LOST Questions, or “I wish I weren’t overly analytical”

My desire today was to blog about something of some consequence.  However, I think that it will take a mental purging of my internal crankiness about LOST to even get me to the point where I can.

Let’s say, first of all, that I never believed that LOST would answer all of my questions.  I hoped, but I never believed.  Second, don’t fill up the comments here with the basics.  I get the basic timeline:

People’s lives intertwine

People get on plane

Plane crashes

Hijinks ensue

They ultimately all die

They go to purgatoryish place and reconnect

They go to LOST heaven led by Dad.

Third, I understand that this was mostly a show about personal redemption and relationships, so spare me the “you missed the point” comments.  All that said, the nerd in me needs some answers.  So, if you would like you may contribute answers here.  You can put them in a comment or you if you are also overly-analytical and verbose and put something long and interesting together, I will post it here as a blog post (email me at charlie @ cloften.com ).

In no particular order:

What didn’t Walt and Michael get included in LOST purgatory and heaven?  For heavens sake, Boone is there.  Boone?   A case could also be made for Anna Lucia.  She showed up in purgatory.  Maybe she has more work to do.  I could go on here.  I’d find a way to get Lapidus and Richard in as well.  Not crash survivors you say?  What about Desmond and Penny?  OK, I’m done.

Who made the island and for what purpose?  What is the gold light thing?  Aren’t the answers we need really the bigger picture metaphysical questions?  For real, right?  No? Just me?  Fine.

Who put the crazy lady who killed Jacob’s mom in charge?  Then who put them in charge all the way back to the creator, I guess.

With Locke/Smokie/Esau dead, would anything have happened (big picture) if the island had gone down?

Is anybody else wishing they would make a buddy comedy following the wacky antics of Hurly, Ben and Vincent as they try to figure out how to run the island and work together?  You know, Perfect Strangers meets Gilligans Island.

That’s enough for now.  Maybe no one is going to comment and I just got a good rant out.  If not, we could keep this convo going a while.

My guess is that 24 will end a little cleaner.  Jack will kill everyone.  We will be left to think Jack may be dead, but he will survive for the movie.

Iron Man 2 Movie Review

I saw Iron Man 2 opening day with my brother.  I know that it has been a couple of weeks since then and this is a little stale, but I briefly lost my blogging mojo due to external circumstances.  Iron Man returns Sherlock Holmes as the lead and the big girl from Shallow Hal as Pepper Potts.  Introducing that really famous girl that really hasn’t done much but still manages to be famous as Natalie, that famous actor from the 80’s who revitalized his career by being crazy as the bad guy Ivan, and Wild Bill from Green Mile as Tony Stark’s rival.  Also, inexplicably replacing that dude from Crash as Rhodey is Basher from Ocean’s 11.

Expectations:  I initially had very high expectations for Iron Man 2 because I loved the first one so much.  As I was driving to the theater, I was thinking, “Dude, there is no way this is going to be Dark Knight.  So settle down.”  On the other hand, didn’t it have to be better than Batman Returns and Fantastic Four: Silver Surfer?  By the time I got there, I was thinking Spiderman II, good not great.

Reality: It was much, much better than Spiderman II but of course, no Dark Knight.  Robert Downey was incredible again. Mickey Rourke, who I suspect might not have been acting, was great as a crazy villain.  Scarlett Johannsen (not going to check spelling so leave it alone) and Gwenyth Paltrow (again) were not as wet-blankety as sometimes the female leads can be in hero movies.  There was great action and a plot that was not as convoluted as most superhero sequels can be.  Great blend of humor and action.  Did I mention that I saw it on the Imax?  Everything is cooler on Imax.  (Sidenote: now that my wife is hooked on the sparkly vampire books, do you think that they could please make one of these movies for Imax and/or 3D? That would really help me out.  Thx.)

Appropriateness:  Superhero violence that never is too bad.  It’s mostly beating up robots, but there is some blodd ‘n stuff.  Tony Stark’s character is still a cad, and so there is much innuendo, bikini ladies, etc.  My nine year old who loves superhero movies will not be allowed to see it yet.  She is still mad at me that I haven’t let her see the first one.  Of all the superhero franchises, this is the least kid friendly, IMNSHO (In my not so humble opinion)

Rating: (Here is the system)

See it in the theater and will definitely own

See it in the theater and might own

See it in the theater and will likely rent it

See it in the theater and be done

See it at the dollar theater

Rent it

Avoid it.

I rate it a see it in the theater and definitely own it.

Diary of a Soul Inflicted with March Madness #2

The Appeal of the Underdog.

Thursday, March 18th, 2:15 pm–I pick Villanova to go to the Final Four in what is considered my “official bracket.”  I enter different brackets in different contests.  So, why was I rooting for Robert Morris?  Why? Because it is so cool watching these little, out of nowhere school beat the “elite” teams.

You might think that this is about to make a hard left turn and I’m going to talk about David and Goliath.  Maybe that they inspire us to believe that we can do anything.  “Anything is possible if you believe.”  Uh, no.  I am officially on vacation and it is unlikely that you will get anything on cloften.com this week that you would call “significant content.”  (I know, I know.  How is that different?  I get it.)

I just don’t like the big teams from the big schools.  If you have ever won a championship, we don’t want you to win.  Not one game.  Go home.  The best part of the underdog win?  When the scrubby bench players lock arms on the bench during the freethrows and sway back and forth.  Do coaches recruit some players based on their ability to execute that well?

It’s hard to have too much animosity for Villanova, per se.  It’s not like it is Kansas, Duke or Kentucky.  Nonetheless, Robert Morris is a cool team to root for.  What is their mascot? TheCats? (dated reference) Scholars?  Is Robert Morris a cigarette brand? Did he sign the Declaration of Independence?  Is he the first architect to use the flying buttress?  I could look it up, but I don’t care.  It’s just cool.

I would like to formally apologize to the Robert Morris fan(s?) out there for writing this post too soon and jinxing it.  If it makes you feel any better, my final four picks are still in tact.

Diary of a Soul Inflicted with March Madness #1

This series (?) of posts will be what Simon would call indulgent nonsense.  Indulgent–only I care about what I’m writing.  Nonsense–just keep reading.

Thursday, March 18th, 9:30 am–For the 20th year, my brother and I are about to watch the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tourney together.  It is (almost) always the first weekend of the tourney.  Exceptions have been when we would have tickets to see games that were the second weekend, or once, wait for it, the Final Four itself.  Yes, I was there when Roy Williams broke his jinx and cut down the net for the first time in St. Louis.  In fact, Roy Williams coached teams are 6-0 in the tourney when I watch him live.  Twice w/ Kansas in STL, twice w/ UNC in STL and twice w/ UNC in Memphis.  Roy, if you’re listening and you ever make it back to the tourney again (hee hee) call me, I am available to be flown into your games and torturously watch you win.

Anywho, my brother and I have been doing this for quite a while and we love it.  We have several mini-traditions, IBC root beer, making fun of commercials, etc.

For me the most exciting part of the tourney is the anticipation leading up to it.  Right now my bracket is perfect.  By 2:00 it will destroyed and hope will have abandoned my house yet again.  My problem in the past is that I pick often what I want to happen.  I pick the Razorbacks to advance one round further than they do.  (Do you guys remember when the Razorbacks used to go to the tournament?  Those were great days.  UAPB over Duke!!!!!)  I pick teams I hate to get upset early.  It never happens and it is the double whammy.  Teams I hate win and my bracket is terrible.

This year I am hedging my bets.  (Not literal bets.  Settle down people).  I am picking teams I hate.  This way, either my bracket will do well or Kentucky, Duke and Kansas won’t.  I’m sure there is 3rd option out there somewhere.  We’ll see.  I’ll keep you (and by you I mean me and my mom.  Anyone else even still reading this?) updated.

Advice for Villains

I have a new list going in my head.  Don’t know if I have 10 yet, and typically you guys have some great ideas, so help me out.

What advice would you give to movie/tv villains?  The most obvious one is just kill the hero when you capture him.  Don’t monologue.  Nothing elaborate.  Just do it.

What else you got?

Gimme That Fish

Well, it was inevitable.  We have talked about it for a couple of weeks and it finally happened.  What you may ask?  First, let’s take a step back.

A couple of weekends ago, it was just Maylee, Lauren and I.  Heidi was on a women’s retreat.  Perhaps a step or two behind the curve, we discovered the Filet-o-fish commercial.  If it is not a pop culture phenomenon, it should be.  It is at least at our house. (If you haven’t seen it, watch it below.  It’s 30 seconds.  Without it there is a 0% chance you will understand the rest of this.  After watching the percent goes up at least to 7%)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csrPT9ClVUc

We played that no fewer than 20-25 times over the course of the weekend.  Now we find random opportunities to say things like this to each other, “You know that fish is right, I wouldn’t be laughing at all” or “Seriously, are you going to give me back that fish or not?”  We have had a blast.  Mom is reluctantly in on it.  By reluctantly, I mean, she hates it.

Well, we had been threatening for a while to go into a McDonalds and play the commercial on my IPhone, via the Youtubes.  On Sunday, we went to the Drive-thru and through what I consider magic technology, we had my phone connected to my stereo system, blaring that song. 

Before we pulled up though, we had to have a comedy lesson.  Like the one guy on the commercial, we had to act like nothing was going on, as if it were just any song playing on the radio.  It was hard for them.  Lauren had the cheesiest grin on her face, mostly looking out the window in the opposite direction.  Maylee had eyes as big as saucers holding in a laugh staring at the workers.

Well at this McD we had to go through two windows.  One to pay and one to get the food.  We got the reaction that we wanted.  Nervous stares.  The thought bubble on these people’s heads had to be, “What dorks.”  If that was the case, then SUCCESS!

After we drove through, they both just laughed and are talking about that still.  Now, here is the question, can I steer this into a reasonable parenting lesson?  Sure, why not?  I’m just that creative.  Why did I do it?  One, I like to be funny and for them to think that I’m funny.  Furthermore, I want to teach them to be the same. 

Deeper than that though, I want to build memories for them.  Small memories.  Memories of a dad that loved them and had fun with them, that wasn’t too busy or serious to enjoy life with them.  Memories of a Dad, who would sit down with them and ponder the mysteries of life, such as what would it really be like if I were up on that wall.

Pop Culture References That Are Now Engrained in Loften Culture

I have said on various occasions that you could get a pretty funny 30 minute reality show out of what goes on at our house in a week.  Heidi would hate it.  Maylee would love it.  Lauren and I would take it our leave it.  We appreciate whatever audience we have to our insanity, be it just the family, her classroom, or the poor people at Fellowship who have to hear/see our routines frequently.

Anywho, I was struck the other day by the number of ridiculous references from pop culture that are now just a part of our collective vocabulary.  This will be an ongoing list of such things as they happen and/or I remember them, not a fixed list like some of the ranking lists I have put out in the past.

Second Breakfast from The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring.  The full quote is

Pippin:What about breakfast?
Aragorn: You’ve already had it.
Pippin: We’ve had one, yes. What about second breakfast?

It is common for us on a day where somebody gets up early and someone else gets up later, for the early bird to eat once and then eat again when the family is up.  A phenomenon now known as Second Breakfast.  You must, of course, say the line, “We’ve had one, yes. What about second breakfast?” in your best British Hobbit accent.

“It’s your birthday. It’s your birthday. You’re the birthday boy or girl.” from the Simpsons 

In my college days, I will confess that I watched the Simpsons.  As most college students did/do, I found it hilarious.  However, at some point it became too much for me, as I was maturing and the show kept going wherever it was going.  Anywho, a handful of Simpsonisms still are a part of my vocabulary, with this being the biggest.  This is from an episode where they are celebrating one of the kid’s birthdays at some place that was supposed to be like Chuck E. Cheese.  The mechanical mouse is displayed and sings that line.  The Loften family tradition is now, on birthdays, to multiple times throughout the day to sing that line to each other.  Even though the girls have never seen one minute of one Simpsons episode, they do it as well.  The best was early on when the girls were younger and they would say, “Dad, I am not a boy or girl.  I am a girl.”

Two-face from Seinfeld.

This is from one of the most famous episodes of Seinfeld, the one with Festivus.  Jerry is dating someone who looks really good in certain light and terrible in others.  He refers to that as a two-face.  A common phenomenon, we believe, in celebrities/actresses.   So Heidi and I will be watching a movie or the Olympics or anything and one of us will say, “He/she is kind of a two-face.”  Yes, we do that.  We evaluate celebrities good looks together.  Is that weird?

Other options? (said in Scottish accent) from Braveheart

So the scene is William Wallace has returned from York to discover that the English have invaded and sent a huge army.  He is trying to rally the nobles where they have this interchange:

Craig: With such a force arrayed against us, it is time to discuss other
options.

William: Other options?  Don’t you wish at least to lead your men onto
the field and barter a better deal with Longshanks before you tuck
tail and run?

You are not allowed to utter the words other options without doing it in Scottish accent.  If you do forget, someone must and will point it out.  You then correct yourself.  There are no exceptions.  None.

John Coc…tos…ten from Fletch

From perhaps the most quotable movie of all time.  Fletch is trying to pretend that he knows a woman and introduces him to her as her husband’s friend, John.  “John, who?”  “John Coc…tos..ten”  He mumbles the name hoping it will sound like some name she recognizes.  So now around the house if someone asks you for someone’s name and you don’t know, then you mumble ala Fletch, “Sam…er.ta Li.bah.soe.gooz?”  A pastor and his wife, shouldn’t one of us be good at remembering names?

“These pretzels are making me thirsty” from Seinfeld

Kramer is hired to have a bit part in a movie and this is his only line.  He practices saying it in front of the gang and everyone critiques it and says it their own way.  Now at the Loften house, if someone says something of the same cadence, for example, “This shirt is making me hot,” someone will, not may, will respond back with “these pretzels are making me thirsty.”  At that point, everyone has to repeat the phrase back with their own inflection.  Last, almost always, is Mom.  Sometimes she has to rebuked by one of her daughters, “(clearing throat loudly) Mom!”  “Oh, sorry.  These pretzels are making me thirsty.” Again, as with much of this, our girls have never seen this.  They play along, no problem.  They love it.  I pity their therapist when they are older.

She Blinded Me with Science, by Thomas Dolby

There was a time when I got on Youtube with the girls and showed them the goofiest songs/videos that I could remember from the 80’s:  Down Under, Run Runaway, Safety Dance, Girls Just Want to Have Fun and She Blinded Me with Science.  Their two big takeaways were the guy swinging the giant log on Run Runaway and the song Blinded Me.  Now anytime someone says the word science, someone else will sing the line “she blinded me with science.”  Then someone else must make the beep, boop, beep sound.  (Optional, a third person shouting in a serious voice, “SCIENCE!”) If you are confused, go listen to the song.

PIV-OT! PIV-OT! from Friends

Heidi and I were both pretty big Friends fans back in the day.  I know that I am supposed to be embarassed by that, and I should refrain from mentioning that public.  Someday, when I’m respectable, I will.  Anywho, there is an episode where Ross has talked a couple of the others into moving a couch.  The couch is way too big and they trying to take it up a winding staircase.  The whole time he is shouting, “Pivot, pivot” in one of the most annoying voices ever.  Of all of these on this list, this one is Heidi’s.  First of all because that’s her sense of humor.  Second, because she is always making me move furniture.  So, of course, we are holding a couch, chair, table, etc. and she is shouting, “PIVOT!”  Isn’t good that we found each other?

Best Action Heroes in a Battle Royal

So here is the setup.  We have the top 10 action/adventure heroes and they have been tasked with eliminating the other 9.   There is no reasonable or even unreasonable scenario where you could make a movie where this would be the case, so I will not try.  Those with superpowers like Superman are not eligible and those with unrealistic technology also will not be considered like Iron Man.

Each will be analyzed for his particular strengths and weaknesses.  One strength that each of them has is their uncanny ability to cheat death, so it will seem ridiculous that any of them would ever be eliminated.  Also, you will find that qualities such as kindness and commitment to family will be under the “weakness” category.  Clearly, this is not a moral assessment.  It is only a weakness with respect to things that could be used against you in such a battle royal or your inability to make the hard decision when it counts.  If this all seems a little too violent for you, replace the word “killed” or “eliminated” with “tagged by a paintball.”

Batman is not under consideration here.  Even though he doesn’t have super powers and his technology isn’t too unreasonable, it just feels like he should be in a different discussion of superheroes.  Also, I want  to include warriors from previous eras, but it’s too hard to judge.  All things being equal, I believe that Maximus would dominate everyone on this list (with the possible exception of #1), but you can’t really compare him to people with sniper rifles and machine guns.  For that reason Indiana Jones also does not appear on this list.

One final note, Chuck Norris was going to be asked to participate but was deemed too awesomely destructive.  The person who was going to ask him was turned to stone just looking at him.  His beard volunteered to participate, but Norris was unwilling to part with the beard for the 30 seconds it would take to eliminate the competition.

10. MacGyver

Strengths: Ability to make incredible weapons, defenses, gadgets in general with q-tips, peanut butter, and empty jars of baby food.  Ability to think quickly in tense situations.  Mullet.

Weaknesses:  Lacks the killer instinct.  Nice guy.  Hates guns and violence.

Outcome:  After being chased to a remote location, MacGyver finds himself holed up in a bunker.  While trying to figure out a way to escape using only a spork, the wheels from a kid’s Big Wheels, and a left over piece of ooey gooey butter cake, John Rambo approaches the scene and destroys the bunker, the entire area, and all neighboring cities with a relentless assault with multiple grenade launchers, rocket launchers and possibly a suitcase nuke.  (Wait, that seems more like an episode of MacGruber)

9.  B.A. Baracus

Strengths: Ability to build elaborate contraptions.  Can drive a van as if it were a racecar.  Awesome nickname, attitude and Mohawk.

Weaknesses: Unwilling/unable to fly unless tranqed.  Easily duped into being tranqed when it is obvious he is going to have to fly.  Good at shooting guns, but not actually hitting the people that he is shooting. (Lots of ammunition used on A-Team, no bad guys ever injured or killed)

Outcome:  While tracking Dirty Harry, Harry is able to slip out of his grasp by, of all things, getting on an airplane.   He does not realize that he is being chased by John McClain.  In a battle of witty things to say, John McClain trumps B.A.’s “I pity the fool” with quotes from Tombstone.  The last thing Baracus hears before he passes is “I’m your huckleberry.”

8. “Dirty” Harry Callahan

Strengths:  Anger and general disdain for humanity. Snarl.  Love for guns.

Weaknesses: Anger becoming bitterness and uncontrollable range.  Maybe just a wee bit obsessive?  Don’t tell him I said that. (No seriously, please don’t tell him I said that)

Outcome:  Harry never really got into the spirit of the challenge.  No one can tell him what to do.  All he wants to do is lock up punks.  He notices some guys robbing a convenience store near Dirty Harry’s location.  Harry is sucked into the trap and takes out each one of the punks with his Smith and Wesson.  He never notices that Jack Bauer is one of the hostages.  It’s all over for Harry.

7.  John McClain

Strengths:  Ability to withstand large amounts of pain.  Sacrifice his body for the greater good.  Intensity balanced with lighthearted look at life.

Weaknesses: Always in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Relies too much on luck

Outcome:  While he is certainly the people’s choice, there should be little doubt that he lacks the skill and training to take on the higher level secret agents.  After taking out B.A. Baracus, McClain unfortunately found himself on a plane hijacked by terrorists.  After foiling their plot he gets Seattle only to stumble upon another terrorist plot to poison the world’s Starbucks supply.  After successfully putting down the second plot, he runs into Casey Ryback.  Ryback could have shot him at any time during the previous 24 hours, but for reasons known only to him, he chooses to battle McClain in fisticuffs.  In a long drawn out battle, McClain goes down in what history will soon call the most over the top death scene ever.

6.  Casey Ryback

Strengths: Martial arts skills.  Creative ways of killing people.  Cooking.

Weaknesses:  Hmm, shall we say that he is a little hefty?

Outcome:  Greatly fatigued by his altercation with John McClain.  Ryback stops for a snack.  Large meat lovers pizza and a diet coke.  Finishing that and just as he is about to order his main course, he is confronted by a man with a gun who appears to be Tom Cruise.  However, before he pulls the trigger, the assailant says, “I want you to know who got you.”  He rips off the mask and it is Ethan Hunt.  As he fires, Ryback says something that no one, I mean no one in the pizza place could understand.  Hunt gives that swarmy, creepy smirk that used to be charming and is now just weird.

5.  Ethan Hunt

Strengths:  Those creepy, look like someone else masks.  (I know what you may be thinking. That is unreasonable technology. Maybe, but it is not on the level of say the GI Joe movie and is really not that much of an advantage.  I mean, really, what’s the difference between a piece of bubble gum that becomes a bomb and a regular bomb or a mask that makes you look like a senator and like a ski mask?)  Good looks.  Death-defying stunts. Wide range of abilities to kill you including fisticuffs and all kinds of weapons.

Weaknesses:  Something in his personality that makes people close to him want to betray him.  His inability to notice that he is being betrayed.

Outcome:  In the battle of Napoleon complexes, Ethan Hunt and Jack Bauer are obsessed with each other.  Both are quite short-tempered and have little patience for each other.  However, it is Hunt’s giant ego that gets the best of him.  As part of his spy cover, he adopts the persona of an actor, goes on a talk show and jumps up and down on a couch like a buffoon.  Seizing this opportunity, Bauer hides in Hunt’s dressing room and captures him.  He tortures him for a while to get information out of him.  Bauer doesn’t need any information from him, but tortures him just the same.

4.  John Rambo

Strengths: Knowledge of weapons.  Knowledge of like huge weapons.  Access to steroids and HGH.

Weaknesses: Lack of finesse.  Intelligence. Vocabulary. 

Outcome:  After destroying an entire Afghan village for no particular reason, he sets up an arsenal in the ruins that would make him the 5^th most well-equipped army in the entire world.  Taking a break from surrounding his village with land mines, he shoots himself up again with steroids.  This sets him on a steroid rage tantrum that distracts him from what comes next.  Bond air drops from a low flying plane.  He chooses a parachute that doesn’t work on purpose just to make it interesting.  He makes a parachute out of his shirt in part to save his life and in part so he can show off his abs.  He eliminates Rambo as he is putting his head through a concrete wall.

3.  Jack Bauer

Strengths: Chloe O’Brian’s technical knowledge.  The ability to extract any information from anyone anytime.  A complete disregard for the rules.

Weaknesses:  Is captured an inexplicable number of times.  Gets attached to people he barely knows which causes him to surrender way too much.

Outcome:  In what can only be considered a breaking of the rules, Bauer has Chloe O’Brian using NSA satellites to track each of the other 9 guys.  She is, of course, unable to find or track Jason Bourne, even though on occasion he is sitting in the cubicle next to her.  This allows Jack to survive multiple attempts to take him out.  However, the now late Ethan Hunt had alerted the Chinese government as to Bauer’s whereabouts.  They have Bauer surrounded at a local bus station.  He is going to fight his way out until he discovers that the Chinese agents have kidnapped a young boy that he had met for five minutes that morning at a coffee shop.  Jack then immediately surrenders.  The Chinese government take him back to China where we can only presume he is dead—for the 15^th time, a number heretofore only seen amongst villains on daytime soap operas.

2.  James Bond (Daniel Craig version)

Strengths:  Handsome.  Buff.  Abs that make every man that watches him cry.  Mad spy skillz.  Sweet vehicles and gadgets.

Weaknesses:  A little too concerned with being handsome, buff and having abs that make every man that watches him cry.  Much too public profile.

Outcome:  At one point, Bond captures Bauer, because, you know, why not?  Rather than eliminating him, he wants to see what it’s like on the other side.  He starts monologging and telling Bauer about his sinister plan to take him out and Bourne.  He then leaves the room and Bauer escapes and kills all of Bond’s henchmen.  Frustrated with himself, he goes to the casino and has a drink (you know what he has).  Bourne, wanting this to end with a bang, poisons his drink while simultaneously shooting him and blowing up the casino.

1. Jason Bourne

Strengths:  Having minimal long term memories gives him few attachments.  Has all the super spy skills—driving, shooting, fighting, breaking into places, being awesome, super stealthy.  Cold, calculated, smart.

Weaknesses: He did have a moment of conscience, but he got shot and dumped in the ocean (I think he learned his lesson).  Quite obsessed with finding answers to his past.

Outcome:  He at one point had every other contestant in his sniper sights except for MacGyver who went down too quickly.  He chose not to eliminate everyone himself instead choosing to observe everyone else’s tactics.  Also, just for fun he does the whole competition left handed and speaks only Mandarin Chinese.

I Can’t Fight This Feeling

I have been on a serious post kick lately.  Not what cloften reader(s?) expect.  So I will tell you this story.

As is typical around our house someone (this time Maylee) was singing.  I told her, if we’re going to sing, let’s sing an 80’s classic.  (I can make this happen easier now, because she has a CD from Glee which apparently has made some 80’s songs cool again).  So then we all start singing “I Can’t Fight This Feeling” by REO Speedwagon.  I mean all of us, and not just the chorus or 1st verse.  2 verses, the chorus twice.  It ended with Lauren and I doing the chorus again in a more country riff.  Which then prompted Heidi and Maylee to critique the performance, American Idol style.  They both appreciated how we made the song our own.  It showed who we were as artists. 

I’m hesitant to say that this was a normal occurence in our house, because of the word normal.  I can say that it is typical.  I’m telling you.  If any of you know any reality show producers, I think you could get a relatively funny reality show out of our house.  I mean, it would be no Cake Boss, but then again, what is.

The Best Action Hero

There are two big questions that consistently come up in our staff lunches at Fellowship Cabot.  (I promise that we spend a lot of time talking about serious stuff too)  The first is who would win in a battle royal of all the staff at Fellowship Little Rock.  Dean Stanberry used to have no contenders.  Now with the addition of Mark Henry, at least there is now a good debate to have. (Sorry, I usually try to avoid inside jokes)

The second is who would win if all the tv/movie action heroes went after each other.  This is now going to become an overly complicated analysis/blog post.  First though, I need your help.  Who are the contenders?

Let me set up the ground rules. Here is the scenario.  All of the great action heroes (they could be villains as well) are asked to eliminate everyone else.  Who is the last one standing?

They cannot have superpowers of any kind.  We are talking about regular people.  Who would win between Yoda and Superman is for another time.

They also cannot have/use unreasonable technology.  James Bond can be in.  Iron Man is out.  I’m on the fence with Batman whether or not he is in, convince me one way or another.

They need to be iconic.  I don’t care about that one character in that one movie that no one has ever heard of, but you and your friends think is awesome.

If you find this annoying, I’m sorry.  There is serious stuff on the blog for you.  Every now and then, especially on my day off, I am going to indulge my pop culture idiocy.  Right now I have 3 major contenders in my mind with a few longshots to make it interesting.  Who you got?

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