You Don't Mess With A.O.

A couple of friends and I have been engaged in a little conversation (and email follow-up) about the New York Times movie critics. It's funny, I see very few movies, but I'm a voracious review reader, especially from the Times and The Onion (though not the latter so much lately because I get sucked into reading the whole thing, which, sadly--summer be damned--I just don't have the time for). While I, like my friend, prefer A.O. Scott, I've really been digging Manohla Dargis lately. (Incidentally, I went to write out my "Dargis thesis" this morning and realized I already had.)

Anyway, this is just a brief PSA: You should check out A.O. Scott's hilarious review of You Don't Mess With the Zohan (aka "the finest post-Zionist action-hairdressing sex comedy [A.O. Scott has] ever seen"). But my sources tell me you shouldn't actually go see it, his advice notwithstanding. I was beginning to think A.O. seemed a little vulnerable to the crazy sex comedies lately, but then he skewered The Love Guru, or (as The Onion cover called it this week, the "Latest Austin Powers Movie").

If you want to watch something, I'd recommend the Zohan Movie Minutes (halfway down the review, at left). The conclusion:

"All in all, it offers a kind of ... a utopian picture of what would happen if people stopped blowing each other up and started just concentrating on the things that really matter, which are money, sex, nice haircuts, and hummus."

RIP HOFG

Well, in its 69-year history, the Baseball Hall of Fame Game has been rained out five times. My dad and I have now had tickets to two of those rain outs (including one back in the '90s when I was a little boy). The "good" news: we won't miss another. The bad news: that's because this was going to be the last one. Ah well.

Despite the lack of baseball, my dad and I had a great little Father's Day trip out east. We stayed at a camp on Great Sacandaga on Saturday (my mom's side) and hung out at another on Goodyear Lake on Sunday with a bunch of relatives I haven't seen in years (my dad's side). Many clams and beers were consumed, stories told, etc. (For those of you without any roots in upstate New York, "a camp" is what we'd call "a cabin" in Wisconsin).

As for Cooperstown, I think the locals lack a certain perspective on why this game is being discontinued, but I'm sad to see it go nevertheless. I hope they go to a "Legends Game" format or something in the future--in my opinion, that might actually be more interesting than watching a bunch of minor leaguers play for the disinterested major leaguers sitting on the bench griping about having to make the trip for an exhibition game (then again, I never got the chance to see even that, so I can't know for sure). Either that or make the game count, but that's never going to happen, since it would mean ridiculous lost revenue (historic Doubleday Field holds like 10,000 people). Anyway, it's always a good time when you get to go to Cooperstown, so I'm grateful for the trip, regardless. Plus, I'm going to four Brewers games in the next two weeks, so I should get my fill of live ball.

Sorry for my continued absence on CSC. I'm still having a strange but very busy and rewarding summer, the details of which I'll share when the time seems right.