Rookie of the Year!

Does anybody else think of this movie every time they hear about the rookie of the year? Maybe it's just me.

While this year's NBA Rookie of the Year isn't nearly as impressive, at least he's from right here in good ol' Sactown, giving the Kings their biggest headline since pal Bobby Jackson came back to town (yeah, times have been kinda slow in the ol' court).

Yes, Tyreke Evans is the rookie of the year! Woo! In addition to a fancy trophy, he won an exclusive chance to be interviewed by the Cran-Man. What a lucky kid.

The soft spoken, allegidly 6'5 ball player has breathed a little life into a franchise that could use a bit of it, which has everybody once again remembering K-Mart as being a wannabe Target rather than that injured guy on the bench.

Nice work, kid. I think you'll go far.

What A Loser

When I heard the biggest loser was in Sacramento, I figured Old Man Richter blew out a tire on his way back to Hippyville. Turns out it was Shay Sorells, from that show that weighs fat people while they cry. I only recently realized it's called The Biggest Loser because it's about losing weight. Huh, how about that.

Shay, having been a former contestant, was downtown for some sort of national health day. The event also featured free Jamba Juice and Subway... every cheapskate photog's dream come true.

Shay took a moment to speak with local celeb Alfonzo before facing the crowd of admiring healthy-people-to-be.

What few people realize is that Alfonzo's first wife had her own bouts with weight loss following the birth of their twins.

Tensions began to grow between them over her struggles with weight (and the fact that she slept with his cousin, Tapie), which led to their eventual divorce. For this reason, Alfonzo watches The Biggest Loser every week and cries himself to sleep. Also, because his children were eaten by a defective handy cam when the family visited the set of the show.

Life can be so cruel.

How I Met Your Governor

"Your live truck is downtown." Those words are always my favorite way to start the day.

Before trekking off to the edges of a notably bloated market, I had to venture downtown into what is always one hell of a cluster... a governor appearance. Those aren't a big deal in most states, but most states don't have the Kindergarten Cop running the show. I was gonna have to wade my way through some sort of event featuring a new business downtown, or something, that the ol' gov was taking a tour of, in an effort to track down the morning show photog that had the live truck keys. In we go!

So, as luck would have it, I arrive right as Arnold does, which means beefed-up security that isn't too keen on letting just anybody through (and yes, there were crowds of folks-- cell phone cameras in hand-- itching for a quick snap of the guy). With a little sweet talking (mostly because I forgot my press pass in the car), I was in.

They were taking a lap around a room of cubicles- Arnie and his entourage soaking in the newness of the building, as a rabid pack of photogs jockeyed for position in front of him. With a few 'scuse me's and pardon's, I managed to finagle my way down an aisle of cubicles, hoping to intercept the key-wielding photog as he passed.

The plan worked out great... the photog walked right past me! I shouted his name. And again. And he didn't hear me, and continued on his way. Damnit.

As I re-assessed the situation, a large hand was suddenly thrust in my direction. I followed it up to find the governor of the great state of California standing before me. "Thank you for coming," he said, in his often-mocked accent. "So glad to meet you." So I grabbed a hold and thanked him for being there.

Clearly he thought I was one of the folks responsible for the new business, as that's who I was surrounded by. However, they were all dressed in their finest suits and such, while I was wearing the traditional photog garb: collared shirt, cargo shorts and a week's worth of stubble. He must have thought (in his trademark accent), "What now, they're making me meet the janitor?" Even if that was the case, he was kind enough to shake the janitor's hand, and I will say that his grip was notable.

After that, he made his way to a podium, I snagged the keys and swapped out the gear, and before I knew it, I was in the central valley searching for a dead baby. Gotta love The Biz.

I'm gonna be sad to see the guy go at the end of his term. Not because I like him as a politician, but because it's freakin' cool to see Arnold goddamn Schwarzenegger around town. But don't worry, I got a feeling he'll be back... (Get it? Ah, never mind.)

Lunch with Winston!!

When I was a kid, back in the 80's, my parents recorded Ghostbusters off of the TV on a VHS tape. I watched it regularly, and it scared me. As time passed and I began to mature, I started to realize that all the actors in that scary movie from my younger days were... comedians. I watched the movie again, and realized that it was not the horror movie that my 3-year-old mind had made it to be, but a hilarious comedic romp through the realm of the supernatural. Man, what a movie.

Also to be noted- I eventually bought the DVD when it was re-released some years ago, and noticed several scenes that I had never seen before. The ghost that undoes Ray's pants in a dream? Never seen it! I thought the DVD was loaded with deleted scenes or something! Turns out I'd never seen the original, just the 80's edited-for-TV version. We still have it back home, and my brother and I will fire it up from time to time, mostly to watch the awesomely outrageous 80's commercials.

But getting back to the point... Today I met somebody whose action figure I played with when I was a child. Yeah, kinda weird. But for this reason, if no other, I was excited to meet Winston Zeddemore himself as he visited Sacramento as a part of a program that shoots interviews with Hollywood folks in front of high school crowds. I got a chance to get a one-on-one with Ernie Hudson before the event.

I gotta say, as far as Hollywood types go, Ernie is a freakin' cool guy. As soon as he got there, he made an effort to go around and introduce himself to each person, shaking their hand and saying, "Hi, I'm Ernie," and chit-chatting about everyday troubles, such as being rushed out of the house and forgetting to pack extra clothes. Oh, Ernie!

He also set some time aside to chat with me, and I didn't shy away from the Ghostbusters questions. It was kinda fun telling him I had his action figure and grew up watching a bootleg version of his movie. He says he still gets a kick out of it... people will drive by and scream out the window, "Who ya gonna call?!". He reminisced on how the cast got back together for a recent Ghostbusters video game (I played it... it was awesome), and mentioned that a Part 3 is finally in the works, which he is very excited about. Me too, Ernie. Me too.

Oh, and he did take a moment to meet with local hotshot Alfonzo Beta, the pride of the Sacramento news market. Well... maybe not, but he's certainly coming up in the world!

It should be noted that Ernie's performance as the police officer in Airheads also holds a special place in my heart, but he'll always be Winston to me!

Daryl and the Beta

Green technology... everyone knows it's the hot new thing! At least, attractive actresses seem to, as I've been finding them popping up here and there as green tech representatives at press conferences. First it was that chick from Road Trip (you know the one I'm talkin' about...) Amy Smart, who passed through town last summer representing some sort of green building company or something. Following close in her footsteps... that mermaid chick that played a mermaid chick in the movie about a mermaid chick. Yeah, that one!

Daryl Hannah was in town to show off a new ethanol pump at a Valero station. And she arrived in style, riding in the car from Kill Bill (no, not that one...), which was fully equipped to run on ethanol.

The day's high moment came when some ghetto dudes rolled up, one yelling to the other, "Yo, it's Daryl Hannah, foo!" Honestly, if I rolled up to a gas station, I probably wouldn't have been able to place where I knew her from. Props to that guy.

A close second... Daryl hit it off with a member of our news team. Man, this guy gets around!

If I could hear some random ghetto dude roll up and holler "Yo, it's Alfonzo Beta, foo!", I think I could declare my life's work complete. It's the dream that keeps this foo going, day after day.

Adventures in Mormonland

Perhaps spurred by a recent Mormon encounter, I decided to journey into the depths of Mormonland with a trip to Snowbird, Utah. Ah yes, you can really smell the lack of alcohol on the air!

My brothers and I tagged along with Pops to an annual conference he had going on out there (last year's provided an adventure to Colorado). I had never been to Utah, and to be quite honest, I never really thought there was much to it. Granted, the Olympics were there not that long ago, but still... it never really struck me as a vacation destination. In all fairness, I had the state underestimated. They've got some pretty killer mountains.... and I don't use the term loosely, our hotel was in an avalanche-prone area. Other guests mentioned a time that the hotel went into lockdown during an avalanche. Wild stuff, Utah. Wild.

One notable standout about Snowbird was that it had a pretty sweet tunnel of mystery near the top.

What could possibly be in it? One could only dream. Or one could go in it and find out.

Yeah, it didn't really live up to my expectations, but I suppose they were set pretty high by other tunnels I'd heard so much about.

In addition to the tunnel, another notable highlight was a surprising celebrity encounter. You see that guy at the front of the line... the one in the blue jacket? Could it actually be... Steven Spielberg?!

Upon closer inspection, we found that... sure enough, it was!!

It was awesome to see him out on the slopes, especially considering the fact that it was the morning after the Academy Awards... the one time no one would expect to see him in Utah! Also, I think I heard someone call him Mike. Very clever, Mr. Spielberg. As I slid past him, I said "Thank you for Hook" and gave him a confident nod. He seemed confused... perhaps because he didn't see the film as his finest work. Always the perfectionist.

The hardest part of any vacation is coming back to reality. Don't leave me, Good Times, we've become such close friends!

Of course, no adventure is complete without the obligatory photo of my closest traveling companion. Man, that guy's well traveled.

OK, Utah. Despite some obvious flaws, I'm gonna file you away in the Pretty Darn Cool folder. But seriously, can you get some beer that's got more than 3.5% alcohol? I'm trying to enjoy myself, damnit!

Mitt Comes to Town

You know that guy that wanted to become president, and looked kinda like a president, but didn't become president, mostly because he was just full of hot air? Yeah, that guy was in town yesterday.

Mitt was hangin' around the local Borders to sign his new classic, "No Apologies". He was met with a hoard of fans... or supporters... or whatever. Which is to say that there was a lot of old white people weaving through the isles of book shelves that day.

Nice enough guy, I suppose. He stopped by for a brief Q&A with the media before meeting the crowd with a brief statement (more like stand-up) and taking a few questions from the crowd (which mostly consisted of people stating what a great American he is).

I had a little chit-chat with his media fellow. He decided to decline any sort of photo op with a certain local celebrity. That makes for negative points in my book. I can't imagine why he wouldn't want to be paired with the likes of Adam Lambert, Chuck Liddell and Amy Smart. Come on, Mitt... McCain probably would have done it!