Just Be A Rock

Everything Everywhere All At Once
A24 (2022)
This is the most original and creative story that I've experienced in any medium in a very long time.  It stars two of my favorite actresses, Michelle Yeoh and Jamie Lee Curtis, both of whom are amazing.  Ke Huy Quan was heartwarming in his return to the big screen after a 20 year hiatus, and Stephanie Hsu absolutely glows in every second she's on the screen.  The fight scenes are incredible, and the cinematography is beautiful.  This is a perfect movie.

Everything Everywhere All At Once connected pretty hard with me.  The story is centered around the concept of parallel worlds, but it's so much more than that.  The movie expresses something I've felt for a long time, but could never put in the right words.  There's more to it, but the short version is that we are all insignificant, but that's alright.  The moment is what matters.  You don't have to be more than what you are.  Be kind, be present, and find beauty and happiness in the moments of your life to appreciate and to share with those you love.  That's all there is to it.

Even if your takeaway differs from mine, this is an incredible movie that I strongly recommend.

I'll Be Stumbling Away, Slowly Learning That Life Is Okay

A-ha: Hunting High & Low Live
Radio City Music Hall - New York, NY

This tour began in 2019 as a celebration of the 35th anniversary of A-ha's debut album, Hunting High & Low, which was released in 1985.  It was meant to continue through 2020, but the Covid-19 pandemic led to changes in the schedule.  As a result, the band is continuing their global tour in 2022, and I am extremely happy that this tour has taken the band to the United States for the first time in over a decade.

The last time that A-ha were in the United States was for the Ending On A High Note tour in 2010 when they performed in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York.  We saw them at the Nokia Theater on May 6th during that tour, and it was an incredible show.

Prior to the show on Tuesday night, A-ha performed three nights at The Wiltern in Los Angeles.  However, their trip to New York was one night only at the historic Radio City Music Hall.  They haven't performed here since 1986 when they were still touring for the release of their debut album, Hunting High & Low.  

I've stood outside and walked past Radio City Music Hall just about every time I've been to the city, but this is the first opportunity I've ever had to go inside or to see a show here.  Now that I've been inside, there is no way I could overstate how beautiful this building is.

Radio City Music Hall is an absolutely gorgeous art deco venue that was built in the 1930's, and it feels like they've gone through a lot of effort to keep the decor and charm of the building intact.  I would be thrilled to have the opportunity to spend a few hours to explore and take photos.  According to their website, they do offer a guided tour, but it's only available to groups at this time.

The concert itself was as incredible as the venue it was held in - maybe even better than the one that we saw in 2010.  For the second half of the show, A-ha played the Hunting High & Low album in its entirety, although in a different order than the songs appear on the record so that the show could close with Take On Me.  I have listened to this record literally thousands of times in the 37 years since it was released.  I listened to the record when I was five years old and laying on the floor with coloring books.  I listened to it on mixtapes that I made for my car when I was a teenager.  I listened to it on CD and on my iPod throughout college and in my 20's and 30's.  I've streamed it.  I know every word of every song by heart, and I shamelessly sing along at the top of my lungs when I'm by myself in the car (I would never subject anyone's ears to my voice trying to hit those high notes).  

In addition to the Hunting High & Low album that was played in, the band played a selection from three of their earlier albums.  These including Scoundrel Days and I've Been Losing You off of their second album, Scoundrel Days, their 1987 007 theme The Living Daylights, which appears on their third album, Stay On These Roads, and Sycamore Leaves and Crying In The Rain from their fourth album, East Of The Sun, West Of The Moon.  They also played two new songs that will appear on their upcoming album, True North, which is scheduled to be released this fall.  Those songs are called Forest For The Trees and You Have What It Takes, both of which were fantastic!

I would have loved to hear them play Manhattan Skyline in New York City, or one of my all-time favorite A-ha songs, Soft Rains Of April, but it was still an incredible show that did not disappoint.  Here is the setlist from the night:

 

The best part of the show is that I was able to enjoy it with my incredible wife.  I'm not an easy person to understand a lot of the time, but she gets me in a way that no one else ever has.  Since we first met back in 2002, she has stood by my side through thick and thin.  When we first started dating back in 2006, we adopted Take On Me as "our song", and I am both honored and privileged to have had the chance to share a moment with her where we listened to A-ha play our song.  When the thunderstorms roll into my mind, it's memories like this that help to keep me grounded and to get through the storm, confident in the knowledge that it will pass and that she will be there.

The Time Of Destiny For Princess Zelda Is Drawing Near

The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past
Super Nintendo (1992)

My favorite game in The Legend Of Zelda series was released in North America 30 years ago today.

I can't remember a time when a new video game completely blew me away as much as A Link To The Past did the first time I played it in the early 90's.  The second I walked Link outside of his cottage into a thunderstorm, complete with rain and lightning, I knew that this was something special.  The graphics and sound were like nothing I had ever played on a home console before, and the adventure ahead of me was one that I have never forgotten.

A Link To The Past was a return to the overhead view and mechanics of the original game.  It also expanded on these concepts and introduced themes and techniques that would continue to be used in Zelda games for years to come, such as the hook shot, the spin attack, and the concept of switching between parallel worlds where the actions you take in one world have subtle effects on the other.  The end result is a game that was fresh and state-of-the-art while at the same time feeling familiar and comfortable to play.

There are very few video games that I would describe as perfect, but this is one of them.  If you've not played it before, it's 30th birthday would make an excellent time to start.  It is available on Switch through the Nintendo Online service.

Sonic Trades Chili Dogs For Tastykakes

Pecan Swirls
Tastykake (2022)

It's not too often that I've seen Tastykake products that are cross-promoted with anything other than a Philadelphia sports team, but they've partnered up with the Sonic The Hedgehog 2 movie for their Tastykake In The Fast Lane promotion.  You can enter for a chance to win prizes, including a private screening of Sonic The Hedgehog 2.

The photo on the website shows a few other Tastykake products that have Sonic-branded packaging.  I didn't see the Mini Donuts while I was grocery shopping, but I did find all three flavors of Mini Muffins.

The boxes are just the right size to keep a Genesis controller or a stack of cartridges, so these will probably find their way to my game shelf when the muffins are gone.

I haven't had Tastykake Mini Muffins before now.  They're pretty good, but I don't think they taste like muffins.  They look and taste like Krimpets that have been cut up into bite-sized pieces.  They're very good, but not quite what I was expecting.

I Can Smell The Electricity In Your Brain

Sonic The Hedgehog 2
Paramount Pictures (2022)

This is the perfect family movie franchise for the 2020's because there's something for almost everyone.  It's appropriate for children, but there's action and humor that their parents and grandparents will enjoy.  It appeals to Gen X like myself who grew up playing Sonic on Genesis.  It's a movie with solid performances all around, a fun story, plenty of laughs, and impressive special effects.  There's really nothing not to love here.

It's appropriate that Sonic The Hedgehog 2 was released the weekend before Easter because it's absolutely loaded with easter eggs for fans of the game series.  Everybody who has ever read a video game magazine in the early to mid 90's is sure to recognize the tag line "Welcome to the next level" from the icon that Sega used on practically everything associated with the company for several years during the 16-bit era.  Gamers will also recognize the name of the coffee shop as an homage to Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, the Sega Genesis instruction manual, the Sonic The Hedgehog game music used as Tom's ringtone, and many other references throughout the movie's runtime.

Jim Carrey is at his absolute wacky best as Dr. Robotnik in the first two movies, but it's not clear if he'll be back for the third installment.  The actor has strongly suggested that he intends to retire after Sonic 2.  I can definitely understand the desire to stop working in your 60's, but it would be a real shame if he decided not to return for the inevitable Sonic The Hedgehog 3.  He's absolutely perfect for this role - so damn zany and over the top that you can't help but to love him.

 

Even if you aren't a big fan of the video game series, I strongly recommend Sonic The Hedgehog 2 on the big screen.  I can't imagine anyone could watch this without a smile on their face.

No Consorting With The Suits

The Secret Of My Success
Universal Pictures (1987)

There were few bigger stars in the world during the mid to late 80's than Michael J. Fox, and there's no better example of this than The Secret Of My Success, which was released to theaters 35 years ago today.

Despite receiving mostly negative reviews from critics, this PG-13 comedy debuted as the #1 film in the box office and stayed there for the next five weeks.  It was the 7th highest grossing film of 1987 with domestic earnings of almost $67 million dollars on a $12 million dollar budget.  To put this in perspective, The Secret Of My Success was a more successful film than Lethal Weapon, Dirty Dancing, Robocop and Predator.

 

Times Leader - July 1, 1987

This was the first movie that my wife had ever watched at a drive-in movie theater.  It was a Michael J. Fox double feature of The Secret Of My Success and Back To The Future.  This is why it's become a tradition in our house.  Once a year, we order pizza and watch these two movies back-to-back.  It's usually on the night of her birthday, but sometimes it's a day before or after.

I didn't see this movie when it first came out.  In fact, I was well into my 30's the first time I watched it, but I'm pretty sure I saw this box about a thousand times when I was a kid.  It seemed like every place that rented movies in the late 80's, from the big chains to the mom and pop shops, had a copy of The Secret Of My Success in the comedy section, and that tape sat there for the next 15 years until the stores started to sell off their VHS inventory and switch over entirely to DVD.

We found this tape for sale at the Hometown Farmers Market about ten years ago from an awesome stand that has unfortunately closed a few years ago, and it's become a birthday tradition for my wife in our household ever since.  This one was released by MCA Canada and I believe it was a video rental store copy, but I'm not sure which store it came from.

 

This movie was torn apart by critics when it was released, and its reviews haven't improved over time.  I'll be the first person to tell you that this movie isn't deep or meaningful, and while it has its funny moments, it's not the type of comedy that will have you rolling on the floor in a fit of laughter.  However, it is the absolute epitome of the 1980's.  The Secret Of My Success is about a small town country boy (Michael J. Fox) who graduates college and goes to New York City to make his mark on the world.  The executive job he had lined up falls through, so he takes a job in the mail room of a large, but disorganized company whose CEO is a distant uncle.  He takes advantage of the chaos to create an alter-ego who simultaneously works as an executive in the company while he holds down his job in the mail room.  Throughout all of this, he becomes involved in a sexual affair with the wife of the CEO (Margaret Whitton, who I know best as the team owner from Major League), and a romantic affair with a fellow executive with a Princess Diana hairstyle (Supergirl star Helen Slater), who has been involved in an affair of her own with the CEO.

Director Herbert Ross made some interesting choices with his presentation of Helen Slater, which resulted in some of the best unintentionally funny moments I have ever seen.  For example, we are introduced to her character when Michael J. Fox meets her for the first time by a drinking fountain.  This becomes a slow motion close-up of Ms. Slater taking a sip of water, followed by a fantasy scene of her in a dress, and ending with her spinning an extra time through a revolving door as she leaves the building.  All of this is set to smooth 80's jazz with Fox practically drooling on the floor as he stares at her in awe.  Click here to see it for yourself, and keep in mind that this isn't meant to be funny.  It's being played straight as a dramatic scene where the male lead meets his love interest.  This scene is cartoonishly silly and completely unaware of how over-the-top it is being.  You can't help but to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all as it unfolds.

The film's use of music is equally cheesy and enjoyable.  Take this cut of Something I Gotta Do by Restless Heart which plays over a montage of Michael J. Fox when he's trying to decide how he's going to work his way up from the mail room.  Tuck this song away in the back of your mind.  Then, the next time you're faced with an annoying task or situation at work, find a quiet place and sing "It's just something I've got to... doooo... ooooooh... oooooh!" to yourself in an overly dramatic tone.  I guarantee you'll burst out laughing so damn hard that it'll take the sting out of whatever was bothering you.

Look, I'm not going to tell you that The Secret Of My Success is a cinematic masterpiece, but it captures the decade in a way that few other films can match.  It's got plenty of laughs (some intentional, some not), and everyone involved delivers a solid performance for the script that they have to work with.  If you don't take it seriously and you can embrace it for all of the cheesy goodness that it has to offer, you'll have a good time with this flick.

The Best Defense Is A Good Offense

After a winter that included a labor dispute and a number of impact free agent signings for the Phillies, we are off and running in the 2022 season.  The Phillies opened their season at home on Friday afternoon with a 9-5 victory against their former cross-town rivals, the Oakland Athletics.

One of the biggest stories of Spring Training for the Phillies has been the remarkable turnaround of center fielder and former #1 pick overall, Mickey Moniak.  He had been all but written off by the front office at the ripe old age of 23, but he had a monster spring, batting .371/.371/.914 with five home runs and four other extra-base hits in 35 plate appearances.  Between his production and Odubel Herrera starting the season on the IL with a strained oblique, Moniak had forced his way onto the roster and would likely have been the starting center fielder for Opening Day.  That all changed in his final at-bat of Spring Training when he was hit by a pitch and fractured his right hand.  He's expected to miss the first six weeks of the season.  He is being replaced on the big league club by the #10 prospect in the Phillies system, Simon Muzziotti, but Matt Vierling got the start in center field.

The game could not possibly have started off any better.  The Phillie Phanatic parachuted onto the field before the start of the game, and our new left fielder, Kyle Schwarber, led off the bottom of the 1st with a home run in his first MLB at-bat in a Phillies uniform, and the first hitter of the Phillies 2022 season. Schwarber ended the day going 2-4 with a walk and 2 RBI.

 

Bryson Stott was the Phillies starting third baseman and made his Major League debut last night.  The Phillies 2019 first round draft pick wore #10 in his time in the minor leagues, but he switched to #5 in a tribute to his best friend, Cooper Ricciardi.  Cooper wore #5 when he played basketball, and he sadly passed away from cancer.  Bryson went 2-4 with a single, a double and an RBI, each of which were his first in the Major Leagues.

Aaron Nola got the Opening Day start for the fifth consecutive season, and his performance was reflective of what we saw out of him last season.  He was dominant for the first six innings, striking out seven batters while only giving up a one hit (a Chad Pinder solo home run in the 4th).  They sent him out to pitch in the top of the 7th, but he was pulled from the inning without recording an out.  He gave up a double to Sean Murphy, a single to Chad Pinder, and a three run homer to Seth Brown before Nola was taken out of the game.  Newcomers Jeurys Familia and Brad Hand finished off the 7th inning, but not before the A's tacked on an unearned run to narrow the Phillies lead to a single run.

The Phillies responded in the bottom half of the inning.  Bryce Harper drew a walk, and Nick Castellanos got his first hit with his new team by smacking an RBI double to extend the Phillies lead to 7-5.  They tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the 8th after a double from Jean Segura, followed by a Bryson Stott RBI double that scored Segura, and a Kyle Schwarber single to score Stott.  The Athletics didn't score again thanks to two beautiful innings from the Phillies bullpen.  Seranthony Domínguez pitched a scoreless 8th, and Corey Knebel shut the door in the 9th to secure the Phillies 9-5 win.

 

This game played out in a way that I expect the Phillies 2022 season to look when all is said and done.  The defense won't always be perfect (although I expect Bryson Stott will improve at his new position with more experience), but they'll find ways to outhit their shortcomings, and with any luck, the new bullpen acquisitions will live up to their potential and keep things from getting out of hand.

Hurry Boy, It's Waiting There For You

Toto IV
Toto (1982)

I was torn between talking about this or the 45th birthday of the 1977 Cronenberg horror classic, Rabid.  Since I already wrote about the movie when I saw it at the Mahoning Drive-In Theater last year, I went with the music.

One of the greatest rock albums of the 1980's was released 40 years ago today.  The fourth studio album from Toto beat out Paul McCartney and Billy Joel to win Album Of The Year at the 25th Annual Grammy Awards in 1983, and it includes two hit singles that still get plenty of airplay to this day: Rosanna and Africa.

Five years ago, I was lucky enough to get to see Toto in concert, and they were incredible.  Unfortunately, the band broke up two years later after a show at the Metropolitan Opera House in Philadelphia on October 20th, 2019.  They've since reformed and are on the road again in 2022 with The Dogz Of Oz tour, but founding members Steve Porcaro and David Paich have not returned to the band after their 2019 split.  But, to end things on a positive note, the music of the original lineup is still echoing tonight somewhere in the Namid Desert.

Topokki From The Cosmos

Rice Topokki Snack
Cosmos Confectionery Company (2022)

This little snack size bag of snacks from South Korea was available at Wegmans in Wilkes-Barre, PA on my last visit.  I wasn't really sure what it was, but how could I possibly pass up this happy little bastard.

The snacks inside reminded me of crispy rigatoni, but they're supposed to be something else entirely.  Please forgive me for the over-simplification because I did all of three minutes of research on this, but from what I gather, these are meant to be a snack version of a Korean dish called tteokbokki, which is made from a cooked cylinder shaped rice cake called garae-tteok.  This is sometimes seasoned with a red chili paste called gochujang, which I guess is what the makers of this snack are going for with these.

I don't know how spicy the actual dish is, but these snacks are not the least bit hot no matter what the cute little pepper thing on the package has to say about it.  I don't mean this as a half-ass macho claim, like somebody who eats hot peppers and then tries to tell you that they're not spicy as their eyes tear up.  I mean that these snacks aren't spicy... at all.  You could give them to a toddler who has never had a hot or spicy food in their lives and it wouldn't phase them a bit.  They sort of tasted like a bland barbecue sauce mixed with ketchup.  I'm not sure how close they come to tasting like the dish that they're based on, but the best complement I could give to them is to day that they're not disgusting, but they're not especially good either.  The flavor isn't interesting enough to suggest giving them a try.  The best thing about them is the little cartoon pepper on the bag.

Arcades Of Southwest England

Joyland Amusements
Cary Parade - Torquay, Devon, UK

I've never been to an arcade in England, but from the look of this photo from the early 1980's, they weren't much different from the ones that we had here in the states.  The three games in the foreground are Amidar, Berzerk, and a game that I'm not familiar with, King Kong (source: Stephen Wilbraham; Torquay In Pictures).

Croissants, Biking and Whale Watching With The Devil

Witch by Jen Silverman
Bloomsburg Theater Ensemble 

Alvina Krause Theatre - Bloomsburg, PA
I haven't been to very many plays in my life, and the vast majority of the ones that I have been to were musical theater productions at the Dutch Apple Dinner Theater.  There are only two non-musical plays that I can remember going to.  One was a second grade field trip to the Kirby Center to see Daedalus Productions put on Man Of La Mancha in March 1988.  The other was much more recent, when we saw Ed Asner performed a one-man stage play of A Man And His Prostate just a month before he passed away.

In contrast, my dad has probably been to well over a hundred different plays at this point.  He and my stepmother frequently go to New York to see a show, and they've been members of the Bloomsburg Theater Ensemble for about ten years.  We joined them on Sunday to see their production of Witch, and I'm very glad that we did.

Marquee photo source: BTE Instagram

I didn't really know what to expect with this, but I walked away with a new respect for the format and for the Bloomsburg Theater Ensemble.

Kimie Muroya as Winnifred and Aaron White as Frank (source: BTE Instagram)

Dre'land Goar as Cuddy (source: BTE Instagram)

Elizabeth Dowd as Elizabeth and Eric Wunsch as The Devil (source: BTE Instagram)

The acting was absolutely incredible.  Dre'land Goar was both hysterically funny and heartwarming as Cuddy.  Eric Wunsch and Elizabeth Dowd played off of each other brilliantly as The Devil and Elizabeth.  The rest of the cast, which included Aaron White as Frank, Andrew Hubatsek as Sir Arthur, and Kimie Muroya as Winnifred.

As you can see, I am the furthest thing from being qualified to write a review of a play, but if you're like me and have little to no experience with stage performances such as this, please do yourself a favor and go see Witch.  It was a very funny, but also very touching story that will leave you thinking about gender norms and the limits that this world can put on what we could hope to achieve in our time.  It will be showing at the Alvina Krause Theatre through April 16th.  If you go on April 8th, 100% of your ticket price will go towards buying supplies, like sleeping bags, boots, and other necessary items, for the people on the ground in Ukraine.

While you're in Bloomsburg, if you like Italian food, I strongly recommend That's Amore on West Main Street.

 

The pasta dishes come with either soup or salad.  I had the lobster bisque, which was very good.  The carbonara was also delicious.  I had it with the gnocchi, and it made me happy to see that the shape of the white plate and the color of the creamy alfredo sauce made the dish look a bit like a giant deviled egg.  My dad raves about the veal parmigiana at this place.  I'm not a big fan of veal, but I think I'll have to try the eggplant parmigiana next time.