Good Timing. Sometimes.

Timing can be good, or bad. Usually, at least for me, it is bad. Last night, though, there was that exception to the rule, when timing was perfect. A welcome exception to the rule, I must say.

The plan was to see two movies at the Independent Film Festival Boston at the Somerville Theatre, ”The Way, Way Back” at 7:45pm and then at 9:45pm the documentary “The Punk Singer” about Kathleen Hanna. There was also a free ticket available for me to see Josh Rouse live at the Sinclair. The Man, had won two tickets and he was going to be at the Sinclair before me. He was going to ask if he could leave the second ticket at the box office for me to pick up, and text me the details. Rouse was going up at 10pm, so there was the chance I could catch his full set.

“The Way, Way Back” started 15 minutes late, at around 8pm, which meant it would go until 9:45pm. That was cutting it close. At 9:30pm there was still no text from the Man. The movie was almost ending, but not quite yet. At 9:38 I got the text, that he had my ticket and I would text him when I got there, so he could meet me at the door to hand me my ticket. A couple of minutes later the movie ended, and as the credits started rolling, I rushed out (which by the way, is something I hate doing, I always want to see the credits. Also, the movie is hilarious, I recommend it).

There was a gazillion people in the lobby, but I had to be quick. It was 9:45pm, the exact time “The Punk Singer” was supposed to start. It looked like there were seating people, and I had heard that it was sold out. I went to the rush line outside, where five or so people were standing. I asked if anyone wanted a ticket to the Punk Singer, the first two people were together, so they wanted two, the third one, a woman, needed one. I sold her my ticket, and the seconds it took her to find the $10 bill in her wallet, felt like 10 minutes. I was sorry I was going to miss the documentary, but I hope it will be shown again at some point in my area, so I can eventually catch it.

With the ticket sold, I ran to the T station right next door, tried to get through the gate, but I didn’t have enough money on my Charlie Card. It sounded like a train was coming, I added value, went through the gate, and as I was running down the stairs the inbound train was opening its doors.

I got on the train and sat down to take a breath. OK, good timing, I thought to myself. Harvard Square is only two stops away from Davis, so it was a quick train ride, and at that moment I thought how great it was that all the cool things I wanted to do were so close to each other and so close to where I live. North Cambridge, I love you!

I got off at Harvard, went up to the Church Street exit, walked down Church Street. At that point I realized I had never been to the Sinclair before, so I didn’t know exactly where on Church Street the entrance was. For some reason I thought it was next to the Fire+Ice. I went in through that door next to the Fire+Ice, and it looked like an office lobby with elevators at the left side. OK, not the entrance to the club, I thought. Through the doors straight ahead and to the right, I could hear music, but the doors weren’t labeled or anything, they looked more like exit doors. Nevertheless, without thinking much, I went to one of the doors ahead of me, I pulled, it opened, and just like that I found myself inside the Sinclair, with a couple of surprised people looking at me. OK, that surprisingly worked, I thought. The stage was ahead, and no one was playing, so that was good, I hadn’t missed any of Rouse’s set. I went to the right, where the bar is, and then I saw the entrance next to the bar. Good to know where the actual entrance is, for future reference.

Josh Rouse was still not on stage, I texted the Man to see where he was, but the text wasn’t going though. I started looking around, I saw him standing by the bar, and I went in front of him and went “BOO!” He was like, “What, how did you get inside, I have your ticket?!”, and I told him the whole story. It was like I went to that show for free twice, not only did I have a free ticket, but I had also made it in with no ticket at all. Which could very well mean that I used up my free-entry-to-shows quota on the same show, but what can you do.

We got beers, settled closer to the stage, and in a minute Josh Rouse and his band came on stage and started playing. It was a great set. We took the T to head back to Davis, and as we made it to the platform the train was pulling in to the station. We got on the train, sat down, and there was a quarter on the seat right next to mine, like a tiny goodbye gift concluding a good day. Perfect timing, or what?

2012 Year In Review

Here we are on the last day of 2012. A year that went by fast, and looking back, it was a mix of good and bad. Now is the time I am looking through my notes to see what happened in the year expiring soon. Here’s a summary of what fun things I did, what I liked and didn’t like, and the notable things that happened in my life in 2012:

Movies: I counted them all, in 2012 I watched 83 movies, that is an average of 1.6 movies per week. During the Independent Film Festival of Boston I would see up to three movies a day, but generally I go to the movies at least once a week. It turns out this year I saw plenty of classic and old movies at the Brattle, and finally did the wise thing and acquired a Brattle membership, which saves me some money. The movies I liked best this year were ‘The Kid With A Bike’, the Belgian movie by the Dardenne brothers; ‘Jiro Dreams of Sushi’ a documentary about the Japanese sushi master Jiro Ono; Wes Anderson’s ‘Moonrise Kingdom’; the offbeat, different ‘Safety Not Guaranteed’; the heart breaking ‘Take This Waltz’; the tough and incredibly moving ‘Oslo, August 31st’; the touching ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’; and the fascinating documentary ‘The Imposter’. A quick note to mention ‘Lincoln’ for the superb acting by Daniel Day-Lewis, and Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘The Master’ for the visual beauty. I also liked a lot Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro in ‘Silver Linings Playbook’. The movie that creeped me out the most, made me feel extremely uncomfortable and wish I had not seen was Pedro Almodóvar’s ’The Skin I Live In”. Oh, and I am not seeing ‘Les Miserables’ because I absolutely hate musicals.

Music: I went to 18 live shows this year. Some shows stood out, like the Radiohead show, the Mogwai show, which finally happened after two prior cancellations, and the Saint Etienne show at the Paradise, where everyone was dancing happily away. I saw the most interesting lighting and staging at the Grizzly Bear show at the Orpheum. The worst show? The Jesus and Mary Chain, no contest. The Paradise still remains the best venue in the area to see live music. I just wish it was located somewhere in Camberville. I can’t say there was a band or album this year I adored, but I did listen to some music I liked a lot, like Tanlines, Alt-J, Beach House, Lower Dens and Beach Fossils. After seeing Frank Ocean and the Dirty Projectors making everyone’s best music of the year list, I tried to listened to them, but I find them unbearable. Frank Ocean’s music is plainly boring, and the Dirty Projectors singer sounds like your friend who keeps singing along to every song he hears, and he is always off-key.

UPDATE: I can’t believe I forgot to mention this but my favorite song this year was Japandroid’s ‘The House That Heaven Built’. Yeah.

 

Theater: Not too much theater in my life this year. I mostly went to plays my friend TMB was in, like ‘Measure For Measure’, ‘Waiting For Lefty’ and ‘Anne of the Green Gables’. I also saw an interesting production of ‘Uncle Vanya’ at the Apollinaire Theatre in Chelsea, and David Adjmi’s ‘Marie Antoinette’ at the ART, a play I found was trying too hard to be witty.

Art: I visited the ICA and the MFA a couple of times each. I liked the exhibition Degas and the Nude the best, because I really, really like drawings. Really. Also at the ICA I saw Sam Green’s live documentary ‘The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller’ with live music by Yo La Tengo. And I love Yo La Tengo.

Food, Drink: I liked Casa B in Union Square in Somerville, a space with unique and pretty cool interior design and delicious tapas. I finally made it to Santarpio’s where I discovered the best pizza in town. I also liked Strip T’s in Watertown, West Bridge, and Belly Wine Bar in Kendall Square. I was impressed by the food at the Garden at the Cellar, which might be Cambridge’s best kept secret. The food is amazing, how come I didn’t know? I also paid many visits to iYo the new frozen yogurt place in Davis Square. The square will soon be fro-yo central, as a second fro-yo place opened, and there are plans for a third. I had some very good cocktails at Stoddard’s downtown, and at Brick & Mortar in Central Square.

Travel: Nothing extraordinary travel-wise. I spent three lovely days in Provincetown, I love this happy and laid back place, and the amazing beaches. Speaking of beaches, I discovered Duxbury beach this year (the best beach area is south of the bridge), pretty much one of the best beaches around Boston (sorry, North Shore beaches, no comparison, really). I went to Greece for a couple of weeks to see family and friends, eat well and swim in the Mediterranean, and that’s always pretty neat and relaxing. I also visited my brother and his family in Germany. I finally got to meet my nephew, who is a very cute baby, and got to see my niece again, who is a very cute toddler.

Exercise: In the beginning of 2012 I found myself ten pounds overweight, and ten pounds is a lot for a person of my size. I had a hard time shedding off the extra pounds just by eating less. So, I started eating less and exercising more,  the magic combination that always works. After hating running for as long as I remember, this year I followed a 5k training program, and after eight weeks I was pleasantly surprised to see I could comfortably run 3 miles. I participated in my first 5k race in December, and completed the race in 28 minutes. I also started taking tennis classes, and I loved it. I can’t wait to start new classes again. I biked a lot, as usual, and I took a bicycle repair class at the Broadway Bicycle School.

A couple of other notable things from 2012: I refinanced my mortgage and once again discovered how inept the people who work in this business are. After twelve years of living here I finally decided to apply for citizenship, and became citizen on September 11. I voted for the first time, and was happy with the results. I got to meet Elizabeth Warren, the new senator from Massachusetts, so now I have met both Senators from MA in person. Oh, and being a citizen means I can now run for office, but don’t worry, I don’t plan to.

In 2012 I experienced some disappointments, but no reason to talk about that now. I do not have any major new year’s resolutions, but I will definitely try to do certain things different: I will try to visit places I haven’t been to before. I would love to have someone willing and able to travel with me, but I am also willing to travel by myself. I will try to read more, and after many years I have cancelled my New Yorker subscription in order to free up time to read the untouched books in my bookcase. I will try to get back to creative things I used to like, like drawing.

Above all, in 2013 I will do my best to find time for all the small and big things that make happy. Happy New Year.

Movie Review: Killing Them Softly

Another useless, redundant, half-baked, pretentious movie filled with clichés. Do you want to know more? Alright then.

I went to see this movie, because the time slot was convenient, and because judging from the previews it looked like a good old Tarantino-like film. Well, it wasn’t. It was an exercise in the absolute pedestrian.

What is the movie supposed to be about? From the movie’s website: “Three dumb guys who think they’re smart rob a Mob protected card game, causing the local criminal economy to collapse. Brad Pitt plays the enforcer hired to track them down and restore order.” (By the way, the Brad Pitt sentence was highlighted, so you know you have got to see the film ’cause Brad Pitt is in it!) You get the idea what kind of film it is. Throughout the movie it is not clear where the movie is taking place, the accents are a mix of Boston and New Jersey. They talk about “Somerville” at some point and how hard it is to get there without a car, which probably means nothing and could be in any state. The film is based on a book which is set in the Boston area, but the movie was not filmed in Boston, and no Boston landmarks are seen. In the movie’s website it says it is set in New Orleans. Go figure. There is also era confusion. Although it is set in 2008 (all TV sets show Obama-McCain election coverage), the characters drive 70s cars and are dressed like it’s the 70s. Do you get it? Look at their cars, look at their clothes, look at their hairstyles, look at their sunglasses and their golden jewelry, these are mobsters, for real!

We are expecting some gore and violence from a movie like this. And it was gory, but not too gory, it was violent, but not too violent. You would expect twists and turns in the plot, but actually you could see everything coming up from a mile away. One would think that the character and mood of the film would make it a good candidate for cool shots, but the cinematography is just bland. And towards the end of the movie the color is washed out, nothing from the sharpness and color contrast of the earlier scenes remains. Its trailer seems to be the best done “part” of the movie, tightly edited, beautifully shot.

The movie never hits the right rhythm. I can hardly remember a scene supposedly involving two characters that  actually showed two characters: it seemed like they filmed each actor separately doing their lines, and then edited them to look like there were talking to each other. Sure, they do that all the time, but the editing needs to be seamless, not so exasperatedly obvious. Plus, whenever there was a character with the majority of dialogue, the other character was limited to one word responses. Which is why the film felt like it was an exercise in cutting and paste pieces together with no continuity, no flow.

As mentioned, the editing was choppy. Oh, and did I mention continuity? As in continuity errors? Early on one dude eating ice cream goes to meet another dude. Only once do we see them together in one shot, the other scenes involve one character at a time, although these two characters are supposedly meeting each other. In one scene we see him with half of his ice cream left. Next scene is the other dude speaking one line, next scene back to the other dude, and the freaking ice cream is gone! I mean, why having the dude eating an ice cream in the first place, if you cannot incorporate the ice cream in the scene sequence in a way that makes sense? And then comes the drinks scene with Gandolfini and Pitt, where the former has drunk the two beers on the table, bitches about the weakness of the martini he got, orders another martini, the waiter delivers the new martini, and in the next scene Gandolfini is drinking a… beer. Where did that beer come from? Why isn’t he drinking the martini he bitched about?

The dialogue is also problematic, it feels disrupted. Whenever there is supposed to be a dialogue between actors, it usually is just a monologue. Like the scene between Pitt and Gandolfini in the hotel room, which is painful to watch. Gandolfini’s character going on and on about how much he likes ass, Pitt does not respond much, and then Gandolfini is gone from the movie without doing anything.  Was there any point in this “plot” feature? If there was, I totally missed it.

This movie is trying hard to be smart. We have the underlying election coverage going on, by way of every TV in a bar showing that, with endless talk about the economy, and, wow, did you catch that, the hit men are being affected by the bad economy too! Oh, please. Also, Obama talking about one country and unity, and here comes the punch line, just another way to say to the audience “oh, you didn’t get all those subtle messages we showed throughout the movie, so let’s make it clear now.” So, here it is from the mouth of Pitt’s character: “America’s not a country, it’s a business. Now fucking pay me.” Thanks for the over-the-top clarification, but we got it. Repeatedly.

The selling point of the movie is obviously Brad Pitt, the star who so many will go see regardless what movie he’s in. But he’s also one of the producers, and has the Weinstein machine backing him up. One would expect a much better product, but it is just not there.

Just another movie added to the pile of mediocrity. Do you remember the last time you saw a good movie? I am struggling to.

The Loud Eater At The Movies

Last night I went to see the movie ‘Like Crazy’. I went by myself, because I wanted to be alone. I wanted quiet, I didn’t feel like socializing or talking to anyone. I went in the theater and it wasn’t particularly busy. As is the custom these days, I had to sustain ten minutes of loud previews. Then the loudness passed and the movie started.

‘Like Crazy’ is a quiet movie. What you hear is low-key dialogue, as opposed to loud explosions and cars crashing. Unfortunately, the quiet tone of the film was interrupted by the loud eating of the couple to my left. These people were eating their pop corn with remarkable vengeance. It was as if the pop corn had inflicted major pain upon them and it was revenge-time. They were attacking the paper bag like it was the last available food on earth. And do you know what happens when you attack a paper bag? It makes a loud noise. And do you know what happens when you are munching pop corn? Yes, that’s right, you are very loud and the person to your right is wishing you would choke on it.

At some point I thought my spell was successfully cast, as the guy started coughing. “Oh, wow, he is choking”, I thought to myself. But after gulping some soda down, he stopped. He resumed eating like a pig. It felt like it was the endless bag of pop corn. There was always more for these people to attack.

After an hour or so there was no more noise. They had successfully devoured everything. They stopped. I rejoiced. At last I was able to enjoy the movie with nothing to annoy me. At some point the guy from the loud couple got up to go out. In the process he managed to knock over everything in his way, as well as stomp on the pop corn paper bag he had placed on the floor. I just wanted to turn and yell at him “What the fuck is wrong with you?”. But I didn’t, I remained civil.

While the loud eater was out, the movie ended. This was a movie exploring a long distance relationship. It was a sweet and understated movie. The ending was particular emotional and touching. Not because something extraordinary happened, but because of the way it showed how the two characters had changed, and what the relationship had morphed into after a year. It was an ending fit to the overall mood, yet powerful. The boor had missed the ending, pretty much the best thing in the movie. Oh, sweet silent revenge.

‘Pearl Jam Twenty’

The new Cameron Crowe documentary ‘Pearl Jam Twenty’ was showing tonight at the Brattle Theatre. I decided to go to the 7:30 show. When I got in Harvard Square,  I saw a huge line forming outside the Brattle, which I didn’t expect. Everyone in line had already bought their tickets beforehand. I asked at the booth and was told that the 7:30 show was “completely sold out”. (I think that sold out does not really take any adverb of this kind, was it completely sold out as opposed to partially sold out? If something is sold out, it is sold out, and that’s that.) The 10pm show was not sold out, that was two and a half hours away.

I lingered outside the theatre until everyone went in. People were still picking up tickets from will call. Then a couple came, and a guy asked them if they needed one ticket, because he had one extra. The couple said OK, but when they asked for another ticket, the person at the booth told them it was sold out. “I don’t want to wait around 10″, the guy said. But he already had bought the other guy’s extra ticket. “I can take it off your hands”, I offered. “Oh, yeah? That’d be great”, he said, so I got my ticket.

I found a seat on the fourth row center. And nobody came to sit in front of me. No gigantic head of a seven-foot tall person in front of me. I am the woman who manages to find a ticket to a sold out movie and then watch it with unobstructed view. Sometimes.

Oh, and how was the documentary? It was good, but not great. It felt like there was something missing. It was lingering over things and situations that were already shown, like the band’s early days. I disliked the filmmaker’s presence in the documentary: the voice over in the beginning, the shot of himself doing an interview of the band for a magazine. It felt like a summary of their career –it’s been twenty years already– but the components (mainly highlights of their career) were put together in a somewhat disjointed way. The interviews come off as very polished. The shots from the live shows are great, the music is great. If you like Pearl Jam’s music, if you are a fan, you will definitely love it.

My Year in Review

The end of the year is approaching and I haven’t compiled my end-of-the-year lists. Not that they would be interesting anyway. Nonetheless, what I would like to do is look back in the year and think about small, and maybe big things that stood out, things that made 2009 special for me. Here’s my brief review of the year.

Films: I like going to the movies a lot and I like movies, both documentaries and narrative features. Unfortunately lately it has become almost impossible to love a film. The feeling is that they don’t make great films anymore. Still, I saw 58 movies this year and some were better than others: ”O’ Horten” was a Norwegian film with absurd and edgy humor & amazing cinematography. I admired the scenes, I laughed at the lines, it touched my heart; that’s what I want a movie to do to me.  Other interesting ones were ”An Education” (seductive & lovely), a “A Serious Man” (always interesting and surprising) and “Everlasting Moments”, a Swedish film about a housewife turned photographer (my blog post about it is here). The guilty pleasure of the year was “(500) Days of Summer”: the critics hated it, but I enjoyed it. Best acting of the year: Christian McKay as Welles in “Me and Orson Welles”. Documentaries I liked the best: “It Might Get Loud”, “Food, Inc.”, “We Live in Public” and “La Danse”. I sort of felt that documentaries were more compelling than narratives this year.

Live Music:  This year I saw the Muffs, Andrew Bird with Loney Dear, Mogwai, A.C. Newman, The Bad Plus, The Shins with Delta Spirit, PJ Harvey & John Parish, the Flaming Lips with Explosions in the Sky, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Yo La Tengo, Built to Spill, The Psychedelic Furs, Neko Case, Sonic Youth and the Feelies. I also saw a handful of local bands, and was glad to discover Arms & Sleepers, and the Motion Sick. I saw the Muffs at Maxwell’s in Hoboken, and at Southpaw in Brooklyn, which was a pretty awesome venue. I wish Boston had a venue like Southpaw, on the small side, with plenty of character and good sound.

A very interesting show combining both film and music was Split/Signal at the Armory, a new arts center in Somerville. The silent short movies shown were accompanied by live bands, and it was a pretty neat event.

Music: I’m so old-fashioned, I still buy CDs. I won’t bore you with what I listened to, but only with what was in heavy rotation this year: the amazing compilation “Dark Was the Night”. Also Andrew Bird’s “Noble Beast”, Arms and Sleepers’ “Matador” and Florence + the Machine’s “Lungs”.

Theatre: I managed to see some plays this year: Boeing Boeing  (on Broadway), Endgame, Fool for Love, the Superheroine Monologues, A Winter’s Tale (by a local theatre group in a church basement), Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Orfeo’s Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged), the Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare on the Common), Fences, the Big Broadcast War of Worlds, and Sleep No More. Sleep No More was unlike anything I’d seen before, an interactive deconstructed Macbeth set in an abandoned school. I loved it, it was a unique experience and I’m going to see it again tomorrow for the second time.

Art: In my two trips to New York City back in January, I saw Pipilotti Rist’s video installation “Pour Your Body Out” at MoMA, the William Eggleston and Alexander Calder exhibitions at the Whitney and the Kandisky one at the Guggenheim. Here in Boston I saw the Shepard Fairey exhibition at the ICA twice and wrote about it here , Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese at the MFA, which was exceptional, and I really liked the Dutch Seascapes at the Peabody Essex Museum.

Dining: I am a person who doesn’t cook and food really does not matter to me that much. Having said that I eat out quite often and I can tell when I had a good dining experience or a bad one. My best dining this year was at Craigie on Main. Everything was delicious, the service was superb and if I was rich I guess I would eat there more often. The worst dining experience of the year was at Addis Red Sea in Cambridge and I wrote about it here. The weirdest dining (more like non-dining) moment was when we attempted to have brunch at the West Side Lounge: The place was pretty much empty. We walked in, the host showed us to our table, and we looked at the menu. When we were ready to order nobody was coming. We were looking towards the host, the bartender, the three waitresses, did not get their attention, they didn’t acknowledge us.  Did I mention that there was just us and one other table in the whole place?! The employees were chatting with each other, and seemed to intentionally ignore us. I thought I was in a candid camera kind of a show. Really strange and rude. If they didn’t want to serve us, they shouldn’t have seated us. So after waiting for about 5 minutes in vain for somebody to take our order, we decided to leave. And as we were leaving the waitress who was by the door, didn’t even bother to say anything. I don’t think I’m going to the West Side Lounge again any time soon.

A couple of other interesting things happened this year: I went to Greece for vacation for two weeks and it was pretty awesome, I took figure drawing classes, and video shooting and editing classes at the Cambridge Community TV. I was part of the team that created a short documentary about the Out of the Blue gallery in Central Square. I liked the experience. Oh yes, I also got a new laptop, an iPhone and got addicted to Twitter.

All things considered, 2009 was good to me. Despite the tough economic times I was able to enjoy the things I like doing.  There were some moments where I felt my job was threatened, and some more tough times could be ahead. I don’t want to be a pessimist though. Biking and yoga gave me a little bit of energy. I also tried to be somewhat creative with drawing, photography and writing, and hopefully this will continue in the new year. I have no real new year’s resolutions, just a hope that the good things will continue and I’ll be content.

Where the Wild Things Are

I saw Spike Jonze’s new movie “Where the Wild Things Are” on Friday. I really wanted to see this movie. I was intrigued by the previews and the reviews.

I really liked the beginning, where we see Max’s (a nine-year old, I would guess) family and we get a feel for the family dynamics. The movie through very precise, detailed shots gets across the mood: Max is angry, Max is lonely, Max is sad. The camera lingers close to his face, close to the gestures, like when he goes under the desk and plays with his mother’s toes: very peculiar and very familiar at the same time.

After a fit of anger Max runs away from home and enters a world of fantasy, a world where the wild beasts are. We get the description of their world, we get the idea of the beasts different personalities. By the middle of the island adventures, the movie feels like it’s dragging. Especially  during Max’s walks on the island with the beasts, mainly because there’s no plot. But there’s scenery and walking.

When things on the island get tough mainly because the strained relationship between Max and the beasts, we get more than we bargained for. And when there’s hurt and disappointment, I felt that the movie was rather manipulative: the camera lingers on the beasts’ and Max’s faces when they are on the verge of tears, and the music commands you to cry. These moments I wish it was more subtle, I wish there was less in your face sensational sentimentalism. And lots of people were crying.

I liked the movie, it set the tone right through beautiful shots and angles. The kid Max Records playing Max was very good. I just wish there was less shameless prodding of the viewers’  lachrymal glands.

Movie Theater Manners (or Lack Thereof)

Watching movies in a movie theater (read big screen) is an experience that I love and much enjoy. But one that can be easily ruined mainly by other people. I don’t know what expectations these people have when they go to a movie theater, but to me, when in a theater I try to keep to myself and minimize my impact on my surroundings.

When I say surroundings I mean people, seats, floor, food, everything. Oh, yes, food. How did chomping on popcorn become associated with movie watching? What compels people to purchase overpriced bad popcorn and ridiculously diluted soda? What compels people to chomp and slurp? How can they not realize it is annoying?

Bad habits, yes.  Generations of people being brought up with the conviction that the world is theirs to conquer. An attitude evident from the movie-going crowd to the foreign policy. It might be useful to boost youngsters’ self-confidence telling them they can be whatever they want to be, but it can also be useful to teach them that they should respect other people, because unfortunately, we have to share this world. I know, it sucks, but that’s how it is. There’s a fine line between ruthless go-getters, and obnoxious. Evidently some people think the world is their playground, but sorry to have to break it to you, the movie theater is not your living room. No, you cannot be as comfortable as you are in your livingroom. Until the time comes when movie theaters feature couches, you cannot stretch your legs while seating in a movie theater. Putting your feet up the seat in front of you is gross. (And, by the way, you are wearing these freaking stupid clogs, while you’re not a Dutch peasant and while is not Halloween). All I want to do is turn to you, smile and say as politely as I can “Would you mind putting your feet down? I’m afraid they smell really bad. Thanks!” How humiliated would you feel? Would that put the message across to your brain?

Probably not. Cause probably you were never taught good manners. Or you chose to erase them from your brain. Whether you like it or not you live in a society, meaning you have to respect some rules; this is not a desert island. It’s the same attitude that makes people yelling “liar!” while the President addresses the Congress, the same attitude making that god awful Kanye West snatching the mic away to say his sorry bit. It’s the same attitude of feeling entitled. You shouldn’t though, simply because you are not actually entitled. Not more than anybody else.

So while you take your feet off the seat in front of you, make sure that you keep quiet. Yes, you heard me, quiet. Resist the urge to turn to your companion every 5 seconds and comment or question or sigh loudly or exhale loudly. You can save it for later. And it would save us some aggravation.

And now that you masticated like a lovely bovine and the movie is over and it’s time to leave, can you take your trash with you? I mean really, what’s with leaving it behind? Is it some kind of animal territorial marking behavior, like leaving b.o. or urine behind? Unnecessary.

Unfortunately this obnoxious behavior is noticed in every theater: urban, suburban, arthouse, blockbuster. And actually it extends outside of the theater: people not covering their mouths while yawning, people talking while eating, eating with open mouth, eating like pigs while not in the confines of their house, driving without using the turn signal while turning, picking their noses while driving (yes, though you might be alone in your car, you can actually be seen by others outside your car), people cutting you off while talking, people talking endlessly and loudly…

The bottom line is that we do not have to sustain behavior that encroaches into our spatial, visual, aural space. Manner bullies, cut it out. Please. Thank you.

The Best Films of the Decade

Paste Magazine is asking its readers to vote for the best films of the decade, which is slightly curious timing since 2009 is not over yet. They provide a list of the best films of the decade, with the smallest font possible, and of course you can add films you think are missing from the list.

My favs: The Lives of Others, Lost in Translation, Half Nelson, The Squid and the Whale, You Can Count On Me, Once, The Station Agent (which is not on the list, wtf Paste Magazine?), No Man’s Land, The Whale Rider, Kill Bill V. I & II

Sometimes Things Get Busy

The work week is over and you feel you need a break; then the weekend comes and goes and you feel that you didn’t get a break: the story of my life. Monday’s here and the weekend had been pretty enjoyable, but wicked busy.

After two weeks of working long and stressful hours, I finished my project last week. I was done with work by midday Friday and was ready to start my weekend. The weather has been awesome thankfully. I walked a lot on Friday, especially along the waterfront and checked out the Tall Ships. Beautiful vessels, and lots of people out and about. Later I saw the new Bigelow movie “The Hurt Locker“, which I found pretty good and highly recommend it.

Saturday was another beautiful day. Rode my bike and had breakfast picnic at the Powderhouse park: egg and cheese bagel & apple muffin from Magnificent Muffin & Bagel in Teele Square, and half moon cookie from Lyndell’s and coffee from True Grounds. The apple muffin was tasty, moist, had pieces of apple in it, on my, it was just perfect! Oh yes, I’m a strong believer of spreading my money around; you know ”spread the wealth”, and of course support independent local businesses! It was quite nice at the park, until it wasn’t:  the Somerville DPW guys decided that 1pm on a sunny Saturday when working people can enjoy the park is the best time to mow the lawn and give a live demonstration of the term “noise pollution”. Thanks overtime-hungry jerks! Somerville, you (sometimes) disappoint me… Anyway, after that I got my hair done, saw the movie “Moon“, which was a little strange, with some good points, but tedious at times. Then we checked out the relatively new restaurant “Tory Row” at Harvard Square, I really liked the chevre stuffed peppadews. We then got cupcakes from “Sweet”. The cappuccino one was delicious, but, yeah, at $3 per cupcake I don’t think I’ll become a regular. I liked the design of the store and the impeccable display of the cupcakes.

Sunday we had brunch at Mr Crepe in Davis, which I find pretty average and I don’t really understand why some people love it. No, actually crepes are not supposed to taste like that, but whatever, we can’t really bring the french crepe making way in Somerville, so we’ll get what we can. Actual crepe FAIL, if you ask me… After the underwhelming crepe and a delicious half of a boston creme donut from Lyndell’s, we went downtown, walked around Boston Common and the Public Garden. It was quite neat to see five airplanes do the skywriting thing! Shopping around wore me down, gosh, I used to like shopping, now it’s just a major drag. For dinner we went to Craigie on Main, which was very very good and quite pricey. And the meal was a little bit adventurous: I had the scallops (too bad they had run out of the sea bass), and found a piece of something metal in my food; I was pretty sure it wasn’t something edible, and wasn’t really supposed to be there, it was like a very thin strip of twisted aluminum foil… The waitress and maitre d’ handled it very professionally, offering to prepare another dish for me or whatever I wanted. I got the seafood sausage, which was delicious, and they also got us another round of wine. When the check came they had taken the scallops out, and the second round of wine and seafood sausage were on the house. Although the experience wasn’t perfect, I would definitely go again.

So basically this weekend the goal was not to stay home, and stimulate the economy. Success, I congratulate myself on both. Well done. Now just looking forward to Wednesday, and two solid weeks of vacation, yeah!!!