Went to see Clay Walker last night at the Woodlands with Pennie - it was a really good show. Walker seemed genuinely happy to be back among his hometown fans and treated everyone to a fun filled and very entertaining show. Some of the many surprises were the Texans cheerleaders coming on stage and in the audience during the Texans theme song, which he wrote and donated to the city, as well as a duet with his daughter McClay Walker singing, "When she's good, she's good - but when shes bad... she's better"

Walker had two openers, Sherrie Austin and Dierks Bentley - both of them were very good as well. You may not know Dierks by name, but you will soon as his single "What Was I Thinking?" is skyrocketing up the charts. Overall, it was a very good show and I would highly recommend it.

Sorry, I forgot my camera at home so no pics this time...

Oh yeah and I rode a litte on the bike this morning - and have now surpassed 17,000 total miles on the bike.
- posted by Chris @ 1:09 PM

 
Busy, busy, busy. That about sums it all up. I have a lot of stuff to get finished before the USANA International Convention comes up in Salt Lake City.

Some bad news - it seems that Gulliver travelled... or more likely was victim to some predator. He is listed as missing in action and presumed lost. Corky carries on the tradition of Turtle World, but is seldom seen.
- posted by Chris @ 7:32 PM

 
Pennie and I went to see the Blue Man Group and it was AWESOME!! It was without a doubt the BEST concert I have ever attended. Yeah, it was THAT good! To try to describe them would be nearly impossible. Let me just say that if you get the opportunity - you should go see them perform.



Here it is!! Actual concert footage shot bootleg-style with my little camera!

- posted by Chris @ 5:21 PM

 


I saw Tears of the Sun on DVD the other day. I was really expecting it to be a good movie despite the fact that it tanked at the theaters, because I am a big Bruce Willis fan. Well, turns out - it tanked for a reason.... it stunk. The writing was pretty lame - the acting was lame - even the premise was lame. If ever there was a formula movie this was it. Tough guy needed to go in and rescue hot scientist female (why are they always hotties? - duh, nevermind - that one is pretty obvious), hottie doesn't like macho soldier, tough guy bullies her because he has to save her life, tough guy shows soft side, hottie like tough guy afterall - all the while surrounded by typical over-the-top bad guys shooting at them. I think Schwarzenegger made about a dozen movies with this formula. Oh yeah - and he did a better job. Bruce Willis was just collecting a paycheck on this one as they advertised it as "his best work since Die Hard." It WAS diehard - it was just set in a jungle.

RATING 4 out of 10

- posted by Chris @ 5:14 PM

 
Way too many things to blog about right now as a ton has happened and most of it worthy of writing. I wanted to jot a few things down quick before the were erased from memory. I promise to fill in the gaps soon.



Pennie & I went to see Open Range last Friday as she has this thing about Robert Duvall playing a gruff old cowboy. Well let me say that Robert Duvall was born to play westerns. His work in films like The Godfather and The Apostle was extraordinary as well, but as Boss Spearman in this film and Gus McCrae in Lonesome Dove seem to fit perfectly.

Kevin Costner does a good job, if somewhat less believable as Charlie Waite, the good cowboy with a mercenary past. He seems to do two subjects well; cowboys and baseball and it is in directing that which he loves that he really shines.

Annette Benning was a surprise as the rugged frontier woman Sue Barlow. This is the first role I have seen her in long hair and I must say despite the fact that they did everything to make sure she appeared to have a rough life, she looked great. The role was not much of a stretch and as such a great actress was really twiddling her thumbs in a cardboard role.

Whether you like westerns or not - see this movie. If you are a fan of the craft of filmmaking, you must see this film. The gunfight scenes were the breakthrough portion of the film as Costner shows that he has really developed as a director. Take note of the fact that there is little or no background ambience during the shootout. Take note of the fact that most of the bullets missed. And, take special note of how realistic the audio is during the shootout. Costner delivered a great scene.

The only down side of the film was in the opening third. The writing was amatuer as they set up Charlie Wait as the gunfighter-turned-cowpoke-with-a-past. The elementary way in which the writers chose to inform the audience of the character and origin of the main players was insulting to the intelligence.

"Hey Bob, how you been? Remember that time back when...."
"Yeah Ted, but do you remember that time when..."
"Even though we have known each other for decades, now would be a good time to tell you my philosophy on life"

RATING 7 out of 10

- posted by Chris @ 2:39 AM

 
Pennie and I went to see Boston play at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavillion in The Woodlands. They did a pretty damn good job for a bunch of relics. There sound is identical to their albums - which is surprising for any band, much less a band that was big 20 years ago.

Here is us outside the clubhouse ...

The success of bands like Boston and others is further evidence of the growing influence of baby boomers. The people with the money are the boomers - they have the purchasing power to bring back bands that were popular when they were young. You will see more and more of these tours as the market responds to boomers. Because of this trend, I am more and more excited about my USANA business venture as it addresses the desires and need of the boomers. Check out my web page to find more info..
- posted by Chris @ 4:33 PM

 


Well, today was a movie day... I saw two flicks - Tomb Raider - The Cradle of Life and S.W.A.T.
The saving grace for my movie going day is that BOTH of them were FREE. How you ask? Surely, I must have mentioned this before - but for those of you just tuning in - it is because I have a side gig that not only gets me into movies FREE - but PAYS ME TO WATCH THEM!!! Interested? Click here for info...

On with the review...

S.W.A.T. was mildly entertaining. It looked like it wanted to be a Jerry Bruckheimer film when it grew up. This little ditty was directed by Clark Johson, who some of you may know from his role as Meldrick Lewis on the TV Series, Homicide: Life on the Streets... but might have trouble recognizing any of his filmwork. I would say it was a good start for an actor transistioning to director, as he has 15 directing credits on television, but this is his first crack at the big screen.

RATING 6 out of 10

Now on to the hottie...

There are some archeological finds that should remain buried - namely the Lara Craft/Tomb Raider movie franchise. Angelina Jolie promised a much improved tale of Lara's adventures while promoting the film, but again it fell short. The stunts were done for the sake of saying, "hey, look at me - I'm doing a stunt." The writing must have been outsourced to the state school for the mentally challenged as it was too stupid to even be humorous. (No offense meant to those with learning disorders - I apologize in advance for comparing them to the scriptwriters.)

RATING 4 out of 10

And if you tuned in to see more bounce and jiggle from Jolie... aside from this strange superhero-007-bond-girl outfit, there was not even much of that. Just lots of closeups of her paint on tan and pouty lips. What happened to the cargo shorts and boots that she wears in the game?

- posted by Chris @ 4:09 PM

 


I saw Final Destination 2 last night with Pennie as well as Old School. To follow are the reviews of both:

FD2 - is some funny stuff. I don't think they intended for it to be so funny, but their sad attempt at a scary movie had it coming off more like Scary Movie. The gore factor was up to a downright silly level - the story was exactly the same as FD1 - the acting was pedestrian at best - the direction was juvenile and the writing was elementary. But, you ask - did I enjoy the show - I LOVED IT! It was a total hoot as Pennie and I laughed our asses off at the futile attempts to be scary.
RATING 5 out of 10

Old School - is too some funny stuff. The big difference is that it was SUPPOSED to be funny. Will Ferrell is a non-stop laugh riot. The proposition was believable and well thought out. While it followed the "college hi-jinx" formula - it had a great cast and never failed to deliver a laugh where it intended.
RATING 7 out of 10

- posted by Chris @ 2:52 PM

 

Sports Illustrated recently published their list of the fifty greatest sports movies. I would like to set the record straight and put the top ten greatest sports movies of all time in the 'correct' order

#10 Bang the Drum Slowly - Robert DeNiro is exceptional in this example of the brilliant weaving of story and sports.

#9 A League of Their Own - How can you not like Geena Davis in a skirt. This film tells the true story of an under-respected league of women ball players.

#8 Raging Bull - DeNiro has another sports knockout in yet another story-driven tale. The gritty realism is a study in acting and filmmaking.

#7 Field of Dreams - The epitome of a leap of faith - wrapped up in the legend of Shoeless Joe Jackson. Costner's finest work.

#6 Brian's Song - James Caan and Billie Dee Williams will bring a tear to the eye of the toughest guy as Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers.

#5 Eight Men Out - Yet another great true story featuring larger-than-life heroes. The benchmark of a modern baseball movie.

#4 Rocky - Stallone may slur his words, but it is those words and that script that inspired a nation behind this little-movie-that-could.

#3 Breaking Away - Probably the least known of the top ten. This great cycling film features underdogs from the wrong side of town proving that where there is a will there is a way.

#2 The Pride of the Yankees - Take one all-American nice guy, add in America's pastime and a tragic end to a super-human career and you have the story of Lou Gehrig.

#1 Hoosiers - No film tells of the struggle of human condition through adversity and perserverance better than Hoosiers. Gene Hackman is brilliant.

Honorable Mention: The Bad News Bears, Bull Durham, Baseball - A Film by Ken Burns,Caddyshack, The Best of Times

Trivia
Robert DeNiro played the lead in two of the films
Eight of them are true or based on a true story
Five were about baseball
Two were about boxing
One was about football
One was about basketball
One was about cycling
Shoeless Joe Jackson was in two of the films
Three of the films are in black and white
None of them are comedies
- posted by Chris @ 3:20 PM

 
The NFL's all-time leading rusher Emmitt Smith is no longer wearing the star on his helmet and will no longer saunter onto the field in the silver and blue of America's Team. It brings a tear to the eye of any Cowboy fan to see this sight:

It is nearly as painful as the Cowboys' recently published depth chart listing Quincy Carter and Chad Hutchinson as CO-STARTERS! What kind of politically-correct-let's-be-kind-to-the-wanna-be-QB bull is this? Carter was a no-talent bum the last two seasons and he is still a overpaid-burger-flipper this season. Hell, I would rather see, Jerry Jones QB than Quick-hit-me Carter!

I thought Bill Parcels had more balls than that. Pick a QB and live with it.. his quote:

"I don't know what I'm going to do just yet," Parcells said. "I might just play three guys, I'm not really sure though. Probably just about 20 plays each."
- posted by Chris @ 2:20 PM

 

I saw American Wedding yesterday - the 3rd in the American Pie series. It was actually a return to the original format that the second one strayed from slightly. Seann William Scott's Stifler was again the obnoxious pain-in-the-ass that we all love to watch - his Flashdance-style showdown versus Eric Allan Kramer's gay "Bear" character was some extremely funny shizzle. Here's some trivia for you - Eric Allan Kramer played the Norse God of Thunder, Thor in The Incredible Hulk Returns.

All in all, AW was a fun little movie.

RATING 6 out of 10

- posted by Chris @ 12:28 PM

 
Well, it is official. I used every excuse in the book to avoid going to the USANA National Convention, but my team made it impossible. Actually, now that I have decided to go, I am pretty excited. The convention is in Salt Lake City, UT and runs September 10th - 14th. It should be a lot of fun and very educational as well.

As a feature for the BigDogs of USANA, I will be sending out daily emails each night from the convention as well as picture blogs here for everyone to see. Geez, that means I have to remember to bring my laptop, digital camera, battery charger and somewhere in there - clothes.

I also started yet another new venture yesterday - as I develop the website, I will put more information online. I am currently working on my first real estate deal as I have an appointment to sign an option on a property today. I don't intend to purchase the property, only flip it or the option. As this area is developed further, look for it to be a section of the new book "It's Impossible NOT to Make Money." I am currently learning at the foot of the master of real estate investing for nothing down - Mr. Bernard Zick.
- posted by Chris @ 8:40 AM