Wednesday, 15 January 2003: All I can say is, "it's about damn time."

Scholastic Books has finally officially announced the release date for the next installment in the Harry Potter book series. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will be in bookstores (and just about every place else that would like to see a guaranteed profit) on June 21, a mere three years after the last book was released. So much for the book-a-year format J.K. Rowling was sticking to before.

Well, the new book should definitely keep readers busy enough until her sixth book is released. This momma clocks in at 768 pages. Granted that's only 34 pages longer than The Goblet of Fire, the word count is 255,000 in Phoenix as opposed to 191,000 in Goblet. I'm still trying to figure out how that one works. I'm thinking either we're going to be using a microscope to read this book or the news article was incorrect in the page count. I guess we'll find out on June 21. Either way, you might want to start visiting the gym now to prepare yourself for carrying this book around.

Tuesday, 14 January 2003: To follow up on my Sunday entry, the Aurora Beacon News (or, as we like to call it, the "the Aurora Be Confused"), printed a story today entitled "Local officials lash out at Ryan." In it, Republican Senator Ed Petka (from Plainfield) is quoted as saying "Two weeks ago (now former Illinois Governor George Ryan) said he was weighing his options and he was opposed to a blanket commutation... We now know why he earned the nickname 'Lyin' Ryan'."

While trying to explain Ryan's possible rationale for his actions, Petka said, "What happened in the (past two weeks)?... A professor at the University of Illinois said he would nominate (Ryan) for the Nobel Peace Prize."

Yep, you read right, there are rumors that Ryan may be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Petka further explained his belief (and the belief of most other people, myself included) that Ryan's motives were in self interest and "tainted by the possibility of personal gain." That kinda goes without saying, don't you think?

In addition, Lin Brehmer, a D.J. on WXRT (93.1 FM Chicago), asked this morning if there has ever been a Nobel Peace Prize awarded to a person who was currently serving a prison sentence. That made me laugh.

Monday, 13 January 2003: A few years ago, while I was still in grad school and I was a Hall Director, one of my R.A.'s named Dom also ran a movie review website. Unfortunately, his site has fallen several years behind. I can't remember the last time he updated it. I say "unfortunately" because Dom was one of the wittiest guys I knew and his reviews could be utterly scathing. One of the best parts of his site was his page dedicated to what he called "The Golden Suck Award." This award was given to those movies that Dom had absolutely no desire to see whatsoever because he just knew it was going to suck. This conclusion was developed solely upon viewing theatrical trailers and TV spots. His example was the movie Deep Impact. He had no desire to see it and knew it would be one of the worst movies ever made. I've seen bits and pieces of it and would have to agree with him.

I think I would like to try to revive the Golden Suck Award here at kapgar.com. Sadly, this new year has already seen its fair share of Golden Suck Award winners and we're only a couple of weeks in. Hell, two of them open this coming weekend. The first is National Security starring Martin Lawrence and Steve Zahn. I have nothing against either star, just their roles in this movie. It looks completely inane and I doubt I would be laughing at all during this movie.

The second, and most deserving, of this award is the surefire stinker Kangaroo Jack. C'mon, now, a film about two guys and a girl chasing a talking kangaroo through the Australian outback because said dobie is wearing a jacket containing $50,000?!?! Please. Gimme a break. I can't believe the studio responsible for this piece of celluloid crap is putting as much money into promoting this film as it is. I can't watch a single TV show without being subjected to a preview. Enough is enough. The filmgoing public is not stupid enough to believe that this film will be any good (or so I'm hoping). I also can't believe that Jerry O'Connell has sunk to such a level that he is starring in this film. I'd rather be unemployed than be remembered for Kangaroo Jack.

Sunday, 12 January 2003: The headline on today's Chicago Tribune reads "Clemency for all" and it makes my stomach turn. For those not in the know, quite a while ago, Illinois Governor George Ryan placed a moritorium on the death penalty in the state of Illinois claiming that there were major flaws in the capital punishment system. His intent was to re-examine, on a case-by-case basis, each and every prisoner who was sitting on Death Row. I wasn't entirely opposed to this. Yes, I agree there are problems with the justice system and it's not a bad idea to take another look at Death Row cases. But, at the same time, I had a very bad feeling about what would happen.

The reason for my trepidation was because all this "re-examination" began at the height of Ryan's Licenses for Bribes scandal. As another clarification, before he was Governor, Ryan was the Secretary of State and his administration was responsible for giving out licenses to truckers in exchange for bribe money. If you have heard of any major trucking accidents on highways near you and the truck driver did not have a legitimate license, you probably have our Governor to thank. I was worried that Ryan was trying to placate anti-capital punishment activists just to offset some of the negative light being cast on his administration.

Well, the scandal charges just kept piling up on Ryan for the last few years and the pressure was building. There was even talk of trying to impeach Ryan before his term in office ended. And, instead of going out of office on such a low note, yesterday, Ryan announced that he was commuting the sentences of every single Death Row inmate in the state of Illinois... 164 prisoners total. Now, they all will serve life in prison without the possibility of parole.

This pisses me off to no end. I support the death penalty. I believe in an eye for an eye. I feel that if you are going to be heartless enough to end another person's life, then why should our legal system show you any heart. Death penalty opponents claim that when we take the life of a prisoner, we are denying their "inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." However, there is a catch in the form of the word "inalienable." According to Webster's New World Dictionary (second college edition), this word is defined as something "that may not be taken away or transferred." So, if a citizen of the United States denies another citizen their "inalienable" rights, then they, by definition, have given up their own rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and deserve to receive that which they dealt out. They deserve to die. What Ryan has done is deny the families and friends of these victims their right to see justice served for their loss. Why the hell should we, as citizens of this great state, see our valuable tax dollars wasted on maintaining the lives of these heartless bastards in our prison system?

George Ryan... kiss my ass. I can't believe that you can legally get away with this sort of horrendous bullshit. Thank God you will be out of office this week. I can't wait for Rod Blagojevich to be our Governor. May you rot in hell, Ryan.