Friday, May 15, 2009

Movie Review: Star Trek


I literally just got home from the theater. "Star Trek" is THE must see movie of the summer. I can't imagine how any movie that comes out the rest of this summer can be this good. If there is another that is as good as "Star Trek" then this will be the greatest summer for movies ever. This is one of the easiest 5 star ratings I've ever given.

"Star Trek" is a complete reboot of the franchise. So, for Trekkie's out there, things may happen that they don't like. However, as someone who is not a Trekkie, I loved it. In fact, even though this may be sacrilege to some, I believe this is the best Star Trek film.

The reboot is really well done. Much better than the recent reboot of the Bond franchise, and possibly better than the Batman reboot. Get that Nuke, I said possibly. I'm not saying I liked this movie better than "Batman Begins" but I am saying that the reboot may have been better. Because this is sci fi, J.J. Abrams and crew had more options available to them to make the reboot believable, and they totally pulled it off.

The cast is outstanding. I thought I would miss William Shatner, but Chris Pine does an excellent job stepping into the big shoes of James T. Kirk. My other concern was Zachary Quinto as Spock, because he is also Sylar in "Heroes". However, I very quickly adapted, and it didn't both me for more than 2 minutes. The rest of the cast was good. Of the rest, Simon Pegg was my favorite in the role of Scotty. Also, Leonard Nimoy does a good job reprising his role as an older Spock.

The final highlight of the movie for me was watching it in Iowa. One of the early scenes of the movie shows a young Kirk driving in a stolen vehicle. In the corner of the screen, it says IOWA in big letters. The entire theater erupted in applause at that moment. That was great fun.

Two thumbs way up! Can't wait to see this again and I will buy it when the DVD comes out. I haven't been this excited about a movie in a long time.

Just Stop Talking!!!

Every time Nancy Pelosi, US Speaker of the House, opens her mouth, it just gets worse. Pelosi is already the biggest embarrassment in national political leadership. That was confirmed when she said something to the effect that the Catholic Church didn't actually have a firm position on abortion (um...Speaker Pelosi, they do have a firm position). You would have thought one of Pelosi's aides would have briefed her on that.

This was on top of her already incompetent leadership in the House of Representatives, at least in my opinion. Now there's this, Pelosi is accusing the CIA of lying to her on the issue of "enhanced" interrogation techniques. Specifically, water boarding of detainees at Guantanamo. I don't want to call Speaker Pelosi a liar, but she does have a credibility issue.

If the CIA really did lie to Pelosi, then she's the only one they lied to. No, they didn't lie to her, Pelosi is simply trying to cover her butt with her nutjob district in San Francisco. You see, if they find out that she really did know that water boarding was going on, then she would be on shaky ground for re-election in 2010. So, as was the case with Arlen Specter a few weeks ago, another politician is doing whatever it takes to protect her job. In this case, it's stretching the truth. At least I believe she is stretching the truth. But, if, by some miracle she is not lying, then she is proving that she is incompetent.

So, Speaker Pelosi...please shut up! Please resign from the Speaker's role, and go back to being a normal Representative. That way, this distraction can end and maybe we the people can start to pay attention to the fact that you and the rest of your Washington cohorts have no idea what you are doing! Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Buffalo Wings


Here's a secret about me. I love Buffalo Wings! Well, I should say, I love the Buffalo Sauce used in Buffalo Wings. I actually much prefer Boneless Buffalo Wings or Buffalo Chicken Nuggets to traditional bone-in wings...much less messy. I'm such a big fan of Buffalo flavored chicken, that when asked, I will state Buffalo Wings as my favorite food. Furthermore, I always have a bottle of Cookies Wings 'n Things Sauce in the house. It might classify as an addiction...

Anyway, how did this all start? After my first engineering co-op term, my boss took me and the entire team to a Sports Bar after work. He ordered a plate of wings, and offered me one. I initially refused, but then thought "crap, I may need a job from this guy some day!", so I ate one, and my whole world was changed! When I got back to college, I quickly discovered the best place in town for wings, and ate them whenever I could. And to this day, I try to eat some sort of chicken product coated in buffalo wing sauce at least once per week.

So, where are the best places to get wings? The 2 best for me have been Spondivot's, which is a dive by the Atlanta Airport and the Ram Pub in Brookings, SD (note that I've never been to Buffalo, NY, birthplace of the Buffalo Wing). Of the national chains, I would have to rate the top 3 as :

1) Chili's - best wings for national chains, hands down.
2) Buffalo Wild Wings - many varieties and a good atmosphere. I haven't found one sauce that matches Chili's though.
3) TGIFriday's - the portion is small, but the flavor is good.

You can also get good wing sauce to go with your chicken nuggets at Arby's and Burger King. And, for wings at home, without making it yourself, you can't beat Cookies Wings 'n Things Sauce.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Happy Mother's Day!

Today at church, our priest read the following from Erma Bombeck. I thought it was really good, so I decided to share with all the mom's out there, especially my wife, my mom and my mother-in-law. Enjoy, and Happy Mother's Day!

When the Good Lord was creating mothers He was into His 6th day of "overtime" when the angel appeared and said, "You're doing a lot of fiddling around on this one."
And the Lord said, "Have you read the specification on this order?"
"She has to be completely washable but not plastic"
"Have 180 movable parts . . . all replaceable"
"Run on black coffee and leftovers"
"Have a lap that disappears when she stands up"
"A kiss that can cure anything from a broken leg to a disappointed love affair"
"And 6 pairs of hands"
The angel shook her head slowly and said, "6 pairs of hands....no way."
"It's not the hands that are causing me the problems," said the Lord, "It's the three pairs of eyes that Mothers have to have."
"That's in the standard model?" asked the angel.
The Lord nodded. "One pair that sees through closed doors when she asks 'What are you kids doing in there?' when she already knows. Another here in the back of her head that sees what she shouldn't but what she has to know, and of course the ones here in front so that she can look at a child when he goofs and say, 'I understand and I love you' without so much as uttering a word."
"Lord," said the angel touching his sleeve gently, "come to bed. Tomorrow . . . "
"I can't," said the Lord, "I'm so close to creating something so close to myself. Already I have one that heals herself when she is sick . . . can feed a family of six on one pound of hamburger . . . and can get a 9 yr. old to stand under a shower."
The angel circled the model of a Mother very slowly. "It's too soft," she sighed.
"But tough!" said the Lord excitedly. "You cannot imagine what this Mother can do or endure."
"Can it think?"
"Not only think, but it can reason and compromise," said the Creator.
Finally, the angel bent over and ran a finger across the cheek. "There's a leak," she pronounced. "I told You You were trying to put too much into this model."
"It's not a leak," said the Lord. "It's a tear."
"What's it for?"
"It's for joy, sadness, disappointment, pain, loneliness, and pride."
"You are a genius," said the angel.
The Lord looked somber. "I didn't put it there"

Movie Review: The Day the Earth Stood Still


I knew this movie was going to be bad. I knew it, and yet I watched it anyway. Not only did I watch it, but I didn't shut if off, even when I realized it was going to be horrible. This is one of the rare occasions when I watched a movie all the way through, and gave it 1 star on Netflix. Yup, it's that bad!

This movie managed to have almost everything I hate in a movie, all rolled into one:
  • I'm so sick of "people are bad and we're destroying the planet" talk. I get enough of this from Al Gore and the media, I don't need it in movies as well.
  • All the attempts to show how badly people treat each other were poorly done. Yes, there is a lot of rotten behavior in this world, but there's a lot of good that people do for each other as well.
  • I really dislike movies where they make the military out to be a bunch of buffoons. The US Military deserves more respect than that.
  • Depending on how it's done, making the government out to be a bunch of buffoons can be ok. However, this movie did it badly...very badly.
  • The movie was inconsistent...here's the theme. People are bad and must be destroyed. Oh wait, look at Jennifer Connelly hugging her step-son...well, I better save the world. Come on, there had to be more to it than that!

Don't watch this movie...save yourself 100 minutes out of your life.