ModestGeniusXL

Casino Royale

Bond.  James Bond.

Is there any other catchphrase more famously known in all of movies than that?  The reason being is unlike some flicks that come and go, Bond movies have been around in one form or another for decades.  You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone that's never heard of James Bond. 

Thanks to there being so many Bond movies and even a variety of actors that have played him, everybody has their personal favorite.  For the longest time, mine was Roger Moore simply because that's the version I grew up with.  Pierce Brosnan seemed too clean-cut to be an effective one and Timothy Dalton just seemed like a substitute filling in until a permanent hire could be found.  Over the years, I've grown to appreciate Sean Connery as the quintessential 007.  It wasn't his fault that he came from a time when action sequences didn't have the special effects and the choreography that they now have today.

While it still may be a bit early to tell how Daniel Craig is as the latest Bond, at least he's made a very compelling argument with "Casino Royale".  This is almost like a Bond prequel.  We get to see James before he became the suave debonair double-0 that we all admire.  This James is much more rough around the edges.  In fact, I'm hoping they keep him that way for future Bond movies if it means they're going to be as high in quality as this one was.

The first 20 minutes alone were better than any Bond movie I've ever seen in a long time.  For once, a movie makes a great chase scene without having to involve cars.  It reminded me of some of those Jackie Chan movies in his younger days with all the stunts they were doing in that sequence.

As part of his backstory, we get the history behind the "shaken not stirred" trademark phrase.  It was pretty smooth to see how Bond finds out the hard way that there is a distinct way he should have his drink due to the line of work he's in.  However, I still have never understood how either way makes a difference if you don't physically see the person making the drink in front of you with your own eyes.

"Casino Royale" is actually filled with instances where you can see Bond learning tricks of the trade as he goes along.  It's obvious he's already good at what he does before he actually earns double-o status, but there are little nuances he still has to master.  This flick produces many of those on-the-job training moments. 

So is this really the best Bond film yet?  If it's not, it is without a doubt right up there.  "Casino Royale" served its purpose in both reinvigorating the Bond franchise and whetting your appetite for more yet to come.

My rating:  A

The Final Four

I been meaning to get this entry in earlier in the week and kept putting it off.  I actually wanted to do it clear back when the NCAA tournament would have been at the Elite Eight so that shows you how long I had been procrastinating.  Better late than never and since this is the day they dwindle down to two, now is just a good a time as any to give you my take on the teams that are left.

Georgetown Hoyas

Even though Dad says they're living on borrowed time (because let's  face  it...dude did get away with a travel a couple of games ago that gave them the victory), they're my team to the end.  They're a sentimental favorite because their head coach is the son of one of my favorite college coaches of all-time, John Thompson.  I just hope it doesn't prove to be somewhat of a curse that all the "experts" are picking them to win it all.  They're the only team left with a brotha head coach so even if he wasn't John Thompson III, I'd be supporting them all the way.

Ohio State Buckeyes

I'm not going to even give them the satisfaction of preceding their name with "The" like they like doing so much.  That whole thing was always stupid to me.  We all know there's only one OSU, do you really have to be so egotistical to remind everyone?  I do like Greg Oden even though he's the world's oldest looking freshman (I still think it'd be a good idea to check the validity of his birth certificate); however, Greg has the misfortunate of being associated with a school that is located in a town that is evil by association.  Columbus, OH is the home of Nationlied so therefore the whole city sucks.  Pretty much sucks to be anyone there no matter why they're there.

UCLA Bruins

Honestly, I know very little about this team at all.  I even forgot that  they  were the ones in the championship game with Florida last year until I kept hearing it brought up in sports reports talking about their rematch this year.  I couldn't pick one of their players out of a line-up if you paid me.  Suffice to say they've had their ample share of national titles thanks to the Wooden years so they shouldn't feel so bad if they walk away another year disappointed.

Florida Gators

The returning national champions.  Up until this year, the only player I could recognize from them was Joakim Noah.  Ever since his idiotic dancing escapade after their SEC championship, he's been kinda getting on my nerves.  The one Gator I've been enjoying to watch play instead has been Corey Brewer.  That kid is a freak.  Still, they've had their time in the sun with both basketball and football.  Plus, I don't want Noah's head to get any bigger so I won't be pulling for them.  Unless Georgetown somehow loses and Florida wins.  Then I'd have to root for Florida as the lesser of two evils when they face OSU.

And the Winner Is...

Do they still even do the missing kids on milk carton thing anymore?  I know I see their posters as I'm leaving Wal-Mart all the time, but I can't remember the last time I saw one on a milk carton.  Whoever thought up that concept had a pretty ingenious idea.  Now thanks in part to them, someone has invented a new twist on it.

Customers at some suburban pizza parlors in Cincinnati, OH are getting an extra treat with their order.  Wanted posters are being placed on the boxes which feature parents accused of failing to pay child support.

The idea was the brain child of Cynthia Brown, executive director of the Butler County Child Enforcement Agency.  It dawned on her that people running from the law don't eat out.  It's a way of shaming these deadbeats into living up to their responsibilities.

Now many of you may already recall that I have some pretty strong feelings for dads that don't support their own.  I speak from experience having a stepson whose so-called father doesn't know the meaning of the word.  If we were in Ohio, his face would be prominently featured on quite a few of these pizza boxes. 

I never have understood why guys could even be like that.  It seems like common sense to me.  If you think you're man enough to make one, be a man and support him and/or her.  Out of all fairness, I know it goes both ways and there are some women that aren't paying support that they owe.  However, let's be realistic.  Statistically, it's us men who are in the unfortunate majority here.

So far, this campaign in Cincinnati has already lead to one arrest since they started it so it's obvious it's working.  I say every state should adopt a similar program.  Who cares if they get embarrassed having their faces prominently displayed?  Don't plant the seed if you can't provide for the needs.

The Repair Nightmare

Since this site has very gradually grown in popularity, it's becoming easier to get pub on search sites.  I had to find that out the hard way.  Therefore, I have to sometimes be careful what names I put out there because when you put them in search engines like Google, this site will come up.  That's the entire reason I held off until now going into more detail about my true feelings about how long Stivers Lincoln Mercury kept our vehicle under repairs.

You see, my thought process was if I bad-mouthed Stivers early on, people looking for something else associated with them would inadvertently bring up this site.  They would see the bad press, it would get back to to Stivers, Stivers would see it then find some way to screw us over and/or not do an adequate job on the van.  I wasn't about to have that so I had held my tongue.

Well we got the call today that the van was FINALLY done.  I went to pick it up from Stivers and gave it a once over.  Amazingly enough, they really did do a good job on it.  At least cosmetically.  It looked just about as good as new.  Then again, for as long as they had it, it should have.  As a matter of fact, you'd think they would have thrown in a free oil change (which it is due for) for all the delays.  Of course that didn't happen.

Here's what pissed me off about the whole situation.  When we first took it to Stivers on February 12th, they did up an estimate and said it would be done by the end of February.  End of February came and they were waiting on a part. We got the "waiting on a part" excuse for nearly four weeks.  At one point, they even used that two-day snowstorm we had a few weeks ago as an excuse that that's what caused the delay in getting the part.  My whole thing was the knew from the beginning what parts they needed so why wasn't it ordered early on instead of waiting until they were already into the repairs?

Wahl was telling me a horror story about when he used to work in a body shop.  They had a customer who's brand new truck was there 6 months waiting for a part to get repaired.  6 MONTHS!  So I guess we should grateful that Stivers only took a month and half for what should have been a three week job, huh?  Yeah...not quite.  I'm still hot.

Needless to say, we will not be doing any business with Stivers in the future.  If repairs are needed, we won't be going to Stivers.  When it comes time to trade the van in, no Stivers.  If anyone asks for recommendations on where to get the vehicle fixed, Stivers won't be getting our endorsement.  I think you get the idea.

Things to Be Grateful For

1.  Online Television Shows

You would think with a DVR, I would rarely miss a show that I wanted to see.  It's true for the most part but there are instances when it doesn't  tape like it should.  On Thursdays, for instance, because of the odd end times of some of the Must See TV shows on NBC, it doesn't always catch "Scrubs".  Therefore, I have to go online to watch the episode I missed.  What's even stranger is that even though NBC offers many of their shows online, they don't always offer the entire episode which still doesn't make any sense to me.  That's when I have to do some surfing and find another online source that has it.  One way or the other, I'll get my shows in for the week.  Plus, some shows are going to strictly online as they've been cut from their regular network slots.  I now have no choice but to view "Daybreak" and "Knights of Prosperity" on the internet.

2.  Bush Baked Beans

I could have sworn I talked about these before on here but I can't find an instance where I did.  Told you my mind is slippin' in my old age.  Anyway, these have got to be the best beans known to man.  Some people will try to argue that such-and-such restaurant makes some good baked beans but I have yet to come across any restaurant that can match the can.  If you want to enhance the flavor even more, I'm going to do something I rarely do and give away one of my cooking secrets:  add some Gates BBQ sauce.  Now you HAD to know that was coming.

3.  Direct Deposit

I can remember when I worked my first job out of college at a satellite office in Cedar Rapids.  I didn't have a bank account there at the time   and had to rely on paper checks.  It never failed that every pay period I needed it the most, the check was late and didn't make it to the office on Friday.  There's nothing worse than going the weekend without any loot.  I wouldn't dare think of going without direct deposit now.  In fact, the check is actually deposited earlier than if it were paper.  When it all comes down to it, it's essentially still a week between each check, but somehow getting it on Wednesday makes it seem like the wait from check to check isn't that long.

September

It's been a while since I've put up a good video here.  I know some readers don't have the patience to ride out a 3-5 minute clip and in a lot of cases, you may be missing quite a treat.  In this case, you would be missing quite the blessing.

E will often bombard my e-mail inbox with videos that he finds at different sites online.  I still wonder how in the world he comes across some of these but most of the time, he's right on the money.  He couldn't have been more perfect with this one.

Earth, Wind and Fire is one of my favorite groups of all-time.  I owe that to Mom and Dad.  I still remember watching their HBO concert back that Dad had taped and I was blown away at how those "old guys" (because remember, I was only in elementary school at the time) were straight rockin' it.

This one is Kirk Franklin with his rendition of "September", one of my favorite EWF songs.  Until now, there was never another version that I thought could ever match up to the original.  Leave it to Kirk to change that thought process.  This is now my current favorite song.  I'm going to get this cd (Interpretations: Celebrating The Music Of Earth Wind & Fire) because of just this song alone...

Too Much to Just Let It Ride...

Eddie Griffin's driving performance

Normally, a movie star wrecking a car wouldn't be big news as it  seems to happen at least once a week.  However, when the guy was driving a $1.5 million whip, that's a different story.  When you see the footage of Griffin totaling the Ferrari Enzo, it doesn't even look like he's doing that fast.  You would think for that much money, the car would have been able to hold up better.  I just wish I could have seen the car owner's face after it happened.  You know if there was ever a time for someone to go Michael Richards, that was it.

Punk'd gone after 8 seasons...or is it?

Ashton Kuchter has announced the show will be calling it quits for good this time.  The last time he said that after a few seasons, it was a trick to lull celebrities into complacency so he could keep duping them.  Supposedly, this time it's the real deal.  It needs to be.  That show was clever the first couple of seasons, but it got dry fast.  I realize that we don't have some of the brightest people out there in Hollywood, but you would think they could at least figure out when they're being set up.  Iowa's second favorite son needs to stick to making movies like "The Butterfly Effect" instead of trying to beat dead horses.

The dishonorable treatment of Pat Tillman

The military reported Monday that nine military officers, including four generals, will face "corrective action" for making "critical mistakes in  dealing with Tillman's death.  Okay, it's war so there are going to unfortunately be some instances of "friendly fire".  However, for the military to try to cover it up and make it look like there was no mistake made was inexcusable.  For them to carry on that lie for as long as they did was unforgivable.  If they were a private business, the Tillman's could make a fortune off a lawsuit over their blatant disregard for human life.  Unfortunately, since it is the U.S. military, they'll just have to grin and bear it.

UNC mascot dies

This story reminded me of the incident that happened with my college classmate Mike Boulden.  The difference here being that when the UNC student was hit by the vehicle, they actually stopped to call for help.  Jason Ray,21, was struck just hours before an NCAA Tournament game and died Monday.  One cool thing about the whole situation was after it happened and it was announced he was in critical condition, the team began wearing black patches in honor of him.  Ray had preformed as North Carolina's mascot Rameses for the past three seasons so much props goes to the UNC squad for giving him that type of tribute.

Hate to say I told you so...

Actually, I really don't.  I love being right.  Just as I predicted, Shaggy  was dismissed last night on American Idol.  I think he was slowly starting to lose that personality that had gotten him this far so it was time for him to go.  D was surprised that Sanjaya wasn't at least in the bottom three.  I had to breakdown the whole marketing and ratings conspiracy to her so she too could see why he may unfortunately be sticking around to the top 5 or so.  He's going to be the contestant the "voters" will all love to hate. 

Idol Chatter

First of all, as much as I enjoy Gwen Stefani's music-- or at least some of it --- how could they possibly have a night themed after her?  She's not exactly known for her vocal prowess.  Then again, that's perfect for this season of idol.

I already spoke on five of the finalists a couple of weeks ago so I won't rehash any of those.  Even though it is SOOOO tempting to rag on Sanjaya again.  Instead, I will touch on a different five today...

"Shaggy" Sligh -

He reminds me of a shaggy dog with his hair like that.  Not a good song for him at all.  If you think about it though, it would have to be tough to cover any Police song.  Sting has a very distinctive voice and that's all you think of when you hear someone trying to do his music.  Having said that, Shaggy showed promise early on but hasn't impressed me since.  It wouldn't surprise me at all if he was the one to go this week.

Haley Scarnato -

She certainly has that image that AI looks for a la Carrie Underwood,  Kellie Pickler and Katherine McPhee.  That reason alone will probably keep her around until at least the top 5 or 6.  It certainly won't be her voice.  And doing "True Colors" you would think would be the perfect chance to shine because it's not like Cyndi Lauper was known for vocal abilities either.  Haley could have really put her stamp on the song...if she had talent.

Blake Lewis -

Zzzzzzzzzz....oh sorry...nodded off for a second there.  Could his performance BE anymore boring?!  And was I seeing things or was he actually trying to look sexy while singing that?  Paula must still be on that stuff if she says he's making the competition "hip".  If he is, it sure wasn't based off tonight.  Zzzzzzzzz....dangit....just thinking about that song made me doze off again.

Randy Jackson -

Okay, so he's not a contestant.  Jordin and Chris were so bland that I   didn't feel like dedicating any time to them.  Besides, it JUST now dawned on me who Randy reminds me of:  my LB Mike Brown.  If you replace all of Randy's several "dawgs" with "dude", the two of them are just alike.  They even favor each other a bit.  Thankfully, Mike's not nearly as annoying as Randy is.

One to Add to Your Collection - "Stir Crazy"

The only problem with "Silver Streak" was they didn't know whether to make it a murder mystery, a comedy, a romantic comedy or an action film.  So they tried to combine it all into one.  The one positive thing with it was it gave us Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder working together for the first time and who ever thought it would work so well?  Fortunately, the powers that be realized it quickly enough to put together one of the greatest comedy films ever made:  "Stir Crazy".

As I mentioned with my "Let's Go to Prison" review, for it to be an institution that shouldn't be a joke, it lends itself to some perfect comedy.  I don't know if it had ever been done before "Stir Crazy" but if it had, there's no way it was done near as good.

Comparatively speaking, Richard Pryor's movie career was pretty brief.  It began with cameos and small roles early on until movie execs realized they were wasting his talents in small roles.  "Stir Crazy" was one of the few vehicles where he was predominantly featured while still in his prime.  You can watch it today some 25+ years later and there is a VERY select group that even come close to Rich's abilities.

There really are too many scenes in this flick to pick one favorite.  When  it comes down to it, every single scene that Rich is in is amazing.  If I had to pick one that stands out above all the others, it has to be when they first arrive at the prison.  Rich is trying to teach Gene how to toughen up so no one will want to mess with them.  It's a scene that's played over and over whenever you see a preview for the "Stir Crazy" but you can't fully appreciate it until you see it in its actual context in the movie.

It turns out that although there of course was a script, pretty much all of the scenes that Rich and Gene did together were improvised.  I wish they could find a way to put out an anniversary dvd that would have some of the deleted scenes to see what else they did.  They tried unsuccessfully to repeat the magic with the pitiful "See No Evil, Hear No Evil".  All that did was remind us that "Stir Crazy" was a timeless classic that can never be matched.

The New Ride

It was a long arduous decision both out of necessity and coincidence.  Getting a new whip is not something to be taken lightly though.  A lot goes into the right dealership as well as the right car.  If they have a reputation for being shady, they're already out the door.  That's what knocked Tom's out early.

Personally, I had never heard of any problem with Tom's.  Wahl even said the owner was a decent enough guy.  However, you can't help but assume something may be wrong with their vehicles when they average only $5k to $8k and they look as nice as they do.  It would have to mean high mile issues and/or maintenance problems.

Up until the eleventh hour, I was still pulling for the Jimmy.  Deep down, I knew it was pretty much a longshot.  An SUV that big was not going to have any cheap repairs whenever something would go wrong with it.  Plus, we did some research and found that the Jimmy was prone to some problems that we didn't want to deal with.

So it came down to the 2004 Sebring at Deery Motors.  At first, I wasn't a fan of even going all the way out to Carlisle to even look at a car.  So what if "all the way out there" really only amounts to 15 minutes of driving, it's the principle.  I must say that I was very impressed with their customer service though.  That was ultimately the icing on the cake which made the selection easier.

Old Maxie is officially gone and Sherrie's in her place.  Yeah, that's the best name I could think of.  It's hard to come up a name that matches up well to "Sebring" so cut a brotha some slack.  Once we get some extra ends, the first thing on the agenda for Sherrie is replacing that factory system with one similar to the one I had in Maxie.  Then talking Wahl into fixing the tint on the back window that we didn't notice until driving at night and we're set.

Oh...and late-breaking news...the van is STILL in the shop...