5 For; 5 Against: "World War Z"

Mireille Enos and Brad Pitt in World War Z

I'm back! After 5 1/2 days in Chicago (part business/part pleasure), I'm home and back online. I had a great time with co-workers and friends (met up with a High School friend and her husband who just happened to be vacationing there at the same time) and got to explore Hyde Park, a part of Chicago with which I was previously unfamiliar and apparently the home of the Obama family. I also got to visit the Shedd Aquarium and wade in the waters of Lake Michigan (the first time I've ever had my feet in a lake!) where I got to see not only many hot, mostly naked gay guys but got a look at the building where Bob Newhart lived with Suzanne Pleshette in the 70's. I ate lots of great food (Astoundingly delicious Pineapple Curry Shrimp at Chant; amazing -- and huge! -- Apple Pie at Clarke's and super yummy Rigatoni Bolognese at Pizza Capri). I also got to spend time with two terrific Chicagoans, at least one of whom managed to get me very drunk (at Scot's Bar) without taking advantage of me (though there were at least two other patrons I would have happily taken advantage of -- TMI?). Anyway...

And since July in Chicago is almost as intensely hot and humid as July in the Delaware Valley, I took yesterday afternoon to visit the new Harper Theatre in an effort to escape yesterday's oppressive heat (though I've found it much hotter, here at home).  There were several movies I wanted to see playing at the Harper, but I'd already promised to see a couple of them with other friends, so I settled on a movie I hadn't originally planned on seeing at all: World War Z. And since it's been out for a while and I'm still pretty exhausted from my trip (I need a vacation from my vacation), here's my "Jeep Guy" 5 For/Five Against:

Five For:

5. The movie takes little (if any) time getting started, though it should be obvious to any Philadelphian that Prague is a poor substitute for the real Philly.

4. There are some rather amazing SFX, including some very creepy zombies.

3. Director Marc Forster knows how to deliver an exciting action sequence.

2. Marco Beltrami's score is almost as perfect as his other works.

1. The truly international cast works well together, delivering some excellent performances despite the film's overtly silly premise.

Five Against:

5. World War Z is not a zombie movie. It feels more like an infection movie, much like Steven Soderbergh's Contagion. 

4. Brad Pitt (like many former Hollywood Hotties) is not aging well, and it shows (though that may well have been the director's intention).

3. Swarming zombies. Like the Marabunta ants in The Naked Jungle, the zombies in World War Z climb on top of one another to reach their prey, suggesting a previously unseen (and nonsensical) hive mentality presented in any other zombie movie ever made.

2. Matthew Fox is completely wasted in a role which could have played by any other day-player. 

1. This movie has little, if anything, to do with the novel on which it is based. Max Brooks' novel (which bored Uncle P to death) had no true through-narrative. Each chapter detailed the experience of a specific person in a different part of the world as told to a UN investigator after the events described. While the screenplay (by three writers, including "Lost" writer Damon Lindelof) attempts to draw the disparate elements together, it ultimately fails to thrill, scare or cause the audience to care about the non-ending.

I'm hardly surprised that I didn't actually like this movie, though I gave the benefit of the doubt. Eschewing the gore that is traditional to the genre (almost every zombie kill is made off-screen) and concentrating instead on the search for a cure, World War Z fails as a Zombie movie while almost succeeding as an Action Thriller. And while the truly International cast mostly proves themselves up to the task, we are left wondering exactly what the task was.

** (Two Out of Four Stars).



More, anon.
Prospero

My Kind of Town

Chicago Is

Uncle P is off to my favorite U.S. city for a brief business trip and then four days of vacation, hanging out with friends (one of whom is a High School friend who will also be vacationing there from California at the same time); visiting museums; playing at the Navy Pier; eating in amazing restaurants; taking the Architectural Tour and assorted other distractions. I hope 4 days will be enough to do all I want to do.

I'll be back on Wednesday night, but since Thursday is my birthday, I probably won't be writing much before Friday. I feel like a jerk for missing Caliban's Revenge's 5th Anniversary post the other day, but I promise to make it up to you, soon.

In the meantime, here's the latest video from Steve "All-American Boy" Grand, a cover of L'il Wayne's "How To Love (Starchild)" (via):

Have a great weekend, everyone!

More, anon.
Prospero

The Weirdest Nonsense You'll See This Week, Among Other Things

Lots of good things going on this weekend, including the fact that I will be able to audition for a show in which I very much want to take part (my upcoming Day Job trip to the City on the Lake is the same weekend as regular auditions and the producers have graciously agreed to see me early. Yay!) Last night I had a great time at the movies with a friend and while today saw the usual Sunday tasks, none of them were particularly stressful and I got to enjoy plenty of time to decompress. So even though it is the end of the weekend, I'm still in a really good mood.

Of course, there's almost nothing that puts me in a better mood than a bit of good, old-fashioned nonsense. And it just so happens that Jonco, over at Bits And Pieces shared plenty of nonsense today, and I wanted to share some of it with you. 

First is something called "Face Folding" The Daily Dot (I've never heard of it, either) says 'Face Folding Turns Every Movie Into a Horror.' Honestly, I'm not sure I agree with that, especially when they use clips from Sci-Fi and Fantasy films and manipulate actors' voices to illustrate their point. The effect is sometimes creepy, but more often just... Extraterrestrial.

And there's this delightfully hilarious bit of editing nonsense that had Uncle P quite literally LOL'ing more than once. Enjoy:

It was the IRL QWOP clip (link has NSFW language) that got me started giggling uncontrollably. The rest was just more fuel for the fire.

In "Only in America" News: The County Fair at the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds in Petaluma, California held it's annual World's Ugliest Dog Contest. Beagle/Boxer Winner Walle gets his owner $1500.00 and national TV appearances. I guess it's a good thing that these poor doggies have no idea they're ugly.

Finally, among other things and on an only semi-nonsensical point, if you're a regular then you know the only Reality/Talent show I watch is AGT (a guilty pleasure, to be sure). Well, for the first time in a very long time, I have an early favorite. Kenichi Ebina is a rather amazing dancer and I can see him moving on to the finals (though not sure this early that he can win - no dancers ever have).

Hoping your week stays silly (in the good way, of course). I, for one, will be seeking a shrubbery. A nice one with a path down the middle so you get a lovely two-level effect (ooh - what a give-away!).


More, anon.
Prospero

PS - I love how meta this post turned out, even if it's only meta to me.

That Toddlin' Town

I was finally able to upload some photos from last week's trip to the Windy City.

That's Uncle P taking his own picture in the reflection of "The Bean."

Can you spot Uncle P in the bean?

The Millennium Park Amphitheater, designed by Frank Geary.

Half of the Crown Fountain.

The Navy Pier Ferris wheel.

My own picture of Marylin on Michigan Ave.

What the...?

Meet "Sue" -- the most complete T-Rex skeleton in the world. She's on display at the Chicago Field Museum of Natural History.












Uncle P and the fabulous Stephen Rader finally meet after 4 years of mutual admiration. We had an amazing evening of barhopping in Boys Town that night...





My Facebook friends can see more of my Second City Adventure. I'll be back soon with a new installment of The Gayest Thing...

More, anon.
Prospero

Saturday Night Debauchery on Tuesday

I'm back, Bitches! Miss me? And while I didn't take the photo of the giant Marilyn on Michigan Avenue you see to your right, I did take a few of my own (among many others) and will share soon.

Chicago was amazing. After the day job event was over, I moved across town to a hotel in the city's "Gold Coast," a beautiful neighborhood of brownstones and manicured gardens very near Lake Michigan. The Ambassador East is currently undergoing a major renovation, so the entrance and elevators were made inconvenient at times, but my room was lovely and austere, with Danish furnishings and a strangely laid out bathroom (the toilet was set diagonally in the corner). After settling in and having a quick bite at PJ Clark's (yes, just like in NYC), I set out for a Saturday night on the town with two friends I'd only ever known online.

"Are you crazy?" I can hear you asking. Surely you know the answer to that question by now. But when one of them is Chicago personality Stephen Rader and the other is sort of a  step-sibling of a dear college friend, I knew I was pretty safe. My biggest concern was not how I would get on on with either of them, but rather how they would get on with one another. Silly me. They had me in common, for one, and a million other people for another. Turns out that Stephen and Patrick moved in the same circles for years, without ever actually meeting until last Saturday. And they got along famously. And I with them. And we had ourselves a grand time in a old-fashioned night of bar-hopping in Boystown.

We started at the quiet and dark Cocktail on the corner of Roscoe and Halsted. After an hour or so of hilarious conversation, we moved next door to the trendier Sidetrack, which was filled with beautiful boys and plenty of poseurs. More drinks and laughs led us to move on, and while I couldn't name the other three places we ended up visiting; I can tell you that the seedier they got, the more fun we had, ending up at a bar that was having a Trailer Trash Drag Night where all the staff dressed in the trashiest, John Watersesque garb they could find. By the time Patrick poured me into a cab at 2:30 AM, Uncle P had had one of the most fun evenings I can remember in a very long time.

Sunday, I surprisingly awoke with no hangover and set out for brunch, again at PJ Clark's (it was close and relatively inexpensive). After a hearty meal of eggs, bacon and potatoes, I got into my head that I could walk to Millennium Park and set out to do just that. Walking along Michigan Avenue's "Magnificent Mile" I passed stores by Chanel; Gucci; Pucci; Cartier; Omega; Hermes; Armani... I might as well have been on New York's Fifth Avenue, but with a Chicago attitude. Finally reaching the park, I took my picture at the Cloud Gate (referred to by locals as "The Bean," saw a free afternoon concert (by a very fun jazzy blues trio whose name I cannot remember for the life of me) at the Frank Geary-designed amphitheater and watched children frolic in the hilarious Crown Fountain. Exhausted, I took a cab back to my hotel and crashed for the rest of the day.

Yesterday I visited the Navy Pier and the amazing Chicago Field Museum of Natural History before meeting Patrick again for another trip to Sidetrack for their Monday Broadway Karoake Video Night, which was more akin to attending a showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show than karaoke anywhere else, especially during the extended Mommie Dearest remix video. At a very tired Patrick's suggestion, I then headed out on my own to Big Chicks, where I met delightful young man named Tim who spent the night flirting with me and proclaiming "F***ing Philly!" once he learned where I was from. Once again poured into a cab (this time by Tim, who said "You can't walk from frm here -- It's too dangerous!"), I returned to the Ambassador East for my last night in the Windy City.

I won't go into the details of flying home on US Airlines, except to say that any of you who have flown on USAir know just how awful they are. Dear D met me at the airport to take me home and while I will be glad to sleep again in my own bed, I am already missing what is quickly surpassing New York as my second favorite US city (San Francisco is hard to beat...). I know I'll visit Chicago again (I already have offers from two folks -- I'll leave it to your imaginations as to which two -- for a place to stay). And there are still plenty of things I want to do and see there. And I certainly understand why so many folks I know have moved there. I just don't think I could handle winter there. Brrr!

Pictures, anon (and all that jazz).
Prospero

A Quickie Before I'm Off

I am off tomorrow morning to Chicago; partly for day-job business and partly for fun. I'll be home Tuesday night, but won't have much (if any) internet access while I'm away. In case you're wondering why - I despise laptops and can't justify the price of a tablet right now, though I imagine a tablet will be my next major electronics purchase in the next year or so.

Anyway, I already have plans to get together with the fabulous Stephen Rader and a few other friends while there. If Chicago is still standing after Rader and I get together, it's only because Stephen Rutledge wasn't able to join us.

I've been to the Second City twice - once for a few hours and once for two nights, neither of which was enough time to really explore and have fun. This time I'll have a few extra days to see the sights and carry on (and hopefully catch the Chicago Cash Cab). I want to visit Navy Pier, the Bean, the (formerly) Sears Tower, and maybe catch a show and visit a museum or two. We'll see what time allows. I just hope the heat has moved East by the time I get there... Not that I wish it on my friends and family here, but you know what I mean. No city is fun when it's too hot to walk a block without becoming soaked in sweat.

I'll be back on Tuesday night, no doubt with a tale or two to tell (and hopefully three or four I can't possibly share). I'll let you know if it's anything like this:

Not that that's the kind of club Uncle P will be visiting while there (wink,wink, nudge, nudge).

More, anon.
Prospero