New design! Yay Fall. It's true, Summer will always be my fave, but brisk winds and pretty leaves hold a special place in my heart.
I allowed myself to be excited for just a few moments today...
I am now back to being terrified by the possibilities...
My iPhone was stolen. Right out of my friggin' hand as I waited for the bus in Hollywood yesterday afternoon. I had the pleasure of owning the thing for 10 whole days. I'm annoyed.
Here's some video of me in the aftermath of the day's events:
Happy birthday to you,
happy birthday to you,
happy birthday dear Rick,
happy birthday to you...
you would have been 59 today...
We miss you..
xoxo
An essay.
In a time when it feels like neither hollywood, nor broadway has a single original thought left, the new Batman series is a breath of fresh air. Not because it is an original concept, but because it is a rebooting of the franchise (that was for you, Mike.) Finally, Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale have shown us that it is possible to teach an old dog new tricks and that you don't have to pay homage to movies made 28 years ago.
Though Batman Begins was just kinda sorta ok, The Dark Knight is well... a-freakin-mazing. My husband is both more passionate about the movie and better with the verbage so I'll let him write the glowing review. I shall instead look to the future, and the next Batman movie.
We saw TDK again tonight and before the movie started, Mike asked me who I would cast as Catwoman. It's an interesting question. Who they might cast, but def, should not: Scarlett Johannson, Jennifer Connelly, Eva Mendes, Jessica Alba. These women are all very pretty... but that's it. It seems as though they have worked hard to cast ACTORS in these movies (think, for just a second, about Heath Ledgers performance in this movie, and compare it to his Ennis Del Mar... just... wow.) Who would be interesting but very unlikely choices: Laura Linney, Lauren Graham. Laura Linney would be great (and not just because I think she can do no wrong...) and Lauren Graham would just be...interesting. But alas, I fear that their age would be a "problem".
Mike finally said, "I've got it! And when I tell you, you're going to go 'yes, that's it!'.... Rachel Weisz!" It is a pretty great choice. She's gorgeous, but you know... also and actress. She's got sex appeal and intelligence...
But then it hit me. I SHOULD PLAY CATWOMAN!!!! Seriously, how awesome would that be?? First off, I've got the eyes for it. I'm flexible and strong, so I would clearly be awesome at the fight scenes. And I'm an actress! Think about how cool it would be to cast someone who was strong and...thick...to play this crazy ass-kicking anti-heroine, instead of a girl/woman who looks like a stiff wind would knock her off her feet.
So there's my pitch! And Mr. Nolan, if you're reading this, I just want to say what a great job you've done so far. I think I would make a positive addition to your next movie. Please take a look at my headshot, and feel free to contact me at any time.
I heart it. Me and food, we're close.
Nile, Mike and I ventured to 10th and Willow yesterday for brunch. The menu was short but looked amazing! Clearly we needed to start with the spicy cheesey ranch fries (shoestring fries dusted with ranch seasoning, doused with hot sauce and topped with melted american cheese. Sounds like it could be a disaster but it was DELISH!) I was torn between the cream cheese and strawberry stuffed french toast and the Willow Ave. breakfast (your basic eggs, choice of meat and pancakes combo) Nile was between the breakfast and the blueberry pancakes. So when the waiter came to take our order we had a few questions. The first being "What are our choices of breakfast meats?" to which he said "We have ham, bacon, turkey bacon..." Stop right there my friend-turkey bacon, SOLD! (I think we actually cut him off and said that... yeah we're the "fun" table.) He laughed and went on to say, "Oh and just so you know that comes with blueberry pancakes or french toast."
Oh
My
GAH!
Done and DONE!!!
While we waited for our food, mimosa's in hand our waiter came out with our complimentary
I meant to get pictures of our over-flowing main plates but alas, I was too distracted by the eating.
Steve and Bryan, when you come to visit we are SO there!
Ctrl-V (PCs) or Command-V (Macs) Time! Paste whatever text you copied last.
http://www.bigapplebarbecue.com/
I found about this in Everyday with Rachel Ray! Mike and I are SO THERE!!!
Unless there is singing and dancing in Before the Devil Knows You're Dead that I missed...
Well, I thought it was funny!
Battle For Haditha (Nick Broomfield, 2007)
Hoo boy. Nick Broomfield's ironically titled docudrama about the 2005 Haditha killings follows that fateful day in the lives of the soldiers, the insurgents, and of course, the innocents who were slaughtered by US forces. And it's about as intense as it sounds like it would be. There are problems with the film, like a kind of pathological need to humanize, which leads to certain beats that feel a little rote (like the insurgents casually talking about how if only the US hadn't disbanded the army, they wouldn't be doing this, or the repetition of just how fried the US soldiers are). It's not a great film, but as head into year five of this clusterfuck, it's a necessary one.
The Mist (Frank Darabont, 2007)
The Mist isn't just bad. It's wrong. From Thomas Jane's earnest delivery of the line, "This is no ordinary mist," to the laughably overwrought ending, the movie could not be worse. Seriously. It's like Crash with giant CGI tentacle monsters. Also, if you're going to name your movie The Mist, and try to elicit fear from the uncertainty that comes from not being able to see more than a few feet in front of you, then you might want to hold off for longer than twenty minutes to show the giant CGI tentacle monster. Just a tip.
The Pleasure of Being Robbed (Joshua Safdie, 2008)
Goddammit, this movie is gorgeous. Think Bujalski meets Vivre Sa Vie. I can't believe I just wrote that. Ugh. Who am I? Maybe it's more accurately described as Quiet City's
evil twin. No, that's reductive. They are wholly different films.
Anyway, all I'm saying is that if you have a chance, please go. I love this movie.
Sleuth (Kenneth Branagh, 2007)
Three words. Gay train wreck.
The New Year Parade (Tom Quinn, 2008)
Divorce, Philly style! Set against the backdrop of the annual Mummers Parade, The New Year Parade chronicles the lives of a couple of South Philadelphia kids whose parents have separated. This is a really sweet movie, and it's homegrown, so they certainly got the Philadelphia accent right.
Lake of Fire (Tony Kaye, 2007)
Doesn't a two-and-a-half hour documentary on the abortion wars of the 90s sound like a good time? What's that? It's also in black-and-white? And there are scenes in which doctors sift through bloody post-abortion detritus? HOLLA!
The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominik, 2007)
There's a lot to like about this movie, but man is it on-the-nose. We get it. We understand. When it's not hitting us over the head with Casey Affleck's mumbly hero-worship, it's a great movie that evokes the kind of sweaty slow burn of The Deer Hunter. But, as I said, it's all just a little too obvious.
I Am Legend (Francis Lawrence, 2007)
Will Smith really gives his all to this pile. Seriously, he acts the fuck out of it. Unfortunately for him, the movie doesn't hold a candle to previous adaptation The Last Man on Earth... or The Omega Man for that matter. And that movie is terrible.
Iron Man (Jon Favreau, 2008)
Robert Downey Jr. is a casting coup, yes. And Jeff Bridges is hilarious, if only because his skull is allowed to come out and play. And Jon Favreau is a director who cares about the overuse of CGI (love those Elf practicals). So hooray. But even with all of that going for it, I had a hard time getting into the gadgety-metalhead porn of it all because I was distracted by the way it non-tackled the Iraq war. If only we all had a metal suit that could tell us who the hostiles were and who the civilians were. I get that it's a superhero movie, and that we can't expect a movie about a guy who constructs a super-suit to do anything but be "kick-ass" or to solve our Iraq problem (that's for the guy with the super ears). So let's just chalk it up to the fact that I can't enjoy anything anymore, and that'll be that. Kudos for trying to make a movie about the here and now, I guess (as opposed to say, Superman Returns). And let's face it, this is probably as good as a movie about Iron Man was going to be.
