6/24/07--Greatest action films ever????

The list is courtesy of Entertainment Weekly.
Snappy comments courtesy of yours truly.

25) The Incredibles: What...no Jonny Quest??
Why is a cartoon on this list???
24) Lethal Weapon: Seems awful low for this list.
23) Drunken Master II: The Jackie Chan entry.
Personally, I liked his movie where he jumped from a rope ladder hanging from a helicopter down to a moving train. NO stunt man. Wow!
22) Predator: Much like LW, seems too low for the list.
21) SpiderMan 2--loved the movie...great fight scene with Spidey & Doc Ock...don't know if it belongs on the list though.
20) Kill Bill Vol I: Some great action sequences.
How about the fight scenes inside the House of the Blue Leaves? Yowsa.
19) Goldfinger: I guess this is the James Bond entry. Personally I would've gone for From Russia With Love--great fight scene on a train between Connery & Robert Shaw. Come to think of it, the new Bond movie had a terrific opening sequence involving a chase on a construction site.
18) The Adventures of Robin Hood: this is the original--the Errol Flynn version, which is still the best of the Robin Hood films, IMO. Not sure it belongs on this list though.
17) The Bourne Supremacy: Out does Bond at...being Bond.
16) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Loved the movie...don't really think of it as an "action movie" though.
15) Enter the Dragon: Bruce Lee entry.
14) RoboCop: Terrifically underrated film, great action sequences and some hilarious satire in the commercial parodies.
13) The Wild Bunch: Legendary western with one of the alltime great shootouts, but I can't help thinking that there are some terrific John Wayne & Clint Eastwood movies that didn't make the cut.
12) The Empire Strikes Back: Pretty much regarded as the best of the Star Wars movies...don't know if it belongs here though.
11) Speed: Keanu Reeves...remember him? Best part of any action hero is having a credible and fun bad guy (sorta like wrestling)...Dennis Hopper was great here.
10) Terminator 2-Judgement Day: Arnold at his zenith here. Broke all sorts of new ground with the CGI--"liquid metal"
9) Hard Boiled: I'm so glad they included this movie on the list. With apologies to The Wild Bunch, the greatest movie shootout of alltime is featured here, as action superhero Chow Yun Fat shoots it out with the bad guys...in a hospital.
Including...the maternity ward. With a newborn in one hand. Folks,it don't get much better than that.
8) Saving Private Ryan: great war movie included most likely because of the unforgettable opening 30 minutes.
7) Gladiator: Okay, the stuff with the tigers is a little hokey, but there are some terrific fight sequences here...Maximus--father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife...were you not entertained???
6) Seven Samurai: One of the alltime greats..but does it still pack its original punch?
5) The Matrix: Basically redefined the genre.
4) The Road Warrior: Well, since its one of my top 2 films of alltime...you know I'm not going to be disappointed. The article includes the awesome opening narration:

"The gangs took over the highways, ready to wage war for a tank of juice. And in this maelstrom of dacay, ordinary men were battered and smashed.
Men like Max...In the roar of an engine, he lost everything. And became a shell of a man...a man who wandered out into the wasteland. And it was here, in this blighted place, that he learned...to live again."

Man...that's some good stuff.

3) Raiders of the Lost Ark: Pretty much goes without saying, ya know?
2) Aliens: Sigourney...kickin a little alien ass.

and number 1?

1) Die Hard: Great movie...great lead character and performance by Willis, but what made the movie truly GREAT was Alan Rickman's Hans Gruber.
Just my opinion though.

Here's a couple of movies that I sorta figured would've made the list:

Braveheart
Dirty Harry
Jaws

Anyway....thoughts?

6/19/07--Big changes in my little girl's life

So last night we're eating dinner and I was telling Kellie about something unfortunate that had happened to a co-worker's daughter in her relationship.  I was basically trying to tell her that she should be careful how much of her heart she invests in any relationship at her age.  I was finishing up my speech and then made a reference to her "friend", the dreaded Kyle, and told her that no matter how she wanted to dance around the subject, I knew that he was her boyfriend.  She turns to her mother, and with a dirty look says:

"You SAID you weren't going to tell him."

Mom, ever the cool cucumber looks right back at her and says:

"I didn't.  You just did--he didn't know."

Oops.  Kellie had a slightly embarassed look on her face.  Yep, the old cat was officially out of the bag.

My daughter....14 yrs old....gonna be 15 in August....officially has a boyfriend.

Something tells me....the fun has really just begun.

Later,
Jeff

Very nice weekend

Well, it was an eventful weekend.  It was a triple shot weekend.  We traveled up to Orlando to visit my parents, since this past Friday was my Mom's birthday.....and Sunday was Father's Day....and Saturday was the last day of band camp for the lovely Kellie Poe-Bowdren--complete with concert.  So we made the trek up there on Friday
afternoon and got there in time to give my Mom a nice cake to celebrate her--what, you didn't think I was going to give you a number, did you????--birthday. 
The following day we ventured to Deland, home of Stetson University (the Fighting Hatters), Florida to pick up Kellie and watch the concert that closed out her camp.
We were lucky enough to have my parents join us for the afternoon, which was pretty cool on a lot of different levels.  It was really kind of cool to have my parents watch as my daughter was there performing--very prideful stuff.  And so the concert is in this chapel on campus, which was built....I dunno....like 125 years ago.  Absolutely gorgeous, oak floors, beautiful woodworking throughout.....which also meant that the acoustics were fairly amazing.  So anyone who got up to go to the bathroom and who wasn't wearing sneakers had the entire audience listening to the CLOP, CLOP of their shoes.  Needless to say, that also meant that anything above a whisper could also be heard.  You know.....like a pair of grandparents who wanted to have a whispered conversation about how wonderful the concert was.  Oh, they thought they were whispering....but instead the rest of the crow heard:

"ISN'T IT AMAZING HOW MUCH BEAUTIFUL MUSIC CAN COME OUT OF ONE INSTRUMENT?"
"WHAT?"
"I SAID...ISN'T IT INTERESTING HOW MUCH...."

Seriously..it was hilarious.  After the concert we went back to the dorm room that Kellie had stayed in during the week and were regaled with stories about her "slightly" Goth roommate--the one who decided, first night of bandcamp--that she was depressed and wanted to begin cutting herself.  Yowsa....ya gotta love teenagers these days.  Naturally Kellie had managed to make approximately 73 friends in the 4 days she was at camp (its a gift) and had to offer some tearful farewells.....but finally we left the college.


  We then made our way back to my parents house, and then followed that up with a nice dinner at the proverbial Outback's.

The weekend finished up on Sunday morning as we all got up and were able to share Father's Day with my Dad--even if I did tease him and tell him I had bought the Hilary Clinton bio for him.  I could never be THAT cruel.

It was nice to be able to spend the morning of Father's Day with the man who has so influenced everything that I do in the role of a father and parent.  I can't even tell you how many times I find myself saying:
"I'm turning into my father."

And that's a pretty good thing.

Later,
Jeff

6/15/07---HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today's the big b-day for my Mom......one of my favorite people of alltime!!!!

Love ya Ma!

Your baby boy.

6/14/07---Youth is wasted on the young

So earlier this weekend Kellie Poe-Bowdren went to a summer camp.  No, it wasn't summer camp like....Camp Wazzapoomantee or anything.  Nope, she went to a music camp.  5 days of intensive music instruction---eh, maybe some fun thrown in also.
Its up at venerable Stetson University just outside of Orlando, and I took her to the airport for a flight up there.  This was her first official solo flight--just taking her to the terminal and seeing her off.
I was watching the plane taxi up to the gate, and I turned and looked at Kellie, who was waiting eagerly to get onboard to start her little adventure...and I couldn't help but think that things are changing very rapidly in my kids lives.  Its as if:  there's no turning back.
From this point on, the ball keeps rolling down the hill....and I can't stop it, even if I wanted too.  Their growing up so fast.

Andy was due to get his senior yearbook photos taken yesterday, and so the night before we had his version of a life altering event.  His Mom wanted him to look his absolute best for the photo op...and so....the electric razor was put away....and in its place came....the manual razor.  Oh yeah.  Shaving cream, hot water.....the whole nine yards.  I kept waiting for him to hit an artery.  He managed (somehow) to avoid them.
But he was doing it without fear of knicking himself---because he's never doen that yet.
But oh....give him time....give him time.  One day he'll come out from the bathroom with a face covered with toilet paper.  And then....he'll be making progress!

Later,
Jeff

6/10/07--Random thoughts---because I really care

Well  let's get to the really important stuff.

Paris Hilton is in jail!!!!!   Isn't it horrible?  Yeesh, have you ever seen so much paper wasted on such a non-story?  I mean, the little trollop gets caught on a V.O.P. and is thrown into the clink for 30 days or so.  Who cares?  Why is this a story?
If her name was LaKeesha from Compton, you can bet your sweet ass that she would be doing the time and no one from Access Hollywood would be there.  So why should Paris be treated any differently?
Answer?
She shouldn't be.  Thank you for asking...now, I'll move on.

Tonight, the family is sitting around watching "Young Frankenstein".  Its always good when you can educate the young people....know what I mean Vern?

Some recent news in the children's department.  Andrew Poe-Bowdren recently got back the results of his ACT testing.  Now, his mother and I both got a 23 when we took the test--a few years back.  The maximum score on the test is a 36, and incoming students at Florida Institute of Technology average between a 24 and a 28.  Andy's score?

31 baby.  Yowsa.  My little boy just got himself a ticket to college.

He scored in the 99th percentile in math.  Dad's little scientist (Mom's also, but who's giving her any credit?)

Andy also aced his final exams, with his lowest grade on an exam being a B+.....the rest of the exams were all A's.  That's the sort of academic progress I like to see.

His sister?  Well........not quite as good.  Oh sure, there was the ususual A in band.
What wasn't so good was the F on her final exam in her pre-law class--which resulted in her finishing with a D for her final semester grade.  Mom & I were not happy with that.
However, I took a different approach this time.  No yelling...no historonics.  I told her that she was lucky that pre-law wasn't offered over the summer, because if it was, she would be in summer school.  So she has to live with the D on her transcript.  Luckily for her, it'll be from her freshman year and hopefully she learns from this and gets her act together by the start of next year.  Oh, and there was the gardening.  Did I mention that she hates to do anything having to do with gardening?  You know, pulling weeds, that sort of thing.  Which is why she was in such a happy moodthis morning as she sat in the dirt and grass and pulled the weeds from around our front door area.  She really, really hates to sweat. 
I think she got the message though.


Hey!  Bigtime congratulations to my co-worker and potential future ex-Mrs. Bowdren, Ceci Barcelo Nunez and her husband Jorge---who became parents for the very first time on Friday morning.  Their son Ryan--all 8lbs 12 ounces of him--joined the family.
The bad news was that I had predicted that he would be born the day BEFORE that, and so I missed winning the office pool by TEN HOURS!!!!  All that money---down the drain!!!  (Cough, cough)  Um, I mean....all that money I had intended for the young mother and her baby....gone!!

Drats....foiled...again.

Later,
Jeff

6/2/07--Sort of a significant event in our family

So my lovely daughter brought over a couple of friends to the house today.  For Kim and I to meet.  Guy friends.  One of which has a (gulp)....driver's license.  Ya know, the sort of thing that could possibly result in my daughter going places....in a car....with another teenager.

Jim Morrison said it best:

"Strange Days"

So the little bastard---whoops---I mean, ahem...the young gentleman comes over and we're introduced.  As ususal, I was the picture of politeness and decorum.

"You the driver?"
"Uh....yes."
"You planning on any crazy teenage stuff while my daughter's in your car?"
"Uh...nope."
"Good...because I'm giving you my daughter in one piece....she better come back the same way."
"Uh...yes sir."

I love those short and sweet conversations.

So she went out in someone else's car....and her mom and I went out to dinner...and she made it home okay.

Didn't think about her once.

More like....202 times.  But that might be a low figure.

Later,
Jeff