09.16.09 – A Wednesday

Word

serendipity [ser-uhn-dip-i-tee] n. 1.an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident 2.good fortune; luck: the serendipity of getting the first job she applied for

Birthday

King Henry V of England (1386), T.E. Hulme (1883), Allen Funt (1914), Lauren Bacall (1924), Charlie Byrd (1925), B.B. King (1925), Peter Falk (1927), Anne Francis (1930), Ed Begley, Jr. (1949), Earl Klugh (1954), David Copperfield (1956), Mickey Rourke (1956), Jennifer Tilly (1958), Richard Marx (1963), Molly Shannon (1964), Marc Anthony (1968), Amy Poehler (1971), Nick Jonas (1992)

Standpoint

I have to be honest. Nothing’s really bugging me all that much today. Sorry, all. Promise, tomorrow will feature something angry and witty. Right now, I’m just enjoying my new lease on life.

Quotation

Barbara and I seemed to be so right for each other, as far as ambition and business and identity and power. But it really takes work. My feeling about love is, that part of nature is so precious. I’ll always love her. That doesn’t mean I want to talk with her. ◊ Elliott Gould

Tune

When those who know what the hell we’re talking about look back and ponder the early stages of alternative/modern rock, there’s one band that should definitely come to mind – Camper Van Beethoven. David Lowery and friends formed one of those bands long considered well before its time. I remember sitting in my buddy Tim’s room for countless hours in high school while we dissected each and every song off of Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart. I’m not sure if he and I ever came close to agreeing which one was actually the best but, having listened to that album about 834 times straight through, I’m going with “My Path Belated.” Unlike some of those other bands from that era, Camper Van Beethoven actually re-formed, recorded a new album and, to this day, continue to tour.

Gallimaufry

→ Want to know how truly fucked up everything is getting? Well, if you live in the city of Philadelphia and you’ve got a library book out on loan from the Free Library of Philadelphia, you’ll need to return it by Thursday, October 1st. Why, you ask? Annual inventory? Nah. The Pennsylvania State Legislature has cut off the necessary funding for the library system to continue operating. Awesome.

→ The internet is kind of funny when it wants to be. Check out “Top 10 Kanye West Interruption Parodies.” Man, people on work fast. My favorite is the Hitler reaction video.

→ Want to get your anarchy on? Get some cool duds, probably something with the image of Che Guevara. Next, start reading the Defenestrator, Philadelphia’s very own underground newspaper.

04.20.09 – Monday

Word: euphemism [yoo-fuh-miz-uhm] n. 1. the substitution of a mild, indirect or vague expression for one thought to be offensive, harsh or blunt 2. the expression so substituted: “To pass away” is a euphemism for “to die.”

Birthday: Napoleon III (1808), Adolf Hitler (1889), Lionel Hampon (1908), Tito Puente (1923), George Takei (1937), Ryan O’Neal (1941), Jessica Lange (1949), Luther Vandross (1951), Clint Howard (1959), Don Mattingly (1961), Crispin Glover (1964), Carmen Electra (1972), Joey Lawrence (1976)

Occurence: 1999 – Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 13 people and injure 24 others before committing suicide during the Columbine High School Massacre.

Standpoint: Last week, I polled all my friends on Facebook and Twitter. I asked them to name the best movie with a one-word title. Also, I was asking everyone I talked to, including my co-workers at The Chestnut Grill, who came up with a ton of them. (Special thanks to Ezgi and Adina on that one.) So, I compiled over 200 suggested titles and whittled (Colleen, you were right. I misused “wheedle”. Live and learn. 4/21/09) the list down to 15 movies. Here is the list (alphabetically) of 15 Great Movies with a One-Word Title, followed by the reason each film made the final cut. Enjoy.

Caddyshack – 1980 – Chevy Chase, Bill Murray and Rodney Dangerfield made a mockery of Bushwood Country Club. But Ted Knight’s Judge Smails stole the show.

Clueless – 1995 – Kind of a Ferris Bueller for the 90s. Sadly, Alicia Silverstone hasn’t made a movie since in which she’s more appealing.

Diner – 1982 – Stands all by itself just fine but important for launching the film careers of Mickey Rourke, Kevin Bacon, Daniel Stern, Tim Daly, Ellen Barkin and (ahem) Steve Guttenberg.

Fargo – 1996 – William H. Macy as Jerry Lundegaard is positively amazing. Plus, one of my all-time favorite movie lines is when Frances McDormand says to Peter Stormare, “And I guess that was your accomplice in the wood chipper.”

Fletch – 1985 – Probably one of the most complete comedies in the history of film. Chevy Chase went on to sully his good name with an assortment of dreadful movies (Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Cops and Robbersons, Funny Farm), but does it really matter?

Glory – 1989 – Again, one of those movies that kickstarted the careers of many now-famous actors including Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington and Andre Braugher. Also, it showed that Matthew Broderick was capable of playing a role that didn’t involve a whole lot of wisecracking.

Hoosiers – 1986 – Gene Hackman‘s portrayal of disgraced college basketball coach Norman Dale is fantastic. The theme music is equally great.

Made – 2001 – Vince Vaughan and Jon Favreau improve on the incessant banter they originated in Swingers. When I first watched it, I wanted to strangle Vince Vaughan. And I think that’s what they were going for.

Milk – 2008 – On almost any other recent year, this film would’ve won Best Picture. Slumdog Millionaire was just a little better. Sean Penn and James Franco were top-notch.

Predator – 1987 – Normally not a big Arnold Schwarzenegger fan, but this movie boasts the best ensemble cast of any movie set in a jungle with a terrifying, murderous alien. Ever.

Serenity – 2005 – Apparently, FOX let Joss Whedon make this movie due to the fact that it inexplicably cancelled his popular TV show, “Firefly.” Whedon made the most of it. If you haven’t seen this movie, drop what you’re doing and do so now.

Silverado – 1985 – I’m beginning to think that this list might be a bit biased because, after looking at the selections so far, I’ve got most of these films on DVD. But, this is another one of those movies that feature actors that are now world famous like Kevin Costner, Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn, Danny Glover, Jeff Goldblum, and few others at the beginning of their careers.

Tombstone – 1993 – Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday is superb, if not at all historically accurate. Most likely the most quoted western in movie history.

Unforgiven – 1992 – Obviously, I like westerns. But after watching the final scene where Clint Eastwood wins a gunfight against approximately 20 guys, can you really blame me?

WALL-E – 2008 – Many of your submissions were animated movies (Aladdin, Madagascar, Ratatouille) but they didn’t stand a chance. WALL-E effortlessly straddles the thin line between children’s movie and societal statement.

There you have it. Just in case you’re wondering, it’s pretty difficult deciding the best 15 out of 200. The Honorable Mentions are too many to list. I can give you a few movies that never stood a chance. Titanic. Volcano. Twister. Accepted.

I’m sure you can think of a few movies I overlooked or discarded. Tell me which ones and why.

Quotation: Everybody is wrong about everything, just about all of the time. – Chuck Klosterman

Gallimaufry: Falling into the “How-Pathetic-Can-I-Possibly-Get” category, Spencer Pratt (“The Hills”) has challenged Ashton Kutcher to a 30-day contest to see who can get the most Twitter followers. Dude, you’re a little late. I suggest concentrating your efforts on something that doesn’t involve some crappy show like “The Hills.” Look into it…All season long on “American Idol,” people have been asking the question, “Why in the hell did they bring Kara DioGuardi on as a fourth judge?” It appears she’s wondering the same thing. Could this be a sign of her exit?…Yesterday was a good day in Philadelphia for sports. The Phillies beat the San Diego Padres, 5-4, off a two-run homer in the ninth inning by Raul Ibanez. The 76ers beat the Orlando Magic in the Game 1 of their first-round playoff series on a last-second jumper by Andre Iguodala. But the highlight of the day in sports, for me at least, was sitting at my brother Jeremy’s new house and watching the Flyers spank the Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-3. Claude Giroux registered a Gordie Howe hat trick. He’s the real deal. (Thanks to Phinally Philly for the link.)

Incoming: This week is up in the air. Besides more of your suggestions for Annoying Sayings & Misused Words, we’ll have to see where the wind takes us.

04.09.09 – Thursday

Word: histrionic [his-tree-on-ik] adj. 1. of or pertaining to actors or acting 2. deliberately affected or self-consciously emotional; overly dramatic, in behavior or speech

 

Birthday: Charles Baudelaire (1821), Hugh Hefner (1926), Tom Lehrer (1928), Jim Fowler (1932), Carl Perkins (1932), Marty Kroft (1937), Peter Gammons (1945), Dennis Quaid (1954), Marc Jacobs (1963), Paulina Porizkova (1965), Jenna Jameson (1974), Albert Hammond, Jr. (1979), Keshia Knight Pulliam (1979), Jesse McCartney (1987)

 

Occurrence: 2003 – Saddam Hussein’s statue is toppled to the ground and destroyed by the Iraqi people as U.S. forces take over Baghdad. That was six years ago. When, exactly, did we win that war?

 

Standpoint: A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post about sayings or phrases that I find annoying. Since then, I’ve received emails and comments, both here and on Facebook, from all of you who wanted to share your annoying sayings. I found that what really bother some of you are frequently misused words. I picked the top three and did a little research. Here is that I found:

 

“irregardless” vs. “regardless” – “Irregardless” is not a word. At least, not an accepted one. According to dictionary.com, “Irregardless” is a non-standard word because of the two negative elements ir- and –less. The site presumes that “those who use it, including on occasion educated speakers, may do so from a desire to add emphasis.” On the other hand, “regardless” means, “having or showing no regard.”  The winner: regardless

“supposably” vs. “supposedly” – This one is going to disappoint some of you. Dictionary.com says both are fine. “Supposably” is defined as “to believe or assume as true; take for granted.” “Supposedly” is defined as “assumed as true, regardless of fact.” I don’t really see a difference, do you? The winner: it’s a tie

“orientate” vs. “orient” – “Orientate” is actually a word. It means, “to arrange in order; to dispose or place (a body) so as to show its relation to other bodies.” (No, I don’t think that means an actual human body.) “Orient” has many different meanings, including one that resembles the above one for “orientate.” However, the one that fits with the way most people use both these words is “to familiarize (a person) with new surroundings or circumstances.” So when someone says, “I had to orientate him into the new apartment,” they’re misusing the word. The winner: orient

So, there you go. I still can’t believe that “supposably” is a word. Thanks everyone for your contributions.

Quotation: It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer. – Albert Einstein

 

Tune: Over the weekend, I was having a conversation with a certain someone who insisted that all bands would choose making the big time over being a consistently working, moderately profitable one. I disagreed. Example of one such band? Cloud Cult. Here’s a blurb from the band’s official bio: “Despite offers from major labels, Cloud Cult has chosen to remain independent, recording and releasing their albums through Earthology Records, a not-for-profit environmental record label established by Minowa in 1998. On a self-funded shoe-string budget they have achieved top 20 CMJ radio charting for all of their last three albums, a domain usually reserved for the SubPops and Merges of the world.” My favorite Cloud Cult tune is “Hurricane and Fire Survival Guide.”

 

Link: Lights – Not sure if I’ve posted this before, but wanted to share it. Takes a few seconds to figure out.

 

Gallimaufry: Everyone’s talking about the Philadelphia Phillies’ new World Champions rings. Reviews have been good. I even overheard on lady call them “stunning.” I think the rings are pretty god-awful but I’d probably wear one if I’d just won the World Series. A shame they can’t present the team with the rings every night. The Phillies won in impressive style, coming back late in the game to win 12-11 after being down 10-3 (Thanks to Phinally Philly for the link)…Iron Man 2 began filming recently. Looks like Iron Man cast members Robert Downey, Jr. (Tony Stark), Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts) and Samuel L. Jackson (Col. Nick Fury) will return for the second installment while Don Cheadle will replace Terrence Howard as James “Rhodey” Rhodes. New cast members will include Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Mickey Rourke (Whiplash) and Sam Rockwell (Justin Hammer). It’s rumored that there will be appearances by Jeff Bridges and Tim Robbins but nothing solid yet…Think status updates on Facebook and tweets on Twitter are getting impossible to follow? If so, you’re not going to like where Mashable’s Jennifer Van Grove is predicting for the future in “A Brief History of the Status Update.” Personally, I think it’ll be great.

 

Incoming: Tomorrow – My “Top 3 Incredibly Cool Things To Do in Philadelphia This Weekend” and some other amazing stuff.