Welcome Home.....

Regardless of where you go, I have found that I always enjoy coming home. However, after spending 2 days in Texas I expected it to be cooler in Minneapolis. No dice. It was just as hot and humid, and I call shenanigans.

Trip was awesome and I enjoyed myself immensely. My flight down on Friday night was good and probably the best flight I have ever been on. I was a touch late leaving partly because 30 minutes before departure time, Suzy ticket taker came over the loudspeaker and said there were no pilots or attendants at the plane. In my head I went, "Hmmmm, I hear those are important parts of the flight." So I had a few extra minutes to realize that now NFL Hall of Famer John Randle was sitting next to me. Don't worry, I wasn't that guy who bugged him. So flying in was good and then I was whisked away to Arlington.

Went out on Friday night to a local establishment and enjoyed some $2 PBR drafts (Yeah buddy!). Was just able to relax and shoot the shit with buddies. Enjoyed the mini golf game at the sports bar too. It was essentially Golden Tee, but just mini golf. Hells Yes.

On Saturday we made it over to new Cowboys Stadium which is pictured above. That place is absolutely mind-boggling. I have been to some really cool stadiums and parks, and this was the only one where I walked in and my mouth dropped. It was unbelievable and in a good way. I was very interested in what $1 billion could buy you. That answer is an absolute palace. Marble concourses. Lockers made from some rare wood from Africa. And I also hear Jerry Jones Vita-Chamber was somewhere in his dungeon office.

After that we traversed to Dallas to take in a little history at the Grassy Knoll. It is a cool place to visit, but I wish it was a little more somber. Conspiracy theorists are out peddling $5 magazines with pictures, and tourists are taking pictures on the "X" in the street where JFK was shot. Call me old fashioned, but a man was shot there. Would you go stand on top of a grave at a cemetery? I think not. Lets show a little respect kids.

After enjoying some delicious beef brisket, we headed to Arlington for some Cubs/Rangers action. Great game, won in extras by the Cubs. The stadium for being nearly 20 years old is really nice and it was absolutely packed. The atmosphere was great. And my trip was a complete success after the win

We went back out to the same place Saturday night and good times were had by all. I thouroughly enjoyed my trip and couldn't have asked for a better 40 hours. I did enjoy coming home though.

And for the record, I have now been to a baseball game where before the first pitch, the PA system blares "God Bless Texas." Now I have seen it all.

Come on now....

Come on now Best Buy. You told me I would have my gift card by now and I am disappointed. I sent in my copy of Madden 2010 the better part of a month ago to trade for gift card cash and I am yet to get it back. I am saddened because I am due to get $30, and I would like to use said money on Red Dead Redemption. Every review I have read of RDR gives it glowing marks and talks about how it does nearly everything correctly. You get to run around the old west on horseback and fight ne'er-do-wells. How awesome is that? You can play poker, collect bounties on other players heads, and go hunt bears. Freaking bears, man. I am jacked up for this game, and better get my GD gift card sometime soon. Otherwise I'm going to go to the post office and give them a piece of my mind. And by piece of my mind, I mean a stern talking to, because you do not mess with post office employees. They will suffocate you in packing peanuts.

Went out to the driving range this past weekend and swung the sticks for about an hour. It felt good, and I look forward to more golf this season. I am seriously contemplating buying a new set, because mine are very old and dirty. They were my dad's clubs at one point and I kid you not when I tell you the woods are made of actual wood. Found a nice set of Wilson irons and woods for $300. Comes with a putter and a really nice bag. It seems to be a good deal, but also a decent name brand set of clubs. I wish I could throw down some cash on Titlelist or Calloway swag, but that stuff runs you the better part of $1,000. So we will see where it goes, but I am excited for the good weather and the possibility of enjoying some golf in the twilight hours.

And lastly, looking forward to my weekend in Dallas to catch some inter league baseball action. The Cubs are atrocious, but who knows. From what I gather the Rangers' and Cubs' bullpens lead their respective leagues in suck, so it should at least be entertaining. Get to see some friends from school, and enjoy some warm weather. Until next time kids, where I will let everyone know about my trip to Texas.

Making my mark...

There is nothing I love more than making a good point to others, and then having them tell me they now agree with my stance. It sounds very snotty of me, but it's a good feeling when you suggest a book or TV show or whatever to someone and they tell you how much they liked it. I am having that moment right now as I convinced Kristi to do her persuasive speech on the ridiculousness that is the MPAA.

The MPAA is the board of people who rate movies for the general public, or as they say, for the kids benefit. Well, this group is nothing more than a self-serving, money grubbing, shit show, who only look out for themselves. They blatantly have double standards and won't fess up to their shenanigans. They say they are not censoring, but in effect it is what they do.

They side with big movie studios because they are the ones that finance their operation. If you have a movie for Paramount, and you are on the border of being rated NC-17, they will send you a laundry list of things that could be cut to get your movie rated R. But if you are Johnny Filmmaker, and you find yourself on that boundary, you get nothing more than a "as it stands right now, this is your rating." That ain't right and it all boils down to cash.

And don't even get me started on the difference between sex and violence. You could show an orphanage being burnt to the ground by a clown with a hatchet stuck in his head and get an R. But if you have a man walking naked from his shower to his bed, you get an NC-17 for dong swingin'. And I won't even delve into what they rate when it comes to a heterosexual scene/homosexual scene. Just be aware if it's a couple a dudes or a couple of ladies, it will get an NC-17 and not be at your local AMC or Marcus Theater.

My point is that ratings are outdated, vague, and useless. I looked at my copy of Dumb and Dumber yesterday, and it was rated PG-13 for off color humor. What does that even mean? Off-color humor? What is this 1886?

They need to define what is what and get rid of the labels. I just want more information to be available, because I think it is hillbilly nonsense that you can take your 6 year old with you to an R-rated movie. Dumb. Yes, ultimately the ratings are there to slightly inform and let a parent make their own decision. But a little more information never hurt anyone. And I don't think telling me something is rated PG-13 for off color humor is enough for me to really know the content of the film.

Childhood Memories....

It is always enjoyable to take a trip down memory lane. And I did such a thing this past weekend when I took in a couple of straight to VHS movies. I watched a couple of animated Batman features, one of them being Mask of the Phantasm from 1993. I remember this movie being awesome, yet at the time I was 8, so surely with time it would lose it's luster and just be childish. Not true sir, it is still awesome. I then took in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker from 2000. It was fantastic as well, and truly should be watched by any fan of The Dark Knight. I just love hearing Kevin Conroy as Batman and Mark Hamill as The Joker

For anyone who grew up watching the animated series in the early and mid-90's, those are the depictions you remember. For anyone I know, the first guy they think about when they hear The Joker is not Jack Nicholson, or Heath Ledger (though he was fantastic), it is Mark Hamill. The way he brought life to an animated character is nothing short of magical and I would have to think in the world of voice work, his for this character is the gold standard.

And to sound like a nerd, I am and always have been more interested in the world of Batman/Bruce Wayne. I always loved that he is just an ordinary guy, who goes through a trauma, and his way to cope is whooping ass. And as great as that is, it is truly the villains that make any superhero. And Batman has some great ones. My personal favorite was always Two-Face, basically because he didn't give a damn and really had no moral compass. Except for flipping a coin and giving you a 50-50 chance. I am really saddened that he didn't make it through The Dark Knight, because I think he could hold a movie on his own, especially played by Aaron Eckhart. Not surprisingly, the decision to kill him off was the only issue I had with Nolan's epic work.

So I rambled a touch, but the world of Gotham City is truly my favorite fictional place. I owe most of that to Batman: The Animated Series, from my childhood. I urge you to check it out, though I'm sure anyone of my friends that reads this has already seen some or all of the episodes. There are over 100 episodes in total, and all of them fall in the range of great to fantastic.