I, myself, was young and stupid in 2004 (I was 17) when I wrote some fiction based on my emotionally-driven outrage over the Abu-Grahb prison scandal. In my naiivety, I wrote about soldiers torturing Muslims, not having done any research of my own about the subject. I simply ate the Media narrative about the subject. I can't think of a single day, in the years that followed when I grew up and developed my own critical thinking, when my stomach turned over what I had written. Of course, even though I wrote it personally for no one to read, I have regretted ever having done that and have been keeping this skeleton in my closet for years, all the while I tried to atone for it by donating to veterans groups and showing my support to the military. I have contemplated about enlisting, but I doubt they'll accept me with my having Asperger's Syndrome and depression. Still, I now have deeper appreciation and respect for the sacrifices the military makes to keep all of us safe, and I am forever grateful to honor them.

I, quite frankly, have never understood why so much scorn has been heaped against Michael Jackson. I'm a libertarian, and for all I know, I wasn't too keen on Jackson's politics. I'd have to assume he was liberal based on doing stuff like "We Are the World" and such, but he seemed to be rather private about it compared to the more smug liberals you see nowadays in the entertainment industry. I can't think it's simply because of the pedophilia allegations, seeing as how there was never any concrete evidence to back that up. Quite frankly, I believe all of the kids who testified were set up by their parents to do so so they could take advantage of Jackson's naivety and get huge cash settlements. It not quite as far-fetched as it sounds.

Interesting that you also mention "Cowboy Bebop" in the same column as "Sucker Punch", because I think that defines the whole problem with that movie: Snyder was trying to treat the film as an anime movie, as if anime was a specific genre. Like Brad Bird has said about traditional animation, anime is another film medium that has a specific style but can incorporate any genre. For example, "Cowboy Bebop" can be best described as a mash-up of sci-fi space fantasy (a la Star Wars), taking place in the future (a la "Blade Runner"), but also featuring western and noir motifs (the gun-toting bounty hunter Spike Spiegel), and probably the trippiest Jazz music score you'll hear in any movie or TV show, let alone anime. It's both eclectic, and yet very streamlined in execution. Snyder seemed to treat the plot for "Sucker Punch" with so many different genres that the movie collapsed under its own ambitions. I think Snyder would do himself a good service by going back to how you make a lean, effective movie that doesn't treat anime as a genre, and I think "Cowboy Bebop" would be a good start.

I would also add that if the private sector does a more effective job at regulating the video games they sell rather than the government, why should there be government interference? Based on statistics I've read from the Federal Trade Commission as well as some of these parents groups who think the government isn't doing enough, only 19-to-20% of kids have managed ton get their hands on violent video games. Do you realize, based on those statistics, that It is easier for kids to get their hands on CDs with explicit lyrics and to sneak into R-rated movies than it is to buy a Mature-rated video game? That is why I believe the private regulatory arm of the video game industry is the most comprehensive and effective regulator, and that the government would simply make a bigger mess of the issue.

To use an old saying, "If it ain't broke, why fix it?""

Here's what I think the best explanation can be as to how Pixar went wrong with "Cars 2": Essentially, Pixar has come out with its "Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace". Think about it: John Lasseter has run into the George Lucas syndrome of wanting to tinker with his previous movies and creating mediocre stories in order to justify creating giant merchandising behemoths.

To me, the first tell-tale signs of this happening to Lasseter (if not Pixar itself) was when Lasseter re-edited the short "Knick-Knack" to be more P.C. (For the uninitiated, "Knick-Knack" was a Tex Avery-style Pixar short from the late 80's about a snowman figurine stuck in a snow-globe that wanted to escape and be with the voluptuous bikini-clad babe figurine hanging out by the pool display on the same table.) Here's a link to it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HgG3pgR9gY (And yes, that's Bobby McFerrin doing the music for the short.)

Here's where it goes downhill: "Knick-Knack" was re-edited to digitally reduce the "voluptuousness" of the bikini-clad babe figurine when it was released on the Disney DVD collection of the Pixar shorts. Doesn't that kind of strike you the same way Lucas re-edited "Star Wars" so that "Greedo shot first instead of Han Solo"?

Now with "Cars 2", it seems to confirm my suspicions that John Lasseter is following George Lucas's path of ruining his legacy by letting the commerce come ahead of the story and the legion of fans who identify with Pixar's stories (which oddly enough, is what a lot of liberals always seem to say about the line between art and commerce.) It's sad, though, because Pixar had, for all this time, presented a business plan that presented the best in both art and commerce. I only hope this is just a temporary hiccup in Pixar's legacy because I would hate to see it wind up the way the Lucasfilm legacy has turned into ("Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull", anyone?)

Let's hope this one doesn't become as big a car pile-up as "Cars 2".

They did kind of fix Han levitating on Jabba's tail in the special DVD edition, unless you were referring to the DVD special edition because I'm only thinking of the special edition when it first came out on VHS. Basically, I'm talking about a special edition of the special edition. Anybody want to bet a million bucks that the Blu Ray will be a special edition of the special edition twice removed?

Hey now, that's rather unfair of you to claim this as anime. First of all, anime is specifically an art form originating from Japan, and second: Most anime is not that perverted. It's just a niche category called hentai that has the more perverted aspect of anime, just to set the record straight. Other than that, it is a pretty amusing video.

No offense, but when you say "...He’s the go-to guy for entertainment sites when some pretentious twerp tries to cash in by trashing the church", well, would you call Trey Parker and Matt Stone of "South Park" pretentious twerps? After all, they're the ones who really got Donahue's blood boiling over their mockery of the Catholic Church, and this was all the while they were also mocking Scientology, Islam, liberalism and other left-wing theologies. Though to be fair, Donahue wasn't the one that threatened their lives with a fatwa; that distinction would go to Zachary Adam Chasser, who is now doing 25 years in prison for various Jihadist-related activities including trying to issue a fatwa against Parker and Stone.

Can you believe that I bought the original Tron on DVD two years ago - brand new for only twelve bucks? And on Amazon.com? But the real kicker about it was that I lost it while in the middle of moving, and this was by the time the DVD went out of print and was selling new for as little as forty bucks (last time I checked). Oh well, good thing I upgraded to Blu-Ray in order to justify getting Tron again.