Complicated boii

There Really Is a Mystic Pizza, and the Film Mystic Pizza Sneaks Its Way into Your Heart

2007-04-26T19:33:00.001-07:00

Mystic Pizza – 3 Stars (Good)

What do the movies A Christmas Story, My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Mystic Pizza have in common?

They sneak their way into your heart.

All three movies were not supposed to be any big deal, and many would-be investors agreed, however, moviegoers will not let these films slide into obscurity, and My Big Fat Greek Wedding became the highest grossing independent film ever.

So why do they work when others do not?

They simply tug at your heartstrings, playing an irresistible tune of making dreams come true. Most of us dream big dreams. When we become part of another person's big dream we wish that their dream will come true even if ours does not.

We enjoy life vicariously by living the dreams of others.

Mystic Pizza is about three recent high school graduates who are waitresses in a pizza parlor that experience some personal growth during a short period of time. They learn valuable life lessons in how to overcome disappointment and adversity, and in some cases discover romance.

One wants to marry her way into money, another dreams of going to Yale but needs more money to go with her partial academic scholarship, and the dippiest of the three has a problem making a commitment to marry a guy crazy in love with her.

This is a drama of relationships which is well done, and with some comedy becomes a fun movie to watch.

Sisters Daisy (Julia Roberts) who is chasing money, and Kat (Annabeth Gish) who is headed to Yale, join their friend Jojo (Lili Taylor) who likes sex but not commitment. Two of the three recent high school graduates are a little ahead of their time (I think) as Daisy is promiscuous.

The pizza parlor is not doing well until a food critic stops by and gives it a rave review, then Mystic Pizza becomes very popular, and the story lines of the three girls become more complicated and funny.

Mystic Pizza is a real pizza parlor in Mystic, Connecticut. Writer Amy Jones was vacationing in Mystic, saw the pizza parlor, was inspired to write the story and later co-wrote the screenplay with Perry and Randy Howze and Alfred Uhry.

The film, released in 1988, benefited from the rise of Julia Roberts with her successes in Pretty Woman (a Golden Globe Best Actress Award), Steel Magnolias (a Golden Globe Best Supporting Actress Award) and Erin Brockovich (an Oscar and a Golden Globe Best Actress Awards).

Her films have generated more than $2 billion in revenue, and she has become the highest-paid actress in the world. Roberts' net worth has been estimated at $140 million, and she still has the same great look and smile.

Mystic Pizza also marked the film debut for Matt Damon. Ben Affleck also auditioned for Damon's role.

Mystic Pizza won virtually no recognition upon release, but viewers will simply not let certain films die, and Mystic Pizza is one of those films.

Mystic Pizza is fun to watch and becomes an affair of the heart in spite of its high jinks.

Income Taxes, The Greedy Government

2007-04-04T02:32:00.000-07:00

Dreadful federal income taxes

The greedy government

Is after our money again

Uncle Sam is not my friend

Misuse and misappropriate

The needy taxpayers funds

Soak, sponge, and spend

Tax assessments without end

Local, state, and federal funds

Anyone way to put you under

Their domineering grip and gun

Another Boston Tea Party

Would serve we the people well

Fire all the scoundrels on the Hill

Remove the criminals pensions

Pentagon excessive spending

Arms deals and lucrative contracts

Wining and dining for big dollars

Pull your hair out and holler

Work hard and give it all away

How they spend it, you have no say

Politicians drive me far beyond crazy

Legislators and leaders most lazy

Fat cats having fun in Washington DC

Evading and avoiding taxes annually

Sheltering their savings off shore

In interest free and no fee accounts

Congressmen in DC beat the system

I wish we could happily join them

At least gain some equality and breaks

As they milk the government and fake

To serve the good people of America

Of course there are a few sincere souls

But what about all of those who stole?

Perhaps I should stop diligently working too

Lay around the house and get the dole

That we the working class reluctantly pay

While others get food stamps and freebies

Such injustice gives me the heebiejeebies

It is time we hold Big Brother to account

Homeland security and peace is paramount

Fiascos and international meddling abroad

This is neither moral, necessary, nor of God

We've got blood stained hands in this land

For ill-conceived and immoral operations

Financing the CIA to buy Colombian crack

Illegally profiting from peddling drugs is wack

Hundreds of billions to pay for war in Iraq

It's time the IRS repented and gave it back

To we who sweat, toil, and break our backs

Help the people here first who live in lack.

Has "Saturday Night Live" Finally Become Saturday Night Dead?

2007-03-30T08:57:00.000-07:00

When I was younger I used to watch "Saturday Night Live" faithfully because it always seemed to have enough "funny" to keep me positive and laughing.

The list of comedians who have passed through Saturday Night Live on their way to more fame and fortune reads like a list of who's who in comedy and is too long to repeat here. A much shorter list would be who has never been a cast member or guest on Saturday Night Live.

I do not think it is much of a revelation to say that Saturday Night Live has lost some of its "funny" as well as a lot of audience. People just talk less about it on Monday morning.

All of this came back to me when watching Peyton Manning in his debut as a guest host on Saturday night.

Manning, the Super Bowl MVP for the world champion Indianapolis Colts, has a reputation of being very intense, demanding and uptight to the point of constipation when it comes to game preparation and execution. It makes sense that he might be just as intense on Saturday Night Live.

Certainly Peyton Manning saw the program as an opportunity to give viewers an impression of his "other side". He can afford media consultants to suggest how he could freshen up his image.

This is why I found it disturbing when, in one skit, he was knocking down children by throwing footballs at them and then berating them for being stupid and incompetent. After watching this attempt at humor, I thought the National Football League and its United Way partner would come unglued.

I was dead wrong. I heard very little about Manning's skits. I doubt that Manning was laying awake nights before his appearance dreaming up the skits he did. The football bit with the kids did not impress me at all, and I did not find it funny in the least.

When you drop by to watch Little League Baseball games these days, there is always one or two coaches who are screaming, cussing and berating the kids because they struck out or threw the ball to the wrong base. Fathers who are losers become coaches that are legion for "beating" up on kids.

Successful athletes do not do this under any circumstances. They understand how difficult it is to become good, and how making mistakes is how you learn to correct them. Successful athletes are positive and encouraging almost without exception.

I took issue with this particular skit because kids today have too many heroes that are not worthy of adulation or emulation. Some heroes today have a rap sheet longer than their list of worthy credits.

Media pundits might insist that the program is for "young urban adults" or some such special population category, and that kids should not even be watching comedy at that hour. The pundits say that is why what I have to say is moot. I say nonsense, these routines are funny because they touch a chord with the vast majority of viewers or they do not, regardless of age or when the program is telecast.

Being young, sophisticated and from New York does not mean that you recognize and appreciate comedy any more than a grandfather from Lacey, Washington that is 62 years old like me.

The current state of Saturday Night Live probably has more to do with the lack of originality than the lack of presentation.

If you went to any downtown metro area looking for a hooker, the pimp would tell you that "pimping ain't easy", and so it is with writing comedy under a deadline.

All of us have probably had a comedic moment in our lives, but how many of us can come up with a comedy routine on cue? This is why we watch comedy rather than try to create comedy. God Bless Seth Myers, Saturday Night's new chief writer. He clearly understands that what isn't live is dead.

Having said that Seth Meyers needs some help. Tina Fey, the chief writer who preceded Meyers, needs some help too. Even Loren Michaels should be under the microscope; he provides the leadership and hires the talent or non-talent, as the case may be.

Saturday Night Live is just not as funny as it used to be. Everything is tired. I believe it is not so much the cast as the cast simply needs better material.

If there is one thing I dislike more than comedy that is not funny it is politicians who have nothing better to do than occupy space and run their mouth without providing any solutions.

So if I am carping here let me offer Loren Michaels a modest proposal: publicly ask viewers to submit comedy skit ideas and dialogue. Give the viewers an opportunity to email suggestions with no compensation involved.

This is an inexpensive idea and who knows, maybe some new ideas will surface and if someone clearly keeps contributing new ideas that work, then maybe they should be joining the show for the opportunity and compensation.

Think about it, Loren. Recognize this fact: It does not take a lot of talent to come up with bathroom humor, but does bathroom humor really work that well? I think not.

The best humor is when we make fun of ourselves rather than others. Everyone can relate to that kind of humor without taking sides.

Comedy is not about divide and conquer, comedy is about giving everyone a good laugh. And, as the Readers Digest's says, laughter is the best medicine.

BlueAnt 093746 T8 micro Bluetooth(tm) Headset

2007-03-27T18:08:00.000-07:00

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Complicated boii

There Really Is a Mystic Pizza, and the Film Mystic Pizza Sneaks Its Way into Your Heart

Income Taxes, The Greedy Government

Has "Saturday Night Live" Finally Become Saturday Night Dead?

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