Nintendo Rules!

Birthday came, free time went. After a quick head fake, thinking I might get Wii Sports Resort for my BD, I dove in and upgraded to the Motion Plus experience with the WSR. Though skeptical at first, I am now a convert. The package has about a dozen games, though at least half of them are pretty lame--c'mon, folks....bicycling? Kayaking? YGBSM. I do love--no, make that LOVE--several games and have gotten to Pro level in a few. From there it gets tough. It's hard to choose a favorite between Swordplay (stupid name: it should really be called Samurai) and Table Tennis. Another one coming on strong recently is the 3 on 3 pickup basketball. When Maitlyn's and Braiden's little Mii's (still bald) leap into the air for an outrageous slam dunk, it is truly a sight to behold. I should try to make a video of that.

The Air Sports aren't bad, though the sky diving is dumb. Bowling really sucks, as compared to regular Wii Sports. I don't know why, but the same motions in the original game now result in uncontrollable spin. Hard to like that one. Archery? Suppose there needs to something for the ladies. Frisbee...only the Frisbee golf is enjoyable, the other is too frustrating. Speaking of golf, there are new courses, and a whole new way to hit the ball...much more like real golf (perhaps too much). All in all, I'd give the 4 sports I like a 10+ but the package as a whole gets a 7 for having too high a percentage of lameness. Between this and the IJLego Adventures I got for my BD, my arm, wrist, and shoulder are experiencing serious pain. At least I'm exercising! Table Tennis, anyone?

As if that weren't enough, several weeks ago I broke down and got a new DS game called N+. It was known as N when I found it on albinoblacksheep.com, a well known game freeware site. Those initials stand for Ninja, which is what your stick figure character is supposed to be in the game. He (though no reason it couldn't be a she--impossible to tell from the graphics) jumps, runs, climbs and frequently gets blown to bits by booby traps or long falls from the top of the screen (also known as deceleration trauma). There are hundreds of levels to run through, many of which are maddeningly difficult. I am currently stuck on one that I fear is impossible, at least for someone of my advanced age and impaired dexterity. But the game can fairly be rated "A" for addictive.

Here is a sample of some levels to be clambered around in:

I can't understand why Nintendo stock has been so flat this year and Sony's has almost doubled. Seems backward. I guess the hard core gamers buy more than us geezers. And Nintendo doesn't have a movie studio to bail it out.

Drum roll please .... for the Bumper Sticker of the Week:

If you can't read this, thank the teachers' union.

It's the BIG one!

The BIG 6-0 has arrived, with a modicum of kicking and screaming. I really don't feel much different than I did yesterday, but I suppose that is how it works. I think it was less hectic being at the beach than in Chile.... and when you get old, less hectic is good.

I heard from all my kiddos and got gifts and cards, so I was a happy man. The girls put together a marvelous book of pictures from the trust celebration in Montana in Feb. I was surprised, but not overwhelmed--that's the kind of thing tech savvy children do nowadays. It wasn't until I looked at the book with its text that I was truly surprised. The written content surrounding the pictures was extremely well-written, witty and with a distinct style. That wouldn't be a surprise, but what I found ingenious was that it was taken from my own blog of the trip! You can't go wrong giving a man something in book form he wrote himself--who else could capture the memories better? Of course, at age 60, my memory isn't what it used to be.... It was very clever and much appreciated.

I also got lovely pictures of Pierce and a new addiction (thanks, Brant) in the form of an Indiana Jones LEGO Wii game. I wondered what I would do with those extra 90 hours of free time I don't have. But, someone has to do it.... Another book came in the mail from HLeer as well--a picture book that included items from the Germany trip in 2006. How long ago that seemed!

As to the day itself, it was quiet. Jane and I went out to dinner at North Beach Bistro with Johnny and Lynn and, in keeping with my new Senior Citizen status, we went early. (Truth be told, it was to get in during Happy Hour.) A couple of draft Newcastles and age was just a number--a blurry one. We then stopped by Blockbuster to rent a new movie for my Blu-Ray. Did I mention I bought myself one for my birthday? The selection was slim that night, and we ended up having to settle for National Treasure II (my choice, sadly--no one else to take the blame). While the movie was not up to our usual standards, the visual presentation was stunning; actually, the movie did teach me a valuable lesson: a stupid movie rendered beautifully in Blu-Ray is still a stupid movie. Between this and the latest Nick Cage BOMB (that would be Knowing), I have to add him to my "swear-off" list, right up there with Keanu Reeves and Dennis Hopper (think Speed--ooo, ooo, a twofer).

Remember the Hippie author who wrote Steal This Book? Someone should write "Steal This Movie" on every copy out there, followed by "...then throw it away." Save a fellow human being's brain today!

Movies: blogged the best, this is the rest

Drum roll please.... I'll keep this short and bitter. The good ones were discussed earlier--these are the leftovers, the also-rans, the detritus of my viewing experience. Don't enjoy.

The X-Files. The truth is out there--and the truth is that Mulder's time has come and gone. This is for hard core fans only, and then only as a form of closure. May the oddity that was X-Files rest in peace.

War, Inc. This was touted as a sequel to the very well done Gross Pointe Blank, in which John Cusack was an angst-ridden hit man hot for Minnie Driver. I'm sorry John needs the money so badly that he did this atrocity. Maybe we should take up a collection. Aside from sleepwalking through it, he didn't have much to work with. Without redeeming value of any kind.

Tropic Thunder. This is a tough one to pan, because it had its moments. (Best Line candidate: "What do you mean, you people?") Downey was really a hoot in this as an Australian actor playing a black soldier and Stiller was, well, himself. But worse, if that's possible. Extreme silliness, but when I see it on the program menu, I try to catch that line.

Transporter 3. We search for an answer to the age-old question of "when does a franchise run out of steam?" For this particular series it was after the second one (some would say the first one, but hey, benefit of the doubt--and that combination of garters and machine guns...). I like Jason, and this is a highly flexible concept, but the think tank for this one is decidedly empty. Avoid.

Indiana Jones and the Something of Something. Sad, sad, sad. Just looking at Harrison in this one I aged 10 years. Reminds me of Brett Favre. Harrison... no, don't put the hat on again...please... let us keep our illusions and memories. Having said that, I suspected as much before I got this one. Watching it was more about closure than enjoyment. It was a tolerable story, but little really new. Maybe the idea is to restart the franchise with Shia as the new hero. Won't be the same, will it, Roger?

Quantum of Solace. Speaking of which, I think the reviews on this one were right on. Just a pale sequel to the pretty good Casino Royale. An adventure with no substance to speak of. In fact, I can't remember a single thing about the story, plot, characters, etc. But, it's James Bond, for heaven's sake--what do you expect? Sorry, Danny, you're still not doing it for me. If only you'd dye your hair black...at least you're not the pussy that Brosnan and Moore were. God, if only Clive Owen would take it on....

Brideshead Revisited. Don't go there, even once. If I were a member of the British aristocracy, I would sue.

Australia. Falls in the category of listen to your family. Laura saw this and had a rant about how bad it was. But it was in Redbox, how bad could it be for $1? it was worse. Aha, it dawns on me, it isn't the money, it's the time wasted in front of it. (We even FF'd it and it was dreadful.) In fairness, it did take me back to my youth when they made silly bad movies with John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara in front of painted scenery with one or two cows. Wait, maybe this was an homage to those days.... If so, I'm glad they're gone. (And Marion is rolling over in his grave.)

That's it for now. But don't worry, I see far more movies than I need to and have lots of opinions about them, which I will gladly share with anyone who listens. Take, for example, my white-hot hatred for Cage's latest fiasco, Knowing. I returned the movie to Blockbuster and asked who I needed to talk to to get those 2 hours of my life back. The guy behind the desk said he liked the movie. And I said, well, then, you probably liked that Mel Gibson abomination Signs, too. Yep he did. I shrugged that off. Next day at Redbox, a lady ahead of me was pondering what to rent and I said, "whatever you do, don't get that stupid Nicholas Cage movie." You can guess this, I'm sure...she liked it. I give up.

Bumper Sticker of the Week:

What would Scooby Do?

Movies, Movies, Movies

I've been building up quite a collection of movie reviews—never seems to be enough time to rag on bad movies (or praise the few good ones). But before they all get away from me, here are some thoughts (IMHO) about some new and maybe not so new offerings from the Hollywood Dream Machine. These aren't in a specific order of viewing or release, just where they happen to land on the page as I dragged in the pictures. I hate to say it, but these are the best of the ones we've been watching.

X-Men: Wolverine Origins. I tend to follow movies pretty linearly, so if the director is trying to make sense, I can usually keep up. Sadly, if Gavin Hood thought he was making sense, he should give up whatever mind-altering substance that allowed him to entertain that idea. Don’t get me wrong—criticizing the plot, the pace, and the internal coherency of the film doesn’t mean I didn’t like it. I didn’t love it, but it had enough special effects (do they still call it that now, since every movie that isn’t a chick flick seems to have them—why are they still special?) to satisfy the testosterone driven side of my brain. But it wasn’t art.

Star Trek. Unlike Wolverine, this was a good movie standing alone. The franchise had been laid pretty low by the Lawrence Luckinbill fiasco (Star Trek V in 1989), followed by the dead cat bounce of ST VI. Of course, we can’t count anything that has old baldy in it as being “true” Star Trek—that is just for the latecomers who are merely posers in the ST world. The universe that is (was) Star Trek needed a lift, a new direction. And with Mr. J. J. Abrams it got just that. You might remember JJ from his various hit TV series, specifically Felicity (forgettable), Alias (unforgettable), and the TV old cult and new quirk shows, Lost and Fringe. He used the same team as for this movie in resurrecting the Mission Impossible franchise (M:I 3 in 2006) after it went into cardiac arrest following a too large dose of Thandie Newton. The good news is JJ has new flicks for both series coming out in 2011. But I digress....

This movie is excellent. I say that not just as an original Star Trek fan or as a guy, but as a connoisseur of intelligent, well made movies. Intelligent? Has he lost his mind, you say? But yes, it was such a good movie, even Jane enjoyed it, and she is no SciFi buff to say the least. The movie started with a huge obstacle—prequels are tough anyway because you have to fit in so much stuff that came after, and the perceived freedom you have to “make up stuff” is bounded by the existing fans' own expectations of how it ought to be, as well as by facts and plotlines (including those irritating inconsistencies) from the original(s). Abrams and crew took a huge step sideways, and did it brilliantly. Hey, if we go back to the past and tell a story about Kirk and Spock etc., we have baggage….what if we imagine a visitor from the future who changes something so that the characters, though familiar, veer off into a slightly different story arc? So, like, some of the stuff is the same, some of it was never fleshed out anyway, but there is enough like what the original might have been (the personality development—more later on that) to keep everyone happy. (Except the die-hard Trekkies who are too brain-fried to realize that their complaints about Romulians showing up too soon in the arc have been mooted by the altered events—sheesh.) It was sheer genius. Then all they had to do was write it, cast it, shoot it, and convince everyone it wasn’t the same rehash as the other ones.

The plot is a tad hard to follow but only where the time warp thing intersects with it; temporarily suspending mental discomfort is rewarded in the end as Eric Bana—far too villainous to be a simple mining ship captain—explains it all in the end. The effects are, of course, excellent. I can’t wait to get this on BluRay on my big TV. But the strength of the movie is in the personality development (including the offhanded introduction) of the regulars in their younger versions. Chris Pine was an excellent choice for Kirk, and Spock and Scotty were also good selections (but not as good). He more than anyone, though to a great extent all the main characters, had a sense of the mannerisms, inflection, and personalities of their older alter egos. There were times I could actually see Shatner on screen as young Kirk moved or spoke. Spooky. (or is that Spocky?)

I recommend the movie highly, as you may have guessed. If I had quibbles (vs. tribbles) it would be that an old wrinkled Nimoy got way too much screen time—maybe they needed to wring out every last dollar they paid him to come back—and the relationship between young Spock and Uhuru was completely fabricated and added nothing but static to the story. But those complaints are swallowed up by the overall beauty of the film as a whole. Go, see, enjoy.

P.S. Some have questioned why Bill Shatner wasn’t included in the project, but I disagree that he would have helped; I can’t see how he would have done anything but focus the attention on himself and distract the flow. He always will be Kirk, but this was not about the old days, it was all new. Even Nimoy wasn’t (or shouldn’t have been) a major part of the story, but instead a means to move it along and flesh out the plot.

P. P. S. The similarity of one plot contrivance with one of JJ's TV series was pointed out to me (I had been only subconsciously aware of it, if at all). We should look to make sure none of the starships in the movie were named USS Rambaldi. (thank you, Andrea)

Wall-E. How did this piece of crap get so much hype? OK, Best Animation, I can give you that (though that should be a technological award, it sure didn't deserve it for story--that should go to Bolt, see below). I saw a lot of previews of Wall-E rolling around on earth, gathering and crushing stuff, but the setup for that was nonexistent. The actual movie, however, is about 20% on earth and 80% rolling around on a spaceship full of fat cartoon people. The only thing more disgusting than cartoon characters who are morbidly obese is real people who are morbidly obese. Ugh! Bad plot, uninteresting characters, and tragic overhype. But the animation was good.

RocknRolla. As a Guy Ritchie fan—I watch LSATSB and Snatch whenever I channel surf by them—I was disappointed by this one. It just wasn’t good. And it didn’t have the fully intertwined plot that GR is known for. I was hoping it would redeem him from his bizarre and mind warping previous offering of Revolver, with his old standby Jason Statham (after that one, I’m not surprised Jason wasn’t in this flick, but I hope Gerard Butler’s career can survive it).

The Reader. Ah, the Academy. They finally got one right. An excellent, though sometimes depressing, film. You wouldn’t think movies about the Holocaust would still be made in Hollywood (the liberals wouldn’t want to upset our Muslim friends who obsessively contend it never happened), but this one says more about the German post-war mentality (and by extension, applies to all of us) than anything I have seen. It isn’t Schindler’s List, but it wasn’t intended to be. Kate Winslet was stunning and well deserved the Oscar® for her performance. She was undressed a lot, but it seemed natural as the movie went. (In that respect it reminded me of Sirens, which surprisingly shows us how a clump of beautiful naked women can become ordinary after only a short while.) Well worth the time to watch it. Unless you're Muslim.

The Tale of Despereaux. Yawn.... I was drawn (no pun intended) to this one because of the pictures of the mouse in the promos and because Ratatouille
was pretty good (even though French). The mouse was so cute, the story sounded like a heartwarming underdog tale...in short it had all the elements for a good marketing campaign. Inane, predictable, and way too long. Not even sure kids would like it, though the artwork might hold their interest.

Sukiyaki Western Django. Wow, this one looked like it had it all--Tarrantino, Kung Fu with a Western theme, hot Asian chicks...what more could you ask for? How about a clue.... It earned its way into my top 25 worst movies of all time. Rated R? That was for Run...away from this movie immediately. Should have been X, for Xtremely awful. Nuff said.

Bolt. A surprisingly entertaining piece of work. We rented it with young ones, and I suspect I enjoyed it as much as they did. My expectations were low and, of course, Travolta’s voice was seriously off-putting. Tuning that out, the movie had well developed, likable characters, an excellent plot (dog trying to get home from far away—how many times has that worked?), and the details integrated nicely. Clever twists, witty repartee, character growth, and 2 hanky ending made it special in the vapid, sugary wasteland that is most cartoons. I recommend it, even if you have to wait until the kids are around so no one will catch you watching it by yourself. Unless you can get Toy Story 2, which has all of these characteristics AND the funniest ending I have ever seen for a cartoon--outtakes. What a concept.

Wanted. This one was a mixed bag. I was really, really looking forward to it. It had Angelina (that would be enough usually) and, for you girls, James McAvoy (Last King of Scotland), and was about a society of assassins. What’s not to like? I wonder if I wasn’t a ninja in a previous life, because I eat that stuff up. Ah, well. The promos for this movie were stunning...I was salivating before I could get it out of the box. And on balance, I thought it was very good—a bit farfetched and silly in quite a few places, but it kept moving apace—but I doubt it could ever have lived up to the expectations generated for it. It has some violence (hey, we all know that’s simulated…not as if it’s a torture flick like Saw) and you have to suspend disbelief pretty sternly, but it’s definitely worth watching if you like that kind of stuff. A chick flick it isn’t, even with Jimmy’s charm.

Burn After Reading. This is one of those movies that Grossi would have called “cute.” It was certainly silly, but that’s how the Coen Brothers must have conceived it. Brad Pitt does an excellent job portraying a dim-witted gym rat (though because it’s him, you know he’s just acting—the curse of the supercelebrity) and Frances McDormand is equally good as a loony, scheming co-worker. Malkovich and Clooney add to the insanity, though they are pretty much over-the-top most of the film (esp. George). The best of the bunch, in his typically understated way, is Richard Jenkins (the dead father of Six Feet Under). If you’re in the mood for a silly flick with some top stars having fun with each other, pop some corn and sit back.

Body of Lies. Very interesting film. I think this is the best work Leo has done since Blood Diamond. And Russell Crowe is excellent as well—I actually bought into his southern accent and sleazy persona. The two work well together so the dialogue was a treat. What is the most intriguing part of this movie is how it got made. I suspect the funding came from moderate elements in the Middle East, because it certainly cast them in a good light. The honest people who are earnestly trying to keep the lid on the crazies come out looking pretty good. The crazies aren’t demonized (as in Nighthawks, a Sly Stallone potboiler, or True Lies, an outstanding flick) but they are shown to be human, albeit hypocrites and cowards—not something the current crop of man-shaped towers of excrement inhabiting Hollywood are known for. The ending was satisfying, and Crowe’s character has a line that is in the running for best line of the year (see also, Tropic Thunder, next blog). I recommend it (you can close you eyes during the very short squeamish parts).

Appaloosa. Funny, I thought this movie had something to do with a horse. Didn't.
It was the name of the town--go figure. Still, it was a modern rendering of an oldstyle western, more authentic than either of the syrupy Wyatt Earp movies in the early 90's. It's sad that Westerns don't often live up to what they used to be; in fact, people say Unforgiven was the last best western. It’s a special category for sure, and one that is frequently exploited to bad ends. (See discussion of Sukiyaki WD above.) In the 50's and 60's the Western mythos represented the last great sense of adventure and independence. We had won the Great War, muddled through a smaller one, just getting into another one, and were adrift over our place in the world, uncertain what it was all about (Alfie). All that got lost in the pre- and post-Woodstock era, and it's no coincidence that the last best Western was released in 1992, as we were careening to the left towards dependency and government control instead of independence and self-reliance. But...I digress. There are some unsatisfying parts of this film that roll around in my head, but I can't verbalize what they are. Maybe that's what it was really like after all--just life.

Ed Harris is usually pretty understated and was somewhat in this film as well. But compared to Viggo Mortensen’s character, he was a regular Robin Williams. Jeremy Irons was also good as the villain. The plot was well crafted and the movie itself moved along nicely. It did seem that it took a dip near the end and stretched a bit, but it muddled through. We enjoyed it, though it’s not everyone’s teacup.

Whew, that's about it for today. I have some mediocre ones left and some real stinkers. Stay tuned... til next time.

And, what would a blog be without the Bumper Sticker of the Week...

Adjure obfuscation.

World of Goo...Beware all ye....

After the third recommendation for this game, I looked it up on the web and found universally positive comments. So, for $15, what the hell....

Big mistake (sort of)....

One of the reasons I don't have a PS3 is that I can't be trusted to not play it 24/7. The Nintendo DS is merely an aperitif for my addiction, and can be excused on the grounds it exercises the brain. [The brain really isn't a muscle, so those "exercise" metaphors don't quite get there, but such repetition and recollection do manage to dig grooves into the mushy stuff, so it functions much the same.] The Wii....that was a stretch in my conviction. But, hey, it wasn't like it was a REAL video game, now. Just a silly looking thing, another form of exercise really. And the tennis and baseball did actually leave us with sore muscles for a while. But then came the lager and stout of Lego Star Wars and Wii Ski...the latter more justifiable than the former. I told myself it was just the best games I was interested in, and ones that gave back at the same time were that much better. But now I've hit the bottle big time with this little gem. Fortunately it is a short game--unlike the Star Wars behemoth--and it will be done soon. I concur with all the good things said about this game, and will recommend it highly for anyone already addicted.

You go, goo....

Next Snow Event

Am still considering a trip to Chile in August.... I have been excited about the possibility for quite a while. My last trip before hitting 60--and to a virgin locale. Even got My Spanish Coach for the DS, to assist me in the goal of becoming quasi-lingual. I checked into places to go and found a few, one that looked very interesting and not too expensive (as they go).




Here is Valle Nevado...awesome... The landscape is described as "lunar."










This is Portillo, a famous area down there






And Termas de Chillan...what's not to like about this?
Notice the fruit....

The down side popped up looking at flights to Santiago. About $800 from Tampa (going through Atlanta) and a 12 hour trip... and that's the good one. Haven't ruled it out yet, but am reeling, and may fall back to a possible Tampa Bay Ski Club excursion planned for September, if it's still available. The truth is, I should make a decision pretty quick while I still have options. The initial plan was for a stag trip for anyone interested, but that is sort of flexible at this point (especially since at least two of my daughters speak Spanish well). We shall see....

Adios,

The Redbox

We’ve been watching a lot of movies lately. This happened because of two factors:
It stops my hands from shaking while I wait for football season, and we discovered Redbox. The latter is a DVD vending machine distributed around town that dispenses movies for $1 a night. I first found it out west (Hey, Brant…remember Sleuth?), but it has now migrated to the East Coast and can be found in places like Wal-Mart, Walgreens, McDonalds, etc. I was worried it might put Blockbuster out of business—don’t we all like to have options?—but it looks like that fear was premature. We had a good string of 3 straight movies, but then reality hit. One night the local box was out of order; the next time, all the good movies were checked out; then I ran into a line…the bloom has faded from the rose. And it may just be a $1 per day, but that doesn’t count the time wasted standing at the box looking for a movie that isn’t in, or waiting in line at 8:55 to return one, etc. And I value my time more than that, which is why I’ll probably stay with the Blockbuster Total Access service (mail to/from). Plus, I can keep them as long as I want…and it prevents me from spending too much time watching movies. So, the newness of Redbox did prompt us to see some new stuff, like these:

SEVEN POUNDS-- an odd movie. I tend to gauge how I feel after I watch a movie by how much I was disappointed by it, or surprised by it. It would hard to be disappointed by this one because I didn’t know what to expect, and I was most likely surprised by it, but on the whole it was oddly unsatisfying. It had the same curious feel of Memento—it looks interesting and you know something is going on, but you’re not sure what. It was oddly moving (I cried, yes I admit it, but not sobs) because Will Smith was such a good guy in it. Very cathartic. Ultimately, I would recommend it as art, but not if you’re looking for something upbeat.

THE WRESTLER—this one was a disappointment after all the hype Mickey Rourke got for his performance. The movie was entertaining, in an art-house sort of way, and showed the real world of professional wrestling. But the characters weren’t close to real, nor sympathetic. Mickey’s character was just plain pathetic. The problem I have with his performance, though it was vastly different than the “old” Mickey Rourke of Wild Orchid or Body Heat, or Angel Heart, the character was too close to who he is now to be much of a stretch for him. Not his fault, really, but great acting? Not so much.

CHANGELING—this one reminded me very much of a cross between Gone Baby Gone and L.A. Confidential. Angelina gets to go prequel, having a spin in an asylum before being Interrupted. It stretched credibility to imagine the cops being such bad guys (and idiots) back then, but, hey, I wasn’t there to know, and power corrupts (so they say). Well acted, well directed…a mildly satisfying film, but there are better ways to spend 141 minutes.

TAKEN—despite the media opinions of this film, I thoroughly enjoyed it. A Bourne picture that you can watch without getting seasick! Though the end result might be predictable (why would Hollywood make such a movie and have the hero fail to get his daughter back? Unthinkable) it’s the journey not the destination that counts. It’s a thriller regardless. Some might argue about the amount of suspension of disbelief required for Liam Neeson to be such a one-man wrecking crew, but they forget the stakes. He is going to get his daughter, and anyone who stands in his way is unimportant (and frequently dead). We have probably seen too much Hollywood violence in which the spy/hero merely incapacitates the villains or simply knock someone out. Political correctness…ha! In a life or death situation, I doubt it matters to you if the other guy is crippled for life or dead, so the punishment inflicted can be far more than expected. Liam had the element of surprise and nothing to lose. It is by nature a relatively violent (also referred to as “action-packed”) film that falls down in the personal development moments, but if you want that, there’s Schlinder’s List.

BENJAMIN BUTTON—I was pleasantly surprised by this one, as the hype seemed to exceed the ability to deliver. This is derived from an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story about a man who is born old and "ages backwards," becoming younger as time goes by. (Did FSF know any women who weren't named Daisy?) Aside from the technology to do the aging, which was prodigious and subtle at the same time, the performances of the whole cast were excellent. It was a love story, a coming of age story, a tragedy, all rolled into one; I can see how it wouldn’t have galvanized enough of the Academy to get the BP Oscar (I’m not saying it deserved it) but I would recommend it despite it quirkiness.

IN THE ELECTRIC MIST (with the Confederate Dead)—I can certainly see why they dropped the subtitle from the book that was the source of this movie. The title is odd enough to begin with, but that would have thrown it over the edge. And there are, in fact, dead confederates in the movie. Tommy Lee Jones has several dream/hallucination sequences in which a Confederate General John Bell Hood (played with ethereal dignity and wisdom by Levon Helm). The movie is a cop show whodunit more worthy of an hour on a weeknight than a full movie length, but it has TLJ back in the bayou doing a toned down, laid back Marshall Sam Gerard. John Goodman is miscast as a gumbo godfather, and a subplot involving a movie being made in the swamp is a bit of a distraction. It all works out in the end, as you would expect; I can’t say I would recommend running out and renting this, but if it comes on your cable and you don’t have other plans for about 2 hours, it’s worth a look.

Well, that’s the Redbox saga (so far). Having gotten into this, and waiting for Gators to start playing football, I may explore some of the Blockbuster selections in recent months. Also went to two (count ‘em, 2) movies in real theaters. I might do those next simply because they’re more current and topical. The good news is that if you don’t care about my opinion of these films, you can close your browser and go do something productive.

But then, you'd miss the ....(wait for it....) Bumper Sticker of the Month:

Too much Pluribus, not enough Unum.

The Orange and Blue game

Here come the Gators!

I went to the Orange and Blue game yesterday. It was an odd day, to be sure…. I started my trip to Gainesville for what might be my only live game this season, but (of course) got a late start. Coupled with some unexpected stops on the way (too much coffee), I ended up getting to the stadium at halftime. That meant that I didn’t get to see Tim Terrific play at all. He was there the whole game, but was essentially coaching the quarterbacks from behind the backfield. But it was great to see him involved. I did watch the replay later and thought he had played with the right amount of intensity for an intrasquad scrimmage (the interception was not his fault).

What we love to see:

What could have been a waste of time was made enjoyable by Frankie Hammond Jr., who seems to have the potential to be the next great receiver, in the mold of Ike Hilliard or Reidel Anthony. He’s no Percy Harvin, but then, who is? Frankie put a move on one of the defensive backs that was a classic! It made me think of last year’s game when Chris Rainey turned Ahmad Black around and blew by him for a TD. Each O&B game should have such a moment!
Chris this year-limited action:

What the game said best, however, was that the Gators shouldn’t have to worry about depth this year. There are a lot of players pretty far down the charts that can play ball. If I were an SEC coach, I’d be real worried. If I were Lane Kiffin, I’d be petrified…no, actually, if I were Lane Kiffin, I’d kill myself because no asshole that large should be breathing.
Can’t wait for September!!!!!!!!! More specifically, September 19th!

The Next Best Thing

Living in the reality challenged world of Wii, the natural thing for me to do was to acquire the Wii Ski & Snowboard title as soon as it was released. Mission Accomplished!

It had only been 3 weeks since I was shredding blissfully on the true Montana powder, so I was not expecting the difficulty I encountered from the balance board. The shedding was great…better in some aspects because running into people and trees was no longer fatal…but I could hardly walk the next day—my calves!?!?!

All that is needed for a real trip down memory lane is to leave the door open, or crank the A/C down to artic. If I can record some of it, I'll attach later. For $37, I highly recommend it.

Time to admit it...

Hi, my name is Rick, and I'm a blogaholic. I haven't blogged in 11 days.

[Chorus] Hi, Rick.

It's really hard... real life. You know, it was great being on vacation, when I had something to say, and had some time in the evening when I could compose my thoughts, and be funny and creative...but at work it just isn't the same.

I've been wandering around, trying to figure out what to do next with nothing worth writing about in my blog. Work is so boring. I'm thinking of taking a hit of Facebook, just to ... ya know... get a quick taste and get myself goin' again.

[Chorus] No, Rick, hang in there ....

But ... you know... all my family and what few friends I have left are on Facebook. Can it really be that bad?
H-E-L-L-O-O? Where's the harm? Will you...will you be my friend? Or maybe, I can be yours? I'm all a-twitter....
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[cue the closing music] Well, folks, there's an end to another sad story, as well as a wasted week. Join us again next time when Rick says, "What do you mean your MySpace page won't accept my posts?"

Vacation - Sad Saturday

We awoke Saturday to the prospect of returning to the land of sea level and real world humidity. Time to head home for good (for now).

All was packed up, so we (which is to say, I) couldn’t make that one last run down Bighorn …. ah, well, we had beaten that horse pretty good. The east coast group loaded up in the car—the California crew got to stay until 1 PM—and headed north.

But not before one last tour of the house and a picture to remember it by:

I turned in the car, so we met in the airport restaurant for lunch and to kill some time until the respective flights. I did manage to get my bottle of Moose Drool for my collection, to go with the T-shirt Jane had gotten me. And, even though it is a Montana icon, I wasn’t that fond of Moose Drool. The shirt looks cool though.

The flight was great. We had the exit row, and the time…pardon the pun…flew by. The departure out of Minneapolis was running late, but we were not dismayed because we had gotten the exit row again. Yes! The only problem was that Evie and Rosa were going to pick us up in Tampa; what started as a 10:40 arrival was quickly inching towards midnight. Jane managed to call them off before they left, so we were left to our own devices. Little did we know….

The easiest thing to do was to call the same service that had taken us to the airport at the beginning of the trip. So I did. No problem, he said.

We arrived to find our driver dressed in the most bizarre clash of patterns I have seen in 20 years. He said everyone called him “Duck” because of his obsession with waterfowl. The dashboard of his Lincoln was covered from side to side with what can best be described as “rubber duckies.” We, of course, got to listen to all of Duck’s life story—seems that fatigued travelers are the prime target for this type of indignity.

Upon reaching the house, we paid Duck and received, as a token of his gratitude for the tip, a beautiful calendar of—what else?—ducks in various angles of flight. Wow. But the best part of the homecoming? The house key that was supposed to be in the laundry room wasn’t. My keys were in the house, as were Jane’s. Now, the dilemma we faced at 1AM was difficult. Jane’s mom most likely had the extra key, but we couldn’t drive the cars over to get it because, obviously, the car keys were in the house. None of the other people who might be able to help were awake (we called some). The housesitter conscientiously locks the doors and buttons up the windows every time he leaves. Great. Soon we discovered one that wasn’t battened down and Jane managed to squeeze through it. Whew! Home again.

Vacation - Final Friday

Friday the 13^th… and our last day to ride … a day to be extra careful. Well, not so much. The marrieds went to Yellowstone for a snowmobile tour, leaving Laura to sit for the twins and Pierce, and Brant and me to uphold the family honor on the slopes. A slowish start gave us some time to play with the girls,

and save what was left of the legs. We decided to stay on the lower mountain, which meant Ponderosa, Elk Park Ridge and Bighorn; I had fleeting thoughts of going back to the near top of Lone Peak for another crack at the black run under the lift, this time without the fog, but $140 in lift tickets for both of us wasn’t worth the one run. A few blue runs and we were hungering for powder, so….what else to do but head to Lone Moose? We did manage to discover an easier way to get there, with less skating, but too late for this trip. Next time.

Once there, it was Little Dogie over and over, mining all the powder we could find (which was a lot). The snow on the sides had been pushed up like curbs, so we would get up some speed, zip up into the side stuff and ride until a reasonable jump back to the main run presented itself. Wow! I was pleasantly surprised that my knee didn’t seem to mind these little drops/jumps, but then, it’s not like we got huge air or anything. Just high speed plops from about a foot high; still a special feeling to land on powder and not crash. It was so magnificent, to have this powder playground all to ourselves. We were stoked.

I even found the crevice that had jammed my foot earlier and was playing with it as I swooped by. It caught me by surprise on one run, and I had to bail out into a small tree, almost horseshoe-like (it was a ringer, not a leaner). But I dug out, and went up again, determined not to let that landscape beat me. The next run I swished through the same spot, but swung around the little tree--and through the rut I had made digging out of the snow, almost like a luge. It was a thrill.

We discovered another cute little jump that we failed to conquer completely, but not for lack of trying.

Here I am, sashaying slowly in front of the camera. Unfortunately, the slope was a bit slow at that point, so you can't see the full scope of my snowboarding acumen.

Alas, all good things come to an end, and we had to head back. A bittersweet descent on old faithful Silver Knife, to get to the iced over road that let us slide back to the house. Two minor falls, but managed to protect the knees.

Then the kids came back, and told stories and showed videos of bison, elk, etc. from their Yellowstone visit. It sounded like fun. In fact, here's a photo that pretty well sums it all up:

Tracy was cold.

Tracy's ski pole injury had not fully healed (note right eye)

There were bison.

There was steam.

What else could you ask for?

Then it was time to pack.

Vacation - Third Base Thursday

Rounding third, heading for home....

Thursday was a slow day. I think I was up late playing Star Wars on the Wii the night before, so it was hard to get up. And, of course, my legs were tired. I did some work as well, so it was just after noon when we finally got out. Laura had gotten a rash from the hottub, so she volunteered to stay home with the kids while Andrea & Brian went out in the morning. Pete and Tracy were having fun playing in the snow with Pierce, but they and Brant and I were happy to go find A&B for a last hookup. (A,B, T, and P are going to Yellowstone tomorrow.)

We caught up with them on the back side of the mountain and took a few green runs (another run down Ponderosa, where Tracy had fallen earlier in the week). Andrea had spoken of the powder on Sacajewa (an unremarkable green) so we went that way—only to find cut up mush with little powder on the sides. So I suggested we head over to the Lone Moose lift, where hardly anyone goes and the powder is ubiquitous. I suppose I should have state more strongly the tough route to get there, but…hey, everyone loves powder. Here we are, pre-trek.

One way to get there was Bighorn, once a favorite of mine, but now routinely cut up and mushy; it was not great today either, and the girls had a rough time of it. Tracy made the mistake of following me up and over a little hill and, in short order, slide off the main trail a bit. It was surreal. I had gone up very high on the edge of a hill to watch everyone’s progress—I felt responsible since Lone Moose had been my idea—and got to see, almost as with celestial clarity, Tracy go off uphill and Pete execute a textbook faceplant farther downhill. Bizarre.

We eventually made it to the trail leading to the LM lift, but no one was happy about the longness nor the flatness of it. (I believe I described this part of the mountain in an earlier post.) But once we got there, the run itself was … outstanding! Just as earlier in the week, hardly anyone had been on it. We pushed over to Little Dogie and found several inches of powder in the middle of the run, and at least a foot or more of it on the sides of the trail. Andrea, who had been out all day and was tired and ready to go home, got excited at the end; she caught a little air and landed safely with a loud whoop. The guys loved it as well; only Tracy had a spot of trouble. Once again, she followed me and Brant into the deep powder on the sides of the run (instead of just enjoying the easier stuff in the middle), and discovered the fundamental difference between skis and snowboards. The lesson involved catching an edge and plunging face first—or so the report goes—into the deep stuff. Fortunately, the rest of were taking turns being the cow’s tail, so Brian was there to help her dig out; nonetheless, swimming through powder is tiring.

B&A were ready to head home to relieve Laura, so they headed home while the rest of us pointed back to Little Dogie for one more powder shot. Unbelievably, they had strung a rope across the run and put up “Area Closed” signs—we still had 15 minutes before the lift closed! Given my experience with Area Closed signs, I paused…but only a moment. The others went on, but Brant & I would not be deterred by a little tape. Under and down we went, for another exhilarating run to catch the last lift up. Then on towards home.

Brant resting at Lone Moose hairpin turn.

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We had just enough time to blast down Ambush (the steep blue run next to the half-pipe) and catch our final run up the Ramcharger lift. I still don’t know how we made the run so quickly, but every time I looked back to see Brant gaining on me, I gritted my teeth and pressed on. Damn, that kid is quick. And he has young legs to boot. Guess I’ll have to find some nice trees to drag him through….