We’ve just gotten back from a nice but short mini-vaction that we took with some good friends to my aunt’s condo in Perdido Key, Florida. It was a wonderful weekend of excess and we thoroughly enjoyed the time away. We enjoyed some fine dining at a few different establishments and even got a glimpse of Kid Rock and Rev Run who were apparently in town for the weekend as well. Of course any time in Orange Beach would not be complete without a trip to the infamous Florabama bar – in which we took in the local sites and flavors, having a blast gawking at the local party-goers and other assorted lounge lizards.

In other news, we’ve been been watching a few movies lately, and I am really getting psyched for a few upcoming movies, namely Indiana Jones and Batman. I saw some new publicity stills of Heath Ledger as Joker over at Slash Film and I am convinced that this movie is going to seriously kick ass. As for Indiana Jones, I’m starting to get nervous as I saw the most recent trailer and I noticed lots of stupid slapstick and painful comedic lines that were reminiscent of Temple of Doom which pretty much goes down in history as the worst movie ever. I am still holding out hope that they may revive the series without ruining it but honestly I am going to be going in with little hope and see what shakes out.

As for the boob tube, we’ve been watching a new series on Discovery called the “Alaskan Experiment” which pits four teams of ordinary folks having to survive in a very rugged Alaskan environment for 3 months with nothing but the very bare essentials. It has been a very interesting series to watch as I’ve been bantering about how they should do a Survivor show in some sort of cold setting as the typical tropical locations have gotten old and uninteresting anymore. Although there is no game show element or prize involved with this, the show seems much more real and the people involved are engaging enough to make you want to follow them without having to resort to petty squabbles and sex-laced scanters with bathing suited bimbos starving on a beach and fighting about who is sleeping with whom. It’s got us hooked and I encourage anyone to check it out.

Lastly, on the web front, I am deep in the middle of a much needed re-design of my new employers’ website. I also just launched the new City of D’Iberville website. Although it is still incomplete in several areas, their old site was so horrible that we just had to take this one live sooner that I had liked to. I’ve also got the City of Ocean Springs site in development which is going to be a rather large project. Both of these designs are taking local city websites into a new realm for the Mississippi coast. Historically, the Gulf Coast has been several years behind the rest of the country and in the case of the web, I’d venture closer to ten years behind at least. I’m trying to change that, one site at a time and while it’s slow going it has been pretty rewarding seeing old antiquated websites get a more modern refresh and use technologies and techniques that don’t seem to exist on any other websites in the region. We’re not only doing it better, but we’re doing it right in every instance that I can get away with. Sometimes it’s tough convincing our customers why things should be done that way since they’re not always the most informed or abreast of current styles and movements on the web.

Anyways, enough for now – I’ll post more, as I get more time.

Every one of the characters are simple and unassuming yet force you to engage them on deeper levels than you really want to. The main character played by Josh Brolin is a perfect example of this when you expect a basic man, a cowboy simply out of place in the modern world, confronted with a moral dilemma that puts you in his boots for a gut-wrenching escapade across west Texas.

The killer hunting him is portrayed in such a manner that you cannot help but like him on a visceral level. He is the epitome of raw, pure evil and his intellect and uncompromising calmness drag you onto a never ending roller coaster ride of emotion and sheer terror.

Tommy Lee Jones will win an Academy Award for his portrayal of a nearly retired Texas Sheriff who is dealing with a changing landscape of moral and cultural divides when he is assigned to a multiple homicide that is apparently a drug deal gone wrong. His character is so perfectly portrayed and so engaging with a wit drier than the west Texas soil under his boots.

I simply cannot state how much I enjoyed this movie, especially the ending. I know that a lot of people hated the ending or were confused by it. To me, the ending was the right way to do it. End the movie like things end in real life. No Hollywood, feel-good, get the bad guy, ride into the sunset type of conclusion here and that is what ends this movie the way it rightfully should.

If there is a movie that you need to see, this one is it.