Reviews and such

Well it's quarter to 10 and about three months behind on a usual posting schedule. So I can either get to work on the job that pays me or feed the procrastination of a few lost souls out there in the workforce. So in the spirit of Bad Idea Jeans ("I mean I know I should have worn a condom but when am I going to get back to Haiti?"), I'll go with the latter and roll the dice, as usual, on the former.

Reviews: Saw "Hustle & Flow" last week at a sneak preview mixed intermittenly with hipsters and an urban focus group, which incredibly included more than a handful of young kids who probably shouldn't be watching a movie about a pimp on the come up. Maybe, it's just me, but I thought the two tikes in the Chicago Parks District T-shirts were adorable shouting "Whomp that trick!"

All sociological scatting aside, I highly recommend this movie. Strangely enough it's an MTV-produced movie, but then again so was Napoeleon Dynamite, but it's more of a Southern "8 Mile," except this movie's slutty white girl (Taryn Manning taking "trashy hot" to new, exciting levels) is actually a prostitute - and a $20-40 one to boot!

Terrence Dashon Howard is the lead role DJay and is rigidly intense in his role as pimp (hustle) and rapper (flow).

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005024/

H&F is a little formulaic at times, but what movie isn't, really? Even "Napoleon" ends with a dance sequence and the always-unimportant high school election.

The movie's two fictional tracks will bounce around your head for a few days, not unlike "That Thing You Do" from "That Thing You Do." Except these songs are about bitches and ho's.

Also checked out "The Pain and the Itch" at Steppenwolf Theatre on Saturday, after the tapas and before the fondue, and no, I never thought I would type or say that before.

It's described as a "dark, dark comedy" which is a pretty solid description. The first half had a number of laugh-out-loud moments while the second half delved deeper into the dark problems of a dysfunctional upper-class suburban family in Chicago.

Highlights include hot Northwestern grad Kate Arrington as befuddled, racist foreigner Kalina, the comedic stylings of some old lady and my girlfriend's uncomfortable laughter as she sat next to my mom when the wife compared her husband's erstwhile beard to a vagina.

http://www.steppenwolf.org/boxoffice/productions/index.aspx?id=317

The chocolate fondue and tapas were excellent, by the way.