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Archive for the ‘BY THE WAY’ Category

Wall Street 2- Money Never Sleeps

Posted in From My Point of View - Personal commentary on Movies and Books, tagged , , , , , , , on October 6, 2010| 1 Comment »

Welllll what happens when there is way too much hype about a movie is what happened here – it doesn’t live up to the publicity campaign!  A couple of friends had already seen it and said, “oh you’re going to love it”! NOT

The first thing that put me off the movie was the music.  I am ALWAYS suspect of a movie that uses songs to express an emotion that the script has failed to convey.  It’s almost as if the music is used to fill in the blanks left in the screenplay.

I understand and appreciate Oliver Stone‘s attempts to expose the excesses and abuses of the wild wild west of  Wall Street.  But you can’t do that when you use stars in your movie because they get paid a lot of money and only major studios and large production companies can pay those prices.  Exposeé cinema is the work of Michael Moore.  There were two other story lines played out; the relationship between Jake and Winnie and Winnie and Gekko – predictable.

The movie was predictable right from the very first scene – I mean you HAD to know that Winnie (Carey Mulligan) was going to be the daughter of Gordon Gecko.  And that Jake (Shia LaBeouf)  with his innocent looks and clean-shaven face would be the perfect foil for Gordon GekkoMichael Douglas) and Bretton James (Josh Brolin) characters.  Greed is good.

For awhile I thought that after 8 years in prison Gordon was reformed, repentant and rehabilitated-NOT! Two clichés come to mind: Old habits are hard to break and a leopard doesn’t change his spots. However, in thinking back to first meeting between Jake and Gecko, I should have seen the foreshadowing in the trades. But then again, Michael Douglas is a star and of course the movie couldn’t end with him still being a prick – predictable.

The movie is filled and I mean filled with the vernacular of Wall Street; so much so that I believe most of the audience had no clue as to what the characters were talking about and there was no explanation offered either verbally or visually. Sub prime, insurance-swapping, margin calls, selling short, off-shore funding and on and on.  It was nice that the research was done to make it authentic but if so much of the dialogue is in vernacular, it is lost on the general public.

Let’s talk about the acting;  this is the second movie I’ve seen recently that had former leading actors and actresses in minor roles AND the greats walked away with the scene every time!  Eli Wallach was powerful in the role of Jules Steinhardt, Susan Sarandon once again displayed her ability to shine in a comedic role and Frank Langella as Louis Zabel inhabited the character.  Shia is good looking but not a great actor, Carey was too doe-eyed for me and Josh Brolin is a bit of enigma-I think he should be better than he is and yet he has had two leading roles recently.

As far as the cinematography goes, well…what New Yorker doesn’t love to watch a film shot in New York City?  The street shots were great, I actually recognized a few but there were too many skyline shots.  Could you identify what organization was being honored  when the Empire State Building came into view and each time it had a different light configuration?

From my point of view, Wall Street 2 is entertaining, I enjoyed seeing Michael Douglas but it was contrived, not real enough – EVEN with all the product placement!  It lacked meatiness and soul and I  don’t know why  those particular words came to mind but they do.

Just in case you’re wondering what product placement I’m talking about, consider these:

Dunkin Donuts

The Bowery Hotel

Is Greed good? Wall Street 2, Money Never Sleeps

Michael Douglas

Heineken

Nintendo

Lay’s

Shun Lee

Johnny Walker

Red Bull

Cracker Jacks

and many many more!!!!



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Monday’s Six Word Memoirs

Posted in Friends, Six Word Memoirs, tagged , , on October 4, 2010| 7 Comments »

Now that those lazy hazy days of summer are a thing of the past and crisp air has brought us all to attention…it seems that this seasonal shift has inspired many readers to respond to the Six Word Memoir challenge.  My reader/writers are coming out of the woodwork and sharing some really great Six Word Memoirs – and I’m pleased to present them to you.

Come see the greatest show ever! – Lauren

Joel and Chiara – Thank you God – Dennis

Parents sixty-five years married-Celebrating!! – Susan Celtic Lady

Under the oak trees, leaves fall – Esther

Getting that wanderlust urge once again – Weez

Illness, pain, friends, help, treatment, recovery – Susan

Lori’s blog, evolving with every week – Gail

Day in, day out, same thing – creepyoldguy

Time to turn on the heat – startingoveringermany

I can’t believe I missed a week! – Susan Celtic Lady

Holidays why the blues this year? – Me

Let’s keep it going, it isn’t as hard as you think.  It can be about your life as a whole or in the moment, a passion, a crisis, a feeling.  Channel your Ernest Hemingway and look for your reply here next week!!!


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It’s A Thing of Beauty

Posted in BY THE WAY, Ha-P 2 B in OG, tagged , , on October 3, 2010| 2 Comments »

'55 Chevy, Salmon Pink and Gray 4 door Chevy

Salmon Pink and Gray '55 Chevy

photo by Lori

Saturday was errand day for us and since , it was a beautiful sunny early Fall day, we took the Met; you know SO CUTE!

1958 Nash Metropolitan, the Met, So Cute,

SO CUTE

photo by Lori

and off we went around town and while driving through Neptune, we spotted a vintage car show, so we pulled into the parking lot and the man directed us to the show cars!  We said we were only spectators but he  insisted we park over by the other vintage cars, so we did.

Black '51 Chevrolet

photo by Lori

Red Chevrolet

Very Red Chevrolet

photo by Lori

Two tone Oldsmobile

Two-Tone Oldsmobile

photo by Lori

An Oldie but Goodie

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How Can You Catch Up on Sleep When….

Posted in BY THE WAY, Friends, Ha-P 2 B in OG, tagged , , , on October 2, 2010| Leave a Comment »

For some reason I thought you  were supposed to be able to catch up on your sleep over the weekends.  What a concept! Last weekend which was chronicled here as you know brought us to the ER at 11:30pm with our friend Heide and we didn’t get home till 2am!  And our friend, Joe, was in the ER that day too but at least he was there during the day and our friends, Susan and Jim were in vigilance then.

This weekend just as I was winding down on my computer and had finished  copying (yet) more recipes, both of our cats, Nick and Nora were in front of the screen door to the front porch.  Nick was crouched and Nora had her back up – Peter said he saw something moving on the porch.  The wind was pretty strong as a storm was coming in and several times I thought I saw something moving outside on the porch but it was just the flag waving in the wind.

It was not the wind but rather a big black dog who was wagging her tail and crying to come in! What the heck?? A dog on our porch and it was almost midnight!! We turned on the lights and there she was, jet black, tail wagging furiously and crying as only a dog who wants to come in does.  She looked like a Black Labrador Retriever with maybe a little Pit Bull but maybe not. Nora hissed as she knew any self-respecting cat would when a dog arrives on your doorstep.  Nicky leaned into the screen, nose against it and watched with the utmost curiosity-he’s definitely friendlier and more tolerant than Nora.

Well now what to do? Peter is beside himself because the dog doesn’t have a collar on and we wondered why someone was not looking for this pooch.  We stood on the sidewalk and looked up and down the street, straining our ears to hear someone calling out for a dog.  Nothing….No one….  We were not about to leave him on the porch – for one thing she was whimpering and crying to get into the house and incessantly wagging her tail.

Finally we decided to call Jim and Susan because like who else do you call in Ocean Grove when there’s an emergency? I called the cell-no answer so I called the house phone and got Susan.  True to her giving and caring nature, she said,”I’ll put my jeans on and come over” .  They arrived shortly thereafter with several collars and a leash. I said, “why don’t we just take the dog straight to the emergency room”?  LOL

We waited around hoping someone would cruise by looking for the dog.  Susan tried calling Cindy who runs the Dawg Joint but it was midnight and no answer.  Susan then thought to call the police.  The Neptune police said no one had called in a lost dog but they would come and pick it up if we wanted them to.  That was an idea however, they would keep the dog overnight and by 8am the next morning the Humane Society would get the dog.  This sounded way too tenuous for us because what would happen to the dog after a few days at the Humane Society…we didn’t want to think about the consequences.  So Susan left her cell phone number and gave the police a description of the dog.  And then she called the Bradley Beach police to give them the information and her cell.  Not more than 5 minutes went by when her phone rang.  It was the Neptune police department who had a woman on the line who was reporting a lost dog.  She reconfirmed the description and hooray, the dog’s owner was coming to get her.

In less than 5 minutes a car pulled up with a very anxious and teary “mommy”.  As soon as the dog saw “mommy” there was no more crying or whimpering- just tail-wagging.  Once owner and dog were reunited we learned our visitor’s name was Haley and she had been missing for over 2 hours!  They had cruised our street and were scouring the surrounding side streets in hopes of spotting her – not so easy to see a black dog in the middle of the night.

Haley went home with her owners and it turns out they live down the street from us so we’ll surely see Haley again on one of her walks.  All’s well that ends well or so they say.  As for the four of us, it seems like the beginning of another sleepless weekend – it was now 1am!!

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And the WINNER is….

Posted in BY THE WAY, Ha-P 2 B in OG, tagged , , , , on September 30, 2010| 4 Comments »

It had to have been a very long day for Pete last Saturday.  He got up early and drove his Metropolitan sedan to the British Car Show, Brits on the Beach, which was being held in Ocean Grove.  The Positive Earth Drivers Club runs this annual event and chose Ocean Grove as the venue.  Anyway, all summer long, Peter kept saying, “You know the Met should be in the British car show” and I would always pooh-pooh the idea and I’m not even sure why.  Well on Friday he got it into his head as we drove 80 mph on the NJ Turnpike that he  really should do the show.  We thought all you had to do was drive up early in the morning and park your car like we did in the Vintage Auto Show.  So I called the Chamber of Commerce just to make sure and was told, “oh no, this is a show you have to register for and we don’t run it and they already have their quota of cars”. Not to be deterred, I suggested we call and see if someone canceled.  I left a voice mail and by the time we reached the cottage, a gentleman called him back.  We were in!!!

So Cute, 1958 Nash Metropolitan, First Place Brits on the Beach 2010

The Nash Took It!

I was happy for Peter but did not really want to participate, so he went off by himself on Saturday morning.  I was a bad wife and didn’t even go to the show until it was over and they were giving out awards.  By the time I got there (that is found a parking spot) the officials were calling everyone to the stand so they could announce winners.

There must have been 20 categories, Triumphs 3, 4 and beyond, MGA‘s to MGTD’s, Morgans, Rovers and Austin Healeys.  Award after award was announced and given out.  There were 3 trophies left on the table and since we didn’t have a Triumph, Austin Healey, MG, Jaguar, Morgan or a Rover I guessed Peter and the Metropolitan weren’t in the running for anything.  However, there was an S class which was to cover other British cars.

Third place went to a great MG Magnette which had a lovingly restored engine but a body that needed work,  Second place went to a cute green perfect little Morris Minor.   And then, and then… the man announced the first place winner and this is what he said,”First place in Class S, Other category goes to Peter Press, the Nash took it, congratulations”!!

Yippee, wowie zowie, Peter won!!! And brought home the Trophy.

Brits on the Beach 2010, First Place-Other Sedan, sponsored by Land Rover

First Place - Other Sedan - Brits on the Beach

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The TOWN is a Charlestown Chamber of Commerce Commercial

Posted in BY THE WAY, tagged , , , , , , on September 30, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Ben Affleck speaking at a rally for Feed Ameri...

Image via Wikipedia

So did you know that Charlestown, Massachusetts has produced more bank robbers and thieves than any other community in the United States? That’s what they say anyway at the beginning of this movie  and a whole lot more.

The TOWN, directed by Ben Affleck, who also starred in the movie, is not a big film and it’s not a little movie either.  The characters are big and all too believable.  Tough town, tough kids and these 4 friends are amongst the toughest.  Affleck portrays a reformed drug and alcohol abuser, but still a crook and the brains of the foursome.  His brother, (in name, not blood) Jim, played by Jeremy Renner is the real tough guy.  Jim spent 9 years in Walpole prison for murder because he killed someone who he purportedly  thought was going to kill Doug (Affleck).  He hasn’t forgotten how long those 9 years were and wants to extract a pound of flesh and a pint of blood from Doug for saving his life.  Add that to the fact that in this incestuous little group, there is speculation that Jim’s sister, Krista’s  (Blake Lively) daughter, Shine is the love child of Doug and her.  The guys ostensibly work for a small time hood and local crime boss who plans the robberies and then bullies and/or blackmails the four friends into doing the jobs.

This isn’t just your average crime story; there are layers to the Affleck character who is clever, sensitive,  savvy, smart but not intellectual, brutal, harsh and yet loyal.  This wide range of personality characteristics are exquisitely rendered by Affleck.  Sometimes it’s the softness in his voice or the surreptitious  way in which he insinuates himself into  Clare’s  (Rebecca Hall) life, thereby he thinks, saving her  from the trigger-happy sociopath Jim has become. His  accent is perfect, not too Boston Irish, just  enough to be convincing and natural.

Affleck, the Director and the film’s editor did a fantastic job editing the action scenes; the robberies, the shoot-outs and the car chases.  The narrow streets of Boston, some no wider than the cow paths they once were.  heighten the intensity of these harrowing, car-crushing chases.

The movie has some powerful actors in it, not the least of which is Chris Cooper, portrayed as Doug’s incarcerated father.  There is a scene between son and father and as good as Ben Affleck is, Chris Cooper is better – he is so damn real.  Prison, arrest, drugs, alcohol seem to be family traits in the inhabitants of Charlestown.  A circular legacy if you will.

John Hamm, who I love in the role of Don Draper, on AMC’s Mad Men is cast as a FBI agent determined to find and arrest these bank robbers.  As the head of the Division, he holds morning meetings a la Hill Street Blues and more recently, NYPD Blue but he’s not as good as Daniel J. Travanti or Dennis Franz.

Lastly the cinematography is beautiful; the aerial shots of Boston clearly play a strong role in allowing you to see the whole and the class system with its distinct and different neighborhoods. Boston is seen as the big city little town it really is.

And by the way, how do you buy 4 Nun’s masks and nobody thinks to follow that trail – hey I’m just asking!

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New York City is A Cultural Cafeteria

Posted in BY THE WAY, New York Speaks, Only in New York, tagged , , , , on September 30, 2010| 2 Comments »

Temple de Dendur, Metropolitan Museum of Art, ...

Image via Wikipedia

New York City has been called many things; The Big Apple, The Capitol of the World and is described in the most eloquent of terms, AND I call it a Cultural Cafeteria – a phrase that came to me a couple of weeks ago after we saw two movies that hadn’t been released yet and went to a Judy Collins Concert held in the Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art all in one week. And that’s only an itsy-bitsy smidgen of what goes on every night in Manhattan.  It is really mind-boggling!

Here’s a random sampling:  The opera, Das Rheingold opened at The Metropolitan Opera.  The play, Brief Encounters, a British-born production played at Studio 54, The Joyce Theater featured the Batsheva Dance Company, The New York City Ballet Company performed Barber Violin Concerto and Opus 19/The Dreamer.

Angels in America, first American revival of Tony Kushner‘s masterpiece is in previews at The Signature Theater, the Film Forum is showing The Bridge Over the River Kwai and it doesn’t end there.  Well anyway, you get the picture!

First we saw You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger, the latest Woody Allen film – it was good, I liked it and I haven’t cared for some of his more recent movies.  I think it was good that he wasn’t in it and it was very different from his earlier movies which were all about Jewish angst and Manhattan.

Then the next night we saw Jack Goes Boating and this WAS shot in real-time, I swear.  Very very slow.  It had its poignant moments and I always like to see Phillip Seymour Hoffman although this character was particularly sloppy, fat and very unkempt.  I wish he would lose some weight.

The next night it was Judy Collins in Concert – the venue was the Temple of Dendur in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. What a place! What a voice! What a body! Judy is a wonder, she is 71 years old!!! Her range of octaves is phenomenal, her figure slim and her voice beautiful.  We were crying when she sang Both Sides Now– the nostalgia swept thru the mostly baby boomer-semi-hippie crowd.  We all had memories associated with that lush love song.  Her show was full of glorious praise for her now-hometown, New York City and peppered with quips, anecdotes and self-deprecating remarks-she was really funny.  She ended her show (which ran over in time) with a heart-wrenching rendition of Bring in the Clowns which brought the 200+ audience to its feet clapping and clapping and clapping.

Special for me was the fact that I, an adopted New Yorker,  was sitting in the Temple of Dendur attending an evening concert.  So many nights as Peter and I drove through the Central Park transverse we would see crowds in the Temple and wonder what was going on there after hours and how come we never knew!

What a night! What a week! I LOVE NEW YORK!

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The American – George Clooney Gets Shot

Posted in BY THE WAY, From My Point of View - Personal commentary on Movies and Books, tagged , , , , , on September 28, 2010| 2 Comments »

THE AMERICAN

George Clooney. Castle Vechio, Italy,

Run George Run

YUP that’s right – the title is a spoiler so if you don’t want to know anymore about the movie STOP READING now.

So here we have a thinner, trimmer George Clooney and unless he had a body double (duh!) he also showed off some very visible Pecs and Lats.  He bears the same sad, detached and tired demeanor that was characteristic of  Michael Clayton.  These characters are haunted men,   weighted down under the heavy cloak of their misdeeds and sleepless over their sins.  Was it all done in the line of duty? Duty?? We’re not talking about a soldier in the defense of his nation – we’re talking about MONEY, mercenaries if you will, a gun for hire, well  Mr. Clark kills, I don’t think an actual death was part of Michael Clayton’s job description.

Anyway the travelogue is beautiful as Mister Butterfly flits through Sweden and Rome and into the hills of Tuscany.  And the butterfly thing – what was that all about?  Were we supposed to see the softer side of this killer?  From cold-blooded murderer to lepidoperist all in an afternoon.  He even had a butterfly tatttoo!

This isn’t going to be a long review, the movie was long enough or so it seemed.  And why did it seem that way? Because it practically felt that it was being shot in real time. It moved ever so slowly.  I thought it was too slow and then I thought maybe this was the way movies used to be made, you know with the long shots and no cuts and not made up of hundreds of sound bytes.  This question is still up in the air.

Basically we watch Clooney kill a few people, get shot at by a few people and see how he forms an ego-manical sexual liason with a prostitute.

Edward Clark, a/k/a Mister Butterfly to those  from whom he is hiding his real identity, is a loner, a man who turns to a whore for sexual solace and ends up caring for her (??) – that’s debatable since he was prepared to shoot her during their picnic.  He suspects everyone and well he should because this character is the perfect exemplification of the cliche:  What goes around comes around. He can trust no one – even his boss (?) tells him not to make friends.

Following a tried and true and time-worn story line;  we see the bad guy who wants to get out of the game and wants NOT to be alone anymore so he picks a woman definitely below his own intellect but one who either satisfies him sexually or feeds into his own lack of self-esteem so he doesn’t deserve any better – does this sound like Paul Newman in The Hustler?

Anyway Clooney’s fate is sealed-Hollywood does not want to send the message that is okay to kill people and get away with it.  They stopped doing that when they stopped making John Wayne and Gary Cooper westerns.

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ONE Life, SIX words, What’s Yours?

Posted in Six Word Memoirs, tagged , , , on September 27, 2010| 16 Comments »

A harvest moon

Image via Wikipedia

It must be Monday when we start to think in abbreviated and concise sentences.  I have two guest contributors this week and am happy to have them!!

Pressing leaves between waxed paper sheets – Rosemarie

Live each day as a gift. – Gail

Harvest Moon, lunatic’s delight all night –Me

I swear this gets easier each week.  I must channeling my Ernest Hemmingway.  So glad I came across the AARP article and that referenced Smith Magazine where the Six Word Project began.

Additionally for those out there who are honing their writing skills, I have come across another site of interest.  Go to http://www.velvetverbosity.com/ – now this is the big time because you have to write One Hundred word stories/essays. Check it out!!!


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Could It Have Been Harvest Moon Havoc??

Posted in BY THE WAY, Friends, New York Speaks, Only in New York, tagged , , , on September 27, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Well according the article linked below the answer is NO.  It seems we have selective memories and when weird things happen to us, we may note there is a full moon and decide surely the full moon is responsible for this lunacy.

Harvest moon, September full moon,
The Harvest Moon

Lunacy and the Full Moon: Scientific American.

Alright so the moon was NOT responsible for the past few days of madness – even so…coincidentally then this is what came down since that big fat Harvest moon began to rise on Thursday night:

THURSDAY: I had planned to leave for the shore  in the early afternoon; it had been two weeks since we had been there and I missed my little cottage and was sure our feathered and bushy-tailed friends thought we had abandoned them :(.   Trying to leave early was difficult since I was trying to set up appointments for Chiara and Tom to see apartments this weekend  without me: She (Chiara) sprung this surprise house-hunting trip on me.

I checked my voice mail and had a message from  broker stating she wanted to show my listing on Friday at 3pm.  Of course, why not-FRIDAY at 3pm!!!! Why wouldn’t I want to leave the City on a FRIDAY during RUSH HOUR so I could show an apartment which might take all of 15 minutes.  I questioned the broker; did she see the web photos and floor plan? Could they make it any earlier? She said she would see if they could make it at 2pm and I said “FINE” I’ll be there. Thursday night the phone rang at midnight!!! It was the co-broker calling, thinking she was calling my office to tell me her customers could make it at 2pm instead of 3pm.  Good news even it was late.

FRIDAY AFTERNOON: Before I left for the weekend, I needed to iron some things. The phone rings and it is the co-broker and now her buyers can’t come till 2:15pm – Whatever!! Peter and I drove to the showing stopping in Midtown to pick up some paperwork which was supposed to be left for me – NOT THERE!! !  So onto the apartment to show and lo and behold we see that East 50th Street is in the frozen zone. No stopping allowed; police barricades on both sides of the street.  I HAD to stop to get out of the car – don’t you know a cop threw his cruiser in reverse and came barreling back to reprimand us!  Since I jumped out so quickly and Peter took off, he just gave us a dirty look.! if you don’t live in New York City then you probably don’t know what kind of self-imposed gridlock and lock-down the City goes into when the UN is having some sort of special session.  Streets are blocked off, traffic is clogged up and the diplomats from around the world are eating out in the best restaurants and the President is throwing a special event of his own at the Museum of Natural History – SO effectively both the West and the East sides were a mess! Got to the apartment and NO MORE show sheets! Of course not.  True to form the buyers were in and out in 15 minutes or less.

SATURDAY MORNING:  Susan called from the car and said she was  following the ambulance which was taking Joe, our host for that evening to Emergency Room.  UH OH!  Should I or should I not go to the vegetable stand and get the last of the ingredients and pick up Susan’s vegetables??

SATURDAY EVENING: Joe was finally released from the hospital and still wanted us all to come for the cook-out!  So at 7pm with Joe sleeping soundly with the afterglow of his morphine drip, Michael stepped up and played the most gracious host and cooked a delicious meal.  It had been a long day for everybody with a lot of stress, strain and phone calls, so about 10:30pm we headed home.

SATURDAY NIGHT LATER: I just got into my pajamas, took out my lens and the phone rang! Susan had gotten a phone call from Heide who apparently was in a lot of pain and had been throwing up for several hours – OMG!  Jim called 911 for an ambulance (can you believe this was his second 911 call today!) and I said we would get dressed and meet them over at Heide’s. The ambulance was already there;  Poor Heide, she looked very pale and was a little delirious from being de-hydrated.  We grabbed her meds, her keys, her cell phone and insurance cards and took off behind the ambulance for the ER.  I tried several times to reach her daughter in California and thankfully, at about 1:30am she called back.  Heide was about to go for a stomach X-ray.

SUNDAY AM: We stayed with her till about 2am and by that time we knew she;d be there for the rest of the night/morning.  I told her to call me in a few hours to pick her up if they let her go.  We went home, crashed and the next thing I knew it was 9am.  The phone hadn’t rung so I assumed Heide was still in JSUMC.  Before I went to sleep I sent Trish an email telling her what had happened.  Trish is the early bird in our group and she was at the hospital before 9am and passed on the latest news to all of us via email.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON: Susan and I went to Heide’s and got her important meds , took the trash out, turned off her computer and gathered some tees shirts and socks.  We visited with her for a short time and promised to check in the next day.

OY what a weekend – so what part did that big old moon play?

–

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