So This Is Morning World …

17 Oct


It’s official: I’m not a morning person. Had to get up early (i.e.: at 6 am) to take care of some car repairs and even when I got out of the bathroom post-shower and washing up it was still dark out. I’m the kind of guy who will hit snooze every 9 minutes for an hour just because he doesn’t like the song playing on the radio, or because it just didn’t feel right and I needed 9 more minutes, so I just can’t get behind all those people who wake up early by choice. Sure, no one likes staying in the office too late (myself included), and I’d wake up early for work if I had to, but if given the choice of being here at 8 am or staying until 7 pm, I’ll take the later option. Waking up early is just no fun. And no, I’m not a coffee drinker. So right now I’m chugging from a can of Coke (diet, because we were all out of regular. Argh).

Happy Monday y’all.

Tru Story

17 Oct

What a difference a day makes.

Saw a much better movie Sunday night: Capote.

It’s the story of Truman Capote during the time he was writing In Cold Blood. Capote is played by the always-reliable Philip Seymour Hoffman, one of my favorite actors, and Hoffman gives an awesome performance.

Capote’s a fey, completely self-involved man, who gets a bit too close to the story he’s writing about, yet retains his single-minded focus on writing the book that will change literature forever — something he knows (and doesn’t hesitate to say) even before he’s written a chapter.

Anyway, without going into too much detail, I’ll just say Hoffman’s great and I really liked this movie. It’s as good as Elizabethtown was bad.

I give it an A.

What’s the Lesser of Two Evils?

16 Oct

Over the summer, when I was working until 9, 10 or 11pm, I’d come home each night to a blinking notification that I had voice mail. And I’d be excited, of course, because after a pretty solitary and lonely evening, the possibility of some love from a friend or family member was just what I needed.

But it never failed: the messages would always be from telemarketers informing me that I’d been preapproved for a credit card, or the entry that I or a family member or friend had submitted had been chosen and I’d won a trip, or that I could consolidate my mortgage payments (note: I rent, not own), or that a satellite TV provider would be in my area … You all know what these calls sound like. And my caller ID would be filled with “Unknown Caller” or “Ocean Glass” or “Iowa” or “Michigan” or other random IDs.

And I found that there really was not much more depressing than coming home from work so late again to find all these messages and have none of them be from people you actually know. Talk about adding insult to injury.

So a couple of months ago, I finally signed up for the National Do Not Call Registry. The thing works like a charm; no more telemarketing calls, no more random IDs on the caller ID. (Alright, maybe an occasional one or two.) In fact, almost no calls at all.

But you know what? I’m not sure this is so much better. I keep asking myself what’s worse: coming home after a long day to messages, even if they are from telemarketers, or coming home to nothing. And no, this is not a plea for people I know to call me. It’s just something of a discussion topic, I suppose, even if it’s a discussion I’m having with myself. Personally, in hindsight, I think I may have liked the calls. Maybe it was their frequency that got annoying. (Ehhhh, maybe not.) I mean, after all, it’s nice to be called by people. Who doesn’t like attention? I don’t know.

So what do you think? Is it worse to have no messages waiting or to have multiple messages from telemarketers?

As Seen In …

16 Oct

If you’ve read the “City Weekly” section of today’s Boston Globe, maybe you’ve seen the Blog Log written by Adam Gaffin, who runs Universal Hub. And maybe you’ve seen his reference to my blog and the posting I did on my commute into work on September 30. It’s a nice plug. Thanks, Adam.

It’s a Fiasco

16 Oct

What a bummer when one of your favorite filmmakers makes a bad movie.

And yet, that’s exactly what Cameron Crowe has done with Elizabethtown. It’s miscast, poorly acted, overly long, and just not good.

If you’ve seen it, say it with me: the film is a fiasco.

Perhaps the only good thing about it is the soundtrack, which includes Elton John’s “My Father’s Gun” and one of my recent favorite songs, I Nine’s “Same in Any Language.”

But even despite that, I give the film a D. That’s D for disappointment.

Dating for Dummies

15 Oct

Well, as long as I haven’t had many dating exploits to write about lately, I thought I’d link y’all to a new site I found today: Dating Dummy. Like me, the guy who writes this blog is 30-something and looking for love in the big city (in his case, San Diego). Supposedly, he met the person he’s currently dating via her blog, so I guess there’s hope for me, right? Anyone cute and single and female out there reading my site?

(Just kidding. Not sure that’s how I’d want to meet someone — though I also suppose these days I can’t be too choosy.)

But hey, if you’d like to live vicariously through this guy’s blog, it seems like things between him and ICG (i.e.: Irresistibly Charming Girl) are going very well, despite the fact that he lives in California and she lives in — well, he hasn’t quite said yet, though it looks like Cleveland. (Am I right, Dan? Is this Cleveland?)

This guy also has a photgraphy blog called Photography Dummy, if you like that sort of thing.

It’s funny sometimes what you find when you browse around the blogosphere and keep clicking on people’s links. Damned rainy days when I’m cooped up indoors …

Their Future’s So Bright …

15 Oct

Frankly, I’m tired of this rain. I’m not sure how Noah dealt with it. And this is coming from a guy who calls Singin’ in the Rain his all-time favorite movie. So as an antidote to this miserable weather, here’s something fun I’ve been holding onto for a while now: another piece of random mail I received recently at work.

A company called ParkerG decided babies need more fashionable sunglasses that don’t look like they come straight out of Revenge of the Nerds (yes, that’s the marketing message they’re going with). Apparently, they’re all the rage among celebrity babies (I’m told Courtney Cox Arquette’s and Debra Messing’s kids both wear them).

Um, I love a cute kid just as much as the next person (see Simon Says!) but I don’t think any mother — celeb or not — would want her baby looking as silly as these babies do.


I guess some people just have too much time on their hands …

On the bright side, maybe sometime soon we’ll all have reason to wear sunglasses again.

Music to My Ears

14 Oct

Best thing about spending 6 of the last 72 hours in my car? The chance to hear some of the new music I’ve been buying. Among the noteworthy tunes …

Jamie Cullum, “London Skies,” “Photograph,” and “Mind Trick,” and his new CD, Catching Tales. I’m a huge fan of Jamie’s previous CD, Twentysomething, with its cool fusion of rock, pop and jazz, and had high hopes for the follow-up. The sound of this new disc is more pop-jazz than Twentysomething, which was more jazz-pop. Songs here have more of a beat, more of an ambient sound in some cases, more edge, and less of a “classic” feel. My favorite track is “London Skies.” I’ve already played it a good handful of times. And “Mind Trick” is just fun. “Photograph” hit a chord with me, due to the wistful, nostalgic lyrics of the chorus (“When I look back on my ordinary, ordinary life, I see so much magic though I missed it at the time.”) and a nice piano solo. Other tracks (like “21st Century Kid” and the Steely Dan-esque “Nothing I Do”) are quickly growing on me. Sure, most of the stronger tracks are in the first half of the CD, but I’d imagine that after a few more listenings, I’ll warm to more tracks in the second half. This is a really good album, even if I don’t instantly love it all, like I did with Twentysomething. Jamie Cullum’s a huge talent and I really recommend this CD.

Susan Tedeschi, “Follow,” and her new CD, Hope and Desire. Tedeschi’s Just Won’t Burn is one of my all-time favorite albums, but since then I just haven’t loved Tedeschi’s work. This album has its highs and lows, and a definite high is “Follow,” a cover of the Richie Havens classic. Simply, it just sounds great. Is it the song? Is it the delivery? It’s both.

Josh Kelley, “Only You”
I Nine, “Same in Any Language” (From the Elizabethtown soundtrack)
Cass Elliot, “Make Your Own Kind of Music” (yes, the song from the first episode of Lost this year)
… These three are just some great songs that had repeated play in my car.

All of this is available on iTunes, by the way. The others are good, but Jamie Cullum’s definitely worth checking out.

Mother Nature Is a Bitch

14 Oct

That’s the only way to explain the hellish drive I had this morning from NY through Connecticut en route back to Boston. All you Beantowners who think these misty conditions are rain have no idea what the folks down in the tri-state area have been getting the past few days. Ugh. We’re talking monsoon conditions. And driving through that is just no fun at all. Especially at 7 a.m. when I’ve had just a couple hours of sleep the night before. I’ve never been so happy to be back in the office. And now I hear tomorrow’s weather here is going to be as bad as it’s been “down south” for the past couple of days? Grrrrreaaaat.

I Love L.A. (mostly)

11 Oct


Congrats to the L.A. Angels of Anaheim for knocking the Yankees out of the playoffs last night and wiping the smug demeanor off the faces of A-Rod, Randy Johnson, slimy Giambi and especially Hideki Matsui, who I was happy to see make the last out. Never has there been a bunch of ballplayers who acted like they were entitled to greatness, and I am so happy that their season is now over.

(Yes, the Sox are also out of it, and yes we got swept, but we were happy just to be in the playoffs this year. The Yankees thought they had actually earned a place in the playoffs, when they just got lucky in the end. And, at least the Sox look like they enjoy playing the game. I don’t know how anyone can enjoy watching the Yankees play when they never smile.)

Anyway … so here are my fearless predictions for the rest of the post-season, based on nothing more than who I like and who I know and who I’d enjoy rooting for:
Angels over the White Sox in 6 games
Houston over St. Louis in 6 games
Houston over the Angels in 6 games

I’m not putting any money on any of those picks and I hope the people who actually care about this stuff (hello, Todd) will take them with a grain of salt. But I think I would actually enjoy watching the World Series if it was the Astros and the Angels. Jeez, there’d be a lot of red in the stands in both parks … It might actually be like the Sox were still in it. (What? A guy can dream, can’t he?)

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