Rachel and I went to Studio B last night to see Indie Rock Karaoke featuring Ted Leo/Pharmacists and hosted by Andrew W.K.. First, a full (50 minute) set, then 2+ hours of karaoke (we left after 2 hours, there were a bunch of songs still to be played). There were no songs on the list that I really wanted to sing, so I didn't participate. I was considering "Minor Threat", but the guy who did that song fucking rocked it so I guess it worked out that I passed (and that's a promise). I didn't have high expectations, and certainly there were some people that were just horrible("Blitzkreig Bop", "Where Have All The Rude Boys Gone?" and "Dancing With Myself", I'm looking in your direction), but most people were competent and a few were amazingly good/entertaining, specifically the aforementioned "Minor Threat", the guy who did Outfield's "Your Love", the girl who did Aretha Franklin's "Respect", the guy (and girl) who did AC/DC's "Dirty Deeds", and the Iggy Pop impersonator who started the evening off with "Search And Destroy".
Certainly I had a much better time than is show in this picture (courtesy of Nicky Digital)
The most I have to say isn't really that revealing at all
Yesterday, Rachel and I finally went to Shopsins for lunch. Pretty much the greatest dining experience ever, making us wonder why we hadn't done it sooner.
The answer, of course, is that I've been too intimidated to go there. I saw the documentary, I read the New Yorkerarticle, and although it seemed like my kind of place I was too scared to poke my head in. Well, no more. I sucked it up and after about a 5 minute wait Rachel and I were seated at the counter, with a front row view of all the action. I could see Kenny Shopsin working in the kitchen and though I knew of his infamous temper, I couldn't figure out how it was ever displayed, since he seemed so busy cooking. Well a few minutes later he came out and sat on a chair behind me (where he stayed for most of my lunch), and a few minutes later we witnessed our first ejections. A man wanted to wash his hands in the sink in the prep area next to the kitchen, Kenny told the guy to use the bathroom instead, the guy didn't like this, and Kenny kicked him and then his whole party out. "We don't serve assholes," he said.
The man immediately jumped back up and said, "What did you call me?"
Kenny: "What?"
Man: "I heard you. You just called us assholes."
Kenny: "I didn't call you an asshole."
Man: "Yes you did, you said I was an asshole."
Kenny: "I didn't call you an asshole. I said we don't serve assholes."
Man: "You're the asshole." This, Kenny had to concede. "I know. I've been an asshole for a long time."
Blueberry pancakes were delicious and only $8. And Kenny's (grown) children, who serve as the wait staff, couldn't have been nicer to us. Highly recommended.
Tonight we went to Back Forty. It's a nice, comfortable space, with a good, eclectic punk soundtrack. At one point I thought I heard Nig-Heist's "If She Ever Comes" over the speakers, and was confused/impressed that anyone thought Nig-Heist an appropriate band to play in any situation. Further reflection indicates that the song I heard was likely Velvet Underground's "Here She Comes Now" (the song upon which the Nig-Heist version is based) instead. I'd love to go back, except I really didn't much care for my burger. It was cooked perfectly and all, but the flavour of the beef seemed a bit odd to me. It didn't taste wrong, it just didn't taste how I want a burger to taste. The fresh doughnuts were great, though, and Rachel wants to try their chicken, so perhaps I'll be dragged back anyway.
Winter has finally hit the New York metro area, with heavy snows lasting for about ten minutes this afternoon (no accumulation, though, and a few minutes after that the sun came back out). And now tonight, it's freezing outside, with 40-mph winds. As we were walking back from Back Forty, we could see the lights of fire and police trucks a few blocks down Avenue B. When we got to 9th St., the street was being blocked off, but we couldn't see any fire. That's when I noticed that the scaffolding in front of St. Brigid Church had completely collapsed. And that's when Rachel freaked. Almost as if I'd told her that they discontinued the Whopper.* She'd been walking under that scaffolding not one hour earlier, and had noticed that it didn't seem very stable. Kind of a scary close call.
Not a good day for sport. I woke early to watch Man Utd. lose a derby at home for the first time since Denis Law relegated them in 1974, came home to watch Egypt beat Cameroon in the finals of the Africa Cup of Nations, watched the Rangers lose in overtime in Washington, and then watched in horror as Richard Zednik's carotid artery was slashed open in Buffalo (thankfully he's alright, so I can feel okay about making "Zed's dead" jokes like I did in 2002.) Pictures are here, here, and here if you're interested.
One cold and bitter Thursday in Munich, Germany Eight great football stalwarts conceded victory Eight men will never play again who met destruction there The flowers of English football, the flowers of Manchester
Matt Busby's boys were flying, returning form Belgrade This great United family, all masters of their trade The pilots of the aircraft, the skipper Captain Thain Three times they tried to take off and twice turned back again
The third time down the runway disaster followed close There was slush upon that runway and the aircraft never rose It ploughed into the marshy ground, it broke, it overturned And eight of the team were killed as the blazing wreckage burned
Roger Byrne and Tommy Taylor who were capped for England's side And Ireland's Billy Whelan and England's Geoff Bent died Mark Jones and Eddie Colman, and David Pegg also They all lost their lives as it ploughed on through the snow
Big Duncan he went too with an injury to his brain And Ireland's brave Jack Blanchflower will never play again The great Matt Busby lay there, the father of this team Three long months passed by before he saw his team again
The trainer, coach and secretary, and a member of the crew Also eight sporting journalists who with United flew And one of them was Big Swifty who we shall ne'er forget The finest English keeper that ever graced a net
Oh England's finest football team, its record truly great Its proud successes mocked at by a cruel turn of fate Eight men will never play again who met destruction there The flowers of English football, the flowers of Manchester
You're like a swimming pool, but not as blue, and I fell in
It's about time to catch up on the 2007 recap.
Movies now, other stuff when I'm motivated. (Which means probably never. (Not that anyone cares. (Except me.)))
2007 Top 10:
1) There Will Be Blood - ***** The best epic masterpiece since, well, Paul Thomas Anderson's own Magnolia. 30 minutes in, I didn't know what to think. 1 hour in, I knew I was watching a great movie, but one I probably never wished to see again. By the end, I knew I had just seen the best movie in years, one I still haven't been able to get out of my head, one that I just had to rewatch with Jw a few weeks later, and just had to watch with Rachel a few weeks after that, and will have to rewatch more times in the weeks to come (this is probably the film that forces me to upgrade to Blu-ray). Count me in the camp that wouldn't have the ending of this film any other way. One goddamn hell of a show.
2) The Lives of Others - ****½ Truly one of the highlights of my year:
3) Once - ****½ The final scene in this modest, heartfelt love story was the only one to make me cry all year. Another film about which I haven't been able to stop thinking.
4) I'm Not There - ****½ I probably didn't understand even half of it, but somehow that didn't matter. Everyone loves Roger Deakins' cinematography in No Country and Jesse James (for good reason), but to me Edward Lachman's work in I'm Not There was the best of the year.
5) Persepolis - ****½ I didn't realise how humourous this movie is until I saw it a second time in a mostly-full Angelika with an appreciative audience. Also features the best musical score of the year.
6) No County for Old Men - ****½ So much has been said about this movie that I really have nothing more to add. That so many rubes hate the ending is reason enough to justify it.
7) Brand Upon the Brain! - ****½ The most bizarrely unique movie and moviegoing experience I've ever had. Staged with live orchestra, live foley, live castrato, and live interlocutor (my night's guest: Crispin Glover), I have no idea how well this darkly comic silent film would hold up on DVD.
8) Superbad - ****½ Somehow, this movie hasn't been ruined by people incessantly quoting it (à la Napoleon Dynamite, a movie which has, unfortunately, aged terribly). Let's keep it that way please.
9) Before the Devil Knows You're Dead - ****½ "The world is an evil place." Indeed.
10) Ratatoullie - ****½ This would be the best animated film in most other years; it's too bad it has to go up against Persepolis. (It's also too bad that Academy voters, I'm afraid, won't realize this.)
2007 Bottom 5:
1) The Jane Austen Book Club - *½ I had seen several versions of the trailer before I saw the movie itself, but I wasn't prepared for the fact that the traffic sign flashing "What Would Jane Do?" wasn't just a cutesy design for the ad campaign but was actually a plot device. The fact that one could see the ending (where everything was resolved neatly and presented in a cute gift box with a pink bow) a mile away didn't make it any more palatable. None of the characters' arcs (especially Emily Blunt's) were the least bit believable.
2) Blade Runner - *½ Sure, this isn't a 2007 movie per se, but having never seen any version before I checked out the Final Cut version in theatres a few months ago. This is a classic? Really? With that acting and that script? (That I have little taste for sci-fi and even littler taste for CGI should have clued me in to the fact that I would have this opinion, I suppose, but too many people are in love with this movie for me to write it off sight unseen.)
3) Waitress - *½ Nathaniel Rogers, on his website "The Film Experience", said the following: "The most insensitive thing you'll possibly ever hear me say: If someone dies tragically, it does not mean they were good at making movies." That about sums it up. I wanted to turn off the DVD about 5 minutes into this film, and I wish I had. An unfunny mess featuring characters with which it is impossible to identify.
4) I Am Legend - *½ So very boring. Then God inexplicably saved the day - the real miracle is that moviegoing audiences fell for this stuff.
5) Southland Tales - ** Donnie Darko seems like such a long time ago. As Enid Coleslaw says in Ghost World, "This is so bad it's gone past good and back to bad again." Over-ambitious, confusing nonsense that somehow featured an excellent Justin Timberlake music video.
Most disappointing:
American Gangster - *** I love a good mob story, so leave it to Ridley Scott (again!) to make me not care about Frank Lucas. I didn't buy Russell Crowe as a Jewish guy for one second, and the fact that scenes that were supposed to take place in New Jersey were shot in Williamsburg (with the Williamsburg Bridge prominently in the background) confused me for over half the movie. And this was supposed to be an Oscar® contender? Feh. New Jack City got it right the first time.
Everything else, in approximate order of approval:
****
Control Zodiac Michael Clayton Hot Fuzz The Darjeeling Limited Romance & Cigarettes The Savages Juno Knocked Up Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Eastern Promises The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford Black Book This Is England Day Night Day Night The TV Set My Kid Could Paint That Delirious The Simpsons Movie Paprika Sicko Jimmy Carter Man From Plains
***½
Charlie Wilson's War The Bourne Ultimatum Grindhouse Ocean's Thirteen The Diving Bell and the Butterfly The Valet (La Doublure) Breach Bee Movie Margot at the Wedding Paris, Je T'Aime
***
Into the Wild Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story Interview Eagle vs Shark Away From Her Enchanted Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Molière Punks Not Dead Sleuth Steep
**½
3:10 to Yuma Atonement Blades of Glory Offside The Rocket Shoot 'Em Up Year of the Dog Angel-A Becoming Jane
** Youth Without Youth The Golden Compass Jindabyne 300
Best Actor:
1) Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood 2) Ulrich Mühe, The Lives of Others 3) Sam Riley, Control
Best Supporting Actor:
1) Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton 2) Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men 3) Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson's War
Best Actress:
1) Carice van Houten, Black Book 2) Julie Christie, Away From Her 3) Ellen Page, Juno
Best Supporting Actress:
1) Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There 2) Alexandra Maria Lara, Youth Without Youth 3) Kate Winslet, Romance & Cigarettes
Best Director:
1) Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood 2) Joel & Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men 3) David Fincher, Zodiac
Best throwaway lines:
1) "Look at these assholes." - Francis Whitman (Owen Wilson), The Darjeeling Limited 2) "What an ugly baby." - Fiona Anderson (Julie Christie), Away From Her 3) "I try really hard, actually." - Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera), Juno
Like father, stepfather, the son is drowning in the flood
My dismay at the end of the perfect season (I'm a hater, see, and thus can't root for Eli and the Giants) was more than tempered by the happiness brought about by the sorrow of Bostonians (who I can't really support, either, Meg excepted). And now that happiness is being killed by the braggadocio of certain Giants supporters (as well as fake supporters). Stupid passball. Congrats to my friends who truly deserve it, and fuck everyone else.
Great Germany '06 WAGs story that I didn't find out about until this past weekend: here.
LSF on Conan last week:
Super Tuesday! is tomorrow. I'm prepared for disappointment, obviously.
