Friday, December 14, 2007

Merry Ludachristmas!


I meant to blog about this Led Zepplin business earlier in the week, but it's sort of old news at this point. (But did you see this: "Supermodel flies into rage at Led Zeppelin concert"--kinda funny.) On Monday, Opie and Anthony were making fun of them, but from the few clips I've seen on the interewebs (most of which have now been taken down--though see here), they rocked. Looking forward to the DVD.

The heretofore unknown to me Gemma Arterton (and not Gemma Atkinson, who I have heard of) may be the new Bond girl. According to this story at Cinematical, she has that "modern look"--which means what exactly? She sort of looks like Juliette Binoche's younger sister, which is good so far as it goes, but I'm having trouble visualizing her as a Bond girl. Bond geeks--whaddya think?

Raphy must be jetlagged. It's hard to believe he doesn't have a thoughtful, carefully crafted view about whether "Bonfire" is one for the ages (or not).

Posted by jwb at 10:05 AM  · 6 Comments   

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

What’s your favorite pizza topping? Mines plain. But I like others.

I was being slightly smart-alecky in the last post. We were actually in Vallarta for the wedding of our friends Amy (known to jwbblog readers as the Krusser) and Nick. And it was pretty spectacular. See the photos--link in last post--if you have any doubts.

The weather was close to perfect--high 80's during the day, mid 70's at night. We arrived back in Boston last Monday to cold and ice, and it's been more of the same since. Argh! I forgot how long/miserable winters in Boston can be.

Random items:

* Despite all the hype, I actually sort of liked Toby Young's How to Lose Friends and Alienate People. However, there's a lot of "inside baseball" stuff in it--the sorts of things (like jokes about Graydon Carter's hair) that wouldn't make much sense unless you're a regular reader of, say, Gawker--and I was dubious that it would make for a decent movie. Well, the trailer, with Simon Pegg as Young, is out and it's pretty funny. You can find it here.

* So what are we to make of the Kindle? Is it going to change the world? I doubt it, though I'm old fashioned when it comes to these sorts of things (meaning, mainly, reading books). It seems to me that Chip Kidd gets it about right.

* "Bonfire of the Vanities" has turned twenty. I thought it was pretty close to brilliant when I first read it--which would have been not too long after it was published--but one wonders how well it has aged. (Raphy: Any thoughts?) The Times celebrates with some rather boring interviews.

UPDATE: I should note that one of the reasons I wonder about how well "Bonfire" has held up is that it was made into such a craptastic movie by Brian De Palma. It is now hard for me to think about Sherman, Maria, et al. without also thinking about Tom Hanks, Melanie Griffith, et al. I should note that, for me, this is not a good thing. (In particular, casting Melanie Griffith as Maria was a crime.) This is perhaps unfair since Brian De Palma is Brian De Palma and not Tom Wolfe and the movie is the movie and not the book. But there you are.

Posted by jwb at 1:35 PM  · 6 Comments   

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Hola

Sorry for the extended hiatus. Been kinda busy. First, the Goffs were here for Thanksgiving. As far as I can tell, a good time was had by all.

Then, a few days later, we hurried off to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, for five lovely days, where, among other things, we celebrated my birthday. We got back on Monday to Boston--a cranky enough place even when the weather is nice--where it's 28 degrees and everything is covered in ice.

I'll have more to say about Vallarta anon, but, for the moment and for anyone who's interested, I posted some photographs here.

Posted by jwb at 9:38 AM  · 3 Comments