Universal Studios Island of Adventure

My brother Paul, his wife Jean and son Jonathan were in town last week. It's become almost an annual event. Whenever they're in town they always make sure they spend time with their Godchildren, my daughter Dorothea and my nephew Andrew.

This year they took them to Universal Studios Island of Adventure. Andrew's sisters, Elizabeth and Brianna went along for the day. These trips are always something special for Dorothea. It gives her time to create some memorable moments with her cousin and Uncle and Aunt from Houston.

Below are some pics from the day at the park.

Andrew, Jean, Briana, Jonathan, Dorothea and Elizabeth
in their "serious" pose.

Andrew, Jonathan, Dorothea, Briana and Elizabeth

Fun at the park.

All of them got their caricature done... they had a blast.

Thanks Paul, Jean and Jonathan for the wonderful memories!

Goin' Out To Cally – Part 27, The Long And Winding Road

The four of us arrived at the Grand Canyon in the early morning, ready to go into the belly of the beast. We had heard of a trail that tourists could take down the side of the canyon where you could either walk the path or ride mules. We all got our mandatory bottles of water and tightened our shoelaces. We looked down at the steep brown, red and orange rock face and noticed the small path varying in width from about six to ten feet weaving its way down the side of the canyon.

From this perspective, it was really hard to judge distance and size because of the massive nature of the canyon itself. For example, what looked like a ten minute walk down the trail was actually an hour away. Another major stop on the path was almost eight hours away.

The path eventually spilled onto a level plateau and traveled out to a bundle of trees, like a little oasis. To get there would take you an entire day. There was water there and you could camp overnight. From that bundle of trees there was a path to the edge of the plateau, where you could look directly down on the river below. To get there and back would take an entire day by itself. Then you’d have to camp at the oasis and start the next day, trudging up the narrow path to the top of the canyon.

The Plateau

So, we decided to head down the path by foot for a while and enjoy the experience. We considered using mules, but the idea of balancing on a mule on a ten foot wide path where you could simply fall to your death if Eeyore was having a bad day… well, that didn’t sit very well with us.

A Mule Ride Down The Canyon

As we started down the trail, my fear of heights immediately kicked in again. I hugged the canyon wall for the first section of the path that weaved backward and forward like a repeating letter Z. The back of my shirt was dotted with patches of orange dust from the canyon wall as I would intermittently push myself against it as I walked.

As we completed the first section we found ourselves avoiding small nuggets of waste left by a previous mule tour. At this point I was so afraid I could have left a little package there myself, but the experience and the view was too intoxicating, so I continued on.

It was odd… as we walked down the trail I began to understand the canyon in some way… as if I became a part of it somehow. The tactile experience of placing one foot after the other down the sloping path connected me to this dangerous, yet beautiful landscape.

After a few more stretches of the trail I found myself more comfortable with approaching the edge of the path and looking down at the ground hundreds of feet below. It was then that I realized I’m not so much afraid of heights as I am of the pain associated with surviving a fall.

Peering over a five hundred foot precipice? No problem. One slip and I’m outside the pearly gates. Looking down from the third story of a parking garage? I could survive that fall with broken bones, damaged organs, selective long term memory loss and potential dietary changes. Now THAT was scary.

Since falling to my death was the only practical outcome of slipping over the edge of the path, well, my fear dissipated and Tim and I would often look over, the tips of our feet leaning over the trail’s border.

As we continued on the hike down the trail became relatively easy and eventually routine. There were many other tourists and hikers taking the same trek as us, so how dangerous could it really be? For the first ten minutes of our hike I didn’t hear one single earth shattering shriek of someone who just lost a loved one from an unexpected fall, so with each step, each foot down the sandy path, did my comfort level rise.

At the end of each stretch, before turning and heading down the next section of the repeating Z, we would stop and take another look at the view, trying yet again to absorb it all in.

Our sight seeing was eventually interrupted as we approached a Park Ranger standing next to a sign.

“You can’t go any farther,” he said with a “don’t test me” attitude.

Next to him was a sign that read “No one can pass without a gallon of water for each person.”

Apparently, dehydration was a serious problem. We glanced at our half-empty bottles of water and realized we had suddenly reached the end of our path down the canyon.

No bother. It only took us about twenty minutes or so to get down this far. We’ll be back up to the car in no time.

We blithely turned around and found ourselves facing an unexpected challenge. In unison did our necks begin to bend slowly and continuously backwards as we looked farther and farther up the canyon wall. Our eyes squinted into the morning sun as we were now looking almost straight up. In the far distance, at the top of the canyon wall, we could see people exiting the parking lot and entering the path where we had started this trip down.

Well, I guess they were people. They looked more like ants.

I had a distinct fear that climbing up the narrow, weaving path was going to be substantially more difficult than our hike down.

It would turned out, I was right.

********

Goin' Out To Cally - Part 27, (Text, Audio) The Long And Winding Road
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 26, (Text, Audio) Waste Not, Arrest Not
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 25, (Text, Audio) Nightlife At The BC
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 24, (Text, Audio) Bedless In Bedrock
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 23, (Text, Audio) Desert Rain
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 22, (Text, Audio) Bedrock City
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 21, (Text, Audio) The Outhouse
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 20, (Text, Audio) Riding The Hump
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 19, (Text, Audio) Bob Hope, Lil’ Debbie And Restless Gods
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 18, (Text, Audio) Unlevel Headed
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 17, (Text, Audio) Starry Night, Confusing Night
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 16, (Text, Audio) Three Beds + Four People = Oh Crap
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 15, (Text, Audio) Masculinity At Stake
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 14, (Text, Audio) Texas: Latin For Shoot Me Now
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 13, (Text, Audio) Cars, Crossroads and Cosmic Convergence
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 12, (Text, Audio) Tumbleweed Dreams
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 11, (Text, Audio) Wet, Rinse, Repeat
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 10, (Text, Audio) Divine Misdirection
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 09, (Text, Audio) Getting Nowhere Fast
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 08, (Text, Audio) The Cock Crows Nine
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 07, (Text, Audio) Is Jackass A Sign?
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 06, (Text, Audio) Leftovers
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 05, (Text, Audio) The Kiss Of Friendship
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 04, (Text, Audio) Scholastic Intimacy
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 03, (Text, Audio) Space Invaders
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 02, (Text, Audio) The Fourth Wheel
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 01, (Text, Audio) The Seed Planted

Over The Hedge (2006)

Over The Hedge is the latest computer animated film from Dreamworks... the same studio that brought us Shrek. Over The Hedge stars the voice talents of Bruce Willis, Gary Shandling, Steve Carell, Wanda Sykes, William Shatner, Nick Nolte, Thomas Haden Church, among others. Its a great cast and the script utilizes them to great success. The story is about a racoon called RJ (Willis) who owes a Bear a lot of food, so he convinces a group of animals, led by Vern, a turtle (Shandling), to help him explore suburbia "over the hedge" in order to steal the food and payback the Bear.

The script is extremely funny with numerous laugh-out-loud moments, especially with the characters of the squirrel Hammy (Carell), the possum Ozzie (Shatner) and Dwayne the exterminator (Church).

Especially funny are the animals accurate and painfully truthful assessment of human behavior when it comes to food and exercise. You'll laugh not only because it's funny, but because they're also describing you.

If you're looking for an intelligent, funny family film, Over The Hedge is worth the price of admission.

Proof Media Loves Bashing Christ, Hates Supporting Him

We knew it was only a matter of time before the blatant bias of the media against Christianity would rear its big, ugly and powerful head. The media severely criticized Mel Gibson for his biblically accurate account of the scourging, death and resurrection of Jesus at the hands of a Roman crucifixion, calling it anti-Semetic (even though all of the heroes were Jews... i.e., Jesus) and calling him an extremist for making The Passon of the Christ.

Then comes The DaVinci Code... a film that basically calls the very existence of Christianity as a lie and do these same media outlets interrogate Dan Brown or Ron Howard? No. Do they attack it's anti-Christian bias? No. They support it and promote it. The same media outlets that were so concerned about offending American Muslims that they didn't show cartoons have no issue with offending millions of Christians by calling their religion a lie.

Sometimes this country makes me sick.

For more stats to back up this blatant anti-Christian mentality, read this great article from Media Research Center HERE.

Goin' Out To Cally – Part 26, Waste Not, Arrest Not

The noise from the night before did not subside until between two and three in the morning, but that did not dissuade me from getting an early start. I awoke before the others and walked gingerly over the gravel covered ground with my bare feet, towel and toiletries in hand.

Much to my surprise, the motorcycle gang contingent was already awake and checking out of Bedrock City. They sat on their motorcycles outside the office of the campground located next to the bathrooms. Remembering the advice given to me by friends for my trip to New York earlier that year, I kept my gaze toward the ground as I weaved in between the impressive Harley Davidson motorcycles, mounted by their intimidating owners.

When I reached the bathroom I was surprised to find a four digit push-button combination on the door. Great! Beth checked us in the day before and had the receipt with the info on it in her purse. I didn’t want to walk all the way back to Bone 19 and wake her up just so I could take a damn shower! I stood, visibly frustrated.

My eyes eventually stopped on a woman sitting on the back of one of the mammoth cycles. She was in her late forties, but looked much older with rough, tan skin, a few missing teeth and her hair smattered with gray.

Seeing my dilemma she said, with what I can only say was the sweetest, most angelic voice I’ve ever heard, “the code is 6927.” The sweet sound of her voice was so unexpected that I stood motionless, staring at her. She smiled sweetly, exposing her bad dental work. “Give it a try!” she said.

I smiled back, turned and entered the code. The door opened. As I entered the bathroom and prepared for the shower I gave a warm and thankful wave to my cycle gang assistant.

As I undressed near the shower stall I was accosted by a sign overhead that read “Wasting water is a violation of the law. If you see anyone wasting water, please inform the management. Violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

It goes to show you just how valuable the commodity of water is in a desert.

Intimidated, I entered the shower stall to find the shower was coin-operated. Another sign read “50 cents for 5 minutes of water.” I rifled through my pockets and put in my two quarters. The water at first trickled out, then gushed over my unclean body. Instilled with an abundance of fear and a healthy respect for the law, I was determined not to get arrested for wasting water. Having never timed myself at home, I had absolutely no idea how long my required shower activities took, so I raced through it with blazing speed.

Soap, lather, rinse. Shampoo, lather, rinse.

Time left? Four minutes, twenty seven seconds.

So, here I was in a state where they prosecute people for wasting water, standing under a shower head with nothing to do but waste water for another four minutes and twenty seven seconds. With each and every drop my rap sheet grew.

Afraid someone would walk in and rat me out, I did what anyone else in my position would do… I washed myself again. And again. And again. For the last minute under the criminalizing element, I acted out washing my hair, but didn’t use any soap. The last thing I wanted was to be in mid-rinse when the timer ran out.

I would have cracked under the pressure.

As I walked out of the bathroom I was exceedingly clean. My haggle-toothed biker chick was still there, now flanked by two manly, tan behemoths, looking grumpy.

Apparently Haggle Tooth had educated them on my door opening logistic issues and they looked at me and snickered slightly. Haggle Tooth, however, gave another warm smile and said with her voice from the heavens “Have a great day!”

“You too,” I said.

Other bikers chimed in. “You headed to the Canyon?”

“Yeah! We’re hiking down it today!” I excitedly replied.

“You’ll love it! Have a great time!” a burly biker said as I moved through the group. It was odd. It was like I had suddenly become one of their clan. They all chatted with me as I walked through their myriad of bikes. They were nice and kind and friendly and scary looking, all at once.

“Drive safely!” I said as I headed back to Bone 19. “You too!” they shouted over the start of their motorcycles.

I chuckled to myself as I reached the tent. “They’ll never believe me,” I said of my sleeping companions. I kept my sudden membership into a motorcycle gang to myself as my travel mates slowly awakened from their overnight slumber.

********

Goin' Out To Cally - Part 26, (Text, Audio) Waste Not, Arrest Not
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 25, (Text, Audio) Nightlife At The BC
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 24, (Text, Audio) Bedless In Bedrock
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 23, (Text, Audio) Desert Rain
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 22, (Text, Audio) Bedrock City
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 21, (Text, Audio) The Outhouse
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 20, (Text, Audio) Riding The Hump
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 19, (Text, Audio) Bob Hope, Lil’ Debbie And Restless Gods
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 18, (Text, Audio) Unlevel Headed
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 17, (Text, Audio) Starry Night, Confusing Night
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 16, (Text, Audio) Three Beds + Four People = Oh Crap
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 15, (Text, Audio) Masculinity At Stake
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 14, (Text, Audio) Texas: Latin For Shoot Me Now
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 13, (Text, Audio) Cars, Crossroads and Cosmic Convergence
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 12, (Text, Audio) Tumbleweed Dreams
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 11, (Text, Audio) Wet, Rinse, Repeat
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 10, (Text, Audio) Divine Misdirection
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 09, (Text, Audio) Getting Nowhere Fast
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 08, (Text, Audio) The Cock Crows Nine
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 07, (Text, Audio) Is Jackass A Sign?
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 06, (Text, Audio) Leftovers
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 05, (Text, Audio) The Kiss Of Friendship
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 04, (Text, Audio) Scholastic Intimacy
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 03, (Text, Audio) Space Invaders
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 02, (Text, Audio) The Fourth Wheel
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 01, (Text, Audio) The Seed Planted

The Visitation (2006)

After The Passion of the Christ was released, Hollywood was left with a big problem. They realized, probably for the first time, that there was a tangible niche audience out there starving for entertainment that matched their sensibilities... Christians. Hollywood, which has streamlined the process of jumping on the next big thing was left unable to fill this Christian void. They didn't have any scripts. They didn't have any Christian films in development. They were caught with their moral pants down.

Sony Entertainment seems to be approaching the process of filling this void with a solid angle. First, they searched for a successful Christian author that writes about people in the primary demographic (18-34 years old). That author was Frank Peretti. They then limited the budget to between $1 - $3 million dollars, filled the cast with C level actors that were respectable, but less expensive and are releasing the film primarily on DVD in the U.S. through Christian bookstores.

It's the most practical model... it is exactly what I would have done... so I am interested to see if they succeed.

Of course, any film business plan will live or die by the quality of their films. The Visitation, starring Martin Donovan, Kelly Lynch, Randy Travis and Edward Furlong, is the story of a healer (Furlong) who begins healing people in the small town of Antioch and a fallen preacher (Donovan) who must address his faith and his personal loss to determine if this healer is the work of God or the work of the Devil.

The Visitation starts out very effectively, but it eventually loses steam as the audience understands what's really going on far before the main characters. The performances are all strong, especially Furlong who is both charismatic and exceedingly creepy at the same time. Donovan and Lynch have nice chemistry and Randy Travis is solid as a local preacher. The major failing of the film is the pacing of the script itself. I have not personally read Peretti's books, but I am familiar with the task of converting a book into a screenplay. It is no easy task.

In the end, The Visitation is a good attempt at reaching the niche Christian market. It has good acting and an intriguing plot, but suffers from slow pacing. Sony also released another of Peretti's work called The Hangman's Curse, which I'll be watching soon as well.

I'm also interested to see if Sony is successful in their approach of filling the Christian cinema void. It appears to be the right approach. We'll see if their films catch the eyes and wallets of their target audience.

Memorial Day

Today is the day we honor and remember those who have sacrificed their very existence in order that we may be allowed to live in the greatest country in the world.

To this I can only say... THANK YOU.

We spent the day up at my brother-in-law's house and had a great time with the family. A lot of laughs and a lot of great conversation.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day.

Family Day

My brother John is hosting a Memorial Day Weekend family gathering at his house today. DC has to serve at noon mass, so we'll be heading down after that.

John has always hosted our family gatherings since building his house down in Venice. It's a great place for family and friends to spend time together, eat cookouts, swim, horeshoes, canoing.

Should be a great time.