Happy Mother's Day!

Here's an article I found recently:

Study: US mothers deserve $134,121 in salary

All I can say is, "Show me the money!!" Not only do I have a mother, I've got a wife who is a mother and a daughter who wants nothing more than to be a mother someday. Let's see here, $134,121 times 3 -- [mumbling] -3- -6- -3- -carry the 1 -- Dude! I'm totally retiring!

Really, though. Despite the magnitude and obviousness of the sacrifices made through the years, the mothers in our life are often underappreciated.

Sending huge thanks and love to the "Moms" in my life! I love you more than you could know.

Finally, special greetings to one of the "Moms" in my life who is not only celebrating Mother's Day today, but also the anniversary of the day on which she was born.

"Happy Birthday" to Christy's Mom, Carol. Have a great day!


Films Recently Watched:

Billy Graham: God's Ambassador (2006) dir. by Michael Merriman
[EDITED 06/05/06: Link now directs to IMDb]

A nicely done video biography of the life and ministry of the Reverand Billy Graham. This is the first (and currently, only) release by Gaither Film Productions. I was largely unaware of the impact Rev. Graham had on race relations during the fifties and sixties, nor his determination and, eventually success, in reaching souls behind the Iron Curtain and then, in China. It also goes the obligatory route with Graham's childhood, upbringing, education, meeting his wife, Ruth, etc. Overall, it does a good job of balancing the educational and inspirational.

One complaint would have to do with the host, Sir David Frost, whose speech is slurred enough that it sounds like he's drunk most of the time. I know that other hosts were considered, perhaps a lesser known host with better diction would have been a better choice?

The only other complaint has to do with choices made for what video elements would appear for certain audio elements. Sometimes, these are seemingly unrelated, other times, still photos are used for video elements. Sometimes still photos work as video in documentaries, but here, it seemed that one photo was lingered on too long. Maybe it was just me.

The Towering Inferno (1974) dir. by John Guillermin and Irwin Allen
The beautiful poster art to the right belongs to this film. --->

Hoodwinked (2006) dir. by Cory Edwards, Todd Edwards, Tony Leech
Picked up the DVD last week on the day it released. With the audio problems from our first viewing, there were several gags that I missed last time, but got this time. This definitely holds up for me on multiple viewings (which are quickly becoming very multiple viewings since Hannah has kind of attached herself to this one). Nonetheless, I'm looking forward to the sequel: Hoodwinked 2: Hood vs. Evil. The full-length director's audio commentary on the DVD was generally entertaining, even if it was overly "self-congratulatory." :-)

Also, read at Cory Edwards' blog about how he had to go buy his own movie from a retail store and his thoughts about one journalist who is calling Hoodwinked, "the most subversive movie released nationwide since Fahrenheit 9/11."

The Unsaid (2001) dir. by Tom McLoughlin
A pretty decent psycological thriller starring Andy Garcia, Teri Polo, and Linda Cardellini. I'd never heard of it until a friend recommended it to me.

A Lot Like Love (2005) dir. by Nigel Cole

Bringing Up Baby (1938) dir. by Howard Hawks

Chicken Little (2005) dir. by Mark Dindal
I can only hope that Disney's recent acquisition of Pixar will result in Pixar influencing the story people at Disney and not the other way around. This wasn't worthy of Walt Disney's name.