Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day to all. And "Thank You" to all the veterans out there (especially Thumper's Spouse Thingy).

This weekend was actually a busy few days for the Pocket Ferengei and I. We both got out a little bit earlier, so the traffic was not as bad as it normally was...so there was no need to use my "traffic kitty" picture for my Facebook page.



[Every day that there happens to be traffic...FOR NO REASON...I put this picture up with a note that .."Traffic Kitty is at it again".] Our route to and from work is infamous for this. On a beautiful day, we'd sit in traffic for no reason whatsoever (Sometimes, not often, yes there is a reason; but a majority of the time it's for no reason). So, up goes the kitty.

So, Friday night was a nice quiet night at home and we got to watch a movie. This time it was "It's Complicated".

It's Complicated



It wasn't a terrible movie. But by no means is it "Memorably Hilarious!". Merryl Streep and Alex Baldwin are funny in it. Steve Martin plays the 'straight man' to both of them (which is funny, because I LOVE Steve Martin -- especially when he's being funny...but when he tries the serious (which I am not saying he did in this movie), but when he's the supporting actor, he does very well). Now if you want to see him in a really great dramatic role watch "A Simple Twist Of Fate".



One day I'll start doing Top Ten lists (if I can pare them down to 10) of my favorite actors/actresses movies..starting with Steve, (so I can get back to that movie).

Back to "It's Complicated"... it was alright. It was funny at some parts, but as an overall, laugh out loud "Memorably Hilarious" movie...nah, not so much.

It's worth a look.

What was a whole lot better than "It's Complicated was "Old Dogs".

Old Dogs



Now this stars another couple of favorite actors of mine: Robin Williams and John Travolta (and Seth Green). Robin Williams and John Travolta star as two friends who own a sports equipment company trying to make a deal with a Japanese company to get the company to sell their equipment in Japan and they sell the Japanese equipment here. (At least that's what I think that story was about). The main story was about men growing older, and finding out what's missing in their lives. Robin finds out that he has twins (7 years after the fact) when their mother (Kelly Preston [Mrs. Travolta]) tells him about them because she's going to jail for 2 weeks for criminal trespass. (Travolta and Prestons daughter plays the girl twin, so this was a "family" film in more meaning than one.)

It was a good movie, definitely worth a watch.

Saturday, we had dinner (a cook-out) with our friends Butch and Sundance. A wonderful time was had by all. Good food and great conversation. We got to eat outside on our patio (steaks, corn, yummy)...and we lasted a long time outside; until I got attacked by a kamikaze bug (it smashed right into my forehead). That was enough outside for me. We got to watch the end of the NHL championship with them.

All-in-all it was a great day.

Sunday, the PF and I went to the movies with Bubba and Shark-Boy. We went to see "Prince of Persia" (WOW, I just shocked myself...I went to check and see how it came out in the top 10 list of movies this weekend and it came in 3rd ($30 million) [Sex and the City 2 [I will never see that movie, didn't see the first one, and have no desire to see it] came in 2nd with $32 million; and Shrek the Fourth came in #1 again this week ($43 million this week)...completely shocking.]

Prince Of Persia



This movie was not a bad movie at all. I didn't have any bad or good thoughts about it before going in; it looked like a fun, waste your time kind of movie...which it is, but it's so much more.

Jake Gyllenhall plays a street urchin who becomes an adopted son of his towns king (the character showed bravery in front of the king and he took pitty on the boy...well, maybe pitty's not the word). The king was impressed with how brave he was, so he took him in and raised him as one of his own sons (which he has 2, that we knew of (this being Persia and kings with multiple wives and such).

Now the sub-title for the movie is "The Sands Of Time"; so, yes, this movie deals with time travel. I am not a huge fan of time travel movies; mainly because the writer(s) get it completely wrong. Case-in-point: I still say that at the end of "Terminator 2" the boy should have disappeared when Arnold's terminator got lowered into the vat of molten ore (or whatever they stuck him in). Why? Because they got all the parts and that was supposed to have stopped the war (or time loop, or whatever they were trying to say). I'm just saying. It's the way Cameron set the movie up...but the boy still was alive....agh, nevermind (my head's gonna explode). That's the first 'strike' for Prince of Persia.

The second 'strike' this movie has is because it's based on a video game. My nephew (Shark-boy) loved the games (he even said after the movie, it made him want to play the video games again). Strike 2.

The pluses outweigh the strikes. The story was good (not great, but good); Jake Gylenhall is turning into a good looking action hero, and he's a good actor; the stunt work was fun to watch; Sir Ben Kingsley was great as always; the special effects were pretty decent; the time travel aspect was believable (and it made sense); and they also had Alfred Molina in it in a funny part. [Plus, since Disney is producing it, I kept having "Prince Ali, fabulous he, Ali Ababwa..." going through my mind during the beginning of the movie when the "street urchin" was running away from the guards. (It was exactly like watching that 'Aladin' beginning scene come to life, which wasn't a bad thing; really.)]

This movie is definitely worth a look at in the theatres. It's a keeper (I'll be buying it when it comes out.)

Sunday night the PF and I had another small cook-out, this time with our friends Mr. Anderson and his wife and new baby girl (Emily). They are a very nice couple that we hang-out with every now and then (usually we have a cook-out at the beginning and end of summer with them); and now they just have Emily (and also Pippin their old puppy dog -- 11yrs old). Emily's a cute baby (only 5 weeks old). Most of my family and friends know that I'm not a "baby" person (never have been, never will); but she is a cute baby.

So, Sunday was another very good day.

Today, I'm currently watching Palladia tv station (we have Comcast, it's one of their music/concert channels and today they are showing some pretty good concerts). We just finished watching Genesis (which was pretty decent [especially when we have the closed captioning on (now I can see what they are singing)]. Now I'm watching (well listening to) "Journey: Live In Manilla" (without Steve Perry). The guy they got to replace him was drowned out on the first song (which I can't remember what it was, isn't that sad...it was just on). Then they played "Only The Young Can Say" and he got a little bit better; and he sort of sounds like Steve Perry (a lighter sounding Steve Perry, not the crisp/fantastic original). He's doing a decent job..I miss Steve Perry though. I wish he'd get off his "high horse" and come back to the band and make more music. Oh well.

Well, Happy Memorial Day to everybody...hope your cookouts turn out fantastic. (We'll be having one with Bubba tonight when she comes over after her work shift).

More later, Booboo