So just in case you’ve been living under a rock for the last week or so, Clint Eastwood was the surprise guest speaker last Thursday night in the final hour of the Republican National Convention.  In fact, he was the last speaker before Marco Rubio came up to introduce the nominee himself, Mitt Romney (this is an important tidbit to remember for later).  In case you haven’t seen the video yet, here it is: As you can see, this was no ordinary political convention speech as Mr. Eastwood spends almost the entirety of his allotted time arguing with an empty chair in which he professes to have an invisible President Obama.  Much of it was barely coherent rambling interspersed with desperate “jokes” to make sure he didn’t lose the crowd (more on them in a minute) but there were some definite highlights: -Right around the five minute mark Mr. Eastwood mentions Obama’s opposition to the war in Iraq and something about how Obama thought the war in Afghanistan w...

So, it being the week before college football FINALLY begins--and me being the absolute college football NUT that I am--it’s obviously the perfect time to celebrate by unveiling/resurrecting a “column” I have been writing on and off for several years now.  At first I just posted it on a message board I frequented, then I started posting it in a blog I had but now that I have this lovely medium, I’ll be sharing it with all you lovely people. ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?! Here’s the basic gist of it: I analyze and make predictions on ALL of the college football games on basic cable or network TV (with some exceptions for other particularly interesting matchups) including one UPSET OF THE WEEK and one GAME OF THE WEEK.  It starts with HEADLINES from the previous week in college football (except this time where you just get this rambling introduction since it’s the first week) including how I did on last week’s picks (Highlights, Lowlights, The Rest, my record overall...

On 07/19/2012,  I was one of the lucky ones who was able to enjoy "The Dark Knight Rises". I actually went for the trilogy marathon, and I was able to gain perspective on the film series as a whole before partaking of the final offering from Christopher Nolan and his vision of Batman.  I watched the trilogy, got home around 4:30a.m. happy and exhausted, and went to bed dreaming of a world where a hero like Batman could exist, an incorruptible symbol of justice and good.  Then I woke up. While I had been at my theater totally unaware, at about 15 minutes til midnight in Aurora, CO a 24 year old man named James Holmes walked in to a crowed movie theater, threw tear gas canisters in to the audience that promptly exploded, and then started to fire at random in to a crowd of men, women, and children.  [Source, NPR.org] While I enjoyed my TDKR(The Dark Knght Rises) experience, there were people suffering and dying, just trying to enjoy small moments of ...

Well, it seems a lot has happened since the last time I wrote in here. I've decided that from this point on, this will be a blog on all things Unitarian Universalism (though I suppose as broad a theme as that is, it's still limiting in some ways--perhaps it would be better to refer to this as a "liberal religion blog"; not quite as catchy though).  With that in mind I suppose I should sort of reintroduce myself. I'm Derrick.  I'm 27 years old.  I am from Miami, FL and I am an active member of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Miami (UUCM); our minister is the lovely Rev. Wendy Pantoja.  I go to Florida International University and I'm majoring in Political Science and International Relations with a minor in Philosophy.  I am currently co-chairing (and essentially reinstating and reinvigorating) my congregation's Denominational Affairs committee and have also served on the Social Justice Committee as co-chair as well as the Membership Committee...

Tenacious D: Rize of the Fenix Super Biased Fan Review Tenacious D has a new cd called Rize of the Fenix and you should own it. Why? Because they are the fucking tits, sir. First, a Tenacious D awesome fact: Did you know they had a cameo in BIO-Dome , a super guilty pleasure movie of mine from my adolesence starring Stevie Baldwin and Paulie Shore. I hope I didn't scare you off by opening a review of their new 2012 cd with a Bio-Dome reference. Don't worry, I'll save it right now and let the D's music speak for itself. For a Full opinion of my love for the D and the new Rize of the Fenix album click read more

 Coming SOON I'd like to use my blog this Vundablog to promote new and unique movies, ideas, music, etc. Everything. Why? Because everyone makes remakes nowadays. It's lazy. You should make makes. New things or at least your version of old ideas and stand on your own. So with that thought and intentioin in mind. Hopefully, Coming SOON will be the place to express promotion for the under promoted. One of my favorite films is They Live. For reasons like this. Thanks to the always entertaining on point Russ Fischer of one of my favorite sites slashfilm.com. I have come across this fascinating trailer. This is on my need to watch list of 2012. Iwant to actively support interesting unique special looking films like this one enjoy this trailer for Branded. It has a total They Live feel, with hints of the Matrix, or and Alex Proyas film, or Terry Gilliam film right?

I have always been taught the significance of a good political cartoon. I have had several history teachers that would love to bombard me with political cartoons in classes, to better understand historical and political debates in the time period of study. Healthcare is an issue of importance to all Americans. It's a polarizing issue and there are no right answers. However, there is common sense, which I think many people feel our governement doesn't have much of these days.  Thanks to the fine people at Kaiser Health News  this wonderful cartoon by Jen Sorensen is making its way around the web. I love the simplicity of it. Politicians make it sound unreasonable that the government should pay for peoples healthcare when the government already pays for theirs. I'm going to have to keep this cartoonist on my radar now. Click over for the rest of the four page cartoon explaining the pitfalls of the individual hea...

I became an Aaron Sorkin nerd about five years ago.  My dad bought me the Sports Night boxset (all two seasons of it) and during a relatively lazy and unexciting time in my life I would spend days watching both seasons over and over to the point where I'd memorized a large majority of the show's more quotable moments.  Five years later, I can probably quote roughly 50% or more of every single episode at this point.  For those who don't know, Sports Night is a sitcom set behind the scenes of a SportsCenter-esque sports news show.  I saw an interview with Sorkin once where he said that people would always ask him whether Sports Night was a drama or a comedy and his response was that it was neither which I think is the perfect answer.  Family Guy joked once that Sports Night was "a comedy that's too good to be funny" and as one of its biggest fans, it's hard not to laugh at how much truth there is in that.  It just really doesn't try very hard to be a dr...

DANI & STEPHEN'S  AVENGERS MARATHON DAY  On May 3rd of the year 2012, there cam a day like no other, we took time off from work to go to AMC SUNSET PLACE and sit through a Marvel movie all day marathon. We took pictures and met cool people and got our minds blown yet again by the Avengers.   The HALF ASS-embled Avengers. I 'm really just jealous. Thor makes the team though, I have a crush on him. The Marvel Marathon consisted of all five of the previous Avenger outings, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America, culminating in the midnight 3D release of The Avengers. We at Vundablog had already seen Avengers, but watching it again was no less exciting and thrilling than the first time. Plus, we got to see the scene that they had been hinting at, the "emergency filmed" scene, and let me just say, it cements my love for Joss Whedon for all time. See after the jump for more pictures from the...

We've all heard of the Kochs and the Murdochs, the Buffetts and the Jobses, the Aileses and Gateses...but do we really KNOW our 1%?  In this recurring series, I'll be taking a look at some of the no-names in the corporate community and their connections and power within the community. Aylwin Lewis Aylwin Lewis sits on the Boards of Directors of both Halliburton and the Walt Disney Corporation (making sure all those magical movies and cartoons are promoting the military-industrial complex like they should--in addition to all the programming on the ABC/ESPN and A&E families of networks) and is formerly the interim Chief Executive Officer and President of   Sears Holdings Corporation   and currently the CEO of   Potbelly Sandwich Works . Sears Holdings was created in connection with the merger of Kmart and Sears, which was completed on March 24, 2005. Lewis joined Kmart as President and Chief Executive Officer on October...