I <3 Bret and Jemaine

Because I don't think I've written about it yet (even though I've been enjoying it since June):

I don't know how I've lived my life thus far without knowing about Flight of the Conchords. Pretty much the best thing out there. And waaaay better than Entourage. (Yeah, I said it. What now?)

Also, Bret, I want to have your babies.  

Le sigh.

Cake or Death: Eddie or Dane

Recently, I re-watched Eddie Izzard's Dress to Kill special. And obviously, it's amazing. I don't need to say that. If you've seen it, you know how brilliant it is, and if you haven't, you must this very minute. Anyway, on the same day I happened to be basking in the brilliance of Eddie Izzard, I caught a rerun of Dane Cook's Vicious Circle.

I was at the taping of Vicious Circle, which was kind of a big deal. I went with Nikki and a bunch of other people, and we spent quite a bit of money for seats that were not close to the stage.  For someone who is "all about the fans," as Dane frequently says he is, you would think that might be taken into consideration before he charges over $100 for floor seats - at the Comedy Connection in Fanueil Hall, it was $30-ish plus drinks.  

After seeing Dane at the aformentioned Comedy Connection many times, paying $60 for an upper tier seat at the Garden in Boston seemed just didn't seem right. We left the show buzzed on alcohol and laughter, but feeling somewhat underwhelmed. The show just wasn't as amazing as Dane had been in the past, we thought. Maybe we had just seen him so many times that his live shows were losing their thrill. Or maybe that was just the booze. It had been a long week previously, and I just found out I was accepted into the Cannes internship program, so some celebrating was in order.

When I finally saw the Vicious Circle special on TV, I was even more disappointed. Surely, I thought, the show will be better than I remembered. And... it wasn't. There wasn't as much funny in the two hours as there should have been. And so much I had heard before... multiple times at his shows.

Anyway, what I'm getting with all this is that it's kind of difficult to say, but... I think I've outgrown Dane Cook. Which is kind of painful considering the amount of money I spent to see him live over the past 4 years (Three times at the Comedy Connection, twice at BU, and the whopper of a show that was the Garden). But there's something very collegiate about him. And I don't mean collegiate in that argyle sweaters and rich New England family sort of way, but more in the way of boys with unironically flipped collars and backwards Boston Red Sox hats and the girls who love them.  And that's not a scene of which I want (or ever did want) any part.

Maybe it's because I'm done with college - and Dane Cook will forever be inextricably linked to my four years at BU.  Maybe it's because - even as a straight girl - Eddie is way more attractive in his skirts and heels than Dane is in his torn jeans and faux-hipster shirts.  Probably it's because Eddie Izzard is just funnier.  So, sorry Dane, but this is where you and I part ways.  It's not you, it's me.  Really.

Hi, I'm Shallow

Bravo re-ran the latter half of the second season of Top Chef today. I started watching it while I did some baking (I figured it was appropriate background noise) and proceeded to get sucked into watching the rest of the episodes. 

As did my mom.

So we sat around all day watching TC reruns, which, admittedly, made me a bit hungry, and made me depressed again because it made me think of how I couldn't taste my $35 plate of sea scallops and fennel risotto that I had on vacation. Which is neither here nor there.

Anyway, the end of season two has the infamous Marcel/Cliff/Ilan/Elia head-shaving incident, which provoked a discussion as to why I so intensely disliked both Ilan and Marcel (I don't know why any discussion was needed - I thought it was pretty obvious).

"Well," said my mom, "if you didn't like Marcel or Ilan, who did you want to win?"

"Oh, I wanted Sam to win."

"Why is that?"

"Oh... well, uh, Sam's... really hot?"

"And...?"

"Well, being that I can't actually taste his food, that's pretty much all I have to go on. I'm sorry you raised such a shallow daughter."

(Me trying to smirk provocatively always ends up with me looking like an ass.  Maybe that's why I can't land guys...)

Happy Matt Nathanson album day!

Drool x 2

So I came across this on my morning roundup of Yankees blogs:

Just look at those smiles.  The picture certainly made me want to return to dreamland, that much is for sure.  And that security guard back there looks like he's totally checking out Becks' ass.  Wouldn't you?

Vacation: All I Ever Wanted?

I love vacation, I really do.  But there's just something about going to Disney World that doesn't really feel like... well... vacation.  I always find myself coming home from a trip to Florida and thinking... "I need a vacation."

Ah well.

Vacation did tend to overwhelm the awesomeness that was Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp back in Rent on Broadway, which was simply incredible (and happened to be the day before we left for the trip). And I missed so much while I was in Mickeyland.  The Police playing 3 shows in NYC, Matt Nathanson tickets going on sale, the Yankees making a bunch of roster moves (Mike Myers and Miguel Cairo DFA??), the love of my life Michael Cera (George Michael Bluth)* doing a shitload of press for Superbad...

Tonight's SNL rerun's host is Hugh Laurie.  A hit or miss episode, but when they gave Hugh center stage, it was quite good.  The man's got a sense of humor that's just a bit too classy and sophisticated for SNL these days.  Or maybe I just didn't care because I was too distracted by his attractive self.  And his accent...  

 
*I've decided that this is not inappropriate as he is only three years younger than me.

*squeals of glee*

I was greeted by the most amazing surprise upon waking up:

Yup, that'd be the trailer for The Darjeeling Limited. Tell me why I didn't try to get an internship at Fox Searchlight again....?  I'm so psyched for this.

Dear eBay Sellers,

A shirt from Bruce Springsteen's 2003 tour with the E Street Band is NOT vintage.  Nor are the shirts clearly screenprinted in your basement.  Buyers are not stupid.

Now how about lowering the price on one of those nifty red and white baseball shirts from '81?  I'm desperate to own a shirt that's 4 years older than me.

Love,

Me

Just so long as it's better than Maladroit....

Weezer's recording a new album!  Yaaaaaaaay!!

And what are YOU doing tomorrow?

Yeah, it's kind of a big deal.

Moooooooose

From Pete Abraham's Yankees blog:

Don't know if YES showed it, but Moose was wearing a t-shirt that said, "Prepare to Die." That, of course, is a line from the great movie The Princess Bride.

Gotta love him.

13>12

Of the many summer three-quels, Ocean's Thirteen is the best. Unlike Pirates and Spiderman, Ocean's Thirteen doesn't feel an hour too long or painfully self-indulgent or completely nonsensical. While the plot may not be much clearer than the air on a hot LA day, it makes enough sense to keep the audience engaged. Money needs to change hands (out of Wally Bank's and into Danny Ocean's) and casino games shall be rigged - the details don't matter. Especially not when Soderbergh (director and DP) photographs Vegas so wonderfully that you can't help but start planning a trip there as you watch Brad and George stroll along the Strip.

Al Pacino does some quality scenery chewing as this installment's villain, and Eddie Izzard gets more screen time (although not as much as he should) then in 12. All that being said:


Dear Steven, George, Brad, et. al.,

Thank you for making Ocean's Thirteen not suck. Granted, you didn't have to do much better to beat the lame excuse for a movie that was Party at George's Italian Villa Ocean's Twelve, but you realized that you fucked up and got back on your game. Kudos.

Love,
Christina

Third Time's a Charm...

...for posts involving Liev Schreiber in the last 24 hours, so:

Snap Judgement: Liev Schreiber Still Without Wedding Ring, Theoretically Still Available
[link via Jezebel]

Thoughts on inhaling his secondhand smoke during Talk Radio still forthcoming. Sigh.

Conspiracies and brainwashing and incest, oh my!

I'm typically not fond of remakes,* especially when the movie being remade was really good, really distinctive, or really a product of its time. As interesting as it was to see Vince Vaughn play Norman Bates (even more interesting now that he's established himself as a comic actor rather than continuing to take roles in crappy dramas), Gus Van Sant's shot for shot remake of Psycho was pretty much a disaster. Even when filmmakers take a not-so-great movie and try to make it better - Fun With Dick and Jane, anyone? - there usually isn't much success.

All of that is a long way of saying that for me, the deck is stacked against a remake going in. Especially the remake of a movie as good as The Manchurian Candidate. But despite my hesitation, I thoroughly enjoyed the 2004 remake. I don't think it's as good as the original, but it's not bad at all. It utilizes current events in the original film's formula way better than it has any right to, and it fares far, far better than Jonathan Demme's previous attempt at a remake, The Truth About Charlie (a remake of Charade). Also, the casting is dead on. Meryl Streep is clearly - and hilariously - channeling Hillary Clinton, Denzel Washington is reliable as always (seriously - has the guy ever been in anything that he wasn't great in?), and Liev Schreiber manages to be both cold and robotic and and oddly touching. And Jeffrey Wright! His part is small, but he's one of my favorite under-the-radar actors working today, and I love to see him pop up in the most unexpected places (Casino Royale, anyone?).

Demme's technique of having the actors look into the lens is off-putting and unsettling, a perfect effect for a film where many characters are unsure of what is going on in their own minds. And the vagueness of the film's conspiracy actually works to its advantage, allowing viewers to draw their own parallels to the current machinations of the US government.

I haven't seen the original in a few years, so my memory's a bit fuzzy, but I completely forgot about the vaguely not so vaguely incestuous subplot between Raymond Shaw and his mother. Liev Schreiber has chemistry with Meryl Streep that's too good for a mother/son relationship. It's like smoking cigarettes - you know it's quite wrong, but it just looks so good on screen.

I think I'm going to read the book this summer. Cause who isn't up for a little Oedipal Complex action while you relax by the pool in Disney World?




*I should clarify that for me, a remake doesn't include many adaptations of a book that is or practically is public domain (e.g., I don't think Baz Luhrman's Romeo + Juliet is a remake of the 1969 Franco Zeffirelli version), or a foreign film done in another country (Infernal Affairs/The Departed)**, even though in the latter case, the original foreign film is usually better, like with a remake.

**I don't actually think this applies to The Departed. But it is the most well known example of a foreign film remade as an American film of late.

The Ten

Forget all the sequels and blockbusters. The movie I'm most excited for this summer?



The Ten.

I can't decide which I think is funnier: Paul Rudd's reading of the cast list at the end (Blah blah blah blah blah blah... and Jessica Alba!) or Liev Schreiber's character karate chopping his wife at the very end. Either way, it's all brilliant.

"I am drunk and wearing flip flops on Fifth Avenue"

If you could only see my list of posts that haven't made it beyond a first draft. Currently in rough draft stage are posts on Eddie Izzard, women's baseball apparel, our old beer fridge, transvestitism in rock music, the TV movie Pirates of Silicon Valley, and baseball movies. Add to that list my thoughts on the play Talk Radio, which I saw this Saturday.

I think my problem is that I just have incredibly high standards. I won't let myself "publish" a shitty piece so it keeps getting rewritten and such until I decide it's okay or get so sick of it I abandon it. Or in lieu of all that, I just space out while I listen to Peter Bjorn and John, my latest musical interest. Because I've got nothing to do and the entire summer to do it.

Sunset Cantina makes some badass espresso martinis. Also, I graduate tomorrow, and I'm totally not ready.

I'm not posting about baseball anymore. I think I'm a jinx or something.

My boys are back on track

Mussina tosses gem, Jeter drives in 3 to control Rangers

With Great Box Office Haul Comes Great Responsibility

Why was Spiderman 3 so baaaaaad (with the exception of Bruce Campbell, of course)? You fell into the Batman "too many villains" trap, Sam Raimi!

I am so unbelievably hungry right now and really craving some In-N-Out burger.