After the first Presidential debate, it's clear from a stylistic point of view that Kerry won this debate. President Bush is not the most eloquent of folks and it showed tonight as he was constantly fumbling over words, had long pauses, and at one point, had that deer in the headlights look when moderator Jim Lehrer surprised him with an extra 30 seconds to say something. Kerry was quick to respond to every shot he took from Bush and actually looked presidential.

But lost in the show is the message. Bush had one message to communicate and that was if we stay the course, everything will be all right. And that's all he said while criticizing his opponent for wavering in the political winds, as they like to say. Kerry's task was much more difficult and while he was just as successful, he needed to be better. He didn't show off what he would do differently to get the U.S. out of Iraq. Sure, he criticized the President heavily on how he went to war, but didn't say much on how to get out. And on the parts he did talk about, it's no more different than what the President is doing right now. As a result, neither side gained the knockout punch they wanted. But Kerry's edge in the image he projected certainly will boost Democratic spirits who are sick of seeing constant poll numbers showing Bush 5 points ahead in the presidential horserace.

The funniest comment I've seen just before the debate may have been about the lights. A small traffic light was attached in front of the candidates' microphones to remind the audience that the speaker had 30, 15, and 0 seconds left. Though it was part of the agreement the campaigns signed, the Kerry campaign wanted them removed, something that obviously was not done. And what did Vice President Cheney have to say? "It's just like John Kerry -- he was for the lights before he was against the lights."

So I'm driving along Blossom Hill today and this Civic comes up from behind and speeds right past me, easily going 80 mph on this road. I'm sorry, if the 60 mph I was driving was not fast enough, something is very wrong.

I went to Sweet Tomatoes recently and there was a sign on the cash register which claimed that they will no longer accept expired coupons any longer. Whoa, they accepted expired coupons? Those coupons from a few years ago could still be honored? What's the point of having expiration dates on them in the first place?

So those Star Wars DVD's came out and I'm just shocked at the changes, including placing Hayden Christensen in the final scene of Return of the Jedi. I still insist that casting Christensen was the worst mistake Lucas made in making the prequels, but updating the graphics in the original is one thing. Changing a memorable scene is quite another.

Lucas claims that in the future, a newcomer should watch the six episodes in order, instead of the last 3 first and then the first 3, like the rest of us did. I strongly disagree. Reserving judgment on the upcoming third film, how can you appreciate the Star Wars series when you have to sit through the worst two episodes of the series?

This from the Mercury News today:

The SJSU athletic department released a new attendance figure for last weekend's home opener against Morgan State: 10,411. After an official audit, the university found that student tickets were counted twice in the announced crowd of 11,360. There were also about 50 counterfeit tickets used for admission.

San Jose State can only attract 10K for football for its opener? Last year, Cal attracted football crowds as low as 25K and people were panicking. No wonder people want to get rid of it. Admittedly, the opponent was against a relative unknown from a lower division, but still.

Student tickets were counted twice? Maybe they should've counted them 3 or 4 times. It would probably still be 10K, anyway.

Counterfeit tickets? To a SJSU football game? That's lame. I really hope they were free. Actually, that wouldn't help. Students already get in free and they still don't go.

Resident Evil: Apocalypse
Following the events of the first film, the people at Umbrella decide to open up the lab to see what really happened. But things become out of hand and soon, a virus spreads to the surrounding city, causing everyone infected to become zombies, forcing the electrified fences to turn on and all access out of the city to be closed. But, of course, there are still normal people trapped inside, trying to find a way out. Meanwhile, the heroine of the first film, Alice (Milla Jovovich), suddenly awakens from her coma-like state, feeling strong from the experimentation done to her, also does her part to get the people that are normal to leave. The catch? The scientist promising a way out force them to save his daughter before they can proceed out. But there's another obstacle to go along with the zombies walking around: Umbrella's creation from the Nemesis project, and the company believes this is the perfect time to test its new toy.

Doesn't it seem like we've had one too many zombie movies lately? After watching this, I think we've had one too many Resident Evil movies. This movie is a total mess, probably only made to satisfy a company's coffers. Sure, it may be characterized as a zombie movie, but during large portions of the film, you'll wonder where they all went. Other times, where did they come from? For example, all of a sudden, you see zombies coming out of graves. When were they infected? Did I miss something? Along with an ending that frankly comes out of nowhere, in a bad way, not a good way, "Resident Evil: Apocalypse" adds up to something ultimately unnecessary. 1 star

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Gotham City isn't protected by Batman in this world of tomorrow. Instead, the city turns its eyes to the Sky Captain, Joe Sullivan (Jude Law). Large robots are soon seen in the sky and descend to steal the city's energy generators. Reporter Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow) gets clues as to why they're here and teams up with her former lover Sullivan to track down their true motives. It seems scientists are being kidnapped who were all part of a secret German project during World War I. With only the name Totenkopf and a smart know-it-all in Giovanni Ribisi to track down the robots' signals, the two must travel to Asia to find the scientists and try to stop whatever dangerous scheme Totenkopf is up to.

The film is admittedly a mixed bag. I applaud Kerry Conran's vision to use CGI throughout the entire film, creating a fantasy world that dazzles the eyes with life in the past. But the story could use a little work. Paltrow's performance in the beginning became more of an annoyance with every line she said. It's amazing her character could co-exist with Joe for so long in the film. Like a plane taking off, the trip to Asia and the ensuing events, including an encounter with Angelina Jolie, becomes a high note of the film. But the ending is too non-sensical for even the imagination to handle and its attempts to keep our attention through humor falls short. 2 stars

The Manchurian Candidate
It was the Persian Gulf War and a commanding officer, Ben Marco (Denzel Washington), has been knocked out leaving it up to Raymond Shaw (Liev Schreiber) to save the men in his unit, save for two people tragically killed. Flash forward to today, where Shaw is using his war credentials and his connections through his senator mother (Meryl Streep) to run for Vice President of the United States. Meanwhile, Marco and the rest of his unit is continually haunted by nightmares of the war experience. His investigation leads him to believe the whole thing may have been a hoax just to get someone into the White House. But every time he seems to get close, people get into his way including, curiously, the Manchurian Global corporation.

Most people remember the 1960's version of this film from John Frankenheimer and wonder why in the world an update was needed. But considering the quality of this modern version from Jonathan Demme, while it takes its cues from the original, it is independent enough to stand alone as a taut political thriller. Pretty much anything Washington does will be quality material and he doesn't disappoint here. The victim of apparent brainwashing and constant surveillance, Washington does well balancing these two forces while looking as crazy as you can get. The true effect of the classic Manchurian Candidate wasn't truly felt until much later. This film won't leave that kind of lasting impression, and it probably spells things out too much at the end, but it's a carefully crafted film that keeps track of every detail and holds its secrets well until the last second. 3.5 stars

You want an election nightmare? As you know, we elect our president through the electoral college, which has 538 votes for the 50 states; one vote for each representative in the House and one for each Senator. So California, for example, has 55 electoral votes, winner-take-all. You need 270 electoral votes to win.

What if Bush or Kerry fail to reach 270? Then the House votes for President and the Senate for Vice President. In the House, each state delegation gets one vote and Republicans have a decided advantage in the House, so Bush, in this case, becomes President. For Vice President, things get a little iffy.

The Senate races are real close this year. Republicans currently control the body 51-48. If Republicans keep control, Cheney is VP. If Democrats gain control, then John Edwards becomes VP. What if there's a tie? The current Vice President has the tie-breaking vote, meaning Cheney would be voting himself back into office.

Of course, if any of this happens, people will be screaming bloody hell.

A nice way to keep track of this mess is through electoral-vote.com, which keeps track of the map every day until election day.

On a different note, ABC has had a lot of problems in the past few years. Ever since Who Wants to be a Millionaire aired and crashed to the ground, ABC crashed along with it. Along the way, it decided to give quality a try. Yes, it delayed its foray onto the reality bandwagon and it deviated from its family comedy style it built its past success on, but at least they'd be going down with style. And that's how the world was introduced to two geniuses in Aaron Sorkin and J.J. Abrams. Sorkin was an accomplished writer of theatre and film and went to ABC to make the phenomenal show Sports Night. But nobody watched it and ABC was reluctant to give him another show. So Sorkin went to NBC and gave them a big hit in The West Wing. Now, here comes Abrams, with only Felicity under his belt, bringing in the buzz show of three years ago in Alias and introducing us to Jennifer Garner. But nobody watched it. Luckily, enough people watch it for us to enjoy season 4, but it's not the smash hit ABC wanted. But they weren't about to make the same mistake as they did with Sorkin. Here comes this project called Lost, and Abrams signs on. And what do you know? The first episode was great and 18 million people watched it. With a respectable hold on next week's audience, it looks as though ABC finally has a hit on its hands.

Happy birthday wishes go out to my two cousins who turn 21; Christy's is today while Trang's was last week.

I went to the dentist recently and lo and behold, the worst happened. They found a cavity. Oh my. I haven't had one of those since my age was still in single digits. It was tricky to find too. Those spiffy computerized x-rays couldn't find it. It took a nice dental instrument to poke everywhere just to find it. Man, it's been so long, I don't even know how they fill it anymore. From my last cavity, this metal colored thing remains, but nowadays, they use white fillings and such to hide it as best they can. So they filled it on Monday, but I think they used too much of that numbing agent. It lasted a good 3 hours before the effects went away.

There was this Simpsons episode once when Mr. Burns was worried he didn't have an heir to pass along his fortunes so he held tryouts for every young boy in Springfield in order to find the perfect heir. Eventually, he settled on the energetic Bart smashing up the windows of his estate. Why did I think of that when I was watching The Benefactor? I don't even understand the show. It seems Mark Cuban will find just about anything to out the contestants. Well, you know what, he might say, I don't like that your left-handed, so you don't get my million bucks. Or something like that. Just a ridiculous excuse for a show.

I finally watched the updated version of The Manchurian Candidate, bringing the summer's movie total to 23. 23? That's it? What happened to the times when you could watch 23 in a month? Well, times have changed and, let's face it, August pretty much sucked in terms of movies. And September doesn't look any better. Probably the next true must-see is in October when Shark Tale comes out. Though I might catch Sky Captain, I'm not waiting in any line to see it.

This was in my email a few days ago and I had a laugh again when it was published in today's Mercury News.

THE NEW 2004 CALIFORNIA STATE EMPLOYEE GIRLEY MEN HANDBOOK

by GOVERNOR ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER

SICK DAYS: We will no longer accept a doctor's statement as proof of sickness. If you are able to go to the doctor, you are able to come to work.

PERSONAL DAYS: Each employee will receive 104 personal days a year. They are called Saturday & Sunday.

LUNCH BREAK: Skinny people get 30 minutes for lunch as they need to eat more, so that they can look healthy. Normal size people get 15 minutes for lunch to get a balanced meal to maintain their average figure. Fat people get 5 minutes for lunch, because that's all the time needed to drink a Slim Fast.

DRESS CODE: It is advised that you come to work dressed according to your salary. If we see you wearing $350 Prada sneakers, and carrying a $600 Gucci Bag, we assume you are doing well financially and therefore, you do not need a raise. If you dress poorly, you need to learn to manage your money better, so that you may buy nicer clothes. Therefore you do not need a raise. If you dress in-between, you are right where you need to be and therefore, you do not need a raise.

BEREAVEMENT LEAVE: This is no excuse for missing work. There is nothing you can do for dead friends, relatives, or co-workers. Every effort should be made to have no employees attend to the arrangements. In rare cases where employee involvement is necessary, funerals should be scheduled in the late afternoon. We will be glad to allow you to work through your lunch hour and subsequently leave that much earlier.

RESTROOM USE: Entirely too much time is being spent in the restroom. There is now a strict 3-minute time limit in the stalls. At the end of three minutes, an alarm will sound, the toilet paper roll will retract, the stall door will open and a picture will be taken. After your second offense, your picture will be posted on the company bulletin board under "Chronic Offenders".

Thank you for your loyalty to our great state. We are here to provide a positive employment experience.

THE GOVERNATOR,
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER

Today marks the 3rd Anniversary of 9/11. By now though, things for the most part have gone back to normal. People have begun planning for 9/11 as they would any other Saturday. Football marks the day as the college games are in full swing. People I know are working tomorrow or headed to some party. We have moved on but the memories live on. And now, as published every Sept. 11. Okay, it's easy to keep track; it's been done 3 times.

The Names by Billy Collins

Yesterday, I lay awake in the palm of the night.
A soft rain stole in, unhelped by any breeze,
And when I saw the silver glaze on the windows
I started with A, with Ackerman, as it happened,
then Baxter and Calabro,
Davis and Everling, names falling into place
as droplets fell through the dark.
Names printed on the ceiling of the night.
Names slipping around a watery bend.
26 willows on the banks of a stream.

In the morning, I walked out barefoot
among thousands of flowers,
heavy with dew, like the eyes of tears,
and each had a name --
Fiori inscribed on a yellow petal.
Then Gonzales and Han, Ishikawa, and Jenkins.
Names written in the air
and stitched into the cloth of the day,
a name under a photograph taped to a mailbox,
monogram on a torn shirt.
I see you spelled out on storefront windows
and on the bright, unfurled awnings of this city.
I say the syllables as I turn a corner,
Kelly, and Lee,
Medina, Nardella, and O'Connor.

When I peer into the woods,
I see a thick tangle where letters are hidden,
as in a puzzle concocted for children.
Parker and Quigley in the twigs of an ash,
Rizzo, Shubert, Torres and Upton,
secrets in the bows of ancient maple.
Names written in the pale sky.
Names rising in the updraft amid buildings.
Names silent in stone
or cried out behind a door,
Names blown over the Earth and out to sea.

In the evening, weakening light, the last swallows,
a boy on a lake lifts his oars.
A woman by a window puts a match to a candle,
and the names are outlined on the rose clouds --
Vanacor and Wallace,
(let X stand, if it can, for the ones unfound)
then Young and Ziminski, the final jolt of Z.

Names etched on the head of a pin,
one name spanning a bridge, another undergoing a tunnel.
A blue name needled into the skin.
Names of citizens, workers, mothers and fathers,
the bright-eyed daughter, the quick son.
Alphabet of names in green rows in a field.
Names in the small tracks of birds.
Names lifted from a hat
or balanced on the tip of the tongue.
Names wheeled into the dim warehouse of memory.
So many names, there is barely room on the wills of the heart.

Remember the first Mighty Ducks movie? Emilio Estevez walks into his childhood hockey arena and surveys the scene. At the corner of his sight, he sees the championship banners of his hockey team, the Hawks. He looks at them one year at a time, but one blemish remains; the year he lost it for them. He reminisces to that moment and looks down, still disappointed.

I think that's how the team of De La Salle feels right now. Their high school football winning streak of 151 games, a span of 12+ years, was snapped. When I was going through high school, many of my friends on the team, which experienced its high point when I was there, expressed their desire to play them. One even insisted that negotiations were underway. But that wasn't meant to be. They weren't given a chance to make history. That honor instead goes to a team in Washington. To be fair, a team that lost most of its starters and is still reeling from the death of a former teammate set things up for a De La Salle loss at some point. But I don't thing anyone would have expected it to come so suddenly, and by such a margin (19 points). So congrats to them for an excellent streak, one that probably drove other teams to succeed as well. Next week, everything begins again.

In other sports news, Cal won its opener, 56-14 over Air Force. The defense looked pretty weak in the first half and while it shut down the Falcons' triple option offense in the second half, I still have my doubts. They need a much better performance against New Mexico State to convince me that they can beat the triple threat of Southern Miss, Oregon State, and USC. At least there is nothing to worry about in terms of the offense.

Finally, the guy I usually talk sports with, Datman himself, celebrates a birthday tomorrow, if I'm reading my calendar right. So happy birthday. Remember, you won't find him at a casino any time soon. He's got a bet going that he won't gamble for a year. Oh, I mean, there will be a penalty if he breaks his promise to not gamble for a year.

Click for a delightful comic from Tom the Dancing Bug.

This from a Mercury news editorial today:

Tonight, for the first time in decades, a heavily promoted first-run film -- ``Paparazzi'' -- will open simultaneously at the Camera Cinemas downtown and Century 21 in the Winchester theater complex. That's great news for movie fans throughout the city.

Excuse me while I laugh hysterically.

Paparazzi? It sounds like they're calling it the savior of Camera Cinemas. Ha. It's probably the most unintentionally funny movie to come out until Cellular comes out next week.

What prompted this editorial is the fact that Century Theatres required exclusivity of running movies near Valley Fair, the big domes plus the new CineArts at Santana Row. Century now has relaxed the restrictions allowing "big-time" movies to come downtown to the new Camera Cinemas. The lack of first-run attractions doomed United Artists in their foray downtown.

And the first to come down the pipeline? Paparazzi. I'm sorry to tell you this, but don't pin your hopes on this film. There's probably a reason why Century let them show it.

Have you seen the ridiculous storyline? The paparazzi following a particular celebrity causes an accident that hurts his family. So what does the celebrity do? He does what anyone would do. He goes around killing them.

Even for this person who tries to watch most of the big films, even though you can't characterize Paparazzi as big, I'll still pass on this one. Not even worth a download. The studio would seem to think so too. Critics were not given a preview so that they could review it today.

Whenever you go to a Cal football game, there is one rule you must always obey. Never wear a red shirt. If you do, the students will yell at you and most likely rip it off your back.

I was reminded of this while watching President Bush speak. He spoke softly and gave a strong speech, albeit filled with nothing I haven't heard before. He spoke a lot slower though, even for him. And could you tell? He was tearing up a bit at the end.

But you could tell whenever he was getting into a rhythm, some protester jumped up and started yelling at him. But like the Cal faithful, the Republicans drowned him out with chants of 4 more years, even if Bush just kept on talking about Afghanistan or the economy. For this, I blame the Republican Party security, who should know not to let these people into the hall in the first place. Besides, there weren't any protesters in the Democratic convention. Show a little respect! Your friends are outside anyway.

Finally (borrowing from the Democratic convention), hey! Where the f--- are those balloons?

Watching the moderate faces of the Republican party speak for the first two days at the convention, it became apparent they were intent to convince swing voters that the fight against terrorism triumphs over all other issues and Bush is the obvious choice to lead that fight. But the attack dogs waited until tonite to pounce on Kerry with an unlikely person to speak: a Democrat, albeit a conservative Democrat. Zell Miller, Senator from Georgia, said protecting his family was the key and the Democratic Party was simply the wrong one to trust with the protection of his family and the country.

"I ask which leader is it today that has the vision, the willpower and, yes, the backbone to best protect my family? The clear answer to that question has placed me in this hall with you tonight. For my family is more important than my party. There is but one man to whom I am willing to entrust their future and that man's name is George Bush."

"Together, (Ted) Kennedy/(John) Kerry have opposed the very weapons systems that won the Cold War and that is now winning the War on Terror. Listing all the weapon systems that Senator Kerry tried his best to shut down sounds like an auctioneer selling off our national security but Americans need to know the facts. (Lists various weapon systems Kerry has opposed) ... This is the man who wants to be the Commander in Chief of our U.S. Armed Forces? U.S. forces armed with what? Spitballs?"

"George Bush wants to grab terrorists by the throat and not let them go to get a better grip. From John Kerry, they get a "yes-no-maybe" bowl of mush that can only encourage our enemies and confuse our friends."

But the best part was afterwards when Miller went ballistic on Chris Matthews on MSNBC. Matthews wanted to know if Miller, who is retiring from the Senate, actually meant some of the things he said and a combination of the loud locale and Miller's difficulty of hearing made things interesting. Reading the transcript afterwards, it's still funny to read.

MATTHEWS: Well, let me ask you, when Democrats come out, as they often do, liberal Democrats, and attack conservatives, and say they want to starve little kids, they want to get rid of education, they want to kill the old people...

MILLER: I am not saying that. Wait a minute.

MATTHEWS: That kind of rhetoric is not educational, is it?

MILLER: Wait a minute. Now, this is your program. And I am a guest on your program.

MATTHEWS: Yes, sir.

MILLER: And so I want to try to be as nice as I possibly can to you. I wish I was over there, where I could get a little closer up into your face.

(LAUGHTER)

MILLER: But I don‘t have to stand here and listen to that kind of stuff. I didn‘t say anything about not feeding poor kids. What are you doing?

MATTHEWS: No, I‘m saying that when you said tonight—I just want you to...

MILLER: Well, you are saying a bunch of baloney that didn‘t have anything to do with what I said up there on the

(CROSSTALK)

MILLER: No, no.

MATTHEWS: OK. Do you believe now—do you believe, Senator, truthfully, that John Kerry wants to defend the country with spitballs? Do you believe that?

MILLER: That was a metaphor, wasn‘t it? Do you know what a metaphor is?

...

MATTHEWS: Well, you could argue it was not nurses who defended the freedom of nursing. Why did you single out freedom of the press to say it was the soldiers that defended it and not the reporters? We all know that. Why did you say it?

MILLER: Well, because I thought it needed to be said at this particular time, because I wanted to come on...

MATTHEWS: Because you could get an applause line against the media at a conservative convention.

MILLER: No, I said it because it was—you‘re hopeless. I wish I was over there.

...

MILLER: If you‘re going to ask a question...

MATTHEWS: Well, it‘s a tough question. It takes a few words.

MILLER: Get out of my face.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

MILLER: If you are going to ask me a question, step back and let me answer.

(LAUGHTER)

MATTHEWS: Senator, please.

MILLER: You know, I wish we...

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

MILLER: I wish we lived in the day where you could challenge a person to a duel.

(LAUGHTER)

MILLER: Now, that would be pretty good. Don‘t ask me—don‘t pull that...

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS: Can you can come over? I need you, Senator. Please come over.

MILLER: Wait a minute. Don‘t pull that kind of stuff on me, like you did that young lady when you had her there, browbeating her to death. I am not her. I am not her.

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS: Let me tell you, she was suggesting that John Kerry purposely shot himself to win a medal. And I was trying to correct the record.

MILLER: You get in my face, I am going to get back in your face.

...

MATTHEWS: Let me ask you this about John Kerry‘s war record.

MILLER: Well, are you going to shut up after you ask me?

(LAUGHTER)

MILLER: Or are you going to give me a chance to answer it?