Staycation: PH & CDS

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This year it didn’t work out that we could take our normal family vacation. We usually spend some time in Indiana and then either Tennessee or North Carolina. With everyone on different work schedules and gas [not to mention the economy] being what it is we opted to take a staycation rather than a vacation. [As in stay Florida and do some day trips…]
We’d wanted to see Cirque Du Soleil for years and decided that this would be the time to finally do it. Tickets with our AAA discount were reasonable and so last Wednesday we made a day of it.

After a late breakfast the family piled into my “Jack Cartermobile” and headed to Orlando to hit some of the shopping outlets. On the way over we got caught in one of the worst storms that I’ve ever driven in. Lighting was striking all around, rain was coming down in washtubs and visibility was nil — then it started to hail! Luckily the storm passed after just a few minutes and we continued on. Years ago, when the outlets were truly discount shops, we’d drive over on a pretty regular basis. Now you really have to get lucky to find a real bargain since most of the shops are tourist traps. Chris and Mike scored a couple of t-shirts and the Queen found some sort of bags that keep fruit and vegetables longer in the “As Seen on TV” store.We decided to go to Planet Hollywood for dinner before Cirque Du Soleil. The Orlando Planet Hollywood has always been my favorite due to it’s location and unusual design. We hadn’t been there in a few years, so we were all looking forward to it. I’m happy to say that none of us were disappointed. The menu has been updated a bit, but we were still able to get our “Cap’N Crunch” chicken appetizer [they call it something else, but that’s what it is] and it was as tasty as we remembered. Dinner was even better. Mike and I opted for BBQ bacon burgers, Chris had the Philly cheesesteak, and the Queen had a spinach salad. Everyone thought that their meal was the best and no one left hungry. On the way out, we swung through the gift shop so I could score a t-shirt [see the design in the photo above], and then it was off to the circus… literally.

We were really lucky in that we were seated in the second row from the stage. At first I was concerned that we might be too close to the action and get stiff necks from looking up, but that wasn’t the case mainly due to the amount of action going on everywhere! And once the show starts it doesn’t let up. If you’ve ever seen Cirque Du Soleil on television and been impressed you can just begin to imagine what it’s like to see the performers live and so close you could literally [at least from our seats] reach out and touch them.Everything about the show is amazing. You probably already know how awe-inspiring the acts are, but until you see the show live, you don’t realize how well designed the sets and stage are. Or how the special effects and live music work to change the moods of each performance. Looking back, it’s also crazy to think that once the show started there were no words spoken and it never felt like we were watching traditional acts in a “circus.” The time flew by and I left wanting more; not because I didn’t get my money’s worth, but because I was having such a great time. The Queen and kids felt the same. We’ll definitely go back.

After the show we walked around Downtown Disney. The crowds weren’t too bad and the night was just the right temperature to make trips to the Virgin MegaStore and other shops enjoyable. The drive home was filled with laughter and talk about what a great day it had been… we didn’t even complain about the storm.

If only every day could be so perfect.

George Carlin: RIP

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George Carlin, who had suffered from heart problems for years, died yesterday at the age of 71. Carlin, best known for his comedy routine about the “seven words you can’t say on television,” was one of the brightest and wittiest comedians to ever grace a stage. Carlin’s comedy made you think. He challenged your ideas and made you laugh at the same time. What better send off than to quote some of my favorite Carlinisms:

  • Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?

  • I’m not concerned about all hell breaking loose, but that a PART of hell will break loose… it’ll be much harder to detect.

  • One can never know for sure what a deserted area looks like.

  • When someone is impatient and says, “I haven’t got all day,” I always wonder, How can that be? How can you not have all day?

  • If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen defrocked, doesn’t it follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted?
  • I think it’s the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately.

  • The whole meaning of life is trying to find a place for your stuff.

George Carlin repeatedly crossed the line and made me laugh every time. I miss him already. My best wishes go out to his family, friends and fans. I leave you with George Carlin’s thoughts on death [do not click on the link if you are offended by profanity or jokes about religion].

The New Classic Books

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Entertainment Weekly created their list of The 100 Best Books from 1983 to 2008. Using just their choices, here’s my top six:

  1. The Road , Cormac McCarthy (2006)
  2. Mystic River, Dennis Lehane (2001)
  3. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown (2003)
  4. On Writing, Stephen King (2000)
  5. Clockers, Richard Price (1992)
  6. Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986-87)
Wow. That’s pretty bad, I guess. I’ve only read six out of EW’s top 100. So I have to ask, where is Charlie Huston’s Hank Thompson Trilogy? How about Dirty White Boys by Stephen Hunter? LA Rex by Will Beal? Cain by James Byron Huggins? Critical Space by Greg Rucka? The Blonde by Duane Swiercznski? And don’t get me started on graphic novels: The Dark Knight Returns by Miller and Janson — Batman: Year One by Miller and Mazzucchelli — The Punisher graphic novels by Grant, Zeck and Beatty…

The New Classic TV SHows

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Entertainment Weekly created their list of The 100 Best Shows from 1983 to 2008. Using just their choices, here’s my top 10:

  1. Seinfeld, NBC (1989-98)
  2. The Shield, FX (2002-present)
  3. 24, Fox (2001-present)
  4. The Cosby Show, NBC (1984-92)
  5. Miami Vice, NBC (1984-89)
  6. Wiseguy, CBS (1987-90)
  7. The West Wing, NBC (1999-2006)
  8. American Idol, Fox (2002-present)
  9. Survivor, CBS (2000-present)
  10. Frasier, NBC (1993-2004)

NBC and dramas led the way with 5 of my top ten favorites. I’ll bet in five years, dramas will still be my favorite genre, but wonder if NBC will still be the top network.

The New Classic Movies

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Entertainment Weekly created their list of The 100 Best Films from 1983 to 2008. Using just their choices, here’s my top 10:
  1. Pulp Fiction (1994)
  2. Die Hard (1988)
  3. The Matrix (1999)
  4. Aliens (1986)
  5. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
  6. Gladiator (2000)
  7. The Sixth Sense (1999)
  8. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
  9. Casino Royale (2006)
  10. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Looking over the list, each of the films were groundbreaking in that they took what was expected and put a new twist on it.

Great Minds Think Alike

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Yesterday I posted about Dana White tossing Jesse Taylor out of The Ultimate Fighter finals because Jesse got drunk, kicked out a limo window and bothered patrons in an LA hotel. I went on to say that Jesse’s behavior was deplorable, but “Dana had no problems with Jesse and other fighters’ drunken antics on the show. In fact getting wasted and destroying the UFC house has become one of the cliches of the series. They not only give the drunken destruction plenty of air time, but even make the antics part of the promos.” I concluded by saying, “if I was Dana White, I think I’d reconsider my tolerance for the drunken destruction that is encouraged at the house.”

Guess what Ken Iole, who covers the MMA for Yahoo Sports posted today?

Mummy: What to Think

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I didn’t care much for the first Mummy movie. The Scorpion King was okay. I really enjoyed The Mummy Returns. I’m not sure what to expect of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Brendon Frasier is back and this time he’s joined by Jet Li as the bad guy. That’s a good thing. It’s directed by Rob Cohen and I like his work. It will have a bunch of mummies, a yeti, a dragon and a ton of special effects. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or overkill. This trailer hasn’t tipped me in either direction. That can’t be good, can it?

Another MMA Update

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Two days ago we took a look at some rumors flying around about the UFC. Sad to say, I was wrong about Dana White’s announcement. I thought it would be about a tv or merchandising deal. It wasn’t. Instead Dana announced that Lorenzo Fertitta, one of the co-owners of the UFC is going leaving the family casino business to devote his full attention to the UFC. To the average fan that announcement was a big yawn.

***

I also speculated that the big surprise on the last episode of The Ultimate Fighter was that Jesse Taylor would do something stupid to get booted out of the finals. Sure enough, Jesse got drunk, kicked out the windows of a limo and then went into one of the Vegas hotels and created more havoc. Dana White said that Jesse’s behavior was unacceptable and therefore Jesse, despite being undefeated and winning his way into the finals, would be replaced by one of the fighters who had already been beaten.

Was Jesse’s behavior wrong? Absolutely. It was deplorable. Did it warrant him being kicked out of the finals? Possibly. Obviously Dana White thought so. Dana seemed angry and embarrassed. He said that kind of behavior is not what he wants from UFC fighters. Of course, Dana had no problems with Jesse and other fighters’ drunken antics on the show. In fact getting wasted and destroying the UFC house has become one of the cliches of the series. They not only give the drunken destruction plenty of air time, but even make the antics part of the promos.

Jesse doesn’t come across as the sharpest crayon in the box. So he goes out and celebrates making the finals by doing the exact same things that gave him plenty of additional face time on the series and finds himself kicked out of the UFC. Hey, so be it. I was pulling for Amir to win it all anyway, But if I was Dana White, I think I’d reconsider my tolerance for the drunken destruction that is encouraged at the house.

***
Tito Ortiz has a pretty interesting interview HERE. I think that Ortiz still has some good fights in him. I’d love to see him take on Anderson Silva or Dana White.

AFI Ain’t Got Nothin’ on Me [Again]

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The American Film Institute has come up with their list of The 10 Greatest Films in 10 Classic Genres. Here are my top 3 from each genre:


Animation:

  1. The Lion King (mostly because of my memories of seeing how much my sons enjoyed it when we saw it on the big screen)
  2. Toy Story (same reason as #1)
  3. Beauty and the Best (same reason as #1)


Romantic Comedies:

Wow! There are quite a few in the top 10 that I haven’t seen. Makes it easy to pick my top 3:

  1. When Harry Met Sally (mainly because of the classic deli scene — it still makes me chuckle)
  2. Sleepless in Seattle
  3. Moonstruck (Cher and Nic Cage before he became an action star!)


Western:

This is a much tougher category. I love a good western.

  1. The Searchers (The AFI got this one right!)
  2. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
  3. Stagecoach

Ask me again next week and Unforgiven, The Wild Bunch, Shane or even Red River could make the list at 2 or 3.

Sports:

Ah, my all time favorite movie makes this list…

  1. Rocky
  2. Raging Bull
  3. The Hustler
Of course we all know that Sly “Rocky” Stallone and Robert “Raging Bull” DeNiro co-starred in Cop Land! [But did we all know that in 1976, both Stallone and DeNiro duked it out for the Best Actor Oscar!]


Mystery:

Another tough category…

  1. North by Northwest
  2. The Maltese Falcon
  3. The Usual Suspects

With Rear Window, Vertigo and Chinatown just missing out.

Fantasy: The AFI and I agree on the top film! [It’s my all-time #2 favorite movie.]

  1. The Wizard of Oz
  2. King Kong
  3. The Lord of the Rings


Sci-Fi: A bunch of great films made the list, but where is Aliens, The Matrix, Highlander, etc?

  1. Terminator 2: Judgment Day
  2. Invasion of the Body Snatchers
  3. Alien


Gangster: The AFI got it right again… at least with the number 1 slot!

  1. The Godfather
  2. The Godfather, Part II
  3. Pulp Fiction


Courtroom Drama: Wow! The AFI and I are in sync… at least for the top2.

  1. To Kill a Mockingbird
  2. 12 Angry Men
  3. A Few Good Men


Compulsion would have been my third choice if it had made the AFI list.

Epic:

  1. Spartacus
  2. Ben-Hur
  3. Saving Private Ryan


Lists like these make me want to pull down some of the classics and watch them again.

UFC Update

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  • Tomorrow night the final episode of The Ultimate Fighter [before the live fights on Saturday to determine the season’s champ] airs. If you’ve been following the show, then you know that the biggest shocker ending ever awaits. Previews of the episode showed the windows of a limo being busted or shot out. Dana White then said that the finalists had been determined, but because of “the incident” the person involved would not be allowed to fight and would be banned from the UFC.
    My guess is Jesse Taylor did something stupid…. again.

  • Tomorrow at noon Dana White has called a press conference where he is set to announce something that will change the direction of MMA for years to come. There’s speculation that the announcement could be…
    1] the UFC has received clearance for fights to be held in New York which will lead to fight clearance across the nation.
    2] Dana White is teaming with Vince McMahon [of the WWE] to buy complete ownership of the UFC.
    3] Dana White     has signed Randy Couture and Fedor Emelianenko to fight for the UFC later this year.
    My guess is that Dana will announce either a tv deal with FOX, NBC, or ABC… or a deal that puts the UFC logo on clothes in stores nationwide.

  • Dana White has announced that Anderson Silva will move up to light heavyweight to fight James Irvin live on SPIKE on July 19th. Silva will not give up his middleweight title, but instead use the Irvin fight to guage his chances in the heavier division. Silva is considered by many to be the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. Irvin will be a tough opponent and especially motivated coming off his 8 second knockout of Huston Alexander. Obviously Irvin is being considered a stepping stone for Silva. That could provide plenty of motivation for Irvin. If Silva wins, fights against Rampage Jackson and Chuck Liddell would create the potential for the biggest MMA fights [and prize money] ever. My guess is that could provide plenty of motivation for Silva.

    And that is our UFC update for today.

Stan Winston – RIP

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Oscar-winning special-effects wizard Stan Winston passed away yesterday after a seven year battle with cancer. Mr. Winston was just 62 years old.

Over the course of his career Stan Winston worked with most of the big names in Hollywood… everyone from Arnold Schwarzenegger to Steven Spielberg. He won four Oscars [for his work on “Aliens”, “Terminator 2”, “Jurassic Park” and “Batman Returns”] and was considered by many to be the best special effects artist in the business. In addition to his Oscar winning film appearances, Stan Winston’s work could also be seen in “Edward Scissorhands”, “Predator”, “A.I.”, “Big Fish”, “Iron Man”, and so many other fan favorite movies.

Stan Winston is survived by his wife, Karen; a son, daughter, brother and four grandchildren. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends and fans.

The Happening Can Wait [Spoilers]

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M. Night Shyamalan burst onto the scene with his blockbuster hit, “The Sixth Sense.” Since then it’s been a bumpy ride. And while some would say that it’s been all downhill since the “Sense,” I would argue otherwise. Unfortunately the reviews on “The Happening” have been almost universally negative among fans and critics.

The movie blasts out of the shoot in the first scene with a mysterious airborne toxin causing people to kill themselves. The opening scenes are suspenseful and horrific. We’re then introduced to our four main characters: Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel are a newly married couple who are already going through a rocky phase; John Leguizamo is Wahlberg’s friend and father to young Ashlyn Sanchez.

As the four of them attempt to flee the city, reports filter in through laptops, cellphones and televisions of the toxins spreading. The movie quickly becomes a series of scenes of people either running from the wind or killing themselves as quickly as possible no matter how gruesome the death. There are some tense moments in the film [stuck at the crossroads with the toxins coming from all sides, on the porch of survivors boarded in their house, and staying overnight in the home of a truly deranged woman], but soon enough everyone’s running from the gentle breeze coming their way.

The Pitch: “The Birds” without the birds.

The Good: The opening scenes of people killing themselves as those around them try to figure out what is happening — the initial feelings of paranoia as we try to figure out what is happening — the time at the deranged lady’s [played by Betty Buckley] farm.

The Bad: Zooey Deschanel’s character/acting — the scene with the lions — the lack of conflict with what was killing everyone [how do you fight plants] — the ending.

The Ugly: The way the construction workers died — — the guy lying down in the path of the mower.

The Summary: “The Happening” isn’t one of M. Night’s best films, but it’s not as bad as most reviews would lead you to believe. My suggestion, if you haven’t seen it yet, wait to rent it.