where: CENTURY 14 VALLEJO in Vallejo, CA
when: Tuesday, September 7th, 2010
show: 5:35 p.m.
costs: $6.25 Ticket + $4.50 medium Diet/Zero ( w/ Barq's & Cherry flavors ) Coke = $10.75
auditorium: 5
seat: 5th row, 6th column
synopsis: A young man, Kevin Carson ( Bow Wow ), wins a nation-wide lottery and must then fend-off neighbors, friends, strangers and bad people who are out to get a big share of his newfound fortune.
noteworthy scenes: 1.) Kevin's room; 2.) Lucky numbers; 3.) Lottery dreams; 4.) Basketball court; 5.) Shoplifters; 6.) Cookie fortune; 7.) Snitch; 8.) News; 9.) Unwanted visitors; 10.) Underground railroad; 11.) Entourage; 12.) Mobsters; 13.) Dream date; 14.) "My lottery ticket"; 15.) Basement; 16.) Sunday church service; 17.) Chase; 18.) "Best friends since 5th Grade"; 19.) "The kind of girl I want is you"; 20.) The attack; 21.) The "real" ticket; 22.) Confrontation; and 23.) Community dedication.
audience reaction: None. I was the only one in the auditorium.
recommendation: This light comedy is good only for wiling the time away on a hot day or at any time that you find yourself with nothing else better to do.
spoiler alert! All that I saw in his closet were shoes. Where did he store all of his clothes? When the cops were hauling-off Lorenzo ( Gbenga Akinnagbe ), he threatened to kill Kevin. Well, that's considered "Assault with intent to do bodily harm." Therefore, the cops should not have let him out on the streets so soon. And if he was just let out on parole, such an incriminating statement would have been enough to put him back in the slammer for a long time. So, Kevin is being raised by his grandmother. Yet, as much as I had expected would inevitably happen, neither one of his long-absent parents showed-up to "reconcile" with their son--unlike Manny Pacquiao's ( ulteriorly-motivated ) shameless dad! You would think that he'd have enough presence of mind to put his name and signature ( at the very least ) on the back of the lottery ticket before word ever got out! Why didn't he go to a bank that Saturday and put it in a safe deposit box? I would have. Why were there no plain clothes police officers on the train? Why would he buy and wear a pair of very expensive and highly-coveted sneakers knowing that in his bad neighborhood a guy can get killed just for wearing such a fancy pair of shoes? When Lorenzo gave the shoes back to Kevin, they didn't look like they've been worn at all even though Kevin had worn it for at least a day. Nowadays, not only will the lottery commission's computer know when and where a winning ticket was bought but, with the aid of store video surveillance, the winning ticket holder can also be easily identified to avoid theft and false claims. ( At least, that's how things are done here in California; but I don't know how they keep track of such things in Georgia, where this movie was made. )
fyi: Years ago, as I was dozing-off to sleep, a man's voice in my head said, "I want you to write down these winning lottery numbers." To which I said, Not now, I'm sleepy. As soon as I realized what I had just said, I was completely wide awake! But, that was it .... the voice never returned. Talk about missed opportunity. And years before this incident, again, as I was waiting to fall asleep, a woman's voice in my head asked me, "What would you like to have most in life?" And I answered with, Who the Hell are you? And, then, I quickly added, A million dollars! But, no such luck. Maybe, there's a third time coming up; and you know what they say: "'Third time is a charm."
My friend, Hector, said that if he ever wins the lottery, he'll buy me a "Happy Meal" at McDonald's. Heck, if I win, I'll send him a postcard from a vacation destination--and that's all he'll ever get from me. Because I'll disappear so fast like magic that if Harry Houdini were still alive he, himself, would sit up straight and take notes! And I might even suffer from sudden wealth-induced amnesia and would, then, easily forget who my friends, neighbors, co-workers and certain relatives are.
Two months ago, after I returned to Vallejo, CA, from Grand Rapids, MI, my sister there sent me a dollar bill that she got from somewhere which had my name on it; and she got it at around the time of my birthday. She figured that it might bring me luck--and if it does bring me luck in the California lottery, I'll have to split the jackpot with her 50/50. So I used it to buy a California mega-lottery quick-pick ticket. I've been playing the same set of numbers twice a week ever since. But I haven't had luck with it. Although .... it did win 10 dollars at one time but--for the life of me--I don't know what I did with that ticket: I either dropped it accidentally somewhere or I tore it up and threw it away accidentally. Darn, It could have paid for either a buffet lunch or a little over three gallons' worth of Chevron gas. Of course, I would still owe my sister five bucks! Keep a running tally, sis.
If I ever win the lottery big-time, I'd be sure to splurge the first million, i.e. go on a six-month cruise all around the world, party-hearty, buy fancy stuff, pay all of my debts, buy me my dream ( mobile ) home ( don't laugh, there are some really nice ones out there ), buy brand-new vehicles with air conditioning, look through a bunch of mail-order bride catalogs ( Yes! ), etc. Then, I'd invest the rest.
word of advice: Always write down the necessary information on the back of your lottery ticket even before you step out of the place where you bought it from.
First thing to do after you find out that you won big in a lottery game is to go to a lawyer and file for asset protection--a.s.a.p.!
You either worship God or you worship Riches. You cannot serve both. ( New Testament of the Bible, Matthew 6: 24 ) Keep this in mind as you watch a Televangelist work a gullible crowd.
tidbits: I dropped-off a couple of bill payments at the post office and headed-off to Agua Pura on Springs Road here in Vallejo to buy some alkaline drinking water. But the place is temporarily closed for business and will re-open in about a month. So, I walked on over to Selecta Filipino Buffet for lunch. Afterwards, I didn't feel like heading for home right away and decided to head on over to the local theatre to give my stomach enough time to digest my meal.
Before my free-way exit came into view, a billboard ( which I mistook for the giant screen one ) distracted me in such a way that when I turned my gaze back to the road, I saw my car rapidly gaining ground on the slow-moving white Toyota Corolla in front of it and I was forced to almost do a complete panic-stop! Getting a quick and tight feeling of fear in your Solar Plexus area on a full stomach is quite an experience. I'm just glad that I didn't end-up with another kind of "accident" in my pants! L.O.L.
The free-way incident mentioned above is probably the third time, at least, that I didn't lose control of my car while driving at free-way speeds when a potential accident was unfolding. And the common denominator in all of them was that I was doing my evening mantra, the Ohm Mantra, while each incident was happening. I could not panic and/or scream in fear in each incident because I didn't want either one to interrupt me from doing my mantra for its full alloted time. If only I had a passenger with me in each incident, it would have been a comical sight to behold: my passenger would be panicking and screaming at the top of his/her lungs while I would be reciting my mantra all along.
Hey, maybe people should do the Ohm Mantra while they are driving in less than ideal conditions--at the very least, it should keep them from talking on their cellphones and/or texting while driving ( I just hate such people! ).
After the movie, I went to the Dollar Tree Store at the Target Shopping Center and bought Corn Chips, a can of Evaporated Milk, a Bath Mat, a Vibrating Toothbrush ( Ooh ... ), and two 3-lb. bags of Long Grain Rice.
attention: It is getting closer and closer to the Annual Weblog Awards. Please select from all my posts for this year then go to the awards website and take the time to nominate one of my blogs--whichever one happens to be your favorite--in the following categories: Best Entertainment Weblog, Most Humorous Weblog, Best-Kept Secret Weblog, and/or Best New Weblog. Thank you very much.
