Three Unrelated Items

1) My Dad the Movie Star

The utterly forgettable flick Grandview, USA (starring Jamie Lee Curtis and her two best friends) was filmed in Pontiac, Illinois, about a 15 minute drive from the farm I grew up on. My dad, like many other locals, was an extra in the big parade scene at the end of the movie. My classmate Natasha got a close-up during the end credits, but my dad is seen only from behind. He's walking down the street carrying a lawnchair. We know it's him because of the cowboy hat. It seems like Dad wore that thing everywhere for a couple of years.

Back when Amy and I were engaged I mentioned my dad's brief encounter with Hollywood to one of her relatives. A couple months later her uncle Tom, who was not a participant in the original conversation, says to me "So, your dad starred in a movie with Jamie Lee Curtis?" Still cracks me up that my future in-laws thought I was the son of a movie star.

2) Is Ben 10 the new Hal Jordan?
Just stay with me for a moment. Both these guys a thick-headed, cocky jerks with bits of alien jewelry that allow them to do all sorts of crazy things. All the Ben 10 episodes I've seen have him going up against evil aliens and mad scientists. It's like the New Silver Age or something.

3) Emails I don't want to get from my mom.

I know it's just another crazy forward she got from someone else who thinks internet joke emails are hilarious, but still. My mom's name and 'strip poker' are not words that need to be adjacent in my brain.