I Love You All

28 Oct

Did you know that tomorrow is Positive People Day? It has been so declared by an organization called Victory Over Violence. I was reminded of this fact by the folks in South Station this morning who were handing out reminder cards and posters.

So how does one celebrate Positive People Day? Well, aside from the obvious (being a positive person), the group’s web site says you’re supposed to do random acts of kindness: smile (often), give a hug (though it’s not specified to whom), thank someone, pay an unexpected compliment, share a laugh or a kind word, or call your mother or a loved one.

I’m going to do all those things (look out!) and also celebrate all those in my life who have a positive attitude — like Jenn, a loyal and enthusiastic reader of this site who sits at the corner desk in my office near the kitchen and always has a friendly smile on her face (hi, Jenn!) — and who encourage me to have a positive attitude.

I’m not going to question the fact that we even need a Positive People Day, or the randomness of why Underdog is the day’s mascot. Why? Because doing so would run counter to the day’s goals. La-dee-dah, I will just say that this is the most wonderful day of the year. Yahooie!

Hoo-Rah

28 Oct

Welcome to the (doesn’t) suck.

Jarhead (in theaters November 4) is one of the best films I’ve seen all year. It starts out with a really tough first five minutes — you try not to cringe when Jake Gyllenhaal’s head is slammed against a blackboard — and then Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” starts playing, and it only gets better from there.

Here’s an easily digestible list of what I liked most about the film: Continue reading →

Sox Win! Sox Win!

27 Oct


Oh wait … wrong Sox. Oh well.

Now it’s officially, really winter. How long until Spring Training starts?

"Don’t Look at the Storm. Look at Me."

26 Oct


Want to know what Hurricane Wilma was like yesterday on the Massachusetts coast? (Or at least how one person saw it?) If you’ve got the download speed, the ability to hear sound, and, like, 5 minutes, check out this strange but funny video blog (aka: vlog). It’s a first-hand, eyewitness account by a guy brave enough (or, perhaps more accurately, stupid enough) to venture out with a digital video camera. God bless him. The film is basically storm footage as shot by the Blair Witch Project crew and Saturday Night Live‘s Fred Armisen.

My favorite quote? When the guy says, “It’s kind of like being in Amsterdam, only … only it’s not.”

A warning, though: It starts out sorta slow, but about a minute in (when the sound kicks in and the subtitles start) it gets better. And keep watching when the picture fades to black — there’s more. The ending, when a funny-looking kid walks by, is quick but funny.

Penny for My Thoughts?

26 Oct

What’s with businesses that are sticklers for an extra penny? I was in the Pru on Friday night, and as usual, I decided to grab some dinner from Poulet Rotisserie Chicken because I always figure that of all the options in the food court, this will be the healthiest. (Or, more accurately, it’s just good food.)

I got what I usually do: the combo platter (i.e.: a main dish and two sides — on Friday, that meant basic chicken tenders, mac’n’cheese and steamed vegetables) and a drink. As always, the bill came to $9.01. Now, aside from how wrong it is to pay so much for fast (albeit good) food, the place demands that you pay exactly $9.01. There have been times that I’ve been to Poulet and have paid with a $10 bill and have received 99 cents back as change. And when I’ve tried to pay just $9 (because I either had no change on me or just had, like, a quarter), I’ve been asked for the penny as if I was robbing them blind. There’s no “Have a Penny, Leave a Penny” dish, and after all this time, the place still hasn’t adjusted their prices so people’s bills are exactly $9, or so they’re at least closer to the other side of $9 (i.e.: $8.90-something).

Yes, I’m a sucker for always going back there even though this really annoys me, and I was just lucky I had a penny on me Friday night. But really, what’s with them making me (and everyone else) pay exactly $9.01? Why can’t they just let us pay $9 and be done with it?

Kids Wear the Darndest Things …

25 Oct

Another addition to the “Funny Things to Put on Your Kids” files:

Kidioms is a new line of baby onesies and T-shirts that, ahem, “combine the style and names that adults love with the familiar but original images that kids adore.” (That’s according to the email I received today from a PR rep.) Apparently, the company was founded by three fathers who were frustrated by baby clothes that were either too sweet or edgy, and wanted something both cool and whimsical for their children to wear.

Thus, Kidioms was created. Now you, too, can let your toddler walk (or crawl) around with a t-shirt that says “Bad Ass,” “Chick Magnet” or, yes, even “Eager Beaver.”

I suppose it’s a good thing the kids just think the pictures are cute.

Best $5 Ever

25 Oct


So I’m sure every Boston-area blogger has a similar posting about how hard the commute into work was today. The wind is powerful, the rain is hard, and most folks this morning are all wet.

Except me, that is.

Got to South Station and saw a coworker. We had made it most of the way down the side wall of the station — walking in the opposite direction of the wind — when she turned to me and said, “This sucks. Let’s get a cab. I’ll pay.” So, $5 later (including tip) we had taken a cab all of one mile (if even that long) across the Summer Street bridge. It was the silliest and yet smartest $5 ever.

Thanks, Ellie!

Gone Shopping

25 Oct


From its first frame, Shopgirl announces itself as sort of an elegant, high-minded — but pompous — filmed version of one of Steve Martin’s literary works. In fact, it’s one of the oddest films I’ve seen all year, and not the film I expected it to be based on the tv and print ads I’ve seen. Martin himself plays a character who isn’t as compelling as he’s supposed to be, and Jason Schwartzman (so good in Rushmore, but not as good in much else since) brings the film to life — then disappears for most of it. (Huh?) And Claire Danes is so plain looking — and acting — that you can’t quite understand why Martin’s character would find her so appealing. Still, Schwartzman’s performance is fun, and the film does have high aspirations that I’ll assume just went over my head. And Martin, who also wrote the screenplay, has included some pretty great lines of dialogue that come up unexpectedly, such as one that Danes says close to the end of the film that I can’t quote here for fear of ruining it for folks who haven’t seen the film yet. So in summary, I’ll give Shopgirl the benefit of the doubt and rate it a B–.

Stop Reading This and Get Back to Work!

24 Oct

From AdAge.com:

<< WHAT BLOGS COST AMERICAN BUSINESS

LOS ANGELES — Blog this: U.S. workers in 2005 will waste the equivalent of 551,000 years reading blogs.

About 35 million workers — one in four people in the labor force — visit blogs and on average spend 3.5 hours, or 9%, of the work week engaged with them, according to Advertising Age’s analysis. Time spent in the office on non-work blogs this year will take up the equivalent of 2.3 million jobs. Forget lunch breaks — bloggers essentially take a daily 40-minute blog break. >>

There’s more online if you are registered to read AdAge.com.

No word, however, about how much time workers will “waste” (and I take real issue with that word) writing blogs …

Al Knows Wilma Blows

24 Oct


Poor Al Roker.

Looks like Al drew the shortest straw on the NBC morning team and had to go down to Florida to report from the eye of Hurricane Wilma in Naples. And today on the, ahem, Today show, he was literally blowing away while giving his report at 8 a.m.

Why must news shows feel the need to have reporters and weatherpeople out in the thick of it all during big storms? I mean, we all know the rain and wind is bad — just like we know the snow is bad in the wintertime. And yet, some poor reporter always has to go out and show us just how bad it is.

What was perhaps worse was the way Katie Couric and Matt Lauer were mocking Al from the studio in New York. They were actually laughing at him! (Then again, so was I.) And this was just 60 seconds after Matt did a promo for his upcoming “Where in the World Is Matt Lauer?” segments, during which he’ll be sent to report from exciting locations over the course of a week, and a clip of Matt in Egypt in front of the pyramids from 1998. Cut to Al Roker, blowing away on the roof of some hotel in Naples.

Poor guy.

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