April 18, 2007

• This post comes to you from the top of Monte Sano Mountain!

  I wanted to update all weekend long, but just haven’t gotten around to it. Greetings to all those of you in my adoring public and a special greeting to those of you joining us for the first time.

  Reign Over Me
  I saw Rein Over Me this weekend. It was written and directed by Mike Binder, the same guy who brought you The Upside of Anger (Amazon, IMDB). Rein Over Me had one hell of a cast where it counted. Adam Sandler broke type by not playing a comedian but rather a grief-stricken father and husband to a family lost on 9/11. Don Cheadle was also top notch in role playing Sandler’s former college roommate as well as a husband and father to his own family. The interesting thing to note was Alan Johnson (Cheadle) wasn’t neglecting his family because of work or the re-discovery of his roommate Charlie Fineman (Sandler); rather, he was neglecting his family because he was in a sense still discovering who he was as a person.

  I can only comment on Binder’s work through the prism of The Upside of Anger. The concept was a good one and the execution of that idea was somewhere between 6 and 6.5 on a 10 scale. I expected the slow pacing; after all, Binder had recently given us a script that centered around the world of five girls from the female perspective. Much to his credit, Reign Over Me doesn’t need to be fast-paced or action-packed and box office sales will take a direct hit because of this. The film dragged a bit towards the 3/4ths mark making the ending a little anti-climatic but is ultimately forgivable because of the curveball of Donald Sutherland cameoing as a judge who, brooding at first ultimately gives us a little comic relief before delivering the message of the movie not unlike Family Guy.

  Work, work and more work
  I have a little story that I’ve been dying to tell you my gentle readers since Thursday. I was delivering to a local upscale motel (which is to say that it wasn’t the headquarters for the escort service which means that alas, the girl isn’t included in the price of the room.) Having worked the area while at Domihoe’s, I am familiar with the manager and he I. He was outside behind the office chatting it up with one of his customers who happened to be puffing away on a stogie. I complimented him on keeping the art of smoking fine cigars alive and we started up a little chat.

  He claimed that two weeks prior, he was in a cigar shop in Jamica which sold Cuban cigars. The owner of the shop sold him a box of 20 sticks for $130. Included in the price was the removal of the original bands, the application of substitute bands as well as a substitute box. Customs gave not a second look and allegedly the shop owner gave this gent his card saying, “just email me when you want more. I’ll do the same and send them to your doorstep.”

  Let me tell you about my introduction to Cuban cigars. My neighbors of yore were both in the Army and served together in Afghanistan. I met her first; her tour had ended before his. We became friends and her beau (they were married in November of 2005) joined in our little reindeer games when he finally came back home. I forget the occasion of just why, but she was smoking a Cuban. I don’t remember what brand so don’t ask. I do remember it had a large ring gauge (probably a 60) and a lot of young uniformed Army guys (18-22 age range) were at her place because her husband was their commander and they were gearing up for redeployment.

  I remember the drag I was allowed was rather mild. The thing that sucks about it was that I had just started fooling around with cigars (if peach White Owls count as cigars) so I really couldn’t appreciate it because I had no basis for comparison. I also remember “Alice” saying that she got her box (I don’t remember if it was 20 or 25) for $150 and that there were boys paying $300 a box just to get their hands on product to attempt to smuggle into the country.

  I didn’t tell that story to the gentlemen at the motel. All I know is he got me to thinking about how I wanted to travel and freely buy Cuban cigars in foreign countries. I thought about walking around in some cigar shop on some beach somewhere exotic wearing a comfortable tropical shirt, khaki shorts and sandals. Man, did I ever want to have a Cuban cigar right then! I don’t know if it was because I wanted to have bragging/gloating rights or if I actually thought I’d have some kind of satisfaction from consumption, but I wanted a damned cigar.

  Sadly, all good things must come to an end and our pleasant conversation was no exception. Off to my delivery I went. When I came back down he was still there so we talked some more. Finally he said, “Because I’m such a nice guy, if you’ll follow me back to my room, I’ll give you one of these.” You want to talk about a bull in a china shop! I had reservations about following him for security reasons but it turns out he was traveling with his family. His wife couldn’t believe it either! And now, I offer photographic proof:

  The stick itself

  The Band

  

  I apologize for the fuzziness, but I do not own the much coveted Nikon D-80

  I have already decide that I will save this prize for consumption with when I visit him and his the first part of August.

  I think they finally figured out at work that I’m brighter then the average light bulb. I installed a few of the products on my laptop this afternoon and was planning on cataloging my “library” i.e. the few books and DVDs I have. Well, that didn’t quite happen. I spent time walking around on top of Monte Sano and when I got back I worked on this post some more after viewing the Google Tech Talk, How To Break Web Software – A look at security vulnerabilities in web software. I’ve had a bit of a power struggle that might make a protected post soon. We’ll see.

  In the meantime, after I get through cross-posting this but before I can retire, I’ve got a post or two to reply to and an email or two to send as well as a chapter or two in .

  Maybe I’ll catalogue my library tomorrow.

  • 1:02 am
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