Before I Fall
Mar11

Before I Fall

MOVIE REVIEW: Before I Fall Just saw BEFORE I FALL. Start with GROUNDHOG DAY. Strip Phil Conners of everything interesting about his personality, make him the beta-bitch mean girl, and send him to high school. Now find anything emotionally resonant that happens between characters along with any subtlety or subtext and put that shit right in the text. Turn it into ham-handed dialogue or dump it into the incessant voice over....

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Unarmed
Mar11

Unarmed

ADVENTURES IN PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: Unarmed The man with the clipboard is deep in the pitch. His target, another passenger on the Gold Line train, nods and smiles and is prepared to buy whatever he’s selling. The tone of his rapid patter is more like flirting than politics. He’s hawking a petition about minimum wage, among others. She’s eating it all up with a spoon and would like to have him for dessert. “OK,...

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Yin and Yang
Mar11

Yin and Yang

ADVENTURES IN PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: Yin and Yang “Pardon me, sir. Would you be able to change a dollar for the bus?” I’m standing at the bus stop on the corner of Fair Oaks and Colorado in Old Town Pasadena. He is older gentleman in slacks and a blazer. I’m not using “gentleman” lightly. He seems uncommonly courteous. The kind of person for whom the term should be reserved. I ask whether four...

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A Rematch
Mar10

A Rematch

KEN V. BROKEN BARISTA: A Rematch The batista I broke a few weeks ago by giving him a quarter after he had already entered my order into the POS has apparently remained broken. “Hi. I’d like a large tropical iced tea with extra ice.” The batista stares at me for a few seconds. I stare back. “I don’t understand what you’re saying,” he finally pipes up. “Oh,” I say. The music is kind...

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Background
Mar09

Background

ADVENTURES IN PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: Background Overheard on the train (all are strangers): Guy1: Are they hiring where you work? Guy2: Yeah, you should apply. Guy1: Do they do a background check? Guy2: Yeah. Guy1: Can’t do it then. Guy2: They just look for felonies. Guy1: Can’t do it. They make it so hard. I mean, EVERYBODY’S got a felony. Guy3: I’ve got a felony. Guy4: I’ve got a felony! Guy5:...

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