The Kaos Theory: Straight out of the balcony

This weekend, St Anthony's Medical Center, in a partnership with Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital, is opening a new Pediactric Emergency Department, which is adjacent to it's main emergency Department.

Click here for the story from St Anthony's

I have been able to see the department for myself, and I am quite impressed.  In fact, I have taken pictures of the department, which I am posting to my photos here on this site.

((Note:  This was the only time I COULD take pictures, since there were no patients yet.  Privacy reasons, you know?))

Anyway, for Fox 2, this is Kaos, reporting from South County.

Sounds like the ref had some choice words about a penalty during this past weekend's game between Maryland and NC State.

See for yourself.

Well, after a bit of a hiatus due to personal reasons, I am back!

My review this time is the movie "Rendition" starring Jake Gyllenhaal, and Reese Witherspoon.

Reese plays a woman married to a Egyptian man who is taken for interrogation in a terrorism attack, and is trying to find the reason for his disappearance.  Meanwhile, a CIA analyst (Gyllenhaal) is forced to question his assignment while witnessing the rather disturbing tactics of the interrogation, done at a location outside the US.

This movie was at times riveting when it came to the scenes of Reese trying to find the whereabouts of her husband, despite all the roadblocks of CIA Executive Whitman (Meryl Streep), but it was also very disturbing when I was watching the interrogation, or rather torture, of the husband (Omar Metwally) that Gyllenhaal had to witness.

Now, as you know from my past reviews, I tend to stay away from political or social hot-button issues when doing my reviews.  However, I must admit that this movie left me rather shaken.  Not just by the scenes of torture, but also by scenes or preparation of another possible attack.

I won't give my political views on what I thought of this movie because this is the entertainment forum, nor will I be accepting politically charged comments in this topic.  I just want to focus on the review itself.

This movie is rated R for language, violence, and disturbing scenes of torture.

On my grading scale,  I'm giving Rendition a B

For Fox 2, this is Kaos reminding you:

What happens in the balcony, STAYS in the balcony!

Once again, the Riverfront Times is putting out ballots for their annual "Best of St Louis" poll.  A chance for you, the people to voice your opinion on who or what are the best people, places, and things about our area.  Yes, folks, it's a chance for the people of St Louis to speak up...

... and be ignored!

The truth is, the people at the RFT don't give a load of leftover mashed potatoes what the people of St Louis think.

For the past few years, when the paper put out the alleged results of the Best of St Louis poll, they featured what they call the "critic's choice" which is basically what they feel should be the winner of that category, giving their full attention to that choice.

The actual winner of the poll, aka "People's Choice", only gets one line, which is the result itself.  In many cases, the people's choice isn't even listed at all!

And on the ballot itself, they even have the gall to include the sentence "And we want your input!"

Liars!

This, in my opinion, is probably the biggest case of ELECTION FRAUD I've ever seen in St Louis.

If you agree, then call up the RFT and tell them that we will not stand for their fraudulent poll any longer, and that we demand that only OUR results be printed, not theirs.

Or an even better solution, why doesn't Fox 2 hold their OWN Best of St Louis poll, and THE PEOPLE will finally have their say.

To be honest, I would prefer that Fox 2 do the poll, rather than some newspaper that is unfit to be read by anyone under 18.

Any comments?

Okay, this time I went to see Michael Moore's latest film, "Sicko" which is his look at the healthcare industry.

In this film, Michael takes a look at what is allegedly wrong with the healthcare industry, namely with health insurance in general.  (Full Disclosure Notice:  I work at a St Louis area hospital, but for privacy reasons, I can't divulge which one)  We are shown various people who have had trouble with getting or keeping health insurance coverage, as a result of policies within the insurance industry, especially HMO's.  Michael also tells us how those HMO's came to be as a result of discussions between one of the insurance leaders and then President Nixon, and how later Bill and Hillary Clinton tried to reform health insurance...

I'm sorry, I can't go on with this...

Folks, I'm sorry, but I have a problem with movies that have a political or social agenda.  In fact, my feeling about movies in general is that when I go to the movies, I go to be entertained, not to have someone's political or social agenda shoved in my face.  And as a result of this, I did something that in all my time as a movie critic, I never did before.

I walked out on the movie.

Now before you accuse me of not being open-minded or having a political agenda of my own, let me set the record straight.  I do not consider myself either Democrat nor Republican, neither to I consider myself Liberal nor Conservative.  I am strictly issue-oriented.  I base my beliefs on my own feelings about each issue in particular, and not just on what any political or social group says for me to follow.

Now, having gotten that out on the way, as I have stated earlier, I go to movies to be entertained, and this movie clearly FAILED to do so.  And as a result, I'm forced to do something else I never had to do before as a movie critic.

On my grading scale, Michael Moore's "Sicko" gets an F!

Hopefully I'll never have to do that again, but I do reserve the right to do so if necessary.

And I know that there are those of you who disagree with me, and I don't deny you the right to disagree, but this is my opinion, and my column as well.

Next time, hopefully, I'll be able to see something a little more mundane.  Once again, I apologize.

With this movie review, I'm Kaos, Fox 2 News, St Louis.

According to a statement from WWE.com, WWE Superstar Chris Benoit, his wife Nancy and his son were found dead in their home in Fayetteville County, GA.

Chris Benoit had been involved in wrestling for 22 years.  He had won many championships over the years, including both the WCW and WWE heavyweight championships over his career.

Authorities are investigating, but no other news is available at this time.

For more information on Chris Benoit, Click here.

Okay, I just caught a sneak preview of the new Disney/Pixar film, "Ratatouille" (pronounced "Rat-a-too-ee")

This film is about Remy, a rat, who wants to be a chef, despite the skepticism of his family, as well as the rat-hating staff and customers at the restaurant he hangs out at.

The film takes place in Paris, France,  where Remy dreams of being a top chef at one of the fine restaurants, having been inspred by the great chef Gasteau.  Now Remy, having a keen sense of smell, will do what it takes to make great recipes in the very highly competitive world of French cuisine.  His family, though, doesn't think he could make it in a world of humans.  And let's face it, Remy is a rat.  So he ends up helping a young man, Linguini, who was hired as a garbage boy at Gasteau's restaurant, to make dishes that actually impress the customers, much to the chagrin of the head chef, Skinner.

I must admit, this film exceeded my expectations.  The story was very entertaining, without getting too preachy.  The characters are quite diverse, especially Remy and Linguini, when they work together.  And from what I've read, the film accurately shows just how highly competitive the world of French Cuisine is, well, except for the part where the rat cooks...

Ratatouille is rated G.  That's right, I said rated G.

But even more surprising, I'm giving this film an A!

With this movie review, this is Kaos, Fox 2 News, reminding you, "What happens in the balcony, STAYS in the balcony!"