Don’t tell me to (Be Cool), I am cool!

Wow, I really-really love watching this movie, John Travolta, Vince Vaughn, Cedric “The Entertainer”, Christina Milian (yummy), Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Andre 3000, Harvey Keitel and Uma Thurman (Sexy), man a really great cast.  This is a fun movie and it flows so well and keeps you entertained.  It is the sequel to “Get Shorty”, but to me much better.  But of course the critics killed the movie when it was released in March 2005.  The film, like its predecessor, was adapted from writer, Elmore Leonard’s book of the same name.

Here’s the skinny; Chili Palmer (Travolta) a former “shylock”, is tired of Hollywood and the film making business. (Shylock: A ruthless money-lender/loan shark, gangster) He helps the wife of a slain friend (Athens) with her struggling record company.  That is the main story, there are also 2 additional sub-plots; (1) The Russian Mafia is trying to kill Chili because he witnessed the execution of his friend Athens (Jams Woods).  (2) Athens’s record company owes money to a Gangster/Producer, Sin LaSalle (Cedric).

To me the movies appeal is not the story as much as the actors/character, the situations and the comedy (Vaughn/Cedric/Andre 3000), these guys have funny lines and Vaughn is hilarious as the wannabe gangster/tough guy.  Even The Rock is way out of his normal character arch playing the gay Samoan body guard of Vaughn’s character (Raji).  Vaughn’s lines throughout the movie re straight comedy, he became this kid Raji and owned it!

Another aspect I love about the movie is the great locations in and around LA (Los Angeles), Hollywood and the hills.  I lived in Cali (California) for 5 years and it was frustrating all the traffic and crazy drivers, but the vista’s and landmarks are breath-taking.  Places like the Viper Room, the Staple Center and Sunset Blvd are great locations and make for beautiful shoots.  The director, F. Gary Gray (Friday/The Italian Job), who lived in South Central Los Angeles, did an amazing job choosing these locations and picking great angels in this world-famous city.

On top of all of this great stuff, the music in the movie is awesome.  I love movies with great music (Grease, Purple Rain, Ray) not that this movie rates as high as those over-all, but the music is cool and it fits.  Y all time favorite part of this film, well it is 2 parts.  #1. When the detective (Gregory Alan Williams) walks into the Russian’s pawn shop and the guy (with 2 black eyes and a horrible toupee’) tells him to get his black @ss out, he says “What do you tell a man with 2 black eyes?  Nothing, he has already been told twice”.  (Too Funny)  #2. When the same guy (with 2 black eyes and a horrible toupee’) calls Cedric “The Entertainer’s character (Sin LaSalle) a n!gger, Sin’s reply is an awesome retort to such an ugly-ugly word.

Sin LaSalle: Have you lost your mind? I mean, how is it that you can disrespect a man’s ethnicity when you know we've influenced nearly every facet of white America... from our music to our style of dress. Not to mention your basic imitation of our sense of cool; walk, talk, dress, mannerisms... we enrich your very existence, all the while contributing to the gross national product through our achievements in corporate America. It's these conceits that comfort me when I am faced with the ignorant, cowardly, bitter and bigoted, who *have* no talent, no guts? People like you who desecrate things they don't understand when the truth is - you should say thank-you, man? and go on about your way. But apparently you are incapable of doing that! So...
[shoots his gun]
Sin LaSalle: ... and don't tell me to be cool. I *am* cool!

As an African American, Black Man, Black Dude, Brotha, I get tired of hearing the word n!gger being used for commercial profit daily in music, movies, even TV, it is beautiful to hear another (African American, Black Man, Black Dude, Brotha) give a well educated, thought provoking and poignant response, and he shoots the guy and his horrible toupee flies off his head. (Hilarious)

Hero



As I was doing research about the movie, I discovered actor, Gregory Alan Williams, rescued a Japanese-American motorist who had been pulled from his vehicle and was being beaten, during the riots in LA following the Rodney King verdict.  Gregory Alan Williams was struck several times during the violence, but was not seriously injured.  He drove the man to the hospital where emergency surgery saved his life. (Courageous)

Robert Pastorelli



Be Cool was released by MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer), 4 March, 2005 with a budget of $53 million and grossed $95 million world-wide (opening weekend it took in $23.5 million on 3200 screens).  The movie run time is 118 minutes. 

On a more somber note; this was Robert Pastorelli's (Joe Loop) last film.  He died from an accidental drug overdose during production, 8 March 2004. (RIP)  Awesome actor…l8tr


So Sexy

 

Oh yeah, did I mention Christina Milian, need I say more...

Bangkok Dangerous

 So the other night I watched Bangkok Dangerous with Nicolas Cage, whom I love in both the National Treasure movies.   I have seen Bangkok Dangerous before and I enjoyed it then and this last time.  Her is the deal; Cage is a hit-man who is planning to leave the business behind after a series of jobs in Bangkok.  When the movie starts he is in Prague and is in a roof-top bell tower, waiting to shoot some random victim, the camera shot is through the scope of his sniper rifle (pretty cool).  As the second hand of his watch ticks away, once the time strikes 12, at the same split second the tower-bell tolls, he shoots the victim right in the brain bucket (bong! nighty-night).  The entire time the movie is playing Cage’s character (Joe) is narrating the rules to the hit-man game. 

Joe: I was taught four rules...
One: Don't ask questions. There is no such thing as right and wrong.
Two: Don't take an interest in people outside of work. There is no such thing as trust.
Three: Erase every trace. Come anonymous and leave nothing behind.
Four: Know when to get out. Just thinking about it means it's time. Before you lose your edge, before you become a target.

Rule number three; leave nothing behind includes the unlucky local dude who has been his lackey during this particular job.  Cage ices the dude and makes it look like the guy OD’d on heroine.  Next stop is the airport and a flight to Bangkok.  Continuing his narration, Cage is setting up business as usual, as he watches a local guy hustles what looks like a group of sucks, I mean Americans.  The guy uses a razor to cut the Americans backpack and steals his wallet.  Cage approaches the dude while he is eating and hires him, poor b@stard.  As Cage’s character is narrating, you can tell he wants out of this life.  He even talks about being invisible so long the human race looks like another species.

As an actor, Nicolas Cage seems to love playing strange characters and Joe in this movie is a bit off center, but what can you expect from a hit-man.  He gets a scratch on his arm after he kills some guys in a car (the scene is cool) so he goes to an all-night pharmacy and sees a pretty Thai woman working there, immediately he is taken by her beauty and grace.  BTW she I also deaf and he is acting like a bumbling idiot instead of the cool and stead hit-man we have been seeing.  Eventually they end up on a date and everything is going great, of course this is the point when all h#ll breaks loose…

Released 5 September, 2008, Bangkok Dangerous is a remake of a Thai film of the same name (and directors – The Pang Brothers).  In the original version, the hit-man is a deaf Thai man.  Many of the same scenes and themes were used in both films.  The Pang brothers also directed The Eye which was also remade and starred the sexy Jessica Alba (yummy). 

Bangkok Dangerous has a 100 minute runtime, with a budget of $45 million, it grossed $42.5 million.  What is strange/funny (odd), the movie debuted at #1 with a weekend gross of $7 million, which is one of the lowest debuts for a # movie (Dickie Robert: Former Child Star) is the other lucky winner (loser).  The critics bashed the movie for it’s depressing ending and bloody finale, I didn’t enjoy the ending but whatever, the dude was a contract killer, they don’t go to heaven, get over it…I did.

Unthinkable

So at work a few co-workers have been telling me I have to see this movie called “Unthinkable” with Samuel L. Jackson.  After I got home from the gym last night, I drank my protein shake and popped in the DVD and took a ride on the crazy train (Ozzy).  This was an unbelievable flick to watch and it had some serious actors for what seemed to be a direct to DVD film.  Here is the rundown; an everyday Joe, ex-military dude (Michael Sheen) has converted to Islam, send a video tape to the US Government stating he has planted 3 nuclear bombs in large metropolitan areas around the US.  These bombs are due to detonate in 4 days if his demands are not met.  It sounds like a season of 24 and if I had not put the DVD in myself I would have been looking for Jack Bauer to save the day.  However, we have Carrie-Anne Moss (Matrix) as Agent Brody FBI, who works Counter-Terrorism in LA (sounds like 24 again).  She is in charge of the LA field office and this guy is on her watch list. “Oh-Snap” this guys face is plastered all over every news channel on TV and they have zero answers.  Come to find out the military has already captured the dude and calls her team in under all this secret-squirrel scat.  But it gets better, enters “H” aka Sam Jackson who is a crazy/brutal interrogator, who has zero limits and seems willing to do anything to get answers…

This is one you have to see for yourself, the plot and story are excellent in the end it challenges your beliefs.  The story delves into all aspects of American versus Islamic beliefs and ideals.  It is not preachy and didn’t seem to take sides.  It was a look to e more at our beliefs as human.  Meaning we as Americans grow up believing one set of things, as people who live in other places around the world believe in different things.  It even goes into what freedom is and what it means to different people.  Sam Jackson’s character is like the devil’s advocate and Carrie-Anne Moss is like the most classic version of American thinking.  The story is fast and the movie doesn’t slow down.  As an ex-military person, they played the military as idiots and I hate that (though we o have our fare share of Dumas’s).

If you watch this movie you see everyone is playing a stereo type of some kind and it shows the flaw in all our thinking.  The terrorist dude (Mike Sheen) grew up in some middle-east country where his Dad worked at the embassy, he married a Muslim woman and converts to Islam and now he is a damn terrorist (stereo type).  Carrie-Anne Moss is a single White Female, no kids, no husband, no boyfriend (fine as hell) and married to her job.  Went to Harvard, studied law and works for the FBI, ensuring everything is done legally and correctly, she comes off as perfect (stereo type).  Sam Jackson is a wildcard, he is married to a Bosnian woman who was raped and her family was killed, they have 2 kids and seem to live a normal life, but he is crazy as “bat-scat” and so is she…

Unthinkable was released direct to DVD, June 14, 2010, rater R for crazy violence and language (MF’n Sam Jackson).  As usual the critic beat this film up saying things that only the well educate would think is poignant.  Directed by Gregor Jordan (Australian film director), Written by Oren Moverman (The Messenger [Academy Award Nominee]) and Peter Woodward(Actor/Writer/Director [Galen, Babylon5]), 97 minute runtime.  After you watch this movie ask yourself one thing, “Does the ends, justify the means?”

Deliverance (Squeel Like A Pig)

It is funny sometimes when you hear so much about a movie that you already have an idea in your head of what the movie is, but when you watch the movie it is totally different then you imagined.  This was the case for me when I actually watched “Deliverance” the other day.  I like many o you have heard all the Deliverance jokes, the squeal like a pig jokes and so on.  But, I never sat down and watched the movie because I didn’t want to sit down and watch a movie about hillbillies running around the woods butt-#ucking city boys.  I’ll pass thank you very much, isn’t OZ on HBO…  Anyway, I was reading The New York Times list of 1000 best movies of all time and Deliverance was #15.  Also reading the tagline for the film it was more interesting then the blurb about sodomizing citizen in the woods.  So I took the plunge into the mythical “Cahulawassee River” and I was impressed.

Ok this is the skinny, 4 Atlanta businessmen decide to take an adventure weekend trip into the Georgia wilderness.  The plan is to canoe down the Cahulawassee River (Fictional river name).  This is the last chance to see this area due to impending damn being built that will flood the entire valley.  This starts out simple and turns into a trip they will never forget (squeal like a pig).

 Turns out, Deliverance is an engaging cinematic outing.  I chose not to call it an adventure because it was slow and little annoying.  The story was good and the acting was good for the time, these guys were pansies (except for Burt Reynolds).  Sorry, the cast includes; Jon Voight (Academy Awards Winner), Ronnie Cox(Beverly Hills Cop 1/2), Ned Beatty(Network) and Burt Reynolds(Boogie Nights).  These for guys are legendary in today’s Hollywood, but it turns out Ronny Cox and Ned Beatty show Deliverance as their first film roles.  I don’t know how they were received after this film was released, but, I had seen these guys in so many movies over so many decades I figured they were proven actors at the time of these roles (Who Knew).

James Dickey

Regarded as one of the best films of 1972, Deliverance is noted as a landmark film and has a place in the US National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.  Described as being culturally, historically and/or aesthetically significant, Deliverance has a “bad-rap” in Pop culture (squeal like a pig).

Deliverance was based on a novel of the same name, written by the late James Dickey (2 Feb 1923 - 19 Jan 1997) who was a lawyer by trade and was appointed as the 18^th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (1966).  He also played the Sheriff at the end of the film.  It is noted the film follows closely to the novel with a few differences (there was no “squeal like a pig” in the novel).

A scene in the beginning that is also quite famous/memorable is the “dueling Banjo” scene.  Ronny Cox played guitar with an [inbred-hillbilly] kid (Billy Redden) who is exceptional in his banjo skills.  Writer, Arthur “Guitar Boogie” Smith, received a gold record and a Golden Globe for Dueling Banjos.  The budget was $2 million and grossed $46 million, released by Warner Bros.

  Burt Reynolds wrote in his book “My Life” the infamous “squeal like a pig” scene was shot in one take because Ned Beatty tried to kill (Bill McKinney) after the shot was stopped, (Burt) said he ran into the shot a tackled McKinney and the director and many crew members had to stop Ned from beating the guy to death…Awesome!

High Plains Drifter

Wow! Yesterday was super busy, it comes and goes that way around here, but that’s cool.  I prefer busy to being bored.  Anyway I still had time to squeeze in a movie before I left for the gym.  The choice of the day was an American classic, a western with a supernatural twist, yes folks the selected masterpiece was Blazing Saddles (NO!) It was High Plains Drifter (and the crowd goes wild!!!).  Man, this is an awesome flick; I remember seeing it for the first time with my big sister.  I was probably 9 or 10 years old and it was awesome back then (even the TV version).

For the “un-baptized” it is a story about a small western mining town that hires a “Stranger” (Clint Eastwood) to protect them from 3 bad guys soon to be released from prison.  The movie starts with a blurry figure appearing out of seemingly nowhere, the shot is distorted from the heat rising off the desert floor.  Soon we realize it is a man on a horse riding into town (Lago) and all the town’s inhabitants skeptically watching as he proceeds to the local Saloon.  The Stranger orders a beer and a bottle as all the saloon patrons stand at the far end of the bar staring.  The 3 local tough-guys start talking scat to the stranger who tells them “I’m faster then you’ll ever live to be” and he proceeds across the street to the barber shop.  A long story short, they follow and catch a case of hot-lead fever, “bada-bing”, no more tough-guys (Sorry Tony S).  I love when a movie starts with some straight butt-kicking ala the protagonist, excellent work my-man, excellent.  The movie gets better and better from there, an excellent choice for anyone who loves a thriller/western/action.

High Plains Drifter was directed as well as stared Clint Eastwood, released 22 August, 1973 by Universal, this movie stands the test of time.  Like many Eastwood films, he has a knack for choosing great stories and brings them to the screen and captures your attention.  Even the critics loved this film; Rotten Tomatoes scored the film at 96%, much respect to Mr. Eastwood.  High Plains Drifter was Clint’s second directorial outing, “Play Misty for Me” being the first.  Nominated for 11 Academy Awards, Clint Eastwood has taken home 5 trophies.  (Best Director, nominated 4 times/2 wins, Best Actor, nominated 2 times, Best Picture, nominated 4 times, 2 wins-along with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award).  Clint Eastwood’s career started in 1955 and is so long it is unbelievable, my finger was tired from rolling the scroll button on my mouse.  Dude even has a Discography (WTF) is he the baddest dude in Hollywood or what?!    

 Finally folks, High Plains Drifter (theatrical version) is 105 minutes of action and intrigue, written by Ernest Tidyman (Shaft/The French Connection/Lady Sings the Blues) and the un-credited Dean Riesner (Rawhide [TV]/The Outer Limits [TV]).  The film grossed $15.7 Million (US), I don’t know what that would translate to in today’s box-office, but it is way too low for a film of this quality.  Who can argue with Clint Eastwood?  If you do he would either shoot you with a 44 magnum (the most powerful hand-gun in the world) or punch you in the face (ala Philo Beddoe)… {Insert Tarzan yell} L8tr

A Beautiful Mind

So yesterday was so slow and the work day seemed as if it would never end.  But I ended up watching 2 movies, neither of which blew my proverbial skirt up.  My first selection was “A Beautiful Mind” starring Russell “The Muscle” Crowe.  Generally it was ok, long as hell, but ok (135 minutes/WTF).  For those who have not taken this jaunt, it is about a genius grad student John Nash (Russell Crowe) who goes to Princeton and loses his flippin’ mind (or beautiful mind).  What   I thought was funny watching the movie all the actors playing these young grad students looked old as hell.  (Russell Crowe/Paul Bettany/Josh Lucas/Adam Goldberg/Jason Gray-Stanford/Anthony Rapp) These guys don’t have one foot in the grave by any means, but as college-aged, grad students it was a stretch.  The story was cool; Crowe discovers or figure-out some theory (theorem) and wins the coveted job they all were competing for at Wheeler Labs at MIT.  He helps out at the Pentagon and then is recruited by the DoD, via Agent William Parcher (Ed Harris).  He is doing secret-squirrel stuff, gets into a car chase/shoot out, finds a girl (Jennifer Connelly), marries a girl (Jen-Again), has a baby boy, and goes completely crackers.  Of course all of this is based on the real life person John Forbes Nash Jr, who won a Nobel Laureate in Economics or the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science 1994 (Sorry folk, conflicting data).  With all of that the guy suffered from paranoid-Schizophrenia.

This is where everything went “bat-scat” on me, turns out there was no DoD Agent Parcher or even his longtime friend and college roommate.  Both characters were hallucinations brought on by the schizophrenia.  In the movie he is conducting a lecture at some college and he sees a suspicious looking guy lurking around in the back of the lecture hall and decides to bolt from the stage mid-sentence, this is of course following the shoot-out/car chase.  He was caught ad taken to a hospital (sorry folks no spy games) and diagnosed with the paranoid-schizophrenia.  In the end he is able to fight through and win his Nobel Prize.

I discovered there are significant contradictions in the movie and the actual life of John Nash.  In the movie his hallucinations were visual and auditory; in real life they were only auditory.  Also the movie showed him taking medications following what looked like medieval torture.  Nash stated he did not take any medications.   There is a laundry list of events that conflict with Nash’s real life but, the filmmakers consistently told critics that the film was not meant to be a literal representation, which I think would have been far less interesting.

A Beautiful Mind was released 21 December, 2001, was well received by most critics, raked in $170 Million worldwide and won 4 Academy Awards [2002] (Best Picture/Best Director/Best Adapted Screenplay/ Best Supporting Actress), (was nominated for Best Lead Actor/Bes Editing/Best Makeup/Best Score).  Directed by Ron Howard (Awesome), Produced by Brian Grazer (Awesome), Wirtten by Akiva Goldsman (I, Robot/The Da Vinci Code/Cinderella Man), and Sylvia Nasar (Wrote the book A Beautiful Mind), Music by James Horner (48 Hrs/Star Trek II&III/Aliens/An American Tail/Field of Dreams and nearly 100 more) and Edited by Daniel P. Hanley and Mike Hill.

The budget for the project was $60 Million and received positive reviews from 78% of the critics, though some beat up Russell Crowe’s performance and also stated it was formulated to seek Oscar nominations (it worked).  I waited nearly 10 years before I watched it and was not blown away, but at the same time it was a decent little jaunt on a boring Thursday morning.  I learned a little and got paid to do it…how can you beat that.  BTW; Ron Howard is a Beast (Opie Cunningham)!!!

RED (Retired Extremely Dangerous)

So last night I watched a bootleg version of RED (Retired Extremely Dangerous), it was awesome, not the bootleg, but the movie.  The story, the cast, the action was off-the-chain!  The story is about a former CIA (black-ops) agent Frank Moses (Bruce Willis), who is seemingly living the retired life somewhere in BFE America.  He is having a telephonic relationship with a girl who works customer service at the place that sends his retirement checks.  He keeps calling her saying his retirement checks are not arriving, but he is tearing them up so he has a reason to talk to her.  One night an assault team sneaks into his house to kill him and that’s when all hell breaks loose…

The cast in this epic action comedy is not one you would expect with the exception of Bruce Willis, yes, he is an action movie icon and legit action hero.  Die Hard 1-4.0 and The 5^th Element just to name a few.  Oscar winner, Morgan Freeman, WTF! Yes he pulls it off, love the man, but never expected him to be a bad-ass.  For those who want to add Alex Cross, he is more cool then bad-ass.  There is a scene when we first meet Morgan’s character he is living in a retirement home and he is trying to get his TV to work.  The sexy nurse comes over to help and he gets her to bend over in-front of him while he sits back and enjoys the view.  Man, she had a nice juice…  Then there is the insane John Malkovich who is one of the wildest dudes you will ever see on the big screen.  Multiple Academy Award nominee, he has the funniest character in the entire movie, love this guy!  Then there is The Queen, Helen Mirren, Academy Award Winner BTW.  Her character is a sweet grandma/Martha Stewart-looking-hardcore killer assassin.  She is a bad-ass-chick, and she looks sexy at 65 years old.

As I write this, Red is #2 on Yahoo Movies box office behind Jackass 3D(why).  I am sure this will take off t is an epic adventure and the 18-35 year old males will love this kick-ass flick! Also this was adapted from a DC comic graphic novel, so I am sure it has a following.  I personally never heard of it before but I am not a graphic novel kinda guy.  The critics gave the movie a B- average and the viewers gave it an A-.  Is it me or does it seem movie critics don’t like movies. 

I want to mention Karl Urban (William Cooper) who played the CIA agent after Bruce Willis, he was excellent.  He always looks familiar but I can never remember what movies he was in (LOTR, Star Trek, Pathfinder, Pitch Black2).  He was smooth and got his ass-kicked by old ass Bruce Willis.  There is a line while these two are fighting, Bruce has Karl in an arm bar and asks “Did Kordeski train you?” Karl: “Yea?” Bruce: “I trained Kordeski!” as he finishes his ass-whooping!

Red was directed by Robert Schwentke, (The Time Traveler’s Wife, Lie to Me [TV], Flightplan), written by Jon & Erich Hoeber (screenplay) and the graphic novel was written by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner.  Bottom line, if you want to have a kick-ass time, go see Red…Loved it!

The Bucket List

 So I was just watching the movie "The Bucket List" with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicolson.  For those who have not see this fine piece of work it is about two terminally ill men (Jack and Morgan) who become friends while in the hospital and decide to travel all over the world completing tasks on their “before I kick the bucket” list (Bucket List).  Morgan freeman plays an everyday Joe Mechanic(Carter Chambers) and Jack Nicholson plays a billionaire A-hole(Edward Cole) but likable.  Both men are dying from different forms of cancer and neither is happy with where their lives have taken them.  Freeman has a loving wife and three great and successful children, even a few grand kids to make everything seem perfect, but is barely making ends meet.  Nicholson on the other hand has been married four times and has an estranged daughter who he has not spoken to in five years or more, but all the money anyone could ever want.  When the pair finds out they both have at best one ear to live they set out on an around the world adventure to complete as many items they can on their “Bucket List”. 

I've watched this movie at least once before and this time I came away with a few thoughts.  First, how great it is to have a really good friend.  Someone how knows you are not perfect and still wants to hang out with you.  These two guys met at probably the lowest points in their lives and built a bond that lasted for the rest of their lives.  While at Carter’s funeral, Edward says the following;

“The simplest thing is... I loved him. And I miss him. Carter and I saw the world together.  Which is amazing... When you think that only three months ago, we were complete strangers! I hope that it doesn't sound selfish of me but... the last months of his life were the best months of mine. He saved my life... And he knew it before I did.” 

This tugs hard at my heart strings and I feel inspired and in awe of the relationship these two men (heterosexual) shared.  I added the “no-homo” because it seems rare men are cast in truly feeling roles that are not related in some way to a woman/relationship.

Another thought of mine which I am sure everyone has after watching this movie, what do I want to do before I die?  One thing I always wanted to do is stand on all seven continents, I have visited four (N. America, S. America, Asia and Europe).  I have three left (Africa, Australia and Antarctica).  I have even stood with one foot on the plate of N. America and Eurasian plate at the same time; I was in Iceland at the time, but that’s another story.  But really what would be on my list, I wonder and wonder.  Go to New York City and stand in Time Square, that would be cool.  I want to go into outer space and see the Earth like the astronauts do.  I’ve stood on both sides of the Equator in Quito, Ecuador, that was cool.  I watched my son take his first breaths, that was truly awe-inspiring. 

Something that just popped back in my head was from Iceland.  I was leaving a movie theater in Reykjavik in the early evening; I honestly don’t remember the time because we were in the middle of the 24 hours day and 24 hours night.  It felt like evening in my memory, but it wasn’t dark, yet.  What I remember is looking across the bay at the glacier cliff and with the sun, cloud, light and water, it as one of the most beautiful sight I have ever seen.  It was something that has been with me all these five or more years and I truly do the view zero justice in my description.  It felt like I caught a glimpse of heaven and I wish I had a camera, not for me, but for people who have never seen something so amazingly beautiful. 

Lastly, the movie was beat-up by the critics, but was a box office success ($45Million budget/$175Million gross).  Writer Justin Zackham and Director Rob Reiner did an awesome job along with the two Academy Award Winners (Morgan/Jack).  Two things on their list (See below) I would have on mine;

#1.  Help a complete stranger for the good.

#2. Find the joy in your life.

I removed “Kiss the most beautiful girl in the world”, been there/done that… ;)

1.       Witness something truly majestic

2.       Help a complete stranger for the good

3.       Laugh till I cry

4.       Drive a Shelby Mustang

5.       Kiss the most beautiful girl in the world

6.       Get a tattoo

7.       Skydiving

8.       Visit Stonehenge

9.       Spend a week at the Louvre

10.   See Rome

11.   Dinner at La Chevre d'Or

12.   See the Pyramids

13.   Get back in touch (previously "Hunt the big cat," added after being earlier added and crossed off)

14.   Visit the Taj Mahal

15.   Hong Kong

16.   Victoria Falls

17.   Go on a safari

18.   Drive a motorcycle on the Great Wall of China

19.   Sit on the Great Egyptian Pyramids

20.   Find the Joy in your life