California State Disappointment - Federal Judge Appointment (hopefully)

Today Obama announced his decision as supreme court nominee as Sonia Sotomayor. Already the Republicans are releasing the hounds on her. Read more here.

Also today, California's supreme court decides to uphold the Prop 8 ban on same sex marriage. It also decided that the estimated 18,000 gay couples who tied the knot before the law took effect will stay wed. Read more here.

Netflix Movies

Yay! I recently decided to subscribe to Netflix. I love movies and I don't have cable so I thought, "What the heck?". If you are on Netflix, be my friend! Click here.

Here are some of the movies I have watched in the past couple weeks:

The Great Debaters

"When African-American poet Mel Tolson (Denzel Washington, who also directs) creates a debate team at historically black Wiley College, he pushes the team to a level of excellence that allows them to challenge powerhouse Harvard in 1935. But despite public success, personal clashes foment as the father (Forest Whitaker) of one of Tolson's students resents his son's loyalty to his coach. Denzel Whitaker co-stars in this drama based on a true story."

This movie was awesome. It was very moving in many ways. It was one of those movies where you could really feel the human plight. I gave it 5 stars on Netflix.


Grace Is Gone

"Director James C. Strouse's indie drama stars John Cusack as Stanley Phillips, an ex-military man trying to find the courage to break some devastating news to his two daughters: Their mother has died while serving in Iraq. As he works through his complex feelings about his wife's death and the war, Stanley delays telling his girls the truth, instead taking them on an excursion to a theme park. The film won the Dramatic Audience Award at Sundance 2007."

Grace is Gone is a great anti-war movie that really gave great examples of how 1 war casualty is never just one person. I gave it 4 stars.


Dan in Real Life

"Advice columnist and widowed father of three Dan Burns (Steve Carell) has met someone new. Marie (Juliette Binoche) is beautiful, she's smart -- and she just so happens to be the girlfriend of Dan's brother Mitch (Dane Cook). With a publicly recognized moral compass, Dan finds himself torn between reaching for happiness and keeping the peace in his family. Dianne Wiest and John Mahoney co-star in this romantic comedy from director Peter Hedges."

I actually wasn't that fond of this movie. It was too predictable and not very funny. I gave it 2 stars.

Company of Thieves

On Wednesday April 29th I saw this band live at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach. This was probably one of the best live shows I have EVER seen. Company of Thieves is a band from Chicago and this was their first visit to San Diego. FM 94.9 has been playing their song on the radio for the past month or so and needless to say this 6 dollar show was sold out. They were incredibly humble and delightful with awesome stage presence. I can't believe how good the sound was at this venue. They did a cover of Janis Joplin's "a little piece of my heart" that floored me. Genevieve Schatz is a tiny sprite-like individual with an incredibly powerful voice. I see this band (hopefully) getting really big. Their songs are all very different from each other and equally catchy. I highly recommend seeing this band if you ever have a chance.

Another band that played that night was really fun to watch was 'Stripes and Lines'. All four band members were right at the front of the stage and the drummer was the lead singer. They were incredibly funky and technical. Go see them too if you have the chance.

Good times!