Memorial Day Musings

-First off, thanks to all the troops and veterans. We all support what you do. Happy Memorial Day!

-Was watching FRED CLAUS this morning on HBO. The story of Santa's brother. I'm starting to wonder about Santa Claus' work ethic. He only has to work one day a year (come on, you know the elves do everything else), but every year some sort of crisis appears and someone else has to deliver the presents. Seriously, Santa, bring in a new Claus if you want out of work that badly.

-Irregardless. Has this "word" regained popularity since THE SOPRANOS? I mean, it's not even a real word. According to dictionary.com, it is considered "not standard" and was popularized by a comedian in the 30s. But now I hear and see it all the time.

-By the way, another thing that bothers me: "I could care less." Really? How much less could you care? What you're trying to say is "you couldn't care less." It's not even a grammatical mistake. It is a logical one.

-Yes, I know. Who am I to criticize grammar? I am, after all, the typo king.

-The Rutgers basketball team is in Spain. Freddie find us a point guard!!!

-Enjoy your BBQs!!

The Line-up #2

My experience with poetry lately has been wrapped in a world of Frost, Donne, Shakespeare, and Whitman. Heavy hitters, for sure, speaking about the world of summer days, winding forest roads, Lincoln, and eternal love. An 8th graders' crash course.

So, when I opened my copy of The Line-up #2 (edited by Gerald So, Patrick Shawn Bagley, R Narvaez, and Anthony Rainone), I wasn't sure what to expect. Was I going to get quick rhymes telling stories of bankrobbers? Was I going to see a murder compared to a summer's day?

Of course not.

I got small, dark moments. A dying man in the back of an ambulance, his identity a mystery. A woman mourning her son's death in Baghdad. Not bank robberies, not many mass murders. Just the darkness the world can bring on a daily basis.

The crimes here aren't big, thriller moments. They're small crimes. Crimes of the heart.

A book full of melancholy. A book full of small emotions expanded by words.

I loved every line. Nice job, folks.

PAPER TOWNS by John Green

"It's easier to leave than be left behind."--REM, "Leaving New York"

I haven't read much YA fiction on my own lately. Usually what I read has to do with work, and I've read it six or seven times already. But I picked up John Green's Edgar winning PAPER TOWNS on the recommendation of a former student and Sarah.

Wow.

This is the YA book I've been looking for.

Quentin Jacobsen (the original draft of this post said his surname was "Richardson." Clearly, it was because I was reading about basketball before I posted this... whoops) is on the verge of ending high school sitting in his room, not wanting to go to prom. Suddenly the girl next door, Margo Roth Spiegelman shows up to take him on an all night adventure. The next morning Q can't wait to get to school and talk to Margo. Only to find out she's disappeared. And left clues for Q to find her.

The search is suspenseful and it has all the twists and turns of a mystery novel, but that's not what got me. What suckered me in was the exploration of nostalgia, identity, and leaving. Q thinks about leaving high school, how much he wants to grow up, start a new life, leave high school. But at the same time, he's drawn to the memories, the moments of friendship he'll lose.

I haven't encountered characters this complex in my YA experience. No one is who they seem to be, and yet they are exactly who they seem to be. Everything they say makes complete sense, and fits who they are. I can remember all these feelings when I left high school. I remember wanting to get out so bad, and at the same time never wanting to leave.

This is a book for every dorky guy in high school who was also really cool. For anyone who ever hung out around the bandroom. For anyone who was quick witted and funny and incredibly shy.

It's a book about how easy it is to leave, even when it's better to stay behind.

It's highly recommended.

(If you want to hear John talk about the book, click here.)

A JJ Abrams Kinda Night.

Saw Star Trek tonight and really enjoyed it. Way to keep the core fans relatively happy and yet start over at the same time. Very, fun popcorn movie. The smartest thing to do was focus on Kirk and Spock. Create their characters, mine them for some depth, show their differences and find a way to make them both heroic. Well done. I wonder if the sequels can keep it up....

Okay, that out of the way, let's get to LOST.

LOST can always be counted on to give you a great finale. And this year was the best of the bunch. I watched with a knot in my stomach the entire time. Would the bomb go off? Would Locke kill Jacob? Who is Jacob?

We got the answers to those questions, and of course more questions.

But wow. I mean... I need more time to digest this. But it's been a long time since I've gotten emotional over a TV show. Whether it's a lump in your throat, a knot in your stomach or a pain the brain... when that screen had gone to white I had it all.

I honestly hope next season opens with everyone getting off the plane.

What a finale.

Nine long months to go...

Come on down to Cleveland Town, everyone

These crack me up! (NSFW, a few choice words.)

LIVE BLOGGING: The Wrestler

Gonna start watching THE WRESTLER in a minute. If you've seen it, follow along after the break!


8:08: Is it me or should it be required that the 20th Century Fox (Fox Searchlight) theme legally have to be followed by the Star Wars theme?

8:10: Nice, movie opens with a montage much like the Rocky movie and the end of THE USUAL SUSPECTS. There's two flicks you rarely see in the same sentence.

8:12: After listening to--and seeing pictures of--Iron Sheik peeing himself on Opie and Anthony this week, I'm curious how this movie is going to play out. And we have a Jersey reference with Rahway.

8:18: Drug use, beer, and a trailer park. Hmmm. Maybe he's only CLOSE to New Jersey.

8:21: Ha! The Funky Samoans. Wish we could watch that match.

8:25: Hmmm. There's some wrestling going on here. What a plot twist!

8:27: It appears to me that Mickey Rourke does not have the panache or sho.... oh waiiiiitttttttt there it is. The leap off the top rope!

8:33: Did I just see Marissa Tomei nude? Did I? Hmm. +1

8:36: They talk really fast in this movie. And naked Marissa Tomei has been counteracted by Mickey Rourke butt.

8:37: Rats. This movie does take place in New Jersey, but judging by the locale... South Jersey, so it doesn't really count....

8:42: The chants by the crowds in this movie are hilarious. "You sick F---!"

8:48: I can't read the NOTE at the hospital!!!

8:52: Books or old school Nintendo?

8:54: He ran about fifteen feet and was winded. Seems like me.

9:02: I knew i recognized that voice... Judah Frielander looks so much different not on 30 ROCK.

9:04: Now knowing where this movie was filmed I am going to embrace its hardboiled/noir Jersey side.

9:07: "Isn't that when you sit on other dude's faces?"

9:10: Now I feel like I should be playing a game of "I've been there. I've been there!"

9:14: Mr. Rourke should never dance. Though, a lot of hairbands in this movie... "Round and Round" sounds a whole lot like "Panama" by Van Halen.

9:17: Love how the walk to the deli parallels a walk to the ring. Very funny, even adding the crowd chanting.

9:23: This boardwalk is very close to where I was this afternoon.

9:35: I USED TO LIVE ACROSS THE STREET FROM THERE!!!!!!!! (Oh well, this live blog has just degenerated into nonsense, hasn't it?)

9:38: Sometimes you just have a bad day. He quit the supermarket better than I did way back when.

9:47: We get one more nude scene with 15 minutes to go, and plenty of time for a tragic, tragic ending. That's my guess.

9:53: Takes a while to get this wrestlin' rant going. There we go. Now we're wrasslin'.

9:55: She leaves. That's perfect. Anti-Adrian.

9:57: The Wrestler is like a Ray Banks novel without the accents and the crime. Good movie.

9:58: Oh no wonder the movie got such ridiculous good reviews. Good acting and a vague ending.

New Jersey: The Promised Land--SONG

New Jersey may have the greatest love ballad written about the state, and the woman who lives there. Tom Waits penned the classic "Jersey Girl." It's a song that sounds like the old doo-wop crossed with the sounds of the shore. It's clear that Waits was trying to bring out the feel of the Jersey Shore in the song.



And then Bruce immortalized it. If there's a song that gets Jersey, gets Jersey girls, sounds romantic, and also feels dirty...It's this.



Even Jovi took a shot.



What does Kentucky (#17) have? They have a song they all sing together at the Kentucky Derby, "My Old Kentucky Home." It pretty much sounds like a version of something John Denver wrote or even James Taylor. But it's not Kentucky like "Jersey Girl" is Jersey. It's common. It's fine. It's blah. It's a middle state. No identity.

Jersey owns the Best Song crown too!