Patrick Swayze 1952 - 2009 R.I.P.

I was sitting in a meeting of the Herb Society of Central Florida Monday night when my iPhone alerted me that actor Patrick Swayze had passed away. Though expected, due to his pancreatic cancer, it was still a sad occurrence.

When most people think about and remember Patrick Swayze they almost inevitably cite his movie "Dirty Dancing" as their favorite. While I can appreciate their admiration because, to a certain extent, I share it, it was not my favorite of his screen appearances.

Here are my top three Patrick Swayze movies:

Number 3. Red Dawn - This was the first movie I saw Patrick Swayze in and is one of my favorite movies ever. The year it was released, 1984, was the era of Reagan, and the idea that we MIGHT be invaded on our own soil by our enemies was not an outlandish one. Swayze, as Jed Eckert, leads a group of teenagers in America's Midwest against a Soviet invasion. The scene where they execute one of their own for betraying their location to the enemy is extremely intense. I know today that right-wing militias try to hold this movie up as an example of why they exist, but the players in this drama were simply good, patriotic people who could survive off the land and defended that land, not groups going around trying to stir up trouble.

Number 2. Ghost - In my heart of hearts I am a romantic. A romantic in the sense that I believe a man should do all he can for the love of his life; love her, defend her and do all he is able to show her his love. Swayze's character Sam, dead though he may be, embodies all those aspects as he seeks to keep his Molly from harm. But that's not why this is number two on my list of favorite Swayze movies. This movie is number two because every time I watched this film with a member of the opposite sex, I got lucky. Thanks Patrick!

Number 1. Road House - I'm sure the placement of this movie in the number one spot has to do with my years as a bouncer. Like the Zen bouncer Dalton that Swayze portrayed, I always tried to avoid having fights take place in the bar I worked, and I taught my crew the same. This is my favorite exchange between Dalton and the bouncers he is training at the Double Deuce:

"All you have to do is follow three simple rules. One, never underestimate your opponent. Expect the unexpected. Two, take it outside. Never start anything inside the bar unless it's absolutely necessary. And three, be nice. If somebody gets in your face and calls you a c**ks****r, I want you to be nice. Ask him to walk. Be nice. If he won't walk, walk him. But be nice. If you can't walk him, one of the others will help you, and you'll both be nice. I want you to be nice until it's time to not be nice."

"How will we know when it's time to not be nice?"

"I'll tell you when it's time to not be nice."

Ah, those days are SO far behind me now, but they were fun in the day and they led me to the love of my life so I have a certain fondness for remembering them, lol.

Finally, I've been thinking all day about what I would write as a farewell to Patrick Swayze's life, but this evening I read the following from actor/director Kevin Smith and he said it all so much better than I ever could.

"Dalton's closed the Double Deuce. Sam can finally rest. Bodhi's catching that last, big wave. Godspeed, Mr. Swayze. Many thanks for many Friday nights: RED DAWN, OUTSIDERS, YOUNGBLOOD, DIRTY DANCING, ROAD HOUSE, GHOST, POINT BREAK. Hope you had the time of your life."

As do we all. Rest In Peace Patrick Swayze.

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The Art Of Life 2

Before I begin, Happy 30th birthday to my step-son.

I should catch up on my life here a bit over the past week or so. Part 1 is here and this is part 2.

This past Friday I took my friend Dave to lunch in honor of his birthday. Thankfully, he picked one of my favorite places, Gator's Dockside, (I love their Gator Chips!) in West Orlando to eat at AND as an added bonus asked if his brother Dan could join us. Like my own brother Mark, Dan seems to always be able to make me laugh so I welcomed his company. That's Dan on the left and Dave on the right, or as he said to me after he saw the photo, "We look like those prawns in the District 9 movie!" Sorry buddy, I can't do anything about your genes.

Dave is a big fan of the comic book character Hawkeye. For the past few years I have actively searched for an affordable statue of Hawkeye that Dave could place on his shelf. This year I finally found one at Coliseum of Comics in Fashion Square Mall. Much like my lunch on Monday with Denise, we spent our time catching up with each other's lives, though since Dave doesn't do much e-mail, doesn't read my blog and doesn't use Facebook or Twitter we had a lot more ground to cover. Dave's kind of a slow adopter. He didn't really start using e-mail until a couple of years ago and still only uses it sparingly. He'll probably get around to Facebook and Twitter in a few years, after they've been replaced by the next big thing.

Friday evening after she got off work, Cindy and I went to a quick dinner at The Earl of Sandwich in Downtown Disney, then to see "The Time Traveler's Wife" at the AMC theater in Pleasure Island. I read the book about 4 years ago and enjoyed it. In what is a very rare occurrence with me, I actually enjoyed the movie version more than the book version. The film handled the sometimes confusing time shifts in a very understandable manner and stars Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams truly made this movie and story have the emotional impact that touched the hearts of the audience. Cindy was crying, but as we were leaving one poor woman was sobbing.

While we're on the subject of leaving the theater, here's a mildly amusing story at my expense. It was raining Friday evening, so when we sat down in our seats I leaned our umbrella against the back of the seat in front of me. During the previews it fell and made a loud "thud" when it hit the floor. Cindy was watching the screen and didn't see that happen. She leaned over and whispered in my ear, "Was that your iPhone falling out of its holster?" and I told her, "No, it was the umbrella." When the movie ended I picked up the umbrella and when we reached the exit doors I, as is my habit whenever leaving someplace, reached to my hip to be sure my phone was there and found my holster empty. I turned to rush back into the theater as Cindy called out, "I TOLD you I heard your phone fall!"

Pushing against the flow of people still filing out of the theater, I made my way to our seats in the still-darkened room and first felt the seat itself, hoping the phone had not fallen through to what I knew would be a dirty, nasty floor. But no such luck; the phone was not in the seat or in the area between the seat and the armrest. That meant I had no choice but to get down on my hands and knees to feel around the area under the seats, which was not just dark but pitch black...the same color as my iPhone and its rubberized case. After blindly feeling every square inch of yucky floor under each of our seats and coming up, well not exactly empty-handed but with no phone, I expanded my hand-feeling to the floor on each side and behind our seats. Still no luck with the phone but I did find a wad of gum, a puddle of sticky coke (the drink, not the drug) and a quarter with some kind of crusty material on it as well as several other items of indistinguishable origin. It's just about this time, as I'm thinking, "I wish Cindy would call my phone so it would light up and I could see it" that my phone does indeed start ringing with her distinctive ringtone. I hear it and it's nearby, so very close judging by the volume, but still I cannot see the face lighting up in the darkness. I'm just about in the middle of asking myself, "Did it fall face down...?" when I suddenly realize why the ringing is so close. It's because the damn phone is in my shirt pocket where I ALWAYS put my phone during a movie so I can retrieve it quickly if a call or text message comes through. It's been in my shirt pocket the entire movie and, of course, during my entire frantic search through a darkened floor area that is almost too nasty to even walk across with shoes on.

This getting old and forgetting things stuff really sucks.

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Autism-Friendly Harry Potter

This is pretty damn cool to me and might just make me forget some of the stupid things AMC Theaters have done to tick me off in the past.

Select AMC movie theaters across the US will be holding a special screening of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince for those affected by autism on July 25th.

Get all the details by clicking on the link above and check out what AnnMarie has to say about it.

This is an excellent example of the kind of spirit of inclusion this world needs, opening doors for those who have had them slammed in their faces in the past.

Thanks to AMC Theaters for stepping out and stepping up to take this first move. Now I hope to see others make whatever accommodations they can for those affected by autism, either personally or in their families.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince opens nationwide tomorrow, July 15, 2009. Cindy and I are going to catch a matinee showing this Saturday when I'm home for one day.

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Ah, The Weekend

Things have been busy, both at work and in the old personal life, this past week. We're off this Monday for Memorial Day so it will be a VERY welcome 2 1/2 day weekend for me. I can use the rest and relaxation.

Busy week coming up, I'll tell you all about it later. But for now, back to a little pleasure reading, while sort of half-watching one of my favorite movies. Can you identify it from this quote?

"Make a move and the bunny gets it!"

Leave your answer in the comments.

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To Boldly Go...

I slept in until 8:30 Sunday morning, my only day off again this week. That felt good. I'm a night owl by nature, so when I'm deployed on these assignments with extended hours it's a struggle for me to get to sleep at an early enough hour to be able to wake up at 5 or 5:30am. After a quick shower I drove over to Panera Bread for an equally quick breakfast, then over the theater to get in for the first showing of the day of the new "Star Trek" movie.

People who know me personally know that I am a "Star Trek" nerd. I've watched all of the TV incarnations and all of the motion pictures, most of them multiple times. I've read all the hardback novels and almost all of the paperback novels. I own various incarnations of "Star Trek" memorabilia. I've attended "Star Trek" conventions. I have gathered with friends for "Star Trek" viewing marathons, and spent hours with those same friends discussing various minutiae of the "Star Trek" universe.

I say that simply to establish that I would watch paint dry if it had some kind of "Star Trek" connection.



So, JJ Abrams was charged by paramount Studios with the unenviable task of rebooting the mythology of "Star Trek" (one of their most financially lucrative properties, though its shine has dulled in recent years) in such a way as to attract new viewers without pissing off the mass of us who have watched Gene Roddenberry's vision unfold on the screen since 1966. On top of that, Abrams has made it clear he was never really a fan of Trek, causing some to feel that he might bring a breath of fresh air and others to run screaming "heresy!" across the Internet.

If you are a fan of "Star Trek" and it's mythology, you WILL be confused at the beginning of the movie as you watch a slightly different history unfold. It is not until later in the movie that you discover WHY that history is not exactly right. Actions by the story's villain have created a different timeline - a timeline that will be inhabited by our rebooted characters and...someone else.

Abrams is obviously a fan of time travel. He used it in his TV series "Alias" and "Lost" and he has used it to effect his reboot in "Star Trek". I have no problem with that at all, I am a big fan of time travel stories.

If they are well-constructed.

And this one is. We get the characters we have loved with their same personality quirks and courageous spirit. We get to see the same relationships...and a new one or two. And best of all, to me, we get to see Captain Christopher Pike play a large part in James Tiberius Kirk becoming Captain James T. Kirk.

It will be interesting to see what happens in future "Star Trek" movies (and there WILL be future "Star Trek" movies), especially considering that the slate has been wiped clean and a major, major storyline change has been inserted that will mean everything can take a different direction. What that direction will be remains to be seen.

But it seems that one thing will NOT change;


"I have been, and always shall be, your friend."

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My Day Off

Had Sunday off this week. I slept in until about 9, which felt very good after 6 days of the alarm clock going off at 5am.

After a shower I drove over to a nearby IHOP for breakfast. I went because it is the only breakfast restaurant near the hotel. No Perkins Restaurants in the entire state of Georgia with the exception of one in Savannah and that's a bit too far to drive, even for their fantastic pancakes.

Strangely enough, while you would think that a place named International House of PANCAKES would have some good pancakes, you would think wrong. When I was here in Atlanta two years ago I went to this same IHOP for breakfast and was sorely disappointed in what they offered as pancakes. This visit was no different and they won't get a third chance with me. The spinach and mushroom omelette was very tasty, though I was puzzled by the fact that it was almost room temperature rather than hot. The pancakes though, which were also cool enough that the butter wouldn't melt, had me fighting a gag reflex when I took my first bite. I choked down one more bite and that was all I could take. When the waitress asked me if I'd like a box to take them with me I politely replied, "Not on your life!"

Then I went to catch the first day's showing of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. It was in a huge theater and there were only about 30 inside people when I entered, just as the previews were starting to roll. I even got to sit in the middle of the very last row; my absolute favorite spot to watch a movie from in a theater. When I build my Home Theater there will be one seat in the last row for yours truly.

I enjoyed the movie. As is usually the case with a comic book-inspired film, it didn't have every single detail that a fanboy would want. I stopped reading the X-men titles many, many years ago when they started multiplying faster than rabbits and you had to be backed up by Fort Knox, financially, to be able to buy every title Marvel was flooding the shelves with on a weekly basis. A few years ago I did pick up the first 3 issues of Wolverine's Origin, but lost interest in it and stopped. So while I had some basic knowledge of the character's history and storylines, I wasn't what you would call a defender of it's "canon" so to speak. Not like I will be when "Star Trek" opens next Friday, lol.

So I thought they did a good job of condensing a 150 year history and tying together various pieces into a 2 hour movie. Lots of action, lots of cool special effects and they moved the story along so that the next one looks like it will deal with Logan's time in Japan. By the way, probably the BIGGEST disappointment to me was that I had hoped they would at least have a Captain America cameo with Logan during the World War II flashes. There WAS a nice cameo at the end of someone else and I know, I KNOW it messed with what comic book readers and fans of Stan Lee remember about the origin of the X-men back in the '60's, but it was still a pretty cool moment.

On the way back to the hotel room I picked up a veggie pizza from Mellow Mushroom, eating one third for lunch and saving the other two thirds for dinner and breakfast on Monday morning. Then I spent the remainder of the day watching severe thunderstorms come rolling into the Atlanta area and relaxing and recharging, mostly reading and doing a little writing.

And as busy as this week has been at work, I'll need to do the same this coming Sunday.

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Sunday Bloody Sunday

So as much as I wanted to just hermit myself in the hotel room Sunday I just couldn't see spending the entire day holed up like a prisoner.

To begin with, I woke up earlier than I intended because of a nightmare. Something is going on with that and I'm not quite sure what it is, but I have a theory.

I don't usually have nightmares. Dreams yes, nightmares, no. My dreams are almost always very realistic, and unfortunately so are my nightmares. Still, as I said, I don't usually have nightmares. But for the first time in years I had one while I was in Missouri last November and now this one Sunday morning. Like the one in Missouri, this one was so painful that I woke up crying uncontrollably, just as I had been doing in the nightmare itself because of what had happened and even in the same physical position; huddled in a ball on my knees, my body racked with pain from crying so hard I could not get my breath. This was the kind of crying that physically hurts you inside with its intensity, like your guts are being twisted. The kind that comes from a total despair that you think you will never recover from for the rest of your life. I don't recommend it as a way to be awakened.

My theory, though totally unsubstantiated by ANY professional psychologist, is that it has to do with a story idea I've been working on in bits and pieces for several months that involves some pretty intense and gruesome scenes. I'm wondering if my mind is rebelling against what I've been putting it through, or if this will somehow augment the work I'm doing on a certain character in the story. Maybe I'm just not cut out to be a fiction writer because I get too involved, or at least a writer of this kind of fiction, but the story idea still feels like a good premise.

Anyway, after a shower and then breakfast at a nearby Perkins Restaurant using a 20% off coupon, I headed out for the closest Waldenbooks (which was at a mall not far from the University of Kentucky campus) to use a 25% off coupon to purchase something Cindy encouraged me to buy several months ago. But being the skinflint that I am when it comes to most things for myself, I went with the cheaper idea I had and it didn't hold up.

I usually use a digital voice recorder to make note of ideas or things I want to be sure to remember. I love my digital recorder. But sometimes you're in a situation where it just is not polite to use it. There are times when it is much more unobtrusive to jot a note down. I had toyed with the idea of getting some moleskine notebooks, but after finding the little pocket-sized composition book for .99 cents as opposed to $4 for the moleskine notebook in a comparable size, I opted for the cheapest item.

Mistake.

The pocket-sized composition books are just not sturdy enough to withstand the beating I give them in my typical usage. I had to tape this one back together when the glued cover and some of the pages started coming apart. I decided that it would be in my best interest to go ahead and spend the extra money for the moleskine notebooks, which have a sturdier cover and pages that are stitched in rather than glued.



But, still being the cheapskate that I am, I was reluctant to buy them in their standard 3 for $12 packet until I got this 25% off coupon and decided I could knock $3 off that price and feel better about buying them.

I'm so easily manipulated, as Cindy well knows.

Driving to the mall I passed through downtown Lexington. I had been wanting to see "The Wrestler", but it was only showing at one theater in the area, The Kentucky Theater, and I mistakenly thought that theater was somewhere else. Driving down the main street of Lexington I passed the old theater (it still has the pointed marquee so traffic from both directions, though this is now a one-way street, can see the advertised movie) and realized I could see the movie on my way back to the hotel. And I did. Plus it was only $4.50 to see a first-run movie before 6pm, instead of the $6.50 other theaters in the area charge.

Downtown Lexington is an attractive area with a mix of old and new architecture. It was WAY too cold and windy Sunday to do a Photowalk and I was too tired anyway, but I hope that the weather gets a little warmer on one of my days off so I can get some shots before I leave.

After the movie I returned to my hotel room and, after a little reading and writing and some soup for dinner, was back in bed sleeping soundly.

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The Wrestler

I went out for a bit today to run a couple of errands. Decided while I was already pretending to be alive like the other people I saw that I would go catch a movie I have been wanting to see since it debuted, but just haven't had the time. "The Wrestler" was showing at an old downtown Lexington theater (those old movie theaters are SO cool) in the early afternoon and I arrived just as it was starting.



Mickey Rourke gave a great and believable performance. I enjoyed it and it brought back a lot of memories.

Going to bed. Another long week ahead. G'night.

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We'll Always Have Paris

Sunday I finally had a day off. I slept until 10:30 when my bladder forced me to leave the comfort of my bed. And if I haven't mentioned before, the bed at Doubletree is EXTREMELY comfortable.

I fell back in bed and tossed and turned for a few minutes before finally deciding I wasn't going back to sleep so I called Cindy for our every-morning call and then stumbled around the hotel room for a while before deciding to go see "Taken" at the movie theater.

"Taken" stars Liam Neeson as the former special-ops father of a teenage daughter who is kidnapped in Paris by white slave traders. You can guess the rest. As a story, it was ok, with the usual plot holes and questions left unanswered that accompany most action/adventure movies, but overall it was a satisfying movie.

The main reason I went to see the movie is because when Cindy and her mom and I were in Paris of May 2007 we happened upon a scene being filmed on the Champs-Élysées with Liam Neeson and an actor that we thought at the time was Kevin Spacey. We were wrong about the Kevin Spacey part; it turned out to be an actor who looked like him from a distance. But it was fun to watch the scene being filmed right in front of us and a real kick when that scene came up on the screen at the movie theater. I wanted to shout out, "I was there!"

If you want to see what we saw that afternoon, you can go to this link to read about the experience and view the video I shot of the scene and afterward.

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The End Of The World As We Know It

My friend ZenGrrl and I were discussing upcoming movies at lunch today and she asked me if I had seen the trailer for 2012 and when I indicated that I didn't think I had she gave a description which stopped short of being a spoiler. When I came home and watched the trailer online, I realized I HAD seen the trailer at the last movie Cindy and I went to see. The film is one of my favorite genres, the "disaster" story, and deals with the Mayan Doomsday theory that the world will end on the last day of the Mayan calendar, December 21, 2012.

At some point over this past weekend, Cindy and I were discussing the news that Yellowstone National Park sits on a massive volcano and that recent small earthquakes may indicate a massive eruption is imminent. Scientific theories postulate that such an eruption might very well blanket half of the country in volcanic ash. In researching that news, I came across Armageddon Online, a website dedicated to all the various and sundry ways that life on this earth may come to an end, both natural and man-made. Despite its name, I've not seen any indication in the content that the site is anything but a science based source of information.

It can be quite depressing to peruse the different ways this world may expire.

But as the R.E.M. song says, "It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine."

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Top 10 Word Of Jeff Posts For 2008

I thought it might be fun to review my blog statistics and see what the top posts were for 2008, in terms of page hits. In case you may have missed them or are a new reader, here are the Top 10 Word Of Jeff Posts For 2008:

10. By Grabthar's Hammer

9. Top 10 Science Fiction Authors

8. Top 10 Movie Theme Songs

7. Sunny 105.9

6. Saying Goodbye To Missouri

5. The Facebook/YouTube Virus

4. The 100 Worst Christmas Songs

3. Angel At The Fence - A Hoax

2. What Does "Des Moines" Mean?

And the Number One Word Of Jeff Post For 2008...

1. Cindy Hard At Work

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Who Is Your Celebrity Best Friend?

As it is wont to do, my mind was wandering the other day and it wandered upon this little question lying in the overgrown weeds and wildflowers growing next to the tracks of my train of thought; Which celebrity would you like to have as a best friend?

These days we all know a lot more about the lives of celebrities than we probably need to know. Between People Magazine (and all its clones), newspapers, websites and TV shows galore, there's a pretty good chance that, with a little thought and research, we could come up with enough information about a particular celebrity to make a decision as to whether we would want him or her as a best friend. I say that with the caveat that, obviously, none of us can ever really know what another person is like on the inside or what their life will ultimately consist of until it is ended.

But let's try it anyway - shall we?

For the purposes of this little question, "celebrity" will mean:

A. An actor, TV personality, sportsperson, athlete, musician, corporate leader, author or politician of either gender. It will not mean "flash in the pan, trying to get more than their allotted 15 minutes of fame" people like "Joe the plumber." types. And I don't have anything against "Joe the plumber" (other than his political stand, and his actions, and his thoughts, and his words), but that is not the type of celebrity I'm referring to in my question.

B. Also, unless you typically base your best friend choices on only one aspect of their being, such as looks, political view, philosophy, vocabulary, etc. please try to make your choice based on an informed decision about the person, in other words knowing a broad range of information about the person and how they think, behave, treat other people, etc.

C. Not a dead or historical person. Unless you're into necrophilia, please confine your choice to those who are among the living. Otherwise, I might have considered Randy Pausch, Albert Einstein, Abraham Lincoln or Aristotle.

D. Finally, not your current best friend, spouse, parent or sibling, unless they happen to be a celebrity.

While you think about your choice, let me share with you some who fell into my consideration (in no particular order, so don't try and draw anything from that) and then who my final choice ended up being.

10. Bill Clinton - Yeah, he's one of those guys you either love or hate, I happen to think he is a great leader and politician; tarnished (like most of us are), but great. Intelligent, compassionate and passionate about what he believes in.

9. Neil Gaiman - comic book writer, author and screenplay writer; from his blog and interviews he seems to be kind, friendly, intelligent and a person who would be a fantastic conversationalist. I love his writing. Plus, he wears all black, something I hope to do when I'm retired.

8. Harrison Ford - If he were my best friend, my daughter would spend more time around me because she thinks he's great. Ok, that's only part of the reason. He's always seemed to be level-headed in spite of the chance he had to get a big head from all the publicity of Star Wars and the Indiana Jones movies. He's quiet-spoken (like I try to be) and gives thought to answers without blurting out something. He seems genuinely nice. Plus, If he were my best friend, my daughter would spend more time around me.

7. John Walsh - Father of murdered 6 year-old Adam Walsh. My own children were 6 and 3 1/2 when Adam Walsh was abducted and decapitated in 1981. If I contemplated such a heinous thing happening to one of them, I believe I would have gone insane. Mr. Walsh took that agony that any loving parent would have felt and turned it into something immeasurably good and lasting. His actions changed laws and procedures dealing with missing children, and his show "America's Most Wanted" has been responsible for the capture of over 1,000 felons. I'm not sure I would have had the strength of character to move beyond such a horrific event and make something so positive out of it like he has done. He is a great inspiration to me, and no doubt to others.

6. Al Gore - He was robbed of the Presidency in 2000; but instead of going off and hiding, he returned to his first love of ecology and the environment to make an even greater impact on our country and the world. I admire his intelligence, passion and dedication.

5. George Clooney - I like the way he thinks, talks and comports himself. I like his quiet philanthropy and his charitable work. And I like to watch him act.

4. Bruce Willis - He's a man of few words (like me), seems to treat people well and is an action-movie hero (unlike me). Anyone who can take some of the outlandish scenes in "live Free or Die hard" and make them almost believable has my admiration as an actor. He seems like the kind of guy who is never ruffled by anything, including having his gorgeous ex-wife being in a relationship with a guy almost young enough to be her son.

3. Oprah Winfrey - she's intelligent, caring, capable, principled and seems to be very loyal to her friends. And she's the richest woman in America. How could you go wrong with that?

2. Ellen Degeneres - she's incredibly funny in a low-key manner, intelligent, seems to treat people well and has a kind of self-deprecating humor that appeals to me.

BONUS CONSIDERATION. Brad Pitt - An excellent actor, a very cool guy who is a friend of one of my other choices (George Clooney) and has my great admiration for his charitable housing work in New Orleans. PLUS he's set up house with the incredible Angelina Jolie!

And my top choice of a celebrity to be my best friend...

1. Will Smith - Admittedly, I never cared for Mr. Smith's early career persona of musician The Fresh Prince portion of DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, or his role as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in the TV sitcom of the same name (but in all fairness I'm not a huge fan of many sitcoms). In fact, his first few movie roles such as Made in America, Six Degrees of Separation and Bad Boys left me with the impression that Smith was just another mediocre musician trying to make the crossover into film without any real talent to justify his casting. In other words, the only reason he was cast was because he was part of a "hot" musical act. And that may have been the case back then, but Mr. Smith made sure he took it even further to prove he was not going to be some "flash in the pan" whose name would be quickly forgotten.

Today, I would happily watch ANY production in which Will Smith is the star. Movies like Independence Day, Enemy of the State, I, Robot and I Am Legend are among my favorite films, but my choice of him for my celebrity best friend is not limited to his obvious mastering of the craft of acting.

I cannot recall a single interview with Will Smith that I have ever seen or read in which he was not courteous, funny, thoughtful and just plain nice; a niceness that comes through in every red carpet photo op, interview, press conference and outtake or deleted scene from any of his blockbuster movies on DVD. And it was actually an interview I read this past week that revealed the secret behind that attitude and clearly explains why he is the overall nice person that he is:

"I learned to live by a principle that my grandmother taught me. I once asked her why she was always smiling, and she said it was because she knew what she was here for, which was to make everything she touched a little better. And then she touched me."

What a fantastic attitude and life philosophy! There is no doubt that Mr. Smith has learned to live by that principle and thus he helps to pass it along to those he comes in contact with. So, if I had to pick, Will Smith would be my choice to be my Celebrity Best Friend.

And just think, if he was, we could re-form DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince!

Who Is Your Celebrity Best Friend?

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By Grabthar's Hammer

Sunday, one of the local stations here aired "Galaxy Quest" and even though I have a much-watched DVD at home, I still had to delay my planned trip to the grocery store so I could watch it again.

"Galaxy Quest", released in 1999, is an excellent satirical poke at sci-fi TV series and fans/conventions in general, and, my favorite, "Star Trek" in particular.



Tim Allen (not an actor I normally care to watch perform), is dead on as the William Shatner/Capt. Kirk actor/character we've all come to know and love, while Alan Rickman superbly fills the role of Leonard Nimoy/Mr. Spock, especially with his complaints that Allen always stole the best scenes and lines for himself and his dry observation to Allen's character that, "You finally got your shirt off" after a very real fight scene on an alien planet.

But it is Rickman's well-played disdain for his character's oft-repeated quote, "By Grabthar's hammer, by the sons of Worvan, you shall be avenged." that always makes me laugh. The total boredom he displays (in all but one very pivotal scene) each time he is forced by fans to repeat it is reminiscent of the viral-marketing like effect of Spock's "Live long and prosper" line, without the spread-finger hand gesture.

Sigourney Weaver (in an eye-popping, popping-out-of uniform), Tony Shalhoub (best known as "Monk"), Sam Rockwell and Daryl Mitchell round out the famous command crew of the fictional NSEA Protector, while Enrico Colentoni is hilariously funny as Mathesar, the leader of the alien Thermians who mistakenly think that the washed-up actors of the canceled TV series are real space-faring warriors.

If you haven't ever watched the movie, you should correct that deficiency in your experience as soon as possible. If you've seen it before, it's always good to do it again.

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My Favorite "Western" Movie

I spent Saturday just relaxing in the hotel room, reading, writing and watching some TV.

The "Western" genre of TV shows and movies has never been one of my favorites. My dad loved watching "Bonanza", "Gunsmoke", "Rawhide" and others, but growing up in the age of space travel and technological leaps, my passion has always been science fiction, fueled by TV shows from my youth like "The Outer Limits", "Lost in Space", and "Star Trek."

But there has always been one Western movie that I have loved watching, even though my first exposure to it was not the movie itself but rather through its theme music, and I got to watch it on AMC Saturday.

When I was 8 or 9, cigarette commercials were still a staple of TV advertising and Marlboro started using some western-themed music in their ads that grabbed my attention. I thought it was just some music written especially for the ad, but when I was 13 or so I found out that it was actually from a major motion picture score that had been written by Elmer Bernstein.

I was in my junior high school's band playing trombone and I was very good (first chair) because I practiced, not only the music we played in school, but other music on my own. At my request, my mom bought me albums from the "Big Band" era which had lots of brass instruments, but also more modern instrumental groups such as "Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass" (as a 13 year old I LOVED the album cover of "Whipped Cream & Other Delights"! lol). One day she came home with a "Great Motion Picture Themes" album that included a theme that was very familiar and as I played it on our huge console stereo, I recognized the music from the cigarette commercials and discovered that score was for the movie, "The Magnificent Seven." I've had the music on my computer and mp3 player for years now.

When I finally watched the movie for the first time in my mid-teens, I discovered that it wasn't only the musical part of the film that I enjoyed. The story and characters intrigued me. I found out later that it was an adaptation of Kurosawa's 1954 film, "Seven Samurai", with the setting changed to a western and the characters to gunfighters in the old West. I think the theme of all-too human yet selfless heroes defending and inspiring the defenseless appealed to me, but I also think the music made a connection that my general disinterest in Westerns could not overcome. Now, it is one of the few Western movies I can watch over and over and always enjoy.

The movie is full of great dialog. Here's one of my favorite lines, out of many, spoken by Charles Bronson's character when some young boys complain that their fathers are cowards because they are just farmers instead of gunfighters:

"Don't you ever say that again about your fathers, because they are not cowards. You think I am brave because I carry a gun; well, your fathers are much braver because they carry responsibility, for you, your brothers, your sisters, and your mothers. And this responsibility is like a big rock that weighs a ton. It bends and it twists them until finally it buries them under the ground. And there's nobody says they have to do this. They do it because they love you, and because they want to. I have never had this kind of courage. Running a farm, working like a mule every day with no guarantee anything will ever come of it. This is bravery. That's why I never even started anything like that... that's why I never will."

How can you go wrong with dialog like that?

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THE Greatest Sports Movie Of All Time

I got back to the hotel last night after attending a (thankfully) brief city council meeting in a town about 30 minutes from here and as I started channel-surfing I happened upon THE Greatest Sports Movie Of All Time on the Movieplex channel.

Gene Hackman and Dennis Hopper star as the coach with a problematic past and his recovering alcoholic assistant who take a 1952 Indiana high school basketball team to the state championship playoff in "Hoosiers", THE Greatest Sports Movie Of All Time!

I'm not even a rabid basketball fan, but then again "Hoosiers" is more than a basketball-themed movie. In the end, it is the quintessential story of overcoming monumental odds, both personally and professionally, to achieve a goal. Every writer and wannabe-writer recognizes the plot device. But the cast of this movie work together to deliver the most heart-tugging, feel good, have-you-on-your-feet-cheering sports-themed movie I have ever seen. Thus, in my opinion, THE Greatest Sports Movie Of All Time.

What's yours?

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Top 10 Movie Theme Songs

I was driving down the corn-lined roads of Iowa last week when the local radio station DJ played the theme from the first (although it was actually episode 4) Star Wars movie. While flashing back 30 years, I began thinking about my Top 10 Movie Theme Songs. Not necessarily the entire movie soundtrack (such as The Big Chill), but the theme song identified with the movie.

Here are mine:

10. Chariots of Fire

9. Batman 1989

8. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

7. Shaft

6. Beverly Hills Cop 1984

5. Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark 1981

4. The Magnificent Seven

3. Star Wars 1977

2. Star Trek: The Motion Picture 1979

and the Number One Movie Theme Song...




1. Superman 1978

What are yours?

Bonus Favorite - This week's favorite spam e-mail subject line. G-mail does a great job (about 99.9%) of filtering my spam e-mail, making it easy to skim the sender/subject lines in one place. This week's favorite subject line?

Angelina Jolie's Lips Explode

Hey, it COULD happen!

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Mad-Eye Moody

This past Monday when I walked into my first manager's meeting here in Waterloo/Cedar Falls, I scanned the faces of the group of people sitting around the conference table. None of these were people I had worked with before, so I did not expect to recognize any of them. But, as I my gaze shifted to the far end of the table, I found a familiar, though out of place, face.

Sitting at the end of the table was Mad-Eye Moody.



Now I'm not the type to publicly make fun of someone's physical differences or disabilities, so even though this man had a very obvious problem with one of his eyes (which you could see even through his tinted glasses) that immediately brought the Harry Potter Professor of the Dark Arts to mind, it wasn't JUST the bulging, slowly rotating orb that made me think of Moody. No, this gentleman had a face and head that looked like just like Moody's would if he had shorter hair that was combed and a fresh shave. Even his voice was similar.

It was an eerie feeling each morning at meetings this week to feel like I was sitting with the late member of The Order of the Phoenix, but today was his last day so I thought I'd bid him a fond farewell here.

Farewell Alastor, farewell.

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Fandango Wants My Movie Review...Not

I enjoy using Fandango to purchase my movie tickets. I find it much more efficient to pay for my tickets online and then stroll past the long lines at the box office, into the theater and up to the ATM-like machine to retrieve my tickets while the rest of the suckers customers are still standing a mile back in line.

The day after you see your movie, Fandango sends an e-mail asking if you'd like to post a review for their "community." I have always ignored these requests in the past, but after seeing "The Dark Knight" this past Wednesday I thought I would go ahead and post my feelings about this film.

The problem is that reviews are limited to 1,000 characters. Not 1,000 words, but 1,000 characters! That's roughly 200-225 words. My grocery list has more than 200 words. I looked at my review and it was 900 words (after I had edited out about 300) so I decided not to take the time to cut three-fourths of it to participate in the "community."

Apparently, Fandango does not want anything more in-depth than, "Wow, that was the best movie ever." or "Man, that movie sucked like a Hoover."

But I'll still get my tickets through them.

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The Dark Knight

Went to see The Dark Knight yesterday at the IMAX theater with Shawn, Amber's significant other. I have a review up over at Athena.

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The Starship Captain From Iowa

John Wayne is not the only famous person born in Iowa. According to the city of Riverside, Iowa, on March 22, 2233 the future Captain James Tiberius Kirk will be born in their fair town.

Star Trek mythology found in the original TV series, movies and novels establishes that James Kirk , Captain of the starship Enterprise, was born on a farm in Iowa. Riverside seized upon the fact that the city was never mentioned and declared that they were the locale of his birth. To my knowledge, no other city in Iowa ever disputed their claim.

Being a big fan of Star Trek, I was a little bummed out when I discovered that I missed the city's annual James Kirk/Star Trek celebration last Sunday. Although it's a 2 hour drive from Des Moines to Riverside, I would have skipped the Des Moines Art festival and made the drive to be a part of it had I known beforehand.

For most Star Trek fans, James T. Kirk is the epitome of a starship captain. A natural leader, man of action, performing feats of daring-do, and possessor of romantic conquests across the galaxy. A sort of "woman in every planet" kind of sailor, if you will.

There will always be the natural comparisons and competition among fans between Kirk and Jean-Luc Picard (the other captains, Sisko, Janeway and Archer are seldom included), but Kirk usually edges out Picard. The general feeling among the fans I know is that if you want something done, call Kirk; if you want to talk about it, call Picard. I do, however, recall one episode of ST: TNG where I actually cheered when Picard leaped from his captain's chair and cold-cocked some enemy who had unexpectedly transported to the bridge.

But Picard was born in France and Kirk was born in the good old USA...Riverside, Iowa to be specific.

Here's a link to the local newspaper's coverage, along with some photos of the festivities.

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