The Love Guru

Whoever talked George Harrison into starring in The Love Guru outta be fired!
Besides his cover of Dolly Parton's 9 to 5, nothing else The Quiet One did in that move was even remotely funny.

Step Brothers

Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, both of whom had a hand in the development of Step Brothers, make me laugh just by showing up on screen. Like the best parts of Talladega Nights, the funniest scenes in Step Brothers are when Brennan (Ferrell) and Dale (Reilly) face-off against each other, each determined to one-up and out-do the other. From fart jokes to over-the-top hi-jinks, the flick made me laugh almost nonstop.

It also reminded me of growing up with my brother.

My brother Jeff and I could be dangerous if left alone and bored. Although six years younger than me, Jeff was lots of fun. During weekends and summer days, we'd pace off 20 steps and throw hard objects at each other. It didn't matter much what the object was -- rocks, Frisbees, baseballs, rocks -- we took turns chucking things at each other, each hoping his aim was true. The Thrower got two points for hitting his brother; The One-Being-Thrown-At lost a point if he flinched before being hit. Whoever reached 10 points first won.

Jeff won most times. He could toss a stone at my head and watch it draw blood without pause.

Like Dale and Brennan, Jeff and I ended up fighting later on in our adult life. It was over something trivial, and it got blown out of proportion. Unlike Dale and Brennan, we've yet to make up.

Maybe I'll teabag his drum kit.

TFG's Lesson In Wedding Anniversary Gift Etiquette

We all know Year 1 is Paper, Year 2 is Cotton and Year 10 is Tin. What I just discovered, though, is that Year 17 is a Dylan song.

Go figure.

This song's how I felt during the moment I said "I do." And there ain't nothin' that's changed since.

Get To Know Me!

My second favorite way to spend a Friday night alone in a hotel, out of town.

Baby Momma

I knew she was a standout high school basketball player, and I've seen the videos of her work as a TV sportscaster. I even looked her up on Wikipedia, and discovered she won the Miss Congeniality Award during the 1984 Miss Alaska beauty pageant.

And, of course, I know she's the Governor of Alaska, has some big time hate for her former brother-in-law and has a bear rug on the couch-back in her office.


What I didn't know was that Sarah Palin co-starred with Amy Poehler and Greg Kinnear in the slightly funny, completely predictable, one-joke-over-and-over movie, Baby Momma.

That's gonna cost her some votes!

Appaloosa

Ed Harris, who co-wrote, directed and starred as the lead actor in Appaloosa, scores big with this modern western. Harris and co-star Viggo Mortensen are lawmen-for-hire, and arrive in Appaloosa after being hired by town leaders to rid them of bad guy rancher Randall Bragg. Played wonderfully by Jeremy Irons, Bragg is a local rancher with a mean streak and big ambitions.

In quick fashion, those ambitions and the town's new lawmen soon clash.

Appaloosa tells an interesting, modern story through a classic western perspective. Harris and Mortensen are in nearly every scene, together, and their relationship serves as the foundation of the flick. These men live with a bond that is more than friendship; Cole (Harris) and Hitch (Mortensen) respect, admire and trust each other more than they do any one else. Including a flaky chick who tries to weasel her way in between the men.

Although Harris pays homage to classic westerns with Appaloosa, the film never becomes a cliche. The movie stays true to itself throughout.

Catch the flick with a friend! I saw it with my friend Hoyt, which helped me enjoy the movie even more. As usual, we had lots of fun.

Here's some of it:

My Reputation

I'm always curious what my reputation is with others. I have my own ideas, of course, but the thing is I know my perceptions are biased. So, maybe how I see myself isn't at all as others see me.

Maybe I've just been a-foolin' myself all this time.

A co-worker sent me this picture he made, of me as a South Park-sorta character. The resemblance is close. But most importantly, it gives me some insight into how I'm viewed by others.

Maybe I shouldn't be so curious...

Finding Meeno

A little more than a couple years ago, I posted my first "Whatever Happened To..." after a mid-afternoon get-together with my friend Hoyt. We spent some time that day talking about Voyagers, one of the best television shows from our youth, and wondering whatever became of it's child star, Meeno Peluce.

I wrote the post mostly to rid myself of the mental obsession. Since that time, "Whatever Happened to Meeno Peluce" has been the #1 search phrase for people who stumble onto my blog. Sure, at Christmas time "Whatever Happened to Peter Billingsley" gives Meeno a run for his money, but throughout the year people are still curious about the kid from that show who fixed problems with time. 

Meeno is quite a talented photographer these days. (Here's a link to his photo web page (meenophoto.com to prove it.) It's accomplished work, at least to my untrained eye. 

Now if Meeno would just stop by and say hey...

Run, Fatboy, Run

Regret.

It's something I've learned to live with, and a tool I've learned to use during my lifetime to, I hope, help me become a better person. Some folks brag about never living with regret: they live their lives as they want, pay little attention to how they effect other people (or how others effect them) and start each new day with a slate free of angst.

I used to envy those people. During much of my life I hoped to become like them. Learn the skills needed to disregard others. Hit the pillow each night without the worry that my actions caused someone distress. Sleep soundly with the knowledge that I did the day my way, and the belief that if someone didn't like it, they could take a flying leap.

But, that's just not me.

I'm more like Dennis Doyle, the character played by Simon Pegg in Run, Fatboy, Run. Co-written by Pegg and Michale Ian Black, Fatboy is a movie about learning from and overcoming regret. After deciding to leave his pregnant girlfriend at the alter, Doyle barely eeks out an existence during the next five years of his life. He regrets his rash decision, but is unsure how to remedy it. Run, Fatboy, Run tells the tale of how Doyle figures out that he can use the regret to become a better person. A person he can respect, and one his former girlfriend can find love for, again.

Fatboy is a funny movie that feels like a British / American hybrid. It's sensible and romantic, with a couple of fart jokes thrown in for good measure. It's predictable, but well acted. Pegg--who many will remember from Shawn Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz--really carries the lead well, and is successful in getting the audience to root for him.

I did.

Doyle is an easy character to root for, with a likable personality and a sarcastic edge. Some will find the movie too sentimental. But I liked the movie despite that, for it's message and the terrific work of the actors.

My Top 5: Things That Make Me Happy While Off Work On A Weekday

Once in a while I switch up my work schedule, and put in a full day on Saturday instead of a Tuesday, or maybe a Thursday. Although I still work a full week, being off on a typical Tuesday, for example, makes me feel a little bit sneaky.

And I like that.

Here is: My Top 5: Things That Make Me Happy While Off Work On A Weekday.

1. Watching The Rifleman on cable. This western series is one of my all-time favorite TV shows, and the cable channel Encore Westerns has all-day marathons on during the week to celebrate the shows 50th anniversary. The show still stands up today, I think, with it's moody style and it's progressive story telling. (By the way: Lucas fires 12 rifle shots in the opening sequence of each show, but one shot was dubbed in later for editing purposes. So, sometimes you hear 13 shots even when he shoots only 12 times.)

Ummm...did I mention it was an all-day marathon?

2. Reading GRIT, online. Although GRIT has been "celebrating rural America since 1882," I became a fan of the paper back in the 70s, when Bernard Drennen would ride his bike to my house and sell me one of the papers for a quarter. He had a cool bag that held the papers, and as he would sling it over his shoulders I always noticed the word "GRIT" written on the side in colorful letters. I loved the paper then, and still read the online magazine now and again.

3. Re-educating myself on the personal histories of DC comic book villains via Wikipedia. I'd completely forgotten that the Bane character appeared briefly in the '97 disaster Batman And Robin.

4. Catching up on blog-reading, and still being impressed by the quality of writing, insights and humor of the bloggers I frequent.

5. Still walking around in my underwear at 1:45pm. (See # 3 for context.)