The 'Village' Idiot

Once again Mr. 'One hit wonder' aka, M. Night Shyamalan has foisted upon us another unintended laugh fest.
He should have quit after THE SIXTH SENSE. He hasn't hit that note or even close to it again in 3 tries. Enough already.
UNBREAKABLE was well, unbearable. That is unless you are a big comic book fan and then you probably own it.
SIGNS was laughable. I mean come on! If the aliens had shown up in the middle of a rain storm that would have been good cinema. As it was, we find out at the end that all the scared out of their wits characters needed to do was turn on the freakin sprinklers and the aliens would melt away, literally.
So, in THE VILLAGE, what's it gonna be? I'm almost tempted to go see it just to find out. I'm gonna guess that if the village people put raisins on their front porch the werewolves will run away shrieking. RAISINS! RAISINS! RAISINS!

Happy Birfday!

29 again? Naw! Maybe for the 6th time.
It's DW's birthday today! Everyone give a shout out to her.
And sing loud, she's getting a little hard of hearing in her 'old' age! ;)

A Few Screws Loose

It's back to the British Isles again. After an afternoon of 'Bog Snorkeling' the Brits are off to the race track to watch a 'banger' race or smash up derby with 3 wheeled cars. These cars were once the rage in Britain in the '60's. They are called Reliant Robins. I wish I could have found video of the race. These things roll easier than eggs on Easter Sunday. I'm not quite sure what they were thinking. Maybe they were trying to save money on tires.

Next Box

Those of you salivating for info about the next Xbox, I have a treat for you!
Here is a sneak peak at a sample game that includes pictures of the industrial design for Xbox2. Shhhh, don't tell anyone...

Clean Graffiti?

There's a guy in the UK that is creating 'graffiti' by cleaning dirt and grime off of public spaces in interesting patterns and shapes. Check out the picture gallery here.
I like this quote from a British government official,

"I'm waiting for the kind of Monty Python court case where exhibit A is a pot of cleaning fluid and exhibit B is a pair of my old socks,"

Bourne Again

DW and I saw "The Bourne Supremacy" last night. We enjoyed it a lot. I think it may have even been better than the first. I have heard a lot of reviewers don't agree. I think they are hung up on the whole sequel thing. I say, sequel shmeequel! Let the film stand on it's own. Was it entertaining? Yes. Did it have a good story? Yes.
Stay tuned for my review.

Re-Union

Saturday was a double whamy for our family. We had family reunions on both my Father and Mother's side.
It started with a surprise birthday party for my Grandmother on my Mother's side. She is 85. She is still going strong and to put it bluntly could still kick my butt. (There is a stronger more accurate way to say this but I'm trying to keep this G rated!)
My uncle came from Baltimore with his new wife for us all to meet for the first time. It was a wonderful surprise for Grandma. I think I can speak for everyone that we thoroughly enjoyed meeting our new Aunt Fran. We all were wondering and waiting to see what 'Uncle Botch' would bring home and we couldn't have been more pleased. Welcome to the family Fran!
The only sad thing was that we had to leave so soon for our other reunion. We really wanted to get to know Fran better and to spend time with some cousins we don't see too often.
Next, we sped down the road to the Cunningham Clan reunion. This year was special. We had a woman named Jenny Phillips come with her group and present a program called, "Journey Toward Zion." It was a music filled tribute to a group of Mormon pioneers that have been made famous for getting stuck in the middle of Wyoming in the dead of Winter. Hmmm. Pulling handcarts no less. I wouldn't want this to happen today driving in a heated automobile and they did it exposed to the elements. They were the Martin and Willey handcart company and I have ancestors from both companies.
The program was excellent and we had time to visit with family that we only see about once a year.
I believe families can live together forever. It is nice to be together in this life with those who I hope to be spending the eternities with. It was also a special experience to feel the presence of all those loved ones who have moved on from this sphere and are waiting anxiously for the rest of us to join them.

Bog Snorkeling

I haven't laughed this hard in a long time.
Leave it to the Brits. Bog snorkeling. You actually get on a mountain bike with snorkel gear and ride into an Irish bog. You go in over your head and try to make it out the other side of the bog.
And, yes, this is done on purpose.
My question is, how in the world did anyone ever come up with this?
Now all we need is Ben Stiller and Will Farrell to make a movie about this emerging sport.

Useless Crap

I ran into this the other day. Finally a place where you can go and find only useless crap!
It's brilliant. I wish I had thought of this. I would be a billionaire by now.

Philodox

I learned a new word today. Philodox. Look it up. Don't be surprised if you see a picture of John Kerry next to the definition.
Oh, and it won't be as easy to define as you might think. This word seems to have bi-polar tendencies. Hmmmm.

A Tale of Two Evenings

Most people who know me know that movies are one of my favorite things. One of the things that I enjoy the most is how movies can transport me into a different reality. Even if it's just for a couple of hours, movies can take me away. Movies are powerful that way.
So, the last two evenings at home have provoked a dichotomy of feelings that two particular movies have invoked.
Sunday evening was, THE MAJESTIC. This is a great film. I think one of Jim Carrey's best performances. Martin Landau and Hal Holbrook play great parts as well. This film makes me feel like I am living in circa 1950's coastal California. It is so good at 'taking me away' that I wonder if I wasn't meant to be born at that time and that place. I love it. I love the story and I love the message. The music is sweet as well.
That was the good side of the dichotomy.
Last evening DW wanted to see one of those BBC (Boring British Catastrophes) movies. It was called AN IDEAL HUSBAND. Or, in other words HOW TO POKE YOUR EYES OUT WITH FLAMING SHARDS OF STEEL. Now I have a definitive answer as to why our country, the good ol US of A was founded. It wasn't people fleeing England for religious freedom. It wasn't even people fleeing England for freedom from tyranny. NO, our forefathers were fleeing this crap! If by some cosmic fluke I was transported back in time to mid 1800's England I would find the nearest sharp object and kill myself. Of course if I did that some putz would get Rupert Everett to play my character and make a movie about it.
AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

This Land is your Land...

Here is a fun little 'non-partisan' romp through Presidential politics.
I think both sides of the aisle will get a kick out of this little diddy.
This Land is your Land, this Land is my Land...

Father/Son

KJ and I spent Friday and Saturday in the Uinta mountains at Silver Lake at a church sponsored Father and Sons campout. We had a great time and some good 'fart' food.
Harper our Land Rover finally got to get her feet wet as we had to ford a creek to get to our campsite!

BofM at BandN

In November you'll be able to, for the first time, walk into your local Barnes and Noble and buy a Book of Mormon.

"The Mormon faith has become one of the largest in America," Doubleday Religion Division vice president Michelle Rapkin said. "We're proud to be the first publisher to bring this vitally important work to bookstores across the country and to add it to our outstanding library of authorized religious texts."

The cool thing about this is that Doubleday approached the church asking them for permission to do this.
So, if you're still hiding in the hallway when those young clean cut Mormon missionaries come knocking at the door trying to give you a 'free' copy of the Book of Mormon, you can drive down to BandN and 'buy' one after they leave. Or, if you're afraid someone will see you with it in the checkout line you can log onto Amazon.com and order one while you're still in your bathrobe. Either way, there are less and less excuses to get a hold of and read this great book.

What's in that picanicka basket?

I knew I had seen these guys somewhere before!!!

Independence Day...Again!

How appropriate that near the day our nation celebrates it's birth, Clariticity is celebrating a birth of sorts.
Starting today, Clariticity has a new home. www.clariticity.com.
Thanks to iPaulo for helping me host and thanks to iPaulo and Guadspot for providing some much needed technical (and moral) support.
It's good to be home.

One Nation under God

I found this picture in U.S. News and World Report. It is a picture of our founding Fathers at prayer.
I've been doing some reading about one of our founding fathers recently. I have learned that most if not all of these men were God fearing, God loving, Christian men. I am now convinced that if we were to have these men with us now, if they were able to sit in the halls of our modern day Congress, if they were to appear on the Sunday morning political talk shows, they would express their disappointment in us.
They fought and some even died for our 'freedoms,' for our 'rights'. They felt strongly that all men should have a right to worship however they want. That 'Freedom of Religion' should be one of the foundational tenets of this new democracy called America. I am certain that while they believe in the freedom of worship that did not mean they intended this government to become an atheistic, Godless ruling body. That was not their intention. So many now think that our freedoms and rights in our religious belief should be kept so separate from our government that the two should never meet. It is clear by our founding Fathers own actions in the beginning strokes of this government that they intended for God to be a partner to it.
A picture is worth a thousand words, well the above picture is worth about 1351 words to me. That is the number of words in the Declaration of Independence.

Inflation

A $250 glass of lemonade? Yowza.
The State of Utah is suing the Boy Scouts of America for damages from a forest fire caused by a bonfire at a scout camp.
A scout troop is trying to help with the $14m settlement by selling lemonade for $250 a glass. It better be the best dang lemonade ever or it had better be a very big glass.

Happy Birthday Independence!

Today, July 2nd, is the actual anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Many people wrongly attribute July 4th to that honor. July 4th is actually the day the Declaration was ratified.
Happy Birthday America!

Ho Ho Ho!

It's that mid-year point, half way between last Christmas and next Christmas.
So, one day a year around the first of July it's ok to get out the Christmas music and listen for just one day.
"I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...do dee doo do doo do"

And, just so you know, I'm not the only one!

Judgement Day

God: Saddam, what were you thinking?
Saddam: Who are you?

God: I am the supreme ruler of the universe. I am he who created you. I am all seeing, all knowing.

Saddam: Dang it!