The Top 10 Films of 2008

2008 was a wonderful year for movies. To celebrate tonight's Oscar ceremony, here are my picks for the top films of '08 (you can find my '07 list here).

Honorable Mentions (all great, but didn't quite make the list): In Bruges, The Wrestler, Milk, The Fall, Iron Man, Revolutionary Road, The Dark Knight, Waltz with Bashir, Kabluey, Burn After Reading.

Also, I didn't have time to see Frozen River, The Class or Wendy & Lucy, any/all of which may have made the top 10. Now then. Here we go:

10. The Reader

The Reader tells the story of a teenage boy and his secret affair with an older woman. At first. And then it takes a series of surprising turns, each of which deepen their relationships and our understanding of these characters. But none of it would work without Kate Winslet's beautifully layered performance, which anchors the film and gives it a hearty dose of emotional resonance. Deceptively complex and rich, and BONUS! - Lena Olin has two scenes as two different characters, the second of which is worth the price of admission alone.

9. Frost/Nixon

I'm not generally a fan of political anything, but Frost/Nixon is too compelling to pass up. Ron Howard wisely chose to eschew big name stars in the leads and went with Frank Langella as Richard Nixon and Michael Sheen as David Frost: the two men who played these roles in the stage play. This choice paid off in spades, as Langella and Sheen infuse these characters with an astounding level of detail and realism. It's an amazing acheivement that two hours of political talk manages to feel like a thriller.

8. Doubt

Sensing a theme? Another talky play-turned-film with riveting performances, Doubt asks many intruiging questions and provides few answers. This film ends up being a personality test of sorts: your answers to these questions say more about you than the movie. Add to the mix some of the finest actors of our generation, and tense direction by John Patrick Shanley (who also wrote the screenplay based on his original play) and you've got yourself a winner. Also, my buddy Ben worked on it!

7. Slumdog Millionaire

I was hesitant at first. As I watched each traumatic event batter these characters bloody, I considered checking out. But Slumdog won me over with its beautiful story of redemption and loss and television and poop swimming. You can't help but root for Dev Patel's sweet, naive protagonist. This movie is an incredible accomplishment: a gritty, disturbing foreign film that is also an uplifting crowd-pleaser. How did that happen? Oh right, cause Danny Boyle is a genius, and this is the biggest triumph of his amazing career.

6. Wall-E

Pixar is magic. Everybody knows it. But nobody was expecting Wall-E. Not content to follow the same old Pixar formula and rake in the dough, Andrew Stanton and his crew challenged themselves by doing away with cute talking animals, and centered this kids' movie on a garbage-recycling robot with very few facial features. In addition, the first 30 minutes contain nearly zero dialogue. It should have been a disaster, yet kids and adults alike were completely taken by this beautiful love story about machines, which also happens to be a legitimate cautionary sci-fi tale.

5. Happy Go Lucky

Poppy is unlike any movie character I've ever seen. She is an eternal optimist, full of joy and naivete. And ten minutes into Happy Go Lucky, I had already fallen completely in love with her. Of course, being a Mike Leigh movie, she still lives in working class London, surrounded by volatile timebombs like her new driving instructor, played brilliantly by Eddie Marsan. There's no plot per se, but it's fascinating to watch Poppy interact with the cynical world around her and learn why she is who she is. This is truly a feel-good movie, and had me on a high for days.

4. The Visitor

From the director of The Station Agent, comes a similarly heartfelt, detailed character study. It focuses on a complacent college professor and his re-awakening to life, inspired by a chance meeting with a stranger. Richard Jenkins is a one of our best character actors, but he shines here in a rare (now Oscar-nominated) leading role. Despite dealing with some heavy political post-9/11 themes, the movie's tone is sweet and gentle and gorgeously life-affirming. This is the kind of movie some people call "little" ("a nice little indie"), but that just means they're not paying attention to all the meticulously observed details. It's already on DVD, and you owe yourself to seek this one out.

3. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

You may be surprised to see this so high on my list. I'm aware that a lot of people don't like this movie, calling it cliche, overlong, a Forrest Gump ripoff, etc. While it does tread some Gumpy ground (and is unfortunately from the same writer -- maybe he needs to try something new), it is also full of emotional resonance, captivating performances, remarkable visual effects and sharp direction from David Fincher, from whom this kind of romantic story is a complete surprise. Yes, Benjamin Button is a passive character; a blank slate of sorts, but that's partially the point. Even this blank slate deeply effects the lives of every person he meets.

2. Rachel Getting Married

I was not an Anne Hathaway fan. Consider me a convert. Hathaway's Kym is a ragged ball of misplaced anger, neediness and tension. Watching her, you can't help but oscillate between empathizing and cringing. Shot like a home movie, with the musical score provided only by on-site musicians, Jonathan Demme makes us feel like guests at this wedding, and by the end, we truly feel like we know every member of this family, and love them despite their faults. Propelled by a powerful ensemble cast (including Rosemarie Dewitt, who I have a huge crush on), this is one wedding I actually want to relive.

1. Synecdoche, New York

This movie is a foolishly ambitious dream about foolishly ambitious dreams. Everything about this film is a risk, except for the lineup, which was pulled straight from my dreams: the cast features Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Emily Watson, Hope Davis and Samantha Morton. It is written and directed by Charlie Kaufman (one of the greatest screenwriters of all-time), and scored by Jon Brion (who I am slowly trying to become). The film centers on theatre director Caden Cotard (played by Hoffman), and his life-long quest to capture truth in art. This may sound like a simple setup, but it grows increasingly surreal and complicated, until Caden is building sets the size of New York City (literally) and begins hiring actors to play the actors playing the actors. It's all incredibly meta and incredibly brilliant. Oh also, it's hilarious. Granted, it's a very very dark brand of humor, but I laughed for nearly the entire length of the movie, unaware it was simultaneously breaking my heart, until the end when the laughs slowly tapered off. The control of tone here is astounding. But it wouldn't be at the top of my list if this movie didn't have a huge heart, and Kaufman recognizes that everyone, deep down, wants to be seen and known. The title is a play on Schenectady, New York (where it takes place) and the word "synecdoche," which means "a part representing the whole, and the whole representing a part." As the end credits play, a woman sings, "I'm just a little person, one person in a sea, of many little people, who are not aware of me." Unlike Caden, Charlie Kaufman's foolishly ambitious dreams have been realized, and we are all better for it.

Z100 Zootopia

New York City welcomed us with a bleak, cold rainstorm. A rainstorm with which we became very familiar as we waited soggily for our shuttle to come pick us up from the JFK airport. It didn't show. After over an hour, Stacy made a phone call to the shuttle service. The service replied, "He's been waiting for over an hour. He couldn't get in to the gate, so he's around the back."

No one called to tell us this?

The only thing worse than waiting in a chilling rainstorm for a shuttle is waiting in a chilling rainstorm for a shuttle that's parked around the corner.

We made our way to the bus marked "Krystal." Their slogan was "a 'gem' of a ride!"

Kill me now.

After boarding and finally leaving the airport, the driver swerved and tailgated his way into the city. Nearly a half-hour later, we pulled over near a basketball court in what was clearly the ghetto. This was not our hotel. The driver exited the bus. He slowly walked around the side and looked closely at the front tire. Then the back tire. Then he went around the other side and did the same.

And then, without a word, he got back on the bus and resumed driving.

Okay then.

He had a strong preference for the right lane on the freeway, adding at least 15 additional minutes to our ride. When we finally reached the hotel, he parked at the entrance that was clearly marked "closed after 7pm." It was nearly 9pm.

He started pulling all our bags out of the back of the bus, when he finally heard us all screaming, "We need to move!" and "Put the bags back!" and "Why are you so dumb!?"

So he drove the van around the block to the front entrance.

Not quite a "gem" after all.

My room at the Affinia Hotel was spacious, with a full kitchen and a high ceiling, but tempered by the customary miniscule New York bathroom: you can only take a shower if you suck in your gut.

The pillows were comfy, but in case they weren't, the Affinia had a pillow menu to put that other place to shame (click photo to enlarge):
What to do when you're in New York City? Well, same thing I always do: see my buddy Ben. The two of us slogged through the wet city to some country steak joint that oddly smelled like warm brownies, which is never a bad thing. I say "oddly," because brownies were not on the menu.

I had the burger.

Just like last time, it was garbage night in the city.

I'm convinced this is an everyday sight. Trash sprawled up almost every street. And trust me, there's nothing like the smell of wet garbage in the evening air to rid your brain of brownie thoughts.

The following day, we were slated to play Z100's Zootopia. Z100 is supposedly the most widely listened-to station in the world. I'm not sure how anyone can prove this.

The festival was being held at what was previously the Meadowlands Arena in Jersey, now annoyingly renamed the Izod Center. During the tour, I grew weary of arenas with names like the Dunkin Donuts Center, the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater and the FedEx Forum. Are there any venues that haven't been bought by The Man?

We had our soundcheck early in the morning and everything went very well. I can't say the same for Jessie McCartney, who spent his entire half-hour listening to Pro-Tools tracks while his playback guy tried to fix some completely inaudible problem. The band looked impatient, and Jessie looked like he was about ready to blow.

At noon, they commuted us back to the hotel for an entire day of freedom in the city. I went to the park.

The Krystal bus picked us up again at 8:30pm and drove us back out to Jersey for the big show. Also performing, the Jonas Brothers, OneRepublic, Danity Kane and Simple Plan. We got back just in time for me to check out Sara Bareilles. I really like "Love Song." Good thing too, cause they only let her play that one tune, even though everybody else was playing half-hour sets.

After her, all the girls swooned for New Kids On The Block. Yes. That's not a typo. New Kids. And how they did swoon. Some of our female dancers (and I won't name names to spare their dignity) knew all the lyrics and were very excited to see their childhood idols all growed up (read: old and depressing) and still dancing the same dance steps. It was like Bring Your Dad To Work Night at the Apollo. But I'm happy for them, I guess. They just grabbed themselves another 15 minutes.

We took the stage around 10:30 and Miley proceeded to melt some faces. Everything went well until the song, "Right Here," when my ears went out. I looked around and noticed that I wasn't the only one. Jamie was mouthing to Stacy, "No ears!" Jaco looked at me and mouthed, "Did you lose your ears?" We kept playing despite the fact that none of us could hear much of anything, as our ears block outside sound, so when they turn off, you can't hear very well. A while later in the song, the ears came back on, and of course we were off the click, so they had to stop the click track. Again, we kept playing.

Looking at the faces in the audience, nobody noticed the numerous heart attacks that just occured on stage. Those crazy kids just wanna have a good time. And a good time they had.

One show down, one to go. Tomorrow, the big NetJets show.

I Do Not Have A Connective Tissue Disorder!

Easter Sunday was a complete blur, that began at church with my parents and ended watching an old high school friend in the national tour of Sweeney Todd. She was amazing.

Back in early October, my orthopedic diagnosed me as hypermobile with arachnodactly, which basically means that my joints are freakishly flexible and I have long fingers and toes. I also showed other symptoms that led him to believe I might have Marfans Syndrome. Marfans is mainly not that big a deal...except for the part where your joints basically fall apart due to looseness of connective tissue, and also your heart kinda explodes.

So this was something to look into.

I booked an appointment with a highly sought-after geneticist immediately after that diagnosis, and this geneticist was not available until today, March 25. That's a long wait to find out if you're gonna die soon.

After filling out an extremely thorough questionnaire (which I mailed in several months ago), with details on the history of my entire family, and another lengthy interview by a fellow today, the esteemed Dr. Rimoin entered the room, moved a couple of my joints around, listened to my heart, and basically gave me his blessing with a clean bill of health. That was quick.

He said he doesn't know what's going on with me, but it's not Marfans. And for that, I breathe a sigh of relief. Especially to know that I'm not passing it on to sweet little Noah.

And now, on to the next thing. At 7:45am tomorrow, I am to report for jury duty in the Los Angeles Superior Court. I really hope we don't go to trial, because I have to play the Kids' Choice Awards with Miley in a couple days. In order to avoid the jury, Ben says to be antisocial, creepy, and talk really slowly. Oh, also to glare at people like The Crow. I'm working on it. Something tells me "antisocial" won't be too hard at eight in the morning.

One Of Those Prawn Salad Waiting Room Days

Today was a glitch day. First, my brand new MacPro erased my iPod and has been locking up every time it tries to sync it. So my 7,000+ songs on the iPod are gone.

Then, said brand new MacPro locked up in every conceivable way in every conceivable program. This is after I've already reinstalled my OS and reinstalled all the programs. This takes hours. And I've had this computer less than a week. You know what they say about how "Macs Just Work?" Not so much.

I have an appointment tomorrow with an Apple Genius. (Could they be any more full of themselves!?)

Then, I had Ben over again (he's leaving town soon and I'm trying to see him as much as possible) to watch a movie. After five minutes, the disc started skipping. It was a rental, and sometimes they're a little dirty or scratched. I pulled it out to clean it. It was literally THE dirtiest disc I've ever seen. Something was smeared all over it. I couldn't get it off.

So we abandoned the movie and started playing Bioshock. I wanted to show the game to Ben. After about a half hour we ran into a gamebreaking glitch. I have never found a bug in this game. Ever. Until today. Prawn Salad Waiting Room Day.

Ben showed me this video, which completely describes how I'm feeling.



Now I need to just go to bed and not touch anything. I'm a little afraid my bed might fall through the floor or something...

Ben and the Three Day Birthday

I realize I've been a little lax about blogging lately. But I have an excuse. My good buddy Ben Pedersen's birthday was this week. And I'm a firm believer in celebrating birthdays at length.

Day Before the Birthday

Ben and I were hanging out, watching a terrible old horror movie called "Popcorn," which I highly recommend to lovers of bad movies. The movie ended and it was 11pm. We were thinking of what to do next? Should we play a video game? Watch another movie?

It occurred to Ben that he only had one more hour in his twenties. So I asked him, "what's something crazy you've never done before?"

All he could think of was "streaking." "But," he said, "nobody would even care if I did that in L.A."

So I asked him, "is there a place you've always wanted to go, but never gone?"

He thought for awhile, and said, "The Bonaventure Hotel downtown has a revolving restaurant with a view of the whole city."

So we hopped in the car and drove downtown, hoping to get a drink in his hand by midnight.

The Starbucks in the lobby was pretty packed for late at night.

We took the elevator up to the 53rd floor.

Ben got a drink just in time, and we celebrated the 30 year milestone in style, spinning around L.A. At this point, I was actually pretty sick, and was feeling a little spacy and weightless, so the fact that we were spinning (albeit at a slow speed) made me feel much more drunk than Ben.

Day of the Birthday

Ben invited several of his closest friends to the Gaucho Grill in Brentwood. It was wonderful to catch up with people he and I both haven't seen in ages.

He introduced me to Moe and Starla, with whom he's currently working on the film "Deadland Dreaming." He knew that Moe was Mr. Hollywood Film and that I am Mr. Indie Film. He knew that worlds would collide. He knew that we're both opinionated people.

But he didn't know what he was getting into.

Ben was hoping we would just talk about Oscar politics. Instead, we got into a big discussion about "I Am Legend," "Crash," and "Gladiator," all movies I don't really like, but Moe loves. Granted, no punches were thrown, and it wasn't really even heated, but Ben was really hoping we would talk about anything other than "Crash" (sensitive subject). Hey, I didn't bring it up.

After the meal, we had a last late night round of drinks at the Ritz Carlton in Marina Del Rey.

L. to R. - Josh Lai, Ryan Linehan, Ben, me, Jan Stolpe, Andrea Stolpe

Day After the Birthday

I had set up a big surprise evening for Ben. All I told him was that he had to bring a photo ID, he couldn't wear flip flops, a hat, or light colors, and that it was a very exclusive invitation-only event.

He was very curious.

We drove downtown, and he was narrowing things down. "It's probably not a movie if it's downtown...", etc. We got into a line outside of a cathedral. I told the people in front of and behind us in the line not to say anything about what we were seeing.

Then we waited out in the cold for nearly an hour. That part...not so great.

We got into the cathedral, and Ben could see cameras on big cranes, and of course, the big Grey-Goose-Vodka-sponsored bar. I told him, "We might end up on film." Now he was really confused.

I bumped into my friend Bobby, AKA incredible singer/songwriter Big Phony. Small world. I also saw G4 host and writer for Film Threat, Chris Gore.

After another hour of waiting in the bar, they herded us into the main hall of the cathedral, which was all lit up with orange and green lights, with a marquee over the top that said "Artists' Den."

Ben was still in the dark. And I was amazed that no one had ruined the surprise yet.

And out came Aimee Mann. Ben was thrilled. She performed about five or six songs from her upcoming album, "Smilers," which is due out in April. Great stuff. And she also played "You're With Stupid Now," "Amateur," "Goodbye Caroline," "Save Me," "Wise Up," and "Today's The Day."

She had a little bit of a cold, and had to stop in the middle of a song a couple times. This made me feel a little better. If Aimee could do it, than I wouldn't feel so bad at my show if I had to stop.

It was a brilliant night, and Ben was completely surprised. They were filming it for the new Artists' Den show on the Ovation network, which debuted that same night with a Crowded House episode. The Aimee Mann episode will premiere March 23rd. Look for us in the audience.

Oh also, "Smilers" is gonna be great.

Non sequiters

More video on the way. I've been having lots of fun going through the pics and videos I took on the tour, and it's nice to know that you guys are enjoying them too.

In completely unrelated news, I was stunned to hear that a big-screen version of the cancelled TV show, "Arrested Development," is currently in the works. I could cry. Story here.

Tonight, I went to the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater here in Hollywood with Ben and Samantha. The hilarious Jeff Garlin (Curb Your Enthusiasm) does stand-up there every Sunday for $1! It doesn't get any better than that. Jeff and friends Nicole Parker and Mark Marin workshopped new material and we laughed our little lungs out.

It's so good to be home. I feel so calm and rested and on my way to finally shaking this weird flu/cold/bronchitis thing.

Lest I forget their creepy omnipresence in my neighborhood, a coyote slunk down the sidewalk as I got home tonight. It glared at me. Like a warning. Oh yeah, I forgot. They own this place.

Good Times Square: Part Two

The previous evening, I had given my hotel room key to my good friend, Ben Pedersen, so he could meet me to celebrate my birthday. After the performance with Miley, I left the ABC building and booked it back to the hotel room to find Ben watching the Jonas Brothers Rockin' Eve performance. It was pretty strange to see, on national TV, the place where I was only moments earlier.

We contemplated leaving the hotel and heading back to Times Square for the big ball drop ceremony, but it sounded like so much trouble, considering the massive crowds, the cold weather and the fact that we had a nice warm room with the very same thing on TV. Yes, we felt a little bit lame watching a broadcast from only a block away, but we were okay with lame.

Around 11pm I noticed that I was completely famished. And I had quite a hankering for some birthday cake. But we couldn't leave before the ball drop! So we waited.

Big countdown. 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-Happy New Year!!!! Now let's get something to eat.

We thought maybe the bar downstairs would be open. Nope. Closed at twelve. So we ventured outside and down the street. It looked like a confetti factory exploded out there.

Times Square was total anarchy. There were policeman everywhere, "trying to keep order." Really though, they were doing the opposite. We saw an open-looking Planet Hollywood a block away, and headed that direction, following the rest of the crowd down the sidewalk, when we were stopped by a cop who said we couldn't go that way. I replied, "The people in front of us just did." To which he cryptically replied, "Exit only." How that applied to this, I have no idea. He said we had to go the other direction. So we did.


Only to be stopped by another cop saying, "You can't go this direction." And he pointed to where we just came from. I told him, "That guy just told us we had to go this way." To which he replied, "Exit only."

Okay whatever. So Times Square was out. Those people are crazy, and clearly have a strong desire to assert random unhelpful power.

So we started walking a different direction and noticed that almost every restaurant was closed. At this point, it was past 1am -- but STILL -- this is New York City! It never sleeps! Right? Apparently not true for New Year's Eve, which is the one night of the year they definitely should be open late. There were a couple places that were open, but only for private parties.

We found one cafe that was open and decided to try our luck. Our luck was not good. All the food looked really old and crusty. This was the place where all mediocre food goes to die. The Cafe of Broken Dreams. Oh, and there was no cake to be found.

After barely eating all day, playing an intense gig, and then walking for a couple hours, I was getting lightheaded. So I grabbed some yogurt. I was just reading about the health benefits of yogurt. And they said that plain is better for you. So I opted for plain yogurt.

I know I was hungry, but it tasted like paste from the dumpster. I ate a little, almost gagged, made myself eat some more, almost really gagged, and tossed it into an overflowing garbage can on the street.

We were feeling ragged and frustrated that we couldn't find one place in all of NYC that was open (other than the Cafe of Broken Dreams).

And then we saw it in the distance. Two blocks away. Golden arches.

Ben felt really bad about me eating McDonald's for my birthday dinner, but we really were out of options. I said, "At this point, I don't care. I'm just starving and feel like I'm gonna fall over." So we followed that golden beacon. When we arrived we saw that the entire restaurant was packed...but like, packed in a sardine kind of way that I've never seen in a McDonald's before. While I was okay with eating there for my birthday, I was not okay with waiting in line a half-hour for a stomach ache on my birthday.

So we thought, the only other option is to head back to the hotel and get room service, even though we knew the Mansfield was going to charge an arm, a leg, and two eyeballs for a piece of cheese. But at this point, a few body parts swapped for an hors d'oeuvre sounded like a logical choice.

I hated the idea that we left the cozy hotel room at midnight, wandered around for nearly two hours, withered, died, and returned to the room with nothing. But that's what we did.

When we got back, I was just about to pick up the phone for room service, when it occurred to Ben. "This is New York City! DELIVERY!" So we spent about fifteen minutes looking at places online, found a bunch of tasty restaurants and called them. Every single one was closed for New Year's Eve.

So, around 3am, I ordered room service. I'll miss my arm, my leg and my eyes, but we got some extremely delicious sandwiches, and the one thing I really wanted: Cinnabon Cheesecake.

Maybe this night sounds a little like a drag, but trust me, when you do this with Ben Pedersen, it adds up to one of the best birthdays ever.

Friends Marathon

I've got a little catching up to do here on the blog, so I'll delve into the New Years' Eve stuff in a later entry.

Coming in to New York City, I had this great idea to try and get in touch with a bunch of friends, regardless of the fact that I had very little time to do this. After our first Newark show, I went out for a late night meal with Koo Chung, Jinny Kim (they're engaged now!) and John Bonaventura (who's also engaged now, but his girl wasn't able to join us).

They were part of last year's tour. You know, this one:

We talked about life after the explosion, relationships, work...everything. And had chocolate cake. John likes to drink his wine on the rocks. He says that every time he orders it, the waiter brings the ice in a separate glass, cause no one can believe he would want to ruin a perfectly good glass of wine like that.

I mentioned to Koo that I've been looking to get a BlackBerry, but it just kept not happening, and Koo said he'd just bought an iPhone and didn't need his Treo anymore. Bang! I've got a new phone. And I love it. I've finally joined the texting world of five years ago.

After going to bed much too late, I woke up much too early to have breakfast with Robin Lai and Jae Ko at Cafe Europa.

They were also in the band of said exploding tour. It was wonderful to see them again, and it really felt like reuniting with fellow trauma survivors. That giant Arkansas fireball bonded us in a strange and permanent way.

That same day we played our second Newark show, and it was attended by one of my very favorite people: Ben Pedersen.

Afterwards, we headed back into the city, had warm bubble tea and dumplings at Saint Alps Teahouse, walked the streets of the East Village, checked out the bookshops, and found numerous things to laugh at. Like this:

Apparently it was garbage night in NYC, according to this ubiquitous sight:

Once again I went to bed much too late, half expecting to feel sick in the morning, but I've switched to new vitamins, and I've been feeling good for a couple weeks now! Yay!

Good Day L.A.

Every now and then, people surprise you. And even more rarely, it's in a good way. I went home and saw Nicole and Noah. First off, Nicole and I had a typically unpleasant interaction, but as the day went on, things got shockingly civil and stayed that way. Now, granted, I'm not in the place I was a month ago, where a positive interaction with her would give me hope that we might be able to stay together. At this point, I understand that the marriage is over, but this visit really gave me hope that we'll be able to co-parent as a divorced couple.

It was nice to come home again, despite the brevity of the visit, and the fact that I wasn't actually sleeping there. I ran a lot of errands that I haven't been able to on the road (it's hard not to have a car).

And most importantly and wonderfully, I was able to spend a bit of time with the sweetest, cutest little boy in the world. We had a great time, and I took a lot of pictures:


And now that Nicole and I can actually talk to each other, she's going to be sending me pictures of him while I'm on the road. I love that little Noah. He's amazing. He's rolling over all the time, he's speaking adorable syllables and he's sort of strangely obsessed with technology. Every time I put the camera in front of him, he got this trance-like look on his face and tried to grab it.

Such a cutie:
I also was fortunate enough to see my dear friend Ben: one of my favorite people in the world. We had a great dinner at CPK and went to see "30 Days of Night," as we're both into horror movies. Well, let me save you the trouble. Here's my review: the movie is worse than unscary; it's completely uninteresting. Every component is awful, from the writing (Ben pointed out that every single line is a cliche), to the direction (so silly, but all taken so seriously), to the acting (Josh Hartnett's transformation from human to wooden pole is now complete!). It starts so slowly that we were internally screaming, "Show us the vampires already!!!" Then they showed the vampires. Too much of the vampires. And they all dressed in Banana Republic and spoke in a Russian-ish language, and it was so dumb that we were then internally screaming, "Stop showing us the vampires already!" Also, was there a sale on Crest Whitestrips or something? The teeth in this movie were so white it was actually distracting.

But I digress. Ben and I walked out and got a refund after about 45 minutes, as we would never have made it all the way through without ripping out our eyeballs. So completely boring. And the theater was packed, so it was a little tricky making fun of it...but we did a respectable job.

We went back to the Sportsman's Lodge and continued to make our own fun:

Good times were had.