A friend of mine, Steve Curnutte, was on Fox News a while back and did a great job of explaining whe real story behind the mortgage crisis. Here’s the link:

We need more guys out there telling the truth. Nice job, Steve.

I loved Batman Begins. I am a huge Batman fan going way back and was eagerly awaiting the new movie. So, I packed up my step-son and his best friend and headed to the theater last night to check it out.

Let me first say that I am always sceptical of movies where the hype is everywhere - and with this one I mean everywhere. But, let me also say that this one lives up to, if not surpasses, the hype. Wow - what a movie.

Heath Ledger is everything his performance was billed to be. Just as Christian Bale redefined the role of Batman and has washed away any memories of who played him in the past - so has Ledger with his portrayal of The Joker. This movie was great. It was superbly cast and extremely well written and I can’t wait to see it again in a few months when it comes out on DVD.

There are some great action scenes in this one - but that’s not where it excels. There’s actually a great story and excellent dialog throughout the movie. I told my wife last night when I got back that it was the first time I had seen a fantasy movie like this where you could actually believe that both the characters and the plot could happen. I mean this version of The Joker is possible in real life - in my opinion.

Anyway - go see it. It’s a great movie - the bigger the screen the better. I’m hoping to get the chance to catch it on an IMAX screen before the run is over.

I’ve been having a number of conversations recently about how and what to write for websites. The best advise that I can give is keep it short and sweet - don’t take your content too seriously. Now, that doesn’t mean that your content isn’t important. But, what it does mean is that less is more.

Here’s some great information from one of experts on the subject - Jacob Nielsen

• A collection of articles on writing for the web
• Writing Style for Print vs. Web - this one is really interesting. The last sentence says it all.

If you’re smart, you’ll write accordingly: make your content actionable and focused on user needs.

The only thing I’d add would be … well not really anything. That’s pretty good.

You may or may not know that I am a huge fan of author Randy Wayne White. I love his Doc Ford series and highly recommend all of the books.

Anyway, I was poking around Google looking for something and ran across this Ph. D. dissertation: “Randy Wayne White: An American Social Philosopher and Practitioner of Ecological Noir” by John K. Hicks of Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

For someone who is a fan of the series, this is a really interesting look at Randy’s style and how he fits into the “South Florida” sub-genre of mysteries. Check it out. There are some really interesting bits on Tomlinson, Doc Ford’s sidekick, too.

I got back last night from another awesome vacation to the Florida Panhandle. We usually head down there at some point in the summer - preferably a place on Hwy 30-A. This year we stayed at a fabulous condo called “Seagrove By the Sea”. This year was especially pleasing because each of our kids had a friend along. We went with another couple who have a 4 year-old who paired up with my youngest. And, my older step-son brought along his best friend. The other couple had a 14 year-old daughter who brought along a friend and they were able to babysit while the adults went out a few nights.

One thing I tried to do this trip was pack as few things as possible to keep my junk to a minimum. Here’s my perfect list for a week at the beach. One quick note - the Florida Panhandle is very casual. So, you might need to amend a few things depending on the dress in your neck of the woods (especially at dinner).

• 2 bathing suits
• 3 pairs casual shorts
• 1 pair dressy shorts
• 2 beach t-shirts
• 3 casual t-shirts
• 1 pair sleeping shorts
• 3 polo shirts
• 1 Under Armour HeatGear Ventilator visor
• 1 pair Reef Fanning Flip-flops (you’ll love the bonus feature on these)
• 1 pair Birkenstocks (could have done without)
• 2 belts

That’s it - all you need for a week in the sun. BTW - that’s me having lunch on our balcony with a little homemade Sangria.

Did you ever think that the price of gas would have such a down-line impact on so much? I didn’t. I really wish someone who is REALLY smart would solve this issue. I’m tired of the blowhards spewing rhetoric, party lines, or PR agent-smoothed comment - it’s time for some reality on this subject. Hopefully from someone who really knows.

There’s more to this than the price at the pump. That, I do know.