And 1nce Again It’s On

Alright, okay – let’s just put it out of the way at the get-go.

I’ve been in Indo-China hunting rare birds of prey. I almost shot my partner a la Dick Cheney-style, but it all worked out. Let’s just say, if you ever decide to leave the safety off your hunting rifle because you get sick of having to constantly switch it back and forth, just do the smart thing and keep switching it. Laziness just might kill ya dead otherwise!

Fine, okay, for reals, for those few devoted followers out there, I haven’t updated this space in ages. And it feels like I’ve turned several ages since then. Alas, here we are. I haven’t put it down since the day of the Super Bowl ya’ll. Inexcusable! And the frigging Saints won! I knew I shouldn’t have taken the ‘boring but predictable’ pick (Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts). Whatevs. They’re probably still partying in N’Awlins. We’ll see if the hangover lasts well into the 2010 season, but that’s several months from now.

I’m going to hop around the dial this time. Hang onto your party favors, chaps.


* The Oscars have come and gone without any major surprises, except perhaps arguably in the Best Picture category. Well, that and the crazy Jewish godmother chick that bum-rushed the stage and stole the thunder from Roger Ross Williams during the award acceptance speech in the Best Short Documentary category. Talk about pulling a ‘Kanye West’ – Jesus Christmas. At first I thought she was going to just complain about how she asked for a Salt bagel and they gave her an Egg Everything by mistake, for the sake of Hashem already. But then she started babbling about the film. Go figure.

The other most notable result, at least in my mind, was The Hurt Locker pulling the upset over Avatar for Best Picture. This is in no way an expression of opinion that Avatar should have won Best Pic, mind you. But I feared that it would, simply for more political reasons if nothing else … you know, like the fact that it made a buzzillion dollars and was seen by everyone who is anyone. It was a cultural phenomenon, not just a movie, and Hollywood often likes to reward such achievements. But I’m glad to see that, especially in recent years, the Academy has shown the tendency to give the nod to the less visible but still powerful, and deserving, films (i.e. Crash, Slumdog Millionaire, The Hurt Locker).

* Breaking Bad returns to AMC next Sunday, March 21st, chilluns. It’s. Going. To be. Bad-ass. Great show, heading into Season 3, and if you don’t know, now ya know. Go catch up pronto. It’s the best show of this past decade not named ‘The Wire.’ Bryan Cranston’s defining career role. Everyone else is fantastic too, in their own way. Just trust me. Subject matter, you ask? Well, it’s not the sunniest show, but if you can take it, it’s worth it. Cranston plays a burned out, mid-life crisis-having high school chemistry teacher in Albuquerque with a wife, a physically disabled teenage son, and another baby on the way. He’s a brilliant scientist who has fallen short with more prestigious career paths, and when the show opens we see him working a shitty second job in a car wash to help make ends meet. Then suddenly, he’s diagnosed with lung cancer. So what does he do? Why what anybody else would do in his position … he teams up with a burnout former student of his who deals small-time drugs locally and uses his vast knowledge of chemicals to construct the most addictive, dangerous, organically pure form of crystal meth known to man so he can make sick money for his family before he checks out permanently. It’s gripping stuff, and you can imagine the kind of characters that Walt and Jesse (said burnout former student) encounter along the way. Their pairing is seemingly unlikely and often chaotic, but also strangely compelling and even somewhat touching, at the risk of sounding like a sentimental pussy. But seriously – excellent show. Highly recommended.

* I caught Brooklyn’s Finest this weekend. It’s received mediocre reviews and only lukewarm attention. Although I enjoyed it overall, I must agree with the overall sentiment that it doesn’t quite stand up to Training Day, the definitive work of director Antoine Fuqua and a film which garnered a Best Lead Actor Oscar for Denzel Washington 10 years ago. BK’s Finest is a gritty crime drama set in modern day New York, and the realism aspect seems fairly believable. But the three central storylines that interweave throughout the two-plus hours often leave holes and question marks individually, creating for a lack of depth and a feeling of emptiness by the time it’s all over. You just kind of find yourself wondering what you’re supposed to take away from it. Sure I enjoyed the overall experience of viewing it, but it doesn’t stand up as a strong work on its own that leaves you wanting more or yearning for repeat viewings, as does Training Day, which I never turn off when I stumble across it while channel-surfing. If you’ve got nothing better to do and you’re drawn to the hardcore crime drama genre, you could definitely do worse. But don’t expect a classic. Solid all-around performances from Ethan Hawke, Wesley Snipes and Don Cheadle, although I couldn’t help wondering why Cheadle’s character was so eternally pissed off the entire film. He had shit on lock down – he was a cop who was clearly taking dirty money (obvious by the car he drives and the pad in which he lives), but he also had respect from his back-in-the-day boys who are still living large dealing drugs in the housing projects of the seedier parts of Brooklyn. The world is his oyster. Someone forgot to tell him he already has everything you could possibly want.



* Just caught an interesting ‘30 for 30’ Series documentary that premiered tonight on ESPN titled “Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. the New York Knicks.” It’s a fascinatingly candid hour-plus look at many of the memorable, heated playoff battles between the Miller-led Indiana Pacers and the New York Knicks in the early-to-mid 1990s when those teams were battling Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls for Eastern Conference supremacy. Directed by Dan Klores, this doc pulls no punches (and shows that there were more than a few being thrown between the Knicks and Pacers at the time). Reggie talks openly about the constant verbal battles and stare-downs between himself and infamous Knicks fan Spike Lee, whose taunts and trash-talking often inspired Miller to escalate his already impressive skills to an even higher level of play. If you dig good old NBA footage and stories, and especially if you were in your prime and watching a lot of those old Knicks/Pacers clashes in the 90s, don’t miss this.

Okay folks, I’m gonna try not to fall off anymore and have to re-introduce myself to the world like Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer or something, but we’ll see. Stay tuned. We’re going to dip into some deep hip hop discussion next time. After all, I called this joint ‘Playa President’ for a reason. Peace.