Friday Fhoto

Two men now struggle with what to do with their Sunday afternoons until 2009.

Dark Knight I-MAX? Not in Richmond.

I’m generally not one to go to a flick on opening weekend. I usually let the die hard followers get their seats first. But for The Dark Knight, the latest installment in the Batman series, there was no waiting around.

But I got lucky. The fictional comic book superhero nearly sold out the 9:50pm showing on Sunday night at Regal Short Pump. The line just to get in auditorium 14 started almost an hour before they cleaned it and opened it up.

It was well worth the wait. Christian Bale (when he’s not allegedly hitting his family) plays a great Batman. And Heath Ledger is brilliant as the psychopathic clown, the Joker.

Two and a half hours later, I wanted to watch it again, this time in IMAX. The Dark Knight Director Christopher Nolan shot four major action sequences and quiet dramatic scenes in IMAX format.

I checked the Science Museum of Virginia to see what films were playing at the IMAX Dome. But much to my dismay, the only current box office movie available in the format is about a panda bear doing martial arts.

The closest IMAX showing of The Dark Knight is at the Virginia Air & Space Center in Hampton, VA – quite the letdown.

The Science Museum of Virginia notes that its IMAX schedule is “subject to change.” Anytime they want to add The Dark Knight to the docket, it will be a change for the better!

2008 Hurricane Season Already Busy

This time of year the Richmond area could some rain. While this past spring was full of showers, the drought that beleaguered most of the state last summer, still wants to rear its head. In fact, voluntary water restrictions could be in place for Lake Chesdin in the coming days. The problem is that most late-afternoon thunderstorms provide nothing more than a change of our outdoor plans. A day-long soaking rain is much more helpful.

Many times it takes a tropical system to bring rain to the region. And if the past two weeks are a precursor of the rest of the 2008 hurricane season, it will be a busy one come August and September.

Tropical Storm Christobal is moving out to sea, away from North Carolina's Outer Banks. Its main impacts along the Mid-Atlantic will be rough surf and dangerous rip currents.

Christobal also has company in the form of Tropical Storm Dolly. Dolly formed yesterday after moving through the Caribbean over the weekend, and is now headed across the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. It could become a hurricane by Wednesday and head towards the Mexico/Texas coast.

While the 2008 hurricane season is off to a busy start, there is some good news; there won’t be a Gaston or Isabel this year, at least not in name.

The photo above, provided by the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, was taken as Tropical Storm Gaston moved over North Carolina and Virginia, Tropical Depression Hermine spun immediately offshore on August 30, 2004. Gaston's winds were about 40 mph and brought heavy rain and flooding to central Virginia.

Friday Fhoto

After years of smoking the peace pipe, Richmond man shows off what Crest White Strips can do.

Bye-Bye Bravos!

With the second-half of the 2008 baseball season now upon us, it’s time to dig in and get ready to say farewell to the Richmond Braves. Each week until the end of the season, a Brave alum will be featured. Some are memorable, others are not, but all played at the dingy Diamond.

Josh Hamilton

I’m not a fan of the Texas Rangers, but if I told you I'm not a fan of Josh Hamilton, I'd be lying. Unless you don’t follow professional sports (in particular beisbol), Hamilton is an outfielder for the Texas Rangers.

As a top pick of the then Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 1999, Hamilton started out on the straight and narrow until injuries sidelined his young career. He then turned to illegal drugs and alcohol to ease the pain – along with eight trips to rehab. His inked arms tell the story of his troubled past. Arms that are now usually covered with sleeves or armbands.

But after a confrontation from his grandmother, Hamilton rebounded in a big way. And now his story is one of the best in all of sports.

After a strong season for the Cincinnati Reds in 2007, he was traded to the Rangers for their top pitching prospect Edinson Volquez, among others. The trade has worked wonders for both teams – Hamilton and Volquez made the AL and NL All-Star teams this year.

But Hamilton has become a force for a Texas squad that hasn’t done much in recent years. He enters the All-star break with 21 dingers and leads the majors with 95 RBI’s.

Throw the amazing stats out at home, it’s Hamilton’s humble attitude that really makes him special. In last night’s Home Run Derby, the slugger hit 28 homers in the first round - the second-highest total for an entire derby. He would bow out in the final to Twins first baseman Justin Morneau, but it was clearly Hamilton’s haven in the house that Ruth built.

The derby delight doesn’t end there. Unlike the other participants, Hamilton didn’t have an MLB’er throw his pitches last night. Instead he picked 71-year-old Clay Counsil throwing to him. Counsil pitched Hamilton and his older brother batting practice during their American Legion days on the fields of Raleigh, N.C., near Hamilton’s hometown.

Asked why he chose someone 44 years his elder to pitch at Yankee Stadium, Hamilton said, “You know, he's never expected anything back from anybody. Probably never got a lot of thank-you notes, either."

Hamilton’s return to stardom is a storyline the Spielberg’s of the world drool over. But the 2008 season is only half-way over, so script writers can put down the pen just yet. In fact, they might be writing for a long time to come. The curtain on Josh Hamilton’s once embattled career doesn’t seem it will close anytime soon.

Friday Fhoto

Having to walk fairly slow, local Ginger Kid shows up to watch bull riding at Richmond Coliseum nearly one month late.

Roger Federer or Fred Rogers?

Welcome to Cheap(er) Gas & Expensive Groceries!

Attention Ukrops shoppers: You can now buy your expensive groceries and get discounted gas! Richmond’s premier grocer has teamed up with locally-owned Uppy’s convenience stores (which sell BP and Exxon gasoline) to give YOU, the weary customer, the deal of a lifetime!

You’ve probably seen the highly-annoying blue flash ads all over Inrich.com by now. For every 50 bucks you spend at Ukrops with your UVC Card, you save 10 cents a gallon at participating gas stations.

The concept is catching on around the country. In Pittsburgh, PA, fuelperks has teamed up with Giant Eagle to provide Keystone-staters some relief at the pump as well.

The idea sounds really good until you think about how much food prices have gone up in recent months. For instance, Fig Newtons are now selling for $3.99 at Ukrops. It’s fruit and cake for crying out loud! Companies are now bottling food in smaller sizes but raising prices. (See Edy’s Ice Cream)
And anything that comes from a farm, fuhgetaboutit!

But Uppy’s has to be hoping that most customers don’t cash in. After all, convenience stores definitely don’t make money on gas–they want you in the store buying chips, lottery tickets and drinks before or after your fill-up.

If you use it right, you can definitely save some greenbacks. The key is not filling up, if possible, until you have racked up some saving on your UVC Card. And once you choose to redeem your fuelperks (20 gallon limit), your balance will be fully depleted. So don’t get gas until you really need it.

And like that expensive cheese and milk, your fuelperks expire. Discounts expire on the last day of the third month following the month in which the discounts were earned.

Play your card right and Fuelperks will be a savings. If not, it’s back to expensive gas and expensive groceries.

Richmond among Sweatiest Cities in America

Deodorant maker Old Spice recently released its annual ranking of the top 100 perspiring cities in America. And yes, the humid haven known as Richmond made the list. That’s not all too surprising.

However, the ranking of 49 is.

The capital city barely made the top half of the list and was followed by Norfolk at 50 and Roanoke at 53. I get the sticky feeling that Old Spice representatives have never experienced the rain forest-like humidity Richmond is so blessed to enjoy during the summer months.

Obviously, this sample size of one was not included in this survey since I tend to sweat like a whore in church on a regular basis – year-round.

Apparently the “dry heat” of the Southwest forces Phoenix residents to apply the stick quite often, as the Arizona city ranked first in the Old Spice survey. Desert dwellers pumped out 26.4 ounces of sweat per hour. That's the equivalent of more than two cans of soda.

Lovely.

The city by the bay, San Francisco, came in dead last with an average temperature of 65 degrees.

Old Spice says its findings are based on computer simulations of the amount of sweat an average person would have produced walking around in cities during the summer months last year.

Having to Deal with Gas Issues, Virginians to Drive Less over Upcoming Holiday Weekend

The Silent-But-Violent Bandit strikes again.