April 23

Good day folks, and welcome back to the Viewfinder. This is the latest I have posted, and for that I am sorry. I promise to redouble my efforts next week to try and provide at least one dependable thing in this mad, mad world. This week finds me a little older and a little wiser after my 29th birthday on Monday. It was a fine day, once again falling on that most strange and colloquial of holidays, Patriots Day.

Patriots Day is one of the top three days to be in Boston (the other two being St. Patty’s, and the 4th of July). It always seems to be sunny, and the whole place showcases its magnificent ability to act like a small town and not the top “second tier” city in the US. Patriots Day gives the good folks of Maine and Massachusetts the day off to celebrate the battles of Lexington and Concord, and the beginning of our country’s fight for independence. You know, the original shot heard round the world? The midnight ride of Paul Revere (or William Dawes depending on how well done you like your history)? One if by land…etc, etc. All these events and many more would eventually lead to my birthday being a day off from work most years.

But that’s not all. What would a day off of work be without something fun to do? In this department, Boston has again been very kind to me. The Boston Marathon is run on Patriots Day, not to mention an early home game for the Sox to get me warmed up. It’s simply grand.

This year, I didn’t catch the Sox. In fact, I didn’t even get the Marathon on the TV til the winners were about 15 minutes from the finish line. Once the winners had won, we headed down to the finish line to try and find a friend who had run. The fact that there were over 20,000 runners, by some reports, did not deter us. We set out to find our friend.

Watching the runners both on TV and live, I come to the same conclusions year after year. Running. Is. Boring. As Hell. But there is something that makes the Boston Marathon special. Every year, a big deal is made about the spectators. The folks who line the streets of the marathon every year have a job to do, and they take it seriously. Boston is a harsh course. Any runner will tell you. The crowd knows they are there to make a difference. The crowd urges on the runner. The runner runs for the crowd. We are there for each other. Go down to the finish line and you will hear the announcer talk as much about the crowd as the runners.

As each runner passes any given point on the course, the cheers and encouragement are overwhelming. I can’t imagine what the experience is like from the runners’ perspective. They hear constant applause for the entire race! They may pass us and give us the chance to go back to our sandwich, beer, or dreams of running, but the cheers surround them every step of the way. It is the longest and most pure “wave” of any sporting event. Come check it out sometime.

By the way, we found our friend down at the finish line. Her time was 3:04! She was wrapped in foil like everyone else, but it only took us about 15 minutes to spot her. Things like that happen at the Marathon. Amazing things. Happy birthday to me.

April 16

Ever have one of those weeks where you barely get to sit down? Where you are grateful for one hour to lay down and rest, let alone start on the important things like writing letters, or even just doing laundry. Well, that is precisely the kind of week I just finished and it was a great one. The thing I didn’t get to do was watch a heck of a lot of TV. Sorry for the brevity, but here’s the scoop:

In my job, we have to know as much about the companies we work with as possible. Usually, we have meetings over the phone with clients, but sometimes they actually come to the office to give a presentation. Recently, we had one such presentation from a somewhat extremist animal rights group (we’ll call it Peter). The gentleman who came brought with him three videos to show us some of the severe conditions that animals sometimes find themselves in.

The first was just a Dateline segment on some Polar Bears that had been rescued from a Mexican traveling circus. The bears had been abused and their living conditions were nothing like those required by a polar bear. US Marshals came in while the circus was in Puerto Rico and stole the bears away from their abusive owners. These bears are now recovering nicely (all save for one who died on the flight to America) in zoos across the country.

It was a nice story and one that set us up well for the horrifying scenes we were in for in the next film. These were undercover videos shot at a pig factory. I saw underpaid workers take out their frustrations on defenseless pigs in such barbaric ways, it made me ashamed to keep my eyes and ears open. The sound was sickening. Monkey wrenches brought down with full force. The twitching, frantic, broken result made you want to take action, which of course was the desired result. “Peter” may be extremist, but thank god someone is doing something.

The last video was just as awful, but not in such a violent way. It showed dogs and cats being held at a pet food research lab. The despondent pets made you want to cry. Some of these poor animals had been there for years. Their cages were not much bigger than themselves. It makes me shudder now to see ads from the company that used the lab. The ads always show happy pets with happy families. Then the ad will make a claim that their food has been “nutritionally improved” or something. Once you have seen how this improvement is achieved, the two images are impossible to reconcile.

On a much, much, MUCH lighter note, my girlfriend and I zoned out in front of some talk shows the other night. We had been skiing earlier in the day and were pretty beat. We caught the end of David Letterman, just enough to see Pete Yorn do a tune off his new album. We have seen Pete live and really enjoyed his first album. The song he played seemed to fit in with all the rest of his work, but something was missing. It is very hard to judge a tune off a performance on a talk show, however, so we remain optimistic about the album.

We switched over to Conan after that and saw Tina Fey, and Joe Pantoliano. Ralphie! This must have been an old episode because that horrible mug shot of Nick Nolte was used going in and out of every commercial break. After a while, I really laughed. I enjoyed the show, and always have like Conan’s fairly unique brand of humor. Conan’s was the first talk show to joke around like me, and my friends. More so than Letterman, who was a bit before me, and certainly Carson.

It was really interesting to see how comfortable speaking Tina Fey was, and how much Conan had to hold Mr. Pantoliano’s hand through the interview. It was a display of Conan’s skill. Sometimes we all think, “That would be such an easy job.” But then a show like Magic Johnson, or Chevy Chase comes along and you realize, there must be a trick to it.

We fell asleep somewhere during Conan, with dreams of the beautiful views from the mountain drifting back and forth between our heads.

April 9

Did you SEE that column last week? Jiminy Cricket! When I finished it I just sat there, looking at it. The final draft came out to 2899 words, so I added a single word sentence to even it out. A fun game might be to go back and see if you can find it! Let me know how you do.

I didn’t see a whole heck of a lot this week, so you can look forward to a much easier read. Shall we begin? I think we shall…

I went back with some other friends to see that show, A New War, again. I was impressed by how consistent the performances were, comparatively. The cast is as professional as they are funny, performing identical shows in front of vastly different audiences. The first time I saw the show was a packed, and rowdy house that was dying to laugh. This time was a much more sedate crowd, and smaller too. Both audiences can present a challenge. How to maintain focus and commitment for a crowd that just doesn’t seem to care? How to prevent yourself from hamming it up and milking a crowd that is all too happy to egg you on? This cast was unaffected and because of that, the show rises even higher in my estimation. It is a true mistake to miss this one. Be good to yourself, and go. Thank you, TeeterTodd.

Kansas sure whipped the pie out of Marquette. I mean that was an ass kicking. I turned it on at halftime. The game was already long gone by then. I wanted so much to watch, but after the carnage continued for the first five minutes of the second half, I went off to cook some food and do some laundry.

Texas and Syracuse played a fun game, though ‘Cuse was never really being beaten. Sometimes they were winning, and sometimes they weren’t (but usually they were). All in all it was a pretty forgettable semi-finals I thought. The thing that stuck out the most for me was how invisible TJ Ford was. At no time in the entire game did he seem to be worthy of player of the year. Every once in awhile he would hit a tough basket, or a three, and I would think he might have a run in him, but then he would go back to wasting time on the perimeter, and looking to pass first. Sometimes you could see him get squared out beyond the line, but then decide against it. His demeanor really seemed to make the team tentative. I hate to agree with Billy packer, but the kid has to play like the man when his team needs him if he is going to be the star.

Our slow march through the Sopranos continued with two episodes. I think we only have about 4 or 5 to go. At that point I have no idea what we will do. Maybe exercise? In the two episodes we saw, Tony stole Ralphies whore, and then killed him for burning a horse. These were violent episodes. It strikes me that Tony is way out of control at this point. The conversations he is having with Dr. Melfi are cursory at best. He asks advice about very specific situations, and she is content to serve the answers and leave it at that.

The scene where Ralphie is killed is awfully intense. My girlfriend pointed out how rare it is that we see Tony commit violence of this degree himself, especially to do so with his own hands. I enjoyed the fact that it was just an argument, albeit a heated one, until Ralphie brought up meat. That set Tony off and caused him to kill Ralphie. If you recall, meat was determined to be the cause of Tony’s panic attacks. This was an attack of a different kind. Does it signal a change for Tony?

The NCAA championship game has to be considered a good one if only for the fact that it was not what anyone expected. Every story I read had Kansas winning, and with little effort. They were purportedly too big inside, and too experienced. I only saw the last ten minutes, but I had been told that KU was down by 10 at halftime. By the time I got to the game, nothing had changed. It seemed to me KU was completely out of gas. Shocked into submission, the best they could do was try to throw down to Collison, or just shoot panic threes, which weren’t going in. While KU was having all sorts of trouble scoring, the real problem in the time I saw was rebounding. Time and time again Syracuse was beating them to the ball on both ends, and that can really demoralize a team as they fight to get back into a game.

Still, KU scraped the bottom of their barrel and came up with enough to give us a very unlikely finish. Unlike the Texas game, it seemed Syracuse was leaving the door open in this one. Even when they trailed vs. Texas, they didn’t seem to be in as much trouble as they did late in this game. Missing free throws, and wasting opportunities. The game was in question til the last shot and you can’t ask for much more than that, I suppose. Except maybe Roy winning one.

Finally, Out Of The Limo. I think they mentioned that they were the 12th graduating class to put on a show at the Improv Asylum. The cast of this show was immense, which can be quite a challenge for an art like improv where momentum is so necessary. But the group did a great job of feeding off their well-written sketches and carrying that momentum on to the improvised scenes. The structures and sketches were all ambitious and the cast showed a real strong willingness to do whatever was needed to support each other. That, to me, is the core of improv, and so I enjoyed the show very much. Some of the transitions were a bit rough, but with such a large cast, and such a short run, that is almost unavoidable. Congratulations to everyone who worked so hard on the production. I am proud of you all.

-TV

April 2

Wait, don’t start yet. Seriously. Go make yourself a hot chocolate or something. Get into a good chair. Turn off the phone. This may a take a while.

I have been sick for the bulk of this week, and because of that, I have watched WAY over my usual quota of entertainment. I will try to keep it short, but even if I do, this promises to be the longest viewfinder ever.

First off, I forgot to mention that last week I caught a couple of scenes from Good Will Hunting. It’s hard to like a movie that gave Ben Affleck his status in Hollywood today, but I do. It’s also hard to like a movie that, portrays its characters as hard luck good guys who despite their tough lives manage to keep their chins up and have more insight into life than anyone I have ever met when in actuality the actors/writers are from the other side of the river and grew up in privileged families, but I do. Why? Southie.

On to this week:

Thanks to the patience of J-Bro, I saw an episode of The West Wing. I think I have used every superlative known to man to describe this show, but if anyone comes up with any new ones, let me know so I can write about it again. Til then I will just remind you that if you are not watching this show you are doing yourself a disservice.

I watched Dooks season end at the hands of a very Tar Heel looking team. Roy Williams has gotten the Coach K monkey off his back after only four lifetime match-ups. Congrats to Roy, and Jayhawk fans everywhere. I have always liked Kansas. I will not claim to be a fan, but I am happy when they do well. Maybe just because Dean Smith went there. Not to mention Wilt, who is a Philly boy, like me. Those Jayhawks in ‘57 were unstoppable, until they ran in to the Tar Heels of course.

I like the way Kansas recruits, and I like they way they are playing this year. They remind me of the Championship Heels of 10 years ago. Hinrich plays a lot like Donald Williams and Collison reminds me of Eric Montross. I hope the Jayhawks give Roy a title of his own.

There is this…show. It’s called So Graham Norton, I think. It’s a British talk show and this guy Graham Norton is the host. He seems a lot like what I think of when I picture Jack from Will and Grace. Very flamboyant and sarcastic and all. It looks like a fun show. Very irreverent, but not to shock you or anything, just to have fun. A refreshing angle. He opens the show by asking the audience a question and, in a form of large scale “I never” those with what they deem to be good answers remain standing. Then he picks a few of them to interview and hilarity ensues.

Grahams guest this episode was Jacqueline Stallone, mother of Sly. I had never seen or heard of her before this show and frankly, I was unprepared. She strikes me as a self delusional maniac who could snap at any moment. I hope they tie her up, and soon. She seems to think she can tell peoples fortunes by looking at their naked asses. Graham tested this ability on the show and the result was less than impressive. It’s as if she reads peoples asses so they won’t see when she pulls their fortunes out of her own.

I finally saw a couple of episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm. This show has been so widely acclaimed, I figured it would be tough to like it. Not the case. Larry David is just so fucking weird, I couldn’t get enough of him. There is a strange, off kilter manner to the whole show that is dangerously addictive. One thing, it makes me wonder how much work Jason Alexander had to do. If the show plays out like anything you can name (which is not really the case) it would be the further adventures of George Costanza. A show I am sure I would love.

It was late, but we decided after the CYE episodes to watch the pilot of My So-Called Life. It is difficult for me to watch just one episode of this absolutely brilliant show. The single season we were given gets better with age, where most shows seem to fade with every look back. There are shows I will rank higher than this one on the all time list. West Wing and Moonlighting come to mind (when the hell is THAT series coming to DVD for chrissake????), but only for subject matter and longevity. The acting, directing, writing, editing, design, sound, casting, even the theme song of MSCL are the height of quality. Honest, fallible, human characters just trying to do the best they can in this world. Rent it and see for yourself.

I saw a few minutes of South Park. I have always enjoyed South Park, but over the years have not kept up with it. Timmy is fucking hilarious. Not the fact that he says nothing but his own name, but the smile he gives after it. The pride he has in simply having said his name again. Awesome. Has any show ever added as many characters without jumping the shark as South Park has?

I was lucky enough to stumble on the next chapter of Kansas’ march to the Final Four. I watched them play a tough Arizona team down to the wire. Roy’s boys played with poise and now they are headed to New Orleans, home of three of my most favorite championships. 2 for the Tar Heels, and one for the Pats. I hope the bayou is good to Roy again. One other great thing about this game was that Bill Walton was where he should be for all basketball games, in the stands, and not on the mike. I hope Bill doesn’t mercilessly and baselessly criticize his talented son as much as he does other players and coaches.

One hallmark of any good sit-com is a few good themed episodes. Perhaps they take place off set, like the Facts of Life in Australia. Or maybe they feature a special character, like Tom Hanks on Family Ties. Or maybe there is just one classic moment in there, like Lucy’s chocolates. I think the most amazing thing about Seinfeld is how each episode had a theme. There was the parking garage , the wedding cake, the contest, it goes on and on. You could boil almost any episode down to a word or two. The one I caught this past week was no exception. The word is: Shrinkage.

The first half of Withnail & I was just as good as its enjoyable finish (written about last week). J-Bro was eager to lend the dvd to me as soon as he had read last weeks column. There is much fear and loathing in this film. It is no surprise Ralph Steadman was drawn to it. For a fan of language and words, it is really depressing to be an American. Thank god for our colloquial accents, cause our use of language is flat out dull. Shame on us. Shame, shame, shame.

The Big Dig opened its northbound side this weekend and anyone who knows me knew I would be clamoring to give it a whirl. Boston.com asked readers for their impressions of their maiden voyages through the 15 billion dollar tunnel, and here is what I sent them:

Despite the rain, my girlfriend and I eagerly hopped in the car and headed out to test the new roads of Boston. We drove a very long way around the city from Somerville, cutting through Cambridge, Allston, Brookline, and finally down Huntington Ave and Mass Ave so that we would have no idea what was coming. The we saw it. Nothing but tail lights from the Jail all the way as far as we could see. I was livid. I thought the whole country would be laughing at us. A mammoth waste of 15 billion dollars. We were really in for it. The slow traffic continued through the fairly mundane tunnel. The lighting in the first section were horrible, but soon gave way to nicer, softer lights. We had noticed this too on our test run of the new i-90 connector a few weeks ago, what gives? Once inside, it seemed to me the builders wanted to keep the memorable twists and turns of the old artery underground for some reason. But overall, it was a very pleasant looking drive. Still, I could not ignore the atrocity of how bad the traffic was on this, the very first day. As we drove toward sunlight, a thought popped into my head. What if this back up is just people gawking at the new bridge? I cannot explain the glee I felt as we drove over that beautiful new bridge. After looking at it from so far, for so long, to be on it at last was a delight. Indeed, just as I had hoped, as soon as we were off the bridge, the traffic opened up. It may take drivers a while to get over that bridge (pun intended) but once we do, it should be a nice ride.

Breaking my promise to myself, I saw some war coverage on TV. I am really scared of all this. There just doesn’t seem to be any good way out. I feel things are going to get much worse before they get better. I just hope it ends soon.

After watching Roy Williams and Kansas head for the Final Four again, I got nostalgic. I popped in the old tape of the Tar Heels National Championship of 1993. What a classic team that was. Eric Montross, the 7 foot rock at center. Derrick Phelps, the defensive wizard and point guard. Donald Williams, the ice for blood 2-guard. And, the heart of the team, George Lynch. Yet another in the long tradition of excellent UNC small forwards. Billy Cunningham, James Worthy, Rick Fox, Jerry Stackhouse, Vince Carter. And those are just off the top of my head.

On opening day, I watched the Cubs dismantle the high priced New York Mets. It was so Strange to see Tom Glavine in a Mets uniform. Stranger still to see him get beat pretty bad on opening day. Wasn’t he like, 12-1 on opening day or something? The Mets outfield really seems to suck. I watched them drop at least three fly balls. It would be nice to see the Cubs win a championship. Almost as nice as if the Red Sox were to take one. No matter what, I don’t think I have ever been happier to say, baseball is back.

It's hard to admit, but only now, at this late hour, did I manage to go out
and see the Lord of the Rings II, The Two Towers. I thought it was important
to go see it on a big screen, even if it was a second run house and had bad
(or at least old fashioned) sound. What an epic. I can't imagine reading the
book would take much longer than watching the film. Actually, the scenes
involving the tree people seemed longer than reading the whole trilogy!
There were oodles of scenes I could easily have done without, but there were
far more that were wonderfully majestic and inspiring. This is a film of
beauty. The men and women are beautiful, the scenery is incredibly
beautiful, even the battles were beautiful, in their own way. At times,
keeping up with all the different plots became a bit difficult, but in
general, it was easy to tell who the good guys were, and that is what
matters in the end.

I had built this film up in my mind quite a bit, and so it will not be a
surprise to hear that I was a bit disappointed. First off, I hate to admit
it, because it may be a negative reflection on my own patience, but the
length is an issue. Thankfully the seat I was on was a comfortable one.
Still, This film would benefit from the services of a more liberal editor. The audiences'
hand was held through several unnecessary flashbacks and fantasy scenes.
These would be good places to start the trimming party.

I have started a new paragraph here because Gollum deserves one. The first
successful digital character has been created. And this one was done in a
way that does not sacrifice the actors' role in a film. Both of these facts
are huge. In case you hadn't heard, an actor actually dressed in a special
enhanced suit and acted out all the Gollum scenes. His voice was kept, and
over the suit was imposed the body and face we saw in the film. At times, I thought Gollum was a bit much, but for the first time, I did not look at a digital character as anything other than one of the people in the film. Roger Rabbit, Dobby, and especially Jar-Jar required, how shall I put this, a more committed suspension of disbelief to work. Not Gollum. That is a true accomplishment.

Obviously, there have been many commercials I have seen that I have not reviewed for you all. This has been a concession on my part that I am sure has not offended anyone. The standard I have created for myself with regard to commercials is a bit self-serving to be sure, but I think it is effective. I will only review commercials that really strike me as quality, or that I am in. This week, I have one of each for you.

Sprint has another in is long, long line of commercials with that stocky cell-phone sleuth. This one depicts two teenage girls that, it is said at the beginning of the ad, have been sharing a phone. Immediately after their father admits this to our air-time-fighter as all four parties sit around the living room coffee table, the phone in question rings. The sisters then embark on a truly brutal battle for it as the men look on helplessly. The sisters mercilessly throw each other around the room as one of them tries to shout into the phone one word that speaks volumes, “BILLY? BILLY!” This ad is great, not just the concept, but the execution. Pay close attention to the angles they use in the fight. They are classic bar room brawl angles from old westerns. So, so funny.

I don’t count it as the first time I encountered myself on TV, but this morning I saw a commercial that I shot a few weeks back. I say don’t really count it because I hunted it down. I had been told several times by friends that they had seen me around this time on this channel, so I woke up early to see if I could catch myself. It was fun to see the result of the days’ work. I am happy with it I suppose, which, for an actor, is saying a lot. Still, the real thrill will come when I am just watching something and all of a sudden, there I am.

It was a true pleasure to see a good friend of mine in his first (I think?!) feature film. Working Stiff is a story about a down-sized and out young worker who, in an effort to exact some monetary, and karmic, payback on the more powerful people around him makes a porn film on the company dime. It’s a funny premise and they manage to make it look easy. My friend had a very sizeable part and did a great job with it. His dry wit showed through very well and his character helped balance the somewhat wild motivations of the others. Part buddy flick, part romance, and even part The Sting, the large cast puts together a fun caper where everyone gets their due in the end. What more could one ask for from a film? I would recommend you get out to see it, but you only have tonight and tomorrow to do so. Add to this the fact that it is only playing at Arlington’s wonderful old Capitol Theater and you see the demands that recommendation would place on you. I will say, if you have the time, there are many worse things you could do with it. Go for it!

Finally, mercifully, and not unlike this very column, I caught the final two innings of the Red Sox second closer-by-committee failure last night. After two games the bullpen is 1-1 with 2 blown saves. Ouch. Let me say this about the Red Sox; They are infamous for fast starts and strong Aprils. For awful reasons (injury, even to a Yankee, sucks) the Yankees are not at full strength. We had better take advantage of the month or so window we have and put some distance between us and them or the season will be a real dog just one month in as opposed to midway through like it usually is. Just my opinion, and keep in mind, I love my Sox.

Ok, til next week, let’s hope I stay healthy, eh?

-TV