Posted 7:15 PM by Matt
Stephen Sondheim Strikes Back?--Saw Jersey Girl this afternoon. Yes, it's mawkish and sentimental. Yes, it's completely different from anything Kevin Smith has done before. Yes, it's not really all that funny. But you have to admire the audacity of a guy who's proclaimed himself the maestro of dick and fart jokes and people saying "fuck" a lot devoting 5 minutes of his movie to an excerpt from a not-particularly generally known Broadway musical and never actually explaining to his audience what "Sweeney Todd" is actually about.

Posted 3:30 PM by Matt
Attack of the Drunken Lawyers--In my day job, when I'm not blogging about pointless stuff like television, movies, and political contributions of television and movie stars, I'm an attorney. Last night was a massive black-tie banquet. Nearly 3,000 intellectual property attorneys, dates of intellectual property attorneys, and clients, all crammed into every little nook and cranny of the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in Manhattan. Needless to say, people tend to get drunk, especially since after the banquet is the hospitality suite run-down--an entire floor of the Waldorf devoted to nothing but lawyers schmoozing and drinking. Two bizarre observations:

1. The keynote speaker was (somewhat inexplicably) former TV personality Charles Osgood. I was seated in one of the "remote" areas, where the tables chattered rather than listened to him, as he was projected on the giant screens in front of us. Suddenly, I look up, and Osgood has reached behind himself and picked up a banjo. He then apparently serendaded the audience on the banjo for nearly 10 minutes. I was scared.

2. The main course last night was a small steak with brandy sauce. Fairly good. However, this poses a problem for observant Catholics. Therefore, it was specifically noted in the program that the Archdiocese of New York had granted a dispensation from the Friday regulation of abstinence from meat. Maybe it's just me, but I think God has more important things to worry about than either whether we're eating meat or not or granting dispensations from that obligation.

Posted 3:30 PM by Matt
"Good morning, I'm Bob Edwards"--For many years now (dating back to elementary school, I think), I've awakened to NPR's "Morning Edition" and the comforting Appalachian lilt of Bob Edwards' voice. Whether he's talking to a political leader or simply shooting the breeze about sports (first with the late Red Barber, and more recently with John Feinstein), he's always been a pleasure to listen to. It was announced today that Edwards will be leaving the anchor chair of "Morning Edition" as of the end of April, either voluntarily, as NPR's press release indicates, or because he was "forced out," as CNN and the AP suggest. My mornings just won't be the same without his voice.