Mezzamorphis

My answer is yes. Take this snippet from an AP article:

The Dow Jones industrials plunged nearly 800 points, the most ever for a single day.

I’m going to assume that they are comparing it to history using the point loss rather than the percentage loss because it makes a more gripping storyline. However, the loss was not the worst loss in history. The largest one day percentage drop was 22.61%, which occurred on October 19, 1987. Today’s loss of 777.68 points is a 6.98% drop, less than 1/3 of the loss suffered on Black Monday.

I may be overly optimistic about this, but let’s not get all caught up in it. By not passing the huge bailout bill, the House of Representatives has actually saved us a great deal of debt in the future. If they are serious about fixing the problems that face this country, how about all the Senators who have served more than two terms, and all the Representatives who have served more than four terms resign immediately, or remove themselves from ballots if they are up for election this fall. The problem lies in the current power-hungry, career politician class. No more lobbyists, no more crony appointments, just sensible people in government. People who have the ability to lead this country won’t run for office because honestly, who wants the headache of all the personal attacks and partisanship. The whole system is corrupt. It’s time t reboot it.

Wow. Totally didn’t end up where I started from.

This summer looks to be a big one at the movies. I was reading on another site about how the competition is going to be pretty thick this year, and looking at this list I think it will be. Here are the movies and what I think might result.

Spiderman 3, May 4 – I think this one will be pretty good, as the first two were well done, though not entirely faithful to the character. Venom will be a good addition to the movie universe, thought the Sandman might be lame. It will do well simply because it's the first big blockbuster of a season full of them, and it builds on an established franchise.

Shrek the Third, May 18 – Shrek was excellent, Shrek 2 was good, but I can't see where they can go from there. I'm sure it will be another big hit, but it had better get it's money the first weekend because it is being followed by….

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, May 25 – This seems to fall into a bit of a lull in the schedule as it comes directly after Shrek the Third, but it's at least three weeks before another big movie comes along. This is the final story in the Pirates trilogy, and will be huge. Especially huge after the teaser at the end of Dead Man's Chest. We should finally see the fates of Captain Jack Sparrow, Will Turner, Elizabeth Swan, Commodore Norrington, Captain Barbosa, and Davy Jones. Oh, and a drunk Keith Richards as Jack's dad. Good times.

Ocean's 13, June 8 – As with the Shrek movies, this had an excellent first movie (one of my all time favorites) and an OK second movie. I'm not even sure what the plot is supposed to be on this. As it comes out so close to Pirates I can't see it being a major hit.

Fantastic Four and the Silver Surfer, June 15 – The first FF movie was decent, but adding a dude in a silver bodysuit probably won't bring a lot of people back. Might be popular enough simply because it's in a good position.

Ratatouille, June 29 – The next Pixar movie, but it might become the lowest grossing of the lot. There are two more kid/family movies coming after it that would most likely take away any repeat viewings this might have received. Plus, it's about a rat. Not too much to be optimistic about.

Live Free or Die Hard, June 29 – Essentially Die Hard 4, it will be worth it just to have John McClane blow up something. “Yippie-ki-yay” to this one.

Transformers, July 4 – Independence Day was released on July 4 back in 1996 and was huge. They did a good job of not showing what the aliens in that movie looked like until it came out. They have tried to do a similar job with Transformers, but to much less success. Credit the intarweb with that. Can't keep a secret anymore these days. My opinion, and I'm a Transformers fan, but I think it will suck. Armageddon meets big robots. However, the main reason it won't do big business is….

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, July 13 – The fifth of the HP films, the longest of the books, and a pretty dark descent into the HP universe all adds up to big money at the box office. I predict that this will be one of the top two films of the year, behind Pirates of the Caribbean. The story is difficult to read, but I think it lends itself well to the big screen. I don't like Michael Gambon's Dumbledore, but Dumbledore doesn't play a huge role in this book, at least not one that the viewer will see. The next film will have Dumbledore in a crucial role. I'm looking forward to this one more than any of the rest of the films.

So there you have it. The claywginn.com 2007 film preview. One more note: Indiana Jones IV, May 2008. Good stuff.

I'm watching CNN's coverage of Saddam Hussein's hanging, and something really bothers me. Actually, it bothers me that I'm watching CNN, but Greta Van Susteren is on Fox, and she just bothers me for some reason. However, CNN has given a name to their coverage: “Saddam Executed: Death of a Dictator”. Why? Do we have to give a name to everything? Why can't the just say, “Hey, we're talking about swinging dead dictators here!” Ugh.

I'm not sure how I feel about Saddam being hanged. I'm recently finding myself having mixed feelings about the death penalty. I don't know why, but I'm questioning the morality of it. That's a topic for another time though.