The Blue Angels are in the air today and let me say this. This is the loudest they've ever been in my neighborhood.

Great Lakes Brewing seems to be full of themselves these days. They have finally instituted a non-smoking policy on their patio. What, you say, I thought they were non-smoking for a while. Why yes, but that was indoors. Now it has extended to the oustide patio. Best Friend nailed three times on that one. The third time was pretty much the last straw and all of us had to exit before they really hated us.

Secondly, they have decided to discriminate against the non-eating tables outside. Get this, if you are there to drink outside, you get no wait service. You have to go into the bar to get your beer and bring it back out. If that's not enough of an issue, no one on the wait staff checks up on you as the evening progresses. If you change your mind and want to eat, it's almost like a formal decree has been handed down and now you're celebrated as an "eating table" with full wait service. Very unusual setup these days. Sadly, I still love that Dortmunder.

Meal of Links

Went to see "Crank" today at Crocker Park. First off, the trailers. Horror is in the air as we saw "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", "Saw III" and "Grudge 2". Costner's big comeback movie will not be "The Guardian, which should be named "Boat Durham". Nothing stood out.

Now for "Crank". Let's face it, Jason Statham has the best "I'm going to walk right up to you with my gun drawn to kill you stride" in the business. This movie was pretty good. Lots of action, but not much of the hand-to-hand stuff we're accustomed to with Statham. This was more gunplay-oriented. A horribly-acted villian did not sway me against the flick, as Dwight Yoakam put forth a pretty good performance as Statham's doctor. Good humor and a soundtrack that smacked of irony. Come on. "Miracles" by the Starship as a prelude to a potential sequel. That's genius. Rotten Tomatoes has this as the highest-rated of the "unscreened by critics" films of the year, even higher than "Snakes on a Plane".

This British film about a mock Bush assassination is kinda creepy.

High Times rates the stoner schools. The list comes straight from their stoner pocket.

Exercise Yard

James Blake's clothing tribute to Andre Agassi. Plain Dealer had an article with no pictures. Briliant.




















Browns news. Hank Fraley joins the Browns in a good move at center. Lee Suggs was cut and that's solely an injury-prone move, as he can't seem to stay healthy. "Run, William, Run!" barely makes the team on IR. So, this is the squad that will start against the Saints in 8 days.

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15 Across: 2002 Best Actor Tony winner for "Fortune's Fool" (9 letters) Answer: Alan Bates