Jasper Jones

One of the movies that Alex’s parents bought for him today is called “Leatherheads.” It’s a comedy about the early days of professional football, starring George Clooney, Renee Zellweger and John Krasinski.

I didn’t get to watch the movie with them since I was in class, but they invited me to watch it later tonight if I want to. But I have to run off and do a shift at the hospital tonight. By the time I get home I’m sure Alex will be sound asleep and won’t want the TV on. Maybe tomorrow.

Stopped by Wal-Mart on the way home from Kelly’s and picked up a few things. I really needed some time to just walk around and think about things and be alone for a bit. Although I suppose it sounds strange to say that being in Wal-Mart constitutes being alone. I’m alone with hundreds of other shoppers. But none of them are talking to me or expecting anything from me except to not run up on the back of their feet with my cart.

There were a bunch of new movies out, with a special display of horror movies because of Halloween being just a few weeks away. I have a nice collection of DVDs at home but I only brought a handful with me to the dorm because sometimes things have a way of walking themselves out the door, if you know what I mean.

I was going to rent the new but since it was on sale at Wal-Mart I decided to just go ahead and buy it. I don’t have time tonight to watch it because I have to go in for a shift at the hospital, but I might have some time tomorrow afternoon. The movie is “Leatherheads,” starring George Clooney and Rene Zellweger, about the early days of pro football. The helmets they were back then were made of leather - it’s all they had to protect their melons.

I’ve lived on campus in the dorms the entire time I’ve been going to school. It is convenient to the classes and a cheap way to have some place to sleep. Sure, it gets a little noisy and there’s not much privacy, but the noise doesn’t both me unless I’m trying to study and I don’t really study that much here in my room.

Today we went over to Kelly’s place for lunch and to work on our group presentation for Economics. Kelly and I have already done the grunt work and just need to get the presentation organized. Pretty sure we’ll be ready in plenty of time.

Kelly has a nice condo over in the Garden District that her dad bought as an investment and he lets her live there for school. After she graduates he’ll probably rent it out to more students. It’s really nice - large rooms, quiet neighborhood, plenty of parking.

She has a nice living room with a sleeper sofa and a really nice entertainment center along one wall. It’s real furniture - nice wood and lots of shelves and cabinet doors. Beats the heck out of my little TV Stand in my dorm room!

She wasn’t shy about showing me around. I even got a peek into her bedroom, which was fixed up really nice with a four poster bed and a large dresser-like piece that had a spot for a small TV in the bedroom. I don’t know much about armoires so I asked her what to call that, because it really is nice. She didn’t even make me feel stupid for asking.

This week and next are the season premieres of all the new TV shows. I’ve been watching commercials for most of them for months, and the built up anticipation is starting to wear thin. And, sadly, I’m working nights now, so I doubt that I’ll be able to watch many of them after all this promotion.

The one that has my biggest interest is the new Great Race and the new Survivor. But I think I’ll be working during those shows. I wonder if you can get them “on demand” after they air?

And I really like The Unit. Since they moved The Unit to Sunday nights I can actually watch most of those while doing homework. So that will be cool.

Some shows are rebroadcast on the internet. I actually watched one episode of Big Brother on the internet because the “on demand” wasn’t working. So I’ve got options.

Bought the Kid Rock CD called “Rock N Roll Jesus” because I’ve been hearing a really catchy song on the radio called “All Summer Long.” Now, I’ve never been a real big fan of the Kid, he has a bizarre lifestyle that I personally find very offensive. But that’s his life and he’ll deal with the consequences of his actions further down the road.

I don’t like to help support the drugs and illegal activities of today’s musicians by buying their records. But then again, there are lots of other good people involved in the making of a CD and some of them do deserve to earn a living in the music business, so if I really like the songs and can afford to spend the money then I’ll buy the album. but I only buy 2 or 3 albums each year, so it’s not like anyone can buy much cocaine with that little bit of money going their way.

That’s my take on the music business.

I don’t watch the singing and dancing reality shows, but I think that Carrie Underwood got her big break from winning one of them. Now her career has taken off like a rocket and I’m glad for that. She’s a pretty little thing and has a great voice.

I was watching the GAC (Great American Country) cable channel today and it was interesting to see how they worked a video story around one of her songs, “Just a Dream.” I would have thought the song meant it was a breakup from the typical domestic and relationship problems that happen. But the video showed her getting into a wedding dress for a picture perfect wedding and then switched to scene of her going to a funeral. We are led to believe her man had gone into the military and been killed in action, although you never really know if she had married him before he left or not. That was an interesting twist with a contemporary slant to the meaning of the lyrics.

So, after all that, it’s a good song and an interesting video. Carrie rocks!

Bummed to hear that Bernie Mac died. He was a funny man and a good actor, too. I really liked all his movies and I watched a lot of his TV shows.

The cool thing about his TV show was at the beginning or at the end of every show he would talk to the audience directly and express his frustrations or his view of the situation covered in the show. And he did it in such a funny way. The premise of the show was pretty unique, too. He played himself as a comedian and brought in a wife and three kids who weren’t his kids but he agreed to take them in. So you had an almost stepfather situation and I think a lot of stepfathers could identify with what went on during the shows.

So, Bernie Mac, thanks for the laffs and for all the good things you did while you were here with us. We’ll miss you and your work - I can’t think of a single person who could ever take your place.

Looks like Wednesday will be movie night for us. I found a showing of Batman that starts at 8:10 and that gives us plenty of time to get home from work (me) and school (her) and change clothes, grab a quick bite to eat and get to the theatre in time for a long ticket line.

Really looking forward to this - I’ve heard so much from all the advance publicity and my friends that have already gone to see it. I was thinking about taking my 5 year nephew to the show but my friends all say that it is way to violent for him. I’m not sure about that - he’s pretty matter of fact about violence on the TV and movies - he scoffed at me once when I asked about a different movie that he’s seen and he said, “It’s JUST a movie! It’s NOT real!” I was pretty impressed that he said that, but I still have doubts about exposing a kid to really violent scenes. Even if it doesn’t scare him, I wonder what kind of impression it is making on him? It can’t be good on some level - will he grow up so de-sensitized to gory things and cruelty that he has no compassion for people? That is what makes serial killers for goodness sake.

Went over to a friends house and she had a bowl of pistachio nuts on the coffee table. Whoa! Do you know how addicting those little green nuts can be? I mean, I’m sitting there watching the movie and talking with her and I grab a few pistachios and eat them, and then immediately reach back into the bowl for more. I couldn’t stop myself! They are much better than popcorn for sharing during a movie!

I’ll be on the lookout for a bag of pistachios next time I’m out shopping. That’s not often while I’m home on break, but you know when I get back to school next month I’ll be fending for myself again.

Oh yeah, the movie was pretty good, too. It was 3:10 to Yuma and I don’t know why I missed it in the theaters but I’m glad I had the chance to watch it. Even better, I watched with my girl and she was totally into the movie, too. Not even close to a chick flick, but we both liked it a lot.

  The Lakers looked great in the first two games of their series vs. the Spurs. These first two games where in Los Angeles  at the Lakers home court. The next game was in San Antonio, where the Spurs would take the home court to their advantage. In game three the Spurs looked like a different team, mostly because of  Ginobali. He had thirty points in game three, more than in both games one and two combined. With the series at 2-1 in favor of the Lakers, the Spurs needed a win in game four win to tie things back up and sent the series back to Lakers town. However, things did not go as planned for them. Game four was a close game all the way through. With just a few seconds left on the clock, the Lakers were up 93-91. On the last attempt of the game, Brandon Barry tried a shot and missed which ended the game, giving the Lakers a 3-1 series lead and the next game at their home court.