Raves:
1) Ate food here on Friday, then had drinks here. Both were fun. The Whiskey is a little bit touristy by virtue of the Rush St. location, but it has a good staff, spacious chairs and couches in the back of the bar, and floor-to-ceiling windows for people-watching inside and out. Good times. Props to TheDad for staying up and boozing after the opera.
2) Saturday was a bar crawl with a pre-crawl gathering hosted by the Offering. Very good times. Catering thoughtfully provided by Sharky and we definitely got our money's worth out of the bar crawl.
3) Bought the Sin City Special Edition DVD. Simply one of the best DVDs ever released. First, the extended cut of the movie has all four subplots separated out into 4 distinct films instead of one long movie such as the one released in theaters. Additionally, there are two director commentaries, a "green-screen only" version of the movie (with no special effects), audio tracks of the audience reaction at the premiere of the film (so you can watch it as if you are at the premiere), the "long take" of Quentin Tarentino's scene, and much, much, much more. If you love movies, get this DVD. It has everything you could want to know about the project that was Sin City.
Rants:
1) Bar lines. The Valentine's Day bar crawl that we attended Saturday was way, way too overcrowded. When you arrive at 8:01 for an 8:00 bar crawl and there is a 200 person line at each of the bars involved, that's too many people. Bar1Events- get this figured out.
2) Movie hype. I finally saw Brokeback Mountain this weekend. It was good. Quite good, actually. A sad story that included many subtle performances. The hype surrounding this film, however, lessened the experience for me. All this talk about how Brokeback sets a new standard for romantic films and dwarfs all other attempts at portraying forbidden love was, in my opinion, not warranted. I thought it was very well done and tackled some difficult subject matter, but I don't see how it was a pivotal moment in drama film history, as a lot of the hype implied. If you want to read more from a Brokeback groupie, check out Screwsan's comments.
3) The Winter Olympics. Michelle Kwan withdrawing, several training accidents, Bode Miller started off with a fifth place finish in the downhill and then choked the combined...could we be less interested? There aren't enough storylines, there aren't enough famous stars, and we just don't take to these winter sports. Go U.S.A. I guess.
4) The Pro Bowl. Dear NFL, Nobody Cares. Nobody. Sincerely, Tim. As Peter King wrote, "It's the most irrelevant game in sports." Also, three of the six Bears elected to the game skipped out on it. The players don't even care.
And now, a Current Events edition of Fun with Pictures:
1) First and foremost, the SI Swimsuit Issue is out this week, which is something that the Offering always looks forward to, even in this age of Maxim, Playboy, and the internets. This year features an all-star cast of past cover girls, and it does not disappoint.
If you don't know, now you know- this is what it looks like when you arrive in heaven:
2) Dick Cheney shot a guy! The VP plugged Austin attorney Harry Whittington while on a hunting trip in Texas over the weekend with a 28-gauge shotgun. Even more amusing, the White House Press Corps has been raking Scott McClellan over the coals for the long-delayed release of the news. Right now the White House is saying that the VP's office left it up to the owner of the ranch where the incident happened to issue a release. Not credible. Anyway, here is a good pic of the VP himself handling the steel:
UPDATE: Apparently, the shooting victim has had a minor heart attack because some of the pellets are lodged in his heart. Seriously, Dick Cheney is Aaron Burr.3) Sammy Sosa is claiming that he won't "beg for a job" just to get to 600 homers before he retires. He has been offered a $500,000 non-guaranteed contract by the Nationals, but probably won't take it because he won't be handed a spot on the major league team. That's understandable, considering he missed 60 games last year due to injury, hit .221, still managed to strike out 84 times despite missing almost half the year, hit an impressive 14 home runs in 380 ABs, and was paid $17,875,000 for his trouble. This guy is the worst kind of player: self-absorbed, astronomical sense of entitlement, absolutely no production or accountability, standoff-ish, and my personal favorite: he forgets how to speak a word of English every single time he gets asked a difficult question, whether by a reporter, member of Congress, or teammate. This guy speaks perfect English. He's been in the major leagues, doing press conferences, public appearances, and otherwise being completely immersed in American culture since 1989. And he was here before he was a major-leaguer. My contempt for Sammy Sosa knows no bounds. Anyway, here is a great picture of him (via deadspin):
That's all for today. This week is very busy with work and some friends in from out of town, and then TheGirl travels to Arizona this weekend, which usually means a Fritaturday is in sight.
More soon.
T
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