The nice thing about my not having seen Talladega Nights, Semi-Pro, or Blades of Glory is that now, Step Brothers actually feels sorta fresh, and not like another lame retread of the same Will Ferrell jokes I’ve seen so many times before.
Reteaming with his Talladega costar John C. Reilly, Ferrell plays Brennan, a 39-year-old stunted growth adult who still lives with his mother. Reilly plays Dale, a 40-year-old stunted growth adult who still lives with his father. When the two parents fall in love and get married, Brennan and Dale become reluctant step brothers who fight like cats and dogs.
But they find common ground (velociraptors, John Stamos, sleepwalking, etc.) and all is well.
I’m happy to report that everything you’ve heard, all that hype, is true: The Dark Knight is awesome.
More crime thriller than comic book movie, this film simply raises the game — for Batman movies, for movies adapted from comic books, for summer movies, for action movies, and maybe even for movies in general.
No one ever tells you how difficult it is to decorate an apartment, especially when you’re not the savviest of designers. But today I can cross one to-do off the decorating search list: I got bar stools! (Actually, I ordered them about a month ago, but I picked them up today.) It only took me three months to find the right pair (and by the way, they look better in person than they do in that photo). They’re nice: comfortable to sit in, they swivel, and they’re made of microfiber, so they’re easy to clean. And, now I have the option of sitting at my kitchen table or sitting at the counter when I eat. And when I use my computer, now I don’t have to stand. Oh, happy day. Thank you, Chair Fair. Now if I could just find some nice things to put on the walls (other than Amanda Bynes posters, thank you) … then my new place wouldn’t seem so “new” anymore. But hey, what’s the rush? I’ll find stuff I like all in due time.
I like an awful lot of things about my new apartment, but if I had to pick one thing I definitely do not like, it’s my local food options.
I think I’ve now tried every pizza and sandwich shop in Cleveland Circle — Pino’s, Presto, Eagle’s Deli, Roggies, etc. — and I’ve basically had the same thing at every one of them: a chicken cutlet sub. (Often it’s parmigiana.) I have to say, not a one of them has left me feeling satisfied. I mean, how hard is it to put a couple pieces of chicken on a toasted roll, and add mayo and lettuce.
It’s simple, right?
Well, Thursday night I tried Eagle’s Deli for the first time, and that may have been the worst one of all. Continue reading →
It’s funny how in all the pomp and pagentry that preceded the All-Star Game tonight, and all the recalling of memorable moments that took place at Yankee Stadium, there was no mention of the Yankees choking in 2004. I’m sure that was just an oversight. And I’m sure when MLB was planning this most exciting occasion and recalling all the fond memories that fans have of this hallowed ballpark, they simply forgot about Curt Schilling’s triumphant Game Six performance during the 2004 ALCS with the bloody sock, or how A-Rod embarrassed himself when he swatted the ball away when Bronson Arroyo went to tag him out. There wasn’t even a mention of Johnny Damon’s big grand slam in Game 7 of that series — maybe because he was playing for the Red Sox back then. Those may not be fond memories for Yankee fans, but when the House that Ruth Built is torn down (and we can finally stop hearing about what a great place this is/was), they will be the cherished memories I’ll remember most.
I wish I was more excited about The Wackness. This movie, about a New York teen who sells marijuana as a summer job and falls in love with his shrink’s stepdaughter, looked pretty cool, what with its soundtrack of 1990s hip-hop and a seemingly amusing hangdog performance by Josh Peck. Alas, the movie doesn’t live up to my own self-generated hype and it ends up being less than dope. Yes, as you may have heard, Ben Kingsley and Mary-Kate Olsen make out in one scene, but that’s mostly just a tease; the scene isn’t even necessary, and it just further emphasizes how little credibility Kingsley’s character has. There are a few good lines and a couple decent laughs, and Peck’s performance does have its moments, but overall, I got no buzz from The Wackness, and that’s why I’m giving it a C-.
So … this is what it looks like when Meryl Streep is slumming, eh?
In the film adaptation of Mamma Mia!, the musical about a girl (Amanda Seyfried) who invites three men to her wedding in the hopes of finding out which one is her father (a show I’ve never seen, by the way, and have consciously avoided), Streep plays the girl’s mother, who now runs a hotel on a remote Greek island.
Oh, and the whole thing is set to the music of ABBA.
If you’ve read this far, congratulations. That’s farther than I got seeing the movie. Continue reading →
In the book, Gordinier posits that Generation X, the generation that’s often perceived as misunderstood, hard to categorize, and largely ignored, has the unfortunate luck of being sandwiched between the self-centered Baby Boomers and the self-centered Millennials. And because it’s often pigeon-holed as being forgotten, the accomplishments of Gen X are often overlooked. To wit: members of Gen X created YouTube, Google, Wikipedia, and Craigslist. Zines, a Gen X creation, were the progenitor of blogs. Netscape changed the face of Web browsing. Jon Stewart, Barack Obama, Kurt Cobain, and Dave Eggers are all members of Gen X. In essence, we, the members of Generation X, have a lot to be proud of.
So why are we always overlooked? Gordinier’s major thesis is that it’s because Boomers and Millenials keep hogging the spotlight, either by comparing their accomplishments to ours (Boomers) or by adopting and assuming ownership of our creations (Millenials). “The boomers never came up with anything that approaches the hugeness of Google,” he writes. “John Lennon got bitch-slapped for saying the Beatles were bigger than Jesus, but Google … gives God a run for His money.” Gordinier, also an editor-at-large at Details magazine, adds that we are a generation that doesn’t want or crave attention, and we’re happy to make change happen quietly, almost under the radar, if it brings us personal satisfaction. Getting attention isn’t the goal, like it is for so many Millenials (Paris Hilton takes a pretty big — albeit expected — hit for that), and that only serves to make our accomplishments that much more significant. And that’s also probably why you may not have heard of the Poetry Bus, for example, which gets almost as much space in the book as Nirvana and Lauryn Hill.
Amid the pop culture and political references and recaps of case studies we’ve heard before, Gordinier makes a moderately effective call to action, and says we’re nearing the time when Gen X can reclaim its rightful place in the world. “The Bush crowd will be gone soon, and then we can pounce,” he writes.
I’m not sure the book is as compelling as I’d hoped it’d be, but it’s a pretty easy read and it oftentimes reaffirms the belief that Generation X is not a bunch of slackers. I wish the book was more rallying cry or manifesto like it is at the very end, but there’s something to be said for learning from others’ example. Sure, I may not have changed the world like some people have, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be proud to be associated (in the most minimal of connections) with the people Gordinier includes. And hey, like the author encourages, maybe my time is coming. Stay tuned.
(And if you want to hear more about this book, here’s a video of Gordinier explaining what it’s all about.)
On my way into work today, I stopped at Bruegger’s for breakfast. “Cinnamon raisin bagel with smoked salmon spread, please,” I ordered. So the guy gets a bagel, slices it, and as he’s spreading the cream cheese, he looks up and says to me, “You know, there’s another word for this.” Intrigued, I asked what that was. “Lox,” he tells me. Now, I hate to mock the guy or anything, because he was being friendly and sharing something he thought I might not know, but of all things, that was kind of an amusing thing to tell me — especially in a bagel place — given that, well, I’m Jewish (which he couldn’t have known) and bagels and lox are something I eat often. In fact, usually when I want to order lox, I have to ask for smoked salmon simply because places like Bruegger’s and Finagle a Bagel don’t know from lox. But amusement aside, I figured I should return the favor. “Actually,” I said to the guy, “it’s also known as nova.” The guy looked at me, smiled, and said, “That’s a new one for me.” So maybe I did a service today, and I helped to educate a Bruegger’s employee. Who knows? Maybe one day soon I’ll even be able to stop in and order a bagel with lox spread.
[And to my readers who know better, yes, I know lox and nova are not exactly the same, nor is smoked salmon. That’s a detail that’s not really worth getting into at Bruegger’s.]
I sure hope I’m not the only one who still gets chills every year when the Boston Pops hits the final verse of “Stars and Stripes Forever” and the flag unfurls from the top of the Hatch Shell and the confetti shoots out from the machines on the sides of the Esplanade.
It’s a fantastic, only-in-Boston moment, five of my favorite minutes of the year, and it never ceases to excite me year after year after year.
My only real regret about the Pops show this year (and every year) is that the national audience doesn’t get to see and hear more of it. Continue reading →
The nice thing about my not having seen Talladega Nights, Semi-Pro, or Blades of Glory is that now, Step Brothers actually feels sorta fresh, and not like another lame retread of the same Will Ferrell jokes I’ve seen so many times before.
Martin's Musings 