From the Inside Out

USA has taken the gold again. More specifically, Plano has taken the gold. Nastia Liukin just won the gold medal in the women’s gymnastics all-around competition at the Beijing Olympics. She trains at her family’s gymnastics club, World Olympic Gymnastics Academy, in Plano, TX. It’s the same gym where Carly Patterson (the previous winner of the all-around competition) trained. Yay Plano!

Coming in second place was another amazing girl from the USA, Shawn Johnson. Take that, China! After all the lies about the ages of the Chinese gymnasts, I feel like justice has been served. According to a news article today on Yahoo! Sports, nine months before the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese government’s news agency reported that gymnast He Kexin was 13 making her ineligible to be on the team that won a gold metal earlier this week. The Chinese government states that her age was incorrect in that article. To quote Mike Myers from Wayne and Garth, “Yeah, and monkeys fly out of my butt.”

Regardless of the age controversy, the lies, and the cheating, the real champions showed up tonight and demonstrated that they can get the job done with honor, grace and integrity. I’m so proud that these are the girls representing my country.

Go USA!

The opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics will air on television Friday night. Approximately 91,000 spectators and 15,000 performers will participate in this ceremony which is expected to attract a global television audience of more than 3 billion people. It will be a 5-hour spectacle that includes 35,000 fireworks — an amazing sight to behold.

Despite the controversy surrounding the host nation of the Olympics — including concerns over pollution, security and human rights — the games will go on. Athletes from 205 countries will represent their countries and compete to earn one of the most coveted awards in sports, the gold medal. This year, NBC will broadcast events live via the Internet. If you don’t want to wait for the tape delayed broadcast on TV, you can visit www.nbcolympics.com and watch what you want, when you want it. It’s the Olympics “ala carte” style. Simply pick and choose your events. You can even open two windows and watch multiple events at the same time. About 2,200 hours of programming will be available on the Web — impressive, huh?

Because of the time difference, while we are watching the opening ceremony on Friday night, the Olympic games will be gearing up in Beijing. To calculate the time difference, here’s an easy shortcut. Flip the a.m. and p.m. to go from Eastern time to Beijing time. Remember, it’s always ahead in China. So, 8 p.m. Friday in New York is 8 a.m. Saturday in Beijing.

The Internet viewings enable you to watch the games online Friday night and cheer on your favorite athletes while the events are occurring “live” Saturday morning in Beijing. Ah, the power of the Internet. Remind me again…why do we need broadcast TV? Oh yeah, so we can watch mindless commercials and advertisements, but that’s a different rant for another night.

Go team USA!!

My bags were packed and the countdown to vacation had begun when I received an unpleasant call today. American Airlines had cancelled our flight. Of course, I should have known it was coming. Something always happens when I try to go to New York.

Apparently, there was a major snafu in the American Airlines terminal at JFK airport today. The software that controls the baggage sorting conveyor belt malfunctioned. This caused American to delay and cancel flights in and out of the airport. My flight was one of those cancelled.

American was nice enough to automatically rebook us on a flight the following morning with a layover in Orlando. Uh, not cool. First of all, I had already paid for our hotel accommodations on Wednesday night. Second, I don’t want a non-direct flight (in addition, Orlando flights are the worst — packed with annoying vacationers and lots of screaming children). Anyway, after a long time on the phone, Gary got us rebooked on an earlier flight going into the Newark airport.

Once at the airport, more delays ensued (gotta love air travel). However, I’m happy to report that we finally made it to the city. The W Hotel is in the middle of Times Square. It’s an amazing location. You step outside the door and are immediately immersed in the excitement of NYC.

We arrived late. I think it was somewhere around 11 pm, but the city was alive and we were hungry so we set out to see some of the sites (and grab some food).

Here are a few pictures from our first night. To view all pictures, check out the photos section of the blog. I’ll be uploading pictures daily.

W Hotel

Times Square

It’s been six years since The X-Files finished its 9-year run on television. Since that time, fans have eagerly awaited the reunion of their favorite FBI duo on the big screen. Tonight, the long wait ended.

Even though the movie was met with lukewarm-to-negative reviews, I was still ready to attend the midnight opening. After all, I am one of those eager fans.

The funny thing is that I didn’t start watching The X-Files until very late in its run. Back then, I mocked people who enjoyed sci-fi. Eventually, I watched the movie on video and became a fan. The X-Files offered something different — a skeptic who questioned everything and tried to explain bizarre, paranormal happenings through scientific reasoning.

Scully didn’t believe. She needed proof and a credible explanation. I identified with that character. For some reason, I have a tough time accepting things without proof, and it’s difficult for me to completely suspend reality (even in fictional entertainment). Even though many of the things presented in The X-Files would never happen in real life, the show tried to provide a plausible scientific explanation, and I appreciated that.

Walking into the theater, my expectations were low. They had been tainted by the early reviews. I was excited to see the movie, but recognized that it probably wasn’t going to be as good as I had hoped.

I Want to Believe tells a stand-alone story void of the popular X-Files conspiracy mythology. I think this was a disappointment to many fans and reviewers. For me, I was okay with it. I don’t mind a good stand-alone story. The problem is that the movie only delivers a decent story, making it feel like an average episode of the TV show. Don’t get me wrong. I still enjoyed it. Seeing Mulder and Scully back together again was great. I also enjoyed that we got to see the evolution of the couple’s complicated relationship. Still, I wish the movie had more of the traditional X-Files elements that fans expect.

If you are a fan, I recommend that you check out the movie. There are many elements you will enjoy. Just don’t go into it expecting the sequel to be as good as the first.

For one week only, you can watch Joss Whedon’s latest project online for free. Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is a humorous musical story of a low-rent super-villain, a hero who is completely infatuated with himself, and a cute girl from the laundromat.

This Internet miniseries event stars Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion and Felicia Day. The characters, story, and songs are well-crafted (not that you would expect anything less from Joss Whedon). For those Buffy fans out there, the musical elements are reminiscent of the “With Feeling” episode he did on that show. If you are a fan of Joss Whedon, you’ve got to see this. If you’re not, check it out anyway. It starts a little slow, but keep watching. It’s hilarious.

Act one and two are available for viewing now. The final act will be posted on Saturday, July 19th. Don’t delay because these episodes will be removed at midnight on Sunday, July 20th.

Click here to watch now

View the trailer