Archive | September, 2008

Praise Be to Al

18 Sep

Oh happy day. Oh so very happy day. It’s a big deal in my world when a new lunch place opens because even though I like my favorite places (like Sam LaGrassa’s or the former Kingston Deli, for example), I do get bored. Today (or maybe it was yesterday), a new place opened on the corner of Essex and South streets, Al’s South Street Café. If that sounds familiar, it’s because there’s also an Al’s State Street Café. This is absolutely fantastic news. What’s so great about this new place? Well, both Al’s Cafés are owned by the same people who own one of my all-time favorite lunch places, the Italian Café on Broad Street, which I used to go to all the time when I worked at Faneuil Hall and now go to every once in a while on “special” occasions. So now, because the places share the same menu and food, it’s like having the Italian Café right around the corner and I don’t have to decide it’s worth the walk. Woo hoo!

To celebrate Al’s opening — and I suppose I should mention that I didn’t know about the Italian Café connection until I got there — I headed on over today for lunch. I only had a half-second to get past the excitement about what it was, because there was a huge noisy crowd of hungry workers to deal with. There were separate lines for hot and cold subs, and a mob of people waiting to pick up their orders. I was unlucky enough to stand behind a non-English speaker who had no clue what she was doing and didn’t understand when I asked if she had ordered yet or was waiting to pick up. When her order was ready, they called her number three or four times and she still didn’t get it. (And I wasn’t feeling charitable enough to tell her.) Anyway, I ordered a large steak pizzaiola, which is a two-foot-long sub of steak, marinara sauce, and cheese on excellent bread (strangely, it’s French bread, but no matter). It only cost $7 and you’ll probably be happy to know I was unable to eat it all. But it was gooooood, and so worth the discomfort it’ll cause my stomach later this afternoon. Folks, I like to think I know good lunch places, and Al’s is a great lunch place.

Someone I work with’s eyes practically popped out of his head when he saw how large my sandwich was and how good it looked. Suffice it to say, we’re going back tomorrow.

Oh happy day!

Well Shut My Mouth

18 Sep

Alright, that’s it. I’m done talking about the Red Sox. First I write that the season may be over, and what do they do? They get better and climb back into first place. And then when they do that, I acknowledge it right here and of course, they reverse course just as quickly. So this will be my last Red Sox post for a while, until the team definitively wins something and my posting can’t affect their fortunes either way. At least publicly, I’m going to start rooting for Tampa Bay — in the hopes that my blog becomes a jinx for them and not for the hometown team. Sorry, Sox!

Now That’s Funnye

16 Sep

As it turns out, Barack Obama is related to a rabbi (through marriage). Rabbi Capers C. Funnye Jr., who is Michelle Obama’s first cousin once removed, leads a mostly black Jewish congregation on Chicago’s Southwest Side. Her paternal grandfather is the brother of Funnye’s mother. According to this AP story, the Obamas have never attended services at Beth Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation in the city’s Marquette Park neighborhood, where Funnye (pronounced fuh-NAY) presides, but the Rabbi and Michelle have become closer over the past decade. Funnye attended the African Methodist Episcopal Church growing up, then explored a number of other religions before converting, the story reports. You can read the rest right here.

What a Stupid Thing to Say

16 Sep

Alright, so either my blog is sort of powerful in a reverse-jinx sort of way, or maybe I’m just a moron. On July 31, after yet another disappointing game, I suggested that it may be time to declare the Red Sox season over. Well, today is September 16 and the Sox have woken up back in first place after beating the Rays last night — and pretty easily, too. So color me stupid. I never fully gave up on the team, but a month and a half ago it really wasn’t looking too good. I’m happy to take my lashes for being wrong on this one. The Sox have gotten hot at exactly the right time this season. Go Sox!

A League of Morons

15 Sep

Oh well. The Coen brothers’ latest, Burn After Reading, is a bit of a disappointment. Their last film, the Oscar-winning No Country for Old Men, was a brilliant but awfully serious affair, so I don’t blame them for wanting to tackle a trifle like this one. I just wish it had the laughs and charm that a similarly light comedy like, say, the totally underrated Intolerable Cruelty did.

At least those two films have one good thing in common: George Clooney, who here stars as Harry, a womanizing charmer, who gets involved with Linda (Frances McDormand), a woman seeking money for four body-enhancing surgeries, who works at a gym with Chad (Brad Pitt), a dim-witted trainer who happens upon a CD filled with the security secrets of Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich), a former CIA analyst who is writing a memoir about his life in the agency, and whose wife (Tilda Swinton) is also involved with Harry. Got all that? It’s a twisty plot that meanders and doesn’t really ever go anywhere (intentionally), mostly because the characters are all basically morons.

There are some good reaction shots, and McDormand and Pitt seem to be having the most fun, but for my money, the best part of the entire movie is the last five minutes, when J. K. Simmons and David Rasche‘s characters try to make sense of it all. I think the Coens needed to put their characters in the film earlier and more often because their deadpan confusion is hysterical and the only thing in the film that really works. Burn wants to be zany, wacky fun, but it’s only mildly amusing. I’ll take Clooney’s Everett McGill or Miles Massey over Harry any day. So rank this one with the Coens’ The Ladykillers remake as a subpar Coen brothers movie. As I said: Oh well. They can’t all be Fargo or O Brother, Where Art Thou? I’m giving Burn a C+.

This Diet Sucks a Foot-Long

14 Sep

You knew this one was coming. Michael Phelps hosts the season premiere of Saturday Night Live, and among other things, they make fun of how much he eats. The jokes are predictable, but I still enjoyed the skit.
http://www.hulu.com/embed/lzLNLsEH1aCYQmfOf55bBw

I Invite the Media to Grow a Pair

14 Sep

Welcome back, Saturday Night Live. And of course, welcome back, Tina Fey. No surprise, Fey’s Sarah Palin impression is dead-on. This skit was really great last night.
http://www.hulu.com/embed/wyUOSXxioQGZEeIn9cTcyw/0

Remembering When It Was Dry

13 Sep

Watching all the news coverage last night of Hurricane Ike battering Galveston, Texas, I couldn’t help but remember my trip down to the island this past February and wonder just how much of what I saw was still there. The Hotel Galvez, where I stayed, is/was right on the water, and I’m sure it took quite a beating — along with plenty of other hotels and buildings, which were so nicely restored after the Great Storm of 1900. I wonder if things are alright in the Strand, including at La King’s (where Ernest Torres made the great taffy), and I hope all the nice folks I met back in February who took such great care of us (like Jackie and Jim) are okay. And hopefully people like George Mitchell, who threw one hell of a party for Mardi Gras, are also safe.

So today my thoughts are with all these people and places. If you want to see my pictures from the weekend, just click on that link. And if you’d like to read about my trip, click here. Otherwise, let’s all hope the city and its residents are alright and that they will recover from this storm.

Hey Mo!

13 Sep

So … have you heard about Movember?

It’s a campaign to raise awareness for prostate cancer (which affects one in six men, according to the PR stuff I received this week).

Get it?

They’re literally changing the face of men’s health.

Anyway, I am totally going to do this. After all, you know how much I just love growing a goatee.

But wait — this is totally different. We’re talking Tom Selleck– and Alex Trebek–style facial hair here, not Ben Affleck.

I’d love to get some other folks to do this too. Who’s with me? You have a month and a half to decide and to prepare your friends and family for your changed appearance.

I’ll check in about this at the end of October.

And don’t think that just because you’re a woman that you’re excluded from the fun. Remember the patron saint of the “Mo Sistahs” … Frida Kahlo. If she can grow a moustache, then so can you.

A Few Moments with Sarah

12 Sep

If you just can’t wait to watch Sarah Palin’s interview with Charles Gibson tonight on 20/20, here’s a sneak preview:
http://www2.funnyordie.com/public/flash/fodplayer.swf

See more Gina Gershon videos at Funny or Die
← Older Entries
Newer Entries →