The Secret to Success is a Secret

Hi. Hello. How are ya?

Well we're half way through May. The weather in Louisiana has been downright crappy. Muggy, hot, humid, rainy, etc. Typical Louisiana weather.

School is ending. The natives rejoice. The year seems to have flown by. Several ups. A few downs. All in all the year was good. It's odd going into the summer though. Several things up in the air for our future. But let's not spend too much time on myself...my two and a half readers want the good stuff....
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Wow. This prisoner photo situation is going to turn out badly. I'm convinced. The court has stated that they will back the President's decision to not have the photos released. I don't know how that will exactly float. With the ACLU and the Freedom of Information Act, we have a bad situation. I agree with the President on one note. We will have backlash against the troops for whatever comes out from this situation. I think this current situation about prisoner photos should help America in one way in particular.

Number One - Set the example and don't be the example. America is used to being the example everyone tries to work towards. Lately we have become the example that everyone else learns from. We must clean up our act with international policy and international prisoner situations. Unfortunately, I feel we are going to have to pay again for these photos.

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One of the children who played in "Slumdog Millionaire" has or will have his house torn town. This is horrible. On the other hand, the film did cast children who lived in the slums. I think it's horrible that this kid will get his house torn down, but I can't imagine too much uproar over the thousands of other Indian children who have their homes destroyed all the time. I also don't recall much attention being paid to the plight of the millions of homeless and disadvantaged children in India before this film. I'm just saying...if we're going to make a big deal about one child's situation, we need to make a big deal about them all.

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NBA news. Cavaliers swept another series. I will restate this...the Cleveland Cavaliers will win the NBA Title.

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American Idol recap: I alluded to it last week. Kris and Adam. Adam has been a favorite the entire season. Kris has snuck in there. I think it's Adam's to lose, but I think Kris may win this thing. That's my prediction. He has more potential to sell records.

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Housley Movie Reviews

Star Trek (4/5 stars)
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Star Trek starring several people you've seen before but whose names you can't remember opened last week. The movie is a "next generation" remake of the original television series and movie series. The movie does a good job of recreating the characters and giving them some modern appeal. The movie also does a good job in beginning a new franchise for the long in the tooth and long in the parent's basement franchise. I will admit that I am a first time Star Trek fan. The franchise never appealed to me. After viewing this movie, I can honestly say that I would like to see them continue the series. It was entertaining. The plot was sound sci-fi, the acting was solid, and the show keeps your attention. A great part for "Old Spock" Mr. Nimoy. Some of the "sci-fi"-ness may distract some viewers, but overall the movie was solid. This is a good start for the summer movie season. A much better film than the first summer blockbuster Wolverine.

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TV Update.

Last week's Saturday Night Live or The Justin Timberlake Variety Show, was a very good watch. Justin always does a good job on the show. We had a follow up to "D*** in a Box" on the Digital Short front. I think Justin should host at least once a season. Andy Samberg is such a talent. He does have a unique audience though. That may lead to some problems down the road.

The finale of SNL should be good as well. We will have Will Ferrell back, and Green Day is the musical guest. It has potential.
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The finale of Survivor is this Sunday. That's right, I still watch Survivor! One of two things will happen, JT wins easily, or we have a surprise like Taj or Errin.
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The finale of The Office left us with even more questions. Michael and Holly still haven't gotten back together. Are Pam and Jim having a baby? Bye bye Buffalo branch...am I the only one who never knew there was a Buffalo branch?
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The Ultimate Fighter has shown that the Brits are very capable of kicking American butt in the Octagon. My favorite, Richie aka Shaun White, was defeated this week. I still think this season will produce at least one American champion. Boy is UFC 100 looking to be a great card. We have Silva/Griffin and Penn/Florian. I hope they continue to boost this card as much as possible.

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Cool Dude of the Week:

Chris Pine. Great job at recreating Captain Kirk.
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More rambling than usual. Till next week..

The more things change the more people think the world is ending.

Well welcome back. It's been about a week. A few things have been going on. For those interested in my life, here is a recap of how the end of school is going:

Me: Jimmy, why aren't you writing in your journal?

Jimmy: I don't have anything to write with.

Me: Well why don't you have anything to write with?

Jimmy: You never gave me anything to write with.

Me: Did you ask for something to write with?

Jimmy: No.
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Ladies and gentlemen...THE YOUTH OF AMERICA!

Anyway. Cavaliers will win the NBA Title. I will give all my active readers $1 if they do not. That might set me back $2.50. Ha. Ok.

So I see that we are still in frantic mode over Swine Flu. I always get accused of my youthful, unexperienced, near-sided viewpoints. This is how I see it though...if you're sick...stay home. If you're worried, carry some sanitizer. Wash your hands if you're in public. Watch out for infected areas for now. Is it really that hard? I'm sure I'm minimizing this world crisis.

For more get over it attitude...California I'm sorry. I've lived there. I will soon live there again. Wildfires suck. It just seems to come with the territory. The Northeast has freezing cold and snow. The east coast has tornadoes and occasional hurricanes. The middle of the U.S. has cold and horrible summer storms. The northwest has heavy snow and rain. The south has hot temperatures, bad storms, and hurricanes. The far west has earthquakes and wildfires. It's the world we live in.

Moving away from serious news that I am not qualified to speak about...we saw X-Men last weekend.

X-Men Review
Housley Stars: **1/2 (***** Possible)

X-Men Origins: Wolverine starring Hugh Jackman of Hugh Jackman fame is a decent opening summer movie. It has some nice effects and holds your attention for a bit while the world ends (see above). While I didn't go in thinking that I was getting the Dark Knight (David Hood is no Christopher Nolan), I expected a little bit of a darker Wolverine. I even read where they thought they could run with darker story. Wolverine is a dark, hurt individual. The movie doesn't really give us much rage though. The story is jumbled and weak overall. We get introduced to even more X-Men characters that we never learn about. We get a story that doesn't mesh with the previous THREE movies. I won't go into details about the plot. (If you're getting movie reviews from me, I'll consider it). If you are a big comic book movie or X-Men fan, you will enjoy the movie. If you are looking for a good movie, you can do much better.

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American Idol Mention of the week. I completely missed this week. I've been waiting for a rock show, and I missed this episode. I got the recap from my wife. I listened to some audio clips from iTunes. The show seemed decent. Look here's the deal. Adam will most likely win. Chris is the wildcard. What's her name...had no real chance. American Idol has kind of hit a stride. Fans know what they want. They want artists that will consistently pump out Top 40 hit singles. Clarkson did it. Ruben didn't. Fantasia didn't. Underwood does it differently. Hicks couldn't. Sparks can, Daughtry does it better. David Cook can. Danny is a nice story with a good voice, but he looks like he'd make Adult Contemporary Music. That means he's out. Adam changes things up. He's theatrical. He entertains. BUT...What would he sing? What's his niche? Chris...nice guy with a guitar. He could sell Top 40 hits. That's just my 2 cents.

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Good Job Manny Ramirez.

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Cool Dude of the Week: LeBron James. Six years in the league. First MVP. Good guy. Gold Medal Winner. Hope the NBA Title goes his way.

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I'll miss you Scrubs. Very underrated show.

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Until next week, EAGLE!

What? I'm back?!

Wow. So that happened. The years have passed, and the hair has grayed. Well let's jump back into this.

What I'm thinking today:

Swine flu. Seriously. Swine flu. I'm in the middle of wrapping my body and bacon and lying in the sun, and this news comes out. Come on.

I see Pontiac is shutting the door. I was really considering that 1998 Sunfire I saw for sale on the corner. I can't think of too many positives about Pontiac. Not that I am trying to downplay the loss of jobs, but I don't really think Pontiac was too cutting edge. I'm just saying. Once you make the Aztek...there is no going back.

I was watching American Idol last night. It wasn't a bad show. But...the Rat Pack? Really? That was the best theme we could pick. Half your audience has no idea of anything the Rat Pack did. I still don't understand how a show with five people singing can stretch out to an hour. If you don't have DVR, SUBSCRIBE, PURCHASE, SELL A NEW BORN, or do something. DVR saves AI. Paula is freaking crazy. The woman has no idea what's going on. I've never seen a 50 year old woman glisten when people sing. It's creepy.

Speaking of creepy, we started watching "Big Love" finally. We have it on Netflix. That show is messed up. Intriguing though. Nicki...the second wife...whoo. You want to slap that woman.

Sports news. NBA playoffs are exciting. Unless you root for the Hornets. (That's me) We lost by 567 points the other night. We weren't playing the 80s Lakers or 90s Bulls. We were playing the Nuggets. Now while the Nuggets are improved, we lost by 897 points.

Cool Person of the Week: Mark Sanchez. 5th pick of the NFL Draft. New York Jets new quarterback. Throwing out first pitches. About to get paid millions. Makes me want to be Mexican American.

TV Recommednation: Freaks and Geeks on DVD
Music Recommendation: Kings of Leon "Only by the Night"
Movie Recommendation: I Love You, Man.