I knew yesterday would be a good day….

I did what I had to to with my white coat (by the way, what part of surprise don’t people understand?….I’ll give you a hint, you won’t find out anything until around September)….it wasn’t what I expected, and it might not come through at all as a matter of fact….but if it does!!!…wooooooooo….

Anyway maybe it was the fact that I had on my bow tie (and was looking very sharp if I do say so myself)….but I was in rare form…..by now I’m used to the “Can I get a bean pie/Final Call?” cracks when I wear a bow tie….**NEWSFLASH** you don’t have to be a Muslim or a psuedo-philosopher to wear a bow-tie…..but I take it in stride now, I don’t get offended….I take pride in knowing how to tie and properly wear a bow tie….and I don’t care if I’m the only guy under the age of 60 who does so….

But yeah, back to the topic….I was in rare form quoting movie lines yesterday….I realized that I have a deadly combination of too much free time, too many movies, and too good a memory….I can quote several sections of Baby Boy complete with the “dramatic flair” that the actors brought verbatim….and I realized, “Hey….if I wanted to I could be an actor!”

Well we all know how I like to make lists, and I haven’t done so in a while….so here are the Killa Cal’s 10 favorite movie scenes in no particular order….
***WARNING*** May contain spoilers….skip down to the Friday Five if that bothers you!

10) The Color Purple - The Dinner Scene towards the end of the movie when Celie finds out that Mister has been hiding her letters from Nettie and confronts him about it. Mister and his father try their best to cut Celie down (Mister: “You too ugly and useless to get a job….who gonna hire you? The railroad?” Mister’s Father: “Heh heh, maybe she can get a job sweeping out the caboose!”)….but Celie tells it like it is to Mister….

9)Boyz In The Hood - There are alot of worthwhile exchanges in this movie….but for my money my favorite scene (beating out Tre’s fight with the air, the “Me and You” scene, and the dinner scene between Larry Fishburne and Angela Bassett) is when Tre is young and he is teaching the class about Africa and his little “friend” says “I ain’t from Africa, I’m from Crenshaw Mafia. You from Africa you old African Booty Scratcher!”
Menace II Society - The opening scene in the movie where Sam Jackson kills the disrespectful guy across the card table from him for owing him money and then telling him, “I’ll pay your monkey ass when I get ready to” instantly hooked me….and then when his buddy said, “Tat-tat-tat what the “eff” man!?” the deal was sealed….classic material….

7)Coming To America - The whole movie is CLASSIC….and deserves it’s own entry…however, I have the whole “Randy Watson” scene down cold….from the introduction to the faces he makes….to the very notes that he sings….if I had to do a screentest for a movie, that’s the scene I would use….

6)Friday - The scene where Red goes and gets his bike is tied with Bernie Mac’s scene(s) and those are tied with Smokey taking a dump which is tied with Smokey climbing through Felicia’s window to get the money out of Deebo’s pants….hell the whole movie is one classic scene after another….

5)Next Friday - To a lot of people’s surprise I like Next Friday a little more than the first one. Mike Epps is a comic genius to me, plus I know a few people who act JUST like him. The scene at Pinkie’s is the one that sold me on Next Friday though….when he’s talking about the time Craig doo dooed at church!….I can’t stop laughing when I see that…..

4)Pulp Fiction - Overall a great movie….but the initial exchange between Vincent Vega and Jules Winfield (about the Royale with Cheese and Tony “Rocky Horror” Roccamora getting thrown through a window for giving Mia Wallace a foot massage) along with the story of Butch’s father’s watch are the best scenes to me…..

3)Goodfellas - The whole “Billy Batts” saga was CLASSIC cinematics….from “Go get your shine box!!” to the made up story about a deer’s “foot” (where De Niro seems disgusted that Joe Pesci doesn’t know it’s really called a hoof) to the mother’s painting to the fact that they had to eventually dig him up….all classic….

2)Jungle Fever - Every single scene with Samuel L. Jackson was PRICELESS!!!….but the scene with him and Halle Berry meeting Wesley Snipes and Spike Lee at the park was the greatest….Sam/Gator: “I don’t want to have to resort to knocking old people in the head for their money, but I’LL DO IT!!!…YOU KNOW I’LL DO IT!!!….cuz I’m a cr-cr-cr-cr-crackhead *dances*….*sings* I like getting high! wooooo…cuz I’m a cr-cr-cr-cr-cr-crackhead *spins*”

and of course you know what number one is!!!

1)Baby Boy - Critics be damned….I LOVE that movie….and the scene where Rodney makes a collect call to Yvette is PRICELESS….I will run it into the ground….I don’t care!….I love it….Jody: “You telling this man all my personal business?….you got him talking about, ‘yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah….you still live at home with your moms!!!!’…I don’t wanna hear that!”

Anyway…on to the Friday Five….

1. How are you planning to spend the summer? I’m teaching math to a great group of college students (for the most part) here at Meharry in the Health Careers Oppurtunity Program’s Pre-Baccalaureate division.

2. What was your first summer job? My official title was “dishwasher” at Camp Truit-Fulton 4-H Camp in Atlanta within walking distance of my house. What I REALLY did was rake/blow leaves, sweep and mop all of the facilities, load heavy ass coolers full of grape koolaid which stained my clothes, empty “rat traps” with squirrels stuck to them and squealing, and pressure wash pool decks.

3. If you could go anywhere this summer, where would you go? I would go to Brazil like every other man dreams of doing….I was talking with someone the other day about the fact that Black men like myself are like 20 years late on the whole Brazil thing….

4. What was your worst vacation ever? Well my worst vacation was still fun….I went to Panama City Beach with my mom, two sisters, my godmother, and her two daughters….I was a terrible guy back then and I made the vacation a living hell for all of them with my attitude….

5. What was your best vacation ever? My best vacation ever is probably my trip to Orlando (when my mom got tricked into the time share thing)….besides having to deal with that girl with the annoying voice I had alot of fun….Universal Studios is the greatest!

The Friday Five wasn’t so bad this time….