Twas a Sunday

So, while I sit here watching Holmes on Homes... well, let's be clear, I'm not watching it, I'd rather be watching "Hoarders", but its on, The Lovely Steph Leann has the remote and even though she doesn't want to turn it, she keeps dozing off.  Somehow, her condition now encompasses control of what we watch... like, we watched the last half of a Twilight movie, and the first half of the next one the other night.  I threw up in my mouth a few times, especially when Jacob took his shirt off... which was about 98% of the parts that I saw.

I would be totally afraid of Holmes coming to The Cabana.  Yes, its a home only about three years old, but still...

Update!  She just gave me the remote!  I turned it to "Hoarders".  Its the episode that we almost watched a week ago, but she made me turn it because the family in question has mice in their home.  We'll see if she puts up with this one.

When I want to make myself feel better about our living conditions, I watch "Hoarders".  We tend to keep stuff longer than we should.  But our home, like most others, is just cluttered.  Not packed and disgusting.  So I take solace.

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I got to see "Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part 2" again today.  The Lovely Steph Leann had not seen it, nor had other members of the family like Bro-in-Law Randy and Niece Maddie.  And yes, I wanted to see it again... and so did Melanie and her two young ones that saw it on Friday... her man Chris had not seen the movie and depending on who you ask, either he wanted to see it, or she wanted him to see it, but either way, The Z Five were there with us, watching Harry and his final appearance.  And we all loved it, some of us again.

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You might be thinking "He sure does talk about this Melanie chick alot", and yeah, its kinda true. What can I say?  Our family--that being The Lovely Steph Leann, myself and now Fiddy--and theirs have become close over the last year or two, with the Z Family being some of the most unselfish and generous people I've met in a long, long time.  Quite simply, they are good to us, and very helpful in so many ways.  I know The Lovely Steph Leann adores all three kids, Melanie and Chris.

As for me, I think Chris is a cool dude.  And I see Melanie an awful lot, most of that at work, but many times at family outings and such.  (seriously, we aren't stupid--its not like me and Melanie slumber parties at our respective homes or anything... its called boundaries, so stop your worrying) 

That being said, let me brag on Melanie for a second...  Well, she's awesome.  She's gorgeous and she's funny and she's a great mom and she's cool and she's hot and she's all those things... plus, she's one of my very best friends.  So yes, I do bring her up frequently on the blog site here, mostly because she's involved in half of my stories I have to tell. 

And if I ever get around to finishing my Coolest Things of 2010, I have she and her family ranked rather high, because they were a big part of last year, just like this one.  Its like, The Year of Melanie or something.

So there.

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"How Do You Know" (2010)
Reese Witherspoon stars as Lisa, a member of an Olympic softball team who didn't make the latest cut, and is now trying to figure out "what's next"... she's dating Matty, a Washington Nationals pitcher who is a cad and a pimp daddy and a jerk and selfish and all that, played in earnest by Owen Wilson.   Enter Paul Rudd, who's character of George stumbles into Lisa's path and her life altogether. 

While Matty is doing his player thing, Lisa's life is miserable, and George has his own set of problems due to the fact he's the center of a criminal investigation at his father's company where he serves as an exec.   The father is none other than Jack Nicholson, who is giving a typical "I'm Jack, I've made a dozen classic films and this one isn't important so I'm mailing it in..." kind of performance.

Now, this movie is not nearly as bad as you might think.  Made for $120 million, though I cannot for the life of me figure out why this movie cost 120 million (I did see that the salaries for the stars took up about $55 million alone), it only made back around $35 million or so, making it a colossal bomb at the box office.

However comma I thought the movie was kinda funny.  A little overlong, but still kinda enjoyable.  It completely relies on the charm of Owen, Paul and Reese, and though their chemistry might not be as great as you'd like, its the story itself that is lacking.  You end up wanting a little more from all of it, but overall, I was glad I saw it... I guess I was prepared to hate it, and I just couldn't do it.

Wait for it on cable, or spend a buck at the Redbox or something. 

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So, on this episode of "Hoarders", we are still watching the episode with the mice problem.  Its so bad, we just learned a new term for a disease that comes as a result of unattended rat droppings in the house.  The bug guy on tv said, "She thinks she's got four or five mice.  She has hundreds, maybe into the thousands." 

Not good times.  Bad times indeed.

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And that's my Sunday night.  Thanks for reading. =)

The Summer of Blogging Day Thirty Nine

Ranking Harry Potter

Tomorrow, at 1130am, I will be sitting in a Rave Motion Picture Theater awaiting the beginning of the commercials that will proceed the trailers that will proceed the movie "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2".  Its the end.  The last Harry Potter movie.  And much like the completion of the last book, which for me occurred about 18 hours after the 2007 summer midnight release, it will be a bittersweet occasion.



Both my darling wife and one of my best friends are Potter Fanatics, so
I really have no choice but to be the same. 

 I actually am seeing it twice this weekend... the original plan was to possibly see it at midnight--but because of The Lovely Steph Leann has a real job, she can't do it.  So, we are going to see it on Sunday afternoon.  However, my dear friend Melanie invited me to come with her, Special K and The Zack Attack to see it Friday morning... after about, oh 3 seconds of deliberation, I said "YES".  I could have gone at midnight or tomorrow alone, but this one is a film you want to see with people, with fellow Harry Potter enthusiasts. 

Its the end of the era.  I was working at Carmike Cinemas at the Summit when the first movie came out, back in 2001.  I had not read the books at the time, and didn't start reading them until 2003, when the fifth novel, Order of the Phoenix had come out.  I devoured all five books released at that time in a matter of a few weeks, and have seen every movie released on opening weekend.

I even attended a Potter Party Release for the last two books, getting them both at midnight at Barnes & Noble.   Yep, I'm a Potterphile.  I said it.

The movies themselves have been hit or miss... none of them are bad, and in fact, several are great adaptations--the problem is, the books continued to get longer and longer, and that forced screenwriter Steve Kloves, who wrote all eight screen adaptations, to cut more and more out of the movie to keep them from being 7 hours long each--though to be honest, I probably would have sat through 7 hours to see Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix and especially The Half-Blood Prince to be done... well, for lack of a better word, better.

From first to last, this is how I rank the books:

1) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Book 5)... The creation of Dumbledore's Army is awesome, plus the intense Ministry of Magic battle makes for a great final 100 pages

2) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Book 4)... The linchpin in the book series.  This is where it goes from kid books to dark books.

3) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Book 2)... Perhaps the most underrated of the books, I really enjoy this one... the exposition is done, and its a quick read

4) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7)... I do miss time at Hogwarts, but the final battle is exhilarating and yet heartbreaking at the same time.  I do have issue with the fact that once its over, we don't see The Weasley's talking to Harry... it just kind of... well, ends.

5) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Book 1)... Its where it all begins, the introduction of characters, the opening of the world that JK Rowling created.

6) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Book 3)... The introduction of Sirius, but my main issue with this one is the fact that the whole bad turn at the end could have been avoided by either Lupin or Sirius saying, "Hey Harry, listen, this is what's going on..."

7) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6)... The Lovely Steph Leann loves this book, perhaps more than any other, though I didn't like Harry being stupid at the beginning, plus all the back story part.  The Harry Kisses Ginny part really makes it worthy, though.

That's the books... as for the movies, here's how I rank the movies, from last to first.  Now, understand, like the books, just because its last doesn't mean I don't like it... its like ranking Pixar films... well, now that "Cars 2" is out, that might be a bad analogy...

...okay, its like ranking Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream.  Cherry Garcia is my definite favorite, but if you offered me some Chunky Monkey or Phish Food, I'd take it and love it.  So just because its 7th, that doesn't mean I don't enjoy it...

7) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)... there are a number of problems I have with this film, as spelled out in my letter to Steve Kloves.  The main issue, though, is the Harry/Ginny debacle--and the fact that that scene in the book is one of my two or three favorite scenes in all seven books, the way it was done can truly be described as a "debacle".   I also didn't like the Snape "I am the half blood prince" revelation towards the end... seriously?  He doesn't mention even being slightly suspicious of Harry's work the whole book and then he says it? 

Not my favorite of the movies, but it is
one of my favorite posters

6)  Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)... This one would be more classified as a "Harry Potter Guilty Pleasure" film if anything.  Its remarkable how young the kids are, and the acting is a bit silly.  This is the last one Chris Columbus directed, and I'm cool with that.  Enjoyable, though, as Kenneth Branaugh's Gilderoy Lockhart is hilarious.  Also the first appearance of Dobby and Jason Isaac's brilliant Lucius Malfoy turn.

5)  Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)... Everyone raves about Alfonso Cuaron's direction, and perhaps that's just because its different than the kiddie style that Chris Columbus took... it is better, I'll admit, but all the changes to the story are a little maddening.  David Thewlis is perfect as Professor Lupin, however, and is one of my favorite of the movie characters.  I still am bothered by the fact that at the end, when Ron, Hermione, Harry, Lupin and Sirius are all in the Shrieking Shack, all Lupin or Sirius has to even say is, "Okay, give me the rat, its an animangus, its actually Peter Pettigrew, I'm not going to kill Harry, I'm after Peter..." but he doesn't say that, it builds the suspense, Snape comes in, and all Ensley breaks loose.  Just seems like it could have been avoided, that's all. 

Plus... and maybe I'm in the minority here, but I liked Richard Harris' old Dumbledore over Michael Gambon's hippie Dumbledore.  Just sayin'.

4)  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)... This is where it all started.  Man, these kids look young--which, I guess they were.  Working the theater when this premiered was insane, as I had to hold back three hundred kids, moms and dads, and after the show, the theater was literally so trashed, I used a leaf blower on a backpack, started at the top and blew trash to the bottom so the lazy high school students could do their best and not work.  Great movie, though.

3)  Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)... This movie is where it sets in that in order to tell the cinematic story, they have to remove half the book.  Granted, taking out Hermione's S.P.E.W. subplot, arguably the weakest in the entire series, was great, but still, it was tough when the movie started on what was around page 110 in the book.  It was a time thing, though, and the Triwizard Tourney was awesome.  It was also great seeing Robert Pattison as Cedric Diggory, not as some gay sparkly vampire with commitment issues. 

2)  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I (2010)... Last year, I did a full recap of this movie on this here blog site, and discussed first a spoiler free, than a spoiler filled recap, though there is plenty of notice before the spoilers start.  The more I think about this addition to the series, the more I like it... here's what I wrote:

Essentially, the film version, at least Part I, of "The Deathly Hallows", is a little like a table of contents.  You see a live action snippet of each scene that is fully fleshed out in the book itself,  something is allowable because the 140 minutes of the movie covers only about 300 pages, not 500 pages.

1)  Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)... My favorite book is my favorite Harry Potter movie.  Again, its not perfect, only due to lack of time, but I think it does the best job of making the necessary cuts to the book to fit the film.   It brings to the forefront Luna Lovegood, my favorite of the movie characters, and perhaps the only character I like in the movie over the book version, and of course, Ginny Weasley, one of my favorite characters overall. 

The Ministry of Magic battle happens and it looks brilliant, with Lucius Malfoy playing a key role.  And of course, the formation of Dumbledore's Army looks better than I imagined it when I read it in the book.  If it has any weaknesses at all, its the use of Professor Umbridge... one of the key moments in the book is when she tortures Harry by making him write with an evil pen, one that etches in the back the writer's hand as they write.  Harry makes it a point to not complain, even though there is scarring by the end.  In the movie, you see Umbridge making many of the students use such a pen, and it somewhat dilutes the torture given to Harry.  Just my own thoughts.  Anyway, my favorite of the movies.

But where will "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" rank among the other films?  I'll find out in about... 12 hours. 

Oh, if you missed a movie, or have forgotten what happens, here are The Fine Brothers on YouTube recapping all seven movies in seven minutes, in one take.   By the way, all the "We have no idea!" questions are legit questions if you have only seen the movies, but answered if you have read the books... for the most part, anyway...

  (there is a bleeped out F-bomb 3:22 in)

The Summer of Blogging Day Thirty Seven

The 100 Coolest Things of 2010... #50 to 41

And we continue with the longest running list, not counting The Dave100, on this blog site... that being the 100 Coolest Things of 2010.  I won't bother with the recap just yet, you can find it to the right under archives...

50... Harry Finds a Hallow
After what I considered to be a disaster, though one I can still bear to watch, of the last movie (the post I wrote, by the way, "A Letter to Steve Kloves" is one of the most read posts on this here bloggy site), my expectations for "Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part I" were lower... but still slightly high, nonetheless.

Here's what I wrote on November 30th, 2010:

First and foremost, it holds a huge, huge advantage over any of the previous six films, and that is simply that this movie covers only half the book. The reason "Goblet of Fire" and "Order of the Phoenix" cut out almost half of their respective books is simply a time factor... you would have a six hour movie to cover everything ("Goblet of Fire" skipped the S.P.E.W. subplot, and was one of the few things I enjoyed about the movie versions over the books).

Essentially, the film version, at least Part I, of "The Deathly Hallows", is a little like a table of contents. You see a live action snippet of each scene that is fully fleshed out in the book itself, something is allowable because the 140 minutes of the movie covers only about 300 pages, not 500 pages.

You can read the full post here, but it continues to talk about the movie, first spoiler free, and then second, spoiler filled (though there are several alerts to tell you to stop reading if you haven't seen it).  I finished the post by saying, "Anyway, I really enjoyed the film, and have intentions on seeing it again. I said before my favorite movie character is Luna, but my favorite book character is Ginny Weasley... but I'm not sure I dig Bonnie Wright. I also think Fenrir Greybeck is fantastic in the book, but in the movie he's so marginalized and relegated to a second tier character.  Go see the movie, irregardless of whether you've read the book."

49... Via Napoli


Don't let the angle fool you.  This pizza is a monster, and this is taken
after four adults had just about had their fill...



What can I tell you about Epcot's newest restaurant?  Its in Italy, its authentic Italian, and its delicious.  I've eaten there twice, and its got some of the best pizza I've ever had, not to mention some of the best desserts I've eaten in a while.

Their food is a little pricey, but let's face it, its Disney, and all prices are a little higher than normal.  They ph-balance the water to match that of water found in Italy, as well as authenticate other ingredients to give you the freshest, purest form of Italian food... and their large pizza, $40 as it may be, will feed at least six people, if not more.  Its pretty awesome. 

48... Christians Like Stuff
So, Jon Acuff writes this blog, aptly titled Stuff Christians Like about being a Christian, and he asks tough questions like, what to do with the Christian version of "Freebird", or the problem with unrated movies on DVD... he's the author of several books, including one named after his website, and its a great read pretty much every day. 

47... Little Sister Ashley Gets a Ring
What can I say... my own adopted little sister (I got the looks in the family) got a ring on her finger from her hometown sweetheart, Brandon.  Apparently, he'd pined for her for years and years and years, and she gave him the cold shoulder... but one day, she woke up and said, "Whaaaa...?  I... like this guy!  No!  I love this guy!"



At top, its Brandon and Lil
Sister Ashley.  The bottom pic
features The Honorable Rev'rn
Ty "Sharpton" Coffey and Lori
Anne, bride to be.

 She stopped by my store and flashed the ring, then I immediately commanded her to go to The Cabana and show The Lovely Steph Leann, which she did. 

And this past May, we were able to attend the wedding, which I'm sure you'll read about in The 100 Coolest Things of 2011... at this rate, some time around September 2013. 

Which leads me to...

46... Ty Gives a Ring
Here's another engagement that rocks, and gets the slight edge over Little Sister Ashley's big moment if only because I was involved in the proceedings...  The Honorable Rev'rn Ty Sharpton called me up and asked if I would participate in his little engagement get-together, which involved me taking the ring from him and setting it up in Samford's chapel. 

It was a little intimidating, holding a ring that cost more than Toni Rocki Honda, my little car at the time.  He asked me to not open it, not to look at it, he wanted Lori Anne to be the next one to see it, and I obliged.  I was to place it on the podium of the chapel at a certain time, then hide when Rev'rn Ty and his bride-to-be, Lori Anne, came in. 

While I was waiting for the word from Ty, people came in and out of the chapel--Samford had a football game going on in the stadium across the street at the same time--and I sat off to the side in a pew, probably looking like an old creeper.  I held the ring box tightly until I got the text that said, "In chapel yard".  I was nervous about letting the ring leave my sight, but I put it on the podium then slipped out a side door.

I walked around the student break area until I finally got a text that said "ITS DONE"... upon my return, there was a big smile from Revr'n Ty, and a bigger smile from little Lori Anne, and the ring almost blinded me.   And I was also able to not just attend, but be a part of their wedding, which you'll probably see in The 100 Coolest Things of 2011 as well.

45... B.o.B. Professes His Love
By the summer of 2010, there weren't a ton of songs that had really piqued my interest, especially in hip-hop areas... cause really, they all kind of sound alike.  So, here comes "Nothin On You" by B.o.B. featuring Bruno Mars, with this profession of love for his boo, telling her that there are chicks all over the place, and that sure, they might be cute or he might say hello... but ain't none them ho's got nothin on you.  Nothing.

"Beautiful girls, all over the world, I could be chasin', but my time would be wasting, they got nothin on you baby (nuh nuh nuh nothin on you... nuh nuh nuh nothing on you)... they might say hi, I might say hey, but you shouldn't worry about what they say cause they got nothing on you, baby (nuh nuh nuh nothing on you... nuh nuh nuh nothing on you)... nothing on you baby..."

Keep in mind, this was the summer that both B.o.B. and Bruno Mars emerged, so I don't feel bad in telling you that for the longest time, I couldn't tell who was rapping and who was singing.  Perhaps I'm still not sure.

44... The Books Get Read
My love of audiobooks is well documented and deep, with probably 100 or more in my collection... I keep most of them, about 110 gbs worth, on an external portable hard drive, but on my iPod that I have with me about 97% of the waking hours of my day, I have at least 30 or 40 that I take with me, just in case I might want to jump into a random book, be it Kristen Chenoweth's biography (or Andre Agassi's) or maybe some Glenn Beck, or even a chick lit novel by Emily Giffen...

And then, I finally joined Audible dot com.  The way it works is, you pay one price per month and you are given "Credits".  Then, you can download audiobooks for a credit, or for larger audiobooks (like the Walt Disney biography I initially got, which was 35 hours--it was two credits, but I got it free for joining).  Every month, for $14.95, I get another credit...

Essentially, its buying an audiobook for $15 per month, but when you consider they are running anywhere from $25 to $50 per book, its a pretty good deal.  Also, for members, you get special discounts on books, sometimes half off, sometimes huge percentages off, sometimes free... I just downloaded "Go the Heck to Sleep" children's book (warning:  NOT Emmy Turnbow safe), narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, for no charge whatsoever...

And the selection is pretty great too.  I managed to get The Pixar Touch for less than $7, I got Patton Oswalt's comedic book for about $6 and downloaded "ESPN: Those Guys Have All the Fun" for May's selection for one single credit... regular price, $26. 

Randomly, just for thought, here's my current wish list, or, books I'll end up downloading or purchasing if they go cheap--in the order I'm going to get them:  "The Men Who Would Be King: An Almost Epic Tale of Moguls, Movies, and a Company Called Dreamworks" by Nicole LaPorte... "Decision Points" by Dubya... "Bossypants" by Tina Fey... "Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss and the Musical Rent" by Anthony Rapp... "Your Only As Good As Your Next One: 100 Great Films, 100 Good Films and 100 Films For Which I Should Be Shot" by Michael Medavoy

And if you think this was just a reason to go all Ron Burgundy and say, "Hey everyone!  Come look at the cool stuff I've been reading!"... well, you may be right.  Though if anyone has thoughts on any of these books, then I'd love to hear them--besides the predictable recoil by Brad Latta, Atty at Law, at the mention of Glenn Beck or Dubya. 

43... A Dragon Gets Tamed
Here's what I wrote about "How To Train Your Dragon" on June 6th, 2010...

"How to Train Your Dragon" follows the story of Hiccup, who lives in a Viking village where the life of a Viking is to hung and kill dragons of every size--and they are aplenty in this movie. Hiccup is a loser that is made fun of by most of the clan, mostly because his heart is not into hunting anything, much less dragons, but to please his father--who happens to be village chief, no less--he does what he can.

Hiccup ends up taking down a rare Night Fury dragon, but upon finding it in the woods, cannot bring himself to finish him off... and there, the adventure takes flight, pun intended.

I loved it. I loved every single second of this movie. I loved the main character, Hiccup, I loved his love interest, a spry pixie named Astrid, I loved the dragons, including the main one nicknamed Toothless, I loved the setting, I loved the creativity, I loved the story... I thought this movie was brilliant. This was the first time I'd ever seen a non-Pixar animated movie and thought, "This should have been a Pixar film."

The Lovely Steph Leann loved it too. As the credits began to roll, she piped up and said, "Wow. DreamWorks finally got it right." (full review is found here)

By the way, I watched this movie a few days ago on cable... it is just as good, great even, as the first time I watched it.  And that is a true test of a good movie.

42... A Town Gets Covered
Wow this is a big book.  Perhaps Stephen King likes to release a 1000 page behemoth every year, or maybe I just tend to read one--in 2009, it was "It"... and in 2010, it was "Under the Dome".

In the fall of some year after 2012, Dale Barbara, known as "Barbie", is trying to leave the small town of Chester's Mill.  Before he can get very far, however, something odd happens.  An invisible, indestructible barrier--a dome, per se--is dropped over the town, keeping everyone who's out of town out of the town, and everyone who is in the town, in the town.

Big Jim Rennie, second selectman, takes over the town, appointing his corrupt friends and sick, twisted son Junior as town officials, and does his best to try and contain the opposition, which includes Barbie and newspaper editor Julia Shumway.   Slowly but surely, the town's government falls apart as Big Jim's rule becomes more and more stern, and as his ego--and paranoia of losing control--spiral out of control.

Efforts to destroy the Dome fail one after the other, and everything from civility to law to just common sense begins to fall apart, piece by piece, little by little... its not a slippery slope so much as a straight up and down cliff. 

While the Dome is the central key to the novel, it is what happens to the town that becomes the book's plot.  The breakdown in civilization, the loss of respect and democracy... that's the book's central storyline.  When Big Jim realizes that not everyone sees it his way, its then that he begins doing whatever, and I mean whatever, is necessary to ensure his own rule is followed. 

King stated in an interview that he thought of Dubya when he was writing the character of Big Jim, but honestly, all I could think of was He Who Must Not Be Re-Elected... who gives a rip how it affects anyone, this is what I think is best, so this is the way we are doing it. 

Anyway, its a huge book, but I'd rank it up there as one of King's modern classics, and one I'll probably read again in the next year or two (it stays on my iPod just in case...)

41... Z's Serves the Burgers
Sometimes the best food you can find is in a nondescript hole in the wall place you've passed by a thousand times but never noticed its existence... and that would be Chris Z's to a tee. 

Nestled on a corner near St. Vincent's hospital, sharing the same block, if not the same wall, with the empty building that used to be Golden Rule BBQ (take a left off of Red Mt Expressway/Hwy 31 as you are facing St. Vincents), it doesn't have very much parking, and in fact, the best way to get to it is to drive past it, turn left at the light and come around the entire structure.

Walking in, you can see immediately that its family owned and operated... covering the walls in almost every space are frames, frames with single pictures of family, frames with duo photos of more family, large frames with collages of a dozen or more pictures of family and friends.  Being my close friend Melanie's husband, you'll see pictures of Melanie and Chris together.  You'll see the Z kids, Jay Z, Special K and The Zack Attack.  You'll see lots of people that sort of look like their family, and you'll see friends that you might recognize... or not.  

The cafe itself is set with not more than a dozen tables, mostly because there is no room.  Come at lunch time, you'll be hard pressed to find an open chair, but if you are an experienced Chris Z eater, you'll know this and will plan for it--either come earlier or later, or get it to go, or just stand and eat like many patrons do.

The menu is typed out in a familiar Comic Sans font, with some scribble with a marker and some tape over certain things, those manual corrections that the owner doesn't have time to make in the form of a new menu... no, there is too much food to make.  And the food is aplenty.

Hot dogs cooked to perfection, topped with everything or nothing at all, your request.  And the cheeseburgers are fantastic... my personal favorite is a Chris Z burger with mayo, mustard and ketchup, and cheese splashed all over the fries.  The Chris Z burger was actually recently named by a local magazine to the be the best burger in town, and its a well deserved distinction.

And then there is dessert... a family owned recipe for cheesecake pie.  That piece of pie kinda deserves its own ranking among the coolest things of the year, almost like a #40 1/2 spot... its amazing.  I've had cheesecake in six different states, ranging everywhere from the Carnegie Deli in Manhattan to the Baltimore Harbor... and its the best cheesecake I've ever had.

Anyway, if you are in the St. Vincents area, and you find yourself hungry--or even if you just want to find something new, check 'em out.  They also serve breakfast, which is excellent too... and that's not to mention their Middle Eastern menu they have the first Friday of every month.  Its good, good stuff.  (you can click here for more info)

Coming up... Hide yo' kids!  Hide yo' wife!  Its more of the best of 2010, now that 2011 is half over!  Yeah!  More Disney!  A DFC Champion!  And startin' fires...

The Summer of Blogging, Day Twenty Two

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

How Does Your Garden Grow?

My mama was a gardener in her earlier life, working in a nursery for years and years.  When you hear nursery, you think "babies", but nay nay, its a nursery with plants.  She was good at that sort of thing... the old joke was she could plant a rock, have a tree in a few weeks, take the leaves and make a great casserole, then knit you a quilt with the leftovers.  That's the kinda chick she was, that mama of mine.

There are a lot of things I learned from dear Mama, but planting and gardening wasn't really one of them.  That being said, I can dig a hole and pot a plant.  That being said, I was quite proud of myself when I put together a big planter for the drive thru at our Starbucks.

Melanie asked me if I would take on the project, and since I consider half my job to be "get stuff done so she doesn't have to worry about it", then I took it on willingly.  She and I went to Lowes and walked around for about 20 minutes, looking for help and got none.  We were told that Ms. Jennie would along directly, but after a few more minutes went by with no Ms. Jennie, we had to split. 

I came back a little later when I had more time, and loaded up.  I got a apricot hibiscus, some begonias, some petunias and a few more fun things, and on the recommendation of Ms. Jennie, who finally showed up, I came up with this:

So, a few days later, Melanie asked me to do another for the front.  She told me what she wanted, but I missed part of it, catching only, "Covered with flowers."  To me, that meant just put a lot of flowers in it.

I head to Lowes and buy a whole lotta plants, bring them back and get them potted.  Melanie comes out, looks and says, "This looks great!" then adds, softly, "...can you make it taller?"  Its then that I realized she had actually said, "I'd like it to be tall, like the other one, covered with flowers." 

That'll teach me to only listen halfway.  I tend to do that alot.

Anyway, I haul off back to Lowes and walk around a while and make another decision.  Instead of small roses, I end up going with jasmine on a trellis.  I bring everything back, unpot most of the flowers I just potted, then plant the jasmine vine.  I then repot everything, then soil and water.  And here's what I ended up with:

I mean, I'm no Martha Stewart, but I'm pretty proud of how it turned out.  I even bought a watering can proportional to how it should be watered daily. 

My garden grows just fine.  I'm even thinking of doing flowers in front of The Cabana.  If I can find the time, that is.  Good luck with that.  



Speaking of Random Thoughts

So, this is the stuff I was thinking about while watching Episode 7 of Season 6 of "Grey's Anatomy", sitting at my table with my laptop, while The Lovely Steph Leann stretches out comfortably on the couch...

He's not Colin Firth, but he's Top Five for
The Lovely Steph Leann

She loves her some Dr. Bailey, and Patrick Dempsey is a key member of Firth's administration in The Colin Firth Club, while I think Mark Sloan rocks, and dig Arizona Robbins... wait, did I just say any of that?  Forget I wrote that...

Speaking of Disney World...

So, here's the reason I've been so lagging in blogging in the last few weeks.  About a month ago, our pastor at Valleydale Church (an sbc fellowship) and his family asked The Lovely Steph Leann and I for some pointers on Disney World.  Pastor Calvin and his wife, daughter Hillary and her hubby and 2 year old girl and daughter Alissa and hubby Joey and their two boys are all headed that way, and its a combination of "never been" and "haven't been in a few years" and "haven't been in a long time"...

Well, after a three hour lunch meeting, we were just getting going.  Alissa had written about five pages of jumbled notes and such, and I'm not sure she understood everything we were saying (she had Mickey's PhilharMagic spelled Mickey's Filler Magic... I laughed heartily) so at the end, when we were running out of time, I said, "Let me write your notes." 

And over the course of a month, I wrote some notes.  And more notes.  And more notes.  And I added sections.  And then chapters.  And then a table of contents.  And at the end, it was a 53 page not-even comprehensive guide to Disney World from our perspective. 

The Lovely Steph Leann took it to edit, and after three days of assembly, it was bound in a folder, with the great title "DISNEY ON A DOLLAR"... that was the name she created for the Disney Travel Agency that we had discussed...

Personally, I think its a great guide.  And The Lovely Steph Leann says simply, "We aren't giving this out to anyone.  If they want it, they have to hang out with us.  Maybe treat us to dinner!".  So there ya go. 

But that's a completed project, so I'm back!  Rock on. 

Speaking of syrup on the fingers...

I hate having my hands sticky.  Like, really sticky.  Or even partly sticky.  When I'm standing at the espresso bar, and I reach over and pump four shots of vanilla, it sometimes drips on the back of my hand.  Or I have mocha on my fingers.  Or moving the frappuccino pumps around, it drips on my palm.  Hate it, hate it, hate it.  I consider that to be one of the things I'd probably hate most about being on Survivor--my hands getting sticky and not being able to wash it off.

Don't get me wrong.. I don't mind "dirty".  I can put my hands in mud and dirt, I've potted many plants and cleaned many drains and scrubbed many toilets and so on, so I have no opposition to getting my hands dirty.  As long as they aren't sticky. 

Speaking of making messes...

I would love to tell you the following is a fake, but its not.  I would love to tell you that the following is needless and silly, and maybe it is... but I can see the use for it. 

Its called The Slobstopper, and its a real commercial, and sure to be found at Target, Kohls and Wal-Mart in that crazy "As Seen On TV" aisle and/or end-cap soon enough.  What is the Slobstopper?  Its a bib for adults.



Sometimes for a mid-afternoon, or an after work snack, I'll drop by Daylight Donuts and grab a donut and a small bottle of whole milk, and what I've learned the hard way is when you open the whole milk, it spills out the top.  Its done this twice, in my car as I was driving.  The first time, I had a nearby cloth towel and was able to wipe most of the mess away.  Of course, it was good that I had that cloth because I was also munching on a coconut cream filled turnover, and that cream splurted out onto my shirt, my shorts and on the fairly new seats of Red Robin. 

If I have a complaint about my Kia Soul, and I have very, very few, one would be that the seats get dirty really easily.  Just add coconut cream.  And whole milk.

The second time, I was less prepared, and though I had no coconut cream filled turnover, the milk spilled even worse, and I only had a Starbucks apron within reach.  I guess there is no use crying over it.

But had I Slobstopper?  My problems would melt away... as would the milk and coconut cream.

Speaking of being tired...

You know you are tired when you wake up at butt-thirty in the morning and are already looking forward to laying down in the afternoon for a little rest spell.

Speaking of doing puzzles...

I'm not much of a "fighting style" video game guy, like "Red Dead Redemption" and "Halo" and all that rot.  Not that I don't really understand them, its just too many buttons on most controllers.  My fingers aren't that dexterious.

However, I do like puzzles and puzzle games on video.  And in a book.  Mazes rule.  I love mazes.  Crosswords are fun too. 

Word searches are fun, but only if the list is fun.  Like, when I pick up a word search puzzle, I'll flip past "Architectural Designs" or "French Military Victories", but if I see something cool like "Russell Crowe Movies", I'm like "Where you at 'Gladiator'?!".

By the way, the "French Military Victories puzzle has like, one or two things to find. 

Speaking of holding your breath...

When I'm watching a film and a character has to swim underwater, I always hold my breath as long as they do to see if I would make it.  I usually die. 

Speaking of good food...

Had dinner the other night at a joint called Rags downtown, in the Lakeview District.  Let's be honest, I only know its the Lakeview District because when we pulled up, I was told that it was the Lakeview District by our double dates for the night, Melanie and Chris Z.  It was Chris' birthday, so he was in fine spirits, Melanie looked great as always, The Lovely Steph Leann is always nice to have on the arm, so it was a great night.

The food was reasonably priced, and the atmostphere was fun.  Its a former hair salon turned into a bar/cafe, which contains a bar and five tables.  We had to wait for a table for a few minutes, but we were able to sit down and munch on Italian type food and appetizers. 

After we all shared a big plate of fried green beans, I ate shrimp pesto pasta and it was really great.  Dinner with friends is always great. 

Speaking of The Deucecast...

In case you don't know me or haven't heard me, we done been starting us a podcasty thing.  A podcast called The Deucecast.  You can find it on iTunes under "The Deucecast" and download individual 'casts (I recommend Episode -1... that's negative one... and Episode III: Podcast of the Sith) or subscribe to all of them. 

You can also find it on our website The Deucecast, and get show notes and download shows, see a few pics, and find some other fun stuff as we progress.  Find us on Facebook and like us, too.

What's it about?  Pop culture stuff.  Movies, music, entertainment news, gaming stuff, and lots of humor.  Hosted by Mikey, Matty and myself, new episodes are usually available for download on Fridays by midday.  Come join us!

The 100 Coolest Things of 2010... #70 to 61

The Coolest Things of 2010, 100 to 91
The Coolest Things of 2010, 90 to 81
The Coolest Things of 2010, 80 to 71

70... Facebook DeFriended
Sometimes, you just want to be narcissistic.  Sometimes you get on Facebook and you notice that you have 2 less friends than you had yesterday.  And then, another day later, you gain a friend.  Could it be that people have dropped you?  Could it be that people deleted their account, then recovered their accounts?  If you delete your account, can you recover that account again? 

Either way, Facebook Defriended will take care of your narcissistic needs.  Buy the app for a buck, and you can hook it up to your account.  Then go into Facebook Defriended, and it will tell you your friend list activity over the last few days... who dropped you, who added you and so on. 

Why do I need this?  I don't.  Its a ridiculous app meant to only feed my ego and fuel my wonder of why someone would drop someone as awesome as I am (I say that with a smile and a wink), but still, I check it a couple of times per week.  Because I'm me. 

69... "Love the Way You Lie"
Overall, I'm not a fan of Eminem.  I respect what he does, and his mastery of wordplay and how he sings/raps, because if you just listen to how he does what he does, he's amazing.  What he actually says, however, is quite alarming and discouraging, because he has a ton of pent up anger and aggression in his lyrics, many times towards his own ex-wife.

Sometimes, though, he does get one out there that really makes me smile, one that I really enjoy.  "Without Me" was one a decade ago, while "Lose Yourself" is one that everyone likes.  And in 2010, a collaboration with Rhianna led to "Love the Way You Lie", which has this infectious, memorable opening riff--"Just gonna stand there and watch me burn... that's alright... I like the way it hurts..."

And the video, starring Megan Fox and Dominic Monaghan (Charlie from LOST), is just awesome.

Note... Eminem is not a clean guy, so please don't take this as an endorsement of his music.  As in, if you go and download this song, at least the explicit version, and are offended by the language, then don't blame me.  Listen at your own risk.  The album version of this song is not Emmy Turnbow Safe. 

68... Danno Gets a Reboot
I was never a fan of "Hawaii Five-O" in its original inception, not because it wasn't a good show, but because when it when it came on in 1968, I was a few years away from life.  When it ended in 1980, I was five.  When I saw re-runs in syndication, I barely remembered it.

So, when CBS decided to reboot the television show for the 2010-2011 television season, I had low expectations for the show.  Truth in advertising, I have low expectations for many shows when they premiere, because networks now rarely give most shows a chance to catch on... both Seinfeld and Cheers were low rated when they first appeared, but after catching on, they were awarded further seasons, and both went on to become television classics. 

The Lovely Steph Leann and I chose three shows to watch this time around, trying to watch them week by week via DVR, and those would be "No Ordinary Family", "The Event" and "Hawaii Five-O".  All three shows were good, but to me, "Hawaii Five-O" was exceptional.  It was funny, it was well written, and the cast is well placed.  Alex O'Loughlin and Scott Caan lead, with Daniel Dae Kim (Jin from LOST, and its hard to see him as anything beyond that) and Grace Park, and it also stars, of course, the Hawaiian coast line, the volcanoes and the culture.

Well, we stopped watching all three show on DVR, just because we got too far behind... and I'm quite alright with that for now, because "The Event" and "No Ordinary Family" are gone.  The former is in EW's "Danger Zone" and the latter is just scrubbed (which is sad, because it was also a good show).  However, "Hawaii Five-O" made the cut... and we'll put it in a category with "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" and "Grey's Anatomy"... watch it on DVD and get through a season in a few days.

67... The Fury Goes Crazy
Anyone who reads this blog for longer than a few days will know I'm a big Stephen King fan.  And in the early 80s, there was a "Quad-fecta" of novels that I really, really enjoy.  "Firestarter", "Cujo", "Pet Semetary" and "Christine", about a car, a '58 Plymouth Fury with a mind of its own, and evil side, one that cannot be stopped and is raging with jealousy and anger.

Arnie Cunningham is a loser in high school, best friends with Dennis, who happens to be kinda cool, and important enough at school to keep Arnie from getting beat up daily.  This, however, begins to change when Arnie "meets" Christine, a rusty old 1958 red and white Plymouth Fury sitting in a junk yard.  The car has many secrets, a horrible, evil past and slowly begins to change Arnie's life--for the worse, especially when Leigh Cabot, this beautiful chick who moves into town, goes out with him... enraging the car.  Yep, I said that and meant it. 

The book is a quick read, its well written and though not overly frightening, has its creepy moments.  I do remember when I was a kid, having just seen the movie when it premiered on network television, walking home from a football game (we lived two blocks from the high school) and being creeped out at 10 at night because some old truck was sitting on the side of the road, staring at me.  I kept waiting for the headlights to pop on. 

Good book.

66... We Figure Out The Tip
I've got over 140 apps on my iPhone, with games and weather and news and email and interweb capabilities and so on, but one of my favorites, one of most useful apps I have ever purchased is one called "The Tipulator".

Its quite simple.  You type in the amount of your bill, say $32.89.  It will automatically tell you your tip amount, then give you a total.  If you have good service, and want to leave 15%, then it will tell you that you should leave $4.93, and you should pay $37.82.   They give really good service?  You can adjust your percentage from 15% all the way up to 50% (which must be incredible service).  If you wanted to leave 18%, then The Handy Dandy Tipulator will tell you your tip is $5.92.  Poor service, but you still want to leave a tip?  You can knock it down to 13%, which is $4.60.  Or 1%, which is 33 cents.

Other settings include the ability to round your tip up or down to the nearest dollar, or your total amount to the nearest dollar, you can split the check from 2 people to 50.   I have mine set to round the total amount to the nearest dollar, with the tip set at 15% or more.   The price is a mere 99 cents, and I would definitely recommend it if you ever eat out. 

65... Denzel Carries The Word
When movies come out in January, they are usually considered "throw away movies", that is, movies that are dumped into the post-holiday season when most people aren't going to the theaters because they spent too much money during the Christmas season.

But every now and then, they dump a movie into January that turns out to be darn good.  I give you "The Book of Eli".  Denzel is the title character, wandering on a mission through a post-apocalyptic United States carrying what, at that time, is a very valuable and rare artifact--a King James Bible.

This is part of my review on the film:

We see right away that Eli is not a guy to be messed with... he's got somewhere to be, and he's headed that way. And when people try to stop him, he stops them from trying to stop him in the most convincing "don't bother me" way possible. Trouble comes when he drifts through a town and its discovered by the town's "ruler", Carnagie (played by Gary Oldman, who excels in this type of role), that Eli is carrying with him last copy of the Bible.


The film is bleak in color, as many of the movies with this setting are, and language pervades throughout. The sexual moments are very few, with only a couple of allusions to it, mostly within the context of the town's danger. Violence is also heavy in this film, so expect lots of knives and gunshots and big armored vehicles. All that is to say that this movie is NOT for kids. I dare say its not Emmy Turnbow safe, but at the same time, I think Emmy Turnbow would like this movie--at least, an edited version that might come on the USA Network in June of 2012 or something.

Written on June 6th, you can read the full review here.

64... Norah Gets a Duet
Norah Jones is only for certain tastes, because the argument is that "all her stuff sounds alike"... and yeah, thats kinda true.  But if you like that sound, you'll love this album.  In her career, she's done several solo albums and has also done lots of work as a part of other bands like The Little Willies, or projects with other artists, like Ryan Adams or Willie Nelson. 

Released in November of 2010, "...Featuring" is a compilation CD of Norah Jones and.  Norah Jones and... the Foo Fighters.  Norah Jones and... Ray Charles.  Herbie Hancock.  Q-Tip from a Tribe Called ?uest.  And several, several others.

My favorite tracks on the CD are a cover of "More Than This" with Charlie Hunter, a cover of the 80s rock song, and a "Take Off Your Cool" with OutKast, as featured on the OutKast album "The Speakerboxxx/The Love Below". 

And if you think I wanted to mention OutKast's album "The Speakerboxxx/The Love Below" because I wanted to seem a slight bit cooler, then... you may be right.

63... Bruno Loves His Woman
Bruno Mars has had quiet a year... among many of the hits he's helped pen, Cee Lo's "Forget You" was a massive hit, as was Flo Rida's "Right Round", and had a couple of hits of his own, including "Grenade" and my 63rd Coolest Thing of 2010, "Just the Way You Are". 

Its a fun little song about loving a woman just... well, just like she is.  She's perfect.  He tells her that, "when I see your face, there's not a thing that I would change, cause you're amazing, just the way you are."

And in interviews, I liked the idea that he doesn't try to go too deep, he just simply says, "I'm a big fan of songs like Joe Cocker's 'You Are So Beautiful' and Eric Clapton's 'Wonderful Tonight' - songs that go straight to the point. You know, there's no mind-boggling lyrics or twists in the story - they just come directly from the heart. And to me 'Just The Way You Are' is one of those songs. There's nothing mind-blowing about it. I'm just telling a woman she looks beautiful the way she IS - and, let's be honest, what woman doesn't wanna hear those lyrics?"

62... The Candlelight Processional
One of our several trips to Walt Disney World found us there in December, actually getting a chance to spend a little time with one of my best friends, Melanie, and her family, that being Chris Z (the hubs), and the kids, Special K, Jay Z and The Zack Attack.  And because it was Christmas time, The Lovely Steph Leann was very adamant that we see The Candlelight Processional.

What is it?  Well, at Epcot, its a special Christmas presentation featuring a choir, awesome Christmas music and a reading of the Christmas story--yes, the one from The Bible--by a celebrity.  The small amphitheater, near the American Pavilion, was decorated beautifully, with bright reds and greens all around, and at least a hundred poinsettias adorning the stage and spaces between choirs.

The choir itself consists of mostly Cast Members who auditioned, and
local talents, as well as the orchestra

The Lovely Steph Leann saw The Candlelight Processional in 2009, and just missed Steven Curtis Chapman and ended up witn Anika Noni Rose, voice of Tiana from "The Princess & the Frog"... and this year?  We still missed Steven Curtis Chapman.  He was reading later in the month, but our reader was none other than Ariel herself, Jodi Benson, who I believe is a Christ Follower.

After the choirs filed in, they sang a few Christmas hymns, then Jodi took the stage.  Over the next thirty minutes, music was interspersed with reading from Matthew, and at the end, she spoke briefly on the birth and eventual death of Christ.  And yes, this was all at Walt Disney World, a magical place, but still quiet secular.

Jodi Benson reads the Christmas Story.  We almost had Susan Lucci,
but they moved her around and gave us Jodi, and I was cool with that.

61... "Kick-A**"
Here's what I had to say in June of 2006:

Okay... so, for every reason I shouldn't, I thought this movie was hilarious. Absolutely hilarious. Its title that I feel very uncomfortable saying (and don’t, especially on a website that I like to keep PG), its got the same language you’d find in equally as funny movies like “Superbad”, its got comic-book style violence that still produces blood spatter like crazy, and it’s got a bunch of teenagers trying to get some. There is no redeeming quality to this movie.

Let's be clear here... this movie is NOT for children.  As a Christ-Follower, this movie is a prime example of the topic of "what do you place in front of your eyes?", which is another conversation for another day.  I've tried to give you the rundown on the film as best I can, so now its up to you as to whether to see it.  Cindy Jo is probably not going to see this film.  Hurricane Rhett might go out tonight and catch it.

Read the whole post, including the full review, by clicking here.

Coming up... A great indictment of the NCAA Postseason (what?)... keeping my head and hands warm... and later, hide yo' kids, hide yo' wife