look into high school violence won the Palme D'Or in the Cannes Film Festival. (October 24)

Gothika - Psychiatrist Halle Berry gets her roles reversed as she finds herself as a patient in a mental hospital accused of killing her husband. Also starring are Penelope Cruz and Robert Downey Jr. (October 24)

In the Cut - Meg Ryan plays a professor who falls for the detective (Mark Ruffalo) investigating a murder she witnessed. (October 24)

Radio - Cuba Gooding Jr. plays a mentally challenged boy who befriends the high school football coach (Ed Harris). (October 24)

Scary Movie 3 - The franchise looks to rebound from its sorry sequel to make fun of a whole bunch of fresh material. (October 24)

Alien - Ridley Scott's classic is re-released with a few minutes of unseen footage. (October 31)

The Matrix: Revolutions - True fans don't need to be reminded as to when this film will be released. Hopefully, it succeeds where its prior edition, Reloaded, underwhelmed. (November 5)

Elf - Will Ferrell discovers he's a regular human instead of a North Pole Elf and so, travels to the big city to find his family. (November 7)

21 Grams - A car accident brings together a grieving mother, a crazy mathematician, and an ex-convict. (November 14)

Honey - Jessica Alba dreams of becoming the next big dancer. We wonder if it aspires to be a hit (Flashdance, Save the Last Dance) or become a dud (Showgirls, Glitter). (November 14)

Looney Tunes: Back in Action - The animated shorts make a live-action comeback. (November 14)

Love Actually - Can you tell love is a major theme of the movie? If not, the 10 storylines that involve those 4 letters will beat you over the head with it. Stars Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Laura Linney, Billy Bob Thornton and a host of others. (November 14)

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World - Russell Crowe is out on the high seas in the British navy in this long-delayed film. (November 14)

The Cat in the Hat - Mike Myers stars as The Cat, in this Dr. Seuss classic. (November 21)

Big Fish - Tim Burton comes back to direct this pic about a man listening to the facts of his dying father's life as told through his wild imagination. (November 26)

The Haunted Mansion - Yet another Disney ride comes to the big screen as spirits haunt Eddie Murphy's attempt at a family vacation. (November 26)

Timeline - Based on the novel by Jurassic Park writer Michael Crichton, Paul Walker and Frances McDormand are archaeologists who find themselves transported to the 14th century. (November 26)

House of Sand and Fog - Self-fulfillment leads to self-destruction as recovering alcoholic Jennifer Connelly struggles to get her home back. (November)

The Last Samurai - Seemingly the Asian Glory, Tom Cruise is a Civil War veteran who comes to Japan to lead its army but instead chooses to lead a band of samurai. (December 5)

The Missing - Ron Howards directs Cate Blanchett as a mother in the Western frontier faced with the discovery of her father after years of living with Indians and the kidnapping of one of her daughters. (December 10)

Something's Gotta Give - Jack Nicholson is in love with Amanda Peet. Keanu Reeves is in love with Peet's mother, Diane Keaton. Put them in a room and I'm sure they'll figure things out. (December 12)

Stuck on You - The Farrelly Bothers manage to convince Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear to come star in a comedy in which they are conjoined twins. As you can imagine, hijinx follow. (December 12)

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Will it be the greatest of the three and break through with an Oscar win that its predecessors could not win or will it become a disappointing battle-dominated pic along the lines of the similarly titled "Return of the Jedi"? (December 17)

Mona Lisa Smile - Julia Roberts hopes to convince college girls that life isn't just about marrying a rich man and having children. (December 19)

The Alamo - A re-telling of the classic battle between Americans and Mexicans. Remember, there's no basement at the Alamo. (December 25)

Cheaper by the Dozen - Steve Martin. 12 kids. Stir. (December 25)

Cold Mountain - As an injured Jude Law comes home from the Civil War to see his love Nicole Kidman, he encounters many characters along the way including Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Natalie Portman while Kidman struggles to revive the family farm with the help of Renee Zellweger. (December 25)

The Company - Acclaimed director Robert Altman leads a film about a ballet company. (December 25)

Paycheck - Ben Affleck hopes to shake Gigli off him by starring in this John Woo directed-pic about a computer programmer who trades in his memory for a paycheck and must re-trace his steps to find out who he is. (December 25)

Peter Pan - A live-action re-telling of the animated film. Fine, but take away the Coldplay music from the trailer. It makes the movie sound creepy with it. (December 25)

Now for the trip report. The trip was divided into two parts, New Jersey and New York. As you may now, the farthest east I've gone was Vegas so all of this was a new experience. One thing you immediately notice is the temperature. It was hot and humid, even at night. As we would see, it would stay hot throughout and would finally cool down when we left.

So the first three days were in New Jersey. My aunt moved from SoCal to the Garden State for her husband as a new job opportunity opened up. They've got 3 kids with 2 boys, 7 and 5 if I remember correctly, and a girl almost 3. All are into art, as evidenced by the art gallery of paintings in the basement, doubling as a massive toy room.

It seemed as though they lived in the middle of a forest. Trees are just everywhere and even louder animals. At night, it's very noisy with some kind of animal (its name escapes me) chirping louder than crickets. My sister and I stayed in the aforementioned basement, so we didn't hear much.

Since we got to the house at 1am Sunday morning, it was a good time to turn in. So on Sunday, we went through the surrounding locale. They live close by to Princeton University so we visited its shops, buildings, and art gallery. It's a nice place to visit. I could even see it as a much cleaner Berkeley with buildings more spread out and made of bricks. We had dim sum that day, supposedly the best one in the area. It was adequate but I'll go back home to eat with some more quality. And for some odd reason, I never did see a green onion in anything I ate. Only yellow onions. I know, petty comment but I like green onions.

The next day was spent in Philadelphia. We just had to go see the Liberty Bell. It's what the city is known for, as is its Philly Cheese Steak. Sure, you can have one almost anywhere, but now you can eat one in its hometown. Then it was to Chinatown and some mall near Chinatown. An interesting place to be at but an advertisment said to spend two days instead of one in Philly, something I can't imagine doing. I'd rather spend the extra day exploring the rest of Pennsylvania if I had a choice. Wouldn't you rather go to Hershey?

On the last day, we went to a sculpture garden named Grounds for Sculpture. It's a very simple place; get a plot of land, hire some people to build and maintain outdoor sculptures, and charge people to see it. It was a nice place to visit if it didn't get so hot.

And you know what, just like that, New Jersey was a faded memory. Came Wednesday morning, we were taking a NJ Transit train to the heart of New York City at Penn Station. I was told I acted as if I lived there once we got to NYC (or should we call it 'the NYC' like 'the OC'? I tell ya, that show is hilarious). Well of course I wanted to. I didn't want to look like a tourist. It was easy to play the role though with the many pictures that were being taken, so I had to limit my tourist stench somehow. One way was I knew where I was going. That helped a lot. We stayed at the Hilton New York. When most people stay in NYC, they like to use the small hotels since they provide better service than most chain hotels. But this being our first time, I thought it would be best to stay with a name brand, hence we chose the largest hotel in the city. Stayed on the 33rd floor. Not much of a view; it was an office building next door. Small bathroom. But the room was of a decent size and it was quiet. That's all you can ask for when most of the time, you probably won't be in the room. We got to NYC at noon. So a little sightseeing around the hotel was the order of the day. Basically walked in a circle. Went past Radio City Music Hall and into Rockefeller Center. From there headed west to Broadway and walked up, past the Letterman studio up to near Central Park. By this time, with the sightseeing, shopping, walking, etc., we were all dead tired and hungry. So we ate at the first place we saw. That happened to be the Hard Rock Cafe. I know, they're everywhere with half-decent food, but hey, it was there, we were filled and we were off.

The next day started bright and early. It was 8am when we headed to Rockefeller Center to try to get on the Today Show. On the way, we stopped at Fox and Friends too; they were giving out free donuts. It was 8:30 when we got to Today. From a distance, we saw the Rockettes, Matt Lauer and Ann Curry. Katie was on vacation. Soon enough, Al Roker came by to our section of the railing. With many people in front of me, I didn't make an effort to be seen, though I saw the camera, so if you watched real close, you probably could see me. My dad on the other hand was jumping like a maniac waving wildly. The NBC people took a picture of us so we headed to the NBC store to buy our photo. While there, some sales guy coaxed my dad to try out a virtual experience machine over there. They dragged me in there not knowing what was going on. It was going to be an interview with Jay Leno. I don't know if you can tell, but let's just say I'm not a Jay fan. I wasn't too thrilled to be on-camera. We definitely didn't know what was going on, and as a result, we didn't buy the tape. Missed opportunity for you to see me act like an ass. You'll just have to wait until you see me again.

Later on, we headed east toward Grand Central Terminal. It was recently remodeled and then destroyed when asteroids hit it and... oh wait, that's Armageddon. But there was a great mural on the ceiling of the constellations and a nice (read:expensive) food court where we ate lunch. Further east was the United Nations. Security is really tight over there. Gates everywhere with SWAT teams and security guards swarming. But the amount of history there is amazing. Everyone there though was in a somber mood as UN Headquarters in Iraq was destroyed earlier in the day by a car bomb. We moved back west on 42nd Street toward Times Square. I really didn't appreciate it during the day but luckily I saw it again at night and that's when you get to see its beauty of lights and whatnot. Passed by ABC and MTV. You ever see those commercials on MTV about the MTV store? How it's a can't miss? I think you can miss it. The store is as big as my apartment. On the other side of the spectrum is the Toys R Us. 4 stories of toy shopping with a large T-rex roaring on the top floor and a big ferris wheel operating in front of the store. Once we were done, we kept on moving south to Macy's and the Empire State Building. Macy's is billed as the world's largest store, something I can believe. It's a whole city block. It's bigger than anything I've ever seen plus they were remodeling.

At that point, it was still hot and we needed to freshen up so we taxied back to the hotel. Boy, those taxi drivers amaze me. I don't think I could last 5 minutes driving in that town. Later that night, we were to see Phantom of the Opera. Before that, we ate at Carmine's, an Italian restaurant down the street from the theater. They specialize in family-style eating which means the portions are huge. This was evident with the calamari. When you order calamari at say the Olive Garden, you're lucky to get a few pieces per person. Here, calamari could be the meal itself. They just stack it up on a big place and say enjoy. All the other dishes were good too, especially the different pastas. Now, before you ever see a Broadway show, look for discounts. I found these on broadwaybox.com. The Phantom tickets were in the 5th row and usually priced at $100. We got it for $45 and it was an excellent show, even with 2 understudies performing in the major roles.

Oh geez, it's already the last day. Where had the time gone? This day would be cut short since we had an early morning flight the next day. It was devoted to Lower Manhattan. That meant a trip on the subway. The subway is a speedier but dirtier version of BART. Many people take it and it can get very hot down there. The trains luckily are air-conditioned but the stations aren't. At least the popular trains come every few minutes. Our first stop was Chinatown. And you know what, it didn't look very Chinese. No Chinatown can be called Chinatown when it has McDonalds, Burger King, Starbucks, and Haagen Daz within a two-block radius. It should be noted that these restaurants have their names in Chinese, to at least blend in.

We subwayed to the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty. Due to security concerns, you can't go inside the Statue anymore, so why bother going on the island? Besides, the ferry is free. And that's a price you can't beat. Afterwards, we stopped by the World Trade Center. It's nice to see they've begun construction on the memorial. Large screens blocked off most views of the disaster site, though I'm sure they'll be opening everything back up for the 2nd anniversary. From there, it was a short trip to Wall Street. You can't go inside the New York Stock Exchange but you can still see the big flag that covers its front. Across the way is the site where George Washington was inaugurated as president. We ended up at the South Street Seaport, the closest thing NYC has to a mall.

And that was the trip. One day later, I was back in Berkeley, ready, but tired, for the first day of school.

As you can tell from the numerous posts, I'm back from New York, a very enjoyable and mostly flawless trip, save for the first day, which is the topic of this post. I'll get to the rest of the trip in a later post.

Heading into the trip, it seemed something didn't want us to go to New York. There was a highly publicized shooting at City Hall. And then, there was the great blackout, which darkened New York and most of the Northeast. After that blackout, we were supposed to fly there the next day!

We had an early morning flight at 7 am to Newark, where some of my family live nearby. They were going to pick us up at 5 pm, when the plane touches down. There isn't a direct flight to Newark anymore as Continental decided to cut that flight out of the schedule. So we chose the cheapest one, which happened to be American Airlines. There was to be a connection in St. Louis. The flight to St. Louis was a breeze. No problems. Though, the airline is getting cheap with food. Yes, airline food is pretty bad, but I was hungry and all they gave us was yogurt, a granola bar, and some raisins. We got to St. Louis at 1:00 with a one-hour connection.

So by 2:00 we were sitting on the plane at the gate waiting. And waiting. And waiting. At 3:00, the captain informs us thunderstorms were in our flight path and the FAA wouldn't let any planes leave the airport. He also thinks it will be another hour, so he forces everyone off the plane since it's probably more comfortable in the terminal. During this time, we had our share of overpriced terminal food, a small $7 sandwich and a $3 bottle of water. So by 4:00, we were off and running. Well, flying. The captain says we're almost to Cleveland when the radar breaks. With low visibility and thunderstorms below us, we have to land somewhere to fix it. Cleveland won't take us; they're socked in by thunderstorms and still recovering from the blackout. Chicago won't either; they've got thunderstorms too. So, we make a major U-turn and head back to St. Louis. It's 6:00 when we land again in St. Louis. We must wait another half hour for another plane to get ready. By 7:00, everyone's on the plane, anxious to leave. We taxi to the runway and start to speed up. Just when we're ready to take off, silence. The right engine dies. You can't really fly with one engine. We taxi back. Passengers sigh and are angry, rightfully so. They begin to ask for vouchers, food, anything that will appease them for their inconvenience. The airline stays silent and simply refuses. Keep in mind, no drinks or even peanuts have been served. So everyone's hungry and tired and angry, a terrible combination to have in an enclosed space.

We go back to the terminal at 7:15 only to find it empty. Apparently, they close it down early, leaving no food places open for us. Everyone is resigned to slump on chairs, awaiting the next folly. The new plane is finally ready and by 8:30, we leave, boarding for a 4th time. Soon, we are flying in what will be a trouble-free flight. What did we get for our troubles? A bag of pretzels. No, wait... 2 bags of pretzels. Just an awful experience.

The flight to Newark took two hours. From above, we still saw the thunderstorms. It was cool to see a lightning strike black out a community almost immediately. It would be 11:30 Eastern time when we finally landed. My aunt was kind enough to stay up that late to come and pick us up, only 6 hours late. I'd been up for 16 hours flying and all I wanted to do was go to sleep.

Luckily, the flight back was pretty much flawless. Only a 10 minute delay from Los Angeles to San Jose was the only hiccup.

As for the six days in the New Jersey/New York area, that'll come later. Now, I've got a late class to attend.

First day of school today. Nothing inspiring happening. The usual explanation of the syllabus and a roll call. Funniest moment today has been a guy in one of my sections named Peter Pan. That's classic. 2nd place goes to a lady from England who asked what was the significance of the "upside-down triangle" written next to one equation. The professor replied it was simply an exclamation point.

My econometrics professor teaches both levels of the class, 140 and 141. I'm taking 141. What's the difference between the classes?, someone asks. He answers, "In this class, you actually get to know stuff." He's worked at numerous companies and taught in at least 6 universities. Is there some reason he's taught at so many places or does he like to travel?

Significant goings-on in the California Governor Recall. Bill Simon dropped out on the grounds of Republican unity. Cruz Bustamante is finally attracting the Democratic vote, making him the leader of a Los Angeles Times poll. He's garnering 35% of the vote compared to Arnold Schwarzenegger's 22%. Considering the poll was taken before Simon dropped out and half of those polled said their votes might change, the race is still very volatile.

Blink and you might have missed it. College football season started with games played by Cal and San Jose State. Cal lost to the 5th-ranked team in the nation Kansas State. But hey, they beat the spread. Favored by 28, K-State only won by 14. San Jose State, usually in the basement of Division 1-A football faced the number one team in Division 1-AA Grambling State. This game really showed the difference between that one A. SJSU won 29-0. While there was a football game, the true draw was Grambling's marching band, the baddest band in all the land.

Seabiscuit
Straight from Northern California comes the story of Seabiscuit, a horse too small to be considered a winner but with a heart of a champion. Charles Howard (Jeff Bridges), a product of a rags-to-riches success story who transitioned from bicycles to automobiles and made a fortune, was riding on Cloud 9 until the Depression hit both in America and in his life. While he was financially okay, his son was lost in a car accident and his wife was lost to divorce. After he finds a new love at a racetrack, he decides to get a horse of his own. Overlooking a host of race-bred horses, he agrees upon an unlikely, and very cheap, horse chosen and trained by Tom Smith (Chris Cooper). Smith, in turn, chooses an equally unlikely jockey in Red Pollard, who is oversized, at least in jockey terms, played by Tobey Maguire. Soon enough, the west coast is abuzz with word that Seabiscuit is the fastest horse out there. Of course, things are way different in the east, which has a horse of their own in War Admiral, a horse which has won many prestigious races including the Triple Crown. The group of Howard, Pollard, Smith, and Seabiscuit make their way to the east to try to compete and gain respect. But every race Seabiscuit races, War Admiral fails to show. The two parties decide to hold a two-horse race of their own on War Admiral's home turf. They're all ready to race until Pollard, testing out a horse for an old boss, is stepped on, breaking his leg. He's told he can never ride again. It is here that the human spirit takes flight as a story of perserverence results.

This is such a grand piece of work. I've always been a fan of Gary Ross movies, from Big to Dave to Pleasantville to this one. (Okay, Mr. Baseball was a minor setback.) In every one of these films, the surroundings every character interacts plays a major role in his development, whether it is the big-city lifestyle Tom Hanks adjusted to, the busy cut-throat political scene in Dave, the naivete of Pleasantville, and, yes, Tokyo for Tom Selleck. But while these are generally specific to one locale, Seabiscuit's story, as well as the prime cast of characters involved, could have been repeated at any old racetrack. But Ross, while showcasing handsomely the development of 4 losers into winners, never does forget his surroundings, creating the look and feel befitting a champion Seabiscuit became in the 1930s. Though sometimes Ross gets a little carried away and chooses to over-emphasize the connections each of them have with each other and also gives us some extraneous scenes, he knows how to tell a good story (adapted from Laura Hillenbrand book) and tell it well.

All the actors give great performances. Bridges and recent Oscar-winner Cooper can always be counted on to give a good perfromance, but the standout is Maguire, who shows a wide range of emotion, from the frustrating defeats to the highs of winnings, and the lows of suffering an injury and watching his friend accept honors he should have won. William H. Macy provides comic relief with his announcer shtick, giving us time to enjoy what we've just seen while staying updated on what that amazing horse keeps on doing. Seabiscuit wins...and it is some winner. 3.5 stars

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
There's a scene when Allan Quartermain (Sean Connery) is being introduced to the league when he utters, "I'm waiting to be impressed." Well, after watching this film, I am too.

Quartermain is the leader of a group of literary characters circa 1899 including Tom Sawyer, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the Invisible Man, Captain Nemo, and so on. They're brought together by the British government to stop a plot by the Fantom to kill the world's leaders congregating in Venice. The world isn't really a fun place to be in as tensions heat up between countries, a fire only stoked by the actions of the Fantom. With the help of the Nautilus, the League travels the world in order to track down the Fantom and stop him before he does any further damage to the deteriorating ties in the world.

I think this film has deserved the moniker several critics have given it: The League of Extraordinary Crap. In terms of plausibility, believability, and just pure storytelling, the movie fails on all three. Every time we're whisked to a place, they talk, they fight, and they leave, all of it held together by a sliver of plot. Why did such and such happen? How should I know? But before I can answer, Tom Sawyer is driving around trying to chase an underwater bomb? What the ? Underwater bomb? Tom Sawyer driving? Isn't he a kid? Can you really drive through Venice? Since it's based on a comic book, it seems we needed to be exposed to all the characters whereabouts, seemingly, all at the same time. But at least in a comic book, we can go back and re-read. In a movie theatre, you can't. And I don't know why anyone would want to rent this mishmash of incoherence. 1 star

I'm off to New York for a week, so predictably, nothing will be updated.

There's space for a Seabiscuit and a League review, even, yes, a Gigli review, but I didn't have time. So too for the fall movie preview. Wait for all of these soon.

Also, I understand I'll be missing Steven's going away party as he heads to USC film school. Congrats to you.

Now that the major candidates have announced their intentions, I can write about it.

While I'll vote to recall the governor, voters shouldn't have been given this option in the first place. Recalls should only be used in the most extreme of circumstances and the reasons proponents have given for this one are a worsening budget and the slow reaction to the energy crisis, reasons to be outraged but not reasons to recall.

But now that's in the past. 1.7 million people signed a petition to recall Gray Davis and Californians now have the chance to do it. When coffers were full, Davis did his best on his one campaign issue that he focused on when he beat Dan Lundgren in 1998: education. He increased funding for it, proposed standardized tests to hold schools accountable and increased financial aid for college students. Everyone was pretty much happy. Then his first true test came in the form of the energy crisis. The previous governor, Pete Wilson, passed electricity deregulation, opening up competition. In the test site of San Diego, it was obvious it wasn't working as rates went up astronomically. As early 2001 approached, more power was needed from out-of-state sources, raising prices at a similar astronomical rate while threatening businesses and residents with rolling blackouts. Months after the crisis started, Davis finally retreated from his power conservation stance to finance power plant building and sign contracts that guaranteed the price of power. Today, power plants are still being built even though are power needs are being temporaily met and that price Davis got for power is running higher than the free market price today.

Then, the combo of 9/11 and the tech bubble bursting had a powerful effect on the economy. Capital gains revenue as well as taxes from the rich, both of which fund the majority of the state's budget, fell off dramatically, leading to the predicament we have today. Davis has shown he has a hands-off approach to the budget. He proclaims "I have a budget" and leaves it to the Legislature to figure things out. And that's no easy task with the recent implementation of term limits. There's simply no incentive for cooperation when you're going to be booted out in a few years. So, legislators do what's best for the party and/or their constituents, instead of reaching a compromise. Davis' failure to be more involved in reaching compromise (his only involvement seems to be weekly meetings with the leaders from each house) has resulted in late budgets that do no real good. Already, there's an $8 billion deficit next year.

So with such dire conditions, why would anyone want to be governor of the state? I wouldn't know, but 135 want to convince you that they're willing and able. The longshots include a porn star, a woman who sells thong underwear, a police officer, and just everyday people. How about the main cast?

Arnold Schwarzenegger is the front runner, garnering 25-45% support, depending on which poll you want to believe. His political experience is short, passing Prop 49, the after-school initiative. A social liberal with a conservative financial mind, Schwarzenegger is not being too forthcoming with information about positions on the issues. When asked about the budget, he said a plan would be forthcoming. When asked whether he'd release his taxes via satellite, he said he couldn't hear the question. While Davis attacks him for being a person of one-liners, at least he has a variety of one-liners. Davis says the same old thing about one liners and experience in every speech he gives. Until Schwarzenegger speaks out more, I won't be truly convinced of his political worthiness, but name recognition alone will probably get him to the top unless somebody proves he's not ready to be governor.

Two people wanting a second chance are Bill Simon and Peter Camejo, both of whom lost to Davis in the last election. Davis did an unheard of thing by attacking Richard Riordan during the Republican primary, allowing Simon, a businessman and political novice, to become the party's nominee. Davis is known for his ruthless campaigns, attacking a candidate from all sides. This was especially noted in a 1992 Senate primary campaign, comparing Dianne Feinstein, the eventual winner, to tax cheat Leona Helmsley. For Simon, it was non-stop ads about his business dealings, dealings in which he was found not guilty of any wrongdoing. Still, the damage was done. Even with the ineptitude of his campaign, constant staff turnover, and a few blunders, it was amazing he lost to Davis by only 5 points. His conservative message may be tempting again, but with State Senator Tom McClintock and former baseball comissioner Peter Uberroth splitting the conservative vote, all 3 will have a tough time getting votes.

Camejo is part of the Green Party and earned 5% of the vote last time out. The Green Party is left of the Democrats on the ideological scale but third parties traditionally don't have a chance in the two-party system. He does believe that by taxing the rich even more, California would not have a budget deficit.

The Democrats' main choice is Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante. Bustamante has been a quiet lieutenant, nothing too flashy, nothing to get him in trouble. But it seems he never sees his governor often. At two different times in the past few weeks, he was asked whether he has talked to Davis and both times he's said no. And while they're both Democrats, Bustamante disagrees with Davis' raising of the vehicle license fee, which tripled the cost of registering your car. Davis maintains it was mandated by law and enacted by his budget director. Bustamante, McClintock, and various Republicans have come out against it and some are going to court to stop it. As Democrats' only major choice, Bustamante should be the front runner in a state that has more Democrats than Republicans (44%-35%). Instead, it shows how much name recognition Schwarzenegger has and how much work Bustamante has to do to push through his "No on the Recall, Yes on Bustamante" campaign.

Arianna Huffington is also in the ring as an independent. She's the former wife of Congressman Michael Huffington, who lost to Feinstein in a 1994 Senate contest, and then proclaimed he was a bisexual. Arianna is running as an independent, hoping to break the stranglehold big money has on the Capitol while pledging to spend only $10 million for her campaign.

Finally, there's Larry Flynt, founder of Hustler Magazine. He promises to bring in slot machines and use the tax revenue to raise $3 billion. What else he wants to do, I don't wanna know.

Whatever happens, by October 7, Californians probably won't care who it is, as long as he or she does something interesting.

S.W.A.T.
When a situation needs more than simple handguns, call in those people with special weapons and tactics. Quelling a bank robbery went reasonably well with the exception of a hostage getting injured. That alone gets Jim Street (Colin Farrell) demoted to the gun cage while partner Brian Gamble (Jeremy Renner) chooses to leave the force. 6 months later, the luster that is the L.A.P.D. is dulling and some fresh blood is needed. Bring in the old guy, Sergeant Hondo (Samuel L. Jackson), to form a new S.W.A.T. team and be the best of the best. As a result, he recruits Street, Chris Sanchez (Michelle Rodriguez), David Kay (LL Cool J), and two other S.W.A.T. veterans. The first true situation they must handle is a prisoner transfer (Oliver Martinez) wanted in 12 countries. With his money, he offers $100 million to anyone who can break him out. Predictably, the gangs come out to do the deed but one breaks out of the pack, led by Gamble himself, pitting old friends against each other.

What it lacks in story and, especially in the second half, plausibility, S.W.A.T. exceeds in simplicity. And simplicity in an action movie is a good thing. A flimsy start leads into a great training sequence which seems real and was very interesting. The second half is a series of chase scenes, explosions, and a plane landing, but it doesn't go overboard like this summer's Bad Boys II did. It gives reason for each of those things to happen, even if it is crazy to believe it could actually happen in real-life. A lack of fanciness leads to function and this is a decent thriller. Stick Jackson into any picture and it pretty much excels (well, save for those Star Wars pics). Yes, it could have been a bit smarter by making the priosner exchange go through a few more hoops, and that means not having the Gamble character connected to Street all together. Nevertheless, it's a fun movie to watch, from initial training to the final track. 3 stars

As some of you may or may not know, this time next Saturday I'll be headed to New York for a one-week stay there. Since I've never been more than 500 miles away from home, being 3,000 miles away will be a different experience. So I'll be playing the role of tourist, wearing shorts and a shirt, taking pictures of every big thing (the buildings, the celebrities) to all little ones (the rats). One of the things I was looking forward to was the talk shows. As evidenced by the Letterman guest list on the left panel, that was a good place to start.

But also to be noted was the fact that they'll be in reruns that week. So that's no good.

Okay, how about Conan? He's an entertaining guy. No, he'll be in reruns too.

The Daily Show. Funniest politico talk in the business. Success! He's doing shows that week. Call up and ask for tickets. "Yeah, first available tickets we have are for October 27." Click.

Even Regis takes two weeks off before Labor Day.

So I'll be taking pictures in front of marquees while waving like an idiot on the Today show.

American Wedding
Half of the gang from the first two films are back for another piece as Jim (Jason Biggs) and Michelle (Alyson Hannigan) are about to be married. The prior antics of Steve Stifler (Seann William Scott) has gotten him excluded from the festivities, but manages to get in anyway through his supreme dancing skills and the promise of a bachelor party. And with that, planning gets underway, parents meet for the first time, and pre-wedding jitters start to set in. As a side story, Stifler and Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) fight for the hand of pretty Cadence (January Jones), Michelle's sister. Stifler tries so hard to impress her and her parents that he becomes a preppie while Finch obsessively tries to show Cadence the real Stifler. As for the wedding, obstacles from impressing the bride's parents to dead flowers hamper the days leading up to the wedding, but in the end, everything ends up happily ever after.

The first film struck the chord of pure comedy. The second strayed from this formula and turned to mostly gross-out jokes, seriously hampering the quality of the film. The third seems to combine the two with mixed results. When the movie wants to be funny, it's hilarious. But the gross-out skits that result have flimsy connections to the main story. I found no joy watching the dance-off since it seemed highly unnecessary. The bachelor party reaches a funny climax but takes too long to set up. These two scenes plus a couple of others (notably the dog poop) seem to take on a different tone than the rest of the film, making it a roller-coaster ride to watch. When it sticks to its two main plot points (the follies of planning a wedding and the courtship of Cadence), the movie excels. The characters are allowed to act the way we've seen them in the past without succumbing to pointless gross-out scenes, well, save for Stifler. (Funniest of them all is the deadpan comedy of Eugene Levy.) And that's how we like them. 2.5 stars

For some odd reason, I did a lot of driving this weekend and the one thing I always notice, yesterday more than ever, is no matter how fast you go, there's somebody on the road who wants to pass you. Driving home from the Mercado maze at night, I was speeding along at 80 in the fast lane. Pretty soon, this souped-up car is rapidly approaching me and a few feet away. He's flashing his lights from regular to high beam, wanting to push me over to the next lane. Please, I'm speeding as it is, no way I'm gonna move over. Let him pass me. I sped up to about 85, even 90, but he just follows. About a mile later, he finally gets fed up. He cuts off the guy in the next lane, passes me, and gets back into the lane, barely hitting my bumper, and speeds away probably at 100. Really, what's he trying to prove?

On Friday, I went to see the new main library in San Jose. That thing is huge. 8 floors of books, videos, and computers. A vast improvement over the old building. There's even a counter on the wall showing how many books have been checked out and just in the first few hours, it was already above 20,000. It's a new experiment in library services since it combines the city's main library with San Jose State's library, the top half for the latter. It may be too big for its own good but once it works out the bugs, it should be fine. The only problem is the parking. Light rail used to ride you right in front of the old building but now it's a few blocks away. Parking used to be validated but if you come in on weekdays its like $2/hour in the garage. You can take your chances for metered parking on the street, which is what I did after seeing the garage was full, but as anyone from San Jose State or works in downtown knows, you might as well park a mile away.

With the release of the critically trashed Gigli, VH-1 reminded viewers of one of the last films to receive such a bad reception by showing Showgirls over the weekend. Watching the original was bad enough. Just seeing the "children-friendly" version was worse. What's the point of showing it on TV? The only reason to watch it was the naked women, not the heartwarming tale of a lady with a dream only to join an adult dance show. Of course, to show it on basic cable, they had to cover up the nudity but come on, instead of just blurring it out, they used flesh-colored covers, probably used from Microsoft Paintbrush. It's the worst job of CG work I've seen, probably ever, on the worst movie I've ever seen. Well, wait, I did pay to see Blankman. Now that was a low point in my movie-watching experiences. And I haven't seen Gigli yet, so the worst may be yet to come.

California signed its budget and with the cuts its imposing, UC is raising its fees 30%, to around $6,000 per year here in Berkeley. To think, it was only $4,500 when I started. A new plan being floated around is forcing those families who make $90,000 or more to pay an additional $1,000, something my family barely qualifies for. Charging a fee like this is totally unfair. Why should some people get charged more for the same services? Another plan which adds a surcharge for people who enroll in over 16 units is also dead in the water because it hurts those who want to get ahead. If these plans do go into effect, hopefully it'll be next year when I'm long gone.

I'll save my rant about the recall until next week, when the candidates announce officially they'll be running. One thing I'll mention is that Governor Davis is suing to put his name on Question 2 about who shall replace the governor if he is recalled. Does it make any sense to replace the governor with himself? To me, it makes no sense whatsoever. If polls continue as it is, the governor will be recalled. But if the percentage of Davis supporters in question 1 also support him in question 2, that percentage will most certainly beat the next top-vote getter, making the recall moot. So what's the point of letting him on #2?

Instead, most news' attention is on Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont and now, presidential candidate. He's surging in most polls and is now leading in the fund-raising category. Time and Newsweek have him on their covers. The former nobody is now somebody. Watching him on Larry King, his demeanor seems a little bit Gore-like. He doesn't move! He moves his mouth to speak, he smiles, and he blinks his eyes. That's it! I didn't see him nod or shake his head. No hand gestures. While painting himself as a fiscal conservative, his position on being anti-war has portrayed him as left of the other Democratic candidates, save for Kucinich. His plan to reinstate all taxes cut by the Bush administration, including those for the middle class, to pay for Medicare and close the budget deficit is being criticized by Republicans and even some Democrats. And for some reason, hearing him say "I approved this message" in his commercials makes him sound like Bush (the last thing he wants) in the way the President, coming from a business background, delegates tasks to his staff and then come back to give recommendations.

Finally, almost every test I take, it's pretty obvious who's cheating; the way they look around at everyone and the way they hide their blue books. Most of the time, professors didn't care or weren't paying careful attention, allowing the cheating to run rampant. Taking my mid-term last week, the girl across the aisle slipped a little sheet in the back of her blue book. Her motions seemed natural enough but I guess she checked one too many times and was caught. Instant dismissal. Nobody should have an unfair advantage over others. Then again, it's only cheating if you get caught.