Journal

Frida (3.2 of 5)
Story of the wife of Diego Rivera, a Mexican painter in the 20-s 30-s and 40-s. More tragic than uplifting, but the color palette in the film was amazing. Art Direction and cinematography should get a nod this February. Salma was good; Molina, Golino and Rush were superb. As well as Salma breasts which make about 6 appearances in the movie. The story was jointed and has bad flow, and was probably the reason for limited release in probably one of the hardest markets so far this year. The art to life transitions were wonderful but Amele still takes the cake on this arena. Probably would have done very well in Mexico if it wasn-t in English. Saw at the regal in Rolling Hills, Clean and bright and only adults in the theater. Side Note :Come on chick directors-you need to step it up if you want to be among the greats. Amy Heckerling is the closest but she hasn-t even broken the top 100. I think James Cameron-s ex. Kathryn Bigelow has the best shot since she is still making films.

Extreme Ops (3 of 5)
Ahhh so much potential. Seemed like a fragment of a movie instead of a complete movie. Canada-s own Christin Duguay (The Assignment, Scanners 2, Live Wire) is one of my favorite second tier directors. He is incapable of making a sub par shot, no matter what the budget is. But the is story needed about 4 or 5 more rewrites. Not that what was up there was not good…just incomplete. It-s the story of making a commercial for a Sony camcorder, showing extreme sports people using it in extreme situations. With 80 percent of the commercial done, a very cool commercial I might add, the final shot is a skier using the cam while racing an avalanche. So the crew heads off to Austria. Great shots, great stunts, great dog chase. Bad ending. Saw this at the AMC 9 in Union station in Washington DC. Boy I thought the Galleria was bad. The screen was the same size as mine-literally. They had no VOT center so they put the voices through the left speaker and the music and sound through the right. Lame beyond belief.

Die Another Day (3.8 of 5)
New Blood, New Style, New Meanness, and a New Chick. I haven-t seen bond this pissed since License to Kill. The beginning takes a new twist by capturing and torturing Bond for 14 months-all the way through the title sequence (the weakest so far-but still fun). Bring in new character Jinx and one of the best sword fights I have ever seen, and this bond is worth the price. A few hooky escapes and a lot of coincidences doesn-t make this the best Bond, but almost all the slow parts were cut out to make a fast and nonstop Bond. Saw this in Pentagon City mall in Virginia, not bad considering they were using technology from the 70-s ..old seats, old speakers, old screen.

Rams Win !! 3 in a row. We dominated AZ, even though the score looked close. I was down in San Diego for a Volleyball tourney and a few Birthdays. My Brother Mike wrenched his back on his European Vacation. So he was barely mobile. Anyway we went to a local La Mesa Bar to watch the game. TV-s were small but the food was good, wings above average. And the people were nice. The 20- TV with the ram game was 40 feet away, and OK for me but Deb had a hard time seeing it. So hopefully I am going to be able to stay home for the rest of the season, or cry a lot.

Stat of the Week: Attacks on civilians by Palestinian armed groups :128 attacks / 350 civilians, most of them Israeli, were killed since the beginning of the Al-Aqsa intifada in September 2000.

All the Answers in the Movies:
1. Is the American flag over Mecca the only way to solve all of this? – West Wing
2. Nuke the site from orbit – only way to be sure – Aliens
3. Well you know what I’d Do – I’d start blastin’ – Rio Bravo

1) The next time you see an adult talking during the playing of the National Anthem…..kick their ass.

2) When you witness firsthand someone burning the American Flag in protest…kick their ass.

3) If you witness someone calling an enlisted Marine “Sir,” stand back…..a Marine will kick their ass.

4) Roseanne Barr’s singing of the National Anthem is not a blooper….it was a disgrace and disrespectful. Laugh, and sooner or later your ass will be kicked.

5) Next time Old Glory passes by during a parade, get on your damn feet and pay homage to her by placing your hand over your heart and quietly thank the military member or veteran lucky enough to be carrying her……of course, failure to do either of those will earn you a severe ass kicking.

6) What Jane Fonda did during the Vietnam War makes her the enemy. The proper word to describe her is “traitor.” Hate her or else (asses will be kicked).

7) Last but not least, whether or not you become a member of the military, support our troops and their families. Every Thanksgiving and Christmas that you enjoy with family and friends please remember that there are, literally, thousands of troops overseas wishing they could be with their families. Thank our military for the sacrifices they make every day. Without them, our country would get its ass kicked.

Ram Game Three: Loss-.Dammit.
Rams lose on Monday Night Football and I have become numb too it all. I see what is going on and it kills me that we can-t overcome it. For the last three years we had so much power that overcoming the loss of key players and mistakes was easy. Now we seem one dimensional, and it-s never the same dimension that fails. We came out good, sure 91 yards to a TD is great, but Warner was throwing some of the worst passes I have ever seen. On the second drive we lost marshal and our key against Tampa Bay. Now all they had to do was get Warner. St. Clair gets better each game, but this was a great front 4 he was going against. Warner was knocked silly, and the only defense that can beat us :COVER 2, TB did perfectly. 2 of the 4 picks down the stretch were Warner-s fault. But it was Marshall-s replacements that hurt us by doing bad routes, Warner was throwing where they were supposed to be, and picks resulted. Trung looked horrible, but third string rookie RB Gordon looked great. Also playing great was our defense, almost all of their points came from their defense, because we shut their offence down. We played at 60% not enough to beat TB, but should be OK against the Cowboys-.maybe.

Updates:
Put up a new Movie Trivia Contest in Daily Fun.
My top car choice for next year has a new website: The Honda Element

The Banger Sisters (2 of 5)
An-Indy-, dammit, about 2 groupies from the 60-s that meet each other after 30 years. Hawn is the Penny Lane character from-Almost Famous-, and Sarandon is the-Faruza Balk- character who grew up to be a straight laced mom. The producers shoot for a R-rated Disney flick. But it comes off more like a flick about 50 year old irresponsible sluts. And the mix hurts it in the long run. The one bright point is Jeffery Rush. An anal-retentive innocent, think spacey-s character in-Pay It Forward-, who gets caught up with Hawn along the way. The F-words (and pictures of all the celebrity penises they had) are the only things that made the film R, and it didn-t need them. Saw in San Diego, Indy = Bad Sound, so that didn-t matter.

Saw the game at Bar behind Qualcomm Stadium, A nice little place that reminded me of the sports bar at Mammoth. Will probably go there again for the AZ game.

Angels tied up the World Series, a very exciting one I might add, 1-1 this weekend also. Game 3 tonight in SF. I have a meeting at HOOTERS tonight to pick up some HK DVD-s from jimmy. Hopefully it wont be to rowdy.

White Oleander (1.5 of 5)
Not only was this film a Chick-Flick it was even edited like one; fractured scenes/thoughts/plot. It had good acting and an intriguing story line, but failed in delivering the goods. Saw the film with my Mom and Deb, and all three of us were asking questions after the film. Pfeiffer did her best acting to date, of a woman all men should be weary of. Hell every woman in this film warrants running away from while they are asleep. This was an Indy film with big backing so the failure gets multiplied a few times. Two critics summed it up for me : ROGER EBERT–The performances are often touching and deserve a better screenplay- and PETER TRAVERS-”…the estrogen overload damn near did me in.” Saw in San Diego at the Rancho, nothing in the picture was big screen quality so the lack of big sound and clean picture at the theater was no big deal.

Sorry I haven-t written, Kind of a weird chain reaction weekend.
Sunday I watched my new Shaolin Soccer DVD ..AGAIN-.I think that is 6 times now.
See review below. Then on Sunday I had a Double whammy-My Birthday and the most frustrating Ram game I have ever seen.
For my birthday deb got me a new rams emblem for my car and a new dodger shirt from my yearly DODGER/PADRE game with the family. And she even decided to cook for me on my-Football Day/Sunday-. All was great, and then all fell apart. Giants went up 10-0 when a tipped pass landed in Jason Sehorn (who Martz just happened to call overrated not to long ago) it was a truly slow start. And just was we were starting to heat up, god stepped in and told the refs:-THE RAMS SHALL NOT WIN THIS GAME!- The next 2 quarters showed some of the worst penalty calls I have EVER seen. A P.I. on Aneas when he was in front of the receiver trying to catch the ball, a fumble called back cause Collins was ruled down, 3 off sides never called and bouncing INT. Jesus!! When we had the ball going down for the win with 2 min left-I knew a pick was coming…and I was right. Maybe god just wants us to start with a challenge. Oh well, off to Tampa.

-A Palestinian boy was shot dead today while stoning an Israeli tank.– AP
Boy, I hope the other kids were watching, cause the-Things Not To Do List- doesn-t seem to have enough entries in Palestinian Territories.

Shaolin Soccer (4.7 of 5)
This is the Hong Kong Version not the Miramax-Kung Fu Soccer- or whatever they are going to call it. The DVD is subtitled in English but there is more action than words, so it works out just fine. It-s a comedy/action film about a down and out soccer star and a middle-aged streetwalker. But this is no ordinary streetwalker, in his youth he and his orphan friends were trained by shaolin monks, til the teachers death while the boys were in their teens. Each of the boys mastered a skill: Iron Leg, Iron Head, Iron Shirt, etc.. The Ex Soccer star sees the-iron leg- in action in a street fight and comes up with a plan to create a soccer team to play in the national championship. The old friends are gathered, and the training begins. There is a love story, good vs. evil, and much more. What made this different were the effects. Hong Kong effects have been sub-par compared to US digital. And while not perfect , the effects make the story fun and very watchable. I grew up on 70-s Kung Fu movies, and the same people who loved those films made this film. Stephen Chow is considered the Jim Carrey of Hong Kong, but the fact that he writes/directs/produces and stars in this great film kind of moves him above that. I can see why Disney (Miramax) wants this film, a little trimming and a great family film can come from it.

Whitney Houston at Superbowl XXV
John Byner-s BIZARRE on HBO (Canadian skit comedy show with nudity) and 18 year old named Celine Dion in 1982.
And Kelly Clarkson in the Final Episode of the-2002 American Idol-.

Kelly was amazing, and I even cried when she could not sing her now signature song because of her tears of joy. Pop music is not about singers it-s about music; Catchy songs with people who cant even hit the second registers. But there are singers, good singers, there are just hidden away on Broadway and opera houses and obscure sections of Record stores. Great singers have tried to cross over into the MTV trash by converting to Divas or Michael Bolton, but with mixed results. Simon would smart to steer her away from MTV and more toward VH1. P.S. if you want to see something truly amazing check out her version of ‘Surrender’ 3 weeks ago. It’s available on the American Idol Website. She had strained her vocal chords for 3 months..but still powered through the song and made it even more special.

My favorite quote thus far:
-Whether Kelly has the savvy to support a career is open to question, but she has earned a chance to try. Like an athlete, she marshaled her talents and performed under incredible pressure. Compare that to the dullards on Big Brother, who hope to become TV stars by complaining about each other’s hygiene.–USA Today

Speaking of Big Brother, we are getting down to the nitty-gritty. The-Perfect Gay Man’ Marci has flipped some mental switch this last week to turn from Homo to Homicidal. Amy and Roddy have taken the brunt of his anger. HOH is power and you know what power does. The other thing Deb and I have noticed is that Roddy has kept all of his deals, and everyone has broken theirs. And they blame him. Nice Society kids. I still pick Josh or Dani (boy does Deb hate Dani)

Blue Crush (3.3 of 5)
Chicks Only version of NORTH SHORE. A few really good visuals, and some truly bad ones too. This is a chick flick, Not that-s it-s mushy and relies on emotions that men keep hidden, but the underlying story is about female empowerment without degrading men…and that-s a good thing. It-s about finding you place in life, and the friends that help you along the way. As-amateur entering a pro competition- movies go-it-s beats most of them (does anyone remember RAD or HOT DOG the movie) with the exception of North Shore, Aspen Extreme and maybe Tin Cup.
The new technology helped non-surfers compete at pipeline, with mixed results (facial roto-scoping is still difficult with hand held cameras). As far as the surfing footage went Endless Summer 1+2, North Shore and Big Wednesday still were more effective. Saw this in San Diego at the Rancho, A 2.35 movie shown on a 1.85 screen with shitty sound. But I have become used to it when I see a movie in SD.

Undisputed (2.8 of 5) Probably the weakest of the films I have seen in the theaters this year. Acting was top notch across the board, but the cinematography and action direction was horrendous. Grainy and obstructed by foreground objects for more than 80% of the action sequences. Walter Hill just can-t make cheap movies. He needs 60 Mil or the film just looks like crap. Interesting story idea, but that-s it, no body is flushed out, and nobody is likable. Ving is a bad MF and does a stand out job. Saw this in San Diego at the Rancho, with the worst sound yet (2 blown speakers). And to top it all the lamp was on it last legs, arcing at about 30%. It was almost like watching the movie with the lights on.

Well, a few developments have kind of squelched me a bit. First I got sick. My track record of catching something from sick babies remains a solid 90%. This time it was Tony-s middle child. Certainly not his fault, But babies seem to be my kryptonite. Anyways I-m on the tail end now, riding again and all. Second was the loss of a few friends, no, not death. Just moving away with no plans to return. One got a job in New York though his company, Hint: he is the keyboard player in the Huey Lewis Wanna Bez video on the FUN PAGE. Second was Dave and Timmerie, they got married and decided to move on. They had about 20 pics on this site but I digitally removed them from the pics of took down the pics altogether. Deb had a tough week food wise, but is coming back around this week. She will have a new update to the log tomorrow. And our adopted son Eddie will be moving to San Diego this weekend. Not sure how Ashley and Luci will take it, but I-m sure all will be fine.
Rams lost both the preseason games so far. But everyone looked good. Faulk didn-t play either game, Warner didn-t throw farther than 15 yards-but I think that was the plan.
3rd string Running back looked great even though he almost got his head taken off by an illegal hit in the bears game. Crouch and St Claire are settling in but no trick plays from Crouch yet, but once again, I think that-s the plan. 3 more weeks and all my prayers will be answered. I-m ready for some football.

Bloodwork (2.5 of 5)
I saw it all comin- but everyone else didn-t. So I guess that make it run of the mill for me, and a good film for the over 50. The concept and story was a good one, but clint-s direction was far too loose. To many things just happened…or didn-t happen. Scenes were drawn out when they should have been tighter. At best it was a One-hour SVU episode expanded way to much. Paul Rodriguez-s motivation was off base, Angelica overacted, Jeff-s character was, I don-t know, dull!!!. Even white guys in the theater were yelling-Shoot HIM!!- and not because it would have been climatic…but because the person on the screen was too stupid to do it. Shot in Long Beach…so it was fun to see the scenery, and like most of his movies, Clint does a good job acting and bags another chick half his age. What a life. Saw it at the South Bay Galleria-so just OK across the board.

XXX (3.8 of 5)
James Bond with Slow Motion. Rob Cohen always makes great visuals (Bruce Lee, Dragonheart, and yes Daylight) so they chance to have him do a James bond movie, got me all excited. The film was a hoot to watch, Vin was just as good as his PITCH BLACK character, with even more coolness. And best of all everything (except the Avalanche scene) looked like it was really done. The Drug Raid was by some of the best full-scale shots since HOOPER. There was no clapping at the end, mostly because it was just a James bond movie; we are all so jaded these days. Music was good, No real signature stuff (i.e. Bond, Indiana Jones) but the heavy metal and opera crossovers worked very well. Good job Sony…once again. Sequels will be coming. But the entire JACKASS / XANDER ZONE clones that will come from this will be a scary sight indeed. Sony has made enough this year to release 3 years of crap and still be ahead of the game. (Much like the 3 years before this one). And what the hell was up with the end credits!!! The was one of the best Bridge showings I have seen (on bads were getting stuck in bad seats and Deb-s chair being kicked throughout the show)

Time for a little reflection of the last two weeks:

July 4th. Deb’s Aunt Dot (The other Morgan that got away from the clutches of San Diego) was born on the forth, so the fireworks and party were at her house. Deb’s Dad came up but all the others were locals, even Marsh’s mom dropped by. We chatted for a few hours then out to the front yard for the longest illegal fireworks display of life. 2.5 hours. Mark’s final firework was 2 feet long and had a 12-inch diameter. It shot 100 mortars into the air…very nice. Deb’s Dad brought safe and sane but over an hour of the stuff. But it was fun.
That Friday we headed down to moms, caught a movie, spent the night… then off to Liam’s (Deb’s nephew) pool party. I spent most of the time in the pool throwing 6 and 8 year olds around. But again I had a fun time. Headed back to moms for a movie (see below). Sunday we hooked up with Mike and Dia for breakfast at my favorite whole in the wall (lets just say it is on Palm in Lemon Grove) and another movie. Built a Windmill for mom’s backyard, Click on the XM Radio and home we went.

On Tuesdays bike ride my pedal striped itself out of the crank about 4 miles from home. I walked 1/2 a mile to sport chalet and got a pedal tool, and cranked it back in. All seemed fine then on Wednesdays ride it did it again. Crank is fully striped. Have not been able to find a replacement without a $70 full crank change (Both sides and the spindle). So one last search today, then I’m going to buy a new cruiser like Deb’s for the ride tonight.

I changed my CAR GALLERY to include all of the vehicles I have ever owned. It is far from complete, but a good start.
And speaking of cars…..
As my lease to the greatest car ever has less than a year left, I begin my search for her replacement (even though i plan to buy my beloved PT from the company) Below are the current top three. All are price just below 30K. None of these cars have been test driven, so I may sit in them and cross them off the list instantly (a la X-Trerra).But I have always had good luck with all three brands. Of course all this may be moot and i will just get another PT-he he.

I have liked M Night-s stuff since 6th sense, yes I liked Stuart Little. He maintains a slow moving tone that is more perfect than boring. It-s your life, not a Hollywood life, in real time. He has other gifts that make the entire experience work as well. You have seen these situations before, but you still have no clue how it will turn out. Then BAM something happens, not far fetched at all mind you, that throws the big picture you expected into a tailspin. The vibe in sixth sense maintain a series of muffled-wows- that by the time the end came you had to remind yourself to breathe. Unbreakable was the same tone but less-wow- and more of a journey of discovery. The only way I can describe M Night-s masterful work is to take plot points write them on puzzle pieces, lay the pieces out then slowly build the puzzle. It-s not just one plot point that leads to another, each point touches 2 others as well. All his films are like this. So how does-Signs- make this work you ask?
Well, imagine-War of the worlds- from the point of view of a small family in Pennsylvania. There are no big battles like ID4, or government help. This is Joe Blow-s story, right when the shit hits the fan. That-s the premise, but not what makes the film great. M. Night does what I have not seen in a film in over ten years; he hits every emotion available. Love, Doubt of Faith, Fear, Courage, Anger, Release, Sadness, Understanding, Helplessness, Wonder, and That cool feeling when Arnold suited up and kicked ass in Commando (I think only guys felt that, but it is in this movie). Not only did he hit these marks, each one was required to take us to the next one, or the next three. Without telling you the movie, each item (props, emotions, camera angles) is not wasted and is crucial in the film. Remember the fear you felt watching-The Legend of Boggy Creek- or the robe in your closet that seemed to wave at you as you peak out from under the covers? Those feelings are in this movie. Saw this at the Pacific Theater in Manhattan Beach. Framing was bad but that didn-t matter, sound was the key, and it worked just fine.
One last thing, M. Night is the only filmmaker recently that has had me thinking about the film 2 hours after I left the theater. I can-t eat; I can-t sleep til I understand the big picture of what just happened. This is-Field of Dreams- in that sense. I would love to make commercial films, it-s been my dream since I was 13 with my first 8MM flipper, I, like many others, have seen 90 percent of the films out there and thought of ways to change them to make them better. I still haven-t figured out a way to make M. Night-s films better. It-s a tribute to his talent, and a shinning beacon of my inadequate filmmaking skills. But that-s why I am a computer tech, and not under contract with Lightstorm, Revolution or Village Roadshow-he he

Austin Powers in GOLDMEMBER (3.9 of 5)
Part three, and if you follow the Hollywood trend the most commercial – but not the best. True but don-t fret; all is good in the world! This flick is funny…. real funny. Austin is the same old Austin, and plays the straight man to a much-improved Dr. Evil. Hard to improve upon perfection, but mike did it again. Dr. Evil is still the B-Movie Villain who wants to be A-List Bad Guy. Scott Evil and Mini-Me expand their roles and it is wonderful to see the new directions. Mini-me even has one of the best jokes in the film, not to bad for a guy who plays a mute. All the other players were perfect as usual. Caine was fun to see, but didn-t add much to the film. Two running jokes were so bad that I can’t even recall them right now. But everything else hits the mark.
A side note that I thought was funny….Mike Myers hates guns, and if you watch any of the three films you can see him blinking wildly and not aiming when ever he has to do it. That-s not a quirk of Austin, that-s a quirk of Mike.
By the way the thing that makes this a 3.9 instead of a 3.5 movie is the great opening sequence staring Austin and newcomer Dixie Normus…he he…worth the price of the film all by itself. Saw it at the Bridge in a Directors Hall…Perfect Showing.

More Big Brother 3 Pics in the NEW Cam Gallery.

Started some test jogs on the foot today- still tender, but getting there.
Some more of those HAMAS towel heads bombed a college cafeteria today in Israel. What the hell is going on with the morons? If you want to win this thing you need to follow the rules: Hit military targets…NOT civilians. The UN and the “Infidel” countries (or as I like to say “The Ones with Trees”) are about at the breaking point with these Militant Muslim fucks. Once they cross the line again, you will see the poor Muslim countries get cut off from the western world (financially). Sharon is handling it the right way; Use military intelligence to seek out the people making the bombs and giving the orders, and exterminate them with minimal collateral damage. Then fall back home.
Who knows “jihad” may be coming and I still don-t know the ratio of Militants to Peaceful Muslims in these countries. “The West Wing” says Al Quida is to Muslims as The KKK is to Christianity. If this is the case then that-s like .001% of the population of these countries are the problem, and we should keep doing what were are doing. Continue to surgically remove the tumors from the earth. But if 9/11 opened a new wave of recruitment in these countries, and the numbers are more like 50%. Then something much more drastic must be done.
Anyways Deb is looking great and has a new entry in her DIET JOURNAL today.

Monday Afternoon last week old roommate Phil invited me for a Houston-s/Tanguray Gin Paintball party at Close Encounters in Newhall. It was Wednesday at 10am, so I asked for the day off. After picking up 2 more Huston-s bartenders we were of. All the paint, food, air, drinks were free so a great time was had by all. Phil and I got separated from the start (he was late coming up the hill). He was yellow team, I was red. 5 or 6 of the players had their own stuff. The rest of the 40 were first timers. We played on the field that 2 years before had given me my most glorious moment: Phil/Me showdown in the canyon; he had the better gun-I had the better aim. I am in a lot better shape now so running the hills was a bit easier than last time. Since we were playing with newbies I ran the gamut of rolls : Wing attack, bunker hold, field commander. The last couple games were-capture the flag- so I fell back into my familiar sniper roll. And in the second to last game The 2 girls who stayed back with me and I successfully defended the flag against 12 enemies. Even had a few of the other team come over and congratulate us after. They wiped out most of our team, and still couldn-t get to the flag…he he. Now to the final game. A few of the other team went home (it was 3pm and they had to work that night) so they asked for volunteers to switch sides. As I started to walk over, I was grabbed by three people on my team and was pulled back, Ok…I guess I was wanted. Our general came up with a plan for this-FOOTBALL- game. Surround enemy but don-t advance…then at the 10 min mark regroup and assault down the middle. 10 minutes because that-s when the reincarnation period would be over. A bad plan-but what the hell…it-s the last game. The General and I were the flag defenders all was good till the call back came at 9 min-HUH? They still have a full team. As the march up the middle was started we started dropping like flies. I went halfway up the ridge to spread out more when I slipped. As I slide the hill my foot slid under a root while I kept going over. My foot didn-t release til I heard a-POP- in my ankle, then it slide out from under the root. I was a heap at the bottom of the canyon. I was even shot 3 times before they realized I wasn-t moving. After 2 min I was able to limp off the field. Before I even reached the netting, the other team had won ( The first game not called because of time). The foot swelled up like a balloon, but after x-rays were negative, all I could do was stay off it and ice it.
Here we are one week later and I still hobble around and have to ice it each night.
I didn-t take any pics the day it happened. But here is my foot today-.

Most of the swelling is down and the blood has settled to the bottom of the foot.

I managed a few bike rides with deb. But when we moved up to 14 miles, my ankle would just get worse.

We did see a flick on Saturday:
K-19 (3 of 5)
A History Channel story, which should have been on the history channel. It was a true play by play of what happened. But nothing worthy of a big screen treatment. All the actors were good, but you learn nothing about them throughout the movie. It-s like watching one baseball game and thinking you know the life story about the shortstop. The History channel probably would have done a better job with the background. Kathryn walked through the direction on this, blanking out the great promise she showed with Near Dark, Blue Steel and Point Break. Saw it at THE BRIDGE in a directors screening theater. Perfect showing until the moron next to us decided to take a cell call in the last ten minutes of the film. THANK GOD FOR HOME THEATER!!!!!

REIGN OF FIRE (4.8 of 5)
Wow…All I expected. Dragonslayer meets Road Warrior. A unique and pleasing combo that works. It was dark, it was British, it was moody, but it nailed everything.
A big war between an army and 100-s of dragons wasn-t there, but that-s ok. This was a series of One on One confrontations knowing that the real scale was up above the clouds. The first 20 min, showed the fear of living in these times. Then Enter Van Zant and his Army division. A straightforward American who has traced the terrors roots to London, and came to kick ass. The palette of the film was limited due to the fact that the entire earth was scorched. Just the orange and red of the dragon-s flames supplied any color at all. But when the bull attacks Van Zant-you can see how well the color contrasts work. Bowman-s work is straight forward, but he is 3 for 3 in my book and that doesn-t include his membership in the best 10 X-Files episodes or A-team or Quantum Leap or 21 Jump street or MacGuyver or Brisco County Jr. Hell-if he did an Airwolf he would have been my favorite director of all time. Went to the-great- Bridge cinema for this one. Other than the Hispanic couple behind me, interpreting everything, the showing was perfect. What-do we need a pre-show-El silencio es Dorado- slide now? Is it just me or is the American white culture the only one showing courtesy anymore?

Road to Perdition (3.8 of 5)
Well made is all I can say about this. Everyone did a great job making a gangster movie from the 40-s. Everything that happened, I expected. There were no surprises, No bad acting, no flaws. It was the Godfather on a much smaller scale. Nice.

Since Deb started her diet we have been riding our bikes every day. She wants to do an hour, so this is the route we have been using for the past 2 weeks. We have deviated a little when we have a set destination like a bike shop or my work. But most of the time we stick to this 9-mile route.

See ya out there.
P.S. Pro Baseball is becoming more of a joke everyday…yesterdays All-Star Game was just one more chink in the armor.

No movies this weekend..instead I outfitted Debs Bike with new cruiser bars and a new seat. Went for a 4 mile ride to test it out. I did whip out the Laserdiscs on Sunday and watched SPEED (4.8 of 5) and HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER (4.7 of 5). Also watched the third installment of THE DEAD ZONE on USA Network. A good show with a good style.
Short week and a long weekend ahead.
Have a good one. (stay away from Vegas – the new ground zero)