we wants the redhead

So, I'm a big Disney guy, but I'm not a PC guy. I think political correctness is ruining many things in the country because it's an overused term.   

Having said that, I met the news that Disney is changing up the "redhead auction" scene in the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction at Disney World with mixed feelings. 

In case you aren't familiar with the famous ride, you board a boat, which takes you through a journey through dimly lit pirate scenes. Speaking mostly of the Disney World version (thought Disneyland is very similar), you pass by a mermaid skeleton, a skeleton steering a ghost ship, down a small pitch black incline, then in between a battle between a ship and a fort. The rest of the ride will take you through various comical scenes with pirates looting and drinking and plundering and so on, with World featuring Jack Sparrow, and Land being more traditional.

There is a scene in the second half that shows an auction for... well, women.  Audio animatronics of various sizes stand, waiting to be sold, as one of the pirates yells out "We wants the redhead!" referring to a more attractive... well, woman for sale.  Yes, it's a robot, but you feel me.

Some years ago, during a refurbishment, some scenes were changed to have some of the women weilding rolling pins chasing their men (as opposed to the other way around, as it was for decades before).  Disney now wants both men and women pirates/robots to be involved in looting and buying random things at the auction.

From what I've seen on social media, most people do not want this change, want Disney to leave well enough alone and are "tired of all this PC crap and tired of companies like Disney giving in to the small minority of people who want to change it!", or some such.

At first, I thought "Why not leave well enough alone?"  I mean, it's been like that for a long time, and Disney has monorails that need to be fixed, they have garbage cans that need to be emptied way more than before, pricing is going up, Universal is atop its game and so on -- I mean, Disney has bigger fish to fry, right?

And yet...

There's something about selling a person that bugs me.  Even if it's a robot. 

If Splash Mountain depicted the selling of a slave, or at least a black slave (as that's how we usually think of "slavery"), Magic Kingdom would burn to the ground.  Heck, they won't even release the movie "Song of the South" in the US for sale or streaming (I support it being available, by the way), and so why do we think the selling of females, even depicted as campy, silly characters, are okay?

Let me stop here.  I have a feeling by now, some of you reading are thinking,  "What are you talking about?  You're falling for the same PC crap that Disney is giving in to!" and those who really know me are probably saying "Really? What about you being against (fill in hot topic of the day that I've given my opinion on in recent months) but you support this??"  For that answer, I can definitively... I don't know.  I have no idea.

I do know this, though.  Slavery, at least in this country as we know it, doesn't exist. Trafficking does.  Trafficking is not okay.  Even when it's robots.  

Gosh, I sound silly, don't I?  Robots don't traffic.  They do what they are programmed to do. And it's an old attraction back when making such amusing jokes and scenes were acceptable.  And honestly, I'm sure it's acceptable today... but I really am not bothered by Disney's move to change things up. 

I guess I just pictured some 18 year old girl who'd spent 4 years being trapped in the slave trade (re: sex trafficking), but now free and enjoying a day of magic and fun at Magic Kingdom... and seeing a scene with silly, stupid, goofy looking robot pirates that ended up reminding her of how she was stolen from her family years ago, sold to some billionaire and sent to a foreign country... or a nearby county. 

So that's it. Maybe I'm silly, and I don't plan on defending my position other than what I've stated. I have no problem with people being mad about Disney changing the scene... and if Disney makes an about face and decides to leave as is, I'll probably be fine with it.

But taking out the part where women are sold into slavery?  I'm okay with it. 

This Week in Blog

Didja miss something being posted this week? 

Here's your chance to have some weekend reading during The Summer of Blogging...

Day Six... Its a recap of Days 1 to 5, so you can start from the beginning!

Day Seven... "A Review of Pirates and Mutants"... movie reviews on the newest Pirates film and X-Men First Class

Day Eight... "My Yard Goes Disney"... thoughts on the newest HGTV show, featuring people that have too much time on their hands

Day Nine... "Feelin' Funky"... A random email of encouragment from 2001, using Susan Ashton's "I Go Down" as a message for the power of prayer in poopy times

Day Ten... "The Best Show You've Never Heard"... Wondering what The Deucecast is?  You'll find out by reading this post.

Day Eleven... B@d Movie Trio... Three terrible films that I watched so you don't have too

Next week on the Summer of Blogging... The Deuce Remembered... more of the best of 2010... and OJ Simpson...

The Summer of Blogging Day Twelve

News of the World

Well, once again, its time for The Lovely Steph Leann and I to head to the Most Magical Place on Earth... we'll bug out tomorrow afternoon, leaving on a jet plane, don't do know when we'll be back again...

I wanted to blog something really quickly, so the Death of Swayze wouldn't be all you see for an entire week, and I actually have something on a word document that I was going to post last week, and I ended up discussing 9/11, then on Monday, I was going to post it, and then I found out of the passing of Patrick Swayze. Then, tonight, before I could sit down, do a simple copy and paste and say, "See ya soon", I heard/read some great information about Disney, Walt Disney World and so on, mostly news coming from the D23 Expo, with D23 being the Disney Fan Club and the Expo being a huge convention held this past weekend in Anaheim, California.

So, for the WDW fans out there, and for the Disney-in-General fan, here's some great information to chew on...

FANTASYLAND EXPANSION
--Apparently, there have been leaked blueprints online already about the expansion of Fantasyland in the coming years. I found the prints here, and I'm not sure of the exact validity of the plans, but I can tell you this... Toontown goes away.

--Toontown will be wiped out, taken over by the Fantasyland Expansion. Apparently, most of the princesses--Aurora, Belle, Cindy, etc--will get their own interactive Meet-n-Greet areas, and there will be a Beast's Castle themed restaurant put in as well. Hopefully, they'll have Roast Beast.

--The Toontown Barnstormer will remain, but it will be re-named and re-themed. The Toontown Train Station will become the Fantasyland Train Station, and Mickey & Minnie's houses will be re-located, though they haven't released where.

--Dumbo will be getting a remake as well. They are going to try and eliminate the hot queue that wraps around the Dumbo Flying Circle ride (that The Lovely Steph Leann insists we ride every time we go, which means Friday morning, I'll be riding Dumob) by making Dumbo into a bigger ride, and they have said that there will be a waiting queue room where guests will experience an "interactive circus type atmosphere", whatever that means. John Lasseter has said, "The smallest guests stand in the longest lines for the shortest rides", so there ya go.

--The Little Mermaid Ride that is in Disneyland will also be replicated in Fantasyland in Disney World.

--The construction starts in 2010, and should be completed by 2012, except for the new, expanded Pixie Hollow, which should be finished in 2013.

MOVIE NEWS
--Pirates 4 is a go! Johnny Depp made a surprise, unannounced (repetitive, repeating statement?) visit to D23 Expo to tell the world that Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, will be shooting next year, and will be released the Summer of 2011.



--Also coming the summer of 2011? National Treasure 3... personally, I think the first Natty Treasure is one of the best movies of this decade (I think I'll make that list later this year, since its the last three months of the entire decade, and NO ONE is talking about this!) but the second one left something to be desired.

--Nic Cage, who along with Samuel L. Jackson, has never seen an action script he didn't like, is also starring in a flick called "The Sorcerer's Apprentice", which has walking brooms and that famous hat, but beyond that, nothing really to do with "Fantasia".

--Winnie the Pooh is coming back to theaters... but Pooh is coming back, John Lasseter-style. Lasseter, CCO of Disney Animation, was one of the co-founders of Pixar, and says that he is bothered by the fact that the classic, beloved character of Pooh has been railroaded into a "toddler and infant" character, and feels that Winnie the Pooh should be brought back for all ages. The movie, tentatively released in 2011, will be done with classic 2-D animation and watercolors, throwing away the tripe that filled "Piglet's Big Movie" and "The Heffalump Movie" and such.

--"Rapunzel", on the other hand, is done in CG animation, and will be premiering in 3-D from Disney... I know, I know, this brings thoughts of "Chicken Little", which was good enough, but not classic like we were hoping... however, the early buzz is, despite the CG aspect, its going to be a very good film. Its styled like all the other Princess films, and Rapunzel will likely be pushed as a Disney Princess, sitting alongside Belle and Ariel.


Rapunzel will be voiced by Mandy Moore.

--Early reports on "The Princess & the Frog" are fantastic. Word is, this makes you think of the Disney Renaissance that took place from "The Little Mermaid" to "Tarzan" in the late 80s and 90s.



--"Cars 2" comes out in 2011, and has McQueen competing in a huge international race in Europe, taking with him all of his friends--we know Mater, but I'm guessing Sally, Ramone and a few others will join him. New character Fin McMissle, a car double agent, has been announced, and though casting has not been released, rumors are they are going after Sean Connery

RIDE RENOVATIONS
--Star Tours is being redone... FINALLY! That ride, while in concept is awesome, is just... well, old. And not as fun as you want it to be. But its coming, and its coming in 3-D.

--The MuppetVision 3-D is also getting a refurbishment, and again I say... FINALLY. I love the Muppet attraction in Hollywood Studios, but you can see the film itself and see how grainy, dated and old the movie is. Even in the end, when the "walls crash and you can see outside", the people just look like they are from 1993. And they might be. I didn't see word on when either of these will be renovated.

--And speaking of Muppets, there is a new Muppet movie in the works. The title? "The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made". The title is a re-work of an old Jim Henson concept of Gonzo blowing the movie budget on the opening credits resulting in the remainder of the feature film being shot in the same back lot, clumsily redressed to look like different locations from around the world... report are that comedic writer/actor Jason Segel ("Forgetting Sarah Marshall") will be penning the script, and probably won't follow Henson's concept.

TOY STORY 3
--First, don't forget Toy Story 1 & Toy Story 2 come back to theaters on October 2nd, as a double feature, in 3-D. Its a two week engagement, so make sure you catch it quickly.



--"Toy Story 3" basic plotline is that Andy has grown up, and is off to college. He leaves his toys at an adoption home, where Woody, Buzz, Potato Head, Rex, Hamm, Slinky and the gang are routinely abused by the children... and so they escape. And that's all I know.

And finally, for anyone my age who drools and almost wets themselves at the term "Light Cycle", there's this...

See you in a few.

Destin-nation Pirates (completed)

For those of you who read the first update, there are actually four parts to this post, so make sure you scroll down for what you might have missed!

So, here I am, blogging from a laptop, placed atop a dining room table in a home in Destin Florida. The lovely Steph Leann had three best friends in high school... DeLisa, Lesley and Suzie. All three are now married, with DeLisa & Nick living in Birmingham, and Lesley and Jason living in Crestview, Florida.

This past Tuesday, I looked at the new schedule and realized that I was off work on Sunday, Monday and even Tuesday, a great three days off in a row, which is very scarce. I called up the lovely Steph Leann and said, "Hey, let's go somewhere. I mean, get out of town. Atlanta, or Nashville or wherever, let's just leave town on Sunday morning and stay gone for 24 hours."

She agreed. That evening, she suggested coming down to Destin, where Susie and her hubby Mike live. We stayed here MLK weekend, and thought it would be nice to just come visit. I worked it out at the store where I could be off work on Saturday at 1230pm or so, so we left yesterday (Saturday) afternoon and traveled to Destin.

First stop was dinner... we ate at Captain Dave's seafood house, which wasn't bad. Every year we leave with the Campbell family for a week at the beach during Thanksgiving, eating one really nice dinner before we come home--one year was Captain Dave's. I remembered it being very, very good.

Truth is, perhaps they've lost their touch. Perhaps they were so busy the food quality suffered a bit because of this Memorial Day weekend. Or perhaps it just tastes much better when someone else is paying... I had the Seafood Platter, complete with scallops, fish (today's was Mahi-Mahi), crab, and a candidate in the Food Wing of Dave's Hall of Fame, fried shrimp. The lovely Steph Leann ordered a plate of crab claws.

The food arrived, and I looked on the plate to see two... 2... TWO... fried shrimp. This plate costs me $22, and all I get is two shrimp? Come on, you have to be kidding me. The food was decent, it wasn't bad, don't think it was gross or anything... but it wasn't great. It was just good. If I had paid $15 for the food, I might have been a little happier, but as it was $7 more than that, I was a little disappointed.

The lovely Steph Leann's crabclaw plate was $18. And she, too, was disappointed. Again, if it had been an $8 plate (it was an appetizer, mind you), it might have been better. So, our bill was a little over half-a-hundred, which in itself is okay, because we don't eat out like that very much. Once in a while is nice, though. But we would have liked to be more satisfied with it.

And it gave me acid reflux.

Random note... I just checked my myspace page, and I had a message from Kaci & Jojo. I thought I would mention it.

More on the weekend as the weekend progresses.
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Been out this afternoon. The lovely Steph Leann and Susie and I went out to the Destin outlet mall, where I dropped the girls off and headed off to find lunch. After driving down Hwy 98 a bit, I decided on Whataburger! for my meal of choice, enjoying a big burger, friends and a really big Pibb Xtra.

Fox News was on in the restaurant, and I watched a bit of a special on Natalee Holloway. You know, her mom comes in Starbucks at Cahaba Heights? Like, I've met Beth Holloway, she knows my name, its almost surreal.

Been a slow day, really, nice and relaxing. I went to The Destin Commons to pick up movie tickets for Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End, which we'll all go see tonight. Then, I went back to the outlet mall, just to look around.

I stopped by Bass, where I went in to find some sandals. My feet are a little wide, which means most shoes that fit me perfectly length wise are too narrow to put on. If the shoe doesn't slip on with relative ease, I've learned that the shoe will be uncomfortable.

Led to this exchange:

Saleschick: Hi, can I help you find anything?
Me: Yeah, I'm just trying on sandals. My feet are really wide, and your selection of wide shoes isn't very large
Saleschick: Yeah, my father has that problem. He has wide feet.

And then, she walked away. Without a word. Sigh. And when I went into Timberland, they didn't help me... of course, Timberland never helps me.

Stopped by the Disney Store outlet, picked up a great sweatshirt for $15, went to Rocky Mountain Chocolate and had some strawberry cheesecake ice cream and... Coco-Fizz Chocolate Soda. The girl said it tasted like a carbonated tootsie roll... and she was right. It was weird, but in a good way. Perhaps its the McGriddle Effect.

Then, I went to the Starbucks there. Apparently, a Pizza Hut burned out, and Starbucks bought the building and turned it into a coffee shop. A very, very large coffee shop. Possibly the biggest Starbucks I've seen yet.

And I sit again here in the dining room, on the laptop, waiting for dinner to finish (bbq chicken, baby) and then we'll head to the movie!

More later
_______________________________________

Dinner last night? Ah, BBQ chicken, baked beans, baked potatoes covered in onions, and somewhere in there, Susie made some biscuits. Wow that was some good crap.

Between last night and this morning there's nothing to really speak of, other than perhaps that weird dream I had while sleeping on the Temperpedic sleeper bed system. Its the one that you can jump on, while there is a glass of red wine on the other side, and the glass won't fall over. And that's because the bed itself is as hard as cement. I expected to sink into it, which I did... about 3/4s of an inch.

Anyway, I dreamed I was in a hotel somewhere, on some sort of big group trip. I know that there were tons of random people (only in dreams like this do friends from this area of your life meet friends from that area of your life), but the only people I remember were Paula Maddox and Melissa Robillard, sitting at a patio table having drinks, encouraging me to go jump in the pool because it was refreshing. I mean, any dream with Paula and Melissa in it can't be all bad, right? I'm sure Prince was around somewhere.

The night before I had some other weird dream that I can't remember, though I do recall in the dream I woke up and told the lovely Steph Leann about the dream. I woke up for real not too long after that, Steph and I laid there and chatted for about half an hour, then I went back to sleep, only to have my dream pick right back up where it left off. That ever happen to you guys? I've actually had some dreams take place over three or four nights, like its a mini-series. I need to start writing this crap down.

So, we saw Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End last night... and I really, really liked it. Contrary to the second one, Dead Man's Chest, this wasn't convoluted, confusing and too long. Well, AWE was long (157 minutes after previews), but it didn't feel that long.

The story goes that Barbossa, Will Turner, Elizabeth and the weird African voodoo chick are all going to find Jack Sparrow, who was killed in the last one. It seems he's trapped in "Davy Jones' Locker", which is some area between the real world and the all dead world... perhaps he's "mostly dead", which, according to Miracle Max, is not all dead, he's still some alive.

I thought it funny they were trying to bring him back to life, because all at one point had tried to kill him already (and Elizabeth did), but you find out quickly they aren't trying to save him just because of his winning personality. Everyone has a motive--which might get a little tiring, as Barbossa, Will Turner, Elizabeth and the weird African voodoo chick all have their own agenda, which sets up at least four subplots, but unlike Spiderman 3 which had waaaaay too much happening at one time, they all wind together nicely.

There still are a few unanswered questions I have, including what happened to Calypso, and where were the other ships when The Black Pearl and The Flying Dutchman were in battle in the maelstrom? The maelstrom scene, by the way... number one, baby. Absolutely terrific all the way around.

Possibly one of my favorite parts of the movie is Geoffrey Rush, who plays Captain Barbossa. From the very beginning, you can tell he is having the time of his life playing this character. I mean, the man has played major parts in "Les Miserables", "Quills", and "Munich"... he's had very little chance in his career to just let loose and go crazy with it--and here he absolutely does.

It's not the greatest film of all time, but its the best movie I've seen in a while--I recommend it on the big screen.

We're about to pack up and go get some breakfast... the lovely Steph Leann is craving Magnolia & Ivy, so I'll probably take her there because I'm such a good husband.

Oh, and who is going to watch Pirate Master on CBS? Raise your hand? Just me? Hmm.
_______________________________________

And finally...

...I'm here on Tuesday morning, awake and refreshed from a great weekend, great because it was out of Birmingham, great because I enjoy long car trips with the Lovely Steph Leann, great because we spent some money that we could afford, didn't go overboard, ate great, saw a great movie, laughed alot and made some fun memories...

We left Mike & Susie's around 10am... off to the tea room for Steph Leann, and to find something more manly to eat for me...

A few highlights (and lowlights) from the trip back:

**Stephanie had breakfast at the Magnolia & Ivy Tea Room, started by two older Christian chicks who felt that this business was a great way to minister. She goes there with the women in her family each year on our annual jaunt to the beach for Thanksgiving--as it stands now, though, we'll be at Walt Disney World for Thanksgiving, so I wanted her to go this weekend because she might not get to go
**As feminine as the place is, the scones are freakin' awesome. So what if they are cut in the shape of a heart. Eat two sides and you can make it look like a dinosaur claw.
**It's located at Baytown Wharf, a huge condo, golf and shopping community there in Destin. You really could do almost anything there--buy groceries, eat out, play tennis, play golf, swim, whatever. I'm sure its as expensive as crud to live there, though.
**I had a $5 ham/egg/cheese croissant from the Village Deli there in Baytown Wharf. Steph had encouraged me to get a 'to-go' breakfast from The Broken Egg Restaurant, then meet her on the patio of Magnolia & Ivy to eat. The Broken Egg had a 45-minute wait, plus they don't do to-go orders when there's a wait. So I went to the Village Deli.
**Took me 30 minutes to get my croissant. Only two people working there, and lots of people in line. The lady at the register would take about five or six orders, then run out all the prepared food that had been gathering right in the back. I was sitting in the cafe with my number, 31, next to a guy, #20, who's brother was buying a Mini-Cooper today, and needed to talk to a British guy named Kevin (568-8692) because Kevin owned one and could discuss it.
**I could see directly into the kitchen area, and could see when the food was placed there to be taken out... and could see baskets of food sitting there for ten or fifteen minutes before Register Girl could get to it. Number 20 and myself chatted about the lack of help, when 20 minutes later, we got ours. It had been sitting on the counter about five minutes.
**The trip back was quiet. We listened to Dave Ramsey on podcast. The only commotion was when we were slowed on the interstate due to a small fire that had broken out in the dry median. Steph was angry that some stupid person probably threw their cigerettes out.
**Lowlight of the trip... stopping at a gas station to use the facilities, walking in the available stall only to realize that A) there's not a lock on the door and B) because of A, there's nothing to prevent me from walking in on a really fat guy taking a slam. I only mention this because if I have to suffer, so do you.
**Other lowlight, stopping in Clanton's Shell station to again use the facilities (I have a woman's bladder, I tell ya) to realize that the men's room was out of order. So I stood in line like a chick. Finally got in, debated on whether to actually move the seat up (which means I'd have to touch it) and then to put it back down (didn't want the next people to think the smell was from me). Kinda weird walking out and seeing about five women in line for the room I just came out of. It's like I'm back at Troy State's Alumni Hall, standing outside the room of Roberto the Guatemalen Love Machine (this guy really existed, and there's not one shred of irony in his name, trust me)

It was nice getting home and sleeping in my own bed, though the weird dreams continued. John Travolta made it to my mental REM state last night, though I don't know how.

Bryce Dallas Howard (and other reviews)

As I sat in the theater, watching Spiderman 3 at midnight on Thursday night, my emotions went from happiness to frustration to bewilderment, and back again. And, at 245am, I strode out of The Rave Motion Picture Theater at Lee Branch with only one thought on my mind... I wanted it to be better.

Before we get going, let me answer two questions that will pop up... yes, I am a comic book geek, which includes several Spiderman titles. And no, I don't get angry when movies stray from the comic book vision of a character, as long as it makes sense.

I've been trying for several days to pinpoint exactly what it was that made me not go crazy over this film much as I had after Spiderman 2 and the original. Maybe its a "3" thing... X-Men: The Last Stand, Superman III, Lethal Weapon 3, Police Academy 3, all inferior to the first two that make the series so great... I paid 8 bucks for it, and yeah, I'm okay with the fact that I did, but I wouldn't see it a second time.

The easiest way to do this is just list it... here's what I didn't like:
--It took forever to get to Venom. This was proably the most anticipated villian in a comic book movie in a long, long time, and though the payoff was great, the wait was maddening.
--Kirsten Dunst looks... well, crappy. Playing the gorgeous Mary Jane Watson, she comes across as someone who always has just rolled out of bed. She's sad, she's angry, she's impatient (yes, rightly so, but still). I file Kirsten under "The Angelina Jolie Memorial Chicks Who the Whole World Thinks Is So Hot But I Just Don't Get It Club"
--Harry Osborne is a dork. Plain and simple. The set-up from the last movie is that Harry wants to kill Spiderman for the murder of his father (who was also the Green Goblin). The payoff is like being teased with a steak from Outback and getting a hot dog from Sneaky Pete's.
--Another part that had the potential for being out of this world was Venom taking over Peter Parker. Venom, really an alien symbiote, is aggressive, and makes its host just as aggressive. Peter could have been vicious, crazy, out of control, almost like the Bad Superman vs Clark Kent kind of battle in Superman III (about the only decent part of that wretched piece of bile). What happens is he turns into a joke. Watch the dance scene, tell me I'm wrong.
--Emo Peter Parker. Read the above paragraph.
--Can we have one bad guy who isn't a result of an alien or an experiment gone wrong? Anyone?
--How 'bout they crammed what seemed like 1,633 subplots into this movie... you had Uncle Ben's death revisited, Flint Marko's dilemma, Eddie Brock, Peter loves Mary Jane, Peter likes Gwen, Harry is ticked off, Spidey vs. Venom, Spidey vs. Sandman, Spidey vs whatever Harry Osborne was calling himself (cause it sho' wasnt something cool like the Hobgoblin). I kept wondering if this is secretly a Robert Altman film and no one wanted to admit it.


Oh look, its an excuse to post a picture of Bryce Dallas Howard.

That being said, here's what is right about the film:
--Topher Grace, leaving all shades of Eric Forman behind, as Eddie Brock. Eddie is a journalist who is humiliated, and seeks revenge on Spiderman, and Topher plays him to the hilt. Even when he becomes Venom, Topher is totally cool and mean in the character. --Bryce Dallas Howard as Gwen Stacy. She wasn't really given enough to do in this movie, but she was... uh... well, she's quite the attractive young lady there.
--The effects were astounding. I mean, just simply great. The final battle is pretty wicked-bad too.
--Character actor JK Simmons is perfect as J. Jonah Jameson, and I now cannot imagine anyone else playing the part. (speaking of JK, its surprising how much stuff you'll see him in... Steph and I watched the last 30 minutes of a underrated Kevin Costner movie, "For Love of the Game", only to see JK onscreen as the manager)
--Thomas Haden Church was also perfect as Flint Marko, who ends up being The Sandman. I kinda like how he wasn't played evil, just forced to do bad things to help his family. Reminded me of Ahnold as Mr. Freeze in Batman & Robin. Okay, well, anything that reminds me of Batman & Robin probably isn't that good.
--Bruce Campbell plays yet another small cameo part. Bruce, a buddy of Raimi's, starred in Sam Raimi's classic Evil Dead series, and pops up here and there in various flicks. How can you not like a guy who is starring in a movie called "Bubba Nosferatu and the Curse of the She Vampires", and its not even a porn flick?

Should you go see it? Yeah, probably. I'm not telling you the movie is terrible, because it's not. It's actually pretty good. Not great, not very good, not amazing, just... pretty good. And that hurts me to say it, because when I come out of "Bug", the new Goddess & Global Ambassador Ashley Judd film, "pretty good" is a very good thing to say about it. For something like Spiderman 3, "pretty good" is a disappointment. I hope Harry Potter fares better.

By the way, it might have been only the midnight showing special, but we saw trailers for "Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End" (there's that "3" thing again), Live Free or Die Hard, Transformers, the new Harry Potter flick (you were right, Nikki), and The Bourne Ultimatum. All look great.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Just finished a book called "Cell" by Stephen King. Now, you may not know I used to be an absolute Stephen King Junkie... I joined the "Stephen King Book Club" when I was a junior in high school, and every six weeks, I'd get a new book in the mail. By the time I left the club some five or six years later, I had about 30 of his books, and had actually read several of them... I enjoyed the heck out of "Pet Semetary", "Cujo" and "Christine", all keenly superb to the movies that tried model them. "The Shining" is perhaps the scariest book I've ever read, and my favorite turned out to be "It". Don't judge book by the silly miniseries.

The reason I say "had" 30 of his books is that I put them in The Deuce storage unit, and the Honorable Rev'rn Ty Coffey put two plastic bins of clothes atop of my book boxes, causing the closed box to rip and open... thus a year later, I've got 30 books covered in funk and mold. Thanks Senator.

I have yet to tackle the Dark Tower Series... frankly, it intimidates me. If I have trouble starting "The Stand", I know all seven volumes of The Dark Tower will kick my buttocks. And the only movies I can say are better than the stories that tell them are "Stand By Me" based on "The Body", and of coure "The Shawshank Redemption", based on "Rita Hayworth & the Shawshank Redemption". Both are from the King book "Different Seasons". Close, however, is "Misery".

Anyway, "Cell" tells the story of a man named Clay, who is estranged from his wife, but has good news to tell her--he just signed a comic book deal with Dark Horse Comics, and on his way to tell her the good news, stops off at an ice cream truck in Boston's Common area for a tasty treat.

A few minutes later, a "pulse" happens, though you don't know that's what it is at that second. Everyone who is or was on their cell phones at the time of the pulse goes crazy... they start killing people, biting into necks, running around grumbling gibberish. All this part I knew going into the story... I was not expecting the story that came to be after it, however.

Clay joins forces with a stranger named Tom, and together they work their way to the safety of a locked up hotel. Along the way, they meet and grab Alice, a 15 year old who had seen her mother get "pulsed" and go crazy, trying to kill her.

Clay's main concern is his son, Johnny G, who happens to own a cell phone, and the group sets off to work ther way up to New Hampshire, where Clay's residence is. Along the way, they make some startling discoveries... for one, the Phone-Crazies, as they are soon to be called, don't come out at night, only during the day time. Early in the morning and late in the evening, they are seen "flocking" in the same direction, all in lockstep with each other, all clearly moving with a common purpose. Another thing Alice picks up is that the Phone-Crazies are getting smarter.

Though never fully explained in detail, the cause of the pulse isn't as supernatural as you might think, and overall, the book is a fantastic story. There is an "out of the blue" death in the last 1/3 that left me rather empty, but after all their travels and meetings with strangers that become instrumental in what they are doing, the book draws to a satisfactory end.

It's classic Stephen King, with words written in such a manner that you can not just picture every character, but also the details of their face, the body langauge they give off and the personalities that you begin to either loath or enjoy, but at least you care one way or another.

I've just started reading "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon", and it's not bad so far either... but I can definately recommend "Cell" to anyone who's thought about buying it. Go for it.

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Watched a great flick called "The Holiday" last night as well... I've heard alot about this, reviews were pretty good, word of mouth has been good--and after seeing it, I can say it earned its praise.

Iris (the wonderful Kate Winslet) is an editor at a magazine, and she's been in love with her ex, Jasper, for three years. He has just become engaged to the girl he cheated on Iris with, and didn't even bother to tell Iris, even though they work in the same building.

Five thousand miles away, we meet movie trailer editor Amanda (a surprisingly cute Cameron Diaz), who is throwing her shoes at her boyfriend Ethan (Edward Burns). It seems Ethan has been out until 3 in the morning frolicking with his secretary. Amanda kicks him out, and now we have two miserable girls.

So Amanda gets online, discovers this "Exchange-a-Home" program, where you change homes (this type of program actually exists, by the way), cars and lives for 2 weeks with someone... and the house she finds is owned by Iris in England. They agree, they swap houses, and we watch two stories unfold... Amanda meets Graham, an charming Englishman played by Jude Law, and they begin a whirlwind romance, while Iris is trying to over Jasper (who keeps calling anyway), and ends up meeting Arthur (Eli Wallach), an elderly legendary movie director, and strikes up a meaningful friendship... then she meets Miles, a movie score composer, played by... Jack Black.


Kate Winslet was my excuse to watch this movie, and lo and behold, I enjoyed it

I really liked this film. It was fun, it was funny and it was sweet in all the right places. All four leads--Winslet, Diaz, Law and Black--were perfect in their roles. The romance between Amanda and Graham is believable, and honestly, I haven't seen Cameron Diaz really attractive in a role since she was Kimmy in "My Best Friends Wedding". The romance between Miles and Iris is more subtle, and for good reason... who wants to see a love
scene involving Jack Black?

Anyone who reads this knows I hold Kate Winslet with high regard, and it was awesome to see her play a modern day Englishwoman... no corsets, no American accents, no sinking ships, just... her character was just average, which made her gorgeous.

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The Amazing Race ended on Sunday night, with a whimper really. It's been an awesome season, mostly because of the teams that annoy everyone, that being Rob & Amber (who were booted in episode 5) and of course, Mirna and Charla, also known as Team Bats***.

Remaining was the aforementioned batty team, Eric and Danielle, and my reality show hall of famers, Dustin and Kandice. A few weeks ago, I was reading the review of the episode on Entertainment Weekly's site (one of many tv and movie sites you can find by going to the side links on the right -->) and for whatever reason, scrolled down to read some comments. There was some jerk who said something like "I read that Eric and Danielle win, D&K come in 2nd, and Mirna and Charla are in 3rd".

So with this in the back of my mind, I kept waiting for Team Bats*** or Eric and the Boobs to get eliminated (but of course, not Dustin & Kandice) just to prove the poster wrong, but when these made it to the final three, I knew who would win. Darn it. Darn it darn it darn it. I am the guy who actually will read the last chapter of a book before I start the whole thing, and sometimes will find out how a movie will end before I watch it, but darn it, let my Amazing Race unfold.

I wasn't alone though... here's what EW's Josh Wolk said to open his review: So the insistently rude spoiler posting on this site was right: Eric and Danielle won. Somewhere out there, our little suspense obliterator was grinning happily as the platonic duo hit the mat first, pleased with himself that this was no surprise to anyone. Now that it's over, how will he spend his summer? Attending birthday parties and shouting out what's in each present just as children are about to unwrap them?

Anyway, I almost felt bad for Team Bats*** in the end, because two of the last three challenges were so physically exhausting, there's almost no way to beat Eric & The Boobs, and even Dustin & Kandice. And they didn't, the poster was right, and I was left feeling let down, after all the good build up, I wanted a better finish, and I felt... well, like I was walking out of Spiderman 3 all over again.