Film Review: Neither Trekkie or Trekker

Hi, we're Spock and Kirk: Generation Y

Saw an advance screening of the new Star Trek movie by Lost creator, J.J. Abrams. I never cared a bit about the series or movies, though I do recall liking Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. This made me the target market (finally feeling targeted again)
as the studio tries to revamp the series for a new audience. “This is Star Trek designed for people who don’t actually like Star Trek, ” some anal Trekkies have been heard to grumble. Fine, so that makes this one good, funny, action packed (sky-diving: best), and with a likable cast. I recommend it and predict it’ll do well.

Time travel is a major component of the story just like in Lost. It makes me wonder if there are clues to where Lost may end up based on how Abrams dealt with changing time here. There were many of the old time travel rules broken, which was very interesting and unique.

Spock seemed to be the main character/most developed, but Kirk was fleshed out, too. Simon Pegg as Scottie was a good turn and Bones was really likable aping the lines from the old days that anyone could recognize.

Overall grade: B+

I hope Wolverine is good. We’ll see.

Tickle yourself, shirtheads

As soon as I upload to youtube.com I need to be ready to post about the videos, or they stand alone there, getting viewed with no words to flesh them out. But what can be said about two young brothers and their dad trapped inside by the rain, wishing for nice weather in Spring? You go a bit nuts. And if you were already a bit, you go farther to the mystical magical realism realm. Here we go…
Listen for the callback to mustache monkeys in the second video. I bet some of you might act like this, too. The only difference is you have the sense to either a. not make a video or b. at least not share it with others. Fear not, that’s what I’m here for, oh the places we’ll go…Enjoy.

4 Funniest TV Shows You Aren’t Watching

Watching Cartoon Network with Pablo and Doodles has led me to some really funny adult shows that air around midnight in Adult Swim. These are not for everyone, but if you like these, let’s talk.

Tim and Eric Awesome Show. Great Job! (Cartoon Network)

Just the weirdest, grossest, hit or miss grab bag of sketches. When it works it’s the hardest I’ve laughed in a while. For fans of Mr. Show.

The Mighty Boosh

This is wildly offbeat stuff and sometimes features our friend, Rich Fulcher. Fans of Monty Python, but this is really in its own category.

Delocated
Did improv comedy with Jon Glaser in L.A. He also wrote/acted on Conan O’Brien.

The IT Crowd

Seems to spoof the sitcom format with very loud laugh track and obvious “acting” but watch it longer and it may be smarter than you think. Now that The Office has jumped the shark try this show.

You can search these linke sites and Youtube for clips but I find they’re best watched in their entirety to get the nuances, jokes, themes and characters. Hence why I’m not posting scenes. That and I would probably scare off many of the parental readers. (Prove me wrong, parents, anyone else catch Adult Swim shows?)

Monthly Mix – April 09

When it rains it pours. March and April were big for new music. Here’s the April ’09 mix. As always, if interested in a mix for your listening pleasure, please comment here.

Lyrics that stood out for obvious (or not so obvious) reasons:
“Like a fool” (April)
“Robot”
“Raindrops”
“Follow your birthday with the end is near”
“All of my old friends aren’t so friendly”
“Run it up the flagpole/See if they salute”
“Die a little every day”
“Did some favors for some guys who looked like Tusken Raiders”

“Little Secrets” will remind me of the first 80 degree day and kickball game of the year.

The song “Two” hit me hard, right place and time, death of someone I knew.

For more on these tunes see our review site Critickle.

Check out the local band Caroline Smith and The Good Night Sleeps

Forced Fetish

Maybe you know this person. Maybe it’s you. Your friend likes frogs. She said so. Every year people give her frog themed gifts. She has a whole shelf of them. So many frogs. Frog cups, candleholders, stuffed animals, pillows, toothbrushes, maybe Michigan J. Frog. One day she says, “Enough already. Please stop giving me frog gifts for Christmas, birthdays, etc. I am not that into frogs, never really was.”

You’ve been to this person’s house, right? You saw their bedroom full of Beanie Babies or maybe their rec room knick-knacks of old timey cars. These things happen. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen an Elvis fetish forced on my brother. Elvis everything, and with Elvis, that fetish can be fed for a while. I think the clock with the swinging hips of time was the final straw in his fetish. Mothers are good at having a little thing for something like, say, bunnies, and also good at feeding someone’s collection.

My favorite forced fetish was when Jeff G. forced his wife Deb to like Marvin the Martian more than she really did. One day she had said something offhand about liking him or maybe just laughed at a cartoon.
She proceeded to receive a Marvin the Martian baseball cap, keychain, t-shirt, and various other things. One day she told the rest of us that she really didn’t like Marvin the Martian. The best part was once we knew it but Jeff G. didn’t yet. We would say, “Hey Deb, where’s that Marvin cap, that’s so funny, you should wear it.” She would just shake her head at us like it was our secret.
And that stuff didn’t make it through to their next house move, getting conveniently left behind.

After a month of this blog, I’m seeing I could get a forced fetish with the mustaches and robots, but am still in my honeymoon phase. I don’t have enough, so feel free, if the combo is right, to show me mustachioed robots or mustaches with El Jefe, whatever you got.
I don’t have anywhere near a full shelf yet. I’ll let you know when I put a moratorium on the fetish.

Have you ever had a thing, whether it was cows or angels or Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Did it go too far? Tell me.

Balloons

I thought this was Balloon Fight. But of course, it’s not.

You can try to be highbrow about it, but a well-placed fart noise is genius. Atomic Farts is a free application for the iPhone. I’ve used this to diffuse many a meltdown, fight or other situation crying for distractions. On the way to St. Paul (Again, we go out-of-town so much) for the Arbor Day Party the boys were fighting in the car. Mama and I were getting really annoyed. I pulled out the iPhone and fired-up fake farts till we were all laughing and even requesting our favorites. All the fart sounds have names. It’s a lot funnier when you know them. Pablo’s fave is “Couldn’t Hold it Any Longer”. I prefer “U-Turn”. Check out the “Princess” for realism. (Ladies, we know you do it, too.) There isn’t a fart called balloon so that’s 5-year-old creativity in action for you already. You can hear “The U-Turn” and others in this clip below (note: the app is free) Imagine the possibilities: parties, elevators, book clubs, church, etc.

Pablo: 5

Pablo woke up today like it was Christmas or Easter. He was so excited partially because he woke up still wearing his new Clone Trooper costume from Oma.

Other fave gifts so far are binoculars, Brewers cap, Cyclops from X-Men, a tiger mask (of course I was a hunted tiger today), and hopefully the walkie talkies, among others. He’s had family stopping by over the last few days, but his first big kid BD party is scheduled for next week.

We had a family trip out-of-town to St. Paul. Pablo request going to a museum on his birthday. Today’s thunderstorms cooperated nicely. Our first time at the Children’s Museum was a big hit. Pablo’s favorite was wearing a hard hat, loading fake packages and pretend driving a truck from the “toy” factory. We had never seen him so animated, fast, persistent and determined. It was hilarious because if he was actually doing that kind of job for money, I’m sure it would be in slo-mo with no vim and vigor, tons of backaches and complaints, etc. The ant-farm was fun with both kids dressing up as ants and crawling around in the tunnels. Also the bus driver and water stations with boat races, really most of the exhibits. Definitely going to go back there sometime soon, probably a free third Sunday bad weather trip. So nice to get all the way out of town to the foreign land of St. Paul. You don’t even need a passport anymore.

Later, Mama had a “not a shower” for Jennie with B&B ladies whilst I was growling with a plastic mask on my head, bellyful of Shamrock shake making me sluggishly numb. We had his requested dinner of spaghetti with eggplant and a rousing game of Bad Pizza after the tiger hunt of dad.

5. Five. Just sounds so much older, some kind of milestone. We have a 5- year-old son. Wow. He’s maturing faster lately. This winter/spring we’ve noticed big changes as has his pre-school teacher. Not like he’s shaving yet or anything, I mean, I barely do that yet.

Happy Birthday, Pablo. We love you, little man.

High Wire Hilarity: The Roast

Books & Bars and Uptown Kickball friends gathered to roast Dan for his 25th birthday. If you were (un)fortunate and ballsy enough to be on the dais, you were a sitting duck, too. Most of the best barbs were unleashed on fellow roasters like Jim, Eli, Patty, Jefe, Keith, Mike, and even our hostess/emcee HB. Because let’s face it, Dan is still one of the nicest guys we know. He wasn’t the easiest target.

Some of Dan’s top rips: born and raised in Edina, the lost semester at ASU, stalking Jess, importing girlfriend HB, Moobs (man boobs), his extreme height, huge ego, hair, tight shirts, mom jeans, excessive hugging, and general douchebaggery. Ok, so there are some rich areas to pinpoint.

We were still running a big risk of offending friends. I was initially hesitant to participate even though I love watching Comedy Central Roasts and old classics with Don Rickles. But you have to embrace what you fear and take a chance. I’m glad I did. HB, our dais, guest of honor, and friends in attendance pulled off a feat of high wire comedic magic. As far as I know, no one has suffered from it, yet. Mama’s jaw hurt from laughing so hard. (and she loved Mike’s comment about her being hot). Everyone I talked to had a blast. We party a lot for any excuse in this group, but this was different. High wire hilarity. In fact there is talk of a Gemini BD group roast. I think we all know what to expect and will handle it even better next time. Such as being prepared in the A/V department and the tone of the event.

Unfortunately, the only video clips I have are the first portions of Eli’s and mine. (Other than the rest of our sets and the first half of Keith’s you’re not missing anything really funny anyway. Oh, Snap! Is the roast still going on?) Did anyone else capture other parts they can share?

I liked Eli’s set the best overall. And it was a revelation because as Keith said, “He hadn’t made me laugh once in the year and a half I’d known him!” Eli knew Dan always dreamed of having an action figure of himself so he had a friend craft a Dan doll that was actually partially made from a douche. Keith’s “Omega Dog” theme was memorable but he ended up roasting himself the most, albeit hilariously. Hopefully he’ll get some dates from it soon. Mike played funny drunken answering machine messages he had saved from Dan’s lost semester at ASU. And the evening was heartfelt, too, with a great quote from Mike about friends being God’s way of making it up to us for our families.

Would you participate in a roast? Have you been roasted? Would you let yourself? Anyone interested in doing more of these with our friends here? I think the next person turning 30 should get roasted. (The people turning 40 are already feeling too sensitive.)

1st half of Eli’s/followed by 1st half of Jefe’s – 8 min TRT.
Not suitable for work or kids.

When Books & Bars met Uptown Kickball

Last year a small bunch of friends from Books & Bars played kickball through Cities Sports Connection. When the season ended we wanted to keep playing so we joined an open group called Uptown Kickball. It was like mixing peanut butter and chocolate. These two groups of friends became pretty tight quickly over beers, books, balls, and more. Over this past year we’ve become much closer and gelled into a larger single group with many Uptown Kickballers joining Books & Bars.

Uptown Kickball gathers to play on Wednesday nights at Painter Park. Two captains pick teams and we choose related team names. We kick till dark, imbibe a bit, tons of fun. Usually go out afterwards to keep the summer nights alive.

When you get to a certain age you don’t usually make as many new friends as you did when you were in college, single or especially before you had kids. I’ve been fortunate enough through Books & Bars and Uptown Kickball to buck the trend. Every month new people try our book club and almost every week it seems there’re different people playing kickball with us. The thing I miss most about living in Los Angeles was my theater company, Improv Olympic, now known as IO West. (Picky Olympic Committee). I’ve always loved being on a team, part of a group, an ensemble comedy. It wasn’t just about performing comedy, but a friendly social group who supported each other creatively. I miss those people, those friendships, from L.A. Books & Bars and Uptown Kickball have helped fill that void for me. They’re an incredibly dynamic and varied pastiche of artists, musicians, writers, designers, advertisers, handymen, attorneys, architects and more who have coalesced into a cohesive collective. Some of us have started new ventures like Uptown Art Market and Critickle. Some of the women have a crafting night and others have movie or game nights. There’s even Sunday brunch and a few babysitters for Pablo and Doodles, too. And we never forget a birthday.

Last night we gathered for Sarah’s 24.5 birthday (we don’t usually celebrate the half ones, we’re not in a commune) or Sarahpalooza, our first Uptown Kickball scrimmage of the season. Unfortunately my camera got waterlogged (Pablo and Doodles snuck more ice in the cooler.) and didn’t capture the merriment. Next time: videos.

The Cupcakes (as we dubbed ourselves) put the F U in fun, but got a little complacent after a huge early lead. The Thursday scrimmage for Sarahpalooza was a good warm up, but we let some strangers called Blogosphere (not that, but I never caught the real name) in France beat us 18-12. A ball kicked by Stensby at first was so foul it almost hit a house. Come on. Anyway, it’s all about fun, right? (F U France.) At least I got to kick a home run, but of course, my kids weren’t watching. They were bored and went to play at the park.

So, expect to have updates on Uptown Kickball along with Books & Bars. A lot has happened in the last year for all of us. A member died, we’ve had romances begin and end, started grad school, lost and gained jobs, etc. It’s been a long day in the field for us all, as The Beautiful South sang. I’ve had people tell me that this group has changed and even saved their lives. And If you’re lucky enough to be part of us, drop a comment on what it’s meant to you. If you’re interested in meeting more people, stick around and socialize after Books & Bars some second Tuesday.

I’d especially like to thank leaders like Roxie, Jess, Eli, Jennie, Jake, Jim, Abby, Sarah, Christian, Jesse, Patrick, The Hater, Text, Morgan, Emilys F&S, Kate, Carissa, Noah, Beth, Delaney, Carter, Hayley (the MPLS Doyle) Alex, Mike, Megan, Dan and HB for being glue that helps bind. Mostly I have to thank “Mama”, my lovely wife, for allowing this work-at-home dad such enriching social outlets.

Random Quotes

I can hear the...lake?

GOOD

Pablo: Dad, you know what?

Jefe: What?

Pablo: Wanna see something awesome?

Jefe: Always.

SAD

Pablo: You hurt my feelings.

Mama: I’m sorry.

Pablo: Sorry is not enough.

UGLY

Pablo falls down.

Pablo: Dad, kiss it. It hurts. Kiss my butt. Kiss it!

Jefe: (kisses hand and pats Pablo’s buttocks)

Pablo: Nooooo, kiss my butt!

Jefe: (lightly, reluctantly, puckers up and plants one on the panted-buttocks)

Yes, people, to be a good Dad, you have to kiss a little ass, literally.

poster at a party