New York City Boy Part II

Last month, I wrote about an upcoming movie starring Adam Sandler as a widower who is still grieving over the loss of his family on 9/11. The movie, titled "Reign Over Me", finally has a release date: March 9, 2007. Here is the poster:

Westside

Hey, everybody. Please give it up for my main man, Scott, in Utah who's goin' through some tough times, but is on the way back up.

http://turningitover.blogspot.com

Garth Part IV

My second trip to see Garth Brooks in the fall of '98 was my favorite. I had to drive to Winona to pick up my best friend (at the time) Arthur Davis. He did not have a license, so if I wanted him to go with me, I would need to obtain him in the Island City. I left in the early afternoon and picked the native Floridian up.

The trunk of my car was a bit dirty. To salute our upcoming trip, I wrote "Garth" on it with my finger. From Winona, it was a 2 1/2 hour drive to Minneapolis. We took scenic Highway 61 to get there (the road basically hugs the Mississippi River so spectacular views are commonplace when driving on it).

http://www.exploreminnesota.com/great_river_road_-_southern_mn.html

We listened to Garth's newest CD, "Sevens", on the way up there. Something rather amusing happened on the ride up. There was an Oriental fellow in a van whose fuel tank door was ajar. On passing him, we gestured and pointed towards the back of his vehicle. I don't think he understood. However, he did pull over (he probably feared he had a flat tire or something like that). We just kept going and had a bit of a laugh.

Once in Minneapolis, I parked my Neon and we headed over to a small mall located just a few blocks from Target Center. Art wanted Sbarro while I was in the mood for Mickey's. So we went our separate ways for a short time. After I finished my nuggets, I went over to Sbarro. He had just gotten his food. He was quite excited about the concert. He had been a fan of Garth's for quite a number of years.

After some browsing in the stores, we headed to the concert venue. We entered and took a look at some of the souvenirs for sale. I ended up buying a GB keychain while Art bought a keychain and a cap.



We then headed to our seats which were quite good. They were on the lower level just a row or two off the main floor. Garth's speaker system which dangled from the ceiling had the words "Double Live" emblazoned on them. Some people didn't understand this reference, but I knew that his 2-CD live set was coming out in a few weeks (it went on to become the top-selling live album for any artist or group).

As showtime got closer, tracks from the Mavericks new CD were again played over the speakers. Trisha came out and sang her latest and greatest. Then there was a short break as we waited for the G-man. Upon Garth's arrival, everyone stood up. And they wouldn't sit down! Song after song, we were all on our feet. This wasn't something I had experienced before (at the prior show facing the back of the stage, no one had been standing up). But I dealt. Art didn't seem to mind. He was totally into it. When GB sang "Unanswered Prayers", Art was singing quite loudly along with him. Garth's big finale was the song, "Ain't Goin' Down" followed by "The Dance". Needless to say, we both got our money's worth that night.

Seeing GB 5 times in 9 days was turning into quite a trip.

Birthday Weekend Part II

Saturday was the day after my birthday, but that didn't mean the celebrating was over. My mom couldn't make it out to Rochester the night before because of the snowstorm, but had no problem driving up Saturday afternoon.



I met her at the Olive Garden. I had OG's house salad and pizza. My mom had some type of pasta dish. My mom told the waiter that it was my birthday (though that wasn't technically true). He brought out a pretty tasty cake, the kind that mom used to slap together at home. For the second night in a row, I opened presents (this time from my mom). I got a card, a long-sleeve shirt, winter gloves, and a receipt to get a book at Barnes & Noble that was temporarily out of stock.

http://www.homewithgodonline.com/

After supper, it was off to the movies once again. Mom had seen Borat on Jay Leno a couple nights before and didn't think he was that funny, so wasn't up to seeing his movie. She wanted to see Will Ferrell in "Stranger than Fiction". "Borat" was starting 10 minutes after "Fiction", so I snuck into their screening room to see where she was sitting. She was about 4 rows back.

For the second night in a row, I was going to see "Borat". I sat in pretty much the same seat as I had the night before with Shanon banana. Again, the theatre filled up as showtime got closer. I think there were even more people at Saturday's show than the one the night before. The movie started and the fun began. I mentioned that during the male-naked-fight on Friday, Shanon had averted his eyes. Well, on Sat, this lady in the row behind me was also uncomfortable seeing two naked male bodies up close, but instead of averting her eyes, she actually covered them. She kept her hands over her eyes for the whole fight and asked her boyfriend to let her know when it was over. When Borat served a former congressman cheese "made from his wife's tit", I saw her shake her head and say, "That's not right." Near the end of the movie, there was a part where they showed a few seconds of the fight again. When that came up, she again covered her eyes.

After the show was over, I waited in the lobby for mom to get out of their show. Mom said it was pretty good. And with that, my 36th birthday celebration was officially over.

Incidentally, "Borat" has been the number one movie in the country for the last two weeks.

High-five!!

They Might Be Giants

Man Describes What He Saw In Washington County Woods

http://news.yahoo.com/s/wisn/20061113/lo_wisn/10308970

After doing some reading on the subject and watching various specials on the telly, I have to say that I do believe there is such a thing as "Bigfoot". There are just too many sightings for me to dismiss it out of hand. If that's the case, then it's probably better that most people don't believe in it because if they did, they would just go into the woods and kill 'em all. This way, if they do exist, they are, for the most part, left alone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigfoot

Birthday Weekend

As I awoke on my birthday, I looked out the window and saw snow. I had expected this (the forecast had said the night before that there was a 90% chance of snow falling on Friday). I got ready for work. There wasn't much snow on the ground yet, so I didn't need to concern myself with shoveling the drive. I let the pup run around in the back for a while and then headed out to work. I drove slowly and cautiously. The roads weren't the greatest, but I easily made it to work. I walked in the offices and someone asked me if I had any problems getting up the hill. There are actually 2 different hills that one can take to our offices. I took the less steep one and didn't have any problems. A couple people couldn't make it all the way up the hill and either got stuck or had to park at the bottom of the hill (one lady got stuck near Bruegger's Bagels, so bought some bagels there and then got a ride to the offices).

It snowed for several hours. I put Christmas music on (through my computer) for all to enjoy. We then heard an alert that travel was not recommended for Olmsted County. Due to the inclement weather, for the first time in months, I was unable to take a walk outside during my breaks. The snow stopped falling at around 2pm.

My mom had planned to come out to Rochester to take me out for my birthday, but said that, due to the weather, she would have to postpone it until the next day (my dad couldn't come because he works evenings). My friend, Shanon, however, said that he could make it. I decided to leave work a little bit early so that I could get home before sunset. Once at home, I shoveled some of the driveway. There were quite a few others outside shoveling as well though most actually had snow blowers as opposed to doing it the old-fashioned way. Shanon arrived and helped me finish the drive.

Me and Shanon then headed to da Outback (we had called ahead for seating). As we entered the restaurant, Shanon said that he misplaced his cell phone. We looked in the car for it, but it was nowhere to be found. He said that it must have fallen out of his pocket either in our house or in the driveway when he was shoveling. We would look for it after supper.

I got the Outbacker burger while Shanon opted for the Cyclone (some type of pasta meal). While waiting for the food to arrive, I read an article in Newsweek magazine about "Borat". Shanon had agreed to go to it with me that evening. I had seen it twice before, once at a MySpace screening in September and then again in Inver Grove Heights just 5 days prior (I had missed the first few minutes of the movie when I went to it in Inver Grove. I had tickets for a later show, but felt that missing the first couple minutes was better than waiting 50 minutes for the next show to start, especially since I had seen those scenes previously anyhow). After eating and opening my presents (I got the Tori Amos piano box set,



some dress socks, the Chicks CD and a card), we headed back home to look for Shanon's precious cell phone.

Just before we got home, I heard Shanon say, "Please Lord, let me find my phone". We went inside. It wasn't in the house. I then took our home phone and called Shanon's cell number. He went outside by the driveway and said he could hear it. He found it. It was lying on a snow mound right next to the street. We then headed to Cinemagic to see "Borat".



As Borat says a couple times in the movie, "Happy Times!!". I had gotten tickets earlier in the day, so me and Shanon headed straight to the ticket taker and waited for "Borat" to start seating. About 10 minutes later, we got our seats and waited for the magic to begin. The theatre gradually started filling up. By showtime, there weren't too many empty seats left. Shanon didn't know too much about the movie. He had only seen a few funny highlights on HBO. He enjoyed it for the most part. However, when the fight between two naked men started, he averted his eyes a bit (he did this for some scenes during "Brokeback" as well). I can't say I blame him, though. I mean, who really wants to stare at a fat man's testes?

After the show, we headed home. I asked Shanon what he thought of the movie. He said that it was quite funny, but that a couple parts were sickening. A few minutes later, Shanon headed out. I watched Bill Maher and then went to bed. My birthday was over, but there was still more fun to be had on Saturday.

Snow Dog

Birthday

Today is my 111th birthday.

Here are some of the gift ideas I gave to people:

Garth Brooks: The Entertainer (5-DVD set)

Tori Amos - A Piano: The Collection (Box set)

Dixie Chicks - Taking the Long Way (CD)



Adam Sandler - Shhh...Don't Tell (CD)

Long-sleeve button-down shirt

Winter gloves

Black cotton dress socks

4-inch vibrator

Reunion

Vacation

I'm going out of town over the holidays this year. It's good to get out of town once in a while. I'm gonna try to go to Steak n Shake.

http://www.steaknshake.com/menu/menu.asp

I love that place.

Pop

Some of you may be too young to remember, but when I was a child, we bought glass bottles of pop at the grocery store. That's right: glass (they came in packs of 8). Our family usually bought Pepsi. Of course, you had to use a bottle opener to get the things open. And if you couldn't finish the bottle, you had to put a plastic cap on it and put it in the fridge. I always hated it when my mom would ask me to bring the bottles into the grocery store so that we could get a credit for them. Why? Because they were so friggin' heavy (for a small kid, anyway).

I have a picture of my sister, Erin, sitting on a barstool next to a bottle of this stuff:



She was about 2 years old in that pic. I can still remember how the girls' eyes would get real big when drinking pop. They loved that stuff.

Erection Day

I'm not gonna vote today. Unlike most, I have a really good reason. My friend and I are at opposite ends of the ideological spectrum. Therefore, our votes would just cancel each other out. Rather than waste our own time, not to mention the time of the vote-counters, we've elected (pun intended) not to bother.

Ah, I'm just shittin' ya. We're of the same political persuasion. We can be found on the far left (Don't blame me. I'm left-handed). But isn't the above paragraph the perfect excuse to give to someone who asks why you didn't vote today?

Yet Another Autumnal Night at the Movies

I went out with Shanon this past weekend. He drove out from little Lewiston on Saturday afternoon. We stopped at his favorite place to buy DVD's (Pawn America) before going out to eat at Friday's. To avoid a wait, we ate at what's called a "high-top" table in their bar. He ordered something really wacky for an appetizer: Fried Mac & Cheese. Not my bag, but he seemed to enjoy it. We both ordered burgers.

Now, this guy is a huge horror fan. Last fall, he went to "Saw II" while I was tucked away watching Nicolas Cage in "The Weather Man". Just a few weeks ago, he went to the new "Texas Chainsaw" movie while I went to "The Illusionist". I kept bringing up the new "Saw" movie which he hadn't seen yet. We agreed yet again to disagree. He bought a ticket to "Saw III" while I went to a slow-as-molasses drama filmed in Minnesota called, "Sweet Land".



http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sweet_land/

It mostly takes place in the 1920's (around the time my grandma was born). Just as Shanon looked forward to be taken to a place where he can see people be tortured by Jigsaw, so too, did I look forward to be taken back in time a few generations. While watching the movie, I pondered how it really wasn't that long ago that people lived off the land, that the towns by necessity were close-knit, that without TV or the movies, people still found things to do.

After the movie, I met up with Shanon. He said "Saw III" was even better than "II" and that he looked forward to continuing the adventure with "Saw IV" next Halloween.

http://comingsoon.net/films.php?id=17253

Though we were in different screening rooms for the past two hours, we both went home happy.

Vince Gill - Concert Review: Part III

Yes, indeed. It was now time for Vince to rock out. He sang quite a few songs from his "Workin' On A Big Chill" (rockin') disc. Like the country portion of the show, there were about 15 musicians playing with Vince during this stretch.

Inspired by the proliferation of erectile dysfuntion ads that ran when he watched sporting events, Vince wrote the song, "Cowboy Up" (he sings it with Gretchen Wilson on the CD). The title character in the song is an African-American woman named Levitra.

It was during one of these rockin' songs that I experienced a feeling of transcendence. The band was totally rockin' and jammin' and a blissful feeling came over me. That's the power of music.

The last song Vince sang in the rockin' set was a jazzed-up version of "What the Cowgirls Do". Vince thanked everyone for coming. The audience stood up and he exited. From browsing the internet, I knew that an encore was coming. The crowd cheered and Vince came back out a couple minutes later. Some people who thought that the show was over or were too tired to stay any longer (the show started at 8 and it was now after 11) began to leave. I took this opportunity to move about 7 rows closer than our original seats. This offered a much better view of the Okie boy.

Vince launched into the title track of his '3 album, "Next Big Thing". Then came "Whenever You Come Around" followed by the barn burner "Liza Jane". I thought "Liza" would be it, but Vince had one more song to play from his new album(s) and it is a doozy. Check out these lyrics:

You read the business page
See how you did today
You live up on the hill
You've got a view that kills
Never wonder why

After you've counted everything you saved
Do you ever hit your knees and pray?
You know there's gonna be a judgment day
So what will you say?

(Chorus) No matter what you make
All that you can take
Is what you give away
What you give away

There's people on the street
Ain't got enough to eat
You just shake your head
The measure of a man is one who lends a hand
That's what my father said

No matter what you make
All that you can take
Is what you give away

You know it's not too late
It's all for Heaven's sake
What you give away

With the backup singers hitting all the right notes, the song became a spiritual hymn and we were all united knowing, without question, that helping one's fellow man was, indeed, the answer. A fantastic finish for a fantastic show. The crowd gave one more standing-o as Vince and the band exited for the last time.



I waited for the auditorium to empty before leaving. I walked to my car and headed out. I noticed a couple dozen people standing outside by Vince's bus. They apparently were waiting for a meet-and-greet with the sexy boy. It was late, so I passed on waiting as well. I had read that Vince's concert would go over 3, 3 and a half hours and, indeed, it did. I left St. Paul stopping only in Cannon Falls to get gas.

I arrived home, exhausted, but happy. My 4th Vince Gill concert was my favorite of his yet and if he came back with the exact same show next year, I would buy tickets in a heartbeat.

Holy Shit!

From hollywood-elsewhere:

As indicated by the sudden rise in tracking over the last 10 days, Borat's opening day was an explosion... it's a monster. The weekend's #1 film is expected to do $22,486,000 by Sunday night -- a mere 837 theatres, 26,000 per print.

Fox had cut back on theatres a couple of weeks ago because of weak tracking and exhibitor concern about same, but then the numbers started to shooot up more and more starting about a week and a half ago.

Obviously Fox will be expanding the shit out of this puppy next weekend. They've obviously got a major hit on their hands.

Opening in 3458 theatres (more than four times the # of theatres Borat is playing in), The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (Disney) should have made $30 million but it will wind up with about $18,792,000. The #2 film will come in with about 5700 a print...a definite disappointment. This once-lucrative Tim Allen franchise seems to be kaput.

http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/archives/2006/11/weekend_boxoffi_4.php

Fuck

Check out the poster for a forthcoming documentary called "Fuck":



Here's an overview of what the film is about courtesy of comingsoon.net:

A definitive look at the infamous expletive, "F*ck" explores how this oft-used word, still widely seen as obscene, somehow permeates every aspect of our culture - from Hollywood to the schoolyard to the Senate floor in Washington D.C., where it is at the very center of the ongoing debate on Free Speech. "F*ck" examines the word's impact through various interviews, film and television clips, and original animation by Oscar-nominee Bill Plympton.

Scholars and linguists examine its long and colorful history; comedians, actors, and writers who have charted and popularized the word defend their Constitutional right to use it. Even people who do "it" for a living are interviewed, all in an effort to discover what it is about this one syllable that both unites and polarizes people.

High-Five!

I like you! I like sex! Today is the day that "Borat" opens nationwide. It is being released in about 800 theatres today and is set to open wider in a week or two. It seems like forever since I saw the sneak preview of it in Edina on September 20th of this year. As you can see, the reviews are fantastic:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/borat/

86 reviews of the movie with 82 being positive. That pretty much says it all.

It's not opening in Rochester until at least next week, so I plan to drive 70 miles tomorrow and see it in Inver Grove Heights (a suburb of the Twin Cities). The last time I was at that theatre was in the summer of 1999 when I saw "The Blair Witch Project" (another movie that opened on a limited basis to start out with). I plan to go to a early afternoon show. It's showing on 2 screens there. If I'm really pumped, I may see it 2 times in a row (something I don't believe I've ever done with the same movie). I would go up with my friend, Shanon, but he has to work tomorrow until 2pm. I'll probably see it with him when it comes to Rochester.

Wish me luck tomorrow. Jagshamesh!

Vince Gill - Concert Review: Part II

During the intermission, I went to go to the bathroom. Whoever designed the O'Shaughnessy auditorium didn't have a frickin' clue. The only bathrooms in the building were in the bowels (how appropriate) of it. There was a heck of a line of guys waiting to get into the bathroom. I wasn't gonna wait, so went outside and...you already know what's comin', doncha?

No, I actually headed for the college's main commons building. Luckily, it was still open. I entered and searched for a restroom. I passed the college's bookstore which was closed. It quickly brought to mind the days when I would go to Winona State's bookstore and pay well over a hundred dollars for the books I would need to buy for that quarter (They didn't start semesters at WSU until after I left). There was a guy studying in one of the lounges. I finally found the men's room. Afterward, I headed back to the auditorium.

As I headed to my seat, an announcement was made that the show would be resuming in 5 minutes. I knew that the next segment of the concert was gonna be "grass". I like grass.

Vince came out by himself and told several amusing stories about his late father. How his dad's favorite outfit to wear was a cap and overalls with no shirt. How he smoked several packs of cigarettes a day. We're talkin' a real redneck here. He mentioned how as a 15-year old, he was praying that his mom would teach him how to drive since his dad had such a short fuse. However, his dad came home one day and told him to get in the truck. After a few minutes on the quieter streets, his dad told him to pull out onto the busiest street in town. Vince was shaking (this was his first time driving, after all). His dad yells at him to go. So he pulls out in front of a GTO whose driver swerves to miss them and then flips them off. His dad then says, (and you're not gonna believe Vince said this, but he was simply repeating what his dad had said) "Follow that son of a bitch!" They did catch up to GTO boy. With both cars now stopped, the guy in the GTO comes out of his car with a tire iron. His dad asks, "Are you gonna use that tire iron in this fight?" GTO boy says, "Yes" and then Vince's dad said, "Then this fight is over." He must've talked about his old man for a good 10 minutes. Everyone was enraptured. His dad passed about 8 years ago and Vince wrote a song for him called "The Key to Life". He then sang it for all to enjoy (I remember seeing him perform it on the CMA's many years ago and breaking up near the end of it).

After that, a few of his band members (banjo player, fiddle player, etc.) came out to play selections from his acoustic (bluegrass) album. Vince sang about a lady named "Molly Brown" and about how he's "All Prayed Up". He also sang a song that he wrote for Amy called "Sweet Augusta Darlin". He said she loves that song. All enjoyable stuff, but I was looking forward to the last segment. Vince introduced it by saying in a British accent, "Now it's time for the Rockin' portion of our show".

Novemburr!

Though the days are getting colder, I still like taking walks outside while at work. I would typically wear my winter coat, cap, and gloves. However, I bought a new winter jacket a couple months ago. Its colors are orange and gray. My gloves, on the other hand, are blue and black. What I mean by that is that one is blue and the other is black (I can't find the matches for either). Not wanting to look like a dork when my coworkers drive by, I've elected to leave my gloves in the car and just walk with the sleeves of my jacket covering my hands. I have to say that my hands actually stay warmer under my jacket than they do when wearing gloves (The fact that gloves separate each finger probably has a lot to do with this). If it's really cold out, then once I get a few blocks away from work (where none of my colleagues will see me), I put the stocking cap over my face in true ski-mask fashion.

Vince Gill - Concert Review

Last Friday in the late afternoon, I headed up north to St. Paul to see Vince Gill live in concert. On the way up, I listened to 90's dance music and was in a good mood. The sun began to set as I approached the Twin Cities. Vince was playing at the College of Saint Catherine's in the capital city.

http://oshaughnessy.stkate.edu/aboutoshag.html

It was a typical fall evening as I drove through the streets of the 2nd biggest city in Minnesota (the wind was blowing leaves across the road, the temperature was in the 40's). I found the venue and parked my car. It was just under an hour from showtime. There were quite a few people as I walked to the O'Shaugnessy, mostly people in their 40s and 50s though there were some younger folks, even some pre-pubescent ones.

Entering the building, there was a dude selling Gill T-shirts and keychains and such. T-shirts were $25. Needless to say, I passed on those (Who's gonna wear a T-shirt this time of year, anyway?) I had actually printed our tickets out at home which was pretty cool. I headed for the balcony to find my seat. My seat was about 9 rows up into the balcony, on the aisle. Quite a few people at the show were wearing cowboy boots. This is common for country shows. The place started filling up. Shortly before showtime, I headed downstairs to hit the head and get some water. There was an announcement at 7:55pm that the show would be starting in 5 minutes and, indeed, the show did begin at 8. It would compose of 4 distinct segments corresponding to the 4 CD box set he had released a little over a week prior.

Mr. Gill came out to much applause. The seats were pretty decent, but I had brought binoculars as well. Thanks to them, I was able to see everything on stage up close. The first song he sang was "One More Last Chance". There were about 15 people on stage (VG, 2 backup singers, 3 guitar players, pedal steel boy, a horn section, piano player, keyboard player, drums, and even someone on the bongos! Take that, Matt McConaughey!) Next was "Don't Let Our Love Start Slipppin' Away". The horn section really jazzed these familiar songs up. The place was almost completely full except for a few rows in the upper nosebleed section of the balcony.

After the first few songs, Vince launched into some of the new stuff from his Country & Western record (He noted that he hates to say that he has a new CD out. He prefers to call them records). Before each song, he would usually tell a little story about how a particular song came to be. He did an impression of John Anderson whom he had done a duet with on the song, "Take This Country Back".

After about 45 minutes of traditional country, the big guy moved on the next part of his show, ballads from his Groovy record. In this portion, he performed his new single, "The Reason Why" as well as a real jazzy number that he had recorded with Diana Krall called, "Faint of Heart". He said he wrote the track, "These Days" for his wife, Amy Grant. He made many references to Amy throughout the show. The crowd seemed to enjoy this. He said Amy is basically the kindest person he has ever known.



He also mentioned their five-year old daughter, Corinna (Vince performed a song written for her, "Sweet Little Corinna"). At about 9:30, Vince said that he would be back to perform some more after an intermission.