My Sick Mind

A friend sent me an article today that said a record number of the U.S. population is incarcerated - one out of every hundred, roughly. One would think that it's hardened criminals and repeat offenders, but as it turns out, it's mostly drug offenders and people who are not a threat to society. A report released Thursday by the Pew Center on the States, a self-described non-partisan group, found that 2.3 million Americans — or roughly 1 in 100 adults — are living behind bars, and that the consistent increase in the country's prison population over the past 20 years has been driven by policy choices, not by spikes in crime or the nation's population. On average, states spend 6.8 percent of their general fund dollars on corrections. Of course, when I say society, I'm talking about the country at large. The country at large has this idea that drugs are bad and that people who use them are a menace and should be ... incarcerated. Hence the issue. Drugs aren't nece...

Here's a "Viewer Mail" question for ya. "What movie are you looking forward to this year?" - James I'm glad you asked. I always look forward to Dustin Hoffman's work. His next film is in post-production. It's called "Last Chance Harvey", and it's about an older man in London for his daughter's wedding, and finds his romantic spirits lifted by a new woman in his life. He co-stars with Emma Thompson, and also features James Brolin (Josh's dad), so you know that at least the acting will be great. Otherwise, he's doing a voice an IMAX feature called "Kung Fu Panda" that comes out in June, and another cartoon voice in "The Tale of Despereaux" that comes out in December. So, if you want to see him on the screen this year, it looks like Harvey is your Last Chance . Steve Carell is doing "Get Smart" on June 20 with Anne Hathaway as 99 and Bill Murray as 13 and his old pal from "Little Miss Sunsh...

Once again bereft of ideas, I turn to a tried and true staple of modern television and even a blog or two - answering the reader comments, which I will call Viewer Mail. Yes, that's what I'm calling it. Kimmyk writes: i want to see michael clayton. did you see it? never heard of there will be blood til the other night when my daughter told me that movie won some award. Won some award? Oh, dear Kimmyk, I think I said in Friday's Oscar post that the Best Actor award should be named the Daniel Day-Lewis Award. Just like in hockey, where the trophies are named after people. Who is Oscar? I don't know, but I do know that Daniel Day-Lewis gives the performance of a lifetime and "There Will be Blood" comes out on DVD April 8. I've already pre-ordered it from Amazon. And yes, I saw "Michael Clayton". I think if it wasn't nominated for Best Picture, I would have liked it more. I thought "Charlie Wilson's War" was a better film and I al...

"Wikipedia is the best thing ever. Anyone in the world can write anything they want about any subject, so you know you are getting the best possible information." - Michael Scott, The Office . What do I do when I have nothing of substance to write? I could leave you at peace and just do nothing, but that wouldn't be any fun. What I do is hit up Wikipedia and let you in on some little-known facts. First , February 27 is Chelsea Clinton's 28th birthday. Today is also Mary Frann's 65th birthday. Mary played Bob Newhart's beautiful wife on Newhart - the one in Vermont. She died in 1998 in her sleep, from an undiagnosed case of lipomatosis, which is a scarring of the heart muscle. I had no idea she was dead. She was America's Junior Miss in 1961. I always figured Bob out-kicked his coverage with his TV wives. Suzanne Pleshette, Mary Frann and Carlene Watkins. Bonus points if you can tell me in which show Carlene Watkins played his wife. On this day...

"He has no genitalia and he's holding a sword." - Dustin Hoffman, 52nd Academy Awards, 1980 Sunday night's Academy Awards telecast went off without a hitch, and other than Tilda Swinton 's Supporting Actress award for her work in "Michael Clayton", there weren't a lot of surprises. Tilda seemed a little surprised herself, and millions of casual movie-goers now know who Tilda Swinton is. Speaking of millions of casual movie-goers, the same thought crosses my mind every year while I'm watching the Oscars. Why do they show us those Short Subject and Foreign Film awards at the beginning of the show? I haven't seen an animated short subject in a movie theater since I was five years old, and in most parts of the country, foreign film is the stuff that gets stuck to your teeth after drinking milk. But we persevere through the awards like Art Direction, Make-up and Animated Short Subject so that we can get to the Tilda Swinton Awards - acting, direc...

My friends at the bike shop are in the midst of a full-scale remodeling project. The place is a mess, but the Guatemalans (I hope they're legals ) are working at a feverish pace and it looks like it could be done in less than a month - just in time for the snow to melt. Meanwhile , I'm working as hard as ever to get ready for the cycling season. In the past, I've done spinning to get prepped for riding, but I've found that spinning is not necessarily the best training for cycling. Strange, but true. I'm doing abs, glutes and circuit training to try to strengthen the parts that are along for the ride, so to speak. Only one day of spin, and that's followed by ab work, so it's not a total loss! I'm not very good at all this jumping and running stuff. I've spent most of my life avoiding running and working fast, but these classes are quick and every exercise we do is done for 25 reps. 25 repititions of anything is tough. Try holding an 8-pound...