Month: June 2006

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Review: A Prairie Home Companion

“A penguin was floating on a small iceberg when he floated by another penguin.? The first penguin says to the second penguin, ‘You look like you’re wearing a tuxedo.’? The second penguin replies: ‘What makes you so sure I’m not?'”

Brooke and I went and saw “A Prairie Home Companion” today, based on the popular radio show frequently played on NPR that’s been on-air for the last 30 years.? The radio show hearkens back to variety shows of yesteryear, where musical acts, skits and subtle humor serve as entertainment to listeners (you know…like it was before there was television?).

The movie tries (effectively) to simulate the radio broadcast, taking place during the last show of a similar program.? The theater where the show is produced was bought and is being torn down to make room for a new parking lot, so the movie centers around the show’s untimely end.? The acting and music are all top-notch, which is expected when you have Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones, Woody Harrelson, Kevin Kline, Lily Tomlin…and even Lindsay Lohan…in a movie together.? The music was catchy, complete with humorous lyrics, and the fact that these actors sang their stuff themselves was especially impressive.

Overall, the movie was well-done and fun to watch, giving the viewer a strong sense of nostalgia for days of old.? It should be noted, however, that Brooke and I were by far the youngest individuals in the theater…bringing the average age in the room down from 75 to 55…? So yeah, people much younger than us probably won’t enjoy the movie as much…but hopefully it’ll bring back fond memories for the adults, and introduce young people to entertainment that doesn’t involve sex, drugs and “Grand Theft Auto”…

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Carlin

A little wisdom from my man, George Carlin:

“So I worship the sun. But I don’t pray to the sun. You know why? Because I wouldn’t presume on our friendship. It’s not polite. I’ve often thought people treat God rather rudely. Trillions and trillions of prayers every day, asking and pleading and begging for favors. ‘Do this; give me that; I need this; I want that.’ And most of this praying takes place on Sunday, his day off! It’s not nice, and it’s no way to treat a friend.”

“I wanted to be a Boy Scout, but I had all the wrong traits. Apparently, they were looking for kids who were trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. Unfortunately, at that time, I was devious, fickle, obstructive, hostile, rude, mean, defiant, glum, extravagant, cowardly, dirty, and sacrilegious. So I waited a few years and joined the army.”

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Hey!

I just set up a calendar with gmail, so if any of you want a minute-by-minute update of what I’m doing and you have a gmail address (and I care about you), let me know and I’ll let you in on it. Plus, you should all use it too so I can see what you’re up to! Oh, and I told Dana that my email address would be here and it’s not and putting it here is easier than making it fit somewhere else, so: jbrooke23@gmail.com. Other than that, heading to Hannibal for a couple of days to quench my boredom with some Rachel time!

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Review: CSA – The Confederate States of America

So, Brooke and I wanted to see a movie this past weekend, but there wasn’t much out that we wanted to see (or hadn’t already seen), so Brooke looked through the movies playing at the Tivoli, which is a theater in town that plays independent or limited-release films. Anyway, one such movie caught our collective eye: “CSA – The Confederate States of America.”

The movie is told through the vantage point of a British documentary, recounting the alternate “history” of America where the Confederates won at Gettysburg, causing France and Britain to enter the war on their side and defeat the Union Army. The South burns the North and reconstructs it in their image, solidifying slavery’s grasp on the country. The “history” is recounted from that time up to present day, discussing how slavery continued here and how they took over South America, sided with the Nazis in WWII (i.e. they didn’t fight with them, but they also didn’t intervene against plans for “world purity”), and became the sworn enemies of Canada.

The neat thing about the movie was the “commercials” interwoven with the movie, taking place about every 15 or 20 minutes, coinciding with what you’d see if you were watching TV. These commercials included a high-tech shackle that contained a GPS unit so you could track your slave if they escaped…

Anyway, it was a pretty good movie. Since it was released in 2004, it’s unlikely that you’ll find it many places, but you may run across it in some video rental places “off the beaten path”… Either way, it’s worth looking for if you get a chance.? Certainly an interesting take on roads not taken…

…thankfully…

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Hilarious…

Remember all that National Spelling Bee hullabaloo from last week? Well, Dr. Macarthur pointed me to a little blurb about some of the people who lost…

For example, one ten-year-old named Katie got words like “anastomosis” and “zedoary” correct, neither of which I’ve ever heard before… But what word does she get wrong? “Friend.” Now, the real kicker here is what Katie’s Mom said, in defense of her daughter’s stupidity:

We thought we had all of the words covered, but then they pull one out of the blue like that.? The real challenge for the kids is when they come across a word that they just don’t ever use in their daily life.

Apparently being home-schooled means you don’t have very many “friends”…

Oh, and another good one… This kid, Kevin, is a fifth grader and got words like “consecrated” and “intracutaneous” correct, but then misspelled “sapphic,” which apparently means ‘of or pertaining to homosexuality among women.’ Well, when asked about it, his mother said the following:

I just couldn’t believe it when they announced his word.? The whole reason we pulled him out of the public schools in the first place is so he wouldn’t have to be exposed to a filthy word like that.

Mom, thanks for not home-schooling me…

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Yum!

So, we were actually in town all this weekend and it was great to just relax here for once! Saturday, Josh came over to play computer games with Andy and Sharon came in the afternoon and we went to the pool at our apartment complex for some sun time since it was such a nice day (don’t worry Mom, I wore spf 30 and didn’t burn). We came back inside and watched some Food Network and did some research on interesting restaurants. We ended up picking a Honduran restaurant in the city. We were the only people in the place the whole time we were there, but the food was really good and not too pricey, so if you’re looking for an adventure and up for pointing at things on the menu you want, I’d say give it a try. I found out about it in the Riverfront Times restaurant review section of their website and they had lots of helpful reviews that we’ll probably be checking out in the future! Oh, I’m sure Andy will write a review for you, but we also saw CSA: The Confederate States of America at the Tivoli and had Blue Moon at Blueberry Hill before since we were there a little early. All in all, another good weekend, and there’s the possibility of a bit a of a job that I’m waiting to hear about!