Safe house - Review

It is not secret I am a fan of Ryan Reynolds. I believe one of the best performances he gave was in Blade III. If you have not seen Blade III it is worth it solely for Reynold's performance. I think his performance is one where he is able to show off most of his acting talents, wicked sense of humor, great comedic timing, able to make action & drama believable, and his boyish charm & charisma.

I know many people only see Reynolds as being able to play the comedic characters & roles which he has played many and is known for in films such as: Just Friends, Van Wilder, Waiting, The Proposal & The Change up. We also forget he has been able to successfully carry off serious dramatic roles in films such as: Buried, The Nines, Fireflies in the Garden, & Amityville Horror.

He also has a few films in the action genre like: Smoking Aces, Green Lantern, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

I enjoyed Safe House as it seemed to allow Reynolds to bring out a mix of the action & dramatic genre but it also gets him out of the comedic stigma he carries. I enjoyed the movie as it is Character driven, Reynolds & Washington give great performances. Reynolds & Washington play CIA agents in a cop & robber type plot. The story is spotty at times but if all you want to see is an action movie with a mystery/suspense story then Safe House will do. The film had this gritty aspect to it and there was not one single character who appears completely good or evil which makes the film feel real.

I also must point out I enjoyed the ending of the movie Smoking Aces which is similar to the ending of Safe House. I do not want to give the ending of Safe House away but I will say this ending is more believable and seems to follow some themes from the film, where as the ending of Smoking Aces seemed a bit random & character driven.

Breakfast in edgewater

This last weekend I woke up late and decided to have breakfast at a coffee shop in near Sloan Lake Park. I was planning on walking around the lake afterwards so breakfast at a near by restaurant would be an efficient use of time & close enough I would not have to travel far too get to the park.

The coffee shop is a mom & pop place with decent coffee. The longer I was in the place the more I realized it was a community spot and I felt like I was in the bar from the TV show Cheers. Everyone knew each other and was rambling on about all sorts of odd details about their personal lives.

I ended up sitting next to what I thought was a woman. When she began to talk it was obvious she was a he. I was going to ask him to pass me a condiment on his table as my table did not have any. I realized I was not sure weather I should address him as a Mr or a Mrs and I was so confused about what to say I spent most of my time there reading a book and listening to a different patron complain about everything from selling a home to back pain.

I have driven by the place a time or two wondering about the crowd inside and what type of people frequent this place. It was an interesting mix of random & yet very open crowd.

I love

I love walking around down town Denver on a Sunny day!

I go for a walk on my lunch break and some days it is difficult to go back to work. Today was one of those days.

The hum of traffic and people everywhere reminds me how nice it is as everyone is out and about. Days like today I almost blind myself staring at reflections of the sun shinning off a buildings.

I may try using that as a reason why I could not return to work...I was blinded by sun and...

What I have done from the Buried life list

I have done the following items from the Buried life list

4.) Start a dance in a public place
9.) Destroy a computer
10.) Learn to fly (flew a Cessna for an hour or so, close enough)
11.) Get a college degree
14.) Grow a mustache
16.) Drive across North America
17.) Start a huge wave
22.) Approach the most beautiful girl you've ever seen and kiss her
23.) Learn how to play an instrument
25.) Solve a crime or capture a fugitive
29.) Scream at the top of your lungs
30.) Make a donation to charity
34.) Pay for someone's groceries
37.) Win and yell "Bingo!" at a Bingo hall
44.) Catch something and eat it
48.) Accept a dare
49.) Take a stranger out to dinner
51.) Climb a large mountain
52.) Go on a blind date
54.) Donate blood
58.) See a dead body
59.) Ask out the girl of your dreams
62.) Be in a protest
63.) Run a successful business
67.) Make an important speech
68.) Swim with sharks
70.) Compete in a soap-box derby
72.) Throw a surprise party
73.) Make a music video
78.) Fall in love
82.) Win an award
90.) Ride a roller coaster
93.) Ride through the desert in a dune-buggy
96.) Host a lemonade stand
97.) Be in a fight

This list thing is getting to me...I am going to come up with my own bucket list. No saying when it will be complete but I like the idea of having a list of 100 things I have wanted to do and completing all of them.

The bucket list from the burried life

The only reality TV show I have enjoyed is a show called The Burried life. It is about four young men traveling around the country achieving all the things on their bucket list and helping other people achieve their goals. They have a list of things to do, so basically their to do list which has 100 things on it. I been curious what it entails so I googled it and found it. It is interesting list.

1.) Open the six o'clock news
2.) Lead a parade
3.) Get a tattoo
4.) Start a dance in a public place
5.) Go down a mountain on a long board
6.) Attend a party at the Playboy Mansion
7.) Get in a real NBA match
8.) Ride a bull
9.) Destroy a computer
10.) Learn to fly
11.) Get a college degree
12.) Kick a field goal
13.) Help someone build a house
14.) Grow a mustache
15.) Get on the cover of Rolling Stone
16.) Drive across North America
17.) Start a huge wave
18.) Tell a joke on Late Night Television
19.) Write a book
20.) Get a song we've written on the radio
21.) Become a licensed minister
22.) Approach the most beautiful girl you've ever seen and kiss her
23.) Learn how to play an instrument
24.) Go to a rock concert in all leather
25.) Solve a crime or capture a fugitive
26.) Tell a judge: "You want the truth? You can't handle the truth!"
27.) Give a stranger a $100 bill
28.) Send a message in a bottle
29.) Scream at the top of your lungs
30.) Make a donation to charity
31.) Cut a ribbon at a major opening
32.) Get someone named after you
33.) Compete in a Krump Competition
34.) Pay for someone's groceries
35.) Sing the National Anthem to a packed stadium
36.) Throw the first pitch at a major league baseball game
37.) Win and yell "Bingo!" at a Bingo hall
38.) Kiss the Stanley Cup
39.) Design a baseball cap and get 50 people to buy it
40.) Make the front page of a newspaper
41.) Make a toast at a stranger's wedding
42.) Host a cooking show
43.) Become a knight for a day
44.) Catch something and eat it
45.) Sleep in a haunted house for 1 night
46.) Do a sketch with Will Ferrell
47.) Get in the Guinness Book of World Records
48.) Accept a dare
49.) Take a stranger out to dinner
50.) Streak a field
51.) Climb a large mountain
52.) Go on a blind date
53.) Start a television show
54.) Donate blood
55.) Kiss Rachael McAdams
56.) Write an article for a major publication
57.) Spend a week in silence
58.) See a dead body
59.) Ask out the girl of your dreams
60.) Go paragliding
61.) Draw a mural
62.) Be in a protest
63.) Run a successful business
64.) Visit Folsom Prison
65.) Learn how to sail
66.) Camp at the Playboy Mansion
67.) Make an important speech
68.) Swim with sharks
69.) Smash a guitar on stage
70.) Compete in a soap-box derby
71.) Take a kid on a toy shopping spree
72.) Throw a surprise party
73.) Make a music video
74.) Help deliver a baby
75.) Make a million bucks
76.) Go dog sledding
77.) Go to Burning Man
78.) Fall in love
79.) Dance with Ellen Degeneres
80.) Meet the Lonely Island dudes
81.) Tour with a major band
82.) Win an award
83.) Street perform and make $100
84.) Run a marathon
85.) Throw the most bad-ass party ever
86.) Teach an elementary school class
87.) Pay off our parents' mortgage
88.) Escape from a deserted island
89.) Experience zero gravity
90.) Ride a roller coaster
91.) Get married (in Vegas)
92.) Learn how to surf
93.) Ride through the desert in a dune-buggy
94.) Party with a rock star
95.) Play ball with President Obama
96.) Host a lemonade stand
97.) Be in a fight
98.) Race horses
99.) Host Saturday Night Live
100.) Go to space

Dexter & Duality

I did not think much about my excitement for Dexter but I realized it is because there is a tie into Duality. Duality comes out in there being two opposing persona's held by one person. Dexter has two opposing persona's, one is a law abiding loving father who works for the police and the other is a vigilante serial killer who is addicted to killing. I did not see it at first but I am reading a short story by Dostoevsky titled the Double which is one of the first stories to popularize the concept of Duality. It was the inspiration for Kafka’s The Metamorphosis which takes the idea of Duality in a different direction but explores it in more depth. The idea of duality may seem rare but it is used in almost every super hero story; such as Batman, Superman, Spiderman, X-men, Green Lantern.

I really enjoyed Kafka’s The Metamorphosis for how it internalized Duality by pitting others perception against intern perception. Dexter’s character narrates the show so it has an interpersonal almost self discovery effect which is great story telling but wonderful for the characterization and bringing out the Duality in a different voice as the character is aware of his two persona's. I really enjoy the show! Thank you Showtime!!!

New show

I started watching the show Dexter and I enjoy it. It is a bit of a soap opera but it is enjoyable. I am drawn to the duality of Dexter, a forensic expert for the police by day, serial killer by night. The writing is good and the characterization is decent.

I remember when the show came out I was against watching it because it looked some what contrived. Years later I enjoy it and am thinking about trying to watch all the earlier seasons. I have been house sitting at houses that have Showtime and I have noticed most of the programs produced by Showtime are really good. Spartacus is excellent and I hear rave reviews for Game of Thrones. When it comes down to it you have to have cable to watch programming that is done well, written well and original.

I may never have a subscription to Showtime it is good to know which channel to watch when I am house sitting.

Running again

Last night it was 60 plus in Denver, which maybe our warm weather high so far this year.

I went for a run and was excited as I ran a decent time for me...two ten minute miles (For runners nine minute miles is the new average/decent time). A co-worker talked me into running the Boulder Boulder which I have not done since 2003. The Boulder Boulder is a 10k and is one of the races that draws in a large amount of runners. In 2010 or 2011 they had 54,000 participants.

I ran inconsistently over the next few years and started training for a half marathon late 2005. I did not register on time so I did not run it and in 2006 I had a bad ankle sprain that was resprained in 2007. 2008 I sprained my opposite ankle and the next couple years I did not run consistently as I still had pain. I ran off and on last year without pain so I am hoping to stay healthy and be able to train & run this year.

This year will be four years since my last ankle sprain so I would like to be able to run a few more 10ks & possibly a half marathon! We shall see how much abuse my body can take.

Original & funny

The most funny & original thing I have said this week

"I wanted to be aquaman when I was kid. It just has not panned out."