Trick or Treatz

Halloween is fast upon us, all you spooks and ghouls! And there is no better place to be for Halloween than New York City, the ol' Big Apple. The sheer number of people, coupled with the fact that people like to go all out, is awesome. The parade, however, I could do without. Walk in it once, or dance in it. On a float. In a bikini. With a horrible sound system blaring behind you. Whatever. Do it, it's worth it. But never again. The worst thing about walking in the parade is all of the people walking with you who are wearing black hoodies and backpacks with patches from Hot Topic on them. Teenagers who think they're all badass because they jumped the barricade and are in the parade. But why? Now they're just walking with some lesbian couple and their son who's dressed as Nemo. And the group of college friends who are dressed as the Royal Tenenbaums. Again.

Anyway, last year in the parade Kelly dressed as Tracy Turnblatt from "Hairspray." Every Asian girl went NUTS for her! Seriously. For some reason, it was all Tracy, all night, from the Asian population. And there were some amazing costumes. Two girls were the old guys from the Muppet show, complete with surrounding balcony.

But that was last year.

I will try to make it a point to post pictures of what I think are the best costumes this year and then the ubiquitous ones. Last year it was all Amy Winehouse. The year before: Borat.
This year it's going to be an overload of Palins and Joes the Plumbers and some poor soul is STILL going to be sporting the "Scream" mask. It will not die.

I just remembered something really random from last Halloween. After the parade a bunch of us did karaoke. Right when we got there this very tall person in a very normal outfit took the mic and said "Hi, I'm dressed as a tall girl." The voice was pretty deep, clearly a guy. My friends and I cracked up at the simplicity of going as a tall, boring girl. HILARIOUS! But then someone said they saw her going into the girls' bathroom so it became an on-going saga. Is she or isn't she...a man? So later on, after I accidentally kicked one of the Tall Girl's friends during some Pink song, I struck up conversation starting with an apology for the kick. Then i pointed to tall girlfriend and asked if that was a guy or a girl. Her friend got so mad and said, very curtly, "it's a girl." I felt terrible. And also cheated that what I thought was the best costume of the night was just some really lazy, boring, tall girl with no imagination!

Sometimes at night I pretend she really WAS a boy, and that her costume really WAS fabulous...sometimes.

Again, that was last year.

Check back (all 4 of you) for an update soon.

Sincerely,
Bridget

PS: this jack-o-lantern is so blog appropriate, no?

TGI...W?

I'm going to see W. tomorrow I think. I'll do a live-blogging review from the theater.

But, in all honesty: THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY! I really hate that I am one of those people that says "TGIF," but I am! And I guess 90% of the US population are probably 9-5ers who really ARE thanking god (or the higher power of their choice, Oprah? Angelina Jolie?) that today is the end of the work week and that we get to enjoy two days off. I just usually assume people who say TGIF are Kathy comic reading, personalized mug owning, middle-aged people who run home to watch their tivo'd stories. Or "Dancing with the Stars."

This web post was written primarily to establish my snob status. I'm a jerk, what can I say.

TGIF Everyone,
Bridget

Nick and Norah: Stick to Bedding

I saw "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" this weekend. This was more out of necessity than actual interest, owing to the fact that there isn't much of note playing in theaters. I can't wait for the spectacle that will be "W" and I still want to see "Man on Wire," but come Sunday afternoon, it was "Nick and Norah."

To me, when I hear Nick and Norah I think of the company that makes cutesy pajamas and housewares, like the fabulous cloud comforter I had in college (please see this craigslist ad.) And when you see the poster for Nick and Norah with the handwritten block letters and Michael Cera, you can't help but think of Juno. I'm not sure if either of these is a good thing.

Let me admit that I was game for this movie. The trailer suckered me and I thought I would secretly be swooning for the teenage angst and indie pop soundtrack. So when I found myself bored AND rolling my eyes, I knew that was a bad sign.

First of all, the villain, the total hottie who previously broke Nick's heart, is more of a troll than a babe. I recognized her from "Fool's Gold" (not my finest hour) where she was similarly miscast as a hot socialite. This girl is pretty, but she's kind of weird looking. And my boyfriend pointed out that she has brown teeth! How can the "hot girl" in the movie have BROWN TEETH?!?!? Which leads me to my point...Norah is a total cutie. She looks like 2/3 Gwen Stefani plus a dash of Hilary Duff. She's adorable! So it's completely implausible that this chick is supposed to feel threatened by the troll, whose character's name is TRISS (props to the writer for the most annoying name. ever.) Kat Dennings (Norah) just isn't convincing when she says she'll never compare to Triss. Or when she's afraid to take off her sports bra. (As a side note, can anyone explain why the gay band's tour van is complete with a box of bras?)

I hate seeing fake insecurity on screen and I hate when it comes about because some girl, obviously cast in the lead role because she's really pretty, is put up against someone "prettier" who is really just second rate. All those stupid tween movies like "She's All That" and "10 Things I Hate About You" have these very pretty girls/women in the roles of the ugly/loser/outcast freaks. It's so obvious they're going to have their revelatory "I'm a pretty girl" scene. Or why can't they just cast truly beautiful people as their arch rivals to prove this point?

I'm going further. Sorry. In the BBC version of "Pride and Prejudice," Elizabeth Bennett, played by a lovely Jennifer Ehle, always feels she can't hold a candle to the incomparably beautiful Jane, her older sister. Well this whole concept doesn't hold water because the woman they cast for Jane looks like a man in drag. Okay, this is probably incredibly harsh but it's distracting to watch when Eliza Bennett goes on about how good and beautiful her sister is. And then you see her: BIG JANE. At least the '05 film version got it right by casting Rosamund Pike who is undeniably pretty. Here's a side by side comparison:

Big Jane in BBC's "Pride and Prejudice"

Rosamund Pike as Jane in the '05 film version

Okay? See my point? Cast matters, people.

In defense of the other tween movies, and even, I guess, Nick and Norah, sometimes it isn't the pretty girls who are "pretty" in high school. Popularity, and hence attractiveness does come about in strange ways during the teenage years...

Back to the actual movie. There's not much more to say. The random orgasm plot ripped from "American Pie" (the Weitz brothers are producers on the film, interesting...) seemed so tacked on and the resolution was quite laughable. I don't want to ruin it for those of you who still want to see the movie. But that Nick has some magic hands! Oh, and back to the Weitz brothers. I guess we have them to thank for some other random gross out scenes and the never-ending gum?

The best part of the film is the drunk friend for not only being very funny and convincing, but for paying homage to that other lost friend in a bus station: Penelope Ann Miller in "Adventures in Babysitting." I think Nick and Norah could have taken a lesson from that film. Make the stakes higher. The audience doesn't give a shit about Fluffy. And apparently, by the way the film ends, neither do the characters. Now on the other hand if your best friend was stuck in a bus station and Thor was on your tail? Smells like a classic to me.

Signing off,
Bridget

Linx

This one's for the Kadis: check out the cuteness.

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