Looper

I saw Looper two weeks ago and it was awesome, the day after I saw Jay-Z open the new Brooklyn Barclays Center (which was awesome in itself) my girlfriend and I went to a matinee show at the Court Street Theaters in Brooklyn.  Here is what I loved and hated about the movie which I overall enjoyed the hell out of.

Loved:
- EVERYTHING!
- the future Paul Dano amputation scene - it set the movie up to go to some dark places.  I heard someone describe this scene as very metal, which it indeed was.
- JGL's Bruce Willis makeup - set it up for a whole different experience, it definitely put me in another mind space to think that it actually was a young Bruce
- the 30 year sequence - holy cow, so brilliant, they could have just followed the movie to Bruce escaping and carry on but OH NO they take you into the whole separate timeline, this really set you up for what kind of ride this movie was going to take you on
- emily blunt - big fan, always enjoy her, nuff said
- the kid - the cutest killing machine apparently
- the chest burst scene - i literally squealed in delight at this
- jeff daniels
- bruce willis having to kill children - like i said, dark places

Hated:
- the Gat Man who keeps popping up was distracting, "this guy again?" was a common thread in my head.  He moved the story along but I thought could have been worked around
- the stripper gf's kid is one of the three Bruce has to find? come on

Overall: A

PIzza Update

Allright ya'll, I've been eating so much pizza lately.

It has turned now more into just "yeah pizza IS great" but is now more "i literally don't want to eat anything but pizza."  After work, late at night, I might venture to say that a slice of pizza relaxes me more than a post busy-night beer.  Maybe not, but it's gotten pretty close.

New spots:

Finally went to Grimaldi's: albeit was the new Coney Island spot but it was till pretty dall gern good.  However, my friends Chelsea, Dan and I fell prey to pizzas recurring victim, too many toppings.  Watered it down and just didn't have that sauce heftness I love.  Which leads me too....

Papa Johns you old so and so:  gotten in the habit of ordering Papa John's online which is not only A) convenient but B) so delicious.  It reminds me of home but gives me the worst acid reflux.

Rocky's in the Meatpacking District:  the first time I went here was when I had a job as a busboy at a hotel restaurant in the area over a year ago.  My new job is in the same area and I go here for a slice (let's be honest, two slices) afterwards more often than not.  A classic case of pizza place by the subway stop familiarity.

Pizza you've done well, keep it up.

Interpretation

When I was growing up I loved to read.  When you are too young to watch R rated movies and TV shows involving cancer-ridden-meth-cooker dads you spend your time playing with action figures and reading about kids who are the only ones that can see color (The Giver would make a pretty great short film by the way). 

Nowadays, my curse is only reading books that have been made into movies, or even better, are going to be made into movies in the near future.  I don't know what it is, I cannot simply read a book, I need a secondary payoff, I need to see how it is "actually" going to happen according to someone else's interpretation of the book.  It's like I feel the movie is the only way it can look and I want to read it to see what I would see it as.  I feel like I am describing the creative process of making movies.  

I hate slash love slash hate again knowing who the actors are going to be/are in the movie of a book.  I like starting to read something and having my own vision of the character, then having an opinion on if the actor is good enough for the role.  But then when I know the actor I cannot bring back in my own character.  That happened verbatim with the Hunger Game books.  Then there is the problem of reading the book after the fact.  When I read High Fidelity nobody but Jack Black was in his character, I was listening to him read his parts in my head and it was hilllarious.  It's like my imagination plateaus, I can figure things out to a point then I just say fuck it and want it spoon fed. 

I think what is mainly rooted in this is being a know-it-all.  I am that person who during a movie wants to tell you all the IMDB trivia, or what scenes in a movie obviously make more sense if you read the book.  Game of Thrones is a great example of a way to ruin the experience for someone by not shutting up, I love it, I feel so cultured and smart.  This kind of stuff also makes you a great ringer in bar trivia.

I can't decide if this is a good thing or a bad thing.  It is obviously hindering me from reading other great books.  What I need is someone to just give me books to read and not giving me a choice.  I watch more movies than I read so the movies are just informing me what to read.  Also, ultimately all good books are going to get made into movies anyways so it is hard to escape it.  Nothing seems un-adaptable.  They made Naked Lunch into a movie, I can only imagine how weird that book is because that movie is buhzarre.  This whole post is stemming from just watching the trailer for the new movie Cloud Atlas, which is apparently based on a book.  So what I am trying to say is that if you want to know what I am reading next it will be that THANK YOUUUU.

Big Apple Beer

Beer, it's the best, simply put.  Over the past few years my appreciation, as well as my association, with beer has changed dramatically.  Now, living in one of the biggest cities in the world, it has taken on even more of a life affirming meaning.

I grew up in a household of displaced-midwestern parents.  Coming from Wisconsin, beer to them was a way of life, it came hand and hand with meeting new people, or even just congregating within the household.  I have memories of them sharing a beer at dinner, or at least my mom would always want to split one with someone, she still does to this day.  I always found that endearing, whether it was the sheer fact she didn't want a whole one or, as I see it, sharing the moment with someone.  I grew up in Kentucky and when we traveled to visit family in the Midwest I found that type of mentality all over the place, sharing with one another and beer being something special within a community.  Even the most seldom of drinkers know the local brewery or the local watering hole around the corner, they can tell you immediately the best place to get a drink dependent on wherever you are and whatever you are looking for.

I carried that with me to college.  I moved with my family to North Carolina for high school and went to college there as well.  Like any other stereotypical high schooler, beer was there to party, and you could always trust beer for that.  Even amongst those hazy years of becoming acquainted with beer I could still see what it can do to a group of people, whether it was adversely or not.  Transitioning into college and becoming of age, the great state of North Carolina was a great place to begin ones expedition into beer.  When I turned 21 I wanted to get my hands on anything and everything I could.  Different, styles, different tastes, different bars, wherever it was I wanted to try it, responsibly of course.  It started to take on new meaning, the craft of it all, the art, seeing what it can do to people.  Beer started to take shape as something more important to me than just a glass of (delicious) liquid.  I saw it as something I had to be involved in.

Leaving one of the most populated southern beer states, and soon to be secondary homes of major breweries like Sierra Nevada, New Belgium and Oskar Blues, I moved with my girlfriend to New York City to hopefully plant my foot in the beer industry.  Upon arriving I found the scene to be quite different.  For a city filled with so many people, beer is an afterthought.  Obviously you can get a beer within 10 feet of wherever you are standing anywhere in the city, albeit a bar or bodega, but the respect I had been weened on was missing.  It was described to me as "New York is a liquor town, that is what the celebrities drink so that's what everyone else drinks."  That is not to say you can't find a good beer in the city though.

Through a brief stint working for a brewery I found some great places to enjoy beer. The best slash worst slash best again thing about the minority of beer is the camaraderie you'll find between those others out there seeking a fine ale.  There are plenty of people in New York that enjoy good beer, but they pale in comparison to the ultimate population the city commands.  From what I have seen, this then creates what would resemble a secret society, a community of people displanted from North Carolina, Southern California, Colorado, Michigan and other beer locales that all want to promote and create a new beer distinction within the big apple.  Compared to the number of bars in the city, the ones that you can get a really great beer with someone who knows what they are doing, as far as storing it, and serving it and promoting it, is minuscule.  However, these places will also know where else you can go, which is to say if you get the name of just one place the people there will be able to point you to the next destination and so on and so far, everyone wants to spread the word and spread the love.

That has been one of my favorite things so far when it comes to living in Brooklyn, seeking out the best places to enjoy a beer.  It truly makes you feel a part of the city.  You know where the best place in any neighborhood is to get a beer, you know the best place to send others and the people you send them to appreciate it, they know it's not just another person in the millions that live here, it is something more.  I know that I will run into them again, and that hopefully I'll be able to share a beer with them sometime.

Cheap eats

I've said it before, multiple times, that I love pizza.  But don't get me wrong, I love plenty of other foods too.  Not just pizza but, tacos, hot dogs, hamburgers, they are all great.  But you know what they all have in common, they're cheap.  

After living in New York for a little over a year I think the thing I find the most annoying in this city is the food.  Now, New York does have some of the best food in the world...but I'll never experience it, I don't have that kind of cash.  The fact that the city is such a mecca for great food then filters into so many other eateries.  I have found it so hard to find a good, exciting meal, for a moderate price, or at least one that rivals the actual dish itself.  With everyone focused on trying to be the best insert food here quality assurance is lost.  

I understand it though, you have to pay for the space/rent and all that other stuff too.  But as a consumer you realize really quickly that you need to be very choosey about where you pick to eat.  You can't just wander around an area to find somewhere to eat, then you get trapped because you pass so many places that you can tell are too overpriced for a plate of two korean tacos.  Then you cave and just want to eat and you end up at a restaurant that has even pricier BBQ.  Expensive BBQ?  Are you kidding me?  That is what makes those foods great, and then you have to mess that all up by selling expensive "gourmet" hot dogs, I'm looking at you Bark.

It also makes me realize why some chefs are so opposed to food trucks.  Those things get it, and they are at the right price.  When you don't have to pay waiters, pay rent, pay dishwashers and all that fun stuff you can put out creative food for reasonable prices.  It's great for me and the hungry hippos that line up for Korean BBQ for 8 bucks, and I am willing to spend 6 dollars on a fancy grilled cheese but I'd never tip for it.  

I think overall I miss food in Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, and Asheville, Asheville has a great food scene.  These are places where there are talented chefs and interesting ideas and base of people that want great food.  When it comes down to it they just don't have to pay as much for rent, if I had to guess.  But it is just down right upsetting when I can't get a good plate of vinegar based BBQ with fried ocra and mayonnaise drenched coleslaw for under 15 dollars.  

Beers in the Fridge

I've been wanting to talk about this for a long time now because I am constantly reminded of how fond I am of this subject.  Overall I would consider beer a very important thing in my life.  I consider an important part of my lifestyle, an important part of my community within my friends and other close acquaintances.  I also see it as my future.  I could devote an entire post to the multiple facets of beer and how I see them as vital or how I disagree with a lot of it, but then I wouldn't have anything else to say about it.  So let's slow play this idea and start small.

There is not much better than coming home at night and finding that one lone beer in the back of the fridge.  It's late but you don't want to go to sleep, you want to sit for a second and reflect on your day, or your week, or your life.  Maybe put on a movie, something you can ignore.  The best thing to accompany this is that forgotten beer from the six pack your friend brought over last week.  A purposefully left beer can be just as good but it is that special little surprise you forgot about that sets this beer apart.  You think, "life is good.  I am hear living in New York [or insert other city] I had a great day and to cap it off I have a little treat waiting for me."  There is something special about that beer, for me it may even bring me back to another memory, either way it is the perfect end to a day, albeit good or bad.  The day might have been shit but you can consider that beer a win and sleep happy.

What blows my mind is when there is not a single beer in someones fridge.  Not even an old Michelob Ultra left over from last 4th of July when your dad (your dad not mine, because then it would be a Coors Light) visited and you just couldn't bring yourself to drink it.  Obviously not everyone has to have a beer in the fridge at all times but that doesn't mean I have to understand it.

My main belief above all else concerning beer is that it is community.   It brings people together, it makes memories, it spurs conversation.  And that one beer in the fridge no matter what it is, brings all these things back to you, at the end of the day it reminds me of the life you've led and where to go from there.

Feeling a bit dazed.

Do you have those movies that you watch over and over again just to watch?  You may have it on in the background while doing chores or put it on while going to sleep, you know what is happening, you've seen it so many times, you know that Jeff Bridges is taking a bath listening to whale sounds, no need to pay that much attention.

Well last night I watched one of my favorite background noise movies but for realsies, Dazed and Confused.  How much does that movie rule?  It's an obvious classic and I don't feel like I need to go into it's merits, but I hadn't watched it form start to finish, uninterrupted, in a long time.  I'll be honest that the viewing was inspired but just recently seeing Magic Mike and I needed to continue my McConaugh-igh.

I'm a sucker for movies about "last" days, insert Wet Hot American Summer or...some other movie where that happens, so let's just say I love these two movies.  But, D&C has that almost Catcher in the Rye quality to it, where watching/reading it at different points in your life give it a different meaning to it all together (somebody told me that about Catcher in the Rye once, it's the only reason I read it twice).

I digress.  In high school watching D&C I got the feeling that I wish I had gone to high school in '76, everyone parties together!  It seemed so much simpler, nobody cared what you did, the future isn't quite as certain but you still question your purpose but it's while partying at a Moon Tower!  Also, you could buy beer at 18, which seemed like it would have had it's benefits.

In college it was, "man college rules, remember high school? that sucked right?"  The movie served more as a glimpse into what could have been, "that's not what high school was like for me, and thank god I am not there anymore, we're in college now, where all the girls will be puttin' out."  Also, it served as a great time waster with buddies before going to a party AND a killer summer soundtrack.

But now, I watched it for the first time in a long time, I am out of college, I live in Brooklyn in a completely different world.  I reached the moment of sentiment while viewing it.  I also thought "man high school was awesome," and I hated high school. The themes still ring true more than ever, issues dealing with identity, belonging, connection and alienation.   It's not just a movie where they smoke weed and play pool at the Emporium anymore, although it is still that, but last night it touched me on a different level.  Even in '76 when premium was 58 cents things weren't so different for high schoolers as they are for displanted southerners in New York in 2012, and that was comforting in a way.  

All in all that movie rules and is one of those special films that can really speak to you no matter who you are.

Pizza Post! Pizza Post!

Allllllright, enough of this sad downer stuff.  That's not what we are here for right?  What are we here for?  Pizza, pizza, pizza.  I love pizza, and something I love even more, lists. Pizza list, pizza list, pizza list!

Favorite place to eat pizza rooted in nostalgia: Papaleno's Italian Restaurant in downtown Berea, KY

Berea is a really small town in eastern KY where Berea College is located.  Tuition is free but you have to work in the community in craft guilds, so you can repay your tuition by making quilts essentially.  We would always go there after soccer games or after going to the pool that had a killer water slide.  Introduced me to quality pizza not from a chain.

Favorite place to eat pizza based on location alone: Miguel's Pizza in the Red River Gorge, Slade, KY

I used to work at a summer camp in Irvine, KY and we would go hear to eat all the time.  It doubles as a rock climbing shop and also provides camp sites for climbers in the gorge for a small fee.  They grow some of their ingredients in the back which comes through in the food.  Two slices of pizza and an Ale-8-1 from here might be the best meal I have ever had.

Favorite college town pizza: IP3's in Chapel Hill, NC

Cheap pizza and stereotypical over the top italian owners.  Spent time drinking underage as a freshman here as well, $10 for a cheese pizza and a pitcher of beer.  That's just dollar smart.

Favorite college town pizza not related to drinking for cheap: Amante Pizza in Carrboro, NC

Right next to door to VisArt Video (RIP) and down from Cat's Cradle, both city landmarks, Amante Pizza was no different, quality pizza with just enough grease and right down the walkway from my apt.  Tie between this and the Papa John's practically outside the door from my senior year apt, the heart wants what the heart wants.  Speaking of which...

Favorite chain pizza: Papa John's in anywhere USA

I don't feel like I should even have to justify this one.

Favorite Brooklyn pie: Pino's La Forchetta in Park Slope

Thanks Micah for turning me onto this one.  Great Margarita pizza, just don't go here during lunch time during the school year, it's across the street from a middle school and it turns into lord of the flies at the counter.

Favorite Brooklyn slice:  Roma Pizza in Park Slope

I live in Park Slope so I eat in Park Slope for the most part.  Roma is right on the way home to my apt so it's convenient, and good.  Pro tip, when getting two slices only order one with toppings.  They usually overload them so I just take half of them and put them on the other slice.

Favorite fancy pizza: Keste Pizzeria in Manhattan

Again, my fellow pizza aficionado Micah, who doubles as my cousin in law, turned me onto this one.  Really quality food at a reasonable price, which is hard to find in NY, more on that later (what's the deal with expensive hot dogs?).  Three of us all got our own small/md pizza and shared and left with money in our pocket.

Favorite place I need to go next: Grimaldi's Pizzeria in DUMBO Brooklyn

Supposedly it's a neighborhood landmark and also some real good za.  More as the story unfolds...

Pizza post out.

Singer/Songwriter

I started playing the guitar as a freshman as a way of getting out of band class and thinking that it would impress girls, same reason I took french in high school.  Then you get into wanting to write songs because you don't just want to be playing the same bob dylan songs all the time, I managed to turn that into a 10 year thing.  

I was never good at writing songs, not original enough, all the songs I tried to write were based around other structures just with the words changed, essentially bob dylan songs but with different lyrics.  Back to my main point, I am not original, and that is ok.  I can accept that my mind is almost completely referential.  Originality and creativity are not synonymous I think.  Being a creative person isn't based upon how groundbreaking you can be, I don't know what it is based on but I feel that as long as someone can take something and expand on it while making it their own they are on the right path.

T-shirts!

I go crazy for graphic t-shirts worn by people in movies and tv shows.  More specifically ones that are for some very specific event that happened in one episode or from a few minutes of a movie, just one single frame of a movie would work even better.  It can't just be any shirt though, like those people that wear Dunder/Mifflin t-shirts, too easy.  It has to be that special shirt that says "yeah I've seen the show, but you'd only know it if you are obsessive as I am"  or I guess it would go, "yeah I watch the show, please tell me how cool you think I am because of this shirt to validate it."  Yeah, I think the second one.  It is like wearing a quote from a movie on your shirt.  I would kill for the AIDS walk shirt from the episode of Seinfeld were Kramer won't wear the AIDS ribbon.  Or the Adidas sneakers from Life Aquatic, that's a get.

Who are you?

It has all happened to us.  You see someone on the street that you met in passing, at a party or somewhere else, you might have talked briefly before or maybe it was a just a "and this is my boyfriend so and so."  You get there attention and say hi and they don't remember you or act like you have never me.

Now I am not saying that they have to remember you but the thing that I hate is that look that says, "That was random.  How should I remember that time we met?  I don't busy myself with such things.  You are weird for remembering me.  How dare you."  No, how dare you sir, excuse me for thinking you were interesting enough to remember us speaking even if it was just a brief encounter.

Granted, it does get awkward when I start remembering every little detail ("I really liked that shirt you had on...."), or whatever.  But, in my opinion people should feel flattered in these instances, nobody is important enough to feel put off by having someone else want to make you feel special by remembering an experience they had with them no matter how small.

3 days, 2 posts

Initially starting this blog, three days ago, I told myself I would post at least once a day, already blew that one.  I am going to be terrible at this, I don't even have internet in my apt (which I like? I think?), my mind is very fleeting, and my social media skills are ok at best if it was still 2005 ("well ya see it's like myspace but different")  But, I do feel like I have things to say so how does this work?  I think the end game here is I am going to drive myself crazy trying to make sure I seem funny.

I'm ok with that.

First and Foremost

So, a little while back I was encouraged to start a blog, by my girlfriend, because she feels, as I do too, that I have a voice that needs to be heard.  Let's say, an interesting take on things.  So I thought, "ya know what, I do have a voice.  I've seen some stuff, I've done a few things, I've got things to say darn it."  Then time passed, I forgot about it, I'm lazy, I doubted myself, I am a horrendous writer, I have a hard time talking about myself, not to mention I don't have a single original thought that runs through my brain, like right now I'm thinking, "Who and what should I model this after?  Who do I think is funny and intelligent and how should I try and write slash sound like them?"

Why would anyone want to hear what I have to say?

But now, I thought I'd just dive in.  As someone from the southern part of the states, spending most of my life living in small college towns, being exposed to a very limited narrow scope of a lifestyle, and now knotching over a year spent in Brooklyn, I would say I do have an outlook on certain things and situations.  So here it goes, first post:

I really love pizza, like a lot.  It might be the best food of all time.  I could eat it three meals a day and then have cold leftovers at night.

Thanks Melissa