An explanation

So where have I been the past four months you might ask? I've been busy, not quite feeling myself, and sadly, the blog has suffered as a result. The past week at work has been painfully slow, so I decided what better time to reacquaint myself with my blog. What have I been up to? Here's a quick month by month rundown:

September
Started off great. Headed west for Labor Day weekend to San Diego to hang out with Brian Gilb and run the Disneyland 1/2 Marathon. Did ok (finished in 2:45) for not really training. The middle of the month brought a devastating blow. George Parks, director of the UMMB and one of the reasons I went to UMass, died suddenly on the way to Michigan. I was shocked and saddened, and was pretty much in a haze my entire trip to Michigan. After the UMMB performed at The Big House, I expected him to jump out of the stands. Sadly, that never happened. The following Monday, I was on my way to work and there was a brief mention of his death on 98.5 and I burst into tears. It wasn't pretty.

October
Oakmont kicked into high gear and we had a competition and I also went with Nick LaPete to NYC to see Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and American Idiot (yes, for the 3rd time. Billie Joe Armstrong was in it. Couldn't pass it up) the first weekend. The rest of the month was pretty uneventful. Went to a wedding of a friend in Providence which was fun, and Oakmont was crowned USSBA Division III Open New England champions again.

November
Started out the month with a trip to NYC and Annapolis with the Marching Spartans to see The Phantom of the Opera and compete in the USSBA National Championships. was ok, and the band came in 12th in Nationals. Not bad, but they could have done better. Paid a return visit to NYC the following weekend to catch Al Pacino in The Merchant of Venice, which was pretty awesome. I was supposed to run in the Philadelphia Half Marathon, but because of my stress injury, that didn't happen. Went to Philly anyways and went to the Eagles/Giants SNF game thanks to Rachel. I don't really like football, but it was cool to go to a game (it was actually my 2nd professional game, saw the Lions/Eagles play when I was in Michigan. I've seen the Eagles more times than I've seen the Patriots). November ended with a great Thanksgiving, and my leg starting to get better.

December
My favorite month of the year - I love the holidays. Decorations, Christmas trees, being the one month it's socially acceptable to listen to "All I Want for Christmas Is You" on repeat, etc...Marathon training started again for the Museum team. I won't be running, but I'll train with them during the winter. Jess and I both ran the Somerville Jingle-bell 5K and got accepted into the NYC Half Marathon in March. Nick Druar and Miss Alison Hay and I did some awesome community service with Harpoon Helps and UMass got blown-out by BC at the Garden (that all happened on the same day). And of course, last week was CHRISTMAS! I got a sweet blu-ray player and a new pair of running shoes.

Whats on tap for 2011? FINALLY seeing Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark and the final performance of In the Heights in January, a trip to Spain in February, the NYC Half Marathon in March and a whole lot of other stuff.

My resolutions for 2011? I know this one has come up before, but this time I'll have help behind me, but my goal is to become financially responsible and get out of debt. I also have a goal to get back into my old running habits and try and do a half marathon a month, with the end goal being running Boston again in 2012. I think two is enough, and those are pretty major.

And what would a blog update be without some film chat? Here are some quick takes over the past couple months:

The Kids are All Right - wasn't impressed, and thought it was pretty MEH. C
The Town - Ben Affleck's sophomore directorial effort and it was excellent. One of my top 10 of 2010. A
The Social Network - pleasantly surprised at how much I liked this, Aaron Sorkin's dialogue is razor-sharp. I can't wait to see it again on blu-ray January 11th. A
127 Hours - Heart-stopping. Danny Boyle can do no wrong and James Franco was outstanding. A-
Black Swan - Don't even know where to start. I saw this a month ago and am STILL thinking about it. Natalie Portman is a revelation. Darren Aronofsky, you've arrived. A
The Fighter - Christian Bale gives a (pun intended) knock-out performance, as well as the rest of the leading cast. A-
The King's Speech - Good, not great. Colin Firth was excellent, but after all of the hype, I was expecting more. B+
Winter's Bone - Just caught this on DVD and I was riveted for most of it (it got off to a slow start). Jennifer Lawrence was great. B+

Seeing True Grit tomorrow and Blue Valentine sometime next week and my movie-going in 2010 will be complete. A couple of films to catch up on once they're on DVD/blu-ray, namely Animal Kingdom, Get Low and The Tilman Story.

That's about it for this re-start. My goal is to update once or twice a week in the coming year. Next post will probably be my top 10 of 2010, followed by a review of the highly anticipated (and highly problematic) Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark.

Happy New Year!

Climbin' in your windows...

two of the funniest videos ever. you need to watch them in order.



and



you can thank me later...happy friday!

Pacey-Con

True confession: in high school, I was a big fan of Dawson's Creek. I bought into the drama of being a teenager at Capeside. I got completely caught up in the lives of Dawson, Joey, Pacey, Jen and Jack. Didn't really watch through college, but, like a good viewer, I did watch the finale, and am still kinda pissed that Joey ended up with Pacey.

Today, I came across this from Funny or Die and laughed out loud.

Pacey-Con with Joshua Jackson from Joshua Jackson

Poor Joshua Jackson. Seriously though, this dude has had an amazing career and created some of the most memorable characters EVER - Charlie Conway, Pacey Whitter and Peter Bishop (I don't watch Fringe, but I hear he (and the show) is quite good). I'd go to Pacey-Con.

Paradox

Without question, the film that I was looking forward to most this summer is Christopher Nolan's Inception. Not a whole lot was known about the film before it's release except that it had an impressive cast, was a sci-fi thriller and had some incredible visual effects. The tagline on the poster, Your mind is the scene of the crime, didn't really help too much either. Nolan is notorious (try saying that 5x fast) for keeping his films top-secret, so why would Inception be any different.

There are few films I feel like I have to see the day they're released, and this was one of them. I knew people would be talking about it, there would be spoilers galore, my twitter feed would blow up with comments/theories and I don't have the self control to stop myself from reading them. It seemed my only option was to see a midnight screening.

I had a wedding to go to in Cleveland (that's a whole 'nother post) over the weekend, so midnight screening it was, but that didn't exactly pan out. Fortunately, I had 5 hours to kill on Saturday after the ceremony before the reception, so I found a movie theater near the hotel and spent the afternoon ready to be wowed. It. Was. Awesome.

Basically, Inception is Ocean's 11 meets The Matrix with a little bit of Alfred Hitchcock thrown in for good measure. The premise is fascinating; the idea that a professional "dream hacker" could break into your dreams and plant ideas into your subconscious that could eventually come to fruition in the real world. Leonardo DiCaprio plays said hacker, and assembles a team (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy) to try and help Korean businessman Saito (Ken Wantanabe) defeat a rival company, headed by Fischer (Cillian Murphy). The group delves into Fischer's subconscious and a thrilling caper ensues.

There were cries that this film is a game-changer and could revolutionize cinema forever (hm..where have we heard that recently?). While I don't necessarily agree with that, because when you get down to it Inception is a glorified heist film, I do think that it's an incredibly well made film. The visuals are amazing, and the sheer originality of the script is borderline brilliant. Yet another marvel? Nolan's direction and Lee Smith's awe-inspiring work editing the film - he basically has the editing Oscar sewn up for simultaneously balancing the multiple levels of the film and keeping it totally coherent. There were a couple times where I could feel my heart beating faster during the more intense sequences, and it's been a while since I've become that involved with a film.

Another reason it's so great? It's inspired INTENSE debate and discussion, and you almost have to see it twice. I did. Initially for the visceral experience, and then again to actually appreciate it and pick up on things you missed the first time. It's a complete mind-bender, I'm sure you'll say (in your best Keanu Reeves voice) "whoa" more than once.

It's my favorite film of the year so far (How to Train Your Dragon is next) and I can easily see it scoring multiple Oscar nominations. Among them Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Editing, Cinematography, Visual Effects, Score, and if there is any justice in my world, a Best Supporting Actor nom for Joseph Gordon-Levitt (and maybe one for Marion Cotillard too).

See it. See it twice. See it in IMAX. You won't be disappointed and you'll be talking about it for days.

Coming Attractions...

Ben Affleck's sophomore directorial effort is released this fall. It was shot in and around Boston. I cannot wait to see this - might even do a midnight screening.

flash mob

The 2008 Tony Award winner for Best Musical, In the Heights is currently in the middle of it's national tour. I've seen it twice in New York and when it came through Boston in January. It's currently in Los Angeles, and Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator and original star re-joined the cast in the role of Usnavi. This is some great publicity for it:



Lin-Manuel is the guy in the green shirt on the balcony. I want to be in a flash mob. In the Heights comes to Providence January 11-16 2011. Get tickets to see it.

American Idiot

Ok, ok, before y'all wield pitchforks because I again promised that I'd write another entry the following day and haven't - I'm sorry. Life has gotten in the way of the blog. I feel like I shouldn't neglect it so much. So let's start over.

Hey guys, it's Joe. And this is my (self-indulgent, some say)blog.

As a reward for finishing the Marathon, I headed to NYC with Dev and Rachel to see American Idiot. Yes, it's a musical based on Green Day's album of the same name, along with some tracks from "21st Century Breakdown" and an original tune or two thrown in for good measure. Helmed by Michael Mayer (the guy who brought Spring Awakening to life), American Idiot had a regional run last September at the Berkeley Rep in California. Green Day had a pretty big say in creating the show, Billie Joe Armstrong is credited along with Mayer as the book writer, and have seen the show numerous times, including the night we went. I was looking forward to it, it received quite a few good notices in CA and I'd consider myself a casual Green Day fan ("Dookie" was one of the first cd's I owned. I'll admit I wasn't familiar with the entire album, but had heard, and enjoyed, most of it). It was also heralded as the show to beat come awards time. It opened to mixed to positive reviews, including an ever important rave from The New York Times. I had also been checking the website, following it on twitter, saw some pictures, and it looked pretty exciting.

Basic premise: 3 friends, Johnny, Will and Tunny, totally disenchanted with their lives in dead-end Jingletown make a pact to get out and achieve the American dream. Before they even leave, Will's girlfriend is pregnant, and thus stays behind. While they're on the road, Tunney sees a catchy ad for the Military and promises of being America's "Favorite Son" and joins up. Left alone, Johnny turns to drugs and pusher St. Jimmy. Sadness, political commentary and life lessons ensue. The opening number "American Idiot" left me a little skeptical, there was A LOT going on - strobe lights, projections on what seemed like 100 monitors - but it was none the less exhilarating. After the initial jolt of energy, the show settled in nicely and the 90 minutes pretty much flew by. Three things really stuck with me - first, the incredible performances of John Gallagher Jr as Johnny and Stark Sands as Tunny. Yeah, the plot was paper thin (if non-existent) but Gallagher and Sands made you feel for these characters, character development be damned, and actually care about what happened to them. There's a great sequence about half way in that takes place in a military hospital that's stunning, and the last 10 minutes of the show are nothing short of extraordinary. Initially, I hated how it ended, and the last song "Whatshername" seemed tacked on to just try and fit in another song. After thinking about it for a while and listening to the CD a couple more times, I realized that it was the perfect epilogue, and was one of the most thrilling endings to a show I've ever seen. The crowd gave an immediate standing ovation, to which I whole-heartedly agreed with.

The second thing that I was most taken with were the orchestrations and arrangements. Tom Kitt, who orchestrated my favorite show last season, Next to Normal, was responsible for fleshing out songs written for guitar, bass and drums into something suitable for a Broadway musical. The vocal arrangements are incredible too. Even if you have the studio album of American Idiot, I encourage you to pick up the cast recording too - it's sensational. I've been playing it for the past month. I think it's a crime that he was overlooked for a Tony nomination for his work, but that's another post for another day.

Finally, Michael Mayer's direction and vision. The attention to detail was out of this world, on everything from the set, video projections to the props. I was honestly expecting a revamp of Spring Awakening, and there were indeed shades of it, but this was completely new and engaging. The way the cast moved around the stage, and the amount of energy the had for the entire 90 minutes - it was exhausting just watching them. I can't possibly imagine doing that 8 times a week. Unfortunately he was egregiously overlooked for a Tony nomination as well, but at least he's in good company.

It's been interesting to see how polarizing the show is - it's either been a love it or hate it, not a whole lot of middle ground. Count me in the "love it" camp. Is it as groundbreaking as some want it to be? Sadly, no, but it's a major leap forward in the genre and introducing an entire new audience to Broadway.

I can count on one hand the number of times I've been speechless after leaving a show. Add American Idiot to that list.

photo courtesy of The Chicago Sun-Times