Matters That Need Attending To

The following isn’t edited, it’s way shorter than I want – especially lacking in details about the Duxbury trip, because they’re a bunch of great stories – but I needed to get something up and didn’t want to wait that long. Happy Wednesday.

This isn’t going to be quite as in-depth as I like, but after getting about six days behind on blogging, I’ve got so much stuff to cover. We’re going to start with the Emmys, move right on into the Boston trip and then attempt to touch on Wedding Crashers and the Pirates, although I doubt I’ll get to everything. Headings will be used, rightfully.

The Emmy’s: Eva vs. The World, Arrested vs. Raymond

Eva Longoria, the hottest member of the Desperate Housewives cast, is the one who often remarked she got less attention at photo shoots because it took less effort to make her look good, a back-handed slap to costars Felicity Huffman, Teri Hatcher and Marcia Cross. Apparently, Emmy voters realized exactly what she brought to the table in the show and rewarded her by making her the only member of the Big Four who didn’t get nominated.

Granted, this makes sense. When you consider the fact Teri Hatcher’s Susan is basically the lead of the show, that Marcia Cross’s Bree’s husband died and Felicity Huffman’s Lynette has the tough work vs. family angle, Eva’s Gabby having sex with Miguel from Passions doesn’t really have that much dramatic – excuse me, comedic, since that’s what all the nominations for Housewives are filed under so it doesn’t go against Lost - oomph to it.

Also in comedy land, Arrested got a lot of deserving nominations – despite Will Arnett, Michael Cera and David Cross being left out – but they’ll be going against the swan song season of Everybody Loves Raymond in every single category. Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Series, Best Writing (which will be the biggest shame to lose, since AD outnumbers Raymond three to one in that category), but the happily-brought back FOX comedy will have it’s work cut out for it, both in finding a Monday night niche and winning some more shiny gold statues to put on the mantel.

Roooooad Trip

Barcus and MacKrell were going to meet me at some location they could easily find after coming down from Erie Thursday night, but they reconsidered, and wanted to drive directly to my house. Kudos to them – they made it – and after Dill joined us Friday morning, we were headed up to the New England area to visit Rob and Brendiggity. The plan was to drop Barcus and Mack off in Connecticut with Rob, where they would then attend an OAR concert on a beach or something, and then Dill and I would head on up to Duxbury, where were would then attempt to get tickets to the Red Sox/Yankees game that Friday night. Saturday morning, Rob, Barcus and MacKrell would drive up and join us for the day before everyone went home Sunday.

It all worked out pretty well, and Dill and I navigated Mack’s piece-of-crap-engine, but-XM-capable Trailblazer up to the Massachusetts coastline in time to grab something to eat and hop the T – the mass transport in Beantown, the “L” if you’re a Windy City-er – to Fenway. Ticket prices online leading up to the game were about 125 at the cheapest, so we were hoping to find them for that or cheaper. After wandering around the area around the park and getting some of the shadiest offers imaginable – one guy was going to take a hundred bucks each to get us in “because he knew somebody at the door” – we finally decided the best offer we were going to get were standing-room only for $125 apiece.

A lot for a baseball ticket, you would say, and I’d tend to agree, but not after we got to experience Fenway Park on a Friday night when they blitzkrieged the Bronx Bombers 17-1. We saw an inside-the-park-homerun. We saw a David Ortiz grand slam. We were ten rows behind home plate when the Yankees were taking batting practice. We sang “Take Me Out To the Ballgame” and “Sweet Caroline” – easily the greatest music-related sports experience I’ve had – out in the bleachers around a fight between a Yankee fan and a Red Sox fan. I took 81 pictures and 2 videos. As far as blowing cash goes, this was as much fun as you can have and still remember it.

So Saturday everything went as planned, and after Mack, Barcus and Rob got up there we all went out on Brendan’s boat for the day, came back for a surf-and-turf dinner and awkward table conversation by Mrs. D and then went to a party at one of Brendan’s friend’s house. It started out a little awkward, but we all ended up having a really good time, settling on the roles of Obnoxious ND Students, which we played to perfection (Even Dill, who was adopted into Our Lady’s University for the night to avoid anymore introduction confusion). Brendan and I also had to have had one of the best cooperative drunk dials ever with Ms. Ginardi, who was partying hardy herself out in the ‘Brook.

Sunday, we made pretty good time home and a fantastic weekend away was concluded. Mrs. D is attempting to bribe us with a weekend at their Cape House should Brendan achieve a consistent 3.0 GPA, but considering it’s more likely I get the money to buy my own Cape House in that time, we’ll probably just settle for summer trips to The Dux, which will still be a blast.

The Wedding Crashers

Slated somewhere around two and a half in my Summer Movie Rankings, clearly after Batman Begins and somewhere in the area of Star Wars and War of the Worlds, and slightly ahead of Mr. and Mrs. Smith. I loved this movie for a variety of reasons, despite the fact it has some obvious flaws.

First-off, Vince Vaughn is absolutely on fire, taking his Old School and Swingers persona to a playboy-ing new level. However, in a fun little twist, his character is not the one driving the action. He’s getting dragged along, and takes the brunt of most of the physical comedy, while still displaying the same cocky demeanor and beautiful, rambling monologues. Vince Vaughn, much like Johnny Depp this past weekend, cemented himself as a Movie Star.

Like I said, Vaughn doesn’t drive the action, Owen Wilson does, and he does a really nice job with it. One of the negative reviews I saw for this said they didn’t buy Wilson as the sleazeball attempting to get redemption, but I didn’t look at it that way, instead seeing him more trying to get a girl he’s fallen hard for than atone for past wedding crashes. He’s conniving, smooth, funny and you almost don’t notice his nose from time-to-time.

Probably my favorite part of the movie is Rachel McAdams, who is now at the top of my New Hollywood Actress list. She’s just so damn cute in the movie. You hate the fact she’s got the crappy boyfriend, you love the fact she’s smoking hot while remaining conservative and you relish the fact her smile can make your heart melt. I want to hug her forever.

Now, problems. A minor one is that Christopher Walken doesn’t do a whole lot, but he’s there, and simply by being there, he makes me laugh at times. Jane Seymour’s character is more bothersome and confusing than anything, so that’s a definite knock to the movie, despite the fact I can now mock Tina for eternity that Dr. Quinn is a cheap slut. The movie isn’t as raunchy as they’d like to make you think it is, and it drags a little before the finale, but it’s a fantastic – I hope no dudes are too upset about this – romantic comedy, thrown in with the Old School/Dodgeball/Anchorman style for more laughs.

Fantastic flick, gets my biggest recommendation.

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Next time on the blog…

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, NCAA 2006, Mark Cuban buying the Pirates and I’m going to have to start getting into some football analysis….sorry….