• Sushi + beer + sake + friends = AWESOME
• Live burlesque. Also, The Wife potentially taking burlesque classes.
• Absinthe. I’m digging on Kübler, which is locally available now. Admittedly, I talk more people into not trying absinthe than I talk into trying it. It’s not for everyone.
• Rock Band. I’m pretty useless on anything except the singing, but it’s more fun than Karaoke Revolution because the other people are playing along with you. Drumming is unpossible for me.
• Tiki bars. Especially the Tiki Torch in Edgewater. I know one of the owners, so I’m psyched to give it a shot. I’ll be toting The Wife and her mother down this Saturday, I believe. Daddy needs a Mai Tai with a quickness!
• Anita O’Day. Holy crap! How have I never heard of her until now? Best thing to ever happen to me thanks to Plurk. (If you’re not already a Twitter user, you might try Plurk instead.) Also loving Sarah Vaughn these days.
• The Silent Years. The Globe comes out soon.
• Going to the doctor to get my first physical in who knows how many years. It seems I’m doing well. (I still have to do blood work, though.)
• Michael Phelps. Yeah… WOW.
• The iPhone 3G. Lots of people gripe about various things, but in general I say it’s damned amazing.
• Dark Knight. Saw it on IMAX. It was pretty good.
• Rumbi fish tacos. I’m stunned, but these are currently my favorite fish tacos.
• Knowing one of the guys on the next season of The Ultimate Fighter.
• Fuelly. All the cool kids are doing it.
• Bumping into an acquaintance and having their first comment be “You look good.”

And other stuff, too. That’s a pretty good list for now, though.

I got back on the exercise horse with short, awful runs on Saturday and Monday and Bowflex action on Sunday, but so what? I dipped to a new low weight for this weight loss effort, too, but bounced back up a pound or so.

My mother had a nice deck party on her brand new deck on Saturday — that was pretty much the highlight of the weekend. She and her cohorts are now talking about starting a rescue not just for Danes but for all sorts of giant dogs. (I figure that’ll make Miracle Ed smile.)

After Ma’s I went to check in on my friend David’s birthday party, but apparently it had just broken up after BJ Penn beat up Sean Sherk. Since the party (and DJ) were winding down, Erik and I went to his house to throw darts and play a little ping-pong. Yep. We’re wild.

Sunday was a failure, as I decided not to ride my motorcycle figuring I would do that on Monday. Well, Monday turned out rainy, so no Bonneville time for me. This bummed me out since Erik had come over last week to help me get the Bonnie running well after a long bit of garage rest.

So it goes, eh?

A couple media notes:

1. Don’t waste your time with Revolver. Gah.
2. Sweeney Todd, by contrast was good times. On Helena Bonham Carter — Me: “I wonder what she’s like day to day… You never hear much gossip.” Wife: “Yeah, I don’t know. I was just thinking she’s got to be the oldest goth chick around.” Me: “Still totally hot, though.” Wife: “Well, yeah.”
3. Also, if you’re cooler than me (by which, in this case, I mean you own a Blu-ray player), you might be interested in Amazon’s Blu-ray sale.

The first was The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Much like its title, the film is over-long, but it features some great cinematography and some mighty fine performances — especially from Casey Affleck and Sam Rockwell. I was amused at one point when the narration describing Jesse James mentioned that he had a condition that caused him to blink a lot… and there’s Brad Pitt, doing his standard scruffy-faced, wide-eye, unblinking crazy face…. Um, yeah… OK, Brad. That said, Pitt is generally good, too, but it’s a role that isn’t much of a stretch for him. Anyway, the movie itself is good enough that I would certainly recommend it “if that’s your sort of thing” — by which I guess I’d mean low-action, semi-cerebral period pieces with pretty pictures.

Then last night I watched 3:10 to Yuma. More action to this one — it’s what you’d call a straight up Western. Christian Bale and Russell Crowe are both quite good, and it was a treat to see that guy from Firefly again. Best of all was a scene-stealing Ben Foster as Charlie Prince — that character is a perfect Western villain. If you like people shooting at other people from horseback, this is your choice.

Unfortunately, I’m puzzled by the climax… (Spoilers ahoy!)

The actions of Crowe’s character, Ben Wade, in the finale don’t make sense to me at all. He decides to go along with Bale’s Dan Evans to get on the train, but doesn’t call off his boys, who are trying their damnedest to kill Evans. He actually behaves as if he is running from his own gang. Only as he gets on the train does he make any effort — too late — to keep Evans from being killed. He then proceeds to dispatch his entire gang in seeming revenge. WTF? Then he goes ahead and hops into the cage on the train to be taken to prison, but that’s revealed to be something he does only to make Evans’s son feel better (or something) because he calls his horse to follow along, implying an escape in the near future….

*boggle*

Why would he go along tot he train and not call off his gang? If he wasn’t going to call off his boys, why would he shoot them all after they killed Evans? Why would he do all of this if he was just going to escape and start over? At least I’m not alone:

Without giving anything away, let’s just say that in the interests of a socko finale Wade behaves in ways even Crowe can’t make us swallow.

Like I said, I don’t get it.

UPDATE: I should have checked Rod’s fake script first:

CHRISTIAN BALE
(clutching chest)
I did it, son!

CHRISTIAN BALE’S KID
Did what? Managed to be so pathetic that Crowe took pity on you and volunteered to go to jail so that you could feel like a hero, despite being such a complete loser?

CHRISTIAN BALE
Yeah, I totally did that.
(dies)

Jake: tauntaun suit is the best thing EVER
Jake: and pants are optional!
Rod: hell yes
Rod: and then if you’re at a halloween party and some girl opens up your sweaty suit to blow you, she can say “and i thought they smelled bad on the outside”
Rod: and then you can marry her because she’s awesome

That’s gold, people. Pure gold!

And then there was this exchange, as well…

Going for my walk/run today in 15 degree (F) temps wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting. Until my calf started cramping. That had nothing to do with the cold, though. It was ready to go from the activity earlier in the weekend.

Junk I’ve run across:

• Parkour and free running are – without a doubt – the best thing to happen to action movies since martial arts. This article focuses on one of the American early adopters.
• Last Friday there was news of a car found in bits (along with the three people who were in it) in nearby Louisville. Turns out the car was doing over 100 miles per hour. It also turns out the folks taking the ride were drinking. At least they were “doing what they loved.”
• Leonard Cohen is going on tour after fifteen years off the road. I’m sure he’s past his prime, but I might actually go see him. This live disc is absolutely essential, I don’t care who you are.
• What does it say about me that I think this thing looks like a lot of fun?
• Brozo‘s pal and mine, John Croghan, is playing some shows in the near future. I told him he should play “More Than Words” by perennial Boston favorite, Extreme. He said he’d do it if I actually came to the show. I’m gonna do my best, even though it’s way past my bed time.
• Another buddy, Wil Herren, has taken off to Dubai, where the rate of construction is only outstripped by the importing of sex workers (or so I hear). Wil’s off to a great start on his travel blog, even if he might be misusing the “pages” paradigm. The captions on the pics are gold.
• Brozo has the run down of our send-off for Wil, if you’re interested in a bunch of past-their-prime white boys rolling between dive bars in a limo.
• Oh, yeah… Go Pats!
• So, Clinton won Nevada, but Obama got more delegates? WTF? No wonder people don’t bother…
• I’m reading The Golden Compass right now. It’s actually good fun, IMHO. Not sure if I’m all that interested in the movie, though.
• I grabbed Superbad onto my TiVo via Amazon Unbox, though. That’s bound to be just about perfect for one of these nights when the television dial is utterly devoid of worthwhile entertainment.
• Speaking of, anyone have the early word on Breaking Bad? I’ve got it recorded, but haven’t watched it yet.

Wow.

I mean… Obviously, I was expecting it to be bad, but… Christ.

And no, it’s not “so bad it’s good” campy fun, either (contrary to what you might hear).

My favorite part is the little bio line: “Rod Hilton is a writer and, in his spare time, he enjoys tearing Hollywood a new asshole over at The Editing Room.” What’s the matter Rod? Don’t want the masses to know you’re a computer programmer for a living? I see how it is…

3:10 To Yuma: Unexpressive. Plays things close to the vest. Grim. Secretly defensive with too much to prove. Might open up in private and might consider decent cocksmanship another sign of his must-be-proven-constantly manliness, but also might consider foreplay a sign of weakness. Thumbs down.

Cocksmanship is the word of the day, kids.

This of course leads us to the proverbial “List” that we like to pretend we are all allowed to keep. The List specifies the celebrities that your partner is supposed to let you frolic freely with, should you ever get the chance. Of course, the only thing that even lets The List exist is the fact that you will never get that chance. In fact, I know someone who had a particular vixen removed forcibly from his List because he’d actually met her in person once. This brings the game too close to reality. No good.

I don’t actively maintain my list, but I like to keep a fuzzy idea of who might be on it for when the barroom conversation turn that direction. I have to say, though, that the glut of celebrity gossip sites (coupled with the fact that I know a couple people in the film industry who like to tell me “Oh, she’s a total bitch and she has some kind of weird skin fungus.” when I bring up someone I’d totally take a run at) is kind of ruining the whole notion of The List. None of these people are nearly as perfect as they used to seem and that’s just no fun.

Now that I’ve built it up so much, I’m balking on the idea of typing out my List. It’s a fluid, ever-changing thing… I’m reticent to nail it down.

How ’bout you go first?

—

Track o’ the post: There’s No I In Threesome from Interpol‘s latest, Our Love To Admire
(Note: Those links take you to Amazon’s MP3 download area, which I highly recommend. I might try to keep doing a track for each post. I might not.)

The new Amazon MP3 Music Downloads thingy, that’s what. Prices are roughly similar to iTunes Music Store and there’s no DRM whatsoever.

Hotness on a bun. (Y’know… As far as buying music goes. I still say buy directly from the artist if at all possible.)

The boss at Yahoo! Music agrees:

But now, eight years later, Amazon’s finally done what was clearly the right solution in 1999. Music in the format that people actually want it in, with a Web-based experience that’s simple and works with any device. I bought tracks from Amazon (Kevin Drew and No Age), downloaded them, sync’d them to my new iPod Nano, and had them playing in my home audio system (Control 4) in less than five minutes. PRAISE JESUS. It only took 8 years.

8 years. How much opportunity have we lost in those 8 years? How much naivety and hubris did we have when we said, “if we build it they will come�? What did we spend? And what did we gain? We certainly didn’t gain mass user adoption or trust, two prerequisites to success on the Internet.

I’m also still a big fan of Amazon Unbox with its $4 “rentals” that download straight to my TiVo.

That’s sexy, too.

(Some of the stuff I talk about after the jump could be considered spoilers, I guess…)

The Wife, the Mother-in-Law, and I saw the Simpsons Movie yesterday. It’s definitely worth a peek. I think it absolutely succeeds in breathing new life into the franchise, which has to be the best you can expect. It’s really interesting how a little nudity and some cursing can punch up a TV cartoon. ;^)

It’s also kind of interesting to me how the secondary characters were used in the movie. Flanders got a lot of play, but Mr. Burns barely graced the screen, and Willie never even had a line. Makes you wonder how the next one (you have to assume there will be another one — Maggie says so) will use the people of Springfield differently. The one was focused more closely on the Simpson clan than the show usually is, so one might expect the next movie to spread out a bit. Or not.

Either way, I’ll be there.