Today was movie day, and though I had wanted to see the sneak preview of After the Sunset that was in theaters today, after watching our first movie - a classic - Ronin, we just decided to keep going with movie association and went right on with The Hunt For Red October (another classic - during which we played a few games of cribbage, dominoes and backgammon as we watched it fairly recently before the movie association game) and then we segued into our first series of movies - Star Wars. We're going to go in order of release on those and just finished with Episode IV - A New Hope and will continue Thursday or next weekend with Episodes V and VI. And although I wasn't the biggest fan of Episodes I and II, the trailer for Episode III came out this weekend and it looks pretty sweet. Greg wants to follow Episode VI with I and II, whereas I would like to save I and II until Episode III comes out in May. Either way, we're still anxiously awaiting mid-December so we can have the Extended Edition Lord of the Rings marathon which we initially have calculated to last over 11 and a half hours (and LOTR is easily reachable from Star Wars via Christopher Lee). That will be a great day.

Movies to date now include (in reverse order with related cast in parentheses):

[Next Up] LORD OF THE RINGS TRIOLOGY: EXTENDED EDITION! (Christopher Lee)
[Next Up] Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (Anthony Daniels [C-3PO] and Christopher Lee [Count Dooku])
[Next Up] Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (Kenny Baker [R2-D2] and Anthony Daniels [C-3PO])
[Next Up] Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (Peter Mayhew [Chewie] and Kenny Baker [R2-D2])
[Next Up] Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (David Prowse [Vader] and Peter Mayhew [Chewie])
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (James Earl Jones [Vader's Voice] and David Prowse [Vader])
The Hunt For Red October (Stellan Skarsgård and James Earl Jones)
Ronin (Jean Reno and Stellan Skarsgård)
Godzilla (1998) (Ben Bode and Jean Reno)
Empire Records (Liv Tyler and Ben Bode)
Armageddon (Owen Wilson and Liv Tyler)
Permanent Midnight (Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson)
Keeping the Faith (Edward Norton and Ben Stiller)
Rounders (Edward Norton - Starting Film)

URL: Star Wars (1977)

A very interesting map is linked below that shows a county-by-county view of how America voted. Pretty interesting to see SO MUCH of the U.S. for Bush and so little for Kerry, yet he still managed 48% of the popular vote. It's quite obvious that those in populous towns tend to go Democrat - I wonder why. I'm sure there's valid explanations, but it seems like the nation is pretty polarized and it should be interesting to see what happens in 2006.

Square miles of
counties won:
Bush 2.51 million
Kerry 511,700

URL: USATODAY.com

Well, I did it. Today, I submitted the application along with my resume for a police officer job in the city of Orange. The deadline for turning in applications is November 16th, so I don't expect to hear from them until after that date, but hopefully the interview will go well and I'll be offered a job as a "trainee" where they'll pay for me to get a POST certificate and have a job waiting at the Orange Police Department.

URL: City of Orange, CA - Police

As I drove to work today, I heard that John Kerry had conceded the election and everyone pretty much agrees that George Bush will serve four more years. It's very reassuring to see Kerry concede the election instead of fighting it out, turning it into the debacle that was the 2000 election. Now, what remains to be seen is how the far-left liberals (moveon.org, etc.) take the loss.

URL: Yahoo! News - Presidential Election

Wow. I can't believe how chicken all the networks are with this election. I realize that after the debacle that was the 2000 election, no one wants to go out on a limb and make the incorrect call, but get a spine and make a call. Both NBC and FOX have called Ohio for Bush, giving him 269 electoral votes, which, technically gives him the election since a 269-269 electoral vote goes to the Senate and Bush has a majority there. CNN has Bush at 254 electoral votes, which, with Ohio would give him 274 and the win, but they don't want to call Ohio and be "the network that got it wrong." CBS also sits at 254, though I never expected them to call it. I switched over to their coverage a couple times last night and it was so partisan, it wasn't even funny. They had some reporter on the White House lawn and he characterized the republicans inside "unhappy" many times even though most of us last night realized, even before the networks got the spine to call it, Bush has won.

I guess the question comes down to whether or not Kerry will take the loss like a man and move on or if he'll file countless lawsuits in Ohio to try and find 135,000 more votes. Think about that - 135,000 votes. Not the 437 it came down to in Florida last night. Hundreds of thousands - not hundreds. To me, it's quite clear who has won - not only the electoral vote, but also the popular vote - by 3.5 million.

Speaking of the popular vote, what does this mean for us as a nation as a whole? To me, it seems to validate everything Bush has been doing. It gives him a clear mandate that we want him to finish what he started in Iraq. We want him to keep the taxes lower. We want him to continue to work on health care and education. We approve of the job he's done and we want four more years. Of course, there's 54 million people who voted for Kerry (or against Bush depending on which way the liberals leaned), who most likely agree with my interpretation of things. But what we need to do as a country is come together behind this president instead of being the divided country we've been the last four years. We need to support his decisions and acknowledge that the majority of the country is behind him.

URL: Yahoo! News - Elections

And for a lighter side...today I read that in Japan, they are releasing Zelda II: A Link to the Past and some other classic NES games in the Classic NES Series for the Game Boy Advance. I pretty much bought my Game Boy Advance to play these games. I have Ice Climber, Zelda (first one), and Super Mario Bros. and I play them all quite often. The only game I have that isn't from the Classic NES Series is Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. Now with the new games, my Game Boy Advance is worth even more to me. Zelda II and Castlevania are absolutely amazing games and with Metroid coming out as well, my day has been made (well...that and with Bush looking to win...).

URL: Classic NES Series for Game Boy Advance

Well, apparently the Kerry campaign is disputing the call of Ohio by FOX and ABC. No doubt many lawsuits will be filed there. Hopefully other states will go to Bush so the electoral votes of Ohio become moot.

Good to hear that 70% of the voters used punch card ballots in Ohio...sounds like tons of Florida fun all over again (though we found in Bush vs. FL that a recount will most likely not happen). It'll probably come down to the 200,000 to 250,000 provisional ballots out in the state.

URL: Yahoo! News - Bush Wins Florida; Ohio Too Close to Call

Well, it pretty much seems that Bush has won the election. Both ABC & FOX are calling Ohio for Bush which would give him 269 at this point which gives him another 4 years. It's been an interesting 4 years...freedom in Afghanistan and Iraq...world dictators out of a job...terrorists on the run...no attack on U.S. soil since 9/11...lower taxes...succesful weathering of a recession...who knows what's in store for 4 more...

URL: CNN.com Election 2004 - U.S. President

So, Yahoo! just called Florida for Bush - which, if I'm correct - pretty much gives the election to George W. Bush even if Ohio goes to Kerry (still way too close to call). With respect to my previous post, it should be interesting to see what happens tomorrow. The ACLU has already filed a lawsuit in Florida and I would expect many more to be filed to prevent the incumbent from declaring victory. It could be quite sad to see what the left will do rather than admit defeat tomorrow. At least this year, it looks like if Bush does win the electoral vote, he'll also win the popular vote so there can't be 4 more years of whining about the "true winner" not in the White House.

URL: Yahoo! News - Elections

So over two years of name-calling and dirty politics come down to one day, just a few hours now, and what will happen when a new president is selected? What will the moveon.org people do if Bush wins. What will happen if all those liberals who have spent the last four years loathing the president don't get their way? Will a massive amount of lawsuits flood the courts? Will they take the loss and move on?

Alternatively, what happens if Kerry wins? Will the Republicans file suit in the the states they lost? Most notably the battle ground states? Whoever wins, I just hope they win big so one state can't swing the vote. And if one state can swing the vote, I hope the winner wins big so we don't get another Florida.

But whatever the outcome, it seems as if the Democrats have much more riding on this than the Republicans do. There's been a massive uprising amongst the MoveOn people (who, quite interestingly, can't move on and get over the 2000 election) and yet, the race is still too close to call. If all this support has risen up from the ground floor, how come the race is still so close? Because Kerry is just the lesser of two evils? So many questions yet to be answered. Hopefully we'll find out tonight and we won't have to find out in the courts.

URL: Yahoo! News - Elections

So...do you need yet another person to tell you to vote? Didn't think so. I realize this is an important election and all, but I'm sick of all these people telling me I have to vote. P.Diddy telling me I have to vote or die. MTV telling me to choose or lose. I know it's important and all to our indirect democracy, but I'm sick of the whole "vote or else" campaign being shoved down my throat wherever I look.

Yes, I did vote (absentee - like I do every election), but while I like the idea of more people voting and excersising their right to do so, in my opinion, an uninformed vote is worse than no vote at all. If you have no clue why exactly you're voting for someone, leave the box blank. If you don't know what exactly a measure or proposition does, don't check a box. If you're only voting one way because your social group tells you that's the way to go, don't even vote at all. If you can't make up your own damn mind, don't go out and check a little box because you think that's the cool way to vote.

We'll see what happens tomorrow - should be pretty interesting. I get off work at four and might blog a little throughout the night if I feel so inclined. But which ever way the election goes this time around, I hope it's decisive. I don't think we need another Supreme Court ruling as a country.

URL: vote2004.gif (GIF Image, 276x110 pixels)

A great exchange between Brokaw and Kerry (odd to see Brokaw not siding with Kerry though):

Brokaw: This week you've been very critical of the president because of the missing explosives in Iraq.The fact is, senator, we still don't know what happened to those explosives. How many for sure that were there. Who might have gotten away with them? Is it unfair to the president, just as you believe he's been unfair to you, to blame him for that?

Kerry: No. It's not unfair. Because what we do know, from the commanders on the ground, is that they went there, as they marched to Baghdad. We even read stories today that they broke locks off of the doors, took photographs of materials in there. There were materials. And they left.

Brokaw: The flip side of that is that if you had been president, Saddam Hussein would still be in power. Because you...

The rest of the interview is continued at the link below. But what I find most amazing as Kerry continues to rant about how he might have gone to war, yet he tries to appeal to the liberals who wouldn't have gone to war against this madman in Iraq is this...Saddam's throne:

URL: Mudville Gazette

The movie association game continued tonight as Greg and I were finally going to get to Rainman through Tom Cruise, but unfortunately, things didn't go as expected. The plan was to watch both Empire Records and Jerry Maguire which would get us to Rainman and then to Straw Dogs (Liv Tyler > Renee Zellweger > Tom Cruise > Dustin Hoffman). But, as usual, things didn't go as planned. We were going to watch Empire Records directly after the Michigan came which I had planned to watch all week - I mean, what's better than Michigan State vs. Michigan? So as I watched Michigan mount an amazing comeback, scoring 17 points in the last 6 1/2 minutes to tie the game and force overtime, what happens on the local ABC station? They switch me over to the USC game - which is somewhat predictable as the LA market does deserve the USC game. But come on...we've got overtime and I can't even watch it on TV? Well, luckily, I have Sirius Satellite Radio and they had the Michigan game on channel 102 today, so as Greg and I headed to Fry's Electronics (I couldn't find my copy of Empire Records on DVD and I wanted to get the Special Edition (aka the "Remix! Special Fan Edition)) we listened to the game as it went to three overtimes and Michigan prevailed. So once again, Sirius rocks.

We got back, listened to Michigan win and watched the Remix! Special Fan Edition which has 16 minutes of extra footage and then went to grab some grub before watching Jerry Maguire. Well, wouldn't you know...after not being able to find Empire Records earlier in the day, I couldn't find Jerry Maguire now (though it could be in my storage shed because I had just printed a new cover for it (I have the compulsion to transfer all DVDs in boxes to keep cases)). With very few options left to branch off of Empire Records (we couldn't use Liv Tyler and Greg didn't want to watch Cold Mountain or Chicago from Renee Zellweger), we went with a classic piece of crap, Godzilla (1998). How did we get from Empire Records to Godzilla? Well, none other than Ben Bode. Who, you ask? Yes...Mitchell from Empire Records and Radio Technician #3 in Godzilla. A bit of a stretch? Perhaps...but our options were limited without Jerry Maguire to fill in the gap. Next up: Ronin as we follow Jean Reno from Godzilla...

So...we've done the following movie association (in reverse order):

Godzilla (1998) (Ben Bode and Jean Reno)
Empire Records (Liv Tyler and Ben Bode)
Armageddon (Owen Wilson and Liv Tyler)
Permanent Midnight (Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson)
Keeping the Faith (Edward Norton and Ben Stiller)
Rounders (Edward Norton - Starting Film)

URL: Empire Records (1995)