CleverDonkey.com …Musings, Commentary, Opinions, and Drivel

When I first heard that Sylvester Stallone was making Yet Another Rocky Movie I cringed. How pitiful, I thought, that Sly would hang onto the lower rungs of Hollywood and exploit his purest achievement in a base attempt to recapture former glory.

Mea culpa. Boy, was I wrong, and I freely and joyfully admit it.

Rocky Balboa captures much (but not quite all) of the punch and emotion of the first Rocky film, and remains true to the original’s flashes of gritty realism mixed with slightly unbelievable heroic feats. However, if it were all believable then why would we go to the movies to see it? There’s nothing super-human and there’s no magical realism, and while the story is implausible it is not impossible. For those who don’t know, in the new film Rocky is an aging ex-champion boxer who runs a nice restaurant that traffics on

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http://www.esthersfollies.com

If you’re ever in Austin make time to go and see Esther’s Follies on Sixth Street. Part of me wants to refrain from giving away any details so that you can experience it fresh, but my take is that if you don’t already know some of what makes the Follies so good you may not go see it. I mean, if someone were to tell me that Esther’s Follies were a vaudeville-esque stage show that had been running continuously for over 20 years, I’d say something like “That sounds quaint…” and then check the movie listings. I mean, come on, really?! Nothing sounds more boring to me than a show filled with singing, dancing, “comedy” skits, and a local magician. I mean…ugh.

However, several years ago Mynagirl convinced me to go see the show, and it was a lot of fun. At that time the material was a bit

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With startling speed, Saddam Hussein was executed last night. Mynagirl and I were enjoying a quiet evening at home with CNN Headline News playing as background noise when the news reports started. First it was that Hussein would be executed before the end of the year. Then it was that he would be executed some time this weekend. Then it was that he would be executed some time Friday evening. Then it was that he would be executed at dawn in Baghdad (10pm Eastern time).

Then he was dead, at 10:05pm Eastern. Just like that. I mean, yes, his trial had been ongoing, and the war seems endless, and I think we all knew he was going to end up dead. But to an American used to our justice system’s endless death sentence appeals process this felt closer to a lynching than an

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