Quick Reviews: Straight Outta Paper Towns Ultra!

You may find this funny...or disturbing. A week ago I hopped on a bus that leaves from Frankford Ave and Knights Rd (just down the street from the house). The route heads along Bristol Pike (which is Frankford Ave once you cross into the suburbs), and, after you pass the shopping center that includes the AMC Woodhaven multiplex (more than halfway through a major renovation -- the new theaters now have recliners!) the bus turns onto Woodhaven Rd and stops at Franklin Philadelphia Mills before continuing along the route. I was planning to see American Ultra and had decided on the 3:00 show at the AMC Franklin Philadelphia Mills, instead of the 4:00 show at the AMC Woodhaven.

Except I had a brain cramp. I got off the bus at the Woodhaven theater stop, only to realize my error when I saw the list of showtimes.

Not having any time to get to the other theater, and not wanting to wait for over an hour, I ended up seeing the 3:15 showing of Straight Outta Compton, which I was planning to see the following week.

And Straight Outta Compton, thanks to America's continuing inability to deal honestly with racism, poverty and injustice, turns out to be a timely tale. It's the story of N.W.A., the hip-hop group whose controversial lyrics (particularly on "F--k tha Police") angered many but spoke truth to power for many others. As it was co-produced by N.W.A.'s Dr. Dre and Ice Cube, as well as Eazy-E's widow, it's an authorized tale, to be sure. It shows some of the flaws of the protagonists, but the misogny and homophobia that mars so much hip-hop is glossed over or ignored. In addition, I did not need to see Paul Giamatti as their sleazy manager so soon after seeing Paul Giamatti as Brian Wilson's sleazy psychotherapist in Love and Mercy. But O'Shea Jackson, Jr., playing Ice Cube, his father...amazing. (And he has a line at the end of one scene that is either an in-joke or a possible origin for one of today's most-quoted lines from a certain film whose title is a day of the week.) The music is a huge plus, and the stage performances are on point, but the film becomes a standard music biopic as it gets bogged down with business dealings (see Giamatti above) and the decline and death of Eazy-E from AIDS. My grade: B.

As for American Ultra, when I did finally see it, I was shocked at how much I enjoyed it. The story of a stoner convenience store clerk (Jesse Eisenberg) in a small West Virginia town who suddenly finds he has mad killing skills, It seemed like it would be nothing special, from reviews and box office reception, but not only did it make me laugh, it has a few surprising twists and gave me a new appreciation for Kristen Stewart. She plays the girlfriend here (as in the Twilight films) but she's more than that, as it turns out. It's not perfect, as some of the plot doesn't quite connect and Topher Grace, as a CIA agent running an operation, seriously overacts. But don't let that deter you. My grade: B-plus.

Paper Towns was a little too lightweight. Like a paper town. They kept hammering that theme. A "paper town" is a made-up town that mapmakers use to catch copyright infringement. Orlando, where the high school seniors whose final weeks of school are central to the plot, is a paper town, says Margo Roth Spiegelman (Cara Delevingne) to childhood-friend-who-still-has-feelings-for-her-but-they've-drifted-apart Quentin "Q" Jacobsen (Nat Wolff), after she takes him on her mission of revenge one night. The next day she disappears, and while her parents just assume she's run away again, Q feels there's something more to it and sets out to find her. It's interesting to a point but everything sort of fits together too neatly, and there's just something that bothers me about a high school girl being played by a supermodel I've only heard of because of my time watching TMZ. And if Margo Roth Spiegelman isn't a paper name, well... My grade: C-plus.

My Sports Tees And Miscellaneous Caps, Part 4.5

Not Part 5 because it's so short. On Friday I celebrated my final radiation treatment with a Phillies ticket via StubHub, behind the visitors' dugout along the third-base line. Face value: $70.00. I paid $32.75. And the Phils won. After the game I stopped in the store to check out the merchandise, hoping to find something marked down or on clearance. That wasn't happening. Things are definitely more expensive at the ballpark. However, they did have a sale on caps: buy one at regular price, get one for 50 percent off. I wasn't going to buy any until I spotted the one on the left and succumbed to PPP (Pride-related Peer Pressure).

The other cap, however, had an interesting tag on the inside that I didn't notice until I got home:

So when I wear it, I'm wearing soda bottles on my head!

This last one is what the Phils gave fans who purchased their birthday greeting package in 2013 (you get a cap, your name on the scoreboard and confetti thrown on you by a performer as he or she sings Happy Birthday). My friend Kurt and I, who were born 20 years apart on the same day (I'm the younger one, no matter what the birth certificates say), went to the game that night and got confetti'd...or confettied?...spell check in Blogger accepts the former but not the latter. Okay, confetti'd it is.

Another Health Update

Picking up from where I left off here:

Yesterday, I completed my six-week radiation treatment at the Cancer Center at Aria Torresdale. Every day, Monday through Friday, I showed up and got zapped. Most of the time I was in and out very quickly, but there was a stretch of a few days about halfway through in which there were issues (either with their machine needing a replacement part, or emergency cases being sent from the main hospital to the Cancer Center). One day I had to wait over 90 minutes. Last two weeks or so were an absolute breeze. Once a week I saw the radiation oncologist for a brief checkup, including looking into my mouth for signs of thrush...thrush! Heh. Everything has checked out fine, though.

Here I am on the table. They were kind enough to take a pic for me. I thought it might be weird but it seems I'm far from the first person to ask. The mask on my face was molded prior to my first treatment. It's snapped into the headrest and is designed to keep my head and face aligned properly, as the radiation is focused on very specific targets.

On the chemo end, I had issues with the chemo oncologist's staffers and/or the pharmacies dispensing my chemo pills (sort of described here). After getting all of that corrected, I took the chemo pills daily. Again, I saw the oncologist (or physician's assistant in a couple of cases when the doctor was on vacation) weekly. They took blood at each visit to check my cell counts. Again, everything has checked out fine. I am, for now, finished with the chemo pills for a while.

I'm very happy to report that throughout this time I've had no nausea or vomiting. That in itself has made my life much easier. Nor, to my knowledge, did I have any short-term memory loss. As far as I can tell, my level of forgetfulness hasn't changed. I mean, the t-shirts shown at the end of this post were both purchased before the health problems began. However, my hair did start falling out. It was pretty short to begin with once I finally got a haircut to even out the shaved-for-surgery part with the rest of my hairline, but when there was hair on my pillow two days in a row I decided it was time to keep my head shaved for a while. I'm sure you've seen various pics on my social media already, including the one where I compared myself to Lex Luthor, but I thought of another one, which is a better match because of the facial hair and glasses (and cancer diagnosis, too). Separated at birth?

 

The next steps come towards the end of September. I have followups with the chemo oncologist on September 23rd where we'll set up the next round of chemo. The general plan as I understand it now is to increase the dosage I take, but I'll only take it a certain number of days rather than on a daily basis. On the 30th I go back to the radiation oncologist. Between the two, we'll have to determine the time I get my followup MRI. I saw the neurologist last week and he said that they have to let the treatments work through my system so the followup should be about 6-8 weeks after the last treatment. The other day the chemo doctor said that it should be 2-3 months. (Two months is about eight weeks, of course.) I explained how I felt that, when I was originally thought to have had a small stroke, it took new symptoms and hospitalization for me to get a new MRI in June. I feel that had I had one in May, when I initially followed up with a neurologist, the tumor would have been found sooner. So when I go on the 23rd I will be very clear that I want the MRI done as early as possible. Eight weeks from yesterday is October 23, so I'll want it done very close to that date, if not earlier. After that I'll visit the neurologist again and I guess I'll have a better idea of my long-term prognosis.

On my diabetes situation: I had the A1C test done again in mid-July. My A1C score (8.4 or 8.6, I forget exactly, back in April during my first hospitalization) was down to 5.7 -- barely above the level where you are considered NOT at risk of diabetes. I'm still on the diabetes meds and watching my carbs. Maybe, with the passage of time and continued good results, I'll be able to get rid of those meds as well, but even if I don't, that's okay. My weight is down to 225 (undressed, add about 5-6 lbs. when I'm fully clothed) and I am comfortably wearing pants with a 40 waist. I've been as high as a 48, and was at 44 prior to April. I swear, at some point if I try on pants with a 38 waist and they fit, you will hear my screams no matter where in the multiverse you are. And even if I stay where I'm at, the fact that I am being careful with the carbs but still having some of the snacks I like (portion control, people!) makes me feel confident that I will never again that much weight. I've gotten rid of a lot of my larger clothing and will do some more in the coming weeks. (That reminds me: I have to get new dress slacks soon. Shorts weather won't last forever.)

So now my schedule is completely free until the 23rd. I can travel (well, depending on the cost) again! That is, unless I get called back to work, of course. If I do get called back (which isn't guaranteed; it depends on how many jobs are available and how many ahead of me choose to return, as I'm last in seniority) it shouldn't be within these next couple of weeks. I'm a bit torn. Part of me wants to be called back right away because the other two times I was hired it was after everyone else started and I had to be trained/retrained on my own (or I basically read the stuff myself) and it made doing the job more difficult for me in a lot of ways. On the other hand, if they don't call me back I can finally file for unemployment at the start of October.

For the most part things have gone so smoothly, and I'm even getting things in order (such as getting my comic books boxed up, all of my personal papers organized, getting rid of some of the crap in my basement, etc.). Due to a combination of the structured schedule (radiation every weekday at noon) and, to some extent, my meds, I have become one of the things I abhor the most: a morning person. :) That has helped me in the above-mentioned tasks and given me more time to get to more movies, a few Phillies games, and other local excursions.

Again, I can't thank everyone enough for the kind words, wishes, prayers, thoughts, vibes, jokes, etc. They are very much appreciated.

Just one last thing, because this has truly, beyond everything else, angered me.

I had 30 radiation treatments. 30. THIRTY times I had radiation being zapped into my body. And NOT ONCE, in all that time, did a spider show up and bite me. Not once!

I WANT MY SUPER-POWERS, DAMMIT!

City Hall Courtyard

The compass mural in City Hall Courtyard was recently restored by -- who else? -- the Mural Arts Program after years of being worn down by foot traffic and the elements. These pics really don't do it full justice. If I could get to one of the windows on an upper floor inside City Hall...

My Sports Tees And Miscellaneous Caps, Part 4

Time for another chapter. And something embarrassing if you get to the end. Let's start with caps. Other that the first cap, this entire post is an all-Phillies edition.

  

From the Hockey Hall of Fame. Pretty sure this was from my epic trip in August-September 2004 to Montreal and Toronto for the World Cup of Hockey (an Olympic-style tournament, won by host Canada that year), but possibly I bought it on a later trip.

This is old. The Phillies added the blue cap option to their uniforms for day games in 1994. The defending NL Champs lost their first two games wearing them and the players were up in arms. Some fans didn't take kindly to them, either, although they sold rather well. The compromise for the players: they'd only wear them on weekday "Businessperson's Special" afternoon games. I think it's a nice-looking cap, but the jinx theory (final record: 1-6) won out.

You can probably guess that this was a giveaway item.

Aaron Rowand will be remembered forever for this catch and his comment a day or two later in reply to a question about the famous Ricky Watters "For who? For what?" quote when Watters short-armed a ball to avoid being hit in his first game as an Eagle.

The Flyin' Hawaiian! And a rare Harry Kalas home run call in which he did NOT use his famous "Outta Here!" Victorino, no ka oi!

Just looking at the condition of this shirt, it's very old. Steve Carlton's first year as a Phillie, 1972, when he went 27-10 (including a 15-game winning streak) for a team that only won 59 games, was what got me interested in baseball.

Greg Luzinski. The Bull. What a hitter in the mid-70s. Then injuries and slumps took their toll, but at least he was part of the 1980 World Series Champions.

Roy Halladay! First of three. This one was something the MLB Players Association did to raise funds for the Wounded Warrior Project.

This one might have come from a store like Walmart or Kmart or something.

On this night, the Doctor was definitely in. In the middle of the glory days, when it seemed like multiple World Series wins were the Phils' destiny. Sigh...

...and speaking of World Series wins...

 ...and finally...the right pic turned out a little blurry. It commemorates All-Star games hosted by the Phils as well as some of the NL and WS championships through 2010.. I wanted it badly but it took a while to be marked down to a price I was willing to pay.

There is only one problem with this t-shirt:

I somehow ended up with TWO of them. The exact same shirt, even the same size. And I only discovered this the other day when I was choosing the t-shirts for this post. I have no idea how this happened!

Quick Review: Amy

Amy Winehouse, gone way too soon, and the worst part is that her death didn't have to happen. Using never-before seen footage as well as interviews with people in her life (for better or worse), Amy documents her early life, career and, ultimately, her demise. And to see how so many people in her life used her, or otherwise utterly failed her -- her father, ex-husband and manager, in particular -- is heartbreaking. If there is such a thing as karma, they will someday, somehow pay for their transgressions. Her drug and alcohol abuse turned her from an incredibly talented singer-songwriter into a target for comedians and the paparazzi. I left the theater angry that we can no longer hear her voice. There should be a class for any young performers who are either attracting attention, on the verge of potential stardom or have gone the route of American Idol, The Voice, etc., and said class should consist almost entirely of this documentary. My grade: A.

Quick Reviews: Gift For Ricki's U.N.C.L.E.

Fun with post titles...

A key plot twist in The Gift was somewhat spoiled in the trailer. This seems to be happening more and more, and I find it a terrible way to sell a movie. The good thing about this movie, at least, was that there were twists following it. Married couple Simon and Robyn (Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall) have relocated to Los Angeles because of his new job. While shopping they run into Gordon (Joel Edgerton, who also wrote and directed it), aka "Gordo," a (barely remembered) former high school classmate of Simon's. Gordo begins dropping by their home unannounced, usually dropping off gifts. Robyn thinks he's just socially awkward while her husband thinks it's creepy. Things begin to deteriorate. As I said, there were a surprising number of twists and turns that kept me entertained to the end. But the reveal in the trailer, that Simon knows more than he lets on, took away some of the thrill. Plus, Simon -- even at the very start -- comes off as kind of a dick anyway. My grade: B-plus.

Then there's Ricki and the Flash -- which is, sadly, not about this guy...

...but about Ricki, an aging rocker (Meryl Streep) who left her family to take a shot at stardom and ends up playing a regular gig with her band, The Flash, at a little bar in California and working checkout at a market. Then she's summoned home to Indianapolis by her ex (Kevin Kline) due to a crisis involving her daughter (Mamie Gummer, Meryl's daughter). This just strikes me as a vanity project so Meryl and her daughter could play mother and daughter, and so Meryl could sing (both classic stuff and modern hits such as "Bad Romance" -- Meryl does Gaga!) It has some good moments but it's pretty predictable fluff that all wraps up in a neat little bow at the end. And if I'm being honest...which I am, so why do I need to say that? I blame Simon Cowell for saying it on "American Idol." I got it from him. Anyway, I'm rambling...the best acting in this film was done NOT by Meryl but by Rick Springfield, as Ricki's bandmate and would-be lover. My grade: C-plus.

As for The Man from U.N.C.L.E., the big-screen adaptation of the TV series which ran for four seasons from 1964-68, my big question is...why? A TV series that hasn't been in prime time in nearly 50 years is made into a movie and fell well short of the rather modest box office predictions. Did the studio really think anyone under, say, 40 (to be generous) would go and see this? It's set in 1963 and features, just like the TV show, a team-up of American (Henry Cavill) and Soviet (Armie Hammer) spies to thwart a nuclear threat from Nazi sympathizers.

Pick your favorite tag line:
a) A Brit playing an American and an American playing a Russian!
b) Superman and the Lone Ranger save the world!

It's not a bad film. It breezes merrily along, the banter is witty, there's some action and some humor and the boys look good and eventually learn to trust each other. I just can't wrap my head around why it was necessary. My grade: B-minus.

The El Rides Into The Sunset

Another repost from the photo blog...

This was taken from the Allegheny station of the SEPTA Market-Frankford line on 11/04/11 (on the crossover between the eastbound and westbound sides).

The Paparazzi Got Baldy!

Found this on page four of last week's PGN...note the handsome bald gentleman perusing the photographs on the table...

And, because paparazzi...



(Oh, and in case you're not keeping up on Facebook/Twitter, I'm currently shaving my head since the radiation treatments and/or chemo pills led to my hair starting to fall out.)

Downtown From Ben's Bridge

Another post moved from the photo blog. A pic of Center City from the Ben Franklin Bridge, taken during the Walk for Hope, a fundraiser to fight cancers affecting women, on 9/23/2012. I walked that year in honor of Mom. I guess I have to do one of these walks for myself now...