Turkish E.T.

Awhile back, I got a slew of wonky Turkish remakes of Hollywood blockbusters from the ever entertaining Five Minutes to Live website. None are truly watchable in the normal sense, mainly because they’re totally insane and not dubbed (or subtitled) in English. Of course, they’re completely fascinated nonetheless.

Badi, a ‘remake’ of ET, features a strange-breasted costumed character sure to give nightmares to those more sensitive to gross things. The Turkish analog of Elliot is pretty adorable and top notch when it comes to inadvertently looking directly at the camera. His best friend (who can wildly gesture with the best of them) wears a superb hat, and his blubbering little brother got the biggest laugh of all from me when, instead of giving a hug and getting a gentle finger poke (I’ll be right here) from the alien, he grabs the alien’s the rubber hand, kisses it as if Badi were the Godfather, then bangs it against his forehead in agony.

Click here for the rest of Badi

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Posted on November 15, 2009

At the Williamsburg Hall of Music

A concert is never more enjoyable than when the performers seem to be having just as much fun as the audience, and I’ve never seen and more mutual enthusiasm than at The Eccentric Soul Review at the Williamsburg Hall of Music. Several one-time soul artists who peaked in decades past were there to share the stage with each other and today’s voice of soul from Chicago, JC Brooks and The Uptown Sound.

Both Brooks and Eccentric Soul will be familiar to regular readers of this blog, so of course I was quick to get a ticket. Also, as I may have mentioned before,  a great friend of mine (since my long ago elementary school days) plays guitar and masterminds the Uptown Sound; it’s always a delight to see him strutting around the stage.

The show, which was quite crowded with eager, hip faces, began with my favorite act of the night, Renaldo Domino, who’s signature pleading song Not Too Cool to Cry is still playing in my head. Next out was Harlem rapper Miss Missy Dee who slammed through a brief performance with her MC and was once a rare female voice during the birth of hip hop.

The Notations, a white suited four man band who had a pretty big hit with the song I’m Still Here, came next and wowed the audience with their charisma and me especially with some impressive a capella.

JC Brooks, who really has a dynamite presence on stage, along with the band, which backed all the acts, delivered some particularly electric performances.

Syl Johnson was the headliner of the night, though, and he was one wild cat. Seemingly drunk, though I’ve since been assured that his rambling exuberance is simply his signature performance style, he sang many of his oft sampled hits, occasionally repeating just who sampled him (the words Wu Tang clan came up again and again).

The finale was a rousing rendition of You Can’t Always Get What You Want featuring everyone back on stage. It got the crowd so psyched that the artists had to return for one last song: The Tighten Up, originally by Archie Bell.

Click here for the rest of Eccentric Soul Review

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Posted on November 15, 2009

The organization itself is a grand one – both for the people it helps and the affordable treasures one can find there. However, the particular location right off the Bedford Avenue L train leaves something to be desired. I donated bags and bags full of clothing and books when we moved to our new apartment, but a more recent incident leads me to want to admonish anyone considering making a purchase from this particular branch.

It was a crisp autumn evening and it was unusual to see so many people crowded outside the front window of the shuttered shop. Curious as to what they were looking at, we wedged ourselves in to have a look. What did we see? A huge pack of huge rats rummaging through a pile of clothes pressed up against the other side of the glass. It was some serious Stephen King stuff and still makes me shiver to think of it.

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Posted on November 9, 2009

Sure, I loved Fifteen; it was no Swan's Crossing or Degrassi, but is was excellent as far as teen stereotype driven melodramas go… I loved watching the sagas of Matt, torn between basketball and alcohol; his girlfriend Ashley (Laura Harris of my husband's dearly missed Women's Murder Club), who spoke as if she were on the verge of tears all the time; total bitch Brooke, hell bent on destroying the happiness of others; and Dylan, the cool guy with the leather jacket and the serious attitude… but that pig-faced little kid Billy Simpson, he was never my favorite.

Years later, that pig-faced kid is a pig-faced man, only now he's Van Wilder, and women are in love with his hunky body. Sure, he might be one of Hollywood's most commercially viable leading men (he was fine in Adventureland) and married to the gorgeous Scar Jo, but he'll always be Billy Simpson to me and, even worse, he reminds me too much of Dane Cook in the face to qualify as a hunk.

I actually feel kind of guilty disparaging someone who doesn't seem all that bad… I'm sure he's a nice person(?), but I simply cannot abide his status as a hunk.

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Posted on November 9, 2009

This is a truly heartbreaking story. Once, not too long ago, a miraculous thing happened – an ugly menu for a pizza joint called Vinnie Vella's (adorned with an illustration that practically begged for low expectations) arrived on our doorstep and, surprisingly enough, their 'Grandma's Pie' (fresh ingredients atop a perfectly thin/thick crust) turned out to be absolutely delicious. Furthermore, VV's actually delivered to our neighborhood (I'll never forgive you for forsaking Greenpoint, Fornino).

Then one day we called up (the number was actually in Jim's phone – no longer) and ordered the usual. The place had a different name, but they assured us the menu was the same; we had no idea to what degree our lives were about the change for the worse. The delivery was late, we were starving, but what was in the box – ugh – we couldn't even bring ourselves to try more than half a slice each.

Nice job La Bella Mariella II, you ruined a beautiful thing with your gloppy cheap cheese and overly sweet canned tomato sauce you try to pass off as belonging on a pizza (PS: the photos on their site are totally inaccurate). I'm truly ashamed to admit it, but we actually threw away almost an entire pizza.

You will never be forgiven and I hope you perish the way of Better Fellas (the short lived shop that set up in the same location between Vinnie Vella's and Bella Mariella II).

Souen is really lucky, by the way, that I was so crushed by this pizza shop debacle and spared them the wrath of a lengthy tirade because their vegan dirt food made me sad while I was eating it and mad to be paying obscene amounts for it.

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Posted on November 9, 2009