Commuter Fun, Movie Reviews, Book Review

Recently I had the opportunity to be a commuter in the largest city of the Lone Star State.  Yes, I spent from Tuesday until Saturday in The Woodlands commonly referred to as a suburb of Houston.  But  what made me a commuter was the fact that my hotel was actually in Houston so I had to make the drive every morning to The Woodlands and then back to Houston.  Well it was only about 20 miles but it seemed like a 100 at least.  While the streets and freeways may have 4 lanes they all have bumper to bumper traffic and they are going way beyond whatever the speed limit is.  The other annoyance I noticed was the sound of sirens within every mile that you travel.  You have an option of ambulances, police cars, motorcycle police and of course fire trucks.  The other thing I noticed was the speeding cars and people texting while they are driving.  Now I can hang in there with the best speeders and have no problem putting the pedal to the metal, but with all the traffic it just makes it much more dangerous.  At any given point you are likely to get hit by any of the siren bearing vehicle, speeding ball buster motorcycles with drivers who have no limit when it comes to speed, or that little mother of four in her spacious black SUV!  When I departed on Saturday afternoon there was bumper to bumper at 3 mph on I-45 and then to put the icing on the cake the feeder 3 lanes of traffic were bumper to bumper.  My conclusion to all of this mayhem was I would be real glad when I hit the city limits of suburb Slaton as I made the turn to the big city of Ransom Canyon.  Now to get my wits about me while I enjoy West Texas and not feeling like I am in a war zone!!  Glad to be back!!

Movie Reviews:

“Brick Mansions”, **, This movie stars Paul Walker, Catalina Demis, and David Relle(actors you won’t recognize except for the fact that Walker was killed in real life in an automobile accident right after the filming of this movie) and it is about the future(but not distance future) Detroit, MI and the fall of it as a city.  The inner city was given to the drug dealers, criminals of all kinds, etc., and a brick wall was built around the inner city like a Loop.   All control was by the bad guys but the real bad guys were of course the white mayor of what was left of the city outside the walls.  Good vs. evil, etc.  Rated X for violence, language, drugs, etc.

“Mom’s Night Out”, *,  A stupid movie about a mom who wanted to go out and have fun with her friends but it just didn’t turn out that way.  Rated PG-for stupidity.( I had nothing else to do in The Woodlands.

Book Review:

“Cycle of Lies-The Fall of Lance Armstrong” by Juliet Macur.  This is a true story telling in complete detail all of the story concerning the the descent of Lance Armstrong in the cycling and multi-sport world of doping culture.  

EA, SH, ....:)!

greerman

Black Pickup Trucks, Movie Reviews

Okay I know I am in pick up country and they are necessary mode of transporting things around to work with and pull big boats to the lake, but why do the big black ones with extended mirrors have to tail gate me all the time.  By the time I get into town I feel like I have been stalked, bullied and peed on by some Big Black pickup truck.  It is not good enough for them to be of normal size and normal wheels but many of them have oversized tires so they sit three feet higher than normal.  The other day I was coming in and this big Black(while I know many colors are available it seems as thought the black ones are the more dominant and obnoxious) pick up road within two feet of my bumper and I was going the speed limit.  So, what is the deal and why do they think they own the road and my space.  These pickups are also the same ones that have a gun rack in the rear window and camouflage jump suits hanging next to them.  Then push comes to shove and I get to the Texas Tech rec center parking lot and I am looking for a parking space for my humble charcoal gray Ford Explorer and there they are again, the black huge pickups taking up two spaces and then to put the icing on the cake they are parked sideways to prevent denting in the side.  Well in the first place they sit so high in the air it would take a hydraulic jack to lift my Explorer up high enough to put a dent in any part of the truck, and then it would probably do more damage to my vehicle than the pickup.  So, what is the solution?  Beats me but I have thought about buying one of those REAL big trucks they use in those crash derby events at the rodeo grounds and then dominating the roads, city, and rec center parking with it.  I would also add real loud pipes to it just to make sure I have made my point.  Wow, I am feeling better about this as I write!!  See you on the roads!!  Also, it will be black!!  Reagor Dykes probably has just the right one for me!!

Movie Reviews:  

“ Captain America:  The Winter Soldier:”  ***,  Well here is another Marvel comic book hero and I believe a good one.  I can’t give it another star just because we are overloaded with sci-fi heroes and stuff, but it is an entertaining movie.  Chris Evans’ makes a good Captain American but I really do not like his uniform.  Scarlett Johansson plays Black Widow and she is his ally and probably secret girl friend.  It is a typical plot, bad against evil and Robert Redford plays the ultimate evil guy.  He is very good and it was great to see him add some class to this movie.  Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, gunplay and action throughout.

“ Draft Day”, ***,  While this was a very entertaining movie it is just not a four star movie.  I really enjoyed it but I love football and Kevin Costner, who plays the general manager of the Cleveland Browns.  While I have never watched the actual Draft Day of the NFL on TV I had wondered how the film director would create an interesting and intense plot.  Well they did a great job of that and even threw in some personal love matching stuff.  I thought it was a little corny in the very closing scenes of the movie but it is a good movie and worth watching. It was great to see Kevin Costner in a leading role just made for him.  WARNING:  If you do not like NFL football you will probably not like this movie.  Rated PG-13 on appeal for brief strong language and sexual references. 

“ Transcendence”, ****,  Johnny Depp is also one of my favorite actors and can play just about any part you hand him.  In this case he is a brilliant scientist who believes the brain can be used for more than what it was intended.  In this case it means recording and storing your brain waves, in the computer,  for safe keeping after you die it is possible to transcend them to whomever might be interested.  So, the movie is about the transcending of Dr. Will Casters(Depp) brain after he dies from a gun shot wound by opponents of his theories.  A well done sci-fi movie and I was drawn to it by Depp and would consider it a very good movie, plus unlike more sci-fi’s there is a love story.  Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action and violence, some bloody images, brief strong language and sensuality.   

EA, SH......:)!

greerman