Movie Review: Casablanca

Like every movie I've seen that is considered one of the best, this one was disappointing as soon as it was over. However, the longer I've had to chew on it, the more I appreciate it.

It is better to have no expectations and be surprised by a movie (You Can't Take it With You, and It Happened One Night), than to have sky high expectations only to not really be inspired (Citizen Kane, Wizard of Oz, Casablanca).

Having said that, this is probably the most entertaining, and the best Black and White movie I've seen. For example, it beats Gone with the Wind simply because it's not so long. And it beats You Can't Take it With You and It Happened One night, simply because it's hard to be a comedy and be the best movie. But I'd rather watch a modern movie like Ocean's 13 most days.

Last weekend of July

We had a busy last weekend of July. First , on Friday we were at camp, of course. I watched 300 kids and leaders do the YMCA, the pop machine, the train, etc, at the "surprise" dance party. The Macarena and the cha-cha slide were mysteriously left out this time. Then I attended the parents meeting on Saturday morning.

Saturday night, we attended Theater in the Park with Devin and Lynn. Footloose. We got to see their new baby first. I am uncomfortable holding babies, and this was no exception. TTIP in the park was surprisingly bearable. Went I went as a kid and teenager, I remember being incredibly bored and uncomfortable every time. Maybe I've just gotten older.

Sunday I played bass at church. We heard from a survivor of the Greensburg tornado, and a missionary from Spain. We only played 3 songs.

Then we went to the wedding of Lt. Col. Mike Harris and Rebecca, Matt Bostick's sister, in Lawrence. The exciting thing about it is that I ate part of the special bride/groom cake. Why? She has a gluten allergy and wanted to let me have some. It was an incredible cake. I enjoyed eating shrimp too. Courtney and I were definitely the youngest couple to show up from our church, by about 40 years. We hung out with the teens that were part of the wedding party. The wedding was Christ focused. It may have been the first wedding I've been to where the minister is a woman. She did a good job.

Then tonight we will watch Casablanca. The girl at the library, who turns out went to my high school, chided me for having never seen it, and said I would love it. I know it is considered to be one of the best. Stay tuned for my thoughts on the movie.

Fireworks by Courtney

Here are some pictures taken by Courtney on July4 when she was at Covenant Cedars Camp in Nebraska.

Freedom Run

I only beat dad by 51 seconds! I will spend the entire next year trying to extend that lead. It was the most humid Freedom Run I remember.

Book Review: Leadership, by Rudolph Giuliani

Rudy is a great author and had many stories and lessons in this book. I listened to it on tape.

He had nearly finished this book when the WTC Disaster happened. In the book, he included many personal accounts and lessons from his life in regards to that tragedy.

It is not really possible for me to outline all of his points about leadership, but his stories were inspiring.

Here are a few of the things he accomplished in New York City:

• Reduced welfare state
• Reduced crime
• Reorganized a failing Child Protection Agency into an independent group.
• Built parks, and other things to improve the lives of citizens
• Had all of his officials chosen before he even became mayor.
• As a U.S. Attorney, took down several criminals, including some in the mafia
• Managed to get elected without compromising his loyalty to the Yankees (also managed to get elected as a Republican in a heavily-leaning Democrat area)
  
• Reestablished a city government center on Sept 11. Managed the crisis.

And there were many other things.

You may be reading between the lines - yes, listening to this made me more likely to vote for Rudy as President of the U.S. in 2008. I'd not only be willing to vote for him, but am excited to do so!

This book is not only for people interested in leadership or politics, but it is for anyone wanting to be inspired. Courtney listened to about half of it when we were driving around, and she is excited to listen to the whole thing in the Fall. I'd be willing to listen to it again.

Here were a few of his leadership mottoes:

• Sweat the small stuff
• Don't assume a damn thing
• Underpromise, Overdeliver
• Stand up to bullies
  

Movie Review: Mrs. Miniver

This was a good movie about a middle class family in England when the Germans began to bomb them, which situates this plot in 1940. This movie starts out with the family doing frivolous things like buying a new hat and car. A city worker names his rose the "Mrs. Miniver", and enters it into a competition.

Then the war starts, and their son joins. Their son gets engaged to the granddaughter of the grouchy lady who always wins the rose competition. Then the father goes out to do some kind of army task. And the wife has to fight off an escaped soldier in her house. Then they spend the night in their bomb shelter while the bombs come down and take down part of their house.

Then their son gets married. Then the grouchy lady lets the city worker win the rose competition. Then the son goes to fly his plane in war. Then a few important people die, and they have the funeral in the bombed-out church. The movie ended with a message that said "Your country needs your money. Buy U.S. Bonds"

It was better than most old movies. I actually said "This one was pretty good".

It was followed by an "MGM Short" special feature - "Mr. Blabbermouth". It was a comedy/documentary about war doubters, who believed everything they heard about how the Allies couldn't win, and talked about it all the time. The documentary presented facts that showed that the U.S. was much more powerful than Japan, etc. It was interesting and educational.

This was Oscar Best Picture winner 1942, the winner the year my dad was born.

Movie Review: Ocean's 13

This movie was very funny and had a great plot. The acting was tremendous. Courtney and I watched this in the theater the night she got back from Nebraska. She really enjoyed the time, and I got to hear her laugh loudly! We are gladly out of touch with the theater and the $9/each cost, and we admit that was shocking!

This was a perfect sequel in the Ocean's triology. Where the first one was to steal, the second one, to protect themselves, the third one is sticking up for a brother.

Fireworks Dud at Royals stadium

Dad and I took in a Royals game to have some father-son time and to see some fireworks. The Mariners quickly went up 4-0 in the first inning, and then not much happened after that! The Royals lost 4-0.

Then we made our way down to some better seats to take in the fireworks display. After 2 or 3 false starts, they announced that the rain earlier in the day damaged some equipment, and that there would be no fireworks. Our tickets could be used as a rain check. I thought that was a good public relations move. Instead of everyone going out angry, many of us were happy.

Here is an article about it: http://www.kansascity.com/sports/story/179206.html

For the family that said they spent $300, and thought a rain check was a gimmick to make them spend more money, I do believe that it's their problem!

Movie Review: Fantastic 4 - Rise of the Silver Surfer

I went to see this movie with Bryson late on Monday night. (You know that erratic behavior when I am a bachelor?)

The movie had a lot of really bad wise cracks (supposed to imitate a comic book?) and lots of sexual innuendos, which I think is odd for a movie that would attract kids.

The action sequences were really good. (Reminds me of Pirates of the Caribbean 2 where that was the only good thing I could say about it.) The villian "Silver Surfer" was really well done.

So basically, they save the planet. With a lot of cheesy situational comedy before that.

The Single Life

I have been "batching it" for about 11 hours now, and I've been reflecting about how different it is. I do things really strangely as a single person. I eat weird things at weird times. (I just ate half a package of pepperoni at 11 PM!). I sleep at weird times (still up at almost midnight writing this). I work at weird times.

One example of a weird thing I did when I was single in Manhattan is that I went out walking around 3 AM in the drizzling rain. Some police officers stopped me and shone a bright light on my and asked me questions, including if I enjoyed watching beautiful women walk by in the area. They took a few pictures of me for their file. I took this to be very strange. Eventually, I found out I was a suspect in the City Park Pusher/Attacker case. It is still vague to me exactly what this criminal did, but he was wanted really badly. It so happens that one visit from a detective, and he was convinced that I couldn't possibly commit any crime. So the moral of the story, is that marriage keeps me out of those situations!

The cool thing is that continued watching the Ken Burns Jazz series. I also just purchased a Stride Piano book. Harlem Stride is the jazz piano style immediately following the ragtime craze. See, I've been learning things!