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.

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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...

My Favorite Fast Food Hamburgers

These are the classic flagship sandwiches of each burger joint (Whopper, Big Mac, etc.) They are also limited to the choices in the North Alabama market.

1. Double with Cheese (Wendy's)
Best meat in the business. Everyone else can go home. Seriously. It's cooked fresh and hot, hot, hot with a pinch of salt.

2. Six Dollar Burger (Hardee's/Carl's Jr.)
This is an angioplasty waiting to happen. With 1060 calories and 73 grams of fat, it's death between two slices of bread. It's also extremely messy. But, boy, can it be good. The crowning touch? Bread and butter pickles. The only catch: Finding a Hardee's (or Carl's Jr.) that is tolerable and clean enough to order it from. Most are slow and filthy.

3. Whopper with Cheese (Burger King)
Used to be number two back before they pulled a McD's and starting stockpiling patties and nuking them as they went. Half the time it's not nuked enough, either.

4. Cheese Krystals (Krystal)
No one can eat just one. No one.

5. Big Mac (McDonald's)
McDonald's has the least exciting beef around. The only major selling point is the special sauce (which is thousand island dressing with an addictive chemical in it that makes me crave it fortnightly*) and that crucial third bun. Outside of those? Dull as dishwater.

*- Shout out to Mike Myers fans.

My 25 Favorite Actresses (Current)

I've had this topic on my mind since I saw The Russell Girl on TV a few weeks ago and was blown away by 24-year old Amber Tamblyn, easily one of the best actors of her generation.

These are actresses that have made significant impressions on me with various performances. They are all nearly invariably good and rarely - if ever - turn in a lackluster performance. Even when they are in bad films, they are still good.

In alphabetical order. Sorry, I can't rank 'em! It was hard enough paring it down to 25.

Amy Adams* - Junebug, Enchanted, Doubt, Julie & Julia
Cate Blanchett - The Gift, The Aviator, Elizabeth
Connie Britton - Spin City, Friday Night Lights
Dana Delany - China Beach, Tombstone, Desperate Housewives
Jodie Foster - Silence of the Lambs, Contact, Panic Room
Jennifer Garner* - Alias, 13 Going on 30, Juno
Lauren Graham - Gilmore Girls, Parenthood
Alyson Hannigan* - Buffy, American Pie, How I Met Your Mother
Marcia Gay Harden - Space Cowboys, Pollock, Mona Lisa Smile
Bonnie Hunt - Jumanji, Jerry Maguire, Cheaper by the Dozen
Allison Janney - The West Wing, Juno, The Way Way Back
Ashley Judd - Kiss the Girls, Double Jeopardy, Where the Heart Is
Nicole Kidman - To Die For, The Hours, Cold Mountain
Laura Linney - Mystic River, Kinsey, The Savages
Rachel McAdams - The Notebook, Mean Girls, Red Eye
Mary McDonnell* - Dances with Wolves, Battlestar Galactica
Helen Mirren - Prime Suspect, The Queen
Ellen Page - Hard Candy, X-Men 3, Juno
Gwyneth Paltrow - Shakespeare in Love, Proof, Iron Man
Julia Roberts - Do I really need to list them?
Amber Tamblyn* - Joan of Arcadia, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
Emma Thompson* - Howards End, Sense and Sensibility, Wit
Sela Ward* - Sisters, The Fugitive, Once and Again, House M.D.
Kate Winslet - Sense and Sensibility, Titanic, Little Children
Renee Zellweger - Jerry Maguire, Chicago, Cold Mountain

* - Crying Hall of Fame. I can't watch any of these ladies cry without getting at least a little choked up myself.

My Favorite U2 Studio Albums

1. Joshua Tree
Not an easy call. After falling in love with the group through the rawness of War and the ethereal soundscape of Unforgettable Fire, this (comparatively) stripped-down pastiche of American styles was an uncomfortable fit and took repeated listenings to even begin to accept beyond the singles. I now even have a fondness for cuts I once detested, like "Bullet the Blue Sky." I still think the second half is relentlessly dark and often repetitive. But the towering greatness of tracks like "Where the Streets Have No Name," "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" (which perfectly captures my spiritual journey), "With Or Without You," and "One Tree Hill" make it utterly indispensible.

2. War

3. Unforgettable Fire
This is as much producer Brian Eno's record as it is U2's. Expansive and deep, his electronic fingerprints are all over it. It has probably the most unified sound of any of their efforts. The meandering, mumbly moments lend it an air of mood music but the fierce clarity of legendary tunes like "Pride," "Wire," and "Bad" snap you right back into the album.

4. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb

5. Achtung Baby
What? Achtung Baby all the way down at 5? Well, I just never got on board when Bono and Edge decided to radically depart from their 80s sounds and subject matter. Supposedly, it's innovative but they were clearly heavily influenced by European dance and industrial. The critics praised it as the second coming of Sergeant Pepper's but I couldn't go there with them.

6. October

7. All That You Can't Leave Behind
Sure, it was their return to radio-friendly rock after two gonzo experimental albums. Well, "rock" may be pushing it. Two thirds of it is lite adult contemporary. After the first three tracks, it bores me to tears with monotonous overlong verses and the residue of disco. "Beautiful Day" is celebratory rock at it's finest. The highlight for me is the majestic "Walk On," one of their greatest songs ever.

8. Boy

9. Pop

10. Zooropa