Just got back from a whirlwind trip to NYC and DC, which I’ll blog about in more detail later (hint: it will be entitled How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Phish). For now, I’m going to share a few insights gleaned from my couple days stateside and from my time spent commuting.
- Saw a couple movies on my flights, including Public Enemies and Funny People (I also watched Michael Moore’s Capitalism, which deserves its own post). Public Enemies is about the infamous bank robber John Dillinger (played by Johnny Depp) and his cat-and-mouse game with FBI agent Melvin Purvis (played by Christian Bale). Considering the headliners and the plot, I had fairly high expectations for this film but was left disappointed with the final product. While Depp had a decent turn as Dillinger, I thought Bale pretty much sucked as Purvis, and the directing felt strange to me. Lots of pieces just didn’t seem to fit and there were too many stunted moments for what should’ve been an edge-of-your-seat ride. I actually liked Marion Cotillard‘s turn as Billie Frechette, Dillinger’s love interest. However, her French accent was way too overpowering for her to pull off a Wisconsin one, which is turning out to be one of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to film and TV entertainment (see the FlashForward post below). On the other hand, I thought Funny People was fantastic. Initially, I had no interest in seeing this film, as I’ve had spotty success with past Judd Apatow productions (Knocked Up, Superbad, etc.). This film, however, was great. It moved beyond Apatow’s standard slapstick humor and actually went for a more visceral and serious treatment of comedy, told from the point of view of those who practice the art as a profession (i.e. stand-up comedians). Adam Sandler plays the lead role as a successful but disenchanted comic whose close call with death sends him down various routes of self-exploration. Taken along for the ride is a budding amateur played by the surprisingly convincing Seth Rogen. The supporting cast includes Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman, Leslie Mann and Aubrey Plaza, each of whom is quite good. In addition, Eric Bana has a great turn as Mann’s conflicted husband, and we are treated to an onslaught of pretty solid cameos from the likes of Eminem, Ray Romano, Sarah Silverman, and Norm Macdonald, among others. This is a very good movie. Though it runs a bit long, it is powered by some solid performances (especially Sandler, who revisits the depths he explored in Punch-Drunk Love) and the writing is equal parts convincing and humorous. The jokes delivered onstage are fun and the ones delivered as part of the standard character dialogue are even better, especially since they are done in such nonchalant fashion. See this movie.
- Unless you’re willing to spend an outrageous amount of money, hotel rooms in NYC pretty much suck. Small, stinky, and lacking in amenities would seem to be standard fare for anything less than $500 per night. We stayed at the Hotel 373 near the Empire State Building and would certainly never stay there again. Our room was ridiculously small, it smelled of mold, the TV was tiny and disproportional (making everyone on the tube appear short and fat), and I’m quite certain that the sheets are not cleaned on a regular basis (plus, housecleaning closes at 4 PM – WTF?!).
- I took the Acela Express from New York’s Penn Station to DC’s Union Station on Saturday. This was quite the pleasant experience, especially considering that it took less than three hours to make the trip. My one complaint would be the lack of wifi access anywhere along the route, something I’m told Acela is soon to address. Passing through places like Philadelphia, Delaware and Baltimore reminded me of how close together everything is on the eastern seaboard. Unfortunately, I was also reminded of how substandard our transportation network is in the U.S. In Japan, the bullet train concept is fully-developed and took hold long ago. Meanwhile, our access to such transportation in the U.S. is limited to just the Boston-NYC-DC corridor, making me lament yet again the poor state of transportation infrastructure in our country.
- Speaking of which, we flew out of Washington’s Dulles International Airport on Sunday. This was my first visit to the airport and I must say that I was very impressed (Lizzi would disagree since we arrived separately for different flights and apparently had much different takeaways). What I found was an experience colored by very little waiting times at check-in and security, clean corridors, plentiful shopping and restaurants, tons of pleasing, ambient light, and an ANA lounge that connected directly to my plane. Dulles is now my favorite airport in the U.S. Of course, this is kinda like winning the world’s tallest midget contest, but still.
- Though I was only there for a short time, being in DC reminded me of how much I love that city. I interned there for a summer during undergrad and fell in love with the history that oozes from the city’s pores. And there’s something romantic about the notion that the city’s buildings are not allowed to exceed the height of the Capitol Building, making everything take on a more intimate feel. Maybe I’m growing tired of the concrete jungle that is Tokyo? Whatever the case, I can’t wait to get back to our nation’s capitol for a more involved visit.
- I got reacquainted with two shows that I previously loved but had taken some time off from: Curb Your Enthusiasm and South Park. Both shows are great. Smart, witty, just downright brilliant on so many levels. Anyone looking for some comedy gold should check out South Park’s Margaritaville episode from season thirteen. Among the issues tackled are religion, profligacy, government ineptitude, racism, and the financial crisis. This show has got some serious layers for anyone looking to explore them. Very good stuff.
- Among the things I read during the trip were Soccernomics (the soccer version of Freakonomics) and American Sketches (Walter Isaacson’s newest collection of profiles), to go along with a smattering of magazines. I’ll write more about the books later. The one magazine article that stood out was The Atlantic’s piece on the prosperity gospel and its possible role in the latest financial crisis. The article asks the question, “Did Christiantiy Cause the Crash?“, a loaded question if ever there was one. It’s of course tough to answer with any certainty, but the article at the very least shines an unflattering light on certain elements at play within Christianty and among its practitioners.
