The worst bit is that Spencer tried to downplay the whole thing, even though it was pretty much a disaster.  Their numbers for people sent to the hospital were obviously lower than the actual count, and the ban seemed to last for two or three more days.  Well, it's pretty much over now, so what else is there to say?  I'm just glad I decided not to hit the Spencer Dunkin Donuts that morning because it was too crowded. 

Hot Fuzz Sunday!
Greg and I saw the new comic masterpiece Hot Fuzz yesterday.  We loved Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg's previous effort, Shaun of the Dead, so this one was a no-brainer.  Ha ha, get it, "no-brainer?"  Zombies?  BRAINS??

Anyway, this movie was a riot from start to finish, bringing with it that same love for the genre it's spoofing as their first movie.  Pegg plays Nick Angel, an elite police officer in the London PD, who is asked to transfer to a small village by his superiors (including the very funny Paul Freeman and the always-dry Bill Nighy) for making them look bad.  Nick starts to immediately whip the sleepy town into shape, but can't help but notice that something sinister is afoot when people keep turning up horribly murdered (obviously, Wright and Pegg didn't get all of the playful gore out of their system with Shaun).  Meanwhile, his partner, Danny Butterman (Pegg sidekick Nick Frost) tries to learn some tips on being an exciting Bad Boys/Point Break style cop from Angel.  The results, as they say, are hilarious.  Okay, that's an understatement.  This is one of those movies that makes you laugh so much and so hard that you miss a lot of other dialogue.  It's also one of those movies that doesn't give all the biggest laughs away in the previews.  Part of that might be because you can't make previews two hours long, but you get the point.  You'll also love former James Bond Timothy Dalton as the local supermarket manager.  He's a slasher... OF PRICES!  His savings are CRIMINAL!  Seriously, do yourself a favor and get yourself some British comedy.  It's even playing at Cine Art, how can you go wrong?

Maybe in my next post I'll review Modest Mouse's new CD, it's fantastic.

And then four kids die in a car wreck over the weekend, one of the deceased is from town and the sole survivor is as well.  I don't know any of the kids involved, but I know a lot of people who did.  I can only imagine how THEY feel.  I remember what it was like when Rob died and how I couldn't think straight for about ten days afterward because none of it made any sense to me.  Not to mention the kid who killed himself out in Charlton a month or two ago.  It's been rough out here lately.  At least it was as nice as it could be outside today.

On to other things, though, I hung out over at Pat and Adam's the other night.  I discovered that I'm a pretty good darts player.  They're excellent (and Adam's brother is a wizard at it), but I'm surprised at how good I was.  I hadn't thrown a dart in years and I also had three or four beers in me.  I assume this is one of those things that you improve at when you've had a couple, such as fighting people bigger than you and talking to cops.  Okay, I haven't really done such things.

I'm sure I had more to talk about tonight, but I'm going to leave it here.  Hopefully I'll post again during the week, I have a couple of subjects I'd like to explore. 

First of all, let me just say that I love Don Imus.  I always have and always will.  I've been listening to him since I was in the womb.  My mother has listened for almost his entire run since he hit the air in New York.  Don is the reason I became fascinated with radio, he's the reason I devoted my senior year in high school to a radio project at WXLO, he's the reason I switched my major to communications after two years at the Mount, he's even the reason that I took that sales job at WTAG and WSRS.  He uses radio the way it's intended, to inform and to entertain, and not many people do that these days, and certainly don't do it as well.  He's a good person who's done a lot for people who need help.  And all of this is no reason to excuse what he said a couple of weeks ago.  But he's said much worse than this.  So has his long-time producer Bernard McGuirk, who's made plenty of racially-charged comments over the years, and is essentially the man who unwittingly lead to the comments we heard about the Rutgers women's basketball team.  It was all off-handed but still inappropriate.

The thing is, this all didn't seem to go away, as I figured it would.  Don has gotten into trouble before, he's been kicked off the air for worse stuff, so I assumed it wouldn't last that long.  But as it seems with every situation that Al Sharpton drags out these days, it didn't.  The sponsors began pulling out (right before the WFAN radiothon, even), MSNBC discontinued the TV simulcast, and CBS kicked him off the Fan.  I hated going to work this morning and NOT hearing Don, Charles, Bernie, Rob, and Larry.  I can only imagine what my mother thought.

But it doesn't end here.  Oh, no sir.  This is going to set off a witch hunt, and I know I'm repeating what about 3,395 other commentators have said, but it's true.  Just watch, because Rush is next.  Then Glenn Beck (another hero of mine) will be called on something.  And the funny thing is, as Glenn pointed out, is that Rosie O'Donnell (GRRRR) was right... there's no such thing as free speech on the airwaves anymore.  Now, I hate Rosie's guts, and I hope SHE gets kicked the hell out during the ensuing craziness, but she's right about this. 

I hope that all of this blows over.  I hope that somewhere down the line Don can rise from the ashes and return to the air in some form (satellite, maybe?), but right now it's hard to tell.  But just remember that this thing's not done yet, and it's quite likely that talk radio will never be the same.  And once that happens, well, free speech will go out the window.

MEANWHILE, BACK ON LONG ISLAND
On a lighter note, I was in New York over the weekend.  Kellly's baby shower was being held, so I went down with Mom and Dad to keep George company.  Wouldn't you know it, but Jimmy and Karen also made an appearance with none other than my neice, Elizabeth.  I'd like to point out that Elizabeth is the cutest baby in the world, although she has a brother on the way and a cousin even sooner.  She'll be hard to top, but if anyone can do it, it's my brothers.  We all had a great time, though.  The ride back, however, wasn't too hot.  That Nor'easter presented some very interesting weather the closer we got to home.  It was snowing for a stretch on Route 91, but it just seemed to happen for this particular zone.  Very weird, but these days, who can say that it's out of the question when it's snowing in mid-April?

Saving the world, 108 minutes at a time
I finished the first season of LOST on DVD this week, and I jumped right into the second without a break.  It's too good not to keep watching.  The technique of storytelling that's employed is excellent.  There's a formula at work here that just keeps you wanting to see what happens next, and the characters are complex, with detailed backstories.  I didn't know they still made TV like this.