Thanks to Jeff Wells, who tipped me off to this pretty funny (albeit totally predictable and inevitable) mock trailer/music video for There Will Be Blood, a movie that I loved.
There Will Be Milkshakes
14 JanDark Day
14 Jan
This year I’m right on schedule. Finally. For the first time in the three years I’ve been keeping this blog, I’m actually going to have a post up about the Great Molasses Flood of 1919 on the actual anniversary day, which is tomorrow, January 15. Longtime readers of this blog know that this is one of my all-time favorite stories, historical or otherwise. Basically, if you’ve never heard of it before, 89 years ago, a huge tank of molasses — we’re talking 50 feet tall and 240 feet wide — exploded, spilling 2.5 million gallons of molasses into Boston’s North End. But it didn’t just spill. It did so in the form of a wave about 10 feet tall that moved at a speed of 35 mph and exerted a pressure of 2 tons/foot. Years later, a book about the subject was written and it was called, of all things, Dark Tide. Sure, it’s a tragic story (21 people were killed and 150 were injured) but don’t you just love the visual of a giant wave of molasses plowing its way through the North End? Classic stuff right there.
Actually, last year Todd and I wrote our own little parody of the classic Paul Revere rhyme. It begins like this:
Gather my children and you shall smell
the scent of molasses — now run like hell!
We’re also working (verrrry slowly) on a movie adaptation of the Dark Tide book. Anyone want to produce it?
For more about the flood, click here to read my post from two years ago. I’ll be eating a molasses cookie in honor of this special day. You should too. Happy anniversary!
Snow Day!
14 Jan
I took my camera with me to work today, so here are some snowy shots of my ‘hood. Click on each one to see a bigger version.
Tarnished Globes
13 Jan
Forget the winners — tonight’s Golden Globe awards press conference was awful. Between Mary Hart’s lame commentary, and all the other entertainment show hosts trying to one-up each other, the press conference itself sucked. And the TV coverage? Even worse. NBC didn’t even show the press conference live, relying on Billy Bush and Nancy O’Dell to announce the winners in their own mock press conference that trailed the real thing — thus rendering it instantly behind-the-curve and irrelevant. E! showed the press conference, but cut away every now and then to reaction from Ryan Seacrest and other folks in the E! studios. And the sound on CNN kept going out of synch, no doubt because Larry King kept making completely stupid comments after each announcement about how one movie or another was great or one of the year’s best. (Of course they are, Larry. Why do you think they’re nominated?) And the worst thing of all was when Johnny Depp won for best actor in a film, musical or comedy, and Larry King said something about how it was wrong that Daniel Day-Lewis wasn’t nominated. Duh. He was nominated — in the category of best actor in a film, drama. (And he won for it, too.) But because CNN was the only network of the three that actually showed the press conference as it unfolded, without interruption, I stuck with CNN. And by 9:30, a half hour after it began, the whole thing was over. At that point, NBC was still half-way through making their announcements and discussing the winners. Oh, and did Billy Bush really dismiss Cate Blanchett’s award-winning performance in I’m Not There by saying, “At the end of the day it’s a woman imitating a man?” That guy has no business being an entertainment journalist. He’s lame. NBC’s coverage was lame. The whole thing was lame. And it wasn’t even disappointing. Rather, as a film fan, a television fan, and a film awards show fan, it just made me angry. I really really hope this writers strike ends ASAP so we can get back our TV shows and the Oscars can go on as they should be going on, not like this awful attempt at television.
No Swing Is a Real Miss
13 Jan
I’m really missing baseball these days. I miss coming home from work and knowing there’s a game on (especially with there being not much else good on TV anymore). I miss reading about the Sox in the Globe every day. I miss making fun of Dice-K. I miss Papi and Mike Lowell and all the boys, whether it’s news about them or just their smiling, happy faces in the newspaper every morning. I miss the whole thing. It’s not like there’s a void in the Boston sports world or anything, and football’s exciting, but those games only happen on Sundays (or Saturday nights), and basketball and hockey do nothing for me. Baseball’s something you can count on, for at least eight months of the year. From March to October there’s a baseball game on most every night of the week. This gap between the seasons is just too long, especially with there being no significant trade or contract talks going on lately (even a possible Santana deal isn’t all that buzzworthy right now). Jeez, pitchers and catchers report to Fort Myers in about a month, and I’m already antsy. Bring it on!
Trying Some New Places
13 JanI guess I’d like to make a belated New Year’s Resolution: to try new things. And specifically, new restaurants and new foods. Already this year I’ve been to two new restaurants. Well, not new, per se, but they’re new to me. Today I went with Sarah, Amy and Sherri to Victoria’s Diner. Way out of nowhere location aside, this was a real nice surprise of a brunch place. The interior is much nicer than the exterior would lead one to believe, and the food was real tasty. I had the Nutella Smothered French Toast. It’s not quite what the menu promises, but yummmmm. Three slices of french toast covered in Nutella, with strawberries (which I didn’t eat). I highly recommend it, and hope to go back and have this again soon.
Last week after the movie, Nina and I decided to have dinner at Stephanie’s on Newbury, a place that amazingly, I had never been to before. The Mac ‘n’ Cheese wasn’t as good as the stuff at, say, Silvertone, but it was good and worth going back for. And it’s nice to go somewhere nicer and know there’s something on the menu I can eat. I was also impressed with how big the place was. I mean, not that it looks small from the outside, but I didn’t realize it was so deep inside.
Alright, fine. I know what you’re saying: You went to two new places and you had food you knew you already liked. True. But it’s still good to broaden my horizons beyond the normal places I go. And I hope to do more of that as 2008 continues.
It’s Not a Cold
13 Jan
All week I’ve been trying to stave off a cold. Or at least what I thought was a cold. But it turns out I may just have winter allergies, which I’m learning are more common than I thought. After all, if the only symptoms are sneezing, runny nose, and occasional watery eyes, and I’m not feeling run down and I don’t have a sore throat, etc. then it has to be allergies, right? Especially with the way the temperatures here in Boston have been fluctuating, I’m sure there are all kinds of irritants in the air. And I mean, when you go to CVS and you look at all the cold remedies, the ones that treat my symptoms are all labeled “allergy” medication. And Claritin-D seems to be working so well today. And, this would partly explain why the Zicam didn’t do squat all week. So, I’m making a self-diagnosis. I don’t have a cold, I have allergies. Phew!
Bloody Great
5 Jan
Just like the way the oil flows from the oil wells in There Will Be Blood, so flows my enthusiasm for this movie.
Wow. It is so good.
This is why I should have waited to write my top 10 list.
The latest from P.T. Anderson (Magnolia, Boogie Nights) tells the epic story of Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), a greedy sumbitch oil man at the turn of the century who will stop at nothing to lease land and drain it of all its oil.
Plainview and his son travel from town to town convincing the residents they live on valuable real estate and that they can all share in the wealth. (Ha!) It’s all pretty easy until he meets Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), whose evangelism and greed when it comes to his church rivals Plainview’s financial greed. Continue reading
Last Day, First Night
31 Dec
Spent the last afternoon of 2007 wandering around downtown, checking out the pre-First Night activity. It was too warm and sunny out, so the ice sculptures weren’t all fully ready by 3pm. But I managed to get some photos of the ones that were on display. And with that, I close out this blog for 2007. To you and yours, I wish the happiest of Happy New Years. I’ll see you in ’08!
The Good, the Bad, and Superbad
31 Dec
You know it’s been a good year for the movies when you go through the list of films you’ve seen (in my case, 56) and when separating out those you remember fondly, the list is close to 20. So narrowing those down to only 10 is quite a challenge. And yet, I’ve done that — but with one caveat: I still have not seen There Will Be Blood (it’s a 2007 release but it doesn’t open in Boston until Friday), and I’m almost positive that it, too, would have earned a spot on this list. So, this may be a top 11 list come next weekend. [Update 1/5: I’ve now seen There Will Be Blood. The list has been amended accordingly.]
But anyway, so without further ado, here are the 10 [now 11] films I saw in 2007 that brought me the most pleasure:
11. SUPERBAD
I laughed harder and more frequently at this film than I did at anything else all year.
10. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
Javier Bardem and Tommy Lee Jones give memorable, iconic performances, but the Coen brothers deserve plenty of credit too.
9. GONE BABY GONE
Ben Affleck’s directorial debut gets Boston right, and tells a compelling tale whose conclusion stays with you.
8. AMERICAN GANGSTER
A thunderous, exciting performance by Denzel Washington takes this one over the top.
7. 3:10 TO YUMA
A real man’s man’s movie, this one boasts some great action and acting (by Russell Crowe and Christian Bale).
6. REIGN OVER ME
One of the year’s most overlooked gems. It’s not perfect, but what’s good about this film (e.g. Don Cheadle’s performance) is so good. And Adam Sandler breaks your heart.
5. JUNO
Snark perfectly mixed with sweetness in a fantastic screenplay, plus a wonderful lead performance by Ellen Page.
4. LARS AND THE REAL GIRL
Sure, it’s a preposterous premise, but Ryan Gosling’s heartwarming performance helps turn this film into a really sweet tale of loneliness and love.
3. HAIRSPRAY
Maybe this isn’t the actual third-best movie of the year, but it’s certainly one of the most enjoyable times I’ve had at the movies all year. And it’s one of only two movies on this list that I saw in the theater twice.
2. THERE WILL BE BLOOD
An epic movie featuring one of Daniel Day-Lewis’ best performances ever, this film is just brilliant. It must be seen, and on a big screen.
1. ONCE
Can’t say enough about how much I love this movie. The music, the acting, the story, the writing … nearly everything about it is perfect. At just under 90 minutes, this is the rare movie you want to be longer. Once is an instant classic, a film of such magic that its effect stays with you for days, months, and (time will tell) years after you see it.
And what about the worst movies? Well, that list was a lot easier to compile. I’d like to think I stay away from the obvious stinkers, but every now and then I do get suckered or disappointed. So here are those films I wish I could say I didn’t see:
10. EVAN ALMIGHTY
9. SPIDER-MAN 3
8. FACTORY GIRL
7. SING NOW OR FOREVER HOLD YOUR PEACE
6. LIONS FOR LAMBS
5. ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
4. BECAUSE I SAID SO
3. FRED CLAUS
2. IN THE LAND OF WOMEN
1. RENDITION
Martin's Musings 