Cynical

Janan Cargile wrote that in our generation "trust is nothing more than temporary suspension of belief."

Is this true? Is our generation so jaded that we believe in nothing? I think so, because our generation doesn't even have a name that sticks. (I forget, are we X or Y or better yet the Jackass generation)

I propose a new name for our generation: "Don't believe the hype" generation. People call us lazy and ungrateful. These people are wrong, maybe our generation doesn't believe all the lies we are told. For example: ads tell us that if we have all the right things (i.e. a new iPod every few months, a new car, new clothes, ) we will be happy, or that if Bird Flu reaches America we will be ok, or that the levees really do work, or that there is justice, or that global warming is the greatest hoax ever. To all this we shall say "Don't believe the hype." It's not that we don't care, its that once upon a time we believed the hype and all we are left with is gutter sludge.

daVinci Code

I saw the daVinci Code this weekend, two years after reading the book on a beach in Florida. I will simply say that the movie was as boring as watching paint dry. Ever since I heard that Tom Hanks was cast for that part, I was telling people that he was the wrong guy to play Robert Langdon. Most people challenged me to come up with a better suggestion. I think David Duchovny of X Files fame. My mom thought John Malkovich would have been a better choice.

Tom was just too bland and his hairstyle was just all wrong. I do like Tom Hanks as an actor, but I definitely preferred him in such film greats as Splash and The Burbs. I despised his turn to the serious. Not to say that he didnt do an amazing job in Philadelphia or Forrest Gump. I just preferred the silly movies and the roles Tom played in those movies.

I am not saying you should not go see the movie. I am just warning you that the great beach read, is not as fascinating on screen. As an aside, I also saw Friends with Money this weekend. It was an excellent movie and it bothers me that most of the movie-going population does not know about these types of movies or do not put forth the effort to see independent films.

Rock the Vote

In the Washington Post, Lisa de Moraes comments on Idol Voting vs. Presidential Voting. Hilarious.

Thirty-five percent of "American Idol" voters believe their votes on the singing competition count more than or as much as voting in a presidential election, according to the latest navel-gazing study of the Fox series -- this one by Washington-based public opinion research firm Pursuant Inc.
This may be because on "Idol" you're encouraged to vote early and often, whereas in the presidential election you get to vote only once, except maybe in parts of Florida where "over-voting" looked like it might catch on in 2000.
And, mercifully, in "Idol" elections, 1 vote = 1 vote, unlike our system for picking our president.
But, hey, why rain on another study on "American Idol"?