Maybe not, but this 11-year old has the makings of a civil servant one day.  Upset about speeders, he decided to do something about it.  He dressed up in a helmet and reflective vest, armed himself with a toy radar gun, and stood off to the side of the road measuring the speed of drivers coming down the road.  Let me just post the article for you.  It’s short, but to see a picture click on the link below.  It’s also almost a week old, so you may have already read it.  I just discovered it today, so tough. 🙂

Boy, 11, tracks speeders with toy radar gun

Wed Jul 16, 7:59 PM ET

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Police can’t be everywhere, so 11-year-old Landon Wilburn is on patrol in the Stone Lakes subdivision in Louisville. Landon told The Courier-Journal he used to shout at speeders to slow down — then had a better idea.

Dressed in a reflective vest, wearing a bicycle helmet and armed with a Hot Wheels brand radar gun, he points and records the speed of passing traffic.

The boy also carries a flashlight with a built-in siren.

Subdivision resident George Ayers said he has seen drivers lock up their brakes when they saw Landon clocking them.

Officials say the city will install speed humps in the neighborhood if 70 percent of residents agree and are willing to put up half the money.

While reading headlines today, I came across the arrest of Christian Bale that happened on Sunday following the phenomenal opening of The Dark Knight. I have two different reactions to this. First, it seems quite interesting that mum and sis would report an assault by a 34 year-old man and then have their son/brother (a 34 year-old man) go in for questioning in conjunction with the crime. This happened the day before the London premiere of the biggest blockbuster of the summer. That sounded rather suspicious to me.  Were the two attempting to ride the coattails of the actor?

On the other hand, Mr. Bale may be feeling a bit upstaged by the performance of the late Heath Ledger in the role of the sadistic, immoral Clown Prince of Crime. The Joker seems to be getting all the attention this time around and leaving Batman in the shadows. But as I have always thought, the hero is only as good as the villain playing opposite him. Hopefully, Bruce Wayne did not crack and attack those he swore to protect after he witnessed the murder of his parents in the dark, back alleyways of Gotham City.

Read the full article by clicking

“Dark Knight” star Christian Bale pictured in London Sunday ahead of the movie’s European premiere

The 34-year-old actor spent four hours at a London police station before being released on bail.

British media had reported that Bale’s mother and sister complained he had assaulted them at the Dorchester Hotel in London on Sunday night, a day before the European premiere of his latest film, “The Dark Knight.”

The Sun newspaper said police did not question the actor Monday because they did not want to interfere with the premiere of the movie.

Asked Tuesday whether Bale had been arrested, a London police spokesman did not refer to him by name but said: “A 34-year-old man attended a central London police station this morning by appointment and was arrested in connection with an allegation of assault.”

The spokesman spoke on condition of anonymity because force policy did not authorize him to be identified. British police do not name suspects before they are formally charged.

The force later said in a statement that the man had been released on bail pending further inquiries and told to return on an unspecified date in September.

U.S.-based representatives for Bale didn’t immediately return messages seeking comment. Repeated phone calls to Bale’s London representative went unanswered.

Wales-born Bale first made a splash as the child star of Steven Spielberg’s “Empire of the Sun” in 1987. His screen credits also include “American Psycho,” “The Machinist” and “Batman Begins.”

In “The Dark Knight,” Bale reprises the role of wealthy playboy Bruce Wayne and his crime-fighting alter-ego Batman, a brooding vigilante superhero still scarred by the murder of his parents.

The Warner Bros. film, which stars the late Heath Ledger as Batman’s nemesis The Joker, took in a record $158.4 million at the box office in its opening weekend in the U.S. last week.

We ventured out to see the midnight showing of The Dark Knight last week, and I haven’t written about it until now because I’ve been so busy, but I figured I better make some time for it before I forget, so here it goes…

It all began when we found out our little local theater would be showing it at midnight, and since we’re usually up with the new baby at that time, we figured why not be in a movie feeding the baby instead of at home?  So we got together a group who wanted to see it, and that’s when we found out the movie was 2 hours and 40 minutes!  Oops, the baby is never up THAT long but too late to back out now!  Besides, after all the hype involved, I was actually looking forward to it.

Since almost a week has passed and I’m on little sleep, some of my memory of the details have faded, so this will be a very vague reveiw.  I’d have to say the movie was exactly what I was expecting.  I was hoping it would be a little better, especially after all the media hype, but it was exactly what I thought it would be – and that’s not anywhere NEAR the 9.6 people gave it on imdb.com.  Since I’m not a huge fan of superhero / comic book movies (yet I keep going to see them; not sure what’s up with that), I really wasn’t expecting this to be one of my favorite movies ever.   Heath Ledger did have a VERY good performance as the Joker, but was it Oscar-worthy?  I personally don’t think so.  I do think he will win it though, but let’s just wait and see if he is nominated and who he is up against.  And it’s not like I ever agree with who wins those things anyway; for me it’s just a good excuse to throw a fun party 🙂

But back to the movie…  there was a lot of violence.  I can’t believe what they’re allowed to call PG-13 these days.  Although I suppose it wasn’t really anything short of what you’d see on tv, and there was actually little to no blood and gore, so maybe that explains it.  The children I saw in the theater were all asleep by the time the movie was over anyway.  And yes, I did think the movie went on too long – it wasn’t a short 2 hours and 40 minutes, and it didn’t really fly by.  As my husband pointed out, way too much dialogue for a superhero movie; friends agreed and added that the Batman movies are like that.  I’ve only seen the Tim Burton Batman from 1989, which I’m told is just a different take on the whole thing and doesn’t really fit into the timeline anywhere, and I’ve also seen Batman Forever, which I really enjoy.  So that brings me to my 2nd favorite villian next to the Joker – Harvey “Two-Face” Dent.  I just love what Tommy Lee Jones did with the character in Batman Forever, and I was pleased when I realized that Harvey Dent was going to turn into Two-Face in The Dark Knight, but overall I was disappointed because Aaron Eckhart’s  Two-Face was pretty lame compared to Jones’.  The makeup was pretty good, although I actually enjoy the more comic book look that they gave Tommy Lee Jones versus the scary look they gave Eckhart for the newest film.

Christian Bale’s Batman was alright, though I couldn’t stand his gravelly Batman voice – it reminded me of the Friends episode where Joey is selling cologne at a department store…  If you’re a fan of the show and you know what episode I’m talking about, find it and listen to his cologne adversary say “Hombre?” – sounds just like Christian Bale’s Batman and every time he spoke in the movie I was tempted to giggle as I thought of that hillarious Friends episode.  Maggie Gyllenhaal was pretty good too; although in scenes with both her and Heath Ledger’s Joker, it was weird for me to think that he played her brother’s gay lover in Brokeback Mountain, but that’s Hollywood for you, it’s cyclical.

And since we’re on the subject of Heath Ledger’s Joker, it was very impressive.  Not the kind of movie or role I’d pick for being Oscar-worthy, but that’s my personal opinion and like I said, we’ll just see happens as Oscar time draws near.  He was pretty scary, and I’d have to say Hollywood can mourn him as a good actor because when I was in the hospital less than a week ago, I watched 10 Things I Hate About You (the hospital’s limited cable selections + baby up at night = what else do I watch but this bad movie?).  Ledger was in that movie, and he couldn’t even shed his Australian accent back then!  Seeing where he was in that movie versus the Joker did give me appreciation for his work (as the Joker, not in 10 Things…).

And another reason I was excited to see this movie was that I had heard that 80% of it was shot in my former hometown (well, sort of, I grew up in the suburbs), Chicago.  It was neat to see all the familiar landmarks, although they did try to anonymize the city so it could be recognized as Gotham City instead of Chicago.  I was especially looking forward to the special effects involved in the Gotham City Hospital scene since I read an article about it ahead of time, but I have to say I was a little disappointed in how it actually looked on screen.  I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone who hasn’t seen this movie yet, but I will say that the vacant Brach’s Candy Factory on Chicago’s west side doubled for the Gotham City Hospital.  And seeing the Joker in a nurse’s dress was pretty funny in itself…

Overall, I had a lot of fun seeing this movie.  I think much of it had to do with the midnight showing and attending with a large group of friends.  The movie was exactly what I expected, although I can say I was hoping for better…  but again, I’m not a fan of comic books, and I’ve never read one in my life.

While attempting to come up with a brilliant post, I searched the “Latest Headlines” tab on my browser and came up with a link to a strange Guinness Record that a large group of people were trying to set (since it has never been done before). With the assistance of one good samaritan, the group was able to set the record. Also, check out the name of the hero who saved the day (Spelling may be off, but…). I have only one thing to say to this: Some people will do ANYTHING.

Last night I went to a show, live stage production that is. The show has already been mentioned in one of the other Tangent blogs, but I have a little different take on the whole thing. I happen to like “The Music Man”. I liked the movie version, and I’ve liked most of the stage productions I’ve seen. There have only been a couple, but that is because they tried doing too much with too little. You need to have a large cast for this, including children. While you don’t need a whole town, you do need enough on stage to let the audience believe there is a whole town.

It is a light hearted musical to be sure, most late 1950’s to early 1960’s American musicals were light hearted. It was the mood of the country.

I’m not sure why I enjoy this show so much. Could it be I remember my father singing 76 Trombones when I was younger? Could it be that I enjoyed teasing my sister about her only career choice (Marian the Librarian)? Did I have a subliminal desire to be in a boys’ band?– Nah.. I really don’t know. Maybe it is because they didn’t play this on the TV as often as they did “The Sound of Music”? It could also be that since I am a big Beatles fan, having hear “Till there was you” in “The Music Man” just made the show more interesting.

Anyway to this day, I enjoy a well performed version of “The Music Man”, and Saturday’s performance was one of the best I’ve seen live. Believable actors, good chemistry, nice set design made this show flow. I’ll point you to the other blog for a more in depth review, I don’t need to waste my words, when something is already written. The only thing I disagree on is I like the show, he doesn’t. I would like to add that I really enjoyed the young actress who played Marian. It could be some hometown bias here, but I really enjoy watching her on stage.

Yep, more on coffee. Well sort of. This is really a birthday post. Yesterday, it ended around two hours ago, would have been my wife’s 45th birthday, if she had lived that long. It was the 5th I’ve celebrated without her. The first, I put a personal ad in the paper, I invited friends and family to show up at ‘our’ little coffee shop. Very few did. The second year, I don’t remember what I did, our little shop closed its doors before I could celebrate that day. The 3rd year, I went to a coffee shop and sat with some friends who were their, they knew nothing of the day. The fourth year, I went to a winery with some friends. This year, I went to another coffee shop. I ordered one cup of coffee and a blueberry scone. I even had something different as my refill. They had Chocolate-Raspberry for the Decaf flavor. I’m not a big decaf fan, but I had that anyway. It was her favorite coffee flavor. It was a good morning.

Before I begin, I must tell you that I am probably one of the few people who agonize even considering watching yet another production of The Music Man. I saw a high school production of it years ago, I saw it on Broadway during its most recent revival and I have seen the Robert Preston movie so many times that it just makes me want to pull my hair out (someone had the nerve to get it the DVD for me for Christmas years ago). However, I attended a local production of it and I must say that (while still not the world’s biggest proponent of the show) I really enjoyed the production.

All of the fluff and goodness were still present but the performances and entire production was very well done. I had a vested interest because some of my hometown residents were in it and some of the other people involved have been on stage with me before. The lady who played Maude Dunlop was the drama director of my high school’s production of Annie when I played Rooster. The actress portraying Alma Hix is someone I admire greatly and is a joy to know and work with.

I have to say that the gentleman in the role of Marcellus was perhaps the most talented performer on the stage. He was in our theatre’s production of School House Rock last September. He stole every scene he was in with his captivating presence and is a genuine triple threat (able to act, sing, and dance and make it look flawless).

Another scene-stealer was the young boy who stepped into the role of Winthrop. Everything about him just made you want to run up and give him a great big hug. His lisp, his shyness, everything about him was adorable. One of those fluff parts but enjoyable nonetheless.

I would have to say that the real star was the entire ensemble cast in the big production numbers. The routine for “76 Trombones” harkened back to my days in the marching band with precision drills, pinwheels, and straight lines. And yes, there actually was not seventy-six in the pit or on stage as someone sitting next to me pointed out 😀 . After the segment, the applause was so great that you would have thought that it was the show’s finale.

So, everything about the production was very well done. I am still not a fan of the show itself, but maybe in another 10 years I will be able to endure another trip to River City. I would rather watch Mr. Preston as Centauri another great con-man from The Last Starfighter.

If you haven’t seen it yet, do yourself a favor and get on down to jibjab.com to see the video they have for this year, then go ahead and put yerself into it!  I was going to but in the end decided not to.  I was also going to post a Youtube video but their recompression doesn’t do it justice- just go to jibjab.com and get campaignin’!  Still reading?  Well let me just say that I thought this was every bit as good as their original four years ago.  I was disappointed in their second one that seemed to have a leaning toward the Democratic side, but they seem to be back in the original non-partisan comedy routine.  Now would you do yourself a favor and just see it already? 😀

My boyfriend has asked me to marry him and it was in a way that totally surprised me. He took me to George Bible Park and handed me a lightsaber. We started to fight and after killing him many times, my friend Monica and her boyfriend, Jesse, came at us from both sides of the bridge we were on. I went after Monica and killed her, along with Jesse. As I was killing Jesse, Tony asked me to marry him! I cannot believe that it has happened, but I’m not going to say it was a bad thing. I couldn’t be any happier at the moment.