Queue Tips: Of the other kind.

"Rachel Getting Married" is a good film, but they seemed to be going for that wedding video look and I found it really annoying.  I haven't really like the handheld style since "Homicide: Life on the Street".  I find the moving camera style to be totally overrated.  It just gives me a headache.

But maybe that's what director Jonathan Demme hoped to achieve, as the characters themselves were going through troubled states of minds.  This film was well cast.  I wouldn't have had a problem with any of them getting an Oscar nomination or any kind of recognition.  I don't actually pay attention much to that stuff, so I don't know if they actually did, but I don't think so.

Meanwhile, Marisa Tomei was nominated for "The Wrestler".  It was a fine performance, but had it been a different actress, I wonder if anyone would have noticed.  I think this was simply a surprise factor.  People were shocked when they realized that she can pretty much kind of sort of act.

Penelope Cruz was also nominated for her role in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" (the same year as above, I believe).  I like her, and she has a great body of work (if you know what I mean), but I didn't see anything Oscar-worthy in this film.  She should have gotten a nomination for "Volver" though.  I don't know if she did or not.  And "Spanglish".  Wait, was that her in "Spanglish"?

Angelina Jolie was nominated for "Changeling".  Again, I think this was because she was doing something different than an action film.  Surprise.  Revelation.  Mind blowing.  This film was worth watching but I don't think it was all that great.

Kate Winslet won that year I think.  2008, was it?  I still don't understand it.  She was definitely excellent in "Little Children" though.  What was all the hype with "The Reader"?  Am I just me, or wasn't that film a tad overrated.  Why don't you just read the book?

And "Revolutionary Road"?  There was nothing revolutionary about it.  The fifties sucked, I get it.  Didn't Todd Haynes already cover this in "Far From Heaven"?  Julianne Moore did a much better job relating what her character was going through in that film.  But did she get nominated?  No.  She wasn't in "Titanic".

Queue Tips: The best medicine.

Just reviewing some recently watched DVDs on my Netflix queue.  You know how they say that laughter is the best medicine?  Well, "Medicine Man" might just cure some of your ills as you laugh at how bad of a movie it is.

Actually, no.  You'll be sad.  Don't waste your time with this one.  I don't know why anyone would ever think Sean Connery and Lorraine Bracco would be a good pair.  Bracco is a braying one-trick pony with her annoying nagging that worked so well in "Goodfellas ".  But that was for a few minutes at a time and her husband kept trying to silence her or avoid her.

In thish film, Connery believesh he hash found a cure for cancer.  And he struggles to create more before the rain forest where he is working on is cut down or burned down or something.  What he really should have been working on is a dose of shut-the-hell-up for Lorraine's character.

Next up is "Misery", and you pretty much know what it's about.  This film has been reference or parodied so often that it was no longer suspenseful when I finally watched it.  If you're curious, you might as well check it out.  It's a good film that has unfortunately been ruined by others.  There are characters here that reminded me of Marge Gunderson in "Fargo", especially with all the snow.

I'm working on a sequel for this film.  It's called "Misery Loves Company".  It's about a landlord who tortures his tenants after finding out the male one is not actually gay and, along with the two female ones, have been making a fool of him resulting in ensuing craziness.  Also, the landlord keeps hearing canned laughter in his head.  Also, the detectives who are trying to save them are a bickering old couple.

Last one for now is "Midnight Run".  This is pretty much just "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" with Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin instead of Steve Martin and John Candy.  The plot itself is nothing special, and some of the situations don't necessarily make the most sense.

For example, I don't know how it worked in the '80s, but canceling another person's credit card couldn't have been as easy as making a simple phone call.  In any case, wouldn't a person call their credit card company upon finding out that they have been cancelled?  But this is just a fun movie, and those things can and should be forgiven.  What really makes it worth watching are the performances of and chemistry between De Niro and Grodin.

There was a rumor a few months ago that they would make sequel to this, but fortunately I haven't heard anything about it since.  I guess the best name for it would have been "Another Midnight Run".  The plot?  A bounty hunter has to take a fugitive cross country -- no, around the world -- by midnight.  Only this time, they have to take a giant slobbery dog with them.  It'll be a hit.

A day in the park.

I took my son to the park earlier this week, and when we got there, there happened to be a bunch of teenage boys jumping around on the playground sets.  Of course, none of the little kids who were playing came anywhere close to them.  The parents who were there, either sitting on the benches or playing with their kids, acted as though those teens didn't exist.

I myself try to avoid confrontations as much as possible, so I looked around for patrol cars who routinely drive by the area sometimes.  I didn't see any.  For some reason, I thought that there were emergency callboxes at the playsets; there are a couple of pieces there that look like they have speakers on them but after examining them, they didn't turn out to be callboxes.  Maybe they actually were speakers for emergency announcements but I couldn't actually get in touch with somebody that way.

At that point, I was only a few feet away from the teens, and I found myself asking them if they realized what they were doing, that it was potentially dangerous for the little kids there.  I didn't mean to do it, but somehow I ended up arguing with them.  One of them politely replied that they don't mean any harm.  I told them that that wasn't the point, and that the playground wasn't built for that purpose.  After a few minutes, I became frustrated and lost my cool.  I ended up yelling and cursing which finally got them to walk away.

I sat on a picnic table next to the playground with my family.  I realized I needed to calm down.  The teens congregated at another picnic table away from us.  After a few minutes, two of them went to each parent and apologized.

They came up to me last and apologized as well.  I said sorry for yelling and cursing.  I sat down for a few more minutes before finally taking my son to the playsets to play.

So it turned out fine in the end.  What still bothers me, however, is the fact that none of the other parents said something to these teens.  It was as if I was the wrong one for confronting them in the first place.  And as I was in the middle of my discussion with these teens, no one bothered to stand up, investigate, say something.  Everybody was just perfectly content to look away and pretend nothing was happening, when they were jumping around the place and after I've confronted them.

If you're a parent, what would you have done in that situation?  I didn't know what kind of people they were, but I knew they weren't supposed to be climbing, yelling and jumping around a playground for little children.  I should have gone ahead and looked for a park ranger or called the police or something.  I certainly don't think it's fine to just sit there and pretend they didn't exist.

Anyway, once those teens left, those parents' kids were sure quick to return to the playset they vacated.

FlyHyNY: Losing TJ and Signing LT.

It's too bad RB Thomas Jones is no longer a Jet. I don't like all this hoopla about RB LaDainian Tomlinson. Yes, he was a great running back, but he's not the same anymore. Regardless of the O-line, Jones has consistently rushed for over a thousand yards the past few years, while Tomlinson has been in decline. Jones has played under four different quarterbacks with the Jets (Mark Sanchez, Brett Favre, Kellen Clemens, Chad Pennington) and has been steady. If you add his years with the Chicago Bears, that's two more QBs in Kyle Orton and Rex Grossman. For these many years, Thomas Jones has been carrying the offense steadily.

So why wouldn't the Jets want to keep Jones? Yes, he caused a bit of a stir last year when he demanded a new contract, but he showed up to training camp and had a great season. He also ended up with the best season of his career. Apparently, however, the team wasn't impressed and actually demoted him late in the season in favor of Shonn Greene. They also rested Jones during post-season practices. In their AFC Championship Game loss, Greene went down to injury, and Jones couldn't get the yardage.

The team doesn't think TJ should be the starter, but Jones still thinks he's a premier back and should get paid for it. This is the main disagreement. The team want's him to be the third running back and wants to pay him accordingly. They offered TJ a pay cut, but he wouldn't take it. He ended up being released. He was due to make around $5 million this year if he stayed with the Jets, but he ended up signing with Kansas City for $5 million also - but over two years. Why would he take such a deal? Because the Jets wouldn't match it.

Now the team brings in LaDainian Tomlinson. Offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer knows him well. He is also reportedly resigned to the idea of being the third down back. There are reports that they think Tomlinson "still has burst." I haven't watched too much film on LaDainian recently so I can't agree or disagree. I just hope the Jets have done their homework, because they seem to be going all out to sign this guy. I wouldn't mind having Tomlinson on the team, but I don't think he should have gotten paid more than Thomas Jones wanted.

Would the team actually bring in a high profile guy like Tomlinson to sell jerseys and PSLs? I understand they would like to do so, but for exclusively this reason? I highly doubt it.

I don't see why they couldn't have kept Jones and give some sort of incentive laden contract. If he ends up getting more touches than Shonn Greene, or if he goes over a thousand again, then he gets a certain amount of dollars. You know. Something. Anything. Maybe it was offered and rejected. Maybe it was never offered in the first place. It's a shame it didn't work out.

It's for you.

So I guess I don't need to know who the fuck I'm talking to before I pick up the phone, right?  My boss just never bothers to ask anymore.  Somebody will call for me and he'll just buzz me, "It's for you."  Gee thanks, boss.

Meanwhile, we're screening all these calls for him because he owes so many people so much money.

I just wanted to get that out of my system.  Sorry for cursing.

Something important.

So I get an instant message this morning from my dad's sister.  "This is your aunt.  I need to talk about something important."  I freakin' clicked the ignore button.

You don't know me.  I don't know what you think is important, and I don't care.  Keep your problems to yourself please.

And if you have something good to offer me - like furniture or something - well, thanks but no thanks.  I don't hear from you, my closest relative geographically (apart from my mother), for so many years growing up.  And now you want to act like an aunt towards me?

Please.

I don't even care whose life is at stake, to be honest with you.  I have enough problems of my own.  And I don't wanna owe you a goddamn thing either.

Can't think of a title.

One of the reasons why I don't post here so much is because I always want to have a clever and appropriate title.  And I end up thinking so much about it that I actually forget the main points of what I wanted to write about.  Anyway, in an effort to post more often, I won't worry so much about it anymore and try to just jot down my thoughts as they come.

I'm gonna try to be more like Doogie Howser and write something down at the end of the show.  Oh man, now that show's theme song is stuck in my head.  I wish I had a band so we could write a punk cover of it.

I just wanted to write that things have been great lately.  Fatherhood is amazing.  To paraphrase what one of my clients said, I highly suggest finding a woman and trying it.

I've actually been pretty much genuinely happy.  The only thing that gets in the way is my fear of losing this joy.  The uncertainly at work is the biggest weight.  What would I do if I didn't have a job?

However, lately I've learned to just ignore the worries and take life as it comes.  I've just been having fun with my family, my co-workers and even my clients.

My son can stand by himself now.  It's only for about a second, but once in a while you'll catch him just standing in place.  The other night he did it and stared at me with this intense Bruce Lee expression.

He's been crawling pretty fast now.  Sometimes I'll turn around and suddenly he's not there anymore.  He's in the other room making trouble with his aunt.

He's had two lower teeth for a few months now, and he's currently growing two upper teeth.  It's really cute.  I love the little guy.

It's amazing how much he's changed from the little thing we brought home ten months ago.  And it's amazing how our lives have changed since then.