Just saw the 4 minute preview of "The Amazing Spiderman" during 'America's Got Talent'. It looks wicked good, with a Spidey that doesn't look like a dough-faced little boy (aka Tobey howyouspell Mcquire?) and some of his ol' fashioned banter on display. I LOL'd at the "ooooo, you found my weakness - little knives" line. A family trip to the movies on July 4th, ala last Christmas??

Gasp! The rare moment when I'm not happy with a Yankee milestone. Today Derek Jeter passed Robin Yount on the all-time hit list with #3,143. 🙁

This morning I heard Nirvana's "All Apologies" playing on a classic rock station here in Milwaukee. I am flattered that the music of my youth is now recognized as some of the best music of all time. I am also deeply disturbed that that the music of my youth is now old enough to share radio time with the Stones and T-Rex. Ugh.

LuLu

Our Garden Beds are ready for planting

Vidal Sassoon

Ugh, I almost forgot - RIP Vidal Sassoon. Your death has gotten entirely too little attention from the media. 🙁

IT Help?

FB - I own a Seagate Freeagent external hard drive that works perfectly fine on a friend's computer but does nothing - nothing - on mine. It worked on my old computer, and the USB ports are good to go (they work fine with other devices) so they're not to blame. I have Windows 7 and have gone to start-computer-manage-storage-disc management but the device doesn't show up there either. I need ideas. Anyone?

The Family Corleone

I am a longtime fan of Mario Puzo's The Godfather and the universe it inspired. I rank the film as my 2nd favorite movie of all time, while the book holds the unique record of being the only - the ONLY - book of the hundreds I've read that I've re-read more than once.

 (Er, it actually might be the only adult book I've re-read period. Why re-read a book when there are thousands waiting to be read for the first time?)

I was looking forward to reading The Family Corleone by Ed Falco, a prequel to the original novel that was authorized by the Puzo estate and supposedly based on an unpublished GF4 script by Puzo himself.

The verdict? Eh.

It's not awful, although I fear any Godfather work carries with it built-in brownie points that prohibit a failing grade. The book is centered around the years '33-35 and the mafia war that brought the Corleone's to prominence. The war was mentioned in the original novel at some (moderate) length, and I was eager to read about it in more detail.

Unfortunately, the book was bogged down by several anachronisms - one literally on page one - , coupled with characters who felt compelled to reference the few pop-culture cliches of the era - you know, to establish "setting" - and who run around talking like dime store hoods. They also voice a ton of  vulgarities in Italian (enough that Falco included a glossary in the back), which is probably realistic but comes off as a bit contrived between these covers.

 There's also a glaring editorial error on the inside cover. Above an an organizational flowchart of the New York families is a title reading "Names and Families" - only it mistakenly reads "Games and Families".

Sigh.

Here's my problems with the plot. I think there's a pretty wishy-washy lead up to the war; not that there wasn't violence and disagreement, but I'm still not clear how this drew every family into conflict. Nor do I think Vito's little speech with Luca was nearly enough to establish his loyalty, and the Irish subplot was pointless. Worst of all, the 'war' seemed more like the invasion of Grenada -some people got hurt, but it lasted a blink of an eye.

And Falco messes with established cannon. Luca killed Capone's thugs with an ax, and one choked to death on his gag in fear. Not here. Vito himself was ill at ease with Luca - not here. Sonny was corrupted by seeing his father kill Fanucci - there's a different victim here. Rescuing Tom Hagen was an act of selfless piety - not here.

Screw that.

I'm not one of those idiots who spent page after page blasting Mark Winegardner's literary sequels of the last decade. I enjoyed them, even if I didn't love what they did to Tom Hagen. But I honestly thought this was a mediocre novel that lacks Puzo's grim brilliance.

I grade it a C.

How can I convince the Slap Family that an Alaskan vacation should be on their to do list? Fred Bryan

I took the family out to El Fuego tonight to celebrate some great news, blowing my entire (part-time job) paycheck in the process. No, I'm not telling you what the news is - if I was going to do that I'd have led off the update with it. Suffice it to say, however, sometimes a burning sensation goes away all on its own. I kid, I kid!

The Journal-Sentinel has officially asked me to stay on for a 5th year as a community columnist. I'm not *unhappy* about it, but I'm long past the point of being awed/excited about the news.

My guilty TV pleasure? Castle. Somehow I find myself watching it every week and enjoying the hell out of it. My not so guilty pleasure? DWTS. Great show, great season!

The Rose

The rose we gave Smiley after the recital bloomed today.

My Godson and his father

Hiddenburg - 75 years on

Today is the 75th anniversary of the Hindenburg disaster. RIP.

Dance Recital Weekend!

Recital weekend here at the Slapinions house! We took the kids to Kopps for burgers and custard after one show!

Mariano Rivera

Ugh. A torn ACL . . . say a prayer for Mariano. He deserves better than to have his career end in such a fashion. Get better Mo!

The Fourteenth Day

I've finished reading "The Fourteenth Day : JFK and the Aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis: The Secret White House Tapes" by David G. Coleman (publication date of 0ct 8th of this year, to coincide w/ the 50th anniversary of the crisis.) I did learn some things, like the extent of the Kennedy administration's legally dubious actions towards the press, and the fact that the crisis (barely) scooped Khrushchev's plans for a November gamble to take the initiative in the Cold War. But as the title states, this book is crafted from secret recordings JFK made (clandestine recordings, vindictive attacks on reporters - JFK and RN were Bobbsey Twins in some regards). So . . . it might have been nice to actually have included more than a few lines of transcripts scattered throughout the book. For 200 pages the author essentially summarizes what's on the tapes, and because of that - and a lack of panache by the author - this reads like a well done but uninspiring research paper. . Grade: C

The Caller (2011)

We just finished watching "The Caller", a bloodless horror/thriller set in Puerto Rico (but with an Anglo cast). Mary is an abused housewife who has finally set out on her own, renting a dingy apartment in San Juan where she is plagued by a wrong # - a caller from 1979 who will change her life forever (and we ain't talking love and marriage here folks). It's a good flick, but nothing outstanding. Grade: B

Quote of the Day

"When you are getting kicked from the rear it means that you are out in front." Archbishop Fulton Sheen

My Blue Eyed Girl

Quote of the Day

"I don't mean to sound cold or cruel or vicious, but I am so that's how it comes out." - Bill Hicks

Cell by Stephen King

I finished reading Stephen King's "Cell" yesterday. A suspected terrorist attack causes cell phone users to have their heads scrambled, and a pretty typical zombie novel follows. However, about mid-way through King ratchets it up a bit and the book is rescued from mediocrity to become a halfway decent tale.

Still, it remains a glorified Luddite morality tale, and has the required # of stale King-isms: 1. The '60's were the highlight of all creation 2. people who believe in Christianity and (gasp!) actually say so are meanies. 3. JFK was Lincoln and Christ all rolled up in one 4. George Bush was evil 5. loudly proclaiming my love for classic rock and disdain for other music means I'm a cool kid, not the awkward, unloved horror geek I am, er, was! 

Grade: C

Goofy little Junie