Favorite Movie Scenes

WARNING: This is Spoiler City. Includes deaths, key character moments, and plot twists.

Gladiator - Go to them



Open Range - Porch farewell (There's no clip of just this scene. Skip to the scene in the full movie by clicking Here)



Jaws - The Indianapolis speech



Contact - First contact



The Horse Whisperer - Trust me just one more time.


Braveheart - Wallace's betrayal by Robert the Bruce



Field of Dreams - Doc Graham saves Karin



Mr. Smith Goes to Washington - The Filibuster




Interstellar - No. It's necessary.

My 25 Greatest Celebrity Crushes of All Time

Virtually everyone has a list like this. And that's okay. Some dismiss the notion as a sop to our celebrity-worshipping culture. But it's really less a reflection of the merits of the objects of our distant affection than it is a mirror of ourselves and the things we are attuned to in the opposite sex, people in general, and to beauty and charisma as concepts unto themselves. Trust me – when people ask you about your list, they're asking about you.

While physical beauty is certainly a significant factor in the appeal of the ladies on my list (everyone on this list is generally considered pretty at a bare minimum and most have been called gorgeous), the attractiveness of personality, humor, intelligence, character, talent, and depth of feeling all figure into it as well.

Amy Grant

Born November 25, 1960
Home State: Tennessee

My number one is an almagam of all those factors. While Amy Grant was once named to People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in the World list, hers is a very relatable and gentle beauty - the two qualities most associated with her personality and which shine through in her appearance. She is like the ideal neighbor you'd want to have over to share a coffee with and just talk about life and other mysteries. Honestly, I value her interviews and stories as much as or more than her music sometimes.

The other thing about Amy is that I am simply more familiar with her and more invested in her as a person. I've "known" her for 34 years. It's a chicken-and-egg thing. That familiarity informs the physical attractiveness and she's probably more beautiful to me than to  because I have more affection for her as a person. Sure, she's had a little Botox done the past several years and she could do without it. But she's a real 55-year-old woman in the public eye, known at least partially for her looks. I can't begin to put myself in her place.

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Sela Ward

Actress - Sisters, The Fugitive, Once and Again, House MD, Gone Girl
Born July 11, 1956
Home State: Mississippi

This lady had more sensuality in one eyebrow than Kim Kardashian has in her entire body. A symphony of jaw-dropping beauty, grace, talent, craftsmanship, and intellect, Sela was the epitome of luxurious, earthy femininity. Fantastically real, I call it. I met her once and and she looked exactly the same in person!

And that voice. Wow. Her House co-star Hugh Laurie once said, "She is smart, sexy, funny, and her voice is like the very best back-rub you ever had."

Sela turns 60 soon. Sixty! She's had some heavy duty 'work' done in the past ten years which has seriously immobilized her once highly-expressive face. Sadly, she can't move those famous eyebrows at all anymore. But she can still bare that incandescent smile.

As her co-star, Billy Campbell, once said: "You'd have to be a fence post not to have chemistry with Sela."

Honored by her home state for her hands-on leadership in developing shelters for abused children, her guidance of the restoration of historic buildings, fundraising for Katrina victims, and countless other civic projects, Sela is considered a pillar of her hometown, Meridian, Mississippi. A major street in the city was even named Sela Ward Parkway.

In a different town, rife with prima donnas and backstabbers, Sela is routinely called "one of the good guys" by her Hollywood peers.

Here's the best video I can find to show why I like Sela - a 1999 clip that exemplifies her greatest role, Lily Manning, on her greatest show, Once and Again, during her greatest season of beauty, in her 40s. Not only is she is so Sela here but she won an Emmy for Best Actress for her performance in this episode. Powerful stuff.

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Ashley Judd

Actress - Kiss the Girls, Double Jeopardy, Where the Heart Is

Born April 19, 1968

Home State: Kentucky

It's not enough that Ashley is talented, beautiful, articulate, philosophical, and has a terrific body. She also had three minors at the University of Kentucky and speaks three languages. She's a special envoy to Africa for AIDS education and relief, hung out with Nelson Mandela, and can drive a formula car. And Ashley is, incidentally, one of the best actresses I've seen.

While I disagree with her on abortion (and she often childishly refuses to be in the same room with people who do), I respect her passionate, hands-on determination to make a difference in the world.

I can't top this description by her most famous costar: "She is completely devoid of nonsense," says Morgan Freeman. "She is pure actor, top to bottom, dedicated to her craft; the repository of an intimidating intellect; and all this housed in the body of Aphrodite." Amen.

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Erica Durance

Actress - Smallville, Saving Hope, Interview
Born June 21, 1978
Home Province: Alberta

Smallville fans are divided into two camps. Those who hate Erica Durance (pronounced Dur-ANTZ, btw) and those who love her. Obviously, I love her.

The hate comes from two things: First, Erica's Lois Lane was plunked down into the series after three seasons of Clark Kent dating his high school sweetheart, Lana Lang. Many fans of the couple hated this jolting reminder that Clark would inevitably end up with Lois, even if it was still years in the future.

And second, Erica was a textbook tanned and taut TV hottie, complete with breast implants and a nose job. Some complained that her acting was sub-par but that's not true. She was as good as the rest of the cast, who - let's face it - were never going to win any Oscars. Erica's performance was different in tone than the others because Lois was a lively, fun, adventurous character who injected some much-needed humor into a show bogged down with angsty melodramatic pining and speechifiying.

Erica caught hell for being the vessel for those changes. But she did a good job, steadily improved, and helped save the show from itself. I find Erica's charming smile, bright eyes, and earthy demeanor extremely appealing.

Ironically, although Lois is known for ribbing the rest of the characters for living in a small town and is especially tough on Clark for being a farmboy, Erica was the only member of the Smallville cast who actually grew up on a farm. Watch this funny interview for tales from her turkey farming days.

Here's a great fan-made video summing up the Lois and Clark duo that also captures Erica's charm.

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Jaclyn Smith

Actress - Charlie's Angels
Born October 26, 1945
Home State: Texas

No explanation. No justification. Jaclyn was one of the most beautiful women of the 20th century. She became famous at exactly the same time I hit puberty. Not rocket science.

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Rita Hayworth

Dancer/Actress - You Were Never Lovelier, Cover Girl, Gilda
Born October 17, 1918
Died May 14, 1987
Home State: New York

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Cyd Charissse

Dancer - Singin' in the Rain, The Bandwagon, Brigadoon
Born March 8, 1922
Died June 17, 2008
Home State: Texas

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Lauren Graham

Actress - Gilmore Girls, Parenthood
Born March 16, 1967
Home State: Virginia

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Jennifer Garner

Actress - Alias, 13 Going on 30, Juno, Reading Go the F*ck to Sleep
Born April 17, 1972
Home State: West Virginia

Since she's the Ultimate Girl Next Door, you can't help but like Jennifer Garner. Generous, intense, tenderhearted, and explosively athletic, she is much more than the sum of her parts. Jennifer won a Golden Globe for Alias and it was well-deserved. She is one of only a handful of actresses who can go from klutzy, jug-eared goofball to knee-buckling, will-killing sex goddess in the same hour and make you believe both are the same person. And her physical commitment to her stunt and fight work was the talk of the TV world.
And she is just so darn sweet! Alias creator J. J. Abrams once wrote, "Chances are Jennifer Garner is nicer than you." The Anti-Diva, she religiously learned every crewmember's name (and their children's), included them in functions, and bought them all lunch routinely. One of their favorite stories: On an especially hot shoot in L.A., with temperatures north of 100, Jennifer inquired as to the well-being of the electricians who handle heavy cabling. The director told her, "Jen! You are suspended upside down in the back of a black van on its side on the pavement. The temperature in there is 130 degrees. Stop worrying about everyone else. They're worried about you!"
To this day, they will fight you if you say an ill word about Jennifer Garner.
She's as pretty as they come but it's the sweetheart factor than wins the day.

---

Diane Lane

Actress - Lonesome Dove, Under the Tuscan Sun, Unfaithful, Man of Steel
Born January 2, 1965
Home State: New York

Diane and I grew up together. Well, what I mean is that we're the same age and she became famous when we were teenagers. So I feel like I've known her most of my life. Interestingly enough, I wasn't head over heels for her initially. It's only when we hit our thirties that she really caught my attention. Maturity really sharpened her talents and her appeal.

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Tina Fey

Writer/Actress - Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock
Born May 18, 1970
Home State: Pennsylvania

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Anne Hathaway

Actress - Princess Diaries, The Dark Knight Rises, Les Miserables
Born November 12, 1982
Home State: New York

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Catherine Duchess of Cambridge (aka Kate Middleton)

Royal
Born January 9, 1982
Home County: Berkshire

There's a difference between cute, pretty, beautiful, gorgeous, and hot. Kate is the quintessence of "pretty." There are strong elements of cute underlying her prettiness and her eyes are downright beautiful. But she is pretty first and foremost.

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Dana Delany

Actress - China Beach, Tombstone, Desperate Housewives
Born March 13, 1956
Home State: New York

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Shania Twain

Singer/Songwriter
Born August 22, 1965
Home Province: Ontario

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Candice Bergen

Actress - Rich and Famous, Murphy Brown, Interview
Born May 9, 1946
Home State: California

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Connie Britton

Actress - Spin City, Friday Night Lights, Nashville
Born March 6, 1967
Home State: Massachusetts

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Melora Hardin

Actress - The Office, 27 Dresses, 17 Again
Born June 29, 1967
Home State: Texas

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Emma Thompson

Actress - Howard's End, Sense and Sensibility, Wit
Born April 15, 1959
Home County: London

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Amy Adams

Actress - Junebug, Enchanted, Doubt, Julie & Julia
Born August 20, 1974
Home State: Colorado

Did you realize this? Since 2005, only Meryl Streep has been nominated for as many Oscars as Amy Adams (Five times, btw). Let that sink in. In her relatively brief time in the spotlight, Amy Adams has become - in sheer numbers, at least - on a par with the greatest actress in the world. But know one seems to know it. Amy is well-liked by nearly everyone and plays in some big-name films, yet she flies just a little below the pop culture radar.

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Gates McFadden

Actress - Star Trek: The Next Generation
Born March 2, 1949
Home State: Ohio

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Aubrey Plaza

Actress - Sisters, The Fugitive, Once and Again, House MD, Gone Girl
Born June 26, 1984
Home State: Delaware

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Gabrielle Union

Actress - Bring It On, Deliver Us from Eva, Being Mary Jane
Born October 29, 1972
Home State: Nebraska

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Sara Evans

Singer
Born February 5, 1971
Home State: Missouri

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Joy Williams

Singer
Born November 14, 1982
Home State: California

Joy is both cute and smoldering, an old soul in a perpetually lanky body.

Towering over that whole package is an astonishing voice. Her voice cuts right through you like a scythe.

Her 'Barton Hollow Dance' is divisive. It's awkwardly caucasian to some. Sexy as hell to others. You know what team I'm on. Make up your own mind by watching the video below. But - first and foremost - listen to it.

Bonus video: See how ridiculously cute Joy is here.

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And for those who were keeping count (most women do), that's 17 brunettes, 4 blondes, and 4 redheads. I am heavily biased toward beautiful brunettes with big, gorgeous eyes and long, flowing hair. Which makes sense: I've been married to one for many years now.

My 25 Favorite Current Actors

Some of them aren't great actors but I like them on some level anyway.

I just noticed most all of them are my age or older.

In alphabetical order. As with the ladies, I cannot rank them. It was hard enough paring it down to 25.

Kyle Chandler - Early Edition, Grey's Anatomy (the bomb squad officer), Friday Night Lights
Chris Cooper - Matewan, American Beauty, Bourne Identity
Kevin Costner - Dances with Wolves, Field of Dreams, Thirteen Days
Russell Crowe - A Beautiful Mind, Gladiator, Cinderella Man
Richard Dreyfuss - Jaws, Close Encounters, Mr. Holland's Opus
Nathan Fillion - Firefly, Serenity, Waitress
Morgan Freeman - Driving Miss Daisy, Glory, Million Dollar Baby
Victor Garber - Godspell, Annie, Alias
Mel Gibson - Lethal Weapon, Braveheart, The Patriot
Gene Hackman - The French Connection, Hoosiers, Unforgiven
Tom Hanks - Bosom Buddies, Turner and Hooch
Ed Harris - The Right Stuff, The Abyss, Apollo 13
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Capote, The Savages, Charlie Wilson's War
Anthony Hopkins - Remains of the Day, Shadowlands, Proof
Tommy Lee Jones - Coal Miner's Daughter, The Fugitive, Men In Black
Val Kilmer - Top Gun, Batman Forever, Tombstone
Hugh Laurie - Jeeves and Wooster, Stuart Little, House
Ian McKellen - Apt Pupil, X-Men, Lord of the Rings
Gary Oldman - Dracula, Immortal Beloved, Air Force One
Edward James Olmos - Stand and Deliver, Battlestar Galactica
David Hyde Pierce - Frasier, Spamalot
Tom Selleck - Magnum PI, Quigley Down Under, Stone Cold
Patrick Stewart - Star Trek: The Next Generation, Moby Dick, X-Men
David Strathairn - Matewan, Eight Men Out, Good Night and Good Luck
Denzel Washington - Glory, Philadelphia, Training Day

Frick.

Which Scrubs Character Are You?
	You are Elliot. Sometimes you can be doubtful about your decisions. There is no need for this doubt because you are respected for your intelligence. You need to look in the mirror and stand tall and be proud. The critic you can't seem to please is you- everyone else is totally aware of your value! Your friends even love your quirkiness!
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

100 Facts - Pt. 2

The final 49 facts:

1. I hate yardwork. If I could just pave my lawn and paint it green, I'd be a happy man.


2. I have two good friends that I've known since we were 13 and we're still doing things together. That's been 30 years.


3. We just went to a Dodgers/Braves game last weekend..


4. I met Burt Ward, who played Robin in the '60s Batman series, when I was a preschooler (before preschool was invented). He was a jerk, even to small children.


5. I'm old enough to remember toys being made of wood and tin and having sharp edges.


6. I am a firstborn. The upside is that we're fairly responsible, generally speaking. Most U.S. presidents have been firstborns. The downside is that we feel responsible for everything. This comes from only having adults as examples and from always being expected to take care of our younger siblings - even if we were only six ourselves.


7. I have extremely eclectic tastes in music. I get this from my parents. As a child I could hear Chet Atkins, Jimi Hendrix, Dolly Parton, Seals and Croft, David Bowie, Martha and the Vandellas, Conway Twitty, Ennio Morricone, The Mamas and the Papas, Jim Reeves, The Bee Gees, Lawrence Welk, Earth Wind and Fire, Pink Floyd, Willie Nelson, and Beethoven - all in one weekend. Even if I don't particularly like something, I can usually appreciate it.


8. Except for rap.


9. And speed metal.


10. When Elvis died, I considered becoming a living tribute artist ("impersonator" is so passe). I was 12. But I was pretty good at it. Or so our dog thought. The cat was ambivalent. But cats always are.


11. I am a cat person.


12. But I love dogs, too.


13. I'm pretty serious about voting. I've only missed a few votes (and no elections that I can recall) in 24 years.


14. I am a populist. That's (very broadly and not entirely) a social conservative and fiscal liberal. At least that's what my American Government textbook said.


15. Spelling was always my highest score on standardized tests, usually around the 98th to 99th percentile. I am pretty anal about spelling. But the older I get, the worse my typing becomes. It's very frustrating.


16. When I gave my wife her engagement ring and we finished dinner, I realized that I'd left my wallet at home in all the excitement. I left her there at the restaurant as I ran home to get it. She LOVES telling this story.


17. Especially because it was at Pizza Hut.


18. You have to understand how I was raised. We couldn't afford to eat many places that weren't fast food. The closest we came was Quincy's. Pizza Hut was considered an absolute luxury. Feeding five people for more than $20 was a burden.


19. I never saw the inside of a Steak and Ale, a TGI Friday's, or a Red Lobster until I was in my 20s. They were considered "rich people" places.


20. I try to remind my middle class friends who will listen that this is still true for MOST Americans. Just because your peers do something, that doesn't make it normal for everyone.


21. I love Cracker Barrel. Since my wife was raised by a Connecticut girl, she never learned how to make or appreciate Southern food. If I want it, I have to get it there.


22. I find it odd that many of my friends my age have parents that are around 80. Mine are barely in their 60s. My grandparents are in their 80s. I suppose that's a benefit of being firstborn, too.


23. I never finished college. This surprises most folks. I don't know why. Should I be breathing through my mouth and dragging my knuckles?


24. This post is giving me ideas for my next main blog post.


25. I am a Mac user. End of conversation.


26. I hate onions. But I love onion rings. Discuss.


27. While on two weeks annual training at a naval hospital, I was handed a bottle of fluid and told to take it to the lab. The lab tech informed me it was the residue of an abortion. They had to make sure everything was removed to prevent sepsis. I was pretty upset, to put it mildly.


28. Thankfully, later that week I was asked to observe a live birth. Hands down, it was one of the most amazing things I've ever experienced. And ladies? Hats off. Especially if you had an episiotomy.


29. No, I have no problem discussing such things. It's all incredible to me.


30. Our cats' names are Oliver and Misty.


31. However, they think their names are Buddy and Li'l Bit because this what I call them all the time.


32. I was in Cub Scouts for about a year. I think I made Wolf.


33. In high school, I was photographer for the newspaper and (by extension) the yearbook.


34. I was good but my photography teacher was told by the yearbook sponsor that I took too many pictures of girls. He responded, "He's a 16-year-old boy!"


35. I was only on the newspaper because of my 10th grade AP World Lit teacher. She saw a comic strip I was working on for my own amusement and recommended me to the paper's editor. I would never have submited any work on my own. I still have a problem with that. I always think I wouldn't make it. I'm afraid of failure and success. That's a fun combo, let me tell you.


36. My grandfather's first name was Junior.


37. It's also my dad's middle name.


38. I never understood the mania over Krispy Kreme doughnuts that swept the land ten years ago. I grew up on them. They were as plentiful as air in Alabama. They were just doughnuts. Now Yankees treat them like they're freakin' ambrosia or something.


39. I love visiting historic places. The Washington, DC, area is like Mecca for me.


40. I spent all day alone at Chickamauga Battlefield in Georgia once. I can still vividly recall standing in a line of trees where General James Longstreet waited to attack a Union position. I tried as much as possible to put myself in his shoes and feel what he may have felt. He'd just force-marched thousands of men down from Virginia during a blazing hot summer. He was still depressed and angry over the fact that he'd been overruled by Lee at Gettysburg and had lost that battle. Two of his young daughters had died of yellow fever a few months earlier and he was away at war. Now he was facing death himself. Then I opened my eyes. Great experience.


41. Having such an experience is impossible without already knowing those facts about Longstreet. This is why history is so important to me!


42. I haven't taken a real vacation in 8 years.


43. I liked penguins before they were fashionable.


44. I like astronomy, even though it's never been fashionable. The enormity of it is simply breathtaking sometimes.


45. I like several so-called "chick movies" and shows. The deciding factor is usually wit. Jane Austen is terrific. The Emma Thompson version of Sense and Sensibility rocks. Gilmore Girls was one of the best shows ever made. The dialogue was brilliant.


46. Of course, Lauren Graham being smokin' hot didn't hurt.


47. That 16-year-old boy isn't quite dead yet!


48. I cry whenever I run over an animal.


49. I still have my Man Card.

Still reading? Tell them what they've won, Don Pardo! Why they've won a year's supply of Turtle Wax, the home version of our game, and a year's worth of Rice-a-Roni: The San Francisco Treat!

100 Facts - Pt. 1

1. I have lived virtually all my life in one county in one state. Except for a stint in San Diego as a baby (it was my dad's home port in the Navy) my home address has always been in Madison County, Alabama.


2. I was a Hospital Corpsman in the U.S. Navy Reserve.


3. Having said that, I have never been outside the continental United States.


4. I have been to or through Tennessee, Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Louisiana, Texas, Colorado, and California. That's 17 states.


5. I collect (and read!) books on or by Theodore Roosevelt. I currently have more than 40 and a few were printed during his administration (1901-1909).


6. Same thing for C. S. Lewis, although I have no copies from his lifetime (1898-1963). Current count: 60.


7. I know all those dates by heart. Dates are extremely important to me and they must be as accurate as possible.


8. Actually, that applies to all historical facts and trivia.


9. I am a pack rat. Especially books and magazines. My study is like the Dead Sea. Stuff flows in but it doesn't flow out (except to the garage).


10. I was Student Council Representative of the Year my senior year of high school. It was just because I was the only rep with perfect attendance. Meaning I had no life.


11. I lettered in cross country my junior year.


12. I try to read a book every two weeks.


13. However, I always ending up reading four or five books at once, at varying speeds, and end up taking a month on most of them. But it averages out!


14. I have been a huge fan of the Alabama Crimson Tide since 1973.


15. Same notation for the Miami Dolphins. But not as nearly as obsessive.


16. Dan Marino is my favorite athlete of all time. He was heart-stoppingly exciting to watch.


17. I am also a Los Angeles Dodgers fan. This mystifies everyone I know since I have no association with L.A. But I picked all my favorite teams when I was a kid and the Dodgers were red hot and highly visible in the late '70s.


18. This leads me to another fact. I have no stomach for people who switch favorite teams every several years. Real sports fans are not fairweather fans. Unless you have a child who starts to play for another team (and maybe not even then because he/she won't play for them forever), you are not allowed to switch allegiances.


19. This is one reason why, when the Houston Oilers moved just up I-65 to Nashville, I did not (like many did) drop my team for the Titans.


20. My first favorite baseball player was Rollie Fingers. Solely for the moustache.


21. I hate, loathe, despise, and detest hunting.


22. And fishing.


23. I'd rather just walk, sit and watch the wildlife, take photos or read a book when I'm outdoors.


24. The first book I ever finished in a day was a Hardy Boys book, "The Cabin Island Mystery." I never read another Hardy Boys book after that. I assumed I had outgrown them!


25. I will never read a full-sized novel in a day. I like to read them in real-time, like I'm watching a movie. I feel like people who speed-read fiction cannot possibly be getting all the intended meanings, allusions, and emotions out
    of the book.


26. I love the students I work with and I am pretty cool with most of the slang they use nowadays. But I really get hung up on misuse of the word random. It is used not just interchangeably with but instead of perfectly descriptive words that have nothing to do with randomness such as spontaneous, silly, weird, and arbitrary. This drives me nuts.


27. I love to eat breakfast for dinner. You can taste it better then!


28. Plain M&Ms.


29. Peanut butter should have its own food group.


30. Bacon, too.


31. I ALWAYS have a song stuck in my head. Always. All day long. Even if I know only the chorus or a snippet of a verse, I will have it stuck in my head for days or weeks at a time. Whenever you see me, stop me and ask what song is in my head at the time. There will be one. Right now, it's "Anyway" by Martina McBride.


32. For the past two weeks it's been Bono's cover of "I Am the Walrus."


33. I hum a lot. A LOT. I hum very loudly in noisy places like malls and supermarkets.


34. Yes, I always sing along with the radio or CD in the car.


35. I also get words and names stuck in my head, usually complex or odd-sounding ones.


36. Before you ask: Thrombolytics.


37. This month, I will be married 20 years.


38. How did we make it? We CHOSE to. It's really that simple. Extremely challenging and seemingly impossible sometimes - but it's always that simple: "This is the choice I make."


39. I have seen Superman: The Movie (the original Christopher Reeve film) more than 45 times. 30 of those times were when I was a teen.


40. Yes, I say the dialogue along with the movie. "Do you know why the number 200 is so vitally descriptive of both you and me? It's your weight and my IQ. Now think, people, think!"


41. I have 160 Star Trek books. If I read one every quarter starting today, I would finish them when I'm 82.


42. I always wanted to believe I could be Captain Kirk. I fall into leadership positions (usually by default) and I am a big picture kind of guy. But I always feel I'm in way over my head, I avoid confrontation at all costs, and am a terrible disciplinarian.


43. I always felt more like Spock inside: The smart, analytical, emotionally repressed but faithful right hand man.


44. It goes without saying that I never dated in high school.


45. I was only one pound over the minimum weight requirement for entrance into the Navy. I gained 15 pounds in boot camp. Haven't stopped since.


46. I wanted to be an artist. That's my primary talent. I am especially good at colored pencil. Haven't touched it in years.


47. I make corrections to administrative web pages for a living.


48. I now channel my creativity into leading our church's drama team.


49. Any kid of yours who comes to me and says they want to pursue a career in the arts will be encouraged by me. If you don't want them to hear that, if you want them to get a nice, dependable desk job making $80K a year, then keep them away from me. But when they hit their 40s and feel miserable, I'll have little sympathy for you. Just let them try now and if they fail, they've got 50 years to fall back on something else. They can get over failure when they're single a lot easier than regret after they're locked into supporting a family.


50. However, I think that in our entertainment-saturated culture too many kids (especially girls) want to be actors nowadays. Only a handful actually have the talent for it. Even fewer the drive for it. I've worked with scores of teenagers on our team and while lots of them were good, I've only seen maybe three or four who even had the potential to make it.


51. I'm not stupid enough to say who those are.

Entertainers I Just Don't Get

These are not people I think are terrible or monumentally untalented. That would be a very long list indeed (Hi, Adam Sandler!). No, these are hugely popular entertainers that just leave me scratching my head as to just WHY they are considered wonderful. I've tried them and was just plain underwhelmed. It may be them, it may be me, it may be the power of effective marketing for everyone else. I just don't know.

1. Garth Brooks
Biggest selling solo artist of all time (and probably will be forever, with the way the album is declining). I am utterly mystified as to why. He has a few catchy melodies here and there but not one song that makes me even want to download it by itself, much less buy a zillion of his albums. Chris Gaines had a decent song but that's as close as it gets for me. Garth lovers will make me sit down as they say, "You obviously haven't heard THIS song!" and invariably they play "The Thunder Rolls." Zzzzzzzzzzz. The lyrics are somewhat above average but it has not a single innovative note. Even if it were phenomenal, would that justify the rest of his success? I also don't like his obsession with being the biggest selling solo artist of all time. He has been see-sawing with Elvis Presley at the top for a few years. Whenever The King passes him, he releases a newly reshuffled greatest hits CD to edge back ahead. Hopefully, Elvis' label will return the favor! Also, deep down he's a rock 'n' roller and he seems to be parodying country on half his songs. On hits like "Three of Kind, Workin' on a Full House" and "Friends In Low Places," he affects such an over-the-top twang that I can't believe anyone would think he's playing it straight. I'm not a country hater. I own dozens of country albums. I just don't get Garth's awesomeness.

2. Johnny Depp
He's a great actor. But he isn't the greatest, not even of his generation. And Jack Sparrow? Any of a hundred actors could have done a drunken, sexually ambiguous swagger for seven hours. How that performance - out of all his excellent work - gets singled out as brilliant is beyond my comprehension (and Depp's, too, I'd imagine). It's mildly amusing but it's not hilarious by any stretch. My wife would also like to add that she is absolutely lost as to why women find him irresistible. She thinks he looks "greasy" and needs a serious scrubbing with disinfectant.

To Be Continued...