Obama No Longer the Boogeyman

President Obama has a lot to smile about on the day of his sixth State of the Union Address. His approval ratings have hit 50% for the first time in two years. Unemployment is at it's lowest level since he took office, and is continuing to drop. But most surprising of all is the bipartisan praise the President's nominees for Attorney General and Defense Secretary have received in the Senate, making it almost certain that both of them will be confirmed.

Just a few short months ago this would have been a fictional reality what with the GOP obstructionism the President encountered ever since he took office. But the midterms changed all that. Now that the GOP has control of both houses of Congress they can no longer be the party of no. Instead they have no choice but to govern with the President in order to have any chance of winning in 2016, which is why you see Republican Senators such as Jeff Flake of Arizona publicly supporting the administrations move towards normalizing diplomatic relations with Cuba and other Republican Senators like Bob Corker of Tennessee supporting an increase in the gas tax to help with infrastructure improvements. 

The obstruction and attacks made by the Republicans in Congress over the past six years mostly had to do with them not wanting this particular President to have a legacy. But very soon the party of Reagan will face an electorate that is much more unfavorable to them, with more minorities and young people and other democratic constituents expected to vote in higher numbers in 2016 than in 2014. So therefore they must do everything they can to show that they can govern if they want to still be a major presidential party rather than just a congressional party in Washington. 

But there is more than just the GOP's desire to occupy the White House again that is creating an atmosphere of cooperation on Capitol Hill. It is also the reality that, with only two more years left in office starting today, President Obama is no longer the political threat to the GOP he once was. 

The 2014 midterms were the last in which the GOP would "run against" President Obama. Now moving forward, with the next Presidential Election on the horizon, the Republican Party is now setting it's sights on running against the next Democratic nominee for President, presumably Hillary Clinton. Therefore the GOP will focus more on attacking the future leader of the Democratic Party rather than the current occupant of the White House. 

This current dynamic of cooperation makes it possible for Washington to actually get things done. Let us hope the GOP finally works with the President and help get done as much as possible over the next two years. 

Why The Real 2015 Is Better Than The Back To The Future 2015

If you're a fan of the Back to the Future trilogy, 2015 may seem like a real letdown. We have no flying cars, no hover boards, we have no automatic size-adjusting and automatic drying ja

ckets, no power laces, and there is no weather service that can predict the weather within seconds. Despite those prognostications from Bob Zemeckis and his producer/partner Bob Gale, I would actually rather live in the real 2015 than in the BTTF 2015. 

Back to the Future Part II was filmed just a few years before the public availability of the internet, so the BTTF 2015 acts as if the internet never existed. Nobody in that 2015 have an smartphone, and it doesn't even seem as if the McFly family has a computer in their own home, something that is the universal norm for every family in America nowadays. Marty McFly Jr. was even seen in the film walking into a phone booth, whereas in the real 2015 if he wanted to call someone he would have just flipped out his iPhone or Android or any other smartphone people use nowadays. 

Although many have believed that we would have flying cars by now, the cars in the BTTF 2015 are simply horrendous. They have no sense of style, no sense of design, and no "wow" factor that makes you desire to get one someday. They are basically just boxes that can fly through the air. Come to think of it, living in a universe where we have flying cars can be quite dangerous, because what if a car runs of gas or electricity or whatever they run on and they fall to the ground? (see my other article, "Why We Don't Have Flying Cars") The result would be total catastrophe, with nobody daring to go outside for fear that a car would fall on them and crush them to death. The Airline industry would also be in turmoil since there would be the risk of a fluing car crashing to an airplane. Despite the plane crashes that happened in the past year, at least we don't have to worry about an airplane running into an oncoming car. 

While I get very annoyed when I see kids as young as 3 watching videos and playing games on an iPhone, young people these days are a lot cooler than the kids in 2015. Who would in their right mind think that "wearing clothes inside out" would be considered cool? And why would anyone call something where you have to use their hands not cool because it's a "baby's toy?" Well,. how else are you supposed to use something? 

But perhaps the thing I dislike the most about the BTTF 2015 is that all lawyers have been abolished, which means that my fathers hard work getting through law school and his long nights studying for the Bar Exam wouldn't have meant jack squat. It is actually a scary reality when a judge can just sentence someone to 15 years in prison within two hours without a jury, a fair trial, and a lawyer that can assist in representation. It is also a scary reality when The Supreme Court can just rule on what it wants without having lawyers from both sides arguing their case. Obviously both Bobs didn't think about that when they made this movie. 

Hoverbards, power laces, and automatic drying jackets are all things that I hope will become universally available within my lifetime. But despite not having any of those right now, I would much rather live in the real 2015 rather than the one Michael J. Fox visited any day.

Republican Control of Senate May be Short-Lived

The GOP had a wonderful night last night largely because the Senate map this year was in their favor.

Of the seven seats the party picked up, five of them were in states won by Mitt Romney in the last Presidential Election. The fact that they also won Senate races in Colorado and Iowa, two states won by President Obama in 2012, also dealt a major blow to Democrats.

But the problem the Democrats had this year will be the same problem the GOP will have in 2016.

In that election, seven Republican Senators who were elected in 2010-Mark Kirk of Illinois, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Rob Portman of Ohio, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Marco Rubio of Florida, and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire-will be running for re-election in states that President Obama carried in the last presidential election, with an electorate that will be much less favorable to them than this year.

With Angus King’s announcement today that he is still going to caucus with the Democrats, the party of President Obama would have 46 seats if Begich concedes in Alaska and Mary Landrieu loses the December 6 runoff in Louisiana. That would mean Democrats would need to win five of those seven seats held by Republicans where Obama won. They could also potentially win a Senate race in North Carolina, especially with a larger youth and minority turnout in presidential years.

Even if Democrats don’t succeed in winning back the Senate in two years, the Senate landscape next time around may be good for the country, since those seven senators might be willing to compromise on certain issues such as immigration reform in order to have another six years on capitol hill.

"Simpsons" Premiere Death Extremely Dissapointing

To quote the person who died on the season premiere of The Simpsons Sunday night, the episode was very "eh"(if you haven't seen it yet, feel free to continue reading. You really didn't miss out on anything). 

The major character death turned out not to be Krusty the Clown as I had predicted but Krusty's dad, a character so miniscule in importance that I keep forgetting his name. Like many of those who went on Twitter immediately after the broadcast, I felt the episode was severely over-hyped. When the showrunners announced that there would be a "character death" I was expecting it to be someone like Krusty or Grandpa Simpson or even Mr. Burns-someone whose death would shake up the entire series. Watching the 26th season premiere of The Simpsons was sort of akin to seeing The Phantom Menace for the first time. You expect you're going to watch something truly life-changing and then once it's over you end up unsatisfied and asking yourself "is that it?"

That's not to say the entire episode was bad. My favorite part had to be the sleepover scene with Chief Wiggum, a cutaway gag that reminded me of Family Guy. And the B-plot involving Lisa trying to protect Homer from danger was incredibly touching. Still, Clown in the Dumps will most certainly go down as the most overhyped Simpsons episode of all time. 

What Robin Williams Meant to My Childhood

When I heard the news yesterday that Robin Williams died of an apparent suicide, I just couldn't believe it. It almost felt like a cruel hoax, some fake news announcement that would pop up on Twitter on April Fool's Day. While I am now old enough to recall the death of countless celebrities, none of them had the impact on my childhood the way Robin Williams did.

Williams actually appeared in the first movie I ever saw in theaters, Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest, which I saw when I was four. In it, Williams voiced Batty Koda, a bat that is not only experimented on, but raps about it. But it was his performance as the Genie in Disney's Aladdin that people of my generation will surely remember him most by. Aladdin is a great movie by itself, but it was the Genie that made it extraordinary, not just because of his comedic impersonations but because he gave the role a hundred percent even though nobody could see his face (although a dispute with Disney caused him to drop out of the role of the Genie in the video sequel Return of Jafar, he did return to voice the role in Aladdin and the King of Thieves). 

When I was seven, I went to see Jumanji with my mom, grandmother, and brother. The movie was way too scary for my brother, who was five at the time, so he and my mom left the theater to see Balto instead, while my grandmother and I continued to watch the fantasy-adventure film  based on the book by Chris Van Allsburg. My grandmother still watches it every time it comes on TV, and to this day I consider it one of the best plot-driven movies I have ever seen. And when I was nine my mom took my brother and I to see Flubber. I don't remember much about that movie, but I do remember Robin Williams being the motivating factor for us seeing it. 

Mrs. Doubtfire is by far one of his greatest performances, yet the movie is also a great way to help children of divorce cope. When Williams as Dobtfire looks into the camera and talks in a calming manner about the realities of divorce, about how some parents get back together while others don't, it's as if a real human being is speaking and not some guy dressed in drag. My own parents were getting divorced when I was re-watching the ending of Mrs. Doubtfire, and it helped me feel better about the whole situation. 

As I got older I saw Williams in his more dramatic films such as Dead Poets Society, Jack, Patch Adams, and Good Will Hunting, which earned him the Academy-Award for Best Supporting Actor. Of all his dramatic performances, Patch Adams will arguably be the most talked about in the days, weeks, months, and even years after his passing since it almost disturbingly parallels what happened in his own life. In the beginning of the movie, Williams character is sent to a psych ward for trying to kill himself, and in the middle of the film he contemplates jumping off a cliff after his girlfriend is killed in a murder-suicide 

In a statement, William's wife Susan Schneider said she hopes that "the focus will not be on (her husband's) death, but on the countless moments of joy and laughter he gave to millions". To me, Robin Williams will always be the Genie that turned a street rat into a Prince, a divorced father who dressed up as a woman in order to spend more time with his kids, and a board-game player battling against lions and other wild animals. In other words, the guy who helped make a my childhood a very special one. 

"Batman Vs. Superman" Move to March 2016 Shows Diminished Importance of Summer Release Date

For the past several months, Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice was scheduled to go head-to-head with Captain America 3 on May 6, 2016, creating an epic showdown between Disney-owned Marvel and Warner Bros.-owned DC Entertainment. 

But last week Warner Bros. announced that it will be moving Batman vs. Superman up several weeks to March 25, 2016. Although the film had been widely buzzed about since its announcement last year, DC has a lot more to lose than Marvel. Marvel, which has been on a winning streak as of late, can afford to take a hit, while DC is still trying to establish itself and needs Batman vs. Superman to be a colossal success. (The $94 million debut of Guardians of the Galaxy may have also convinced DC and Warner Bros. not to go head-to-head with Marvel). 

While the shift was indeed a smart move, it also underscored something even more significant going on in Hollywood: the diminished importance of the summer release date. 

It used to be that blockbuster movies came out during the summer months between May and August or during Thanksgiving and Christmas, with the rest of the year reserved for mid-budget movies like romantic comedies and teen fare. 

Although March is a time when kids are still in school, the month does have a history of movie debuts that became mega blockbusters such as 1999's The Matrix ($464 million worldwide) and 2010's Alice in Wonderland (over $1 billion worldwide). 

Hollywood may have learned its lesson from last summer, when a crowded marketplace produced mega bombs such as RIPD, The Lone Ranger, and White House Down. Meanwhile, the success of last October's Gravity ($716 million worldwide), last February's The Lego Movie ($468 million worldwide) and last April's Captain America: The Winter Solider ($712 million worldwide) showed studios that a movie could be a hit no matter when it is released. 

Batman vs. Superman isn't the only mega budget flick scheduled not to open during the summer months or holiday season. Disney's live action re-imagining of The Jungle Book is set to come out in October 2015, while Warner Bros. own Jungle Book movie is set to come out October 2016. 

Not only has Warner Bros. missed a gigantic train wreck by moving up Batman vs. Superman by several weeks, but the movie now has a better chance of being hugely successful since it will now have the entire month of April 2016 to itself. But if the movie does become a hit, not only would it be a victory for DC and Warner Bros., but it would also be a victory for theatre goers and theatre owners, since it would further convince studios to release blockbuster movies year round. 

Amazon Fire Phone Not Worth The Hype

If you have an iPhone and are thinking about getting the new Fire Phone from Amazon, my advice would be to stick to the iPhone. 

I got the chance to test out the Fire Phone at an AT&T store in Long Beach, not because I'm interested in getting one someday, but because I was curious as to what all the fuss is about. Is the Fire Phone the phone that will bring Apple to it's knees, or is it just another Apple wanna be? 

The best feature on the Fire Phone by far is Firefly, an innovative piece of technology that recognizes music, movies, TV shows, or any type of product. Whenever I hear a song I like in the car I always have to remember the lyrics so I can later google it so then I could buy the right song on iTunes. The Fire Phone instantly recognized Lenny Kravitz's Again playing in the background at the AT&T store and pulled up info about the song. 

Other than Firefly, however, the Fire Phone is not worth the $649, or even the $199 two-year contract with AT&T. 

While the FireFly makes it easier to buy music and Dynamic Perspective makes playing games a lot more fun, a smart phone is supposed to be a lot than fun and entertainment. It is also supposed to be a companion to make everyday life just a little bit easier, and unfortunately, the Fire Phone is unable to do that. 


There are some very annoying things about the Fire Phone that you can take for granted on an iPhone. For starters, when you go to the E-Mail app you can type up an E-Mail, yet there is no search bar to look up an E-Mail you sent days, maybe even months ago. There isn't even a "sent" part of the E-Mail app that lets you make sure that your E-Mail even went through. This is a problem if you rely on your smartphone to send E-Mails throughout the day. 

Another problem with this phone is the Weather App. Of course the app shows weather in your city, but what if you're planning on going to say, Hawaii, and you want to know what the weather will be like when you get there so you can pack accordingly? With the iPhone you can look up the weather in cities from all around the world, yet the FirePhone doesn't give you that option. 

And then there's the problem with the Notes App. On the Fire Phone you have to remember to press the check mark on the top right hand corner in order for the note to save, while the iPhone saves notes automatically. 

Buying music may be easier with the Fire Phone, but you can't set one of your songs to be your alarm sound like you can on the iPhone. This is a major bummer if you want to wake up and start your day listening to your favorite artist. 

Even the calculator app on this phone is disappointing. Whenever I leave someone a tip, all I have to do is take out my iPhone, type in the bill plus 15%, and then give the right amount. But with the Fire Phone there is no % button, so you have to do all the percentages manually. 

But by far the biggest problem with the Fire Phone is the internet. It is virtually impossible to open more than two screens at once, and while it has sites such as Amazon, FaceBook dedfaulted, it doesn't default any news sites, not to mention navigating the internet on the phone is extremely frustrating. 

The Fire Phone does have some potential, and maybe in a few years, if Jeff Bezos and the rest of the people of Amazon read this review and fix all the complaints I have listed, then maybe it might be worth taking a trip to your local AT&T store. Until then, stick with what you've got.