Jasper Jones

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.