Flippin' the Script

Okay chitlins, we’re all over the map today. Buckle up!

* Let’s start with this past weekend’s NFL divisional-round playoff games. Strong times to be had. Three out of the four of them weren’t really much to get all trumped up about. The Saints rolled the Cardinals, the Colts pulled away from Baltimore at the end and Minnesota basically embarrassed Dallas. But those fighting New York Football Jets just aren’t going anywhere right now. They battled, scrapped and beat the San Diego Chargers for their second straight road playoff victory, squeaking by 17-14, to get to the AFC Championship game for the first time since the ’98 season. Mark Sanchez continues to look way confident beyond his years (he’s only a rookie, by the Gods!) and that defense is straight-up frightening. Darrelle Revis, you are one talented man, and should have been the NFL Defensive MVP this season. Now we’ve got the Jets at Indianapolis (3 p.m.) and Minnesota at New Orleans (6:40 p.m.) on Sunday to determine who’s going to Super Bowl XLIV. I do know one thing – this seems to be the year of the indoor teams. Three of this past weekend’s four games were played in a dome, and both of this Sunday’s conference title games? Yep. At home in the dome. Noise plays a factor like nowhere else in these situations. Put it this way – when human voices, even if it is a LOT of them, can simulate the noise level of a commercial jet airliner … that’s frigging loud. I’d hate to be one of these opposing teams. Good luck to everyone. The Jets hysteria here in New York is catching on like hip-hugging jeans in the 80s, or Taco Bell’s new 89-cent, beefy five-layer burrito.

* Trying to get caught up on most of the Oscar buzz-worthy flicks before the Academy Awards next month. I’ve seen most of the usual suspects. Best picture seems to be quite wide open this year. ‘The Hurt Locker’ and ‘Up in the Air’ both seem like strong candidates. I’d love for ‘Precious’ to get serious consideration, but most people don’t have the stomach or constitution to fully invest emotionally in what it’s all about. It’s not easy, but if you make yourself get through it, you’ll see an amazing piece of cinema. ‘Up in the Air’ was quite strong, as it deals with subject matter that is very close to the core of what many people in our country are dealing with these days (unexpected job loss, a sense of alienation despite constantly being surrounded by people, pouring oneself into work while neglecting family out of a feeling of necessity to stay afloat, etc.). But above all else, it delves into the fact that relationships are the single most important piece of the puzzle for many of us, and how that dynamic affects everything else in our lives. Super relatable subject matter. Not difficult to imagine it striking a chord with the majority of voters. Whereas movies like ‘Precious’ and ‘The Hurt Locker’, although brilliant in their own right, explore worlds that are slightly more alien to many of us (unless you’re from the ghetto or have defused bombs in war-torn Iraq). Thusly, they lose some of that all-important relatability. Avatar is classic good vs. bad, with undercurrents of war and the environment, but it’s not all that well fleshed out in terms of its characters and plot once you get past all the visual eye candy and superstar CGI stuff. Tell you what might be the dark-horse candidate – Crazy Heart with Jeff Bridges. Why? Because it’s about country music, redemption, and getting one last shot. And as the title would suggest, it appears to have ‘heart.’ This one will resonate with a whole lot of people.  I’d personally endorse the Coen Brothers’ ‘A Serious Man,’ but again, it’s going to go over a lot of peoples’ heads. Not only must you appreciate the Coen Brothers’ quirky, darkly hilarious brand of humor to get into it, but a keen awareness of the more subtle and, especially, chuckle-inducing aspects of Jewish culture are also an integral part of enjoying the experience.

* Jersey Shore is a trainwreck in progress. We all know this by now. One cast member (Angelina) got kicked out of the house for failing to show up to her shift working at the farking T-SHIRT SHOP ON THE BOARDWALK, and another (Nicole a.k.a. ‘Snooki’) has been punched in the face not once, but TWICE, during the show’s filming at Seaside Heights in New Jersey this past summer. Oh and one of those shots to the grill was landed by a guy. Now THAT’S hardcore. And of course then there’s Mike ‘The Situation’, who is considered to be so intolerable, even by his own equally intolerable housemates’ standards, that nobody in the house even cares for him much anymore as the show winds its way down to what will no doubt be a gripping, thought-provoking, climactic finale this Thursday (Jan. 21^st). Sadly, because we are in the ‘Reality TV’ age, each and every one of these jarheads is likely to get way more than 15 minutes of fame. And we can all blame ourselves for eating this shit up with a spoon. Oh and by the way, only one of these cast members, Sammi Sweetheart – ironically, the apparent gold-star winner in this classroom of special-needs kids – is originally from New Jersey (and she’s not even from Seaside Heights). The rest of them? Six are from New York, and one is from Rhode Island. I didn’t quite know how to react to this when I looked it up, nor do I know now. I think this sums up the current state of pop culture quite well, no?