Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby

The first thing we did back in Milan was to have a long lunch by the Giardini Pubblici with Albert S., a Nigerian Aristocrat who relocated from England to Italy in the mid-90s. After lunch he suggested we see a movie. When we got to the theater, Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby was the only English-language film playing, a full year after its American release no less, but Albert couldn’t have been more thrilled. His only time in the states was a semester at Talladega College, and he has only fond memories, as is evidenced by his sizable contributions to the school’s collection of Angolan artifacts. So there was no stopping him from marching right up to the booth and ordering tre biglietti, per favore. Read our full reviews after the jump!

Funny Face

It’s true what they say: Spring really is the only time to bicycle in Tuscany. Between mid-April and June, the weather is nothing short of perfect; warm but not hot, sunny but not dry. Today Cliff and I took a long ride across the hills on the coast, with a brief stop at the Santuario di Montenero to hear the Benedictine monks chant the vespers in procession. It’s almost 2am now, but I can’t sleep; the air is too crisp with Mediterranean energy. When we travel, we try to pack 10 or 15 DVD’s that remind us of our good old home town and ward off the jetlag blues, and what could be more cheerful than a 1950’s rom-com romp with our favorite vaguely European nymph (and the mascot of this site!), Audrey Hepburn? That’s right, we pulled Funny Face out of our little grab-bag – read on for our bleary-eyed thoughts.

A Prairie Home Companion

We watched A Prairie Home Companion last night, but to be perfectly honest, I was drifting in and out throughout the film. Olive and I set off for a bicycle tour of Tuscany next week, and the lower-body training is exhausting. I also had one or two Rob Roys with dinner, which didn’t help matters. But from what I saw, I don’t think I missed much. Click below to read our full reviews.

Rize

No sooner has the last tweed coat stepped off the Paris runway, than the New York Spring social season is fully atwitter. It’s difficult to find time for oneself in the great Metropolis, what with the American Academy of Dramatic Arts gala tonight, the Winter Garden Red Cross Ball on Thursday – healing the world’s ills can be terribly trying! Still, it all becomes worth it when you see how gorgeously diverse our world really is, on a charming program like the Discovery Channel’s Planet Earth – with stunning images of wildlife that have never been captured before. Who knew the birds of paradise had such lovely plumage? Perhaps they were inspired by Galliano’s Fall accessories?

It was with that Springtime glow that Cliff and I picked up David LaChapelle’s Rize. See our morning-after thoughts after LaJump:

The New World

Well three packs of Dramamine and two overboard backgammon sets later, we’re back from a month of tall ship sailing along the coast of Brazil. There were a lot of things we missed. It’s practically impossible to make ice cubes on a sail boat, and the South Americans still haven’t mastered the art of brunch. But we missed watching movies most of all. So we decided to jump right back into it with a two-hour-plus Terrence Malick film, The New World (see our reviews after the jump).

300

It was the day before we were to leave for South America, and I [Cliff] was in a sour mood. Albert Stevenson had thrown a party the previous night, and I hadn’t been invited. I don’t consider Albert to be one of my closest friends by any means, but he’s one of my oldest, and sometimes that’s enough. More than enough to be invited to a party, anyway. Olive assured me that it must have just been an oversight on Albert’s part, but I wasn’t so sure.

When I’m really upset, nothing calms me down like a long cruise down the East River Drive, beginning on 125th street going all the way down to the Battery, so we called down to the garage to bring up the Jag. Olive came along, of course. She doesn’t drive herself, but she enjoys the ride just the same as I do, sometimes more. My favorite section is the view of Roosevelt Island, and the stretch past East River Park by the Williamsburg Bridge. But the snub was still bothering me on our way back uptown, so Olive suggested that we see a movie, something mindless. We ended up settling on 300. Read our reviews after the jump.