When Irish Eyes Are Not Smiling

For some reason I decided to subject myself to the 2007 NBA Draft last night. Normally, I would be very enthusiastic about the chance to watch future millionaires - many of whom I enjoyed watching play college ball - in colorful, ill-fitting suits with their large moms and entourage in tow on the biggest night of their lives. Throw in analysts such as Dick Vitale and Jay Bilas trotting out cliched terms such as "upside," "wingspan," and "athletic," a smirking Commissioner David Stern at the podium shaking hands and making awkward small talk with each selection, post selection interviews by Stuart "Booyah" Scott with foreign players sans translator (for Scott or the player), and Knicks fan Spike Lee in the audience and the unintentional comedy potential at this event is just off the charts.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers (above left) and G.M. Danny Ainge: Why are these guys smiling?

However, I must admit that my interest in the NBA in general has been adversely affected by the sinking fortunes of my favorite team, the Boston Celtics. The fact that this is the first time they have been written about on this blog should tell you something. Just in the last two weeks alone I have read that current stars Kevin Garnett, Shawn Marion and Jermaine O'Neal had no interest in going to Boston via trade, as a desperate Celtics General Manager Danny Ainge tried to make a major deal to placate disgruntled star Paul Pierce. And even though I have long since accepted the fact that the C's are irrelevant in today's NBA, it still sucks to read that three star players don't want to play for your team. Heck, if I were Garnett, Marion or O'Neal I wouldn't want to go there either.

Since winning 16 NBA titles with legends such as Auerbach, Russell, Cousy, Havlicek and Bird, the last in 1986, it has been a steady decline for the C's. While still a contending playoff team in the early 90's and again in the early 00's when they went to the conference finals under Jim O'Brien, there have also been many sub par to god awful years including those under M.L. Carr in the mid 90's lowlighted by a 15-67 record in 1996-97, the worst in team history. Well chronicled by fellow Celtics fan and ESPN.com Page 2 writer Bill Simmons, whose 11th annual NBA draft diary I read earlier today, the franchise has endured one crushing blow after another in the 20 years since its last title. The highlights of the list read as follows:

1) The death of Len Bias (below, left), the 2nd pick in the 1986 draft, of a cocaine overdose.

2) The death of star forward Reggie Lewis (below, right) in 1993 of a heart attack.

3) Despite having the worst record in the league and TWO picks in the first round, not winning the draft lottery and the right to sign forward Tim Duncan (4 rings and counting with the Spurs) with the first pick in the 1997 draft.

4) Despite having the 2nd worst record in the league (and almost a 40% chance at one of the first two picks), falling all the way to the 5th pick and missing out on both Greg Oden and Kevin Durant in the 2007 draft.

This list does not even include the disastrous tenures of G.M.'s Rick Pitino and Chris Wallace, where the team doled out mammoth contracts to players such as Vin Baker, Tony Battie, Kenny Anderson, Brian Scalabrine and Mark Blount and passed in the draft on the likes of Kobe Bryant (1996), Jermaine O'Neal (1996), Tracy McGrady (1997) and Richard Jefferson (2001). When Ainge took over as G.M. in 2004 he inherited a mess and to his credit improved things to the point where the team was just good enough to squeak into the playoffs on occasion but not good enough to do any damage. However, 3 years and like 6 rebuilding philosophies later they're just plain bad.

It is almost like the basketball Gods have decided that after decades of good karma and a boat load of titles, that the Celtics now must endure decades of misery. Maybe this is karmic payback for the Patriots recent run of Super Bowl titles and the Red Sox winning the World Series in 2004. If so, as a New England sports fan I'm OK with it. These things go in cycles and my teams can't all be on top at the same time. Right?

First Weekend of Summer in Chi-town

I hope that everybody had a nice first weekend of summer. It was both a work and play weekend for me, with the work consisting of the third and final installment of my Illinois teaching certification testing. The test consisted of 125 multiple choice questions, mostly general knowledge in the areas of language arts, math, science, history, politics. As usual, it was the math and science related questions that gave me the hardest time. However, I was very proud to have answered the following biology question correctly: The mitochondria, an organelle found in plants and animals, performs what cellular function? (see end of post for answer).

The test was given at the Chicago High School for Agricultural Science on West 111th St. which, for those of you not familiar with the city, is one hell of a drive through some major construction on the both I-94 East (aka the Dan Ryan) and I-57. Fortunately, at least in terms of traffic, my test was at 7:30a so no worries in the morning. I also dodged a traffic bullet on the way home in that the White Sox and Cubs were playing at U.S. Cellular Field on the south side, but the game had already started by the time I returned home on the Dan Ryan. The test went well and it was a relief for it to just be over. Quite frankly I've had about enough with the testing. I've jumped through your hoops, state of Illinois, give me a freakin' job already. The play part of the weekend consisted of a very fun evening Saturday night at the Belmont Arts & Music Festival in Roscoe Village (my neighborhood). My friend Greg drove in from Glenview with his buddy Geoff, who was in town from San Francisco, and our mutual friend Chris was already over there since his band kicked off the festivities under drizzly conditions on one of the two stages set up on Belmont Street. I got there a little later in the afternoon and saw The Redwalls, a popular local band from the north side of Chicago as well as an acoustic set from Bob Mould, veteran lead singer of the bands Husker Du and Sugar. The good times and Pacifico beer were flowing and, thanks to some creative thinking by Geoff, the latter continued to flow from a party we attended earlier in the evening long after we had left.

Answer:

Mitochondria provide the energy a cell needs to move, divide, produce secretory products, contract - in short, they are the power centers of the cell.

"A Little West Coast Swing" Part II: The Visit

I had originally planned to post part II the day after part I but one thing led to another and, well, here we are on Sunday evening and I am just getting to it. Suffice it to say it was a really fun visit, and an ambitious one in the that I was combining a visit to my sister in Silicon Valley with a side trip to the wedding of a family friend in Squaw Valley/Lake Tahoe, some 230 miles drive from San Francisco. And all of this in 5 days.

The first couple of days were spent with my sister and the nieces, the oldest two of which took to calling me Uncle G during the visit, which I kind of liked. Even the baby, Erica, who just turned 2 in April was calling me Uncle Gant (the left out "r" is not a typo) not long after I arrived. Very cool. It was Caroline's (age 8) last day of school so I went over there with my sister and met her 2nd grade teacher from this past year, as well as some of her friends as they were all taking Chinese lessons after school. I munched on some etamame and watched one of the teachers give a Tai chi demonstration, which elicited howls of laughter from the less than impressed group of youngsters while I tried my adult best to make them pay attention.

I should probably mention that it was hot, really hot, for the first few days of my visit, with unseasonably warm temperatures in the low 90's. So basically there were few moments spent outside during the day when I wasn't either at, or on my way to the pool. This included a trip to Ladera Oaks, a private country club down the street from my sister's house where Meredith (age 5) takes swim lessons. I was told that I might have to scram after dropping Meredith off, since the family is not a member of the club. However, I was able to chill poolside with all the moms while Erica splashed around in the kiddie pool for 45 minutes. Fortunately for Uncle Gant, the swim diaper held up quite well.

On Friday morning it was off to Tahoe for the wedding. I mentioned that it was for a family friend. Specifically, the groom, Rob, is the younger son of my former next door neighbors Ginna and Sheldon in West Hartford, Connecticut, my hometown. I babysat for him and his older brother, Ashton, in the mid 1980's and they were kind of like the younger brothers I never had. These two were 8 and 5 years old, respectively, when I first knew them and now I was seeing the younger one of the two get married. You want to talk about an "I feel reeeeeally old" moment. In any case, I stayed at a posh hotel in Squaw Valley right on the base of an 8,600 foot snow-covered (though not very much) mountain, complete with a cable car to the top that we took on Saturday, where there is a pool, the ice rink that was used for the VII Winter Olympics in 1960, and views of Lake Tahoe that would blow your mind. The ceremony was in a garden just steps from Lake Tahoe in Carnelian Bay, and the reception poolside at the hotel. Just spectacular scenery all around and it was great to catch up with friends and family alike. Good times.

Barely 24 hours later, it was back in the car for the 230 mile return trip to Silicon Valley. This brings us to the crown jewel event of the weekend, the Menlo Park Academy of Dance presents "Movies in Motion" at Woodside High School on Sunday, aka Father's Day. I had known about this bi-annual event when my sister mentioned it at Christmas time and, as far as Caroline and Meredith were concerned, this was the reason that I came out to visit. My brother-in-law Ken's aunt, Judy, came into town from L.A. while I was in Tahoe so we all piled in the SUV and made our way to the show.

Highlights of the event, other than my two nieces, of course, included a routine to the theme from "Ghostbusters" and countless routines featuring little kids looking all cute in their costumes who stared off to the side of the stage to get their moves from the instructor. This resulted in high comedy such as one routine when the entire line of dancers did the tilt of the head on the pressed hands to pretend they were sleeping while one child jumped up and down with her hands waving, completely oblivious to the rest of the group. You know what they say about never sharing the stage with children and animals? This event was certainly proof of the former.

"A Little West Coast Swing" Part I: Random Thoughts

Can I first just say that after a lengthy hiatus, my friends Chris ("Our Man in LA") and Reggie ("ReggieNewton.com") have been kicking some serious butt in the blogging department lately? Excellent work, boys. It is time for me to step it up on the blog front after a recent dry spell. Anyway, I hope everybody had a nice Father's Day weekend with the family. I spent last week on the left coast visiting my sister and nieces in Silicon Valley and also managed to squeeze in a wedding of an old family friend in Squaw Valley/Lake Tahoe. Before I get into the details and attach some photos of my visit in another post, I wanted to dispatch with some odds and ends from the weekend in list form. In no particular order, they are as follows:

1) My sister and brother-in-law rented the first DVD of the new "Not Just The Best of the Larry Sanders Show" 4 disc set from Netflix. If you never saw the show - a behind-the-scenes look at the inner workings of a fictional late night talk show - on HBO in the early-mid 90's I highly recommend checking this out. The dry, biting, sarcastic humor, documentary style and lack of a studio audience on later comedy shows such as "The Office" (UK and US versions), "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "30 Rock" is very much influenced and inspired by "The Larry Sanders Show."

The show's cast is a veritable who's who of "that guys," from Jeremy Piven of current fame on "Entourage" to later "24" regulars Penny Johnson (The first President Palmer's wife) and Mary Lynn Rajskub (Chloe), to Jeffrey Tambor ("Three's Company" and "Arrested Development"). This is in addition to all the actors/comedians who appeared on the show as themselves. The fact that they had only put out one season of the show on DVD since it went off the air in 1998 was a crime, and it is somewhat rectified by this collection of 23 episodes hand-picked by star Garry Shandling. It is not a substitute for releasing each season as a separate set, and the fact that the episodes are in no particular order screws up the continuity of some of the storylines. Regardless of these quibbles, the show is brilliant.

2) While returning from San Jose last night I connected at LAX and with some time to kill grabbed some food at the Burger King in the American Airlines terminal. I scanned the menu and saw several "Value Meals" such as the Whopper and Chicken sandwich items priced at upwards of $9.50. I settled on the Double Cheeseburger meal for $8.65, a relative bargain. This begs the question: Can you still in good conscience call various fast food entrees a value meal when it costs almost $10? Unless Bill Gates or Warren Buffett is the one buying it, I say no.

3) I don't know how many of you have seen the Southwest Airlines ad where the guy is in the plane and every part of the plane - from the luggage bins to the window shade - costs 25 cents to use, so as to poke fun at how the major airlines are bleeding customers dry. Hah hah, I thought, it will never get that bad. Well, on my flight from Los Angeles to Chicago we were told that:

a) There would be no freebies like peanuts or pretzels
b) There were two sandwiches available, a turkey wrap or chicken, for $5 and chips for $3
c) We could rent a Personal Entertainment Device (PED), not to be confused with an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) with an assortment of lame PG-13 movies including "Wild Hogs" and "The Sandlot" for $8
d) That the flight attendant would be coming through the cabin with a drink of our choice..."for $5" I said to the person next to me. No, actually the coffee, juice, soda and water is still free, believe it or not. Nice to know that I get something for my $350 round-trip ticket.

4) If you are ever driving on Interstate 80 East towards Reno, NV, aka the highway that takes you to Lake Tahoe, just be warned that the right lane is WAY bumpier than the left so stay in the left lane as much as possible. Then again, they let people drive on this highway with chains on their tires in the winter so neither lane is any great shakes.

5) If you are looking for a decent movie to see with the kids, I can actually kind of recommend "Shrek the Third." In fact, with all the references and inside jokes such as a Ye Olde Hooters restaurant and a Versarchery store in Far Far Away (where much of the story takes place) and music by Led Zeppelin, Heart and Wings, there seems to be more for the adults than the kids in this one. I know this because I chuckled on more than one occasion and got funny looks from my nieces, Caroline and Meredith, wondering what was so funny. I am not saying the movie is great, but it was something I could see with a 5 and 8 year-old and still retain my dignity.

Grant About Town - May 31, 2007

With the summer movie season kicking into high gear and the usual slate of big budget Hollywood studio offerings ("Spider-Man 3," "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," "Shrek the Third," "Oceans 13") hitting the multiplexes, I wanted to highlight a very satisfying trip to the movie theater that did not involve any of the aforementioned threequels. While it has certainly not received the hype and media coverage of these summer blockbusters, "Knocked Up" is a must-see and one of the best comedies I have seen in many years.

The film is written and directed by Judd Apatow, who's best known for co-writing/directing the hilarious "The 40 Year Old Virgin" (2005) that starred Steve Carell and had a great supporting cast including Catherine Keener, Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen. Apatow is a comedy veteran who wrote and produced for the brilliant HBO comedy "The Larry Sanders Show" as well as "The Ben Stiller Show" in the early 90's. I won passes to a free screening and made plans with my buddy Reggie to see the film at Piper's Alley on Thursday night. It was the least I could do for a friend, as I was the frequent beneficiary of movie passes when Reggie worked for the Chicago Tribune in the late 90's. Remember the 1997 classic "Starship Troopers?" Of course you do. Saw it for free, baby.

Seth Rogen moves up to top billing in "Knocked Up" as slacker/stoner Ben Stone, who while out with friends at a club meets up and eventually hooks up with E! producer Allison Scott, played by Katherine Heigl of "Grey's Anatomy" fame. Rogen is kind of a shlubby guy, definitely not your standard leading man type, but has that everyman underdog appeal. Heigl has a tough job as more of the straight man in this comic duo, but she has a real knack for comedy that makes her more than just a pretty face in the movie. Anyway, due to some confusion on the night of the hookup - Allison says "Just do it" while Ben is trying to, um, prepare himself for sex, which he interprets as him not needing to use a condom - Allison becomes pregnant. The timing could not be worse for her, as she just recently got a promotion to an on-air gig at E! and for him, as he has no job nor the income to support a baby.

The supporting cast is fantastic, particularly Paul Rudd as Allison's brother-in-law Pete, whose dysfunctional marriage to Debbie (Leslie Mann) and two kids gives Ben and Allison a window into what the future may hold as parents and a couple if they choose to stay together. According to Pete, "Marriage is just an unfunny version of 'Everybody Loves Raymond,' but it doesn't last 22 minutes ... it lasts forever." Pete becomes kind of a role model and confidant for Ben and their guy trip to Las Vegas, complete with a mushroom induced freakout by Ben during a Cirque du Soleil show, is dead on and had Reggie and I nodding our heads knowingly throughout. Also very funny is current "Saturday Night Live" cast member Kristen Wiig as one of Allison's bosses at E!

I have been a big fan of Paul Rudd (on the left, with Rogen in the picture above) for years and was even once told by an ex-girlfriend that I resembled him. He is really underrated as a comic actor with his droll, sarcastically funny performances in films like "Clueless" and "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" and in a recurring TV role on "Friends." Talent-wise this guy deserves to be talked about in the same breath as A-list comic actors such as Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson.

Another great scene and perhaps my favorite in the movie involves a very pregnant Allison and Debbie being turned away by a nightclub doorman (played by Craig Robinson - aka Daryl the warehouse supervisor from the TV show "The Office") because they aren't young or hot enough to merit admission, followed by an indignant Debbie going ballistic on the bouncer until he breaks down and admits to her that he would "tear that ass up." Underlying the humor is Debbie's sadness and frustration at the fact that while still very attractive, she knows she can't pull off the young party girl thing anymore.

Apatow has been quite a busy and successful man lately as a producer on the Will Ferrell films "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" and "Kicking and Screaming" in addition to his work on "Anchorman" and "The 40 Year Old Virgin." He really elevates himself into the comedy directing elite with this film, picking up where the Farrelly Brothers left off by combining their raunch and lewdness with fantastic dialogue sprinkled with pop culture references that include Ryan Seachrest (who makes a cameo in the film), "Back to the Future," the TV show "Lost," the singer Matisyahu and the "Mr. Skin" website.

The Farrelly Brothers films strike me as a bit mean-spirited at times, unless you find humor at the expense of the disabled, retarded people and conjoined twins to be good-spirited. "Knocked Up" actually has a heart underneath all of the jokes and one-liners. It takes on real life issues such as unplanned pregnancy, making the transition from single to married life, becoming a parent and male/female friendships and makes you laugh while at the same time still being poignant. While it is a stretch to believe that a relatively successful knockout like Allison would ever end up with a chronic loser like Ben, you care enough about the characters to willingly go along for the ride.