Iron Man Two (The Petey Review)

On Friday night after a sub-par meal at Rustico Resturant in Alexandria, Kristen and I hoped over to Potomac Yard to see the highly anticipated Iron Man 2. I was excited to see this movie but I was also a little worried as well b/c I had heard bad reviews from others as well. But as the movie began I felt as if the movie was very, very slow but it sucked me in the longer it proceeded. It's still amazing to me how Robert Downey Jr. has totally revamped his career and turned his life around. He is perfect for the Tony Stark role. Jon Favreau did a great job of casting this movie and directing it as well and I didn't even miss Terrence Howard one bit. Don Cheadle did an excellent job and I felt he was even more bad ass as Lt. Colonel James "Rhodey" "Rhodes than Terrence ever was. I think Terrence was too much of a nerd for that role and Don is much more militaristic and agile which makes the character more believable from my point of view. Terrence seems like he would be more fitted behind a desk giving orders instead of out in the weeds, fighting. I also really liked Mickey Rourke as Ivan Vanko. He was a dual threat; Ivan is very much like Tony Stark in that he is brilliant, bad ass, and brash. If it wasn't for Ivan's father being deported, him and Tony probably could have ended up as friends fighting on the same side. One thing I didn't even know about till I was doing a little research on IMBD and Iron Man 2 that Jon Favreau not only acted in this movie as Happy Hogan but also directed it as well as well as the first Iron Man. I was impressed as I looked up his file to see that "Gutter" from PCU and "D-Bob" from Rudy was one in the same. He directed both Iron Man's, has been announced as the executive producer of the Avengers (2012), and also wrote Couples Retreat, and wrote/co-produced Swingers. Jon Favreau must be rolling in the dough and he also gets my vote for the most underrated actor/writer/producer/director in the game. Kudos!

Back to my review, overall I really enjoyed this movie and can't wait for it to come on DVD so I can see it again. The only real compliant I have other than the movie being 124 minutes long and really coming to sharp, crashing, quick ending in a matter of 5-10 minutes was that I didn't like how they now are keying on Tony's love life with Pepper Potts. Before it was just in the background and that's where I like it but now it seems it's coming to the forefront. I just hope they don't fall into the same trap as SpiderMan or the Matrix where for Iron Man 3 the whole movie is revolved around his love life with Pepper and saving the world is just an after thought in Tony's mind. But overall I really enjoyed this movie and I really like how they tied in all the other characters to be able to easily transition into the next step in the Marvel movie series. If you haven't seen this movie I suggest you go see it and make sure to wait till the closing credits b/c their is a special preview of "THOR" at the end. Next, after the "Thor" movie and possible "Nick Furry" movie, Jon Favreau will attempt to tie in all these characters as fight to save the world in the movie titled the "Avengers." So it looks like we won't be seeing another Iron Man movie for at least another 2-3 years or so. So hold on to this movie for now as we all wait in anticipation for the Avengers.

My Rating: (3.5 out of 5 Petey's)

The Clock Keeps Tickin' on 24 as LOST's Clock Hits All Zero's (00:00:00)

This week marked the end of two of American's favorite, most watched, and controversial TV shows. On Sunday night LOST jumped the gun to beat 24 to the punch by skipping its normal Tuesday night time slot to take over Sunday that way everyone would be talking about them instead of everyone talking about the ending of 24 first and speaking of LOST as just an after thought. Now 24 is the after thought and LOST is the prime topic of everyone's conversation. There is no doubt that LOST's series finale was very good. I still don't understand why people were crying on Jimmy Kimmel afterwards though but whatever but at the end of 6 season's I have to say I'm still LOST. I get the theory that Jack died in the jungle when he closes his eyes in the jungle where he woke up many years before but what happens to the plane and the people on the plane after it leaves the island? I also understand that after Jack dies then everyone meets up in purgatory and they move on to the next world whether that be heaven or whatever you believe in. But what I don't get is how in purgatory they didn't know each other until an event occurred in each one of their lives that brought them back to reality. I believe if they all didn't die in the plane crash that what occurred on island was real and Jack actually dies when his life flashes before his eyes when he is touching the coffin but how did they not die when they set off the atom bomb?, why did they show the island underwater?, what was the whole second life about?, and who were the dead bodies in the cave? these are just some of the many questions I still have but I guess that's why the show is titled LOST b/c if all my/our questions were answered they would have to have renamed the final episode and the show to FOUND (witty yes I know haha)!!!

If you have never read the Stephen King "Dark Tower" series then I suggest you read this 7 book series and then go back and watch LOST again and see if your thoughts change. My theory on the LOST ending is Jack is like Roland in that he is in search of the Dark Tower or his purpose which is saving the island as in Jack's case but this isn't his first rodeo or pony ride as Kristen likes to say. Jack has done this act several times before. The reason I come to this conclusion is that the bodies in the cave are Jack's he has failed at this task several times before but the third times a charm; he has learned from his previous two mistakes and has finally succeeded in reaching his goal. If you go back and watch the first LOST episode you see Jack wakes up in the jungle with the black stick right next to his head this is much like Roland when he wakes up with with the horn in his hand. Another reason I compare these two is b/c Stephen King sold the rights to the Dark Tower series to J.J. Abrams for $19 and Damon Lindelof, a writer from LOST, were working on adapting these books into a 7 movie series, but Damon recently announced in Nov. that he is bowing out like Jack and will not be assisting in the Dark Tower movies. In an interview with USA today he said this:

"You'll be hard-pressed to find a huger fan of The Dark Tower than me, but that's probably the reason that I shouldn't be the one to adapt it. After working six years on LOST, the last thing I want to do is spend the next seven years adapting one of my favorite books of all time I'm such a massive Stephen King fan that I'm terrified of screwing it up. I'd do anythign to see those movies written by someone else. My guess is they will get made b/c they're so incredible. But not by me."

So it looks like its up to Abrams to complete the task of leading us to the "DARK TOWER". But for those of you holding on to the last bit of LOST pick up The Dark Tower series and read through those then go back and watch LOST again and see if your conclusion on the ending is still the same.

My Rating: (4 out of 5 Petey's)

As for 24 I really liked the ending and they set it up perfectly for Jack to go on for many, many, many more hours to come. Also many, many more hours for Jack to NEVER eat, go to the bathroom, shower, or sleep as well. I just hope they can keep the integrity of the show the same when they transfer it over into a movie and also hope they get Keifer Sutherland to play the part b/c nothing is worse than when they change actors like in 007 when Pierce Bronson left and Daniel Craig stepped in. But overall I would have to say the ending was fitting. I liked how Chloe shot Jack and in the same hour helped him escape. The part I really hated was that Jack didn't take out the Russian Pres. and Pres. Charles Logan to complete his task of avenging Renee Walkers death. I don't think Logan deserved the ending that he got; he did so much wrong throughout the years he deserved to be taking out by Jack or rotting away in jail but instead he got to take his own life and peace on out gracefully. I did like how Pres. Taylor saw the errors of her ways and let truth conquer evil by not signing the treaty and resigning in the end. Also it was pretty bad ass how they got the satellite to pin point exactly where they were going to kill Jack and call the guy's phone at that exact incident to have Jack freed. The ending was very much like the ending that occurred a couple of season ago where Jack was exiled and ended up in Africa on the run then he came back to the states to face his crimes, but now 24 the movie's will pick up most likely with Jack on the run and someone hunting him down and eventually CTU or the gov't will need him again to save the world and this will all magically happen within 24 hours; ITS GENIUS! I'm who else are they going to get to fill Jack's shoes? This is a rhetorical question the answer is NOBODY! It looks like I'll have to go back and watch the series from the beginning as Jack dominates the world 1 day / 24 hours at a time.

My rating: (4 out of 5 Petey's)

The Weekend Wrap-Up

Friday, May 14th, 2010
After work on Friday, I rushed down to the National Mall for my JMU alumni league softball game vs. West VA. This was my first time showing up and they have won the title the past two years. So of course after being sunny all day it decides to start raining as soon as we start playing, but at first it wasn't so bad. We started planning and got a couple of innings in then came the lighting which passed almost as quickly as it came so that caused some delay. Then after a couple more innings of "game on" then came the down pour and lighting and the game was called. I only got one AB and I flied out to center, but we ended up winning 10-8 and the game was called in the top of the 7th. Since I was soaked and didn't have any other clothes besides my work clothes and dress shoes to change into I walked back to the metro in my cleats, shorts, t-shirt, and yellow JMU hat. Needless to say I was getting some serious crazy looks for some pedestrians as they walked by. As I got inside the metro station I decided to act like a homeless man and change my clothes. So I ducked behind a wall and started to take off my wet t-shirts when a group of ppl started to come out of the Ronald Reagan building so I had to PAUSE (||). As soon as they passed I changed my shirt back into my polo shirt, took off my shorts and put back on my kaki's, dress socks, and shoes. I felt like a wet dog/homeless man changing in the metro. Even though I had on dry clothes now my gym shorts and boxers were still soaked so I wasn't quite all the way dry. To make matters worse I call Kristen and tell her about my adventures and she starts dying laughing at me so much so that I had to ask her if she was still there and she was; she just moved the phone away from her mouth since she was laughing so hard. After a long metro ride and car ride, I took a nice HOT SHOWER and I was back to feeling like a million bucks.

Saturday, May 15th, 2010

First, I finally decided to break down and pull out the Craftsmen tools and put together my smoker/grill. After about and hour and a little break for a mile run with Kristen I finally had the beast all put together. And now it's time to get to grilling or smoking.

Secondly, Kristen and I decided to plant our own garden in our back yard, so we made a trip to the Home Depot and picked up some plants (Green Pepper, Dill, Habanero, Cucumber, Parsley, and Zucchini), potting soil and pots. We also made a little trip to Target in order to get some hummingbird food, picked up a kids shovel and plow for $1, and the best of them all was Kristen got me a Golf Digest Electric Putting Mat and Ball Return for me to practice my putting down in my "MAN CAVE." We came home and planted our pants as well as the tomato plants my dad had given me in our brand new pots. Since we are renting we didn't want to plant anything in the ground so when we move we can take our plants with us. So after a little trimming/maintenance around the walk-way we put the pots in their resting spot where we felt they would get the most sun. Check out the pic below of our work! Also I set up my putting matt, plugged in the motor for the ball return, grabbed six golf balls, and started playing a game similar to the game "Hole in One" as seen on THE PRICE IS RIGHT.

Sunday, May 16th, 2010

Two words: Lazy Sunday! Kristen showed her craftiness by painting some pots that we had gotten from Home Depot and we planted two house plants in them to purify the air within our home. Then we were off to the metro station to go downtown to see Bob Marley and guests at the DCImprov around 8 pm. This was a great show that got better with each act. First was Adam Ruben who was on the show Food Detectives. He also has a Ph.D in molecular biology and is an author of a book title "Surviving Your Stupid, Stupid Decision to go to Grad School." Second, was Seaton Smith who has signed a deal with Sierra Mist where he showcased his talent in the skit called the "Pimpin Referee." Seaton also has his own webseries entitled "Annoy Charlie Smith Inc." Last but not least came the main act, Mr. Bob Marley. Bob has been on Comedy Central. Letterman, Conan, as well as Boondock Saints I & II. I had heard Bob on the Sports Junkies (106.7 The Fan) on Friday and I was cracking up all the way to work. I've heard him before on their but didn't get around to seeing him last time, but I'm glad I got to see him this time. He was hilarious. At one point, my stomach was hurting so bad that I thought I had an ulcer b/c I was laughing for so long and I was laughing so hard. One of the most surprising things about the DCImprov was that the food was provided by California Tortilla. I didn't see that coming at all. I guess I didn't really associate Mexican with a comedy club. One word of advice if you go to a show make sure you get there at least 1 hr early to get a good seat b/c they really jam pack you in there.

The Juggernaut of All Concerts is Announced

Last night as I tuned into ESPN's Wednesday night MLB game of the week which was the Tigers vs. the Yankees when I saw Eminem and Jay-Z on the field and later taking pictures with the Tigers and Yankees players before the game. During that time Criminal Minds was about to start, so I set up the game to record b/c I heard that a BIG announcement was going to be made by them during the game. After watching the show, I decided to play the game as I'm fast forwarding through the game I stopped in the 3rd inning to hear Em & Jay-Z announcing that they will be teaming up to do 2 concerts together in each others home states. The first concert will be in Eminem's home state of Detroit where he will be headlining on September 2nd at Comerica Park and the second will take place in Jay-Z's home state of NY, where he will be headlining at Yankees Stadium on September 13th.

Once I heard this and I heard that LiveNation was sponsoring these events, I jumped right on LiveNation's website to see if I could find tickets for the NY show, but they are currently not on sale. I was planning on taking the Vamoose Bus up to NY and going to see the show in NY and I had Kristen all convinced and everything when I realized that the Redskins game vs. Dallas was that Sunday the day before and there would be no way I could make it to both. So I had to throw that idea out the window, but then I thought this is a Juggernaut concert event that might NEVER EVER happen again so I started to look into flights for the week of Sept. 2nd to Detroit. As of right now I got Kristen on board to go see the show in Detroit and I'm ubber excited. I just hope I am able to get tickets and see this show. I'm a HUGE Eminem fan and to see these two perform would be AMAZING. Now I'm not only getting excited about the Eminem's new album that drops in June but now I get to look forward to this concert as well. September is going to be a great month, but it's definitely going to put a NICE dent in my wallet and it's going to be worth every penny.

Bird Watching

Yesterday, I came downstairs to open up the blinds to let some light in and gather my lunch for the day when I saw a grayish bird sitting on the bird feeder. While this bird was tearing through some bird seed, I noticed that a red bird was chilling on the top of the fence anxiously awaiting his/her turn at the feeder. When finally the urge became to overwhelming for him/her that he/she jumped right off the fence and on to the porch/banister of the bird feeder so now there were not one, but two birds pecking away, eating. Being that this was such a momentous occasion I decided to pull out my iPhone and snap a quick pic before they both flew away. Check out the pic below:

(As I was taking this pic through the pulled down blinds, I must admit I felt almost like a Peeping Tom.)

The Seeds R Sow'd

Last night, Kristen and I played the role of gardeners by planting the seeds in our Buzzy Windowsill Strawberry Kit, Buzzy's Forget Me Nots, and Buzzy's Burning Love. The little Forgot Me Nots, Burning Love's, and strawberry pots we found in the Target $1 section several months back. My mom bought us the Strawberry Kit this weekend from the Dollar General. She also bought us a Topsy Turvy Tomato Planter but we haven't gotten around to planting that yet. My dad gave us four Beefmaster tomato plants as well which we need to transplant into bigger pots so we can eventually enjoy the yummy goodness that is a fruit. Currently they are all sitting in our windowsill in our kitchen. Now comes the daily fun of watering our seeds with a spray bottle and watching them grow into fully mature strawberries, Forget Me Not's, and hunka-hunka Burning Love's. I'll keep you posted on how their growing. Hopefully we both have GREEN THUMBS!

Man 1, Nature 1

So its been 3 weeks now since the squirrels knocked down our bird feeder for the LAST time and 3 weeks since I moved it up on the hook right next to our backdoor. Since then we've had 3 birds that we've seen, but we've definitely have had more than that since the bird food is almost half way gone. So for now I've out smarted those pesky little pea brained squirrels. Now that they don't have any branches to jump on they have no way of getting to it unless they jump on top of the house and hang from their hind legs down to the feeder, but I have yet to see them do that and I haven't seen any piles of bird food on the ground either. So for now (knock on wood, knock, knock) I've evened the score. Man 1, Nature 1. Stay Tuned for more updates.

Happy Mothers Day!!!

Happy Mothers Day Mother Dearest!!! Thanks for everything you do for me and for all that you have done for me throughout my whole life. I love you very much and without you there would be no ME so I would like to thank you most of all for the greatest gift of all, LIFE!

I'd also like to send a special shout out to my Grandma and Mema and wish them both a Happy Mothers Day. & last but most definitely not least I'd like to wish Robyn H., Aunt Sherry, Aunt Mary, Aunt Cathy, Aunt Brenda, Mrs. Friend, and Mrs. Roberts a Happy Mothers Day as well. I hope you all have a great day.

I wish all the mothers out there a Happy Mothers Day!!!

Braves Win! Braves Win!

Last night, Kristen and I took the metro down to Nats Town to see the Nats take on the Braves. It was a great night for baseball. We had good weather, it was a good game, GREAT seats (about 12 rows back), and great company as well. If you get a chance to go to a Nats game you should try Teddy's BBQ; speaking of Teddy he also lost the Presidents Race again to GW. The BBQ was so good covered in both the hot and sweet sauces that I went back twice and the second time I went back the lady said I should come back again and I said "Don't tempt me." I mean it must be good b/c I passed up Ben's Chilli Bowl for it. But overall it was a great night. The Braves pulled out the win 7-6 in extra innings or as my dad likes to call it free baseball.

Check out the pics below courtesy of my iPhone:

Happy Cinco de Mayo!!!

Today, we celebrate Cinco de Mayo which for us is a day to DRINK!!! But on this day in 1862 that the Mexican army defeated the French forces in the Battle of Puebla. Tonight, I'm super excited b/c Kristen and I are going to see the Nats take on my favorite team, the Atlanta Braves. Maybe we'll be able to get on TV tonight or possibly catch a foul ball since we are on the first base side, lower level, about 17 rows back. I grew up a HUGE Braves fan being as I attended many, many games at the Diamond which is the home of the Richmond Braves and they were the closest team to me throughout my life in Richmond. Hopefully, Hanson & Heyward can pull off the big win tonight! If not at least I'll still be able to get my drink on while enjoying the gorgeous weather as well as a half-smoke from Ben's Chilli Bowl.

Lets go Bravos!!!

Braves
(11-15, 3-11 away)
Nationals
(14-12, 8-6 home)

•  
• 7:05 PM ET

Conversation »  Tickets » 

ATL:   Hanson (2-2, 2.17 ERA)

WAS:   Atilano (2-0, 2.25 ERA)

Carrie Underwood Plays On In Richmond, VA

Last Tuesday, Kristen and I drove down to Richmond, VA and went to the Carrie Underwood concert at the Richmond Coliseum in downtown Richmond. Thanks to Pops for the tickets! My dad is a HUGE Carrie Underwood fan, he even signed up for the Carrie Underwood fan club to get the tickets earlier than everyone else and for the FREE T-shirt. He's a regular commenter on her blog as well. Anyways, the show was awesome. We ended up with great seats about 19 rows back from the stage. The show started at 7:30 with Sons of Slyvia from Virginia and winners of FOX's The Next Great American Band in 2008 where they established themselves as The Clark Brothers. Tuesday was also the release of their debut CD entitled Revelation. As a side tid bit the 3 brothers are also related (cousins) to One Republic's lead singer, Ryan Tedder. The most interest part about them was that their lead guitarist played his guitar in the strangest way. He was playing the guitar like he was playing a keyboard. Also they did a little pickin' as well which was really cool.

After the Sons of Slyvia left the stage, then it was Craig Morgan's turn. Craig Morgan put on a great show. He sang such hits as "Bonafire", "International Harvester" (which he said was about his wife),  and "Thats What I Love About Sunday." Kristen and I got up to get a beer and when we came back he was in the crowd back by our seats singing and while singing he grabbed a camera out of some girls hand and took a picture with himself and two girls it was absolutely hilarious.

The concert was set-up in such a way that the acts got better as they went along. Sons of Slyvia were good, Craig Morgan was great, and Carrie Underwood was AMAZING! She came out blazing hot in her black suit with high heels, after an outfit change a tree branch dropped from the roof with a swing attached and she swung while she performed the next song. Her stage was set up in a way so it looked like 3 huge screens with images where set up behind her and in the middle of the stage was a platform that rose up and down about 10 feet in the air. Carrie didn't miss a beat all night long. She sang her heart as if she was singing every song for the first time. I don't know how she keeps her voice that strong night after night but she did a great job. As the show wore on she rose from the center piece standing behind a dress that was a tv screen that displayed images on it and you didn't know that it wasn't a dress until she stepped from behind it; it was really cool how they put that together. Next she went backstage and got up on her Carrie pick up truck and they moved her out in to the crowd around the top of the Coliseum and they stopped every now and again and lowered her down while she was singing so that the whole crowd got to interact with her. Next, she did a little live video duet with Randy Travis on the back screen that resembled a night at the Grand Ole Opry. My favorite song that she performed was "Jesus Take the Wheel" and she almost forget to sing it but I'm glad she did. She closed the show singing "What Can I Say," which is her duet with the Sons of Slyvia. Then came the encore. Overall I really liked the show considering I only knew about 20% of the songs and Carrie definitely proved why she was voted Country Artist of the Year not only with her voice but also with musical ability when playing the guitar and piano.

My Rating: (3.5 out of 5 Petey's)