Summer Shudder

Nantucket Sound Sunset Well, the title of this post should have been the title of the previous post, but I just wasn’t paying close enough attention. A lot of the time I try to come up with clever titles that play on words and stuff like that and I am sure I am not in the minority there. Look no further than Ed as he consistently comes up with great title posts. Then you have Jason, who usually has me running straight for dictionary.com.

However, when I’m not feeling clever, I try to find a song title that fits my posting topic in some way. Well, I got stuck on Consumed Summer because I was going to write about stuff I had consumed over the Summer, but I also felt it was a play on “Cruel Summer” — yes, it is a reach, but who can resist Bananarama — and the fact that Summer was now over, thus consumed.

What would have been more perfect was this title because not only does “shudder” suggest the Summer is closed (if you pretend it is “shutter”), it is the title of one of the tunes on the current AFI album (decemberunderground) that I recommended in the post! Anyway, I noticed it when I was spinning the disc tonight. Better. Late. Than. Never.

So, my main thought behind the end of Summer post was really to talk about music because there really were some kick ass discs out this year. When I say that Purple and Ill Communication still resonate from 94, I totally mean that. They are forever connected to that time. Whenever I listen to them, I think back to that Summer tearing around in my first car, a 91 Ford Escort GT purchased the previous Winter.

That said, I still want to touch upon the flicks of this Summer and on the Sox season that may soon be forever known as the year the Curse of the Grackle started. I’d chuck in some TV or Xbox 360 games here, but I didn’t really do much of either. In fact, I hardly played the 360 and the only TV I have watched is baseball, Mythbusters or whatever is on between the hours of 1am and 4am when I have trouble sleeping (or just don’t feel like it).

So, according the movie studios, the Summer movie season now begins with May 1st. Hmm… I seem to remember it used to begin with Memorial Day. Soon, I’m sure it will begin with Easter weekend… and yeah, according to Enterainment Weekly‘s Fall Movie Preview, December is considered part of that season. I suppose Winter doesn’t truly begin until 12/22, but then again, Summer doesn’t begin until 6/21.

Mission: Impossible III started us off and despite the hands of JJ Abrams, it was a disappointment. I’m pretty sure it was, wasn’t it? Well, that’s how I remember it now. Phillip Seymour Hoffman was good, Felicity bought it unexpectedly and Ethan’s wife was muy bonita. John Woo’s M:I 2 stands out better in my mind than this one, but then again, if I watched them together, maybe that won’t be the case. I guess a DVD rental will tell the tale, but if I do like it more, I may have to purchase it since I do own two.

X-Men: The Last Stand really got us going though. I remember liking this one and I am definitely looking forward picking this one up for the collection and watching them together over a weekend. I did this recently with the Austin Powers *trilogy* and it was fun. While Brett Ratner doesn’t quite have the same thing going as Bryan Singer does, it was still a good flick and I’m fairly certain my review reflects that. Notice I am linking back to them, but not actually reading them. Feel free to do the same as I’m sure there’s a good chance you haven’t even read this far…

The Break-Up smacked me in the face next. I’m getting a lot of play out of that line, but it’s true. I never did get back to finishing off my thoughts on that one and it is sort of a conscious decision. I had things to write based on it, but as time passes on I’m not so certain I want to blog them. Anyway, the movie wasn’t what I expected going in, but it was still good, so check it out. Just know ahead of time that it isn’t all giggles.

Superman Returns was my most anticipated movie of the Summer and my initial review was probably a little more glowing than it should have been. I will say it made for some good blogging fodder here and over on BBn, even though Jason lost some of my comments due to a technical glitch. I am looking forward to seeing it again on DVD to see how it stands up, and yes, I will be buying it. I am going to readdress my Top 5 Comic Book Movie List after recently watching both Spider-Man flicks (can’t wait for three next year!).

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest was probably the true winner of the season. I think it was an excellent follow-up to the first and I am eager for the third installment. Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow is worth the price of admission alone.

Lastly, I took in My Super Ex-Girlfriend, which while not great by any stretch, was fun thru parts and would be worth a rental. As I said in the review, the supporting actors/characters are better than the leads.

The only movie I really missed out on was Talladega Nights and I’ll be sure to catch that on rental. I did want to see Miami Vice before the Summer rolled in, but the reviews were poor, so that will likely see a rental too.

As I have mentioned here and in another post, I was able to catch some flicks like The 40 Year Old Virgin, Wedding Crashers and Must Love Dogs on cable when it was free for my new HD box. I also watched some others from my small collection like Swingers, Batman Begins and Old School (in addition to others already mentioned above). It would seem that Vince Vaughn, Will Ferrell and a Wilson Brother are an ongoing theme for me this Summer.

As for the Sox, well I am almost at a loss of words. They dropped off so quickly with so many injuries that there was no way to deal with it. The Yankees got their injury bug early, so they had time to recover, but ours was too late and there’s only so much Theo could do. He probably should have done something at the end of July, but even then no one saw the August that lay in wait for us. Was it that cute little Grackle? I’m not superstitious enough to believe that, but it was at start of it all.

All I know is up until Thursday night when Wake came back, we had four guys in our rotation that were either journeymen or Double-A guys along with Beckett, who was supposed to be the health question mark, being erratic. We also had the *normal life* issues hit us with Papi and his heart and Lester with a diagnosis of lymphoma which just broke my heart. No one should have to deal with that, especially a 22 year old kid just breaking in to his likely childhood dream career.

Negatives aside, I did get out to nine games this year (3 Yankee games) and that is around my average (I did have to sell my Mother’s Day tix and I blew off the Phillies game). I probably saw a 5-4 record, but I’d have to double-check that and I’m being lazy, remember? Papi hitting a walk-off, Lester’s first start, Delcarmen’s first win were highlights and they all happened during one rain-soaked weekend!

I didn’t get out to see any other ballparks for the second year in a row and it is also the first time in the four year history of the Monster Seats that I didn’t have tickets up there. I guess that’s more negativity. Boston sports fans can’t help it. Super Bowls and World Series be damned! Hey, a positive is I got fed up with Sports Radio, so no more WEEI for me. The idiot callers and poor on-air talent — not you Michael Holley — finally got to me.

So that’s it, the Summer is *shuddered.* I’m looking forward to Fall, so in that vein my next post, or two if it runs long again ;), will be coming attractions for the new season. There’s lots to talk about from television-to-360 and movies-to-football. I’m sure we’ll see some good albums drop too, but I haven’t researched that much yet. I needs me a list in EW dammit!