'tis the season....

It's late October, and Oscar season is ramping up. How can I tell? My viewing schedule (don't judge) is finally starting to fall into place, release dates are being solidified, trailers are being released, and I'm going to be spending the last few weeks of the year at Kendall Square and Lowes Boston Common - hooray! Two huge trailers hit the internet the past two days, Invictus and Avatar.

The Avatar teaser came out a month ago and I'll admit, I was less than impressed. It's James Cameron's follow up to Titanic (seriously that came out 12 years ago, James Cameron where have you been?!). Plot rundown - on an alien planet, an ex-marine falls in love with a blue-skinned warrior and sides with her people against mankinds encroachment on their planet. I know, sounds like something that I totally wouldn't be interested in (I thought that about Star Trek...look how that turned out, I've already pre-ordered the 2 disc set), but after seeing the full trailer, I'm very much intrigued, almost giddy:

Yeah, the dialogue sounds ridiculous (a screenplay nomination wasn't among Titanic's 14 nominations), but it "looks" incredible, and could be a really fun action adventure. I think I want to see this one in IMAX. Release Date: December 18

Invictus is the latest directorial effort from Clint Eastwood. Set in South Africa in the mid 90's, President Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman, natch) knows his nation remains racially and economically divided in the wake of apartheid. Believing he can bring his people together through the universal language of sport, Mandela rallies South Africa’s underdog rugby team (headed by Matt Damon) as they make an unlikely run to the 1995 World Cup Championship match:

IMO, Clint is either really great (Unforgiven is a masterpiece, and Million Dollar Baby is quite good too) or really terrible (I wanted to scratch my eyes out Gran Torino was so predictable) and I think this one might be somewhere in between. Morgan Freeman looks and sounds great (let's face it, this is the role the man was born to play) but I don't know if I can handle Matt Damon and that accent. This doesn't really excite me as much as some of the other films being released around then, so it's not very high on the priority list, I doubt I'll rush to see it. Oscar season is a Marathon, not a sprint, so I need to pace myself. Release Date: December 11

The handful of other films that I am looking forward to, and you should be too, however:

November 6
Men Who Stare at Goats
Precious

November 13
The Messenger

November 20
Broken Embraces

November 25
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Road

December 11
The Lovely Bones
A Single Man

December 18
Avatar

December 25
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
Up in the Air

On the TV front, this could quite possibly be the best season of Mad Men yet (see last weeks episode for proof), I'm anxious to see how this season wraps up. I've also been watching Modern Family on ABC which has taken me by complete surprise. I usually don't like network sit-coms (save for 30 Rock, which is off to a rough start this year) but I really like the quasi-docu style of it. The cast is outstanding (Ty Burrell especially, he gives a fantastic, Emmy worthy performance as Phil Dunphy), and the dialogue is razor sharp. My liking a new series on ABC or NBC seems to be its death knell though (see: Eli Stone, Dirty Sexy Money, and Southland), but I think that Modern Family will be an exception, it was well received by critics and has pretty good word of mouth/viewership. Best episode yet? "Come Fly with Me", the scene where Mitchell "discovers" Costco is hilarious - watch it on abc.com

The Phillies took game 1 last night and made a statement with their 6-1 win, and Cliff Lee also made a statement, pitching a complete game and allowing only 1 unearned run. Game 2 is tonight in NY, and then the action shifts to Philly for the weekend. Jay-Z is giving a pregame performance tonight, and the cast of Glee is singing the Star-Spangled Banner Saturday night in PA. GO PHILLIES! BEAT NY! (shout out to Rachel Weiner - feel better! The Phillies knew you were sick, they won for you!)

Addendum

I forgot to mention in yesterday's post -

After our HP viewing, we went to the Similans for dinner. As we were sitting there talking, whatever, Anthony happened to notice the guy sitting alone at the table next to us had the jacket of the company that he worked for, so we invited him to sit with us. He was pretty cool, from North Carolina, worked for the company for a long time, and was in Boston on business. I learned all about Pegasus stock options (the company he and Anthony worked for), and he told us that he has a photo book at home with all of the drinks that he makes, so that when he has parties, he pulls out the book, people pick out which picture they like, and then he makes the drink...never even thought to do that, so smart!

Food, Glorious Food

I decided to experiment on Tuesday night for dinner. I had pasta the night before and didn't want to make it again. I asked my favorite culinary queen, Meggin Elizabeth, if she had any suggestions to make. My condition was it needed to be easy. Without hesitation she proclaimed taco salad. I stopped at Shaws on the way home to get the necessary ingredients and lo and behold, this is what came out:

I'm pretty pleased with myself, and the presentation also gets an A+. Apologies for the poor quality, I took it with the blackberry. Other good news? It tasted pretty damn good too! Next time you come to the College Ave Mansion, maybe I'll make it.

Last night was the MOS staff preview for Harry Potter: The Exhibition. Miss Alison Hay, Quack and Anthony joined me for the sneak peek. I'd probably classify myself as a casual HP fan, I've read the books, seen most of the movies, but that's pretty much it. The exhibit focused solely on the films, and is a collection of costumes, props, and sets (yes, I know, no science whatsoever). It's a visually stunning exhibit, and the design and layout are excellent, and it was cool to see some of the props and costumes up close. The most fascinating thing? Seeing how Ron, Harry and Hermione grew up during the course of shooting the 5 films. There are some costumes that look like they're from the kids section at Old Navy, and then Harry's quiddich uniform which looked like it could fit me. If you're a huge Harry Potter fan, this is a must-see exhibit. It opens on Sunday and runs through February.

Today I went to the Garment District in Cambridge with a co-worker, he was looking for something "unusual" to wear to the event tomorrow night. I'd never been there before, seen it advertised on tv, and it was essentially the Salvation Army for hipsters. I did, however, score a new winter coat for $20.

Tomorrow is the first annual Museum signature event, entitled The Science Behind..., even though we really wanted to call it we have the East Coast premiere of Harry Potter so come pay $500 to party and see the exhibit. Everyone has been really busy, so we'll be glad once it's over and we can relax a little.

Last band competition this weekend (hooray!) and then a little over a month until Disney (double hooray!).

A Week at the Movies

I saw three films last week, and they were meh, huh and excellent, in that order.

First up, Bright Star, Jane Campion's new film that chronicles the three year romance of 19th century British poet John Keats, and his muse, Fanny Brawne. It was a return to form for Campion (Oscar-winner for her screenplay of The Piano in 1994) after her last main stream film, In the Cut, was, despite Meg Ryan showing her boobies, cut up by the critics. There were a lot of lingering shots that were beautifully composed (the cinematography and set design were incredible) - there was a particularly lovely shot of Fanny's younger brother and sister in a field catching butterflies...if only the world was really that quaint. Well, maybe it was in Britain in the 1820's, but I digress. The real reason to see this film, however, is because it announces the arrival of Abbie Cornish (yes, that Abbie Cornish, the tart who allegedly broke up the seemingly perfect marriage of Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe) as a serious, and damn good actress. Her Fanny Brawne is excellent, a layered performance. She has that perfect balance of vulnerability and smarts, her love and affection for Keats is genuine and heart wrenching. Too bad their chemistry is almost non-existent. Ben Whishaw plays the doomed poet, but he doesn't have nearly the same spark that Cornish does...he just kind of mopes around and doesn't do much else. The supporting cast is also great, with a fantastic turn from Paul Schneider as Mr. Brown, Keat's best friend. I wouldn't rush to see this in theaters, but it's definitely worthy of a spot in the netflix queue. I also wouldn't discount Cornish for some notices come awards time. Grade: B

Wednesday brought the Cohen Bros new film, A Serious Man. Set in 1960's Minnesota, the film follows thirtysomething physics professor Larry Gopnick as his life seems to crumble around him. His wife leaves him for another man, his son is about to celebrate his bar-mitzvah, his daughter is a kleptomaniac and raging bitch, and his brother has taken up residence on his couch. To complicate matters, his attractive neighbor enjoys sunbathing topless. As his life spirals out of control, Larry seeks the advice of three Rabbi's, all of whom give him, of course, different takes on his situation. I was not into this movie at all, and it seemed a little "too Jewish" for me...there were points in film where audiences were laughing, but I wasn't quite sure why - was it something I didn't get? I felt like I wasn't really in on the whole thing. The saving grace, however, was Michael Stuhlbarg's tour-de-force as Larry. I saw him a couple of years ago on Broadway in The Pillowman, and he was excellent, I'm glad that he's finding success on screen. His slow breakdown is mesmerizing, and he most certainly deserves a Best Actor nomination for his work in this. I've decided that the Cohen's are hit or miss with me (hits: The Big Lebowski, Fargo, No Country for Old Men, misses: Burn After Reading, Intolerable Cruelty, The Man Who Wasn't There), and the critics are raving about this, but honestly, I don't get it. Was it entertaining? Yeah, I guess...was it one of the best of the year? I don't think so. GRADE: C

One of my most anticipated movies of the year is An Education. I've been reading about it for months, the buzz around it was deafening, and I jumped at the chance to see it the day that it came out in the Boston area. Set in 1960's London, An Education is the story of 16 year old Jenny (played by the magnificent Carey Mulligan) who is at a crossroads in her life. All of the authority figures in her life want her to continue with her studies at Oxford. She meets and gets swept away by the mysterious David, and older man who loves art, culture, music and has fabulous friends, and takes her to Paris for her birthday. Thing of course are not what they seem, and the title has multiple meanings. The performances in this film are nothing short of incredible, most notably the already mentioned Carey Mulligan and Peter Sarsgaard as David, who finally gets a chance to shine and show was a truly great actor he is. Director Lone Scherfig has handled her cast with great care and expert direction (sidenote: what a year for female directors! at least two of five nominees have the potential to be women!) and has crafted one of the best films of the year. Mulligan and Sarsgaard have incredible chemistry, watching the two of them together is great, and their side trip to Paris is wonderful. The supporting cast is also quite good, with stand out turns from Alfred Molina as Carey's uptight father and Emma Thomas as the headmistress of Jenny's school. My only problem with the film (and keeping it from being perfect) is the pacing. We are voyeurs on all of Jenny and David's adventures and witness their blossoming romance, but the film takes a sudden and abrupt turn, and ends, almost as if someone was watching a clock and said "oh, it's been an hour and half, we need to wrap it up". The ending comes a little too quickly, but it doesn't make it that less satisfying. Everything about this worked, the performances, the writing, the fantastic period designs, the soundtrack. I think that I need to see it again to appreciate it even more. GRADE: A

The Harry Potter preview is tomorrow at the Museum, and then the last big weekend for band stuff (hooray) with the last USSBA and MICCA shows. Might go to the NME retreat with the bros on Saturday night since I'll already be in Connecticut.

I'm currently rooting for the Phillies to go and win it all and be the first back-to-back World Series winners of the new century (isn't it weird to think about it that way?). Wish the Sox could have gone further, but it wasn't their time. There's rumblings that Theo is going to move some major folks (Lowell, Varitek, etc), which could prove to be interesting. I've already got Opening Day 2010 circled on my calendar vs. the Yankees. I'm hoping they're not the "world champion" Yankees, but the way they've been playing lately, the just might be....

Where are We Running?!

Through the Emerald Necklace, that's where! That's right, dear readers, today was the 9th Annual B.A.A. Half Marathon, my second half marathon this year - I told you, they're addicting. I know, putting your body through an insane amount of pain, but the few seconds of glory crossing the finish line knowing that you just ran 13.1 miles is pretty awesome (not quite as awesome as running a full marathon, but awesome none the less).

Loyal readers will know I was fairly nervous about this one - I hadn't been training as hard as my first, and I was dealing with a bout of shin splints this past week. Good news to report, the race went very well!

Kim, Nick and I were at the course bright and early (7am), started in the Back Bay Fens and ran along the Riverway, Jamaicaway and Arborway. It was an out and back course and the turn around was in the Franklin Park zoo - so that was pretty cool. I cruised for the first 10 miles (there was this one hill that I'm pretty sure was a mile long, gross, and I had to stop in Franklin Park for a pee break, so I can probs take off a minute or 2) and then started to get tired. I got to mile 11 and hit a wall, so I walked a fairly good amount between mile 11 and 12, and then picked it back up at mile 12 and finished strong. The last mile was kind of a tease, because we ran the perimeter of the Fens, and even though I could see the end of the race, it was still a mile away. Awful. Here's a map of the course (disregard "October 2008", haha)

It was a really good run, and an absolutely beautiful course. So on to what you're all wondering, my unofficial time is 2:22, official times will be posted later on today. (Breaking news: Official time: 2:21.06 - 2 minutes slower than my first race, but with the lackadaisical training and my shin splints, I'll take that)

Thanks to everyone that came out - Katie, Druface, Rusty, Andy and Molly - it was great to see you along the way and give me the support.

Speaking of which - the race is over, but you can still donate! I'm almost at my goal, and thanks to all of you that have helped out so far!

So the Sox had the game with 2 outs in the 9th, and Papelbon blows the save, Angels score 3 runs in the 9th with 2 out. Good for the Angels, they simply played better. I hope the beat the Yankees in the ALCS...

Where the Wild Things Are

Monday night I was lucky enough to go to an advance benefit screening of Where the Wild Things Are. It was for an organization in Roxbury, 826 Boston, a tutoring center for kids in Boston. It is a great cause, and the organization was founded by Dave Eggers, the co-screenwriter of Where the Wild Things Are, thus the screening. I'm giving serious thought to volunteering there, it seems like it would be a really great experience.

Everyone has to be familiar with the story - Max is sent to bed without supper and his room magically becomes a forest inhabited by the "wild things". Max is able to tame them and becomes their ruler. Soon, however, he becomes homesick and returns home. Yep, that's pretty much it. The book is 9 sentences spread over 20 pages, and is often considered a masterpiece of American children's literature. I know what you're thinking - a 20 page picture book stretched out into a 90 minute movie? It will never work. Well, I'm glad to report that for the most part, it did, and it worked extremely well.

Spike Jonze has created a world that is dense forest, sprawling beaches and massive desert all in one place. The story hasn't really been expanded, just more fleshed out. Each of the Wild Things is given more of a personality and individual characteristics. Most of the film revolves around Max and the Wild Things making a gigantic fort on the island where they'll all live and "sleep in a great big pile". Jonze and Eggers have created a magnificent fantasy world, and offer an interesting social commentary on what it means to be a leader and a follower, how people deal with loneliness, and the pratfalls of a perceived utopian society. Heavy stuff for a supposed kid's movie, but it really gives the audience a lot to think and talk about. I appreciated their effort to reach out and make a bold statement and sort of make the audience think a little bit.

The Wild Things are exactly as I imagined them, their design, emotions and expressions are all perfect. The actors who provide the voices are great, and match the personality of each Wild Thing. James Gandolfini voices "Carol", the leader of the Wild Things, and you can hear shades of Tony Soprano in some of his delivery. Props go out to Paul Dano, who lends his voice to Alexander, the Wild Thing who is often in the background and no one really pays attention to - ironic (or maybe intentional) that he makes some of the most astute observations of all the Wild Things. Max Records give a phenomenal breakthrough performance as Max, the king of the Wild Things, this kid is going to go places.

I had ridiculously high hopes for this film, and most of them were met, but there was of course, a little bit of disappointment. My one issue - the movie takes a abrupt turn about an hour in and gets sidetracked for almost 20 minutes with a subplot that's never actually resolved, and isn't really integral to the overall story. Some of the Wild Things say and do things that are out of the character they had been built up as over the first hour, and it took me right out of the moment. Jonze could have left this part out and still made his voice heard - it just acted as filler and fluff that took away (for me at least) from the overall feel of the film. It had this kind of, dark underscoring that didn't really need to be there.

Highly recommend this, and it will easily make many critics top 10 lists at year and, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it make the cut for Best Picture, and rake in a slew of technical nominations. This was only the 4th time the film had been screened in North America, so that was pretty cool. Opens a week from tomorrow, October 16. Grade: A

Andrew Lloyd Webber's follow up to the ubersmash The Phantom of the Opera, Love Never Dies had its big press announcement this morning in London. Originally, the production was supposed to open simultaniously in London, New York and Australlia. Because that seemed like the ultimate logistical nightmare (but an interesting concept none the less), now it's going to open in London on March 9, 2010, New York on November 11, 2010 and sometime in 2011 in Australia. Check out the video from the announcement - Ramin Karimloo sounds like an excellent Phantom, hopefully he'll open the show in New York too...if not, maybe a trip to London next spring is in order?

Half Marathon this weekend, a little nervous, but I think that I will do fine. I'm only $100 away from my goal, and you can still donate! Excited to collapse and have nothing to think about on Monday, probably going to finally see Bright Star.

MLB post season began last night, Yanks, Phillies and Dodgers won - Sox open their series tonight with the Angels in Anehim. The Sox/Angels match up has been played 5 times, with the Sox advancing every time (winning 12 out of 15 games) - can they make it 6 in a row? Probably, BUT, the Angles do have a lot riding on their season, some calling it their destiny, because of the untimely death of Nick Adenhart in April. It would be pretty intense if the Angels went all the way, but I'm not 100% sure...And! The Bruins season started last week too! I'm going on November 12th with dad - we have premium seats! woo!

100th POST!

That's right readers, ...this is home... has hit its 100th entry! Thanks to those of you who've read some, a few or all 100 posts. Who knew my life would be interesting enough to warrant writing about it that much?! Ok, so that was a little self absorbed, but I think that this is an anniversary worth celebrating. Pop the champagne!....and now to our regularly scheduled update...

First, the roommate search is over! HOORAY! A guy came by on Tuesday to check out the place, really liked it, and is moving in over the weekend/next week. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted, and even though it took a lot longer than anticipated, I'm glad that it's finally over. He seems like a really great guy too.

Went to Manhattan this weekend with mom and caught a couple of shows, had two AMAZING meals - one at Bond 45 (even though the service was atrocious), and the other at Tavern on the Green. That's pretty much my favorite thing to do in the city, see shows and have good food. I really wanted to go running in Central Park on Sunday morning, but the weather had other plans, and I ended up not running at all, because the gym at the hotel was $10 - lame. On to the shows.

Caught the matinee of A Steady Rain - the event (yes, event) of the fall- starring Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig. I would say 90% of the audience was there solely to see the two of them. I'd say I was 60/40, I saw Jackman in The Boy From Oz 5 years ago and met him at Cannes, so he's old news (ha), but I was excited to see Daniel Craig. Long and short, they're two Chicago cops who have opposing views/remembrances of a domestic disturbance call that happened during, you guessed it, a week of steady rain. The play itself was basically 6 episodes of Law & Order crammed into 90 minutes (rape! hookers! drugs! domestic violence! murder! gangs! cannibalism(that's not a typo)! ), with Jackman and Craig on stage reciting monologues, that occasionally overlap. It's a masterclass in acting, both of them do wonderful things with fairly weak and predictable material. Of the two, I thought Craig was the standout, his performance was sublime, he brought the right amount of slow burning intensity to make his characters resolutions absolutely cathartic. Jackman has the showier of the two roles, and he, on occasion, over reaches, but turns in a great performance none the less. In the end, it seemed like it was a whole lot about a real little, and I thought about how the two of them would have done with better material.

After an outstanding dinner at the aforementioned Bond 45, we had tickets to the new musical Memphis. It started previews a few days before, so I was a little nervous, and had read some not so encouraging things online about some of the early performances/incarnations of it (it played at Northshore Music Theater (about 4 years ago), San Diego and Seattle before coming to New York). While it wasn't a groundbreaking piece of theater, it was quite enjoyable, and hands down the best of the three shows we saw last weekend. Billed as "the birth of the blues in Memphis" the story centers around white DJ Huey Calhoun and black chanteuse Felicia Farrell and their relationship. Racial tensions no doubt ensue. It works mostly because of the immense talent on the stage, starting with Chad Kimball who plays Huey and Montego Glover who plays Felicia. The two have excellent chemistry and outstanding voices to boot. There were some structural problems (act I was a little clunky and the resolutions in act II were a little too quick and tidy), hopefully those will be worked out, but the physical production is in great shape. While I doubt that this is going to be a runaway hit, there is serious potential, with good word of mouth and decent reviews. I'm crossing my fingers...

My grandiose running plans for Sunday were axed because of the stupid rain. I was really looking forward to running in Central Park, but when I got down to the lobby, the rain was coming down in sheets. If it was just a mist, I would have braved the elements and gone out, but not this. I then attempted to go to the gym at the hotel, but since it was a branch of the NYSC, and seperate from the hotel, there was a $10 fee. No thanks, I'm not paying $10 to use the treadmill for 4 miles. New York City in the rain is no fun, so we hung around the hotel until we went to brunch at Tavern on the Green. I read in the NYTimes a couple weeks ago that it was filing for bankrupcy, so mom wanted to go again in case it was actually closed next time we're in town. Food was excellent, the bloody mary I had was even better.

Final show of the weekend was the revival of Bye Bye Birdie with John Stamos and Gina Gershon. This is the second time I've seen a production of Birdie, saw it last summer at NSMT, and I thought that I'd like it better the second time around. I did not. It felt flat and just plain old blah. Stamos and Gershon didn't really do a whole lot for me. Stamos was worlds better in Cabaret, and the role of Rosie required much more dancing and singing than Gershon could handle. The supporting charters were great (Bill Irwin, in particular), but when your supporting cast is stronger than your "name" stars, that's a problem. There was a cool moving sidewalk type thing built into the stage, which was used for some clever set changes, and a cool entrance for John Stamos, and the train that went in/out of Sweet Apple junction was neat, but that's about all that kept my interest. The set and costumes were so bright, it gave me a headache after a while. My favorite part of the show? Seeing the inside of the complete overhaul of the Henry Miller's theater. Roundabout basically rebuilt the entire theater from the ground up, but kept some of the old parts of it intact (most notably the proscenium of the stage) which was kind of cool to see the juxtaposition of old and new.

My Where the Wild Things Are premier tickets came on Tuesday, I'm really looking forward to it on Monday. It's definitely one of my most anticipated movies of the fall, and even cooler that screenwriter Dave Eggers is going to be giving a q&a after. It will be interesting to see what he did to stretch out 10 sentences from the book into a 90 minute movie.

First band show of the season is tomorrow, but it looks like it's going to be indoors because of the rain, which, for us, anyways, isn't a bad thing. Just finished the show last night, so it might have been a little difficult to get it into show shape during the AM tomorrow.

The B.A.A. Half Marathon is next weekend and I still need help making my goal, I'm at just over 50%, so let's see if you folks can help me raise $250 in the next week. It's an achievable goal!

Check out the 2nd trailer for George Clooney's new movie, Up in the Air, directed by Jason Reitman. Speaking of movies, since I'm going to Where the Wild Things Are Monday, that frees me up on October 16 to see An Education. Crisis averted! I'm going to try and catch Bright Star on Sunday (I hear the performance Abbie Cornish gives is incredible), and hopefully the Cohen bros new flick A Serious Man next week. Movie season is heating up!