Birthday Wishes - The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly

First up - the Good. Bruno Ganz, 70 today, is a swiss actor whose performance as Hitler in the remarkable 2004 film 'Downfall' earned praise from every corner of the globe.

Ganz - The Good

His fame has spread to the interwebs as many have used the famous outrage scene to create their own videos - purportedly showing Hitler's outrage at any number of targets including Tiger Woods, Roy Hodgson, Ryanair - you name it. Here is one such video - Hitler expressing outrage at Fernado Torres' transfer to Chelsea. If you haven't seen the original film, I urge you to do so. It is quite brilliant. Nice one Bruno - and Happy Birthday.

Next up - the Bad. Canadian William Shatner is 80 today. Happy Birthday William. He will forever be associated with his role as Captain Kirk, though he has also made a deep impression on some folk playing veteran police sergeant, TJ Hooker. He has always had a difficult working relationship with the other actors on Star Trek, who found him a tad arrogant. Although his star faded somewhat after Star Trek, he has enjoyed critical success in a number of ventures since, not least the Star Trek movies. He is currently starring in a TV sitcom, '**** My Father Says' which has proved to be very successful in the U.S..

Shatner - The Bad

However, he is also celebrated by those who appreciate just how bad his musical career has been. His records are spoken rather than sung - and they are just awful. Here is one of the best of these - his interpretation of the Beatles' 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds'. Happy Birthday William.

And now the Ugly. Today is the 81st Birthday of Pat Robertson - a deeply loathsome human being - who is an american christian fundamentalist and TV commentator.

Robertson - an ugly hate-filled man

He has railed against everyone and everything over the years and he even ran for the Presidency in 1988 - though even the Republicans saw him as a liability. Deeply homophobic and anti-semitic, he regularly uses his TV slots to blame natural disasters on the victims' apparent tolerance of anything he disagrees with. He has had business dealings with truly monstrous human rights violators like Liberia's Charles Taylor. I could go on. It is probably enough to state that he is seen as an embarrassment by many on the american right.

Here is a clip of the man himself spouting all sorts of hate, and twisting christianity to support his particular brand of anti-jew, anti-muslim, anti-gay, anti-women hatred. What a scumbag! I can only apologise to Bruno Ganz and William Shatner for herding them into the same bit of cyberspace as this evil man.