Iowa CAN Be Fun!

Having a little fun with Kindra's mom.

Don't Hassel the Hoff

International superstar David Hasselhoff turns 55 today. What happened to him? He’s fallen so far since his days doing Knight Rider and Baywatch. Ah, the bigger they are… At least he has America’s Got Talent.

In more interesting news (is it ever really interesting?), on this date in 1955, Disneyland opened its gates for the first time. FYI, Disneyland cost $17 million to build back in the day. $17 million!?!? $17 million is what it costs to take a family of four to Disneyland for the day.

Of course, they’re building a new Harry Potter theme park in Orlando as part of Universal’s Islands of Adventure at the Universal Orlando Resort. Read more about the “Wizarding World of Harry Potter” here, and don’t forget that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is released at midnight this Saturday morning. I’m still debating whether or not to go and get the book at midnight…

Mission Accomplished

Number 10,000 is in the books. Yup, the Philadelphia Phillies lost 10-2 to the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday night, at home no less. The Cards hit six homers total in the game, and Philadephia’s Adam Eaton took the loss. FYI, the Boston/Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves are second all-time in losses, with 9,681, and the Chicago Cubs are third, with 9,425.

10,000

I just saw this on FOX:

The Philadelphia Phillies are nearing their 10,000th loss all-time. No other major league franchise has as many losses. The Phillies were founded in 1883 and are currently on loss 9999. At least they’ve won one (1) championship.

Go Phils!

I'd Go See It...

I've never played the game nor do I even have extensive knowledge of the backstory, but I really like the visuals. This is some footage from the guy who was slated to make the movie, but ended up having his funding pulled. It's now footage for Microsoft...

I'd watch this guy's movie.Footage from Bungie.net. Just in case you don't get it, it's Halo 3.

Did You Get the Memo?

Saw this on our way back from San Diego last week:

Kindra snapped this when she saw it; the guy saw her taking a photo and pulled ahead of us to let us try to get a better shot. Plates were from Georgia, just in case you wanted to know.

Big Birthday

Happy birthday to one of my favorite actors, Tom Hanks. Hanks’ career has come a long way, having gone from television with Bosom Buddies to being only the second actor in history to win back-to-back Best Actor Oscars, for 1993’s Philadelphia and 1994’s Forrest Gump (Spencer Tracy was the first actor to accomplish the feat in 1937-38). Other notable works that Hanks has been in are Splash, Bachelor Party, Volunteers, The Man with One Red Shoe, Big, A League of Their Own, Sleepless in Seattle, Apollo 13, That Thing You Do!, Saving Private Ryan, The Green Mile, Cast Away, Road to Perdition, The Terminal, The Polar Express, and The Da Vinci Code. Beyond being a successful actor, he has also directed and produced a number of pieces, most notably the HBO mini-series From the Earth to the Moon and Band of Brothers.

Hanks is supposedly related to James Hanks, the possible father to Nancy Hanks and grandfather to President Abraham Lincoln. If true, Hanks would be the fourth cousin, four times removed, of the former president.

Hanks is next set to reprise his character from The Da Vinci Code, Robert Langdon, in a prequel to the movie, Angels and Demons.

Just for kicks:

* * *

For you sports trivia buffs, one-hundred thirty years ago today, the very first lawn tennis tournament was held by the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club at Wimbledon. One-hundred thirty years later yesterday, Roger Federer won his fifth straight Wimbledon title over Rafael Nadal, equaling Bjorn Borg’s record. It is Federer’s eleventh Grand Slam title, putting him behind only Pete Sampras (14) and Roy Emerson (12). In addition to his five straight Wimbledon titles, he’s also won three straight U.S. Opens and two straight Australian Opens. He has appeared in nine straight Grand Slam finals, winning seven, and if he continues on his pace, he’ll surpass Pete Sampras’ titles record in 2008, at the age of 27, four years younger than Sampras when Sampras won his last title. I guess I should sit up and take notice. Federer may be the greatest of all-time.

Also on this day thirty-nine years ago, the first MLB All-Star game to be played indoors was held at the Astrodome in Houston, Texas. This year’s All-Star festivities in San Francisco start tonight, with the Home Run Derby, sans Barry Bonds, I might add. Loser.

Rocky and the Knucklehead

Happy birthday to Rocky himself, Sly Stallone, who turns 61(!) today.

It’s also President George W. Bush’s last birthday in office. The President turns 61 as well. How about that? Rocky and the President are the same age. Hmm.

Other notable birthdays today include actor Geoffrey Rush (Shine, Shakespeare in Love, Pirates of the Caribbean series), who turns 56, and actor Ned Beatty (Deliverance, Superman, Superman II, The Big Easy, Rudy) who is 70.

Happy 4th of July!

Answers to “Match Game”

Here are the answers to my celebrity birthday match game from June 22.

Top Row (L-R): Ed Bradley, Cyndi Lauper, Bruce Campbell, Kris Kristofferson

Middle: Amy Brenneman, Erich Maria Remarque, Meryl Streep, Lindsay Wagner

Bottom: Billy Wilder, Tim Russ, Amy Pollan, Carson Daly

And the answers to their credits:

Ed Bradley – 60 Minutes

Cyndi Lauper – WWF Rock and Wrestling

Bruce Campbell – Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie for Theaters, Army of Darkness, Old Spice commercials, Spider-Man 3

Kris Kristofferson – Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Big Top Pee Wee, Blade

Amy Brenneman – Heat, Judging Amy, N.Y.P.D. Blue, Private Practice

Erich Maria Remarque – the novel All Quiet on the Western Front

Meryl Streep – Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, Stuck on You, The Devil Wears Prada, The Hours

Lindsay Wagner – Playboy After Dark, Sleep Comfort commercials, The Bionic Woman

Billy Wilder – Sabrina, Some Like It Hot

Tim Russ – Live Free or Die Hard, Spaceballs, Star Trek: Voyager

Amy Pollan – Family Ties

Carson Daly – Last Call with Carson Daly, (MTV’s) Total Request Live

Oh, There Will Be Some Pictures Tomorrow…

I just found out that it’s Lindsay Dee Lohan’s 21st birthday today, which means that there will be pictures of her either 1) partying, 2) drunk, 3) high, 4) in some manner of undress, 5) with some other Hollywood party girls, or 6) partying drunk and high in some manner of undress with some other Hollywood party girls.

If she knows what’s good for her, she’ll stay home tonight and just get drunk and high there. FYI, I guess it was just released that she had two times the legal limit of alcohol in her body as well as traces of cocaine in her system when she was arrested for DUI in May. I love that the police use the phrase a “useable amount” in reference to the cocaine found in her vehicle. I am wondering why the discussion of Lohan being UNDERAGE AND DRUNK isn’t also in the discussion…

What happened to the cute kid from the remake of The Parent Trap?

In other birthday news about redheads (sort of), it would have been Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas’ 75th birthday today. Thomas founded the chain in Columbus, Ohio in 1969 and named the restaurant after his daughter Melinda Lou, who was nicknamed “Wendy” because she couldn’t pronounce her own name when she was young. Unfortunately, the original Wendy’s closed earlier this year on March 2, 2007 because of slow sales. Thomas passed away on January 8, 2002.

How Did Those Hoof Prints Get on the Ceiling?

Here’s the latest trailer for The Simpsons Movie. Fantastic!
I love the end… Heh.

Starting to Look This Way, Eh?

'Nuff said.