The Hot Club

The Caustic Cutie visited Sunday and Contraire was showing her a lampshade he bought. She asked him "Did you pay for this?" He acted offended. Then Contraire wanted CC's opinion about the color of the lampshade (burgundy and gold). CC asked, "Are you living in this space?" Contraire replied, "You ask too many questions. I don't like your line of questioning."

My thanks to regulars the Wise Man, Bags, Foot Joy, and the Moe, as well as Mike Module, Frequent Flyer, Buffalo Steve, and Fleet Feet Pete, and of course Mr. D. for making my St, Pat's party.

According to one of the riders, Bags drove Wise, Moe and Foot Joy to my party. An insider told me that when Bags made the left-hand turn at Newport and Armistice, he cut it so sharp that he was on the wrong side of the divider/barrier. Wise said, "What do you think you're driving in Bermuda?"

CC Rider was talking about our old friend ME, who returned to her hometown of Green Bay, Wisconsin after her husband died. CC used to take ME to the Hot Club to get her out of the house. At a Waterfront Festival at the HC, ME met someone who went with her to Wisconsin. Kevin on Fire overheard the conversation and said he knew the chap. Only in Rhode Island - one degree of separation.

Contraire to CC on me writing the Hot Club section: "He has his own perception of what people say."

Overheard at the Hot Club: "She heads up a group of lesbian carpenters. They don't use nails. Everything is tongue and groove."

Mr. D. was kidding Citizen Caroline about her long legs. He pointed to her left leg and said, "That's Christmas and the other leg is New Year's. I want to come between the holidays."

5 Angels told us about some new technology that allows your thoughts to be recorded. It is triggered by the brain and reads your thoughts. The Caustic Cutie wondered whether a different part of the body might be involved. She called it "a new treatment for ED".

Contraire suggested that 5 Angels was a case study. "He gets strapped down once a week", said Contraire.

MOVIE REVIEW - SNATCH (2000)

Beau of the Hot Club had recommended this movie to me and I wasn't disappointed. Snatch is directed by Guy Ritchie (Mr. Madonna) who did the well-received Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) just before this film.

It has an all-start cast with Benicio Del Toro, Brad Pitt, Dennis Farina, and Jason Statham. Like any British film, it takes 20-30 minutes to start hearing the words through the accents. And in this movie, everyone has an accent, including Del Toro and Pitt who plays a 'pikey', an Irish gypsy type.

The movie starts fast and furious and ends the same way. A check of Leonard Maltin shows that he liked Snatch even better than Lock, Stock.

IMDb says that Guy Ritchie got back at critics who complained about not understanding the accents in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels by creating the Brad Pitt character Mickey O'Neil who is a 'pikey' (Irish gypsy) and who can't be understood by most of the other characters.

Ritchie paid $1 million US to use Madonna's song Lucky Star in the film.

The 'f' word is used 153 times in the movie.

The dog Bow bit actor Lennie James in the crotch and was replaced.

The Hot Club

The Wise Man came up to me and asked "Which is better: sex or baseball?" Without hesitation I said "Sex". Easy Ed felt the same way. Wise was surprised. Guess he likes baseball a lot.

Frequent Flyer asked how may baseball games there were. "162", we said. FF responded "There are more baseball games than I have sex."

Overheard at the Hot Club: "He's in the zone. Leave him alone."
And in answer to the last time a woman had seen a man, the woman replied, "When cars were still cold."

Question - Who is Negative Ned?

Reports of a Falcon sighting have reached me. Apparently he swoops in to the Food Court at Warwick Mall and holds court there. Lately The Falcon has been terrorizing the citizenry with his gloom and doom message that all the banks are going out of business.

Julie, Bucky and I were talking about men and their worries of losing hair. I said a lot of women actually like guys that are bald. Yet many men pay scads of money for hair plugs. Bucky said, "Men buy hair. Women get tits."

Britt all of a sudden started chanting "The semicolon doesn't get respect."

Oh that benefit walk (Miriam Hosp. and American Heart Assoc.) that Eric mentioned is not 7 miles. It is 5 miles or less. Depending on the direction.

Mr. D. and I were complimenting Jen Turner. Mr. D. told Jen she was smart, good-looking and caring. I said she was part of what was good about the Hot Club experience. Jen said we were making her blush. Mr. D. swore he could see Jen blushing.

Contraire was talking about profiling. Frequent Flyer overheard him and said, "What's wrong with profiling?" Replied Contraire, "Unless you're being profiled."

Foot Joy and I were talking about Detroit taking Darko Milicic instead of Carmelo Anthony in the NBA draft a couple years back. Imagine what kind of dynasty the Pistons would be with Carmelo. So Foot Joy and I talked about bad #1 draft picks. FJ recalled Joe Barry Carroll or as FJ called him 'Joe Barely Cares'

There was talk of a celebrity chef. Wise said, "I think he lets his boys wander." Added Bags, "A pickle smoocher".

MOVIE REVIEW - GONE BABY GONE (2007)

Word reached me that the Cisco Kid said I should see this flick. So Victoria and I watched it and found it to be good but not great. Victoria thought it had the makings of a very good movie but that they just didn't pull it off. I have to agree.

Ben Affleck did a very credible job of directing the cast, including his brother Casey, who has the plum role as private investigator Patrick Kenzie. The problem is that Casey's vocal quality is distracting and some of his lines were unintelligible.

The movie is based on a Dennis Lehane book. The ending is a bit much. The idea that what is presented would occur without anyone noticing is beyond belief.

Ed Harris is his usual simmering then boiling and finally erupting self. Harris is so good that he should win an award every time. His messenger in Cronenberg's History of Violence was chilling.

Victoria thought the woman who plays Casey Affleck's companion Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan) looked like Michael Jackson. I had trouble removing that thought from my head during the movie. The actress was good but there wasn't a strong rapport between her and Affleck.

This is a movie worth seeing. It actually was up for a Best Picture Oscar. That's saying something about the quality of movies this past year.

IMDb says: the movie is Ben Affleck's directorial debut. Affleck directed two other movies but neither has made it to the Big Screen. IMDb gave it an 8 out of 10.

MOVIE REVIEW - 30 DAYS OF NIGHT (2007)

Had been looking forward to this movie as The Germ had given it her Seal of Approval. That would be a barking seal for me. This is a decent movie, but there is absolutely no chemistry between Josh Hartnett and his estranged wife played by Melissa George. Other than looking pretty while sporting some dirt smudges, this actress brings little to her role.

There is no explanation from whence the vampires come. They seem to have been around for a while, so wouldn't there have been 'legends' or at least rumors of massive deaths in the past. Like a whole town.

Enjoyed the cheesy fake language used by the vampires, even if some of the subtitles were laughable. The Head Vampire is pretty good and has the menacing look down. However the ability of the survivors to skirt danger (until the movie's 1:13 is almost up) strains disbelief.

The movie is set up for sequels. However I didn't find it as good as Dog Soldiers (a modern day werewolf tale) or the recent Feast.

IMDb says: in Barrow, Alaska (the setting), the sun doesn’t come above the horizon for 67 days, but it still gets light between noon and 4 PM. And the airport may close for storms but never for 30 days straight.

Director David Slade, who has directed mostly music videos did Hard Candy (2006), a nasty little movie about a 14-year old who meets a 30 something predator. Juno's Ellen Page played the 14-year old.

The screenplay is by Steve Niles and Stuart Beattie and is based on Niles' comic book.

Sam Raimi backed out of directing the film and instead produced it.

Melissa George has also been in Amityville Horror (2005) and Turistas. She is in HBO's In Treatment.

The Hot Club

We were talking about Dustin Hoffman and The Graduate. I told Pucky that Chuck Doherty had e-mailed me that Dustin was about 6 years younger than Anne Bancroft who played Mrs. Robinson, his girlfriend's mother. Pucky didn't believe it. He said that Hoffman had to be in his 20's when the movie was made.

Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia states that Dustin Hoffman's DOB is 8/8/37. Anne Bancroft (Anna Maria Louisa Italiano) was born 9/17/31. The Graduate was released in 1967. So as of their birthdays in 1967, Dustin was 30 and Anne 36.

Pucky also wondered what happened to Katherine Ross, noting she didn't make any big movies after that. I mentioned Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. A check of Maltin shows that Ross was also in Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here and The Stepford Wives. After Ross married Sam Elliott, she was in several westerns with him.

So Pucky called to say that he read in Entertainment Weekly that Dustin Hoffman saved $4000 from making The Graduate, but when it finished filming he was on unemployment making $55 a week. Then the movie came out and all that changed.

Buff Steve was talking about dancers or entertainers. I asked if he meant strippers. Well yes. Buff Steve calls them 'Little Sisters of the Ladies of the Night'.

Puckhead told us that when he was younger he'd meet a girl at the movies to save money.

With no Pilsner Urquell and no Heineken at the Hot Club, my choice of beer became Stella Artois. I thought it was an American beer under a European sounding name. Patti said she thought it was Belgian. She checked - yup it's Belgian. Patti knows her stuff.

Contraire was telling Beau about being in Sportzine. Contraire was reading about saying that Beau was a womanizer and whatever Beau had, Contraire didn't. And then Contraire took it back. Beau laughed at the recollection and told me "You got it Dead On." Later Contraire said I misquoted him 3 times in that week's Sportzine.

Contraire was surprised that I remembered Chrissie who left the HC and was making movies in New Mexico. I told him she had that Egyptian look and was quite memorable.

Ex-bartender Kate of Barrington was in the house. Asked her about Chrissie and her film career in Colorado. Kate didn't think she was making movies and said Chrissie was working in a supermarket. Mr. D. said, "Bag lady. She's playing a bag lady."

A movie named Snatch was playing on the HC DVD. Beau highly recommended it.

MOVIE REVIEW - SPIRAL (2007)

Spiral is an excellent little movie that generates its edge from the dynamics of the main characters. In this case, that would be Joel David Moore and Amber Tamblyn (Russ' dgtr)

Not only does Moore star in the film, but he co-wrote the script, helped produce it (so some of is money is on the line) and co-directed it with Adam Green. A tour de force.

Moore plays Mason, a nebbish who is painfully shy around everyone, but especially women. Into his life comes Amber (Amber Tamblyn) who is light to his dark, bloom to his gloom, outgoing to his repressed, lively to his doom ridden. It makes for an interesting match.

Mason likes to sketch women. It is his one tie to reality and a tenuous one at that. Mason has his secrets. Mason has his rules. The playing out of this character study is involving and fascinating.

Bloody-disgusting.com gave this a 4 (out of 5) and it is well deserved. Moore captures the very essence of a troubled, tortured soul who exists in the shadows and who is happiest walking in the rain without an umbrella.

Zachary Levi plays Mason's boss and is almost as strong a screen presence as Moore.
Recently I saw Moore in Hatchet. He was very good in it, probably the best thing about the film. I didn't even bother reviewing Hatchet because it wasn't very good.

The movie is 91 minutes long and is PG-13.