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High Flying Fun

8 May

Watching Iron Man, it’s almost as if the movie’s not based on a comic book.

Sure, it’s about a guy in a suit who fights evil, but Iron Man deals with contemporary issues — like terrorism — in such a serious way that it’s not as hokey as most other films in the genre typically are.

Not that a film like Batman Begins is hokey, per se, but given that the villains in those movies are all disfigured or “special” in some kind of way, having a bad guy who’s simply a businessman and arms dealer is sort of, ahem, disarming. Continue reading →

"King" of Broadway

8 May

The announcement today that Whoppi Goldberg will host the Tony Awards this year reminded me that I never put up a link to my story about likely nominee Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator and star of the Broadway show In the Heights.

Lin-Manuel, who is only 28, started writing his show when he was a sophomore at Wesleyan and never expected to act in it.

But his collaborators found that no one knew the show’s freestyle raps as well as he did, and thus, somewhere along the way to Broadway, Lin-Manuel became the star.

The rest, as they say, is history. Continue reading →

Around the Watercooler

8 May

According to a recent survey of 1,435 employed adults 18 and older, when people at work talk about TV, they most often discuss American Idol. Among women, Dancing with the Stars is the second most popular show, and among men, it’s Lost. Surprisingly, workers age 65 and older were more likely than any other age group to say they discuss AI more than any other show at their workplace. Now, AI and Lost I can see, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone in my office ever discuss DwtS. Ever. We talk about The Office most often around here. And there’s also a large following for America’s Next Top Model — which I do not watch, thank you very much. DwtS? What kinds of office workers were interviewed for this survey?

Crash! Boom! Wow!

8 May

If you live in Boston, no doubt you’ve heard about the huge accident in Packard’s Corner this morning. Wild, wild stuff. That picture above (courtesy of ilovesashimi) and the one below (from Boston.com) only show part of the story. For a video report, go to MyFoxBoston.com or read the story at Boston.com. Multiple crashed cars, blocked subway tracks, an exploding truck, etc. What a mess. Thankfully, I had my walking shoes on and an umbrella in my bag; I walked from Packard’s Corner all the way down Comm Ave to Kenmore Square. This, after walking last night all the way from my office near South Station, down Boylston Street and Comm Ave, and up to Allston Street. Suffice it to say, I’ve gotten plenty of exercise. But here’s the best part: when I got to the T stop at Kenmore this morning, an empty train pulled up and I was able to score the same seat that I had before I got off my train earlier up the line. And I only got to work 30 minutes later than usual. So I guess the commute really wasn’t so bad for me after all. But anyway, yeah — what a scene on Comm Ave this morning.