Going to the Movies

I've been slowly going back to actual movie theaters to see movies, but I'm still not back to my pre-Covid days of theater movie viewing. I still remember the last movie I saw at a theater before Covid shut everything down: the remake of The Invisible Man. Who knew that would be the last movie I'd see in a theater for years? (Not a bad movie, but not that great either.) The last movie I saw in a theater recently was Late Night with the Devil (that I drifted off to sleep on). I love a good scary movie and the good ones are few and far between these days, unfortunately. When I saw Late Night, I saw a trailer for a movie called Cuckoo that looked interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing that one. 

Last weekend, I read a lot of media reports about how the new Ryan Gosling movie The Fall Guy didn't meet expectations at the box office. I couldn't figure out who the audience was for this movie. Female Barbie fans who liked Gosling in that movie? Young guys who like action movies? Fans of Emily Blunt? Older people (like myself) who remembered the TV series by the same name? (I, honestly, barely recall that TV show. It wasn't something I watched religiously was a kid like The A Team or Fantasy Island.) Whoever the fan base was for The Fall Guy remake, those folks didn't turn out in huge numbers to see the film. I think part of the reason so many movies are tanking these days is that they cost way too much to make. I also think movies come to TV via streaming so fast these days that it's not worth it to trek to a theather and see it unless it's something you feel like you really need to see on the big screen. 

This weekend, the new Planet of the Apes movie is hitting theaters. I'll pass on that one although I saw one of the Apes movies years ago with Mark Wahlberg and it wasn't bad. I saw a trailer for the one coming out today the last time I went to the movies and it didn't look terrible, but it looked like something I could wait to see via streaming, not at the theater. I wonder if people will turn out for this movie this weekend. 

Jump, Jump, Jump to It!

The list of people I actually like or don't actively dislike at my day job is getting smaller with each passing month. At times, I find myself asking, "Am I the asshole?" Sometimes I am, but sometimes I'm not! I'm just getting more and more annoyed with the constant emails that expect you to drop everything else you're doing and, as Aretha would say, "Jump, jump, jump to it!" I had to tell someone I work with recently to pump the brakes after he came at me about a project that had only been sent about a week before. Jeez! It's a good thing I'm taking some time off soon. I could use some days away from the constant emails, stupid questions, and unrealistic expectations. 

RIP, Paul Auster.

"L" Hell

I made the mistake of riding the L (or El, if you prefer), Chicago's elevated train system today to see a play downtown (August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone at the Goodman Theatre). Now I haven't ridden the L downtown in quite some time. I used to be a daily rider during the pre-Covid days when I traveled to and from my day job, but not so much after the work from home thing came to be the norm. But I caught the L today and it wasn't great! I barely made it to the play on time despite leaving home 1.5 hours before the play started. I had to wait for a purple line train, then the red line crawled towards the loop. Let me just say that I hate the red line with a passion. It's slow, it stinks of cigarillos or whatever someone chose to smoke in the car before departing, and it's often filled with the homeless and/or other deranged folks. Someone on Datalounge called Chicago's red line a "rolling insane aslymn." That person spoke the truth! 

As someone who is normally a huge advocate of public transit, lately I've found myself preferring not to take it. If I have to go downtown to the office, I prefer the Metra transit train. It's cleaner, it's faster, and the clientelle is better. It's worth the extra money to ride with no bums sleeping across multiple seats, no beggars going from car to car, and no eau du cigarillo wafting through the air. If the time comes that I have to reacquaint myself with the L to get to and from work, I'm going to have to work through that transition. Maybe my next job will be one in the suburbs that I can drive to!

What the World Needs Now

To follow up from my last post, Monday's eclipse was great! The skies in and around Chicago were great and we had about 95% coverage here, which was great for viewing. My cereal box viewer wasn't the greatest, but I did have viewing glasses as a backup. I walked to the beach at Lake Michigan and viewed the eclipse from there with other folks from the area. A good time was had by all. I didn't get any pictures of the actual eclipse because I couldn't filter my phone lens and focus my picture at the same time without blinding myself, but I did get a shot of the beach before more folks showed up (see below). 

In other news, I was watching the trailer for the new Joker movie and noticed Tom Jones singing "What the World Needs Now Is Love" in the ad. As a Tom Jones fan, I was surprised I hadn't heard this song before, but it's from an album he put out in 1970 called I Who Have Nothing. I never really cared for "What the World Needs Now..." and, as a 1970s baby, I'm a huge fan of 70s music, but the Tom Jones version is excellent. It's everything I want or need from a 1970s song. The arrangment is over the top, I love the horns, the creshendos, and Tom is just giving it his all. I was more excited about hearing Tom Jones in the Joker trailer than the movie itself (although I'm sure I'll see the movie since I saw the first one and didn't think it was bad). Years ago, when I lived in Philadelphia, I went to see Tom Jones in concert in Atlantic City and it was one of the best concerts I've ever been to. Tom is an entertainer and he puts on a great show. His band was tight, his background singers were on point, and he was excellent. 

I think the world needs more than love right now, but a little love couldn't hurt either.

Countdown to the Eclipse!

Count me in as someone wrapped up in eclipse mania! I'm taking a day off from my day job tomorrow to watch the eclipse (and do some other things). I've got eclipse viewing glasses and my homemade eclipse viewer (see photo below) and I plan to walk down to the shores of Lake Michigan and see what I can see from there tomorrow afternoon. Since the next eclipse won't come for, what, 45 years and I'm sure I'll be dead and gone by then, I'm planning to catch this one live and in action. 🌒

Bridges

My sister sent me a link to an article in the Washington Post about people's fear of driving over bridges and it really hit home with me. Watching the horrific bridge collpase in Baltimore this week didn't help either. Driving over bridges freaks me out, especially ones that are high, over water, and narrow. When I lived in Philadelphia and New Jersey, I drove over the Ben Franklin and Walt Whitman bridges all the time with no problem. Those bridges didn't bother me. Why? Because they had multiple lanes in each direction and I felt comfortable enough on them to get in the middle and cruise to the other side without fear that I would go over the edge. Thankfully, I don't have to drive over many bridges now. There's one around Perdido Key in Florida that I have to drive over to get to my time share in Gulf Shores, Alabama when I go there in the fall. It's high, narrow, and has only one lane on each side. I have to psych myself up to get over it. It's not a long bridge, but it's still a white-kunckle drive for me. I have to pray and keep my eyes on the vehicle ahead of mine. At least no one can come on the side of me and run me off the road since it's only one lane each way. 

When I was younger, I don't recall being afraid of driving across bridges. I don't know when the fear set in. Middle age, I guess, but the fear is real. Driving across some bridges immediately makes my heart rate increase. I hate driving like a nervous wreck, but that's what happens when I have to encounter a bridge. 

Years ago, when I moved from central New Jersey to Brooklyn, the movers wanted to follow me in my car to my new apartment and they wanted to take the Verrazzano Bridge. Yeah, no. I'd driven across the Verrazzao before but I wasn't planning on driving across it again. I told the movers I'd meet them at the apartment in Brooklyn because I'd be taking the Holland Tunnel to the Battery Park Tunnel instead (and that's what I did). 

(Not) Scary Movies

I love a good scary movie. Unfortunately, it's been a long time since I've seen one that was truly scary. Earlier today, I saw the new movie Late Night with the Devil. The trailer seemed interesting because the film's plot involved the whole satanic panic frenzy from the 1970s and threw in some Exorcist-like possession. I'm not a fan of devil movies, but this one looked to be a step above the usual demonic movies out there. Unfortunately, the movie didn't deliver for me. I was falling asleep during it and actually drifted off for a few minutes. It had a decent plot, but there were too many scenes of people talking that didn't move the story forward. The story also got convoluted at the end. Was the talk show host's membership in some weird, cult-like group responsible for everything that happened? I don't know and, by the end, I didn't really care. The only good thing that came out of seeing Late Night with the Devil was seeing previews for two other scary movies that actually looked scary: Cuckoo and In a Violent Nature. I'm also looking forward to the Beetlejuice sequel (not because I expect it to be scary, but because I liked the first Beetlejuice movie.)