It's been awhile since I have written about movies....but there's a new crop of 'em out there to tell you about with more coming as we get closer to the holidays.

"Tropic Thunder" is the story of actors making a war movie who end up behind enemy lines in southeast Asia.  There's a lot of action and colorful characters but it's mostly smoke and mirrors and the storyline is hard to follow.  Wait for it to come out on video.

Samuel L. Jackson stars in "Lakeview Terrace".  This one also has a slow-moving plot and is pretty dark...better than "Tropic Thunder" but no Oscar winner.  It'll be on HBO soon enough.

"Righteous Kill" pairs Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino (yes they were in "Heat" togetehr but not for the whole film) and they're both BRILLIANT. 

"Ghost Town" is a comedy about a dentist who, following a short brush with death in an operating room, can now see and communicate with the dead.  It's cute but I kept thinking that the dentist sounded like the Geico gecko....

"Eagle Eye" is kind of "Enemy of the State" meets "Terminator"....not only do computers control everything, they also screw with the lives of ordinary people. 

Maybe the best movie I've seen lately is "Flash of Genius"...kind of a cross between "A Beautiful Mind" and "Tucker".  Based on a true story, Greg Kinnear's character invents the intermittent windsheild wiper and then spends a decade fighting Ford for his recognition. The first half is slow but it's a great film.

So go have some popcorn and enjoy a film, will ya?

OK, so it seems I now have a purpose in life.  Not that I didn't have one before, but this one came to me in a vision that I need to visit every major NBA, NFL and Major League Baseball venue and see a game.  I temporarily added one more to the list this summer when we went to Yankee Stadium and saw them beat Oakland (temporarily because "the house that Ruth built" will be demolished after this season when the new Yankee Stadium opens across the street). 


Just to show how awesome the seats were (about 30 rows off the field), here's A-Rod (the $28 Million man) on first. 

It was certainly an experience to be there...but I think I like Dodger Stadium better.

We've taken a fair amount of vacation time this summer but definitely saved the best for last.  A week in Honolulu wasn't nearly enough but it did give me a chance to work on my tan and brush up on my pidgin English.  In case you don't know, that's the language of the islands.  McDonalds recently outsourced about half of their Oahu drive-through windows to a call center in Texas and had to spend a couple of weeks training the mainlanders how to understand the dialect,,,kamainas (locals) have a language of their own.  Here's a sample of a conversation you might overhear in Hawaii, with translations:

MAN:  Howzit sistah!  (Hello.)
WOMAN:  Howzit bruddah!  Where you stay now?  (Hello, where are you living now?)
M:  I stay makai, with da mahu from Waipahu.  (I'm living on the beach.  My roommate is a cross dresser from Waipahu.)
W:  For reals?  Hey, we go get grinds?  (Really?  Would you like to go get sometheing to eat?)
M:  Shoots den.  (OK.) 

And no vacation would be complete without some pictures.  Here I am driving the rental car (what a tourist!).



On the beach at Waikiki:


On the beach at Makaha with our friend Chris:


I have a couple more pictures but they'll have to wait until next time...I'm out of room!