It's Complicated

Since the beginning of December, I have been forced to use public transit (to read my feelings concerning the Toronto Transit Commission, please click right here).

While the TTC's incompetence, structural fragility, and employees' bad attitudes form the main reasons for my despite, riding in the subway the past few weeks has given me another reason: those ubiquitous posters for the movie It's Complicated, an example of which adorns the heading of this post.

Take a look at it. Take a good, long, hard look at it for oh, say, about 10 minutes.

Because that is what I am forced to do, twice a day for weeks now since the only alternative is to invade other passengers' personal space by staring at them instead.

The poster's key irritants? Obviously, the expressions on the couple's faces: Alex Baldwin's expression implies he is the happiest guy on earth although why this would be remains a mystery.

Bagging a post-menopausal Meryl Streep is hardly something to be cocky about, especially since (according to the IMDB) Streep is playing his ex-wife (therefore, its not like he has never "climbed that mountain" before).

Perhaps a third person (Steve Martin?) is giving him a blowjob under the covers? That would certainly make an interesting 'love triangle'.

Meryl Streep's expression- is she embarrassed? Confused? My guess is that either
a) she has just given the pompous jackass to her left a venereal disease.
b) she is suffering from amnesia, just like Goldie Hawn in the movie Overboard, and has just been forced to service a total stranger (as far as she can tell, anyway).
or
c) she is uneasy, since she is, in fact, slutting around.

Meryl Streep is such a fantastic actor (indeed, James Walcott specifically mentions her pealing laughs), anything is possible. I hope the answer is a), but I suspect the answer is c).

I guess I will have to watch the movie to find out!

There wasn't any blood

I just caught There Will be Blood, and believe me it is disappointing. No blood.

It wasn't even a good critique of early American capitalism, like Deadwood was.

Ok, there was a brief bit of blood on the floor in the final scene, but that was it.

I don't even recall seeing the famous "I drink your milkshake" scene.

PS I still have that Journey song in my head.

Glee-ful entertainment the whole family can enjoy

One of the best things about medical marajuana is that it allows one to pleasurably watch the same televisual entertainment more than once, or twice, or even three times.

I only mention this because this morning, the Sheraton Centre elevator was playing Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" (N.B. I had to look it up to find out who the band is).

"So what?", one might reasonably ask oneself.

Well, I had watched the first episode of Glee two nights ago but had totally forgotten that the climax of the episode was a duo rendition of "Don't Stop Believing", and furthermore it had been fantastic!

The one and only reality show I ever watched was "Survivor — Australia", so I have never seen any of the Idol series - American, Canadian, Portugese, Slovenian, or otherwise. I suspect that the sheer energy captured in the performance scenes on "Glee" is the same energy that has made the Idol series so popular over the years.

The song "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey is now stuck in my head, perhaps permanently:

Just a small town girl,
livin' in a lonely worrrrrrrrrld,
She took the late night train going annnnyywhere.

Just a city boy,
born and raised in South Detroiiiiiiiit,
He took the late night train going annnnyywhere.

etc.

I must be in a good mood because I came very very close to bursting into song as I was typing those lyrics...

To see a list of other tunes covered by Glee, click on this link right here.