Fact: This Is Funny

14 Sep

Fact: This is a pretty dead-on parody of what it’s like to be a fact-checker, right down to the banana-eating editor (I don’t eat bananas, but my editor does). As someone who has spent a fair amount of time fact checking (though not to this extreme), and who manages the team of fact-checkers at my company, I have to give this film high marks. Kudos to its creators, Peter Karinen and Brian Sacca. I particularly love that the editor is played by Kristen Schaal, from Flight of the Conchords. Enjoy!

I Hope I Get a Harmonica

11 Sep

Unfortunately, Adam Sandler doesn’t have a song for Rosh Hashanah, so I thought I’d tell you that I’ll be putting on my yarmulke and wishing my friends Monica and Veronica a very happy new year (the holiday starts tonight at sundown).

Paul Shaffer is just one person who celebrates Rosh Hashanah, and if you do too, then allow me to wish you a L’Shana Tovah as well.

May it be a good, sweet year for all of us.

Happy Anniversary to Me

9 Sep

I don’t have anything particularly exciting to say about it, but today is September 10, the day before the sixth anniversary of 9/11.

It might be just another day to you, but to me, it’s six years that I’ve been at my current company. (Yeah, it was a heck of a first week to start a new job.)

So, I just wanted to give myself a public atta-boy for staying in one place for this long.

Eh

9 Sep

Another VMAs show, another few hours of my life wasted. No comment on Britney’s “performance” is really necessary. And Gym Class Heroes for best new artist, in a year where they were competing against Amy Winehouse and Carrie Underwood? Please. At least the show was two hours long this year instead of the usual three. If I have anything of any substance to say, it’s that Alicia Keys’ cover of George Michael’s “Freedom 90” was alright, but it only reminded me of how awesome George Michael’s own acoustic version of the song on the MTV 10 show in 1991 was. Here’s the clip. It’s better than anything on the VMAs this year was.

Killer Movie

8 Sep

If you’re looking for a man’s man movie, look no further than 3:10 to Yuma. A remake of an older movie (which I haven’t seen), Yuma tells the story of Dan Evans (Christian Bale), a down-on-his-luck rancher, who joins a team transporting convict Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) to the town of Contention, where Wade will board the 3:10 train headed to prison in Yuma, Arizona. Crowe is at his charming, but gruff, badass best, and Bale gives a fantastic performance as well. Ben Foster (Alpha Dog, X-Men: The Last Stand) plays a psychotic member of Wade’s gang, and he steals some scenes easily. Director James Mangold (Walk the Line) keeps the action moving, guns ablazing throughout, and doesn’t hold back on the testosterone. Sure, this is a western, but don’t call it classic style; the characters curse and speak like they are modern-day western characters. And speaking of testosterone, there are just two women in this movie. Between them, they have about 15 minutes of screen time — total. Yuma may just end up being one of my favorite movies of the year. I’m giving it an A-.

Smells Like a Winner

7 Sep

For your weekend viewing pleasure, I present this classic horse racing clip. The horse’s name is Hoof Hearted. Enjoy!

Hey Jude, You Made It Bad

5 Sep

Is there anybody going to listen to my story, all about the film I saw today … ? (Or Wednesday night, to be more exact.)

Across the Universe is director Julie Taymor’s strange, strange movie set to the music of the Beatles (33 songs in all). To cut to the chase, it’s a mess. A truly bizarre, unnecessary mess of a movie. Often it takes the really easy way to a cliche; for example, the lead characters are named Jude and Lucy, and there’s another one named Prudence. Yes, this means you’ll hear “Hey Jude” and “Dear Prudence” during the film. (Mercifully, “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” is saved for the end credits.) “Let It Be” is recast as a gospel song and sung during race riots and a funeral. And worse, “With a Little Help from My Friends” is sung by a bunch of drunk college students.

The film goes from strange to stranger. And then Bono shows up to sing “I Am the Walrus,” followed by Eddie Izzard singing “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite.”

And it’s a long movie, too (more than two hours).

Sure, the songs are good, but they’re not always the right fit, and too often they feel forced into the story. I laughed out loud during “Revolution.” And I didn’t ever really buy that Evan Rachel Wood was doing her own singing. (On the other hand, Jim Sturgess, who plays Jude, makes a decent impression. And T.V. Carpio’s version of “I Want to Hold Your Hand” is tender and sweet.)

Can’t say anything really makes Universe worth seeing. Nothing’s gonna change my world, not least of all this movie. I’m giving it a D.

Live in Concert

5 Sep

Great news everyone: not only do I have a flute player living next door to me, but I learned last night that I also have a violinist. Yes, I said last night. As in, 9:45 p.m. It was a lovely evening performance. But yeah. There’s a violinist and a flautist living in one apartment, right next to mine. (Thankfully they weren’t playing their instruments together at the same time.) What’s next: A pianist? A cellist? A trumpeter? Will I discover a whole orchestra has moved in next door?? This is getting ridiculous, and it’s only September 5.

It’s About Time

4 Sep

Hate to say I told you so, but it seems people are starting to come around to my way of thinking on this whole Dice-K thing. In the Boston Herald today, Steve Buckley describes how the Japanese “phenom” was pitching so poorly last night — he gave up seven runs on 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings — that the crowds were “begging, pleading, with manager Terry Francona to get Matsuzaka out of the game. And Francona was anxious to accommodate them.” Ouch. And then he goes on to say, “There’s no way other way to put this: Matsuzaka has been lousy in three of his past four outings. In those four starts, three of them losses, he has allowed 20 earned runs in 23 2/3 innings, which works out to a 7.60 ERA.” In short: Dice-K sucks. Still. Who’da thunk 10 runs wouldn’t be enough to win last night’s game? And sure, Dice-K didn’t give up all 10 runs (the Sox eventually won the game 13-10), but he gave up most of them, and set the stage for the other three. So I say welcome to my bandwagon, Steve. It’s nice to have some company.

They Blogged It, He Came

4 Sep

Thanks to PopWatch, I think I may have found a new favorite blog, even if it is just a few months too late. If I Blog It They Will Come had one purpose and one purpose only: to get Kevin Costner to visit a blog all about Kevin Costner and send a picture of himself looking at said blog. And today the writer, a guy named Evan Kessler, reached his goal. Costner sent a picture of himself looking at the site (two pictures, actually). Bravo, Evan! Reading through the archives — the site has been around since January 24 — I’m really amused by how persistent (and genuine) Evan was. So now I have a great new read.

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