Saturday, May 31, 2008

A Baby Boomer's Review of the Iron Man Movie

Last night my husband and I went to see the movie Iron Man with Robert Downey, Jr., Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges and Gwynneth Paltrow.

My husband had been saying he's like to see it because Iron Man was one of his favorite comic book heroes when he was a child. Now, he knows I am NOT a fan of comic book hero movies so he was quite surprised that I suggested we see it. I figured it's the least I could do since he's always going to see the "chick flicks" I want to see. Besides, I could always say it was an early anniversary gift since our second wedding anniversary is coming up in a few days.

I actually ENJOYED the movie! Although it dragged for the first 30 minutes or so, I could get into the storyline and it held my attention. Robert Downey, Jr. played a self-absorbed millionaire who inherited his father's weapons company empire but got a rude awakening after being held captive for three months in the Middle East. I've never been a fan of Downey's but I must admit I was impressed with his acting in the movie.

Gwynneth played the faithful assistant. I've never been a fan of hers either but I appreciated her acting talent in the movie.

I can't say enough about Terrence Howard. It's like that role was made for him. It's a shame he doesn't get more opportunities to display his talent range.

I almost didn't recognize Jeff Bridges. He looks a lot different than you would expect in this movie. He played the bad guy.

To my fellow baby boomer divas, if you're looking for something to do for a "date night" take your partner to see Iron Man. Take it from one who had a good time seeing her man enjoy watching one of his favorite comic book heroes.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

A Baby Boomer's View of Memorial Day

Ever since I was a little girl, I remember Memorial Day as a time when we remembered the soldiers who fought and died for our country. My Uncle Bob was a WWII veteran. He was one of the lucky ones. He returned home from the war---even though he was shell-shocked. As a child, I didn’t understand the terminology but upon observing my uncle’s subsequent behavior over the years, I knew it had something to do with his inability to cope mentally back into society.

As a baby boomer, I have memories of Vietnam but I never knew anyone who died in the war. As a television reporter stationed at Camp Lejeune, I covered many stories of Marines preparing for Operation Desert Shield & Desert Storm. I covered Memorials and some of the happy homecomings.

On this Memorial Day I have decided I am not going to mourn over the dead. Yes---I will pray for their souls and hope they discovered who God is---but on this particular day I choose to pray for the living. I will pray for the men and women who are in harm’s way daily. I will pray for their safekeeping until they are able to return home to loved ones.

More importantly, I will pray for peace.

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Baby Boomer Obama Wins Big in NC

Despite the fact that North Carolina’s Governor went against the grain and endorsed Hillary Clinton, it was fellow baby boomer Barack Obama who came out the big winner during Tuesday’s Primary election.

The numbers are beyond impressive! Obama won a lopsided victory by more than 200,000 votes. With 99 percent of the votes counted:

Barack Obama 887,186
Hillary Clinton 654,484

What is even more astonishing is the fact that nearly 1.5 million votes were cast (by Democrats) in the race. According to the NC Board of Elections, there are 2,633,502 registered democratic voters (as of 5/7/08). More than 100,000 new voters were added to the rolls just for this election.

Never in the history of NC voting has there ever been a turnout like this. Yes, Obama overwhelmingly won the black vote, but he clearly crossed over racial lines and received a significant number of white votes as well. (The media’s not talking about that!)

Even though I’m not a fan of FOX News, they reported some interesting statistics:

74% of voters with college degrees voted for Obama
56% of voters with no degree voted for Obama

69% of first-time voters voted for Obama
61% of Obama voters were under 30 (my daughter was one of them).

Obama received 92% of the black vote
Obama received 61% of white women

If you want to learn more about how the early voting went, see my report by clicking on the title of this blog.