HOW TO GET FREE COFFEE

I went to the mall today with my sleeping 2 1/2 year old in a stroller. That is to say, my son was in the stroller...anyway...

As soon as you walk in, there's this Starbuck's kiosk. Feeling a bit rundown, I wandered over. But the damn thing's a circle, and I couldn't figure out where to stand to order.

(There was a white female and an African American female who worked there. I will hereon refer to them as "the white chick" and "the black chick" for reasons of clarity, only. I love all races equally.)

FInally, the white chick points at me and says "Can I help you?" I order and the white chick gestures vaguely and says, "She'll ring you up." And then calling to the woman in line behind me, "Can I help you?" I fumble for my money and then look up. The woman behind me is getting her coffee and mine is sitting on the counter! I look to the black chick, who is walking out of the kiosk. I look back to the white chick with a questioning arch of the eyebrows as I put my hand on the cup. She looks at me. I look to the black chick. The white chick looks to the black chick. No one says a word.

I slowly lift the cup, never taking my eyes off the girls. I break the confused silence as best I can. "So...." I say to no one in particular, still lifting the cup. "Should I just take this, then?" The white chick asks the black chick, "Where are you going?" The black chick can't think of an answer.

Remember that scene near the end of The Birds, where the two people are walking slowly to their car, never taking their eyes off the killer birds who are all around? That's exactly how I felt. I slowly brought my cup to the stroller's cupholder and said, "I guess I'll just go, then." I turned around and disappeared into the crowd.

SPIDER MAN 2 REVIEW

I finally got out to see Spider Man 2 last night. When it came out a few months ago, I had no interest in it. I'd seen the first one and I was underwhelmed. Everyone was talking about the first one like it was Star Wars all over again, but I just didn't feel it. This time, everyone said it was "even better than the first!" and even my brother said, "I know you didn't like the first one, but you've GOTTA see the second one!" With a roll of my eyes I decided to give it a shot.

I gotta say it was pretty damn good! The first one seemed like the director, Sam Raimi, was holding back. There were some Raimi-esque moments, but overall it seemed too restrained. This one had just the right amout of "wink-wink" moments and super-stylized action to be fun but not so many that it became "A Very Brady Spider Man", or worse, "Scooby Doo". There was one scene in particular that reminded me directly of his Evil Dead days, which was nice.

One thing that did "bug" me a little (I'm so sorry) was that every time Tobey Maguire had an emotional closeup (which seemed to be every five minutes), I was instantly reminded of Elijah Wood's eye-popping performance as Frodo in the Lord Of The Rings movies. It was as if they both went to the same School of Eyebrow-Furrowing & Wide-Eyed Goodness.

Nit-picking aside (another bug joke?)*, I highly recommend it. I put it in the top 5 Comic Book Movies ever, along with Superman, Batman, X-Men and Men In Black. Hmm...notice they all have MAN or MEN in the titles? Hm...maybe I just like movies with MEN or MAN in the titles...let's explore this:

Elephant Man: Good!
A Few Good Men: Good!
12 Angry Men: Good!
Mystery Men: Not Bad...
Man on the Moon: Interesting, but not great
Dead Man Walking: Good!
Hollow Man: A whole lotta fun, but not "good"
Rain Man: Good!
The Man With Two Brains: Good!
Demolition Man: (See Hollow Man)
Little Man Tate: Good!
Men (1997): Never saw it
Men (1989): Never saw it
Men (1987): Never saw it
Men (1953): Never saw it
Men (1924): Never saw it
Men (1918): Never saw it
Running Man: not good....not good at all....
Lawnmover Man: Dear lord, it was not good....

OK, there's no need to go on. I'd say there's no corrolation between the word MAN and my appreciation for the film. Thanks for coming, though...bye!



*nit n.
The egg or young of a parasitic insect, such as a louse.
[Middle English, from Old English hnitu.

Disney's got a new documentary coming out this summer. It's called America's Heart and Soul. You know what? It looks like a visually gorgeous movie with a happy, uplifting spirit. It follows several people from all walks of life who do extraordinary things in their own way.
My problem with it is that it comes out on the heels of the Fahrenheit 9/11 controversy, in which Disney decided not to release the Bush-bashing film. It almost seems like Disney said, "What? You've made an anti-Republican film? Well, we're gonna make a PRO-AMERICA film, since you're obviously ANTI-AMERICAN!"
I hate feeling this way, because if America's Heart and Soul was released 5 years ago, I'd think to myself, "How nice. A real family film that just seems to be about the goodness of humanity!" I still wouldn't go see it, but I'd have appreciated its existence. But now I'm tainted by the cynicism of our times. Here's the site for the trailer in case you care:
http://www.apple.com/trailers/disney/americasheartandsoul.html

I want to start up a website to advertise my video services. I've been doing a bit of work lately and it's all been word-of-mouth. I thought that if I made a website describing my services, with a rate calculator, I could expand my side jobs. My biggest problem is coming up with a name. I thought of "Long Island Video & Editing", but "longislandvideo.com" is already taken by Long Island Video Enterprises. I was hoping some people may have some ideas for me. If you do, please email me: Roblfromli@aol.com