Whine and Cheese

It's a very entertaining weekend so far.

Saturday afternoon, the Cincinnati MovieBears met up to see "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit." The story involves a young Jack Ryan (Chris Pine) being drafted into the CIA under the guise of being a financial analyst, only to find himself involved in an international plot to wreck the US economy and a terrorist attack. It had quite a bit of actions and some really tense scenes. Normally, I'm not a huge fan of political thrillers, but this was a good movie. I was especially impressed by Kenneth Branagh, who both directed the movie and plays the Russian mastermind. I admit that I've always had a crush on the man. Everyone seemed to enjoy the movie.

We had nine guys show for the outing, the most in a long while. Most of us hit dinner at a nearby bar and grill called "Brothers," where were served by a young, bearded cubby named David. I laughed at this, because it felt like we were somehow being ironically rewarded by having cute, bearded guy wait on us. We tipped him well.

I got home relatively early, but these outings tend to wear me out a little, coordinating everything and trying to make sure everyone is relatively happy. The pint of Guinness also added to the sleepy feeling I usually have. Before going to bed, I got online to see if any tickets were available for the US tour of "The Book of Mormon" for the next day. I lucked out getting one of three available seats.

So today, I saw the matinee show. I admit I had purposefully avoided learning the storyline for the show. I wanted to see it relatively cold to the story and songs, even though I had figured it was very satirical given it was written by the South Park creators. I wasn't disappointed. It was a very fun story, biting in some places, but entertaining.

Somewhere in the middle of the first half, a young couple left. At first I figured that they went to the restroom, but couldn't understand why they left as a pair. They never came back, so I assume that they had been completely and utterly aghast at what they'd seen and heard. I suspect it was the song regarding "F*ç< You, God" that may have sent them over the edge, but it likely could have been any other. I've heard this is not unusual for this show, for people to get upset and leave, but I can't imagine paying out the ticket price and not knowing ANYTHING about the show. The left with such an awkward gait, I can only guess it had something to do with the sticks they were clenching in their rectums.

Anyway, for those of us with stronger constitutions, I think the show was wonderful. My seat had an incredible view of the stage for being up the loge area (the lower tier balcony), so I didn't miss anything. I don't see me singing the songs or anything after, but it was definitely worth the money.

So, I'm off tomorrow and I'll use the day to catch up on things. Work is about to get really busy, so I'm happy for the three-day weekend.

Boy, do Mondays suck.... so sleepy... *yawn*

Sadly, I haven't been in a reading mood of late. In fact, it has been months since I've sat down and read anything outside of a magazine or a comic book. Heck, the last Harry Potter novel is still on my nightstand, I've not started it yet.

Court TV is running a new show based on authors of true crime fiction called "Murder by the Book." The premiere episode runs tonight at 10 PM and stars Micheal Connelly (left) as its first author. I've heard of Connelly, but never read his fiction or his true crime novels. Naturally, I was struck by how good-looking this bear of a guy is, though this picture is a bit dated as his hair is a bit more gray.

Hmmmm... maybe I should pick up one of his novels... *le sigh*

Whew! It is so good to be back in familiar territory again. Nothing against any Cleveland or Cleveland-born LJ'ers, but it was a dreary week up north. I think I would have enjoyed it more if it had been summer and for non-work reasons. That four hour drive is rough in somewhat bad weather, I'm a bit tired.

There was a lot of eye candy roaming about though, many bearded bears and cute cubby types in plain sight at work and out-and-about. The one thing that winter has going for it is that it's the time of year that lots of guys get bearded and woolly. Of course, I had left my traveling camera in the car most of the week.

I went to dinner at the Winking Lizard (insert dirty reference here), a wings and beer joint that is a local chain of sort up there. I met up with some local co-workers and had a great time. The place even has a glass cage with a large iguana roaming around in it. Not the most appetizing sight, but the food was good. My diet has been blown all week.

However, I did have my camera on the way home and spied this good looking bear gassing up his car in front of me. Something about that graying goatee just drives me crazy.

( Pics of a random traveling bear, cut for space reasons )

Copied from Yahoo! News...

Dench Doesn't Read Plays for Pleasure

NEW YORK - Judi Dench says she is no intellectual and never reads plays, just doing them "because someone asked me to."

"I've gotten myself into real trouble by saying yes to a play, then going to the first reading and realizing, `This is a bummer!'" the actress said in the latest issue of Newsweek.

Dench, who plays a 1930s British dame who opens a nude theatrical review in "Mrs. Henderson Presents," also admits to sneaking a peek at Bob Hoskins, who appears briefly in the nude.

"Of course! Don't think I'm going to let Bob Hoskins take all his clothes off and me not take a look? I just had a quick look up and down, like you would," she said.

Ah, she's a chick after my own heart... I'll have to see this movie. I've always thought that Bob Hoskins was an ruggedly-handsome daddy bear :)

Today was a very lazy day of sorts. I got up, cleaned house, did laundry, made it to the gym, etc.

I spent a bit of time watching DVD's, my favorite episode of Gilmore Girls from last season. It's called "The Reigning Lorelai," where Lorelai's acid-tongued grandmother, played wonderfully by Marion Ross, passes away. Lorelai and her mother Emily are inventoring Grams' house and find a letter she had written to Emily's husband begging him to leave Emily at the alter. While it sounds incredibly depressing, the story is actually very humorous seeing how each family member deals with the situation. Emily gets livid, starts drinking and smoking in her robe, and refuses to help plan the funeral. Richard is naturally a mess. Lorelai has to plan everything, finally blowing up at a poor salesgirl while trying to buy underwear for her dead grandmother, and Rory writes up the obit. It was incredibly well done, very poignant and very funny. I do love the show.

While watching TV today I finally managed to snag a photo of Max Montoya, the former Cincinnati Bengal who now does television spots for Remke Markets, a local grocery chain. I saw him for the first time a few months ago and thought, "Damn, that's a fine looking daddy bear." With his graying hair and big shoulders, I was drooling. I tried to find a current photo of him on the net without success, so I finally got a picture of him to share.




Max Montoya and Remke Markets :)

Seeing the picture makes me think that I should invest in a flat screen TV sometime. :)

A new shopping area has opened up near my house. They have some great restaurants, upscale shopping (which I'll likely not patronize often), and a Borders! The last makes me the most happy because I love bookstores and I can check the store's inventory online and get discount coupons in the mail. I've already spent a good chunk of money there on DVD's this weekend.

I bought the DVD box set of Kolchak: The Night Stalker, a sort of X-Files precursor from the early-to-mid 1970's starring Darren McGavin as the reporter who finds himself often investigating the supernatural. It has a great mix of comedy and horror, something I think the new Night Stalker series lacks. It only lasted for a couple of seasons, but I think it would have done well if they hadn't canceled it. It has a cult following of sorts. And Darren McGavin is a nice furry guy as I found out from the episode "The Ripper."



Kolchak investigates a massage parlor and shows some skin...
One of the other movies I bought this weekend was Bram Stoker's The Mummy, found in the bargain bin while out and about. The movie is pretty much independent junk, but it stars Richard Karn in a supporting role. It's one of the few chances to see him shirtless. I snagged a screen capture for those who are interested to see it.



Richard Karn also shows some skin...

Mom and my stepdad were at my house when I got home. I'm glad I gave her a key to the house, I'd hate for them to have been waiting on me outside. I'm also glad I put certain magazines away before she got there ;)

After we hung around the house for a bit, I took them to the new shopping area being built nearby for dinner at The Pub, an English pub-type restaurant. The guy at the door was a hot graying daddy bear, broad shoulders, thick goatee, and wearing a KILT! Oh he was impressive! Great legs!!! I was kicking myself for not bringing my digital camera. Luckily my mom brought a disposable camera with her and she wanted her picture taken with the Scotsman. I got two pictures and begged her to send me a copy when she got them developed :)

The wait for The Pub was too long, so we decided to go somewhere else. On our way back to the car, we walked by McAlister's, which wasn't open for business really, but they were open for training servers. So the managers there invited us in for a FREE dinner. I noticed that the guy running the kitchen was a huge, wrestler-type bear, shaved head, brown goatee, big shoulders and arms, fur peeking out from his shirt, etc. YUM! (again kicking myself for not bringing my camera).

My mom told me that the young waitress who took our order kept staring at me. When I got up to put a tip in the donation jar, Mom told me that the waitress brightened up in the hopes that I was coming to the counter. I told Mom, "Well, I rather it was that burly kitchen manager back there." Mom just smirked at me and took another bite of her sandwich. Ah, teasing her is so fun...

I went to lunch yesterday at Qdoba, a Mexican Grill chain, only to have this tall, cute Hispanic cubby type ring up my order. Oh he was cute -- dark eyes, furry arms, and a goatee! A customer had to have him get some sweetener for his iced tea and the cubby had to bend over under the soda fountain counter to get it. I'd like to thank that customer for doing that because it was nice to see such great... customer service ;)

While eating I spied this muscular guy whose arms could rip up tree trunks from a yard. While he had no facial hair, he looks like the type who could grow a nice beard (usually signified by the 5 o'clock shadow he had at noon). When he got up to leave, I realized just how muscular this guy was.. huge wide shoulders, meaty pecs with hardened nipples showing through his shirt (it was cold in the restaurant), big hairy guns, thick furry legs, and a butt you could serve tea on.

Okay, there must be something in the air or the water there. I'm going to lunch there again today. :)