2011 Stanley Cup Finals

So it's Vancouver vs. Boston in the Stanley Cup finals -- not Vancouver vs. Tampa Bay, as I predicted. This makes me 8-6 overall in series predictions, and I continue to be pathetic with my East series picks, now 2-5. Not that the Lightning didn't try. They forced a 7th game in Boston and it was scoreless into the third period of that last game. The fact that the Bruins won that game 1-0 made the ComcastNBCUniversalVersus conglomerate happy, because they'll draw better ratings numbers with the Boston market (as opposed to Boston Market) involved.

But my pick is Vancouver. Why? (Besides the fact that they're a Western team and my picks involving the West have been so much better?)  Because they finally look like they're living up to their potential after dispatching San Jose in 5 games in the Western Conference finals. Because I think they're the deeper team. Because I think Roberto Luongo is still a better goaltender than Tim Thomas. Because I can't stand the thought of yet another championship for the city of Boston. And because if the Canucks don't win this year, Canada -- which hasn't had a Cup winner since 1993 -- may never win a Cup again, even with the Atlanta Thrashers moving to Winnipeg and becoming Canada's seventh NHL team. Canucks in 6.

Maytag Repairman, Meet The Apple Security Guard

On Saturday night I was returning to my hotel room after the Camac St. block party, part of my softball weekend. I was staying at the Sheraton at 17th and Race. Walking along Walnut St. towards 17th, I passed by the Apple store that opened up a few months ago. I couldn't help but notice it was rather bright inside the store. For a moment I thought it was open. Then I saw that it wasn't, obviously, and I noticed the one person who was inside -- the security guard. Playing around with an iPad. Now that's a job for me...if you can guarantee no one would ever try to break in and shoot me in a robbery attempt, that is.

It was a pretty fun weekend, although our team lost 4 out of 5 games -- we went 1-2 in the round-robin portion on Saturday, then lost twice more (once Saturday, once Sunday morning).

A few more odd pictures. Well, the first two pictures aren't odd, but the reason I took them is.

This is, as you can see, Suburban Station. All SEPTA Regional Rail trains pass through here (the train platforms themselves are actually underground). So you'd think it's quite a busy place.

Busy enough, in fact, that you'd think the doors would be open for anyone trying to catch a train.

You'd be wrong. At least on Sunday.

Quick Review: Everything Must Go

It's nice to know that Will Ferrell has some acting chops, and actually wants to use them for movies other than wild, over-the-top comedies. He's done it before, in the interesting and underrated "Stranger Than Fiction." In "Everything Must Go" he's Nick Halsey, an alcoholic whose relapse leads to his being fired. He goes home to find he's lost his wife as well; and he's locked out of his house and all his belongings have been left on the lawn. After a little wallowing and some more drinking, he sleeps outside on his recliner and decides that's what he's going to do. He's nearly arrested until his AA sponsor (Michael Peña), who's also a cop, intervenes. Nick decides to hold a yard sale to get rid of his stuff. Over the course of a few days' time we see Nick dealing with what he's lost, as well as possible new beginnings: with a new neighbor (Rebecca Hall) and a local kid (Christopher Jordan Wallace) who spends his days riding his bike around the neighborhood while his mom works. I'd like to see more work like this from Ferrell. Surely he's made enough money from all of those movies where he plays an overgrown child that he could do films like this a little more often. My grade: B.

Quick Review: Thor

This is not a comic book I read, nor am I going to begin now. (For one thing, it's a Marvel character and you've probably figured out by now that I'm way more of a DC person.) But "Thor" was a lot more entertaining than I expected based on the trailer. The plot sort of made enough sense despite its sci-fi leanings. After nearly starting a war, Thor (Chris Hemsworth), god of thunder, is exiled from Asgard by his father (Anthony Hopkins) until he proves himself worthy again. The hammer that gives Thor his power is also sent to Earth, but separately, and with a spell that keeps it from being wielded by anyone unless they're worthy. (So of course Thor needs to redeem himself so he can lift that hammer.) Meanwhile, Thor's brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) learns something interesting about his heritage and, as you'd expect from the god of mischief, gets to plotting. Back on Earth, a budding romance develops between Thor and a scientist (Natalie Portman) but it isn't all that interesting, and it doesn't actually take up much of the movie's time. It's reasonably well-acted, and moves along at a decent pace. My grade: B.

Quick Review: Bridesmaids

I'll make this simple: "Bridesmaids" is the best movie I've seen so far this year. Some have compared it to "The Hangover" but those comparisons aren't very valid. (For one thing, "The Hangover" left me thoroughly not entertained.) There's some R-rated raunch but it's not overwhelming. The story is as much concerned with the inner struggle of Annie (Kristen Wiig, brilliant) as it is with the wild situations the bridesmaids get into. She's middle-aged, in a dead-end sales job after her cake shop went under, in a dead-end relationship with a man who's only in it for the sex (Jon Hamm, hot), living with two strange roommates in an apartment, and now her best friend Lillian (Maya Rudolph) is engaged and asks her to be the maid of honor. Annie is trying to put together a bridal shower on a budget while another bridesmaid (Rose Byrne), a newer and wealthier friend of Lillian's, is ready to swoop in to take over the maid of honor's duties, which strains Annie even more. All of this doesn't help when a new, charming, decent guy (Chris O'Dowd, also hot) comes into Annie's life. There are both belly laughs and insightful, sensitive moments, both happy and sad. My grade: A-minus.

Softball Weekend

It's funny that I complain about some aspects of softball tournaments (just for example, teams that add ringers because they desperately need to win, and therefore are out to crush regular teams like mine) and yet I can't seem to stop myself from playing in them. This year's Liberty Bell Classic is being held on Saturday and Sunday. Here's their website. I can tell you that I'm playing games at 10 am, 11 am and 1 pm in the round-robin portion. (All three of those games are at Dairy Field #3 in Fairmount Park.) Then there's one more game Saturday and at least one Sunday, when the tournament enters the double-elimination phase (two losses and you're out).

Since I got an extremely good rate through Hotwire, I've got a hotel room in town so I won't be taking my usual looooooooong trip to the fields. (This overjoys me, except for the part where I have to figure out how to pay the credit card bills next month.) So I can also easily partake of the Saturday night block party on Camac St. and the Sunday closing party and bar crawl starting at Sisters. So all of you reading this should come into town and buy me a drink! And while you're at it, you can pick up one of these t-shirts.

Quick Review: Something Borrowed

When I saw the trailer for "Something Borrowed" my first thought was that this was yet another of those typically insipid romantic comedies, often lacking in romance, comedy or both, that drain love and humor from the world by their very existence. I didn't plan to see it. Then I read an article in Entertainment Weekly by Emily Giffin, who wrote the novel upon which the movie is based. The article isn't online so I can't quote it verbatim. Essentially she wrote about how everyone told her that once she sold the film rights, Hollywood would turn her novel into a horrible, horrible film. So she steeled herself for that eventuality. Then she visited the set a time or two...and by the end of the article she's extolling the virtues of this wonderful film and the cast and how this was such a magical experience. I took this as a challenge. This couldn't possibly be a good movie, could it?

Well, no. But I didn't intensely dislike it the way I sometimes do. The premise is stupid -- after drinking at her 30th birthday party, Rachel (Ginnifer Goodwin) ends up in a cab with Dex (Colin Egglesfield), who's engaged to her best friend Darcy (Kate Hudson). Rachel admits to having a crush on Dex since they were in law school together. They kiss, and then end up spending the night together. Does this mean the wedding is off? Of course not, because then it would be a short film. Instead, Rachel pines away, because Darcy gets everything she wants because she's Darcy, or something like that. And Dex doesn't want to upset his parents by calling off things with Darcy. I guess I didn't intensely dislike this film because of the presence of John Krasinski, who plays Rachel's close friend since childhood and spends much of the film trying to get Rachel to go for what she wants for a change. He's like the gay best friend who isn't gay (although he pretends to be, for a time). And he's really cute. He needs to be shirtless more often, though. This is about the best I could find. My grade: C.

My Week In Comics 5-18-11

This comic book post comes first because I still can't quite sit myself here in front of this computer to write about the movies I saw last week. I think they're the posts that most feel like "work," unless a movie is so amazing (in a good or bad way) that it inspires me to knock it out right away. I'm not sure if I could be really successful at a job where I was paid to write, being assigned topics and asked to come up with "x" number of words. I really need to be inspired by something to just write. My comic book posts aren't quite as much trouble. So...

Supergirl 64: The conclusion of the "Good-Looking Corpse" story arc in which Supergirl and some of the other young DC heroes team up to defeat Alex, the Project Cadmus clone of Dubbilex with some bonus Kryptonian DNA. Of the books I read regularly, this might be the one that's been the most consistently good. It wasn't always that way. When the newest version of Kara Zor-El debuted in her own series, I read a few issues and then dropped it because I hated the characterization and the stories. But a combination of a change in writers and the book's tie-ins to the "New Krypton" stuff in the Superman series got me back, starting with issue 34, and I've been happy with it ever since. Let's just hope she doesn't feel the need to walk across America any time soon.

Sherlock Holmes: Year One 4 (of 6): The body count in the "Twelve Caesars" murders is up to eight, while Holmes is more intent on investigating the apparent suicide of a friend. And at the end of the issue we're introduced to Irene Adler, known as "the woman" to Holmes (as explained in the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle story "A Scandal in Bohemia"). So in the next issue or two, we'll be told more about why he feels that way...at least according to this story's writer. I wonder if Conan Doyle will approve?

Simpsons Comics 178: Sideshow Bob and some other prisoners are being sent to a top-secret penal colony...on the moon. Did you know that Springfield has a space shuttle launch center? Things go awry, thanks to Homer and Bart's new helicopter toy, the "Blackhawk Guillotine with admantium blades." (Bart to Marge: "But, Mom, it's got a French name...it couldn't possibly be a threat!")

A Couple Of Things...

I guess this is like a MixBlog, but shorter. (Mainly because I want to put something up without starting the posts on the four movies I got to see in the last week.)

• The (C)rapture didn't happen yesterday, so I want the fraud who claimed it would occur behind bars. Since I know the government won't do it...

• I watched last night's Saturday Night Live. The only parts of the show I enjoyed were those featuring Lady Gaga -- both her musical performances and a couple of sketches. No fault of Justin Timberlake's, but this show is unwatchable. It takes a very special reason (Betty White last year, or last night's host/musical guest combo) to get me to tune in. (Speaking of Gaga, her new album will finally be released -- after at least four single releases in advance of it -- and it's apparently going to be available on iTunes, Amazon, etc. at midnight.)

• I'm debating whether or not to play in this year's Liberty Bell Classic softball tournament. My team has a spot for me if I want to play. There are pros and cons, so I'm undecided. There's a block party on Saturday night on Camac Street as well. There's lots of stuff swirling around in my head right now...

• Chase Utley is expected to be in the Phillies' starting lineup tomorrow night. Maybe his presence will help the offense somehow. They've scored 3 runs or fewer in nine consecutive games. Of course, it could be worse: besides the fact that they're still in first place in the NL East, a year ago today they were shut out 5-0 by Boston, beginning a stretch of 12 games in a row with 3 or fewer runs (including 3 straight shutouts by the Mets).

• I posted this on Twitter/Facebook last night...just feeling the need to emphasize how much I want those (C)rapture nuts arrested. Fraud, incitement to riot, something. Child endangerment charges for any parents who quit their jobs and got rid of their possessions.

My Week In Comics 5-11-11

I mentioned one of these last week, because it was previewed in DC's Free Comic Book Day giveaway. So let's start with that.

Flashpoint 1 (of 5): As I mentioned, the world has suddenly changed and only Barry Allen, a.k.a. the Flash, is aware of it. Except, because of one specific event that was changed, he isn't Flash now. So he has to actually drive to get around. Poor Barry. Now he's living in my world. Except he can drive and I can not. Ummm...where was I going with this? Anyway, Barry's headed to Gotham City to find Batman, the only hero he knows for sure still exists. Except Batman is...well, that would be a spoiler -- although if you go online, you'll find out anyway. That big Bat-twist is one of the best things about this story. I still feel like this is just a variation on the many stories involving alternate timelines, though. There are characters who are different, there are apparently a few new characters, and if you believe the hype there will be lasting repercussions after this story plays out. There always are.

Superman 711: Superman's in Vegas to do some gambling, take in some shows, and...no, wait, he's still wandering across America, and is in Utah when an emergency signal (signal watch, that is -- hey there, Jimmy Olsen) brings him to Vegas and a confrontation with Livewire. In a nod to earlier continuity, there's a cameo by an outfit Superman had to wear for a while a few years ago when he...wasn't quite himself, power-wise. The last couple of issues of this "Grounded" storyline have gotten a lot better, but I'm glad it will finally end in just three more issues.

Batman, Incorporated 6: Speaking of getting back on track, after the last two issues telling a very convoluted tale, this issue is back-to-basics, explaining a lot about how Bruce Wayne wants Batman, Inc. to function and how he wants the world to perceive it, as well as setting up what major threat Batman, Inc. is about to battle. It's full of good stuff, with appearances by many Bat-characters, a criminal called "Emoticon Man," a worldwide "flashcrime" event (you know about flash mobs? This is a criminal version)...and Bruce Wayne in a

More S Words

I have a couple of photos I took during yesterday's trip to Center City to buy comics, but my phone (or Virgin Mobile, or something) refused to let me post them to Twitter (via Twitpic) or Facebook. So here they are -- both subjects start with the letter "S" -- just like this previous post -- and not only that, the titles of all three books I bought yesterday started with "S." (Insert "Twilight Zone" theme here.)

Shirtless Thugs II: For this first one, taken at Rittenhouse Square, I tried to Twitpic it with the caption, "Where are they? WHERE ARE THEY???" This graffiti seems to be a phenomenon. It's the second time I've seen it. It's also been mentioned on another blog, but that blog recently took a condescending and possibly anti-gay shot at the creator of one of my favorite blogs, Streets Dept., so it gets no link from me.

Yesterday was a bit too damp and dreary for people to be shirtless, anyway. (But at least there wasn't a tornado in town, like there was up in the Northeast, about 3.5 miles from my house! It's really rare for a tornado to touch down in Philadelphia. The last reported twister was in 1999. But this one yesterday wasn't much of one. It was EF-0, the weakest on the scale, and only traveled about 300 feet according to the National Weather Service. A few roofs torn off, a little debris, and that was pretty much it.)

Saxbys: There's a new one that just opened at 20th and Walnut. I'm not one for coffee but

The Post That Keeps On...

...posting? Perhaps that's not quite it. Anyway, every now and then I get a comment on my post from last fall regarding a credit card transaction for "PNL Advertising" that I was sure was fraudulent, until it turned out to be for a B-52's ticket I bought from Philly Dealyo (the Philly.com version of Groupon). It seems I'm not the only one who can't remember what I purchased when their billing is listed with such an obscure name. Come on, Philly.com, fix this. Better yet, don't, since it helps me get blog hits.

Granted, it probably doesn't get me as many pics as Fake Jake...

REALLY, Facebook?

Dear Facebook,

First you've been sluggish today (a day after both Twitter and especially Blogger gave me agita), and now this? Really? Is this a gay slur? Is this juvenile behavior really necessary?

The Soul And The Riversharks

A couple of things from a week or so ago that I didn't get around to posting previously...

A week ago Thursday, the 1600 and 1700 blocks of Market Street in Center City were closed to traffic so that the Philadelphia Soul, the Arena Football League team once owned by Jon Bon Jovi, could hold an outdoor practice. Here's a video with a portion of the practice. The speaker is head coach Mike Hohensee. Some photos follow (click on the photos to see full-size versions).

Former mayor and former PA governor Ed Rendell

This wasn't the most intense practice. It was more a publicity stunt to sell tickets. In 2008, the last year of the Soul's existence before the league temporarily shut down, they sold out half of their games and averaged over 16,000 per game. Whether it's due to the two years without a team or the economy or other factors, but their home opener this year drew just 12,000 or so, and attendance dropped to 8,000 for home game 2 and 7,500 for their most recent game on Friday.

Eeeeek! A Bug!

And we've got some big-ass bugs here in the big city!

 

Okay, so it's not a real bug. It's a sticker on some sort of pipe or something sticking out of the ground. This is located on the 1700 block of Walnut Street between the Jones New York and Ann Taylor stores. I guess this qualifies as street art. Would you go to the trouble of putting a sticker that low to the ground, though?

2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs - Conference Finals

Welcome back to this year's edition of "Joe Throws Darts at Hockey Teams," also known as my predictions for the Stanley Cup playoffs. I got the Western Conference perfectly in the last round (Canucks in 6, Sharks in 7). My Eastern Conference picks (Flyers in 6, Capitals in 6) crashed and burned, as the two top seeds were both swept. So I'm 7-5 overall -- but only 2-4 in the East series, featuring the teams I actually see most often. Familiarity breeds stupidity? Now, to the NHL's final four...

EASTERN CONFERENCE

(3) Boston Bruins vs. (5) Tampa Bay Lightning - Both teams had to rally to win their first-round series and swept through the second round. Both teams have been sitting around for over a week thanks to their sweeps. I'm not sure this gives either team a particular advantage. It might make for a sloppy start, if the teams have to shake off the rust. Boston is the better team, and should win. Then again, Tampa Bay has already defeated Pittsburgh and Washington. Plus, I apparently know nothing about the Eastern Conference, so I'm going with the upset. Take this with a few thousand grains of salt. Lightning in 6.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

(1) Vancouver Canucks vs. (2) San Jose Sharks - These two teams, both with reputations as playoff underachievers in recent years, are apparently going to spend this series trying to give the other team the series. The Canucks blew a 3-0 lead in the first round before finishing off Chicago in Game 7. The Sharks followed the same pattern in the second round against Detroit. Both teams had trouble in their other matchup as well before winning in 6 (Vancouver over Nashville, San Jose over Los Angeles). Because of this, what should be an excellent series might be a very weird one. Canucks in 7.

MixBlog 5-13-11: Flyers, Phillies, Pier, Bunny!

Wow...Blogger seems to be back in business! As I write this, Twitter is out of commission, though. So let's get to some stuff. First, a couple of videos.

This one was taken a few doors from my house. I spotted Mr. Bunny as I was walking home. This is a residential area in a city, although I suppose there's enough wooded areas around to allow for visits from the occasional wild rabbit.



Yesterday my friend Kurt and I went to the opening of the new Race Street Pier (just next to the Ben Franklin Bridge). Mayor Nutter and others made speeches and then cut the ribbon. I'd have enjoyed it more if only the mayor spoke. Everyone else could have been given credit in a pamphlet or something. Anyway, here's a video tour. Note: it takes a few minutes for us to actually get on to the pier.



The pier is very nice. It'll be a nice meeting place by the river, but there's nothing to do there. I hope that the mayor's efforts to truly revitalize the waterfront -- which would mean more than things like giant Best Buy and Wal-Mart stores or the SugarHouse casino -- come to fruition.

Something else that clearly needs a little revitalization: the Flyers.

My Week In Comics 5-4-11 Plus FCBD

I only had one book on my list this week. I was going to head into town on Wednesday, but a few days before that I noticed something on a bus ride to Franklin Mills: a new comic book store. Within walking distance from my house! What this does is give me an option if I can't (or don't want to) go downtown for some reason. So I decided to check out the new store on Saturday, which was 2011 Free Comic Book Day. That's the day when many publishers put out special free issues (sometimes reprints, sometimes not). There was nothing quite as exciting as last year's "zero issue" that kicked off the War of the Supermen. But I did take two free books, the maximum allowed by the store. I hope the store, which has been open for ten months, does well enough to stay open. When I went on Saturday it was really quiet. While I was there a woman came in with a couple of kids, picked up two free books and then left. That was pretty much it.

Superboy 7: This was my one issue actually purchased, and skips ahead to when the Reign of Doomsday (which intervened last issue) is resolved (which will occur in the next few issues of Action Comics) and Superboy is back in Smallville. Alas, he wakes up to a nighmarish situation which, he is told, is his doing. The twist on this story (another of those time-skipping tales with "then" and "now" labels making it a little too confusing) was that it involves a variation of a plant that was a key plot in a classic Superman tale from the 1980s called "For the Man Who Has Everything."

As for the Free Comic Book Day issues, one was a reprint of a Green Lantern issue that tells (or re-tells, since this particular story was originally published in 2008) how Hal Jordan got his ring to begin with. Obviously it's promoting the movie. It also includes a preview of "Flashpoint," DC's latest huge mega-event (starting this week), in which time has been altered somehow (this happens so much!), leading to all kinds of changes in characters in the DC universe. Only Barry Allen, a.k.a. the Flash, remembers how the world used to be and has to find a way to fix things. I'm curious but not extremely excited about this. I plan to buy the main miniseries itself but probably not most of the tie-in books planned -- the ad on the last page lists one in May and a whopping 21 in June.

The other free book I nabbed was a special issue of The Amazing Spider-Man, which seems to be a new tale that's a prelude to a big storyline that's about to start. It was entertaining enough, and there was a little recap of what's been going on in Peter Parker's life recently. For example, it seems he no longer has his spider-sense. Whether it's permanent or not I have no idea, but I hate the thought of a world in which the sentence "My spider-sense is tingling!" no longer has any meaning.

How Krispy Kreme Made Me Feel Like A Kid Again

(Update with tweet from Krispy Kreme below)

I know I promised this yesterday but didn't get to it. So now I need to get it done before the Phillies-Marlins game (with Roy Halladay and Josh Johnson in a rematch of their two battles from last year, one of which resulted in Halladay's perfect game). Plus "Glee" is on, and I'm also watching "The Voice." I'll have to write about that. Plus some other stuff, at some point. Anyway, let's get to this...

A new Krispy Kreme opened up in Center City last week. We've had Krispy Kreme locations in the past, but never downtown as far as I know. And the most recent ones (one was at the Roosevelt Mall) closed some time ago. Now they're back, and the line was well out the door when I walked by last week. As it happens I was in town yesterday, and on my way back to the 15th Street El station (the Market-Frankford, or Blue Line, for you out-of-towners) I walked by the new Krispy Kreme. The line was short. I went in.

Now, I do have to confess to some confusion. Everyone seems to make a fuss about going in when the "Hot Doughnuts Now" sign is turned on. It was on yesterday. I didn't get hot doughnuts, though. I'm not sure -- do you have to specifically ask for hot doughnuts? I didn't notice anything explaining this; nor did I see a separate line for them. I just got in the line to the counter where all the different varieties were on the shelves. I got two chocolate iced glazed doughnuts. They were fine. They were fresh. They weren't hot, though, so I don't know if I missed out on something.

NY Rangers' Sean Avery For Marriage Equality

Obnoxious on the ice, but great off it. I guess that's the way to describe New York Rangers forward Sean Avery, who just filmed an ad in support of marriage equality in New York:



Here's a link to the New York Times article, in case you pay the Times for access or haven't hit the monthly limit of 20 free articles.

Avery has spoken out previously about how he'd support an openly gay player in the NHL. He also got naked for a t-shirt for a campaign to fight skin cancer and raise funds for cancer research at NYU:

Still don't ever want him to play for the Flyers. Then again, considering the weak end to their season, maybe they need an attitude adjustment.

Equality Forum: SundayOUT

You might think that, after my unpleasant experience attempting to volunteer for the Equality Forum last Friday, I'd be done with the event entirely. However, on Sunday I dropped by their "SundayOUT" festival. For at least the second year in a row, they held it outside of the Gayborhood, taking it to the Piazza in Northern Liberties. Admission was $10.00 and, to be honest, it wasn't worth it. Let me quote one of my Twitter pals, @gregs, who got there after I left and tweeted this: "Sunday out? more like sunday yawn. Overpriced drinks & food, lack of vendors and orgs."

This should give you an idea of the scope of this: when I took this photo I was sitting on the concrete steps at the foot of the stage.

The tables were lined up in three or four rows. Some were from organizations, others were vendors selling t-shirts, jewelry, etc., but there wasn't much on sale that remotely interested me. There were no food stands at all, save one or two restaurants and a table with someone selling cupcakes. No junk food at all or even a stand selling bottles of soda (although there were two stands for high-priced beer and some mixed drinks). My theory is that the facility's management wanted people to eat and drink at the restaurants located there and thus restricted the types of vendors allowed.

To the quote above by my Twitter pal, I would add "a lack of entertainment."

PIFA Street Fair

One of the final events of the 2011 Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts, which went on for nearly a month, was a street fair which took up a stretch of Broad Street on Saturday. The festival was inspired by the scene in Paris in the 1910s. (Thus, the 80-foot Eiffel Tower ensconced inside the Kimmel Center, above.)

I took some pictures and video ...before the battery on my phone died, that is...the photos are in a Flickr set which can be found here. I've included a couple of them below (after the jump), along with the videos I took.

Quick Reviews: Scream 4, Your Highness

I don't like to combine movie posts into one, but it's been a little while since I've seen these and I need to get this out of the way, and with the Flyers game starting in an hour, I'm pressed for time. Maybe that's what I need to motivate me to write: deadlines.

Nah.

Anyhoo, one of these is already gone from theaters and the other won't be far behind.

"Scream 4" brings back original stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette and a bunch of new kids to be slaughtered by the latest Ghostface killer, who gets to killing when Campbell's Sidney Prescott returns to town on her book tour. The movie is most notable because the real-life martial issues of Cox and Arquette are eerily played out on screen -- their characters, now married, are having some issues of their own. While the film tries, after an 11-year gap, to reinvent itself for the digital era, it never really does. There's lots of talk of being "meta" but not enough that's actually meta-something. My grade: C-plus.

"Your Highness" had very few laughs. I never got invested in the plot, involving a medieval kingdom and the quest of two brothers (James Franco and Danny McBride) to save a fair maiden from an evil wizard, and...face it, the plot doesn't matter. This felt like an excuse to run around in costumes and make juvenile sex and drug jokes and curse almost constantly. Most of it fell flat, although I never was annoyed enough to think about walking out of the theater. Maybe that was because I enjoy staring at James Franco. My grade: C-minus.

My Week In Comics 4-27-11

I only bought two books, but one was huge. More on that shortly. First...

Batman Incorporated 5: I'm not quite sure what was going on in this book. Maybe I need to re-read the previous two, or maybe it's just getting ridiculous. I did enjoy the first meeting between the Bruce Wayne Batman and the new Batwoman, though. And she called him "sir." I thought it was weird, but I look at it as an outgrowth of her military training. She's dealt with the Dick Grayson Batman before, but with Batman, Inc. getting off the ground, it's obvious to her that the original Batman is the five-star general.

Action Comics 900: As befits such a milestone issue, this book contained 96 pages. A large chunk was devoted to the main stories, which have finally dovetailed -- the finale of "The Black Ring" and the continuation of the "Reign of Doomsday." And yes, the return of Doomsday was a Lex Luthor machination. The Luthor story, and his confrontation with Superman (hey, he's back in his own book!) after gaining godlike powers as a result of merging with the being that created the energy spheres, was superb. The "Doomsday" storyline, in which the captured Superboy, Steel, Supergirl, Cyborg-Superman and the Eradicator have been trapped in an endless maze of sorts, felt out of place. Two separate stories instead of one that swung back and forth between the two plotlines might have been better. The other mini-features in the book have their own charms, but one in particular made a splash in the news.

Friday With Equality Forum

I've got a number of things I want to talk about and am a bit pressed for time (with the Flyers starting in a half-hour, as I begin this). Plus I've been sneezing today -- I woke up to the sound of lawnmowing going on somewhere outside and I think it set off my allergies. Then I took some allergy medication and it made me sleepy. So I'm going to try and cover my odd little weekend in a few posts, starting with this one.

I decided to volunteer for this year's Equality Forum, a week-long series of LGBT-related events -- panel discussions, parties, etc. culminating in the SundayOUT festival held yesterday (more on that in a separate post). I went to an orientation meeting a couple of weeks ago and at that meeting I signed up to appear at two events to hand out fliers, surveys, etc. (according to the literature I was given at the orientation meeting). I ended up being assigned to just one event: a tribute to a choreographer, Zane Booker, held Friday at the Merriam Theater. The confirmation email said my shift was to start at 6:30 pm and we were told to arrive about 15 minutes before our shifts. It listed two other volunteers for this event as well as a board member who was to coordinate everything.

I arrived at the Merriam Theater at 6:15. The people inside the lobby had little or no idea what I was talking about when I arrived. One tried to insist I was in the wrong place. Another said he was aware of it but that he didn't know much else and that someone from Equality Forum was supposed to arrive shortly. I stood there (feeling like an idiot) waiting for nearly a half-hour while the lobby filled up with ticketholders. After this time, two people, a man and a woman, arrived from Equality Forum and eventually spoke to the man I had spoken to, who pointed me out to them. I spotted this, walked over and introduced myself.