Random dogs should not be running around the streets without a leash on.

I'm writing this article in a mediocre amount of pain right now because of a bad encounter I just had with one such dog. Shortly before sitting down to write, I decided to take my dog (an 8-year-old golden retriever named Fletch) out for his nightly walk.

Fletch is pretty well-behaved, but when he sees a large dog charging out at him, he gets into defensive mode and wants to protect himself. So when this dog came barreling toward us at 11 p.m. Monday on Washington Street a few blocks west of downtown, I knew I was in some trouble.

Thankfully, the fight never got out of hand -- just some mean growling and a couple of quasi-headbutts. But Fletch was not about to walk away while this dog was free, and it was tough pulling on his leash and collar to drag his squirmy, 95-pound body away from there. Especially because this other dog kept following us for several blocks, even after we crossed the street, taunting Fletch and trying to get him to throw some bows.

During the brawl, a decent-sized piece of skin on my middle finger ripped off. I don't keep band-aids in the house (I think keeping them is a sign of weakness -- it shows you know you're not invincible), so I just washed the raw spot on my finger with some soap -- which was an incredibly painful process -- and now I'm trying to type this column without bending the middle finger on my left hand.

Bending it hurts.

But my mom got it a lot worse than I did recently. While I was on my vacation a week ago, she was watching Fletch for me. They were on a walk in my old neighborhood in Columbus when a large dog came charging out at them.

Fletch got into his defensive stance and started to charge back -- my mom, trying to hang onto the leash, fell over and ended up breaking her arm. Now she's in a cast for six weeks.

I'm a big fan of dogs, but we need to keep those puppies on leashes. That's my public
service announcement for the week.

Now let's move on to a brief rant on a different subject. Do you know how much movie tickets cost at first-run theaters in Columbus? The answer is $6. And these theaters have comfortable seats and are
actually nice.

This past weekend I saw two movies -- "Perfect Stranger" at the place by Wal-Mart and then "Grindhouse" at the one by the mall.

"Perfect Stranger" (which was a really bad movie, by the way) was almost unbearable to sit through because the theater was about 40 degrees the entire time.

And it was warm outside, so I didn't bring a coat in. My nipples enjoyed the movie more than I did.

I think two tickets for that one ended up costing $15.

Then "Grindhouse" cost $8.50 to see at that other theater, which is just plain ridiculous.

Plus, the seats at that theater were killing me. That was a good movie, but my butt was in some major pain after being forced to sit in those uncomfortable, smelly chairs for the three-plus hours of the double feature. My left cheek still feels a little swollen.

Can we start a petition to lower theater prices or something? I know I'd get plenty of signatures. Or at least can we get some better temperature control and more comfortable seats in there?

Aside from seeing those two movies, the weekend involved a Sunday night at Cabana Jacks for some karaoke and a Saturday afternoon at The Village Pump on Kelleys Island.

With regard to Cabana Jacks, I like their Sunday night deals. Draft beers are only $1, which is a good start. Plus, there's usually a pretty decent amount of people in there, and this Sunday we were able to walk away from the bar without getting the crap kicked out of us despite the fact that my friend (a male, Jacob) sang "I Touch Myself" on the big stage. Complete with some dancing.

I know plenty of bars where that decision would have gotten our entire group a good butt-whoopin'. And, frankly, we probably deserved one.

Kelleys Island also was fun. I went with two friends. On a side note, the three of us got some pretty sweet fake tattoos on the inside of our wrists before we went. We looked like gangstas. I'll call us the F-Bangers.

Anyway, at the bar, Monica had the job of taking pictures for our Web site and Laura had the job of handing out cards and telling people to go to the site.

My job was to nonchalantly sneak into the background of as many photos as possible and then take a drink as the picture was being snapped.

It was pretty hard at first, but after about an hour, I came up with a solid strategy (which will remain secret ... OK, I'll admit, I just started drinking more), so I ended up in the background of about 16 pictures.

Look for me in the background of those pics at funcoast.com -- it's almost like a "Where's Waldo" type of game.

In some of them, you can just see my eye or my hand, so look closely.

The three of us have decided we are
definitely playing the same game again Friday night during micro wrestling at Nick's Roadhouse.

So come out, have a good time in Port Clinton and get your picture taken for our site. If you're lucky, I might be creepily lurking in the background of your photo.

And if you're REAL lucky, maybe we'll let you join the F-Bangers.

 

POWELL'S PICKS

JOIN US AT MICRO WRESTLING, 10 p.m., April 20 at Nick's Roadhouse, Port Clinton.
I challenge you to find something better to do on a Friday night than watching little people battle it out in the ring -- especially when you know I'm going to be there, too.

GO TO GARLIC MUSTARD PULLING, 10 a.m., April 21, Magee Marsh, Oak Harbor.
Pulling weeds is awesome!

SEE TWO BANDS, EMBASSY AND THE ATTICS, 9:30 p.m., April 21, i-5s, Huron.
From what I hear, these are both good bands, and my boy Scotty (playing with The Attics) is going to show off some sweet dance moves on stage. Meanwhile, I'll be showing off my sweet moves with some ladies on the dance floor. I'm gonna "Walk It Out!"

SEE "DEATHTRAP," April 19-29 at
Harlequins Theatre, Sandusky.
Anything with "Death" in its name is exciting -- "Death to Smoochy," Death Cab for Cutie, Death Metal, the death penalty ... OK, I actually don't really like any of those things. But "Deathtrap" could be all right.

And if you're willing to drive a little ...

CHECK OUT DIMMU BORGIR, April 20 at The Agora, Cleveland.

Speaking of death metal ... yeah, don't actually go see these guys. It's a hard rock group from Norway. Just going to their Myspace page (www.myspace.com/dimmuborgir) gave me nightmares. Seriously. Go check it out
yourself if you don't believe me.

 

 

E-mail me at editor@funcoast.com. Or if you prefer, just hand me a note Friday night at Nick's Roadhouse or Saturday night at i-5s. Maybe write me a poem or something fun like that.