Summer Movies

Tomorrow is the official beginning of the summer movie season, so it's time to switch gears and leave movies like "Benjamin Button," "Frost/Nixon," and "Slumdog Millionaire" behind and focus on the mindless summer movies. Actually, mindless is a good thing and that's what summer movies are all about.

I read a preview of the summer movies and here's some that are coming out:

• "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" - This franchise can go on forever because you can do an "origin" movie for each of the characters and then a sequel to each of those movies. Previews look pretty good.


• "Star Trek" - A reboot of a franchise that hasn't really delivered for a while. Lots of interest on this one. I'll be there.


• "Angels and Demons" - Sequel to The DaVinci Code, one of the most overrated books ever. I'll probably skip the movie sequel, like I did the first one.


• Terminator: Salvation - A sequel of sorts in that it focuses on John Conner during the days when he's at war with the machines, fighting alongside Kyle Reese (his future father in the past). Can't say I was eagerly anticipating any more Terminator movies, but it has Christian Bale and looks like it'll be a fun ride. Supposedly Arnold is making a cameo.


• Transformers 2 - I just wasn't a fan of the first one. But my son will be begging to see this one.


• Public Enemies - A retelling of the John Dillinger story starring Johnny Depp. Yep, I'll want to see this one.


• The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 - A remake of an excellent movie from the 70's about a subway hijacking in New York City. John Travolta takes over the villain role from Robert Shaw and Denzel Washington takes over the cop role from Walter Matthau (yes, Walter Matthau). Check out the original sometime, it's quite good.

On the other end of the spectrum, my kids will want to see "Up," which is the latest Pixar, which means it'll be very enjoyable for adults too. I'll also have to go see "Land of the Lost" a big screen version of a very cheesy 70's Saturday morning show, and "Night at the Museum 2," a sequel to what was a surprisingly entertaining first film.

Movie with the biggest curiosity factor? That would be "Inglourious Basterds." The preview has Brad Pitt instructing a squad of soldiers that are to go out and bring him back Nazi scalps. They are to do so with an emphasis on cruelty that repulses the Germans. It's directed by Quentin Tarantino, so it may be a tad bit violent.

The Specter Switch

Arlen Specter switching sides was about as surprising as Joe Leiberman going independent. No shock there. Yes, the Republicans are flailing around trying to find their voice, and aren't doing a very good job of it yet. I like this quote from Republican Senator Lamar Alexander regarding the 2006 & 2008 elections:

"The American people sent us to the woodshed. And when you go to the woodshed, the best course of action is to sit there, be quiet, figure out why you're there and what you can do about it."

I think that is a good course of action. The Republicans will be back, may be soon, may be later, but they will be. I wonder if Specter will want to switch back when that happens.

Would You Listen to This Guy?

The Detroit Lions recently fired their team president, Matt Millen. Since then, he has signed on as an analyst for ESPN. Now, Millen was the architect of years of bad draft decisions by the Lions and was there for the historic 0-16 season last year. So, I'm thinking, what exactly does he bring to the table as far as commenting on the NFL draft and a team's performance in general? One columnist likened this to having Isiah Thomas as an NBA announcer. Thomas, by the way, has recently been named coach of Florida International University. He has failed miserably as an executive and coach in the NBA, ran the once-profitable CBA into the ground, and now gets to apply his reverse-Midas touch on the college ranks.

U.K. Has Some Talent

How can you not like Susan Boyle? Have you seen her performance on "Britain's Got Talent?" This is a show sort of like American Idol which also features Simon Cowell as one of three judges. If you haven't seen the video via Youtube, click here. It really is an amazing performance from out of nowhere. This from a 46-year old woman that lives at home with her cat and just wanted to be a famous singer but no one ever gave her the chance. Well, people know who she is now.

This isn't the first time this show has had a performance like this. A couple years ago, an unassuming mobile phone salesman named Paul Potts that wanted to sing opera came on and blew everyone away.

But the show is doesn't yet, check out the kid named Shaheen Jaforgholi and how he rebounds when Simon cuts him off and makes him sing something else.

These are performances that our American Idol doesn't seem to have anymore and a big reason I've lost all interest in that show. But check these clips out, they are a lot of fun.

Shooting Some Hoops (sitting down)

At IU South Bend on Tuesday night, there was a fundraiser for our disabled student association. The fundraiser featured a wheelchair basketball game pitting a faculty/staff team against the River City Rollers, an actual wheelchair team from neighboring Mishawaka.

I was part of the faculty/staff team and wow, it is not as easy as it looks shooting baskets from a wheelchair. You can't use your body at all to push off, it's all in the upper body. As you move down the court, you have to dribble once for every two times you turn the wheels, so it is quite a workout. Some guys that are in pretty good shape were worn out by the time we were done.

How did we do against the River City Rollers? In the words of my daughter Anna, who was there to see it, "You got creamed." The game was just 20 minutes and we scored 11 points while the other team scored . . .many more. They had one kid that could just zip zip zip all over the place and then sink baskets with a sling-shot style of release.

One of my colleagues took some video of the event. I come in at just about the 7-minute mark, where I miss what will be the first of 3 missed shots during the time I played. Actually, everyone missed a lot of shots, and each time we were practically under the basket.

We did take pride in one fact, though. Before our game, the Rollers played a team made up of the IU South Bend basketball teams. They only scored 4 points the entire game, so we doubled their output.

All for a good cause, I'm told the student club sponsoring the event raised a few hundred dollars and it was a lot of fun participating.

Foreign Policy Ramblings

Isn't it about time to start arming some of these ships so that they can defend themselves against the Somalian Pirates? Now that they've taken one of our captains hostage, hopefully this will spur some action here. I just don't understand why something more can't be done.

When was Cuba a threat to us? Okay, back in 1961 when we had the missile crisis and essentially up until the Soviet Union crumbled. But since then? I don't know why we haven't restored diplomatic relations with them. Yeah, so Castro has outlasted several U.S. Presidents, but really, is there anything to lose by restoring relations? I believe it was Bill Clinton that enacted laws that makes it much tougher to restore relations (it now takes an act of Congress as opposed to the President just wanting it to happen). But, why not? Just not sure what we're gaining by keeping them down.

On September 12, 2001, a candlelight vigil took place to honor those killed on 9/11. The vigil took place in . . . Tehran. the Iranian people have actually always liked us, just not our government. They've also been cursed with some horrible leaders. I think they could be a pretty good ally for us, but we also have to keep a sharp eye on them too. They still have the radical element that could cause trouble.

As for North Korea, I really feel sorry for them. They are still trying to live out some sort of glorious communist past. Their economy is in a shambles and their leader is truly unstable and not one I'd really trust. I would think China should be able to play a role here in taming this guy. But I don't consider them a true threat, Kim Jong just likes to pretend he's all powerful, kinda like Noriega when he was in Panama.

Baby Allie at 6 Months

Dennie Family Portrait (taken 3/28/2009)

Farewell and Welcome Back to Libby the Dog

Cute dog, huh? Yeah, well looks can be deceiving. Libby is a golden retriever/golden lab mix that we've had for almost three years. A nice dog, very playful, but totally rambunctious and eats everything in sight, including the cedar shingles from our house. She bugs the kids when they are outside playing and chews all their toys.

We had decided to get rid of her, and had found a place that would take her (a place called Camp K9 in South Bend).

However, a funny thing happened on the way to get rid of her . . .we just couldn't do it. We're not ones to give up on animals and are going to give it one more try. The lady at the Camp K9 gave us a muzzle to try on Libby and tips on how to make her a better dog. We'll see what happens. So far, the results have been quite encouraging. With the muzzle on, Libby does very well in the house and is much more calm.