Hello,
Things I've seen, read or otherwise experienced recently.
Movies: "Thanks For Sharing", the movie about several people's battle with sex addiction that stars Mark Ruffalo, Gwyneth Paltrow, Tim Robbins, Patrick Fugit (Salt Lake native!), Alecia Moore (aka P!nk) and Josh Gad. For a movie that's about sex addiction, it has a sweet undercurrent. Perhaps a bit too sweet, but the movie ends on a hopeful note. The first half of the movie is very slow, but that's the set up for a much better second half. Tim Robbins and Mark Ruffalo both have great performances, Robbins especially puts on a master acting class. I really hated the character Josh Gad plays for the first half of the movie. But as we watched Neil's progress his character became much more likable. Grade C+/ B-
"Get The Gringo", a movie that's about Driver (Mel Gibson). We don't actually get his name, Driver is a reference to the opening scene of the movie. Anyway Driver is in a Mexican prison, trying to survive, escape and get the money he stole back. This is one of those movies that is pretty much as you expect it to be. The quintessential "video movie". It was never going to win any Oscars, but it's a pleasant enough diversion. Grade: C-
"Seventh Son", another movie that's exactly what one expects. This is a movie I would have stayed far away from, but my kids picked it. Skip this movie as it steals most of the tired conventions of fantasy movies. Why the hell was Spook (Jeff Bridges) using that ridiculous voice the whole movie? That's just one of the puzzling things in this movie. Other puzzling things: why was this movie made?, why did anyone want to see it? what's the point of making a movie that's been made hundreds of time before. (Yes I know money, but this slog of a movie couldn't have made that much money.) But the most puzzling thing about this movie is why did Julianne Moore agree to be in it? I kept on seeing her and wondering is that really Miss Julianne Moore? It obviously had to be a paycheck movie for her. If you have any say in it, there's no need to watch this movie ever. Grade: F
I also tried to watch "Europa Report", but I couldn't get past the first 10 minutes.
The movie "Horns" is available on Netflix now, but I'm a bit afraid to watch it. That's one of my favorite books of all-times and I've afraid they've ruined what is such a great piece of entertainment.
Books: I've started reading two books lately. The first book is George F. Will's "A Nice Little Place On the North Side: Wrigley Field At One Hundred". This is a hilarious take on the tortured history of the Chicago Cubs and their pleasant prison/ stadium. Among the highlights is the motto "anyone can have a bad century", the disputed Babe Ruth called home run and many other things. Will takes the perfect tone with this franchise.
Would it surprise you to know it was a Cubs player and the woman who shot him that inspired the movie "The Natural". Eddie Waitkus, a war hero who earned 4 bronze stars, became the object of intense affection of a lady named Ruth Ann Steinhagen. She became obsessed with Waitkus, even building a shrine for him in her apartment. In June 1949 she stayed at the same hotel the Cubs were staying at. She lured him to her hotel room, where she shot him.
Three years later Bernard Malamud published "The Natural". As Will says "the story of Roy Hobbs, who is shot by a woman." "The Natural" isn't only one of the best baseball movies of all-time, but it's also one of the best movies of all-time.
Will obviously has quite a bit fondness for Ernie Banks, as he highlights the many accomplishments of Mr. Cub.
This book shares how the Ivy came to added to Wrigley Field in 1937. The author also marks one of the most Cubness moments ever, a moment that happened on July 20,1962. In a loss to the Dodgers, the Cubs fell below .500 in the history of Wrigley Field. They have remained below .500 ever since then, in fact they have fallen even more below .500. The Cubs finished 16 games below .500 in 2014, which is a lot better when they finished 30 games under .500. Somehow they still had 2.6 million fans come to Wrigley each of those two years.
This book also details the Cubs connection to Jack Ruby, Ronald Reagan and Ray Kroc.
(However with the Core Four maturing and gaining experience, the signing of Jon Lester and Joe Maddon the good times have got to be right around the corner? Right? The NL Central may be the strongest division in the 2015 season. I'm considering doing a game by game review of the Cubs season as I did with the Dodgers a couple of years ago.)
I also started reading David Wong's "John Dies At The End" and I've read about the first 10% and so far I'm a bit disappointed. For some reason I was expecting another "Ready Player One" type novel. However it reminds me so much more of the spiritualist that's also a detective, the name of whom escapes me now.
Music: Catfish and the Bottlemen's "The Balcony". This is a CD that gets bogged down by the band's immaturity, from the inappropriate cover to the too liberal use of the f bomb. They do have a few good songs, but their songs aren't distinct enough to notice usually when a new song is playing. They do rock and they have a good singer. But they need to gain maturity and a more diverse sound. Grade: C
I've also listened to a series of CDs on Rdio today to see if they are worthy of themusicaddict's Greatest CDs of all time. A Rdio heart is a favorite song.
1) Arcade Fire's "The Suburbs": Is this CD a classic, not even close. Only 3 of the 16 songs received a Rdio heart. Grade: C-
2) INXS's "Kick": definitely a classic. All 12 songs received a Rdio heart. Grade: A +
3) Cyndi Lauper's "She's So Unusual" This isn't a themusicaddict classic CD, although this CD starts out really strong. 5 of the first 6 songs are certified classics, some of the best songs the 80's produced. However the final four songs are filler. Grade B-
4) The Band Perry's "Pioneer". Because I might be seeing them in concert in July and because they are a great band, I listened to it. I can't believe this CD is almost 2 years old. Without a doubt this CD is a classic, 10 of the 12 songs get a Rdio heart. Grade: A- (On a side note with all their pictures they always have a bunch of hair. I'm thinking a good back up name for them would be The Band Hairy.)
5) Adele's "21": Listening to this CD, it's not as good as I thought. While it certainly has some great songs, but only 6 of 11 songs earned a Rdio heart. Grade: B-
Food: My favorite place to eat is Olive Garden and I'm a big fan of their fettucini alfredo. The top 3 Olive Garden locations for fettucini alfredo in the Salt Lake to Provo area.
1) Provo, they've figured out the perfect amount of sauce to put on their fettucini, their fettucini is to die for.
2) Layton, they've figured out recently about adding the right amount of sauce lately. We went there yesterday to celebrate my daughter's 14th birthday and the fettucini was the bomb. We also had a fantastic waitress that was no nonsense and did her job fantastically well.
3) Sugarhouse, let's just put it this way: their fettucini was disappointing.
thefettuciniaddict
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