Monthly Archives: August 2009

The Goods

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Jake and I went to see The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard last night at a screening thanks to Scene-Stealers. (Sidebar: if you are not following the Scene-Stealers feed, you are missing out.) You would be hard pressed to keep me away from a movie with Jeremy Piven as the star — I’ve loved The Pivs from way back in the day when he had a significantly bigger forehead.

In fact, his performance in this totally average comedy from Adam McKay and Will Ferrell was extremely reminiscent of his portrayal of James “Droz” Andrews in PCU, the completely underrated Animal House of the ’90s. I’d say that his character Don “The Goods” Ready is closer to Droz than it is to his more popular Ari Gold (of HBO’s Entourage, as if you didn’t know).

Piven carries this movie on his back (as he should, considering he’s the star) with little help from Ferrell/McKay/Apatow stalwarts like David Koechner and Ken Jeong. The movie itself, unfortunately, relies heavily on the mostly unfunny Ving Rhames and a lot of homoerotic jokes from James Brolin. There are some good parts with Kathryn Hahn and Rob Riggle, but they are better left unmentioned. It’s nice to see Hahn with a little bit bigger role. She’s always playing someone’s funny/quirky/sad friend/sister in romantic comedies and I’m glad to see her stretch her legs a little.

I laughed several times during the movie, but I can’t say that there were a lot of standout scenes (or even lines) for me. Just some random silliness about trashy used car mercenaries. When the credits rolled and I looked down at my watch, I realized that the movie came in at almost exactly 90 minutes, which is no small feat, considering that directors these days feel obligated to put at least 120 minutes up on the screen. Even with its short length, there were times where I thought to myself, I hope this gets moving a little quicker. This is particularly true for the obligatory Will-Ferrell-completely-ridiculous-sidebar that nearly ruined the movie for me because it didn’t fit into the story (along the lines of the animated Pleasuretown tangent in Anchorman).

I enjoyed it enough, but I can’t enthusiastically recommend it. If you’re a massive Jeremy Piven fan like me, I’d recommend it without question. But there are only so many of us out there.

Old sweatshirts and silverware

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I have this sweatshirt that used to be my favorite article of clothing.

I wore it all the time in college because it defined who I was. On the front, it says: “GRACELAND VOLLEYBALL” in traditional college capital letters. It’s gray with navy writing — an unremarkable sweatshirt, but it was my favorite. It was comfortable and I loved it.

I haven’t worn that sweatshirt in at least 5 years.

It’s not that I lost it. I know exactly where it is.

It’s not that it doesn’t fit me anymore. It does, even though it’s a little more snug than it used to be.

I just doesn’t define me anymore.

Now, don’t get me wrong…I will always treasure the time I spent as a member of the Graceland Men’s volleyball team. It was an important part of my life and the friends that I made are still a big part of my life. They always will be. But as time has put its distance between me and that time of my life, the sweatshirt has been replaced by a 3-button navy pullover sweater from Old Navy. That’s my go-to item for comfort these days.

Sweatshirt and Silverware

As I was emptying the dishwasher today, I was looking at our silverware. Next summer we will have been married for 10 years and the silverware we chose is still perfect. It’s practical and sturdy and works both for everyday use and for nicer occasions.

What was it about the silverware that made us realize that we’d still love it 10, 20, 50 years from when we got married? It’s classic and it isn’t fussy or fancy and I guess that’s kind of what Alli and I try to be in our relationship.

All of us have things in our lives that are like the sweatshirt and the silverware. Things like the sweatshirt are meaningful to us at a specific time and they remind us of good times, but their importance wanes. My volleyball sweatshirt shaped me quite a bit more than the silverware did personally. But the silverware will be around longer and probably be more functional to me over time.

A lot of relationships in our lives can fall into one of these two categories. Some are like a comfortable sweatshirt — keeping us warm and giving us identity, but they have an expiration date. Others are unassuming and functional like silverware — constant and sturdy and long-term. Both are important to us for different reasons. An interesting sidebar is that the close friends I’ve made through volleyball…they are examples of the sturdy silverware in my life.

It’s funny what you think about when you unload the dishwasher.

Mass transit? Yes please.

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I caught this video via @Urbanverse on Twitter (when Twitter wasn’t down due to a DDoS). It’s a imagineKC video that ran on KCPT as a part of a special on Kansas City redevelopment.

It makes so much sense for this city to have mass transit. We’re so spread out here in KC, yet the places where we work are so clustered. As we move toward a greener, healthier society, it seems like the next step to connect everyone through modes of transportation that are automated and clean.

Now if the Kansas City government could just get someone in the mayor’s office with half a brain…

How to grow a beard

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All you have to do, apparently, is walk across China. That’s what Christopher Rehage did, photographing himself every single day, from the moment he shaved his head and beard at the beginning to a year later when he did it again. It’s almost as if you can see the wisdom being added to his face as he treks across deserts and mountains and villages.

Really cool stuff.

(via kottke)

Fresh Content

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Every so often, I like to reach out to my readers (all 6 of you out there) and see what content you are liking and would like to see more of and what content you could do without. In all honesty, I don’t care too much what you think…I’m still going to  write what I want…I just like to hear your thoughts. It’s really a desperate attempt to bump up my comment count.

Shane Life (and before that, I, Shane) always has been and always will be about whatever I’m thinking about on the days that I have time to write. I’d love to spend more time here generating new content, but that life part often gets in the way.

However, I have an idea that I’d like to run by you…

I’m considering starting a new blog called “The Guide to Good Husbandry,” a collection of my thoughts on love, relationships and how to make marriage work from the male perspective. Is this something that you’d be interested in seeing on the main blog, or would you like to see the content separated?

This blog will continue either way. I just like to hear what you’re thinking from time to time.

So what are you thinking?

Ramsey on Facebook and Twitter

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I’ve always said, the value of Facebook and Twitter is dependent upon the people you follow (or are friends with). If you follow or are friends with people that suck- your experience with either of these websites will suck.

- Ramsey Mohsen, “Facebook sucks if your friends suck.” [emphasis mine]

This is such a true statement about these new mediums where people are making connections (and re-connections) like Facebook and Twitter. Ramsey’s post was written as a  response to a column on MSN titled “Is Facebook past its prime?” He covers the uniqueness of each person’s individual experience and how each place really is what you make of it (or your friends make of it).

Ramsey’s response to the article is thoughtful and insightful and I recommend you go and read it. (follow Ramsey on Twitter)

Also, you can follow me on Twitter.