The Nines. Go See This Movie

I like to promote good movies. John August's new film, The Nines, is a great film. I am a huge fan of John August's work and perhaps the reason for this is that Big Fish is one of my top ten favorite movies. I saw The Nines at Sundance and really really liked it. I am looking forward to seeing it again and encourage you to go see it when it opens tonight!!!

NEW YORK
Sunshine Cinemas on Houston (map)
Friday, August 31st
8 p.m. Special guests Ryan Reynolds and producer Bruce Cohen

Click here for tickets!

If you are looking for something to do tonight, definitely consider heading over to see this film, you won't be disappointed.

If my recommendation isn't enough, here's the trailer



Wishing my readers a happy and safe Labor Day Weekend!

What Happens in New York

I still get excited when I go to lunch and stumble upon a movie being filmed. I decided to check out the Whole Foods on East Houston today and on my way back passed a huge movie set-up for What Happens In Vegas starring Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher...No sign of either, but I did see their trailers.

I'm McLovin Evan

It seems like the name Evan is being used more and more these days in film. I rarely heard the name used in a movie until this year when we got Evan Almighty and now Superbad. There's something so gratifying when you hear your name said over and over again in a movie. I feel like I should be paid royalties whenever it's uttered by one of the actors on screen. I went to see Superbad the other night and the character played by Michael Cera is named Evan.

I know I mention Wholphin on this blog too much. But I do it because it is the best thing out there. Have you ordered it yet? I watched a piece on the new one by Olivo Barbieri called Site Specific: Las Vegas and was immediately blown away. Was this real? It couldn't be, it must be a model...but wait, the people and cars are moving. Unbelivable. It's all real. No CGI. He photographs his work from a helicopter using a tilt-shift lens. I tried finding video of it online but can't so you're going to have to subscribe to Wholphin. You'll want to watch it over and over again because it's so cool. Here are some stills. All real.

Tie him to a tree..

Boaz is always going on and on about how great Portland is, and I believe him. This article is just one more reason why Portland is an amazing city.

I swear I don't work for McSweeney's!

I got a package in the mail yesterday and my entire face lit up when I realized what it was. The new Wholphin DVD!!!! Now I've talked about this before and I'm going to mention it again. If you are at all into movies and short films you MUST subscribe to this DVD from McSweeney's. It features some of the best films I have ever seen and you can't find these anyplace else. They do an excellent job of gathering a melange of extraordinary films from around the world and put it on a gem of a DVD. Inside the DVD case is a little book that gives a description of each film, it's makers and even has some brief interviews. You are missing out if you don't subscribe to Wholphin. So I'm going to renew my subscription and hope you will sign up as well! Just click here to do so!

Hey, did you see they are working on a new BABE movie?




Elissa and I booked our flights to New Orleans in October!! It's going to be a great trip.

What is Evan currently watching you ask?

If you aren't Netflix friends with me, then I know you are asking yourself..gee, I wonder what Evan is watching? Well I'm going to tell you. I'm currently trying to get through two DVDs.

1) David Lynch's Inland Empire- This two disc version is loaded with extras which is very rare. I just started watching this three hour flick and am looking forward to taking the time to watch it in it's entirety. I have also just started to watch the second season of Twin Peaks. If you haven't seen the first season, I encourage you to add it to your queue.




2) 2006 Academy Award Nominated Shorts- A must see for anyone who enjoys short films. Some of these are okay but there are a few gems that make this DVD one worth watching. One of my personal favorites and the one that won the Academy Award; West Bank Story.



And now, here's something for you to ponder:

Kid Nation

Have you heard about the new CBS show Kid Nation which premieres on September 19? If not, you're in for a real treat. It's a reality show where they take 40 children ages 8 to 15 and place them in a "ghost town" in New Mexico to see if they can build a working society without any assistance from adults. Sounds great doesn't it? Well apparently the producers of the show could be in trouble with the state attorney's office. According to this article in the NY Times:

"the parent of one child in the production complained to state officials that the children's treatment bordered on abuse. Four children received medical treatment for accidentally drinking bleach, one child was burned on her face with hot grease while cooking in an unsupervised kitchen, and most of the children were required to work 14 hours or longer per day. They received a payment of $5,000 for their participation."

Sounds like fun. Is the entire crew all children as well? The show looks great and I hope it doesn't disappoint.


And if kids running their own town isn't enough for you, how about this story about the poor Scandinavian moose being blamed for global warming. Is Al Gore behind this? No, really, this article states that:

"Norway is concerned that its national animal, the moose, is harming the climate by emitting an estimated 2,100 kilos of carbon dioxide a year through its belching and farting"

The methane gas emitted from the moose is more destructive to the environment thatn carbon dioxide gas.

If the Norweigians stop feeding the moose so much herring I think the problem would resolve itself.

CATS

I'm a dog person. I've never been able to cuddle up to cats. But when Mark told me to check out LOLCATS, I found some really funny cat photos.

The weather has cooled down and I can feel fall just around the corner. I noticed a few weeks ago that the Halloween candy has already been put out in many of the supermarkets. I'm very much looking forward to the fall, apple picking and foliage.

I had an excellent summer and hope you did as well. To celebrate, here is a great video that celebrates religion and boxing all in one.

Show Me The Injuries

Show Me The Injuries! SHOW ME THE INJURIES!!

Garage sale

When I got to Vermont, my family participated in a townwide garage sale called Norman's Attic in Arlington, VT. I snapped a photo with my phone of our space in the sale and here it is. We sold a lot of our items but still had a lot left over. The most popular item...: Super Troopers Sunglasses.

In ground hot tub

You can't really see the hot tub in this photo or even image the scene of this in ground hottub surrounded by stone and next to the battenkill river. You sit in the hottub and hear the rushing river beside you. It was a magical evening.

Movin' to the Country, Gonna Eat A Lot of Peaches

As you may have noticed, I haven't blogged for over a week. Perhaps that is because I was in Vermont on vacation. I always have a tough time coming back to work after a week off as I'm sure most people do. Elissa and I had a great week with my family and the weather could not have been more perfect.

I have some photos to post but for now here are some of the things we did: blueberry picking, Saratoga Races, outdoor in ground hottub by the river, watching meteors, Up for Breakfast, outlet shopping, Farmers Market, Taylor Farm, Mass Moca, Williamstown, Vermont Country Store...

More to come...

Diamonds Aren't a Child's Best Friend

Kelly found this for me and I promised I would give her credit. Looking for a great gift for an aspiring young ventriliquist? Look no further!!

I feel a little better

I felt a little better after reading this.

The New Jersey State Fair

I don't think I've ever been to a fair as large as the one I went to last night. The New Jersey State Fair in Sussex County is located on 125 acres and filled with rides, games, animals, and just about anything fried you could hope for. I met Mark and Meredith in Jersey City and they were nice enough to let me ride with them to the fair. Meredith even made sure to point out the Muffler Man at Wilson's House of Carpet which for all of you Soprano's fans will recognize immediately from the opening credits. We finally arrived at our destination and took a deep breathe in..ahhh, the country. The fair lit up the usually pitch black sky and there was excitement in our eyes. Heather met us at Gate 3 and gave us our tickets..we were in! We walked pass many games, kids shooting water guns to win oversized stuffed animals and then took in the smells of all of the food. Heather brought us over to a tent where a kitchen demonstration was taking place. The guy was trying to sell Cook For Life products, and Andrew and Elissa were in the front row, mesmerized. The demonstrator/salesman had a soothing voice which helped in hypnotizing the audience into buying the products. He went on and on and on...so Meredith, Mark, and I, hungry after our trip from the busy city, went to get some dinner.

When we came back to the Cook For Life tent, the demonstrator was still trying to sell the waterless cooking pans. Elissa, Andrew, and Heather got up and we began our fair journey. One of the stops we made was the feeding zoo. We were feeding pellets to a number of goats, donkeys, zebus, llamas, and some other furry animals. I missed the world's largest horse but I took some photos on my phone which are posted. We continued on to the bunny tent, the chicken tent, the rare breed tent...I'm telling you, this place had everything. In the chicken tent, they event had hatching chicks!

There was more food, more adventure, more laughs, more fun! And then something happened....something that took all of the above and flushed them right down the toilet. Upon entering the fair I noticed that there was a little booth that said "World's Smallest Woman! 29 inches tall!!!". On our way out I mentioned it to the group because I was curious. I figured it would be some sort of projection or mirror trick and Heather seemed to assume the same. All of a sudden we were in front of the booth again taking out money to see this woman. We handed the money to the man in front and walked around him to this little cubicle on which sat this woman from Haiti who spoke no english and was 29 inches tall. I smiled and waved awkwardly and tried to get out as quickly as I could. I felt awful. What had I just done?? I didn't think they were allowed to do this any more. I am still feeling it in my stomach and reliving the moment when I walked around the corner to see this woman just sitting there. I wanted to give her something.. a present or even some cotton candy. I had nothing for her, so I tried to be as friendly and smile as much as possible because perhaps that would make things better. It didn't. Never again will I pay $1 to see a small person, a tall person, a person with a beard, etc. I'm already looking forward to going to the fair again next year. Wanna come?

Commuter Bowling

Last night after work, some co-workers and I, along with Elissa, went bowling at Port Authority. We lined up commuters waiting for their buses and then we each ran as fast as we could into them to see how many people we could knock down. Okay, okay..I kid. We did go to Leisure Time Bowling which is in the Port Authority building on the second floor. We walked in, put on our newly deodorized shoes, and bowled a game. As many of us hadn't bowled in over 5 years (except for some occasional wii bowling) our scores weren't that great. I won with a score of, drumroll please, 99!!! It was so low because

1) my ball was too heavy
2) My shoes, size 14, were too small.

A good time was had by all and I have my first practice with the Port Authority Bowling League next week.

Commuting, a book by Evan , Chapter 2

Chapter 2- The Floods are Coming

Weather can definitely get in the way of one's morning commute. This morning, after an extra long NJ Transit train ride, I was forced to walk to work from Penn. If New York City can't handle some rain, I don't know how they are going to handle anything worse. This should be worrying people and something definitely needs to be done. It's just water!! I was stuck in the midst of thousands of commuters as we were told there was no A,C,E service. What to do next, I know, I'll try the bus. Nope. There were at least 75 people at each bus stop as I walked downtown and apparently, no extra buses were running. Each bus was packed full of commuters and I was glad I wasn't one of the sardines in the can on wheels. But why weren't there extra buses running? Someone needs to make this call the night before.

I enjoy walking, don't get me wrong, but the humidity is so high that it makes the walk very unpleasant. I made it though. I even made a stop at the Union Sqaure market. I'm ready for the Fall....foliage...pumpkins....ahhhh

In other news, a man smuggled a monkey onto a plane.

$49,950

Does anyone have $49,950 to give me?

Evan's Book and Movie Club: Perfume and Pigeons

I've always wanted to start a "Movie Club" so I could discuss films with a bunch of other movie lovers. Oprah, maybe you want to start one? I know you read my blog so please give me some on air mention when you do start this. While in college there were many books that I picked up at garage sales that have made my top ten list. One of these books was The Pigeon by Patrick Suskind. After reading this book I quickly looked to see what other books Mr. Suskind had written. I ran out and bought Perfume. I loved this one as well. I found out later that Jon and his brother also loved this book. I just watched the movie that was made and it is one of the better movies I have seen in a long time. I strongly encourage you to watch Perfume and I am making it the first movie of Evan's Movie Club.




The entire movie is phenomenal but the last 15 minutes are astounding. I was so wowed by the ending that I look forward to watching it again and again. The movie is directed by Tom Tykwer who also directed Run Lola Run. (I think he has a thing for red heads) It's unfortunate that more people didn't see this movie when it was in theaters for it is by far one of the best films I have seen this year. Read the book and see the movie, I promise you won't be disappointed with Perfume. Here's the trailer



For some reason I didn't see the following video last week, but Jon showed it to me and I had to post it.



5 Days and counting until vacation.

Master's Degree at 94

I always enjoy reading a story about "seniors" going back to school to obtain a masters degree. So I was so happy when I came across this story about 94 year old, Phyliss Turner, who has become the oldest person in the world to obtain a masters degree. I am applying for grad school and Phyliss should be an inspiration to anyone wanting to go back to school.

My uncle visited yesterday and showed me a script from the tv show promos he was working on. You know of the show and it stars one of the Baldwin brothers. I read the script to myself (both actors parts) and they were really funny. I'm looking forward to seeing them air. Maybe I should start auditioning for tv commercials? What have I been waiting for!! Watch out world, here I come. Wait, what? Oh, really? Oh...oh... well..ahem...of cource there are millions of people who want to be on tv, but I've, um...I've... I have a unique face!?

Wait! How about broadway?? Young Frankenstein is headed for Broadway and Mel Brooks is going to make a killing. Curious? Check out the website which is a production in and of itself.

Um..there's a man urinating in my train car

I'd like to know which genius at Amtrak came up with the $100 free booze idea.

The national passenger rail company is making the unusual offer to promote a new high-end service being offered on a trial basis for certain sleeper car trips.

Members of Amtrak's guest rewards program—the railroad equivalent of frequent fliers—can get a $100 per person credit for alcohol between November and January.

I sure hope the train staff is prepared for some crazy rides. The question remains, if this doesn't work to get people riding the train, what are they going to try next?

While I'm on the subject of trains, have you heard about the Harry Potter Theme park being planned at Universal Studios in Orlando? They are calling it The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I wonder if there's going to be a Hogwarts Express train to take you there? Here's a video I found on YouTube about this project.