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.

May Flowers....

As we roll into May, I just wanted to wrap up a few things from my last few weeks.

I did see Kick-Ass last weekend and completely enjoyed my experience. It is crass, calculated, and contemporary (how about that alliteration!).Visually I thought the movie was spectacular, especially a scene that was essentially an animated graphic novel. The action scenes involving gun play were unbelievable and the last time I was taken aback by a person to person action scene was Kill Bill Vol. 1 in 2004. Acting is pretty solid and I must say Nicholas Cage channeling Adam West is pretty entertaining, in a car crash way. It gets a solid grade from me but not for the little ones. And as I would have guessed as I walked into the theater sitting smack dab in the middle was a father and what appeared to be his 7ish year-old son. Terrible parenting. I could never be a movie ticket taker. Because when a parent and their young child came up to me I would berate the "Adult" for making such an awful choice. Take your kid to How to Train Your Dragon, and when they hit puberty they can watch a movie called Kick-Ass.

I have fallen in love with Party Down. It is on Starz, but is on Netflix streaming and it is awesome. It is full of a cast of "Oh, that guy/girl" stars. Adam Scott is rocketing up my favorite actor list with fantastic turns in Party Down, Eastbound & Down, and who could forget his epic portrayal of Griff, on Boy Meets World. The show simply follows people who work parties in California. Absolutely love it, and I am a sucker for half-hour comedies streaming live on Netflix. you can rip through a season in a few days.

And I am rather excited to see Iron Man 2. If only for Mickey Rourke's Russian accent. If the trailers are any indication, it could be the worst Russian accent since John Malkovich's Teddy KGB from Rounders. "It ez my cluuub and I zwill splish ze pot venever ze fuck I pleeeeze."

Movie Thoughts....

Just watched Up in the Air last night. And I must say that I really enjoyed the movie. It was really funny at times, and completely heartbreaking at the same time. The entire theme of job loss and where do you go when you are let go, is really well done and obviously resonates with many people. I'm lucky enough to not have been in that position, (knock on that wood) but a lot of people have been. I could discuss a lot more but it would give away a huge plot twist at the end, and I'm not that guy that tells people unless they really want to know. Suffice to say the acting is awesome. Clooney does his usual, which is outstanding. It really says something about your charm when you play a character that fires people all day long, and the audience still roots for you and likes you. The women are real good, as their Oscar nominations would suggest. Standouts to me are Zach Galifianakis and J.K. Simmons in bit roles as employees who are fired. They showed rage and helplessness at the same time and made it look effortless. And I really liked Danny McBride in this flick, because it was a complete 180 from anything else he has done. His character was quiet, understated, and the complete opposite from Eastbound and Down. I completely understand why it was nominated for Best Picture, and can say of the movies I have seen in the past year it is near the top.

Avatar comes out today on DVD and I have an issue with this release. They are releasing the DVD sans any special features today. And they have the audacity to already be talking about a release sometime in November, that will have deleted scenes, special features, and commentaries. The movie made over $2 billion in freaking box office sales, and the first thoughts out of the people at FOX was "How can we milk this for more?" Absolutely sickening. Companies have been doing this for years with special and unrated editions of certain movies and it is ridiculous. Just put everything you have on a disc and sell it for 20 bucks. You will do plenty of business and not have to worry about anything. So if you are contemplating buying Avatar today, I suggest you don't. Not only because the product will rip you off, but because those in charge are actively trying to rip you off.

Big Ben Falls Hard....

Well it is now official. The "No Fun League" doesn't believe in the phrase, "innocent before proved guilty." And in this case, the accused was innocent (in the law's eyes) the entire time. I have a big problem with Roger Goodell suspending the Steelers QB for 6 games in this upcoming season. I realize that it is a business to run and you do not want your employees detracting from your business, or in this case, product. But the man was accused of sexual assault, the charges were dropped, and yet he still can't go back to his job. I get sick of the NFL holding itself up to a holier than thou level. Is Roethlisberger a meat head for getting himself in this situation again? Of course he is. But suspending him only brings more light to the situation and more attention. So let the man be and let him do his job.

And I am also sick of the Commish wanting to make an example of the big name stars. If your mantra is that our players will be accountable, then at least be fair with the way they give out fines and/or suspensions. I just read a story about a guy who plays for the Colts who is accused of sexually assaulting an employee of a hotel he stayed at during the week of the AFC Championship Game. So let me get this straight, a guy attacks a woman during the NFL season, and nothing is levied on him. A guy is accused of assaulting a woman during the off season, chargers are dropped and he is suspended for 6 games. What's the difference? The guy getting six games is a quarterback and has two Super Bowl rings. So I think Big Ben is getting a raw deal, much like Michael Vick did.

Vick's deal was so raw, it was worn down to the bone. Vick committed heinous acts against animals and was rightly sentenced to prison. Served nearly 2 years in the big house. But I have watched witness testimony say that Vick and now I'm quoting "10 to 15 other NFL players" were involved in the operation. The NFL did no investigating on who those other guys were, and the names have never been released. So Vick's close friends rolled over on him, ratted out the big dog (bad pun I know) and put him away. And the police and the NFL bought it.

I digress a bit and am not sure if I make many good points, but I am sick of the big name players being the ones who take the fall in these issues. If the NFL ever wants to be taken seriously in how it conducts it's players relations, fairness is key. Everyone is on the same level, from rookie to 10 year Super Bowl winning vet.

I really expected a 2 game suspension. It sets a message, and gives the Steelers a chance to come back if they fall in an 0-2 hole. They could reasonably start 2-4 or 1-5, and if that's the case, in a division with Baltimore and Cincinnati, Pittsburgh is dead. I realize you take accountability if you are Big Ben and say that you were wrong to be in that decision. But when the government decides the only thing you are guilty of is being a dumb ass, it should end there.