Call Me by Your Name

While I was in New York for a few days last week, I saw Call Me by Your Name and I enjoyed the movie far more than I did the book. What really made the film for me was Timothee Chalamet's performance as Elio. That young man (I want to call him a kid but he isn't a kid) is great. In the book, Elio annoyed me because I felt he was pretentious and whiny. But in the movie, Chalamet brought some humanity to the role. Every emotion he felt for Oliver showed on his face and that's a true sign of a great actor. if not for him, the movie would have been just okay. As for Baking Soda (aka Armie Hammer), he did what he was there to do: look good. He and Chalamet had great chemistry, but Chalamet acted circles around him. I like Hammer, but he's just not that great of an actor. With him, I always feel like he's acting. Still, I really liked the film even though I had to pay $17.40 (yes, $17.40) to see it last Wednesday night. I also paid almost $6 for a small Coke at the theater. These prices are ridiculous!!!! But enough of my complaining. If/When Call Me by Your Name goes into wide release later this month and it comes to your town, check it out.

Escape From New York

I went to New York for my day job on Wednesday and just made it back home tonight. I feared the snow storm blanketing the East Coast would leave me stranded out there, but my flight was able to get out (albeit with nearly a two-hour delay). What a mess! I had a nice visit. It was short, but nice. I always say I need to spend a week in New York without having to work in order to really see and do what I want to. These quick two or three day trips just don't give me time to do much of anything. I did have a chance to see Call Me By Your Name while I was there and I enjoyed it. I'll write a separate blog post on that.

I thought for sure foreign tourism would drop with Donny T. as POTUS but after being in New York for the past few days, I don't think that's the case. There seemed to be as many Europeans and other assorted non-Americans flooding the streets of Manhattan just like any other year. Fifth Avenue and Rockefeller Center were as crowded as ever. Now not every person there was from out of the country or even out of state, but I'm sure many of them were. Tourism seems to be alive and well in New York. I enjoyed walking around the little holiday markets that were set up throughout the city. I went to the one in Union Square and the one at Columbus Circle. I don't recall seeing those in the years I lived in New York, but I think they're great. They reminded me of the Christkindl market here in Chicago.

Here's a shot of Central Park from Friday before the snow came.

Public Transit

I'm a fan of public transit. Growing in Detroit, public transit barely existed due, I believe, to a conspiracy by the Big 3 automakers (Ford, Chrysler, and GM) to suppress it so that people would buy cars. I didn't realize there was actually good, functioning public transit until I get out of Detroit. In most of the places I've lived (Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York, and now Chicago), I can say wholeheartedly that the public transit is good. It's not perfect, but it works (for the most part). Public transit is a great equalizer that joins people of all races, faiths, incomes, and backgrounds and I enjoy living in a place where I'm not totally dependent on having a car. When I lived in New York, I rarely took cabs because it was easier (and cheaper) to just hop on the subway or walk where I wanted to go. I also enjoy taking public transit in cities I haven't lived in, like during my recent visit to Washington, DC this summer. DC's public transit was quick and easy to navigate. Some people are afraid of public transit. I admit I used to be one of those people. I was accustomed to getting into my own car and driving where I wanted to go. But, the more I used subways, trains, and buses in the different cities where I lived, the more comfortable I became with turning the wheel over to someone else.

Sorry I Got Caught

I'm tired of these half-assed apologies for wrongdoing. Let's take the latest perv, Matt Lauer, who's suddenly embarrassed by his pervy actions. Apparently he wasn't embarrassed until he got caught. Until this week, he was fine with using his power at NBC to harass women. And I don't believe for a minute that NBC management or the other big-named on-air staff weren't aware of Lauer's shenanigans. If you parse these corporate statements that media companies like Fox and NBC put out, you'll see that they claim they didn't know what was going on because no one complained to HR. Why would anyone in his or her right mind complain to HR over the behavior of someone like Lauer? He was a rainmaker at NBC and even if some lowly intern or production assistant complained to HR, it's doubtful any action would be taken against Lauer. Instead, I suspect, the complaining employee would be terminated instead. HR is around to protect the company's interests, not the interests of the employee. You learn that the hard way sometimes if you've ever had the pleasure of dealing with HR in the workplace. I'm not staying HR is totally useless, but you have to go in knowing where their interests lie and, if you're going to make a complaint against someone who's a company big shot, then you'd better come prepared with your own legal counsel.

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!"

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.

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/