Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Baking Soda Blues

I hate to say I've been reading a lot (more than I should) about actor Armie Hammer and his supposed meltdown (and Twitter account deletion) over a scathing Buzzfeed article about him and his career. The crux of the article was that Hammer, despite having a string of flops behind him, keeps getting roles because he's a good looking white man. Yeah. He's in good company there. There are many white male actors out there who keep getting one chance after another to fail upwards while non-white men and women of all stripes are not given the same opportunities. I'll name just a few: Jake Gyllenhaal (give it up already), Tom Hiddleston (what's the appeal?), George Clooney (at least he had a successful run on TV). And the list isn't limited to actors. Look at Jeff Zucker. He was a disaster at NBC and is currently running CNN into the ground. Go figure. But back to Armie "Baking Soda" Hammer. I like Hammer and I think he's a decent actor. However, I agree with the Buzzfeed author's assessment that he blames everyone else for his career failures and he seems oblivious to the fact that he's received the opportunities he has because he's tall, white, young, and handsome. I wish he'd own this rather than run from it and act like the way he looks doesn't factor into the jobs he gets. Dude, you work in Hollywood. Of course your career is based on your looks. Duh. Rather than commenting that the Buzzfeed writer was bitter and shutting down his Twitter account, he should have acknowledged the parts of her article that were accurate and been honest about the breaks he's received in life. Or he could have just ignored the article all together. If I knew him, I'd tell him, "Buck up, Baking Soda, and learn to roll with the punches!"

Sunday, November 26, 2017

Movies

I saw two interesting yet odd movies on cable this weekend. The first was Chuck & Buck, a movie about two guys who were friends as kids, but lost touch as adults. When Buck's mother dies, he contacts his old friend Chuck who comes to the funeral. Buck hits on Chuck after the funeral and after Chuck spurns his advances, Buck starts stalking Chuck. Buck couldn't seem to accept the fact that he and Chuck were adults. He still wanted to have the kind of close relationship he and Chuck had had as children. The movie was creepy and compelling and went to a place I didn't expect it to go.

The second movie was a documentary called The Dog about John Wojtowicz, the guy who the movie Dog Day Afternoon was based on. I'd seen Dog Day Afternoon, but I didn't know anything about the real case. The documentary was interesting because it showed what a hot mess Wojtowicz was. He lived for several years after the 1972 robbery and jail and didn't die until 2006. While watching him in the documentary, it was hard to tell if he was being truthful or just bullshitting. I thought it was interesting that of all of the people featured in the documentary (John's ex-wife, his mother, his lovers, his mentally disabled brother, etc.) you never saw his children. I guess they decided they didn't want any part of the documentary and, honestly, who could blame them for staying away from that Dumpster fire.

In other movie news, I have to say I'm looking forward to seeing Call Me By Your Name. Since it's not coming out here until the end of December, I'm going to try and catch it when I'm in NY for work in a few weeks. I didn't care much for the book. I thought it was pretentious and overwritten. In fact, I reread the book earlier this year (and I'm sure I blogged about it) when I kept reading about the movie buzz because I didn't remember much about the book from the first time I'd read it probably seven or eight years ago. I kept reading about that infamous scene with the peach and people speculating whether or not it would be in the movie and I thought, What scene with the peach? Ergo, I reread the book. (I also read how the peach scene is dealt with in the film although I wish I wouldn't have so I could have been surprised.) I read a lot of books (less now than when I used to take public transit on a daily basis and had time to sit and read) and I'm also middle aged, so my old brain can only hold so much information. I can't remember every detail about every book I've read in my lifetime.

Friday, November 24, 2017

JMS Book Sale

JMS Books is having a Black Friday sale today and tomorrow from midnight EST on Friday, November 24, and will run through 11:59 PM EST on Saturday, November 25. There are many titles to choose from (including some of my own). Click on any of my JMS titles in the side bar or use this link: http://www.jms-books.com/





Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Pre-Turkey Day

I've hoping to spend my pre-Thanksgiving day relaxing and running a few errands since I have the day off. I'm also not making my usual trek to Detroit for Thanksgiving this year, so I'll be able to relax at home for a change. As much as I enjoy going back to Michigan to see my relatives over the Thanksgiving weekend, I'm glad to get a break from that this year. I was just in Detroit over the summer, sadly, for a funeral, but I did get to see many family members during that time.

In other news, every day it seems like someone else is exposed for being a perv. This week it's Glenn Thursh from the NY Times and Charlie Rose. The Charlie Rose thing really surprised me. I never would have pegged him as a pervert. I remember seeing Rose in NY years ago. I'd gone to the 92nd Street Y to see him interview Anderson Cooper and after the event, as the audience was filing out, I saw Rose get into a limo with a blonde. Huh.

Saturday, November 18, 2017

More Moore?

As I've been watching the deluge of news on Roy Moore over the past few weeks, I can't help but think that the majority of outraged commentators and politicians clearly don't understand people from Alabama. Now I'm not from Alabama, but my father is and I've spent a great deal of time in the state over my lifetime so I feel like I can shed some light on how things work in that state. Back before the primary when Moore was running against Luther Strange, I had a conversation with my father about the race and my father told me he'd rather see Moore win that race because he wasn't the establishment candidate. Crazy Moore who was kicked out of his previous jobs twice, I believe, for failing to adhere to the law with his ten commandments nonsense was still, in my father's opinion, a better choice than Strange. Again, keep in mind that my father was born and raised in Alabama. His thinking about Moore is not different from many people from Alabama. They circle the wagons around people like Moore. Common sense be damned. When I talk to my father tomorrow, I'll ask him about Moore's latest allegations and see if he still feels the same way.

I'm not surprised that Moore is refusing to drop out of the senate race nor would I be surprised if he actually won. I'm not from Alabama, but I know Alabama and when those folks get in their minds that they're right and everyone else is wrong (as they so often do), they'll hunker down and stick to their guns (literally and figuratively). Don't forget George Wallace, folks.

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Police Academy

Over the past 12 weeks, I've been attending classes for Evanston's Citizen Police Academy and yesterday was finally graduation day. I largely enjoyed the classes and found them interesting. I learned a lot about the police force and how things operate around the city. I got to do a ride-along with an officer although not much happened other than a car accident. No one was hurt, thankfully. Evanston, IL isn't exactly a hotbed of criminal activity. I'm all about law and order. If you do the crime, do the time. One of the stories in the news right now is about the college basketball players who tried to shoplift some expensive sunglasses from a shop during a trip to China and, lo and behold, Donny T. rushed to their rescue to get them out of the charges and sent back to the US. He asked them for a thank you and he got it. I don't often agree with Donny, but he was right here. He did those bad-assed kids a favor and he deserved to be thanked for that. Why people feel the need to commit crimes and, even worse, commit them while abroad (does no one watch Locked Up Abroad???) is beyond me. The criminal justice system in other countries isn't like our own. If you break the law in another country, you're subject to that country's laws. They could string you up by your thumbs or flog you in the public square and there wouldn't be anything the US could do about it except contact your family and tell them what's going on.


Sunday, November 12, 2017

Murder on the Orient Express

I saw the newest version of Murder on the Orient Express over the weekend complete with Kenneth Branagh and his incredible cookie duster. I remember seeing the original 1970s version at Fairlane movie theater in Dearborn, Michigan. One of my cousins took me, my sister, and some other cousins to see it. I also saw that version on television again as an adult, so I was quite aware of who killed the guy. Maybe knowing the killer created a bit of a letdown for me when seeing the movie with my sister this weekend. While she was concerned about Branagh's moustache distracting her from concentrating on the movie, I found myself distracted by Leslie Odom, Jr. My sister had told me he'd be in the film but as I watched it, I kept waiting for him to show up before finally deciding that my sister had been mistaken about him being in the movie. It wasn't until the movie was over and the credits rolled that I realized Odom WAS in the movie. He looked nothing like himself, in my opinion, and that's why I failed to realize that he was the lone black actor on the train. He looked so different than he does in the Nationwide commercials or on the cover of his latest album that I didn't even recognize him. His body shape (clearly, he'd put on weight), his face, and even his skin color all made him unrecognizable to me.

Thursday, November 9, 2017

Incense Aversion

I hate the smell of incense. It will drive me from a room as it did last night when I was in a room with little ventilation and the smell of incense was overwhelming. I had to vacate the premises. I remember back in the 90s, I was having a conversation with a co-worker in Philadelphia about incense. This co-worker said she and her husband burned incense regularly in their home and I joked and said incense burners often used it to cover up the smell of weed (or something to that effect). My co-worker was, rightly, offended by my statement. I wasn't saying she and her husband were potheads, but that's the way she took my comment. I felt bad about it, but there wasn't much I could do after the fact except apologize. (For the record, I still associate incense with weed, but if someone else confesses to burning incense in his/her home, I'm keeping my mouth shut about that association.)

Monday, November 6, 2017

The Belko Experiment

After yet another weekend of carnage caused by a psycho shooter, I hate to even admit that I watched the movie The Belko Experiment, a movie with a lot of shooting and violence, over the weekend. The plot of the movie is a bunch of office workers are trapped in their office building and, in order to get out, they have to kill each other. Kill or be killed is the premise. How many of us would really be willing to do this? It's easy to say if it's you or me, I'm choosing me, but if the choice really presented itself, I wonder how many of us would balk.

What I thought was interesting about  The Belko Experiment was how many people turned on their fellow co-workers in an effort to save their own lives. A lot of empathy and kindness turned to rage and violence. It's a crazy movie, but it was entertaining. I need to start watching more stuff like the Lego Batman movie (also entertaining and without the killing). There's enough horror on the local news already. Maybe I'm just becoming desensitized to it.

Thursday, November 2, 2017

RIP Gothamist

I just found out this afternoon that the website Gothamist.com is no more. The owner shut it (and other -sit sites like Chicagoist and LAist) down after the employees voted to unionize. Gothamist was one of my daily web reads. Even though I no longer live in New York, I kept up with the news there, mainly from reading Gothamist. It's a shame the owner shut the site down, but that's what happens sometimes when you work for a corporate overlord. You never know when the hammer is going to fall. Trust me, I know. I worked for a publisher in Philadelphia years ago that was bought by a corporate overlord and the office was shut down and most of the employees lost their jobs. (I left before the shutdown, but in hindsight I should have stayed and gotten the severance offered.) Layoffs often seem to happen around the holidays too, another kick in the gut. Happy Thanksgiving. You're laid off. Merry Christmas. Welcome to the unemployment line. And when you lose your job right before the holidays, good luck getting another one anytime soon.  A lot of employers shut down any kind of hiring until the new year. I read that the Gothamist employees (former employees) would be paid through February of 2018. I don't know if that's true but if it is, that's great. (That doesn't mean they'll have benefits like health insurance during that time, but something is better than nothing, right?) RIP, Gothamist, a great source of NY news.