The Shallow End of the Pool

I had a great time in Florida last week. Our flight on Monday morning actually arrived early, and me and the fruit of my loins were already in my Dad's car with our luggage at the time we were actually scheduled to land. Within 2 hours we were cruising the Everglades on an airboat and saw a bunch o' gators. My daughter even got to hold one. The heat was unbearable, though, so we spent the rest of the afternoon in the pool. Very refreshing. Tuesday we spent a nice day indoors at the Discovery Kids Science Museum and also got to check out the IMAX "Deep Sea 3-D" movie which was pretty cool. Wednesday we went to the Rapids water park, where I learned that my fragile old body can't handle water slides as well as it used to. I'm still sore a week later. Thursday we took it to the cinema and checked out "Nacho Libre." I've been looking forward to this one for a while now, and I must say it did not disappoint. Jack Black delivered the goods as usual. I can see how it wouldn't be everybody's cup of tea, but it sure as hell was mine. Great stuff. We also had a nice dinner at the restaurant where my youngest brother formerly worked, and my youngest sister currently does. It was a great little Italian place. Friday before flying out we went to a place called Boomer's, which is like a mini amusement park. Raced some Go-Karts and rode a pretty decent wooden coaster. All in all it was a great trip.

Moving on, "Superman Returns" opens today, and I just got back from the show. Holy Toledo, folks. Stop reading this right now and go f***ing see it already. If you have any doubts at all, consider them erased. Everybody involved did a stellar job from top to bottom. Bryan Singer, I salute you. Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor is (not surprisingly) brilliant and Kate Bosworth is a fantastic Lois Lane. But the real burden falls on the shoulders of relative newcomer Brandon Routh, who handles it all with apparent ease. Routh is an absolute revelation as the Man of Steel. When I first saw pictures of him last year in the tights, I was not impressed. I had him pegged as too much of a pretty-boy. I was way off base. An absolutely magnificent film from beginning to end. I can't imagine I'll enjoy another movie this year as much as this one.

By the way, get to the theatre early. There was a preview for next year's "Spider-Man 3," which looks to be outstanding.

I don't have much to say today, and I'm leaving for Florida for a week to visit family so I won't be updating again until after my trip. So I'll tide everybody over with some random nonsense until I return.

If you haven't seen Vh1's "SuperGroup," it should not be missed. Sebastian Bach is clearly not living on the same planet as the rest of us, although his genuine love for what he does shines through.

Also on the TV front, Phil Hellmuth has taken over as the poker expert on the latest season of "Celebrity Poker Showdown." I already miss Phil Gordon. Hellmuth seems very uncomfortable and just doesn't offer as much as Gordon did.

And with that segue, I picked up Phil Gordon's "Little Green Book" a few weeks ago on my brother's recommendation and it is absolutely fantastic. I played a tournament online the other day after finishing the book, and ended up taking 3rd place out of 120 entrants. It was only a $5 entry fee and my finish earned me $75. Not a bad return on my investment. Anybody who is serious about poker should check it out.

Moving on to the movie theatre, I've seen a slew of films over the past two months. In a nutshell, I loved "Mission: Impossible III." A huge step up from the lackluster second effort. On the flipside, "X-Men: The Last Stand" was a bit of step down from the incredible second chapter, although I still enjoyed it. Pixar's "Cars" extended that studio's incredible run; in my opinion, they have yet to make a movie that is anything short of extraordinary. Also on the animated front, "Over The Hedge" was very enjoyable. Steve Carrell stole the film as an over-excited squirrel. "Poseidon" was just okay. Nothing spectacular, but it didn't suck, either. Next up, Jack Black in "Nacho Libre" and the highly anticipated "Superman Returns."

More to come when I return next week.

For those interested in these kinds of things, VH1 last night aired the first "VH1 Rock Honors." It was a two hour program designed to pay tribute to KISS, Queen, Judas Priest, and Def Leppard. Each band's segment took up 30 minutes, which included a brief video retrospective of their careers, a cover performance by another band, and a performance from the honorees themselves.

I would recommend everybody check this special out, if only for the show-stealing performance during KISS' segment. No, not their performance, but the cover song. A one night only "supergroup" was put together to play "God Of Thunder," and they absolutely blew everybody else off the stage. The band featured Rob Zombie on vocals, Tommy Lee on drums, Scott Ian on bass (yes, bass), and guitarists Slash and Gilby Clarke. But wait, there's more...Zombie announced that they needed one more guitarist and bought out Ace Frehley. It was absolutely surreal to see the Spaceman himself rip up the stage (and he looked better than he has in years, by the way) only to be followed by KISS playing with Tommy Thayer in Ace's old makeup. Weird stuff.

At any rate, that one song is worth looking through the TV listings to see when the show is on again.