The Man Crush

I was talking to someone the other day, and I used the term "Man Crush," when he suddenly became completely confused. He had no idea what the concept of a man crush was, and it left me shocked. I have been using this term for a few years, and it amazed me that it was still somewhat foreign. In order to fix this I plan to do two things: 1) Explain the concept of a man crush. 2) Give a history and explanation of my man crushes.

First, the concept of a man crush.

Now the first basic thing to know about a man crush is that it is not a sexual attraction. I mean that can be an element of it, but that is not the basis of a man crush. A man crush is a guy that you look up to and idolize. It's like, "wow this guy has won 85 superbowls and has stared in 30 movies. I want to be him." A man crush is kind of like that guy who has done what you want to do with your life. Also, he can be a good looking guy. As a straight man I have no problem saying a guy is decent looking. Girls do it all the time. However, the basis of a man crush is to have that guy that is just so awesome that his awesomeness just kind of ends world hunger and stops global warming. Well maybe not that great. But something along those lines. It's not so much a Bromance, but more of a father figure that you can look up to.

Anyways, that is the concept of Man Crush. Now, here is my list of man Crushes over the years.

Zach Braff: My original Man Crush. It came about in early 2005 when I saw Garden State for the first time. Then I found out Zbraff had written and directed the movie, and it was just about the time when I had gotten into writing. He became an instant role model for me. Not only that, but Scrubs was an incredible show.

George Clooney: The only reason I think I had a short lived Man Crush on Clooney is because he stared in the Ocean's movies, and I was obsessed with those movies for a good amount of time. Then he decided to direct Leatherheads and that was that.

John Krasinski: In March of 2005 "The Office" premiered on NBC. I was immediately hooked to the show, and was a huge fan of Jim. In all honesty, I feel like I don't know John Krasinski enough to have a Man Crush on him, it may just be his character Jim. But I like to think they're one in the same.

Michael Cera: This is a strange Man Crush since Michael Cera is basically my age, but this crush blossomed during the time of "Arrested Development." Although I didn't know too much about Michael Cera at that time and only really knew George Michael, I quickly found out Michael Cera was just as socially awkward as his character counterpart. I'm a pretty socially awkward guy a lot of the time, and it was good to know that someone as awkward as I could figure out a way to be successful in the Hollywood sense. Even if he does play the same role and personality every movie (Here are my suggestions for Michael Cera's next movies)

Robert Downey Jr.: RDJ has done a lot with his acting career as well as going to hell and back with all his crazy stuff. Then he emerged from hell to star in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and a Man Crush-spark was ignited. Since then, he has done some awesome movies that have yet to disappoint me, and seems to be really down to Earth and a lover of life.

Jason Segel: One of my favorite TV shows that I always try to get people to start watching is "How I Met Your Mother." In this show, Jason Segel stars as Marshall, the best friend of the main character that is married to Alyson Hannigan. Also, he is the man on this show. If there was ever a sitcom character that I would like to be friends with in real life it would be Marshall. Then, Segel decided to write and star in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and it made me realize that he is as awesome in real life as he is on HIMYM. My favorite part about him writing Forgetting Sarah Marshall is that he also composed the songs for the Vampire Musical. Pure Genius.

As for a new man crush, my top prospect is Paul Feig. He created and wrote "Freaks and Geeks," and he also has a hilarious childhood and dating life as I've read in his two memoirs, Kick Me and Superstud. Many of the stories in these books have incredible similarities to my life and my misadventures with women and dating, and it gives me hope that I can be a successful writer/anything else in Hollywood.

So who are your Man Crushes (or Female Crushes for the ladies)?

Tweeting Too Hard

I am all for Twitter. I kind of dislike Facebook because it's just become a little too much, like an uncle who would drink and become a huge comedian, but then he just kept drinking and became a raging alcoholic that no one really liked or wanted to be around anymore. I'm not sure if that metaphor makes sense, but if it does then awesome. Anyways, Twitter is a great way to update and keep track of not only friends but celebrities, bands, etc. I have found few flaws in it until I came across tweeting too hard. Basically, the site allows users to submit tweets from people that are just completely self-centered and over the top. To this point, I have never seen anyone I've been following tweet anything near what these tweets are before, but the fact that these people exist make it hilarious. Anyways, check it out, and if you have Twitter you should follow these 3 celebs I recommend:
@robhuebel
@rainnwilson
@paulfeig

And feel free to follow me.

Link: Tweeting Too Hard

The Black Cab Sessions

I am a big fan of music. I'm an even bigger fan of musicians doing really cool stuff while playing songs. Like when Arcade Fire played Neon Bible in an elevator. That's why I've become obsessed with The Black Cab Sessions. The Black Cab Sessions takes artists, throws them in the back seat of a cab, and has them play beautiful music. They get one shot to play a song all the way through and then its posted on their website. It's pretty sweet seeing bands play as double decker buses and cars are riding right on by, and there all some really solid bands on there. These bands include Death Cab For Cutie, Fleet Foxes, My Morning Jacket, Cold War Kids, Spoon, Peter Bjorn and John, Bon Iver, The Kooks, The New Pornographers, and many many more. There's really no point in me still talking to you about this anymore.

You just need to check it out: The Black Cab Sessions

Pick The Perp

I came across a hilarious site today called Pick the Perp. Basically, the website gives you 5 mug shots and a crime, and you decide which person committed that crime. Not only is it fun, but it also shows how much you profile people:
Like how I was very wrong thinking the skinny white guy would commit domestic battery when it was really the blond haired girls. Anyways, it's a good way to waste some time. Get on with it: Pick the Perp

Cafe Disco

So I really enjoyed "The Office" last night. Cafe Disco was a huge success. One of the songs was this kind of indie type song that I very much enjoyed so I tracked it down and got it on here for your listening pleasure. Listen to The Blam - Various Disgraces.

Texts From Last Night.

One of the big trends of late as been the website FML. I'm a pretty big fan of the website, and I think in general I just enjoy personal humor, which is why I've become a huge fan of this site my friend Spencer turned me on to. Texts from last night is basically exactly what it sounds like: actual texts from actual people that have been submitted to the site. Basically all of them were originally sent by people who were intoxicated or on some other sort of drugs, which makes them all the better. Here are some examples of texts submitted to this site that I really enjoy:

(678): did not feel like going to store to get condoms last night so went to her pantry and got a sandwich bag and a rubberband
(404): did it work?
(678): nope

(954): the guy I was hooking up with asked me if he could wear a guerilla suit during sex.

(410): You are still hot in my book. I wanna dry hump u like a 9th grader then hump for real when the herpes is gone.

(832): I have the sudden urge to buy a Snuggie and wear it to the grocery store.

(804): So how Liz Lemon is this? I bring a boy home, we get in bed, and I realize there's a lean pocket wrapper in the sheets.

(205): Dude, she had a vegina. I felt like Indiana Jones cutting a path through the jungle.

(973): Do you remember getting into a Delorean last night?

Those are just some of the gems on that site. Go check it out: Texts from last night

Review: State of Play

Going into State of Play, I was not exactly sure what I would think of it. I knew it had a great cast and one of those trailers that makes a movie look very intense, but I did not know much more than that. Basically, Russell Crowe is the old timer journalist for the Washington Post who is college pals with a Congressman (Ben Affleck). Affleck is looking to take down PointCorp, a mercenary program profiting off war when his lead researcher ends up dead and it is leaked that he had an affair with her. Now, a young blogger at the paper (Rachel McAdams) goes to Crowe to try to get answers. Crowe is reluctant on first, but the two start to unravel a story that begins to interweave with and impact personal lives. Crowe and McAdams try to break the story without breaking the law (too much) and keeping their lives.

This is one of those movies where you start watching, and then suddenly you realize youre basically sitting in the next row you're so far on the edge of your seat. The story is so well mapped out and its the perfect amount of mystery where you as a viewer can put the pieces together, but you still get a few big curveballs thrown at you. It also has one of those early twists where Crowe and McAdams are working on two stories that suddenly become the same story (or a Johnny Gossamer novel for those Kiss Kiss Bang Bang fans). The story comes together really nicely, and they are not afraid to throw in one last twist.

Not only did this movie have great performances by the main cast (Affleck, Crowe, McAdams and Helen Mirren), but it also had some very strong supporting roles. Jeff Daniels played a great congressman with his own secrets. Jason Bateman played a dopey PR guy who becomes a big piece of the puzzel. It also features Michael Weston (Kenny the cop from Garden State) as another journalist). Overall, the cast puts on a great performance. There is a line in the movie that says "those are the kind of cases you only find in movies." Once they said that I realized how real this whole movie felt, which was pretty sweet.

See if you like:
The Departed

Rating:
8/10

Fan Facebook Pages

So I mean Facebook is pretty cool most of the time. Like it has its ups and like ways of communicating with people and stuff, but it has its stuff that's kind of weird too. I think I've generally been a fan of this new Facebook that most other people hate (any time Facebook ever changes anything it always becomes of topic of hatred conversation for everyone, and I always find it amusing), but there is one aspect that I just don't understand: fan pages.

It's not so much as I don't understand them, I do get the concept, it just amazes me some of the things you can be a fan of. I mean I would love to make a joke list of things you can be a fan of on Facebook, but I feel as if I would actually pick real fan pages. Well let's see. I will pick 10 things right now Facebook should have a fan page for and then see if they have it:

Sex - Yes, over 500 results, even though a good amount of them were Sex and the City. There was a group that was just SEX!!! (It was under Sports/Athletics)

Murder - Yes, the REDRUM picture from The Shining was the group picture. There are currently 71 fans of murder. I did not see the Craigslist killer on there though

Porn - The first result was Overcoming Porn Addiction. It had 1,453 fans. Hardcore Porn only had 244 fans. I wonder how many people are fans of both those.

Gravity - There are 569 fans of Gravity. I feel like this is a small number considering its a pretty important part of life.

Oxygen - there are 18,443 fans of Oxygen. This number is still kind of small. I mean there are people out there right now who when asked if they like oxygen respond, "eh, I can take it or leave it. I'm not really a fan."

Tailbones - This was byfar the most hilarious thing. I only found the Tailbone and Sciatica Pain Help Seating System. Even better there was only 2 fans. I think we should push to put this past Oxygen.

"The Wave" - There was actually not anything specifically for "The Wave," which is interesting since every fan page could do the wave as fans for their particular thing. There were 999 fans of French New Wave though.

Earthworms - Nothing, closest match: Aesop Rocks: Music for Earthworms (2,047 fans)

Cotton - While 8,503 fans for Cotton may be impressive, it is not nearly as impressive as the 52,735 for Cotton Candy

5 Dollar Footlongs - while there are 510,827 fans of Subway. There are 0 fans of the 5 dollar footlong. That is just depressing.

There was pretty much no rhyme or reason to those, just whatever obscure thing came to my mind that Facebook may or may not have a page for. It's incredibly ridiculous that most of those actually had fans. I mean I was suggested to be a fan of sleeping the other day by Facebook. I was wondering if Facebook was suggesting I wouldn't be a fan of sleep or if they somehow knew about my insomniatic tendencies and were mocking me.

I also think that with this become a fan deal there should be become a hater or something along those lines deal. Cause if you think about it, there are things you hate and you should be able to express that via Facebook. Like my little thing said that 6 of my friends were a fan of New Jersey. I hate New Jersey. It's where I live when I'm not in Boston so I put up with it, but New Jersey is like that relative that you really don't like but have to suck it up to see every once in a while. I would love to be a hater of New Jersey on Facebook. Similarly, I think you should be able to dislike things. Like when that girl you have been eyeing in French class becomes in a relationship, you should have the right to dislike it. Or I guess you can just become a fan of Ice Cream and drown your sorrows. Whatever works.

Review: Adventureland

Greg Mottola's first film after 'Superbad' does not disappoint. If you were to make this movie into an equation from 'Superbad,' it would look something like this: The Same Amount Bill Hader + Heart - Laughs + Vampire Lovers + Substituting a new awkward lead = Adventureland. Mottola really steps it up with this movie, and there was really so many enjoyable parts to this movie. Yes, it may not have as many laughs as Superbad, but it is close; Where it completely beats Superbad is story.

'Adventureland' has such a solid story that is funny, heart-warming, and mostly realistic. It's got the twists and turns, problems, and dialogue that a good script needs. Jesse Eisenberg shines as the awkward, post-college grad kid who needs a summer job to pay for graduate school. He really is like a less known Michael Cera with curlier hair. Kristen Stewart also shows she has really grown as an actress and puts a lot of emotion into her character. Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig provide great comedic releif during the dramatic parts of the story, and hold the movie together.

The movie is also great at creating a product of its time, the 80s. The songs, clothing, and attitudes are all extremely accurate to its time period (not that I would know, but I feel like this would be the 80s). 'Adventureland' makes me wish I had a one of these summers in my town where you had a great time with the people you worked with an romance thrived. While the story seems like a high school tale, it does take place four years later, which means I still have hope.

This film also features the great Martin Starr from the extraordinary "Freaks and Geeks," which alone is worth watching it for. Him and Eisenberg turn into best friends and they are both incredibly geeky, and they play those roles well. The story of course has the question of friendship after betrayal, as well as the theme of will the geeky guy get the girl? While I don't want to answer those questions, I will say that Mottola finds a way to make the answers extremely realistic and that's what really hits home.

Rating: 8/10

Top 250 Movies

I decided on a new goal the other day: that I would see all of IMDBs top 250 movies. This is going to take a long time, but I figured I should do it at one point in my life. Anyways, I also wanted to post a bit more, so I will most likely post after I watch each movie just to give a quick review of what I thought. Some will be quick, some will be lengthy, lots may just be haikus like this one for The Usual Suspects, number 81 finished for me and #22 on IMDBs list:

Spacey pulls a con,
They're convinced he's not the guy
Shoot, turns out he is.