I have found the ultimate answer to Chuck Norris.

Okay so as many of you know I love to read. And while not a true bibliophile like my father I have an insatiable hunger for a good story. Well about a month ago I stumbled upon a novel called Relic by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. If that title sounds familiar then you may not be surprised to learn that it is the novel upon which the atrocious motion picture The Relic starring Tom Sizemore was based. Now as you can probably tell I did not think much of the movie however the overall story was good enough to make me wonder if there was a book and if so what was left out that could have made it all the better.


Well my friends the answer is simple. FBI Special Agent Aloyisius X.L. Pendergast. You see what the movie did was it removed the true hero of the story and gave that title to a supporting if not equally bad ass character named NYPD Lt. Vincent D'gosta. So what makes Pendergast so wothy of the challenging of Chuck Norris. Well I'll tell you.

While at first glance Pendergast may seem unassuming and even a pushover, appearances can be deceiving. The man is a former special ops warrior, a master of disguise and a supernaturally effective investigator on par with the legendary Sherlock Holmes. While reading subsequent Pendergast novels Reliquary, Brimstone, Dance of Death and The Book of the Dead, it is quite clear that in a world of no originality, Pendergast comes as close as one could hope to a truly original character. He is described as a man who shows all the signs of a sociopath but has a true love for his closest friends, best shown in the Holmes/Watson relationship he has with Lt. D'gosta. He is a well cultured man with an appreciation for wine, books, history, art, music and food. His brilliance is matched only by his deadliness in tight situations. And of course just like Holmes he has his own Moriarty. Diogenes Pendergast his brother. An equally brilliant and infinitely insane man, Diogenes is driven to cause his brother pain and suffering on an almost biblical scale.

All in all Pendergast is one of the best heroes in contemporary fiction and if you like a good detective story I suggest you pick up one of his books. I promise you will not be dissapointed.

Til' we meet again

Paul

P.S. I almost forgot Pendergast is all those things plus a southern gentleman from New Orleans.

This is so funny and yet so very very wrong!

TAG

tag . . .
Here's how you play....once you have been tagged, you have to write a blog with ten random facts, habits, or goals about yourself. At the end, choose ten people to tag, listing their names and why you chose them; don't forget to leave a comment on their page letting them know "tag you're it". You cannot tag the original people/person back that tagged you first, but let them know when you have posted so they can read your blog.

1. I was born with a collapsed lung.

2. My favorite snack food is a peanut butter and jelly and potato chip sandwich.

3. I am not above watching a good movie just because it may have chick flick implications. (but if it has Sally Field in it I avoid it like the plauge)

4.My greatest catharsis is my acting.

5. My greatest ambition is to be able to say that i am svelte once more. (because svelte is a cool word.)

6. I may be on the heavy side but I am good with who I am and not alot of people can say that.

7. I hate snow.

8. I love Scotch. Scotchy Scotch Scotch.

9. I can eat the crap out of a barbeque pork shoulder.

10. I too have an unhealthy view of how dead sexy I really am.

My tags

1. Jennifer V. - Cause she kicks ass.

2. George - cuz he pretty much thinks like me

3. Jessica - Cause she's hot.

4. Justin - cause he's like a second brother

5. Pete - cause he kicks ass.

6. Connie - because she probably won't do this thing

7. Brooke - because she's crazy

8. Aime - Cause she's a liberal kook

9. Jennifer C. - Cause she's a mommy

10. Jeff - cause he's Jeff.

My Favorite Movies Part 2

#5


One of the few movies that will make me cry. Anyone who loves movies and baseball should not be without this movie.

What is this movie all about? This line says it all.

"Hey dad... you wanna have a catch?"- Ray Kinsella played by Kevin Costner

#4



How can you not love this movie. I mean if you believe the Holocaust was the most terrible and unnecessary loss of human life the world has ever seen, you can't help but love the story of hope that this movie is. And if you deny that the Holocaust even took place you can rejoice in the loss of that life because you are a Jew hating piece of shit.



Anyway this is another of the few movies that make me cry, and I think the reason is quite obvious.Sum up line for this work of art.



"The list is an absolute good. The list is life."- Itzhak Stern played by Ben Kingsley






#3



Brando, Pacino, Duvall, and Caan, how can you possibly miss. Now I know that most of you will probably say that the second installment is better but I have always been partial to #1.



This movie is very difficult to sum up in a single line but if put on the spot I think that I would have to go with.



"It's not personal, only business."- Michael Corleone played by Al Pacino





#2

Just an unbelivable movie. And I did not pick out a single movie in the trilogy on purpose because they are essentially one large movie and should be viewed as such.

Gandalf will now recite the sum up line for this movie.

Upon Frodo saying that he wishes the ring had never come to him, Gandalf has this to say.

"So do all who live to see such times but that is not for us to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."- Gandalf the Grey played by Ian Mckellan

And my #1 favorite movie of all time is.

Okay if this comes as a suprise to anyone who reads this blog I will be severely dissapointed. However I feel I should clarify that I am not speaking of strictly Episode IV. This trilogy (notice I said trilogy and not saga as I cannot in good taste include the prequels in this entry) is, just like LOTR, meant to be viewed as a whole. I know that this is probably a bit anti-climactic but so what.

Anyway I had to truly rack my brain to find the line from these movies that truly sums them up and I believe it can be found in Episode IV.

"You must do what you feel is right of course."- Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi played by the late great Alec Guiness.




So there they are. I know that many movies on this list would not make most top 10 lists but for the moment this is mine. I expect it to change as other movies come out or I see others classics that I have not seen before.

'Til we meet again

Paul

My Favorite Movies

I was watching something on television yesterday with Steven Spielberg talking about his movies and what he liked and disliked about them, and it got me thinking about what I would consider the top ten best movies that I have ever seen and how many of those would be his. So I sat down and really thought about it and was surprised to find that he only has two spots in my personal top 10. Now as this is my personal top 10 a few of my choices may be unknown to some of you but these movies are all near and dear to my heart. So without further ado I would like to share with you my personal top 10 list of the best movies I have ever seen.

#10

Now this may be one of those movies that a good many of you may not have seen. If you haven't I suggest you go out and rent it as soon as you can. It is a beautiful movie about what it means to be an adult and more specifically what it means to be a man.

This movie is best summed up in one line.

"Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things that a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good. That honor courage and virtue mean everything, that money and power, power and money mean nothing. That good always triumphs over evil, and that love...true love never dies. Remember that. It doesn't matter if it's true or not. You see a man needs to believe in those things because those are the things worth believing in." - Hub Mccan played by Robert Duvall

#9

I have my brother to thank for putting me on to this movie. Every time I watch it it makes me wonder why Connery couldn't let this be his last movie before retirement instead of doing the terrible League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. This movie is a wonderful mentor tale and it is close to my heart for its wonderful insight into the world of writing.

In a movie like this there are many great lines and moments but I would have to say that the one line that best sums this movie up is a very simple one.

"That's not exactly a soup question is it." - William Forrester and Jamal Wallace played by Sean Connery and Rob Brown.

#8

This movie gave me my introduction to William Shakespeare's masterpiece of literature Hamlet. It works on the very basic principal that if you can understand Hamlet you can understand anything. It has a wonderful cast strong characters and even though it fudges on certain facts about the military it is a wonderful movie that any self respecting movie lover should see.

This movies sum up line...

"The choices we make dictate the life we lead."- Bill Rago played by Danny Devito

#7

I am sure that most of you have seen this movie as it is a classic with my friends. But that aside it is, I think one of the best movies ever made not just one of the best ones that I have ever seen. I mean Mel Gibson in a kilt how can you top that. Plus every time I watch it I talk in a Scottish accent for the next week, so that's all good.

And is there any better sum up line than...

"Every man dies, not every man really lives."- William Wallace played by Mel Gibson.

#6

Another movie that is definitely one of the best ever made. 'Nough Said

Sum up Line

"I don't know I'm making this up as I go along." Indiana Jones played by Harrison Ford

Well I was going to do all 10 here but a combination of blogspot not giving me access the add image function and the fact that I have to clean the kitchen make that impossible so I leave you with these five and I will reveal the last five tommorow.

'Til we meet again

Paul