Randy Ray

A Crazy Night at the Movies

2010-03-06T12:29:00.000-08:00

So last night I took the 14 year old boy to the movies, and we made it a double feature with a theme. The Crazies and Crazy Heart were both playing at the Cinemark Legacy, which is the movie theater we visit when we go to the movies. We saw both of them, Crazy Heart first, followed by The Crazies.

Crazy Heart was a fine film, more because of Jeff Bridge's acting than any other innate goodness in the movie. He plays Bad Blake, a country western singer who's seen his better days. Think Merle Haggard or Waylon Jennings. The plot is essentially boy-meets-girl, although it also involves boy-drinks-too-much-but-gets-his-career-back-somehow-eventually-anyway.

The film boasts some beautiful cinematography, great acting, and competent writing. The soundtrack was excellent. Unfortunately, the pacing is pretty slow, and the plot is predictable. Before I saw the movie, I was surprised that it hadn't been nominated for Best Picture, but now that I've seen it, I understand why: Crazy Heart is a very good film, but it's not a great film. (On the other hand, that didn't prevent The Hurt Locker, another good-but-not-great film, from getting nominated.)

If you're looking for a movie about country music singers, Tender Mercies, with which Crazy Heart has drawn some perhaps-inevitable comparisons, is a far superior film, one of the only films I've ever seen which seemed perfect in every way.

The Crazies is a remake of a 1973 George Romero film about a town that's quarantined by the military because of a disease that makes the people there act crazy. I haven't seen the original, but this remake is pretty good stuff.

Timothy Olyphant is always entertaining, although he's a little too earnest in this film. His performance reminded me of his Deadwood performance, where he was again very earnest. I prefer my Timothy Olyphant a little edgier, like he was in The Girl Next Door, Die Hard with a Vengeance, or A Perfect Getaway.

Ebert had it right when he said that The Crazies was a so-so zombie movie for people who want to watch a so-so zombie movie.

What I've Been Up To Lately

2009-11-18T07:21:00.000-08:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been busy doing stuff. What kind of stuff? All kinds of stuff. For example, I've written and published a couple of new microsites, which are one or two page websites which provide a laser-focused answer to a single question. These new microsites include:

Country Music Love Songs - This site takes a look at some of the best country love songs from the past 50 or 60 years, and it's organized by decade. Some of the songs are included because they're favorites of mine; others are included because they're notable. It was a fun page to put together.
Fight Club Quotes - I thought the movie and the book Fight Club were terribly quotable, almost to a fault, so I thought it would be fun to collect some of the better quotes in one place.
Funny Life Quotes - Obviously I enjoy quotes and quotations, so putting this page together was a lot of fun too.

I've also spent some time posting at Twitter under my new account related to my bookstore: @horrorbooks. Feel free to drop by there and befriend me if you like; I'll definitely follow you back. (Unless you have a super-lame Twitter profile page. I tend to not follow Twitterers who don't include any detailed info on their profile page.)

I also want to give a quick shout out to a couple of new horror authors that I've become acquainted with lately:

Brian Keene - I just finished his novel The Rising, which I thought was entertaining as hell. I'm looking forward to digging into the sequel, City of the Dead, starting today.
Ray Garton - I've become acquainted with him at Twitter, and I can't wait to start reading some of his fiction. I think I'll probably read Live Girls first, since I think vampires and strippers make such a great combination.
John Everson - Another horror writer I haven't read yet but plan to start on this week. Since I own a horror books store, it's kinda pitiful that I haven't read any of Everson's books yet. I'm getting through a novel every day or two right now though, so that problem should be rectified shortly.

I saw Paranormal Activity. Yes, it's as good as everyone is saying it is. Even my son Drew was impressed with how scary it was. It's nice to know that Katie Featherston (who, IMO, is one of the most beautiful women to ever grace the big screen) is from right here in the DFW area too. She went to SMU. If she's reading this, I hope she'll consider doing an appearance some weekend at my store.

Curse of the Were-Woman Review

2009-09-05T18:03:00.000-07:00

One of the books that I read about recently in the Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine's book reviews section is a graphic novel titled Curse of the Were-Woman. Here's my review.

Curse of the Were-Woman is an original graphic novel from writer Jason M. Burns and artist Christopher Provencher. It's a classic "high-concept" story, the kind of thing you'd see in a movie. Christopher Dalton is a womanizer and power-hungry ad exec who has constant one-night stands. Some kind of Wiccan that he beds one night gets her feelings hurt and curses him to turn into a woman every time the sun comes down. He'll remain a "were-woman" until he becomes less of a chauvinist.

I could see Curse of the Were-Woman playing out as a movie with a traditional leading man type (Vince Vaughn maybe) with someone like Jack Black as his best friend. And I think it would make for a successful and probably funny film. I left the graphic novel with the feeling that the writer really enjoys Ben Stiller and Judd Apatow movies.

Unfortunately, the kind of formulaic storytelling didn't work well in the graphic novel format. My expectations from a graphic novel are different than my expectations of a movie. I come to a graphic novel looking for surprises. Curse of the Were-Woman offers no surprises to anyone who's seen as many Hollywood movies as most people have.

The other problem I had with Curse of the Were-Woman is that the core assumption is that a man who likes having sex with a variety of women somehow has a lesson to learn. That's a pretty old-fashioned attitude. The main character didn't seem to be a total chauvinist ass to me; he just seemed like a guy who enjoys sex with multiple women. That's not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it's a pretty common thing.

But the artwork was excellent, and the writing was workmanlike if not inspired. I'd not hesitate to recommend this to someone as pure entertainment. At least Curse of the Were-Woman is trying to do something other than be a dark parody of the superhero genre, which is an overwhelming trend in the graphic novel/comic book field today.

There's a great interview and plot synopsis of Curse of the Were-Woman available on the Comic-Con message board here:

Curse of the Were-Woman Review, Discussion, & Interview

Fantasy and Science Fiction December 2008

2009-09-05T16:23:00.000-07:00

I'm on a bit of a reading binge this weekend, and I'm catching up on my Fantasy and Science Fiction back issues. I want to start blogging about some of the stories I read there because that way I can look back at some of my notes here and remember some of what I've read. These are my notes/review for Fantasy and Science Fiction December 2008:

"A Foreign Country" by Wayne Wightman

"A Foreign Country" by Wayne Wightman is probably my 2nd favorite story from this issue. It's about a self-described not-too-bright reporter who covers a third-party candidate for President who miraculously wins the election. His solutions to the country's problems are unorthodox in a fantastic way, and the characterization of both the main character is handled deftly. "A Foreign Country" is a short story worth re-reading.

"Leave" by Robert Reed

I'm sure that I'm not alone in my admiration of Robert Reed's short fiction. Every story I read in F&SF by Reed is excellent, and "Leave" is no exception. It's about a young man at some point in the near future who has decided to leave Earth to fight in an alien war for 30 years. Or, more accurately, it's about the people he leaves behind and how they cope with his decision. Top notch stuff.

"A Skeptical Spirit" by Albert E. Cowdrey

"A Skeptical Spirit" by Albert E. Cowdrey is a twist on the traditional ghost story. It's a cute enough story, but it's mostly just a fluff piece. I thought it was one of the weaker stories in this issue.

"How the Day Runs Down" by John Langan

"How the Day Runs Down" by John Langan was my favorite story of the issue. It's a post-apocalyptic zombie story told as a one-act play of sorts, and the stage manager is more than just a stage manager. It's a haunting, lyrical tale with a final sentence that was thought-provoking. This is a story that will stick with you.

This story was also featured in an anthology called The Living Dead, and you can read an excerpt from it here: "How the Day Runs Down" by John Langan - Excerpt.

"Falling Angel" by Eugene Mirabelli

"Falling Angel" by Eugene Mirabelli is what I understand to be an excerpt from a longer work, and it doesn't make much sense as a short story. I'm not a reader who needs EVERYTHING made clear to me, but I do like for SOME things to be clear. So much is untold in this story that it's hard to care about anything that happens. And honestly, other than an angel falling from the sky and having sex with the guy who finds her, not much does happen. I enjoyed the eroticism of the story, but I wished it had more of a plot. ("Falling Angel" intrigued me enough that I'll probably look for some of Mirabelli's novels though.)

"The Alarming Letters from Scottsdale" by Warner Law

"The Alarming Letters from Scottsdale, like "A Skeptical Spirit", is a trifle of a story. I won't spoil any of the plot here, but it reminded me of some of the older pulp fiction I've read. Had it not been for the fantasy element, it would have been a good fit for Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine or for Alfred Hitchock's Mystery Magazine. The story is a reprint from the early 1970's.

I'll refrain from reviewing the nonfiction columns like Gordon Van Gedder's editorial or Lucius Shepard's film reviews. Suffice it to say that the nonfiction content of every issue of F&SF that I've read have been exceptional and well worth reading.

Mary, Me, and a Cupcake

2009-03-24T12:26:00.001-07:00

What more need be said about this photo?

What I've been working on lately

2009-03-04T09:16:00.000-08:00

I haven't been posting very often here, and for that I'm sorry. I thought today I might make a quick update to let everyone know what I've been doing lately.

The family and I just bought a new home in Lucas about 3 weeks ago. We like it there so far, and the kids are happy that they all have their own rooms.

The bookstore is going well. I've launched a new blog there at the site: Horror Books Blog. Along those same lines, I also bought a horror forum. I'm particularly interested in the horror movies section there.

I also bought a site called Ask Deb a while back, and I'm doing some blogging there. Ask Deb Blog. It's a really cool site with a lot of "channels". The site focused largely on love advice originally, but we've expanded the topics to include personal finance advice and travel tips.

Anyway, that's enough about the web stuff. I've also been reading more books lately. I particularly enjoyed the new novel from Wally Lamb, called The Hour I First Believed. This was honestly one of the best novels I've ever read, in fact. I recommend it.

I started reading Duma Key last night. It's a Stephen King novel about a guy who's in a wreck, loses an arm, and becomes an artist. So far it's really good, and really different from King's other books.

Leave some notes in the comments about what you've been doing.

A Reading Plan for 2009

2009-01-01T15:03:00.001-08:00

I've been thinking a lot about "reading plans" lately. I've been browsing through The Joy of Reading by Mark van Doren and realized that the end of my life is actually in sight. (It's not close, but it's not so distant as to be unthinkable anymore. I'm not depressed about this either, so don't worry about me.) And in my lifetime, I'm only going to be able to read a finite number of books.

I don't have any means of knowing how many books I have left in me to read, but it does occur to me that there are some great books I want to experience before I die, and I should start doing some planning in order to actually get some of them read.

If I live to be 80 years old, and I read 52 books a year (one a week), then I've got about 2000 books left in me.

I guess if I wanted to create a lifetime reading plan, I'd make a list of 2000 books and get started on them. But at the same time, that would eliminate the possibility of reading any books that are written between now and 2050. I guess that a better approach would be to prioritize my reading by which books I think are most important that I read and start there.

And most lifetime reading plans I've seen only include a couple hundred books anyway, so I've got a pretty good degree of flexibility.

At any rate, here's what I'm planning to read in January of 2009, and only one of them is really what you'd think of as a traditional lifetime reading selection:

The Killer Inside Me (book club selection for my book club)
House of Leaves (another book club selection)
A Game Of Thrones
The Trial by Kafka, which is the classic piece of my selection

Talk about what you're going to be reading in 2009 or in January in the comments, if you like.

Quick updates

2008-12-12T21:53:00.000-08:00

This is just a quick post about what I've been up to lately.

As I posted previously, I've opened a horror book store. That's going well. I'm enjoying it, and the locals are starting to realize that we're open for business. The book club meets the first Thursday of every month, with the exception of January, and the last two meetings have been a lot of fun.

I've also been doing some blogging about poker affiliate marketing at the PAP blog. That's been a lot of fun. I'm also the admin of the poker affiliate forums at PAP too, and I'm the host of Poker Affiliate Radio now.

I'm reading Up in the Air by Walter Kirn right now, and I'm liking it pretty well so far. I'm trying to increase the amount of actual reading that I'm doing lately. Oh, and I also just finished reading Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk. Great stuff, that - I liked that almost as well as I liked Lullaby.

The wife and I have caught up on this season of Californication by watching the show on OnDemand. I love the Lew Ashby character and his obvious parallels to Jay Gatsby.

My daughters keep getting bigger and more delightful, while my boy gets even bigger too and surlier.

We're enjoying the holidays.

PS - I promised a buddy of mine that I would mention his latest article about warm winter drinks here. I'm a particular fan of egg nog this time of year, personally. His main site (the article is featured on his blog) is about buying bar stools. Very cool stuff.

Wylie Texas Horror Book Club

2008-10-23T15:06:00.000-07:00

Eerie Book is hosting the new Wylie Texas Horror Book Club. The Wylie Texas Horror Book Club is a reading group which will meet on the first Thursday of each month at Eerie Books to read and discuss a horror novel each month. At our first meeting, on Thursday, November 6, we'll select books to read over the next 12 months or so. We'll have drinks and snacks available too.

So...

What? The Wylie Texas Book Club
When? The first Thursday of each month at 6:30pm.
Where? Eerie Books, 205 N. Ballard St., Wylie, TX 75098
Who? Anyone who likes to read horror books is invited, although we'll probably try to keep things age appropriate.
Why? So we can read and discuss a dozen or so cool horror books over the next year.

You can read more about this here: Wylie Texas Horror Book Club.

Eerie Books Grand Opening

2008-10-11T06:31:00.000-07:00

Texas' only all-horror books, movies, and collectibles store will celebrate its grand opening on Saturday, October 18, 2008 from 10am to 6pm at 205 N. Ballard St., Wylie, TX 75098.

The first 100 customers will receive free horror books and free horror movies. We'll also be serving free refreshments.

Bram Stoker nominated author Angeline Hawkes will be appearing and signing copies of her new book, Symphony for the Forgotten.

We will also be hosting a game (or several games) of Zombies!, the zombie-themed board game/tile game from Twilight Creations.

Visit us on the Internet at http://www.eeriebooks.com/.

Friday Night Lights Season 2

2008-05-14T04:38:00.000-07:00

I didn't see Season 1 of Friday Night Lights when it originally aired; we watched it on DVD. Other than Lost, I felt pretty confident that Friday Night Lights was the single best televised drama ever. And I didn't even like the movie. But something about the show, at least during Season 1, rang so true and felt so real that it was compelling beyond belief.

This week the wife and I sat down to watch Season 2 of Friday Night Lights. My wife has decided she doesn't even like the show anymore. I'm still fond of it, but it's not the same show as it was in Season 1. This is my opinion after watching the first three episodes. The plotlines seem contrived, as if the people making the show realized that the ratings for Season 1 weren't very good, and maybe they should change something to make the show more compelling.

Some of the changes so far:

Riggins has turned into an asshole. One might argue that he was an asshole in Season 1 too, but I didn't think so. He was likable. So far this season, he seems almost like a caricature of who he was in Season 1. I cringed when he told Lila that she was still he best he'd ever had. Ugh.

Landry joined the football team. And murdered someone. Landry's probably my favorite character, and I was really rooting for him to hook up with the hot blonde. But I don't think having him join the football team was necessary. And the murder plot is just over the top. This is like soap opera stuff.

Lila's become a born again Christian. Ugh. Strange plot development here. Not sure what I think about that, but my initial reaction is that I don't like it. At all.

Saracen and the coach's daughter broke up. This is so lame. They spent all of Season 1 getting together, and before we actually get to see their relationship develop, they've already split up because of "the Swede". Very strange.

Buddy has become pathetic. Buddy is another of my favorite characters. But in Season 2, he just seems to be falling apart. I just pray that he doesn't eventually wind up in AA meetings.

Connie Britton's breasts are proudly displayed in every episode. She's a lovely woman, and she certainly has a right to be proud of her bosom. It just seems like every episode so far has included several gratuitous shots of her leaning forward displaying cleavage. In one episode she walked all the way to the school in 105 degree heat so that she could sweat, and her breasts could glisten. Don't mistake me. I like it. It just seems gratuitous.

There are more changes so far (like Coach Taylor's daughter becoming a selfish little brat), but maybe later in the season the show will improve. I sure hope so. If they decide to make Season 3 even more interesting, the show will have probably irreversibly jumped the shark.

Search Engine Optimization Blogs I Like

2008-02-08T06:09:00.000-08:00

Some people may not know this about me, but I'm a search engine optimization guy. This is how I make my living. This isn't an SEO blog; it's a personal blog. But some people might not know that this is what I do for a living.

A few SEO bloggers out there have really done a great job of helping to educate me about search engine optimization, and I'd like to give a little credit where it's due here. These aren't necessarily the best SEO blogs out there, but they're some of my favorites.

Tropical SEO - Andy Hagans is one of my favorite SEO thinkers. If he posted more often, then I'd think maybe he was the best SEO blogger ever, but he's lazy. I want to be lazy like him too. His post How to Build an Affiliate Website You Can Sell for $1 Million should be required reading for any affiliate marketer. And his encouragement post is awesome too. I just wish he'd post more often.
Michael Martinez - Some people accuse him of being merely contrarian just for the sake of being contrary, but I like his blog a LOT. Some of his posts are really out there, and he seems to get irritated about some really odd things. But his criticism of people touting nofollow as a tool for shaping PR on a site is dead on perfect. (It's ludicrous.) And his hardcore SEO tips is one of my favorite SEO posts ever.
100 Dollar SEO - I only recently found this blog while reading Martinez's blog, but it's good stuff. He posts consistently, and his analyses are thorough and well thought out. His recent post about different linking structures you can use when building a content rich site was one of the best treatments of the subject I've ever read.
SEO Book - Aaron Wall's blog almost doesn't need mentioning, because everyone already knows about it. But he's great - honest, sincere, helpful, and thoughtful. The guy really knows what he's doing, and it shows.
Eric Ward - This guy's been building links for a million, billion years. If you want an introduction to link building that ISN'T about spamming your links in a million places just so that you can rank in the search engines, this is the place to start. (Links are about more than ranking websites, after all.)

Those SEO blogs aren't listed in any particular order really. I just wrote down the 5 blogs that I read and enjoy the most. (And heck, Eric Ward's site isn't even really a blog. I just couldn't leave him off the list.)

Poker Movie - The Grand Trailer

2008-02-08T05:08:00.000-08:00

Some people don't know this, but I'm an avid (albeit losing) poker player. I just started hanging out at the Ridge Poker forum, and I saw this Youtube trailer for what looks like it will be the greatest poker movie of all time. The name of the movie is The Grand. I guess it's an improv comedy kind of movie, in the tradition of This Is Spinal Tap.

Woody Harrelson looks like he'll be having a starring role in this, and David Cross has a prominent role too. And Cheryl Hines, who plays Larry David's wife on Curb Your Enthusiasm, is also in the movie. The Grand is directed by Zak Penn, who has previously written a whole bunch of superhero movies.

The movie should come out March 21, 2008.

(And if you want to read my contributions to the poker discussion over there, look for a user named "BigTuna".)

More Christmas Party Pics

2007-12-16T04:35:00.000-08:00

In my last post, I talked about Johnny Harra, but I didn't mention that Santa Claus also visited our Christmas party. Here are some photos of my kids with Santa Claus, and some photos of them with the gingerbread houses and stuff.

All 3 kids with Santa Claus.

The girls getting their gingerbread houses built.

Me and Mary, relaxing on the couch.

Christmas Party Pictures

2007-12-16T04:21:00.000-08:00

We had one of our family Christmas parties a couple of weeks ago, and I'm only now getting around to writing a page about it. Allison and her family like to build gingerbread houses as the main activity for the party, but I usually sit that part out. I don't like to get sticky.

Allison hired Johnny Harra to perform this year. He's one of the original Elvis impersonators, and he's a real treasure. He was in the movie This is Elvis in the early 1980's, and he used to do the Elvis impersonator thing in Vegas too. We're lucky enough that he's local now. Here are some pictures:

This is a pic of Johnny Harra in my living room performing. I have no doubt that had Elvis lived, he'd look pretty much like Johnny Harra. I have a photo of Johnny Harra from 1981 that I thought was a joke, because it looks SO much like Elvis.

This is a picture of my Aunt Marty with "the King".

This one is of Cliff Spiller, Randy Ray, Johnny Harra, and Shane Rivers. Cliff and Shane come over every weekend, and we didn't see any reason for them to skip a week just because we were having a family Christmas party. I think Cliff enjoyed the singing more than Shane did, but we all had fun.

Heroes Season 2 - Heroes NBC - Heroes Spoilers

2007-11-28T08:55:00.000-08:00

Warning - Heroes Season 2 Spoilers Ahead - Don't Read if You're Not Interested in Heroes Spoilers

Another tv show my wife and I enjoyed was Heroes. We watched the first season of NBC Heroes on HD-DVD and were hooked. In particular, the alternate future stuff was cool. And the final few storylines and the ultimate episode of season 1 were terrific. So we were really disappointed with Heroes season 2.

Until the last two or three episodes, that is. Boy, have they turned it around. Even the lame romance with Claire's new flying boyfriend has gotten interesting. The first turning point where Heroes season 2 redeemed itself was when Horn Rimmed Glasses guy killed his old partner. The second turning point was when Peter teleported himself and the Irish gal into the alternate future where 93% of the planet was dead.

And the final turning point was when we found out who Adam is.

We have high hopes for the final episode in this story arc, which is coming next Monday. I've read that it's been written to be a possible season finale, in case the writers' strike prevents the season from being completed. If next week's episode is as cool as the last three or so episodes have been, then Heroes season 2 will be worthy of its audience. But if and when they return after that, the creators need to avoid the debacle that was the first half of Heroes season 2.

Friday Night Lights Cancelled - Friday Night Lights Renewed

2007-11-26T22:10:00.000-08:00

I read an article on a site somewhere, and I don't remember which site it was, that said that Friday Night Lights was possibly the best drama on television. We saw the 2004 movie Friday Night Lights, and we liked it okay, but even though I'm a big fan of Billy Bob Thornton, it just wasn't all that. (Certainly not the greatest sports movie ever made, which was one of the lines I'd heard to describe it.) But I figured the wife and I would give it a shot after reading such a rave review of the television series.

And here's the truth: the Friday Night Lights reviews were correct. The show is terrific. I can't think of a better television drama right now. TV has become a wasteland of cop shows, medical dramas, and reality shows. In that environment, Friday Night Lights is such a refreshing change of pace it's not even funny. The wife and I haven't even finished watching Season 1 on DVD yet, but we're hooked. We've never seen an episode as it aired on television.

And the show is about a subject with which I'm familiar. I live in a small town in Texas which loves football, and I grew up in another small town here that also loves football. And Friday Night Lights nails the source material. The show seldom rings a hollow note.

The actors and actress are authentic as they can be, and I've developed quite a crush on Connie Britton, who plays the coach's wife. (I believe she also played the coach's wife in the film version.) I noticed in the credits that they mentioned "Texas casting". Most shows with characters from Texas botch the accents and mannerisms. But not this one. These characters ARE Texans.

I've seen that phrases like Friday Night Lights cancelled and Friday Night Lights renewed are popular search terms in Google for the show. As far as I know, the viewing audience for the show is fanatical and a high income demographic. So I can't imagine that the show is doing badly enough to face cancellation. With any luck we'll see many seasons of renewals, because I love the show and don't want it to end.

Poor Richards Cafe Plano TX

2007-11-25T11:12:00.000-08:00

The wife and I had breakfast today at Poor Richards Cafe in Plano, TX. I've meant to eat there for years but never gotten around to it until today. The restaurant is located near the intersection of Avenue K and Park in Plano, TX. Since we live in Wylie, it's only a 20 minute or so drive. I wish now that I'd eaten at Poor Richards Cafe much sooner. The food there was sublime.

Poor Richards Cafe looks small from the outside, like a tiny breakfast joint. This is deceptive, as the cafe actually has enough seating for 260 people. On a Sunday morning at 9am, one might think that a breakfast restaurant would be crowded. (Ballards here in Wylie had a 15 minute wait at this time yesterday morning.) But since they have so much seating, Poor Richards is able to seat even large parties quickly. We didn't have to wait at all.

My wife ate gingerbread pancakes, eggs, bacon, and homestyle potatoes. I had the Benedict omlet, which consist of ham, cheddar, onions, mushrooms, and tomatoes, which is then smothered in a generous portion of Hollandaise sauce. Our waitress was a lovely young woman who entered our order into a Bluetooth, which instantly broadcast our order into the kitchen. Our food arrived in what seemed like moments. Everything was hot, fresh, and delicious.

Next time I eat there, which will probably be tomorrow and/or Tuesday, I'm going to try Poor Richard's eggs and their bacon cheeseburger omlet.

Turns out they have an awesome website at Poor Richards Cafe. You can learn more about the history of the cafe in their history section (turns out they were established in 1973), look over their menu, and even find their recipe for chicken soup. They're open 7 days a week from 5:30am to 2:30pm, and breakfast is available anytime. The address for Poor Richards Cafe is 2442 Avenue K, Plano, TX 75074. The phone number for Poor Richards Cafe is 972-423-1524. They do takeout, so you can call ahead and order then pick it up.

My favorite breakfast restaurant in the metroplex used to be the Mecca, but now it's Poor Richards Cafe. I recommend the restaurant to anyone. If you eat there, tell them Randy Ray sent you.

Hitman Movie Pics - Timothy Olyphant

2007-11-24T04:29:00.000-08:00

Hitman is a movie about Agent 47, a lonely assassin who was robbed of his childhood. We saw the picture the day before Thanksgiving. (We being my wife, my son, and I.) The Hitman movie is rated R for bloody violence, nudity, and sexuality, but the violence wasn't that bloody, and the nudity was more plentiful than sexual. If you've played any of the games in the Hitman franchise, you're familiar with the premise of the bald assassin without a name. Vin Diesel was rumored to be starring in the movie for ages, but the filmmakers finally settled on Timothy Olyphant in the lead role.

We enjoyed Hitman even though it was mostly silly fluff. I like action movies, but I prefer action movies with a more intelligent plot and better dialogue. Hitman is fun, especially when scenes in the movie echo scenes from the various video games, but in many places, the dialogue falls flat. A good script doctor would have made a world of difference in this film.

The violence wasn't gratuitous. Hitman is a movie about an assassin, so violence is expected. The entire romance plot was contrived though, and the nudity was gratuitous. That might bother some people more than it bothered me. I don't mind nudity in films. In fact, I like nudity in a movie, but I prefer nudity that has more of a point. The filmmakers were trying to make a point about what a lonely and bizarre life Agent 47 had lived, but the whole subplot didn't resonate with me. Roger Ebert called the parts of the movie that examined the relationship between the Russian woman and Agent 47 "absorbing", but I've disagreed with Ebert before.

Timothy Olyphant turned in a workmanlike performance. He'd be better off finding better roles, but Hitman will probably see large audiences. And the exposure will be good for his career. I'd like to see Timothy Olyphant branch out into a romantic lead or something like that. He's a good actor with a lot of potential. His performances on Deadwood were really outstanding.

Depending on how protective you are, you might want to leave the kids at home. My son is almost thirteen. Unlike some of my friends, I'm more concerned about him viewing violence than sex on screen. Most parents get it backwards. Violence is worse than sex. On the other hand, if your son knocks the hell out of someone, you don't have to worry about helping to raise a baby.

You'll find some Hitman movie pics below. I'm going post more Hitman movie pics again later.

That's a pic of Timothy Olyphant's head from behind.

Another pic of Agent 47 from behind.

A Hitman movie poster.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles - John Hughes

2007-11-23T05:14:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, so last night the family watched Planes, Trains and Automobiles. 1987 was a good year for a lot of things, especially if you were a teenager at the time, or if you happened to like John Hughes, Steve Martin, and John Candy. I love all of John Hughes' great movies, of which there are many, and I despise his crappy movies, of which there are also many. Planes, Trains and Automobiles is one of John Hughes' great movies.

The idea of watching Planes, Trains and Automobiles as a Thanksgiving tradition was Roger Ebert's, who gave the movie a great review. Ebert mentioned that his family watches Planes, Trains and Autombiles every Thanksgiving in one of his editions of Roger Ebert's Home Movie Companion. We had trouble finding it on DVD, but my wife finally got a used copy from eBay.

If you've never seen this movie, it's an Odd Couple type tale about two travelers, one of whom is trying to make it home in time for Thanksgiving. Steve Martin is the fussy straight man, while John Candy portrays the funny sloppy guy. Various disasters stand in the way making it home on time, many of them caused by John Candy's character. (Candy plays a shower-curtain ring salesman, but he doesn't just sell shower curtain rings. He sells the best shower-curtain rings in the world.)

Planes, Trains and Automobiles has one of the highest ratings on Rotten Tomatoes that I've ever seen at 97%. But the movie deserves its high rating, as it's a real holiday classic. Some of the music sounds hopelessly dated and 1980's, but since those were my teenage years, I don't mind a bit.

The best part of the movie for me was the look of understanding and happiness on my daughter Mary's face during the climax of the movie. I think some of the plot was over her head, but in the end, she got it.

Conan Xbox 360 - Conan 360 Video Game

2007-11-22T22:13:00.000-08:00

This post is all about my experiences playing Conan Xbox 360. I'm going to refer to the game as Conan 360 as well as "Conan X-box 360", just for fun and variety's sake.

I've been a fan of Conan the Barbarian since I was in high school. Growing up in Bonham, Texas, life could get pretty boring sometime, and thanks to the local bookstore, I was able to escape the tedium by visiting Robert E. Howard's imaginary world of Hyboria. That's where Conan of Cimmeria walked the planet as a slayer and a reaver. (Howard was also from small town Texas.) So I was pretty happy when I saw that there was such a thing as "Conan 360".

The game, Conan Xbox 360, is fun, and it nails the feel of Robert E. Howard's Conan tales. Combat is the order of the day, and it's appropriately brutal and gory. I noticed on the cover that one of the reasons Conan was rated "M" was because of the nudity. And the game offers plenty of eye candy. The nude maidens that Conan rescues throughout the game look the same except for variations of hair and skin color. The quotes from the maidens as they were rescued were entertaining too.

Conan is voiced by Ron Perlman, who gives a fine performance as the barbarian. The score of the game fits the game too. Honestly, this video game portrays Howard's version of the barbarian's adventures better than the movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger did. And I've never seen any of the other versions of Conan, on television or otherwise. (Was a big fan of the Conan comic books though.)

My daughters even tried playing the Conan 360 game, and Maddie is playfully imitating some fo the combat moves. (She throws a right, then a left, then does a pirouette and punches with both hands, grunting at appropriate times.) She's five years old, so it's cute.

And no, I don't think she'll grow up to be a slayer, reaver, or barbarian like Conan just because I let her play Conan Xbox 360 growing up.

Bush Commutes Libby Sentence

2007-07-02T15:42:00.000-07:00

George Bush commuted Scooter Libby's 30 month prison sentence today. Libby was convicted of perjury, obstruction of justice, and lying to investigators.

For those people who don't know exactly what it is that Libby did, he leaked the identity of a CIA operative to the press.

Bush claims that the 30 month sentence was excessive, and that's why he commuted the sentence. He left the 2 years of probation and the $250,000 fine in place, and said that he left a harsh punishment in place. Apparently Republicans wanted Libby to get a full pardon.

Are these the same Republicans who wanted Clinton thrown out of office for lying about his "inappropriate relationship"?

Is the President now going to start reviewing all sentences in the country and deciding whether or not they're excessive?

My guess is no. They're probably just going to commute sentences of people in their administration who do their dirty work for them.

More Ann Coulter Madness

2007-06-27T07:31:00.000-07:00

So Elizabeth Edwards calls Ann Coulter and asks her to try to raise the level of our political debate by not making personal attacks against John Edwards anymore. Ann Coulter's only rebuttals to this?

You're making money by complaining about my complaints on your website. (Their fundraising has nothing to do with whether or not Ann Coulter is right or wrong to launch nasty, vicious personal attacks on people like John Edwards.)
That was a long time ago. (What does WHEN Coulter said these things have to do with it? She certainly hasn't stopped acting like a troll recently. She hasn't expressed a change of heart.)

I have friends who are Republicans, but none of them spew the kind of vitriolic venom that Coulter does. Coulter has no place in our political dialogue. She doesn't deserve to.

You can view the videos here.

Have a nice day.

Save Jericho

2007-05-16T08:08:00.000-07:00

So CBS announced that they're cancelling Jericho. I don't know if the show can be helped with a "Save Jericho" campaign or not, but I think the show's best chance is if people actually email and write CBS. Just signing an online petition won't do the trick. (Although that couldn't hurt, it's not going to have the same effect as a large volume of emails and actual letters.)

It's hardly fair for CBS to launch a show, let it develop a following, then put it on a hiatus for several weeks, and then bring it back and schedule it opposite the most popular show in television history. (American Idol) Serial dramas like Jericho are possibly the most "sticky" types of shows on tv today, and the networks should support them.

You can try to save Jericho by writing to CBS at: audsvcs@cbs.com. You can also go to their website at http://www.cbs.com/ and click on "feedback". A third option, and probably the most effective one, would be to send an actual letter to:

CBS Audience Services
51 W. 52nd St.
New York, NY 10019

Finally, you can call CBS at 212-975-3247.

Randy Ray Condemns Ann Coulter's Recent Comments

2007-03-07T15:04:00.000-08:00

I'm announcing publicly that I support the Human Rights Campaign's condemnation of Ann Coulter's hate-filled commentary. Coulter's use of the word "faggot" to describe John Edwards in a public forum is reprehensible and characteristic of the type of venom she has been spreading for years. How can people honestly support a woman who thinks Joe McCarthy was right, that the Democratic Party is a vast terrorist sleeper cell, and that widows of the 9/11 attack have no right to speak out about the war in Iraq?

Below is a list of some of Ann Coulter's bizarre and hateful remarks over the years:

1. I've never seen people enjoying their husbands' deaths so much.

Who could possibly think that a remark like that is remotely appropriate, funny, or even intelligent? It's just mean, stupid, and full of hate.

2. My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times Building.

So because she thinks that the New York Times is too liberal, the people working there all deserve to die at the hands of a terrorist? Surely no one can approve of that message.

3. I think the government should be spying on all Arabs, engaging in torture as a televised spectator sport, dropping daisy cutters wantonly throughout the Middle East and sending liberals to Guantanamo.

So because I have a different political belief from Ann Coulter, I should be sent to Guantanamo? And torture should be a televised sport? Does she live in the Middle Ages or something?

4. I don't know if [former U.S. President Bill Clinton is] gay. But [former U.S. Vice President] Al Gore - total fag.

This is obviously not a new trend for Coulter. She's been picking on liberal politicians for years now, and picking on gays too. As if that were the worst thing she could say about someone. If she used the "n-word" describe Jesse Jackson, would that generate some controversy?

5. If you don't hate Clinton and the people who labored to keep him in office, you don't love your country.

This is just beyond absurd and pointless. I have friends who are conservatives, but none of them would agree with or support this type of hate-filled, stupid pronouncement from a public figure. There is a certain amount of civility that should be expected from our political commentators. Ann Coulter should receive the same type of ostracism from the press that leaders of the KKK receive. It's all hate speech, and it's all wrong. She can believe what she wants, but she shouldn't be pouring her hatred into public discourse, and no one should support it, not even conservatives.