Book Review: "The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel Book #4"

I'm not going to use the official title of Book #4 in this series because the title sort of creeps me out. You can see the title on the picture posted with this blog.

Actually, this book sorta creeped me out. Well, that's not the right word. This is going to be a 6 book series and book #4 was sort of a let down. Nothing really happened in this book. I was hoping for fireworks and excitement, and I really got a bunch of nothing.

I'll finish the series as the books come out, but I'm not as excited as I once was.

Movie Review: How To Train Your Dragon

There's just something about the love between a boy and his dragon. I bet you never expected to read that sentence. My oldest son and I went to see "How To Train Your Dragon" yesterday afternoon because it was about 200 degrees here, so outside activities were right out! We saw it at the cheap theater, so we both got popcorn and drinks and still made it out for under $20...gotta love the cheap theater.

"How To Train You Dragon" is the story of the Viking Boy Hiccup. He is a bit of a dreamer, and generally ends up causing trouble wherever he goes. His village is frequently attacked by dragons, and young Hiccup really wants to kill a dragon and win his father's approval. When he fells the most feared of all dragons, he finds that he can't kill it. Hiccup ends up befriending the dragon and learns that maybe his village has been wrong about dragons all along.

I loved this movie. I would rate it 4.5 stars, easily. I found the story surprisingly heartwarming, which is rare for a Dreamworks animated flick...usually they just go for laughs. Don't get me wrong, there were laughs, but the story tugs at the heart strings. I didn't recognize many of the vocal talents, though if you listen hard enough you'll hear Gerard Butler and Jonah Hill. All the vocal talent did a good job. I wish I could have seen this in 3d, but the cheap theater only has 2d...I think it would be very cool in 3d, and Nuke agrees.

Just a random aside. Ever notice how many movies have subplots about son's seeking their father's approval? Maybe fatherly approval is important to kids, especially boys? I'm not saying Hollywood has it all figured out, but they wouldn't keep making these movies if there wasn't something to that. That's really a subject for a more well thought out post, but it just popped in my head, so I wrote it.

Anyway, you should see "How To Train Your Dragon." It's really good and really fun.

Musical Friday

This is my favorite music video in the entire history of music videos. Probably because I love the song and this reminds me of when Chevy Chase used to be funny. Plus, this is from an era when MTV actually showed music videos. Let's go way back to 1986 to enjoy Paul Simon's, "You Can Call Me Al." (Typing that made me feel like Casey Kasem)

Movie Review: "Date Night"

Last night my wife and I had a date night. We have been trying to do Date Night's more often. Usually it involves dinner somewhere, maybe running some errands, and occasionally a movie. Once we went for a really long bike ride which just about killed my out of shape self.

Anyway, last evening after dinner we went to the cheap theater in town to see "Date Night," starring Steve Carell and Tina Fey as the Fosters. They are a married couple who has fallen into a rut, until they decide to break their normal routine. They head into the city for a fancy dinner, and when they hijack another couple's reservation, the mayhem ensues.

Steve Carell and Tina Fey automatically make a movie funny, and this movie was funny. In fact, it would have been a 4 star movie, except the last 20 minutes are sorta iffy. Carell is his usual self (he plays a similar character in everything) and Fey is witty as a suburban mom out of her element. The movie has a real "Adventures in Babysitting" feel to it, and is really hilarious at times, but falls flat at other times. Overall "Date Night" is a very solid 3 star movie.

I Guess I'm Supposed to be Outraged

Over the past few days, the liberal media has been in a tizzy because BP CEO Tony Hayward went yachting this weekend. The liberal media wants us to be irritated about this, after all, how can this man go yachting when there's an oil spill?

This even came up at the White House press briefing when spokesman Bill Burton said, "You know, look, if Tony Hayward wants to put a skimmer on that yacht and bring it down to the Gulf, we'd be happy to have his help," which brought raucous laughter from the adoring press. Burton quickly followed with, "But what's important isn't what Tony Hayward's doing in his free time; it's what BP is doing to take... responsibility for the mess that they've made."

The White House should be careful since President Obama went to a baseball game on Friday night to watch Stephen Strasburg and the Washington Nationals against the Chicago White Sox. And then, on Saturday, the President played golf. And of course, this is what the right wing media wants me to be outraged about today. How can the President watch baseball and play golf when there's an oil spill, unemployment at 10%, a skyrocketing debt, and trouble in Afghanistan?

Look, I can't get outraged about either. Tony Hayward is an adult, as is President Obama. If they believe they can fit these leisure activities into their lives, then more power to them. We spend so much of our time trying to demonize our political opponents that we remain distracted from the real problems, and the media (both left and right) is guilty of promoting this. We have real problems in this country, and frankly, Obama's golf game and Tony Hayward's yacht don't even make the top 100.

Rain, Rain Go Away

Living in Iowa, thoughts of the Flood of 2008 are still fresh in my mind. Even though my house and neighborhood were not significantly affected, the community I live in was greatly affected, and is still recovering from this disaster.

The flood occurred in June of 2008. This June, we've been having crazy amounts of rain again. While it is nothing compared to 2008, it's still a bit nerve racking. Every time I drive by a little creek or any of the many rivers in Eastern Iowa, I notice how full they are. Every time we get a forecast like we have for today (80% rain chance) and tomorrow (80% rain chance), my mind goes back to 2008.

We are in about a 2 week cycle now where we've had rain almost every day. On Friday alone, we got 2.79 inches of rain. Luckily, we remained dry yesterday, but the ground is still really soggy, so any more rain will mean more flash flooding. On Friday I drove through what I thought was shallow water...once I was in it, I realized it wasn't that shallow. Luckily my car made it through, but it was not fun. The extended forecast shows chances of rain through the middle of this upcoming week. Hopefully after that we can get some dry time, we really need it.

This is Why He Gets Paid to Write

...and I don't. I've been trying, somewhat unsuccessfully I think, to convey my issues with Barack Obama's leadership, or lack thereof. Today, a friend sent me a link to a piece by Thomas Sowell at TownHall.com. The piece, titled "Oil and Snake Oil" almost perfectly reflects what I've been thinking for a long time but haven't figured out how to write. I guess that's why Mr. Sowell has a column at TownHall.com and I have a blog.

The basic premise of Sowell's piece is the Obama administration is more concerned about crafting and maintaining an image than it is about governing and leading. He goes on to cite several good examples, including Attorney General Holder's threats to sue BP over the oil spill, and Obama's recent appearance in the Gulf with his sleeves rolled up, apparently ready to work.

I want to be clear that I am not trying to criticize Obama's response to the oil spill in the gulf, but I think Sowell's examples from that are good. I don't know what Obama should have done and I don't have a problem with BP paying for this...though I think we need to be careful about how much BP is demonized. If BP doesn't survive this, that will mean a lot more lost jobs. Bush 41 had the government take over, 2 weeks after Exxon Valdez. Is that what Obama should have done? I really don't know.

I don't claim to be a great leader. But, I have lead a few fairly big programs at work, I've organized several golf tournaments and I serve as treasurer for my kid's Cub Scout Pack, so I'm about as qualified as Obama was when he became President. Now that my qualifications are out there, to my point. One thing I've learned is that threatening other people on your team, never accomplishes anything when you are trying solve a problem. So, sending your Attorney General to the gulf so he can tell BP that you are going to sue them isn't going to help anything...in fact, as Mr. Sowell says, it could put BP in CYA mode and move their attention from fixing the spill.

Another thing I've learned is that appearances, for the sake of appearances don't matter to anyone who is really doing the work. While Obama showing up with his shirt sleeves rolled up, looking like he is ready to work, might impress the media and Obama supporters, the people on the ground trying to get this fixed are probably really annoyed. What the heck is he doing getting in their way? Yes, he had to go there at least once, maybe even twice, but what purpose is he serving now?

Obviously the Obama administration was trying to sound tough and create an image that they are in charge, but in my opinion, and Mr. Sowell's, these actions did nothing to help solve the problem. Anyway, Sowell's piece is much better than my ramblings, and I think you should go read it.