Quick Review: The King's Speech

"The King's Speech" stars Michael Sheen as British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has to...wait, what? This is a movie about British royalty and/or politics and it doesn't have Sheen as Blair? Hmmm. Okay, let's start over. "The King's Speech" stars Colin Firth as King George VI, who had to overcome a speech impediment and deliver a radio address to his people after war was declared against Germany in 1939. Of course, the film actually starts well before this, when he's just the plain old Duke of York; after failed attempts to correct his stammer he gives up, until his wife (Helena Bonham Carter) goes behind his back and seeks out Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), whose unconventional methods (such as insisting on calling each other by their first names) infuriate the Duke until he realizes that they seem to work. It probably worked better for me because it's a story I wasn't familiar with, but even so it's sort of predictable. For a drama, though, it's got a surprising amount of humor. It doesn't make my top 10 of 2010, even though it's an Oscar Best Picture nominee, but it's still fine. My grade: B-plus.

My Week In Comics 1-26-11

I might as well knock this out since it's 2 a.m., and I'm awake, and I'm waiting for the end of a podcast I'm listening to so I can listen to two songs I downloaded using part of the $10.00 iTunes gift card I received from Philadelphia Weekly...besides, I only bought two books this week:

Action Comics 897: There's almost no action in this issue, just lots of talk. But it's terrific, as Luthor tracks down another of those Black Lantern energy spheres. It's in Gotham City. Specifically, at Arkham Asylum. To be precise, somehow the Joker has it. Not only that, but there's a twist near the end. And the last page, a setup for the next issue, brings back a very fun character.

Futurama Comics 53: The Planet Express crew has to make a delivery and things go awry...of course, that could be the plot of just about every episode of the TV series, not to mention these comic books...anyway, things go awry when the package they're delivering turns out to be more than it seems.

Time To End All-Star Games?

With two All-Star games this Sunday, the NFL's Pro Bowl in Hawaii and the NHL All-Star Game in Raleigh, North Carolina, we need to discuss the fact that these games (in all four major pro sports) are pretty much irrelevant.

Too many players back out because of minor injuries or other reasons, so that the "best" players aren't in the game. The rosters don't always include the "best" at any rate because fan voting either decides the starters or plays a part in the decision, and there are always undeserving players who are voted in because they're popular or well-known. And with the NFL moving the Pro Bowl to the week before the Super Bowl instead of the week after, the two Super Bowl teams' players are automatically off the Pro Bowl rosters.

As much as baseball likes to tout that their game "counts" because the league that wins gets 4 of 7 home games in the World Series, the game is a shell of its former self. The rosters are now bloated thanks to expansion and the need for enough pitchers to try and ensure that another debacle like the tie game in 2002 never happens again.

The NBA game doesn't interest me anyway, but at least they used to have a fun slam-dunk contest.

My Week In Comics 1-19-11

Still in catch-up mode here, so let's begin.

Supergirl 60: I mentioned that there's a change in writers for this series, which had me worried. So far, so good. There's a plot point central to the story, where someone's invented a Foursquare-type app that allows people to follow superheroes, that's a bit "Social Network"-y, but it helps establish that character as quite evil.

Superman/Batman 80: This concludes the two-part story that features the Superman and Batman from the DC: One Million stories, and has a few brief cameos from some of the other "World's Finest" duos over the centuries. It's kind of an old-school story, though. It also features Superman, Batman and the original Robin and, as such, it's a way different vibe from the current stories where Superman is moping across America and Batman is the Dark Knight who had to "die" and return in order to regain some humanity and a sense of humor.

Simpsons Comics 174: Trouble at the Springfield Bird Sanctuary leads to Lisa taking care of a rather Bart-like injured owl, and Homer gets a new assignment from Mr. Burns: temporarily bringing down property values so Burns can make a killing buying and reselling homes, and eventually the twain (of stories) shall meet...

Quick Review: No Strings Attached

There may be a new trend in movies: romantic couplings in which the guy gets all gushy and falls in love with the girl, but she just wants sex. There was "Love and Other Drugs" a couple of months ago with Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway. Coming up later this year is "Friends With Benefits," starring Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis. Right now there's "No Strings Attached," with Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman as the two friends, Adam and Emma -- actually, it doesn't seem they're very close friends at first; the film starts with flashbacks which seem to be the only times they've met prior to arriving at the present -- who have sex and afterwards agree to keep having sex without dating or anything romantic. It's Emma's doing, although there's not as specific a reason as Anne Hathaway's character in "Love and Other Drugs" had. She's just a standard commitment-phobe. Sure enough, Adam starts falling for her and tries to win her heart. It was better than I expected, and Portman shows she can do comedy, although it has a sappy and predictable end. It's rated R and, besides some raunchy language, features a sighting of Kutcher's bare butt. Between that and how much skin Gyllenhaal showed in his movie, Justin Timberlake has to step up. Also, "No Strings Attached" was titled "Friends With Benefits" before production began, and Kunis and Portman went at it in "Black Swan," so it seems to me that, with so much already in common between the films, Kutcher and Timberlake should have a sex scene in a movie as well. My grade: B.

Fake Jake Has To Go

It seems that the picture shown here keeps bringing hits to my blog. So why not find yet another excuse to run it?

There's a problem, though. I've decided that I need to replace it as my desktop wallpaper. As pretty an image as it is, it's fake. It's not the real Jake Gyllenhaal, so it has to leave my screen. But I need a replacement for it. If you have any suggestions for what I should use as a replacement, please let me know. I want something new. If it's another man, or even it's a real picture of Jake, I need something as hot and sexy as this, except it can't be photoshopped. It has to be real.

There are no prizes. (Wouldn't that be fun, if I could give away an Amazon gift certificate or something? Oh, to have a few extra dollars around...) If you suggest something that I deem worthy, I can only offer you my thanks. Unless you're Jake Gyllenhaal or someone who looks very much like him, in which case we can make other arrangements...

Snow, Baby, Snow

Before you watch this (assuming it works, since I'm trying some new site), please note that I was carrying an umbrella in one hand and my phone in the other, and I had an OCD moment and had to check my pants pocket to make sure I had my house keys. That's why the video is shaky at times.

There must be at least a foot of snow as of the time I recorded this, and it's still coming down. Looking at the current radar it looks like it'll wind down in the next two or three hours.

EDIT: The embed code for the site I tried didn't work. I tried a second site and that didn't seem to work. So, for the first time in quite a while, I tried YouTube -- where the videos I had tried to post lately didn't have sound -- and it's working! With sound!

Weather Wars And Other Odd Screencaps

Here are a few things I copied from my screen today. Nothing like that weird Twitter comparison from yesterday, fortunately.

First, with yet more snow headed our way (have I mentioned how much I'm sick of this weather?) a Facebook post made a few hours ago by Adam Joseph, one of the meteorologists on 6ABC...

The "person who bashed us" is presumably John Bolaris of FOX-29. Locals may remember when a March 2001 "Storm of the Century" turned out to be a few showers instead of a blizzard. There was an interesting article recently about both the recent Bolaris comment and his role in the "Storm of the Century" hype, written by the station's news anchor at the time, Larry Mendte. Of course, Mendte has had his own problems in recent years, so you may want to consider the source. (And, while you're at it, here's an article from Phillyweather.net talking about TV news and weather hype.)

Later, as I was reading the list of Oscar nominations at Entertainment Weekly's website, I discovered a very popular film that I somehow neglected to see!

 

Gotta love those typos. And then tonight, there was lots of Twitter activity before, during and after the State of the Union address. Most of this "live-tweeting," as it's called was repetitive, boring and useless to me, to be honest. But in addition, Joan Rivers was live-tweeting the premiere of her new reality show, in which she moved in with her daughter for a while for some reason. President Obama made a comment about "our generation's Sputnik moment," referring to the 1950s space race in which the Soviet Union launched a satellite into orbit before the USA. So it was mentioned in a number of tweets on my timeline. But at the same time, Joan tweeted about another "moment." and reading these tweets one after the other made me chuckle:

My Week In Comics 1-12-11

Overdue! Overdue! This is not a library book but it's still overdue. Plus I bought a book that had been released a week prior, because I read an article about it. Let's deal with that first...

Starman/Congorilla 1 (of 1): This is a special one-shot tied into a storyline in the current Justice League of America series. In the current iteration of the JLA these two are members. I don't buy that book so I don't really know how it's tied in beyond what is explained in this book. Why did I buy it? Well, the article I read referred to this Starman character being gay, and the story in part deals with his not-too-healthy way of dealing with his grief over his lover's murder. And then another hero is brought back to life after being dead for a while. (I know, shocking!) And guess what? He's also gay. Can a "Justice League: Valentine's Day Special" be far behind?

Superman 707: On his Walk Across America trying to reconnect with the regular folks, Superman is in Des Moines, Iowa and still having doubts about what he's doing. If that isn't bad enough, the way he deals with a dispute between the workers and management at a chemical plant (after dealing with an explosion and fire there) makes Lois really mad. If he were going home that night he'd be sleeping on the couch, let me tell you.

Secret Six 29: This continues the story from Action Comics 896, the confrontation between Lex Luthor and Vandal Savage just before an explosion in the LexCorp building. While wrapping that up, it also provides a little backstory for Savage and his daughter Scandal. This is loopily narrated by Ragdoll, who thinks everyone was killed in the explosion.


Victorian Undead II - 3 (of 5): This entire book, except for the last couple of pages, consists of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, and then Holmes' brother Mycroft, comparing notes on Dracula with Professor Van Helsing and his associates. There's a lot of talk but not so much plot advancement.

Come ON, Twitter...

I know Twitter (and Facebook) probably uses keywords to help you identify people/places/things you might want to follow/friend/Like, but you just have to wonder about their automated processes when it comes up with something like this. I saw a tweet that mentioned Daniel Hernandez, the 20-year-old intern to Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords who helped save her life when she was shot in Tucson, attending tomorrow's State of the Union address. Turns out he has a Twitter account. When I clicked on the link to his page and saw this, I was flabbergasted. Check out the "Similar to" suggestion in the bottom right-hand corner:

In what world is a student/intern similar to a drag queen from a TV show? I don't think this would fly in Bizarro World. This is nothing against Pandora Boxx -- and hey, tonight is the Season 3 premiere of RuPaul's Drag Race, and I'll be watching. But these Twitter/Facebook suggestions are virtually useless. Sure, I've complained about this issue before and I know nothing will change, but some things are just too weird to let pass without comment.

And by the way, someday I think I'll have to write about those shootings in Tucson and the issues that surround it. But not right now. If you know me you can probably guess a lot of what I will say, anyway.

MixBlog 1-23-11

Lately I have really been kind of in a rut, even more than usual. The weather is not helping. I hate the cold to begin with, but this winter has been borderline ridiculous. My house is drafty, which makes it worse. I've always thought I'd never really consider moving away from Philadelphia but right now I'd love to just ditch this place and move somewhere warm. I don't know how I could possibly make that happen, with my finances being what they are. Tonight's forecast is for the coldest overnight low yet...

  

...and Wednesday may bring us more snow (or possibly rain). But hey, check out the bottom of that screen cap -- at least people with migraines will feel better today.

Just finished watching the end of the Flyers game. In their first meeting since last year's Stanley Cup finals the Flyers beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1. They are so much more consistent this year (despite a loss yesterday to New Jersey, a team that's having the same type of disastrous year that the Flyers did in 2006-07). The win puts the Flyers' record at 32-12-5, and their 69 points leads the entire league. That, of course, means little when it comes to the postseason, but the consistency combined with their depth is a very good sign. Hiring Peter Laviolette as coach was a genius move on the part of GM Paul Holmgren.

Meanwhile, in the strange recesses of my mind, I got to thinking about Taylor Swift earlier. Really.

My NFL Picks, For What They're Worth

Since I've been wrong 75 percent of the time in the playoffs I'm not sure the following predictions are worth anything. I got only 2 out of 8 correct, although I got to wondering today how I did against the point spread. If anyone wants to do the research, I will reward you, but not in any valuable manner. But they'll at least give us a chuckle as we wait for the Eagles to finish scraping the bottom of the barrel for a new defensive coordinator. And I got some help in writing this from a couple of fairies, so...

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

(6) Green Bay Packers at (2) Chicago Bears: The Cliche Fairy tells us that "to be the best, you've got to beat the best." The Packers beat the best, at least in the NFC, when they buried top-seeded Atlanta last week. (They also beat the Eagles. The Disclaimer Fairy would like to announce that this in no way is to imply that the Eagles were among, or even close to, the "best.") They each won a game against the other and have strong defenses, so I'll go with the better -- and, by most accounts, the better-looking -- quarterback, Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers. (Although the hairstyle in this picture is not good at all.). I still don't believe in Jay Cutler, and if he and the Bears do get to the Super Bowl it'll be more because of the Bears defense than anything Cutler does. Packers 20, Bears 16.

AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

(6) New York Jets at (2) Pittsburgh Steelers: The Cliche Fairy wishes to reiterate the previous statement regarding being/beating the best. The Jets stunned New England last week, the same New England team that dropped a 45-3 bomb on the Jets a little more than a month earlier. (The Disclaimer Fairy is glad to have a break, as neither of these teams played the Eagles in 2010.) The Jets beat the Steelers in Pittsburgh in December, two weeks after that 45-3 mess and one week after a pitiful 10-6 loss to Miami at home. Once again, I'm going with the better quarterback: the Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger over the Jets' Mark Sanchez -- although considering Big Ben's douchebag behavior towards women, I wouldn't mind seeing him lose. Then again, the Jets are a New York team. Sure, they're the other New York team, but they're still a New York team. Can I root for a tie? Steelers 17, Jets 16.

How To Save Money On Sirius/XM

There's some excellent money-saving advice in this for you if you currently are a subscriber to Sirius/XM satellite radio, so pay attention. I've been a Sirius subscriber for a few years (back before they merged with XM). Last year at this time, because of my financial situation, I decided to cancel. I changed my mind when they offered me a year at half-price -- about $80.00 instead of $160.00 (I'm rounding these numbers, by the way). I really like listening to music commercial-free, and I'm not able to get a reliable wi-fi signal in my living room to listen to Internet radio (which I'm listening to right now, since I'm in the basement in front of the computer).

Since things still haven't improved, and when my account statement on their website said I would owe $160.00 for the coming year, I again decided to cancel. I called on Friday. The woman I spoke to offered the $80.00 deal again. I declined. She made another offer, which I didn't hear clearly, but I just turned it down again, not bothering to ask her to repeat it. So she said she would take care of canceling my subscription.

The satellite signal still was coming in to the receiver, though. In the last couple of days I've gotten a number of calls from a toll-free number (my caller ID displayed the number but not the name of the caller). I usually let them go to voice mail unless I know the caller, but last night I decided to pick up. It was a recorded message from Sirius asking if I received my bill, saying I owed $160.00, etc. The woman I spoke to didn't do anything. More customer service incompetence.

So I called back today, and told the guy who answered what happened, and said clearly that I cannot afford it and it has to be canceled. He said he would take care of it, but then repeated the second offer that the woman had made last week: five months for $20.00.

Four dollars per month! That tells me that Sirius/XM is really desperate to keep subscribers. I still turned it down, and the subscription was finally canceled and the signal cut off. It's sad but I had to do it. So if you subscribe to Sirius/XM, just threaten to cancel and say you can't afford it and they'll offer you a nice price break.

Quick Review: The Green Hornet

I mentioned somewhere (maybe on Twitter) that I was confused by the promotional campaign for "The Green Hornet." The theatrical trailer had some comedic elements but concentrated more on the main story: ne'er-do-well playboy Britt Reid (Seth Rogen), affected by the death of his newspaper-publisher father, takes up the mantle of the Green Hornet to fight crime in Los Angeles. The TV commercials in the days immediately before the film's release, however, made it seem like more of a comedy or a spoof than the typical superhero movie. I suppose, in retrospect, the presence of Rogen (and the fact that he co-wrote the screenplay) should have tipped me off from the start. He's never been so annoying, and the entire thing is basically Britt Reid being a boorish, incompetent jackass from start to finish. Even at the end, when a hero in movies is typically at his or her best, he's pretty much completely lost without his sidekick Kato, his father's mechanic who's also got mad martial arts skills. Even Kato's not immune to buffonery at times, though, especially when the two clash over Lenore (Cameron Diaz), hired by Britt Reid as an assistant at the paper. Kato is played by Jay Chou, a Taiwanese singer/actor making his Hollywood debut, and it's clear he's still learning to speak English. It does not go well, and almost comes off as a little racist. The best part of the movie was a cameo at the very beginning by James Franco. When the best part of the movie ends in the first five minutes... My grade: D.

One Letter Makes Things More Gay

While I get my butt in gear to write about seeing "The Green Hornet," and my comic books from last week, and maybe a couple of weird dreams involving people I've played softball with in the last few years, I thought I'd share this bit of inspiration.

Last week, when I was having lunch with my friend Kurt, I came up with the idea that all words starting with "ga" should automatically have a "y" after the "a" to make them more gay. It's not an original idea. I'm sure you've seen events referred to as "gayla" instead of "gala" parties. I'm just suggesting we expand it as much as possible. Like "gayllop" instead of "gallop." Or "gaysoline" instead of "gasoline."

Think about it. Wouldn't you feel just a little better if you had gayllstones instead of gallstones? Or enjoyed some delicious gayrlic bread with a meal at an Italian restaurant? And we could extend this to names -- whether names of people (Gaybriel) or places (Gaylveston.) It would be easy for anyone named Gail or Gale, since they'd just have to change the spelling to Gayle, which already exists. Imagine going to the market to buy a gayllon of milk, or hitting the casino to gaymble. And perhaps the ultimate use of my new rule: it would be extra special for the students, alumni and fans of the University of South Carolina -- the Gaymecocks!

Write your member of Congress if you agree with me. Let's gaylvanize our resources and gayther our forces to gayn a great victory!

Eagles Finding Scapegoats

That may be a cynical title for this post, but it may also be accurate. The Eagles have fired two coaches in the last two days, and neither of them are named Andy Reid. Today it was defensive line coach Rory Segrest. Segrest was in that job for the last two years. Before that he was special teams coordinator, and we know how horrendous special teams were during that time (although they're not exactly stellar right now), so the fact that their D-line has been similarly subpar can't be much of a shock.

Yesterday it was defensive coordinator Sean McDermott. Reid said on Monday at his final post-game press conference that McDermott would be back. Why say that, only to dump him five days later? Some of the media pundits thought that if anyone should take the fall it was Segrest, so it's interesting that he actually lasted one more day than McDermott. (Is it that hard to fire more than one person at a time? Other teams do it.)

I was interested to hear today, on WIP, that former Eagle Jeremiah Trotter mentioned speaking to a current player who said that McDermott was the worst defensive coordinator he'd ever had. Perhaps that sentiment was shared by many players and they made their feelings known to Andy Reid.

This is fine, but barring something shocking, it's going to continue to be the same story with the Eagles. For all his success, Reid has enough flaws that it's hard to imagine him winning a Super Bowl here after all this time. The formula just doesn't work any more.

NFL: No More Eagles, Divisional Picks

Well, it was interesting in its way, yet it's also like a broken record. An Eagles team raises expectations and then drops out of the playoffs. At least this time, there's no Donovan McNabb for people to blame. But the loss to Green Bay didn't expose anything that wasn't already exposed. They have a defense that wasn't all that good during the 10-4 start and didn't get any better during the last two meaningful games (the season-ender against Dallas was just a glorified exhibition), both of which they lost. The offensive line, particularly on the right side, is a mess. Michael Vick, while showing a lot of improvement, still needs work. Of course, the Eagles have to sign him first. He's now a free agent.

Assuming they're still Vick fans, the Eagles have to decide what to do with Kevin Kolb, who still wants to start and has just one year left on his contract. Keep him as a backup again? He won't be happy with that. If they trade him, they need a backup for Vick or they're really in trouble. We saw Vick get hurt and miss some time this year. Imagine if that happens again and Kolb is gone.

Right now the Eagles' biggest problem is a two-pronged issue. They need a lot of upgrades to truly contend for the Super Bowl, but they won't be able to do anything until the NFL and its players' union have a new contract.

My Best And Worst 2010 Movies

This is probably a little late, since we're two weeks into 2011, but it doesn't really matter since there are probably still a few 2010 movies for me to see, especially if they're Oscar Best Picture nominees. So this may be updated a few times, depending on what I see and how much I love (or loathe) them. And remember, there may be some awesome (or dreadful) movies that I won't see at all unless I happen to catch them on cable or something. For now, though, let's talk about my 10 favorite movies of 2010.

A note: as of now I have one "A" movie and six "A-minus" movies, but I've bumped two of the "A-minuses" ahead of the "A." I discussed this issue here, and though I'm not changing the grades, I've decided to rank them differently. (Also, I have 10 "B-plus" movies and only 3 can make the top 10. Sorry, also-rans! Here's the entire grade list, by the way.)

The top 10 are as follows:

Quick Review: The Fighter

It seems sometimes that when you've seen one boxing movie, you've seen them all. The main character has to overcome stuff and then get a shot at redemption in some way. "The Fighter," starring Mark Wahlberg as a real-life fighter, "Irish" Micky Ward, is no different. Ward has to overcome his family. There's his brother Dicky Ecklund (Christian Bale), a former boxer who is now his trainer, but is also a drug addict, and his mother (Melissa Leo), who serves as his manager. Not to mention his seven loud, obnoxious sisters, who apparently travel everywhere in a pack. They're sending his career down the toilet until he stands up for himself with the help of his new girlfriend (Amy Adams). It is well-acted, and I particularly enjoyed Adams' performance. There's some Oscar hype for this movie, but it's not quite at that level. And I hate when a biopic takes liberties with the real story and "The Fighter," according to this article, took quite a few. My grade: B.

What The New Zodiac Means To You

I turned on my trusty Twitter today to find many people buzzing about their Zodiac sign changing. I've located an article that discusses it. If you're not familiar, you may want to read it first. Then come back here and I'll explain what it all really means. Meanwhile, I'll look at something pretty...

If someone tells me THIS photo is a fake, I'm busting heads.

Welcome back! Now then, what does this Zodiac stuff all mean?

Simple: if you've been living your whole life based on being one sign -- letting it decide whether or not you date someone,  or whether you buy or not buy something on a particular day -- and then, suddenly, mysteriously, someone decides that you're no longer that sign, you're this other sign instead, essentially you're wasting your time. There are better ways to decide how to live your life. That, or, your entire life up to this point has been a mess, and it's all because they neglected to inform you of your correct sign, and you should sue for damages.

And seriously, Ophiuchus? Who wants to be an Ophiuchus, whatever that is?

It's Fake? NOOOOOOOOOOO!

I've used this photo of Jake Gyllenhaal (my future ex-husband) a couple of times on this blog, including one post which is now the most-viewed post on my blog since the Stats function was added by Blogger.
It's also, for obvious reasons, my desktop wallpaper.

Sadly, it's apparently a fake. Jake's head has been photoshopped onto someone else's photo.

The strange thing is, I'm curious as to who is actually in the picture, but every time I click on the link to the Tabloid Prodigy site that exposed (ha!) this fakery, or just type in the URL of their home page, I keep getting redirected to Facebook. Extremely weird.

And now I also have to decide whether to change my wallpaper. It's still a lovely photo, but knowing that it's not my future ex-husband has tainted it.

My National TV Debut

Remember when I went to Outfest in October?

Remember how I was walking along and suddenly found TV cameras in front of me?

Remember how I learned that the cameras were there to record Kendra Wilkinson for her "reality" TV show on the E! Network? Remember how I took a couple of pictures of her?

Turns out, the episode aired recently, and I DVR'd a repeat of it last night. The whole thing revolved around her personal assistant, Eddie (pictured with Kendra), who hadn't yet come out to his parents. Naturally, he and Kendra talked about the subject. Naturally, the concierge in the building where Kendra, hubby Hank Baskett and their infant son lived (before Hank was cut by the Eagles early in the 2010 season) was gay. Naturally, Eddie and the concierge talked about the subject. Naturally, Outfest was about to take place. Naturally, the concierge suggested Eddie attend. Naturally, Kendra wanted to tag along. Naturally, the three of them wandered the streets that day. (I say "naturally" all these times because only in "reality" TV can such a confluence of events occur.)

So, naturally...

My Movies Of 2008

It's time for another Facebook rerun! (And yes, I am getting ready to talk about the Eagles.)

I compiled a list of the movies I liked most -- and least -- in 2008, and posted a note to Facebook. Since this blog didn't start until 2009, I thought this would be something to share here. I should note that there are no grades listed here. I think I kept track of them on a word document, and didn't save it after I put the list together, so I don't remember what grades I assigned. I do think they're in order, however.

The Facebook note also mentions that there were one or two late 2008 movies I hadn't seen at the time it was posted (on January 9, 2009) that could have jumped into these rankings. Since there isn't any kind of edit noted, I assume that whatever films I was referring to didn't make the cut of best or worst.


2008: THE BEST

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
The Dark Knight
WALL-E
Be Kind Rewind
In Bruges
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire
Hamlet 2
Pineapple Express

2008: THE WORST

Drillbit Taylor
The Strangers
You Don't Mess With The Zohan
Nobel Son
Funny Games
Pathology
Deception
Surfer, Dude
The Love Guru (the absolute worst one I sat through)
The Spirit (the absolute worst one I walked out of after 30 minutes)

My Week In Comics 1-5-11

Since I'm on a roll...and I still can't write about the Eagles just yet...


Steel 1 (of 1): This is a one-shot special that begins a new DC event, Reign of Doomsday. Doomsday is, of course, the monster that killed Superman. Temporarily. After the Death of Superman, but before he came back, was the Reign of the Supermen, when each of the Super-books at the time starred someone claiming (or thought of) to be the newly-returned Superman. One of them was John Henry Irons, who never claimed to be Superman but was inspired by his death to build his armored suit and become Steel. (A movie based very loosely on the character -- wiping out the whole connection to Superman and the comics -- came out in 1997. It starred Shaquille O'Neal. Let us never speak of it again.) The last time we saw Steel he was nearly beaten to death during the whole "New Krypton" storyline. All of these replacements are apparently keys to the Reign of Doomsday, who suddenly appears in Metropolis and starts tearing up the city until Steel arrives, the only one available to try and fight the monster. And therein lies a big problem with this issue: in this age of instant transmission of information, don't you think that, as soon as word got out about Doomsday's attack, Superman would interrupt his meandering walk across America and return to Metropolis? Hell, in the last issue of "Superman" he flew back from the Midwest to talk to Perry White about a photograph. Seriously.

Superboy 3: While some of the still-unsolved mysteries from the first two issues are put aside for a moment, there are new arrivals in Smallville causing havoc for Superboy. The issue jumps back and forth, which is a little too silly. From the second pages, which takes place "Then." (Which is apparently earlier in the morning.) "Now." "Then." "Now." "Then." "Now." There are some fine character moments between Conner and (in order) Ma Kent, Bart Allen and Simon Valentine, though, which continue to make this a good read.


Simpsons Super Spectacular 12: Both stories in this book star Bartman, but they find room to spoof, among others, the Metal Men. Maybe it's because it's not a monthly series, but I don't think this book has failed to entertain me yet, between the typical Simpsons humor and the comic geek nods.

My Week In Comics 12-29-10

Here's a situation where it's good that I procrastinate on the things I write about on a regular basis, such as movie reviews and these comic books: it allows me to avoid writing about the Eagles for a while. So, here's what I picked up during the final week of 2010:

Action Comics 896: Luthor calls in help to deal with the threat from Vandal Savage: the Secret Six, a group of mercenaries/villains, one of whom is Scandal, Vandal's daughter. Family drama! Plus she's a lesbian. Lesbian family drama! (This also means there's a crossover with the Secret Six comic book coming up.) And Robot Lois encounters Mister Mind, who was last seen in the beginning of this storyline, and both of them are apparently being used by others. Since issue 900 is coming up, I would think this whole thing is nearing an end point, especially since the DC comics blog touted the 900th issue as Superman against his greatest enemy. Wait...Superman will actually appear in Action Comics?

Gotham City Sirens 18: In light of the events that occurred in the last two issues, Talia al Ghul has decided that it's too dangerous to allow Catwoman to know that Bruce Wayne is Batman, and has persuaded Zatanna to use her magic to do a sort of mind-wipe. It's odd that Zatanna is willing to do this because she's done it before and things took a very bad turn as a result.

Quick Review: Black Swan

The following sentence may need a SPOILER ALERT!!!! -- although I think this plot point has gotten out there already. There's a lesbian sex scene in "Black Swan." And it scared me a little. I think it even made me a little more gay, if that's possible. Holy crap! This is, for the most part, a very intense film. A new production of "Swan Lake" requires a ballet dancer to play both the pure, composed White Swan and its opposite, the wild Black Swan. Nina (Natalie Portman) is perfect for the White Swan but the director (Vincent Cassel) doesn't think she can handle the Black Swan. After a confrontation, he gives her the part. But can she handle the stress of the role, not to mention her alternate, Lily (Mila Kunis), who may or may not be angling to replace her? And don't get me started on Nina's strange life at home with her controlling mother (Barbara Hershey). My only complaint with the movie is that it's pretty obvious what is actually happening to Nina. Well, that and the lesbian sex scene. I've been scarred for life, I tell you. My grade: A-minus.

Quick Review - Tron: Legacy

Like remakes, sequels can be an issue if I haven't seen the prior edition. In the case of "Tron" and its sequel,  "Tron: Legacy," there was a 28-year gap between films so I figured that they would explain enough about what happened in the first one to get people up to speed -- especially since "Tron" never caught on the way a film like "Star Wars" and its sequels did. And it did explain things. I still don't quite understand it all, though. Programs and Users and ISOs and The Grid and all of that. I was amused when Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), son of the protagonist in the original (Jeff Bridges, whose younger self is digitized to appear as Clu, or "Codified Likeness Utility," as well as the now-older Kevin Flynn), went to his father's old arcade to check out something related to his disappearance (twenty years earlier), and while stumbling upon the computer lab and machinery that transported Kevin, and then Sam, onto The Grid, turned on the old jukebox. What amused me: the old music playing in the old jukebox -- Journey's "Separate Ways and especially Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)." The rest of it confused me at times, though it isn't a complete bore. It certainly looked great, though -- except when this happened. My grade: B-minus.

Quick Review: True Grit

I'm not sure if it's good that, when someone remakes a movie, either I never saw the original or saw it so long ago that it's not fresh in my mind. So I can't compare the new version of "True Grit" to the original. I can say that it's very, very good but I can't quite put it in the "exceptional" category. There's strong acting from everyone -- Jeff Bridges as U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn, Matt Damon as LaBoeuf. the Texas Ranger, Josh Brolin as Tom Chaney and young Hailee Steinfeld as 14-year-old Mattie Ross, whose father was killed by Chaney, leading her to hire Cogburn to track him down. It was just a bit slow to start, and there were a few times when I had trouble understanding what Cogburn was saying (not sure if this was something Bridges was doing or a sign of hearing loss/lack of paying attention on my part -- yikes). But there are moments when it truly rises to the occasion. Just not quite enough to raise this grade...My grade: B-plus.

NFL Playoffs: Mediocrity, OT, Wild Picks

This weekend features the first round of the NFL postseason. There are a couple of perceived injustices, and I'm probably in the minority regarding both.

Let's start with the presence of 7-9 Seattle in the playoffs (because they won their division) instead of 10-6 teams Tampa Bay and the Giants (because both finished in second), and to make things worse, the Seahawks are at home against 11-5 New Orleans. Many people think that the Seahawks shouldn't be in it at all, let alone have a home game. They propose changes to allow a team with a better record to take the place of a losing team in the future. In theory this works. In reality, if you can win a division (even a pathetic one like the NFC West) and not be in the playoffs, if there's no reward for finishing first, why have divisions to begin with? For that matter, why have conferences? Just have all the teams listed 1-32 and have the top 12 in the playoffs.

Of course, you'd have to figure out a way to come up with a fair schedule (fair in strength-of-schedule as well as things like travel) without divisions, and somehow not destroy many (if not all) of the division and conference rivalries. Imagine the Eagles and Cowboys not playing a game in a season. Or the Steelers and Ravens. Or whatever. So forget that idea.

However, I do think the Seahawks should be on the road.

On The Other Hand...

Unlike James Franco, Jake Gyllenhaal can come out of the closet any time he wants, especially since he broke up with Taylor Swift. I never thought that was real, let alone that it was going to last a while. She strikes me as a perpetually lovestruck 14-year-old even though she's 21. He's 30 now. The age difference isn't the issue. The maturity difference is. She should go back to Taylor Lautner, if you want my opinion. And Jake should come out and declare his eternal love for me, or at least stop by for a night...oh, what the hell, let's run this picture again...

By the way, perhaps because of this picture, somehow my "Love and Other Drugs" review has nearly caught up to my second nearly-naked Pat Burrell post as most-viewed on my blog since Blogger added their new Stats feature.

Speaking of coming out, did you hear that Johnny Weir is gay? Most of the commentary today revolves around the utter lack of surprise at this, since by his actions and attitude he'd done everything but make it official. I had my own joke line about it when I tweeted earlier ("Water wet, fire hot, Weir gay; or: time to sell some books!"). But this story at EW.com gives a more nuanced view of why he wanted to come out on his terms.

P.S. In part this post was a test to see if Blogger solved the problem that was disrupting things last night. It seems like it's back to normal. I have 2 movies, 2 weeks of comics and the NFL playoffs to write about, so I'm glad it's fixed!

I Don't Want James Franco To Be Gay

James Franco has always been unusual, it seems. Whether it's his acting choices, or going to college, or writing a book of short stories, or whatever, he never seems to let anything dictate his unconventional path. And he's played his share of gay characters, most notably in "Milk," which always leads to speculation about his own sexuality, even though he's been in a relationship with a woman for some time. (I think much of this speculation, particularly from gay men, is because he's pretty; otherwise, not nearly as many people would care.) In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, he talked about that very thing rather brilliantly:

“It’s funny because the way that kind of stuff is talked about on blogs is so black-and-white. It’s all cut-and-dry identity politics. ‘Is he straight or is he gay?’ Or, ‘This is your third gay movie — come out already!’ And all based on, gay or straight, based on the idea that your object of affection decides your sexuality...”

“There are lots of other reasons to be interested in gay characters than wanting myself to go out and have sex with guys. And there are also lots of other aspects about these characters that I’m interested in, in addition to their sexuality. So, in some ways it’s coincidental, in other ways it’s not. I mean, I’ve played a gay man who’s living in the ’60s and ’70s, a gay man who we depicted in the ‘50s, and one being in the ‘20s. And those were all periods when to be gay, at least being gay in public, was much more difficult. Part of what I’m interested in is how these people who were living anti-normative lifestyles contended with opposition. Or, you know what, maybe I’m just gay.”

Here's my problem: he's been so cool about it -- not feeling it necessary to issue strong denials or take offense about it, not making condescending "I have lots of gay friends"-type statements -- that I fear that, if he did suddenly come out and say, "Yeah, as it turns out I really am gay," he'd be ripped to shreds by a lot of people for being a hypocrite, or for not coming out sooner. It seems odd but I think he'd get almost as much criticism as right-wing political types get (such as Ken Mehlman) get. It wouldn't be quite as harsh, since Franco isn't actively working against equality or anything like that. But I think it would still be there, and it would be a shame.

So I really hope James stays straight...although I wonder if he could get away with being bisexual? Or just "experimenting," perhaps. And if you do want to experiment, James, I can help you out there. Even if you go back to this look (because I kinda dug it at the time):

IMAX Fraud

I knew it. I remember seeing a movie in the IMAX theater at AMC Neshaminy and thinking that the screen isn't that much larger than a regular screen. But Entertainment Weekly's blog Inside Movies, in a post about IMAX and its success in 2010, pointed out (with the help of an amusing blog post from 2009 by actor/comedian Aziz Ansari) that the theaters that are labeled "IMAX Experience" -- including the one that just opened at the AMC Franklin Mills near my home, are much smaller than the true IMAX screens, such as the AMC Lincoln Square on New York's Upper West Side where I saw "Superman Returns". Check out this graphic:

The Empire 25 in the graphic is in Times Square. I don't know the exact dimensions of the Franklin Mills or Neshaminy IMAX Experience screens, but I assume the size is similar. Don't be fooled. If it says "IMAX Experience" it's not worth the extra money they charge. It's not real IMAX.

MixBlog 1-4-11

So this happened while I was watching "Tron: Legacy" today...



You think that the film jamming and then burning up only happens to people on TV or in movies! Ha! So it took a half-hour for them to resume the film at approximately where it left off, and everyone (maybe 10 or so in all) got a free pass to another movie.

Anyway, I've got a few other things on my mind...

First of all, I've got another rule for Twitter users, or maybe one I've mentioned before that needs to be re-emphasized. When these idiotic memes hit the Trending Topics, such as the one tonight, #lessambitiousmovies (examples of less ambitious movies would include

Some Stuff About Me

I was rummaging about my Facebook profile and saw an old note I posted almost two years ago. It's one of those memes that were going about at the time, where you were supposed to post 25 random things about yourself, then tag 25 people and ask them to do the same. I took a while until I finally wrote it, I don't think they're entirely random, and I didn't tag anyone. I'm such a rebel.

I thought that, for anyone who hasn't read this already, you can get to know me a little. Plus, it's a copy-and-paste job, so it's an easy blog post! I have made only one or two very minor changes, so if you saw it on Facebook you don't have to read the whole thing again. And, since this is a bit of an exercise in nostalgia, here's my high school graduation picture again.

Finally! 25 Random (I guess they're random) Things About Me (written February 6, 2009)

1. I am, by nature, not very outgoing in person. I’m not the type of person who will start a conversation with someone I don’t know, and it takes a lot of time for me to feel comfortable talking to someone beyond basic small talk.

2. At the same time, I utterly despise when I’m in a group and someone says to me something like “You’re so quiet.” I suppose they mean well but all I feel is, “Yes! I already KNOW that! Thanks for making me feel even MORE uptight, jackass!”

3. I was reading and writing at a pretty early age. I used to love newspapers so much that I would write my own, sometimes making up stories and sometimes just copying what was in the paper, including weather maps. I was especially fascinated by the weather.

4. When I was in third grade, I was skipped ahead to fourth grade during the middle of the school year. I think it was because the school felt I was bored because third grade was too easy for me.

5. Fourth grade wasn't actually any more difficult from an educational standpoint, but

My 2010 In Music

Well, I've done all the accounting -- or, to be accurate, iTunes kept track of the totals -- and will reveal shortly my Top 25 Most Played Songs of 2010 (since I've reset the count to zero for the new year). First, I'd like to tell you about my top 10 albums of 2010. The problem with that is...I don't have one. I only bought 16 new albums all year, and if you take out greatest hits collections and albums released before 2010, that number drops to 11 -- and two of those were Christmas albums, so they don't really count.

(By the way, it seems weird to refer to "albums" when vinyl albums as we know it hardly exist anymore. There are music purists who prefer vinyl, thus allowing a certain number of releases in vinyl, but the vast majority of new releases -- and certainly everything I've gotten in at least the last 15-20 years -- are strictly CDs or digital downloads. But it's easier to refer to them as albums.)

Perhaps more will come into my hands in the future, but for now, here are the nine non-Christmas 2010 albums I bought:

Vampire Weekend – Contra
Glee cast - Glee: The Music, The Power of Madonna
Kele – The Boxer
Scissor Sisters – Night Work
soundtrack – Despicable Me
Kylie Minogue – Aphrodite
Linkin Park – A Thousand Suns
Bruno Mars – Doo-Wops & Hooligans
Mark Ronson and the Business Intl. - Record Collection

I will say that, except perhaps for the Linkin Park album,

Quick Review: I Love You Phillip Morris

There was a lot of speculation that the American release "I Love You Phillip Morris," which debuted at Sundance in January 2009, was delayed because of its sexual content. According to Wikipedia it was re-edited, found a distributor in May 2009 but still sat and sat, with opening dates announced and then canceled, until finally it hit some theaters in early December. I feel it necessary to provide some important information that may help clarify the matter: this movie is dreadful. It's based on the true story of Steven Russell (Jim Carrey), a con artist who was sent to prison and met, and fell in love with, fellow inmate Phillip Morris (Ewan McGregor). This development led to even more scams in order to get himself and his new love out of prison and into a fabulously wealthy lifestyle. Russell was so adept at breaking out of prison, he's now kept totally isolated, allowed out once a day for fresh air and exercise. The two men (as well as Russell's previous lover, prior to his imprisonment and affair with Morris) are stereotypically gay, and not in a good way. I found Carrey to be increasingly annoying as the film went on, and McGregor basically played a fey dimwit (which is possibly what the real Morris is like, but this seemed extreme). The true-life story is fantastic, but the movie turns it into an unfunny farce. My grade: D-minus.

From 2010 To 2011

Since I'm starting this before midnight and will continue on it after midnight, this will become the blog post that took two years to write! (And it's definitely the post with more links than any other.)

I suppose I could just repeat most of what I wrote at this time a year ago. Much of it still applies, and certainly my closing advice -- "(I)f you want your life to change, do it. Don't just talk about it. Do it. Do it, do it, do it. Stop talking about it and DO IT" -- is still pretty smart, if I do say so myself. But unlike last year, I feel like looking back a little tonight.

In January I learned that there was a full-length version of the "Mad Men" theme. I started doing volunteer work, doing tax returns with the Campaign for Working Families. I took a shot at Perez Hilton (an easy target). I complained about politicians. (Haven't we all? And it continued all year.) I scooped the local media with the story of former Phillies coach Steve Smith's participation in "The Amazing Race." (And ended up doing recaps of the season that got more detailed as it went on, even after Smith and his daughter were eliminated.)

February brought me lots of snow and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. I found out that "Daria" was being relased on DVD (I eventually bought it when the price was seriously marked down.) I compared Tiger Woods to Andy Reid(!). And my scoop of the media re: Steve Smith and "The Amazing Race" was acknowledged in the newspaper!