If it's not sports, it's sometimes this

I did vow to see more movies in 2012 than in 2011. I did accomplish that, for what it's worth. Out of this list, maybe a dozen were seen in a theater. The rest were DVD, a couple on TCM, some at a friend's house and more recently, home on Netflix.

This number may be even higher next year.

1) Louder than a Bomb
2) Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (2011)
3) True Grit (2010)
4) The Artist
5) Ghost World
6) Haywire
7) One Day
8) Crazy, Stupid, Love
9) In the Realms of the Unreal: The Mystery of Henry Darger
10) Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
11) A Great Day in Harlem
12) Moneyball
13) A Separation
14) Tokyo Drifter
15) Casa de Mi Padre
16) Senna
17) I Like Killing Flies
18) Branded to Kill
19) Gate of Flesh
20) Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life
21) Scott Walker: 30th Century Man
22) The Thing (1982)
23) The Runaways
24) The Last Waltz
25) Cabin in the Woods
26) Drive
27) I Was a Maie War Bride
28) The Avengers
29) Captain America: The First Avenger
30) The Woodmans
31) Fighting Words/Street Poet
32) Cafe Lumiere
33) Perfect Sense
34) Moonrise Kingdom
35) The Grey
36) Resurrect the Dead: the Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles
37) Gran Torino
38) The Amazing Spider-Man
39) The Muppets
40) The People Vs. George Lucas
41) Quai des Orfèvres
42) Super 8
43) The Dark Knight Rises
44) The Power of Kangwon Province
45) The Adventures of Tin Tin
46) Expendables 2
47) Certified Copy
48) On the Town
49) Gun Crazy
50) The Descendants
51) Mickey
52) Murder, My Sweet
53) Kiss Me Deadly
54) Into the Abyss
55) Gremlins
56) Wreck it Ralph
57) Tommy
58) Casino Royale
59) Skyfall
60) El Bulli: Cooking in Progress
61) Hello Down There
62) Where are my Children?
63) The Card
64) Your Sister's Sister
65) Like Crazy
66) That Sinking Feeling
67) Django Unchained

So ends another year of blogging. Fewer posts. Fewer comments. Thank you all for reading, even you, especially you.

Discoveries and stuff

Last night we went to the Wexner Center to see a screening of Where are my Children, a 1916 message film. It's a film that preaches a very pro birth control and an equally passionate anti-abortion stance. Thing is, in 1916, available birth control was condoms, if available, and the horrid movement of eugenics. Of course abstinence is always an option.

The plot involves a district attorney, who is trying to prosecute a man for selling birth control information and his wife, who, to keep her social life intact, seems to go to the abortion doctor as much as the grocery store. There's tension, some interesting special effects that call Ally McBeal's dancing baby to mind. It's a 96 year old film that still holds up very well.

The film was directed by Lois Weber, a very prolific director of the silent era who operated her own studio before women had the right to vote. Sadly, most of her films are considered lost. I hope to see more of her work, if I can find it.

Accompanying the film live was local musician Derek DiCenzo, who I recognized as being one of Jandek's band when he came though a few years back. Had a chance to briefly talk to him about that amazing experience and how hard it was to play to a very heavily plotted film.

The imitable Guy Maddin came to town to introduce this film. He's been to the Wexner Center six times now, always good to have him here.

Had to miss the second feature, Little Man, What Now? which looked fascinating, but we had to meet an old college friend who was in town on business.

It's always a bit awkward to meet with someone who had not seen in over twenty years, but when you glimpse into each others lives on Facebook you can find something to talk about.

Today on Facebook one of my friends posted this video.



You ever become an instant fan? I did. What really jazzed me up is I found out they're opening for The Who, and we're already going to see them here in February.



These guys are good.

While posting these videos another person in the thread mentioned another band called The Heavy. Did not realize I was familiar with one of their songs already.



Really cool to discover two new bands in the last weeks of the year.

Bad weather, good day off randomness

I'm drinking a Brazilian coffee I bought at Stauf's. This stuff is a lot darker than I expected, and quite delicious.

Yes, Grover Norquist, patron saint of the tea party, just said Romney lost because Obama called him a poopy-head.

It's not even high school anymore, this is first grade playground stuff now. Norquist would get slayed in a dozens round.

The check engine light keeps coming on in my car while I'm running errands. Finally unscrewed a dashboard panel and connected two wires to allow the car's computer to give me the code of what is wrong. Turns out, a valve is not operating properly. Not a major cause the car to blow up valve, so we are free to move about the county.

Skyfall is one of the better Bond films. Go see it. He drinks a lot of McCallan.

After a glorious weekend here, the weather has turned sad and rainy. We have the day off today. Thank you Veterans.

Got a couple of errands to run after we go for breakfast

$2.50 cheaper than an adult

We went to see Wreck-it Ralph today. By we I mean my wife and son. It's only the second time he's been in a theater setting. This was his first full length feature.

At swimming my son's mother said she was taking him to Disney World for Christmas (I knew they were going to Florida) and that she was trying to introduce him to Mickey Mouse, whatever that means.



We got there just in time to take in the trailers. My son did very well. He did look around him a few times, maybe to look for an escape route. We brought in a lollipop for him and he was content enough with that as he babbled off and on during the film. It may have been a bit long for him as he was not very interested in the credits, which stop him dead in his tracks when they're on television. He did not hesitate to leave once his coat was on.

The film itself was quite enjoyable for kids of all ages. Enough video game nostalgia and double meanings to keep the adults entertained within the kid humor.

The voice casting was quite good with Sarah Silverman standing out and Alan Tudyk doing amazing work channeling Paul Winchell.

Not feeling it, projecting?

Holidays are tough. I get asked what my son is doing for Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Halloween, etc. and it's a hard answer I have to give. One that makes me feel like I'm not doing anything for him. An answer that shuts down any further conversation.

If he gave me any indication of interest, I'd be all over it. Right now though, it's all about bouncing around on a yoga ball and waiting to be given the iPad.

This weekend we're probably going to go see Wreck it Ralph, to try something new. I have taken him to a movie before, a Sesame Street one, but this is a bit different.

Right now, I'm at a loss about what to do for him. And it's making me withdraw.

So, things blew up.

We saw Expendables 2 yesterday. We went to the Rave Theater chain and saw it in their 'extreme' theater. The screen is bigger, but not Imax, and the sound is louder. It's essentially a tricked up car with monster bass that you can hear from a mile down the road.

Even the trailers were loud, and caused a breeze in the room.

Expendables 2 starts with a series of bangs. Things blow up. Guns are fired. Missiles are launched. A motorcycle is used as a bullet. Jet Li beats people up with kitchen equipment.

There's a plot that surrounds the explosions that involves Russian peasants and thunderdome that I compared to Wal-Mart with plutonium. Jean Claude Van Damme has had some horrible plastic surgery. The botox bill for this film had to be enormous, as was the budget for Chuck Norris' beard dye.

The chemistry between Stallone and Statham is genuine. They do good buddy shoot everything that moves films together.

There are explosions. Randy Coture had about two lines of dialogue. You knew one character was dead meat. Why not give the guy a red Star Trek shirt?

Guns are fired. Van Damme's character is named Jean Vilain. Deep.

Weapons are discharged. It was actually fun to see Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger exchanging some very corny banter.

The musical oldies used in this film had to add about $1,500 in rights use to the budget.

Blood flies.And there will be a third one. Please let there be more Jet Li. Although Jackie Chan is rumored to be on board.

From 2746 to 3055

There are only two independently operated single screen theaters left in Columbus. For a decade. I used to live a couple of blocks from Studio 35. Back then, it was a between first and second run movie house. Cheap tickets, interesting atmosphere. It was quite run down. The seats were hit or miss. Most rows had a few seats that could not be sat in by people of any weight.

A few years ago the theater was sold and the new owners added draft beer to the mix. Eventually they improved the screen and sound. Over the spring they went all in, closed the place for a few weeks and updated the interior, added a full bar with plenty of tap handles. They also added a digital projector and vastly improved the sound. Finally, the seats are new! And the bathrooms are palatial compared to the old ones.



We gave it a chance last night and went to see the reboot of Spiderman. Friendly but loose service. A number of beers were not available, but we found a beverage for our liking. The back rows of the theater are still taken up by a nifty combination of seats and tables because people are still ordering in pizzas from the place a few doors down. It's not the quietest of movie experiences in this city, it never has been.

We liked the film. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone are a vast improvement over McGuire and Dunst. The acting was more than competent. I think Stone's going to be able to write her own ticket very soon. We've seen the plot before. We'll see it again. It's familiar, but not overly so.

We'll even go back to my old neighborhood more often. It's a pleasant, locally owned movie going experience.

Frying on the sidewalk

It hit 100 degrees in Columbus today. Vicious heat and climbing humidity makes it painful to be outside.

We were supposed to go to the Doo-Dah Parade, but the idea of being in a crowd in the heat and sun was not appealing to either of us. Went to the Jury Room for an early lunch then headed over to the Bicentennial Park fountain to see what was happening.



Quite a bit, the fountain was flexing its muscle. There were a few dozen people enjoying the fountain on a hot afternoon.



I ended up walking through it to cool off. It worked!



Columbus showed well in the heat. We even spotted a Blue Heron looking for lunch in the river as well as a Great Egret that flew off as I started to take its picture.



A train showed up as we crossed the Main Street Bridge.



My wife and I were separated for a few hundred feet, but we got back together.

Nearly melted on the way back to the car. Went to see Brave, which I liked to a point. It was gorgeous to look at, but the script lacked precision. A lot of the humor that was geared towards kids, and that was not very funny. Still, toward the end, there were a few kids in our row sobbing. Good film. I expect better from Pixar though.

After that we hung out at the place we were married and went to dinner at an extremely loud Grandview Cafe. It was 100 degrees on a Wednesday afternoon and the music was Saturday night at 11PM levels. Not impressed.

That old hag hates my ass

A couple of weeks ago, for my birthday, Scott Woods posted this on Facebook, saying I sent this link to him every Wednesday morning to get him pumped up for Writers' Block.

Warning, it's not safe for work or for the culturally sensitive.



I've never seen this film before. Until tonight anyway. Just for kicks I decided to keep a list of every group that was slurred in the film, and keep a running count.

Black - 5
Asians (so many, and hard to categorize!) - 34
Korean - 1
Jews - 2
Irish - 2
Italian - 5
Hillbilly - 3
Polish -4
Gay - 1
Mexican - 2
Women - 10
Catholics - 1
N-word - 1

I also had a number of ethnic groups waiting for a tally. The following did not get an insult thrown at them: Japanese, Native American, Indian, Muslim, Arabs.

All this and a dude with a snake

Wes Anderson's new film, Moonrise Kingdom, oozes with precocious charm. It's everything that is good about a Wes Anderson film - The swirling sets, the alternative universe, foppish human characters. It's also a perfect definition of what people dislike about his films.

I was totally mesmerized by the sets, a child's eye patch that kept sliding down his face as the film went on, and the relationship between Sam and Susy, a pair of 12 year olds who find themselves falling in love on a remote east coast island. There's an escape from a scouting camp, a chain smoking scoutmaster who drinking cognac while recording his daily log, social services, and a classical based soundtrack.

I recently was told that my cousin designed the cover of one of the fictional books that Suzy reads during the film.



Got to see his name in the closing credits too, very cool. I loved the film.

It ended up being a late night, something we're not used to. I crawled out of bed this morning only to find out that my son was not going to swimming today because he was up half the night. He's also been using the iPod at his mother's to watch videos of surveillance video on school buses.

We ended up going to breakfast at Tommy's, where the owner immediately pointed at my shirt when I came in. I was wearing my Everton shirt and he questioned why I was not wearing something from Chelsea, since they won the Champions League. We bantered about a bit and talked about Euro 2012. He said he had to buy three beers watching his Greek team get slaughtered by Germany yesterday. He's also a Liverpool supporter, but that's not going to stop me from going there.

After finding a cocktail shaker, we walked around Comfest for awhile. I still think the party has become too big for the space, even though we walked around easily. . I'll have pictures tomorrow of a mellow afternoon.

She laughs in her sleep. He transcends poetry

A couple of weeks ago a conversation about a film about slam poetry came up on Scott Woods' Facebook page. It did not sound like a good film, but I went to Amazon to check on its availability. Turns out, the DVD cost six bucks and change, which included shipping, so I bought it and thought we could invite a few people to the house, have a few beverages and razz the shit out of the movie. MST3K style.

It got a bit bigger than that, Scott booked a room for us, and a dozen people showed up for a screening of the film Street Poet.



Now, you may be confused by the title Fighting Words. That is because the film was originally released in 2007 with that title, then, for some unknown reason, perhaps to squeeze a few more pennies out of the turd, it was re-released with the new title.

I was intrigued because Fred Willard appeared as Longfellow, the host of the poetry slam. It also had Fred "The Hammer" Williamson as some sort of Mr. Miyagi type character. One of the stars is C. Thomas "Pony Boy" Howell, with an abusive soul patch. Plus, a character named Benny the Heckler. How can you not want to see a film that has a character named Benny the Heckler?

The poets gathered. There was pizza, Twizzlers and Swedish Fish. Minutes into the film, a poet mentioned the term "Third Eye." The DVD was paused so Slam Bingo Cards could be made.



There were so many poetry cliches mentioned, "The best poet always loses."Tomorrow, the days will talk backwards." "A heart the size of the ocean." But the poetry was not the worst part of the film. It was not very well acted, and the script and direction were poor. It was far from the worst film ever, but really, there's a reason few have heard of this nonsense.

Our young poet lived in a garage, was behind on his rent and read his landlord sexy poetry to get a delay in payment. This also implied that it was done before, successfully. Kind of creepy.

Our poet was trying to be success at his local scene, to poor results. Then, he was discovered by a woman at a publishing company. They were adversarial at first, but then they were about to have sex in his garage/home.

At a crucial moment, she revealed she was HI-V Positive. Poet goes to the store, presumably for condoms, but ends up adding a bottle of Jaegermeister to his order and roams around the neighborhood, drinking while watching a children's soccer match, leaving our hottie in bed with just a bra and panties on.

Somewhere in there the line, "Barebacking is only for horses."

Our hottie was in a relationship with a successful poet, played by Pony Boy, who sees the young poet as competition.

Soon, there will be a big slam. The Poetron Slam, with first prize as $25,000.

Before this though, is one of the most excruciating sex scenes ever committed to film; complete with the longest donning of the condom. Ever. This is the scene that inspired my poem Condom Kabuki.

Fred Willard is the host of the slam. He's no Marc Smith. Not even close. The slam goes down. The word "invomitation" is invented. Alexis won Slam Bingo. There is a comeuppance, but remember. The best poet always loses.

I've probably forgotten a few key points of the film, but its for the best. The condom scene though, cannot be unseen.

After the film, Scott had a thread going on Facebook that ripped it apart, then a person who actually worked on the movie had some comments - which steered the conversation back to the respectable. A film is like any job project, you go in with some positive expectation, then stuff goes horribly wrong, egos clash and the project bombs. So, I learned a little from the thread. The film still sucks though!

Recapping a busy weekend

Saw the Avengers on Friday night. An hour and a half of exposition that leads to an hour of carnage as a good portion of Midtown Manhattan is destroyed. Very entertaining, no wonder it has taken in a billion worldwide already.

Walked around the Short North on Saturday and may have found an object we've been looking for to go into the dining room.

Watched the Crew pay an ugly game on Saturday night, only to come out victorious.

Went to a newer place in the Arena District, the Three Legged Mare (dislike the name, but it's a festive enough place) on Sunday morning to watch Survival Sunday. Ten Premier League games going at once, seven being televised on U.S. outlets for the first time. A very dramatic morning of sports. I had nothing really at stake, (Everton ended up in seventh, finishing ahead of Liverpool. Yay!) but the race for the championship title came down to a dramatic goal by Sergio Aguero in the final seconds to give Manchester City the edge. It was incredible. A few dozen soccer fans, some of whom were Manchester United supporters all got caught up in the spirit of fair play and all that. Everyone called Joey Barton names. He should be banned, not given just a lengthy suspension.

Came up with an idea yesterday afternoon that had me tearing apart a behemoth of a computer desk, throwing it in the trash and arranging bulk pickup. We put the crap that was on the desk on bookshelves a friend gave us, and pitched out even more stuff. Now there's more wall space, and floor space which is reserved for an item we saw on Saturday. Watch this blog for further developments. It is a bit unsettling turning the corner into the dining room and seeing no desk. You get used to things after nine years.

This Friday I have a mini-feature at Kafe Kerouac. I'm taking part in an all night fund raiser for the Writers' Block poetry slam team to get them some dough for their trip to Charlotte in August. I'm hitting the stage at 10:30PM with some old and new. Going to be a fun night. 

The Master at Going Faster

After watching Everton play Sunderland to a draw in yesterday morning's FA Cup match I had not counted on watching any more soccer. I was online when the name Fabrice Muamba started trending on Twitter. I admit now not knowing who he was, but I saw that he was a Bolton midfielder, and that he collapsed on the pitch during the match against Tottenham. No one was near him when it happened.

I put Talksport on and listened to the commentary. The announcers were very subdued, emotional and very real in their descriptions of the scenes at White Hart Lane. The match was, rightly, cancelled. The players were gutted. Muamba had CPR administered on the field, the defibrillator was used to get his heart started. Sadly, players have died during matches. I was in Scotland when Phil O'Donnel of Motherwell died. As of now, Muamba remains in critical condition. Hoping the young man can recover.

It was with an odd irony that we had a library copy of Senna to watch. My knowledge of Formula One racing is next to nil, but this film was not really about racing. It was about the life of a man who died before he could fulfill what he wanted to do. I was very impressed with the amount of archival footage, home movies and interviews the film makers found to assemble one of the better documentaries I've seen in years. The film moved like a live action drama at times.

Had no idea Formula One was so dramatic, and not the activity on the track. It was very similar to slam, with all the driving divas, drama and villainry happening. You knew what was going to happen though, and that it would be the worst thing, and it was. What a story though, and what a life.

Not treading on new ground

Got home from the movies last night and the first thing I see on my Facebook feeds is that BJ's caught fire last night. BJ's is the bar I lived in during the eighties. DJed there for a couple of years and chewed a lot of Bazooka gum while staying until closing time. It's one of the oldest bars in Western New York and a Fredonia landmark.

After the initial shock friends of mine were reporting that there is water damage but it's not as severe as it could have been. The apartment directly above the bar caught fire, causing the damage and a few ceiling tiles fell.

Most important. No one was hurt.



There was a bit of internet panic going on, but people were already joining forces and speaking of fund raisers and getting the band back together to reopen the place. That's how special it was. I hate to be hokey, drowning in false nostalgia, but that joint was my Cheers, and I'm not the only one who thinks so.



Earlier we went to see The Artist. I've been jonesing to see this film since it got such amazing buzz at Cannes. If you don't already know, it's a silent film.

Naturally it has a score, one that has Kim Novak screaming rape.. I'll agree that Bernard Hermann's score from Vertigo was used liberally during pivotal scenes, but rape is a rather harsh word to use.

It's a simple plot, big star meets adorable extra girl in a cute way. He refuses to adapt to talkies while her star ascends. He goes from a strutting cad with plenty of arrogance only to fall into a rigid pit of despair. There's also a great dog.



I liked the film, but thought some of the pacing and energy could have been increased. There are a few wonderful images, almost too many homages to silent films of the past. The nostalgia nearly borders on pretentious, the heartless can call it that, if they may. Once scene right at the beginning of the audience watching the film being screened made my jaw drop and I wish the rest of the film had as many surprises.

The acting was excellent. The lead man, Jean Dujardin, is big screen friendly with looks that cross between Gene Kelly and Douglas Fairbanks. The lovely leading lady, Berenice Bejo, had plenty of sass but you only saw the shine and chemistry the pair had together infrequently, but when they burned it was amazing to witness!

The Artist did not blaze any new trails, how could it? The film is well made, well acted and depicts a cinematic past that should be celebrated more, and preserved.