Multiple Discs in One Day

I spent all of Sunday (and the last of my money) at a hair salon. Secret about me, if you didn't know it, is that I'm black (though the website http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/ will try its damnedest to make you think otherwise). And black hair takes longer than white hair to get "did." Quite a bit longer. Eons longer.

So in between hours spent in agony beneath the pressure of a woman's chubby fingers gnawing a path across my scalp, I watched discs one, two and three of Jamie Foxx Presents America's Funniest Comics. I didn't pick the fare to be viewed, I just watched it to take my mind of the fact that I paid money to be tortured. They were funny enough (I'm choosing not the rate them). But the highlight of the afternoon surely came from the two features I saw before this Afro-American laugh factory took flight.

First was SOUL FOOD. Dude, I guess it's because I'm not Black American--or simply that I'm culturally insensitive--but I've yet to see BARBERSHOP or WAITING TO EXHALE or FRIDAY or FRIDAY AFTER NEXT (Or was it "LAST FRIDAY"???) or any other of these hosts of movies that feature all the black talent that Hollywood seems to have to offer. SOUL FOOD is one of them. It stars Vivica A. Fox...and some chicken dumplings...and some mac and cheese...and some collard greens.
plot: Family rekindles love through feasting.
thought: So THAT'S soul food? Noted.
in five: 3/5 for the unrealistic amounts of realistic family drama. And for the fact that I know a few more things about black American culture now. See, films TEACH you things. Education.
NOTE: I've seen HOW STELLA GOT HER GROOVE BACK. Watched that when I was too young to see that on TBS or something. Plus one point to me.

After SOUL FOOD wrapped, we moved onto another movie again featuring, though much more briefly, the actress Gina Ravera--who, might I haltingly suggest, at times *almost* resembles a black Angelina Jolie. In fact, I'll be honest, when she first hopped on the scene in SOUL FOOD, I thought they'd spray-painted Billy Bob's ex. I'm sure no one else will agree with me. But at any rate, this film, KISS THE GIRLS, also briefly co-stars my favorite buddy/best friend/Hollywood power agent co-star, Jeremy Piven. Who knew?
plot: Must solve female abduction mystery.
thought: Morgan Freeman is your best bet.
in five: 2/5 (Not because of Morgan. I love Morgan. But it was just...violent and hard to watch)

After the Black-American-Culture-themed afternoon (what, between seven hours of hair tugging and some Hell-to-the-Nah's from Jamie Foxx, preceded by a splash of Vivica A. and Morgan Freeman's soothing voice, yes, it was a cultural experience from which I emerged enlightened) I rushed home to, naturally, see another film. Why not? Settled down for dinner and a movie, eating some left-over thai from the cute, Zagat-rated joint I recently discovered right in my neighborhood: Tuk Tuk Thai Cafe ($8.95 lunch special on shrimp-only pad thai--way good!). I also baked some No Pudge brownies (8oz. of yogurt instead of the 6 the box's receipe calls for make them fudgier and hence more perfect in their tastiness). They disappeared from the plate thanks to me, the Flatmates and two Great Friends who came over to enjoy dinner and a movie with us. The flick of the evening? My "overlooked greatness" pick of 2007: ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
plot in long: The country's going to hell in a hand basket, and all I can do is sing about it.
thought in short: The Beatles are still relevant.
in five: 4.5/5
Beautiful!

THE FILMS:
Jamie Foxx - http://imdb.com/title/tt0465335/
Soul Food - http://imdb.com/title/tt0120169/
Kiss the Girls - http://imdb.com/title/tt0119468/
Across the Universe - http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/acrosstheuniverse/

I am my own Urban Dictionary

I'm coining a new word: poredom. Pronounced like "boredom," but of course with a "p," poredom is a noun. It is the state of being so poor one cannot afford to do anything, resulting in a state of slough-like boredom and, at times, abject misery.

Example of usage:
1. I'm suffering from poredom.
2. Sorry I can't make it out tonight; I'm heavy in poredom right now.
3. Dang, I just coughed up 195 bucks to settle an overdue parking ticket...looks like I'll be living in poredom 'til next paycheck.

Note 1: Though poredom is a state of being, one cannot "be" poredom (as one might "be" bored). Because then they'd just "be" poor. And though related, that's not the same thing.

Note 2: The writer of this blog is in poredom. What a great time to stay in and watch some movies (i.e., avoid driving and hence avoid paying upwards of $3.50 per gallon to fuel the auto).

The night before I realised I was in poredom (for sometimes, alas, it can sneak up on you), I trekked to SuperMall to see my "he's a cute kid" pick of the year, Anton Yelchin, in the Robert Downey Jr costarrer, CHARLIE BARTLETT. You may remember wee Anton as the unfortunate victim in the stellar sleeper ALPHA DOG, out last year. You won't really remember him from CHARLIE BARTLETT.
plot: Wannabe psychiatrist kid tells jokes.
thought: RD Jr. plays an alocholic!
in five: 2/5

Today, heavy in the throes of my current poredom, I double-featured an oldie and a not-that-new-but-never-seen-by-me movie. The first film was NETWORK, starring the rather thin husband-theif Faye Dunaway across from Robert Duvall. My, is he a charmer. And by "charmer," I mean "scorpion."
plot: Trash on TV; America goes crazy.
thought: This movie's writers were psychic!
in five: 4/5

Then I settled into a cute French film starring Charlotte Gainsbourg opposite her real-life husband Yvan Attal. The film, MA FEMME EST UNE ACTRICE (My Wife is an Actrice) is mostly funny because in real life, they're both actors! And successful ones at that. But as they say, reality doesn't always make good cinema; hence the Notting Hill-ish turn for the husband as a nobody dating The Somebody.
plot: Uh...oui...ma femme est une actrice.
thought: She's also cute as pie!
in five: 4/5

With that, excuse me while I return to my poredom.

THE FILMS
Charlie Bartlett - http://charliebartlett-themovie.com/
Network - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074958/
Ma Femme est une actrice - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0269499/

LES OSCARS

I feel like I'm losing time trying to sum up the last few months of my movie-watching experience. In guilt from not writing about past films viewed, I've failed to write about Dine LA Restaurant Week (amaaaaaazing!), a weekend trip to The Fertile Lowlands (super, thanks for asking!) and everything in between...and a few things before...and even a little bit after.

So fuck it.

I'm done trying to make up for "last time." Let's start today and move forward.

Yes, in December, I met James McAvoy and Joe Wright after seeing ATONEMENT (wonderful!), and yes, I ate at some great restaurants during DineLA (among them eat.on sunset, Luna Park off Mid-Wilshire and Cobras & Matadors). Yes, I also KILLED my weekend in TFL by getting on the VIP list at Body English, a hot, hot little number I like to call Hot Hot Central. (ASIDE: did you know Las Vegas--which I usually refer to as "The Fertile Lowlands"--actually means "The Meadows" in Spanish? Where are those Meadows? Shouldn't it mean "The Deserts" or "The Wastelands"? Doesn't that just make more sense? Or maybe "Syphilis Strip?" Or is that a bit much?) But I can't write about all that. Because I have to move ON. To today. Oscars weekend.

Strangely, this is the first of any year I can immediately recall that I'd actually seen all the movies nominated for Best Picture. And it was no surprise to me that NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN just won. I voted for it, even though I was originally feeling more joy for ATONEMENT (Mr. McAvoy promised me love touches if I swayed the Academy's vote in favor of his movie--can you blame me?). But for the record, here are my thoughts on the five nominated films:

ATONEMENT
plot: "I'll never let go, Robbie."
thought: "Brutally beautiful in its complexity." (deep, huh?)
in five: 4.5/5 (Yeah, it's long. But it's WORTH it. WHY wasn't Joe Wright nominated for best director, I'll never know--oh, except I do. The Academy is xenophobic. Except that Marion Cotillard just won meilleure actrice--and in her speech she thanked love and life, might I add. Guess I just ate my own words.)

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
plot: "Killing you softly, without reason."
thought: "Cohens, you're the new amazing."
in five: 4/5

MICHAEL CLAYTON
plot: "Business politics are still politics."
long thought: "It's better if you just sleep through the middle."
in five: 3/5

JUNO
plot: "Funny girl has a baby."
thought: "Pretentious writing, over-hyped actress, but otherwise okay."
in five: 2/5 the first time I saw it; 3.5/5 after viewing numero dos. It didn't fully win me over...but it kind of did. Definitely shouldn't have been nominated for best picture--imo--but I guess they were thinking of it as a LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE potential winner. But it's not that movie. So stop it, Academy. Just stop it.

THERE WILL BE BLOOD
plot: "I abandoned my booooooooy!!!!"
thought: "Why won't this movie end?"
in five: 2/5 (I hated it. Sorry. I know it just won for cinematography, but I don't agree. Atonement got the diss. What gives?)

So there's my thoughts on tonight's favorites. Who I thought would win won. Who I wanted to win won. In fact, at my Oscars Party tonight, we had a ballot, and I got the highest score with 15. Count it! Basically, I'm as intelligent as every Academy member. So induct me, already.* I love the Oscars.

*15 isn't THAT good. I even missed best actress, sad. Everyone else was just worse, that's all.

Sweet November (the re-cap)

It's been a long ride, getting from unsettled to quasi-settled over the past few months, and hence, my writing (blogging? ugh, I hate that non-word) has gone to the wayside. I feel that I apologise in every new entry. Hopefully, though, this will be the last apology for a long while, since I have committed myself, at long last, to the winter wrap-up. November, a month long forgotten from the annals of 2007 movie-viewing, is now remembered.

The month started quick, as I was caught up in the rush of job interviews. Sadly, I was poor and confused in my new playspace of quasi-adulthood, but happily I found the time to visit a fine art museum--we'll call it "WorkMuseum," since it's across the street from my work--that showed an advance screening of the Cohen Brothers' latest wonder, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.
Plot: A killer Texas can't catch.
Thought: Javier Bardem, you so creepy!
4.5 out of 5 - that's right.
Best line (delivered by Javier Bardem as Anton): "You've been putting it up your whole life; you just didn't know it." STELLAR!

After a movie as serious as NO COUNTRY, I obviously needed a break. What better way to break it than by seeing something frivolous at home...such as ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING? Do you remember this film? There's big hair...florescent tights...there's a sing-a-long in the middle....
Plot: Uh...the title kind of says it all.
Thought: Goofy, unrealistic, and so eighties.
3/5

Apparently, I liked the time trip so much to the 1980s, I had to keep on traveling back. All the way back to LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and Peter O'Toole as a sexpot of a slightly gay general.
Plot: Golden man conquers Middle East.
[Plot 2: And it takes FOUR HOURS. (this movie is way long)]
Thought: Oscar for Peter O'Toole? Oscar? Oscar?
4/5
Best line (delivered by Peter O'Toole as T.E. Lawrence): "All right! I'm extraordinary! What of it?" Man, do I know the feeling!

So you see that? There's November. I saw THREE MOVIES. That's it. And it took me three months to write about them. Sad, just sad. But I'm still saving December for another night. Sorry, it's past my bedtime.

Happy New Year! (not quite November re-cap)

The university I attended was near a city I hated: San Francisco. Well, the first time I visited this city, which I like to call TownCity, I loved it. Looooooved it. It was new and pretty and gay and odd, and I didn't have to drive through it. The second through umpteenth time I visited TownCity, I kind of more or less hated it. I saw it as less a city than an overgrown town (hence the evident moniker). A town that was filthy and awkward and unplanned and...so freshman year. I'd moved on to DoPA, the smaller, closer, less-obvious equivalent. DoPA became my playground, and many fine nights of small fun were spent there. TC became a place I visited only under heavy coercion and when I was in too good of spirits to hate it so much. What can I say? Against cities, I hold a grudge.

But it's been 5.5 years since my first visit, and having now spent time there with a cool superpower called "early 20s enthusiasm," and a host of friends who play the same game--and again without a car--I fell in love for the first time. I say "the first time," because the first-first time, five years ago, was really just infatuation. But now, it's love. I misjudged TownCity.

Friday night we partied at a place called Fluid in the Mission where the DJ was sub-par, the crowd included hookers, the Grey Goose was definitely Smirnoff, but it was for some reason still TONS of fun. Maybe because entry was free for ladies.

Saturday, we went crazy at Gravity in the Marina (there are clubs in the Marina?!?!--yeah!). This place was GREAT. I don't remember much, but I remember that.

For food: there was a lot of eating out. Friday afternoon, I tried Cafe Museo at the TC-MoMA. The ahi tuna was overcooked, but the bed of Brussels sprouts it rode in on was actually quite delicious. Props to the oatmeal cookies, too--though my dining parter most definitely gave his dessert (otherwise known as "upside-down pineapple polenta") a thumbs sideways-to-down. Friday night, a flurry of friends from freshman year ate out in DoPA, unfortunately at the sub-par "Mexican" chain, Celia's. We cleared out our side of the restaurant with our raucous laughter, and though they served me Van de Kamps shrimp with my order (I think I saw the cardboard box in the dumpster out back...), fun times still flowed in spades.

Saturday, I had plum cinnamon tea and pumpkin bread deliciously speckled with cream cheese (sounds weird, but it was DIVINE) at a small coffee joint called Chestnut Street Coffee (I think) in the Marina. I also snacked on a slightly healthier food option: a concoction of oatmeal, honey, raisins and gooooodness I think they called "granola cake" (I said slightly). Dinner was another positive venture: A16, also on Chestnut Street, is an Italian wine bar featuring the best Italian pizza I've had in a while. Beats FireCity's new hotspot MOZZA by six points, no lie. Though I had intended to try some California wines while traveling up and through TownCity, I instead went for a round Italian red whose name I'll never remember that was pretty good. A bit pricey per glass, but otwise....Our meal started out with Buffalo mozzarella smothered in extra virgin and paired with crostini toasts, then we nibbled on a hummus made of fava beans. Fava beans? Doesn't that make you think of Anthony Hopkins? But no mind, next was the pizza. MMMM. All of it, and we had a threesome. This pizza was sexy. For dessert, we picked another combo of three. Persimmon pudding with spice garnish...chocolate olive oil torte bakes with sea salt...chocolate gelato. I don't like chocolate, but that torte almost made me reconsider. The pudding? Beyond amazing.

After our crazy mash-up of a Saturday night, we needed good eats for Sunday, too. Started with brunch at Squat & Gobble, an odd name for a place so charming. I had the challa bread French toast; came out a little burnt, but it was okay. I don't want to judge, because my friend's omelettes looked sooooo good. One recovery-bruncher in my party tried an omelette with yogurt and sprouts or fennel or something...and it was tasty-tasty. I definitely want to go back here. For dinner we ended up at Steps of Rome in North Beach. Cheap Italian eats, but you get what you pay for. The highlight was the...well, nothing. A16 ruined me for all following Italian experiences in TC. Thanks a lot!

So since the 20th: I've enjoyed another holiday party, I've traveled north to the chilly Bay and back again, I've celebrated the new year and made my resolutions. I've seen old friends, made new ones, called the folks, road-tripped, flown and been barred from airports (did I mention that?). I've decided to finally start thinking about furniture for my room and apartment, and I've found out that FireCity's first Restaurant Week (the week where 4-star restaurants offer 2-star prices!) takes place the last week of this month. And I am SO excited. I haven't updated my movies (STILL), but I will, I will. I will.

Whew, time flies when you leave your day-planner at home.

the 20th

I forgot to mention in that last post that I hope this still remains primarily my personal movie-memory blog. I'm a foodie, so I bet I'll write about food now, too--especially since, besides movies, the Food Budget is the only crevasse into which I pour my small amounts of disposable income--but I'm here to write for me and the movies I see. And I didn't think there would be, but there were some very memorable moments from the month of November. Ask me about when I met James McAvoy.

At any rate, this day is a new turning point: the day on which I rediscovered my blog. And actually, I just looked at the clock, and it's after midnight, so apparently it's the 21st, but I'm calling it the 20th, because December 20th is the most important day of the year. It's my parent's anniversary! Three cheers to 27 years.

November updates are forthcoming, but mark my words as was ordered back in September: they will come.

ashamed comma Taste should be

I am ashamed. There's nothing to blame but lack of time, diligence, forethought and wherewithal for the absence of my recent "blogging." A Good Friend of Mine from the Past alerted me to my failing entry-rate when she told me, "I used to look at your blog to check out movies and see what you thought." And I cringed. Used to.

Can I at least do a once-a-month summary of my movie-guided travels? I should! I see a lot of good stuff out there! And now that I've landed well in this new city, I also want to say what I think about this city and what's inside it when I can. For instance, I ate dinner tonight at a restaurant called TASTE.

TASTE was awful. TASTE left a bad taste in my mouth. It's on Melrose, it's trendy, and I'd been looking forward to dining there. Not because I'd "heard good things," but quite genuinely, I'd checked out the menu in advance and started salivating a little bit. That's a good sign. We started with the calamari--fantastic. Peppery, salted, nice sauce. But then we had the appetizer mushroom mac-and-cheese, which was too small to share, and then I opted for the starter crab cakes as my meal. That's when it went alllll downhill.

I judge restaurants on two things these days: their wine selection and their crab cakes. Honest. TASTE lost in both categories. Can I first say they didn't have ONE French wine by the glass? I know we're in California, but Sonoma Valley Chardonnay still pales to a bubbly Chablis. I know nothing about wine, and I still say this, so it must be true. I hate Chardonnay. I settled for a Marlborough Savignon, which was fruity and not bad (though I would have still preferred something French), so I decided things were looking upwards of mediocre at least. But then the crab cakes arrived.

On a scale of 1-10, they were...a 2. Only because the side salad with which they were served was quite tasty. What was that dressing? I was too busy frowning at my must-have-been-WalMart-freezer-section-bought crab cakes to take the time to ask the waiter. Not only were they served just under room temperature, but they were only crispy on top (strange feat) and...did I mention they were cold? And they gave me a dabble of aioli sauce that did little if anything to flavor their bland slightly burnt exterior. Damn you, Taste! You were foul indeed. Don't go to this restaurant.

On a scale of 1-5: 2.5 for decor, 3 if we include service, but back to 2.5 if you remember the crab cakes.

And if you're planning for guests here, please note that TASTE charges a $20 fee for every person who doesn't show up in your party--zing!