It's Friday, Friday!

and Ice Cube ain't havin' none of dat.

"the epic struggle...lives in the folklore of Cleveland Street to this very day."

While searching for a calendar of events for Cleveland today (don't ask) I stumbled across this little gem. A Christmas Story House Tours. If you couldn't tell by my purge of Christmas themed entries, it's kind of my favorite holiday and this is kind of one of my favorite movies. The house, actually on 11th St. and not Cleveland St. as in the movie, is restored to its movie splendor and hopefully with a seductive leg lamp and faulty old furnace. So next time I'm a tourist in Cleveland (ahem, fun times in Cleveland today) I'll make sure to stop in Ralphie's residence. Except not on Christmas, because it's closed that day. Irony.

"'The Last Airbender' is an agonizing experience

...in every category I can think of and others still waiting to be invented." - Roger Ebert, The Last Airbender review, June 2010

I grew up admiring Roger Ebert for his pudginess, snappish demeanor towards Siskel and his character on The Critic. In college I began visiting the movie theater less often and read less reviews. My brother maintained a loyal Ebert following and gobbled up the opinions in books such as The Great Movies and the spectacular Your Movie Sucks, a title inspired by the "greatest" comedic leech of our time, Rob Schneider.  Ebert, love him or hate him, is an author of outstanding imagery and, although I believe he has grown a tad soft over the years, writes even the most shaming of reviews with careful tact.  He has inspired an unknown number of journalists, rooted in his home state of Illinois and elsewhere, to put pen to paper.  Including my brother.

This past March, Esquire came out with the moving article , "Roger Ebert: The Essential Man."  I'm older now, I'm a Chicagoan and smile a little bit when I think that I now live in this man's neighborhood in the midst of his journalistic integrity.  However, the fiery man that once argued with Siskel on a worn-in plush seat is now mute.  Read the article to learn more about his battle with cancer and his relentless ability to continue what he loves.

"On some morning or afternoon or evening, sometime in 2006, Ebert took his last bite and sip, and he spoke his last word."

I don't believe it fair that the web site header says, "what happened to Roger Ebert?"  Roger Ebert may have slipped out of our visual realm but he is very much active.  He still has the Sun-Times page that made him a household name.  More wit shines in freelance writing and his blog, where he wraps his head around current events.  His 190,000+ Twitter followers get a daily dose of sarcasm, insight and of course, film criticism.  Perhaps my biggest praise of Ebert is that he shares the ideas and concepts that others bring to the table.  Each day, he reads and shares the works of people in lists he has entitled the "wise, the sub-continent, the politics and the elites."  He brings it all to the table and encourages others around him to do the same.

 I encourage you to take a page from his book.  Even for a day.

picture from Esquire.com article

Vampires, Wizards and Wolves. Oh my.

Nerd alert: I grew up with Harry Potter.  I read Sorcerer's Stone around the age of 13.  Ryan handed me a book and simply said, "read it, it's about a wizarding school."  Thinking it sounded stupid, I opened the book anyway and immediately fell in love.  In the years following I pre-purchased the books, read Goblet of Fire in the bath tub for three hours (old bathwater turns very cool), and bawled uncontrollably when [SPOILER!] Dumbledore died.  Mom walked into the kitchen and found me, head in my hands, violently crying at this huge turning point.  She turned around and went back to bed...granted it was around 4 a.m.  I was dumbfounded as I closed the last book after reading, literally stunned by the plot twists and violence that JK Rowling conjured out of thin air.  She had guts, she killed main characters, she was scary.

Today, I feel like a dirty adulterous.  I am embarrassed to admit, although I am one of millions, that I read the Twilight series.  So sue me I wanted to find some sort of magic in fantastical characters and lacked literature of my own.  Tonight I am going to see "Eclipse" only because I am going for free with work and with old co-worker friends.  I feel like I am at rock bottom when the highlights of a movie are seeing a shirtless 18-year-old and eating free Whoppers (the milk duds, not the burgers).  The more I write this, the more I disdain it.  It blows my mind how much money a sexually frustrated Mormon made off of scribbling sexually frustrated transgressions on paper and somehow making emo vampires "cool."

So just when I was started to really hate myself I found something that saved me.  Time put it well on its twitter feed.  "Forget Twilight: Deathly Hallows trailer reminds us why Harry Potter still rules."  Yes, Harry, yes.

Closet Nerd Alert

Today is Star Wars Day. So May the Fourth be with you.  GET IT?!  Also this is a legit holiday because Twitter trending topics and Wikipedia told me so.  Commence eye rolling now.

Totally Unnecessary and a Little Newsworthy

I largely support the medical community.  Whether it's cancer research or putting mascara on little bunnies (joke!) I take great interest in the daily leaps and successes of continued medical advancement.

Today my insightful and amazing friend Jen sent me a blog article about vodka in pill form.  This article is from the original source, The Times of India.  Whoa, what?  As the blog author put it, "...a powdered form of alcohol that will soon make the consumption of vodka more convenient."  Oh good, dropping 1.5 ounces down my throat then slamming the shot glass on the bar was way too intrusive.

 “Dry” vodka can be wrapped in paper and carried around in a pocket or a bag. Vodka in form of a pill would come handy at parties when “consumers” would be able to calculate their exact required dosage." - Times of India

Leave it to Russian scientists, facing the disbandment of their Soviet labs, to create a catalyst that can only fuel Russia's drankin' problem.  For the rest of us, we must rejoice.  Now we can sneak vodka pills (which I imagine in packaging similar to that of Mentos) to dive bars, company picnics and family reunions.

I can only think of Mean Girls at a time like this.  Specifically the scene where Tim Meadows' character, high school principal Mr. Duvall, questions Ms. Norbury's class about false drug accusations.  If you haven't seen it, shame on you.  The exquisite Tina Fey plays Ms. Norbury after all.  (Girl crush alert!) 

Mr. Duvall: Has your teacher ever tried to sell you marijuana tablets?
Token brown kid, Kevin G: What are marijuana tablets?

Come all, let us rave.