Last Vacation Of Summer

Couple of thoughts on a Monday morning as I prepare to take my final vacation time of the summer and get ready to bring my daughter back to Penn State for her senior year. 

Some college students have already returned to school and many more will do so this week as it’s only two weeks until Labor Day.

As if the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry doesn’t have enough juice you throw in what took place last night and it could make for some thrilling moments in September.

Boston pitcher Ryan Dempster should have been ejected for hitting Alex Rodriguez with a pitch early in the game at Fenway Park but the controversial “A Rod” got his payback later with a mammoth home run as the Yanks rallied for a huge victory.

Clearly opposing players are showing baseball’s most hated villain their lack of support in his challenge of a long suspension.  While his own teammates probably have mixed feelings on the subject they also are glad to have his bat back in the lineup as the Yanks try and mount a memorable finish and earn a playoff spot.

Not often does a movie get applause when it ends but that’s what happened Sunday when we saw “The Butler” which took in $25 million at the box office in its first weekend.  The movie tells the story of a White House butler who served 8 American Presidents over 34 years and while it’s based on a true story as is often the case is strays from history and facts.  Forrest Whittaker is outstanding as Cecil Gaines who in real life is Eugene Allen and I have to give credit for Oprah Winfrey who is very good as his wife.

While the theme of the movie matches the real life story there are many plots on screen that apparently were created to make for a better movie.  Among them is young Cecil witnessing his mother getting raped and his father shot and killed on the cotton fields in Georgia.

Also a big part of the movie is the conflict between “The Butler” and his oldest son while the younger son is killed in Viet Nam.  The real life Allen’s only had one son who did serve and survive the war.

Despite that the movie is well worth seeing and includes brief appearances by Robin Williams, John Cusack, Liev Schreiber, Alan Rickman, Jane Fonda and Minka Kelly as Presidents and First Lady’s.  Whittaker as he usually does steals the show and seems a lock for an Oscar nomination.