Observations at the Ballpark with Bella

I took my soon to be four-year-old daughter Bella to the Wichita Wingnuts Independent League baseball game vs. the St. Paul Saints this evening. It was a beautiful day at the yard and I must say I enjoyed myself very much. What was probably the best part of the game was some of her observations of the game and everything else she found interesting. "Daddy I think this basketball game is gonna be awesome!" As we were walking across the parking lot to Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. "Daddy when we get inside I'll show you where the candy your gonna get is. Wouldn't that be nice?" Yes the bag of cotton candy that doesn't come with a stick to hold it so it all gets on your fingers, turns them colors and gives you Spider Man-like grip is nice. "Daddy this game is taking forever!" She says in the middle of the second inning. "Daddy I think I'm allergic to peanuts...Can I get some peanuts daddy?" I really didn't know what to say to that one. "Hey daddy look at that man. He's a lot bigger than you." I proceeded to apologise for my daughter's remark to the man in line for a soda. "Daddy you're not having fun because you aren't clapping like all of these people are you daddy. You should clap daddy." She says while I'm holding my 4$ drink, her 3$ drink, her 3$ cotton candy, her 3$ popcorn and her flip-flops she refuses to wear at the moment. "Daddy theres that big man with a big belly again daddy. Say hi!" F**k me. "Daddy this popcorn make me bursty and I drank all my drank. Can I have some of your drank?" Sure honey. "Daddy I just spilled the rest of your drank. Sorry daddy. Mom says you can't get mad at me. Can I get a snow cone?" Sure honey. "Daddy do you have money?" What do think I've been spending since we got here? "Daddy if you have money I wanna jump in the bouncy. Right over there daddy." Sure honey. You can jump on the we're-gonna-miss-the-whole-fifth-inning-and-half-of-the-sixth-bouncy! "Daddy I'm ready to go home." Well why wouldn't you sweetie, it's the seventh inning and you've consumed two pops, one cotton candy, one popcorn, one snow cone, half of my fries, half of my pop before you spilled the rest and then jumped in an inflatable bouncy in ninety-one degree heat while little boys wondered why that girl is wearing Spider Man underwear under her dress. "Daddy when I grow up I wanna be a basketball player daddy" As we walk across the Lawrence-Dumont parking lot to our car. "Oh daddy I love you so much. You're so silly daddy." I love you too Bella Boo...

Brian's Best 3 of the Week 6/28-7/4

1. Food

Taco Rio
1022 W Douglas Ave

Wichita, KS 67203-6107

(316) 264-9252

When I was a youngster growing up here in Wichita, KS there was one place (other than McDonald's) that can be directly blamed for my weight problem...Taco Rio. Located at the corner of Douglas and Seneca this family owned Mexican establishment would've probably gone bankrupt, closed it's doors, torn down and been rebuilt as a Taco Bell or something if not for my patronage over the years. Your welcome Taco Rio. As you can see from the photo this place is top notch. The inside is even nicer! No lie. OK, this place is a dump and seats maybe twelve, but, they have the greatest cheese covered sancho ever. Whatever your favorite food is, the Taco Rio cheese covered sancho would kick it's ass. I couldn't tell you about anything else this place serves. I've never ordered anything else. I don't need to. If I were told that I could only eat one thing for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the rest of my life I punch whoever said it. Then I would come to grips, apologise to said punched person and choose the Taco Rio cheese covered sancho. This bad boy is large, flour shelled, and packed with only the finest ingredients. It comes on an oblong shaped bowl/plate swimming in the best nacho cheese sauce in the world. Not crappy shredded cheese. Hell no cousin! Smooth flowing cheese that you have to spoon out when the sancho has been decimated. If you live in Wichita and you haven't been to the Taco Rio...well that's unforgivable...just try to make it by. They're open Monday thrue Saturday. Be sure to bring quarters so you can listen to Journey on the jukebox.

2. Legend

Michael Joseph Jackson

(August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009)

First I want everyone to forget about the last, say, 20 years. This week we should just remember the King of Pop (actually the guy who invented Coca-Cola is the King of Pop, but, that's another blog). Lets just talk about 1979-89 Michael Jackson. My father's generation doesn't wanna talk about fat, weird, jumpsuit wearing, peanut butter and banana sandwich eating, drug overdose, Vegas Elvis Presley. So lets not talk about bleach skinned, weird, monkey owning, nose changing, kid touching, Neverland Ranch Michael Jackson. Just 1979-89. OK? Oh, and I can't talk about the Jackson Five. I love Tito as much as the next guy, but, they were a little before my time. Plus, didn't Mike throw the other four bros a bone and crank out the "Victory Tour" in '84 so that Jermaine could make his Fiat payment? Honestly, I couldn't tell you anything about Marlon and Randy. I'm getting way off track. The Jackson 5 were great. The boys' father Joe was Ike Turner and Mike, Randy, Marlon, Jermaine and Tito were his Tina. Just not in my wheelhouse per say. The funny thing is when I heard the news about Jackson being taken to UCLA's Medical Center they reported that Joe was rushing to be by his son's side. Guess he needed to get in one last beating before the end. (Sorry) Back to 1979, I was three, and Jackson was coming off of his portrayal of the Scarecrow in The Wiz, a blackified musical version of The Wizard of Oz, which is where he hooked up with Quincy Jones. The two would go on to work together on three straight classic albums, 1979's Off the Wall, 1982's Thriller and 1987's Bad. Now I didn't get into Off the Wall until about two years after Thriller. My mom bought me the cassette tape at a garage sale. "Billie Jean", "Beat It" and the "Thriller" videos were blowing up on MTV and I saw Off the Wall and asked mom to get it. It was a buck. I can't remember when or how I got Thriller on vinyl. Yeah that's right! I had Thriller on record and rocked that bitch in my room on my hand-me-down record player. I would scratch and mix "P.Y.T." like I was Jam Master Jay. When I finally got a cd player I think I got Bad with eleven other cd's for a penny from Columbia House. Totally worth it. So I owned in some way, shape or form all three of those killer recordings and looking back they all had songs that still make you hit the dance floor at a wedding when they come on to this day. For my money "Billie Jean" is the greatest pop song ever. "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough", "Rock With You", "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin", "Beat It", "Thriller", "P.Y.T.", "Human Nature", "Bad", "The Way You Make Me Feel", "Dirty Diana", "Smooth Criminal" and "Man in the Mirror" are all fantastic songs that I am not (too) ashamed to admit I like very much. Unfortunately, theres an entire generation that thinks of Michael Jackson as "Wacko Jacko", and that's too bad, because this guy was cold back in the day. The cat was ultra talented, a great singer, a great dancer, a great performer and he literally saved Africa when him and Lionel Richie co-wrote "We Are the World"! There are kids with flies on there face eating to this day because of that song. Come on. Give this guy his due. Now excuse me while I go put on my diamond studded glove (right hand), red leather zipper jacket (too tight) and try like hell to do the moonwalk (impossible).

3. Television

Entourage Season 5 on DVD

Now that HBO's The Wire is over my favorite television show is Entourage and last years season 5 is soon to be released on DVD, July 1st. Thank God. I've been watching seasons 1 thrue 4 at the crib, to the delight of my three-year-old daughter who now wants to drop the f bomb in every single sentence, "Mom I want a f---ing snack." "Mom I wanna watch f---ing Dora the Explorer." "F--- mom I don't wanna take a f---ing nap!" She got extra points for dropping it twice in one sentence that time. Nice. I forgot that Entourage uses f--- more than The Sopranos (but just under Scarface). Sorry honey. Anyway, I should be caught up thrue season 4 by time I get season 5 in the mail, if my wife doesn't kill me first. I read a review of the upcoming season 6 on HBO, new episodes start July 14th, and they hammered the boys from Queens. I believe they used the word douschebag or douschebags about twelve times when referring to Vince, E, Turtle and Drama. Ouch. Sure all these guys still live together in Vince's pad, sure they're all pushing mid-thirties (Drama mid-forties), sure each one has their own annoying narcissism's, but hey, at least theres Jeremy Piven as Ari. Right?

Brian's Best 3 of the Week...June 21-27

1. Movie
Transformers Revenge of the Fallen

On June 24th Michael Bay gets the chance to either add to the greatness that is Transformers or he could ruin it. You see, Michael Bay has a tendency to ruin anything he touches, whether he means to or not. This is the guy that gave us The Rock, Armageddon, The Island, Pearl Harbor and Bad Boys not once, oh no, but twice! Ok, I liked The Rock, sue me, but the rest of his directorial efforts suck. Then came Transformers, which was my favorite toy growing up, and "boom goes the dynamite!", Mikey made a beat ass summer movie. Shia LaBeouf is great, Megan Fox is hot and the robots look ridiculous. I needed the first Transformers to be awesome in the worst way and it was and I was happy. The bar is higher now though. I'm not expecting The Godfather II here but it better be as good as the commercials look or I'm gonna send Jerry Bruckheimer a strongly worded letter of disappointment. I'll be there on the 24th holding my breath hoping that is movie is breathtaking.

2. Music Eminem "Relapse"

I have finally gotten around to buying Em"s new record "Relapse" and I must say that if I'd have known it was gonna be this good I would've got it sooner. Wow. What a great effort from a guy I used to love. I was very surprised by how creative and totally f#cked up ol' Slim Shady got on this recording. I've missed this guy even before his fake retirement because his last record, "Encore", was not good. Not good at all. So you can't blame me for not killing myself trying to buy his latest on the release date like I did "The Marshall Mathers LP" and "The Eminem Show" respectively. But, "Relapse" is the best he's put out since "The Marshall Mathers LP" and possibly the most disturbing. Violence is nothing new for Em, but damn, his lyrics are downright psychotic. And awesome! Where his first disc, "The Slim Shady LP", was a rags to riches story, this is a riches to drug induced rage and total meltdown story. We all got tired of Eminem rhyming about his ex or his daughter. He's way too talented for that. With this album you get pretty much none of that (thank God). What you get are strong beats, amazing lyrics, funny skits and a more mature if not twisted Eminem. The young, smart ass, flipping the bird Eminem may be gone for good, but, I do like this guy again.

3. Book
"Outliers", by Malcolm Gladwell


out-li-er /(outlr)/noun 1: something that situated away from or classified differently from a main or related body. 2: a statistical observation that is markedly different in value from the others of sample.

First I want to thank my father for turning me on to this fascinating and addictive book. Thanks dad. Happy Father's Day. I promise I'll return it one of these days. But, for now, I'm reading "Outliers" for the third time. As the cover indicates this fine piece of literature is dedicated to finding out the meaning of success and how we attain it (or not). Gladwell dissects the ins and outs of some of the most successful people of our time and generations before. In doing so he maps out why for instance the man with the highest recorded IQ has been a relative failure so far. Or why being a professional athlete may have as much to do with the month you were born as how much physical talent you posses. Or why people from the South react to certain situations differently than those from, say, California. We all have a different definition of success and I know I've always thought I understood what truly reaching a successful level is and what it takes, but, after reading this book all of that was thrown out. Success, by Malcolm Gladwell's definition, is affected by every imaginable thing and probably some that are unimaginable. "Outliers", does a remarkable job of analyzing those select few among us who are living in rarefied air. Living in a place that most of us will never even visit. We may get the pleasure of being in the presence of a true outlier whether a musician, a math genius, a fighter pilot or even an exceptional attorney. How these select humans became outliers is as interesting as what they actually do to be one of the select few. If you're looking for a quick and insightful read try "Outliers" and figure out why there are haves and have nots and why they are or aren't.

Why THE HANGOVER Is the Most Kick Ass Movie Ever Made

Ahhh, it's summer time and I don't know about you but when this time of year rolls around all I wanna do is grab a bucket of popcorn, a liter of cola, maybe some Mike and Ikes and watch sh!t get blowed up baby!!! That's right, it's time to go down to your local movie theatre and watch this years summer movie goodness. Due to my weight problem I don't actually like summer time. I tend to sweat, a lot, and because of that I have no problem being in a dark room with THX sound, a gigantic digitally projected picture and a bunch of strangers for a couple of hours. Now usually in the summer I need to see as much cool stuff on screen as I can and this year there has and will be plenty. So far I've seen Star Trek, Terminator Salvation, Night at the Museum Battle at the Smithsonian and Up. Not bad. But, it gets even better with the likes of Transformers Revenge of the Fallen, G.I. Joe the Rise of Cobra, Public Enemies and Funny People yet to come. So this summer's line up of blockbusters looks to big pretty sturdy. But, I'm here to tell you, as much as I wanna see Megan Fox run around with a bunch robots or enjoy watching Johnny Depp rob banks, nothing will compete with the movie I just saw this past weekend. Not even close. THE HANGOVER, directed by Todd Phillips, best know for the awesomeness that was Old School, is the maybe the funniest movie ever (sorry Borat). If Swingers and Very Bad Things got together and made sexytime, then nine months later welcomed a baby into this world, that very funny baby would be THE HANGOVER. Wow! Where do I begin? First things first, I wanna be Bradley Cooper (the dick from Wedding Crashers) more than anyone on the planet. I'm sure my wife wouldn't mind either. This guy is the coolest s.o.b. ever. Anyway, the storyline is pretty simple, Doug (Justin Bartha) is about to get married so him and his two best buddies Phil (Cooper) and Stu (Ed helms from The Office) and his soon to be brother-in-law Alan (Zach Galifianakis) take a trip to Vegas on a Friday evening for a little harmless bachelor party fun. They show up, get an out of this world suite and toast the night away on the roof of their luxury hotel. Fast forward to the next morning and that $4,200.00 a nite suite on Stu's credit card is torn to sh!t and Doug, the groom, is nowhere to be found. Now I'm not going to go into all the outlandish stuff that Phil, Stu and Alan go thrue the rest of the weekend trying to remember what happened the night before and also trying to find Doug before his Sunday wedding. Let's just say they find a baby (name it Carlos), marry a stripper, battle a tiger, hang with Mike Tyson, get tasered, kidnap a naked sexually flexible Asian mobster, play blackjack Rain Man style, etc. and still can't find Doug. I hope I'm not giving anything away, trust me I'm only scratching the surface. Phillips has crafted a truly spectacular movie. The studio execs were so impressed during filming that they signed on to do a sequel before he even finished this thing up, if that tells you anything. Go see this movie, please, you won't regret it. I'm looking forward to all the other movies left to go this summer but I'm guessing this one will have the most lasting effect on me long term. Or until they f#ck up the sequel...