Rainy Sunday. At least partly. Last night was a bit rainy but I was in watching the third Pirates of the Caribbean. I watched the first two at various parts of the day, before going out to the city, coming back from the city. It was a marathon on one of the cable channels so I was able to drift in and out and not miss much of anything. It was ok, definitely the franchise has run aground.

Keith Richards as Johnny Depp’s mumbly father, ‘He has his father’s mascara.’ Actually Johnny Depp’s Keith impersonation was better than the real thing. I think I saw Bill Wyman but that may have been a barnacle in the background. Who could tell? Then I watched Saturday Night Live which I thought was disappointing. It’s getting hard to see Steve Carrell as something other than Michael from the Office.

I think in previous years the last show before the winter holidays and the last show of the season were usually what I thought the funniest and they would put these sketches on that were so ‘out there’ that I couldn’t help but love them. Last night wasn’t the same. It all just petered out. And Usher wasn’t all that either. Can’t say that I’m much of a fan of Usher’s but I just wasn’t feeling his first performance and went to bed before his second.

Slept really well and I confess I had one cigarette last night coming off the beer buzz. Didn’t enjoy it though so I probably won’t be doing that again. Woke up feeling fine this morning, though it was a little early. So I made some coffee and went back to bed. A decent hour was 8:30 so I started moving about then. Got sundries for the new parents, and for myself, set about reading the papers, having a nice breakfast and after an hour or two, a nap.

Got a phone call from Roda. He was working at his art studio in the Neumann Leather building which for the past 20 years has been a series of art studios, including Tim Daly’s. That’s supposed to all end in December. They’re having an open house and Roda asked me to stop by. I planned to then Chaz called. I forgot about seeing Iron Man this afternoon, we’d planned it a few weeks ago. Chaz came by and picked me up and we drove up to Edgewater, maintaining the deal of Chaz driving and me buying the tickets.

We caught up on shows that were coming up this summer, shows that neither one of us could actually afford. Luckily there are a lot of good free shows on the menu, and if not free, then you could at least hear the music but not see the bands, like at Summerstage. The theater was packed by the time the movie started. Robert Downey Jr. was great.

Everybody likes Robert Downey Jr. and I had noticed that only the villains smoke in the movie. I guess that’s the wave of the future. A very good comic book movie, with of course an open door at the very end, after the final credits, for a sequel. And already they’re complaining about the casting of Nick Fury on IMDB. Back to work tomorrow. If you have any good thoughts, send them to the care Rex Dippre, my brother in law who is undergoing a heart procedure in Cleveland this week. I would appreciate it and so will my sister and her family. Thanks.

Please forward this to 10 friends if you know whats good for you.