[inline-left:1] It seems fairly obvious to me that director Jon Favreau (a) is a fan of the Iron Man comic book, and (b) has learned well from the recent slate of comic-book-superhero movies. Unlike other franchises-turned-into-movies that have suffered at the hands of uncaring leadership, Iron Man never insults the viewer, whether they're a casual moviegoer who has no clue who Tony Stark is or a lifetime fan who can debate the nuances of David Micheline's run vs. Len Kaminski's stint. As a lapsed comics reader, I was tickled pink at how the movie upgraded the Iron Man mythos to the screen, from his origins in Tales of Suspense #39 to the 21st century incarnation of Jarvis. The movie is IMO right up there with Spider-Man and the X-Men movies, and we'll will hopefully see more from this team in the future.

While Iron Man spends a good bit of screen time on gadgets and technology (appropriately enough), it still manages to keep its characters fairly nuanced and multifaceted. Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and "Pepper" Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) are especially developed, though Jim Rhodes (Terrence Howard) gets some good characterization as well. And though Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) is a fairly uncomplicated baddie, I also have to give the movie credit for merely skirting -- but not falling into -- the trap of portraying all foreigners as bloodthirsty terrorists. Yeah, there's a whole passel of Evil Terrorists Who Want to Kill Americans™ in this movie, but their presence here makes sense.

Of course, being a summer blockbuster movie based on a comic book, there's a good dose of laughably silly comic book physics (a man survives a 500-foot-fall with nothing more than a few bruises) and Hollywood hyper-technology at work (just type "translate" and your computer will instantly translate videos in real time!). Product placement ranges from the "background prop that looks cool" subtle (apparently Stark likes to play Wii Sports in his down time ) to the ham-fisted -- which is rather appropriate for Burger King, I suppose. And as someone who's familiar with the southern California aerospace scene, I was surprised that the logo for Stark Enterprises was almost a direct riff of the logo for Lockheed Martin; yet another form of product placement, or did they loan Marvel Studios some filming locations?

Anyway, the movie's great, so if you have the slightest interest in the topic, go see it. Be sure to stick around after the credits roll, too, for the now-obligatory "final addendum" everyone loves to put in their films.

• Firstly, who cares? This "news" has been bouncing around the media water cooler for over a month now, even though there's nothing new to warrant this attention. Unless Rev. Wright is running for President (and he isn't), this is just fark that the networks are throwing out to waste time. If it wasn't for his association with a leading Presidential candidate, Wright would be unknown and/or ignored by most folks. But it's certainly easier to do another article on Barack Obama's Kooky Pastor™ than to report on real news.
  The only thing these Rev. Wright "news" articles are good for is serving as textbook examples of how the right-wing media manufactures Controversies of The Week™.
• And speaking of examples, you can use just about any clip of a conservative pundit denouncing Rev. Wright's comments as a textbook example of hypocrisy. I mean, when you've got Class-A examples of Stupid Speaking like Rush Limbaugh urging people to start riots, Ann Coulter calling women who vote Democratic "stupid," and Bill O'Reilly saying that a "lynching party" against Michelle Obama is justified if she proves insufficiently patriotic, these idiots are the least qualified to condemn anything Rev. Wright might say, past or future.
• Finally, isn't the continuing (artificial) controversy over Jeremiah Wright a clear example of racism at work? After all, Barack Obama isn't the only presidential candidate cavorting with a minister who says outrageous things. Of course, the difference here is that McCain actively sought Hagee's endorsement, while Barack Obama was simply sitting in the pews while Wright made his remarks... yet McCain hasn't gotten half the attention Obama has.

  Why, if I didn't know any better, I might suggest that this is because mainstream America might be more willing to dismiss remarks from an Angry White Man, but freaks out when an Angry Black Man does something similar. Or maybe it's not so much racism as much as simply the conservative corporate media playing partisan favoritism once again.

  Or -- and this is the most likely explanation -- it's all of the above. It's hard to tell when racism ends and hypocrisy begins, actually...

[Updated 5:08pm] Somewhat related, and worth reading for additional thoughts into this non-news topic: Obama Kicks Wright In the Junk

Consider:

Top Bush Advisors Approved 'Enhanced Interrogation'
April 9, 2008

In dozens of top-secret talks and meetings in the White House, the most senior Bush administration officials discussed and approved specific details of how high-value al Qaeda suspects would be interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency, sources tell ABC News.

...The high-level discussions about these "enhanced interrogation techniques" were so detailed, these sources said, some of the interrogation sessions were almost choreographed -- down to the number of times CIA agents could use a specific tactic... At the time, the Principals Committee included Vice President Cheney, former National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell, as well as CIA Director George Tenet and Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Summary: Colin Powell sat in on high-level Bush Administration meetings to discuss and approve how much torture to use on prisoners. I can almost imagine them sitting down at the table, haggling over the details, as if waterboarding people was morally equivalent to bickering over who gets the corner office.

(And where was George W. Bush in these discussions? Or is this a tacit admission that the powers-that-be in the White House didn't feel it was worth their time to keep him in the loop on torture? Says a lot, really...)

Anyway, compare and contrast that with:

Colin Powell to Kids: Have a Sense of Shame
April 11, 2008

...Powell, a four-star general and the first African-American to serve as secretary of state, built his career on public service. Now he has focused those efforts on helping young people through the organization he founded 10 years ago, America's Promise Alliance.

The goal of America's Promise is to give children the fundamental resources they need to succeed -- caring adults, safe places, a healthy start, an effective education and opportunities to help others at home, in school and out in the community.

But kids need to take responsibility for their own actions and for achieving success, he said.

Powell said he often tells kids, "Have a sense of shame."

I certainly don't recall seeing Colin Powell take any responsibility for his bogus U.N. presentation, or the Iraq war, or the "enhanced interrogation" techniques that have shamed the nation.

But really, is the shameless hypocrisy of the Bush Administration a surprise any more?

(Hat tip to SusanG at Daily Kos)

Proving beyond any doubt that politics makes strange bedfellows, here's the matchup I never, never, ever would've expected to see...

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...Hillary Clinton and Richard Melon-Scaife.

Why is this so strange? Because Mr. Scaife is the crazy conservative billioniare who bankrolled -- and largely led -- the "vast right-wing conspiracy" against Bill Clinton's presidency in the '90s.

And why were Hillary and Richard breaking bread? Because she was speaking before the staff of his newspaper, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, to throw more brickabats at Barack Obama and reinvigorate the bruhaha over Rev. Jeremiah Wright's provocative sermon.

Putting aside the issue of Wright's sermon -- hey, he's not the one running for President, so who cares? -- the fact that Hillary Clinton has no qualms about colluding with the man who spearheaded the campaign against her husband speaks volumes.

More specifically, it speaks volumes about just how far Hillary Clinton is willing to go to win the Democratic party's nomination.

I'm breaking my silence now: Hillary, GO AWAY.

(It says something that the only people who can create original video pinball games that properly replicate the feel and gameplay of a physical table are the folks at Littlewing, whose hand-crafted titles remain the pinnacle of the art. Unfortunately, like all true artisans, they only release new games once every few years, which makes for a long wait between fixes. But I digress...)

If you're a fan of classic pinballs as I am, then run out the door and pick up Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection (for the Nintendo Wii, Sony PlayStation 2, and Sony PSP) -- this game's got the goods, and they're damn good.

As the title proclaims, this title is a collection of famous pinballs from the glory days of Williams Electronics, arguably the makers of the best pinballs and video arcade games ever. And there's no hyperbole here -- not only did Williams' pinballs kick major ass, but every game in this collection deserves to be admitted into a hall of fame, either due to historical interest or sheer ball-flipping excellence:
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• Gorgar
• Black Knight
• Pin*Bot
• Firepower!
• Whirlwind
• Taxi
• Funhouse
• Space Shuttle
• Jive Time
• Sorcerer

Quite simply, that's an awesome list of Williams pins; while they might not all be gems, any self-respecting pinball fan can easily find a half-dozen titles there that they'll happily sink their teeth into for weeks on end. Needless to say, every table is reproduced perfectly, from the pristine gleam of the lights and the original sound effects to the stunningly accurate physics and ball-controlling tactics. It only took me one play with Pin*Bot before I was back in the groove, using the same tactics I developed from hours spent on the real McCoy back in the halcyon days of college.

As for extras, the game includes unlockable challenges and cheats, scans of original advertising flyers, and -- for all you newbies out there -- narrated step-by-step guides to each board, showing what targets to hit and what shots to make for the best score.

True pinball fans will want to pick up the Wii version for the following reasons:

1. The Wii version comes with all ten pinballs unlocked from the beginning. The PlayStation 2 version requires you to achieve certain goals before Sorcerer and Jive Time are available, while the PSP version omits them all together.
2. As cliche'd as it sounds, the Wii controls really duplicate the feel of playing a real pinball machine. The lower triggers on the Wii remote and nunchuk control the flippers, and shaking either hand nudges the machine appropriately. If you play standing up with your hands waist-high in front of you, it's almost exactly like playing a real pinball machine. It's a small thing, but it's immersive as heck -- the only thing missing is a convenient place to set your soda, beer, or other beverage of choice.

No game is perfect, however, and Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection is no exception; while the game offers a variety of camera angles to watch the action, the only way to change it is while the ball is active. Since you can't pause and then change the view, you have to either change it on-the-fly (not the easiest thing to do in the heat of the action), or trap the ball and then change it at your leisure.

The only other complaint I have is that this game is incredibly hard to find. All signs point to a low initial run by the publisher; none of my local brick and mortar stores had a copy, and online retailers appear to only have limited quantities on hand. But it's an unfortunate truth that great niche games often get overlooked in the crowd of me-too titles.

Still, while I'll be spending a lot of time with this disc (and the equally addictive-for-different-reasons Super Smash Bros. Brawl), the long-supressed pin freak in the back of my mind will be begging Crave Entertainment and FarSight Studios for a sequel. Far as I'm concerned, Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection is but a good beginning; there are lots of other classic pinballs worthy of the same love and attention these games have received. I could easily count off another dozen Williams pins I'd like to see in a sequel, especially Steve Ritchie's High Speed. Heck, I'll even pay full price for a sequel containing Williams' licensed pinball games -- the extra $20 would be well worth it if it means I get to play immaculate versions of The Addams Family, Terminator 2, and Star Trek: The Next Generation until the end of time (or the disc breaks ).

...

...

What, are you still here? Stop reading this and get this game!

So why is it that when a guy in the Middle East kills a bunch of innocents, certain idiotsstart ranting about "radical Islam" and "Muslim terrorists"...

...but when a guy in the United States writes emo letters to God and then kills a bunch of innocents, none of those idiots -- nor anyone else in the mainstream media -- will start ranting about "radical Christianity" and "Christian terrorists."

Indeed, they're perfectly willing to blame the rampage on anything other than religion, whether it's mental illness or loneliness or whatever else is convenient (too bad he didn't play video games, eh?)

Why the disparity? Just asking...

But while the mainstream media's attention fluctuates between pubescent giggling and manufactured outrage, I'm more interested in the deeper meanings here. To wit:

• With a hat top to Harpers, doesn't it seem a bit odd that the Justice Department wasted no time in revealing Eliot Spitzer's wrongdoings, even though they were happy to keep things discreetly quiet for Senator David Vitter just eight months ago? It couldn't possibly have anything to do with the fact that Spitzer is a Democrat and Vitter was a Republican, could it?

  (And if you're seriously wondering about this, then you must have been in hibernation for the last eight years)

• By my understanding, Spitzer's dalliance was revealed when the FBI wiretapped him and recorded a conversation where he was arranging a hookup with his $1,000-per-hour (yow!) prostitute escort. Considering that the FBI has already admitted to being short-staffed due to a greater reliance on protecting the nation against terrorists, doesn't this seem like an odd use of their limited resources? As the Mayflower Madam (hello, Senator Vitter!) asks, "These people have nothing better to do?"
• And is the whole Spitzer bruhaha the real reason why George W. Bush keeps pushing for retroactive immunity for the telephone companies? Is Bush's greatest fear that lawsuits raised against the telecoms would reveal that their illegal warranteless wiretaps are not being used to protect the nation from terrorists, but to get ammunition to use against George's political enemies (i.e., anyone who's not a Republican)? Heck, is it any surprise that the Republicans have already wasted no time in trying to exploit the issue for political gain?

And one final question:

• Do you think the mainstream media will devote any nontrivial amount of time pondering these questions? Or will they simply play up the eyeball-grabbing "sex and hypocrisy" headlines while ignoring the deeper subtext here?

Don't answer that; you and I already know the answer to that one...

P.S. Do not construe this blog entry as any sort of defense or justification for Governor Spitzer's actions. I just find his infidelity to be trivially uninteresting when compared to the bigger question of whether the federal government is abusing its power for political gain (again).

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...only to have the entire neighborhood get hit with a blackout. Oh snap!

Of course, the power came back twenty minutes later, but I still found the outage to be amazingly well-timed.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I have a game to play...

[inline-right:1] I'm only halfway done with the planet Bryyo, and already I've had several times where I've trudged for over an hour before I can reach the next save point. This does not make it easy to play the game on my sporadic schedule; I've already had one occasion where I had to power down the Wii because of an external interruption, then spend 20 minutes in my next game session retracing the steps from my last save point to where I left off.

Apparently I'm not the only person who feels this way; I've heard from other players who say that they need at least an hour of free time before they will play the game. While I understand why the save points are so scarce -- saving your game replenishes Samus' health and weapons, so they can't be too prolific -- this gameplay design makes it frustrating for quasi-casual players like myself with erratic schedules.

That said, let me iterate for the undecided that Metroid Prime 3 is a great sci-fi adventure title (and a steal at $30 ). The controls are effortless, the graphics and sound are amazing, and the game has oodles of exploration and discovery that are the hallmarks of the series. It's fairly easy to pick up for those new to the series, but be warned that this is not a first-person shooter like Resistance: Fall of Man or Halo. Rather, it's an adventure game with a first-person view that happens to be interrupted by bouts of shooting. And aside from one muttered profanity near the beginning of the game, there's nothing really objectionable about the game, short of seeing space pirates and alien insects explode in bursts of purple blood.

But yeah, while it's a great title and comes highly recommended, it's just not my cup of cocoa. I'll probably end up selling this on eBay and putting the money towards a copy of Super Smash Bros. Brawl instead -- now there's a game I can play in ten-minute bursts...

(Abandoning a quality hardcore title due to lack of time and patience? I guess this is the gaming geek's equivalent of admitting he's over the hill )

Consider: Back in early 2000, John McCain was the early front-runner in the Republican Presidential primary. His early momentum was immediately countered by a slew of Rovian dirty tricks from the George W. Bush campaign, including:

• Accusing John McCain of committing treason while a prisoner of war in Vietnam
• Calling McCain a "fag candidate" and that he was a closet homosexual
• Claming his wife Cindy was addicted to drugs
• Alleging that his eight-year-old adopted daughter was actually an illegitimate child he sired with a prostitute
• Questioning McCain's sanity due to trauma suffered while in Vietnam
• Using bogus push polls to spread further misinformation against McCain

While the Bush campaign denied that they were behind the attacks, it was an open secret that the thrashing of John McCain and his family came directly from the top of his campaign. As a result, McCain's momentum quickly fizzled in South Carolina, and the rest is history.

Needless to say, John McCain didn't enjoy being buried by the Bush campaign's avalanche of slime. As he told Dadmag.com after the election,

There were some pretty vile and hurtful things said during the South Carolina primary. It's a really nasty side of politics. We tried to ignore it and I think we shielded [my daughter] from it. It's just unfortunate that that sort of thing still exists As you know she's Bengali, and very dark skinned. A lot of phone calls were made by people who said we should be very ashamed about her, about the color of her skin. Thousands and thousands of calls from people to voters saying "You know the McCains have a black baby". I believe that there is a special place in hell for people like those.

So imagine how absolutely gut-wrenching it must have been for John McCain when he appeared at the White House yesterday and was endorsed by George W. Bush himself (complete with soft-shoe dance). Pity poor John McCain, the fallen warrior, having to stand on stage next to George W. Bush, mouthing words of gratitude with a plaster grin, all while a long-smothered part of his soul burns with the rage of a thousand white-hot suns, just screaming for an instant to smite the Vietnam-deserting coward who destroyed his family and his honor eight years ago.

Yes, pity poor John McCain, who has now been thoroughly broken, reduced to supplicating himself before his enemy in humiliating defeat.

A cynical person might point to this as McCain's final capitulation, turned from a once-proud maverick into another member of the Republican establishment he originally railed against, a person who will now accept anything and court anyone in desperate hope of being the next President of the United States.

But let's give John McCain the benefit of a doubt, for none of us -- except, maybe, for John himself -- knows what's really going on in the deepest corners of his heart. For all any of us know, John McCain has simply achieved true nirvana, and is now at peace with everyone and everything -- including those who once worked to destroy him and his family. If so, he would have achieved a level of tolerance that would rival Jesus himself, and should be appointed Sainthood tout d'suite so the rest of us can learn from his example.

I don't claim to know what's really in John McCain's heart, but I think -- whether a political opportunist or an enlightened altruist -- there's still a part of him that just wants VENGEANCE...

To those folks I have to ask -- if you're going to go around trumpeting Obama dressing up from his father's side of the family, why not give equal time to his mother? Why aren't you waving around photos of Obama dressed up in his mother's culture?

Here, I'll help you out. Ladies and gentlemen, a photo of Senator Barack Obama wearing his mother's cultural costume:
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For those not in the know, Barack Obama's mother was Ann Dunham, daughter of Stanley Armour Dunham and Madelyne Payne, born and raised in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and as all-American whitebread as a loaf of Wonder's.

If we're going to keep waving around that photo of Barack Obama in a Kenyan elder's outfit as if it was anything important (which it isn't), then we should also given equal time and weight to a photo of Barack Obama wearing an American elder's outfit -- hey, it's only fair.

(Bonus: A photo of Barack Obama and his mother. Don't expect to see this get a lot of air time in the mainstream media, either...)

Hat tip to Mike Malloy for inspiring this post.