Movies

Over the past week, I have mooched off Cheryl and taken her membership to the Writer's Guild for my own advantage. From that, I got to see 3 free movies plus Q&A's.

The first movie we saw was Man of the Year, where Robin Williams plays a comic who ends up winning the presidency. I had very low expectations going into this movie, seeing as I don't particularly like Robin Williams as a comedic actor. Those low expectations were pretty much met. The main reason I went was the Q&A with writer/director Barry Levinson afterwards. He's a Marylander who has directed Diner, Rain Man, the Natural and Wag the Dog, among others. Also, he was the co-creator of Homicide: Life on the Street. He was very interesting because there are few who know the Hollywood system better than him. He's worked with all the top stars and been part of so many iconic movie moments.

The next movie was Little Children, which I was very excited for. It's based on Tom Perrota's 2001 book of the same name. Tom Perrotta is one of my favorite writers (he wrote Election, for example) and has always done such a wonderful job chronicling the nuiances of suburban life. Kate Winslet and Patrick Wilson starred. This movie also focused on suburban life. It was very much a dark comedy, and I highly recommend it. The Q&A afterwards was with Tom Perrotta and director Todd Field. I even got to ask Tom a question regarding his writing. That was fun.

The last movie was Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette. Do not see this movie. I saw it for free, yet feel I deserve some sort of monetary compensation for sitting through it. Cheryl and I found it very disjointed and we kept waiting for something, anything, to happen. I'm sensing the rest of the audience felt the same way because when the end credits began to roll, there was pure silence for over a minute. Even Man of the Year got applause. That Q&A featured Kirsten Dunst and Jason Schwartzman. Both were good sports, but both also looked like they wanted to be anywhere but there. I can hardly imagine that with such hard-hitting questions as, "Kirsten, you were so amazing in this film. Honestly, I feel my life is now complete that I have seen you in this role. Tell me, what was it like wearing all of those corsets?" or "Jason, I think this film makes Citizen Kane look like The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. Tell me, was it hard for you to look so fat in the movie?" *sigh* If you want to learn about Marie Antoinette, check out the latest PBS documentary on her. It's a better two hours than Sofia Coppola's movie by far.

And yet, you gotta love the free. So Cheryl, thanks for letting me mooch.

Quote of the Day:
"It was like shaking the hand of a great, waspy, wooden totem pole of awesomeness." -John Hodgman on Meeting George Plimpton

Jury Duty

Three weeks ago, I received "the envelope". It was more omnious than the thin rejection letter from Northwestern University. The black, bold letters were imposing on the stark white background. And in an instant, I got the call for jury duty.

This is my third jury duty calling -- the first since moving to New Jersey. The first time was my sophomore year of college. It actually worked out well, seeing as I had procrastinated on writing a social science paper. I finished the paper, and escaped the jury room unscathed.

Four years later, the evil letter came to my doorstep. I went back to the courthouse. This time, I was assigned to a courtroom. For mere moments I was empaneled. I had purposely dressed as juvenille as possible and was soon stuck from the panel. After doing a happy dance in the hallway, I made my way back to the jury room, and was dismissed soon after.

The jury duty gods shined upon me again today. Due to the very poor directions on my instructions card, I was almost late getting to the courthouse, wandering aimlessly around Jersey City. Finally find my way and go in.

The jury room looked like two churches fighting against one another. Rows of pew-like bench faced each other, with a glass booth in the middle. I sit down, and with my luck, this guy speaking loudly on a cell phone. Every other line is, "You're breaking up! What??" This was going to be a long day.

After an orientation video, the long wait began. After two hours and nobody being called, it was time for lunch. Ah, a glimpse of freedom.

Soon after returning from lunch, the first batch of names were called. Thankfully, mine wasn't and the wait continued. More time passed. The benches were turning uncomfortable. People were getting irritable. In particular, there were these 2 grown men who were uber-obnoxious. They kept going up to the glass window and pestering them. They were cracking unfunny jokes -- trying to get released. We were all suffering, and they just made it worse. Around 4:15pm, the woman who had been updating us through the day, came to us from the glass booth, holding the microphone of doom. She called more names, telling them to return to the jury room at 9:30 tomorrow morning. Each name she read wasn't mine. The list was finished and I was not called. She then released the rest of us for the day, telling us to call at 5pm to see if we needed to come back tomorrow.

I was so happy to be home. At 5pm on the button, I called and was informed that I did NOT have to return tomorrow and my time had been served. Yay jury duty gods looking kindly on me.

I am so excited to go to work tomorrow.

Quote of the Day:
"Indeed, we do not really live unless we have friends surrounding us like a firm wall against the winds of the world." --Charles Hanson Towne

Breakfast With Steve

It's been a year since the New Yorker Festival where I was fortunate enough to see Steve Martin host a panel discussion about the banjo. One year later, the New Yorker Festival and Steve Martin return. I was fortunate enough to snag a ticket for Steve Martin interview New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast at the Supper Club.

I would pay to see Steve Martin read the phone book, so needless to say, I enjoyed myself very much. As a surprise to no one, Steve was as brilliant as ever and kept a flowing, interesting conversation.




The discussion ended around 11am. Seeing I was in the neighborhood, I took a hope, skip and a jump over to Christie's auction house. Ellen Barkin, who is divorcing Revlon billionaire Ron Perlman, is auctioning off her jewelry collection, which Christie's is estimating at $15 million. The jewels were jaw-dropping and beyond stunning. Diamonds upon emeralds and sapphires. Just beautiful.

I was about to walk out, when I hear this roar of applause. I walk upstairs and lo and behold, the Star Trek memoribelia auction is taking place. Not having a pass, I watch from the hallway. Right as I get there, the lot of all lots comes up for bid: the original model of the USS Enterprise used in the opening credits of the TV show. In the midst of many dressed up Trekkies were serious bidders, When the smoke cleared, the Enterprise sold for $500,000. The energy in the room was palpable -- the cheers were that of a rock concert. Really an incredible thing to witness.

Quote of the Day:
"I restore myself when I'm alone. A career is born in public; talent in privacy." -Marilyn Monroe