Month: August 2011

That’s one way of putting it (round-up edition)

Nathan Rabin on Father’s Day:

[Ivan] Reitman without Bill Murray is like Superman at a Kryptonite convention: His powers are useless and the results (My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Evolution, Legal Eagles) often dire.

The AV Club on the Netflix price hikes:

It’s sort of like the movie Sophie’s Choice, which you won’t be able to watch if you pick the streaming-only plan.

Keith Phipps on Larry Crowne:

To be any flimsier, Larry Crowne would have to be projected on Kleenex.

John Scalzi on the continually changing (or not) face of the Internet:

Knowing that Angelfire and Lycos still exist in some form is like hearing that somewhere out there Matthew Perry and Lisa Kudrow are still putting on new “episodes” of Friends for anniversary parties and bar mitzvahs.

Roger Ebert on Transformers: Dark of the Moon:

I have a quaint notion that one of the purposes of editing is to make it clear why one shot follows another, or why several shots occur in the order that they do.

Jessa Crispin on X-Men: First Class:

Me: “Why are there only white people in this movie?”
Friend: “The white people are metaphors for black people.”

Putter there

Today was our company outing to Randalls Island, just across the bridge from Manhattan, and it was actually a lot of fun. I got to work around 8:30, answered a few e-mails — fewer than I would have liked — and then I set my away message and headed downstairs to hop on the bus.

We arrived a little before ten and were left mostly to our own devices, with a driving range, batting cage, bean bag toss, and lots of other games available. There was also a short relay race — one leg a sack race, another a three-legged race, the third an egg-and-spoon race with lemons standing in for the eggs — and a dodgeball “tournament,” both of which I just watched. I played some miniature golf with my co-workers, enjoyed a decent lunch, and got to leave work early when we returned to the office around 3.

Meanwhile, much ado about Hurricane Irene, expected to hit us sometime tomorrow into Sunday. It’s unclear just how bad it’s going to get, but we should be safe, at worst losing power for a little while. We’re hoping even that doesn’t happen, though, and we’re far enough from the coast not to be in any of the evacuation areas. We’re also not dependent on public transportation over the weekend, so we won’t be impacted by NYC shutting that down until Monday, when everything should hopefully have returned to normal.

To think that in a week from now, I will be in the Canadian Rockies…

Random 10 8-26-11

Last week. This week:

  1. “Love Spreads” by the Stone Roses
    I forgive you boy, but don’t leave town
  2. “Running Scared” by Roy Orbison, guessed by Occupant
    You turned around and walked away with me
  3. “Born to Run” by Bruce Springsteen, guessed by Occupant
    Kids are huddled on the beach in a mist
  4. You’re still breathing but you don’t know why
  5. “Trouble” by Ray LaMontagne, guessed by Kim
    She come around and knock me down again
  6. “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll” by Mason Jennings (orig. Bob Dylan)
    And the cops were called in and his weapon took from him
  7. “Marduk T-Shirt Men’s Room Incident” by the Mountain Goats
    Try to leave no traces when you go
  8. “Friday on My Mind” by the Busters (orig. the Easybeats), guessed by Occupant
    Even my old man looks good
  9. “Poem to a Horse” by Shakira
    But they’re rolling papers for your grass
  10. “Expectations” by Belle and Sebastian
    Start in Lingerie, and Doris is your supervisor

Good luck!