48 Hours (1982)

Posted on August 21, 2013 by Joel

In my journey of catching up on films that I never saw the first time around, I decided to watch 48 Hours, the 1982 action / cop / comedy film directed by Walter Hill, and famously starring Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy (in his first feature film role.) It also features James Remar, Annette O’Toole, and hilarious Frank McRae as the always yelling mad police captain trope. And can I be honest in admitting that I was quite surprised to find Denise Crosby in this film? Didn’t know she did films in the 80’s.

In case you haven’t seen the film, or it has been a while, Nick Nolte plays a maverick, tough guy, seemingly alcoholic, SFPD officer Jack Cates. After chasing down a pair of criminals, he is the only survivor of a cop shooting. In order to catch this pair of murderers, he springs prison convict Reggie Hammond (Eddie Murphy) from jail for 48 hours. Hammond is oddly motivated to help, as they were all in the same gang. The killer (James Remar) is searching for his stash of cash. Cates and Hammond who have the Black-white, cop-crook thing to work out, have a lot of issues, but make a surprisingly good pair partners as the story develops, and as they navigate through San Francisco looking for their suspects.

I had assumed that both Cates and Hammond got along together through this film, but I was wrong. They spend most of the film sparring against each other, as Cates doesn’t trust Hammond. In fact, I was a bit taken back by Cates’ level of racist insults throughout the film against his partner. I suppose I simply wasn’t expecting it, but I think it added to the grittiness of the film. Interesting film. Lots of dialogue, lots of action.

Let me tell you what I didn’t get though. I know this was an 1980’s era action film, and no one ever accused this era of films to be the most realistic. Normally when someone high profile like these two killers are out bumping off people in a city, there would be a lot of police officers working in a task force of some kind. Yet these two guys go like a pair of lone wolves (?) or two guys on an island or I don’t know. These two guys did everything by themselves, including trying to catch these guys in crowded city locations. No backup? No coordination with other units? I don’t know if this is how it used to be, or if this is pure Hollywood fantasy, but this wouldn’t fly nowadays.

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Ted (2012)

Posted on August 16, 2013 by Joel

I missed the beginning, but I watched Ted through the magic of HBO this week. This is is that Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, and Seth MacFarlane raunchy comedy about a child’s teddy bear coming to life because of a childhood wish. Fast forward 27 years later, and you’ve got a grown man with a talking teddy bear… with a mouth. According to IMDB.com,

As the result of a childhood wish, John Bennett’s teddy bear, Ted, came to life and has been by John’s side ever since – a friendship that’s tested when Lori, John’s girlfriend of four years, wants more from their relationship.

The film was written and directed by Seth MacFarlane, he of Family Guy – American Dad – The Cleveland Show (and hosting the 2013 85th Annual Academy Awards show) fame. I was supposed to go see this film in the theaters last year, but, as sometimes happens, the timing never quite worked out. It wasn’t a bad movie at all. Pretty raunchy language, so I wouldn’t recommend watching it with the kids around. I actually enjoy a good raunchy comedy, and this was pretty good. Maybe it’s watching a teddy bear say certain things that you wouldn’t expect the Snuggles teddy bear say, so maybe that’s part of the appeal. The story revolves around Mark Wahlberg’s now-grown-up character John who is still best buddies with his teddy bear Ted. John works a dead-end job at a car rental service, smokes weed, drinks a lot, and watches a lot of TV with Ted. He’s got a girlfriend Lori (played by Mila Kunis), but I’m not exactly sure how normal she would be to continue to date this man-child for four years. Love is blind, I suppose. She does want him to move on with his life, act his age, start prioritizing their relationship. Kinda hard to do that when hanging out with Ted can be so much fun. Hilarity ensues.

Good film, and I’d recommend it.

Ted (2012)

Ted (2012)

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Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012)

Posted on August 15, 2013 by Joel

Well, this is different. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012) stars Steve Carell as Dodge Petersen, and Keira Knightley as Penny. The film opens with the revelation that a humongous asteroid named ‘Matilda’ is on a collision course with Earth, and there are now no options left to stop the end of the world for all life on Earth. Dodge’s wife runs off and leaves him (literally), and Dodge and others around take varying views on how to look at life, now that they all know that life is ending in three weeks. Dodge and Penny end up taking a road trip, getting to know each other, and meeting many other people who are also dealing with the inevitable in their own way.

This was an odd film, and I’ll tell you why. I thought the premise was interesting. If you know me at all by now, I’m fairly tired of formulaic story plots. I also love sociology. A premise where you have two protagonists dealing with the truth of the world ending, as well as experiencing how the rest of the human population deals with this sad fact, is interesting. If you knew you were going to die, what would you do? It’s an interesting premise, ripe with possibilities. I like Steve Carell and Keira Knightley — they’re interesting actors. The film also features performances by Nancy Carell, William Petersen, Connie Britton, Patton Oswalt, Rob Corddry, Gillian Jacobs, Amy Schumer, and Martin Sheen. Should be a win-win.

I didn’t like this film, which I will also tell you why. At times, it’s charming and tender. The acting performances by the supporting is well-done. The film is filled by what I would best term “melancholy satire.” However, personally, Carell’s acting was so lethargic and life-draining, I couldn’t take much more of it. I understand that writer and director Lorene Scafaria wanted the Dodge Petersen character to be down in the dumps. After all, his wife left him and the world is ending. However, didn’t I already see Carell act similarly in Little Miss Sunshine, Dan in Real Life, and Crazy, Stupid, Love? His performance, although acted well, sucked the life and energy out of me. Call me a heathen, but it just didn’t work for me.

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I can’t believe it’s August already

Posted on August 14, 2013 by Joel

I can’t believe it’s August already. But isn’t that always the case? The year moves so fast. It feels like only yesterday that I drafted my annual development plan. It feels like only yesterday that summer was going to start. It feels like only yesterday that I said I was going to have 4 months to lose weight before I turned 37.

The summer is half over, and I feel as if time is running out on the year. I have less thsn four months before the end of the year. How do I expect to finish a million tasks on my plate before then? Gagh!

It has been a fast year for myself and the rest of the Ipes. Not everything has gone according to plan. Some of that is good, but for others, that’s disappointing.

As a family, we are spending more time together. We are still running around a lot, but it is not as bad as last year. Between swimming, soccer, dance, and everything else last year, this year it has been more reasonable. And less hectic. Instead, we are doing more dinners out, visiting Six Flags Great Adventure and Hurricane Harbor, going to the beach, and generally fun stuff.

We went on one road trip (to Virginia), which although brief, was a nice change from the usual routine, and a fine opportunity to see some of Namita’s extended family. We also have our 10 year anniversary trip to Cancun all planned out for later this year. All inclusive resort, sandy beaches, Caribbean blue ocean. It is hard to beat that.

I got myself a new car this year. We returned the old Nissan Sentra, and moved on up to the Maxima. It’s a pretty decent car, but the Taurus in me would have enjoyed a few more bells and whistles. I definitely enjoy the faster engine pickup compared to the Sentra.

I have to say that I have watched a lot of films this year, both new and old. How many? Try 21 films in the past eight months. I’m kinda proud of it, and yet there are so many more classic films that I still have on my list for this year.

I can’t believe that I switched over to the world of Google Android. I’ve owned two iPods and an iPhone, with lots of music and video on my PC. Still, you can’t blame me. Over the years, I was constantly frustrated by iCloud not working correctly, iTunes screwing up my Outlook Contacts and Calendar, and being generally bored with iOS. I still haven’t migrated my music over to my Galaxy S4, nor do Isync my Outlook Calendar anymore. However, I do like Jellybean, the Google ecosystem, and the larger Galaxy screen.

Not everything smells like roses in the land of Ipe:

I never get much of an opportunity to ride my bike on the weekends. Too much to do on the weekends. I also think some of the joy of riding died a little after my accident in 2011. I hope it comes back.

My 2nd year at my current job has had its fair share of dramatic moments. Plenty that I could have lived without, and that’s all I have to say about that.

CISSP studying? See above.

My plan to lose 13 lbs. this year has been slow going at best. My diet is reasonable, but I don’t get to the gym 3x a week like I should. I’m often too tired at night, and I oversleep in the mornings.

So, yes, an interesting year so far, with plenty of positives and negatives. I suppose that can be expected. Here is to hoping the next four months are good ones.

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Stuck on the NJ Transit for 30 mins today

Posted on August 13, 2013 by Joel

This morning, we had some heavy rainfall in NJ, and it affected the NJ Transit train system, including my Northeast Corridor line. Halfway through the morning commute, our train lost power. The train conductors stated that there was a widespread low voltage problem affecting NJ Transit. Eventually, we were able to get enough power to limp to the next station, Edison. After arriving at Edison, the train crew was instructed to wait for further instructions. We eventually got on our way, and I arrived in Newark 30 mins later than planned. It could have been worse, so I’m it wasn’t.

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My Google Nexus 7 has arrived

Posted on August 12, 2013 by Joel

After months of waiting, my long-awaited, much desired, tablet has arrived. I’ve already said what I needed to say about the Nexus 7, and how I arrived at my decision over the Apple iPad, so let’s get to the unboxing!

The box looks modern
My Nexus 7 looks promising
The Nexus 7 fully unboxed
The 2013 Nexus 7

It’s charged, my apps have downloaded through my existing Google account, so it’s ready and able. So far, I’m pretty satisfied with my choice. I have noticed that it is a little slippery, but I can deal. Also, I still wish that it had an external storage memory option, because the 25 GB of existing internal NAND storage will never fit as many movies and tv shows that I will ultimately want it to.

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A Sunday afternoon at Hurricane Harbor

Posted on August 11, 2013 by Joel

After relaxing at home for the entire morning and half of the afternoon, we got dressed up and made our way to Hurricane Harbor, down at Six Flags. We considered what to eat for lunch, but to save time, we ended up deciding to eat lunch at Hurricane Harbor itself. I was expecting some price gouging on food costs, but I was still shocked to see $6.99 pizza slices and $10.99 cheeseburgers. Price gouging to the extreme. After lunch, we walked around a bit, then Nums and the kids went to the Lazy River. My toes and feet were still scraped up from the day before in Long Beach Island, so I sat on the sidelines and watched the sandals and bag. I wanted to try a water slide with Josh, but the lines were very long. We ended up going to the Wave Pool for an hour or so. Around 6:30pm, the wave pool closed down, and the park was closing. We went back to the car, and drove home.

So, first time for me at Hurricane Harbor. Honestly, I wasn’t all that impressed. This particular park closes in the early evening, and most people hang out  until the park closes. As a result, there were long lines for most of the slides, even on a Sunday. Are we resigned to waiting on long lines? If you want a water 1-2 person water tube for riding on the Lazy River (or other water rides?), you really need to spend additional money to rent one for the day. After all the money you conceivably spend on the park ticket or season pass, the parking, and the food, you still have to spend more money for water tubes also?

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A Saturday in Long Beach Island

Posted on August 11, 2013 by Joel

A long time ago, my wife and I had attempted to drive down to Cape May in one day, and come back the same day. A rather unreasonable goal in hindsight. We hit so much Shore traffic on the Garden State Parkway, we decided to give up on Cape May (until September 2007.) We stopped in Long Beach Island in the very late afternoon, relaxed for a while on the beach somewhere, then hit up an Italian joint for dinner. More than a decade later, we returned to LBI to meet up with my wife’s sister and family to celebrate my sister-in-law’s birthday while they are vacationing in LBI itself.

After loading up the car with enough supplies for a short weekend trip, and filling the gas tank, and stopping at our local Target to get a new cooler, we were finally on our way. Well, at least for 45 mins, until we got to Belmar so we could hit the Surf Taco in Belmar NJ for lunch. I didn’t mind eating fast food crap, but my wife likes to elevate our dining experiences where possible. Surf Taco wasn’t a bad idea, since I’ve wanted to eat at one of these places for at least 3 years now, but we never had the right opportunity. We got some excellent parking in Belmar, and luckily beat the lunch crowd — after we sat down, there was a line of twenty-something kids out the door. You order and pay for your food at the counter, then a server brings your food to whatever number you have been assigned. The food was good, but you would think the service was better. Even though we were number 18, a server would come out and ask people if they got a particular dish. Well, whatever.

We eventually got back on our way, made it through some slight volume on the GSP, and finally arrived at my sister-in-law’s LBI motel/inn right on the beach. They weren’t checked in yet, so we left our car in the motel/inn parking lot, and walked around the beach for a bit. Eventually, they arrived, and everyone took turns in the water. There was a small,  unfortunate incident where Lily and Josh got close to a rocky jetty, and when I went in there to get them, I cut/scraped up my feet on the rocks. It got a momentarily scary with the kids being close to the rocks, but they were fine. The ocean can be a unpredictable thing. With multiple cuts, sand and salty water, that put a kibosh on further adventures for me though, so I hung out on the beach blanket until we were all done.

Back at their room, we all took showers and cleaned up, then went to The Beach House for dinner. We had initially wanted to eat at Terrace Tavern & Crab Shack, but there was a 30 min wait. The Beach House, on the other hand, only had a 10 min wait. The restaurant looked nice inside, so easy decision, so we went to The Beach House instead. However, it was BYOB, so I walked over to a local liquor shop to pick up a bottle of Simi Winery Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Excellent wine, BTW.

Nice dinner, good food, good conversation. We hit the road around 10:30pm, and drove clear and straight on the GSP back to home without any issues. A long but enjoyable day at the Jersey Shore.

Tomorrow? Great Adventure and Hurricane Harbor!

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National Night Out

Posted on August 6, 2013 by Joel

We attended our 2nd National Night Out event, held at the Police Athletic Fields in our town.

National Night Out is an annual summer event sponsored by the National Association of Town Watches in which precincts organize anti-crime rallies with the participation of local business and civic organizations. Various Police Department units present displays, and other City, State and Federal agencies also take part. National Night Out has proven to be an effective and enjoyable police/community partnership. It is held on the first Tuesday of August every year.

Once you find parking, it’s a lot of police cars, fire trucks, ambulances on display, and children are allowed to get in for tours. They have games on the field, free food, rock walls, face painting, etc. I was running late after work, so Namita took the kids there, and I met up with them after going home to change out of my work clothes. I also planned to go to the gym right after National Night Out. This year was better, because the kids got to get their faces painted, we saw more people that we knew, and the free hot dogs / hamburgers, snacks, drinks, and ice cream hadn’t run out yet. Last year, all the food had run out, so we had to eat at Wendy’s afterwards. The line for face painting was an hour long last year, and I didn’t have the patience to wait on line with the kids all that time, so there was much crying and gnashing of teeth last year.

Much better than last year.

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July Birthdays Dinner with Friends, Vietnamese-style

Posted on August 5, 2013 by Joel

After a very busy Saturday of children’s birthday parties, we drove up to Parsippany to meet up with friends to celebrate two of our friends, Plexy and Vijay, who recently had their birthdays in July. The consensus was to go out for Vietnamese cuisine, at a restaurant called Saigon Pho. Pretty good food, and lots to enjoy.

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