Watch the following video.

Back? Good. That video is hilarious. To be fair, her life story has taken a back seat to her recent airheaded comments. However, take those comments into account with her life story, and it sounds like a Daily Show skit.

The only reason I hope for John McCain and Sarah Palin to win is so that we get more comedic gold like this. Between the Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric interviews she is really proving herself to be more Quayle (get it?) than pitbull. Just imagine how many laughs we’ll have in the next four years. Ms. Lipstick Wearing Pitbull (hey, her words, not mine) will more than fill the vacuum left behind by Bush and his cronies. And she’s just one person!

So please, vote McCain/Palin ’08. If only for the laughs.

Of course, I’m simplifying the story too much.

The greatest thing about this movie is something it shares with other great American classics like Citizen Kane and Sunset Boulevard. While considered a Romance, Casablanca also has elements of Film Noir, Drama, and War. There are also some great comedic bits, including the running gag of a pickpocket taking advantage of naïve refugees. While most Hollywood movies mix elements of other genres in order to appeal to a wide enough audience in order to maximize profits, Casablanca never feels unnatural.

Part of what makes this feel natural is the infinitely quotable dialogue and how the actors interact with each other. Humphrey Bogart especially feels at home with the cynical Rick. The whip-snap dialogue rolls off of his tongue like poetry. The one part where Bogart does feel unnatural is during the opening montage to the Paris flashback scenes. He’s supposed to be happy with Ingrid Bergman’s Ilsa, unfortunately at best he comes across as uncomfortable. At worst he comes across as constipated. Fortunately the rest of the time the two are onscreen with each other, they create one of the most dynamic couples ever put on screen. They love each other, but Rick is too bitter to forgive Ilsa and Ilsa is too uncertain of what path to take in her life. Both actors portray this well and it creates incredible tension.

Special note must be made of the supporting actors. All of them play their characters incredibly well. Karl, Renault, Ugarte, Ferrari, and Sam (even though he is a stereotype) are all memorable characters who will stick with me for a long time.

Peter Lorre is always a pleasure to watch. Despite the fact that he only appears for a little bit as the doomed criminal Ugarte, his character remains one of the most memorable in a movie filled with memorable characters. Another great is Captain Renault, played by Claude Rains (who Rocky Horror fans know as the Invisible Man). It would have been too easy for this character to be played as a complete slime ball. As it stands, Rains plays the character as a likeable slime ball, one that I sensed had something more inside. This makes the twist where he turns against Nazi Major Strasser (played by Cabinet of Dr. Caligari star Conrad Veidt) more believable and natural.

The friendship between Rick and Renault is another strong point of the movie. Both men are played as two sides of the same coin. Sentimentalists and freedom fighters at heart, self-centered on the surface. Throughout the movie, both men try not to stick their necks out too much (especially Rick, who says that specifically). However, Renault can’t stick his neck out as much as Rick, due to his position in power. Since the two characters are similar, Renault sees something in Rick’s character and sacrifice that immediately causes him to reflect on his position in life. Rick then sees this connection as well. Thus the line, “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” Two men who’ve claimed to serve themselves their entire lives are now going off to serve a cause greater than them.

The only major flaw I could see was the acting job of Paul Henreid, who plays major resistance figure Victor Lazlo. He is too straight, too stiff. It is understandable that the character is noble and good. This helps lend to the great love triangle between Rick, Ilsa and Lazlo. He also helps to make Rick realize that there is a greater good in the world. However, Henreid plays him too straight. In this movie filled with memorable and intriguing characters, Henreid does not stick out as well as he should.

The one scene where he does stick out is when the band at Rick’s plays “La Marseillaise” to drown out the Nazis singing their own patriotic song. This is not due just to Henreid though; everyone in the bar sings the song with so much power that the scene packs the biggest emotional punch of the entire movie. The song is not just the French Anthem at this point; it comes across as an anthem for anyone in Europe who believes in freedom.

This is a wonderful movie about sacrificing one’s selfish tendencies in order to help others and fight for freedom. While the movie’s morals are plainly stated, it contains a good message and many memorable scenes. Casablanca is not a city, it is an entire world filled with memorable interaction between the all people contained within

So what is the latest greatness that Archie McPhee has unleashed upon the world?

BEHOLD! THE REMOTE CONTROL ZOMBIE!

On the page there are a couple of links to videos of it in action. I nearly cried tears of pure joy when I saw this. I immediately imagined a montage to "Wind Beneath My Wings" with me and my very own zombie. Eventually I will either be drunk enough or care so little about my constant lack of money that I will buy this.

As my bio says, my name is Jim Hill, I’m 23 years old, and I live in Willoughby, Ohio. Where is that you ask? Just in the bumfuck middle of nowhere. We listen to Toby Keith and rape city folk out here.

I currently hold a 2^nd degree black belt in Kajukenpo. I have a couple blogs coming up on the subject of martial arts. One will be about Kajukenpo and my experience in the style. The other will be about the fighting style used in the new Batman movies (the Keysi Fighting Method) and my thoughts on it and other “reality” martial arts. Note: If you ever see me and ask me to show you something, I will immediately respond by giving you a roundhouse kick to the thigh.

I love movies. Big surprise. However, my love for movies didn’t really develop until somewhere around my sophomore year of college. Since then I’ve watched a lot trying to “catch up” and have tried to educate myself in the matter as much as possible. I’ll say this, it’s tough when you have a regular job and a fiancée who does not share the same passion for movies. But thank God for Netflix, DVR, and digital cable that has movies on demand.

The reviews you’ll see from me here will nearly always be a movie I’ve seen for the first time. Of course you’ll see reviews for movies that are just coming out into theaters, but you’ll also see reviews of “essentials” from a wide variety of genres. I’ll also be doing a series called “My Descent Into Horror.” I’ll explain it better in my first piece in the series, but essentially it will be about the various horror books, movies and TV shows I’ve loved throughout my life.

You’ll also see the odd blog on beer, theatre and professional wrestling. No, that line is not a joke. WWE Raw is rocking my socks right now with CM Punk as World Heavyweight Champion.

*Sniff-sniff* Pardon me, but I smell me some city folk. See y’all later!