The 100 Coolest Things of 2010... #60 to 51

Hey... its The SOB!  (no, not me... I mean... Day One of The Summer of Blogging...)

Yes, yes, its the summer and I'm still talking about 2010.   But I'm hoping to get through this list in the next week or two!  So, let's recap...

Basketball movies, SMU scandals and Hurricane Rhett's movie crushes are part of the 100th through 91st coolest things of 2010...  in the 90th through 81st coolest things of the year, we talked about old people with guns, steak roll-ups, and an Oscar winning Sandy B... and then, from 80th through 71st, it was The A-Team, Tron's new Legacy and finding Somebody to Love... then we discussed Hawaii's new show, narcissim on Facebook and candles in the 70th through 61st coolest things of the year...

60... Disney Meets Autism
This is by no means the lesser of our Disney vacations in 2010, its just the first one I wanted to talk about... The Lovely Steph Leann and I decided to treat her cousin Karen and their family, consisting of hubby Eric and children Hannah and Wyatt... the thing to know about Hannah and Wyatt is that they are severly autistic.  I dont know alot about autism, so I won't try to put them on a level of severity, but just know its a pretty big deal (as autism is).

Myself and Hannah, having a blast on Test Track

Cousin Karen actually called ahead to Disney about her children, specifically to the restaurants we were going to dine in and talked to the chefs about her children's eating limitations and allergies.  I was highly impressed on how responsive they were!  In all of the restaurants we ate at, the chef would come out and discuss with Cousin Karen some food options, and at Donald's Tusker House Breakfast in Animal Kingdom, the chef even brought out gluten free Mickey waffles specifically made for the kids.

We had a "disability pass" allowing us to use handicap entrances and skip many lines--I am sure that Cousin Karen would take perfectly healthy children waiting in long lines over autistic kids getting straight onto rides--but it is what it is, and we made the best of it.  Only one meltdown, that being when Jasmine messed around with Hannah's Hannah Montana hat, and Hannah wasn't having it.  At.  All. 

It was a fun trip, though, a good time spent with Cousin Karen, Hubby Eric and the kids, and of course, anytime you can spend money and time in Walt Disney World, its a good, good thing. 

59... SI Wants the Playoffs
I love my Sports Illustrated, and it shares the honor of being bathroom reading material with the latest Entertainment Weekly--that's not a bad thing, or a mock compliment, thats a compliment--and sometimes, an article jumps out that is worthy of reading and re-reading... like one in November of 2011, entitled "What a Concept!  Playoffs!  How (and why) the BCS is Blocking What College Football Needs". 

Its an in-depth opinion on the myth that the BCS works just fine and its a money-haven for college football programs, and how the bowl games are so lucrative for teams that participate... it tells us that

"Halftime entertainment at the Jan. 1, 2009, Outback Bowl was provided by the [ Iowa ] Hawkeye Marching Band. And how did the Tampa Bay Bowl Association, which runs the game, thank the band for that gratis performance? By charging the university $65 a head for each of the 346 band members. According to university records submitted to the NCAA, the school was forced to purchase face-value tickets totaling $22,490 for the band, even though the game wasn't sold out."

In fact, the bowl system, and sub-sequent payout is so convuluted that sometimes a football program actually saves money when they don't go bowling...

"Most conferences pool all their bowl payouts, using the bigger-money BCS games to cover the losses incurred in the smaller games. Thus does the Rose Bowl help subsidize the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl-a bowl bailout system that indeed spreads the wealth. Bowl directors privately admit that fewer than half the bowls could survive without the financial support from the schools.



Meanwhile, the sad sack programs that fail to qualify for a bowl often end up in the best financial position. As former Michigan AD Bill Martin said after the 2009 season, ‘The fact we didn't go to a bowl game the last two years means we actually made money.' "

...wait, success is rewarded by costing you more money, and the underachievers are given more?  Glad our country doesn't work like that...  anyway, I'd love to tell you that you can read this article online, but I had to sign up for the digital version of my print subscription, but if you can find it, its a great article.

58... Sly Blows Stuff Up
Ah, "The Expendables"... a movie I was so looking forward to that I even wrote a preview post for it last summer... and I wasn't disappointed.

Who doesn't love this movie?  Seriously... who doesn't want to see Sly Stallone with Dolph Lundgren and Jet Li and Randy Couture and Jason Statham and Mickey Rourke go all bad-A and 80s VHS star Eric Roberts be the bad guy and Stone Cold Steve Austin get all wicked bad and see things blow up and explode and see Bruce Willis and Ahnold and Sly share the same room and every action movie cliche played up, especially the one where every one on the team is a "specialist", a la "the weapons specialist" and the "explosives specialist" and the "martial arts specialist" and what is the movie even about?

Some crap about a corrupt government and the overthrow of a brutal dictator and so on and so on and who gives a rip.  Did you read that cast that I listed above?  Seriously.  It's awesome.  If you like real substance and deep plotlines, then don't watch this movie.

If you like the nostalgia of 80s and 90s action stars and cheese ball action movies with ridiculous things that blow up and over-the-top shootings and F-bombs being dropped like they were hot tamales, then this is the movie for you. 

57... We Get to See Dixon
Who doesn't love seeing old friends after a decade, or 14 years, goes by?   The Lovely Steph Leann spends a couple of days in Pensacola per month, and every now and again, I am able to go with her.  Usually, its a "drive down Thursday morning, she goes to work, does her thing, have a nice dinner, spend the night, take our time coming back Friday" kind of thing, and September 2010's trip was just like that.

This time, though, I was able to contact my old pal Dixon who lived in the area, and not only were we excited to see each other, she was pumped to see The Lovely Steph Leann--a reader of this blog, she knows my wife only as The Lovely Steph Leann, so for her, it was exciting to put a voice and a personality with the name and face that she sees online.

In writing about it, I said:  Dixon and I have known each other since 1993, and were friends all through college, and during dinner, I'm sure we bored the stew out of The Lovely Steph Leann with our "Oh, I remember when you..." and "Do you know that..." and "When you did that, I..." tales. She was quick to include The Lovely Steph Leann though, frequently turning to her and saying, "Oh my gosh, did d$ ever tell you about the time he and..." to which my wife would say, "No, tell me!" and there goes the story.

The post is called "Mobile Meanderings and Dixon Dinners", and you can read the whole thing by clicking here, and you can even see the link for the first day of Pensacola.

56... The Saints Win the Super Bowl
Growing up, the New Orleans Saints were always a joke.  It took them several decades to even make the playoffs, much less win a playoff game, and though they had some random flashes of brilliance here and there, mostly... well, they just sucked.

But in the last five or six years, they have begun to become a real franchise.  With the 2006 addition of Drew Brees (who left San Diego after being replaced by Philip Rivers, who does not have a ring), plus key players and a solid coaching staff not including anyone named Ditka, it came together... they did have two straight disappointing seasons in 2007 and 2008, going 7-9 and 8-8 respectively, but made the NFC title game a season later.  And in the 2009 season, they began to roll... and roll they did, into the playoffs, into January 2010.

And after a thrilling overtime win over the Vikings (Favre threw a pick to end the game... surprising), they ended up embarrassing the heavily favored Indy Colts, winning 31-17.  Of course, this was the first Super Bowl in over 20 years that I did not see at least a little bit of--myself and The Lovely Steph Leann were in the backseat of a car, riding with Snow White and her friend, Sidekick Sarah, but we'll get to that later in the 2010 list. 

So, the Saints won the Super Bowl.  It was like the Falcons making the Super Bowl in the late 90s... just strange.

55... Marky Mark Throws Punches
Here's one I didn't think I'd like as much as I did.   Mark Wahlberg stars as Micky Ward, a local boxer from Lowell, Massachussetts, who is managed by his mom, Alice (Melissa Leo) and is sort of trained by his troubled, alcoholic, addict brother Dicky (Christian Bale).

Marky Mark talks to my Hollywood Girlfriend

Micky is considered a "stepping stone" boxer, one who is used to help elevate other boxers, and its proven when he's destroyed by a mismatch that he never should have faced.  He meets Charlene (Amy Adams, whom I'm in love with) and his life begins to turn around.   Things get worse before they get better, though, as Micky sees his beloved brother Dicky screw up over and over, until he finally has to wash his hands of Dicky, while his overbearing mom blames Charlene for their family troubles, as do his seven sisters--in one hilarious scene, Charlene takes them all on in a fight on the porch.

The movie is extremely well-acted, and when it was over, I was pretty sure that Christian Bale would not only be nominated for an Oscar for his Dicky Ward portrayal, I was fairly sure he'd win it--he was and he did.  Mark Wahlburg is probably the least talented of the group of actors he's surrounded by, and he still gives a great performance as Micky, and of course, my eyes were locked on Amy Adams (whom I'm in love with) every time she was on the screen.  She ended up with an Oscar nom of his own (she lost to Melissa Leo, and although I wanted Amy Adams--whom I'm in love with--to win, I was satisfied with it) and did her part perfectly.

I loved this film, and as the years go by, I hope it gains stature and more acclaim.   Does have lots of Boston accent language, with lots of F-words being tossed around, boxing violence along with some real world violence, and a make out scene that features Amy Adams (whom I'm in love with) in some tight shorts and her underthings. 

54... The Good Guys Take on the Bad Guys
When its all said and done, Survivor will go down as one of my top ten, maybe even top five favorite series ever, be it scripted or reality.  And its seasons like the on that aired in the spring of 2010, "Heroes vs. Villians", the 20th season of the show, that makes me love this show so much.

They had brought back previous contestants before, like "All Stars" in Season 8 and some seasons where one or two contestants had a second chance, but this time, they did a great job selecting "Heroes", those players who seemed to really play an outstanding game with integrity--Stephenie, JT, Cirie--and "Villians", those who lied and clawed their way through the game--Jerri, Coach, Randy--and most notably, featured the first match-up between Boston Rob and Russell Heinz, who should have won the year before in Samoa.  Rob was ousted halfway through the game, while Russell made it to the top three.

Now, as much as I loved this season, the reason it doesn't rank higher is that the eventually winner, Sandra, was a prime example of  "riding coattails" and "ticked off the least amount of people".  Some will argue that Russell was robbed the previous year (he was) and also should have won "Heroes vs. Villians" (he shouldn't have )... Parvati should have taken this season, but played the season so well she was disliked by everyone, mostly because everyone was voted off directly and indirectly at Parvati's command.  That's how you play Survivor.

53... Mickey Warms My Hands
We went to The Most Magical Place on Earth in December (you'll hear about that later) and was able to meet up with one of my very favorite people in the whole world, Melanie (you'll hear about her later).  She and her family (again, later), and myself and The Lovely Steph Leann enjoy good food, good rides and good shows, but braved the winter in Florida. 

The "winter" in Florida is more of a "kinda cool", especially when compared to the rest of the country, but nonetheless, it was cold.  And I finally had to break down and buy some gloves.  Gloves are a tricky thing, really, because though they work well when driving, using my hands for writing or texting or any other thing that includes opposible thumbs sometimes comes across difficult.  Which is why when I saw the Disney gloves I am referring to on the shelf, I wanted them. 

And they are the best gloves I've ever owned.  Love them.

52... A Cap Gets Popped

Thank you, Melanie.  You rule.

I'm a ballcap guy.  I don't wear caps much when my hair is short, or when I am wearing my glasses (I think I look uberdorky with glasses and a cap), but sometimes, I love just tossing one of my many beloved caps on my wet, fresh outta the shower head and going.

I have three caps that I wear on a rotating basis... one is a grey Florida Gators hat I bought some years ago, right after they won the championship.  Go Gators.  Another is a khaki hat with a Mickey silhouette in the corner.  Goes well with most things I wear.  And finally, there is the one that Melanie brought back to me after she went to Disney for a few days.

And its my favorite hat. 

51... Bad Movies Get Props
In one of the trips to Pensacola I went on, we stopped at a random Barnes & Noble for The Lovely Steph Leann to get her some reading materials... she usually heads for The Romance Section, and I make my way through the bargain aisle, glancing to and fro, left and right in case something catches my eye, then end up in the Film/TV/Entertainment section.  I will pick up a random book or two and read a page or two, sometimes about Molly Ringwald and the Breakfast Club, sometimes about 1001 Movies I Gotta See Before I Die, sometimes about American Idol, sometimes about Dreamworks SKG...

And every now and again, I'll pick up a book and flip through it and read a page.  And then another.  And then another.  And  then another, until I'm sitting on the floor reading the book from the beginning until time to go.  And this time, I did just that, picking up "Showgirls, Teen Wolves and Astro Zombies" by Michael Adams.  Subtitled "A film critic's year long quest to find the worst movie ever made", it is exactly what it says it is.

A few years ago, the author Adams spent an evening watching the horrific Hilary Duff movie "Material Girls", and after avoiding gouging his eyes out, surfed on IMDB for some information.  He was surprised to find it, at least at the time, to be #1 on IMDB's Bottom 100 Movies, the 100 movies that fans gave the lowest ranking possible on the movie website.  He figured as bad as it was, it couldn't have been the worst movie of all time... could it?  Only one way to find out.

He then devoted the next year of his life, starting the following January, to watch horrible movies all year long to determine the worst movie ever made.  He ends up spending thousands of dollars on Amazon to get such movies to watch, and chapter by chapter, catagorized by month, he watches and details the worst of the worst.  At the end of every monthly chapter, he lists the worst seen that month, then the actual worst of the month... starting in January, and going through December, those are as follows:  "Search for the Beast" (January)... "The Guy from Harlem" (February)... "Superbabies" (March)... "Manos: Hands of Fate" and "Police Academy: Mission to Moscow" (tie for April)... "Grad Night" and "Da Hip Hop Witch" (May)... "Narcosys" (June)... "Hollywood High Part II" (July)... "Green River Killer" (August, and notable because Adams declares this film's director, Ulli Lommel, the worst director ever)... "Black Devil Doll From Hell" (September, a film so obscure that there isn't even any cover art in IMDB)... "The Corpse Grinders II" and "Mark of the Astro-Zombies" (October)... "Big Sister 2000" and "Toad Warrior" (November)... and in December, "Dark Harvest 2: The Maize". 

And yes, one of those movies was considered by Adams as "The Worst Movie Ever".  The beauty of this book is that he knows these movies are bad, he never tries to defend their worth, but yet, still revels in the awfulness of them.  He cracks wise and jokes all the way through it, many times with a "I cannot fathom how terrible this is" tone, and he goes after more recent and familiar fare too, like "It's Pat" and of course, "Showgirls".   

 I'm not a guy who watched a ton of cult classics and obscure films and such, so I hadn't seen most of those movies... though I did come across "Manos: Hands of Fate" online, and yes, its bad.   This book is an easy, entertaining read, giving you the reviews of these films so you don't have to watch them.  I loved this book.

Coming up... training a dragon... engagements abound... and what Christians like... and later, a gritty book becomes a gritty novel

The 100 Coolest Things of 2010... #80 to 71

As always, you'd be better reading this on the mothership, not on Facebook, because of video, photos and the general screw up in lay out that happens when it imports into FB...

The 100th to 91st Coolest Things of 2010
The 90th to 81st Coolest Things of 2010

80... Affleck Robs a Bank
So, he gets a bad rap, but somehow, someway, not only as Ben Affleck turned into a credible actor, he's actually a pretty good director too.  In 2007, he directed--and starred in--"Gone Baby Gone", an excellent Boston crime mystery, and now, he's back with "The Town".



The story simply is that Affleck and a few of his buddies are bank robbers, including an excellent Jeremy Renner, and are trying to finish up their theivery career.  The film then follows Doug (Affleck) and his boys as they try to pick up the pieces after a robbery goes wrong, and after he ends up with a relationship with a chick they took hostage.

Jon Hamm, from "Mad Men", shows up as an FBI agent chasing them and... okay, I know, I know what you are thinking... "This sounds like every other bank robber movie, with a main character and an impossible romance (check) and heist gone wrong (check) and being talked into one last heist that they didn't want to do (check) and the rogue agent right on their tail (check)..." but seriously, its better than that.

There is a load of language in it, including a whole lotta F-bombs, and there is some violence--it is about criminals robbing banks, after all--and the like, perhaps not as Emmy Turnbow Safe as you'd want it to be.  But a great film, nonetheless.

79... "American Honey"
Song by Lady Antebellum off of their "Need You Now" CD.  What can I say?  Great song.

78... The A-Team Gets a Redux
Much like "Unstoppable",  the 81st Coolest Thing of 2010, "The A-Team" is nothing more than a popcorn flick, though what it has over "Unstoppable"--for better or worse--is characters that anyone over 25 will be familiar with.

Here's what I said on June 21st:

All in all,you can tell that this movie was made by people who loved the original TV show... it didn't set out to mock the show, or move the show from its original direction, it modernizes the tale, brings it to nowadays and sets up what might be a mildly successful movie franchise.


Bottom line, if you liked the TV show, you can consider this a PG-13, one hour and forty two minute version of that very show... most people I know liked this movie alot, and those people loved the original show... however, if you didn't like the TV show, you won't like this film at all. If you have no concept of the TV show, you'll view this movie as a popcorn ride with some interesting characters who's names you might be familiar with.

You can read the full review by clicking here...

I know this might be blasphemy, but a few weeks after I saw the movie, I was flipping channels and happened to see that an episode of The A-Team was coming on some ethnic channel called Centric One.  So, I flipped over and watched about half of it... and... well... it was bad.  I mean, really bad.  When I was 11 years old, this show was the junk.  Everything about it was rockin' awesome.  Now, especially since I feel like my tastes are more refined, I couldn't watch it.  The acting was bad, the story was bad, the jokes were horrid... maybe if I watched it again, my bar will be much, much lower, but I guess I was shocked by how terrible it was.  Just sayin'.

77... Jeff Bridges Finds a Legacy
Back in 1982, a little movie came out called TRON, and for its day (I'm sure you've heard this before, but I'll reiterate), it was revolutionary.  The graphics were new, the special effects were amazing, the story was creative and brand new, and it was all the rage.  But like many films from that era, or any era, it slowly slipped into the forgotten movies pile, becoming something only a certain aged section of the population would even remember, or even recognize by name.  TRON was a forgotten movie.  Even seeing it some years later, the story holds up, but the special effects are... ehh.

Smashcut to 2009, when a huge announcement was made--they were doing a sequel to TRON.  No one knew what it was about, no one knew how it would be recieved, but finally, another TRON movie would be presented to the world, one that would reunite the fans of the original with the Light Cycles and The Grid, one that would introduce new fans to just such things. 



TRON: Legacy came out in December 2010, and I went to see it as quick as I could... and I loved it.  It was just what the doctor ordered for the continuation of TRON.  Okay, I'll be real here--some of it is kind of hokey, especially when you see there are homeless "people" in The Grid, and when you discover there is an actual nightclub with real DJs and everything.  But the Light Cycles are worth the price of admission... no longer were they single beams of light cutting at immediate right and left angles (which itself was really cool), they were cycles that went in all directions, up, down, side to side and back again, which made for a great little Cycle Battle scene.

The effects have gotten worlds better, and even though its no secret that Jeff Bridges plays not only the main character, Flynn, in both TRON and its sequel, but they superimposed a much younger version of his face onto the villian, Clu, and at some points it looks terrible--but that's neither here nor there.  This was made to be a fun, futuristic, eat popcorn movie and I ate popcorn, thought it was fun and enjoyed it immensely.

Oh, and if you've seen the original and then watch Legacy, and think that "Alan Bradley" looks familiar, just wait.  It took me a minute, but I caught it.

76... Auburn Wins Alot
Who'd thunk it?  While Auburn didn't technically win their championship until January 2011, their magnificent season alone was worth a mention in the Coolest 100 of 2010.  You could have called them the Cardiac Cats, and many people did, at the first part of the season, as they kept getting way behind, then playing catch up all game, and pulling out the victory.

Which meant when they fell behind 24 points to Alabama, Cam Newton simply said, "Eh, we got this..." and darn if they didn't do just that.  Big Daddy Ron and Bro-in-Law Tyler went to the game, and when Bama had their big lead at halftime, with Tyler celebrating and high fiving everyone around, Ron just smiled and said, "This ain't enough... we didn't score enough points..." 

Yep, I'm a Gator Guy.  I still appreciated Auburn's win, and the SEC's fourth straight BCS Championship and what, five in seven years?  That's called domination.

Y'all Bammers call it what you want.  We all know that if Cam Newton had chosen Alabama, had won the school a 2nd consecutive Heisman, then led them to another nation championship (14th?  17th?  328th?) then every member of the Roll Tide nation would have defended him just like Auburn did, and conversely, every Auburn fan would be accusing Alabama of winning a dirty title.  Let's be real here.

75... Glee Finds a Queen
The Lovely Steph Leann loves her some Glee... I mean, like, l-o-v-es her some Glee on Tuesday nights, so much so that she's been completely excited when I've bought her Glee CDs as presents for certain occasions.  Now I must tell you in the spirit of full disclosure, I like Glee.  I don't love Glee, but I do enjoy it when I happen to be with The Lovely Steph Leann in the same room, and its on.  Maybe its the frequent appearances by Kristen Chenoweth.



Anyway, their versions of songs are usually good, but very rarely do they top the originals--but "Somebody To Love" is magnificent.  Its the Queen song, which usually ranks at the bottom of my Queen Favorite Songs List, that when is sung by Glee, takes on a whole new meaning and a whole new sound.  Love it.

74... Wal-Mart Has an Effect
So, in March of 2010, I read a book on Wal-Mart.  Don't ask me why, but I thought it was well written and told a great story of Wal-Mart's rise and business practices.  Here's what I wrote on April 3rd of last year:

I picked up the most fascinating book two weeks ago, solidifying the theory that I will read anything if it grabs my attention in the first chapter. "The Wal-Mart Effect" by Charles Fishman is a book all about... well, not just Wal-Mart, but the effect it has on those who buy from there, those vendors who Wal-Mart buys from, those communities in which Wal-Mart chooses to plant themselves... and also those people who don't buy from Wal-Mart, those vendors who Wal-Mart doesn't buy from (or doesn't anymore), and those communities from which Wal-Mart chooses to not be a part of--or be a part of anymore.

The book isn't about the history of Wal-Mart, though it does devote a page or two to its beginnings and its founders. Mostly, its about the good... and bad... of the largest private company in the history of the world. Fishman does his best to make sure he covers both sides of the equation... like, all the good Wal-Mart has done...

You can read the complete post here.

73... The Author Leaves a Note
Imagine my own surprise when I opened up my blog site, a day after reviewing "The Wal-Mart Effect", which you just read about above, and finding out that the author of the book itself left a comment on the page.  Sez Charles Fishman:
 
Wow, fabulous review. Almost as long as the book itself... The one thing you didn't offer your readers is a link to the book's website, where people can read reviews and other excerpts. http://www.walmarteffectbook.com.   Or, of course:  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0143038788/thewalmarte09-20

Thanks for the close and appreciative read.
Charles Fishman
Author, "The Wal-Mart Effect"
cnfish@mindspring.com

How great is that?  I thought it was... well, cool.  You can also find a few more links, plus a funny Wal-Mart story courtesy of Amarylis By Morning (up from san antone) by clicking here.

72... Columbus Kills a Zombie
Once again, I remind you that this isn't a Coolest List of Things That Came Out Last Year, because our 72nd ranked Coolest, the movie "Zombieland", was actually released in 2009... but I didn't see it until some time last year, so hence, it makes the 2010 list.

Before "The Social Network" blew up his career into the stratosphere, Jesse Eisenberg starred in a number of films, including "Zombieland", where he plays Columbus, who is a survivor in a world where most people have turned to zombies.  He's trying to get to his parents in Columbus, Ohio, in which you learn that his name isn't really Columbus.. its what he is called because that's his hometown.  And then he runs into Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) and Wichita (Emma Stone, who I am just loving right now), and the comedy begins amongst all the destruction of zombies. 

And right smack dab in the middle is an incredible cameo by Bill Murray, which is the most hilarious part in an already extremely hilarious film. 

The scene as the festival got busier in the evening

71... The Middle Eastern Have a Festival
Every year, around October or so, there's a Catholic church which holds its annual Middle Eastern Festival, featuring delicious foods like kibbie, grape leaves, meat pies and spinach pies, an entire table full of desserts and hundreds of people milling around, and this year, our wonderful friends, The Zarzaurs--That being Chris, kids The Zack Attack, Jay Z and Special K, and of course, The Statuesque Melanie, invited The Lovely Steph Leann and I to come and eat and enjoy the festivities.

We pulled up to the church and as we crested the hill, we came up this huge tent canopy, full of tables and people getting full.  When we walked inside, we were met with the kids taking orders and running around like crazy, Chris Z throwing food onto a plate just as fast as he could, and Melanie trying to keep the peace and order--probably not unlike her usual evenings at home.

The Lovely Steph Leann and I enjoyed the food very much, sitting outside and watching a large group of kids dance (re: belly dance), and as we were about to leave, Melanie mentioned how rough the afternoon had been and was going to be, well into the evening.  The reason being?  Alabama was playing South Carolina--and all the free help wanted to watch the game.  The Lovely Steph Leann was pretty exhausted, so she bowed out, but I agreed to come back in a little while and help serve.

Melanie and The Zack Attack taking a break.  Actually,
The Zack Attack was bored to tears by this time.

And that's what I did.  I arrived back, and was immediately placed in the food assembly line.  There were several different kinds of plates, which I learned quickly, so I spent the next five hours filling the plates with rice and kibbie and meat and grape leaves and on and on, as the kids milled about, sometimes helping, sometimes not, and Melanie milled about, sometimes helping, sometimes getting onto the kids because they weren't.

It was a great time, spending a little bit of time in a bit of a culture I don't know much about.  I don't mean that everyone there was Middle Eastern and no one spoke English, but that it took place in a Catholic Church, which I was able to ask questions about, and the food alone was great conversation. 

Hopefully, I'll be able to help this year, if invited back!

Coming up... Norah Jones features... find out who dropped you on Facebook... and later, the best hat in the whole world...

The 100 Coolest Things of 2010... #90 - 81

You'll want to click over to the mothership site, Clouds in My Coffee, because if you are reading this on Facebook, you'll miss all the videos and fun stuff...

A little at a time, we will get down the list... American Idol coverage always adds a hindrance, so to say, to getting the 100 Coolest list, but we get there when we get there, don't we?

To catch up:  The 100th to 91st Coolest Things of 2010

So, let's start with the 90th coolest thing of 2010...

90... Kris Allen Lives Before He Dies
"...Yeah we gotta start lookin' at the hands of the time we've been given if this is all we got then we gotta start thinkin' if every second counts on a clock thats tickin...
...gotta liiiiivvvveee like we're dying...
...we only got 86 four hundred seconds in a day to turn it all around or throw it all away we gotta tell 'em that we love 'em while we got the chance to say...
...gotta liiiiivvvveee like we're dying..."



What can I say?  This song, the first (and possibly only) single by American Idol winner Kris Allen, has grown on me.   I can't sing the words correctly--not that stops me from trying--and yes, quick math will tell you there are actually 86 four hundred seconds in a day.  So, we should liiiiivvvveee like we're dying.

89... Zoes Serves the Steak
There are several restaurants in our rotation of "where we eatin'?", including Chipotle, Baha Burger, Jason's Deli, The Purple Onion and even Dale's Southern Grill... but I had avoided Zoe's Kitchen like the plague.  The Lovely Steph Leann loves her some Zoe's, full of pita bread and pita chips and pasta salads and chicken salads and veggies and so on, all the stuff that didn't appeal to me in the slightest.

Enter Zoe's Steak Roll-Ups.  And suddenly, Zoe's wasn't a bad thing... it is a good thing.  They serve 4 small roll-ups on a plate, served with this special "yogurt" sauce (whatever that means) for dipping, and its delicious.  The Lovely Steph Leann is pleased too, because I'll routinely say "Hey, want Zoe's tonight?", and that means she won't have to eat tacos or Zaxbys'. 

(full disclosure... I texted The Lovely Steph Leann to ask what we were doing for dinner... she told me to pick... and I texted back "Zoe's?"  So that's where we went.  It was good.)

88.  Assassins Get Old
So, one of the most fun movies that I saw in all of last year starred Helen Mirren as a hitman... hitwoman... hitperson?  And it had John Malkovich as a crazy, paranoid former agent, Morgan Freeman as a terminally ill former assassin, Richard Dreyfuss as a smarmy bad guy, Karl Urban as the young, brash detective, and Bruce Willis as the centerpiece to keep it all together.



I loved this film.  It was funny, was a solid, if completely improbable, story, and it was cool to see all of these veteran (translation: old) actors of Hollywood come together in a self-deprecating, comedic fashion.  Mary Louise Parker is the token love interest for Bruce Willis, and you could do a lot worse than MLP as your chick, and watching Richard Dreyfuss play up the scuzzbutt is a treat.  Even Bryan Cox and Ernest Borgnine gets into the action! 

When this comes on Starz in probably August or so, and/or when it starts randomly appearing on channels like TNT and Spike by next year, this will be a fantastic background movie, something to just turn on and leave while you are goofing off around the house, not doing chores.

87... Donuts See Daylight

There's a Krispy Kreme across town that takes forever to get to, and forever to get through.  From The Cabana, you have to head to the other side of Hoover, sometimes taking 30 or 45 minutes through traffic, and when you finally come out of Krispy Kreme, there is a red light there that takes for-ev-er to turn.

If thats too much, there is also a local donut dive called Shipley's across the road and just down from Krispy Kreme, but again, getting there doesn't make it worth it.  Also far away, but in a slightly different direction is Dunkin Donuts.  Personally, I think Dunkin coffee sucks, but their donuts are really good.

But why in the world would I go to Krispy Kreme, Shipleys or Dunkin when I can leave The Cabana and literally go across the street, either driving (it would take 4 minutes in traffic) or even walk (it would take 10 minutes, maybe 15 on foot, and yes, I've done it) and visit Daylight Donuts... don't ask me why its so good, I can't tell you.  Maybe because its so easy to get to, maybe because for three bucks I can get a couple of donuts and a small drink, maybe because they have the best dadblamed donut holes I've ever ever never ever had.  They are fantastic.   Love me some Daylight.

86... Funerals Get Funny
When we had our big ordeal with DirecTV breaking up with us, leading us to start dating Dish Network, we got some free pay-per-view movies, six in all.  Truth be told, we got six, and we only ended up using two before they expired in November... the first was "Letters to Juliet" which, I can honestly tell you, isn't one of The 100 Coolest Things of 2010.  Amanda Seyfried being in it helped its standing considerably, but its nowhere near the countdown.



However, the other movie we used a PPV coupon for is in the Top 100 of 2010... "Death at a Funeral" is a stupid movie.  Let's be honest, its a ridiculous movie with a ridiculous plot and you know, sometimes, those are the best films.  The Lovely Steph Leann and I started it late, and maybe that helped us find more humor in it than was intended, but we laughed and laughed and laughed all the way through.

The plot revolves around the funeral of a patriarch of a large black family, with the two sons (Chris Rock and Martin Lawrence) trying to get the plans together.  Of course, chaos ensues when you toss in a hallucinogenic drug, a coffin that gets knocked over, old boyfriends and Peter Dinklage as a midget (reprising the role from the original British film) who has some very incriminating photos of the deceased, and wants to get paid.

The ensemble cast is fun, with Zoe Saldana, James Marsden, Tracy Morgan, Luke Wilson, Keith David and a crotchety old Danny Glover as a crotchety old uncle.  Its worth a view, don't expect a masterpiece, just enjoy the slapstick and the jokes.

85... Sandy Gets the Gold
Sometimes Oscars are given to those who deserve it, and sometimes not.  And sometimes they are given to actors and actresses for frilly movies full of fluffy costumes, English accents and Victorian locations.  Maybe they deserve it, maybe they don't... but every now and then, the Academy throws the current day and age a bone and gives a gold statue to someone we love, in a move we love. 

Perhaps Sandra Bullock's Oscar was more of a lifetime achievement award, but as you will see in my post about the films of Sandra Bullock, perhaps it was actually recognition for portraying a real-life character, portraying Lee Ann Touhy brilliantly in a movie, "The Blind Side", that appeals to just about everyone.  I am sure there are people who don't like this movie, but I don't know many--if any--of them.  This movie is so great on so, so many levels, and a huge part of that is Sandra Bullock's performance.



So when her name was read on Oscar night, when she won Best Actress for "The Blind Side", I was thrilled, almost as thrilled as when my dear sweet Kate won the Oscar the year before (which I do believe was a career recognition).  Sandy Bullock, Oscar winner.  I can dig that, I can dig that alot.

84... Harrison Ford Stays Cranky
Here are my thoughts on "Morning Glory", the 84th coolest thing of 2010, as written on December 19th, 2010...

"Morning Glory" tells the tale of Becky Fuller, played by Rachel McAdams... Becky is a ambitious news producer that, due to layoffs, is forced to take a job with a very low key, struggling network, and is hired to take over their terrible morning show. 

"Morning Glory" is fun and simple, it doesn't try to hard, and you genuinely like and root for Becky Fuller, and can even empathize with her when she and Mike do the inevitable sit down, where they have the "don't work so hard or you will end up like me" conversation.  The movie is practically out of theaters at this point, so catch it as a rental. 

You can read the full review by click on The Clouds In My Coffee Movie Review Page, or just going straight to the post here.

83... The Boss Goes Undercover
How can you not love this show?  You take a big boss or CEO of a major company--Spirit Airlines, Mack Trucks, Subway, Chiquita Brands, Great Wolf Hotels--you put a disguise of sorts on them and then they work with the "common folk".  At the hotels, he's cleaning rooms and toilets, at the airline, he's emptying out sewage and screwing up the safety speech, at Chiquita, he's wrecking a forklift... the CEO gets to see what happens on the front lines of the companies.

Every episode has each Undercover Boss take on three or four different positions in the company, and each position comes with a fellow worker who usually talks about how much they love their job, or how hard the economy has been on them, or how lay-offs and pay cuts have affected them and their families (many times with handicapped children or some other hardship), and each episode has the Undercover Boss revealing himself to be the CEO to the unsuspecting workers, telling them how awesome they are, and offering some sort of promotion, monetary gift, vacation, award and the like.

Sure, it has its faults.  I'm sure for every hard worker they find, that one guy who loves his job but barely makes ends meet, they find another slacker who does nothing but complain about his job and does just enough to get by.  Imagine being that guy, only to find out later that the new guy you told, "Dude, this job sucks, and I take every shortcut I can." is the guy who runs the entire company... and now knows your name and your displeasure with your job.  Bad times indeed.

Yes, Pedro Cerrano is also President Palmer,
who is also the Allstate guy.  All played by
Dennis Haysbert.

82... Mayhem Hits the Streets
Sometimes ads work, sometimes they don't.  Insurance commercials have especially picked up their game lately, as Geico had been the front runner for years--of course, that tends to happen when you have something like forty campaigns at once... the pile of money you could be saving... the guy who says, "Can Geico save you money?  Does (insert common phrase here that is acted out for sake of comedic value)"...  the Cavemen... the British speaking (Australian?) Geico Gekko...  I almost feel like that well dressed guy with the deep voice should come on and say, "Can Geico save you 15% on your car insurance?  Do we have too many ad campaigns at one time?" then smashcut to the Caveman, the Gekko and that pile of money with the creepy eyes all playing tennis or something.

Anyway, Flo from Progressive has come on strong this year too, and strangely enough, I kinda find her sorta attractive in a Jennif strange, odd sort of way.  

And though Allstate had Pedro Cerrano on its side... you might know him better as President Palmer from "24", but since I never got into that show, I'll stick to his Indians playing days with Jake Taylor and Wild Thing Ricky Vaughn... anyway, Allstate added a villain to their campaign.  Mayhem.



Mayhem is all the things that can go wrong that you might want insurance for.  Mayhem is portrayed as "the hot jogger" that you stare at while ramming into a tree... or the flag that tears from the car ahead of you, covers your windshield and sends you careening into a barrier... or the high school kid who isn't paying attention on his riding lawnmower and shoots rocks through your windows and all over your car... or the exec who spills the espresso in his lap, slams on breaks, has you run into him and then sues you (this one is especially wicked, as it takes a shot at Geico... "is your 15 minutes going to be enough to cover the 90,000 dollars when I sue you?")
I love a good commercial.

81... Denzel Stops a Train
Sometimes a movie doesn't have to be great to be great.  Sometimes it doesn't even have to be good to be... well, good.  "The Kings Speech" was great.  "Unstoppable" was great, for entirely different reasons.   The former is supposed to be great, supposed to be monumental, supposed to be amazing.  The latter?  It is just supposed to entertain. 

Starring Denzel and Chris Pine, "Unstoppable" has a simple premise... they work on a train line.  They are doing a routine train transfer in rural, blue collar Pittsburgh.  On down the line is another train, full of toxic materials, running out of control.   That's pretty much it.

Here's how I summed up my feelings towards this movie:

Just so happens... I loved the heck out of this movie. You know, sometimes you just want to be entertained, you don't want to think too much, you don't want to be taught anything or preached to or leave the theater dwelling on the film's message and so on... with "Unstoppable", none of that happens. Its not a dumb movie, it just doesn't pretend to be anything that its not... its simply an action film with two likable leads on one train, trying to stop another train from going really, really fast.  -- read original post here.

Coming Soon... Cam has quite a year... B.A. Returns...  Lady A serves up some Honey... and later... engagements all around! 

The 80th through 71st Coolest Things of 2010

The 100 Coolest Things of 2010... #100 - 91

If you are reading this on Facebook, you may want to just click over to Clouds In My Coffee, since this post has a ton of videos and photos you might not see on FB...

It took a while to get going, but I knew I'd get there eventually... this blog started in 2005, and at the end of the year, I did The 100 Coolest Things of 2005, all in one single post.  Right after 2006 ended, I broke up the list into ten installments, then the next year, did 2007's list, onto 2008's list, then 2009's list, and now here we are, the sixth time I've looked upon the previous year and gave you what I believe to be my favorite things of 2010.

What means "cool", asks you?  Just simply, its cool.  Its fun.  Be it a song, a movie, a TV show... something I really liked.  Maybe its a place to eat, one that I visited over and over during the year.  And sometimes its a person or a couple or a group... someone who had an impact, someone that I just adore or cherish or love dearly.  And its things that I discovered in 2010... thusly, as much as we love Steven and Calah Ray, they won't make this list, because they were in the Top Ten Coolest Things of 2009... and though they continue to be cool, they make way for new things, people and stuff.  There is even a few books and movies that came out prior to 2010, but I discovered them (or in one case, "re"discovered them) and thusly, here they are.

Well, let's get going, shall we?   Without further ado, here are the 100 Coolest Things of 2010

100... Alabama Wins the National Title
Okay, okay... yes I rib the Tide Nation, because yes, they've won multiple titles, and whether they can legitimately claim 13 national titles (which I think is a stretch) or they actually won their 7th or 8th title (more likely, methinks), the fact remains, that in this modern day and age, winning a national title in college football is a huge, huge thing. 



And they did it by beating none other than the college powerhouse known as The University of Texas by a closer-than-the-score-indicates score of 37-21.  Their star QB, Colt McCoy, went down early... but I think they would have prevailed anyway.  Because the difference in a team like Texas, and Alabama, at least in the 2009 season, is that Texas has a star player--McCoy.  Alabama had Ingram... and Jones... and McElroy... and a host of others that, even in the loss of one, would keep the team going.   And lest we forget, the game was really, really good. 

99... Queen Latifah Gets Her Man
I'll be honest... like The Lovely Steph Leann, I like the movies I like.  That means simply, sometimes a stupid movie is something I find hilarious (see "Employee of the Month" or "Deuce Bigalo: Male Gigolo") and supposedly incredible films are snooze-inducing or terrible (see "The English Patient"... or better yet, don't).  And sometimes a lame movie is where I find the most enjoyment.

And that brings us to "Just Wright", starring Queen Latifah and rapper Common.  This was ridiculed in the press, its got a less than 50% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and let's face it, the movie was badly acted and poorly written.  And yet, I found myself enjoying the heck out of it. 

Here's part of what I wrote on June 10th, 2010:

Anyway, the final reason I liked this film is simply... its clean. Very, very little language (a few "damns" and I think one "bull****"), no violence at all, other than aggressive play on the basketball court, and as far as sexual situations, there's one single scene where you know Leslie and Scott did the deed, but its the next morning and they are lying in bed looking at each other, completely covered by sheets. I can deem this movie completely Emmy Turnbow Safe. Its a good first date movie.

By no means spend $20 on this film, unless you are in fact on a date. At best, catch a matinee, wait for the $1 theater, or get the DVD or watch it online this summer when it will probably come out. For now, The Lovely Steph Leann will be stocking up on Common CDs.

98... The Miz Claims the Title
Hey, I'm a wrasslin' fan, and I admit it.  I ain't scurred. 

And one of my favorites is The Miz.  If you can believe it, his real name is Michael Mizanin, and he was a cast member of MTV's The Real World: New York in 2001, and then the subsequent Real World/Road Rules Challenge. 

What's also interesting is watching the evolution of The Miz in the WWE... he started more of a joke, and looking like it was possible he'd never be more than a jobber or a C-lister.  But over the last year, in large part due to a huge push, but also due to his committment and ability, The Miz has hit the big time, and is one of the headliners now. 

And this year, he won the WWE Championship by cashing in his Money in the Bank Briefcase, beating a worn down and exhausted Randy Orton, right after Randy Orton has successfully defended the title against Wade Barrett of The Nexus, and after he won, he yelled out of one of my favorite catchphrases...

"I'M THE MIZ.... AAANNNDDD IIIIII'M AWESOOOOOMMMEEEE!!!!""

Hey, I'm a wrasslin' fan, and I admit it.  I ain't scurred.

97... Lotso Huggin' Bear Comes Home
The Lovely Steph Leann went out of town on business, which took her to the coast and ended up with her at a Disney Store.  And she came back with a random surprise.

How awesome is this?

96...  SMU Pays Their Players
To celebrate 30 years, ESPN has been showcasing what they call "30 for 30"... that would be 30 documentaries, each made by a different noted director, each with their own creative control, and each telling a sports story that sometimes is famous--and sometimes is not. 

To me, the "30 for 30" has been amazing over the last year, be it the controversial games from The U of Miami in the 80s or the "where were you when" aura of OJ's White Bronco... but in my mind, the best was saved for last.  "Pony Exce$$" tells the fabled story of Southern Methodist University Mustangs football which, back in the early 80s, was a national powerhouse, including posting a 45-5-1 record from 1980 to 84.

Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson and Craig James joined Charles Waggoner to form "The Pony Express", leading SMU to a share of the national title in 1981.  All was not on the up-n-up, however, in Mustang land, as it was revealed in 1986 that for a few years previous, players were being paid from an under the table slush fund, allegations that were put on SMU after they were already on probation.



The NCAA had the power to use "the death penalty", which means barring a school from fielding a football team for a determined amount of time.  They had never used it... until they used it on Southern Methodist.  It devastated the school and the community, and SMU essentially never recovered.  In fact, it took over 20 years for the school to reach a bowl game again--a win over Nevada in The Hawai'i Bowl--and it only had a single winning season in that span up until their bowl season.

Another fallout from the decision is the thought that the NCAA will likely never use "the death penalty" again on a school because of the catastrophic effects of the decision.

All of this can be learned in "Pony Exce$$", a fascinating documentary completely worth the two hours it takes to watch it.  Look it up, DVR it, and enjoy the step back into college football history.

95... Big Al Makes An Appearance
So The Lovely Steph Leann and I are at The Magic Kingdom late last year, and are enjoying the Magic Hours, that is, late night in the park.  We are walking past Liberty Square into Frontierland, and headed to Pirates over in Adventureland, so we take that little cut through to get back there, and also to use the restroom.

We go in our respective bathrooms, and being a boy, I naturally finish first--amazing how much time can be saved by standing.  Anyway, I got out first, and who did I immediately spot standing by a tree?   Big Al.

No, Roll Tiders, not that elephant from Tuscaloosa.  Its actually none other than my favorite Country Bear from the Jamboree of the same name.  And in all the trips I've ever been to Disney World, I've never, ever seen Big Al.  And in all the trips The Lovely Steph Leann has been to Disney World, which is about a half-dozen more than me, she has never seen Big Al. 

I race over and say, "Hey Big Al!"  He turns around, waves and gives me a hug.  I text The Lovely Steph Leann and say "GET OUT HERE".  I try and stall, and ask the friendly Cast Member if she will take my picture with Big Al.  Of course she agrees, so I get my picture taken.  Finally, I spot The Lovely Steph Leann emerging from The Lovely Ladies Room, and she's looking around for me.  I call out, "The Lovely Steph Leann!  Over here!"  She turns and sees me, does a "there you are" wave with her hands, and starts ambling over. 

"Hurry!" I yell at her, and she looks confused... and then she sees Big Al.  Her face brightens, she says, "Oh!  It's Big Al!"  She races over, and we both get our picture with Big Al.  He waves, we smile, the camera snaps and Big Al is on his way. 

And it left me with a memory that was one of the coolest things of the year.

94... Hurricane Rhett Falls in Love
I gotta be careful where I tread... "The Other Guys" is a funny movie.  It's not in my Top Ten of the Year, nor is it the funniest movie I saw in 2010.  Its not nearly the best movie I saw, nor is it a movie that I own.  But according to Hurricane Rhett, it doesn't get much funnier than Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg teaming up as mismatched cops (I know, new concept, right?!) trying to catch some bad guys.

Really, the plot is not all that important... what is important is that this movie has a literally a murder's row of people I love to see in a movie... The Rock, who I have a man crush on... Samuel L. Jackson... Michael Keaton... Rob Riggle... and an incredibly priceless cameo by Derek Jeter.

This was also the film that helped me figure out what it is about Will Ferrell that everyone enjoys... he makes everyone better.  He makes everyone funnier than he is.  I think back to "Anchorman", and though Ron Burghandy is funny, Brick Tamblin, Champ Kind and Brian Fantana are funnier, feeding off of Ferrell.  In "Old School", Frank the Tank is funny, but Bernard and the Frat guys are funnier.  And taking "Talladega Nights", yes, Ricky Bobby is great.  But Reese Bobby is better, Jean Girard is snarkier and Cal Naughton?  Cal is priceless.  Oh, and Assistant Susan is smokin' hot.  Just sayin.

And in "The Other Guys", Det. Allan Gamble is funny.  But feeding off of Ferrell, Det. Hoitz (Wahlberg) is funnier, as are Danson and Highsmith and Rob Riggle's Det. Martin is absolutely hysterical, as is Damon Wayans Jr's Det. Fosse...

What was my point again?  Well, whatever.  Anyway, The Lovely Steph Leann and I saw this movie with Hurrican Rhett and his wife Amarylis By Morning (up from san antone), and THAT is the best way to see a movie... with friends that like and laugh at the same kind of movie you do.  We probably would have enjoyed it well enough, but perhaps not as much as we did with the Barnetts in tow. 

So the 94th coolest thing of 2010 is not "The Other Guys", its watching "The Other Guys" with good friends.

93... Jamie Makes a Post
"Happy Harper Stories" is a blog that I check out about once a week or so, written by a young lady who goes to Valleydale Baptist Church (an sbc fellowship, natch), and its a fun little blog about the Christ-Following life, a Christian family and so on.   But one day, she decided to write a little blog called "Biblical Submission and Worship in the Bedroom", and it was excellent. 

I've shared this on the blog already, and linked to her blog while I posted by own on a very similar subject, which you can read it--"Sex Love God and Gifts"--by clicking here and can also read the first paragraph of her post. 

Just wanted to mention it again before it gets lost in her blog and in mine, like so many excellent posts do in blogs that are updated a few times a week. 

92... Amy Adams (whom I'm in love with) Goes to Ireland
To clear up a misconception, just because a movie has Amy Adams, whom I'm in love with, in it does not make it a good movie.  Sometimes she can be in crap, just like anyone else.  I watched a movie called "The Last Run" starring Fred Savage, aka Kevin Arnold, and though it said "Amy Adams, whom I'm in love with" as one of the main credits, she was only featured minimally.  And, not that this has anything to do with her screen time or lack thereof, the movie was one of the worst films I've ever seen in my entire life.  I mean, bad.  Like, bad bad.  Not so bad its good, but so bad its bad bad.

To be real honest, "Psycho Beach Party" and "Cruel Intentions 2" weren't much better, and perhaps it was "Junebug" that gave her the chance to make better movie choices... either way, like any Hollywood star, even amongst tons of success, there are those "paycheck movies" (see, Cage, Nicolas, post-Leaving Las Vegas), and the movie at #92, "Leap Year", is probably in that catagory for Amy Adams, whom I'm in love with.

"Leap Year" simply tells the story of Anna Brady, a socialite who is itching to be hitching to her boyfriend Jeremy... when he has a "surprise for her", and it turns out to be something like earrings and not a ring-ring, Anna is sad.  When Jeremy goes to Ireland, Anna decides that she is going to find him, partaking of an old Irish tradition that states on a Leap Year day, February 29th, a woman may propose to a man.

But on her way to Dublin, she gets derailed in the Irish countryside by bad weather, she meets a guy she can't stand that agrees to take her to Dublin and... well, let's be honest, we aren't watching "Schindler's List" here, we all know where this is going... okay, to be fair, we knew where "Schindler's List" was going to, but thats not my point.  My point is, this isn't a movie you over-analyze.  I could tell you that Anna ends up dumping Jeremy for the Irish guy at the end, and I would not be spoiling this film for you, because you know this the moment the new guy takes the stage.

I must say, though, another star of this film besides Amy Adams, whom I'm in love with, and Matthew Goode is probably none other than the Irish Countryside.  The views are spectacular, the scenery is marvelous and the cameras always make sure you see a field blowing in the wind, or the cliffs with the water crashing against them, or so on and so forth.

Its a fun movie that you don't have to think about... you just let yourself have a good time with it, and if you are like me, just stare at Amy Adams when she's onscreen.  Cause she's beautiful.  And I'm in love with her.  

91... RDJ Wears the Suit (again)
There have been been few turnarounds in Hollywood that have been as huge, as monumental and as successful at the career of Robert Downey Junior.  He's gone from prison, drug use and a life spiraling into an overdose that was directing him onto a list with Heath Ledger or Brittany Murphy in the gone-too-soon department... into one amazing actor who is finally making some good choices.  Okay, okay, "The Soloist" notwithstanding... there's "Sherlock Holmes", there's "Due Date", there's "Tropic Thunder"... and of course, there's Iron Man.

And in 2010, there was Iron Man 2.  And I thought it was just splendid, if I do say so myself.   Here's what I wrote about it in June after seeing it:

...I was thrilled. The opening sequence, the introduction to The Stark Expo, Whiplash [Mickey Rourke] shows up and lashing his whips, bad accent and hair and all, Sam Rockwell being awesome like he always is, Iron Man fighting, and don't think I didn't notice the similarities between Stark's dad's plans for a futuristic community and Disney's old Epcot plan... in fact, there's a song over the ending credits called "Tomorrow Today", and it was written by the famed Sherman Brothers, the same guys who wrote "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" for the Carousel of Progress at Walt Disney World, amongest other great Disney classics.


Speaking of the ending credits, stay til the very end. Its worth it.

And there is our first ten...

Coming up... Bosses go undercover... Helen Mirren gets violent... and later, my night eating Lebenese...

Next:  The 90th to 81st Coolest Things of 2010

The Top Five Coolest Things of 2009

Here we are!  Finally!

Okay, okay, I know its mid-May.  I know I'm just now finishing up a recap of a year that finished almost five full months ago.  I've been busy, sue me.

Seriously, I hate that its taken this long to finish this list--my true objective is to have the entire 100 list finished by the end of that following January, and only once have I actually accomplished it.  But, as LOST would say, "What happened, happened."

Let's recap this year's list first...

#100 thru 91... Pixar's wish... "Fireflies"... a real high school musical... "The Hammer"... Steak Tartare... "Gran Torino"... "Empire State of Mind"... Tracy Jones... "Blue Harvest"... Slapchop Rap

#90 thru 81... Dairy Queen Real Deals... Stuff you missed in history class... Toy Story double feature... Alissa & Joey... Smiley Face... Joe Wilson... Paepcke gets told... "Men of a Certain Age"... "Paul Blart: Mall Cop"... The Amazing Race
#80 thru 71... Kate Winslet gets an Oscar... Pickles!... Jon Thompson... Hank Azaria's Pharoah... The Muppets and Queen... "Hey"... "High School Musical"... "Hoedown Throwdown"... "30 for 30"... Shankapotomus
#70 thru 61... Pastor Calvin... "My Life in Ruins"... Chipotle... "Tropic Thunder"... "Breakthrough"... ESPN College Football... Christian Brothers Auto... "Native Tongue"... "I Love You Man"... Kris Allen's "Heartless"
#60 thru 51... Ellijay Thanksgiving... "The Proposal"... "Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince" Mindy DA & KT Baby... Swamp Lunch... Baha Burger... "State of Play"... "Fearless"... "Julie and Julia"... Lenning on Idol... The DFC X
#50 thru 41... "Right Round"... "Mother Lover"... "The Rise & Fall of the WCW"... Lunch With... "The Princess & the Frog"... JT Wins Survivor... "Party in the USA" (oh shut up)... "The Blind Side"... Walt Disney World July... New kicks
#40 thru 31... "Sweet Thing"... "Taken"... "John Adams"... "Fallin' for You"... Debating Brad Latta... That great picture... "Star Trek"... Pardon the Interruption... "Avatar"... Ruminations
#30 thru 21...  Tyler's wake up... "The Hangover"... "The Hurt Locker"... Rebecca Jourdan Samuelson... "My Life Would Suck Without U"... Dave and Amanda Tuck... Disney with Family... Justin Fisher... "It"... Go Gators...
#20 thru 11... Where We Eatin'?... "Sunshine Cleaning"... Adam Carolla... "Relator"... "The Book of Basketball"... "Rather Unimpressive Illegitimate Children"... MZ Gets a Starbucks... Inside the Magic... Disney With The Lovely Steph Leann... Bad Movies with Mikey
#10 thru 5...  "B.O.B."... "Up"... Class reunion... The Rays... Disney with the Rays...

Alrighty, now that we are all caught up, let's get on with the five coolest things of all of 2009...

The Fifth Coolest Thing of 2009... "You Belong With Me" by Taylor Swift
What can I say.... I dig this song.  Its off her latest CD, "Fearless", the 54th coolest thing of 2009, and its everything you want in a teenage country pop song... teen angst, puppy love, jealousy, a "cheer captain, I'm on the bleachers" rivalry...

But what does it for me?  The video.  My favorite video of the entire year matches the favorite song of the entire year... call me a wuss (Wookiee likes to), call me a softie, I'm a sucker for a well played love story, which is why "Notting Hill" is in my top 20 movies all time, and its why this video makes me happy...



My favorite part?  From memory... "Oh I remember you driving to my house in the middle of the night, I'm the one who makes you laugh when you know you're about to cry, I know your favorite songs and you tell me about your dreams, I think I know where you belong. I think I know it's with me..."

Thank you.  Here all week.

The Fourth Coolest Thing of 2009... "Up in the Air"
Sometimes you just know that you're going to enjoy a movie.  That's how it was with "Up in the Air"... I almost couldn't fathom not liking this movie... but the end of the year was approaching quickly, and since I knew this film would find its way on the 100 Coolest of 2009 list (wasn't sure how high... here we are), I had to see it before the year was out.

Smashcut to New Year's Eve, 10pm, The Lovely Steph Leann and I sitting in the Lee Branch movie theater with NBC's Andrea Lindenberg.  Finally wrote my review of the film, and our experience with Andrea, in a post titled "So, Vera Farmiga" on February 20th... said this:

I loved this film, every single minute of it, and though its rare for me to feel this way, I would have been happy with a few more minutes.

It tells the story of Ryan Bingham, played by also-nominated George Clooney, who's job is to travel all over the country and be the mediator when a company wants to lay people off. Natalie (Anna Kendrick) is a new recruit who's developed a system of eliminating the travel--firing via satellite. Bingham convinces their boss (a great Jason Bateman) that Natalie needs to learn how its really done, so she's sent with him across the country to teach her how to do it face-to-face.


Along the way, Ryan keeps running into Alex (Vermiga), who is another frequent flier, and they develop a relationship in hotel rooms and where ever they can find a place... but of course, there might be real feelings there after a while. Jason Reitman, director of "Juno", wrote and directed this flick.

[The movie] does have language, and one scene where you see a nude woman's back, but that's it... and yeah, I loved it. I am eager to see it again when it hopefully comes to the Ghetto Theater here in town. Not only did it have airplanes and airports, which I strangely am fascinated with, it had George Clooney, who like Brad Pitt, I contend if given the right material is a phenomenal actor, it had the cutie-patootie Anna Kendrick, who was the only thing that kept me alive during the movie "Twilight", it had great writing, it had likable, if not sympathetic characters, it featured appearances from the cool voiced Sam Elliott, the comedic Danny McBride, the always awesome JK Simmons, "The Hangover"'s Zach Galifianakis and the I-am-strangely-enthralled-with Melanie Lynskey, and... it had Vera Farmiga.

Just a note... I still have my own list of The Dave100, my choices for my favorite 100 movies of all time.  One of my rules has always been that a movie cannot make this list unless it is at least three years old--I think its silly to declare a favorite "anything" when it comes to movies or music because of something that is so fresh and new.  Having said that, a short list of movies that I think might be on the 2015 edition of The Dave100 include "Up", "Iron Man", "Sunshine Cleaning", "The Dark Knight" and yes, "Up in the Air".

The Third Coolest Thing of 2009... Toy Story Mania
On June 23rd, I did Part I of "Top Ten Disney Must-Dos", and a day later, I did Part II... and not to spoil it for you, but the top spot?  The top Disney Must-Do?  A little ride in Hollywood Studios called Toy Story Mania".  Here's what I wrote about it...

You will have more fun on this ride than possibly any other ride in the park. The Rockin' Roller Coaster is faster. The Tower of Terror will kick you in the stomach harder. Small World is more classic. Everest is bigger. But Toy Story Midway Mania appeals to anyone who's ever had fun throwing rings or tossing balls or trying to win at skee ball or trying to get those stupid little red tickets in an arcade... because "arcade" barely covers it.

You get in your little car, behind a goofy gun with a pull string. You put on the 3-D glasses, and then are whirled around to a screen where Jessie & Woody greet you, asking you to practice. You pull the string and... a little paintball appears on the screen, splattering a plate Woody is holding with red paint.

You are whisked away to five areas, breaking plates, popping balloons, tossing rings and more... your score is kept via your little digital readout, and the entire time, you are eager to beat the person next to you, and laughing all the way. Its awesome. The Lovely Steph Leann and I did it five times last February, and though we could only do it once, this is a ride that is on a short list of "we have to ride this every time we go. Every. Time." kind of attractions

The Second Coolest Thing of 2009... My New iPod
Here's what I wrote on the 30th of December in a post called "Its 3am, I Must Be Lonely"...

The Lovely Steph Leann did well this year.... she usually does, but this year especially. I got some great stuff, like some books, my "Mountain Soul II" CD by Patty Loveless that I was hoping for, a cute little Mickey Mouse tie, Super Mario for the Wii, and in my stocking, I pulled out some candy (Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are the best, aren't they?), some weird little "put them in water and they grow!" animals that The Lovely Steph Leann got a big kick out of and at the bottom... an iPod Touch.

I held it, I looked at her, looked back at it, then looked back at her smiling face. "You... you got me... got me... an iPod Touch?" I stuttered. Very little leaves me stammering, but this did the trick. She smiled, and told me that she won it at work in some sort of contest... she was quick to point out that, "Had I not won this, you wouldn't have gotten it. Just so you know."

I had kinda been wanting an iPhone, but my issue with that was the phone bill per month would be higher... not necessarily the actual phone plan, but the cost of all the bells and whistles that went with it. An iPod Touch is basically the same thing, just without that pesky phone part. I can connect to the interweb, download applications, load contact info and so on... in fact, I'm not even sure what I'm capable of with it. Tomorrow, I'm going to try to launch a cupcake business and tap into the space shuttle interface.

Its been a learning curve, using both iPods on the same iTunes... yeah, yeah, I know, poor me, pity me and so on. I'm just telling you how it is. The Touch is great, though... the screen is really wide, so I've enjoyed watching music videos and TV shows on it... on a weekend trip to Tullahoma, TN, last weekend, I managed to take in Family Guy's "Blue Harvest" and the first episode of "Mad Men", a show I have a feeling I'm about to plunge headfirst into.

(I plunged headfirst into "Blue Harvest", and it ended up being the 92nd coolest thing of 2009... and I've dug into half of the first season of "Mad Men", and its awesome)

The Coolest Thing of 2009... Disney World with the Guys
So, at some point in late July, I had just gotten back from a quick three day venture to The Happiest Place on Earth with Rev'rn Ty, Amy Mc and Tommy Mc. I was sitting with Tyler, The Lovely Steph Leann's younger brother and by law, my brother-in-law, and we were discussing said trip to Orlando, and he mentioned something about Fall Break at The University of Alabama.

Trey, enjoying an apple the first morning.  We had arrived about three hours prior to this, we were all dead tired, and when Trey stands up here, he trips backwards over his chair.

I, out of the blue, half joking, kinda serious, said, "You want to go to Disney on Fall Break?" He stared at me, and said, "Are you serious?" I replied, "Sure. I mean, I'll have to ask The Lovely Steph Leann what she thinks about it, but yeah, why not. Bring the roomdudes."

Tyler texted his roommates (Trey's response?  "Balls yes"), and within a few days, it all came together. On Wednesday, we would leave out around 8 or 830pm, drive all night, arrive at All Star Movies (where five of us would stay in a four person room) and hit the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom for three full days, and some on Sunday before heading back.

Tyler and Jonathan trying on new hats in Tomorrowland

I had two conditions... 1) I didn't drive a vehicle that is parked at The Cabana. This is not to say I wouldn't drive at all, but Toni Rocki Honda wasn't built for five--its barely built for three--and I knew darn tootin' well that The Lovely Steph Leann was not about to let me take her car to Orlando. 2) I got a bed. I figured I'd sleep next to one of the guys, and I did, but I wasn't doing the floor. I'm too old to do such things. Other than that, let the magic reign.  (from October 15th, 2009)

And the magic did reign.  This was just about the perfect trip.  Five guys who get along well, one of them (me), knowing exactly how to attack Walt Disney World for maximum fun, how to work the crowds and when to (and when not to) ride rides, see shows and eat at certain places.  It was as if all the other trips I had been on up until this time was God preparing me for this very trip... and I was ready.

Jon and Jonathan on the teacups in Fantasyland.  Trey sat out because he just can't handle the spin.

In early October, it was myself, Tyler Campbell, who had been a couple of times in years past, Trey Cartledge, who had also been some years ago, Jonathan Lenning (who was the focus of the 52nd coolest thing of 2009), who had also been way back, and Jon Thompson (the 78th coolest thing of 2009), who had never, ever been.

We ate a Biergarten in Germany, we ate at The T-Rex cafe, one guy was the focal point of what I like to call The Smoky Bus Affair, we saw Fantasmic, we saw Finding Nemo: The Musical, we enjoyed funnel cake while watching Wishes, we rode everything from Soarin' to Peter Pan's Flight, we napped on the train, we enjoyed Dole Whip in Adventureland, we saw one of the guys on the Idol Experience stage, the four guys got to participate in the Backlot Movie Tour, we searched for Hidden Mickeys, we met Princesses,

Jonathan, myself, Trey and Jon, buckling up for a flight across California, via Soarin'

The Lovely Steph Leann had a hard time with this trip being number one.  She wondered why our anniversary trip didn't make the top spot, and my main reason?  She got sick.  Talked about that when it our trip was declared the 12th Coolest Thing of 2009 earlier.  And it almost ended up number two, as getting that iPod Touch was a strong contender for the top spot... and had this list been completed in January, it might have been a Disney with the Guys at #2, iPod Touch #1 finish, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this was just about the perfect trip.  The weather was perfect, the cost was minimal, the food was awesome, the company was fantastic--seriously, I cannot say enough about how amazing, Spirit filled and "good clean fun" natured these guys are--and The Most Magical Place on the Earth was ours for the four days we were there.

Thanks guys for making this trip the absolute coolest thing of 2009.