Day 201

Live from Toronto, Canada. The world tour continues. We had a nice weekend with Jessica, as she was in town visiting. We are running lower and lower on time before the baby arrives and throws our world upside down, so it was good they Leah and Jess got some sister time in. This also gave me some time this weekend to see the much anticipated, and highly praised comedy, Borat. Jeremy and I had this time pegged for weeks as we are both fans of Da Ali G show, where Borat’s character was first shown. Every review I saw gave it at least 3 and a half stars. All I can say is wow. No comedy movie that I have seen in my life can come close to the sheer insanity that is the Borat movie. It is literally indescribable. It is not for the easily offended. In fact, you have to have a sense of humor about this and realize that with all of the outrageous antics, there is an underlying message here. This country, especially when you get out of the metropolitan areas and into the south/bible belt areas, there is still rabid anti-semetism and racism. It was almost scary to see the way some of these people viewed Jews and Blacks. Without giving anything away, there was a scene in which Borat walks into a southern gun shop and asks the clerk "what is the best gun for killing a Jew." Without batting an eye, the clerk offers up two suggestions. Crazy. Borat's character is played by Sasha Baron Cohen, who is Jewish; hence the reason he is so easily able to get away with the anti-semetism of his character. The movie is definitely shocking, but it is also brilliant, and unlike any other movie. It is truly in a league of its own. We laughed throughout the first two-thirds of the movie non-stop. You will too. I give it 4 stars for originality and for hilarity. Its is an equal opportunity offender. It also brought in $26 million this weekend.

I just started reading the Barack Obama book, The Audacity of Hope, on the way here. It is a very interesting read thus far, and I am only 50 pages in. It definitely is a slower read for me. I found the pages taking longer than other books I normally read. The funny thing is that this is a big step for me - reading a book that is NOT about sports. Mark P advised me that while this is a very interesting book that is full of great political ideals, it is very engrossing. So much so that you find yourself re-reading whole paragraphs so yet get the full gist of what he is saying. So in other words, this should take me about a month to read.

Tomorrow is election and from all accounts, the most important non-Presidential election day of my lifetime. Everyone's favorite George Bush is out there stumping for his Republican brethren. Watching his smug arrogance makes me so sick. But in my favorite Bush statement of the week, he announced that he wants both Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary and war criminal Donald Rumsfeld to stay in their jobs through the full term of his Presidency. He actually was quoted as saying "They are both doing an excellent job." No wonder his approval rating is now down to 35%.

By the way, there are certain terms that you only use for one specific thing. For example, has anyone ever "stumped" for anything else other than a political candidate? What about Don Shula being the all-time "winningest" coach in NFL history? Ever used the word "winningest" to describe anyone but a coach? Why is it that only left-handed pitchers are described as "crafty?" Just a thought.....

Gotta send some birthday shoutouts to my girls Jen and Lindsay and my boy Stu who all turned 31 yesterday. The craziest thing is that I really only know a few sets of twins. Stu has a twin sister. Jen and Lindsay are fraternal twins. They were all born on November 5th, 1975. How strange is that?

Next week we are off to Arizona as I have a conference for work in Scottsdale. Now my in laws offered to take Casey off of our hands for a month. Since we are going back for the holidays, we can pick her back up then. At first, I couldn't believe I was feeling this way, but I didn't think I could be away from her for that long. But after thinking more about it, I relented. Stacey wants to socialize her new puppy Bailey and Leah could use the break. I'm sure after 1 week away from her, I will be freaking out because I'll be missing her so much. We shall see.

Song of the Day: "She's Crafty" by the Beastie Boys