Bonjour...Gashi...Hola!

As you read this, I am preparing for a week's vacation, destination top secret. Fun, sand and surf are on the agenda and anything having to do with work will be shut out until I return (if I return...). Not that I consider these writings work, but where I'm going the only writing I'll be doing will be signing my bar bills to my hotel room. Therefore, there will be no posting from me next week. Sad, I know. But instead of missing a week, I thought it would be fun to offer you the chance to contribute something for the week of May 2nd. It can be about anything you like...entertainment, politics, religion...the return of Origami...whatever you feel the need to put out there. Just send me an email by Friday, April 29th at jb@jbspeaks.com and the submission my panel of experts (which is me, myself and I) finds the most intriguing will be posted for next week. Of course, you will remain anonymous and only you and I will know the truth (I swear!). The winner will receive a special token taken from the jungles of my exotic vacation (providing I don't get taken into the jungle myself and left for dead).

So take a break from the daily grind and get creative!!

CIAO bebés!

“I Think This is the Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship…”

The other night I watched a movie in its entirety that I had seen several times before. Even though I knew what was going to happen and there were no surprises in store for me at that point, I was still moved by the ending of the film. It wasn’t a scary ending like “The Ring” or a mind-twisting ending like “The Sixth Sense”, but an ending that made you smile and pull at your heart strings just a little bit. The movie is “The Shawshank Redemption” and for those of you who have seen it, you know what I’m talking about. For those of you who have not gotten around to watching it (my brother), go out and rent it. After so many years and so many viewings, the ending of this terrific movie still had an impact on me. So it got me thinking: what are some of the greatest movie endings of all time? And how could I write about this without giving the ending away? So I complied a list of what I think are the twenty best movie endings in film history. There are some I left off, like the obvious (see post title above) and there may be some movies that you haven’t seen or maybe never heard of. So if you haven’t seen them, it’s just one more reason to go out and rent it and see what all the fuss is about…


In no particular order…

Se7en…“What’s in the box?” Come on Brad, you know you want to open it.
Silence of the Lambs…“I’m having an old friend for dinner” In my opinion, the scariest damn movie of all time.
Basic A pretty uneventful movie, but the last five minutes have you going “Huh?”
The Sting…Newman and Redford. Redford and Newman. Will someone please put these two in another movie together?
Wild Things…Ok, it’s campy. And we all know how you guys LOVE the Denise Richards/Neve Campbell make-out session. But all I have to say is I’m glad I stayed for the credits…which explained A LOT.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off…speaking of great credits…
The Game…a pretty twisted birthday gift
Identity…what’s…wrong…with…John…Cusack???
The Graduate…The look on their faces pretty much says it all.
The Others… “I think we better cover the gravestones”. Yeah, that would be a good idea.
Braveheart…I can’t talk about it. It’s going to make me cry…
Say Anything… Ding!
Gone With the Wind… Yes, cliché...but tomorrow is another day
The Shawshank Redemption… “My friend…”
The Usual Suspects… Who is Keyser Sose?
Sixteen Candles… This one is for the girls. Car moves. Porsche. Jake Ryan. (Sigh…)
Primal Fear…Edward Norton is cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs
The Way We Were… OK, I may be off track a little bit here but it is the best romantic movie ending. New York, The Plaza, Robert Redford…
The Godfather…When the door shuts on Kay Corleone’s face, you really feel sorry for her.
Boogie Nights… “Everyone is given one special thing, right?” Mmm hmm…

What do you think? Post your comments and tell us what you think is the best movie ending of all time...

At Last...

There comes a time in every woman’s life when she wonders when (or sadly, if) she will ever get married. She’s dreamt about that moment since the time she was a little girl and used a pillowcase as a veil and wilted daises as her bouquet. She’s thought about who she would invite, where it would be, who would be her bridesmaids and where she would go to relax on her honeymoon. Like Monica on “Friends” she probably has a book somewhere, filled with pictures of rings and dresses and flowers and cakes. She knows what her wedding song will be and that she will cry when she walks down the aisle.

The only thing missing from the equation is one very important factor: the groom. Just a little minor detail that may have slipped our minds. When we are young, we don’t know who he will be but we dream of him and how happy he will make us and how happy we will make him. He is just a faceless man in a tuxedo at the end of the aisle and we can’t wait to meet him. For my friend Jennifer Lake, that face is no longer a blur but one that is clear and recognizable and smiling and ready to take her hand and become her husband. That man, I am very happy to say, is Jim Cozzarelli, and he has asked Jen to marry him and she has said yes. So Congratulations Jen and Jim, and may your dream become a wonderful reality….

Get Arrested...

Arrested Development...Sundays at 8:30 EST on Fox

For quite some time, I’ve been telling anyone who will listen to watch Fox’s acclaimed series, “Arrested Development”. 2004’s Emmy winner for Best Comedy Series, “Arrested Development” is an insanely funny show, mixing in-your-face comedy with sly innuendo. Despite unanimous critical acclaim, the show has had a hard time finding an audience, even though it has a strong lead-in from “The Simpsons”.

“Arrested Development” tells the story of the Bluth family, a crazy, eccentric, dysfunctional bunch whose only link to normality is second son Michael Bluth (perfectly played by Jason Bateman). After Michael's father, real-estate-development mogul George, Sr., is sent to prison for SEC violations, Michael is put in charge of running the family’s business. His older brother, Gob, is a failed magician who rides around on a scooter; spoiled twin sister Lindsay is in an “open marriage” with husband Tobias, a former psychiatrist with dreams of becoming an actor (his scenes with Carl Weathers, of Rocky fame, as his acting coach are priceless); younger brother Buster is a momma’s boy who, this season alone, “accidentally” joined the army and lost his hand to a seal (thanks in part to brother Gob’s botched magic act); and mother Lucille is the boozy, controlling matriarch carrying on an affair with her husband’s pot smoking twin brother. Michael’s son, George-Michael, is a high school student who works at the family’s banana stand (long story) and is dating a girl a little too obsessed with religion. Niece Maybe, Lindsay and Tobias’ teenage daughter, is a smart-ass, know-it-all who wants to emancipate herself from her crazy parents and somehow finagled her way into a job at a major movie studio. Amid all the chaos, each episode is narrated by executive-producer, Ron Howard, whose reassuring tone provides an interesting contrast to the quirky doings of the Bluth family.

Recently I was reading somewhere the “fate” of several TV shows and whether they would be renewed for the 2005-2006 season. To my dismay, “Arrested Development” was on the list, due to the low ratings. Like I said, the show has been praised everywhere, including Entertainment Weekly, which called it “the best ensemble on TV” and “smart, unruly, and very fast, Arrested is the ultimate TV series”. The thought of Sunday nights without the Bluths is too much for me too handle. When we live in a world where a show like “Hope & Faith” gets better ratings, I have to ask myself, “What’s wrong with you people?” So, I ask of you- no I BEG of you…check out “Arrested Development” at 8:30 EST Sunday nights on Fox. And if you like what you see (and I know you will), visit www.getarrested.com, the show’s website. There you can take the “Arrested Development Loyalty Oath” which is sort of a petition to keep it on the air. Hopefully enough people will sign and I won’t have to stand outside Fox studios with a sign that reads “S.A.D” (that’s Save Arrested Development and also refers to my mental state if the show gets the boot). I’m even willing to lend out my precious first season DVD set of the series, in case you’re the kind of person who needs a little more background information before jumping into a show mid-season. Call me; we’ll talk- no biggie.

So get on board with me, Opie and everyone else who is crazy about this brilliant show. You won’t be sorry…