Back from a bit of a respite. I am still off until mid-week, so I've had days where I've been busy this week, days where I didn't do shit all day, and days that were a little of both. I didn't even go to the Browns game today. For what? It's like exhibition season. Anyhow, here are some movies I've seen during the break.

"Juno" was terrific. I was hooked from the opening title sequence, which is kinda unique, as Juno chugs Sunny D on her way to another pregnancy test. I liked it, because this story is the stuff of the Lifetime Channel or an Afterschool Special, and they didn't take that route. At every turn, it had the potential to go south, but it didn't. I thought it was smart, way funnier than I expected, snappy dialogue and you can't beat the cast. And only an hour-and-a-half, so easy to cram in a busy schedule. Deserves all the accolades it gets. And The Kinks had "Well-Respected Man" on the soundtrack, so that wasn't bad. Oh, there might be squawking about that soundtrack as the Moldy Peaches are featured, but I thought it was harmless. Roger Ebert said this was his Number 1 movie of the year. I'm with him on that.

"Walk Hard:The Dewey Cox Story" was another movie I saw. This one was Friday morning at Crocker Park where the audience was me and another guy. Hey, it gave me the opportunity to get a bagel and grab some hot cocoa at Bruegger's to sneak in. Lemme tell ya, it deserved a bigger audience. This one is what the men in my family refer to as "stupid funny". And that's exactly what it is as they parody a combo of "Walk the Line", "Ray" and rock 'n roll history. John C. Reilly was pretty good in the lead role and I thought Jenna Fischer looked great. Their song, "Let's Duet", was pretty damn funny.

Him: "In my dreams you're blowin' me...kisses."
Her: "That's one of my favorite things to do."
Him: "You and I could go down...in history."
Her: "That's what I'm planning to do with you."

Tim Meadows was his drummer that always had a habit of introducing the latest drug to Dewey. Cameos included Jack White as Elvis, Malcolm in the Middle as Buddy Holly, Jack Black as Macca, I think Paul Rudd as Lennon, Mac Guy as George Harrison and Jason Schwartzmann as Ringo. References included Dylan press conferences, visits to the Maharishi, protest songs (Dewey wanted to help those who suffer injustices: Women and midgets! Hah!), all the way to Lifetime Achievement Awards. Very funny.

Yesterday, it was "Charlie Wilson's War". That means I have seen the butts of Philip Seymour Hoffman and now Tom Hanks in the last month. But I also saw Marisa Tomei naked, did I mention that? This movie was written by Aaron Sorkin and the dialogue was outstanding. Also it was directed by Rachael Nichols' father-in-law. Hoffman again was fascinating, and I can't remember the last time I saw him where he wasn't good. He was a CIA guy and was very convincing in his role and had the majority of the good lines.

Hanks: "Do you drink?"
Hoffman: "Oh, God, yes."

Tom Hanks was top-notch as Charlie Wilson, the Congressman who bankrolled the Afghans against the Soviets. Not a Julia Roberts fan and she was OK in a supporting role, but I think she wanted to be filmed in a bathing suit so that she could say, "I still got it.". I had to mention I saw this one at the Regal at Crocker as well, but it was the coldest temperature I've ever suffered through at a theatre, besides the discount houses. I kept beseeching Tom Hanks to appropriate some cash towards the heat budget. But on the way out, management did the right thing, by giving everyone a free ticket. Now, that's customer service.

Meal of Links

This is cool. One-stop shopping to find out baseball salaries.

Al Qaeda says it wasn't us. And Musharraf says he doesn't need any foreign help in investigating Bhutto's death.

Sacha Baron Cohen bids adieu to Borat and Ali G, and plays Abbie Hoffman. But I see he'll do a Bruno. That will be funny.

Exercise Yard

A pretty good site on basketball X's and O's. With accompanying video.

Visitor

None, it was a Browns wait-and-see Sunday