For those of you who know me, at least kinda in a superficial way, you know that I dig me some flicks. While I am no Siskel or Ebbert, I like to check out the new movies that are creating buzz and get good word of mouth. I NEVER miss a SuperHero movie. I usually get sucked into all of the Summer Blockbusters, and I ALWAYS want to check out the newest comedies.

Comedies seem to try to set the bar higher each year. One movie comes out with some outlandish shit, the next summer, a new movie tries to top it. I love this!!!

Well, this summer’s masterpiece is The Hangover.

I have literally waited with bated breath since early July when this mutha came out. Each week I found a way to sabotage my attendance. Not appropriate for the kid and he would rather see Ice Age. Gotta help a friend tear down a fence. Gotta work on the weekend. I was starting to think that this flick had officially “shot me the ghost.” Until last Saturday…

… The wife and I got an OFFICIAL REPRIEVE from the constant onslaught that is parenthood. The kid went to a birthday party at a ranch and was officially out of site out of mind for greater than a 24 hour period. This never happens! The stars had aligned! I frantically scoured the movie listing websites while sipping my Starbucks (at Starbucks with my lovely bride), trying to find the PERFECT time to see what I had heard was “The funniest movie of all time!” (from SEVERAL people). 5:05 pm – NorthPark. Done Deal…

This movie hit hard from the GET GO! I love sex humor, toilet humor, fart jokes, etc… This movie had Peh_lun_ty of all of this, and Mike Tyson to boot. While I will not bore you with the details of a lame attempt to review this movie, I will simply say that we were rolling the entire way through. The girl next to my wife was having what appeared to be epileptic seizures she was laughing so hard. The elderly gentleman in front of me missed most of the one liners, but when his wife whispered them back to him, he was cracking me up with his cracking up!

All in all, the movie totally ROCKED! The characters were great. The dialogue was great. The subject matter was great. It was the funniest movie I have seen since…. Last summer: Step Brothers

Next up to try to dethrone it as the DeFacto Funny Movie: Funny People Starts this Friday. I will probably see it a couple of months from now…

I went to see the new Will Smith thriller over the weekend: “I Am Legend.”

On the whole, I enjoyed the movie.  Hasn’t everyone imagined what it would be like to be the last person on Earth?  What would it be like if you were the last survivor on the whole planet?  I found myself thinking rather selfishly… I kept thinking.. “How cool would it be if you could go into any store and grab as many iPods as you wanted?”  Or what if you could just jump in any car on the side of the road and take off and make it yours? (I am superficial this way I guess… )

Although very lonely, Smith’s characted seemed at ease with his lot in life, until nightfall…

This is where I thought the movie struggled.  The zombies… Yes they were scary…  Yes they were cool looking, and yes they kicked major butt.  But, I think the movie started to give too much to them.  I honestly think this movie could be two movies… One movie about how you would survive, react, live, learn, etc. if you were the last man on Earth.  One movie about how to deal with zombies that want to eat you alive.  I wish the movie would have made up it’s mind on being one or the other.

 On the whole, I still enjoyed the movie for it’s unique subject matter.  The special effects seemed good.  The sound was pretty incredible.  The acting, good as always with a Smith vehicle. 

This movie will clean up.  Much like the clean up that is needed at the climax of the movie… Hint, hint…

I recommend it.  But wish it was a little more direct in what it wanted to be.

 Also, I never saw the original (The Omega Man) starring Charlton Heston (see below)… Did You???

Remember Lowenbrau beer and the cheesy commercials in the 70s and early 80s? 

Whatever happened to Lowenbrau anyway?  And what was with the tin foil at the top of the bottle???

We have more imported beer these days.  I guess we also have much more higher end beers also.

I remember the song from these commercials just like it was yesterday.  They played these commercials constantly during football games on CBS.  Great stuff…

The holiday season is always great for so many reasons…  Decorations, family, great food, gift giving and receiving, and your annual dose of Rankin/Bass characters.

For those of you who are not aware, Rankin and Bass were the directors/producers of the old Christmas classics from our childhoods… “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” “Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer,” “The Year Without A Santa Claus.” 

If you grew up anytime after the fifties and sixties, these were a staple of any holiday viewing each year.

After much thought I would have to rank my top 3 Rankin/Bass characters as the following:

1.  Snow Miser – “The Year Without A Santa Claus”    This guy had style.  He dances he sings and he sends an arctic freeze at the drop of a hat.  He is completely etched in my brain when I think of happy holiday memories.

2.  Yukon Cornelius – “Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer”    Yukon is a tough guy and a great friend.  He helps Rudolf in his journey to find himself and get back to help Santa save Christmas.  Why does he always lick his hammer and try to taste gold? 

3.  The Abominable Snowman – “Rudolf”    This snowman is terrible at first but shows his kind heart at the end of the show.  He doesn’t say much, but finds good employment at the North Pole to put the tree topper on the Christmas tree.

In our current nano-second lives where video games look better than real life and computer animation is king… It is nice to know that simple claymation like these movies still holds a place in our hearts.  Every year they wisk me back to my childhood where all I wanted for Christmas was the latest Star Wars action figure and the Atari version of Frogger.  Those were the days….

We went to the annual Neiman Marcus Adolphus Christmas parade this morning.

As always, it was a great parade with many baloons, floats, bands, characters, and happy kids.

My favorite each year is to see the superhero characters.  This year there was the Incredible Hulk, Spiderman, and Captain America.  Captain America came over to us on the sideline and shook hands with me.  He not only had a very firm grip, he was incredibly polite saying “yessir” and “yes ma’am” just as you would think Cap would do.  He has always been one of may favorite heroes.

 As every year, the Hardin Simmons University band was there.  They are awesome! They are so entertaining.  They are outfitted in western gear.  Chaps, boots, spurs, and really great music with style and attitude.  That is what this band is all about.

The balloons this year were decent.  The Grinch, Hello Kitty, Paddington Bear, and Curious George were the main attractions here.  It appeared that the wind might have been making this hard for the balloon handlers.

 Like every year, the parade finished with the big man himself… Santa Claus.  I love to see the childrens faces when he enters the parade.  This is what the holiday season is all about… the happiness of a child.

We will now look forward to next year’s parade.  It is one of our favorite days each year.