Why You Won't Have Just 1 Child.

I was in Colorado this past weekend for my sisters baby shower (Uncle Josh!) It’s her first child and I’m pretty excited because not only am I going to have the opportunity to be the cool Uncle inherits a best little friend, but I also am the Godfather, which means I get to do what every guy does when they’re chosen to be Godfather… quote The Godfather.

It’s her first child and I had a conversation with her. I asked her when she’s going to have the second child, to which she replied –

“Yeah, I’m not even thinking about that.”

But, I am thinking about it, and I then went on to tell her that she’s going to have another… probably in 2 years. I quickly changed course in this conversation simply because this may not be my place.

Later I went on Facebook only to see that a friend is having her second child, for sake of clarifying I think I should mention she’s a “Facebook friend” but a real life acquaintance. Regardless, she’s having her second child. Interesting… Why is this interesting? I’m curious. I’m curious as to why only 20 percent of families have single children families, I actually thought that was really high, only to find out that 20 years before this it was 10 percent.

I can’t quite put a finger on the growth of the single child but I can put a finger on the consistency of the multiple children. I’m here to break this down and the 4 scenarios as to why 80 percent of us just don’t stick with one child.

1 – The “Most Obvious” scenario:

Him: Ah, um, whoops… I ah’ I ah’ I forgot protection.
Her: Oh, it’s okay.

9 Months Later… Child #2.

I realize how odd this scenario sounds considering that if you’re a family, typically that means you’re husband and wife and the above conversation left the moment you said “I do” but the jist is… It was a mistake that you don’t want to actually admit was a mistake.

2 – The “I Missed Out” scenario:

You were an only child, and you feel like you missed out on something.

You (As the only child): You know, I just missed out on something. Growing up I always wanted that big brother / that little brother / that big sister / that little sister / that brother who was just like you and you could wrestle with / that sister to be with you and make fake tea parties.

Ultimately, you missed out on having a best friend and you don’t want your child to suffer the same singleness fate as you. So, what’s the logical step? Plan on having child number 2.

3 – The “Greatest Upbringing” scenario:

You had a sibling and dammit you have a great relationship. You want your child to have what you had. All the memories and fun you two had. If you didn’t give your child the second sibling then they wouldn’t know life and that would ultimately be a crime.

4 – The “Worst Upbringing” scenario:

See number 3 and flip everything.

Your brother is Macaulay Culkin in The Good Son and you made it out alive. Time to have a child to prove to you that siblings can be good. And if you have the sequel to the Good Son, consider it a blessing because I’ve actually wanted a sequel to that movie for a long time.

That’s it…

In my world, these are the 4 logical reasons as to why we have more than one child. The thing is, is that I think that just about everyone falls in this category, well at least 80 percent of us currently do. Of course we have a few variables that come into play – divorce, never married, mistakes – etc…

Then of course we have the BONUS section and that’s when you break out the K.C. and JoJo and let the good times roll - What the hell does that mean? Well in my day it meant you’re listening to a group that had 3 good songs, but those good songs typically meant you were shacking up in bed and having a family. The bonus is dedicated to all those who have families and just don’t stop popping out kids.

Reasons why we have a ton of kids:

- You like kids!
- You’re Mormon.
- You keep trying for that boy but you keep getting girls.
- You keep trying for that girl but you keep getting boys.
- You keep forgetting that you can actually have kids from sex.
- You just love families.

A simple break down from a guy in his 20’s without children and with a significant other who isn’t expecting any time soon.

The State of Hip Hop ... sort of.

Every once in a while I’ll have a conversation with a friend about the state of hip-hop and how I feel that it’s no good. And before I jump into this rant I think I should mention that I’m a white kid from the Midwest. If you didn’t just click off this page it either means you’re also white… From the Midwest… Or you are holding something in your hand and can’t click away. Point that I’m trying to get at here is that hip-hop (rap) isn’t always associated to people like me, although I would argue it is, but that’s a different story.

As I was saying hip-hop as I know it has kind of faded away, I was in college and high school during the birth of such superstars like Jay-Z, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, 50cent, and Eminem. These were the guys that really got me into liking rap, actually I loved it, but as years went on my music preferences changed and I occasionally dabbled in the hip-hop but not nearly as much as when I was a teen.

I was trying to figure out why my interests has faded with rap, was it because I was a lame adolescence who thought he was cool and secretly wanted to be a rapper… yes. OR was it because rap music at that time was just starting to really seep into pop culture, especially when Jay-Z released Hard Knock life with the Annie sample, and I’m actually a product of pop culture, …. Yes to this too.

Rap 10 years ago was the perfect storm. As far as I know, rap was just seeping into the mainstream and affecting the likes of people like me. Also, it didn’t hurt that this was the primetime of Napster and Limewire so attaining free music was getting easy. Since that moment rap entered mainstream and hasn’t really settled down. It’s flourished and has been reproduced time and time again.

It’s not uncommon to hear Ludacris on a track with Justin Bieber or Snoop Dogg with Katie Perry, that’s just the state we’re in. And let me be clear that I actually kind of like this state. I think from a financial standpoint it’s good for both parties, but for street cred not so much.

So where are we with rap? Is this mainstream rap still considered rap, or is it a saturated version of it? You know when there was just “Rock” then we had all these hybrids of it ie: “punk rock” “indie rock” “pop rock” “grunge rock” etc… Well, that’s kind of how I think rap is now.

Is rap, hip-hop? Are the not so mainstream under grounders pissed about what has happened with rap? And do those up and coming underground rappers disrespect the big guys for being on tracks with teen pop stars? I actually don’t know. But I do think it puts the underground hip-hop stars in a very tough position –

First: If they’re all about image and their idol, lets say a member from Wu Tang, is on a track with Bieber (true story) then what does that do to the image of their idol?

Secondly: Their idols are bringing in a ton of cash by doing these pop collaborations, and cash is the ultimate goal, right?

Third: Since cash is king, the underground star knows they’d sell out too, if it is in fact selling out.

Does it take someone selling out to put his or her name on the map? No, it doesn’t. But lets bring this full circle to the conversations I have with my friend - I always argue that there are no good up and comers, where he says there are. To his credit, he listens to a lot more mix tapes, and I’m a mainstream type of person.

But I think that to break into the limelight of the rap game it’s become increasingly difficult and unless you sell out or market yourself, probably the opposite direction of what you are, you’re not making money. Where is the new breed of rappers? I asked my buddy and said “there are none” he disagreed, and then this week Forbes listed hip hop’s top money makers and I think I proved my point even more.

Out of 20 only 6 are “fresh” to the scene. Looking at this list makes me wonder if it’s impossible to make an empire anymore if you’re an up and comer? You have to be able to, right? What is the below list doing differently than anyone else? Let’s break this down, and look at the top moneymakers and WHY they’re the top moneymakers…

1. Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, $37 million: He’s said it himself. He’s not a businessman; he’s a business, man. He really is a business. Dude owns a lot. But lets focus on his music for a second, he still puts out some of the best tracks each year. Is this because he’s top dog in the rap game and everyone wants to give him his or her best beats… yes.

2. Sean “Diddy” Combs, $35 million: Puff Daddy hasn’t been in a song since he made a grunting noise in an album probably made in 04. But, Diddy is also a business. He’s been around for god knows how long.

3. Kanye West, $16 million: I wouldn’t consider Kanye new to the game but he’s Kanye. Aside from his ego and questionable antics (which I don’t question) he still has the best beats and ehhh, good verses.

4. Dwayne “Lil Wayne” Carter, $15 million (tie): I can’t believe this guy was on Nelly’s first album, by the way, where is Nelly?

4. Bryan “Birdman” Williams, $15 million (tie): Who, what the – yes, that’s right. Birdman. Yes, I also thought he was playing scrabble with Master P somewhere but apparently he’s raking in money. Not from making music himself but rather from signing the likes of Lil Wayne, Drake, and Nicki Minaj.

6. Marshall “Eminem” Mathers, $14 million (tie): Not much needs to be said about him, when Eminem is good, he’s great. When he’s bad, he sucks and keeps talking about his mom.

6. Andre “Dr. Dre” Young, $14 million (tie): Lets be honest, he makes questionable music now. But he rakes in money due to good investments ie: Eminem and 50 Cent.

6. Calvin “Snoop Dogg” Broadus, $14 million (tie): He’s a legend. He doesn’t age. He smokes more pot than anyone I know, even though I don’t know him, I just feel like I do.

That’s 8 “rappers” in the game that I just went through that have been doing it for almost 20 years. When I saw this list I was thinking that either we don’t get good music from the new guys OR it’s just that hard to amass this amount of money. I’m not sure, but in fairness, the above list generates this much mostly based off of reputation, right?

9. Aliuane “Akon” Thiam, $13 million: Akon is like the R&B Nate Dogg. He’s sort of new to this.

10. Christopher “Ludacris” Bridges, $12 million: Huh!? Ludacris. What the hell have you released? Ohhh, you made your money from endorsements? But seriously, what’s up with this list, this is ridiculous.

11. Cameron “Wiz Khalifa” Thomaz, $11 million (tie): This guy had that song Black and Yellow. So he’s new to this whole thing. And you have to hand it to him – apparently he tours all the time and is also one of Pittsburgh’s best rappers… so I’ve heard.

11. Aubrey “Drake” Graham, $11 million (tie): Drake, this guy just gets it. His money has come from endorsements.

13. Pharrell Williams, $10 million: WHAT!? Dude, I haven’t heard you on a track since… um… that one time we used to bump the Neptunes and drink a lot. How is Pharrell on this list? Because he has a deal with Rocawear (Jay-Z’s clothing label) - That’s how.

14. Timothy “Timbaland” Mosley, $7 million: Timberland and Magoo… I remember he released this one song that sampled the Spiderman beat - it’s completely underrated.

15. Kasseem “Swizz Beatz” Dean, $6.5 million (tie): Uber producer. Married to Alicia Keys, doing since he’s been 16.

15. Onika “Nicki Minaj” Maraj, $6.5 million (tie): Okay. Finally. I think right here is the first person to actually earn their way on this list. By the way, she’s the first female on this list. I honestly think Nicki Minaj has earned this position and I think is the perfect example of how to succeed in current day hip hop.

She’s got a persona, she’s marketable, has catchy songs, and she works hard.

17. William “Rick Ross” Roberts, $6 million (tie): No idea how he got here. Good for him.

17. Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, $6 million (tie): Looking at this it’s like looking at Ludacris. This list is jacked up; 50cent hasn’t been on or in anything since that collaboration video with the little white kid on youtube.

17. Armando “Pitbull” Perez, $6 million (tie): I like this guy, and I think he earned his way here. Good for him.

20. Faheem “T-Pain” Najm, $5 million (tie): Auto-Tuuuuune.

20. Bobby “B.o.B” Simmons, Jr., $5 million (tie): We round out with this guy, who is best known for “Airplanes”. I think B.o.B. is also a good example of where we are in the current state of rap, I don’t seem him doing many endorsements (which he probably is) but he’s talented, and is sort of poppy.

So, what does this tell you? It tells me that if you want to get in the top 20 of earnings as a rapper you either need to sell out or have a game plan that will change the game. You better be different. I don’t like this list at all because lets be honest – these people aren’t top earners because of tours and they’re music. They’re top earners due to endorsements.

I called my friend and told him about this list and he replied with – “But yeah, they were underground at one point.” Wow, that was the stump card. He said…

“Josh this isn’t just hip hop, it’s all businesses. (no duh) Everyone on that list is smart, give it 10 years and there will be new people, trust me, there’s good rappers out there.”

I believe him but part of me feels like the majority of the above list came into the game at the right time. They made it where it is today and they’ve made the most, rightfully so. Have they altered hip-hop to make it insanely profitable? I guess to be successful in hip hop is like anything else…

Put out a good product, attach yourself to good people, attach yourself to corporations, embrace pop culture, and watch the money pile up. It sucks because like most art forms that the masses want, you have to sell out before you can be original.

Good luck up and comers.

A movie train-of-thought: Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes.

It’s 11:30pm and I just watched Jonah Hill’s new trailer “The Sitter.”

Wow, they really put a twist on Adventures in Babysitting. This trailer seemed like Seth from Superbad was grown up and now babysitting kids, but the marketing team behind that movie knows as well as I do that I’ll see it. Oh wow David Gordon Green directed it? Hmmm, I saw Your Highness and it was terrible, interesting because any stoner role is built for James Franco, well, that and any James Dean role.

I think about what I would have done differently with Your Highness for about 8 minutes. Then-

Oh! James Franco. Hmm let me check out his IMDB page-

Checking…

Ah yes, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes.

I just told my girlfriend that I wanted to see this and she was a bit skeptical. We read the reviews of the film and it’s currently around 80 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Wow, not so skeptical anymore. I go to arclight cinemas and purchase tickets that are 15 dollars each.

Holy shit! I really just paid 15 dollars for a movie ticket.

Not sure why this surprises me considering I’ve been going to the arclight for years now, I do anything I can to justify the ticket price.

Well I did just get arclight points, which means I’ll probably get free popcorn or something…right? Fuck it, the arclight is awesome. Lets not forget I’m seeing this movie in the Dome, what really compares to the Dome? Nothing. This is a capper to this summer, even though I thought Cowboys and Aliens was the capper, but this may be it… oh and 30 Minutes Or Less which is coming out next week, which may be the capper.

CLICK. I’m back on IMDB looking at random things about the Apes – The director, writer, and producer…

God, I hope these monkeys look real; you can be out of it in 2 minutes if the monkeys are on par to Ed starring Matt LeBlanc.

I laugh to myself.

Ed, that crazy movie about the baseball player monkey, what a interesting costume that monkey had, was there a midget inside that monkey costume? Who comes up with this?

For my own pleasure I was sure Ed had to be based off a comic book, because who would greenlight that movie? I typed in Ed and see that it isn’t based off of anything. I have to think that there was a moment in time when a conversation with Matt LeBlanc and Matt LeBlanc’s agent went a little something like this:

Matt: I want to get involved in movies, Friends is on of the biggest hits on NBC right now. Schwimmer is doing The Pallbearer with Gwyneth Paltrow, Perry is doing Fools Rush In with Selma Hayek… I want in.

Agent: You read my mind! But listen, they’re doing RomCom’s with leading ladies, what if I told you, fuck the leading lady, all I want to see is a leading man.

Matt: But, I’m not really a star, don’t I need a leading lady?

Agent: Monkeys.

Matt: Excuse me?

Agent: A fucking monkey. That’s your leading lady.

Matt: I like where this is going.

Agent: The same writer as Radio Flyer and The Sandlot just wrote a comedy about a baseball player named Jack ‘Deuce’ Cooper who gets stuck with a monkey and it’s actually a good pitcher, and through some problems, he makes you a better pitcher… And person!

Matt: You had me at Deuce.

6.2 million dollars later, Ed wasn’t a massive success.

Ed opened the can of worms into my monkey movie knowledge.

Can I think of monkey movies? Okay they don’t have to have the monkey in a starring role but it would at least feature a monkey. And here we go…

Ed: Tribianni as a ball player. See above.

Outbreak: Damn you little monkey that caused an airborne attack.

I’m convinced this monkey is the most successful primate in cinema history, seriously. There was a stretch when this little guy would pop up in anything that needed some really intelligent circus act or a quick laugh.

This movie by the way was pretty interesting and started the topic of conversation of “what if” – it’s basically a worse case scenario that nobody wants to deal with. Also, it’s interesting that this featured a solid cast – Hoffman, Freeman, Russo, Spacey, Gooding Jr., Sutherland, McSteamy I mean McDreamy I mean Patrick Dempsy.

Congo: RIP Michael Crichton. Like all books turned movie, the book was better, but that’s not saying much. I actually didn’t like either, and I really love MC.

This movie was essentially about a tribe of super monkeys living in… yes…. The Congo. A team heads out on an expedition to find another team and all hell breaks loose, monkeys go crazy and start killing humans, but in all fairness the humans intruded on their land.

12 Monkeys: Does this count? In all seriousness I don’t think so, but it’s a really cool movie.

In my opinion, this is one of Brad Pitt’s finer moments. He received an Academy Award nomination but truth be told it’s because he was snubbed by not getting a leading man nod for Se7en.

Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls: Bumblebeetuna. Remember the plot to this? No, not many do. But there were silverback gorillas and Ace had his trusty little monkey with him, which was the “Outbreak” monkey.

Not even monkeys could save Jim Carrey’s overacting in this movie. In hindsight I’m really disappointed with this movie. I loved it at the time because Jim Carrey was a driving force for me to want to enter the entertainment industry, he made movies fun but… shit… you know what. I won’t do it. I won’t bash this movie. All I’ll say is that part 1 was better (and a classic).

Aladdin: Sure, it’s cartoon, but Apu was in it! Aladdin’s right hand man and comic relief, one might argue he made this movie. All I really remember from Apu is his little hat and his momentary jealousy of the magic carpet. This is the point and perfect use of monkeys in movies.

Monkey Trouble: I was a kid in the early 90’s and I wanted a monkey. Part of the reason was this Thora Burch movie and the trouble she got into with her pick pocketing monkey.

This plays into the Aladdin angle. Comic relief, had a funny hat, and was your friend. The catch with Monkey Trouble was that this monkey was a klepto and kept stealing from everyone, but just when Burch thinks it’s stole too much, the monkey redeems itself at the end.

I just looked at IMDB – how is this 12,186 on the IMDB meter?

Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull: Otherwise known as “The Indy movie made 20 years too late and should have never been made.”

You may not remember the monkeys in this movie but I do, and it’s one of the few times I actually hated them. In the final climactic 3rd act Indys son (which he didn’t know) Shia LaBeouf is caught in a bit of a pickle. He’s lost in the jungle without any escape plan.

Enter the monkeys and a very very bad case of CGI.

Little monkeys lead Shia out of the jungle to freedom assisting him by swinging on trees through the top of the jungle and right into freedom. Lets take a moment and think about the conversation between the writer, George Lucas, and director, Steven Spielberg, on just how they wanted this whole thing to play out:

Steve: George, I noticed that you had this scene with Shia swinging with monkeys in the jungle.

George: Who?

Steve: Huh?

George: What?

Steve: Shia, in the jungle. Do you really think he could swing out of the jungle like that?

George: Would Ewoks save him?

Steve: Lets have him swing out with monkeys.

I may have preferred the Ewoks.

King Kong: Too Easy. Big ol’ monkey. This reboot was 3 hours total and I vaguely remember Jack Black.

Mighty Joe Young: See King Kong. Minus Jack Black.

The Ape: The what? The Ape. Let me copy and paste a brief plot summary below:

Human resources drone and put-upon family man Harry imagines he could be the next Dostoyevsky if he could just get a little peace and quiet. When he moves into his own apartment to craft his masterpiece, his solitude is broken by an unexpected roommate-a foul-mouthed, Hawaiian shirt-wearing gorilla, eager to share his opinions on life, love, and animal magnetism.

Bullshit, right? Wrong. The above plot was a movie written, directed, and starring James Franco. I’m not sure what he was thinking when he made this movie but I give him credit for trying to make it. Maybe he knew that tossing a monkey in a movie would be a sure thing? But to Franco’s credit he does a lot in his career that people question and he just goes with the flow.

Although I haven’t seen The Ape, I hope Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes is better.

I stop thinking about monkey movies for a bit because my brain is a fried and I’m not sure how many more monkey movies I can tackle.

However, I don’t think Apes is a monkey movie, it seems like an origin story, and I love origin stories. How could a movie about Monkey’s taking over a planet go wrong? It just seems so right. I think the bigger question is why do I keep calling Gorillas, Apes, and Chimpanzees – monkeys? I’m that guy whose just bunching primates together. I should know more about the monkey species. Wait, my thought is getting off topic, I need to reserve my seats for the movie.

If this movie is good I may rent Ed and The Ape and watch them back-to-back.

The Free Pass Actor

Last week if you told me that Cowboys and Aliens and The Smurfs would be tied for the weekend top gross ($36,200,000) and that Crazy, Sexy, Love would come in 5th behind – Aliens, Smurfs, Captain America, and Harry Potter I would have been awfully skeptical and probably would have argued it. I guess since I’m not a parent I forgot that little kids like little blue things in CGI.

I basically had no faith in The Smurfs at all. I heard that it’s really bad… Rotten Tomatoes reviewed it at 20%, for a while it was 0%, which is unheard of.

I actually saw Crazy, Sexy, Love, this weekend and liked it. I didn’t love it but I liked it, I should note that I’m a sucker for romcom’s but the movie was solid – the acting, writing, directing, all of the above, but maybe a little long - on a side note I think that Ryan Gosling is going to win an Academy Award in his acting career.

Anyway, I couldn’t figure out why I didn’t check out Cowboys and Aliens this weekend. It’s got all the fixins that I like – Han Solo, James Bond, Spielberg, Favreau, Cowboys, Aliens… I mean why didn’t I see this movie? I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I planned to see it on Sunday and drank too much on Saturday – but that’s a different story all in itself.

When I read that Aliens was on par with Smurfs I sat back and thought about this for a minute because quite honestly I think that the Aliens crowd should be bigger. The movie seems like an adventure and when you have blockbuster caliber attached to adventure you have a blockbuster. Did the Smurfy CGI kid thing really manage to bump the adventure offered from Aliens? I guess so, but really? I mean, when I think of Adventure I think of a few things:

1) Indiana Jones.

2) Steven Spielberg movies (producer of the film).

3) Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford movies.

I’m lingering on this whole thing, but I guess it just goes to show that the top dogs have lost some steam. If this were a different time any Harrison Ford / Spielberg movie would still have lines outside the doors. Right? But on the other hand they did make Indiana Jones part 4 which may have been one of the more forgettable movies in my movie going life. Which got me thinking…

It got me thinking about actors who no matter what they do will have a Free Pass by the movie going public. When I say free pass I mean that we forget they were even in a shitty movie, all we remember is that they killed it at one time or another. What got me thinking about this – Harrison Ford, of course. He’s the ultimate Free Pass actor, as far as I’m concerned Harrison Ford could make a bomb with Josh Harnett or Brendan Frasier and we would turn the other cheek… oh wait…

Which brings me to my list of actors who have a “Free Pass” they may have done shit… but we will forever forgive them.

1 - Harrison Ford: See above. But seriously, lets take a second think about how great this guy is and was. When I heard that Harrison Ford improvised the famous line in Empire Strikes Back when Leia says “I love you” and he says “I know” he pretty much sealed the deal for the biggest badass around.

He’s been in movies that have generated over 3 billion dollars for Hollywood and he’s one of the most iconic actors working. He can do garbage and act as disgruntled as he wants and I’ll always love this guy. For the record – I personally think he’s keeping his lame earring just to throw it back in our faces, which I love.

2) Bill Murray: “Come in Ray” yes, he’s Peter Venkman, not to mention he had Meatballs, Caddyshack, and one of the most underrated Bill Murray roles of all time – Ernie McCrackin in Kingpin. I could sit here and ramble about Groundhogs Day or all of the amazing Wes Anderson movies he’s been in but I’m going to focus on his actually life for a second.

Not sure if you’re aware but there is currently a Bill Murray legend building as you read this. Seemingly there are new urban legend stories popping up yearly, and it all started with (as far as I’m concerned) the story about him tackling some kid in the park.

As the story goes - a kid was walking and suddenly was tackled from behind, when the kid got up he looked at his attacker and it was none other than Bill Murray, Murray looked at him and said “Nobody will ever believe you” and ran away from him. And so it began…

Murray seemingly has these random stories popping up all around the country - from him driving drunk in golf carts, to him fighting at Chicago Bears games. Murray is everywhere. Oh, and one other side note about him – he doesn’t have an agent, which makes it very difficult to communicate with this guy. Society loves Bill Murray.

3) Meryl Streep: Come on. She’s the woman with more accents than there are countries. I can’t remember her last bad movie but if she ever does one we probably will forget.

4) Robert De Niro: Ahem… Rocky and Bullwinkle and Righteous Kill. BUT this guy was Vito Corleone for god sake aka The Godfather. Not to mention, Goodfellas, Taxi Driver, Casino, Ragining Bull, Deer Hunter, and a bunch of comedy. De Niro has the ultimate pass and one may argue he’s in Ford territory.

5) Al Pacino: If a man has ever talked to much when accepting an award his name is Al Pacino but he’s still in the Free Pass club. He’s kind of in the De Niro category due to his earlier career but something about Pacino is different. He takes on more roles than De Niro, or so it seems.

What’s great about Pacino is that he’s entered the world of TV (most recently as Kevorkian for HBO) and also he was in Insomnia directed by Chris Nolan (just had to drop that in).

Although Pacino doesn’t have the De Niro comedy chops he’s a Corleone…

6) Johnny Depp: Hello Jack Sparrow. I like Depp, a lot of people like Depp, and Depp hasn’t done much bad over time (I haven’t seen The Tourist). Here’s the thing with the Depp man:

He does out-there roles – Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Alice in Wonderland, Willy Wonka, and Pirates. But then he brings it back and reminds us that he’s a good actor and not just a character in things like Blow, Nick of Time (underrated), Finding Neverland (saw it alone and cried in a theater), and Chocolat.

Lets not forget he’s an attractive guy and has a ton of sex appeal. But seriously, the thing about Depp is that ever since he took on Jack Sparrow he became more than a house hold name – he became an international brand. Disney has taken The Pirates franchise and marketed it to the masses like no other movie in recent history.

Depp may be the one actor who appeals to men, women, kids, stoners, film geeks, auteurs, other actors, up and coming actors, people who want to act like their misunderstood, and anyone trying to make something commercial. He runs the gamut.

7) Leonardo DiCaprio: When this guy froze in the Atlantic Ocean and Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go on was cued DiCaprio locked this position down. Leo was sort of an actor version of Justin Bieber many years ago and managed to flex his talent muscle throughout his career.

I actually don’t know where to begin with this guy – He’s a legit Hollywood actor that can take on any role. I think for a while he was screwed because he’s always had this younger boy presence (which isn’t a bad thing) but it was difficult to believe everything he was doing. But now with age he’s able to be even more believable.

What’s especially great about Leo is that he had street cred with most Hollywood directors – I’m excited for his role in Django Unchained directed by Tarantino – coming out next year.

8) Will Smith: This is easy. He’s Will Smith. This man has worked his career like he’s a machine for the last 30 years, literally. He’s methodically become a superstar. Bill Simmons recently wrote a really good look into how this guy has become this guy.

Will Smith released a song call “Mr. NiceGuy” which pretty much sums up why he’ll always have a free pass.

9) Tom Hanks: In the 90’s this guy was the romcom king with Meg Ryan, he then went on to win back to back best actor awards and solidify himself as one of the most likable and bankable actors in Hollywood.

I love that Hanks has spread himself across most genres and platforms. Not to mention… he was in Radio Flyer (underrated).

10) George Clooney: Rounding out the Top 10 is George “I’ve probably slept with you” Clooney. I think Clooney is brilliant and I’ll tell you why:

Early in Clooney’s career, and after he broke out of ER, he did From Dusk Till Dawn, which was so totally out there and basically opposite smug doctor Clooney, it gained him some movie cred considering it was directed by Robert Rodriguez and co-written by Tarantino. But then Clooney said… I want to be a superstar and I want it now…

He jumped into One Fine Day, The Peacemaker, and Batman and Robin. Somewhere in those movies he smartened up and did Out of Sight with J-Lo but more importantly its was directed by Steven Soderbergh. I think it was this movie he said to himself “It’s better to work with good people rather than take the mainstream shortcut with easy films” (in those exact words).

From Out of Sight Clooney played it safe with his decisions all while taking on very difficult (smart) roles. He worked in films that had good/strong content. He surrounded himself with good people and even if a movie was crappy he always had the crutch to fall back on and say, “hey, it was a good story.” It’s like his movies have a fail safe if they’re bad… does this make sense?

Also – he’s a good director, and we all forgot he was in Leatherheads.

Bonus*

Tom Cruise: I can’t believe he’s not in my top 10 but lets be honest here, his couch jumping really F’d him. Just recently Mission Impossible 4 got bullied by Sherlock Holmes 2, and MI4 moved their release date anticipating a Homes box office ass kicking, come on… How did that happen to Tom Cruise? Unfortunately, everyone wants to see him fail so he doesn’t have the free pass anymore.

Brad Pitt: Ehhh, he should maybe be in the top 10.

Matt Damon: See Brad Pitt

The entire cast of Ocean’s 11, 12, 13: Soderbergh effect. See Damon.

Robert Downey Jr.: He’s getting to free pass status but he’s been down before and it could happen again, I need to see more.

Clint Eastwood: I had to put him here. Sure, he’s a director now but when he’s in a film he brings the goods, not to mention he’s a legend.

Sean Connery: Arguably the best 007 ever, also Indiana Jones’ dad. I think I have Indy Joes bias.

Honorable Mention:

Julia Roberts
Bruce Willis
Robin Williams
Russell Crowe
Marky Mark
Keanu Reeves
Michael J Fox
Eddie Murphy
Kevin Costner
Will Ferrell

I just read that Cowboys and Aliens edged The Smurfs by $800,000 —- There is hope for adventure.

Lies I Told Myself

If you’re not a sports fan there’s a good chance you didn’t know there was an NFL lock out for the past few months. What that meant to the common fan, like myself, is that players and owners were on rocky ground and couldn’t come to an agreement on issues such as money, more money, and then money. What this also meant was there were no stories on football to report because the sides were divided and “locked out” - ie: no trade rumors, injury reports, updates, shit talking, all the things that engages us as fans.

As the common fan I was indifferent these past few months, and something happened. I didn’t look at ESPN.com as much and I didn’t watch Sportscenter as often. From that alone I came to a conclusion: I care too much about sports. It was eye opening how much time I spent randomly reading about my team and off-season moves. From that conclusion I told myself that I think I may take a step back, I think I can substitute sports indulgence with something else.

When I heard the lock out was over the first thing I did was text a buddy some random comment about how it’s time for the Packers to repeat and win the Superbowl, then to follow it up with a comment about Brett Favre (probably a penis joke) and his retirement. Truthfully, I think I was waiting to send that text since last season, and I don’t ever think I will ever get tired of Brett Favre comments.

Later I went to ESPN.com to read about football then went to Twitter, to tweet, but also to read tweets about football. Kind of pathetic, right?

In the course of 2 hours I was back into the flow of football. What’s going on with trades, free agents, teams, my potential fantasy football, and then it hit me… What the hell was I thinking? I love sports.

Was I some kind of sports fan who was posing as someone who didn’t need sports? Did I really think that I could take a step back from sports when my hometown Packers just won the Super Bowl? Who the hell was I kidding? I love to read about trades, hear about team issues and inspirational stories, I love watching motivational catches and acts of athleticism that I only think I can do, and most importantly: I love to think I know more about my team than the general manager does… I’m a fan.

Which leads me to one very solid conclusion: I was lying to myself about not wanting football. Which opened a can of worms… what else have I been lying to myself about?

I give you my: Lies I’ve told myself in 2011.

Not Wanting And Needing Sports: See above. But let me add juuuust a bit more to this. Sports are fun and engaging and they remind me of the greatest line Matthew McConaughey has ever said in a movie - “I get older, they stay the same age.” Of course MM was talking about high school girls, but in sports the talent level stays the same or learns from their predecessor and improves.

(Women, sorry I just compared you to the sports talent level but the same could apply for men. I should probably get of this subject, in the words of McConaughey and every movie he’s ever been in “Alright…Alright…Alright”)

Entourage Is Played Out: I’ve been telling myself that this show jumped the shark for years. (Thank you Fonzie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpraJYnbVtE) Ever since Vinnie chase took on a drug addiction and E started his own management company I was thinking, WTF. But, truth be told I really like this show and have been following it now for 8 seasons. It’s difficult not to stay attached to this show, especially when you live in fiction world like myself and actually think you have the same Hollywood problems as this crew. I’ll be sad to see it go.

I Don’t Like Harry Potter: I embraced and took on this series after the Prisoner of Azkaban. Voldemort is no Darth Vader but I’d argue he’s the closest thing in a very long time (I still love you Star Wars). Harry Potter, you’re adventure and I appreciate you for this.

I Understand Soccer: Yes, I understand how soccer is played… or wait, do I? I don’t know if I could tell you who is off sides or even how many people are on the field at one time. I really thought I understood this, but on the world scale I don’t understand how the teams match up, when they play, why they play, and what tournaments are going on when they’re going on. I’ve recently jumped into this to try to learn and educate myself on the most popular sport in the world.

I Like Dominos: Fact: In 2010 employees of Dominos shoved pizza ingredients in their noses and around their asses (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D9PikBzNNo&feature=related).

Dominos went on to launch a self deprecating campaign, which apparently saved Domino’s stock, to say that they’re going to be fresh and they have learned from their mistakes…blah blah blah bullshit. I tried their new “recipe” and almost fell for their make over until I saw a Dominos employee smoking in front of Dominos.

And then it hit me – I almost fell victim to corporate advertisement. Dominos has done nothing to change their employees just their perception. As far as I’m concerned this is still happening… probably in a lot more places than Dominos, but I need to see it to believe it.

I Love Netflix: Love is a strong word, and I misused it on Netflix. Before they split the $7.99 streaming and 1 DVD package to $7.99 for each service I was skeptical with this streaming service. It’s half assed as it stands, but to their credit they’re in beta phase with streaming and trying to get more licenses to stream, but I don’t love this, I like it. Get more streaming movies and I’ll love it.

Realty TV is Worthless: This statement was too general, example: Anthony Bourdain is great. Also, the worthless trainwreck is the best entertainment.

Too Much Technology Hurts Us: What the hell was I thinking? I love the options and the possibilities. I love knowing that I may be a cyborg soon and that I can connect with millions of people in a matter of minutes. I once thought this may be intrusive but the reality is, we’re accepting it and running wild with it.

Bring on the eye scans and nano’s!

I Understand Google+: This is fairly new to the world, and it’s the social networking mastermind that should rival Facebook. I am here to say, I don’t necessarily get it.

So I can only have circles? Why are my pictures so big? Am I always signed in? Wait… I’m in my 20’s - I should get this… right?

And so it goes, maybe this is more that I just don’t necessarily like it as much as I don’t get it, and maybe it will take time to grow all over me like google did 10 years ago. Also, Facebook is just embedded into my system right now and I don’t know if Google is doing anything so different that I need it, the one exception is that I use Gmail, which actually may be a huge google advantage. Either way, why ruin a good thing? Unlike Facebook, Myspace was clunky and scattered – which is why it took over Myspace in 1 second.

Not to sound like an old man but I realize there are many things I may have written off a little too soon. Patience and time are much needed, it’s good to sit back relax and remember things you … Wait… Shit… McNabb may have been traded to the Vikings, gotta read ESPN.com.

The Final season of Entourage.

I’ve been trying to remember the last time a show was about a main character but it’s not actually about the main character, it’s actually about it’s supporting cast. I was really digging deep for this one and I didn’t come up with much, actually I didn’t come up with anything… Muppet Babies? Wasn’t that show about “Nanny” or was it? I don’t’ really remember, I just remember her striped socks. I’m sure a show will come to me at 3am when I’m not thinking about it, but that’s exactly what Entourage is, and to it’s credit it is called Entourage.

This weekend marks the beginning of the end to Vinny Chase and his best friends. As I’m sure everyone knows the show is loosely based off of Mark Wahlberg (First time ever I didn’t initially call him Marky Mark) and his best friends accompanying him in LA. Along with his best friends he has his fictitious super agent Ari Gold based off non-fictitious super agent Ari Emmanuel.

I set my DVR to record the final season and I wasn’t too sure why, I don’t even know how much I care about the show, 80 percent of me tells me I’ve been invested for 7 previous seasons and it’s too late to stop now. There are only 8 episodes in the entire 8th season and I think I owe it to myself and see how this thing plays out. But seriously, why do I care about this show? Let’s be honest here for a second, the show isn’t all that good anymore, right? So I’m going to take a moment and flush out everything I remember of Entourage.

Warning: This timeline may be wrong. A lot of things may be wrong actually but it’s how I retained Entourage over these years:

I remember the show opening at Fred Segal’s on Melrose located in Hollywood. When I was watching all I thought was “Holy Shit, I literally live 8 seconds from Segal’s, I could see it at my house off of Kilkea. And when I say my house I mean I was living with my Aunt and her husband for a short amount of time. Lets dive into this a little further and open up the guts of Entourage –

I was living in Hollywood (check) and when you live in Hollywood you’re here for the entertainment industry (check) and when you’re in the entertainment industry you’re probably struggling at some point (check) and all you dream about is making something of yourself so you can call your friends and brag… I mean enjoy it together (check) and BOOM this is why we all love Entourage. This is a no brainer; they’re living the dream.

Success, friends, women, freedom, movies, and playing in the sexiest and most unknown universe in the world – Hollywood. This is what the first season was to me and it’s what the first season was to a lot of people, the appeal. Not to mention this show was filled with very specific supporting characters that were more memorable than the lead.

But I’m still hung up on this appeal thing because it’s very important. Aside from just knowing that this season was cool can anyone really remember what the first season was about? No, okay that’s fine because most can’t remember most first seasons. Moving on… what was any of this show about? Specifics I remember:

Vince (The Star) Bangs girls and eventually gets a drug problem.

E (Vince’s best friend) becomes his manager.

Drama (Vince’s brother) is in and out of acting and is also the funniest character on the show.

Turtle (Vince’s other best friend) drives Vince everywhere and eventually tries to do his own thing. The he starts dating Jamie Lynn Sigler (somehow).

Ari (Vince’s agent) gets a funny gay assistant, but consistently yells at people.

Wow. Not much. But that’s okay, because although Entourage seems as though its character driven, it’s not, it’s appeal driven. The appeal and small set pieces of these characters just being cool and getting a lot of attention is what makes Entourage. The show opens the door to the people living outside of Hollywood and exposes what it’s like to be here, and it flaunts Hollywood to the people living here… It’s the perfect equation.

I think this show always knew that and somewhat walked the fine line of character development and environment development, even though they kind of go hand in hand. The show is like a burst of energy with down time of character, and when we see that burst of energy it’s so cool, it’s almost unattainable.

So, as we get ready to watch the final 8 episodes and see how Vince and the crew get him out of his coke addiction all I can hope is that he really gets out of it and starts being awesome again. I think it’s too late to try and define this show as anything other than a fun show that exposes what we don’t have but what we all really want.

To the credit of everyone on this show they were killing it for a little while, the story lines have kept me for a solid 8 seasons (even though I can’t recall most) and the guest characters they’ve accumulated may be the best in TV history. It’s just that I don’t have much attachment to any of these guys… Maybe Johnny Drama just a little bit.

I guess as I think about it I do have some slight attachment to Vinny Chase and his crew, probably because everything they’ve had is so appealing to me.

Justin Timberlake

Today may be Harry Potter day but I thought I’d take a minute and discuss another former boy bander - Justin Timberlake (Yes, I know Daniel Radcliffe wasn’t in a band but he was on Broadway, so that may count as something) and the fact that he may be moving into leading man territory next week when he opens Friends With Benefits.

Next week marks a significant time in Timberlake’s acting career, he’s opening a movie as the lead male actor. “Who cares?” you may say… Well, I care, I say. Today when I saw the big billboard with Timberlake trying to look like the friend next door across from Mila Kunis (more on her in a minute) I asked if I was ready for him. Hollywood clearly is taking the musician JT paired up with the “Holy Shit is Timberlake really in a David Fincher film” steam and putting him in a movie that Ashton Kutcher is born to play… No Strings Attached reference.

I needed to do some reflection and ask if I had any beef with JT, no. I actually really like his music, and when he had dyed curly blonde hair I secretly liked some of his poppy NSYNC music. So why am I questioning this? Well, it’s because I hadn’t accepted JT the actor quite yet. Although he’s been in close to 10 films I still always pictured him as a performer on SNL, in digital shorts, singing on the ESPY’s, and looking at Janet’s boob.

So let me do what I’m best at, and that’s break down scenarios that not need to be broken down, thus essentially laying out what’s going to happen with JT’s career post next week. As I see it, 1 of 3 things will happen:

Scenario 1: Best Case Scenario

The movie opens to good reviews, and not only does the movie open to good reviews but Timberlake has good reviews, and especially with his Kunis chemistry. Along with the good reviews the movie makes roughly 30 million and thus gives insta solidification to the idea that JT can be leading man in a movie.

From here he does a few more films with solid directors (next film is with Andrew Niccol aka a great director) and then re-enters leading man role in a comedy, then eventually moves to serious.

In this best-case scenario he takes on the career of former musicians turned actors: Frank Sinatra, Mark Wahlberg, and Will Smith. JT will one day look back at the time when he was second fiddle and occasionally dabble back in music making him the ultimate double threat to music and film. Of course he will produce, direct, and probably write something in the future.

The Big Ol’ Asterisk of this Best Case Scenario: Today is Harry Potter day and it doesn’t seem like this train is slowing down. On top of that, Potter has competition in the form of Captain America, which opens along with Friends with Benefits. What this means is JT’s movie is going to open at #3… that’s right, 3.

Opening Friends with Benefits is some kind of brilliance or a blatant slap saying “Hey we know you aren’t going to open #1 at the box office so we’ll just throw you into the mix of the 2 biggest movies of the summer.” Either way the best case is that this movie opens at #3 with 30 million.

Last thing on this – if it does open to 30 million then that means this weekend will most likely be one of the biggest opening weekends ever. Best Case.

Scenario 2: Worst Case Scenario

The movie opens to poor reviews and totally bombs. We hear that JT can’t open a movie and the in film chemistry is on par to Madonna and Banderas in Evita. The movie opens with 8 million and falls behind Potter, Captain America, this week’s Winnie the Pooh, and next week’s indie sleep Another Earth.

We all make jokes about this movie but ultimately wipe it from our memories and Timberlake needs to continuously take on rolls in the supporting world, makes another (good) album, and goes back to SNL to save face. His career would mirror former musician turned actors: Henry Rollins, Lance Bass, Bon Jovi, and Sting.

We will only see JT as a supporting role.

Scenario 3: Most Probable Scenario

The movie opens to mild reviews, as does JT’s acting performance. The movie generates roughly 20 million (very respectable) and still opens behind Potter and America. The catch with this scenario is that we can’t really get a gauge on what JT can do and is capable of – the thinking is as followed:

“He opened a movie during the heart of the summer and still managed to pull 20 million. We think we can still bank on him so lets toss him in another romantic comedy and see how he does… Um, who is available… Jennifer Aniston?”

This scenario is open ended because we don’t know what will happen, and this is precisely why this is genius to open this movie on this day. It’s a lock to make some money but if it doesn’t we can blame so many other factors.

JT will get many more opportunities to prove himself and eventually re-assert himself in the leading man role. For a while he’ll be like other musician turned actors: David Bowie, Ice Cube, LL Cool J, and Mos Def. But he’ll eventually come into his own.

One of the above will happen next week; we just need to wait on the reviews.

Final few things about JT – He’s doing his best to define himself as himself and move away from the musician of it all. I don’t know if it’s just me but I always find the “musician turned actor” less believable unless you’re the minority in Marky Mark, The Fresh Price, and Old Blue Eyes. So I need to respect what’s happening here in his career, because up until now he hasn’t really done anything too commercial (and yes I know he was in The Social Network).

JT surrounds himself with good people. Will Gluck directs Friends with Benefits who did the hit Easy A, and he’s paired with rising star Kunis. Mila basically has everything going for her right now – Black Swan, Sarah Marshall, Family Guy, Denzel movie nobody saw, and she dated Macaulay Culkin… Come on.

Lastly, he’s no fool. He clearly knows what he’s doing and makes very educated decisions about his next step in his career and apparently he’s good at what he’s doing. The simple fact that he was in The Social Network gives him actor street cred immediately. But that’s the thing with JT, we’ve only seen snippets of him, not a full 90 minutes of him… at least not yet.

So, next week, as you go see Harry Potter for the second time or check out Captain America just remember that the musical George Clooney (tons of chicks, isn’t slowing down) is going to open his first film and this will be the spark as to what will happen next. Although I’m nowhere close to sold on JT, I actually have faith that he’s going to do a great job and we’ll one day forget that he was a singer… until he does his Sinatra comeback tour.

A Chronological Embracement of Harry Potter.

2001: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is released. I think the previews look childish but someone entertaining. I don’t end up seeing it in the theaters and don’t think twice about it.

In college my roommate Chris vowed to me that the first Harry Potter was a good movie and was sure I’d like it. Even though I was a movie buff, at the time I was too busy consuming the 3 dollar liter of Vodka that I paid too much for, and the only thing I really cared to know about Harry Potter was that Haley Joel Osmet almost got the role.

One cold winter at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee (random shout out) while everyone was on winter break Chris and I were finishing some classes. Seeing it was only the two of us he knew it was as good a time as any to ask me… “Want to watch Harry Potter?” I really don’t know why I didn’t want to watch this movie, but I’ll take any excuse not to study, so I finally said – yes.

I guess I can now admit that I didn’t really want to like Harry Potter before watching the movie. I’m not sure if I was oddly stubborn that I didn’t come up with the idea or if I was turned off by the phenomenon and the eagerness to embrace this little lightning bolted kid. But to my credit I think I did go in with an open mind.

He started the movie… I watched about 30 minutes… And without surprise I passed out before the second act got kicking. Not sure if it was from the probable hangover or the lack of interest, but either way from that moment, I was done with Harry Potter.

Flash forward from that point on, or rewind from current day.

2002: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is released. I have some interest and am still wondering what happened to the first film and me. I contemplate either seeing the movies, or actually opening the book. I do neither and don’t miss it.

2004: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is released. Wait, Gary Oldman is in this movie? He’s a badass, should I be seeing these movies? I don’t see it but I hear they’re only getting better, which was a surprise because Chris Columbus kicked ass with the first 2 (apparently).

2005: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is released. At this point I’m sick of these movies, don’t know why, I just am. Are these really still being released? I have no interest what so ever in these movies but I will admit the trailers look cool. The other thing this movie has going for it is Mike Newell, the director of Donnie Brasco, what the hell?

The major note with this film – Potter goes to PG-13 territory. It takes the step from PG and enters odd territory – more on this soon.

2007: Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix is released. This is where I believe a monumental change happened in Harry Potter, and at this point I still have only seen 28 minutes of the first one.

1) Also PG-13 like it’s predecessor.

2) The poster is ominous. The movie looks dark.

3) The word of mouth happens, and if my name was Malcolm Gladwell I think this would be called “The Tipping Point” this is the movie that people started to say: “Harry Potter is Dark and isn’t for kids.” In my opinion this was always what people said in order to bring in an older crowd and I didn’t buy it. I thought it was all for marketing, in hindsight it’s kind of genius because as Potters audience got older, so did the movie content.

4) The trailer looks badass, again.

5) Random Robert Pattinson cameo aka Edward Cullen from Twilight. Not really a cameo but his picture used, it should be noted he died in the first Harry Potter. Not sure how this is relevant, just seems like it is.

2009: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is released. In my opinion at the time Harry Potter was the octomom of movies. When will this ever end? Also, why do I think these movies look so cool yet I’ve never seen them? Should I start watching now? Nah… it’s too late.

HARRY POTTER NEWS ALERT! There will only be two more Harry Potter movies ever but it’s going to be split into an epic story of Potterness. Fans go nuts - others don’t care.

2010: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part 1 is released. Watch the trailer. Let’s be clear about something, this trailer looks really cool. These kids look weathered like the banker who has to count all of the money these movies have made. But I’ve given up on seeing this movie. I think it’s just too late for me to get my head in the game, I focus on other great movie releases in 2010 like…um… ah… moving on.

2011: Present Day-ish.

I’m sitting in The Green Lantern (don’t ask) and the trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part 2 is shown. While the trailer is happening my girlfriend clinches my hand and whispers that she has the chills. Huh? I say to her “I’ve been with you for 3 years and you’ve never said a thing about Harry Potter.” She tells me she loves it.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Now I need to know. My girlfriend rents “The dark one” aka The Order of the Phoenix and I watch it.

The weirdest thing happened. While watching the movie I found myself to be somewhat bored, but oddly engaged. I let the movie play out and I stuck with it. I didn’t know if I liked it but as soon as it finished I had about 20 questions. And how do I get answers to these questions? I must watch the other movies of course.

I watched the next one – same thing, I found it slow but I was engaged the entire time. The again I watched Deathly Hollows. The movie felt like it was 480 minutes but I stuck with it.

Now I find myself here today open and willing to admit that I am a fan of Harry Potter. It snuck up on me and I have been wondering how it happened. I’ve realized that that’s been the problem the entire time, I’ve been wondering too much. I just didn’t accept the adventure of Harry Potter, I questioned it too much and I fought it simply because it felt right.

These movies are really straight up adventure of kids and it has sucked me in. I can say that these have been some of the most consistent movies I’ve seen from the characters staying the same to the growth of the film… this is a really great story. What kid doesn’t want to leave his house and embrace adventure?

One random note – This cast of characters have aged perfectly, in the history of movies I don’t know a group of kids who have stayed pretty good looking for this long a time. I should stop talking about this before it gets too weird.

I called my college roommate Chris today and told him my deal. Told him that I’ve turned and came around to Potter, I told him he was right the entire time like Jack in LOST. After my Potter ramble he said:

“Oh yeah, I haven’t seen the last 3 but I need to catch up and my girlfriend loves them.”

I don’t get it. I just know that I get that I like Harry Potter.