StumpTown Blog

The comedian Steven Wright, best known for his lack of enthusiasm, once said, "You know how it feels when you're leaning back on a chair, and you lean too far back, and you almost fall over backwards, but then you catch yourself at the last second? I feel like that all the time..." That’s how I felt for about 2 hours watching “No Country for Old Men.” The villain in this movie is so mysterious and disturbing, so unpredictable except in his creepy, emotionless, homicidal determination, that this movie keeps you off balance and unsettled from the opening scene to the last. No matter what is happening on screen, there is a sense that at any moment, you may see something you wish you hadn’t, and that's just the villain’s haircut. “No Country for Old Men” is the latest movie from Joel and Ethan Cohen who are without a doubt my favorite film makers. Their credits include Raising Arizona (one of the top 3 funniest movies of all time. I will not argue about this), O Brother W...

What if you could take Scarface, mix it with New Jack City and do it all with the style and thoughtfulness of the Godfather? You would have a transcendent movie. It would take huge stars that can really act to pull that off. You would need people like Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. You would need a story like that of real life drug lord Frank Lucas. You would need American Gangster. Many of my very favorite movies are gangster films like The Godfather, Goodfellas, and The Untouchables. From the cast and the previews and what I knew of the real story, I really thought American Gangster had a shot to join these movies in that elite class of organized crime classics. Sadly, it fell well short. It was, by no means, a terrible movie, it just wasn’t anything special and when you consider the potential it was certainly a disappointment. Basically, this movie was the big screen version of HBO’s shamefully ignored series “The Wire.” It copied the characters, the set up and even the basic ...

....is RedBull and Vodka. You should never have that much energy when you are that dizzy. For that matter, I don't think you should ever intentionally be that dizzy, but I know opinions differ on that. RedBull and Vodka narrowly beat out straight gasoline for this year's most dangerous drink prize. The judges said that it was because RB and V tastes like a liquid sweettart thus enticing people to drink more than one, while Gasoline still tastes like gasoline, even if you have it "on the rocks." Just thought you should know. On the other hand. If you have ever thought it would be fun to run a marathon while slamming into things like walls and trees, then I strongly recommend the world's most dangerous drink.

My oldest starts in his first official hoops league next month. They had evaluations last week. It was a great Dad moment that I feel like sharing in the off chance I haven’t already told you this story. ( WARNING : this post contains obnoxious parental bragging. Some content may not be suitable for nonrelatives). A friend at work recommended that we try the “Upwards” basketball league for my 7 year old son. (Warnings about using the names of young children on the internet have led me to decide not to refer to my kids by name anymore so I’m going with G1 and G2 from now on.). Upwards is apparently a national Christian basketball league. It was described as very positive and well organized and for kids sports leagues, that is music to parents’ ears. Last week I took G1 in to get measured for a uniform and to do evaluations. Every kid in the league goes through an evaluation and then the coaches hold a secret draft in an attempt to get the teams as even as possible. The evaluation was ne...

Thank you for blogsitting. My response to your comments can be found in the comments section that you guys have been running back and forth like your own ping-pong match of wackiness. Very enjoyable read. Thank you.