Da Vinci Decoded

Hey everyone! So opening weekend, Thomas, Jen and I went to see Da Vinci Code. I was all stirred up as usual about this thinking I'd have to deal with long lines and front row seats. Instead we arrived to no lines and a theatre that was about 2/3 full. And we had excellent seats. An absolute necessity for any movie over 2 hrs. I had dramatically lowered my expectations for DC thanks to 1) The casting, 2) Tom Hanks's hair and 3) the whopping 17 it scored on the Tomameter. Lowered expectations are always a good thing. Because as it turned out the movie was not, in fact, horrible. It was a good movie and I was never bored. The Never Bored test is the one that MUST be passed if I'm to like a movie. But don't get me wrong. I didn't love this movie. It turned out that the casting was a problem, tho surprisingly Tom Hanks's hair didn't end up bothering me too much. I did read the book a few years ago and it was quite the page turner, but I'd forgotten about 4/5 of the plot. This proved to be very helpful as I had no clue where the movie was going and I did get caught up in it all. I had trouble with some of Ron Howard's directing choices - too many ghostlike figures wandering about and too many bizarre closeups. Weird choices between that and the casting. Oh, did I mention the casting? Tom Hanks was so not who I imagined when reading about Robert Langdon. Jen had some good substitutes - Viggo Mortensen and Aaron Eckhart are two that I can recall. And I think Aaron Eckhart would have been absolutely perfect. And tho I absolutely adored Audrey Tautou as Amelie, I didn't dig her as Sophie (this is probably due in part to my antipathy for her Amelie follow-up, A Very Long Engagement (aka, A Very Long Very Boring Movie). I would have infinitely preferred French actress Julie Delpy as Sophie. She and A Eckhart would have had fab chemistry and I can guarantee the movie would have ended with a passionate kiss. Instead at the end, I prayed that Tom would not go there with Audrey. Hyena-like laughter combined with nausea would have been the only possible response. Luckily Howard must have sensed this as well. Aside from Tom and Audrey, the cast was filled with all the stock French actors. Need a French detective? Who else to play him than Jean Reno! He is the go-to guy for French detectives. But the story is good, the pacing is fine and the locations are great. So DC's worth the trip to ye ole cineplex afterall.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: Save the earth so we have some place to boogie.

-sunday

May Book Review

Hey everyone! It's been a bit since I've reviewed books, but there've been a few worth noting:

Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction by Sue Townsend - Sue Townsend has written four or five Adrian Mole books, and I've adored them since I stumbled across my first one whilst in college. I remember reading Adrian Mole, Aged 13 & 3/4 while on the treadmill at the OU gym. This was not a good idea as I actually started laughing so hard that I fell off the treadmill. Not my finest hour. But definitely one of my more enjoyable ones. The Adrian Mole books are all about a British boy who imagines himself an intellectual, superior to all about him, particularly his parents. His one object of devotion is Pandora, a girl in his school from an upper-class family. The first two Adrian Mole books are beyond hysterical. They're told in diary format and are too quick of a read for anyone to avoid. Townsend then struck out Adrian Mole, The Cappuccino Years, released a few years ago. It tells of Adrian's misadventures in his 20s and was quite disappointing. I'm happy to say that she has returned to form with this latest in the series. Adrian is now in his 30s and has a son in Iraq, hence the title. All my favorites are back - Pandora, the Mole parents, etc. I saved this book for our trip to Hawaii and it was definitely the perfect beach read. It got a little too preachy toward the end for me (totally out of character for these books so it just didn't work), but given all the chuckles it gave me, that is easily forgiven. I now look forward to whatever lies ahead for Adrian. Regardless of your age, anyone from 12 to 102 should enjoy reading about the bizarre world of Adrian Mole.

On Beauty by Zadie Smith - Unlike the rest of the modern world, I read On Beauty before Smith's acclaimed White Teeth. The setting of the book was instantly appealing to me. It's about two families in the world of academia, the Belseys and the Kipps. The Belseys are a liberal mixed family - the father Howard is a white professor at Wellington, a fictitious Ivy league school and his wife Kiki is an African American homemaker. The Kipps are a conservative black British family - the father Monty is also a professor and he and Howard both teach some form of Art History, but with radically different theories on the topic. The drama unfolds when Monty takes a guest professor post at Wellington and the two families begin intermixing. Some friendships are made, some enemies reinforced, and some secrets are unveiled, but this book is really about the characters. On Beauty is told from several different perspectives - Howard's, Kiki's and two of their high school and college-aged children. Smith has a brilliant ability to capture a character's voice and make it ring true. The book is long, but there was enough drama and bits of humor to make it very enjoyable.

White Teeth by Zadie Smith - I'm really glad I read On Beauty before White Teeth. Because getting through this novel was like pulling teeth for me. I enjoyed very, very little of it and though Smith once again tells the tale from several characters' perspectivez - and does this successfully - the problem was that I didn't like any of the characters. And Smith didn't seem to either. The story is once again about two families those of Archie Jones and Pakistani Samad Iqbal. The two men meet during WWII and form an unlikely friendship that lasts for decades. Their wives and offspring intermingle in the book and it gives you several different viewpoints on what it must have been like to have been an immigrant in Britain, or the descendant of one. All I can say is BORING.

Ya-Yas in Bloom by Rebecca Wells - Several years ago I was in love with Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. It made getting older and having kids seem like it could still be fun and crazy. Wells also wrote a prequel called Little Altars Everywhere that was really good. But Bloom is a different story. It has no plot and instead is a series of stories about the Ya-Yas and their kids, the Petite Ya-Yas. Some were mildly amusing, but I picked this up thinking it would be a novel, a continuation of the story or something. Bloom must have wanted some fast cash and traded off a series that was loved by women. Bad idea. With the sub par Bloom, she managed to taint the whole Ya-Ya series.

Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris - Harris is most known for Chocolat, the book that was made into a movie featuring the divine Johnny Depp. G&P is set in a British prep school, St. Oswalds. The novel is told from two perspectives, that of Roy Straightley a Classics teacher who's been at the school for 30 years and Julian Snyde, the child of St. Oswald's caretaker. Julian has a pretty poor, bleak childhood at his local school so he decides to sneak about St. Oswald's and fit in as a student there. It works and he even makes a friend. Drama goes down though and 15 years later Julian returns with an alias and a vengeance and manages to get hired as a professor at the school. He is then set upon bringing St. Oswald's down. The story goes back and forth in time and is a very intriguing one. Plus it has a magnificent twist at the end. I did not even come close to guessing this twist, making it all the better, since it is plausible. I ended up caring for both the school, Straightley and many of the other assorted players that make up the novel - from the backbiting teachers to the rebellious but lovable students.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: These colors don't run....the world.

Siskel and Ebert and the Misery

Hey everyone! I stumbled across these clips and had to pass them on. They are out-takes from the old Siskel and Ebert Show. If you're a fan (that'd be you, Jen), you will enjoy. The first is quite long, but all are worthy. The two obviously had a love/hate (with quite the emphasis on hate) relationship back in the 80s. Ebert constantly chastises Siskel for his poor enunciation and his inability to up the energy quotient, while Siskel resorts to fat jokes. It makes me wonder if Roepert is spared Ebert's wrath, and vice versa?

-sunday

Weekend Movie Recap

Hey everyone! This weekend Thomas and I went to see Mission Impossible 3. I was all stirred up about this and expected long lines and packed theaters. Instead we arrived at the Saturday matinee 5 minutes late to our favorite Boulder moviehouse to find no line and a theater that wasn't even a third full. From an article my brother sent me, this seems to have been par for the course across the country. I guess Tom's antics have officially tried the public's good will. This is unfortunate, as he usually puts on a good show. And I am pleased to tell you that MI:3 tops the first two films. I personally credit the brilliant JJ Abrams (director and co-writer) for this. The cast was also especially good and I loved seeing Felicity (that would be Keri Russell to you, but she'll always be Felicity to me) kick ass in the beginning of the movie. That alone made the movie worthwhile for me. Also excellent were PS Hoffman (no surprise there), Maggie Q (unknown to me before this, but I see that she was also in Rush Hour 2 - she is just amazingly beautiful and a good actress), Ving Rhames and Jonathon Rhys Meyers. A decidedly unappealing Billy Crudup also stars as does the film's one weak link, Michelle Monaghan as Cruise's love interest. The movie was paced well and tho the storyline's twists weren't entirely surprising, I can honestly say that I was never bored. The action sequences and special effects were thrilling, particulary one that takes place on a bridge in DC. I have to warn you that they do the whole face/off mask thing once too often. This is a crutch that Thomas and I both find tiresome, but it was not as overplayed in this sequel as it was in MI:2. If you're looking for an action-packed popcorn movie with some humor thrown in, you won't be disappointed in MI:3. As I told Thomas, I like my celebrities weird. If they were normal, they'd be boring. So give Cruise a chance.

After all that though, MI:3 was not the best movie I saw last week. That would be Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont. Palfrey is one of those British movies I so adore starring Joan Plowright (Plowright was Laurence Olivier's third wife after my personal fav, Vivien Leigh). There's no one better for playing older, upper middle class British ladies. She's done this many times in the past couple of decades - for another good example, see Enchanted April. In Palfrey, Plowright stars as the eponymous Mrs. Palfrey, a widow who checks into the London Claremont hotel for an undetermined amount of time. Though she is quite protective of her privacy, she quickly becomes familiar with all the regulars, some of whom have been at the Claremont for years. The one challenge to her stay is her grandson's refusal to come visit her, thus creating something of a scandal among the guests. One day Mrs. Palfrey is out running an errand when she slips and is rescued by Ludovic Meyer (Rupert Friend - last seen as the evil but cute Wickham in 2005's P&P and Keira Knightley's current real life boyfriend). Ludovic is a handsome struggling writer with a taste for poetry and unlimited time on his hands. He and Mrs. Palfrey develop a decidedly convincing and deep friendship and he serves as a stand-in grandson for her. Mrs. Palfrey is clearly delighted with both the friendship and the drama this small intrigue provides. The movie's message that the people who surround you, who are part of your day-to-day existence - whether they be friends, neighbors or people met through unexpected encounters - can play as strong a role in your life as your actual family - is made beautifully. I hope there are many more such stories that Plowright can make in the future. I will happily see them all.

Palfrey also references the 1945 film Brief Encounter several times and by some lucky twist of fate I had replayed that movie on TCM several weeks ago. I talked Thomas into watching it Friday night and its four stars are rightly deserved. Brief Encounter was one of the first British-made movies to make a big splash in America. It stars Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard (both unknown to me) as two middle-aged, married people who have a chance meeting at a train station and fall violently in love. Their tear-jerker of a love affair is true to the title, a brief one, and is told as a flashback by Ms. Johnson. Her blunt telling of the tale was at times humorous and must certainly have been shocking to audiences in the 40s. But it definitely rang true and is one of those great old movies I'm glad I finally saw.

-sunday

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: Peace: Back by popular demand.

I Heart NY - And the Photos are In

Hey everyone, Cyd emailed me the pics of our trip to NYC. To the left you can see the infamous Scott Cohen and Judd Hirsh at the premiere of My Brother's Shadow. Below are pics of the full cast from the movie, Cyd and I breakfasting in Bryant Park, and finally a pic of Arnold Schwarzenneger. Much to my dismay, Cyd and I left Bryant Park and headed in opposite directions: I to Laguardia and she to the Columbus Circle Whole Foods. There she spotted The Terminator himself getting coffee. She reported that he was surprisingly short. Before my plane took off, I immediately relayed this info via phone to Thomas. After I hung up, the German lady sitting next to me agreed that he was short and stocky and she said he was a jerk. I asked her how she knew all this, and she said her children went to school with his. She also told me that Maria was distant (headline news, that one). So that's your celebrity gossip for the day - no need to even read Us Magazine.

Boulder Bumpersticker or the Day: Actions Speak Louder than Bumperstickers.

-sunday

I Heart NY Part 2

Hey everyone! So the rest of my NYC trip. Saturday morning I woke up and put on my new Black Sabbath t-shirt. When in Rome, as they say. Cyd wore a t-shirt she bought on the street from Dennis, a young Russian artist. His brand is Piece of Peace. It should be hitting your neighborhood department store any day;). We went to breakfast at a Brazilian cafe and I was immediately complimented on my new shirt and taste in music (yeah, right) by our pierced Goth-girl waitress. Success! After that we wandered about looking for a schedule to the Tribeca Film Festival. I repeated over and over how shocked I was that this info was not in the day's NY Times. We finally stumbled across an information booth. When we asked for recommendations, the Info guy recommended a few hip hop films and then told us we couldn't go wrong with any of the many hip hop offerings. Cyd and I found this particularly hilarious as neither of us know/care a thing about hip hop. We figured once again our t-shirts lent us an air of cool that we didn't actually possess. Completely disregarding his advice, we instead saw Toots, a documentary of the legendary NYC saloon owner Toots Shor. The doc was absolutely fabulous - the perfect New York story. It contained tons of interviews of Toots' friends and customers and great footage of NYC from the 1930s-70s. His was the kind of place visited by Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth, President Nixon, Jackie Gleason and Frank Sinatra. Man would I have killed to be there in its heyday (the 1950s and 60s). At the end there was a Q&A and we found that the doc was directed by his granddaughter. She did a great job. The last question was asked by an old man in a quavering voice. He told her that back when he was a young man he spent far too much time in Toots Shor's and that her granddad always treated him well. He then started crying and she started crying and half the audience teared up. The perfect end to that movie.

We then wandered about and grabbed sandwiches from Cyd's old neighborhood bodega, ate them in a tiny park next to a hippie passed out on the concrete and made our way to Magnolia. Magnolia was made famous (to me at least) in a Sex and the City episode. It's a tiny bakery famous for cupcakes. We got there and there were probably 15 people in a serpentine line in the store. You grab you cupcake, plonk down $1.75 for it and proceed to enjoy the best icing ever. The cupcake was good, but the icing was to die for. After that we decided to take a chance and stand in line for Ed Burns' new movie, The Groomsmen. In typical fashion, we were in no hurry and about half a block from our destination decided to lie about in the sun for 20 minutes rather than check on the line. This proved to be a fatal error. Once we lazily made our way to the line we saw that it was huge. Feeling lucky, we stood there for an hour only to have the line closed 20 people in front of us. Part of the problem were the horrid ushers letting billions of VIPs (none of whom we recognized) walk the red carpet at the drop of a hat. I have to say the Tribeca Film Fest is only 5 years old, but it has a lot to learn. It was very unorganized and shoddily run. They could take some tips from Telluride.

We were not deterred though and decided to catch a flick starring our mutual crush/Top 5 listee, Scott Cohen. You may know him as Max Medina from Gilmore Girls, The Wolf from 13th Kingdom or best of all, The Guy from Kissing Jessica Stein (if you have not seen this movie, immediately Netflix it. It sounds like it's just a chick flick, but it is so witty and so well done that Thomas loved it too). Anyway, the movie he was starring in was called My Brother's Shadow. We made our way to the theatre and the line for it wasn't too long, so we decided to grab a drink rather than stand in the cold. Time has a way of getting away from us and by the time we made it back to the line it was 7:35 (the movie was scheduled to start at 7:30). Luckily the poorly run festival was running late. As we stood in line, I kept noticing bizarrely dressed people pass by. One was a 40 year old woman wearing a lime green headband and a Rick Springfield t-shirt, next was a guy in a letter jacket holding a football standing up out of a limo yelling "Seniors Rule". Quite perplexed I proceeded to make several snarky comments to Cyd until she got fed up with me and pointed down the street to the mega-club, Webster's Hall. That night was Awesome 80's Prom. I then noticed the huge line of brilliantly costumed people: prom queens, girls in full headgear, Judd Nelson and Duckie wannabees and the like. Next time I'm in NYC, I'm so there.

Anyway, after a 20 minute wait where we entertained ourselves by yelling at ushers and prom-goers, the ushers informed us that the premiere of My Brother's Shadow was sold out. At this point Cyd started mouthing off to a magnificent degree telling one poor usher in particular that there would be hell to pay as Scott Cohen was desperate to see us. By some twist of fate, rather than having us arrested this guy took pity on us and decided to sneak us in for free (tickets were $12). This resulted in several Festival workers yelling at him and threatening us, but by some miracle this do-gooder got us in and sat us on the front row (sold out my Aunt Fannie!). Unfortunately, Scott Cohen played a ne'er-do-well ex-convict and looked quite rough throughout the movie. Judd Hirsch starred as his father. I won't bore you with any more details because it just wouldn't be worth it. Shadow will not be released in theaters if you get my drift. At the end of the movie though, there was a Q&A with the director and cast. So yes, Scott Cohen (and Judd Hirsh - Alex from Taxi) was standing not 6 feet from us during the entire 30 minute Q&A. We could have kicked them, but instead just blinded them with our camera flash. And it turned out that Cyd was right. I think Scott Cohen really was glad that we were there. That made the bad movie beyond worth it! I am glad that to report that he is tall and good looking IRL (and he brought his parents as his guests for the premiere). Once Cyd emails me pics, I will post them.

The next day was unfortunately my last. We grabbed breakfast from Pax and ate it in Bryant Park before I had to leave. Another perfectly sunny beautiful day in NYC. It was hard to leave, but the leaving was made easier knowing I'll return in early June with Thomas, Marlene and Allison to catch some plays.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: What Would W Not Do?

-sunday

I Heart NY Part 1

Hey everyone! This weekend I met Cyd in New York City. We've been venturing there together since our days in Arkansas, so it's become something of a tradition. This was the best trip in years. The weather could not have been more perfect, and since NYC is best seen and experienced on foot, good weather is mandatory for a perfect trip. I felt this was much deserved since last year it rained cats and dogs and I returned sick as a dog. This time I returned absolutely refreshed.

My trip did get off to quite the rocky start thanks to a miserable experience at DIA and with United. I was running late from parking at Pikes Peak Shuttle because all the DIA lots were full. Pikes Peak has to be the slowest operation on record so by the time I hit security I was cutting it close. United then flagged me for extra security screening. This has never happened before and I pray it will never happen again. The line was filled with the most innocuous looking people in the entire airport - me, a Chinese businessman, two old ladies and a frat boy. The FAA agents were so busy gossiping and joking about that rummaging through my luggage took an eternity. After a sprint to my gate, I arrive and find that my seat is on the last row. I'm in the midst of the plane, pulling my suitcase, with 10 people behind me when a stewardess starts yelling at me that my bag won't fit. The plane is too full. She tells me to turn around and bring it to the front so it can be checked. This is absolutely impossible - which she of course knew - thanks to the 10 people behind me and the world's narrowest aisles. I finally give up and drag my bag to the back where another stewardess yells at me. At that point I gave her my best glare and welcomed her to take it up front for me and plopped down in my seat. She then stores it in the back with her bags, so no checking for me. I swear United has just gotten worse. Of course I was seated next to a talkative man with the worst BO imaginable. And of course our plane was late. Joy. Luckily, that's where the bad part of my trip ended. I know the last thing the world needs is another airplane story (particularly on the weekend United 93 opened, making mine sound incredibly trite in comparison), but I had to get it out.

The last time Cyd and I got a hotel together, I was in charge and thanks to Orbitz got us a particulary scary room. We're talking holes in the shower. It was above a Subway sandwich shop (still can't eat there) and in the midst of Times Square. Never again was our motto. So we pricelined a nice hotel on Park and 38th street. The room was small but it was clean and in a great location. Friday morning we started out with breakfast downtown at The Cupping Room. A great place for waffles and blueberry pancakes. We were met by Cyd's friend Ashley and the three of us then went shopping. I scored new shoes and a vintagesque Black Sabbath t-shirt that I knew Thomas would adore. In my new shoes, I could have walked forever, which we pretty much did. After grabbing a slice and a coke in an idyllic courtyard, Cyd and I eventually found ourselves wandering about the meatpacking district. They are planning an above ground park there which should be interesting once it's completed. Seems very Jetsons to me. We then paid an afternoon visit to Hogs and Heifers, a country music-playing biker joint that gained fame years ago during the Coyote Ugly craze. There was one waitress who did an impressive jig on the bar and about 8 customers and Cyd and me. Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson were playing on the jukebox and we were bought free drinks by some anonymous person (all the better) due to our status as The Only Girls in The Place. Cyd was surely the only person in the place that knew all the words to every song played.

After that we rushed off to the hotel to change for dinner and a play. We went to Assenzio, a Sardenian joint downtown that is famous for suckling pig and myrtle liqueur. We had a delicious dinner and then went to see Festen, a poorly named play that just arrived on Broadway starring Julianna Margulies (Nurse Hathaway from ER), Ali McGraw and Jeremy Sisto (Crazy Billy from Six Feet Under). The play was based on the Danish Dogma 95 film, The Celebration, a very dark story about a family gathering for the father's 60th birthday only to have a shocking secret from the past revealed. The performances were fabulous, but the material and the set itself were very dark.

It is a truth univerally acknowledged that two girls leaving a Broadway play at 10:30 pm must be in want of a cab. It is also true that there are destined to be no cabs in sight. So we had no choice but to flag down a rickshaw driven by a mad 25 year old Turk named Mahmoud. Careening in a rickshaw, running red lights through Time Square, is an experience I heartily recommend to anyone visiting NYC. Exhilerating does not begin to describe it. We passed yellow cabs, amusing the cabbies but angering their customers. Sure enough though, we arrived safe and sound at our hotel. The perfect end to a perfect day.

Tomorrow: Wrap up of NYC and Tribeca Film Festival.

-sunday