Kennydale Beach Park.

I thoroughly enjoy Kennydale Beach Park. This is a little surprising seeing how on first glance, the park is not that great. The beach sand is full of stones. The shallow part of the beach has weeds. The grass is full of clover which attracts many bees.

So why do I enjoy Kennydale Beach so much? First off, the competion is slim. ONly two of the three beaches in the area have proper deep swimming sections. Kennydale has roped off an Olympic Pool sized area of deep water. You can actually dive into it from a clean dock.

Compare that to Newcastle beach. No diving allowed and the raft that you can't dive from is usually covered with goose shit. In addition, the water at Newcastle beach is full of weeds. Kennydale beach is very clean in comparison.

And then there is parking. On a hot day you will not find parking near Newcastle or Coloun Beach. Not so at Kennydale.

Life is Beautiful

Life is Beautiful. What a strange movie. The first 3rd is slap stick romance. The rest takes place in a POW camp during WWII-- the lead character is Jewish. The father uses humor and clowing to convince his son that it's all a game and if the win, the prize is a tank.

The switch between slapstick and horror happens quickly. This isn't Hogan's Heros-- people actually die. In one scene the father is carrying his sleeping son through deep fog. They stumble on a huge pile of human bones. The father quietly backs away, hoping to not wake his son.

Rescue Dawn

Rescue Dawn about an American pilot on a secret mission in Laos at the start of the Vietnam War. He crashes. Is captured. Is tortured and sent to a POW camp. Eventually he and another POW escape. They have a very harrowing treck through the jungle but are eventually rescued.

I enjoyed this move. Parts of it were beautifully shot-- the opening is a spectacular slow motion scene of a bombing in Vietnam. The acting is also solid.

The Notebook...

The Notebook got great ratings, but it didn't click with me. Mind you, it's a tear jerking chick flick and neither of those are my favorite genres.

What bugs me about most romances is that the guy inevitably does something stupid to show the girl how much he loves here and the girl always responds with glee. She never calls him on it. Never "I can't date you because you keep acting stupid." It's always "This crazy act shows me how pure and loving you are and how my life will be better with you." Bleah.

Maybe I'm just too old.