Rant of the week: I'm so sick of hearing about prisoner abuse, why can't something be done about this? Guantanamo Bay is currently holding around 500 some odd prisoners and most of them are not interrogated or considered to have important information. They also are not entitled to the rights of the Geneva Convention since they are not technically considered prisoners of war. There is currently a case before the Washington court of appeals to decide whether prisoners have been given all the due process they are entitled to. Just because the US is a super power does not entitle them to torture or bully detainees, they aren't even considered pow's. No wonder there is so much anti-American sentiment around the world. Am I proud to live in the US? Yes. Do I think this country has problems? Absolutely. So let's fix them already.

Fun fact: A typical Amish man walks around 18,000 steps a day; women 14,000. A typical American walks around 5,000 steps a day (taken from Time). Now maybe we should take a page from our Amish brothers and sisters and do more walking.

Video pick of the week: Continuing my quest to catch up on Oscar movies I've never seen, my pick for this week is Sayonara. Yes, that is Japanese for goodbye. The 1957 movie, filmed in Japan, tells the story of military personnel meeting and falling in love with Japanese women. A forbidden act, it details how the military brass controls their men by telling them who they can be with, love, show affection to (sound familiar?). It stars a 33 year old Marlon Brando who plays Major Gruver and how he is pro American women. That slowly changes over the course of the movie as he meets and falls in love with the head dancer of a Japanese dancing company. Miiko Taka plays the head dancer whom Brando's character falls in love with. During the movie one of Brando's men, Red Buttons, falls in love with and marries another Japanese girl. The movie chronicles the relationships of both men with their respective Japanese women. The movie is beautifully shot and though it is long and not action oriented at all, it does have a nice payoff although one couple doesn't have a "happy" ending. The movie also stars a young (29) James Garner. Seeing Garner and Brando together it was hard to decide who was sexier in their hayday. Miyoshi Umeki plays Buttons's on screen wife and both Umeki and Buttons are standouts in this movie and both won Oscars for their roles. Taka is also a standout. Brando does a fine job, however, it was hard for me to get past his "mumbling" and he always seemed to be squinting his eyes. I think he was more eye candy (for me anyway).

Enjoy your day,

paul