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Election year shenanigans, the mortgage implosion, whispers of recession, skyrocketing fuel costs, the collapse of democracy as we know it for the supposed sake of democracy (I didn't vote for these assholes. Twice.), Iraq, Iran - hell- the Whole Middle East, terrorism, global warming and rampant scandal among professional athletes (way to go, Congress! I feel much better about so many other things, now).



How many more reasons do you need to fork over some hard-earned green, buy a box of popcorn and watch some shit blow up? See the Good Guys kick some ass for the right reason for a change?






I'm eager for the fun stuff. And this summer promises some high octane, high speed rides (perfect since the price of gas will have most of us parked by then): Del Toro's "Hellboy II: The Golden Army", the second Dark Knight collaboration with Bale & Nolan (and Heath Ledger's swan song),



Indy's way, way, way overdue return with an appropriately crotchety Harrison Ford via George and Steven (guys, this should have been #6 or 7. Asses.), and my number one anticipated summer blockbuster: Jon Favreau's "Iron Man."



Downey finally gets his due: Wowza!

Oh yeah, did I mention Ed Norton's taken on "The Incredible Hulk"? Looks Like a Marvel-ous summer. Absolutely marvelous.

Happy Leap Year.

Five-0: me and Sharon Stone

Two weeks from today I pass the half century mark. I'm not quite sure which is more disturbing at the moment, the notion of actually having survived (so far) to limp toward this milestone or that I share the exact same birthday with Sharon Stone.

And then there are the obvious parallels:

• March 10, 1958 fell on a Monday. So does March 10, 2008.
• In 1958 the Army fired the first U.S. satellite into orbit. In 2008 we fired a rocket to blow a satellite out of orbit.
• A Republican president was mucking about in the Middle East. Duh.
• The first ever Grammy Awards were handed out and promptly forgotten - a tradition stronger than ever at 50.
  
• and on March 11 Charles Van Doren's winning streak on "21" comes to a screeching halt, scandal and disgrace soon to follow (I have always despised game shows).

Other than the usual threat of nuclear annihilation and far too many B-movies on the subject, it seems a pretty uneventful year.

We're gonna need a bigger boat

Damn.

Funny how you don't really miss them until they're really gone.

I'd lost track of Roy Scheider these last years as he scaled back his work load and took the occasional character piece on prime time or - sadly - sub-par features.







But for me and millions more who had our asses in the theaters and the shit scared out of us by Jaws, he's always Chief Brody.