I was off today, so I took care of some car and grocery needs early and then headed over to the Cinemark to catch "Iron Man". First of all, it was packed for a Noon showing. Geekdom was well-represented.

Since this was the kickoff for the summer movie season, I witnessed trailers for the following flicks:

"The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian"
"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull"
"The Incredible Hulk"
"The Love Guru"
"The Happening"
"The Dark Knight"

That's a rather heavy-hitting lineup.













As for "Iron Man", this was probably one of the best of the Marvel Comic features. If the original "Spider-Man" was 1, I think this easily rates as 1A. In a shrewd casting move (one of several), Robert Downey, Jr. is perfect as Tony Stark, the playboy millionaire arms developer/manufacturer. He eventually becomes Iron Man due to some odd misfortune, but his humor really comes through in the development of his suit. BTW, I was not a big Iron Man fan. I recall buying the comic once as a kid, and kinda hating the red and gold suit. I thought him a tad boring and went back to Spidey, by that time, an old man in the Marvel clan.

But everything about the casting was good. Terence Howard is James Rhodes, Jeff Bridges is Stark's evil business partner and Gwyneth Paltrow plays Pepper Potts. Hey, if Dame Judi Dench can play M, eh? All of them are very good.

There are a couple of cameos. I didn't see Stan Lee or maybe didn't recognize him. Jim Cramer plays himself on an episode of "Mad Money" that was fun. And, since it's Marvel, you have to wait until the end credits to get a look at the Easter Egg. Didn't know for sure if it would happen, but enough people were lingering, so I stayed. And I think the people got what they wanted to see because all of geekdom was high-fiving and cheering after that final scene ended. It seems there will be a sequel, perhaps involving others. It'll all be out soon, but I'll let you look for who it was.

"Iron Man" is a definite must-see.

Meal of Links

"This American Life" returns to Showtime this Sunday. I passed on the movie theater event last night, because they were showing clips from the show and I'd rather wait for those than get a preview.

Seldom does NASCAR make business news. However, this week's race in Richmond may not be a sellout. The first time in 16 years for NASCAR, if it holds. Is that a somewhat-leading economic indicator?

Movie drunks! No, not the attendees, those on the big screen. If Mickey Rourke in "Barfly" was not on the list, this would have been not so good. But he made it. All is right with the world.

Exercise Yard

Cavs with an easy win over the Wizards. A 21-2 run in the second which continued to the third pretty much wrapped it up.

Visitor

22 Across: Saxophonist Sims (4 letters) Answer: Zoot