billsworld's Blog

I don't know if anyone really cares, but I have finally started with a new band.  It's called "Out of Sight" or "Outta Sight" (that point is still being debated).  We're a collection of visually impaired musicians (I do qualify just barely.  My vision without glasses is very poor, but is corrected well enough to do most things) playing a wide variety of music.  So far it's been a lot of fun, since all the guys seem to be pretty good players.

We're making our debut this Saturday, Nov. 29th at Union Station playing a fundraiser for the Allied Workers for the Blind and the Children's Center for the Visually Impaired.  The event will be held in the Stillwell Room on the lower level, with admission being $20 per person.  Appetizers will be provided and there will be a cash bar.

As I said, this is a benefit show so in addition to hearing what promises to be a pretty good band, all attending will be helping out a very worthy cause.  So please, come out and help us raise some money to help out a couple of great organizations.  I'll look forward to seeing you there.

After 20 some years of playing in bars, I got tired of the whole thing and "retired" a few years back.  Now that I've had a chance to be away from it for a while, I've decided I'd like to start playing out again.  The problem?  Finding a band to play with.

Being in my 40's, I'm not really interested in joining a 'kids' band.  However, finding grownups to play with is proving more difficult than I'd hoped.

So, if there's anybody out there reading this who knows of a band that could use a good bass player/singer, (I'm not bragging here, honest) pass on my email ([email protected]) and maybe I'll be able to get back to work soon.

Wow, that sure reads like a classified ad, doesn't it?

So just as I was trying to get back in the swing of updating semi-regularly, the world conspires to get in the way.  Both our internet and air conditioning went offline last week, neither of which proved easy to get by without.  Both are back up and running now, but I've gotten behind in my reviews.  Thus, I will attempt to cover several movies at once here...

First up is "Wall-E", the latest from the Pixar guys.  As usual, the animation is absolutely spectacular.  However, the story here is just simply not up to their previous standards.  Fact is, they could've easily told this same story in under an hour had they simply left some of the extraneous stuff out and we never would've missed it.  I guess what I'm saying is that the kids will love this, but there's not as much in it for the parents as is usually the case with Pixar films.

Next up is "Hancock".  Will Smith is a god, plain and simple.  The man hasn't made a bad movie ever, in large part because his screen presence captivates an audience in the same way John Wayne did, with pure charisma and charm.  Is Will Smith a great actor?  That's a matter that's up for debate, but it doesn't matter.  His presence in this movie makes it worth seeing, despite the flimsy story and less than stellar dialogue.  If you like Will Smith, you'll like the movie.  If you don't, then your best bet is to go see something else.

We went to see Wanted yesterday, and I have to admit that I actually enjoyed it...although I'm probably the most easily entertained human around.  On the other hand, the others I went with...my wife, son, and a couple of his friends...said they actually felt dirty afterward.  I took that to mean they didn't like it.

Going in I was quite excited, having thoroughly enjoyed the trailers for this film which I'd been seeing for nearly a year.  Perhaps that contributed to my enjoyment factor, or perhaps not.  Whichever the case, I expected something of a "Matrix" style experience which this film never quite delivered despite serving up ample amounts of flying bullets, not to mention Angelina Jolie's seriously tatted backside.

In the end "Wanted" left me wanting.

I wasn't expecting much of this movie going in, but frankly since our air conditioner chose the hottest day of the year thus far to quit working we needed somewhere cool to hang out and the movies won.  We frankly chose this movie because at the time it started it was the only one we hadn't seen.  So as I said, I didn't expect much.

I'm not going to kid anyone and say this is a great piece of cinematic art, but I am going to point out that I laughed.  A lot.  The story is, shall we say, unbelievable, but that doesn't really matter.  Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz are both in there element here and that's what makes it work.

Put simply, "What Happens in Vegas" pleasantly surprised me.  If you're looking for something light and funny to give you an excuse to escape from the real world for a couple of hours, you could do a lot worse than this movie.

Over the weekend we caught The Incredible Hulk.  My initial thought was that this was a much better version than Ang Lee's from a few years back, but then that's pretty much to be expected since his stunk up the joint far worse than ever could have been expected from him.

Now that we have that out of the way...The Incredible Hulk is quite entertaining, in large part because of the intensity of the "Hulk episodes".  The effects are great, if occasionally bordering on cartoonish and the acting, while not Oscar material, is as believable as can be expected from this story.

The most notable performance comes from Ed Norton as Bruce Banner, whose version of the character is better than Bill Bixby's television rendition.  And I won't even begin to compare it to Eric Bana's pitiful characterization.

In a summer that seems filled with exciting movies, this one could be lost.  As a stand alone it's good entertainment, but as a chapter in the developing Marvel Universe series which will eventually include at least some version of "The Avengers" superhero team, it's more than good.  It roars.

Sometimes classic television shows translate well into movies and sometimes, not so much.  Get Smart definitely falls into the "translates well" category.  Fact is, it's one of the funniest films I've seen in a while.

Steve Carrell captures the essence of Maxwell Smart perfectly.  Rather than doing the expected thing and playing up the "bumbling" aspects of the character, Carrell's Agent 86 is a painfully thorough intell analyst whose greatest dream is fulfilled when he's promoted to field agent.  Yes, he makes a lot of mistakes but also has some successes as well, capturing the spirit of the original without simply goofing on Don Adams' version.

Going in, Ann Hathaway concerned me as Agent 99, but those concerns were for naught.  Put simply, she did Barbara Feldman proud.

I guess what I'm saying is go see this movie, no matter how many doors you have to go through to get there.  It'll be worth it.

Okay, so first of all I need to apologize for not being around for a while.  No real excuses, other than to say I've been busy.  So, sorry.

We caught M Night Shyamalan's "The Happening" the other night and I have to say, this is possibly the worst movie ever made.  I'm talking "Ishtar" bad here.  It makes "Plan 9 from Outer Space" seem a little like "Platoon", quality-wise.

It would be easy to say I was surprised by the intensity of this movie's badness, but that would be denying what I've been thinking about Mr. Shyamalan's work for quite some time.  After all, he may have started out brilliantly with "The Sixth Sense", but he's been going downhill ever since.  After "The Happening", I wouldn't be surprised if the next line accredited to this once brilliant filmmaker is, "You want fries with that?"

Over the weekend we finally got around to catching "21" and I have to say, I'm still not sure what I think about this movie.  Oh, it was fun, but then in that respect I'm fairly easily entertained.  I guess what I'm grappling with is whether or not I would recommend this film to others.

Kevin Spacey was appropriately slimy as the teacher/stakehorse, but then would you expect anything less from him?  After all, he does slimy so well.  Unfortunately, his performance by itself isn't enough to make me say "You must see this movie".

The kids...and that's the only way I can think of them...stretch believability a bit too far.  The nerds look the part but lack something I can't quite put my finger on, while the 'card counting team' are a little too cool and pretty to be believable as MIT students.  I don't say that as a slam against the students of that fine institution.  I just think these actors might have a hard time fitting in on MIT's campus.  However, that in and of itself isn't enough to make me NOT recommend the movie.

Lawrence Fishburne's character is probably the most believable one in the entire film.  He plays a 'loss prevention' specialist, and does it brilliantly.  He manages to exude both intelligence and toughness in a way that makes it easy to accept that he can both count cards that well AND beat the crap out of the people he catches counting cards on his watch.

In the end, I guess I have to say that yes, I enjoyed this movie.  I also have to say that yes, I would recommend it to others.  I just can't do it with quite the enthusiasm that I sometimes can.

We haven't had much chance to go see many movies lately, but my wife's work wanted to make sure we got to see "Ironman" so they scheduled a preview for us on Wednesday night.  And let me tell you, I thought this movie rocked!

I wasn't expecting all that much, but thankfully I was pleasantly surprised.  Going in I must admit that I had trouble seeing Robert Downey Jr as any superhero other than "Bongman", but he was about as perfect for the role of Tony Stark as it gets.  Jeff Bridges was as believable as the bad guy as is possible in a live action comic book, as was Gwynneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts.  Really the weakest performance belonged to Terrence Howard, but then it's not like he was given much to work with.

All that being said the real star of this movie, as is usually the case in this sort of film, is the special effects.  As long as you don't go in thinking this is going to be anything other than a fun rollercoaster ride, this will be a very entertaining movie.

I was at the Royals game Tuesday night.  Generally I don't really care for going to games in April because I'm something of a wuss and don't like being cold, but this was AMC night so we got tickets for free.  Unfortunately, I have to say I wish we hadn't bothered.

Things got so bad that by the time we left (early), my son and I had made up a song about the game.  Sing it to the Oscar Meyer tune:

Oh, I wish we had a better big league ball club

That is what I'd truly like to see...

But we're stuck here with the Kansas City Royals

Who play like they're still stuck in little league

Needless to say, we were disappointed in the way the Royals season has taken such a dramatic nosedive.  I'm finding it hard to even work up the enthusiasm for writing this, so I'm guessing it'll be a while before I talk about the Royals again.  I'll talk to ya'll later, just not from the 'K.

We spent this past weekend at Great Wolf Lodge.  I have to tell you I wasn't all that thrilled about this going in, but must admit that in the end I had a lot of fun.  I'll even cop to exposing my man boobs, without generating so much as a gasp or cry from a little kid or parent anywhere in the place!

The only downfall to the weekend was the fact that the rooms there have crappy mattresses on their beds, so my entire family has had backaches ever since.  For some that might seem a small price to pay for getting to splash around like a total idiot, but for my money we paid enough to stay there, the least they could've done was provide decent sleeping arrangements.

I somehow doubt we'll be going back anytime soon, but still in the end a splendid time was had by all.

When I was younger, there was one thing and one thing only that mattered to me...music.  Family seemed like more of a burden than anything and friends were just there to share my interests.  It's safe to say I was extremely self centered through my twenties.

Then I met the lady who became my wife and much of that changed.  The focus of my life switched from music and nothing but music, to family first.  And that's how I've lived my life these past fifteen years.

A couple of years ago, I was introduced to my wife's (then) best friend's boyfriend.  We hit it off immediately and found we had lots in common.  We are even alumni of the same fraternity...Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, which is a professional music fraternity whose slogan, if you will, is "Harmony among men".

Now, even in college I was less than enthusiastic in my membership in the fraternity.  Part of that may have been because I happened to be initiated into the least active chapter in the entire organization, but whatever the reason I was never terribly active in the brotherhood's social life.

My friendship with this gentleman has changed me with respect to my interest in our fraternity.  I'm frankly more interested in it now than I ever was in school and I see that as a good thing.  I've searched alumni records in search of friends from school, only to find that most of my chapter brothers are about as apathetic as I was.  I've even discovered that I have a distant cousin or two  who've also joined the organization.  It's proven to be kind of fun, really.

What does all this have to do with anything?  It demonstrates how a person's life changes with the passage of time, sometimes for the better.  I'd like to think that the changes I've gone through fall into that category.

This is a big change for me, given my previously stated apathy concerning the Royals.  I have to say I'm beginning to feel a bit hopeful that this year could be the beginning of a change in their long term fortunes.  Truth is I can sum up the reasons by mentioning just a few names.

First and probably the main reason for my change in attitude has to be Brian Bannister.  The fact is, this kid just knows how to pitch.  He seems to have the brain of a 15 year veteran in the body of a kid.  Maybe it's just the fact that he's a second generation big leaguer, but whatever the reason he's playing far better than his years would indicate and I hope beyond hope that he can continue to do so in a Royals uniform for many years to come.

Next is the resurgence of Zack Grienke.  I know, he started his return last year, but this season thus far he really seems to be back at full steam, mixing his monster fastball with offspeed pitches that look like they've been borrowed from the arsenal of Satchel Paige.  Between the two of them, they could become the next great one-two pitching combo, ala Glavine and Maddox, Hunter and Blue, or Gibson and Carlton.  I'm really starting to believe they're that good.

Of course, no team can win on pitching alone.  There has to be some hitting to compliment it and although they're still seeming a bit anemic I think there are reasons to hope in this lineup.

Obviously, the big two of Alex Gordon and Billy Butler come to mind first and foremost.  Between the two of them, I wouldn't be surprised to see at least a couple of batting titles won over the next few years.  They actually bring to mind memories of Brett and McRae, if you don't mind me saying so.

Add to them the ever growing skills of Mark Teahan and we have a trio with the potential to carry this team for a very long time.  I only hope that the Royals can put together some pieces around them that will allow these young stars in the making to perform up to their potential.

There's that word...potential.  It can be the forgiver of great sins, or the anchor that pulls a team downward into oblivion.  Let's just hope that a little luck can mix with that potential to allow these young players a chance of fulfilling the hope we all seem to have for them.

I haven't signed off with this in a while, thanks to my aforementioned apathy, but I'm going to cautiously say until next time, I'll see ya at the 'K.

It seems that every time I turn around I'm hearing about some new law being enacted, for the most part in an effort to protect us from ourselves.  I have to say I think this is so wrong I can't even begin to explain it.

It is not the government's place to prevent us from doing things that might hurt others or ourselves.  Rather, it's each individual's place to govern themselves.  Until recently, I thought that was obvious to everyone.  I guess I was wrong.

I'm not advocating complete anarchy, but I am saying that our world would be a better place if each individual would take responsibility for their own actions and well being, leaving the government out of it so it can focus it's resources on things it was designed to do, like defense.

Some might say that all this legislation is defending us, but every time we pass a new law governing how the citizens of this country live we are giving up our personal responsibility to the government, or in other words we are allowing that great faceless entity to assume responsibility for us.  This is in essence giving up some of the freedoms that our forefathers struggled so valiantly to gain for us.  I simply can't understand how that could ever be a good thing.

Make each individual responsible for their own lives and there may well be problems at first, but only because we have generations of people who've never taken responsibility for their own actions.  Let them face the consequences of their actions and eventually they will realize what they've been doing wrong and correct those mistakes.

I know that what I'm describing is somewhat utopian in nature, but it is what I believe in.  I guess you could paraphrase Spiderman by saying, "With great freedom comes great responsibility".  I for one want that responsibility to be taken away from the government and given back to the people.  That's true freedom,